Maundy Thursday mandate

The Maundy Thursday derives its name from the Latin word mandatum, meaning the same as in English today... a mandate, a command, an order.  

And that mandate is simple and direct: To serve, with love.  

Most preachers and thinkers split hairs to explain the significance of the day.  Some state (as prescribed by the Church teaching) that there are three significant events of the day: the institution of the Eucharist, the institution of the Priesthood and the washing of the feet.  Unfortunately, that is what they have each become: institutions!! 

Personally I believe, the focus and directive is clear: Serve everyone, with much love.  And this is not a new commandment or directive the Lord is offering us on Maundy Thursday.  This is what he spoke and did all his life!!  This was actually his mission. While the ultimate MISSION was to make known God's love, this love was explicated and made tangible in service. So the MISSION is to love; and the mission is to serve. But there is no duplicity or multiplication here.  They are one and the same!  That's the mandate: To serve, with love! 

Most of us, especially religious, including myself, tend to do the first part of this mission; but very often and mostly do not strive for the actual mission or the greater purpose of this mission, namely to love.  We serve, but fail to love sufficiently! 

Therefore it is important to see everything and all things from this perspective. That love is the ultimate mission of every Christian, especially of a religious.  Once that decision to genuinely love is made, service automatically follows.  Unfortunately, love cannot be taught. It is caught; it is felt; it is experienced!  

Simon of Cyrene, the epitome of (most) religious

Simon of Cyrene, who is roped in to help Jesus carry his cross, presents a glimpse of a particular personality type.  Most of us live this personality or this trait very often in our life - especially religious.

Simon is there on the scene by chance.  Or could be there by choice.  But him getting dragged in to assist Jesus is pure chance!  No way did he volunteer for it (doesn't look so).  The soldiers may have asked for volunteers to come forward.  Simon may have thought of volunteering.  Maybe he did.  Nonetheless, the point is this: He knew for certain that the cross was not his.  He was safe!  He only had a guest appearance!  Of this he was sure.  From the citadel of that certainty it is not very difficult to help Jesus!  With my securities in place, I lose nothing. So lending a helping hand to someone is fine. 

All he had to do was play the role for that intermediary period, till Golgotha or till the soldiers decide to let go of him.  No smart moves!  He didn't protest the persecution and the torture.  He wouldn't.  He was not seen or heard before.  He is not seen or heard after this event.  This is exactly the mission mode most religious happily engage in: doing good (occasionally or very often), but from within the comfort zones one wouldn't risk leaving.  But we are called - and we profess, in response - to be more than mere part-time charity doers or organisers.  We are meant to be the radicals.  We are called to be His disciples, all the time, everywhere, for all.  Even if it entails not being with Jesus on his way to Calvary - like John the Baptist - because, we have already walked that way!  

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!  

Far from...

Most of the saints I've come heard of ended up far from where they actually started.  Not just by birth but their very ministry or adult life itself took them places. 

In our contemporary times, this does not seem much of an achievement.  Given that we travel all the time and are hardly in one place all our life, it is easy to think that every one moves all around. Not always.  In bygone days when travel was necessitated only by urgency or desperation, and means of travel were hardly a luxury, leave alone the cost and danger involved.  Most people, never moved away from their place of birth.  There wasn't anywhere they really needed to go to.

Today people move from place to place either for study or work or family needs.  As a religious have been through so many places.  And each place being a home.  Not just as tourists visiting some new place.  People ask me if it is difficult to pick up one's bags and leave for good, only to repeat the process every couple of years.  Not really.  I think it is the whole attitude of 'being at home' that actually matters.  It is not the place as such but if every place one goes to becomes a home (or is made a home) then moving around does not uproot one.  In that sense, I certainly am far from where I started, but certainly not lost or away. Am at home! 

Cut flowers

Sitting for meditation the other day and having noticed the withering flowers at the altar, it occured to me that we bring to the altar only 'cut' versions of ourselves - pieces of time, occasions of the day, some events of the past, few bits and pieces of our inner selves.  Just like the cut flowers.  And just like cut flowers fade and wither away, faster than the ones not cut and left on the plants, so too do all these 'bits and pieces' of ourselves are like a big jigsaw puzzle before the altar, with quite a few pieces missing.

I've always preferred to place living and flowers (and plants) alive in front of the altar. That way, we do both - honour God and honour creation.  Rather than cut flowers and then place them in water on the altar, I prefer the uncut flowers or plants adding beauty with their full life - not life cut short or only when in full blossom. 

Perhaps those cut flowers are an analogy of what we actually do with ourselves too - and are happy with it.  We only bring the 'best' so to say, to God.  Not everything!  

Deacons and Salesian Brothers

This morning at Mass when I heard and was reminded that St Laurence was a deacon and not a priest, and was someone who was greatly aware of his mission as a deacon of service, rather than sacramental ministry, the first thought that struck me was the reason why Don Bosco spoke of Brothers.  Don Bosco wanted Brothers to do works that a priest would not be able to find time and spare energy for, because he is involved in sacramental ministry.  The Brother therefore would be involved in works, other than sacramental ministry, but complimentary to that of the Priest in building the Kingdom.  Isn't that exactly the same motivation and need that drove the early Church to install the first deacons? 

'It's not appropriate for us to forsake the word of God and serve tables. Therefore brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. Then we can appoint those men over this business, and we apostles will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.' (Acts 6: 1-4). 

So I guess the issue of distinguishing or mixing up roles in ministry dates long before our times, or even Don Bosco's times!  However, am sure, the apostles and Don Bosco would have a different take on today's scenario, different not only in time but in place (East or West) as well!  

Playing the second fiddle

The saint of the day, St Barnabas, is said to have stood as a witness and presented Saul, after his conversion, to the apostles as a genuine Christian.  They do undertake some missionary journeys and do much good.  However, history remembers Paul more than Barnabas.  While both carried out their missionary activity, initially together, it is Paul who almost overshadows Barnabas with his eloquence, wisdom and reach.  Perhaps this was also the cause of their parting ways - could be! 

What strikes me is that Barnabas was - at least initially - willing to play the second fiddle, if one might use such a hierarchical language in ministry.  In cricketing terms, Barnabas let Paul do the real scoring and only lend his support by rotating the strike.  Barnabas, was one of the apostles, a chosen one of Christ. Paul, on the other hand, a newcomer, one who had never seen Jesus during his lifetime here on earth.  Yet Barnabas let Paul take the lead. 

This was possible only and as long as both of them understood that the mission at hand was greater than their individual egos.  A good lesson for us priests and religious when engaging in ministry: letting the Spirit work rather than insisting on it working (only) through me, or worse, emphasizing my work.  

Understanding mission

One of the significant words that we Salesians need to clarify and remind ourselves constantly is the word 'mission'.  Not so much that we tend to forget it but that we invariably tend to limit it to a very narrow sense and thereafter spend our whole life fulfilling this narrow limited understanding of mission! 

Unfortunately our skewed understanding of mission does not depend on those for whom we work. This danger lurks greater around those of our institutions and works that are already established and already set.  Our decisions, policies and attitudes are not appropriate because we proceed in the following order: mission - activities and works - those for whom we work. However the correct order should be: 

mission - those for whom we work - activities and works. 

What happens many a time is that the situation of those for whom we work, while not taking precedence over the mission, does not take precedence over our activities and works either!  It is not a matter of our going in search of those who can fill up our activities and works (and most often, those who do come are not necessarily the ones who need!); rather, we ought to ask ourselves: for the sake of those to whom the Lord sends us as priority, what are the activities and works we need to carry out here and now?  

Jonah is 'religiously' upset

Jonah goes and preaches to the people of Nineveh and he does a great job.  He delivers God's message to the best of his ability.  He understands what it means and communicates it effectively to all the people.

Unfortunately he appropriates the job and the message as his own!  It is a familiar scenario.  When one gets so involved in a task, even though it is not of one's own responsibility, one is likely to treat the task and everything involved in it personally.  So naturally when God changes his mind and does not bring about the destruction he has promised, Jonah is upset.  Perhaps if I were in his place, I too would have felt the same.

Take the unlikely scenario of God carrying out what he initially planned to do to Nineveh.  Destroy it.  Then naturally Jonah would go about saying, "See, I told them so!"  He would have happily taken the credit. That's how we humans normally work: quick to take credit for success but reluctant to acknowledge failure.

What Jonah suffers from is a typical sickness of religious and priests.  Taking God's work as one's own, leaving nothing to God!  The former part of the process is good, not the latter.  We need to realise that God is incharge.  It is primarily his work that we are upto.  

Will you come and follow me

Heard this lovely hymn in Church this morning... the words are very beautiful and meaningful.

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?

Mission and work

One of the things that Fr Ivo, during the meeting in Rome, repeated more than a couple of times was the distinction between mission and work.  He categorically denied that both are the same.  He would say that our mission is not to be equated to work or the activities that we carry out in our communities as individuals or as a group.

Our mission is to be signs and bearers of God's love. What we do, through our activities is give expression to this.  But to say that our activities is the mission is being naive.  Hence even a confrere who is aged or ailing, can still be actively engaged in the mission of being a sign and bearer of God's love, wherever or however bad a physical situation he may be in.

I found this distinction interesting and insightful.  Coming from a background where ceaseless activities characterises any given day and presently in a context where am not engaged in such a 'torrential' active work, it makes sense to discover what it means to be a consecrated person with a mission. To be patient and consistent with the discovery of who one is rather than a frenzied round of activity, and always joyful and never giving in to discouragement mode, is perhaps one of the characteristic of religious life. 

The spectrawide Salesian community

Listening and getting a vibe of the various experiences of confreres from around the world, and most importantly having lived in a typical European Salesian community, I'm getting a feel of the spectra-wide diversity of the word 'Salesian community'.

Back in India, Salesian community meant all the confreres living and working together in a particular place.  Those 'attached communities' would always be taunted for being 'away'!  Someone working 'outside' the community, meaning in an activity wherein not the whole community is involved, is always frowned upon.

The situation of Great Britain and that of North America is more or less similar.  Salesians working individually in different parts of the city/town, sometimes in structures that are not of the Salesians at all.  Even if the institution they work in is a Salesian, the Salesians themselves have no real say in its administration!  Then there is the whole gamut of other possible 'communities' in Argentina, Germany, Ecuador where there is no Salesian at all.  Neither is it 'attached' to any Salesian community.  The Provincial is directly in-charge!!

What brings us to take cognizance of this situation is the work we are presently at: revision of the Rector's manual.  As it is there are numerous troubles with the concept of the rector of the 'traditional' (all in one place) communities.  Add to that the emerging scenario of Salesians working individually, in different places, sometimes in places not even owned by Salesians.

How does one draw up a manual for the Rector in such diverse contexts?  If it is too generic, it does not serve the purpose.  It cannot be specific because the contexts and situations are not homogeneous. 

Missionary zeal

The apostles and early disciples of Jesus were truly a brave lot.  They traveled extensively, often to far off unknown places, encountering a totally different culture, language and people, carrying with them and witnessing a 'strange' doctrine.  They were often misunderstood, looked upon with suspicion, treated with prejudice, imprisoned, tortured, mocked at and also sometimes accepted.

And as if these 'extrinsic' factors which were well beyond their area of influence or even grasp, were not sufficient, the inner turmoil of those already professing allegiance to Christ and His gospel... and the church.  The Greek widows complaining of them being neglected in the rationing of alms.  The Pharisees challenging the entry of pagans into the christian faith, asking them to be circumcised and adhering to the Law of Moses as pre-requisites.  The dissensions and betrayals of those claiming to be close collaborators.

Then, I suppose, they also had their own inner demons to fight. Personal anxieties and tensions, likes and dislikes that constantly found themselves pitted against that what they preached, their own fledgling faith...

Truly, if they did all that they did, that too with such passion and zeal, as is evident in what history stands witness to, then how strong and deep was their conviction of their love for Jesus.

Convincing witness

Reflection for April 23

“My Lord and my God!”

Thomas is often referred to as the 'doubting Thomas'. That's because he refused to believe until he personally saw the risen Jesus. While this incident does say much about the conviction level of Thomas, it also speaks much about the convincing level of the remaining apostles. After all, Thomas spent three years in the company of these men. He ought to have learned to trust and respect them, as companions. But even after all those adventures they had together, the witness of the remaining apostles was not enough to convince Thomas.

More than being like Thomas, who had the guts to openly acknowledge his doubts and seek confirmation for what he was asked to believe in, we are like the remaining apostles. Firm in belief, but hardly convincing enough for those who know us, even those close to us. Of course, there are some who do not bother to notice or blindly refuse, just for the heck of it. But not always can the blame be labelled on others.

Thomas' declaration and transformation led him to travel across the globe and even to martyrdom in India, as a testament of his undying love for Jesus. This Divine Mercy Sunday offers us a good challenge to ask ourselves as to how deep is our faith and how genuine a witness are we to the risen Lord.

Called to love and serve

Reflection for Maundy Thursday (April 13, 2017)

By washing the feet of his apostles, Jesus offers them one of his last practical lessons in apostleship: service. As this particular act goes hand in hand with the institution of the Eucharist, it also gets endorsed by the command, 'Do this in my memory'. The tradition of washing the feet of 12 persons on this day is more than a dramatization of what Jesus did at the last supper. It is to be a response to the command of humble service.

Priesthood, then is seen not merely as means of sharing love and the sacrament, but that of service too. A priest, by his very consecration, is called to love and serve. He is called to do it with and for a divine purpose, much higher than mere human respect and feelings. Unless this divine dimension is perceived by those whom we serve, we fail in our mission as apostles.

To be true to one's vocation of priesthood is to be true men of prayer and service. These two dimensions are not to be seen as different or one following the other. They are so intertwined that one flows into the other. Jesus, even in his last moments on earth, shows how deeply these two aspects are inter-related while in the Upper room.

Jesus' choice

… I did not come on my own, but He sent me (Jn 8: 42). 

To choose of one's own accord to accomplish a task is a greater motivation than when entrusted by someone else. Jesus uses the word 'command of my Father' and some use this as an excuse to say that He had no choice.  It was a 'command'.  However, he still could have not followed the command.  He had that choice.  Jesus said and did His work primarily because God sent Him. But not out of spite or compulsion, but because He, in turn chose to do what was asked of Him.

Am I a Christian because I was born in a Christian family? Or that I have made a definite choice to live it? Do I do good because the Bible says so or because I have made a conscious choice to make that instruction mine?

Viewing oneself...

One thing to say, that "I'm nobody" and another to say, "I'm nobody with you!" Perhaps the same logic can be perceived in the AA twelve step programme, wherein participants are recommended to have recourse to a higher power (God or any other power).  They are not really asked to admit that they are powerless, but rather asked to admit that they are powerless without the help of God or the higher power.

I think this is the distinction between true pastors/healers and false or dramatic ones.  The former help each one see the point of being helpless not just by oneself, but help one see that without realizing God's assistance one is not using our full potential.  The latter tend to exploit the 'vulnerability' of persons by showing them that they are weak and then inducing the conviction that without them (the facilitator) they will not have access to God!

So a true convert is not one who goes to church regularly, but one who goes to connect with God, not the priest!  Just like healing is complete when the patient can stand on his/her own without reliance on the doctor, so too is true conversion possible when the faithful can relate to God without the priest.  Then why the priest?  Merely to facilitate that connection.  If the priest or anyone else thinks that without him God is inaccessible to His people, then not only has the priest a wrong conception of God but it is this wrong concept of God that he will pass on to others! That's double trouble.

Silence

Just returned from watching the movie 'Silence'...

The movie is about two Jesuits who volunteer to go to Japan to really find out about their mentor and confessor whom they revere much, but who is rumoured to have given up his faith.  They do not believe it and set out to find the truth.  Once they find themselves in the midst of hostile regime, they begin to see a different picture; not because they are persecuted but because of them, the poor native believers are tortured and killed.  That puts them in the shoes of their mentor and the choices they together make... the same as before, but lived differently.

I'll put my first impressions now and perhaps enumerate the deeper thoughts later.

• Not as graphic or emotionally gripping as I thought it would be, given it being a Martin Scorsese movie. 
• For those of us who have been second hand witnesses of persecution and evangelisation among non-Catholics, even those hostile to the faith, the movie does not come across as a big surprise or a shock.  To those who have had the comfort of a 'convenient' faith, untested by external inhuman conditions, this may be a bit shocking and gruesome.  
• The real crisis of Fr Sebastian: when he sees the image of Christ in himself, just before he is turned in to the Japanese. 
• Two facts which clearly indicate that Fr Sebastian, or even Fr Ferreira for that matter, never lost his faith, nor his priestly mission: when the former was willing to forgive the one who betrayed him and 'renounced' his faith time and again, repeatedly. Even in times when he doubted if the penitent really was worthy of forgiveness, he forgave.  The second is when he stamps on an image of Christ and he does it for the sake of the lives of those persecuted.  A Christian is not truly a follower of Christ if he chooses an image of Christ over and above the life of a human being.  
• When in the comfort of life, faith is lived out in terms of doctrine.  When life itself is in danger or questioned, true faith is lived out - doctrines don't really matter. Fr Sebastian bluntly recommends the villagers to apostate; Fr Garupe is shocked and opposes Fr Sebastian, saying that they cannot give up their faith.  The villagers faith was deeper than any symbols or religious artifacts.  
• Fr Sebastian's parting words to Fr Garupe: "They did not die for us! They did not die for us!" Something every priest and religious should always beware of: self-glorification in sacrifice.  

Over-all: Quite intense but quite long as well. Will appeal to the West not so much the East; the latter, live it in their everyday life (in different degrees) so will not find it as gripping as those whose faith has not been tested by external forces at such levels.  

Solo Salesians

During our Spiritual reading the other day, there was this phrase 'Solo Salesians' which was condemned, in the light of our communitarian apostolate.

Well, if I were back in India, I would have perfectly agreed with it and seen the point. However, my experience here in the UK has been otherwise.  Well, let me not speak of somebody's experience or even a collective apostolate.  From what I have picked up over the years of Salesian life, I understand the community is basically the bonding and the witness. This is our primary mission. Not the activity that we do.  The latter is only an outcome of the former.  Of course, very often that activity is the only  existing and visible thing. Anyway, coming back to the point, if bonding and witness is the primary mission as a community, there ought to be members in the community AND there ought to be someone to whom we appear.  Now the first part of bonding, I see and agree.  No point being together but not knowing one another or even being concerned for one another.

The second half of the community dimension: witness. What if nobody really sees the community?  Honestly, in a place like where I presently live, each one works in a totally different place, totally disconnected from the other.  One in a college (not our own), the other in a Parish (that's ours) and another in a school (which is ours but not ours!).  Now the responsibility of each is such that we cannot have a rota wherein one can substitute the other (once in a way maybe, but certainly not for long).  Like someone asked at table the other day, "Do you have a rota chart for Mass at the Parish?" to which the Parish Priest replied, "We have! But it has only my name on it!" Now, I'm also willing to concede that there are possibilities of a community rotation - but very very limited and far stretched. So back to the question: whom do people get to see and experience? The "Solo Salesian"!

There are 8 houses in the block where I live and I haven't even seen anyone, leave alone speak to anyone at all... and it is two months since I have been here. The case is no better for those who have lived here for 4 years!! So where are those who see us?

What about the community dimension?  Honestly there is really no scope - not much though.  If tomorrow the community decides that we either 'give witness' together or not at all, then all us may end up being just in our own place. Nowhere to go, nothing to do!  Perfect setting for a cloistered monastery!  Call my view, biased, but there are hardly those who 'need' us!  Even those who do need our services would not like to be helped!  So we cannot spontaneously extend help, all we can do is offer and wait for them to accept and only then be involved. Anything before that is breach of privacy... and can do more harm than any good intended.

I understand that this is a really different and difficult challenge for the West. Fortunately or unfortunately India has not reached this stage of 'independence'.  Not that it has no issues (gosh!). But this does take toll on us as religious.  Perhaps this is the cultural shock that people always keep talking about(?). 

Salesian Mission in India, 100 years from now

Back in India, most of our mission centres or modes of apostolate are exclusive.  I mean, run by us Salesians and Salesians alone.  At the most there are members of the Salesian Family collaborating with the Salesians, but otherwise it is a single congregation show piece.  Whether it be schools, parishes, technical institutions, formation houses or navajeevans (street-children homes), most of them are run by Salesians alone.  There is hardly any venture where there are other religious or priests involved as equal partners  (perhaps a kind of exception are the girls' homes in Vijayawada and Hyderabad).

Understanding the present mission-mode of the Great Britain province, it becomes clear that there is hardly any apostolate that is exclusively Salesian. Parishes, perhaps could be an exception to this 'rule'.  For the rest, Salesians are one among the many involved in a particular apostolate.  I'm not sure if there is any apostolate carried out by Salesians exclusively.  What were schools once run exclusively by Salesians are today run by a board of trustees. Salesians are present on the board (not always though), and as chaplains.  There are no technical institutes. Youth centres, I doubt. One of the reasons that led to the 'inclusive' forms of apostolate has been the paucity of personnel, the decline in vocations - but not the only reason.

I wonder if this would be the same with India a few years down the line, when number of vocations decrease there - which eventually it will.  Would we too follow this apostolate module of the GBR province or for that matter of the European scenario?  Would we be ready for that shift?  I guess, pre-planned voluntary shift would serve better than circumstantially forced abrupt changes!

Easier said than done!