To be is to love!

WORD 2day: Monday, 10th week in Ordinary time

June 12, 2023: 2 Corinthians 1: 1-7; Matthew 5: 1-12

Comfort in affliction, blessedness in poverty, peace in persecution... there is a strange logic propounded by Jesus and seconded by Paul. But there is another simple, clear, direct and demanding logic too, that is spoken of in the liturgy of the Word today. It is the logic of 'Give-because-you-received.' This logic is a bit intricate, and leaves a lot of room for subjectivity! 

Subjective because it demands first of all that I realise that I have received, so that I am inspired to give. If I am really open to every little happening in my life and fundamentally grateful in my heart, I cannot but notice the amount of good that I keep receiving from the Lord! That is the intricate detail that I have to be aware of and acknowledge, to understand and practice the logic that Jesus presents to us. 

It is so simple - I have been loved by God first, hence I have to love my brothers and sisters! I have been forgiven immeasurably, hence I have to forgive! I have received comfort and been shown mercy, hence I am called to comfort others and to be merciful in all my ways! I am loved without measure, and therefore I have no other go - I have to love! If I have to be, I have to love! To be a Christian is to love; to be is to love!

THE SACRAMENT OF THE SELF-GIVING GOD

A parent, friend and a part!

June 11, 2023: The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17; John 6: 51-58

It is a beautiful day to think of the most loving mystery of our faith: the Lord becoming our nourishment! God feeds his people and moreover, God feeds his people with his own self! What a mystery and how loving! One of the most beautiful and meaningful tabernacles that I have seen, I picture it so well in my mind, has a metal carving of a pelican mother, pecking her breast to tear her flesh open and feed her young ones with her own blood dripping from her body. Such a beautiful image to refer to Sacrament contained in that sanctum sanctorum. It is from a famous pre-Christian legend that made the early Christians adapt that symbol for Christ himself. (click here to read the legend)

Jesus' act of giving his body and blood to the believer is in keeping with the identity of the God whom the people of Israel always believed in and experienced. The God of their faith was signified in that act and that is why, when he declared, 'I am the bread from heaven, and those who eat of me shall not die', the people were shocked; some were enraged, many others deserted him! It was indeed a hard teaching for them. But it was a fact: Jesus did give himself, his body and his blood for the everlasting life of the whole world (cf. Jn 6:51). In this act of giving his body and blood, Jesus reveals to us three profound dimensions of God.

God as a parent: God as Father and Mother, is a fabulous revelation that Jesus has made of God. It was not entirely a new dimension; the people of Israel did experience it in an intense manner. Moses reminds them of that in the first reading... he reminds them of how God walked them through the desert and provided them with the food and drink that they needed. The provident God was actually a father, a mother, a loving parent, though the people preferred to look at him only as an awesome God and an almighty God. Jesus introduced God as "Abba", "Father", a loving parent, a lover par excellence. In giving his body and blood as food, Jesus highlights this element of God, the element of nourishment of the children, the element of feeding and the element of fending for the needs of the children.

God as a friend: There is no love greater than a person laying down one's life for one's friend (Jn 15:13). Jesus taught this model and lived it to the letter. As he shared that last supper with his friends he made it very clear to them, that it was a prefigurement of what has to happen on the Cross very shortly. The bread to become his body and the wine to become his blood... we do it in memory of him right until today, in memory of that friend-God who came down to live among us, be like us and give of himself to us. Every time we break the bread, we are challenged to be friends of God, to imitate his sacrifice, to burn with the same love for our brothers and sisters. The second reading elaborates this. Every time we raise that cup, we are reminded of that last drop of blood that came from his side, reminded us that we are called to live not merely for ourselves, but for others, for those who are in need of love and meaning in life.

God as part of us: The most difficult-to-digest dimension is this- God as part of us, God as dwelling in us! If you eat of this body, you will remain in me and I in you, says Jesus. God wants to remain in us, to dwell in us, to form part of us! God becoming part of us!?! Isn't that kind of scandalous? But that is the truth. What a difference it will make if only we realise and believe in that truth! We will come to you and make our home with you (cf Jn14:23), abide in me as I abide in you (Jn 15:4), you will abide in me and I will abide in you (cf. Jn 6:56)... we find these repeated teachings where Jesus reveals a unique dimension of a God who wishes, longs and seeks to abide, not just with us, but IN us. If we truly understand its implications and effects, we would have attained the eternal life that Jesus promises.

As we approach this greatest gift of all, today, let us strive to experience God as our Father, our Mother, our Friend, and above all... Our God as abiding within us. And thus we shall be transformed more and more into Him.

God sees you!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 10, 2023: Tobit 12: 1, 5-15, 20; Mark 12: 38-44

St. John Bosco, a great apostle of the young in devising his method of working with the young, used what his mother Margaret taught him always at home when he was a boy: 'God Sees You,' she used to often repeat. Don Bosco later, in the Oratory, while living with those street kids and rest of the ruffian friends of his, wrote this truth in prominent places and instilled that feeling in his boys: God sees you!

The readings today seem to hint at this truth and call our attention to living our life conscientiously. The widow never realised that Jesus was looking at her or that he was praising her act in front of his disciples. But Jesus saw her, saw what she did, and more than that, saw what she was - the mind and the heart behind those 2 pences that were dropped in the box. Tobit, or even Tobiah, did not realise that the one who accompanied on the way was the Angel of God, the hand of God, the extension of God's presence. But God was there looking at everything that they were going through and the way they were living their life.

It is not pleasing the eyes of those around us, establishing a name among our fellow beings, publicising our goodness and generosity and things of that sort that will give us true and lasting happiness. It is only the watchful and undeceived eyes of God that see us, that will grant us meaning in life. 

It is a beautiful childlike spirituality, isn't it, to live mindful of the fact that God Sees You!

Right to be children of God

WORD 2day: Friday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 9, 2023: Tobit 11:5-17; Mark 12:35-37

Anna was excited to see her son and felt she could even die in peace, since she had seen her son. Tobit was delighted in his son, as his son comes back from the journey. Tobias becomes the happiness of his parents. Both Anna and Tobit were almost reborn because of Tobias. Is this what the poet meant when he said, 'the child is the father of the man'! Tobias almost gave new birth to Tobit who actually wanted to die. That is the son giving a new life to his parents!

We have another Son who does the same, but to all. We see in the Gospel, Jesus wants to give that same new life to the people but they are still trying to make out for themselves who Jesus was, whose son he was and to whom they could link him to. They did not recognise the sonship that Jesus was claiming. We would do the same mistake, not only if we do not recognise the sonship of Jesus, but also when we do not realise the right to be children of God that we have received through Jesus. 

Jesus invites us to become aware of our sonship and daughterhood in God. He says the earthly fathers and mothers, the earthly generations we treasure, are but passing, and we need to have that eternal abode that sustains our journey. You are the children of God, when we hear Jesus telling us this, we would inherit the blessedness that he himself had, the salvation that he brought us - everything summarised in the right we have to be known as children of God. 

Love... can we ever understand it enough?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 8, 2023: Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a; Mark 12: 28-34

There are too many heart wrenching stories we hear these days... not merely those of big accidents and wars, but above all, of persons who do not understand what it means to love! Think of a husband who decides to disown his wife just witin a year after their wedding, because she was diagnosed with a serious illness; or think of a religious or a priest, after years of life in ministry, just throwing away everything for some misunderstanding or similar temporal issues. Not just these, but many such experiences raise a fundamental doubt: how Christ-ian are we? Have we really immersed ourselves into the mystery that God is? God is love and if we are born of God, we should love - love God and love our brothers and sisters.

While the Gospel reiterates this call that each of us has received, in the first reading today we have a typical example in the person of Tobiah. Once he decides that he loves Sarah, nothing deters him from growing in that perfection. He is told how fatal it can be if he loves Sarah, but he does not hesitate. The reason is, he believed that Sarah was brought into his life by God.

Love is not merely a feeling; it is an act of faith. To look at every person around me and see and believe that God has given me that person, that brother or that sister, to love- that is the secret. That is true Christian love: does the world today, does every Christian today, do I today, really understand what it means to say, I love? Will the world ever understand that enough?

God is bigger than anything!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 7, 2023: Tobit 3: 1-11,16-17; Mark 12: 18-27

Holy Father Pope Francis is convinced of his saying, 'a sad Christian cannot proclaim the Good news!' Every one has one's own share of the baggage to be carried! For some it seems more, for some others less. But, more or less, actually does not make much difference; what makes the difference is how one looks at it. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus almost laughs at the Sadducees for their ignorance - you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God, he says. They behave like the mendicant who was asked, what if you won a ticket to France tomorrow, and he said instantly, I will go to France and beg! Jesus challenges them, and us, to think big! He warns us not to limit God to someone like us, out of our ignorance! 

Our God is God of the living, not of the dead...God is much greater than whatever I can think of, or imagine! All that I need to do is believe in that God, trust in the presence of that God and when I am aware of that overwhelming presence with me, all the troubles that I face today, becomes so negligible. Be it Tobit or Sara... their share of trouble was so heavy... little did they realise the mighty presence with them, which was there to deliver them and launch them into Salvation History never to be forgotten! 

When St.Augustine says " when I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete", this is what he means... the Mighty Presence of my Living God, can make the worst of my troubles look so silly! God is bigger than anything I can every think of! 

To see or not to see...

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 6, 2023: Tobit 2: 9-14; Mark 12: 13-17

Tobit loses his sight and lives so for four years or so. Even that did not disturb his wife much but the question she asks him, 'where is all your charity?', brings out the crux of the message today. It is truly charity that helps us see persons as they are. In charity we decide whether to see or not, to see or not persons as they are instead of fixing them into the peg holes we have made for each of them. 

Judgements are the first enemies of charity and that is why the saintly Mother Teresa made that statement: if you judge, you have no time to love! Inability to see, is in fact a lack of openness caused by lack of charity. Where there is love, there is no judgement; and where there is judgement, there is a lack of love obviously.  

The Pharisees and the Scribes hated Jesus to the core because he was exposing their hypocrisy, their stubbornness of heart, their decision not to see, because they wanted to prove their judgement that Jesus was a fake messiah! Jesus never judged them, for even when he criticised them, he continued to love them! Even after reports and experiences of the goodness of the Lord, they refused to see, or decided not to see!

How far do you really see? Does the sight giving charity truly reside in our hearts?

Prophecy - a core Christian call!

WORD 2day: Monday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 5, 2023: Tobit 1: 1a, 2-3a, 2: 1c-8; Mark 12: 1-12

Prophecy, is part of our Christian calling, not just a part but the very core of it. Prophets are not merely soothsayers or fortune tellers or those who foresay events! The different shades of the literal meaning of a prophet are: pro-phetes - to speak for God, to speak before the people, to speak for the truth in front of the people, to stand alone for the 'right' before a multitude that may stand around and pressurise me against it. Tobias in the first reading and Jesus in the Gospel are doing just that! 

It is not a matter of belonging to a category called 'prophets' or to consider self righteously oneself better than all the rest - but it is knowing what is right, being convinced of what is right and being that. Yes, 'being' that, not just 'doing' that. 

Compromises and Justifications can be found for any issue, excuses and good reasons can be found for any lack... whereas, prophecy is that dimension of one's personality that remains itself at all times, looks at itself and judges oneself, with the parameters that makes sense only to a person who shares that state of life. 

May we grow more and more aware of ourselves, our convictions and our priorities that we may constantly check whether we are really living our call to prophecy in the ordinary circumstances of our daily Christian living.

CELEBRATING THE GOD OF COMMUNION

An accompanying, relating and self-giving God!

June 4, 2023: Solemnity of the Holy Trinity
Exodus 34: 4b -6, 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13; John 3: 16-18

The feast of the Holy Trinity is an invitation to a life of communion, communion between persons, communion within the family, within the local church, in the universal Church and above all, an invitation to the ultimate and perfect communion with God! Communion defines what it means to be a Christian: and that is because we believe in a God of Communion!

Entering into the theology of the Holy Trinity will take us too far; but the verse from St. Paul in the second reading today (1 Cor 13:13), summarises it all. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Already in the early Church the understanding of the God they believed in, the idea of the God whom Jesus introduced them to, the concept of the God who has been with them all this while, was clear and concrete. 

What we believe in, affects what we live. If not, we either do not really believe or do not live our own life. If we really believe in the Holy Trinity as we should, we should be promoters of communion in our interpersonal relationships, in our family, in our faith communities and in the locality wherever we live, ultimately challenging the whole world to this communion of humanity. The divisive forces cannot really take the upper hand if each and every individual loves, longs for and promotes passionately this communion that the God we believe in stands for. 

The God of Communion is an Accompanying God. God accompanies not because we deserve that accompaniment, but because God takes responsibility over us, as God's people. That is the covenant that God has made: you shall be my people and I shall be your God. In the first reading today, when Moses asks God to be with the people, it is exactly this covenant that is invoked. An accompanying God is the basis of the communion between God and humanity, and it is our belief that God has kept this possibility open right from the beginning. 

The God of Communion is a Relating God. Communion is unreal, unless through relationship. And God relates to us continuously, God communicates constantly and wishes to remain in constant touch with us. If we realise, respect and recognise the role of this relationship, it will be reflected in our day to day relatioships: encourage each other; agree with each other; live in peace, exhorts St.Paul. Anyone who says he loves God and does not love his brother or sister, is a liar, warns St. James (1 Jn 4:20). 

The God of Communion is a Self-giving God. God is not merely almighty, God is all-loving and all-giving too! God gives and forgives, it is said; we get and forget! For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, Jesus Christ, that we may have life! For Christ so loved his brothers and sisters that he gave his own life, his body and blood, that we may have life! For the Spirit so loves us that the Spirit dwells in our hearts, in our bodies, in our selves! The God of communion seeks communion with us, and seeks communion among us. 

The Trinity is the right corrective the world so divided and so threatened by hatred today. Killings, exploitations, corruption and manipulation are brass tacks manifestation of the lack of communion. Personal Intergrity, Christian Fellowship and Universal Brotherhood are the three fundamental forms of communion that we need to work towards these days. Let us begin with our personal selves and reach wherever we reach, so that we can rightfully say that we believe in the God of Communion and that we stand for the Accompanying, Relating and Self-giving God, the God of Communion, the Loving Father and Mother, the Life-giving Son and the Indwelling Spirit.

The Word and the Wisdom

WORD 2day: Saturday, 8th week in Ordinary time

June 3, 2023: Sirach 51:12-20; Mark 11: 27-33

Jesus is the Word made flesh... the Second person of the Trinity, the Wisdom signified in the Old Testament personified in the person of Jesus,  God's guiding presence that was with the people of the Old Testament and came alive in human flesh in the New Testament. The readings taken together today, give us a twin perspective of Jesus and Jesus' relation to the figure of Wisdom!

1. Jesus has Wisdom: the Gospel presents to us the way Jesus tackled the trap that was laid for him by the shrewd pharisees and scribes. Jesus proves that he had the Wisdom, a great gift from the Lord. It is fundamentally knowing what to say and what not to say at a particular point of time and saying what is to be said in the best way possible with the choice of the right verbal or non verbal language! Now that was Jesus' forte. Be it in the event we read in the Gospel today,or the incident of the woman caught in adultery, or the case of the samaritan woman, or the discussion with the disciples asking for power and position... everywhere Jesus knew the right thing to be said and he chose the right sense of doing it.

2. Jesus as Wisdom: the way the first reading presents Wisdom, we come to clearly understand what the Old Testament speaks of as Wisdom is not merely a quality or a faculty, but a person, a personal presence of the Almighty! When Jesus lived and moved around, people readily and without much difficulty saw the Wisdom that he was. Jesus was, and is, the Wisdom that fills us with light and shows us the way. If only we accept the Wisdom of Christ in contrast to rest of the truth claims of the world, we would find that joy that is complete, that Christ alone can give.