The Right Belief

Tuesday, 14th week in Ordinary Time 

July 10, 2018: Hos 8 :4-7,11-13; Mt 9: 32-37

We widely practice religion but rarely do we truly believe! Practices of piety, fulfillment of the so-called ritual requirements, attendance at the Church - these would merely be religion if they do not arise from a belief, that is right and real.

Placing our trust on things, relying  entirely on what we do or perform, thinking in  terms of appeasements and votive sacrifices are modes of religion practiced and do not lead to  the right belief. They are more need fulfillments and life coping than a true, empowering and life enhancing relationship. The latter is specifically what faith is all about.

Faith alone can lead to Right Beliefs: there is a difference between a belief and faith. Faith is an encounter, a relationship out of which a conviction is born and the conviction translated into concepts is belief. The difficulty of our times is the fact that this process is reversed: people are introduced, sometimes forced into belief and then faith is expected to be born and to mature! Can this really happen?

Our belief is in a person not in a power; it is not about some legalistic fulfilment of requirements or subservient submission to a power but about a loving relationship with a person. It is in this relationship, in other words called faith, that belief is born; and that belief would certainly be the Right belief.

Take a moment during the day  today to evaluate how right your belief is!

What has betrothal got to do with faith?

Monday, 14th week in Ordinary Time

July 9, 2018: Hos 2: 16, 17-18, 21-22; Mt 9: 18-26

I will betroth you to myself, says the Lord in the Word today. It set me thinking on the various elements of a relationship of betrothal! 

And the more intriguing part came by when in the Gospel Jesus speaks to us of an unconditional and unwavering faith! Now the question became more complicated in my mind - what has betrothal got to do with faith!

Betrothal is commonly a traditional, conservative concept of giving a couple-to-be some confident space to move in. It is an organised and formal mode of courtship. It is an enamouring phase of a marriage - where there should be utmost confidence, a lively striving to impress each other and an absolute vying with each other to shower love! 

Faith is all about that - a feeling of having been enamoured by God that I feel so confident in the Lord, I strive to please the Lord whatever it takes, I accept anything from the Lord whatever it is and never even for a moment doubt if the Lord is all for me!

Does my faith measure up to such a personal attachment to the Lord?

THE CALL AND THE CONTRADICTIONS

JULY 8, 2018: 14th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Ezek 2:2-5; 2 Cor 12: 7-10; Mk 6: 1-6

Here are some contradictions that you could ponder on, this Sunday... 

based on the Readings we have: 

1. You are sent by God to a particular space and time: till the end of your time you will not realise it to the full and not as long as you are in the space where you live!

2. You are sent to a people, the people with whomever you find yourself in reality, but they will never look at it that way and you will long to be sent elsewhere all your life!

3. You are called to be a prophet - though it means living a life of a prophet, it is decided only in the way you die. It is, literally or symbolically, a call to die for a cause!

4. You are sent to a people who would not easily accept you; if they accept you easily, may be, they are not the ones to whom you are specifically sent!

5. You are sent - that does not mean you are special... just look around and you would see scores of persons much better than you, however that does not excuse you from following your call.

6. You are sent - therefore it doesn't matter if you don't love the task that you are entrusted with, it is your duty not your hobby; do it with your full heart and energy!

7. You are sent - that does not make you are strong, it makes you weak and vulnerable! But it is in that weakness and vulnerability that you would make the One who sent, better known to the rest!

8. You are a prophet to the people which means you would be rejected by them, at least by the dominant and the majority - if you are easily accepted, you are no prophet!

9. Popularity and Prophecy do not go together - mind you, if you seem too popular in a place, you are conforming to their ideals, and not to the one who sent you. So don't strive to make yourself acceptable!

10. The One who sent you, sent you to the rebels, not to the patriots! Hence if you are comfortable with those who are inside the flock, you are mistaken - you haven't started to live your call yet!

Rebuilding the Ruins

Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

July 7, 2018: Amos 9: 11-15; Mt 9: 14-17

I have heard many a builder say, it takes double the effort to rebuild something that is already built vis-a-vis building something fresh. It is true. Rebuilding or restoring is a work of an expert. My mind forces me to share here the comment any onlookers pass when they see the Colosseum for the first time, with the way it looks. It is history that the famous stadium was destroyed in a fire and then in eventual invasions. Over a couple of centuries ago, they proposed to rebuild it, restore its ruined parts...but what they have done has ruined further the elegance and the majesty of the structure - it is so amateurish! Rebuilding or Restoring is an expert's job.

The Lord when he promises to rebuild Jerusalem, restore the Lord's people, proves Godself to be an expert. Not all can manage. It takes completely a different aptitude to build up people. It is easy to find fault, criticise and break people but to build them up, more so to rebuild them from their ruins, it takes God, and God alone to do it. 

Those who rebuild are Godly; those who rebuild have the touch of the Master's hand; those who rebuild have a quality that is so close to the quality of the Creator. Let us be renewed in the Lord to see the good in others, those traits that will build them up and build the community of faith.

Jesus is trying to rebuild, in the Gospel, rebuild the consciousness of people about God's presence with them and the beauty that it beholds. Let us beseech the Lord for the gift to build up ourselves into fitting temples of God and the grace to rebuild others in whatever way we can!

Searching for the Word

Friday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

Amos 8: 4-6, 9-12; Mt 9: 9-13

Searching for the Word, that is the quality presented today as a distinguishing trait of a person of God. A person who is far from God, will conveniently keep away from the Word of God because it would disturb his or her peace. But when that happens his or her life drifts away from truth, from its origin, from its very meaning. That is what Amos warns the people of God about. Whereas, when a person is close to God, he or she longs for God and earnestly seeks for the will of God, and will find that life giving Word right at their doorstep. 

The Lord declares today, only the sick need the doctor. Let us be aware that only those who accept their sickness will seek the doctor and only those who want a way out of their sickness will do the needful to grow wholesome. The Word has to nourish us and only if we feel the need of it, we would seek for it. Not that we do not need, we do not feel the need, we feel we can substitute it with so many other things in life - which  invariably ends in a failure!

The Word of the Lord contains life, life in its fullness... let us make it a sincere habit to search for the Word, be nourished by it, and long for it!

IN or OUT - it's your choice!

Thursday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

July 5, 2018: Amos 7: 10-17; Mt 9: 1-8

The Word today presents to us varied pictures of people going in and out : in to captivity, out of slavery to sin, in to their own doom, out of disease and handicaps... but the choice was always theirs.  

It is the same with us today: we can choose to remain in our weakness and godlessness, satisfied with little we have. The Lord has so much in store which we miss entirely because of our stubbornness. 

I am reminded of that picture that is quite popular... a little girl with her tiny doll refusing to give it to Jesus kneeling before her. She is totally unaware of the jumbo size teddy doll that Jesus is holding behind his back, all for her! 

What is my choice: holding on to the little I know or allowing the Lord to lead me by hand, teach me everyday and enrich me with his wholeness?

Seeking God and Shunning Evil

Wednesday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 4, 2018: Amos 5: 14-15, 21-24; Mt 8: 28-34

Seek Good and Shun Evil... it is such a simple and straight forward directive from Amos today! It is a universal dictum, but is it as simple as it sounds? Do we really and absolutely seek good and good alone? More importantly, do we shun evil, and shun it absolutely? 

The world today holds out a culture that seems to be a subtle mixture of both... some good are seen to be 'too impractical' and we are advised not to seek them. Some evil are so subtly deemed 'acceptable' and made so hard to be shunned right away. Sometimes it seems better to live with certain forms of evil and remain acceptable and comfortable in our living zones. 

When we seek good, when we seek the Lord, we have to by all means do away with certain things in our lives. But we conveniently keep the Lord away at those points, so that our comfort zones are not affected, like the people in the Gospel today who came and begged Jesus to leave their locality. They did not mind living with the evil spirits, but they were upset that they lost a herd of swine! They wondered how much more they will have to lose if Jesus stayed on with them!

If we really want Jesus to stay on with us, we will have to do away with a lot of things! Are we really prepared? Or would we choose to tell the Lord to leave us in peace? Seeking God and Shunning Evil... is it a natural quality to me?

From doubt to Faith

Celebrating St. Thomas, the apostle to India

Eph 2: 19-22; Jn 20: 24-29

Feast of St. Thomas leaves us with three lessons...

1. We are One Church built on the Apostles.
The feasts of every apostle is a reminder of the essential unity that has to exist within the Church. As Paul so vehemently opposes (cf. I Cor 1:10-13), right from the earliest times division has always been a dreaded scandal within the Church. This reality notwithstanding, the divided body of Christ today drains the Church of its witnessing power and evangelical authority.

2. The Church in India has a special responsibility.
The Church in India, boasting a direct handing over of faith by an apostle, has a special responsibility towards establishing the Reign of God on earth. It is unfair to claim privileges but refrain from the duties that come with it. Every person who has received the gift of faith in this country of ancient heritage and culture, has to stand firm in witness to the Gospel thus received challenging the society towards a holistic transformation, ushering in the Reign of God here and now.

3. Doubts don't matter as long as the Lord remains close to us.
Thomas was not only the one who wanted to touch the wounds that nails made and put his hand into the hole on Jesus' side, but he was also the one who said, "let us also go, that we may die with him" (Jn 11:16). His personal attachment to Jesus covered up for his obstinacy not to believe when the rest of the apostles reported Jesus' resurrection. In our lives too, when doubts assail, when clouds gather over our heads and we tend to be overwhelmed by them, the only thing that can sustain us is our personal relationship with Jesus!

May St. Thomas show us Christians, though we are troubled and weak, that the most fitting way of living out the Gospel in our context is living in mutual love, unrelenting respect and unassailable solidarity - so that we may be true and efficacious ambassadors of the Reign of God, here and now.

Is God on your priority list?

Monday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

July 2, 2018: Amos 2: 6-10, 13-16; Mt 8: 18-22

Is God on my priority list? This is the question that came to my mind when I dwelt a little on the readings today. The question does not mean, do I go for the eucharist everyday nor does it mean do I read the Bible every day nor whether I spend a fixed time in prayer everyday! It means, whether God really matters to me, whether what God wants absolutely matters to me, whether God is the first on the list of criteria that would affect my choice or decision making. 

Because there is a difference between the two things that we are referring to here: one is our practices of piety which are very important, but the other is our concrete life with God which is much more important as it takes for granted the practices of piety and goes beyond it... to the way these practices affect my everyday life. If there is a discrepancy between these two, I am far far away from the way that Jesus points out to me!

If I say, 'Yes, God is a priority in my life', then the way I live by myself, the way I relate to persons irrespective of who they are and the so-called strata of society they belong to, the way I look at the world and the reality around me, would be totally different. God may be one of the important considerations in my life, but that will never suffice. God has to be my priority - the first criterion and an absolute criterion!

LIFE, ME & GOD

1st July, 2018: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24; 2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15; Mk 5: 21-43

Life is a precious Gift from God. The first link that we have with God as someone outside of us,is the the link that we have from the fact that it is God who has given us life. Can we think of what is life? What constitutes life? Can we create life... yes, we can multiply, clone or enhance life, but creating it from nowhere, from nothing... Can we?

GOD OF LIFE

God is the author of life and the God we have is God of life, not God of death, says the book of Wisdom as we read today. Anything that enhances life and promotes it, comes from God. Anything that militates against life, in whatever way, it is contrary to God. The World today is being filled with forces that threaten life: unbalanced development, inhuman godliness, inauthentic means to living, unfettered exploitation of the other, disoriented conception of oneself... these are all principles in today's world that go against life. Abortions, Suicides and Genocides are dubbed as assertion of rights! 

LIFE OF GOD

The life that we have is the life of God, reminds us St.  Paul in the readings today. God has given us life, not only that,  God has given his own life that we may live! It is like that twin child who as told by the parents, your brother is dying and we need that you give him blood that he may live on! And the child after much frightful moments, said 'yes'. And once that blood was given to the ailing brother, the twin turned to the parents and asked: 'okay, now that I have given it, when will I die?' Giving blood that child thought, was to die and give life to the sick brother! God did exactly the same. The Son of God gave us his life to redeem us. The life we have is the life of God. We are living a life that is lent to us. We have brought in death into the world and into our own lives, by our faulty choices and warped priorities; but God has given us life so that we may live on in spite of our iniquities. Our life has been leased to us!

LIFE IN GOD

Whether we touch God or God touches us, God gives us life, a renewed life, a holistic life, a life that is abundant. I have come that you may have life, life in all its fullness - declared Our Blessed Lord. Reaching out to the Lord, or the Lord reaching out to us, we receive a new lease of life! All our brokenness, our sinfulness, our sicknesses, our infirmities, our inner conflicts... everything will be whisked away with that one glimpse from the eyes of the Lord. All that we need to do, is surrender into the hands of God and receive life from God's hands. At times we think or act as if 'my life belongs to me'! And in that vision of life, I will have added nothing but pain and meaninglessness to my life, which will show up at a moment when it would seem a point of no return. And then would follow depression, desperation and desolation. But if from the very moment that I realise, if I would begin to live my life, as a life lived in God, I would save myself a life that is so meaningful and wholesome.

The God of life has given me the very life of God, and all I need to do is resolve to live my life IN GOD.