Standing in God's way?

WORD 2day: 4th Monday of Easter

May 13, 2019: Acts 11: 1-18; John 10:1-10

I have come that you may have life, life in all its fullness. The Lord has come, the Lord has encountered us, and the Lord has done everything best. Have we received the fullness of life that the Lord brought us? Aren't we still given into frustrations and discouragements, meaninglessness and immaturities?

In the first reading today we have a clue to understand this. While the Lord was ready and willing and all set to shower the Holy Spirit on everyone, there were some who were standing on the way! Peter challenges it among them,  who are we to stand in God's way?

We allow a lot of things to stand between us and God... it could be our pride, our ego, our laziness,  our malice or could be anything that resists receiving the grace of fullness of life! If we become aware of what it is that stands on the way,  we can grow to be true sheep of the Divine Shepherd.

COME AND BELONG

Call, Choice & Condition

May 12, 2019 - Fourth Sunday in Easter

Acts 13: 14, 43-52; Rev 7: 9, 14-17; Jn 10: 27-30

When I am lifted up, I shall draw everyone to myself said Jesus when he was around. And after his resurrection that is what he did. He drew everyone to him. It was not merely incidental, it was always part of God's magnificent plan. Yes, it is a plan for the whole humanity, 'beginning with the Jews' as St. Paul would often point out! But what happens depends on three considerations: the call, the choice and the condition!

THE CALL is given to every one, there is no Jew or Greek, Christian or not! The first reading today speaks of that shift that took place from the Jews to the entire world, within the salvific plan of God. Paul and Barnabas pay heed to that call... the call to go to the entire world, the call to be the light to the nations, the call to reach out to the ends of the earth. 

The call to belong is universal, every one is called to come and belong! Recently speaking to a group of youngsters, I found them struggling to understand how everyone will be saved, if only those who believe in Christ could be saved. I almost had to shove it down their throat to believe that the Father wills the salvation of ALL. And yes, salvation is through Jesus Christ alone! And the Father will see to it, that the whole creation is reconciled in Christ Jesus our Lord. The call to belong is for every one!

THE CHOICE is mine to make! I have to make a choice and when I don't  make a choice to belong to the Lord, of course the Lord misses me, but loses nothing; whereas I lose everything! The apostles tried their best to impress this upon their fellow Jews, but nothing would change them. They would make a choice for their own supremacy and their own comfort and their own life style! 

This is where the hitch lies; though it is God's will that everyone heed the call to belong, God will never force it on anyone - that is not God's style! The possibility is offered to me: behold, I place before you life and death, salvation and ruin, eternity and end, says the Lord. What is going to be my choice today? To belong to the Lord or continue in the way I think best?

THE CONDITION that the Lord places is just one: that I listen! I should know my Master and listen to my Master's voice. Isaiah has a very pointed way of saying it, when he says even the donkeys know their stable and the asses their master! At times we are very enthusiastic and we COME...the sad fact is that we fail to BELONG. My own know me, and they follow my voice, says the Lord. 

We too, begin with so much enthusiasm only to soon find some excuses to fall by and give up. If only we can work out of the emotional overtures and truly commit our ways to the Lord, we shall not only come, but continue to be and belong to the Lord forever. When we come,  stay on and belong to the Lord there is so much joy and we are filled with the Spirit. 

These are specifically the two signs of our total belonging to the Master: being Joyful and being Spirit-filled: a joy that no one can take away and the Spirit that enlightens every bit of my daily life... what more do we need? 

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!