Can God become a means?

WORD 2day: Friday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 20, 2019: 1 Timothy 6: 2-12; Luke 8: 1-3

Paul writes in a time when servants (slaves) were common in an affluent household. A practice seemed to have spread that the masters of the household and the slaves together accepted Christ as their saviour and their relationship turned as brothers and sisters in Christ, rather than masters and slaves! The risk within this phenomenon was that some merely as a means to do away with their status as 'slaves', decided to be baptised! It was using God as means to win other ends. That was unacceptable to Paul! 

Reducing God to means of attaining other ends is no Christ-like attitude. Today, the world is not bereft of this risk - of making "Godliness a means of gain" (1 Tim 6:5). At times our devotions too seem to fall under this category... pleasing God, bribing God, enticing God, seeking God because you wish to have something, doing things that are good just so that God would give you the good you wish - all these are USING God - Can God be reduced to a means! Is God not the true end and the ultimate end of all!

Look instead to the first Christians who provided for God's work "out of their means" (Lk 8:3), money or wealth, power or position, pleasures or possessions - everything has to be at the service of the glory of God! This is possible only for those who are ready to "fight the good fight of faith" (1Tim 6:12). Yes, it is always a fight, against the popular sense of making God into an vending machine! God can never be made into a means!

Love for God, and for God in others!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 24th week in Ordinary time 

September 19, 2019: 1 Timothy 4: 12-16; Luke 7: 36-50

What matters most is the love one has, for God and for God in others! 

The world looks for reasons to despise - be it that one is small or young, or that one is evil or despicable, or that one belongs to a category or the other! Before God, and before persons of God, these make absolutely no difference. What matters most before God, is the love that one has for God and for those around. 

Love brings about forgiveness, because true love is a commitment. Love for God is in practical terms a commitment to remain with God and never to stray. When that commitment, or love resides in one's heart - one would 'pay attention to oneself and to one's teachings' and thus 'save oneself and save the hearers' (cf. 1 Tim 4:16). 

Do not say that you are young, the Lord warned Jeremiah! The warning is to all of us, because each of us is anointed by the hands of God at our baptism and we participate in the Royal priesthood of Christ, the high priest. At times, in the disguise of humility, a blatant escapism tries to slip into our lives - after all I am only human, after all I am just beginning, after all I am young and inexperienced, after all this is only my first time... how many excuses - which we know so well, are excuses and not real reasons!

What matters most amidst all these circumstances and predicaments, is how much do I love God, and how much do I love God who resides in others! Yes, it's not if we are small or if we are sinners - what matters most is the love that I have in my heart for God - a true love, a true and total commitment!

Conformity... Compromise... my choice?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 18, 2019: 1 Timothy 3:14-16; Luke 7: 31-35

Conformity and Compromise seem to be the most acceptable modes of social living in today's context. 

What if someone refuses to conform - thank one's fortunes if he or she is a success; if the person bungles, he or she is termed - 'weird', 'good-for-nothing', 'worthless', 'abnormal', 'hard headed', 'stubborn' or so on. The standard criterion for judging anything and everything has become 'success' and nothing else - so the best bet is to conform to the crowd of so-called winners!

Living by values and standing up for truth, keeping your identity alive as a child of God, these seem today to be out-of-fashion slogans. But let us be clear: the only way to belong to the "household of God" (1 Tim 3:15) is by our way of living! In spite of the pressurising crowd, the preposterous situations or the prejudiced society, one is called to remain a disciple of Christ, in word, deed and thought. It is a vocation 24/7; it is a call every moment of the day and every day of the year! 

Both options are open to us: the easier option to conform to the world - dancing to its tunes or playing to its moves, or the tougher call to 'put on the mind of Christ' (Phil 2:5). The choice is mine! What I choose, I become - to conform, to compromise or to stand up, stand erect and stand with the Lord? 

Paul said it plainly in his letter, "do not conform to this world, but be transformed in Christ, and discern the will of God" (cf. Rom 12:2).

Integrity - a truly 'Christ'ian quality

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 17, 2019: 1 Timothy 3: 1-13; Luke 7: 11-17

The Word today summons every person of a Christian community to recognise and reassess the place and the importance of the quality of Integrity, in our life and community today. More than any quality of  efficiency or intelligence, it is personal integrity that St. Paul outlines as the quality needed utmost for anyone who wants to serve a Christian Community. 

Jesus, most obviously, is the model presented to us by the Gospel, in this all-important virtue of integrity. Not merely a sermon or a discourse, but we see Jesus moved with compassion for the helpless widow on the streets of Nain. 

The Responsorial Psalm drives home to us the crux of the message today: "He who walks in the way of integrity shall be in my service" (Ps 101:6). The psalm offers us two other terms to understand the quality of integrity: blameless heart and the way of perfection. Yes, it is not about staying away from cutting a bad figure before others, nor about being extra careful with our behaviour in public or in those fora which could create a scandal! It is about being good, choosing good, and doing good, regardless of a public opinion or acknowledgement.

The less the disparity between our talk and our walk, the more is our Integrity! Integrity, in fact, is the internal peace that leads to Universal Peace! It is what we choose to be, in order that we create around us what we want the world to be. 

The one word that can give peace

WORD 2day: Monday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 16, 2019: 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 7: 1-10

In these days when the world is constantly threatened by international stand-offs, territorial scramblings, intra-national factional misgivings, the readings today have a wonderful message - to pray for all, for the sake of peace! 

It is not a convenience-seeking measure but a conviction that is born out of a solid teaching that Jesus wanted to impart to the world - We are all sons and daughters of One, loving, caring God who is madly in love with us. Jesus lived that teaching by reaching out to the Roman Centurion and in fact pointing out in him the excellence of faith. 

The present Holy Father, Pope Francis has proved more than few times, a true disciple of Christ, calling the whole world, all persons of good will to unite in prayer, as does the first reading today. It is important for the world to know that the one word that can heal everyone, the one word that can give peace to the whole world, the one word that can set everything right is with God! 

The process has to begin with us... those who hear that Word, to believe in it and entrust ourselves to living it. 'Say but one word O Lord, the world shall be healed and we shall have peace!'

LET YOURSELF BE FOUND

The Lord is in search of you

September 15, 2019: 24th Sunday in Ordinary time

Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-32

Have you heard of that anecdote narrated of a girl who strayed into a thick forest and could not get back before it got really dark? She was there, terrified with the dark that surrounded her and the distant noises that frightened her. All that she could was hide herself behind a bush, covering herself with the dark, while her father began to desperately go in search of her! He was combing the forest inch by inch determined to find his child and at a certain point, there he stood as the beam of light from his torch rested on a pair of bewildered eyes: it was his daughter, still frightened but unable to see her dad because the light blinded her now, equally as the darkness until then did. The father was relieved and gave a sign of relief and joy, and cried her name out! As soon as the child heard her father's voice, she shouted in joy, "Daddy! I found you!"

What a lovely picture we are presented with in the Word today - the Lord who comes in search of us! The Lord is in search of us, but are we ready to let ourselves be found by the Lord? That is the crucial question raised to us today.

BEWARE - The First Reading warns us:

The World and our life today is filled with things, events, ideals and values that can distract us and get us lost! It is first the darkness that surrounds us. Enmity, violence, intolerance, competition, jealousy, avarice and apathy is spread more and more today, knowingly most of the times and unwittingly sometimes. People give into the pressure of the crowd and end up harping on the same negativity that they wish to fight. We need to stay clear of the negativity of the inhuman forces, the agents of hatred wish to perpetrate. Not just darkness, but sometimes what we consider light can blind us to God - self-righteousness, pride, sense of accomplishment and superiority, the tendency to look at our familiarity with God as a reason to condemn people or look down on them - these can keep us from truly encountering God... the Lord will be right there beside us and we will not realise it in our folly. 

REALISE IT - The Second Reading instructs us:

Become aware of it, when you are lost! St. Paul realised how lost he was! It is a grace to "come to our senses", just as the lost son came to his senses in the parable (Luke 15:17), that Jesus narrates today. When we do not realise that we are lost, like that little girl we spoke of, we would be imagining that we are in search of God - while actually the Lord is in search of us, looking for us amidst the darkness that we have created all around us, reaching out to us through the maze that we have thrown ourselves into. God is looking for us and the moment we realise we are lost, we would call out to God and the Lord shall cry our name out. Remember that incident when God called out "Adam", the first couple were hiding behind a bush! Remember that moment when God called out "Cain", he tried hiding himself behind his connivance. The sacrament of Reconciliation is all about our realisation, our coming to senses... it is admitting with all our sincere heart, that we have gone astray, we have lost our way, we are willing to be found and taken back to God. 

THE LORD WHO IS IN SEARCH OF US - The Gospel presents to us:

Oh, what a wonderful experience, to see the Lord who comes in search of us. We better not be ashamed or we will shy away and we better not be afraid or we will hide ourselves from that merciful gaze. A God who is on a constant look out; the Lord who is in search of us; the Lord who rejoices on our return - that is the image that Jesus wants us to have! Yes, the Lord is in search of us. The secret is that the Lord cannot find us, unless we let ourselves be found! 

And therefore, we pray:

Oh Lord, my God,

Grant that I may stick to the path you have shown;

Enlighten my mind to single out the enticements and entrapments 

that get me lost to your life-giving presence;

Infuse my heart with the humility to see the truth and accept it

specially when I find myself far from it;

Take my hand and lead me gently back to you,

however undeserving you find me to be; 

for I know you love me without bounds, 

you accept me without conditions, and 

you watch over me without denying me my freedom!

Thank you Lord, 

never let me wander too far away from you; and

help me always to let myself be found by you...
like the coin on the house floor, 
the sheep in the wilderness, 
and the son who came to himself...
Help me Lord, 
that when you come in search of me, 
TO LET MYSELF BE FOUND.

Amen.

The Cross Talk - look up, be lifted up & lift up

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 14, 2019: The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

Numbers 21: 4-9; (Optional 2nd reading: Phillipians 2: 6-11); John 3:13-17

Celebrating the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, our focus is on that symbol of God's love for humanity, the Tree of our Salvation. Exalting the Cross today, we are called to hearken to the voice of the Cross. If the Cross would speak to us, we would hear these three words: Look up, be lifted up and lift up!

1. Look Up: 
Look up to the Cross and be saved. It is in and through the Cross that we have been saved. Cross is not a symbol of suffering nor a sign of curse. By choosing the Cross as his weapon and throne, Christ who has conquered the world has won God's salvation for us. In all our difficulties we are called to look up and draw hope from this Cross. It is here that we are reminded to check our fear of looking at the cross as if it augurs suffering for us. It is the sign of love, the face of God so bruised after a battle to win us eternity. 

2. Be Lifted Up: 
When we look up, we are given the light. Those who look up to Him shall never be ashamed, promises the Word. We are invited to be lifted up by the Lord... just like the Saviour who was lifted up! The love of the Lord will lift us up, in spite of the burdens we bear and the clutches that tend to pull us down. Let us not be weighed down by the loads we carry. Let us surrender, so that we can be lifted up; let us humble ourselves before the Lord that we could be lifted up by the Lord.

3. Lift Up: 
Once lifted up, the Son of Man would draw everyone to Himself. And once we are lifted up by the Son, we should in turn lift everyone else up to the Lord. Our life has been punctuated with so many blessings and marvels from the Lord and today, we look up, we gaze at the One who is lifted up, and be lifted up ourselves. Our life in Lord should lift up the rest of the humankind with us to the Lord that everyone may look up to Him and be saved. Can I really say, that my words, my thoughts, my attitudes and my way of life, is capable of lifting people up to the Lord?

The Real Me

WORD 2day: Friday,  23rd week in Ordinary time 

September 13, 2019: 1 Timothy 1: 1-2, 12-14; Luke 6: 39-42

Humility is an inevitable part of holiness. Holiness never leads one to pride and anything that makes one proud is certainly short of true holiness. 

Humility consists of the capacity to take guidance from others. While realising the areas in which one has to grow and taking steps towards that growth is an important part of maturing in one's life,  mutual corrections are very Christian ways of growing up too. If one thinks he or she knows every thing and is in perfect control of everything, the person would feel the others are dispensable in life. Pride leads to the despise of the other.

Humility is not an artificial debasement of oneself in any way. It is knowing my real self, accepting it and being at home with it; at home with knowing my imperfections and continuously working on it. While it is absolutely opposed to pride, it is certainly not a belittling of oneself. At times we see pseudo-spiritualities that, in the name of praising God, make of oneself worthless, despicable beings! How can that be, when it is God who has willed us into existence! If we adore God, should we not look at ourselves with a divine dignity?

St. Paul was mindful of his real self all the time. He never thought of hiding his dark past and was never bloating over the glorious state of his present relationship with Christ. In fact his relationship with Christ made him more aware of his real self. In Christ I get to know my real me,  not just my past but also my call;  not merely the splinters and planks in my eyes but even the blessings and splendours given unto me. That is the real me, the real me that is willed into existence by the Lord!

Put on love; put on Christ!

WORD 2day: Thursday,  23rd week in Ordinary Time 

September 12, 2019: Colossians 3: 12-17;  Luke 6: 27-38

As we hear the first reading today, if we do not clarify that the words are from the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians,  one can easily misjudge those as some kind of paraphrasing of a part from the Gospel, as if they are words of Christ himself. Paul had so intensely taken in the spirit of Christ that his insistence of putting on Christ comes from his person much stronger than from his words. 

Love is presented as the crux of Christ's message. When Paul says elsewhere too, by 'put on Christ', he practically means to put on love. Love is the sweetest of all teachings of Christ and it is the most difficult of all too, for it comes inbuilt with forgiveness; forbearance, kindness,  gentleness, integrity and sacrifice. Isn't that difficult enough?  

Love, according to the mind of Christ, is not to be understood as a childish sentiment of attachment and dependence, as the world today portrays. Looking at each other all the time, talking to each other incessantly, pleasing each other at all costs, missing even in a little absence - these seem to be defined as 'love' today! Much to its contrast, love is a Christlike self-giving. It is not about being with or without someone, but being for someone, willing to sacrifice for the other. It is a commitment to give life, give one's life, without counting the cost! Does it sound almost impossible?

Being a Christian is hard, the famous philosopher Kierkegaard would often reiterate - whether he understood it right or not, it is a fact. Yes, the fact is,  if we believe being a Christian is to put on Christ, it can never happen except by putting on love!

The Christ Difference

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 11, 2019: Colossians 3: 1-11; Luke 6: 20-26

There is no more Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, slaves or free persons, there is only Christ, says Paul. Christ alone shall make the difference. There is no more religious or lay, catholics or others, believers or non believers, practitioners or indifferent, regular-to-the-Church or non-church-goers... nothing is going to be different because of these externals. There is only Christ and Christ alone shall make all the difference. 

God has chosen each of us, and if God has chosen us in Christ, we have a duty to respond. It is our response in Christ that is going to make the difference. If I choose Christ, if I value Christ, if I value the call that I have received to be a child of God, I have to  show it in my life; I have to live it on a daily basis; I have to prove it at times of real crisis in my practical living. When I choose Christ the difference would certainly be seen. 

Confusing criteria,  disarrayed priorities,  Godless morality,  inhuman ethics and heartless secularisation of the world... this is the context in which we are called to live and profess our faith in Christ. The Word today establishes, that in this context,  we cannot put up with compromises and half baked convictions. We need to make a clear and impeccable difference in and through our lives.

The world stands in need of Spirit-filled Evangelisers, calls out Pope Francis. Let our choice for Christ make a concrete difference in our lives. Let the world around me see the difference, the Christ difference, in me!