WORD 2day: 8th January, 2015

We love, because God loves us!

1 Jn 4: 19- 5:4; Lk 4: 14-22

To love, is not an extraordinary quality; for us sons and daughters of God who is love, love has to be our essential nature! The fundamental question is not whether I am ready to love or not; it is whether I am a Christian or not! If I am a 'Christ'ian, then love has to be my second nature. Where there is no love, there is no God...where there is no God, there is no Spiritual life! True spirituality is true love.

The correlation of two readings bring out to us an all important point: to love is a charism given by the Spirit to each of us; to love is a commitment on behalf of my neighbour. That difficulties and sacrifices are involved, is a matter of fact. But that in no way can take away the call that I have: to love. We love because God loved us, God loves us and God will always love us! When we don't love the other, we not only hate them, but we conceal ourselves from the love of God, which flows freely towards you and me!

WORD 2day: 7th January, 2015

God's love surrounds us!

1 Jn 4: 11-18; Mk 6: 45-52

It was a long time ago, but the experience has not left my mind. A child, hardly 2 years, had a tumour on her face,which had grown so big that it had covered the eyes and the child could not open her eyes. Admitted in the hospital the child was crying incessantly, firstly due to pain and then due to fear, remember she was not even able to see whether there was someone standing around her. Everytime the mother put her hand into the hands of the child or on the tiny body of the child, the child would calm down and sleep; but the moment the mother took the hands off or left the side, the child never ceased crying! 

The Word today reminded me of that scene: with the Lord around, it does not matter what kind of a situation, we can go through it with calm and quietude. In the absence of the Lord, even a mole hill would appear to be a mountain and a gentle breeze a storm! Let nothing perturb you, saints used to say. 

The love of the Lord surrounds us! Let us live our moments caressed in the love of God and become signs and bearers of that love to those around us. Even those who are in the thick of darkness, unable to see anything around, would feel calm and strong, if we bring alive to them the presence of God's love in those moments of their lives. If we love one another, God remains in us!

WORD 2day: 6th January, 2015

God is Love; Who are we?

1 Jn 4: 7-10; Jn 6: 34-44

God's image among God's people was continuously evolving...first they thought God was a demanding task master, but later understood God was loving too; first they thought God was an angry God but later they found God slow to anger, abounding in love; first they thought God was an uncompromising God but later they understood he was merciful too! The evolution finds its climax in Christ, who reveals God as absolutely compassionate, profusely loving, immensely forgiving and unconditionally accepting! 

Knowing God to be such a person, is in a way a great news for us; but at the same time a big challenge. A great news because we are cared for and protected in that unbelievable love. A challenge because, if we are children of God, we need to be defined by who God is. Our God is love; hence we are called to be children of love! From the way we live our life, the world should be able to understand the kind of God we believe in. This is what is called the integrity of faith: the correlation between our faith and our living!

Now that Jesus in his compassion and in his mercy, has revealed God as love, let us ask ourselves, who are we?   

WORD 2day: 5th January, 2015

To belong and to proclaim

1 Jn 3:22 - 4:6; Mt 4: 12-17, 23-25

The texts begin to orient us towards the Baptism of Jesus, which is the next major event we would be soon commemorating. Today the Word speaks to us of two key elements: Belonging to God and  Proclaiming God! These are the two fundamental marks of identity that we should have as Christians: to belong to God and be God's children and to proclaim God and invite everyone to a life worthy of God who has gifted that life to each of us.

Belonging without proclaiming would make us dead weights burdening the faith community; proclaiming without belonging would make us false prophets and hypocrites. The order is important too: that we first belong and then we speak up. That is why we see Jesus himself first withdraw into loneliness and ascertain his belonging to the One who had sent him before he began to go around proclaiming the Good News!

Needless to say, the resonance between the personal life of belonging to the Lord and the life of commitment to ministry (ministry at various levels: family, parish, congregation, community of faith etc...)is the fundamental quality of integrity that Jesus demands of us, his disciples.

TO BE PEOPLE OF LIGHT

Solemnity of Epiphany : 4th January,  2015

Is 60: 1-6; Eph 2: 2-7 a,  5-6; Mt 2: 1-12

The Light came to the earth; the Lord came unto His own but His own received him not! We are people of the Light and that is the feast we celebrate today! The feast which reminds us that we are the people of the Revelation. God has revealed Godself to us and awaits our response.

I remember an experience that I had a few years back. Two of us were sent to pick up a priest from the railway station. This is no strange experience! How many times we would have received people in the airports and railway stations! But the twitch here was. ..we did not know the person we are going to pick up. All that we know was that we are going to pick up a middle aged priest from Mumbai who was coming to Chennai. We positioned ourselves in a prominent spot and awaited the guest as the crowd started spilling into the platform from the train. Crowds and crowds of people were passing by but we did not spot our guest. Many who were standing alongside with us waiting for their guests were gone. There was one standing beside me for quite sometime. A man with a dhoti and a white shirt with a long grey beard! He didn't even seem to be looking out for someone. The best surprise was when he asked us. ..'so are you waiting for someone from Mumbai?' We said in unison,  'yes'! And when he said. .."I am the one", we didn't know really how to react!

At times, the Lord reveals Godself but we have certain preconceived ideas that don't allow us to see the Lord. Today we are invited to be people of the light.,  that is people who live in light always,  people who are ready and prepared to receive the revelations that God wishes to give us.

The lord reveals himself to us constantly. ..first of all through extraordinary means: let's pray that God gives that gift to many of us!  But there is another way God reveals,  the ordinary means: through prayer experiences,  spiritual direction,  liturgical celebrations, etc. Let's take care when we celebrate these moments in life so that we don't miss the revelations involved.

There is the third way which is more subtle and more challenging: the Daily means.  The fact is that the Lord constantly reveals himself through every day experiences...through people we encounter, through challenging situations we face,  through successful experiments we have, through people who come to us in need,  through persons who demand our responsibility and so on. Let's open our eyes, our ears,  our hearts. ..that we may receive the Light that encounters us daily in our life.

WORD 2day: 3rd January, 2015

Resembling God
1 Jn 2:29 - 3:6; Jn 1: 29-3

The Holy Spirit,  in the form of the dove testified on behalf of Jesus that he was the Son of God. We are made the children of God and the same Spirit has to testify for us. We would be identified as children of God if and only if we resemble God our  Father and Mother.

Resembling God would mean being loving,  beyond all petty differences and being generous, beyond all calculations.

Resembling God would mean remaining with the lord- in every thought,  word and deed.

Resembling God ...let's embark on that journey as firmly as possible.

WORD 2day: 2nd January, 2015

Encountering Christ
1 Jn 2:22-28; Jn 1: 19-28

The identity of Jesus as both God and Human was a major issue of controversies in the early Church. The first reading we have today is an indication to such feuds that existed. What matters, as John so rightly points out there, is not the philosophical and theological justification of who Jesus is;  but the personal experience of the person of Christ.

John the Baptist foretold the coming of Christ and pointed out when Christ really came. His prophetic gift have him the privilege of understanding Jesus and identifying Jesus when he came. Today we would do well to pray for this grace... To identify Jesus when he comes so that the encounter may enrich our life and being meaning to it. In varied ways,  in our neighbours,  in our brothers and sisters,  specially in those who are in dire need and helplessness,  we are challenged to encounter Christ who is God but who had deigned to assume or nature and live in the poor and the oppressed!

GOD'S PRESENCE, PEACE AND EVERY BLESSING!!!

The Solemnity of the Mother of  God

Num 6:22-27; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2: 16-21

It is a fresh start, a new year, a treasure of 365 days! It is a gift, a gift in all ways: precious, beautiful, wrapped and presented. First of all, it would be too rude not to receive it as a gift. Secondly, it is wrapped...and it is important that we receive it with a sense of wonder, surprise and gratitude. Trying to know everything, in the name of predictions and presumptions, would strip it of its wonder! To approach it with a wry and dry mentality will make it devoid of its surprise. Let us approach it with gratitude and a sense of childlike curiosity, prepared to receive the gift on daily basis, one day at a time!

The greatest gift we can have, that with which we begin every new year, is the loving presence of God! The babe in the manger is a the highest gift that we can have. The Emmanuel, God with us, is the most precious gift that we can behold. That the Lord is with us fills us with hope: that whatever it be as the year unfolds day by day, we would never be alone facing it. We have the Lord with us. 

We celebrate the gift of our Lord: given through the Mother of God! The Mother of God is a gift, a reminder and a challenge to us. The Mother of God, is a gift: God gives her to us as a protector, a guide, a refuge as we begin this new year, with all its surprises. The Mother of God, is the reminder of the Word made flesh, the Lord who has cast away all distance and difference and become one like us, just to show us how much God loves us. The Mother of God is a challenge, a challenge to give, to give endlessly. She gave herself, when the Angel approached her! She gave the world the Son of God, born of a woman, when the fullness of time came. She gave that child to the Lord, offered him in the temple and offered him to the Father's work! She gave her young son, for the sake of the salvation of the world. She gave up everything and gave everything! She stands as a challenge for us today, to give, to give and never to count!

This year, which is given into our hands today, as a gift pack, will be filled with peace if we live it in the way that the Lord wants us to; after the example of our Blessed Mother. She said that yes, and she said that for her whole life, not knowing what it meant and where it will lead her. All that she was assured was, the Lord was with her. We are assured too that the Lord's presence will go with us, that the Lord's countenance with shine on us. Let us begin with hope and that will give us peace.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

May the Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

May the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

May your New year 2015 be filled with God's presence, peace and every blessing!

WORD 2day: 31st December, 2014

Thank you Lord for 2014

1 Jn 2: 18-21; Jn 1: 1-18

There is a discussion of the last hour today in the readings and indeed it is the last hour of this year! As we begin this day, let our hearts be filled with thanksgiving! The light, the true light, the Word, the Eternal word is here amidst us! Let this day be dedicated to thank the Lord for all the good that the Lord has done for us in the year that is just passing by. 

We would do well today to list the goodness that we have enjoyed from the Lord. It would do good also to list the not-so-happy experiences and find out what they have to tell us for our life. It would be wonderful if we review our lives once again today, affirm to ourselves the marks of the people of God; and resolve to do away with those that do not fit in.

There is one message that the Word wants to leave strongly in our minds, as we end this year and get ready to start a new one, and that is: "The Word has become flesh; and dwells among us!" The Lord is with us and that is the note of hope with which we await the new year! Good bye 2014!

WORD 2day: 30th December, 2014

Surrender or Manipulation? What is our disposition?

1 Jn 2: 12-17; Lk 2: 36-40

World or things of the world as opposed to the love of the Father: by now it is considered an outdated way of thinking. Indeed the dichotomy that is involved and implied is a bit old fashioned but the difference between the two choices, is real and concrete. Even our prayer for example could have within itself hidden a sense of giving more importance to the world and the things of the world instead of our love for God our Father and Mother. 

Just yesterday, there was the last minute preparation going on for a mega event, while unfortunately the forecast was for a likely cyclone showers! Immediately a group got down to pray and say, 'please stop the rain'! Praying here is something wonderful, but a subtle point to be noted here is: how prepared are we to accept the will of God in things that we have planned; instead of asking the Lord to adjust to our designs?

Whoever does the will of God remains for ever, reminds St. John in his epistle today (v.17). Prophetess Anna, or even Prophet Simeon for that matter, waited for years together, in relentless patience towards the will of God. Can we really abandon ourselves to the will of God: a surrender so beautifully symbolised by the Divine Kid in the manger these days!