WHO IS MY KING?

WORD 2day: 23rd November, 2017

Thursday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time

1 Mac 2: 15-29; Lk 19: 41-44

Who is your king? – that is the crucial question that is being repeatedly asked these days of the week running up to the Solemnity of Christ the King. The parable we heard yesterday of the return of the king who demands an account, the siege of Jerusalem that Jesus speaks of today in the Gospel and the call of Mattathias to gather in his leadership against the persecuting forces… all these present a crisis situation; a situation demanding a definitive choice. 

Sometimes external pressures like the work ambient, the political milieu, the personal addictions or the overpowering temptations can present a crisis situation to us… a situation to make a radical choice for God or against God! Even a simple affair like the choice of words we use, or an ordinary decision we make on a daily basis, can determine the radical belonging to or rejection of God in our lives! 

How many times we stand convicted by our choices which contradict the principles we claim to stand for! How many times we eat our own words to justify ourselves and save our face before others! How many times we compromise on true values and make convenience a criterion for our decisions! 

Our choices would demonstrate more than to us, to the the world who our king is! If my king is my Lord -my daily choices would reflect that. May our everyday choices be such that the Lord would never need to weep over us, as he did over Jerusalem!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

MY CHOICE FOR GOD

Remembering St. Cecilia: 22nd November, 2017

2 Mac 7: 1,20-31; Lk 19: 11-28

The urge to be faithful to God is never a question of maintaining the status quo. As spiritual masters always warn us, not to progress in spiritual life is to regress! Faithfulness to God is not lived or manifested in remaining where we are or merely in moments of legal fulfillment of rules and routine practices of piety. It takes fundamental radical choices at crucial moments to tell not just the Lord but the world too, that I belong to the Lord, to the One who has created me, the One who has called me and commissioned me.

Like the young lad, as his mother and 6 brothers, in the first reading chooses God over everything that the king promises and over his very life; like Saint Cecilia whom we remember today who chose to give of her whole self - her body, soul, spirit and very life for God, our choices need to speak for themselves. 

Not just the choices of life and death, but the choices of what we want to do with the talents, the gifts that the Lord has given us, the choices of what we want to do with every moment of life that God has gifted us with. We can choose to enrich them and enhance them, or to just bury them and be inactive! 

My choice for God has to be seen in my daily little choices - Cecilia is often celebrated as patroness of musicians (by the way, let us pray for all the singers and musicians and wish them well), and at times her heroic sacrifice and choice for God has been eclipsed. She decided to giver her whole self to God and she kept that choice till her death. 

Just like the mother in the first reading today, Cecilia saw her husband and her brother in law die, but remained unmoved in her choice for God. In my daily events and ordinary tasks, I have to manifest this choice for God, if only I wish to inspire the world today. The choice today, is mine!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

The Primacy of God and Quality of our Faith

Remembering the Presentation of Mary in the Temple - 21st November, 2017
2 Mac 6:18-31; Lk 19: 1-10

Zacchaeus' episode in the Gospel is an evergreen example of an encounter that transforms a person. As St. Paul would say, 'if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation'(2Cor 5:17). When we allow the Lord to really encounter us, the Lord transforms the whole person. Nothing remains the same, everything is new because we begin to see everything from the perspective of the Lord. 

As Pope Francis said in his first encyclical Lumen Fidei, Faith is not just to see Jesus, it is to see with the eyes of Jesus (LF 18)! When our faith is authentic, the whole perspective changes. What seems to be important, what seems to be necessary for someone may seem totally secondary to me, because I see as the Lord does, because I think as the Lord does, because I love as the Lord does. 

Eleazar in the first reading demonstrates the same to us - 'such pretense is not worthy of our time of life' (2 Mac 6:24), he says, caring the least to preserve his life, because he did not want to lead the others astray from God. 

Today we remember the event of Mary being presented in the Temple - why does the Church remember this event though it is not part of the Biblical account. There is a very important reason - highly spiritual and simply logical. Mary, as far as we see in the Gospels, seems to be totally resigned to God's will and absolutely obedient to God's voice. Where does this begin from - the answer is the memory we celebrate today. The parents offered her, thus inculcating within her mind and heart that she belongs to God and that is reflected all her life. 

Even for us the message is same today: the primacy of God in our life defines the quality of our faith.

TO SEE THE REIGN

WORD 2day: 20th November, 2017

Monday,  33rd week in Ordinary Time 

1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-64; Lk 18: 35-43

Personally I stand much for Interreligious dialogue and inculturation of faith. Some persons have found fault with me at times saying, 'you stand for interreligious dialogue and inculturation, but you do not allow such and such a thing. Is it not a discrepancy? '

It is important to realise what is an integral process of dialogue and inculturation. If only 'all becoming one' is the objective, then today we should be comfortable with what is happening around... all, in every field, everyone is becoming one in their selfishness and self seeking tendencies! It is our call to become one, but which one? Not anyway one... but One in just one way! 

Becoming one as a humanity, bound by true and wholesome values, standing for real freedom, dignity and solidarity, that is our task. That is what the Reign is all about. At times it will look impossible and totally a dream, an utopia, a fable and a fairy tale. But in faith, it is not! We are going to hear of the end times beginning from now for the next two weeks - not about the end of the world or end of the times but it is the end of hopelessness and end of misery. Because we are convinced the Reign is at hand. 

That conviction requires an eye of faith; let us cry out for it and the Lord will grant us! Jesus Lord, have mercy on us, that we may see, that we may see the Reign!

A 3G ON THE WORLD DAY OF THE POOR

GRATITUDE, GUILT AND GIVING - The 3 sensibilities provoked!

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 19th November, 2017

This Sunday is commemorated as World Day of the Poor, heeding to the request of Pope Francis at the end of the Year of Mercy, calling us to keep alive the sensibilities that were provoked during reflections of that entire year! Here this Sunday's Word brings home to us the same sensibilities and we shall dwell on them in 3Gs.

Gratitude - because what I have is given by God! 

The parable that Jesus narrates speaks of each one having what was given them by the King and what they do with that is what the story is all about. Whatever I have, I have it because it is given by God. You may protest - no, I earned it, I merited it...could be. But the opportunity, the contacts, the success...do all have it? If I had it, I was more fortunate than so many. Without giving into a boisterous 'theology of prosperity', I need to admit that if I am blessed with comforts, with conveniences that many do not have today, I have to be grateful. When I complain, I cannot be grateful. We know of that famous saying - I complained of not having shoes until that day when I found one not having his legs! Gratitude is one important sensibility that we are called to possess - Gratitude is a sign that I acknowledge what I have received and I realise the value of what I have received. The last man was not grateful, he was afraid, lazy and crooked and that is why what he received did not fructify.

Guilt - because what I have is not only mine!

Some may not like this word used here - I am sure! It is not even to alliterate with the G's that I chose this as the second sensibility but with a lot of consciousness. Pope Francis when he invites the world to observe this day as  World Day of the Poor - do you think he is saying, now all of us rich get together and pool in some money to give to the poor? No! He is raising a big question - why are they poor? At times I feel so, when I travel around, when I encounter poor people with nothing to eat or nothing to wear or nowhere to stay! I feel guilty of the well pressed clothes that I wear, of the well presented recipes that I enjoy, the well planned travels I make, the well guarded house that I live in. Am I going to leave all these and go to the streets - it may not happen! But that little feeling of uneasiness within me, that has to be there. That uneasiness drove Francis of Assisi to sanctity; that uneasiness dragged Mother Teresa out of the confines of her convent to the peripheries of the world. I don't wish to soften the word to 'being sensitive' or to 'being aware'...it is being guilty! I don't want to get into poetic discussions like. 'everyone is poor is some way' and so on. It should pain me to see people poor; it should pain me to see persons suffer. The world today has to feel that guilt of having pushed its children to poverty and misery. When that third servant failed to be fruitful, the worst fact was not that he was not fruitful, but he was not even guilty about it. That was the most miserable fact. The king just could not digest that!

Giving - because that is why I have!

If I have anything, it is a clear sign that I am called to give! That is what a Christian life should be - Christian life and hoarding wealth for its own sake cannot go together! Oh what a statement that is to make - I am aware of it. But that is the fact. I cannot say, God has blessed me and therefore I am going to be happy! Yes I am happy with the blessing - but I am given to give! The beautiful philosophy of Stewardship that God has been insisting on right from creation, has widely been forgotten, negated and dumped down the drains. How can I not give when I know someone needs it and I have it. To add to that, I have it more than I need! In a country like India for an instance, or wherever in the world, we can see the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer - can things remain the same? How long are we going to be happy collecting something from somewhere and giving it elsewhere? Giving has to be a duty! Giving has to be our essence! Giving has to be our being! I should give, if I want to be seen as a child of God, because God gives.

Not merely in words...in deeds let us show our conviction to eradicate poverty. Not merely in deeds...but in convictions let us challenge the world against poverty. Not merely in convictions... but in our solidarity and integrity let us get down to fight for justice that every child of God has what he or she needs!  

Pray...Trust...Live your life with God

WORD 2day: 18th November, 2017

Saturday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 18: 14-16, 19:6-9; Lk 18: 1-8

Our help is in the name of the Lord, proclaims Psalm 124. The Lord alone is our refuge and our strength. The Lord knows when we sit and when we stand, even before a word is on our mouth, the Lord knows it all. This trust is called the attitude of prayer - a total abandonment into the hands of the Lord! 

At times when we pray, we sound like knocking at the door of the Lord as the last resort...'I have tried everything Lord; and now I have nothing more to try and so I come to you!' Instead, it has to be from the first moment: "You are everything Lord and I surrender myself to you; guide me along and accompany me, that I may never stray from Your will and guard me from all those which plot to take me away from You and Your holy will." 

How many wonders we have seen, all worked by the Lord! If the Lord is so powerful, can he not look at the suffering we are going through. If in spite of that I am in the midst of an agony, can I not trust in the Lord and think of those splendid days I had experienced in the presence of the Lord! Will not the same presence guide me on! Why do i moan and why do I complain - is it not because I have given up trust?

Let us live our life with the Lord - every bit of it - our duties, our desires, our trials, our preoccupations, our sufferings, our agonies, our temptations and even our failures; let us live them all with the Lord and be prepared always to say: Not mine, but Your will be done, O Lord! (Lk 22:42)

Do I relate to God in the core of my being?

WORD 2day: 17th November, 2017

Friday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 13: 1-9; Lk 17: 26-37

'Fools say in their heart, 'there is no God',' goes Psalm 14:1. Though it is not the spirit of the times to get into an argument with people with variant religious convictions, sometimes it is important to challenge the insincere ones regarding some opinions that are held and promoted with hidden motives and contrived plots. 

The readings today are quite strong against those who probably have religious choice of convenience, than conviction. Many manipulate their or other's religious sentiments to their own convenience and comfort, to achieve their ends and to exploit others. These are the worst kind of human beings one can imagine of - not true even to themselves!

But leaving alone the tendency to point a finger at someone, it is important for me to evaluate my faith! Faith is not merely saying 'yes' to a set of truths, but it is a personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, with that Merciful God that he revealed to us, with the Spirit who lives on with us and within us. 

Is it not an ample opportunity for me today to raise this question in my heart: What does my faith mean to me? What are the SIGNS of real faith in my day to day life? Do I really relate to God in the core of my being?

ME - the core of the Reign!

WORD 2day: 16th November, 2017

Thursday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 7:22 - 8:1; Lk 17: 20-25

The Reign of God is within you! (Lk 17:21) - this was the statement, they say, that provoked, sustained and gave meaning to Liberation theology in the 70s. Not only that. This was also the teaching that took Jesus to the cross. 

What is so provocative about it? To answer that question from the Gospel, we need to listen to the first reading and the psalm. They speak of the Wisdom of the Lord, the Word of God, that abides with us and within us, the Lord who has come to live amidst us, the whole grace of incarnation. Look at those attributes given to that indwelling Lord: in the form of Wisdom, the Word, the Spirit who is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, sharp, irresistible, beneficent, loving, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-knowing, penetrating, all-intelligent, pure and most subtle! The Indwelling Spirit, the Lord who dwells within me, making me the core of God's Reign.

Jesus' proclamation of the arrival of the Reign, or the year of the Lord or the fulfillment of the Word (Lk 4:19,21) was looked at as an offence, because Jesus underlined the proximity, the closeness of God to human beings. Jesus declared every common person the beholder of the Reign, you and me as the core of the Reign!

Even today, if I choose to, I can see God as some one far, distant, removed and isolated. But if I am sincerely observant, I can feel the presence of the Word, the Wisdom, the Incarnate Son walking beside me and I can feel God close and intimate to me because, "God loves nothing so much as the man who lives with wisdom" (Wis 7:28). We need to look at the Reign of God residing within us, at the core of our being. We are indeed the core of the Reign, we need to evolve into it, by our daily choices and lofty ideals.

Faith is to respond!

WORD 2day: 15th November, 2017

Wednesday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 6: 1-11; Lk 17: 11-19

The readings seem to converge on one thought today... that the Lord wishes, expects, and demands a response from us! Our God is a self revealing God... through signs and wonders and prophets and wise persons and finally through God's only Son, and continuously even today in and through God's Spirit, God continues to reveal Godself to us in various ways.

The more we are given, the more we are expected to respond! It is not that God gives, so that we would repay! No! But it is that, we are given so much, we are filled with such goodness, we receive "grace upon grace" (Jn 1:16), that we realise it is right and just to give God thanks and praise! 

To know the right thing to be done at the right time and choosing to do it, is a gift of the Holy Spirit...we would be blessed to possess it. And the Lord says today, "set your desire on my words; long for them, and you will be instructed!" (Wis 6:11). Doing the right thing, at the right time, is a response that we give to the Lord and that response is what is expected from me! When I don't respond, I waste what was entrusted to me, as a gift, a treasure! 

Our response to the self revealing God - that is our faith. Growing in faith is learning to respond more and more adequately. Failing to respond is dwindling in faith. Let us grow in faith everyday - let us be attentive to respond to the Lord in every way!

Remaining true to our Salvific Core

WORD 2day: 14th November, 2017

Tuesday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 2:23 - 3:9; Lk 17: 7-10

The first reading today states a tremendous truth - we are made for eternity, incorruptible by nature, because we carry the image of God within us! That is the fundamental truth of salvation. We are all saved in the core of our being, none of us is destined to destruction, none of us is rushing towards perdition! But we have a responsibility to keep that truth alive, because it all depends on the choices we make. 

By nature we are God's own children, but if we by our daily decisions and life choices, resolve to break away from God and from the gifts that God has placed within us, we are ruining our own salvific core. We are called every day, every moment to go on living in faith founded on hope and guided by love, to live a life of love and mercy; and at the end of it say, 'we are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty!' 

God who loves us will never desert us, unless we decide to break away from God. It is so important for us to repeat to ourselves - God is with us, that is what God has so clearly promised. The real question is are we with God? By our choices and priorities, are we really with God? We are all saved in the core of our being, because our core is God. Our responsibility is to remain true to that salvific core!