WORD 2day: As in Jerusalem, so in Rome. ..

Thursday,  VII week of Easter: 21st May, 2015
Acts 22:30 - 23: 6-11; Jn 17: 20-25

Just out of one danger, Paul is promised more of them! Courage! says the Lord. We can live our life with courage and confidence because the Lord goes before us. Just as the Lord promises today to Paul,  it will be as in Jerusalem also in Rome, and in every other place. .. for the Lord precedes us wherever we may go.

All that we need to do is remain united,  remain one,  witness to the oneness we see between the Father and the Son. Jesus continues to pray that we may be one because that would be the first witness to the Reign that he longed to establish on earth.

Jesus promises us the glory that God alone can give,  that comes from the perfection of being one! That determination,  that decision to remain before the world one and bold,  will be the work of the Spirit who is the fellowship between the Father and the Son. Wherever we are,  let us be aware and convinced that we possess the glory that the Lord has promised, and live up to that glory,  to that gift,  to that person who has called us as one.

WORD 2day : The Spirit that makes us One

Wednesday,  VII week of Easter: 20th May, 2015
Acts 20: 28-38; Jn 17: 11b-19

From parting mood to prayer mode... today the readings capture both Jesus and Paul praying for and praying with their beloved followers. They invoke the Spirit who unites and warn the followers of the spirit of discord.

The passages today give us a cue as to how we can discern the right move in the face of differences among us. Be it in a family or in a community of faithful,  given the fact that we are thinking individuals,  there is bound to arise differences of opinion. As long as they are from the Spirit these differences will only lead to growth and renewal. But we are warned against the differences caused by the ravenous wolves and treacherous beasts. Ruled by ego and dominated by envy,  these differences are aimed at destroying the unity of the people of God.

What comes from the Spirit unites us,  for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit that makes us one! Let us remain in the Spirit and remain united in love above everything else. May we live worthy of the prayer that Jesus made for us: that they may be one!

WORD 2day: The One Spirit

Tuesday,  VII week of Easter: 19th May,  2015
Acts 20: 17-27; Jn 17: 1-11

We see both Paul and Jesus in a parting mood;  Paul is sensing an imminent trouble and Jesus is sure of a fast approaching end. But both have a sense of having completed the task given to them. Apart from that both have a note of passing on the mission to those around them - Paul to the presbyters and Jesus to the apostles. There is one thing in both cases that ensures the continuity: the One Spirit.

The same Spirit that was in Jesus,  he gave to his apostles,  to Paul and then Paul to the elders...the Spirit of courage and strength. As Paul would explain in 2 Tim 1:7, the Spirit of power,  of love and of self discipline. Power, which makes us fearless;  love which makes feel for the others;  and self discipline which enables us to do the will of the One who calls us,  come what may!

WORD 2day: Spirit of the Conqueror

Monday,  VII week of Easter: 18th May,  2015

Acts 19:1-8; Jn 16: 29-33

No one probably understood Jesus when he was around. They were only making their guesses,  putting together things that they saw,  the things they heard and the things that were being reported. Today,  as many other times Jesus confronts them with the truth! When the disciples presume that they knew and understood what Jesus was saying,  Jesus makes them realise their folly and their weakness - not out of despise - but out of genuine concern.

They still had not known the Spirit,  as those men of Ephesus whom we come across in the first reading. Jesus introduces to them and speaks to us of the continuous presence of God,  which is the indwelling Spirit. It is with the coming of the Spirit that the apostles come to understand Jesus and Him,  they become conquerors.

We are invited today to contemplate this Spirit of the Lord, who will make of us too: conquerors of the world and all its viles.

THE LORD GOES... TO BE

Ascension of the Lord: 17th May, 2015

Acts 1:1-11; Eph 4: 1-13; Mk 16:15-20

Ascension. The Lord goes up, the Lord goes up to his Father, to the One who sent him, to the one who had given him a mission to accomplish! The Lord goes up, but has he accomplished?

The Lord goes up, with the PROMISE OF THE FATHER: I am going, but you remain! 

I am going says the Lord; but assures that he will not abandon us totally. The Lord will give us an helper who would fill us with the same passion and fire that was in the Son of God. The promise is so concrete and sure, that the next step depends on that. They would be told to do what they have to do. And then it happens...the promise of the Father, crying out to the apostles, to us: you are my beloved sons and daughters, today I have begotten you in my Son! It is the promise of the Father as we read in the Book of Joel (chapter 2) that the Father will fill us with the Spirit!

The Lord goes up, with a PARTING MESSAGE: I am going, You too go!

Go and be my witnesses! Go proclaim my message! Go continue my task! It is like the famous relay race! The Lord has done his rounds, and now the baton is in our hands. It depends on us to take it forward, says the Lord, as he gives his parting message to the Apostles. Go all over the world; Go to all people; Go to take my message!

The Lord goes up, into a PRESENCE BEYOND: I am going, but I am with your forever. 

This going of the Lord is not a going in the literal sense of the word, because if the Lord were to be gone, we would not exist. The Lord goes, to be with us ever more powerfully, ever more closely and ever more unceasingly. As the Lord promises, the Lord have overcome the World (Jn 16: 33). The Lord goes, precisely that he could be with us always and everywhere, till the end of times, as a conqueror, as the power that enlivens us, as a person who has gone before us showing us the way.

The Lord Goes... to be with us...forever, always and everywhere!

WORD 2day: God's venture

Saturday, VI week of Easter: 16th May, 2015

Acts 18: 23-28; Jn 16: 23-28

Apollos, Priscilla, Acquilla, Paul... there is a band of apostles, all working in the name of the Lord. Among themselves and when in company of others, they did not consider their ego as something inviolable. They were ready to give in, to be corrected and to be taught. We see this lived out beautifully in the first reading today.

Jesus in the Gospel too, offers himself and the Father as an example of living in union of spirit. They think alike, they plan alike and they form a worthy part of the salvific band of God. Have we, you and I, the readiness and will to be concerned about God's ventures!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

WORD 2day: A joy that no one can take!

Friday,  VI week of Easter, 2015: 15th May, 2015

Acts 18: 9-18; Jn16: 20-23

The joy that things give are gone with the things gone. A mere feeling,  or a moment of happiness that comes from an external reason and fulfilled desires will last just as long as the situation does!

Today the Lord promises us a joy that no one take away from us,  that no situation can diminish. The dimensions of this joy is completely different from the joy that the world and its attachments can give.

The joy that the Lord gives comes from the Lord and just as the Lord is,  so is the joy that the Lord gives: unchanging and ever present! It comes from the fact that God is with us, as the Lord promises in the first reading! With us always,  strengthening and empowering us in the daily struggles of life.

WORD 2day: I chose you!

Celebrating St Mathias, the Apostle: 14th May, 2015

Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26; Jn 15: 16

Every relationship is a response! Relationships can never be forced upon persons. I wish to relate to a person, I choose to relate to the person and then I leave the response of the person, to the freedom of that person! Only then there is a healthy relationship that blooms. It is the same with God's choice too!

You have not chosen me, I chose you!, reminds Jesus today. With the beautiful example of Mathias and Barsabbas, Jesus brings out another element of the election theology! When God chooses, God chooses individuals (not masses), for a unique purpose and specific plan. As God reminds us through Jeremiah, God has a plan for each of us (Jer 29:11) and God alone knows what the plan is and how it would come through. All that we need to do is submit, surrender to that plan and walk by it.

And when God chooses, God chooses not for merely privilege, position and power; but for commitment, suffering and giving one's life! At times today, as the readings of the past Sunday reminded us, we cannot stop with thinking we are chosen therefore we are special! We are chosen, we are special but it does not stop with that; we are specially chosen to strive, fight, struggle, suffer and thus, usher in the Reign of God. Mathias is counted in the band of apostles. Of course a privilege, but with that came the burden of the Messenger of the Word, the burden of the Elder of the Community and the burden of a Shepherd.

The Word speaks today: You are chosen! Are you ready for all that it entails? 

MARIA DOMENICA MAZZARELLO

May 13th: Celebrating Mother Mazzarello!

Despite our differences...
let us grow in our mutual esteem,
convinced always that we are,
all of us, instruments, 
humble instruments,
in the hands of God.

Mazzarello found in Don Bosco
the hand of God, which could
take her forward in the yearning
to belong to the Lord
and to the children of the Lord.

Don Bosco found in her
a God-sent apostle who could
translate his charism for the girls...

The saints recognised each other as such, as soon as they saw!
It is upto us today to unite as brothers and sisters towards the glory of God and salvation of the young!

WORD 2day: The Spirit of Truth

Wednesday,  VI week of Easter: 13th May,  2015

Acts 17:15,22 -18:1; Jn 16: 12-15

The Spirit of the Lord convicts because the Spirit leads us to the truth. We have all the truth right in front of us. We fail to see them and understand them,  we are tempted not to see them or understand them, we choose not to see them and understand them!

When we fail to see,  the Spirit gives us the wisdom and leads us to see it,  leading us to light, as St Paul tries to lead the Athenians.

When we are tempted not to see, the Spirit fills us with the courage to see it,  making us free and bold as children of God,  as Jesus promises his disciples.

When we choose not to see,  the Spirit convicts us,  as we heard yesterday and makes us understand how mistaken we are. Peter,  Paul,  the other apostles and everyone who owes his or her rapport with God to a dramatic conversion,  would vouch for this role of the Spirit.

But for all of these. ..I need to open my mind to the Word. ..If not I will laugh at the Word or postpone listening to it,  to another convenient moment, as the people do in the first reading today.