Love, Truth and Revelation!

WORD 2day: Saturday after Epiphany

January 8, 2022: 1 John 5:14-21;  John 3: 22-30

The Son of God has revealed to us the true God to behold - those who claim that they have accepted Christ as Son of God, therefore have no way other than to live a life that is worthy of the people of God. Love is the only solution to all problems in life; and this is the Truth, without accepting which, all that remains will be struggle and strife!

God has revealed Godself as love and Godlessness and lovelessness are intrinsically related to each other. That explains why there is so much of negativity, vengeance, hatred, division and exploitation in the world today, a world which deliberately wishes to set God aside or do away with God.  Is there a way out of this predicament?

The only way that is there is seeing the truth, beholding it and accepting it making the necessary choices that have to be made. Seeing the truth, is to see what is! It is not giving into some hypothetical thinking or imaginary living, but seeing what is. When a person sincerely resolves to see what is and vouch for it, he or she becomes a witness to truth!

Witnesses to truth are true disciples of the Son of God who is the total expression of God; and God is love... and love is the truth that the world today stands in need of. Love and Truth are two crucial values that a disciple of the Son of God has to uphold. Love and Truth...they are true revelations of God.  

Lord, if you wish...

WORD 2day: Friday after Epiphany

January 7, 2022: 1 John 5:5-13; Luke 5: 12-16

Whoever has the Son has life, a life that will never end, a life that will never fail, a life that will be always meaningful and inspiring. To have the Son, would mean to look at the revelation, behold it and experience it in daily life... which would mean being open to the Lord. 

In the Gospel today, we have a man with leprosy, who saw the revelation in Christ, beheld the truth that he was the Son of God and yearned to experience it in his life... and what did he do? He surrendered. 'Lord if you wish'... he said: if the Lord wished, the Lord could offer him that experience! This is surrender.

The Word invites us to understand what it means to accept that Jesus is the Son of God, what it means to accept the Son of God into our lives... it means surrender. It means to accept the Lordship of Christ, the Lordship of the Son, the absolute Mastery of God. It means not in anyway trying to manipulate God or trying to have our way by twisting and twirling things and experiences. Real faith is to accept the Lordship of God and say: Lord, if you wish!

We do have desires and yearnings, and prayer is all about taking these to God and leaving it in the hands of God. It is not about demanding it from God or pestering God like some children do - rolling on the floor crying out to be satisfied. Our maturity in faith consists of our capacity to see the hand of God in everything, to observe the Lordship of God in all circumstances, to see the Revelation that the Son offers us, in understanding God as the Master of all our life, surrendering to the Lord with trust. 

Let us learn to make this our consistent mode of praying: Lord, if you wish! 

The challenge of Revelation!

WORD 2day: Thursday after Epiphany

January 06, 2022: 1 John 4:19 - 5: 4; Luke 4: 14-22

This day is celebrated as Epiphany, the great solemnity of the Revelation of Christ to humanity - but in those places where Epiphany has been celebrated already on Sunday, the Word continues to challenge us, deepening the reflection on the nature of the Revelation of God to humanity!

The whole week that runs from the Epiphany Sunday to the Baptism Sunday, is a series of reflection on the revelation that Jesus Christ brings to humanity about God and the Reign of God. Every day the Gospel presents to us, during this week, a remarkable revelation handed over to us by Christ in his earthly sojourn - think of the calming of the storm, the multiplication of loaves etc... and today a clear and straightforward revelation: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me; and the Reign of God is at hand!

While the Gospel readings progressively present these marvellous deeds of revelation, the first reading from the first letter of St. John presents to us the treatise on true Christian Integral Love - the love of God and love of neighbour which are one and the same! There is a strong message that the Church wishes to present to us in this combination: the revelatory deeds in the Gospel and the treatise on love from St. John... and the message is, Love is the crux of all revelations!

The challenge of Revelation rests in understanding the love of God and deciding to respond to it in all earnestness. But our prejudices, suggestions of the society, the conventions of the culture, and the so-called trends of the times, may prevent us from really beholding the revelation of God, that comes at times in incredibly simple and concrete ways. The challenge is to keep our eyes open and to choose to love each other towards fullness of life for all, which is the Reign of God revealed in Christ. 

FAMILY - THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO GODLINESS

Presence, Plan and the Patron

December 26. 2021: Solemnity of the Holy Family
1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28; 1 John 3:1-2,21-24; Luke 2:41-52

We celebrate today the feast of the Holy Family... a reminder to every Christian family about the universal call that we have towards Godliness. Yes, we are called to be the people of God, in families. The People of God were always called as families - the people of Judah, the people of Israel... are some ways in which the people are referred to. And when people referred to God they used titles such as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob...these were not just persons, but households, families! We are not only families that belong to God, we have a God who identifies with our families.

Celebrating the Holy Family today, we are invited to look at three prominent constituents of a family... parents, children and the Almighty!

Parents are the presence of God in the family! When the Lord wills to create a family, God chooses a man and a woman to form that family...and deigns to form them into parents! This has three implications to pay attention to: being parents is a call, a God-given mission; being parents is a responsibility; and being parents is a course of maturity. The call is to participate in the salvific mission of God; the responsibility is to make God present and discern God's will in the daily events of the family; and it is a journey of growth and maturity that the parents are called to!

Children are the plan of God in the family! Children are gifts and tasks; they are the dreams and the designs; they are the plans that God has for the future of a society. They are gifts and tasks - as they are given as gifts to the family and as they have the task of making the family feel sustained. They are the dreams and desings - as every child born is a sign that God still loves the world and has a design for the salvation of the whole humankind. They are the plans that God has for humanity, as God sends every child into this world with a purpose and a project - if the particular person does not accomplish it, it is left undone and it affects the entire humanity!

God our Father and Mother, is the patron of every family on earth! God needs to be given the rightful place in our homes; the parents learn from the Lord and exercise the authority that God gives; the children see the Lord in the parents and love the Lord in return for all the good! God remains the patron of every family as the parents offer their children back to God and the children heed to their parents as the representatives of God! God plans everything for the family, in as much as the family together kneel before the Lord in discernment and decision making. Raising a question as to who is important in the family - the husband or the wife, the father or the mother, the parents or the children - is an anomaly, as God Almighty is the most important in the family. A family that prays together, stays together, grows together, and experiences God together.

Can we not observe these three qualities in the Holy Family: Mary and Joseph become the immediate presence of God for Jesus; Jesus becomes the core plan of God for the salvation of humanity; and God remains the patron of the family, directing them, guiding them and animating them in every way!

May our families take after this splendid model, and learn at the School of Nazareth to become really the people of God amidst the world today!

The Lord comes to Visit us - let us be Prepared...

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 24, 2021: Day in Preparation for Christmas

2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16; Luke 1: 67-79

The Lord has visited God's people; the Lord visits God's people; the Lord continues to visit us: are we prepared to behold that visit of the Lord? We have been preparing all this while for this moment, to prepare ourselves for the visit of the Lord. The Lord continues to visit us and we can have three major dispositions.

The first is being totally unprepared,  letting the moment pass by without really making any impact on us or on our daily lives. This could also take the milder version of being prepared somewhat, or partially, just to take note of those aspects that we wish to, those aspects that are convenient to us and those aspects that wouldnt demand too much from us.

The other disposition is to be over-enthusiastic about the visit and misinterpreting it from my own perspective and not from that true perspective that God wants. David made that mistake - in his over enthusiasm, he thought he would do a great favour to God by building a Temple for the Lord! Whoever can do a favour to God? But at times we think so, when we do something good, something noble, something admirable...as if it is all our merit. Awareness is to be mindful of the presence of God that results in whatever is true, noble and beautiful.

The third is the ideal disposition, that reminds me to be aware of the visit of the Lord, here and now, every day and every situation, all the days of my life. Celebration of Christmas every year is not merely a celebration of an annual event but a reminder of a disposition that I need to live all my life - mindful of the visit of the Lord and being prepared to receive the Lord, in events, persons, and experiences. 

The Lord comes to visit us, let us prepare ourselves! 

The Rising Dawn: His name is John

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 23, 2021: Fourth Thursday in Advent

Malachi 3:1-4,23-24; Luke 1:57-66

I send you a prophet, to prepare the way before the One who is to come - John was prefigured by Elijah and so many other prophets. Another way of saying is, John brought to climax and completion, the work that was entrusted to the numerous prophets sent to the people of Israel - to call people's attention to the path of life that lies before them.

Behold I place before you, life and death, it depends on you what you choose! This has been the warning that the Lord has been giving us, right from the beginning, to remind us of the great gift of personal freedom that we possess and of the important task entrusted to us. 

The Rising Dawn is a great symbol of the enlightenment that the Lord offers for our life and life choices. We are called to see clearly, choose rightly and live freely, our faith and all that pertains to our Christian faith. Prophets abound even today: they could be around us, just beside us, working with us in our work places, living with us in our homes, walking with us on our daily journey... anyone could be sent to bring God's light into your lives: just pay attention - his or her name could be John!

King of Nations: Offering back to God

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 22, 2021: Fourth Wednesday in Advent

1 Samuel 1: 24-28; Luke 1: 46-56

Hannah offers the child given to her by God, back to God; Mary is promised a child and told already that the child will be offered back to God and God's purposes! Speaking of the King of Nations, we are tempted to think of a majestic and independent personality, commanding everyone around, with extraordinary powers. But in the case of the new born whom we are awaiting this season - the kingliness consists something totally different.

This King of Nations offers himself to God, rules with kindness, acts with justice, deals with mercy and witnesses to truth! What king do we see in this definition - who does not seek his will but God's will; who fends for the people of God and not for himself; who gives of himself and does not expect anything in return! 

The call to us is this: that we recognize the lesson that the festivities of Christmas give us: the lessons of giving back to God what God has blessed us with, of placing in priority God's will and God's plan and not our own, and finally in offering back to God everything that God has given us, becoming a blessing to everyone around, in the name of the King of Nations, the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counsellor, our Saviour and Lord. 

Key of David - The Joy of Faith

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 21, 2021: Fourth Tuesday in Advent

Song of Songs 2: 8-14; Luke 1: 39-45

We are given to reflect on three personalities today: the first and second from the readings, especially the Gospel - Mary and Elizabeth, both of whom were so eagerly and joyfully waiting for the coming of the Lord.  To their list is added David, for whom it was an irreplaceable joy to be united with the Lord. 

In and through these personalities the key element of reflection offered us is the Joy of faith and the faith of true joy!

Faith which is a personal relationship with God, inspires great joy obviously, when the Lord comes to visit us. It is the joy of being united with the one whom we love; it is the joy of counting the blessings that God has showered on us; the joy of standing on the promises of God. The joy doubles when we know the Lord not only comes to us, but comes for us and comes to be with us. This is the joy of Faith.

Joy, in its purest form, has its source in the Divine; every other pleasure or good-feeling, is but a faint copy of this true and profound joy. When it comes from some other thing, or event, or experience that is transitory, the joy itself becomes transient! Whereas, the Lord promises, the joy that I give, cannot be taken away by anyone or anything! And it is this true joy, that binds a soul to God; the longing for that true and unsurpassing joy, the eternal joy that draws the soul to the Divine! This is the faith that is born out of true joy!

Finally, it is faith and joy that makes us people of God... and we shall dance before the Lord, regardless of the world that stands around cynically! 

O Emmanuel - the Servant life-syle

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 20, 2021: Fourth Monday in Advent

Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1: 26-38

We are getting very close to the great feast of the mystery of incarnation, and our respobsibility thickens too! Today we have two terms to pay attention to.

The first is the maiden who would bear and give birth to a child and the reference to Mary as the handmaiden who accepts the will of the Father as the plan for her life! The term that is suggested by these elements is Servant. Servant, not in the sense of a slave or a dependent, but in the sense of someone who takes up the cause of the One who orders everything. That is what we are called to be: behold I come to do your will - we heard that passage just this Sunday. Just like Jesus became  servant, so are we called to become. Just as my Father sent me, so I send you out, said Jesus.

The second term is inspired by the experience of Emmanuel - God with us. Emmanuel is that experience of God as someone very close to us, someone living and moving with us, someone who is one among us. 'God with us' need not be only an experience from elsewhere, it can and it should become a life-style! That is, it becomes the way we  live our daily life.

Bringing the two terms together: Servant lifestyle is a crucial experience of God and an experience of a person of God! 

FAITH - THE BLESSED ASSURANCE

Obedience of faith, promise of love and trust in the Lord

December 19, 2021: Fourth Sunday in Advent
Micah 5: 1-4; Hebrew 10:5-10:Luke 1:39-45

Faith is the ultimate celebration of Advent and that is what we begin this Sunday! We celebrate our faith - the promise of love from the Lord and our obedience of faith in trust!

The Obedience of Faith is signified in the purpose with which Jesus came into this world - here I come to do your will! That is the purpose of our lives too and it adds meaning to our existence!

The Promise of Love is the blessed assurance that is given by the Lord - a promise that comes right from the origin of creation, when we were promised a redeemer, a never-ceasing care for our fullness of life.

Trust in the Lord is the source of peace, hope and joy that we have been celebrating all these weeks... and our Blessed Mother is given as the highest of examples: blessed is she who beleived in the promises of the Lord. 

The blessed assurance that we have in our life is faith: the relationship that we have with the Almighty who created me and the continued presence of the Lord.