To see... like a disciple!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 6th week in Ordinary time 

February 19, 2020: James 1: 19-27; Mark 8: 22-26

We are reflecting on the letter of St. James these days, starting from this Monday, till the end of next week. James has written a letter that is incredibly practical and down to earth. Today he explains to us who is worthy of being referred to as a 'religious' person, or a faithful, or in familiar words - a disciple of Christ. 

We have, from James' letter today and even other letters, various indications like, slow to anger, slow to speak, quick to hear, attentive to the Word and particular about its practice, and so on. But the crucial characteristic that Apostle James points out is, care for the orphans and widows, empathy with the weak and the suffering. These come naturally when we learn to look at persons as persons; not as things to be used or cases to be dealt with or problems to be solved or burdens to be borne! 

That is the same education that Jesus wants to give us - that we graduate from looking at persons as trees moving, things existing or means to our own end; to looking at persons and observing their needs and aspirations, joys and sorrows, longings and yearnings, problems and prospects - as persons in their entire sense, with respect for their uniqueness and love for what they are.  

James would insist much on this, as we would see in the coming days, because for the Master, the persons who bear the image of God were the sure sources through which God shares, reveals, speaks and directs. Let our eyes be open that we see in every person around and recognise our brother and sister...making ourselves worthy disciples of Christ, worthy to live on the Lord's holy presence.

Do you still not understand?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 6th week in Ordinary time

February 18, 2020: James 1: 12-18; Mark 8: 14-21 

How agitated Jesus gets today with his disciples! Jesus expects them to rise above the ordinary or the normal. As Jesus warned us this Sunday: if our perfection does not surpass those that of the scribes and the pharisees, that is, if we do not rise above the 'usual' way the world looks at reality, we will not be considered fit for the Reign of God! 

The so-called normal attitudes of the world, the value systems propagated as "normal" by the world, the life style of the so called successful that stands counter to what the Gospel teaches... these are the temptations that we have today! Of course, they do not come from God, reiterates St. James. 

Our desires, temptations, sin and resultant death: this is the cycle that Jesus wants us to understand, resist, surpass, and triumph over. None of us can ever say after an act of unrighteousness, that we were not at all aware of its nature! Let us not deceive ourselves! 

We know what we are surrounded by, we know what we go through on a daily basis and we know what is appreciable and what is not worthy of our call to be children of God. In spite of all the graces that we have received and the gratuitous gifts that we have received from the Lord, if we still insist on giving up on our call to commitment and righteous living, we will soon hear that question addressed to us by Jesus: do you still not understand?

The Lord our Rock!

WORD 2day: Monday, 6th week in Ordinary time

February 17, 2020: James 1: 1-11; Mark 8: 11-13

During his life and ministry, Jesus was convinced that he had nothing to prove! He was what he was - the Son of God, the Word Incarnate. He spoke what he believed and lived what he spoke. That gave him an authority that the Pharisees and the Scribes could never understand. It came from his holistic self-understanding, an understanding in terms of the ONE who had sent him: "For I and the Father are one", he declared (Jn 10:30). 

Many a time we identify ourselves with the riches we have, the social status we enjoy, the titles and the offices we hold, the adulation from others and the image that others have of us. These are like the drooping flowers and the fading beauty, reminds St.James in his letter. What will all the titles and possessions, achievements and accomplishments become when at that one moment we are no more!

Our identity rests in one thing that never changes: the truth that we are sons and daughters of the One God, that we are created in the image and the likeness of that One God who has loved us into existence. When we get this fact imprinted in our hearts...no trial or no doubt, no suffering or no shock will ever affect our perseverance (James 1:4). 

It takes a lot of inner strength to found ourselves on the unsurpassed foundation, the unshakable ground, the one unchanging source of meaning we have... let our life be founded on that insurmountable refuge, the Lord, our Rock!

LAW - OUR CHOICE!!!

LAW - to Love and Abide by the Word

February 16, 2020: 6th Sunday in Ordinary time

Ecclesiasticus 15:16-21; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5: 17-37

Choice is the central theme running through the readings today! And there is another dominant theme that qualifies this choice - that is LAW. Law for the people of Israel was the way ordained by the Lord. Law was for them the guarantee of remaining  people of God; it was their part of executing the covenant that the Lord made with them: I shall be your God and you shall be my people! To speak or act against the law was for them a serious and punishable offence. There is a discussion on two other themes- "maturity" and "wisdom" in the second reading from St.Paul. Combining all these, Jesus in the Gospel presents to us a mature and wise attitude towards LAW. He invites us to Choose LAW... that is to choose to Love and Abide by the Word. 

Faith is a Choice...

Faith is not a blind leap, it is a conscious Choice! As Pope Francis' exhortation, Lumen Fidei n.3 affirms, faith cannot be associated with darkness, instead faith is a light that enlightens one to choose, to choose believe in God, to choose to see God alive in one's life. The first reading presents to us the same perspective today: we have the choice between water and fire, between good and evil, between true joy and fleeting pleasures, between the right and the convenient, between conviction and compromise, between life and death! 

The choice is ours! We cannot ride on the shoulders of tradition and custom, and justify our acts and habits. We have to grow up! Our maturity has to be seen in the wisdom we possess. It is God who gives us this wisdom, as St.Paul reminds us. Jesus embodies that wisdom and presents the same to us in his words: I have come not to abolish the law, but bring it to its fulfillment. 

A Choice beyond the Law...

Jesus declares that his disciples should make a choice, not against the law but, beyond the law! He gives a new meaning to law, and presents the way to go beyond, to transcend a mere slavish legalism and reach the heights of saintly perfection, through love and compassion. The words of Jesus, "You have heard that it was said,...but I say to you", heard repeatedly in the Gospel today presents Jesus as the New Moses, and describes the community of disciples as the New People of God! "See I am making all things new," declares Jesus by this (Rev. 21:5). 

The new law...how do we understand today that new law, the law beyond law... L - to Love, A - to Abide, and W - the Word. To love the Word and Abide by it...is the new law that Jesus gives. The Word presents to us a guarantee to sanctity. To know the Word, to reflect on it and understand it, to love it and strive to abide by it, is the sure way to be real children of God, worthy people of God. Our life does not comprise merely of avoiding evil, it is much more profound and meaningful. It is to live, to love, to relate, to do good, to mature, to be happy, to make others happy and thus together as a community of God's children, to renew the world and fill it with joy.

To Obey the Law...

Jesus teaches the people today not to go against the law but to understand what it really means to obey the law. For Him, to obey the law was not to obey the letter of the law but to obey the Lord of the law! It was so for the people of Israel; they obeyed the law as an act of obedience to YHWH. But when the Lord of the law was with them, and they did not realise it. The Word lived and moved among them, but they did not comprehend it. 

The danger for us too is the same: that we may be, by definition, the best of Christians - missing no Sunday Mass, regular with reading the Bible and reciting the prayers, strict with our fasting and abstinence, visiting as many pilgrim shrines as possible - but let us beware, we may be missing the point. These are good but not good enough - the Word instructs us: Love and Abide by the Word... to love the Word, and to live by it; not being merely hearers of the Word  but doers(Jam 1:22); to say YES to the Word and mean it, to face all the consequences of that Yes and live through it. 

Our YES to the Word has to be our choice, our choice to go beyond the Law and obey the Lord of the law, to live and fill the earth with love and compassion; to challenge the present standards of the world towards a new world, new heaven and new earth!

Can we live divided lives?

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

February 15, 2020: 1 Kings 12:26-32, 13:33-34; Mark 8: 1-10

For the people of Israel there was no difference between their political life and their religious life. For them everything was just one; an integral mode of living as people of God; forever the people of the Covenant: 'I shall be your God and you shall be my people'. But at a certain point, as we read in the first reading today, the misery befalls them - Politics and Religion part their ways. Further, something that happens makes things worse: using religion for political ends or politics for religious reasons. It becomes almost an unjust alliance and remains so even to this day! 

That is socio-political history, but it can happen in our personal life too: the division between our religious life and our civil life, and worse still if we use one for the manipulation of the other. Jesus is totally against this division and considers it always an hypocrisy. 

One cannot call oneself a shepherd and still remain untouched by the miseries of the people. One cannot call oneself a 'Christ-ian' and live a life that is totally insensitive towards others. One cannot call oneself a child of God and look down on his brother or sister, or much worse ill-treat, exploit or oppress them. 

We see both Jeroboam and Jesus doing something for the people. Both of them did not want to send the people away. But but the difference between what they did lies in the fact of what they intended by it. Though Jeroboam did something for the people, his idea was to keep his power and dominion alive - it was using religion for politics! While Jesus fed them not because he wanted to be powerful but because that was the need of the people! 

When one uses religion for politics, God for usurping power and spirituality for material gains, he or she is giving into idolatry. Worse if that person claims to belong to Christ - so divided within oneself, externally professing Christ but totally against Christ at the level of one's inner self. Can we live such divided lives?

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!