From the Lord's spread

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 31st week in Ordinary time 

November 5, 2019: Romans 12:5-16; Luke 14: 15-24

Jesus has the table spread; where the saints of God are fed; he invites his chosen people come and dine!

The spread that Jesus has is joy, hope, love, sharing, caring, helping, encouragement, honour, respect, service, hospitality, empathy - all that we see in the first reading, from Paul's letter to the Romans (a  profile of a perfect Christian from chapter 12). It's all right before us... At any moment to make a choice, a deliberate choice and when that choice is according to God's will, we can surely count on God's accompaniment through the rough terrain. 

But we... we are too busy with our own choices, too busy setting ourselves up, towards selfishness, envy, pride, jealousy, insensitivity, avarice, competition, hatred, enmity... we choose not to pick from the spread that Jesus has - but later blame the Lord, complain against the Lord when things go wrong! 

It takes courage to choose God, to say 'yes' to God's invitation and partake in God's banquet. Only when we dare do that we can meaningfully pray the verse from the responsorial today, "In you, O Lord, I have found my peace!"

Are we ready to choose from the Lord's spread? 

From God, through God and to God...

WORD 2day: Monday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 4, 2019: Romans 11: 29-36; Luke14: 12-14

Calculations of gain and loss, returns and rewards make an action limited to these considerations. Jesus, not only taught us a consideration different from these, but lived it himself and challenges us to live by it. 

The consideration Jesus lived by was -'what God wants of me here and now'! Adopting that as my decisive criterion in life, requires of me two important attitudes: 

The first reading speaks of the first of the two attitudes - it is, an immeasurable awe and absolute entrustment to the Wisdom of God. Doing the will of God is possible only when there is an invincible conviction that God's will is always good and favorable to my well being. Looking at God as a punishing God or a vindictive task master will never enable to lovingly surrender to God's will. 

The second attitude - placing others, especially the weak, the poor, the least and the last, the needy as a crucial focus of my perspective on life, and not looking at my own selfish and egoistic ends. How many times even the little good that I do for the needy, is so filled with my selfish motives! 

Only when these two become my attitudes, I can worthily say as St. Paul says in the reading today: 'From God and through God and to God are all things. To God be glory for ever. Amen.'

SALVATION - TODAY, HERE AND NOW

Eager and Enthusiastic Encounter

3rd November, 2019 - 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 11:22 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10

Salvation is the theme that dominates the liturgy today. The two days that have preceded help us to get into the theme readily. The first day when we celebrated those who shine as stars having reached the due destination; the second day when we remembered those who have completed their earthly lap and are bound towards the eternal abode; both these made us reflect on our future, as something certain and glorious. That is salvation. 

The word salvation, sometimes can be understood in terms of salvaging something that has gone wrong. Though this dimension is definitely present in the Salvation that Jesus wants to offer us, Salvation for a Christian should mean much more, much broader and more holisitic. It is wholeness, fullness, oneness, where nothing is lost, nothing is dissipated, everything is intact, everything is reconciled into One, whole cosmos reconciled in God, in and through one Saviour Jesus Christ. It is not merely an other-worldly phenomenon, but a concrete experience here and now, says the Gospel today through the example of Zacchaeus. 

An essential eligibility for this salvation is an Eagerness towards it. This eagerness is present in every person, every being. As St.Paul says in his letter to the Romans, the whole creation longs for it, as in a labour pain (Rom 8:22). It is God's will that nothing should be lost (Jn 6:39), that everything should be reconciled in Him (Col 1:20). The first reading expresses it in simple terms, that the Lord loves all things that exist and wills that they be united in the Lord. This is the oneness that we long for with the eagerness that is exhibited in the whole creation, and we as sons and daughters of God, have this longing much more. This longing is manifested in Zacchaeus in a gradually intensifying degree... first as a mere curiosity to see Jesus, then as an openness to listen to him and then as a longing to have him under his roof! Our eagerness too has to grow in these degrees... from a willingness to know, through an openness to listen to the Lord, to a longing to belong to Him for ever.

Salvation is not only something that happens at the end of time or at the end of my life... but it is the moment of truth that is occasioned every time the Lord encounters me - through daily events, through persons around, through a challenging situation, a needy person or a moment that demands a choice from me. As both the first and the second readings explain, the Lord strives to make the creation worthy of its original nature, the perfection which the Lord willed them. It is in this framework we understand every intervention of God, especially that in Jesus Christ, the Word made human. Once the Lord encounters me, I can never remain the same! That is why we keep dodging and avoiding the gaze of the Lord. But when it does happen, it is a moment of reckoning. It was so for Zacchaeus, he was encountered by Jesus at the Sychamore... an encounter that transformed him totally, initiated in his life a salvific process. He listened to Jesus' call, obeyed and came down from the tree, and his life was changed for ever. We are invited to listen to the call of the Saviour, come down from our obstinacy and our life will be changed for ever!

Salvation is not an imaginary state of life...it has to be seen in concrete living. It should be seen in our Enthusiasm for life. We see Zacchaeus enthusiastic about his new life...he is ready to return whatever he has unjustly extorted, not just that, but four times! This is what we call enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm, comes from the root 'en' and 'theos', which combine to mean, 'being filled with God'...being enthusiastic in life means to be filled with God every moment of our life. Salvation has to be evidenced in this enthusiasm to live life to the full... not ever compromising with the unjust state of affairs, not giving into selfish considerations of me and mine, but looking at everything from the perspective of God, from the perspective of wholeness that consists of reconciling everything, the whole creation, in God. 

We are people of the salvation, as St. Paul says, "God chose you from the beginning for salvation" (2 Thes 2:13); Let us live our life with a never ending eagerness for this wholeness in God, ever prepared to encounter the Lord and be corrected and made perfect by the Lord. Let our enthusiasm in our daily life proclaim to the world that we are people of salvation. 

Today, the Lord offers, as he did with Zacchaeus, to be our guest. If we receive the Lord with our whole hearts, TODAY, we will experience the power of God's salvation.

HOPE - a sign of the SAVED

All Souls Day - November 2, 2019

Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 5: 5-11; Luke 7:11-17

What does it mean to be a Christian, especially today? What is the difference you find in your life as a Christian, from a life lived by one of your friends, supposedly a non Christian! What is the difference between a Christian and an unchristian outlook on anything? 

It is hope. It is hope that makes us see a possibility even in the worst of our daily problems. Hope gives one the serenity and tranquility to approach every day problems with grace. Can anyone in this life claim that he or she has absolutely no problem? There are just two kinds of people: those who approach their problems with positivity and those with negativity - naturally Christians have to be in the former category by all means. 

Speaking of problems... one big unsolved question for the whole humanity is how to understand the end of life and beyond. For a Christian, life is changed, not ended, says the preface of the Mass for the dead. Jesus' resurrection fills us with hope and that hope does not disappoint us. The hope is towards eternal life, it is the eternal destination that characterises the culmination of this journey on earth. 

Death is just the horizon beyond which we are not able to see what really exists; for if we see, there is no more place for hope (Rom 8:24). All that we see is the Risen Lord, who lives with us and lights our path. And in the Risen Lord is our hope. We hope to see every one of our brothers and sisters gone before us, united in the Risen Lord, as do the saints we celebrated yesterday and our prayer today is that these brothers and sisters of ours join their ranks and that we, at the end of our journey, join that wonderful family, the family that is founded on faith, united in love and kept alive in hope!

A SAINT - Being or Becoming?

Solemnity of All Saints: November 1, 2019

Revelation 7: 2-4,9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12a

O when the saints, 

go marching in, 

I want to be in that number! - 

... a simple but profound thought in those familiar lines of the song. To be saints: that is God's call to each of us. At times we think, becoming saints is reserved for a select few. May be the long and tedious process of canonisation of a person in the Church, makes us feel that way. But the fact is, each of us is, all of us are called to be saints. St. Paul states that in clear and unequivocal terms in his letter to the Ephesians (1:4), Thessalonians (1 thes 4:3), and other various other places. 

The question sometimes is, whether it is being a saint or becoming a saint! We are created in the image and likeness of God (says Genesis 1:27) and this image and likeness of God is a "given", a nature that we have within us, as a gift. We are reminded of this image and likeness at our baptism and invited to grow in it, towards the fullness of it. All the we need to do is to remain with that image in our lives. The beautiful symbol used in the rite of baptism, where the priest hands over a white cloth to the child and entrusts the task of bringing it back, as it were, unsullied, intact in its purity to the end of days.That, dear friends, is the call - "to be saints"...and not merely to 'become' saints.

The WORD today, develops the same thought in three wonderful dimensions:

Being Saints means... being aware of who we are! O Christian, realise your dignity! We are children of God, reminds St. John in his letter, in the second reading. God has chosen us from eternity, before the foundation of the world! This is an initiative from God our Father and Mother, who creates us and wishes that we share in God's love and ever remain in God's image and likeness, as children of the loving God.

Being Saints means... being washed by the blood of the Lamb! The Image of God within us, sometimes is disturbed, smudged, smeared or sullied by the choices we make misusing the human freedom that is granted to us. The evil one will be more than happy when we lose heart at such moments and give up. The Son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ shed his blood that we may have victory over sin and death. In that blood we are saved, and in that blood we are made clean, each and every time we turn to the Lord in genuine repentance and willingness to regain our original image. Saints are those who have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb, says the second reading.

Being Saints means... being 'blessed' in the eyes of the Lord! And the only way to be 'blessed', is to live by the promptings of the Spirit who dwells within us. Paying attention to the indwelling Spirit, we will know what it means to be blessed - to be poor in spirit, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be peace-loving - these are ways of being persons of the spirit. In the ordinariness of our daily life, we have to be persons of the Spirit, looking at the reality different from the way the self seeking world teaches us to. 

God's initiative in the call that I have received; Christ's redeeming act of Salvation; the Spirit's indwelling presence that guides me on a daily basis - these are compelling reasons why I need to think seriously about, not merely becoming a saint one day, but being a saint everyday, in my own way!

Nothing can separate!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 31, 2019: Romans 8: 31-39; Luke 13:31-35

Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ; no one can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus - the most energising words of St. Paul. Can things be clearer than this... just read those lines in the first reading once more - categorical, clear, convinced, charismatic and courageous! 

St. Paul, the apostles and the first Christians learnt this from Jesus himself. If God is for me, who can be against me - that was the confidence of faith that defined the courageous choices that Jesus made. Neither Herod, nor Pilate, nor the high priests or the chief priests, nor the impending death, nor the rejection of the crowd - nothing mattered to him, because he knew that the One who sent him, loved him! 

Look at the situation today: the anti-religious voices becoming louder, the anti-Christian forces becoming stronger, the anti-Church movements becoming fiercer by the day! Should that frighten us? What about so many millions who have left the Christian faith for either non-religious adherence or other diabolic choices, in the few decades past? Should that destabilise us? No. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

However, there is one... there is one who can separate me from God's love - that is a warning for me today! There is only one who can separate me from God's love - Myself. There is only one thing that can separate me from the love of Christ - My ego! If I choose not to belong to God, if I choose to reject God's love, I separate myself from God. 

How much God wishes to gather me into God's arms, but I rebel!!!

To be saved, or not to be?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 30th week in Ordinary time 

October 30, 2019: Romans 8: 26-30; Luke 13: 22-30

To be saved, is a grand spiritual preoccupation. All religions and faiths, is in answer to this preoccupation. They arise as mediations of this salvation which belongs to that One Supreme Being, that the mortal human beings may make sense of their lives. 

The Word today addresses this question from a Christian point of view, with two simple propositions: The first, "God's love guarantees that you will be saved"; and the second, "Take care that you do not create for yourself a situation of impossibility of being saved".

We are not here by chance; we are here because God loved us into existence! If God loved us, if God loves us, will God wish that we be doomed to perdition? We were chosen to be given this great gift of life and at its completion, will we not be given what awaits us too? Hence, if I love God, if I really love God, I need not ask that question: will I be saved?

What happens when I deliberately choose not to love God - in words I may say, I love God, but in my choices, my way of life, in my day to day events, I may choose something totally opposed to God. By that, I am moving away from God, I wish to enter whichever door I wish, whichever door is attractive - not that narrow door! Then who is to be blamed, if I miss the bus?

In simple words: the readings tell us- being saved should not be our preoccupation! Our preoccupation should be to live our life according to the promptings of the Spirit who dwells within us, living everyday in the presence of the Lord, going about our duty with utmost interior joy and total dedication to Truth. The rest happens by itself and we will find ourselves in front of that narrow door...and we will enter and our hearts will rejoice in the salvation of the Lord!

The Birth-pang Spirituality

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 29, 2019: Romans 8: 18-25; Lk 13: 18-21

Going through the Word today, a few thoughts came flooding my mind: the mind blowing facts people say about the level of labour pain which many mothers akin to a near-death experience, the recent painful experience of one of my friends allegedly deciding to end his life after whatever he went through within himself, the case of a two year old in a part in Tamilnadu who has fallen into a tube well and after more than 72 hours the anxiety of rescuing is still on... everything seemed related to the imagery that the Lord is sharing today!

Linking all these experiences and the Word today, I saw my mind converge on one reflection: the Birth Pang Spirituality. 

What does this spirituality consist of:

1.Expecting a transformation in Life, a spectacular and paradigmatic transformation as the core of this Spirituality.

2.Knowing well that the expected transformation is not going to come so easily or automatically; it has to be, to a great extent, my effort of course with the external (Divine) assistance.

3.Accepting wholeheartedly the enormous pain that would be involved and knowing well any effort to cut down the pain will not result in the total transformation that is desired.

4.Awaiting eagerly the signs of the beginning of the transformation, in spite of realising the pain that is involved, at times even a thought that nothing seems to be working. 

5.Going through with heroism the entire painful phase of processing that transformation, always keeping in mind that there is someOne greater than me, who is overseeing it all.

6. Having done all that I could, and all that I am called to, waiting with hope for the Lord to act in God's own time.
7. Rejoicing finally in the outcome and being a cause for others to rejoice too!

Built into households of God

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

October 28, 2019 : Remembering the Apostles Simon and Jude

Ephesians 2: 19-22; Luke 6: 12-16

The memory of the Apostles takes us back to the original experience that gave rise to a new movement, a new family around the person of Jesus of Nazareth and the wondrous experiences with him. The group of people who were taken up with Christ, were the buzz of every town and village... they were making waves, everyone was talking about them. 

Today too, being Christians does not only mean to have a set of beliefs and practices, certain things we hold on to and things we leave out. Rather it means, that we belong to that movement, that family, that household... we are all members, fellow citizens, brothers and sisters with the apostles and saints, persons built into the house of God. 

When Jesus called the Apostles by name, he wished that those few would pass on that experience of belonging to the household of God, to others right to the end of the world! That is why he gave them an intimate experience of that reality and sent them all prepared. And we have been the beneficiaries... we have been built together as the dwelling place of God, the Temple of the Spirit. 

What does identify us as Christians, as disciples, as followers of the Lord? United in our hearts, with genuine love that goes out to each other, as brothers and sisters we are invited to become Temples, where persons can come in to feel the presence of God, the household of God that welcomes every brother and sister around! 

EMPTINESS - WHERE GOD ENCOUNTERS

Lack, Lifestyle or Liminality!

30th Sunday in the Ordinary time - October 27, 2019

Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14,16-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18: 9-14

You cannot fill a cup that is full ...

God is not partial, God knows no favourites - says the first reading but all the while speaking of a God who takes his stand by the poor, the widow and the orphans, the oppressed and the lowly. No, there is no paradox here, neither is there a partiality. It is natural that water flows where it is low. Isn't it true, that we can fill only that cup which is empty! 

The Word today reminds us of the Spirituality of Emptiness! Emptiness, is not merely an absence of things. Emptiness is not merely a state of something not being there. If it were so, it is so easy to reach that state - all that you need to do is remove whatever is there! Instead, emptiness is a positive reality. Emptiness is where God encounters us!

Emptiness can be due to a lack! The first reading speaks to us of the oppressed, the widows and the orphans... persons who lacked, who lacked their rights, who lacked some one to lean on, who lacked people who cared. The economically poor, those who do not have anyone to call family, those who feel rejected, unaccepted, exploited or abused are  people who lack something that is so necessary in life that without it, life becomes hard, meaningless and empty. At those trying moments, if only they raise their hearts a bit, they will realise God is so very close to them. God encounters us in that state... that is a condition! 

A condition in which one knows that one lacks, when one knows that he or she is not complete, is when the person encounters God! In our inabilities, in our lacks when we turn to God, and accept God as the one who can fill me... God fills me! At times when we realise the lack - be it what it may, economic or healthwise or with regard to meaning of our life itself - the danger is we get lost in that emptiness, as if that is the end of everything. We forget that emptiness can help. It can help us feel the Lord close by, standing right beside us. 

Emptiness can be a lifestyle! One can have things, one can possess goods, but still can decide to live in a state of emptiness, not giving into attachments and bonds that could cripple one's existence. People who have given up their inherited wealth, people who have turned their backs on what the world would look at as incredible prospects in life... we know quite a lot of them, don't we? God encounters them there, in that emptiness. That is not a condition, but a choice! 

A Choice about which St. Paul speaks of in the second reading, how he had emptied himself for the sake of the Word, for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the Lord's people. It is a lifestyle ... a mindset... the mindset of Christ: for he did not consider equality with God as something to be held on to,... but emptied himself (Phil 2: 5-7) - the lifestyle of Christ, the Son of God! As long as we seek our sufficiency and our meaning in things and worldly recognitions, we are with our hands full. The moment we choose to let go of them, willingly and purposefully, we would see real serenity emerge. Emptying oneself is a choice to allow God to fill you!

Emptiness is liminality! Liminality is a word that is used to mean, 'to stand at the threshold', a state of passage, a state where one has undergone a change from what one was, but has not yet become what one is yet to become! One is not complete yet, but he or she is well on the way to being complete. One is not anymore what he or she was - the old self. But one has not yet fully put on the new self either - but he or she is gradually growing into it - gradually, slowly but steadily, serenely with determination.

We could be reminded here, of the words that St. John writes, 'We are children of God, what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is' (1 Jn 3:2). When we empty ourselves, we are moving towards being complete. When we are too conscious of being so complete and perfect, we actually are closing ourselves in and we become dead. The more we empty ourselves, the more God fills us! It is not merely a false self humiliation, but a spiritual surrender of self emptying before the Lord, in which the Lord fills us, to the brim. And thus we will today go home justified, sanctified, filled with the Lord!

Let us pray:
O God, who alone is complete...
behold my emptiness, and make me ever conscious of it,
that I may be filled, filled by you,
to become complete, just as you are...
Bid me look at you... 
so willing to empty yourself, 
help me too, to be so ready 
to empty myself for the others, 
that I may be once again be filled by you, you who alone is complete! Amen.