Among the many unwanted, false and distorted image of God down the century that stayed in the mind of people is the image of God as punisher. The primary lessons that we have always learnt in our church reflect are God in each personhood has a distinct role to play in the history of people: God as creator, God as sustainer and God as provider. In Hindu reflection the discussion on who holds the whole world together falls on Vishnu the sustainer God as he has the most time in sustaining and providing for People. In our Catholic stand point, God the Father who is also the creator sustains and provides for the universe through the Son and the Spirit and purifies the world through the Spirit with the Son. Trinity is present in all aspect of Creating, proving for and purifying the universe.

The distorted image took us away from God: God as a destroyer is so strange in our Christian thinking. It makes us uncertain and stagnates our faith in God forever thus there is no room for increase of Faith in God. Why God is going destroy the earth? Why God is going to punish the earth? Why there is a hell? Why there is an eternal judgment and the submission of our account at the last minute of our lives to God? These instigate a lot of fear in people and traditionally have been intended to encourage people to be good Christians. Kali, the woman God in Hinduism, God as great judge, God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah or even the whole world, Jihadists in Islam who kill think they are gods in bringing judgment here and now are a few extremist ways of looking at God.

God’s love is so powerful when we think about other human emotions being put to God such as anger, frustration, disappointment, jealousy, envy, punishing nature. These are emotions originating from people, often installed in God to find reasons for their failures and worst conditions in life. God is not sending the rain because he is angry; my son or daughter died because God wants to teach me a lesson that I was not regular to Church; I met with an accident because God is angry with me.

The primary roles of creating, sustaining and purifying could teach us only about the God who loves. God in the 1^st reading didn’t just lower the number to 10, rather to his Son in history. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son not to condemn but to give life. The only emotion that fits God is love since loving is divine to the fullest. The rest of the negative emotions are from us and from our sins. Deliverance is from God through love.

Adam had a prayer to become a god and he asked the devil to help him. Solomon had a prayer to acquire wisdom and he asked God who is the source of all wisdom. Abraham’s prayer of fatherhood, Moses’ prayer for leadership, Samuel’s prayer of being a prophet, Mary’s prayer of servanthood, Jesus prayer of strengthening the disciples, Paul’s prayer of mission are all remind us a God who cares for life and not death.

Knowing what to ask and knowing who to ask, knowing the right image of God when asking are essential in any prayer. If you have the right image of God, your prayers will be based on that image. God give me the strength to kill my enemies; God give me the courage to forgive and wisdom to consider no one my enemy – they both show us our images of God. Ask the God of love and you will receive love.

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The Better Part! (18th July)

A priest asked his class, “Tell me 3 things that you learnt in today’s gospel.” Little Johnny got up and said, “1. Jesus was a big eater; Martha had to cook so much. 2. Mary was lazy & a hopeless helper at the kitchen and 3. Martha and my mom have the same style.” The Christians in India are known for inviting the priests to their houses for all occasions. I had one such chance to visit a poor home. They were from a low-caste and they were delighted once they heard the priest is coming into their home. The man had 3 kids and I took a friend along. I cannot forget the day when we didn’t run out of food but we ran out of plates in that house! The little kid wanted to feed me; the joy on those faces was so great and the memory lasted for long. It’s hard to see a thin priest and they blame in on the people.

Both the 1^st and the 3^rd readings talk about feeding the holy men. In Hinduism the great sages always have earthen vessel in their cotton bag to beg for food. Holy men in early civilizations either lived on their own or begged. People viewed the providing to a holy man is a great spiritual duty and it brings in enormous blessing on the family. In the past many took great care in their hospitality as it could sometime bring a curse from the holy men.

Jesus was a great friend of Martha, Mary and Lazarus and always spent time with them on his way to JRS. The familiarity part is so important to understand and appreciate the personality of Jesus. He was a very loving and simple person. He enjoyed the friendship and hospitality of people. Though many people just see this story as something ordinary lacking in substance, Jesus brings in a central theme of checking our priorities in life.

Initially the 7^th day was made holy and the Jews called it Sabbath. Gradually Christians viewed Sunday as the day of Resurrection thus Sunday became our focus. The concept of rest in Christianity is so commercialized that a great shift took place in no time: from a day when we all can rest in God’s word and recline at the Lord’s feasting table for the sake of spiritual refreshment to one day when we can sleep in and spend time with family. The commercialized word ‘rest’ has a meaning of a body that is trying to survive the demands of our society; religion and church as an added burden to our longing for rest!

I work 6 days a week; I have 5 children; I am divorced; I got exams; my children have sports schedules; Macy’s having a sale; we went to the shore are common reasons directly related to our need for rest and our right to take it from our only primary need to take rest in the Lord. Other reasons are so degrading that I don’t like to mention here! We often have blamed it on God and another 20 years won’t make any difference!

Watch when a Christian says, “No time to pray or get to Church.” He or she is lying. The real reason is; I had more important things to attend to; I did not feel that prayer and mass and even God is 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd in my list. Mary was chosen for a better part – she was given a great faith that permanently believes that our rest in God is the only rest that could bring us refreshment, after all Recreation is Re – creation.

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July 4th - Happy Independence Day!

The Fourth of July weekend was coming up, and the nursery school teacher took the opportunity to tell her class about patriotism. “We live in a great country,” she said. “One of the things we should be happy is that, in this country, we are all free.” One little boy came walking up to her from the back of the room. He stood with his hands on his hips and said. . . . “I’m not free. I’m four.”

USA was founded on a set of beliefs and not as were other nations on a common ethnicity, language or religion. The more I reflect on this statement I begin to realize that there is something special here, out of the ordinary. Remember Obama’s speech after the election? Any doubts that everything is possible in USA, your answer is right here now! As an outsider, I criticized, made fun of, enraged by, envious about in many ways of this great nation while I still enjoy every bit of my stay here!

Appreciation is the word that the people should be familiar with. We know what happened when we become prey to sin as leaders of a nation: Hitler with 6 million Jews, Stalin with 20 million Russians, Big Daddy Amin in Uganda with thousands, Pol Pot regime in Cambodia wiping all the doctors and teachers in that country and the like. If a colored person were once a slave could very well hold high position in this country, India missed the boat all the time. I come from a country where a low-caste person cannot make it big! Gandhi and Nehru and almost all the top guns have to be a Brahmin where the majority of the population is low-castes! I come from a country where the media is not as powerful as that of USA where corruption and atrocities of politicians and black money in Swiss banks are not primary issues.

A great time such as July 4^th we fondly remember the perfect image of God given in the 1^st reading: God as a mother! God provided all that we enjoy – liberty and happiness. It is much easier to look at our mission once our happiness and liberty is ensured! Missionaries and Patriots have so much in common: both live and work for freedom, one for earthly nation, other for heavenly kingdom. Both sacrifice a lot for this cause by daily attempting to one’s best. When Jesus gave those directions for missionaries he gave them a picture of a harvest. Harvest is the result of hard work and great sacrifices. Harvest belongs to God. Freedom and independence are bought with sweat and blood. Think of wasting the harvest on the field to rot! – wasting our independence with strange ways of living, decline in culture and the inability to savor the result of independence!

Every Christian is a missionary of God! Everyone is invited to harvest – to offer his/her own goodness to God and encourage others to do the same. All our goodness originates in God; it gets harvested only if the goodness is experienced by other person. As long as you say you are good and perfect, you remain still on the field. Harvesting is showing your faith in action! Let’s get on with harvesting! We got a lot to do!

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Heaven - A Gift!

Throughout the Bible we encounter various good relationships that educate us about life: Moses – Joshua, David – Jonathan, Ruth – Naomi, Jesus – Peter, Mary – Elizabeth, Paul – Barnabas and the like. These models were all inspired by God in one way or other and had their foundation in God before they became Christian models. One such relationship that bore a close resemblance of Moses – Joshua model was that of Elijah and Elisha. Moses and Elijah resemble in their approach to liberate the people from the clutches of unworthy rulers – God being their Shepherd and the exodus of crossing the wilderness is so personal in nature for Elijah that even the names Joshua and Elisha are similar in meaning – God Saves! The Promised Land should by all means be protected from Baal and its prophets.

The cost of discipleship is our total commitment and always aimed at higher values. Moses and Joshua had the entire chosen people of God under their responsibility. Jonathan was guided by the Spirit of God when he stood with David. Ruth’s ‘Your people my people, your God my God, Death do us part’ expression undoubtedly portray such elevated commitment. Peter’s affirmation, ‘Even if these run away I will be with you.’ And Mary’s care when Elizabeth needed it and Paul and Barnabas struggle together as missionaries clearly proclaims that at the root of any such relationship there is God’s Spirit at work. There is so much of a broad-vision and altruistic approach towards life and love. They make history.

If Holiness is not the aim of the church, all that we do and say, all that we profess and live by make no sense. If our destination is JRS we won’t be wasting time and energy on what is not JRS. I want to make it to heaven but I will kill everyone before that – what is the difference between you and the jihadists? The similarity between a jihadist and a Christian is that both are aimed at reaching heaven. The Difference between them is to kill people (take away one’s God-given gift of life and happiness) and give life and happiness in all that we do and say. Jihadists think they are pro-euthanasia and confuse themselves; we think we are supreme-court judges! We have a better deal I guess! Much better pay!

If heaven is where selfless people are why do we all want to selfishly get to heaven? Jerusalem the city of Peace where God dwells necessarily expects us to pass through the difficult roads of Samaria: the experience of hurt, rejection, sacrifice, pain and always be the 1^st one to forgive and initiate goodness in the family, not to curse verbally nor silently, and the maturity that motivates us that we can reach heaven only by perceiving and living heaven in where you are and what you do now. Jesus’ rebuking has significant meaning here that those motivated to reach Heaven should necessarily put to practice higher values.

Your affiliation with good people certainly helps in reaching your goal. Since we all influence each other so vitally, why not allow ourselves to be vitally influenced by good people. The recruitment to the Jihad movement is based on the justification of reward. That’s what all selfish people do. We want to get to heaven no matter how we get there! Reaching heaven is not to be understood so much as a reward, rather a gift freely given by God. We are not entitled to reach heaven. Try explaining Jesus’s statements: ‘It is impossible for a rich man…’ and ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise’ and ‘Truly I say to you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.’ They the poor, the thief and sinner got to heaven because they saw Jesus. Who is your influence? Do you still selfishly want to get to heaven? Or leave that to God and practice the lesson of love?

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Difference between THEY and YOU!

Junior had just received his brand new driver's license. To celebrate the special day, the whole family went out to the driveway and climbed into the car for his first official drive. Dad went immediately to the back seat, right behind the newly licensed driver. "I'll bet you are back there to get a change of scenery, right? After all these months of sitting up here, teaching me how to drive?" Junior said to his dad. "Nope!" said dad. "I'm going to sit back here and kick the back of your seat as you drive, just like you've been doing to me for sixteen years!"

It is quite interesting to note how we learn to pray: as a child there were too many distractions such as a big group of people, colorful clothes, big hall-way, smiles and faces of people, music and the unusual quietness of the parents. As we grow into adolescents God becomes a Santa and we were focusing just on needs and friends. The crowd, colors, music and other external distractions don’t matter much as in the past. As young adults God takes the role of GPS and we take the role of lost travellers asking for directions. The amazing thing to note here is the maturity that we grow into in our prayer life. It takes ages to for us to get the image of God in our hearts and minds!

A deer comes out of the womb and starts walking, running and talking its language. Most of the animal world is that way. We come out and take our own time in uttering words like ma, pa and oh boy! There are different layers of speech before we truly speak the language. Intelligible sentence to come out of a young boy or a girl takes time. He or she has to mentally Xerox whatever parents and friends do and say. Great public speakers are the ones who have gone above the average in their approach of language and the use of language shifts from just communication to all imagination and all inspiration.

The focus of Jesus in today’s gospel is in educating his friends to excel in their deep knowledge of God. Ordinary people with no formal education at that time depended heavily on the religious leaders. People with brains were focused on the scripture and the strict traditional outlook on God. Jesus had a different standard for the knowledge of God: presence of Jesus replacing formal education in scripture. The best way to know God is to be with Jesus. Great minds educated the people about God so when the real question comes they get confused and make mistakes. What they possess is a partial revelation or little knowledge.

Jesus knows that there should a difference between THEY and YOU; they who find other gods or foolishly take something or someone for God! “My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God, and I didn't.” -Unknown ‘Who do you say that I am’ is a question put to people who experience the real presence of Jesus; friends of Jesus; who know exactly the object of our belief. The ordinary people were very much influenced by Jesus since all the preaching and healing were done in their midst. They have heard him and seen his miracles but the higher leave of realization is given to the inner circle. We have to ask here: where do you want to be? In the crowd? Or where?

The deeper knowledge of God is awarded to each one of us through sacraments. We are privileged in all ways to know and merge with God. That knowledge should motivate us to join with Jesus to bring life to the people around us. Jesus had a mission and People’s salvation was the object of his father’s will. The more we intimately relate with Jesus we not only come to know God, we also will come to know how to love others and work towards the good of the society.

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Extravagant forgiveness!

Every conversion story is enlightening and encouraging us to grow in faith. I was watching the conversion story of Fr. John Corapi recently. It was personally uplifting for me as he spoke about his personal life: he searched for meaning in life; worked in almost all areas to find easy money and fame; lived in Vegas and befriended celebrities who in turn befriended him to drugs and at the verge of death in a mental hospital he was given a rosary by his mom and asked him to pray. His reading of prayer got deepened and he told him mom that he wanted to confess his sins to a priest. After the confession he told the priest that he wanted to be a priest and started absolving others sins including that of his own father! Isn’t it wonderful and easy to share with people that God’s forgiveness is so easy and ready?

How about human forgiveness? A lady loved her grand-daughter and did everything for her. The grand-daughter with her boyfriend went ahead and stole all the valuables from the granny and ran off! Is it easy to forgive? An abusive husband for 18 years who was ready even to kill her and she managed to escape from him got divorce and escaped death! Is it easy to forgive? Abused by a priest or an older person; grew up into adulthood with no confidence nor a sense of achievement filled with all kinds of psychological illness. Is it easy to forgive? Is it easy to forgive a cheating husband? Cheating wife? Children who want to have their ways no matter what happens?

The simplest truth to understand here is we can’t forgive others the way God forgives us. One of the reasons for this comparison some argue is that we all sin and God doesn’t. God doesn’t need our forgiveness whereas we all depend on each other’s forgiveness. That is not the foundation for the understanding of forgiveness here! The foundation here is the exchange of goodness for tyranny; embrace for crucifixion; love for hatred and all other opposite effects and emotions for God’s pure love. 1^st reading talks about such profound exchange between God and David.

The beginning of the end of our forgiving self is forgetfulness of God’s generosity. The more we are appreciative and aware of God’s generosity the more forgiving we become. David forgot what he received from God; Simon the Pharisee in the gospel forgot what he received from God and also failed to see what the sinful woman received before and during the washing of the feet of Jesus! Our failure to forgive often results from a particular situation and not from the collective personality of a person.

Stephen Covey narrates a few good stories on forgiveness in families as he validates the point that we will always be victims until we forgive; when we truly forgive we open the channels through which trust and unconditional love can flow. What good is there to boast of a God who forgives and we don’t? Hatred is like cancer; has the ability to spread not only in your body but all those you come in contact with. Forgiveness is the antidote. The joy of apologizing is rewarding but the joy of forgiving is rejuvenating. … as we forgive those who sin against us should become a reality in each of us. The point to notice here in Our Father is the prayer of forgiveness is next to our prayer for food. As Gandhi said, “forgiveness is the attribute of the strong; the weak can never forgive.” Are you strong?

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Trinity Sunday

A relative came to visit Nasaruddin bringing a duck as a gift. So, the bird was cooked and eaten. Soon one guest after another began to call, each claiming to be a friend of the friend of ‘the man who brought you the duck’. Each one, of course, expected to be fed and housed on the strength of that hapless bird. At length Nasaruddin could stand it on longer. One day a stranger arrived at his house and said, ‘I am a friend of the kinsman who brought you the duck.’ And, like the others, he sat down, expected to be bed. Nasaruddin placed a bowl of steaming water before him, ‘What is this?’ asked the stranger. Nasaruddin said, ‘This is the soup of the soup of the duck that was brought to me by your friend.’ We ask the same question when it comes to the dogma of Trinity; we feel the same enthusiasm as we Christians don’t understand the mystery nor does it have any real significance for them in our lives.

The Trinitarian concept is not unique to Christianity: it transcends all religions and is a key ingredient of universal life and culture (Diarmuid Murchu). Trimoorthy of Hinduism, the Buddhist doctrine of the three bodies, The Zoroastrian triplicate of Zurvan, The Egyptian cult of Isis, Seraphis and the divine child Horus, the Neoplatonic triplicate of Good, the Intelligence and the World Soul and some 30,000 years of traditional Trinitarian worship in the Prehistoric times all portray the same One God seen in 3 persons.

Many see an arithmetic contradiction here: 2 equals 1. We all agree we all possess a certain ‘nature’ when we say ‘it’s my nature’. A person can possess a nature and not the other way around. ‘Person’ and ‘nature’ answer two different questions. ‘What is it?’ – NATURE. ‘Who is it?’ – PERSON. Further, we all can understand that our nature decides what is possible for us persons. I the person; nature is the source of our operations (F J Sheed). The same is applied to the Trinity. What we should be careful here is that 1. These three persons don’t share the divine nature 33.333, 2. They are distinct but not separate.

The doctrine can only make sense if it is understood in terms of Love and not in terms of administration. It is not about fixing rather loving. “The ancient wisdom that we share is: everything is created out of relatedness, sustained through relationships and thrives on interdependence”. If God is love, he or she better teach us what love is all about; what relationships are all about and what interdependence is all about! Thus, we turn to Trinity for all those answers. Trinity is all about love and unity in fullness.

We love our pets. TV shows like ‘It’s me or the Dog’, ‘Dog whisperer’ and the like teach us responsible behavior towards our pets. That’s not the way we love human beings. We love people as equals. This feast calls for responsible love towards others especially married couples. When Jesus said, “I am in the father and the Father is in me”, he didn’t talk about some confusing concept; rather he talked about intimacy that the whole universe is so much part of. Every loving person should be able to explain the doctrine of Trinity and the qualification is our ability to love and be loved.

Our call for unity is an urgent call and an indispensable mission. We continue to stick ourselves, our family and the society to the love of God. The oil spill should trouble us; a terrorist attack should bother us; a careless pilot killing 158 or natural disasters should worry us because we base our life on love which is beyond and without limits; and our unity is universal. Are you a loving person? Are you a Trinitarian? Not much of a difference there, is there?

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Church is Holy!

Penitent tells the priest, “forgive me father, I missed mass on Sunday and other days of obligation, I forgot to get to the Church.” Priest tells him, “God didn’t forget to create us and God never forget to love us.” The Creed stresses the aspect that Our Church is Holy: this is a part of our professing faith. In other words, we openly claim that we are Holy, just as we claim our belief in the Trinity. We also openly claim that we are one, catholic and apostolic, ie, we are not divided body of Christ and we aim at including everyone in our sharing of love and service and we are committed to take the message of love to all. This is a huge claim we as we are set to work for the kingdom of God.

83% of Portugal is Catholic. We are talking about 10 or 11 million people. 400 people gathered together to welcome the Pope! The government recently liberalized its laws on abortion and divorce and allows gay marriages. Among 2400 registered family in HF, the church attendance hardly crosses 800 on Sundays. I wonder if the belief in Church being Holy has evolved or changed! At least for a start, we cannot equate what is not holy to what is Holy. Our holiness does not depend solely on individual efforts; rather a collective effort.

This prayer is Jesus in today’s gospel is vital to the holiness of the church. Every expression in this prayer is about Oneness, holiness and commitment to love and serve modeling on the same pattern of the unity in Godhead. Our CCC teaches us that Charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called. Charity governs shapes and perfects all the means of sanctification. When we are ready to love, we live to be holy. Love is not just an emotion but a constant attempt to reach perfection, to glorify God and purify our intentions. Most of our expressions are seen in all that we do and say and all that we fail to do and say.

Holiness is trademark of God. God is Holy. By claiming that we, you and I are holy, we proclaim a God who is ready to share his image and likeness with us. Hindus and Buddhist would automatically understand this particular prayer of Jesus since I am one with God – Aham Brahmasmi! Is the central teaching of those religions. Our ability to see beyond ourselves is a sure sign of holiness. This applies to the universal church too! The universal church is set to work toward its own sanctification. We don’t claim we have no abortions, gays or any other. We broke all the 10 commandments royally every day. We shouted all the louder – this church is UNHOLY! Just like we participated in – CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM!

Our sins though take away the core elements of our holiness, we still retain our essential nature that we are holy because our God is Holy and through all the sacraments especially in the Eucharist he sanctifies us so powerfully that we get another opportunity to be holy. The society need to see Christians practice their religion faithfully and know that we are working closely with God against all unholy elements in the world. Church’s holiness is rooted in the generosity and compassion of God. There can be no better way to experience the unity of the trinity other than we experience holiness within ourselves. Sharing of holiness is sharing of God!

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Peace! Shalom! Shanti! (Mother's Day)

She called me a couple weeks ago and said, "This Mother's Day, please don't send me another card covered with flowers and filled with flattery. I appreciate your thinking of me, Get real! I did the best I could, but I was far from a perfect mom!" You remember. You were there!" So this year I got her a card with that old woman on it with the hairnet and the housedress. On the front it says, "Hours of excruciating labor, millions of diapers and countless sleepless nights. On the inside it says," And you get a card. (dot dot dot) Yeah, that sounds fair."

If God created only mothers with motherly qualities, the world would have been peaceful! Honestly all the anger, greed, wars, and other peace less activities in the past have been the language of men and mothers played very little role or no role in them. Honestly speaking, the role of a mother from Proverbs 31 to the present has undergone tremendous changes. We don’t see much of moms cook, arrange tables, do the dishes! Most of the marriages stood on the patience and peace-loving nature of women in the past. Is it a past memory only?

The tradition in India wants the women out of her parent’s house and be part of her husband’s family. She literally marries not just the husband but his family as well. She has to adapt to her new conditions and adjusts herself in all that she does and says. Almost all women face the mighty mother-in-law and dominating nature of the husband.

Peace is almost always a concept that is spoken in the realm of Justice. Not many think that peace is the quality of perfection. Jesus orders perfection – just as your heavenly father is perfect. How can anyone enjoy peace if we live and are chained in sin? Peace is certainly related to the moral standards that we set for ourselves. Just as our kids don’t listen to a single word we say – there is no peace in that family, we chose sin and darkness – result is NO PEACE!

We love to use or intend the word ‘peace’ in all our greetings and farewells. Peace was disturbed in the Christian communities because of unchristian ideas came into our church. The JRS council decides on Christian morals rooted on freedom. They were in search of peace. Jesus’ promise of peace is so essential that we practice it every day in the mass. This peace is given to us not to just feel better or feel superior, rather feel responsible. This peace makes us humble and service-minded that we are responsible towards our families and society.

Inner peace paves way to peace in society. The way to inner peace is honest love. Only love can bring us peace and that’s exactly what happened. Jesus brings peace to us, that is, Love brings us peace. Peace is always a language of love, morally sound and striving for perfection.

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Feeding is Divine!

After listening to the conversation between Jesus and Peter who were primarily close friends, I was tempted to verify how intimately men talk and move about in our society. We all know that women are from Venus, thus they are more emotional and verbal compared to ‘most men’, there are equal traits in Mars too. One such thing is called the American Man Hug. It has 4 steps: 1 Begin with a traditional firm handshake, 2. Keeping your hand clasped with your buddy, wrap the left arm around the shoulder of your friend, 3. Slap your friend’s back twice. The back slap is the key. Somehow hitting your friend makes the hug more manly. 4. Release embrace. The IPL in India could bring a shock to many international players as the Indian cricketers freely show how emotional they could become in front of 50,000 fans on the ground.

It is interesting to listen to stories of the past where the husbands met their wives for the 1^st time and how they got close to each other. It is also interesting to listen to stories of how one becomes a friend to someone. "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis. There were love at 1^st sight or murder at 1^st sight; there were murder at last sight or love at last sight. Some of the stories I heard from friends in our HFS written by those friends are so interesting even now to read them all!

There were many studies on the personality of Peter so far. One thing that is very central to our readings today is the life of Peter before and after Resurrection. During Advent we focus on Jesus’ coming thus prepare the way. During Lent we focus on the repentance. What do we exactly do during Easter Season? The best lesson is found in the person of Peter. As there are many changes in the resurrected body of Jesus, so also there are many changes in the lives of the Apostles and Peter being the team leader. Their whole attitude to life, their speech and action show a tremendous energy as if their bodies were resurrected. God didn’t just raise Jesus from the dead; God also raised the dead hopes, dead faiths and dead spiritualties of the friends of Jesus.

The commission of Jesus to Peter is to ‘feed the sheep’. The resources that have been given to Peter were rooted in his answer. This is a human promise and God decides to depend on our human promises. God is making the same mistake that he cautioned us about ‘Don’t put your trust in mortals’. There is a deeper level of commitment and service to people, family, our dear and near ones only when there is honesty in our love for God. The Church in all 2000 or more years taught the same lesson: God is love and love God and neighbor. The tending of sheep is so central to any Church leadership. Parents not only take oaths during the wedding: at the birth or baptism of their children they vow to be there for them in their high and lows, guiding them setting them examples.

Every Christian should be aware that all feeding in family or society is the result of our love for God. This feeding is free, unconditional, unlimited. Children need to see the generosity of parents! Parents pride themselves when their child shares things with others. We don’t want to see a selfish child, selfish society or a selfish church! We take part in the Resurrection of Jesus by feeding the sheep since that’s what God does. Remember the option is given to the 1^st question. If your answer is ‘yes’, there is no option this time; it is a command!

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Parangi Malai - Hippy Mountain!

Catholic Church has never been poor! Financially speaking we continue to have rich resources especially USA. This country and people have given so much for the growth of the church, expansion of mission, education, books, clothes etc. to find solidarity with the Universal church. There have been many abuses from individuals and also groups. People from affluent countries readily give without asking too many questions. One such case was this individual who claimed he is the bishop of India and looted a lot of money from rich countries. People don’t deal with minute details of the ministry or people since they are concerned with the giving aspect of it! When I was the bursar for the Indian MSC establishment, I have been always taught to ‘respect the intension of the donor’.

There are a few historical references to Thomas being involved in missionary activities in Persia and India. India is diverse and every state is like a separate country so often not connected; if connected it is by English language or a moderate Hindi especially in the Northern part. Thomas came to India, as the tradition claims when there was no concept of India as a unified country as we see now. He was sent to a small section of high caste Hindus and was chased out by the local kings. The tradition says he was killed at Mylapore and the place is still called St. Thomas Mount. Funnily enough St. Thomas Mount is translated even today as ‘Hippy Mountain’. Was he a hippy? There have been some attempts recently by the Catholic Church who have the Archdiocese and the Cathedral named after Santhome to change the Hippy Mount to St. Thomas Mount.

The point to remember here is the mind-set of the people: When Jesus rose from the dead, Thomas too his own time in confessing ‘My Lord and my God’ and when Thomas was killed the Christians later took their own time to confess the same ‘My Lord and my God.’ This Thomas took with him his inquisitive mind, clear thinking, logical perception and a mathematical analysis of a situation. From experience we learn he was a man of clarity. He not only took the blame for all of us that our doubt is cleared once and for all; he took that quality with him wherever he was. He preached the gospel to the nations with this clarity so all could understand with clarity.

Mary showed the same kind of clarity, Zachariah, Moses, Abraham, almost all the persecuted prophets, almost all the founders of religious orders, almost all the church leaders simply because we represent a larger community. Our clarity should necessarily bring order and peace, harmony and justice to a larger community. A divorced person should never corrupt the mind of young people talking ill about the Sacrament of Matrimony! An ex-priest on the ills of priesthood! Your individual experiences might differ but that is not the world order! Advertisements and other media portray our values and principles as outdated, morality as archaic, marriage as the choice of cowards, priesthood as escape from the Real world! We don’t have to follow sick people and get sick – ‘an eye for an eye make the world go blind.’

This man ran away from Mount Calvary and he became blind to the Lord and God in Jesus. It is the compassion of God that gave him another chance. Thomas empowered by the Holy Spirit would never lose the second chance. He would hold fast to that chance all his life. He would fill the void of his faith and raise a St. Thomas Mount. It is not a hippy mountain, and ours is not a hippy church!

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Easter: a time to look back at the empty cross and the empty tomb!

We’ve just been to a funeral and cried bitterly. My last bitter cry was at the funeral of my granny. I was her favorite grandchild, not that I am the only child to my parents! Part of the reason was my eyes and appearance that I inherited from my Grandfather. I have often seen people cry in funerals. I still can remember how my dad cried. We normally don’t spend too much time crying over the loss, rather we spend a lot of time in cherishing the moments we lived with him/her. The blood-filled cross and the occupied tomb though initially brought fear among the friends; they gave them hope that resurrection is imminent.

Many of you would have watched the movie ‘Avatar’ by now! The central theme of the life in planet Pandora brings out many of the Eastern concepts originating from – in my opinion – Hinduism and Buddhism mainly. The centrality of the Tree and its roots inter-twined with rest of creation is so natural without which the community is found in chaos and utter confusion. Trees are so central to any civilization. Jews put them right in their 1^st chapter. Man was put along with trees to learn the basics. Buddha’s enlightenment was under a tree. Every Hindu traditional house is decorated with Basil plant and other trees as to their convenience and keeping to their religious beliefs.

Cross is one such tree like the one in Avatar: a tree that intimately draws everyone to itself thus a unifying force to connect us together. We feel a spiritual sensation when we gaze at the cross that it pulls us towards God and neighbor. Jesus’ resurrected body is rooted on the sinful body with pain and suffering. In other words, Jesus’ resurrection is rooted on the Cross.

If patience is Cross; happy marriage is resurrection. If forgiveness is Cross; intimacy and happy friendship is resurrection. If studying is Cross; passing, earning money is resurrection. Rules and regulations are cross, secured life, happy homes are resurrection. Commitments, faithfulness, love are all often seen as crosses. We want God to bless our family, give us everything, take care of us, but we don’t want to practice any religion. We want Easter, but we don’t want Good Friday. Maximize pleasure, minimize pain is always been our motive in life. Couch potatoes with multi-tasking are the growing trend today. Multi-screen viewing is following rapidly.

Jesus wants his disciples not to just experience the joy of Easter, rather the responsibility and accountability with which he carried the Cross. He wants all the run-away disciples to assemble for a just cause; more people to carry his cross, wipe his face; more to be at his side and beneath the Cross. Jesus’ own funeral was empty with loneliness and defeat; thus in His resurrection He brings people together.

The first tree that was planted in the middle of Garden Eden opened their eyes – the tree of life and death. Here the second tree is planted in the middle of Church opens our hearts – the tree of Death and Resurrection. Every time we are prepared to ‘die’ for our values, principles, religious sentiments, love, faith and hope, we are actually given the hope of Resurrection. Resurrection is a reward for those who chose this tree – a great life of love and service. Is this love free? Does this Resurrection come with no price tag? Think again!

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Palms and a Donkey!

I must confess I was distracted by a collection of countries when I started preparing my homily. Jesus’ march towards JRS and singing Hosanna are all look like a July 4^th celebration. It is a kind of independent day for many reasons! So, I started to analyze the various national anthems around the globe. To my surprise I found most of them are outdated. In our digital age, our national anthems are songs of soldiers still; war and victory such as: Scotland sings about Edward’s army, Italy sings about being ready to die, looking for victory, UK is still sending victories to the Queen, scattering their enemies, confusing their politics! Ireland claims that they are a fighting race and face their foes. Many countries bring forth the aspect of unity and freedom.

Here we see Jesus marching into JRS and the palms bring out the sense of victory in Jesus. Palms stand for victory. They want victory for Jesus; they want Jesus win the war! Little they know what he is waging against! Little we know that the palms and donkey are so closely connected. It’s a pity it cannot be called a Holy Donkey Sunday! Certainly that would be a better name compared to Halloween!!! We are so much preoccupied with the palms every Palm Sunday as it is popularly known as! But the objective behind the palms is the importance of the Donkey!

All those national anthems certainly validate the strong muscle power of the stallion horses. Marching for our motherland without a horse is unthinkable so much so that the image horse is so associated to War and bloodshed. So contrasting is the effect that the image Donkey is traditionally seen in the eastern concept as the image of peace and humility! Those palms were actually for peace! That royal anthem of our Lord is for peace!

Think of all those time we carried guns, bullets, swords in our hands and even our tongues at times – so sharp we are! Proudly riding on our horses – our comfort zones, our powers and our investments! This is about time our hands hold fast to the palms that are oriented toward the donkey! What is my personal anthem? Something more than being free and brave needed here. Are you free to love? Brave to sacrifice? I am marching towards toward JRS with palms and donkey with Jesus. Are you coming in or going out?

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Stones used for building!

In ancient India, there was a tradition called SATI that was in practice for a long period of time. It is a funeral practice where the wife of deceased husband throws herself in the same fire as the husband’s funeral pyre and dies along with him. Mostly it is done voluntarily but sometimes it is out of force. Similar tradition is found in Greece, Japan and some parts of Islamic world. The obvious reason could be that the society is patriarchal in nature and it is better for women to die after her husband rather than suffer till the end. They were considered nuisance as they were not included in any celebration and were seen as bad omen and were blamed for all the evils around them. Records show that this practice was done till the 18 or 19 Century and now is punishable under law. There were other such practices went against women as well.

Seeking justification for sins is a common tendency in all of us. Adam started it – it is the woman! … that you gave me! It is rather tricky here as to whether Adam blames God or the woman! I did that because… Usually the judge would be asking a YES or NO question to leave the reasoning part to the professionals. When we reason out or justify our own sins, sins don’t seem to be bad. We don’t need the sacrament of reconciliation. The priests who did bad things, more recently the stories from the Irish church leave the dioceses bankrupt and the image of priesthood scratched and stained; imagine if they come up with a justifying reasons on each of those sins!

Woman caught in adultery had no other way other than to accept her sins and blames of the people. No one wants to know her justifying reasons! In the commandments we study: thou shalt not kill! May be Jesus was practicing the 5^th commandment as it precedes adultery, lying and coveting. Their sin of killing comes before her sin of coming adultery. And all those people could be charged and punished for attempted murder in modern courts! The weight of the felony could be seen in the severity of the punishment in our modern world. In most cases it is life with parole! What is the punishment for adultery? It is considered a joke and a great topic for the new agencies with computer analysis and interviews with prostitutes who are after money! No punishment ever debated now! A public apology may be!

What is more severe is using God and religion in justifying our ruthless behavior! The people like David Headley who was involved in Mumbai Attack and killed innocent people and others involved in Jihad create fear in the lives of simple people! Why? Their justifying reason is bigger than their sins! Kids almost always have justifying reasons for their behavior but as grownups every Christian should show humility and a great level of patience in admitting and learning from mistakes. Why don’t we ever think that only we have good reasons for our blunders and others have no reason whatsoever but should be ashamed of themselves like the woman in the gospel today?

The 1^st reading today reminds us of God doing wonders, the unthinkable such as opening the sea, rivers in wasteland. Thus it is not difficult for God to put reason in our brains! God respects and loves us that we respond to God’s love in freedom. If those people would have seen her justifying reasons and if this woman their justifying reasons, sin would not have played a big part here! Those stones would have built something!

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