The Sign of Jonah

THE WORD IN LENT

Wednesday, First week in Lent: March 09, 2022

Jonah 3: 1-10; Luke 11:29-32

The only sign that will be given is the sign of Jonah, says Jesus. And what is this sign of Jonah. Let us dwell on it a little. The sign of Jonah is repentance! How does Jonah become the sign of repentance? 

First Jonah himself was a sign of repentance - we know how he had his own way of thinking, his own judgement of events and people. When God called him to be a prophet, he had to be formed the hard way to really think as God would think, to accept events and persons as God would have them. He repented, and he risked his life, going amidst the people and giving them the hard message that he had from God. 

Secondly, Jonah's words were a sign - the people of Nineveh saw the prophet who had come all the way to warn them with a message from God. They saw in him, a man of God; they saw in his words, the Words of God. They saw the sign that was delivered to them through the words of Jonah, and they repented... saving themselves from a disastrous end. 

Thirdly, Jonah becomes the sign of the Son of God - the event of Jonah resting in the belly of the fish for three days and rising to new life, is given as the sign of the Son of God - the life and resurrection that humanity awaits. Obedience of Jonah is the prefigurement of the Son of God who in his obedience, emptied himself totally for the Will of God, the salvation of all! In our obedience, we shall inherit what Jesus has earned for us.

The Sign of Jonah is relevant even today - the sign of repentance, so loud and clear in this season of lent. It is to pay attention the Word and to change our lives according to it, on a daily basis; to acknowledge the persons bringing the Word to us, whoever it could be "big" or "small", erudite or no; and finally, see Jesus in those who genuinely care for us - if we see Jesus we will hear him speak!

The Word, the words and our ways

THE WORD IN LENT

Tuesday, First week in Lent - March 8, 2022

Isaiah 55:10-11; Matthew 6:7-15

We reflected just yesterday that we are called to realise the Image that resides within us - the Image of God. The Word became flesh and lived amidst us as the visible presence of the invisible God. The Word of God becomes flesh even today, the Word of God becomes life, and that is the model given to us, the lesson given today. 

The words of God are life, they are Spirit, they give life, they create, they recreate, they renew the face of the earth. No word that God speaks go waste and the Word today places the same challenge to us - do not babble, admonishes Jesus. in the Gospel today. He says, just as every word from God has its life, so should every word of ours become life - the Word we listen to, and the words we express. 

The Word we listen to comes from God and we need to allow it to have its effect within us. Opening our hearts and our soul to the Word and allowing ourselves to be formed, revived and renewed by the Word is not just a task given to us, but a privillege. Not all have that grace, but the people of God. 

The words we use, need to have life, just as the Words of the Lord. Be it to our fellow brothers and sisters, or to the Lord in prayer, every word we use has to have its life. When Jesus teaches those words of prayer, he not only taught us a prayer, but taught us a lifestyle, a way of life. It contains the crux of Christian life - that we see ourselves as brothers and sisters from One Father in heaven, that we dedicate ourselves to the Will and the Reign of God, that we fend for each other, that we forgive each other and be a source of salvation to each other. What a beautiful prayer, with not just words but our very way of life. 

Holiness - not a call, an identity!

THE WORD IN LENT

Monday, First week in Lent: March 7, 2022

Leviticus 19:1-2,11-18; Matthew 25:31-46

We are beginning our first week in lent, the lenten journey is slowly intensifying and today, the Word establishes the very purpose of this lenten journey, not only that, but the purpose of our whole life as christians - holiness! The Word inspires us today with a subtle difference, but very crucial to understand. 

We know holiness is a call, a fundamental call that we have as children of God. Be ye holy the Lord says. But that is not all...there is a second part to that statement that we need to pay attention. In fact, that second part makes a crucial difference. Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God, am holy! That is all the difference we need to know and understand.

Holiness is not merely a call, it is our identity. If it were a call, we could respond to it the way we wanted: saying either yes or no. We could accept the call or deny it; we could accede to it or reject it. But it is not just a call, but an identity! We cannot but develop and grow in it. 

The Lord created us in God's own image and likeness; we bear the image of God, that is holiness, purity and the splendour of integrity. How sad, that we have to be reminded so often, brought back so frequently and dragged back to our original state so repeatedly! But the Lord does not tire of it. The Lord is never tired of us: never tires of forgiving us, never tires of showing mercy to us and never tires of calling us back to Godself!

All that we need to do is realise that our real nature is 'holiness' because the one who created us is holy, the Image in which we are created is holy and therefore we have to be holy! We have to free ourselves of all that goes against this holiness, all that takes us away from that holiness. Yes, let us remember, holiness is not just a call, it is our very identity!

TESTS - TO FACE OR TO EVADE?

Quality of a Mature Christ-ian

First Sunday of Lent: March 6, 2022 

Deuteronomy 26: 4-10; Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13

The Holy Father quipped the other day: the past few seasons of lent have had unprecedented surprises for us... the last two years, with the waves of covid-19 and the present one with the tragedy of the war that has begun! Testing Times never lack! 

It is not only about the world or humanity in general, but even in our personal lives we do not lack testing times! Every person goes through these times in quite a succession! Lent is proposed to be a workshop to train us for testing times that might come our way, all through our life! The way we go through them would determine the quality of maturity that we have developed as Christ-ians. 

Today the Word gives us three lessons on how to confront these testing times:

1. Our Disposition: Be Prepared to Wander 

The First reading invites us to understand our history! My father was a wandering Armenian - the people are taught to repeat it, in order that they may never forget what they were once in their history. To forget our history is to lose a part of ourselves. When good things happen in life, we praise God profusely and express feelings of tremendous attachment to God. In a short while if a testing moment comes by, we mourn and groan as if we have never known the Lord and the Lord's mighty power! What a schizophrenic disposition that can be!

At times we need to be prepared to wander a bit; that is live in a wonderment, now knowing what would happen next - like we lived those waves of covid, and as we find ourself amidst this absurd war that is on. In fact, every one who has reached some significant point with the Lord in his or her life experience, has definitely passed through a phase of wandering. It is an essential spiritual experience to get closer to oneself, to each other and to the One who leads us. In that moment of wandering we have experiences which we would never have otherwise, are we disposed to gather those experiences from our tests, trials and temptations in life? 

2. Our Approach: Never Cease to Ponder

The One who leads us into the wilderness, knows what is in store! But it is on our part, a responsibility, a task, a requirement to ponder on what happens around. When covid came by, we saw the real stuff people are made of: how some were heartless and how some were golden in their hearts; how some were so scared, and how some were so incredibly courageous. And today we are seeing the colours of many a society and sections of the world, as we see people reacting to this unwarranted war! 

We would miss it all if we do not keep pondering on our way, even as we wander. Pondering is such a powerful exercise that it can makes sense of everything that happens, in its own time of course. When we cease to ponder we run the risk of wandering without purpose; the point is wandering with a specific purpose, in a specific direction...which the Lord alone knows. How will we get to know from the Lord, by pondering. That is why Mary kept everything in her heart and pondered. In God's own time, provided we are ready to ponder deep, things will certainly make sense, even our own weaknesses and failures! 

3. Our Attitude: Be ready to Surrender 

The worst of things that we can do when things are not clear, that is when we are wandering, is to panic! To panic and restlessly look to have a solution as soon as possible. It is in that hurry and restlessness that we make most of our mistakes in life. Be it nations, or governments, or institutions, or authorities, or we individuals, when we panic, we run all the risk of making a mistake. Instead, what we need to learn is, to surrender!

While wandering and pondering, that specific purpose, that specific direction will be revealed to us in time, in the right time! The challenge is to wait for that right time with patience and endurance. Being in the wilderness is not an easy task, isnt it! It is indeed a challenge to surrender and not to fret. Surrendering would first involve the humility of saying to myself: I am not in control of everything. Secondly, it would mean lifting my eyes to accept that God is in-charge. And thirdly, it is a serene acceptance of God's will with utmost cooperation on our part, not rushing through or forcing things. 

No doubt, our life can get tiring and tough, through our testing times. But only when we are tested, we could be sealed TESTED-OK!

Restorers of Ruins

THE WORD IN LENT

Saturday after Ash Wednesday - March 5, 2022

Isaiah 58: 9-14;  Luke 5: 27-32

The Word today is calling out, calling out to us to come to the ways of the Lord - to do away with the yoke, the clenched fist and the wicked word that we may be light that rises in the darkness, to this world which so much needs it.  And we need not worry how we would do it, because the Lord himself shall be our strength, the water that revives us and the light that dispels our shadows. However, the Word makes us note another important element: that is the yoke, the wicked word, the clenched fist, and ruins. This is to say, not that we deserve, but the Lord still calls upon us.

Jesus manifests the same Divine act as he calls Levi, though he was considered sinner. I have come to call the sinners, the weak, the imperfect, the unworthy, declares the Lord. And to prove that it is not out of condescension, the Lord comes to us and idenitifies himself with us, just as he went to Levi's house and ate with the so-called sinners and the publicans. The Lord not only calls us, he identifies with us. But why?

Why does the Lord call us, the weak, the sinners, the ruins! Yes, that we may know what it means to be sinners and yet, be loved, be called, be honoured and be saved! That we can be Restorers of the Ruins! But what do we do: after all that the Lord has done for us, we go about judging others, condemning others, fighting with others and calling names at others! What a shame, as chosen people of God!

We are called to be breach menders, restorers of ruins, peace makers, gatherers of people, compassionate builders of communities. Let these be our lenten tasks, not just skipping breakfast and avoiding meat! How the Lord would wish that we become true loving people of God!

Lenten Fast - Do you have a Justification?

THE WORD IN LENT

Friday after Ash Wednesday - March 04, 2022

Isaiah 58: 1-9; Matthew 9: 14-15

Why should you fast this lent? Jesus himself seems to be against fast, as long as the Son of Man is with you! The Lord is with us! And why should we fast? Do you have a reason for your fast, if you are fasting this Lent? And will your reasoning stand before the criteria that Jesus and the Word today offer us this day?

The point is simple: fast cannot be for a rule; it cannot be for the sake of a precept alone; it cannot be for the continuity of a tradition; it cannot be for the sake of your selfish motives of proving to yourself that you can do heroic things or to prove to others that you have stacks of meritorious acts to pride before the world! That is not a lenten fast in the least. 

First let us listen to the criterion that Jesus gives: fast should be sign of true mourning for the absence of the Son, for the absence of the sense of God. Our sins and our faults push us to a sense of absence of God and that is where the need for fast comes in - to mourn the situation. But can it end there? Is mourning enough? Jesus would never accept that, which means there is more to it. The first reading clarifies that.

The fast should be to break the unjust fetters, to let the oppressed go free, to share the bread with hungry, to shelter the homeless, to clothe the naked, to embrace everyone as your brother and sister! That is meaning of true fast, from where one can feel the closeness of God and the sense of absence of God would be gone! Is this not the type of fast that Pope Francis called us to, two days ago for the sake of the Ukraine crisis - to feel one with the suffering innocents there and open our hearts to peace - the ultimate sense of the presence of God! 

Salvation: it is all about Choices!

THE WORD IN LENT

Thursday after Ash Wednesday - March 3, 2022

Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9: 22-25

What I am, is what God has made me to be! But what I want to be, is what I make of myself, by my daily choices. What there is a harmony between what God has made me to be and what I want to be - there is a wondrous experience of salvation, the feeling of total peace and the sense of fulfilment. This is what the Lord is offering us today!

The Word says - this salvation is all about choices. You make your choice. Life and death is right before your eyes, you make your choice. There is a choice for peace and for war, for destruction and for collaboration, for violence and dialogue, for grabbing and for giving... which one do you want to choose? Right in front of our eyes we are witnessing these days, the wrong choices and the resultant pain and evil. 

Who is a child of God and who is not? Who are the people of God and who not? Who are the people of the Reign and who cannot be? These choices are being made everyday by us, in our own lives. When we choose what is good, what is true and what is acceptable in the eyes of God, we choose salvation. When we choose what is evil, what is deceitful and what is despicable in the eyes of God, we choose our own damnation. Let us not blame anyone for it, not even God!

In my thoughts, in my words, in my priorities... I need to choose carefully where I wish to belong: to God or to the evil, to life or to death, to salvation or to damnation! It is all about my choices.

Broken hearts or Torn garments?

THE WORD IN LENT

Ash Wednesday - March 2, 2022

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2; Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, orients the Word today, in view of the holy season of lent that we begin today. The Hebrews had a symbolic expression in their tradition, when something went absolutely wrong, to show one's disapproval and sorrow, they (specially the leaders) tore their mantle. The Word says today, that would not mean anything, if the sorrow or the remorse were not from within!

Tearing the garment was an external sign and every one would be able to see it. But it was meant to signify the internal sense of repentance and conversion. That is where the problem laid - they did the act but forgot the internal significance; it had practically no effect on their internal self. Jesus picked it right their and chided them for washing the dishes externally, but leaving it dirty and stained inside. 

In the same logic of purifying the within, he teaches us today the right sense of fasting and prayer - which need to become an internal act of repentance and conversion, rather than external manifestation of austerity and rigour. What matters is not what we leave out from our daily menu, or what we do in terms of extra prayers; what really matters is how disposed our hearts are to welcome and behold the Word of God, experiencing the love of God within and its effects in our daily life. 

Speaking of a significant lenten observance, the Holy Father too concentrates on that internal transformation and conversion, which invite us to SOW GOODNESS. Sowing goodness is to become protagonists of goodness, especially in these times when violence and wickedness are perpetrated without any qualms of conscience. There is no use lamenting and pointing fingers at these inhuman forces, we need to stand up togther, and sow goodness wherever and in whatever way we can. Let us come before the Lord and start this lent, not with torn garments but with broken hearts!

Make a difference... for whom?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 8th week in Ordinary time 

March 1, 2022: 1 Peter 1: 10-16; Mark 10: 28-31

Do not behave the way you liked to before you learnt the truth, says Peter in the letter. He seems to declare that on receiving the Word of God, the first difference that you have to make is to yourself. There should be a difference between you before receiving the Word and you after receiving the Word - that is the central message of the Word today. 

Making a difference remains one of the favourite themes spoken of overall, not only in the sociological or the motivational realms! However, it is almost always centred on the difference that I can make for the society, for the context where I am. Instead the difference that is spoken of here, is on a Spiritual plane, where I am called to make a difference to myself, making my whole life a constant and steady journey toward holiness. 

Holiness consists in the capacity to challenge oneself, towards making a difference within, which will certainly be seen in every aspect of life and experienced by every person around. Such a challenge and faithful adherence to it, will make us ever more disposed to receive the salvation that the Lord offers us, making us slowly a sacrament of salvation to God's own people, because the One who has called us, lives within us. 

Just imagine, a person who is earnest about making a difference within, sincere about changing one's own life on the basis of the daily challenge of the Word that wants to make a difference...will that life not be inspiring to all; beneficial to all; and a blessing to all! Think of someone who claims to be a Christian, and proclaims oneself devout, but does things in obedience to the vile interests of the evil that ruins everything! Which is the real difference that leads to holiness? 

Our holiness, which comes from the Holiest of all that is holy, is something that is there, for the sake of the other.  In giving and giving up, in obedience to the Holy Will of God, I go on towards making a difference, first and foremost for myself within, and thus for everyone around me! 

Entering the Reign: simple but not easy!

WORD 2day: Monday, 8th week in Ordinary time

February 28, 2022: 1 Peter 1: 3-9; Mark 10: 17-27

Peter speaks today about the promises of God which makes our salvation so certain - it is enough that we believe in Jesus the Son of God and place our trust in his mediation, we are certain to be saved! Yes, it is so simple to enter the Reign of God... but not easy! 

That which renders the simple task so difficult, is not so much the nature of the task itself as our attachment to those which are so unnecessary and ephemeral. Yes, the life task we have, that is to enter the Reign that is prepared for us from eternity, is so simple. From our very creation and the grace of baptism we are chosen and appointed for that great promise. But what happens in the course of our life, is what changes the prospects.

Rolling stones gather no moss, they say. That is what we need to be - rolling on, moving on, pressing towards the Reign of God, without losing our focus. But when we lose focus and get stuck with attachments that are unnecessary - like ego, power and possession,  and ephemeral - like the pleasures of the moment, opinions of persons and the honour in the eyes of the others, we are certain to gather moss and slow down in our journey towards the Reign. 

There is the immeasurable love and mercy of God, exemplified by the steady, loving look that Jesus gave the young man, which surrounds us and sustains us. In spite of our weaknesses and our failures, we are loved and the Lord has the arms open wide, to welcome us into the Reign. Yes, as children of God entering the Reign is extremely simple: it is all set, and all that we need to do is keep moving, but let us beware, the necessary choices that we need to make at times are not so easy!