Not slaves but heirs!

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

October 25, 2021: Romans 8: 12-17; Luke 13: 10-17

The point of discussion in the Word today is the difference between slaves and heirs and their respective traits.

A slave is governed by fear, is ruled by law and bound to restrictions. A slave cannot think beyond oneself and gaining favours by pleasing the one in command. A slave, even when he or she is doing everything for the other, is all the time self centered.

An heir is governed by freedom not fear, and is guided by love and empowered with spontaneity. The heir does not think about just oneself, but about the common good of the family, the community, the whole humanity into which he or she has been created and of the whole creation unto which he or she is a caretaker. The heir does everything for the greater glory of the One who has made him or her heir of a great family, of a great heritage, of a lineage that comes directly from God! Freedom rules out restrictions, love transcends fear and spontaneity despises calculations. An heir never schemes, but lovingly surrenders!

Jesus proves to be the rightful heir, experiencing God as the Abba and feeling the need to render a child of God wholesome. Laws and regulations did not matter to him; threats and warnings looked despicable in his sight. The greatest of all good news is, Christ has given us the same Spirit that was in him, that in our spirit we may be convinced that we are rightful sons and daughters of the merciful God. We are heirs and not just slaves!

MEET THE EMPATHISING LORD ON YOUR WAY

The Lord - like us, likes us, likens us

30th Sunday in Ordinary time: October 24, 2021
Jeremiah 31: 7-9; Hebrews 5: 1-6; Mark 10: 46-52

"God"...How do you understand that term... the Almighty, the Omnipotent, the Mighty One? ... you are still short of arriving at the God whom Jesus introduced to us. In and through Jesus we have a God who is all these but more than all these, a God who is close to us, a Father who loves us, a mother who cares for us, a beloved who longs for us, a friend who stays close to us and a Saviour who came down to save us... in short, an Empathising God!

How do we understand an Empathising Lord?

LIKE US: the Lord who is like us!

We have a Lord who is like us... like us in every way except in our sins. A Lord who came among us, ate, drank, laughed, cried, enjoyed, celebrated, loved, worked, faced hardships and temptations... He was like any of us, just like us and therefore, when we suffer, when we are troubled, when we have problems and temptations, the Lord perfectly knows what we are through. He is not someone who would judge us from afar or look down on our weaknesses but some one who would put His hands around our shoulders and comfort us, someone who would sit by our side and say, 'it's okay! I have been there too'! The second reading brings this out strongly.

When we say that the Lord made us in God's own image, it means we bear the image and likeness of God. In the mystery of incarnation the Lord has reconfirmed this likeness, when the Lord assumed our nature in body and spirit. It is a call that we have to become one with those in need, those in suffering, those who are in agony and those who are struggling with their everyday life. Apart from the fact that we cannot be passive onlookers, we cannot even be disinterested benefactors or well wishers...we need to become like them, one with them. Only then are we truly what we are called to be, disciples of the incarnate Lord.

LIKES US: the Lord absolutely likes us!

We have a Lord who likes us... who loves us, who feels for us, who wishes that we were happy, who wants to heal us, who wants to give us all that we need, who wants to walk us to prosperity and fullness, who wants to give sight to us, who wants to listen to us, who wants to reach out to us! God, our Father and Mother, who spared no effort, giving up even the only Son; the Son who keeps back nothing, not even his own life- his body and his blood; the Spirit who comes down to dwell within us, within our poor bodies, in our lowly conditions, in our daily toils. This is the Lord who loves us, likes us so much that he is ready to do any thing for our sake. In the first reading and the Gospel we have an exposition of the Lord who is merciful and kind, who is in love with us. The Gospel in a special way speaks of a Lord who listens to a lone cry amidst the large crowd, and has mercy on that person and heals the person in love!

This is precisely what Pope Francis wants the entire humanity to understand about God and about being Godly - God is merciful; God is abundant Mercy; being Godly is to first recognise the mercy of God and to live the same mercy with each other. God is not someone who keeps a distance or goes about with impregnable layers of security and innumerable guards. God is with us and God connects with us all the time, because God loves us!

LIKENS US: The Lord wishes to liken us to Godself.

The Lord who came down to be like us, the Lord who dies to show how much he likes us, does not stop with that... God wants to liken us to Godself. The first and the second readings present to us a God who wants to make us God's sons and daughters, God's children, God's beloved ones, God's favourites. God invites us constantly towards this fullness of becoming God's own. We become God's own by opening our eyes of faith. We become God's own by crying out with faith. We become God's own by trusting in faith that God can do and will do everything for us! Thus becoming God's children we will be with God, close to God and like God, for we will see God face to face, as says St. Paul.

All that we need to do is cry out from our hearts to God, and not bother about the crowd and the noise around, because the Lord shall single out our cry! And what a privileged moment it shall be when we hear the Lord tell us today: "Your faith has made you whole! Go in peace!"

Let us never forget the great truth that we have an Empathising Lord who chose to be like us, who likes us and who longs to liken us to Himself. Let us be prepared to meet this Lord on the roads of our daily life!

The Spiritual and the unspiritual!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 29th Week in Ordinary time

October 23, 2021: Romans 8: 1-11; Luke 13: 1-9

Not all those who suffer are people who deserve it and not all the good that we enjoy we deserve. What God gives, God gives without even counting whether or not I deserve it... but in the course of handling them I prove whether I had deserved it or not! It is simply in the choices I make, and the priorities I build that I show whether I deserved what God deigned to give me or not; that is whether I am by nature spiritual or unspiritual.

The Word invites us today to think of the distinction between Spiritual and Unspiritual we would make in our lives...

'Spiritual' is thinking of God and godly things; it is having a trace of God within me. As God does not think of good or bad, deserving or undeserving, but always the good of every child of God, so am I called to think of the good of everyone. Being 'spiritual' is fundamentally, putting the good of the other first vis-a-vis the good that can happen to me! It is counting the blessings from the Lord and acknowledging every bit of the Lord's doing in my life... and thus considering it my duty to do all the good that I can!

'Unspiritual,' would be thinking all the time of increasing gains and reducing pains; it is putting my pleasure before anything else, even in the smallest of things that I get to do for others. It would be constantly complaining against God for any small inconvenience that could come by and claiming absolute personal credits for any thing that turns out to be good in my life. 

Now the question for me is: where do I belong - the Spiritual or the Unspiritual?

Pride - the urge prove myself!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 22, 2021: Celebrating Pope St. John Paul II
Romans 7: 18-25; Luke 12: 54-59

Many a trouble today brews in the waters of wanting to prove oneself at all cost. The world, the society,  teaches us from our earliest that one should prove oneself... how many wars have been fought in history due to this tendency! How many injustices and exploitations have been justified because of this urge, in individuals and collective mindsets... why, how many follies are being committed even today, in these days, as people and systems try to prove themselves right at any cost! 

But this urge to prove oneself... does it not sound very similar to, or same as, living one's life to the full? While proving oneself is always a phenomenon in comparison with the other where the other becomes a threat or a competition or an element to be eliminated, living my life to the full is a serene acceptance of who I am, what my capacity is and living it to the most. Here the others are my companions, my co-passengers and my colleagues! There isn't much need for proving myself, infact proving myself would turn detrimental within this mode of living.

Celebrating Pope St. John Paul II today, we are reminded of what he did which was called an unprecedented step in history, when he wrote that famous Mea Culpa at the threshold of the new millennium, asking pardon from God for the mistakes made by individual members of the Church and as a community of faith in the world. The Word instructs us on this attitude today, inviting us through St Paul to understand the call to grow in humility - humility understood as knowing the reality of our own selves. 

There is no need to justify oneself before people, for God knows who we are: that is faith. However weak and wrong we could be, God accepts us as we are and walks us to salvation through Jesus Christ if only we are ready to surrender: that is hope. This is the crucial lesson that the world needs today, to look at truth, accept truth and walk in truth, admitting when one fails and deciding to move on ahead in righteousness. Pride would never allow that...with pride, I would be worried only about proving myself! It would do good to no one, neither to me nor to the other!

At whose service?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 21, 2021: Romans 6: 19-23; Luke 12: 49-53

Jesus speaks of a fire that he wanted to set ablaze - the fire of righteousness, the fire of integrity, the fire of sanctification! It is simply the capacity to burn for a cause, but the question is for what cause? Paul rephrases that question in his parlance - at whose service? At whose service am I? 

We find in the society today, people who claim to be at the service of the Divine - they claim; but whether they are, is a question to be answered only by themselves and by the Divine. But there can be indications that either prove or disprove their claim: sincerity, integrity, sensitivity to the other, love and true care of the common home - these are the indications that can sustain the claim of anyone who claims that he or she is at the service of the Divine. 

There are those in the so-called opposing camp - who say, they are definitely not at the service of the Divine. They declare themselves to be atheists and agnostics, rationalists and humanists! But sometimes, the experiences they are involved in, such as humanitarian concern, ecological consciousness, raising their voice for the voiceless and oppressed, going out of their way to stand for the truth and fight for justice, even where they have nothing to gain - these actions and dispositions prove, even against their will, that they are in fact at the service of the One, true Divine.

Now the question is those who are called to be at the service of the Divine - not the ones who claim to be nor the ones who profess not to be - but the ones who are specifically called to be, by baptism, by ongoing choices, numerous sacraments and occasions of grace! Yes... you and me... we are to ask that question to ourselves today: at whose service am I?

Fighting on the side of God

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 20, 2021: Romans 6: 12-18 ; Luke 12: 39-48

Make every part of your body into a weapon figting on the side of God - oh what a powerful spirituality that St. Paul proposes! Yes, fighting for God is a spirituality, a way of life, a mode of living our Christian call. How can I make that spirituality mine? There are three ways of life, or modes of operation, that would indicate that we are fighting on the side of God.

Firstly, that I am fighting on the side opposed to sin! My choices have to be absolute, deliberate and specific. There can be no compromises... I cannot take a neutral stand when it comes to choosing between sin and virtue, choosing between good and evil, choosing between truth and untruth, choosing between life and death! If I am for God, I have to be against sin, evil, untruth and the culture of death.

Secondly, that I am fighting! I need to fight, I cannot give up, nor lower my guard! I need to keep fighting, come what may. In my day to day life, I am a soldier of God. I need to fight ceaselessly. Even a moment of distraction or disengagement, can lead me to falter. Moments of temptation, moments of confusion, moments of delusion are bound to be there, but a soldier of God would never cease fighting.

Thirdly, I am fighting with God! When am I going to grow up? Yes, our help is in the name of the Lord, but can we go on all our life asking God to fight on our side, help us, strengthen us and so on? Is it not important that I grow in my faith, that is, grow in my relationship with the Lord to the extent that I am able to tell that Lord - Lord, I offer myself totally to you, you have given me life and you have given meaning in this life and I shall fight on your side! Your Kingdom come!

From those to whom God has given more, more will be expected... God has invested so much in us, should we not find ourselves, wherever we are, fighting on the side of God?

 

Forever ready and prepared!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 19, 2021: Romans 5: 12,15,17-21; Luke 12: 35-38

Death entered through sin; everyone in the human race has been subject to death because everyone has sinned - these words of the first reading set us thinking. It further excites our minds when it says, through one man's obedience and sacrifice we have been liberated from the reins of sin! There are three facts that we are called to reflect on and pay attention to:

Firstly, that there is a very strong connection between sin and death. Sin is death. Sin is choosing evil over God; it is rejecting God the source of life - hence sin is death. When we choose sin, we choose death. That is one of the prime reasons why Pope Emeritus warned us of the culture of death that is prevalent in today's world - people are fond of choosing sin, knowing well all its ill effects!

Secondly, the death that St. Paul refers to here is not the chronological expiry of life that every being on earth is subject to. He is refering to a death that is eternal damnation, an eternal loss of life. Therefore, what Jesus offers us, that is eternal life, can be offered only by him and by the One who sent him. Jesus in his life, death and resurrection, has made this eternal life possible for us: the choice is ours now!

Thirdly, the choices is an everyday experience. It is not some kind of licence that we can get at the end of our life, or at a point when we think it is convenient. It is a matter of daily life, in every thing that we are involved in, in our priorities and in our day to day decisions, we have to make a choice, an absolute choice for righteousness and truth, for justice and love - then we shall inherit the Reign of God. 

When we are clear about our choices every moment of our life, we need not worry when the world will end or when my end would come - I am forever ready and prepared!

Making the Lord known!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 18, 2021: Celebrating St. Luke the Evangelist

2 Timothy 4: 10-17; Luke 10: 1-9

The first reading today presents to us the predicament of St. Paul as an apostle, as to how he had to suffer, suffer alone and suffer until death. But amidst all these he never lost sight of his vocation: to make the Lord known! The reading also names two of the four evangelists - Luke and Mark... wonderful examples of apostles who were totally dedicated to the call that they had received: to make the Lord known! Luke alone is with me, Paul recounts, bringing to us the information about Luke whom we celebrate today, Luke who it is said, knew our Blessed Mother in person and even attempted passing on to us a protrait of hers! 

Celebrating Luke today, we are given to reflect about what it really means to make the Lord known where we are and in the times that we live. We see in the Gospel, as narrated by Luke, that the Lord sent them two by two, before him, to the villages which he was to visit, and gave them a specific message to announce. It is in that message that St. Luke gives us the key to understand what it means to make the Lord known... to make the Lord known is to make the Reign known! 

The Reign of God is near, was the message they were to announce and that was actually making the Lord known to those people. Today, our message too has to be that: the Catholic Church has proclaimed for the past five decades that it has definitively entered into the age of New Evangelisation - that is a re-proclamation of the Lord, which has to coincide with our proclamation of the Reign of God. Amidst the atrocities of the times where the poor, the weak, and the powerless are trodden upon, we are called to announce the Reign, the Reign of justice and truth, the Reign of liberty and dignity of all, the Reign of equality and mutual respect! That is truly, making the Lord known! 

HOPE - THE CALL TO UNLEARN

Beware of some fallacies of today

29th Sunday in Ordinary time: October 17, 2021
Isaiah 53: 10-11; Hebrew 4: 14-16; Mark 10: 35-45

May your love be upon us O Lord, as we place all our hope on you, we say in response to the Word this Sunday. Hope is a typically Christian value that we are filled in abundance with, when we develop a true relationship with Christ the Risen Lord. The basis of hope is faith, faith is nothing but this relationship we just referred to - a relationship that is born in recognising the Lord who communicates and in responding in the way that the Lord wants me to. When this relationship goes strong, whatever comes my way, I shall not be moved or shaken or disturbed or distressed! Nothing will ever perturb me! Because, Hope says things may go wrong for a while, struggles, temptations, troubles and difficulties might come your way, but do not lose heart - for God alone is everlasting! The final word belongs always to God, to no one or to nothing else! At times this becomes too difficult to understand or practise, because the world teaches us things that are diametrically opposed to these values. In fact the call to hope is actually a call to unlearn these fallacies of the world today.

Every Christian is an ambassador of hope, we are apostles sent into this world to hold out hope to every person on earth. Holding out hope is not an easy task... it needs a tough unlearning of certain fallacies that the world teaches its beings ceaselessly! Unlearning these first of all within oneself and then witnessing before the others is the call we have to live today, specially seeing all the tensions that are unceasingly on the rise, all over the world. Let us become aware of some three fallacies that we need to unlearn with urgency these days.

Fallacy 1: Life is all about happiness and pleasure

Fun, thrill, chill, prank, troll, freaking out, just do it... these are considered watchwords for today's generation. At times we justify everything with a statement, 'is it not to be happy after all that we do all that we do here on earth?' No! Life is not merely about happiness and pleasure. There are difficulties, there are struggles, there are sufferings that come our way and they are not just part of our life, but crucial parts of learning in life. 

Hence hope-filled personnel are those who are able to see beyond getting stuck to happiness and pleasure; there are various other values in life that Christ gives us and invites us to see!

Fallacy 2: I should be totally in control of my life

Planning ahead, programming things, forecasts and foretelling techniques: what are these but signs of desperate desire to be in control of things, of life and of everything that happens there in. But in spite of all these, there are times when we are caught so unaware and unprepared. Just imagine how this whole experience of pandemic began, and all the circumstances that have surrounded us since then. Yes, life is not totally under our control but that does not mean we are at the mercy of chance! God is in control and the more we realise this, the more wise and mature we become. 

A hope-filled person will never lose his or her cool before unexpected turns of life, because he or she knows for certain wherever life takes us, God is there with us and nothing happens without God's knowledge!

Fallacy 3: Progress is striving to dominate everyone around

In the name of success, development and progress, what the world today teaches us is that we have to look at everyone around as a competition, a threat, someone whom we have to trample upon in order to make our way! The world is getting filled with more and more insensitivity, cruelty and inhumanity. There is craze for possession and power, without even considering the possibility of living a life that is free of corruption or exploitation. There is a widespread tendency to use persons and love things, to make pleasure more important than personal dignity, to value personal likes and dislikes far more than common good and shared vision towards true happiness.  

Hope filled persons shall be counter witnesses to this situation, placing persons before things, relationships before comfort, love before success and peace before progress. They are around not to be served, but to serve; not to succeed but to live meaningfully; not to climb high but to live deep.

Overcoming these fallacies and unlearning the teachings of the world today might seem difficult, at times even absurd! But this is precisely what Christ calls us to... and he has been in every situation that we find ourselves in and he has lived a life as a perfect example of how we should. Let us look up to Christ our Hope, and stand firm in the way of life that he has taught us! Let us be hope filled persons, and fill the world with hope today, here and now!

Faith that speaks and acts

WORD 2day: Saturday, 28th week in Ordinary time

October 16, 2021: Romans 4:13,16-18; Luke 12: 8-12

Jesus assures us, true faith speaks for itself. We need not hunt for ways and means of explaining and defending our faith. In fact, faith has to be self evident and self explanatory. We don't need mighty big formulae to hold on to our faith or to expound it... all we need is the realisation of the constant and unceasing presence of the Lord with us.

When I am convinced of this presence I can hope against hope as Abraham did. Such a faith speaks on my behalf, clarifies things for me and others and acts in my favour in the ultimate analysis - because it is the light that is shed upon my life, significance of my life and the purpose I have in life. 

There is a beautiful insight that we hope none of us miss from the readings today, taken together. While Paul speaks of God as one who raises the dead to life and calls to life those which do not as yet exist, Jesus speaks of that one sin that cannot be forgiven, the sin against the Holy Spirit. They both are referring to the same, while the former cites a positive explanation, the latter provides a note of clarification. The sin against the Holy Spirit is the lack of Hope, which is a concrete expression of lack of faith leading to a life that lacks any love! 

If I am really a person of faith, there could be nothing that perturbs me, as the Saint of yesterday reminded us! Let our lives shine out, filled with a faith that speaks and acts!