Being a Christian today: is it simple?

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

October 29, 2020: Ephesians 6:10-20; Luke 13: 31-35

Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens (Eph 6:12). Yes, our life is a struggle! Yes, we are the Militant Church...the church that is fighting its way through, towards the eternal life, with eyes fixed on that sure crown that is promised to each of us. 

The Triumphant Church, who are the saints who have gone before us, is our shining model and an inspiring example.The message that they give us, and the clear tone of the Word today, is that of Lk 12:4 - Do not fear those who can kill your body, but can do nothing to your soul! And Jesus lives that teaching in the Gospel today, when he says: 'Go tell that fox'...meaning Herod...'that I will be here today, tomorrow and the third day!'

Jesus feared no one, because he was certain that God was with him. Being a Christian means exactly that - to live our life fear-free, not because we are all powerful, but because we have with us someone who is all powerful; to live our life with conviction and determination, not because we are always right, but we are guided by that Spirit who will instruct us and convict us as soon as we go wrong, if we are attentive; to live our life to the full, not because this is the only life we have (as some justify sometimes), but because we have the certainty of the eternal life given to us by our Lord on the Cross, that eternal life which has to be begun already here in our values and priorities. 

How can we live fear-free, convinced and to the full? In other words, how can we be truly Christians in our daily life: St. Paul today gives us a whole armour to put on, every kind of protection against every kind of danger. The Lord is our stronghold, the Lord is our refuge; whom should we fear? All that we need to do is stand firm in faith. Let us not deceive ourselves saying, being a Christian today is simple or natural; it is not! Neither shall we lose hope saying, we cannot! 

Jesus teaches us by his example today the technique of a Christian fight: Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong! (1 Cor 16:13).

The Family of the Apostles

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

October 28, 2020: Remembering Apostles Simon and Jude

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

You are no longer alien, no longer strangers, you are part of the family that the Apostles belonged to, the family that was initiated as the nucleus of the Reign of God. This sense of the family, this familiarity, is the greatest gift according to Paul, as he insists that we could have been no people, but God made us 'God's people' through Christ. That is what we are, God's people! And as God's people, we are one family.

The apostle Simon was called the Zealot - a lesson that he gives us: as the militant church on earth, that we should always fight the battle for the will of God to be done and the Reign of God be established here and now.

The apostle Jude, called Thaddeaus in two of the four Gospels, is considered the hope of those who are on the verge of giving up in life. His message is: there is nothing that is beyond God, and God is ever present beside us. 

Added to that Judas Thaddeus, is said to have been close to Jesus in his family ties and in his appearance. However, Jesus would not have made a big issue of it - for him those who listen to God's word and put it into practice are more his family than anyone else! But it should remind us of a tendency very common - when we have the possibility of doing a favour to someone, how do we pick and choose as to whom to extend that favour! Favouritism - on the basis of what? Partiality - to achieve what?  

Simon and Jude, as all other apostles, teach us the lesson that Jesus himself wants us to learn: it does not matter which nationality, or tribe, or clan, or caste I belong to - the only thing that matters is I belong to God, I form part of that One Family, the family of God, the family of the Apostles!

Being in Christ is all that matters

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

October 27, 2020: Ephesians 5:21-33; Luke 13: 18-21

It is possible that married couples and parents of children, listening to all these discussion in the readings on the attitudes spouses should have towards each other, could feel, 'these things coming from Paul, it's difficult to accept, given the fact that he was an unmarried man!' And certainly also possible, listening to sermons preached by priests, the parents could think, 'Paul writing it and the priests quoting it... both are difficult to accept!' That is a matter of fact and a matter to brush aside with a smile. Yes, it is easily said than lived! That aside, there can be heated debates on issues that Paul speaks of today- who has to be subordinate to whom! But that need not be our focus, in reflecting on the Word today. 

Whether I am subordinate or head, I am called to be IN Christ - that's the focus.

Whether I am a subordinate or a head, or an apostle or a servant, a renowned person or a so-called nobody, parent or child, spouses or in-laws... whoever I am, I am called to be in Christ. Being in Christ means, being rooted in Christ, being nourished by Christ's words, being guided by Christ's lifestyle. being influenced by Christ's way of thinking, being shaped after Christ's mind, being modelled after the example of Christ - being called Christ's own people.

Being in Christ, even if I am just a tiny mustard seed, I can grow into a mighty tree. Being in Christ, even if I am just pinch of yeast I can make a difference for entire dough. Being in Christ, even if I am a nobody wherever I am, I will make a huge difference and the world will turn and take note of me. Being in Christ, even if I am doing just the same things as everyone else does, the way I do it and the heart with which I do it, makes what I do, stand out amidst everything else.

In short, what matters is not whether I am a man or a woman, whether I am in authority or subordinate, whether I am part of the majority or the minority, whether I am in the frontline of events or behind the scenes... 'Being in Christ' is all that matters.

Be compassionate because...

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

October 26, 2020: Ephesians 4: 32- 5: 8; Luke 13: 10-17.

'Children of Light', that is how St.Paul addresses us in the first reading today. The reading also paints a clear picture of what it means to be children of God...it means to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, filled with love... in short being like God, simply because we are children of God. In similar terms Jesus addresses the suffering woman as, 'daughter of Abraham'...how loving and compassionate models we have in Christ, our Lord and in the Lord's esteemed apostle.

Love and compassion have to be the defining characteristics of our personality. Nothing can stop us from being compassionate... no difficulty should hinder us from being compassionate... no rule or regulation, no tradition or custom, no practice or policy can stop us from being compassionate; because it should become our very nature as we are children of the Compassionate Father and Mother, God who has loved each of us into existence.

There is yet another phrase from St. Paul that has to be taken seriously in today's context: let no empty argument deceive you, warns Paul. It is crucial we pay attention to this today: these days we hear people criticising Pope Francis and calling him names and branding him as someone who is destroying the teachings of the Church. We need to be very careful with the anti-Catholic forces which are taking advantage of the situation and spreading the false propaganda, in the disguise of their concern for the Church. The sad fact is that some, even within the Church, are so quick to fall for this false propaganda, and worse still, some of them are in authority of teaching! All that Pope Francis said was just the compassion that Jesus had for the sinners and the publicans. The Holy Father only reiterated that the sin has to be abhorred not the sinner, the wrong principles have to be condemned not the persons... every person however sinful he or she is, bears at the core of his or her being, the dignity of God's child. Our compassion should help that person to rediscover that original dignity, not throw the person out as worthless!

Compassion alone can define me as a true follower of Christ. Compassion alone can make me a real Christ-ian. I have to be compassionate because, it is Compassion that formed me and has shaped me!

IT IS LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN

A matter of head, heart and hands...

October 25, 2020: 30th Sunday in Ordinary time
Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1: 5c-10; Matthew 22: 34-40

If you asked me, "what is the central theme of the readings this Sunday?" and I replied, "it is about loving God and loving your neighbour", instinctively you might sigh: 'oh... the same love allover again!' Some times we might sound totally redundant speaking of love. The fact is, in Jesus' message, Love is the sole dominant theme, and everything else is only a footnote to it.

This abundance of talk on love, can result in two extremely different consequences - one, that it loses its very sense and becomes just a cliched word, repeated over and over again, used as a filling for wherever one lacks a word, or a term, or a theme to deal with; the other consequence, that it becomes a fundamental criterion, the foundational block, the preliminary question of analysis, before talking of anything else or in the course of making sense of anything at all, in christian living. The real Christian significance of love, falls in the second category, however limited in number its true followers are.

Love spoken of in the Word today, as ever, is not a mere sentiment or a feeling! It is a choice, a concrete choice for good. It is a serious matter of the HEAD. It is a decision made, a rationale adopted, a perspective that affects all other decisions and choices in life. It cannot be a mere feeling of elation, nor a sentiment of comfort, nor even a sense of protection or possession! It is a decision, a choice, a fruit of discernment. It is a choice for the noblest of feelings towards the other; it is a choice for most generous of attitudes towards the other; it is, in short, a choice for the 'good'!

St. Paul commends the way the Thessalonians chose God above everything else, of their past. The ultimate good is God, hence love is basically a choice for God! Loving God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, is the basis of this choice for good. I choose good, because I choose God. I choose God, which means I choose not to choose anything other than God, anything that goes against God, anything or anyone that chooses what is contrary to God. My love for God is a choice, a choice that is motivated and inspired by the choice that God has made for me! To say, I love God, is to say, I choose God and all that God stands for. How foolishly contradicting it would be to say I choose to love God and therefore I kill or harm my brothers and sisters! Is the choice really coherent? Is the choice really rational? Is the choice really good or Godly? Choosing God, is choosing the absolute good; it is choosing life not death; it is choosing the other not the self. That leads us to the second dimension. 

Love is a choice for the other, a matter of the HEART. It is only through the heart can we place the other before us, because it is only through the heart can we hear the unsaid sorrows of the other; it is only through the heart we can see the unseen pains of the souls; it is only through the heart we can touch the unexplored depths of a person! When we say heart, we do not mean the biological or the anatomical heart, but the heart that is the coming together of the will and the spirit of a person. It is much beyond the senses...the senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting - they are at times very deceptive. Heart is that faculty by which every person senses the truth, even when it is not seen or heard, by which the persons gets to know those mysteries that would never be revealed through mere words and gestures - that includes even the feelings and the innermost yearnings of the other. And love is a choice to get to know that deeper reality.

Love has to be a concrete choice for the other, especially the afflicted, the suffering 'other', who cries out from the agony of the everyday life. Only a person with love can understand the predicament of the other who is in agony. Only love can make one feel with the other, empathise with the other - a lack of love will make even the most benevolent act, a mere mechanical fulfillment of duty. In the first reading the book of Exodus presents to us the need to go out, reach out, think for, and feel with, those who are marginalised, left out, forgotten and despised in the society. Today, when nations and governments speak of development and advancement, how big a margin of people are taken for granted, pushed to the margins and left to cry in silence and darkness. Can we open the eyes of our heart; can we sharpen the ears of our heart; can we extend the hands of our heart... yes, that brings us to the third dimension.  

Love is a matter of the HANDS... it is a choice to act, to act on behalf of the needy. Love cannot remain a mere sentiment, it has to be translated into concrete decisions and transforming acts, on behalf of the needy. The list that the first reading has - the widows, the orphans, the children, the poor, the needy, the migrants... that is a specimen indication of a whole lot of persons, the list of those who are close to the heart of God: it will extend much wider today with the exploited, the enslaved, the maltreated, the manipulated, the oppressed, those who are taken for granted, those who are deceived, those who are manipulated, those who are kept in the darkness of ignorance, those who are misled and misguided, those who are not allowed to think, those who are considered only as numbers, those who are used only as vote banks... the list shall go on, unending. 

Love has to be translated in terms of actions. It has to be active, affecting the life of the person who claims to love and transforming the life of the one who is loved! There are persons today who stand witness to this: the masses who are on the streets fighting for rights, not merely their own but for justice and wellbeing of the entire humanity; the persons who are standing by the poor and oppressed, even if they are taken to task for that; the persons in media who speak up for justice and righteousness, facing all the brunt that comes with it; the persons who sacrifice the peace of their daily life and serenity of their families for the sake of the common good, risking their own lives and the happiness of their dear ones... these are people who love with their hands! And this is truly a Christ-ian love.

Love is the crux and the essence of Christ's message and it will never ever be redundant. Specially seeing the world that is growing increasingly selfish and menacingly might-oriented, love will ever be wanting. And if you and I do not offer it abundantly wherever we are, it would be a serious deficiency of God in the world today! Deficiency of God - that in fact is the serious malady that affects the world today and the right medicine is nothing but true, Christ-love, shared with all our heart, all our strength and all our might.

Let us grow up!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 24, 2020: Eph 4: 7-16; Lk 13: 1-9

The first reading today would lend itself so well for an interdenominational war and a catholics-protestants feud, one calling the other a human trickery and deceptive scheming. Let us grow up dear friends - that is the very challenge of the Word today! 

St. Paul challenges us to grow into the full stature of Christ and that is nothing but love. Let us grow in love, love for God, love for each other, a patient acceptance of each other and loving fellowship of brothers and sisters. Love is also truthful, it is not deceitful. True love is just and genuine, stands for the right and helps one to grow up in serenity and self confidence.

How long would we go on calling each other names and breaking the Body of Christ into non negotiable bits and pieces? If we go on like this, Jesus says that twice in the Gospel today: 'you will all perish!' It is high time we realise our call to grow up and bear fruit. God has given us enough and more chances. Let us equip ourselves, not with offences and defences, but with arms of love and feet of generosity. Let us prune our ego and till our arid hearts. Let us sow seeds of love and reap the fruit of brotherhood and sisterhood. 

Love is our identity and nothing else can be: by this they will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another (Jn 13:35). There can be no worse scandal than a divided Church and of course, there can be no better proclamation of the Gospel than a loving and united community of faithful who, inspite of all their differences and diversities, live together as brothers and sisters, one in the Lord and one in the Spirit!

Oneness of Vision: Integrity

WORD 2day: Friday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 23, 2020: Ephesians 4: 1-6; Luke 12: 54-59

At times listening to people having problems in their relationships, or sides opposing each other within a community, we would arrive at a point of no return. At that moment, one would see no way out of the problem,  no matter how much the neutral persons or the negotiators tried! We would arrive at one unfailing conviction, that 'we can arouse a person who is sleeping, but not the one who pretends to sleep!' It is true: for most of the problems today, it is not that we do not have a solution, but we do not want to arrive at it. 

Jesus gives a piece of mind to the pharisees and scribes in the Gospel today, because he finds in them the hypocrisy of not choosing things that were so obviously towards the right. It is like the crowds, in our present context, in spite of knowing that their leader is at fault, just because he or she is their leader, they make a hue and cry about the leader's conviction - a choice to go blind about the limitations of their leaders! 

Where does the root of these problems lie? Many a problem in the world today, is due to the lack of oneness of vision! That is the worst of virus that afflicts us... each one with a selfish agenda, or groups with unfounded prejudices, classes with insensitive urge for advancement, persons with inhuman tendencies of manipulation and exploitation... these are persons who could not care less about the golden rule: do unto others what you want done unto you. They have a set of rules for themselves and a completely different set for others. These are people filled with discrepancies and disparities, and will be the least likely to enter the Reign of God. The disturbing question to me today is, am I by any chance, among those in that list?

The fear of "being good"

WORD 2day: Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 22, 2020: Ephesians 3: 14-21; Luke 12: 49-53 

Our call to belong to the family of that One Father who has created us all and called us all in the Son and in the Spirit, is basically a call to reflect God wherever we are! It consists of our intrinsic and integral goodness! Being good... people are afraid to be good these days! Fear of manipulation, exploitation and being taken for granted are so live and real that persons hesitate to be good and to hold on to what is good. In spite of this widespread experience that we have, the Word today gives us three reasons why we cannot afford to be afraid of being good: 

1. Because we take on our heredity from none less than the Almighty Lord: The Lord is our banner; the Lord is our identity, it is from the Lord we take our name, as a family of God. How can we be other than good? Being good has to be our very identity.

2. Because the Love of God is poured into our hearts: A love whose measure, we can never comprehend to the full  - the length and breadth and depth and height of it so immense that we cannot but be concerned about being worthy of that love; which entails that we are good in our very being! Being good is the real power that the Lord has entrusted us with, because we know the ultimate goodness in the entire reality: the Lord. 

3. Because we have a Vocation to be a Community of Counter Culture: Jesus commissions us to be the People of the Reign, which is to be a people of counter culture, proposing a culture that is opposed to the culture of social sin, the culture of injustice and exploitation, the culture of imbalanced growth and inhuman development, a culture of total human insensitivity. When we intend to be such a community of counter culture, the rest of the world may turn against us. 

Jesus makes it clear today: if you choose me, choose me absolutely!

Knowledge is privilege, but a curse too!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 21, 2020: Ephesians 3: 2-12; Luke 12:39-48

God has given us a special privilege, the privilege of the revelation of God, says Paul. It does not end with that. We have been made stewards of that revelation, of that knowledge that is given by God, by God's Spirit! And this is of course a privilege; but a pressing duty too, that we share this knowledge far and wide - through our words and moreover through our very lives. 

In the Gospel, we hear Jesus deepening that awareness a step further, as he says: it is not only a privilege and a responsibility, it can become a curse too, if we are not truthful and committed to the knowledge that the Lord gives, in the revelation. He says, the one who knows but does not abide by what he or she knows, is more liable to judgement than the one who does not know and has failed in something. This is the difference between a mistake and a malice. 

God has revealed to us every truth that we need to know to live a life that is worthy of the children of God - the truth of the Sovereign presence of God, the truth of our identity as children of God, the truth of our call to holiness and the truth of how difficult and demanding that call is. In spite of knowing it, if we act as if we did not know it, aren't we making ourselves unworthy of being called children of God, the people of revelation? 

This is where the curse comes - a brother or sister of mine who has not received this revelation, is in no way going against God, while if I act so, I am making myself liable of judgement! The revelations that I have received can itself become a judgement against me. That is why Jesus says (in Jn 12:48), the very words that Jesus has spoken shall become the judge of those who refuse to live by what has been revealed to them. 

The words of a modern day philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, should come to our mind here - it is not about being a christian, but it is about becoming a Christian; becoming a christian is a continual striving. Yes, we need to strain ourselves to really becoming every day of our lives, more and more Christ-ian.  

The Fear of Examination?!?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 29th week in Ordinary time 

October 20, 2020: Ephesians 2:12-22; Luke 12: 35-38

All of us have had, and some would still have, a fear of examinations! And the usual remedy proposed by teachers is, learn your subjects on a daily basis, revise your classes everyday and when the exams come you will be better prepared. The real point is, examinations are not something for which we need to prepare, they are just one specific moment within the long and complex process of learning. At times when we do not have the right study habits and attitudes, exams become a separate entity and a great hurdle to be crossed and not merely a formality to be undergone as part of the process. Now, that was not for a Study-skill session...but to bring out the crux of today's message from the Word. 

The Word reminds us how the Lord has chosen us and given us an identity that is entirely a grace: the identity of being the people of God, of being the offsprings of God, of being God's beloved children. When we are conscious of that identity on a daily basis, conduct our affairs accordingly and gradually keep growing and maturing in that identity, we would not need to prepare, or be afraid of, or fret about what is called the judgment moment! There are people and groups who make a huge issue of the judgement day, when we have to meet the Lord and render an account - let us stop that madness! The Lord did not create us to give an account. The Lord created us to live, live to the full, live with the true identity and inner joy of the children of God.

Added to that judgement is not a matter of merely the last day! Every choice that we make is a judgement we bring on ourselves... whether it is monitored or not! When I know that I am a child of God, that I am a son or a daughter of God and I live, believe and behave worthy of that identity, why should I fear and what should I fear? When God is with us who can be against us! In our daily choices and everyday decisions, if we are against God, who can really help us? 

It is like the Spiritual Master who was asked as he was having his cup of tea, 'what would you do, if the world ends this moment?' The Master calmly said: "I would continue having my tea." That is what our disposition should be, if we are truly children of God. What if!!! What if the world ends now! What if my death comes now! What if I have to stand before the judgement seat of the Lord right now! If I have to be fearless, my choices have to be right every moment. There can be failures, repeat attempts, improvements, reappearances... but fear of examination - no! it never serves the purpose!