Love and Abide by the Word

12th February,2017: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sir 15: 15-20;1 Cor 2: 6-10; Mt 15: 17-37

Choice is the central theme running through the readings today! And there is another dominant theme that qualifies this choice - that is LAW. Law for the people of Israel was the way ordained by the Lord. Law was for them the guarantee of remaining  people of God; it was their part of executing the covenant that the Lord made with them: I shall be your God and you shall be my people! To speak or act against the law was for them a serious and punishable offence. There is a discussion on two other themes- "maturity" and "wisdom" in the second reading from St.Paul. Combining all these, Jesus in the Gospel presents to us a mature and wise attitude towards LAW. He invites us to Choose LAW... that is to choose to Live and Abide by the Word. 

Faith is a Choice...

Faith is not a blind leap, it is a conscious Choice! As Lumen Fidei n.3 affirms, faith cannot be associated with darkness, instead faith is a light that enlightens one to choose, to choose believe in God, to choose to see God alive in one's life. The first reading presents to us the same perspective today, we have the choice between water and fire, between good and evil, between true joy and fleeting pleasures, between the right and the convenient, between conviction and compromise, between life and death! The choice is ours! We cannot ride on the shoulders of tradition and custom, and justify our acts and habits. We have to grow up! Our maturity has to be seen in the wisdom we possess. It is God who gives us this wisdom, as St.Paul reminds us. Jesus embodies that wisdom and presents the same to us in his words: I have come not to abolish the law, but bring it to its fulfillment. 

A Choice beyond the Law...

Jesus declares that his disciples should make a choice not against the law but beyond the law! He gives a new meaning to law, and presents the way to go beyond, to transcend a mere slavish legalism and reach the heights of saintly perfection, through love and compassion. The words of Jesus, "You have heard that it was said,...but I say to you", heard repeatedly in the Gospel today presents Jesus as the New Moses, and describes the community of disciples as the New People of God! "See I am making all things new," declares Jesus by this (Rev. 21:5). The new law...today how do we understand that new law, the law beyond the law... L - to Love, A - to Abide, and W - the Word. To love the Word and Abide by it...is the new law that Jesus gives. The Word presents to us a guarantee to sanctity. To know the Word, to reflect on it and understand it, to love it and strive to abide by it, is the sure way to be real children of God, worthy people of God. Our life does not comprise merely of avoiding evil, it is much more profound and meaningful. It is to live, to love, to relate, to do good, to mature, to be happy, to make others happy and thus together as a community of God's children, to renew the world and fill it with joy.

To Obey the Law...

Jesus teaches the people today not to go against the law but to understand what it really means to obey the law. For Him, to obey the law was not to obey the word of the law but to obey the Lord of the law! It was so for the people of Israel; they obeyed the law as an act of obedience to YHWH. But when the Lord of the law was with them, and they did not realise it. The Word lived and moved among them, but they did not comprehend it. The danger for us too is the same: that we may be by definition the best of Christians - missing no Sunday Mass, regular with reading the Bible and reciting the prayers, strict with our fasting and abstinence, visiting as many pilgrim shrines as possible - but let us beware, we may be missing the point. These are good but not good enough - the Word instructs us: Love and Abide by the Word... to love the Word, and to live by it; not being merely hearers of the Word  but doers(Jam 1:22); to say YES to the Word and mean it, to face all the consequences of that Yes and live through it. Our YES to the Word has to be our choice, our choice to go beyond the Law and obey the Lord of the law, to live and fill the earth with love and compassion; to challenge the present standards of the world towards a new world, new heaven and new earth!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

The Promise and the Fulfillment

Celebrating the Miracle of Lourdes - 11th Feb, 2017

Gen 3: 9-24

The Compassion of the Lord repays a mistake not with merely a punishment, but along with a promise. The Lord promises a sinless one, who would bear the Saviour and the promise is personified in our Blessed Mother. The Fulfillment of this promise has been manifested in manifold ways - one such in the recent times is the Miracle of Lourdes!

Lourdes, came as a fulfillment. It was in 1854, that the Church consolidated its centuries of experience regarding Mary and defined the truth: Mary was conceived immaculate! Soon within four years, Mary appears to a peasant girl, who knew nothing of the alphabet nor the alphabet of the dogmatic teachings - but the message that the peasant girl gave surprised everyone, not just then but even today. Bernadette said, 'The Mother said, I am the Immaculate Conception' That was a verification, a confirmation of the faith experiences just consolidated. The Immaculate Conception - the one whom the Almighty willed from eternity! 

May our Blessed Mother keep us ever mindful that we are children of Promise!

WORD 2day: 10th February, 2017

To open or not to open...

Friday,  5th week in Ordinary time
Gen 3: 1-8; Mk 7:31-37

If  you eat of this fruit your eyes will be opened, said the Satan and they ate... their eyes were open and they lost the paradise! The Satan deceived the couple to believe that they were blind and ignorant and were nothing, telling them they were yet to become like God while they actually bore the image of God. After they ate the fruit they realised their folly, because they were not blind, they just had to open their eyes to the fact.

Jesus orders 'be opened'...and the ear opens and the tongue gets loosened. Now the confusion is... which of these opening takes me closer to God?

To be open or not to be open... that is plainly the concern. Be open to all the words and signs from the Lord; be open to the reality around; be open enough to observe the folly that goes around so that you are not deceived yourself.

Let the Word open our eyes and our hearts!

WORD 2day: 9th February, 2017

Learning to rise above

Thursday, 5th week in Ordinary time
Gen 2:18-25; Mk 7: 24-35

Man-woman, rich-poor, we-they... these are dichotomies that seem very natural and no one finds fault about being conscious of these. It takes a lot of maturity to rise above the man-woman duality for instance and say wè are after all one.

Though Jesus was beyond most of these dichotomies:  sinner-saint, sacred-profane, and so on, the Jewish  classical dichotomy of the chosen-gentile seems to have been deep seated in him. But he is ready to rise above it,  as a process of growth.  The famous liberation theologian Gustavo Guttierez would say, Jesus allowed himself to be taught by a woman, a syrophoenecian woman - there lies his greatness. He rises there above all dichotomies.

We too need to become aware of the dichotomies present in our mindsets and learn to rise above them.

WORD 2day: 8th February, 2017

Neither death nor defilement

Wednesday, 5th week in Ordinary time
Gen 2: 4-9,15-17; Mk 7: 14-23

Religious practices and principles abound in our contexts defining what is right and what is wrong; determining what is acceptable and what is inacceptable in the sight of God. The Word today has one such clarification as to what would make a person   inacceptable in the eyes of God from a Christian perspective - it is neither death nor defilement. 

Death is considered the peak of negative experiences by many religious traditions but not the Christian. Death is merely another milestone considering the totality of human experiences. It shouldn't perturb us or preoccupy us.

Defilement laws are seen as important religious factors in a society. What makes one socially acceptable or not, is a crucial religious parlance. But Jesus was categorical in stating  that nothing exists as such in his Father's mind. The Father is all Mercy and compassion!

So, neither death nor defilement can separate me from the Lord, but a deliberate choice does. I cannot live my Christian faith merely on customary practices and accepted mores. I need to make deliberate choices on a daily basis and at every moment of my life... choices that would determine whether I belong to God or no.

WORD 2day:7th February, 2017

Imago Dei - the real core

Tuesday, 5th week in Ordinary time
Gen 1:20 -2:4a; Mk 7: 1-13

Jesus had one thing that he could never bear or tolerate! Living two lives... how much ever good you may do, it does not matter as much as being good. Because Jesus is mindful of the real core of our being: Imago Dei, the image of God that is placed within us. God  saw everything was good as God created them one by one.  But when God had created human being, God found it very good. Because God saw Godself in the human person. The inner core of our being is that godliness that we can observe in God. When we refuse to see it or reject what is at the core, we become aliens to ourselves. This is  what Jesus is warning us against. Get closer and closer to the real  core of your being:  the image of God.

WORD 2day: 6th February, 2017

A touch, a word or the shadow

Monday, 5th week in Ordinary time
Gen 1:1-19; Mk 6: 53-56

We begin anew the book of genesis. What  marvellous accounts as the basis of our faith experience! God reigns... God holds everything in being... God manifests God's glory  and might in  everything. When God  said a word it was done.

When Jesus came, it  was enough people touched him, mighty things happened. There was a spiritual connect between the people and the Lord. That spiritual connect  is what we call faith.

With the same faith at a later time people would just touch the shadow of the apostles and great mighty signs would happen.

It doesn't matter whether it's a word or a touch or just the shadow... what matters is,  that spiritual connect with the Lord,  that we call Faith!

WORD 2day: 4th February, 2017

The Shepherd Divine

Saturday,  4th week in Ordinary Time
Heb 13: 15-17, 20-21; Mk 6: 30- 34

What do we have to worry about, when the Lord is our Shepherd! We need only to become the sheep of the flock that belongs to the Lord. The way to do that is to endlessly do good. Do good without any reason,  without any hesitation, without any expectation,  without any discouragement.

Three qualities are needed by all means to do this. First of all,  faith with which one accepts this challenge from the Lord. Secondly, endurance with which one withstands all disheartening factors. Thirdly, the sensitivity with which one knows what the other needs without the other even expressing it.

Our Divine Shepherd is an epitome of these qualities... who accepted the challenge of being good, endured all that worked against it and treated everyone around him with utmost sensitivity.

WORD 2day: 3rd February, 2017

Moral Code or Spiritual Integrity?

Friday, 4th week in Ordinary Time

Heb 13: 1-8; Mk 6:14-29

Is following a moral code enough to be a Christian? Moral codes are temporal and spatial- that is, what is wrong at one time may not be so at another time; what is right in a place may not be so elsewhere! If all of us are formed from and moving towards the same Divine Being, then can our life style be so subjective? That is why Jesus always stood by Spiritual Integrity rather than a set of moral precepts. 

Jesus is same, yesterday, today and tomorrow! No time can change what Jesus stood for. The letter to the Hebrews presents to us a set of values which are not merely moral codes but are frameworks for spiritual integrity. Spiritual Integrity is knowing what is right to be done, being convinced of it and living by it, come what may. Even if we have to face extinction from this life, our stand shall not change. Just as John the Baptist who was ready to give up even his life. But how do we know what we are holding on to is right? That is where we need to be divinely informed, where we need the grace, the help of the Holy Spirit to hold on to eternally life giving perspectives.

2 highlights of 2-2...

2nd February and the 2 highlights

There are two important highlights for today - apart from and arising from the feast of the presentation that we celebrate.

1. Candlemas: 

Today in the Catholic Church we have the tradition of blessing candles and entering the Church in procession with the candles. This is called the Candlemas and it signifies the entry of the Light of the World (Jesus Christ) into the temple. 

2. World day of prayer for Consecrated Persons: 

This was begun by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997. He invited every Catholic member of the Church to pray for the Consecrated men and women and thus praying, to promote vocations to consecrated life.

Intercessions for the World day of prayer for Consecrated Life 

For those consecrated to God by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience that they may seek to live their baptismal promises more intensely and have the grace to persevere in their commitment to the Lord and serve with open hearts and willing spirits. 

For those who have responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to be a consecrated person that they may experience the support of the Church as they continue their growth in holiness. 

We pray for all those who are discerning their vocation in life, particularly those whom the Lord is calling to consecrated life. May they be given the wisdom to hear God's call and the courage to respond generously. 

For all who actively support the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, that they may see the fruit of their efforts in a rich harvest of vocations. 

That the life and mission of the men and women in consecrated life be a means of sanctification for them and building up the kingdom of God. 

For all pastors and parish priests of our diocese, that they will recognize and invite those men and women being called to ordained and consecrated lives to answer the call. 

For all involved in the examination of candidates to priesthood or to consecrated life, that their choices will benefit the Church. 

That many young women will be open to Jesus’ call to consecrated life to serve the many needs of the Church and of the world. 

For all men and women preparing for the priesthood or consecrated life, that their days of formation be filled with joy, peace and the certainty of God’s love.