Discipleship: A life-long commitment

Love is universal. The Church in its definition fulfills the sentiments of being Catholic. Discipleship is not a supposed second step in Christianity, as if one first becomes a believer in Jesus and then, if he chooses, a disciple. From the beginning, discipleship is involved in what it means to be a Christian. Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to fish for people; calls James and John, the sons of Zebedee in a similar way. The Apostles share a special form of discipleship with Jesus.
The women in today’s gospel share a unique discipleship with Jesus as well. This call is personal and costly for all Christians, and also those who sincerely acknowledge God’s love and respond to His invitation. It demands a lot from us: Jesus’ ‘follow me’ is not just an invitation, rather, it is a command. These women were not just taking the invitation of Jesus, but obeying the command of God. They were paying a heavy price for their call, their vocation.
Discipleship calls for constant renewal of the self. Repentance is one such thing that a disciple cannot avoid in responding the command of God to follow Him. These women, like the Apostles were renewed personally and graced by Jesus personally. Since the command is so necessary and personally demanding, the reward is great as well, in fact the reward is thirty fold, sixty fold and hundred fold.
Discipleship is a life time commitment. And this commitment calls for periodic renewal with Sacramental grace. That is where Eucharist plays a vital role. All discipleships are aimed at working towards a culture of love. As disciples we are embraced by that Love that comes from the Heart of God to bring others to that Heart so that the world may see the glory of God. It is a great honour and responsibility to live as disciples of Christ. The word ‘Disciple’ always carries the aspect of ‘learning’ with it. It is the loving presence of Jesus, the personhood of Jesus brings the disciples close to his Heart. What draws us close to Jesus? Let us turn from lesser masters to the great and good Master. Amen.

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Learing from the Guru - in the Eucharist

Different teachers have different styles of teaching. The Greeks used Peripatetic method: you walk with the teacher and enter into a dialogue with him, thus learn. The Hindus in olden days used Gurukula method: you live with the teacher for quite some time, some years and the teacher would sit under the tree and the disciples sit under his feet: that is how Upanishads, one of the core Hindu Scriptures came into existence. Upanishads means sitting under the feet of the master and learning.
Our Lord has a distinct method too. This method of teaching is so unique and sacramental in nature. We learn from our master sitting with him around the table: Eucharist. We come to the Eucharist to learn about ourselves. Psychologists, sociologists, philanthropists and the like study about human beings in their own ways, but Our Lord teaches us who we are in the real sense. There is no learning about self better than Eucharist where God reveals everything about us. God gives, gives and forgives and man gets, gets and forgets. Eucharistic docility is more than mere learning: it is loving and learning loving.
This woman did not want to be taught any theological disputes or philosophical knowledge from a learned man like our Rabbi, rather, she wants to cry in his presence and be consoled by our teacher. She had a very special lesson today on forgiveness from the part of the penitent. Master’s body in entirety can make wonderful lessons: His Eyes, his Heart, his wounds, and his feet. Most often these signposts are reminders of God’s unfailing and abounding love and forgiveness.
Everyone can learn something in every Eucharist that is celebrated even without the homily by priest. Every Eucharist is filled with riches that we go on taking from it, only if our hearts are set on the Lord. Peter’s heart was far off from the Master. Jesus calls him back to himself and gives him this beautiful lesson of forgiveness from the point of the forgiver: God. Jesus is preparing Peter for a greater cause.
Though the woman in the gospel takes away all the love and forgiveness from Peter, it leaves a beautiful lesson for Peter since it is coming from the Table of the Lord. I am looking at his eyes, heart, his wounds and his feet, what is he telling me today in this Eucharist? Am I docile to the teaching of the Lord? What am I taking with me today from this Eucharist? Amen.

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Love is Kindness

In Hinduism Lord Shiva is known for his dance. Shiva Nataraj’s dance represents both the destruction and the creation of the universe and reveals the cycles of death and birth and rebirth. His Dance of Bliss shows his kindness for the people. In a way, his dance represents outpouring of his grace and love to the people of the world.
We hear David experienced the intense love and kindness of God and danced heartily, making us think that great happiness comes out of great love of the self or great love of others. Our hearts are restless until they rest in God, believed St. Augustine. There could be instances in life where we experienced such moments and felt like children, filled with happiness, sang and danced for joy in our family, in friends’ circles or offices even.
The desert fathers and monks in various parts of the world want to experience this happiness all the time of their days. They go in search of God, away from the world, live in mountains, caves, forests and deserts. They have their rewards, but we live in this world. We live with the society. How do we experience this eternal bliss in our daily life? How do we dance and sing with joy, how to be cheerful? St. Paul gives us the one and only route to eternal happiness: love.
Though the hearts of the people are as hard as the rock in accepting his message of love, Jesus shows them kindness by not shouting at them without any reason, rather, pointing out what they should see. They succeeded in frustrating God's plan for their lives because they had closed their hearts to the message of John the Baptist and now to Jesus. What can make us spiritually dull and slow to hear God's voice?
Love is kindness. Kindness is the overflowing of self upon others. Kindness is our imitation of Divine Providence, as if we open our hearts to the needs of others like God. A kind deed, a kind word, the mere tone of voice is enough to convey sympathy to the poor suffering heart. A little kindness goes a long way. A kind action lasts a long time. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves. The kindest persons are generally those who have received the greatest number of kindness.
Kindness is one the ways we experience the heart of God since in kindness we come to realize the value of giving; we realize God’s generosity. Let us pray that we be kind to our own selves first in accepting the message of love thus we be prepared to be show God’s generosity to others. Amen.

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Mother of Sorrows: A Meditation

Yesterday we have reflected on the pain and suffering and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus in the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Now, today we remember Our Lady of Sorrows, the pain and suffering and sacrifice of our Mother, Mary beneath the Cross. It is undoubtedly felt by the church that Mary is the first one to share the pain and the triumph of the Cross.
St. Ambrose in particular sees Mary as a sorrowful yet powerful figure at the cross. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked on her Son's wounds with pity, but saw in them the salvation of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, Mary did not fear to be killed but offered herself to her persecutors.
The beloved disciple is identified as the church collectively by theologians and professionals of the church. Jesus offers Mary to be the mother of the beloved disciple in the moment of pain, during his suffering and death. Thus, Mary was given to the church during a crucial time of the Redeemer, that even at the point of death; Our Lord makes sure that the Church which is weak and vulnerable would have a Mother who is strong and powerful.
This also implies that Mary’s part in the redemption of Mankind is not over with the death and resurrection of Jesus; rather it is the renewal of the Servant Motherhood of Mary. Our Pope in Lourdes yesterday said that Mary shows man the way to come to God. "She teaches us to approach him in truth and simplicity," he said. "Thanks to her, we discover that the Christian faith is not a burden: It is like a wing which enables us to fly higher, so as to take refuge in God's embrace. The grace of the Immaculate Conception is not given to Mary as a merely "personal grace," but is rather "a grace for all, a grace given to the entire people of God.
The Church has a mother today and this gift of the Mother invites us to take part in the suffering of Jesus since Jesus accepted suffering and death to conquer sin and bring salvation to all. If we aspire to be saved by Christ, we must go through the road less travelled along with Mary in taking up our crosses and follow Him. He will lead us to the resurrection.
Lord Jesus, we now implore, both for the present and for the hour of our death, the intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, whose holy soul was pierced at the time of Thy passion by a sword of grief. Grant us this favor, O Saviour of the world, Who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Ghost, forever and ever. Amen. (Prayer of the Servites)

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Cross: The Tree of Life

Trees have a lot in common with man. Man lived with trees in the Eden garden, man sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree. Man was redeemed by the boat of Noah made of trees. Man crossed the red sea, by the use of Moses’ staff, which is a part of tree, and in the end, Jesus was to redeem the mankind using the tree as a symbol of God’s unconditional love and compassion.

Abbot Rupert in the 3rd Century upholds the cross in the following words: “We venerate the cross as a safeguard of faith, as the strengthening of hope and the throne of love. It is the sign of mercy, the proof of forgiveness, the vehicle of grace and the banner of peace. We venerate the cross, because it has broken down our pride, shattered our envy, redeemed our sin and atoned for our punishment. The cross of Christ is the door to heaven, the key to paradise, the downfall of the devil, the uplifting of mankind, the consolation of our imprisonment, the prize for our freedom.”

We live in a modern world where the motto is ‘maximum pleasure and minimum pain’. More and more machineries take up hard labor and our keyboards in the laptops getting softer. Gradually man is forgetting the world of pain. It will not be surprising that one day, man will decide that pain is evil in all sense. Sacrifices are threat to humanity and taking up our crosses have no place in our contemporary culture. Thus too much emphasis is either put to people or coming from the people that happiness is the outcome of happiness. We are the people of the resurrection, so let us forget about the cross and pain and sacrifices in our Christian living.

Leo the great reminds us that “The Cross is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces.” We cannot be Easter Christians unless and until we become Good Friday Christians. We take part in the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ in order to be raised as a standard to the world. Christians are to be put above as examples of Christ’s suffering and death. Thus, all Christians under the Divine Grace work towards the salvation of whole human race. 2nd Vatican tells us that the Christians are to be the salt of the earth and light of the world.

The complete cross with the crucified Jesus is in itself the greatest lesson. “We see his blood as he dies. We see the price offered by the redeemer; touch the scars of his resurrection. He bows his head, as if to kiss you. His heart is made bare open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that he may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind: as he was once fixed to the cross in every part of his body for you, so he may now be fixed in every part of your soul." (St. Augustine)

Jesus reveals the father’s love and compassion on the cross. We are the people of the cross. Sometimes it could be difficult to be on the cross on account of our inability. Remember that in those circumstances we have an obligation to at least stand by the cross, like Mary our Mother, taking part in the pain of Jesus. Let us pray that we may be strengthened by God to take up our own crosses and follow him wholeheartedly. Amen.

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Missioning ceremony and renewal of vows (7th September)

Fr. Tom Carney MSC who celebrates his 60th anniversary of vows September 14, 2008, is being sent to minister at Sacred Heart Villa, Pennsylvania, later this month. Fr. Tito Medina MSC is returning to Colombia and Fr. Antony Lazar MSC is sent to Palm Springs, California for Parish Ministry.

Prayer Service

Introduction by Fr.Peter Campbell MSC, Superior, Aurora Community.

All MSCs together pray:
May your Spirit give us a share in your love for the Creator and for all humanity. Give us the heart as Missionaries of the Sacred Heart so that at all times and in all circumstances we will follow your will and cooperate with our community in carrying out your mission unselfishly, promptly, and generously. In this way, may we become more like you in giving our whole being to God and the service of God's plan for creation and human history. We ask this in the Name of Jesus the Lord.

First Reading: Jer 1:4-10 (in Spanish) - Fr. Tom Carney MSC

Response: Come to me...

Gospel Reading: John 21:15-19 (in Spanish) - Fr. Tito Medina MSC

Reflection: Fr. Joe Jablonski, Provincial.

Renewal of Vows: Fr. Tom Carney MSC

Reading of MSC Constitutions:
Constitution No. 20 - Fr. Tom Carney MSC
Constitution No. 23 - Fr. Tito Medina MSC
Constitution No. 27 - Fr. Antony Lazar MSC

Missioning Prayer: Fr. Provincial. (All MSCs join)
May the Lord bless you and give you strength for your life's journey, compassion for your ministry, friendship with your community and Love for your heart. Trust in the faithful love of the Sacred Heart and follow Him.
Go with the love and prayers. May you be well received wherever you go. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere.

Final Song:

Oh Heart of My Jesus

Oh Heart of my Jesus, abounding in mercy,
Oh Heart of my Jesus, exceedingly kind,
You will not forget us, You will not forsake us,
You will not reject us, O Heart of our God.

Your mercy forgives us,
Your healing protects us,
Your love is our strength Lord,
Our closest true friend,
Our joy and our treasure,
Our true consolation,
You are our protector,
and all that we have.

Our sisters and brothers,
desire your salvation,
Your spirit now sends us,
to share your Good News,
Your love has transformed us,
Your love has redeemed us,
Your call now invites us to go,
in your name.

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Emergence of a New World

It is interesting to note that Const 32 summarizes all of what and who we really are:
"Ours is a spirit of family and a spirit of brotherhood, formed by kindness and understanding, by compassion and mutual forgiveness, by gentleness, humility and simplicity, by hospitality and a sense of humor".
Though none of the qualities of the MSC fit the actual circle of the apostles, they throw a light on how we ought to be in communities. These apostles were a failure till the death and resurrection of Jesus:
They lacked community spirit and worked for individual pomp and glory – who is the greatest?
They were insensitive to the need of others. – send her away.
They did not have a common vision – I will not believe
They often failed to recognize Jesus – Jesus, show us the way: all these days you have been with me…
As a community they were hopeless and fell terribly to the requirements of God, even for a human standard. But as a community, they are our models, the foundations and pillars of our faith.
After the resurrection of Jesus,
They receive the Holy Spirit along with Mary as a community
They recognize Jesus and are strengthened by Him as a community.
They were commissioned by Jesus as a community.
Jules Chevalier was aware of this when he wrote: “Just as the most sublime perfection, unity and agreement are found in the Trinity, let us practice charity, unity and concord among us, so as to be able to form together one heart and one soul”.
They are nice words, but how do we put them in action in our daily lives become our challenge and a threat too. Are all the members disposed to share their entire life with one another? Do sharing activities, sharing the spirit, sharing the goods mean anything to us in real terms? Are our personal projects more important? If our answer is ‘yes’, then we are directly damaging our communion, communication and interest in our brothers, since we don’t live in a club or a good hotel.
Our Charism, spirituality and mission of heart are not gifts given to individuals to live alone. Without a sense of belonging our community life becomes a mockery. Our Founders says, “I want all to be one, just as we ourselves are one. From where comes this cry? From the Heart of Jesus. He calls for unity. To break unity is to wound him cruelly.”
There is another lesson which goes with our community life is our ability to forgive. Fr. Piperon writes about our Founder in these words: “I have always admired his capacity to forget offences. This latter quality made me often say: if you want a favor from Fr. Chevalier, offend him and you are sure to get it”. The capacity builds brotherhood among us.
Let us pray that we learn from the community of apostles on discerning the will of the Father and to take part in the mission of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and move forward as a community. This is the emergence of the new world that Chevalier wanted. Amen.

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Hail, full of grace: Mary in our tradition

The messenger from heaven says nothing about himself;

it is truly God who greets Mary.

Never has the like been seen on earth or in heaven.

This greeting contains and transcends

the Creator's deep satisfaction

in surveying the world he had drawn out of nothing.

With Jesus who was to be born of her,

Mary was both the summit and centre of all things;

she was like the heart of that creation

God had declared to be very good.

And so he calls her full of grace,

full of all the grace a mere creature can receive,

grace that will ever increase and develop,

to an unbounded degree in the Mother of the Saviour (OLSH, p 62)

Hail, full of grace

The letter to the Eph (1:3-6) starts with a beautiful description of God's plan of salvation. God planned to give us the life of grace whereby we become sons and daughters of the Father thourgh Jesus Christ. This plan includes all of us, from all eternity, but it reserves a special place for the 'woman' chosen to be the Mother of Jesus Christ. During the Annunciation God's messenger greeted her not as Mary, but with the new name full of grace, or highly favoured one, which in the original Greek text is only one word. If we are all linked to Christ by our predestination, how much more was Mary linked to Christ from all eternity, since she was chosen to be his Mother. The relationship between Mary and Jesus shares in the eternity of God's plan of salvation.

Chosen for such an eminent dignity, highly favoured by God, Mary must have been prepared for her calling and mission by an avoundance of spiritual blessings in Christ. We believe that she was truly holy and spotless from the beginning, from the first moment of her conception. On Dec 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX declared this to be a dogma of our faith. After the first sin God promised: "I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head." The seed of the woman was to obtain the victory in the struggle with evil, and we believe that the woman was to obtain the victory in the struggle in the victory of her son. The enmity was between the evil one and the woman, his offspring and hers. As she shared in the struggle, together with her offspring, so she shared in the victory, together with her Son. "Rejoice, highly favoured one", chosen from all eternity to be, not only the Daughter of the Father, but also the Mother of the Son, the victress of evil. "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." (OLSH by Bovenmars MSC, p 309)

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23rd Sunday

Pope John Paul the second wrote about family in the following words: “As a natural institution, the family community was willed by God in the "beginning", with the creation of man and woman, for the good of humanity. Family’s identity and mission is willed by God to ‘guard, reveal and communicate love’. Every family must be a true communion of persons, with respect to the dignity of the members who compose it. Family for the people of our time is a "sanctuary of life". Christian family is a "domestic church". The family that lives the requirements of love and forgiveness to the full becomes the main bulwark of the civilization of love and the hope for the future of humanity.” (Familiaris Consortio).
Some people say that the happiest marriages, happiest families are built on the foundation of forgiveness and to not forgive is a decision to suffer. That is absolutely true. If we love Jesus or profess to love Jesus, our commitment to the virtue of forgiveness is as important as that of the virtue of love. Most often we witness the dangerous shadow of the "culture of death" to creep into our homes. By contrast, the failure to forgive, especially when it serves to prolong conflict, is extremely costly in terms of human development. Resources are used for weapons rather than for development, peace and justice. What sufferings are inflicted on humanity because of the failure to reconcile! What delays in progress because of the failure to forgive! Dangerous designs to undo the family, the Society, humanity. Doctors say that if we nurture the feeling of hatred and not forgiveness, we develop headaches, backaches, pains in the neck, stomachaches and ulcer-like symptoms, depression, lack of energy, anxiety, irritability, tenseness and being ‘on edge’, insomnia and restlessness: all resulting in unhappy life. Our immune system can become stronger when we forgive.
Church teaches us that after his Resurrection, Christ sent his apostles "so that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations." (Lk 24:47). The apostles and their successors carry out this ‘ministry of reconciliation’. [The Church] has received the keys of the Kingdom of heaven so that, in her, sins may be forgiven through Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit's action. There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. "There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest. Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin.(Mt 18:21-22)
Buddha inspired by the logic of non-violence, compassion and love says, "Among those who hate, blessed are we who live without hatred; in the midst of people who hate, we remain free from hatred" (Dh. 197); and again, "the winner engenders hatred and the loser dwells in distress; peaceful man rests tranquil abandoning simultaneously both winning and losing (Dh. 201).
1. Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a personal initiative, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil. It has its perfect exemplar in the forgiveness of Christ, who on the Cross prayed: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
2. Forgiveness has a divine source and criterion.
3. Peace is essential for development. True peace is made possible only through forgiveness.
Today’s gospel talks a great deal about forgiveness at home circles, finding samples of Christian purity at home. We are called to share our life with the Church by our showing our solidarity with our spirit of forgiveness. Are we the first to take initiative to forgive our brothers and sisters or wait for them to make the first move? Do we feel the love of God to move forward, take efforts, to feel the urgency in a spirit-filled relationships with our family members, our friends, our significant others in life and the so-called enemies of ours? People should witness in us the love of God, and our encounters with people should reflect that.
Forgiveness is the shortest route to God. It is necessary to find that forgiveness at home. Families glow of God’s love and be a sacrament of Christ’s love. Let us pray that we open our hearts to the need of forgiveness in our communities and particularly in our families. Amen.

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Our MSC Charism and Mission: A pressing responsibility and a big challenge

Often I wondered about our charism and our mission. We participate in the charism of our founder and profess that ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere’. As often as we profess that we are faced with the question as to the word ‘everywhere’, as to … loved where exactly? Are we absolutely clear that the Sacred Heart is loved? If yes, who are the recipients? Do we acknowledge and accept that the Sacred Heart is loved everywhere, including in our communities and even more precisely ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved in my own heart personally. When I am convinced that this particular love fills my heart and mind, that I start to become a missionary of that Sacred Heart, let I become a mockery of my vocation. In other words, I am a missionary of the Sacred Heart first and foremost to my own heart, then to my community and others.
Our missionary spirit has its origin in Our Lord Jesus. Our human hearts are missionaries of His Sacred Heart. Our commitment must have the same clarity as Jesus when he tells the people that he must announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God to others also. It is synonymous with the proud yet humble confession of all MSCs: I must announce the Good News of the love of God revealed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus first being a missionary to the self in order to become a missionary to all.
Fr. Chevalier witnessed the ills of his time a great threat to the wellbeing of humanity. He became a missionary to bring the people to the Sacred Heart to find remedy to those ills of the society. Once again we have a difficulty in understanding our position here clearly.
Since our outlook on the ills of our time are the ills of the ‘so called’ sinners our there – the Dasein of Heidegger. If an MSC is not be able to witness the ills of his own self and continually attempt to better himself, his focus on witnessing and addressing the world on the evils of the society would not be efficacious and transformative.
Let us build our own selves, our own hearts to be better equipped to face and address the evils of the world – a relatively smaller problem compared to facing and addressing the evils of the self. Certainly evils of our society make us active missionaries, full time missionaries. If we are exhausted focusing our own evils of the self and of our communities, we would not have time left for the missionary activities to the society.
As responsible people, shouldering such a great responsibility as that of being Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we should take our title and charism seriously and responsibly. In the words of Robert Frost, ‘We have miles to go and promises to keep’. Let us walk forward on those miles and keep those promises. Amen.

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