Pick your battles

 This evening while in prayer it struck me that I ought to share with some young Salesians this advice: Pick your battles. 

With more and more complexities in community life and apostolate, the major hurdle often is lack of communication and discord within the community.  While there is much to be done outside, when there is discord within, there is hardly anything substantial or meaningful achieved elsewhere.  But when there is communion within the community, in spite of and through the internal disagreements and fights, miracles happen! 

In those places where there are people who are well intentioned and hard working, there is also this sort of ego clash that breaks the harmony.  The disagreement is not about the task as such but perhaps about the way of going about. Such and other trivial matters need to be cleverly handled and understood. They are often not the crux of the matter and hence need not - and should not - becomes obstacles for the process of good.  

If the matter is not concerning basic primary principles or values, but only accidentals, one can give in for the greater good rather than fight it out for the trivial matters and miss out doing the greater good.  Hence the need to be prudent to pick one's battles.  Not every battle is to be waged, leave alone won.  Not worth dissipating our energies on the non-essentials.  But if it pertains the core matters of our life and living, and it makes a world of difference to the beneficiaries, then it certainly is worth battling it out.  

Hunger and its impact

 The Indian Express ran the following story yesterday of a kind hearted soul who has initiated a movement to bridge the gap between those wasting food and those sleeping hungry: Neemani Malleshwar Rao, the founder of the initiative, Don't Waste Food. 

A Childhood of Hunger, a lifetime of giving

Nothing glorious or pompous.  Just small steps to making someone's life better.  A journey learnt not from books or after having becoming a billionaire, but drawing inspiration from one's own life and its initial struggles. 

Such are the initiatives that make an impact.  No wonder the movement has spread across some other Indian cities, since its work began here in Hyderabad in 2012.  What began as an impulsive act of distributing excess wedding food that was dumped, to homeless people in the city of Hyderabad, might have appeared impulsive at that moment, but it had its deep roots in Malleshwar's personal life and struggle.  

In short, it is a matter of being open to being moved to action; rather than wait to strike big and then do some good. 

Everyone is leaving!

 An excerpt from the book of Teresia Bosco, on the life and works of Don Bosco... 

As I heard the following passage, I was struck by the first sentence itself! 

Can't you see that everyone is leaving us?

As soon as the work of the Congregation began, the external difficulties ceased and the internal ones began! 

I remember that once, seeing that many people were leaving, I took the liberty of saying to Don Bosco: "Don't you see that everyone is leaving us?" He replied: "God does not need anyone. It is we, his poor creatures, who must be grateful to him because he has called us! If we do not, God will call others, who will listen better to his voice. You will see how the Lord will provide to fill the vacancies! Look, I remember that when at the beginning of the Oratory I was abandoned by everyone, God showed me the church, the house, the clerics, the priests... People would ask me: "Where are they?". And I answered: "They are not there yet, but I can see them.  If you have patience, you too will see all these thing!" I asked: "But what kind of habit would these clerics and priests have?" He replied: "They must have the habit of virtue."  This answer convinced them that he was mad.  But in the meantime, came the Oratory, the church, the porticos, the clerics and the priests.  Then he said: "Don't doubt: we will overcome this difficulty too."

To BE rather than BECOME

Most of the disciples of Christ choose to be with Jesus, not become apostles or own possessions.  They chose Jesus, because they were enamoured by who he was, what he did and how he went about living his life. They chose to BE with him, rather than BECOME someone or something. 

Michael Rua and John Cagliero decided to stay with Don Bosco, not because they wanted to be his successors or bishops or leaders of the Salesian congregation.  They merely felt at home with Don Bosco and wanted to BE like him.  They had no personal agenda, rather they aligned their own aspirations with that of Don Bosco.  

Good to pay attention to this! These individuals who made an impact on the world, chose to BE with their models. Those who decided to stay with the models in order to become something, became politicians or businessmen, not leaders, not models themselves - at least not for the better! 

Chalk to tapes and poles

 Today I have been discussing with various people, about various issues, legal and land matters.  It has been very diverse and complicated.  During one such conversation after supper at table, here in Vijayawada, I remembered an incident nearly four years ago. 

I had just taken charge as the Economer and one day along with Thathi and KP Mathew found myself in Mallepalli, Nalgonda. We were doing a land survey of a plot of land promised to us Salesians.  As I was assisting the surveyor, with his tape and digital pole, at one point I noticed Thathi smiling.  When asked what he was amused at, he replied, "Instead of some chalk you are now holding tapes and poles!" 

Well, at times I chuckle to myself.  From what to where have I come, in these part four years!  From being a teacher of philosophy to a financial administrator! That too with no background whatsoever about matters related to law, land, administration and finance!  That said, do I have any regrets? None at all.  Because I know what I am here for is not to do what I want to, but what God and the Congregation wants me to.  Mine is not to ask what and where, but to do with my whole heart whatever it is that is asked for the good of all, especially the young. 

Coming around

 The luxury of choice in human life is vast and unimaginable.  We make choices every moment of our life. 

From picking up good looking vegetables, to people we choose to marry; from choosing to sleep an extra hour to deciding to quit a high-paying salary.  Even in moments when we seemingly feel we are not making a choice, for in the very act of not choosing either of the options, we CHOOSE not to act!  Whatever it be, each of those choices, has consequences and impact on our life.  

One amusing statement that I recently came across: You buy good potatoes and reject the bad ones. The bad ones return in your life through samosas, chat, burgers, chips...!

Faith as commitment

 I came across this beautiful but challenging narration about faith as commitment... (a reflection by Jijo Jose Manjackal)

It’s a bright morning at Niagara Falls, 1859. The mist is rising, the roar of the waters is deafening and thousands of people are holding their breath. 

A rope - just two inches thick - stretches across the mighty falls. And then he appears: Charles Blondin, the greatest tightrope walker of his time. 

He steps onto that rope one careful step at a time. The crowd gasps - some turn their faces away. Step after step inch after inch and finally, he reaches the other side! 

The people explode in cheers and applause. Blondin turns around and shouts, “Do you believe I can walk back again?” “Yes!” they roar.  

He smiles. “Do you believe I can do it pushing a wheelbarrow?” “Yes!” Then he points to the crowd and asks, “Who will get into the wheelbarrow?” Silence.  No one moved!

 Everyone believed but no one committed! Everyone cheered but no one chose! 

In our Christian life, it’s time to stop cheering from the sidelines and start choosing! 

Faith is not a feeling to admire it is a choice to commit. 

Maximilian Kolbe

 Today we commemorate the feast of Maximilian Kolbe, the saint of the holocaust who offered his life in exchange for that of his fellow prisoner.  

What drives home for me on this day, as I recall his heroic act of sacrifice, is what I remember telling my students years ago:  Dying for Christ is rather easy; what isn't is living like Christians!  

Speaking during a lesson in Anthropology, in the section on human emotions and habits, I recall making this point very emphatically to the students (not that I prepared for it; it was very very extemporary). The Church did not make Kolbe a saint purely because he, at that crucial point of time, offered himself as a substitute to the fellow prisoner.  It is because the Church and we recognise that he could act so, because he was used to it.  Making a choice for the good of the others, placing the other before oneself, being selfless were virtues ALREADY practised and lived by this man.  The act in that prison, was not an on the spur reaction, without thought and preparation. Of course, none immediately.  But certainly he had made placing the other before oneself, a habit; not a once in a way act.  

Maximilian Kolbe could die for his companion (and God) because he LIVED for God and his people!  He didn't have to make a big sacrifice at that point of time; because he had consistently and consciously made such decisions and choices, for long, until that time! 

Most people think that he died of starvation and thirst in the prison; he didn't. He, along with three others (out of the 10) isolated and starved, as a deterrent for the other prisoners to try to escape the prison, survived even after two weeks.  And since the Nazi guards wanted to end this 'lesson' quick and for need of space, decided to end the episode by injecting the lethal injection of carbolic acid.  And so it was that after being deprived of food and water for two weeks, he was administered the carbolic acid injection! 

Generosity

Two essential traits of a Salesian: joy and generosity. Talking to the young Salesians the other day, I told them that it is against these two virtues that they can gauge the authenticity of their vocation. Because these two qualities are purely my own decisions. They are not dependent on someone else or something else. No matter what others say or do, I can choose to be joyful and generous with myself, FOR OTHERS. 

The case of St Mathias, the saint of the day, is a typical example. He was elected into the group of the apostles, purely on his merit of being close to the mission of Christ. Neither before nor after his election would he have changed! I’m sure it would be the same of Justus too, Mathias’ contemporary who too was considered as a possible replacement of Judas. The fact that he did not get elected would certainly not have deterred him from being and doing the good he was already engaged in. 

This is what I call personal commitment to being joyful and generous when it comes to our purpose in life.

Priorities and finance

 We are at the fag end of the academic year and at this time we usually end up our evaluations and look forward to the next academic year... drawing up plans, strategies... (hopefully) based on the evaluation of the present year! 

One of my long standing criticism of our own functioning as a council is that we do not have a list of priorities to guide us.  Most of our decisions, policies and actions are ad hoc, on a day-to-day basis.  The most serious issue with this is that while we do a lot of good, we end up making no significant progress.  It is like running on a treadmill and expecting to reach the next town!!  Only when we have a clear set of priorities that guide us in our decision-making, and everyone, every sector, every community, also works towards the SAME priorities, albeit in their own ways, can we actually gauge the progress. 

The other challenge that I face is the unhappy marriage of priorities and finances.  I understand that procuring finances can be one of our priorities; but if a priority is linked up so badly to finances, that without the budgeted amount, the priority will not be achievable at all, then my question is 'Is that a priority at all?'  Because a priority is something that is a cause of grave concern, and if overcoming that is entirely based on finances, then finance is a priority, not the concern itself!! 

Even if finances are required (certainly so), they are to be planned for.  It is not that I have a priority to be addressed and someone else should give me the funds for it!! The procurement of the needed funds too is part of the lines of action, addressing the priority concern. 

Last, but perhaps the most important point: in religious life, most of our priorities are (supposed to be) spiritual needs or concerns.  Even if speaking of priorities in our active apostolate, we are gifted with extensive expertise, years of formation and an army of fellow confreres and having all of these yet to wait for money to start (and do) some priority tasks is a sin! We do not turn these gifts into tools and means.  When that does not happen, I question if we do have priorities at all? 

Medical tourism

The latest and growing trend is that of 'medical tourism'.  There seems to be some confreres who are eternally obsessed with their health.  So much so, any sneeze or scratch is blown out of proportion to be related to some life-threatening ailment.  

Then there are those who wish, by any and all means, to visit every doctor and stream of medicine available, anywhere in the country, at any costs to address the same health concern.  Thus we have confreres who visit every ayurvedic therapy centre in Kerala, then return and within two months visit another therapeutic centre in another part of Kerala, and in another two months visit an orthopaedic centre in some part of Telangana, and all this while continue taking the strong doses of medicine prescribed by their first doctor whom they visited two years ago (but never again even mentioned to him about the rest of the medical journey)! 

On the other end of the spectrum are some who stubbornly refuse to visit any medical centre, even though they have some serious health issues which need medical intervention.  

Add to this list the growing cases of mental well-being and health issues.  Of course, some of the above issues are mostly because of mental imbalances!! 

The most comic angle of this scenario is that most (not all) of those 'sick' and expecting medical attention, are the first and most to travel places... any distance, any time, by any mode, for no significant reason!  

Reflection on experience

Last week, while in Goa the emphasis of the workshop and meeting was on focusing on the impact of our work, rather than carrying out charity in old mode of merely doling out.  The effort (or rather, the demand of donors and benefactors) to show how our work would impact the society, rather than merely do some good is indeed a challenge.  

While not everything in life can be measured in terms of quantifying an impact, the stress on making every effort be geared towards an impact (long term wider and deeper process initiation) can never be discounted or disregarded. 

One tangible and necessary strategy of adapting an impact-focused effort is the personal discipline of REFLECTION on EXPERIENCE.  Everyday we undergo so much in life.  There are so many experiences we gain.  But unless and until we are willing to REFLECT on those - if not all, at least some, and that too seriously - we tend to miss out on a very valuable means of growth, of training, of formation! 

A sincere reflection, I believe, will lead me to make sensible CHOICES.  And a string of consistent and bold choices invariably lead to better CHARACTER.  

Religious life and bitterness

I returned home yesterday from a visit to a few of our communities in the Vijayawada-Guntur region.  Add to that my daily quota of phone calls from confreres expressing their difficulties and issues.  All this makes me wonder, if only we are able to find and celebrate those reasons that bind and unite us than thrive in meticulously finding reasons to fight and differ from one another.  

In each community there are SO MANY factors and possibilities that can bring us together.  Yet time and again, we choose to see the few frailties and shortcomings of one another and harp on them to such an extent that neither do I do anything worthwhile nor do I let others do any good.  Together we spend our time, energy and passion in tearing down one another!  

I know there is no magical formula to better the situation.  But I truly wonder, if after years of formation and training, this is what we end up as, then there is something wrong in our priorities or methodology.  

This image truly expresses my present feeling and experience! 

Tying our own feet...

More than ever, I've come to realise that the more we invest in infrastructure, the more we are tying down our own selves, especially in terms of our apostolate. With our ever increasing craze to build structures, even with already built buildings lying idle or under utilised, we tend to push for newer buildings. 

The skewed logic being: We needed the space, so we built. But over the years, the numbers are constantly dwindling and in quite a few places we hardly have any resident students or boarders. And since the building is there, we feel the need to fill it up with children. Even if the need isn't that or has totally changed.  So the reason for staying behind and doing the same work as before is that there is the building!!  

I'm reminded of an incident in Hollywood which struck me very deeply...Ward Kimball was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios in the 1930’s. He was on the team for the first full-length animated feature by the Disney studio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

He spent 240 days working on a single four-and-a-half-minute scene. In that scene, the dwarfs were cooking a meal for Snow White, and he covered every detail. When the time came, to review the film, Walt Disney personally reviewed the scene and commented: “That scene is hilarious. It’s terrific.” 

Then, he added, “But, I think it interrupts the flow of the movie so we need to cut it out!” 

So off went that scene - 240 days of immense work, scrapped in order to preserve and enhance, the greatness of the film! 

I wish we had that courage and vision of Ward Kimball to be able to see the greater picture and adapt accordingly, however painful it may be. 

I managed to get a clip of the same production... 

Flying kites

 The last I flew a kite was when I was studying in Divyadaan, Nashik... way back in 1999. It is after 25 years that I again had the joy of flying kites the other day at Mothinagar.  For the last three years I have kept telling myself that I need to again fly kites, but never managed to get to the terrace to actually fly one. Even though I collected some kites every year!! 

So when the opportunity presented itself while at Mothinagar, I did not hesitate or feel shy! The next day, back in the Provincial house I walked to the nearest shop and purchased a charka and thread, since I had a good collection of kites which I had gathered from the terrace for the last couple of days.   

Last Sunday had the joy of flying one with Willy and Anet.  However, Anet couldn't get her head around the notion and act of standing in the sun and holding on to a thread!  So, while flying the kite, she sat down in the shade and asked, 'How long do I have to do this?'  I guess likes and preferences differ. Perhaps I'd have asked the same question if I were riding a horse, and she'd be dumb-founded at that question!!!

The partial God and gender equality

Christianity has always upheld the notion that God does not have favourites. That he loves and cares for everyone equally.  However, the origin and evolution of Christianity proves otherwise.  

Right since the beginning of God's intervention in human history, as per Christian tradition, God has always been on the side of a particular group or nation.  The old testament is a fitting proof that Yahweh always preferred Israel over and above all other nations and people.  He was on their side, against the Egyptians (when in exile), against the Canaanites (on their return), against the Jebusites (on behalf of David)... Yahweh always chose the Israelites.  

Even in the new testament we see this continued privilege of Israel.  Jesus, the son of God is born a Jew.  In Israel.  For that matter, Jesus himself was partial all his life.  He took the side of the poor (against the rich), the religious ignorants (against the religious authorities of his times), the Jews (rather than side with the political rulers of the time, the Romans).  None of his chosen twelve was a non-Jew.  He barely preached outside Israel or to any non-Jews.  Rather his treatment of Syro-pheonecian woman can always be used as an example to prove his preferential option of the Jews, over non-Jews.  

However, there is one thing common among the many preferential choices that God made all along history.  He chose to be on the side of the poor, the underdogs, the marginalised, the weak and the oppressed.  He stood by those who needed support and guidance.  Who by themselves would not have been able to make it.  So that makes me wonder, if his choice of men alone for the chosen twelve or for active apostolate, was an indicator of who was the weaker gender.  Who it is that needed support and accompaniment?  Going by God's preferential choices and the reason for that choice, it certainly looks as if he considered woman as the more stronger and able gender!  If there was someone who needed to be guided and supported it was the man!!  So much for thinking that man is the superior of the two sexes!!  

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! 

Understanding: person and/or issue?

A hungry homeless man approaches a well-dressed gentleman on the road and asks for alms or something to eat.  The gentleman with great concerns asks the other person why is he begging when he could earn something in a dignified manner.  The other person then narrates to him his sad state of affairs and unfortunate turn of events.  Given the pandemic and its domino effect, the gentleman does not need further proofs to understand the genuineness of this poor guy.  After listening to him and his sad state of affairs, the gentleman spends a few moments in silent reflection and then with great concern and passion lays bare the root causes of the plight of the poor man.  And after a really acute analysis of the situation, he assures the poor man that he will do something about the root causes and goes on his way.  Perhaps he does initiate procedures and policies that address the issue of hunger and homelessness. 

In another instance, the same hungry homeless man approaches a woman with the same request: alms or some food.  The woman listens to his story and then understanding the case to be genuine, buys him the same lunch that she ordered for herself.  She even recommends him to a particular location where homeless people are offered free shelter for a limited period.  And she goes on her way.  She does not really get into the long term issues of hunger and homelessness.  

The gentleman in the first instance understood the issue;  and sought to address it.  He did not feel the need to understand the person.  The lady in the second instance understood the person and did not bother about the underlying issue.  

Most of us would root for the lady rather than the gentleman.  That's typically a Christian virtue.  But even the gentleman's approach is also needed.  Our christian virtue somehow 'prevents us' from aiming big, addressing the basic issues.  (That's my take on the unfinished parable of the Good Samaritan).  

However, my interest here was the notion of understanding:  What matters most, understanding the person or the issue?  Why does understanding the person somehow feel 'better' than understanding the issue?  After all, there was constructive action in both instances.  If the lady used her heart to understand the poor guy, can we still call it understanding?  Is it not compassion?  Is not understanding related to the head, concepts, ideas, knowing?  

What's my real need?

 The first reading of the day offers us a glimpse of why and on what basis was Jesus' coming as messiah read - or misinterpreted - by the people of His time. That he was looked upon as a saviour, a political liberator of the Jews from the rule of the Romans should not come as a surprise given the history of what the Jews have all along been fed.  

The reading from the book of Judges tells of the circumstances in which Samson is born and what the angel tells his mother prior to his conception and birth... 

"As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines."

Moreover I do understand the angst of the Jews, especially those who felt burdened by the yoke of the Romans - and perhaps their own religious elders.  One would naturally want to be delivered and saved from such an existential risk and danger, than seek spiritual emancipation. Given this situation, spiritual emancipation appears more of a luxury in comparison to the basic question of survival posed by other existential circumstances.  To a person on the brink of starvation, if one were to offer a choice between food and the Eucharist, what would the person choose?  I certainly would choose food.  That the Eucharist is also food, and all that theology comes only later.  Not at that moment of extreme hunger and need.  

Choice

The liturgical commemoration of today and tomorrow are very much related.  Today we have John the Baptist who loses his head (literally) for standing up to what he believes to be true and right.  Tomorrow we have Jeremiah complaining to Yahweh that he cannot resist him!! Try as he may, he cannot but speak His word and be a prophet.  

One thing common in both John the Baptist and Jeremiah, is that they end up paying a heavy price for their adherence to what they believe as true.  Like Jeremiah, there could have been moments in the life of John too when he could have just walked away.  Given up all that he felt deep within, and taken the easy path - the path chosen by most people, anyway!  None would have noticed. None would have accused him of 'being normal'. Yet, neither of them gives in to that temptation, that desire, that feeling.  They continue living a life, not really chosen by them but they find themselves embracing it none the same! 

Rationally this is difficult to explain.  They did not choose to be the 'odd ones out' in the first place.  But by carrying on, are they really consenting to that life-style?  Surely there is more than the mind here at play.  Difficult to get the mind around it.  The heart finds its way!