A King with a difference!

Solemnity of Christ the King: 23rd November, 2014

Ez 34: 11-12, 15-17; 1 Cor 15: 20-26, 28; Mt 25: 31-46

Christ the King Sunday marks the beginning of the last week of the Liturgical year and thus it serves as a fitting culmination of the year, a climax to end the year with. The one whose birth, life, death and resurrection that we remembered and celebrated all through this liturgical year, is our King.

We celebrate our King today, our King who is madly in love with us, our King who had given up everything for the sake of the love that he had for us, our King who even today is ready to give up on anything, all just for the love that he has for us. Our King, definitely, is different from the rest of the kings we can think or see around. To be served, to have authority over all, to rule over all and to hoard as much as possible for oneself: these are what being a king would mean today. We are a privileged lot because we have a King who is a contrast to all these !

The King we have is a Shepherd King: he comes in search of us, strains himself for our good, provides for our needs, binds our wounds, leads us, directs us, feeds us, nourishes us, defends us and does everything necessary for our peaceful and happy life. None of us can ever deny the fact that we have the protecting and providing hand of God hovering over us, because without that we would find our life tough and sometimes even terrible. 

The King we have is a Servant King: it is strange that our king, kind of depends on us. All that he is concerned about is so much to rule us as to serve us. He wishes that we feed him, clothe him, console him... he says he depends on us! What sort of a king is he who depends on his subjects, a king who wants his subjects to give him to eat, who identifies himself with his subjects who are in want and in dire need. What sort of a king is he who feels sad when his subjects are sad, feels abandoned when his subjects are left to suffer alone, feels neglected when his subjects are left without no one to care for. Truly he is a servant king, who desires that we play his role, take his side and be his ambassadors when there are our brothers and sisters who are in hunger, in need, in dire want, in loneliness, in suffering!

The King we have is a Sovereign King: every knee shall bow and every tongue confess the he is King and he is Lord! The dependence that we see is not a sign of weakness, it is the very nature of our King and Lord who is a relational Being; God who is a community, God who is three persons, in relationship with each other, and defines what right relationships should be like. He orders the movements of the planets and the heavenly bodies but gives each of his sons and daughters, a divine freedom that fills them with respect and dignity. We are given a royal identity, that we belong to the Sovereign king.

We have a King who is all powerful, governs every aspect of this universe, but when it comes to his love for us, he loves us so tenderly that he look so weak like a servant, so humble like a shepherd and yet none can deny that Sovereign that he is!

WORD 2day: 22nd November, 2014

The God of the Living

Rev 11: 4-12; Lk 20: 27-40

The God of the living: that is how Jesus presents his God and Father, and our God and Father. Resurrection is the foundation of our conviction that our life is not merely made of the few years that we spend on this earth. Our life is part of the Eternal Stream, that is God and we have but a few years here on earth. We come from and we are meant for a union that is eternal and all our efforts during this life has to be towards ensuring that union for ever. 

What would be the fall out if we had this truth right in front of our minds while we live? We would not unnecessarily fret to make ourselves comfortable at the cost of the other. We would not long to possess something or someone, leading to undue striving to control the other and manipulate situations. We would not harm others or harm the nature just because at present we would like to make more money or make life more easy. We would not calculate everything in terms of gain and profit and dividends and surplus.

Should we wait for a terrifying moment to repent and reset our values? Jesus offers us a wonderful criterion: the criterion of Resurrection. Live as Resurrection-people; live as people of the Eternity; live as people who really believe that your life does not end here and now; live as people of the God of the living!

WORD 2day: 21st November, 2014

Sweet in the mouth; bitter in the stomach

Rev 10: 8-11; Lk 19: 45-48

Jesus was attractive; people rallied after him so willingly and readily. He was interesting to listen to; so many pharisees and scribes hung on to his lips. He was famous; the mere name drew not just crowds but even prominent persons like Zachaeus. He had charming ways; even Herod wanted to see him atleast once! All these were true only in as much as they all looked at Jesus from a distance. When Jesus got near...he turned demanding.

The people came to him and he challenged them to live a life of destitution, with no place to even lay their heads. The people listened to him and he called them whitewashed sepulchers, inviting them to true personal conversion. Individuals approached him and he challenged them to total reformation of their personal and public lives. The people led him with such celebration into the city of Jerusalem and he enters the Temple and drives out the vendors and money lenders.  

The Lord's promises are sweet, but when we take it to heart they are demanding. If we truly listen to the Word of God, we cannot remain the same forever, we would be challenged to change, to transform, to become more and more like the Lord himself. The Word may be sweet in the mouth; but for sure it will be bitter in the stomach, churning the unwanted elements out and paving way towards the Reign 

WORD 2day: 20th November, 2014

Smile upon or Weep over!

Rev 5:1-10; Lk 19: 41-44

The Gospels picture Jesus as weeping, in two places: once in John (11:35); and the other is the passage we have today from Luke (19:41). In the first instance he wept for his friend; and today he is weeping for Jerusalem, that is the chosen people of God, the people called to come under the wings of the Lord who wanted to protect them all as a hen does to her chicks. But the people weren't prepared. Jesus wept thinking of their obstinacy, their choice against God's plan of salvation! 

In the first reading we have another instance of weeping: John who weeps for the fact that there was no one worthy to open the scrolls. Opening the scrolls means being the mediator between God's ever present love and our absolute need for that merciful love. There is one who is worthy: Jesus, the Son of God...the One mediator who revealed to us who God really is to us and what we are called to be. In our obstinacy we can remain in our shells and do what pleases us, instead of opening our hearts and letting Jesus in. We can be so hardhearted that we can miss out the greatest treasures presented to us, in simple and ordinary ways, everyday.

Let us not be people over whom Jesus would have to weep. Being sensitive to the messages that Lord gives us on a daily basis, through the Word, through the daily events, through persons we encounter, through the insights that dawn on us... we will be prepared to receive the Lord and the love of God that he mediates. Let the Lord smile upon us, not weep over us!

WORD 2day: 19th November, 2014

Called to Praise the Lord

Rev 4: 1-11; Lk 19: 11-28

John impresses upon us how important and essential it is for us, as creatures of the Creator Almighty, to give praise to our Lord and King. Praising God - can never be done enough and it is always in want, in contrast to the boundless glory that the Lord possesses! The Word today distinguishes among three types of people who give praise to the Lord:

The first are the Psuedo Praisers: who praise the Lord with their tongues but are far away in spirit from the Lord. They are those who deceive themselves putting up a mere show of their allegiance to God, while in fact are all the while doing their own will. Wantonly, they make of themselves people unfit for the Reign.

The second are the Pointless Praisers: who think praising the Lord alone is enough to inherit the Reign. Their praising is pointless, in fact the Lord himself had declared: 'not all those who call me Lord Lord, will enter the Reign of God' (cf. Mt 7:21). Ultimately, they fall short of entering the Reign. 

The third are the Profound Praisers: who do not consider praising the Lord as a duty in itself. Their very words, actions and life gives praise to the Lord. Their witness leads, not only themselves, but even those around them to praise the Lord to the heights. They live their life to the full, and seeing their lives, people are inspired to give praises to their King and Lord. These are the People of the Reign, true and profound in their praise.

WORD 2day: 18th November, 2014

Letting Jesus enter our homes
Rev 3: 1-6, 14-22; Lk 19: 1-10

To welcome Jesus into our homes: that is the task given to us by the Word today. Obviously when Jesus comes its a blessing - 'today salvation has come into this house' (Lk 19:9).   But it is more than that, a Challenge: 'because you are neither cold nor hot, i will spit you' (cf. Rev 3:16). Once he comes, things cannot remain the same! You cannot remain both dead and alive at the same time; hot and cold at the same time; or belonging and not belonging to the Lord at the same time!

You have to make a choice and choices are all! Like Zachaeus who not only changed from his old ways but made up even for the mistakes, for his wrong doings and every thing that made others' lives less happy, we would be called to make some drastic choices. The choice is ours - to keep to our old ways or to let Jesus enter our homes. The home that he enters, the hearts where he resides...will be marked by the choices, or the Choice 'to be blameless and holy before him' (Eph 1:4).

WORD 2day: 17th November, 2014

WORD 2day: 17th November, 2014

Lord, that I may see again!
Rev 1:1-4, 2:1-5; Lk 18: 35-43

Repent and get back to your original ways, invites the first reading today. With a plenty of good will and an abundance of spirit we begin something new and good... just imagìne the day of our first communion, for some confirmation, for some others the day of  religious consecration and for others the day of your wedding! But in a short while the energy drains, the spirit goes faint and a mere good will becomes drastically insufficient. The reason: we are not attentive enough to note the initial changes that happen...we remain so insensitive to what is happening within us that we are caught unawares at much crucial time. That is why the prayer today: "Lord grant that we may see again!" (Cf. Lk 18:41).

Staying in touch with the Lord keeps us in touch with ourselves, to constantly check our pride, insensitivities, arrogance, unforgiving attitude, judgmental tendencies, loose talks and compromises against true love: these are the blindnesses that set in! We become so blind that we do not even realise what sad levels we have reached. And it is the Lord alone who can restore the original spirit by enabling us to see... empowering us to realise and restart... "make us see again!" We are reaching the end of this liturgical year...and it is time now that each of us make it our prayer: Lord, that I may see again!

WORD 2day: 15th November, 2014

True Christian Love
3 Jn 5-8; Lk 18: 1-8

Taking care of strangers, widows and the orphans was a special commission given to the people by God. And that was an experiential learning on the part of the people who were themselves strangers, orphans and sojourners.

The term stranger or foreigner was indicative of every one in need, people in insecure circumstances. Today we have every category you can ever think of within this definition of the people in need. The exploited, the immigrants, the refugees, the unemployed and the homeless: today we have a responsibility towards this part of humanity. Pope Francis leads us in this true Christian love!

WORD 2day: 14th November, 2014

Being progressive or keeping the law?
2 Jn 4-9; Lk 17: 26-37

Commandments make it easy for us to choose the right things in life. Jesus makes it further simple by simplifying that commandments themselves to: LOVE.

The readings these days portray a sense of urgency running the fag ènd of the the Liturgical year. We are invited to think about our choices and the single mindedness of our life. At times we feel bad to obey a commandment or keep a law as  part of our spirituality, because we think it undermines our "progressive" thinking and capacity for mature commitments. But maturity infact lies in Informed Convictions and Single minded Perseverance. And the way to it: listening to the Lord and living our daily in  God's light.

WORD 2day: 13th November, 2014

To be or not to be... a Reign-person.
Phlm 7-20; Lk 17: 20-25

Paul does not request or exhort Philemon to forgive and accept Onesimus. He almost commands and takes for granted that it is done. This is because forgiveness, love and union of hearts are no more options to choose from. They are to be the very way of life, because: the Reign of God is amidst us.

Misunderstandings between husband and wife, misgivings between the families, the bitter experience of past, nothing of these can give me an excuse to remain stubborn in my shell and refuse to build communion. That would be considered an anomaly.  There is no more a sense magnanimity in forgiving... it is after all what I am expected to do, the normal way of being... because the Reign of God is within me!

In short, there is no choice between living a Christian or not on a daily basis... I am either a Reign-person or an anti Reign person... the choice is mine!