GET YOUR BASICS RIGHT, OH CHRISTIAN!!!

January 19, 2020: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 49: 3,5,6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1: 29-34

We have been busy celebrating feasts one after the other! It's time to return to the Ordinary Sundays and probably, the right beginning is to get our basics right, as sons and daughters of God. Today the readings speak to us about living our Christian life on an everyday basis... in our ordinariness of life! Festive occasions make it easier to feel the joy of the moment; but the demanding call is to live our life on a daily basis, to live it fully, faithfully and meaningfully.

Jesus is about to begin his public ministry, and like an MC (Master of Ceremonies) in a performance, John the Baptist announces Christ's entry into the scene! With Jesus' entry and his public life, our life as Christians, our call as sons and daughters of God and our identity as disciples of Christ are clearly defined. And that is what the liturgy today intends to do... to clarify the basics to us, so that we may live our Christian calling everyday of our life. 

The readings seem to reflect with us in terms of the basic Question Words...

WHO? WHAT?

The first question is about who we are and what we are? Isaiah gives a direct response to it: we are the light of the nations! We are called, we know that. But, as what? To do the will of God, yes; to be ever at the disposal of the will of God and say, "Here am I Lord, I come to do your will" (Heb 10:7) But doing the Will not merely as servants but as 'the light of the nations!' 

We are called not merely as workers but as witnesses. "Called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" ...that is the answer to the Who and the What, of our Christian life. We are called to live our life as witnesses...witness is our first mode of proclaiming Christ and His gospel. It is not what we do that matters most, rather what we wish to communicate through what we do! Do we want to tell the world about ourselves, our goodness, our greatness and our inevitability? Or do we want to communicate to them the goodness of the Lord, the Gospel of the Father, the grace and peace of Christ and love of the Spirit? What we wish to communicate would determine whether we are merely workers or witnesses!

WHY? WHERE?

Why should we be doing God's will and where are we bound to? In simple terms, what is our goal? What are we called for? The Word of God is vociferous on this point, be it in the Old Testament or in the New Testament: We are called to Holiness... We are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy - says the second reading today. Holiness consists of a clarity of one's own identity as Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist demonstrate in the readings today: to know who we are and what we are, and thus realising why we are doing all that we do and where we are going towards! 

We are called, not to a mediocre life, but to live our life to the full... that is a life of real holiness. If everything that we do in our daily life, does not ultimately lead us to sanctification and holiness, that is in simple words fullness of life, we are on a mistaken journey. It might seem colourful at the moment, but will soon end up gloomy and grey. A clairty on the why and the where, will determine our daily choices, will define every aspect of our Christian living - our family life, our career, our spiritual life, our personal life and so on. Only when we are clear about our purpose, our lives shall be lived to the full.

WHICH? HOW?
The next question is, which way? and how do we reach that holiness? Is it my achievement? Is it some kind of a detached discipline of life that looks at every one around as a distraction and disturbance? Is it a elitist view of life, keeping myself above everyone, trying to be as less contaminated as possible, so that I can reach God and godliness? Are these points of view Christ-ian at all?

Christian life cannot be just a me-and-God type of a life. It has to be lived in a Community! From the very beginning, Christ-experience and the message of Christ has been lived and passed on by a community. The readings underline this community aspect with the terms like, light of the 'nations', 'to all those everywhere who call upon the name of the Lord', and 'Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world'... We are in the Unity Octave, which this year invites us to see God working through people and places which offer Unusual Kindness, which we will notice if only we would do the appropriate kind of looking.  

Now the only question that is left is, When? But that is established right in the beginning...Now, Today, Here, in the Ordinariness of our daily life... every day of our ordinary life... we are called to live mindful of our identity as children of God, called and sanctified by Christ towards holiness, living to spread God's love to the entire world... as light of the nations, in footsteps of the Lamb of God who calls us as a community of faith and love! 

UNUSUAL KINDNESS - UNITY OCTAVE DAY 1

Saturday - January 18, 2020

CALL: RECONCILIATION

The WORD says...

Acts 27: 18-19, 21

“We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard… Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.”

Let us PRAY...

Reconciling God,

as we feel the pain of past mistakes,

shy away and retreat to individual strongholds;

help us surrender

a false sense of who we are,

all that tethers us,

and all that we hold precious.

Bind us to humility and compassion,

as we learn together,

to receive from You,

abide in You and Your love. Amen

Let us REFLECT...

·      What are the important things we need to carry with us as we journey together towards unity?

·      What things might we need to let go of as we journey together towards unity? What challenges does that bring?

·      What are our shared hopes for our community? What might our common prayers for our community be?

What to DO...

Global: 

Be inspired to unity by the churches of South Sudan and their work for reconciliation.

Local: 

How might the churches in your area dialogue around the issues affecting your wider community? 

Personal: 

Seek reconciliation for a broken relationship in your life

[courtesy: www.ctbi.org.uk/weekofprayer]

UNUSUAL KINDNESS

UNITY OCTAVE 2020

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - 2020

We look but what kind of looking do we do? How do we see and understand ourselves, especially in light of our relationship with the Living Christ? We know that God speaks to us in still small voices, but also in the people and places we least expect. In supposed barren hard places there can spring unimaginable beauty and nourishment.

In spite of the turbulence of the world at the present time, we also discover acts of kindness, of love, forgiveness and hospitality in places or from people we did not expect. As in the natural world, there are still the places where the water of life seeps into the mainstream and brings colour and joy and offers a hopeful future. 

We are invited in this year’s Week Of Prayer for Christian Unity materials to see God working through people and places which offer unusual kindness. If only we would do the appropriate kind of looking. 

This year's resources are prepared by the churches of Malta, who have come together to inspire and invite us to pray!

Introduction to this year's Theme: 

Our prayer for Christian unity is deeply rooted in the Bible. We pray for unity because Jesus prayed that His disciples would be one, that the world might believe (John 17:20-21). St Paul also urged the churches to which he wrote to recognise their unity in Christ, even though there was much diversity within them (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). 

For the churches in Malta, the Bible has special relevance for the shared life of the churches there, for the Gospel first came to Malta in the events that are told in the Acts of the Apostles, where St Paul and those with him encountered unusual kindness from the inhabitants. Many people in Britain and Ireland will have visited Malta on holiday and seen the place where these events are believed to have taken place. This is a reminder that Christianity is not merely a spirituality, but a faith rooted in events in human history: the redemption of humanity and the whole of creation. The unity for which we pray therefore serves to make Christ known in the world. 

The story of St Paul’s being shipwrecked on Malta in Acts 27 and 28 leads us, during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, to reflect upon many aspects of our own lives and the lives of our churches. As we approach one another, seeking unity, we recognize that we sometimes carry baggage from history, tradition and cultural expectation, which can weigh us down and threaten to overwhelm us. There is the danger that, in the face of that experience, we might lose sight of the hope which first called us and so give up reaching for the light which Christ offers us. 

St Paul challenged his fellow travellers, sailors, soldiers and prisoners to keep up their courage. In the face of apparent desperation and hopelessness, we are challenged to put our trust in God and allow ourselves to be held and carried through the waters. There will be times when we are broken, as individuals and as churches, and looking back we shall see not just the one set of footprints in the sand, but hundreds, as we are surrounded and supported by those who love us. There will be times when, standing in the storms of our own making, we are challenged to demonstrate unusual kindness in the face of worldly indifference. 

To demonstrate unusual kindness is to see the sister and brother in the monster’s shame and know that they too are children of God. To demonstrate unusual kindness is to give without counting the cost, and to allow ourselves to be given unto without questioning worth. As we reflect upon, and pray for, Christian unity, we acknowledge the injury that we have caused, the pain that we carry, the baggage that we must jettison. We pray for Christian unity as the place from which we can move onward in faith and in hope for the redemption of the world and the restoration of creation. 

For this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we accompany the churches of Malta, praying with and alongside them, praying also for them in their Christian journey as they seek the unity for which Christ prayed. And we rejoice with them that Malta traces its Christian origins back to the time of the Apostles. And in so doing, we enter into the drama of St Paul, those that travelled with him, and the inhabitants whom they met, to discover our shared unity, and in so doing recognise the importance of unusual acts of kindness that bear witness to the Gospel of peace and reconciliation.

[courtesy: www.ctbi.org.uk/weekofprayer]

The King in search...

WORD 2day: Saturday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 18, 2020: 1 Sam 9: 1-4,17-19,10:1; Mark 2: 13-17

The Word presents to us today two persons...one, who went in search of the asses and the other, who went in search of the sinners... both for the sake of their fathers' wish! Though the comparison is strange, the fact is that both are kings...one the first king of Israel and the latter the eternal King of heaven and earth. 

We may consider ourselves worthless and dumb as asses, but the truth is the Lord is in search of us. Many a time, we speak of the humanity that is in search of God...but how much more true it is to think of the Lord who is in search of each of us. What good it would do, if only we realise the fact that we are a bit lost, each of us in one's own way! And to understand the fact the Lord is continuously in search of us, through persons, events, and daily experiences. And finally to submit to the One who is looking for us...that we may be found, that we may be embraced, that we may be made full, wholesome, healthy and holy!

Let us open ourselves up to the Lord; invite the King into our hearts; and the King shall reign for ever in our lives and through us, reach out to many more who are lost and are searching for themselves! The message today might sound too allegorical, but it is simply this: to be forever open to the Lord, in a sense of daily conversion and repentance, ever growing to be more and more, children of God, the Eternal King.

Freedom and Submission

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

January 17, 2020: Remembering St. Anthony, the Abbot

1 Samuel 8: 4-7,10-22; Mark 2: 1-12

It seems to be a human tendency to look for something or someone, to which or to whom, one can submit oneself! Whether by force or by choice, a form of legitimate dependence or extraordinary obsession, habit of blaming someone or positively seeking someone's counsel... we are always looking to submit ourselves to someone or something! The point to be noted here is this: whatever be the form of submission, and whatever be its reason, it makes us dependent or subservient. 

The first reading reminds us of this human tendency and before we judge the people of Israel of those historical times, let us understand how we ourselves fall into the same category! How many persons, things, habits, attitudes keep us under their control and we willingly submit to them!

The only submission that gives us a sense of freedom and a sense of self-worth is the submission to God's authority - because God dwells in us and a submission to God, as God's children, is a reinforcement of our dignity, our self-worth and the sovereignty that God has placed within us, as human persons. Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk - that is truly a reinforcement of personal dignity that comes from God to God's sons and daughters.

St. Anthony of the desert, the third century saint we remember today, reminds us of this, in and through his life lived totally in submission to God and God's authority! He was one of those who pioneered monastic life in the Church and lived his life in a desert depending on God and God alone!

Let us realise that God has the ultimate authority over us, and thus we will experience the greatest of all freedom: the freedom of the children of God.

Do we know our strength?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 16, 2020: 1 Samuel 4: 1-11; Mark 1: 40-45

When the Israelites rejoiced at the arrival of the Ark to their tents, the Philistines shivered and recognised that the Lord was amidst them! The Israelites realised their real strength was the Lord. You are my strength, my fortress, my rock of refuge - expressed the Psalmist later. And people saw this true in Jesus too. 

If you wish to, you can cure me, said the man to Jesus, realising the source of grace and salvation is in the mighty will of God. God's will saves us, protects us and guides us. All that we need to do is allow ourselves to be guided, to be strengthened, to be fortified by the Lord. 

We need to rise from a style of life that is a mere damage-control, to a more proactive responsible living. We live life as it occurs to our minds and in a way that we could not care less about God and God's will, until when something untoward happens and we are all down in the drain. Instead, what if we lived, whether in joys or sorrows, whether in victories or failures, whether in the ebb or the flow of life, always mindful of the Lord who is the real provider!

When we realise the presence of God ever in our midst, we will live a life that is worthy of the Lord and the Lord's will; and that alone can keep us from becoming mere laughing stock among the people! Let us live up to our call, our vocation - that of being sons and daughters of God - and do that, always; not just at selective moments. Let us realise our real strength, the Lord our God!

To do good - is that really enough?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 15, 2020: 1 Samuel 3: 1-10,19-20; Mark 1: 29-39

Preaching, healing, casting the demons out - Jesus went around doing good! But he was personally conscious that doing good was not good enough! When the disciples scout to find him and the people try to possess him for themselves, he insists that he needs to move on. 

Doing good was good; but more important for him was doing what God wanted of him. We get lost sometimes in the frenzy of doing good to as many as possible... not really bothering whether we are doing really what God wants of us! Doing good for the sake of "doing" may not lead us far enough; doing good for the sake of "good", for the sake of God who is good, is what really matters!

Obedience to Eli and service in the temple was something good... but God was calling Samuel for something higher: to listen to the Lord and speak the Lord's word to the people! When doing good alone becomes our concern, a lot of problematic elements like the fame-game, the ego-trips and rat-races find their way easily in. 

Instead, if I am convinced of doing what God wants of me, I will surely find serenity even amidst the worst of situations. But for that, I need to learn to say: 'Speak Lord, for your servant is listening!'

The capacity to magnify the Lord

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 14, 2020: 1 Samuel 1: 9-20; Mark 1: 21-28

It is a spiritual capacity to magnify the Lord, to exult in the glories of the Lord! The responsorial psalm presents to us the precedent of the famous magnificat sung by Mary in the Gospel according to Luke: the hymn of praise and thanksgiving sung by Hannah, who realised the goodness of the Lord to her! 

It is a special capacity to realise God's hand in things that happen in our daily life. Even what was so apparent to the demons, who recognised Jesus and proclaimed him as Christ, was so difficult for the so called learned scribes and the pharisees to understand! Even the people, till the end they were only amazed and kept asking who Jesus could really be! 

It is a grace to recognise God and God's presence in our daily life. It may take a crisis and a way out of it, for some to recognise it. It may take an endless list of wonders and miracles for some to acknowledge it. It may take a great accomplishment or a favour received for some to exult God. But BLESSED are those who need nothing, absolutely nothing of these, to feel, recognise, acknowledge and magnify the unceasing presence of God in their lives, come what may!

When things go wrong we spontaneously look to the Lord and demand for answers. But when things remain normal and calm, how ready are we to see the hand of God, and praise the magnificence of the Lord! If we are ready to believe that there are no coincidences in life, we will witness mighty miracles on a daily basis!

What is in store, doesn't matter... Just follow!

WORD 2day: Monday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 13, 2020 - 1 Samuel 1: 1-8; Mark 1: 14-20

After a long while we are back to the Ordinary time and the very first message that the Word gives is so relevant: Just follow the Lord. 

In our life's journey, that which can grant us an incredible serenity is the attitude of Following the Lord, without being worried too much about what is in store! We are still in the beginning of this year. After nearly 2 weeks of the new year, there could be in our minds still the plans with which we began the year, the goals we set for ourselves, and the projects we fixed for ourselves.

While thinking of projects that engage our days, it is normal that many things preoccupy our minds. Samuel's story that we begin to reflect on from today, affirms to us that God has a definitive plan for each of us; as the Lord would explain the same through Jeremiah in Jer 29:11: for I know the plans that I have for you. 

The secret lies in not permitting the grievances of our past to stunt our life and at the same time not permitting the anxieties of the future eating into our todays. Let us live our life, here and now, to the full, with total confidence that the Lord has a plan that will unfold in God's own time! 

All that we need to do is what Jesus tells us - FOLLOW HIM!!!

BEHOLD JESUS!!! THE GREATEST GIFT OF GOD

The Love, Covenant and Beloved of God

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord: January 12, 2020

Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7; Acts 10: 34-38; Matthew 3: 13-17

Christmas season draws to its close with the Baptism of the Lord, because the manifestation is made as clear as possible at this point when the voice from heaven thunders, "this is my beloved Son!" The moment definitively seals the greatest of the gifts that God has ever given humanity: God's only Son...Jesus the Christ, the Word made flesh! 

The gift that came down to us on that Christmas night, in the lowliness of the manger, has been gradually unwrapped these days, with manifestations - first to the shepherds, then to the wise men and slowly but strongly to Mary and Joseph, as they beheld that Son of God, in their humble hands.

Today is the culmination of the unwrapping...Jesus the gift of God is unwrapped so magnificently in the Liturgy today. We are called to behold that gift, so that the warning that John gives in his Gospel: he came unto his own and his own did not recognise him, may not happen in our case.

We are called to behold Jesus, the LOVE OF GOD. Jesus is the love of God personified. God's love takes flesh and pitches the tent amidst us... in the person of Jesus! Wherever Jesus went there was healing, life, happiness, forgiveness, in short he was the presence of God, the presence of love, love which lived among people. That is what we are called to perceive, as perceived Peter in the second reading today! 

To perceive Love living amidst us, manifest today by the very voice of God. Perceiving the presence we are called to transform ourselves into presences of love...for the same voice cries out to us today, in the suffering world, in the marginalised persons and in the exploited brothers and sisters!

We are called to behold Jesus, the COVENANT OF GOD. Isaiah proclaims those beautiful words, : I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations. A covenant is more than a contract; a covenant is more than an agreement. It is something that is etched into the lives of those who are involved. It is taking responsibility for each other, that is why the Church defines marriage as a covenant! Jesus is the sign of the responsibility God took for his children; God did not spare even God's only Son, writes the Apostle. 

Perceiving Jesus as the covenant of God, we are called to take responsibility for our brothers and sisters, we are called to concern ourselves with the blind and the deaf of our society, the poor and the needy of our locality, the marginalised and the oppressed in our contexts.

We are called to behold Jesus, the BELOVED OF GOD. The voice declares it in all clarity, as wrote Isaiah of old. "This is my beloved, in whom i am well pleased!" In declaring God's love for Jesus, the voice today declares to each of us: you and I... we are the beloved of God...in whom God takes delight! In our Baptism, God made us God's own, and we belong to God and our God takes delight in us (Ps 149:4). 

In baptism we are made sons and daughters of God...that is brothers and sisters of Jesus, the greatest gift of God, Jesus the Love of God, the covenant of God and the beloved of God...and in Jesus our brother, we are called to be in our contexts, the presence of the love of God; in Jesus our covenant, we are called to be the signs of the covenant of God with the suffering humanity today; in Jesus the beloved of God, we are called to live our lives, every day and every moment pleasing to the Lord, who longs to declare, regarding each of us, "This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased!"