Hearing what I want to hear

WORD 2day: Friday, 17th week in Ordinary time

August 2, 2024 - Jeremiah 26: 1-9; Matthew 13: 54-58

An untoward development led me to read a bit about hearing and loss of hearing. The technicians explain that there are different kinds of hearing loss (deafness)... mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, moderately severe hearing loss, severe hearing loss and profound hearing loss! At times spiritually too these hearing losses can be calculated in a similar fashion, but we need to add one more crucial type of hearing challenge. That is, Selective Hearing Loss! Hearing only what I want to hear, or refusing to hear what I do not want to hear merely because it causes me inconvenience. This is the syndrome that we see prevalent in the people, in both the first reading and the Gospel.

When Jeremiah spoke to them about the impending danger and their need to return to the Lord, they deemed him liable to death. When Jesus spoke to them on issues that really challenged their daily life, they looked at him with suspicion and despised him for the "ordinariness" from which he hailed. They wanted to do away with him too!

The Word of God keeps rushing into our hearts. It would cleanse it, refresh it and fill it with life, if only we allow it to. If we are guarded, biased and suspicious, we would break no ground towards perfection. On this first friday of the month, let us allow the words from the Sacred Heart to fill us and challenge us, so that we may not fall prey to the syndrome of 'hearing merely what we want to hear'!

Living life in God's way

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 01, 2024 - Remembering St. Alphonsus Liguori

Jeremiah 18: 1-6; Matthew 13: 47-53

Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way

Thou art the potter, I am the clay

Mould me and make me, after thy will

while I am waiting yielded and still.

What a beautiful prayer it could be for us to make this day, inspired by the reading from Jeremiah and by the life of the saints we celebrate these days - St. Ignatius of Loyola yesterday and Alphonsus di Liguori today! Docility to the will of God is a sure way to sanctity that they propose.

In the parable that Jesus tells us today about the Reign of God, he brings out a fundamental element of either belonging to the Reign or not belonging to it. The angels will separate the good from the bad; the wicked from the righteous; the docile from the obstinate; the obedient from the rebellious; the discerning from the naive. 

It is said the hymn in heaven is, "I did it God's way"; while in hell it is, "I did it my way." The secret is here: doing it God's way! Living our life in God's way! 

Clarity amidst all confusions

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

July 31, 2024 - Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola

Jeremiah 15:10, 20-21; Matthew 13: 44-46

The first reading pictures to us Jeremiah as a person totally lost, confused, demoralised a bit and to an extent even at his wit's end. He speaks of how miserable he is and how he is surrounded by the evil doers and God-haters. However, amidst all these confusions, there is a constant clarity that is visible: the clarity that God is for him. He was convinced, whoever be against him, God was for him. As St. Paul puts it, "if God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom 8:31). That clarity is the lesson today, also from the saint we celebrate, St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Once again falling back to the first reading we see that, Jeremiah endures all pain and suffering, all persecution and injustice for the sake of the mission entrusted to him, because he was confident that it was God who has entrusted it to him. Like the treasure hidden in the field and that exceptional pearl sighted among the rest, he had the promises of God well fixed in his mind. That was enough a reason for him to risk everything, even his life. Just as Ignatius who risked everything, because he found the Lord!

Not just Ignatius whom we celebrate today, but we have had great saints in history who have lived this life of prophecy, who have lived their lives in the midst of utter confusions and endless tribulations. All of them were ready to give up anything in life, or even give up their life, because they had unearthed an unbelievable treasure in the midst of that barren land, because they had sighted the most precious stone in the midst of all the deceiving glitters. 

If we find the Lord and encounter the Lord face to face, if we become aware of what the Lord has to offer us, we shall have that enviable clarity amidst confusion, which Ignatius had; and that alone would be enough for a meaningful living!

Grandparents' Day!

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

July 26, 2024: Remembering Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary, grandparents of Jesus

Ecclesiasticus 44: 1,10-15; Matthew 13: 16-17 

The first setting in which faith enlightens humanity is the family, declares the encyclical Lumen Fidei (52). It further explains that passing on of faith in the family happens in the process of shared expression of faith within the family, helping children to become aware of their faith and grow and mature in it.

Christian faith is always communitarian and it is passed on primarily in the family. Recently someone observed, reflecting on the level of faith being lived (or practiced) in Europe vis-a-vis in India, that one major reason for the degeneration in Europe is the weakening of the institution of the family. It is absolutely true. 

Those who hand on faith to us are really God-given. Those most important among them, our parents and grandparents who not only give us life but show us also how to live it, from their own experience.

Celebrating a day to remember the parents of Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, provides us an opportunity to remember with thanks these our fore-runners in faith, as the first reading suggests, 'let us praise famous persons, our parents in their generations. These were persons of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten' (Ecclesiasticus 44:1,10). Infact, thanks to them, we are in a position better than them, due to their hard work, great example and their dreams for us! Jesus acknowledges that in his words (Mt 13:16-17) and exhorts us to live up to our blessedness, our giftedness, worthy of the faith and tradition that is transmitted to us, from our predecessors.

The transmission that the grandparents effect is a practical and concrete transmission of lived faith. It deals with right practice and right living. Faith in its very essence has an all-embracing quality of transforming the entire life of a person and the community to which the person belongs. Let us treasure our traditions, transform our todays and thus pave way for meaningful tomorrows. 

Let us pray for our Grandparents specially today and honour them in some little way; it's Grandparents' Day! 

Jesus' School of Servant Leadership

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 25, 2024 : Remembering St. James
2 Corinthians 4: 7-15; Matthew 20: 20-28 

Feast of any Apostle could remind us of the wonderful words that St. Paul utters today: "we hold this treasure in earthen vessels". Every apostle has his own weakness, nevertheless, the gift that they are and the blessings that they possess, surpass everything, as God's power and might is revealed in them. 

Feast of St. James, with the Gospel that we are given to reflect today, reminds us of this more strongly and adds another specific teaching to it, a teaching from Jesus' School of Servant Leadership. In Matthew's and Mark's versions of the Gospel, we find every time that Jesus foretells about his passion, he follows it up with a discourse on servant leadership (for instance, as we see in Mtt 16:24ff; 18:1ff; 20:20ff). 

James and John took time to realise that the only thing we can inherit from Jesus is his identity as Suffering Servant! Eventually they wanted to bear the crown that Jesus mentioned and that is what they did: James led the community of Jerusalem... humble and service minded as the Master himself, and shed his blood just like his Master (Acts 12:2). As first Bishop of Jerusalem, he has indeed been a tremendous custodian of the people of God. 

Let us praise the Lord for the apostle St. James and be prepared to witness to the Lord till our last breath!

The Word Alive

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 24, 2024 - Jeremiah 1: 1-4, 10; Matthew 13: 1-9

"See, I put my word into your mouth and I set you over the nations!" It is the word of the Lord that is put into the mouth of a prophet that makes him or her the light to the nations, a reference point to the people. The Word comes to us daily, the Word lives in us, the Word which was made flesh in the person of Christ, dwells in us as the indwelling Spirit and enlightens every bit of our life. The question is, do we realise it?

If we do realise it, we would be like the good soil that gives a hundred, a sixty and thirty fold. Because we hardly realise it, the Word is pecked away by so many other attentions that we have, or it is scorched by the difficulties we have or choked by numerous other concerns that we have.

The Word alone can show us those tendencies that are to be rooted out and to be torn down, or those that are to be destroyed and be demolished within me. The Word alone will enable me to build and to plant, to grow within me the values of the Reign and thus establish around me the Reign of God.

Choice for God, in the Lord

WORD 2day: Saturday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 20, 2024 - Micah 2: 1-5; Matthew 12: 14-21

Jesus was living dangerously. But he chose to, for the sake of the Reign of God. He stuck his neck out for the poor, for the oppressed, the marginalised, the ostracised, the exploited, the forgotten in the society. He believed that the Reign of God belonged to them. His life was a hope to the least, the last and the lost.

In this choice Jesus was making present the God of the Old Testament who sided the oppressed, who stood by the just in their struggles and who kept watch over the persons who strove to live according to God's will. The first reading points out the choice of God, the choice for the poor and the suffering. This predilection on God's part distinguished Jesus and the choices he made. His choice was, the choice of God. There were apparent and real dangers, and Jesus knew it well.

Nothing could stop him from proclaiming the Reign of God for he knew he had come precisely for that, to establish the Reign of the God of Truth, the God of the suffering, the Lord of the least, the protector of the lost, the hope of the last. Our identity has to be our Choices, may they be forever in keeping with the choices of God!

Mercifulnes - Consoling presence of God

WORD 2day: Friday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 12, 2024: Hosea 14: 2-10; Matthew 10: 16-23

"Straight are the paths of the Lord"(Hos 14:10), declares prophet Hosea today. Straight, and therefore tough. Straight and therefore no compromises. Straight and therefore no confusions! Everyone knows the ways of the Lord; everyone knows what is acceptable to the Lord and what is not; it is made known by the Lord to every human person in their innermost self.

The words of Jesus in the Gospel are quite frightening as we find Jesus trying to warn us, in the context against being good, against choosing the ways of the Lord and being God's disciples or apostles of the Word. He d oes not promise any prospects, instead persecution. He does not announce any offers, instead oppression. He says it very clearly that we will have to suffer for his sake, for the sake of the Word and for the sake of the Reign of God.

But there is one thing that he assures: the consolation of the Lord, the consoling and affirming presence ofm the Lord with us. Because what we have chosen is the way of the Lord, we are sure to find the Lord present with us all the way. The way might be filled with pitfalls and climbs and hurdles and thorns and thistles... but we are sure amidst all these, the Lord walks with us, speaks on our behalf and acts in and through us. What a mighty consolation we have: God with us!

God's Instruments of Love

WORD 2day: Thursday, 14th week in Ordinary timer

July 11, 2024  - Hosea 11: 1-4, 8,9; Matthew 10: 7-15

The Word today presents to us yet another intimate dimension of God's love: the love of a loving parent, the love of a father or that of a mother. The very same compassion that Yahweh had towards the people of Israel, Jesus exhibits towards all. The longing of the Lord to hold us close to Godself, the yearning to be close to God's children and assist them in every bit of their difficulties, the readiness to understand their uneasiness and provide them with solutions of true and eternal joy and give them an experience of wholeness... the heart of God goes out to God's people in compassion and love.

There is an added dimension in the Gospel, when Jesus tells his disciples whom he wishes to send among the people ahead of him... to go to heal, to listen to, to empathise with and to be there for the people, specially those who are suffering. Jesus seems to say, God wants to endlessly show God's love to the people and you are the instruments through which God will accomplish that desire! It is here that the wonderful prayer of Francis of Assisi becomes so meaningful and precious: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace! To sow love, mercy, forgiveness...that is the mission of a person of God.

Let us realise today that we have a specific mission wherever we are: let us not look for love, let us give it; let us not look for understanding, let us live it; let us not look for mercy, let us be merciful. Let us be God's instruments of love.

Faithfulness is a daily matter

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 10, 2024: Hosea 10: 1-3, 7-8, 12; Matthew 10: 1-7

Faithfulness to God and a contrary tendency, this is the theme that runs through the entire book of Prophet Hosea. He insists on the need to remain faithful to God, or in case of a fall, to renew our faithfulness and cuddle up back to God's love. The worst thing that can happen in a relationship is not an accidental breach of faith, instead a deliberate choice of treason, and an obstinate repetition of the same. 

The Gospel reminds us of our special calling, the call to belong to the Lord and to follow him; a call by name! The reminder is made specific as the Lord instructs the apostles to go into the lost flock of Israel and not outside. The point is for us to understand that we as people of God, chosen children of God, we are the first ones who need to be converted. As the teachings of the Church insists with such clarity: the evangeliser has to be first evangelised; one who proclaims the Word has to first allow oneself to be challenged against the background of the Word!

Our faithfulness is not only a matter of life and death, it is primarily a matter of simple, ordinary, day to day decisions and choices. It has to be exhibited in our day to day priorities and be lived on an everyday basis. Faithfulness is better understood as a matter of everyday living, rather than an overall project of life.