The Uncompromisable Christian Priority

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

April 30, 2022: Acts 6: 1-7; John 6: 16-21

Jesus was with the disciples, speaking to the people all through the day and after having fed them and been in all that din, he sends the apostles away to the other shore but he himself goes alone to pray. Something that we cannot miss to see about Jesus: he was very firm on his priority!

The Apostles, as they began their ministry amidst the new found faith, they had their model clear and straight: Jesus! Their priorities were challenged at every step and thoroughly. But they had a Master and Friend who never gave up on his priorities. Added to that he never judged them on the basis of his priorities, though he constanly challenged them on it. 

The first reading brings to our attention, one of the occassions where the apostles seem to have kept that uncompromisable priority, they learnt from Jesus: the primacy of God. When there were so many important things to do, all of them good and all of them for the right ends, they knew they cannot consider less the priority of praying and preaching. That was uncompromisable for them.

Nothing can substitute our personal relationship with God: we may claim to be working for God and working in the name of God...but a personal relationship with God is not the same as all of those! How many persons, congregations and communities of faith have really lost their basic orientation, getting lost in a sense of activism. Our priority for the primacy of God cannot waver, cannot be compromised! It is a fundamental relationship that gives the essential sense of our life ...the human-divine relationship, the chief priority of a Christian life.

Levels of Spiritual Growth

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

April 29, 2022: Acts 5: 34-42; John 6: 1-15

In undertaking spiritual acts we can notice ourselves at three different levels: the first is the level of Human Approval. Doing things in order that others see and look up to me. Jesus was upset with the Pharisees and the Saducees because they were at this level and refused to grow up. That is a clear message to us, not to go by the approval or disapproval of the crowd, or recognition or criticism of the circle around.

The second is the level of Self Edification: This may look good apparently, but it is not good enough says the Lord. The disciples and apostles were mostly at this level originally. They did nothing for public approval, but they wanted to gain every personal mileage out of the things that were upto. They wanted seats of authority, they wanted to bring down fire and brimstone on people, they resisted anyone else using Jesus' name to cast out demons...the tendency of self edification is found in us too. Going to Church everyday for Eucharist, praying everyday regularly, keeping all the holy routine strictly...these can be ways of my self edification; that I feel happy that I am doing all that I can do! That is not bad, but for Jesus it is not good enough.

Jesus challenges us to a third level - the sense of Divine Purpose. I do something because God wills that I do it and I am certain there is a Divine purpose to it. When I have this sense of Divine Purpose, I will not clamour for my glory, I will not be upset when people don't give me my due credit, I will not be looking to prove myself to anyone! God knows me through and through and has a plan for me. I carry it out for God's glory and for my salvation. Gamaliel refers to that sort of a spirituality and Jesus lives it in action. After that great sign of the multiplication Jesus could just move on because all that he wanted was that God be praised.

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam - all for the greater glory of God! That could be our password to growth in our spiritual accomplishments.

The Holy Spirit and We...

WORD 2day: Thursday, 2nd week of Easter

April 28, 2022: Acts 5: 27-33; John 3: 31-36

The presence of the Spirit and witnessing to the Lord, are two very closely knit phenomena. The Word brings out powerfully today. If we have to witness to the salvation that we have experienced in the Lord - firstly, it is possible only with the Spirit: for no one can proclaim that Jesus is Lord except through the Spirit. And it is the Spirit that makes the witness efficacious.

Secondly, the presence of the Spirit is desired and felt only by those who are passionate about witnessing to the Risen Lord! The more passionate a person is about witnessing, the more filled with the Spirit is he or she and that is seen and experienced by the world around. What matters here is the heart, the readiness, the willingness and the eagerness to witness to the Lord. The disciples in their fear and trembling after the crucifixion had to be prepared, before they could receive the Spirit - the preparation was the increase of their readiness and willingness to witness to the Risen Lord. 

When we submit to the Lord, the Father fills us with the Spirit says Jesus today in the Gospel... and that is what is needed utmost in our lives. It is happily surprising to see the way the Apostles looked at, understood and related with the Spirit: They were comfortable enough to say, "We and the Holy Spirit" are witnesses to these things! For them the Spirit was someone who lived with them, within them!

Today, our Christian witness would go a long way in bringing the Lord to the people and bringing the people to the Lord, if the Spirit becomes our constant life companion! Are we in as much communion with the Spirit to say, "the Holy Spirit and we..."?

Conformity, Conflict, Convenience and Conviction!

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

April 27, 2022: Acts 5:17-26; John 3:16-21

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light; whoever lives the truth comes to the light! Light and darkness are the two extremes presented for our imagination, but not just that. There are a so many between these two... the shade, the dim glow and so on. The Word infact presents to us four categories of people in relation to right things. 

The first category are those who do the right, the second category are those who assist those who do the right, the third are those who hinder anyone doing the right and the worst are those who are involved in doing the evil! We find all the four categories referred to in the readings today. 

God calls us to love and serve, and has showed by example this divine style of life - in relation to this light, this ideal vocation, the apostles and the disciples were those who did what the Spirit said; the people and persons like Nicodemus, were those who supported and stood by the right things; the officials and the captain who acted against the apostles were those who hindered the right thing to be done; and finally the high priest and the Sanhedrin who contemplated evil in their minds and translated it into acts. We have two reminders from this situation, for our personal lives. 

The first call for us is to analyse our choices, our preferences and our priorities and see sincerely to which of these four categories we would belong. The second lesson for us is that while we strive to be people of the light and do the right. In our circumstances we would certainly come across persons of all the four categories: what would our reaction be? Conformity? or Conflict? or Convenience? or Conviction? - what would guide our response in such situations?

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?