First Holy Communion (5-8-10)

Dear children! This day is special in your life as you first-handedly experience how the body of Christ tastes. You have accompanied your parents and friends in the past and learnt how Jesus looked like but now you have a different experience. I remember when I was giving communion once; a mother with a child in hand grabbed the Host from my hand. I in turn grabbed it from her hand and gave a gentle slap on her cheeks. She looked at me with a shock and the shock of being pulled something out from her! I am sure you wanted to taste this Holy Host in the past at some stage!

We got to remember that this is a Sacrament that’s been initiated by Christ himself. It was Christ who presided over the table and broke the bread and shared the cup. First and foremost it is the banquet of love and joy. God wills that we share in this meal to take part in the life and love of God.

By participating in this sacrament, we become close friends of Jesus. So far in our Christian life, from the moment of baptism, we have been preparing ourselves for this moment: to be intimately united with Jesus. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Moses becomes our God.

The teachers, pastors, the church depend on the spirituality and guidance of the parents. No teacher, no pastor and no church can vitally influence these children in the same way as you do. The Church can only celebrate this Sacrament with you; but you have to live this sacrament and guide your children to do the same. God-parents cover a lot of ground in these respects.

Children remember! This Sacrament gives you enormous grace to avoid sin and do good. As you are ready to promise God to go to him as much as he comes to you, you are promising to choose good in all situations. Many Children are addicted to TV, videogames, Xbox, Nintendo, Cellphones and other electronic devices. Many are addicted to food and chocolates. Remember that you are given a special grace to choose things in moderation. Instead of sending a 1000 SMS, try sending 999! Avoid extremes!

This Sacrament is given to you to practice: not to be deposited in the bank. If someone buys you a laptop, you don’t just clean and keep it safe in your cupboard; instead you use it and learn to use it wisely.

Look for signs from your parents! Learn how they pray. Look at your grandparents. Learn how they pray and learn from them. You are becoming part of a history. This is the best gift your parents can ever give you! And the best gift you can give to your parents is the same! They showed you God and gave you God. All your life you try to show them God and give them God. The ‘How’ part starts today!

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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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People gather to eat!

Breaking of bread is the central act in our worship traditionally thus Christianity is the only religion that could be said of ‘people gather to eat!’ though the prayer before the meal is a little lengthy! Every Eucharistic celebration relives the spirit of the parable of the prodigal son. As we run into the church with the entrance song and penitential rite we resemble the person of the Prodigal child: we stand humiliated, smelly and torn inside and outside. We were forgiven at the start of our journey inside our home: around the Eucharistic Altar.

During the course of the time of our returning the blunt reason is – Dad! I am hungry, that’s why and that what made me to return – interestingly enough we found that the Prodigal Son avoided the blunt reason of – Give me food! Now! to ‘Father forgive me!’ That’s why every Mass is called Eucharistic Celebration.

The Penitential rite is followed by the Liturgy of the Word! God speaks to us and orders the servants to empower us! Those servants are among us, around us and in us! The priests not only find faults with you and the way you live, rather through preaching and breaking open the word, he encourages and empowers the people. He helps God to wear shoes on them; wear ring on their fingers and helps clothe them. Why? The reason behind empowering and encouraging is to make us ready for the meal of the celebration like Sons and Daughters! Not like slaves or servants! Not to forget the age-old tradition that only sons and daughters were allowed to ask what they want and not the servants and slaves (Intercessory prayers!)

This meal is not a meal of the ‘saintly Christians!’ – ‘look who is here! How dare he or she sits next to me! I won’t believe that he or she is good because he/she comes to church every Sunday because he/she is acting to be one! how shameful after all that she comes openly to the church! Remember the prodigal son is always the son of the Father: during the request for the share, during reckless squandering, during his pain and starvation and during his acceptance back. There is no one moment passed the father thought of him as a stranger! The moment one thinks he or she is superior to someone, that person will be eating the meal as a slave not as Children of God! That’s why the elder brother could not come in!

Lent is a great time to reflect on the graduation ceremony of the Prodigal Son and personalizing the whole parable as our own: From the way we came into the church, accepted, forgiven, empowered, encouraged, and more over loved by God in an intimate way – after all the bible story is one incident. We all have wandered numerous times and been accepted back numerous times. And the big question to be asked again is: Do I eat this meal as a Son or a daughter or do I eat this meal as a slave? Shouldn’t I be thankful that my prodigal brother or sister is back? Or should be cursing? The prodigal nature of the son might change but the prodigal nature of the Father will never change – because God is love.

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The Formula!

I have always been fascinated whenever I read the ‘Formula’ story by Father Anthony DeMello. The mystic was back from the desert. ‘Tell us’ they said, ‘what God is like.’ But how could he ever tell them what he had experienced in his heart? Can God be put into words? He finally gave them a formula – so inaccurate, so inadequate – in the hope that some of them might be tempted to experience it for themselves. They seized upon the formula. They made it a sacred text. They imposed it on others as a holy belief. They went to great pains to spread it in foreign lands. Some even gave their lives for it. The mystic was sad. It might have been better if he had said nothing.

The religious experiences of people were viewed as theological reflections and were handed down to people from the beginning as religious investments. We believe Moses’ spirit is present in all the 5 books of the OT and the rest of the OT is the result of various individuals who reflected God in various circumstances. The Gospels were according to individuals in divine influences. The letters of Paul brings back the spirituality of one man Paul. Thus every influence in the bible is the result of people who wants to hand down their great experience to another as their own treasure. But the amazing part in doing this is the limitations of those experiences that God cannot be contained. He is more than all those scriptural experiences put together.

Abraham’s readiness and sacrifices on the mountain, Moses’ Burning bush experience, Moses receiving the 10 Commandments, the JRS temple and other great experiences that has been handed down to us for our faith and awakening. But the difficult question is making those experience our own in our own way. Jesus’ Journey to the desert was a new experience to show us his humanness and his point of enlightenment. The transfiguration experience is so spectacular which gave us a great lesson that God cannot hold back his love for us. His reveals everything of his godhead to us so much he loves us.

This experience of the Samaritan woman with Jesus opens various doors and windows in Jesus’ ministry that He cannot stop revealing himself to those who love him dearly. God’s love is the foundation of our faith. The rich religious experiences of Jesus taught him there is more… Not just mount Tabor; not just mount Horeb, but there is Mount Calvary: The mount where not many have been; the mount where not many want to go and experience!

Have we stopped or finalized our spirituality by just reading and reflecting the passages from the scriptures? Is the scripture our means and ends of our spiritual life? We need to realize that all scriptures are human experiences with God. If that is the case, every human life can become a scripture in essence. Personalizing our scripture experiences in our family environment, in our own families, in our own situations are the best way to arrive at the depths of our being, the cave of our hearts.

Lent is the great gift from God to personalize all those scripture passages in the light of faith. Let us familiarize those scripture passages by reading and reflecting the scriptures. Children need to hear them and parents have to read them those great treasures of God’s love and those experiences have necessarily be heard and heard again, reflected again as families. Only then we can write and live new experiences and leave behind or pass on our rich God-experiences to the generations to come.

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Away from the sea; on the mountain!

The movie 7 Pounds has a very special message to convey: giving is divine. Will Smith is all set to give 7 pounds of his body organs to 7 different people – 7 being the perfect number. The most beautiful part of generosity is the acceptance from the part of the receiver. The Hispanic lady suffers from the brutality of the husband is given a new life, new home with her kids, and the girl with a heart issue is given a new heart, a new life and the blind Jewish guy was given his eyes. These people experience a moment of grace. Wow! What an experience! A sigh of relief! I have a life now! I am new again! I have a great hope! What a great man! A Mahatma!

The experience of Abram and the experience of the friends of Jesus were similar to this in many respects. Abram was chosen by God for a definite role to be the father of a nation. I am going to take you away from your comfort zone and test you, your faith and your commitment. He was a wandering Armenian. No great responsibility, no children and no knowledge of the ‘wow’ experience of God. He was chosen and was led in deep waters to stretch his limits. After listening to God’s promises we could have easily joked, ‘You must be kidding!’ The people of the 1^st covenant were represented by this man to have an intimacy with God on the mountain.

The disciples, so confused and disoriented were led to the mountain. They were out of their comfort zone. These fishermen Peter, James and John were so used to water and fish and nets and boats were dragged to mountain, rocks and moreover an intimacy with Jesus. The receiver does not understand what he was receiving. Jesus was giving them a glimpse of his divinity and his original nature and that his humanness is the will of God. These simple disciples were chosen alongside with the whole Jewish tradition of scripture and prophecy. What an honor! What a privilege! What an experience! The people of the new covenant were represented by these pillars of the church to have an intimacy with God on the mountain.

Just as God showed us how much he loves us by becoming a human person and through transfiguration shows us that this human body can be glorified by God so too every human person has the potential to show his divinity through being fully human, fully alive. Every moment in the life of Jesus’ earthly mission was filled with moments of transfiguration that he was constantly showing us how to be divine in our human condition.

Lent is one such time to constantly finding and expressing our own God-energy in us, the ‘divinity’ in us. We do that not by pretending that we are pious and holy, rather continuously looking for opportunities to love and serve and also praying for more opportunities to show our commitment to God. Husbands taking initiative to be more loving and responsible in bringing unity and peace in the family; wives showing a lot of support and encouragement and leading the way from the front and children respecting and following the guidelines.

This transfiguration happened when the disciples were ready to move out of their comfort zone to the zone that they were not familiar with at all. Climbing up the mountain proves the strength, will power and perseverance of the disciple. Once we have seen the transfiguration of Jesus, it is time to show him with our own God-given potential to reciprocate that mission in the way we are familiar with. You have all received everything freely, now give freely! Amen.

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Jesus was human enough!

I made the mistake of telling my father, "But Dad, I'm only human! He wisely answered, "No, the problem is you are not human enough." (Jesus was human enough!) Why did Jesus become a man? What is the reason of incarnation, the Word becoming flesh? The reason is found in Jn 3:16, ‘God so loved the world…’ His humanness is the center through which we connect to God. God of the mountains, thunder and lightning, seas, the whole universe was made the God of love, who could be experienced from the cave of our hearts. God came down to meet us; God pitched his tent among us.

If that is the reason why Jesus came down to us, these temptations came in the way of Jesus to escape that mission. Jesus was asked to let go of his mission to be human. The devil did not disturb him at the time of fasting, rather at the time of hunger. The devil exactly knows the right time and right place and the right measure of testing you and me, let alone Jesus. The object of these temptations not only concerns just Jesus and the Devil but the whole Salvation history.

He was hungry and he had the power to change the stone into bread. This covers all the basic temptations of his human needs. The next level of temptation is power and glory. In the words of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they are self-esteem needs which are above the physiological and safety and love needs. He is the Messiah, the Lord, the one who is to come thus he had the power to be exactly that. The third is even more crucial: that’s where many of the promised people failed: to think that you have the power of God to the extent of making yourself God. Adam, Moses, David, Solomon and so many other individuals in varying degrees come close to this temptation including you and I.

These three levels of temptations cover the sum of all human temptations. If Jesus had to give in to these, the price is going to be too expensive: we will not be able to experience God’s love in the human heart of Jesus; our connection is going to be cut forever; the promise of resurrection and eternal life are at stake; we are going to lose along with God that Love is a myth, a lie, a dream and a fabrication. Jesus is doing so, will also wound the heart of God and be called ‘the son in whom I’m very dis-pleased and disappointed.

Every time we yield to temptations we do exactly the same: paying a heavy price of wounding the Heart of God. A London newspaper sought the help of its subscribers in addressing the problem of evil. Readers were invited to send in their responses to the question, what is wrong with the world today? The best response of all was also the briefest. It read, Dear Sir, I am. Yours faithfully, G.K. Chesterton.

So often these temptations stress the importance of winning the fight with the Devil and we forget the importance of being and doing good. Our primary goal is not fighting the Devil but to experience and respond to the Love of God. Jesus addressed those issues so humbly with utmost responsibility. Humility is way of Jesus. Jesus humbled himself to the point of death. Humility of Jesus was rooted on his prime mission that all sons of daughters of God will have an opportunity to experience God in a human way.

What have achieved through our Pride? What have we achieved by being selfishly increasing the pleasure principle that gradually isolates us from other people, our family and from God! We need a walk to the desert! We need to go alone! We need to go now!

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