Shalom - carrying God's message

WORD 2day: Thursday, 14th week in Ordinary Time 

July 11, 2019: Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29, 45:1-5; Matthew 10: 7-15

The theme of yesterday continues still - Being sent, and sent on a mission! The Lord sends the twelve to carry his message to all the people of Israel,  a message of gladness, healing,  restoration,  peace and joy,  in short Shalom! 

As Joseph notes in the last verse of the first reading today, "it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you". It was with a mission that Jesus was sent to us and it is with a mission that Jesus sends us today - he says to each of us: "As the father sent me, so I send you"(Jn 20:21). 

Each of us is sent! Sent with the promise of Shalom; Shalom which is fullness of blessings that we wish for every brother or sister in the Lord,  or for that matter that is what we wish for the whole world as sons and daughters of the Good Lord. We may wonder, why the whole world... is it not only those who are good to me; those who are my well wishers? But the Lord and the Word today have it otherwise.

We are presented with the example of Joseph who in spite of all that they did to him tells the rest of the sons of Jacob,  "I am your brother"! Isn't that the true Christian attitude expected of us. This is possible only if we look at everything from the perspective of God as did Joseph, and of course Jesus! That is shalom... not just being good to those who are good, but being good and... period - irrespective of what others are and what the world is.

Let this day be another opportunity for us to carry the Lord's message today: Shalom to all! 

His Band... of brothers and sisters

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 10, 2019: Genesis 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a; Matthew 10: 1-7

The Twelve... that is the common element in the two readings today. The 12 tribes and the 12 apostles was not a mere coincidence, it was more than that. It was a choice to resemble because the Lord was raising a new people of God, the New Israel, a new band of brothers and sisters. 

The naming of the Apostles - with a function given to them: to chase the evil spirits and to heal the sick! Apostles are those who are 'sent' (literally too, 'apostolos' in Greek); sent in the name of God with a specific mission. Joseph of the Old Testament, was an apostle too - sent ahead by God to Egypt in order to provide for God's people at a later time! Providing was yet another important mission of God. So, providing for God's people, liberating them from the ungodly forces and giving them a life in all its fullness - those are the duties of an apostle, on behalf of the Lord who sends him or her. And all these carried out for one purpose to make present the Reign of God amidst the people here and now! 

Jesus had a big following, that is, his disciples and from them he sends these 'Apostles'; we are among his disciples already by our Baptism and he wants to send each of us with a specific mission. And each of us sent, exactly to where we are - to our homes, to our neighbourhoods, to our parishes, to our societies... to establish the Reign of God, that is, to assure the needs of all, to stand by the neglected and guarantee them their rights, to stand against the ungodly forces, the unjust systems, the corrupt and inhuman dominations, to empower the people towards a peaceful, serene and human existence. 

When Pope Francis calls the Church to "take to the streets of the world" and to "reach the very outskirts of existence", he is reminding us our call as 'apostles', and our mission as heralds of the Reign of God. Have I made real efforts to understand my call and my mission as an apostle, the Lord's band of brothers and sisters.

The Struggle of life and death

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 9, 2019: Genesis 32: 22-32; Matthew 9: 32-38

It's puzzling! Among a few puzzling details of the Old Testament is the likes of today's account from Jacob's life. The Lord (!?!) wrestled with Jacob, says the reading today - and elsewhere we see a similar account of God trying to kill Moses (Exo 4:24). Whatever may be the exegesis, the first disclaimer here is not to take these lines literally. There is a symbolic or a interpretative meaning to these happenings! 

One thing we can guess here is that these men had something really to struggle with, a struggle of life and death! But they stood firm on the side of the Lord who had called them and after that struggle of life and death, there is something remarkable, a change that is radical, a happening that defines history forever. For, Jacob after that struggle comes to be called Israel, a name that would define the People of God forever. Incidentally, Moses after that struggle comes to establish a new covenant with the Lord in the sign of circumcision - again something that would define the People of the Covenant, ever since. 

Jesus had the same struggle, constantly there were people who followed him as there were the others who tried their best to demonise him (Mt 9:34). The struggle went on right till the cross - the struggle of life and death, but he stood by the Father who had sent him. And after that struggle, he was not anymore merely Jesus, but Jesus the Christ; there came the event that changed the World for ever, it changed the history not only of the world in general, but of you and me in specific! Today we are saved, in his struggle, in his death, in his wounds, in  his blood and in his Resurrection! 

The question to me is - how ready and willing am I for a struggle?

Encounter that touches!

WORD 2day: Monday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 8, 2019: Genesis 28: 10-22; Matthew 9: 18-26 

Encounter with God - the Word presents three of them today. Jacob's encounter with God, the ailing lady and the little child encountering Jesus. There are two messages that stand out in the entirety of today's events. 

Firstly, any encounter with God rejuvenates. Jacob was given a new vision of life; the lady with the hemorrhage was given a new life; and the little child was given back her life! One cannot remain the same after having encountered God. 

The second message, which is carried specially by the Gospel account, is about the special encounter through TOUCH - It is interesting to note the two accounts of Luke which seem to point to a fact: whether you touch God or God touches you, the fruits are the same! The lady sad and suffering touched Jesus, and Jesus touched the little child dead and gone... the effect was the same - a new lease of life. 

Touching God or God touching us, they are the same - for they both are fundamentally an encounter and "Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love" (Lumen Fidei, 4). 

May be another important feature can be underlined too - that God met Jacob on a ground  and while he slept; Jesus encountered the diseased lady on a road and amidst a jostling crowd; Jesus touched the little girl in a room and while she lay dead! It does not matter where we are, or what we are upto, the living God can encounter us anywhere and anytime, provided we are ready and willing to accept and behold the encounter. 

Behold I stand knocking at the door, says the Lord!

THE MAN, THE MESSAGE & THE MESSENGER

Reign of God is at hand!  

14th Sunday in Ordinary time - July 7, 2019
Isaiah 66: 10-14; Galatians 6: 14-18; Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20

The history of salvation is one long process by which the Almighty has continually tried to reveal to humanity, who God is and what human beings are in relationship to God! As the letter to the Hebrews declares it succinctly, "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son", the Son who personified Godhood, yet participated in the humanity to the full. One who was like us in everything except sin. He was a Man, a Man who was the Incarnate Son of God. And when he set about revealing God to us, he revealed in terms that no one else had done so far and no one else could do thenceforth. 

That was the Man - He was the Lord, not the Messiah in the sense that the Jews of his time wanted, but the Lord of the Cross and the Lord of Consolation! He came to bring Consolation to the last, the lost and least... as Isaiah promises in the First Reading. He said, I came to call the sinners, ate with them, moved with them, worshiped with them and spoke to them of the boundless forgiving love of God and gave them an immense consolation. That was his mission, as Luke says 'the consolation of Israel'(Luke 2:25). 

But that was not all, he was also the Lord of the Cross! The mission of liberation, the act of salvation, the moment of consolation, he accomplished through the Cross! It is not just about the wood on which he hung pouring out his last drop of blood and water, but the whole life - a life filled with rejections and ridicules, contradictions and conflicts, plotters and traitors! That is the life he chose for himself, suffered but remained faithful to his mission - that of announcing the Reign of God! 

That was his Message - the Reign of God! The message of hope and light to the humanity. While there is so much of crisis and cruelty, so much of selfishness and pride, so much of injustice and pain, the message of the Reign of God- assures happiness, serenity, fullness of life, justice and prosperity. All this on condition that we place God first and foremost. A situation where humanity adheres to God, listens to God's will and strains itself to take God's project forward. This Message is first to be Received by us, that is welcomed in our hearts and lived in our days. 

Not just receiving, but the Message has to be Recounted, that is, passed on to the others. And that is what Jesus was particular about! When his disciples accepted his message, he did not stop with that he sent them forward, to go and to announce, to recount their story of having found the Messiah, their experience of having tasted the Reign in the person of Jesus Christ. That is that sign of truly and totally having received, to long to recount.

These are the Messengers - the medium and the message, those whom he sent were not just to announce in words but primarily through their lives. And that is why Jesus gave them so many directions as to how to conduct their lives; he forms them into his model of discipleship - characterised by Total Dependence on God and Utmost Respect for Human Liberty. The Church today carries out the same mode of evangelisation - total dependence on God and utmost respect for human liberty. The Messengers were first of all asked to be the Medium, that is they were to be worthy of the message that they carried. 

Secondly, they were asked to be the message itself! As Jesus who came to reveal God and he was God himself, the messengers are today called to manifest Christ to the World and be another Christ themselves. Mere words and claims can never inspire any hope in the tattered world today, selfless actions and an authentic life alone can. This requires that thoughts and attitudes change and grow up, grow up to be like Christ: put on the mind of Christ, says the Apostle Paul.

We are the Messengers today who are first of all called to listen to the Message that Christ has for us, believe in that Message and transform ourselves! As transformed believers we are called to take that message to others through our own lives, founded on Christ; thus becoming the presence of Christ to the others, true to the name that we assume - Christ-ians.

In a world that is so filled with crises and cruelties, can our lives truly offer a message, a message of hope and love and peace? Can we free our minds from demands and expectations, fill our lives with gratitude and recognition, thus inspiring the world towards real joy and true peace!

To be predilected children!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 6, 2019: Genesis 27: 1-5, 15-29; Matthew 9: 14-17

Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you! To be God's "predilected" child (if I can use that term) is an incredible honour; and that is what we are. (How beautifully John expresses this in 1Jn 3:1-3!). In the corrupt culture of the day, it is pretty easy to understand this predilection...  a VIP's son or daughter, or a person who has the backing of a key personality in the society gets above anybody and everybody else to win favours in the society! 

Jacob was the chosen one, he was the one picked to bring forth the 'predilected' people of God. And because he was chosen, everything works in his favour. Unjust! Unfair! Undeserved! - we might say all that and all that is true! God's love that is 'poured' into our hearts (Rom 5:5: not just given but poured into our hearts); it is unjustly given, unfairly lavished, undeservedly heaped on us. What a way to communicate that truth via the story of Jacob - a cheater yes, but who becomes an identity for God on earth - God refers to Godself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and God of Jacob! 

This logic is totally different! This logic will not fit into the usual logic of the give-and-take, the cause-and-effect; this is a totally different logic of God's love, God's prodigal love for each of us. And if we try to fit this into the normal logic we will be frustrated, like pouring new wine in old skin, or old wine in new skin or stitching a new cloth to an old shrunken one! The call is to be drenched in this entirely unconditional love of God, and to understand how privileged I am to receive this love; and the most important of all, to exhibit that awareness in concrete, day to day actions and attitudes. 

Mercy not Sacrifice

WORD 2day: Friday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 5, 2019: Genesis 23:1-4,19, 24:1-8, 62-67; Matthew 9: 9-13.

Mercy not Sacrifice! Mercy and Sacrifice actually stood for two paradigms that were in confrontation as a result of Jesus' life and teaching. God and one's relationship to God was explained purely in terms of sacrifice, sacrifice which stood for fulfillment of the requirements based on regulations and customs. The challenge is alive even today - that we do not make our spirituality a sacrifice-based spirituality. 

Fulfillment of the precepts, keeping the commandments, making vows and carrying out the same, offering suffrages and being faithful to our prayers to be 'said'. Mercy, instead is fundamentally a relationship. I remember our Scripture professor explaining the meaning of the hebrew word for mercy - rahamim (or rachamim) which comes from the root, rehem (or rechem) which means "womb". 

Biblically, as Jesus uses, mercy thus refers to a compassion one feels to a child in the womb or a bond very intimate that arouses a warm feeling towards the other! Far from, doing something to help the other or giving something to someone in need, Mercy is to feel one with the other, specially to someone who is really in need. That is why the statement of Jesus that follows, I have come not to call the righteous but the sinners - a feeling one with the needy! 

When we really feel one with someone in trouble, or difficulty, or temptation, or a struggle, much before branding that person a 'sinner' or a 'weakling' or a 'traitor' or a 'infidel', we would try to stay close to him or her, find out what actually is going on and share moments of solidarity that would walk that person right out of that situation. That is what Jesus did and that is what he expects of you and me!

Faith - an Unquestioning Submission

WORD 2day: Thursday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 4, 2019: Genesis 22: 1-19; Matthew 9: 1-8

Abraham and his story has reached its climax today! An episode that escapes all rational discourse on God, God's will, God's mercy and Faith. If it is so difficult for us today as we read and reflect, it is not difficult to imagine the perplexity of a man who could possibly in Abraham's shoes. He would have been battling in his mind as to what really God wants from him, why does God give and why does God want to take it away so prematurely! 

Perplexities are more for one who believes more and one who believes more is prepared for more perplexities. Abraham personifies this fact - but in all his perplexities - he gives us a definition of what means Obedience of Faith (that latter becomes a key word for St.Paul in his letters). 

Obedience of Faith, in simple terms is putting God first. Placing God's will before anything else, before my will, my desire, my plans and projects, my dreams and my treasures! It is perfect submission to God's will, even when I really do not understand what that actually is. Abraham never understood what God's will was, just as the pharisees and the Scribes never understood who Jesus was. But the difference was, Abraham was ready to submit but the latter did not want to. They held on to their judgments and prejudices, which did not allow them to see God's presence and action unfold right in front of their eyes. 

Our call to faith - that is our call to respond to God who loves and communicates to us so personally - invites us to make this loving leap of faith in God as did Abraham, without doubting the presence of the Lord at any point of time. Faith is a total, loving and unquestioning submission to the Divine Will.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Celebrating the Feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle

July 3, 2019: Ephesians 2:19-24; John 20: 24-29

The first reading celebrates the unity we have as a community of faith, with the Apostles. The Apostles are the foundations of our faith says the reading and the liturgy proclaims the same truth too! Celebrating St. Thomas today, the diverse legends not withstanding, we thank God for this great Apostle, specially for having brought Christian faith to the South of India. 

"Bringing Faith", "Passing on Faith", "Transmitting or Communicating Faith" - these terms puzzle me. Faith is a gift from God, a grace, an inspired response given by a person to the Self-revealing God! If so, can faith be 'brought', 'passed on' or 'transmitted or communicated'? The question does not in anyway negate the process that is referred to here with gratitude and recognition of history; instead it offers an opportunity to bring forth a nuance that dazzles within it. 

Transmitting faith or Communicating faith, means primarily testimony of one's faith, that inspires faith in others! The testimony of one's personal response to God, that inspires the others to respond likewise! The Apostles' way of transmitting faith was that, they responded to the God who revealed God's self and in that response they challenged all who were around to respond to the same Lord! 

The story told of St. Thomas and his evangelising activity in the southern part of India, is basically a testimony lived and held out as a challenge. The Challenge is not merely to accept the testimony, but to become a testimony ourselves and continue being the salt and the light of the earth! 

May St. Thomas inspire us!

Troubles all over... but we in perfect safety!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 2, 2019: Genesis 19: 15-29; Matthew 8: 23-27 

Fire and brimstone all over, but Lot and his family in perfect safety... all because of, says the scripture, one man who walked in the presence of the Lord - Abraham! It was on Abraham's account, due to his faithfulness to God and his unswerving decision to live in the presence of the Lord, that Lot is saved! Even there, nothing could prevent the perishing of his wife, a typical representation of the category of persons who have lost their heart and soul to overly attachments. 

How closely parallel the scene is, to that of the Gospel today - storms and waves all over, but disciples in perfect safety... all because of one person who WAS the very presence of the Lord - Jesus, the Son of God! They had nothing to fear, for the Lord was with them. But there was panic and desperation, for their heart and soul was not focused on the Lord who was with them... they were focused on themselves and their problems and their dying prospects. When Jesus rose, he first rebuked the disciples; only then the storm and the sea. 

Today, don't we find ourselves in a similar situation too? Problems and Weariness all over, but we are in perfect safety... all because the Lord's presence is with us! The Lord journeys with us, lives with us, and acts on our behalf... all that we need to do is like Abraham, "Be Still and Know" that God is!