TESTS - TO FACE OR TO EVADE?

Quality of a Mature Christ-ian

First Sunday of Lent: March 6, 2022 

Deuteronomy 26: 4-10; Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13

The Holy Father quipped the other day: the past few seasons of lent have had unprecedented surprises for us... the last two years, with the waves of covid-19 and the present one with the tragedy of the war that has begun! Testing Times never lack! 

It is not only about the world or humanity in general, but even in our personal lives we do not lack testing times! Every person goes through these times in quite a succession! Lent is proposed to be a workshop to train us for testing times that might come our way, all through our life! The way we go through them would determine the quality of maturity that we have developed as Christ-ians. 

Today the Word gives us three lessons on how to confront these testing times:

1. Our Disposition: Be Prepared to Wander 

The First reading invites us to understand our history! My father was a wandering Armenian - the people are taught to repeat it, in order that they may never forget what they were once in their history. To forget our history is to lose a part of ourselves. When good things happen in life, we praise God profusely and express feelings of tremendous attachment to God. In a short while if a testing moment comes by, we mourn and groan as if we have never known the Lord and the Lord's mighty power! What a schizophrenic disposition that can be!

At times we need to be prepared to wander a bit; that is live in a wonderment, now knowing what would happen next - like we lived those waves of covid, and as we find ourself amidst this absurd war that is on. In fact, every one who has reached some significant point with the Lord in his or her life experience, has definitely passed through a phase of wandering. It is an essential spiritual experience to get closer to oneself, to each other and to the One who leads us. In that moment of wandering we have experiences which we would never have otherwise, are we disposed to gather those experiences from our tests, trials and temptations in life? 

2. Our Approach: Never Cease to Ponder

The One who leads us into the wilderness, knows what is in store! But it is on our part, a responsibility, a task, a requirement to ponder on what happens around. When covid came by, we saw the real stuff people are made of: how some were heartless and how some were golden in their hearts; how some were so scared, and how some were so incredibly courageous. And today we are seeing the colours of many a society and sections of the world, as we see people reacting to this unwarranted war! 

We would miss it all if we do not keep pondering on our way, even as we wander. Pondering is such a powerful exercise that it can makes sense of everything that happens, in its own time of course. When we cease to ponder we run the risk of wandering without purpose; the point is wandering with a specific purpose, in a specific direction...which the Lord alone knows. How will we get to know from the Lord, by pondering. That is why Mary kept everything in her heart and pondered. In God's own time, provided we are ready to ponder deep, things will certainly make sense, even our own weaknesses and failures! 

3. Our Attitude: Be ready to Surrender 

The worst of things that we can do when things are not clear, that is when we are wandering, is to panic! To panic and restlessly look to have a solution as soon as possible. It is in that hurry and restlessness that we make most of our mistakes in life. Be it nations, or governments, or institutions, or authorities, or we individuals, when we panic, we run all the risk of making a mistake. Instead, what we need to learn is, to surrender!

While wandering and pondering, that specific purpose, that specific direction will be revealed to us in time, in the right time! The challenge is to wait for that right time with patience and endurance. Being in the wilderness is not an easy task, isnt it! It is indeed a challenge to surrender and not to fret. Surrendering would first involve the humility of saying to myself: I am not in control of everything. Secondly, it would mean lifting my eyes to accept that God is in-charge. And thirdly, it is a serene acceptance of God's will with utmost cooperation on our part, not rushing through or forcing things. 

No doubt, our life can get tiring and tough, through our testing times. But only when we are tested, we could be sealed TESTED-OK!

Restorers of Ruins

THE WORD IN LENT

Saturday after Ash Wednesday - March 5, 2022

Isaiah 58: 9-14;  Luke 5: 27-32

The Word today is calling out, calling out to us to come to the ways of the Lord - to do away with the yoke, the clenched fist and the wicked word that we may be light that rises in the darkness, to this world which so much needs it.  And we need not worry how we would do it, because the Lord himself shall be our strength, the water that revives us and the light that dispels our shadows. However, the Word makes us note another important element: that is the yoke, the wicked word, the clenched fist, and ruins. This is to say, not that we deserve, but the Lord still calls upon us.

Jesus manifests the same Divine act as he calls Levi, though he was considered sinner. I have come to call the sinners, the weak, the imperfect, the unworthy, declares the Lord. And to prove that it is not out of condescension, the Lord comes to us and idenitifies himself with us, just as he went to Levi's house and ate with the so-called sinners and the publicans. The Lord not only calls us, he identifies with us. But why?

Why does the Lord call us, the weak, the sinners, the ruins! Yes, that we may know what it means to be sinners and yet, be loved, be called, be honoured and be saved! That we can be Restorers of the Ruins! But what do we do: after all that the Lord has done for us, we go about judging others, condemning others, fighting with others and calling names at others! What a shame, as chosen people of God!

We are called to be breach menders, restorers of ruins, peace makers, gatherers of people, compassionate builders of communities. Let these be our lenten tasks, not just skipping breakfast and avoiding meat! How the Lord would wish that we become true loving people of God!

Lenten Fast - Do you have a Justification?

THE WORD IN LENT

Friday after Ash Wednesday - March 04, 2022

Isaiah 58: 1-9; Matthew 9: 14-15

Why should you fast this lent? Jesus himself seems to be against fast, as long as the Son of Man is with you! The Lord is with us! And why should we fast? Do you have a reason for your fast, if you are fasting this Lent? And will your reasoning stand before the criteria that Jesus and the Word today offer us this day?

The point is simple: fast cannot be for a rule; it cannot be for the sake of a precept alone; it cannot be for the continuity of a tradition; it cannot be for the sake of your selfish motives of proving to yourself that you can do heroic things or to prove to others that you have stacks of meritorious acts to pride before the world! That is not a lenten fast in the least. 

First let us listen to the criterion that Jesus gives: fast should be sign of true mourning for the absence of the Son, for the absence of the sense of God. Our sins and our faults push us to a sense of absence of God and that is where the need for fast comes in - to mourn the situation. But can it end there? Is mourning enough? Jesus would never accept that, which means there is more to it. The first reading clarifies that.

The fast should be to break the unjust fetters, to let the oppressed go free, to share the bread with hungry, to shelter the homeless, to clothe the naked, to embrace everyone as your brother and sister! That is meaning of true fast, from where one can feel the closeness of God and the sense of absence of God would be gone! Is this not the type of fast that Pope Francis called us to, two days ago for the sake of the Ukraine crisis - to feel one with the suffering innocents there and open our hearts to peace - the ultimate sense of the presence of God! 

Salvation: it is all about Choices!

THE WORD IN LENT

Thursday after Ash Wednesday - March 3, 2022

Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9: 22-25

What I am, is what God has made me to be! But what I want to be, is what I make of myself, by my daily choices. What there is a harmony between what God has made me to be and what I want to be - there is a wondrous experience of salvation, the feeling of total peace and the sense of fulfilment. This is what the Lord is offering us today!

The Word says - this salvation is all about choices. You make your choice. Life and death is right before your eyes, you make your choice. There is a choice for peace and for war, for destruction and for collaboration, for violence and dialogue, for grabbing and for giving... which one do you want to choose? Right in front of our eyes we are witnessing these days, the wrong choices and the resultant pain and evil. 

Who is a child of God and who is not? Who are the people of God and who not? Who are the people of the Reign and who cannot be? These choices are being made everyday by us, in our own lives. When we choose what is good, what is true and what is acceptable in the eyes of God, we choose salvation. When we choose what is evil, what is deceitful and what is despicable in the eyes of God, we choose our own damnation. Let us not blame anyone for it, not even God!

In my thoughts, in my words, in my priorities... I need to choose carefully where I wish to belong: to God or to the evil, to life or to death, to salvation or to damnation! It is all about my choices.

Broken hearts or Torn garments?

THE WORD IN LENT

Ash Wednesday - March 2, 2022

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2; Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, orients the Word today, in view of the holy season of lent that we begin today. The Hebrews had a symbolic expression in their tradition, when something went absolutely wrong, to show one's disapproval and sorrow, they (specially the leaders) tore their mantle. The Word says today, that would not mean anything, if the sorrow or the remorse were not from within!

Tearing the garment was an external sign and every one would be able to see it. But it was meant to signify the internal sense of repentance and conversion. That is where the problem laid - they did the act but forgot the internal significance; it had practically no effect on their internal self. Jesus picked it right their and chided them for washing the dishes externally, but leaving it dirty and stained inside. 

In the same logic of purifying the within, he teaches us today the right sense of fasting and prayer - which need to become an internal act of repentance and conversion, rather than external manifestation of austerity and rigour. What matters is not what we leave out from our daily menu, or what we do in terms of extra prayers; what really matters is how disposed our hearts are to welcome and behold the Word of God, experiencing the love of God within and its effects in our daily life. 

Speaking of a significant lenten observance, the Holy Father too concentrates on that internal transformation and conversion, which invite us to SOW GOODNESS. Sowing goodness is to become protagonists of goodness, especially in these times when violence and wickedness are perpetrated without any qualms of conscience. There is no use lamenting and pointing fingers at these inhuman forces, we need to stand up togther, and sow goodness wherever and in whatever way we can. Let us come before the Lord and start this lent, not with torn garments but with broken hearts!

Make a difference... for whom?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 8th week in Ordinary time 

March 1, 2022: 1 Peter 1: 10-16; Mark 10: 28-31

Do not behave the way you liked to before you learnt the truth, says Peter in the letter. He seems to declare that on receiving the Word of God, the first difference that you have to make is to yourself. There should be a difference between you before receiving the Word and you after receiving the Word - that is the central message of the Word today. 

Making a difference remains one of the favourite themes spoken of overall, not only in the sociological or the motivational realms! However, it is almost always centred on the difference that I can make for the society, for the context where I am. Instead the difference that is spoken of here, is on a Spiritual plane, where I am called to make a difference to myself, making my whole life a constant and steady journey toward holiness. 

Holiness consists in the capacity to challenge oneself, towards making a difference within, which will certainly be seen in every aspect of life and experienced by every person around. Such a challenge and faithful adherence to it, will make us ever more disposed to receive the salvation that the Lord offers us, making us slowly a sacrament of salvation to God's own people, because the One who has called us, lives within us. 

Just imagine, a person who is earnest about making a difference within, sincere about changing one's own life on the basis of the daily challenge of the Word that wants to make a difference...will that life not be inspiring to all; beneficial to all; and a blessing to all! Think of someone who claims to be a Christian, and proclaims oneself devout, but does things in obedience to the vile interests of the evil that ruins everything! Which is the real difference that leads to holiness? 

Our holiness, which comes from the Holiest of all that is holy, is something that is there, for the sake of the other.  In giving and giving up, in obedience to the Holy Will of God, I go on towards making a difference, first and foremost for myself within, and thus for everyone around me! 

Entering the Reign: simple but not easy!

WORD 2day: Monday, 8th week in Ordinary time

February 28, 2022: 1 Peter 1: 3-9; Mark 10: 17-27

Peter speaks today about the promises of God which makes our salvation so certain - it is enough that we believe in Jesus the Son of God and place our trust in his mediation, we are certain to be saved! Yes, it is so simple to enter the Reign of God... but not easy! 

That which renders the simple task so difficult, is not so much the nature of the task itself as our attachment to those which are so unnecessary and ephemeral. Yes, the life task we have, that is to enter the Reign that is prepared for us from eternity, is so simple. From our very creation and the grace of baptism we are chosen and appointed for that great promise. But what happens in the course of our life, is what changes the prospects.

Rolling stones gather no moss, they say. That is what we need to be - rolling on, moving on, pressing towards the Reign of God, without losing our focus. But when we lose focus and get stuck with attachments that are unnecessary - like ego, power and possession,  and ephemeral - like the pleasures of the moment, opinions of persons and the honour in the eyes of the others, we are certain to gather moss and slow down in our journey towards the Reign. 

There is the immeasurable love and mercy of God, exemplified by the steady, loving look that Jesus gave the young man, which surrounds us and sustains us. In spite of our weaknesses and our failures, we are loved and the Lord has the arms open wide, to welcome us into the Reign. Yes, as children of God entering the Reign is extremely simple: it is all set, and all that we need to do is keep moving, but let us beware, the necessary choices that we need to make at times are not so easy! 

THE REIGN FRUITS

Speak right; See bright; and Settle for the Light

February 27, 2022: 8th Sunday in Ordinary time

Ecclesiasticus 27: 5-8; 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58; Luke 6: 39-45 

Every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor grapes from brambles, says Jesus today in his parable. A strong imagery to say, we are known by our fruits - by our words, by our actions and by the choices we make. If we are to be recognised as people of God, it cannot be done by our self-proclamation, nor our shouting out loud to all who are around. It has to be done, by manifesting it in our lives, in our practical lives. Without our clamouring establishment of the fact, we could go about quietly living our daily lives, and the people will automatically know the truth. Their might be opposition from some sides, not all admiration; worse still there may be some who would vow to destroy you - for stones are strewn at a tree with fruits! The Word today lists a few fruits that we need to grow, to manifest that we belong to the Reign - these we can call the Reign Fruits in a person. 

The first fruit is to Speak Right: right words at the right time, is a splendid gift from the Spirit. To speak right is, to speak at the right moment, to speak the right words and to speak the right volume. Many of our troubles arise from words spoken at the wrong time... either in fury or in confusion or in excitement. Once spoken, there is no use regretting them. It is a virtue at times to choose not to speak and it could be sin at times not to speak! However, not all of us have the gift of choosing the right word to speak, when we decide to. It comes from a discerned mind and a serene spirit, which are faculties to be trained in prayer and meditaton. Apart from the choice to speak, and the choice of the words, the decision as to how much to speak is crucial too! We need to speak the right volume, nothing more and nothing less. We can learn from our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph who give us a great example in their lives. 

The second fruit is to See bright: to see is not an ordinary gift! It is truly a skill to be developed with the grace of the Spirit to see oneself, to see the other and to see the road to salvation. Seeing oneself and observing the things within me that could be blocking my vision of life, is a gift that we need to pray for. We could so filled with ourselves that we may fail to notice something so obviously wrong with us. As they say, with the right diagnosis three fourth of the treatment is well done. So is it, even in our Spiritual lives. If it is so about ourselves, how true it could be about seeing the other. The danger is, seeing the other is so easy that most of the time we make mistakes. We do not really see what is there, but we end up seeing what we want to see. We have prejudices, biases and prior experiences which hinder us from seeing the facts. When we are able to see ourselves clearly and with the same objectivity, see the other, together we can see the way to salvation, the way to maturity, the way to fullness of life. 

The third fruit considered here, is spirit to settle for nothing less than the Light that comes from the Lord, from the Risen Lord. The call for attention here is to evaluate what we are ready to settle for - merely fulfilment of the basic needs, possession of material good, popularity among those around, power of dominating the other...are these enough to settle for? The Word says, we cannot settle for anything less than the Light itself, the eternal light that is ready to shine upon us...because we are the Reign people, who constantly seek that eternity, in every bit of our experience. Our experiences, small or big, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, always have an indication towards something we need to learn and grasp in our lives. Above all, they indicate the presence of the Divine and the need for us to constantly strive towards that Divine. When we do that, we are discouraged by nothing, threatened by nothing or lured by nothing. We keep working towards that Light that the Lord has prepared for us and in Lordàs own time the light will shine on us, confirming that we are indeed Reign people. 

These Reign fruits are fruits that will set us aside, as witnesses to the people of these times and of this world - so that, in seeing us, they can give praise to the Lord! 

Christian Responsibility - a sign of the Reign

WORD 2day: Saturday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 26, 2022: James 5: 13-20; Mark 10: 13-16

Praying for each other, confessing to each other, bringing back your brother or sister to God's ways, caring for the children... these are some Christian responsibilities that are pointed out in the Word today. In fact, Christian faith cannot be practised in isolation! Christian faith has to be lived in a community. 

The responsibility of the faith community towards every faithful  member is to create in them a sense of belonging and a sense of shared living. That is why a Christian community that is divided in itself is a contradiction at its core. No wonder, the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, would repeat... the division in the Church is the greatest scandal to the world. Taking resposibility as a community of faith, for others, specially those who are in need and in in toruble,

The individual faithful has a responsibility towards the community, which is crucial too! He or she, in and through his own life and prayers, has to build the community, has to safeguard the good of the community and realise the motives and objectives of the community, as one people of God. It is the every individual who makes the Christian community possible. Apart from safeguarding the community and its purposes, the Christian has the duty of nurturing the future of the Community. 

How pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together... this is the foundation of the Reign of God, that should be found in a Christian community. Promoting the Reign of God is to promote the togetherness of the community, towards a true spirit of communion and mutual responsibility. It is this task that indentifies a son or a daughter of the Reign, making us in our very nature, children of God.

The Yes-No Conflict

WORD 2day: Friday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 25, 2022: James 5: 9-12; Mark 10:1-12

We have today a challenging call from James, almost echoing the words of his Master, Jesus Christ - let your yes be yes and your no, no. The yes-no conflict is a day to day experience that we have to grow conscious about. Three situations that can arise from this conflict:

First, we say a yes, where we should have said a No! That is the moment of our failure. Take experiences of habitual sins and spontaneous reactions. If we become conscious of it and accept our weakness, we can certainly grow out of it, with the grace of the Lord. But if we try to justify it, blame it on someone else or on a situation, we run the danger of ruining ourselves and our lives.

Second, the situation where we say a no, while we should have said a Yes! This is a moment of negligence. We could consider the missed opportunities to do good, to stand for truth or uphold justice. If we repent of it, we sould immediate take a stand and declare it clearly to ourselves and to others, thus making the experience of the Reign of God present around us. But if we do not realise it, or if we seek to by pass any critical evaluation of it, we allow sin to prevail, injustice to rule and that is contrary to the Reign.

The worst of our stands is when it is not clear, if we really say yes or no to it. Look at the Ukraine conflict going on - how certain are we about who is right - the Russian Sovereignty or the US and the NATO or the other Powers which are silent? Who is saying what - whose is yes and whose is no, here? If only we say a unanimous YES to love and humanity, what is happening would not happen! Is our Yes always a yes? It is a very crucial question to ponder - to whom and to what is my Yes and how determined is it?