Creation lessons

The creation story in the Bible has God working six days of the week and on the seventh day, taking rest. There is from then on, this whole lord of the work vs lord of rest debate.  Interestingly the Lord works six days and rests only one day... after admiring all the good he has done.  In general, we tend to focus on the final day of rest as special, important.  So Sunday is always special.  It is holy day.  

Let's look at it from the creation's perspective.  I think there was nothing special about the day.  From the work and creation perspective it was a break.  A pause.  A time to recuperate, rejuvenate, revive.  Not just the Lord, the creator but creation as well.  

As for the debate between the lord of work vs the lord of prayer... we need to primarily keep in mind, that ultimately it is the same Lord!!  

St Joseph, the worker

 We remember St Joseph, the worker today. It is interesting to note that the one thing (among many others, I'm sure) that Jesus learned from Joseph was basic carpentry! The hymn during the prayers has this particular verse which is very interesting... 

And surely 'twas a gracious thing 

when, standing at his father's knee, 

The world's great Craftsman and its King

Not king but craftsman learned to be. 

True indeed, if Jesus were to have learned carpentry from God the Father, it would have only been through some magic. But here he had the opportunity to learn firsthand from someone who knew his craft.  

Tributes to one's dad

It has been a while now, since I came across these two songs... both of them about the figure of the father in the family, especially from the perspective of the child.  Two very beautiful and moving tributes to their respective Dads... Very very meaningful and heartfelt, deep from one's own personal experience. 

Jax - Like my father loves my mom

I wanna come home to roses, 

Dirty little notes on post-its

And when my hair starts turning grey,

He'll say I'm like fine wine, better with age.

I guess I learnt it from my parents,

that true love starts with friendship

A kiss on the forehead, a date night

fake an apology after a fight.

I need a man, who's patient and kind

Gets out of the car and holds the door

I wanna slow dance, in the living room like 

we're 18 at senior prom and grow old with someone 

who makes me feel young 

I need a man, who loves me like ...

my father who loves my mom! 

The other one is about a son expressing his anguish at his dad's serious illness. 

Dean Lewis - How do I say goodbye...

How do I say goodbye 

to someone who's been with me for my whole damn life 

you gave me name and the colour of my eyes

I see your face when I look at mine

So how do I say goodbye

An eternal work-in-progress

During my last visit home, looking around the garden, it struck me that it was 'work-in-progress'.  That was nothing different or surprising, but what hit me hard was the realisation that it always - ever since my childhood - has been so!!  An eternal 'work-in-progress'.  The whole of it; all the time!

All my time at Chertsey, I took care of the garden of the house. Looking back even that garden was a w-i-p!  No sooner that I left, Godwill took it up and John sent me some photos of the transformed garden - it was so beautiful. Perfect. No more w-i-p!!  

I think there is some strange tendency among us - should I say, Indians or particularly gardeners - to never ever achieve completion.  Looking further back, at our gardens and farms in Mangalore or in the Province, nowhere are they complete.  They are always 'under construction'.  All of it. Not just some part of it, but all of it, all the time!  

I think it is basically an art or style of functioning.  We always have work to do!! There is always something that needs to be done.  And it can never ever be completed!  

Vocation camp

 Being present for the first day of the vocation camp at Karunapuram, brought back memories of my own first vocation camp in Gunadala.  The travel from Hyderabad to Gunadala, I have no memory of, but certainly the return journey is vivid in my mind.  I travelled back with Fr Balaswamy and Fr Anand.  Charlie was the driver of the jeep!  

The excitement of settling in the dormitory, the first family get together... The excitement of the cricket match, wherein I took a hatrick of wickets, for which Fr Gnanam - then a brother and the umpire of the match - congratulating me).  The sharing of food in the dining hall, a totally new experience, because back at home all of us were used to being served by our mothers, so none of us at the table had any clue of proportion and distribution!  Washing the utensils was not in our dictionary at all, leave alone cleaning the table after meals.  

The one aspect that I liked most of this particular camp in Karunapuram was the fact that two-thirds of the participants were boys from our own settings - something very very rare all these years!  These boys knew 'Don Bosco', felt at home with Salesians.  That's something really really good.  It is an indicator that we Salesians are doing some good. Irrespective of their desire to join us or not,  the very fact that they choose to attend the vocation camp is encouraging!

Expectations, involvement and rights

 We recently concluded the Provincial Chapter of the Province.  Personally I'd invested myself in the questionnaires in the preparation of the same.  I was keen to do so.  However, I did not pin my hopes to the Chapter itself achieving much.  I purposely did not expect much to happen.  Doing so, has really helped me accept the fact as it is.  I get agitated if planned events and processes do not yield proportionate results. So for this time, I didn't raise my level of expectation. In fact, I didn't have any expectations at all.  

On the other hand, looking back at the whole process and event itself, I ask myself what is the most significant aspect that we learnt from the Chapter? What is it that we take forward from there?  Unfortunately there isn't anything worthwhile!  One chief reason is that collectively, we avoided and left out the most pertinent aspects and were happy to get involved and excited about the trivial!  We dissipated our time and energies on the peripherals, without letting ourselves be challenged by the core values or issues.  

And then, looking at myself... I should acknowledge I've no much right to complaint because I did not actually let myself get involved in the common effort - personal, very much - but not the collective part. I should have drawn our attention to those important aspects - although I did just a couple of times, but only when I felt really exasperated.  So I honestly cannot give myself the right to grumble either!  

Reading

At times there's so much of negativity around that I too feel cramped and agitated.  But from experience I also am well aware that it is not the negativity without that makes me feel so.  It is only that from within that can really affect me.  So I ask myself why is it that I feel so from within?  

One definite reason is my lack of reading.  Of late, my reading time and range has fallen - fallen abysmally!  That workload has increased is true. So has the diversity of works.  But that's only an excuse. The biggest challenge now is WHAT to read!  There's no dearth of reading material, but what is it that I need to pick up.  If I take up something related to my work, I'm still "working", not really relishing the work.  It is as if I'm forcing myself to get the job done, rather than see it as some good done.  

Nonetheless, need to start.  

To see me, but not me!

"To have seen me is to have seen the Father!"

Jesus is very confident of himself.  That to know him is actually to not know him, but the Father.  He knows that there is nothing in him that obstructs anyone looking at him from being able to see his Father.  He is so transparent that one interacting with him is actually interacting with the Father himself.  Nothing in him that limits the one interacting with him to see Jesus alone.  All of what he does and is, is a reflection of the Father.  

I wonder how many of us will be able to say that same of oneself.  In all honesty and sincerity.  "To have lived and worked with me is to have seen Jesus or God himself!" 

Decadence of religious life

 A certain sign of decadence in religious life is when one notices that religious are very excited and passionate about their personal needs, far more than the needs of others... worse is when the pain and need of the poor and even those whom we take care of, goes unnoticed, while what takes precedence is my own need and comfort.  

I know that taking care of oneself is a virtue.  But when that supersedes, the needs of others, especially those entrusted to my care, then one can be sure that one is living a life far off from the most basic elements of religious life. 

I remember past years when most of the confreres would fight and argue, all about expenses and finances, but for the mission - the poor children, boarders, scholarships for children, poor families in the parish, struggling youngsters in the ITI... They would be highly upset if they receive no support or understanding for their works.  But the latest trends are for the same finances and expenses, albeit the focus is not the youngster, but oneself!!  That's anything but religious life! 

Loosing the plot?

 Since the last couple of months, life has been hectic - more than usual and very much lopsided.  It has been a whole lot of wrangling with legal processes, around courts, police stations and related matters.  Not that I'm unwilling to take it head on or am sceptical about the results.  It is just that the time, energy and concentration these matters drain makes me feel unable to envision and pursue the bigger picture!  It is as if, I'm struggling to see the ultimate why of it all.  At the same time, I know it is relevant and important.