WORD 2day : 9th July, 2015

Shalom: Carrying God's Message

Thursday,  14th week in Ordinary Time
Gn 44:18-21, 23b-29, 45:1-5; Mt 10: 7-15

The Lord sends the twelve to carry his message to all the people of Israel,  a message of gladness,  healing,  restoration,  peace and joy,  in short Shalom! That is the greeting of the Jews when they meet each other. The Arabic equivalent of that is what the brothers and sisters of Islam use: salaam. This shalom is fullness of blessings that we wish for our brother or sister in the Lord,  or for that matter that is what we wish for the whole world as sons and daughters of the Good Lord. We may wonder, why the whole world. ..is it not only those who are good to me,  those who are my well wishers;  but the Lord and the Word today has it otherwise.

We are presented with the example of Joseph who in spite of all that they did to him tells the rest of the songs of Jacob,  "I am your brother"! That is the true Christian attitude expected of us. This is possible only of we look at everything from the perspective of God as did Joseph!

Let this day be another opportunity for us to carry the Lord's message: Shalom to all!

WORD 2day : 8th July, 2015

His Band... of brothers and sisters

Wednesday,  14th week in Ordinary Time
Gn 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a; Mt 10: 1-7

The Twelve. ..that is the common element in the two readings today. The 12 tribes and the 12 disciples was not a mere coincidence, it was more than that. It was a choice to resemble because the Lord was raising a new people of God, the New Israel. And we belong to that new people,  the new band of brothers and sisters. It is left to us now to understand the importance of not deserting the band for reasons silly or serious! The sense of belonging to this band,  what we call our faith community,  that is the Church...seems to be under attack both from within and without. Can we stand up to it?  Come what may,  can we stick on and tell the world,  we are His band... of brothers and sisters!

WORD 2day: 7th July, 2015

The Face of God to behold...

Tuesday,  14th week in Ordinary Time
Gen 32: 22-32; Mt 9: 32-38

Jacob turns Israel because he beheld the face of God. He would continue to behold the face of God and become the patriarch of the chosen ones. In the Gospel,  the demoniac becomes normal again,  because he beheld the face of God in Jesus. And in all his works,  curing the sick,  eating with the sinners,  empathising with the suffering,  Jesus was empowering them to behold the face of God in and through himself. He was the face of God to behold.

Infact Jesus longs and prays that many more join him on this mission. There is no monopoly... how he wishes multitudes join him to become the face of God for the world to behold! Let us first realise the call each of us have received: to become the face of God for all to behold. And let us pray that many more authentic believers may join us: to become the merciful loving face of God for the world to behold.

WORD 2day: 6th July, 2015

The Trust levels

Monday. 14th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 28: 10-22; Mt 9: 18-26

The Word presents to us today 4 levels of trust and may be we would do well to analyse ourselves and find out where we fit in.

If I come back safe... we see Jacob still at the level of hypothesising  trust.He wishes to remain faithful to the Lord if the Lord protects him.

If only I touch the Lord... we see the woman with hemorrhage confident that she will be healed on fulfilling certain conditions, a conditional trust that operates on cause and effect logic.

Though my daughter is dead...we see that official referred to here telling the Lord,my daughter is just dead! But that she was already dead was not a problem to him, because he had placed on the Lord an Absolute Trust that nothing is impossible for God.

Where do we stand in these levels of trust in the Lord? Hopefully, we are not in the fourth category which is the people who were standing around and mocking Jesus as he entered to raise the girl...they are the heroes of the nether world.

WORD 2day: 4th July, 2015

Crooked lines and Straight stories

Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 27: 1-5, 15-29; Mt 9: 14-17

The first reading today has a story that is so typical of the manipulating exploitative society of today. But the irony is, it is Jacob who cheats who finally receives the blessings and becomes the chosen one in the lineage! This is not the only one of such cases... David episode with Bethsheba, Solomon the weakling...these are truly speaking, crooked lines, but the final outcome is a straight story, a story that can never be told so neatly, with every little thing in its place; no patches, no cloggings, no spillings, no ruins...in God's plan everything is perfect. There can be any number of crooked lines but the outcome is always a straight story! The capacity we need is, to put up with the crooked lines long enough, that we stay strong until the straight stories emerge!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

My Lord and My God!

Feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle

It is a special grace given that a person is concretely offered a proof for his or her faith. Otherwise faith is a personal experience that is inspired within a person and expressed in daily life. Thomas, the Apostle occasions an event that became a unforgettable experience for even the rest of the apostles, and for the whole original community of believers. Apart from focusing on the fact that Thomas doubted and hesitated to go by others' experience, his awe and total acceptance of the Master is a great inspiration for us. That statement he makes, My Lord and My God, was a such a spiritually matured statement that could not have come merely on the spur of the moment. It is definitely a relationship that Thomas shared with Jesus, a conviction he grew in and a declaration that summarised his faith experience. Thomas excels in taking the belief in Jesus to the next level, as he addresses Jesus for the first time as "God"!

May this holy apostle inspire us to yearn for more and more personal experiences with the person of Christ that we may ever grow in our identity as the children of God.

WORD 2day: 2nd July, 2015

To Rise and Walk

Thursday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 22: 1-9; Mt 9: 1-8

What if the man had decided not to get up and walk, because he was not sure if he were able to. Nothing is impossible to God, be it forgiving sins or curing the sick, proves Jesus. Rising and Walking was a decision that man took to trust in the Lord and hope in his command over absolutely everything on earth. Abraham was just beginning to cherish his life, but he was cherishing it to the extent that he was growing unmindful of the One who gave him that life. But he was given a chance to rise and walk, to prove his trust and hope in the Lord. Today in our daily experiences we are called to rise and walk...to find Lord right beside us all through and remember for ever, "we walk by faith not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7)!

WORD 2day: 1st July, 2015

With Open Eyes...

Wednesday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 21: 5, 8-20a; Mt 8: 28-34

Hagar had almost given up. For her it was all over. She found no scope of living on and no chance of surviving that desertedness. All that while the well was just round the corner. She was so filled with self pity that she was not able to see the ample opportunity just there for hers to take. All that God did was open her eyes that she may see the well. However, finally she does see unlike the people of Gerasene who never saw till the end, who it was that had entered their village. Their self pity of having lost their swine in thousands blinded their eyes from perceiving the great and wonderful blessings that Jesus had in store for them. What a great miss it was, they asked Jesus to leave! If only they saw who they were rejecting; if only they beheld the blessings that he brought! If only they lived their lives with open eyes...

Announcing God? or Scaring Away from God?

Is this winning persons for God or shooing people away from God?

Just yesterday I received a friend request on the social network and I after the usual careful analysis of the profile accepted the request. In no time there were series of questions as obvious as, are you a christian, do you have a bible and so on. Before I could make out where it was all leading to, came the question: are you born again! And I went straight ahead to unfriend the person and block the id. It was then I began to wonder, when I analysed the profile, I saw the Word of God posted all over and thought to myself, that it is going to be a person in the Lord. But with the ready break out of the judgmental approach, I was forced to draw myself back, not from the Lord but people who claim to be spokespersons of God. As Francis of Assisi would instruct, let us proclaim the message all the time, but use words only when necessary. Our actions, our attitudes, our approach to people should gather them together under one banner, not shoo them away from God who unites. Our God is a God of love and love is unity, let love reign, let unity be built on mutual respect and human dignity.

WORD 2day : 30th June, 2015

No looking back

Tuesday,  13th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 19: 15-29; Mt 8: 23-27

'Do not look back' instructs the Angel, in a symbolic message to us Christ's followers today. Wars and persecutions, perversions and promiscuity, scandals and slanders abound and they are on the increase by the day. Though just a minority are involved in all this, the vast majority is left helpless and affected, tormented and tired of the whole turn of events. What are we going to do? Lose heart? Become desperate? Join the party? Let our principles and values fall? Give up our determination on our journey? I need to forget what lies behind and strain forward towards what lies ahead (Phil 3:13), St. Paul would suggest. And the angel tells us today: Do not look back!

You have decided to have Jesus on your boat or rather you have decided to jump on to Jesus' boat, then why worry of the storm and rain around; why panic about the tossing wind and the turbulent weather; why lose your focus and look back at what is following you... fix your eyes on the One who is there with you. No looking back, just keep wondering what an awesome God he is, who has called you. Just surrender; be still and feel the presence of the Lord in your life! Inspite of your boat that is being rocked, you keep rocking!