Through the desert - with the Word

THE WORD IN LENT - Tuesday, First Week

February 20, 2024: Isaiah 55: 10-11: Matthew 6:7-15

We reflected upon the aspect of going or passing "through the desert" and that the way of doing it is, 'with the other'. Today the Word offers us another reflection on the same lines... what is the source of strength that can offer us the necessary endurace to withstand that journey 'through the desert'. Because the desert can be not only tiresome, but also treacherous and we need a real strong weapon to equip ourselves with. The weapon or the equipment is, the Word; the Word itself is the strongest of the scaffoldings that uphold our total well-being. 

Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, we pray in the Psalms (119:105), and if that were true, Jesus demands us today, that it should be reflected in every aspect of our lives - specially in every word that we utilise, making them living and life giving. Do not blabber, he admonishes us. Whether it is with God, with others, or any other context... let's be conscious of our words. 

The Word in itself is dynamic and active, alive and transforming. But when it comes to human persons and their lives, there is a great factor that makes a difference: our personal disposition. A disposition of free submission to the Word and a readiness to allow the Word to work. 

Hence we are reminded of three important "Word attitudes" -

Firstly, to receive in all earnestness, the Word that comes to us in varied ways everyday. Secondly, to make the Word the guidepost for our lives and making it come alive in our experiences and relationships. Thirdly, to respect and be mindful of our own words. As Jesus teaches us, to make our words mean what they say. When we pray (say) the words, "your will be done and your kingdom come"... How different will the world be, how transformed our lives will be, if we meant them fully when we say those words! 

We are invited today to go through the deserts of our lives, with the Word.

Through the desert - with the Other

THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, First Week

February 19, 2024 - Leviticus 19: 1-2,11-18; Matthew 25: 31-46

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom. Reflecting on this message for this lent, we said already  that desert, although is a significant place for growth, it is not a place to remain. It is a place to cross over - "through the desert." This week the Word is going to illumine us, the right and the Christ-like ways of going through the desert. And the first lesson offered today is: we go through it, with the Other. 

The Other is a fundamental consideration in our Christian way of life. As Pope Francis reflects the first two questions asked by God to humanity in Genesis already explains this well: where are you? and where is your brother? It is a simple and clear declaration that as people of God, children of a loving God, our self identity has to be necessarily defined in relation to the Other - where is your brother! That reminds us of the responsibility that we have towards the Other! 

The Word today offers us a concrete ways of doing this as the book of Leviticus teaches the true ways of holiness: you must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart - not even in the heart! That is the concreteness of the teaching. It goes on to say, that we need to tell the other of their offence, speak to them clarify and even reprimand but not bear grudge or judge them in secret. This is such a wonderful way of life, in love for the other, isn't it?

Jesus follows the same teaching and makes it more concrete and compelling, saying it is the love for one's neighbour that will convert itself into true love for God. There is an eye opening paradigm that is presented by the Word today. We are called to cultivate within us an Other-centered thinking, for when we keep the other in the centre, even without our consciousness of it, we shall be doing so much good to ourselves. That is why it is presented as the way to holiness. On the contrary, if we possess a self-centered thinking, that is when we think of everything with ourselves and our own good at the centre, we will end up always distancing ourselves from God and from holiness. 

The message is very clear and concrete, the way out of the desert is, with the Other!  

FROM THE DESERT TO THE WATERS

Remember, we are a covenant people!

THE WORD IN LENT - FIRST SUNDAY 

February 18, 2024 - Genesis 9: 8-15; 1 Peter 3: 18-22; Mark 1: 12-15

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom - this lenten message of the Holy Father has been accompanying us in the first few days of the holy season of Lent that we have begun. The Word this Sunday, offers us a fitting culmination to those reflections, inviting us to listen attentively to what the desert wishes to tell us and where it points us to. 

The Desert Experience, has a very special place in spritual growth of persons and communities. Not to say about the literal desert experience of the people of Israel and that of Jesus himself, which has a direct reference to our lenten practices, spiritual masters attach great significance to desert-like experiences in one's life. It could be dryness, loss, failure, trials, temptations, meaninglessness, search, doubt, distance, boredom and routine, sickness, shock and many other such experiences either expected or unexpected, sudden or gradual. Naturally, they refer to a difficult experience at the moment , but an experience that would stand us a good stead, if their true meaning and all the lessons that they have in store are drawn out in time. The sad fact is that most of the time these expereinces are wasted with a negative approach and a resentive mindset. Instead, if they are approach with faith, they can become blessed moments - when the Angels could serve us, as it is reported in the Gospel today. 

A desert experience is a spiritual experience and it leads us to growth. First of all it is spiritual experience for all who allow themselves to be led by the Spirit - the Spirit led Jesus to the desert, the Gospel tells us. It is a spiritual experience because it has a very special place in the holistic spiritual growth that God desires within us. It leads us to a greater understanding of who we are and what we are upto. It gives us the opportunity to take time, in silence and recollection to, take a deep look at the present, understand the past a little better and learn lessons for the future. They are experiences that could at the moment be found heavy and precipitating, but what rewards us endurance. As James reminds us in his letter (1:12), blessed is the one who endures the trial, for when the person has stood the test, shall receive the crown of life which god has promised to those who love God. This is growth, to look at the difficult and trying experiences from the perspective of God.

A desert experience is a faith experience and it reminds us of the covenant. An important reminder that we are given during the moments of trial is, the accompaniment of God. Why does God accompany us? Because God is faithful to the covenant that God has made with us. We see in the first reading today the experience of Noah - the experience of the covenant. When God told Noah to build that arc, just imagine, how many would have derided him and called him names because he was apparently doing a foolish thing - building a ship, and that too on the land! Building a ship on the land - is a typical lifestyle of a covenant person! It is not that the covenant was made after the flood... it was sealed after the flood, but it was done much before the flood, because covenant is basically a relationship. There was a great bond of relationship between God and Noah - much before the flood. The covenant was the outcome of those times lived together, Noah and his God. Our difficult times are a reminder to look at the One who is with us, the One who accompanies us, the One who walks and shares every bit of our life. We are a people of the Covenant. That is the reminder that can see us through the moments of difficulties and make the desert experience truly a faith experience. 

A desert experience is a birth experience and it prepares us to be born again. The Liturgy today invites us to gradually shift our focus from the desert to the waters - the waters of baptism. From the waters of the flood to the waters of baptism, the fundamental lesson is that of our life in God. Jesus went through the moments of the desert - the temptations, the trials of his daily life and mission, the suffering and death - but it was all leading him to that point of resurrection, the passover, the eternal pasch that has redefined the whole history of all who believe and trust in God. That is the power of the water of baptism, giving us that passover experience, to pass from death to life, from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom. It is once again a reminded of our identity as people of the covenant - we are challenged to live our life in Christ. Just as the desert experience made Jesus reaffirm his life in God, just as the period of passion death and darkness that surrounded it made the disciples and apostles to reaffirm their life in Christ, our day to day experiences of temptations and failures challenge is to renew our life in the Spirit. 

The Word will continue in the coming week to remind us of the various facets of this life in the Spirit, this life begun with the waters of baptism, this life we are called live as children of God. Today let us thank God for the deserts of our life, let us thank God for the waters of baptism that have saved us, and let us thank God for having called us and continuing to lead us from our deserts to the waters of God's intimate accompaniment. Let us resolve to grow attentive to the accompaniment of God, to deepen our roots in the covenant that God has made with us, and to heed to the voice of Christ proclaiming to us that the Reign is at hand. May our daily life be a determined journey from the deserts of our lives to the waters of God's immense love.  

Desert: to be traversed together

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday after Ash Wednesday

February 17, 2024 - Isaiah 58: 9-14; Luke 5: 27-32

Through the desert God leads us to freedom. Certainly the desert is not a place to make our home! The last two days we have been reflecting on the deep impacts that the experience of the desert can create within us, and how desert is not something from which we should run. That in no way makes desert a place to be comfortable with. Pope Francis reminds us in his message: God shapes his people, he enables us to leave our slavery behind and experience a Passover from death to life. Passover - that is the key to understand. 

The Word today invites us to develop three specific attitudes towards the deserts of our life, that we may experience this Passover:

The first is "through the desert" - that we have always our eyes fixec on the horizon. The Passover experience is there, when we have passed through the desert. We cannot run the danger of making ourselves comfortable in the desert. It is a place of discomfort and dissonance that makes us constantly yearn for that perfection, not with a negative suppression of the present experienced but growing through them.

The second is God leads "us" - we are led as children together. We cannot make it a singled handed show! Doing away with the yoke, giving bread to the hungry and relief to the oppressed, restoring the ruins - these are ways proposed to get through this desert. We are called to pass over this desert in compassion and communion. Without these I cannot get through to the other side, let us beware, we may be building our castles right in the desert itself!

The third is the journey to "freedom" - that freedom comes with our decision making! We have to decide to leave everything behind and follow the One who leads; we have to make that absolute and clear choice, for whom and with whom we are! Jesus made that decision and paid the price. If we are his, we would make that decision and find true freedom, the freedom of the Spirit, the freedom the children of God. 

God detests to see that we choose the desert and decide to die therein! The call is that we traverse it, we cross over, and move towards that passover experience, to that real freedom, to that experience of resurrection. The desert is to be traversed, traversed together! 

Desert - a place of growth and realisation

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday after Ash Wednesday

February 16, 2024 - Isaiah 58: 1-9; Matthew 9: 14-15

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom... therefore, the desert is not a place to be detested. However, it is difficult it could be, it is indeed a place of growth as it leads to a profound reflection and a resultant realisation. When we decide to go through the desert, it offers us a great opportunity to look at ourselves, reflect and arrive at realisations that would create changes within us for life, changes that would amount to a happy growth from within. Instead, if we look at the desert as something we enter with fear and reluctance, in our preoccupation with mere getting through it, we may miss all the opportunities for growth. 

The Word today presents to us the difference between these two attitudes in reference to the lenten penances we would have probably commenced with, in this holy season. Is it a painful starving or a pressurised abstinence that really matters for God? If these acts of penance, for instance, increase within us our irritability, or self-righteousness, or our sense of pride - of what use are these acts? Aren't they detrimental to our very personalities? That is why Jesus, along with those words of the first reading, redefines what a godly penance would be!

It is not about starving or going around with stern faces, but it is about relating to the other, having compassion for the other, speaking affectionately to the other, reaching out to those is need, keeping away our small joys in order that we can make someone else joyful, taking up a little cross in order that someone around me can really experience the love of God that was shared to them from the Cross by the Saviour. Our acts of penance should make us grow; they should make us more godly. Only then, they are Christic!

Pope Francis in the Lenten message reminds us of the two questions that are posed by God to us, two questions that God posed in the events of Genesis: where are you? and where is your brother? The former underlining the need to become aware of our interior dispositions and latter inviting us to open our eyes to the needs of the others and not get lost in our ego trips. This season we need to respond to those two questions - they would lead us to realisation and they would help us journey towards growth!

Desert - the reminder to Choose!

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

February 15, 2024: Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; Luke 9: 22-25

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom! The desert here is that experience when we are faced with a choice to make, a decisive radical choice. Behold, I place before you death and life, disaster and prosperity, the people are told today in the first reading. What is life and prosperity all about - obeying the commands of the Lord; and death and disaster is wantonly choosing what does not lead you towards true progress, towards freedom. 

Pope Francis in the lenten message draws our attention to the tendency of the people to be lost in nostalgia of their past, knowing well how enslaving and demeaning it was. They were crying out when they were there, but now they wished to go back. The reason, because they found challenges and difficulties, hurdles and hardships here on their way to freedom. The analogy is clear: the way to freedom, to perfection, is filled with tough and trying moments. The Lord invites us to it, leads us through it but will never force us into it. The choice is ours!

The desert is obviously a hard plain, a difficult terrain, a lonesome place... but the Lord never abandons us provided we choose the Lord; that is, choose to journey through the desert to freedom. There could be other choices: one to get back to the old ways, which is giving up; the other is to compromise with the ways of the desert, make of it a comfort zone, make friends with the situation here, which Jesus calls us today to renounce! The choice to walk through the desert is, taking up the Cross, but let us not be faint: we called only to follow, which means we are not alone, we are not the only ones! The Lord has walked before us, and we shall follow him. 

What difference would it make to our lives if we were to go back - that is, choose the so-called ways of the world and get lost in the crowd, following the fad of the day? What would we have achieved if we run mad after the craze of power, popularity and possession that would in fact take us far, but only far from true life! The desert reminds us to make a choice, a choice for the Lord, a choice for the ways of the Lord, the choice for the Cross... and we shall walk secure in freedom towards freedom!

THE LENTEN JOURNEY 2024

THE WORD IN LENT - Ash Wednesday

February 14: Through the desert, to Freedom... God leads us.

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2; Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

We begin the holiest of all seasons within the liturgical year: the season of Lent. This year the Holy Father invites us to reflect on loving reminder - that through the desert God leads us to freedom.  

Broken hearts, fasting stomachs, weeping eyes, mourning spirits, trembling hands and bending knees - these are not signs of fright nor attempts to appease; these are responses to a recognition of the mercy and compassion of God, the tender love and affection that the Lord extends to you and me despite the dull and drear that have set in, between God and us. It could be either because of our irreflective activism or spiritual lethargy! The reason be what it could, the fact is God has never failed to listen to us at the favourable time, on the day of our salvation! 

Indeed, this is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation. Let us begin this journey, the journey of reflecting on the journey of our life! Yes, Lent is not a journey that starts and ends in itself. It is a journey, a special phase of journey that is given to us every year, to reflect on the spiritual journey of our life, where through the desert, God leads us to freedom. 

The deserts are spiritual patches of the journey, special moments of grace however difficult  and trying they are. Lent comes to make us understand how important these deserts are, that we may really journey through them with the spirit that the Lord wishes us to have. That we may understand that deserts are not places where we feel deserted, but they are places where we desert everything that binds us, to lift our eyes to the Lord, to refocus our minds on the original call, to resume our ontological journey towards that communion with the Lord, the true and total freedom. And another important element not to be forgotten, it is God who leads us! God leads us by hand, even in the midst of the desert, specially in the moments of the desert. 

Let us wish each other a profound and peaceful journey, a journey through the desert, where God leads us to freedom, the freedom of the beloved children of God. 

Do we really understand?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, Sixth week in Ordinary time

February 13, 2024 - James 1:12-18; Mark 8: 14-21

How agitated Jesus gets today with his disciples! But why? Jesus expects them to rise above the ordinary or the normal. As Jesus warns us repeatedly: if our perfection does not surpass those that of the scribes and the pharisees, that is if we do not rise above the 'usual' way the world looks at reality, we will not be considered fit for the Reign of God! 

The so-called normal attitudes of the world, the value systems propagated as "normal" by the world, the life style of the so called successful that stands counter to what the Gospel teaches... these are the temptations that we have today! Of course, they do not come from God, reiterates St. James. Our desires, temptations, sin and resultant death: this is the cycle that Jesus wants us to understand, resist, surpass, and triumph over. 

None of us can ever say after an act of unrighteousness, that we were not aware at all, of its nature! Let us not deceive ourselves! We know what we are surrounded by, we know what we go through on a daily basis and we know what is appreciable and what is not worthy of our call to be children of God. Inspite of all the graces that we have received and the gratuitous gifts that we have received from the Lord, if we still insist on giving up on our call to commitment and righteous living, we will soon hear that question addressed to us by Jesus: do you still not understand?

The Lord our Rock!

WORD 2day: Monday, 6th week in Ordinary time

February 12, 2024: James 1: 1-11; Mark 8: 11-13

During his life and ministry, Jesus was convinced that he had nothing to prove! He was what he was - the Son of God, the Word Incarnate. He spoke what he believed and lived what he spoke. That gave him an authority that the Pharisees and the Scribes could never understand. It came from his holistic self-understanding, an understanding in terms of the One who had sent him: "For I and the Father are one", he declared (Jn 10:30).

Many a time we identify ourselves with the riches we have, the social status we enjoy, the titles and the offices we hold, the adulation from others and the image that others have of us. These are like the drooping flowers and the fading beauty, reminds St. James in his letter. What will all the titles and possessions, achievements and accomplishments become when at that one moment we are no more!

Our identity rests in one thing that never changes: the truth that we are sons and daughters of One God, that we are created in the image and the likeness of that loving God who has loved us into existence. When we get this fact imprinted in our hearts... no trial or no doubt, no suffering or no shock will ever affect our perseverance (James 1:4).

It takes a lot of inner strength to found ourselves on the unsurpassed foundation, the unshakable ground, the one unchanging source of meaning we have... let our life be founded on that insurmountable refuge, the Lord, our Rock!

Divided lives?!?

WORD 2day: Saturday, Fifth week in Ordinary time

February 10, 2024 - 1 Kings 12: 26-32, 13: 33-34; Mark 8: 1-10

For the people of Israel there was no difference between their political life and their religious life. For them everything was just one; an integral mode of living as people of God; forever the people of the Covenant: 'I shall be your God and you shall be my people'. But at a certain point, as we read in the first reading today, the misery befalls them - Politics and Religion part their ways. 

Further, something that happens makes things worse: using religion for political ends or politics for religious reasons. It becomes almost an unjust alliance and remains so even to this day - how many instances we can cite from the events of the day all around the world. 

That is about the society around us, but let us remember, it can happen in our personal lives too: the division between our religious life and our civil life, and worse still if we use one for the manipulation of the other. 

Jesus is totally against this division and considers it always an hypocrisy. One cannot call oneself a shepherd and still remain untouched by the miseries of the people. One cannot call oneself a 'Christ-ian' and live a life that is totally insensitive towards others. One cannot call oneself a child of God and look down on his brother or sister, or much worse ill-treat, exploit or oppress them. If one does that, he or she is giving into idolatry, claiming to belong to Christ but divided within oneself, externally professing Christ but totally against Christ at the level of the inner self. 

Do you think we can still be God's children, Christ's disciples, if we lived such divided lives?