Return to the Lord in love - the invitation continues!

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Saturday

March 21, 2020: Hosea 5:15 - 6:6; Luke 18: 9-14

Point for Dialogue #20: Loving Sacrifice and Meaningless Ceremonies

'It is love that I desire, not sacrifice,' declares the Lord in the first reading today. In fact, love is the best form of sacrifice one can offer the Lord, says Jesus in the Gospel. 

It is only in love we can become acceptable to the Lord - even the best of liturgical ceremonies, with the biggest of crowds, with the richest of things and the loftiest of creativity involved, will matter nothing when it is done without love - true love for God and concrete love for neighbours! Hence we are led today to a dialogue between truly loving sacrifices that we could offer and meaningless ceremonies and rituals we could end up with!

Speaking of love, we do not refer to a mere sentimental feeling for the other, but a concrete commitment for the good of the other. The concrete commitment is translated in terms of compassion, understanding, not judging, empathising, extending a hand, standing for the other and being ready to lay down one's life for the other! Do we not see exactly the opposite qualities at work today in the world - competition, arrogance, judgements, insensitivity, let downs, conspiracies and ruining others' lives for one's own well being! 

The choice is ours: lie low in the eyes of the spoiled society and be "blessed" in the eyes of the Lord, or parade oneself before the society but be despicable in the eyes of the Lord! What is our choice? Will we go home justified today?

Return to the Lord - in love!

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Friday

March 20, 2020: Hosea 14: 2-10; Mark 12: 28-34

Point for Discussion #19: My necessary behaviour and my credible reasoning

"Return" is the message that the readings today give us, as the first reading explicitly begins with. And Jesus in the gospel, states the way to return to the Lord... it is only through love; because "God is love"! 

There can be various reasons to return to something or someone... it could be because you gain something, it could be because you fear something, it could be because you are trying to give someone else a message! But none of these could be right reasons to return to the Lord - the only reason could be because we love the Lord and above all, the Lord loves us!

Loving God and loving one's neighbours, is no more two different things in Jesus' mind. It is one and the same: to love God is to love others, to love others is the easiest way to loving God. More than anything else, loving God is a necessity and loving others is its credibility. The dialogue that we are called to is a dialogue between our necessary behaviour and our credible reasoning - that is our good works for others and our innermost motivation behind those works! 

The most interesting part of today's message, when both the readings taken together, is a short cut to the heart of God. The readings seem almost to suggest that, even if you have a lot of imperfections within you, if you genuinely love, you are closer to the heart of Jesus than the so-called perfect person who lacks compassion and mercy! 

"Love and do what you will", said St. Augustine, who understood the real heart of Jesus, who declares today, that the person who spoke to him was not far from the Reign, simply because he understood the importance of love: love for God and love for one's neighbours!

As the Lord commands...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

March 19, 2020: Feast of St. Joseph

2 Samuel 7: 4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a.

St. Joseph  is presented in the Gospels often as a modern icon of the ancient fathers -Abraham, Jacob, David and others! 

The readings today bring out the same theme, as they dwell on the ancestry and the promises fulfilled. Apart from various other similarities that we can find, one striking similarity between the Fathers and St. Joseph, is that of their readiness to do what the Lord commands. 

Joseph seems to have had no objections whatsoever to carrying out the projects handed on to him by God- a perfect attitude of faith, the attitude of total surrender and absolute trust. The Holy Family was in safe hands because he did not allow his ego to dominate but allowed the Lord to be the center of his household.

May St. Joseph teach us these three things for our daily living: - Listening to God and living by it; - Letting God have His way in whatever it may; - Loving those entrusted to us by the Divine Providence, with a love that is committed and selfless.

Specially during these days when the whole world is reeling under the health emergency of the pandemic, Joseph teaches us to be calm and listen to the Lord; to do our best and surrender to the Lord; to love every one around with all our heart! That is a challenging call, truly Christian call - to live our life as the Lord commands.

The law is in its "end"

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Wednesday

March 18, 2020: Deuteronomy 4: 1,5-9; Matthew 5: 17-19

Point for Dialogue #18: What I have always done and Why I do it?

Law is a simplified code to live one's life to the full. But if law were to hinder one from living one's life or hinder someone else from living his or her life to the full, it is a clear sign that the real sense of law is lost! However, in the name of being forward thinking, can we dare throw away all the norms and laws that guarantee a meaningful personal and social life?

Moses and Jesus, in the Word today speak to us of this - the importance of understanding the laws with diligence. Jesus says, the laws would never end, but mind you, there is an end to every law! That is, every law is created keeping in mind an end towards which it leads you. Laws are means to an end! Beware they are not end in themselves. Keeping laws for the sake of keeping them, makes you a slave and not a free child of God. It is an invitation to enter into a dialogue between what I have always done and why I do it today?

In fact, each of us has this law embedded in our hearts, as the responsorial psalm reminds us; and our responsibility is to recognise, realise, relearn to respect the meaning, the role and the real sense of law in our hearts towards living our daily life in fulfillment of God's unique plan for each of us. If I do something just because it is a law, I do not grow!

If I do something, because it is a law and I know the purpose or the end towards which that law is ordained, I grow out of it, I become disciplined, I become integral, I become holy! Yes, law can lead me to holiness, but if and only if, I carry it out with profound understanding and personal committment - and not our of force or fear. 

Truly, the law is in its end, in its purpose, in that goal, in that destiny where it leads the law keeper to. In short, this is what Jesus tells us today: keep the law, but know why you are keeping it!

Getting in touch with the Goodness

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Tuesday

March 17, 2020: Daniel 3: 25, 34-45; Matthew 18: 21-35

Point for Dialogue #17: My state of life and the Goodness of the Lord

Do unto others what you want done unto you - this is the golden rule and it is common to almost all ideologies and religious teachings. While it can be interpreted as a kind of business-type or contractual relationship, the wisdom behind it cannot be missed. 

The Word today reiterates that wisdom to us, inviting us to pay heed to the way we judge or evaluate persons and events in our daily life! It invites us to a dialogue between our state of affairs and the goodness of the Lord that prods us to goodness, within us and in the world around. 

The first reading underlines one of the most important factors to be kept in mind while making an evaluation of a situation: your self-awareness - that is knowing about yourself, acknowledging your limitedness, accepting your weaknesses, looking to make changes that would make you progress in goodness! It is not merely a self-negation, falsely proclaimed as if to say I have no inherent value within myself. Neither is it a self-absolutisation, foolishly making oneself the centre of the entire universe!

Gospel continues to reflect on the fact that the Lord is so good that in spite of all our weaknesses and failures, we are accepted and loved and above all, forgiven. If we have experienced that goodness so undeservedly from the Lord, what have we to do? It places within perspective that an unforgiving mind is an ungrateful mind, a judging intolerant attitude is a lack of realistic self-awareness. 

The more we become aware of our vulnerabilities, the more holistic we grow. That is certainly a paradox. But it is true anyway, because our goodness comes from the ultimate Goodness that the Lord is. Let us get more and more in touch with the Goodness of the Lord, to grow in our own goodness within. 

Return to the child in you!

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Monday

March 16, 2020: 2 Kings 5:1-15; Luke 4: 24-30

Point for Dialogue #16: the Present and the Path we have trodden

All that Naaman had between him and his cure, was his ego! All that the people had between them and accepting Jesus as the Christ was the same ego and its senseless stubbornness. All that we have today between us and our inner joy, is our ego and its hardheadedness. 

When Naaman cleared himself of his ego and plunged into the humble waters of Jordan, the first reading says, "his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child and he was clean." What we need to do to counter our ego, is to take a closer and more realistic look at the child within us - our origins, our stages of growth, how dependent we were on people and how we would be nothing if not for so many wonderful hearts and souls who have made us what we are!

Jesus invites us precisely to this: to RETURN TO THE CHILD IN US; 'unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the Reign of God', is Jesus' stand (cf. Mt 18:3). It is a realistic dialogue between who we are and who we were; between what we are and how we have made up to here; between our present and the path we have trodden so far, because on those pathways are strewn the wisdom that we need to go on with. 

How many times we forget the path we have trodden and allow our ego to take us on an unrealistic trip! How we forget the goodness of God that has sustained us thus far! How we throw away all the great riches we have experienced and go after some new found ego-boost that has come our way! How we can become so numb to all those who have helped us grow, and think we have grown all by ourselves! We will remember them all, only when we take a good look at the child within us.

Truly, when we are capable of undoing the ego and training our hearts to thirst for God, as the responsorial psalm reminds us, we will inherit the Reign of God.   

LIVING WITH THIRST - A DIALOGUE AT CRISIS

THE WORD IN LENT: 3rd Sunday

The Faith-skills during Crisis...

March 15, 2020: Exodus 17: 3-7; Romans 5: 1-2,5-8; John 4: 5-42

Life is beautiful, no doubt; but it never lacks its share of problems, difficulties, confusions, traps and temptations. These moments, world over, are being lived as moments of crisis, a health crisis, an epidemic crisis. The beauty lies precisely in the manner in which a person lives these moments more than the happier ones. Anyone claiming to be a person of faith, has to manifest a level of maturity that shows him or her capable of living with a constant thirst. The liturgy today invites us to get into a dialogue with our moments and experiences of difficulty; with the moments of crisis. And this dialogue will lead us to reflect on a crucial aspect of our faith life - learning to live with thirst. 

Life has its own patches of dryness and no one's life is an exception to it. The dryness is more severe in some, when compared to the others. What matters is not actually how much more or how much less, but how a person handles one's own share of dryness. Handling aridity in life is a faith-skill. We see the people of Israel in their driest patch of their history - the sojourn in the desert. They are brought forth from slavery across the Red Sea, with great and mighty signs and wonders. But once in the desert, they complain for every little thing lacking patience to the core. They long for the onions and garlic of Egypt, they long for the flesh and meat they once had in plenty, they fret that they are without a drop of water! 

It is easy to laugh at them or judge their impatience, but we will do well before that to think of ourselves and our lives. Issues in the family, the employment issues, the financial crisis, the relationship issues, sickness, misunderstanding...and now the fear and anxiety of the epidemic that threatens... as soon as a problem begins in our lives don't we begin to complain too? The Lord teaches us - to TURN TO THE ROCK, when struggling to handle aridity in life. Dying without water, the people get water from the least expected source... in the dry parched desert and worse still, a dry boulder of a rock in that desert. If we turn to the Lord, our Rock... we will see solutions to our problems, clarity to our confusions, help in our difficulties, from the least expected quarters. Let us turn to the Rock.

The second reading instructs us how to comport ourselves while feeling the thirst. When in the thick of a problem or in the eye of the storm, where do we fix our gaze? On the problem: that will only magnify the problem. On ourselves: that will only make us more and more depressed in self pity. On those who are without problems: that is only a deceptive perspective of the reality. 

Instead the Word invites us to fix our gaze on Christ, on the Lord who, even while we were undeserving sinners, was ready to lay down his life for us. Such is the love of God for us and should we fret when we are in a crisis? We are invited to TURN TO THE SPRING, to the saving grace that loves without measure, the love that has been "poured" into our hearts from that Spring. Christ becomes the spring from where we could receive the grace, which alone can quench our thirst and our longing for peace.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of a thirst with which we should all live! It is not the thirst for a material good, not a thirst for a interim peace, nor a thirst for a breath of relief but a thirst for eternal life, a thirst for perennial peace, a thirst for fullness of life - a life-giving thirst. He offers to give us the living water, the spring "gushing up to eternal life" (Jn 4:14). "All who are thirsty, come to me and drink" he declared elsewhere (Jn 7:37). 

We are called to live with that thirst, constantly longing for God. Like that deer that yearns for running streams, like the parched land that longs for rain, our soul should thirst for God, teaches the psalm (42). Let us thirst for God, let us thirst for a deeper and deeper relationship with God. let us thirst for the Spirit, let us thirst for the fruits of the Spirit, let us thirst for a life that is united with God, let us thirst for a life that is filled with God. 

Let nothing disturb us...let nothing separate us from God...hardships or distress or persecution or famine or perils or sword, not even death; let nothing separate us from God. Let these days of lent and the days or crisis that we are facing, help us to TURN TO A LIFE-IN-GOD. 

Decide to return to the Father's Heart

THE WORD IN LENT - 2nd week, Saturday

March 14, 2020: Micah 7:14-15,18-20; Luke 15: 1-3,11-32

Point for Dialogue #15: God's Faithfulness and Our faithfulness to God

Faithfulness of God to God's people is expressed in God's boundless mercy. We are called to be faithful, because God is faithful to us. Just as St. Paul writes to Timothy, even if we are faithless, God remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13). It is the faithfulness of God that inspires and gives us the strength to be faithful.

The first reading explains how this has always been so in history; and in the Gospel, Jesus presents this fact with a parable which  pictures the Father's heart with an incredible clarity: a heart that is forgiving, welcoming, compassionate, merciful, kind, unconditionally loving and absolutely faithful. 

The Word today invites a heartful dialogue between God's faithfulness and our faithfulness, not to only to remind us how undeserving we are, but above all to insist on the grace of God's closeness to us and God's unfailing love for us.

When once, I shared this with a group of youngsters, one of them asked - 'but why should God forgive me and why should God be so merciful?' The answer was so simple, 'because "God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8)'. It is not merely that God loves, but the fact is, God is Love! God is madly in love with us... and that immense love is greater than any of my sin, it is greater than any force that blocks me from getting closer to God. 

All that I need to do is to DECIDE like that son, "I will rise and go to my Father!"; all that I need to do today, is DECIDE to return to the Father's mercy; avail of the bountiful gift of forgiveness at the sacrament of reconciliation and be drenched in the mercy that flows from the Father's heart.

Life in God and our hidden thoughts

THE WORD IN LENT - 2nd week, Friday

March 13, 2020: Genesis 37: 3-4,12-13,17-28; Matthew 21: 33-43,45-46
Point for Dialogue #14: God's will and our selfish motivations

A common phrase we come across in the two readings of today is, "Come let us kill him". The world today is no different - there are people who are prepared to even kill the other, for the sake of achieving their ends: be it killing them literally, or  in sense of a character assassination or killing the dreams of the other, killing the prospects of the other... it is a clear demonstration of obstinacy of one's personal will. 

A reflection on this predicament of humanity leads us to a conscientious dialogue of ourselves with our innermost thoughts and motivations - whether what matters is my selfish will or God's holy will. When I surrender myself to God's will, I am certain of ensuring myself and to the entire humanity, real well being.

However intricately we plan and however clinically we execute it, we are bound to have a restlessness in our hearts that will overtake us at some point or other in life. We will experience true peace and serenity in our hearts, when and only when, we are able to surrender our lives and all its aspects into the hands of God, and live according to God's will, bearing the fruits expected of us and bearing witness to the unconditional love of God! 

When we surrender to God's will, we will rediscover the true meaning of life in God. 

Where do I draw my priorities and perspectives from?

THE WORD IN LENT - 2nd week, Thursday 

March 12, 2020: Jeremiah 17: 5-10; Luke 16: 19-31

Point for Dialogue #13: External Actions and Internal Motivations

Religious Commitment is not merely about rites, rituals, performances and practices! Christian faith is primarily about priorities. Even in our daily life, what we do first, what we give up for the sake of something or someone, what we choose over another, what we are ready to sacrifice for the sake of a particular reason, what we prefer over something else - all these are concrete indicators to what really matters to a person; his or her priorities!

Having the right priorities is essentially a grace from the Spirit - as it involves extraordinary sense of wisdom and discernment. And whether we have the right priorities is an obvious fact that can be easily gauged from the decisions and choices we make. But whether they are truly our priorities and whether we are truly convinced of it, is a matter of the heart, apart from oneself, God alone knows it - for God pierces the heart and knows our thoughts.

What the Word today leads us to is a sincere dialogue between what we do and why we do, between our external actions and the internal motivations. Because it is in this dialogue can we understand how far we are from ourselves. And the Word insists, what we would be judged for, is our unseen motivation and not our seen activities. Blessed is the one who has not much to cover between these two.

Life and all that it involves is a gift from God, and it makes meaning only as long as it is lived with that perspective clear and strong. At times the values that the times teach us, the priorities that the society promotes, makes us look at riches, comforts, social status, economic security, personal attachments as things that matter most. Taken well, these can bring us to realise, understand and cherish the giftedness involved. But taken amiss, they can confuse our priorities, as it happens with the rich man in today's parable. 

Jeremiah draws our attention to trees planted by the course of a river - without even anyone seeing they draw heavily from the river to live their daily life! That is what we could do too, to grow and flourish in grace and giftedness; draw from the Lord, our priorities and perspectives and that would certainly transport us to the bosom of Abraham.