Will there be love when the Master returns!!!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 21st week in Ordinary time

August 26, 2021: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13; Matthew 24: 42-51

The Word today speaks of perseverance in faith, until the master comes. One sign that is provided as a sign of persevering faith is that of true and sustained love for each other. Paul prays that the Thessalonians grow in their love for each other and for the entire humanity. Jesus speaks of loving service to each other as the way to be prepared, alert and awake, when the Master comes.

The political crisis in Afghanistan, the natural disasters like that of Haiti, the tensions in various parts of the globe in varied forms, the still-threatening pandemic and its atrocities, the recurring threats of terrorism in various parts, the pursuing persecutions and inhuman treatment of human persons in the name of caste and creed, dehumanisation of masses in the name of development, the negations of a vast majority of population who are poor and weak and at the mercy of the rich and the powerful, the institutionalisation of religions and ritualisation of faith - all these are totally not in keeping with the love that Jesus proposes as the touchstone of true faith. 

Infact, the way things go, we should very seriously ask ourselves, 'will there be love left when the Master comes again?' But of what good is that question if we do not, on our part, do whatever we can, however little they may be, towards promoting true love? It would be a mistake if I tell myself, 'of what impact is it going to be that I love my neighbour in my limited circle where I am?' In loving the other, I become loving as a person, and by that I promote a whole culture, a lifestyle, a mode of living - that of love! And that is my responsibility, in my own way to promote the culture of love, thus keeping alive love until my Master returns in glory!

If at all we wish that love remains till our Master comes again, we need to transform ourselves and grow into radical agents of love wherever we are - isn't that a concrete call? 

Is good, good enough?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 21st week in Ordinary time

August 25, 2021: 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23: 27-32

When we say, 'he is good' or 'she is good'... how certain are we about the fact? It is our overall judgement about persons, looking at what we see, what we hear, what we observe... but no one can deny that there is more to reality than what we can apparently see or hear! How many times we trust someone as being good, and finally come to realise it was not actually true! Or how many other instances where we judged someone rashly from the looks, but ended up being humbled by their goodness and gentleness! So can we ever say someone is good?

Goodness - can we ever attribute it to anyone! Or can any of us really claim to be good absolutely? This is the question that the Word raises within us today. How good are you? Is your goodness, good enough? The Word questions, not whether we are good or whether we do good - but whether our goodness is really good? 

At times we may appear or manifest ourselves to be good, to win favours, or establish a name or having hidden agenda to be achieved. At times we may strive to be good, just to make up for something that we have done wrong, which we alone would know - as a kind of atonement. At times we may do good, which may be good only in our judgement and there would be no one who really benefit out of it. Hence, the impeccable touchstone to goodness is God and God alone.

God who knows us through and through, who knows not only our speech and our acts but even our thoughts and our intentions, certainly knows how good we are! Hence the challenge we have is not to just be good, but to be good in the eyes of the Lord - that is intrinsic goodness - to be attentive to the Word of the Lord, accept it, live by it and be truly good, intrinsically good, after the heart of the Lord!

Will you be found under the fig tree?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 24, 2021: Celebrating St. Bartholomew the Apostle 

Revelations. 21: 9-14; John 1:45-51

One of the 12 foundation stones, that is, one of the the 12 apostles rooted firm in Christ, is St. Bartholomew whom we celebrate today! Jesus gives him two compliments - one, that he was a person who had no guile in him and second, that Jesus saw him under the fig tree!

Sitting under the fig tree, had a very special significance in that context and Bartholomew is interested and curious how Jesus got to know about him and his tryst with truth. Sitting under the fig tree would mean (as we see in Micah 4:4), meditating on the Word of God, reflecting on the things that God expects from one, and making discernments on the way one relates to his or her world. A very deep meaning, isnt it?

Jesus has noted what kind of a person Bartholomew was. That was surprising for Bartholomew. Known as Nathanael in the Gospels, he was a man who looked for, yearned for truth and that is the reason, Philip brings him to Jesus. If only we truly and yearningly seek the Truth that Jesus is, Jesus is ready to surprise us! But are we ready to be surprised?

The question is, will Jesus find us under the fig tree? Will Jesus find in us, true seekers after truth, truly persons who long for the Lord, Christians who walk in the ways of the Truth! How much importance do I attach on a daily basis to remaining in sacred silence... or to the reading of the Word of God... or to meditate on the Word... or simply to remain in that disposition to connect to the Lord... that is why the question, when Jesus wishes to, will you be found under the fig tree?

Conversion - personal and constant!

WORD 2day: Monday, 21st week in Ordinary time

August 23, 2021: 1 Thessalonians 1: 1- 5, 8-10; Matthew 23: 13-22

Evangelisation is one topic that the Church can never tired itself speaking of, because it is the primary reason for its being. As soon as the Church speaks of evangelisation, the anti-church civil society would interpret it as ‘Conversion’ and in turn those factions never tire themselves of accusing the Church of conversions. 

Conversion - while it would mean mere numbers for those who accuse, the readings today present to us what a true conversion should be, or what it is for the Church! It means discovering the deepest sense of meaning within a person, a sense that would give the person a sense of living his or her life to the full; it is a call that has always been there, now being listened to and recognised with all its consequences. 

This meaning, this call, is experiences and responded to in terms of priorities, choices and value systems that are adopted by individuals and communities that share the same call or meaning. Right priorities and right values are crucial within this discourse. St. Paul underlines it in such clear terms writing to the Thessalonians, that our faith should be active; our love committed and our hope firm. 

Faith in action, love as concrete compassion and hope as unceasing optimism – these are the reasons why Pope Francis is fond of repeating – A ‘Christian’ can never be sad! Conversion, therefore, consists in understanding the call within to live one's life to the full and doing the needful to respond to that call! In this sense, is it not true that each and every one of us, has to be committed to our personal and constant conversion?

FIDELITY TO THE FAITHFULNESS

Responding to the Faithfulness of the Lord

August 22, 2021: 21st Sunday in Ordinary time
Joshua 24: 1-2,15-18; Ephesians 5: 21-32; John 6: 60-69

The God of Israel has always been identified as the God of the Covenant: I shall be your God and you shall be my people. Through ups and downs, during plenty and calamities, in peace and war, the Lord ever remained faithful to the covenant. Even when the people went away from it and abandoned it, the Lord remained faithful and committed. That is why the people of Israel did not contain themselves with saying God is faithful, but believed firmly that God is Faithfulness!

Today we have Joshua who understands and expresses exactly what is expected of the people of God: as for me and my household, we shall always serve the Lord. Being faithful to God was not his initiative, Joshua knew it well. It was only in response to the faithfulness of God, responding to God the faithfulness. 

Our relationship with God has to be a relationship of utmost fidelity, for there is no scope for deception and misrepresentation as the Lord knows everything, even the deepest of our thoughts and intentions. In God there is no duplicity, no ambiguity and no vagueness. God is faithful to the finest of details. As in the second reading today, the faithfulness of God is compared to the faithfulness that is observed in a marriage fidelity between the husband and the wife! It is a faithfulness of utmost sacrality and as much as it concerns the Lord, it is absolute! 

We could be reminded here of an anecdote said about an old man, well in his nineties, who would come everyday to a dispensary to dress a wound on his thumb. As he waits his turn, if it gets near the mark of midday, he would get anxious and restless, telling the nurses to hurry up or to let him go, as he had to go to attend to his wife at noon! His wife was in a hospital room in a state of coma for the past one year! The nurses would  ask him, 'anyway, she would not know if you came on time or not, or even whether you were there or not, why do you give it so much of an importance to be there precisely at midday?' The man would respond: 'no, it does not matter to me whether she knows it or not, I have made a promise to her, to be at her side everyday at noon without fail, and I will keep my promise come what may!' That is what the Lord's fidelity is all about - keeping the promise!

Today the Word brings home to our minds three premises to consider in relation to the perfection of our Christian Faith. The first premise is that we are called to fidelity as a community of faith, as people of the alliance, as people of God. In front of the world today, which tries to get as far away from God as possible, we are called to proclaim as Joshua did: as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord our God! We need to choose to live our faithfulness as a community, as a family.

The second premise, our call to faithfulness as families, begins right within our own families! Our faithfulness to God is concretely realised in our faithfulness in our family, between the spouses, between the parents and children, faithfulness to our responsibility to build up our families as building blocks of the Church, the family of God. 

The third premise, we called as individuals, as sons and daughters of God to recognise the Words of eternal life that God alone has, so that our faithfulness can be manifested in our daily choices, fundamental priorities and concrete life style. In his lovely words, "to whom shall we go, Lord, for you have the words of eternal life," Peter reminds us today that our fidelity to God does no good to God but gains us the eternal life that we long for. Our fidelity to the Faithfulness is a grace unto ourselves, to our families, to our community of faith, to our society and to the humanity as a whole! 

It would be opportune during the course of this week, that each of us, spends a time of solitude, and asks oneself, how faithful am I to God's fidelity, to God the Faithfulness!

Understanding Goodness

WORD 2day: Saturday, 20th week in Ordinary Time

August 21, 2021: Ruth 2: 1-3,8-11, 4:13-17; Mt 23: 1-12

Goodness is Godliness. Last week had been marked by various acts of political tension and violence in Afghanistan, with Taliban claiming power - with those who support them from the international community and they themselve claiming to give a peaceful governance! There are also accounts of violence in certain parts of northeastern India - with so many polarisations within the local population  leading to unrest! There are those who claim to help or to bring back peace! But who is true and who is good? The Word reflected from this background raises a fundamental question - how do we understand goodness?

Is goodness the external appearance of a person sporting conventionally respected images - as a god-man, or a social worker, or a poor-lover, or a cause-believer...these externals do not suffice. And not all are deceived by it, of course some are!

Is goodness all about the deeds and functions? People who wish to create a public image that they are good, try to buy up people by their good deeds and heroism. But is that enough sign of true goodness? Hidden behind the good deeds and acts of people there are agendas and schemes that no one even guesses.

Goodness is all about the basic nature in a person, that is not even seen by the others. Then of what use is it, one could ask. It is nothing to prove to anyone, it is just being good at the core of one's being. That will never change, even if the situation around and the persons around change, for the worse or for the better.

Keeping these in mind, can I really judge who is good and who is not? Indeed, no one can. I can only say whether I am good or not. But it is so important to ask that question: Am I really Good?

How close am I to the salvific design of God?

WORD 2day: Friday, 20th week in Ordinary time

August 20, 2021: Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22; Matthew 22: 34-40

"Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God." I remember once, years ago, when I quoted these verses to a group of my youngsters...one spontaneously burst out saying, "what romantic lines!" I had to explain to them with the context, and convince them that it was a daughter in law saying those words to a mother in law, and that too, after the husband-son, had died! A funny experience to recall, but the reflection remains afresh and applicable till date.

We pick and choose people to love - Ruth could have easily walked her way home back to Moab! She was not a hebrew woman, nor was she anymore indebted to her dead husband's mother! In fact, she had a precedence, as her co-sister Orpah had just left at the suggestion of the mother in law. No one would have blamed Ruth for it, she being still a young woman with her whole life in front of her. But if she had done it, we would not be reflecting about Ruth today, as she would not have got into the salvation history, as shining as she does now!

What makes her part of the salvation history - not wars won for the hebrews, not splendid deeds as great judges and prophets, but a choice made in true love! It is true love that made her enter the pages of the History of Salvation. That is exactly what Jesus seems to be telling us in the Gospel: the greatest of all commandments, the most absolute of all criteria to belong to God and to be part of salvific design of God, is the command of Love!

And a true Christian love does not pick and choose whom to love and whom not to... it is a decision to love and to love everyone with a deep sense of genuine commitment. Ruth manifested that capacity and became part of the salvation plan of God. How close are we to get into the salvific design of God?

Few who are worthy of the banquet

WORD 2day: Thursday, 20th week in Ordinary time

August 19, 2021: Judges 11: 29-39; Matthew 22: 1-14

We have today in the first reading a strange, and from the standards of today, even ridiculous event - Jephthah sacrificing his only daughter in fulfilment of his vows to the Lord. One can be reminded of another event when Abraham took his son to the mountain to sacrifice, my be also wondering why the Lord did not stop this time, with this girl at stake! Whatever be the explanation, the key to understand the  message from the liturgy of the Word today, is in the responsorial psalm.

Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. There are two elements of doing the will of God that is brought forth for our reflection - one, that it is not that easy to do the will of God, it requires the utmost sacrifices; secondly, just doing the minimum will not get you anywhere with respect to doing God's will, you have to go all the way, there are no short cuts! 

At times, when you tell the Lord, 'here Lord, I am ready to do your will', you will have to sacrifice things that you may consider very dear to you - your dreams, your career, your so-called happiness, your family at times, your legitimate pleasures, your longing for a comfortable or atleast a peaceful life - you have to sacrifice the very things that the world may propose as targets to be achieved in life! Are you ready? 

Once you say you are ready, you have to be absolutely ready! No compromises with God...it is not that you will do something and find a convenient reason to leave out something else, you will choose something and safely avoid something else that God wants of you! When you say a yes, it has to be a complete yes! If not, you will know it very well, and it will haunt you from within until you stand in the presence of that just Judge!

A bit alarming, isn't it? That is why many are called, but few are chosen. And of these few, even fewer persevere till the end, a very few go all the way, very few really grow to be worthy of the banquet of the Lord. Are we among that count?

The Lord who approaches...

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 20th week in Ordinary time

August 18, 2021: Judges 9: 6-15; Matthew 20: 1-16

There is something that is common to the two readings of today, and that is the clue to the message that is offered us by the Word today. The first reading narrates a parable of trees approaching various trees to rule over them. Jesus narrates a parable in the Gospel, about the land owner who approaches people at various moments of the day for work. The key to understand the Word is here: the Lord who approaches.

In various ways the Lord approaches us - what a marvel and what a privilege that we are approached by the Almighty. It is not that the Lord cannot do without me, but the Lord chooses not to do without me. The Lord invites me to be on the Lord's side. The Lord approaches me to be at Lord's business. 

Three dispositions that I should necessarily have to respond to the Lord who approaches me: 

Listening, to the Lord's call and heeding to the Lord's directions, not despising the message nor the means through which the Lord shares that message with me. The Lord approaches me in varied ways and I need to be truly open minded to listen to the call;

Obedience, to carry out the wishes of the Lord despite the difficulties and delusions. Obedience is not doing something whether I like it or not, but whole heartedly doing something whether it is easy or difficult, simply for the reason that it is what God wants me to do, there and then.

Selflessness, to do whatever I can for the purpose of the Reign and for the people of God, without expecting anything as a recompense, never comparing the good times of the others with mine and doing everything for the other, for the society and for the God who wills them all.

The Lord who approaches me is a very strong affirmation that I am wonderful and awesome in the eyes of the Lord - would I live up to it today?

To know how God sees!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 20th week in Ordinary time 

August 17, 2021: Judges 6: 11-24; Matthew 19: 23-30

The Lord's choices are curious, infact, strange! There is a series of them we can cite from both Old Testament and the New. Today's first reading presents to us one such personality - Gideon, a fear-stricken young man who defines himself as the least of all in Israel - is chosen by God and called, "Mighty Warrior". The numerous others like Jacob the less-stronger, David the puniest of the sons, Solomon the son of the coveted wife and over to the New Testament the uneducated fishermen and despised sinners as disciples and apostles - the list is endless. 

In fact the whole of Salvation History is accomplished in and through the instrumentality of these so-called odd choices. It is very clear: "it is impossible for humans; but for God everything is possible." While the world and we ourselves look for something, God looks at something totally different and expects something totally different from us! 

We look at the external appearance, the capacity to get noticed, the facility with which one makes a propaganda for oneself, the popularity one can attain, the comfort one can create for oneself, the promise of ease and pleasure that one can pose for the present and for the future...these seem to be the set of criteria of judgement and choice. The more saddening part is that even internally each of us is convinced of these criteria and we judge ourselves too on these counts. 

Real liberation of the self and the path to perfection will be possible only when we realise the fact that, what God sees and expects is the most appropriate. And when that coincides with what I see and expect from myself - the miracle happens! In the Reign, the first becomes the last and the last becomes the first!