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.