The grumpy prophet

 Among the old testament prophets, Jonah is the one with whom one can relate to most easily.  He is a common man, called upon by Yahweh for a particular purpose.  Initially reluctant and lazy but then relents.  However, the very fact that Yahweh calls him does not 'purify' him of his human inclinations.  He carries with him his basic human qualities right to the end. 

After the episode at sea and having spent three days in the belly of the fish, he decides to go to Nineveh and tell the people there God's message, not out of fear or conviction but more out of guilt.  Once his job is done he expects to see the fulfilment of God's prophecy.  Not seeing God send out his wrath, he feels dishonoured and his work disrespected.  He sulks.  His self-centredness (not selfishness) prevents him from seeing the larger picture unfold.  

In and through the ups and downs of Jonah it is easy to miss one of the central messages of the narration: God changes!  The only difference between God changing his mind and heart and Jonah's change is that the change is brought about for the good of the other.  God relents from sending down his wrath on the people of Nineveh because he sees them repent and take responsibility for their lives.  Jonah fails to see the struggle of Nineveh because his focus energy is all trained on his own work and struggle.  

Listening

 Today's inspiration... 

I guess that is what distinguishes a wise person from a teacher or a learned person... the ability to listen.  Not just hear, but listen with an open mind and a generous heart.  

Of late I've realised my nephew tends to speak longer to me over the phone.  Earlier he barely spoke to me.  But since the time I appreciated and showed some interest in his activities and learning skills he has begun to compete with my niece for 'his time' with me!!  And my niece, not to be outdone, at least for the time spent, goes on and on about stuff I barely can make sense of.  The temptation is to cut her off and end the conversation.  But I know if I do that she is going to interpret it as my disinterestedness in her 'achievements'.  So I listen.  And am happy with that time spent with them, because I know that time is not wasted but invested in a relationship.  Worthy every bit!  

The right question

 Teaching someone is always a learning experience... that has always been my personal and profound experience. Perhaps that is also the reason I love teaching... I learn! 

Helping someone navigate the ocean of the world web, I found myself repeatedly asking them the question, what is it that you are looking for?  Without a clear and definitive answer to the question, I knew no progress would be possible.  And everytime I asked the person that question, I found it echoing back to me!!!  What is it that I'm looking for??  The more I tried to explain the necessity of being definite and clear about the purpose of one's exploration, the more I felt I'm telling myself!  

Scented hyacinth

 Scented hyacinth flowers in full bloom... 

Virtual walk

Two years ago I was happy to have joined the Student Cross Holy week walk from Ely to Walsingham. I didn't have a pair of walking shoes then.  But ordinary pair of shoes I had did not fail me. So after Easter that year, I bought myself a pair of walking shoes, of course, with the intent of using them the following year. Unfortunately there was no walk organised last Lent - thanks to Covid! So I had the shoes but no walk!!  

Well this year, during a meeting with the Catholic Society of the University, just before Ash Wednesday, they spoke of a virtual Camino walk as part of the Lenten practices.  My mind immediately went to the Student Cross that I'd been happy to join.  Well, when a door closes, a window opens!! So why not join this 'virtual' walk??  Will chip in with what I can, whenever I can! But I will! 

 For more details about the walk and the neighbourly intent behind this Camino walk, click here.

Left hand and right hand

Very often when I hear the verse from St Matthew, that we had as part of the Gospel yesterday... 

When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing... 

I'm reminded of Doms, from our Yercaud days!  While he could really play the guitar very well, in the playground his hand and leg coordination was more comical than playful!  His antics during our football game were hilarious! Even then he was always the livewire - the heart and soul of all activity.  

Those good old Retreat (Yercaud) days!!

Giving up for giving

It is one thing to fast when one has plenty to eat and choose from and totally another when one has nothing to eat in the first place!  I think if we are to build up the triadic relationship with God, the other and myself, we need to graduate from merely 'giving up' to 'giving' - with a spiritual intent.  In that way, all three are involved: we are doing it for God, benefitting the neighbour or the needy and helping oneself too in this whole process. 

While 'giving up' has its merits, it is lesser than 'giving' because it ends up with me alone!  Or at the most God and me!  There could be a laissez faire effect wherein the needy benefit but when I decide to share with the other what I've denied myself, then the good reaches the other directly and instantly.  

Christmas humour

 Not the most appropriate liturgical season to think about, but humour is timeless... 

Faith is personal; not private

 Faith is personal, but not private.  It is the intimate relationship that we have with God but not something exclusive.  That relationship includes the other as well.  If it does not then it is private!! 

The gospel of the day, from St Matthew (6: 1-6, 16-18) wherein Jesus tells his disciples about praying and fasting in secret, rather than making a big show of it, tells us precisely of this triadic relationship we Christians are called to live. 

This passage can be interpreted as a private relationship with the Father... 

But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

But God does not want us to be so exclusively bound to him that we do not care or bother about those around us. We pray in secret, but not for ourselves!! My relationship with the Father flows out through me into the world.  It does not end begin and end with God and myself!! 

The OT floods then and the ecological crisis today

The story of Noah and the flood is an interesting insight into the mind of God and the early historians who wrote that part of the Bible.  There is God frustrated with the evil of man.  He is driven to such a point as to do a complete 'formatting' of his creation.  

What is interesting is that due to the evil of the human beings, even the rest of creation is wiped out!  The animals, and birds, and reptiles did no wrong.  They did not sin.  It was basically the humans who fell out with God and his initial plans.  So why destroy them? The humans deserved punishment and only they should have been eliminated.  

I think there is a parallel for this in the new testament when Jesus speaks of the parable of the wheat and the darnel.  The farmer realising that uprooting the weed would actually harm the wheat, lets them all grown and at harvest, everything is cut up.  There is no selective elimination.  God even if he wanted couldn't have wiped out the human race alone, without in some way affecting the rest of creation. 

The present ecological crisis of climate change that we are coming to terms with offers another perspective of the OT narrative. Perhaps it is not God who risked the lives of all the other creatures.  Perhaps it was actually the greed and sin of human beings that caused the extinction of the rest of creation.  God only tried to salvage what could be.  For one who created the world, from nothing in the first instance, it would not have been a great challenge to do it again.  But in spite of what humanity did to the rest of creation, God was keen to preserve as much as possible - two or seven pairs of creatures, not just one like that of the humankind! God didn't destroy the rest of creation - human beings had already done it by that point! 

What's language for?

 What's the ultimate purpose or need of language for us human beings? 

The most common answer I guess would be communication.  But the ultimate need?  I am slowly come to the conviction, it is for meaning.  Our basic search for meaning is what propels our tryst with language.  It is not communicating meaning, but seeking meaning.  

Meandering

Our journey in and through language is not merely consistently adopting the Constitutive or the designative approach, it is actually weaving in and out of each that makes us human. Not a fixated stagnant deepening but wild meandering through all of it. 

Belonging to God - a grace, not a reward

 I found the 'Collect' of this morning's commemorative Mass of St Bakitha very disturbing and in fact quite wrong!  The opening lines of the prayer read: 

O God, who led Saint Josephine Bakhita from abject slavery to the dignity of being your daughter and a bride of Christ, grant we pray, that by her example, we may.... 

It sounds as if she had to get out of slavery to become a child of God!!  That's atrocious!  No state of our life or circumstances in our living, and most certainly not of our own making, can prevent us from being a child of God.  At times our own choices and decisions strain our relationship with God but never does one have to become something in life in order to then become a child of God.  Being a child of God is not a reward, it is a grace - freely given and part of our nature.  

Pandemic Passover Mass

In the old testament there is the description of the Passover meal and the way the Israelites were told by the angel to eat the passover meal... 

This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover (Exodus 12:11).

Well Mass today was very close to this pattern: 

With a mask on the face, shoes on the feet and with no pause in between any sections; no homily, no sign of peace or any mention of the feast either.  Finish in haste and make a dash for the door.  It is the Pandemic Mass.

For when and what?

The pandemic and the resulting lockdowns have brought forth the otherwise hidden selves of our personalities in community life.  While acknowledging that this situation is not something one ever planned or prepared for, it offers us a glimpse into ourselves... as to what exactly are we made up of. 

Most confreres I know have been daring in reaching out to those in need.  Some even being reckless.  But most have been genuinely concerned more about others, especially those struggling and seeking ways of reaching out to them in whatever manner possible.  Some however, have retreated into a cocoon.  

As for me, as religious, this is the opportunity to be at the forefront and assist.  Certainly not a moment to retreat and hide. Most certainly to offer spiritual and pastoral care to those who need it, in being inventive in that.  But also being outgoing in other ways - joining hands with others who are already out there helping others, without having made any public profession vows or specially anointed.  If at this time of need we don't venture out and be of assistance, then when?  For what are we preserving our health for?  And why?  What am I afraid of?  And most importantly, whom is it that I really love?

Remembering those gone before us

On the first of every February we Salesians remember the deceased members of our Salesian family.  I always felt there couldn't have been a better day to do this than immediately after the feast of Don Bosco.  Of course, we remember those gone before us on their anniversary or birthday and again collectively during our annual retreats, but this commemoration has always been special for me.  It is a nice way of saying 'Thank you' to all those who professed and committed themselves to God and the young and poured out themselves in their own unique Salesian ways in God's Kingdom.  

A collage of the souvenirs of deceased Salesians and Sisters
of this GBR Salesian Province

Among those whom I know and heard, I am grateful for all those with whom I had the good fortune of living and working with.  Specially remember those I've been greatly inspired by ... Fr John Lens and Fr Ronald Menezes, among the many others!