The Will or your whims!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 20, 2021: Exodus 14:21 - 15:1; Matthew 12: 46-50

 

The first reading sets us thinking... the greed of the king and his adamant decision to exploit the people led him to destruction! However, the reading is clear, he did not die, his own people did! The Egyptians, the horsemen and all who followed him died! We can be very sure not all of those who died wished to pursue the people of Israel; it was not their wish, they did it because they were enrolled, they were commissioned by the authority. But all the same, the destruction was theirs. 

How close it seems to what is happening today in the world... the leaders who mislead, the leaders guided by warped politics and selfish interests who lead the whole people astray, the partisan mentality of the people who destroy themselves, following the leaders who however remain in their zones of security! Wars, civil clashes, terrorist attacks, border conflicts, nuclear craze, killings in the name of caste and creed - how many of these we find today because of a group of leaders who manipulate everything for their ends! This can end only when every individual is able to think for himself or herself and have the freedom to say 'no' to what one thinks is not right, or what one thinks does not enhance humanity and its existence. 

The unfailing criteria for such decisions and discernments, as Jesus points today, is the Will of God! When human beings are too concerned about having their will established at all costs, be it in personal lives or in social settings, it leads to autocracy or hegemony and subsequently varied forms of exploitation and destruction. The only way to enhance life to its fullness is to do the Will of God, and that is the only way to become 'the mother, the brothers and sisters' of Jesus, the Son of God.

Stand up, cry out & carry on!

WORD 2day: Monday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 19, 2021: Exodus 14: 5-18; Matthew 12: 38-42

 

Look at the images given to us today - the raging waters, the pressing enemy forces, the stone hearted beneficiaries, the swallowing sea monster, the gulf that separates the south and the north, the hard headed wicked generation - there is everywhere threat and the so-called evil stands out. What are you going to do?... Stand up, Cry out and Carry on!

 

Stand Up against the evil: Jesus never feared the pressurising crowd. He was able to stand up and call a spade a spade. He was able to chide them on their face - you evil generation. A person of God needs that spirit to be bold, to stand up against the evil and to stand up for the truth.

 

Cry Out to the Lord: It is never by my own power that I can fight the powers of evil. No I cannot. I need to cry out to the Lord, just as Moses did. Moses was mindful of the fact that he was about God's business and it belonged to God to accomplish whatever has to be, in and through God's servants. In whatever we do, we need to acknowledge the presence of God and the workmanship of God.

 

Carry On with the Lord: Never give in to the pressure of pleasing the clamouring crowd. The world will keep shouting at you, criticising you and giving you easier and more pragmatic alternatives. But what matters is to carry on with the Lord. That is what we see with both Moses and Jesus - they never obeyed the crowd, they never gave in to the expectations of the world. They carried on with the One who had called them: their Father!

THE 4G SHEPHERD

Gathers, gives, gladdens and governs

July 18, 2021: 16th Sunday in Ordinary time

Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Ephesians 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34 

The Lord is our Shepherd, our eternal Shepherd, the Shepherd of all shepherds. The Word this Sunday presents to us a Shepherd par excellence, a Shepherd for our times - in the times that speak of 4G - yes, a 4G Shepherd.

While the power conscious of today seek to divide people, stratify them and polarise them to gain their own benefits, the True Shepherd GATHERS all. Specially in the context of immigration, rising right-wing nationalism worldwide, fight for the position of super power in the world, the economic bigwigs trying to have the sway over everything in the world, the majority, ordinary people are disheartened, disillusioned and divided! The first reading and the second underline this grace that the Lord brings us - the grace of unity and peace! Yes, this is the sign of the True Shepherd. Gathering the remnant, gathering the different people, gathering all into one is the task that Jesus took upon himself - to gather everyone, to reconcile everything in God! We are called to be persons who gather, not divide, not polarise, not scatter.

While the self-centred generation of today thinks about oneself and one's own possessions, growing evermore avaricious and insensitive to others, the True Shepherd GIVES himself to us. Paul's central message has always been that: that Christ gave himself up that we may be brought to the state of being children of God. Endless greed and craze for pleasure, extreme consumerism and the use and throw culture, the craze to have and possess, blind the generations of today and we cannot belong to the flock of the True Shepherd if we follow the trend. We need to stand up for truth, stand out in our choices and sometimes even stand alone, and be ready to give of ourselves to stand for the good and for God.

While the grief struck mentality of the world is all the time striving and chasing after the comforts and in the meanwhile accumulating grief and depression, the True Shepherd GLADDENS the spirits of those who come to him. Specially these days, still reeling under the misery of the pandemic and all the issues related to it directly and indirectly, there is a multitude of hearts looking for respite and consolation. Come to me, rest in me, learn from me, be nourished of me, grow in me and become like me, calls the Lord today. The Shepherd knows the struggle that we are involved in, the problems and pains that we are facing on a daily basis - that is why he tells us today: Come apart and rest a while!

While the craving to dominate others becomes the force that moves persons to action today, the True Shepherd, who has the entire universe under his command, GOVERNS us with love, a love that is sensitive, a love that is delicate, a love that is selfless, a love that is ever-giving, a love that reaches out, a love that works marvels for our good and not for its own glory...a love that is God. That is the principle that governs the entire reality, the principle that is the foundation of everything that is good or godly: the principle of LOVE, which has to characterise the life of everyone in this flock. The call is to receive this love from its source, the Lord, the True Shepherd and grow in it, and learn to give it to all, little by little! 

Our Shepherd gathers, gives, gladdens and governs; let us seek to grow into his loving flock!

Keep Walking...

WORD 2day: Saturday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 17, 2021: Exodus 12: 37-42; Matthew 13: 14-21

 

Reading passages like that of today's first reading, where it says 'that was for the Lord a night of vigil, to bring them out of Egypt'... that the Lord watched over the people of Israel as they walked into that night of freedom towards the broad day light... there is a longing in our hearts that cries... Will there not be a day when the people suffering today would walk into their freedom; the oppressed innocents, the trodden poor, the cheated multitudes, the neglected lots, the exploited masses - will there not be an end to evil in the world? Will not the Lord keep watch over these my suffering brothers and sisters to walk into their freedom, into their life of peace, into their days of tranquillity? 

The response is right there in the reading too... the number of years that the Hebrews lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty! The Lord is still working on the solution, and we are all part of the process! There are many who create hindrances and blocks, but despite all, the humanity will one day see the eternal goodness, the Reign of God established forever! 

Our role in the plan, is as that of the people of Israel - Keep Walking... Jesus was cornered, plotted against... he moved on, slipped through, and went ahead doing good to the people - for he knew his time had not come, he knew the One who sent him had a proper plan and the right time - and Jesus kept walking, 'and many followed him'. 

Let us wait on the Lord, in the Lord's own time everything will happen according to the design; but on our part we are called to do the little that is ours to do, and keep walking. As Matthew quotes Isaiah, 'In God's name will we hope.' And the sign of hope is - to keep walking!

Sacrifices or Self-understanding?

WORD 2day: Friday, 15th week in Ordinary time 

July 16, 2021: Exodus 11:10 - 12:14; Matthew 12: 1-8 

 

The Liturgy of the Word today traces for us an eventful journey of the understanding of God and the self-understanding of the people in relation to their God! From an importance attached to sacrifices as necessities, demands and requirements for relationship with God, to a liberating understanding of God that was brought by Jesus, who presented a God who says, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice". 

The point is not that the Old Testament's understanding was faulty; neither is it to say that Jesus negates all the understanding of the Old Testament! As Jesus himself explained, he came not to abolish the law, he came to bring it to its fulfilment. That fulfilment is achieved when we understand not just the letter but the spirit of the law and try to live it to its details. 

The sacrifices, the sanctifications, the consecrations that were prescribed were all for one reason: to bring the people closer to the Lord! To make the people understand how good the Lord has been... in order that they may lift the cup of salvation, a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord, as the Psalm invites us today. 

Having moved a long way from the understanding of the people of the Old Testament, the challenge is much greater for us today - to prioritise our relationship with God, in all that we carry out in the name of our spirituality, in the name of practices of piety. It is not merely a fulfilment of a duty or a necessity, for God needs nothing from us; but a thanksgiving to the ever-present Lord, a grateful beholding of the loving presence of God with us, is what really matters!

The Name of God

WORD 2day: Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 15, 2021: Exodus 3: 13-20; Matthew 11: 28-30

 

The Word presents the name of God to us today. Reflecting on the name of God, every time I narrate this experience of mine a few years ago when I was doing my licentiate in Rome. I was in a parish in the north of Italy, to substitute a parish priest during his days of Spiritual Retreat. There were a few elderly ladies who were regular for the daily Eucharist and after the celebration every day. They would spend some time every day after Mass talking to me. They loved to hear things about the Bible and one day the most vociferous of them asked - "Is there a name for our God!" Before I could say, "Yes, it is Jesus!", she intervened and said, "I mean, God the Father! Does God have a name?" And I quoted to her today's reading and said, "Yes, our God is I AM. Or when we say it...Our God is WHO IS". She was thrilled to know the name of God, and was going around telling everyone the discovery that she has made. When the Parish priest returned a week later, one of the first things she told him was, "Fr. you know, I know the name of our God. Our God is, WHO IS, or I AM, or YAHWEH"...And the Parish Priest was a bit upset; he turned to me and said - "No Father... That is the God of the Hebrews!"

YAHWEH, One who IS… It is not just a name - it was an experience. It has to be our experience today: the God who IS, who is with us, now, always, all the time. Especially in tough times as we are living today, we need to yearn for and draw strength from this experience of God with us, the God who IS with us. Yahweh, O God who IS with us, help us feel your presence and share the same with those who are in need of it. 

I did not want to pick a theological argument with the Parish priest...but thought to myself - "Yes...that is the God of the Hebrews, and therefore the God of Jesus too...the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as St. Paul would say (2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3)."

 

Who am I, really?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 14, 2021: Exodus 3: 1-6,9-12; Matthew 11: 25-26

 

What do people think of me? How do I come across to people? What kind of an image do I give of myself to others? Will this make or mar the opinion others have about me? ...these are some popular considerations we have before we decide to do something! At times this consideration of human respect keeps me back from being who I am! The Lord declares in various ways today that it does not matter so much who I am as who is with me, who is for me!

 

God identified Godself through Moses that God is WHO IS (I am), and Jesus the Son of God revealed to us a God WHO IS ALWAYS WITH US... One who is concerned about us, journeys with us, leads us by hand and wants to be with us always, especially when we are tired and heavy laden, especially when we are through the lowest moments of our lives, especially when we feel we are abandoned and all alone. Yes, Our God is who IS!

 

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? - I will be with you, says the Lord! What makes the difference is that, the Lord was with Moses. Who we are is important, but more important is who is with us! We may be merely children, but if God is with us, we can be worth all the wisest and powerful put together. Do not say you are merely a child, the Lord told Jeremiah.

 

The Lord promises to be with us, what else do we need! If God is with us, what do we lack! If God is for us who can be against us! 

Where do I belong

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 13, 2021: Exodus 2: 1-15a; Matthew 11:20-24

Yesterday we reflected on the situations of injustice in the world and the readings drove us to a reflection on it. Today, the readings issue a warning to us! The Lord is patient and merciful, but at the same time just and righteous. The Lord has a predilection for the poor, the oppressed, those who are sinned against, those who are denied of their rights, those who are constrained to live in conditions that they actually do not deserve to suffer. The warning is this: that we take care to see where we actually belong! 

July 16, 1945 – we shall be commemorating it shortly… it was the day that the atomic bomb was dropped, bringing the World war II to an end. We are not called merely to judge who is right and who is wrong and give a verdict on persons. We are called to remain on the side of the right, the truth and justice. It is not that we may be oppressors, but even if indirectly by our inaction and silence we allow the oppression of a person or a people go scot-free, we are on the wrong side, on the side of injustice! As the famous holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel says, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." 

 

Our help is in the name of the Lord, affirms the Responsorial Psalm today. When we are a help to the oppressed, we are acting in the name of the Lord. The Lord raises Lord's judgement, Lord's Hero from where and when, we know not. But surely our help is in the name of the Lord, and let us strive to be always on the side of the Lord. If we fail, the Lord warns us today, "I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom than for you."

People who forget their stories

WORD 2day: Monday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 12, 2021: Exodus 1:8-14, 22; Matthew 10:34 - 11:1

  

One cannot but think of the prevailing situations of inhumanity, cruel hegemony, political manipulation, socio-economic oppression and human right violations all over the world, when we read the first reading today! When we find ourselves in front of these suffering brothers and sisters, we cannot close our eyes or switch off our minds. No one can be neutral, in our own way we have to take our stand - if we try staying neutral, so many memories will come crowding into our minds: the world wars, the holocaust, the hiroshima-nagasaki, the Srilankan tamil carnage... how many of these can we ward off from our minds? 

Not only did the Pharaoh not know the history of Joseph and things that happened in his predecessors' times, even the people seemed to have forgotten their origins - of how they reached Egypt and why they reached there and that they were there only for a while, that the Lord had said they will move to "their" land later! They began to think Egypt was their land and they would be there for eternity. They forgot their story. The Lord had to remind them. The world today too has this spiritual amnesia! 

 

That is why the Lord comes with the sword, with fire... that we may wake up and wake up the world, and bring ourselves back as people who are mindful of our stories, our experiences, all that we have enjoyed from the Lord and all that we have promised the Lord and all that we have neglected so far. At times when we face turmoils, we need to turn back to our stories thus far and draw consolation and inspiration from there. In those moments of struggle, as people of God we need to realise that we are afflicted but not crushed,  perplexed but not driven to despair,  persecuted but not forsaken (cf. 2 Cor 4:8)... let us pay heed that we do not become people who forget their stories.  

CHOSEN

To be holy and blameless in love...

July 11, 2021: 15th Sunday in Ordinary time

Amos 7: 12-15; Ephesians 1: 3-14; Mark 6: 7-13

 

To begin with, God chose us! We did not choose God! So, deserting God, or switching allegiance, looking for greener pastures, blaming monotony, seeking thrills and demanding signs are totally unbecoming of a chosen one. Situations that are trying, opportunities that are attractive, offers that are tempting might often come our way, but the one who endures till the end takes the crown. God has chosen us in Christ. As Amos in today's first reading makes it clear: it is not in our greatness or in our credibility-status or in our self-worth, that the Lord has chosen us, but in Christ did God choose us.

The reason I am chosen is because, Christ died for me! Let us clarify it further… I am chosen, because Christ died for me…it is not that Christ died for me because I am chosen, but because Christ died for me, I have become chosen. Therefore, being chosen is not out of merit, we can never merit the unconditional love of God. Being chosen is because of the love that God has for us. Anyone can become, ‘chosen’, because Christ died for all…and all that one needs to do is become aware of the fact that Christ died for him or her, that God loves him or her, that he or she is a chosen son or daughter in the Spirit of the Lord.

Secondly, when did God choose me? In baptism we were buried with Christ says St. Paul (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12). Were we chosen at our baptism? But Isaiah says before I was born, while I was still in my mother’s womb, the Lord called me (Is 49:1). So, was I chosen when I was in my mother's womb? Jeremiah explains, before the Lord even formed me in the womb of my mother, the Lord knew me, called me and has a plan for me (Jer 1:5), to set me up as the so-called light of the world and prophet to the nations. So, was I chosen, before I were being even formed in my mother’s womb? St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, beats it all: God chose us before the foundations of the world. Right from the earliest moment that one can think of, or one cannot even think of, I belong to God!

            The greatest of gifts that chosenness gives me is the sense of purpose! Purpose, reason, motive, mission, meaning…are various words to mean one fundamental truth: God’s will for us, God-willed destiny for us, God’s plan for us in eternity. For I know the plans I have for you, the Lord promises us (Jer 29:11). Whether I understand it or not, or accept it or not… in God’s own eternity I have been chosen and I have a purpose for my life!

Thirdly, if the Lord has chosen me, for what has God chosen me: to be holy and blameless in love. To be in love, and through that being holy and blameless - that is the plan that God has for me, that is the invitation that the Lord offers me. The most important call that a Christian has, or to say the defining call that a Christian has, is to love – for by that they shall know you, that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for each other. It is love that can give me the identity of being chosen! It is not any great achievement, or big diplomas and degrees, or posts and positions, or buildings or projects, or massive gathering or expensive celebrations, that will determine the ardent Christian that I am…but it is love and love only, that will define my status as chosen to be a follower of Christ.

Love and do what you like, said Augustine. When we live our lives in love, we are sure to be holy and blameless. There is no other criterion as fool proof as love, to be considered chosen or not. By this they will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another (Jn 13:35). It is only love that can make me whole. It is only love that can lead me to a life that is absolutely blameless. It is only love that can lead me to be holy! 

The Call of the Lord is to holiness and God has chosen me; when I walk thought it, I fulfill my life’s purpose. It would be sad to think otherwise! It is never God who is going to miss it when I don’t realise my chosenness and live to bring it to fulfilment; it is always I who lose my meaning, peace of mind and fulfilment in life. Gratefully today let us re-embark on this journey of chosenness.