A PRIESTLY PEOPLE

Chosen to belong forever

5th Sunday of Easter: May 10, 2020
Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12

God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God in love” (Eph 1:4). That is the core of our identity; we are a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, God’s own people in order that we may proclaim the mighty acts of God, the God who has called us from darkness into his marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9). 

What is my identity of myself?

Are we merely people who are looking up to God for some favours? Are we people who wait on God to come and solve our everyday problems? Are we merely people decrying the crisis around us and complaining about it to God? Are we people who are grudging about those around us who are not living up to our expectations, disappointing us, troubling us, not understanding us or causing us grief? Can we take a breath and reflect a moment about what identity God has invested in us and to what level we have diluted in our daily living of our faith.

We are Chosen…

It is not by chance that I am a Christian, I am chosen. Anandhi (name changed) a girl of another faith, came to a priest asking to be prepared for baptism. She was in love with Alfred (name changed), a Catholic and wanted to marry him in the Church. After all the preparation, finally the priest asked her a simple question, “who do you think brought you to this intention of receiving Baptism?” Without any hesitation, Anandhi seemed to have replied, “Alfred.” The priest gently smiled at her and took the opportunity to tell her, ‘It is really Christ who has brought you to Baptism.’ 

It is the Lord who has chosen us and it is definitely not the other way around: “You did not choose me, but I chose you”, says the Lord (Jn 15:16). It is the Lord who has chosen you and me, and all that we need to do is happily walk holding his hand at times of gladness, boldly walk with the one who strengthens us beside at times of hardships, hopefully walk with the light of the Lord at times of darkness and doubt...all because we are certain and  assured that we have been chosen!

We are Chosen to belong…

Last Sunday we celebrated the Good Shepherd Sunday and we would have specially prayed for vocations to Priesthood and Religious Life. That is a special call, a call for a ministry, just like Stephen and the 6 others are chosen today in the first reading for a special task – that is what we call Ministerial Priesthood. But there is another call that is universal… that is the call to Royal Priesthood… each and every one who is chosen in Christ, who is washed in the waters of baptism, is called to this priesthood. Yes! We are all priests unto the Lord! We are Chosen Race, Royal Priesthood… We have a special call to belong to the Lord. That is the crux of this priesthood. The ordained priests are ordained for a special ministry, while all of us share in the priesthood of Christ. 

The Priesthood of Christ consists in belonging to the Father. “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” says the Lord (Jn 14:11). The priesthood that we share with Christ is to be in God, the Father and Mother; to belong to God, to be grafted on to God, to remain in God as the branches remain in the wine and give fruit. It is to show at every moment of the our life, in our action, in our choices, in our relationships, in the way we look at challenges and difficulties in life, in the approach to sickness, disease, isolation and death...at every step, belonging to the One who has chosen us and called us. 

We are Chosen to belong forever…

In belonging to the Lord, in remaining with Christ, in sharing the priesthood of Christ we inherit the greatest of all patrimonies: a dwelling place in the courts of the Lord. That is what is prepared for us, that if we belong in our life to God, we would belong to God forever - even in death. 

At times when we face difficulties and crises, we behave just as any other person - without confidence, without hope, without any faith, without any divine element within us, without any spiritual strength, without really mindful of the fact that we have been saved by the sufferings of the Lord, without acknowledging the fact that we have been healed by the wounds of the Son of God! We are not chosen by a mere almighty power, or a universal force... no, we are chosen by a Person, a Personal God, our Father and Mother, our Saviour and Master, our indwelling accompanier who loves us without conditions or limits! 

God our Father and Mother had chosen us, had sent the Chosen One to remind us of our chosenness, and continues to live as chosen people every day of our life.  Christ has gone before us to prepare this place for us, and when he comes we should still belong to God, we should still be his Priestly People, that we may receive that dwelling place prepared for us! Every day is an opportunity, through our ordinary tasks and daily duties, by our conscious choices and deliberate decisions, to deepen our belonging to the Lord, to realize we are chosen, that we are chosen to belong to God, chosen to belong forever, as a chosen race, a Priestly People!

The Word, joy and the Holy Spirit

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

May 9, 2020: Acts 13: 44-52; John 14: 7-14

The event narrated in the first reading can be analogically compared to a concept that most of us are familiar with, working on a Word document in a computer... whatever has been selected can be deselected; what has been done can be undone; whatever has been undone can be redone; whatever has been keyed in can be edited, deleted, copied, pasted... all this is possible until that moment of saving the document! Once the 'save' command is given, there is apparently no way of going back (though with technicalities there are other possibilities). But the analogy ends there, let us not probe too deep into it. The point is: let us not think the good we do, the grace we received, the blessed choices we once make would remain forever! Just yesterday, we heard the Lord telling us: "you are my child; I have begotten you." This would not remain forever true; if it has to, then we have to make a definitive, life long choice of belonging to the Lord. And this has to be seen in our lives. Analogical to saving a document, it is allowing ourselves to be saved by the Lord!

The first reading identifies that jealousy, opposition, contradiction, calumny, derision, persecution and vices of the sort abounded against the believers as they embraced their new found faith in the Lord. But amidst all these, the Word says, the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. That was the reason the Word spread all through the region. The Word spreads with true inner joy, with true interior choice for God and God's purposes. Jesus already spoke of this connection between the Word and joy: I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (Jn 15:11).

We would be missing the whole point if we do not get more and more in touch with God everyday of our life. Jesus would ask us too the same question: 'Have I been so long with you and you still have not got really in touch with me, my father, my life style, my passions, my values and so on?' Once we get truly in touch with Jesus, and thus with God our Father and Mother, with the Spirit who enlightens us each day, we will emanate a joy that is irresistible. Let us remain united to Christ, who is united to the Father and thus give the world the joy that it longs for.

To be God's begotten

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

May 8, 2020: Acts 13: 26-33; John 14: 1-6

Let not your hearts be disturbed! That, according to Jesus, was the sign of Faith, faith in God and faith in God's only Son. Because in Christ's parlance, faith was not believing in some doctrines, nor was it in keeping some sacred rules and regulations, it consisted in a solid and personal relationship of loving surrender to the self-revealing Divine. 

Though we know that Jesus is the Incarnate Son of God and that there is a glory involved in that very fact, the real glory of his existence is seen in the fact of Jesus' obedience to the Father. As St.Paul would point out in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2), it was in his total obedience and a consequent self-surrender to the Father's will, that Jesus stands out and is given the name above every name, that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess his Lordship. That is where, God the Father almighty declares, "You are my beloved Son, today I have begotten you!"

Faith, Obedience of Faith... could be looked at and explained as highly theological words, but for us on a daily basis, it is simply, doing the will of God. Taking our daily duties to heart despite the discouragements, putting our heart and soul in the well being of those around us and those entrusted to us in spite of the possible ingratitude, putting the Lord first and at the center of all that we are involved in ... these are some concrete ways of doing the will of the Father. 

When we are up to it, certainly we shall hear it said of us, "You are my beloved child, today I have begotten you!"

Called to be messengers

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

May 7, 2020: Acts 13:13-25; John 13:16-20

St. Paul makes a long list of messengers running right upto John the Baptist, and Jesus in the Gospel, speaks of sending his own apostles as messengers. Messengers are people of God, people of the Message, people who carry what the Lord wants God's people to know, persons who share with the world what the Lord wants to. 

The Message, is the core of our faith. It has been so, it is so and it will always be so! The message was announced through ages through prophets and persons of God (cf. Heb 1:1). At a point in history, the Message became the Messenger...that was the crucial phase of history when the Message, the Sender, the Messenger (or the Medium) all came together in one sacred and mysterious union - in the person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. 

After this crucial phase of the identification of the Message with the Messenger, in Christ the Message of the loving Father made Messenger we see that, what once was done by a select few among the people, has been handed over to the entire people of God and every child of God. This is indeed the call of every Christ-ian.

We are His messengers and we are called primarily to live the message and in and through that, announce the Message to the World.

Am I aware of the Message; Do I really know the Message? Am I convinced that I am a messenger? Do I love the Message as much and in order that I may live that message!

The duty to be Saints

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

May 6, 2020: Remembering Dominic Savio, the Young giant of Sanctity

Wednesday, 4th week in Easter time: Acts 12:24 - 13:5; John 12: 44-50

We remember a boy, hardly 15 but, who remains a giant in the sanctity he achieved within that short span. That is what Pope Pius XI described Dominic Savio as, 'a towering giant in spirit.' Dominic wanted to be a salesian priest and in fact had just started the journey, as an aspiring young boy in Don Bosco's Oratory. But he died a month before completing the 15th year of his earthly life - many called it premature but a deeper look would prove that  judgement totally wrong. He was ready, prepared and eager within those years to crown his earthly sojourn, with an incomparable union with his Eternal Saviour. More than anything else, more even than being a priest, he wanted to be a saint and that he did!

This call to sanctity that Dominic felt, was something that bound him, impelled him and at times even frightened him: he feared he would not measure up to that call. He believed his life would be a waste of time, if he did not work towards becoming a saint. This was because he was convinced that it was not just an achievement to become a saint, but it was a duty to be a saint. Yes, according to him, it is our duty to become saints; that is what he understood in the Spirit, guided by Don Bosco. How convinced are we that it is our duty to be saints?

The Word insists on the same today- Paul, Barnabas, John Mark the young lad with them, those who prayed for them and sent them with an anointing...  all of them were convinced they were living their lives as God wanted them, as the Saviour called them, as the Light of the Spirit led them. Yes, the Light had come into the world. And every one who hears the Word, sees the Light, has to listen to it, live by it, follow it faithfully. If not, they are condemned by their own choices, says the Lord in the Word today.

We are called. We have heard the Word. We have seen the Light. How mindful we need to be with our daily choices... just as Dominic Savio was! Let the Light of the Spirit enable us and empower us to realise our duty to be Saints.

To be called Christians

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 4th week in Easter time 

May 05, 2020: Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians, evidences the first reading today. They needed a name, a different name to refer to the people of the new way of life! They were initially called the people of the Way...it was obvious, because Jesus had declared "I am the way, the truth and the light!" But however it was too abstract. They needed something concrete to refer themselves to. And looking for one, they narrowed down on that with a reference to a person, to someone central to their lives and convictions, the One who inspired this way of life: Christ himself. 

It takes time to be called a Christian, to be identified with the name of the Nazarene who made a crucial difference in and through his life. Even today, it is the same: it takes time to be identified a Christian: our lifestyle, our attitudes, our priorities, our relationships and our loving ways should merit the name. There is another subtle but important detail: We have to be called Christians, we cannot be calling ourselves that!

Yes, we have to be called Christians... no use claiming ourselves that name, priding in it or tagging ourselves with it. We have to be called...which means, we have to live. Seeing our lives, seeing our convictions, seeing the difference we make, seeing the ideals we hold on to, seeing the formidable challenges we pose to humanity and the society around, people should be inspired to call us 'Christians'...we should be called Christians.

As Jesus says in the Gospel today, 'the Father and I are one', so should we be able to say: Christ and I are one. What a model we have in St.Paul who declared, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me!" (Gal 2:20). What that happens, we would be called Christians, too!

The real birth of the Church

WORD 2day: Monday, 4th week in Easter time

May 4, 2020: Acts 11: 1-18; John 10: 11-18

We have been seeing throughout last week, that people listened to the Word, they were touched by it and they joined the disciples and they became a church. However, the real birth of the Church was only when the so-called Gentiles listened and accepted the Word...until then it was seen just as a rebellion within a group of closed people! 

St. Paul declares in his letter to the Galatians, "there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). It is when the whole people are made heirs to the promise made to Abraham, it is only when every one was made into one fold, under One Shepherd, Christ Jesus - that the real Church was born.

The real spirit of Resurrection is opening up! Yes, it is opening up the closed tomb, opening up the closed minds, opening up the dampened faith, opening up the hopeless spirits, opening up the thoughtless ritualistic minds, opening up the hypocritical prejudiced mindsets, opening up the closed mentalities, opening up the secured borders of kinship to the fellowship of the Reign of God, opening up the world to a whole new Spirit: behold I make something new, a new heaven and a new earth!

The challenge is alive until today, to remain one flock, one fold, one people - which means to stay clear of all discrimination within the Church, to choose not to conform to the standards of the world but to be renewed in the Spirit of the Lord and to put on the mind of Christ, the Risen Christ. Constantly, on a daily basis, we are invited and challenged to renew our faithfulness to the One Shepherd and be transformed more and more into worthy members of the Shepherd's flock.

BEING THE SHEPHERD'S FLOCK

The call to Follow, Obey and Respond

4th Sunday of Easter: May 3, 2020

Acts 2: 14a, 36-41; 1 Pet 2: 20b-25; Jn 10:1-10

The Post Resurrection scene is particularly important for us to reflect upon, because it provides us with an incomparable clarity of our identity as a believing community! Especially with a situation as that of today, with uncertainty all over with the health emergency we are faced with, we are all looking for a way out of this, a ray of hope that could emerge, a light at the end of the tunnel that would broaden and get closer! 

Precisely against this background, on this Shepherd's Sunday, the Lord invites us to realise and understand our special and challenging vocation to be the flock of the Divine Shepherd. The second reading reminds us, "you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." Have we?

The Shepherd Leads...we follow: Be patient in doing good and especially when you suffer for doing good, and that is the way to follow your shepherd, says St. Peter. At times when there is a particular crisis, all the goodness that you have manifested till now, all the generous disposition that you had sported until this moment, could be forgotten and everyone around you might turn against you, might become critical of you and denounce you before your face! What do you do? St. Paul would say, writing to the Thessalonians, "do not be weary of doing what is right" (2 Thes 3:13). 

The Lord leads us by example. Doing good was his nature, no one could stop him from doing it. His own did not accept him, they did not understand him, they labelled him 'out of his mind', the disciples deserted him, many hated him and the authorities sought to kill him! But he held on to his mission of doing good! He knew doing the will of the One who sent him was an absolute mission and he went about it without fear, discouragement or doubt, in spite of the threats and trials. Not only that he did not stop doing what he was doing, he did not even consider it absolutely necessary to stand there and prove to everyone that he was doing good, that he was right and that he was justified! That was infantile and immature, according to him - let him who has ears listen and let him who has eyes see! The Shepherd leads and we as his followers, are called to follow the same path. 

The Shepherd Directs...we obey: There are moments and circumstances when we go astray or give into delusions. It could be due to deliberate choices or deviant desires or discouraging experiences...but the fact is we go astray, linger off bounds, leave the flock for a while, check out other pastures, be deceived by mirages, feel a bit lost. The Shepherd's voice bellows behind us... as St. Peter speaks up and calls the attention of the people, in the first reading today. To be the Shepherd's flock means to heed to that voice of direction. As the Lord promises through Isaiah: and when you turn to the right or when you turn to your left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "this is the way; walk in it" (Isa 30:21). 

The Word comes to us; directions come to us constantly; it is the capacity of the Shepherd's flock to hear, to listen, to understand and to put it into practice. Those who listened to the apostle were "cut to their heart", the reading says. They took it to the heart and obeyed it to the full. They were more than ready to change their course, redirect their lives and walk behind the shepherd. There are those who listen and allow the Word to go right through their beings causing a transformation; there are those who listen and understand but feel weak to allow the transformation happen within them; and there are those resistant lot who do not allow the Word to even enter their hearts, giving reasons and excuses, justifications and compromises, in order to prove themselves right to the world around, caring the least about that subtle inner voice that cries out to them to heed to the Lord. Which category do we belong to - the resistant ones, the rationalising ones or the ready ones?

The Shepherd Calls...we respond: I came that you may have life and have it in abundance, declares the Lord in the Gospel! We are called to live our lives to the full, and that is the sign of the Shepherd's flock. Amidst fear and anxiety, amidst loneliness and strife, amidst darkness and dreariness, amidst confusion and calamities, amidst struggles and strains, we are called to live to the full, live the moment, live grateful, live mindful of the blessings and make the most of all the goodness that we have received from the Lord. 

The Lord offers us life and life in all its fullness, we are called to respond to this offer by accepting it  and living it. Living to the full means living in faith and not in fear; living in love and not in selfishness; living in hope and not in darkness; living in service not in show-offs; living in compassion not in indifference; living in goodwill not in suspicion; living in joy not in gloom; living in fellowship not in seclusion. Let us embrace the whole suffering world with our arms of true love and compassion, however short and small they may be, because we have a Shepherd who is mighty big, bigger than the entire universe. 

As people of the Shepherd's flock, our lives have to be a witness to life in abundance. The world has to learn from us, and not laugh at us. We cannot conform to the world but the world has to be challenged by our lives! Let us pay heed to the Word today and follow, obey and respond to our Shepherd. Let us also pray for shepherds to be raised among us, shepherds after the heart of the Divine Shepherd. 

To Remain in the Lord

WORD 2day: Saturday, 3rd week in Easter time

May 2, 2020: Acts 9: 31-42; John 6: 60-69.

Two contrasting scenes are presented in the readings today - one, that of the numbers increasing; the other, that of followers leaving Jesus! To heed to pleasant teachings and detest challenging calls, is a normal human tendency. But Jesus does not compromise. It is a fact that we need to understand: that the Lord who loves us, is absolutely loving and at the very same time, absolutely demanding!

We see miracles, signs and wonders always connected to crowds of people wanting to follow it. Be it Aeneas in Lydda or Tabitha in Jaffa, they were just one among the many who were in need and suffering. Their healing and restoration to life, were just a few stranded happenings not everyday and not in every case! Certainly there could have been so many who were looking for miracles and wonders and others disappointed that it did not happen for them! Even today, it is easy to run after miracles and be led by wonders. But the real challenge is to be touched internally by the Lord, be transformed and accept the hard teachings from the Lord... to eat of Him, to become part of Him, and turn out to be him wherever we are!  

That requires accepting great challenges and demands - being ready to be called names at, being prepared to be despised and mocked at, courageous to face the villainising eyes and resisting crowds, and amidst all these being willing and eager to transform oneself more and more into the Lord in our self-sacrifice and total self-giving. Are we ready?

The words of Jesus, "Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these..." (Jn 14:12), comes alive as Peter and other disciples do wonders in the name of Jesus! What made them capable was the fact that they remained in the Lord and that continues to be the challenge for us too: if we wish to face crises and troubles, sufferings and oppositions, ingratitude and enmity without giving into the evil we need to decide, 'to remain in the Lord'!

Work - the likeness of Divinity within humanity

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

May day: Celebrating St. Joseph the Worker

May 1, 2020: Genesis 1:26-2:3; Matthew 13:54-58

May day, for a Christian holds much more than mere glorification of work. This is because of the very nature of God that sanctifies this essential aspect of human existence. The first reading underlines the fact that the work of creation is an essential image of God and goes on to imply that right from the origins, it has formed a characteristic part of humanity, which holds the likeness and image of God.

St. Joseph pictured as a worker, the working hand and the leader of the Holy Family, is not merely an imagination but a practical possibility and the Church today capitalises on this possibility to draw inspiration from a saint who reminds us of this essential element of our human existence and the way to go about it with serenity and simplicity. 

Work is a participation in the Creative initiative of God. Work can never be a slavery; it can never be carried out solely for an external gain or out of external pressure. Work when it is done merely for the material returns, it becomes a commodity and that is where exploitation and alienation begins. Every person has the right to work and the duty to do his or her part in the upkeep of our common home, not in damaging it to ruin. How lovely it would be when every person does what he or she can to make this world a better place..that would be paradise, the garden of Eden, the Reign of God here and now.

Today, let us promise to respect the dignity of labour and look at our opportunity to contribute through work as a personal participation in the image and likeness of God and in God's creative mission.