COME HOME TO THE REIGN

11th August, 2013: 19th Sunday in the Ordinary Time

The theme of the last Sunday continues today, with a little further deepening. Reading and reflecting on the readings of today and their theme, I was reminded of the story of the Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum. I am sure most of us know the story or atleast have seen the film that was produced in 1939. Little Dorothy Gale finds herself blown away to a land far from home and yearns to return home. She gets to hear of the one who can help her get home…the great Wizard of Oz and she follows the yellow brick road that leads to the Wizard, in the hope of meeting the Wizard to find her way home! On the way, she enters into the lives of the Scarecrow who lacks brain, the Cowardly Lion who lacks courage and the Tin Man who lacks a heart…and changes their lives for the better as she finds her way home! How close this fable is to our lives, as presented by the readings today!

The people of Israel are on a journey, yearning to enter the Promised Land walking with hope in the path shown by the Lord, says the first reading. This Promised Land is not merely the land that is flowing with milk and honey – explains to us the letter to the Hebrews – we are bound to the city built by God, the city that the Lord has prepared for us. The final chapter of the recent encyclical Lumen Fidei, is inspired by this part of the epistle – “as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. God…has prepared for them a city” (11:16). This God’s city, it is much greater than a worldly city we can think of or the perfect society one can dream of – it is the Reign of God.

In the Gospel Jesus invites us with his wide open arms, “Come Home to the Reign!” And Jesus shows us the way, the way we need to walk towards this Reign. All the way to heaven, is heaven they say! Hence the way to reaching the Reign is creating it all along the way we walk through in life. How do we do it, we ask! And Jesus has a simple set of directions in the Gospel today!

The First of them, REALISATION of the true treasure. Following from the previous week’s reflection, Jesus calls us to a clarity on what is the real treasure! Selling everything and giving to the poor, providing oneself with the purses that do not grow old, earning treasures that are not eaten by moth – all these mean a right understanding of what a true treasure is, so that our hearts may be sufficiently prepared and firmly set towards it. Abraham knew it and that is why he was prepared to give up even his only, beloved son! Abraham realized that God’s promises were much more dependable than all that one can possess!

The second is READINESS to receive the Reign from the Lord’s hands! Prompt to pick up the signs and challenges of the Reign of God, we are challenged to respond to the demands of the Reign at any time. It could be at home in the family, on the streets in the neighbourhood, at work in the workplace, amidst those who do not know Christ, in contact with those who do not believe in God, in the face of an injustice, in the wake of a conflict, in the presence of someone who is going through a crisis – wherever we may find ourselves, we are called to be people of the Reign. Reign of God is not merely a destination we are bound to, it is a situation we are called to create together as a family of brothers and sisters called by one God, our father and mother!

The third is RESPONSIBILITY towards brothers and sisters, to serve those around as the least of all, without counting the cost or expecting a return. Forgiveness, Compassion, Love and Service are concrete expressions of this responsibility. Being of service to the needy, being sources of consolation to the suffering, being the voice of the voiceless, embracing in charity everyone even those who hate us – these are the signs of the Reign and the ways of making present the Reign even as we journey towards the fullness of its presence! We cannot think of a moment opportune or inopportune for these… as disciples of Christ we are called to this responsibility 24/7 and every one of the 365 days! It is tiring and demanding – Yes! From the one who has been given much, much will be expected! There is no alternative! Let’s not be lost on our way to the Reign!

If we have to get home to the Reign…we have to realize what a treasure the Reign of God is, be ready to accept it at any point of time and carryout our responsibility on a daily basis – our responsibilities of love, testimony and service to our  brothers and sisters. Let’s walk dear brothers and sisters, in the way of Christ – let’s walk our way to heaven, let’s get home to the Reign!

WORD 2day

10th August, 2013: Remembering St. Lawrence, the Deacon-Martyr

The best of all giving, is giving of oneself! Giving of one’s abundance, giving of whatever little that one has and giving even if one does not have enough for oneself – these are praise worthy in their respective order. But the highest of all giving is Self-giving. Celebrating the Deacon-martyr, St. Lawrence, we are reminded of the early Christian communities that were so much characterized by persons who were blessed with the special charism of Giving of their own selves, apart from what they possessed. They were cheerful givers, and so we find their numbers kept growing unprecedentedly. The very spirit that they radiated held captive those who saw them and multitudes were drawn to emulate it. They were ready and willing to die to themselves that Christ may come alive in them! St.Paul’s words were true in so many of those early Christians – “I live, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20) and “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). These were not mere catchy sayings; they were true lived experiences and we witness it in great martyrs like St. Stephen, the apostles and St. Paul himself. St. Lawrence follows suit very closely later in the third century. After all, they had but one model who had invaded and conquered their minds, hearts and spirits - Jesus the ultimate personification of self-giving - the grain of seed that chose to fall to the ground, that it may abound in its fruits: we are the fruits and let us be worthy of the grain which has borne us. 

WORD 2day

9th August, 2013

‘By a mighty hand and an outstretched arm’ – that was the phrase the Israelites used to summarise the glorious care that God took of their ancestors. The readings speak to us of the ‘Glory’ of God that deserves all our obedience and allegiance! The covenant that Israelites had with Yahweh was not formulated on some imaginary terms, but was established on a concrete experience of a nation walking into freedom. Neither is the covenant we have with God based on an imagination – it is based on a concrete sacrifice of the Son of God, signed with the blood from the Cross and ratified with the death of the Lamb of God! At our baptism we have counter signed that covenant and it is upto us to honour it all our life. The terms are clear – to recognize the great deeds that God has accomplished on our behalf; to acknowledge the saving mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God; and to behold the great gift of Resurrection that is promised us in the hope of this covenant. We can behold that resurrection in the Risen Lord, if we are ready to participate in the life of the Son of God – a life lived totally in obedience to the holy will of God. Carrying the daily cross – is the readiness to face the hurdles of each day and continue to feel the presence of God beside; to remain steadfast to what is true, right and just, despite the consequences that might prove to be tricky or troublesome; to be ready to lose the whole world, just in order to gain one’s soul!

WORD 2day

8th August, 2013

Moses and Peter – their impatience and impudence come under scrutiny! Moses, whom God spoke to as a friend, and Peter, whom Jesus called the Rock on which he would build his Church – even they, as leaders give themselves off in a moment of fatigue and overconfidence! Discipleship is not a victory gained once for all! It is a daily commitment and a perpetual challenge. Anything can bring down to the ground whatever we have built with days and days of hard work and persistence. We cannot afford to grow careless. That is why Jesus teaches us to watch and pray and be vigilant always, that the moment of the enemy may not overtake us (Lk 21:34-36). The murmurings and the hardheadedness of the people catches on to Moses and in a moment of impatience and restlessness, Moses instead of waiting on the Lord, decides to act on his own account. While the Lord asked him to speak to the rock(20:8) in order that the water may flow, he strikes the rock with his baton(20:11). The commendation from Jesus gets to the head of Peter and he turns presumptuous to question the will of God! Both of them are promptly indicated their mistake. The lesson is clear for us today – to remain vigilant in our discipleship that we may always remain calm but cautious, confident but humble, persistent but patient, passionate but attentive to the Will of the Master! May the great men, Moses and Peter, teach us by example.

WORD 2day

7th August, 2013

Faithlessness or Faith – As you sow, so you reap! “As you have spoken I will do unto you!”-“As you wished it shall be unto you!” The two phrases, former from the first reading and the latter from the Gospel seem similar, though they are not! Considering the contexts, they are infact contrary to each other – one a reproach from the Lord and the other an approval. However, the message is same – FAITH. The first reading seems to be a rationalization on the part of Israel, as to why they had to sojourn forty long years in the deserts of Paran – a simple reason: lack of faith! The Lord could not walk them to the land of milk and honey, as promised, because they were stubborn and hard headed, never yielding to the guiding hand of God. The Gospel pictures a woman whose request has apparently no place on the 'to-do' list of Jesus that day! But the list had to be changed by all means. Logically as in another place we read, that due to lack of faith Jesus did not accomplish much signs and wonders, here Jesus could not but make that miracle happen because of the grandeur of the faith of that simple woman! How blessed it would be if Jesus were to look at you and me and say, “My Son, My daughter, great is your faith!”

WORD 2day

6^th August, 2013: Transfiguration of the Lord

The disciples see their Lord in his glory and all that they want is to remain in that state of splendour and delight! The call is to climb down, move on and keep walking, taking advantage of the light that the moment has shed! Though Jesus was all the time with them, the disciples needed that experience on the mount to behold his power and glory. Our life of prayer, that is, our relationship with God who shares every moment of our life, is punctuated at times with ‘peak’ experiences, to sustain us in the tedium of the daily journey. Retreats, pilgrimages, charismatic conventions, supernatural experiences and miraculous events – these are very useful and important, but cannot become a daily need! Effective substitutes for these that the Church suggests to each of us, are the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation – which when celebrated with the zest and the earnestness that they truly deserve – can become peak experiences on a regular basis.  St. Peter in the today's reading warns us against laxity and invites us to walk in Christ’s light every day and every moment, accepting the apostles’ testimony as a light to our path. On our daily journey, let us observe the glorious presence of the Lord in the ordinariness of the day. Let the gentle beckoning of God keep sounding in our ears all this day – “This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him.”

WORD 2day

5^th August, 2013

Discouragement in the life of a disciple – a moment to take stock and bounce back! Moses feels overburdened today, with the weight not just of carrying the people along, but of their obstinacy not to perceive all that is so good and blessed around! The signs and wonders notwithstanding, the people decide to be unhappy and never to be convinced of the goodness that surrounds them. As a disciple in ministry sometimes, all the good that is done and all the troubles that are taken seem to be ignored and much worse, interpreted wrongly! We see this discouragement in every person of God – apart from Moses presented today, Jeremiah (20:14-16), Paul, ... the great prophets and disciples experienced it – Jesus was no exception. Today we find Jesus, withdrawing to a secluded place after hearing the execution of John the Baptist. As if to have been reminded of his own fate to come, Jesus resorts to a time of solitude with the One who has sent him! Discouragements in our life too can be made moments of blessings if we opt to spend those moments with the right persons – first of all with God, who is always with us; then with persons of God who are given to us as reminders of God’s presence! When they are utilized well, as moments to take stock, we can bounce back into action with a renewed spirit, as it happens with Moses, who grows so strong in his rapport with Yahweh who stood by his side all the while; like Jesus who comes up with the feat of feeding the multitude, as Yahweh did in the desert! Discouragements are part of the package of our experiences – they have something to tell us, something to offer us. If we are ready to wait on the Lord, we will surely gather every bit of the blessings in store!

PILGRIMS TO PARADISE

4TH AUGUST 2013: 18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

A wise man lived in a tent in the deserts of Arabia. Numerous people went to meet him everyday either for a blessing or a counsel or merely to see the saintly man! Once entered a man who was totally surprised that there was nothing, absolutely nothing inside the tent – not even a stool for a furniture! And he asked the wise man, “Where are your furnitures?” The wise man looked up and instead of answering that question, retorted, “and where are yours?” “But I am only a traveler, a passer-by” protested the visitor. And without losing his calm the wise man quipped, “So am I; a traveler, a passer-by!”

We are all travelers, passers-by, pilgrims towards our heavenly home, pilgrims to paradise! We do not have a permanent home here, we are looking towards it, says the letter to the Hebrews(13:14). When the Word of God repeatedly reminds us that we are merely “strangers and pilgrims” (Heb 11:13; 1 Pet 2:11), it is not a negative outlook on our life here and now, but a lasting perspective to understand it in the right manner! We are not permanent here on earth, however famous or important we are – and that is an obvious truth, so much forgotten or so much neglected by our ambitious world! We are not in an oblivion, as if to say we do not know our origins nor our future! No! The second reading today tells us, “Brothers and sisters, you are risen with Christ” – We are resurrected people, people of the Risen Lord, who awaits us in the heavenly abode, for us to be with him for eternity! We are on a journey, we are on a pilgrimage! And on this pilgrimage we need a travel kit! The Liturgy today reminds us of three essential components that should find their place in that kit – those components are Wisdom, Knowledge and Discernment!

The first of the components is Wisdom – the capacity to know the difference between the vanities and values in life!  There are those who run after wealth all their life and finally discover that they have infact lost their whole life for nothing! Attachments, Ego, Vain glory, prestige, power and pleasure can mislead our minds and spoil our spirits, leading to a life so empty and erroneous. Persons entrusted to us by God, Love that brightens every morning and illuminates every night, Relationships that give meaning and make us feel wanted- these can help us live our life for others and ultimately for God, who is the very source of that life and the only One who can throw light on its real meaning! Vanities and Values – both shine but it depends on me to differentiate the real brilliance and the fake lustre.

Knowledge is another necessary element to never lose our way on this journey! Knowledge is not merely a collection of information, it is the capacity to choose between the virtues and vices! St. Paul instructs us through his letter to the Colossians today (3:10) that to put on the new person, is to be renewed in the fullness of knowledge after the image of the One who has created us! God is the fullness of knowledge, that is, the fullness of Virtues who shows us how our lives have to be lived! “To make them know the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of vices” was the task given to Don Bosco, the educator of the young, by the Risen Lord and the Blessed Mother. The right knowledge guides us on our path and leads us through right choices.

The third and the most difficult of all is Discernment! To store up right treasure in the right place! The clarity of what is truly the treasure to be sought and the choice of the right place to store them, is the most important truth every religion and faith intends to present. The readings today direct us to this discernment! Living in a world of consumerism and globalization, days of technological advancement and communication revolution, we are today made to think deep with the situations of war, violence, killings, greed, corruption, domination, deception, exploitation and dehumanization all around us. The choice is ours, either to be carried by the current or to swim against the current! If we are carried by the current we are dead and buried in this world of vanity! If we dare to stand against it and swim countercurrent, we are people of the Risen Lord, the followers of the living Lord, real pilgrims to paradise!

WORD 2day

3rd August, 2013

A Jubilee celebration and a Birthday celebration - those are what the readings speak of today! Celebrations form an important part of any society. And the mode of celebrations exhibits amply the culture of the society of provenience. What should a Christian celebration be like, is the question we are invited to reflect on today! The First reading tells us what it should be and the Gospel, what it shouldn't be. Insensitive expenditures, egoistic self propaganda, lustful indulgence, uncontrolled inebriation, objectification of persons, a show of pomp that is inconsistent with the prevailing conditions of inhumanity, an unjustifiable splendour that is so removed from the stark reality of a great part of the society - these are clear indications of a celebration that is UNCHRISTIAN or even anti-Christian. A real Christian celebration should bring to the centre of focus the well being of those who are suffering, those who are struggling under constant poverty and inhumanity, those who face the hardship of want and helplessness of misery day in and day out, those who have got used to living in a state of misfortune, those who find their lives everyday becoming more and more difficult - the celebration should come as a consolation, a hand on the shoulders of these loving children of God! The Jubilee year proposed by the Lord to the people and the ways to observe the Jubilee highlight the elements of selfless concern for the other, a sacrifice for the sake of the less fortunate, justice and righteousness, brotherhood and sisterhood, doing no wrong to the other and the most important of all, a fuller sharing of God's love with one another! We will do well today, to examine our celebrations!

WORD 2day

2nd August, 2013

Due to their lack of faith, Jesus did not work many mighty deeds among them, says the Gospel today. I remember once talking to a group of youngsters, a young friend asked me, "If God could not do a miracle, be it for whatever reason, is it not a limitation or a weakness?" "It is not God's weakness", I said, "but the strength that God has shared with us." God created us in God's image and likeness and this likeness ensures that we are hardly different from God (Ps.8)! That makes us also persons with inviolable freedom, a freedom which not even God would take away. Though many dissent it saying it is the cause of scores of evil in the world, it is that which makes us human, and gives us the dignity as the images of the Creator. Without the 'personal freedom' we would be no more than the animals. Faith and Freedom have a great deal to do with each other. Faith is a response given in freedom, a total absolute freedom of the inner being of a person. Jesus in his freedom chooses to enter the synagogue to pray with his people and the people with their freedom choose to see only the apparent facts of Jesus, as the son of the carpenter and a son of their soil. They were not able to see the divine import of his actions, his words and the signs that he was accomplishing. Today, it can happen so if we look at Jesus as someone kept aside for sundays and some moments of others days, and a few other grand days in out life! All the festivals that the people celebrated - as we see in the first reading -were a preparation for them to receive in fullness the presence of the Lord among them! But when they are carried out for the sake of the rule that is laid out, they lose their real purpose, and no more help in SEEING the Lord present. It is an oft repeated warning from the Lord, not to make our spirituality legalistic and our piety pharisaic!