One God and the Bloodshed!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 28th week in Ordinary time

October 14, 2021: Romans 3: 21-30; Luke 11: 47-54

There is only one God... so finishes the first reading of today! We beleive in One God! Belief in one God seems to be a disturbing fact for many who think it is a point of contention - that those who believe in One God, have a point to prove against those who believe in a God different from theirs. But is this so? The Word today gives us a totally different perspective of belief in One God.

First of all, this perspective is more catholic than divisive! Believing in One God is a catholic perspective... not the technical term refering to the Catholic Church - but the literal meaning of the term 'catholic' which means 'all-embracing'. Believing in one God, challenges me to embrace everyone who is around me, because I firmly believe my God invites me to love all, because every one is created by the only God that I beleive in. I cannot look at a person as divided from me, however different his or her faith could be.

Secondly, this perspective makes me believe in universal brotherhood and sisterhood... as every one is my brother or sister, given to me by my God to love and share my life with. I cannot find in the other a rival or an alien or a stranger, much less an enemy!

Thirdly, laws and regulations, legalities and formalities, red tapism and border controversies, cannot stop me from being merciful and loving to the other. Believing in one God means I believe in the same God who is sovereign over all, the same God who loves all, the same God who cares for all. 

And therefore, due to any reason, worst of it being the reason of faith or religion, if I cause or condone the  bloodshed of a brother or sister of mine, I shall be the worst of hypocrites here on earth and the least in the Reign of that One, Supreme, loving God whom I believe in. 

Righteousness, Self-righteousness and Judgements

WORD 2day : Wednesday, 28th Week in Ordinary time

October 13, 2021: Romans 2: 1-11, Luke 11: 42-46

God has no favourites, says the first reading and Jesus demonstrates that in the Gospel. Neither in being close and accompanying, nor in providing a sense of righteousness (corrections and directions), does God differentiate between persons. The differences arise only in the way we receive or not, what the Lord wishes to communicate to us. In none of these are we judged by God - we are judged by our own judgements! Judge not and you shall not be judged said Jesus. And we hear today, Paul saying its corollary: judge and you shall be judged too, with the same measure and rigour!

Jesus spared no one - whether it was the pharisees or the lawyers or the chief priests or Herod or Pilate - everyone got their share! As much as Jesus was compassionate with the sinners, the publicans and the samaritans, he was stern with the Pharisees and the Saducees - was it a bias? Certainly no! They were in no way judgements passed on those people, but they were an appeal to their conscience to change their ways towards righteousness. It was done with concern for their salvation.

Understanding the discourse between the religious bigwigs of his time and Jesus, we see there were two things involved: Righteousness that Jesus insisted so much upon; and the Self-righteousness that Jesus detested in them! The thin line between Righteousness and Self righteousness has to be trodden with diligent care. 

Judgements arise from self righteousness, where I consider myself one-up and sit on the tribunal looking down on others. While righteousness makes one just and loving, non-judgemental and compassionate,  humble and impartial, and above all, lovable! It is God's righteousness that makes God the most lovable of all persons we can think of. And the love that we have for God, challenges us to grow towards that same Righteousness, from our tendency to self-righteousness. 

The Light of Integrity

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 28th Week in Ordinary time

October 12, 2021: Romans 1: 16-25; Luke 11: 37-41

The terminology used by Paul today sounds very practical, warning us that there are no excuses one can give for not recognising the hand of God in and through the immensity of the reality around. And added to that when it comes to me and God, I don't need to have proofs and justifications and evidences that I believe in God or not. Because God knows the innermost thoughts of mine and I need not be bothered about my presentations and formulations. This is the fundamental element of what we call 'integrity'...Having the least discrepancy between my inner self and my external behaviour, between my convictions and what I engage myself in on a daily basis, between what really matters for me and what I present myself as to others!

Jesus uses simple terms for that in the Gospel - inside and outside! Let both be clean he says... I can have no excuses when it comes to my inner self, for I stand convicted before God who knows the innermost thoughts. The question  which is more important - inside or outside, is a psuedo question! Jesus says when your inside is pure and holy, automatically your outisde begins to glow, like a light lit on the hilltop.

The many saints that we celebrate as our examples and intercessors, were people like us, but they were incomparable in their integrity. They were ready to give of their whole self to God - not just part time and not just a stage show or a dramatic performance. When I do all that I do, with true consciousness and sincere acceptance of why I do it, I am on the first step towards integrity. I need to constantly purify myself towards that integrity that will reveal God's image within me.

In spite of the beasts of this world, the attractions and the pressures that surround me, help me Lord to grow in my personal integrity!

The Call and the Reminders

WORD 2day: Monday, 28th Week in Ordinary time

October 11, 2021: Romans 1: 1-7; Luke 11: 29-32

The first reading today speaks to us about our call to belong to Christ, our call to be holy and our obedience of faith. At times we forget this fundamental call as we live our daily life  and all its responsibilities, getting lost in programmes and daily chores. We get so used to our life as Christians or as Religious, that it doesnt make any concrete difference in us! Gradually we lose track of our fundamental call, and go after things that matter nothing to our salvation, some of them even detrimental to it. We become so callous to our failures and disorientation that we do not even realise we are going farther and farther away from our destined goal: our sanctification.

One thing we are aware is that we can never justify our act, our choices or our priorities when they go against this call that we have received. First of all because we are given reminders after reminders, through persons, situations, events and experiences. Secondly because  the Lord comes to us in person to remind us that we belong to him, that we have a whole life journey to make with him on our side.

The Gospel offers us models by way of the people of Nineveh and Queen of Sheba, people who were so attentive to these signs and reminders that they instantly picked up the message that God was giving them. They recognised the voice of the Lord and Word that was brought to them, took the utmost effort to respond to their specific call.

That is the reminder given to me today: to know how much have I grown in responding to the call that the Lord has given me personally, the call to belong to Christ, the call to be holy, the call to my personal sanctification!

THE PRIMACY OF THE WORD

Between Godliness and worldliness 

28th Sunday in Ordinary time: October 10, 2021

Wisdom 7: 7-11; Hebrew 4: 12-13; Mark 10: 17-30

The Word this Sunday is on the primacy of the Word. The most categorical criterion for a Christian life in this world is the Word, and nothing can define more what a Christian has to be in this life and what awaits him or her in the next. 

There is a craze for wealth and pleasure, comfort and ego, in this world and this is what we term, 'worldliness', a tendency to give importance to the conventional standards of the  world. This is what St. Paul warns against, when he says, 'do not conform to the world' (Rom 12:2). The other pole that is more proper to a follower of Christ, a disciple of Christ, that is a Christian, is the path of Godliness - where God matters the most, God's ways become the criteria of decision, and God's people become a point of sensitive concern. Every person who is active and wishes to live one's life to the full, will certainly be confronted with this dilemma, a tension between Godliness and worldliness. The Word this Sunday, wishes to reflect on this and offers us the clear cut criterion to go by: the primacy of the Word, the Wisdom of God. 

The tendency towards Godliness: There is a natural tendency towards Godliness that every Christian possesses - owe it to the baptismal grace, or the upbringing of the family, or the influence of the faith community or atleast the effect of indoctrination that happens right from the early ages of a person. That tendency is what keeps faith going amidst all crises that exists in the world...but is that enough? The first reading speaks to us of the longing for Wisdom, the yearning for the presence of God, the wish to belong to God and be possessed by God. This is a grace and we cannot squander it. And as a community of faith we have the responsibility to nurture it and nourish it in the upcoming generations. There is a call in that lovely passage to develop within us an intimate love for God, a soul-stirring yearning for God and a passionate search for what pertains to God in any concrete circumstance that we find ourselves in. For example - finding myself in the pandemic situation, what has been my predominant sensibility: aggressive self-preservation? or fierce rebellion? or insensitive indifference? Can't we today reflect and judge for ourselves, what has been our tendency? When we do that we can measure pretty well the level of our tendency towards authentic Godliness.

The tension from worldliness: Many a moment, the yearning for Godliness that we have within is confronted with the worldliness that overwhelms us from all around. The society and the so-called world keeps bombarding us with the terms such as. 'success', 'achievement', 'wealth', 'power', 'influence', 'trending', 'fashion', 'advancement', 'development', and so on. What are we to look up to: the God who calls us to sacrifice and self-giving or the world which clamours after self-fulfilment and self-actualisation? This tension increases even as we tend to encapture the meaning of our life in terms of what we do and what we achieve, rather than what we are and what we are created to be! For the true followers of Christ, this tension reaches its peak, when the Lord calls us 'to go sell everything. give it to the poor and then come and follow him!' We try to compromise that statement and say, it has to be interpreted in context and it has to be understood with the circumstances in mind! But the Lord continues to harp on the same values: self-emptying, reaching out, and finding meaning in the Lord and in the Lord's ways! When we call ourselves Christians, when we say we are followers of Christ, when we say we are living our Christian call here and now... how true is it? The Word is the judge!

The Word, our Judge: The Word in the foundational principle of our Christian life. It is the Word that makes all the difference for the choices we make. It offers us all the wisdom we stand in need of to live a life that is meaningful. The Word is our Judge, practically because the Word gives us the criteria to live by. When those criteria are met we are affirmed; when they are not, the Word holds us on a tribunal... it can scan through our heart and our mind, isn't it! The Word is the treasure that gives meaning to our Christian life. Once we grasp the Wisdom that the Word is, we would come to the conviction that it is worth giving our life in the service of the Word. Just as so many saints who have gone before us, saints whom we have known, those who we do not know, and those who have been living may be right next door to us... we need to respect the primacy of the Word, deciding to live at the service of the Word. And at the service of the Word, whatever we give up comes back manifold.

The Son - the Shelter and the Stronghold

WORD 2day: Saturday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

October 9, 2021: Joel 4: 12-21; Lk 11:27-28

Do an exercise, why don't you? Start reading the passage prescribed for the liturgy today: start reading Joel and you will come across in your mind so many questions. The day of the Lord - is it going to be pleasant or is it going to be terrifying? Is the Lord vindictive or is the Lord truly merciful? Is this good news or a fearsome prophecy? As we read those long verses, made longer because of our ruminations, and reach the Gospel, before we realise that we have begun to read it, the passage ends! Such a short Gospel for such a long reflection before: but that is exactly the message of this whole exercise, the central theme of the liturgy today!

One may ask a thousand questions, or raise a hundred doubts...one truth never changes: Jesus is the Answer! The Son, is the stronghold, the shelter for the children of God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, for the Son has made us all children of God, provided we stick to him. Let us hold on to Christ, in our words, in our actions, in our relationships and in the way we look at the entire world and its daily events. When we have the mind of Christ and look at everything in that perspective, we are sheltered and we have a stronghold, nothing can assail us.

At times our weaknesses and our human tendencies can take the better of us, but all that we need to do is, accept in all humility our failures, get ourselves together back again and reunite ourselves to Christ, clinging on to the Lord, the Son, the Shelter and the Stronghold!

Catch up with the Reign

WORD 2day: Friday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 8, 2021: Joel 1:13-15,2:1-2; Luke  11 : 15-26

The easiest way to get rid of someone from the world is to demonise that person! This is what the Political Super Powers today keep trying. If they feel the need to eliminate  someone, they feel like demolishing another nation or they feel like doing away with a movement, the easiest way they follow is, to demonise them - call them names like evil, violent, terrorists, outlaws, rebels and so on - and get the whole world look at them as a being personification of evil. Then what remains is to get rid of the so-called evil!

This happens in all walks of life. Why do you think the fundamentalist pentecostal groups keep calling the Apostolic Catholic Church names and comparing it to the Antichrist? The sad thing is, even within our Catholic community of faith, there are those who care about nothing but rules and rigour, not about true faith and real God-experience, who at times start such demonising acts, creating schismatic sentiments within the Church, opposing the Holy Father or finding fault in whatever is proposed towards more meaningful living of the Church.

The Lord warns us today: you will be lagging behind, while the Kingdom of God would have overtaken you. Catch up with the Reign. Revelation is progressive, everyday the Lord keeps revealing to us, the way to get closer and closer to the Lord. Everything that happens, all the situations of humanity are but signs of God's revelation and a call to get closer to the Reign, by becoming more and more like the Merciful Father, Observant Son and the Illumining Holy Spirit. If we lose track of it, we shall certainly lag behind. 

It is necessary today, to open our ears, eyes and our hearts, and understand what is going on around us in the light of the Wisdom of the Lord. That alone shall enable us to catch up with the Reign!

Lepanto, Loretto and our Life!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

October 7, 2021: Celebrating the Queen of the Holy Rosary
Acts 1: 12-14; Luke 1: 26-38

The feast of our Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary reminds us of the battle of Lepanto 1571! The Christians were at war defending themselves against the Ottoman Empire. They were at sea, as we know, it was a naval battle and the Rosary brought them the desired victory. At the recommendation of the Pope, the Church began to celebrate Our Blessed Mother as Our Lady of Victories. It was then that Pope Pius V added that invocation, "Mary Help of Christians", to the litany of Loretto (that which we pray normally). Truly Mary was a great help for them at sea! 

Every Christian and every one of us, is at sea on a daily basis, with our concerns and temptations battling against us. Today this naval battle can be won not with bullets but with beads, the beads of the Most Holy Rosary. It is a powerful weapon that we have with us to defend ourselves from our enemy and attack every negative force to overcome evil. It is the sign of our Blessed Mother's presence with us and that presence is an assurance of a much greater presence, that of the Lord! 

As Mary was there in the upper room with the disciples praying, she is there every time we invoke her through the Holy Rosary. And every time we pray this powerful prayer, she strengthens us to say, just as she did, a whole hearted 'yes' to the will of God. As Pope St. John Paul II would often remind us, the Rosary is infact a compendium of the Gospels, a summary of the Paschal Mystery! The Rosary is a weapon that guards us from our foe malign. It is a vehicle that commutes us closer to God the Father. It is a fragrant garland that unites us with our Blessed Mother, thus sanctifying us into children more and more worthy of her divine Son, our Lord and Master.

Prayers, Questions and Answers

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 6, 2021: Jonah 4: 1-11; Luke 11: 1-4

At times persons, when they are faced with problems, difficulties and enormous burdens, they tend to throw numerous questions at the Lord - for they know they have no one else to question about what is happening in their life. But later when things settle down, they thinking of all that and feel bad, saying 'I am so ashamed of myself. I asked the Lord so many questions when I went through those troubles!" But should it be the case? Truly speaking, "it need not be! and it should not be!" There is nothing to be confused  about, here!  The idea here seems perfectly fitting as a reflection on the Word today.

Can I question the Lord? Is that prayerful at all? 

What else could be more prayerful? It is not wrong to ask questions to the Lord. But it is important to wait for the answer. What is wrong is, we ask questions and move away from the Lord, abandon the Lord, quit the presence of the Lord. That is the problem most of us give in to. 

Ask whatever question you want to, because the Lord is your Father and Mother who loves you above all. But after asking the question, remain there till the Lord answers you, as the Lord answered Jonah today. The answer will come, now, later, much later, God alone knows when, but it will come. Because God answers prayers, that is, God answers the question your raise in prayer! God will surely answer...wait! 

Praying can very well be asking questions, but only when you are determined to get an answer from the Lord, whatever time it takes! For God's is the kingdom, God's is the power, God's is the glory for evermore!

The art of prioritising

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 27th Week in Ordinary time

October 5, 2021: Jonah 3: 1-10; Luke 10: 38-42

Martha was doing a lot of good but what Mary chose was deemed to be the best. At times we spend our time and energy doing a lot of things, all of them good may be! But what is the best we can choose at a given moment, I believe that is the point of discernment. The best that I can choose at a point of time, is what is expected of me from God right then. 

The people of Nineveh had a keen sense of discernment and they made a concrete and clear choice. They had their priorities clear. My choices actually reveal my priorities. When my choices are repeated, when they are beyond all conditions and circumstances, it is an indication that they are becoming my priority! A priority determines what I do; and more than what I do, what I think; and much more, what I am!

Instead, spending hours together for an entertainment, investing enormous energy towards getting merely an appreciation, dumping whole life down the drain hoarding money, these are some warped priorities that threaten us these days. A majority of us give into it consciously or unwittingly. Jesus teaches us today the art of prioritising. 

Jesus says, place not just the first things first, but the most important things first! You may have to even give up on somethings, not merely because they are bad but even if they are good, merely because they are not as important. Seek ye first the Reign of God and everything else will be given unto you - that's a pearl of the art of prioritising!