Fourth Sunday,Advent,99

Wordsworth, one of the most famous poets of English Literature and whose poems most of us have read and studied wrote very magnificently about the Blessed Virgin Mary in one of his later poems, known as the Ecclesiastical sonnets. He speaks of Mary as “ our tainted nature’s solitary boast, purer than foam on central ocean tossed,” and “Brighter than Eastern skies at day break.” The Protestant writer and Professor of history at Yale University, Prof.Jaroslav Pelican writes: “ It is impossible to understand the history of Western spirituality and devotion without paying attention to the place of the Virgin Mary.”

Why has Mary captivated the imagination of poets, artists, writers and millions of ordinary people down through the centuries? The answer is given in today’s Gospel: “Hail Mary, full of Grace …you have found favor with God.” Mary is God’s favored daughter, unparalleled in spiritual and physical beauty, the recipient of all the beautiful blessings of God. That is why no century can diminish or stale her beauty or the love people have for her.

Advent is the time we bring to our mind all the great sages of the past who walked on the lane of human history leading to the coming of the Savior. Isaiah with his distant and sometimes immediate vision of the Savior, John the Baptist through his lonely voice crying in the desert inviting people to repent and to be prepared for the coming of the Savior are specially remembered during these days. But more than these prophets and sages , it is the Blessed Virgin Mary who looms large on the horizon of human history as the most significant person who climaxed the story of the Redemption by her “Yes” to the will of God.When she said “ Behold ,I am the handmaid of the Lord.May it be done to me according to your word,” the whole world might have gone into a cosmic dance.

Mary’s consent had ramifications beyond her own comprehension and the unfolding of the events in the life of Jesus has prompted her again and again to say Yes, as she saw her beloved Son taunted by the leaders of the people, at the foot of the Cross, at His death and finally at the glorious Resurrection.

Today Mary asks each one of us to say Yes to God’s will in our lives.We may not fully understand the implications of that Yes, as Mary did not.We may have to pass through very painful experiences, sometimes tragic and unendurable. We may even ask when caught in the pain of very tragic and mind-boggling moments, why should bad things happen to good people. We may wonder why we did Yes to God.

Mary has set the model for us. Her consent to the Heavenly Father did not end in tragedy , but in the majestic and magnificent witnessing to the glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ establishing Himself as the Master of the Universe. Mary assures us of the same joy in our lives when we accept the pains and joys of life in a spirit of absolute surrender to God.

The words of the angel strengthening Mary’s resolve should always ring in our ears, when things seem to be difficult, when we feel drawn into the vortex of worries and anxieties , when dark clouds of depression try to take away the serenity of our hearts: “ Nothing is impossible with God.”

Within a few days we would be celebrating the birth of our Savior. Let this be an occasion for turning a new leaf in our lives, be an occasion forgiveness and reconciliation. Let it be an occasion for acts of kindness , of speaking a kind word to a stranger , of reaching out to someone with whom we are estranged , and of pure acts of generosity of the poor. Then we will realize the implication of what Mary has said: “ My soul doth magnify the Lord.”

Fourth Sunday,LentB,April2.jn.3:14-21

Speaking of the mercy and hope instilled into him by the Gospel, St.Augustine says: “ Jesus came to us captives as a Redeemer, not an oppressor. The Lord shed His blood for us, redeemed us, gave us new hope …. Even while we are being tossed about by the waves on the sea, we have the anchor of hope already fixed upon the land.” The mercy and compassion of Jesus makes St.Augustine say again: “I will hold fast to you, Lord, as you hold fast to me.”

As we are nearing the end of the period of Lent, we become more aware of the need of God’s mercy in our lives, in the context of our own sins and failures. All the readings from the Scriptures today speak to us about His great mercy and love.

The Book of Chronicles shows how in spite of the infidelities of Israel and their betrayal of their faith in the Lord, God offers them hope in their period of suffering, in their time of captivity. God makes them understand that their period of captivity will be over soon and they will be brought to their motherland to enjoy once again freedom and peace.

This paradigm of punishment-repentance-freedom and joy is more forcefully highlighted in the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus asks us to look up to Him for our slavation.The Cross is our symbol of hope. Looking up to Jesus on the Cross, the Risen Jesus, gives us strength and hope in our times of suffering , pain and hardships.

Jesus tells us that God so loved the world that He gave his only Son so that every one who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. Those words will always be a powerful challenge to all the prophets of doom who see only dark clouds in the world.

Whatever may be our difficulties, and problems in life, let us feel comforted and strengthened by the words of Jesus. He has shown what the love God the Father has for each one of us : God has sent His Son not to condemn us but to save us.

Just as for the Israelites, the snake, their mode of punishment, was transformed into a sign for their healing, so too the cross, the symbol of punishment and suffering was transformed by Our Lord into a symbol of victory and glory. No more does the Cross signify someone who was defeated and thrown into the dustbin of history but the one who conquered the forces of suffering and death and established himself as the Lord of the Universe.

Our sufferings, our defeats, our painful experiences, our tragedies are no more the low points in our lives, but are the high ways of our spiritual growth, of our union with the Lord our Savior. What the world thinks as our failures-- our sufferings, our pains, our lack luster performance in the financial or the professional world-- will be our achievements in the eyes of God.

We have to look at our crosses, our sufferings, our pains and see in them the outstretched hands of Jesus comforting and strengthening us. Never more can we say in our hour of agony that we are alone. For, Jesus assures us that He is with us until the end of our lives.

Today let our prayer may be: “Christ, radiant light of the world, lead us through the gloom of this world until the Father’s eternal light shines upon us.”

Fourth Sunday,Ord.A,Feb.3,02.Mt.5:1-12

4^th Sund.Ord.A,Feb.3,02

All the readings in today’s Scriptures speak to us about the marvelous way in which God lifts up the poor and the humble to be carriers of his message and the symbols of His presence in the world.

In the first reading, the Prophet Zephaniah points out how God would choose a remnant of Israel, a most humble section of the people who would live out in their lives their absolute and irrevocable faith in the Lord to symbolize his presence in the world.

St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians again highlights the same point. It is the humble and the foolish of the world that God has chosen to be the announcers of His kingdom. “ God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong."

These ideas get a clear focus when we come to Jesus as he begins to reveal the nature of His kingdom through the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount is a radical call to a new way of life, a way of life that is so different from the ways that people are accustomed to. It is a call to take up the challenges of life in a direction opposite to the ways the world would teach us to adopt.

That is why commenting on these saying of Jesus, Bishop Sheen says that if any one puts into practice these Beatitudes, he would draw upon himself the wrath of the world. He further adds: “ The sermon on the Mount cannot be separated from His crucifixion….The day Our Lord taught the Beatitudes, he signed His own death warrant.”

In the Beatitudes, our Lord takes up all the catchwords of the world like, security, revenge, popularity, getting even, sex, armed might etc and reverses them. To those who want revenge, he says “Blessed are the patient”. To those who say , immediate enjoyment of the pleasures of life is everything, he says “Blessed are those who mourn and trust in the Lord”.To those who want to give unbridled expression to their sexual feelings, Jesus says, “Blessed are the clean of heart. To those who are bent upon becoming popular and yearning for the cheap crumbs of applause and congratulatory remarks, Jesus says, “Blessed are you when men revile and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely because of me”.

Let me quote Archbishop Sheen again : “ All false beatitudes which make happiness depend on self-expression, licence, having a good time , He scorns because they bring mental disorders, unhappiness, false hopes, fears and anxieties.”

Jesus wants us to conquer hatred with love. Jesus wants us to root out sin from the heart of man before it creates great storms and tempests in the lives of people. We have seen recently how hatred couched in a religious language and preached in distant lands has become a powerful force to shake the foundations of a civilized society, and how still it is a powerful force driving a lot of young people to engage in suicidal attacks. It is to counteract such acts of violence, hatred and greediness that Jesus wants us to adopt a new way of life.

The beatitudes are also a call to each one of us to rekindle hope in our lives and not to become victims of despair. Just because things turn out to be bad, because we have lost our financial insecurity, or something tragic or painful has happened in our family or because we are suffering from pain, it does not mean that we should allow ourselves to be victims of hopelessness or despair. To all of us suffering from one problem or another experiencing hardships or worries, Jesus reveals that those sources of pain are also sources of grace for us. We can use them to transform the nature of our lives because those are the crosses that will align themselves with the Cross of Christ to end in victory and glory. As St. Paul reminds us, when Jesus is with us, who can be against us.

Fourth Sunday of Lent,C.March 25,2001.Lk.15:1-3,11-32

4^th Sunday of Lent,C,Mar.25,2001

Near the end of his life, Russian writer Dostoyevsky called his family to his bedside and asked his wife to read to their children the parable of the Prodigal Son. Then he told his children: “My children, never forget what you have heard. Have absolute faith in God and never despair of his pardon. I love you dearly, but my love is nothing compared with the love of God for you.” Today all the readings from the Scriptures including the parable of the Prodigal Son speak to us about the unparalleled love of God.

The first reading from the Old Testament speaks of a new beginning in the life of Israel. The old days of God taking care of all their needs was over. They are now brought to a new land that was promised to their forefathers. They have to be ready for a new beginning in their lives.

It is in a way an inspiring call to every one who believes in God that there is a new opportunity, a new chance to begin anew their lives. Failures, weaknesses and sins should not deter one from the effort for a new beginning. As St. Paul reminds us in today’s reading: “ Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; new things have come.” For us, this Lent gives a new opportunity to start again. We may have failed in our commitments, we may have offended God grievously, but it is not too late for us to come back to God and deepen our closeness to Him.

In today’s reading from the Gospel Jesus very beautifully explains what God’s attitude to sinners is through a parable the loveliness and the power of which have never been lost though innumerable retellings.

Jesus was accused of moving with sinners, dining with them and conversing with them. The attitude of the society was to ostracize the sinners and never to have any dealings with them. There is no chance for those who were considered sinners to come back and regain their lost honor. Their company was avoided or they were stoned to death. Into that brutal world, Jesus brings in rivers of mercy, compassion and forgiveness.

Through the parable of the Prodigal Son which in fact reveals the unbounded prodigality of God’s love, Jesus shows how God looks at sinners.

The Father waits for his prodigal son to return and to accept His unconditional love. The son returns with his voice choked with apologies and expressions of deep repentance. But the Father does not wait to hear the end of the story nor does he want his son to grovel in the misery of expressing his apologies and excuses. The Father’s heart was moved with love and compassion as he felt how much his son was deprived of his love in those years. He wants to bring his son to the same level of enjoying his unconditional love that he had enjoyed before.

Jesus wants to show us that God our father will treat us with much more love than was shown by the human father in this parable. As one spiritual writer has put it: “This parable distills and sums up the whole meaning of the Gospel….. It tells us more about God, about the real meaning of God, than an entire course in theology”.

What does, then, this parable tells us? It does not mean that our sins are frivolous and will have no consequence. No. The burden of the sin is shown by the repentance expressed by the son, but what Jesus reveals here is that God’s love is overwhelming and limitless.

All of us are sinners. We fail, fall and stumble. Instead of remaining where we are, instead of keeping the wounds of sin in our hearts, we have to return to the great healer, the consoler of human hearts and receive his love in our lives. Some of us carry the burden of sin our hearts, some of us are unwilling to give up the path of sin, some of us may try to justify our actions that have hurt God as well as our neighbor. But that should not deter us from coming to the Lord. Unseen by us, he is waiting for us, watching every tremulous step that we take in his direction.

Today we shall say to the Lord: “ Jesus, I believe in you. I repent of all the ways that I have hurt you and those around me. Wipe away my sins and fill me with your love.”

Fourth Sunday ,Advent,Dec.24,2000C.Lk.1:39-45

4^th Sun.of Adv.Dec.24,2000, C

Within a short time, we will be celebrating Christmas and enjoying all the joys of that magnificent event. Christmas, although celebrated in a month of cold and snow is spiritually an experience of inner warmth, an experience of a warm Sun-rise in our hearts. One of our great poets, Wordsworth who was a great lover of the glories of nature’s beauty would go into raptures at the slightest experience of the tiniest forms of natural beauty. Clouds, daffodils, rivers, humble village folks would all arouse in him intense feelings of joy. Remembering his visit to the river Wye, he speaks of the intense emotions it has aroused in him and calls the nature, the mother of these beauteous forms, the nurse, the guide and the guardian of his heart and soul. All these poetic expressions of Wordsworth are incapable of describing one of the most beautiful events that happened in human history, the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ—God becoming man.

In today’s Gospel we come across two participants in that great drama of Revelation, Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. Mary cannot keep the joy of being the Mother of God within herself. She wanted to share that joy. She walks all that distance to meet Elizabeth to share her joy with her. But there Elizabeth greets her as a prophetess announcing right away that Mary is the mother of the Lord and praises her for believing in the word of God.

Today Elizabeth asks each one of us to follow the path of Mary –of total trust in God’s providence. Mary had her crises and tragedies to experience. But she was not upset or disturbed. She saw the hand of God guiding her, and fully believed in God’s power in protecting her. As we go along the road of our lives, we too should experience the peace and joy that Mary enjoyed by putting our trust in God.

The late Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Basil Hume once said: “ I think of myself as a pilgrim through life. I came from nothing, I shall be here some sixty, seventy or possibly more years, and then I shall no longer be here. My stay here has a clear beginning and a definite end. …. But there is one who is on the look-out to guide us: it is the Son of God who is the way, the truth and the life.”

That is what our Blessed virgin reminds us today: there is one on the look out for us. Trust in him and have no fear.

Christmas is a time for each one of us to renew our hope and peace. Never more should we allow the dark clouds of our lives to take away the inner joy of our heart. We know the great secret of the Universe. That the Lord of the Universe is not a distant figure uninterested in what is going on in our lives. He is deeply concerned about us: He has taken a dominant role in our lives: He became one of us. “ God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

We may experience tensions and difficulties; tragedies may haunt us and life may bring a lot of problems creating worry and fear in our lives. But the joy of the knowledge that God is with us will help us to tide over all these problems and keep our feet firmly rooted on this earth. Today as we listened to the words of Elizabeth, let us trust in the power of the word of god and feel comforted like the Blessed Virgin Mary that our Loving God will never forsake us, however powerful the tempests of our lives may be.

Fourth Sunday,Lent,A,March.10.02.Jn.9:1-41

When Pope Paul V1 landed in Bombay, to participate in the First International Eucharistic Congress in India , he addressed the people with the following words from the Indian Scriptures: “Lord, lead me from falsehood to Truth, from darkness to Light, from death to Immortality.” Struggling with religious doubts and anxieties, Cardinal Newman, composed the following prayer: “Lead kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on. The night is dark, and I am far from home, lead Thou me on.”

Light is the most perennial symbol of wisdom, of awareness, of spirituality, of God himself. It is this symbol of Light that Jesus uses in today’s Gospel to move his listeners from the world of their spiritual blindness to the light of Eternal Love through the vision given to the blind man.

The whole miracle of the sight being given to the blind man is an unbelievably gripping story of an illiterate person teaching the wise men of the society the first lessons in logic. The Pharisees could not accept the fact that the man born blind could get his sight back. Instead of rejoicing in this great blessing, they tried to persuade him to say that the One who gave him sight was a charlatan, a violator of the law, and a man “not of God.” Even the blind man tried to teach them a few lessons in logic: “ We know God does not listen to sinners. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.”

Instead of rejoicing at the great miracle of healing done for a man born blind from his birth, they strained every nerve to accuse Jesus of employing some kind of magic. The vision of the blind man reached its full restoration when he confessed: “I do believe.” The movement of the man from the darkness of the blindness to the dazzling spectacle of faith should make us reflect on the nature and depth of our faith: how our faith is a transforming force in our lives. .

The blind man had gone to the pool of Siloam= “the one who is sent”. It was his baptism-of immersion -in the Grace of God. It opened the eyes of his mind and he confessed his faith in the Lord. We too made a confession at our baptism and that has to be renewed again and again in our lives: I do believe”.Whatever may the nature of our experiences that we encounter in our lives,we have to see them throughthe vision of our faith.That is what Samuel did .It was not through this physical vision and understanding that he chose David, but through his listening to the voice of God—through God’s eyes—through his faith.It is that spiritual vision that is required from each one of us as we confront the problems and challenges of our lives.We may lose our jobs, our dear ones my be suffering, we may be misunderstood—all these things happen to us –but these experiences will not have the power to take away the peace from our lives, as long as the we have the spirtual vision of our faith.We can see these dark experiences of our lives the shadow of the Cross of our dear Lord who will take us to victory, hope and happiness.

One of our novelists, Walker Percy has once said: “ Never has there been such loneliness in the midst of crowds, never such hunger in the face of satiation….All that is needed is a bearer of Good News who speaks it with such authority that it can penetrate the most jaded language.” We have to become the new “ Siloam”, the new pool of evangelization for others –for our families, neighbors and colleagues. They should revive their faith by seeing our commitment to the Lord.

The Holy Father, in his address to the people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square on March 3, said: “It is necessary that people rediscover their baptism, approaching the inexhaustible spiritual vigor of the sanctifying grace received in it, in order to transmit it to every realm of personal and social life.”

The blind man in today’s Gospel is asking us to reassert our faith daily and never to lose hope whatever may be the nature of the difficulties, sicknesses, tragedies we experience in our lives. As we move through the dark events of our lives we begin to realize more and more the immense love of Jesus for us and Jesus becomes revealed brighter and brighter as the Light of the world. There is no other person who can shed light on our lives or the world than Jesus. Like the blind man, with the vision that we have attained through our faith, we shall say, “Lord, I believe you are the Light of my life, my Savior.”

Third Sunday,Easter

Third Sunday after Easter

All the readings in today’s Scriptures speak to us about the different appearances of Our Lord after his resurrection and their impact on the lives of the apostles and disciples.

In the first reading , we see with total amazement the bold and unflinching courage with which Peter addresses the crowd who was there. A few days before this event, Peter did not have enough courage even to mention that he was even in a casual way associated with Jesus. After the events of the death and crucifixion of Jesus, he even tries to forget the whole drama of Jesus’ life by going for fishing with the other apostles. But all of a sudden things begin to change. The impact of the Resurrection and the reception of the Holy Spirit make him one of the boldest and powerful witnesses to Jesus Christ. He asks the same crowd to change their obstinate minds and become followers of Jesus in whom only they can find their salvation.

The transformation that happened in the lives of the apostles begin to appear in the lives of others too. Today’s Gospel describes how dispirited and hopeless the two disciples feel after the events in Jerusalem. All their hopes are dashed to the ground and they are searching for an answer to the events they experienced recently.

These feelings of confusion, fear and uncertainty they share with the companion who joins them on their journey. But Jesus takes time to explain the meaning of all the events that happened and how necessary it is for Jesus to die and then to rise after death. Their hearts begin to be stirred and excited and they ask Jesus to stay with them. They begin to realize who the stranger is when he breaks the bread with them .

The same Jesus who inflamed the hearts of the disciples and emboldened Peter and his friends is with us every day, everywhere. He is present in the Eucharist, in His words, in the kindness and love of people around us, in every experience, bitter or joyful that we encounter in our lives. But we don’t see Him nor experience him because our eyes remain always closed. We are selfish and close-hearted that we don’t have the generosity that the disciples had when they said “ Stay with us.”

We have to ask Jesus to stay with us in our moments of failure and triumph. We have to ask Him to stay with us when things go wrong for us, when children become rebellious, when we experience lack of sharing and caring in our families, when we are Ill-treated, when we experience hostility in our work places, when we experience financial problems, when we feel lonely. Instead of cursing and getting angry, we have to say, Stay with us Jesus.

He will transform those bitter moments into opportunities of grace for us; He will instill confidence and hope in our lives; He will give us the courage to walk those lonely paths in our lives. Only thing that is required is our willingness to accept Him and to be receptive to His presence. We have to reach out in love to one another, extend forgiveness and be patient with the weaknesses and foibles of others. Then , our daily experiences and encounters will become eucharistic experiences, moments of the presence of Jesus in our lives.

We shall say with the disciples, Stay with us Jesus all the time in our lives, when we are happy and sad, when we are hurting and bleeding , in times of peace as well as in grief.

Third Sunday,Lent,C.March 18,01.Lk.13:1-9

3^rd Sunday, Lent, C, Mar.18, 2001

(Lk13: 1-9)

A few years ago I attended the funeral of a young friend of mine with deep sadness in my heart. He was a daily participant at the early morning masses in the college chapel, a good basket ball player, and a model student in behavior, character and in the practice of his faith. When he developed some pain in his leg, we thought it was because of some injury that he had sustained from his basket ball games. Since the pain did not go, at the doctor’s suggestion, more tests were conducted and in the end it was discovered that he had developed bone cancer. He came home from the hospital with one of his legs amputated. But that did not deter him from being cheerful and accepting God’s will in his life. But, later, the cancer spread to other parts of his body and when he knew that his end was coming near he told his parents that he wanted to see all his priest friends and teachers. It was only with tears in our eyes that we attended his funeral. In those moments we did ask as any one would ask, why Lord, such a promising young man was taken away before he had the time to blossom in life.

The same question was put to Jesus by the people of his time. Why did those Galileans die? Was it because of their sin? By giving another example of the 18 people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them, Jesus made it clear to them that their death was not due to their sin. There was a conception among the Jews that tragedies and sins were related. Job, in the Old Testament expressed the same view when he was told about the deaths of his beloved ones. He said “Don’t lay my father’s guilt on me. Even my own sins don’t merit this grief.” Jesus made them understand that the span of one’s life is a mystery hidden in the bosom of God, but what was important was how one lived one’s life.

God’s words to Moses show how caring and provident God is .By asserting his name as “I am” God shows that he is the eternal Act, always in the present, concerned about the lives of his people. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Father of the living and not of the dead and would intervene in the lives of the people, protecting them, sustaining them and comforting them. Jesus emphasizes the same aspect of God’s concern and love through the parable of the fig tree where the tree is given a further lease of life in order to bear fruit. The parable highlights very strongly many, many overtures of love and opportunities of change given to man.

What Jesus emphasizes is that what is important is the quality of one’s life—how well one can reflect goodness and love in one’s life. What he asks each one of us is to repent, to undergo an interior conversion, to move from selfishness to generosity, from diffidence to faith, from despair to hope.

All of us know that in spite of the external appearance of civility and correctness that we put on, how much we are captives of the power of sin. We know we are wrong many a time and that our actions have hurt our relationship with God as well as with our neighbors. But we still continue to remain in those states of sin, finding arguments to justify our behavior, our anger, our arrogance, or our sinful habits. It is to each one of us caught in the vicious grip of sins, that Jesus says, “Repent”. For, it is the richness of our soul that is more important than all the achievements that we gain in the world, than all the momentary pleasures that we get from the assertion of selfishness to the detriment of our peace of soul.

As one writer has put it: “There is a divine purpose for each one of us; that is why Jesus is constantly summoning us to conversion. Each of us without exception needs to do better, to think better, pray better, share better, care better, love better and live better.” That becomes possible only when there is a daily attempt on our part to subdue our selfishness and allow God to flood our heart with his grace.

As Henri Nouwen, one of our contemporary spiritual writers, points out: “In our world of loneliness and despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal. “In that heart”, he adds, “there is no suspicion, no vindictiveness, no resentment, and not a tinge of hatred.”

This is the moment for us to ask ourselves where and in what way we can grow closer to God, improve our relationships with the members of our family and colleagues. We don’t realize how irrational sometimes we are because of our selfishness and pride. When some one criticizes us, or doesn’t do things in the way we want, we become angry and irritable. If we just hold our tongue and control the turbulent feelings in our heart, much peace would come in our families and work places. It is appropriate for us at this time to search the depths of our hearts in order to realize the need of repentance in our lives. Do I give enough time to my spiritual life? Is there any one I have hurt through my words or actions? Is my heart open to God? Is there a willingness on my part to accept the will of God in my life? Have I thanked my God for the innumerable blessings that I have received? Or am I still complaining?

During this period of Lent, as we prepare to grow closer to the Lord, let us ask him to give us the grace of real repentance so that we may experience the abundance of His love in our hearts.

Third Sunday,Lent,C.Jan.21,01.Lk.13:1-9

3^rd Sunday,C,Jan.21,2001

Concluding the Jubilee year and offering a new sense of hope in the new Millenium, the Holy Father closed the bronze door of St.Peter’s Basilica, on Jan.6 . He addressed the congregation with the following words: “ While today we close the Holy Door, a symbol of Christ, the heart of Jesus remains more open than ever.” The Holy father added further: “ We need to set out anew from Christ, with the zeal of Pentecost, with renewed enthusiasm, to set out from Him above all in a daily commitment to holiness.” The ceremonies of the Jubilee Year are thus over, but the work of the Jubilee now begins—begins in our hearts, in our families, in our neighborhoods and workplaces, the work of forgiveness, remission of debts, and compassion to the poor and the weak.

These are exciting times—we are witnessing the unfolding of a new millenium, the beginning of a New Year, the installation of a new Archbishop, and the inauguration of a new President. Words like a new era, a fresh start, a new administration etc are in the air now.

Thousands of years ago, there was this same yearning for a new beginning, for a fresh start, for a new relationship. To the people thirsting for such a new life after their return from the exile (583 B.C.) in Babylon, Ezra, the priest presented that new way by asking them to conform to the Law of God. Standing on a platform before the water Gate, Ezra read the law from daybreak until midday and people burst into tears. They cried in repentance as well as in joy: repentance because they could not live up to the demands of the Law while they were living in exile; joy, because God, still cared for them and offered them a new chance.

Out-shadowing all these fresh starts and beginnings, Our Lord faced the congregation of his own home town, centuries later and announced the beginning of a new era by appropriating to himself the words of the Prophet Isaiah about the Messiah. He announced to all of them that the words of the Prophet Isaiah concerning the Messiah were fulfilled in him and that He is the Savior, the Anointed of the Lord.

What type of new beginning has Jesus envisaged? Is it in any way similar to the new beginnings and fresh starts we have in mind? Do our economic theories, political philosophies and social theories match the principles laid out by Jesus? What should be our attitudes and perceptions in the light of these words of Jesus?

The people of Jesus’ time could not tolerate those ideas and they wanted to throw him out of their town. How can a carpenter’s on become a prophet all of a sudden? That is what perplexed them.

What does Jesus tell them? He tells them that his mission is to bring glad tidings to the poor. Jesus would later amplify the meaning of this when he says that the Blessed are the poor in spirit : the reign of God is theirs. Blessed are the sorrowing: they shall be consoled.

We are so much caught up in the glitter of wealth, pomp and glory that we never realize what it means to be impoverished, to have no shelter, and to be hungry. We don’t associate with people who are ill-dressed and we don’t receive them as our guests and we don’t feel happy when they join our company. We have such romantic notions of the poor that we see them as existing in far –off lands and not in our midst. We hold such contempt for poverty and we see the poor as the wretched of the earth, the misfit who misused the opportunities of life. But that is not the way Jesus sees. He says I have come to bring to joy their hearts, to make them feel happy and to wipe away the tears of misery from their lives. Where are we, the ardent followers of Christ, the regular participants in the life, the body and blood of Jesus? What have we done for the poor? How many times our hearts , thoughts and hands have been raised to defend the concerns of the poor?

Jesus says again that he has come to proclaim liberty to captives. Who are the captives? They are the captives of sin, of prejudice, of social ostracism. They are the people shunned by the society because of their way of life, because of their sickness, because of their inability to overcome the power of sin in their lives. They are in the prison of their mental darkness, of moral failures, of despair, of the lack of love experienced in their lives. We want them to wear the scarlet letter on their front and to be out of our sights. No Jesus says, I have come to offer them freedom, to offer them peace, to recover them from their mental agony and subjection to evil. What are our attitudes to people who have fallen into such situations? Do we have compassion for them, do we have the willingness to help them?

We are the anointed of Jesus and our task is to proclaim and live by this inaugural message of Jesus, and not the theories of political scientists or economists who have not heart for the poor and the weak. We shall ask the Lord to give us the grace to proclaim through our lives, His message: to offer glad tidings to the poor, to offer freedom to the captives and to offer sight to the blind.

Third Sunday,Lent,B.March26,Jn.2:13-25

3^rd Sunday of Lent B,Mar.26

Addressing the people gathered in the Holocaust Memorial in Israel a couple of days ago, the Holy Father expressed his anguish and heart-felt pain in the following words: “In this place of memories, the mind and heart and soul feel an extreme need for silence. Silence in which to remember. Silence in which to try to make some sense of the memories which come flooding back.” Holy Father adds further: “ We wish to remember….But we wish to remember for a purpose, namely to ensure that never again will evil prevail, as it did for the millions of innocent victims of Nazism.”

These words of the Holy Father are not addressed to that small audience only but to all of us and ask us to reject evil and all its powers that conjure to destroy the peace of our soul.

The readings from today’s Scriptures take us to a path of renewal and rebirth. In the first reading from the Book of Exodus, the people of Israel are reminded of the covenant they entered with God and of the demand that they should observe the commandments given to them by God.

The commandments, we know, form the core of our moral lives as they were for the Israelites. But very often we look at the commandments more as restrictions than as messages of love from a Father who loves us deeply and cares about us. We should see them as helping us to build a strong and loving relationship with God as well as with our neighbors. The commandments are not to be seen as increasing the burden of guilt but as furnishing us the right paths of life to help us to enjoy inner peace and joy.

When we worship wealth, show disrespect to our parents and ignore the needs of our spiritual life, we are falling into the trap of a culture that tries to destroy what is vital and essential in our lives—the peace in our hearts. The culture, the media, and everything around us propagate an attitude that is counter to the spirit of the commandments which raises us to level of the children of God. As the Holy Father said yesterday at his mass on the Mount of Beatitudes, “The Ten commandments of Sinai may seem negative…But in fact they are supremely positive.” He adds, “ Moving beyond the evil they name, they point the way to the law of love which is the first and greatest of the commandments.”

Jesus has summarized all the commandments into two: Loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Whatever may be our ethnic heritages, political ideologies, educational backgrounds or professional achievements, we have only one language to speak and communicate with: the language of love.

But it is there that we fail very miserably. Our families and work places experience tremendous strain and tension because of our selfishness, biting or wounding remarks, unwillingness to reach out, offer forgiveness or of lack of sensitivity. Instead of love changing and molding our lives, we allow our selfishness to dominate our attitudes to one another.

In today’s Gospel, through the cleansing of the Temple, Jesus shows how necessary it is for us to keep our loves focused on the most important aspect of our lives—our relationship with God. It should not be bartered away for any other good, comfort or convenience.

But our hearts, God’s temples are being pulled in different directions by our excessive greed, pride, and selfishness. We forget the needs of other people; we become very insensitive, we are impatient and uncharitable to people who work and live with us. We make our hearts houses of thieves and aggressors. Today Jesus invites to undergo a change of heart and perceptions, to offer our hearts again as an abode of peace and love.

Third Sunday,Advent,Dec.17,2000 C.Lk.3:10-18

3^rd Sunday of Advent,C,Dec.17,2000

Walker Percy, one of our noted novelists once observed that it is strange to find Christians so unhappy in their faith in spite of their claim that they have the Good News. Percy’s observation has a lot of truth in it because of the way we live our faith. Many of us experience our faith as a sort of long list of obligations to do and view it as something that kills the joy of life, asking us to deny everything that we think is pleasurable and capable of giving joy. So many of our people born and brought up in the faith leave the Church for one reason or another. They don’t find their church, their faith communities attractive enough to draw them towards them. According to the 1999 Year Book of American and Canadian Churches, out of the 61 million Catholics in the United States, 17 million are non-practicing Catholics. It is against the background of this lack of interest in the faith and disenchantment, that we have to look at the readings of today which prompt us to have a very different outlook on our faith.

On this third Sunday of Advent, celebrated as a Joyful Sunday, all the readings present before us a vision of faith charged with joy and expectation. To a people falling into the ways of unfaithfulness and deception in their practice of religion, the prophet holds before them the fact of everlasting presence of God in their midst asking them “ to be glad and exult” with all their heart. He wants to inspire them and give them hope and not to allow them into the abyss of helplessness and despair. He reminds with words ringing with hope by saying that the mighty savior is in their midst and the he will “ renew them “ in love and will sing joyfully because of them. How heartening it was for them to hear that the Lord Almighty would be happy because of them and would remove judgment against them. How happy we are to hear that Our Lord is in our midst and that he will remove judgment against us, and will sing because of us. Instead of condemnation, and judgment, he will offer us forgiveness and mercy. Even when we have sinned , even we are caught up in the vicious grip of habitual sins and weakness, to know that the Lord’s mercy will envelop us and that He will wrap us around with his love to strengthen us against our failures and will offer us a chance to be reunited with him is a matter of great joy for us. This is the reason for hope and that is why St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Philippians not to have any anxiety and make our petition to God with “ prayer, and thanksgiving.”

This feeling of hope is very powerfully and eloquently expressed by John the Baptist when he announces the arrival of a new era when Jesus would baptize everyone with the Holy Spirit and fire. The crowds, the soldiers, the tax collectors and all kinds of people asked him what they should do. He said, “Share what you have, be generous in giving, and not to harm people with extortion and accusations. In short, be of good heart, generous, caring and forgiving. Today, if we ask John the Baptist what we should do the answer would be the same. As priests, teachers, professionals, lawyers, Govt. Officials, parents, husbands, wives if we ask the John the Baptist, what we should do to have joy and peace in our lives, the answer would be the same: Share what you have, be loving and forgiving.

There will be people around us who need our help. There will be people struggling hard to pay for the education of their children, who are struggling to meet the expenses of their daily needs. We can adopt a child’s fee for a month at our schools, pay a month’s rent to some one in need, to visit the elderly in our families and spend some time with them. It is also possible for us to shut our mouth and not to explode in anger when some one insults us. There are hundreds of ways in which we can make ourselves available, caring and forgiving. We cannot just close our eyes to the needs of people and go about immersing ourselves in the external celebrations of Christmas. As Thomas Merton points out, “Christian charity is no longer real unless it is accompanied by a concern with social justice.” Referring to the parable of the Good Samaritan, Merton observes further: “ It was the good Jews, the priest, and the Levite, who left the wounded man in the ditch. Only stranger and the outcast condescended to help him. Who are we? Priests, Levites, or Samaritans?”

This is the day for us to rejuvenate ourselves with the presence of the Lord in our midst, to feel hopeful and buoyant by our faith and not to allow ourselves to be victims of pessimism, dismay gloom or any other kind of defeatism. Jesus is present in our lives and hence nothing can destroy our inner peace. Hence let us pray to the Lord with all the fervor in our heart, “Come Lord, come into my heart with all the power of your love, make me an instrument of your peace and joy in my home, neighborhood and workplaces.”

Third Sunday,Advent 99,A.Mt:11:2-11

3^rd Sunday of Advent-’99

Recent TV images of earthquakes, cyclones and other natural disasters have given us an idea of the immense suffering endured by thousands of people in different parts of the world. We have also seen how much the tiniest of helps in the matter of shelter and food are appreciated by the victims of such colossal disasters. To the suffering any help is of great significance and makes them greatly comforted and strengthened.

It is in a similar context of devastation and helplessness experienced by the Israelites in their exile in Babylon that the prophet sends his message of hope and comfort, telling them that God has anointed him for the special task of bringing healing to the suffering , freedom to the captives, freedom to the captives and dignity and honor to those who are persecuted and calumniated.

The words of the prophet send a fresh breeze of comfort and strength in the hearts of his people hurt by the harsh experiences in exile and by the deprivation of their most cherished access to their temple. The power and the impact of the words of the prophet and his telescopic vision of the future do come to our minds when we find the same words being echoed by Jesus to describe His ministry.

It is no more to a small nation caught in exile and suffering that Jesus addresses those words but to all humanity down through the centuries. To all born in the human race, Jesus announces that He is the Savior who has come to offer them freedom, healing and blessings from God.

Jesus thus reverses the values of the world—it is not the wealthy, the powerful and the successful who are going to be strong but the poor , the humble and suffering because they have Him with them.

This gospel of joy, of freedom, of healing is being proclaimed to each one of us to day. Hence in the midst of our suffering and problems ,we can retain our inner peace and confidence and speak for ourselves the words the prophet has used for the Israelites: I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul.”

This feeling of confidence and hope is further strengthened by the words of John the Baptist we heard in today’s Gospel. He was asked whether he was the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet. He said very emphatically: “No.” In spite of all the greatness associated with him ,he was humble enough to acknowledge that he was a lonely voice, a shadow and a forerunner. The power of the Spirit is with the real Light, with Jesus, who is coming after him.

This is the moment for us to move into the world of Light from the world of shadows. How can we testify to the Light, How can we be the children of God? John the Baptist offers us the way by asking us to repent of our sins. If it is our selfishness, arrogance, anger, hatred or pride is the cause of our alienation from God as well as our brethren, this is the moment for us to undergo internal conversion , for a change of heart.

In so many Christian families, there is only a semblance of unity and love. Many live without the Spirit of the Lord in their hearts. It is material accomplishments and conveniences that matter to them. In our neighborhoods and work places, we don’t experience compassion, understanding or the willingness to help or reach out to one another. Efficiency and organization are code words for selfishness and ruthless ambitions.

We make a lot of noise about the new millenium and the Jubilee and try to engage in all kinds of celebrations. But we forget that the real jubilee takes place not in the external fanfare that we make but in our hearts. When we are helpful to a stranger asking for directions, kind to the homeless and see them as our brethren , when we are sensitive to the needs of our colleagues or subordinates, when we reach out and forgive the members of our family or neighbors, when we visit the elderly and help the handicapped , the real celebration of the jubilee is taking place. It is then like John the Baptist, we can testify to the eternal Light which will never allow us to walk in darkness.

Third Sunday,Lent A,March 3,02.Jn.4:5-42

3rd Sund. Of Lent, A, March,3,02

Thomas Merton in his autobiography “The Seven Storey Mountain” speaks about his feelings of rebirth as he responded to his priest’s questions at his baptism by saying “I believe”. He says mountains were from falling from his shoulders. He also describes how scales of dark night were peeling off his intellect. Describing his first confession, He says: “One by one, species by species, as best I could, I tore out all those sins by the roots, like teeth. Some of them were hard, but I did it quickly, doing the best I could.” This experience of falling mountains and the peeling of scales of dark nights, and tearing of the roots of sin made him a new person and helped him to enjoy peace which he never did experience in his life. In today’s Gospel, we find the archetype of such peelings and fallings in the life of the Samaritan woman as she began her process of conversion in the presence of Jesus.

The dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is the gradual unfolding of the inner recesses of a soul that was touched by the grace of God. It might look accidental that she was there precisely at the time Jesus reached the well. But it was the providence of God that brought her to the well of eternal life to give her the peace that she was looking for in her life.

It was a confrontation between two opposing views, two opposing life styles, between two people who stood at two extremes: the Master of virtues and the sinner. But the synthesis became faster than any philosopher could dream of—the sinner becoming the disciple of the Master.

She moved through all the stages of opposition that one would use to avoid any kind of contact with faith: arguments, rationalization and theological and philosophical objections in order not to move from her chosen way of life. But before the responses of Jesus, all her arguments failed and the words of Jesus cut through the maze she had created and reached the depth of her soul.

Jesus was addressed by the Samaritan woman in the beginning of her dialogue as a Jew first, then man, sir, then Prophet, in the end was called as the Savior of the world. It was an unbelievable transformation that happened in her heart as she continued her conversation with Jesus. There was no reproof, no penance, no angry words from Jesus; Jesus slowly moved to open her heart, gave her time to acknowledge the truth about herself “I have no husband”. All the layers of transgressions and sins from her life had to be slowly pulled away in order to make her ready to accept the grace of God.

She made such a sudden turn-about that she became an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Just like the apostles she left everything, her jar and all her preoccupations to run to the village to announce that she had seen the Savior. St.John Chrysostom calls her an apostle. The response of the villagers was also immediate. They followed her, talked with Jesus, and wanted him to stay with him. They believed and said: “We have heard for ourselves, and we know that he is truly the savior of the world.”

Who is this woman.? What role she does play in our lives? She is every one of us. She represents the sinner in us. We should have the courage like hers to throw away the mountains of sins and sinful habits that weigh on our lives and accept Jesus as our savior and never look back. Jesus fulfills our thirst for joy and he satisfies our hunger for peace.

She also represents our hope. If she can find Jesus and gets forgiven by Jesus, how much more will He be kind to us if we approach him and ask for forgiveness.

She poses some challenges to our pre-established notions of self-righteousness and piety.

Is the church only for holy people? What the Gospel reminds us is that the Church will always remain a community of sinners. There is always a second chance. We should look at the way our Lord dealt with the woman caught in adultery, the thief who was crucified with Him. Never should we feel despair because of her failures and sins… This is what we have to tell people as the Samaritan woman did. Come and meet Jesus

Everyone is given a chance to come back to the Lord and to accept him. The boundaries of the church are unlimited.

What does this conversion prove? It proves that hope can never die in human hearts.

We have to enter into dialogue with Jesus, make others realize who Jesus is : The Savior whose concern for others will never end. Our prayer :“Lord Jesus, you are the life-giving water for which we thirst. You are the happiness for which we strive. You are the peace and joy for which we search. Be with us all the time in our lives.”

Third Sunday,Ordinary,A,Jan.27,02.Mt.4:12-17

3^rd Sun.Ord.A, Jan.27,02

Thomas Merton describes the call he received when he happened to enter a Catholic church in New York at the time when the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was concluding. These are his words: “I looked straight at the Host, and I knew, now, who it was that I was looking at, and I said: “ Yes, I want to be a priest, with all my heart I want it. If it is your will, make me a priest---make me a priest.” He knew it was a call that came to the depths of his being and that he could not resist it. He went all the way to accept that call, renouncing everything that he had in the world, joining a Trappist monastery.

In today’s Gospel we hear the call of all calls: Jesus calling the humble fishermen he saw around him, asking them to follow him. “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” No questions were raised by them, no doubts were clarified, no anxieties were shared: they left everything they had and followed Him. They were called to preach the gospel and continue his ministry, to call people to repentance and to announce that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is what Jesus said: “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Repentance is not a sudden effusion of emotion; it involves a change of heart, a conversion, and a new way of life. Jesus offers his listeners a new opportunity, an opportunity to return to the Lord. What is required from them is the rejection of a way of life that emphasizes self over God. They are given the opportunity to accept Him as the Savior of their lives.

Jesus will expand the meaning of this repentance, this conversion of the heart later in his ministry. In the Sermon on the Mount he explains what it means to take a new direction in life. Happiness and peace do not consist in accumulation of wealth nor in suppressing the rights of others. In tragedies, and sufferings, in patience and meekness, in peace-making and reconciliation, one will experience the presence of this new kingdom.

When his own people believed in the triumphant arrival of a king who would establish a new empire, Jesus presents before them an empire that will be built on the outstretched arms on a cross. To those who think that happiness can be found in the accumulation of wealth, Jesus preaches a new gospel: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul.” It is to a life of total devotion and attachment to God that he calls his followers.

The meaning of the attachment is well brought out by St.Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians when Paul says that it is to Christ that we belong. No other person however great may be should stand in between Jesus and his disciples.

People often use different labels to describe different shades of opinion among Christians as if those labels and those shades of opinion are important. We have only one label and that is Christ. It is Christ and his image that we carry in our hearts. It is his message that we live by. It is in his death and Resurrection we find the hope of our life. Those words of St. Paul have to be repeated again and again in our lives: “ Is Christ divided?” just to remind us that it is not ideologies or shades of opinion that are important, but our decision to follow Jesus, to abjure the path of sin and to experience hope in his forgiveness.

Today, Like the disciples, like St. Paul, We shall say yes to Jesus, and follow him whatever may be the nature of circumstances or experiences we encounter in our lives. May the Lord guide us in the steps we take in our lives and may he give us the grace to be attached to him and to overcome the power of sin in our lives.

Second Sunday,Easter,2000,Jn.20:19-31.C

Second Sunday of Easter

All the readings in today’s Scriptures speak to us about the impact of the Resurrection on the lives of the disciples and how the different appearances of Jesus have strengthened their faith and transformed them into very powerful witnesses to His life and message.

In the first reading from the acts of the apostles , we hear about the beginning of the early Christian community –how they have passed through those great moments of unparalleled significance .We cannot imagine the heights of euphoria, the depths of despair and the intensity of hope they have passed through as they led their life’s journey through the life, death, and the resurrection of Our Lord.One thing that remained with them was their intense attachment, their loyalty , their faith.Everything else , they seemed to have forgotten. They lived as a community , sharing everything, praying together,and treating each other as the members of the same family.There was no distinction on any basis between them.

The earliest Christian community poses a powerful challenge before the present day Christian community who have more divisions and antagonistic attitudes before them. Even in the heart of modern Christian families, we find often rivalries and feelings of division to such an extent that the members find it easy to drift away than to come together to share the burdens, reach out to one another and to extend forgiveness.

Today’s Gospel places before us again another instance of the transformation effected by the appearance of Jesus Christ. After having become dispirited and hopeless after the death of Our Lord, the disciples gathered in a room , hidden from the eyes of all, and afraid of the authorities. All that pluck and courage they showed before hand were gone.It was to this gathering of his frightened disciples, that Jesus appeared to offer peace and hope.

Strengthening them in their faith , Jesus offers them the presence of the Holy spirit and makes them strong defenders and carriers of His message. Jesus gives them the power to forgive sins, giving them thus the authority to instill hope and confidence in the hearts of people.

Very often in our practice of faith , we forget the essential message of Jesus, and look upon our faith as something very restrictive and burdensome. Our young people shy away from the practice of faith, thinking that the practice of religion would entail loss of freedom and that it is a restriction on the spontaneity of their lives.

But , look at what Jesus said to his disciples---go , forgive sins… let the people feel that I am their Lord…I have the power to take away the burdens from their hearts…Let them feel the peace and happiness in their hearts resulting from the forgiveness of their sins.

Walker Percy has remarked that in spite of the claims that Christians have that they have the Good News , they go about as if they have the bad news. There is no joy on their faces.

Lok at our lives… There is very little forgiveness in our lives..We are very selfish and arrogant and show no concern or respect for the feelings for others. There is no feeling of friendship or love among us. We walk out of this Church without even speaking to one another, although we have shared the same body and blood of Jesus. This is the moment for us to make changes in our lives, to become a little more compassionate and forgiving. We shall ask the Risen Lord for this gift of transformation.

Second SundayC,Jan.14,2001.Jn.2:1-12

2^nd Sunday,,C,Jan.14,2001

St.John’s Gospel is full of signs and symbols. He uses these to interpret the miracles and wondrous deeds done by Jesus as different manifestations of his Divine Life and power. The wedding at Cana is one of the signs that St.John uses to indicate that the time of the Old Testament is over. He wants to emphasize through this that the time of rituals and traditions has to be replaced with a new life, and that instead of the ritual acts of purification, one has to live by the blood of Jesus that comes to us through the Eucharist.

Of the seven signs described in the Gospel, the wedding at Cana stands at the top as the gateway to all the events in the life of Jesus.

The wedding feast at Cana is charged with multi-level meanings and the various dimensions of the ministry of Jesus are interlaced with it. One of the significant aspects is Mary’s intervention to save the face of the master of the household whose stock of wine has run short. With the compassion and love of a mother, Mary approaches her son and asks him to intervene even before his time had officially come. Acceding to the request of His mother, Jesus asks the servants to fill the jar with water and then to distribute it to the guests. The entire household becomes happy, joy replaces embarrassment, life returns to the party and all the guests feel honored.

What did happen there? The insufficiency and weakness of man have been supplanted by the power of God. God comes to the rescue of man who has approached Him for help.

We know innumerable are the times when we have felt insufficient and weak in our lives just like the master of the household at Cana. When we have difficult problems to deal with in our work places and families, we know, we feel helpless and weak. Our sickness or the sicknesses of our beloved ones make us weak and vulnerable. Those are the times when the jars of our lives become empty.

Should we feel afraid and dejected because we cannot find a way out? No, Like Mary, we have to approach the Lord and tell him that our jars are empty, that we have these problems and that we need him to intervene for us. We have to say to him loudly and clearly, “Lord fill the empty jars of my life with your wine, fill my heart with your grace, send the shining rays of your radiance into my heart.”

Our Lord will transform our insufficiency and will change the water of our weaknesses and pain into channels of strength for us.

The transformation of water into wine is a powerful indication for each one of us that we should not be afraid because of our failures, because of the lack of accomplishments in our lives, or because of the lack of social graces. We may not have glittering success in life, we may not have amassed wealth, we may be suffering from a lot of pain, but before the Lord, those things do not matter; our emptiness, our weakness, our insufficiency is a an opportunity for God to act in our lives. We shall place the jar of our lives before the Lord and ask him to fill it and to transform it with his grace.

Second Sunday,Lent,.C.March 11,01.Lk.(:28-36

2^nd Sunday of Lent, C, Mar.11, 2001

(Lk: 9:28-36)

Years ago I had a chance to visit the foothills of the Himalayas with a few priest-friends of mine. There was a particular spot at the foothills where tourists would arrive around 2.30 am to see the morning rays of the sun fall on Mount Everest. We too went over there to see that magnificent spectacle of the Mount Everest becoming radiant and resplendent in the morning rays of the sun. It is a sight of such spectacular beauty that one would have to borrow the lines of the poet Wordsworth to describe its splendor: “a presence that disturbs one with joy of elevated thoughts and a sense of something far more deeply interfused.” It was in a way a daily enactment of the nature’s transfiguration in beauty and splendor.

Today as we listen to the words of the Gospel we find how the Apostles have come face to face with a beauty whose majesty and splendor no poet could describe. It is Jesus Transfigured in the glory of his divinity, an experience no man had been ever witness to. Peter was so overcome with the beauty of that spectacular nature of the moment that he wanted to perpetuate that moment forever on earth, to capture that dream in reality, by erecting tents there for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.

For Peter, John and James, the vision of the Transfiguration of Jesus would always remain etched in their memory whatever might be the suffering that would be inflicted on Jesus, whatever may be persecution they would undergo for their faith in Jesus. In their hearts they knew that it was with the Son of God that they were daily conversing and moving with. They heard a voice from the cloud that said “ this is my chosen Son; listen to him” and they would be listening to him forever in their lives and would try hard to make others to listen to Him.

The presence of Moses and Elijah indicated to the Apostles that the time of the Law and the Prophets was over and that salvation would now come only through Jesus, the Son of God. The Apostles were also at the threshold of witnessing the passing of an era in the history of salvation and of the coming of a new dispensation where salvation was offered to all, Jews and the Gentiles, to all races and nations.

What did transfiguration mean to the apostles? In their time of crisis, when Jesus was humiliated, persecuted and crucified, it gave them the courage to stick with him. To every one else the crucifixion would have been a signal of the failure of Jesus. But not to the apostles. Their experience at Tabor helped them to understand that what happened on Calvary, that suffering and death of Jesus were part of his glory and that they would result in His Resurrection . The apostles felt then and forever in their lives that Calvary and Tabor would forever be linked in a follower’s life.

The death of Jesus on the cross was the proof of his love for us and the proof of his glory the intimations of which were given on Mt. Tabor. As a spiritual writer has put: “ When we realize that God of all love is so present to us, that he loves us each personally, no matter how sinful we are…. Then all of life becomes new fresh and creative…That God loves us, personally, lavishly, unsparingly, even foolishly is what the Transfiguration of Jesus tells us.”

During this season of Lent as we prepare to grow closer to Jesus and as we mould and refashion our attitudes and perceptions, what kind of message does the Transfiguration give us?

Jesus through his love and mercy had transfigured hundreds and thousands of people. He brought them out of their sinfulness, gave them love and made them loveable. He cured the lepers, gave life back to Lazarus and widow’s son, expelled demons from the possessed. What is he asking us at this moment? He is asking us to continue the work of transfiguration. : whether we can we transfigure the lives of others through our love and compassion; whether instead of accelerating the speed of vengeance and hatred, we can try hard to create an atmosphere of love and understanding in our places of work; whether we can create a much deeper loving atmosphere at home. Can we be a little more tolerant of the weaknesses and failures of our co-workers?

We should also ask ourselves : What kind of transformation can we achieve in our own inner lives? Can we move from being a selfish person to a generous and understanding person? Can we move from being an angry and impatient person to a person of understanding and caring? From a non-caring attitude to one of helpfulness? We have to say Yes to all these questions. This is the way that we can undergo transfiguration in our lives. How do we get the courage and grace to make such a drastic change in our lives? We have to listen to the word of God: “Listen to Him, this is my Chosen son”. These are the words of God asking us to follow Jesus.

During this Lent, let us pray for the grace so that we can make this journey along with the apostles to reach the Mount Tabor to experience our own transfiguration in a smaller way.

Second Sunday Easter.C.April22,01.Jn.20:19-31

2^nd Sunday of Easter,Apr.22,C,01

Jn.20:19-31

On this Second Sunday of Easter, we are gathered here once again to experience the joy of the resurrection and to relive in our lives the wonderful experiences the apostles and the disciples went through in those post-resurrection weeks.

We find the apostles and disciples in the weeks after the crucifixion and death of Jesus, a frightened group, unable to pursue their jobs, or to mingle with their own country men. All the dreams of sharing the honor and glory with Jesus in the new kingdom have vanished; the crowds have disappeared; no more cures of sicknesses, or the dead being brought back to life. The lines of people asking for a meeting with Jesus have gone. It is into this dispirited group of people that Jesus makes his entrance in his new risen life. Jesus wants to inspire them, to strengthen them and to drive away fear from their hearts.

Jesus stands before them all of sudden in that room where they gathered in seclusion, having bolted the door from the inside. Jesus offers them three times “ Peace be with you.” We know how much they wanted peace in their hearts. They wanted peace in their hearts to resume their mission, to continue in their jobs and to feel secure in their hearts that God is with them.

Peace is a dream that we too carry in our hearts. We would think that if we got a new job, if things were different, if we had gone to a different city or joined a different University or met new friends, life would be different for us and that there would be peace in our hearts. Or we may think, if we travel and see new places, or get a longer vacation or have more time to commune with Nature, we would have peace in our hearts. The more we get our soul attached to material comforts and conveniences, the more distressed we will become.

Peace can come only from one person __Jesus Christ. He offers peace unconditionally to all who put their trust in him. As Bishop Sheen points out in his book “ Peace of Soul”, “ Peace of soul cannot come from the person , any more than the person can lift himself by his own ears. Help must come from without; and it must not be merely human help, but Divine help.”

It is to Jesus that we have to open the doors of our heart to receive peace in our lives. The value-systems of the world will only plunge us deeply into darkness; it is to the values of the Gospel that we have to return to enjoy peace. The Gospel values of love, forgiveness, meekness, humility, suffering and surrender to the will of God will open new doors in our lives and help us to gain peace in our hearts. As a spiritual writer has put it(Sheen ): “The added tragedy of sin is that after we do wrong, we may not let God help us do what is right and good….we keep him at arm’s length because we refuse to be loved. We are drowning and will not clutch at his helping hand…the truth of the matter is, not that God is hard to find, but rather we are afraid of being found.”

To enjoy real peace , Jesus offers the apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit and the power to forgive sins. They are given a powerful instrument of liberation : “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.”

The burden of guilt is taken away from the hearts of people. We are the beneficiaries of that gift of forgiveness that is now being given to us through the Church. Hence let nothing dissuade us from coming closer to Jesus and to feel the warmth of his love in our hearts. In our sicknesses, disappointments, pains and tragedies, he will be with us.

Once we experience the continuing forgiveness of Jesus in our lives, and the security of his comforting presence in our hearts, nothing can take away the sense of peace that comes to our hearts through our faith. Then, at every moment in our daily lives, whether it be of joy or pain, we an say with absolute surety and boldness as Thomas has proclaimed: My Lord and My God.”