WORD 2day

14th June, 2013

The discourse of the beatitudes continues! Our identity gets more and more established as 'Contrast Communities'! We are invited to choose the hard way, the unbeaten path, the lonesome road and not to follow the easy-going crowd. It is easy to make an exception now and then and stay comfortable for the moment. It is easy to give up on a person or a value or a conviction, because there are troubles and unnecessary struggles involved. But it takes courage to stick to a conviction, stand by a value and stay clear of a scandal. It calls for struggle, affliction and perplexity to remain faithful to the grace we have received in our baptismal mandate. I may argue that I am too weak...but it is in that 'earthen vessel' the treasure is placed. My strength and my value lies in the treasure that is within. When my gaze is fixed on the treasure, I should be able to handle the earthen vessel better. The secret lies in respecting this earthen vessel, atleast for the sake of the treasures that lie within. When we are filled with Christ, we are able to see the proposals of the easy-going world less luring. Yes, we live with constant temptations and afflictions, but we fight all this "so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." That tough choice, that unswerving priority is the challenge - the call to be People of God, people of the Beatitudes, that is, Contrast Communities. 

St. Antony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua: 

Some interesting facts

• Born: 15, August, 1195
• Died: 13, June, 1231. He was just 36 when he died. And was not even 37 when he was canonised - on 30, May, 1232 by Pope Gregory IX.
• His Baptismal name was Ferdinand Martins de Bulhŏes.
• He was elected Provincial of his region of Franciscan friars, but he resigned very shortly  just to be able to carryout his preaching mission.
• Patron of missing things and missing persons!
• In Padua, where the Basilica stands today, he is also prayed to, by those who are looking for the right spouse to marry, or by those married couples who have problems in their marriage. The Basilica treasures the incorrupt tongue of the saint, as a relic venerated even today, as a testimony to his gift of breaking the Word.
• He was a contemporary to St. Francis of Assisi and one of the best ones at that.
• A survey reports that after the Blessed Mother and St.Joseph, St. Anthony may be the most loved saint in the Catholic World today.
• St. Anthony ...Pray for Us.

WORD 2day

13th June 2013

Righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and the pharisees... today, we better look out for what Pope Francis would say in his homily... the readings of today would be very handy for the orientation that the Holy Father is repeatedly offering the Church these days... it is a call to holiness, in concrete terms of personal integrity and community witness! It is not the external showmanship, nor the imposed grandeur of a mysterious element that makes something or someone valuable; it is the simplicity of the truth that is seen plainly in one's life and ways. Keeping our faith "unveiled" is the key to understand the challenge of the readings today and the call of the Holy Father these days. Let us live our faith... should we to fall in the process now or later, it does not really matter! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! The sons and daughters of a liberating God cannot live in fear, not even the fear of making mistakes! Let us go out and live, and live our life to the full. Unveiled and Shining, Unfettered and Liberated, let us live a life of righteousness which does not consist of mere abiding by laws but consists in warm and mature relationships. A Christianity that is not translated in terms of loving, liberating and respectful interpersonal relationships, is nothing more than the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. 

WORD 2day

12th June 2013

Commandments - Condemnation - Righteousness - Splendour : the glossary from the WORD today! The earliest Christian communities were seen as contrast communities. They believed in commandments as did the Jews of their times, but their commandments were spelt differently. They knew there is condemnation, but their conditions of condemnation were formulated differently. They strove towards Righteousness but their righteousness was constituted differently. They had a splendour towards which they were drawn, but that  was arrived at completely differently. The key was LIFE... the LIFE that was given by the Spirit... the Life that Christ brought... the Life to the full! I have come that you may have life...sounds well in continuity with today's phrase in Mt 5:17. Every little thing that is done, believed, taught or learnt, has to be LIFE-GIVING...LIFE-ENHANCING...taking us towards Life in all its fullness, the promise that Jesus the Good Shepherd brought into this world. Anything that enslaves, dehumanises, cripples life or tramples fullness, cannot be from the Spirit, for "the Spirit gives life"!

WORD 2day

11 June 2013: St. Barnabas, the Apostle

We are invited to remember St.Barnabas today. St. Barnabas, the Apostle - though not among the 12, he is referred to as 'the apostle'. The reason, the book of Acts says it all. He was a discrete and generous man! Being among the earliest of the followers of the Way, he sold a field that he had and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. It was Barnabas who brought Paul, the newly converted Jew to the apostles! It was Barnabas, and Barnabas alone who could give a leaning shoulder to Paul, true to his name which meant, 'Son of Consolation'. Not just that, when he had to disagree with the same Paul, he dared do so and parted ways! Strong personalities, with personal freedom and mutual respect - but with one single FIRE within - the fire to proclaim the Good News about Christ - to heal the sick, to raise the dead, cast the demons out, to give and give without any expectation. To go about with nothing in their hand or in their purse for the sake of the Reign of God! With nothing to gain for themselves, they were ready to give everything to others! Barnabas presents once again before us the model of the Apostles and the First Christians - that breed of Christians who were 'CHRISTIANS' proper to the name! They were making Christ present, and they were called 'Christians'...May St. Barnabas inspire us to really deserve that name 'Christians'.

WORD 2day

10th June, 2013

Comfort in affliction, blessedness in poverty, peace in persecution... there is a strange logic propounded by Jesus and seconded by Paul. But there is another simple, clear, direct and demanding logic too, that is spoken of in the liturgy of the Word today. It is the logic of 'Give-because-you-received.' This logic is a bit intricate, and leaves a lot of room for subjectivity! Subjective because it demands first of all that I realise that I have received, so that I am inspired to give. If I am really open to every little happening in my life and fundamentally grateful in my heart, I cannot but notice the amount of good that I keep receiving from the Lord! That is the intricate detail that I have to be aware of and acknowledge, to understand and practice the logic that Jesus presents to us. It is so simple - I have been loved by God first, hence I have to love my brothers and sisters! I have been forgiven immeasurably, hence I have to forgive! I have received comfort and been shown mercy, hence I am called to comfort others and to be merciful in all my ways!

GOD OF LIFE

9.6.2013: 10th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

LIFE...

Life is a GIFT...
..... God loved me into existence, into life!
..... my basic disposition has to be Gratitude...

Life is a CALL...
..... God calls me to New Life, a constant Renewal!
..... my task is to live my life to the full...

Life is my DESTINY...
..... God offers me Eternal Life, for all who believe shall have eternal life!
..... the challenge is to Remain in Him...

WORD 2day

8th June, 2013: Feast of Immaculate Heart of Mary

To Remember is a Spirituality in itself! 

Mary's heart is exalted today...

because she remembered...

she kept everything in her HEART...

Tobit, Tobias, Sarah...all of them are blessed because they remembered, they remembered the good that the Lord had done to them... And God remembered them and blessed them more!

Just after the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 

the Church proposes that we remember the Immaculate Heart of Mary... 

because a heart that resembled 

the heart of Jesus. 

Learn from me, 

for I am meek and humble of heart... 

Mary observed that heart from close, 

infact she had her part in forming that heart...

and she herself treasured a heart that resembled that meek and humble heart of the Lord! 

She kept everything in her heart! To remember the goodness of the Lord, to remember the great things done to us by the Lord, to remember the mighty presence of the Lord ever in my heart - that is the spirituality that Our Blessed Mother teaches me today!

When I remember all the good that the Lord has done to me, the hurdles and heart aches that come to me sometimes will look much smaller. 

All I need to do, as Angel Raphael instructs today, 

is to remember the goodness of the Lord, because, 

to remember is a Spirituality in itself!

GOD LOVES YOU AND ME

Thank you Lord for drenching me in your Love!

Thank you for seeking me, when I am lost and rescuing me from the worst!
Thank you for feeding me with yourself and refreshing with your Spirit!
Thank you for lavishing me with your love, though I deserve it not even a bit!
Thank you dear Lord for drenching me with your, protecting, providing and prodigal Love!

6.6.2013

37th Anniversary of my Baptism!

BAPTISM: 
The First Gift God gave me after God willed me into existence! Everything after that has only been an affirmation of that gift and the love with which that first gift was given me! God, my Father and Mother, thank you for the gift of life, a life in YOU.