My real worth - where does it come from?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 8, 2022: Titus 2: 1-8, 11-14; Luke 17: 7-10

Where does one's real worth come from? From one's age or the social status offered in the public domain or from the great successes and achievements that are exhibited to the world? As a person, one's true worth comes from within, says the Word today. 

It comes from within, meaning, each of us understands what one is called to, what our commission is and live it on a daily basis, without making any fuss out of it. At times we see some persons who do a little that they do, and go about trumpeting it all around. Worse still some do not do anything at all but go around creating an opinion as if they have moved mountains. Let us hope, you and me, we do not belong to any of these categories! There is something that is worst of all these - doing everything that we do, merely to be noticed, to be praised and to be given the social recognition that I am an important person in the vicinity.

A typically Christ-like attitude is what we see in the Gospel today. Doing good because we are good! It is not the other way around that we would like to prove that we are good, by doing good! We need to believe that there is an innate goodness placed by our Creator within us. 

Yes, Christian life is all about living the essential goodness that we have within from the very fact that we are children of God and never expecting to be lauded for what we do, because what we do is what we have to do! Jesus puts it so plainly in today's Gospel: we are just unworthy servants of the Lord who is good (Lk 17:10).

Towards a Living Faith

WORD 2day: Monday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 7, 2022: Titus 1:1-9; Luke 17:1-6

Jesus throws challenge after challenge at his followers: to correct one's brother or sister who is erring, to readily forgive brothers and sisters, not to cause a brother or sister to sin or to falter... the challenges seem so demanding but just one prayer that the disciples make sums up all that it takes to face these challenges and live up to them. The prayer: "Lord, Increase our faith" (Lk 17:5).

What an insight the disciples seem to have had! Faith, is the answer to all these, because faith is not merely some capacity that we possess, but a relationship to which we commit. It is a personal relationship with God, a total personal response to a God who reveals Godself in unconditional love and absolute concern. It is a relationship that can, and that should, colour the entire spectrum of our personal and community lives.

Faith is a way of life in which we continuously grow, being mindful of the danger anytime retract into ways that are not worthy of the One who has created us, the One who has called us and the One who has commissioned us! It is a response of life, and a life of response, to the One who constantly stands at the door of our heart and knocks, calling and commissioning us to love and fellowship, not just with God but with every brother and sister given to us by God. This is called a living faith. Faith, if really living, will find a solution to many a problem in today's life, because it is fundamentally a God-inspired way of life. There can be no impasses when there is real faith; for real faith is love, it is life. Let us make it our earnest prayer today: Lord Jesus, increase my faith. Amen.

PEOPLE OF RESURRECTION

Reward, Reconciliation and Realisation

32nd Sunday in Ordinary time - November 6, 2022

2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16 - 3:5; Luke 20: 27-38

"And I will raise them up on the last day" declared Jesus regarding those who partook of him. Resurrection is our hope, Resurrection is the foundation of our faith. The crux of the salvation that Jesus offers us is Hope, and hope is the confidence of things that we are yet to receive and the greatest of all that we look forward to is resurrection! This is what Jesus in his incarnate self showed us - he lived his life for God, he died for God and by God he was raised; when we live, we live for God; if we die, we die for God, and we will be risen in the Lord! This is the foundation of our faith; for as St.Paul says, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile" (1 Cor 15:17). The readings today, help us understand what resurrection can mean to us.

Resurrection is a REWARD, a recompense that God sets before us for the commitment with which we live our life. We come from God, and it is our destiny that we return to God. We are loved into existence by God and we bear God's image in the core of our being. Every day of our life is an opportunity to cherish that image within us and bring it to fulfillment within us. Every person we come across is a companion on this journey and every situation we live through is a means to nudge towards the destiny. There are moments that are trying and those are moments to stride across, as we see in the first reading. When we find ourselves in such moments as those, when we have to choose between God and godlessness, between righteousness and injustice, between good and mediocrity - and we decide to choose God, righteousness, goodness - we can proudly say with St. Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown"(2 Tim 4:7,8).

Resurrection is RECONCILIATION, a reunion with my creator, an experience of my oneness with my God, whose child I am. In the letter to the Colossians, we are told, "you have now been reconciled in the body of his flesh, so as to present you holy and blameless before God provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in faith"(Col 1:22,23). Just this morning some one remarked to me, 'Oh after all, would we live another 25 years!' Absolutely true, that we are on an earthly sojourn and our eternal abode beckons us. That is why St. Paul prays in the second reading today, 'May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.' It is in that love of God and the faithfulness of Christ, that we are assured of 'eternal life' which is participating in the nature of God, who alone is eternal. In our resurrection we become one with God, we are reconciled to God, and we become eternal like God!

Resurrection is REALISATION, a concrete experience of what has been promised. We are called to live as the people of Resurrection. Christians are Easter People... while there is in store the eternal life that has been promised, we are invited to live that resurrection every day, every moment, specially in those moments when we are prone to hopelessness and desperation. We need to realise who we are, we need to realise who our God is! Jesus says of us - "they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection" (Lk 20:35). As Paul explains to the Romans (ch.6), we have died with Christ, in his crucifiction and we will live with him! We are called to live our lives, as people of resurrection, not losing heart on any trial, not giving up at any temptation, not desperate with any failure, not bogged down by any evil - but people filled with hope, comfort, courage, steadfastness, strength and love of God. 

We are People of Resurrection; let us live our lives mindful of the reward that the Lord has set before us, preserve ourselves holy and blameless to be reconciled to the Lord in eternal life and realise the fruits of that resurrection right here and now, in our daily lives.

Wealth - the right attitude to it

WORD 2day: Saturday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 5, 2022: Philippians 4: 10-19; Luke 16: 9-15

Wealth: is it good or bad?

Money and God...won't they go together?

Then how do we ask God for wealth and consider prosperity as a blessing from God? The readings today speak to us about the right attitude to take towards wealth.

1. Wealth is given.
It is a gift and should be treated as such. We are given and it should fill us with gratitude and not arrogance.

2. Wealth is given to be given.
It is never given for yourself...you are a custodian of what is with you. You possessing the wealth is a blessing; the wealth possessing you is a curse!

3. Wealth is given to be given to those who cannot give.
The only purpose today wealth is used, apart from fulfilment of needs, is to make more wealth. It is a sickening tendency that is the cause of the growing selfishness, cruel exploitation and demeaning inhumanities.

Wealth and power are good as long as they are instruments. When they begin to use the persons dehumanisation begins! God sees the heart, says the Gospel; and everyone will see a heart that is filled with God.

Compromises and Life in Christ

WORD 2day: Friday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 4, 2022: Philippians 3:17 - 4:1; Luke 16: 1-8

Their stomach is their god and their glory is in their shame - what words St. Paul has against those who live a life that is thoughtless and flimsy, with nothing that offers a depth to their living or nothing that adds to meaning of their lives. Hoarding wealth, seeking comfort, craving for pleasures and living solely for material satisfaction - what can that offer to one's life. Lies lead to more lies, obscurities lead to more obscurities, crimes lead to more crimes and lawlessness leads to absolute inhumanity. Compromises kill.

Compromises are justified today in the sense of prudence and practicality. These solutions could serve the particular moment, but in the long run, they kill, they destroy, they ruin, they rob our lives of meaning. Jesus was very clear about that and precisely due to that he warned: be careful of the yeast of the pharisees... that is, dont give into the tendencies of the world. 

Being imitators of Christ, means to live with no compromises, to speak nothing but the Words of the Almighty, to think nothing but good, to do only what builds the other and the family of God, to love like God and to relate like children of God - with God and with each other. That would be heaven...or the Reign of God, on earth. Let each of us do our part, to prmote that lifestyle, that of Christ and that of the trends of the day that lead me astray.

In mutual seeking

WORD 2day: Thursday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 3, 2022: Philippians 3: 3-8a; Luke 15: 1-10

The initial lines of the Gospel today say it all: the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus and the pharisees were complaining. The ones who claimed that they were the 'chosen' people, were actually moving away from the Lord, while those who were labelled 'pagans' and 'sinners' were gerting more and more close to Jesus, and therefore to the Reign. 

We understand here the real sense of what Paul meant when he said, what really matters is not circumcision or no circumcision, not the labels and the titles that one holds on to, not the public image or the official role that one playa... but what really matters is the relationship that one has with the person of Christ.

Past glories, handed down traditions, legalistic requirements, ritual uprightness... these will not take someone all the way, however good, right and just they are. All that is expected of us is to get nearer and nearer, closer and closer, more and more immersed in a personal relationship with God, in and through Christ. 

God in fact keeps looking out for us as presented in the parables in the Gospel- like the shepherd and the woman! And when God knows our efforts, God doubles it up with grace, grace which comes in terms of our relationship with the person of Christ, before which everything else is trash. While it is a fact that God seeks, we cannot be found unless we let ourselves be and unless we seek God too! Yes, it needs to be a mutual seeking. 

It's all about relationship!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

All Souls Day: 2nd November, 2022

Wisdom 3: 1-9; Romans 6: 3-9; John 6: 37-40

Yesterday we celebrated the memory of the saints...those among us who have gone before us all the way! They shine as they have reached the destiny prepared for them. They are the Triumphant Church, radiating the HOPE that Christ brought to humanity.

Today we keep the memory of those among us who have gone before us, but not yet all the way! They await the mercy of God, to join the band of those who share the glory of the Eternal Light. They are the Penitent Church, united with us in FAITH, the one faith in which we were all baptised, the one faith in which we have a duty to offer our prayers and suffrages.

Tomorrow onwards we are back to our daily living, as we make our way, amidst the struggles and temptations of the daily life. We are the Militant Church, fighting our way ahead on a daily basis, with LOVE - love for God who constantly accompanies us and love for brothers and sisters with which we accompany those who are around us.

It's all about relationship... we are One Church with the One Lord, with one baptism, one call and one destiny... all of us related to each other. Even the thought of death or of the dead, does not fill us with fear or anxiety, for we are all on the same journey at different stages of the course. The three tier Church is such a holistic view of our life on earth, that it renders every bit of our life and all its struggles so meaningful. It is within this framework of relationship that we think of those brothers and sisters of ours who have gone before us, signed with the same Holy Spirit, that they may receive the eternal reward they have always longed for. But that would be an incomplete exercise, if it does not challenge us to live our life with more hope and more love, here and now that our faith may throw its light on our concrete everyday.

We are all related! Let that be the message that the day offers us. Let us march on with love, with hope and with faith towards the eternal joy prepared for us, even as we remember our loved ones, who have gone before us! 

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord; May the perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

BEING SAINTS

Solemnity of All Saints - November 1, 2022

O when the saints,
go marching in,
I want to be in that number! -

... a simple but profound thought in those familiar lines of the song. To be saints: that is God's call to each of us. At times we think, becoming saints is reserved for a select few. May be the long and tedious process of canonisation of a person in the Church, makes us feel that way. But the fact is, each of us, all of us is called to be saints. St. Paul states that in clear and unequivocal terms in his letter to the Ephesians (1:4), Thessalonians (1 thes 4:3), and other places.

The question sometimes is, whether it is, being a saint or becoming a saint! We are created in the image and likeness of God (says Genesis 1:27) and this image and likeness of God is a "given", a nature that we have within us, as a gift. We are reminded of this image and likeness at our baptism. All the we need to do is to remain with that image in our lives. The beautiful symbol used in the rite of baptism, where the priest hands over a white cloth to the child and entrusts the task of bringing it, as it were, unsullied, intact in its purity to the end of days.That, dear friends, is the call - "to be saints"...and not merely to 'become' saints.

The readings today, develop the same thought in three wonderful dimensions:

Being Saints means... being aware of who we are! O Christian, realise your dignity! We are children of God, reminds St. John in his letter, in the second reading. God has chosen us from eternity, before the foundation of the world! This is an initiative from God our Father and Mother, who creates us and wishes that we share in God's love and ever remain in God's image and likeness, as children of the loving God.

Being Saints means... being washed by the blood of the Lamb! The Image of God within us, sometimes is disturbed, smudged, smeared or sullied by the choices we make misusing the human freedom that is granted to us. The evil one will be more than happy when we lose heart at such moments and give up. The Son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ shed his blood that we may have victory over sin and death. In that blood we are saved, and in that blood we are made clean, each and every time we turn to the Lord in genuine repentance and willingness to regain our original image. Saints are those who have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb, says the second reading.

Being Saints means... being 'blessed' in the eyes of the Lord! And the only way to be 'blessed', is to live by the promptings of the Spirit who dwells within us. Paying attention to the indwelling Spirit, we will know what it means to be blessed - to be poor in spirit, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be peace-loving - these are ways of being persons of the spirit. In the ordinariness of our daily life, we have to be persons of the Spirit, looking at the reality different from the way the self seeking world teaches us to.

God's initiative in the call that I have received; Christ's redeeming act of Salvation; the Spirit's indwelling presence that guides me on a daily basis - these are compelling reasons why I need to think seriously about, not merely becoming a saint one day, but being a saint everyday, in my own way!

The Logic of the Reign

WORD 2day: Monday, 31st week in Ordinary time

October 31, 2022: Philippians 2: 1-4; Luke 14: 12-14

There is a principle that I am fond of repeating frequently: what we do is something very important, but it is more important why we do what we do! A person who used to be coming to me for a little spiritual help was once saying, sounding very dejected, "no matter how much efforts I make, such and such a person is not happy, the other one has only criticism...no one is satisfied with me! I know my behaviour is not right; but I am not able to change!" All that I thought of saying was this - "why do you want to change; why do you want to alter your behaviour? To please someone? To receive an affirmation from someone? To impress someone? If it is so, you are bound to fail!" 

Why do you have to please someone, by all means? Much worse it is when you begin to prove yourself right, or good, or meritorious before someone! Do nothing to prove yourself! We have nothing to prove to anyone! Anything we do, without a personal conviction and a purposeful decision, loses its value however well it is done. This is a golden principle to remember, if we wish to remain serene and calm.

Reflected from this point of view, the readings today offer us a clear picture of why we are unhappy at times or why it makes so little sense after having moved a mountain. If our ego, our selfish motivations and our childish calculations dominate, however big an action, it would matter nothing. Instead, even if what I do is something absolutely ordinary, when it is done out of genuine love, selfless concern and mercy, it becomes so remarkable in the eyes of the Lord. 

Jesus makes his point doubtlessly clear today: the logic of the Reign is completely different and it takes a different mindset to understand it. Give, offer generously and wish nothing in return, you will see how blessed you feel!

SALVATION... TODAY, HERE & NOW

Eagerness, Encounter and Enthusiasm

31st Sunday in Ordinary time: October 30, 2022
Wisdom 11:22 - 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 - 2:2; Luke 19:1-10

Salvation is the theme that dominates the liturgy today. The two special days that we have in the coming week would help us to get into this theme more profoundly. The first day of the month we are about to begin, would remind us of those who shine as stars having reached the due destination; and the second day, those who have completed their earthly lap and are bound towards the eternal abode; both these would make us reflect on our future, as something certain and glorious. And that is salvation. The word salvation, sometimes can be understood in terms of salvaging something that has gone wrong. Though this dimension is definitely present in the Salvation that Jesus wants to offer us, Salvation for a Christian should mean much more, much broader and more holisitic. It is wholeness, fullness, oneness, where nothing is lost, nothing is dissipated, everything is intact, everything is reconciled into One, whole cosmos reconciled in God, in and through one Saviour Jesus Christ. It is not merely an other-worldly phenomenon, but a concrete experience here and now, says the Gospel today through the example of Zacchaeus.

An essential eligibility for this salvation is an Eagerness towards it. This eagerness is present in every person, every being. As St.Paul says in his letter to the Romans, the whole creation longs for it, as in a labour pain (Rom 8:22). It is God's will that nothing should be lost (Jn 6:39), that everything should be reconciled in Him (Col 1:20). The first reading expresses it in simple terms, that the Lord loves all things that exist and wills that they be united in the Lord. This is the oneness that we long for with the eagerness that is exhibited in the whole creation, and we as sons and daughters of God, have this longing much more. This longing is manifested in Zacchaeus in a gradually intensifying degree... first as a mere curiosity to see Jesus, then as an openness to listen to him and then as a longing to have him under his roof! Our eagerness too has to grow in these degrees... from a willingness to know, through an openness to listen to the Lord, to a longing to belong to Him for ever.

Salvation is not only something that happens at the end of time or at the end of my life... but it is the moment of truth that is occasioned every time the Lord encounters me - through daily events, through persons around, through a challenging situation, a needy person or a moment that demands a choice from me. As both the first and the second readings explain, the Lord strives to make the creation worthy of its original nature, the perfection which the Lord willed them. It is in this framework we understand every intervention of God, especially that in Jesus Christ, the Word made human. Once the Lord encounters me, I can never remain the same! That is why we keep dodging and avoiding the gaze of the Lord. But when it does happen, it is a moment of reckoning, the moment of Truth. It was so for Zacchaeus, he was encountered by Jesus at the Sychamore... an encounter that transformed him totally, initiated a salvific process in his life. He listened to Jesus' call, obeyed and came down from the tree, and his life was changed for ever. We are invited to listen to the call of the Saviour, come down from our obstinacy and our life too shall be changed for ever!

Salvation is not an imaginary state of life...it has to be seen in concrete living. It should be seen in our Enthusiasm for life. We see Zacchaeus enthusiastic about his new life...he is ready to return whatever he has unjustly extorted, not just that, but four times! This is what we call enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm, comes from the roots 'en' and 'theos', which combine to mean, 'being filled with God'...being enthusiastic in life means to be filled with God every moment of our life. Salvation has to be evidenced in this enthusiasm to live life to the full... not ever compromising with the unjust state of affairs, not giving into selfish considerations of me and mine, but looking at everything from the perspective of God, from the perspective of wholeness that consists of reconciling everything, the whole creation, in God.

We are people of Salvation; as St. Paul says, "God chose you from the beginning for salvation" (2 Thes 2:13); Let us live our life with a never ending eagerness for this wholeness in God, ever prepared to encounter the Lord and be corrected and made perfect by the Lord. Let our enthusiasm in our daily life proclaim to the world that we are people of salvation. Today, the Lord offers, as he did with Zacchaeus, to be our guest. If we receive the Lord with our whole heart, Today, here, and right now, we shall experience the power of God's Salvation.