Love that makes us whole

WORD 2day: Saturday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 12, 2022: 3 John 5-8; Luke 18: 1-8

Taking care of strangers, widows and the orphans was a special commission given to the people by God. And that was an experiential learning on the part of the people who were themselves strangers, orphans and sojourners. They felt God very close to them when they were strangers and sojourners and that experience became the Spiritual watershed in interpretting all their future experiences. The experience was handed down too! And today we see in the first reading a special consideration of being good to the strangers and the Gospel which specially notes the predicament of a widow. 

The term stranger or foreigner was indicative of every one in need, people in insecure circumstances.  In one sense, it was reaching out to the needy and in another sense it was actually a inner healing, healing of hurts and healing of memories. Yes, the latter was a Spiritual experience. From the bitterness and the hardships that they underwent, they are called to empathise with the suffering and reach out to them, making their own experience a learning and a healing. 

Today we have every category you can ever think of within the definition of the people in need - the exploited, the immigrants, the refugees, the unemployed and the homeless. We have a grave responsibility towards this part of humanity, not only for their sake, but for our own sake - that we may be healed; that we may be made whole. 

Keeping the law or growing in the Lord...

WORD 2day: Friday, 32^nd week in Ordinary time

November 11, 2022: 2 John 1:4-9; Luke 17:26-37 

Commandments make it easy for us to choose the right things in life. They are infact prethought counsels for an upright or a peaceful life, be it personal or communitarian or social. Jesus in his specific genuinity, simplifies those commandments further to one powerful word, ‘LOVE.’

The readings these days portray a sense of urgency, as if running the fag end of a long race as we are nearing the end of the Liturgical year. And today, we are invited to think about our choices, the single mindedness of our Christian living and the real focus of our everyday life. 

At times, specially in these postmodern and poststructural times, we are taught to feel bad about obeying a commandment or keeping a law, as part of our spirituality, because we think it undermines our "progressive" thinking and capacity for mature commitments. But it is not whether we obey or resist commandments or laws, that determines how free and mature we are. 

Maturity, in fact, lies in Informed Convictions and Single minded Perseverance, in the right things, which are sometimes defined and delimited by laws. Progressivity, here really would mean, not resisting laws or commandments, but ensuring that they become in essence, means towards growing in the Lord. And the way to ensure it: listening to the Lord and living our daily life in God’s light. For Jesus, that meant walking in love. 

Hence today, we would do well to make this our prayer: Lord Jesus, help me walk in the path of love. Amen!

The Radical choice to be a Reign person

WORD 2day: Thursday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 10, 2022: Philemon 7-20; Luke 17: 20-25

Paul does not request or exhort Philemon to forgive and accept Onesimus. He almost commands and takes for granted that it is done. This is because forgiveness, love and union of hearts are no more options to choose from, for a Christian disciple. They are to be the very way of life, because the Reign of God is amidst us.

Again, the question is not whether the Reign of God should come or not; nor whether Reign of God is important or not... the fact is that the Reign of God is here, right now, right here... the only choice that I have is either to belong to it or not. To be a Reign person or not, that is a radical choice. That choice shall determine the entire quality of my life, as a Christ-ian.

Misunderstandings between husband and wife in the family, misgivings between the families, stand-offs between friends sometimes, bitter experiences of past that still continue to govern our present – nothing of these can give me an excuse to remain stubborn, within my protective shell or to refuse to build communion. That would be considered an anomaly for a true Christian. 

There is no more a sense of magnanimity in forgiving... it is after all what I am expected to do, the normal way of being... because the Reign of God is within me and I cannot but act with the mind of Christ. In short, there is no choice... I am either a Reign-person or an anti-Reign person... the choice is mine and the choice is radical. 

Renew my Temple!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

November 9, 2022: Celebrating the Lateran Basilica
Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12 (or) 1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17; Jn 2: 13-22

The Lateran Basilica that is the Mother Church within the Catholic Church and a reminder of the great tradition our faith has.Built in honour of John the Evangelist, this is situated in the property of the Lateran Family and that is the reason for the name, Basilica of St. John at the Lateran. It is known to be one of the earliest basilicas built and it was built by Emperor Constantine himself. It has been the See of Rome since then and remains so even today. The Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) is this Basilica we celebrate today. We are sustained in our faith by these memories and acknowledgement that we treasure in this Church.

'Rebuild my house' - Francis of Assisi was commissioned. He mistook it for renovating a chapel that was in ruins... but it was a much deeper call. Today's feast and the Word resound that call and experience once again. The Temple we celebrate here, has a threefold meaning.

First, the Temple of the Lord, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, our body... our self! To maintain our personal sanctity, our individual holiness, that is, being holy and acceptable in the eyes of the Lord, is the first and foremost way of renewing and renovating the Church. It becomes all the more a challenge given the context that is so relativistic.

Second, the Temple that is the Church, the people of God, our community - to unite, to heal wounds and to sustain the loving relations within the people of God is another great task entrusted to us today. It begins at home - building loving families and loving neighbourhood, respectful relations and genuine fellowships.

Third, the Temple that is the Common Home, the earth where the Lord makes God's majestic presence felt. We are called to care for this common home and promote the divine presence and grace within this common home called the Earth. It is spreading love for all, respect for every form of life, reverence for humanity, recognizance of the presence of God in everything and everywhere. 

In simple terms we need to change our outlook from restricting God to certain domains of our life here and now, to making this entire universe a lovely dwelling place of God. 

My real worth - where does it come from?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 8, 2022: Titus 2: 1-8, 11-14; Luke 17: 7-10

Where does one's real worth come from? From one's age or the social status offered in the public domain or from the great successes and achievements that are exhibited to the world? As a person, one's true worth comes from within, says the Word today. 

It comes from within, meaning, each of us understands what one is called to, what our commission is and live it on a daily basis, without making any fuss out of it. At times we see some persons who do a little that they do, and go about trumpeting it all around. Worse still some do not do anything at all but go around creating an opinion as if they have moved mountains. Let us hope, you and me, we do not belong to any of these categories! There is something that is worst of all these - doing everything that we do, merely to be noticed, to be praised and to be given the social recognition that I am an important person in the vicinity.

A typically Christ-like attitude is what we see in the Gospel today. Doing good because we are good! It is not the other way around that we would like to prove that we are good, by doing good! We need to believe that there is an innate goodness placed by our Creator within us. 

Yes, Christian life is all about living the essential goodness that we have within from the very fact that we are children of God and never expecting to be lauded for what we do, because what we do is what we have to do! Jesus puts it so plainly in today's Gospel: we are just unworthy servants of the Lord who is good (Lk 17:10).

Towards a Living Faith

WORD 2day: Monday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 7, 2022: Titus 1:1-9; Luke 17:1-6

Jesus throws challenge after challenge at his followers: to correct one's brother or sister who is erring, to readily forgive brothers and sisters, not to cause a brother or sister to sin or to falter... the challenges seem so demanding but just one prayer that the disciples make sums up all that it takes to face these challenges and live up to them. The prayer: "Lord, Increase our faith" (Lk 17:5).

What an insight the disciples seem to have had! Faith, is the answer to all these, because faith is not merely some capacity that we possess, but a relationship to which we commit. It is a personal relationship with God, a total personal response to a God who reveals Godself in unconditional love and absolute concern. It is a relationship that can, and that should, colour the entire spectrum of our personal and community lives.

Faith is a way of life in which we continuously grow, being mindful of the danger anytime retract into ways that are not worthy of the One who has created us, the One who has called us and the One who has commissioned us! It is a response of life, and a life of response, to the One who constantly stands at the door of our heart and knocks, calling and commissioning us to love and fellowship, not just with God but with every brother and sister given to us by God. This is called a living faith. Faith, if really living, will find a solution to many a problem in today's life, because it is fundamentally a God-inspired way of life. There can be no impasses when there is real faith; for real faith is love, it is life. Let us make it our earnest prayer today: Lord Jesus, increase my faith. Amen.

PEOPLE OF RESURRECTION

Reward, Reconciliation and Realisation

32nd Sunday in Ordinary time - November 6, 2022

2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16 - 3:5; Luke 20: 27-38

"And I will raise them up on the last day" declared Jesus regarding those who partook of him. Resurrection is our hope, Resurrection is the foundation of our faith. The crux of the salvation that Jesus offers us is Hope, and hope is the confidence of things that we are yet to receive and the greatest of all that we look forward to is resurrection! This is what Jesus in his incarnate self showed us - he lived his life for God, he died for God and by God he was raised; when we live, we live for God; if we die, we die for God, and we will be risen in the Lord! This is the foundation of our faith; for as St.Paul says, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile" (1 Cor 15:17). The readings today, help us understand what resurrection can mean to us.

Resurrection is a REWARD, a recompense that God sets before us for the commitment with which we live our life. We come from God, and it is our destiny that we return to God. We are loved into existence by God and we bear God's image in the core of our being. Every day of our life is an opportunity to cherish that image within us and bring it to fulfillment within us. Every person we come across is a companion on this journey and every situation we live through is a means to nudge towards the destiny. There are moments that are trying and those are moments to stride across, as we see in the first reading. When we find ourselves in such moments as those, when we have to choose between God and godlessness, between righteousness and injustice, between good and mediocrity - and we decide to choose God, righteousness, goodness - we can proudly say with St. Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown"(2 Tim 4:7,8).

Resurrection is RECONCILIATION, a reunion with my creator, an experience of my oneness with my God, whose child I am. In the letter to the Colossians, we are told, "you have now been reconciled in the body of his flesh, so as to present you holy and blameless before God provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in faith"(Col 1:22,23). Just this morning some one remarked to me, 'Oh after all, would we live another 25 years!' Absolutely true, that we are on an earthly sojourn and our eternal abode beckons us. That is why St. Paul prays in the second reading today, 'May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.' It is in that love of God and the faithfulness of Christ, that we are assured of 'eternal life' which is participating in the nature of God, who alone is eternal. In our resurrection we become one with God, we are reconciled to God, and we become eternal like God!

Resurrection is REALISATION, a concrete experience of what has been promised. We are called to live as the people of Resurrection. Christians are Easter People... while there is in store the eternal life that has been promised, we are invited to live that resurrection every day, every moment, specially in those moments when we are prone to hopelessness and desperation. We need to realise who we are, we need to realise who our God is! Jesus says of us - "they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection" (Lk 20:35). As Paul explains to the Romans (ch.6), we have died with Christ, in his crucifiction and we will live with him! We are called to live our lives, as people of resurrection, not losing heart on any trial, not giving up at any temptation, not desperate with any failure, not bogged down by any evil - but people filled with hope, comfort, courage, steadfastness, strength and love of God. 

We are People of Resurrection; let us live our lives mindful of the reward that the Lord has set before us, preserve ourselves holy and blameless to be reconciled to the Lord in eternal life and realise the fruits of that resurrection right here and now, in our daily lives.

Wealth - the right attitude to it

WORD 2day: Saturday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 5, 2022: Philippians 4: 10-19; Luke 16: 9-15

Wealth: is it good or bad?

Money and God...won't they go together?

Then how do we ask God for wealth and consider prosperity as a blessing from God? The readings today speak to us about the right attitude to take towards wealth.

1. Wealth is given.
It is a gift and should be treated as such. We are given and it should fill us with gratitude and not arrogance.

2. Wealth is given to be given.
It is never given for yourself...you are a custodian of what is with you. You possessing the wealth is a blessing; the wealth possessing you is a curse!

3. Wealth is given to be given to those who cannot give.
The only purpose today wealth is used, apart from fulfilment of needs, is to make more wealth. It is a sickening tendency that is the cause of the growing selfishness, cruel exploitation and demeaning inhumanities.

Wealth and power are good as long as they are instruments. When they begin to use the persons dehumanisation begins! God sees the heart, says the Gospel; and everyone will see a heart that is filled with God.

Compromises and Life in Christ

WORD 2day: Friday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 4, 2022: Philippians 3:17 - 4:1; Luke 16: 1-8

Their stomach is their god and their glory is in their shame - what words St. Paul has against those who live a life that is thoughtless and flimsy, with nothing that offers a depth to their living or nothing that adds to meaning of their lives. Hoarding wealth, seeking comfort, craving for pleasures and living solely for material satisfaction - what can that offer to one's life. Lies lead to more lies, obscurities lead to more obscurities, crimes lead to more crimes and lawlessness leads to absolute inhumanity. Compromises kill.

Compromises are justified today in the sense of prudence and practicality. These solutions could serve the particular moment, but in the long run, they kill, they destroy, they ruin, they rob our lives of meaning. Jesus was very clear about that and precisely due to that he warned: be careful of the yeast of the pharisees... that is, dont give into the tendencies of the world. 

Being imitators of Christ, means to live with no compromises, to speak nothing but the Words of the Almighty, to think nothing but good, to do only what builds the other and the family of God, to love like God and to relate like children of God - with God and with each other. That would be heaven...or the Reign of God, on earth. Let each of us do our part, to prmote that lifestyle, that of Christ and that of the trends of the day that lead me astray.

In mutual seeking

WORD 2day: Thursday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 3, 2022: Philippians 3: 3-8a; Luke 15: 1-10

The initial lines of the Gospel today say it all: the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus and the pharisees were complaining. The ones who claimed that they were the 'chosen' people, were actually moving away from the Lord, while those who were labelled 'pagans' and 'sinners' were gerting more and more close to Jesus, and therefore to the Reign. 

We understand here the real sense of what Paul meant when he said, what really matters is not circumcision or no circumcision, not the labels and the titles that one holds on to, not the public image or the official role that one playa... but what really matters is the relationship that one has with the person of Christ.

Past glories, handed down traditions, legalistic requirements, ritual uprightness... these will not take someone all the way, however good, right and just they are. All that is expected of us is to get nearer and nearer, closer and closer, more and more immersed in a personal relationship with God, in and through Christ. 

God in fact keeps looking out for us as presented in the parables in the Gospel- like the shepherd and the woman! And when God knows our efforts, God doubles it up with grace, grace which comes in terms of our relationship with the person of Christ, before which everything else is trash. While it is a fact that God seeks, we cannot be found unless we let ourselves be and unless we seek God too! Yes, it needs to be a mutual seeking.