Phase Two - Perseverence

WORD 2day: Monday, 5th week in Easter time

May 19, 2025: Acts 14: 5-18 ; John 14: 21-26

Jesus initiates the next phase, the Phase 2... and he promises his Spirit as One who will reside in our hearts and instruct us of the right thing to be done at the right time. The Spirit of truth and counsel, the Spirit of strength and determination. It is the Spirit that makes the apostles and disciples so strong and powerful even in the face of the plotters and persecutors!

The Jews and the non Jews together plot to get rid of the apostles but what triumphed was not the plot but the power of God. The Power of God was getting more and more manifest in the life and works of the apostles and they were bearing an unimaginable witness to the Christ-experience. 

What did the apostles do to acquire such power as to stand before the authorities and systems which seemed so frightening earlier - it was their perseverance. They were threatened, they were beaten up, they were arrested and they were flogged, but nothing could stop them for living their life for the Lord and for the Lord's message. 

The plots will abound even in our life, but if we are strong in our mind and heart, these plots will be overcome by the power of the Lord, invested within me by the Lord. Make us strong O Lord.

THE PROMISE OF THE NEW THINGS

The new commandment and new outlook!

5th Sunday in Easter time - May 18, 2025

Acts 14: 21-27; Revelation 21: 1-5; John 13: 31-33, 34-35

Behold I make all things new – that promise of the Lord is the core of the Easter experience… the Lord promises each one of us, a new world, a new beginning, a new life! That is fundamentally the Resurrection experience. Whatever happens around us in the world, we cannot give into hopelessness or desperation! No, we cannot! “Never lose hope. Do not let yourself be robbed of hope!”, the beloved deceased holy father, Pope Francis had insisted always... Yes, our call is to assist the Creator to make all things new – to behold a new heaven and a new earth! 

The Liturgy today presents to us the promise from the Father to make everything new… that is a promise, and not just that! It is also an invitation, a challenge to assist at this renovation. The promise and the process to renovation, goes through two channels of what we can and what we ought to be involved in – to take into serious consideration, the new commandment given to us and the new outlook offered to us!

While the second reading makes us aware of the promise that the Lord has for us – to make everything new for us – the Gospel and the first reading beckon us to realise our role in the task, outlining the way to accomplish the task, to realise the promise – a line of action with two key elements: the new commandment and the new outlook!  

As said already, we cannot expect that the renovation of the world could happen all by itself, automatically. It cannot. We are called to be agents of that renovation, the reconstruction that has to be taken up in and through, a new commandment – the new commandment given by the Lord, that we see in the Gospel today. The Commandment of love, that is the salvific node that we have from the Risen Lord. When we truly love each other, we shall be agents of renovation of this world, a world that is so much affected by selfishness, indifference and hatred.

The New Commandment is to love, to love each other without any reserve. There can be no love greater than giving one’s life for the one who is loved. And that is exactly what the Lord did, and that is what he leaves as an example for us to follow.  The new commandment is to love and that love alone can renew the world. The world stands in need of love, a love that is selfless, a love that is  life-giving, a love that is salvific, a love that creates, recreates and re-enlivens the whole humanity, the world, and the whole universe!

Commandment of Love, comes as the essence and the summary of the whole Christian presence. Christ speaks of the time that he will not be with his disciples and immediately presents them with the Commandment of love, as if to say – where there is love there is Christ. The corollary is more significant and consequential – where there is no love there is no Christ. “By this all will know that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another!” One cannot build the renewed world, without a genuine Christ-like love in one’s heart.

The new things that the Lord promises to make are not merely external… they are more about the new outlook that are created within us. What makes us truly agents of renewal of the world, is not so much what we can do out there, as much as what we can do within us: bringing out the new outlook that we need to have within us: the outlook of the Risen Lord. “We all have to endure hardships” in order that we can become truly agents of the new things that the Lord promises us.

Today there are many who propose projects and make manifestos, those who gather masses and garner public opinion, those who initiate movements and influence the society – all in the name of creating a new social order or creating a new world, in the name of progress and development. The Word today gives us the touchstone of Christian outlook - the commandment of love. St. Augustine said it in beautiful words, "Love, and do what you will. If you keep silence, do it out of love. If you cry out, do it out of love. If you refrain from punishing, do it out of love." 

It is this love, the new commandment that can create a new outlook within us and this new outlook alone can lead us towards being agents of a new world, agents of the new things that we can hope for, from the hands of the Lord. We have no right absolutely to expect a “making of new things altogether” unless we are ready to obey the new commandment, and adapt to the new outlook that the Risen Lord offers us: the outlook of caring for the least, the concern for those who are suffering, the commitment to the marginalized, the prophecy that challenges the neglected justice and denied rights – these which are inalienable part of the process of making everything new – the Lord will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more. And the Lord will do it through only you and me! Every hand of a disciple of Christ should wipe the tears in the eyes of those in agony. Every word of a Christian should give new life to those who have lost hope. Every community of faith should sustain those who mourn and cry in society around itself.

And today, we see that there are no coincidences… a providential event is happening… there is a new thing happening today: the new Pope who takes up his Petrine Responsibility today! As Pope Leo XIV takes up his responsibility today, we have a responsibility, not just one  responsibility, but a triple responsibility – to heed to our call to the new commandment of love, to develop within us a new outlook of the Risen Lord, and thirdly, to allow the Lord to make use of us as agents of the new world that the Lord wishes to create through us.

Behold I make everything new… is not just a promise, but a commitment, a task on our part to take up, on behalf of the Lord and the people of God

Traces of Eternal Life

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

May 17, 2025: Acts 13: 44-52; John 14: 7-14

These days we are listening to the Word from St. John. For St. John, Eternal Life is the concrete difference that Christ makes in our lives. John uses the term "eternal life" 18 times in his Gospel - that's the kind of importance that the community learnt from Christ himself.   

How do we understand this eternal life... is it a life that is at the end of this life? That's how our human mind calculates. But eternal life is life that is timeless. That is a gift that God has already placed within us. We need to grow more and more aware of it - the Risen Lord is a reminder of that need. 

There are traces of the "eternal within us" and there are steps to become aware of it: 

The first step towards it is, Recognising the gift that our life is, without forgetting the role of the Giver! We need to recognise that life is a gift and a gift from our Creator who has loved us into existence. 

The second step is to live life the way the Lord wants me. Just a few days earlier the Word instucted us, that the Father's commandments, the Father plan for us, is eternal life. This consists of living my life to the full, living it to the fullness of what is expected of me. 

The third step is to be ready to give that life up for the sake of the One who gave that life to me. That is the highest union with Life itself: the fullness of eternal life where we realise the Life within us, the Lord within us and say like Jesus, the Father and I are one!

If we realise it, we shall behold the Eternal life, so lovingly gifted to us - failing which, we are the sole losers!

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?