HABAEMUS PAPAM - PAPA LEO XIV

Habaemus Papam - Pope Leo XIV shall officially take office on May 18, 2025

This is how we saw him for the first as Pope... 

This is how God blessed him from above... 

as we received the gift of him to the Church today!

God bless our Pope!

God draws those who are drawn...

WORD 2day: Thursday, 3rd week in Easter time

May 08, 2025: Acts 8: 26-40; John 6: 44-51

Phillip is mightily used by God, taken from place to place by the Spirit. It was because he allowed himself to be used; he submitted to the plans of God. The Court Official is chosen to belong to the Lord because he had a fundamental thirst for the knowledge of the matters of God. Why should he after all struggle with understanding the scroll of Isaiah on his journey... he was drawn to God from within himself.

Jesus declares that it is the Lord who draws a person to Godself. And we can easily understand, combining that teaching with the event in the first reading, that the Lord draws those who are drawn to the Lord in their choices, in their priorities, in their daily decisions. Yes, the Lord does not draw you without your consent... that would be against the freedom that the Lord has given us!

Yes, it is ofcourse the Lord who initiates but it is upto us to readily and promptly acknowledge these initiatives and respond to them from the depths of our beings. The responses are the use of the freedom that the Lord has given us! The choices we make are ours and therefore, many a time things that happen to our lives, depend on some choice somewhere that we have made...hard to understand, but if only we go to the depths we would get that connection clear.

However, God does not cease to invite us. However far we may go from the Lord, however deviated our choices get, however warped out priorities become, the Lord does not quit soliciting our loving choice for God and for what pertains to God. If only we are drawn to God, if only we choose to draw ourselves near to God, we would see, that the Lord has already drawn us so close to Godself, and it is in fact, God who drew us.

How simply James put it: draw near to God and God will draw near to you! (James 4:8).

An experience that grips! Resurrected Beings!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 3rd week in Easter time

May 07, 2025: Acts 8: 1b-8; John 6: 35-40

When things were getting worse the believers were getting stronger. They were scattered, but once in diaspora they continued their witnessing. There was something in them that made them just reckless, going about excited with their new experience. That experience was so gripping that it made them forget all the pain they had to go through.

Amidst difficulties and sacrifices, who do you think, are those who would go on with enthusiasm and fire within them? Only those who are gripped by an experience! 

Be it persons in love who challenge all odds to be with each other; or parents looking for their children or children looking for their parents who wish to find each other come what may; or a situation of someone who loves life and freedom and is kept in captivation but get a slight clue that there is a possibility of an escape...these are situations we can picture in our minds. Imagine the fire that would burn within the person making all the efforts... it is because the person has experienced something - may be love, may be freedom, may be care... that experience which grips them and goads them on!

We keep receiving news about people who are ready to give up their life at the hands of some heartless fanatics. These can be extreme witnesses of relentless endurance. But leaving alone these extreme sacrificing experiences, look at the ordinary daily experiences such as forgiving the other, bearing with the faults of the other, accepting burdens for the sake of the other... are these even possible without being gripped by a life changing experience?

For me today Jesus has to become that experience, that experience which grips me to a total transformation that I will fear nothing, for I know my Lord will raise me up on the last day, come what may! Once I am gripped by that experience, nothing, absolutely nothing can threaten me. I will be a Resurrected Being!

Death rather than sin

May 6, 2025: Celebrating the Teenage Saint - Dominic Savio

Dominic Savio is called the boy with a will - yes, he was just a boy, but a boy with a great will, a great consciousness and a great conviction.

There were three things that made a great impact on Dominic Savio and drove him towards his extraordinary Sanctity.

1. His Name: Dominic knew what his name meant. It meant that he belonged to the Lord. That is why when he met Don Bosco he said, it would be a shame if he did not live a life worthy of the Lord, having a name so profound. How many of us are serious about the name that we have? How many of us know of the Patron who is given to us due to our name?

2. His Guide: Dominic instantly clung on to Don Bosco when he met him. He found in Don Bosco a sure guide to sanctity, though he met him only when he was 12. Even before he could meet Don Bosco, he had taken his famous motto, 'Death rather than sin'. But he saw that Don Bosco had a special role to play in his attainment of sanctity. Dominic was very serious about it and Don Bosco acknowledged it and accompanied the teenager all the way. Do you feel the need of a Spiritual Director? Do you have an ardent desire to journey towards sanctity of life?

3. His Desire: Dominic wanted to be a priest. His devotion to Eucharist right from when he was a 5 year old boy, and later after his communion when he was just 7, and later when he met Don Bosco in 1854, he was determined to become a priest and serve the Lord. But the Lord willed it differently. Dominic's desire to become a priest, gave him a perspective for whole of his life. How many of us have clear understanding of what we wish to grow to be. Do we seek to know God and orient our lives accordingly?

When Dominic was just 7, as he received his first communion, he set himself this axiom: Death rather than sin. How much have we learnt God's will for us? This is God's will: your sanctification (1 Thes 4:3), reminds us St. Paul. Will we dare to say with this young boy: death rather than sin - that's the question to you and me!

A chip from the same block - the image of Christ

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 3rd week in Easter time

May 06, 2025: Acts 7:51 -8:1a; John 6: 30-35.

When we hear or reflect about the suffering that Jesus underwent, about his endurance of passion, his capacity to surrender into the hands of God, his capacity to forgive etc., we tend to retort within us saying: "but after all, he was son of God! he could bear that!" That is a heretic way of thinking, we need to be very careful about it! 

Yes, Jesus was the Son of God but he was a human person and fully so. He was not appearing to be a human being, he WAS a human being. As the letter to the Hebrews says, he was like us, a human being in everything! That is infact the most challenging part of our faith. That Jesus lived our life, he went through all that we experience ourselves: feelings and temptations, sufferings and anxieties, irritations and all of human realities. The challenge is that we live in his footsteps. The early Church was highly conscious of this call and we have today in the first reading the fruit of this. 

The first reading today presents to us, the first martyr Stephen - he was a chip from the same block as Christ. The apostles performed miracles and healings, just as Jesus did and of course the Word records them all. But as death, it records only that of Stephen, because he died like Christ! Just like the apostles lived like Christ, Stephen died like Christ! There is a special call in this - to imitate the life of Christ, life-project of Christ and the life style of Christ, right upto death. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ, said St. Paul...who was standing there as young Saul and watching Stephen die! Oh what beginnings the Church had! 

Do we carry the same spirit within us today, as people of God - the spirit of Christ? When we do, we shall not only imitate Christ, we shall become alter christus, another Christ... that is what we are called to be: to be a chip from that same block.

To Shine in the Lord

WORD 2day: Monday, 3rd week in Easter time

May 05, 2025: Acts 6:8-15; John 6: 22-29

His face shone like an angel. But they decided to kill him all the same! They saw the great works and words that Jesus had but they ran after him only for the food they could get. At times we kill the things that pertain to God not only by being against them but by even not being attentive to the true spirit of it. Unwittingly we kill Jesus, in our words, deeds and attitudes without even being conscious of it- however, the effect is equally bad.

In fact. it is easier to ward off dangers from the quarters that are known to be contrary to us. But the more dangerous ones are those that seem to take a neutral stand within us and amidst us... they can be real spirit dampeners and blind leaders. Called sometimes as 'sleeper cells' these days, there are elements that do not fit into our way of thinking, that come into our lives and slowly change our very way of thinking, being and acting. This is the kind of leaven that Jesus warned us against. 

That kind of a phenomenon can be seen, not only in the society but also within each of us. That is what we need to be careful about - because it is the work of the evil one. It is said, that the tempter, the devil, does not use things that are abhorrent to tempt us, but things that are pleasing, things that seem acceptable, things that seem "natural" and "not harmful", to begin with. Looking for Jesus, to be fed by him, or to see the great magical things that happen around him, was not anything bad. But Jesus observed right through them, there was something that was happening... on indeed something that was not happening. The people were attracted to him, but were not really ready to change themselves, taking up their personal conversion seriously.

The Jews and Chiefpriests, saw all that the people saw; nothing changed them. In spite of seeing the face shining they were not ready to change their minds or not ready to go deeper and find out what makes it shine! However, we are called to shine, to shine in the Lord. Be illumined by the Lord, be transluscent, to allow the light of the Lord to pass through us and make us shine out - in our thoughts, words and deeds - witnessing through out personal transformation and fundamental surrender to the Lord and the Lord's ways. That is the call that we all have: to shine in the Lord!

One Lord; One Faith!

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

May 3, 2025: Celebrating Apostles Philip and James

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

The Word calls our attention to the mention of the names of the Apostles whom we celebrate today: James and Philip.

The James we speak of here is not James the son of Zebedee, the one who was among the closest three namely - Peter, James and John, and later became the Bishop of Jerusalem. But the James referred to here is the son of Alphaeus, who is for the sake of differentiating, known as James the lesser! Though that term is odd, it brings out the fact that he was among the 'less prominent bunch' of the Apostles but however he was one of the 12 pillars and Jesus appeared to him!

Philip is seen in the Gospel today inducing Jesus to make some intense pronouncements about himself and the Father! Though Jesus seems to be getting upset with Philip, it was necessary for the rest of the apostles too, to get clarified about things Jesus wanted them to. Philip is also seen in two other places - at the scene of multiplication of the bread (bringing the boy with five loaves and two fishes to Jesus) and later when some Greeks wish to see Jesus, bringing them along. Earlier he had brought Nathaniel too; in short, he was fond of bringing people to Jesus!

The Feast can communicate three realities that can help our faith communities today.

1: That differences are natural when a group of persons are involved. The differences are not only inevitable but they are beautiful to paint a holistic picture.

2: That differences do not mean division, or comparison or envy. That Philip and James and some others were not so prominent, never caused a rift among the apostles. They were able to live united in the Lord.

3. Each one has a specific call within the entire design of God and when one fails to play his role, however little and insignificant it could be, there is a lack in the whole!

The message is clear: avoid comparisons; avoid envy; realise the one call and remain united in the Lord! One Lord, one faith is our identity in the Risen Christ. 

Listening to grow - openness and Godliness

WORD 2day: Friday, 2nd week in Easter time

May 2, 2025 -  Acts 5: 27-33; John 3: 31-36

pc: Cecilia Paredes

We are reflecting on the charachteristic traits of the first Christian community that grew directly out of the Resurrection experience, offering itself to us as an example and challenge for us to realise our call to be Easter people, or the People of the Ressurection. 

The message that we have today comes from an indirect source, from a Jewish Rabbi Gamaliel, a learned man and seemingly an authentic person of God. Although he does not speak directly about the people but about Jesus, he presents to us a very pertinent reflection to understand a crucial trait of the people, of the first Christians. He instructs his own Jewish colleagues not to worry too much about destroying the movement initiated by Christ, saying it would die by itself if it were not founded on truth. The corollary is what matters to us - if the movement has not died, it is clear that our faith is founded on the truth of Resurrection. 

The lesson not to close their minds to the possibility of truth in the faith of the new grouped people, is a lesson to us too: not to close our minds to anyone around us who wishes in all his or her sincerity to share one's own experience and conviction. The Lord may speak to us through the person. When we are open and listening, we shall see a God-given scope to grow... just as the few loaves of bread multiplied themselves into a great feast for a great number, just as a handful who believed in Christ multiplied into a vast community of faith that would change the face of the earth very soon!

Listening to the Lord from any corner of our times, is an important trait of the people of God... that openness amounts to Godliness and a real experience of growth and fullness!

To Work our way to heaven

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

May 1, 2025: Celebrating St. Joseph the Worker
Genesis 1:26-2:3; Matthew 13:54-58

We are disciples of the Carpenter's Son; that is how the people to refer to Jesus today. We celebrate not just the dignity but the divinity of work today. Karl Marx insisted that Work should be the extension of one's being, not a commodity to be sold or paid for. That is what the Christian perspective holds on too. The first reading from Genesis today presents to us work as participation in the creative power of God. We become co-creators with God when we make our work the expression and extension of our being. It is the way we fulfill the purpose for which we have been created. Infact, that is the way for us to trace the path that God has designed for each of us to reach heaven.

Three tendencies that are directly against it are:

1. Laziness and inactivity: deliberately choosing not to do anything and scheming to be parasitic on the labour of others;

2. Compulsion and burden: looking at work as a compulsion and carrying it out grudgingly, blaming everyone and the situation for the lack of inner joy;

3. Commodification and exploitation: looking at a person as a means through whom things can be produced and sold and commodified and stripping the true dignity of labour from the person.

These are totally anti-Christian attitudes to work. Work shoud become a joyful, conscious and deliberate choice to give of one's best towards building a better place for the entire humanity. In the highly commercialised, globalised, world today, may St. Joseph, the Worker inspire us to work our way to heaven.

People of Relationships - the Other and the others

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 2nd week in Easter time

April 30, 2025 - Acts: 17-26; John 3: 16-21

The call to get going, from the part of the Risen Lord, is to become people of the Spirit; the people of the Spirit are those who are characterised by humility, by courage and relationships that determine their identity. The Word today elaborates the last element of the affirmation... that is, the relationships that determine our identity. 

The apostles in prison, never felt isolated... they were accompanied by the Lord and not just that, they were accopmanied by the faithful who were constantly praying for them and sending them the spiritual sustenance. This is one of the characteristic traits of the people of the Spirit, who are people of relationships.

The relationship begins with the Other - faith, which is essentially a relationship with the Father who has created, saved and continues to love the children. The Other becomes the foundation of the life, of spiritual meaning, and of the sense of life. A faithful can never feel alone, can never feel abandoned, because the Father has not spared anything, not even the only Son, that we may have life, life to the full. 

The relationship gets its completeness, in the other! The brothers and sisters in faith, give the completeness of life and vocation that we have as faithful, the life as children of God and the vocation as disciples of the Risen Lord. In joys and in sufferings, in trials and in triumphs, we remain united in the other, inspired by the assurance of the Other. 

We are people of relationships, let us never feel isolated, always in communion of love, with the Loving Other and the beloved others.