WORD 2day: 1st July, 2014

To live by faith is to be just!

Am 3: 1-8, 4: 11-12; Mt 8: 23-27

There is a close link between justice and faith. 

Amos points out to the people that they were living an unjust life because they do not really behold the presence of the Lord who had done so many wonders on their behalf. We become evil, unjust, selfish, blood thirsty and inhuman when we do not realise who we are, from whom we come, what our roots are, where our real treasures are and who is that who sustains us! Realising these, in short, is faith.

Beholding the presence of the Lord is the first sign of faith. At times of trials, when there is a suffering because of our just way of life and at times of temptations, when our mind sights short cuts and the world suggests that as the way of the smart, we need to behold the presence of the Lord beside us and stay calm! 

The wind and the storm, the demons and the diseases, they recognised the Lord and bowed down at the sight. The human will and freedom refused to do it and it still happens, when we do not from the depth of our hearts behold the mighty presence of the Lord, in such a simple manner around us. When we recognise it, our life changes, our perspectives widen and we grow more and more holy and just. Infact, to live by faith is to live just!

WORD 2day: 30th June, 2014

The Tough Call

Am 2: 6-10, 13-16; Mt 8: 18-22

Following the Lord is not an easy task, it is really a tough call. Amos explains today how an unjust life and a godly life cannot go together, how a maltreatment of a brother or a sister and the worship of the Lord cannot be reconciled with each other, how selfishness and true spirituality are opposed to each other. Amos will continue to challenge us this whole week. Amos is called the roaring lion, the Lord's voice that convicts us, the goodness of God that challenges us to be just, good and truly holy.

Jesus, in the Gospel, takes the presentation of Amos ahead and points to how difficult it is to be true disciples to a demanding master like the Lord! It is a fact! The Lord demands nothing less than an absolute commitment or surrender to the Lord. It is all about Integrity, a state where what I think and what I express are one and the same, what I preach and what I struggle to practice are not opposed to each other, what I do and what I am flow from the fact that I belong to God always and everywhere! It is indeed a tough call... but there is no other way to prove myself worthy of the One who has called me!

FEAST OF STS. PETER AND PAUL

Some Traditional Trivia... interesting to know

- Originally this feast was called the Martyrdom of Apostles Peter and Paul 
- There are just three Basilicas built on the tomb of the Apostles...
    1. St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican
    2. St. James's Basilica, Campostella, Spain
    3. St. Thomas' Basilica, Mylapore, Chennai, India 
- Peter was Crucified (crucified upside down on his request!!!)
- Paul was beheaded (there is a church built on the spot where Paul was believed to be beheaded...in the immediate outskirts of Rome)  
- The Vatican St. Peter's Square leading to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, has the statues of Peter and Paul adorning the square as we overlook the Basilica... as traditionally, Peter holds the keys, and Paul holds a sword!

LET US THANK GOD FOR, ADMIRE AND IMITATE...
ST. PETER, 
IN HIS INTUITIVE FAITH AND INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP WITH CHRIST;
ST. PAUL, 
IN HIS TOTAL DEDICATION TO THE GOSPEL AND SELF-CONSUMING LOVE FOR CHRIST!

Peter to the right of the Square

Paul on the left corner of the square

WORD 2day: 28th June, 2014

Remembering the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Lam 2: 2, 10-14, 18-19; Lk 2: 41-51

Following the Sacred Heart, we remember the Immaculate Heart - so fitting and meaningful a tradition! The Heart of Mary, immaculate originally by the grace of God, but manifests more than that the total dedication to God and the role God has to play in the salvation history of human kind.

The heart of Mary gives us three lessons to live by.

1. The heart was pierced by sorrows as Simeon predicted. The first reading gives us a picture of the lamenting daughter of Sion and Mary is prefigured in this imagery. But no matter how much it was pierced and hurt and tortured, the heart always glowed for the love of God and the fulfillment of God's will.

2. The heart of Mary was absolutely open to the working of the Spirit and it was at the beck and call of the Word. We see this right from the moment she heard the greeting from the angel. Openness to the Spirit is a matter of the heart and Mary exemplifies it to the utmost.

3. The heart of Our Blessed Mother was filled with 'God-thoughts' and that was because she kept everything that was happening in her life in her heart and pondered over them. She recognised, acknowledged and accepted interventions of God in her life, and found herself being moved and animated by the Lord, the Lord's Word and the Lord's Spirit.

Imitating Mary, let us open our hearts to God, glow for God and allow ourselves to be guided by the Lord and we will experience strongly the presence of the Lord in our hearts.

மனுவுருவான அன்பு

Celebrating Love made Flesh

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Dt 7: 6-11; 1 Jn 4: 7-16; Mt 11: 25-30

Today we celebrate the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the fount of love, the most symbolic expression of our relationship with God. The great devotion that we have for the Sacred Heart, has come from and passed through immense experience of God's love in a concrete manner. Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque was chosen as the champion and apostle for this devotion and today we have a treasure in its form, to reflect upon, to learn from, and to attach ourselves to.

The Sacred Heart symbolises...

1. The Covenant: God's initiative in love towards humanity, towards you and me. The heart reminds us of the covenant we have with the Lord - to belong to the Lord, to be people of the Lord! (First Reading)

2. The Compassion: God's continued relationship filled with compassion towards us. The compassion which calls us to 'come and rest'; the wounded, scarred, pierced heart, offers to heal, soothe and fill our hearts. (Gospel Reading)

3. The Commitment: God's invitation to imitate the total, self giving love of God. Loving one another is a commitment, not merely a sentiment or a wishful feeling. It is a concrete commitment towards the over-all well being of each other. Only when we love are we born of God's love, if not our very sonship or daughtership in relation to God becomes null and void. (Second Reading)

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, fill us with the same love that your heart burns with - Amen.

WORD 2day: 26th June, 2014

Forming an integral part of the Divine Design

2 Kgs 24: 8-17; Mt 7: 21-29

Prophecies, prodigies, spectacles or splendid preaching... nothing can replace doing what God really wants of me. The fundamental attitude required of me here is the clarity that it is not my enterprise, but God's Will that will finally work and that it alone will give me a sense of true meaning and satisfaction.

The first reading presents to us an experience that is called the Watershed of the History of Israel...the Babylonian Exile! The people went through a tough period in their life... out of their homeland and others separated from their dear ones, the artisans and all other capable in a strange land while the rest languished in slavery in their own land with a king appointed by a foreigner. The people go back in time, analyse what had gone by and find their own reasoning and in that reasoning they have a lesson to give us: when we do not regard the will of God, when we are so occupied with our plans and projects that we forget the One who is the greatest of all Master Craftsmen, when we do not really pay attention to discerning the signs of the times that manifest God's will to us at an appointed time, we are planning our own ruin. We have no dearth of examples today: the unbalanced scientific advancements, the ecological crisis, the insensitive economic growth, the rising political and social unrest...all these are candid instances of disregard of the Divine design.

Accepting the primacy of God within the universe, submitting to the mystery that forms part of the Divine Design, a respectful approach to advancement with a mind of discernment and a holistic spirituality... these are the needs of the hour in today's world. Personally, it requires that each of us develops a personal rapport with the Lord who is the author of the Divine Design, that we may live our life listening to the Lord's Word and carryout to the details the holy and eternal will of God for each of us and for the entire humanity!

WORD 2day: 25th June, 2014

Living our life from the Core of our Being

2 Kgs 22: 8-13, 23: 1-3; Mt 7: 15-20

By the fruits will the trees be known; by our actions will we be known! Let your actions speak for what you believe and stand witness for what you say! That was not merely the way that Jesus taught, but it was the way Jesus lived. He had no dichotomy of words and deeds, of beliefs and expressions, or of principles and priorities. He himself was able to say, even if you dont believe in me, believe in my works (cf. Jn 10:38). This was possible because Jesus lived his life from the core of his being. In the core of his being he knew how he and the Father were united in their vision and their mission. Hence, living from that core of his being he was able to live a life that was absolutely divine amidst all challenges.

The first reading has a wonderful symbolism to offer us, in this regard: we too possess what it takes to live such a life as that of Jesus! We have to go to the core of our being, unearth the image and likeness of God that we possess at the core, and bring it to the fore, proclaiming it to the world and installing it on a pedestal from where it rules our life and shines and glows for the others! Living our lives from the core of our being: that is the key! As St. Augustine would often say, 'an unreflected life is a wasted life'. Let us accept today the invitation to journey to the core of our being, and begin to live our life from there, bearing fruits worthy of the One who has created, called and commissioned us!

WORD 2day: 23rd June, 2014

A self-critical Conscious Choice

2 Kgs 17: 5-8, 13-15, 18; Mt 7: 1-5

Judge not, and you shall not be judged, instructs Jesus today. Not to judge others does not mean justifying whatever he or she does. Between judging the other and justifying the other there is an attitude that Jesus deems Reign-worthy and it is a Self-critical Conscious Choice.

The first need is to be self critical. When I find something wrong in the other, charity requires that I first become critical of myself... it is seeing the log that is in your eye before offering to remove the splinter from your neighbour's. Once I am aware that I too possess the same, or a similar, or a bigger weakness, my attitude changes completely. I am in a  position to act with prudence and humility.

The second need is to set the home tidy first. "Do not do like they do" ... that was the instruction that the Lord had given the people when they come into contact with other people in their wanderings. St. Paul too has a similar warning for us, isn't it? Writing to the Romans, he tells us: do not be conformed to the world, instead be transformed in the Lord (cf. Rom 12).

In short, the Word invites us today to live our daily lives conscious of who we are, what we are called for and where we are bound to! Let us take our faith seriously and live on a daily basis by sound self-critical conscious choices... the Word shall be the lamp to that path!

The Sacrament of the Self-Giving God

The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ: 22nd June, 2014

Dt 8: 2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Cor 10: 16-17; Jn 6: 51-58

It is a beautiful day to think of the most loving mystery of our faith: the Lord becoming our nourishment! God feeds his people and moreover, God feeds his people with his own self! What a mystery and how loving! One of the most beautiful and meaningful tabernacles that I have seen, I picture it so well in my mind, has a metal carving of a pelican mother, pecking her breast to tear her flesh open and feed her young ones with her own blood dripping from her body. Such a beautiful image to refer to Sacrament contained in that sanctum sanctorum. It is from the famous Christian legend that made the early Christians adapt that symbol for Christ himself. (to read the legend click here) 

Jesus' act of giving his body and blood to the believer is in keeping with the identity of the God whom the people of Israel always believed in and experienced. The God of their faith was signified in that act and that is why, when he declared, 'I am the bread from heaven, and those who eat of me shall not die', the people were shocked; some were enraged, many others deserted him! It was indeed a hard teaching for them. But it was a fact: Jesus did give himself, his body and his blood for the everlasting life of the whole world (cf. Jn 6:51). In this act of giving his body and blood, Jesus reveals to us three profound dimensions of God.

God as a parent: God as Father and Mother, is a fabulous revelation that Jesus has made of God. It was not entirely a new dimension; the people of Israel did experience it in an intense manner. Moses reminds them of that in the first reading... he reminds them of how God walked them through the desert and provided them with the food and drink that they needed. The provident God was actually a father, a mother, a loving parent, though the people preferred to look at him only as an awesome God and an almighty God. Jesus introduced God as "Abba", "Father", a loving parent, a lover par excellence. In giving his body and blood as food, Jesus highlights this element of God, the element of nourishment of the children, the element of feeding and the element of fending for the needs of the children.

God as a friend: There is no love greater than a person laying down one's life for one's friend (Jn 15:13). Jesus taught this model and lived it to the letter. As he shared that last supper with his friends he made it very clear to them, that it was a prefigurement of what has to happen on the Cross very shortly. The bread to become his body and the wine to become his blood... we do it in memory of him right until today, in memory of that friend-God who came down to live among us, be like us and give of himself to us. Every time we break the bread, we are challenged to be friends of God, to imitate his sacrifice, to burn with the same love for  our brothers and sisters. The second reading elaborates this. Every time we raise that cup, we are reminded of that last drop of blood that came from his side, reminded us that we are called to live not merely for ourselves, but for others, for those who are in need of love and meaning in life.

God as part of us: The most difficult-to-digest dimension is this- God as part of us, God as dwelling in us! If you eat of this body, you will remain in me and I in you, says Jesus. God wants to remain in us, to dwell in us, to form part of us! God becoming part of us!?! Isn't that kind of scandalous? But that is the truth. What a difference it will make if only we realise and believe in that truth! We will come to you and make our home with you (cf Jn14:23), abide in me as I abide in you (Jn 15:4), you will abide in me and I will abide in you (cf. Jn 6:56)... we find these repeated teachings where Jesus reveals a unique dimension of a God who wishes, longs and seeks to abide, not just with us, but IN us. If we truly understand its implications and effects, we would have attained the eternal life that Jesus promises. 

As we approach this greatest gift of all, today, let us strive to experience God as our Father, our Mother, our Friend, and above all... Our God as abiding within us. And thus we shall be transformed more and more into Him.