A life of witness

 An excerpt from a reflection I received today...

Indeed, 'some of the loudest sermons are whispered by the lives of the quietly courageous.' 

That’s the kind of faith we are called to have: 

Not a faith that looks fashionable; 

but that’s faithful. 

Not a faith that always roars; 

but that refuses to retreat. 

Not a faith that is just worn on the neck; 

but that's clutched in the heart.

Basically, a life of witness, lived joyfully and generously, because one is rooted in God and his values/Gospel. 

Dreams and discernment

 Listening to the brief homily of the Mass of St Joseph, it struck me that Joseph received all his communication or 'instructuons' via dreams! He dreamt an angel telling him to take Mary as his wife. He was told in a dream to flee Jerusalem. He was informed in a dream to return from Egypt. He truly was a man of dreams!! And faith, to believe that what he saw in a dream was what was actually expected of him.

Then it also struck me, Don Bosco was a man of dreams! The number of dreams that full his biographies! So did Martin Luther King dream! And Abdul Kalam speak of his numerous dreams. 

All these great visionaries and leaders were guide by dreams. If course, not all of them would have been something they went through, at night lying flat in their bed. Yet these are the facts that drove them. That propelled their actions and their whole life.

Hence the confirmation of my prayer which Ive been praying more and more: 

Lord grant me the wisdom to discern Your will and the courage to live it, no matter the cost.

Influenced and altered

 A group of two brothers were roaming in the forest, when they found a couple of tiny birds of the family of linnets. When the boys got the birds home, they put the linnets in a cage, opposite the canary bird, which was held in another cage. (Canary birds are known to be “Singing Birds”) 

 They explained to their mother that they hoped the linnets - being so young - would learn to imitate the singing canary. Instead of cheeping as normally birds do, they expected them to sing (like the canary). 

 The next day the boys entered the room, and exclaimed: "Mother, come here, look what has happened! Our canary is cheeping like a linnet!" The mother came in and found it so! 

Instead of the linnets learning to sing, the canary bird forgot its ability to sing! Thus, the canary had to be separated from the wild birds of the wood and kept under cover for a time before regaining the singing ability. 

Such is the case with Christians or anyone who allow themselves to be “influenced and altered” by the ways of the world! We may end up losing the “Song of our Faith!”

[Reflection by Fr Jijo Jose Manjackal MSFS]

Religion: inside out

 Here's another piece of reflection from Johnson Kottaram, about religion which is quite challenging, and true! 

Faith or Faction? 

When religion leaves the quiet space of conscience and enters the public arena, it stops being sacred and starts being strategic. It no longer redeems; it recruits. 

 When Jemimah Rodrigues thanked Jesus after her cricketing triumph, it was an intimate moment of gratitude. But in a country charged with religious fault lines, her words became ammunition. 

 The devout saw divine favour; the hostile saw provocation. What should have united us in admiration divided us along belief. 

 This isn’t an Indian peculiarity; it’s a global malaise. 

 In the Vatican itself, Pope Leo XIV’s recent permission for ultra-conservatives to celebrate the Tridentine Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica looks less like pastoral generosity and more like an act of appeasement—a cautious nod to figures such as Cardinal Burke who equate faith with form and liturgy with loyalty. 

 The altar, once a place of communion, becomes a negotiation table between warring factions. 

 Even the brilliant Mahmood Mamdani, admired for his intellect and moral clarity, finds himself reduced to a “Muslim voice” by opponents who cannot see beyond labels. 

 In every corner of the world, identity has begun to shout louder than integrity. 

 The problem is not faith; it’s its exhibition. When belief is worn like a badge, it stops being a bridge and becomes a barricade. 

 A faith that needs applause is already insecure. 

 Real spirituality works inward—it refines, questions, and softens. Public religiosity, by contrast, hardens. It demands allegiance, not understanding; conformity, not compassion. 

 Until we learn to keep faith where it belongs—in the inner sanctum of the self—it will remain a divisive force, beautiful in symbol but toxic in practice.

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. 

Stages of growth and accompaniment

Last month we had a session on accompaniment, wherein Fr Raja spoke quite lucidly about the four different stages or levels of spiritual growth and the type of recommended accompaniment at each stage. The first stage is a very shallow level where individuals are basically self-centred and selfish.  Those at this stage need to be supported and encouraged to engage in an honest self-appraisal, rather than be endorsed or consoled! 

The next level of faith, is institutional.  Most of us fall under that category.  God is seen as external, formal, rigorous, legalistic and dogmatic. Accompaniment at this level is gentle, with a slight nudge towards internalisation and the next level. 

The third level is a more mature level, but hardly follows any order. This is perhaps the most unsettling stage for young people who find it difficult to balance the traditional faith inherited from their parents (second level) and the disconnect they feel within themselves to accepting this faith.  Hence the inner turmoil.  This is a stage where people tend to explore, not with the intent of rebellion but a genuine interest in deepening one's idea of God, spirituality and religion.  People herein seek logical answers to their queries; rather than magical rites. They tend to take ownership of their own faith. Accompanying them, one shouldn't push them to engage in traditional religious practices, which they often rebel against. They do not reject faith as such, but inherited faith. 

We keep shuffling between these three levels, never stuck at any one particular. Maturity lies in moving towards the third stage; and touching the fourth stage (mystical). 

The last stage is mystical, where interconnectedness is emphasised, community is valued greater than individuals, lack of answers and logic does not perturb much, and is perhaps a mix of the second (dogmatic) and the third (rational) stages. 

Listening to him, I asked myself: Are we as a Province (confreres put together) at the third stage of religious consciousness/spirituality; whereas the orientation of the accompaniment offered by the leadership is of the second stage!?? … our emphasis on the routines, rituals, dogmas, whereas individuals are undergoing a phase of faith-loss, and in the process of search for truth. That said, there are some clearly very much in stage one (self-centred and even anti-social).

Song of faith

 An interesting story that I came across today: 

A group of two brothers were roaming in the forest, when they found a couple of tiny birds of the family of linnets. When the boys got the birds home, they put the linnets in a cage, opposite the canary bird, which was tied in another cage. (Canary birds are known to be “Singing Birds”) 

They explained to their mother that they hoped the linnets - being so young - would learn to imitate the singing canary. Instead of cheeping as normally birds do, they expected them to sing (like the canary) 

The next day the boys entered the room, and exclaimed: "Mother, come here, look what has happened! Our canary is cheeping like a linnet!" The mother came in and found it so! Instead of the linnets learning to sing, the canary bird forgot its ability to sing! 

Thus, the canary had to be separated from the wild birds of the wood and kept under cover for a time before regaining the singing ability. 

Such is the case with Christians who allow themselves to 'influenced and altered' by the ways of the world! We may end up losing the 'song of our Faith!'

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!! 

Imitate their faith?

 The latter half of the New Testament and especially the epistles often contain this exhortation: Imitate their faith, citing the example of some of the renown Christians of the times. 

However, this exhortation has led to some confusion.  Not the exhortation itself but the way we have interpreted it - or failed to understand it.  When Paul exhorts the Corinthians to imitate the lives of the faith of the apostles, he and the people whom he is speaking to are both alive and present.  But faith is not something that is evident in and by itself!  How does one 'see' faith?  It is only words and action that one sees.  In such a scenario it is easy to 'imitate' the action rather than the unseen source that propels it.  For a first-time believer or a person interested, the curiosity is aroused primarily by what he or she sees the other say and do.  It is only much later that the person may (or may not) come to see that what actually moves the doer to say and do what is said and done!  And what if the doer himself or herself is still struggling very much with one's own grasp of faith?  Nonetheless, what one sees is the action, not faith itself. 

On the other hand, how else is faith made manifest?  There is no other alternative method either.  It is purely by one's way of life that the other sees the depth of that person's faith.  

How does one bridge this gap? How does one make the journey from action to belief? Something pragmatic to the metaphysical?  One way of looking at it purely from the human perspective, is to see this whole process as a merely human endeavour.  In such a case, it is easy to forget the role of the Spirit! On the other hand, even when we acknowledge the role of the Spirit, it does not explain everything.  Why is it that so many witness the good works but not all are led to the faith?  If the Spirit was impartial then all would be 'faithful'.  Herein comes the role of the individual.  So it is not all the working of the Spirit - alone.  

Whichever way we interpret and understand the process, as humans there is always the danger of imitating actions, rather than imbibing the faith!  If we truly imbibe the faith, actions - good ones at that - will naturally follow.  It is more like a vicious circle: faith is seen through good actions; but good actions alone do not end in faith; and even when one does have faith, one does not have any other means than good actions to bear witness to that faith.  

Listening and following

In the readings of the week we see Elijah beginning very solemnly and with great confidence.  Then he loses all of that confidence and trusts and takes flight.  He literally hides himself in a cave out of fear of being murdered!  And when God meets him in the gentle breeze, he tells him to go back to where he came from. To face his torturers rather than flee.  To walk right into the face of death, rather than in the opposite direction.  And Elijah does what he is told.  

Elijah in more than one sense is a very failed prophet.  A very flippety-floppety prophet.  Someone just like us.  Like me.  Courageous and daring at one moment.  Timid and anxious the next.  Emboldened and  very outgoing on one day.  The very next day wake up confused and tired!  But in this very unsteady life pattern, there is one thing Elijah teaches us - me - very clearly:  listening to God!  He is gifted with the grace of discernment and when he hears God speak, he follows!  No more crippling fear. No withholding doubts. No petty vision of mere survival. 

Everyday faith

Today's first reading is nothing short of a marvel comic hero episode.  Elijah foretells of rain and when King Ahab has taken off on his chariot, he tucks in his robe and out runs him!  That's some super hero stuff!  

And tomorrow's reading is quite contrary to this super hero thing.  We see God revealing himself in a gentle breeze, rather than a torrent or fire or an earthquake.  Nothing dramatic or solemn.  Just plain and simple.  Everydayness!  

Our faith is more akin to the latter day experience rather than the former.  Although we tend to look for and wish it were more dramatic and action-filled than mundane and routine!  But what is mundane and routine is what builds up character in the long run, not the sporadic and tempestuous. 

Faith in God

On finding the crowd eagerly searching for him and following him, Jesus recognises their real motivation.  On being asked what is it that they need to do, he replies, "Believe in the one sent by the Father!"

Post resurrection, when on their own, the apostles meet the crippled man at the Temple and heal him.  The people who witness this miracle, then ask them, "What is it that they must do to be saved?" The apostles reply, "Repent and believe in the Gospel."

The latter episode is actually a stepping stone for growing in faith; namely, believing in the words and works of God.  The earlier context of Jesus is when Jesus is challenging them to get their faith right: not in the miracles and wonders of God but in God himself!  That for most of us is the real challenge. We most often believe in God - or rather in his miracles and signs and wonders.  It is believing the person of God that is most challenging.  That's why Jesus says to Thomas, "Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe!"  For those whose faith rests purely on miracles and wonders, there constantly needs to be a stream of these in order for them to sustain their faith.  But for the one who believes in the person of God, miracles and wonders are only a bonus - not the essentials for faith.

Radical faith is belief in God; not merely the words or works of God.  Faith in God the person, not the performer!

Peter's proclamation and denial

In the Gospel of the day, we hear Jesus foretelling Peter denying him.  To which, Peter vehemently affirms his loyalty.  For us listeners who know the whole story, the passionate rebuttal of Peter to Jesus' prophecy seems like a joke.  We already know he is going to deny Jesus.  This present passion and loyalty are only fleeting. 

We may smirk at Peter's fierce loyalty, but we are no better off. We have our own convictions and principles, and if someone were to challenge them, we'd give them a good fight. But somewhere down the line (in three years, or three months or even three days!) we may give up those very convictions or principles for the slightest of trouble or risk to our more basics of life.  It does not take long for convictions to become opinions.  Jesus knew the depth of Peter's faith.  Peter thought he had seen it all and that there was nothing that could separate him from Jesus! 

Another dimension of this proclamation of loyalty and then the u-turn is basically because the primary proclamation is made solely on the strength of one's own power.  God does not feature in the future plans.  It's all about me battling it out, making it on my own accord.  None of us really know all that will unfold in our lives.  Not next year, not next month, not even the next minute.  So our reply need not change.  But our attitude to what will come can very well be that of trust - trust that we will not be alone. 

"Well then, at least give me the strength to make that denial temporary!" could have been Peter's reply, if he knew Jesus well. 

"I know that you are with me, help me too to be with you!" 

Foundation

Daniel standing up to King Nebuchadnezzar defending his decision not to bow or worship before anyone or anything other than Yahweh is a classic example of someone who is convinced of his or her own principles and totally unyielding - come what may!

Unfortunately while this can be interpreted as faith and devotion and conviction, the same can also be read as fanaticism or stubbornness!  Same tenacity, same vigour, same passion!  Very difficult to decide, at least in the first encounter. 

Nonetheless, it is these very senseless, totally irrational and reckless convictions, decisions and actions that are qualified as faith. Every religion has these.  From a rational point of view, these are senseless and utterly nonsensical.  Yet for the one who sees with the eyes of faith, they are heroic. 

But I think it is important to note that Daniel did not have faith "if" God saved him!  He had faith!  That's it.  There was no test or condition for having faith!  Just like rationality relies on reason, faith relies on God.  Both have a foundation, a launching pad - something that cannot itself be brought to question, lest we never proceed.  

The fragility of discernment

Reflecting on the action of the three wise men, one cannot but admire them for their courage.  The risk they undertook to find this divine revelation.  On the one hand, we call them 'wise', and on the other, they start off with nothing but an intuition/inspiration and a star in the night sky!  No certainty.  No guarantee of success.  Furthermore, tradition states that they set off alone - no convoy, no military escort.  And if they are to follow the only practical guiding principle - the star - they could only travel at night.  The risk of brigands and thieves.  And it was not coal or grass they were carrying! 

Yet, they undertake the journey.  They weigh the positive outcome as far more superior to the risk they undertake in that journey.  They trust the star.  They trust their intuition.  They trust themselves.  They believe it is a divine power leading them.  For placing their confidence in all such criteria, I wonder if they'd be called 'wise' by today's standards.  Yet our Christian tradition always held them to be 'wise men from the East'.  

God, nature and me

When it comes to living our faith and understanding spirituality, we can very easily be viewing it from a two-dimensional perspective: God and me.  While in a sense, this is true, it is not complete.  Our deep rooted Christian faith, our personal spirituality, can never be complete without the third dimension of the rest of creation - nature.  Perhaps, even to say that the often forgotten third dimension of 'the other' is people, is incomplete.  It is not just people that make up the rest of everything; there is the environment, nature, that actually makes up the 'rest of everything'.  In short, there is God, nature and me.  That's the complete inclusive reality. 

Faith is not just to see Jesus, it is to see with the eyes of Jesus.  (Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei 18)

So, there is Jesus, myself and that what I'm invited to see with Jesus' eyes.   

Widening the divide with capitals!

A further reflection on the theme of intolerance and Christian unity, in the context of language - a topic that I'm brooding over! 

Disunity is brought about, in most cases, when an idea is held to be of greater importance than a human being. All cases of religious fundamentalism arise when the concept of religion takes precedence over humanity; when faith becomes greater than human life; when god - and I mean, the concept of God - needs to be protected, but not my neighbour. 

One easy way we fall into this trap of elevating a concept to a status higher than a living being, reducing the latter to such a minimal value so as to count for nothing, is when we capitalise a word!  When faith becomes Faith.  When god becomes God.  When church becomes Church.  These are tell-tale signs of where and what we feel are un-negotiable aspects of our living, at the altar of which everything else (not belonging to me), especially others, can be sacrificed.  Furthermore, with words like 'infidel', 'atheist', 'unbeliever', 'pro-abortionist', 'LGBTQ+', ... we can easily reduce persons, living beings with flesh and blood, families and feelings into despicable things that in their entirety ought to be made to disappear! 

That reminds me of a very stinging remark one of my former Rector's made on a report I put together after my supervision of a batch of third year students involved in the 'Immersion programme'.  Back then it struck me, as 'what's the big deal?' Why make a hue and cry about a regular use?  The phrase I used in the report was a description of a place: '...a place infested with naxalites...'  And the Rector had circled this phrase and written on the margins, "Even naxalites are people, not insects!" Looking back I clearly see.  I did not mind using the word 'infested' in the context of the naxalites, but I would never have used it in the context of seminarians or even a packed railway station!  My prejudices were laid bare.  

Christian unity and intolerance

One of the biggest scandal the Church offers to the world is that of the divisions within.  For a body which has unity as one of its primary tenets, to be so splintered, the value of witness is certainly diminished.  Add to that, the fact that some of these splinter groups are archenemies of one another.  And still we claim to be Christians! 

The saint we commemorate today, St Josaphat was martyred not by anti-Christians, but 'faithful' followers of Christ!  It is indeed a strange paradox we comfortably live with: boldly preach in Christ's name and at the same time have no hesitation in killing someone - all in His name.  If only we take a moment to think, leave alone pray, we should be able to see our own religious idiosyncrasies.  But I guess, the very faith we profess often blinds us to see anything beyond that what we hold most precious. 

So good to ask myself, what is it that I hold in such high esteem that I would not sacrifice it for anything else?  And as a Christian, I ask myself: Is it my love for Christ or love for Christ? 

Faith

The gospel of the day, where Jesus heals the ten lepers and only one of them - a Samaritan, at that - returns to thank him for his cure, exudes of the theme of thanksgiving and gratitude.  However, what struck me most in the passage is the faith of the ten lepers. 

The cleansing of the lepers - Bicol Peryodiko

There are these ten men, lepers, outside the village.  Ostracized.  Marginalised.  Not having anyone to whom they can meet or contact with.  All that they ask Jesus as he passes is for the curse of leprosy to be take away.  "Lord, have mercy!" And in reply all that Jesus says or does is "Go show yourselves to the priests!" And they go!  Jesus did not offer them a long mantra for healing.  Nor did he dole out any treatment by way of ointment or medicine.  Just the instruction to show themselves to the priests.  And what faith must these men have to obey his instruction right away.  No one asks a question.  Or a clarification.  None asking him what will happen then.  Or when will they be cured.  Or even the basic doubt of 'will the priests see us in this leprous condition?'  They just go!

Looking at my own life, I see it riddled with so many questions and doubts and concerns.  That even after I receive answers, signs and solemn indicators, I've not moved much in the direction I'm asked to move!  

Trust

The whole phenomenon of trust and hope is a very illogical one.  Nothing exemplifies this more than the following verse from Hebrews (10:23):

Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is faithful. 

We persevere in hope not because we trust in our capabilities or strength but because we trust God to be faithful - even if we are not! 

Contrast this with one Anthony DeMello's quotes:

A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch but on it's wings. 

Perhaps the only difference here is that trust is not in a material object but a living person.  Only that logic makes sense - some sense.  But still this aspect of trust can never be fully explained away.  Nonetheless we trust.  We hope!