OUR LADY OF ROSARY

7th October, 2016

Celebrating a Childlike Prayer

Celebrating the feast of the Holy Rosary,  we can dwell on three reflections highlighted by the occasion. 

1. The Simplicity of the Prayer:

One of the prominent reasons this prayer has swept the heart of so many down the centuries is the simplicity. Not merely the repetition that is involved, but even the concentration that repetition enables, is a help for those who are not experts in praying to make a reasonable effort to pray. At times, personally I feel the presence of our blessed Mother so mysteriously close as I pray those beads...am certain this is an experience of many.

2. The Profundity of the Prayer:

The simplicity not withstanding the profundity of the prayer draws our attention. Pius V would summarise Rosary as the Synthesis of the Gospels. Infact, in meditating the four mysteries - the joyful, the luminous, the sorrowful and the glorious - we contemplate the entire salvation plan of the Father. The love of the Father comes so overwhelmingly filling our hearts as we contemplate each of those decades.

3. The Prayer of Victories:

The history of the Holy Rosary has a clue for us to understand the prayer better. This feast that celebrates the victory gained over enemies through prayer, was initially celebrated as Our Lady of Victories. Within a short while it was renamed the feast of Our Lady of Holy Rosary. The Holy Rosary is a weapon of victory over the enemies, especially the original enemy the devil, who wishes to win us over from the Eternal Love. 

Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.

WORD 2day: 6th October, 2016

The folly of forgetfulness

Thursday,  27th week in ordinary time
Gal 3: 1-5; Lk 11: 5-13

Forgetfulness can lead to embarrassing situations, sometimes to unfortunate predicaments too. No, we are not talking about the Gospel where the man in question forgets that his friend is going to visit him or the friend who forgets to inform him about his visit,  maybe. We are talking about the Galatians who forgot so prematurely their true identity and Paul gets so angry with them.

At times when we forget our true identity,  the identity that we inherit in the Lord,  we end up so foolish, lost in our egoism, legalism and materialism. All these three will disorient us from who we really are and make us unable to approach the Lord with a childlike trust to ask,  seek and to knock.

WORD 2day: 5th October, 2016

The Reign Mentality

Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary Time
Gal 2: 1-2, 7-14; Lk 11:1-4

We continue to hear from Paul the beginnings of  his ministry in the Church.  Both his account and Jesus' teaching in the Gospel speak to us of a set of qualities that can be called a Reign mentality. Let's highlight just three of them:

Personal integrity that gives Paul an extraordinary power when he presents his case to the people or to the apostles.  Unless I am an integral person,  I cannot speak of the Reign with authority.

Fearlessness that comes from the absolute dedication that a person has.  Nothing matters more than the Reign and hence there is nothing that can stop me from holding on to it,  not even a threat to my life.

Forgiving Confrontations which help one to avoid self righteousness and compromise at the same time.  At times our very idea of standing for truth and siding with the right,  though an absolute reign-requirement,  can drive people far from us. I need mercy not sacrifice,  says the Lord.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Listening to the Lord

4th October 2016-  celebrating St Francis
Gal 1: 13-24; Lk 10: 38-42

What strikes us in Paul's narration of his Christ experience is his readiness to perceive Christ inspite of his totally opposed prior experience.  That was possible because of his capacity to Listen.

Mary was considered wiser than her sister Martha in her choice because she chose to listen to the Lord inspite of all the excitement involved.

Today we have another great example of someone who listened,  who listened with his entire heart... and transformed his life so radically that he became the inspiration for multitudes to transform themselves.  St. Francis of Assisi underwent an experience of Christ that was no less than that which Paul had. Francis opened his ears,  his heart and his mind so willingly,  readily and sincerely that he became a light burning so bright already in his life time.  Today he continues to be a challenge to the consumeristic and materialistic world... standing for a life of love and simplicity.

May St.  Francis inspire us  to listen with all our heart to the Lord and to each other!

WORD 2day: 3rd October, 2016

Get the gospel right

Monday,  27th week in Ordinary Time
Gal 1:6-12; Lk 10: 25-37

Recently I got an opportunity to speak to a group which had equal number of Catholics and Non Catholics making up its total.  At the beginning I was a bit conscious of that fact but within a few minutes I resolved the issue within me and stuck to my spontaneity and finally there were so many of those Non Catholic friends who came up to express their gratitude for the insights shared. It was an experience that taught me recently that getting our Gospel right is what matters most.

Jesus speaks of it today.  The right elements of  any Gospel are love of God and love of one's neighbour. When both of these are not compromised for any thing else, however good or desirable they seem to be,  then  we are well on our way to the Reign of God.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

To stand and to wait on

Celebrating the Archangels : 29th September, 2016

Dan 7: 9-10,13-14; Jn 1: 47-51

The Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are familiar and popular among us due to their presence in the Scripture. Today as we celebrate their part in God's design, we are called to recollect the invitation they give us: to stand before the Lord, to wait on the Lord and to be instrumental in the fulfillment of God's will. These are the three functions of the Archangels and we are called to live those very dispositions.

To Stand before the Lord is to be in God's presence all our life. It is refraining from pushing the disposition of prayer to merely a few minutes of the day. It is instead, knowing that we are constantly in the presence of the Lord and we can speak to, share with and take directions from the Lord anytime and anywhere!

To wait on the Lord is to be at God's beck and call. That is what we all are created to be but the freedom that God has given us makes us do it as our personal choice. Angels are the extensions of God's power...they carryout the orders from the Lord. The invitation here is to be ready and willing to carryout orders from the Lord, without mixing it up with my wishes and reservations.

To be instrumental in the fulfillment of God's will. To be God's representatives, to be God's consolation, to be God's aiding hand, to be God's voice for justice...these are what we are called to be - Angels of the Lord making the Lord present amidst us by our own Godly dispositions.

May Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and the hosts of God's Angels inspire us, protect us and help us to be God's people always!

WORD 2day: 28th September, 2016

Following, looking back and looking firm.

Wednesday, 26th week in Ordinary Time

Job 9: 1-13,14-16; Lk 9: 57-62

Jesus gives us a hard lesson on discipleship today. If you have made a choice for God, you have made a choice for struggles and situations that will estrange you from the rest around you. What are you going to do? Look back and moan? Or look firm and go on?

Job's determination to please God is gradually being shaken by the conventional thinking friends who attribute the human qualities of anger, dissatisfaction, expectations and disregard to God. Job declares from his heart that God is omnipotent and omniscient but struggles to live his daily suffering on par with that interior conviction.

Jesus declares that precisely the determination to surrender oneself and one's total being into the hands of God is the hallmark of a follower of his. Jesus had a mighty share of suffering, struggle and strife. But that in no way deviated him from holding on to God and looking firm in his choices.

If you and I have decided to follow Christ - what do we do? Look back and moan or look firm and go on?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Is death better or life - Celebrating Vincent de Paul

27th September, 2016

Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23; Lk 9: 51-56

Job complains against the unfairness of life and prefers he were dead than living. How many times we contemplate such thoughts, unmindful of all the blessings that preceded such experiences and all the blessings that are yet in store. We always want to be kings of good times and queens of cosy times! There are moments that bring out the preciousness of life, by allowing such experiences which highlight the goodness that surrounds us always. 

When Jesus sets his eyes towards Jerusalem, the Samaritans detest it. They forget the goodness that Jesus had shown them thus far, respecting that woman at the well, narrating that parable that extols the samaritan and recognising that one grateful soul among the rest of the ingrates. Can we have everyone please us all the time? Is that the fairness of life that we mean?

If we were to ask Vincent de Paul today's question, 'is death better or life'... he would say - neither! It is living according to the will of the Lord, showing to everyone around that compassion that the Lord is - that is what life is all about! Vincent de Paul was not the best of persons in the beginnings of his life journey, but soon he realised the true call that he had received and today we have a saint in him, a saint of mercy and compassion, a saint of mercy in complete action.

WORD 2day: 26th September, 2016

The Naked Truth - God alone is!

Monday, 26th week in Ordinary Time

Job 1:6-22; Lk 9: 46-50

Naked I was born, naked will I die! God gave and God has taken it back. Blessed be the name of the Lord... Job is given by the Word today as the brilliant example of a child of God! His properties burned, he remained calm. His cattle were taken, he bore it all. His servants were killed he held on to the Lord. His children died altogether, he broke down but in the bosom of the Lord! That was Job, of whom the Lord was proud of.

Jesus is teaching a similar lesson too in the Gospel ...your ego, your social status, your position and power, your possession and your attachments... nothing can stand the test of time. God alone will. Whether we believe or not the Lord is. Whether we praise the Lord or not, the Lord is worthy of all the praise in the world. Whatever we do and whatever we are involved in, even without our own full knowledge of it, we are serving the purposes of the Lord. Ultimately that which is going to prevail is God's will. God alone is almighty and God's purposes alone give meaning to anything that exists. The truth finally is, who ever we are and whatever we have, everything will pass. The naked truth is, God alone is, God alone will forever be.

INDIFFERENCE - the most unChristian attitude of all

25th September, 2016 - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Amos 6: 1.3-7; 1 Tim 6: 11-16; Lk 16: 19-31

Indifference, the worst of all vices and the most dangerous of all attitudes, is one thing that the Lord cannot bear! Woe to those who are indifferent, warns prophet Amos. And that is precisely what Jesus presents in his parable too. It is something that God just cannot stand - the Lord will 'spit you' out of his presence, if you are lukewarm! (Rev 3:16) If you have a living faith, then fight the good fight of the faith, challenges St. Paul in his letter today. 'Blessed' are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness(Mt 5:6), not those who remain in their safe havens caring nothing for anyone around. St. Paul recalls to our minds today, how Jesus bore witness to his faith and to the truth right upto his cross! "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth," declared Jesus with a courage that disturbed Pilate.(Jn 18:37). When it came to bearing witness to truth and righteousness, or feeling compassionate for those who were helpless, or reaching out to the sinners and the outcast, or speaking out for the rights of those who were oppressed - of their right to be healed as sons and daughters of God, of their right to dignity and of their closeness to the Reign of God - Jesus never hesitated; and his true disciples would never hesitate too!

Today we are living in a world that has innumerable justifications for being indifferent towards others - one's duty and family, corrupt system and government, anti-people policies and laws,  legitimate development and technology, rapid growth and advancement - the list can go on endlessly. And it is effortlessly easy to cast the blame on someone else and hide behind the mask of myself being part of the 'affected' and the 'left behind'. In simple terms, the Word challenges me today to place myself in the shoes of the rich man and look at the world around me! Have I done whatever I could in my context, for justice, righteousness, dignity of all and true freedom of the children of God. If I say, 'what can I really do?' - beware, that could be the visible trace of Indifference within!

Indifference is the most unchristian quality one can have. The readings today outline the three levels in which INDIFFERENCE grows.

FIrst Level: Indifference as a fruit of Blindness - the inability to see the suffering around, the incapacity to sense the heavy burdens that persons around me carry, the failure to feel the unseen tears of those crying out for help... these are unchristian to the core. LOOK says the Lord, perceive the suffering in the eyes of your brother and sister... even if you cannot do much, atleast be there for them!

Second Level: Indifference as a sign of Selfishness - even after seeing the suffering and the pain, if I fail to be moved, if I refuse stand by someone because I could get into problem, or because I could lose my opportunity to go ahead in life, or because I could earn enemies in the bargain, I am unworthy of being called the disciple of the Lord who died for me! THINK of the others, and not solely of yourself, says the Lord. Can I think of anything other than Me, Myself and Mine? I am my brother's keeper!

Third Level: Indifference as a form of Malice - it is a sin! "Silence encourages the tormentor; never the tormented!" says Elie Wiesel an Holocaust survivor, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He continues,"the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." How perfectly Jesus would agree to these words! For, this is what Jesus meant by that parable! You just cant be silent spectators, you just can't stand by the sidewalks and see things happen, not even sit in the stands and cheer! No... FIGHT the good fight of the faith!