Consumerism

29th Week in Ordinary Time - Monday (22 October 2018)

Ephesians 2:1-10

Luke 12:13-21

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

This world encourages you to have more and more. With its consumerist culture it encourages and rewards only those who possess more and more. The world says, "Produce as much as possible so that people can buy more and more." But doesn't this clearly point out to greed? Consciously or unconsciously we think we can be happy by climbing the ladder of success higher and higher. By getting more and more, by achieving more and more we could think we can become happier. That's a lie.

Money and success, power and popularity can't give happiness. Greed never satisfies. Please remember Mahatma Gandhi's words: "There is enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed." Today's gospel gives clear instructions about becoming greedy with regard to material possessions, and about leading a rich and wealthy life, unconcerned about one's own spiritual growth. Jesus doesn’t centre his message directly on a redistribution of goods. He is crystal clear about the uselessness of riches, especially when they can blind you to reality.

It seems that Jesus' clear teaching on issues of greed, powerlessness, nonviolence, non-control and simplicity have been moved to the sidelines, if not actually neglected. We even have uncritically bought into the ideas of "produce more and more" and "consume more and more." It is the only obvious story line that our children see. Our identities too have narrowed down to “I produce therefore I am” and “I consume therefore I am.” Some of us have made a virtue and goal out of accumulation, consumption, and collection. The basic problem with consumer society is not that it makes us desire too much, but that it makes us desire too little. We are distracted from our true freedom. Aren't we dreaming too little? Aren't we thinking too narrow? Our culture ingrains in us the belief that there isn’t enough at our homes or in the world. This determines much if not most of our politics in many of our countries. There is never enough for health care, education, the arts, or basic infrastructure. The largest budget is always for war, bombs, and military gadgets. Can we deny this?

But even more discomforting is that we as Christians have become numb to Jesus' message, and have accepted the mantra of success and efficiency. Even in some of our "churchy" discussions, Stephen Covey's or Shiv Kera's or some management guru's words are quoted more than Jesus' or his followers'. I think we need to listen to the following quote of Thomas Merton. Caution and disclaimer: it might discomfort you! Merton says, "If I had a message to my contemporaries it is surely this: Be anything you like, be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing: success. If you are too obsessed with success, you will forget to live. If you have learned only how to be a success, your life has probably been wasted."

To say this is enough, what is given is enough is deep spirituality, great maturity. Of course, this needs a lot of self-emptying, and a lot of letting-go. Climbing ladders to nowhere would never make us happy nor create peace and justice on this earth.

Small is beautiful. Less is enough. Let's live simply so others can simply live.

Authority as Service

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B (21 October 2018)

Isaiah 53:10-11

Hebrews 4:14-16

Mark 10:35-45

"The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Peter Parker after being bitten by a genetically engineered "super spider" acquires super-human powers. You might already guess I'm speaking about the fictional character Spiderman. Though Peter Parker wants to use his super-hero skills for his selfish gains, it is his uncle Ben's statement that gives Peter (Spiderman) his direction and mission in his life. His uncle tells him, "With great power comes great responsibility." This is what we need to keep in mind, that power and authority are given to us for serving and helping others not for one's own gain.

Authority is so often a blatant exercise of power. Rarely is it seen as a service. We most often link authority with abuse of power, rather than committed service. Jesus in today's gospel is very clear. He wants his followers to think in terms of service rather than of authority. Authority devoid of authenticity is mere domination and manipulation. The nucleus of all authority should be truth and genuineness.

Jesus clearly spells out a new standard of greatness and status, stating that success in his kingdom is not measured by worldly standards. There are no win/lose standards, but only win/win standards. There are no upper/lower levels or superior/inferior tiers but only equality in dignity. All of us are created in God's image, we are all equal in dignity. The standard of greatness in God's kingdom is the standard of the cross. Greatness is all about letting go of one's ego; it is all about service. We serve God best by helping one another. We lend a helping hand to those in need. The poor can save us from our apathy (opposite of enthusiasm) and mediocrity. They can keep us on the right track, and give us meaning to our Christian lives.

Authority comes from God; we are obliged to obey those in authority at all costs except when they against God and truth. Caiaphas, we may say, was one of the villians in the plot that led to Jesus' crucifixion. He was the High Priest then. He had been corrupt and had made it to the top through the influence and manipulation of his father-in-law Annas. God's message though comes to Caiaphas, though he was corrupt. Caiaphas prophesizes about Jesus: “It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (John 11:50). At this point in the gospel, John the Evangelist comments, “Caiaphas did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one” (John 11:51-52). Even Caiaphas becomes part of God’s design. God can and does act through immoral or corrupt authority figures. If we are wondering whether to obey authority or not, this is a beautiful instance. Truth can come only from God, even if we perceive those in power are manipulating people and circumstances by using all kinds of intrigues, pressures and machinations in order to profit for themselves. We have a duty to disobey authority when they go against truth, morals, and faith. But in almost all other instances, I'd imagine, we have a duty to obey authority with all our heart (even when they are involved in dirty or manipulative politics).

Sin against the Holy Spirit

28th Week in Ordinary Time - Saturday (20 October 2018)

Ephesians 1:15-23

Luke 12:8-12

“Everyone who says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

If God forgives us always, then why this statement? Is there any sin that will be not be forgiven by God? In fact, this verse doesn't talk about God's attitude but about ours: a stubborn refusal of God and his message. If we in our freedom block God from our lives, God can't do anything about it. God respects our freedom, He respects even our refusal of Him. Love is love only when it is free; love doesn't force itself on the other.

We in our stubbornness could lock ourselves into a situation where we shut out any openness to the truth. As long as we are in that situation, there is no possibility of reconciliation. Forgiveness is not just a unilateral move on God’s part—which is always guaranteed. It always involves our acceptance of this forgiveness, our willingness to be renewed. If this is missing, then there is no forcing from God's part. Only by using our freedom can we receive God's forgiveness which is always available. This is what we mean by the sin against the Holy Spirit. To sin against the Spirit is to close the door on reconciliation.

A mature spirituality involves changing ourselves and letting ourselves be changed by a mysterious encounter with grace, mercy, and forgiveness. This is the truth that will set us free. But we find it difficult to accept ourselves as already forgiven, and can remain stubborn and refuse God's love and grace. Maturity comes only with a certain amount of humility to allow God and others into our lives. It may be even a kind of humiliation for us who feel we are okay, we don't need others' help or God's help. Evil is not the shadow itself, according to Carl Jung, but the refusal to meet this shadow. The problem is not the sin, but the denial of it. The problem is not the sin, but refusing to accept God's mercy.

Heaven therefore is now and forever for those who are willing to keep changing, even for "the bad" whom God forever entices into a state of communion, a letting go in love. Heaven is for those who can allow God's mercy into their lives again and again, and even change again and again.

God doesn't wait for us to ask forgiveness, but He readily forgives and loves us endlessly. He forgives us promptly, even before we ask for pardon. But do we accept this incredible forgiving love of God?

It is said that two-thirds of Jesus' message is directly or indirectly about forgiveness. In other words, Jesus is time and again saying it is radically okay. You can trust yourself because God trusts you, you can forgive yourself because God forgives you, you can accept yourself because God accepts you. Nothing will be wasted; all has been forgiven; nothing will be used against you. In fact, God will even use your sins to transform you.

As the medieval mystic Lady Julian of Norwich says, "Sin shall not be a shame to humans, but a glory. The mark of sin shall be turned to honour." If that's not the "good news," what else could it be? What else could be good except that kind of freedom, that kind of spaciousness, that kind of embrace from God that says your life matters? Your journey matters, and God's covenanted love towards you is always unconditional. If you accept this good news, the universe suddenly becomes a very safe place.

Do not be afraid

28th Week in Ordinary Time - Friday (19 October 2018)

Ephesians 1:11-14

Luke 12:1-7

“Every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.”

It was common in our families that parents and elders frighten the children in many ways, sometimes even unnecessarily. Darkness, strangers, fire, water, devil, evil spirits, and the world itself were all to be feared. Our culture teaches us that everything out there is hostile. Even God was to be feared. God in our minds was always angry or vengeful or hateful if we did the wrong things. He was good only to those who were good and worthy. He was always a punishing cop or judge; a book-keeper of our wrongdoings. God was seen to be fearful. People have always been afraid of God, and as a result they have been afraid of themselves. God was not usually "nice," and we were not too sure about ourselves either. For most of human history God was not a likeable or a lovable character. As we read in the Bible, when God appeared on the scene, it was not felt to be good news by most people; it was bad news.

We can say that some amount of initial fear is necessary, it is part of a path towards change. It is a recognition of the terrible risks involved in meeting the Other, in which we accept that in encountering the stranger we are willing to be unhinged, shaken up, scared, and—most importantly—changed. When the angel appeared to Mary, it was absolutely essential that she was afraid. Yet through her fear, she pronounced her “Yes!” to the angel, and Christ became humanly incarnate in that moment. This meeting, with one so very different from us, can at times be terrifying. In fact it must be terrifying, for to be afraid is to take seriously the fact that so much in our lives is at stake in the meeting. Yet when we say Yes! to the Other, then Christ becomes incarnate in that moment.

That's why every revelation in the Bible (an event where God breaks through into history) begins with the same words, "Do not be afraid!" It is the most common one-liner in the Bible; it appears 365 times in the Bible (isn't the number itself significant?). Whenever an angel or God breaks into human life, the first words are invariably, "Do not be afraid!"

Today's gospel reading is one of those instances where Jesus says, "Do not be afraid!" Jesus says we don't have to be anxious of anything, everything is taken care of by God, who is our Parent. We live in a benevolent universe, and it is on our side as God is on our side. He is not against, He is only and completely for us. The universe is God's. The universe is radical grace. "Be not afraid."

We need to move from a "fear" worldview to a "love" worldview. We need to move from being afraid of God and His world, to loving God and His world. Everything is perfectly arranged for us. This moment is as perfect as it can be. Let us know that things are okay as they are. Let us stop pushing ourselves and others around. God cares for us, and for everything. Perhaps knowing this is the secret to happiness.

Gospel

Feast of St Luke, Evangelist (18 October 2018)

2 Timothy 4:10-17

Luke 10:1-9

“The kingdom of God is very near to you.” 

St Luke is the author of two books in the New Testament: the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Probably Luke was a native of Antioch, and a physician by profession. He had become a disciple of the apostles and later followed Paul until Paul’s martyrdom. He seems to have been a close companion of Paul on some of his missionary journeys and on his final journey to Rome. This is based on the belief that the Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke and that in the Acts a number of passages use the word “we,” suggesting the writer was a companion of Paul (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 27:1-28:16).

The gospel given by Luke and others is by no means a historical document (nor is it ahistorical). Luke (as others) writes as an evangelist, the result being a statement of faith in Jesus Christ. We should not read the gospels as mere history, but accept them as reflections on God who revealed himself in the historical person Jesus. But the trouble is that we have made the Bible into a bunch of ideas—about which we can be right or wrong—rather than an invitation to a new set of eyes. Bible and the gospels in particular are all for the sake of astonishment! They are for our journey of divine transformation and configuring ourselves into Christ, not intellectual or "small-self" convenience.

So the best way to read the Bible is to use both the head and the heart. Without this balance we can end up in either of the following two temptations (mediocrities): the progressive temptation or the conservative temptation. The progressive temptation is all head and little heart. It is a mediocrity that discounts all genuine God experiences, and focus merely on the historical and the critical part. The conservative temptation is all heart and little head. It's sweet and nice, but it's never going to transform history; it's the other mediocrity that is never going to influence people in a sensible way.

If we believe the Bible to be revealing the Word of God then it has to be received with all our self, with all our being. The Word of God is forever inviting us and moving us towards the fullness of the divine union: the kingdom of God. God's reign has already come, it is very near to us, it is inside us. Only that we need to acknowledge and celebrate it with all our lives. This is good news (gospel) all about! Only that it is so hard to accept that God already accepts us and celebrates us unconditionally.

To allow yourself to be God's beloved is to be God's beloved. To allow yourself to be chosen is to be chosen. To allow yourself to be blessed is to be blessed. It is so hard to accept being accepted, especially from God. It takes a certain kind of humility to surrender to it, and even more to persist in believing it. Any person of God knows this to be true: God chooses and then uses whom He chooses, and their usability comes from their willingness to allow themselves to be chosen in the first place. What a paradox! The very desire to love God comes from God Himself. He both creates the desire and fulfills it.

Pharisaism

28th Week in Ordinary Time - Wednesday; Memorial of St Ignatius of Antioch (17 October 2018)

Galatians 5:18-25

Luke 11:42-46

“Woe to you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

Jesus in today's gospel attacks the attitudes of Pharisees. He is attacking a certain mentality which can all too easily be among us Christians and, if we are honest, very many times in ourselves. Here Jesus attacks them for their scrupulous observance of even the tiniest of regulations, not because that is wrong but because they by-pass justice and the love of God those things that really matter. He attacks them for their status-seeking. They expect people to look up to them and give them special honours because of their supposed higher level of religious observance.

But the gospel passage is not merely about 2000 years ago. It is about me. Pharisaism is alive in our society even today but the first person I need to check is me. We are part of the evil that we are fighting against.

The Church itself over the centuries has not been above criticism in this area either. And perhaps it is still true today. Bishops and priests have often laid heavy burdens on the faithful and not given much help in carrying them. Sometimes church leaders have been more anxious to preserve traditional practices than lead people to a deeper love of Christ and each other. Parents too can be guilty when they follow double standards, making one rule for themselves and another for their children. Similar blame can be put on teachers and employers who could be saying, “Do as I say; don’t do as I do.” But most of all the individual has to begin with a self-criticism, an examination of consciousness from herself. Have I sought for privileges rather than truth and justice and love?

We love by letting go. To truly love God in the world, we need to let go of our anger and restlessness however small it may be. Only when we are willing to confess repeatedly that we too have dirty hands, even when we work for the good of others, can we fully understand the hard task of loving and healing others.

We are so careful about our Sunday attendance at Mass and paying our monthly subscriptions, perhaps. But are we careful in loving others, forgiving others, helping others in need? Have we amassed riches by greed and mere profit-making? Have we shown compassion towards the poor? Until people have had some level of inner religious experience, there is no point in asking them to follow the ethical ideals of Jesus. Indeed they will not be able to understand them. On the contrary they would be only the source of deeper anxiety.

Morality (the set of do's and don'ts) is only a tiny part of our religion, but what we have by and large done is trivialize the law into small issues so that we could obey by willpower, determination and a certain kind of reasonableness, still trying to find salvation through the law. Morality is not the goal of religion, but union with God expressed as forgiveness of enemies, non-violence, humble use of power, sharing our riches, showing compassion, etc. These are the weightier matters of our Christian law. These are the stuff that should come into my confession, not just whether I broke the rule or not (whether I missed Mass on Sunday or not).

Love is all that counts both in time and in eternity. We will be judged by love alone.

The Inside

28th Week in Ordinary Time - Tuesday (16 October 2018)

Galatians 5:1-6

Luke 11:37-41

“Did he not who made the outside make the inside too?”

Jesus had been invited to dinner by a Pharisee. He apparently went straight into the dining area and reclined at the table to eat. The Pharisee was quite shocked because Jesus had not first done the ritual washing of his hands before eating. He makes a point, and draws attention to what he sees as false religion. A person’s virtue is not to be judged by his performance or non-performance of an external rite. Unless we are able to see the inside of a person, we can't love her or him.

What Jesus is really emphasising here is the inner spirit and motivation. Once that is proper, everything else will be taken care of. God is equally concerned about the inside as the outside. But perhaps we need to give priority to the work of interiority. This is the substance of true religion. The absence of the inside work (which happens very often, I think) make our religious practices hollow, superficial, egoistic and even hypocritical. Is this why many authentic people tend to use the word spirituality in place of religion?

Religion is not a search for social order, group cohesion, personal worthiness, or a way of escaping into the next world. True religion or spirituality is all about transformation. It is not a search for external perfection or control; it is not merely preparing ourselves for the next world. Spirituality is about enjoying God here and now; it is a search for divine union now. It is a great discovery of God within ourselves in this present state of our lives. Jacob's Eureka after his discovery is an eye-opener for us too: "Truly Yahweh was always in this place all the time, and I never knew it" (Genesis 28:16).

God is found in the inside, within ourselves. The more we discover ourselves, the more we discover God in us. God is not out there, He is here within us. We need to break the lie that God is not within me, but He is only outside, or that He is far away and unapproachable. Rather, He is deeply involved in all our struggles and pains. He is found within the mess and disorder of our lives. The most amazing fact about Jesus is that he found God in disorder and imperfection—and told us that we must do the same or we would never be content on this earth.

We therefore need a discipline by which we begin to see God in our heart. This leads us to a careful attentiveness to the One who dwells in the centre of our being such that through the recognition of God's presence we allow God to take possession of all our senses. Through the discipline of prayer we awaken ourselves to the God in us and let God enter into our heartbeat and our breathing, into our thoughts and emotions, our hearing, seeing, touching, and tasting. It is by being awake to this God in us that we can see God in the world around us. The great mystery of a deeper prayer life is not that we see God in the world, but that God within us recognizes God in the world. God speaks to God, Spirit speaks to Spirit, heart speaks to heart. It is the divine Spirit praying in us who makes our world transparent and opens our eyes to the presence of the divine Spirit in all that surrounds us. It is with our heart of hearts that we see the heart of the world. (Henri Nouwen)

Without personal prayer, silence and interiority, our worship sessions and prayer services will become meaningless. Let us give due focus to interiority, authenticity, and transformation while we are involved in the external practices of our religions. Let us allow ourselves to go beyond ritualism.

"The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words" (Romans 8:26).

St Teresa of Ávila

“It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.”

Today we celebrate the feast of St Teresa of Jesus (1515 - 1582), one of the great woman mystics and doctors of the Church. She was born in Ávila in Spain and entered the Carmelite convent there at the age of 20. It is interesting to note that it is not because of any great attraction to the religious life that she entered the convent but because it seemed the most sensible thing to do. At this time Carmelite convents were comfortable places. One was well looked after, had as much contact with the outside world as one wanted, and could keep one’s own possessions.

In 1562, in the face of much opposition, Teresa founded a convent of Discalced Carmelite nuns in Ávila. Discalced (“shoeless”) signified their devotion to poverty. The rest of her life is a story of the establishment of more and more Discalced Carmelite convents even in the face of intense opposition from the unreformed Carmelites. Meanwhile, every effort was made to destroy Teresa’s reforms and many of her followers (including St John of the Cross) were imprisoned and cruelly treated. Finally, in 1580 with the support of King Philip II, the Discalced Carmelites were made independent and St Teresa was able to found more new convents. She died, worn out by her efforts, on 15 October 1582.

This is one of my favourtie ancedotes from Teresa's life. One day she was coming down the steps of her convent when she saw a beautiful young boy. The child spoke to her and said, "Who are you?" So Teresa answered, "I am Teresa of Jesus. But who are you?" The child answered with a play of words: "I am Jesus of Teresa!" and then he disappeared. As this story tells of her closeness to Jesus Christ, and maturity in spiritual life, she conveys in her writings that there is a clear direction and process (in stages) to maturity and therefore to human life. She describes in detail how you can enter your inner castle in seven stages. Such growth is never lob sided. She in fact points out that every time she “touched” God, she was sent back prompted to do something. Her gigantic founding ventures is a good case in point. St Teresa is an outstanding example of how the contemplative life can well up and overflow into action.

Teresa of Ávila felt that water in all its qualities and movements was the most perfect metaphor for the entire spiritual journey. Water always and forever seeks the lower, and even the lowest, place. We must let water be our teacher here. And water, as you know, is the one single universal element necessary for all of life. Discovering our True Self is the same as the process of discovering God. Spiritual maturity is not opposed or different from integral human development, but they are one and the same. In fact it would be foolish to think that we could attain spiritual growth without entering into ourselves and working on our human maturity.

If you will, please allow the following words of St Teresa of Ávila to sink deep into your heart:

"Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices."

God is good

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B (14 October 2018)

Wisdom 7:7-11

Hebrews 4:12-13

Mark 10:17-30

"No one is good but God alone."

The rich young man, whom we meet in Sunday's gospel reading, prided himself on his goodness. He was the essence of respectability; a perfectionist for going to church (in our terms), attending prayer services and observing the commandments. He was assertive enough to come forward and to ask Christ a fundamental question: "Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus begins his reply thus: "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." Have we ever thought of and reflected on this statement? Or do we gloss over it every time? Only God is good. God is goodness itself. We can only participate in this goodness of God. God is the source and inspiration of all goodness. (There is no hate in God. There is no anger or punishing attitude in God. There is no "badness" in God.)

If God is only goodness, then He can only give us good things. He is always good, He always gives us good things, He is always concerned about us. Perhaps we are the ones who see some things as bad, or unnecessary. But God can use all things for our good. Whatever happens has a message for us, if only we allow God to give us a new set of eyes. Sometimes we don't see the meaning of our life at a particular moment, and that is the time we need a lot of patience. Darkness and meaninglessness too are for our good. 

God is an expert in even using peoples' sin for good, but those who refuse to see their dark side He cannot use! As we see in the gospels, Jesus himself is never upset at sinners. He's only upset with people who don't think they're sinners.

David wants to build Yahweh a house to prove to Yahweh that he's a good boy. Through Prophet Nathan, Yahweh says to David, "I don't want you to build me a house. I will build you a house. I will give you rest from all your enemies. I will make you great. I preserve your offspring until eternity." This is the goodness of our God, who makes us good. His goodness transforms us. In fact, for David, this was the moment of great conversion. We all start by thinking we are going to do something for God, and as we move on in our lives (especially by the end of our lives) we know God has done it all for us. This is the willingness we need to have. God will do it for us! Everything is grace!

Therefore we can say with conviction: God does not love you because you are good, but you are good because God loves you. In other words, God does not love you if or when you change, but God loves you so that you may change.

But a better statement would be the following, my favourite one (thanks to Fr Richard Rohr OFM): God does not love you because you are good. God loves you because God is good.

Boundaries

27th Week in Ordinary Time - Saturday (13 October 2018)

Galatians 3:22-29

Luke 11:27-28

“There are no more distinctions: all are one in Christ Jesus.”

I doubt if Jesus had any boundaries at all. See, for instance, his table fellowship as witnessed in the gospels. He dined with anyone and everyone. He not only ate with Pharisees, his own friends and disciples, but also with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. So if we are a follower of Jesus, then are no discriminations or distinctions of superiority and inferiority. As St Paul beautifully puts it in our first reading today, “There are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” I think this is deeply true.

As a child I found difficulty in recognising boundaries, especially the man-made boundaries between countries. Are boundaries needed? This still remains a question. But still I can say with at least a bit of conviction: there are no boundaries in reality, there are only lines. There are no separations. We as humans create boundaries, separate identities, even discriminations and injustices arising from these boundaries. I find it difficult to think or imagine boundaries for this universe. Even the scientists talk about the ever expanding boundaries of the universe; this could be our model.

Yet, our lives are largely spent in drawing boundaries. And to draw boundaries is to manufacture opposites. Just to draw a boundary line is to prepare oneself for conflict. Any boundary is a conflict line. A potential battle line. All our conflicts internal and external arise from manufacturing boundaries and separations. Any division or separation is not an adequate view of reality.

Non-separation may be the only adequate way of viewing and accepting reality. Perhaps only a prayerful mind can see things in their unity and connection. Though things are not completely one, they are not two either. The fact that life and death are "not two" is extremely difficult to grasp, not because it is so complex, but because it is so simple.

Even if we find ourselves within boundaries, the best way to start is not to keep them rigid. It might be better to calmly accept and hold these boundaries. Our boundaries, if we have at all, need to keep expanding. Growth consists in expanding our boundaries, or expanding our consciousness. Human growth takes place when we are able to collapse boundaries; integrate alienated aspects of ourselves, and expand our consciousness.

Contemporary trans-national and multi-cultural societies are good instances of unity and union among us humans. This is surely one of the greatest contributions of Christianity to the world’s cultures, although unfortunately that has not yet been fully realised even in many Christian communities.

To sum up:

Although I am not God, I am not other than God either. 

Although I am not you, I am not other than you either.

Although I am not the earth, I am not other than the earth, either.

(You could create your own list.)

Sin and Sinner

27th Week in Ordinary Time - Friday (12 October 2018)

Galatians 3:7-14

Luke 11:15-26

“Know that the Kingdom of God has overtaken you.”

We must have heard that we are called to love the sinner and hate the sin, but I think we now need to modify this slightly. We are called not just to love the sinner, but also use the sin. The evil or the sin itself can become the raw material for spirituality. “Where sin abounded grace superabounded” (Romans 5:20). Sin and gift are two sides of the same coin. Salvation is not sin perfectly avoided. Salvation is sin turned on its head and used in our favour. We will be able to discover that the same passion that leads us to sin, that leads us away from God can also be a gift, it can also lead us back to God and to our true selves. Along with Richard Rohr, I could say that you should not get rid of your sin until you have learned what it has to teach you. Otherwise, it will only return in new forms. This is what Jesus in today’s gospel says of the unclean spirit that returns to the house all “swept and tidied.” “It goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself.” Tragically, the last state of the house will be worse than the first.

Nature abhors a vacuum, as we know. And sin is nothingness or worthlessness that we find in ourselves. We cannot remove nothingness; we can only fill it with something. How should one deal with worthlessness? The only way is to fill it with what is valuable and good. Light and darkness are not opposites; rather darkness is the absence of light. And when light enters in, the darkness is no more. The only way to fight sin and evil is to fill it with goodness and love, more and more.

For God, therefore, problem becomes a part of the solution. Psychological wholeness and spiritual holiness never exclude the problem from the solution. If it is wholeness, then it is always paradoxical, and holds both the dark and light sides of things. Failures and weaknesses are not those to be left out, eliminated, rejected or dumped, but embraced and owned and integrated. Wholeness is not the absence of the negative and the dark. But it is the situation where both light and darkness, positive and negative are integrated. They are con-joined to give the whole picture. Our negative energies are not to be hated, but to be accepted, owned, embraced and integrated into compassion.

So it is not about removing the sin from the sinner (that's not possible), but it is about holding (=treasuring) them both in compassion till it transforms one and the other. Holding the tension in compassion. Holding the opposites in love. Holding the contradictions in ourselves creatively so as to transform ourselves. A creative tension. That's what growth is all about. That's when I shall know that God's Reign has overtaken me already!

A.S.K. Ask, Seek, Knock

27th Week in Ordinary Time - Thursday (11 October 2018)

Galatians 3:1-5

Luke 11:5-13

“For the one who asks always receives.”

Today's gospel lesson is one of perseverance in prayer. Jesus gives an interesting scene of a man coming to a neighbour in the middle of the night looking for some food to provide hospitality to an unexpected visitor. The neighbour is not willing to get up and disturb his wife and children who are sleeping with him (which would be very common in a one-room house). Jesus says that if the man persists, the neighbour will eventually disturb himself and get up and give the man all he needs, simply to get some peace even if it is not for love. If a neighbour will listen to an inconvenient request, how much more will a loving God pay heed to the needs of his children? As a loving Father doesn't He know all our needs?

The point here is not convincing God into doing something, but it is one of a stark contrast of one who is concerned and interested in us and in all our needs more than we ourselves could be concerned about ourselves. God is more intimate to us that we ourselves are to our own selves. Prayer is not about changing God's mind, but about coming to know His mind and living according to it. It is not about manipulating God or put him under some kind of obligation by asking him repeatedly. So, if I do a nine-day novena and say certain prayers each day, I may expect that God or some saint somehow is under an obligation to give me what I am asking for. (In some kinds of novenas or other devotional exercises there are people who tell us that “satisfaction is guaranteed.” This, in fact, a superstition – if not heresy.) Prayer is not at all about obtaining favours from a “Santa Claus” God, but it is about relationship and life itself. Only as children we can pray properly, which also includes intercessions and requests.

In another example Jesus asks if a father would give his child a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion instead of an egg. If even a very ordinary father would not think of treating his children so callously, “if you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Then, you may ask: if God is such a loving and caring parent who will only give “good” things to us, why do we have to persist in asking? Why do we have to ask at all? The reason is not because God needs persuading (like the sleepy neighbour in the first parable of today's gospel). Persistence in prayer will only show how related we are to God. It is for our benefit. The more I pray, the more I know how deep is my relationship to God, and in prayer I may be surprised that what all I need is always and already granted. This is why Jesus says, “For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.” And in another place Jesus affirms whatever we ask in his name has already been granted. In fact, the more I pray, the more I wake up to reality and God who is found in me and in this reality.

Father

27th Week in Ordinary Time - Wednesday (10 October 2018)

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14

Luke 11:1-4

“Father....”

Today's gospel reading of the Mass presents the Lucan version of the Lord's Prayer, where Jesus teaches his disciples to call God as “Father” (Abba).

Jesus' whole life is based on his intimate experience of God as Father. Jews gave God the name “Yahweh” in ancient times; but it was their custom not to name him directly. They used other names or expressions to evoke the holy “name” of Yahweh in their everyday conversation: “the Heavens,” “the Power,” “the Place,” “the One who lives in the Temple,” “the Lord.” Jesus too could have used this language like anyone else, but what comes from his heart is the name “Father.”

God is our Parent, who takes care of even his most fragile creatures; who is intimately related to us; who makes the sun rise on the good and the evil; who sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous; who reveals himself to the little ones. We could use any name that reminds us of the most loving person; God is a Person beyond gender and beyond all human description; God is a mystery of goodness itself. That's why even without using any name or even without using the word “God” we can approach Him, we can be present to His love.

But, we need to remember, one cannot fall in love with an idea or doctrine, but only with a Person who is loving. The only way to experience this Mystery of Presence is through love and relationship; in other words, God cannot be known with our mind, He can only be loved. He reveals himself only in love, as Jesus himself shows: a God who always and everywhere loves, forgives, heals, strengthens, enlightens.

Most of us are afraid of God. We have perhaps consciously or unconsciously combined the human images of our father and mother, or other significant persons. We think God as a judge, or a cop, or even as a spy. We are too careful with God. We think He is very calculative, and petty-minded as we humans are. We are afraid we may offend Him if we use the wrong words for Him, or if we do wrong actions. If God is only love and mercy, why should we be careful or afraid? Think of seven billion persons committing at least one sin per day! Think about our universe that has no boundaries! Think about the billions of galaxies kept in existence! Our God needs to be at least as big as the universe, and as complex as the things within them. Our God needs to be as humble and simple as a microbe or an atom. Above all, think about yourself, a human person created in God's image. You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop. You are not a tiny speck of dust in the universe; you are the entire universe in nano-size. Therefore, this God of ours is not only lovelier than we can imagine, but He is lovelier and loving than we are capable of imagining or thinking.

If we believe the Lord's Prayer to be not only the pattern of all prayers, but the programme of life itself, then it is a programme of love to imitate God who is love itself. As forgiveness is the central to this prayer, it needs to be centre of our life and love. Our lives are supported by God's boundless providence and mercy. Why don't we accept Him to be our Mother or Father (or Grandmother or any other loving person) with all our trust and affection? Or is there any other way?

Martha and Mary

27th Week in Ordinary Time - Tuesday (9 October 2018)

Galatians 1:13-24

Luke 10:38-42

“Mary sat down at the Lord’s feet, listening to him.”

At the end of his commentary on the Martha and Mary story Joseph A. Fitzmyer, the great commentator on Luke’s gospel, notes that the Mary/Martha episode is addressed to the Christian who is expected to be “a contemplative in action.” There is no comparison between Martha and Mary here. We should not play out Martha against Mary, or Mary against Martha, neither when judging the lives of others nor our own life. The ideal is to combine the two attitudes Mary and Martha symbolize. “Ora et Labora” is the old saying you often see in monasteries and convents: “Pray and Work.”

We need both Martha and Mary; both action and contemplation. The most important word in this is neither action nor even contemplation, but “and.” There is no apostleship (sending out) without discipleship (being with Jesus).

Yet, Jesus speaks about a “better” part (better translated as “good” part), stressing the listening or contemplative side. Let’s not forget, however, that afterward he only could sit at table to eat because Martha had continued fussing in the kitchen. He never asked her to come and sit down with Mary and himself. But only one thing was missing in Martha. She was most likely not present to herself, she was not present to her own feelings of resentment, perhaps her own martyr complex, her complaining attitude. If she was not present to herself, Martha could not be present to her guests in any healing way, and spiritually speaking, she could not even be present to God. Presence is of one piece. How you are present to anything is how you are present to everything. How you are present to anything is how you are present to God, loved ones, strangers, those who are suffering. To repeat, unless you are present to yourself, you can’t be present to others, or to God.

Aren’t we many times like Martha “distracted” with all our serving? We are serving the Lord, but we are distracted. Martha is doing the reasonable, hospitable thing—rushing around, fixing, preparing, and as the text brilliantly says, “distracted with all the serving.”

Jesus, in the same passage of Martha and Mary, doesn’t lose the occasion to affirm Mary, “who sat at his feet listening to him speak.” Mary knows how to be present to him and, presumably, to herself. She understands the one thing that makes all other things happen at a deeper and healing level. Prayer is not one of the ten thousand things, but it is the one thing necessary to see all those ten thousand things. It is the presence that is needed to live those ten thousand things in a healing way.

There should be a balance between word and deed, between talk and action, between prayer and work. Both are important. The two belong together; they are interwoven. Yet, let us not lose sight of the priority of contemplation. Our actions should rather be an overflow of our contemplation, our communion with God and the world. The quality of our lives should define the quantitative activities of our lives. Otherwise it may be mere restlessness or impatience, and a presence that may not be healing.

Neighbour

27th Week in Ordinary Time - Monday (8 October 2018)

Galatians 1:6-12

Luke 10:25-37

"Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the brigands' hands?"

The Lucan parable of the Good Samaritan is truly a treasure, from which we can draw many life lessons for us, especially Christians. The lawyer's question "Who is my neighbour?" doesn't make sense for Jesus. But how to be a neighbour, that's the real question. Jesus reframes the question thus: "Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the brigands' hands?" We can define only the subject of love, not the object.

The priest and the Levite (=an assistant in the Temple) were not bad people, but they thought they were good people because they were obedient to the Law. They were not supposed touch a corpse. If someone is half dead, s/he would realistically seem a corpse. Thus these two characters of the priest and the Levite were possibly afraid to approach the injured man because they thought he was already dead and consequently would have to ritually defile themselves. They were law-abiding people, but failed to extend their help to the one who was almost dead. They were concerned about themselves not getting defiled, or just being "pure" in a legal sense. Was he dead or alive? They were not concerned about the person lying there. Jesus compares the above failure of the ministers of God to the unselfishness of the hated Samartian, who is able to see the unlimited nature of the duty of love. The Samaritan man's love and compassion is the starting point, which leads him to do what is necessary and appropriate for the injured person. Jesus' concern therefore is not moral or legal, but mystical. We cannot approach reality with readymade solutions and answers (of laws), but accept reality as it is and encounter God in it. Only there we can be a true neighbour to anyone and everyone.

Have we faced any situation where we could obey the law but be disobedient to God? Have we blindly applied rules without having any consideration or compassion towards some people? In the name of religion and God, have we done hateful things instead of putting love as the centre of our lives? The challenge of today's parable is real and practical, it is not about debating and understanding the meaning of law or eternal life but about "doing," which has its source in compassion itself. If we value our discussion and reflection of the parable, then it has to be proved simply by listening to Jesus telling the lawyer and us, "Go and do likewise."

Lifelong Union

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B (7 October 2018)

Genesis 2:18-24

Hebrews 2:9-11

Mark 10:2-16

"What God has joined together no one must separate."

Infatuation and falling in love have been compared to catching a cold. People do succumb to both quite easily, if we insist on distinction. People seem to lose their normal equilibrium for a time. Both these phenomena are by their nature ephemeral. Infatuation has always seemed to me a very fragile foundation for the life-long and all-weather commitment of marriage. Some even argue that our ancestors might have been more realistic, with their convention of arranged marriages, which might have had a better history were it not for its unscrupulous exploitation of women. Infatuation is blind to the other’s faults. If this is something of a "falling" in love, then there must be something of a "falling out of love." It may be true that true love can begin only when one falls out of love. Or rather, this is where a relationship can make or break itself. Honeymoon experiences cannot be prolonged lifelong; they need to stop. Only then can normal life begin.

Marriages now may always begin with falling in love but they survive on friendship. Friends are not only aware and tolerant of each other's weaknesses but more importantly are protective. They seek to shield their partners where they are weak. One’s strengths assume the other’s weaknesses. Putting up with a spouse’s shortcomings is nothing but an exercise in crisis-management. But the sad casualties of failed marriages, we know them very well. We are well aware of a hundred illustrations of failed relationships in marriages, perhaps the consequences of a mere absence of friendship, respect, and growth. Marriage therefore is about oneness, and union. "This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body."

Jesus, as we see in today's gospel reading, was very clear about his position, emphasizing that marriage is a state of life created by God himself, a lifelong union between one man and one woman kept together by a pledge of love and loyalty made in the presence of God. It’s a union that cannot be undone, so when a couple marry there is no power on earth, except death, that can free them to remarry. "What God has joined together man must not separate." I am aware this interpretation is unacceptable to many people, including Christians. But we are called today to reflect on the dignity of marriage and on the permanence of the marriage commitment. A marriage is not a cosmetic arrangement, but a covenantal relationship. I think we need to agree on this point at least.

Love, even in marriages, should go beyond feelings, emotions, sentiments and moods. It is all about commitment, that often calls for sacrifices. The only model for such a love is God himself who loves us without conditions or boundaries. A love that always forgives, a love that always gives freedom, respect and dignity to the other, a love that is 100%. Of course, this is the ideal that one should always survive. But God's help of light and strength in this regard is not an illusion. He helps us in our weaknesses, He fills in the gaps whenever we fail if only we allow Him in our relationship.

We may say that it takes three persons to make a marriage successful: you, your spouse, and God. But it doesn't even take two people to have a happy marriage. It only takes one: you.

The Child in Us

26th Week in Ordinary Time - Saturday (6 October 2018)

Job 38:1,12-21; 40:3-5

Luke 10:17-24

“I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.”

At the beginning of chapter 10 of Luke's gospel Jesus sends his 72 disciples out to all the places where he himself would visit. In today's gospel, we see them returning full of joy and satisfaction. “Lord, even the demons were subject to us in your name.” They discovered that, in his name, they were able to do the same things that Jesus himself did. In reply, Jesus says to them: “I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” The power of evil is being reversed and this was partly the doing of his disciples working in his name. And he further reassures them: “I give you the power to tread on snakes and scorpions and over the power of the enemy: nothing at all will be able to hurt you.”

“Snakes and scorpions” represent evil powers. Evil has no power over us. Nothing, as Paul says, can separate us from the love of God. The love that God extends to us is not an idea, but a reality that touches us at every moment of every day. God is our Parent, we are His Beloved children. That's why Jesus tells his disciples the real reason why they should be happy. It is not because they have special powers over evil spirits but “because your names are written in heaven.” In other words, their blessedness comes not from what they are able to do but because they have been chosen as the instruments for God to do his work, to make the Kingdom a reality. That is the origin of our blessedness too.

Then follows a beautiful prayer of Jesus to the Father. He thanks the Father because all that is coming into the world through Jesus is being made known not to the wise and great ones of this world but to “the little ones”, the people who, in the eyes of the majority, are of no account. No one really knows the Son except the Father. And no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals the Father.

This is an amazing statement: the Lord of heaven and earth reveals “these things” to “mere children.” Jesus shows a fascination with little children, those who bear the full genius of the human personality, the ones who are able trust readily, who are joyfully prompt and ready for action at all times. But here Jesus is speaking of you and me. It is in ourselves that we can trace God’s kingdom. We all carry within ourselves the little child that Jesus talks about. It is a matter of finding that child in us again and freeing it, of recapturing our original joy and trust.

Try to remember your first religious experience. Was it praying with your mother? Was it at your first Holy Communion? Revive it in your mind and heart. Was it helping someone in need? Was it when you saved your money to help the poor or a missionary in a far-off land? Was it silence experienced as joy and peace? Revive it in your mind and heart. It will connect you to your own spiritual roots. It will help you to drink from your own spiritual well. Write it down to make it a lasting memory.

Messengers

26th Week in Ordinary Time - Friday (5 October 2018)

Job 38:1,12-21; 40:3-5

Luke 10:13-16

“Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell.”

These are strong words today from Jesus against towns where he had preached extensively – Chorazin, Bethsaida and especially Capernaum. Chorazin is only mentioned twice in the Bible, here and in the parallel passage of Matt 11:21. It was near the Sea of Galilee and probably between 3 and 4 km north of Capernaum. Bethsaida, the home of some of Jesus’ disciples, was on the north-east shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had been built by Philip the Tetrarch, who called it ‘Julias’ after Julia, a daughter of the emperor Caesar Augustus. Capernaum, situated on the north shore of the lake, appears frequently in the Gospel narratives, where Jesus had made his home and it was the centre from which he did much of his missionary work. His work and preaching would have been most familiar to the people there.

Jesus says that if the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon had witnessed all that Jesus had said and done in those towns of Palestine they would have repented long ago, just as the pagan people of Niniveh had repented at the preaching of Jonah. Tyre and Sidon were towns on the Phoenician coast, north of Palestine (Lebanon today). Jesus was said to have visited the area just once and only very briefly so the people there did not have an opportunity to witness Jesus’ miracles or hear his preaching unlike the people in the towns mentioned above.

And Jesus goes further. Addressing his disciples he says, “He that hears you, hears me and he that despises you despises me” and the Father who sent him. In other words, to listen to the messengers of Jesus is equivalent to listening to him personally; to reject those messengers is to reject Jesus and to reject God.

And, in our own times, perhaps we should emphasise that those “messengers” are not just bishops, priests and religious. They include all those who sincerely proclaim the Gospel by their words and their lives. They could be just anyone in our lives, even our enemies. It might be no harm then for each of us today to hear those warnings of Jesus addressed to ourselves. How well and truly have we responded to the call of Jesus in the Gospel? How open are we to hear that message coming to us from different kinds of people in our community? How committed are we to accepting, living and sharing that Gospel with others?

Might it be true to say that there are people in other parts of our world, our country, our society who, if they were given what we have been given, who heard what we hear, would respond much more generously than we have done? There is never any room for complacency in our Christian life. Because we have been given so much, so much more is expected of us. As Jesus says elsewhere we may be very surprised to see others, who never had an opportunity directly to hear the Gospel, go before us into God’s Kingdom. We could easily miss the obvious. We could miss God who is revealing himself in every event that is happening to us; we could miss God and His message that is coming to us in every person that we meet in our lives. Are we aware?

St Francis of Assisi

26th Week in Ordinary Time - Thursday (4 October 2018)

“Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”

Today we celebrate a thirteenth-century Italian who has one of the longest bibliographies in history: Francis of Assisi (1181-1226). His simple wisdom has attracted many cultures and religions and continues to resonate eight hundred years later.

Saint Francis stepped out into a world being recast by the emerging market economy. He lived amid a decaying old order in which his father was greedily buying up the small farms of debtors, moving quickly into the new entrepreneurial class. The Church seems to have been largely out of touch with the masses. But Francis trusted a deeper voice and a bigger truth.

Francis who wanted to be a noble, a knight, found that battle was the best place to win the glory and prestige he longed for. He got his first chance when Assisi declared war on their longtime enemy, the nearby town of Perugia. Most of the troops from Assisi were butchered in the fight. Only those wealthy enough to expect to be ransomed were taken prisoners. Francis was one of them. He was chained in a harsh, dark dungeon. Finally, after a year in the dungeon, he was ransomed. Strangely, the experience didn't seem to change him.

A call for knights for the Fourth Crusade gave him a chance for his dream. He left adorned with a suit of armor that was decorated with gold, and with a magnificent cloak. But Francis never got farther than one day's ride from Assisi. There he had a dream in which God told him he had it all wrong and told him to return home. And return home he did. What must it have been like to return without ever making it to battle—the boy who wanted nothing more than to be liked was humiliated, laughed at, called a coward by the village and raged at by his father for the money wasted on armor.

Francis' conversion did not happen over night. He started to spend more time in prayer. He went off to a cave and wept for his sins. Sometimes God's grace overwhelmed him with joy. His search for conversion led him to the ancient church at San Damiano. While he was praying there, he heard Christ on the crucifix speak to him, "Francis, repair my church." Francis assumed this meant church with a small "c"—the crumbling building he was in. Acting again in his impetuous way, he took fabric from his father's shop and sold it to get money to repair the church. His father saw this as an act of theft—and put together with Francis' cowardice, waste of money, and his growing disinterest in money made Francis seem more like a madman than his son. Pietro dragged Francis before the bishop and in front of the whole town demanded that Francis return the money and renounce all rights as his heir. The bishop was very kind to Francis; he told him to return the money and said God would provide. That was all Francis needed to hear. He not only gave back the money but stripped off all his clothes. In front of the crowd that had gathered he said, "Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father. From now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'"

Francis sought one clear center—the Incarnate Jesus—and moved out from there. He understood everything from this personalized reference point. He followed Jesus in at least three clear ways. First, Francis delved into the prayer depths of his own tradition, as opposed to mere repetition of tired formulas. Second, he sought direction in the mirror of creation, as opposed to mental and fabricated ideas or ideals. Third, and most radically, he looked to the underside of his society, to the suffering, for an understanding of how God transforms us. In other words, Francis found both depth and breadth—and a process to keep him there. The depth was an inner life where all shadow, mystery, and paradox were confronted, accepted, and forgiven—and God was encountered. The breadth was the ordinary and sacred world itself.

Francis showed us the process for staying at the centre: entering into the world of human powerlessness. In imitation of Jesus, he chose “poverty” as his honest and truthful lens for seeing everything. Francis set out to read reality through the eyes and authority of those who have “suffered and been rejected”—and, with Jesus, come out resurrected. This is the “privileged seeing” of those who have been initiated by life. It is the true baptism of “fire and Spirit” with which, Jesus says, we must all be baptized (see Mark 10:39).

For Francis, the true “I” first had to be discovered and realigned (the prayer journey into the True Self). He then had to experience himself situated inside of a meaning-filled cosmos (a sacramental universe). Francis prayed, “Who are you, God? And who am I?” Finally, he had to be poor (to be able to read reality from the side of powerlessness). He realized that experiencing reality from the side of money, success, and power is to leave yourself out of sympathy with 99% of the people who have ever lived.

Following Jesus

26th Week in Ordinary Time - Wednesday (3 October 2018)

Job 9:1-16

Luke 9:57-62

“Follow me.”

Any mother or father, teacher or speaker knows that repetition and using different examples help to make a point. When Jesus is telling his prospective disciples that they shouldn’t delay or procrastinate, he makes the point twice. Don’t delay burying the past, don’t even go to bid it farewell. Jesus says, Follow me now, or never. He asks us to confront our hesitation and procrastination.

Christian life is not static but one that is ready to move, one that calls for promptness. It calls for energy on the Christian way and courage in persevering when the journey is hard. But it seems that we Christians have been worshipping Jesus' journey instead of doing his journey. The first feels very religious; the second just feels human, and not glorious at all.

In other words, an encounter with Jesus is not the fruit of historical research or of doctrinal reflection. It happens only through personal commitment and faithful following. We begin to encounter Jesus when we begin to trust God as he did, when we believe in love as he did, when we look at people as he did, when we confront life and death with hope as he did, when we pass on the Good News of the kingdom as he did. Following Jesus Christ, therefore, is a demanding thing; it is being “radical.” And mediocrity is a real possibility when one is not radical enough. “Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus calls you to follow him as you are. Even in the eternal nature of things, you're somehow you in your you-ness, on the path that God is leading you on, the journey you are going through, the burdens that you are bearing. All of these are combining to create the precise alchemy of your soul, your holiness, and your response. In the eternal scheme of things, we discover that all God wants from you is you. It's just so humbling, because it always feels like not enough, doesn't it?

Integration

26th Week in Ordinary Time - Tuesday; Memorial of Guardian Angels (2 October 2018)

Job 3:1-3,11-17,20-23

Matthew 18:1-5,10 

“Why did I not perish on the day I was born?”

The poetic part of the Book of Job begins in chap. 3 as we see in today's first reading. Let us try to understand a little more. The Book of Job, named after its protagonist (apparently not an Israelite; cf. Ezekiel 14:14,20), is an exquisite dramatic treatment of the problem of the suffering of the innocent. The contents of the book, together with its artistic structure and elegant style, place it among the literary masterpieces of all time. This is a literary composition, and not a transcript of historical events and conversations.

The prologue (chaps. 1–2) provides the setting for Job’s testing. When challenged by the satan’s questioning of Job’s sincerity, the Lord gives leave for a series of catastrophes to afflict Job. Three friends come to console him. Job breaks out in complaint (chap. 3), and a cycle of speeches begins. Job’s friends insist that his plight can only be a punishment for personal wrongdoing and an invitation from God to repent. Job rejects their inadequate explanation and challenges God to respond (chaps. 3–31). A young bystander, Elihu, now delivers four speeches in support of the views of the three friends (chaps. 32–37). In response to Job’s plea that he be allowed to see God and hear directly the reason for his suffering, the Lord answers (38:1–42:6), not by explaining divine justice, but by cataloguing the wonders of creation. Job is apparently content with this, and, in an epilogue (42:7–17), the Lord restores Job’s fortune.

As mentioned yesterday, we need to break our dualistic or binary thinking in order to understand this Book, which deals with mystery and complex issues that cannot be resolved. It says that life is a bundle of contradictions and paradoxes, we need to live without conclusions or answers. That is biblical faith. It calls for complete trust, surrender, and abandonment into God's hands as Job witnesses in the Book. God answers none of Job's questions, but rather leads him deeper into mystery. The Book of Job does not definitively answer the problem of the suffering of the innocent, but challenges readers to come to their own understanding.

There always seems to be one part of us that begs for recognition and integration, and that often holds the key to our maturity. There are some things in our life that we can control, that points to a God who is in charge of everything. As God says in the Book of Prophet Isaiah, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so my ways are beyond your ways, and my thoughts are beyond your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

You need to have the patience to accept all that is unresolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves. For everything must be lived. Live the questions now, perhaps then, someday, you will gradually, without noticing, live into the answer. Dare to know that God is always good, his compassion is always great, even in all your sufferings.

The Little are the Greatest

26th Week in Ordinary Time - Monday; Memorial of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1 October 2018)

Job 1:6-22

Luke 9:46-50

“Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back.”

The gospel writers never tell us whether the discussions among the disciples about who was the greatest (there were several of them) involved supporting one another for the honour, or were exercises in self-promotion. Either way, they missed the point. Worldly greatness has no place in the Kingdom of God. The little ones, the insignificant ones are the greatest in the Kingdom. As Mary proclaimed in Luke 1:52, God “has cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.”

Today's first reading from the Book of Job gives the story of the just man named Job, on whom God allowed misfortune. The Book of Job is one of the high points of the Hebrew Scriptures, integration at its best. But for most of us Job is one of the most boring books of the Bible. It is because we have not been trained in non-dualistic thinking. We are so used to our dualistic or binary thinking, that we are not able to understand Job or some other Wisdom Books of our Scriptures. These books deal with mystery and complex issues that cannot be resolved, that allow no conclusion or answer, that demand trust, surrender, and deepening of our faith. In the Book of Job, God answers none of Job's questions, but rather leads him deeper into mystery.

Being little or being naked of all our attitudes is a way of living our mystery. Without rejecting any event or person, and accepting them in our lives is to accept mystery. To embrace everyone and everything is the true meaning of integration, and also perhaps integrity. To exclude anything that comes in your universe is not love. Love includes everything, including the shadows and darkness of our lives. When everything goes the way we want then it is easy to love God. But when something goes wrong, how is our love for God and others? True love is faithful even when there are difficulties, because when we allow love in us it is not I but God who works.

Therefore, making oneself humble and little inspite of all difficulties is a way to integration and mature faith. St Thérèse of the Child Jesus does this by choosing the Little Way, which is actually a way of integration and love. She finds love in all things, and chooses her vocation to be nothing but love. She exclaims with joy: "Oh Jesus, my love, I have finally found my vocation: my vocation is love. Yes, I have found my own place in the Church, and that place is the one that You have pointed out to me, My God. In the heart of the Church, who is my mother, I will be love; in this way I will be all, and my desire will be completely fulfilled."

Let us become love, the true meaning of all integration!