20 – 25 JULY 2020, HOLY MASS REFLECTION
20 JULY 2020: MICAH 6. 1-4, 6-8; MATTHEW 12. 38-42
Focus: True love for God should in the first place
realise the incurable anguish of God due to our sinfulness and infidelity and
turn back to Him in deep repentance
Perhaps one great problem of our times
is the dissociation between love and anguish. There is losing sight of the pain
and anguish that love involves. Every true love certainly includes a lot of passion
for the good of the loved one, a lot of sacrifice in pursuing that good, and
also a lot of pain and anguish when such true love is not recognized, accepted,
appreciated and responded. This is the pain of many a parent, many a partner,
many a lover, many a friend. This is the same anguish that envelops the loving
heart of God in the OT and the heart of Jesus in the gospel. God passionately
loves His people, and does everything for them, liberating them, dignifying
them, and prospering them. But the Israelites, His chosen people keep on going
away from Him, rejecting His love and His ways. They keep on agonizing His
love-flowing heart. That is why, God asks them with an anguished tone, “O my
people, what have I done to you, how have I wearied you? In the gospel, Jesus too
experiences the same anguish at the hard heart of the people. In spite of all
the signs and miracles, all the teaching and preaching, still the people ask
for some more sign to see God’s hand. In fact, is Jesus not the highest and the
greatest sign of God’s love and power? Therefore, what is needed is not merely
a dry religion or ritual devotion, limited to some offerings and spiritual
practices. But God wants a heart that readily sees God’s grace at work in our
lives, “to love goodness, to do the right and to walk humbly with God”.
Direction: It will be really foolish if we think that
we can please God just with our external religious observances or spiritual
activities. A changed heart and a renewed life is the need of the day!
21 JULY 2020: MICAH 7. 14-15, 18-20; MATTHEW 12. 46-50
Focus: Our greatest strength and source of assurance
is not so much our goodness or merits, but God’s immeasurable clemency despite
our recurrent infidelities
A repentant heart and a transformed life are solid foundations of a
worthwhile life. These manifest themselves in a concrete adherence to God and
benevolence to others. Whether one agrees or not, these alone are the abiding
and lasting norms and principles for a healthy and happy life. In other words,
in the words of Jesus in the gospel, this is the call to live the spirit of a
family, a “new family of God” as children to Him and as brothers and sisters to
one another.
But sadly, we live
in a world which gets more and more narrowed, by factors like caste, country,
race, region, religion, culture, status, power, money, etc. The irony is:
distances are shortened by advanced means of transportation but hearts are
getting distanced; means of communication have increased but the quality of
relations has decreased. So much fragmentation, division, discrimination, favouritism,
nepotism mark human interactions and pursuits. Church and faith communities are
also no exception.
In such a context,
the Lord’s assertion that it is only “doing God’s will make us his people, his
family”, is a reminder and challenge. It is not the physical or material
factors that matter the most but the spiritual affinity to God and others. As
long as we do not rise above our physical and material attachments, we cannot
belong to God’s family.
Direction:
Division and discrimination will always lead to destruction and deterioration. Let
us then be united in doing God’s will and not divided in guarding our own
interests!
22 JULY 2020: SONG 3. 1-4B; JOHN 20. 1-2, 11-18,
Feast of Mary Magdalene
Focus:
What is important and what makes a person important and great is not so much
the past history but the present story of change and consistency
We celebrate the
feast of Mary Magdalene, a close disciple of the Lord. But Who is this Mary
Magdalene? The repentant prostitute? Sister of Martha? Mary the disciple? One
from whom seven demons were expelled? Are all these one and the same? There is
no agreement or clarity. And there is no need to worry much about it because it
is not necessary to have exactitude. But what is important to note is: she was touched
and transformed by the Lord; she loved the Lord passionately and clung to him
in intimacy. She was duly rewarded to see the risen Lord. She was committed to
being his witness. Mary Magdalene is truly an epitome and an icon of Love and
lover. Love leads to seeking and seeking leads to intimacy and intimacy leads
to witness. True love cannot bear separation. It restlessly searches for the
loved one. It weeps bitterly at the absence in profound anguish. How is our
love for the Lord? How much touched and changed we are? How much craving and
anguish for his presence? How much intimacy and surrender to him? How much
witness to the Lord?
Direction:
Help us, Lord, to love you passionately so that we cling to you always and seek
you as our greatest priority.
23 JUNE 2020: JER 2. 1-3, 7-8, 12-13; MATTHEW 13.
10-17
Focus:
Ingratitude and infidelity are two greatest evils that disfigure the beauty of
human relationships, disrupt the joy of interaction and diminish the value of
life
How vivid and
impressing is the pain of God in the first reading in the voice of Jeremiah
regarding the sin of His people: a total memory loss about the events of His
mighty intervention and height of ingratitude; a wholesale rejection and
rebellion against His will and ways; and further a deep-sinking alliance and
fidelity to false gods and wrong ways. This is the same spirit of closedness
and stubbornness, indifference and non-cooperation of the people that
confronted Jesus as well and disturbed him so much. This is what the prophet
Isaiah already prophesied: They look but do not see, they hear but do not
listen, they know but do not understand. Today’s situation is also not much
different or better. There is so much a non-committal mediocrity with regard to
God and godly things. There is a steep selfishness and destructive harmfulness
towards others. All this is because of the lack of a personal touch and
relation with God. This results in a lack of wisdom that mistakes the
priorities and pursues the falsities. This is precisely what God says through
Jeremiah: “They have forsaken me, the source of living waters; they have dug
for themselves broken cisterns that hold no water”.
Direction: It is high time that the so-called
intelligent and competent modern man stop being foolish in mistaking and
running after false cisterns, leaving the true and deep sources of living
waters
24
JULY 2020: JER 3. 14-17; MATTHEW 13. 18-23
Focus:
True love never dies, because it always keeps alive the trust and hope in the
loved one, even amidst and despite all infidelity, and God’s love is such
One thing that is deeply striking in God is His undying hope about the
return of His people, gone astray. True to His nature of eternity, His love,
His mercy, His trust and His hope towards His people are eternal. He never
ceases to love them. In this love, He never feels bad or tired to invite them
to repent and return to Him and convert their life. He never stops to promise
and assure them of His unfailing shepherding in care and guidance in various
ways. He never feels exhausted to enthuse and elevate their spirits with the
certainty of bounteous rewards and blessings. He ever provides the seeds of His
grace and Word to plant in the soil of our hearts. He avails to us all the
possible requirements that facilitate and nurture the growth of His seeds. From
His part, he never deprives us of anything that enhances our growth and
fruition.
But the question always remains on our part. The reason why often many do
not bear good and abundant fruits is the lack of transparence, lack of
perseverance and lack of diligence. This is what we see in the first 3 types of
soil in the gospel parable of the sower, namely the roadside soil, rocky and
thorny soils. Instead, what is needed is the fourth type of soil that is
fertile and productive.
Direction: Meaningfulness of life lies in
fruitfulness and this fruitfulness is not in terms of possessions or
gratifications or worldly successes or accomplishments. It is only in bearing
abundant fruits of devotion and goodness
25
July 2019: Feast,
St. James, the apostle
Focus:
Left to ourselves, we may be weak and our life may be bleak. But we offer
ourselves in docility to God and remain close to him, then He will take over
our life to make it a memorable record
The feast of St
James the apostle that we celebrate today once again discloses to us the secret
and seedbed of true discipleship. Our human fragility and imperfection is no
matter at all. As we hear in Paul’s words to the Corinthians, though we are
unworthy and ordinary as a clay vessel, yet God pours
into us the precious treasure of His grace. Therefore, what matters is not our
weakness but God’s power. It is enough that we entrust our fragility to the
sanctity and solidity of God. This is what Saint James did. Willingly and
joyfully, he submitted himself to the formation by the Lord. It is all a matter
of journey, a transition, an evolution from self to Jesus. It leads to a
transformation from self-centred interests to Christ-centred mission, from
domination to submission, from gratification to martyrdom, from possession to
detachment, from recognition to humiliation, from exaltation to persecution,
from self-demarcated kingdom to expanded kingdom of God. James lived with the
Lord in intimate bonding, loved him with such an intensity as to be the first
martyr for the Lord. This is the life of a disciple: love the Lord, live with
him, live for him and die for him. Discipleship is not a matter of a privilege
or prestige but is an act of obedience and service. Service is not a favour
done at one’s will but an obligation fulfilled at God’s will.
Direction: Lord,
continue to mould us as true disciples, teaching us at your feet, purifying us
from our self-vested interests and perfecting us in humility and benevolence.
