Called to be Contemplatives in Action

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Jan 18, 2016

The liturgy of the day presents us with two sides of human life or living. One the one side we have the Pharisees – stressing on the externals rules and laws and traditions and on the other Jesus – speaking about the inner disposition that we need.

  
When we go back to the book of Jeremiah 31, 31-34 ,  we read about a new law. When both the covenants – Conditional / Sinai covenant or the Unconditional / Davidic covenant were broken  and the people were in the exile prophet Jeremiah comes with the promise of hope. He says God will make a new covenant/ bring about a new law and this law will be written on the hearts of the people.

       Mahathma Gandhi would say, “ Don’t listen to your friends, when the friend inside you says – “ Do This”.

                        Pope  Francis in his – Evangelii Gaudium – refer to  Latin American theologians as they had brought about a revolution in their vicinity and places the same challenge before us saying – “ It’s not enough to say that we have been like this.” Which is an invitation to be alive to the present moment of our life, our society and repond to them creatively.

                 Once there were a group of aspirants(to religious life) and they had a day out.  That evening they had to return by the time given by the director. A they were returning they were already bit late that evening as they were coming closer – they found a person on the road dying having met with accident. And one of them said, “ We must help him…” and the other said, “ It’s already time. We will be late for the prayer and then we will have to face the wrath of our director.” And so all of them returned and had a beautiful prayer that evening as anyother day.

                    Friends let us know that everyday has it’s Sunday side. A step further every moment has it’s weekday side and every moment has it’s Sunday side. This means our life and prayer are not two separate commodities rather they are one. Contemplation(Sunday) and Action(Weekday) mut go hand in hand and in the words of St Ignatius, the liturgy of the day invites us to be Contemplatives in Action.

                   Pope Francis in his latest encyclical – Laudato Si – invites us to – “Discover God in All Things”


During this Eucharist let us ask for the grace to be integrated persons in our lives and to find God and to be with God at every moment of our lives. Amen.

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