Saturday, December 31, 2022
Friday, December 30, 2022
A New Song to the Lord!
WORD 2day: Last day of the year 2022
December 31, 2022: 1 John 2:18-21; John 1:1-18
Oh what a day to sing a new song, one may think! When everyone thinks of something that is ending, the Word calls us today to sing a new song! Not that the liturgy does not take note of the last day...it does! In fact, the first reading speaks of the last days and the things that pertain to the last day! But the responsorial, that is the response to that Word, invites us already to sing a new song! That is truly a Christ-ian spirit!
To sing a new song when every one thinks everything is coming to its end, for our hope has no end. It is a beginning for us... a new beginning, in the Lord, in whom we have "received grace upon grace" (John 1:16). Today... is a day to thank the Lord for everything, for everything that we have walked through this year. Some, we may label 'good', and others we may label 'bad'... but invariably everything has happened with the knowledge of God...there is nothing more blessed than to offer everything up into the hands of God this day, as we await an all new grace from God's hands... a new year that begins at the end of this day.
Let us prepare ourselves in thanksgiving to receive an all new grace from God's hands... and in the meanwhile, come, let us sing a new song to the Lord!
Lessons from the Holy Family
Feast of the Holy Family
December 30, 2022 : Sirach 3: 3-7,14-17a; Colossians 3: 12-21
Increasing number of Homes for the Aged, Orphanages, Day care centres and Night shelters for the kids on the streets, alarming rate of divorces and split families, the ridiculous family feuds and meaningless stand offs among the relatives within a family... these are no strange scenes today in a Christian Community! And much more, these are vivid testaments of a collapsing Christian faith. The Christian faith is a faith of a Community, from the earliest times known it is experienced, lived and shared in a community; and the basic unit of the community is the family. That is the reason for using the beautiful term, 'domestic church' referring to the family. It is there, that the Church grows from a seed to a seedling and then to an orchard of God's love. The Solemnity today, intends to rekindle in us our respect for families, our commitment to living our faith in our families and as families to become the nuclei of God's love that can give birth to a whole new world, a world of love, peace, joy and fellowship.
The Holy Family of Nazareth presents to us a wonderful project towards this dream:
To the Families: BE GOD CENTERED!
The first reading invites us to reflect on the fact that a Christian Family is constituted by God. It is not merely the man and the woman who come together to make the family, but it is the Lord who brings them together. The second reading affirms the same in the words of St. Paul, who elsewhere points out that marriage should lead to mutual sanctification of the partners (1 Cor 7:14). As long as God is the centre of a family, the family will remain united, bonded in the love of God.
God was at the centre, in the Holy Family... God commanded, the family carried out. They listened to God, obeyed God and took directions from God. Do we as a family, listen to God and take directions from God?
To the Individuals: BE FAMILY CENTERED!
The individualistic and materialistic tendencies of the society at large, have begun to affect the individual families drastically. Individuals within a family, far from thinking of the well being of the other, have begun to calculate the gain they have from the rest of the family and stoop to dirty levels of hurting the other for one's own good!
The Good of the Family was the uppermost criterion in the Holy Family... Mary did not mind the running around, be it when she was still carrying or after the delivery; Joseph did not mind taking up the burdens of transferring them every time; all that was in their mind was the Good of the Family and Jesus was no exception as Luke says in his Gospel, "he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them' (Lk 2:51). Do we as individuals, place the good of the others in the family before my own interests?
To the Churches: BE COMMUNION CENTERED!
The Local Churches, that is the parishes, are essentially God's Family of families. In the wise and eternal plan of our loving Lord, the Universal Church in the world is the communion of Churches in various nations, namely the dioceses; the Diocesan church is the communion of the local parish churches; the Parish church has to be the communion of the domestic churches, that is the Family! All of us united in the name of the Father, Son and the Spirit, who invite us to form one, big, universal family of loving hearts - that family which is called the REIGN OF GOD.
The Holy Family did everything with just one objective in mind: that God's will be done. Mary said that to Angel Gabriel: Let it be done unto me according to your will, and ever since she did nothing but obey the Lord with thanks, praise and reflection in her heart. Joseph carried out every command that was given to him without speaking a word of doubt or objection - all for the will of God to be done. Do we as part of the parish church, do our part to grow in our communion with each other, towards forming one, big, God's family - the Reign of God?
Let us take to heart the lessons from the Holy Family today...and as families be God centered, as individuals be Family centered and as a Parish be Communion centered.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Light and darkness; Love and hatred!
WORD 2day - 5th day in Christmas Octave
December 29, 2022: 1 John 2: 3-11; Luke 2: 22-35
Christmas is not over yet, we are still in the Octave! There is a gradual revelation of the Son who has come into the world - Simeon today identifies the Light that has come into the world: a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for Israel (Lk 2:32).
There is come amidst us the light, which makes us see the right facts, the light which helps us understand the real meaning of our life, the light that Christ is, the light that Christ brought into the world - that is LOVE. Whoever claims to be in light but hates his brother or sister, is still in darkness (1 Jn 2:9)...they have still not seen the light, the true light, the Christ, the Son!
Light and darkness, Love and hatred...everything is around us today in every situation. What is our choice - to accept the light and to behold the Christ? Or to compromise with the world and remain in darkness? Light is love, and hatred is darkness. It can fill us - either light or the darkness of hatred.
Yes, light is love, hatred is darkness. Amidst the vast crowd that does not mind being in darkness for reasons known only to them, let our light shine - because we have beheld the Lord, because we have seen Love! We can shine as light or we can get stifled by darkness - the choice is ours!
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Innocents die even today!
THE WORD AND THE FEAST
December 28, 2022: The Feast of the Holy Innocents
1 John 1:5 -2:2; Matthew 2: 13-18
The innocents die, even today! Due to the malice of minds and the avarice of various kinds, innocents die even today. At the hands of the oppressive forces with heartless greed for power and dominance, innocents die even today. By the selfish acts of the conniving perverts and the corrupt bigwigs, innocents die even today.
Innocents - those who are unaware of anything wrong, those who are unaware of the evil that surrounds them, those who are untouched by the sinfulness that threatens to swallow them. The feast today is a remembrance of millions of such innocents who are sacrificed even today on the altars of selfishness, licentiousness, irresponsibility and insensitivity!
The authentic culture of a society can be understood by the way it treats its children, its elders, its weak and its helpless members, they say. That is why the Holy Father Pope Francis keeps insisting on our care for the children, the elders, the sick and the weak. And the Church has always remained so strong with regard to abortions, because of the inviolable dignity that life possesses, right from its very beginning - the innocents who are yet to see the light.
The world is running swift into a dungeon of selfishness and cruelty, which does not even think of the others, leave alone wishing the good of the others. There are persons and systems which work together to exploit the innocent and the ignorant. As a people of God, we need to stand against such systems and uphold the inalienable rights of every child of God. Let not just our prayers be raised today but our commitment too towards protecting the rights and the well being of the helpless innocents! The call is that we open our eyes to the innocents who are massacred even today!
Monday, December 26, 2022
Joy - the sign of Christian life and ministry
THE WORD AND THE SAINT
December 27, 2022: Remembering St. John, the Evangelist1 John 1:1-14; John 20: 2-8
The Christmas joy continues, even as we commemorate St.John the Evangelist today. "The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus," says the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, no. 1. Though the Gospel today draws our attention to the scene of the resurrection, the message is more focused on the all important encounter with Christ that redefines one's life. When a person encounters Christ in all earnestness, there is a choice, a categorical choice for Christ and Christ's mission!
As St. Paul affirms that it is no merit that an apostle proclaims the Word, but woe to him if he does not (1 Cor 9:16), today we see John explaining that in the first reading: I am called to announce Christ, not merely because others will benefit from it; but primarily that my joy may be complete (1 Jn 1:4). That is the Christmas joy too, the joy of beholding the revelation of God's love and sharing it with the other.
For a Christian, a joy-filled proclamation of Christ is the only way to live his or her life - joyfully proclaiming Christ in every word, every action and every choice that is made, at every moment of one's daily life.
Sunday, December 25, 2022
The Reign Dream
THE WORD AND THE SAINT
Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Matthew 10: 17-22
Persecutions and Martyrdom have never been alien to Christian Faith. St. Stephen is the first Biblical evidence to it. Continuing in the line of the prophets and persons of God who have been treated at will by the world in the Old Testament, we see Jesus and most of his disciples facing the same end in the New Testament.
Religious fanaticism and the consequent discrimination and communalism is dangerously being justified these days as patriotism and conservatism! Be it the 'islamophobia' that is spread globally, or the anti-secular system that is being forced through the fabric of tolerance and conviviality in great enviable traditions, the hate speeches and hidden agenda... these are signs of anti-Reign elements in the world today.
St. Stephen knew what it meant to suffer for the Reign and die for Christ; it meant suffering for the things that really matter; it meant standing for true beliefs and convictions that can elevate your spirit to the heavens open and the angels coming down!
It was Stephen who also imitated his Master literally: while Jesus prayed for those who crucified him and offered his spirit into the hands of his loving Father, Stephen prayed for those who stoned him and surrendered his spirit into Jesus' hands. What an example for us to emulate! Not only praying what Stephen prayed but seeing what he saw: the open heavens - that is open hearts, high ideals, profound humanity, in short, the Reign dream.
Friday, December 23, 2022
Morning Star - saving us from death and darkness!
The WORD in ADVENT - December 24
Christmas Novena - Day 92 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; Luke 1: 67-79
Awe is the third and most important trait to receive the Lord. Translated as fear of God, it is a sense of spiritual wonder, the capacity to be open to the doings of the Lord. Without a sense of wonder, no one can even perceive the Lord, let alone receiving the Lord.
Very often we think of our spirituality as doing something for God - going to the Church, saying prayers, participating in Mass... all these are important, yes! But more important is our openness to God, allowing God to work in us, listening to God, looking to understand what God communicates to us here and now! Is it you who would build a house for the Lord, asks prophet Nathan to David... God would build you a house!
David who was a simple shepherd boy was built into a house - the House of David: about which both the first reading and the Gospel speak of today. God built David into a house, a house, a lineage in which the Saviour of the humankind would be born. What an awesome feat of God. Imagine if David had rebelled and said, 'No I would by all means build a house for God', after all building the temple of the Lord was a noble thing.
Doing a noble thing is good, but more important and crucial is doing what God wants us to do and the most noble thing is surrendering to the Lord and allowing the Lord to do what the Lord wants with us, with a sense of awe! At times in our busy 'doing' that we forget 'to be' in the presence of God. Let us keep this as the highest priority today... as we are just a few hours from celebrating the awesome mystery of incarnation, let us stay in awe, remain in wonder at the marvels of the Lord, the immensity of the Love that the Lord shares with us this Christmas!
Let us open our heart and our mind, that we may receive the Lord in awe! The Lord is not just near... but the Lord is here!!! We celebrate the Rising Star, the Morning Star that announces the break of day! The Lord comes to rule in our hearts, not just the world... let us prepare ourselves... for the Lord is here.
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