Ephphatha: Hear the Warning!

WORD 2day: Friday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 14, 2020: 1 Kings 11:29-32,12:19; Mark 7: 31-37

Ephphatha, says Jesus today and the man's ears were opened! Ephphatha, says the Minister of the Lord at our Baptism - not to open our physical ears, but to attune our spiritual ears of the heart, to the voice of the Lord within us and all around us! That is the source of true wisdom. Solomon who was given this great gift, lost it in the inebriation of his glory. What about us?

Persons often attempt to justify their acts saying, 'I did it without knowing,' 'unknowingly,' 'without my knowledge,' etc. Though some cases could be due to ignorance, most of the cases of our failures and faults are not so much in a state of ignorance as that of indifference. Every time we make a choice for something that is not right, that is not ethical, that is not moral, that is not virtuous, there is a voice within us that tells us: No, do not! We are either indifferent to it or we stifle it, when we are taken up with the momentary excitement of choosing it! 

The grace that we are reminded of today in the Word, is that of being always attentive to that inner voice, the most important reminder of God's unceasing presence with us. As Isaiah would say, "and when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you sauing, "this is the way walk in it." (Isa 30:21) It is a gift given to every disciple of the Lord, every child of God. It all depends on us, how much we use it or develop it, so that we will always remain close to the Lord and never abandon God to follow the reckless ways.

At times when we ask questions like, 'why this', 'why me', 'why now'...it would be better to get into a deeper introspection and find out if we have been somewhere indifferent or resistant to the serene and calm voice of the Lord. If we have, it would be good to pray that the Lord says looking at us: Ephphatha.

A right sense of Openness

WORD 2day: Thursday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 13, 2020: 1 Kings 11: 4-13; Mark 7: 24-30

Some may find this difficult to accept. But it is anyway true, what Gustavo Guttierez the famous theologian says, that Jesus was taught by the Syro-Phoenician woman. He was taught to open up his mind and see that everyone was God's child, loved and sought after by God, not just the so-called 'chosen' people. Every one is chosen, and every one is acceptable in the presence of the Lord, provided the person feels called and is serious about his or her call.

This is an essential sense of openness that every son and daughter of God should possess - this is exactly what Jesus teaches us too as his ongoing revelation of a Father who wants every one unite as one family of brothers and sisters. An openness that is needed today all the more, when religion becomes an easy reason to divide, turn people against each other and cause inhuman violence!

But we have to learn it the right way - it is not to say anything is alright, everything acceptable and everything is same. Solomon falls prey to that falsehood, and gives into compromise. Openness is not compromise, it is not a cocktail or a hotch-potch of everything that is there. 

Openness is true respect for the other, without making them one among the many and at the same time not excluding anyone from the circle of hospitality. Let good thoughts come from any side,  it is said. Yes, that would help only when you know the absolute good and hold on to it. When there is no true ground, you would be swept to nowhere. 

Let us pray today for the true wisdom from the Spirit, that we may know the One True Beautiful God, and see how we are connected to each and every person, in and through that Loving Father and Mother.  

The inner stuff that we are made of...

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 12, 2020: 1 Kings 10: 1-10; Mark 7: 14-23

Wisdom is seen in what comes out of one's mouth, out of one's mind and out of one's life! Queen of Sheba found that with Solomon and praised God. Jesus invites us to pay attention to such an outlook on life - being mindful of what comes out!

From the fullness of the heart does your mouth speak, they say. From what fills your mind does your choices emerge and from your choices is your life's direction determined. And hence, the most crucial element to pay attention to in our existence, in not so much what we do and what we say, as what we think and how we think! Is it not clear then why St. Paul instructed us to 'put on the mind of Christ'.

Do not try to do all that Christ did. Do not try to do all that some saint did. That is not what you are called for. Instead, try to get into the mind of Christ; try to get into the mind of these brothers and sisters of ours in Christ, who have gone before us and shine as examples. Getting into their minds, find out why they did what they did. That will give you a clue to how to think and what we think. And from there will be born choices, a direction for life, a direction that will take you closer and closer what God intended of you! 

It is so pointless to be taken up with what one eats and what one avoids, what one does and what one restrains from, what one promotes and what one denounces - they are all meaningful one in as much as one is clear and transparent about what one really believes and what one is convinced of - that is the inner stuff one is made of. Let us be mindful of it and be attentive to it: the inner stuff that we are made of. 

Prayer and the Pray-er

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 5th week  in Ordinary time

February 11, 2020: 1 Kings 8: 22-23, 27-30; Mark 7: 1-13

Solomon prays and Jesus teaches what is not truly prayer! Solomon acknowledges the goodness of God as the crux of all prayers and Jesus teaches us that as long as we really don't experience and strive to grow worthy of God's goodness, our prayer will merely be a lip service: "this people honours me only with lip service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations," quotes Jesus from Isaiah. 

This is no new or isolated teaching of Jesus - it is in fact the linking thread all through his teaching of faith and expressions of faith. It has to be something that is lived from the core of our beings not merely a performance for the sake of the those who are seeing, those who are expecting and those who are valuating us constantly. That is the essential difference between a performance-prayer that the pharisees and scribes upheld in contrast to the integral prayer that Jesus lived and taught.

In short Jesus was trying to contrast between a mere prayer and a pray-er! It is not enough that we say prayers, we need to become pray-ers... persons who pray; pray with their lives, pray with their everyday choices, pray with their value system, pray with their entire self - they do not merely say or perform prayers, but become in themselves pray-ers! That is what Jesus was...every bit of his being, all the time was united with the One who sent him, thus he was a pray-er! Let us seek ways of growing to be true pray-ers. 

To Rest or to Reach out?

WORD 2day: Monday, 5th week in Ordinary time 

February 10, 2020: 1 Kings 8:1-7,9-13; Mark 6 : 53 -56

The first reading speaks of the first temple built for the Lord... ever since, it had been a point of contention. However, how do we understand the temple for the Lord: a place of rest for God? Would that be a good way to understand? 

In contrast to the established temple in the first reading,  we have a wandering Lord in the Gospel. Could anyone stop Jesus from his work... no one could. They even thought he was going out of his mind. He was so busy... doing what? Just meeting people. Just reaching out. Is that not a more likely understanding of God - a God who reaches out, instead of someone who rests in an abode!

Jesus considers reaching out to people compelling and urgent. There was a constant urge in his heart to move on. He wished to build his resting place amidst the cries and woes of people, sickness and sadness of the afflicted, trials and troubles of their daily lives. Let us learn to see the Lord dwelling in true and sincere encounters. The Lord continually reaches out, in spite of us trying to contain the Lord in one place, one tradition, one thinking, one religion or one form! Whether we will truly be made whole by the Lord, it depends on us.

Have a second look at the Gospel and how it ends today: all those who touched him were cured. It does not say, all those whom Jesus touched were cured, but all those who touched him were cured. It depends on us to truly open ourselves and touch the Lord, to truly behold the real presence of the Lord amidst and we shall be made whole! The Lord is here amidst us not to rest, but to reach out. If only we behold the Lord every moment of our lives!

THE LIGHT OF FAITH

Be illumined! Illumine!

February 9, 2020: 5th Sunday in Ordinary time

Isaiah 58: 7-10; 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5; Matthew 5: 13-16

"The Light of Faith: this is how the Church's tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus": so begins the encyclical Lumen Fidei, issued by Pope Francis in 2014. Light is an image very often presented in relation to faith, the faithful and the life of a faithful. It is an explicit call by the Lord right from the Old Testament times that the people of God have to be light to the nations (Is 42:6). With Christ's call today to be light of the world, it becomes an inevitable criterion to be identified as Christ's disciple or not!

Faith as Light: The first reading reminds us of a Zen story that we would have heard, of the Master who asked his disciples: When do you think it is dawn? The disciples attempted various responses, like - when we see the difference between a tree and a pillar; when we can identify a black thread from a white, and so on. The Master, discontent with everything, finally said: it is dawn, when you look into the eyes of the one next to you and see your brother or your sister! 

The first reading  tells us exactly that... when you accept the gift of faith from the Lord, your eyes are opened that you can see into the eyes of those around you and see your brothers and sisters; in their suffering and in their pains, you can feel your heart weeping and your eyes welling. We are reflecting today on the theme of LIGHT... the light that illumines us, the light that makes us see the real meaning of life and the true sense of being human. What can do that task better than our faith - Faith, is the light that illumines us, a light that directs our journey of life, a light that opens our minds to see clear and live upright. It is the Light we are offered by the Lord, as a gift!  

The Faithful as Light: Once we accept that gift, the gift of faith from the Lord, we as faithful, we become the Light! Receiving the light, we become the Light. The Lord sets us as the light to the nations, the light to the world, the light on the lamp stand, the city on the hilltop! Our faith does not rest on human wisdom, or logical reason, or scientific thinking, or systematic and mind blowing theologies! Our faith is primarily founded on the power of God, reminds St. Paul in the second reading today. 

Illumined by the Light, we become the light! Jesus declared, "I am the light of the World" (Jn 8:12); but did not stop with that. He challenges us today in the Gospel, "You are the light of the World." Every person of faith is called to be a light that is set on the lamp stand, to spread the light to the entire house, to illumine those around him or her. But it is important that we remember always that the source of our light, is the Light which illumines us all, the Light eternal of which we are rays, the eternal fire of which we are sparks.

The life of the faithful as Light: Being the light...what could that mean? It involves two important elements: One, everyone sees you; and two, one is able to see because of you! Theologians and Pastoral thinkers always raise a pertinent question, what would be the most apt mode today, of proclaiming the Good News to those who have not heard it. The answer is as simple as it is tough: "by living my everyday life!" One may wonder, but where is the proclamation here - actually, it is in the very living! 

Our life cannot have two shades - personal and public, sacred and profane, spiritual and secular... If I am a Christian - I should be seen! That is the first dimension of being light - my life has to be lived in its integrity. When the light can be seen, then one can see, because of the light. When my life can be seen by the other as an open book, the other can draw an inspiration to live by, and that is proclamation; that is evangelisation; that is illumining! It is through my life, my words, my actions and everyday choices that I become a light to the other; "if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness!" and thus one will become the light in darkness to the upright.

Let us keep this light burning in our hearts whole day today, and our everyday. To evaluate our daily life and see, if we really possess the Light of Faith, if we really live our life in a manner as to become light to those around me! Let the Eternal Light of Lord fill our hearts to be illumined and to illumine!

The Strange Choices

WORD 2day: Saturday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 8, 2020: 1 Kings 3: 4-13; Mark 6: 30-34

The choices we make are based on the priorities we hold. We are aware of so many psychological tests based on the types of choices a person makes, leading to the reasons and applications of the same into an analysis. That is only an indication to say, there is more than what meets the eye, in a choice that a person makes. There are subconscious elements that determine a choice in any given concrete situation - that is where the priorities truly abide.

Today in the Word,  we have some strange choices: Solomon who chooses a less attractive but more divine choice; Jesus who makes a tiring tough choice of being with people; and the apostles who had just returned from hectic outing but glad to be with Jesus once again...all strange choices given the circumstances. But every one of those choice had an underlying grace! 

Solomon's choice was applauded by the Lord because the priority was the people of God, and not his own glory or dominance. Jesus' choice is so elevating because, he chooses to cater to the people of God, not his own personal comfort or rest. The choice of the apostles to be with their Master, was a choice so ideal because they did not mind their state of exhaustion. 

These choices would be considered inopportune by a world which looks at unwinding as so important, personal space as sacred, total self-giving as a burn out and other-orientedness as stupidity! For those who are centered on God, God's purposes and God's people, these choices need not be strange at all. When we are united with the Lord, in heart and mind, our choices will be considered strange, don't be alarmed, we do have company!

A life for God

WORD 2day: Friday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 7, 2020: Ecclesiasticus 47:2-13; Mark 6: 14-29

Today we read the glories of David from the Philosopher... glory that came directly from the fact that his was a life lived for God and totally for God. All his mistakes and blunders were overlooked because of his overwhelming dedication to God and God's purposes. David had one identity over and above everything else, that he was a beloved son of God and that did the magic.

The Gospel reminds us of another man with a very strong identity, that he was a man of God, a messenger of God, a forerunner to the Saviour. John the Baptist, or for that matter any martyr we could think of, what really matters is not so much the fact that they died for Christ as the fact that they lived for Christ!  They lived so much for God that dying did not matter to them. 

For me to live is Christ and to die is gain, said Paul. These lives are purest translations of that principle that Paul expounds. What matters today for me, is not whether I am ready to die for Christ, well, in its time I might need to face that too. But more important is to respond to the question, whether I am ready to live for Christ, to live for God, to live for God's purposes! Let us sharpen our purpose in life, on a daily basis, that we may live every moment a life that is lived for God

The Handing Over

WORD 2day: Thursday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 6, 2020: 1 Kings 2:1-4,10-12; Mark 6:7-13

David hands it over to Solomon;  Jesus hands it over to his apostles;  the Apostles have handed it over to us! We have to take it forward! a very clear message from the Word today - run your part of the race!

While Jesus gives a long prescription of how to take it forward,  David sums it all up or the Lord sums it all up to David in a phrase: “If your sons are careful how they behave, and walk loyally before me with all their heart and soul"... that's the key! care of behaviour, loyalty in life and a life lived with all one's heart and soul before the Lord.

Persons like the martyrs Paul Miki and companions others (incidentally there was an Indian in the group - Gonsalo Garcia, the first Indian to be proclaimed a martyr-saint), show us by their example not only what it means to run the race that has been handed over to us, but also what it would be at the end of it all... the crown of success could very well be a crown of thorns! But should that disturb us, keeping in mind the ultimate crown of love that awaits us?

What I need to remember today is this: the key that the first reading gives: my call binds me in my conscience not merely in my external behaviour. Living for God is proclaiming God; Living with all my heart and my soul before the Lord is the surest form of proclamation, the concrete form of running the race. Living for God's Reign is establishing God's Reign here and now!

Misleading Mentalities

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 5, 2020: 2 Samuel 24:2,8-17; Mk 6: 1-6

I come in the name of the Lord -those were David's words before the philistine giant, when he began his adventure with the Lord. Today we see him counting his strength. He seems to be taking stock of what and how much he could achieve, as if all that he had achieved till then were purely because of his own capabilities! True to his nature, he soon realises his mistake and regrets.

The people who encountered Jesus could not but be amazed... but those who have always seen Jesus growing amidst them refused to be amazed in spite of the great things that happened. They did not believe in their own people, one among them, being so blessed. Truth had to be told by someone who came from elsewhere! They suspected their own capabilities.

Both these are misleading mentalities: the Lord has blessed us with qualities and capabilities that is for the good of all and we need to put them to use... mindful always of the fact that these came from the Lord and it is for the Lord's purposes they have to be used. 

As we, these days, hear about all the threat of Coronavirus all over the world and reflect on the pestilence that David and his people were struck by, what we need to keep in mind and learn is, the irreparable damage we do when we exaggerate our capabilities, without acknowledging the all-powerful Presence that keeps guiding us and instructing us. 

Humanity has to learn today the right balance of being filled with awe and gratitude for what we have received and, at the same time, using it to the full without being bogged down by discouraging and disparaging circumstances that may surround. Let us stay away from the misleading mentalities that we find in the Word today and grow more and more mindful of the Lord who is present amidst us.