THE WORD AWAITS...

To be Receptive, Perceptive and Productive

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 15th July, 2017
Is 55: 10-11; Rom 8: 18-23; Mt 13: 1-23

“The Word is active and alive” says the famous words from the letter the Hebrews (4:12). Isaiah today, presents the same theme drawing our attention to the Word that comes from the Lord and does not return until the Word has accomplished the purpose for which it came! There is no doubt that the Word is active and alive, effective and efficient, powerful and purpose filled… but an unforgettable fact is that producing fruits depends on more than one thing! First and above all, it depends on the receiver, clarifies the Liturgy today. It is not that the Word will be automatically powerful and change-causing, independent of the one who listens to it. Right at the origin when the Scriptures deal with the creation narration, there is a difference made about the way the Word acted in relation the human persons vis-à-vis the other creatures.

The Word awaits the response of the person in order to create in and through the person the desired effect. This is due to the Personal Freedom that the Lord empowers us with. The readings, the first and the Gospel, presents a beautiful analogy…the Word as Seed. The analogy is exceptional because it takes into account this crucial aspect of the readiness of the concerned person to respond, in order that the Word may bear fruit. The Word requires that the receiver is a Good Soil, so that the Word may have its way!

To be good soil, we have to be Receptive:

Unlike the pathway that gives the seed away so easily, and does not have any room for the seed to penetrate, we need to be receptive in order that the Word may have some effect in us. The receptivity consists in our readiness to listen, our love to understand and the willingness to retain.

To be good soil, we have to be Perceptive:

Receiving is not enough, states the parable. The rocky ground and the land covered with thorns did receive the seed, but were not deep enough or prepared enough to send down its roots. Being perceptive consists in spending time with the Word. Allowing the Word to sink into us, to spark insights within us and to challenge our present style of life… these are the qualities that a real listener of the Word will have. Otherwise we would be, as James warns us, fooling ourselves (cf James 1: 22-25).

To be good soil, we have to be Productive:

The yearning for the Reign of God, that St. Paul refers to in the second reading as the mark of being children of God: that is a longing for a change, the eagerness to grow, the energy with which the seed bores the soil to put its head out into the world. We have to moan with the pain of a woman in childbirth; we cannot be complacent with our ordinary, below average spiritual life, if we really want some change to happen within us. The Word challenges us towards this change. It is left to us, to our personal freedom and to our yearning for perfection, to make solid resolutions and follow it up with concrete actions.

The Word awaits such productive grounds, that it may accomplish the task for which it was sent by the Lord. A receptive, perceptive and productive person, is the good soil on which the Reign will germinate, grow and spread into a great tree where birds of all kind will come, reside and rest.

WORD 2day: 13th July, 2017

God sends me before...
Thursday,  14th week in Ordinary time

God sent Joseph before the other brothers to save the tribes of Israel in time of dire need. Jesus sent the apostles two by two to prepare the way before him. God  sent God's only son born of a woman that we may be saved. Today God sends me before God could enter into any social reality or phenomenon to do my best to it, by that preparing the way for the Lord and the Lord's Reign.

WORD 2day: 12th July, 2017

Wednesday,  14th week in Ordinary time

We are all sent... sent to proclaim, sent for others, sent to bring back.

Sent to proclaim the Reign of God, all our life irrespective of opportunities we have or not.

Sent for others, not for ourselves though we have our own life to live. My openness and my other oriented thinking should manifest utmost selflessness.

Sent to bring back, to bring back the lost not by force or fright, but with gentleness and example. First I need to come back to the Lord if I have to bring others to the Lord.

Sent, sent with a purpose, let us me mindful as we go.

THE POWER OF MEEKNESS

9th July, 2017: 14th Sunday of the Ordinary Time

Zech 9: 9-10; Rom 8: 9, 11-13; Mt 11: 25-30

To be powerful, to be the leader, to be dominant, to be in command... these are the dreams people always grow with and crave for. The world advocates it as "normal" ambition of "normal" persons. I know of a priest, who when he comes to a religious house will invariable go to the kitchen and eat with the kitchen staff who cook for us. There is another person whom I know of who owns a property worth a few crores, but eats every meal with the orphan children who live in the orphanage that he runs! These are choices, choices for the weak, the meek, the humble, the powerless and it is here that there is real power! 

The choice of Yahweh in the Old Testament was for such people. God was, God of the poor, the God of the oppressed, the God of the suffering. The concept of 'Anawim Yahweh', that the prophets speak of: the vulnerable, the suffering, the poor, the bowed-down, the people in submission - the Lord stands by them; they are the privileged people of God. The definitive choice of God is seen absolutely in the choice that God makes, to become a human person, go through all that a human person goes through and accept death, even death on the cross (cf. Phil 2). The First reading says the Lord comes not on great splendid chariot or with the power of the horses or powerful weapons. The Lord comes on a colt! "Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart!"

The readings today present us with three challenges, to be people of God. 

The first is, the challenge to create a counter culture: the people of the Reign are called to be prophets who challenge the present order. The Lord repeatedly instructed during the past week through prophet Amos: Do not be conformed to the world! Challenge the culture that justifies domination and subjugation. Challenge the world that idolises wealth and power and prominence. Do not succumb to the culture of craving for power.

The second is, to challenge one's own ego: the more you do away with your ego, the more you give space to the spirit of the Lord within you, says the first reading today. It is very logical, the less space I give to my ego, the more space I can give to the other; the more space I give the other, the more space I am able to set apart for God.

The third challenge is to create a society that is meek, humble and peaceful. The Lord promises, all those who are tired and heavy laden, 'come to me and I shall give you rest'. But in the very next verse, he says: take my yoke upon you and learn of me - and you will find rest! The conditions placed for the real rest, is taking the yoke from the Lord and learning from the Lord to be humble and meek. 

It is in this meekness that a person is strong. Meekness is not weakness; it is the mighty weapon that Jesus taught us to use to the best of results. Creating a peaceful world, creating a warless society, creating a just and egalitarian society, the change has to begin from within: having a heart that is founded on the balanced ground of the Lord; developing within, a spirit that is unscathed by jealousy and rancour; nurturing a soul that is sweet and filled with love! This sweetness, love, forgiveness, mercy and serenity is the real power of meekness!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

WORD 2day: 8th July, 2017

Some questions we can never pose

Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary time
Gen 27: 1-5,15-29; Jn 9: 14-17

There are some questions we should never pose, for we will have no answer. Why do the evil prosper? Why do the good suffer? What would be the destiny of the plotters? What does a reward mean when the innocent struggle all their life?

How many ever times you ask that question or how many ever explanations you hear... you will never be satisfied. Because these are types of questions you can never pose within the purview of faith. What is there for you is to surrender yourself to the eternal design of God and collaborate to þ full. Behold the Lord is making something new!

WORD 2day: 4th July, 2017

Everything in our own terms? 

Tuesday, 13th week in Ordinary time 

Gen 19:15-29; Mt 8: 23-27

Why do storms occur in our life? Or why do storms threaten our lives unprecedentedly? With this question raised in the Gospel, let us have a look at the first reading. When the Lord revealed his will to act against evil in Sodom and Gomorah, first Abraham tried negotiating with the Lord a way out of destruction. The Lord permits it. Then the messengers of God tell Lot, his wife, daughters and his household to flee Sodom but they still linger on. The Messengers of God take them out of the city to make sure they are safe. Now they are asked to run to a  hill country a little away, Lot asks for a nearer place! He is granted this favour too. After all these, they were asked only to flee, without looking back - Lot's wife looks back and invites her own end! We want things to happen in life, just like we want and everything in our own terms! We wantonly bring in evil and suffering into our lives, without being aware of it, because we want everything in our own terms and finally blame God for it. This is how storms brew in our lives and there will be a moment we will cry out to God, whom we did not care to engage till then. Can we grow to take things from God, as God wants them - that is the challenge we have today!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

A Model of Faith - so human and so consoling!

Celebrating St Thomas, the Apostle - 3rd July, 2017

Eph 2: 19-22; Jn 20: 24-29

St. Thomas always comes across as a saint so human and so close to us in his experience! He is not of that crop of saints who prove so super natural that, though we esteem them, we find it difficult to emulate them in our day to day life. Thomas, like Peter, is one saint who comes very close to us in our daily experience of limitation and struggle. There are three elements in Thomas that stand out for us to consider and imitate.

Thomas was burdened with doubts, we too are. At times of struggle and pressures of life, we begin to doubt if the Lord is truly around. How many people have this kind of a feeling, a long list of questions and endless issues they are battling with - are they to be entirely blamed for the doubts that arise in their minds?

Thomas was attached to Jesus, what about us? Thomas, the Apostle placed all his trust in the person of Jesus. Though he was not very sure of who or what Jesus was, he was able to say, 'come let us go with him and die'. It was this attachment to Jesus that pulled him out of all the mire doubts that surrounded him. When Jesus appeared to him, after the Resurrection, he surrendered absolutely. The presence of the person of Risen Jesus was an overwhelming experience for Thomas and he confesses his faith profusely. 

Thomas saw the Lord, as we wish to0! You believe because you have seen; Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe. Seeing the Lord is a special gift anyway. To see the Lord in our daily experience, in our moments of doubts, in our dire needs and difficulties, is a special gift of faith we need to grow in.

In all these, Thomas seems to give us an example that is so human because it is so filled with limitations and struggles. His example is a great source of consolation letting us feel the Lord close to us, in spite of our unworthiness. Let us celebrate our faith!

READY TO WELCOME GOD?

Welcoming God, God's Message and God's Messenger

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 4: 8-11, 13-16; Rom 6: 3-4, 8-11; Mt 10:37-42

I remember the first days when I heard the hymn, 'Welcome Holy Spirit' - I was amused at those lyrics...I believe it was inspired by Benny Hinn's book Good Morning Holy Spirit (or was it the otherwise)... anyway, the words tickled a smile in my heart those days. Though now we have got used to that hymn, the words are still very homely and down to earth. Infact welcoming God, is a beautiful attitude. 

Welcoming God would mean an entire life style, a totally unique priority list, an entirely unworldly mindset if we can use that phrase! That is what Jesus says. The other day I had a very interesting conversation with one of my friends, who lost his father too, as I did recently. He said, for him it was an obligation to stay home, losing a few prospects of his future to ensure his mother felt safe and secure. I said, I couldn't do that! And that is a matter of fact. With my call and commitment as a Religious, I cannot prioritise the care of my mother. In fact when it comes to giving priority to God and God's call, nothing can claim precedence. This is the message that the Lord wants to communicate. Welcoming God would mean prioritising God over everything and all.

Welcoming God's Message is another daily disposition of welcoming God. It would be hypocritical to say I need God and live as if I dont. I do things that show others that I need God. I speak to others about me and my life giving an idea that I value God. But if that is not translated into my daily life and regular choices, I am failing to live a life that is integral. Accepting God's message is changing my life according to that message; it is dying to sin and being alive for God in Christ. 

Welcoming God's Messengers, is a disposition of openness and humility - being open to God and God's marvellous and mysterious ways of revealing Godself to me - through persons, events and signs. A new person we come across, a poor person we see suffering, a hapless person we exploited...all these are messengers of God! And being humble is to receive God's message from anyone, even those from whom we least expect it! The Shunammitess we come across in the first reading had a special eye for this observation! She spotted the Messenger of God in Elisha and the consequence of it, we know so gladly. 

Today, the readings ask this precious question: Are you ready to Welcome God - it is not that easy to welcome God, to welcome God's message and to welcome God's messengers!

WORD 2day: 1st July, 2017

Meeting the Lord passing by

Saturday, 12th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 18: 1-15; Mt 8: 5-17

Have you witnessed thick black clouds just pass by over your head without even a drizzle while you are dry, parching for want of water. That is exactly the experience when you let the Lord pass by without claiming for yourself all the blessing that the Lord has in store for you. You will surely not know, even if you knew you would hardly believe, the blessings the Lord has in store. Hence an attitude of openness and total surrender, ever  connected to the Lord and perennially relying on the Lord's directions is a way of life that would take you to moments of thunderous grace! 

It is a very special disposition to be able to meet the Lord passing by...if Abraham did not have it, he would have missed being the father of the Covenant; if the Centurion did not have it, he would have lost one of his treasured servant; if Zacchaeus did not have it he would have missed salvation entering his house; if the disciples to Emmaus did not have it they would have missed that life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord. A new month, and a new day, today, are you ready to behold it, without missing out on it?

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Every Life is a Miracle

The Nativity of John the Baptist - 24th June, 2017

Is 49:1-6; Acts 13:22-26; Lk1:57-66, 80

I often insist, there are no coincidences. There are only miracles! One constant and incomparable miracle in human life is birth! Just imagine, before you were born your father, mother, home, family, everything was determined and prepared for.  All that you had to do was be there and insert yourself into that reality. Everybody would be wondering what would become of you, but God had definitive plans. If only you cooperated with those plans, you would achieve the purpose of your life... which is not merely a pretty long life for its own sake. Many have gone rather early but that "early" is highly relative to the purposes achieved by those persons: for St. Francis it was 45 years, for St. Anthony it  was 35 and for St.  Dominic Savio it was just 14 plus! The Miracle is how things happen in such succession and correspondence that you can hardly account for. When we are mindful of a divine hand guiding us, we would find a great peace and serenity even amidst raging troubles and persistent problems. 

John's birth today is painted in a manner that vividly brings out the miracle that every person is and every life is. What is important here is to be mindful of the call and be open to its ways. Learn to look at yourself with a sense of mystery. Open the eyes of your soul to see the mystery in others. Keep your faith alive to realise and experience the Mystery present always with you - the Lord who is leading you by your hand!