THE WORD IN LENT-23

With hardened hearts
Third week in Lent: Thursday,  12th Mar, 2015
Jer 7: 23-28; Lk 11: 14-23

The world today is living a life of indifference,  an inhuman and incredible indifference, so cold and selfish. That is why in his lenten message Pope Francis warned us against it. The Word today invites us to listen to the Lord speaking, speaking through the cries of the innocent victims;, the cries of the poor,  the tears of those e who have lost their dear ones to violence and crime,  the miseries of those who have never understood the meaning of enough!

Let's beware of branding the poor as lazy,  citing fate for the miseries of some in stark contrast to the filthy affluence of others,  brushing aside the sufferings of those who are victims of injustice saying we have nothing to do with it. ..when we do all these we are closing our eyes,  shutting our ears and hardening our hearts against God! With hardened hearts we will only be against God, scattering what God wants to gather.

THE WORD IN LENT -22

The Rock foundation

Third week in Lent: Wednesday, 11th Mar, 2015

Dt 4: 1,5-9; Mt 5: 17-19

The Commandments were nothing but the expressed wish of the Lord who brought the people up to their status of God's people. The Old Testament people felt assured that when they walked in the path of the commandments, they were on the right track. At times this assurance and the anxiety to hold on to this assurance made them even highly legalistic. Though Jesus stood tooth and nail against legalism, he too respected the commands of the Lord and taught his disciples how to make it humanly possible to abide by those commandments. The expressed wish of the Father, was something sacred and holy to Jesus and he declared that they are never changing, eternal and foundational for our faith. Our faith, our rapport with the Lord, our faithfulness to God has to be based firmly on something and Jesus offers the right solution: the Word of the Lord. The Word which contains the expressed wish of the Father, the word that will never perish, is the Rock foundation on which our faith has to be established! Whoever obeys and teaches these, will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

THE WORD IN LENT -21

It's our nature to forgive

Third week in Lent: Tuesday, 10th Mar, 2015
Dan 3: 25, 34-43; Mt 18: 21-35

The Word today invites us to understand the figure of the Lord as forgiving. The Lord gives and forgives;  if not,  we would die and perish. When the Lord offered us the greatest of all gifts,  God's own image and likeness,  God gave us the very nature the God beholds. We were made like God,  little less than the angels. God forgives and so we are called to forgive. It is our nature to forgive too. When we do not forgive we are negating our very nature; we become alien to ourselves,  we turn not only ungodly but even inhuman! Let us realise the image we bear and live up to that image! Let us forgive,  not just a few times or just when it is convenient but all the time,  amidst all tribulations. Seems a needed message for the present times!

THE WORD IN LENT -20

The call to reach out!

Third week in Lent: Monday, 9th Mar, 2015

2 Kgs5:1-15; Lk 4: 24-30

"Go to the existential peripheries", invites us the Holy Father repeatedly! But why the insistence? One reason I find very close is, because for God there are no peripheries! For God every one is "chosen" in his or her own way; every place is a "chosen place" in its own manner! For God each and every person is at the centre of existence, no one at the existential peripheries, where we have pushed them to. We may brand someone 'strange', 'alien', 'outcast', 'unacceptable' or 'not-worth-relating to'... but let us understand they are at the centre of the universe that God beholds. Be it the widow of Zarephath or Naman from Aram, they were under God's care! Reaching out is a marked call of Lent, to reach out to the other in need! Reaching out means expressing God to the others. When we reach out to the so called marginalised, the so called persons in the periphery, we are actually in the footsteps of the Lord who chose to be with them, chose to be one among them. Let us reach out today, atleast to one person whom we have not considered within our circles of relationships.

THE FOLLY OF GOD

3rd Sunday in Lent: 8th March, 2015

Exo 20: 1-17; 1 Cor 1: 22-25;Jn 2: 13-25

The Crucifix is the symbol of "the foolishness of God", says St. Paul today. Where does the folly lie? In the fact that God loves humanity beyond all the limitations and defects found in it. True love not only does not hurt, but also takes the hurt on itself without any complains. 

The first readings gives us the covenant, the contract, made between the people and the Lord; and the Gospel presents to us the atrocities humanity ventured into, disrespecting all those commandments and Jesus taking the whip against them. What was happening at the temple was an outright breach of the covenant. 

The commandments given to the people ensured the right place for God and the right place for one's brothers and sisters. Both of these were at stake in the Temple as Jesus saw it, that was the reason for Jesus' anger flaring up against them: that they pushed God out of the Temple area and they push the poor and the penniless out of the bounds of the temple area. This was unacceptable to Jesus, the prophet of God, the Son  of God, the righteousness of God! 

Today, as the Lord enters our lives, our personal lives, our family lives, the life in our faith communities, the life in our societies... what would be his reaction. Just take stock: have we given the right place to God, and the right place to our brothers and sisters? 

We know, the right place or the right perspective is not the order of the day! What is the sign that the Lord poses in front of our eyes: not the whip but the Cross, the Crucifix! That is the folly of God. The love of the Lord takes the pain on itself; the crucifix reminds us that every time we hurt humanity we hurt the Lord; the recent inhumanities perpetrated, the rising crimes against women to be seriously thought of today as we keep the International Women's Day, the hurts against the helpless children... the world stands in need of repentance and conversion!

The folly of God, the crucifix alone can drive home the true lesson: love until it hurts! Love never hurts!  

THE WORD IN LENT -18

The  Prodigal Father
Second week in Lent: Saturday,  7th Mar, 2015.
Mic 7: 14-15, 18-20; Lk 15: 11-32

I have always loved this version of the interpretation which says it was not as much the Son who was prodigal with his money as the Father who was prodigal with his mercy. I love it not merely because it sounds rather novel,  but because that seems more likely the point that Jesus wanted to draw-the unconditional and limitless mercy of God.

God offers to cast our sins deep in the ocean,  the ocean of God's  love and mercy. The Word invites us to focus on the right perspective of Christian living... an optimism of continual renewal and unconditional acceptance. Oh how blessed and loved we are!

THE WORD IN LENT -17

Do not Kill

Second week in Lent: Friday,  6th Mar, 2015

Gen e 7: 3-4, 12-17 a,  17-28b; Mt 21: 33-43, 45-47

There is a common phrase in today's readings: come let us kill him! At times we target a helpless individual just because the person is different from us or thinks different from us. Inspite of knowing well that the person is right and just, we tend to gang up against the person merely because he or she is an hindrance to our way of thinking or our way of being. Our words,  or judgements,  the remarks we pass,  the comments we circulate can be really killing the person, worse even than sentencing the person to death. Character assassinations, insensitive treatment of persons,  selfish manipulation of individuals and exploitations of all types are some ways we do away with persons around us! 

THE WORD IN LENT -16

The Blessings that Blind

Second week in Lent: Thursday, 5th Mar, 2015

Jer 17: 5-10; 16: 19-31

At times I used to wonder what mistake did that rich man do? And in what way he is responsible for Lazarus' misery? In no way is he responsible, but he is responsible for his attitude towards Lazarus. That he did not care to even see the miseries of the person right at the foot of his table, looking for the crumbs - oh, what a gross insensitivity, sheer blindness! And the worst of all, that blindness comes from his blessings, the abundance that he had for himself. The Blessings blinded him. 

Just recently someone was sharing his disappointment that some people take up to ministry in high spirits but soon with the inflow of money they lose the original spirit and make it a business. And the person concluded, the blessings blind them! St. Paul reminds us: what do you have that you have not received? (1Cor 4:7). The blessings should make us more grateful and more sensitive; it can blind us to those in need around us - within the family, in the neighbourhood, in our workplaces, in our known circles and even outside the immediate circle! 

Let our blessings make us more aware of those in need!

THE WORD IN LENT -15

The Reign Mode

Second Week in Lent: Wednesday, 4th Mar, 2015

Jer 18: 18-20; Mt 20: 17-28

The readings today present to us the stark contrast between the Jesus' way of thinking and the Worldly terms of thinking. Jesus' way of thinking is Reign mode of thinking; thinking of the primacy of God, thinking of the framework of love, thinking of the criterion of service, thinking of the fullness of life of all! The Worldly mode of thinking is thinking of one's gains at all cost, thinking of one's comfort mindless about the struggles of others, thinking of scaling the ladder and not serving my brothers and sisters, thinking of every one and every situation as an opportunity for my own gains! 

Each of us can judge for ourselves, in which mode we live our life today. Or some times the modes may be off and on, that is occasionally we may have the two of them alternating between themselves; but what is the predominant mode and when are we going to clearly switch to the Reign Mode? St. Paul instructs in his letter to the Philippians: 'Put on the mind of Christ' (2:5).

THE WORD IN LENT -14

LET YOUR CHOICES BE YOURS

Second week in Lent: Tuesday, 3rd Mar, 2015

Is 1: 10, 16-20; Mt 23: 1-12

Let no one be responsible for your judgments, your behaviours, your decisions and your choices! That is what Jesus meant when he said, let no one be your father or master here on earth. For a Hebrew, father would mean that person who decides everything for you! You have nothing else to say, because the father's decision is final. The master is some one who holds a total authority over you; what he decides to be right has to be right for you; what he decides to be desirable has to be desirable for you! The point that Jesus is making here is that, a person will be responsible for one's own choices. It is no more the case that a person does something or decides on something and passes the blame on to some one else: his or her father, or generations before, or persons in authority. Let each one take responsibility for one's own choices, challenges the Word today. Your choices determine your destiny, apart from the all pervading love that is God. It is this love that has invested us with such a great personal will and freedom, using which we are challenged to choose God and all that pertains to God.