Easter People - Grow amidst Struggles

Easter Octave - Monday

April 22, 2019: Acts 2: 14, 22-33; Matthew 28: 8-15

There has been no dearth of conspiracies and controversies right from the beginning of the Christian Faith. The Word today brings out the very first controversy, a controversy about Christ's resurrection itself. But the same passages point also towards the fact that there was a constant increase in the number of people who wanted to be part of this new found faith! That is the message, both of today and of the season of Easter!

We will grow amidst struggles, if we are convinced that we are growing out of the will of the Father. We would be stifled by even the smallest hurdle if we are growing out of our own necessity, and for the sake of proving our own selves!

At times in our personal lives, or in our life of ministry, or in our professional lives, we feel like pushing our way through with plans and projects. Sure, they will see the light of day, but only to soon find its way out - may be due to failure or lack of true significance. If we want something to be established, we are taught today: we need to allow things into God's hands! Amidst all controversies and calumnies, judgments and prejudices, we are challenged to be founded on Risen Christ, grow in our faith and deepen ourselves in hope!

Let us remember, Easter People grow amidst struggles!

HOLY WEEK 2016 -The Silent Saturday

THE TASK: REMAIN

26th March

The Lord rests in the tomb this day...everything is silent! There will be a dawn very soon...but until then we are invited to Remain Silent, Remain Patient and Remain Waiting.

Speaking to me, a youngster asked me, what happened after Jesus died and before he rose? What was he going through? I said, He was silent! He was waiting! He just remained! This is the call of this unique day of the year in the Church: this is the only day in the whole of the Church when no Eucharist is Celebrated...the altar remains stripped, the tabernacle remains empty and the Church remains silent: waiting in patience to see what is going to happen next.

It is not so easy to remain silent in a moment of crisis. Multitudes of questions, thousands of thoughts will pass by our mind breaking our silence. Only the one who has an unwavering faith in the Lord can remain silent at these moments.

We have grown slaves to instant results. We seem to have have lost the natural patience of our forefathers, in the name of development and technology. Only the one who hopes in Someone greater than oneself, can remain patient and see things happen.

Compare waiting for a public utility, may be a transport or one's turn in a crowded office, with waiting for one's beloved! While former seems irritating, the latter looks exciting. The difference is the love that is involved: Only the one who loves the Lord immensely, remains waiting, for the Lord to act on his or her behalf.

Today is the day to remain...to remain silent, to remain patient, to remain waiting, because the Lord is getting something beautiful ready for us!

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Good Friday

THE TASK: SURRENDER

25th March

Into your hands Lord I commend my Spirit...that was not merely words said by Jesus at the end of his life, it was an attitude with which he live his entire life. That is precisely why even his death proved to be a triumph.

Jesus is the High Priest, the Sacrificial Lamb and the Sacrificial Altar at one and the same time. The Sufferings of Christ become the salvation of our beings. The Cross becomes the sign through which we are saved.

Sufferings in our lives have to be faced with a sense of surrender, that they may serve to be instruments that reveal the very significance of our life. 

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Maundy Thursday

THE TASK: SERVE

24th March

Maundy Thursday - the very name reminds of the mandate we have from the Lord and Master, a mandate that is so compelling because it was not given merely in words, but in and through a life that was lived! All the three events we remember today have the same message in different forms!

THE LORD'S SUPPER:

The First event is the Lord's Supper...not so much what they and how they did it, but what transpired in the mean time becomes the first mandate to us. It is the same with our families and communities too...not so much what we have at table and the variety of the spread that really matters, but what transpires around it. How many of us enjoy our table-time, in contrast to merely respecting time-table! The former concerns persons and the latter, programme. 

Jesus uses the encounter at the table, not merely here but with Zacchaeus, with the Simon the Pharisee, with the disciples to Emmaus and so on, for a spiritual encounter, an encounter that would transform the life of the other. How many of our table encounters have ended up as spiritual enrichments? Here again he uses this table-time to bring a strong lesson to the disciples: LOVE IS SERVICE!

THE EUCHARIST:

The second event is Jesus giving us his body and blood... an anticipation of what is about to happen on Calvary. Jesus anticipates the blessing of the sanctifying act, the salvific self-giving in inviting his disciples to eat his body and drink his blood. What gruesome agony he underwent on those following days - all for the love that the Father has for us; all for the love that Christ wanted to manifest to us. Jesus infact exemplifies the mandate that he gave just a while back. The lesson is so clear: LOVE IS SELF-GIVING!

THE PRIESTHOOD:

The third event is the institution of the Priesthood... as the ministry of making present this mandate given and exemplified. Priesthood is a gift to the Church, a gift that makes present the mercy of God to God's people. It is a ministry that perpetuates the self emptying of God. The Son of man who came to serve and to be served, continues to minister to his beloved flock. Priesthood becomes thus a standing reminder to serve and offers a splendid lesson: LOVE IS LIVING FOR THE OTHER. 

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Spy Wednesday

THE TASK: TRUST

23rd March

Judas, can easily be presented as the epitome of the ills that the present society is infected with. There are three tendencies in Judas that we are called to beware of:

- What will you give me? Looking for a gain, a personal gain, a sordid gain, a material gain, from whatever the situation be! The society today is growing in this tendency, that not only persons see each other as potential gain or loss, but they manipulate each other towards one's own gain!

- Is it I Lord? Not really getting the grips of oneself. The society today is quick to blame the others for all evils, unable to point to oneself and get in touch with the personal limitations that add to the social scourge! Issues that affect our society like corruption, caste and other discrimination... aren't they arising from individual insensitivities?

- It was dark outside... because he did not have God in his heart, he had only the money bag in his mind. As he left, it was not only dark outside, more dark within him! He was going through a tough time: whether to trust God or to take things into his own hands and push it forward - a likely temptation that many of us undergo: to trust God or push our way forward! 

Let us learn to Trust God and wait on the Lord's will.

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Preaching Tuesday

THE TASK: LISTEN

22nd March

After Jesus cleansed the Temple and drove the money changers and vendors out of it, he did not hide himself somewhere safe, but he intensified his preaching among the people. He was seen talking to people, instructing his disciples and challenging the folks. 

But as the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke of the people, they never understood what they heard, though they were hanging on to the lips of the Lord. He spoke to the disciples about the imminent things to come, but they were equally unprepared when things began to happen. Jesus did not want them to be caught by surprises, but they were not keen enough to grasp all what Jesus said.

The invitation is also to us today: to Listen. To listen and not merely hear. We hear the Word so much but nothing in us changes. We hear and speak and discuss but fail to grasp the essential meaning of the Word or fail to see the transformation that it can create within us.

To listen and to be truly transformed, to listen and to understand the Word in its essence, to listen and to put it into practice in our daily life - that is the task entrusted to us today!

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Cleansing Monday

THE TASK: CLEANSE

21st March

This is the day that the conflict between the Jews and Jesus erupted to its peak. Jesus enters the Temple and begins to cleanse it! The zeal for his Father's House set him afire, and his disciples were obviously enthused about it. Against the background of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem the previous day, the disciples thought it was the beginning of some kind of a revival of Israel. They never imagined that would be the beginning of the end of Jesus' life! Jesus himself would soon become a victim of the evil social order, that Jesus picks the whip against today. 

The task entrusted to us today is to Cleanse... as Jesus cleanses the temple!

We are called to cleanse our lives, cleanse our social lives of the unjust order, cleanse our family life of unholy priorities, cleanse our personal lives of sordid impurities.

The Merciful Shepherd wishes to carry us through from darkness to light, from sin to salvation, from death to new life...provided we allow ourselves to be carried. Cleansing is saying 'yes' to the Lord, allowing the Lord to carry us, choosing to be transformed and built once more into the Holy Dwelling Place of God!

The readings point to us the thickening plot, where the Jews intensely turn against Jesus and everything that is connected to Jesus. They find Jesus as challenging their very existence and they cannot wait to get rid of him. But the Beloved Son of God is upto his duty, come what may! 

Mercilent Digest

As we enter into the Holy Week from today...we come to the end of the Mercilent Reflections. Here is the digest for the entire season:

Mercilent Thoughts
1. Be Merciful
2. Be Pro life
3. Be Integral
4. Be Shining
5. Be Godly
6. Be God's
7. Be Open
8. Be Prayer
9. Be Good
10. Be Christ
11. Be Rock
12. Be Exalted
13. Be Different
14. Be Wise
15. Be Careful
16. Be Joyful
17. Be Pliable
18. Be Grateful
19. Be Blessed
20. Be Judicious
21. Be Loving
22. Be Spiritual
23. Be Yielding
24. Be Life-giving
25. Be Diligent
26. Be Testimonies
27. Be Prepared
28. Be Illumined
29. Be Drawn
30. Be Free
31. Be Eternal
32. Be Dependent
33. Be Fulfillment

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Palm Sunday

THE TASK: ENTER

20th March 2016

The task given to us by the Lord is to ENTER... as he enters the city of Jerusalem! 

Jesus entered the city knowing well that it is going to lead him to trouble. When we decide to take it upon ourselves to be like the Lord, there will be problems from all side. There will be those who wait to kill us; there will those who long to see our downfall; there will be those who criticise us; there will be those who stand by and watch us suffer; there will be those who take pleasure in remaining unconcerned about the cause we stand for! But I am called to enter into that life that the Lord calls me to live, for God and for God's mission.

Jesus entered the city, with joy and enthusiasm of the people. A sad Christian is a sorry Christian. The task that we take upon ourselves to build the Reign of God may be demanding but that cannot take away the joy and enthusiasm from within us. I have to be the cause of joy and enthusiasm for the people, I cannot be an hindrance to their joy and happiness; much more I cannot be the cause of the grief of the people! I am called to take up the tough task of standing up for the Lord, but with a joyful heart and a glad spirit.

Jesus entered the city, to complete that task that was entrusted to him. He had his task clear cut, and he was aware of it. He had told that to his disciples time and again: that he would go to Jerusalem and suffer and be handed over to those who will kill him. Though he prayed that the bitter chalice should pass away, finally he submits himself to God and that is how he becomes our way to the Father. In his obedience Jesus paves a way to our salvation. How far am I prepared to go all the way in obedience to the One who has called me!

The challenge is to enter the life that the Lord wants us to. It may cost our comfort zone, our close acquaintances and even our life. But that is not going to be for too long. I have to go a long way...but the Lord God is with me, and his Word shall protect me. Hosanna in the Highest!

MERCILENT 2016 - 19th March

BE FULFILLMENT: stand on the promises of God!

Celebrating St. Joseph, Spouse of Mary

2 Sam 7: 4-5,12-14,16; Rom 4: 13,16-18,22; Mt 1:16,18-21,24

Though today is a Solemnity, an exception granted by the Church to deviate from the Lenten sobreity, we could go on with our mercilent thoughts as today's saint brings to a fitting conclusion the mercilent attitudes. 

St. Joseph embodied a great number of fulfilments of the Lord's promises...that is the key to understand today's Word. Beginning from the promise given to David through Prophet Nathan and ending with the interpretation given by St. Paul about those who stand by the promises of the Lord, Joseph is figured as a sign of the fulfilment of the Lord's promises. 

How does St. Joseph stand out as a sign of Fulfilment...that would be the attitude we take to heart today. He was Simple, Silent and Single-minded!

Joseph was simple, he never wished to complicate issues. Even when he wanted to reject Mary due to the information he had, he wanted to do it in a very unnoticed manner. He remains all through the Gospel too, an unnoticed simple saint and that is why God deigns to fulfill God's promises through him.

Joseph was silent, he does not speak even at places where he could have made some solemn pronouncements after great events like, the visions to accept Mary, the warning to run away to Egypt, the event of finding lost Jesus in the temple. Joseph remains in holy silence just cooperating with the Will of God.

Joseph was single-minded in his commitment to carrying out what God wanted. He had no second opinions when it came to obeying orders from the Lord. It was this single-mindedness that made him receive those visions: because he was so filled with the anxiety to do the will of the Father who sent him that he had clear directions in and through those dreams!

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Be simple, be silent, be single-minded: be fulfillment!