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. 

Comfort in misery

 The incident we hear in the gospel today can also be interpreted differently, indicating to us that the Lord expects us to take responsibility for ourselves.  Not merely wait for help to arrive and do all the work.  We are expected to do the heavy lifting ourselves, for ourselves! 

The man at the pool of Bethesda, is shown as waiting for healing. Unfortunately there is always - always?- someone who enters into the stirred miraculous waters before he could.  Now this could be the case of a couple of days or months.  But it cannot be so for ages!  Unless, the man himself is not keen to get healed!  He is comfortable in his misery. Perhaps, he is used to earning a living 'showcasing' his physical condition of paralysis. 

To such a man shirking his responsibility, Jesus says: 'Pick up your bed!'  

While God's grace and peoples generosity requires no additional support or reason, one cannot escape one's own responsibility towards oneself. Healing, change, growth are matters - among many others - which require one's own consent and will.  

Religious discipline

Most of us look for motivation... mostly to stick to our goals and resolutions.  Hence the plethora of motivational talks and quotes that one finds on social media and whatsapp messages.  Nonetheless, what keeps one going is a commitment, a discipline, a consistent rhythm.  In that sense, motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.  

So I ask myself, is religious life and its principles, my motivation or a discipline? It ought to be a discipline.  Motivation can be temporary and not always available.  But what I can and should commit myself to is a discipline, a rhythm of life based on the Gospels.  

Life as a religious is no different from that of a sports person. Both the streams of life demand a certain stringent discipline, without which one gets no where and barely achieves anything worth at all.  Perhaps, just a difference of reason and purpose. A religious lives for God and people to whom he or she has committed his or her life to.  A sports person lives for the merit of the game. 

The beauty of this discipline is that when supported by love, it becomes a vocation; if not, it is an obsession.  

Ask, seek, knock

 Listening to today's gospel about the passage from St Mathew's text, where we hear: 

Ask and you shall receive. 

Seek and you will find. 

Knock and the door will be opened for you. 

The imagery and thought that flashed across my mind as Fr Wilson was preaching on this theme, was a totally weird and different one from the one being preached. 

Ask. Seek. Knock. 

I was struck by the third one. Not for what the Gospel meant, but for what I felt as one mode of operation. 

Perhaps at times there is also the need to knock.  Knock, not at a door to ask or plead, but to literally give a knock on one's head!  For some, we begin by asking, then really seek but if there is no response, a knock on the head is what will waken them up to straighten themselves. 

The person, people as the Church

 The readings of the day, led me to a surprising twist at the end... much like a thriller movie with a very unexpected and unprepared twist to conclude with.  

The first and the second readings speak of the structure of the temple. The second one speaks of the waters from the sanctuary, flowing left, around, this way and that way... emphasising the life it spreads wherever it flows.  

The gospel of the day begins with Jesus in the temple; his rage at the commercialisation of the sacred space and his eventual chasing out of all the vendors. However, the concluding line of the gospel is a total surprise: He was talking of his body!  Rebuilding of the temple again! 

With all the emphasis all along on the structure of the temple, the building, the sanctuary, the edifice... the best is kept for the last - the person!  

The church as a person, the people!  While the physical structure of the church is part of the understanding, tradition and need of the living out of our faith, the highest form and integral part of the understanding, tradition and need of living out the same faith, is the person!! 

Personally for me, especially in my present role, this concept of the emphasis on the living person, much more than the physical infrastructure and all the amenities and functionality, is an endorsement of where our investment should most be!  

Of course, I don't think Jesus would differ in my subtle deviation when I say that the building up should be of the people of God, not myself!  I am not the temple - atleast not the most important or the best decorated or guarded.  Shouldn't.  

A different take on John the Baptist

A modern (and perhaps, a little nasty) take on the episode of John the Baptist: John the Baptist, had no need to poke his nose into the private affairs of Herod! Perhaps, even Herodias was having a second chance in life, away from her first husband. Of course, on the other hand, too heavy a penalty for making public a private matter!

All said and done, we wouldn't have been discussing or talking about this episode today, if not for the stance taken by John the Baptist.  If he too were to have remained silent, he too would have been lost in the silent majority since humanity has existed on the face of the earth - and injustice and corruption, too. 

Death of John the Baptist

 Listening again to the episode of the beheading of John the Baptist, as part of the Gospel reading today, a couple of points that struck me: 

That Herod could find his promise more demanding and compelling than the life of a person is strange.  Is the worth of life lessor than a mere word, that too given to someone for a dance performance?! But it didn't take me long to realise that it was never about honour.  Herod was not honouring his word; he was merely giving in to his fear.  He had already decided to kill John the Baptist; he just didn't have 'sufficient reason' to justify his plan.  The promise was a mere excuse, to actually carry out what he had already made up his mind about! 

On a totally different note, the concluding lines of the Gospel speak about the disciples of John the Baptist, burying him and then informing Jesus about it.  What suddenly hit me was Jesus' response.  Of course, there certainly would have been an emotional response; but the text says nothing. Whereas when Lazarus dies, Jesus weeps.  Here the death was of his own cousin; someone he had known all his life. Surely, this would have been a very sad moment for Jesus. If Lazarus' death could move him to tears, I'm sure John's death would have been no less a tragic moment.  

Or did the Biblical authors perhaps skipped recording that emotional response, lest they show him 'human'.  Or maybe they did not want to show his affinity to family more than his mission?  Too many may be's!! 

Beheading of John the Baptist (by Caravaggio)

Working hard vs Working with a purpose

Jesus' mission of sending out the 72 disciples to the places he himself intended to visit, with the clear instructions as to what to do, and not to do, in practically each and every possible situation has a strange twist to it at the end of that passage.  This is the gospel of the coming Sunday (Luke 10; early verses).  

He sends out the disciples with clear instructions; a specific list of do's and don'ts - a perfect SEPP, with lines of action (as said by Sarath).  However, when they return and recall the great things they were able to achieve, (the evaluation of the same SEPP!!), Jesus states something he has not said a word about earlier! What they have achieved, and for which he congratulates them, is something he never spoke to them about!! 

Jesus tells them not to rejoice because they were able to work miracles, see Satan fall from heaven, heal the sick, cure diseases and what not; rather he tells them to be happy because their names are written in heaven!  Now that's not something he told them about before their departure.  

I take it as a lesson not to get lost in the immediate results or achievements; the petty victories or even the activities we so meticulously plan, implement and are proud of carrying out. The real progress and achievement is in setting in motion a PROCESS; a deep rooted change or IMPACT that works as a ripple effect, well after any of us has stopped working or even left the place altogether.  

The disciples being with Jesus learnt that he was not just DOING good things; there was something deeper and greater he was working at.  When following his steps, they subconsciously fulfilled what he had in mind; now he was calling their attention to becoming conscious of that purpose, while continuing doing the good things! 

Grafting the gospel

One gets to hear and read of the phrase 'planting the Gospel' sometimes in Christian literature or discussions.  This phrase refers to the process of evangelisation/mission, especially among those who have not heard of Jesus or the Gospels before.  But according to me a better and more apt phrase would be 'grafting the Gospel'.  

Though the idea is the same, there are subtle differences in how one perceives the Gospel and how one sees it 'taking root'.  No culture ever absorbs the Gospel in its entirity at the first instance.  No matter how great an opportunity they get to witness the Christian example, a culture always absorbs a 'new' input only in layers and over a period of time.  Therefore to expect the first 'wave' of those who come in contact with the Gospel to become 'Christian' would be to see them as totally uprooting themselves from who and what they were before - culturally speaking.  It is only after a certain period of time - and ages - that we arrive at a balance of making the most of the Gospel and the culture we call our own.  Exactly as an agriculturalist would view a grafted plant as not a perfect product, but a merger of two different plants; however, the fruit of that grafted plant will eventually have a better inherent structure of both - no more as two different plants, but as one plant.  

To expect the Gospel to replace absolutely and permanently one's culture is unchristian.  

God at work

In one of his letters to the Thessalonians, St Paul appeals to them saying that all that he and his companions did was to preach the Good News, purely out of love for God.  They had no hidden personal agenda.  Neither did they seek anything for themselves. To this end, he continues, they offered them 'not only the Good News but our whole lives as well'.

Can a genuine proclamation of the Good News be bifurcated from one's actual living?  It is as if to say, preaching is one thing and our actual life and living, is another.  Personally there cannot be a discrepancy or a divide.  Sincerely proclaiming the Gospel is life - not apart from it. 

However, there could be the case where one very effectively preaches the gospel but is not really moved by it.  The hearers or those who witness this proclamation are moved to change and transformation - but not the one offering the gospel.  This too is possible.  After all, it is not the one speaking or the one listening that solely decides the outcome.  God too is part of the process.  So God, the gospel values and the one undergoing change are at work.  And the preacher?  Yes, the one preaching too is involved, but not as a witness, but as an actor - a good one at that! 

The good Zaccheus

The episode of Jesus meeting Zaccheus is always an interesting read.  Somehow it has a certain simplicity and earthiness about it. Perhaps it has to do with Zaccheus climbing the tree - a joyful, children's play.  

However, contrary to popular belief that since Zaccheus was a tax collector and hence certainly a corrupt official, I think that he was basically a good and honest person, all along. First of all, to believe that all - everyone? - tax collectors were cheats, would be too much of an exaggeration.  Not fair! There certainly would have been some kind-hearted ones - at least a handful in a whole nation! Secondly, for one to immediately have a change of heart, that too so radically is not really possible.  That the confession and repentance was genuine, we know from Jesus' interaction with him.  Jesus would have called his lie, if Zaccheus wasn't speaking from his heart.  So Zaccheus would basically have been a good man, with perhaps some illegal dealings once in a way;  and that dishonesty would have been stirring his conscience over time.  The encounter with Jesus actually is the tipping point.  

And practically speaking, if he were that corrupt, repaying back all those whom he cheated, four times over that too after giving away half his property to the poor, would have made him an utter destitute! He would have had to borrow in order to repay them all!! 

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!

The Emmaus journey

The passage of the Emmaus journey, never fails to inspire me and offer new insights, everytime I read or hear it.

What I found interesting this time was the fact that Jesus joins them on their journey! It is not Christ who is leading the way or taking them somewhere He intends to go.  Rather it is he who is joining them on their path. He goes in to their home, at their invitation.  He does not take them back to Jerusalem or to the places where and what he is explaining about. 

This insight very well fits in with my favourite perspective with regard to God's presence with us and the notion of prayer.  God does not drag us to places, we do not wish to go to.  Rather he accompanies us.  It is therefore best not to ask God to accompany us in our life's journey - He already and always is!  The best thing we can do is ask ourselves, 'Do I feel His presence with me, with us?'  The prayer then, is a conversation with this God whose presence I feel with me, always. 

Generous sharing

One the foremost community characteristics of the early Christian community was the sharing aspect of its individual members.  They really took care of those in need.  Those with plenty or enough to spare did not mind putting their excess at the disposal of the elders to be given away to those who really haven't much or anything at all. 

This generosity does not necessarily and merely stem from a sense of pity or abundance.  At the root of this generous sharing is the sense of unity, of oneness and equality.  Those with plenty did not feel bad about giving away something and those with little did not hesitate to come forward and appeal for help.  Everyone, rich and poor, haves and have-nots felt at home with one another.  That being at home with one another was the Church! 

Moreover it was basically this community dimension that appealed most to the believers of other faiths.  The joy and serenity that they noticed among the Christians made them wonder what is it that they had going on among them.  How is it that this group of people could feel happy about giving away - generously - what was legally and rightfully theirs?  Why was there this feeling of 'being-at-home'? 

If it was this community sharing and concern that brought the people together, it was the Gospel message that strengthened the bond and deepened it, complementing charity with divinity. 

The closed door

The gospel of the day begins with the scene of the closed doors.  The disciples, afraid of the Jews, are behind closed doors.  The scene then turns to Jesus appearing to them and the display of his wounds to them. 

I have another version of this whole episode.  Most the disciples, for fear, chose to stay behind the closed doors.  Only a few dared go out and attempt to do the good they could.  Their reasoning: If we, as the closest to Jesus feel so distraught, how much more will those who felt close to Jesus but did not have the privilege of knowing him as intimately as we did, feel. 

So they dared out to seek those confused and frightened, just as they themselves, and offer the little consolation they could.  Perhaps, in strengthening them, they would be strengthened themselves.  Moreover they knew well that Jesus would have done the same.  So they ventured out, not overcoming their fear, but in spite of their fears!  They chose to risk the open, rather than let fear feed on them within closed doors.   

In the meantime, Jesus appears to those huddled indoors.  And after a while when those few who had gone out return, those who saw the risen Lord narrate all that happened to them.  And as they narrate the conversation they had with Jesus, they particularly get enlightened about the words of Jesus, "Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet believe!"  Those who had dared out then narrate how they were strengthened as they spend time with others similarly distraught and confused.  Without seeing the tongues of fire, they too had received the Holy Spirit!  

Wine turned into water!

Today's Gospel is about Jesus changing water into wine, during the wedding feast at Cana.  This event is considered significant because it marks the first miracle of Jesus in public. 

For someone who has a great trust in God, the act of converting water into wine is a very consoling and confirming theory. But for one who has his or her whole life being tossed about by the winds of change and nothing seems to be going on according to plans or efforts, it is mostly the theory of wine being changed into water! It is not mere pessimism, but an actual experience of fighting against the current.  And despite all the effort and good will that one puts in, the results are the same: wine into water! 

However, I ask myself, is Jesus present at those moments of wine turning into water?  Is it Him who is doing it?  Perhaps, he is waiting for me to change the water back into wine!  Or perhaps water is the new wine (for me!)

Action reflection

The readings of Sunday, very sharp and going around in vicious circles for me!  They present a down to earth spirituality, on one side and on the other, shows the height of its conceptualization.

The first reading from Isaiah is the practical spirituality:

Thus says the LORD: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

To do good, one does not need high level thinking and reasoning.  Just do it!  Do it for the less advantaged, those marginalised, those in need! Just do it!

Then comes the second reading, the lofty part of spirituality:

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

If I'm to carry out what is good and needed, as Jesus did, I need to know Jesus!  Now understanding why he did what he did, is no easy task.  That requires great amount of reflection.  Merely imitating what Jesus did, will not take us far... sooner or later, we'll get tired of doing it or lose our sanity, unless backed by great amount of motivation and inner strength.  And from where do we gain that? From knowing - not merely an intellectual discovery - why he did what he did! 

However, one clue to resolve this going round in circles, one chasing the other and being chased, lies in the last phrase of the second reading: power of God.  Doing everything (action or reflection) all by ourselves may land us in that merry-go-round.  But if we let ourselves be guided by God's hand, perhaps we stand a better chance to actually get going!  

Mere sheep?

What was once considered a very useful analogy and is still regarded as one of the best descriptions of Jesus Christ and the church is that of the Good Shepherd.  Christ, in the Gospels, projects himself as the Good Shepherd, who leads his flock with tender loving care. 

Today I heard someone joking about the offence some individuals have taken against this parable and its description... not of Jesus as the shepherd, but of equating the people as sheep.  Mere, dumb sheep?? Now that's an affront to some who would consider themselves more than "meek, silent, and ignorant" sheep. That too needing one to 'herd' them!  Now that's too much! 

Well, I always thought it should be the priests who should take offence at this description.  My perspective being, that priests (and clergy/religious) should not think, they know it all!  As shepherd we are called to take care.  Not boss over!  In that sense, never look down on those whom we serve as "brainless or dumb".  That certainly is not the characteristic of a 'good shepherd'.  

Wisdom of the wise men

The three 'wise' men who visited the infant Jesus in the manger, are they called 'wise' because they visited Jesus or were they wise beforehand and therefore able to find Jesus? 

As this debate raged on in my mind as I entered the Church for Mass this morning, I tried to find the answer to it in the readings.  So, after long, many many days, I paid close attention to the readings read in the Church.  Nothing very clear to clarify that doubt.  But then sometime after the gospel reading something else struck my mind which totally answered the question, but in a very different way. 

What flashed in my mind was the fact that their wisdom was not their doing!!  That they were termed 'wise' is actually not for what they did, but basically for recognizing that they were part of something greater.  The actual work was being done by God!  He was manifesting Himself - Epiphany.  That was the great event.  The three men who visited the infant did not make that happen.  They did not have any direct role to play in this manifestation.  All that they did was become aware of it and witness it!  Their greatness lay not in making the manifestation happen, but in discerning it, recognizing the event, and participating in it with reverence.  That's what wisdom consisted in! 

It is easy to get our focus misplaced... after all, the three kings/wise men are the new entrants to the crib.  The rest have been there for sometime now!  What is new or different easily catches our eye and we tend to focus on it, rather than the main event unfolding.  But the wisdom of the three kings offers us this lesson: to be able to discern the main point, from out of a million other things (perhaps new and flashing and great and amazing things!) happening.  And see ourselves in the light of that main point, rather than make ourselves the centre of attention and the rest revolving around us.  

Resurrection and relationship

The question we hear in the Gospel of the day, "After resurrection, whose wife will she be?" is quite a human question.  We can judge it to be a very rude or arrogant question or one intended to put the listener into a catch-22 situation.  But if reviewed from a simple and ordinary perspective, it can be said to be a very common question. 

We human being are relational beings.  We tend to work our way through life, by the relations we make or break.  So for one to ask what would be her relation to the 7 husbands whom she married here on earth, is a very concrete and living question.  It makes the situation all more volatile when I hear this passage being used to describe God as the God of the living and not of the dead.  That interpretation of God actually puts God in contrast to the human life!!  The very fact that she had 7 husbands it because the previous one died!  So she did not have 7 husbands all at once.  She only had one husband all along!!  And now if we bring in the 'God of living' interpretation, all 7 are alive.  And then to ask is she married to all 7 is a bit ridiculous! 

The most sensible way I see this Gospel unfold for us the mystery of the resurrection is to challenge our understanding of relationship.  I believe relationship is a commitment.  Granted that every commitment includes boundaries and limitations; but if those boundaries and limitations over-ride commitment and the well being of those involved in the relationship, the connection is actually a strangulation, and all that exists is bondage!  In resurrection, we live our commitment to one another to its fullest - even to God.  Not as bonded labourers, who have no other go than to, but as free individuals who choose to.