The "Way" of life

WORD 2day: Friday, 4th week in Easter time

May 16, 2025: Acts 13: 26-33; John 14: 1-6

Troubled hearts and confused minds... these are not rare cases to find these days. The degree may vary but every person of our time seems to be troubled with something or the other. 

The Lord would look direct into our eyes and ask us: why are your hearts troubled and why do you go confused? Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not let go of your trust in me, the Lord invites us today. 

I remember once during our Theological studies, in our Scripture class, the professor said "the Word has the answer for everything". And a student retorted, "why then are there confusions and misunderstandings?" The Professor without any hesitation responded, "that's because we don't have the right questions!"

When things seem to be going wrong, when there are pressing issues that confuse, we need to ask the right questions! Who am I? What am I upto? Where is my ultimate destiny? What is the grand perspective within which my life is unfolding? There is answer to all these in the Word today: our Way! The Way is ready with an answer for everything in our life: let not our hearts be troubled. 

It is not so easy to remain with hearts untroubled, the Word clarifies more, unless we have an ardent trust in the Lord. Trusting in the Lord would mean to keep walking. It is not just to stope everything and say, until I get an answer I shall not proceed... instead it is to hold on to the way and keep walking, walking along with the Way, and we shall see life unfold.  

Memories that are Salvific

WORD 2day: Thursday, 4th week in Easter time

May 15, 2025: Acts 13: 13-25; John 13: 16-20

The Word today insists upon our memories! This was one great problem with the people of Israel - they never remembered enough, all that the Lord did to them. The walk through the red sea was soon forgotten, they complained about no food; the fall of manna was soon forgotten, they detested the monotony of food; the quails were soon taken for granted, they complained about no water; the water from the rock was soon forgotten they wanted a god amidst them... that is why the Lord brings in the right corrective for them: the Covenant! The codified memory of the way the Lord loved them!

Jesus wants to leave a memory too... he offers us a way to keep his memory alive: in serving each other; in loving each other in concrete terms; in reaching out to each other, not for our needs but for the other in need, or the other to be loved!

The antonym to this memory we refer to here, is not forgetfulness but taking for granted! We get so used to things that happen around us, that we do not see anything "extraordinary" in them. Beginning with basic things like waking up to the day, and being able to breathe in and breathe out, and upto the greatest wonder of seeing the simple bread change into the body of Christ right before our eyes.. how many things we take for granted on a daily basis, and how many persons we take for granted too!

Like children, we are called to keep our sense of wonder alive and active - taking nothing, no one, for granted, but with wonder and gratitude, recognising every little good that comes our way. Let us have a wonder-filled day ahead!

I chose you!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

May 14, 2025: Celebrating St Mathias, the Apostle

Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26; John 15: 9-17

Every relationship is a response! Relationships can never be forced upon persons. When I wish to relate to a person, I choose to relate to the person and then I leave the response from the other side to the freedom of that person! Only then there is a healthy relationship that blooms. It is the same with God's choice too!

You have not chosen me, I chose you, reminds Jesus today! With the beautiful example of Mathias and Barsabbas, Jesus brings out another element of the election theology! When God chooses, God chooses individuals (not masses), for a unique purpose and specific plan. As God reminds us through Jeremiah, God has a plan for each of us (Jer 29:11) and God alone knows what the plan is and how it would come through. All that we need to do is submit, surrender to that plan and walk by it.

And when God chooses, God chooses not for merely conferring a privilege, or a position or power; but for commitment, suffering and for giving one's life for the other! As the readings of the past Sunday reminded us, we cannot stop with thinking we are chosen therefore we are special! We are chosen, we are special... but it entails further, that we are specially chosen to strive, fight, struggle, suffer and thus, usher in the Reign of God, wherever we are.

Mathias is today counted into the band of apostles. Of course a privilege, but with that came the burden of being a Messenger of the Word, the burden of being the Elder in the Community and the burden of being a Shepherd of God's flock. St. Mathias is an inspiring example which tells us, the Lord counts on us... the Lord has chosen us and wishes to count us into the number of his apostles!

Yes, the Word and the Saint of today speak to us: You are chosen! Be glad, but be also prepared for everything that it entails!

Our Blessed Mother of Fatima

On 13th of May 1917, Mother Mary appeared to the three children - Jacinta, Francis and Lucia and continued to do so, for 6 consecutive months on the same 13th day of the month. On 13th May 1981 John Paul II was miraculously protected from an attempt on his life. On May 13th 2000, John Paul II beatified Jacinta (she was 9 when she died) and Francis (he was 10 when he died)... they were canonized this day, in 2017, the 100th anniversary of the first apparition. Lucia died as a cloistered nun on 13th February, 2005. 

Many ask a question, is it not too much to claim that Mary keeps doing such powerful things? Is it not a mere clamorous attribution of the Catholic church? The Lord has prepared us for this: 'I tell you solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he (or she) will perform even greater works'... can we think of a person who believed more than our Blessed Mother?

She is the most favoured daughter of God and the specially chosen Mother of God. What a beautiful mystery she embodies! Let us pay heed to her message: repent, pray, consecrate yourself to God... the Mother would tell us today - you may think you are being threatened by the worst things in the world, but be assured you belong to God. 

May the Queen of Holy Rosary, our Blessed Mother of Fatima, pray for us and for the entire world. 

To listen and to follow - being Christians

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 4th week in Easter time

May 13, 2025: Acts 11:19-26; Jn 10: 22-30

The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me! The believers in Antioch were called 'Christians', because they belonged to the Lord... they listened, they followed! 

Listening to the Lord would not mean just hearing the Word, it would mean to drink in the principles of the Lord. It is, as St. Paul would reiterate most often, to put on Christ's mind! It is thinking like Christ, having the priorities of Christ, having the same motivations and purpose as Christ - the fulfillment of the holy will of the Father. 

Following the Lord would mean, to live like him. As an effect of listening to the voice of the Lord, and thinking as the Lord does, our choices and our values would mirror those of the Lord himself. And the result: our actions, our decisions, our judgements, align themselves with those of the Lord. Our actions will have to be our witness, not merely our words or our titles.

Would anyone, unknown to me, looking at me and my actions, say I should be a Christian? Not because of the cross I might be possibly wearing, nor with the name tag that I may probably have, but with the attitudes that I sport and the actions that spontaneously emanate from me! 

I am tempted to ask myself today: is it right to say that a person will do good if he or she is a Christian, or to say, anyone who does good to the other without expecting anything in return, is truly a 'Christ-ian'?

Standing in God's ways!

WORD 2day: Monday, 4th week in Easter time

May 12, 2025: Acts 11: 1-18; John 10:1-10

I have come that you may have life, life in all its fullness. The Lord has come, the Lord has encountered us, and the Lord has done everything best that we can ever imagine. While that is the fact, the question is, have we received the fullness of life that the Lord brought us? Aren't we still given into frustrations and discouragements, meaninglessness and immaturities?

In the first reading today we have a clue to understanding this. While the Lord was ready and willing and all set to shower the Holy Spirit on everyone, there were some who were standing on the way! Peter challenges it on their face: who are we to stand in God's way?

In fact, we allow a lot of things to stand between us and God... it could be our pride, our ego, our laziness, our malice or could be anything that resists receiving the grace of fullness of life! We might think we are doing the best we can, but we might be doing only what we like... and what assurance do we have that we are doing the best? The best is what the Lord wants of us... and how do we know it, if we do not surrender ourselves totally into the hands of the Lord. 

What matters is that we identify what it is within us, that stands between and our Lord. And if we become aware of what it is that stands on the way, we can grow to be true sheep of the Divine Shepherd!

COME AND BELONG

The call, the choice & the condition!

May 11, 2025: 4th Sunday in Easter Time

Acts 13: 14,43-52; Revelation 7: 9, 14-17; John 10: 27-30

When I am lifted up, I shall draw everyone to myself said Jesus when he was around. And after his resurrection that is what he did. He drew everyone to him. "Everyone" is the key here - in illo Uno unum (in the One we are one)... that precisely is the motto of our new given Holy Father Leo XIV... to be one in the One! It was not merely incidental, it has always been part of God's magnificent plan. Yes, it is a plan for the whole humanity, 'beginning with the Jews' as St. Paul would often point out and indicates in the first reading today! However, what happens in concrete, depends on three considerations: the call, the choice and the condition!

The Call is given to every one, there is no Jew or Greek, Christian or not! The first reading today speaks of that shift that took place from the Jews to the entire world, within the salvific plan of God - it had to happen. Paul and Barnabas pay heed to that call... the call to go to the entire world, the call to be the light to the nations, the call to reach out to the ends of the earth. 

The call to belong is universal, every one is called to come and belong! AT times believers have a hard time understanding how everyone will be saved, if only those who believe in Christ could be saved. We have to absolutely beleive, what Jesus taught us: that the Father wills the salvation of ALL. Yes, the salvation is through Jesus Christ, and that is the only name given to us for our salvation! But let us not rule out the fact that the Father will see to it that the whole creation is reconciled in Christ Jesus our Lord: that is the Eternal plan. The call from all eternity, the call to belong, is for everyone!

The Choice is mine to make! Each of us has to make a choice and when one does not make a choice to belong to the Lord, of course the Lord misses a precious child, but loses nothing; whereas the person loses everything! The apostles try their best to impress this upon their fellow Jews, but nothing would change them. They would make a choice for their own obstinacy, supremacy and comfort, and their own life style! 

This is where the hitch lies; though it is God's will that everyone heed the call to belong, God will never force it on anyone - that is not God's style! The possibility is offered to me: behold, I place before you life and death, salvation and ruin, eternity and end, says the Lord. What is going to be my choice today? To belong to the Lord, to belong to the flock or continue in the way I think best?

The Condition that the Lord places is just one: that I listen! I should know my Master and listen to my Master's voice. Isaiah puts in very simple words: he says - even the donkeys know their stable and the asses their master (Isa 1:3)! The call as we presented it earlier is to come and belong... there are two steps to it. At times we are very enthusiastic and we COME...but the sad fact is that we tend to fail to BELONG. My own know me, and they follow my voice, says the Lord. 

We begin with so much enthusiasm, only to soon find some excuses to fall by and give up. If only we can work out of the emotional overtures and truly commit our ways to the Lord, we shall not only come, but continue to be and belong to the Lord forever. When we come, stay on and belong to the Lord, there is so much joy and we shall be filled with the Spirit. 

These are specifically the two signs of our total belonging to the Master - being Joyful and being Spirit-filled: a joy that no one can take away and the Spirit that enlightens every bit of my daily life... what more do we need?

The Word, the Spirit and Life

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

May 10, 2025: Acts 9: 31-42; John 6: 60-69

The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life, says the Lord to the people gathered! The Apostles understood it only when Jesus had risen from the dead and was present amidst them in the Spirit... The Word which was with them, was the Spirit and was the Life. That is why, Peter raising the dead Tabitha, is no wonder for them. It was a matter of fact - the Word, the Spirit and life, all are at play here. 

The true testimony that a disciple of Christ is called to give to the world rests in these three: the Word, the Spirit and life! 

We are called to be the presence of the Word amidst people who are in need of light, in need of direction and in need of consolation. Especially today amidst the experience of the pandemic...are we truly persons who can offer the Word... the living Word, through our words of hope and consolation? Or are we spreading fear and apathy? 

We are called to be the manifestations of the Spirit in a world that is so much running after things that are material - with the whole curse of consumerism and the use-and-throw culture that we have. Persons are made use of and things are loved and treasured... what an irony! Are we truly persons of the Spirit who can manifest God's goodness to people: how can I repay God's goodness to me, says the psalmist... it is only in reflecting the goodness to others in the Spirit. 

We are called to be life givers... every word we speak, every action we take, every attitude we sport has to give life to others, pull them out from the possible depression they find themselves it, give them hope to live their life with a new vision, fill them with energy and effort to find the ways of the Lord in every little thing that happens in their life! Are we truly life-giving or are we spreading a culture of death by pessimism and negativity? 

The Word, the Spirit and Life are the touchstones to true Christian living today... we will do well to reflect on them this day!

The Voice, the Bread and the Messenger

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

May 09, 2025: Acts 9: 1-20; John 6: 52-59

The Word today presents to us the three fundamental ways in which the Lord continues to reveal Godself to us! We encounter a hard headed crowd that opposes Jesus and a stone hearted man being melted by the grace of God... the stubborness of humanity and the power of Divine Grace - what a lovely play of life and meaning in these! Let us unravel the three splendid elements of God's self manifestation amidst this play that continues even today!

In the first reading we see, that the Voice from heaven touched him; the man sent by heaven healed him; the Bread from heaven strengthened him. What an example of the Word, the Sacraments and the Community of faith working together for God's Reign! Yes, these are the three elements we are presented with. 

The Word...the daily and unceasing revelation of God! It is never dead or outdated, but alive, cutting into the finest of existent realities and making it glow with meaning. When we miss it, we miss the lamp for our feet, the way for our life, and the very ground for our being. 

The Sacraments...specially that of Eucharist, an undeserved gift offered to us, to be strengthened from whatever weariness or worries we find ourselves in. Today specially when we are so stricken by infirmities and fear, how blessed we would be to find our strength and solace in the Sacrament, God's living presence amidst us. 

The Community...our own brothers and sisters, who are given to us to be loved. It is not that we expect someone to be sent to us, as Ananias was sent to Saul, but we need to become the Ananias to those in need, those blinded in their hearts and spirits, those unable to see the light of joy and serenity! Let us be the persons of God, the people of God to take hope and peace, joy and serenity to them! 

Can we today behold the goodness of the Voice and the Bread, that we shall become Messengers of God's love to all, especially those who are burdened and weak... As the new Holy Father Pope Leo XIV invites us, we are called to be One People with the One Lord...One Church hearing the Voice, united by the Bread and led by the Message!

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!