Good Works

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B (16 September 2018)

Isaiah 50:4-9

James 2:14-18

Mark 8:27-35

"If good works do not go with faith, it is quite dead."

In today's gospel reading, Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" It is not about the answer we give, but the answer we live that is important to give meaning to our Christian lives. Deep within, we need to experience the love of Jesus Christ and make a decisive choice to allow our inner person to be molded by the life and goodness of Jesus of Nazareth. We would then desire our personal and public lives to reflect his options, which would affect our family and civic responsibilities, our professional and business life, and our political options. This leads to a choice in which the ethos of contemporary culture would be critiqued, and the values propagated by the media would be discerned carefully.

The fact is, no one with real faith would fail to live a life of good works. St James, in today's second reading, says, "If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of you says to them, 'I wish you well; keep your self warm, and eat plenty,' without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead." The faith that does nothing in practice is thoroughly lifeless.

Religion is good only for good people. Too often in life, as in history, religion shows its heartlessness. It can breed a fanaticism whose cruelty has few equals, like the Spanish Inquisition or other excesses that we have seen in many great religions. Regrettably, we do know many people who are religious but are not good. We know so many people who are faithful to all the laws and externals of a religion, but are selfish, cruel, revengeful, proud, greedy, etc. We may even know so many people who are ready to do evil and even kill in the name of religion. Goodness can and does thrive outside religion. But religion can never thrive without it. Our faith should overflow in goodness and good works. Otherwise our faith is no good; it is of no use. True religion and true faith never exclude kindness, compassion, love, and forgiveness.

Sometimes, all too rarely, religion finds its match in goodness and the world momentarily rediscovers the grandeur of the gospel. Take, for instance, the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Her faith and her social goodness were synonymous. We can say that these two dimensions went hand in hand. Love of God was fully expressed in love of others. No separations. There is only one movement of love, but two expressions of it. They are simultaneous like body and spirit. The body without a spirit is dead, and faith without good works is dead. If we believe truly in Christ Jesus as our Messiah and Saviour, then our faith will be expressed in relevant social action and practice. It is not possible to have only one of the two. Both or nothing!

Our Lady of Sorrows

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35

Human living demands that we undergo a whole lot of sufferings and sorrows; these may consist in living with contradictions in our hearts, befriending enemies, forgiving others, embracing disorder, and accepting reality as it is with all its inconsistencies. In other words, we as Christians are called to have an attitude of contemplation or pondering. Mother Mary is a beautiful example of such a contemplative practice. Even when she does not understand many things in her life (during the Birth of Jesus or when Jesus is lost and found), she holds (keeps) them in her heart and “ponders” over them. In fact, the Lucan gospel reports, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19) and once again, almost repeating the previous verse, the evangelist states, “she treasured all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).

Pondering is holding things in our hearts even when they seem to have no meaning; it is standing before life’s great mysteries the way Mary stood before the various events of Jesus’ life, including the way she stood under the cross. Mary stood at the foot of the cross, accepting the reality of her Son who had apparently become a “criminal,” a “sinner.” She did not abandon her criminal, divine son; she did not expect a premature solution to this contradiction that she held in her heart. Ronald Rolheiser writes, “When Mary stands under the cross of Jesus and watches him die—and there is absolutely nothing she can do to save him or even to protest his innocence and goodness—she is pondering in the biblical sense.” As at Nativity, also at the foot of the cross she stood wondering, pondering amidst heightened suffering. She did not curse God, she did not give up hope. The answer would come one day. She held the contradiction of her son in incredible tension. Her suffering heart, “pierced by the sword,” held the irreconciliable elements in creative tension, hoping that out of this tension would be born an answer that she herself could not author, a resolution that would be given from above.

This is the type of mysticism that we most need today to revitalize our faith. (Mysticism is not merely for great saints, but for busy people like us who find it hard to make time for prayer.) It is not about heroism, but simple acceptance of the cross in our daily lives. It is about standing at the foot of the cross, accepting Jesus as our Saviour even when we find meaninglessness in and around us. It is precisely this kind of pondering, a willingness to carry tension as Mary did, that we need today. It may call us to value silence when we want to speak out in anger or vengeance. It may call us to say a kind word from our heart, reserving our judgment till we get more information about the other person. It may call us to think from God's perspective, and not merely from a human or a narrow perspective.

God is good, and he will turn all things into good. And that's why we can say "all is well" in our world—because it is His world, He is in charge of everything.

Let us allow Mary to be our Mother and Teacher, especially when we encounter difficulties: so that we see God's hand in all our life-events.

Exaltation of the Cross

Numbers 21:4-9 or Philippians 2:6-11

John 3:13–17

In John's Gospel, Jesus seems to use the term "lifted up" (or "raised up") both in the sense of crucifixion and in the sense of resurrection. The feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that we celebrate today bears this splendid message: dying and rising are not separated far away from each other. Our sufferings have a purpose, they are salvific. This feast invites us to accepting the cross with joy. As Pope Francis says, either the cross is embraced or rejected. As Christians the cross is our hope and life. Our way to salvation is revealed only when we embrace our cross and sufferings. No pain, no gain. No cross, no crown. Unless the wheat dies, there is no fruitfulness. It is in carrying the cross that we find joy, it is in dying to oneself that we find life. Therefore, there is no radical distinction between joy and sorrow. As Jesus affirms, your sorrow itself will turn into joy. It is not the removal of sorrow, but accepting it gives us life and hope.

The cross is a collision of opposites, coming together of opposing energies. On the cross, Jesus countered our pride with humility; he countered our violence with gentleness; he countered our hatred with the Love that forgives. The cross is the event which enables God’s love to enter into our personal history, to draw close to each of us, to become a source of healing and salvation. On the cross we meet man but also God, we encounter death but also life in its fullness, desperation as well as hope, history as well as mystery, brokenness as well as wholeness, shame as well as glory, defeat as well as triumph, earth as well as heaven.

Jesus was killed on the collision of cross-purposes, conflicting interests, and half-truths. The cross was the price Jesus paid for living in a “mixed” world that was both human and divine, simultaneously broken and utterly whole. He hung between a good thief and a bad thief, between heaven and earth, inside of both humanity and divinity, a male body with a feminine soul, utterly whole and yet utterly disfigured—all the primary opposites. Jesus “recapitulated all things in himself, everything in heaven and everything on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).

The cross is the standing icon and image of God, showing us that God knows what it's like to be rejected; God is in solidarity with us in the experience of abandonment; God is not watching the suffering from a safe distance. Somehow, believe it or not, God is in the suffering with us. Jesus's solidarity with suffering on the cross is actually "an acceptance of a certain meaninglessness in the universe," it nonsensical tragic nature, a black hole that seems constantly to show itself to sensitive souls. To accept some degree of meaninglessness is our final and full act of faith that God is still good and still in control. This is the cross in our lives. That we need to accept some kind of meaninglessness, that there will be events that will not meet our understanding and comprehension, that there is pain in the world even when we think good, and do good.

The cross is not the price that Jesus had to pay in order to convince God into loving us. No. It is rather simply where love will lead us. If we love, if we give ourselves to feel the pain of the world, it will crucify us. But only in and through the cross that we shall see life and resurrection. The cross is that which gives ultimate meaning to us; it embraces all our meaninglessness to give us a Saviour, and through him our salvation.

O Jesus, we adore your Holy Cross; from it came life and salvation.

Love your enemies

23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Thursday (13 September 2018)

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Luke 6:27-38

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.”

In the first reading, St Paul deals with the problem whether to eat the meat sacrificed to idols. Paul's solution is classic; wisdom at its best. He says that we know that there is no other god than the One God we worship. So any meat offered to idols has no consequence whatsoever. There will no problem in eating that meat. But if it scandalizes my fellow-believer, I choose not to eat the meat though I know very well that it will do no harm. In other words, we can say that there are two values (virtues) involved here: value of knowledge and value of love. When there is a choice between the value of knowledge and the value of love, discernment or wisdom in general tells us that we choose love over knowledge. St Paul asks us to think what is beneficial (greater good) for the other. This is all about choosing love over knowledge, for the sake of the other. Love is more important than knowledge. (“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 1 Corinthians 10:23; 6:12.)

For instance, the beef problem in India. The value of knowledge instructs us that it is nothing wrong with eating beef, as you would eat mutton, chicken, or any other meat. But the value of love instructs us to think of those people who don't eat beef as our brothers and sisters. For the sake of love (though I know it is no wrong in eating beef or asking others to do the same) I decide not to eat beef. I’m thus one with them as a brother or sister. Similarly, whenever there is a conflict between me and the other, I can choose the virtue of love/charity over the virtue of knowledge/truth itself. In fact, by insisting on my right I can sin. I can become a cause of sin itself. St Paul says, “By sinning in this way against your brothers and sisters, and injuring their weak consciences, it would be Christ against whom you sinned” (1 Corinthians 8:12).

In the gospel reading, our Lord goes a step further. “Love your enemies and do good, lend without any hope of return.” Our enemies are not far away, they are nearby. Those who love us hurt us the most. Am I able to love them, give my heart to them day after day? This is a great challenge. And to love all the wrong people who are near me: the people who hurt us, the people who betray us, those who don't understand us, those who spy on us, those who don't like us, those who shout at us, those who insult us, those who ignore us, those who even hate us. Am I able to love all these people? Am I able to love those who don't understand or accept my faith, those who oppose me, and even persecute me for believing in Christ Jesus?

Very often it is by forgiving others and their evil that we can fulfill and complete our otherwise subtle work on our own selves. Both these acts, therefore, take real and lasting courage. We must embrace our enemies just as much as we must welcome our own shadows (inner enemies of selfishness, greed, lust, anger, violence, etc.). Our maturity as Christians is seen only in our readiness to forgive and love ourselves and others, especially our enemies. This is the true touchstone of Christianity.

Beatitudes

23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Wednesday (12 September 2018)

1 Corinthians 

Luke 6:20-26

“How blessed are you who are poor, the reign of God is yours.”

Luke’s version of the beatitudes sounds like an echo of Mary’s Magnificat when she meets Elizabeth. They both express a hope to be realized in the future. But not everything in Jesus’ message about the coming reign of God can be explained simply in terms of the future. It is in the present time, in our “now,” in the present, that he asks us to address God as our Father, and to pray for the realization of God’s reign. It is in the “here and now” that we have to forgive those who sin against us. It is in the here and now that those we have sinned against should forgive us. It is in these, our days, that we sit with Jesus at the table, where he breaks his bread with us and shares his wine as a sign and pledge of sharing, with him and each other, the final banquet in heaven. It is here and now that the poor, the hungry, and those who weep are happy, not only because they have Jesus’ sure promise of the reversal of their lot in God’s reign, but because his disciples are reorganizing their own lives and the world in which they live to bring them into line with that reign to come.

The reign of God (kingdom of God) is in some sense already with us in word and deed, not only because of Jesus’ presence among us, but also because of the presence of those who follow in his footsteps.

“Blessed are the poor.” Jesus did not say, “Blessed are those who care for the poor.” Unless I become one among the poor, one among the marginalized, I don’t get my blessing. It is they who bless me. I may give Christ to them, but eventually it is they who will save me. I am asked to identify myself with the disadvantaged, those who weep, those who are persecuted, those who are hungry. My work is not so much doing great things for others, but about being one with those who need me. It is about sharing my kindness and my goodness with those around me. Am I attentive to the needs of those who are with me, those around me?

Praying

23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Tuesday (11 September 2018)

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

Luke 6:12-19

“Jesus went onto the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God.”

Three Russian monks lived on a faraway island. Nobody ever went there, but one day their bishop decided to make a pastoral visit. When he arrived he discovered that the monks didn’t even know the Lord’s Prayer. So he spent all his time and energy teaching them the ‘Our Father’ and then left, satisfied with his pastoral work. But when his ship had left the island and was back in the open sea, he suddenly noticed the three hermits walking on the water – in fact, they were running after the ship! When they reached it they cried, “Dear Father, we have forgotten the prayer you taught us.” The bishop, overwhelmed by what he was seeing and hearing, said, “But, dear brothers, how then do you pray?” They answered, “Well, we just say, ‘Dear God, there are three of us and there are three of you, have mercy on us!’” The bishop, awestruck by their sanctity and simplicity, said, “Go back to your island and be at peace.”

Prayer is not about choosing the best words to tell God; but about expressing our intimacy and love towards God. In today's gospel, Luke narrates a habit of Jesus: going into the hills, to a lonely place for praying. (Luke is interested in prayer; that's why his gospel is also termed the gospel of prayer.) We need to take time to pray; even create a habit to pray.

Prayer is a way of connecting with our source. It is about being centered, grounded, mindful of the holy, the presence of the sacred and the precious. Prayer can help us to connect with others as our own brothers and sisters. It can help us to connect with the poor and the needy; it helps us to open our eyes and hearts to the reality around us. It is prayer that can allow us to educate our children with patience, love and understanding. It is prayer that can enable us to move to a simpler lifestyle. And it is prayer that will give us deep conviction and joy, and a deeper meaning in our lives.

And whether or not we pray is as obvious as whether or not we have put our clothes on. For example, the restless movement from one job to another, the compulsive and frantic shifting from one event to another, or perhaps our angry, cynical and unintegrated rambling from one project to another—even from one good work to another—may speak of good intentions, but also of an uneasy and untended inner life. This might show our decentred (eccentric!) life, lack of prayerfulness. In short, it is possible to do much harm because we have not taken the time to pray.

As Etty Hillesum wrote, "Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, and to reflect it towards others." This can be done through prayerfulness, silence and communing with God regularly. Let us begin by being peace ourselves, by connecting with the source of peace within.

Law

23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Monday (10 September 2018)

1 Corinthians 5:1-8

Luke 6:6-11

“Is it against the law on the sabbath to save life?” 

Isn’t it plain common sense to save life any day? Isn’t it plain common sense to do good any day (including the sabbath)? But we as humans could lose focus. When the very same rules and regulations which were meant for doing good, hinder us to do good, then they need to be broken. Our obedience and allegiance to God is first, and only then comes obedience to humans and to groups and institutions. When God’s plan is contrary to our own family’s or group’s interests, we have the duty to disobey humans, and accept God’s designs.

We belong to God, we are created in His image and likeness. We are God’s Beloved. This is primary. Therefore, our belonging to God is more important than belonging to a group. To know that we are His loved ones, that we belong to Him is primary. Only then we belong to a human organization or group: our own society, culture, tribe, church, association, club, etc. Boundaries, structures and human organizations are important, the identities born out of human oneness and communion are significant; but nothing is absolute except God. No structure is absolute, no group is absolute. Only God is absolute. Making anything else absolute besides God is called idolatry.

Following Jesus frees us from the complications of the law. It is really consoling to experience the freedom that we as Jesus’ followers will have in the face of such regulations, when there is the opportunity to do good for people or save a life.

St Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians are sophisticated studies of the meaning, purpose and limitations of the law. Laws can only give us information, and even helpful information, but they cannot give us transformation. Being good in the eyes of law is less important than being God’s instrument of goodness in this world. Is all our focus on being a good girl or a good boy in the eyes of human beings? Do we spend all our energies in pleasing humans than pleasing God? To stand for truth and principles might also mean standing against your own family or church or institution. To stand for God might also mean sometimes breaking the law of your own tradition or church or culture. Who is important to you: God or humans? God or human groups?

Laws and rules are not an end in themselves, they are merely means. If we want to enjoy the freedom that Christ gives, then our focus must be God: who guides us, leads us, transforms us, and who makes us love all: friends and foes alike. Henri Nouwen beautifully puts it, “You have to keep going back to the source: God’s love for you. Try to give your agenda to God. Give every part of your heart and your time to God and let God tell you what to do, where to go, when and how to respond.”

Ephphatha

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B (9 September 2018)

Isaiah 35:4-7 

James 2:1-5 

Mark 7:31-37 

In today’s second reading, St James affirms, “My brothers and sisters, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people.” One of the biggest problems in the world today is the problem of discrimination. Even among the churches we could see the various problems of racism, casteism, tribalism, apartheid, male chauvinism, and other discriminations. Sadly, the Word of God has not penetrated deeply among Christians themselves. That is why, as someone said, it is easier to make a non-Christian Christian, than to make a Christian truly Christian. It is easy to be Christian in name, but to truly live the gospel values that is not an easy thing. 

If we examine our own lives, deep in our hearts there are various unwanted distinctions and discriminations that we perhaps make: “us” and “them”, “right people” and “wrong people.” And we invariably belong to the “right people” category. We may even realize that much harm emerges from our own divisive hearts and minds. This process is not about self-condemnation, but about allowing God and his goodness to fill us and the universe around us. We need to listen to our own experience, to our own failures, to our own sin, to our own salvation, and we need to recognize that we are part of history, a part of a culture or a religious group, for good and for bad. We cannot heal or look honestly at what we do not acknowledge. 

For this, we all need the healing words of Christ, “Ephphatha. Be opened.” We all need the healing hand of Christ to make us hear and speak the message of God properly. Jesus is the one who can remove deafness and dumbness from our being so that we can make full use of these faculties. Is it possible that we are like the man in today’s gospel because of our refusal to give a listening ear to the lonely, the troubled, and the worried? How many times have we failed to utter a word of encouragement, of hope and thanks, or have kept a discreet silence when we should have spoken the truth? Then there are the problems we have in speaking to our partner or neighbours, because of a long standing fight or simply out of jealousy, envy or pride. 

What Jesus is saying to us is that the greatest tragedy of all is not to be born deaf and dumb, but to have ears and fail to hear and to have tongues and fail to speak. We are the deaf and dumb who need to be brought to Jesus for his healing touch, which brings communication where there are silences, companionship where there is loneliness, and encouragement where there is despair. 

Only then can we see clearly that the goodness of God fills the universe, without discrimination or preference. Only He can achieve what we can’t possibly imagine or do. But He needs our instrumentality. The future can exist only when we understand the universe as composed of persons to be loved, subjects to be communed with, not as objects to be exploited or discriminated. 

Dorothy Day says, “I really love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” If this is true, then many of us don’t love God at all. There are so many people that we may hate, because they belong to the “wrong people” category. Let us stop all discriminations. By loving all the wrong people we love God. By loving all the difficult characters we love God. By loving all those who harm us we love God. Perhaps, to become aware of God’s presence in our lives, we have to often accept what is difficult, especially those difficulties that come from difficult people. Let us love people even in their sin, because love cannot exclude anything from its universe. Love is itself universal, all-embracing. We need to make sure that our unique and special relationship with God leads us to see that everyone is included, even our enemies!

Roots of our Saviour

Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September 2018)

“Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.”

As we celebrate the Birthday of Mother Mary today, the liturgy gives us a strange gospel passage: the genealogy of Jesus Christ. A boring list of names that we most of us gloss over. Or even if we read we do it so quickly that we don’t understand the meaning of it. The list, though monotonous, has some interesting things for our reflection. We must bear in mind it is not an exhaustive list of the family history of Jesus. But it certainly shows the “earthly” connection of our divine Saviour.

Jesus’ genealogy is an illustrious one, including Jacob, Judah, David, Solomon and Hezekiah. But there is another side to this family tree. For instance, most of the kings named in this list are sinners, murderers, unfaithful persons. And the evangelist is not embarrassed to admit that the Saviour is born from this line. The origin and roots of the Sinless One are not completely a matter of pride, but a dark truth. He comes from a line of both holiness and sin.

There are only five women named in this genealogy. We must understand that in Matthew’s Jewish world, genealogies typically mentioned only men. The inclusion of women in a list is itself something wonderful. But what is more suprising is that our Blessed Mother is named along with four other women who have somewhat spotty reputations: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and “the wife of Uriah” (that is, Bathsheba, whom the evangelist doesn’t even dare to name). What prompted Matthew to include a prostitute (Rahab), a woman who pretended to be a prostitute (Tamar), a sexually forward widow (Ruth), and a woman taken in adultery (Bathsheba) in his genealogy of Jesus the Messiah?

These women, mostly poor, mostly misfits, widows, unimportant, unknown, sinful women who changed the course of history by their simple, obedient lives. One might suppose that the women in Jesus the Messiah’s genealogy should have all been the finest Jewish women, but they weren’t. Most weren’t even Jewish at all. And except for Ruth and Mary, they had tarnished sexual histories. They were ordinary women, trying to get life right, but missing the goal. In other words, they were women just like us: ordinary, tarnished by sin, unlikely to shape the course of history. They are in the Saviour’s genealogy to give us hope, and to foreshadow the kind of people Jesus the Messiah came to save.

Jesus Christ came from a lineage of sinners to save sinners. God does not shy away from the disorder and mess of our human lives. He is born into a line of sinners and imperfect people, perhaps just to reiterate His Divine love. Nothing human can stop the flow of divine love; we cannot undo the eternal pattern of God’s love even by our worst sin.

Why should I judge myself?

22nd Week in Ordinary Time - Friday (7 September 2018)

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Luke 5:33-39

“I will not pass judgment on myself. The Lord alone is my judge. He will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of our hearts.”

A brother was restless in the community and often moved to anger. So he said: “I will go, and live somewhere by myself. And since I shall be able to talk or listen to no one, I shall be tranquil, and my passionate anger will cease.” He went out and lived alone in a cave. But one day he filled his jug with water and put it on the ground. It happened suddenly to fall over. He filled it again, and again it fell. And this happened a third time. And in a rage he snatched up the jug and broke it. Returning to his right mind, he knew that the demon of anger had mocked him, and he said: “Here am I by myself, and he has beaten me. I will return to the community.” Wherever you live, you need effort and patience and above all God’s help. —Story of a desert father

Prayer is all about being with the Bridegroom, the Lord. It is about rejoicing in His presence in and through our lives here and now. Prayer is all about allowing God’s light into our hearts, into all of our lives, into all of our secrets. It is not a mental exercise of finding the right words in order to please God. It is not a pious exercise that is merely limited to the church or the temple or the mosque. Prayer is giving space to God 24x7. It is even allowing God to see the deepest secrets of our lives. It is also trying to see God even in the ugliest and darkest events of our lives. It is seeing God in the daily mess of our routine lives. In prayer, even our irritations and moments of anger are surrendered to Him, to transform ourselves.

Irritations can be a good raw material for growth, if you allow them to be so, if you embrace and integrate them into your daily life. Let us keep in mind that irritations in the oyster are those that transform into precious pearls. In order to protect itself from irritation, the oyster will quickly begin covering the uninvited visitor with layers of nacre—the mineral substance that fashions the mollusk’s shells. Layer upon layer of nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, coat the grain of sand until the dazzling gem is formed. Irritations are not those to be thrown away, but to be used for prayer, and for our eventual growth.

Therefore, distractions themselves could become a source of prayer. Irritations could become the key to our self-discovery. Fears, anxieties, worries are able to provide pathways to our salvation. With conviction we can say that our weaknesses become the source of compassion.

So, as St Paul in today’s first reading, says: Why should I judge myself? Why should I condemn myself? The Lord is our light, and our love, and our judge. He will take care of everything in and around me.

Embracing Negatives

22nd Week in Ordinary Time - Thursday (6 September 2018)

Luke 5:1-11

“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

For the world, death, illness, human brokenness, ugliness, failures, sinfulness, inner woundedness, all these have to be hidden from our sight because they keep us from the happiness for which we strive. They are obstructions on our way to the goal of life. So we always want to eliminate the negatives, throw away what is ugly, hide our incapacities and failures, repress our woundedness. We even want to deal with poverty and other problems by banishing the poor, the old, the beggars, those who are incapacitated. Somehow we are uncomfortable with suffering, with all that is negative. In this regard, there has been developed a separate field of study and research called "eugenics" (considered part of genetic engineering) in order to improve the genetic quality of the human population. Eugenics strives towards a better life, a better quality of life, but by eliminating undesirable traits in our genes. Disorders and disabilities, ugliness and aging are all seen as undesirable. Are we not pulling out the wheat together with the weeds? Simon Peter in today's gospel is trying to the do the same. He encounters Jesus, the Rabbi and miracleworker, but feels unworthy and sinful in Jesus' presence. He says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

But Jesus makes Peter one of his disciples, Peter in fact becomes the head of the disciples. Jesus shows another way, an alternative way unlike the world. He dines and drinks with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors. Jesus shows us the way. We need to embrace the cross, accept our brokenness and woundedness. We even learn from Jesus that through death we receive life.

In the divine economy of grace, sin and failure become the base metal and raw material for the redemption experience itself. 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. Richard Rohr dares to state: “I do not think you should get rid of your sin until you have learned what it has to teach you. Otherwise, it will only return in new forms, as Jesus says of the ‘unclean spirit’ that returns to the house all ‘swept and tidied’ (Luke 11:24-26); then he rightly and courageously says that ‘the last state of the house will be worse than the first.’” God hides, and is found, precisely in the depths of everything, even and maybe especially in the deep fathoming of our fallings and failures.

We need to keep in touch with our sinfulness, day after day. That is one way to feel with the people. That is compassion. Even our negatives can become a gift, if only we allow God and His light penetrate our lives. Are we willing?

Come Be My Light

Feast of Saint Teresa of Kolkata, 5 September 2018

“If I ever become a saint—I will surely be one of darkness. I will continually be absent from heaven—to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”

Today we celebrate the feast of Mother Teresa. (Still the title "Saint" seems very strange for me, and "Saint Teresa of Kolkata" even stranger. Mother Teresa is synonymous with sainthood even now as when she was living here on earth; and evokes more familiarity. Think of her original name: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. How difficult it would have to been to pronounce that!) She was just a holy person for me, or like any other holy person whom I admired from far away till I read the book Come Be My Light. If you haven't yet read this book, I think you should do it. After she was inspired to found the Missionaries of Charity, she went into a deep darkness with regard to prayer and interior life. The joy that she had experienced, and the visions that she had from Jesus, all these came to a halt. She found no joy, no satisfaction in her spiritual life. Her heroic spiritual struggle is shown precisely in the living out of her interior darkness for 50 years at a stretch, except for six months in between.

Hope this doesn't scandalize you. Mother Teresa never tried to convert a Muslim or a Hindu to Catholicism. She told the sisters that their job was not to talk about Jesus or even promote Jesus, but "to be Jesus"! Isn't this true evangelization? She saw Christ in the poorest of the poor. Her darkness did not allow her to meet God in the chapel or the convent, but pushed her to meet Him in the poor, beggars, leprosy patients, the dying. Don't mistake that Mother Teresa's was merely a social concern, but Christ was at the centre of her founding the Congregation, and of living out the charism. He led her to unusual places: slums, holes, a Hindu temple, market-places, drains, dumping grounds. Christ can be encountered in all the usual, and unusual places, and in the least expected places. He is found in the least expected persons. (Try for yourself.)

According to Mother Teresa, the biggest problem in India or in the world is not poverty or physical sicknesses or wars or violence or economic backwardness, but "being unwanted or unloved or uncared for." The greatest disease is not AIDS or cancer or leprosy but loneliness, despair, hopelessness. She further adds, “There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love.” In this regard we can all make a difference, at least a little difference. "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." Again these are Mother Teresa's words. I could just string along many quotable quotes from her (in a reflection like this), and that is the kind of person she was. She did was she could; but what strikes us is her littleness and her humility in the face of those gigantic ventures that she undertook. She didn't want publicity, she could face both praise and criticism with equanimity and magnanimity. Just one reason for all these: God alone. He called her to be light in this world. And even from heaven she seems to be continuing her mission of being light, and why not? “If I ever become a saint—I will surely be one of darkness. I will continually be absent from heaven—to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”

Mother Teresa teaches us that human planning is needed, but that is not all. If there is not inspiration from above, if there is no contact with the life-giving "vine," what is the use of all our planning? Let us be centred on Christ, and I believe, everything else will be taken care of. You don't have to be perfect to be good, just try to make a little difference wherever you are, here and now.

Evil

22nd Week in Ordinary Time - Tuesday (4 September 2018)

Luke 4:31-37

Jesus said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”

Once a fourteen-year-old disadvantaged boy, living on the streets in Kenya, had somehow obtained a bicycle. It was an old, rusty one, and both wheels needed some alignment. He aligned them himself, more or less. Then he decided that he was going to enhance his treasure--because that was what the cycle meant to him--with gears. The bicycle shop was willing to do the job supposing that a boy with a bicycle would be able to pay for the job. When he went to fetch his bicycle, the bill for the gears was so high that he couldn’t pay it. He was told that if he didn’t find the money within a fortnight his bicycle would be confiscated. That’s when he decided to steal a radio from the school office. He was found out. He hadn’t yet been able to sell the radio, and he produced it from its hiding place. When he handed it over to the priest, he told the priest: “Father, don’t think that I stole that radio!” The priest asked him, “If you didn’t, who did?” He answered, “The bicycle.” He was right. The bicycle had become an obsession, like an evil spirit mastering him.

An obsession, a compulsion, or an addiction can turn into evil in us, as we read in the incident. We can be driven into doing what is wrong if we put "wrong" things at the centre of our lives. All of us have within us some elements that militate against God and His values. The good news is that when we are able to accept the darkness within us, then we are already on the way to salvation. Facing our shadow self and our addictions is almost the heart of modern psychiatry and therapy. Denial is a bigger evil than having many "evils" within us.

And Jesus said to the man possessed by an evil spirit: “Be quiet,” and it went out without hurting him at all. How often we wish it were so simple to drive out those dark elements within us! It takes supernatural effort literally. It takes God to do it. Jesus Christ, the final and complete revelation of God, takes total authority over evil and commands it not to abuse humans. We need to allow him into our lives. Let him take charge of our lives.

Most of us fail to achieve a better and happier life for ourselves, not for lack of desire, but because we hang on to so much to that which is negative in us. There may be certain areas in our lives where we need to turn away from an old life-style with no compromises and no looking back. We may have certain habits that should no longer be accommodated in any way. There should be no accommodation whatever, for example, for self-destructive addictions, for attitudes and behaviours that hurt the people we love, or for a style of living that stifles our spiritual growth. But this can happen only if we are able to surrender our negativities and obsessions to God, the only Good One.

What is holding you back from living more effectively? What prevents you from attaining the happiness you so eagerly desire? Is it laziness, procrastination, addictions or obsesssions, or your tendency to lie to yourself or deny your talents, or your lack of stamina in keeping your resolutions? Are you in the habit of being harsh, demanding, critical, and one-sided in the way you handle other people, especially those you love?

We need divine help, don't we?

Word of God

22nd Week in Ordinary Time - Monday (3 September 2018)

Luke 4:16-30

“And he won the approval of all and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.”

As we read today's gospel passage, we can think of the scene at Nazareth when Jesus reads some verses from the prophet Isaiah and then applies them without further ado to himself and his own life: “This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening.” Jesus shows how to read the Scriptures. He reads the Scriptures from his own viewpoint and that of his listeners. He applies it to himself and to his listeners from the moment he talks to them. When we read and try to understand the Bible, like Jesus we need to put our lives into it, we need to apply the words to us. (Though sometimes this may not be easy, we may need some help.)

Today we have started reading the gospel according to St Luke for our weekday masses, after having completed the gospels of St Mark and St Matthew. One way to listen to God is to follow the readings of everyday Mass (even if we haven't the time to attend it), and ask what this text might mean in our lives and in our struggles? God reveals to us continuously; He speaks to us in a special through the word of the Bible. Do we have the time and leisure for the Word of God in our lives? Perhaps many of our troubles and struggles will get a new meaning if only we spend enough time with the Word of God.

As these days I'm taking Bible classes in the Provincial House, I come to know how much of the Bible I don't know, and how much the meaning depends on God's inspiration, and not on my own efforts. When we are able to see God's work in our reading, then we might be able to see God's work in our trying to live out the Word of God. God is not far away from our daily struggles, He is found within them. He is more intimate to us, than we are intimate to ourselves. That is the truth we will learn as we read and reflect and live out the Word of God in our lives.

Eventually we shall know that Jesus alone is the living and dynamic Word, adjusting to the readiness capacity of every age. Written words of the Bible are forever and always metaphors. They need to be applied to our lives in order to understand the real meaning of those words. These words are only fingers pointing to the moon, they are not the moon itself. When we forget that distinction, we soon become idolatrous and eventually policemen, but seldom mystics.

Let us allow the Word of God to change our lives today. Or for what else should we read the Word?

Pure unspoilt religion

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B (2 September 2018)

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8

James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

"Pure unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this. Coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world" (James 1:27).

Liam Swords shares an incident that many of us could relate to. "Some years ago I was travelling on a plane from Paris to Dublin. I was seated beside an eighty-year-old man, who was none other than Seán MacBride, winner of both the Nobel and Lenin Peace Prizes. While we were talking, we were approached by a Pakistani girl in her late teens or early twenties. She was crying and seemed desperately in need of help. French immigration officials had put her on the plane to Dublin from where she had been expelled some hours earlier by Irish Immigration who judged her papers inadequate. Now she was returning to Dublin to face the same ordeal once more. Bureaucracy had turned her into a doll or "pass the ball" game. MacBride gently questioned her, eliciting all he needed to know and assured her that he would accompany her to the immigration department. He asked me to come along as well. We were shown into a small waiting-room where we were left unattended for at least an hour. Eventually, a young staffer came to inform us that none of the senior people were available and he had no idea when they would be arriving. He asked us to leave the girl with him promising that her case would be dealt with according to the regulations. MacBride refused, stating that he was now her legal counsel. He was a distinguished international lawyer. The young man left us again, presumably to consult with his unavailable seniors. When he returned his attitude had become noticeably more conciliatory. He promised that overnight hotel accommodation would be provided for the girl while a decision was being reached. But MacBride would not be fooled by such assurances. He refused to leave the airport unless the girl was officially released into his custody. After much to-ing and fro-ing, his demand was finally conceded. At this stage we had been detained almost three hours. The last I saw of them was a little old man, clutching his duty-free, leaving the airport with a tall sari-clad Pakistani girl whom he was taking to his own home."

What the Apostle James writes in his epistle can be applied to the above incident. "Pure unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world." Beyond human traditions and customs, we need to give space to God's will and his commandments. Jesus in today's gospel is vociferous: "You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition." Mere external observance is not sufficient to be faithful to God. The whole point of religion is to worship God with a sincere heart. Beyond the Sunday and regular obligations, and the various commissions and omissions, Christianity is about allowing the Spirit of God to reign in our hearts, and through us in the whole wide world.

So we could ask ourselves these questions: Is my religion restricted to the four walls of my parish church? How do I help out those people who are in need? Moreover, am I able to go beyond the confines of my religion or my customary thinking to help out people, as would the Good Samaritan? Are there any human traditions in my own culture that go against God? Am I able to go beyond human considerations and calculations to give space to the divine? Do I put my heart and soul into worshipping God or is it only lip-service?

May God be the motivating energy of our hearts!

Gain

Matthew 25:14-30 (Saturday)

“The person who had received five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more.”

Several times Jesus expresses his amazement about what people do to enrich themselves. He calls them children of the darkness, because they misjudge what their lives are about, but he admires their dedication.

He does not admire what they do. He makes it clear that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to combine a mere interest in money with an interest in the reign of God.

We don’t need Jesus to know this. Human history itself witnesses to that difficulty. Hundreds of years ago Bartolomé de las Casas wrote what became a classic about the greed of the Spanish conquerors of Latin America. In it he says: “I am not saying that they are out to murder, but I do say that they want to get rich. They want to swim in gold by the labor of and the sweat of the wretched natives, which they use as if they were tools, with the unavoidable result that they all die in exhaustion and misery.”

The people de Las Casas wrote about were not bad. They were not necessarily aggressive. Maybe they didn’t even want to kill, but they did want to get rich. Their greed blinded them to any reign-of-God value. This kind of attitude is at work all around us. Shops are kept open even at the most impossible hours. Appointment books are overbooked. The deadliest deals are made. Wars are waged. Health, honor, integrity, and leisure are sacrificed to make more money. Jesus must be again amazed.

Jesus says: “If only the children of the light would be as eager to establish the reign of God as the children of the darkness are eager to get rich.”

(From the CD material, Entering the Lectionary)

End of Time

Matthew 25:1-13

“Stay awake for you do not know either the day or the hour.”

We seem to live in a dangerous and thrilling time. Prophets and pseudo-prophets are rereading the Bible, especially prophetic books like Daniel, or the Book of Revelation. Like the Y2K of some years ago, there has been (foolish) prophetic messages of the end of the world not once, not twice but hundreds of times. Some are wondering that we are still living in this world.

This has happened at other times too in history. We have a report of the Mass that Pope Sylvester II celebrated in the old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome at midnight December 31st of the year 999. The basilica was full. Some people had given everything they had to the poor just before Mass began. They were sitting in sackcloth and ashes in the church. Some of them didn’t even dare to look up at the moment of consecration. They were lying flat on the earth with their arms outstretched as on a cross. At the moment that the bells started to ring at midnight, some of those present died of pure fear. But when the tolling of the bells was over, and the earth didn’t open, and no fire came down from heaven, it was as if everyone woke up from a nightmare. Weeping and laughing, the crowd started to embrace each other, man and woman, friend and foe, master and servant, and the bells of all the churches in Rome started ringing.

Jesus asks us to be prepared. We should be as ready as the five sensible bridesmaids at the moment of the bridegroom’s arrival. We have to do some long-range planning for the coming of Jesus at the end of our own days, and even for his return at the apocalyptic end of human history. But, I would think it is even more important to do some short-range planning for the coming of Jesus in the “now” and “here” of our daily life. Don't be surprised when I say that the end of the world is not at your death or at the end of history, but it is "here" and "now." Or rather, our meeting of Jesus has to happen today, not at our deaths. As St Catherine of Siena would say, "It is heaven all the way to heaven, and it is hell all the way to hell." I need to live my union with God today in whatever situation I find myself. This earth perfectly hides heaven, but perfectly reveals it too. The present time hides heaven, but perfectly reveals it too. So why wait for the end of time! But stay awake now!

God is present to me fully today in my situation, even if it is a mess (as He will be present unfailingly after our physical deaths). But the real question is: Am I present to Him fully? Or do I present myself now and then just for the sake of convenience?

Awake

Matthew 24:42-51

“Blessed that servant if the master’s arrival finds her/him awake!”

She is an ordinary person. For some days in the week she takes care of the people in a presbytery. She takes care not only of the people, but also of the house, the plants, the cat, and those who ring the door-bell. Part of her time she cooks in a Franciscan community. When you see her she will always ask whether you would like a cup of coffee. She attends many of the liturgical services. She often acts as the sacristan, and when there is no Mass server she will do that too. She is a member of the Legion of Mary, a very active member who not only comes to the weekly meetings but also visits people in the neighborhood, and saves money to go on apostolic tours during her holidays. She doesn’t go as a tourist, but goes for apostolic reasons. Sitting in a park or at a station she will ask passersby whether they have ever heard the story of Jesus. Does people listen to her? “Oh, yes,” she says, “They do!”

The priest in the presbytery where she works says, “She is always doing something for God.” And she is! She is the kind of person Jesus would call “Blessed!” Not because of something that is going to happen to her afterward in the life to come, but she is blessed here and now. You can see it in the smile of her face and the way she asks you whether you are sure that you don’t want that cup of coffee. She is a person more awake than others, and that is how her Master will find her, we can be sure.

Yes, you do meet her very often. She does not have a name, or rather a single name. You find her in your family, or in the parish. You many find her in your neighbourhood or in a shop nearby. She may be the poorest person you must have met, but with the greatest happiness perhaps. She may be a Christian or she may belong to any religion, or perhaps to no religion. You love to be around such a person, who radiates joy, and gives full attention to you.

We find such ordinary persons who are fully awake in our day to day lives. They teach and inspire us many things, but surely how to be awake. They teach us how to be present here and now. There is no hurry. They teach us to meet God here and now.

Or where else can you find Him?

The Beheading of St John the Baptist

Mark 6:17-29

John the Baptist is the only saint in the calendar (apart from St Joseph) who has two feasts to himself. One, in August, celebrates his death, and one, in June, celebrates his birth.

A prophet from before his birth, leaping in the womb to announce the human coming of the incarnate God, his task was to proclaim the fulfilment of all prophecies. And he did it: with unequalled courage he spread the news that he, the greatest of all, was the least in the kingdom of heaven. John was a teacher of the covenant law given to Moses, and he was relentless in its application. He stood before the most powerful man in Israel, declared he was living in a way that was not right, and it cost him his freedom and his life.

John died for truth, for standing for principles. He was precursor to Jesus, not just in his birth, but also in his martyr's death. As today's gospel would point out that John became a victim to the whims and fancies of a foolish king and a cruel and evil woman. On one side the vanities of the mob, the guests accompanying this act of foolishness and on the other the helplessness of a truthful soul. This scene, as in Hollywood or Bollywood, is being replayed time and again with victories for truth only in the reel life. But in the real life, the voiceless ones keep losing. We too find ourselves on the losing side day after day. That is why, many of us compromise our positions to various degrees: from a simple lie to a life betrayal. We find truth not just impalpable, but impractical and non-practical. But those who still love truth, honesty and sincerity, get used to suffering and defeats, but also to see God's hand. Not everything is lost. God is there. God is here in our fight for justice and truth and authenticity, especially within ourselves.

Many a time living for Jesus can be more difficult than dying for him. You will agree, all of us are called to live as martyrs (perhaps none to die as martyrs). To be witnesses in living for Jesus, in living for truth and principles. It means we are called to die many times before we finally, physically die. God will even use these deaths in our favour, if we will allow it. To love is to die. Every time you choose to love, you have also just chosen to die. Some kind of suffering is always the price and proof of love. To stand for truth is to die. You need to suffer if you stand for truth and principles. But above all, the failures, emptiness, negativity, acts of resistance, sinfulness, weaknesses and fragility that we experience in our daily lives are also a way to experience death in our lives.

What is this death? Death is going to full depth, hitting the bottom, going the distance, beyond where we are in control. It is a "descent into hell" or into the pit, the dark night, Sheol or Hades. We all die eventually; we have no choice in the matter. But there are degrees of death before the final physical one. In this way, we are dying throughout our life. Only after many of these deaths we discover that grace accompanies each and every death of ours, and grace is that which is found at the depths and in the depth of everything. Therefore, we must not be afraid of going down. In a way, we should not even be afraid of losing (again and again), falling, and failing. All these are experiences will give us grace; all these are also grace-filled events. Are we ready to believe the impossible?

St Augustine

When Augustine heard a child singing, "Take up and read!," thinking that God intended him to hear those words, he picked up the book of the Letters of St Paul, and read the first passage his gaze fell on. It was just what Augustine needed, for in it, St Paul says to put away all impurity and to live in imitation of Christ. That did it! From then on, Augustine began a new life.

The power to change one’s life can come from a paragraph, a lone remark, a single verse. But that is only the climax of various things that could happen in a person's life, as it was the case in St Augustine's dramatic life of transformation.

Through the prayers of his holy mother St Monica and the marvellous preaching of St Ambrose, Augustine was led to the Christian faith, but not without his personal effort and extensive quest for the Truth. Augustine's arrival at faith was not magical, though dramatic; it was a gradual process of allowing God to transform him. In his famous work Confessions, Augustine writes: "Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! Lo, you were within, but I outside, seeking there for you. You were with me, but I was not with you. You called, you cried out and you rid me of my deafness." These well-known words of his tell of a deeper understanding of his own conversion, that God is the primary agent of his transformation. The source and end of all transformation is God himself; our lives not just Augustine's can be summarized by these famous and beautiful words of his: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

We can find that rest in the innermost point of our beings. Thomas Merton wrote about this virginal innermost point thus: "At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely."

The Innermost Point in us cannot be lost. But it can be hidden away because of our various distractions as St Augustine's life shows us. In other words, God resides in us; unless we give Him some time and space we won't be able to identify our deep connectedness to Him. As St Augustine would say, God is present to us always and everywhere, but am I present to Him here and now? If a stormy life like that of Augustine could find true peace and rest in God, could touch the core of reality, the person that he was in God’s eyes, how about us? If only we could see the secret beauty of our hearts. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed.

As St Augustine's life loudly proclaims, the lives of saints never point to themselves, but always and forever beyond themselves to the One who chose them, uses them and loves them.

St Monica

We celebrate two feasts (memorials) on 27th and 28th of August every year: of St Monica and her son St Augustine respectively. Augustine himself writes about his mother's unceasing prayers and tears for his conversion. Shortly before her death, Monica said to Augustine, "One thing only there was for which I desired to linger in this life: to see you a Christian before I died. And my God has granted this to me more lavishly than I could have hoped, letting me see even you spurning earthly happiness to be His servant."

Monica's life was far from easy or sweet. But she teaches how a faith-filled woman in the family can be instrumental in the conversion and well-being of all the members in the family. As the story goes, when Monica was very young, was married off to the Roman pagan Patricius, who shared his mother's violent temper. Patricius' mother lived with the couple and the duo's temper flares proved to be a constant challenge to young Monica. While Monica's prayers and Christian deeds bothered Patricius, he is said to have respected her beliefs. Three children were born to Monica and Patricius: Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Unfortunately, Monica was unable to baptize her children and when Augustine fell ill, Monica pleaded with Patricius to allow their son to be baptized. Patricius allowed it, but when Augustine was healthy again, he withdrew his permission. (It was a practice then to delay the Baptism, even up to one's adulthood.) For years Monica prayed for her husband and mother-in-law, until finally, one year before Patricius' death, she successfully converted them. As time passed, Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious life, but unfortunately Augustine became lazy and uncouth. This greatly worried Monica, so when Patricius died, she sent the 17-year-old Augustine to Carthage for schooling. But even education kept Augustine far from the Christian faith.

Monica went to a bishop, who told her, "the child of those tears shall never perish." This encouraged and inspired Monica, who followed Augustine to Rome, where she learned he had left for Milan. She continued her persual and eventually came upon St Ambrose, who was instrumental in bringing Augustine to Christianity following his seventeen-year resistance. After a period of six months, Augustine was baptized in the church of St John the Baptist at Milan. Before their departure to Tagaste, their homeland in Africa, Monica passed away in the Roman port city of Civitavecchia. She was buried at Ostia, and her body was removed during the 6th century to a hidden crypt in the church of Santa Aurea in Ostia, near the tomb of St Aurea of Ostia.

Monica's is an inspiring life, whose spark of faith lit the lives of her mother-in-law, her husband, and her children, especially St Augustine, a key figure and a pillar in the history of Christianity. Thanks to her determination, her tears and unceasing prayers, that became pivotal not in just in a private home, but in the history of Christianity. As someone (perhaps St Augustine or St Thomas Aquinas—I'm not able to find the quote) said: Determination is the only thing needed to be a saint.

May St Monica inspire our Christian lives too! May many Monicas be instrumental in spreading God's light in this world!

Commitment

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

Earlier I used to watch a programme called "The Devil's Advocate" on an Indian television channel, hosted by Karan Thapar, who also did other similar programmes like "The Last Word," "To the Point," and "Nothing But The Truth." In fact, many channels do have similar programmes. A politician or prominent public figure is confronted in front of the cameras by one or more interviewers on some issues. Or better known are the various talk shows (even during the evening news time) with umpteen number of politicians or personalities, who are allowed to debate, confront, and in some channels, even to shout at each other. Many of these programmes, in my opinion, are less a quest for truth than a ploy to force the interviewees into making damaging admissions. The public is led to believe that the politicians (or other persons) are putting their reputation, if not their career, on the line. The journalists have raked through previous recorded statements of their victims to show their inconsistency and lack of credibility. But, as you know, politicians have become very adept at deflecting these types of assaults, claiming their previous statements are misquoted or taken out of context. For the public, the talk shows are just another form of spectator sport. They are more interested in the performance of the politicians (the interviewees) than in the truth. Never once do I remember a show like this coming to a sort of consensus or conclusion or even a compromise. Never once do I remember that truth has prevailed in any of these shows (though some of the programmes did have title connected to "truth"). But, shockingly, I realise now that I was being carried away by or reacting to the stuff presented on the idiot box. I was not interested in the truth. Was I?

Jesus, our Lord, would have made a bad politician, a failure in all the senses. Today's gospel reading (John 6:60-69) is a witness to it. When some followers said, "This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?," Jesus asked them to make their choice. "Does this upset you?" "Do you also want to go away?" Neither surprised nor disappointed at their reaction, Jesus did not take back anything he had said nor try to make his teaching more acceptable. It was the parting of the ways. Jesus was not worried about defending himself or his doctrine that he is the true bread from heaven. He was concerned about truth, nothing but the truth. He did not water down his teachings or his position.

As Christians, are we concerned about truth or convenience? Are we concerned about public image than our private conviction? In any case there are enough question marks hanging over our religious commitment to cause concern. What is important is the true level of our commitment, which can never be adequately expressed publicly. Only the believer herself will know in the depth of her heart. We could even say many Christians have stopped believing in the "hard sayings" of the gospel. It is symptomatic of our time. We go more for convenience than truth itself. We are worried about our lifestyle and social securities than profess our faith in the Lord. God is secondary to our comfort-seeking. We give time to Him only if we can afford it.

There are many occasions when Christ could say to us, as he asked his disturbed followers, "Does this upset you?" He was prepared to lose his followers rather than compromise the truth. The gospel records the outcome carefully, "After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him." This was a moment of crisis. What Jesus was demanding of them was not understanding, but faith in himself. There was no way they could avoid making a choice of being for or against Jesus. But Peter, who too would have found Jesus' teaching strange, said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life." Also for us, what other alternative have we?

On Being Humble

“Those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

We humans actually respond to one another's energy more than to people's exact words or actions. Either we use our positive energy (eros) or use our negative energy (thanatos) in relating with others. In any situation, we are either giving away energy or taking away energy from others. People either attract each other, or their “vibrations” do not meet. It may have to do with physical appearance, body language, the way people are dressed, and all kinds of other indeterminable factors. Most times it also has something to do with one's personality: eros or thanatos. A modest and simple person attracts everyone. An arrogant and haughty person antagonizes everyone. Nobody is more difficult than the person who looks down on others. What we all desire and need from one another is that life energy called eros. It always draws, creates, and connects things. In the same line, Jesus says in Matthew 23:1-12 that “The greatest among you must be your servant. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Humble persons are those who are open to reality, who can listen readily to others, who are open to others' views without imposing their own. They will have a sense of humour, and they will see the relativity of things. They will not get haughty. They will be neither fanatic nor intolerant. They are present to you wholeheartedly, they can respond to situations according to the need.

Humble persons are always honest. This is one thing true about them. They are honest to themselves, and to others. They are honest about life itself, which is made up of so many failings and fallings. They are not in search of an illusory perfection, they can deal with imperfections, especially their own. They are people who can hold the tension of having both good and bad, beautiful and ugly, light and dark aspects within themselves, and without themselves. It takes uncommon humility to carry the dark side of things.

We need to learn humility, as humility is the mother of all values. Only then we can hear the good news with open hearts. We need to maintain an attitude of humility before the great Mystery of God and the mystery of life itself. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and author (on whom I base most of my reflections), says he prays for five moments of humiliation every day. That is another way to remain on the ground, to remain humble. Failure, sin, humiliation, and shadow work are very good teachers if we allow them to be.

Humans, humiliation and humility all seem connected to the same root: "humus." We humans belong to earth, to dust. Without God's spirit blown into us, we are mere dust. But with His energy, we have life. Let us also learn from Mother Mary, the humble handmaid of the Lord; she teaches us that it is humility of heart which the Lord finds especially attractive.

Meeting Jesus

“You will see greater things than this. Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

In John 1:45-51, Philip not only obeys the call to become a disciple himself, but brings another disciple with him to Jesus. Nathanael (= Deus dedid, “Gift of God”) was a native of Cana in Galilee (John 21:2), and is most probably identical with Bartholomew (= “son of Tolmai”) the Apostle, whose feast we celebrate today. (One tradition speaks of Bartholomew visiting India—the present day Punjab, but the Roman Martyrology has him martyred in Armenia, skinned alive according to the Persian custom.)

A true Jesus-experience, a God-encounter, pushes you out of your comfort zone to involve others, and to even take risks. You don't have to be a perfect person to experience the fullness of God. You don't have to be in a perfect place to have a God-experience. God is incarnate in every moment, wherever you are. He is present to those who know how to be present here and now. Strangely enough, it is often imperfect people and people in quite secular settings who encounter God's Presence, as we read in today's gospel. Nathanael disregards Jesus because of the insignificance of where Jesus came from, as did the religious and secular authorities. Although Nathanael is cynical at the beginning, the Jesus-encounter leaves him deeply transformed.

Let's see Jesus attitude towards Nathanael. Jesus sees the inside of Nathanael, and says: “Truly, this is one in whom there is no deception!” How do we treat people who are always complaining? How do we feel about people who grumble, and are unhappy? Jesus teaches us how to see the authenticity of a person, how to see the depth of a person. Every person is basically good, s/he too is God's Beloved. Our positive approach (truthful approach) towards persons can even change people.

Nathanael's openness to reality makes him meet God in Jesus. His encounter with Jesus changes him profoundly. Like Philip, he too starts following Jesus. And Jesus assures him and all of us: “You will see greater things than that. I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man the angels of God ascending and descending.” Mature religion 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, and will make us live our heaven here and now, not just after our death.

God comes to us “here and now” disguised as our life. Let God live in us. Let Him take charge of our life. Only then will we know that the myriad forms of life in the universe are merely parts of the One Life—that many of us call “God.” Only then will I know that my life is not about me, but I am about Life. “I live now not I, but Another Life lives in me.”

Attracted by God

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;

I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

The parable in Matthew 22:1-14 (parallel passage Luke 14:15-24) is a story of refusal. The banquet is prepared. Everything is in order. The roast is sliced, the salad bar ready, the vegetables steaming, but the guests don’t come. The guests have other things to do. Those hesitations have a special significance in this case. It is God who did the inviting! Accepting such an invitation is a serious issue. To be invited by God and Jesus Christ? You never know how that will end. Or maybe you do guess, and you don’t want it.

Many of us live on that kind of edge. We are attracted by God, we know we are invited by Jesus’ love, and yet we don’t dare accept. We hesitate. We refuse. And yet we can’t deny that that invitation has come to us. We can almost hear the music in the hall and smell the roast on the fire. The American Quaker Thomas Kelly described this intuition in a striking way: “And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow. For over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by. Strained by the very mad pace of our daily outer burdens, we are further strained by an inward uneasiness, because we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that Center. If only we could find the Silence which is the source of sound.”

We read in the first reading of today, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and to carefully observe my ordinances.” All of us are more religious and more mystical than we appear to be. We have God's spirit within us. We have seen more than we want to admit even to ourselves: bits of light, rays of goodness, fragment of songs, patches of heaven. Most times we act as if we never heard or saw a thing. Sometimes we prefer our stony hearts to the natural hearts given to love. We have His DNA, we are made in His image and likeness. We have His GPS within us. We are deeply connected to God, but feel embarrassed to admit it.

Such a refusal is sin. Sin is a state more than a momentary behaviour. It is the state of being closed down, shut off, blocked, and thus resisting the eternal flow of love (like God Himself) that we're meant to be. It is always a refusal of mutuality and closing down into separateness or isolation. Whenever we refuse mutuality towards God or anything, whenever we won't allow our deep inner-connectedness to guide us, whenever we're not attuned to both receiving and giving love, then we are in a state of sin.

What are the areas in my life that I refuse God, that I resist God's light and grace? Are there times when I block my love for persons? Do I disconnect myself and my presence from people and things that need my attention? Let us be clear that we know and accept ourselves in the very same movement in which we know and accept God; in surrendering to God, we simultaneously accept our best and fullest self. God and I may not be completely one; but at the same time God and I are not two either. I don't lose myself in Him; rather I find my true self only in Him.

God's Generosity

“Why be envious because I am generous?”

The parable of the labourers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16, today's gospel reading, is confounding. “Why be envious because I am generous?” The position of the landowner is illogical. But that is God precisely: that is grace, that is mercy itself. God breaks His own rules, and He is inconsistent. He is not predictable. He is beyond our understanding and rationality. God's ways are not our ways. His gratuitous generosity, who can beat?

So our talk of better Christians with a deeper faith, or old generation Christians, or new generation Christians, or early disciples, or later disciples, or better Church, or true religion, etc., have no sense or basis. All are equal in God's eyes.

It is also true that we as Christians often settle for quick, easy, and glib answers. We remain within our comfort zones, and tend to think we have God in our pockets. We even think that we understand God perfectly, and we become the know-all guys of God and religion, and we become the official spokespersons for God Himself. Isn't that too much?

We have even made the Eucharist into a worthiness contest and something that we could supposedly understand with our mind—both a terrible waste of time. Though we publicly say, “Lord, I am not worthy” in the Mass, but immediately then walk up as if we are “worthy”—and even claim that others are not worthy. (We even have extensive rules on who is worthy to receive communion, and who is not.) Isn't this a “performative contradiction” right in the heart of the liturgy?

All are equal in God's eyes. We are one, we are equal in dignity, we all eat of the same divine food, and Jesus is still and always “eating with sinners” (for which people hated him). But we his followers, we don't want to eat with sinners and the unworthy—because we have our rules! How strange and how comical is our attitude! We have even separated ourselves from our Master: Jesus can do all those things, but how can we? Let us remember Jesus wanted to introduce a new social order, a new world order. This new world order is based on the experience of a God who is experienced personally. This is based on God who is Love itself, who is Mercy itself. Jesus was not proclaiming the reform of the world; he was proclaiming the end of the world. He is not presenting a new programme for the same old human society. He refuses to accept society on its own terms; he refuses to offer it allegiance as it is.

Don't mistake me: we are not called to love God or the world. There is no “either / or.” Rather, we are called to love God in the world. We love God by loving the world. We love God through and with the world. But this turns out to be a kenotic, a sacrificial love. And this world turns out to be God's world, not ours! A new world order! A new world, re-created! We cannot love God unless we love God’s world.

Last Equals First

“The last will be first, and the first, last.”

Human systems and organizations always create divisions and inequalities. Those who belong and those who do not belong. The good and the bad. The obedient and the disobedient. The patriotic and the unpatriotic. Those who can receive the sacraments and those who can't. The beautiful and the ugly. The sacred and the profane. The worthy and the unworthy. The just and the unjust. Holy and unholy. The saint and the sinner. The rich and the poor. The virgin and the prostitute. Friend and enemy. The native and the foreigner. The first and the last. There is no end to the categories that we humans have causing the “first” ones look down on the “last” ones: money, beauty, muscles, study, race, skin, age, smell, gender, abode, origin, street, piety, religion, culture, tribe, health, name, ordination, and so on. The list is endless and the difficulties that these prejudices cause are enormous.

When Jesus tells us that the last ones will be the first ones and the first ones the last, he doesn’t want to reverse people’s positions. He doesn’t want to put those who are standing in the front at the back. That would only perpetuate the differences. Jesus wants to abolish those differences. The first ones and the last ones are equal—regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or all the rest. In his vision we are equal as sisters and brothers, who are friends.

Our societies, churches, nations, orders, associations, castes, statuses, all of these create outcasts. These systems seem to thrive on exclusion and inclusion, creating more and more inequalities, which push certain people to the peripheries and throw them out of the system. There is a certain advantage if you are an excluded one: you don't have to live the lie that others live within the system. You are free from the lie and the disease within the system. That's why Jesus seems to say that the excluded ones, the least, the lost and the last, the underprivileged, and the outcasts have a head start in spirituality. "Blessed are the poor." If the system is a mess, then those outside of it are at a significant advantage.

What exist in life are not divisions, but mere differences. Differences are lines. They are not boundaries. And, every boundary is a potential battle line. That is, divisions create conflicts. Let us therefore give up the illusions of separations and divisions. We need to include differences. We need to celebrate differences. Because, no one is excluded in God's vision. Nothing is excluded in God's reign. Everyone belongs. Everything belongs.

Possessions

"Teacher, what good must I do to possess eternal life?"

Matthew 19:16-22 presents a young man who approaches Jesus with a concrete question: "What good deed must I do to possess eternal life?" Jesus throws to him a few commandments, a few rules to "keep." But the young man is not happy with that answer, saying that he has always observed them in his life. He asks further, "What more do I need to do?" Dear friends, we can recognize in this man (whom the gospel doesn’t name) every person who approaches Jesus Christ questioning him not so much about rules to be followed, but about the full meaning of life. This youth expresses the aspiration at the heart of every human being. Who am I, what should I do? What is the meaning of my existence? It is the echo of God’s call in us, the only one to satisfy the desire of the human heart. Those questions come from the depths of the heart. These questions are essential and unavoidable. I believe we have had at least a few occasions to ask ourselves these deeper questions of life.

Returning to the gospel passage of today: Conscious of the young man’s yearning for something greater, which would transcend a legalistic interpretation of the commandments, Jesus, the Good Teacher invites him to enter upon the path of perfection: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” To follow Jesus we need to sell off our possessions, give up our material attachments, and serve the poor.

When the young man heard these words he went away sad. He wasn't yet ready to follow the perfect road. This is the tragic end of the story. He was able to ask the right questions, but not courageous enough (or ready) to follow the demands of the answers that he discovers. The gospel story of today ends on this tragic note, "He was a man of great wealth." Money, success, and popularity and our attachments to them will not help us to follow Jesus. I may follow all the rules and regulations of the Church, but I may not be able to follow Jesus and do what he tells. It is interesting and tragic to note that I could be a Christian, but not follow Jesus and his wishes for me. I may be a Christian but still attached to wealth and luxuries, and keep my heart far away from Jesus. I may serve the Church as an institution, but not serve the Lord who is revealed in the Church. That's called idolatry.

People the most obedient to commandments and church formulas can very often be the hardest to convert. They've take the symbol for the substance. They've taken the ritual for the reality. They've take the means for the end and become immunized from the experience of the real thing. That's called idolatry, when we worship and protect the means. It actually keeps us from the journey to the end. Religions should be understood as only the fingers that point to the moon, not the moon itself.

What are my possessions today? Do I possess them or they possess me? What are my attachments and addictions? What are my obsessions? What are my idols? What are those things (and those persons) in my life that keep me away from Jesus Christ and his wishes for me? Do I want to possess eternal life or possess things? Am I courageous enough (or ready) to face the answers?

Only God can satisfy my heart...