To see and perceive and to listen and understand!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 18, 2021: 1 Timothy 6:13-16; Luke 8:4-15

Jesus draws an important difference between seeing and perceiving, and between hearing and understanding. And he offers us an explanation that is so practical and down to earth. We can refuse to see; or hardly manage to see; or see but do not really perceive; or see, perceive and behold!

The times are such that there is so much talk about the end of times...the pandemic, the vaccine, and various others discussions relating to it. Though it is true that every now and then in history, there are times like these when the theme of end of times has emerged strong, it cannot be a mere matter of light headed comments. It should set us thinking how important a theme it is but how flimsily understood and handled. Today Paul speaks of it too, to Timothy. 

For all that we may believe, Christ is not going to "come", as if he is not here! He said I am with you always. Christ, who is already here with us, will be revealed in fullness of glory, in God's own time. Till then it is our duty and our call to see and perceive Christ in every person suffering and every person in need; to hear and understand Christ speaking in every cry for justice and every groan in pain. 

If we have to behold the Lord when the Lord is fully revealed... we cannot refuse to see; it would not help if we hardly manage to see; and it would not be sufficient if we see but fail to really perceive. We need to live in the presence of God, be conscious of that presence of God and draw inspiration from that presence so much that, we grow in our capacity to see and perceive, to listen and understand, when the Lord is finally revealed in all God's glory!

Keep fighting his fight!

WORD 2day: Friday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 17, 2021: 1 Timothy 6: 2-12; Luke 8: 1-3

The Word today establishes that to be a follower of Christ, it does not matter whether you are a man or a woman, a jew or a gentile, of noble birth or from a sinful past, all that matters is from the moment you decide to be Christ's follower, to manifest that in your normal conduct and your everyday choices. Christ should make such a difference in your life that you look at everything in a way different from that of the rest of the world. Especially at times when sufferings surround you and crises engulf you, you need to manifest yourself as disciples by your constancy, different from the world that looks for instant solutions and immediate outcomes.

Yes, most in the world today follow a hit and run policy, with regard to sufferings and struggles, but wish to call themselves strong, mature and rational. At the most they agree that they are rebellious, but they fail to understand their weakness -  of questioning God during their difficulties but not staying on long enough to get the right answers. Once a person approached a pastor saying that it has been long since the person had left the Catholic Church, because the person had lost a dear friend just around 25 years old. The person had raised questions such as, Why this person? Why now? and so on and left the Church in rebellion against God. The pastor asked a gentle question to him: you raised a question unto the Lord, did you wait for an answer at all?'

Living a life of discipleship requires an authentic mind, a humble spirit and a patient self. There is nothing wrong in raising questions to God, but we should be ready to wait for the response. Wait long and wait hard - that is what we mean a fight, a good fight of faith. There will be a response, an answer from the Lord - but you should be there to behold that response. Only then you would be in a position to say: I have fought the good fight of faith! Until then there is one thing we are called to do: Follow the Lord and Keep fighting his fight!

More loved... more powered!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 16, 2021: 1 Timothy 4: 12-16; Luke 7: 36-50

It is not that she loved more and so she was forgiven more, but that she was forgiven more and so she loved more and more. It was not because Timothy was more powerful that he was entrusted with the people of God, but because he was entrusted with the people of God he was made power filled, by the one who chose him. 

People of God, are all chosen, chosen to belong to God, chosen to possess the power of God and chosen to inspire each other and entire humanity, towards everyone growing into the image and likeness that they have been created in. It is not because we, as people of God, are better than the others or more worthy than the rest of the humankind. The fact is, because we are chosen, we need to strive to become better, more worthy and ever conscious of our need to work for our own salvation and for the others'. 

Thinking and living this way, every person called in the name of Christ becomes a leader, an inspirer, a light on the top of the hill. And these leaders and inspirers are powered more and loved more because they love God and live for God and for others. Our lives need to become more and more salvific - for ourselves and for others around us. 

May every day help us to grow up to be more and more conscious of how much we are loved and empowered... that we may be more and more loved and powered.

The first one to Behold the Cross!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 15, 2021: Remembering the Sorrowful Mother of God 

1 Timothy 1: 1-2,12-14; John 19: 25-27

If yesterday was the glorification of the Cross, today is the remembrance of the one who beheld that Cross, standing at its foot, for the first time! The Cross was not anything new. It was a common punishment for the offenders. But for the first time, its significance changes when the Son of God takes it into his loving embrace. Suffering for humanity is nothing new, but it all depends how we behold it, in our own lives. Mary stood by that Cross, and she did not realise what it really meant. What we celebrate today is not the theological interpretation that Mary gave to the Cross - No! She knew nothing of it.

We celebrate today, three important attitudes that we see in our Blessed Mother:

The surrendering love due to which she was able to accept anything that came her way after that 'yes' she said - the struggle without a place to give birth to her son, the exile to Egypt and back, the society that did not accept her son and everything that followed.

The enduring hope with which she believed in every word that was spoken to her by the Angel. She was blessed because she believed that what the Lord promised would surely be fulfilled. Even at the foot of the Cross or after the body was laid in the silence of the tomb, she stood firm in her hope.

The unwavering faith which led her to remain silent until every sword had pierced her heart - she knew nothing can take her away from the Lord. She waited until her son won over death and made her the sign of our ultimate victory over death. Mary shines as the beacon that illumines our lives and makes us understand, the ultimate victory belongs to the Lord.

May the sword that pierced her heart, make us meek, humble and obedient unto the Lord.

Rising to Glorify the Lord

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 14, 2021: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Numbers 21: 4-9; Philippians 2: 6-11; John 3:13-17

The Word today is filled with terms related to raising and lowering - being raised by God, being raised by people, self-lowering...and everything points towards the element of making God the priority and making God's will the absolute criterion, in our daily life. God has a design and that design is the original and the absolute good that is in creation. When we tamper with it, there is a mighty big ruin that we cause. This is the rationale behind be it the ecological crisis we face today or the pandemic that we are suffering from.

We know it is important for the cocoon to break itself open and the creature inside to squeeze itself out - only then will there be a creature so beautiful, colourful and subtle to fly around. We know it is important for the seed to bury itself in the ground, get suffocated under mud and force itself out of the ground to yield its multifold fruit.

At times in spite of all the love that we have for God and despite all the goodness we possess, we find it so difficult to accept pain - pains of different kinds - psychological, physical, spiritual, relational or social. The moment we are able to subject ourselves to pain with serenity, the moment we are ready to go through a bit of the darkness of the unknown, the moment we are prepared to grope a bit in the shady regions of our life... and do all these with complete trust that the Lord is certainly around, I begin to rise! 

When I rise, people will certainly begin to look at me, giving glory to the Lord, the Lord of the Cross! This is after all the exaltation of the Cross we are called to celebrate today and not merely some cult towards the crucifix! Let our daily lives become a perennial exaltation of the Holy Cross, from where comes our salvation. 

Found Missing: Good Leaders!

WORD 2day: Monday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 13, 2021: 1 Timothy 2: 1-8; Luke 7: 1-10

The Word today touches upon a crucial point for today - who is a true leader and what we need to do towards having true leaders. 

Look at the sort of leaders we have today - those who threaten all those around inviting them to prove their might, those who are busy proving themselves the most powerful, those who are busy promoting their own hidden agenda come what may, those who are more worried about their purses and positions than about those whom they intend to lead, the ones who are busy making noise without really substantialising their inner potency, those who have no stand on their own but try to capitalise on others' weaknesses and necessities - are these the kind of leaders we need? Are we the kind of leader that the centurion proved to be?

If we need to have good leaders, we should first, pray for our leaders - that those who are with the responsibility entrusted to them, be guided by the Spirit of truth and not swayed by falsity and popular craze for selfish goals. 

Secondly, we need to  promote such leaders, instead of losing them in time and space. What a sad fact it is that whenever we need to speak of good leaders, we go to the pages of histroy and quote a few from there. We need to identify good persons, persons with capacity and compassion and promote them to be leaders, and not go by the crowd and later lament! 

And finally, we need to become, ourselves the type of leaders that we wish to see. We expect certain qualities in our leaders, for instance, honesty and integrity, morality and humanity. Do we possess them and grow in them? Do we ensure our own children and youngsters in the family grow with these? 

Our faith requires from us this commitment that we organise our life, personal, familial and social, worthy of the God who we serve! It is good to take stock of our daily life and practice, isn't it? 

THE ACT OF FAITH

Actions, Choices and Thoughts

September 12, 2021: 24th Sunday in Ordinary time

Isaiah 50: 5-9a; James 2: 14-18; Mark 8: 27-35

Faith has to be lived, it has to be manifested, be seen and shown; if it does not, it can be interpreted as dead and good for nothing. The Word this Sunday offers us a perspective of living faith on a daily basis, not leaving it in the air as mere doctrines and nor reducing it to performance of rituals and practices. It is a perspective that makes faith concrete and life oriented: the ACT, that enables persons to live their faith and manifest a living Faith, in an increasingly secularised world.

The ACT perspective of faith consists of Actions that make faith alive, Choices in life that make faith truly concrete and fundamental for daily life, and Thoughts that make faith something that covers the entire being of a person, determining the very life style of the person, and not merely concerning with some sporadic elements of the life of person! 

ACTIONS: Faith has to be manifested through Actions of love

A Christian cannot be so for namesake. A believer cannot be merely someone who understands and accepts some sets of truth. A godly person cannot be someone who lives in an otherworldly atmosphere and refuses to get down to real life and its responsibilities. True faith has to be shown in concrete action. James today brings out this truth in such a candid manner.

Faith that is devoid of love is not Christian and that love when not shown in action is not real. Love is not treating people according your whims and fancies, it is approaching every person with a respect and reverence that he or she is an image of the living God. True love translates itself into commitment, a commitment for the wellbeing of the other.

CHOICES: Faith has to be witnessed to, through an absolute Choice for life 

With the pandemic and its related troubles continuing to surround us, with the forces of violence all around the world making their ugly presence felt every now and then, with the dominant and hegemonic economic demons of the globalised world threatening to suffocate the entire humanity, we have determinant and definitive choices to make, as disciples of Christ. Isaiah prefigures in his own life and self, what it means to be a true disciple of the Son of God. Cross is not all about death, instead it is about glory: this is the difference between the perspective of life and that of death.

The world and its culture today is prone to death - Pope Benedict XVI called it the 'culture of death' and the present Holy Father, Pope Francis continues to reflect on that phrase. Difficulties are highlighted, despair is amplified, destruction is perpetrated and death is felt in the air. It is nauseating for a true believer, because we are persons who have chosen life, life in all its abundance. We can never choose to be gloomy and sad, pessimistic and given up! We choose God, we choose life!

THOUGHTS: Faith should be based on the Thoughts of God

Who do you THINK I am, asks Jesus. It matters a lot - what we think, how we think and why think what we think! Thinking is an expression of our innermost dispositions. How we think about others will define what we really are. That is precisely why Jesus asks us today, that all important question. But when it comes to the realm of faith, human thinking and worldly calculations will never make us persons of faith. It is only in adapting a God-perspective, that is looking at and thinking of all that is and all that happens, from the perspective of God, that we can be filled with faith. 

Jesus had this God-perspective very clear. He taught the same perspective to his disciples too. That is the reason we see that he rebukes Peter for being contrary to God's thinking. Sufferings, crosses, and sacrifices are nothing strange, if and when we put on the mind of God and develop the God-perspective from within us. Within the perspective of God everything has its place and meaning. 

Let us pledge ourselves to an ACT of faith this day and in the coming week: to act in love, to choose life and to think like God - only then can we be truly disciples, apostles, and brothers and sisters of Christ.

Evidence of the inexhaustible patience

WORD 2day: Saturday, 23rd week in Ordinary Time

September 11, 2021: 1 Timothy 1: 15-17; Luke 6: 43-49

Paul calls himself the evidence of God's inexhaustible patience. Aren't we all such evidences... taking into consideration the endless opportunities we are offered to bear the right fruits at the right season.

At times persons ask questions like: why is it that people are so bad and they don't allow me to be as good as I wish to be! May be the Word today could answer that question... I am responsible for the fruits that are expected of me... there will surely be scores of others who will disturb, distract, discourage and disorient me but I cannot lose the direction that I am given with. I cannot blame it on others or the situation when I fail to bear the fruits that I should. 

However, we have a God who is inexhaustible in patience. It is beautiful to remember here those wise words of the saint of the gutters, whom we celebrated last Sunday. She was convinced and repeated often, God expects from us not success but faithfulness. But it is hard to be faithful, faithful amidst all the difficulties around.

This day cannot be forgotten from recent pages of history, a day that changed the entire world mentality 20 years ago. The twin tower blasts which implanted fear, suspicion, hatred, vengeance and universal mistrust, still affects the way persons and societies look at the other and others! But can we  just give into the influence of evil and hatred, in spite of all the hardships we face! Here is where our call to bear fruit amidst odds, stands out. 

Let us resolve to be good, to bear only good fruits, to never give up on the call we have received. May the inexhaustible patience of God fill us with necessary endurance to make this journey possible.

The Real Me

WORD 2day: Friday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

Septermber 10, 2021: 1 Timothy 1: 1-2, 12-14; Luke 6: 39-42

Humility is an essential part of holiness. Holiness never leads one to pride and anything that makes one proud is clearly indicative of being short of true holiness. That is why a holy person never gives into ego trips and anyone who feeds his or her own ego is still a long way from holiness. Humility and holiness have a great deal to do with each other. This points to two facts: firstly, that one should constantly look into oneself and be aware of the weaknesses to grow out of;  secondly, that those who are truly concerned about each other's holiness, take care and responsibility to help each other out!

It is a plain fact that realising the areas in which one has to grow and taking steps towards that growth is an important part of maturing in one's life. The other fact which the Word points today is a bit more subtle and complicated: mutual corrections, typically Christian ways of growing up together in holiness. Humility plays a very big role here. 

Humility is not an artificial debasement of oneself in any way. It is knowing my real self accepting it and being at home with it; at home with knowing my imperfections and continuously working on it. St Paul was mindful of his real self all the time. He never thought of hiding his dark past and was never bloating over the glorious state of his present relationship with Christ. In fact his relationship with Christ made him more aware of his real self. 

In Christ I get to know my real me, not just my past but also my call; not merely the splinters and planks in my eyes but even the blessings and splendour given unto me. Though I may be broken and fractured with imperfections, there is a glory that awaits me if only I am ready to constantly graft myelf onto Christ - because that is where I find my true image. That is the real me!

Put on Christ; put on love!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 9, 2021: Colossians 3: 12-17;  Luke 6: 27-38

If we do not say that the words are from the letter to the Colossians,  one can easily misjudge those as some paraphrasing of a part from the Gospel and as words of Christ himself. Paul had so intensely taken in the spirit of Christ that his insistence of putting on Christ comes from his person much stronger than from his words. Love is presented as the crux of Christ's message. When Paul said, even elsewhere,  to put on Christ, he practically meant putting on love. Love, understood not as childish sentiment of attachment and dependence, but a Christlike selfgiving. 

Love is the sweetest of all teachings of Christ and it is the most difficult of all too, for it comes inbuilt with forgiveness;  forbearance, kindness,  gentleness, integrity and sacrifice. 'What is there in it for me?' - if someone were to ask that question, the answer would be a simple, 'nothing'. There is nothing in love that I intend to gain or get ; all that it really involves is giving and laying down. If I intend to receive anything, it is no love in reality! But the beauty of love is that, in giving, in losing, in laying down... I receive, a hundred fold. 

Does that sound too unrealistic and demanding?  The fact however is,  if we believe being a Christian is to put on Christ, it can never happen except by putting on love!