On our way to the Mountain!

We shall not be moved!

February 28, 2021: 2nd Sunday of Lent

Genesis 22: 1-2, 9a,10-13, 15-18; Romans 8: 31b-34; Mark 9: 2-10

I believe you like a mountain, they say. Have you heard that expression? What it actually means, ever wondered? Like a mountain - mountains, they fascinate, they inspire awe, they challenge, they smile down on us and they stand there unperturbed by anything! It is not their tallness that is their strength, may be that too. It is not their hugeness that is their pride, may be that too. But it is their endurance, their never failing attitude, their fortitude in facing all weather - wind or cold or heat or wet! That is why our faith is a mountain to which we are called...we are well on our way to the Mountain!

The readings present to us a mountainous experience... the first reading we have a mountain that tested Abraham but saved him forever and in the Gospel we have a mountain that shone in splendour to the apostles because of Jesus, but it was not all, there were more things to understand and come to terms with! And St. Paul in the second reading speaks to us of an unfailing mountain, with whom we shall not be moved: if God is for us, who can be against us - the Lord our Mountain!

Let us analyse these mountains and we shall be done for this week...not just this week, but for our whole life which is a journey, a journey of faith, a journey that leads us to the everlasting Mountain, the promised Mountain of the presence of the Lord. We are on our way to that Mountain...and on the way we are given mountains to foretaste that which awaits us and mountains to remind us that we are on our way to the Mountain. 

Before we have a look at those mountains...let us note one important detail: the Word today does not name the mountains for us. Neither does the account from Genesis, nor does the episode from Mark, give us the name of the Mountain - because it is not the mountain that they are concerned about, but the experience of the Mountain. It is not the mountain itself that is holy, but what happens there! It is not the mountain in itself that shines, but the one who invites us there! Now ...let us be on our way to the Mountain. 

The first mountain is the mountain of testing and sacrifice! Our faith journey is more often than not, a uphill journey. There are of course moments that give us a easy ride and other moments when the experience is plane (or plain)! But the moments that are remembered for long are the mountainous moments...moments that try us, as was tried Abraham. But that trial becomes salvific, when we begin to understand the whole picture of our life. Look at Abraham...he was childless and he was given a child and when that child was demanded of him, he could have easily thought he has to protect that child with all his life. But he is our father in faith, because he thought differently. He thought to himself: what was I before the Lord called me, before the Lord named me Abraham from Abram, before the Lord gave me Isaac as my own...it is the Lord's own making and it is the same Lord who is asking! Abraham reaches the peak of the mountain...not the physical peak of that mountain he was climbing, but the spiritual peak of the mountain of faith. He gets ready to give all that he had, to God...and the Mountain saved him, saved him forever, saved his name for generations to come! The Mountain Saves!

The other mountain is the mountain of splendour and glory! Our faith journey at times is obscured by events around us. There are events that seem dark and dreadful - like the pandemic, the economic crisis, the political mockeries, the globalised vandalism that we are experiencing right now in the world. All that we need to do is, climb the mountain with the Lord and there we will see the splendour, there we will see the light, there we will see the Truth that rests with God alone. But the problem is we cannot remain there all our life...we have to come down, but remember always what we saw "up there"...that is the experience that the Lord creates, so that we are given the endurance to keep walking on our way to the Mountain. That is why we proclaimed with energy in the responsorial psalm today: I will walk! I will walk in the presence of the Lord! I will walk all my way to the Mountain! The apostles were given a special experience, because they needed it. No doubt they were having tough times, with no one understanding their master and they themselves not getting clearly what their master was communicating to them. But there were tougher times still to come...they had to be prepared. They were prepared with that experience on the mountain, and that would sustain them for quite some journey. The Mountain Shines!

Then comes the Mountain par excellence - the Lord our God. On my way to heaven I shall not be moved - for the Rock is with me; the Mountain is with me, my stronghold, my fortress and I shall not be moved. When God is with me, what does it matter who is against me! My mountain is my Lord...and it is to this Mountain that I am journeying all my life. As the psalmists says:I did not say to the sons of Jacob, search for me in vain! Yes, the Lord is with us, and there is no need to search for the Lord. The Lord is right beside us as an unmoved Mountain, all that we need to do is decide to be on our way to the Mountain and we shall be there; allow the Mountain to sustain us and we shall not be moved, we shall last, we shall endure, we shall stand and we shall stand firm - because our Lord stands at the right hand of God to plead for us! The Mountain Stands!

The Mountain bids us: walk, the Mountain challenges us: stand, the Mountain encourages us: endure! And we shall be saved, we shall shine and we shall stand, because we are on our way to the Mountain! 

True Christian Love: Growing to be God's Own

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday, First week of Lent

February 27, 2021: Deuteronomy 26: 16-19; Matthew 5: 43-48

You would remember, especially if you are from India, few years ago, a comment passed by a leader of one of the religious nationalist groups in India on Mother Teresa and her motivations behind all the service she had rendered to the least of the Indian Society. He was not the first, nor the most prominent of people who have spoken so. However, my reference here is to one of the retorts that came by - I loved the cartoon some one posted; it was a cartoon depicting Mother Teresa holding that gentleman who spoke rather ill of her, as a mother would hold her little child! And the caption read in Mother's own words: if you judge others, you will not have the time to love them. 

According to me that was the best response one could ever imagine, because it brings out our very nature: as people peculiarly God's own (Dt 26:18)! We have had so many examples of this peculiarity which the Word demands from us - Pope John Paul II who met the one who attempted to assassinate him, the family of Sr. Rani Maria (whose commemoration was just a couple of days ago) who accepted the murderer of their daughter as one their family members, Mrs. Gladys Stein who instantly forgave the one who burnt her husband and two sons alive, the mother of the two brothers among the 21 coptic christians killed in Egypt some five years ago, and the list is not certainly exhausted!

These people are peculiar in the eyes of the world and that is our call too: to be people peculiarly God's own. The only way to belong to God is to be God-like in our love for others, loving everyone with no conditions, no limits and no expectations! Very often a lofty love that begins well falls in the trap of expectations and there is no more time to enjoy the goodness that is involved in that love, because the expectations on each other has drained it all. God's love - a love beyond conditions, a love beyond expectations, a love beyond the urge to feel fulfilled... is it difficult? Yes! Any alternative options? Definitely No, if we want to be truly God's own!

Growing in True Faith: the Right Righteousness

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday, First week of Lent

February 26, 2021: Ezekiel 18: 21-28; Matthew 5: 20-26

The "Scribes and the Pharisees"...we find this phrase very often in Jesus' words. What did he have against them? Was he then a sectarian too... dividing and categorising people by the group they belong to? No! Never! Jesus himself was a pharisee and he had disciples among pharisees, tax collectors and zealots. Then where is the justification for the usage of this phrase, 'the scribes and the pharisees'?

The phrase actually refers to, that category of people, need not be necessarily only the scribes and the pharisees, who consider the external signs and legalistic fulfillment more important or significant than the interior disposition. What we do is important, but why we do what we do, matters much more! The internal disposition with which something is carried out, truly determines the value of the act or the attitude. 

Righteousness often can remain a matter of image building or opinion creation. There are those who hire the media, buy it up or throttle it to control, in order to project themselves as they wish to be seen - not exactly was they really are! Every one of us wishes to give a pleasing and desirable image of ourselves to the world - there is nothing much wrong in this wish per se. But the problem lies in the fact that I hide, how much I hide, to what extent I go in order to hide and what I want to gain by hiding what I really am! Can I still fall under the category of the 'righteous', after all this image creation?

Jesus, explains today his version of righteousness - the Right Righteousness. It consists of meekness and humility, openness (lack of judgments) and acceptance, endurance and perseverance, and endless hopefulness. It consists of accepting who I really am and working on myself without pretensions. It consists of accepting the other as he or she is and trying to live as brothers and sisters in peace! 

Against these measures on the scale, where does my righteousness stand?

Renewing Christian Hope: The Lord who is at hand

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday, First week of Lent

February 25, 2021: Esther 4:17 (or) 12: 14-16; 23-25; Luke 7:7-12 

The Lord is at hand, always, in all circumstances, specially in difficulties and troubles. This is the promise of the cross. Because as the letter to the Hebrews would affirm, we do not have a Master who does not understand us; we have someone who understands us and knows us, for he himself has gone through all that we are put through in life. 

A truly Christ-ian attitude in the face of difficulties and struggles would be to approach any situation with an endless hope, a limitless certainty that God is with me, whether I can feel it or not at a concrete moment, in a concrete manner. There is a certainty beyond all numbers and statistics, beyond all indications of facts and figures...and that certainty is based on the endless hope that we have in our Lord!

There have been moments in the lives of the saints when they have been through darkness and obscurity. It is in the manner that they handled such experiences that they have deserved their identity of sanctity. Today, we are growing weaker and weaker in our faith-life, that we are discouraged and grow desperate at the very first moment of our failure or trial. The increasing number of suicides and increasing multitudes of God-forsakers are only symptoms of such a deficiency.

Look at the secenario today - how many have given up their faith and how many are on the brink of it! Do we any longer believe that our God is with us, that the Lord is at hand? Our Christian faith would be meaningless without this conviction, for which Esther today stands witness and Jesus shines as an advocate - the conviction that the Lord is at hand, always, in all circumstances, especially when I am through struggles and difficulties!

Renewing Christian Hope: Choosing to Change!

THE WORD IN LENT - Wednesday, First week of Lent

February 24, 2021: Jonah 3: 1-10; Luke 11: 29-32

Waking up a sleeping person is not as difficult as waking up someone who pretends to sleep. Lent is all about conversion; and conversion is something absolutely personal. External signs of it are appreciable, but they are not all. At times we can have splendid external signs of religiosity and concern for others while they may merely be hypocrisy and hidden agenda. But the good or bad news is that, God knows our innermost thoughts and yearnings. That is the source of Christian Hope too!

We create and maintain whatever image we would like with those around us, but with God it is always the truth and nothing but truth. It is the absoluteness of Truth that gives us hope. Christian Hope is not a false consolation towards something that does not exist; it is all about the truth, the Truth that God is. When we are with the Truth, we have hope that one day everything will change for the good. And that change begins from within each of us.

Jesus in the Gospel, gives the Jews, the so called chosen people the challenge of the simple people of Nineveh. Even today, the highly sophisticated, the so called devoted, and the self proclaimed Spiritual Masters are given the challenge of the simple and unsophisticated persons who convert, who change in the heart of their hearts toward God. They would be much greater and much closer to the Reign of God than the so-called VIPs! 

Conversion is a matter of the heart... an internal and absolute choice for God. God has never given up hope on us and expects that we will keep growing in true Christian living. Lent is an apt time to make that choice, a personal, internal and sincere choice to change... to change our thoughts and our ways. 

Growing in True Faith: Rethink Prayer!

THE WORD IN LENT - Tuesday, First week of Lent

February 23, 2021: Isaiah 55:10-11; Matthew 6:7-15

Prayer is a fundamental act of a believer. However, the way we understand it can differ quite drastically. Apart from the clarity that prayer cannot be mere favour list made to God and apart from the comprehensive understanding that prayer should essentially include an act of contrition, that of thanksgiving and of praise along with the petitions made, prayer should be understood basically as a relationship with God. 

My simple personal definition of prayer is, "living our life with God"; with God, every moment of it - joys and sorrows, failures and successes, temptations and threats, difficulties and dreams! All this, with the confidence that the Lord is with me and that God's ways are best that can happen to me at anytime.

Asking for and clamouring for something is very much like a child's relation to his or her father or mother! That is never bad, but remaining all one's life at that level would leave us childish, and not child-like. We need to move to the next levels of submitting into the hands of the Lord; abandoning ourselves to the eternal Will and the powerful Word of the Lord. This we will be able to do only when we trust the Lord as our Father, as someone who protects us always and rescues us when we are in distress.

Let us rethink our outlook on prayer - it is not begging God; neither is it making a wish list to God nor counselling God as to what is best to be done! Prayer is a loving entrustment of ourselves into the hands of God, our loving Father and Mother. Is there a need to rethink your prayer?

As a Rock-based Community

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 22, 2021: Celebrating the Chair of St.Peter

1 Peter 5: 1-4; Matthew 16: 13-19

Today we celebrate the pastoral responsibility that the Lord places on the successors of St. Peter - You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

The First reading has a few remarkable elements that seem to explain perfectly the role of Papacy: 'presbyter among presbyters', 'not lording over the people', 'being example to the flock'! This is the meaning of guarding the Church against the gates of hell. binding on earth what is against the Kingdom of heaven and loosening on earth all that will build up a community that is worthy of the Lord who has called and commissioned that community. 

This is exactly what Pope Francis is trying to do: stressing the Collegiality of the Bishops as Bishop of Rome, not lording over but challenging everyone with his very life. Restraining from making a hero-idol of himself, but putting the concerns of the people and the suffering world first in the order of importance. 

It is important as a Church that we begin to hearken to his passionate call to live as light of the world and salt of the earth, spreading love and hope to those around us. We have a duty to pray for the Holy Father, as there are so many forces today in the World that wants by all means to destroy the Church and its moral authority on the planet today! And very specially when there are forces from unexpected quarters and in least foreseen forms trying to do away with that rock-based people of God, the Church. 

But let us not fret; the Lord has promised that the gates of hell will never prevail over the Church. In stead, let us strive to remain worthy of that promise, by being communities of genuine faith and integral living. Let us proclaim with all our heart, with the great disciple: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!

On a Pit stop on our Way!

Realise, Renew and Resume!

February 21, 2021: First Sunday in Lent

Genesis 9: 8-15; 1 Peter 3: 18-22; Mark 1: 12-15

We have begun the season of lent, with a reminder that we are all going up to Jerusalem...and on this journey it is time to renew our faith, hope and love! The journey might seem long, but it isn't that long. In comparison to the eternity from which God has chosen us and given us this call to reach Jerusalem, it is but a short journey, however with all its twists and turns, unforeseen drops and sudden bumps, demanding climbs and treacherous slopes and added to all these the faults of out making! On this journey, Lent is like a pit stop! Yes, we are on a pit stop on our way! Pit stops do have their own characteristics and tasks, don't they?

Do you understand pit stops? On a car  race, there are these stops to change the tyre, refuel, service and get back on the track for the rest of the laps! On a journey, specially those that are long, there are these stops to relax, stretch, refuel and start again, towards the destiny. These are pit stops. The season of lent is such a pit stop that we have on our Spiritual journey and they have their own purpose and their own tasks. The readings today remind us of these purposes and tasks.

It is a stop, but with a call to REALISE!

It is a stop, a rest, a pause, a slow down, a brake-moment, but not a moment that is inactive or without anything to do. There is a call to realise! Jesus went to the desert to pray. A withdrawal, yes! But not without any purpose or not without demanding tasks! He had to face the Satan, the temptations, the challenges that he had to overcome in order to realise who he was! 

With the COVID lockdowns and the resultant restrictions, we have long been in a sort of lent! Have we really taken that time to realise the follies of times, the mistakes in our choices, the anomalies in our priorities... or are we just moving on as we have always been, with nothing new to learn and nothing new to look forward to from life? We could have used this time for an overhauling of our spiritual selves, but have we really? Or have we been so busy complaining and coping that we have failed to realise things that have to be attended to? If we feel we haven't managed much out of it, here is an added pint of time - Lent. Let us make use of it, to realise the areas in our life to work on! Jesus made use of that time in the desert, to reinforce his belonging to his Father, his commitment to his mission and his dedication to the task entrusted to him. That is why, the arrest of John did not hinder him, but pushed him forward to set his mission to a start.

It is a halt, but to RENEW and move on!

A pit stop is a halt, but not an end. It is a halt for the movement, but the work continues, there is so much of things to be done - to repair and service, to renew! Peter reminds us of our life tasks in the second reading today - to trust in the pledge we have in the Lord, to open ourselves to the Risen Lord and the cleansing waters of the Spirit, to ride on the waters of salvation towards out destiny. 

We are saved by the death and resurrection of Christ; we are won over by Christ's blood for the salvation that we are promised as children of God. But these are promises and guarantees, and not automatic processes. We have to take our decision to get ourselves washed off the dirt that we have accumulated; we have to refill the fuel of the Spirit that we have depleted within us; we have to repair the broken pieces of the ark of our salvation. We need to mend our relationships; we need to revise our priorities; we need to reconsider our paths; and we need to retrace our journey. Somewhere in the last lap we have missed our way or lost our precision, and this is the time to recalibrate the dimensions of our life. What has been promised to us on the part of the Lord, remains the same - while it is we who have to realign ourselves to the project we had undertaken at the waters of our baptism. Yes, it is a time for renewal, renewing our faith, hope and love, the real fuel for our Spiritual sojourn.

It is a retreat, but only to RESUME and remain afloat!

In the fast moving race, or in the ongoing journey the pit stop can be considered a retreat, a lagging behind, but they are essential in order to resume the rest of the journey or at least the next lap, and remain on the run till the next opportunity to retreat. Noah's Ark is a typical image of this - when he began to build that ark, no one would have understood what he was really upto. But when the floods came and the household began to float, then things came to light... it was the Covenant of the Lord.

The Lord has made a covenant with us - I shall be your God and you shall be my people. And that covenant is the greatest of all guarantees that we have in life...while my God is with me, who can be against me! At times it can happen that I falter on my way, miss the road on my journey, overstep the track on my race...but there is the time to stop, renew and most important, Resume! Looking at where I have gone wrong, taking stock of the faults that have ruined my days, understanding the choices that have costed me dearly, rendering account for the moments wasted and occasions missed to do all the good that I could...these are ways to renew myself and not moments to lose the spirit within me. Confessions, sacrifices, prayers, charity to others...these are instruments of renewal that the Lord offers. They need to goad me on to resume my journey with more intensity and vigour. Just as the Lord gave Noah and the household a brand new chance, so does the Lord give us a chance to start again, pick the pieces of our brokenness and resume our journey. The stop cannot be for long...I cannot lose myself in regret and guilt for too long, I have to pick myself up and start again, start fast, and start strong... because the journey is on, and I go to remain afloat, on the waters of the promises of the Lord.

Lord teach me your ways, we pray today! The way of faith, hope and love: the way of profound faith, the way of unfailing hope and the way of unconditional love. That will keep me moving on!

Growing in True Faith: Lord's day - taking time to love!

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday after Ash Wednesday

February 20, 2021: Isaiah 58: 9-14; Luke 5: 27-32

Sabbath for the Jews, we know, was sacred and there was a beautiful lesson within it. People are busy making a living, that they forget truly living their life. Jesus did not despise Sabbath, but brought back strongly home the original purpose behind this observance. Jesus teaches us: Sabbath is the time taken to love - to love God and to love neighbours! It is a time to forget about me, mine and my job, and look at the Lord, the persons around me and spend time with them.

Today in our hectic lives, we are so busy running after our work, our so-called progress and our career that we lose sight of so many beautiful things in life - like a filial relationship with God, a loving relationship with our families, a rejuvenating time with our friends...even these have become some corporate affairs to be planned and executed, lacking its spontaneity and warmth. 

I remember once, ringing up to a caterer asking for a meal to be arranged for a big group of persons on a Sunday - he bluntly told me that he cannot, because it was Sunday. "It is enough you arrange it later during the day", I insisted. But he replied with the same determination and clarity of priorities, "I go to Church in the morning and the rest of the day I spend with the family, I don't take up orders on Sunday". He is not one of those top notch business persons to forego an order so lucrative, but he was clear about his priorities - he was absolute about the time set apart for God and for his loved ones.

We would do good to look at Sabbath of the Lord's day not as a legal requirement or as Sunday obligation. As Jesus insists, so does Isaiah - taking time to be with people, to spend time with persons, to share love and be rejuvenated: that is the purpose of the Lord's day. 

Sabbath or the Lord's day therefore is not one day, or certain days; it is a mindset, an attitude, a love with which we give importance to the Other and to the others. Just as this season of Lent, Sabbath should be a time taken regularly to refill our lives with love - for God and for others.

Renewing Christian Hope: Choosing Joy

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday after Ash Wednesday

February 19, 2021: Isaiah 58: 1-9a; Matthew 9: 14-15

What is the purpose of fasting... give it a thought just now, before you proceed to reflect on the Word today. Some one could think to oneself, I wish to come down by at least 10 kilos at the end of the lent! And another could say, the next forty days will help my diabetes! What is your purpose...why do you fast?

What if you fasted the whole day and because of it you get irritated and frown on every one whom you come across? What if you prayed for a long three hours and on coming out you lose your head on the first person you meet! What if you intend to give away everything you have to the poor and the homeless, but you cannot give even a sincere smile to the one living with you at home?

Fasting should make us more controlled; it should make us more detached; more calm and serene! It should fill us with joy that comes from the fact that we have participated in the sufferings of the Lord, not proud of it or haughty about it! Fasting cannot be for feeding one's ego and a means of self-justification. Fasting is a choice, a choice for joy, the joy that comes from Christ, the joy that gave the apostles the courage to go on in spite of the threats and dangers. They were filled with such hope, that no pain would make them lose heart. They were filled with joy to suffer for Christ.

How joyful am I, when I fast?