Persecuted Christians - the epitome of the Reign to come

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 26, 2020: St. Stephen, the first Martyr
Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Matthew 10: 17-22

Persecutions and Martyrdom have never been alien to Christian Faith. St. Stephen is the first Biblical evidence to it. Continuing in the line of the prophets and persons of God who have been treated at will by the world in the Old Testament, we see Jesus and most of his disciples facing the same end in the New Testament. 

Some time ago, a person posted on the facebook saying he (or she?), was offended when the Churches all over the world were praying for Christians in Iraq and the person questioned: "Why only Christians? Why not others?" Today Christians in Iraq or Syria or Lebanon or China or India... all these 'persecuted Christians' should by now be a collective term for us...it should stand for and remind us of every person persecuted for truth, every person tortured unjustly, every person discriminated and trampled under the tyranny of violence and force! It is not merely Fr. Stan Swamy who is in prison, but every person who is unjustly held, tortured without cause and taken to task for standing by truth, has to be prayed for and sustainted.

St. Stephen knew what it meant to suffer for Christ; it meant suffering for the things that really matter; it meant standing for true beliefs and convictions that can elevate your spirit to the heavens open and the angels coming down! It was Stephen who also imitated his Master literally: while Jesus prayed for those who crucified him and offered his spirit into the hands of his loving Father, Stephen prayed for those who stoned him and surrendered his spirit into Jesus' hands. What an example for us to emulate! The other message, strong and clear, is the fact that it is an integral part of being a Christian, to suffer for what is right, for what is expected of me and for the cause of the Reign, which is justice and truth.

In fact, the crux of Christian identity in the pluralistic context today, is standing up for the Reign - that is, for justice, truth, peace, integral joy of all and the uplifting of the down trodden. Let our Christmas be extended, all through our lives - in becoming ourselves, epitomies of the Reign. 

CELEBRATING GOD'S LOVE

The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

December 25, 2020

Today, we celebrate love! Christmas is a festival of love, the love that God has for us! This love is not something that we can easily understand, not a love that we can easily explain nor a love that we can easily imitate! Because it is a scandalous love! Yes we celebrate a Scandalous Love today! What makes this love so scandalous are the three negatives that this love is characterised by. Let us dwell a bit on those...THREE SCANDALOUS NEGATIVES...each negative more scandalous than the previous.

The first negative is: UNCONDITIONAL. This love has no conditions, absolutely no conditions. That is why even after repeated failures and faithlessness on the part of the people with whom God had made the covenant, God still continues to love humanity. Christmas, the mystery of incarnation, is an ample exposition of this 'unconditional' love; a love without any conditions absolutely. Infact, with conditions it would not be love, isn't it? 

How many conditions we pose to love a person: he or she has to avoid this or do this or that; he or she has to take me seriously; he or she has to love me in return to the same extent I do, if not more; he or she has to fulfill a list of duties and measure up to the responsibilities given to the person... and what not. As you keep following those lines, I am sure you were wondering if you can just relieve a person of all these binds. As humans we feel, we cannot. These conditions seem legitimate and necessary. But God's mind would respond in the negative: whether you keep to your call or not, whether you live up to your identity or not, God loves you and there can be no second thoughts to it. It disturbs our mind to think of such a love: that is the scandal involved in this love. God loves us scandalously! God's love is Unconditional!

The second negative is: ILLOGICAL. There is no logic to God's love. In the love that God has for us or in the love that the Lord teaches us to have for each other, there is no logic whatsoever. Humanity takes God for granted and abandons God's ways at the first occasion that presents, God draws ever nearer and sends more prophets and finally even God's own Son! For God so loved the world, that God sent God's only Son, that all who believe in him will be saved.

The world teaches us a flawless logic: some one is good to you, try to be good to them, but it may not be absolutely necessary, because what matters is what you will gain. If something leads to gain, choose it; if something leads to a loss refrain from it, reject it: whether it is a person or a thing. This is the logic of the day! Without this logic one would be considered, unfit, incapable, useless, impractical, loser, inefficient and so on! But God's love is illogical and it is the same love that God manifests today at the manger, that Jesus taught us: love your neighbours; love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Today, seeing the insane stand that the present political faction is taking against the minorities in our nation, we may be inclined to hate them, wish their ruin and see their end. We may be harbouring hatred and praying for their downfall. First command that the Lord gives: Love them. "It is illogical", you may shout! Yes, that is what it is: God's love is completely illogical. And we are born of that Love (Jn 1:13). If it is so for the society at large, take our families! Your brother may be doing everything against you; your sister may be totally ungrateful for all that you have done; your mother-in-law may be the worst for understanding you; your daughter-in-law may be totally disrespectful towards you; your spouse may not care for you at all...You are called to love that person! Love that person truly! That is the call of Christmas. 

The third negative: UNREASONABLE. God's love has no Why? True love has no why! Ask God why God should love humanity...there is no reason for it. God made humanity and that warrants that God could deal with humanity in any manner, as tyrant task master or a domineering boss, but God gives us absolute personal freedom and loves us every moment! But why? That question can never be answered. 

There should be reason to whatever we do, says the world today. I love my children, I love my parents, I love my spouse...because they are what they are to me! But why should I love my neighbour, why should I love a stranger, why should I love a person who is far away on some other part of the planet, why should I love the next generation to come, why should I love the child which is yet to be born, why should I love the nature: should I demand a reason for these, I would not be truly 'Christ'ian. The love that Christ stands for or the love out of which Christ is born today, is an unreasonable love. This is the highest of the scandals we have: a love without reasons! God had so many ways of manifesting God's saving prowess in the past: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samson, Deborah, Gideon, David...and so many who were such great powerful instruments of God. But why should God finally decide to send God's son? Was there a need to send the Son and get him killed! Why couldn't God find some other person in the line of those prophets and kings? Any number of those why...would only meet with silence; the Silence of this holy, calm, mysterious night, where God is made Man! Such an unreasonable love. 

The question: Are you prepared to imitate that scandalous love of God, so Unconditional, Illogical and Unreasonable? If you do, your life would be a daily Christmas - mysterious, miraculous and meaningful. If not, we would miss the point of today's celebration: the celebration of God's Scandalous love!

O Emmanuel - God is with us!

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

December 24, 2020: 2 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; Luke 1: 67-79

The Lord takes flesh, takes a home, comes into a human family, as a human being... God becomes human and stays with us, forever. The Lord's home is not made of bricks and sand, but of flesh and blood, of heart and soul, of persons and relationships. That is the true home into which the Lord shall be born. 

The first reading speaks of the home that David wants to build and the home that the Lord wishes to have built. It is the house, a generation, a progeny, a people, a nation, a humanity that belongs to God, remains united to God and finds meaning in the Lord.

The Gospel presents the prophecies that were coming true in the events around the birth of John the Baptist. The tongue of Zachariah gets loosened and he sings of the prophecies, the plan of God unfolds itself, the revelation of God unravels itself. 

The atmosphere and the Word today, creates the mood of Christmas... inviting us to create a home for God becoming flesh. It is in our flesh,in our heart and in our lives that we have to house the Lord. It is not merely crib or the church buildings, but our hearts and the bindings of our heart that have to truly house the Lord. 

God is with us! Becoming aware of it and becoming worthy of it is the urgent call,by now. It's the hour and the day! 

O Rising Sun...the illumining fire

THE WORD THAT ENLIGHTENS

December 23, 2020: Fourth Wednesday in Advent
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24; Luke 1: 57-66

The Morning Star announces the break of day, the transition from darkness to light. The Lord's coming is like the coming of the morning star - an announcement of the break of day, the awakening of light, the rise of knowledge, the enlightening of our existence.

He shall turn the hearts of the children to the Father and the heart of the father to the children - the verse has a profound significance seen against the background of the forthcoming solemntiy of Nativity, where the concrete experience of Incarnation unfolds in progression. It is not that the father begins to relate to the children, or vice versa, but it is that the relationship that exists already from time immemorial, is beginning to reveal itself. Life with the Lord is beginning to enlighten our existence. This is what Christmas is all about - that the Lord's coming amidst us, teaches us the real meaning and significance of being human persons on earth.

The Morning Star refers to the experience of revelation, so mysterious and so plain, so tremendous and so profound. Our everyday life has to be conditioned, animated and enriched by this revelation. That is what happens in the family of Zachariah - there is a miracle that takes place. The choice of the name, John - it was no coincidence that Zachariah and Elizabeth chose the same. It was a miracle, a revelation which had been given to them. An additional brilliance is the meaning of the name: the gift of God.

The more we prepare ourselves to recieve the Lord, and to recieve the gifts of the Lord, we shall see the revelation of God enlightening every bit of our life and experience. May the Christmas be a time that enlightens our life everyday in and through the illumining fire.

O Root - the root of true joy

THE WORD IN EXULTATION

December 22, 2020: Fourth Tuesday in Advent

1 Samuel 1: 24-28; Luke 1: 46-56

The Root of Jesse is not merely recalling history, it is projecting a sense of hope and and anticipation and aresultant exulting in the Lord. The Lord Reigns! And that is enough reason for us to exult.

Against the background of the current pandemic and the newest escalation of the same crisis, the Word clarifies to us the role of hope that the Lord gives us. Mindful of it, every person in the Lord is called to exult in the coming of the Lord. 

The Lord came, in history, to ensure that humanity knew its roots, the image and likeness in which it is made. 

The Lord comes in every experience and person which acts as the root of meaning to life and life's choices.

The Lord shall come wherever and whenever there is a search for the roots that can offer hope and meaning to life that is ahead. 

The Word made flesh was the root of Jesse, a descendent of David, the Son of Man, who identified with us - a great reason to rejoice and exult. True joy comes from the fact that we are united in the root, from where comes the real meaning of life. No success or failure, no social status or title, no accomplishment or lack can define me. It is only the deep rooted image of God within me that can give me true joy! This day invites us to contemplate this image of God, made flesh, become human and nourishes as the root  of our very being and of its true joy.  

O Key of David - Saving Assurance

THE WORD THAT SAVES

December 21, 2020: Fourth Monday in Advent

Songs of Songs 2:18-14; Luke 1:39-45

Blessed assurance, we sing! The assurance is born of love, the love of God which comes down from centuries to centuries! This is the message from the Word for this day, taking us closer to the celebrations of Christmas. 

People of God are not merely persons or families, it is progenies...generations after generations. That says so much about the community dimension of Christian faith. Christian faith is lived in communities, in interpersonal communication, in intercommunity communion and universal communion. The salvation that comes from the Lord, comes as an assurance, amidst all our unworthiness!

Assurance, yes...but not without a natural and due prerequisites - that which tops them all is the eagerness and readiness to behold the Lord. The first reading speaks to us of the yearning and the eagerness in the heart of the beloveds of God, for God! The Gospel highlights the readiness, preparedness and promptness in recognising the Lord and beholding God's presence. 

Reaching out to the other, gratefully recognising the service of the other as God's intervention, and finding God's presence in every event of life, is a sign of beholding God's presence. What the Lord opens no one can close, and what the Lord closes no one can open. The Lord is the key to understand the real meaning of our lives... that is our saving assurance! 

H.O.M.E

Prepare a dwelling for the Lord

December 20, 2020:  4th Sunday of Advent
Judges 27: 1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Romans 16: 25-27; Luke 1: 26-38

We are in the last Sunday before the all important feast we have been preparing ourselves for! Just 4 days to go for Christmas. Today the readings speak of the importance of getting ready with a home for the Lord. David in the first reading is concerned with building a home for the Lord and in the Gospel we see God preparing a worthy home for God's son to be born into this world, the worthy home being Mother Mary's immaculate womb. And it leaves us with one pertinent question: have I prepared a home to receive my saviour yet?

How do I prepare a home, a worthy dwelling for the Saviour who visits us? We can prepare a home by growing within us and among us the four qualities that are exemplified for us in the readings, by the persons involved.

Humility: Being humble is the first quality we are required to have. Mary is presented to us as the epitome of this humility. She acknowledges her lowliness before God and thus she is exalted high above all. The Lord teaches humility to David,through Nathan. The king David as a humble son, learns from God and accepts his state of unworthiness. We are called before the Lord to realise our state of mind and state of life, to be grateful and to acknowledge the goodness we have felt from God.

Obedience: Being obedient is the next important criterion for God to visit us. 'Be it done unto me, according to your word,' said Mary. She knew the best thing that could happen to her was the Will of God for her life and so she submits herself totally to God's will. David too may have been rebellious at times but he was an obedient son, who always returned to listen to God and obey God's commands. We need to be obedient to the Lord to really receive the Lord into our lives- there can be no doubts about this!

Mercy: Being merciful, is the third important quality towards making a place for the Lord, worthy of the nature of the Lord. St. Paul brings out how the eternal mystery of God's love and mercy, was being manifested in the coming of the only Son of the Father. It is because the Lord is merciful, that in God's eternal mercy, God deigns to reveal Godself to us and thus come and dwell amidst us. 'Be ye merciful as your heavenly father is merciful', invited Jesus. Yes,that is the only way we can invite the Lord and make the Lord's presence felt among us.

Empathy: Being empathetic towards the needy, the suffering, the homeless, the lonely the least, the lost, the last, the hurt and the broken, is the most apt way of welcoming the Lord home! That will be the home that the Lord best loves, rather than homes that are merely spic and span because no one has entered that home; than the homes that are elegant because there is so much of money spent merely on external pomp and splendour; than the homes that are closed and secured, out of reach for the poor and the dirty, the needy and the clumsy. The Lord comes to identify himself with the poor, the sinners, the outcasts, the least, the marginalised; it is there the Lord would dwell. If we empathise with these, we would as well receive the Lord!

Humble, Obedient, Merciful and Empathetic, we can make a HOME for the Lord and there is no much time left: let us get into action NOW!

O Great Lord of All

THE WORD WHO IS LORD

December 18, 2020:  Lord - the Lord of All

Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Matthew 1: 18-24

O Adonai, the Lord of all...that is how the people of Israel experienced YHWH...the Lord of everyone, the Lord of everything, the Lord of time and the Lord of history, Everything that happened, happened not only with the knowledge of the Lord, but within the great plan of salvation. 

There were things going wrong, they considered it a punishment. There were things going just well, and they knew it was God who ordained it for them. There were things getting slowly into shape and they knew it was God was making things happen for them. God was their Lord, not just their Lord, but Lord of everything, Lord of all...the Lord of Lords.

In waiting for the Lord, the Word wishes us to grow in this attitude of accepting the Lord, as the Lord of all...Our Lord in everything...Lord of every dimension of our life! Without reserving for ourselves nothing, absolutely nothing in our life. The Lord knows us and therefore whatever we experience it is from the hands of the Lord - be they joys or sorrows, challenges or victories!

Shall we grow in that attitude...let the school of the Word in Advent teach us!

O Wisdom of God Most High

THE WORD TO BE BORN

December 17, 2020: Wisdom - the Word made flesh

Genesis 49: 2, 8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17

This day marks the beginning of the seven special days of preparation towards the great feast of the Word becoming flesh...the Word eternal, when enfleshes itself, becomes Wisdom, the concrete manifestation of  God's knowledge. 

The Wisdom of God Most High, has been witnessed to from time immemorial, from all eternity. The Gospel's genealogy account, is to establish this eternal plan coming to its fulfilment in Christ, in incarnation and in the very act of God choosing to intervene in human history in a manner that cannot be paralleled to any.

God's Wisdom is manifest in justice that flourishes and peace that flows like an ever flowing river. Where there is justice and peace, there is Wisdom. When I become a source of peace and champion of justice, I become the Wisdom of God, that is, the manifestation of God made human! When I do nothing to further the cause of justice or peace, I cannot claim to be wise, nor to be in the vicinity of Wisdom, that is God who comes to dwell amidst us. 

Much worse, when I am the cause of injustice even in the least of ways, or the reason for destruction of peace whether consciously or unconsciously, I am against the Word, against the Wisdom, against the Reign of God that every Christmas very specially indicates. 

Today, let us resolve to behold the Wisdom of God, be filled with that Wisdom and share that Wisdom so that, we may create wherever we are, a community of justice and peace, concrete revelations of the Wisdom of the God most high.

Open your eyes and make Him seen!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 16, 2020: 3rd Wednesday in Advent

Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25; Lk 7: 19-23

We begin the novena to the great feast of Christmas this evening! And the Word today inaugurates the immediate preparation to receive with Lord, with the question: are you the one to come? And look at the answer given , not merely by Jesus also by the first reading and the responsorial psalm. Open your eyes and see!

John the Baptist who identified Jesus and proclaimed him to the people, begins to have his doubts. Maybe, he too, just like the other Jews, expected Jesus to come out with a plan and a programme drastically different - a rebellion, a revolution, a protest, a challenge to the status quo! All these were happening, but in a much different plane altogether, from what everyone was trying to see!

The dumb speak, the deaf hear, the crippled walk, the sinners are forgiven, the diseased are healed, the lonely are accompanied, the poor are fed, the jobless are sustained, the weak are strengthened, the oppressed are freed, the voiceless are empowered, the least are lifted, the lost are respected... these are the signs of the coming of the Lord. 

Are you the one to come? The Lord would say...I have already come! Are you ready to make me seen? Are you prepared manifest me to the world in your words and attitudes, in your choices and priorities, in your criteria and discerments? It is important to open your eyes and see...but as sons and daughters of God, we have an added duty! Apart from opening our eyes and seeing, we need to open our eyes to all the suffering and the needy, and make the Lord seen! That shall be true Christmas!