Exercise the ministry of love!

Buddha spoke of Universal Love: “Human life is dukkha (suffering, unhappiness or dissatisfaction) which has two causes—ignorance and desire. People are bound by three fetters: passion, hatred, and stupidity which could be broken by wisdom and love (or compassion).” Our culture truly embodies those fetters in all possible ways.

Our love is first and foremost is seen as a community love. The Church’s deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility. We as a Church are set to proclaim the Word of God, celebrate the Sacraments and exercise the ministry of love. Love is the responsibility of the Church. This ministry of love though starts from human love, rises to the love of God. We do have a book in the Bible called ‘Song of Songs’. Our human love constantly has to model on God’s love.

Erick Fromm argues that in modern world happiness consists in the thrill of looking at the shop windows. “Attractive” usually means a nice package of qualities which are popular and sought after on the personality market. What specifically makes a person attractive depends on the fashion of the time, physically as well as mentally. In a culture in which the marketing orientation prevails and in which material success is the outstanding value, there is little reason to be surprised that human love relations follow the same pattern of exchange which governs the commodity and the labor market (The Art of Loving).

“Doubled divorce rate, tripled teen suicide rate, quadrupled rate of reported violent crime, quintupled prison population, sextupled percent of babies born to unmarried parents, sevenfold increase in cohabitation, soaring rate of depression – to ten times the pre-World War II level by one estimate” (David G Myers, “Wanting More in an Age of Plenty,” Christianity Today, April 24, 2000).

Gandhi said, “A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.” We are created to love. Love necessarily implies basic elements such as care, responsibility, respect and knowledge.

Care is seen against Cain’s question: Am I my brother’s keep? God is described as a Mother, father who cares, loves, nourishes. Responsibility is seen against all forms of domination and possessiveness. It is interesting to note the gospel calls it a commandment of love: it is indeed a freedom to love. God’s respect for us is love. Respect is seen against misuse and abuse of freedom. Knowledge is seen as the many attempts to get to know the depth of a person.

Jesus is indeed the incarnation of God’s love. In the same way we are the incarnations of Jesus’ love because we bear the name of Christ. We are Christians. As long as we are Christians or even as humans we grow in love because Love is not an automatic gift, it is an art that we all have to learn to bring about a change in our society. Let’s love sincerely and from the heart. Amen.

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God’s Word

When I came drenched in the rain…………………
Brother said: “Why don’t you take an umbrella with you?”
Sister said: “Why didn’t you wait till it stopped?”
Dad angrily said: “Only after getting cold you will realize”.
But my Mom as she was drying my hair said
“Stupid rain”
That’s Mom………….

God’s word brings the best in us:
The parable of the vine and the branches brings out the idea of how close God is to us. It is compared to the creation story of God breathing into our nostrils – God is that close to us not just in physical proximity but so bonded in love. By nature we are blessed by God to be part of God in this world. We are part of the Vine that Jesus is. That brings in the idea of how close we are with one another. We are united by God in Spirit. The absence of love between branches affects the produce. What can the Christians do? Who are Christians today?

God’s word brings fullness to our human growth:
All our human sciences and intelligence contribute to certain aspects of our growth. There is no science that brings perfect joy and happiness to our hearts. Only God’s word brings that perfect joy and happiness and that is not a science to be studied but a faith journey to be walked and lived. The attractive sciences have an advertizing effect in us which we are not aware of. The big-eye-small-stomach-effect can never bring in fast answers to our difficult questions.

God’s word has a pruning effect in us:
Following the narrow gate seems to be tedious but not optional. Either forget pruning yourself and live like a hippy or go through the narrow gate accompanied by God to be pruned. Our pruning will help us to prune the society – that is the mission of the Church since pruning is God’s work and we take part in the mission of the Church.

Our docility is God’s glorification:
Glory of God is human being fully alive. When we listen to the word of God and act on we are called mothers, brothers and sisters of Jesus. Like Jesus we will be busy in doing God’s work which is centered on Love. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere, forever. Amen.

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Good Shepherd – the parenthood of God!

Responsible parenting has been the table topic for centuries more so in recent years. Every parent has his or her own style of parenting inherited from their own parents, friends or Oprah Shows. Most of the parents want to be friends, guardians and well wisher or even a neighbor or a stranger instead of being a parent. Recent statistics shows that the maximum number of abortion happens in our country. Most parents teach their children the way to success: in their opinion the way to success is more important than the way to happiness. And most parents think also that the success or failure of children doesn’t concern the parents at all. He or she works hard and passes with flying colors; he smokes pot so he is jail, she was bad so she goes through abortion – I have nothing to do! Parenthood ends somewhere down the line when they are 10 or 12!

God shows us the model of his parenthood.
1. Shepherd symbolizes the total sacrifice of God for his people. God is the Shepherd for all Christians as a parent for a child. His parenthood is a full time vocation. It takes in a lot of love and sacrifice. Every family should have the humility to accept that no family is perfect. In our striving to become perfect the parents have to be doubly careful in providing for the growth of the child. Child grows so as parents! Parents grow as parents all their life. The moment you think you are the best parent in PA, you start to go down. No child grows wholly with just the efforts of the parents. The child needs a society. There is swine flu virus outside; there is swine flu virus inside.

2. Shepherd symbolizes the total responsibility of God for his people. Children need to see parents pray and live out the gospel values. Children need to see parents do good. The 99 saw the good deeds of God in His search of the lost. The devil has no responsibility so he could be reckless and cruel in killing. Most of the toys in the market are guns or guys holding guns! Does it talk about the children or the adult society?

3. Shepherd symbolizes the search of the lost! Do the parents make necessary steps in knowing where the children are at? When was the last time you voluntarily contacted the class teacher to talk about the behavior of your child? Do you know your children’s best friends and their background? We presume a lot of things bringing up our children. The family is acclaimed as the first educator of faith and transmitter of human virtues and values. When do I know my son or my daughter needs m: before or during or after the fall?

4. Shepherd symbolizes a legacy left behind by God for the church. Eulogies talk about the exaggerated version of the actual life of a person! In truth what do we leave behind for our children? Children should be proud to tell others how much you mean to them. What is the greatest thing of which you are proud of your father – What have you leant from your father so far? What have you learnt from your mother so far?

Let us pray that all our leadership in our families and society be blessed by God. Every leadership has its origin in God and gets strength in God. As imitators of the Good Shepherd let us be prepared to take risks and extend the limits of Christian parenthood to the life of holiness and life of responsibility which leads us to the life happiness. Amen

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We are witnesses!

Every age has seen its own witnessing spirit. The word ‘Martyr’ in Greek means one who bears witness (to Christ). That was the standard in which the witnessing spirit was lived out in the early Church. We come across the stylytes and other people reduced the death sentence to life sentence which is even more excruciating in the early Church after the persecution. Witnessing to Christ’s love is not so much in death, rather in life: thus the Church in the Middle Ages saw the ascent of the spiritual journey, the dark night of the soul, radical Religious life in poverty, chastity and obedience. ‘What is the nature of today’s witnessing’ seems to be a scary question to ask. Living our life as Christians seem more of a burdensome work or a service done to the Mother Church.

We are witnesses to what?

1. To Christ and His Resurrection:
We are strengthened by the spirit of the Resurrection of Christ not just in Easter season but throughout our Christian life. Our foundation as a Church is built on Christ’s Resurrection. Jesus is risen so also our status as fallen people. God joined us in the person of Jesus in sin, now it is our turn to join God in purity and open heart. It’s the New Life that Jesus won for us: we can’t afford to live in old life is sin and death. Resurrection of Jesus is the resurrection of the Church. We witness that every time we break the word and bread.

2. To repentance and forgiveness of sins:
Our Creed proclaims what we believe. We don’t lie that too in front of the whole church. All our repentance many think involve only our efforts and matanoia: that is not the whole truth. All the greatest sinners have taught us that it is God who initiates the process of conversion. Sinners feel ashamed of the mercy and compassion of God – the reflection of the Prodigal Son among the pigs, would compel us to be part of God, the rest haven’t felt the famine or still spending the wealth of the Prodigal Father.

3. To Gospel and Mission of the Church:
The people witnessed the preaching ministry of Jesus which brought a lot of healing to hearts and bodies. In Jesus preaching had a firm connection with life. What are Christians known for today? What are we so proud of in Christianity? What is so special about this person named Jesus? Every moment we live as people of principles and values we proclaim the gospel. All these questions have clear answers. Gospel doesn’t start with others or with a book rather it starts from our personal life. We witness our own lives when we stand as representatives of the Church and its Mission.

We are witnesses!

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