The Memory of the heart - a Spirituality in itself!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 12, 2021: Celebrating the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Isaiah 61: 1-11; Luke 2: 41-51

To Remember is a Spirituality in itself!

And in the normal parlance, when something has to be learnt to memory, it is termed - learning by heart! An interesting terminology...to remember is to keep something in the heart...not just the mind. The memory of the heart... it is a spirituality in itself, indeed.

Mary's heart is exalted today...
because she remembered...
she kept everything in her HEART...
Abraham, Moses, Prophets...everyone exhorted the people to remember, and presented that as the criterion to be blessed people of God. They themselves remembered, they remembered the good that the Lord had done to them... and God remembered them and blessed them without end!

Just after the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
the Church proposes that we remember the Immaculate Heart of Mary...
because a heart that resembled
the heart of Jesus.

Learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart...
Mary observed that heart from close,
infact she had her part in forming that heart...
and she herself treasured a heart that resembled that meek and humble heart of the Lord!

She kept everything in her heart! To remember the goodness of the Lord, to remember the great things done to us by the Lord, to remember the mighty presence of the Lord ever in my heart - that is the spirituality that Our Blessed Mother teaches me today!

When I remember all the good that the Lord has done to me, the hurdles and heart aches that come to me sometimes will look much smaller. All I need to do, as the responsorial psalm instructs today, is rejoice and exult in the the goodness of the Lord, because... to remember is a Spirituality in itself!

CELEBRATING the Heart of Christian Faith: LOVE

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Hosea 11: 1,3-4,8-9; Ephesians 3: 8-12,14-19; John 19: 31-37

The Feast of the Sacred Heart is the feast of the very heart of Christian faith, that is Love; the feast of Love, the Love that God is. The feast invites us to meditate on the love that God has for each of us, to realise how unworthy we are at the same time as we are gifted and to make a choice to strive to become bearers of the same love to everyone around us. The Word and the feast, offer us a reflection on three important faces of this Sacred heart which inspire and challenge us at the same time!

The Parent-Heart

The Sacred heart comes across to us as a parent heart, the heart of a Father who longs to hold us close, guide us by our hand, lead us on the path of righteousness, as Hosea speaks of. It is presented as the heart of a mother who longs to nuture her child and see the child grow safe and sound right in her arms. It reflects the heart of the creator who made the creature and owns every bit of it and rejoices in its life and well being.

The Parent-heart loves us every moment, however we are and whatever we are upto. As we reflect in the words of Hosea, the Lord draws close to us and longs to draw closer - depends on us to really receive that love and be filled with it. The sad fact is that majority of us reject that love - some knowingly and others unknowingly. The grades of this rejection ranges from an absolute disregard for the love of God which consists of speaking against God and demeaning the image of God, to an insensible choice for ungodly ways of life being taken up by the immediate pleasure and ephemeral excitement. But the Lord never rejects us - as the imagery that Jesus gives us in his famous parable, the Parent-heart awaits with arms wide open for the return of the prodigal children.

The call that we have here is to GRATITUDE... to thank the Love of God, so caring, so warm and so unassuming! To thank the Love of God shared through persons so close and so far - those who are in the family and those who are friends; those who are unknown but still do so much good and those who come by in such miraculous ways to share this love with us! All these are ways in which the Parent-heart reaches out to us and should we not be grateful for it?

The Powerful Heart

The Sacred heart is certainly meek and humble, but definitely not weak nor little! It is the heart that reveals the mightiness of God in its simplicity and humanness. As St. Paul indicates, all sovereignties and powers are subject to it, and they learn from this heart the comprehensive Wisdom of God, a wisdom that is planted in love and built on love - not in haughtiness and cruel arrogance. We do not possess the capacity to grasp the breadth or the length, the height or the depth of this love, a love beyond all our knowledge.

The Powerful heart, is large and powerful, mighty and all-embracing. It is a heart that loves without measure and boundaries, loves all and everyone. It knows every move that we make and every choice that we pick, and even the motives and the intentions, however hidden they might be! How powerful and awesome it is. The awesomeness does not consist merely in knowing everything, but in the fact that despite knowing it continues to love and embrace us, in genuine and sincere care! 

The call that we have here is to AWE at the immensity of this love. At times, it is so unfortunate that persons and groups are prone to presenting God as avenging, retaliating, self-protective, ego-conscious and even arrogant! Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart; come to me and I shall give you rest... this is the type of heart we are reflecting on today: this is the true power to be celebrated, to be awed at.  It is important to unlearn the terror-instilling images of God and learn to stand in awe at the unfathomable love and the incredible mercy that God is. The power of the Sacred heart is its meekness and mercy! Should we not truly recognise and realise with awe the fullness of God that we are surrounded by, in and through this heart?

The Pierced Heart

The Sacred heart is the pierced heart, the heart to which we look up for grace and mercy, for forgiveness and acceptance into the life-giving embrace of God. As the Gospel points to, the Sacred heart is a giving heart, a heart that gave of itself until the last drop of blood and water. The water that flowed washes us and the blood that oozed gives us life - a washing away of the past and a promise towards a future, which is the crux of the hope that Christ our Lord promises us, as children of God. 

The Pierced heart, is broken, torn, hurt, injured, battered...all because of our insensitivities and our narcissistic tendencies. The heart bleeds due to our rejection and refusal to understand the obvious facts. The heart remains hurt by our self-centred choices and egoistic tendencies, considering ourselves the most important in the entire universe, expecting everything and everyone to serve our needs and our pleasures, and never opening our eyes to the needs of the other, even after it is brought to our notice in varieties of ways!

The call that we have here is to develop a DETERMINATION to reach out, to go out of ourselves, to feel for the other, to understand and empathise with the other and never take the other for granted. For God so loved us, that God gave us the Son who would die to save us, to make us children of God. The pierced heart commissions us to flow out, to stop looking at ourselves and our own private lives and needs and to take the love of God to the others, to our brothers and sisters, to our friends and neighbours, to the so-called strangers and every one who stands in any need! It is this determination that will make us and our faith truly Christ-ian. It has to be seen in our choices and priorities, in our decision making and daily lives, in terms of the heart of Christain Faith - love!

The Sacred Heart, which is a Parent-heart, a Powerful heart and the Pierced heart, invites us to celebrate love, in our daily lives, in our personal faith and  Christian community living. Let us realise that today in celebrating the Sacred Heart, we celebrate the heart of Christian faith: Love!

Witness: Deeper, brighter and freer!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 10th week in Ordinary time

June 10, 2021: 2 Corinthians 3:15 - 4:1,3-6; Matthew 5: 20-26

'Preach not by words, preach by virtues' - St. Anthony would often say. Just as St. Francis who would repeat, 'preach always, when needed use words'. Witness is the first form of proclamation that the Church recommends to every baptised person. A life of witness, is a life marked by the Spirit of the Lord - this is the crux of the Word today.

We cannot be mere common people, we have to become committed people. We cannot be just any people, we have to be inspiring people. We cannot be just acceptable people, we have to be challenging people. We cannot be satisfied with just a mediocre life of non-disturbance and mind-myself mentality, we have to be people who disturb the world and be the conscience wherever we are.

This means that our life has to be lived in a personal and common space that is much deeper - going to the roots of what rules and regulations mean, not just obeying them for what they are or rejecting them for the sake of it. 

It means that our words and more so our actions, should shine brighter in a world that is filled with so much fear, fear to have personal opinions, fear to have personal choices, fear to live a convinced life, fear to stand up for truth, fear to stand by those who are true.

It means that our mind, heart and our spirit is more free, looking at the right and the good, as something to be lovingly chosen and integrally held on to. Laws, rules and principles would not be then something that bind us or limit us, but would free us more and more, for truth and integrity.

All these are possible only with the Spirit who can deepen our perspective, brighten our convictions and free our spirits! The Lord is Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!

A sure ground to stand on

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 10th week in Ordinary time

June 9, 2021: 2 Corinthians 3: 4-11; Matthew 5: 17-19

What was celebrated good one day, is not considered good any more another day. What seems true today is soon proved a lie another day. A court finds one gravely guilty, a higher court acquits the same person as totally innocent! What is criticised one day, is identified as a norm another day. We are living in times of change! Can we base our life on facts as flimsy as these?

Even the covenant made with the people of the Old Testament is something that has become outdated with time, claims St. Paul in the first reading! Oh, what an alarming situation it is then! But he himself clarifies, that outdated covenant has been replaced with another covenant, that will never change or never expire - a covenant that is sealed forever by the blood of Christ! And Jesus give us another similar assurance.

Jesus refers to the only sure foundation we have: the foundation of rock, the foundation of the Word and the Holy Will of God. Nothing, not a dot, not a line shall go unfinished says Jesus. A sure foundation, an unfailing ground, a never expiring assurance, that comes in the person of Jesus, who reveals to us the true, One and Only God who is all love and goodness. In following the Lord, the Absolute love, the unconditional Good, we have a surity of peace, joy and love. When we go against what God is and what God expects from us, we have all the miseries we face in these days!

At times people place so much of confidence in persons who are around, that when they feel let down they feel as if the whole earth under their feet is giving way - just think of the famous 'break-ups', 'depressions', and other phenomenon people experience these days. We have nothing to assail us because we have a great wall of defence, a sure foundation in the Lord. 

Let us realise, we are standing on the promises of God, and that is a sure ground to stand on!

Salt, Light and an Yes

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 10th week in Ordinary 

June 8, 2021: 2 Corinthians 1: 18-22; Matthew 5: 13-16

There is a close relationship between being salt, being light and saying an Yes to the Lord! The Word today highlights it for us in a symbolic way.

To say Yes to the Lord means to be like the salt... totally dissolving oneself in the yes that is said, choosing to remain insignificant and hidden but making a difference in the entire reality! The Yes that is said, does not exclude any part of one's life, however insignificant. It is therefore a warning against any compromise... compromises which curiously disturb us in the beginning, but as days go by we get accustomed to it, and it becomes almost 'normal'...the call is to be mindful of one's Yes!

To say Yes to the Lord means to be like the light... remaining wherever one is called to be, and from there to burn bright and spread light, not counting the cost like melting oneself down or burning oneself up for the sake of the Yes that has been given to the Lord. It is about our proactive lifestyle that makes those around us, turn and take a look, stand and wonder, and even dare to come to us and ask us a question like: how are you able to do this! The call is to be enthused by one's Yes!

The first reading today places it plain and clear in front of us and adds that, it is only through the Lord that we are empowered to say an Yes to our call...it is not merely our capacity, our prowess and our goodness! It is Jesus, who was a personification of this Yes in his own life, who affirms us and makes us capable of it. Jesus was never an yes and a no! He was always yes! And that is what he wants us to be - to entrust ourselves totally into the hands of God and be an yes always! 

Responding to that call, requires an enormous faith and relentless hope, filling us with a matchless love for God and God's ways. We will do well to pray for this grace every single day!

Encouragement: A Spirituality of memories and promises!

WORD 2day: Monday,  10th week in Ordinary time

June 7, 2021: 2 Cor 1: 1-7; Mt 5: 1-12

Fear not, Take heart,  Be firm... these are some exhortations that we find in abundance in the Word of God. St. Paul explains to us today, why it is so.

As people of God and in union with God we are constantly encouraged,  that is filled with courage for times that can be trying, filled with an inner peace even in the face of troubles, filled with hope even at the so called times of despair. This is so because of a past that is so filled with care and concern on the part of God and a future that seems so heavenly.

Memories and Promises, play a great part in our faith experience, in our identity as people of God. But there is also a tendency that has to be avoided for a holistic spirituality ...the tendency to a selective memory of negative things and selective amnesia of so many positive experiences; and the tendency to make faith moments a series of foretelling and soothsaying. Instead memories should be of the gracious moments of the past and promises should be a childlike surrender to the will of God. 

The Word today draws on the past and the future to instruct us that a life that is filed with God, the memories of God and the promises of God,  will be a life of Courage and Commitment.

WITH US, IN US & FOR US

Covenantal Presence, Corporal Union and Concrete Commitment

June 6, 2021: The Solemnity of Body and Blood of Christ
Exodus 24:3-8; Hebrew 9: 11-15; Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26

The Feast of Corpus Christi reminds us of a drastic decision that God made in our favour - With Us, In Us and For Us - God loved us, God came amidst us and God came to stay within us! The solemnity that we celebrate today explicates this decision inspiring in us a similar attitude as we live our daily life. 

WITH US: That decision to stay with us is a Covenantal Presence... As St. Paul writes to Timothy, even if we are unfaithful, God is faithful forever. God has made a covenant with us throughout the ages, and finally God had sealed it and convalidated it with the very body and blood of God's Son, and that covenant is, to be with us forever! The Covenantal Presence of God with us is the highest form of security and protection that we can feel. It gives us the sense of sonship and daughterhood. 

The call here is to be WITH OTHERS, specially when someone suffers, struggles, grapples and fights to live meaningfully. In the time of this crisis, with the terrorising Pandemic, how much are we able to assure persons who are affected, that we are with them. With the quarantine and social distancing, are we also emotionally and spiritually isolating and distancing ourselves from the others, specially those who are suffering? 

IN US: The decision to stay with us is a desire for Corporal Union... Our Lord and Saviour becomes one with us, unites in our bodily existence too, enabling us to say, It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. It is a decision to be in us forever. It is a decision to purify us from within us, it is a decision to infuse sanctity within us, it is a decision to make us whole from within. 

The call here is to be IN THE LIVES OF THE OTHERS. Just like the Son of God becomes one with us, we are called to empathise with others with whom we share this common home: the World. It is crucial with whom we side: with those who really need empowerment or with the dominant rows. Aren't we tired to see today those in governance and public administration, thinking predominantly in terms of economy and development, ready to stifle and set aside the poor, the weak and the economically insignificant of the society? It is ready to criticise them...but very important to examine our own inner most logic. 

FOR US: The decision to stay with us is a Concrete Commitment that the Lord takes on our behalf; that we may be saved, sanctified and brought back to God. It is a call that Christ gives us to offer ourselves entirely to God, in every thing we are and everything we do. This is my body; this is my blood which shall be shed for you, says the Lord. It is a concrete commitment the Lord makes to be forever for us. 

And the call is obvious: to GIVE OF OURSELVES FOR THE OTHERS. A truly Christian life is a life that is lived for Others, for it is in living for others that we live for God. The Others here would begin from one's immediate family, the faith community, the universal brothers and sisters, specially those who are weak and oppressed. Giving should remain an extraordinary act of goodness, but our very nature of being Christian. 

The Body and Blood of Christ that we celebrate is a living reminder of the extraordinary love that God has to be WITH us, IN us and FOR us! Let us heed the invitation and become persons with others, in others, for others!

The two copper coins in time of pandemic

WORD 2day: Saturday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 5, 2021: Tobit 12: 1, 5-15, 20; Mark 12: 38-44

Half way through the first reading it should certainly strike us in these times... Tobit was blessed for his exceptional corporal act of mercy - burying the dead! An honourable and a Christian funeral these days cannot be taken for granted. Oh what times we are experiencing!

What is after all burying the dead when seen in relation to the agony and the grief that a family or a loved one goes through in having to see their beloved ones suffer and die. It is neither curing the person and bringing them back to the family, nor bringing them back to life from the dead. Yes, it is not a great remedy to the pierced hearts of people...but it is a minimum solace that is possible within the human capacity...to give a decent, holy and a minimum Christian Farewell to our loved ones.

Just as Mother Teresa said, it is not in how great a thing we do, but in how much love we put in, that our acts become truly blessed. Added to the love that they put in, those persons who involve themselves in giving a human and decent burial to the deceased due to the prevalent pandemic, risk their health, wellbeing and even life, in doing this. So many volunteers who involve in this unseen ministry stand out today in the eyes of God, just as the widow did in the eyes of Jesus.

What we can do to others and the society - a genuine good wish, a sincere good word, a selfless simple smile and whatever material outreach that we can...will be considered much greater than what sometimes even crores or millions that are donated with vested interest. So, let us never refrain from giving the other whatever we can, even if it is just two copper coins, in this time of pandemic. 

Identifying the True Lord

WORD 2day: Friday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 4, 2021: Tobit 11;5-17; Mark 12: 35-37

At times for the fun of it, with a few like-minded friends I do have a good sport reading out the predictions based on zodiac signs - be it on the dailies or on the other social network means. It has happened quite a few times that we are surprised at the pricision that emerges in some of those predictions. There arise sometimes even a kind of temptation to believe, that it may after all be true and that these constellations have a kind of influence on our personality and our eventualities. That said, the real surprise rests on the One who made all these, in such order and precision, making life possible!

True faith in God consists in seeing through all the creaturely order and logical wisdom, and acknowledging the true Lordship - the absolute and sovereign Lord, our God! Tobit sings a hymn of glory and praise to the Lord for the great things that happened in his life, for his son and for his daughter in law, and for the graciousness with which God had dealt with him and his household. 

How we wish to do that in our own lives - we see Tobit so blessed, miracles one after the other and the great assurance of God's presence and grace on his and his entire family. Today with all the troubles and struggles that we are going through, with the situation of COVID and all the repercussions that it has caused - we too wish to receive the graces of miracles, goodness, favours, protection, healing, and serene family moments! But the real faith lies in seeing beyond, and hoping in the Lord; seeing through, and trusting in the Lord.

Jesus challenges us to see beyond the apparent and identify the True Lord, who is in control of everything, That is a gift of faith that the Spirit alone can give us. Let us thirst for that grace all our life - to identify the concrete presence of the Lord with us, around us and in us!

Love - do we understand it at all?!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 3, 2021: Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1, 9-17; 8:4-9a; Mk 12: 28-34

Two unfortunate sharings I heard recently: one about a husband who decided to disown his wife a year after their wedding, because she was diagnosed with a serious illness; the second a religious who said she had not spoken for the past four years with another sister living with her in the same convent. These two and many such experiences raise a fundamental doubt: are we truly Christian? Have we, as we claim in and through baptism, really immersed ourselves into the mystery that God is? God is love and if we are born of God, we should love.

And there arises another perennial problem: what is love? Have we really understood it? How do we understand it? Have we really imbibed the sense that Jesus wants us to perceive, in love?

While the Gospel reiterates this call that each of us has received, in the first reading today we have a typical example in the person of Tobiah. Once he decides that he loves Sarah, nothing deters him from growing in that perfection. He is told how fatal it can be if he loves Sarah, but he does not hesitate. The reason is, he believed that Sarah was brought into his life by God. Just imagine, if only we look at every person in our life - our parents, our brothers and sisters, spouses, neighbours, colleagues and every one with whom we rub shoulders on a daily basis - as someone who has been brought into our lives by God, how blessed our life shall be. 

God entrusts with persons to love, in our daily life. Love is not merely a feeling; it is an act of faith. To look at every person around me and see and believe that God has given me that person, that brother or that sister, to love- that is the secret. That is true Christian love: does the world today, does every Christian today, do I today, really understand it at all?