FRUITS

Fake, Faulty or Fullness...

8th Sunday in Ordinary time: February 2, 2025

Ecclesiasticus 27: 5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6: 39-45

Fruits - it is by fruits that a tree is known! What we are, is judged by our fruits but beware what you put out as your fruits! 

Today when we look around people are looking for fruits, and persons look to prove themselves to others showing off their fruits. Not just the advertisements or the publicities that are made, which are almost totally fake, but there are other modes in which even individuals and groups wish to show themselves off to others, as something that they are not, to gain, or to be popular or to have their way! Facebook, Instagram and Twitter handles are filled with photoshopped facts and filtered snaps, all to impress others and make oneself desired at all costs. The same happens in life too: we show ourselves to others the way we wish to, we manifest our fruits; the question is, are these but true fruits?

Fake Fruits: the culture of death

Living our life merely as living up   to the expectations of the others, the demands of the society, the requirements of the trends and identifying oneself to this way of life is, putting out fake fruits: they can give meaning neither to me nor to anyone else! In our spiritual life too, we create appearances, we put up shows for the sake of those who are around and rejoice in being appreciated for what we are not, in being praised for what we do not deserve, in being identified as someone or something that we are not. This is a culture of death - where what is not is so much hyped and appreciated and what is true is made insignificant and uncared for. We are so caught up with the unreal that the real does not matter at all. We are happy with just appearances and fantasies. Our Christian life can never be this!

Faulty Fruits: the blind life

Living our life, all the time concerned about our external image and the opinion of others, we might forget to live it from the core of our beings. We may make so much effort merely to prove ourselves to others that we may lose sight of the real life that is being wasted in the meanwhile. We become so blind to truth! Being blind we can never be guides to others, but we keep shouting to the others to follow us, we keep drawing attention of the others as if we are the models to be proposed to the world, models of so-called 'success', 'achievement' and 'excellence'. We are so blind to the fact that we are not living our lives, we are so blind to the fact that even others see through and notice quite soon the emptiness that is there within us! By the time, we realise that emptiness ourselves, it seems too late and too far beyond redemption. We give up! Do not give in, or do not give up, instructs the Word today... live on, live deep and move to the next level.

Fullness: the fruit of life

Living our life to the full is the natural fruit we are called to bear: bearing fruit is never a goal, it is just an outcome. The goal is, living our life to the full. The fruit follows. The more we concentrate on the end of showing out fruits to the others, the more meaningless and hollow our life becomes. The focus has to be on living our life to the full, living it in our depth, living it at the core, living it with integrity - that every thing we think, everything that we say and everything that we do, has a congruence about it. It is in this fullness that we shall be able to notice the log that lies in our eyes and clear it so that we can help the other to remove he splinter in his or her's. Life has to be embraced in its ups and its downs, in success and in challenges, in its glory and its grief... with hope and that is the sign of being a people of resurrection! This is being people of victory, people of the Risen Lord, appreciating and celebrating life, life in all its abundance. 

Bearing Fruit is the sign of being united in the Lord, but the quality of the fruit matters the most - not fake fruits that are actually not there at all, not faulty fruits that last just a while leaving behind a unfathomable void, but fullness where fruits abound, inspiring many more to give thanks and glory to God! Yes, let us pray hard and live to the full that we may bear fruit - but nevertheless, let us beware of what kind of a fruit we put out.

 

Power to the Children

WORD 2day: Saturday, 7th week in Ordinary time

March 1, 2025 - Sirach 17:1-13; Mark 10:13-16

The first reading brings out the majesty of being a human person. That glory and splendour arises from the fact that we have been given the very image and likeness of God. 

At times we create complexes within us or among us that we are fair or dark, or tall or short, or beautiful or handsome or ugly... all these do not matter at all because fundamentally we are made in the image of God, the image that resides deep within us. 

There can be no preferential treatment or despise on the basis of gender or colour or the social roots... that would be an utter foolishness and totally ungodly! Because the fundamental element, the kernel, the core of our being is the same - the image of God. 

The children do not have any trouble in understanding it. That is why the Lord declares today the power of the Reign is given to the Children. Without becoming a child (of God) I cannot inherit it - that's the Father's style: the Power to the Children.

Relationships - the heart of Christian faith

WORD 2day: Friday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 28, 2025 - Sirach 6:5-17; Mark 10:1-12

It is not rules, regulations and rituals that are at the center of Christian life and practice, but persons, community and relationships. Genuine and sincere relationships at all levels is the true sign of Christian faith. 

Relationships are a mark that proves that a person is mature - because the person is able to think beyond oneself, is capable of looking beyond one's own likes and dislikes, or needs and wants, and is able to accommodate the other into one's own world. This is the psycho-social truth of human reality. This is equally true on a spiritual plane and much more so from a Christian perspective. We know how Jesus cyrstalised all law and prophets in one simple command - the command to love. 

The Word today invites us to reflect on two long standing relationships in any person's life: Friendship and Marriage! In both these what is expected of a person is faithfulness, to be sincere, genuine, authentic and integral. A faithful friend is a sure shelter and beyond price; whoever has found one has found a rare treasure! Instead of beginning to search you friendlist for the one who is such to you, begin thinking: to whom are you such a treasure! It is high time today, specially for the younger generation, to leave the portals of the virtual friendship and enter into true, life changing, long standing, meaning giving relationships.

Another insight this reflection can leave us with is the fact that these two above mentioned relationships (friendship and marriage) have been used as metaphors for our relationship with God - that is a crucial call too, to care about and focus on developing a personal relationship on a daily basis with the person of Christ, the image of the invisible God. 

Justice of the Lord

WORD 2day: Thursday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 27, 2025 - Sirach 5:1-10; Mark 9: 41-50

The Word today is quite hard and as soon as we hear it we feel like saying, this is an old teaching, too rigorous and too bleak in hope. But as the wisdom of Sirach warns us, it can turn into an excuse for not changing oneself. We could have, in the name of modernity and culture, over the centuries lost some fundamental sense of faithfulness to the One, the Truth and the Goodness. 

The Lord knows the ďeepest of our thoughts and the most secret of our intentions. It is not possible to fake allegiance to the Lord as people do to each other. The Lord cannot be one of the options, that when all is done we have resort to the Lord. We say we trust in the Lord, but when? Maybe, when everything else is out of question and we have exploited all our so-called resources... without realising right from the beginning that all the resources we have, are from the hands of the Lord! 

However, the Lord is not only all knowing and compassionate, the Lord is also just and righteous. We would be at fault to think that we can appease the Lord with some legalities, some rituals and some compensations that are peripheral... nothing short of a true intention and a sincere dedication in our efforts to become acceptable in the eyes of the Lord, can make us God's own people!

Let us not only count on the mercies of the Lord, but also strive to live by the justice of the Lord.

Exaggerated Loyalty or Easy Lethargy?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 26, 2025 - Ecclesiasticus 4: 12-22; Mark 9: 39-42

We have an identity as people belonging to the Lord and there is a rightful sense of feeling proud about it, which is expressed in our gratitude to God who has called us and made us God's own. But the danger is that sometimes we might take this sense or identity to two extremes, both of which are equally bad.

The first extreme is an exaggerated loyalty, that thinks as if we have the monopoly of God, and all that belongs to God - like truth, authority, judgement, righteousness etc.! We tend to dictate terms to the 'others' and feel a kind of superiority that is absolutely in no way Christ-ian. Today we see one such incident in the Gospel, where the apostles claim a patented right for doing good; Jesus talks them out of it.

The second extreme which is seen in the life of many so-called 'nominal' christians of today: where they live a life of abject lethargy, not conscious of their identity, not owning up the responsibility that comes with it and not really living up to the standards set while accepting that identity! There is no concrete sign that many of us are truly Christ-ians.

The solution to this lies in the relationship we have with Wisdom, the Counsel of the Lord, the Holy Spirit who sets our hearts to abide by the right balance. Neither exaggerated loyalty nor easy lethargy, but a humble and loving recognition of our identity and a faithful and committed living out, of the same.

Growing up... to be a true child!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 25, 2025 - Sirach 2:1-11; Mark 9: 30-37

'Grow Up!' people say, when they are upset with some people's attitudes found wanting, when people behave 'childish' and immature, as it is said. Grow up, yes... but, grow up to what? The Word today invites us, to grow up to be children. That may sound a bit contradictory, or at least confusing to say - to grow to be children.  

Cling on, trust, hold on, wait on the Lord... in short, this is what we mean by learning to be true children, true children of God. It is a quality to grow in, to become children of God, true children of God, persons with a relationship like a child with its parent.

Who can wait on the mercies of the elders but a child, for when we consider ourselves grown up we crave to be independent. Who can cling on to someone else and keep trusting in their goodness, hoping that they will be led in the right path, but a child! Who but a child can look up to others and understand that he or she is the least of all who are around and helpless of the lot?

Jesus invites us - grow up to be a child... let go of your ego, learn to depend on the goodness of the Lord, allow God to take hold of your hands and you will find the true peace, the peace of a child. Grow up constantly, to be a true child!

Faith and Wisdom - gifts from God

WORD 2day: Monday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 24, 2025 - Ecclesiastes 1:1-10; Mark 9: 14-29

Knowledge can be obtained by effort and hardwork, but wisdom comes from the Lord. We may read, listen, think and increase our knowledge, but putting various pieces of knowledge together to arrive at a decision is wisdom and that cannot be acquired by purely hardwork or merely human effort. 

It is a gift from the Lord, because Wisdom as the first reading tells us today, belongs to God and whom God deigns to grant it, and the measure God wills to grant it. Wisdom is basically the capacity for discernment   and we know well how much it is the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Belief is born from what we learn and what we understand, while Faith is not merely our lonesome job. It is our personal response to a self revealing God. If so, it is the Lord who grants us this faith, as a gift and helps us grow and mature in it too. It flows from the gift of discernment, the capacity to see the right sense from all that is presented to us in the name of knowledge and information.  

'Lord I believe, help my unbelief" ...we come across that profound prayer today. It would do a great good to us, to make this prayer a regular and daily prayer, confiding ourselves in the Lord, beckoning the Lord to help our unbelief and make us truly faithful sons and daughters!

LOVE AND BE LOVED!

My identity, my mission and a promise!

February 23, 2025: Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time 

Samuel 26: 2, 7-9,11-13, 22-23;  1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6: 27-38

The more we love, the more shall we be loved... loved by the Lord, loved by our fellow beings, and loved by the entire universe around. It is not that the Lord God lays a condition to love us, but the fact is that, we shall be able to experience the unconditional love of God, in as much as we are ready to love one another. Today we have an interesting set of readings, that impress on us why David was loved by God and by his people,  how God's love promises us a dignity that is incredibly immense and how love alone can set us apart as the people of God. It is not merely a romantic reflection on the value of love, but a concrete explanation of what it entails to really love!

To love is to forgive; it hurts, but it is my identity. 

At times love is imagined to be some kind of a pleasant feeling and ecstatic experience. But it is not all. Love involves hurt, pain and heart ache. It consists of forgiveness... showing the other cheek, blessing those who curse, and respecting those who vow to destroy you. True love hurts... not the one who is loved, but the one who loves. The one who loves, empties oneself to truly love the other. The best of example is the mystery of Incarnation itself - for God so loved the world that God gave God's only son as a ransom! Can we ask a question, 'why'? Why should God do this? The question does not stand, because it is the very identity of God. God is love. 

We are called to the same mode of living, because that is our identity too! We are created in the image of God; God is love and therefore our image, our identity is love! Anything against it is a distortion of that image. Today when forces speak against and work against the Christian people and the Church, what do we do? We love. Our identity is love. In that love we forgive, we express compassion, we spread love! Be it in the family, or in the society, we need to keep this identity very clear. We are sons and daughters of Love, and therefore, love is our identity.

To love is to give; it drains me, but it is my mission. 

Love one another as I have loved you, said Jesus and one of the simplest proofs that he gave for one who loves is, Giving. One who loves gives. God loved, God gave - gave everything, absolutely everything. God loves, and God gives! If we love, we need to give. give from what we have and what we are, without measure, without expectation or without any self-benefitting agenda. If I am disciple of Christ, I cannot but give. Giving is a sign of love as a mission. I am sent to give, just as Christ came to give and was sent to give, give of himself, give everything, even his life! So am I, sent to give, because I am sent to love. 

The Martyrs whom we celebrate and venerate... why do we do? Because they died? Because they suffered? Not all who are killed or not all who suffered are proclaimed martyrs... the Church has a wisdom behind to see if they were killed for the faith, if they suffered for their faith. Being killed for faith or suffering for faith means, carrying out the mission of love to the end. I am not sent merely to go and brainwash people and bring them to be baptised! I am sent to love people, to give of myself  in love for the people, to give God's love to people! We can never lose sight of this, because to love is our mission.

To love is to trust; it may look delusive, but it is a promise. 

When I give and forgive, when I love and do everything for the other, I have a promise that can never fail. That the Lord my God will find me modelled after the image in which I have been created. That I shall attain the fulfilment of my life and life's purpose. David seemed a loser in the eyes of his companions who were with him, for he could have killed Saul and become the king right away! Jesus speaks of allowing ourselves to be robbed, cheated, taken for granted and being treated as the evil ones wish... I may look like a loser, but I am not! I have a promise and I rest on that promise.

When evil forces encamp against us and the wild beastly powers surround us in ambush, strangely we are called to love, to forgive, to give and to do good! It could be governments, or it could be hostile groups, or private individuals or brainwashed mobs... when someone is out there to hurt us and break us, what do we do? It is a pertinent question for a true Christian and a true Christian community any time - we remain firm and continue to love! We continue to serve, we continue to give, we continue to do all the good that we can. Because we are not doing it for the recompense, or for a recognition, or for teaching anyone a lesson. We do it, because we have a promise: that the God who looks on, has a plan for us! 

Nothing should discourage us from loving, because it is our identity to love. Nothing can stop us from loving because it is the very mission that we have been sent with. Nothing needs to motivate us to love, because we have a promise, that when we love, we make ourselves loved. The more we love, the more shall we be loved... loved by the Lord, loved by our fellow beings, and loved by the entire universe around. Let us love, and be loved!

Celebrating the Petrine Ministry

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 22, 2025: The Chair of St.Peter
1 Peter 5: 1-4; Matthew 16: 13-19

We celebrate today the pastoral responsibility that the Lord places on the successors of St. Peter. "You are Peter; on this rock I shall build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it." The Church has stood the test of time - 2 millennia and humbly, still counting despite all the forces which have always wanted it to buckle under pressure!

The First reading has a few remarkable elements that seem to explain perfectly the role of Papacy: 'presbyter among presbyters', 'not lording over the people', 'being example to the flock'! This is exactly what Pope Francis has been trying to do the past 12 years: stressing the Collegiality of Bishops, as Bishop of Rome, and not lording over but challenging everyone with his very life. Restraining from making a hero-idol of him, it is important at this moment that as a Church we gratefully recognise the timely contribution he has made, and hearken to his passionate call to live as light of the world and salt of the earth, spreading love and hope to those around us.

We are aware of so many forces today in the World that wants by all means to destroy the Church and its moral authority on the planet! The Lord promised that the gates of hell will never prevail over the Church, but we need to remain worthy of the promise, by being communities of genuine faith and integral living. This day, we have an absolute duty, to pray for the Holy Father, specially as he is going through a crucial moment of health crisis. 

Thank you Lord for Pope Francis; bless him, strenghten him and be with him with the joy of the Spirit! God bless our Pope!

Ego - the antonym of Christian love

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

February 21, 2025 - Genesis 11:1-9; Mark 8:34 - 9:1

Christian definition of Love is 'wishing the good of the other' and if this is what love means, its opposite is not just hate, but Ego! When I begin to look at me, mine and myself, when I begin to do anything to achieve my end, when everything around me is only an object for me to use, for my good and even persons are means to my ends... that is Ego.

The Word enumerates what one loses when the ego in the person grows... the person loses God, the person loses peace, the person loses the other! Godlessness, Division and Hatred - these are the three dominant viles that the humanity faces today.

Godlessness, that has made the human person arrogant, thinking of oneself as the master of everything and claiming rights over everything, even life - one's own and other's too... leading to inhumanities and killings of varied types.

Division that makes humanity broken, leaving us so despicable among the creatures on the face of the earth - not living our life and not letting others live their life, creating a hell out of the earth that is entrusted to our care - killing each other, destroying everything.

Hatred that keeps tearing apart humanity on a daily basis; making us inhuman and cruel, wishing the death of the other and in the mean time promoting and perpetrating a culture of death and decline!

Jesus challenges us to throw this ego behind and walk towards genuine love, pick up one's daily cross for others' sake and walk with the Lord, in humility and faith.