Light - to see with the eyes of the Lord

The WORD in ADVENT - December 21

Christmas Novena - Day 6

Song of Songs 2:8-14; Luke 1:39-45

If we had noticed, we would be aware that we have been seeing some dangers of missing the Lord these days in the Word. From today, we shall reflect from the Liturgy, on some necessary dispositions to behold the coming of the Lord and to behold the Reign amidst us. 

One of the needed traits to receive the Lord, pointed out in the Word today, is Eagerness! Looking forward to meet the love of your life - that is the kind of disposition required if we really want to behold the coming of the Lord, counsels the liturgy of this day. The Song of Songs expresses the longing that one has for the beloved. Waiting for the Lord is not a passive waiting, but an active preparation, an active seeking, an active going towards the Lord. Waiting for the Reign too, is not an inactive procrastination, but an involved collaboration towards the Reign. 

The eagerness that we need to have for the Lord, is like that innocent sweet child who, at the end of her busy day of birthday celebrations, asked her father with a broad smile, "Daddy, when will my birthday come again?" That eagerness, that longing, that yearning like the parched land for water, like the deer for the running streams, like the drowning person for a breath above the waters... that is the eagerness we need to have, if we really want to encounter the Lord who visits us this Christmas!

The antiphon of the novena today is based on Isaiah again (9:2 and 60:1-2). O Oriens... the latin term literally means O Rising Sun or Dawn. For poetic sense translated as Morning Star, it refers to the power of God's light to lead us from ignorance to knowledge and from mere knowledge to enlightenment. The Symbol is the Rising Sun, which dispels the darkness of the night and wakes the light of the morning, inviting all to life and activity. The coming of the Lord for us is a wake up call, an invitation to live as people of the light and not of darkness!

The prayer today is for enlightenment, that in these times of confusion and crisis, confounding choices and staggering philosophies, we might remain always in the light of faith, that not only helps us see the Lord, but see with the eyes of the Lord (Lumen Fidei).

Liberation: the way opening to fullness of life

The WORD in ADVENT - December 20, 2022

Christmas Novena - Day 5

Isaiah 7: 10-14; Luke 1: 26-38

When troubles surround or challenges abound, we try to manage our lives with our own strength or seeking those who can give a solution, notwithstanding the fact that they themselves are persons with similar problems and puzzles. Fortune predictions, numerical calculations, geographical adjustments, material omens... how many substitutes we run to, instead of the Lord almighty who alone has the ultimate power! 

Ahaz, in the first reading, represents that world of reducing the Lord God to our thinking, our calculations and our predictions! How many times we keep pressurising the Lord, with our clamour for signs and demands for favours, all in the name of prayers! It is in this context that Mary stands a great a model and a challenge who is remarkable in her silent acceptance of the marvels of God which are beyond any of our imagination, even at the most trying moment of our lives.

The Word today warns us of yet another danger of missing the Lord who comes to visit us: It is reducing God to our own petty thinking, our human thinking, that when God acts in history we do not even notice the wonder of God's presence. We want God in our own terms, not in God's own terms!

The antiphon of the Novena today, based on prophet Isaiah (22:22, 9:7 and 42:7), makes a reference is to the sovereignty of God's Reign. That the throne shall have no end, is a Messianic prophecy that God will be always remain the Lord of history! Liberation of the oppressed and the fullness of life of all, is the sign of this Reign. The symbol of the key to signifies the authority that God has, in creating, changing and structuring the whole history.

The prayer today is for liberation... that the Lord opens the way that leads towards fullness of life, that is the experience of the Reign on earth. It is also a commitment to work towards, to contribute one's might and mite, towards establishing the Reign here and now!

To hope without limits

The WORD in ADVENT - December 19, 2022

Christmas Novena - Day 4: Judges 13:2-7,24-25; Luke 1: 5-25

The Word today presents to us two women, considered and categorised as 'barren', who miraculously bear their firstborns and dedicate them to the Lord! There is Manoah's wife, the mother of Samson and thereis Elizabeth, the wife of Zecchariah. The two newborns, Samson and John, even before they were conceived were meant to be God's messengers! One was a nazirite from the mothers womb and the other was capable  of identifying the One who comes in the name of the Lord, right from when he was in his mother's womb! 

What the world considers impossible, the Lord proves possible; what the world cannot even think of, the Lord has planned from eternity and executes in God's own time; what the world thinks natural and normal. the Lord manifests how spectacular and wonderful it is... life - a great gift from the Lord to each of us. 

When moments seem troublesome and weary, dark and dreary, confusing and out of control... we tend to give up hope, become desperate and fall into the danger of hopelessness! With the sense of desperation, one can miss the most obvious and grand signs of the magnificence of God that appears on a daily basis! This is a real danger that can push us to the state of missing the Lord who comes: a sense of desperation, the tendency to Hopelessness!

The Symbol is that of the shoot growing on a dry bark... signalling the hope that the Lord offers in times when everything seems dark and dead. The exodus event, the miracles in the desert, the water from the rock, the guidance by day and night - everyone of these was a sign of God's promises being fulfilled. The final fulfillment and the pinnacle of everything was - Incarnation, that which we are preparing to celebrate.

The prayer today is to reinforce that HOPE...that we may always look forward to the deliverance that the Lord can offer! Never let anyone rob you of your hope, reminds our Holy Father.

BEHOLDING THE PROMISES

The Reign amidst us

The WORD in ADVENT - Christmas Novena - Day 3

December 18, 2022: Fourth Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 7: 10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1: 18-24

Promises, prophecies and prodigies fill the history of our Christian faith. Promises are from the Lord, prophecies are from persons of God and prodigies are for all of us to see, provided we are ready to see it. One thing is God revealing Godself, it is entirely another thing that we receive it! We are at the threshold of the feast for which we have been preparing for the past three weeks, and today we are in fourth Sunday of Advent and we are already in the novena - but are we ready to Behold the Lord, are we disposed to behold the promises of the Lord? This is the question that the Word wants us to raise within ourselves.

The drama of the God-Human interplay begins with a promise from the Lord: let us consider that promise from the Old Testament - when the humankind fails miserably and disobeys God, God instead of disowning the humankind, chides the evil one who led God's children away, something which the prince of lies continues to do even today. God does not only just chide the evil one but challenges to save the humankind to eternal life - against the wish of the evil one to lead them to eternal damnation. The challenge was in the form of a promise: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offsping and hers! That was a promise which amounted to say to us: I shall never leave you at the mercies of the evil one! But has the human kind always lived up to it? In other words, has the human kind always beheld that promise?

The Lord renews that promise once again as we read in the first reading today, the propehcy of Isaiah: the Lord himself will give you a sign; the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son, whom she will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'. The woman, the maiden, the girl of Nazareth - is with child and in two days we shall celebrate the event when she gave birth to that child. And then there were so many prodigies, did they really behold it? The promises were given, they were prophesied about, and prodigies brought those promises to life - but they ignored it, they rejected it... let us say, we rejected it, we ignored it, we failed to behold it.

Today the promises are being fulfilled, revealed with prodigies all around, are we ready to behold it? The capacity to behold the promises of the Lord - that is what Christmas is all about. We are about enter into the festivities, but hold on, let us have a look at ourselves, our dispositions: are we ready to behold the Lord? Have we developed the capacity to behold the promises of the Lord. That capacity consists of three levels and this is what the Word instructs today about.

The first level is the level of knowing! To know first of all that we have great promises from the Lord and secondly to know what they are! One of the promises that God has never ceased to give is that of God's never failing presence! I am with you until the end of times - this was Jesus the Christ. But that is only a reflection of what God the Father had promised the people of Israel - through Abraham, through Moses, through Joshua, through Jeremiah... and finally through God's own Son who would be coming soon among us, as God made human, Word made flesh! The promise - if only we truly know them and understand them! This is what St. Paul reminds us, writing to the Romans today - to know and to understand the promises of the Lord and those of Christ.

The second level is the level of believing! To know the promises is one thing, to believe in them is another. At times we know God has promised to be with us, but whether we believe in it all the time, is a serious question. We think God is up there and distant from us at times, when we go through things in our life with our own calculations and hidden agenda, with external justifications and completely different internal motivations, with appearances that totally deceive others from what truly goes on in the depths of our hearts - does not God know it? Whose patience are we trying to put to test, asks Isaiah in the first reading. God knows the innermost thoughts of our minds - do we really believe in the promises of the Lord? Do we believe that God is faithful and God will never fail in keeping up to God's promises? If not, how will we behold them at all?

The third level is the level of experiencing! To know the promises and to believe in them actually means, experiencing them in our daily life, in every day chores, in every person we meet, in events that happen around us, in miracles that surround us, in wonders that keep happening and in the signs and splendours that mark the history that we are living and creating everyday. At times we are lost in seeing what the powerful decide that we see, we are too occupied in sensing what those who manipulate us want us to sense, we are too busy perceiving things from the perspective of those who want to lead us astray or at least to their own perspective. We consider some strangers, because we are taught to consider that way. We consider some as low, because we are conditioned to think we are higher. We consider some as superior because we are brought up to look down on ourselves... we fail to truly experience the reality, the real beauty in God's creation - with all its diversities, with all its varieties, and with all its peculiarities. How can we them see the richness of the revelation of God? God reveals Godself on a daily basis, how can we really see it if we are not disposed to behold it? Look at Joseph in the Gospel today: he was able to look at Mary with compassion and accept her. Look at Mary: she was able to accept that strange call, trusting in the presence of God with her. Look at the saintly couple, Mary and Joseph: they were able to carry on with every thing that was happening between them, because they trusted in the promises of the Lord. They lived it!

Today, let us take it upon ourselves to get to know the promises that God wishes to give each of us. Let us believe that God would always be faithful to God's promises. Let us prepare ourselves to experience those promised in our daily life, because let us remember, Miracles abound for those who are prepared to see them around!

Wisdom - to take nothing for granted!

The WORD in ADVENT - December 17, 2022

Christmas Novena - Day 2
Genesis 49: 2, 8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17

The first reading today speaks of the sons of Jacob, and among them Judah who has to rule! The lineage already foretold to bring the Messiah into the world. The Gospel reading gives us the whole lineage of Jesus, the Christ who is to come! Starting from Abraham and passing through Judah, arriving at David and all the way to Jesus. The discourse on lineage is an underscoring of how relationhsip holds a pride of place within the covenant of the Lord. 

Let us look at those who are around us... we know them all - their history, their geography, their background... and with all these, we think we know them so much, that we run the risk of missing the Lord who wants to encounter us in them, in their words or gestures! Can we take our relationships for granted: that is the central question today.  

There is a practical danger in our life, that we look at some persons everyday or meet them so regularly, that they no longer really mean anything to us. This is one of the blocks that can lead us to miss the Lord who comes to us - taking persons with us for granted. 

The antiphon of the Novena today inspires us to call upon the Lord as the Wisdom from on high, that enlightens us towards prudence and true knowledge. Based on Isaiah 11:2-3 and Isaiah 28:29... the antiphon recalls the most popular attribute given to the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God which is seen active in creation and order of the universe. It is this Word, who becomes flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). The prayer today is for Prudence, to be guided by the Wisdom of the Lord, that we may take nothing, particularly no one, around us for granted!

House of Prayer and House for all!

The WORD in ADVENT - 16th December, 2022

Christmas Novena - Day 1: Come, Lord, with your Peace!

Isaiah 56: 1-3, 6-8; John 5: 33-36

My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples! It comes easier for us to emphasise this assertion from the Lord. But unwittingly we focus on the first part and leave the second as if it does not matter as much. But the Word today poses us precisely that as a challenge. 

The Lord is making a house of prayer, and not just that... a house for all. Foreigners, outcasts, others... these are no more relevant terms within this frame of thinking, about the house of the Lord. Because, it is a house of prayer for all, for all invariable of their creed or colour or category of social stratification. The Lord is calling our attention to the identity that we are given in the Lord who comes to visit us... in Christ, we are made one, one family, one brotherhood and sisterhood. We are One house of the Lord, a house of prayer, a house for all. 

It becomes so difficult for the world in practice to live this oneness - within the Church, within the faith communities, and even within Religious communities! It is not a fact to be taken for granted. Migration and openness to the realities caused by it seems so attractive a topic to discuss and debate, but when it comes to concrete decisions to make, it remains still a thorn in the flesh for the human community at large. The coming of the Lord challenges us towards this - that we see our oneness in the Lord. 

As we begin today the second phase of the Advent preparation, we begin the great tradition of the Church today - the Christmas novena. And within this novena... leaving out the first day and the last day... there are 7 verses from the prophecies from the Old Testament (Isaiah) which announce the coming of the Lord's Messiah... they are named "O" Antiphons, each of these antiphons, so meaningful and beautiful, with reaching meaning and challenge. 

Today the novena invites us to call upon the mercy of the Lord to grant us peace, a peace that comes from solidarity, when we are bulit up into one house, one house of prayer, one house for all. 

Open and Ready to Receive the Joy?

 The WORD in ADVENT - Third Thursday

December 15, 2022: Isaiah 54: 1-10; Luke 7: 24-30

The mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but the love of the Lord shall stand forever, reminds us Isaiah. The covenant that the Lord has made shall never go in vain. These beautiful lines from the prophet are not merely some romantic lines or immaginary desires - this is a commimtment that God taken on our behalf... to be with us till the end of times. 

One of the enemies that would hinder us from expereincing that trememdous love of God, is a lack of openness to it and inability to recieve it when it is given actually. Openness is preparation and the act of receiveing it is celebration. We are moving fast into the moment of celebration and that is what this week reminds us - last week was preparation and this week is already a foreshadowing of the celebration to come. 

Jesus draws our attention to the need for this openness/preparedness and receiving/beholding the Lord at His coming - what did you go to see in the desert? He is making a cause of the way people missed John the Baptist, the Elijah promised to return. Today we are awaiting the coming of another - are we going to receive him or are we going to miss him? The urgency is well felt. 

The messengers, the message, the announcement - everything is here. All the remains to be ensured is our choice to really prepare and truly receive the Messiah. Are we doing enough to receive that visit of the Lord? Are we open enough to receive the message and feel the presence of the messenger? How disposed are we to make present the joy of the Reign where we are? 

To make the Lord seen

The WORD in ADVENT - Third Wednesday

December 14, 2022: Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25; Luke 7: 19-23

The Word today indicates the proximity of the great feast of Christmas, posing the question: are you the one to come? And look at the answer given, not merely by Jesus, but also by the first reading and the responsorial psalm. Open your eyes and see!

John the Baptist who identified Jesus and proclaimed him to the people, begins to have his doubts. Maybe, he too, just like the other Jews, expected Jesus to come out with a plan and a programme drastically different - a rebellion, a revolution, a protest, a challenge to the status quo! All these were happening, but in a much different plane altogether from what everyone was trying to see!

The dumb speak, the deaf hear, the crippled walk, the sinners are forgiven, the diseased are healed, the lonely are accompanied, the poor are fed, the jobless are sustained, the weak are strengthened, the oppressed are freed, the voiceless are empowered, the least are lifted, the lost are respected... these are the signs of the coming of the Lord - signs of joy; true, inner and deep joy specially of those who are broken in spirit and fear-stricken in life.

If we pose the question to the Lord, are you the one to come, the Lord would simply say... I have already come! Are you ready to make me seen? Are you prepared to manifest me to the world in your words and attitudes, in your choices and priorities, in your criteria and discerments? It is important that you open your eyes and see... but as sons and daughters of God, we have an added duty! Apart from opening our eyes and seeing, we need to open our eyes to all the suffering and the needy, and make the Lord seen! That shall be true Christmas!

Truly God's Children

The WORD in ADVENT - Third Tuesday

December 13, 2022: Zephaniah 3:1-2,9-13; Matthew 21: 28-32

At a point in the first reading the Lord says: 'you need not be ashamed of all your deeds...'. Not to be ashamed of myself is a life of dignity and honour - that I am myself and I am proud of it. True love and true regard for each other will give one this dignity and honour. The Lord fills us with this dignity and honour as God's sons and daughters.

In our moral integrity we are challenged to remain worthy of that calling we have, that is, to be sons and daughters of God our loving father and mother. It consists of the decision we make to hear the voice of God, listen to it, realise the call within it and act on it with love.

Not hearing the voice would be a total insensitivity to God - a rejection or a shutting out of God from our lives. Not many of us dare to it, atleast not for long in life. Hearing but not listening would be a disrespect - this is more often than not, seen in our attitudes. Listening but not realising the call involved in it, would be foolishness - because why all the effort and attention to listen but finally only to throw it away in the air. Is it not a waste of time and energy? Finally, Realising the call that is involved in the Word listened to, but not acting upon it, would be a deliberate choice that would negate our very belonging to the Lord - that is, we telling ourselves and the world, that we are not really, truly, in actuality, children of God!

When we are ready to hear, listen, realise and act on God's word, we would be true sons and daughters of God; and we would never need to be ashamed of ourselves, our deeds or our lives. That is a joy, a joy of being truly God's children!

Relying on the Real King

The WORD in ADVENT - Third Monday

December 12, 2022: Numbers 24:2-7,15-17; Matthew 21: 23-27

Balaam asserts, affirms and reaffirms on whose authority he speaks; the Jewish leaders and priests ask Jesus on whose authority Jesus does all that he does. Both Balaam and Jesus, we see in the Word today, were fearless, and so was John the Baptist, who is referred to! 

Balaam was faced with a furious whole race, John the Baptist with a hard hearted set of people who felt in many ways self-sufficient and Jesus, with a powerful top brass of the society. The first two made it clear to themselves and to those around, that they relied not on their personal power, or eloquence, or skill, or talent but on the Lord whom they announced! Jesus made his identity and authority clear through his life and commitment to his Father, in every minute detail of his words and actions. 

Today when the very institutions like the governments and public services, which have to safeguard the common good, start working against equality, justice and human dignity, what do you do! Stand up, speak up and usher in the Reign! No authority can stop us! And we need to please no authority, except One. 

The key message today is this: that an authority that will never be questioned is the Lord who reigns over all. Submitting myself to that Reign and inspiring others to submit to the Reign, is the way we are called to establish the Reign of God, here and now. The Reign of God, is not a Reign that expands by conquest and battles, but by commitment and conviction, by submission and surrender, by a personal choice to rely absolutely on the real King, the Lord of the Reign!