Life in the Spirit

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 2nd week in Easter time

April 26, 2022: Acts 4:32-37; John 3:7b-15

Unless you are born in the Spirit, you cannot enter the Reign of God...but how do you see that one is born in the Spirit? It is only through the life that is lived. There can be no space between belief and life... we are expected to live what we believe and what we believe has to be translated into our lives. That is the essence of a life that is Christ-like, the formula for life in the Spirit.

Life in the Spirit has to be verified on a daily basis. As Jesus said, a tree is known by its fruits; so the signs of our life in the Spirit has to be seen in our day to day choice for love, our capacity for sharing, our willingness to give up for the sake of the Lord, and above all in our readiness to think of the other before ourselves!  

The effect and the source of looking at the other, thinking of the other, or being concerned about the other, is identified in the Word today - it is the capacity to have a common point of reference, a singular sense of focus, and a common vision that takes the whole people of God forward together. The concern for the other or the empathy with the other cannot be an extraordinary quality with regard to a disciple of Christ - it is infact the distinguishing mark of a Christian and of a Christian community. Hence, not having that is a lack, a deficiency, a lacuna, an imperfection in Christian terms. 

Is it not therefore essential for us to examine our daily choices: do they reflect a life in the Spirit? Or are we still living a life from below? Let us be born from above, let us be born of the Spirit - that is the sign of the disciples of the Risen Lord. 

God working with us!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

April 25, 2022: St. Mark the Evangelist

1 Peter 5: 5-14; Mark 16: 15-20

‘The Lord worked with them’ reads the last verse of the Gospel today! The Apostles had this privilege it looks like, as we read the Acts and the letters…the Lord worked with them. The words, I will be with you till the end of times, was not merely words or a ideology; it was a concrete experience of the Early Christian Communities. Specially, the apostles are found to be so fiery, fearless and focused because they saw, experienced and were convinced that ‘the Lord worked with them.’ 

St. Mark, apart from being the evangelist that he was, represents the generation that immediately followed the apostles and received the Christ-ian heritage – a reminder for us that even today, if we are conscious and convinced, the Lord works with us! There is no reason to be afraid, apprehensive or alarmed about the situation around or the worsening situations from within. Because, the Lord works with us.

What does it mean to believe that God works with us? On the one hand, it is to surrender ourselves to the will of God for the works of the God. "Bow down, then, before the power of God now, and he will raise you up on the appointed day," says St. Peter whose ardent disciple Mark was. As a young disciple of the second generation, Mark insists on this in his proclamation reflected in the Gospel. 

On the other hand, directing all our works, all our aspirations, all our undertakings and all our endeavours towards the Reign of God... thus making the presence of God felt in and through all our words, deeds and works. "In my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover," - all works and signs towards the Reign of God, the epitome of the experience of God working with us!

MERCY - A CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE

Idenity, mark and testimony

Second Sunday in Easter Time - April 24, 2022

Acts 5: 12-16; Revelation 1: 9-13,17-19; John 20:19-31

This Sunday is liturgically called the Low Sunday which marks the end of the Easter Octave. "Eight days later", indicates the Gospel today; it was a week later that Jesus appears to all the eleven, including Thomas and patiently, mercifully and lovingly leads them to true faith. The feast of Divine Mercy was instituted and fixed for this day by the late Pope John Paul II, who was canonised (declared a saint officially) on this Sunday eight years ago! Along with him a Pope so much loved for his compassion and mercifulness towards everyone, Pope John XXIII was raised to the altar too. All of these give us one strong message today: MERCY! 

The first reading speaks of how the early community of Christians becomes a mighty witness to the Lord. They were the epitome of the command that Jesus gave, 'be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful'. Mercy becomes their way of life, or rather their renewed way of life. As a mark of being a Christian, mercifulness to each other specially to those in need, becomes the point of attraction for many...and as the reading goes - the Lord added to their number everyday! 

Mercy, we know, is the high point of Christian identity. But what matters most is how it is lived on a daily basis. It begins with our life at home: with our dear ones, elderly parents, sickly loved ones, troublesome children, rebellious youngsters... how is our relationship? What level of patience and acceptance do we manifest? At a larger level of the society and the human history, how do we choose to resolve issues and claims - can we be really called Christians if we resort to war, violence and killing? 

The Second reading speaks to us of the source of mercy, God the father of Jesus Christ who in mercy sent the only Son for our salvation! This is probably the unique place where the Lord refers to himself in the risen form: I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever and I hold the keys of death... This is a very strong manifestation of God with us, not just in the incarnate form, but in the resurrected form - that is, in all splendour, glory and might. Once we realise that, our whole life changes, thinking of our blessedness and our unworthiness of this mighty presence of God with us. 

The Mercy of God is given to us as the example and the measure of our "genuineness of faith"! Preaching and believing in high ideals of love and compassion, if we but hate people and divide families, envy others and detest their well being... we are far far away from God, the God of Mercy and compassion. Jesus' encounter with the disciples after his resurrection manifests a special quality of mercy... it is an encounter that is full of unlimited forgiveness and unconditional love! There is no demand that the disciples have to render an account for having abandoned Jesus at the crucial moment of suffering, for having betrayed him or having denied him! All that Jesus does is, tell them he is with them and invite them to be his witnesses throughout the world. 

That is the mercy of God embodied, incarnate, which dwelt among us in flesh and blood and dwells among us today in the Resurrected Lord and in the Spirit. This experience cannot be a frozen, static and documented fact; it has to be a vivacious, dynamic, lived and shared goodness. 

Mercy, hence, has to be lived today in forgiveness and love; there can be no place for grudge and grievance, envy and slander, cheating and stealing, killing and enmity. There is no need for us to justify ourselves or be ashamed of our weaknesses... God knows everything and wishes only our child like readiness to recognise and accept God's merciful love.

As we celebrate the Divine Mercy of Jesus...we are called to understand and accept Mercy as our mark of identity as God's own children, the distinctive character of persons who call themselves Christians! Let us be merciful as our heavenly father is merciful.

The Easter People: companions of the One who was sent

EASTER OCTAVE 2022

Saturday, April 23: Acts 4:13-21; Mark 16:9-15

"They recognised them as companions of Jesus", says a verse (13) in the first reading today. From the things that happened around them, from the words that the disciples were proclaiming and from the life that they were living, the people, the world, 'recognised them as companions of Jesus.'

Mark summarises the week after Easter in the passage that we read today in the Gospel. Again, the crux is - to speak of, to announce, to proclaim Christ, whom they have experienced. Mary of Magdala 'went and told his companions'; the two of them 'returned and told'... Finally the Lord gives us the command: Go! Proclaim!

The two fold call that we have today is, firstly, to identify ourselves as companions of Jesus, to know that we are walking everyday with the Lord, that we are not alone on our life's journey and that all that happens in our daily experience has a tremendous impact on ourselves and others - not because of us, but because of the one who walks with us, the One whose companions we are. 

Secondly, the call is to 'proclaim'...to begin with, through our mindsets, attitudes and lifestyle and then explicitly through our words and speech. These words need to soon convert themselves into works, works not understood as big mighty deeds of valour and strength, but a committed life style that reaches out, or in Pope Francis' terms "goes out"!

But the crux of it all is the statement that the apostles make at the Sanhedrin, "it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard"! There was an inner urge and compulsion for them to speak out, reach out and go out! 

The question to us is: have we seen and heard, that is, experienced Jesus personally? Is it a compelling need for us to speak of Jesus to others? Are we really filled with the zeal to stand for Christ and speak of Christ today? Do we feel ourselves companions of the One who came in the name of the Lord?

The Easter People: self-challenging witnesses

EASTER OCTAVE 2022

Thursday, April 21: Acts 3: 11-26; Luke 24: 35-48

Have you noticed a mistake already in this post... actually it is not in this post but yesterday's. Yesterday's post was already reflecting on the readings of today! Though we regret that mistake, we take it as a providential opportunity to dwell more on a topic so important: our call to be witnesses - that is the crux of the Easter People.

"You are witnesses", declares the Lord in the Gospel and "We are witnesses", proclaims Peter before the people, in the first reading! Being witnesses, as reflected already yesterday is a fundamental trait and a defining character of Easter People. 

Let us look at a phenomenon which is not rare in almost all cultures - consider for instance, a new convert to Christianity (or to the Catholic Church). He or she is enthusiastic about everything and to some extent even "overdoes" in his or her practices of piety - or atleast this is how the so called "long time" catholics judge them. And some of them very soon find their spirit dampened or look to switch to some other Christian denomination for a better experience or more vivacious expression of their new found faith! Judging no one involved in this phenomenon, all that we can say is: there is every chance that we lose sight of our call to be witnesses to our faith! How can we not get to the point of losing this passion to witness?

We are Witnesses! We would become witnesses only when we have seen, we have experienced, we have been touched and we are so affected that we want to shout it out!

Can I claim that I have seen the Lord? Do you think it is difficult to see the Lord?

Can I say that I have experienced the Lord? Have you really capitalised on the continuous presence and protection of the Lord?

Do I feel touched by the Lord? What does the Lord mean to my daily life?

How much am I affected by the Lord? How are my priorities and principles shaped and transformed by the Lord?

These are some self ruminations that can make us true witnesses. Are we ready to take up the challenge of being witnesses to the Lord?

The Easter People: corner stones who depend on the Corner Stone

EASTER OCTAVE 2022

Friday, April 22: Acts 4:1-12; John 21:1-14

In whose name?...that is the crucial question today in the readings. The question lingers on even today, as each of us live our Christian call. The first reading presents the wondrous doing of God, and how the rejected stone turns into the corner stone.

There is a twofold lesson offered to us as Easter People: to grow to be cornerstones and to recognise our corner stone!

We are called to imitate the life of the Corner Stone, becoming ourselves corner stones to the Reign that the Lord wishes to establish within us and through us. Just as Jesus lived to do the will of the one who sent him, we are called to discover the unique plan that God has for us and live it to the full.

Secondly, we need to readily recognise the corner stone of our lives, the Risen Lord Jesus! That feeling, "it is the Lord" and the readiness to jump into the waters of daily life to encounter the Risen Lord standing on the shore, are but just two of the many compelling examples that the apostles and their early communities give us.

When we live our life "in His name" on a daily basis... we not only recognise the corner stone of our life but also train ourselves to be corner stones that create communities of joy and hope, wherever we are! Hence, coming back to where we started... 'in whose name' is still the crucial question. Let us ask ourselves: living our daily life with its share of cares and concerns, doing all that we do on a daily basis or on demand, holding on to something in all these and creating a safe structure for ourselves... in all these and in all that we do, we do it all, in whose name?

The Easter People: unfailing witnesses

EASTER OCTAVE 2022

Wednesday, April 20 - Acts 3:11-26; Luke 24:35-48

You are witnesses of these things...says the Gospel today. We are witnesses of the great works that the Lord has done in and through us! The readings today give us three steps towards being witnesses. It would do us good to reflect on these steps.

The first reading reports the discourse of the apostles to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem after the cure of the crippled man. This is the first step: to see our history through the eyes of faith. To see through the eyes of faith, we need to identify the eyes of the world. To have a perspective that is different from the so called 'normal'...the Apostles has just gained that vision after having experienced the resurrected Lord. 

The second step is to be challenged by understanding history from the perspective of faith. The apostles who deserted Jesus, hid themselves away and looked to escape into their past, were challenged by the Risen Lord as we see in the Gospel. And they accepted the challenge and understood everything that happened from the perspective of faith. The new perspective they had acquired, served not only to judge others and rate them in their quality, but it serves to challenge themselves. 

The call, thirdly, is to challenge the others towards a commitment of faith! What Peter does today is not to accuse the Jews of anything, but challenging them towards a personal experience of the Risen Christ and only through that we can become real witnesses.

To see, to be challenged and to challenge - that is the road map to true witnesses!

The Easter People: one people in One Father

EASTER OCTAVE 2022

Tuesday, April 19: Acts 2: 36-41; John 20:11-18

"My father and your father" - what a beautiful expression to hear from Jesus today. The first reading presents repentance and baptism as a way of being accepted as children of the God who raised Jesus from the dead: Jesus' father and our father. Our faith is all about relationship: the relationship of a covenant that has been lived from eternity, between God and God's own.

At times our vision of God can be blurred, when we are too focused on our own whims and fancies and are stuck to our own selfish desires and decisions. Openness to hear what the Lord wants to communicate, is fundamentally the openness to a strong relationship with God, which presumes a cordial, responsible and loving relationship with each other, with one's brothers and sisters in Christ.

And in the Father, through Christ we are made into one people, brothers and sisters in the one Father who has made us, loved us, redeemed us and continues to sustain us. We remain the people of God, only as long as we remain one people, brothers and sisters, united in Christ and related to the Father. 

The Easter sign is this capacity to see beyond all differences and find our oneness in the Lord who is Risen and the Father who sent him. 

The Easter People: people of hope!

EASTER OCTAVE 2022

Monday, April 18 : Acts 2:14, 22-33; Mathew 28:8-15

Easter people are people filled with hope, a hope that never fails. They are people of hope, precisely because there are so many things around them, that are against them. They are people of hope, not because it is easy for them to be so, or it is convenient to hold on to hope that to face reality. No. They are people of hope because they knew there is no way to really have their way, unless there is something, or someone, totally beyond them comes in to intervene! 

They had already suffered so much but the plotting and scheming was still going on. In spite of the plotting against the resurrection of Christ, Jesus never gave up, until the plotters in their desperation give up these attempts. And the believers were showered upon with grace after grace.

Monday of the Easter Octave, we hear the plan of those who wanted Jesus dead and gone, and now to deter any further spread of the Good news of Christ. The implication for the believers was exactly the opposite of what the plotters wished... it was a concrete attachment to the Lord, the Lord of hope. 

The message given to us is strong and clear: in spite of all those who would plot our downfall or await our failure, we are called to grow in love, the love that can offer hope to the world. That is how we can grow into true people of hope - giving hope to a world that is so wounded and tired, of hatred and greed, jealous and pride. Only when we grow to be people of hope, can we claim to be the Easter People. 

HE IS RISEN

I will live; we shall live, because HE LIVES

EASTER SUNDAY - April 17, 2022

He is Risen! Alleluia. He is alive; He lives and therefore we shall live!

"If Christ were not raised from the dead, our faith would be in vain" declares St. Paul (1 Cor 15:14). It is an expression of our faith, a faith that is alive and active, a faith that is vibrant and vivifying.The Risen Lord gives us three important messages to celebrate today. And we will do well to keep these in our minds this day and all through our life. 

Easter is all about LIFE. Life belongs to God. God has given us life and has a specific plan for us in our life. We live our life, keeping in mind the purpose that the Lord has specified for it. When Jesus lived his life in perfect sync with the One who sent him, death became part of his life! It was not the end of his life. God raised him up from the dead! It is thus that the Lord directs our life and its purposes and brings them all to a glorious end.

Life is not just days and days of breathing and doing things here on earth - it is a call and it comes with a purpose. It is in in finding that purpose, that particular purpose, that plan and design that God has for each of us, that our life becomes meaningful. It consists in searching, in remaining alert and in beholding every experience in our daily life, from the beloved hands of God, just as Jesus did. I do not do anything on my own, it is what the Father has commissioned me and that is why, it is the Father who had the last say on his life. When this purpose is focused upon and we are able to intently look for it, our life becomes meaningful on a daily basis!

Easter is all about NEW LIFE. It is said that the greatest of all proofs for the Resurrection of Christ, is the radical transformation that was  found in the lives of the apostles. They were so transformed that they were looking like new persons, they had within them, a NEW LIFE.It is this new life that we are offered in this day, as Christ rises to new life as the Saviour of Humankind.

This is one reason, that the feast of Easter is connected very much to the young! Youth are future, the strength; they are those who keep the Church moving forward, the ones in whom the Church places her hope - says Pope Francis. The Youth have the responsibility, the duty and the obligation of bringing new life to the daily life of the Church! They need to do that the community of faith needs to empower them to do that! New life as individuals and new life as a commuity of faith, this is the Easter call. The other call that comes alive to each of us is to keep our life renewed every day in the love of God, becoming born anew everyday in the Lord.

Easter is all about LIFE TO THE FULL. I came that you may have life and have it in abundance! Life that Jesus brought us is a life to the full. In his rising he offers that life to each and everyone who claims it for oneself from the hands of the Risen Lord who stands blowing on us and greeting us: Shalom! Peace be with you! Easter challenges us towards this fullness of life, because everyday that we have is a gratuitous gift from God and our responsiblity is to live it to the full, identifying and doing away with all that can take this life away from us. 

This call to live, to live anew every day, and to live to the full every moment of our life. That is being Easter People. Yes, we are Easter People and Alleluia is our song!