To open or not to!

WORD 2day: Friday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 10, 2023: Genesis 3: 1-8; Mark 7:31-37

Strangely today, we hear almost the same thing from the Satan and from the Lord! Just pay attention, from whom we hear and what it really means!

If you eat of this fruit your eyes will be opened, said the Satan and they ate... their eyes were open and they lost the paradise! The Satan deceived the couple to believe that they were blind and ignorant and were 'nothing.' The Satan deceived them saying they were yet to become like God, while they actually bore the image of God right from their creation. After they ate the fruit they realised their folly, because they were not blind; they just had to open their eyes to the fact, that has alway been there.

Jesus orders, 'be opened'... and the ear opens and the tongue gets loosened. With that opening, the person was able to hear well and speak better! The ears were there, the speech was there, but it had to be 'opened'; the person had to be empowered!

Now comes the question: which of these opening takes me closer to God? To open or not to... is not merely the question. It is to open to whom? To the Lord who leads us to life to the full or to the evil one who is waiting to snatch me away from my Creator?

To be open or not to be open... that is plainly the concern. Be open to all the words and signs from the Lord; be open to the reality around; be open enough to observe the folly that goes around so that you are not deceived yourself. Let the Word open our eyes and our hearts!

One God! One Humanity!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 9, 2023: Genesis 2: 18-25; Mark 7: 24-30

Man - woman, we-they, rich-poor, high-low... these categories of daily consideration of people, things and events is something to be transcended. This binomial thinking is no thinking in terms of the mind of Christ. A true Christian mentality cannot operate on such discriminatory notes. But it is an interesting detail to note that Jesus himself received a little lesson from that Syro-phoenecian woman! Let us not say something like, 'Jesus was doing it just to test her' and so on. If Jesus had the humility to learn from the syro-phoenician, why should we lack that to admit it? Jesus, being fully human, knew and understood his need to learn and never hesistated to do it - even if it is from persons who were considered or called "different".  

Speaking about difference and dialogue, we see persons who are apprehensive about inter religious dialogue or multi religious initiatives. They prefer to look at the other as different, separate or even contrary. Some times in that fear they wish to do away with everything that is different and make everything one! This is not the Oneness that God wants of us... the oneness that God wishes from us is that oneness that validates and appreciates every difference, all the diveristy and every uniqueness that defines a person. This is so because each of us is uniquely the image and likeness of God. 

If we truly mean what we say and what we pray: I believe in One God - then we need to become more and more proactive and look at the reality as One Humanity! One humanity that is created by the One God, One humanity which is so rich in its diversity and difference. 

Death, defilement or deliberate choices?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 8, 2023: Genesis 2: 4-9,15-17; Mark 7: 14-23

Religious practices and principles abound in our contexts defining what is right and what is wrong; determining what is acceptable and what is inacceptable in the sight of God. The Word today has one such clarification as to what would make a person inacceptable in the eyes of God from a Christian perspective - it is neither death nor defilement.

Death is considered the peak of negative experiences by many religious traditions but not the Christian. Death is merely another milestone considering the totality of human experiences. It shouldn't perturb us or preoccupy us. Death in fact is an experience that one should prepare oneself towards. 

Defilement laws are seen as important religious factors in a society. What makes one socially acceptable or not, what renders someone pure or impure, or what makes one holy and another defiled, has been a crucial religious parlance for ages. But Jesus is categorical in stating that nothing as such, that is nothing that separates us from God, exists as such in God's mind. God our Father and Mother,  is all Mercy and compassion!

So, neither death nor defilement can separate me from the Lord, but a deliberate choice does. I cannot live my Christian faith merely on customary practices and accepted mores. I need to make deliberate choices on a daily basis and at every moment of my life... choices that would determine whether I belong to God or no

Spirituality - being true to Christ

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 7, 2023: Genesis 1:20 - 2:4a; Mark 7: 1-13

The Word today invites us to understand the true Christ-ian spirituality. Spirituality itself is a sense of being connected to everything and everybody... and further still, Christ's or Christ-like or Christian Spirituality is a sense of feeling an obligation to love people, fend for their good, be interested in their well being and spend oneself for the happiness and well being of the other. It cannot be merely a dry or rigid performance of rituals or lifeless obedience to rules and commandments.

Christ's spirituality consists predominantly of love: which is to go out of one's way to make the other happy; it is to wish the good of the other always in spite of the troubles and inconveniences for oneself. Just imagine if today anyone, even those who claim to love each other, would fit into this definition of love. If you think, you would fit in, you are very well on your way towards mastering Christ's spirituality.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, an image presented to us to understand how we need to Grow. Jesus lived his image to the full and invites us today to live our image to the full too! When we grow to be true to the image that Christ presents, we shall grow truly Spiritually.  

Touched... and Healed!

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS 

February 6, 2023: Paul Miki and companions, Gonsalo Garcia
Genesis 1: 1-19; Mark 6: 53-56

It did not matter whether they touched the Lord or the Lord touched them, they were healed. Both ways it is an act of faith: to touch the Lord and to allow the Lord to touch us! 'Speak Lord, but a word and my soul shall be healed,' we pray! A word, a touch, a glimpse or a gaze, a whisper... that is all that it takes for us to receive the fullness, from the hands of the Lord who has made us and continues to guard and protect us.

All that we need to know is to understand that we are handiworks of the Master Creator and live our lives according to the mind of the One who has loved us into existence with a well defined purpose and an eternal plan. The question is, how prepared are we to allow the Lord to touch us, and how eager are we to touch the Lord with all sincerity of heart! 

This question is pertinent because, when the Lord touches, nothing remains the same; they change, they transform, they are recreated! And we need to be ready for that change. We would have to let go of a lot of things, finally at times even our very lives! This is what we see in the group of Japanese martyrs we celebrate today - Paul Miki and companions, part of which was also an Indian lay catechist belonging to the third order Franciscans, Gonsalo Garcia. 

Send forth you Spirit, O Lord and the World shall be recreated!

THE LIGHT OF FAITH

Be illumined! Illumine!

5th Sunday in Ordinary time - February 5, 2023

Isaiah 58: 7-10; 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5; Matthew 5: 13-16

"The Light of Faith: this is how the Church's tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus": so begins the encyclical Lumen Fidei, one of the first orientations offers to the Church by Pope Francis. The Light, is an image very often presented in relation to faith, the faithful and the life of a faithful. It is an explicit call by the Lord right from the Old Testament times that the people of God have to be light to the nations (Is 42:6). With Christ's call today, to be the light of the world, it becomes an inevitable criterion to be identified as Christ's disciple, or not!

Faith as Light: The first reading reminds me of a Zen story, that of the Master who asked his disciples: When do you think it is dawn? The disciples attempted various responses, like - when we see the difference between a tree and a pillar; when we can identify a black thread from a white, and so on. The Master, discontent with everything, finally said: it is dawn, when you look into the eyes of the one next to you and see your brother or your sister! The first reading tells us exactly that... when you accept the gift of faith from the Lord, your eyes are opened that you can see into the eyes of those around you and see your brothers and sisters; in their suffering and in their pains, you can feel your heart weeping and your eyes welling. We are reflecting today on the theme of LIGHT... the light that illumines us, the light that makes us see the real meaning of life and the true sense of being human. What else can do that task better than our faith - Faith is the Light we are offered by the Lord, as a gift!

The Faithful as Light: Once we accept that gift, the gift of faith, from the Lord, we as faithful, become the Light! Receiving the light, we become the Light. The Lord sets us as the light to the nations, the light to the world, the light on the lampstand, the city on the hilltop! Our faith does not rest on human wisdom, or logical reason, or scientific thinking, or systematic and mindblowing theologies! Our faith is primarily founded on the power of God, reminds St. Paul in the second reading today. Illumined by the Light, we become the light! Jesus declared, "I am the light of the World" (Jn 8:12); but did not stop with that. He challenges us today in the Gospel, "You are the light of the World." Every person of faith is called to be a light that is set on the lampstand, to spread the light to the entire house, to illumine those around him or her. But it is important that we remember always, that the source of our light is the Light which illumines us all, the Light eternal of which we are rays, the eternal fire of which we are sparks.

The life of the faithful as Light: Being the light... what does that mean? It involves two important elements: One, that everyone sees you; and two, that one is able to see because of you! There can be no doubt about the fact that the best and the most apt mode of proclaiming the Good News to those who have not heard it, is by living my everyday life! One may ask, but where is the proclamation here - it is in the very living! Our life cannot have two shades - personal and public, sacred and profane, spiritual and secular... If I am a Christian - it should be seen and I should be seen! That is the first dimension of being light - my life has to be lived in its integrity. When the light can be seen, then one can see because of the light. When my life can be seen by the other as a open book, the other can draw an inspiration to live by, and that is proclamation; that is evangelisation; that is illumining! It is through my life, my words, my actions and everyday choices that I become a light to the other; "if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness!" and thus one will become the light in darkness to the upright.

Let us keep this light burning in our hearts every single day of our lives, that it may help us to evaluate our life and see, if we really possess the Light of Faith, if we really live our life in a manner as to become light to those around me! 

Let the Eternal Light of Lord fill our hearts to be illumined and to illumine!

Belonging to the Shepherd Divine

WORD 2day: Saturday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 4, 2023: Hebrews 13: 15-17, 20-21; Mark 6: 30- 34

What do we have to worry about, when the Lord is our Shepherd! We need only to become the sheep of the flock that belongs to the Lord. Becoming the sheep of the flock of Christ can happen only through one way: to endlessly do good. Do good without any reason, without any hesitation, without any expectation, without any discouragement, without ceasing.

There are three qualities needed that one may be capable of such way of life! First of all, faith with which one accepts this challenge from the Lord. How can one think of doing good, when there are concerns and laments about one's own life? Only the one who has an enormous faith placed on the Lord, can think of doing good, without minding what is happening in one's own life. 

Secondly, endurance with which one withstands all disheartening factors. Faith does not promise that there would be no blows to suffer or no strikes to take. But it requires endurance that can strengthen the person to bear all troubles, but go on with hope in the heart and dreams in the eyes. 

Thirdly, a sensitivity with which one knows what the other needs, before the other even expresses it. That is an empathy, an acceptance of the other as one's own brother or sister, looking at the joys and sorrows of the other as one's own. This is what Jesus was all about: he was the empathy of God with us, he was the manifestation of the relationship that God offered to us inspite of our unworthiness, merely becaue God loved us as our Divine Shepherd. 

Jesus, the Shepherd was an epitome of these qualities -  he accepted the challenge of being good, endured all that worked against it and treated everyone around him with utmost sensitivity! Do we really belong to his flock?

Moral code or Spiritual Integrity?

WORD 2day: Friday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 3, 2023: Hebrews 13: 1-8; Mark 6:14-29

Is following a moral code an enough condition to be called a Christian? Moral codes are temporal and spatial - that is, what is wrong at one time may not be so another time; what is right in a place may not be so elsewhere! If all of us are formed by and are moving towards the same Divine Being, then can our life style be so subjective, temporal and spatial? That is why Jesus stood firm by Spiritual Integrity rather than a set of mere moral precepts.

Jesus is same, yesterday, today and tomorrow! No time can change what Jesus stood for. The letter to the Hebrews presents to us a set of values which are not merely moral codes but are frameworks for spiritual integrity. Spiritual Integrity is knowing what is right to be done, being convinced of it and living by it, come what may. Even if we have to face extinction from this life, our stand shall not change. Just as John the Baptist who was ready to give up even his life. 

The question now is, how do we know that we are holding on to what is right? Here is where we need to be divinely informed, where we need the grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to hold on to life giving perspectives that are absolute and never changing! Spiritual Integrity is the capacity to live righteous in spite of whatever happens, with no necessity for any reasons or justifications. Spiritual Integrity is being a Christian from the essence of one's being! 

The Light to Enlighten the Nations

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 2, 2023: The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Malacchi 3: 1-4; Luke 2: 22-40

The feast today is also traditionally called the Candlemas (like the Christmas), because candles were blessed, lighted and taken in procession, to signify the entry of the Lord into his temple for the first time as a 40 day old child - proclaimed by Simeon as 'the light to enlighten the nations'! The celebration of this feast has three indications to offer for our inspiration - the memory, the meaning, and the mission.

THE MEMORY: The memory that we celebrate today is that of the Lord who comes, who comes into His temple! A beautiful moment so picturesquely presented by Luke. The expectations, the entry, the enchantment and the extravaganza that was witnessed in the Temple, as Mary and Joseph bring the child into the temple premises. We celebrate this memory, the memory of the Lord coming to us, the Lord of the world entering our world.

THE MEANING: The memory has a specific meaning; it is, 'the Lord comes to be like us'! The Lord chose to share this world with us in His incarnation and became like us, like us in everything, except sin, says the letter to the Hebrews (4:15). The Lord chose to suffer, the Lord chose to be tempted, the Lord chose to undergo the same struggle as each of us do - and that was the crux of the meaning that he had for his life, and offers the same to you and to me!

THE MISSION: The meaning of this memory, leads us to a deeper understanding of the Mission, of the Lord who comes. The Lord comes to be like us, that we may become like Him. When John proclaims in his Gospel, "to those who believed in him, he gave the power to become children of God" (Jn 1:12), he underlined this specific mission of the Messiah - to make us like him! 

It is of course a fitting day to pray for those who have chosen Consecrated Life as a way of living their call to belong to God (it is the 26th year!), for they are called to be the memories of God's faithfulness, the meaning of our faithfulness to God and the mission of being 'the light to the 'nations'!

Drooping hands and weak knees, or faith alive?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 1, 2023: Hebrews 12:4-7,11-16; Mark 6:1-6

God is all powerful except before our free will... it is not that God is incapable but God has chosen to implant within us, that freedom which is God's own image and likeness. At times we may feel we are afflicted, but we are not without the means to withstand these afflictions. We have within us the necessary strength to stand up to these. At no time are we faced with a trial that is beyond our capacity. That is the promise of the Word: 1 Cor 10:13.

However, there is one thing that can drive us to despair... drooping hands and weak knees. Drooping hands symbolise my lack of faith in the capacity God has placed within me. Weak knees symbolise the lack of dependence on God, the pride that makes me ignore my need for God. When these happen, I find myself helpless, because I do not perceive the Lord, although God is so close to me and so concerned about me - just like those who were not able to see Christ, in Jesus!

It can happen easily to us - that we are guided by the drooping hands and carried by weak knees, that we give up easily and lament readily. We forget the fact that we have had moments of difficulties and have been carried across by the loving presence of God. We are so focused on the problems around us that we fail to see a presence that challenges all those problems! We would refrain from this, if only our faith remains active and alive every moment of our life!

What do I choose, specially in moments of difficulties and trials: drooping hands and weak knees? or a faith alive?