LOOKING UP TO THE LORD

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord 

May 12, 2024

People formed by the Lord - on the move

WORD 2day - Saturday, Sixth week in the Eastertide

May 11, 2024 - Acts 18: 23-28; John 16: 23-28

Jesus is moving on; he has been preparing his disciples and apostles for it. We see that sense of movement in the Word today - Paul comes to Antioch and moves to Phyrgia, Apollos comes to Ephesus and moves on to Achaia, and Jesus is saying he is moving on... there is so much of movement noticed and reported here. That is it was; that is how it should be in the Christian community. That is why Pope Francis all the time underlines the importance of "a community that goes forth." 

But why all these movements? Just for the sake of it? Because we want to show everyone that we are alive and that we are around? No! Jesus describes the rationale of this movement: I came from the Father and have come nito the world, and now I leave he world and go to the Father. This is how it has to be; we come from the Father and to the Father we need to go. All that we are and all that we do, should take us to the Father; including our relationship with Jesus, it has to take us to the Father. That is the reason, Jesus explicates it today: I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you, because the Father himself  loves you! 

Our itinerary is well defined - we came from the Father and we need to move on to the Father! We cannot get settled here or there - at times, we are eager to settle down, get buried and get established... but that is not being people formed by the Lord. The Lord is on the move! And calls us to move on, to be on the move! We are called to move, move constantly towards the Father, move towards realising our call to be people of God. 

On this last day before the Ascension of the Lord, where the Lord moves to his Father, we are called to renew our understanding and conviction as people on the move, people who are constantly moving closer towards being with the Father, being one with the Father.  

People formed by the Lord - beyond fear of suffering!

WORD 2day - Friday, Sixth week in the Eastertide

May 10, 2024 - Acts 18: 9-18; John 16: 20-23

The discourse on sorrow turning to joy continues from yesterday! While yesterday we reflected on the lesson of changing our minds, our lives and our disposition in order to see that change happens, from sorrow to joy, today there is yet another angle added to it. This suffering or the sorrow is compared to the suffering of the expectant mother and the birth pangs! In fact, haven't we heard the preoccupation on the part of experienced persons, that an expectant mother has still not begun to feel the pain, when the time due foreseen by the medics has been crossed?

Yes, at times pain is expected, even wished for - because in the larger picture it has its rightful place. And that pain will one day, on the right day, turn into blessing, into joy, into a cause for celebration. This is absolutely true with regard to the suffering for the sake of the Reign - do not be afraid to speak out, nor allow yourself to be silenced: I am with you - what a wonderful promise this is! Truly, a departing promise. I shall be with you... the Lord shall be with us... provided we realise what the responsorial psalm teaches us: you Lord God are the king of all the earth, of all that is.

Truth sets us free, it liberates us from fear, from the fear of what doesn't exist, from the fear of the unreal, from the fear of death, and therefore from any fear of suffering. The Spirit whom  the Lord promised, the Spirit of Truth who is said to teach us all that is true, will certainly liberate us from all fears. With that formation from the Lord, we are bound to grow into people beyond any fear of suffering or sorrow.

People formed by the Lord - as people of change!

WORD 2day - Thursday, Sixth week in the Eastertide

May 09, 2024: Acts 18: 1-8; John 16: 16-20

The says it directly today in the Word - I am going away. But he immediately adds, that it should not be a motive for sorrow, but a reason for joy because, having gone, he promises, that he would send us the Spirit. When the Spirit comes you shall see that your sorrow shall change into joy, your tears shall change into smiles... yes, they will change, but how? 

Let us consider that question: how will it change? You sorrow shall turn into joy - this is one of the themes preached far and wide... but no one wants to discuss in detail or in depth, how it will happen? How will the sorrow change into joy? Does that mean we will have nothing for which there will be a tear in our eyes? Does that mean a kind of "prosperity" and "sufficiency" that we consider so naively as the "blessing" from above?

Yes, the sorrow will change into joy, the tears will change into laughter, hardships will change into launchpads for success... but when? When our hearts and our selves change! No one wants to hear that. We do not want to change an inch, but we wish everything around us to change and become a paradise on earth; we do not want to convert ourselves, but whine and wimper that the situation around us should radically change and become good and pleasant! How mean of us!

We see in the first reading, the tough situations that the apostles faced with the hardhearted people. How they themselves gave a tough time to Jesus who was trying to impress some things in their hearts, is an important fact to consider here. But however, they changed... who was the cause of that change - the Spirit. It is the same Spirit who would make those people gradually, although slowly, change and convert.

The prayer that we need to make today is that we be docile to the Spirit, who has been given unto us, who lives within us, and realise the facets we need to change in our lives. The Lord wishes to form us, through the Spirit, as people of change - let us repent and believe in the Gospel!

People formed by the Lord - with an indwelling Spirit

WORD 2day - Wednesday, Sixth week in the Eastertide

May 08, 2024 - Acts 16, 22-34; John 16: 5-11

The Lord bidding farewell to his disciples and apostles, tells them how he would wish to say many more things but they were really not prepared to take any more! He knew them, he knew their inability, he knew their difficulty, he knew their capacity. The Lord knows our capacity too! And that is why the Lord has promised us the Indwelling Spirit - the Spirit who dwells within us, who resides in our hearts and waits to guide us from within. It is a pity that most of the time we do not ever become aware of this presence. 

We are all the time on the search, going out in search, search every where for answers and solutions and a light to clarify our questions of life. We fail to understand that the light resides within, the light is shining in there... all that we need to do is, take a minute and become aware; take a moment and surrender to the Light. Lead kindly light...amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on - those are truly inspired words by Newman. The Lord promised to send the Spirit from the Father and each of us is given that gift, right at our baptism. We possess! Do we realise?

The People of Athens were practically intelligent. They who worshipped a pantheon of gods, had an altar for the unknown God! Because they did not want to take chances... in fact they were afraid to take the risk of facing the wrath of a god who could be accidently neglected! That was a fear ridden religiosity, that Paul is addressing in the first reading today. That is not our case, thanks be to the merciful love that Jesus has revealed to us. But the danger is that we have gone to the other extreme, we dare to neglect God who empties Godself to give us life, to give us fullness of life! 

Father who gives away everything including God's only Son; the Son who gives away everything including his own body and blood; the Spirit who gives away everything including the majesty of divinity and deigns to live within us mere humans... how conscious are we of this? Do we really come to grips with the intimacy that the Spirit offers us with God? The Lord wishes to form us for this consciousness, to realise and relate to the indwelling Spirit. 

People Formed by the Lord - towards truth and testimony

WORD 2day - Tuesday, Sixth week in the Eastertide

May 7, 2024 - Acts 16:22-34; John 16: 5-11

The discourse continues as yesterday, the Lord instructs the disciples that he has to go, in order that the Advocate could come. One of the changes or renewals that the Advocate, the Spirit, would make is outlined today: as the Gospel acclamation hints - it is leading us to the complete truth. The Spirit leads us to understand all incomplete, wrong and imperfect understanding and make us see the absolute truth that rests in the Lord. 

This teaching is corroborated with a miraculous happening, in the first reading from the Acts. Paul and Silas, in the guarded prison, have their binding chains broken in a miraculous manner, but they do not escape, leaving the jailer totally dreadfully confused. He is not able to understand what makes these persons so passionate about what they are involved in, that is the announcing of the Word. When he realises it, he asks a radical question: what do I have to do to be saved? He knew they had within them something that could save him, his family, the whole humanity. That was the convicting Spirit.

The convicting Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord who throws light into our souls to see what is wrong, to understand what lacks within us, to realise what is holding us prisonners to imperfection and sadness in life: sin, unrighteousness, stubborness of heart. The moment we realise these and open our hearts to the Spirit, we are saved. And we are invited to share the same experience with the others and that is testimony!

In the school of the Risen Lord we are formed by the Spirit to understand the complete truth and become spledid testimonies to the saving Lord. 

People formed by the Lord - with Open Hearts

WORD 2day - Monday, Sixth week in the Eastertide

May 6, 2024 - Acts 16:11-15; john 15:26 - 16:4

We begin a special week today. At the end of this week we would be celebrating the Ascension of the Lord. And the Lord seems to be preparing this disciples and apostles for his departure, it seems an extended farewell, the whole of this week. We would do well to listen and reflect on the Word this week because it is going to point to us the criteria that the Lord has to judge if we are formed enough or not, to live our lives, as the Lord wants us to, as the Lord witnesses to the ends of the earth.  

The first criterion the Word presents today, is that we be persons with Open hearts. Unless we open our hearts, the Word cannot reach out to us, the Lord cannot work within us and the Spirit cannot dwell within us! The reading from the Acts of the Apostles presents to us the case of a lady called Lydia, who listened to Paul and the Lord opened her heart. She became a disciple and a great benefactor as we see. The Lord opened her heart... do we allow the Lord to open our heart?

The Gospel speaks to us of the Advocate who would come, the Advocate who comes from the Lord... the Spirit who speaks in our hearts, through various ways, making known to us what the Lord wants of us. This coming, requires that we are welcoming! That is, we receive the Lord with Open hearts. Yes the Lord can open our hearts, but only when we open our hearts to the Lord! What do we mean by this opening our hearts?

Jesus explains that to us as the capacity to see, accept and understand the Truth. The advocate who comes from the Father, is the Spirit of truth, who opens our hearts, our will, our entire being to observe the truth, understand the truth and accept it whole heartedly. Only then we shall understand all that we see and hear, "when the time comes". Let us prepare ourselves to be people formed by the Lord, ready to grow up, see the truth and receive the truth, with Open Hearts.  

One People of God - the difference with a difference

WORD 2day: Saturday, Fifth week in the Eastertide

May 04, 2024 - Acts 16: 1-10; John 15: 18-21 

Jesus would have found it an Heculean task to make his disciples and apostles understand that they are different and different in a particular way. That they were different, they knew immediately. Because they were chosen and they were going around with Christ, seeing him do things that they have never witnessed before. But this was a dangerous feeling of being different - it was like the Hebrews, who felt they were a chosen people and therefore different from others and as a result they despised the others in a way! Jesus' teaching was not the same.

That they were different - not in comparison to the others, but in their choices and their priorities. Jesus taught them that they did not belong to the world, that is, they did not belong to the mainstream that justified sins, glorified craftiness, longed for first places and died for power! He taught them to lookout for the lost, be with the least and be treated as the last. He told them to be ready to be hated, while everyone longed to be loved. 

That they were different, in a specific way - not trying to prove themselves to be better than the rest, but in having a mindset of total obedience and allegiance to the One who has made them, called them and love them. They were to listen to the Lord - they were expected to go where they are told and not to go where they are forbidden... because they are totally guided by that Voice, that Spirit, that Lord who has redeemed them. 

Today, we are called to be different from the others. This is not what every one goes crazy about - being different, doing something different and being different. This difference is a difference with a difference, a difference that says - I don't mind to lose, I don't mind being hated, I don't mind even being killed - for the sake of my call and the One who has called. 

Called, Loved and Trusted!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

May 3, 2024 - Celebrating the Apostles Philip and James

1 Corinthians 15: 1-8; John 14: 6-14

Today we celebrate the Apostles Philip and James - the Word today reminds them of these great personalities, and these two can give us an inspiration to live by today. 

First let us consider James - we can outline three details ascertained in the Gospels and other New Testament writings: that James was the son of Zebedee along with John, that James was called and referred to as the brother of Jesus, and that James was one among the close three apostles of Jesus who had the grace of witnessing to many things that the other apostles did not. Hence he was a privileged apostle. However he was notorious too: did he aspire for a seat on the right or left of Jesus when he would return in glory; did he not want to call fire down from heaven to destroy the people who did not accept Jesus?

The other apostle, Philip - he too has some specific merits attached to him: that he was the one who brought Nathanael to Jesus thus occasioning one the most profound discourses of Jesus, that he was the one who was approached by the Greeks and later he would bring in the Ethiopian minister into the Christian fold, that as the Gospel narrates today, he asked to see the Father and thus made Jesus reveal another profound truth - if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. He seemed to have been an enterprising apostle, although Jesus finds him very often wanting in fuller understand of the mysteries revealed - be it in the episode we hear in the Gospel today or in that of the multiplication of the loaves and so on. 

What are these aposltes inspiring us to: first, that we are specially called and each of us is in some way a privileged disciple of Christ; secondly, we do have our share of incompleteness and lack, but that can never take away anything from the love that the Master has for us; and thirdly, our responsibility is to do all we can to remain totally faithful to our call, like Philip whom we come across in the Acts of the apostles as a tireless messenger of the Word and James who laid down his life as first of the apostles to give his life for the Word. 

We are called, we are loved, and we are trusted by the Lord as God's messengers. 

One People of God - the love effect

WORD 2day: Thursday, Fifth week in the Eastertide

May 2, 2024 - Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11

"God arranged to enlist a people for God's name out of the pagans"... and the apostles had identified the right priority when they decided "not to make things more difficult for people who turn to God." That is the wisdom that the Spirit gave them to choose that one criteria - the wellbeing, the utltimate wellbeing of the other - that which makes us One people of God.

Wishing the well being of the other, wishing the good of the other, that is, to love is the way traced for us to truly become people called and chosen by God.  To choose love and to remain in that love the way to our joy, complete and God given joy. But where do we learn this from? From the Lord himself. 

This is what makes us people of God and makes us one people of God. Only those who love can be called the people of God, for those who love are born of God says the Word. Unless we love we do not have yet what it takes to be identified as people of God. It cannot be feigned, it is a way of life - a way of life that is against selfishness, ego, competitions that prioritise oneself. Only love can save us from all these and unite us as one. 

It is obviously love that makes us one people of God. Anything else that brings us together, it could be circumstances, challenges, fear of opposition, calculations of gain and loss, scheming in order to arrive at a hidden agenda...these may bring us together but they will never make us "one" and much less "one people of God". Love alone can, because love is the sap that flows into us from the vine, making us live branches united into one.