It's all about relationship!

All Souls Day: November 2, 2020

Wisdom 3: 1-9; Romans 6: 3-9; John 6: 37-40

The 1st of November, we celebrate the memory of the saints... those among us who have gone before us all the way! They shine as they have reached the destiny prepared for them. They are the Triumphant Church, radiating the HOPE that Christ brought to humanity.

The 2nd November, we keep the memory of those among us who have gone before us, but not yet all the way! They await the mercy of God, to join the band of those who share the glory of the Eternal Light. They are the Penitent Church, united with us in FAITH, the one faith in which we were all baptised, the one faith in which we have a duty to offer our prayers and suffrages. 

Tomorrow onwards we are back to our daily living, as we make our way, amidst the struggles and temptations of the daily life. We are the Militant Church, fighting our way ahead on a daily basis, with LOVE - love for God who constantly accompanies us and love for brothers and sisters with which we accompany those who are around us.

It's all about relationship... we are One Church with the One Lord, with one baptism, one call and one destiny... all of us related to each other. Even the thought of death or of the dead, does not fill us with fear or anxiety, for we are all on the same journey at different stages of the course. The three tier Church is such a holistic view of our life on earth, that it renders every bit of our life and all its struggles so meaningful. It is within this framework of relationship that we think of those brothers and sisters of ours who have gone before us, signed with the same Holy Spirit, that they may receive the eternal reward they have always longed for. But that would be an incomplete exercise, if it does not challenge us to live our life with more hope and more love, here and now that our faith may throw its light on our concrete everyday. 

We are all related - in the Lord, in the mysteries that believe in, in the death that await us and above all, in the life that we possess in the Spirit! Yes, we are all related. Let that be the message that the day offers us. Let us march on with love, with hope and with faith towards the eternal joy prepared for us.

BEING SAINTS

The ABC of being Saints!

November 1, 2020: Solemnity of All Saints 
Revelations 7: 2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12 

There is an ever loved and oft quoted anecdote about this sweet little boy who was taken to a traditional Cathedral for the first time by his mother. The boy was tremendously impressed with the splatter of colours on the floor due to the rays that shone through the stained glasses on the walls (remember those classic cathedrals, don't you... and they are becoming endangered specimen these days, with some of them converted to mosques and some others to public halls and themed restaurants!). Coming back to the boy, there for the first time, seeing all the splendour in glowing natural lights, he with his eyes wide open looked at those stained glasses and asked his mother...'mamma, what is this?' So used to his constant questions, the mother pointed to those stained glasses and replied in short, 'Oh... they are the saints!' The boy could not take his eyes or his mind off those pictures on the stained glass. That stuck to the boy's mind, not merely until he returned home but even further. And the next day at school when the catechism teacher asked, who are saints... he shouted out in excitement, "yes I know them." And when the teacher happily turned to him, he continued, "saints are those who let the light shine through them!"

I think that's the best definition for a saint by far. A saint is the one who lets the light, the light of the Lord, shine through him or her. The colours and the shades are exotic, but the light is from the Lord. The shapes and contours are all varied and impressive, but the source is one and the same, the light of the Lord! What a lovely image we have today, of all the saints standing in one choir, as one family, as one community of brothers and sisters, giving praises to the Lord! A grand day and a proportionately important reminder to each of us: you are called to be one of them, you are called to be a Saint!

The Word this day, read attentively, can provide us with a fundamental understanding of what it means to be a saint. They get us thinking, not only about all the saints we have out there, but also about the saint that we have to nourish and nurture within each of us. The Word furnishes us with an ABC of being saints, in our daily life, here and now!

A saint is one who ACKNOWLEDGES the supremacy of God, allowing God to take charge of one's life. This seems to be the most challenging task for human beings as centuries get past us. Human beings, as individual persons and as communities of persons, wish to become more and more autonomous, from everything and every one, even from God, considering God as someone who could infringe on our freedom, our decision making and our authority on our own lives. But all it takes is just a simple recollection of what has happened to humanity in history due to pride and self glory, to understand we are wrong to think of keeping God away from this world. We will be drastically failing. 

The responsorial psalm today invites us to reflect on this absolute supremacy of God. Everything takes its existence from God. How can we ever think of doing away with the Master, as long as we hold on to what the Master has made and programmed and keeps sustaining? The first ever attitude that can bring us towards true sanctity, obviously, is acknowledgement of God's authority over everything, and specially, over my entire self. The more we acknowledge the primacy of God, the more grateful we become; the more grateful we become, the more holy we grow - that is the secret of being saints!

A saint is one who BELONGS totally to God, placing God at the centre of his or her life. Certainly, it does not suffice to acknowledge the authority of God over everything and over me, there is something more to it, when it comes to being saints. In simple terms, it is feeling close, feeling intimately connected, feeling totally grafted on to God - a bond which is like that which exists between a mother and a child, that connectedness that is not merely peripheral, but something that penetrates my very being! I am connected to my God, at the core of my being, at the depth of my soul, at the essence of my spirit, because it is from God I take my life, my image, my entire existence. I belong to God, totally.

In the second reading, John reminds us of who we are - we are children of God, that is what we are! Whether the world acknowledges or not, whether we acknowledge or not, the fact remains that we are children of God, and God will never renounce us, even if we do! God has loved us in to existence and loves us from all eternity. This love was manifest in the incarnation, when Christ came to show us whose image we bear, and to what image we should liken ourselves to. We belong to God who created us, the Lamb who has washed us and the Spirit who consecrates us into children of God, treasured possessions of God, images and likenesses of God, here on earth! The more we realise to whom we bleong, the more we understand who we really - that is the way of being saints!

A saint is one who COMMITS oneself to God's cause, to God's people, to God's will, on a daily basis! That we come from and belong to God, is truly a privilege, a great honour; but it is at the same time, a great challenge too, a call to commitment. As children of God, as people of God, as persons who acknowledge God and belong to God, we are called to manifest that in our daily life, in the ordinary choices we make and in every major decision we take! You will be criticised for it, calumniated against, painted as a threat, called names, jeered at, pictured as an outdated fool, useless misfit...yes! But can you give up? You just can not! There will be mighty forces lining up against you - the economic forces that tend to reduce everything to numbers and currencies, the political forces that are ready to do absolutely anything for the sake of power and position, the anti social forces that take joy and pride in disrupting peace of the people, the immoral forces that perpetrate corruption of everything including the souls of human persons...all these are mighty and they will stand against you! But can you give up? You just should not! Because you are from God, you belong to God and you are the Blessed of the Lord!

The Gospel outlines a way of life that is so surrealistic...that is indeed our roadmap to true holiness. Today, as Pope Francis repeats to us so very often, holiness does not consist in keeping ourselves aloof as refrigerated beings, we need to get down into the slush, get ourselves dirtied, fight our way, stand for the truth, march for justice, rise for the oppressed, reach out for the marginalised, voice out for the voiceless, live for peace, die for love and finally, shout for joy! We are blessed, we are blessed children of God, we are blessed family of the saints, we are blessed followers of the slain Lamb, we are blessed witnesses to God wherever we are! We are on our way to heaven, and we need to get our roadmap right. We need to be in their numbers - in that throng that is in eternal communion with the Lord. That is what we have been created for, that is for what we have been washed and made clean in the Blood, and that is what we are challenged towards in the Spirit - and that is the challenge of being saints!

Let us get this ABC of Being Saints, clear in our minds today... that we Acknowledge God, Belong to God and Commit ourselves to God's cause and we shall be counted in their numbers, in the number of All Saints!

Between death and life, there is living!

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

October 31, 2020: Philippians 1: 18-26; Luke 14:1,7-11

Paul speaks to us of a popular dilemma that all of us are caught between - the dilemma between death and life! At certain points in our life, this dilemma is strong, at other points it is mild, but it never ceases to exist, given the nature of the certainty of death and the uncertainty of its time or mode! These days with the global health crisis and the frequent news about sickness and death, brings this dilemma more to the limelight.

Which is better... to die or to live? Truly life is a gift! We have it and we treasure it. But there are times when troubles come, unnecessary concerns cloud our days and necessary burdens weigh us down. There are moments, invariably in every person's life, when he or she, at least for a fraction of a second thinks, of what use it is to live! At the same time there is an insatiable anxiety within us to live, to live on and to live forever.

God has given us a gift of death too! Though many do not look at it that way, that is, death as a gift, it is in fact true. Imagine, there were nothing called 'death'? How many problems and how many queries to fend for! Death, in the Christian parlance (in another day. we shall be beginning with the month dedicated to faithful departed), is the gate through which one has to pass to encounter the Lord, for that ultimate face off. Can there be any other reason more exciting and inviting than that? 

We know all this,  that life is a gift and death is equally a gift, but we find it hard to accept it- be it for our own sake or for others. Paul clarifies that dilemma to us today: his statement simply is, that it is a wrong question to ask which is better, life or death - because it is neither death nor life, instead, what comes between the two: living! How we live our life - that is truly what matters. 

There are three clues to living that life: one, from the hands of God: living our life from the hands of God, realising the gift that it is, and striving to realise all the time its true purpose - be it immediate purpose or ultimate purpose; two, living with our eyes fixed on God: that God may call us back anytime and God alone is the author of life and God alone can instruct us about what is best for us at any given moment; three, living for the glory of God: that God be glorified in everything I am and I do!

Between death and life, there is our call to live, our commitment to live to the full, and our opportunity to live for the glory of God. When we do that, we would be able to say with Paul: for me to live is Christ, to die is gain!

Busy about our Father's business?

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

October 30, 2020: Philippians 1: 1-11; Luke 14: 1-6

Jesus went about doing good! Doing good was his way of being the Son of God. This work that he started nobody could stop, because his Father was leading it towards its completion! Neither the so-called religious heads, nor the oppressive political heads, or the discouraging responses of the people - nothing deterred him; because he was not doing his work. "My food is to do the will of the One who sent me!"

St. Paul grew into the same groove... the work he was doing was the Lord's work - the good work that the Lord began in him, the Lord was bringing to its fulfillment no matter if Paul found himself in house arrest, in chains, under the law! And nothing deterred Paul, because he knew he was not just doing good work, but he was doing God's work! 

Work, good work, God's work... is it not important for us to differentiate among these in our own life? At times we may be busy doing what we want, what we think can establish our name, what we consider will make people remember us. But beware even the worst of politicians and bureaucrats have this motivation! So just some work, is not good enough. Does our work create good, good for the other, good for all, the common good? Then it becomes more acceptable! 

But is anything that is good, good enough? St. Paul speaking elsewhere about doing everything for God's glory would say, "all things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial; all things are lawful but not all things build up" (1 Cor 10:23). There are so many things that we can call good... but is that enough reason for us to engage in it? Is that sufficient for us to embark upon a whole life journey based on that opinion? Is something more needed... the Word answers today: Yes... not enough to be doing good work, but we need to be doing God's work!

We need to be busy with God's work, the work that God wants to accomplish in us. Each of us needs to explore, understand and get in touch with what the Lord wants to accomplish in us. Once we are clear of that, nothing, no one, can stop us! Some times the very things that people wrongly understand as holy and sacred could stand in opposition to what the Lord wants from us: Jesus understood that perfectly. That is why he had the guts to stand even against the sabbath. St. Paul inherited that clarity from his master, and that is why he could throw away all traditions like the circumcision.  

A very timely lesson for those of us who are passionate about doing something for God, and find that we are not able to... because of whatever reasons it may be... if it is God who has initiated that desire in us, God will bring it to its completion. Let us not fret! Let us be genuinely busy about Our Father's business, and everything will happen in God's own time.

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!