THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The Harvest of Faith

Celebrating St Cecilia- 22nd November, 2016
Rev 14:14-19; Lk 21:5-11

Harvest is joyful but it involves sickles and winnowing chaff. Harvest is a welcome end but anyway it's an end.  Harvest is the end of a process of growth but it is a moment when one shall be judged to be gathered or to be thrown away!

It is the same with faith... that too is an harvest.  We keep growing.  All absurdities and adversities notwithstanding, we grow but it is upto that moment of reckoning when we shall be judged worthy or not,  for  the king who has chosen is to belong to him.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Chosen, Marked and...Given?

Presentation of Our Blessed Mother -21st November, 2016

Rev. 14: 1-3,4b-5; Lk 21:1-4

We are chosen and marked with the names of Our Lord and His Father, the mark that we received at Baptism and renew at every sacrament we receive! We are chosen, in the name of the Lord to bear the name of the Father. We are marked to represent the Lord here amidst other people and bring to fulfillment the plan that the Father has for the entire universe! We are chosen by the Father and marked by the Lord...What should our response be?

Our Blessed Mother answers that question perfectly: Total Self Giving, that should our response be! Whatever little we have, whoever little I am, I am called to give that totally into the hands of the God and miracles will happen. As long as I keep something of me in reserve, I prevent the free flow of grace. When I give myself without reserve and when I offer myself totally...wonders begin to happen, God's plan begins to unfurl, love begins to flow and mercy finds no bounds!

There is no doubt, I am chosen, I am marked...but the question is, have I given myself? And how much of myself have I given?  

JESUS CHRIST IS KING

And I am His Ambassador

Solemnity of Christ the King : 20th November, 2016

Closing of the Year of Mercy

2 Sam 5: 1-3; Col 1: 12-20; Lk 23: 35-43

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever! Jesus Christ is the king - yesterday, today and forever! We celebrate the Kingship of Christ this Sunday - what a wisdom for the Church to invite the faithful to end the year with their King. And next Sunday we begin a new liturgical year. Today, the readings invite us to reflect on the kingship that Christ holds and the way he exercises it! St. Paul summarises the entire feast in just three verses in the second reading - Col 1: 17,18,20.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together(Col 1:17). The first reading establishes the kingship of Jesus in the line of David - God makes David the king of Israel and promises that his line will never end. Infact, in God's mighty plan, the kingship seems eternal, without beginning or end, for God places David a king, to rule in God's name and for Israel it was always Yahweh, who was the King! Every leadership in Christian community therefore derives from God; it is an invitation, a commitment to act on behalf of God, at the service of God's people! Jesus Christ is King, Jesus Christ has been king from eternity, as the first-born of all creation, to him all glory and majesty!

Through him God is pleased to reconcile all things on earth or heaven (Col 1:20). The verse speaks to us of a future, of the universal harmony in One Lord, One God, the new earth and new heaven where only Love will reign, that is, only God will reign, for God is love (1 Jn 4:8). Jesus Christ is King, Jesus will be forever the king. Everything, everyone is moving towards that union with God, in Christ our Lord. It fills us with a hope, despite all the tribulations we go through here and now. But it is not automatic, it all depends on the choices we make today. If we choose the Lord, we endear the Lord. On the contrary, if we choose the passing glories and fleeting pleasures of the moment, that is what we will have. As St.Paul instructs us elsewhere, if you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit (Gal 6:8).

He is the head of the body, the church (Col 1:18). The Gospel presents us a strange sort of a King. Jesus is the one who rules...who rules from the Cross as his throne, who rules with the thorns as his crown, who rules  not with the sceptre in his hands but with the marks of nail on his hands, who rules not with laws but with love, a love that abounds without any measure whatsoever. Today the ruler has appointed you and me as his ambassadors - the ruler is not understood, so will we be not understood; the ruler is not welcome into the schools and public places and the moral arena in the world today, so will we be not welcome to voice our opinions for truth and for justice. But as his ambassador, what am I doing? What am I ready to do? Yes, Jesus is King, but  I am his ambassador, wherever I am... in my service of love, in my witness of faith, in my joy of hope, in my testimony of humility, in my commitment to truth and in my yearning for justice, I have to prove myself that I am the ambassador of that Eternal King. 

Today we celebrate the Kingship of Christ - yes, Yesterday, Today and Forever, Jesus is King, but I am his ambassador. How worthy am I to the king whom I represent! How faithful and loyal am I to the King who has died for me, and who calls me to do the same! You are the people of God, Royal Priesthood says the Word, yes, that is what we are...we share the kingship with Christ - a kingship that consists in loving service to humanity and loving surrender to the Lord!

Long live my King! And let me live everyday worthy of my King!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Peoples, Nations and Tongues:  The Church 

Celebrating the Principal Basilicas

Rev 10: 8-11; Lk 19: 45-48

Celebrating the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul, we are not celebrating merely the Church whose consecration we remember today, but the Churches built by these great Apostles - the Churches: the peoples, the nations, the tongues, the tribes, the continents, the cultures reached out to by these two pillars of the Church. The facade of the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican has this symbolic placement of the two gigantic statues of Peter on one side and Paul on the other - just to honour these two giants of apostolic zeal. 

Today the Church, everywhere, is growing more and more small minded and less and less "catholic" (all-embracing). The call is clear, when there is small thinking, petty divisions, in fights and clamour for prominence, it is den of robbers, not really the Church intended by the Master or His great apostles Peter or Paul. Let us rise above every discrimination and grow to be all-embracing, truly catholic and radically apostolic.

WORD 2day: 17th November, 2016

The Right Weeping - Christian style

Thursday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time
Rev 5:1-10; Lk 19:41-44

Weeping is Christian too when it is done for the right reasons.  Jesus himself wept, it is said, once for his friend and the other time for Jerusalem... both that they may be saved in the Lord.

John weeps in the first reading today that there is no one to open the scroll.  Such was his eagerness to hear the Word and understand the will  of God.  Crying,  weeping, complaining for the right reasons is commendable.  But the unfortunate fact is that we cry and weep for all wrong reasons! 

Our minds have to transcend the petty materialistic concerns and childish worldly worries.  We need to fix our gaze on the things of heaven.  Didn't the Lord instruct us: seek first the Reign of God, the rest shall be given unto you!

WORD 2day: 16th November, 2016

The courts of majesty and justice

Wednesday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time
Rev 4:1-11; Lk 19:11-28

The Word takes us  to two courts today - the court in the vision and the court in the story;  the court of majesty and that of justice.  The courts refer to a King we are preparing to celebrate this Sunday.

The king is the king of Majesty who deserves all our praise; we eternally belong to his court and our destiny is to reach  that court by our holiness and surrender.

The king is the king of Mercy who is generous in granting us favours; giving us all that we need and even more than we need to make our existence meaningful here and now that we may work our way to that court of reward.

The king is the king of Justice who looks at the effort of each of his subjects and rewards them accordingly;  expecting from us not a fixed or an exaggerated result but a result proportionate to the gifts the Lord had endowed on us - the court of reckoning.

WORD 2day: 15th November, 2016

Cold or hot, closed or open?

Tuesday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time
Rev 3: 1-6,14-20; Lk 19:1-10

Choices and compromises make a great difference in Christian living;  what matters is not so much what we do as what we intend to. Our heart and our intentions Master much more than acts and results.  This is both an advantage and a disadvantage for the human heart.  Advantage for those who are sincere with their efforts to remain true and dedicated to the Lord,  inspite of their shortfalls.  Disadvantage for those who create an aura around themselves as if  they are spiritual giants while there rest skeletons inside the cupboard conveniently covered off, but the Lord knows all and sees all.

Let your choices be translated into acts of commitment. Acts of grandeur lacking true internal choices cannot bear the true lasting fruits that we long for. Choices matter - are you cold or hot,  your hearts closed or open?

WORD 2day: 14th November, 2016

Good but not good enough-  see it!

Monday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time
Rev 1:1-4, 2:1-5; Lk 18: 35-43

The Lord loves us whether or not we deserve it.  But the Lord is not merely mercy but justice too!  Beginning today we listen to the Lord of justice as we begin the week running up to the feast is Christ the king.

Today the Word presents to us a Lord who is demanding and perfect... who feels all God's children are good but some are not good enough!  The question to me is,  do I belong to this category?

I should be able to see to understand if I am good enough or not!  That is a special seeing,  seeing from God's point of view,  seeing with the scale of  the just God, seeing with all my brothers and sisters in perspective,  seeing from the perspective of a goodness that is whole! 

THE END TIMES

13th November, 2016: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mal 3:19-20a; 2 Thes 3: 7-12; Lk 21: 5-19

Today is the last Sunday in the Ordinary Time, and next week we celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King and that would mark the end of the Year of Mercy too. The Word this week reminds us of the second coming of the King, that is the END times! Some get a strange a kick out of talking about the end times and spiritually terrorise those who listen to them. Just a few days now, there have been forwards on the social network claiming that the Sacred Sepulchre of Christ was opened and clouds encircled over it with trumpet blast! There have been in history, cases of people who gathered to meet the end of days, just like those who had bought trenches to secure themselves when the recent mystery stories did their rounds in 2012! Let us remember dear friends that we have been living in the end times for the past 2000 years!!! Even St. Paul had to warn the Thessalonians not to make too much of these claims!

For a true Christian what should the 'end time' mean? Should it be terrorising? Should it make one go into a delirious tantrum or a plaguing paranoia? Those are in no way Christian responses to the thought on end times. Because for the one who believes in Christ, the Lord who has overcome the world (Jn 16:33), the Lord who has gained victory over death(Rom 6:9), the end time is not dreadful, it cannot be a threatening darkness! The first reading says so plainly, "but for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays!" (Mal 3:20). 

The readings today instruct us, on how we should confront the end times. What if the end of times were tomorrow, or today or now! We have begun our life journey, a journey of perfection towards union in Christ and this journey has to necessarily end, and that end is nothing but union with Christ - how my soul should long for that: Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul longs for you, my God! (Ps 42:1) 

The first reading tells me, all that I need to do to prepare myself for the end times, is to LEND my ears to the Lord. When I hear the word of the Lord and live it with all my heart (Jas 1:22), not beset by occasional set backs but ever trusting in the mercy and goodness of the Lord, I need to fear no one; I need to fear nothing, not even the gates of hell! But the secret is the eagerness to lend my ears to the Word of the Lord.

The second reading challenges me to AMEND my ways in the Lord, go on living my every day life with serenity and peace. There is nothing to worry or fret as the Thessalonians did, for my soul finds rest in the Lord, and my salvation comes from God (Ps 62:1). All that I need to do is remain mindful of my ways! A sincere humility and daily conversion leads me to a genuine Christian life. When I begin everyday in the presence of the Lord planning my life and end it in God's presence evaluating it on the basis of God's teachings, I come to know of the things that I can be happy about and the things I need to grow in. A saint is not someone who has never failed, but is someone who has never remained the same after a failure! The secret is my willingness to amend my ways to walk in the light of the Lord.

The Gospel invites me to TRANSCEND all fears and trust in the Lord. Humanly speaking, I cannot end all my fears, but I can transcend every one of them. When my heart trusts in the Lord, when my eyes are fixed on my Saviour, when my hand rest in the hands of the One who leads me, I can transcend all my fears - like Peter who dared to step on to the turbulent sea and walk, like Paul and Barnabas who stood before the angry Sanhedrin and spoke, like the apostles who defied every authority and spread the message of Christ... they were all once filled with fear... they were the same weak men but with the Spirit they could transcend all fears! Nothing - no threat, no punishment, not even death - could frighten them. The secret is my capacity to transcend all fears with the Spirit of power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7). 

The End of times is near... infact we are living in the end times... it is not a matter to be spoken of in alarm or in whispers... the message of end times is, a call to lend my ears to the Word of the Lord, a challenge to amend my ways in the way of the Lord and to transcend all fears with the Spirit of the Lord! Let us live every day of our life, as if it were the last day of our life, every moment as if it were the last. Let us live our lives to the full, ever acceptable in the eyes of the Lord!

WORD 2day: 12th November, 2016

Goodness to strangers - How Strange!

Saturday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

3 Jn 5-8; Lk 18: 1-8

The first reading today speaks of the Godliness in being good to strangers. But doesn't that sound strange in today's context. People find being good to the good, a little too tedious. The population of the kind that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel - those who do neither fear God nor respect people - is on the rise and with no qualms of conscience. Religious or Irreligious, educated or uneducated, male or female ...nothing serves an exception to this condition. The generation is becoming more and more insensitive. Killing for a pittance, killing for honour, killing for payment, killing for religion, killing for profits, killing for property, killing for convenience...what is humanity going towards? With all these speaking of being good to strangers - how strange! Be ready to be considered strange - that's being Christian!