The Joy of choosing God's love

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 16, 2021: Third Thursday in Advent
Isaiah 54: 1-10; Luke 7: 24-30

For the mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but my love for you will never leave you - the most consoling words that one can hear from God! Yes, the love of the Lord gladdens our heart, it gives us a reason to rejoice! It is said, every tiny child that is born into this world is a sign that the Lord has not given up on us. And the child born, whom we are preparing to celebrate, is not only the sign of God's love, but God's love itself made flesh.

This great joy that the Lord gives, does not depend only on God. If it were so, we would have no problem in experiencing it. But not all experience it and definitely not all in the same level or degree! Hence, there is another variable involved here and that is: my personal choice for God!

Joy is ensured by the Lord and the Lord's love; but it has to be chosen by me, freely and willingly - not grudgingly and half-heartedly. When you went to see the Baptist, Jesus says, you knew it would be difficult to digest who he was, what he said and what he demanded from you! But still you went - why? Because it was a choice, a choice for what is godly. 

This is the criteria to enter the Reign: to experience and witness for the joy of choosing God's love, over anything else. You could be famous, talented, popular, sought after, admired and respected, but that does not in anyway take away the importance, the significance and the absolute need for a personal choice for God and all that is godly. This is  the joy of choosing God's love!

The Joy of Seeing the Lord

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 15, 2021: Third Wednesday in Advent
Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25; Luke 7: 19-23

I am the Lord - reveals the Word...and the Lord, as we know has always been and is a self-revealing God. God has multiform ways of revealing Godself to us. The highest form of revelation has been the Word becoming flesh in the great mystery of incarnation that we are preparing ourselves to celebrate. 

The greatest good that can happen to us is, beholding the revelation of God - to get to know God, to get to know who we are in the eyes of God, to get to know what God wants of us. But all these begins with acknowledging the revelation of God, seeing the Lord who is revealed!

Seeing the Lord involves a lot of discipline in life and a sense of true focus - discipline, because we need to train ourselves to avoid all other distractions and grow towards fuller understanding of God; focus, because there are so many situations and experiences that can take us away from the right sense and meaning of life. 

True and deepest joy of life consists of knowing the Lord and being prepared to see the Lord in our daily life - in the other, in the events and in the experiences that come our way on a daily basis. The Lord we have is a self revealing Lord, may we grow in the joy of seeing the Lord. 

The Joy of Simplicity

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 14, 2021: Third Tuesday in Advent

Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13; Matthew 21: 28-32

This Sunday we were reflecting on the joy of simplicity as the joy of the Reign. It refers to the peace and serenity that would govern the life of a person who lives what he or she talks, the courage and authority that would mark the personality of the one who proclaims what one is conviced of and the righteousness of the one who never compromises on what is right, just and acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.

It is easier to look for honour in the eyes of the world and live a false life, deceiving every one around with compromises and appearances; but what a sad life it would be - ensuring peace and tranquility only in the short life that we have here and now. However, even that is not ensured, because the person has to live all the time cautious of not being exposed!

True joy comes from integrity, from simplicity of life - that is a life that is lived from the heart, a life lived at the core of our beings, a life that is lived in the presence of the Lord, totally open and transparent. The Joy of Simplicity gives us the foretaste of the joy of the Reign!

The Joy of Wisdom

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 13, 2021: Third Monday in Ordinary time

Numbers 24:2-7,15-17; Matthew 21: 23-27

The Joy of the Spirit is guaranteed when we know the ways of the Lord... the wisdom of the Spirit lets us grow in the quality of discernment, to get to know the right thing to be done at the right moment! When we are guided by this spirit of discernment, we shall not be answerable to anyone, other than the One who has sent us. 

When the Pharisees and the Scribes questioned Jesus or even threatened him, Jesus never trembled or feared. He was certain about what he was and who he was; and above all these, he trusted in the One who sent him and did everything that his Father commissioned him to do.

The message is simply this: that we develop within us the joy of the Wisdom of the Lord. The Wisdom of the Spirit fills us with three specific capabilities - to know the right thing to do; to do the right thing at the right time; to take responsibility without any diffidence for all that we choosee to do.

The Joy of Wisdom, is to possess the light of the Lord and dare to walk by it all our life

JOY OF THE REIGN - THE LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

Sharing, Simplicity & Sincerity

December 12, 2021: Third Sunday in Advent
Zephania 3:14-18; Philippias 4: 4-7; Luke 3: 10-18

Gaudete Sunday... the call is to Rejoice! Rejoice, Rejoice in the Lord, shouts St. Paul today to us and that is what the first reading calls usto do - to shout in joy! Why all these Joy? Because the Lord is near; and we are half way through the preparation that we began towards encountering the Lord, who comes to meet us. 

The call to Rejoice comes to us in a time that may not so easily concede us the possibility to rejoice... with the pandemic fears still looming, with new virus threat that is keeping the world still quizzing, the increasing uneasiness with regard to immigration and climate crises...these are some urgent concerns that may instill more fear anxiety than joy, naturally speaking! Exactly... naturally speaking, it is so... but spiritually speaking?

Spiritually speaking, we are called to Rejoice! And it is possible to rejoice, whatever be the situation around us! And not just that, as Pope Francis says, "The Christian life is “joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17), for “the necessary result of the love of charity is joy; since every lover rejoices at being united to the beloved… the effect of charity is joy” (Gaudete et Exultet 122). Pope Francis instills in our minds the centrality of Joy in Christian vision of life - the Joy of the Gospel, the Joy of love, Rejoice and be glad... these exhortations of the Holy Father reminds us what it means to live as Christians in these times.

The Word this Sunday explains to us, we are called to rejoice and it is not merely having all fun. It is as reflected in Rom 14:17, joy in the Holy Spirit. It is the Joy of the Reign! The Joy of the Reign is all about, Sharing, Simplicity and Sincerity.

The Joy of the Reign is about the joy of Sharing! It is not having all the fun, as we reflected already. It is spreading happiness, making people smile, standing with the poor, joining hands with the just, fighting for the exploited, seeing the weak strengthened! That joy is not a selfish hedonism. The tendency to hoard on, the selfishness of grabbing, the wickedness of exploiting... these are diametrically opposed to the sense of joy in the holy Spirit. When the Baptist was asked to counsel the people about what to do, for the imminent coming of the Lord, he said - Share! To share what one has is to feel for the other, to give up what one has for the other, to feel compassion for the other - what else is the Reign of God, but this! To Share...not from our abundance, but from our love and care for the other. Once we begin to care for the other, the Reign begins to flower!

The Joy of Reign is about the joy of Simplicity! Simplicity is being without complication; being straightforward; being what you are without pretence. When the tax collectors asked the Baptist for what they should do, there was a bit of pretence in it...they were not in anyway ready to leave their jobs as tax collectors. But just because they wished to show their enthusiasm of the moment, they dared ask him that counsel. And he spared no one: you need not be what you are not! You are tax collectors, collect just tax and no more, he said. In our jobs and life situations, we are in a particular context and within that we have the choice to be righteous or not! The choice that we make there, clear and straight forward, would give us a peace of mind, out of which shall be born true and simple joy, the joy of the Reign.

The Joy of the Reign is about the joy of Sincerity! John the Baptist had every opportunity to enjoy a popularity and recognition that really did not belong to him. He need not have claimed to be the Messiah, enough to have been silent, they would have given him all the honour and respect. But what mattered to him was, his sincerity and that is what made him a person of the Reign, and one who was greater than anyone born of a woman! Sincerity is all about knowing the truth, sticking to the truth and daring to live by it. Sincerity is the source of true joy of the Reign. 

There is a baptism that we are called to, invited to, challenged to: the baptism of the Spirit. The Baptism of the Spirit leads us to a life in the Spirit: a life of sharing, a life of simplicity, a life of sincerity! The Joy of the Reign is what the Lord promises us, provided we are ready to wait on the Lord, behold the Lord's promises and live by the Spirit. Let us rejoice, we have the Lord with us!

Peace... and the fire within us!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 11, 2021: Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4,9-12; Matthew 17: 10-13

Elijah is taken up in fire...Elijah was gone! But the glory that was involved in the event, made people believe that he would come back! And Jesus explains what it means: that Elijah would come back... in fact he had come back! And he would come back again... in us!

The fire within Elijah that was seen all his life when he lived a prophet amidst his people, was seen also when he returned to the Lord at the culmination of his life time - he was taken up in fire! Whenever the same fire returns in someone, the Elijah returns! That is why Jesus idenitified in John the Baptist, the Elijah who had to return.

While John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God and pointed out to the people, Jesus identified John as the Elijah who had to return according to the traditional prophecy! People of God identify each other, in the Lord and the Lord-given mission. 

Each one takes on oneself the responsibilities that the Lord entrusts, with all the difficulties and with all the sacrifices involved. The readiness and the eagerness with which one takes up these sacrifices, is the fire that burns within! As long as this fire burns within, there will be perfect peace too! There would be no anxiety or fear, even when the worst of experiences have to be encountered.

The real preparation for the Reign is to kindle and sustain that fire within us! It would fill us with peace within and inspire peace all around us, a peace that glows with the fire within us!

Peace is born in the Light!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 10, 2021: Isaiah  48: 17-19; Matthew 11: 16-19

We are a privileged people, not because we have a special status or that we deserve it... it is because we have a Lord who sheds light on our daily life on a constant basis. While there are so many persons who have great trouble deciding what to do when, we have a clear and focussed light on our life that guides us, and helps us make choices.

One might disagree with this statement, saying, 'no sometimes even we are not certain what to do!' But just take a minute and reflect... should we really have a confusion? If the confusion because we do not know what to choose or are we not ready to choose what we know to be right? At times we reason in such an infantile way - I like, I dont like, It is very pleasing to me, something does not give me pleasute - are these truly the right way to discern?

This is what Jesus complains against: we act and think like children! Our desires, wishes and pleasures take more importance than what is right, just, pleasing in the eyes of the Lord and the most loving thing to do at a point of time. This is where we falter and fail. The Lord keeps revealing to us, as the first reading tells us, the will of God. What is right and what is proper to be done is always clear right before us, in the light of the Lord; and Peace is born exactly in this light!

Peace comes from that presence

 THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 9, 2021: Isaiah 41,13-20; Matthew 11:11-15

We fret and frown when we helplessly witness violence and wickedness in the world and ask, where is God! When things similar were happening, Jesus said I am here! The first reading is not to be interpreted as something like every thing will drastically change when God comes into our lives. There are two issues here: God never leaves us whether we acknowledge it or not, so we need not foresay an auspicious moment when God shall be there. Secondly, even while we are going through hard times, especially in those times, the Lord stays close to us - blessed are those who realise this, they will have peace! 

God's Plan: Not Magic but Mystery!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

December 8, 2021: Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother
Genesis 3: 9-15, 20; Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12; Luke 1: 26-38

Today's feast is not so much to celebrate the Blessed Mother of God, as to celebrate the Eternal plan of God. God has a plan for each of us, from before the foundations of the world, reminds us the Liturgy today. At times we look at this plan as something magical and try to guess it through means of mediums and methods of all sorts: palmistry, star signs, fortune tellers and prediction professionals! God's plan is not a magic for us to manipulate; it is a mystery to be lived. God's plans unfold moment by moment, as and when we live.

Today we see, in time immemorial the promise that God made that he will set a woman and her offspring against the evil tempter of the world. And we celebrate how this plan at the foundations of the creation, unfolded in total obscurity, in the womb which bore the womb that would bear the Son of God. What a great mystery!

It is not for us to guess God's plan or calculate God's moves: that is a radical impossibility. But we are called to believe in the God's plan, accept it and cooperate with it! God has chosen us before the foundation of the world and therefore we are not here by chance; God has willed us into existence! It is our task to discern what God's plan is for us at any particular given time and carry it out, as did our Blessed Mother all her life.

The aspect we celebrate in our Blessed Mother today is the total cooperation that she offered to the plan of God, because of which she lived all her life, holy and blameless. Let us fix our minds on the Word today: that we are chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God in love.

The ultimate peace - in those arms alone!

 THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 7, 2021: Second Tuesday in Advent

Isaiah 40: 1-11; Matthew 18: 12-14

As individuals, as communities or society and as humanity as a whole, we are constantly in search of something; either we are in search of, or we are made to be in search of! It is sad when a person is constantly in search of something which he or she thinks can give happiness in life, but repeatedly comes to realise that it really does not give that happiness that was longed for. The more sad part is this: that some are made to be is search of, by the mainstream society, the so called majority...but slowly they forget the fact that they are pushed into that predicament, but begin to fully immerse themselves in that inutile search. 

We search for things that we think will give us that peace and joy in life, but in the bargain we lose ourselves! Someone has to come in search of us! The Lord does search for us - through sacraments, seasons and special moments of renewal. We are searched for, but do we let ourselves be found by the Lord... if we are lost, we shall be found; but if we hide ourselves, we would not be found, isn't it? 

When will I really let myself be found by the Lord...only when I realise that I am running behind things that will not last, things that may not give me exactly what I am looking for, that unending joy! Indeed that eternal joy, that sense of fullness, that ultimate peace can be attained in those arms alone!