THE LIGHT OF FAITH

Be illumined! Illumine!

5th Sunday in Ordinary time - February 5, 2023

Isaiah 58: 7-10; 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5; Matthew 5: 13-16

"The Light of Faith: this is how the Church's tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus": so begins the encyclical Lumen Fidei, one of the first orientations offers to the Church by Pope Francis. The Light, is an image very often presented in relation to faith, the faithful and the life of a faithful. It is an explicit call by the Lord right from the Old Testament times that the people of God have to be light to the nations (Is 42:6). With Christ's call today, to be the light of the world, it becomes an inevitable criterion to be identified as Christ's disciple, or not!

Faith as Light: The first reading reminds me of a Zen story, that of the Master who asked his disciples: When do you think it is dawn? The disciples attempted various responses, like - when we see the difference between a tree and a pillar; when we can identify a black thread from a white, and so on. The Master, discontent with everything, finally said: it is dawn, when you look into the eyes of the one next to you and see your brother or your sister! The first reading tells us exactly that... when you accept the gift of faith from the Lord, your eyes are opened that you can see into the eyes of those around you and see your brothers and sisters; in their suffering and in their pains, you can feel your heart weeping and your eyes welling. We are reflecting today on the theme of LIGHT... the light that illumines us, the light that makes us see the real meaning of life and the true sense of being human. What else can do that task better than our faith - Faith is the Light we are offered by the Lord, as a gift!

The Faithful as Light: Once we accept that gift, the gift of faith, from the Lord, we as faithful, become the Light! Receiving the light, we become the Light. The Lord sets us as the light to the nations, the light to the world, the light on the lampstand, the city on the hilltop! Our faith does not rest on human wisdom, or logical reason, or scientific thinking, or systematic and mindblowing theologies! Our faith is primarily founded on the power of God, reminds St. Paul in the second reading today. Illumined by the Light, we become the light! Jesus declared, "I am the light of the World" (Jn 8:12); but did not stop with that. He challenges us today in the Gospel, "You are the light of the World." Every person of faith is called to be a light that is set on the lampstand, to spread the light to the entire house, to illumine those around him or her. But it is important that we remember always, that the source of our light is the Light which illumines us all, the Light eternal of which we are rays, the eternal fire of which we are sparks.

The life of the faithful as Light: Being the light... what does that mean? It involves two important elements: One, that everyone sees you; and two, that one is able to see because of you! There can be no doubt about the fact that the best and the most apt mode of proclaiming the Good News to those who have not heard it, is by living my everyday life! One may ask, but where is the proclamation here - it is in the very living! Our life cannot have two shades - personal and public, sacred and profane, spiritual and secular... If I am a Christian - it should be seen and I should be seen! That is the first dimension of being light - my life has to be lived in its integrity. When the light can be seen, then one can see because of the light. When my life can be seen by the other as a open book, the other can draw an inspiration to live by, and that is proclamation; that is evangelisation; that is illumining! It is through my life, my words, my actions and everyday choices that I become a light to the other; "if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness!" and thus one will become the light in darkness to the upright.

Let us keep this light burning in our hearts every single day of our lives, that it may help us to evaluate our life and see, if we really possess the Light of Faith, if we really live our life in a manner as to become light to those around me! 

Let the Eternal Light of Lord fill our hearts to be illumined and to illumine!

Belonging to the Shepherd Divine

WORD 2day: Saturday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 4, 2023: Hebrews 13: 15-17, 20-21; Mark 6: 30- 34

What do we have to worry about, when the Lord is our Shepherd! We need only to become the sheep of the flock that belongs to the Lord. Becoming the sheep of the flock of Christ can happen only through one way: to endlessly do good. Do good without any reason, without any hesitation, without any expectation, without any discouragement, without ceasing.

There are three qualities needed that one may be capable of such way of life! First of all, faith with which one accepts this challenge from the Lord. How can one think of doing good, when there are concerns and laments about one's own life? Only the one who has an enormous faith placed on the Lord, can think of doing good, without minding what is happening in one's own life. 

Secondly, endurance with which one withstands all disheartening factors. Faith does not promise that there would be no blows to suffer or no strikes to take. But it requires endurance that can strengthen the person to bear all troubles, but go on with hope in the heart and dreams in the eyes. 

Thirdly, a sensitivity with which one knows what the other needs, before the other even expresses it. That is an empathy, an acceptance of the other as one's own brother or sister, looking at the joys and sorrows of the other as one's own. This is what Jesus was all about: he was the empathy of God with us, he was the manifestation of the relationship that God offered to us inspite of our unworthiness, merely becaue God loved us as our Divine Shepherd. 

Jesus, the Shepherd was an epitome of these qualities -  he accepted the challenge of being good, endured all that worked against it and treated everyone around him with utmost sensitivity! Do we really belong to his flock?

Moral code or Spiritual Integrity?

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

February 3, 2023: Hebrews 13: 1-8; Mark 6:14-29

Is following a moral code an enough condition to be called a Christian? Moral codes are temporal and spatial - that is, what is wrong at one time may not be so another time; what is right in a place may not be so elsewhere! If all of us are formed by and are moving towards the same Divine Being, then can our life style be so subjective, temporal and spatial? That is why Jesus stood firm by Spiritual Integrity rather than a set of mere moral precepts.

Jesus is same, yesterday, today and tomorrow! No time can change what Jesus stood for. The letter to the Hebrews presents to us a set of values which are not merely moral codes but are frameworks for spiritual integrity. Spiritual Integrity is knowing what is right to be done, being convinced of it and living by it, come what may. Even if we have to face extinction from this life, our stand shall not change. Just as John the Baptist who was ready to give up even his life. 

The question now is, how do we know that we are holding on to what is right? Here is where we need to be divinely informed, where we need the grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to hold on to life giving perspectives that are absolute and never changing! Spiritual Integrity is the capacity to live righteous in spite of whatever happens, with no necessity for any reasons or justifications. Spiritual Integrity is being a Christian from the essence of one's being! 

The Light to Enlighten the Nations

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 2, 2023: The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Malacchi 3: 1-4; Luke 2: 22-40

The feast today is also traditionally called the Candlemas (like the Christmas), because candles were blessed, lighted and taken in procession, to signify the entry of the Lord into his temple for the first time as a 40 day old child - proclaimed by Simeon as 'the light to enlighten the nations'! The celebration of this feast has three indications to offer for our inspiration - the memory, the meaning, and the mission.

THE MEMORY: The memory that we celebrate today is that of the Lord who comes, who comes into His temple! A beautiful moment so picturesquely presented by Luke. The expectations, the entry, the enchantment and the extravaganza that was witnessed in the Temple, as Mary and Joseph bring the child into the temple premises. We celebrate this memory, the memory of the Lord coming to us, the Lord of the world entering our world.

THE MEANING: The memory has a specific meaning; it is, 'the Lord comes to be like us'! The Lord chose to share this world with us in His incarnation and became like us, like us in everything, except sin, says the letter to the Hebrews (4:15). The Lord chose to suffer, the Lord chose to be tempted, the Lord chose to undergo the same struggle as each of us do - and that was the crux of the meaning that he had for his life, and offers the same to you and to me!

THE MISSION: The meaning of this memory, leads us to a deeper understanding of the Mission, of the Lord who comes. The Lord comes to be like us, that we may become like Him. When John proclaims in his Gospel, "to those who believed in him, he gave the power to become children of God" (Jn 1:12), he underlined this specific mission of the Messiah - to make us like him! 

It is of course a fitting day to pray for those who have chosen Consecrated Life as a way of living their call to belong to God (it is the 26th year!), for they are called to be the memories of God's faithfulness, the meaning of our faithfulness to God and the mission of being 'the light to the 'nations'!

Drooping hands and weak knees, or faith alive?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 1, 2023: Hebrews 12:4-7,11-16; Mark 6:1-6

God is all powerful except before our free will... it is not that God is incapable but God has chosen to implant within us, that freedom which is God's own image and likeness. At times we may feel we are afflicted, but we are not without the means to withstand these afflictions. We have within us the necessary strength to stand up to these. At no time are we faced with a trial that is beyond our capacity. That is the promise of the Word: 1 Cor 10:13.

However, there is one thing that can drive us to despair... drooping hands and weak knees. Drooping hands symbolise my lack of faith in the capacity God has placed within me. Weak knees symbolise the lack of dependence on God, the pride that makes me ignore my need for God. When these happen, I find myself helpless, because I do not perceive the Lord, although God is so close to me and so concerned about me - just like those who were not able to see Christ, in Jesus!

It can happen easily to us - that we are guided by the drooping hands and carried by weak knees, that we give up easily and lament readily. We forget the fact that we have had moments of difficulties and have been carried across by the loving presence of God. We are so focused on the problems around us that we fail to see a presence that challenges all those problems! We would refrain from this, if only our faith remains active and alive every moment of our life!

What do I choose, specially in moments of difficulties and trials: drooping hands and weak knees? or a faith alive?

Arise, run and endure!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

January 31, 2023: Celebrating St. John Bosco, the Shepherd of the Young
Hebrews 12: 1-4; Mark 5: 21-43

Arise, run and endure is the call today! Situations of death and darkness, moments of drowning spirit and desperate feelings, struggle between right knowledge and raging temptations... these abound in our daily life. But we are called to Arise from these landslips and Run the race that is alloted to us, with an Endurance that is ready to put up with any difficulty, even upto shedding blood.

The endurance comes from the hope that Our God is an awesome God and can do anything for us. The strength to run the race comes from the faith that the Lord our God is running along and is ever present by our side. The capacity to arise comes from the love that God showers on us, out of which God keeps holding my hand inspite of all situations and keeps whispering into my ears, my son, my daughter, my child, my friend... arise! This is the experience of perpetual rejuvenation that faith offers to those who are in God. 

Don Bosco, was gifted with that perpetual youthfulness! He could arise, run and endure endlessly in life, because he was in God! That total attachment to God and to God's will, made him so youthful that he could identify with the young readily and the young found in him an extraordinary shepherd, a shepherd who knew and had the smell of his sheep. May his intercession help us to experience continuously this rejuvenation from the Lord and may it make us compassionate and empathetic to the youth around us. Let us pray for the grace to ceaselessly arise, run and endure.

Who is your hero?

WORD 2day: Monday, 4th week in Ordinary time

January 30, 2023: Hebrews 11:32-40; Mark 5:1-20

The Letter to the Hebrews lists today a set of heroes, heroes of valour and vigour, heroes in history on whom the people pinned their hopes! But they were all gone in the way of their fathers. Today we too have our own heroes - persons or role models or absolute values or needs or priorities - heroes of various kind. It is important to ask ourselves who is our real hero?

With what Jesus did to the people of Gerasenes, they should have made him their hero. Jesus solved their years of problem in a moment. He just sent the legion of demons away from their living quarters...but did Jesus become their hero? No! They asked Jesus to leave - may be because they felt their loss (that of the swines) was too much! And probably, they had some other considerations for their hero.

The world today has too many things to contend with, when it comes to the Lord being the hero! Even drawing people to God, there are many who propose material well being as a source of attraction. Come to the Lord, you will have all the prosperity you can think of. Come to the Lord and you will have your dreams so miraculously fulfilled. How many times we hear these jargons and can we get sillier than this?

Jesus taught them, that to have him meant losing a lot of other things. It was hard for them. Because the wellbeing that Jesus proposed had a different meaning altogether - it was being free from demonic possessions, slaveries and fears that do not let humans be humans, which prevent persons from living their lives to the full. It is all about what our choice is. The crucial question therefore is: who is my hero?

BEING HIS

Humble, Integral and Simple!

4th Sunday in Ordinary time: January 29, 2023
Zephania 2:3, 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12

Once again we have the beatitudes to reflect upon, a splendid description of a true people of God, the real people of the Reign, people who can belong to God and make present God here and now - in short, HIS people!

Seek the Lord, Seek humility, Seek Integrity... Zephaniah summarises the entire message of today in those words. Being poor in spirit, peace makers, humble of heart, vulnerable in spirit - those are the true characteristics of a person of the Reign... and today we can put them all into one single call - the call to be HIS people... to be HIS means, to be Humble, Integral and Sincere! That is how we become HIS.

Humble: Humility is to attribute praises to God from one's heart! We are today living in a context where people claim to be almost gods, or greater than even God. There are people living with us who are regular visitors to heaven (according to their claim) or even form part of the council of saints there! Funny! This is in contrast to the kind of picture that Jesus paints for persons who are of his kind. Jesus when he lived on earth, though he could have claimed credit for everything he did or said, he declared: 'All that I speak, I do not speak on my own; all that I do, I do not do it all on my own!' That was the Son of God. He attributed everything good to God! He was clear about where his own goodness came from! That is humility - to accept the reality, and to be efficacious instruments of God's powerful presence.

Integral: Integrity is to have no discrepancy whatsoever between one's words and one's life! We see today people who live in total divided selves. They seem to be crying bitterly, but rejoicing in their hearts; they seem to be slogging for the good of others, but actually plotting against everyone to make their own way up; they seem to speak with honey in their lips, but there resides treacherous poison in their hearts; they put up a front of service and generosity, while all that they think of is their own self promotion and self glory! How can we understand this, particularly when it comes from a so-called "Christ-ian"? This lack of integrity will not only question the meaningfulness of one's own faith, but even drive people away from anything that has to do with God or Godliness. 

Sincere: Sincerity is to accept what one is and putting on no appearances! Drawing from integrity, it is to be what one is and manifest just that to everyone around. There are people who live two or three lives simultaneously - one for the larger public, one for the immediate circle of friends, and another for the intimate circle. At times, persons do anything that they can to make people believe their false selves. But let us pose an extremely simple question: what do they gain by it - except that they end up never living their lives, leave alone living it to the full! It is sincerity alone that can help one live one's life - although it may cause a considerable cost!

We are called to be HIS people - people who are Humble, Integral and Sincere; people of the beatitudes, loving and forgiving people of the Reign!

Keep calm! Keep faith!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

January 28, 2023: Remembering St. Thomas Aquinas

Hebrews 11: 1-2,8-19; Mark 4: 34-41

One of the clearest signs of faith in a person is what we get to hear in the Word today: Keeping calm! It is not keeping calm when everything is going well and everything is under control.  While even that is getting into the list of rarities, the call today is specially and particularly, to keep calm under pressure situations and situations of trouble. That is the true test of faith.

The Saint we celebrate today was a great exponent of Christian faith and a person who loved the Lord and grew in that love without ceasing. St. Thomas Aquinas who was such a great proponent of theological truths, did not consider those truths as great as one simple and absolute truth: that immense love of God. 

Our growth in faith is marked by our unassailable trust in that love of God, and an unhindered growth in our relationship with God. Yes, we are called to grow in our faith, in our way of feeling connected to God, in our consciousness of the presence of God with us.

There are some qualities that can help us keep calm... as indicated in today's readings: I can keep calm, ...
     - if I consider God someone close to me;
     - if I am convinced that everything that is happening in my life is known to God;
     - if it doesn't matter to me what's happening, because I am forever convinced that God is in-charge, God is in control, and that God is in love with me!

Do not draw back

WORD 2day: Friday, 3rd week on Ordinary time

January 27, 2023: Hebrews 10: 32-39; Mark 4: 26-34

In a true struggle, in a sincere rethinking or in a serious growth process there sure is one rule that we need to take to heart: do not draw back. When we engage with a serious and a valid cause, there will certainly be difficulties and discouragements, owing to external factors or internal dispositions.  External factors could be those which lay a block or threaten our progress. Internal factors could be fear of failure or doubts of one's own capabilities. Whatever it may be, the rule for a Reign person is: do not draw back!

Jesus teaches us this hard way in his own life and mission. He was the Son of God... but chose to become a human to show humanity what its real identity and call were! He struggled and battled with his own people, with the rulers and with the powers of the evil world. One thing that was clear in his way of life and spirit of mission. 

Is this not a clear message that Jesus gives: Do not withdraw. Keep fighting even if you think you are buried... you will one day arise to shine!