On the feast of Mary Magdalene! (22nd July)

God chose Israel not because they were faithful, sincere, God-fearing, intelligent, powerful or wealthy nation rather Israel was the weakest and smallest people at that time of history. God’s revelation and the economy of salvation are revealed to the weakest and smallest of people throughout history.

One of the powerful prayers of Jesus other than the Lord’s prayer in the gospels is the prayer for the Apostles – I thank you father for hiding these things from the learned and wise and revealing them to little children.. (Matthew 11:25). Towards the end of the prayer Jesus concludes – No one knows the father except the son and here comes the powerful promise: and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. That’s what exactly we found in today’s gospel – Jesus choosing to reveal himself to Mary Magdalene.

What is more interesting is to find the compromising similarities between the confession of Peter and the confession of Mary Magdalene. Peter differs in opinion from the people, proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus says, “Simon! Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven.” In the confession of Mary – her witnessing to the revelation of Jesus as Rabbouni would attract the same validation from Jesus – “Mary of Magdala, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven.” In other words, Jesus chose to reveal himself to Mary.

Jesus’ relationship with Mary is so powerful that they not only share the same place of Galilee, they also share the same missionary spirit. Jesus’ relationship with Mary is so central to the apostles, church and to the Kingdom of God because she stood fearless when all ran away; she took part in the agony of Jesus and also took part in the agony of Mary the Mother of Jesus. She stood to the ground till the end! She stood strong in her faith! How strong is our faith? Can we witness our faith till the end?

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God's love is eternal - Funeral of Francis!

Death of a Christian is always a bitter-sweet experience. For people who have no faith, death is a random, chaotic and a senseless word with no purpose or meaning. For them personal tragedy leads only to despair. For them life on this earth is nothing more than a sadistic riddle. For us Christians – the people of Faith, death is a realization of God’s eternal and everlasting love. Socrates once said, “Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.”

Let us look into all our human relationships: the known acquaintances, ordinary friendships, close friendships, legendary love stories, history-book love stories and great marriages all validate the same slogan: Death do us apart. Mark 12 we read about Pharisees asking Jesus the question about after-life. If a man dies and the woman marries 7 people, when happens at the resurrection. Jesus says, when they rise from the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Human relationships are limited to this life; they are lacking in the ‘eternal’ element in them.

Ps 103:17 we read, from eternity to eternity the Lord’s love is with those who fear him. Bodily death is not the primary concern for God’s eternal love but certainly the spiritual death, the death of our faith. As a war veteran Francis would have known how power worked! As a rifleman he knew his targets and also he was a man of commitments: 42 years of service in Jersey Power and light company. These commitments and whole-hearted services are the shadows of our eternity with God. We need these images of committed love, vows and promises to try and experience the eternal love of God.

Eternal love of God is the sure symbol of our eternal life with God: if God loves us eternally, we should be alive to reciprocate that love. With sure and certain hope Francis is welcomed into the eternity of God. That leaves us with a big challenge of in continuously attempting to experience eternity in our own ways. Experiencing eternity needs a tremendous faith and a committed heart to love God and others. As we continue to pray for the repose of the soul of Francis, let us also remember and pray for our own attempts to experience the eternity and those attempts are guided and blessed by the Spirit of God. Amen.

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The Better Part! (18th July)

A priest asked his class, “Tell me 3 things that you learnt in today’s gospel.” Little Johnny got up and said, “1. Jesus was a big eater; Martha had to cook so much. 2. Mary was lazy & a hopeless helper at the kitchen and 3. Martha and my mom have the same style.” The Christians in India are known for inviting the priests to their houses for all occasions. I had one such chance to visit a poor home. They were from a low-caste and they were delighted once they heard the priest is coming into their home. The man had 3 kids and I took a friend along. I cannot forget the day when we didn’t run out of food but we ran out of plates in that house! The little kid wanted to feed me; the joy on those faces was so great and the memory lasted for long. It’s hard to see a thin priest and they blame in on the people.

Both the 1^st and the 3^rd readings talk about feeding the holy men. In Hinduism the great sages always have earthen vessel in their cotton bag to beg for food. Holy men in early civilizations either lived on their own or begged. People viewed the providing to a holy man is a great spiritual duty and it brings in enormous blessing on the family. In the past many took great care in their hospitality as it could sometime bring a curse from the holy men.

Jesus was a great friend of Martha, Mary and Lazarus and always spent time with them on his way to JRS. The familiarity part is so important to understand and appreciate the personality of Jesus. He was a very loving and simple person. He enjoyed the friendship and hospitality of people. Though many people just see this story as something ordinary lacking in substance, Jesus brings in a central theme of checking our priorities in life.

Initially the 7^th day was made holy and the Jews called it Sabbath. Gradually Christians viewed Sunday as the day of Resurrection thus Sunday became our focus. The concept of rest in Christianity is so commercialized that a great shift took place in no time: from a day when we all can rest in God’s word and recline at the Lord’s feasting table for the sake of spiritual refreshment to one day when we can sleep in and spend time with family. The commercialized word ‘rest’ has a meaning of a body that is trying to survive the demands of our society; religion and church as an added burden to our longing for rest!

I work 6 days a week; I have 5 children; I am divorced; I got exams; my children have sports schedules; Macy’s having a sale; we went to the shore are common reasons directly related to our need for rest and our right to take it from our only primary need to take rest in the Lord. Other reasons are so degrading that I don’t like to mention here! We often have blamed it on God and another 20 years won’t make any difference!

Watch when a Christian says, “No time to pray or get to Church.” He or she is lying. The real reason is; I had more important things to attend to; I did not feel that prayer and mass and even God is 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd in my list. Mary was chosen for a better part – she was given a great faith that permanently believes that our rest in God is the only rest that could bring us refreshment, after all Recreation is Re – creation.

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What good can come from Samaria? (11th July)

A few weeks ago a video clip titled, ‘BP spills coffee’ was put online. As of date there were 9 million clicks on it. It mocks at the disaster of BP. It is fascinating how much media and press influence us in gradually killing the truth that we have brains too! On the other hand we are better at criticism than social work; we are better judges than advocates. We are certainly a better Levite and a better priest and seldom a Samaritan – let alone the ‘good’ part of it!

Winter 2006 I guess, construction worker Wesley Autrey helped a man with seizure. The newspapers called him Good Samaritan. Any social worker could easily be called a Good Samaritan.

Jesus has the habit of taking what we branded as worthless and making them great, starting from Nazareth: What good can come from Nazareth? Jesus answered that! What good can come from these 12 ordinary men? What good can come from the Cross? What good can come from Samaria?

In the West Germanic form the word ‘Neighbor’ means a farmer who lives close-by. One of the English Comedy shows mock at people about their knowledge of their neighbors: They meet in Disney, FL. If we are not aware of our physical neighbors, how are we set to be aware of our spiritual neighbors?

The robbers nearly killed him; the priest and the Levite nearly buried him but the Samaritan nearly gave him another life. We are so quick in taking things from people: power, money, dignity, privacy, unhealthy pleasures and spirituality. The robbers steal what rightfully belongs to another person. When you refuse to be spiritual as a Christian, you actually rob that from your children! When you throw your responsibility as a father and a mother out of the window you rob that from your children! What is yours is mine because I am selfish.

Insensitivity is the root cause of all the failures in relationships. Your problem is your problem. Leave me alone – I don’t want to be part of your problem though you are my wife/husband/child. Civilization made a family into individuals living in the same house as neighbors in separate rooms! My Dad is my neighbor! My wife is my neighbor!

Jesus’ way of life is not just the best way, it is THE way! There are no short-cuts to relationships: you got to use everything you have – your resources. The gospel reminds us of the Samaritan using oil, wine, bandage, animal, money and more over his compassion. The compassion transcends who he is, where he is from, what kind of a person he is! All that matters is ‘I see you, I got you’. What is mine is all yours because I want to show you how much God loves me! I was in danger and God was there!

Not all can be a hero – saving people’s lives. Not all can do what Jesus did! Not all are called to be on the Cross! There are others who are called to be beneath the cross, sharing the pain. Be a Mary standing beneath the Cross, eyes fixed on the agony of Jesus!

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July 4th - Happy Independence Day!

The Fourth of July weekend was coming up, and the nursery school teacher took the opportunity to tell her class about patriotism. “We live in a great country,” she said. “One of the things we should be happy is that, in this country, we are all free.” One little boy came walking up to her from the back of the room. He stood with his hands on his hips and said. . . . “I’m not free. I’m four.”

USA was founded on a set of beliefs and not as were other nations on a common ethnicity, language or religion. The more I reflect on this statement I begin to realize that there is something special here, out of the ordinary. Remember Obama’s speech after the election? Any doubts that everything is possible in USA, your answer is right here now! As an outsider, I criticized, made fun of, enraged by, envious about in many ways of this great nation while I still enjoy every bit of my stay here!

Appreciation is the word that the people should be familiar with. We know what happened when we become prey to sin as leaders of a nation: Hitler with 6 million Jews, Stalin with 20 million Russians, Big Daddy Amin in Uganda with thousands, Pol Pot regime in Cambodia wiping all the doctors and teachers in that country and the like. If a colored person were once a slave could very well hold high position in this country, India missed the boat all the time. I come from a country where a low-caste person cannot make it big! Gandhi and Nehru and almost all the top guns have to be a Brahmin where the majority of the population is low-castes! I come from a country where the media is not as powerful as that of USA where corruption and atrocities of politicians and black money in Swiss banks are not primary issues.

A great time such as July 4^th we fondly remember the perfect image of God given in the 1^st reading: God as a mother! God provided all that we enjoy – liberty and happiness. It is much easier to look at our mission once our happiness and liberty is ensured! Missionaries and Patriots have so much in common: both live and work for freedom, one for earthly nation, other for heavenly kingdom. Both sacrifice a lot for this cause by daily attempting to one’s best. When Jesus gave those directions for missionaries he gave them a picture of a harvest. Harvest is the result of hard work and great sacrifices. Harvest belongs to God. Freedom and independence are bought with sweat and blood. Think of wasting the harvest on the field to rot! – wasting our independence with strange ways of living, decline in culture and the inability to savor the result of independence!

Every Christian is a missionary of God! Everyone is invited to harvest – to offer his/her own goodness to God and encourage others to do the same. All our goodness originates in God; it gets harvested only if the goodness is experienced by other person. As long as you say you are good and perfect, you remain still on the field. Harvesting is showing your faith in action! Let’s get on with harvesting! We got a lot to do!

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Heaven - A Gift!

Throughout the Bible we encounter various good relationships that educate us about life: Moses – Joshua, David – Jonathan, Ruth – Naomi, Jesus – Peter, Mary – Elizabeth, Paul – Barnabas and the like. These models were all inspired by God in one way or other and had their foundation in God before they became Christian models. One such relationship that bore a close resemblance of Moses – Joshua model was that of Elijah and Elisha. Moses and Elijah resemble in their approach to liberate the people from the clutches of unworthy rulers – God being their Shepherd and the exodus of crossing the wilderness is so personal in nature for Elijah that even the names Joshua and Elisha are similar in meaning – God Saves! The Promised Land should by all means be protected from Baal and its prophets.

The cost of discipleship is our total commitment and always aimed at higher values. Moses and Joshua had the entire chosen people of God under their responsibility. Jonathan was guided by the Spirit of God when he stood with David. Ruth’s ‘Your people my people, your God my God, Death do us part’ expression undoubtedly portray such elevated commitment. Peter’s affirmation, ‘Even if these run away I will be with you.’ And Mary’s care when Elizabeth needed it and Paul and Barnabas struggle together as missionaries clearly proclaims that at the root of any such relationship there is God’s Spirit at work. There is so much of a broad-vision and altruistic approach towards life and love. They make history.

If Holiness is not the aim of the church, all that we do and say, all that we profess and live by make no sense. If our destination is JRS we won’t be wasting time and energy on what is not JRS. I want to make it to heaven but I will kill everyone before that – what is the difference between you and the jihadists? The similarity between a jihadist and a Christian is that both are aimed at reaching heaven. The Difference between them is to kill people (take away one’s God-given gift of life and happiness) and give life and happiness in all that we do and say. Jihadists think they are pro-euthanasia and confuse themselves; we think we are supreme-court judges! We have a better deal I guess! Much better pay!

If heaven is where selfless people are why do we all want to selfishly get to heaven? Jerusalem the city of Peace where God dwells necessarily expects us to pass through the difficult roads of Samaria: the experience of hurt, rejection, sacrifice, pain and always be the 1^st one to forgive and initiate goodness in the family, not to curse verbally nor silently, and the maturity that motivates us that we can reach heaven only by perceiving and living heaven in where you are and what you do now. Jesus’ rebuking has significant meaning here that those motivated to reach Heaven should necessarily put to practice higher values.

Your affiliation with good people certainly helps in reaching your goal. Since we all influence each other so vitally, why not allow ourselves to be vitally influenced by good people. The recruitment to the Jihad movement is based on the justification of reward. That’s what all selfish people do. We want to get to heaven no matter how we get there! Reaching heaven is not to be understood so much as a reward, rather a gift freely given by God. We are not entitled to reach heaven. Try explaining Jesus’s statements: ‘It is impossible for a rich man…’ and ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise’ and ‘Truly I say to you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.’ They the poor, the thief and sinner got to heaven because they saw Jesus. Who is your influence? Do you still selfishly want to get to heaven? Or leave that to God and practice the lesson of love?

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Difference between THEY and YOU!

Junior had just received his brand new driver's license. To celebrate the special day, the whole family went out to the driveway and climbed into the car for his first official drive. Dad went immediately to the back seat, right behind the newly licensed driver. "I'll bet you are back there to get a change of scenery, right? After all these months of sitting up here, teaching me how to drive?" Junior said to his dad. "Nope!" said dad. "I'm going to sit back here and kick the back of your seat as you drive, just like you've been doing to me for sixteen years!"

It is quite interesting to note how we learn to pray: as a child there were too many distractions such as a big group of people, colorful clothes, big hall-way, smiles and faces of people, music and the unusual quietness of the parents. As we grow into adolescents God becomes a Santa and we were focusing just on needs and friends. The crowd, colors, music and other external distractions don’t matter much as in the past. As young adults God takes the role of GPS and we take the role of lost travellers asking for directions. The amazing thing to note here is the maturity that we grow into in our prayer life. It takes ages to for us to get the image of God in our hearts and minds!

A deer comes out of the womb and starts walking, running and talking its language. Most of the animal world is that way. We come out and take our own time in uttering words like ma, pa and oh boy! There are different layers of speech before we truly speak the language. Intelligible sentence to come out of a young boy or a girl takes time. He or she has to mentally Xerox whatever parents and friends do and say. Great public speakers are the ones who have gone above the average in their approach of language and the use of language shifts from just communication to all imagination and all inspiration.

The focus of Jesus in today’s gospel is in educating his friends to excel in their deep knowledge of God. Ordinary people with no formal education at that time depended heavily on the religious leaders. People with brains were focused on the scripture and the strict traditional outlook on God. Jesus had a different standard for the knowledge of God: presence of Jesus replacing formal education in scripture. The best way to know God is to be with Jesus. Great minds educated the people about God so when the real question comes they get confused and make mistakes. What they possess is a partial revelation or little knowledge.

Jesus knows that there should a difference between THEY and YOU; they who find other gods or foolishly take something or someone for God! “My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God, and I didn't.” -Unknown ‘Who do you say that I am’ is a question put to people who experience the real presence of Jesus; friends of Jesus; who know exactly the object of our belief. The ordinary people were very much influenced by Jesus since all the preaching and healing were done in their midst. They have heard him and seen his miracles but the higher leave of realization is given to the inner circle. We have to ask here: where do you want to be? In the crowd? Or where?

The deeper knowledge of God is awarded to each one of us through sacraments. We are privileged in all ways to know and merge with God. That knowledge should motivate us to join with Jesus to bring life to the people around us. Jesus had a mission and People’s salvation was the object of his father’s will. The more we intimately relate with Jesus we not only come to know God, we also will come to know how to love others and work towards the good of the society.

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Wedding Mass (Kevin & Heather Corkran)

“The best way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once.” A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?" And the father replied, "I don't know, son, I'm still paying for it." Confused he went to his mom and asked the same question. To his surprise she said the same thing. He went to his granny as to why she didn’t help his parents. She said “Your grandpa and I are still paying ours still.”

We are here to thank God for joining Kevin and Heather and continue to pray for their efforts to be permanently and exclusively united to each other in bonds of love. This is only a ceremony but marriage is not a word! It is a sentence; a paragraph or a book. Sacrament of Matrimony and Sacrament of Ordination are the only 2 sacraments that emphasize intimacy and demand our vows in public to be permanent and exclusive in our relationship. Both the vows are so human and no human promise is perfect.

There is an old saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans for the future!” How do we make such huge promises when we don’t know who we will become in the future? People always change, so how can a couple know that they will hold on to their promises? There is no guarantee that life will turn out as we plan. We don’t live with car battery to have guarantee. This is an adventure into the unknown. That surety is the result of your love and commitment. Strong, lasting relationships require as ‘raw material’ two strong individuals. Only a person who knows how to love himself or herself responsibly would know and love another person.

The word ‘Respect’ literally means ‘to look again’. Respect in marriage is the readiness and the ability to notice and appreciate the qualities of one’s spouse what others don’t or can’t notice. Only in the permanent relationship can a person experience ‘Trust’ and dependability and reliability follow. Many people misunderstand when we speak of marriage as exclusive: it doesn’t mean forsaking all others or giving up of others rather it implies that one’s primary energy, one’s basic focus, will remain exclusively on one’s wife or husband.

As Marriage covenant is a serious commitment we should never forget the counsel of professionals. Many marriage experts note that good marriages are usually seasoned with a sense of humor that allows couples to laugh at themselves. There used to be sign offices WORK MORE TALK LESS! That doesn’t work for marriage. Talk more and spend time together: TV and Internet are not the only recreations!

The quality or the worth of a good citizen doesn’t necessarily be that he or she has to serve the military rather one’s ability to live and raise a good family since families make societies and good families make good societies. That is the reason the vows are made public that the public play a big part in the success of marriages. Every marriage in the society increases the quality level and responsibility level of the people who witness the marriage. Kevin and Heather look up to you for guidance and direction as you are married and committed to your marriage vows. Make sure your lesson to this new couple is one of support and encouragement.

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Extravagant forgiveness!

Every conversion story is enlightening and encouraging us to grow in faith. I was watching the conversion story of Fr. John Corapi recently. It was personally uplifting for me as he spoke about his personal life: he searched for meaning in life; worked in almost all areas to find easy money and fame; lived in Vegas and befriended celebrities who in turn befriended him to drugs and at the verge of death in a mental hospital he was given a rosary by his mom and asked him to pray. His reading of prayer got deepened and he told him mom that he wanted to confess his sins to a priest. After the confession he told the priest that he wanted to be a priest and started absolving others sins including that of his own father! Isn’t it wonderful and easy to share with people that God’s forgiveness is so easy and ready?

How about human forgiveness? A lady loved her grand-daughter and did everything for her. The grand-daughter with her boyfriend went ahead and stole all the valuables from the granny and ran off! Is it easy to forgive? An abusive husband for 18 years who was ready even to kill her and she managed to escape from him got divorce and escaped death! Is it easy to forgive? Abused by a priest or an older person; grew up into adulthood with no confidence nor a sense of achievement filled with all kinds of psychological illness. Is it easy to forgive? Is it easy to forgive a cheating husband? Cheating wife? Children who want to have their ways no matter what happens?

The simplest truth to understand here is we can’t forgive others the way God forgives us. One of the reasons for this comparison some argue is that we all sin and God doesn’t. God doesn’t need our forgiveness whereas we all depend on each other’s forgiveness. That is not the foundation for the understanding of forgiveness here! The foundation here is the exchange of goodness for tyranny; embrace for crucifixion; love for hatred and all other opposite effects and emotions for God’s pure love. 1^st reading talks about such profound exchange between God and David.

The beginning of the end of our forgiving self is forgetfulness of God’s generosity. The more we are appreciative and aware of God’s generosity the more forgiving we become. David forgot what he received from God; Simon the Pharisee in the gospel forgot what he received from God and also failed to see what the sinful woman received before and during the washing of the feet of Jesus! Our failure to forgive often results from a particular situation and not from the collective personality of a person.

Stephen Covey narrates a few good stories on forgiveness in families as he validates the point that we will always be victims until we forgive; when we truly forgive we open the channels through which trust and unconditional love can flow. What good is there to boast of a God who forgives and we don’t? Hatred is like cancer; has the ability to spread not only in your body but all those you come in contact with. Forgiveness is the antidote. The joy of apologizing is rewarding but the joy of forgiving is rejuvenating. … as we forgive those who sin against us should become a reality in each of us. The point to notice here in Our Father is the prayer of forgiveness is next to our prayer for food. As Gandhi said, “forgiveness is the attribute of the strong; the weak can never forgive.” Are you strong?

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