THE WORD IN LENT -3

Choosing Joy

Friday after Ash Wednesday: 20th February, 2015
Is 58: 1-9a; Mt 9: 14-15

What is the purpose of fasting... what do you think? Some one remarked to me, I wish to come down by atleast 10 kilos at the end of the lent! Another one said, the next forty days will help my diabetes! What is your purpose...why do you fast?

What if you fasted the whole day and because of it you get irritated and frown on every one whom you come across? What if you prayed for a long three hours and on coming out you lose your head on the first person you meet! 

Fasting should make us more controlled; it should make us more detached; more calm and serene! It should fill us with joy that comes from the fact that we have participated in the sufferings of the Lord, not proud of it or haughty about it! Fasting cannot be for feeding one's ego and a means of self-justification. Fasting is a choice, a choice for joy, the joy that comes from Christ, the joy that gave the apostles the courage to go on inspite of the threats and dangers. 

THE WORD IN LENT -2

Choosing Life

Thursday after Ash Wednesday: 19th February, 2015

Dt 30: 15-20;Lk 9: 22-25

The Word today invites us to choose life. Choosing life is to choose the author of life, instead of the spices of life. Those which add taste and colour to life are good but not essential to live. We would be highly mistaken if we give them the priority place in our life. Life is all about choices and choices are made at every instance in life... every word that I choose to say, every thought I entertain, every deed that I choose to do should manifest a will and a commitment to promote life, and life to the full of everyone!

IT'S LENT AGAIN

Ash Wednesday: 18th February, 2015

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Cor 5: 20 - 6:2; Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18

It's the holy season of Lent again: Happy Lent! Don't consider that a strange wish! Lent is meant to be a happy season: it is no season of mourning, but a happy season of a return to home, from all the wandering. If this season has to move towards a fruitful direction, then we have to heed to the four fold call that Lent has...

LISTEN to the Word: the first call is to listen to the Word. Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, says the Lord. We have to make it a habit of listening to the Word of the Lord on a daily basis. Lent can be a training, a tuning into that habit.

ENCOUNTER the Lord: In the Word, in the daily events, in the people whom we meet, in the people whom we don't like to meet, in those whom we avoid on purpose, we are called to encounter the Lord. An encounter is more than just a coming across; it is bouncing into someone, beholding the person in all entirety and building up a positive loving relationship!

NURTURE relationships: We believe that Lord Our God is fundamentally a unity of three persons. The season invites us to come in touch with the Lord, through various means -to nurture the relationships that we have received from the  Lord. By the very image and likeness we bear and by the gift we have received at our baptism, we are called to be people who value and treasure relationships, with God and with others.

TRANSFORM yourself: The ultimate call is transformation. Conversion, Repentance, Return, Reconcile, Change... we would hear these words more often these days. The Lord invites us to pass through this period of reflection and self evaluation, that we may come out with concrete plans of action that would transform our lives. 

May this lent be a blessed moment of Listening to the Word, Encountering the Lord on a daily basis, Nurture our relationship with the Lord and Transform our lives into those which become lovely offerings in the presence of the Lord. May these weeks of prayer and spiritual practices, mould and transform us into more convinced children of God.

WORD 2day: 17th February, 2015

The dangerous leaven
Gen 6: 5-8, 7: 1-5, 10; 1 Mk 8: 14-21

The Lord invites us,  as God's people to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Another significant role the Lord assigns to us is to be the leaven of goodness; the yeast of the Reign. Today he warns us of a danger that we become a leaven of insincerity,  compromises,  mediocrity and hypocrisy. Even though we may not outwardly choose to be blatantly evil,  we may live a life of double or multiple standards,  a life of total discrepancy; that life would not only be unfit for Reign,  it would be dangerously against the Reign.

We begin the the holy season of lent tomorrow and what a time to impress on our minds this concrete message! 

WORD 2day: 16th February, 2015

The True offering: the inner spirit
Gen 4: 1-15, 25; 8: 11-13

I remember from my childhood memories that we heard the story as Cain brought some rotten fruits and leftovers while Abel brought the best of the firstlings from his flock. But notice, there is nothing said in the Word that Cain's offering was rotten;  yes, it was not acceptable, but not because it was not of international standards or of the best known quality. However the question from the Lord gives us the reason Cain's offering was abominable: because of the heart with which it was offered. His heart was probably filled with envy,  pride and malice and that renders even the best of gifts worthless.

The Gospel presents another scene where Jesus is upset with the Pharisees and the Scribes. So many had asked him for healing and miracles...he had no issues with them. But today when they ask for a sign he is worked up. ..the reason is simple: what lay in their heart as they asked for it.  Feelings of animosity, pride,  envy and hypocrisy.

When we come to the presence of the Lord to pray,  let us check our inner disposition first. Are we worthy to behold the presence of the Lord?

LIVE LIFE CHRIST-LIKE : II

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 15th February, 2015

Levi 13: 1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31- 11:1;Mk 1: 40-45

There was a lay missionary, a doctor by profession who passed through a village once. He stayed with the people, treated them for their sicknesses, dealt with them with compassion and after a while he moved on to the next village. The wonderful memories of that doctor never left the minds of that village. After a couple of decades a missionary preacher came to the same village. He began talking to the people in the village squares and market places. All that he asked them was: Do you know Jesus? Many said, 'No' and moved away. One old man stopped and asked him: "alright, tell me what kind of a man is that Jesus you are enquiring about!" The missionary was indeed waiting for that question. He began: Oh, he is kind, he is loving, he is compassionate, he is caring, he deals with the sick with such love...he was intending to go on, but that old man stopped him. "Now, if that is the man you are talking about, we know him! He passed by our village some 20 years back!" 

We are called to reflect on living our life Christ like, for a second consecutive week! The message is same as last week: to live like Christ. And the readings today highlight three attributes to Christ's life.

- Christ lived for Others: Just yesterday the atmosphere was filled with red vibes, as many frenetically celebrated the valentines day! How many messages about love- defining what it is, describing how great it is, demonstrating how much one is immersed in it. Love does not need so many commentaries. It can just be understood in that simple classical definition: Love is wishing the good of the other. Placing the other before myself, genuinely interested in the other's well being...that is love. Christ was love personified. He lived his life for others, entirely.

- Christ lived for the Marginalised: Pope Francis has a concrete, unavoidable point to make, when he repeats : Go to the periphery! He invites us to live life Christ-like. Today's first reading tells us where the persons with leprosy lived: ostracised, in the peripheries, in the obscurity of humanity. If they were able to come to Jesus, it actually means Jesus went to those peripheries, those margins of the society. Jesus reached out to those in need, those in agony, those in the periphery. It is easy to love people who deserve our love; it is easy to love people who will love us in return; but it is Christian to love everyone, even those from whom we will receive nothing, not even the recognition of our love in return.

- Christ lived for God: When a reporter commented to Mother Teresa, looking at the dirtiest tasks that she was involved in, like washing the wounds and wiping the puss: 'Mother, even if they gave me a million dollars I would not be able to do this!', the Blessed of Kolkata seemed to have said: 'Even for a couple of those million dollars, I would not do this. I do this for the Christ whom I see in these faces'. Whether you eat or drink, do everything for the glory of God, invites St. Paul. Christ did all that he did, said all that he said, was all that he was, because it was God's will for him. That is the lesson for us too.

Living our life Christ like is challenging indeed. But if we strive with all our heart, sincerely and humbly, we too will be able to tell the world as did St. Paul: Be imitators of me as I am of Christ! (1 Cor 11:1). Will I ever grow to that level?

THE WORD AND THE EVENT

Love is Compassion
Gen 3: 9-24; Mk 8: 1-10

Sts. Cyril and Methodius are pitifully overshadowed today by the celebration of the Valentines Day! However the day and coincidentally, the readings give us an insight into true love.

The first reading tells us what true love is not! The serpent seemed all concerned about the first couple. ..it actually was not! Eve seemed to be eager to give Adam every thing good she had... she actually was not. She was only adding an accomplice to her act of curiosity. Adam seemed all 'obedient' to Eve. .. he actually was not. He was only intent on passing the blame and washing his hands off. That in no way is Love.

The Gospel presents to us the Love in action. The Lord felt compassion for the people. Without their asking he came forward to feed them. He was willing to put at stake all (7 loaves) that they had. This was only symbolic of the real Salvific Love we see in the Lord: God loved us first;  God came forward to save us;  God did not keep anything back,  not even God's only Son!  That is Love.

Let the Lord alone be our model in love;  a love that gives to the full without reserve or with nothing to receive!

WORD 2day : 13th February, 2015

Beware of half truths
Gen 3:1-8; Mk 7: 31-37

We see a striking similarity in the claims of both the Satan and the Lord, in the the Word today. Do what I say and your eyes will be opened,  says the serpent. Ephatha, Be opened, says the Lord to the deaf ears of the man. Both take place...but one opens to fullness of life and the other to destruction of life.

Today in our situations of daily life we don't  deliberately choose the evil,  the lie,  the destruction of life... we are deceived by the look-alikes. The evil one taunts us with lies which look like truth,  while they are really half truths. Half truths are more dangerous than the plain lies; they can make one walk one's own way to perdition. It is important that we remain faithful to the truths taught to us,  clarify them further and deepen them instead of being carried away by the fancy teachings and fantastic claims.

WORD 2day : 12th February, 2015

One God;  One Humanity
Gen 2: 18-25; Mk 7: 24-30

Man - woman, we-they,  rich-poor, high-low... these categories of daily consideration of people,  things and  events is something to be transcended. Jesus himself receives a lesson from that syro phoenecian woman.

At times people are apprehensive about inter religious dialogue or multi religious initiatives. They prefer to look at the other as different,  separate or even contrary. If we truly mean what we say and what we pray: I believe in One God - then I need to become more and more proactive and look at the reality as One Humanity!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Our Lady of Lourdes- the fullness of grace
Gen 2:4b-9, 15-17; Mk 7: 14-23

Can Jesus be more plain? However the point he is making is not about what is to be eaten and what not...but what is the right disposition that justifies a person;  his or her choices,  habits and behaviour. What matters most,  Jesus declares, is the internal disposition of a person, and not the external appearance.

Celebrating Our Lady of Lourdes today, we are inspired to thank God for the great gift of her person and the fullness of grace that she possessed. In her maternal love she communicates that grace to the entire humanity. Today not just we,  but even the world at large remembers as the world day of health. Our prayer today is that we journey intently towards that fullness that God challenges us to.