All you! Works of the Lord! Bless the Lord!

In Indian context, among the various harvest festivals Pongal is regarded as the most colorful and significant harvest festivals of the Southern Indians. Pongal is celebrated in the mid-January and the festival is normally for four days. The first day is called Bogi. On this day the unwanted and old clothes and belongings are all burnt. This signifies a certain renewal in people. The second day is the actual feast day of Pongal which is celebrated with the immediate family. Third day is Mattu Pongal. On this day the cattle which helped them to reap the harvest are respected. Fourth day is Kaanum Pongal. On this day the people visit the dear and near ones. Traditionally all these four days are observed as holy days and celebrated with gratitude in hearts even if the harvest is not plenty.

Here we celebrate another version of harvest festival. We value God’s guiding hand in all that sprang from the earth. We thank God for His generosity and love and care in blessing USA with great harvest overall that people will have plenty to eat and drink. God keeps us in the rich soil where we don’t witness poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, lawlessness, leprosy in today’s gospel and other sociological disorders. He kept us in good order.

Every best order comes from God. God created the whole world and found it very good. God created man and woman and found it very good. Man started to take care of the creation and found it very bad. Every bad order such as destruction of the natural beauty, pollution of all sorts, war and killings and persecutions, physical disabilities are all the result of man’s efforts in taking care of the earth. The Psalmist sang: Oh! All you works of the Lord! Bless the Lord, sun and moon bless the Lord, stars of the heaven bless the Lord, river and seas bless the Lord… All creation has the right to look up to God and thank. A rose thanks God by flowering beautifully. A man blesses and thanks God by living the standards that God has set for him.

Our gratitude necessarily symbolizes our readiness to be faithful to God. The last words of Jesus today are: Stand up and go. This does not mean ‘continue to be a leper, suffering’ rather renew yourself as you are cleansed from your old self. Resume your responsibility as a witness of God’s generosity and love. May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Amen.

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We need Wisdom to fight ‘Soul-stealing’

A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance – Gian Carlo Menotti. Knowledge and wisdom come from God as free gifts so that we can understand and appreciate His wisdom. The Psalmist always praised God’s handiworks: O God! How great are your works; how deep are your designs, the foolish can never know this; and the fools can never understand it. God’s wisdom is given to us so that we may witness God’s love and care.

The early Christians were tormented by persecutions on all fronts of the empire. They needed the wisdom to accept their feelings of ‘dejection and rejection’. They wondered, “why should I die for Christ?’ We in this modern world experience a far dangerous situation than persecution. It is a situation of ‘soul stealing’. In persecution they lost their human bodies but kept their souls intact. The world today keeps the polluted bodies ‘intact’ and committing suicides with our souls. Engaging in sin and causing others to sin is in a way ‘soul stealing’.

The early Christians were tormented by false-teachings of false-prophets. They needed wisdom to point out the right people to shepherd them and teach them values of life and values of the Gospel. In our modern society we witness a far dangerous situation than false teaching and false prophets. We are weak and vulnerable to be tempted by anything, to believe in anything even if it brings death to our bodies or souls. This is another form of soul-stealing.

What are some of the forms of soul-stealing that I find in my society, in my family? Do I feel the absolute necessity to pray for wisdom as Solomon prayed? Do I feel that wisdom is far superior a wish than anything else that I wish for? Amen.
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The Poor widow was chosen for a reason

Gregory Ramkisoon, a writer in Trinidad, said, “Charity consists not so much on how much we give to the person but on how much we keep for ourselves.” Though the Old Testament valued ‘wealth’ as a sign of God’s blessing and wealthy people are signs of God’s presence on earth, ‘giving or sharing the wealth’ seem to be one of the main requirements of following Jesus. The rich young man was given the same command. ‘Giving and sharing’ could be difficult because we never experienced the joy and peace in watching others happy. We experience a great joy in watching others help others; there is a greater joy in giving than in receiving.

Today’s gospel is an incident that happened in JRS temple. In the court of Women, a separate place where women could worship, this poor widow was seen giving all she had to the temple treasury. This widow’s offering was a lesson to all people that God cares for us. Man does not live on bread alone. Money is not a master but a slave. She lived on the riches of God. We all learn the joy of giving in Jesus since he taught us how to give till the end. There was nothing in this world that he could not give. He gave his honour, status, and became man. He gave love, care, compassion, peace and food to the people around him. He shared his humanness with the people. Jesus’ greatest moment in giving everything to us is what we witness in the Eucharist. He offers his body and blood as sacrifice for our sins.

All have the capacity to give. Even the smallest gift, when given with big heart bears the divine quality. A widow is chosen to be our model in teaching this great lesson: the art of giving. If Jesus had to choose me to teach a lesson to others today, what would that lesson be? What is one thing that I feel I cannot share or give up? Why?

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One person cannot form a Kingdom

One of the famous sayings of Carl Jung is “Where love rules, there is no will; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.” Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power could be thought of as power in the society, power in the family and power as a personal energy. The worst abuses of power are of recent origin especially in the 20th and 21 century. We have witnessed worst leaders and we know that at the end innocent people suffer. Most of the failures in marriages are results of the misuse of power. Most of the personal problems are the results of the faulty conceptions of the term ‘power’. All the dollar bills carry the phrase, ‘In God we trust’. All the families should have Christ as their head. Lord’s Prayer talks about ‘your kingdom come’. In reality, our hearts hardly carried those values. The phrases like: In God we don’t trust; Christ is not the head of our families; may my kingdom come every day – portray the present nature of the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI has remarked that Christ's Kingship is not based on "human power" but on loving and serving others. This metaphorical title ‘King’ has meaning only when he reigns in the hearts of people both by reason and will. We cannot see Jesus as King if there are no people to form the Kingdom: One person cannot form a Kingdom. This person of Jesus as King is best expressed in the title ‘Shepherd’. The Shepherd is not a handsome, clean, active and fresh looking person that we often see on the photos or sculptures, rather a tired, worn out, sweating & bleeding and hungry and thirsty Shepherd watching over the lost sheep.

Our King and Lord carry the message of Love. Everyone has the right to be happy. Everyone owns God irrespective of one’s conduct and behavior. The hungry, thirsty, naked, ill, prisoner, stranger are all results of man’s wrong interpretations and wrong exercise of power. The genuine understanding of power starts with the feeling of gratitude that God has done so much for us and we are fortunate. Our feeling of gratitude should lead us to be sensitive to the feelings of others.

Indifferentism is the evil that affects our modern society. Everyone needs to be respected and loved simply because he or she is the image and likeness of God. Husbands have absolute respect and love towards wives and children; wives towards husbands and children, children towards parents. Respectful and loving families make great societies. What is the most important lesson that our parents left behind for us to follow? What lesson do you want to leave behind for your children to follow? Name one. Amen.

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We start from him and we end in Him

‘Nothing is permanent but change’ said Heraclitus. Nothing is so important to be valued in all ages, in all circumstances. When we die, nothing seems to be important anymore. A traditional singer in India sang: The people who are related to us come to our house and console us: their obligation finishes there. The wife comes till the end of the street as the dead body is taken to the cemetery: Since ladies were not allowed in the traditional Hindu burial grounds, her obligation ends there. The son comes till the burial ground: since he has to set fire to the corpse of his father. His obligation ends there. ‘Who is next?’ ‘Who would come with me till the end?’ these are tough questions to understand? Though they sound pessimistic they through some light on understand the Gospel today.

Every stage in life is marked with very deep and meaningful relationships: Childhood is marked with mother and child relationship. Adolescence is marked with relationships between friends. Adult life is marked with the relationship between life-partners and children. They all are undeniably important to the normal life and growth of man. One stage affects the other so deeply that his joys and sorrows are very much depended on these relationships. Man is after all a social animal.

Our relationship with God began even before our birth. He knew us and prepared the world for us even before our conception. All our relationships on earth are formed by His grace and unconditional love. Just as His knowledge and wisdom precedes our birth, His love and care precedes our death. God is the only destination we all are going to reach at the end. We start from him and we end in Him. He is the Alpha and Omega.

This awareness should lead us to qualifying our relationships. If we are parents – we strive to become the best parents possible. If we are husbands or wives – we strive to become best husbands and best wives. That is the only way we can glorify God who is the Lord of relationships. Our life is a call to meaningful relationships. God teaches us everyday how to love through the Eucharist and through people. What is the best relationship that I enjoyed the most in life and what is the worst? Why? Amen.

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Eucharist is the center of our lives in the New Jerusalem

Jerusalem (JRS) was the capital city, economic center, nation’s cultural and academic hub and also the spiritual heart people. In modern times it could be compared to the “combination of Washington D.C., Wall Street, Oxford, and the Vatican” (Scott Hahn: The Lamb’s Supper). The destruction of JRS in 70 AD by Roman emperor Titus brought in the theology of New JRS among the Jews and the early converts. The New Temple is revealed to be Christ’s mystical body, the Church, and the worship ‘in the Spirit’ takes place in New JRS. Theologically, it is the transition from the OT to NT.

JRS’s authorities crucified Jesus, persecuted the first generation Christians. In Rev 17-19 we read JRS entirely destroyed by fire. New JRS is going to be the heaven where God’s kingdom will have no end. Peace is the main thrust of the governing wisdom of the Kingdom of God. The culture of death is overcome by the culture of life and love. The old JRS is also the symbol of our old sinful lives. This cry of Jesus is not very different from the cry from the Cross: ‘Father! Forgive them…’

Just as the Temple was the center of the city, Eucharist is the center of our life in the New JRS. The hard construction that we built on our pride, jealousy, envy, lust, greed and sinfulness in all possible ways will be burnt by fire: by the Holy Spirit. Eucharist is the source and summit of our life: it is here we construct new JRS. Every plan and structure we put up in the New JRS will be made out of love, mercy and compassion and Peace of God.

Every Christian is a builder by nature, builder of the Kingdom of God, co-worker along with God. All the energy that we receive in building our families and societies and all relationships have deep impact on the way we approach Holy Eucharist since all Christian relationships are built on the firm foundation of the Eucharist. It is the way the realization of the New JRS. Do I feel to be part of the builders of God’s Kingdom? Does Eucharist have a deep impact on my life? Amen.

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Those additional five coins are worth ten or more in the sight of God

If we ask someone to name three most common negative emotions or feelings in our day-to-day life, he or she would answer: jealousy, envy and indifference. Not many are aware of the difference between ‘jealousy’ and ‘envy’. All our relationships in life one way or other include shades of jealousy or envy. Jealousy and envy are the negative emotions resulting from relationships with people. Jealousy is a resentful suspicion that someone else has what rightfully belongs to the jealous person. Envy is the desire for something that someone else has or a feeling of ill will over another person’s advantages.

Today’s gospel is Luke’s version of the ‘Parable of the Talents’. Last Sunday we read Matthew’s version. In Matthew’s version, the talents were given to the servants according to each one’s ability: five, two and one. In Luke all the servants get one talent each. Everyone is going to trade with the same amount of resources. Though ten servants were given one coin each, the parable has accounts of only three servants.

One of the interesting points in this gospel is the mindset or the attitude of the person who earned five additional ones. The pain and struggle he had to go through in earning those five additional ones. We live in a very highly competitive world. People out there are highly motivated, skilled, trained and stand before us even before we could think. Very often these highly charged people have influence over our lives: most often negative influences. We are frustrated so often we want to give up. This man is a great model for us, that he was not jealous, nor envious, rather put his heart and mind in earning whatever he could. Those five additional ones are actually ten or more in the sight of God.

Jealousy and envy leads us to indifference at times where we lose our very selves. We don’t care anymore about our lives. God calls us to a meaningful Christian living. He wants us to see meaning in life. He wants us to use our lives wisely and responsibly so that we may be aware all our lives that our lives come from God. Am I aware that my life comes from God? Amen.

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We have potentials to grow fond of God every moment

We have already met the Good Samaritan on this way. Jericho is the place to encounter life’s most important people and learn life’s most important lesson. The similarity is very obvious here that we are in a way compelled to think he was one of the victims of the thieves found in Jericho’s roads. This man was a beggar and blind, but what interests many about this man is his passion to live again, see again and his God-given knowledge as to where to find it.

Prayer is a dialogue. Eucharist is a dialogue too. Eucharist is a place we cry out to God to come near us since we are not worthy to go near him. All the distractions and hurdles between us and God are human interventions and man-made in nature. This poor blind beggar went above the distractions and hurdles to pursue life and sight. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus showing mercy is synonymous with Jesus getting close to our hearts. That is what exactly happens in the Eucharist: God getting close to our hearts.

God’s closeness is the sure guarantee as to what we really want of him or want in life. If we are not close to God’s heart, our needs and aspirations have selfish intensions which prevent us to grow fond of him. His closeness is a must in order that we know exactly what we want. “What do you want me to do for you?” is a daily question and daily care that God shows us since we have the potential to grow every moment in His love.

This closeness with God changes our perception of the world. Our perception of the world and God encourage others to give praise to God. Do we share the same passion as this poor but now extremely rich, blind but now possessive excellent eye sight? In a way, this poor man is an instrument in God’s hand to open our blind hearts, our blind minds. Amen.

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Family Life

There has been a worldwide revolution in the perception of moral values in recent years, involving profound changes in the way people think and act. The communications media have played and continue to play a major role in this process of individual and social change as they introduce and reflect new attitudes and life-styles. Divorce is seen as the best possible way of living in families. Self-disciplined and good Catholics and Christians are termed as ‘neurotic’ or ‘psychotic’ people and problem-children are acclaimed as normal in our societies. Platonic relationships, affairs outside marriages, pre-marital sex, pornography and violence of all kinds are seen as normal human behaviors of today’s Christians.

It is about time we thought of ourselves as children of the light as St. Paul proclaims in the second reading today. If we are the children of the light, our family life is of prime responsibility for all of us. The future of our society depends on the present condition of our families. Future Church is based on the foundation of the present families. Families are the hopes and custodians of the present and the future Kingdom of God.

Today’s Gospel could be seen as one of the lessons on how the family could work spiritually and morally. The family that we live in is a free gift given by God. Husband and wife bring in a lot of God-given gifts into the family that they want to build according to their abilities. We cannot afford to bury the Christian values of our marriage in the ground. Whatever is buried in the ground dies and decomposes. We bury the dead bodies in the ground. The Christian values buried symbolize the death of families. Parents should be able to tell their children “learn from me” and not just pointing to significant models to be followed in life.

“Parents must re-double their efforts to provide for the sound moral formation of children and youth. A well-ordered family life in which the parents are obviously faithful and committed to each other and to their children provides the best school for the formation of sound moral values. Parental passivity or self-indulgence in regard to media teaches false and damaging lessons to the young. It must not be forgotten that, in matters of human formation, "more is obtained by reasoned explanation than by prohibition". (Communio et progressio, 67)

The Church is not asking the people to go back to the old ways of living, rather find new and creative ways to make your families a home for God in this modern world based on the virtues of our fathers and mothers. Let us take family life seriously and responsibly. Amen.

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Spoilt children

Matthew Kelly was once asked on what his favorite prayer, he said, the prayer right before the sign of peace, “Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ.” Many people pray and we know that prayer can change things. At the same time, we don’t fail to think other questions such as: Does God really respond to our prayers? Does God really listen to what we say? Can our praying make the world a better place? Etc.

St. Augustine says, ‘if faith fail, prayer perishes’. Theologians believe that there is no science of prayer. We cannot find out how much our prayer really worth, like the depth of our love. Rick Malloy, a Jesuit priest says, “Prayer is a risk because it is a lifelong, life-changing act of faith. The word ‘believe’ comes from the German belieben, meaning ‘to belove’. Prayer is all about the risk involved in loving”. Prayer is also relational. By praying we take effort to consciously experience God. The best prayers are often ‘Thank you’ and ‘help’.

Today’s Gospel talks about a widow who is in search of justice. Widow in the Society of Jesus was a nobody. She has nothing: no money, no recognition in the society. The judge has no obligation to listen to her. Some societies demand women to be away from courts or they cannot act as witnesses. We should be happy in many ways that we are compared to a human being. We don’t deserve any justice whatsoever that God should ever listen to us. We have sinned and misused and abused God’s grace and love.

If God is just he is just not in human standards. He is a just God as in the father of the Prodigal son and as Jesus on the Cross. Our God is so weak that he continuously attempts to conquer our hearts. Human beings are so fortunate to have so weak a God who even takes deep wounds as signs of love and hope. All through history man has been the spoilt child of God. Do we see the heart of this prodigal Father? Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved, (Rom 10:13)

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