WORD 2day: 28th November, 2014

Signs of the times...

Rev 20: 1-4, 11- 21:2; Lk 21: 29-33

One of the key terms introduced by the second Vatican Council is "signs of the times" and the Council itself tried its best to be true to the spirit of that term. The Council challenged the faithful and the church as a whole to learn to read the signs of the times and respond to it.

We think today that signs from the Lord are few and far between. The truth instead is, the signs abound: in our daily lives, through things that happen around us, through persons who live with us, those who live worthy lives, those who suffer for no cause of theirs, those who are oppressed, those who have scores and scores of woes to meet on a daily basis, through the  crisis we see in the nature around us, through the humanity that is pushed into a hue and cry that is so artificial and human made... there are signs aplenty. 

Our responsibility is two fold: first to learn to gather these signs, as coming from the Lord! Secondly to act upon it, respond to it, regardless of the risks and the sacrifices that are involved. We are so negligent in this second part that we habituate ourselves to become blind to the signs that are around.

Whether we gather them or not, respond to them or not, they are there! We would do well as true sons and daughters of the Reign, if we are present to them and through them strive to build the Reign here on earth. 

WORD 2day: 27th November, 2014

Judgment: our choice!

Rev 18: 1-2, 21-23, 19:1-3, 9A; Lk 21:20-28

Happy are those who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb...the final banquet, the moment of redemption...the end of days, the judgment seat... these are the pictures that the Word paints before our eyes today. These are not some horror stories or shake-up narrations. They are logical ends towards which we are all journeying. 

In fact, it need not be always an end time phenomenon, instead it has to be an everyday experience...the judgment is a continuous happening and it is not entirely an act of the Lord; the choices that we make at any given point of time, at any moment of a given day, the choice of words, thoughts, actions, decisions...that is the judgment we bring upon ourselves (cf. Jn 3:18).

We are all called to the wedding feast, that is to unite with the Lord and enjoy the eternal bliss. But the choices we make on a daily basis, at a particular point of time, is our response and that decides whether we enter the banquet or not. Hence, instead of yarning tales of suspense and horror, let us realise our responsibility in making right choices: Judgement is our choice, indeed!

WORD 2day: 26th November, 2014

Perseverance...!?!

Rev 15:1-4; Lk 21: 12-19

Perseverance in terms of targets and achievements in the world is holding on endlessly. The same, when it comes to our relationship with God is giving up limitlessly. It is to give up totally into the hands of God, regardless of the successes or failures, gains or losses, happiness or sadness, prosperity or misery! Faith is all about giving up everything and walking with our hands in the hands of God. Indeed it's a challenging feat.

WORD 2day: 25th November, 2014

Curiosity or care to change?
Rev 14: 14-19 ; Lk 21: 5-11

When will these things happen?  We are more interested in knowing when certain things will happen and curious about predictions and premonitions,  than understanding what is the right thing to be done and make the right moves in life at the right time.

Mistakenly we postpone the necessary and crucial transformations in life for an opportune time which sometimes does not come at all or it gets too late by the time they come by.  The month of November insists on the urgency that is involved in personal conversion and community dedication to growth and maturity in faith. And specially this season leading us to the season of advent gives us a better understanding of the end time spirituality that we are called to live in these times.

Mindful of the short time that we have, we have a calling to live: live our lives to the full, here and now.

WORD 2day: 24th November, 2014

Good people or God's people?
Rev 12:1-3, 4b-5; Lk 24: 42-45

The posters with politicians doling out their "generous" gifts to the unfortunate lot,  the numerous NGOs scripting out projects for the eradication of social evils for decades and decades together, the so called social activists voicing the woes of the downtrodden. .. These are today common scenes in any society. People who do good and claim to do good, do it with various intentions and it is that which makes all the difference.

One thing is to be known as people who do good and the other is to be people of God. Doing good has no end to it and is evaluated in its quantity, in the volume of the good we do. Being God's people is in a way simpler and in another way a bit more demanding. Simpler because it does not matter what you do and how much you do but with how much of love you do whatever you do!  More demanding because even a slight intention of selfishness or vain glory can negate the true effect of the good that is done. 

To be marked as people of God is to belong to God and to put our whole self and all we have at the disposal of the One who gave it all to us. It is important to be people who do good,  but more important it is to be people of God.

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.