FAITH VERSUS FOOLISHNESS

WORD 2day: 23rd October, 2017

Monday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 4: 20-25; Lk 12: 13-21

Ultimately it is my faith that is going to make a difference, says the first reading and the Gospel corroborates the fact saying, 'if i don't realise that, I am getting more and more foolish!' In the face of death, what would anything other than my relationship with God mean to me. The source and destiny of my existence is God and God alone can make any difference to my being in the final analysis. 

Many not only fail to recognise this fact but they refuse to, deliberately. Pride and Selfishness makes one see nothing but himself or herself. Lack of profound understanding of things that happen around, makes one think he or she is capable of anything in this world, until that bubble is burst in a tragic moment!

A bit of realism and humility will bring every one to this thinking but the sad fact is that it takes a whole lifetime for some to come to that realisation. If we have it already, it is a reason to thank God for having inspired us early. Let us grow in the realisation, become more and more founded on our faith and less and less foolish in our life.

ME, GOD AND WHAT BELONGS

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 22nd October, 2017

Is 45: 1,4-6; 1Thes 1: 1-5; Mt 22: 15-21

America, North Korea, the ISIS or ISIL, the Soviet Russia... which of these is the super power today? Aren't they vying with each other to prove to the world that they are the dominant force on the globe today? Where will all these end?

The readings today have a theme that is very difficult for the world today to accept. It brings out the absolute sovreignity that God has over reality. The post-modern mind and the new age spirituality clamours for an autonomy that sometimes borders on an absolute independence of the human person and a meaning made in total isolation. The episode of the tower of Babel is a specimen event already in the beginnings of Biblical prehistory. Today we are called to pay attention to three facts:

1. Everything belongs to God

The first reading recalls the role of Persia and the Persian king Cyrus, in the emancipation of Israel. It was possible because Persia was first able to grow into a super power. And the reading from Isaiah points out that even though Persia seemingly has nothing much to do with Yahweh, it was infact the Lord who was preparing Persia in view of emancipating Israel.

The Lord is seen as the Lord of history, and not merely the Lord of Israel. Everything belongs to God and God is in control of everything. At times when things may not be going the way we would want them to, all that we need to do is remain calm believing that God is working out a history. Today we are well aware of the madness human beings are wreaking on the world and humanity - the eco crisis, the nuclear crisis, the religious fundamentalism... all these are fear inducing but not for a true Christian. A surrender into the hands of God and a patient wait on the Lord would bring us to an experience that would be absoutely awesome.

2. God belongs to everyone

That Cyrus was raised to power by God comes as a special learning for the people of Israel. They were being challenged on their claim to monopolise Yahweh as their own. God slowly opens them up to the reality that God belongs to everyone. What matters was to have what it takes to be called God's own. The Gospel brings it out subtly in the reflection that Jesus makes on the coin, saying it belongs to Ceasar as it bears Ceasar's image. Hence the condition to belong to God is to have God's image imprinted on our selves.

No one, absolutely no one, can monopolise God and it is not Christian to think of it that way. God cannot belong to a particular group of people. It can be true the other way about, that we belong to God. But to claim that God belongs to a group would be a human folly without doubt. Hence, we need to respect every person with genuine search and yearning for God or with an experience of God.

3. Render, and don't hold back, what belongs to God

All that we have belongs to God. What is that you have, which you have not received? (1 Cor 4:7) asks St.Paul. We are called to render to God all that belongs to God : our talents, our skills, our learning, our abilities... everything we are called to render unto the Lord... that is, unto the cause of the Lord; unto establishing the Reign of God. All that we say, think or do, has to be unto the Reign of God. Thus we will totally belong to God and have within us the mark of belonging to God: the Holy Spirit.

FAITH THAT SPEAKS AND ACTS

WORD 2day: 21st October, 2017

Saturday,  28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 4:13,16-18; Lk 12: 8-12

Jesus assures us, true faith speaks for itself. We need not hunt for ways and means of explaining and defending our faith;  it has to be self evident and self explanatory. We don't need mighty big formulae to hold on to a faith...all we need is the realisation of the constant and unceasing presence of the Lord with us. 

When I am convinced of this presence I can hope against hope as Abraham did. Such a faith speaks on my behalf, clarifies things for me and others and acts in my favour in the ultimate analysis.

There is a beautiful insight we hope none of us miss from the readings today, taken together. While Paul speaks of God as one who raises the dead to life and calls to life those which do not as yet exist, Jesus speaks of that one sin that cannot be forgiven, the sin against the Holy Spirit. They both are referring to the same, while the former cites a positive explanation, the latter provides a note of clarification. The sin against the Holy Spirit is the lack of Hope, which is a concrete expression of lack of faith leading to a life that lacks any love! Let nothing perturb you, if you are really a person of faith!

Let our lives be filled with a faith that speaks and acts!

FAITH AND WHAT FOLLOWS!

WORD 2day: 20th October, 2017

Friday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 4: 1-8; Lk 12: 1-7

Faith is a gift, a gratuitous gift from God! My part is to grow in it. The more I grow in it, the more I realise how undeserving I am of it. Abraham was granted this gift and he grew tremendously worthy of it. Paul was granted this gift and he fought a brave fight to become worthy of it. Jesus accuses those who throw those pearls of faith to the swines of their ego and self centered thinking. If I have received this gift of faith, should I not be grateful for it and mindful enough to keep growing in it. Can I be boasting about it and mindlessly acting contrary to it? Jesus is warning us about something that would not look apparently like an aberration of faith, but in fact leads us gradually away from what true faith is all about - 'the yeast' of the Pharisees, that Jesus mentions in the Gospel today.

At times people think they are treasuring that faith, but actually trashing their faith by becoming self righteous and so judgmental about others. They grow so intolerable towards others that they think they possess the whole truth and no one can dare differ from them.

Taking my faith to be a reason for my pride, judging everyone else who does not partake of it; calling names at people who have a faith different from mine merely because of the difference and treating them with despite; making faith a means to make my living instead of making it my life and journeying genuinely towards my eternal life...these are somethings that I need to be on the guard about! 

Faith is a gift given to me and I need to grow in it every day, every moment.

REFRAIN FROM BLOODSHED

WORD 2day: 19th October, 2017

Thursday, 28th week in Ordinary Time

Rom 3: 21-30; Lk 11: 47-54

One is justified by faith apart from the works of law - this was, is and will ever be a point of contention. In the Old Testament times it was a contention between the 'conservative' and the 'progressive' rabbinic schools; in Jesus' times between him and the Jewish religious heads; in the times of the early Christians it was a contention between those who followed the Pauline theology and those who believed the theology of James; today it continues between the Catholics and the non Catholics! 

Needless to say our point of reference is Jesus: 'Don't put your trust in your capacity to achieve things and to gain control or dominance, in violence or in silencing people through your vilifying judgementst', warns Jesus. All these are blood shedding..., not only literally killing people by the sword. Your words and your judgments can kill people long before they actually die. You will be demanded to account for this!

What Jesus taught against was, empty ritualism, legalistic spirituality and hypocritical religiosity, that allows one to compromise between inhuman behaviour and an unbelievably pious image, the coexistence between unjust thought process and a sweet religious conversation, the unholy alliance between dirty politics and pompous spirituality. St. Ignatius of Antioch, whom we celebrated a couple of days ago would say, "it is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but to actually be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name."

Let my faith and my works go together, only then can I truly refrain from bloodshed!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

THE CHOICE FOR GOD

Remembering the Evangelist St. Luke - 18th October, 2017

2 Tim 4: 10-17; Lk 10: 1-9

Luke alone is with me...writes Paul. One salient feature that is often pointed out about St.Luke's gospel is the contrasting images that he uses in his narration...the beatitudes and the woes, Martha and Mary, the prodigal and his brother, the rich man and Lazarus, the good thief and the bad thief... these are typical to Luke! Today's Gospel too highlights one: a person of peace and a person who is not of peace; those who respond to the Lord and those who do not.

The message is obvious: Luke challenges his readers with absolute choices - for or against the Lord; with or away from the Lord! A value that he seems to have dominated his own life - he chose to remain with Paul in his difficult ministry! The radical choices that a disciple has to make according to Jesus in the Gospel today, were very clear for Luke and he made those choices his own! 

The memory of St.Luke invites us to make an absolute choice for God: on a daily basis, at work and at home, on the streets or in a public transport; in company or alone - we are what we choose to be! Let us fearlessly choose to belong to the Lord, always!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

No Excuses... Just Integrity! 

Remembering St. Ignatius of Antioch - 17th October, 2017

Rom 1: 16-25; Lk 11: 37-41

The terminology used by Paul today sounds very practical, warning us that there are no excuses one can give for not recognising the hand of God in and through the immensity of the reality around. And added to that when it comes to me and God, I don't need to have proofs and justifications and evidences that I believe in God or not. Because God knows the innermost thoughts of mine and I need not be bothered about my presentations and formulations. This is the fundamental element of what we call 'integrity'...Having the least discrepancy between my inner self and my external behaviour, between my convictions and what I engage myself in on a daily basis, between what really matters for me and what I present myself as to others! 

Jesus uses simple terms for that in the Gospel - inside and outside! Let both be clean he says... I can have no excuses when it comes to my inner self, for I stand convicted before God who knows the innermost thoughts. 

The saints like the one whom we remember today, St. Ignatius of Antioch, were people who were incomparable in their integrity. They were ready to give of their whole self to God - not just part time and not just a stage show or a dramatic performance. When I do all that I do, with true consciousness and sincere acceptance of why I do it, I am on the first step towards integrity. I need to constantly purify myself towards that integrity that will reveal God's image within me. 

In spite of the beasts of this world, the attractions and the pressures that surround me, help me Lord to grow in my personal integrity! 

THE CALL AND THE REMINDER

WORD 2day: 16th October, 2017 

Monday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 1: 1-7; Lk 11: 29-32 

The first reading today speaks to us again about our call to belong to Christ, our call to be holy, our obedience of faith. At times we forget this fundamental call and live our daily life in the way we like, giving into our whims and fancies. We lose track of our fundamental call and go after things that matter nothing to our salvation, some of them even detrimental to our salvation. We become so callous to our failures and disorientation that we do not even realise we are going farther and farther away from our destined goal: our sanctification.

We can never justify our act, our choices or our priorities when they go against this call. We are given reminders after reminders, through persons, situations, events and interventions. The models given to us today: the people of Nineveh and Queen of Sheba, are people who were so attentive to these signs and reminders that they instantly picked up the message that God was giving them. They took the utmost effort to respond to their specific call. That is the reminder given to me today: how much have I grown in responding to the call that the Lord has given me personally? The call to belong to Christ, the call to be holy, the call to my personal sanctification! 

A FITTING FAITH FOR TODAY

Festive, Focused and Firm!

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 15th October, 2017
Is 25: 6-10a; Phil 4: 12-14, 19-20; Mt 22:1-14

Faith is the way we live our daily life in relation to God. It would be a dry and futile understanding to look at faith as a set of doctrines or principles to be known, learnt, memorised and repeated on occasions. Faith instead has to affect every day life and every moment of it. Faith, in theological terms, is explained as one's personal response to the self revealing God. But to make it simple we can just understand it as the way we live every moment of our life, within the perspective offered to us by God who created us and has called us to a specific vocation in life.

Today, the readings invite us to a clear understanding of what this faith is all about. The faith that the Lord invites us to, is a specific way of life, a mode of organising our life worthy of our call to be children of God! Here are three adjectives that the readings offer us on a Fitting Faith for today:

Faith is Festive: a life of faith is a call to celebrate. God has set up a feast and invites us to come and celebrate it! God has created us a wonderful world, filled it with persons to love and let us enjoy it all in freedom and cooperation. But what do we do? We choose to see the negative things that are around, we choose to take them in and be filled with them, we choose to have and spread negative feelings, we choose to hate, envy and ruin each other's life; in short we REFUSE TO CELEBRATE. We refuse to attend the feast, that the Lord has prepared! If only we live our life in relation to God, that is, with the perspective of God, we will find out how much we can celebrate. When St. Paul says, he knows to live in want and in plenty, he is not boasting of his capacity to endure; it is more about that mindset which looks at everything from the perspective of God. 

Faith is Focused: a life of faith is a call to fix our eyes on God. Pressures, stress, problems, confusions, struggles, misunderstandings, competitions, disappointments, distractions, temptations, tears, treason...these are experiences that come our way sometime or the other. What would our point of reference be: luck, skills, human efficiency, proving oneself? 'Behold our God to whom we looked to save us', presents Isaiah. God will provide everything declares St. Paul. Our focus has to be on Christ. Look to Him and be radiant says the Psalm (34:5). 

Faith is Firm: a life of faith is a call never to compromise. Today, the culture is such that there is a big confusion whether there is anything that is unacceptable. Every thing seems permissible and every thing seems 'alright', if not 'normal'! There is a justification for everything. It is growing to be a culture of 'what-ifs' and 'why-nots'...but faith provides us with a firm foundation, firm criteria to make our choices. "My friend, how is it that you got in without the wedding garments?"..."My friend how is it that you expect to be with me without making a choice for me?"..."My friend, how is it that you had chosen something, but lived totally another life?"...we have to be prepared to face these questions, if at all we compromise! Our faith is an 'yes' that we say to the Lord, which would involve a number of small yes'es and no's... and any compromise in it will make us unfit for the Feast of the Reign. 

On a daily basis...let us evaluate our life and our choices...are they truly festive? fully focused? and really firm on the way to God? 

THE SON - THE SHELTER AND THE STRONGHOLD

WORD 2day: 14th October, 2017

Saturday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

Joel 4: 12-21; Lk 11:27-28

I had a very interesting experience as I began the reflection on today's Word. Started reading Joel and there were so many questions that were shooting forth in my mind. The day of the Lord - is it going to be pleasant or is it going to be terrifying? Is the Lord vindictive or is the Lord truly merciful? Is this good news or a fearsome prophecy? As I read those long verses, made longer because of my ruminations, and I reached the Gospel, before I realised that I had begun to read it, it ended! Such a short Gospel for such a long reflection before: but that is the message! 

One may ask a thousand questions, or raise a hundred doubts...one truth never changes: Jesus is the Answer! The Son, is the stronghold, the shelter for the children of God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, for the Son has made us all children of God, provided we stick to him. Let us hold on to Christ, in our words, in our actions, in our relationships and in the way we look at the entire world and its daily events. When we have the mind of Christ and look at everything in that perspective, we are sheltered and we have a stronghold, nothing can assail us. 

At times our weaknesses and our human tendencies can take the better of us, but all that we need to do is, accept in all humility our failures, get ourselves together back again and reunite ourselves to Christ, clinging on to the Lord, the Son, the Shelter and the Stronghold!