SUNDAY REFLECTION - 18 Oct, 2015

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Is 53: 10-11; Heb 4: 14-16; Mk 10: 35-45

WORD 2day: 17th October, 2015

Faith that speaks and acts!

Saturday,  28th Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 4:13,16-18; Lk 12: 8-12

Jesus assures us, true faith speaks for us. We need not hunt for ways and means of explaining and defending our faith;  it has to be self evident and self explanatory. We don't need mighty big formulae to hold on to a faith...all we need is the realisation of the constant and unceasing presence of the Lord with us. When I am convinced of this presence I can hope against hope as Abraham did. Such a faith speaks on my behalf, clarifies things for me and others and acts in my favour in the ultimate analysis.

WORD 2day: 16th October, 2015

Faith and what follows!

Friday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 4: 1-8; Lk 12: 1-7

Faith is a gift, a gratuitous gift from God! My part is to grow in it. The more I grow in it, the more I realise how undeserving I am of it. Abraham was granted this gift and he grew tremendously worthy of it. Paul was granted this gift and he fought a brave fight to become worthy of it. Jesus accuses those who throw those pearls of faith to the swines of their ego and self centered thinking. If I have received this gift of faith, should I not be grateful for it and mindful enough to keep growing in it. Can I be boasting about it and mindlessly acting contrary to it? Jesus is warning us about something that would not look apparently like an aberration of faith, but in fact leads us gradually away from what true faith is all about - 'the yeast' of the Pharisees, that Jesus mentions in the Gospel today.

Taking my faith to be a reason for my pride, judging everyone else who does not partake of it; calling names at people who have a faith different from mine merely because of the difference and treating them with despite; making faith a means to make my living instead of making it my life and journeying genuinely towards my eternal life...these are somethings that I need to be on the guard about! Faith is a gift given to me and I need to grow in it every day, every moment.

THE MUDGUARD AND THE GENERATION X

It was still a drowsy morning, the day had not yet unclasped itself from the rain clouds of the previous night. I was on a mission to get things set for a programme to be held later that day. Riding a two wheeler, towards a destination roughly 10 kms away, after a couple of kilometers my peaceful ride was shaken with a jolt. A young lad whiffed past me in one of the latest model motor bikes. The noise and the speed that shook me were nothing when compared to what came next. He went over a puddle of muddy water created by the rain the previous night... before I could realise he had changed my plain shirt into dotted designer wear. There was mud all over me, in dots and florals and stars on my mild green kurtha. For a second I was furious with that biker but the very next moment my mind took off on another tangent! 

That bike had such a small mudguard that it would prevent the splash only for the rider himself. I wondered whether that mudguard reflected the mindset of the present generation. The older bikes have a mudguard big enough to prevent the dust or the mud being sprayed or splashed on the rest of the vehicles on the road, while the new generation bikes have such fancy small mudguards that serve only the rider himself. Does it in any way hint at the self centered and insensitive lifestyle of a generation that cares only about its own fun and thrill and nothing about what the others think or feel? 

I have never before thought about the connection between the mudguard and the generation X. Have you? 

ST. TERESA OF JESUS

15TH OCTOBER 2015: 

THE FIFTH CENTENETARY YEAR OF THE BIRTH OF ST. TERESA OF AVILA.

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing.
God alone never changes.
Patience gains all things.
If you have God you will want for nothing
God alone suffices.

- St. Teresa of Avila (in one of her bookmarks)

WORD 2day : 14th October, 2015

No Favourites ... just Righteousness
Wednesday,  28th Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 2: 1-11, Lk 11: 42-46

God had no favourites says the first reading and Jesus demonstrates that in the Gospel. Jesus spared no one - whether it was the pharisees or the lawyers or the chief priests or Herod or Pilate - everyone got their share! They were in no way judgements passed on people but they were an appeal to their conscience to change their ways towards righteousness. It was done with concern for their salvation.

The thin line between Righteousness and Self righteousness has to be trodden with diligent care. Judgements arise from self righteousness while righteousness make us just and loving and above all lovable!

WORD 2day: 13th October, 2015

No excuses...just Integrity! 

Tuesday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 1: 16-25; Lk 11: 37-41

The terminology used by Paul sounds very practical, warning us that there are no excuses one can give for not recognising the hand of God in and through the immensity of the reality around. And added to that when it comes to me and God, I don't need to have proofs and justifications and evidences that I believe in God or not. Because God knows the innermost thoughts of mine and I need not be bothered about my presentations and formulations. This is the fundamental element of what we call 'integrity'...Having the least discrepancy between my inner self and my external behaviour, between my convictions and what I engage myself in on a daily basis, between what really matters for me and what I present myself as to others! Jesus uses simple terms for that in the Gospel - inside and outside! Let both be clean he says... I can have no excuses when it comes to my innerself, for I stand convicted before God who knows the innermost thoughts. 

Help me Lord to grow in my personal integrity! 

WORD 2day: 12th October, 2015

The Call and the Reminder

Monday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 1: 1-7; Lk 11: 29-32 

The first reading today speaks to us again about our call to belong to Christ, our call to be holy, our obedience of faith. At times we forget this fundamental call and live our daily life in the way we like, giving into our whims and fancies. We lose track of our fundamental call and go after things that matter nothing to our salvation, some of them even detrimental to our salvation. We become so callous to our failures and disorientation that we do not even realise we are going farther and farther away from our destined goal: our sanctification.

We can never justify our act, our choices or our priorities when they go against this call. We are given reminders after reminders, through persons, situations, events and interventions. The models given to us today: the people of Nineveh and Queen of Sheba, are people who were so attentive to these signs and reminders that they instantly picked up the message that God was giving them. They took the utmost effort to respond to their specific call. That is the reminder given to me today: how much have I grown in responding to the call that the Lord has given me personally? The call to belong to Christ, the call to be holy, the call to my personal sanctification! 

WORD: THE PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE

11th October, 2015: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wis 7: 7-11; Heb 4: 12-13; Mk 10: 17-30

The Word this Sunday is on the Word.

The Word in the foundational principle of our Christian life. It is the Word that makes all the difference for the choices we make. It offers us all the wisdom we stand in need of to live a life that is meaningful.

The Word is also our Judge,  practically because the Word gives us the criteria to live by. When those criteria are met we are affirmed;  when not,  the Word holds us on a tribunal.

The Word is the treasure that gives meaning to our Christian life. It is worth giving our life in the service of the Word. At the service of the Word whatever we give up comes back manifold.

WORD 2day : 10th October, 2015

Being God's People - a sense of 'given'
Saturday,  27th week in Ordinary Time
Joel 4: 12-21; Lk 11: 27-28

Joel speaks of that day of calamity that was bound to come,  but adds a note of promise to God's people. The rest of the discussion is the whole dispute of the biblical history. ..who are these God's people? Some claim that status for themselves on the basis of their historical,  geographical,  ethnic and social background.

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel today- all these details may matter but what matters most is the way you live your life today. Life is a given and it comes with a multitude of givens that come along with it. If God has willed me to be born at this juncture and here and now... that has within it a task and a call that comes along. I would do good to understand that task,  that call ...because that is what God wants from me and in accomplishing it or committing myself to it,   I become God's! To live my life with a sense of given, that's what will make us God's people.