A Clarity amidst all confusions

Wednesday, 17th week in Ordinary time

August 1, 2018: Jer 15:10, 20-21; Mt 13: 44-46

The first reading pictures to us Jeremiah as a person totally lost, confused, demoralised a bit and to an extent even at his wit's end. He speaks of how miserable he is and how he is surrounded by the evil doers and god haters. However, amidst all these confusions, there is a constant clarity that is visible: the clarity that God is for him. He was convinced, whoever be against him, God was for him. As St. Paul puts it, "if God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom 8:31). That clarity is the lesson today!

Once again falling back  to the first reading we see that, Jeremiah endures all pain and suffering, all persecution and injustice for the sake of the mission entrusted to him, because he was confident that it was God who has entrusted it to him. Like the treasure hidden in the field and that exceptional pearl sighted among the rest, he had the promises of God well fixed in his mind. That was enough a reason for him to risk even his life.

We have had great saints in history who have lived this life of prophecy, who have lived their lives in the midst of utter confusions and endless tribulations. All of them were ready to give up anything in life, or even give up their life, because they had unearthed an unbelievable treasure in the midst of that barren land, because they had sighted the most precious stone in the midst of all the deceiving glitters. If we find the Lord, if we become aware of what the Lord has to offer us, we shall have that enviable clarity amidst confusion; and that alone is enough for a meaningful living.

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam...

Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola...

Tuesday, 17th week in Ordinary time

July 31, 2018: Jer 14: 17-22; Mt 13: 36-43

I was wondering why the Lord made me today listen to a person who was out of the blue sharing with me the whole lot of his personal vocational journey. I was restless to get back to my room to finish up a few commitments of the day, but the person would not leave me. After a long session of listening to the person, I come to reflect on the Word and It strikes me with such a bolt: Rescue us O Lord for the glory of your name! The person was sharing with me the possibility of how so much of our own personal glory and ego could get mixed up with what we call, 'God's will'. 

Killings and Insensitive acts against human dignity fill the dailies of these days. Scandals abound in the Church which I love and treasure. Uncertainties and clueless difficulties keep increasing by the day. Things which we have been upholding for centuries are brought under ruthless questioning at times - and the first reading brought this scenario to my mind with such lucidity. And I questioned, 'why Lord? why this today?'

The Gospel came as a response: because there is evil along with what is truly good; there are intentions and projects initiated by the enemy but everything looks like good. Do not be eager to judge what is good and what is evil - you cannot; you will go wrong! "WAIT" said the Lord. The only thing that you can judge is your own intentions and your own purposes and your own projects and your own thinking! Be sincere - identify the grain and the darnel, but within you! Distinguish the seed from the weed, but within you! What you hold on to, is it from the Lord or is it from the evil one?

Whatever you wish, whatever you say or whatever you do, let it be to give glory to God and to God alone! We have a great example of this in St. Ignatius of Loyola who lived, worked and initiated a movement all for the greater glory of God. Let this wonderful motto be ours too: Ad maiorem Dei gloriam - to the greater glory of God!

The God of small things!

Monday, 17th week in Ordinary time

July 30, 2018: Jer 13: 1-11; Mt 13: 31-35

God chose what was foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what was weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what was low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor 1:27-29). 

Jesus is fond of presenting his Father as the God of small things! He thanks God for keeping the secrets from the elites but revealing them to children (cf. Lk 10:21) and compares the Reign of God to a mustard seed and to a pinch of yeast. He invites us to learn of his meekness and humility (cf. Mt 11:30) and mediates the salvific love of God through his sheer obedience (cf. 2 Phil). Mindful of this, St. Paul sighs, "what do we have that we have not received?" (cf. 1 Cor 4:7).

At times when religious opinions clash on the floor of the social networks these days, we notice quite many who fight tooth and nail to establish that they are right, desperately wanting to "defend" God. Though it is an admirable gesture, most of the times I end up smiling within me. Let us remind ourselves of our smallness before God! It is nothing more than a realistic understanding of what we are in front of the majesty that God is adorned with. It is better to be a small little thing in the presence of God than a mighty big being without God. It just would not make any sense; not forever! 

The foolish man says in his heart, 'there is no god' - derides the Psalmist (14:1). The secret lies in keeping it simple and being grateful for every small thing that we have; for our God is a God of small things!

HAND IN HAND WITH GOD

The Need... a heart, an eye and a mind!

17th Sunday in Ordinary time: 29th July, 2018

2 Kgs 4: 42-44; Eph 4: 1-6; Jn 6: 1-15

The times are bad...those are the words that we hear from almost all contexts today. Economic or Cultural or Moral or Political or Religious... every corner of human existence seems to echo this judgement invariably. Need, misery, unbalanced growth, neglect of a majority, domination of a few, the gross problem of the migrants, resistance and revolts all over, a general sense of loss of meaning and a sort of helplessness that fills the minds of every person of good will... that is what the scene looks like today!

What am I going to do? That is the most pertinent question at the moment. Am I going to give in to that sense of helplessness and hopelessness. That cannot be a Christian attitude, says the Word today. I need to work hand in hand with God and things will surely change. I am fond of a movie titled, I am Gabriel, which begins and ends with the same frame - a shot of village name board. In the opening shot the board reads, 'where good things never happen' and the closing shot has the same board and the same reading, with that "never" erased! Where good things happen! Nothing much has changed; just a word removed and the entire sense changes. Even in that village during the movie, nothing much happens but the entire village goes through a revival! How do we revive the earth, and the humanity... by acting hand in hand with God.

GIVE... a heart to give - that is the essential correction needed for the humanity today. We need to have a heart to give, to give with all our heart. That is what God does. God gives, and gives, and gives! When we begin to grow within us a heart to give, to truly give not merely of what we do not want, nor of what is excess with us but of ourselves and of what we actually need and of all that we have, that is Giving after the heart of God. God is essentially a Giver! Elijah is ready to Give, Jesus wants to Give, God is ever ready to Give! Do I have the heart to Give?

OTHERS...an eye for the others - is the radical perspective that needs to guide humanity today. People have ceased to think of the other. Whether a daily scene of jostling in the public places like railway stations or bus terminus or the national politics and policy lobbying...every where humanity has grown cold to the other, thinking only of the self, only of the petty private interests. Even when they think of the common good, they think of what is common to a small circle to where they belong, and not the Greater Common Good...the good of the whole humanity, the good of the whole world - Lokasamgraha, Sarvodhaya, vasudhaiva kutumbaka,  Universal brotherhood and Sisterhood, the care for the Common Home...these have become merely wishful thinking!

DO... a mind determined to do - this is the fundamental mindset that can redeem the situation today. At times the good willed persons can lose heart seeing the enormity of the opposition. But that will only be a curse on ourselves. The Word today presents to us the determination of the man who brought the barley loaves to Elijah, Philip who brought the boy with the few loaves to Jesus...they knew what they were doing actually is nothing before the task that lay before them, but they were kind of determined about what they were doing. The One Lord who takes care of everything, the One Lord who is aware of everything, the One Lord who just waiting for us to do our simple part and take our responsible place in this humanity, will see to the needed revival. The Lord will provide the change that is needed for the times, but the times require that we act hand in hand with God. 

In Giving, in being sensitive to the Other, and in being determined to Do..., we act hand in hand with God, infact we initiate the very "new thing" that God wants to do - the new heavens and the new earth, the Reign of God here and now!

Harvest is Cutting!

Saturday,  16th week in Ordinary time 

July 28, 2018: Jer 7:1-11; Mt 13: 24-30

Yesterday we spoke of bearing fruits and today we speak of harvest. Harvest is not merely fruit bearing; it's also cutting. It is a sign that enough time has been given to an individual to make up one's mind. Compromises and conveniences abound in today's life style and it does not disturb a casual conscience.

There is the other extreme of a conscience which pictures the Lord of the harvest as a tyrant, a heartless landlord and a stringent due collector. It makes life look like a misery,  every bit of it so precarious, as if I am pressurised, as if I am driven to frustration with all the strife of the world. That is not truly a Christian vision of life.

Christian way of life is all about taking responsibility for every choice that one makes, mindful of the experiences that have shaped one, graces that have gratuitously enriched the person, undeserved love that has been invested in the person and the great hopes that are pinned with respect on to the person. 

When we look at it this way, the Lord comes across as a loving and merciful father and a kind and compassionate mother who gives life and leads us every moment by our hand and empowers us to bear fruit. 

However, it is  our choice to bear fruit or not. We have to make that choice in time, before we  realise, the harvest would be around. And harvest is cutting; that we cannot forget or change!

Grow up and Bear Fruit...

Friday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 27, 2018: Jer 3: 14-17; Mt 13: 18-23

The discourse of Sunday is still running through - that of the Shepherd. The Lord is our Shepherd and has given us all that we need to live our life to the full, yet we falter at times and the reason is because we are "disloyal children" of God, as Jeremiah reminds us today. The Shepherd is faithful and diligent, but on our part we are childish and distracted. The good news is that the Lord never gets discouraged! The Shepherd never abandons. 

Let's pause here to look at another important dimension of the discourse - that is what the readings in liaison with each other wish to call our attention to. The Shepherd is faithful and the Shepherd is perfect but what about us? It can be too convenient for us to imagine ourselves as sheep, and take advantage of the helplessness that characterises a sheep. But the readings today introduce another imagery: the crops and the need to bear fruit. 

The Lord has given us all that we need to live, to be nourished and to bear fruit, in our own way and capacity! The Lord has not given all of us the same goal and does not wait at the finish ready to rank us in succession. No. We are each given a goal that is unique, a call that is personal and a commission that is specific. All that we need to do is give our hundred percent. In comparison that hundred could be 30 or 60 or 100, but that does not matter as long as I have given my hundred percent and borne the fruit that I got to. 

Grow up and Bear Fruit, the Lord invites. It is fine to take shelter under the Lord as a timid little sheep but that is not all that you are! Grow up and bear fruit and you shall be called truly Children of God. 

Grandparents' Day!

26th July, 2018: Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary

The first setting in which faith enlightens humanity is the family, declares the encyclical Lumen Fidei (52). It further explains that passing of faith in the family happens in the process of shared expression of faith within the family, helping children to become aware of their faith and grow and mature in it. 

Christian faith is always communitarian and it is passed on primarily in the family. Recently someone observed to me, sharing on the level of faith being lived (or practiced) in Europe vis-a-vis in India, that one major reason for the degeneration in Europe is the weakening of the institution of the family. Those who hand on faith to us are really God-given. Most important among them, our parents and grandparents who not only give us life but show us also how to live it, from their own experience. 

Celebrating a day to remember the parents of Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, provides us an opportunity to remember with thanks these our fore-runners in faith, as the first reading suggests, 'let us praise famous persons, our parents in their generations. These were persons of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten' (Sir  44:1,10). Infact, thanks to them, we are in a position better than them due to their hard work, great example and their dreams for us! Jesus acknowledges that in his words (Mt 13:16-17) and exhorts us to live up to our blessedness, our giftedness, worthy of the faith and tradition that is transmitted to us, from our predecessors. 

The transmission that the grandparents effect is a practical and concrete transmission of lived faith. It deals with right practice and right living. Faith in its very essence has an all-embracing quality of transforming the entire life of a person and the community to which the person belongs. Let us treasure our traditions, transform our todays and thus pave way for meaningful tomorrows. Let us pray for our Grandparents specially today and honour them in some little way. 

A grateful remembrance of our grandparents if they are no more, or a bear hug to them if they are still with us, will be in place today! 

Jesus' School of Servant Leadership

July 25, 2018: Remembering St. James

2 Cor 4: 7-15; Mt 20: 20-28

Feast of any Apostle reminds us of the wonderful words that St. Paul utters today: "we hold this treasure in earthen vessels". Every apostle has his own weakness, nevertheless the gift that they are and that they possess, surpasses everything as God's power and might is revealed in it.

Feast of St. James (with the Gospel that we are given to reflect today) reminds us of this more strongly and adds another specific teaching, a teaching from Jesus' School of Servant Leadership. In Matthew's and Mark's versions of the Gospel, we find every time that Jesus foretells about his passion, he follows it up with the discourse on servant leadership (as we see in Mt 16:24ff; 18:1ff; 20:20ff). James and John took time to realise that the only thing we can inherit from Jesus is his identity as Suffering Servant!

Eventually they wanted to bear the crown that Jesus mentioned and that is what they did. James led the community of Jerusalem... humble and service minded as the Master himself; and his blood shed like the Master's (Acts 12:2). Let us praise the Lord for the apostle St. James and be prepared to witness to the Lord till our last breath!

Mercy and Faithfulness

Tuesday,  16th week in Ordinary Time 

Mic 7: 14-15,18-20; Mt 12: 46-50a

The message that enlightened us on Sunday, continues through the week too...calling our attention to the faithfulness of the Shepherd who has committed himself to our good, without measure or without limits. The most concrete expression of God's faithfulness is God's mercy which is so boundless and plentiful. 

We are called to be merciful too: be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful, instructed us Jesus once. Our concrete way of living out mercy is being faithful to the biddings of the Lord. Being faithful to the biddings of the Lord would consist of being attentive to everything around me, being truly concerned about everyone around me and being open to the promptings of the Spirit within me.

Mercy is not about doing some charitable acts here and there and now and then. But it is becoming like God, growing in our godliness and being signs of God's faithfulness to those who are in need of it. Being God's presence to those around us, especially those who need it the most, who need it badly, who depend on it for their sustenance. 

The starting point of growing merciful, that is growing up to be like God, is to listen to the Lord and do what the Lord wants of us. That is the only way we can grow to be children of God and become truly brothers and sisters of the Son of God, our brother Jesus Christ. 

Want to see signs? Here is a project of life

Monday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 23, 2018: Mic 6: 1-4, 6-8; Mt 12: 38-42

"To do the right and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God" - Micah presents a project of life in these precise words (Mic 6:8). It is a project that he gives to the people to walk in the Lord's ways and not to weary the Lord with their unfaithfulness and stubbornness. 

How different are we from the people whom Micah addresses today in the first reading? Aren't we just like the pharisees and the others who were incessantly asking for signs from the Lord? Crying statues, bleeding icons, moving crosses... do not they continue to be a craze these days! Should they be? 

Of course, for us miracles are a daily feature, because our God is an awesome God. But looking for some strange phenomenon and glamorous happenings, is not the "Christ"ian outlook of a miracle. For Christ the miracle is in the hope that we can give each other; miracle is in the love that we share with every one around us; miracle is the everyday faith in the Lord and the resultant serenity amidst all the din. 

Let's resolve to do the right, love goodness and walk humbly with the Lord and we will see miracles all around us, on a daily basis!