We are here on earth to make things grow for God!

The spring season is up. We see signs of new life and new growth all around us. The trees and flowers are budding. People will soon be tending to their lawns, spreading out seed and fertilizer. The feeling of growing something is so great that we bring up new lives around us and thus bring harmony to our eco-system. The capacity of a seed is unbelievable and that Jesus often had a close relationship with seeds and grounds throughout his life. His parables and life are filled with corn fields, vine and the grapes, wheat, mustard and different trees.

The parable of the wheat seed could be seen in three levels:

1. The moment of unacceptance from the part of the people and the struggle to prepare the people from the part of Jesus. The seed falls and it does not share anything with the ground. The ground is the dust, moisture and mud. They represent the age old traditions and practices that shape the lives of the people. It was difficult for them to accept Jesus as the Messiah. A Messiah can never come from Nazareth. He can never work as a carpenter and hang around with a bunch of fishermen. He can never eat with sinners and tax collectors. He should engage himself in politics and overthrowing the Romans. The people could not accept Jesus as their Savior. In the prologue of John we read, He came to his own and the own did not accept him. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the scribes and the Sanhedrin and some of the Jewish royalties and ordinary people voiced his death sentence. They want to do away with him. Jesus teaches them the lesson of love and forgiveness. He teaches them that he is the compassion of the Father.

2. The human life of God. God took the human flesh. He merges himself in human history. He, who cannot be contained in time, is subjected to time and death, body and pain, temptation and accusation. The seed merges with the dust, moisture and mud. It becomes one with the ground that no one can identify what is what. The seed has become part of the ground. He dies for our sins by accepting our own sinfulness on his own shoulders. He experiences the same human experiences of hunger, thirst, cry and agony. He is one of us in all things except sin. He was accused and sentenced to death like a thief. He was crucified and pierced with the lance. His body was buried in a tomb like one of us. He shared the mother’s and father’s love, friends love and the love of enemies which is so fond of. As a human being, he experienced poverty, humility and simplicity. As a human being he spoke the truth and stood for it. As a human being he bore the pain and suffering and death. He did all these as a human being. The dead seed but fully human fully alive.

3. The lessons took deep roots on the ground. The lives of the people were transformed. The disciples received the strength and courage to go our boldly and stand for the values that he left behind. Mary stood beside them and us in all our thoughts and actions. The people who were cured by Jesus were transformed for life. The man who received sight at the foot of the cross was transformed. The thief on the cross saw paradise on that day itself. People’s lives got transformed.

Jesus is that seed who fell and died and rose for us. We imitate him in all struggles and rejections yet stand strong in faith, hope and love. He says the same words to us: If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you too. How do we act against struggle? We imitate him in all our good Christian principles: speaking and living the truth, loving and forgiving and being the heart of God for others. We imitate him when we set to transform others with our love and service. We are here on earth to make things grow for God. We are people of life. Let us be the seed to bring great harvest to the Kingdom of God.
Amen.

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Our walking forth as missionaries starts from our walking back to the Father’s House

Rev.Fr.Malcolm P Fyfe (Founder: Indian Union)

Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Our culture is a fast food culture: our food has to be in within a few minutes; our needs have to be met immediately. Waiting is against human rights. Time spent in waiting is time wasted. Husbands and wives, children and parents, friends and relatives are all met in time-frame. They disconnect or get deleted when the time is up. Too much organizing and programmed functions have their effects in grim faces and pain in the neck. Preparing for an event, preparing for a project and preparing for an organization attract more studies and research compared to preparation for life and happiness.

The population of India is around 1,150,000,000 by July 2008. The vast majority of people are Hindus (more than 80 %), followed by Muslims (more than 13 %) and Christians (more than 2.3%) according to a survey taken in 2001. There is a lot of reservation in taking the message of Christ in Muslim territories. There are challenges in taking the good news to China. We are aware of the practical difficulties we encounter as missionaries in a foreign land where people follow some other religion. The missionaries brought the Holy Bible, baptizing hundreds and thousands of people at one time fearing for their lives. They had no time for personal fellowships with the ordinary people.

The forced conversion by the British Empire was very vehement. They say that in Goa (a State in India which used to be a Portuguese Colony), a State in India the Missionaries and other influences made sure that they demolished all the temples and built a church on the ruins of every one of them. Goa became a Vatican City in India. Beef and alcohol came into the culture of the Indian working class. The Brahmins called them ‘Parangis’ means a nomad or a hippy. Christianity existed in India, “according to the tradition”, from the time of the Apostles, (Bartholomew was in India according to some sources). A few years ago, India had 52% of the total educational institutions in India were managed or run by the Christians who are only 2% of the population.

The Church is missionary in nature. The Church teaches us that Jesus was a missionary and Jesus sends all of us as missionaries to the ends of the earth to announce the lessons of love to all people: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). Often in our Church this sending is so abrupt and rushing like the commando and his troops: Let’s go, go go go go... Some don’t even participate in this military activity. This military operation is aimed at killing all the enemies that we see before our eyes; shoot aimlessly in any direction wherever a tiny noise is coming. Church’s mission is so different from this understanding.

The missionary nature of the church is seen as a project to be completed or a given work to the missionary priests and religious. The two parables of building the tower and wanting to meet another king in battle reveal us that there is more to mission than hasty decisions and actions based on instincts and emotions.

What is mission? It is a God-given call to appreciate and share one’s religious experience and insights first within one’s own community and tradition and then with people and communities of other cultural, social and religious traditions. Why? In doing so we attempt to fulfill the divine mandate given to the church that humanity reflect God’s own life as one people drawn together in love and respect. (Definition by Senior and Stuhlmuller).

All missionaries are called by God: the opening words of Jesus in today’s Gospel are ‘If anyone comes to me’. Missionaries are first and foremost people who make their journey towards God. The reasons to be the apostles and disciples of Jesus are to be with him and be sent out. It is a journey from darkness to life, from death to life, to slavery to freedom, from tears to joy and from profanity to holiness in a personal level. Since the Church is the universal sacrament of salvation, we all are called by God. Personal knowledge of God is essential in all our missionary activities. Missionary life of the Church has its origin in God. We learn from the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit since they teach us the importance of being a missionary. Father heard the cry of the people and came down; Jesus was sent by the Father as a missionary (Filiation), and Holy Spirit comes to us as a missionary (Spiration) from the heart of the Father.

All missionaries are teachers in nature since we share the knowledge and wisdom of God. We are sent in the name of God. Our words and actions represent the One who sent us: we represent God in all that we do and say. St. Francis of Assisi tells his friends, “Preach the good news, if necessary with words.” As teacher of the wisdom of God we use different methods in our God-sharing. A mediocre teacher tells; a good teacher explains; a superior teacher demonstrates and a great teacher inspires. (William Arthur Ward). Missionaries are sent by God to inspire people to love God and neighbor.
Missionary Lessons from the two parables:
1. Building a tower is our free choice. Setting out to meet another king in battle is our free choice. God gave the whole Eden Garden to Adam. Obeying God’s will is our free choice.
2. Our setting forth depends heavily on our self-knowledge and worth. The rich man must have knowledge about his own resources. The king must have knowledge about his army.
3. Once the choice is made, there is no looking back. In Lk 9:62 Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
4. Calculating the cost depends on the depth of our hope, faith and love for God.
5. The accomplishments in life bring a great sense of satisfaction and transformation. Every rich man wants to build a tower – that is his dream. Every king wants to expand his territory – that is his dream. Every Christian wants to share the love of God. St. Paul says, “I have competed my race, I have fought a good fight.” (2 Tim 4:7).
6. Our incompletion brings in ridicule from people of our faith and our relationship with God. We give up God’s work for selfish reasons or running away from God (Prophet Jonah)
Our missionary activities are not centered on mere work or time consuming enterprises rather they are channels of grace that brings both the person with the mission and the person to whom the mission is address a lasting effect. We as Christians influence others constantly since we are graced constantly by a missionary God.

Our God is a missionary God. Our God brings Good News to the lost sheep; likewise He is all set to reach our hearts through love. The ninety nine sheep were left all alone to support one another with the same mission of the Good Shepherd. As our missionary activities seem difficult and impossible, causing us great pain, despair and confusion, it is worth a wait that the Good Shepherd will come back to us with the great news of bringing the lost sheep. God is with us: let us share the joy of the Good Shepherd. May God bless all our missionary efforts to bring unity, peace and harmony to our world! Amen.

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2. The call for holiness stresses the importance of reconciliation and the readiness to sacrifice.

The evils of our society:

All are called to holiness. “How do you feel about being called a living saint?” a news reporter asked Mother Teresa one day. Her answer was shocking and relevant today and everyday of our lives. She said, “You have to be holy in the position you are, and I have to be holy in the position God has given me. There is nothing extraordinary about being holy. It is simply a duty for you and for me”.

What is holiness? We say God is holy. When we say that, it is not just one quality of God, rather it is the sum totality of the qualities of God. Holiness summarizes all qualities of God. When the Church calls all Christians and others to holiness, once again, the Church did not ask the faithful to put on this particular quality called ‘holiness’, rather the Church asks the faithful to resemble God in their personal life in all aspects of their living.

Why are we not striving to be holy? Why do we fear the present social evils: the decline in community, individualism, consumerism, greed, decline in values, decline in family, young people as both victims and perpetrators, drugs and alcohol, poverty and equality, crime and violence? Connected to all of these issues was the perception that we no longer share a set of common values and that we have lost our "moral compass”.

Being associated with the society in all good and evil is our safest way of living. Standing out as people of the chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart – gives us a sense of insecurity. These people are called ‘funny’, ‘possessed’, ‘strange’ and other names. Holiness is possible when we stand out from the sinning masses: prophets stood out and Jesus stood out. The inability to stand out makes us live in sin as there are no prophets and there is no prophecy. Even if we witness prophets they merely fill our conversations and not our personal lives. The accumulation of sin takes away our pride as Christians and leaving the priests at the confessionals alone. A lonely priest at the confessionals represents a lonely God and a well-accompanied Satan.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Our society gradually loses the faculty to listen to our parents, children, teachers and dear and near ones, so it is not all that impossible to witness people not listening to short suggestions given by priests and still hold on to ‘how many ‘Hail Mary’s father? Or ‘how many ‘Our Fathers’ father? The Sacrament of Reconciliation still holds the myths of numbers and statistics. Why do we still pray ‘Our Father’ and ‘Hail Mary’ when our sins are hurting people? Is it forgivable or justifiable when we don’t attempt to do anything for those who we hurt by our words and action?
Sacrament of Reconciliation extends the sanctity of the Sacrament of Baptism. Through Baptism we become the children of God; through the sacrament of Reconciliation we regain our status as children of God since it is aimed at purifying our hearts as often as we strive to become holy. In the parable of the prodigal son, the son remains the son of the prodigal father forever. He was the son when he was with the father; he was the son when he was away from the father. He was the son when he was in his senses; he was the son when he was not in his senses. It is the confession that made him feel his sonship. It is the reconciliation that brought him the robes, ring; brought joy to the family to celebrate a feast. It is the Sacrament that brought him hugs and kisses and embraces from the father.

Sin knows how to take and sacrifice knows how to give. Sin in the prodigal son took away not just the money and the property of the father: it took away the image and likeness of God in us. Sin took away the imprints of God in us. People who look at us think that we are beggars or homeless. When people look at us, we no longer remind them of the Father. Sin takes away the wealth of the father: the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Sin takes away our nearness to the father. God the Father sacrifices everything to us. The Psalmist sings in Ps 7, ‘You have made me little less than a god; put all things under my feet.’ God gave us life. Jesus gave us light and be the way to the Father. He gave us the Holy Spirit to come to our senses. God so loved the world…
Readiness to Sacrifice

The prodigal son recites the act of contrition. He has known the dangers of sin and the dangers of taking, grabbing and madly possessing and greedily spending what has been strongly constructed with love and sacrifices of God. The prodigal son leant the lesson to give and that lesson will be modeling on the Sacrifice of Jesus. The father taught him to sacrifice everything for love.

Fr. Jules Chevalier, our Founder said ‘the Heart of Jesus is the remedy for the evils of our time’. He envisioned a new world emerging from the Heart of God to bring peace and harmony to our society. A repentant heart accompanied by the readiness to sacrifice is going to cure the evils of our society. Let all those who invent and market destructive energies and those who use them learn God’s way of justice and peace: No one can bring peace with a gun in hand. Let all those who fight and kill in the name of God learn God’s way of justice and peace: God belongs to all and we belong to one another. Let all those who promote ways to destroy our society, culture and values learn God’s wisdom: Holiness is the only lesson that is preached and lived the longest in our human history.

In the first letter of Peter, we read, “As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘you shall be holy, for I am holy.” (I Pet 1:15-16). Christians ought to understand and accept that holiness is not an option but a requirement to enter the Kingdom of God. To become holy is to have one’s entire personality freed from sin and filled with love, faithfulness, and purity of God. (Ralph Martin). Let us strive for holiness with a repentant heart and a readiness to sacrifice all for love. Amen.

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1. We suffer because we fail to see the Christ who suffers. Christ’s suffering is rooted in the compassion of God.

Dear Friends!

I have just preached a Lenten Mission (24,25,26 of March)and topics are concerned with the modern life and its challenges. The three topics that i have reflected on are presented here in three different blogs. These are intended to help you prepare for the Holy Week. God Bless you all.

TALK ONE

INTRODUCTION

The field of human suffering is very wide, varied and multi-dimensional. When a child cries it has too many meanings that the mother is often confused and panicked as to what to do especially if the child is the firstborn: we wonder as to who is in pain and who is suffering. As little boys and girls we cried for all our whims and fancies and got all that we wanted: we wonder as to who is in pain and who is suffering. As young adults there are restrictions on both young men and young women to cry in public lest they embarrass people: More and more suffering is pressurized within us like the pneumatic tubes. In pain and in sorrow we behave differently by controlling our tears, sucking up our emotional explosives under our throats resulting in various psychosomatic illnesses and depression.

God is used or abused as a dart board with all our piercing comments with acute adjectives: A blind God, a deaf God, a heart-less God, a stone-God and the like. The loss of a friend, a spouse, a child or a parent brings in a total rejection of reality, meaninglessness and loneliness. The loss of people is the worst kind of suffering that we go through. The loss of power, money, and security triggers anger and frustration accompanied by revenge and sleepless nights and wasted daylights: this pain is tolerated with terms and conditions. Matured and disciplined people can distinguish between the loss of people and loss of things: Inability to distinguish these two result s in prolonged suffering.

WORLD OF SUFFERING:

Human world is full of suffering. Suffering is something which is wider than sickness. We can witness physical suffering that which affects our bodies and moral suffering that affects our soul. There are as many physical sufferings as there are moral sufferings in our society. Suffering is expressed in words such as agony, misery, distress, troubled by the feelings of mental or physical pain, miserable, and the like. A person who suffers never asks what and how of suffering but why of suffering. Suffering seems almost inexpressible and not transferable.

Everyone wants to know why we suffer since suffering seems to be and is almost inseparable from our earthly existence. Some of the reasons we hear are: Desire is the root cause of our suffering or we have sinned so we suffer. Our fathers and forefathers have sinned so God is punishing us. When Tsunami hit India almost all Christians said, ‘God is punishing Indians on account of Christian persecution.’ Or still others say ‘we are responsible for all the suffering because it is our fate: we are destined by God to suffer.’ Suffering and evil are identified with each other in our Christian tradition.

Though these explanations temporarily ease us a little, they seem to be insufficient. God is seen as a Loving Father who brings a lot of comfort to the prodigal son from his pain and suffering; a Just Judge who is merciful and forgiving. God is compassionate and concerned about our suffering. He saw the people of Israel and came down. God said to Moses: ‘I have heard the cry of my people.’ There are hundreds of similar passages in the Bible where God acts in favor of people in alleviating pain.

SUFFERING THAT COMES OUT FROM US:

When we concentrate on the suffering that has been created by us that we inflict on each other is endless let alone the nature has its own way. People suffer when we fail to love, respect and share our human worth with one another. People suffer when we say no to the commandments, no to God and neighbor which is eventually a no to self. People suffer on account of wrong influence and leadership in family, society and country.

SUFFERING THAT COMES TO US:

We have no control over nature and natural calamities bring suffering to us. We have no control over death which brings in suffering to us.

Now it is clear that so much of the suffering in the world is man-made. Though we have

explained a little on the outer forces that bring suffering to us, there is a huge area that is unknown to us on human suffering – our sufferings that have no explanation, no reason and meaning. The question ‘Why me?’ seems to be a better escape and God seems to be the only culprit. It is after all easy to blame God for all our unknown and mystery-area.

HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THE MYSTERY-AREA OF SUFFERING?

Sacred Scripture is a great book about suffering. We have two people to meet today to understand human suffering in a different angle. The first person is Job. We read in the Scriptures that Job is not guilty even by God’s standards but he had to go through a lot of suffering. The following lessons could be derived from the book of Job:
1. Not all suffering is a result of sin. We don’t always experience suffering as a punishment. Job’s suffering is the suffering on someone who is innocent. Why God lets it happen? It is beyond our human mind.
2. God permitted this testing – suffering has the nature of a test.
3. The test was done to demonstrate Job’s righteousness.
There are suffering moments inflicted by God upon us to witness God’s mercy: These punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline us (Mac 6:12).

The second person is Jesus as experienced in Good Samaritan. Love is the fullest source of the answer to the question of the meaning of suffering. God gave His son for us in suffering and death on a Cross. Jesus calls Peter ‘Satan’ when Peter forced Jesus out of suffering. He eliminated suffering of different kind in the society. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead thus he was sensitive to every human suffering whether it be a physical or moral suffering. The 8 beatitudes are addressed to the people who suffer in various ways. He is portrayed as the suffering servant of God. He suffers voluntarily and innocently (Is 53:7-9). Jesus did pray to take away the cup from him.

Good Samaritan knew well about the situation of the road from JRS to Jericho. Good Samaritan Jesus knows this road – He went all the way to JRS and Calvary. The following lessons that could be derived from the parable of the Good Samaritan:
1. Jesus has been through all suffering in body and soul before us. He suffered and died and was raised to life for us and for our hope.
2. Jesus is not a passerby, a sight seer or an aimless traveler. He knew his mission and vision clearly that we all need him sometime along our way to JRS. We will be beaten, bruised and struggling for life. We will even be close to death.
3. He carries each one of us on his shoulders and cares for us while we are so busy being unconscious or consciously absent in our own world.
4. We are called to be Good Samaritans who brings help in the suffering of others. We need love and love only to appreciate God’s compassion in our suffering.

CONCLUSION:

Not all the suffering has the same purpose and reason. Some are understood and some remain a mystery. There are innumerable sufferings in this world that are caused by the death of family and religious values in our society. There are sufferings on account of God’s will not as punishment rather a test to prove our righteousness. All our sufferings have only strengthened our faith since God gave us Jesus who took our suffering onto His and saved us. Like Jesus we are sent into the world not as passersby rather as Good Samaritans to share the suffering of others in word and deed. Jesus went about doing good. Amen.

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God gave us The Light: it is not a loan!

Our God-consciousness grew along with our civilization. Anything more powerful than man needed a closer-look: trees, rain, moon, snake, lion, water or air. They were all worshipped in the history of human beings at different or at the same time. Solar deity shares a greater part of our earlier spirituality. Many cultures have worshipped the Sun or a physical representation of the Sun throughout history: Egyptian Sun-God Ra, Greek Sun-God Helios and Indian Sun-God Surya all riding in a chariot (2000 years before Christ). One of the most sacred hymns to God in Hinduism (Gayathri mantra) was dedicated to the Sun which is the representation of God (Shiva or Vishnu – debated).

The concept of ‘Light’ is not new to the Jews. The Psalmist in Ps 27:1 already sang ‘Lord is my light and my salvation.’ Prophet Isaiah talks about walking in the light of the Lord… or people have seen a great light… or Lord shall be an everlasting light. All these connotations have some influence of the Sun which is so central to the life of human beings. Sun holds the living space of human beings, lights it up for our biological eyes to see and enjoy the nature, and provides for the green world so that we may have life. The early Church adopted the spirituality of the sun-god and easily applied to resurrection: All Sundays are days of Resurrection in our Christian tradition.

God revealed Himself to us in different ways: sent us priests, kings and prophets. They were all witnessing to the light. No one claimed that he or she is light except the son of Mary and Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth who hangs around with a bunch of uneducated fishermen and others. A prophet cannot be called ‘The Light’. ‘The Light’ is one of the strong symbols which represented God in the Hebrew society. It is often accompanied by words such as ‘salvation’, ‘life’, and ‘truth’. When Jesus claimed that He is the Light, he wants us to realize that we live in darkness.

The love of God assures that that Light is given to us: God so loved the world that He gave… It is not to be understood as ‘we received the light’. God gave the light to us as a free gift. It is not a loan, not to be taken back. The person who received the light will be shining in darkness. He or she is able to see the Heart of God and walk in the way of the light. When II Vatican proclaimed that Christians are to be the light of the world – it wanted us to see the dire need of the world today: Our world is in darkness. Darkness rules in lawlessness, carefree Epicurean societies, in people who claim to be gods themselves, pleasure overtakes spirituality and in lives that is filled with misery and hopelessness.

We have lot to do. As light brightens up and kills darkness, as light burns away the unwanted so too Christians go about spreading the light of Christ. So much is given to us; so much is expected of us. Every Christian is a light. Let us illumine the lives of our brothers and sisters who live in darkness.

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Parents divide the church when they teach wrong lessons to children!

As human beings we always enjoyed most in violating the laws than keeping them after all there is not much fun in keeping the laws. The 10 commandments are the first form of catechism given to the people of Israel. These commandments directly or indirectly serve as the foundation for all the constitution and laws of the entire universe. Over the course of time, we started to give importance to not these basic principles of cohesiveness but to mere rules that divides us further as individuals. 10 commandments were given to the whole nation of Israel so that they may be united to God in body and soul. It is the way God built the people, constructed them as one people and gave them responsibility.

The First commandment is the base for any commandment where God remains the only priority, the meaning of our unity. Unless we are united in the name of God, there is no other power or sources that can unify us as people apart from those laws that bring us in compulsion to demand obedience in light of punishment. Every commandment has the spirit of the first commandment in them. It is through the love of God, we worship God, respect our parents and keeping the order in society. All the commandments have the imprints of God’s love in them. I will not kill or take part in any form of killing for the love of my God. I will not commit adultery or take part in any form of adultery for the love of my God. All are not mere commandments rather commandments of love. They form unity and bring peace and harmony in the society; they bring order.

Violation of these basic principles of life shows our compulsion to divide the people. Our impulses and instincts are so great and overpowering that it exceeds our love for God. I will kill and take part in killing for my selfish motives; I will commit adultery or take part in all forms of adultery for my selfish motives. Commandments have no meaning for me; the gifts of the Holy Spirit or the fruits of the Holy Spirit have no effect in me – I want out. War in the only answer or greed is the only answer – the answer we have seen clearly in the returning soldiers and their families or job losses and failing economy.

Division can be of two types: Personal division and communal division. As human beings we can only divide and have no power to build or rebuild. Dividing is easy. Through my selfishness, greed, jealousy and lust I divide myself from everyone. I further influence others through my words and deeds to follow my ‘teachings’. Parents divide the church when they teach wrong lessons to children. Children divide the church when they learn wrong lessons. Every division in the family is the division of the church.

Jesus said, ‘I will raise it up in three days’. Your long years of building your character, personality and forming a part of the church is lost through disobedience and sin, I will rebuild it in no time with my love and sacrifice. Jesus is the only person we turn to for our unity and peace and harmony. This church has been hit and hit severely by atheism, war, prostitution, inequality and selfishness. Let us turn to Jesus who can rebuild us into one people. Let us reassemble in the presence of God with the spirit of the 10 commandments to work of the unity of the people of God – the Kingdom of God.

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Transfiguration was an address!

Myth of Sisyphus is about the high and low in life caused by our human nature. Going up on a mountain is difficult as there are stones, the path is steep and there is a constant fear of falling and getting hurt. It also takes us to a calm and serene a place, away from the hurries and worries of life. Certain journeys to the mountain tops change the lives of people: Abraham’s life is changed once and for all. He came back transfigured inwardly. Moses’ life changed once and for all: His face shown when he came down.

Why does Jesus transfigure and what is the need for a transfiguration. There were many instances in the Gospels where Jesus was alone in prayer. Why does this transfiguration happen in the company of the apostles who look lost and dumb? The need to reveal the true self to our fiends is so intense a moment even for Jesus. There is no greater love than to lay one’s life for one’s friends. Jesus went through a higher, steeper and a larger mountain in preparing the apostles as friends – Jesus said, “I call you friends because I have told you everything” – this comprises of His own self. Jesus revealed everything of God to us. The traditional Greek concept of friendship emphasized equality, loyalty and intimacy.

Transfiguration is an address. It is a gospel in itself addressed to the friends of Jesus. The message is the words from the Father – ‘I am well pleased with my Son, you listen to Him’. If we think transfiguration is an event that happens between Jesus, Moses and Elijah we are mistaken. It should be read as “The Gospel that is preached through the power of the Holy Spirit from Jesus to His friends in the company of Moses and Elijah about the Cross.” In the words of Fulton Sheen, “He preached on the mountain (Sermon on the Mount) and practiced on the mountain (Calvary)”. He also revealed His true self on the mountain (Transfiguration).

Our friendship with Jesus should motivate us to be true to our other relationships. Our relationships are strengthened and purified by God so that whoever we come in contact with we show honesty and sincerity. As St. Paul says, “Let your love be genuine and coming from a sincere heart (Rom 12:9).” As Mother Teresa once said, “If you go on judging people, you will not have time to love them.” We see a society filled with lists of things man must do and women must do – taking us away from the fact that both men and women are capable of developing an intimate friendship with God. These fishermen, lacking in confidence, strength and knowledge – through the power of friendship with Jesus were able to see and witness Moses and Elijah: That is a great gift for any Jew. The greatest gift is we have Jesus as our friend who takes up the cross to save us all.

Jesus’ transfiguration is an invitation to our own transfiguration where we radiate the light of Christ in and through us. Transfiguration is a requirement for us to be sent as missionaries to the world. Let us pray that God continues to reveal who we really are and why we are here. Amen.

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Broadening the limits of love

‘Image’ and ‘likeness’ are the two words that signify the imprints of God on human beings. Though our body was created from the earth, our humanness was shaped by the divine power. The 'image' and 'likeness' of human beings is certainly different from the 'image' and 'likeness' of God. In us they are in constant need to reach perfection whereas in God they form a perfect order. Human beings are destined to reveal the image and likeness of God through our constant efforts to reach perfection.

Perfection in a skill is achieved through repeated practice; perfection in Christ is achieved through repeated efforts to love not just seven times, but seven times seventy times. Perfection is the unconditional love that does not expect anything in return; it is being generous with our love to all especially those who do not deserve our love. Today’s gospel teaches us that this love could at times be ‘unusual’ – out of the ordinary or strange or weird.

Relating to enemies is an art these days: Some cases take revenge; majority would show anger in different forms and ground the person by humiliating or disrespecting; most of us would live in that anger for a long time. We tend to live longer with our enmity than our enemies. Jesus’ lesson on ‘loving our enemies’ broadens the limits of love. Love is not the monopoly of good people: the perfection in love is the ascent of our hearts to God.

Though the enemies hurt Jesus on the way to Calvary, Jesus continued to love the enemies. God gives us strength in loving our enemies in the person of Veronica, Our Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene and the Beloved disciple. The scars are nothing compared to the cooling towel of Veronica; the thorns are nothing compared to the embrace of the mother. Amen

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Delay in offering our sacrifices

Many say that it is good to shout and get out of our system when we are angry. Research in recent times show that letting it rip with anger actually escalates anger and aggression. Many psychologists promote relaxation, positive communication and change of environment and using humor are some of the ways of controlling anger.

Christianity brings out the importance of reconciliation in our anger management. Jesus is convinced that anger blinds truth and prevents us to take part in the work of God. It comes from Jesus’ personal experience on the anger of the Pharisees and the Scribes. They are blinded by their own anger so they are not able to see the person of Jesus. Their anger makes them to see false images of Jesus: a glutton, a drunkard and a friend of sinners.

Offering sacrifices to God is a prime worship in Judaism. It is one thing to be pure before we worship – God does not need sacrifice but our hearts; it is another to give God our due in due time. The reason for the delay in offering the sacrifice is our anger. If we do not have the intimacy with God, this delay is going to expand and our worship time will be filled with reconciliation rather than offering ourselves as true sacrifices.

Let us pray that God guides us in those challenging moments when we get angry and lose our balance, thus we may always see and experience the truth – the truth that will set us free. Amen.

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Ask me God! I will give!

We are aware of the fact that God is omniscient – one who knows everything. God knows exactly when we are going to ask what we are going to ask and how much we are going to ask. Asking God for needs is so innate and common in human beings. By asking God, we show our strong faith in God and also our humble submission before God that we depend on God. God after all does not need the list of things that we need!

There are two different ways of looking at our needs. Asking for wrong things and asking for the wrong things to wrong people. The best example here would be Adam. He wanted to become God – a strong urge in him through evil spirit and evil intention. He did not ask God for his needs rather, he asked the Devil for his needs: that lead him to his fate.

There is another way of looking at our needs: Asking for the right things to the right person. The best example here would be Solomon. He asked for wisdom. He asked God for it. Our needs necessarily bring out the element of the community and the good of the society.

As we reflect on asking God our needs, we need to remember that there is another angle where God asking us. God asked Mary to be the mother of His Son. There are many way God asks us to take part in the plan of salvation. How ready are we to respond to God by saying: ‘Ask and you will receive’. Let us imitate the generosity of God to give to God what belongs to God and give to others what belongs to others. Amen.

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