WORD 2day: 18th December, 2013

Danger of missing the Lord who comes # 3:

Joseph was a righteous man. His rectitude consisted of an incomparable combination of the Justice of Yahweh, that we see in the first reading and God's predilective love for the poor and the weak, that is exalted in the Responsorial Psalm. The Righteousness of God is an uncompromising stand for the truth, because of which Joseph thinks of divorcing Mary; it is also a unparalleled loved for the poor and the weak, or in Pope Francis' words, love for those in the periphery - that is what makes Joseph search for ways to spare Mary the disgrace! This prophetic righteousness causes a spiritual restlessness within Joseph, in which he is taught to see things from God's perspective. If he were a self centered, egotistic person he would have never learnt to see it that way, he would have done what he wanted and things would have been drastically different. 

The Lord comes to visit us on a daily basis as the Angel came to meet Joseph. We will miss it all, if we are filled with only ourselves, our ideas and our perspectives! Joseph warns us of the third danger of missing the Lord who visits us: and the danger is An Egoistic Perspective.

Novena...Day 3... O Adonai!!!

18th December: O Adonai...

O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Based on Isaiah 11:45 and Isaiah 33:22, the title Adonai, refers to the Lordship of Yahweh, that the people of Israel always stressed on. From a generic universal history that yesterday's "Wisdom" reminded us of, today's "Adonai" comes down to the experience of Exodus, the watershed of the Spirituality of the people of Israel.

The Symbols are burning bush, to remind the experience when Moses surrendered to Yahweh and the stones of the commandments, the symbol of Israel's surrender to Yahweh.

The prayer is that of a surrender into the redeeming power of God, to be led by the Lord's hands always - from darkness to light, from folly to wisdom, from death to life! 

WORD 2day: 17th December, 2013

Danger of missing the Lord who comes # 2:

The first reading speaks of the sons of Jacob, and among them Judah who has to rule! The Gospel reading gives us the whole lineage of Jesus, the Christ who is to come! We look at those who are around us... we know them all - their history, their geography, their background... and with all these, we think we know them so much... that we can miss the Lord who wants to encounter us in them, in their words or gestures! There is a big danger that we look at some persons everyday or so regularly, that they no longer really mean anything to us. The second danger of missing the Lord who comes to us, is in the danger of Taking Persons for Granted.

Novena...Day 2... O Wisdom!!!

17th December: O Sapientia...

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High

reaching from one end to the other,

mightily and sweetly ordering all things:

Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Based on Isaiah 11:2-3 and Isaiah 28:29... the antiphon recalls the most popular attribute given to the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God which is seen active in creation and order of the universe. It is this Word, who becomes flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). 

The Symbol used is often...the eye within the triangle, which symbolises the Omniscient God...the Wisdom of God. The Jewish or the Davidic lampstand (with 7 sticks) is used to refer to the Wisdom of God which has accompanied the people of God right from the origins of history!

The Prayer today is for PRUDENCE...to be guided always by the Lord, the Lord who dwells among us.

WORD 2day: 16th December, 2013

From today, we begin the intensive preparation towards receiving our King. These days we will reflect on the dangers that are there, within us, which can make us miss the Lord who comes.

Danger of missing the Lord who comes # 1:

Often we hear Jesus saying, 'let those who have ears, hear' or 'let those who have eyes, see!' The first danger of missing the Lord who comes to us, is cited in today's readings... the Lord makes us see; the Lord makes present marvelous things right before our eyes. But our eyes are closed! We see, but don't perceive; we look but we don't understand. It is not because we cannot, but because we do not want to. The first enemy to perceiving God who visits us, is our stubbornness!

CHRISTMAS NOVENA BEGINS TODAY

Novena...'O' Antiphons...Oh what a Tradition we have!!! 

Naturally the last days of the Christmas preparation are a great excitement...
The Church has a beautiful tradition of 
the Novena in preparation of this wonderful festival of LOVE...

And within this novena... 
leaving out the first day and the last day...
there are 7 verses from the prophecies from the Old Testament (Isaiah) 
which announce the coming of the Lord's Messiah...they are named "O" Antiphons.
each of these antiphons, so meaningful and beautiful...

We pray them as Antiphons before the Gospel at the Eucharist these days...
those who pray the daily prayer of the Church (Breviary) pray it in the evening 
with the hymn of our blessed mother, the Magnificat.

16th of December begins the Novena...
on this day, the antiphon, though not an O Antiphon...
sets the tone for the next 9 days...

WE BEGIN A SPECIAL SEASON OF WAITING FOR AN IMMINENT COMING OF THE LORD

THE JOY OF WAITING

15th December 2013: 3rd Sunday of Advent

An expectant couple, a lover on the park bench, a child on the birthday eve, a starved person on a set table... these are vivid snapshots of the joy of waiting! There is a pain involved, but a pain that is part of the joy. There are myriads of reasons to be disturbed and be restless about, but they are all overwhelmed by the joy that resides beneath. That is the picture that the Church wants us to contemplate this Sunday: the Joy of Waiting, for the Reign. 

This Sunday is called the Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete in latin simply means 'Rejoice')... taking off from the entrance antiphon which invites us to REJOICE, because the salvation of the Lord is near. Note the colour of the vestments today...they are not merely the violet, but purple...to add the necessary element of joy to the waiting! A Christian waiting should be joyful, the liturgy reminds us today.

The whole creation groans as with pangs of childbirth...for a peaceful, prosperous, perfect world. Every religion and every spirituality is a yearning towards that state of existence, called in various names. We believe it to be the Reign of God; "We are seeking God's Kingdom" reminds the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium(180) of Pope Francis. This waiting, this Christian waiting for the Reign of God is a joyful waiting, not a miserable waiting, not a servile waiting. The readings today bring to our attention the marks of this waiting: 

The first mark is the Assurance of Faith. The first reading is full of words like, gladness, joy, exultation, rejoicing, shouting, leaping, singing... all these words are used by Isaiah, when the people of Israel are still in Exile...but they know their liberation is imminent. What fills their hearts and their lives is faith - a joyful and total abandonment into the hands of God, one who creates and directs history. A total assurance that the Lord is for them; the Lord stands in favour of them and the Lord will lead them to the prosperity that they are waiting for. Our life, to be truly Christian, to be truly worthy of the Reign, has to be based firmly on this assurance of faith, that the Lord is with us and the Lord is for us. When God is for us, who can be against us!

The second mark of a joyful waiting is the Aspirations of Hope. The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel are filled with imageries of the lame walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking... the aspirations of a heart, the desire for a better world, the yearning for a bright tomorrow, the thirst for justice and truth, these are infallible signs of the Reign. That is what we are invited to hope for, and only that hope will thrust us into action, into doing our little bit, our essential part in making those dreams come true! We need to be filled with that vision, to reach the promised land, each and every one of us hand in hand.

The third mark is Associations of Love. The second reading touches upon a crucial point: yes we wait, but in the meanwhile what do we do? how do we comport ourselves? There are various modes of waiting... angry and restless... anxious and nasty... irritated and tensed... But the joy of waiting for the Reign has to be a wait that is filled with a "prophetic patience", says St. James. An abundance of patience that cherishes every moment that is spent in waiting. A patience that is expressed in our loving rapport with every brother and sister. Our relationships have to express to the world that we are people with a difference, we look for something that not everyone is looking for, that we are people who have our gaze fixed on the Lord and the Lord's Reign that everyone around seems beautiful and precious in our eyes!

We are waiting... we are waiting for the Reign... but the Reign is already here, the wait is to make it more and more visible! Hence, each of us has the responsibility, to make the Reign of God felt, here and now, through living with an abundance of assurance of faith, with limitless aspirations of hope and divine associations of love with each other. The joy of waiting for the Reign, has to radiate that joy to every one, everyday in every way.

WORD 2day

14th December, 2013: Remembering St.John of the Cross

Read the Life of John of the Cross

Today we are given to reflect on three great personalities...the first one as we said yesterday, is the person of the week John the Baptist, credited by Jesus as greatest of all who are born of a woman. The second one is Prophet Elijah of the Old Testament, who is considered to be the greatest of the prophets. The third is St. John of the Cross, considered to be the greatest mystic and doctor of the Soul! Why were all these people 'great'... not because they were in power or were the most influential of their times!

The simple reason was that they were fired with love for God... Elijah shut the heavens, brought down fire, all because he wanted the people to see the glory of God! The Baptist remained a voice in the wilderness, warning everyone of their sins, ready even to die for the Reign of God. John of the Cross was a great reformer of the religious life and an ardent agent of counter reformation, standing by the Church during the tough times of Reformation, filled with the zeal for the Reign of God.

The Reign of God is near...if we wish to receive it, we have to be filled with that same fire! The fire, the zeal, the yearning, the thirst for the Reign of God, which should shine through every word, thought, deed and choice of everyday life!

WORD 2day

13th December, 2013: Remembering St. Lucy

Read the Life of St. Lucy

If we have noticed carefully, there is a constant reference in the Gospel this week to John the Baptist. From last Sunday, the Gospel and the preface keep presenting to us the figure of John the Baptist, to challenge us regarding how prepared we are for the Coming of the Lord! Today we are made to reflect on the difference between "being childish" and "being child-like." Unless you become like a child you will not enter the Reign of God - but that in no way means you remain childish!

Jesus gives a simple example - being childish is being so centered on yourself that you wish everything around you happens as you wish and everyone does what you wish! Being childlike is being prophetic, being like the persons of God who abandon everything into the hands of God with total confidence in God and in God alone, like St. Lucy the fourth century martyr whom we celebrate today! 

Let us be like children, let us be child-like; let us walk with our hands in the hands of God, thus we will be persons worthy of the reign of God.

WORD 2day

12th December, 2013

News about violence everyday, cry of injustice and unfettered exploitation of the weak, persecutions in the name of religion and venomous maligning of persons and groups owing to the religious and moral values that they hold on to - these are what we hear on a daily basis these days. Jesus seems to tell us, that this is nothing new! "Since John the Baptist came upto this present time, the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence", he says. And the first reading adds hopefully, inspite of all these, "Do not be afraid, I shall help you." 

The image that we are given today to ruminate, is that of a child holding the hand of the father or the mother, and braving the whole world around. Let us never forget that one quintessential truth of Christian faith: we are never alone! The Lord promises today: I, the God of Israel, shall never abandon you! We are preparing to celebrate this truth; that God came to dwell with us. And ever since, God has been with us; and God shall never abandon us!