Fasting reminds us of our missionary spirit!

Most religions stress the personal effects of fasting: Hinduism talks about fasting as a form of meditation or manifestation of yogic power purifies mind, body and soul. It helps a person personally to be in tune with God. In Islam, fasting is seen as a way to learn the principle of sincere love towards God. One fasts for God and God alone. The enlightenment of Buddha in Buddhism is directly involved in fasting. Once again we see the personal effects of fasting here.

Only in Judaism and Christianity and particularly in today’s readings we see the social implications of fasting. Fasting is done in the presence of God; it motivates us to be influenced by the Spirit of God to do good. The moment one undertakes fasting, he or she is make a commitment to love God and neighbours in an unconditional way. The first reading is very strong on that: your fast ends in quarrelling and fighting. The essence of our fast is in being good at heart and doing good around.

Fasting limits our intake for the principle reason of unlimiting our love for God and others. It also reminds us our missionary spirit that we are called by God to be with Him and be sent out – thus it is related to bringing good news to the poor and needy.

When Jesus’ earthly ministry is over, we need to continue the spirit of Jesus in our fasting rooted in love for God and others. Let us pray that we continue to appreciate the value in Christian fasting as a surer way to accept God’s will. Amen.

Read more!

The Profit

Life is a gift freely given to us by God. God did not ask us as to whether we take up life or no – rather he just gave it to us. That is not a choice. We must take it: the choice is how we take life. The choices that we make in life show our character and personality. The house we build, the life partner we choose, the dress that wear – everything reflects our personal self such as children reflect the shade or imprints of the parents.

The readings today talk about life in God. Our life and death depend on our love for God and our adherence t the commands of God. Even if we have the whole world – if we are not in the love of God – we will be considered dead. Pessimistic people are people who choose both the choices – the choice of life and the choices of death. We are given a greater optimism by God to choose life. Now it is easy for us to answer the question: What profit is there for one to gain himself or herself and lose the whole world? We get everything.

This profit depends heavily on the grace and generosity of God. One gains himself or herself in and through the act of God. I lose myself because my choice is around the world. I gain myself because my choice is in and around God. Let us pray that our choices reflect our readiness to embrace God so that we may life and that life in fullness. Amen.

Read more!

Check on God, Other and Self!

Many people tend to call the season of Lent as ‘Service Check or Maintenance Check’. Though this imagery is very fitting, it is not the total picture of Lent. Lent is not a temporary adjustment that we make for a period of 40 days; nor it is a hibernation period for ‘hypocrites and tax-collectors’. The season of Lent is called the ‘Season of Grace’ since the season of Lent brings in a sense of urgency and utmost importance to be near God. Lent is most often thought of as the preparation to the suffering and death of Jesus; Lent is also the preparation of Jesus’ and our own resurrection. The commitment that we show in taking part in the suffering and death of Our Lord reflects in God rewarding us with the Spirit of Resurrection.

The common benchmarks of all Christians who wear the Cross made of ash on their foreheads Lent consist of prayer, alms giving and fasting in a stricter sense. Every one of them is very essential in Christian living. These three comprises the essence of our life: Prayer – our relationship with God, Almsgiving – our relationship with our neighbour and Fasting – our relationship with self. All these three disciplines in Lent have a sense of generosity in them. We fast with a generous heart; give alms generously and pray with a generous heart.

Lent gets life through prayer, almsgiving and fasting. This is not a season to fast our prayers; not a season to fast our generous giving rather fasting on the desires of the self to make it the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we fast we need to look happy. Joy is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The happy faces are the symbols of freshness and enduring faith in God.

Almsgiving is a wonderful form of giving. Our relationships needs (alms) giving. What can I give the other to make him or her reflect God’s goodness, love and generosity? Modeling on the total self-giving of Jesus, every giving during this season is a great sign of following Jesus literally. Lastly, the importance of Prayer: Lent is a time where not only the quality of prayer, but also the quantity of prayer is stressed. Let us pray that this Lent takes us close to the Heart of God. We all need a share in His suffering and death to share His resurrection. Amen.

Read more!

Jnani

One of the amazing truths about children is their clarity in being sure that they are children. Ask a child ‘who is the greatest?’ the immediate answer will be ‘it is my father’, ‘it is my so and so’. Rarely one finds a child so confident in telling others that he or she is the greatest. That is because they are convinced that they have seen or experienced someone greater or stronger. No child pretends that he or she is the greatest since it is instinctual to have an awareness that he or she is not the greatest.

Hinduism teaches that there are self-realized people and those who are not. The self-realized people are called Jnanis. Jnana is wisdom. Self-realization is the result of wisdom.

In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna talks about four types of worship rendered to God. One who thinks of God at the time of distress is Aartha. One is after prosperity, power, self and property is the Artha-arthi. The third who yearns for the realization of God, reads scriptures, makes efforts to know God through others. The fourth is the Jnani. He is immersed in the Wisdom of God and looks for God in all possible places. He yearns for nothing.

It is impossible to reach that stage of self-realization where one yearns for nothing anymore unless one feels and experiences himself or herself as a child of God. Being a child of God necessarily brings out the image that God’s arms are around us. It also points to us that God is very near; His Heart is near to us. Let us pray that God continues to be near us, embracing us and taking us closer to His Heart so that we may continue to reflect His goodness and love. Amen.

Read more!

Pray unceasingly!

One of the strongest pastoral demands of St. Paul was “Pray unceasingly” (1 Thes 5:17). It could mean many things such as using FOR words ‘pray for your needs’, ‘pray for yourself and family’, ‘pray for others’, or using WITH words such as ‘pray with the family, with the Church, with friends’ etc., Most often it means just ritual if we take away IN words, pray in faith, trust, hope. We pray in the name of Jesus.

The commandment of love includes OTHERS as important as the self; our prayers certainly have to include others. ‘Pray for others as you pray for yourselves’. What can you possibly give to the unemployed, homeless, lonely, the unloved, those in nursing homes, terrorists who kill innocent lives, people who fall prey to bad economy, people who are filled with greed and people who fight in God’s name? We need each other to pray for each other.

Weakness invades our bones; we feel powerless. We need someone or some people to carry our petitions to God. They know the way; they know where he lives; they have the power to face all the challenges to take us to God. We all need those people to carry our burden. We have friends to go partying; do the interior decoration, plan our tours and shopping, but we feel so embarrassed to have a friend who can pray with us, for us and take our burden to God. The gift of having those friends motivate us to be that friends ourselves. How often do I carry someone else’s burden to the Lord? Can I go all the way to take my friend to God?

Jesus ordered that man to take up the mat. Now that he experiences the presence of Jesus in life, he can carry his own weight. Now he has been given a mission by Jesus. Now that you are healthy, bring me a paralyzed person! This is the way we share in God’s plan of salvation. The healthy has the mission to bring the sick and carry their burden. The sick has the command of God to let the healthy to carry them. We need more volunteers to participate in this mission of bringing joy to people’s life. Let us make our society a place of people who live in the presence of God and not a place of machines – once you are old, you will be thrown out! Let us pray that we may be guided by Holy Spirit to bear the burden of our brothers and sisters and bring them to Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Read more!

Mountains and Hills bless the Lord!

Many religions have God on top of the hills or mountains. In Hinduism, God Shiva is believed to be living in Kailasa Mountain; God Vishnu lives in Vaikunda Mountain. God of the Jews met Moses and Abraham on the mountain. Shanti Sthupis of the Buddhists are always on top of the hills.

Gods are always seen on hill tops because of the fact that they have the power over the land. They live on high, humans live in plains and devils live underworld. Humans work hard to climb the hills or mountains – such was the actual perception that to reach some form of divinity it demands a lot of efforts from us.

Babel story talks about wicked men going higher so that they feel like gods, possessing some higher powers. The higher view they get the powerful they become is the symbolic meaning. But there are so many things that are not given thought to by these wicked men. 1. It is the will of God that He makes us great. It is not our birth right or a demand that we put forth before God. 2. These men were united to destroy. The reason for a congregation should be God and God alone. We are united in the name of God. 3. There is only one language – language of love - that could unify all and destroy all our differences. Languages don’t divide anyone but our selfishness and our indifferences will divide each other forever.

The different towers that we build for ourselves gradually separate us from experiencing God’s love. They are built by our selfishness, our greed and our wickedness. Let us pray that our communities are built around the altar and Holy Eucharist. Amen.

Read more!

Noah kept searching and waiting!

Often we say: God acts in mysterious ways – trying to cover mysterious life issues. The word ‘mysterious’ is so vague that we vaguely understand what we vaguely mean. There are quite a number of words that needs a closer look. Words like ‘I love you’, ‘you take care’, ‘I understand you fully’ - most often confuse us and we are happy as long as they remain confusing words.

God’s love is something we learn lifelong. It becomes clear as the days go by, the relationships that we are engaged in, the break ups that we encounter, the turns and twists of life that we see – bring God’s love in different forms and ways. As a seminarian the saintly days are the beginning stage where we put a lot of efforts in knowing and loving God then comes philosophy days where everything seems to be doubtful. Theology days are even damaging but Ordination and priestly ministry inspire us and put us back on the track.

Noah’s repeated efforts brought him to life. He kept searching and waiting. Life could be difficult when we float. Fear creeps in, uncertainty takes hold of us, anxiety overpowers us and we have no one around us. Noah was in such a situation where God taught him the secrets of searching and waiting. The man in the gospel saw men like trees.

Our thought patters betray us, we no longer think straight, feel straight, and approach God and others straight. God keeps teaching us the secrets of searching and waiting only if we have the patience to be near him and follow whatever he tells us. God acts in not so much of mysterious ways, rather LOVING ways. Let us pray that we be generous with our love. Amen.

Read more!

The Journey of Love

There is a great meaning in life for those who are willing to journey (Jim England). As all life has a purpose, all journeys have purpose. Journeys are made on what we are convinced of and to what we said yes to in life. Too often we are preoccupied with destination and forget the journey. A famous saying often come to my mind: God gives, gives, gives and forgives, and man gets, gets, gets and forgets. There are lives which are filled with sacrifices and selfless service to people; there are lives which are filled with selfishness and destructive attitudes. Marriage is a journey too where two hearts share the responsibility of a family which is filled with love and sacrifices.

The first reading reminds us that the lepers were eliminated from the society: sinners have no place in the Kingdom of God. They were forced to make a journey that they were not ready to. That journey was filled with hatred, jealousy, disappointment, rejection and lack of gratitude. More and more self rejection creeps in us. We hate ourselves: ‘look at me – how ugly I am, how terrible I am, how unworthy I am. Don’t come near me’. We make a journey of faithlessness. We lack faith in God and in our own selves.

‘The sick needs physicians. I came not to the righteous but to sinners’, Jesus said. Jesus made a great journey from being God to the level of man. In the society of man, he was in search of those that have no faith and hope. Jesus makes the Journey of hope. I do will it, be made clean.”Jesus’ journey of hope brings light to our darkened journey of faithlessness. Through Jesus, my life’s journey gets meaning. Once when I am convinced of this truth, Jesus becomes the permanent companion in our journey, thus, making it the journey of love.

Family life is to be a journey of love for the husband and wife and for parents and children, filled with faith, hope and love. Every bad turns and every stumbles that we experience in life, Jesus comes to our aid and says, ‘I do will it, hold my hands!’ Let us pray that God continues to give us wisdom and the Holy Spirit to walk this journey of love. Amen.

Read more!

Choose Good in all that we say and do!

We often wonder about the nature of evil – what is evil and what makes an act, a behavior, a person evil? The evil almost always carry the negative forces in our moral behavior that curtail, prevent or even deny what is kind, just and altruistic. Most often these are small and ordinary human acts that happen in our day to day living and we are not aware of them.

When our intention and behavior curtail, prevent and even deny what is kind, the outcome is cruelty. We turn and twist the meaning of what others said intentionally which is not what they intended. When God gave an order, cruelty waters it down and in turn would tell us something contrary to the command of God. I am the way, the truth and the life – Jesus said. Cruel intentions in our minds and hearts would curtail, prevent and deny this fact and tell us, Jesus is not exactly the way – he may be one of the ways, etc.

When the negative forces in us do the same with what is just we fail to accept what God said and readily accept the opposite without any caution. “You will not die, you will be like gods” – certainly more colorful to ‘I am a servant of God’. We often cling on to what makes us temporarily happy. That is unjust to the image and likeness of God in us.

When our intention and behavior curtail, prevent and deny what is altruistic, we become selfish. Selfishness is often the root cause of many of our sins. It is actually the permanent blindness to the fact that we are obeying the command of the Evil and disobeying God. Let us pray that people especially the young today choose good in all that we say and do. Amen.

Read more!

Love is the answer to purity!

Buddhism talks about the eightfold path as the way to attain salvation. The first two are right view and right intention: they are the base for a person’s wisdom. The ethical conduct of a person is seen in three important areas in the life a person: right speech, right action and right livelihood. These are necessarily supported by the person’s mental development in three important factors: right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

Jesus in today’s gospel talks about the purity and impurity in people’s heart. It can take us to the basic question on sin: what is a sin? Sin is an effort to say no to God and his will. All the sins that Jesus touched upon today one way or other are connected to God and others. The only way to bring in purity in a person’s heart is to love. Love is the answer to purity.

To exist is to coexist. We live in a society. We all affect each other’s lives so tremendously that we are not aware of it most of the time. We cannot be self-made people. We influence others and others influence us. Only when we are influenced by the power of God, all our relationships demand purity. I can relate to a person purely only by the power of God.

We are given the freedom to make the choice between constructive relationships which is based on God’s love and destructive relationship which is based on the culture of death. Let us pray that God continues to guide us in all our relationships and make our intensions pure in them. Amen.

Read more!

Peter’s faith was strengthened!

Jesus as a human being had to go through quite a number of tests: His humility was tested at his birth; his commitment was tested in the desert; his wisdom was tested even at the age of 14; his loyalty to his father was tested all through his life on earth. His love for us was tested through his suffering and death. Mary’s faith and love was tested at various times; Joseph’s faith and love was tested. The Apostles and disciples of Jesus had to go through various tests at various times.

Peter’s life could be symbolized as the life of Christians today. He needed his brother Andrew to point out to him the Messiah; he never looked back on his faith journey. He was so full of life, so emotional and outspoken. He was often overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus. ‘You are the Son of God’, ‘even if all these go, I will leave you’, ‘increase my faith’ – all these wonderful revelations came from Peter. As long as Jesus was with him, his faith was at the peak. When he was not in the presence of Jesus, he shouted as Jesus –it is the ghost- he lied and betrayed Jesus.

Today’s reading brings out a strong message and not just a miracle. Our spirituality is not just brings out personal goals, personal purifications, rather it influences others. This miracle could be considered as one of the healing miracles of Jesus but deep down it exploded a great message. ‘You know me Peter; you brought me here to cure her. It is through you and through your faith and also her faith she was cured. Now you know what to do when someone needs a healing. Take me to him, take me to her.’

Peter learned a lesson through this miracle. When Jesus is not around physically, how would I hold fast to my faith; how would I strengthen my brothers and sisters in their faith? We share the same faith as Peter. How do I experience the grace of God in the Church? How do I experience the grace of God outside the Church, in my family, in my friends, neighbours, and others?
Read more!

Unity in diversity

Unity in diversity is the point of the Church in the modern world. There have been enough wars, killings and terror attacks, crusades and other social crimes that emanated as the result of unity in uniformity. Even Jesus was forced to follow a set of rules to appreciate that uniformity. Every religion in one way or rather puts a certain amount of pressure on people to associate them with the religion. We all know that virtue lies in the middle!

These apostles are recruited for their diverse opinions and way of life. Fishermen, tax collector, rebel group personnel, traitor and other brands form this diversity in the apostolic pack. The most important concept here is that this unity in diversity is the will of God and could be possible only in the presence of God.

Every person is freed by God to love and serve him in that particular person’s own little ways. That diverse unity is a concern today that many are not aware of such a freedom and only continue their spirituality based on their previous generations. We need first hand experiences of God.

Everyone is called to form the Kingdom of God – people of all races, cultures, colour, creed and way of life to form this Kingdom based on Love. Let us pray that we respect and appreciate those differences in our approach toward God and neighbour. Amen.

Read more!