Preparing the Reign - Learn to See

THE WORD IN ADVENT - Second week Monday

December 11, 2023 - Isaiah 35: 1-10; Luke 5: 17-26

How do we prepare the Reign? By learning to see, by learning to see the Reign! They were all astounded and praised God, saying,  "We have seen strange things today." This is how the Gospel ends today. They had Jesus all the time with them. They saw cures. They were fed as multitudes, with almost nothing in hand. They saw the blind see and the dumb speak, just as we hear in the first reading. But did they really see the Christ, at action. Jesus makes them SEE that today. 

It was not enough for them to look at Jesus as someone who did wonders or someone who exorcised - because even some of their own, among them, were capable of doing it as Jesus himself asked elsewhere: 'if you say I cast the devil out by the power of beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out?' (Matt 12:27). They had to see the Christ, the Son of God, the One who comes in the name of the Yahweh! That is why he says that - "your sins are forgiven"! To free that man from his paralysis, but more to open the eyes of those people. They had to see.

The first reading repeats that theme - they shall see the glory and the splendour of God, they shall see the God who is coming, the eyes of the blind shall be opened... it is crucial that we see! That we see Christ present in our midst, that we see Christ present in those around us, that we see the Reign of God present amidst us, that we see the Lord coming with the Reign. Preparing the Reign first and foremost requires that we see the Reign. 

It is not that easy - there are three tendencies that can make that task difficult. First, our obstinacy, that we wish to see only what we wish to see and we do not want to admit to anything that we do not wish to. Second, our incapacity, that we remain so blind and blocked that it takes so much to be liberated from our mental and intellectual paralysis. Thirdly, our distractedness or wrong focus, which makes us so attentive to what actually does not matter, instead of living our lives on the lines of what our Lord and Saviour has taught us: let's get up and walk, and we shall SEE the Reign. 

ADVENT - PREPARING THE REIGN

The Ground, those around and where we're bound...

Second Sunday in Advent - December 10, 2023

Isaiah 40: 1-5,9-11; 2 Peter 3: 8-14; Mark 1: 1-8

All of us wish to see a change, a change for the better, a change for a more peaceful world, a change for a happier life - a change around us, a change in the world! We know very well that this change out there in the world, cannot come without a change from within us! But the most disturbing fact is that, even if I change, it does not guarantee a change in the world, I need to wait. These are the complexities with which we live the problems and challenges of every day. It is against this background that we continue to reflect on the prospects of the Reign of God this advent. Last Sunday, the first of Advent, we were instructed by the Word to Expect the Reign. We reflected too saying, this expecting is not a passive waiting, but an active working towards. That is exactly the message of this Sunday: Advent is Preparing the Reign. 

Preparing the Reign: The fundamental task given us during Advent is Preparing! We are speaking here of Preparing the Reign - it is no error! We mean to phrase it that way - preparing the Reign, because it is not merely preparing for the Reign, but preparing the Reign. We are not called to prepare for the Reign, as if we have nothing directly to do with the Reign which comes from elsewhere and we prepare ourselves to be part of it when  it comes. That is not the mind of Christ. We need to prepare the Reign, build up the Reign, establish the Reign, wherever we are.

Psuedo Preparation: One danger that rests is that the kind of preparation we do can be a psuedo preparation! 

What do we mean by that? Just imagine the preparations that take place in our surroundings when a VIP is about to visit the place. There are prominently two things that happen - either what is there is covered up not to be seen or what is not there is fakely done up to be seen as present. Are we not familiar with cases where an entire slum was covered up with an overnight barricade or compund, because a dignitary was passing by that way - that is the former type. And of course we know of the roads that appear overnight for the VIP to ride on, only to break away into slithers immediately after the visit - this is the latter type. Both of these are psuedo preparations which are makeshift, eyewash, make believe, fake and deceptions, without any real change underlying. Instead, even these visits could become opportunities for a forging ahead, for strengthening of  infrastructure, for empowerment of people and the localities, if only the preparations are farsighted and authentically motivated. Therefore the question remains, what kind of preparation is the right preparation - that of the ground, of those who are around, mindful of where we are bound!

The Ground: Literally today we see the Word, the first reading and the Gospel, speak of this preparation of the ground - that the highways be made straight, the valleys be filled in, the mountains and hills be laid low, that the cliffs become plains and the ridges become valleys... that there be new heavens and a new earth! The preparation of the ground is the change in the situations - that the situations of inequality be straightened out, that the circumstances of jealousy and hatred be calmed, that the experiences of violence and aggression be tranquilised, that the predicaments of povert and misery be challenged. That is what precisely means preparing the Reign... without these changes the Reign cannot emerge! The sad and the crucial fact is, this cannot happen automatically. It can happen only where there is another preparation that is taken forward - the preparation of those around. 

Those Around: Preparation therefore is not merely of the terrain or of the macro system! It is primarily a change in the hearts, minds and the spirits of those around, beginning from each one of us. That is what the image of John the Baptist stands for today - telling each of us: straighten your hearts, flatten your egos, lift up your drooping spirits, smoothen your fractious priorities, challenge your callous religiosity and prepare for the day of the Lord. Prepare, not in terms of this Christmas, making an annual confession and dropping a few gifts into the hands of some sporadic needy - but in terms of a change of mentality, a reshaping of habits and redefining of your priorities and principles, to become truly Reign-persons and Reign-communities. That is the only way the Reign of God shall come, as we pray every day - 'your kingdom come'.

Where we're bound: The preparation therefore needs a clear pre-requisite and an absolute pro-sightedness. Both of these refer to the same - the Reign; as the letter of St. Peter reminds us - the new heavens and the new earth. The Reign should not be understood as a place little better than what we have today. It is not something that is slightly touched up from what we have managed so far. It is a something new! It is something totally different! It is something that the Lord alone can give - where the wolf will live with the lamb, the lion will eat straw with the ox, the cow will feed with the bear, and a small child will lead them all (Isa 11: 6,7). An entirely new life, that is the Reign that is promised to us and that is the Reign we are called and commissioned to prepare. No, it is not an utopia! It is a call. It is a commission. It is a mandate that we need to occupy ourselves with, all our life! Possible that we may not succeed? May be! But the Lord will succeed in God's own time, and we are called to do our bit. That is what the Advent reminds us of: our Christian commitment to prepare the Reign. 

Preparing the Reign means to prepare the ground, to prepare those who are around, mindful of where we are bound - above all, to begin with preparing the terrain of our hearts and our souls not towards some cosmetic touch ups, but towards a profund renewal in our conscience and commitment. O Lord that we may see, you and your Reign come! 

   

Expecting the Reign - Be Active Apostles

THE WORD IN ADVENT - First week Saturday

December 09, 2023 - Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23-26; Matthew 9:35 - 10:1,5,6-8

Here we wind up the first week of Advent, which we began with the call "to expect". That expectation is not a passive waiting, the Word had reieterated more than once during the week and today, the Word gives us a categorical directive - the right way to expect the Reign is to be active apostles.

We have that call from Jesus himself in the Gospel. Go, to cast the demons out, to cure diseases of all kinds and to raise the dead, said Jesus. He sent them all over, to go and be active apostles - but they had to first know, "apostles of what", messengers of what? What was the message they had to carry? What was the goodnews they were to give with all these actions: that the Reign is close at hand! 

The second question is, why they were to go and proclaim? Because they have received, they were to give! Therefore, what underlies this active apostolate is the realisation that they have received. Isaiah explains that in the first reading today: if you are prepared enough, "your ears will hear these words behind you, "this is the way, follow it"! The Lord has been good to you and if only you realise that, if only you grow mindful of that, you will automatically become an active apostle of the same goodness and hope!

Yes, these are the two objects of our proclamation - the key to the Reign: the Goodness of the Lord and our Hope in the Lord. God is good and we are certain beyond any doubt that God will have the final word, that the Lord will come to bless us, heal us, console us and to lead us. That is the Reign, the hope of the Reign, the Reign of goodness. 

Expecting that Reign signifies that we get into an active apostolate wherever we are and in whichever way we can, to hope in the Lord and spread that hope!

Expecting the Reign - Be Grace-filled

THE WORD AND THE FEAST - First Friday of Advent

December 8, 2023 - Celebrating the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother

Genesis 3:9-15,20; Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12; Luke 1:26-38

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception does not impede us from continuing our Advent journey, in fact it makes a significant contribution to our Advent reflections in two ways: one, because immaculate conception of Mary was indeed a preparation on God's part for the coming of Christ; secondly because Mary stands out as the greatest of models in preparing ourselves towards receiving the grace of incarnation. 

The talk of "Grace" is what abounds at this feast - as the Angel greeted Mary: "full of grace". She was Grace-filled and that state of life is two dimensional. 

First dimension is that God is the author of all Grace. What is grace? Grace is the presence of God, the presence that surrounds us all our life. Even to us the Lord has given us this grace - that God is all the time with us and for us. Mary was given this closeness to God as a great gift right from her conception in her mother's womb. She recognised that and she was mindful of that all her life. How much do we recognise that and how much do we draw strength from that - that would decide how able we are in expecting the Reign.

The second dimension is that of corresponding to that state of grace offered by God. Mary did that. Enough to think of that whole hearted submission we see in the scene of annunciation: I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word. It is true that God had chosen her from before the world was made, as St. Paul teaches us. Even we are chosen in Christ, from eternity to belong to God. But our virtue lies in corresponding to that state of grace given us - in our humble submission and loving attachment to God. 

Expecting the Reign is not merely an external event that we await, but an internal transformation that can happen only when we are recognizant of the grace that God has filled us with and mindful of corresponding to it in every way possible - in short, being Grace-filled. 

Expecting the Reign - Be Builders on the Rock

THE WORD AND THE SAINT - First Thursday of Advent

December 07, 2023 - Remembering St. Ambrose of Milan

Isaiah 26: 1-6; Matthew 7: 21, 24-27

Expecting Reign is not passively waiting, we have said that an umpteen times already these days! The Word reiterates its again today. The Reign of God is coming, the Reign of God is near, yes the Reign of God is close at hand, but it is not as if some one somewhere prepares it for us and comes to install it one fine day! Jesus made that very clear: Reign of God is amidst you (Lk 17:21), and it is we who have to build it up, build it up on the Rock that is our Lord. 

What is the means to build up the Reign of God? Listen to the Lord and live according to his words - that is the way to build on the Rock, for the rock is the Word, the Will of God, the Lord himself. When we say that the Reign of God has to be built up, we do no mean, we need to go out there and start building it up - for instance, in terms of the services we set up, the institutions we plant and the churches we raise. The primary sense and the fundamental means of building it up, is from within. 

Our interior lives are the building blocks, the single bricks out of which the Reign of God can be built. Yes, we need to work towards building up the Reign of God, but beginning from within each of us. We need to build up within us, convictions, outlooks, criteria, priorities and mindset that are Reign-worthy. That is the beginning of the building up of the Reign. 

Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, was a great builder - builder of the community. He built up around him an entire community of faith in Milan and even today the Ambrosian Community of Catholics are splendid children of God, setting a solid example to the rest of the Universal Church. They built themselves up and in doing so they built up the Church. 

Today we are called build ourselves up on the Rock, and we shall certainly be building up the entire Body of Christ, the Church which is a sign and the sacrament of the Reign!

Expecting the Reign - Be fulfilled

THE WORD IN ADVENT - First week Wednesday

December 6, 2023: Isaiah 25: 6-10; Matthew 15: 29-37

The Reign is all about a sense of fullness, where the entire humanity feels fulfilled. As we saw in the Word yesterday, it is a fullness where there is no want, nor jealousy, nor competition! Only when someone feels fulfilled will the person never covet someone else's belonging. That sense of being fulfilled is the experience of the Reign. 

Today we are familiar with the news bits about ED and IT raids, Anti-corruption actions and tax evasion complaints. Who does these? Those who have nothing to live by? No. Those who have a world more than what they actually need, or what the next four or five generations of theirs would need. As the famous wit goes, there is never enough for a person's greed. One of the Reign-qualities that we need to grow in, is developing a sense of fulfillment. 

There are two requirements to develop this sense of fulfillment: recognition of the goodness of God and a loving abandonment into the hands of God. Firstly, recognition of the goodness of God, is a normal and natural habit in which we need to grow in - keep our eyes open to the enormous good that the Lord continues to do for us. We are so ready to take note of and lament on the undesirable things that can happen in our lives but we are so slow to recognize and valorize the numerous good that keeps happening in our daily life. 

Secondly, a loving abandonment into the hands of God, is a highly spiritual ability that comes as a result of a long process of growing in a personal relationship with God. That is what Reign is all about - a long process of relationship with God, a relationship with the Shepherd who wishes our good, our wellbeing, our fullness, a relationship that takes us forward to a sense of being fulfilled, a sense of wanting nothing, a sense of being in a banquet - that is the advent spirit of expecting the Reign. 

Expecting the Reign - Be Hopeful

THE WORD IN ADVENT - First week Tuesday

December 5, 2023: Isaiah 11:1-10; Luke 10: 21-24 

Expectation is all about hope! Expecting the Reign consists of hoping, not just hoping, but hoping against hope. St. Paul uses this phrase in relation to Abraham, as someone who hoped against hope (Romans 4:18). Expecting without hope is such a disappointing and schizofrenic act, don't you think? 

Today the Word gives a subtle imagery of this type of hope, hope in the face of possible hopelessness. Is it not needed today when we see so much violence around, so much disrespect for human persons and communities, so much hatred in the air, and so much of sectarianism spread with hidden agenda? The imagery is in the very first line of the first reading: the shoot from the stock of Jesse, the scion from the roots! The stock of Jesse... imagine a shoot: where do we find them? In the newest of branches in a tree, or in the roots? Here we see the scion from the roots. Which means it is a tree that is cut to its stock, to its roots... a case of having given up on it. But there thrusts a scion from the roots! That is hope against hope!

Jesus in the Gospel, who is already tired of his failure to make the great learned ones and those in authority understand his message - in a state when he has to lose hope, rejoices! "I bless you Father," he gladly exclaims, that the Lord has made the children, the little ones understand the truth. Expecting the unexpected is the hope of Advent. Look at all the imageries given by Isaiah in the first reading, for the Reign of God. 

The first week of advent is dedicated to the theme of hope and today we have that message strong: to hope! To be hopeful is a necessary trait of those who truly expect the Reign!

Expecting the Reign - Be Prepared

THE WORD AND THE FEAST - First Monday of Advent 

December 4, 2023 - Celebrating the Feast of St. Francis Xavier

Ezekiel 3: 17-25; 1 Corinthians 9: 16-19, 22-23; Mark 16: 15-20

These are not the readings of the Advent week day, because in India we commemorate today the feast of St. Francis Xavier, a great missionary, apostle and prophet who spearheaded the new phase of evangelisation of India in the 16th century. However, we need not deviate much from the advent perspective, as the ardent evangeliser too has a great advent message to offer us. 

We started the first week of Advent with a project yesterday - expecting the Reign! Expecting the Reign primarily is being prepared for the Reign and all its exigencies. We have a great example in Francis Xavier who was prepared, prepared for everything and more than prepared for even laying down his life for the announcement of the Goodnews.

Ezekiel today insists on how proclaiming God's word and "warning" the wicked generation is a demand placed on an apostle of the Word. Reiterates that St. Paul in his letter, underlining that it would be a reason of woe not to proclaim the Word. The Gospel reminds us of this command coming directly from the Lord and Master himself. 

Especially in the second reading from St. Paul we find a incredible description of the traits of a true apostle or evangeliser - "to be all things to all people". That is being prepared, being ready for any challenge or any demand - and for what? For my own good, for my appreciation, for a recognition of myself? No, for the sake of the call that I have received. 

One mindset that we need to cultivate during this advent is - to be prepared, to grow in our preparedness, our readiness for anything, for the sake of the "Message" entrusted to us - the Good News to all creation!

ADVENT - EXPECTING THE REIGN

The Return, Restlessness and Reckoning

First Sunday of Advent - December 3, 2023

Isaiah 63:16-17,64:1,3-8; 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9; Mark 13: 33-37

A new year - a new beginning and a new spirit - that is what this day offers us. It is undoubtedly resonant with the new heavens and the new earth - the Reign that is promised by the Lord, not just promised but already inaugurated. We may say that there are no signs of it whatsoever - with the conflicts of war and violence, with the conglomerations of evil and unjust structures and corporates which are draining the world of its humanness, with the confusions that exist in the moral behaviour of individuals and groups, where can we find the Reign? That is indeed a pertinent question and let us reflect on what it means to Expect the Reign, if that is the journey we are setting out on, this day. 

Expecting the Reign: The key to the season of Advent is Waiting! Waiting, though it is not part of its inherent meaning, may sound a bit passive. That is why there is a more invovled, gripping, active and indulgent sense offered through the term, Expecting. Expecting the Reign therefore wishes to add an element more, to waiting that is so characteristic of this season of Advent. And the added element can be seen presented in vividly in the readings today, in terms of a return, a restlessness and a reckoning!

Return: We see this term used in the first reading. Isaiah echoes the longing of the people praying God to return! "Return Lord, for the sake of your servants," he says, "Oh that you would tear the heavens open and come down!" That is a yearning cry to the Lord to Return. This cry has to be taken with an added consideration: does the Lord ever leave us? Never. The Lord has promised us so, there is no gainsaying it. But the feeling of the distance from the Lord, as the prophet presents, is true indeed! Hence the return is not so much the return of the Lord, as much as our return to the Lord. It is our return that we are called the project and programme this season... our return to the Lord, that makes us feel the closeness to God yet again in our day to day experiences. A return to integrity - that is the call that is placed before us as a project for this season, if we wish to see and experience the return of the Lord, the coming of the Reign!

Restlessness: Waiting for the Reign is not a lethargic slumber awaiting the first rays of the dawn. Expecting the Reign, is doing my part that the Reign may be experienced here and now. Doing my part with the same restlessness with which the prophet cries out and wishes a tearing open of the heavens. St. Paul, through his words to the Corinthians, reminds us that we have been given with all that is needed, to wait actively, to expect the Reigh proactively! We have the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we have teachers and preachers to instruct us, we have all the ways in which the Lord continuosly speaks to us, convicts us and challenges us to embark upon that journey towards integrity. We need to feel that restlessness within us, to work our way to this integrity, because that is the only way that the Reign can be made present here in this world. The Lord has repeatedly taught us, the Reign is not an otherworldly reality that will descend upon this earth. It is amidst us, it is within us, it is us, growing in our integrity. 

Reckoning: Let us not be complacent and callous about this call to integrity! Expecting the Reign involves a sense of urgency. Let us not think that there is an entire eternity to work on this call - to make the Reign present here and now! We have limited time and that is why the Lord warns us: stay awake! For you know not the time when "the master will return". You pray for the Return of the Lord, and Return the Lord shall! For certain the Lord shall come - but when that happens it will not only be a time of rejoicing, but also a time of reckoning! Each of us have to render an account about the call we have received and response we have managed. It is not merely how much I have accomplished, but how willing and awake I have been all the while that counts. This is integrity, and known only to myself and my Lord - that is the reckoning! The season of advent is a reminder of this challenge - wake up, shake up... buckle up and keep up! Keep the journey going... yes, it is a life journey. 

Advent is not an event; it is not a festival. Advent is a journey, a journey towards the Reign. Te Reign is amidst us! Expecting its revelation, is a journey of return, with a sense of restlessness and an urgency of the reckoning that awaits us. Let us begins this journey well and make it to that beautiful moment of receiving the Lord amidst us, the moment of rediscovering the Reign.  

Stay awake; Stay strong; Stay calm!

WORD 2day: Saturday, Last day of the Ordinary time

December 2, 2023 - Daniel 7: 5-27; Luke 21: 34-36

The talks of the end of the world,  while every other day there is an earthquake happening in some part, sporadic apprehensions about dreadful ones, or threats of Tsunami or other natural disasters causing the end of the world, or the claims of an ever present fear of a nuclear threat... these are no unfamiliar discussions. There is crisis everywhere with thousands rendered refugees on a daily basis in more than a few zones of the world... 

Let us say, there is so much signalling the end... but the message of the Lord is totally something else. Look at everything that is going on and you have something to take home as your lesson - the Word says. If I do not stay awake, I will not gather the fruits of what is going by. Staying awake is crucial. 

Yes, the last day is here...the last day of the Ordinary time... it gives the feeling of an end of a journey, but ofcourse it is not just the end! It is a new beginning too, with tomorrow. The beginning came and the end has come... and there will be a beginning tomorrow.

What follows is, again, not all that flowery. It is a waiting, a waiting that is tedious, a waiting that can be trying, a waiting that is a bit painful. St Paul compared it to the pangs of child birth. Yes, only those who stay strong will endure till the end. Staying strong is crucial too.

The liturgical year ends today with an all new phase of challenge to begin: stay awake; stay strong above all that, stay calm! Mary did. She was calm as she waited and today we are called to wait like her!

Stay Awake, Stay Strong, Stay Calm. The end may be around. But the Lord is here!