SPREADING GOOD NEWS IS SPREADING LOVE

WORD 2day: 6th September, 2017

Wednesday, 22nd week in Ordinary Time

Col 1: 1-8; Lk 4: 38-44

Today's first reading sounds more like a loving letter of a member of a family to the family than a formal sharing of the Word of God. In the mind of Christ this is true proclamation - he goes to Peter's family, shares his care and love there, cures Peter's mother in law, the rest of the sick in the neighbourhood and spreads love and joy! This is what true proclamation means, unlike what some accuse the Christians of, specially in countries like India - a stealthy way of increasing numbers, or what even some Christian groups themselves feel - an itching aggression to add to their number and increase the membership of their so called church. 

Spread love, you spread the Word automatically and powerfully. You strive to spread the Word, but fail to truly love, you block the Word from really spreading. When you spread love, and spread the word about love, you spread the Word, your spread the Good News. Because, Good News is Christ and Christ is love!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The Spirituality of keeping awake!

Celebrating Mother Teresa of Kolkata - 5th September, 2017

1 Thes 5: 1-6,9-11; Lk 4: 31-37

I am always fond of that story said about a man who asked a Zen master, 'what would you do if the world begins to end right now?' The Master who was busy drinking a cup of tea, looked up at him and said without panic, 'I would continue to taste this tea.' That is the spirituality that Paul and Jesus speak of today. To remain awake, alert, active, always is the key to face the worst of events in life. 

Mother Teresa of Kolkata was a living example of it. The enormous work that she had accomplished in her lifetime, and against all the odds that she faced, is an everlasting testament of how alert and awake she was to do good to others. She was never taken up with the fact that she was doing a great job...she always felt she was doing what she could. But the Lord was using her mightily. Her part lay in the way she cooperated with God's will to bring about the best in any situation. The secret that helped her was, not waiting for the ideal situation to do good, but to do it in whatever way you can, whenever you can. That is why she said, 'you need not do great things for God; but do the ordinary things with great love!' 

The Spirituality of keeping awake is nothing but being alert to any situation that presents itself to do good. Whether we think it is small or judge it big, we are called to do whatever is within our capacity to make a difference in the lives of the needy and the suffering. Mother Teresa shines as a brilliant icon of God's compassion. Let us develop within us a heart for the needy, the suffering, the lonely and the oppressed -'those in the periphery' as Pope Francis would remind us.

YOU GET ONLY WHAT YOU DECIDE

WORD 2day: 4th September, 2017

Monday, 22nd week in Ordinary Time

1 Thes 4: 13-18; Lk 4: 16-30

Pscychology speaks so much about positive thinking and about the power of thoughts. You get what you have always wished for! At times by our negative wishing we lose the good that can happen to us and by positive wishing we experience things that can seem almost miracles. Is it merely will power and coincidence? Not at all, establishes the Word today. 

We are immortal, in as much as we are in Christ. This is Christian belief, but at times we do not behold or perceive ourselves to be eternal beings... we commit sins and await punishment; we give into the worldly living and await our end, a definitive end...but we can never leave. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ - tribulations, distress, persecutions, hunger, nakedness, death - nothing, absolutely nothing. But when one repeatedly laments for things that have happened in life, it is likely that similar experiences repeat themselves too. 

The simple fact that we are reminded of is, that the Lord has great things in store for us, from ordinary blessings to eternal life - what we need to do is remain firm in faith, that is, decide to magnify the Lord  for all the good that you receive, because you get only what you decide.

THE MEANING OF CHRISTIAN SUFFERING

What justifies our sufferings?

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - 3rd September, 2017
Jer 20: 7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16: 21-27

There is a craze that is now affecting India. It has already caused 130 deaths around the world, more than hundred of them in Russia alone and now allegedly more than 6 have become victims to it across India. It is called the Blue Whale Challenge, a game app that gives a 50 day challenge, ranging from simple embarrassments and self injuries to the final day challenge of committing suicide. And young teenagers succumb to it, without counting the cost. A game, an app can demand so much from them and get it done! Is this after all a cause to die for? Why are they ready to take this suffering on themselves? Some say they feel the thrill...sadistic! Some say once they get in, they are not able to get out of it, they are threatened...slavery! Some say it gives them that shot of adrenaline making them feel high...addiction! 

We have others too who suffer...we had Nelson Mandela who served a term of 27 years in prison...we have Bishop Oscar Romero who was killed while celebrating Mass...we have Maxmillian Kolbe who died for the sake of an unknown fellow prisoner...what did these people suffer for? Thrill? Excitement? Slavery? Addiction?

Today Jesus tells us, if anyone wants to follow me, let him pick up his daily cross and follow me... each one of us has his or her own daily crosses, crosses that we have been carrying for years now, crosses that are weighing on our shoulders...but why should we carry them? Why should we suffer? What is the meaning of this suffering? That is the question we will answer today: what is the significance, the meaning of Christian Suffering?  

Christian Suffering should be out of Unquenchable Passion: As Jeremiah shares his plight today - he feels he is deceived by the Lord but still he is not able to leave the Lord because he has an unquenchable thirst for the Word, an unquenchable passion for the Will of God. That is worth any amount of suffering. He knows it well. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, to them belongs the Reign of God.

Christian Suffering  is for the sake of the Ultimate Truth: The Ultimate Truth is God, God's will, the eternal design that God has in mind. Christian Suffering should be for the sake of discovering that ultimate truth, God's will - this is what Paul reminds us of in today's second reading. Even if the whole world stands against it, Truth will never cease to be. And when I decide to stand for the Truth, I belong to Christ. I have to suffer, but I stand for that Ultimate Truth.

Christian Suffering is towards Universal Good: At times people come to protest and complain only when they are affected and they have something to gain. That is a self centered suffering and falls short an important criterion to be called a Christian Suffering. To be Christian, the suffering should be towards an Universal Good. Jesus gave his body and blood, not because he had no other go, not because he felt a thrill out of it but because he fulfilled God's will for the salvation of the entire humanity, for the universal salvation of humankind. 

The sufferings we undergo in our daily life should not be merely for food and drink and for ease and comfort. It should be an expression of our unquenchable passion, for the sake of the ultimate truth that is God's will and towards universal Good that every one may know God and be saved!

SMALL OR BIG - PROGRESS IS THE KEY

WORD 2day: 2nd September, 2017

Saturday, 21st week in Ordinary Time1 Thes 4: 9-11; Mt 25: 14-30

During the phase of initial formation to priesthood, one maxim used to be often repeated: in spiritual life not to progress is to regress. I think it is true for any Christian life - complacency and lethargy are spiritual enemies that we have to fight constantly. They lead to dangers ranging from a simple spiritual stagnation to a serious self righteousness. That does not mean that we have to make giant leaps everyday in our spiritual journey. 

There can be falls, slips, slides, dumps and accidents; they do not matter so much to God as our willingness to rise and follow, our decision to remain firm with the original response, our determination to persevere to the utmost. It does not matter whether we are fast or not; it does not matter we make tremendous changes or not, what matters is that we progress. Within the capacity that we are given with, within the circumstance that I find myself in, I should be able to account to myself a progress that I make time to time. Then I am well on the right. 

Keep walking, mind your steps, whether they are small or big that is not what matters because ultimately, progress is the key! 

Know God that God may know you!

WORD 2day: 1st September, 2017

Friday, 21st week in Ordinary Time

1 Thes 4: 1-8; Mt 25: 1-13

Pagans are those who do not know God, defines Paul and according to his definition when they do not know God, they do not know what God expects of them.When they do not know what God wants of them, they will be ill prepared in their life to meet God and respond to God's invitation. When they fall short of it and get left behind the closed doors, the Lord would declare that he knows them not too! 

Struggling to measure up to the call that Lord extends is human but making a farce of it by willful and unrepentant compromises is devilish and the Lord will find himself so far away from these sort of people. 

I can say it is difficult for me to respond to the call the Lord has given me, but if I say I do not know it, I am a liar. For all of us know what the Lord wants of us - inspite of all the enormous challenges, the call is to BE HOLY and I have no other option!

WILL THERE BE LOVE WHEN THE MASTER COMES?

WORD 2day: 31st August, 2017

Thursday, 21st week in Ordinary Time

1 Thes 3:7-13; Mt 24: 42-51

The Word today speaks of perseverance in faith, until the master comes. One sign that is provided as a sign of persevering faith is that of true and sustained love for each other. Paul prays that the Thessalonians grow in their love for each other and for the entire humanity. Jesus speaks of loving service to each other as the way to be prepared, alert and awake when the Master comes. 

The cry of war all around, the recurring acts of terrorism in various parts, persecutions and inhuman treatment of human persons in the name of caste and creed, dehumanisation of masses in the name of development, institutionalisation of religions and ritualisation of faith - all these are totally not in keeping with the love that Jesus proposes as the touchstone of true faith. Infact, the way things go, we should very seriously ask ourselves, 'will there be love left when the Master comes again?'

If at all we wish that there be, we need to transform ourselves and grow into radical agents of love wherever we are.

SEPULCHERS OR TREASURIES

WORD 2day: 30th August, 2017

Wednesday, 21st week in Ordinary Time

1 Thes 2: 9-13; Mt 23: 27-32

A friend of mine once shared with me something that made me sad. He said, "I had great respects for priests, until I began to work in an institution run by priests. I could not withstand more than six months there. I wish I never went to work there!" When I asked him for a reason, he gave me half a dozen of those and they were all to do with values that were being compromised on a day to day basis. 

St. Paul challenges the Thessalonians, and even others to probe into his life and find out the true witness that he has always lived to be. That needs true courage, which comes only from an integral life. That is why I see the Word today proposing to us two imageries - Sepulchers and Treasuries. Sepulchers as we see at places, are beautiful, aesthetically adorned with marbles and designs but if we open them, they will be all full of decayed flesh and dry bones. Whereas Treasuries may look old and antique but the more deeper one gets, greater is the sense of wonder.

What does my life look like: a sepulcher or a treasury? Shouldn't I start working on myself?

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

To please God not the world!

Remembering the Beheading of John - 29th August, 2017

1 Thes 2:1-8; Mk 6: 17-29

Pleasing others - is it a virtue? To be pleasing to others is one thing, but to please others is a dangerous choice. To please the other would mean being ready blindly to do whatever is to their liking, to their desire, to their pleasure. This can give rise to a malady which can range from a mere timidity to a dire slavery. Can I do something, merely to please someone? Can pleasing someone become an absolute for me? The only person whose will or desire can never, ever go wrong is God. And therefore, if at all I decide to please someone it can be God and no other. That is what Paul declares in the first reading today: we are here to please God not human beings. 

This is the challenge that the prophets and the martyrs down the history have lived for and died for - to please the Lord. When I begin to please others, please rules for rules sake, please the society for human respect, please people for favours and recognition, I cast my personal dignity at stake. John the Baptist died because he refused to please Herod. Jesus died because he refused to please the High Priests and the Chief Priest, the King or the Governor; the only person he was ready to please was his Father Almighty. 

Let us dwell on this question today: who am I longing to please? How far will I go to please the Lord?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Conversion: Turning to God

Celebrating St. Augustine - 28th August, 2017

1 Thes 1:1-5,8-11; Mt 23: 13-22

Yesterday we missed the opportunity of celebrating St. Monica the saintly mother of the saint whom we celebrate today - Bishop Augustine of Hippo. Monica and Augustine give us a great example of a Christian Family and our call to sanctity as a family. Augustine reminds us of St. Ambrose the Bishop who converted Augustine, the effect of the Word and a conversion that was true in all its sense. 

India has once again ventured into the path of raking religious sentiments, pitching various groups against each other, in the name of the anti conversion bills. The latest incident of it has happened at Jharkhand on 1st August, and already two cases of violence have erupted. They call it anti-conversion bill. Are we out to convert everyone? What is after all the meaning of conversion? These are the questions we need to raise and the Word and the Feast today speak to us of it. 

Conversion comes out of prayers, tears and relationship with God from within, not out of force or compulsion from outside. Conversion is not about change of name and change of the place of worship, it is primarily all about, the change of heart, a change that takes one closer to understanding what God really wants of him or her. Conversion is not about the external practices, religious ceremonies and meaningless rituals, it is all about integral living, genuine love and humble submission to God. This is what Augustine shows by his very life, to us. This is what St Monica achieved in her son. This is what St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan imprinted strongly in Augustine's mind. This is what the Lord wants us to know too: integral living, genuine love and humble submission to God. On these counts each of us requires this conversion constantly to turn to God always.