Consistent constancy

Every time we think or speak of St Monica, it is always in conjunction with St Augustine, her son.  The connection is obvious and therefor easy to make.  Nonetheless, one ought to be able to appreciate her commitment and consistency, rather than what she achieved.  

For someone to be so consistent and committed, one has to either be in love or utterly desperate.  Monica's consistent attachment to her son (and her husband too) is something that we need to celebrate.  She could have very well given up on him - after all, he was no small child or teenager.  But when has a mother ever given up on her children? 

In Monica's loving dedication and optimistic constancy one gets an opportunity to appreciate the same virtues we see in our own mothers. Perhaps we don't always appreciate it, but none can deny (or escape) it! 

Uncompromising Commitment

You cannot play with the animal within you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting the right to the truth, play with cruelty without losing sensitivity of mind. He who would keep his garden clean does not reserve a plot for weeds. 

- Waymarks by Dag Hammarskjold

Someone else's life...

One thing the gentleman who offered me a lift in Bangalore told me was quite true - we religious live as if we are immortal!  We honestly don't have a sense of time and show some urgency about going about with our life and activities.  Somehow we are convinced that there is 'sufficient time'.  He said this is something he realized as an ex-Salesian and now a businessman.  In his present state of life he has deadlines and commitments he cannot afford to miss or jeopardize.  That's his bread and butter. He better not take it lightly.  While for us religious, fine... nothing is really really 'urgent'.

The article that I was reading today had the following line in its conclusion.  An article written by a teenager who owes her life to someone elderly who lost his life in the process of saving her. She speaks of her wayward life earlier and her present state of life wherein she is balancing the guilt/burden and the strength for a renewed life.

When you owe your life to someone, you better live it!  

Reminded me of Don Bosco's promise to his boys, when he begins his recovery after than near fatal illness that almost killed him.

From now on, my life is yours.  I'll dedicate my whole life for you! 

When driven by that commitment one cannot really take things in a lax manner... one cannot afford to have a laid back attitude. It is almost like you've lost your one chance at life and now you're living someone else's life - a sort of second chance at life! 

In between you have to manage!

Rabbi, my friend, send me this quote sometime ago.

You are loved when you were born. You will be loved when you die. In between you have to manage!

I always tell my Brothers, that love, more than an emotion, is a decision. It is a basically a commitment. It is a choice I have to deliberately make very consciously and carefully.  It is not something that just merely happens!  That 'happening by looks or chance' is only some wishful thinking or at the most the introduction to the introduction.  Not love itself.  

Religious polls?

During the Mass that I attended in a Parish today, the Parish Priest, towards the end of the Mass, during the announcements, very warmly exhorted his parishioners to consider voting for only the Catholics who are contesting the Panchayat elections in their respective villages.  His line of argument: we need to have 'our' people in key places and those who will help 'us' in times of need.

I was not sure if I'd issue the same statement if I were in his place.  I'd certainly exhort my people to vote for the most honest and dedicated person contesting the polls, no matter who or where he or she comes from!  Nothing less, nothing more!  

Altar as the fort

Looking at some of the Brothers who take 'refuge' in 'spirituality' and 'piety' and desist and resist anything challenging, I realise that they treat Priesthood as some sort of safe heaven where they will be looked after. The altar is some sort of fort, which once they scale and get in they are protected. The cassock is some sort of a license which grants them easy access to things, places and people which otherwise will be impossible or out of their reach. Hence their whole focus is on 'prayer' - words alone. The living out of that prayer in day to day life, in communion with others is 'not prayer'. So someone being poor is promised prayers but not a tangible means of getting out of that poverty. Someone struggling with living a life of dignity and justice is sympathised with but not empowered. Now, the latter calls for an involvement, a commitment, a dedication beyond and more risky than mere goody-goody prayers or the Church premises/timings. It calls for an action, over and above the pulpit sermon and time.

Jesus did that all the time. He also got into trouble just because of this. If we claim to be His disciples how then can we not risk, if not our everything, at least something to see that our prayer does not merely remain 'on our lips'. That our hands, mind and heart too join in the prayer. That rather than use the altar, cassock and Priesthood/religious life as a fort, a shield or a castle for our personal safety, as a means of service.

Br Michael and his workshop

This afternoon I visited the MSFS motor service station in the One Town area of Vizag. I was happy to meet Br Michael, the in-charge of the place. Satyam never gets tired of singing his praises. He literally adores him. Talking to Br Michael I came to know that the workshop was started by a Swedish Brother in 1891. Today it is known all over Vizag as "Brother's Shop". Br Michael has been in the same place for the past 57 years, since 1954 when he first landed there!!! Satyam tells me that every vehicle that comes to the garage for repairs or servicing will be personally checked by Br Michael before it leaves the place. The staff of the place too has 25 to 30 years of service record. All of them vouch for and admire the dedication and simplicity of Br Michael. Perhaps his presence is the reason for the name and fame of the workshop all over the town.

I'm glad I met Br Michael. Much to learn from him!

Evangelisation as a Brother...

It was a nice solemn day without much of fanfare or hypocritical flattery. Happy to have done something for Sarath. He's one of the few guys I appreciate for their sincerity and dedication to the higher principles and values. It is also true that scolding him comes easy - may be the principle of 'weak with the strong and strong with the weak'! Anyway, God bless him with strength and vigour to inspire many more to be like him.

This evening Fr Noel brought to my attention how a simple act of invitation that I extended to a youngster to join the community for the evening Rosary could be a courageous act of evangelisation. Every time I hear my name and the word evangelisation, I feel thrilled. Perhaps because it is not a often heard combination: a Brother and proclamation! That's the reason also I mentioned about being congratulated for evangelising through the web. Frankly speaking, it was a spontaneous invitation, nothing preplanned. Yet I never felt bad neither about inviting her to join nor about her refusing to join us. I guess this is what the Church tells us when it calls us to 'proclaim Christ'. I still remember Fr Ivo telling, 'Our responsibility is to proclaim, not convert. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit'!