The Word, the Spirit and the Eternal Life

WORD 2day: 3rd Saturday of Easter

May 11, 2019: Acts 9:31-42; John 6: 60-69

The Disciples were graduating! From listening to proclaiming, from believing to witnessing,  from doing what the Lord said to doing what the Lord did!

It first began with their acknowledgement of the Word. Peter's statement today: where would we go Lord,  you have the words of eternal life is the starting point of their graduation. It brings out their willingness to stick their neck out for Christ. 

The second level of graduation comes from the Spirit promised by the Lord. With the Spirit they felt the power of Jesus present within them. They cured the sick, raised the dead and stood before anyone without fear or trembling. They were different from what they used to be!

Finally there was something that made them completely unbeatable : the perspective of Eternal life. This is what Jesus their master wanted them to have! They learnt that no one could take their eternal life away from them. They were convinced that the joy that the Spirit gives and the peace that the Risen Lord gives, no one could snatch away from them. That was a life changing perspective!

With the Word, in the Spirit and with the perspective of eternal life,  we too can overcome the world as our Lord and saviour has done for us.

Drawing life from Life

WORD 2day: 3rd Friday of Easter

May 10, 2019: Acts 9: 1-20; John 6 : 52-59

As I draw life from the Father, you draw life from me offers the Lord today! The life giving Lord takes the initiative to encounter us and offer us the precious gift of life and the wondrous gift of eternal life. The question that remains is: are we ready to behold that encounter? Saul was!

Saul, though he was in a totally contrary mindset, was ready to encounter the Risen Lord and respond promptly and absolutely. He listened to the Lord and gathered the Lord's call and went ahead to love it in his life. He was fundamentally a person who lived his life to the full and that is why when the Lord offered him the true life, he grabbed it with all his heart.

Paul is such a great model of Christian living. If Jesus were able to say, 'the Father and I are one' and invite us to draw life from him as he draws from his Father, Saul who became Paul was able to challenge his fellow Christians: be imitators of me as I am of Christ (1 Cor 11:1). That is drawing life from Christ, and that is exactly what Jesus expects from us - that we draw life from him as he does from his Father!

The Lord is the source of life and the Life itself and let us surrender ourselves in total earnestness to draw life from Life itself!

How hungry are you?

WORD 2day: 3rd Thursday of Easter

May 9, 2019: Acts 8:26-40; John 6:44-51

Christ proclaims himself to be the food,  the nourishment of our being. I am the bread. ..the flesh that I give is for eternal life. The Word is made flesh and it is there for our taking. But how intent are we on taking in the nourishment?

Today we see the Eunuch who encounters the Word through Philip. Though it was the Spirit who led Philip there and initiated the process,  it was the person's interest that propels the entire process of conversion and transformation. He invited Philip onto the carriage and he asked for the explanation and he demanded to be baptised. He was hungry for the Lord. He yearned for the nourishment. It was there and he claimed it for himself.

Anyone who eats of the bread that I give will never hunger and he who drinks of my blood will never thirst, says the Lord. The world is, and teaches us too to be, hungry for so many things in our lives - money, name, fame, power, possessions, prominence, ego, success, domination and manipulation! There is but just one thing we need to hunger for - the Lord, and only that will remove every other needless hunger! 

The question is,  how hungry am I for the Lord,  for the life giving bread, for the ever living  Word?

To become the bread!

WORD 2day: 3rd Tuesday of Easter

May 7, 2019: Acts 7:51 - 8:1; John 6: 30-35

'I am the bread that has come down from heaven', declared Jesus! Jesus becomes the bread that we may have eternal life. The bread that comes down from heaven, that is, a self giving from the beginning. To become the nourishment for humanity, in accordance with the will of the Father - that was Jesus' very purpose in life. When Jesus announced that he was the bread of salvation, he was offering himself as the ransom for our redemption.

Stephen today imitates Christ to the minutest details, even to the words that Jesus used. 'Into your hands I commend my spirit'. And the heart to forgive those who intended to kill him, imitating the gesture of Christ from on the Cross. Stephen was becoming another Christ. Stephen was not merely imitating the Bread that came down from heaven, but he was offering himself to be transformed into that bread for those around him. Saul who was looking on, was fed by that bread of faith and soon he was becoming that bread.

Today, you and I are called to become that bread: by allowing ourselves to be crushed for the sake of the Lord, ground in the din of the daily witness and made into one bread that would make nourish the Body of Christ: the faith community. We have a great responsibility towards the faith community and the way we build up that Body of Christ. By our acts, thoughts, ideas and priorities, we are called to become the bread, become another Christ!

Without hunger or thirst

WORD 2day: 3rd Wednesday of Easter 

May 8, 2019: Acts 8: 1-8; John 6: 35-40

Luke presents a very dramatic account today of two contrasting movements gaining ground: one, the persecutions against the new believers in Christ and the other, the community of believers growing stronger by the day both in quantity and quality. They were persecuted, they were killed, they were dragged to prison, they were flogged and stoned... but nothing disturbed them. How is this possible?

Jesus gives us the answer in the Gospel: because they have no hunger nor thirst. They do not hunger for anything other than the nourishment from the Lord. They do not thirst for anything other than doing what pleases the Lord. The model for us is Jesus himself who said 'my food is to do the will of the One who sent me' (Jn 4:34).

If we truly eat the body of Christ with ardent faith and absolute and conscious understanding, we would not hunger for anything more, nor thirst for anything else. Our needless yearnings and disproportionate cravings are because we have not understood the real treasures that we have in our faith, in our spiritual covenant with the Lord.

Let us hunger or thirst for nothing more than what the Lord has in store for us... we shall for certain be satisfied.

The Rise of the Next-Gen

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

May 6, 2019: Celebrating St. Dominic Savio
3rd Monday of Easter - Acts 6: 8-15; John 6: 22-29

The Word begins to present to us the first generation after the Apostles! Apart from the apostles who were with Jesus, there were ardent disciples for Christ and the true people of the Way that Jesus showed. They began to imitate Jesus to the detail: an excellent example is Stephen, whose face shone like the Angel!

Jesus gives us the reason his face shone so: because he believed in the One who was sent! We too believe... yes! To what extent? Upto death? What does believing mean in practical terms: to follow what the Lord said and live what the Lord lived! Do we live after the example of the Lord? Do we carry out the Lord's teaching to the details?

Or are we clamouring after miracles and running after signs? Are we working for merely material well being or are we concerned about our own spiritual maturity? Looking at the Next-Gen of Christ...should we not take to our heart to be truly Christ-ians in our thought, word and deed?

We have a teenage saint whom we celebrate today... St. Dominic Savio - "a little giant of sanctity" as he was described at his canonisation. His secret was the total and absolute priority that he had given to the Lord and a life worthy of the Lord. Are we prepared to be truly Next-Gen Christians today?

THE MAKING OF THE FISHERS OF PEOPLE

Third Sunday of Easter - May 5, 2019

Acts 5: 27-32,40-41; Revelations 5: 11-14; John 21:1-19

The image that stays in our eyes after having read the Gospel is that of a net filled with fishes, a hundred and fifty three of them! The Gospel is sprinkled all over with a discussion on fish, fishing and fishermen!

JESUS, THE MASTER-FISHER, sets an unbeatable record, with the apostles opening their eyes wide...a man standing on the shore and directing them where to fish, after their toiling whole night. But when they saw the catch, they knew it was the Lord...because they had been in a similar instance before! Remember Luke 5... they witnessed a similar incident! Jesus was just calling his fishermen disciples... it was then that he promised to make them 'Fishers of People' (Mt 4:19; Lk 5:10; Mk 1:17), and that is what they were gradually becoming. Today we have the last lesson of the course; from here they would graduate to be what Jesus promised them to be: Fishers of People! But the making of this, was not an easy task... they had to go through varied phases and at times it was tough and troublesome, including seeing their Master-fisher being killed!

APOSTLES, THE DISCOURAGED FISHERS, at times even thought of giving it all up. For an instance, have a look at what situation we find them in the Gospel today: Peter said, 'I am going fishing'...that is he thought the course was over and he had reached the end of it. Thomas, Nathanael, John, James and two others were ready to go with Peter too...and in fact they were on their fishing trip after a long time - probably they had lost touch? In that state when they were down and out, Jesus meets them! The Master is back, the coach is around, the trainer hadn't given up on them yet! One of the fundamental lessons they were taught while their Master was around with them was, to Obey! They learnt that lesson so well. 'I do nothing on my own', their Master had told them, 'but whatever my Father in heaven tells me.' That was the cue... and when that voice from the shore told them to cast the net to the right, they do it instantly, in spite of the fatigue they were in. Bingo! They rediscovered their Master! Peter could not wait... he could never! He was out even before the boat could turn towards the shore, swimming his way to his Master! They were all, rejuvenated. That is what the Risen Lord wanted: to give them that new life, the new birth from mere fishers to fishers of people! That is what they became, the first reading affirms!

FISHING, FEEDING, AND THE FAITHFUL COMMUNITIES... this is what we have left to reflect on. The Apostles became fishers, they learnt what it meant to feed the communities with faith and the communities grew well nourished with the faith of the fishermen. 'Feeding' is another imagery that we have very strong today: Jesus wanted to feed his beloved friends and he kept the bread and the fish ready; he directed Peter to feed his lambs and his sheep!  It meant, strengthening people in faith: fishing alone was enough, feeding, that is nurturing was needed! Today, this is what is told to us too. It is not enough that you find your first love with the Lord, feed yourself strong with faith, feed each other with your experiences, become strong and grow with mutual edification... so that you are prepared when you have to exercise that strength. The Apostles manifest that strength when they so categorically declare: We must rather obey God than any human authority! They had grown, from what they were (weak frightened lot) to what their Master wanted them to be (strong fishers of people). Nothing could stop them; nothing would; nothing has!

The message to us: Look out for the Lord, who is inviting you to be fishers of people; strengthen yourself in faith that you may be able to strengthen many more in faith and feed them towards growing in the Lord!

Waiting on tables and Walking on the waves

WORD 2day: 2nd Saturday of Easter

May 4, 2019: Acts 6:1-7; John 6:16-21

There are two things that occupy our minds as the Word speaks to us today: one, the bread and the other, the waves. 

Waiting on the Table, which was a regular duty among the believers becomes a concern and some are dissatisfied with how it was going on. The Lord inspires them to understand the concern with such clarity that they do not compromise on the basics. The concern is addressed but nothing of what is essential is lost - they set apart a ministry in order that the centrality of the Word is not lost. 

Waves that rose against the boat, made the disciples frightened. But the Lord walks up to them on the waters, on the very waves and reassures them to row on. Interestingly, they were disturbed by the waves but they were more terrified to see someone walking on the water towards them. The Lord's words, do not fear - comes as a challenge for them to understand what to fear and what not to fear. They were hardly away from the land, but they needed the Lord to realise it.

Waiting on tables or walking on waves, what is important is that we never lose our clarity and priority. Place the right thing first and every other thing will fall in place. 

Let us remember to seek first the Kingdom of God and everything will be given unto us! 

Following the One Lord

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Celebrating Apostles Philip and James

May 3, 2019: 1 Cor 15:1-8; John 14:6-14

The Word today calls our attention to the mention of the names of the Apostles whom we celebrate today: James and Philip. 

The James we speak of here is not James the son of Zebedee , the one who was among the closest three namely, Peter, James and John, and later became the Bishop of Jerusalem. But this is James the son of Alphaeus, who is referred to for the sake of differentiating, as James the lesser! Though that term is odd, it brings out the fact that he was among the 'less prominent bunch' of the Apostles but however he was one of the 12 pillars and Jesus appeared to him! 

Philip is seen in the Gospel today inducing Jesus to make some intense pronouncements about himself and the Father! Though Jesus seems to be getting upset with Philip, it was necessary for the rest of the apostles too, to get clarified about things Jesus wanted them to. Philip is also seen in two other places - at the scene of multiplication of the bread (bringing the boy with five loaves and two fishes to Jesus) and later when some Greeks wish to see Jesus, bringing them along. Earlier he had brought Nathaniel too; in short, he was fond of bringing people to Jesus!

This Feast can communicate three realities that can help our faith communities today. 

1: That differences are natural when a group of persons are involved. The differences are not only inevitable but they are beautiful to paint a holistic picture.

2: That differences do not mean division, or comparison or envy. That Philip and James and some others were not so prominent, never caused a rift among the apostles. They were able to live united in the Lord.

3: Each of us has a specific call within the entire design of God and when one fails to play his or her role, however little and insignificant it could be, there is a lack in the whole!

The message is clear: avoid comparisons; avoid envy; realise the one call and remain united in the One Lord! Remember always, we follow the One Lord!

We and the Holy Spirit

WORD 2day: 2nd Thursday of Easter

May 2, 2019: Acts 5: 27-33; John 3: 31-36

The Spirit and the witnessing to the Lord are very closely knit and that is what the Word brings out today. If we have to witness to the salvation that we have experienced in the Lord - firstly, it is possible only with the Spirit: for no one can proclaim that Jesus is Lord except through the Spirit. Secondly, it is the Spirit that makes the witness efficacious. 

When we submit to the Lord, the Father fills us with the Spirit says Jesus today in the Gospel...and that is what is needed utmost in our lives. It is happily surprising to see the way the Apostles looked at, understood and related with the Spirit: We and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to these things! For them the Spirit was someone who lived with them, within them!

They had three dispositions to the Spirit that were remarkable: first, sense of proximity: they felt the Spirit so close to them; second, sense of collaboration: they identified themselves as co-workers with the Spirit; and third, sense of docility: an absolute obedience and allegiance to the Spirit that they listened to no one else other than God.

Today, our Christian witness would go a long way in bringing the Lord to the people and bringing the people to the Lord, if the Spirit becomes our constant life companion!