The Class of 2010: Graduation Mass

It was graduation day and Mom was trying to take a picture of their son in a cap and gown, posed with his father. "Let's try to make this look natural” she said, “Junior, put your arm around your dad's shoulder." The father answered, "If you want it to look natural, why not have him put his hand in my pocket?"

This is a moment to think back what your parents and significant others have been so far in your life; that includes your school and religious formation too. Your parents helped you enormously but in turn their married life got matured and grown by you and your achievements. You make them proud by your commitment and motivation to study and achieve.

“I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure”. This is how almost all the teenagers feel, confused and pulled in all kinds of direction. What you are taking with you is a collection of all goodness from Holy Family: a little bit of the priests, teachers and well-wishers who have shown you values that they live by. I very well remember quoting George Santayana earlier said, “A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.” You can get all the A’s and still flunk life.

Being the salt and light incorporates a vast entity. Salt is little in quantity, light from the candle is small in stature but it’s influence in length, width, breadth and depth is significant. Our God-given potentials are to be appreciated and utilized for the glory of God. Socrates once said, “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” Thus choose friends wisely since your recreation world depends on them. Learn as much as possible from your parents since trial and error starts at home. Choose happiness above success since God wants us to be happy and most of the human successes need fixing.

Jason Laguna was suspended from last Friday from school (1 day), Rockland, NY because he wore Rosary in school. Learn to know God since there is no greater friend to share your pain like the way you suffer when you suffer; there is no greater friend who rejoices like the way you rejoice when you rejoice – Your faithful practice of religion teach that thus be faithful to your religious duties. Skipping your religious duties is one thing but discouraging your friend’s religious sentiments is sinful. Stay away from being a hurdle to another’s faith. Hope you all remember what we talked about the other day regarding your time at the computer!

Like the moon that depends on the light from the Sun, we all need the light from God to be the same light for others. Church needs you; our country needs you and your family needs you. Continue to make us proud in all that you do! Don’t let pride rule you, your good looks deceive you, your tiny brains fool you, rather let God put you on top. It is God who wants you to be the light and salt. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere. Amen.

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Worship without sacrifice is an absurdity!

The Story of a Jewish boy Mortakai is very touching. He refused to go to school. The parents did all that they could, but he wouldn’t listen to them. He would run back home and refused to go back. They took him to their Rabbi and told him about their problem. Rabbi didn’t say a word; he picked him up and held him to his heart for a long time. Then he put him down. That boy not only went to school, he became a great bible scholar. A great way to understand what Eucharist is all about: the embrace of God.

It is very interesting to note the traditional concept as given in the Rev 3:20 of Jesus knocking at the door. We use that image often especially when kids receive the First Holy Communion. We tell them of opening the door for Jesus as he stands outside, willing to come in. What we have not seen or not paid attention to is Rev 4:1 in heaven the door is open. JP II asserted that every mass is an experience of heaven on earth. It symbolically explains the open door as Jesus comes in and takes possession of us. He doesn’t need to wait or knock as all our senses are at use: in liturgy we hear, see, smell, touch and taste the divine. Many of us prefer to keep those senses untouched thus ignore or avoid the intrusion of the divine power for various reasons!

These claims have meaning only if we understand what lies deep in these mysteries. Gandhi said, “Worship without sacrifice is an absurdity of the modern age.” What are we doing here? We are sacrificing here. In the past people sacrificed to recognize God’s power over creation; to offer thanks to God; to seal the agreement or covenant with God or as atonement for our sins. We Christians offer this sacrifice for all those reasons also. Moreover, we offer our sacrifice since it is a Sacrament and that brings us grace.

The practice of calling Jesus the LAMB of God is so revolutionary as this title does not bring out anything of power or majesty such as the Messiah or the Lion of Judah! This title is a great reminder of God’s love and compassion from Abraham to the present. He gave Abraham a ram to be sacrificed! As Melchizedek king of Salem offered the sacrifice as King and priest and blessed the covenantal people, Jesus, the King and High Priest and Prophet sacrifices and blesses the new covenantal people of God and Salem is renamed as Jerusalem by that time! Scholars agree that the land of Moriah where Isaac was to be sacrificed on hill is about the same place as Calvary. And the Passover when the lamb was sacrificed and the blood on the doorposts spared the 1^st born of Israel.

As Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth, and the experience of God’s love for people is shown in breaking and sharing the bread, it calls us for a greater responsibility in our vocation as Christians. The celebration of Eucharist is not ended rather extended throughout the day and throughout the year. We have God, temple, altar and the Lamb; we need priests and people! We need to pray for people to return to the scripture and Eucharist so much as we pray for priests to administer the sacraments. Every time a Christian fails to be with the people of God, we miss the Glory of God. Thomas missed; Martha and Mary missed the company of Jesus. God continues give us opportunities. Eucharist is the source and summit of all our Christian life.

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Trinity Sunday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Nafas Al Rahman

Every Religion attributes some affinity towards the wind, breath, air or Spirit to God. In Yoga, there is an independent discipline on breathing called Pranayama. Ibn Arabi a famous Sufi scholar spoke of God as: ‘The source of the universe is the breath of the Merciful, the NAFAS AL RAHMAN”, To Allah is attributed breath which is very much like our Holy Spirit. Abortion is prohibited in Islam because; the Muslims believe the fetus is blessed by the spirit of Allah. Those who approach Hindu sages for blessing, he breathes the Vibuti, the sacred ash which takes away the evil spirit in you.

This spirit of God gave the apostles the power to speak languages. Speaking different languages is an art and a great skill. (Salesian – Indonesian). There are quite a few languages spoken at home and outside and if we are ignorant we miss the meaning. Most of the failures in relationships are due to the inability to understand languages: husband speaking Hebrew and wives speaking Greek! Most of the religious practices are still done in Latin and young people don’t understand Latin. Kids teach us lessons in Aramaic and we don’t know Aramaic. Priests always speak in Sanskrit and once a year English and that one day we couldn’t attend service because we were in Hawaii. All the TV shows and rumors are always in English. If we are confused we are convinced and all our convictions are so confusing!

The extreme situation on speaking languages that I know of was when our seminary cook married a man who never spoke her language. I asked her how she could manage and she said that she will get used to it soon. How do we actually speak another person’s language? Gospel is clear: It is the Spirit of God that works through us. The Nicene Creed acclaims the Holy Spirit as GIVER OF LIFE. From the time Adam was fashioned to the present God never stopped breathing on us. We time and again stop breathing and die!

Wisdom is our dialogue with God: we speak the same language of God. Understanding is the language we use when people are irrational, unjust, punishing and unforgiving. Counsel or right judgment is the language of responsibility with which we lead our family and children. Fortitude or Courage is the language we speak when faced with temptation, fear and guilt. Knowledge is the language we speak when we want to know someone intimately, his or her likes and dislikes, interests and motivations. Piety or Reverence is the language we speak when speak to God and elders. Fear of the Lord or Sense of Wonder is the language we speak when we thank God for all the great things we received in life.

The signs of our inability to discern the movements of Spirit in us lead us to folly, wrong judgment, cowardice, ignorance, irreligious attitudes and the denial of God. This should not be understood as the absence of the Spirit, since the promise of Jesus is clear that Spirit is given to us. The gifts of the Spirit seem far because of our ability to let the Spirit take possession of us and our inability to speak no language at all. We have learnt to speak the language of animals and demons! God gave us the language to love and be united. We leant the language by first speaking with our Mother – God Himself.

Like the dirt coming to life and the dead bones coming to life, a gentle breeze to cool our hearts and minds, Holy Spirit is breathed into us by Jesus to speak the language of love. I believe we speak the same language here! At least once!

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Funeral of Karen Kates

As a child, it’s always been a pleasure to be with mommy at home or outside. It’s a pleasure to walk with her, talk with her and even disagree with her. Almost all the unforgettable stories of our early childhood are related to our moms. Though I spent very little time at home, I have a vivid memory of my mom taking care of me. My elder brother used to give her a hard time (not that I didn’t have my share) that one day she lost her cool and try to hit him, but mistakenly hit a metal and was bleeding. We were not given our lunch boxes and were sent to school. At lunch time, the office attendant came to our classes and said, your mom is here!

I am sure, you two have similar experiences with your mom and her expression of love; and I am sure we all have enjoyed our mother’s love. Absence of such a mother at our young age calls for greater attention and greater love from other significant people. Our hearts are weighed down with anger and frustration. We are filled with grief and uncertainty: my role now as a father, my role as a daughter, my role as a grandparent and uncle and aunt. This particular vacuum is hard to fill in: the absence of a mother. Other ties are at least balanced in some ways with effort. The responsibility and requirements of family members are high and you should never forget that!

What your mom taught you was not just a few expressions of love, rather perseverance in love till the last minute: her desire to see another day to be with you. Her efforts to enjoy what you could offer her and what she could offer you by just hanging on. Every loss though we could never overpower it, should be accompanied by comforting one another. Prayer is one such tool where we could experience such comfort since no comfort from others is sufficient right now.

Every death should be accompanied by a great sense of fulfillment. When Jesus died on the Cross, he said, ‘It is consummated’ or ‘It is fulfilled’. That is a great sense of accomplishment. That sense of wonder is not a result of one day effort; it is a constant effort on learning about ourselves and demanding God to be with us in all our efforts. We should never forget that the object of our fulfillment is found in God. No earthly goods could give us that greater feeling. It calls for a sound moral living. We hear often people defining one’s life on earth in a summary form: ‘he or she was a good person’; ‘he or she did all for the family’. This awakening should be heard while we are still living. I am certain that Karen died with a great sense of fulfillment!

That leaves us in a mode of uncertainly: A time of challenge that we rise above our limits of love and extend it to others in the best possible way that we know best. Every loss in society should increase our faith in God because God is the author of life. Every loss in society is a loss only for us! It is not a loss for God. We believe that Karen is with God safe and sound. Let us continue to pray that we are focused on our own fulfillment in life that is possible only through a life of commitment to God and the choices made with utmost care and concern. May the soul of Karen rest in peace!

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Church is Holy!

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

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

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

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

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

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The Ascending Christian!

Our human civilization has a tendency to celebrate anything and everything. We celebrate birth, all sacraments, wedding days, 40^th anniversary of our meeting, president’s day and the like. The Church recently made it a habit of declaring a year to a particular devotion: Jubilee year, year of the Priest etc. There are quite a many international days such as world day of peace, world day of friendship, mother’s day etc. Every celebration should make sense and our partaking is very essential for any celebration. We don’t celebrate Afghanistan’s Independence Day here! Nor do we celebrate Manmohan Singh’s Birthday! We celebrate the feasts that make sense and make us part of the events.

Christmas is celebrated in all the Christian churches not just an individual has come into this world rather our salvation and redemption need the birth of Jesus. We celebrate Christmas because the event and the person of Jesus are so intimately related to our life and happiness. Easter is celebrated in all Christian churches not just an individual rose from the dead rather our own resurrection and life with God in eternity need the resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate Easter because our eternal life is intimately related to Easter.

Our celebration of Ascension has a purpose. Jesus’ earthly life got accomplished on the cross and he rightly claimed. His resurrection brought hope to humanity and our faith is founded on the resurrection of Jesus as St. Paul rightly teaches us. Our earthly life needs accomplishing. Our own resurrections need assurance. The feast of Ascension is a reminder that we have miles to go and promises to keep. Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension make us sharers of something so extraordinary and special: I am the way, truth and life. He shows us the way of the Cross, brings us back to life through Resurrection and teaches us the simple lesson of ascending to the Father in all we do and say.

Ascension of Jesus makes us ascending people: people who are on the way up. Our movement is toward heaven and never toward hell. This pilgrim church has one way to tread on, the path that Jesus walked, talked, lived and suffered and rose. God’s goal is not to make Jesus a super-man by doing extraordinary things in him, rather God wants to make us extraordinary people who would take Jesus’ message seriously and live by it.

The ascending Christian is a sure sign of hope in the descending sinful modern world created by corrupted and selfish people. An ascending Christian would certainly live for the values of the kingdom because by baptism every Christian is given the vocation to seek higher values and higher forms of living. By ascension Jesus gives us the glimpse of our own assumption to the new heaven and new earth.

This is a very crucial moment for Jesus as he reunites with the Father in its original design, so too we continue to experience our unity with the Trinity. This unity is our goal and path of our assumption is the path of love and service. The same Jesus who taught us to love God and others now teaches us the importance of being united with God through ascension. Ascension is a great lesson of union with God. That’s why Jesus’ farewell is never a farewell.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Christianity does not make sense! (5-2-10)

When I was a little kid back home, I witnessed people were so amazed at Christians. Our schools are as huge in number as they are expected of coming from 2^nd largest populated country. St. Joseph’s H S school had more than 3000 students in the main branch and the school also had 2 other branches in the same town. Studying with Hindu, Muslim and other Christian children was certainly a great experience as you are respected and kept as model for other students. You are a Christian. However, I don’t see that often these days. The world has a standard for us!

We know what a Rattle snake is capable of; a Tsunami is capable of or a quarter-back is capable of and the world has standard for any and every concept. When I was in Florida last year, in one of the crocodile show handed me a little crocodile. He asked me if I am aware of what he could do! Probably a good photo to be on our bulletin this Sunday! We also know our mothers embraces and feeling the softness of the fingers of our kids and their capacities. I was amazed at the Emperor penguins. The male will balance the egg on his feet to keep it warm for the whole 9 week, keeping it warm, waiting for the partner’s return with food. Nature teaches us so much about love! Nature revolves around the principle of giving to and protecting family from danger.

Some of the world standards for Christians are 1. We are people of the Resurrection. We chose light and avoid sin. 2. We are the salt of the earth and light to the world – we show others how to shift from glorifying ourselves to glorifying God. 3. Our life as Christians is founded on not using, abusing, misusing, cheating, hurting, judging or disrespecting God and others, rather founded on love for God and neighbor. When Father Chevalier, the Founder of MSC envisioned the society, he said, “I see a new world emerging.” Love is both our theory and practice at the same time. I can wear a Red Philly shirt without knowing any players or the game and make the most noise!

Just as the world has standard for us Christians, we should also have our own standards! And our standard as Christians constantly aims to model on God’s. As a patriot, you have a flag or war photos at home. As a Philly fan you wear their T shirts or caps! But as Christian you can’t just have a picture of the Sacred Heart at home or wear a pious T shirt to the Church! Your continual attempts to participate in a time of worship, a time to pray, a time to help those in need, a time to sacrifice and a be a bridge in the family are all your standard that you have for you as Christians!

It is a pity to see Christians in demolition projects: doing away with Love. If God is Love and Christ is God, we Christians are people of Love. We don’t want another Gandhi to tell us, “I love Christ, not the Christians.” As Paul and Barnabas the church needs people who could carry the message of love to all. After all, Christianity does not make any sense without love! Now tell me how far you are a Christian!

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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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