Easter 7th S,June 5,11

Easter 7^th S, May 5,11

(Mk.16:9-20)

Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVl in his new book, “Light of the World”, speaks of the presence of a new mindset that he calls as “negative tolerance” in many Catholics which somehow, for the sake of not offending anyone, undervalues the teachings of Christ. According to the Holy Father, Christians are very shy of speaking about their faith or of witnessing to Christ in public life.

Public arena is full of people who somehow think that it is all right to ignore the meaning and significance of the Christian faith. Christians move around without in any way revealing their faith or their attachment to Christ.

One of America’s foremost novelists, Walker Percy once said that Christians proclaim that they have the Gospel but they go around as if they have the bad news.

This lethargy in the witness to our faith should be examined in the background of today’s Gospel where Jesus proclaims the need to preach the Gospel as a bounden duty of every believer in Him.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark gives a summary account of the various appearances of Jesus to the disciples after His Resurrection. The disciples were instructed, during His appearances to them, to go to all corners of the world to proclaim the Good News. They were also made witnesses to one of the most glorious events in the life of Jesus on earth—His Ascension.

Even though the Gospel narrative summarizes the event of the Ascension in a few words, we won’t be able to imagine the majesty, glory and awesomeness of the event of the Ascension. Seeing Jesus in His radiant glory ascending to His Father must have been a moment of great impact for them. It got stamped into their minds indelibly that Jesus was the Son of God, living in glory with his Heavenly Father and that every word of His was charged with Divine power. That witnessing to the glorious event of the Ascension dispelled all doubts about their ministry and they became bent upon preaching the Good News, whatever might be the consequences.

What is important to Jesus is the need to preach the Good News, continuing, thus, the ministry of His preaching and healing. Jesus wanted his disciples not only to preach the News but also to be of great assistance to people in their physical and emotional needs. They should expel demons in His name, heal the sick and drive away evil forces.

The task is entrusted now to all of us. We are the people who have to continue His ministry of healing. The Gospel cannot just be kept under lock and key. It has to be revealed and proclaimed through our lives.

Recently our Holy Father in his talk to the journalists on his way to Portugal mentioned that the “sin is in the Church.” Those words have enormous ramifications. It is because of our failure to live as good Christians that people refuse to come to Jesus.

There are all kinds of secular influences that try to denigrate the Christian faith because we have failed to live the Gospel in our lives. The rampant number of divorces among Christians is a mockery of the teachings of Jesus. The lack of compassion and forgiveness on the part of Christians in resolving disputes among themselves is another indication of the lack of authenticity in our Christian living.

It is through our mercy and forgiveness and through our compassion and love that we have to preach the Good News. We don’t have to cross the oceans to preach the Gospel. We need just cross the street to speak a kind word to a sorrowing family, to offer assistance to the elderly, or to do errands for the shut-ins to preach the Gospel.

“The way to begin preaching Jesus to the world is to begin living Jesus in our own lives. Once we begin to do this, the message of Jesus will begin to ripple out across the world. And if enough Christians do it, that ripple will turn into a tidal wave, and that tidal wave will change the face of the earth in a way we never dreamed possible.”(Mark Link)

We can begin our evangelization from the four walls of our homes first. Creating an atmosphere of love and trust, we can prepare, thus, a few individuals under our care for the great work of spreading the Good News. By our merciful and loving interactions with the people in our work places or in our parishes, we can start the work of this new evangelization.

“What kind of civilization will prevail in the world’s future? It depends on us if it will be the civilization of love, or the “uncivililization” of individualism.”(Pope John Paul II, February,1994.)

Easter 6th S,May 29,11

Easter 6thS,May 29,11

Easter 6^th S,.May 29,11

(Jn.17:21-26)

Cardinal Bernardin in an essay on “How can I find God” speaks about his habits of prayer. He has often, he says, given talks on prayer but never spent much time in personal prayer. When he shared this dilemma with some of his priest-friends, they advised him to act on his desire and set apart an hour in the morning for prayer. With their encouragement and support, he resolved to devote an hour each day to prayer. He says: “During the early days of this new habit of prayer, I began to realize how often I had looked elsewhere for God rather than right in the midst of each day’s journey.” He adds further that he has constantly “tried to enter into closer communion with God through prayer. This search for union, he says, has been “an exciting, life-giving, sustaining experience.”

In today’s Gospel, which is the third part of the Priestly Prayer of Jesus, we hear the deep yearning of Jesus for the bond of unity that should exist among all those who believe in Him. Jesus exhorts his disciples to remain united with one another as well as with Him and with His Father in Heaven. In this prayer, Jesus brings out all the various implications of this bond of unity. This unity is the outward expression of God’s love for Jesus and of the mission entrusted to Him.

This bond of unity does not just remain on the plane of believers but goes beyond the terrestrial dimension to the very gates of heaven. It reaches through Jesus to the Heavenly Father. The Father lives in the Son and the Son lives among those who believe in Him. The disciples are united with Jesus and the Heavenly Father in a great and abiding intimacy, similar to the unity between the Father and the Son.

The unity between the Father and the Son is brought about by the perfect love between them. It is the love between them that causes, promotes and sustains the unity between them. It means that love should be causal factor of the unity that should exist among the believers. Love which would involve forgiveness and care for each other should become the basis of unity.

These words of Jesus in his Prayer to the Heavenly Father are undoubtedly the strongest call to unity uttered by Jesus. Our faith in Jesus is not just a vertical phenomenon. It has a horizontal dimension too. It involves unity with our brothers in faith. There is no way the believers in Jesus can remain divided.

Often what we find in our lives is the glaring absence of unity. Even in the heart of families which should be a model of love and unity, we find rancor and vengeance. Selfishness, arrogance, and pride gnaw at the vitals of a healthy family life. More than a million children live every year in broken families. People who share the same faith and have committed themselves to irrevocable unity are unfaithful to each other. Divorces become so rampant and the number of divorces is outpacing the number of marriages taking place every year.

It is in this background of broken families and broken promises that we should listen carefully to the words of Jesus asking us to commit ourselves to unity. Real unity can be experienced only where there is love. There should be a willingness to reach out to the other person, whoever he may be. He can be a member of the family or a stranger. It has been said that it is possible for man to reach the moon but has become difficult to reach out to the neighbor. We have to cross the street of our selfishness and offer our neigbor love and forgiveness. “The neighbor is the one who steps on my toes in the subway, or who makes a left turn from the outside lane in Sunday traffic, or who sneaks ahead of me on the bus for a seat…the neighbor is not some one we like.: “(Sheen).We have to start loving and by loving we shorten the distance among ourselves. Shortening the distance makes us come together and to experience the bond of unity that Jesus has asked us to have in today’s Gospel.

Christian families have to learn once the more the lesson of love, the lesson of the forgiving love and remain united because of their faith in Jesus. Christians have to come together, knowing that this togetherness coming from the bond of unity is what Jesus wants from each one of us. “Doing kind acts to people make us find all people lovable.”(Sheen)

Today is the day for us to avoid everything that creates divisions among us and think of the factors that promote unity in faith and love.

Easter 3rd S,May8,11

Easter 3rd S,May8,11

Easter 3^rd S,May8,11

(Jn. 14:7-14)

Tony Hendra, a British born, Cambridge educated American writer and TV producer who had a very riotous life as a young man wrote a book called “Fr.Joe Joe who saved my life.” In this book, he details his contacts with Fr. Joe and how the priest saved his life. He was introduced to this Benedictine priest called Father Joe while he was in England. Through the ups and downs of his life he kept in touch with Fr. Joe. When he realized that he was a total failure as a family man as well as a writer, he asked Joe permission to join the monastery to lead a life dedicated to the ideals of monasticism. Fr. Joe told him to go back to his family and be a good husband a good father.

To be a father involves a lot of qualities and qualifications. It exemplifies all that is beautiful, noble, sacrificial, dependable, and reverential in life. For a child, the Father is everything that is ideal and noble in life.

Once a young mother, speaking at a public function honoring her father’s 6oth birth day, remarked that it was through the love shown to her by her father that she came to a greater understanding of the love of God the Father.

Very rarely are such statements heard now from the children about their parents. The exemplary lives of the parents do elicit powerful reflections on the goodness, generosity and mercy of God the Father.

In today’s Gospel, in response to Philip’s question, Jesus tells him that those who have seen Him have seen God the Father.

Many of us in our reflective moments have wondered about the life in heaven and how the Father in heaven would treat us. But in today’s Gospel, we have a very candid statement from Jesus on how the Father would appear to each one of us. Jesus asked them to look at His life in order to know more about God the Father,

How was Jesus to them in his works and teachings? He was all mercy and kindness. He was available to everyone who approached him asking for healing. He gave life back to the dead. He comforted the suffering. He presented the image of a loving Father in heaven using the parable of the prodigal son. He forgave the sins of the woman caught in adultery and reinstated in society those who were ostracized like the tax collectors and lepers. In hundreds and thousands of ways he showed the different aspects of a loving and merciful Father in his interactions with the people. He tells Philip that one who has seen him has seen the Father.

Jesus also points out that anything that is asked in His name will be granted. Philip’s question is an occasion for Jesus to reveal who He is, His identity with the Father in heaven and His boundless mercy and compassion. Thus, in today’s Gospel, we find someone who will always be a Father to us. We don’t have to go anywhere looking for comfort and support, healing and renewal, mercy and love except in Jesus Christ, our Savior.

In our society, as so many concerted attacks are being orchestrated against the unity and cohesion of the family, it is appropriate to reflect on the responsibilities and tasks of parents. Tim Russert, the late NBC TV commentator has written a book, “The Big Russ and Me” on his father who did two jobs to put him through private schools and college. He waxes eloquent describing the strong influence his father has had on his life. The motto of the book is that “children stand on the shoulders of their parents”, meaning that all the accomplishments of the children are due to the love, hard work and exemplary Christian faith of their parents.

Today as we reflect on the Fatherhood of God, it is very proper to ask each one of us how we are fulfilling the duties entrusted to us in our roles as leaders, parents and teachers. Can the people who are entrusted to us say that it is because of us as parents, teachers or leaders that they have been blessed with such a good Christian life? Can we offer ourselves as models of good Christian life to those who are entrusted to our care?

It is sad to say that we don’t have many in our midst who exemplify through their lives the qualities of a true Father, one who will never forsake us, who will come to our help in the dire moments of helplessness, and who will comfort us in the heart-broken moments of great tragic experiences.

May the words of Jesus that we heard in today’s Gospel help us to experience more warmly the love of our heavenly Father and make us committed to a way of life that offers love, forgiveness and compassion.

Palm Sunday,April 17,11

Palm Sunday,April17,11

(Mt.21:1-17)

In 1980, Archbishop Romero of El Salvador in one of his sermons to his people spoke of the harvest that comes because of the grain that dies. Right after those words, as he was celebrating the mass, holding the Body of Jesus in his hands, he was shot dead by some rogue members of the military. His blood got mixed with the Body of Jesus. The Archbishop gave his life to protect the defenseless lives of his people in imitation of his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of his life was an act of love.

Today as we celebrate the Palm the Sunday, the gateway to the Holy Week, the great week celebrating the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we become reminded once again of the great sacrifice that Jesus has made out of his immense love for each one of us.

Let us recall for a moment what happened on the Palm Sunday. Fulfilling of the prophecy made by the Prophet Zechariah (Zec 9,9) that emphasizes the humility of the king who comes, Jesus rode on a donkey, indicating that he was no earthly king, but a person of peace.

(The fulfillment is composed of two distinct OT texts, Is. 62,11(“Say to the daughter of Zion”) and Zec.9,9. “The ass and the colt are the same animal in the prophecy, mentioned twice in different ways, the common Hebrew literary device of poetic parallelism. Matthew takes them as two”)

He rode into Jerusalem and the people acclaimed him with shouts of joy. Garments and branches of trees were spread on the street and people shouted “ Hosanna to the Son of David.”(Ps.118,25).(Hosanna, a Hebrew acclamation meaning “Save us”(2 Sam 14:4,Ps.118:25) and “ Blessed is he …from Ps.118:26, the last of the Hallel Ps(113-118)).

Jesus entered the temple, and as today’s Gospel describes, he cleansed it by driving out the merchants and stopping the commercial dealings that were done there .He healed many who were sick and suffering.

This was a decisive moment in his life. He knew these shouts of acclamations would disappear and they would clamor for his blood. Those branches and leaves that were spread as a red carpet to receive him would turn out to be instruments of torment. The shouts and acclamations would reverberate later as “Crucify him”, “Crucify him.” But Jesus was undeterred in his march towards the goal of his life. What mattered to Jesus was not the opinion of the people but his obedience to the will of God.

Palm Sunday is in fact the celebration of his obedience to the will of the Heavenly Father. He has told his disciples that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer(Lk.24:46). But when he is lifted up from the earth, he will draw all to himself (Jn.12.32). But it is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer and die. That is the will of the Heavenly Father. Nothing can deter him from that goal.

The suffering and death of Jesus turn everything upside down. The power of death is shattered forever. The cross, instead of becoming a sign of derision, has become a symbol of hope and joy.

The outstretched hands of Jesus on the Cross are the hands that offer us comfort and healing. We shall not allow ourselves to be distracted by the obstacles and hardships that pop up in our way. As long as Jesus is with us, we can overcome those obstacles. Whatever that looms large as imponderables before us will melt like ice when the power of His grace is present in our hearts. When He is beside us, we can sing in our hearts songs of joy because no power on earth will have any hold on our lives.

The cross is our symbol of hope and confidence. Our tragedies and our pains don’t go unanswered. They will be transformed by the power of the cross into sources of grace for us.

The cross is a constant reassurance of God’s continuing love for us. In spite of our sins and failures, God’s love reaches out to us and reminds us that it is for us that He died to give us hope. It is a reminder that we will never be abandoned.

Let this Holy Week be an occasion for us to feel that once we carry the cross of our life with him on our side, our steps will not falter and He will be there to hold us in His arms.

Lent,6th S,April10,11

Lent,6thS,April 10,11

Lent 6^th S, April 10,11

(Jn.10:11-18)

We are gathered today under the shadow of the passing away of our beloved Major Archbishop, Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil.

To all those who knew him, he was a man of inestimable love and openness. The concern and sensitivity he showed to the people who visited him are unmatchable. Through his words and actions he brought the love of Jesus to heal and comfort every one who felt hurt and put down. The transparency and openness he exhibited in his life can never be forgotten. Words of love and concern tumbled down from his lips. His monastic simplicity and loving concern were evident to every one who came into contact with him. He was a genuine shepherd to his people.

Today as we reflect on the words of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, we can find a good example of that shepherding in the life of our Major Archbishop.

God as a Shepherd is a concept that is familiar to every Jewish heart. Jesus in today’s Gospel evokes all those loving and comforting images when He tells his listeners that he is the Good Shepherd and he would lay down his life for the sheep. It is not just green pastures and water that he is offering. He is offering Himself and all that is implied by that sacrifice.

The Israelites were very familiar with the lives of shepherds and they were aware that a real shepherd would recognize his sheep and the sheep would also recognize his voice. It was a custom in those days for sheep belonging to different shepherds to be enclosed together in one pen. Each shepherd would call his sheep and the sheep would recognize his voice and go out with him. Using that image, Jesus reminds his listeners that He is close to His followers and that He would sacrifice his life for them.

This parable of the Good Shepherd gives us hints of the warmth of the love that Jesus has for his followers.

Jesus is our Savior and He will guide us through the right paths. He will protect us from our enemies. He will comfort us in our troubled times. He will be with us in our most vulnerable moments. He will carry us in his arms when it is difficult for us to walk the paths of life. His love will always envelop us.

During the season of Lent, we become very much aware of the suffering and death of Jesus for our salvation. We become once more reminded of the immense love that Jesus has for each one of us. He will never abandon us and will always be with us in the darkest moments of our lives.

The parable also is a reminder to each one of us to become good shepherds to our neighbors. We are given different tasks in our lives. We interact with so many people in our lives. We can be distinctively different in those daily interactions. We can pour the oil of love and comfort into our dealings with people. To be a caring husband, a loving father, or a sensitive administrator is something that we can do in our lives. People will recognize then that we are different.

Can we be good shepherds to the people who are entrusted to our care? There is a beautiful novel written by Tony Hendra called, ”Father Joe: the Man Who Saved My Soul.” Fr. Joe, a Benedictine Monk was the constant in his life during all the troubled times of his life. When his marriage failed and when he became a failure in his journalistic profession as well as in personal life, he went to Fr. Joe asking him the permission to join the monastery. Joe told him to go back and become a better husband and a better father to his children.

Yes, we can be good shepherds. Our family life and our life in the community will undergo a sea change if we can turn out to be loving and caring to those who are entrusted to our care.

Lent 5th S,April3,11

Lent 5^th S, April 3,11

(Jn.8:12-20)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about his identity with God the Father and speaks of himself as the Light of the World, the Savior, who has come to redeem mankind. He calls upon his listeners to understand His identity and commit themselves to Him.

The inner area of the Temple contained three Courts. The Easternmost court was the Court of the Women and it contained the Temple treasury. During the Feast of Tabernacles when all the Jews were expected to come to Jerusalem and live in booths, remembering the time they spent in the desert, the Temple would be illuminated with lights and torches. Those lights also reminded them of their expectation of the coming of the Christ.

It is in the background of the lights, standing near the Treasury, during the festival days of the Feast of the Tabernacles, that Jesus announces himself as the Light of the world and asks his listeners to accept this light and not to walk in darkness.

The listeners are earthbound and they do not understand that Jesus is proclaiming himself as the Christ, the hope of their lives and the fulfillment of their dreams. Instead of opening the eyes of their minds and seeing Jesus as the Christ, they begin to question him as to his origin, identity etc. Jesus uses their own legal requirements (Dt.17:6) to show that he is not revealing these great truths on his own authority only but also on the authority of the God the Father. The Father is also testifying on his behalf through the works he is doing and the words he is uttering. To their query as to where his Father is, Jesus tells them that seeing him is seeing the Father. He and the Father are one. He reveals, thus, his identity with God the Father.

But their eyes remain closed. They do not want to accept the news of the salvation. They are unwilling to commit themselves to Jesus.

What does this passage mean for us? Is Jesus the light of our lives? Are we willing to walk in the light of our faith? Are we willing to commit ourselves to Jesus or are we looking for excuses to refuse to commit ourselves to Him?

The decision is ours to make. It is a personal decision. We have to make a choice. We have to decide whether we want to live according to the teachings of the Lord or according to the teachings of the world. Our commitment to Jesus would involve dramatic changes in our outlooks.

Often we don’t enjoy peace and joy in our lives because we are very arrogant and unforgiving. Most of the conflicts in the heart of our families do come from our arrogance and selfishness. We never give God a chance to remake our lives. We never examine our attitudes and decisions in the light of our faith in Jesus.

What is lacking in our lives is this willingness to walk in the light of faith in Jesus Christ. It is sad and disappointing that in spite of the great teachings of Jesus on love and forgiveness, Christians are very remiss in living according to those teachings. Churches and communities, parishes and religious organizations are too much pervaded by the spirit of the world and hence there exist too much division and antagonism among them. We don’t find our people compassionate and forgiving. The compassion and love that come ebbing out of the words of Jesus to the woman caught in adultery “ Don’t sin. I don’t condemn you” are absent from our spiritual vocabulary.

This Lent offers us a golden opportunity to reshape our attitudes and become people of great compassion and love.

Thomas Merton points out beautifully well the impact of love in the following words: “When we love the other, we obtain from God the key to our understanding of who he is and who we are.”

Lent3rd S,March 20,11

Lent 3^rd S, March 20,11

Mt 20:17-28

I am sure you are very familiar with the following words from the inaugural speech from President John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. It was a call for selfless action. A lot of young people, responding to that call, fanned across the poor counties of the world to help them to rise from their economic and educational backwardness. Working for other people became a great and noble call.

Robert Greenleaf’s book on Servant Leadership explains who a great leader is: a good leader is one who strives to enhance the potentials of the people entrusted to his care. Servant leadership is a new definition of leadership. Leadership does not consist in dominance but in helping others to become great.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about leadership among his followers.

Jesus first explains to his disciples the most important phase of his mission. He is referring to his passion, death and resurrection. It is through suffering and crucifixion that he is going to achieve the redemption of the human race. But he will rise up and thus will conquer the forces of death and destruction

It is through suffering for others that He will attain the glory of the Resurrection. Jesus as the leader will suffer for his people. It is the people that are important. He would wash their feet. He would do every thing for them, going all the way to the ultimate sacrifice of his life.

To the apostles, Jesus offers thus a new vision of leadership. The mother of the Zebedees does not grasp the full implications of what Jesus said. She has desires like any other human mother. Her sons who are following Jesus should not end up in their lives without anything. There should be some tangible benefits for their sacrifices. They and the family should get some thing in return. But Jesus offers something intangible which could not be quantified.

We get different roles in life as authorities and mentors. As parents, teachers and priests, how do we discharge our responsibilities? Do we use our positions for our dominance over others or do w e use them for the good of the people entrusted to our care. As parents, do our attempts consist just in promoting our personal glory or are we concerned with the real welfare of the family that is entrusted to our care?

We may experience many hardships in our roles as parents and mentors. People may not appreciate what we are doing. We may suffer failures, financial disasters, loss of jobs etc. We may not be considered great administrators. We may feel despondent in our work because of failures. But we should remember that we are following Jesus. His path to success is through the way of the cross.

Never be afraid of failures. The cross is our road to hope and success.