WORD 2day: 14th July, 2016

Longing for God... True Longing...

Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary Time

Is 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19; Mt 11: 28-30

Longing for God is a wonderful and never ending theme in the spiritual realm. Today the Word presents to us again the theme calling our attention to the right understanding of an authentic longing for God. 

Everyone longs for God in some way or the other. At times,I feel even the so-called atheists are those who are longing for a more personal and concrete experience of God to arrive at that point of surrender. 

At times this longing is exaggerated to extents where encountering God becomes purely human venture and we take too much of a credit for the experiences that come our way. There is monopoly and domination here which leads to a great celebration of the experience but leaving alone the true nature of that erstwhile longing.

True longing is remaining open to the experience of God, staying patient and enduring every moment and when that experience happens, understanding that it is a pure gift from God. This understanding arises from two great spiritual virtues: Faith, that God is longing to be closer to me too. And the second, Humility, that allows me to relate with everyone in the same gracious manner that God has dealt with me! 

WORD 2day : 13th July, 2016

God is In-charge

Wednesday, 15th week in Ordinary Time
Is 10: 5-7, 13-16; Mt 11: 25-27

Just yesterday we were having a chat on certain political developments in our part of the country. After a while of listing so many things evil and harmful, one among us exclaimed, "how can God ever allow this?"

Today reflecting on this account from Isaiah,  we tend to think that the people then would have asked the same question: how can God permit this.

Jesus answers these questions with just one expression... God knows it all and God alone knows it all. We will understand things only when it is time for us to and when it is revealed to us. Until then we need to remain faith focused and hope filled, assuring ourselves and each other: God is in charge!

WORD 2day: 12th July, 2016

Standing by to Stand on

Tuesday,  15th week in Ordinary Time
Is 7: 1-9; Mt 11:20-24

Standing on and Standing by are the two terms the Word speaks of today. The world is worried  about only one of them- standing on. We wish to stand on for as long as possible but we could not care less whom we are standing by. It does not matter,  the world today seems to say. It does not matter whom you stand by provided you stand on. But when standing on becomes problematic we wail and complain.

Should we not find out in the first place whom have we been standing by... the Lord says if we stand by the Lord,  we need not worry about standing on.  Whatever eventualities,  the Lord will see us through.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The gift of giving to the Lord

Celebrating St. Benedict: 11th July, 2016

Pro 2: 1-9; Mt 19: 27-29

Choosing the noble things in life, choosing those that really matter in life, choosing God as priority in life... that is wisdom! Benedict whom we celebrate today, chose God to be everything in life for himself and not merely that, he taught it to the world. He started a whole order of religious minded persons who would choose God above all else!

Everything we have is a gift from God; and we need ask nothing from God, for God gives all that we need! Persons like Benedict, and many such other great persons of God teach us an important lesson: if at all we need to ask something from God, that would be the gift of giving everything to the Lord. Giving to the Lord... is something that we need to learn when we wish to mature in our spiritual life, not being concerned merely of asking and receiving from the Lord. What have I given the Lord today?

LIVE LIFE CHRIST-LIKE

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 10th July, 2016

Dt 30: 10-14; Col 1: 15-20; Lk 10: 25-37

The statutory call that all of us Christians have is to live our life Christ-like. And that call is repeated today in the Word, with a step by step guide towards making it a reality. 

LISTEN TO GOD, to God's life giving Words

Moses invites us to listen to the Word of the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, the life-giving principles that the Lord holds out to us. Not that we do not know them, not that they are impossible, not that they are beyond our strength. They are well within our daily decision making; they are totally possible and practically inevitable. If we are serious about living our life Christ-like, we have to begin from there: listening to the Lord, listening to the Word of the Lord. But when we listen to the Lord and the Word of the Lord, many a thing seems so difficult to follow! But we have some one who showed us that they are not impossible: Jesus, the Son of God

LOOK AT GOD made manifest in Jesus our Lord

Jesus' life is one showcase of how the Lord wants us all to live our life. Talking to the young these days about the Christ-like love that we need to practice, there is an inescapable feeling of helplessness at the end of each session, where the youngsters look at me and ask, 'is it really possible?' Every time my reaction is the same: Look at that man on the Cross - If it were possible for him, it should be possible for us. Looking at Christ is looking at God! He is the image of the unseen God as St. Paul says. Looking at Christ is also looking at ourselves! We cannot forget both these dimensions which come so well merged in the person of Jesus. When we look at Jesus and learn from his life, we are faced with the challenge: to imitate Christ, to live our life Christ-like.

LIVE GODLY - that is the challenge

Do not be conformed to the standards of the world, but conform yourselves to Christ, to his life so godly! The parable of the Samaritan we meditate on today is a clarion call that tells us, being like Christ, living like Christ is the only way of living our life to the full. 

I wish to narrate these two stories that always fill my mind when I think of this call to live like Christ, be like Christ. First, is about this blind girl who was walking out of a crowded railway station with a basket on her head filled with oranges. The train was whistling away alerting all of its imminent departure. There was a man who had to board that train and was running with his eyes fixed only on the train and in his hurry he never realised as he elbowed this girl and ran past her. The basket fell and the oranges ran helter skelter. Blind as she was, she was helplessly sitting and groping for the rolling oranges. Every one was busy with their business and she had hardly any empathisers. Suddenly she felt some one sit beside her and pick up every orange that was scattered and collect them all back in the basket. Once done, he bent down to the girl and whispered, 'take care'. The girl held his hand and with tears trickling down asked him: by the way are you Jesus Christ?

The second is about this group of people in a tribal village where an evangelist entered. He asked them, do you all know of a man who lived on earth going about doing good, he loved everyone, he cured the blind and gave sight to them, healed the sick and brought the dead back to life and gave his entire life for others? He was meaning Christ all the while but the villagers said, "yes, we know him. A few years ago he passed by our village and stayed with us for a few months." Then the evangelist understood they meant a Christian Doctor who had made a medical tour of those villages. How beautiful that the people saw Jesus in him!

That is what we are called to: to live our life Christ-like. How we wish that the world may see in us the person of Jesus, that we may be truly CHRIST-IANS.

WORD 2day: 9th July, 2016

Fear of Following

Saturday,  14th week in OrdinaryTime
Is 6: 1-8; Mt 10: 24-33

When the Lord calls,  as God infact does with regard to all of us, we invariably have some objection or the other. It can be of two types.

One could be due to the fear that I am not worthy... but can anyone be really worthy?  So the Lord says we should not be worried about that, as the Lord would do the needful to make good for our want and unworthiness.

The second and more dangerous mind set is one of pride. Looking at the fact of my chosen-ness as something that I can work and qualify towards. Can I?

It is with these at the background that the Lord invites us to steer clear of fear and put our trust in the Lord. The Lord is our rock,  our strength!

WORD 2day: 8th July, 2016

Coming back... but who?

Friday,  14th week in Ordinary Time
Hos 14: 2-10; Mt 10: 16-23

The first reading repeatedly speaks to us an important term: coming back! "Come back," the Lord urges the people. Hosea brings out the tender compassion of the Lord insisting on the relationship we have with the Lord or rather the relationship God has with us.

Though the Lord keeps saying again and again 'come back', finally one who comes back is the Lord himself. Through the prophets and holy men and women, through the only Son and even today in various means, it is the Lord who comes back to us how many ever times we go away from God.

The year of mercy is a reminder of this fact and a challenge to live up to the unconditional love the Lord showers on us.

WORD 2day: 7th July, 2016

Give because you are given

Thursday,  14th week in Ordinary Time
Hos 11: 1-4,8-9; Mt 10: 7-15

We are loved, loved by God, loved extremely and unconditionally. Like a child, without having to pay back we have been loved by God.

If we really experience that love, drink it in deeply, we cannot but give it because our cup overflows. We give because we are filed with it. We give because we are given. We give by our very nature,  that is being godly.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Compromises and Christian Focus

Celebrating Maria Goretti - 6th July, 2016
Hos 10: 1-3,7-8,12 ; Mt 10: 1-7

The Word continues from where we left yesterday... the discussion on a commitment devoid of all compromises. There is an added illustration today with Maria Goretti proposed as a model for it. Her's was one life of determined focus on the Lord and the ways of the Lord. There is yet another saint whose shadow passes us by as we discuss this -Dominic Savio whose feast we celebrated precisely two months back - one who decided he would die rather than sin.

The compromises of Israel were way too high but still the Lord stood by them because the Lord is in no way a person who would compromise. The Lord is the Lord of promises! It is on this faithfulness we are called to build our life. 

Maria Goretti was firm in her focus and today that firmness is dubbed as conservatism or dominant moralism. The world stands in need of liberation, true liberation, a liberation that arises from truth and integrity.

WORD 2day: 5th July, 2016

The Right Belief

Tuesday, 14th week in Ordinary Time
Hos 8 :4-7,11-13; Mt 9: 32-37

We widely practice religion but rarely do we truly believe! Practices of piety, fulfilment of the so called ritual requirements, attendance at the Church - these would merely be religion if they do not arise from a belief that is right and real.

Placing our trust on things, relying  entirely on what we perform, thinking in  terms of appeasement and satisfying sacrifices are modes of religion practiced and do not lead to  the right belief.

Our belief is in a person not in a power; it is not about some legalistic fulfilment of requirements but about a loving relationship.

Take a moment during the day  today to evaluate how right your belief is!