By the streams of living water

THE WORD IN LENT - 4th week, Tuesday

March 24, 2020: Ezekiel 47:1-9,12; John 5: 1-3,5-16

Point for Dialogue #22: Life threatening situations and the Life giving waters!

The Springs of living waters, that fill us with life, health and joy are pictured today in the readings. With terms all around us such as affected, infected, quarantined, critical care, epidemic, pandemic and so on, which announce death and the fear of death, the Word speaks to us about new life, healing and the life giving streams! 

The life giving waters keep flowing on, it depends on us to approach it and drink from it. Jesus invites us, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me; and let the one who believes in me, drink!" (Jn 7:37-38). It becomes crucial that we engage ourselves in the dialogue between the waters that the world offers - that of fear, anxiety and selfish concerns, and the waters that the Lord offers - that of new life, happiness and true joy.

We are planted by the stream that flows, that is, we are enlivened by the presence of the Lord who surrounds us each and every moment. True spirituality has to arise from there - based on the personal presence of God with us every moment of our life. Special places like the Church or the Sanctuaries and special moments like those of Eucharist and others, should be the springs from where the waters flow on into daily life, affecting our daily life, our every day thoughts, words and deeds! Even if these are placed in crisis, as it is happening right now, our communion with God and each other should be able to sustain itself. 

If that connection is lost or that flow is blocked, then we become lifeless vegetation that remains fruitless. Let us return to the Springs of living waters and make our daily life flourish, for the greater glory of God! Let us choose always to be by the streams of living water!

Be calm and count your blessings!

THE WORD IN LENT - 4th week, Monday

March 23, 2020: Isaiah 65: 17-21; John 4: 43-54

Point for Dialogue #21: The Anxious me and the Grateful me!

Behold, I make all things new, declares the Lord. What a promise to behold, as we are all the time bogged down by the experience and news of the health crisis all over the world. Every day, in spite of the trials and difficulties we are showered with innumerable blessings. If only we are attune to every thing that happens in our life, we will be able to count our blessings, the blessings that make our life every day meaningful. 

If we start every day with the spirit of the Psalms that remind us: this is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it - we would profit by living that day with a grateful heart. It becomes so important today to initiate a dialogue between the anxious me and the grateful me! 

A grateful heart is a humble heart; a humble heart is a grateful heart! The more grateful we grow, the less anxious we become. The less anxious we become, the more holy we grow! The more holy we become, the more we shall realise how true it is that the Lord is in control! Let us never panic, for God is in charge. God who has blessed us all this while, will continue to bless and protect us! We are in the hands of the Lord - nothing can separate us from the love of God: neither sickness nor hunger, neither trials nor temptations, not even death! But one thing will - anxiety. Anxiety will lead to doubt and doubt to fear; where there is fear, there is no love!

The Lord who says in the Gospel, 'Go home and your son shall live,'... tells us, 'be calm, I am with you!' Let us stay firm and count our blessings; let us be grateful and remain firmly united to the Lord. And we will live a life that will be a blessing to us, and a blessing to all who are around us!

LIGHTED TO BE TESTIMONIES - THE DIALOGUE OF PROCLAMATION

THE WORD IN LENT - 4th Sunday

The Requirements of our Call to Proclaim 

March 22, 2020: 1 Samuel 16: 1,6-7, 10-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9: 1-41

"We are children of the Light", the readings remind us today and invite us to live in the light! To awake from the slumber of the darkness, to avoid the works of the people of darkness and to acknowledge that we have been anointed to announce the good news to the world - that is the call to be children of the light. It is a dialogue of Proclamation, the dialogue of recognising the Light within me and sharing it with the world! 

These are also the requirements, the demands, the prerequisites to be truly children of the light. We need to be convinced that we have the light within us, the Light of the world is with us and within us. We are lighted to shine, we are lighted to shine as testimonies to that Light which longs to lead everyone to fullness of life. We need to announce the the world, to every one around that they are called to that fullness of light; that they are called to that splendour that God has placed within us, as children of God. 

We are called to SEE. Blindness is not merely of the physical eye... blindness of the heart to perceive the something that is so apparent is the worst of all blindness. Physical blindness is a handicap, but Spiritual blindness sometimes is a choice, a choice against something obvious! Not to see the goodness of the other, not to see the good the other has done to you, not to see the great things that God has done for us, these are the blindnesses out of which the Lord calls us today. 

The darkness within us can surround us so much that we may find so comfortable and cosy within it, not knowing that it is actually eating into us...making us more and more empty. That was the problem of the pharisees and the scribes: they were so cosy in their own world but Jesus disturbed them! He called them to light, he called them to awake. The Word today, calls us to AWAKE and see the Light, shining on us!

We are called to SEE LIKE GOD. As children of God we are called to see like God. The first reading presents to us an incident where the Lord gives us a practical lesson for our life. David, the least of all in the family of Jesse was chosen against all odds to be the ruler of Israel. There are other such occasions too that we find in the Bible: Joseph the sold slave, Gideon the weakling, Esther the orphan girl and so on. The message is clear: to see like God. As the Lord clarifies it (1 Sam 16:7), the Lord sees the heart and not the external appearances; the Lord sees the internal disposition and not the eternal display; the Lord sees the interior openness and not a stubborn self righteousness. 

To see like God would mean to AVOID the works of the people of darkness, who try to close their eyes to any good that someone can do because of a prejudice they have at heart; who look for any lame excuse to judge and vilify others merely because they do not like the other; who look at others as threats and wait to see their ruin.It is a real challenge in the world today, to stay clear of the works of darkness, the thoughts of darkness, the prejudices of darkness, the discriminations of darkness - all in the name of traditions, customs and age old practices. Beware! Avoid the works of darkness and put on the armour of Light!

We are called to MAKE OTHERS SEE GOD. We are anointed people of God, chosen children of God. Peter reminds us in his letter, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet 1:9). The man in the Gospel was given his sight, as he was 'sent to Siloam'..he was sent, as we are sent! We are sent... with the light... that we may carry that light to all... that light which becomes the judgement of the world. As long as we do not realise it, we are not culpable; but the moment we realise it, we are liable to judgement, we are burdened with this call, we are loaded with a great responsibility on our shoulders as people of God: to be testimonies!

By our baptism we have been ANOINTED and by the sacrament of confirmation we are confirmed in the anointing, and we are sent - that we are to announce to the world the good news of the love of God. That we may see and see like God, we are given the Light of the Lord. The Light shines within us with such splendour that it radiates to the world around us! We are commissioned to be testimonies of the Light, the Light that shines within us, the Light shines in the world. 

If we can say like that blind man in the Gospel - "One thing I know, I was blind and now I can see!" - we are testimonies to the Light that shines within us, the Light that can give meaning to the world. When we really see and see like God, the works of God will be made visible through us and that is what we are called to. Let us thank God for having given us God's light and let us be lighted to be testimonies of the the Light to the world.

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.