Your Sorrow will turn into joy

WORD 2day: 6th Thursday of Easter

May 30, 2019: Acts 18: 1-18; John 16: 16-20

Your Sorrow will turn into joy, the Lord promises! At times it seems a lofty promise and many look at it suspiciously. That is not because the Lord is wrong today, but our understanding of true joy is not right at times!

Ever heard of the anecdote about this monk who went into contemplation and came out "enlightened"? Since everyone considered him "enlightened", a man approached him with a question...what difference do you find between the world as it was when you went into contemplation a decade ago and that of today? He said, "when I went in the land was down and the sky was up there, there was summer and winter, and there was day and night." "And Now?", the questioner asked with curiosity rising! "Now the land is down and the sky is up there, there is summer and there is winter and there is night and there is day!"

Are you wondering that the story is incomplete if I end it there? No! The fact is, even if things remain the same, the way enlightened persons see them is completely different from the way others see it! Your sorrow will turn to joy, not only because everything around you will turn upside down, but because you will find yourself different, your priorities different, your concerns different. That will make all the difference! 

When those people rejected Paul outright, he couldn't care less! He was just the same and walked off cool, because for him that rejection mattered nothing! For him sorrows had turned into joy, everything was joyful for in everything he sought the Lord!

The Spiritual Capacity to accept Truth

WORD 2day: 6th Wednesday of Easter

May 29, 2019: Acts 17:15, 22 - 18:1; John 16: 12-15

"When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked...", we read in the first reading today. Some experiences are beyond our grasp at an initial instant, some experiences may be totally confusing while others may leave us with nothing to say. There are ways in which a person responds to a data that is beyond one's perception or beyond ordinary explanations. The first way is to outrightly reject it and the second is to ridicule it just because one cannot understand it. These two  display an arrogance that is not even humane, leave alone spiritual. 

The second type of response would be a bit more humane or simply human. That is, the person could begin to enquire about it and make some scientific efforts to understand it. 

The Greeks in Areopagus laugh at Paul and some consider him 'confused'... hardly a few tried genuinely understanding him! It was so difficult because they were not gripped by the Spirit... a Spiritual disposition alone can lead to some truths to be comprehended.

A Spiritual disposition in approaching new experiences would enable a person to perceive the truth in what is said, understand its true meaning and find relevance for one's life. This sort of a mind will not reject something merely because it seems new or it has not been so till then. The one who empowers a person towards such a disposition is the Spirit of truth, introduces Jesus in the Gospel today. 

The beautiful expression of St. Anselm, 'faith seeking understanding', is a grace! "When the Spirit of truth comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth"... the truth of what i am upto, the truth of who i really am and what i am called towards. Openness, respect and a sense of wonder are prerequisites for one to have real Spiritual Experiences!

Once again today, let our prayer be: Let your Spirit guide us O Lord!

What do I do to be saved?!

WORD 2day: 6th Tuesday of Easter

May 28, 2019: Acts 16:22-34; John 16: 5-11

"What must I do to be saved?"... that must have been a very familiar question those days! We hear that addressed to Jesus by the rich young man and in a little different words by the disciples. Later, to the disciples it is addressed quite a few times as recorded in the Acts: the crowds on the day of the Pentecost, Cornelius to Peter, and today the jail guard to Paul and many such events... 

After Christ has been raised, the question in fact is redundant! For Jesus says, I shall send you the Holy Spirit and the Spirit shall enlighten you on everything. Today, we live as people of the light, for whom everything should be clear as things in a daylight. But we find still so much of darkness, despair and delusion. What could be the reasons?

The most probable reasons are these: lack of sense of sin, compromised vision of righteousness and a careless attitude of judgement. These are what we witness today in the world, and sometimes sadly, within each of us! Might be, that our values, priorities and choices blur the light that the Spirit wishes to shed on our minds. 

Let us submit ourselves to the Spirit and pray, 'you stretch your right hand and save me O Lord'. Let the enlightening Spirit of the Lord guide us on!

The Mutual Delight: the Lord and His People

WORD 2day: 6th Monday of Easter

May 27, 2019: Acts 16: 11-15; John 15:26 - 16:4

The Christian faith had already taken root in that short time and it is beginning to take wings as we see! Spreading far and wide, the faith in Christ was not merely an intellectual assent to some truths the apostles were sharing, but it was a dedication of their concrete lives. We have two different examples of that in the Word today.

The first is that of Lydia, who finds her new found faith impelling her to sustain the proclaimers of the Word. She would take no refusal, about she hosting the apostles in her home, says the first reading. She was delighted in the Lord! The second is about the Apostles, who were moving from one place to another without any lag or slackening because they were so delighted in the new apostolate entrusted to them. Looking at these sorts of His children, the Lord was taking delight in his people says the responsorial psalm!

This is what Christian faith is all about: the delight that the Lord has in each of us and the delight we manifest in having the Lord as our God! That Mutual Delight, of the Lord and the Lord's people turns into a tremendous testimony to the World. Some in the world are disturbed, there are others who are questioning. There will surely be a great number who be delighted to join the band. Let us be delighted in the Lord and let us delight the Lord with our daily lives!

A 3D APPROACH TO TRUE PEACE

Faith, Familiarity and Discernment

May 26, 2019: 6th Sunday of Easter 

Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29; Revelations 21: 10-14,22-23; John 14: 23-29 

Peace I give you; My peace I give to you! The Community of the Risen Lord is called to be a Community of Peace and Peacemakers. The Word today outlines to us the approaches to establish true peace among the people of God. It is a 3D approach, a three dimensional approach. 

D1- The First Dimension: SELF - DEEP SEATED FAITH

Faith is the spiritual tranquiliser at any moment of crisis or trouble. Faith is the assurance of the presence of God with me, which makes me courageous enough to accept the situation I find myself in. Right now in India we have a situation - the new political powers at work! It has been one long process of polarisation, resulting in suspicion, bitterness and mutual frustrations! There are so many issues at stake in the near future. What are we going to do: give in to the frustration and give up peace?

The Community of believers were going through a time of crisis, as two factions among themselves began to take exceptions to each other. However, the situation was brought under control, but the way the decision was made is remarkable as we read it even today. "It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves..." That is the key to their peace, their deep seated faith that God was right amidst them all through the crisis. When crises come our way, one of the first things we negate is the presence and empathy of God. But peace comes with a deep seated faith that never ever doubts the empathetic presence of God with me!

D2- The Second Dimension: GOD - DIVINE FAMILIARITY

The Christ-ian understanding of God is not a God who is up above the sky looking down on God's children and judging them. But it is a God who dwells with them, within them and among them. This is what Jesus promises today: If you love me, you will keep my word and my Father will love you and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Imagine a child who is walking home in the dark of night - alone and hence so frightened and freezing. Just right then the child's father comes by and places his hands on the shoulders of the child - how would that child feel? Has the darkness disappeared? Has the sun risen yet? No! But the very presence of the Father gives the child an assurance. 

When God makes home with us, we would have no lack of peace. True peace comes from the fact that the Lord lives with us. The first readings speaks of the Holy Spirit living with us, the Second reading speaks of the Father and Son making their resplendent presence amidst us and in the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit coming to make a family with us! That is peace, a sense of total assurance that I am surrounded by the Lord!

D3- Third Dimension: OTHERS - DIALOGUE AND DISCERNMENT 

The First reading once again brings to the fore the need and the importance of Dialogue and Discernment. Peace and Understanding reigned in the Early Christian Community because of the presence of Dialogue and Discernment. Dialogue and Discernment are two phases of a single process. Dialogue is the phase where the two parties involved have their views and opinions presented to each other. Discernment is the phase where they both come to a common ground, look over and beyond their point of view and come to a consensus towards a common decision. The One who inspires this common view is the Holy Spirit who is the source of all discernment, the third party who mediates the dialogue. When this third party is not involved in our dialogues they end up without proper discernment and lead only to two stubborn sides. 

Dialogue and Discernment presupposes three dispositions: One, that I am convinced of my stand. I have made all efforts to understand the issue, go deep into its various possible dimensions and I have sufficiently thought about its pros and cons. Second, that I respect the other. I am ready and willing to listen, listen to the other and not just get fixated with my prejudices. And finally, the third disposition is that I believe that the Spirit is at work. After the Elections results were announced for the Indian pa'rliament, someone asked: "after all the prayers and implorations why has God allowed this?" What is important here is not the question 'why has God allowed' but 'what is God communicating to us' here! We need to believe that the Spirit is at work! Be still and know that God is! (Ps 46:10)

When a community has these three dimensions clear - the self strengthened by deep seated faith, God with whom we enjoy a genuine familiarity and the other with whom we are ready to dialogue and discern, the Peace of the Lord reigns. Such a community glows to be truly Christian!

Are you GPS Enabled?

WORD 2day: 5th Saturday of Easter

May 25, 2019: Acts 16: 1-10; John 15: 18-21

Almost gone are those days when people bound for a place that they have never been to,  attempt to find their destinations with the help of people on the road,  bystanders, fellow passengers etc. Now a days with the smart phones everyone is GPS Enabled: Global Positioning System!

Today in the first reading we find the apostles also GPS enabled. They are instructed where to go and where not to go; and not only that what to say and what not to say, seems like an advanced tracking system. Yes, the GPS here is... God's Powerful Spirit.

In Gospel we see Jesus warning them, wherever they went there would be people against them,  because they were his disciples. But he assures that it was no reason to worry because they were GPS enabled: God's Protecting Spirit. 

To us too the message is the same: come what may,  with all the troubles and persecutions true disciples will go on and on; no political power or no manipulating system should stop us from living our life to the full, because we are are GPS Enabled: God's Propelling Spirit.

Let us pay heed to the invitation - to be disciples of Christ in our daily life with all its struggles and temptations, alarms and altercations. Let us ask ourselves: Are we GPS Enabled?

Mary our Mother and Help

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

May 24, 2019: Celebrating the Feast of Mary Help of Christians

Genesis 3: 1-6, 13-15; John 2: 1-11

Mary, the mother of God, mother of Jesus and our Mother, is manifested to us by God, in history and in events of today, as the Help of those who follow her Son, that is, the help of Christians! It is right today to have a look at the role of this Mother within the framework of our faith. 

IN HISTORY... In history we have seen persons, groups, the people of God, saints and saintly leaders of the people of God, founders of religious congregations and martyr witnesses to faith, relating in a very special and personal manner to the Blessed Mother of God. Apart from the fact that Jesus himself presented her to us as our Mother, Mary has stood by every follower and friend of her Son and proved a great protection to them in their lives. Don Bosco is one such, who experienced the constant guidance, benevolence and protection of our Blessed Mother and invoked her in this title: Mary Help of Christians.

IN THE CHURCH... As people of God and specially as Catholic Church we have a special gratitude and filial love for our Blessed Mother because we have been and we are privileged followers of her Son; yes, privileged, special and blessed! How much we have experienced this! We need to feel sorry for those of our own fellow pilgrims in faith, who miss this lovely, loving and lovable mother. The children might disregard their mother and hardly care for her, but the mother would always consider them her children, and consider so with compassion and concern.

IN FAITH... Mary, the Mother of Christ and our Blessed Mother, has an enormous role to play within the salvific plan of God. As the first reading suggests, God had in God's holy will a 'woman' who would usher in the salvation of humanity as a chosen instrument of God. St. Paul refers to this plan in his letter to the Galatians: (4:4) when the fullness of time came God sent God's son through a 'woman'... that is the 'woman' that Jesus is interacting with in the Gospel! What a lovely message from the Word, proposing to us a great model in cooperating with the eternal plan of God. The Message from our Blessed mother is a further explication of this model: 'Do whatever he tells you'.

Mary proves to be a mother and a help to those who are with Christ! The key is to be with Christ: being with, and being with Christ. Let us note the focus here. Our Blessed Mother will never be happy with us coming to her and stopping with her - she wants to and she vows to take us to the Son and that is where our salvation lies. Whether the faithful or those who shepherd the faithful - it would do well for us never to lose sight of this loving desire of our Blessed Mother, that we hold her hand and walk to Jesus. And on this journey she is certainly our mother and our help!

Here is a link to access the proper for this feast... the Mass Prayers, Readings and others (copy and paste it in the URL to find it):

http://opcalendarium.blogspot.com/2012/05/proper-mass-of-mary-help-of-christians.html 

To Remain in Love!

WORD 2day: 5th Thursday of Easter

May 23, 2019: Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11

Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James... what great names in today's first reading. All heavy weights in faith, the greatest apostles coming together to determine the future course of the Way. The Congregation that was gathered was divided. They had differences of opinions. There was a traditional group, infact James was part of it. There was a progressive group and Paul and Barnabas were championing it. Peter was the bridge, the "pontiff" - right enough! And we see James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem steering the entire discussion in such a godly fashion.

The whole argument was resolved on one fact: what is important is not circumcision nor uncircumcision (cf. Gal 5:6; 6:15) but faith working through love; what is important is REMAINING IN HIS LOVE. That is the crux of Christianity. It is not rules or rubrics, it is not law or legal fulfillments, but the love of Christ that gives meaning to our lives.

True joy that the Lord gives comes from what we are;  it comes from the fact that we are loved,  that we are accepted unconditionally and that we are united to the One who never changes! It is not the various rules and regulations that we uphold that matter but love! Love is all that matters! And in that love that God has for us,  we find our true joy,  complete joy!

 Anything inspired by true and genuine love for God and for the people of God, leads us to true life in God. Anything that divides the people of God and brings hatred among them, is not from God and is against the Spirit of the Lord. 

Keep Reflecting!   

Conflict Resolution - the Christian Mode!

WORD 2day: 5th Wednesday of Easter

May 22, 2019: Acts 15: 1-6; John 15: 1-8

We see a conflict arising in the Early Christian Community - two factions: the Conservatives and the Progressives. When the conflict arose, they immediately fall back to the roots, they come together and resolve it. The moment conflict arose they thought of getting together and not splitting into groups - that is a Christian Attitude.

A truly Christian attitude of conflict resolution is an attitude of unifying, a promotion of solidarity, a strengthening of bond and an assurance of fellowship. The growing number of denominations and divisions within the so-called Christian Community, is a counter witness, says the erstwhile encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi. The greatest scandal to the world is a divided Church.

It is not so difficult for us to get back to our communion even amidst all conflicts because we are all branches grafted on to a single vine: Jesus Christ! I am the vine says Jesus today, inviting us all to resolve our differences in him. A beautiful tamil hymn on love has an admirable phrase which expresses the following sentiment: let us respect the differences and live in harmony! (வேற்றுமை நிலைகளை மதித்திங்கு ஒற்றுமையுடனே வாழுவோம்) 

The more we are ready to get back to Christ and remain united in the One Lord, the more Christian we remain. Moments when I begin to contemplate division, I am disregarding the vine I am grafted on to. Remaining in Christ is a challenging task indeed - it may at times prove boring and monotonous and not immediate in bearing the results that are expected - but it is the key to being disciples of Christ. It can prove effective in any sort of conflict resolution. 

Fear versus Peace

WORD 2day: 5th Tuesday of Easter

May 21, 2019: Acts 14: 19-28; John 14: 27-31

The other day there was a forward that someone sent, a lady speaking about an alleged intellectual subversion that is happening in India. And her entire argument was that the intellectual cream of the nation is getting together under the patronage of Non-Hindu forces and subverting the entire Hindu Rashtra, and that the dream of Hindu Rashtra is being squashed to nothing. All we could see there was FEAR... clearly a fear that she intended to drive home into the minds of the listeners, giving the example of South Korea which was just 4% Christian in 1900, 18% in 1970s and over 40% in 1990 and she likened that fact to Kerala in India! Very evident, she was working on fear: one, an unfounded fear that she was attempting to establish; and the other, a fear she wanted the simplistic population to be affected by. We see the same in the first reading today - the Jews feared the rising acceptability of the new Way that they witnessed.

On the other hand we have the apostles in the same scenario: Paul and Barnabas and even others. They were calm and composed, fearless and daring, unmoved even in the face of death. What we see here is all PEACE. 

The Word teaches us today, the opposite of Peace is Fear! Where there is fear there is no peace! When fear disappears, Peace reigns. Jesus was about to go, not on a pleasant journey but on a trial and a real suffering unto death, but there is absolutely no trace of fear in him. The reason: he loved his Father and he was convinced his Father loved him! And he wishes that his disciples loved him much, and believed in his love for them. 

When we love God, and when we are convinced of the love that God has for us, we will have a Peace that no fear can take away! Peace be with you!