Pope Francis

He lived with Christ, He will be with Christ.

He had a heart of mercy, the face of God,
He had a heart of Christ who was the door.
He hungered for justice and peace,
spread the joy of God.
He condemned war,
sided with migrants.
He held God's kingdom in his heart,
stretching the boundaries of the tent,
embracing all.
He loved the earth, and all children of the earth.

So, he was also condemned,
he did suffer accusation of blasphemy,
he was called an idolator and an agent of devil.

He lived with Christ, He will be with Christ.

They crucified Him

They crucified Him
according to the law of Moses.
Christ gave (lived completely and fully) his life
according to the will of God.

Pilate released Barabbas
according to the custom.
Christ offered Paradise to the thief
according to the love flowed out.

Cross is only a dry wood

if there is no crucified. 

It is in us the crucified lives.

Life of God is shared among all,

not from a heaven above.

Christ stretched out his arms

we are all in him.

Was that death a ransom,

Christ's Father would not ask for it.

He offered his life,

to complete the will of the Father that all may have life.

According to the 'divine laws' and customs,

we can escape from the life of the cross. 

Seeking the will of God, with love,

we meet the wounded healer;

in us for others, in others for us.

Christ has 'entered'

'Christ came to die' does not describe him well. Christ gave us life, fully and completely; he emptied himself of the fulness of life because he was the author of life. He saves us by filling us with life, not by saving from .... Hosanna to Him. 

Life offers consolation and peace to the pain and burdens of ours. Christ's life gives that consolation which is a longing of all humanity. It answers the cry 'why have you forsaken me?' Once this consolation is a nurturing reality in our lives, it is visible that the glory of God shines once again. 

God who is confined to holy places and liturgies is not a giver of life. It is only an object of worship. If we are sufficiently hypocritical, we can very well find comfort in a religious environment. But if we want to really experience and live the life of salvation, Christ has 'entered' our lives; the reality of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ is here in our flesh. Because he lives in us. The very moment we want to give our life for others, there is a cross erected. Our sufferings and pains are not the crosses. But the willingness to offer our lives is the lifegiving tree.

Imagine the entry of ours into the lives of different people, imagine those who have entered our lives. Were we able to pour out our  life completely and fully in a life-giving manner? Perhaps, we were not. Are we willing? Have we seen the self emptying of others for us? You lived for me and emptied yourself for me. Is it a social figuration of Christ events? No, its Christ lived and experienced in reality.

Grace-Body

Sin is gracelessness, and there may be many reasons for this condition more than a particular action called a sin. Settled sorrows, disappointments, sense of loss, despair ... can make that condition where sin, lifelessness, can set in. 

As formed from repeated choices, breaking away from vices involved in our gracelessness and moving to virtue is not easy. restructuring the routine, finding alternative rewards, finding satisfying motivation ... are significant. Often, the 'individual' sense has left each of us alone to be in this struggle. Growth in virtues is possible as we make our efforts together.

There is an emotional side of every emptiness from which sin emerges. So, an emotional letting to experience consolation, comfort, strength, nurture, care, companionship are also important. It is important to practice self-compassion as part of personal experience of divine life. 

Often, a neglected reality is our body except for finding fault with it as the cause for all sins. Experience grace in and through the body. Our physicality can be  sacrament of the divine embrace. Allow body to sense it and be immersed in it. Never to be afraid in body experiencing the intimate love of God.  

powered God- Christ

Deified and politicised God is all powerful, but is in need of human defense and protection. That is an idol at the service of power.

Christ within a religious framework is not Christ at all. Because truth of Christ cannot be contained in definitions. He became one among us, and we claim that we have known him fully.  Christ is not in an up-above heaven. The truth of Christ involves all of us, all humanity, all differences. To understand him, we need openness to the other despite all the differences. To realise in-Him, we need the vibrance of with-the other and through-the other. Christ lives in us, and we all live in Christ. Without learning to trust the other whom we can see how are we to trust Christ who lives in all others and in us together in entirety?

Super-imaging of Christ is, in fact, marking boundaries for Christ. It influences the understanding of sharing of the gospel, being the Church, and relating to others. Every existence is a mutual-existence. and in Him every being a co-being.

I too do not condemn

 These days of lent help us to be closer to Jesus and enter into the heart of God. We began with understanding our struggles and temptations with the presence of Jesus and strengthened by the voice of God. We reflected on ways of closely imitating him, believing and walking with him through the daily realities on the plane. Then we began looking deeper into the heart of God and reflected how we enter. Now, these days we are meditating how we possess the nature of God in our person and community.

We know that it is not easy, and demands a lot of effort. Let us keep the passage of last Sunday also to reflect on the passage given today. “… the Pharisees and Scribes complained, … and then He told them a parable: …” He came to the temple, all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman …” Women like this are to be condemned to death by stoning according to the law of Moses. A similar tone is seen also on the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, “What sort of woman is she …” We heard the same accusation last Sunday from the elder son, “this son of yours who devoured your living with harlots ….”
According to the law of Moses, what is to be maintained and achieved? It is a covenantal bond. It does not aim at an individual righteousness which can hounour someone with the position of judge. The covenant is to a people, and any failure in the covenantal bond needs to be repaired by the ‘people’ together. ‘Anyone of you who has no sin…’ is not only a reminder of sinfulness, but also a call to build each other in grace so that no one may be in a state that one loses themselves and unable to experience God’s grace. Are you a righteous one? Thank God, and extend yourselves after the heart of God that they may also live.
‘This one’ was lost but is found, was dead and is alive is a cause of rejoicing and celebrating; not an occasion to condemn. We can go to the extreme that we can find fault with God too. Because these are condemnable according to the law of Moses; they are sinners, immoral, strangers, outsiders, pagans, and unholy. We cannot believe that God can love them. Somewhere there is wrong with the approach of God. Perhaps some need a judge-saviour and judge-deity to serve their own ethical codes. We may not be able to apply fixed definitions to participate in God's nature. Entering into the heart of God is a celebration without biases and judgment. It is a giving and receiving of life to the full.
Jesus asks us to grow a bit more from the possibilities of the law. More than surety of discipline, order and perfection, life is to be directed to a maturity in Christ in whom we grow and participate in the nature of God. St Paul presents it as the goal of life, a goal for which Christ has made us his own. The past is gone; perhaps using the law as a judgment tool, or being condemned by the law, or being guided by the law. But, now “all I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and share in his suffering by imitating the pattern of his death.”
Christ is not an obligation-framework, he is the source of life. Being in Christ fills in us the newness of life, the power of the resurrection. Life, the Christ-nature has a creative restlessness until this same life flows into all those who are weak, oppressed, and those who don’t see a time of grace. So, naturally, our life and attitudes take a life-giving mode. Life grows as we take a mutually-consoling manner. “No need to remember the past, don’t think of what was done before” is not a denial or break away from the past, but a total reception of the entirety of life into God’s unfathomable love.
People coming back home, people thrown at our feet may not be in a religious context all the time. According to religion, according to our daily life routines, many are easily judged, and those judgements are justified. Can we examine in us for a Christ-response in our attitudes, evaluations and judgments? Recently I heard some holy Christians instructing that it is against the first commandment to help someone or donate blood to someone of a different faith. If our very Christianness becomes an obstacle to be Christlike and make us judge in a godless nature, there is a lifeless chair of Moses still in function. Christ is the door to enter to God and the home we enter into. Christ is the model to follow, in him we have celebration and joy. We welcome, we accept, we embrace, we do not condemn, we desire life and mercy. Let us try, let us ask God’s help to realise the righteousness, peace and joy of the kingdom.

Coming Home

Did Christ die as a rebellious acceptance of violence?
Did he die as a victim of Jewish religious hypocrisy and Roman cruelty?
Did he die as a ritualistic sacrifice for sins; Did he die as a ransom before a judging deity who would pardon only if a cruel death would be offered?

He was a victim of Jewish religious hypocrisy and Roman cruelty. But he lived his life to the full, emptying himself. The abundance of life he would give to humanity would not be defeated by the wicked holiness of the jews.

Perhaps some need a judge-saviour and judge-deity to serve their own ethical codes. We may not be able to apply fixed definitions to to participate in God's nature. Entering into the heart of God is a celebration without biases and judgment. It is a giving and receiving of life to the full.

As we 'enter' our house, there is no home to reach, we make the home and we are the home. Repentance and homecoming is similar as we become one home that is Christ.

Opening the doors to heaven

Heaven is never closed in order to be open for us. Of course, we can make walls around us and be inside them, and be not in heaven. We hold the key to open it. Christ is the door that everyone enters into the Father. We know it, and we are very near to it. But make excuses and  be reluctant to enter.

The keys to enter: 1) free of biases and prejudices about others. It may be based on culture, religion, nationality, ethnicity ....

2) free of biases and prejudices about ourselves. There are biases that stand against the kingdom of God Jesus introduced, such as we are under condemnation, we bear curses, deserve punishments, unworthy and should be ashamed.

3) learn to trust in God, and his unconditional love.

4) Entering the kingdom means to stand against evil. Often many are fascinated by taking sword and fighting against a superhero devil. But it is by opting and living the values of the kingdom we resist evil. We need good will as person and community. Be committed as a community for establishing goodness, peace and justice. 

The kingdom is at hand. They keys are given to you. if you lock, it will be locked for you, if you open, it will be opened for you and for many.

'Adolescence'

 "Why all are speaking about 'Adolescence,'" a Netflix series? It can be seen that what they are speaking is not speaking fully.

Many articles speak of it as a wakeup call for good parenting. If parenting is taken in a wide sense, of course, it is right. Instead, if they points only to their character, behaviour, and their quarrels and anger issues, they speak very less than what needs to be spoken.
Primarily, 'the system' itself is unaware of the world of the 'adolescent' or the online world of people whatever age they may be. There are preferred worlds for them. There is a language, community, values, interactions in that chosen world.
Unliked, unloved, unaccepted, or abused children are Liked, Friended, and loved. Parental emptiness, or belong-nowhere get a filling source online. The breakdown of family and society had been happening even before with various reasons. But those voids were filled with toxic ointments online.
The Series points to the incel (involuntary celibate) groups. The basic belief contains that the women are highly selective and there is a possibility of being rejected. 'I am ugly' is an expression of this feeling of being 'sexually' rejected. So, a 'manosphere' in which a male uprising happens is seen as a solution.
Incel, whether it refers to sexual acceptance or various aspects it involves today, cannot addressed just within the deficiency of parenting. What the articles do not speak is about the standards on which the bullying, the denial, and the rejection are maintained.
Society needs to see the conversations, priorities it builds and maintains for whatever benefit. A denial, humiliation, of friendship, or 'sexual' acceptance base itself on race, colour, nationality, language, religion etc. As 'selection' is highly dependent on these factors, the same factors gathers them into rebellious, reactionist, and even violent online communities. Often they have shown themselves in the real world causing injuries and murders.
If society prefers to form governmental, political and educational system maintaining the hateful separations, and such conversations happen in families incels are not born out of 'personal' quarrels and anger of parents. Jamie's father tells 'we made him' cannot refer to him and his wife alone. it is the society and culture that made him.
What are the ways people, especially the children and the youth, feel they are ugly, unworthy, and get 'red-pilled,' find helpless in 'blackpill,' and get into nonexistence if they are 'blue-pilled'? How do religions and politics maintain and use these incel groups for their advantage?
We need to speak more, and speak sincerely and wholly. Only honest conversations can bring out a healthy generation online and offline.

'Learn to do good'

Law bases itself on order, and gives a guideline. But it cannot ensure goodness. It is up to us whether we learn to do good. Good may differ in its intensity and kind. So, we need to be guided by wisdom. Wisdom itself is a fruit of our active attentiveness to our experiences. Wisdom is also a gift where grace has been present in those moments. 

'Learn to do good' begins in a deliberate decision to 'cease to do evil.' It is must when it is volitional. At least in intention, it must be addressed when evil remains as a weakness. Learning to do good, as an effort and by grace will help us in 'cease to do evil.'

Where do we find freedom to learn to do good unless we seek justice? Justice is not just one's due. It is attending to one's potential for flourishing. That is the righteousness of the kingdom of God. There is no goodness learned, nor justice sought, if a person, a nation, a community is not attended to one's potential to flourish. Instead, there is evil affirmed and constructed.

Compromising to these affirmed and constructed evils is well justified by the capacity of law, because they can be well settled within the matter of order without ensuring goodness. Our Kingdom is well imagined within cognitive, legal/canonical frameworks of the divine being and action, and similarly human being and actions. Compassion, mercy, and love can extend only from the felt need of the other, whatever it may be, as one's own need. It calls for responsible and committed efforts, so we take recourse on the judicial goodness which can bring about very less of our living or the divine life.

Life and death is set before you....

Its a prophetic call to discern the divine will within written laws.
Letters of the law have power and they can be under the manipulative intentions of the powerful.
'You shall live' if we can listen to the voice of God, not to the will of the powerful.
Renounce yourself also include losing one's power over the command of letters one uses.
These letters can be customs, liturgy, traditions, and perspectives.

Losing oneself for finding oneself in Christ!

Here is the commandment of God,

Here is the Holy God,

What is the voice in the 'commandment o God,'

What is truly Godly in the 'Holy God?'

Life and death is set before you....

be a prophet to know and follow life

new Christianity

There is a new Christianity
which Christ never knew.
Christian flavour everywhere,
no virtues of Christ.

They keep holy ideals, but intolerant militants in approach
They speak of virtues, but moralist dictators.
We suffered wars over claims on the promised land,
Now 'son of God' just claims lands for making a peaceful world.
National security, international security all assured when 'son of God' rules.

Mammon stretches his wings to the far space,
and the 'faithful' sing Hosanna to the convenient Christs.

Fun of Peace

 'PEACE' has become a fun now.

Some offer peace as charity.

Emperors and colonial powers had extended peace since they 'did not want war,' but at the submission of you, your faith, and culture.
Now, peace is extended at the submission of oil, minerals. and water.

They say that some GOD was with them!

What comes out of us

 “From the abundance of one’s heart, mouth speaks.” To know what fills our hearts, we must know what feeds our hearts. Jesus often spoke about fruitfulness; fruitfulness, not in the sense of great number or large sum, but they were to be of quality. This quality depended on abiding in him, being pruned for a better produce, preparing good soil for producing thirty, sixty or a hundred fold. What Jesus spoke flowed from his heart, the words given by the Father; his words had authority, his words were truth and life.

What do we speak as a person and as a Christian community? What are we fed with in order to speak? Are we aware of the level of poison that enters us from the polluted water, air and soil? Some deny that. Similarly, we are unaware of the mis-information and half-truths we are feeding on. In such an environment, how are we to engage in an honest and upright conversation? Truth is more than the correctness of knowledge, but it is faithfulness and trustworthiness of a relationship. In this relationship, we enter the process of knowledge about the Father, about ourselves, about our times and their signs. It is a process of gradually being known. Our prayer, faith, and relationship with God, all these are to be in the gradual growth of being the children of God. Our conversations need to flow from these aspects, that we set our heart in communion with the Father and others, and we humbly be open for the truth being revealed in our life and our society. “We don’t possess the truth, but we belong to the truth.” 

Today, we are living a cultural phenomenon where facts are secondary to personal beliefs, emotions, and biases. So, truth is generated, often distorted, manipulated, or disregarded altogether. It affects our daily living environment, public conscience, interactions and social institutions. We have a great flood of information, and thousands of perspectives. We do not know what to trust. Just as we are vulnerable to non-truths and half-truths, knowingly or unknowingly we are also agents of misinformation and lies. 

When in conversations, what we speak about ourselves, about one who is listening, about our family, social and ecclesiastical institutions, are we speaking truth? We speak of problems, but we are rarely ready to see clearly what is the truth. Often, we go into defense or denial and go ahead as though everything is fine. We need truthful observations, critical and logical assessment to understand things. A good tree that bears good fruit stands in integrity in its life. The inner resources we gather must lead us to an integral form of life which manifests fruits from its resources. Whether we have seen ourselves within the communion with God, being in Christ, and being in communion with one another is an important question to be asked. Our own personal self, with its biological, emotional, intellectual, sexual, social dimensions is to be seen clearly and received as it is being known. Our true message is a response from this self in its entirety. We see that science, religion, and politics move away from truth and good will, and take perspectives. We do have perspectives, but we must make sure that we have not bought a divisive and politicised ideological perspective for ourselves. It does happen in religion, society and politics. We require an integral view of things, concerning faith, family, church, changes, relationships, troubles. Instead of seeing them clearly in completeness in their own structures and contexts we may approach partly and may bind ourselves to perspectives and ideological frames. As we are confined to these frames, our conversations cannot be free, honest, and upright. Then, our words do not carry truth and life. Our words are qualified with goodness when heart is filled with goodness.

In the parables of Jesus, there was a fig tree full of leaves but did not bear fruits, in Isiah 5, there was a vine branch carefully planted but produced sour grapes, in Ezekiel 17, there was a twig removed and planted on a river bed which grew but stretched its branches far towards other resources and securities. Each of these offers us feeding roots which frame our conversations. We might speak of the glories of ourselves and our history; in such pompous attires we make ourselves conveniently blind against crises and fruitlessness. We chose divisive securities and enclosed identities, and claim and proclaim them as divine. There is no good news in those words. We can easily manipulate the emotions and beliefs and reformulate in the name of God, causing the production of sour fruits.

Jesus listened to the Father, listened to the cry of his people and time. He was the truth that gives life to all, but the same truth of himself was seen disfigured in front of him. The nature of the kingdom he announced clearly shows that the truth of Christ was a gathering and embracing heart.  So, His words had to bring healing to the truths that exploited them. Religion and society had created truths, and they could not be challenged or questioned because they were declared divine. This divine did not qualify the Father, Jesus was speaking to. 

We cannot have our words lifegiving unless there is desire for virtues. The truth of our words grows deeper as our relationship deepens; both with God and others. The grasp of truth fills us with more compassion and openness. In a genuine conversation, there may be constant recognition of “your words are truth and life.” Those words have authority to heal and to forgive. A heart that seeks virtues considers something fully, not partly, and it takes courage to speak truth without seeing whether others are pleased or not. One speaks of oneself in humility and sincerity; and speaks of others in truth, compassion and charity, seeing good of all. In both, prudence is exercised in speaking what and how. Wisdom comes to the aid to guide the conversation, and the living of it.  The disciples on the Emmaus way asked later, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road and explaining the scriptures to us.” Lk 24: 32 Let us pray that our conversations touch the core realities of our lives, biological and genetic, emotional and psychic, social and cultural, philosophical and religious; not hiding, not pleasing, but strengthening, healing, and leading, interpreting our journey on the way in a new language of grace. 

“The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. The law of God is in his heart; his steps never slip.” Ps 37: 30. 

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Flower of Time

Next year, by this time, we may be there, I may have a job, I will have paid back the loan, and we should have a house. My medications may be over and I may be well again. See, we are already in the future. There is an investment of time. This investment involves hopes, dreams, fears, anxieties, and disappointment. Among these moments, some are opening to further events. All of them have something to fill into our life. As the title of J.T. Fraser’s book stands, Time is The Familiar Stranger. Are we running behind an arrow of time, are we being carried on a wheel of time? Or are we creators of time?

Time is unprompted. If we reflect on the spontaneity of time through the thoughts of Henri Bergson’s philosophy, the nature of time is ‘duration.’ Duration is not a measured sum of time stretched out between certain ends. Time is not a series of quantifiable moments ordered in a line; rather, it is a living, flowing entity that we experience only intuitively. Time is lived qualitative inner subjective experience.

Time is ever same, and every day is yet another day. It is true. But we experience passages of life; passages of day and night, birth and death and so on. So, passages invite us to newness, not because we may be wrong somehow, but to move into a qualitative human living. Understanding time as a living entity we can cherish the spontaneous nature of our experiences. Each moment of our lives, no matter how ordinary and familiar, carries its own depth and significance. There is beauty in it. What may come is not known. It permits us to flow with time, finding meaning in the unpredictability and chaos of life.  It encourages us to liberate ourselves from a rigid grasp of time.

Even many spiritual traditions confine time within a horizontal-linear framework. Our craze for the predictability of reality makes time so determined that even God cannot escape from human predictable outcomes. There is sin and punishment, blessing and prosperity, morality, error, and righteousness, all in one line with their causes and effects. These impose limitations on the richness of time.  This reductionist view strips away the dynamic and spontaneous essence of time. They overlook the complex and creative interplay of moments that constitute our lived experience. They may fixate on goals and endpoints, neglecting the significance of the journey itself, with all its nuances and spontaneity.

Often, we value time according to its utility toward a predetermined outcome. What is the use of ‘wasting’ time like this? Here time has become transactional. There we miss the inherent beauty of spontaneous existence; the joys, uncertainties, and unforeseen encounters.  It is in the appreciation of simply ‘being,’ presencing that we can be in the fluidity of time. Michael Ende, in his novel Momo, introduces time as a flower blooming from our hearts. It gradually unfolds. Time is an ever-unfolding tapestry, where each moment is interwoven with the past and the future, creating a rich tapestry of experience that defies any form of calculated and quantified form of time. Time is what we have outpoured for others. We cannot measure it, it can be known only by intuition.

We must begin with courage and hope; we must end certain stories; there are changes inevitable in our lives; there are doorways or passages we have to pass through. There is something sacred about it. These moments are not the same as other moments. The Roman god Janus, god of seasons, time and change, is often depicted with two faces looking into past and future. While we dwell in the present, it is an active blend of all our experiences shaped by our history and aspirations. Though time is seen as abstract, the lived time is complex and layered, demanding a deeper reflection on how we picture our existence within it.

Taking the spontaneity of time leads us to a celebration of life in its most authentic form. There we stand with the unfolding freedom of our hearts. Embracing such a view enriches our understanding of our existence; and fosters a more profound connection with the divine tapestry of which we are all a part. This tapestry of grace carries our events most beautifully, and fully immerse ourselves in the beauty of the now, experiencing it as a sacred and spontaneous gift. The beginnings and the end mark gateways archways, and thresholds that lead us to peace. If there is no peace, there is no grace of time. Time is born of Terra and Caelus, the Earth and the Sky. Peace, grace, and beauty of time unfold as we have a harmonious living with the earth and the sky.

Time is a familiar stranger, but time has a name, Logos, the Word, the beginning and the end, the origin and purpose of all things. Logos is the passage through which all pass, the threshold at which everyone must make a transitional choice for peace, harmony, beauty and goodness. In Logos, every being unfolds and finds one’s truth. In logos one reveals and opens a petal of time. As the Word unfolds, so too does time.

family of God

Holy Family of Nazareth is a communion of love.
In that communion fullness of grace lives and brings fruit.
Communion of love cannot close the door for anyone.

If the church has to be a communion of love,

it must shed its elite spirituality elite theology, elite God, and elite holiness,

stop terming 'others' as pagans, heathens, barbarians ...

Communion of love cannot hold arrogant pride and scornful boastfulness.

Communion of love cannot canonise them and justify cruelty and evil.

Instead, it opens the eyes and hearts of goodness,

towards the truth of Christ that is beyond all elite thinking.

The light of Christ shines among all people of goodwill.

They are the family of God, 

a family beyond the boundaries of elite 'chosen' people.

The Word did become flesh

Beauty (glory) of God shines in people good will; not as a rewarding light shining on them but as a flower's beauty. Good will reflects in virtues, but in them, what invites to God's beauty is the sincere labour one makes to keep the good will always.

Where do we experience, share, and hold this beauty other than in our physical-biological reality? It is sacramental. All theo-logics spoke about that aspect of us which we call soul. Rarely they considered the physicality in contemplating human reality. Christ's very incarnation speaks primarily of being human. He dwelt among us that we may be fully human. We be his body, sacramentally and physically.
Titles God of gods, and king of kings ... destroys the very will of God in incarnation. If Christ is Christ only with these titles, he is yet to incarnate, there is no beauty of God nor of humanity shining in him. Christ is born human, humanly.

The Word in us

The Word found a home, not in a sacred world, not in the temple, not in the palace.
The word found a home in the profanity of everyday human conditions.

The Word was made flesh.
The Word was visible in nature
in its marvelous dynamics of caring for and maintaining each of its members.
The word has been in human forms in care, kindness, compassion and goodness in all ages.
The Word incarnated in human form.
He was cared for by a helpless mother and father,
sheltered by shepherds.

There is a communion of bodies that care for the Word made flesh.
Care manifests in a blessing,
"Blessed are you, and blessed is the Word you have given birth."
There is rejoicing in my flesh because of your presence, your word, your touch.
It is in communion of our bodies we can welcome and in-personalize the Word.
It is in communion of bodies we can be the living Word, incarnate and risen.
There is beauty and glory shared,
pains and injuries known,
healing desired,
and Christ is known to be alive in the flesh.

Joy of His coming

In preparation for Christmas, some are preparing sweets, some are planning for cribs, others thinking of gifts. The sight of the final outcome and the enjoying of sweets are the moments of happiness. Christmas joy, really, is an outcome of having the child at the manger of Bethlehem in our life. Once we have seen him, taken him, and loved him, our life receives a new light and joy.

A theme that comes often in this season is the great banquet in the book of Isaiah: “… the Lord Almighty will prepare a great banquet for all peoples (Isaiah 25:6-9).” In the context of Advent, a time of waiting and preparation, this great banquet is awaited and personalised. A humble feeding manger becomes a symbol of the great banquet, where God’s abundance and love are shared with all people. This banquet, where God will wipe away tears and destroy death, remove every disgrace from all the earth offers a powerful message of joy and hope. The banquet at the manger is not a symbol, it is a reality. The poor, the meek, the afflicted will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will rejoice in him (Psalm 22:26). We go to the manger to take him into our hands and hearts, to be fed by him, to be comforted and healed; burdens to be lightened and find rest for our souls.


Another verse from Isaiah, “the Lord will rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5, Zephaniah 3:17) provides a comforting renewal promise from God. People suffered abandonment and rejection, and the land became desolate. God renamed their painful wounds, as ‘God’s Delight,’ and ‘the Bride of God.’ When the mystery of incarnation touches us deeply, this child given to us is an anointing, soothing our weary souls. Regardless of our past experiences, feelings of abandonment, or societal labels, we find a new definition in the baby in the manger, the banquet of life. In him, we can find that we are worth something, the worth of a child of God. This is our true identity, one grounded in love and acceptance, fostering a sense of inner peace and fulfilment. By calling us the ‘Bride of God’ God shows us how he cherishes our belonging to him. It is nourishment that removes every shame and makes us stand worthy amidst people. In those moments of despair, when the weight of the world feels particularly heavy, we can sense God’s gentle hand guiding us through our pain. It is often in the quiet stillness of prayer that His comfort washes over us like a warm embrace. The Holy Spirit speaks truths of our lives into our hearts, reminding us of God’s unfailing love and the sacredness of our journey, even when the path feels obscured by shadows. In fact, we are re-narrating our life in the joy of God, re-naming and rebirthing ourselves. It is the beginning of a process of re-birthing the Messiah in us.


We can experience God’s unique comfort through the presence of our loved ones — those who listen to us, who walk beside us, and whose laughter reminds us of joy even amidst sorrow. They become sacraments of His grace, reflecting the love of Christ in tangible ways. Nature, too, reveals God’s majesty and tenderness; a blooming flower, a serene sunrise, or the gentle rustle of leaves can spark a mystical connection, drawing us closer to the Creator who designed these wonders for our delight.

The comfort from God is woven throughout the fabric of our lives, illuminating even the darkest corners. It invites us into a deeper relationship with Him, fostering a mystical intimacy where our souls resonate with His divine presence, ultimately guiding us toward healing and peace. In this sacred communion, we find the strength to persevere and the assurance that God's love surrounds us, cradling us in our moments of need.

The banquet, the comfort, rejoicing are they all real? Or a feel-good imaginations? The child given to us makes it real. Christ is the banquet of joy, a reality we must realise in us. The divine child is fed at the breast of Mary. Mary brings forth the best fruit of her life. The shepherds arrive with help and care. There is a banquet of communion of bodies, the potential of grace in human bodies. Joy comes as a living reality only when our bodies are engaged in communion which ensures comfort and healing for one another. Tears will be wiped away, no one will be abandoned, prejudices may be removed, and life will be ensured. Christ is revealed and born in our communion. There is the real joy of the birth of Christ.

When children cry in fear and pain, when there is no flower and sweetness, when only smoke, fire, and bombshells are all around, the joy of Christmas is not from a passive hope but from an active stand for justice. If there is no Christophany in us amidst the invisibles and the uncounted among our brothers and sisters, there is no good news.

We pray that we may be able to approach Christ with a sincere expectation to see him in our life. In us, there may be a manger, fear of tragedy, or wandering for meaning. The reality of incarnation may be real in us only if we are ready to see Christ in simplicity, humiliation, shame, and limitations. Because it is there, we find ourselves in Christ to be born anew into the freshness of life.

Perhaps it is worth taking the child Jesus like Simeon in our hands. He saw a fulfilment of what he had waited for. His heart was filled with peace and contentment. Let us now take into our hearts the words of Isaiah 9:6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Christ, born as a child, is a sure sign that he has entered into our human realities. His rule in faithfulness and justice will ensure life and hope for us. He guides, guards, nourishes, and leads us in peace.

This is a great gift to us from God. In Christ, God recreates us, not just by a command, but by an active involvement in our lives. We are reminded of a transformative relationship with God, our relationship as the children of God. When we truly embrace this gift with open hearts, a deep sense of gratitude and joy fills our hearts. Is it not wonderful to feel that joy, especially when we understand what it truly means to be the children of God? It’s a journey that brings us closer to God and to one another.

Joy also springs forth when we actively live out the virtues seen in the Bethlehem community. In sharing joy with others—especially the marginalized and the poor—we mirror the heart of God, who delights in lifting up the downtrodden. In doing so, we experience the freedom that comes from loving as we have been loved, and our joy becomes a wellspring that nourishes our souls and those around us.

Gratitude is something essential for experiencing joy. We often find ourselves struggling to find happiness in the midst of challenges. What else can make the people around the nativity scene joyous other than gratitude? Mary and Joseph were grateful; the shepherds and the wise men were grateful. There was nothing so great to be excited about. There was not only an incarnation of Christ, there was also an incarnation of care, presence, and happiness, which brought all of them there. Can we find something in our lives every day to be grateful for? Gratitude gradually shifts our focus from limitations to something worthy of us. Perhaps, our words or actions were very significant to some others. Even some silly things have been so great step in our own life. We realise something surrounding us, goodness and provision in our lives. Even for the moments we have failed, gratitude can give us a sense of need for God’s assistance in our lives. God’s sure presence, the experience of ‘God is with us’ is another reason for great joy.

“… a child is given to us.” This givenness deeply expresses the generosity of God. It is also a great sign of God’s love, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (John 3:16).” Love is the reason for God’s generosity, and God gives fully because God’s nature is love and goodness. Jesus emptied himself for us in his love that we may live fully. Thus, God’s generous love redeems us from sorrows, fears, loneliness and rejection. This divine generosity invites us also to be generous. We offer gifts to others in this season of Christmas. If we are to share in God’s nature of generosity and goodness, we share ourselves in a process of self-emptying. That is strengthening, healing, comforting and life-giving. As we become a sacrament of God’s love and goodness, we experience joy not only in receiving but in giving. That is the beauty of joy that flows from love shared among us all. It also reflects the beauty of God, and causes the song of the angels, “Glory to God in the Highest, and peace to people of goodwill.”

joy fruitfulness

Joy comes from the sense of fruitfulness.

Joy descends deep into oneself to bring more fruits once again.
Gospel grows in us to form the tree of life that bears fruits in every season.

Christ was not there

In the crowns, Christ was not there.

When they fought wars,
expanded kingdoms,
spread a 'Christian God,'
adorned crowns,
Christ was not there.

Faith - grace - Immaculate

Faith is a responsible and mature choice for a deep relationship. Often our 'faith' ends up in believing in magic. Making God or Christ a hero is the worst crisis of our faith. A hero deserves fascination, not trust. The hero enters the scene, and everything is brought to what we wish.

The manger at Bethlehem deserves faith, not amusement. There is poverty and shame, and the presence of the hated. A hero does not involve himself in such 'human' realities.

The immaculate conception is a gift of God to Mary, and so, in turn, a gift to the entire humanity as it is part of the plan of salvation. It is not a magic. It is God's way of preparing Mary to be the mother of Christ for us. Many generations were part of this plan opening their lives to the fulness of grace. In Mary, fullness of grace was received.

As a gift to us, the Immaculate conception is an assurance for us that God will fill our lives also with grace. The pride, hatred, revenge, greed, and competitiveness have raised structures that severely damage the image of God in us. The pain, burdens, and divisions that they cause remain as sin-originating principles. Faith, being a sincere, responsible relationship with God, brings light and life to us. Our injuries may be healed, and we may be enabled to deal with our bitterness in the ocean of grace. We may be able to sustain one another with the grace we each has received, and together conceive the body of Christ.

Light to see the Messiah

An anointing and the presence of the anointed one is an experience of salvation over our wilderness. It is faith that gives light to see the messiah even when Messiah enters our life not with glory and power but with kindness and mercy. All will be gathered in the heart of the messiah. Messiah is a connect between humanity and divinity, between creation and the divine. We have repeatedly crucified the Messiah even before he would be born in us by making him a deity. He is divine, one substance with God. Deifying constrains the divine into some forms and make an object of cult. Messiah liberates, but a deity-messiah blinds.

 The gospel is a life-outline for living with the Messiah, and living in him. Gospel opens our heart to relive him, not to deify him. All who have got the light of faith come with their own perfumes, lowers, music and songs. If Messiah lives and our definitions go insignificant, the friends of the bridegroom still rejoice. Friends who have no faith, keep guarding the bridegroom's room. 

To be born in the Messiah

We have entered the season of advent. As the birth of the Messiah is near, it is also a preparation for how we, too, are reborn into the newness of Christ. The gospel passage presents to us images of destruction and crisis. But these images are not for being frightened, but for being watchful of ourselves.

In fact, the whole season of Advent calls us to watchfulness, to see how we are prepared for the birth of the Messiah in us. Many times, we will listen, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” This preparedness is with a purpose that we may stand confidently before the Son of Man. How shall we be watchful or prepare ourselves? Come out in our darkness with the hope of radiant light even if it is still dark. There may be a little drop of sunshine which has come to visit us. Amidst struggles and crises, this radiance is a deep desire, a sigh of our emptiness. We want to cry from the wilderness, “Come Lord.”

Advent hope, and the Christmas joy find their true and deep meaning in the shattered shelters of wilderness. The dawn of the revelation of the Son of Man brings great consolation and peace. We meet with ‘the Lord our Integrity,’ the faithful love. So, the salvation we enter into is an experience of dwelling in confidence in that love. Let us begin this from the experience of being consoled. In the coming days, we will also listen to readings describing the rich banquet of food and wine. Consolation in God’s faithful love leads us to approach him confidently and be filled and satisfied.

Isiah speaks of Christ as the virtuous branch who practices honesty and integrity. This season must make us such a branch that offers consolation, completion, and satisfaction for others. It’s a season we must feel the force of life in us, the life of Christ that wants to flower and fructify in us. Can we imagine ourselves as the virtuous branch after the image of Christ?

Amidst the disasters and perils, this season also gives us a great sign: a woman with a child. See Mary with Jesus, her hope and trust, and her dreams. Advent challenges us in our preparedness and watchfulness in our sincere effort to safeguard the dreams of women with child. Every woman wit a child dares to hope. They cry in the wilderness for a drop of future. We cannot have an experience of integral salvation and a joyful celebration of the birth of Christ when a woman places her child in the manger without bread. We cannot make Beth-lehem, the house of bread, if we continue to create the house of emptiness.

Let us feel the force of love that wants to sprout, let us feel the warmth of the rising Sun, the salvation drawing near. It's an earnest desire and a sincere commitment. Drawn to the Lord our integrity, we walk in confidence to be born in the Messiah.

Universal King

Christ who unites everything and holds everything in peace is honoured as the universal king.
The imperial image of Christ before whom every knee shall bow is a human creation. While reestablishing Christendom the kingdom of Christ cannot come.
God or the saints with golden crowns is a disfiguration of the message of Christ. It only stands for triumphalistic craze of a religion.
Gospel requires 'good soil' to have Christ born in.
Christ is not a superpower deity standing with hammer, sword, and scepter. Christ is the logos, the word, through whom everything was made. The word guides and shapes the cosmos, history and culture. Thus, he is the shepherd and the source of life.

Natural-Divine

 Do Christians really believe in 'incarnation' that God really became a human being? However Christian imaginations are generally about super-naturals, victories, and triumph. Is it not abominable to imagine Jesus or Mary having a romantic feeling? Were not thousands of generations open to natural graces that open the channels of race towards a supernatural grace of Immaculate Conception? It is easy to glorify God 'becoming' bread (which is not correct. Eucharistic presence is Christ in the form of bread), but difficult to accept God acting in natural ways/laws. In the first, there is a miraculous wonder, in the second, it is a call to relate our life to God so naturally as we are.

Good and evil

We are habituated to binarize between good and evil. There are often many things that cook up evil, but remain invisible or unnoticed. These constructive elements may be disguised within the very things we have categorized as good and holy. This chosen good reflects the cruelty of our hypocritical judgements.

Where will we place God in this good-evil creation? Which is a holy people, a leader, or a nation? Truth is unconcealed only when there is kindness and compassion. So, God cannot take sides. If we put God into our chosen good and maintain the disguised evil, surely, we will also promote evil-making structures in the name of God. It can create rituals, customs and even history. 

Truth is grey and lives pass through varied struggles of good and evil. There are chosen evils and imposed evils. The light of truth is in the honesty of heart which is rarely known.

Mark of the Covenant

The owner would make a mark on his animals as a sign that it belonged to him. Many groups of people also had certain marks of them as an identity of the particular group. 

Circumcision marked the sign of the covenant with God as one belonged to God. But the law-covenant bond followed a pattern forbidding to safeguard the purity of the covenant. 

Covenant of grace is inviting, not forbidding. Its a belonging to Christ, being in him, he being in us, and we all being in him. The imprint of Christ is the mark of the new covenant, sign of being loved and found by Christ. Reception of baptism does not guarantee this imprint in us. Covenant of grace takes us to a communion, producing its fruits.

Halloween

It is better not to demonise nor canonise Halloween. It is to be taken in the context of the anglosaxon-celtic cultural background. Like Onam in Kerala, it's a harvest festival. It's perhaps because of it, the role of the tomato, and pumpkin ... It is also a new year celebration, the beginning of a new time. As the (re)beginning of time, the dead are believed to return homes. Afraid of evil spirits the living would disguise their face to escape from them.
Gradually all these became fun and game.
Many of them who celebrate don't even think about a God to dishonour or a devil to be celebrated. Some people like to see devils everywhere and they do find them. People who are religious and God's people engaging in war, hatred, greed, power-games ... are all for God's glory. There, in fact, beliefs are worshipped than God, and evils can be easily justified.

You shall not be like that

Christ suffered, but it was not because he suffered that he became the Messiah. He is the Life-bearer/ grace-bearer for humanity and, of course, for the entire creation even before the incarnation. He poured out his life that we may have life. His suffering and self-emptying were life-giving. 

Christ poured out his life as a ransom for many when Kings and priests gathered power and wealth. There is a king in the palace, there is a high priest in the temple. Our high priest is one among us being a source of life for us all. 

Here, the question comes to the disciples: Can you drink the cup I have to drink? It is not simply about a readiness to suffer. It is about an attitude of becoming a ransom that offers life. One works, suffers, serves, and thus flowers, but we need to see what fruits are produced from these flowers. Are they life-giving fruits? 

Life is non-sided, and the authority of life spans beyond boundaries. Disciples looked for power and position even in relation with Christ, because they understood him within the frames of powerful and wealthy priests and kings, not according to the nature of life.

Gospel into liberation and chains

The kingdom of God has no boundaries of languages, cultures, and religions. If the gospel we have heard and interpreted has not liberated us to understand that God loves everyone, we have not listened to the Gospel. The rightness, trueness, and power of the gospel are in the freedom and peace that all humanity can experience. Taking religion into public spheres under the disguise of devotion, worship, and witness rarely does any act of faith. Instead, they are attempts of religious supremacy, an expression devoid of freedom.

Victory Rosary and the Glory

God's glory is where 'the righteousness and peace' is realised. This righteousness cannot be restricted to any religious rule or the super-spread of any religion. 'Peace on earth' is what is pleasing to God rather than victories of religions.

Praying the Holy Rosary is for entering the heart of God and moulding one's life after the Gospel. Selfish, egoistic victory language describing the 'powers' of the Rosary is not a Rosary that reflects the Gospel.

If we dont want 'others' in heaven?

Those who have entered heaven with a sure ticket have their heaven, salvation, and Christ smaller than the chairs they are enthroned in. They celebrate loneliness in their heaven because they have kept all ‘others’ away. Unfortunately, they found no one on the way worthy of being with them in heaven, probably because their journey had been lonely.

When Pope Francis compared different religions to different languages, it is an endorsement of the multiplicity of religious manifestations and a call to partake in dialogue and mutual understanding. It does not refute the Church’s doctrines on salvation. Instead, it emphasises the necessity for respect, openness, and cooperation among people of different faiths.

Pope Francis’s likening of different religions to different languages is very much within the framework of the Catholic Church’s doctrines on interreligious dialogue and reverence for various religious traditions. The Catholic Church acknowledges the significance and inherent value of other religions and posits that they can function as channels for human capacity for God.

The concept of ‘no salvation outside the church’ has evolved over time. While historically, it has been interpreted to signify that salvation is exclusively attainable within the Catholic Church, the Second Vatican Council and subsequent teachings have underscored the potential for salvation among those who, without their own fault, lack knowledge of Christ or his Church, yet earnestly seek what God wills and strives to fulfil. If someone continues to imagine heaven as adherence to the imperial Christendom, that has little to do with the heaven that Jesus introduced.

What should the Pope have said, “You wretched people, you have no salvation unless you all become Christians?” The world might ask, “What shall we do then?” “Believe in Christ!” “What does this ‘believe in Christ’ mean?” “Which Christ should we believe, Eastern or Western, Catholic or Protestant? Your Christ is a need for the Western guilt culture. We have read from the bible a different Christ who called the world to the freedom and joy of the children of God. Being in a Christian sect does not seem to be a necessity.”

Christ, the Logos, has many languages, reveals in diverse cultures and histories. His grace is visible throughout history in the goodwill of millions of people whom we meet them in our daily lives. The Church is wherever the body of Christ extends, by its members seeking to do the will of God.

Is there anything wrong in saying, “We need to keep meeting, to weave bonds of fraternity and to allow ourselves to be guided by the divine inspiration present in every faith, in order to join in “imagining peace” among all peoples. We need such “occasions to speak with one another and to act together for the common good and the promotion of the poor”. In a world at risk of being fragmented by conflicts and wars, the efforts made by believers are invaluable for holding out visions of peace and fostering fraternity and peace among peoples everywhere.” Message of Pope Francis to participants in the international meeting for peace organised by the community of Sant’egidio Paris, 22-24 September 2024.

I understand that Pope Francis also believes that Christ is the way, the truth and the life. He has not made the statement all of a sudden from nowhere. It has been in the vision of interreligious dialogue initiatives of the Church. The interreligious dialogue was not seen as an exercise by some intellectuals. Instead, it is in the form of the Church’s being. As ‘through him, and for him, and in him’ everything is made, the Word has been visible and present in culture and history. Christ has a much wider space than Christian religious culture and language.

Pope said that religions are like many languages that speak of God, not that there are many Gods. Was Christianity itself a perfect and whole language that spoke of God in every way and every time? Unfortunately, the present controversy itself is a language that speaks of the church and its attitudes. If there is crisis in Christian identity, what is that identity which is in crisis? What is the form of Christian/catholic identity in need of revival? Can that be comprised of certain cultural values, beliefs, prestigious achievements and so on? They do have the risk of being symbols/language without meaning, looking for the beauty of style over the message.

The tomb was empty of her

Tomb was not an unfamiliar place for Mary Magdalene.

Can 'the Lord' be contained in such a tomb weighed under darkness?
Mary looked into the tomb, into her own death once she carried, the tormentations she has been suffering...
lifeless darkness, painful burden, crushing her conscious thoughts, and strangulating life-spirit.
Mary looked into the tomb,
The tomb was empty of her.

Emptiness...

The Lord had made her his own, "you are mine."
"Yes, Lord, You are mine."
Love called her out, and the Apostle to the apostles was created.

Thomas the Apostle

Thomas was not the Way, but a pilgrim on the way just as John the baptizer was not the Word but a voice crying out in the wilderness. Thomas was on the way just like any other disciple to the ultimate confession, 'my Lord and God.' In John's gospel everyone, one way or the other, go through a growth; some in their fear of shame, some in darkness, some in blindness, some in thirst, some in the cruelty of death come to him for a light of hope. Everyone needs to walk through a certain difficulty of 'unbelief' yet an irresistible need for the Messiah. 

'Do not .... ' instructions of Jesus

'Do not .... ' instructions of Jesus direct us against the hypocrisies we might fall into under the disguise of religion. Do not pray like the pharisees, Do not be like the hypocrites, ... The sermon is over after announcing the beatitudes, and teaching on the essence of the law. Now every disciple or listener must test what they produce. Knowledge of the law, performance of worship do not guarantee the joy of the kingdom. Coming down to our daily realities, the lessons are necessary even to witness the events going to happen in the plane, the healings, miracles, even the encounter with the religious leaders. 

Our Father - Life of liberation

The prayer 'Our Father' is not a prayer, it is a how about prayer-content. It is an attitude which we need to have in prayer. The basic platform for this attitude is to come together as the children of God. It is in the freedom of the children of God we must pray. To stand before God as children, and  ask him to provide, forgive, and protect, the beatitudes is the affirmation and confidence. The beatitudes opens the kingdom for all, it also bring us all hand in in hand for nourishing one another. So, Our Father is also a pattern of life, of liberation, peace and justice.

unbearable burden and the seed of the Gospel

Perhaps due to the hardness they had to undergo, the Jewish traditions (biblical) maintained a hostility in their worldview. It was justified by their theology and cherished by spirituality. Nature was hostile, people of other nations were hostile. The other people are not of God, and so, our god hates them. God allows them to overpower Israel because of sins. These 'sins' were often the projection of unbearable hostility to one's own self. Women were unclean, inimical, and evil because they were seducers, and men were lured by foreign women. This suspicious closure was well maintained by a retributive ethics and theology. Even the salvation brought by Christ underwent an interpretative frame based on this hostility, ransom, and retribution.

Jesus did not proclaim this hostility. Instead, he showed human brokenness and vulnerability as a sacramental possibility in our everyday life. Those condemned and unclean were raised to hold the joy of the kingdom. The kingdom would sprout like a seed. Touch of grace will give new streams to our inner richness. Vulnerabilities and tears were seen as matters of condemnation and signs of God's curse. Now in the light of the gospel, they are time and space of an embrace of God, the holy ground.

Lessons for Discipleship

The base for discipleship is the reality of being the children of God. Children's trust spreads from being innocent reliance to a responsible commitment to the values of the Gospel. So, the faith aspect we speak of involves these dimensions and influences our personal, social, political, and religious aspects of life. It teaches us to be joyful in struggles, and walk ahead with hope. Gradually it takes us deeper into a lifegiving nature that is of self-emptying.

The lifegiving-selfemptying connection is the 'ransom' that Christ was, and that Christ asks us to be for one another. Something may be paid and remission may be given does not contain the lesson Jesus taught about the love of the Father. God wants all to be fully alive and flourishing. Grace is given to us that we can live a life that is according to God's will. Where we are weak, the same grace makes us to take these weaknesses into an experience of salvation. Gospel is the guiding light for a life of grace and for taking our weaknesses without fear or shame to the abundance of life.

listen to the Spirit

A breath of love is generative. The breath of love that comes from God is within the very nature of God. This divine self-communication takes place in the Holy Spirit, takes us and our history also into a bond of love. history. The goodness of God is manifested in creation. The entire creation drinks from that goodness. God opens himself to us in the Holy Spirit, so that we may participate in the depth of God’s love and goodness.

Humanity is in need of the breath of love. It is yet to open itself to live in the breath of love. It is yet to desire for the goodness of God to be reflected in its life. What we need the most is an earnest desire for it. We can no longer be agents of division, hatred, war, and destruction. By God’s own help let us bring into our sight both the dry lifeless condition and the living and fruitful condition; thirsty ones, drinking from the fountain of life, turns to be a heart of overflowing streams. Being in a gentle flow of stream is refreshing. That breath of love and the stream of life is the Holy Spirit.

“Let anyone who is thirsty, come to me…”

“Let anyone who believes in me come and drink.”

“From his heart, shall flow streams of living water.”

“My spirit fails. My soul thirsts for You like a parched land” (Ps 143: 6) expresses the deep longing for life. We can see today, the complexities of life, and the struggles that we carry. Some are condemned and some are despised. No human condition is incapable or unworthy to yearn for God. In fact, already there is the cry of the Holy Spirit deep within that we may be filled by the life of God. Drinking from the wellspring of life we begin to live afresh.

Life produces its fruits, and there is a joy of the harvest. The fruit that the Holy Spirt produces in us as persons and as the church is conforming us into Christ. All other fruits and charisms are to be known within our conformity with Christ. It is a celebration of re-creation and of a harvest as the feast of Pentecost itself was the feast of the first fruits. No one receives the Holy Spirit as a personal possession, we have received the Spirit as we are one body in a family, community, a parish or the church. Perhaps, it is a time that we once again come together as small groups experiencing the vibrance of the Holy Spirit, as a body that knows the members. Something that is essential here, first of all, is the realisation of the need for the Holy Spirit and the readiness to be guided by the Spirit. Secondly, it is something of great importance is the joy of mutual building through the charisms each of has received.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are generated in us out of sincere following of the values of the kingdom of God, and seeking its justice. Indwelling of the Holy Spirit wells up from us and from the church as fruits of the Gospel which we received, sprouted and grew. A person or a church that does not seek the kingdom of God is hypocritical in calling out for the Holy Spirit and claiming to have the whole possession of the Holy Spirit. So, we cannot take the Holy Spirit for granted. If we do not have the readiness to listen to the Holy Spirit, if we are not ready to listen to the voice of one another, no prayer to the Holy Spirit, no worship in the name of the Holy Spirit will dispose ourselves to the working of the Spirit. Dramatic performances and mesmerising events cannot bring down the Holy Spirit. Our favourite imaginations like consuming fire that burns and destroys hide the gentle Spirit who sanctifies through the spring of new life.

Often, we speak about a second Pentecost and expect the Spirit to come. The Spirit has not gone away. We need to ask ourselves how willing are we to take the Gospel as the first option in our life. It is costly because it risks our devotional easy ways, rigid moralism, ideologized beliefs. When the values of the kingdom become the first option, the Spirit will well up within us and will manifest the nature of Christ. So, the manifestation can happen only through a sincere gift of our very ‘self’ to God. Through the action of the Spirit-Paraclete, a process of true growth in humanity may be accomplished in our world, in both individual and community life.

The Spirit never manifests in isolation. Instead, the Spirit makes God visible in the Church when we are open to the Spirit. What if we take the existence of the Church for granted? The church lives as the body of Christ, mutually building, healing, and nourishing one another. When each church and denomination claim originality, distance one another, when different renewal movement hold an elite holy attitude and condemn others, when we upheld order, unity, solutions at the risk of unity itself, when we divinise power and authority and forget love and service, we take for granted that there exists a church. But that is a church that resists against the Holy Spirit.

Noone has the monopoly over the Holy Spirit; no branded evangelists, no great preacher, no gospel channel has the custody of the Holy Spirit. All of us are continuously called to give ourselves to God with our whole being. This is our deepest vocation. We can do it only by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enlightens our minds, and helps us to do His will. Ultimately the Spirit brings us into the mystery that gathered as one body in Christ we are all the children of God. We live it consistently experiencing the breath of love and causing the streams to flow out as fruits of the goodness of God.

This is something important for us today as humans to live in the reality of the kingdom of God. It is also important for us today to live in the Holy Spirit, a life of goodness, communion and love, that millions of years later when no humans may be there to celebrate Pentecost, the creation may still share the first fruits for its children, of course, God’s own children.

A breath of love is generative. The breath of love that comes from God is within the very nature of God. This divine self-communication takes place in the Holy Spirit, takes us and our history also into a bond of love. history. The goodness of God is manifested in creation. The entire creation drinks from that goodness. God opens himself to us in the Holy Spirit, so that we may participate in the depth of God’s love and goodness.

Humanity is in need of the breath of love. It is yet to open itself to live in the breath of love. It is yet to desire for the goodness of God to be reflected in its life. What we need the most is an earnest desire for it. We can no longer be agents of division, hatred, war, and destruction. By God’s own help let us bring into our sight both the dry lifeless condition and the living and fruitful condition; thirsty ones, drinking from the fountain of life, turns to be a heart of overflowing streams. Being in a gentle flow of stream is refreshing. That breath of love and the stream of life is the Holy Spirit.

“Let anyone who is thirsty, come to me…”

“Let anyone who believes in me come and drink.”

“From his heart, shall flow streams of living water.”

“My spirit fails. My soul thirsts for You like a parched land” (Ps 143: 6) expresses the deep longing for life. We can see today, the complexities of life, and the struggles that we carry. Some are condemned and some are despised. No human condition is incapable or unworthy to yearn for God. In fact, already there is the cry of the Holy Spirit deep within that we may be filled by the life of God. Drinking from the wellspring of life we begin to live afresh.

Life produces its fruits, and there is a joy of the harvest. The fruit that the Holy Spirt produces in us as persons and as the church is conforming us into Christ. All other fruits and charisms are to be known within our conformity with Christ. It is a celebration of re-creation and of a harvest as the feast of Pentecost itself was the feast of the first fruits. No one receives the Holy Spirit as a personal possession, we have received the Spirit as we are one body in a family, community, a parish or the church. Perhaps, it is a time that we once again come together as small groups experiencing the vibrance of the Holy Spirit, as a body that knows the members. Something that is essential here, first of all, is the realisation of the need for the Holy Spirit and the readiness to be guided by the Spirit. Secondly, it is something of great importance is the joy of mutual building through the charisms each of has received.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are generated in us out of sincere following of the values of the kingdom of God, and seeking its justice. Holy Spirit cannot be generated in a powerful 'Praise and Worship.' Indwelling of the Holy Spirit wells up from us and from the church as fruits of the Gospel which we received, sprouted and grew. A person or a church that does not seek the kingdom of God is hypocritical in calling out for the Holy Spirit and claiming to have the whole possession of the Holy Spirit. So, we cannot take the Holy Spirit for granted. If we do not have the readiness to listen to the Holy Spirit, if we are not ready to listen to the voice of one another, no prayer to the Holy Spirit, no worship in the name of the Holy Spirit will dispose ourselves to the working of the Spirit. Dramatic performances and mesmerising events cannot bring down the Holy Spirit. Our favourite imaginations like consuming fire that burns and destroys hide the gentle Spirit who sanctifies through the spring of new life. Holy Spirit cannot be generated in a powerful 'Praise and Worship.'

Often, we speak about a second Pentecost and expect the Spirit to come. The Spirit has not gone away. We need to ask ourselves how willing are we to take the Gospel as the first option in our life. It is costly because it risks our devotional easy ways, rigid moralism, ideologized beliefs. When the values of the kingdom become the first option, the Spirit will well up within us and will manifest the nature of Christ. So, the manifestation can happen only through a sincere gift of our very ‘self’ to God. Through the action of the Spirit-Paraclete, a process of true growth in humanity may be accomplished in our world, in both individual and community life.

The Spirit never manifests in isolation. Instead, the Spirit makes God visible in the Church when we are open to the Spirit. What if we take the existence of the Church for granted? The church lives as the body of Christ, mutually building, healing, and nourishing one another. When each church and denomination claim originality, distance one another, when different renewal movement hold an elite holy attitude and condemn others, when we upheld order, unity, solutions at the risk of unity itself, when we divinise power and authority and forget love and service, we take for granted that there exists a church. But that is a church that resists against the Holy Spirit.

Noone has the monopoly over the Holy Spirit; no branded evangelists, no great preacher, no gospel channel has the custody of the Holy Spirit. All of us are continuously called to give ourselves to God with our whole being. This is our deepest vocation. We can do it only by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enlightens our minds, and helps us to do His will. Ultimately the Spirit brings us into the mystery that gathered as one body in Christ we are all the children of God. We live it consistently experiencing the breath of love and causing the streams to flow out as fruits of the goodness of God.

This is something important for us today as humans to live in the reality of the kingdom of God. It is also important for us today to live in the Holy Spirit, a life of goodness, communion and love, that millions of years later when no humans may be there to celebrate Pentecost, the creation may still share the first fruits for its children, of course, God’s own children.

Event creation - Pentecost

The preparations for Pentecost takes over the nature of event management. Our expectations are high. Such exciting doings cannot rightly open ourselves for the receiving of the Holy Spirit. First of all, Pentecost is not the only day Holy Spirit lives in us. It is an everyday reality. Secondly, the Jesus event in our life is not a crazy following, it is a loyal, responsible, mature relationship. It means  well reflected acts welling up from that relationship. 

The presence of the Holy Spirit is not  a magical outcome, but it is the fruition of the Gospel in us. There are many secret pious practices developing in the name of faith and evangelization. Seemingly they are zealous, and have greater faith than 'normal' people. But in fact, they are instrumentalizing and magicalizing devotions and even  the eucharist. We have failed to live in the Holy Spirit by finding comfort in cultic closures of our beliefs. There is no faith, there is no devotion. Genuine faith and devotions will lead us to seek justice, and live the values of the kingdom in our lives. That is the only way we can be open for the Holy Spirit. 

The Helper

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to us, the Spirit that comes from the father. The Spirit is the true witness to the inner life of the trinity, to the whole history of creation, evolution, sciences, arts and civilizations. Helped by the Spirit, we know the free from all prejudices.

 
As Christ sends the Spirit to us, we are also sent by him, for we have been with him. We know the truth and bear witness. Unless helped by the Spirit we can end up in living for isms, even those of faith, religion, liturgy and so on. They have no root in the Father.

It's Spirit that knows the mind of God. When we have the Spirit we too know the mind of God, and act accordingly by the help of the same Spirit.

Remain in my love

We are on the 6th Sunday of Easter. Have we met the risen Christ? In opening the Scriptures and breaking of the bread, the Church has been leading us to have an intimate experience with Christ present amidst us. He is recognised as Lord and God, walking along with us amidst our doubts and fears, caring, guarding and healing as a good shepherd, holding us all together as branches in a vine. Then, He calls us to the ultimate aim of his incarnation, passion, death and resurrection; the communion with the Father. He says, “abide in me,” “remain in my love.”

That is not so exciting, isn’t it? But it is the truth that Christ opened for us that our joy may be complete, and may bear fruit. We are often excited and enthusiastic in adoring and worshiping a super-spiritual divine being. The communion with him does not excite us much. Not because it is difficult or mysterious, but the communion involves a commitment to love others also.

God of superpowers can be worshiped very safely in a cultic system, and we can go free. Bit worship that Christ seeks happens in communion, and only in communion. All that we do in the name of God and in the name of the Church devoid of this communion only affirms what St John wrote, “God’s love is not in them.”

This abiding in God is a deep mystery, a bond of love. Let us listen to Christ in love! He says, “I am in the Father,” “you abide in me. I abide in you,” thus, we remain in the love of the Father. Jesus called us to follow him, Jesus asked us to love God and love others. It is a communion with God and others. The gospel passage today teaches us what it means and how it is essential for us.

Jesus loved us from the love he received from the Father. “I have loved you as the Father has loved me.” The call to abide in him is to be made real after the example of how Christ abides in the Father, and has loved the Father. “… just as I have kept my Father’s commandments,

and remain in his love, if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.” The life that we have received in Christ makes known the love of the Father whereby we have the joy of Christ himself and that our joy may be complete.

If we are to live in that communion, primarily we need to be filled with a constantly reminded awareness that we are all God’s children, “and that is what we are!” This reality and the primary commandment to love is what compromise at the risk of communion with God. Keeping aside this commandment, we are strict with all commandments that we have made in the name of God. We teach and preach them as God’s commandments. We have reinterpreted the commandment and justified our boundaries and prejudices. There is no communion with the Father. When we create divisions in the name of God, traditions, liturgy, and authority, Father’s love does not remain with us, because we have chosen not to have communion. When we surrender our spirit to immoral and inhuman structures that spread lies and hatred, we don’t remain in Christ and his love. This is very much visible in our lives and in the life of the church, in the very moments we have multitude of activities, increasing devotional practices, shrines, and religious festivities.

Being in communion with God, just as Christ loved God, and being in communion with others as Christ loved us, really means a life of goodness, justice, love, authenticity, and compassion. It also means a readiness to accept all as the children of God, beyond all prejudices. Then our families, our parishes, religious communities will be truly living in Christ and in his love. We will have joy, and we will have fruits that will last.

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Abide in Him

Christ is the sacrament of God and also of creation. 'Abide' calls for deeper communion with God, creation, and humanity. 'Abiding' cannot be exclusive to Christianity as a religion. Maintaining religion, Christianity has done away with Christ. We are eager to worship, but have no much attempt to 'abide in him.' Worship and devotion are never a romantic attachment or a 'intoxicated religious' world. Christ never ask for it. The life that he asked of the disciples is of becoming like him. 'Making home in him' cannot be possible by recitation of 'Jesus' or repetition of Word of God. It can be true only by seeking the kingdom of God and its justice. That is the only 'way' to be one in the vine, producing fruits, and glorifying the Father. 

Shepherd's Care

There are many relaxation techniques for body and mind. 'Peace' that Christ offered was not a stress-free time. Christ brought us to an experience of shepherd's embrace, of care, of consolation, healing, and strengthening. It is not a perpetual tranquility or smooth going. It is a hope of new life, rising, passing over, and walking. Jesus said that he will be with us always. 

Jesus spoke of himself as the good shepherd who would lead us to green pastures. Our weaknesses, brokenness, sorrows are filled with the care of the shepherd. We may be fed and be satisfied. He takes us to the streams of water, that we may be filled. All these speaks of the goodness of God which often takes the metaphor of a banquet. It is from Christ that we are filled and fed. 

We enter into him in communion with his self, and in communion with one another. There, as the shepherd, we too become door for one another to the green pastures. We become  home to one another that all experience the comfort of the shepherd's care. 

What I give is my flesh

Eating the flesh of Christ is not an easy thing. A routine reception of 'communion' does not ensure consuming Christ, the Word made flesh. Only by entering into communion with God and one another we can be 'satisfied' of eating Him. The flesh he gives us to eat is also a sacrament of human reality in its existential, biological and cosmological dimensions. Thus, the flesh given us to eat ("the bread I give to you is my flesh") has the taste of wounded humanity, its struggles and burdens, sweat, blood and tears. All narratives on suffering are beyond interpretations. His flesh interprets it for us. If the sacramental reception has no connection to the living reality of human flesh, our 'communion' has no relation with Christ.

'Attending' of mass, and receiving of communion as a receiving of  'food of great blessing,' and a 'bread of miraculous power' often keep the reality of communion aside. More than a communion that we enter into, it becomes an instrument of benefit from God. Approached as a sacrament of living presence of Christ, we can never be away from our responsible commitment to the injured flesh of humanity and nature.

Everything exists in him and for him. He holds all things in being. Our flesh, like the Word, is incarnated into communion. Thus his Word is our food, and his flesh is our food.