GOD WITH AND WITHIN US

Community Called, United and Led

May 22, 2022: 6th Sunday in Easter time
Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29; Revelations 21:10-14,22-23; John 14: 23-29

The Word today sums up the readings we have been listening to in the past week. There is a kind of a premonition, a kind of nostalgia, a sense of something already there and still yet to come. Its a kind of feeling that students of the final year of School would have before they close for their study leave... a feeling of 'a-lot-to-do' and a feeling of 'are-we-missing-each-other'... Jesus keeps telling his disciples that they need to learn to live on their own, not that he is about to abandon them, but that they have to graduate to the next level. Jesus prepares them for the same.

Look at the community in the readings these days - the first communities of Christians getting together, who felt something uniting them, but still were conscious of all the differences among them. That is the crux of the Word today... we are called to live as a community... a community of persons who feel so united because of something that unites us, something that is with us and within us...in spite of all the differences that is among us.

The fundamentalist group that creates a commotion, the reaction of the rest, the emergency council convened and the heated discussion therein, the misunderstanding between two top leaders, the break-up: no, we are not talking of something that happened in a neighbouring parish these days, but what happened in the Early Church, right in times of the Acts of the Apostles. We are a community of human persons each with our own ego, our own interests and personality traits. There are differences of opinions and perspectives, without that there is no richness and variety.

We can here think of an analogy given by Paulo Freire, highlighting the difference between a pavement and a mosaic - both made of smaller units which make up the whole; the former made of units that are of same size and shape to create the uniform pavement that we see on the sidewalks of a road, the latter a grand art formed by tiny parts each in different shape and size and shade adding its uniqueness to bring out ONE GRAND MASTERPIECE.

To be God's people we are not called to sacrifice our uniqueness, rather we are called to live it to the full - 'I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance!'(Jn 10:10) We are not called to sweep under the carpet the differences and the disagreements we might have - Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.(2 Cor 3:17) To be God's people all that we need to do is be mindful that we are God's people - that is, to be conscious that inspite of our differences we have something that unites us, someOne that unites us!

That which unites us is the fact that we are called by One God, our Father and Mother, to be sons and daughters, to be beloved children in spite of our idiosyncrasies.  We are commissioned to form one community by the Risen Lord, the head of that mystical body! The Risen Lord lives with us and within us, through the Spirit who keeps us together and leads us on. 

'Let your hearts not be troubled!' says the Lord. When I see in my community human elements of ego and pride, misunderstandings and slandering, discouragements and dirty politics... the Lord says, let your hearts not be troubled... face it with courage, wisdom and grace that the counselor brings you!

The secret is this:

1. That we feel God living with us and within us: we note this in the way the disciples handled the discussion...'for it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us,' they said - the expression is fantastic to hear... speaking of the Holy Spirit as someone who lived with them and decided along with them... that is the faith that sustained that early faith community! That is what we call, feeling God with you and within you!

2. That we fall back on the Community for discernment: whether you are the leader of the community or one of the members of the community, fall back on the community for a process of discernment. Deciding on one's own whims and fancies is not going to help in any way. You have a community; you are a community, convened by God! Hence what is normal is that we find God's will as a community, for the good of the community.

3. That we find the Light of God illumining our life: the light of the Lord shines on you and you walk in the light! There is no need to confound yourself for in the light there is nothing that is hidden. What is needed is the eyes of faith and a patient heart. The Spirit of the Lord teaches you all that you need to know, provided you feel the Spirit's presence and yearn for the Spirit's direction!

What a People we are - God the Father and Mother, has called us; the Risen Son of God unites us and the Spirit of the Living God enlightens and leads us! What thanks can we give the Lord almighty! 

Let all the Peoples praise you O Lord! Let all the Peoples praise you!

Don't Worry; Be Happy!

WORD 2day : Saturday, 5th week in Easter time

May 21, 2022: Acts 16: 1-10; John 15: 18-21

People around you find you a pain in the neck, for the right reasons... be happy! People call you outdated and impractical and living in a world that does not exist because you stand by values... don't worry!  People dump you and wish to see you destroyed because you disturb their "peace"... don't worry! you are in fact, blessed!

On the contrary, everyone, even the worst among the lot, seems to be comfortable with you... be careful! No one has any problem with your ideas and absolutely every one seems fine with your values... look into yourself! There is no opposition at all to what you do and not even those who discourage you... beware! There is something that is not really alright, in terms of Christ!

Yes! That is what the Lord says today. If you stand by truth and live by values, you are sure to be branded 'utopian' and kept aside from the so called 'steps forward'. If you are really what you call yourself - Christian, that is a follower of Christ - then you are bound to be opposed, derided, persecuted, and even crucified! If nothing of this sort happens, even to the minimal level, may be you are not sufficiently what you claim to be! 

In fact, when everything was going very smooth and the Church was growing there, Paul found he was not anymore needed there - he felt called to move to another place and help out there! That is what a Christian call is all about. It is not seeking our comfort zones, but seeking problem areas and making them more and more God-filled. 

In our day to day life, it is wonderful to be acceptable to all, but at what cost? As long as you are committed to the values of Christ, whatver happens - don't worry; be happy!

Friends of Christ

WORD 2day: Friday, 5th week in Easter time

May 20, 2022: Acts 15: 22-31; John 15: 12-17

While the readings on the one hand insist on making the burden easy for the new converts to faith, on the other hand we find lofty demands such as even giving one's life for one's neighbours! The point is clear... Our faith is not a matter of do's and don'ts; it is a matter of relationship and commitment.

Our faith defines our relationship with God, it infact redimensions our very identity - from mere creatures we are given the identity of God's beloved children, and moreover, friends of Christ! Our identity is defined in terms of relationships... not position, prestige or status, but our relationship with God, which affects all other relationships in our daily life.

Being called friends of Christ, it is natural that the demands are high. After all, did not Jesus insist that, "from the one to whom much is given, much will be demanded" (Lk 12:48)? But the demands are not merely to do something and to avoid something else, but the demand is about an entire lifestyle. It is to model our life after that of Christ.

The relationship with Christ, or the friendship with Jesus affects all other relationships of ours. The friends of our friend, should be our friends too! The love we have for the Lord compels us to be loving persons with every person around us: not just our "friends", but even with so-called strangers, people whom we just casually bump into, or specially with those who might have offended us. Even if we do not lay down our lives, are we not expected to lay down at least our ego, when it comes to our relationships?

Let's get our basics right!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 5th week in Easter time

May 19, 2022: Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11

The apostles, in the first reading, so clearly mirror the mind of Jesus who said, "my yoke is easy, my burden is light" (Mt 11:30). They decide that anything more than what is really necessary is an unwanted burden. Jesus dared to summarise the whole of the law into just one dense, profound and challenging word: LOVE.

The commandments served but one purpose: Remaining in the love of the Lord. That was the only concern that Jesus had. Jews or Gentiles, circumscised or uncircumsised, it did not matter to Jesus and the apostles learnt it well from their Master. St. Paul would say categorically in 1 Cor 7:19 - "circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing; Keeping God's command is what counts."

And Jesus had already clarified what that commandment was - the new commandment that I give you, love one another as I have loved you - in terms of serving each other, in terms of washing the feet of the other, in terms of doing unto the other what one wishes to be done to him or her. 

This is the mindset with which Jesus says: "the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments" (Mat 22:40) - the Love of God and the love of the neighbour. What other summary can we give for a Christian life, other than this? 

Let us beware of complicating issues: our faith is simple, easy and light, if only we get our basics right: L O V E.

The Model of the Synodal Church

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 5th week in Easter time

May 18, 2022: Acts 15: 1-6; John 15: 1-8

We are speaking so much these days about "synodality"... with the ongoing preparations towards the Synod on synodality! With Vatican Council II, the ecumenical council that has revolutionised the Church, this theme has gradually taken the forefront of the discussions within the Church! Today we have the account of the first ever ecumenical council held: the Council of Jerusalem! It stands as a wonderful Christian model of handling crisis and confusion. Getting together in brotherly dialogue and faithful communion - that is the model of the synodal Church for us.

The Community of faith gives us a splendid possibility of remaining united as branches to the one Vine, Jesus. Today, when crisis and confusion arise, how many human methodologies we follow to handle them: writing anonymous letters, spreading calumny about others, raising unchristian slogans and following uncharitable actions. Is it truly a 'Christ'ian way of approaching a problem? What are we aiming at? Establishing our ego? Gaining our political mileage? 

Division within the Church is the worst scandal we can give to the world. It is a definitive lack of the synodal spirit of getting together, listening to each other and deciding for the good of every faithful and for the entire faith community. It is not about who is right or who is wrong, it is not about who is more important and who less... it is about what is God's will and what will unite us as One Community of the people of God.

Let us be united with the one Vine, nourish ourselves from that vine, be filled with the sap from that vine and give fruits worthy of that vine. Or else, we will have to be pruned and charred!

Revealing the Risen Lord in the Spirit

WORD 2day: Monday, 5th week in Easter time

May 16, 2022: Acts 14: 5-18; John 14: 21-26

Jesus seems to be winding up his earthly phase with his disciples and he bids them farewell as if to say they have to take his place thereafter. And orientatively, this whole week we will listen to this series of sayings from Jesus. He had assured them, that their faith in God and their faith in him, will stand them in good stead...they will do all that he did and even more! (cf. Jn 14:12) Today he promises an added facilitator: the Holy Spirit. All these promises were not mere words... they worked.

The People saw in the apostles great prowess... they healed the paralytics and gave life to the dead. The people found it so overwhelming that they thought that the gods had descended on them. If we really believed in the Lord and beheld his risen presence with us truly, people would see great things in and through us. 

The world needs people of God today; the world longs to see the real majesty of God revealed in ordinary things and we ought to be the instruments in the hands of God. This is not to be interpreted in an immature sense of creating sensational happenings or feigning miraculous events or fictitiously concocting revelationary phenomena...that is not what is expected of us. 

All that we need to do is, dispose ourselves into the hands of God, allow the Spirit of the Lord to take hold of us and reveal through us,  the merciful, loving and powerful presence of the Lord today. That is what we are called to do: to be in the hands of God, in the service of the Spirit, that the Risen Lord may be seen, witnessed and believed by all who encounter us.

The Peace that comes from the Lord

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 5th week in Easter time 

May 17, 2022: Acts 14: 19-28; John 14: 27-31a

"It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God," say Sts. Paul and Barnaba (Acts 14:22). Elsewhere in the Acts (see 5:41) we read, "they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name" of Jesus, after having received severe flogging. As soon as they were released from prison or from investigation, they were found back again preaching with a greater zeal.

In the Gospel today, after giving his peace, the Lord instructs: 'do not let your hearts be troubled!', for the peace that he gives us is not the peace that the world gives: a peace of compromises and conveniences, a peace of inaction and suspicious silence! But the Peace that Christ gives us is the peace of the Reign, the peace that comes from justice and equality, peace that comes from true love and compassion. It is not contract of just war or war against terrorism; but a total cessation of war or corruption or injustice or any inhumanity! Jesus has given it to us as he promised! It is enshrined in the Word. True love for entire humanity and holy compassion for the least and the last.

Our call is to spread it, take it to every heart that longs, to every corner of the earth, specially those communities of persons where there is war and intolerance. In doing it, we will face troubles, floggings and stonings in words and ways, criticisms, threats and presecutions. The times are making that possible more and more... but let none of our hearts be troubled!

New faith, new community, new world!

FIFTH SUNDAY IN EASTER TIME

May 15, 2022

The Lord promises us new earth and new heaven... these are no empty words. And we know the Lord who created these originally is certainly capable of creating it anew, that is, rejuvenating it, revitalising it and reinvigorating it. The Word does not stop with  reporting the promise that the Lord makes, but lays out how this promise can be logically claimed! Yes, the new heaven and New earth will be experienced, when we renew ourselves in our faith individually and transform ourselves into a new community of the people of God.

New faith, new community, new world... And today a new Saint... 

Today is the canonisation of St. Devasahayam... Thanks to the grace of God for the opportunity to participate in the ceremony at St Peter's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E9L97OblIc&ab_channel=VaticanNews

To be loved; and to love

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

May 14, 2022: Feast of St. Mathias, apostle. 
Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; John 15: 9-17

Feast of any apostle is a reminder to each of us that we are called to be an apostle, sent in the name of the Lord. As my Father sent me, so I send you...said the Lord after his resurrection. Though the event of the election of Mathias is overshadowed by the sorrowful and unfortunate end of Judas, the feast has its usual charm of inviting us to an absolute commitment to the Lord.

Mathias is added to the list of the 12… the account presents us with three criteria to be worthily part of the band of ‘Apostles’. It will do us good to look at these three criteria, and correlate it to ourselves, whether we can be counted as being part of the group of apostles. 

The first of the criteria is, a personal, first-hand experience of Christ – not just what we read from authors or heard from preachers, not merely what someone shared or what someone else felt, but the impact of what I have experienced of Jesus, the personal encounter that I have had with Christ. 

The second criterion is being a witness to Christ before the world, specially in a world that runs madly after wealth, ease, power, social acceptance and public image! Doing that, would we be judged irrelevant and meaningless? Certainly, yes! 

The third is the Choice of the Spirit – you did not choose me, no I chose you declared Jesus. It is the Spirit who chooses, empowers and uses one as an instrument! Our responsibility is to REMAIN, to remain in the Spirit and bear abundant fruit!

The Word today adds a wonderful note to the reflection, as they seem to suggest the primary objective in being an apostle, or for that matter a disciple.iIn Jesus' own words...As my Father loves me, so I love you! The primary aim is to receive in all its fullness the abundant love of the Father, through Jesus our friend! And it is in receiving that love, our joy is made complete! 

Let us rejoice in being loved, and love each other in return!

To be God's begotten

WORD 2day: Friday, 4th week in Easter time

May 13, 2022: Acts 13: 26-33; John 14: 1-6

Let not your hearts be disturbed! That, according to Jesus, was the sign of Faith, faith in God and faith in God's only Son. Though we know that Jesus is the Incarnate Son of God, the real glory of his existence is seen in the fact of Jesus' obedience to the Father. 

As St. Paul would point out in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2), it was because of his total obedience that Jesus was given the name above every name, that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess his Lordship. Even God almighty declares, "You are my beloved Son, today I have begotten you!" It refers to the eternal choice of the Lord to hold us close to God's heart and a response in correspondence to that choice. 

Faith, Obedience of Faith... these could be considered high sounding words, but for us on a daily basis, it is in simple words: doing the will of God. It may sound more simple said than lived! How do we do God's will? It is simple yet again.

Doing the will of God is taking our duties to heart despite the discouragements, putting our heart and soul in the well being of those around us in spite of the possible ingratitude, putting the Lord first and at the center of all that we are involved in ... these are some concrete ways of doing the will of the Father. 

When we begin to live on a daily basis, in these terms, certainly we shall hear it said of us - "You are my beloved child, today I have begotten you!"