Suffering - Sisyphus or Salvation?

WORD 2day: Monday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 6, 2021: Colossians 1:24 - 2:3; Luke 6: 6-11

When we read the passage from St. Paul in the first reading today, we can easily be reminded of the Greek Mythology of Sisyphus. The famous mythology is about the character called Sisyphus, who receives a curse to push a big boulder up the hill... all his days, he pushes and pushes it, only for the boulder to roll back to the foot of the hills in no time. And he would begin it all over again. He would carryout that meaningless and endless routine all his existence! The existentialist philosopher, Albert Camus (in 1945) would compare that to human suffering, and say it is a meaningless affair that we cannot avoid. St. Paul's words to the Colossians might sound like it, when he says, I have to suffer for you and for the Laodiceans without having even seen your faces. But Paul never ever felt it was meaningless or endless, pointless or superfluous... according to him, it was salvific!

Christian suffering, however trying and burdensome it could be, can never lack meaning! If it lacks meaning, it is not because it does not have meaning, but we do not have the right perspective. Now the question is what is that which makes a suffering, or our outlook on suffering, truly Christian? Or in simple terms, what does give meaning to our sufferings? All our laws and regulations, discipline and rules, what really makes them all purposeful? 

What is that which gives meaning - the question itself has to be reformulated, because it is not "what", but WHO! Yes, it is the Almighty, the Lord who renders them all meaningful and purposeful. Without God, suffering is meaningless, pointless and mere misery. With God suffering is salvific, purposeful and destined towards an ultimate good. It is God who renders our sufferings, our mortifications, our rules, our legalities meaningful. None of these would mean anything, even if we kept them with utmost diligence, if we do not feel close to God. 

This is in short the message and teaching that Christ has given us; the right Christian perspective to suffering: without God, like for Sisyphus, our sufferings are mere miseries; while with God, our sufferings are profoundly salvific! 

A PARTIAL GOD?

Who said God is impartial?

23rd Sunday in Ordinary time: September 5, 2021

Isaiah 35: 4-7; James 2: 1-5; Mark 7: 31-37

The readings this Sunday miraculously coincide with a world event that comes to its close the very Sunday, September 5! When Isaiah speaks to us of the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking, the blind seeing and the lame walking, we cannot but think of the so called, deaf and blind, lame and crippled, winning gold, silver and bronze, adding pride to their nations, in the paralympic that closes this very day. The persons with disablity proving their mettle at Tokyo these days, stand witness to the hope that if only we change our perspective and look at the whole truth, the holistic reality, the universal harmony, instead of dividing, stratifying, exploiting and manipulating the other, on whatever be the count. 

It is in this context that we confront a question today: Is God partial? Ideally speaking, we say, God is never partial, God is just and God is upright! But let us think a while... who said God is not partial! Now consider a situation, a case in concrete: you see a man in the act of stealing, and you also see the man who is being robbed of his something - what would you do? By calling out the thief, are you not putting him into danger and favouring the one who is being robbed? Is it being partial? No, it is being truthful, it is being just, it is being upright... isn't it? And that is why, we say...

It is logical that God is 'partial'... God is Truth, God is just, God is love, God is compassion - which logically says, God sides with truth and never with the lie; God sides with justice and never with injustice; God stands with those to be love, those who need understanding and compassion. It is only logical. James says today, God chose the poor! God chose those who are being oppressed. God chooses those who are suffering. God stands by those who are exploited, those who cannot fend for themselves, those who are unfortunate, those who have less than what they legitimately need to live their life to the full. Thinking in these terms it is very clear that...

It is not being 'partial', but being 'integral'... Being integral is being in perfect harmony without contradictions - between words and deeds, between what is public and what is private, between what is preached and what is practised. God is integral; God is integrity! There is no need for God to choose between good and evil, truth and deception, virtue and vice - God is integrally good, truthful and virtue personified. Jesus embodied this quality; he naturally stayed with the suffering, the less fortunate, the struggling in life - that is where love and compassion was needed; it is amidst the injustices that ray of justice was needed - and Jesus was there. Can we claim to be neutral, when there is some one who is exploiting and someone who is suffering? Have we not to take a concrete side? That is why we say...

God does have favourites... Blessed are the poor, the humble, the weak, the suffering, those who cry, those who are hungry, those who are persecuted... but why are they blessed? Because God has taken their side already! A Christian view of suffering and struggle in life, has to be a sense of hope and optimism, because God is very close to a person in these circumstances. It is not a very Christian question to ask: if God is, why is there suffering! Instead it is very Christian to understand and believe that wherever there is suffering, there is God! Amidst the people today who are suffering out of political crisis in Afghanistan, beside persons and families who are reeling under sadness, grief and crisis due to the prevailing pandemic, on the side of the poor farmers and economically downtrodden people everywhere who are oppressed by the corporate bullies... there is God present with compassion and strength. It is the call today to every disciple of Christ, to hold on to this Christian hope and instill the same wherever we are - that is the true spirit of the Reign!

The Reign of God is all about the so-called partial God, a God who stands by truth, by justice, by fairness, by uprightness of life - to ensure that all may have life, life in abundance. The Reign of God therefore is not a neutral pacifism, nor is it an inhuman antagonism. It is an ongoing struggle, a battle waged by truth against deceptions, a rebellion of peace against violence and a continuous self assertion of loving justice against selfish exploitations. Today as true disciples of Christ, inspired people of the Spirit and loved children of God, we are called to be builders of the Reign. Can we claim to be neutral? Can we avoid taking the side of the oppressed? Can we choose not to feel one with the suffering? If we are among the suffering lot, the Christian call is to understand how God stays close to us and we are not alone! 

Building the Reign here and now, means making the blind see, the dumb speak, the deaf hear, the lame walk... that is to become the eyes, the ears, the mouths, the legs and the hands of those who are affected with disabilities of all kinds - cultural, social, economic, political, religious and spiritual. God invites, even challenges us to be truly representatives of God initiating such processes in our concrete contexts. And what do you call God who is the protagonist of this very process... a partial God?

Allowing God to work!

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

September 4, 2021: Colossians 1: 21-23; Luke 6: 1-5

Transforming a person is not difficult for God - Paul today reminds the Colossians how they have been transformed by God, from foreigners and enemies to pure, holy and blameless people of God. Yes, transforming a person is not difficult at all for God, provided there is a will on the part of the person to be transformed. The flesh could be weak, but what is needed is the spirit that is willing as Jesus would instruct his disciples.

Jesus found it so hard to make the pharisees and the scribes understand the Good News that he brought with him. Not because they were unintelligent nor because they were not able to see what Jesus was trying to tell them, they were unwilling to see, they were refusing to change, they had decided not to transform themselves.

We have today the sacraments and various other helps to pull ourselves up, make ourselves over and transform ourselves constantly in spite of our weaknesses, but we fail. Not because we cannot, but only because we do not want to, we do not have the will to. When we allow God to work in our lives, continuously pulling ourselves up and resuming our journey with the Lord, the Lord will surely transform us. That is the beautiful word we have in the responsorial, let us say it with faith: I have God for my help.

To reconcile everything!

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

September 3, 2021: Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 5: 33-38

Paul states the ultimate destiny of all creation- to be reconciled in Christ. Humans, animals and all creatures alike, and the entire cosmos ultimately has to be reconciled into one, through Christ, in God. That is the essential movement of all reality and any thing that militates against this, has to be suspected in its motive! 

Applying such a movement to the socio cultural scenario and the interpersonal communitarian perspective of our lives, anything that divides, separates or stratifies cannot be trusted to be from God. Even if it is a spiritual practice or a theological concept that takes one away from the movement of reconciling everything in Christ, it has to be suspected. Be it traditionalism or novelties, be it supernaturalism or practicalities, be it customs or innovations, the movement should always be towards one destiny: ultimate reconciliation in Christ. If that is left out of focus, even the best of our efforts will either be selfish or ungodly!

Isn't it logical that an ego centered choice militates against the real center that is Christ and so deviates the unitary movement that should be there in reality? The choice could be hidden with many decorative justifications and sophisticated camouflage, but the truth remains what it is, at its core! Can I really escape the truth in the core of my being? This is precisely why, I need to grow more and more reconciling in my deeds. words and thoughts! These faculties cannot oppose one another - words sweet but actions wrongly motivated; or actions all flowery while the thoughts so ignoble! 

How reconciling are my thoughts, words and deeds? Is Christ the Omega Point always my focus, in all that I say or do?

The capacity for God-vision

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

September 2, 2021: Colossians 1:9-14; Luke 5: 1-11

Jesus demonstrates to the first disciples an extraordinary capacity of perceiving reality. We could refer to this capacity as God vision... that is the capacity to see beyond the apparent and the ability to perceive even what is not yet. This is seen in two levels in the Gospel today. One, Jesus seeing the catch of fish where it apparently wasn't and secondly, Jesus seeing the possibility of Peter and his companions with him becoming fishers of people. And the most interesting part of it all - Jesus promises them that he will develop in them the same capacity: the capacity for God-vision.

Today, we have the call to develop within us this capacity for God-vision. Each of us is invested with the power, by the indwelling Spirit, by the daily help of the Sacraments and the Word, with the assistance of the numerous Godly persons who are around and finally through events and happenings that speak to us of God and the evils of Godlessness. All that we need to do is, remain attentive and observe the signs and learn what God communicates. 

When we really develop the sense of God-vision and remain open to cooperate, God brings out of us the best that we never can even imagine. And eventually this capacity for God-vision will enable us to enhance within us the capacity to look at the best in the other, even at a point where it is not apparently visible. St Paul had become infact an expert fisher of humans and we see him manifest that quality of God vision- he perceives in the people of Colossia a people who are called for great things and not merely new converts. 

To be true disciples and apostles of the Lord, we need to grow in our capacity for God-vision, that will be a criterion and a sign of being truly persons of God. 

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.