WORD 2day: 19th May, 2014

To be signs of God's power!

Acts 14: 5-18; Jn 14: 21-26

Jesus seems to be winding up his earthly phase with his disciples and he bids them farewell as if to say they have to take his place there after. This whole week we will listen to this series of sayings from Jesus. He had assured them, that their faith in God and their faith in him, will stand them in good stead...they will do all that he did and even more! (cf. Jn 14:12) Today he promises an added facilitator: the Holy Spirit. All these promises were not mere words... they worked.

The People saw in the apostles great prowess... they healed the paralytics and gave life to the dead. The people found it so overwhelming that they thought that the gods had descended on them. If we really believed in the Lord and beheld his risen presence with us truly, people would see great things in and through us. The world needs people of God today; the world longs to see the real majesty of God revealed in ordinary things and we ought to be the instruments in the hands of God.

Can we dispose ourselves into the hands of God? Can we allow the Spirit of the Lord to take hold of us and reveal through us the merciful, loving and powerful presence of the Lord today? 

குருத்துவத் திருக்கூட்டமாய்...

பாஸ்கா காலத்து 5ம் ஞாயிறு
18.05.2014

Chosen to be A PRIESTLY PEOPLE

V Sunday of the Easter Season: 18th May, 2014

Acts 6: 1-7; 1 Pet 2: 4-9; Jn 14: 1-12

God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God in love” (Eph 1:4). That is our identity; we are a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, God’s own people in order that we may proclaim the mighty acts of God, the God who has called us from darkness into his marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9). What is out identity of ourselves?

Are we merely people who are looking upto God for some favours? People who wait on God to come and solve our everyday problems? People complaining to God about those around us who are not living upto our expectations, disappointing us, troubling us, not understanding us or causing us grief? Can we take a breath and imagine what identity God has invested in us and to what level we have diluted in our daily living of our faith.

We are Chosen…

It is not by chance that I am a Christian, I am chosen. Recently, Anandhi (name changed) a girl of another faith, came to me asking to be prepared for baptism. She was in love with Alfred (name changed), a Catholic and wanted to marry him in the Church. After all the preparation, finally I asked, “Who brought you to this intention of receiving Baptism?” Without hesitation, Anandhi said, “Alfred.” I smiled at her and took the opportunity to tell her, ‘It is truly Christ who has brought you to Baptism’. It is the Lord who has chosen us dear friends and it is not the other way around: “You did not choose me, but I chose you”, says the Lord (Jn 15:16). It is the Lord who has chosen you and me, and all that we need to do is happily walk holding his hand.

We are Chosen to belong…

Last week we celebrated the Good Shepherd Sunday and we prayed for Vocations to Priesthood and Religious Life. That is a special call, a call for a ministry, just like Stephen and the 6 others are chosen today in the first reading for a special task – that is what we call Ministerial Priesthood. But there is another call that is universal… that is the call to Royal Priesthood… each and every one who is chosen in Christ, who is washed in the waters of baptism, is called to this priesthood. Yes! We are all priests unto the Lord! We are Chosen Race, Royal Priesthood… We have a special call to belong to the Lord. That is the crux of this priesthood. The ordained priests are ordained for a special ministry, while all of us share in the priesthood of Christ. The Priesthood of Christ consists in belonging to the Father. “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” says the Lord (Jn 14:11). The priesthood that we share with Christ is to be in God, the Father and Mother; to belong to God, to be grafted on to God, to remain in God as the branches remain in the wine and give fruit.

We are Chosen to belong forever…

In belonging to the Lord, in remaining with Christ, in sharing the priesthood of Christ we inherit the greatest of all patrimonies: a dwelling place in the courts of the Lord. That is what is prepared for us, that if we belong in our life to God, we would belong to God forever even in death. Christ has gone before us to prepare this place for us, and when he comes we should still belong to God, we should still be his Priestly People, that we may receive that dwelling place prepared for us!

Every day is an opportunity, through our ordinary tasks and daily duties, by our conscious choices and deliberate decisions, to deepen our belonging to the Lord, to realize we are chosen, that we are chosen to belong to God, as a chosen race, as a Priestly People!

WORD 2day: 17th May, 2014

The Word, joy and the Holy Spirit

Acts 13: 44-52; Jn 14: 7-14

Jealousy, opposition, contradiction, calumny, derision, persecution... all these abounded against the believers as they embraced their new found faith in the Lord. But amidst all these, the first reading says, the disciples were filled with joy and Holy Spirit. That was the reason the Word spread all through the region. The Word spreads with true inner joy. Jesus already spoke of this connection between the Word and joy: 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).

We would be missing the whole point if we do not get more and more in touch with God everyday of our life. Jesus would ask us too the same question: 'Have I been so long with you and you still have not got really in touch with me, my father, my life style, my passions, my values and so on?' Once we get in touch with Jesus, and thus with God our Father and Mother, with the Spirit who enlightens us each day, we will emanate a joy that is irresistible. Let us remain united to Christ, who is united to the Father and thus give the world the joy that it longs for.

WORD 2day: 16th May, 2014

To be God's begotten

Acts 13: 26-33; Jn 14: 1-6

Let not your hearts be disturbed! That, according to Jesus, was the sign of Faith, faith in God and faith in God's only Son. Though we know that Jesus is the Incarnate Son of God, the real glory of his existence is seen in the fact of Jesus' obedience to the Father. As St.Paul would point out in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2), it was because of his total obedience that Jesus was given the name above every name, that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess his Lordship. Even God almighty declares, "You are my beloved Son, today I have begotten you!"

Faith, Obedience of Faith... could be considered high sounding words, but for us on a daily basis, it is but doing the will of God. Taking our duties to heart despite the discouragements, putting our heart and soul in the well being of those around us in spite of the possible ingratitude, putting the Lord first and at the center of all that we are involved in ... these are some concrete ways of doing the will of the Father. When we are upto it, surely we will hear it said of us, "You are my beloved child, today I have begotten you!"

WORD 2day: 15th May, 2014

Called to be Messengers

Acts 13:13-25; Jn 13:16-20

St. Paul makes a long list of messengers running right upto John the Baptist, and Jesus in the Gospel, speaks of sending his own apostles as messengers. The Message, is the core of our faith. It has been so, it is so and it will always be so! The message was announced through ages through prophets and persons of God (cf. Heb 1:1). At a point in history, the Message became the Messenger...that was the crucial phase of history when the Message, the Sender, the Messenger (or the Medium) all came together in one sacred and mysterious union - in the person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. 

What was once done by a select few among the people, with the coming of Christ, has been handed over to the entire people of God and every child of God. We are His messengers and we are called primarily to live the message and in and through that, announce the Message to the World.

Am I aware of the Message; Do I really know the Message? Do I love the Message in order that I may live that message!

WORD 2day: 14th May, 2014

Feast of St. Mathias

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Jn 15: 9-17

Feast of any apostle is a reminder to each of us that we are called to be an apostle, sent in the name of the Lord. As my Father sent me, so I send you...said the Lord after his resurrection. Though the event of the election of Mathias is overshadowed by the sorrowful and unfortunate end of Judas, the feast has its usual charm of inviting us to an absolute commitment to the Lord.

Today's readings add a wonderful note to the reflection, as they seem to suggest the one objective in being an apostle, or for that matter a disciple. In Jesus' own words...As my Father loves me, so I love you! The primary aim is to receive in all its fullness the abundant love of the Father, through Jesus our friend! And it is in receiving that love, our joy is made complete! Let us rejoice in being loved, and love each other in return!

WORD 2day: 13th May, 2014

To be called Christians...

Acts 11:19-26; Jn 10:22-30

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians, evidences the first reading today. They needed a name, a different name to refer to the people of the new way of life! And looking for one, they narrowed down on that with a reference to the One who inspired this way of life: Christ himself. 

It takes time to be called a Christian, to be identified with the name of the Nazarene who made a crucial difference in and through his life. Even today, it is the same: it takes time to be identified a Christian: our lifestyle, our attitudes, our priorities, our relationships and our loving ways should merit the name. 

As Jesus says in the Gospel today, 'the Father and I are one', so should we be able to say:Christ and I are one. What a model we have in St.Paul who declared, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me!" (Gal 2:20).

WORD 2day: 12th May, 2014

The real birth of the Church

Acts 11: 1-18; Jn 10: 11-18

We have been seeing throughout last week, that people listened to the Word, they were touched by it and they joined the disciples and they became a church. However, the real birth of the Church was only when the Gentiles listened and accepted the Word. 

St. Paul declares in his letter to the Galatians, "there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). It is when the whole people are made heirs to the promise made to Abraham, it is only when every one was made into one fold, under one Shepherd, Christ Jesus - the real Church was born.

The challenge is alive until today, to remain one flock, one fold, one people. To stay clear of all discrimination within the Church, to choose not to conform to the standards of the world but to be renewed in the Spirit of the Lord and to put on the mind of Christ - constantly, on a daily basis we are invited to renew our faithfulness to the One shepherd and be transformed more and more into worthy members of His flock.

IV SUNDAY OF EASTER - TAMIL POSTER