Knowing the Spirit - the graduation time!

WORD 2day: Monday after Ascension Sunday

June 2, 2025 - Acts 19: 1-8; John 16: 29-33

It is graduation time now... you ask a child this season - which class are you studying? You would get a typical reply, something like: fourth to fifth. smiling? Yes... it is graduation time.

I have conquered the world, says the Lord and why are we still going desperate about managing it? Because we are not yet convinced that the Lord has conquered the world. The Divine Counselor is right within us, and strangely we are we still looking all over for directions and suggestions! Because we do not have sufficient knowledge of the Spirit.

In the Word today we see people graduating to the next levels... Paul introduces Apollos and others to the Holy Spirit; Jesus finds his disciples finally beginning to believe him. The call is the same to us today: as we have celebrated the feast of Ascension just yesterday, the call, as we said is, to graduate. To grow into people of the Spirit. The journey has begun... today is already the 3rd day of the Novena in preparation for the feast of the Pentecost. The invitation is that we become more aware of the indwelling presence of the Lord in our lives. The Lord rests with us and the Lord is acting on or behalf. Why not we make room to behold it in our day to day experience?

The Spirit of the Lord is all around us and once we behold the presence and be filled with that presence, we would be able to understand that our Lord and Saviour has conqured the world! Knowing the Spirit is the task given to us today, getting to know the Spirit that we may not react as the people did to Paul: we do not know that there is something called the Holy Spirit. At times our fears and thoughtlessness can exhibit such responses unconsciously.

The primary key to being people of the Spirit: Knowing the Spirit!

UP WITH THE LORD

The Event, the Effect & the Edict - the 7-UP

The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: June 1, 2025

Acts 1: 1-11; Ephesians 1: 17-23; Luke 24: 46-53 

As the Lord goes up, let us reflect on the 7-UP... 

The Lord ascends today to his Father and our Father! It is not an abandoning, as he himself very rightly had already assured us. It is an invitation! The invitation is to Go Up with the Lord. And this invitation to go up is given in 7 steps... let's call it 7-UP!

In the first reading we are presented with the THE EVENT: 

Christ ascends to the right hand of the Father!

Christ, GAVE UP the divinity and became like one of us (Phil 2). 

     How prepared are we to give up! The world tends to tell us to hold on, hold on to power and domination, to popularity and gain, to limelight and adulation. That is how we prepare even the upcoming children, convincing them it is important to prove oneself and make everyone know one's own utility and importance.

Christ GOES UP today, by his obedience and fulfillment of the Divine Will (Heb 10:7) 

     Going up, is a consequence and it happens because the Father draws us up! The Father who had sent Jesus, the Christ to the world, had found in him, an absolute obedience and a childlike trust - those are the very messages imparted to us by the Ascending Lord, in order that we may measure up to the standards of the Father and go up.

Christ will SHOW UP leading everything to its fulfillment (Heb 10:36)

     You will see the Son of Man come the way you saw him go, says the messenger from the Lord. Yes, the Lord shall show up, soon - but we need not panic or fret. Christ shall show up and we shall rejoice in it, if we live a life that is founded on the words and the commands of the Lord. 

The second reading highlights THE EFFECT: 

Because of the Son who was raised by God to God's right hand, you and I are made worthy to accede to the presence of God!

We are RAISED UP by the fact that Christ became like us (2 Cor 8:9) 

     As Peter would remind us elsewhere, 'we were once no people; but now we are made people of God'. We are the people of God and not that we deserve to be! We were raised up, we were given an identity that is so great and enviable... the challenge is that we live up to it. 

We are DRESSED UP by the virtue of our baptism, (Col 2:12) 

    Receive this white cloth and bring it unsullied to that encounter with the Lord at the end of your life, was the challenge we accepted at our baptism. We are dressed up and our character is defined in such precise terms. All that we need to know is shape ourselves into that character, be transformed into it and grow in that identity. 

We are BUILT UP into the family of God (1 Cor 10:17).

     The challenge I have received is not just mine - its ours. The call is given within a family, the family of God's people, God's sons and daughters. I am built into a family, a temple, an abode for God. I am living my call fully only as long as I am living in unison with the rest of God's family- divisions, discriminations, and defamations are all deviations!

The Gospel from Luke reminds us of what Jesus passed on to us, THE EDICT: 

You are and you shall be my Witnesses on the Earth!

We are challenged to STAND UP for the Lord in the World today (Rom 12:2) 

     The world has its own standards, priorities and agenda. If I am truly a son or a daughter of God, I have stand of the Lord amidst all these contrasting and contesting priorities. That is why St. Paul gave a standing order: do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed! To be transformed is to be become like the Lord - if we live in the Lord, we shall die and rise in the Lord! Ultimately, we shall go up with the Lord!

 

Reminders of the presence of God

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

May 31, 2025: The Feast of Visitation

Zephaniah 3: 14-18a; Luke 1: 39-56

We celebrate the feast of the Visitation of our Blessed Mother to Elizabeth. When Mary entered Elizabeth's household, there was a sense of God that was felt, for two reasons. 

Firstly, Mary was carrying Jesus within her and the effect was felt! Second, Mary herself was transformed into the presence of God for Elizabeth!

The first reading today turns our attention to the words of Zephaniah explaining what the Lord in our midst is doing: God exults, God renews and God dances! God exults in the wonderful gifts that we are to Godself; God renews those parts of us that are not as good as they can be; God dances with joy over everything that we are able to do in God's eternal plan.

Anyone who expresses this exultation of the Lord, this call for renewal and the rejoicing of the Lord in God's children, is a reminder of the presence of God. In fact when Elizabeth says, 'what have I done to deserve that the Mother of my Lord should visit me!', she becomes the reminder of the presence of God to Mary! When Mary turns to Elizabeth and says, 'My heart exults in the Lord and my soul rejoices in the Lord my saviour', she becomes the reminder of the Lord's presence to Elizabeth and to the entire household! 

We are called to be reminders of the presence of God, to be the presences of God to those around us. When we exult in the Lord, when we do our part to renew those around us, correcting them with care and love, when we rejoice in the goodness of others and the good things that happen to them, we become God's presence amidst God's people! 

Can we be today, God's presences wherever we are, and a reminder of that presence to whomever we meet? 

The path of perfect perseverance

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

May 30, 2025 - Acts 18:9-18; John 16:20-23

The Word today could lead us to think of two phrases quite familiar in everyday parlance. The first one is 'the path of least resistance' - in the name of being natural and spontaneous, going with the trends, keeping abreat with the times, there are numerous compromises that are made and very many values that are lost,  thanks to this mode of thinking.

The second phrase quite equally popular is 'the path of least persistence' - advocating the theory that there is no virtue in insisting on making something work, while in practicality it does not. It is the famous mindset of trying out, just trying out. Just give it a try, and that is all about life. The famous tee shirt phrase - just do it, sums it all. The first failure, people quit, and they do so without any qualms of conscience.

The path of least resistance or the path of least persistence seem to be the trends of the world today. But the Word today, insists on the path of perfect perseverance. It is the path of least resistance to the Will of God and the path of least persistence to one's own whims and fancies. 

We see the Apostles and the their disciples do that...when the Lord instructs them to do something they offer no resistance at all. With all the sufferings that come their way, they keep persevering, though they certainly had moments dark and dangerous. Nothing stopped them because they were on the path of perfect perseverance.

Seek the Lord and find joy!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 6th week in Easter time

May 29, 2025: Acts 18: 1-18; John 16: 16-20

There is a promise from the Lord today: your sorrow will turn into joy! 

At times, it may seem too lofty a promise and most of us might look at it with suspicion. However, it is not so because the Lord is wrong or deceptive, but maybe our understanding of true joy is not right at times!

Ever heard of the anecdote about this monk who went into contemplation and came out "enlightened" after almost a decade? Since everyone considered him "enlightened", a man approached him with a question: what difference do you find between the world as it was when you went into contemplation a decade ago and that of today? He said, "when I went in the land was down and the sky was up there, there was summer and winter, and there was day and night." "And Now?", the questioner quipped with his curiosity soaring! "Ah, now the land is down and the sky is up there, there is summer and there is winter, and there is night and there is day!"

Would you be wondering that the story is incomplete, if I end it there? No, you need not! The fact is, indeed the things remain the same, but the way the enlightened person see them is completely different from the way others see it! Your sorrow will turn to joy, not only because everything around you will turn upside down, but because you will find yourself different, your priorities would become different, your concerns turn out to be different. That will make all the difference!

When those people rejected Paul outright, he couldn't care less! He was just the same and walked off cool, because for him that rejection mattered nothing! For him sorrows had turned into joy, everything was joyful, for in everything, he sought the Lord!

Spiritual Experiences and Spiritual dispositions

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 6th week in Easter time

May 28, 2025: Acts 17:15, 22 - 18:1; John 16: 12-15

"When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked...", we read in the first reading today. 

Some experiences are beyond our grasp at an initial instant; some experiences may be totally confusing while others may leave us with nothing to say. There are ways in which a person responds to a data that is beyond one's perception or beyond ordinary explanations. One way is to outrightly reject it and another is, to ridicule it just because one cannot understand it. These modes of responding display an arrogance that is not even humane, leave alone spiritual. The Greeks in Areopagus laugh at Paul and some consider him 'confused'... hardly a few tried genuinely understanding him! 

A more appreciable type of response, a bit more humane or simply human, would be that the  person begins to enquire about the new data presented and make some scientific efforts to understand it. However even this would not suffice when it comes to certain types of experiences. The Greeks found it hard to grasp, not because they were not intellectually prepared, but because they were not gripped by the Spirit... a Spiritual disposition alone can lead to beholding some types of truths! 

A Spiritual disposition in approaching new experiences would enable a person to perceive the truth in what is said, understand its true meaning and find relevance for one's life. This sort of a mind will not reject something merely because it seems new or it has not been so till then. The one who empowers a person towards such a disposition is the Spirit of truth, introduces Jesus in the Gospel today.

The beautiful expression of St. Anselm, 'faith seeking understanding', is a grace! "When the Spirit of truth comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth"... the truth of what I am upto, the truth of who I really am and what I am called towards. Openness, respect and a sense of wonder are prerequisites for one to have real Spiritual Experiences! 

Once again today, let our prayer be: Let your Spirit guide us O Lord!

What do I do to be saved?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 6th week in Easter time 

May 27, 2025: Acts 16:22-34; John 16: 5-11

"What must I do to be saved?"... that must have been a very familiar question those days! We hear that addressed to Jesus by the rich young man and in a little different words by the disciples. Later, to the disciples it is addressed quite a few times as recorded in the Acts: the crowds on the day of the Pentecost, Cornelius to Peter, and today the jail guard to Paul and many such events...

After Christ has been raised, the question in fact is redundant! For Jesus says, I shall send you the Holy Spirit and the Spirit shall enlighten you on everything. Today, we live as people of the light, for whom everything should be clear as things in a daylight. But we find still so much of darkness, despair and delusion, in the world. What could be the reasons?

As Pope St. John Paul II would say, "many Christians are living in a state of 'silent apostasy;' they 'live as if God does not exist.'" The most probable reasons for above said delusion could be these: lack of sense of sin, compromised vision of righteousness and a careless attitude of judgement. These are what we witness today in the world, and sometimes sadly, even within each of us! Might be, that our values, priorities and choices blur the light that the Spirit wishes to shed on our minds. 

Let us submit ourselves to the Spirit and pray, 'you stretch your right hand and save me O Lord'. Let the enlightening Spirit of the Lord guide us on!

The mutual delight - the Lord and the people

WORD 2day: 6th Monday of Easter

May 26, 2025: Acts 16: 11-15; John 15:26 - 16:4a

The Christian faith had already taken root in that short time and it is beginning to take wings as we see! Spreading far and wide, the faith in Christ was not merely an intellectual assent to some truths the apostles were sharing, but it was a dedication of their concrete lives. We have two different examples of that in the Word today.

The first is that of Lydia, who finds her new found faith impelling her to sustain the proclaimers of the Word. She would take no refusal, about she hosting the apostles in her home, says the first reading. She was delighted in the Lord! The second is about the Apostles, who were moving from one place to another without any lag or slackening because they were so delighted in the new apostolate entrusted to them. Looking at these sorts of His children, the Lord was taking delight in his people says the responsorial psalm!

This is what Christian faith is all about: the delight that the Lord has in each of us and the delight we manifest in having the Lord as our God! That Mutual Delight, of the Lord and the Lord's people turns into a tremendous testimony to the World. There are many in the world who are disturbed in their mind and in their heart, there are others who are questioning and looking at everything with suspicion or disdain. The Lord opens hearts to believe in the Salvation that is promised us, and if we dispose ourselves we shall delight in the Lord, and above all, the Lord shall delight in us! 

3D APPROACH TO TRUE PEACE

Faith, Familiarity and Discernment

May 25, 2025 - Sixth Sunday in Easter time

Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29; Revelations 21: 10-14,22-23; John 14: 23-29 

Peace I give you; My peace I give to you! The Community of the Risen Lord is called to be a Community of Peace and Peacemakers. The Word today outlines to us the approaches to establish true peace among the people of God. It is a 3D approach, a three-dimensional approach. 

D1- The First Dimension: SELF - DEEP SEATED FAITH

Faith is the spiritual tranquiliser at any moment of crisis or trouble. Faith is the assurance of the presence of God with me, which makes me courageous enough to accept the situation I find myself in. The present historical moment is defined as the era of post-secularization – which does not mean secularization has ended! Not in any imaginable terms! But the phenomenon has transformed itself taking a more dangerous form: the forces and elements of new geo-political and economic elements have been involved in a long process of polarization in the world, which has led to mutual suspicions, bitterness and frustrations between various factions of the people! Not only in the future, but already there are so many issues at stake, which put restlessness in the hearts and minds of people and societies. What do we do: give in to frustration and give up on peace?

The Community of believers were going through a time of crisis, as two factions among themselves began to take exceptions to each other. However, the situation was brought under control, but the way the decision was made is remarkable as we read it even today. "It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves..." That is the key to their peace, their deep-seated faith that God was right amidst them all through the crisis. When crises come our way, one of the first things we negate is the presence and empathy of God. But peace comes with a deep-seated faith that never ever doubts the empathetic presence of God with me!

D2- The Second Dimension: GOD - DIVINE FAMILIARITY

The Christ-ian understanding of God is not a God who is up above the sky looking down on God's children and judging them. But it is a God who dwells with them, within them and among them. This is what Jesus promises today: If you love me, you will keep my word and my Father will love you and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Imagine a child who is walking home in the dark of night - alone and hence so frightened and freezing. Just right then the child's father comes by and places his hands on the shoulders of the child - how would that child feel? Has the darkness disappeared? Has the sun risen yet? No! But the very presence of the Father gives the child an assurance. 

When God makes home with us, we would have no lack of peace. True peace comes from the fact that the Lord lives with us. The first readings speaks of the Holy Spirit living with us, the Second reading speaks of the Father and Son making their resplendent presence amidst us and in the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit coming to make a family with us! That is peace, a sense of total assurance that I am surrounded by the Lord!

D3- Third Dimension: OTHERS - DIALOGUE AND DISCERNMENT 

The First reading once again brings to the fore the need and the importance of Dialogue and Discernment. Peace and Understanding reigned in the Early Christian Community because of the presence of Dialogue and Discernment. Dialogue and Discernment are two phases of a single process. Dialogue is the phase where the two parties involved have their views and opinions presented to each other. Discernment is the phase where they both come to a common ground, look over and beyond their point of view and come to a consensus towards a common decision. The One who inspires this common view is the Holy Spirit who is the source of all discernment, the third party who mediates the dialogue. When this third party is not involved in our dialogues they end up without proper discernment and lead only to two stubborn sides. 

Dialogue and Discernment presupposes three dispositions: One, that I am convinced of my stand. I have made all efforts to understand the issue, go deep into its various possible dimensions and I have sufficiently thought about its pros and cons. Second, that I respect the other. I am ready and willing to listen, listen to the other and not just get fixated with my prejudices. And finally, the third disposition is that I believe that the Spirit is at work. After the Elections results were announced for the Indian pa'rliament, someone asked: "after all the prayers and implorations why has God allowed this?" What is important here is not the question 'why has God allowed' but 'what is God communicating to us' here! We need to believe that the Spirit is at work! Be still and know that God is! (Ps 46:10)

When a community has these three dimensions clear - the self strengthened by deep seated faith, God with whom we enjoy a genuine familiarity and the other with whom we are ready to dialogue and discern, the Peace of the Lord reigns. Such a community glows to be truly Christian!

Mary Help of Christians - an Experience in History!

 

The Solemnity of Mary Help of Christians

May 24, 2025

Mary Help of Christians... such sweet words to the ears of any Salesian! The Madonna of Don Bosco, Mary Help of Christians, is celebrated today with such joy and gratitude for the guidance and providence the Church feels through her.

Sometimes I have thought (as I still do), hailing from a country like India, where we live our daily lives with a majority who are not Christians, that the title Mary Help of Christians, is a bit too exclusivistic, sectarian or even fanatical. But we know that the term has a historical significance that cannot be denied or forgotten. It is not just a title, but an expression of faith of a people from a particular period of time, who experienced God's closeness through the special interventions of the Mother of God.

Mary Help of Christians as a title has been attributed to our Mother since the 2nd century. The invocation Mary Help of Christians, Pray for us... could go as far back as John Chrysostom in the 4th century. However, historically it is popularised from the 16th century; and in today's experience, it is identified with a spirituality lived and transmitted by Don Bosco to his sons and daughters. Considering the historical significance of the title, directly linked to the battle of Lepanto in the 16th century and the Pope's exile in the 19th century, we tend to think today that this title is revived as the fight against the Catholic Church deepens in the world. We can understand this title from three perspectives – in history, in the Church and from that of our faith!

IN HISTORY... In history we have seen persons, groups, the people of God, saints and saintly leaders of the people of God, founders of religious congregations and martyr witnesses to faith, relating in a very special and personal manner to the Blessed Mother of God. Apart from the fact that Jesus himself presented her to us as our Mother, Mary has stood by every follower and friend of her Son and proved a great protection to them in their lives. Don Bosco is one such, who experienced the constant guidance, benevolence and protection of our Blessed Mother and invoked her with this title: Immaculate Mary, Help of Christians. His experience of an ever-present mother, especially when the anti-Catholic Waldensians were against him, led him to argue about the Mother Help of Christians. And for a Salesian today, this experience is not simply handed down by Don Bosco as tradition, but lived and shared daily with the presence of this Mother, so close and caring.

IN THE CHURCH... As people of God and specially as Catholic Church we have a special gratitude and filial love for our Blessed Mother because we have been and we are privileged followers of her Son; yes, privileged, special and blessed! How much we have experienced this! We need to only feel sorry for those of our own fellow pilgrims in faith, who miss this lovely, loving and lovable mother. The children might disregard their mother and hardly care for her, but the mother would always consider them her children, and consider so with compassion and concern. As Bishop Fulton Sheen would say, we need to be compassionate about our non-Catholic brethren who are like “motherless children”!

IN FAITH... Mary, the Mother of Christ and our Blessed Mother, has an enormous role to play within the salvific plan of God. As the first reading suggests, God had in God's holy will a 'woman' who would usher in the salvation of humanity as a chosen instrument of God. St. Paul refers to this plan in his letter to the Galatians: (4:4) when the fullness of time came God sent God's son through a 'woman'... that is the 'woman' that Jesus is interacting with in the Gospel! What a lovely message from the Word, proposing to us a great model in cooperating with the eternal plan of God. The Message from our Blessed mother is a further explication of this model: 'Do whatever he tells you'.

The episode of Cana is an event par excellence that speaks to us of a mother so sensitive and concerned for us. She intercedes with her Son and instructs the people on how to relate to Him - do whatever the Lord says. This is exactly the role she plays today as well.

Mary proves to be a mother and a help to those who are with Christ! The key is to be with Christ: being with Christ is the focus here. Our Blessed Mother will never be happy with us coming to her and stopping with her - she desires to and she vows to take us to the Son and that is where our salvation lies. It would do well for us never to lose sight of this loving desire of our Blessed Mother, that we hold her hand and walk to Jesus. And on this journey, she is certainly our mother and our help! Today, let us thank this mother of ours, and learn from her the art of living close to her Son!

May Mary Help of Christians help us Christians of today to live our faith to the full! Amen.