A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 13

Integrity... to find your depth

Second Friday in Advent

Is 48: 17-19; Mt 11:16-19

If only you were... we use this expression very often when communicating our disappointment over someone. Today the Lord uses it to the people of Israel...if only you had listened to me, and proved a little more integral! There is a spark of an inspiration from the first reading today, speaking of Integrity being like waves! In fact the Gospel too takes off from there. 

Waves ebb and flow, come and go, rise and fall, proceed and recede...but look at them at their origins - the deep sea. There they are calm like a sleeping giant. That is what integrity is all about. Though you may be involved in frenetic activity and never ending responsibilities, never lose that inner serenity where your being truly resides. 

Jesus gives a beautiful allegory - like children who play, we live our lives with numerous expectations on the other and disappointments within. We expect and get disappointed; or we get anxious to meet the expectations of the other or others, and feel stressed out. Jesus is simply suggesting to us: can you just stop and ask yourself, what are you up to? What are you toiling for? What are you stressing yourself out for? What are you really trying to prove and to whom? 

Jesus has this to tell us today: you have nothing to prove! You are what you are in the depth of your being. Discover that, realise that, and try to live that to the full. Do not get lost in the externals of show and appreciation or disappointments and critiques. You can do that only when you are able to find your depths. That is why a crucial bit of Integrity is finding your real depth and getting truly in touch with it. 

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 12

Integrity... to be agents of the Reign of God

Second Thursday in Advent
Isa 41: 13-20; Mt 11: 11-15

Jesus speaks of the Reign that suffers at the hands of the violent. It follows from Jesus' assertion that the Reign of God rests amidst us. Yes, the Reign lives amidst the persons of integrity, amidst those who live the values of the Reign. Most of the times when I would speak to persons, especially the Religious, about the Reign of God, the discussion would not come to an end without a question: "are all that you spoke of, possible? Can we really establish such a Reign in our context?" 

My response would be: it is not about establishing the Reign. The Reign already exists, in the persons who stand for love and mutual care, in persons who thirst for justice and truth, in persons who are ready to give up even their lives for the sake of fullness of life for all, in persons who live with integrity. The question is do we form part of that Reign already in our life or not. And if we do form part of it, it would be seen in our everyday choices, our priorities and the causes we stand for and speak out for. 

When we do it, we will not be surely left in peace. We will have troubles from every corner and the Lord assures us in the first reading today: 'Fear not! I will help you!' Because the Reign of God is the Lord's doing and we are all agents of that the Reign here on earth. And we become agents of the Reign by becoming persons of integrity!

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 11

Integrity... to never grow tired!

Second Wednesday in Advent

Is 40: 25-31; Mt 11: 28-30

To run and not to grow weary, to walk and never to tire... that is the call that the Word has today. That is a sign of integrity. Think of a person like Mother Teresa, she fought all her life against everything that drains humanity of its dignity, did she succeed? Or a person like Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in the prison to stand for equality and political freedom, did he totally succeed? Succeed... that does not matter. They never grew tired - that was the sign of their integrity. Nothing could break them. They were putting out their wings like the eagle, every time the oppressive powers tended to curtail them.

Speaking of running and never growing weary, I remember a reflection I shared sometime ago about a game on the smartphones - the famous game called Temple Run. Look at that man running, he is chased by some monster and he is running for life. If he stopped to rest he would be devoured. There are coins and precious stones strewn all through the way that he runs, he has to pick them up because they will give him the speed and the endurance to go on with the upcoming levels of difficulty. He cannot get distracted with those offers slowing himself down, neither can he be blind to those treasures! Very interesting to compare that with our life, as Christians.

Yes, we have this course to run. But we cannot become tired of it, we cannot complain about it. There are difficult moments and tiresome experiences. But there are also precious treasures that the Lord has in store for us - wonderful experiences, inspiring people, captivating values, sanctifying virtues, everything is there. We cannot grow tired. 

The Lord assures his sons and daughters that God will be with us strengthening us in this life and all its trials...you will run but will not grow tired, you will walk but will not grow faint...if and only if you have God with you! The Lord expresses his wish to comfort us and assist us, it is upto us to receive this grace and accept his accompaniment. Our integrity will be defined by our capacity to never grow tired!

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 10

Integrity... to see the Lord coming!

Second Tuesday in Advent

Is 40: 1-11; Mt 18: 12-14

The image that the readings today paint to us is of a Shepherd who is compassionately in search of his lost lamb! And more precisely the Gospel and the beginning of the first reading speak to us of the comfort that the Lord wants bring us. 

Like in the story that we hear of a little girl who was lost in a jungle. When it got dark the girl hid herself behind a bush and stayed there calm and composed. The father came in search of the girl and as soon as the girl spotted her father,she shouted "Daddy! I found you!" We sometimes think we are in search of God, while it is God who is in continuous search of us!

Advent is a time that reminds us of the God who comes in search of us. When we allow ourselves to be found, we stand to gain. When we keep ourselves away from God and hide behind blocks, we would miss graces and blessings that we would never get to understand. Let us not miss the most comforting place of all that the Lord has made ready for us: the bosom of the Shepherd who is constantly in search of us.  

This will happen only when we have the capacity to see the Lord coming! In spite of situations that may be called, untoward, unfortunate and undesirable, we are called to have that capacity to see the good, that is brewing. In everything the Lord works for the good of those who love God, reminds St. Paul (Rom 8:28). But we need to see it coming! Integrity is the capacity, not to let oneself be broken by anything, the capacity to remain strong and intact, the capacity to see the Lord coming!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 9

Integrity... looking up to the Lord

Second Monday in Advent

Is 35: 1-10; Lk 5: 17:20

Cheer up, the Lord told us yesterday. The call continues today to rejoice and exult, not during the days of plenty and peace but even as we find ourselves in the wilderness, in the dry lands and in the wastelands. Because, the Lord is coming! The Lord will turn our sorrow in joy, our suffering into blessing, our trials into treasures. But the question is, will I realise it when the Lord does so?

Integrity is the capacity to look up to the Lord! When good things happen we readily claim the credits for it. When things go in bad taste, we wish to shove the entire responsibility on someone else, beginning with God. The Word invites us today to look up to God, look up to the Lord from whom all good things come. Look, the Lord is coming to save us! Look up to the Lord and be radiant (Ps 34:5). 

Integrity is the ability to look up to the Lord when things go wrong, not wailing to ourselves on it. Integrity is also the ability to see when the Lord works on our behalf, not missing it all busy claiming credits to ourselves for them. Integrity is to realise that the good that I am able to do is achieved by God in and through me. It is also the ability to notice the choices and priorities within me that militates against the goodness that God is and the blessing that God wishes to send our way. 

When God changes things in our favour, when God saves us from our vale of miseries, we should be able to see it. At times we are not really aware when God does things in our favour. We do not really see the miracles that God sends our way. We are blind and deaf to the goodness that is present all around us sent by God. Integrity consists in being aware of these, because without it we will only see "strange things" (see Lk 5: 20) that the Pharisees and the Scribes saw, when the Lord was doing wonders amidst them. 

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT SUNDAY 2

Cheer up, Change and Cry out!

10th December, 2017: Second Sunday in Advent

Is 40: 1-5,9-11; 2 Pet 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8

Here we are in the second week of Advent, called to prepare the way for the Lord! Preparing the way for the Lord is another part of the journey we are asked to make towards Integrity this advent and this week we have another project: to cheer up, change and to cry out.

Being Integral is not being faultless. The righteous fall seven times a day, says the book of Proverbs (24:6), but they rise and they go on, because they know they are on the path of integrity. They do not wish to cover up. The first reading brings to our mind this message from the Lord - the Lord says, Oh you my child, you have sinned, you have fallen, you have lost your way; it does not matter. I console you and I accept you back, because you are aware of it. Now rise and walk again, but in the path of integrity, right up to integrity, straight up to me! An integral person is not someone who never falters, but he or she is someone who knows he or she has fallen, that he or she is weak and has strayed from the path of integrity and looks up to the Lord who gives that consolation the Lord alone can give. Console, console my people, cries Yahweh. That is what the Lord wants to do with you and me, if we are ready to make efforts, genuine efforts towards integrity. CHEER UP says the Lord, cheer up and resume your journey!

Being aware of our faults is not enough, of course. We need to change; we need to decide to change; we need to desire to make a decision to change; we need to begin that course of wishing a decisive change in our life. Cheer up the Lord is with you, but CHANGE, for the Lord is waiting for you. Peter makes it so candid clear when he says, the Lord is not delaying, the Lord is just waiting for you and me to make that radical decision to change, to change towards integrity. Our faults and our failures need not worry us down precisely because the Lord is there waiting on us, but that makes sense only when there is an openness and willingness to change, to change our ways and journey on towards Integrity.

Only when you have received the consolation from the Lord and have made up your mind to truly change, you can CRY OUT to the other to change. Today there are a number of people calling out to the world, crying out to the world to change - they call for climate change and care to do nothing about controlling the damage they cause to the creation; they call for peace in the world and keep selling arms in the backyard; they call for eradication of poverty and keep making policies that drain even the few dimes that the unfortunate have in their pockets; they call for transparency in affairs and keep plotting underground with the very ones who manipulate the society; they call for equal rights and keep eliminating in the dark all those who raise even a finger against them... do they really have the right to cry out? Do they have the Integrity to challenge? That is why the world at large turns a deaf ear unto them. We just cannot effect any change, unless we become the change ourselves, to begin with. That is integrity!

The imagery of the fire fits in perfectly for this Sunday... for it warms your heart, soothes your body, clears the coldness in the air and CHEERS YOU UP. But is it not just so passive - it consumes, it cannot leave things as they are, it CHANGES. And when it begins to reign, it cannot keep quiet, it CRIES OUT. That is the fire of Integrity that the Lord wishes that we have. That is the fire of Integrity that John the Baptist had within him. He brought the warmth of the Lord, he was a different man from anyone and he challenged everyone around, towards preparing the way , the way to Integrity.

Let our journey intensify towards Integrity - let us not lose heart, let us Cheer Up, let us Change and let us Cry Out... the Lord of Integrity is near!

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 7

Integrity... Allowing God to Accompany Us

First Saturday in Advent
Is 30: 19-21, 23, 26; Mt 9: 31- 10:1, 5a, 6-8

Life, food, water, protection, healing, assurance, sustenance, love and care...these are given to us gratuitously by God. All these are gifts that we have received, whether we acknowledge it or not. The greatest of all and the gift beyond all these is God's continual presence with us. More precisely, the fundamental gift of all is the presence! 

God's presence is manifested to us in various ways: as providing presence that fulfills our needs; protecting presence that safeguards us from dangers; probing presence that challenges us on our life's journey; and above all, guiding presence that accompanies us on a constant basis. The last of these, is a bit different presence because, all others will be taken care of by God, even if we are mere passive receivers. But the accompanying presence of the Lord can be experienced only if we actively acknowledge, accept and allow the Lord to act on our behalf. We need to allow the Lord to accompany us!

Advent is a spiritual exercise precisely to grow in our capacity to become aware of this accompanying presence and to actively and positively allow that presence and wholeheartedly appreciate it! It is a moment when we learn to see, practice to understand and be prepared to allow God to have God's way in our life. Because it is not so easy, when God accompanies us, we just cannot have our own way in certain things! It is a whole life style to learn to be aware, to allow and to appreciate the accompaniment of God. That is definitely a journey towards integrity. Are we on that journey?

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY

8th December, 2017: Reminders from the Solemnity

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother - the dogma of faith that Mary, from the moment that she was conceived in her mother's womb, was preserved without the stain of original sin. 

The celebration of today has 3 reminders for us:

Reminder 1: God's plan for each of us is eternal! God chose to preserve Mary even before she was born, from the moment of her passing from non existence to existence! How true when the Word says, 'You know me even before my bones were being formed in the womb of my mother.' God knows each of us and has a mysterious plan for us from eternity. Is it not true that God has chosen us before the foundations of the world, as St. Paul says.

Reminder 2: It was indeed a grace that Mary was spared from the stain of original sin, but she on her part remained faithful, sinless and wholly belonging to God all her life that she brought this grace of holiness, right upto the end of her life when she was found worthy of another grace - that of Assumption. We were freed from the bond of original sin too, at our baptism. Is it not our duty to bring this baptismal innocence right through to the end of our life that we can find ourselves in the company of saints and angels in union with God almighty!

Reminder 3: For Mary it was a remote preparation to behold the Son of God within her in God's own time. The feast occurs during Advent and reminds us that we are in that place too... to prepare ourselves to behold the Son of God, who wishes to be born in our lives this Christmas.

The Message is clear: God has chosen me from eternity to belong to God. It is my faithful response to this call that will determine my status as God's son or daughter. When I listen to God's word and live by it, God dwells in me, God's word will be born in me, making me the dwelling place, the tabernacle, the temple of the Living God!

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 5

Integrity... Clamping to the Rock

First Thursday in Advent
Is 26:1-6; Mt: 21, 24-27

The Word today presents to us the image of the Rock! And invites us to reflect on the Rock of our Integrity!.

The Rock is solid, unshaken and strong. The Lord is solid hope, unshaken by circumstances and strong by the side of truth. The Lord is not swayed by moods as we humans are. The ways of the Lord are just! Justice reigns where God reigns.The foundation of the peace that the Lord gives is not compromise but Justice.

The Rock is stable, supporting and still. The Lord is a stable foundation, who supports and sustains our very existence and is patient and still allowing our ways. Imagine if the Lord were impatient with us and prone to reacting to our ways...can we stand our ground? We are alive because we are sustained by the endless patience of the Lord.

The Rock is peaceful, calm and unperturbed. The Lord is the source of our peace in this troubled world, someone unchanging on whom we can rely. The Lord is calm and unperturbed that our childish ways and imprudent lives do not move the Lord to action instantly. The Lord is unperturbed and allows every madness that is going on; even those who deny the Lord standing right over Him; even those who fight against the Lord pitching their battle right against him: the ground on which everything lives and moves!

The Lord is our Rock, and we would do well today to accept it and fine tune our ways to the ways of the Lord. To be unmoved, like the Lord in our allegiance to truth and justice, righteousness and love. The call us to clamp our lives on to this Rock and find our integrity!

A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 4

Integrity... hoping in the Lord alone

First Wednesday in Advent

Is 25: 6-10; Mt 15: 29-37

We are known, today, for creating always back up systems or what they popularly call, "Plan B". We always have a plan B to things - can we be so in our life of faith? That would be totally against integrity! Can I have a plan B in my trust in God. Then I am saying one thing and believing in something else. 

The first reading today speaks to us of the banquet that the Lord has prepared for us! Yes, that is the Reign of God to which we are called to belong to. Will I be part of it? Certainly, If I obey the Lord and the trust in the Lord alone. If I have alternatives to that trust, even in the worst of the moments in my life, I shall not be Integral enough to enter that banquet, that Reign. 

Like the sheep that trusts in the Shepherd and knows that the shepherd will lead it to the right pasture finally, however long it has to walk, that is the sheep that truly belongs to that Shepherd. Just imagine, if it has other plans and second thoughts about following this shepherd. What if it decides to follow another shepherd or to find its own way - there is always the risk of losing its way, getting into trouble or even endangering one's own life. That trust is what saves that sheep! Integrity is that capacity to trust in that shepherd all through those moments of uncertainty!

The people who followed Jesus and spent three days with him, all that they wanted was to be with Jesus and keep marvelling at God's wonders through this man among them. They did not even think of their food or drink - Jesus thought of it! God prepares your way! If you decide to be with the Lord, the Lord will take care of your stay! If you commit to remain faithful to the Lord, the Lord will strengthen you with God's faithfulness. Integrity is just trusting in the Lord; it is trusting, just in the Lord!