PEACE - THE GOOD NEWS

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2nd July, 2016

Is 66: 10-14; Gal 6: 14-18; Lk 10: 1-12, 17-20

Happy Feast of St. Thomas. We would not dwell on that wonderful theme of faith that St.. Thomas stands for. But the Word speaks to us of another theme that is very closely connected to St. Thomas, or for that matter to all the apostles. The theme is Good News... the Good News that Jesus sent his apostles to proclaim.

What could be Good News today to the world? These are days of unrest. Unrest at all levels - Global, National, Local - at all levels there is a sense of acute unrest, a feeling of insecurity and anxiety.

At the global level news like the Brexit - the United Kingdom opting to get out of the European Union -one of the most promising gestures of solidarity in the last millennium - is a sign of unrest, a sign of  dissatisfaction, a sign of loss of hope in humanistic solidarity!

At the National level, the various uprisings, the suicide of Rohit, the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, are just the tip of the iceberg of unrests that are aggressively active underground.

At the local level, the recent killing of a helpless girl in the broad day light in a place as public as a railway station, the suicide of the girl whose morphed images went viral on facebook, these are another set of events laying bare the unrest that rules the minds of persons in today's society.

Just to add to these instances one opinion that is being considered as newly practical these days: there are people who seem to say, 'it is alright to be selfish'! What a stage we have reached where people not only justify selfishness but propagate it as if it is a virtue, a virtue of the pragmatic school!

What would be the good news for a time that is marked by such unrests: the good news is PEACE. "Peace" is the term that is common to all the parts of the liturgy of the Word today. The Lord promises a peace of comfort to God's people; the psalmist hopes for the peace of the Lord; St. Paul wishes and blesses the people of God with peace; and finally Jesus highlights good news as a sharing of peace!

What kind of a peace is the Word speaking about?

A peace that promises... Comfort but not Compromise

                Though the Lord time and again promised the people of God peace in their borders and the justice in their homes, the Lord does not compromise on anything. The comfort that the Lord promises does not consist of any compromise. What matters to the Lord, matters truly and matters always. When we are clear of what the Lord expects of us, and when we make a conscious choice for it, we are filled with a peace that comforts us, even amidst difficulties and pressures.

A peace that is born out of... Convictions and not Convenience

                The Lord as he sends his messengers ahead of him puts them through a rigorous drill, to learn to put up with inconveniences for the sake of the convictions they would live by. The conviction of a provident God, the conviction of the ever loving God, the conviction of the ever present God... leads to a peace of mind that defeats all consumer crazy claims of the day. Like St. Paul, we would be able to say, I have learnt to live in want and in plenty (cf. Phil 4:12)

A peace that is experienced through... Commitment and never Compulsion

Peace is the good news that the Lord offers, but the bad news is that it is upto me to accept it or not. It is not all that too easy to accept that offer because it involves quite a bit of discipline and sacrifice! But the choice is always mine. Behold I place before you life and death: remember those words that the Lord said in Deuteronomy? It is the Son of that God who speaks to us today and he will never be less demanding.

In summary, the good news that the Lord wants to offer us today is peace...a peace that flows from personal integrity and interpersonal solidarity. 

WORD 2day: 2nd July, 2016

Rebuilding the Ruins

Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

Amos 9: 11-15; Mt 9: 14-17

I have heard many a builder say, it takes double the effort to rebuild something that is already built vis-a-vis building something fresh. It is true. Rebuilding or restoring is a work of an expert. The Lord when he promises to rebuild Jerusalem, restore the Lord's people, proves Godself to be an expert. Not all can manage. It takes completely a different aptitude to build up people. It is easy to find fault, criticise and break people but to build them up, more so to rebuild them from their ruins, it takes God to do it. 

Those who rebuild are Godly, those who rebuild have the touch of the Master's hand, those who rebuild have a quality that is so close to the quality of the Creator. Let us be renewed in the Lord to see the good in others, those traits that will build them up and build the community of faith.Let us beseech the Lord for the gift to build up!

WORD 2day: 1st July, 2016

Searching for the Word

Friday, 13th week in Ordinary Time
Amos 8: 4-6, 9-12; Mt 9: 9-13

Searching for the Word, that is the quality presented today as a distinguishing trait of a person of God. A person who is far from God, will not conveniently keep away from the Word of God because it would disturb his or her peace. But when that happens his or her life drifts away from truth, from its origin, from its very meaning. That is what Amos warns the people of God about. Whereas, when a person is close to God, longs for God and earnestly seeks for the will of God, he or she will find that life giving Word right at their doorstep. 

The Lord declares today, only the sick need the doctor. Let us be aware that only those who accept their sickness will seek the doctor and only those who want a way out of their sickness will do the needful to grow wholesome. The Word of the Lord contains life, life in its fullness... let us make it a sincere habit to search for the Word.

WORD 2day: 30th June, 2016

In or Out - it's your choice

Thursday, 14th week in Ordinary Time

Amos 7: 10-17; Mt 9: 1-8

The Word today presents to us varied pictures of people going in and out : in to captivity, out of slavery to sin, in to their own doom, out of disease and handicaps... but the choice was always theirs.  It is the same with us today: we can choose to remain in our weakness and godlessness, satisfied with little we have. The Lord has so much in store which we miss entirely because of our stubbornness. 

I am reminded of that picture that is quite popular... a little girl with her tiny doll refusing to give it to Jesus kneeling before her. She is totally unaware of the jumbo size teddy doll that Jesus is holding behind his back, all for her! What is my choice: holding on to the little I know or allowing the Lord to lead me by hand, teach me everyday and enrich me with his wholeness?

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Peter, Paul and Francis

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul: 29th June, 2016

Acts 12: 1-11; 2 Tim 4: 6-8, 17-18; Mt 16: 13-19

Why is this twinning...Peter and Paul? Because they were two solid pillars of reference in the early Christian Community. The Tradition of Papacy is a combination of both these apostles: Peter referring to the governance and the Paul referring to the doctrines! Both of these are equally important as roles of the Holy Father. This is the reason, this day is celebrated in many places as the "Pope's Day"

It is a day to celebrate the great God-given gift of Pope Francis! We are aware of the numerous forces that are up in arms against the present Holy Father many from the other denominations and some even from within the Catholic Church. But at a closer study and understanding it is easy for one to realise the amount of good that the present Holy Father is doing to the Church and to the world in the name of the Church.

Pope Francis seems a beautiful combination of Peter and Paul - making his mark in the governance of the Universal Church and bringing the deep doctrines to makes sense of the ordinary day to day experiences. Today, let us keep the Holy Father in our special prayers!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Meeting God - the Moment of Truth

Remembering St. Irenaeus - 28th June, 2016

Amos 3: 1-8, 4:11-12; Mt 8: 23-27

Amos poses a series of questions all amounting to make us aware of the real meaning of trying situations in life. When everything goes well and we are in perfect control of our lives, we can experience a joy that can make us grateful to God. In moments of crisis or moments of trouble and want, how do we respond: that is the moment of truth, the moment of reckoning, the moment that reveals my true inner worth. In these moments the joy that the Lord can give comes in the form of that serenity which is true and deep -a serenity that characterises the saints like Irenaeus whom we celebrate today.

Peace or problems, joys or sorrow, confusions or turmoils, the serenity remains when we learn to meet God, at those moments of truth! We need to grow over the habit of doubting and questioning the presence and the power of God amidst the varied types of struggles we find ourselves through. I am always reminded of that story of the little girl who brought lunch for her dad who was digging a well and was almost a 40 feet below in  the pit. When she told him that she wants to come where her dad was, the dad said 'just jump and I will catch.' She retorted, 'but i cannot see you its all dark in there!' The dad from within shouted back, 'but I can see you clearly from here, just jump'... and she jumped into her dad's arms!

WORD 2day: 27th June, 2016

Is God on your  priority list?

Monday, 14th week in Ordinary Time

Amos 2: 6-10, 13-16; Mt 8: 18-22

Is God on my priority list? This is the question that came to my mind when I dwelt a little on the readings today. The question does not mean, do I go for the eucharist everyday nor does it mean do I read the Bible every day nor whether I spend a fixed time in prayer everyday! It means, whether God really matters to me, whether what God wants absolutely matters to me, whether God is the first on the list of criteria that would affect my choice or decision making. If it is so, the way I live by myself, the way I relate to persons irrespective of who they are and to what strata of society they belong to, the way I look at the world and the reality around me, would be totally different. God may be one of the important considerations in my life, but that will never suffice. God has to be by priority - the first criterion and an absolute criterion!

The Follower

Free... Firm... Focused.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 19: 16b, 19-21; Gal 5: 1,13-18, Lk 9: 51-62

WORD 2day: 25th June, 2016

The Devastation Notwithstanding

Saturday, 12th week in Ordinary Time

Lam 2: 2, 10-14, 18-19; Mat 8: 5-17

Destruction, devastation, desecration, disease and death bed...these are the situations elaborated in the Word but alongside there is an insistence on mercy, healing, forgiveness, faith and trust! This is what we need to keep in our mind- all the possible devastation notwithstanding, the Lord is with us, for us and the Lord loves us. What can separate us from the love of God, St Paul would question in his letter to the Romans (8:38,39). Absolutely nothing can separate us from the Love of God that is poured on us through Jesus Christ, nothing except our own obstinacy! Let's beware!

WORD 2day: 20th June, 2016

The Splinter and the Log

Monday, 12th week in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 17: 5-8, 13-15,18; Mt 7: 1-5

Judging someone is totally unChristian says the Word today. Seeing a splinter or a log depends on also how close we are when we look at it. We can make a log of a splinter, or we can make a splinter of a log...what matters is not what we judge some one to be, but the very act of judging. It is against love and I cannot but recall Mother Teresa's perfect summary of God's loving mercy: when we judge we have stopped loving!