As Usual at the Fig Tree

"I waited for him,
I searched for him.
He came to me,
he said that he had seen me waiting and searching.
How could I miss him?
I could not recognise him because I did not expect him to be so familiar:" Nathaniel.

The day is as ordinary as any other day,
people are as familiar as of everyday
works I do are same every day
Joys and pain are just as of every day......
Yet amidst these he passes by, he sees me waiting and searching for him
he moves ahead because I am yet to be ready to see him in familiar forms

A ladder, a significant tree, a pole, a pyramid ....
symbol of a meeting point.
day is same, the moments are same, yet the meeting makes the difference
it is a meeting between my life and of God,
life known and its meaning,
life known and the life's mysteries.
Nazareth produces good fruits.

The waiting and searching
to recognise Christ
the Christ for me
and the Christ in me

Begin to love beyond boundaries and prejudices
to grow in favour of God and people.
May wisdom guide us
in order that the love may be actual in pour contact with God and people

____________________
See also കാത്തിരിക്കുന്നു അവനായ്, പതിവുപോലെ

'Jesus,' One who saves! What is in your name?

The name 'Jesus' is not a name made of J, E, S, U, S. The name becomes important and significant because it  refers to the person and function of Christ. Otherwise it would have been like any other name, just a name. 

Whether be called Jesus, Jesu, Yesu, Isa, Isho, Yezus, Hesus, Jisu, Yeshua, Jisos, Gesus, Yeshu, ... or Zishu, when called in faith they invoke the same person Jesus Christ. It is in response to the personal relationship to him we have him as the source of salvation, grace and truth. It is of no meaning to say that any one of the above name has accuracy or special effect. It is in our relationship with him we receive the efficacy of the name as powerful, sweet, loving... It is not to be imagined in any magical effect. His power, and our submission (every knee shall bow) need to be understood not in a political sense where he rules as a king. As logos everything depends on him for its very existence.

Jesus was named so, because he is the saviour. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Sin is not some 'thing' that can be taken away. It is absence of grace, so of life, power, light beauty...He is the saviour by giving us that grace, so life, power, light, beauty and strength. He came to give life (grace) in abundance. We who have a relation with him will receive grace upon grace. When we say about the blood of Jesus, again it is about the life that he has given to us. In any archaic  atonement ritual blood was very significant. As the blood is the symbol of life, the anointing we ask him of his blood is truly an anointing by grace. The pain and bleeding is not to create a pity feeling, but to affirm us of the strength of life poured into us.

We too are 'named' according to our character defined by the genetic, familial and cultural settings of our life. So touched by grace in that mode, we may have received a special anointing and a name. 'Jesus' is source of grace, who heals our wounds. We are named perhaps tenderness, consolation, joy, creativity, companion, strength and so on...

Word: Joyous and Passionate Care

How many caring hands we need to be grateful to...
those with gifts and with their presence.
Intimate and personal care,
most of them unseen
unrecognised and unidentified.

Grateful to the unknown yet caring mysteries of the Word
Care about every particular being
Care about its connection with others
Care about the whole body of beings
itself is the Word.

Care foresees emptying and death
yet it alone brings forth life
How many emptying must we be grateful for?

Care is a passion
a joyous passion, not a sorrowful passion
Care is the mystery of the Word
a sincere emptying..
there nothing dies, other than to live again
withers and falls to offer a world to something else.

God's hand..
Creating, moulding, healing and nourishing
emptying care in nature
Wisdom of care,
revealed only to the children of the earth.

The Word meets Flesh

At every weakness and pain of ours,
there is a nearness of Christ.
Only if we can believe that sincere closeness to our own deep emptiness,
we can understand the depth of the self-emptying of the Word...
to be a baby, refugee, labourer, victim, and failure.

Word among us the flesh
among the dry dust to lush green and conscious human
Word is in everything,
everything lives by the Word

Mary loved the Word so sincerely
that she could bring forth the Word in human form
The bearer, full of grace
the borne, fullness of grace and the source of grace.

He spreads the grace fountains
to every emptiness..
Flesh in its beauty and ugliness,
searches the grace streams...

There, in the sincerity of heart,
willingness to be receptive and open,
mercy and faithfulness meet
justice and peace embrace.
Truth shall spring from the flesh
joy and peace be born in us...

Grace streams flow into our hearts,
filled by the Holy Spirit,
our feels, thoughts, visions, words, touches will have grace contents.
We are born...

The Word becomes flesh, the moment of true Christmas.

Ref Ps 85: 10