Purposefulness and Urgency to Proclaim

WORD 2day : Wednesday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 1, 2021: Colossians 1:1-8; Luke 4: 38-44

Paul, Epaphras, Jesus...all seem to be on the move. With a sense of urgency and a feeling of detachment they seem to move on from one place to another with the task of proclamation filling their minds. The question today is about our sense of apostleship - the sense of 'being sent'. Our Holy Father keeps insisting on this dimension of Christian call - being a missionary Church, being missionary disciples and being missionary communities wherever we are! 

The key element here in this missionary sense, or the sense of being sent, is Purposefulness and Urgency. Purposefulness which consists of clarity of one's purpose and meaning of life and Urgency which involves losing no time or attention in things that wont directly concern with the fundamental purpose one feels about one's life and mission. Are we filled with this urgency and purposefulness? Are we convinced about whatever the task is, that is given to us?

And by the way, what is that all important task: announcing the Lord, the goodness of the Lord, the salvation of the Lord - in short, proclamation of the Reign of God. Proclamation is not the work of a few, it belongs to each and every one who is baptised. It is not an added feather to our hats but an essential mark of being a Christian. Of course there is no one way of proclamation. Preaching is just one way; example, witness, convictions, values, compassion and limitless love are all ways of sharing that Word with the world.

Added to the question - whether I am clear about my purposefulness and convinced of its urgency, there is another pertinent question that arises: what is my mode of proclamation? How effective our lives would become with these - purposefulness and urgency to proclaim!

Awake, alert and active, to eliminate evil

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

August 31, 2021: 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6, 9-11; Luke 4: 31-37

There is this oft-narrated story of the man who asked a Zen master, 'what would you do if the world begins to end right now?' The Master who was busy drinking a cup of tea, looked up at him and said without panic, 'I would continue to taste this tea.' That is the spirituality that Paul and Jesus speak of today. To remain awake, alert, active, always is the key to face the worst of events in life.

Being awake, alert and active - this can today mean for as children of God, amidst so many things that are happening around us in the world, be it, the pandemic experience, the political turmoil in various places, the underground processes that seem to affect the ongoing life of the world at large, the economic forces that are gaining power over the world affairs, and many such issues!

In this context, to remain awake is to look around, be aware and reflect about things that happen around us. To be alert is never to allow ourselves to be deceived by others' opinions and judgements, but to have our own interpretation of things with the help of the wisdom that comes from God. Finally to be active is to know what to do as a result of the reflection and discernment, without falling into a drowsy inaction or an unchristian fatalism. 

We are challenged to grow in the spirituality of keeping awake - it is nothing but being alert to any situation that presents itself to actively do what God wants us to do! As children of God given authority over anything that is here on earth, we are called to live awake, alert and active, ever ready to look at the evil and say, 'be quiet' and 'get out of' here! That is the authority that we are invested with, as children of God: to eliminate evil and to increase good!

You get only what you decide?

WORD 2day: Monday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

August 30, 2021 - 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18; Luke 4: 16-30

Pscychology speaks so much about positive thinking and about the power of thoughts. You get what you have always wished for! At times by our negative wishing we lose the good that can happen to us and by positive wishing we experience things that can seem almost miracles. Is it merely will power and coincidence? Not at all, establishes the Word today. 

We are immortal, in as much as we are in Christ. This is Christian belief, but at times we do not behold or perceive ourselves to be eternal beings... we commit sins and await punishment; we give into the worldly living and await our end, a definitive end...but we can never leave. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ - tribulations, distress, persecutions, hunger, nakedness, death - nothing, absolutely nothing. 

But when one repeatedly laments for things that have happened in life, it is likely that similar experiences repeat themselves too. Hence it is important that we do not dwell on things that may not be desirable - negative experiences, love-less thoughts, virtueless practices... these have to be avoided not only in deeds but also in thoughts and intentions. That is truly a faith mentality.

The simple fact that we are reminded of is, that the Lord has great things in store for us, from ordinary blessings to eternal life - what we need to do is remain firm in faith, that is, decide to magnify the Lord for all the good that you receive, because you get only what you decide.

THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

Live, Submit and Create!

22nd Sunday in Ordinary time - August 29, 2021

Deuteronomy 4: 1-2,6-8; James 1: 17-18,21-22, 27; Mark 7: 1-8,14-15,21-23

The use of hand sanitisers and surface disinfectants, the sight of the gloves and the PPEs, the masks and the face shields, have not yet gone out of our daily use! Some of these habits are even becoming a bit obsessive for some persons who have ceased to live their 'normal' lives on any count. There is fear and scrupulosity filled still in the air! This is a sanitary crisis but what we see in the Gospel today is a taboo..that is a spiritual crisis! Doing things without knowing why we do it! We are so scrupulous about doing them, but without really experiencing the real effects that they were meant to create! The sad fact in our Christian life is that our most crucial expressions of faith too can run this risk - just imagine 'saying' or 'reciting' prayers without really meaning what they intend, 'attending' or 'hearing' Mass without really celebrating the Sacrament that it is... are these not really crises? The key to avoid such a crisis is being aware of the living Presence of the Lord with us.

The Word this Sunday instructs us on this secret of Christian living... to live in the presence of the Lord, to submit to the presence of the Lord and to create the presence of the Lord wherever we are!

The first reading invites us to live in the presence of the Lord in and through the lovely faith traditions that we have inherited from our parents and elders, from the faith community and from those who have spiritual care over us! Laws and Customs that the Israelites had were lived traditions passed on for generations - they were practical, useful and relevant. They had their purpose and meaning, but in the course of time, they were reified as actions to be performed without the purpose that underlaid them. This led them to being superstitious and hypocritical, as Jesus points out in the Gospel today. What about our own experience: how many of our practices in daily life have already become superstitions and blind customs! Are we into things which we really do not understand why we are doing? Such a reasoning can become an easy way out for the younger generation to throw out things that have been handed down to them - but let us be sincere! How much have I tried to really understand the faith traditions handed down? How faithful have I been in receiving them? How eager have I been in finding the presence of God in them? The call here is for both - the elders in a community to pass on traditions that help persons to live in the presence of the Lord and the younger generation to strive to discover means of living the presence of the Lord in daily life through simple traditions, laws and customs which enshrine the experience of ages!

The second reading invites us to submit to the presence of the Lord in the living Word that speaks to us every day! The Word has not only been in history a living presence of the Lord, but also in the present, the Word lives amidst us and the Word is the most concrete presence of the Lord with us. James hits the nail on its head when he says - it is not enough to listen to the Word and admire the Word, but it is necessary that I submit to the Word. That is, I need to listen, treasure within me and shape my entire life in the light of the Word; in short obey the Word and live by It. Submitting to the presence of the Lord would mean, at every moment of my life asking myself the question, what is the most worthy thing to do, in the presence of the Lord? Because the presence of the Lord surrounds me all the time, every moment of my life - hence the division between my private self and public self, my personal life and portrayed life, cannot exist! The presence of the Lord, in the form of the Word, needs to rule every moment and every movement of my life - I need to live according to the voice of the Lord. The Word cannot be reserved only for some specific moments of my life, or for the public manifestation of some ideas or beliefs. The Word is for my entire life and every bit of it. I have to live the Word, live by the Word and live as the Word tells me, in all that I say, in all that I do, and in all that I am. My choices, my priorities and my values have to be clearly and explicitly guided by the Word, the presence of the Lord!

The Gospel invites us to create the presence of the Lord, by our very presence wherever we are. It summarises the lesson of the Word today, making the correlation between the traditions to be lived, the Lord to be obeyed and the effects of it in the daily life! Here it is that we can make a solid difference between two modes of Christian living: the Performance Mode and the Personal Mode. The Performance Mode insists on the actions, rites and rituals, traditional customs to be performed by all means and making it the centre of faith and Christian living. The Personal Mode rebels against this, saying it is all between oneself and God, a relationship that has to be cared in private, nothing to do with all these public manifestations and compulsory adherence. Which of these is right? Neither of these, isnt it? Yes, there is another Mode that the Word suggests today: the Prophetic Mode. The Prophetic Mode of Christian living, insists that we feel the presence of God on a daily basis, even amidst things that go out of control; it is a mode of living our Christian life in communion with all my brothers and sisters, feeling one with them in all their joys and sorrows; it is a mode that leads me to a complete union with the Presence of the Lord which is not only felt or experienced, but created by my very life style, by the way I stand for truth and justice, by the way I live for love and compassion and by the way I am ready to die for righteousness and integrity! Clearly therefore, the call is to outgrow both performance mode and personal mode of Christian living and mature towards a prophetic mode of living, where my presence can become the Presence of the Lord to the world around me!

To Grow in my capacity to love

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 28, 2021: Celebrating St. Augustine

1 Thessalonians 4: 9-11; Matthew 25: 14-30

You have learnt from God to love one another - what beautiful words from Paul about the Thessalonians. It has to be said so of every Christian - that we have learnt from God how to love one another! This has two important consequences: that we love one another, and that we love like God! God has given us the capacity to love, and it is our responsibility to grow in that capacity to love - only then shall the Lord tell us: Well done my good and faithful servant!

Augustine, the saint we celebrate today, believed in this, taught this and gave this as the most categorical test of all: the test of love. If you are a Christian, you love! Love and do what you wish, he would say! If love is true and God-like, there is no need of any other rule book or code of conduct. The situation in the world today is so painful and inhuman, because the rule of love is so neglected and disrespected. 

Yesterday, we celebrated Monica, the mother of Augustine... the love of that mother made a saint of her son. Today, we have Augustine who understood the absolute value of love, in comparison to all the intellectual prowess and academic accomplishments that he could really boast of. He knew the right Christian mindset - that of love. Those who love are born of God and they have known God. Those do not love God, do not know God. 

Of all the gifts that God has given us - our talents, our varied faculties, our capabilities and our potentialities - the greatest is the capacity to love. Because, it is this capacity that helps one to share in the very nature of God: God is love, isn't it! And God expects that we grow day by day in that love - from ordinary love to that of its greatest form. There is no greater love, than one laying down his/her life for an other! It can never be the other way around, making sure I live at the cost of anything, or anyone! 

A true Christian therefore is one who loves, and one who grows everyday in that capacity to love.

To feed the fire!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 27, 2021: Celebrating Monica, the Saintly Mother

1 Thessalonians 4: 1-8; Matthew 25: 1-13

What God wants is for you all to be holy... St. Paul presents us with the crux of our Christian calling. Being holy is a universal call...not pertaining to one group or the other, not specific to one way of life or the other, not restricted to a few or a particular section of the faithful. It is universal in all sense - and today we have a great example in the saint we celebrate. 

St. Monica, was a saintly mother - to begin with, a lay person; a mother, and a simple mother and not some queen or foundress of a religious congregation! She was a simple, household woman, who not only remained a holy person, but brought her straying son to the path of holiness. What a powerful conviction it should have been, to have led the person to holiness and made her lead her son too, to the same path divine!

The generation today is like the 'foolish' maids who were so blissfully unaware of the problem that was coming their way...they were all there for the wedding, the very wedding they will be missing out on. They took obvious things for granted...they thought their lamps will go on burning endlessly: what a foolish thinking. How will it go on burning if you don't feed the fire. The generation today, is doing the minimum with regard to spiritual life and faith life - thinking that it will go on endlessly, that it will automatically become deeper as days go by! How can it, unless you feed the fire?

Just like Saint Monica, the generation that is taking care of the younger generation, are called to make them aware of the need to feed the fire, and not remain clueless about the fire of faith, the fire of spiritual union with God, the fire of true striving towards holiness which can dwindle off anytime! For that, the elder generation first of all, have to keep their fire burning bright, and then instruct the following generation to make efforts to keep theirs burning and to constantly feed the fire! 

Will there be love when the Master returns!!!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 21st week in Ordinary time

August 26, 2021: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13; Matthew 24: 42-51

The Word today speaks of perseverance in faith, until the master comes. One sign that is provided as a sign of persevering faith is that of true and sustained love for each other. Paul prays that the Thessalonians grow in their love for each other and for the entire humanity. Jesus speaks of loving service to each other as the way to be prepared, alert and awake, when the Master comes.

The political crisis in Afghanistan, the natural disasters like that of Haiti, the tensions in various parts of the globe in varied forms, the still-threatening pandemic and its atrocities, the recurring threats of terrorism in various parts, the pursuing persecutions and inhuman treatment of human persons in the name of caste and creed, dehumanisation of masses in the name of development, the negations of a vast majority of population who are poor and weak and at the mercy of the rich and the powerful, the institutionalisation of religions and ritualisation of faith - all these are totally not in keeping with the love that Jesus proposes as the touchstone of true faith. 

Infact, the way things go, we should very seriously ask ourselves, 'will there be love left when the Master comes again?' But of what good is that question if we do not, on our part, do whatever we can, however little they may be, towards promoting true love? It would be a mistake if I tell myself, 'of what impact is it going to be that I love my neighbour in my limited circle where I am?' In loving the other, I become loving as a person, and by that I promote a whole culture, a lifestyle, a mode of living - that of love! And that is my responsibility, in my own way to promote the culture of love, thus keeping alive love until my Master returns in glory!

If at all we wish that love remains till our Master comes again, we need to transform ourselves and grow into radical agents of love wherever we are - isn't that a concrete call? 

Is good, good enough?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 21st week in Ordinary time

August 25, 2021: 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23: 27-32

When we say, 'he is good' or 'she is good'... how certain are we about the fact? It is our overall judgement about persons, looking at what we see, what we hear, what we observe... but no one can deny that there is more to reality than what we can apparently see or hear! How many times we trust someone as being good, and finally come to realise it was not actually true! Or how many other instances where we judged someone rashly from the looks, but ended up being humbled by their goodness and gentleness! So can we ever say someone is good?

Goodness - can we ever attribute it to anyone! Or can any of us really claim to be good absolutely? This is the question that the Word raises within us today. How good are you? Is your goodness, good enough? The Word questions, not whether we are good or whether we do good - but whether our goodness is really good? 

At times we may appear or manifest ourselves to be good, to win favours, or establish a name or having hidden agenda to be achieved. At times we may strive to be good, just to make up for something that we have done wrong, which we alone would know - as a kind of atonement. At times we may do good, which may be good only in our judgement and there would be no one who really benefit out of it. Hence, the impeccable touchstone to goodness is God and God alone.

God who knows us through and through, who knows not only our speech and our acts but even our thoughts and our intentions, certainly knows how good we are! Hence the challenge we have is not to just be good, but to be good in the eyes of the Lord - that is intrinsic goodness - to be attentive to the Word of the Lord, accept it, live by it and be truly good, intrinsically good, after the heart of the Lord!

Will you be found under the fig tree?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 24, 2021: Celebrating St. Bartholomew the Apostle 

Revelations. 21: 9-14; John 1:45-51

One of the 12 foundation stones, that is, one of the the 12 apostles rooted firm in Christ, is St. Bartholomew whom we celebrate today! Jesus gives him two compliments - one, that he was a person who had no guile in him and second, that Jesus saw him under the fig tree!

Sitting under the fig tree, had a very special significance in that context and Bartholomew is interested and curious how Jesus got to know about him and his tryst with truth. Sitting under the fig tree would mean (as we see in Micah 4:4), meditating on the Word of God, reflecting on the things that God expects from one, and making discernments on the way one relates to his or her world. A very deep meaning, isnt it?

Jesus has noted what kind of a person Bartholomew was. That was surprising for Bartholomew. Known as Nathanael in the Gospels, he was a man who looked for, yearned for truth and that is the reason, Philip brings him to Jesus. If only we truly and yearningly seek the Truth that Jesus is, Jesus is ready to surprise us! But are we ready to be surprised?

The question is, will Jesus find us under the fig tree? Will Jesus find in us, true seekers after truth, truly persons who long for the Lord, Christians who walk in the ways of the Truth! How much importance do I attach on a daily basis to remaining in sacred silence... or to the reading of the Word of God... or to meditate on the Word... or simply to remain in that disposition to connect to the Lord... that is why the question, when Jesus wishes to, will you be found under the fig tree?

Conversion - personal and constant!

WORD 2day: Monday, 21st week in Ordinary time

August 23, 2021: 1 Thessalonians 1: 1- 5, 8-10; Matthew 23: 13-22

Evangelisation is one topic that the Church can never tired itself speaking of, because it is the primary reason for its being. As soon as the Church speaks of evangelisation, the anti-church civil society would interpret it as ‘Conversion’ and in turn those factions never tire themselves of accusing the Church of conversions. 

Conversion - while it would mean mere numbers for those who accuse, the readings today present to us what a true conversion should be, or what it is for the Church! It means discovering the deepest sense of meaning within a person, a sense that would give the person a sense of living his or her life to the full; it is a call that has always been there, now being listened to and recognised with all its consequences. 

This meaning, this call, is experiences and responded to in terms of priorities, choices and value systems that are adopted by individuals and communities that share the same call or meaning. Right priorities and right values are crucial within this discourse. St. Paul underlines it in such clear terms writing to the Thessalonians, that our faith should be active; our love committed and our hope firm. 

Faith in action, love as concrete compassion and hope as unceasing optimism – these are the reasons why Pope Francis is fond of repeating – A ‘Christian’ can never be sad! Conversion, therefore, consists in understanding the call within to live one's life to the full and doing the needful to respond to that call! In this sense, is it not true that each and every one of us, has to be committed to our personal and constant conversion?