Being unambitious

 Last night it struck me that in religious life, ambition has no place.  Ambition in the sense of personal ambition, wherein I am both the focus and reason. 

Being the Economer of the province I have asked myself right at the beginning, if I have any plans and ambitions to be achieved during my term in office. Plans, yes. Ambition, no!  

The biggest difference between ambition and commitment, I feel is when the ego comes into picture and worse still (or always is the case) at the cost of the other.  And as a Salesian religious, if God and the poor, the young are not the focus and reason of my every thought, word and action, then I'm not a genuine religious at all.  The yeast is to leaven the flour and ultimately become bread, not to stand out as yeast apart from the bread!  

Strangely enough, the first reading of today, as we commemorate the feast of St Francis de Sales is this: working for peace and justice, instead of being filled with jealousy and ambition. 

Work outside the office

 One common sight outside and around Government offices in India is the multiple photocopying shops. Outside any and every government office and even courts, there invariably mushroom numerous shops which basically claim to be photocopying or printing documents.  In reality everyone knows they are basically agents or mediators who facilitate the work for citizens.  

This task of mediation, middlemen doing the running around and seeing to the documentation, and approval of various needs, is a very amusing task - as long as it is not your task that is being done.  Watching these men - and at times, women - glide through the various desks of the actual officials who are appointed by the government to do the job is no less an entertainment than watching a movie in a theatre.  These men and women know the nitty-gritties of the task, the person whom to approach, the procedure that needs to be followed, the amount to be paid (officially and unofficially), the duration (goes without saying that money always speeds up the process) and in a way actually decide the final outcome of one's petition.  

It is interesting to note that these 'agents' know well the officials and the officials know these people too.  Going by oneself, without the aid of the agent, through the process is an option, but the final outcome is not guaranteed or duration never calculable.  Even when the whole process is made digital or online, the tasks of these middlemen is no less or reduced. 

In a true sense, the official work of the governmental offices is carried out outside in these petty shops and in the bylanes surrounding the office.  All said and done, what actually culminates the whole process is the seal and signature of the official inside the office!

Echo prayer

 That community living and life is one of the most challenging components of religious life is a known fact.  For someone living it, knows this fact more tangibly.  

Even a simple and uncontroversial act of praying together, the moments of community prayer, can become a source of conflict or disagreement.  It is said that during the life of St Theresa of Child Jesus, she loved to pray in silence while in the Chapel.  But there seems to have been a companion of hers in the convent who sat close to her and invariably made odd noises or chewed her finger nails.  This irritated St Theresa very much; yet she smiled at her without any grudge or anger every time this companion distracted her. Taking that smile as a positive sign, the companion continued her mannerism thinking that Theresa liked it!!  

Our community speed of reciting the prayers can also be one great source of distraction and at times be irritating as well.  No matter how slow you recite the prayers, there is someone who always 'echoes' the prayer, meaning he is reciting it slower than you!!! So there is this perpetual echo during common prayers!  

At first I thought it is because of his poor eyesight that he is unable to read fast and is therefore repeating after all of us, but I soon realised that the 'echoing' is also for common prayers like the 'Our Father' as well!! So it is not about eyesight but a common sight! 

Nonetheless, at times I also find asking myself this question: If I'm so distracted by this 'echo prayer', how invested is my prayer in the person with and for whom I am praying?  

Until the lion learns to write

 

The living Eucharist

 Yesterday I came across two pieces of information and news that seemingly are unrelated, but to me appeared very VERY much connected.  

One was a letter written by a Bishop in Maharashtra, denouncing the desecration of a school chapel and that the miscreants had taken away the sacred host from the tabernacle.  He therefore appealed to the Catholic faithful to conduct an adoration service in order to restore the blessed Sacrament.  

The other incident that is still unfolding in a nearby state of the country is that of the death/murder of a teenager in Patna.  An 18 year old student was found dead in her hostel. Initially it was declared as suicide and now it is revealed that she was brutally raped and murdered!  

Is not the life of this teenager as sacred and worthy of respect as the Holy Communion?  ("You are the temple of the holy Spirit") I am right now struggling to come to terms with these incidents - more so, with our response to these incidents! I don't know... but I'm feeling very very disturbed and uncomfortable.