WORD 2day

9th October, 2013

The readings today call our attention to how bewilderingly gracious God is! Even in the Old Testament times when people thought of God in terms of one who punishes the wrongdoers, the theology that we see in the first reading today was quite strong: 'thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love' (Jonah 4:2). To our human minds, as was the case with Jonah, it can appear sometimes to be undeserving, confusing and sometimes even absurd! A personification of that absurdity is Jesus himself - God's only son whom God did not spare, because "God so loved the world" (Jn 3:16)! And "while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). Jesus' words, teachings, prayer, everything was aimed at just one thing: to reveal the goodness, the graciousness and the bewildering and 'absurd' love of God for God's children!

WORD 2day

8th October, 2013

To be receptive, is the call today! The people of Nineveh received the message from the Lord and Martha received the Lord himself into her house. Going further, the readings have a warning too. Just receiving the message or receiving the Lord is not all. To receive would mean nothing if we do not take to heart the message of the Lord. Receiving, showing honour and adoration to the Lord, should culminate in an attentive drinking-in of the Word from the Lord and putting it into practice. Elsewhere the Lord clarifies, not all who call 'Lord! Lord!' will be saved, but those who listen to the Word and live it in their daily life (Mt 7:21; Lk 6:46). All our practices of piety are indeed acts of giving glory to the Lord, but the Lord looks out for our daily living, our concrete relationships, our ordinary interactions, our day to day commitments and our priorities! 

WORD 2day

7th October, 2013: Remembering Our Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary

Today is a historical day. The feast of Our Blesssed Mother of the Holy Rosary, was initially known as the feast of Our Lady of Victory, in thanksgiving for the victory in a battle at Muret (in England) in the year 1213. That marks the 800th year! After a winding history of changes and developments, it was in the year 1913 that Pope Pius X fixed the feast on October 7th! And that marks the 100th commemoration! Every time we pray the Rosary, we repeat the words from the Word of God...the Gospel today reminds us this fact! "Full of Grace", the Angel addressed Mary, and that is what she was! And that is what she is, to each of us today - a channel of grace! As the apostles found in her a source of strength and direction to remain united, until the Spirit anointed them, let us seek her company and guidance to walk the way traced by her Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ.

GROWING IN FAITH

6th October, 2013 : 27th Sunday in the Ordinary Time

It is a familiar story said of the old lady who heard the gospel passage of today and challenged the young parish priest of its practicality! And they agreed she would pray for the tree outside her window to move a bit away after a novena. Nine prayerful days passed and on the 9th day asked the parish priest, 'so what about the tree?' The lady said with a wry smile, 'I knew from day one, nothing would happen! The tree stands right there.'

The Word of God this Sunday, invites us to grow in faith! "Increase our faith", pray the disciples. We would do good to make it our prayer too, asking the Lord to increase our faith. But what is faith? "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" explains the epistle to the Hebrews(Heb 11:1). Where does this assurance and this conviction come from? From a relationship, a rapport on which our whole life is based and thus even things not seen and things hoped for, do not ever seem an impossibility. That is why our tradition defines faith as our personal response to a self-revealing God. Lumen Fidei the latest of the encyclicals states, faith is our response to the Word which engages us personally (n.8). 

Faith, being a relationship, is matter of daily experience and not just of extraordinary moments. It is easier for us, to look within ourselves and identify when this faith runs short, than to see it when it is there! Today's readings give us three indications of the lack of faith... in order to educate us towards growing in faith.

One of the familiar indications of lack of faith is Pessimism. The world today is flooded with pessimism - words like crisis, conflict, melt-down, inflation, decadence are most commonly heard terms on a daily basis. The first reading too presents a situation similar to today's -Violence, destruction, troubles, strife, contention -but it ends with that assurance: 'the righteous shall live by faith!' (Hab 2:4). Growing in faith is to fight against any pessimism creeping into our thoughts, our spirit and our outlook.

The second indication that the readings point to, is Panic. 'God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline' (2 Tim 1:7). Where there is faith there will be power, if faith is a love relationship with God, there can be no fear, 'for there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear' (1 Jn 4:18). When I begin to fear a situation or a person or a consequence, it is an indication that my faith needs nurturing.

The third indication is the reason for both the preceding ones. It is Pride. The perfect contrast to faith is human pride! If faith is surrender, pride inspires resistance. If faith is to relate, pride creates rebellion. If faith aids perseverance, pride instigates me to quit. Both pessimism and panic are in a way fruits of pride within. Humility is a fruit of faith; it is a realisation of who oneself is - a humble servant of God, with all the capabilities and limitations, working one's way towards building up the Reign of God here and now. It is Lumen Fidei again which beautifully states, 'Faith is God's gift, which calls for humility and courage to trust and to entrust' (n.14). 

Pessimism, Panic and Pride - are contrary to faith! Pessimism creates despair, panic destroys peace and pride makes me inhuman. May my prayer, 'Increase my faith' be accompanied by my personal efforts to trust, love and surrender myself unconditionally to the One who loves me so unconditionally! 

WORD 2day

5th October, 2013

'For just as you proposed to go astray from God, return with tenfold zeal to seek him' (Bar 4:28), instructs the first reading today. The key to understand the so-called discrepancy between the Old Testament thinking and the New Testament theology lies here. While we can be surprised at a 'punishing' and a 'revengeful' God that the people of the Old Testament thought of, we understand from the verses like the above that we are responsible for all the calamities that we bring on ourselves, by our priorities and choices, not only individually but also collectively - it is unfortunate that some who are innocent too face the brunt due to the rest! It is high time that we realise that 'blessed are those eyes that see what we see, and the ears that hear what we hear'... if only we can take the cue from things that happen around us, we will readily return to the Lord, with tenfold zeal! The requirement is that we see, and that we hear - and true faith alone makes it possible!

WORD 2day

4th October, 2013: Remembering St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis has been identified as the person who imitated Christ the closest! His greatness lay in his simplicity, his humility and his love for poverty! That is why when the present Holy Father chooses to follow his model, the whole world cannot resist taking notice of him. But where does this simplicity and humility come from? Is it a mere showmanship? If so... it just cannot last long! For St. Francis, it came from his realisation of the fact that he is sent; that he is called, called with a specific mission, at a specific time and in his specific context! As we thank God for this great Saint from Assisi and pray specially for the Holy Father today, let us pay heed to the same message presented to us by the readings of the day! if we realise the fact that we are specially called and sent by the Lord, we will naturally realise how humble and underserving we are! From that humility and meekness, will surge a sanctity, that can make us become living Christ today - that is, Christ-ians!

WORD 2day

3rd October, 2013

The joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh 8:10), exclaims the first reading today. No doubt, prosperity and progress are a blessing from the Lord. They are great sources of happiness and joy. But they are not the fundamental sources of true happiness and true joy! That which gives true and complete joy is the Word of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the teachings of the Lord - the holy Will of God. "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (Jn 15:11) said the Lord. Jesus' words today make it plain to the world, and particularly to us - what we might imagine to be important -comforts and career, ego and impressions, status and social image- are not important at all. That which can really give us joy is to know what the Lord wants from us and live according to that! Let us remember - we are SENT into the world!

WORD 2day

2nd October, 2013 : Thanking the Lord for the Guardian Angels

One of the earliest things we are taught as children is the presence and the guidance of the Guardian Angel - whom we celebrate today! Somehow, personally, every time that I have heard of the guardian angels since childhood, I have felt a kind of childlike sentiment within me! It is not childish but childlike! Without a childlike simplicity, a constant presence of someone may look like an interference, an intrusion, a policing! But when we sport a disposition as that of a child, we will find ourselves longing for that presence, we will hang on every word from the Lord and remain faithful to the Lord in obedience - as the Lord instructs in the first reading today! Unless we become like children we cannot enter the Reign of God... I remember the reflection shared two days ago, which re-echoes today: though it may sound a paradox, let us grow up to be children, only then can we inherit the Reign. 

WORD 2day

1st October, 2013 : Remembering St. Teresa of Child Jesus

Towards Jerusalem... we see the decision to go to Jerusalem, both in the first reading and the Gospel. The first reading speaks of people who wanted to go to Jerusalem, to witness the God who stood by the Hebrews through their thick and thin - "let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you!" The Gospel presents Jesus who is determined to go to Jerusalem... inspite of knowing what awaits him there; to offer his life for the very people who were stubborn enough to turn their face away from him. Jerusalem - is not merely the glorious hill of the presence of the Lord but also a challenge to live up to that presence which demands from us endurance, obedience and primacy of God. It is not easy to be welcoming to the Lord - for when he comes he is very demanding! If we are determined to respond to that, as did Teresa of Lisieux, who had no aspirations what so ever other than living for Christ - and achieved it in her short 24 years! Do we dare to set our face towards the presence of God?

WORD 2day

30th September, 2013

"They shall be my people and I will be their God" - the crux of the faith that has been handed down to us through centuries, is this covenant that God made with our ancestors in faith. God has remained faithful ever since. St. Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy, even "if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself" (2Tim 2:13). Being God's people means being like children - focused totally on God, taking directions from God, and always remaining open and docile to God's promptings, as do the children who are fascinated by their parents. Divisions, partisan feelings and ego trips are so alien to children that they radiate such levels of godliness. Though it may sound a paradox, let us grow up to be children, only then can we inherit the Reign!