Lent,2nd S.,Feb.26,12,Mt.7:15-27

When a company gets established, it makes a mission statement about its goals and about the ways to achieve those goals.
It is natural for us who are leading a Christian life to ask similar questions about the way to lead a good Christian life.
What are our goals? What are the ways in which we can come closer to Christ?Should there be any change in the way I lead my life?
Once a mother told me that her daughter is no more going to the church and she wanted me to talk with her.Her reply was that no body told her that Christ died for her..it is from the  Pentecostals in her prayer group at the college that she had heard about the love of Christ.
We have an obligation to lead a Christian life at home. Our actions, our behavior should conform to our Faith. If we lead a life that is totally alien to the Christian principles, how can one accept our faith?In today's Gospel, Jesus wants us to lead a life  that is  based on his teachings.If we live by the truths that Jesus has taught us, nothing can shake our faith.
He warns us not to go after false prophets.
We have seen some people taking a part  of the Gospel teachings and interpret them according to their individual likes and dislikes. They posit themselves as the judges of right Christan living.
We should live according to the teachings of the  Gospel as interpreted and lived by the apostles and their successors.

Easter 7th S,June 5,11

Easter 7^th S, May 5,11

(Mk.16:9-20)

Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVl in his new book, “Light of the World”, speaks of the presence of a new mindset that he calls as “negative tolerance” in many Catholics which somehow, for the sake of not offending anyone, undervalues the teachings of Christ. According to the Holy Father, Christians are very shy of speaking about their faith or of witnessing to Christ in public life.

Public arena is full of people who somehow think that it is all right to ignore the meaning and significance of the Christian faith. Christians move around without in any way revealing their faith or their attachment to Christ.

One of America’s foremost novelists, Walker Percy once said that Christians proclaim that they have the Gospel but they go around as if they have the bad news.

This lethargy in the witness to our faith should be examined in the background of today’s Gospel where Jesus proclaims the need to preach the Gospel as a bounden duty of every believer in Him.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark gives a summary account of the various appearances of Jesus to the disciples after His Resurrection. The disciples were instructed, during His appearances to them, to go to all corners of the world to proclaim the Good News. They were also made witnesses to one of the most glorious events in the life of Jesus on earth—His Ascension.

Even though the Gospel narrative summarizes the event of the Ascension in a few words, we won’t be able to imagine the majesty, glory and awesomeness of the event of the Ascension. Seeing Jesus in His radiant glory ascending to His Father must have been a moment of great impact for them. It got stamped into their minds indelibly that Jesus was the Son of God, living in glory with his Heavenly Father and that every word of His was charged with Divine power. That witnessing to the glorious event of the Ascension dispelled all doubts about their ministry and they became bent upon preaching the Good News, whatever might be the consequences.

What is important to Jesus is the need to preach the Good News, continuing, thus, the ministry of His preaching and healing. Jesus wanted his disciples not only to preach the News but also to be of great assistance to people in their physical and emotional needs. They should expel demons in His name, heal the sick and drive away evil forces.

The task is entrusted now to all of us. We are the people who have to continue His ministry of healing. The Gospel cannot just be kept under lock and key. It has to be revealed and proclaimed through our lives.

Recently our Holy Father in his talk to the journalists on his way to Portugal mentioned that the “sin is in the Church.” Those words have enormous ramifications. It is because of our failure to live as good Christians that people refuse to come to Jesus.

There are all kinds of secular influences that try to denigrate the Christian faith because we have failed to live the Gospel in our lives. The rampant number of divorces among Christians is a mockery of the teachings of Jesus. The lack of compassion and forgiveness on the part of Christians in resolving disputes among themselves is another indication of the lack of authenticity in our Christian living.

It is through our mercy and forgiveness and through our compassion and love that we have to preach the Good News. We don’t have to cross the oceans to preach the Gospel. We need just cross the street to speak a kind word to a sorrowing family, to offer assistance to the elderly, or to do errands for the shut-ins to preach the Gospel.

“The way to begin preaching Jesus to the world is to begin living Jesus in our own lives. Once we begin to do this, the message of Jesus will begin to ripple out across the world. And if enough Christians do it, that ripple will turn into a tidal wave, and that tidal wave will change the face of the earth in a way we never dreamed possible.”(Mark Link)

We can begin our evangelization from the four walls of our homes first. Creating an atmosphere of love and trust, we can prepare, thus, a few individuals under our care for the great work of spreading the Good News. By our merciful and loving interactions with the people in our work places or in our parishes, we can start the work of this new evangelization.

“What kind of civilization will prevail in the world’s future? It depends on us if it will be the civilization of love, or the “uncivililization” of individualism.”(Pope John Paul II, February,1994.)

Easter 7th S,May 5,11

Easter 7^th S, May 5,11

(Mk.16:9-20)

Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVl in his new book, “Light of the World”, speaks of the presence of a new mindset that he calls as “negative tolerance” in many Catholics which somehow, for the sake of not offending anyone, undervalues the teachings of Christ. According to the Holy Father, Christians are very shy of speaking about their faith or of witnessing to Christ in public life.

Public arena is full of people who somehow think that it is all right to ignore the meaning and significance of the Christian faith. Christians move around without in any way revealing their faith or their attachment to Christ.

One of America’s foremost novelists, Walker Percy once said that Christians proclaim that they have the Gospel but they go around as if they have the bad news.

This lethargy in the witness to our faith should be examined in the background of today’s Gospel where Jesus proclaims the need to preach the Gospel as a bounden duty of every believer in Him.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark gives a summary account of the various appearances of Jesus to the disciples after His Resurrection. The disciples were instructed, during His appearances to them, to go to all corners of the world to proclaim the Good News. They were also made witnesses to one of the most glorious events in the life of Jesus on earth—His Ascension.

Even though the Gospel narrative summarizes the event of the Ascension in a few words, we won’t be able to imagine the majesty, glory and awesomeness of the event of the Ascension. Seeing Jesus in His radiant glory ascending to His Father must have been a moment of great impact for them. It got stamped into their minds indelibly that Jesus was the Son of God, living in glory with his Heavenly Father and that every word of His was charged with Divine power. That witnessing to the glorious event of the Ascension dispelled all doubts about their ministry and they became bent upon preaching the Good News, whatever might be the consequences.

What is important to Jesus is the need to preach the Good News, continuing, thus, the ministry of His preaching and healing. Jesus wanted his disciples not only to preach the News but also to be of great assistance to people in their physical and emotional needs. They should expel demons in His name, heal the sick and drive away evil forces.

The task is entrusted now to all of us. We are the people who have to continue His ministry of healing. The Gospel cannot just be kept under lock and key. It has to be revealed and proclaimed through our lives.

Recently our Holy Father in his talk to the journalists on his way to Portugal mentioned that the “sin is in the Church.” Those words have enormous ramifications. It is because of our failure to live as good Christians that people refuse to come to Jesus.

There are all kinds of secular influences that try to denigrate the Christian faith because we have failed to live the Gospel in our lives. The rampant number of divorces among Christians is a mockery of the teachings of Jesus. The lack of compassion and forgiveness on the part of Christians in resolving disputes among themselves is another indication of the lack of authenticity in our Christian living.

It is through our mercy and forgiveness and through our compassion and love that we have to preach the Good News. We don’t have to cross the oceans to preach the Gospel. We need just cross the street to speak a kind word to a sorrowing family, to offer assistance to the elderly, or to do errands for the shut-ins to preach the Gospel.

“The way to begin preaching Jesus to the world is to begin living Jesus in our own lives. Once we begin to do this, the message of Jesus will begin to ripple out across the world. And if enough Christians do it, that ripple will turn into a tidal wave, and that tidal wave will change the face of the earth in a way we never dreamed possible.”(Mark Link)

We can begin our evangelization from the four walls of our homes first. Creating an atmosphere of love and trust, we can prepare, thus, a few individuals under our care for the great work of spreading the Good News. By our merciful and loving interactions with the people in our work places or in our parishes, we can start the work of this new evangelization.

“What kind of civilization will prevail in the world’s future? It depends on us if it will be the civilization of love, or the “uncivililization” of individualism.”(Pope John Paul II, February,1994.)

Easter 6th S,May 29,11

Easter 6thS,May 29,11

Easter 6^th S,.May 29,11

(Jn.17:21-26)

Cardinal Bernardin in an essay on “How can I find God” speaks about his habits of prayer. He has often, he says, given talks on prayer but never spent much time in personal prayer. When he shared this dilemma with some of his priest-friends, they advised him to act on his desire and set apart an hour in the morning for prayer. With their encouragement and support, he resolved to devote an hour each day to prayer. He says: “During the early days of this new habit of prayer, I began to realize how often I had looked elsewhere for God rather than right in the midst of each day’s journey.” He adds further that he has constantly “tried to enter into closer communion with God through prayer. This search for union, he says, has been “an exciting, life-giving, sustaining experience.”

In today’s Gospel, which is the third part of the Priestly Prayer of Jesus, we hear the deep yearning of Jesus for the bond of unity that should exist among all those who believe in Him. Jesus exhorts his disciples to remain united with one another as well as with Him and with His Father in Heaven. In this prayer, Jesus brings out all the various implications of this bond of unity. This unity is the outward expression of God’s love for Jesus and of the mission entrusted to Him.

This bond of unity does not just remain on the plane of believers but goes beyond the terrestrial dimension to the very gates of heaven. It reaches through Jesus to the Heavenly Father. The Father lives in the Son and the Son lives among those who believe in Him. The disciples are united with Jesus and the Heavenly Father in a great and abiding intimacy, similar to the unity between the Father and the Son.

The unity between the Father and the Son is brought about by the perfect love between them. It is the love between them that causes, promotes and sustains the unity between them. It means that love should be causal factor of the unity that should exist among the believers. Love which would involve forgiveness and care for each other should become the basis of unity.

These words of Jesus in his Prayer to the Heavenly Father are undoubtedly the strongest call to unity uttered by Jesus. Our faith in Jesus is not just a vertical phenomenon. It has a horizontal dimension too. It involves unity with our brothers in faith. There is no way the believers in Jesus can remain divided.

Often what we find in our lives is the glaring absence of unity. Even in the heart of families which should be a model of love and unity, we find rancor and vengeance. Selfishness, arrogance, and pride gnaw at the vitals of a healthy family life. More than a million children live every year in broken families. People who share the same faith and have committed themselves to irrevocable unity are unfaithful to each other. Divorces become so rampant and the number of divorces is outpacing the number of marriages taking place every year.

It is in this background of broken families and broken promises that we should listen carefully to the words of Jesus asking us to commit ourselves to unity. Real unity can be experienced only where there is love. There should be a willingness to reach out to the other person, whoever he may be. He can be a member of the family or a stranger. It has been said that it is possible for man to reach the moon but has become difficult to reach out to the neighbor. We have to cross the street of our selfishness and offer our neigbor love and forgiveness. “The neighbor is the one who steps on my toes in the subway, or who makes a left turn from the outside lane in Sunday traffic, or who sneaks ahead of me on the bus for a seat…the neighbor is not some one we like.: “(Sheen).We have to start loving and by loving we shorten the distance among ourselves. Shortening the distance makes us come together and to experience the bond of unity that Jesus has asked us to have in today’s Gospel.

Christian families have to learn once the more the lesson of love, the lesson of the forgiving love and remain united because of their faith in Jesus. Christians have to come together, knowing that this togetherness coming from the bond of unity is what Jesus wants from each one of us. “Doing kind acts to people make us find all people lovable.”(Sheen)

Today is the day for us to avoid everything that creates divisions among us and think of the factors that promote unity in faith and love.

Easter 5th S,May 22,11

Easter5th S,May22,11

(Jn.21:1-14)

Thomas Merton, in one of his beautiful works called “Thoughts in Solitude”, speaks of the richness of emptiness and poverty. It is only when one is totally poor and helpless that one can experience the presence of God in one’s life. Everything then becomes precious and valuable. “As long as we remain poor, as long as we are empty and interested in nothing but God, we cannot be distracted….Let me seek the gift of silence and poverty, where everything I touch is turned into prayer: where the sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is all in all.”

Today’s Gospel brings before us an event in the life of the apostles where their total isolation and listlessness help them to see the Lord in his risen glory.

The disciples, in spite of their stupendous experience of the risen Jesus, still had not grasped the full implications of the resurrection of Jesus and of his abiding presence in the world. Nor did they have any idea about the great role they had to play in spreading the message of Christ. The memory of all the three years spent with Jesus and of all the great things that happened in their lives because of their association with Him was slowly fading and they began to pursue their customary ways of life.

It was, then, that Peter told them that he was going fishing. Others joined him. They worked hard but caught nothing. Then, they heard the voice of Jesus asking them whether they had caught anything. When they replied in the negative, Jesus asked them to cast the net on the right side of the boat .To their surprise, they caught a large number of fish .It was then that the disciple that Jesus loved, John, uttered the words: “ It is the Lord.”

All of a sudden the situation changed. Peter jumped into the water to swim to Jesus and the other disciples followed him. They saw their beloved Lord, standing before them and inquiring about their needs. He sat with them and shared bread and fish with them. They did not ask any questions. They did not entertain any doubts about the reality of his risen life. They were happy that they could experience His presence again in their lives.

What surprises us is that it was when they felt very low and dispirited that they were able to experience the presence of Jesus. They were bored and confused. They went fishing and caught nothing. It was in that moment of total helplessness and emptiness that they were able to see Jesus.

What this passage reminds us is that our helpless moments, our hours of boredom, our moments of confusion are the occasions of grace for us. It is when we feel that we are not very important or others are not giving us enough attention that we become worthy in the eyes of Jesus. Our emptiness enables us to experience the presence of God more powerfully and deeply. When sicknesses and failures haunt us, when disasters and loss of fame and friendships makes us diffident about life, we hear the words of Jesus from distance: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat.” We then hear his soothing words: “Come, have some breakfast.”

Today’s Gospel makes us aware that our Lord will never abandon us and that he is permanently solicitous about our well-being. He is the only one in the world in whom we can put all our hopes and dreams. He will guide us to the right places. That is why we can say with psalmist even in the darkest moments of our lives: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”

The words of Jesus help us to be confident and strong in our faith and hopes. Jesus will always be there to support us in our times of sadness, sufferings, failures and disasters. His hands will always be stretched out to us when we begin to sink in the troubled waters of life.

Like, Jesus, we too should turn out to be channels of grace to people who work with us. Instead of criticizing and pointing out their faults and failures, we should encourage and support them. We have to enhance the creative talents of the people who work and live with us. May our forgiveness and compassion help others to experience the presence of Jesus.

Easter 4thS,May 15,11

Easter4th,S.May15,11

Easter 4^th S, May15,11

(Jn.16:16-24)

The cry of David, bemoaning the death of his son, “Absalom, Absalom” will always be echoed in the corridors of our mind. We can hear in those words of wailing the pangs of the broken heart of a father. “Absalom, Absalom” has also become the title of a classic work in American fiction. The deaths of our beloved ones leave in our hearts irreparable pain. Our hearts groan in the darkness of nights when we lose people who are close to us, parents, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. Words are powerless to soothe the pain arising from such heart-breaks.

Jesus knew that his disciples would become heart broken and would reach the depths of helplessness through his crucifixion and death. Hence, he takes time to forewarn them about things that would happen and comfort them by telling them that all will not be over by his death. There are more chapters to his life than his crucifixion and death..

Jesus makes them understand that his Resurrection will be the strongest reason for their joy. The risen Jesus is eternal and immutable, beyond the ravages of time. It is this protection of his risen presence that He is offering to them

To all of us, struggling and grappling with the challenges and problems of life, Jesus offers protection and comfort. Often, caught in the midst of loss of jobs, financial insecurity, or of sicknesses, we find ourselves without any moorings and adrift in the sea of hardships. There are times in our lives when we feel lonely and troubled because of hateful attitudes or abusive attacks from colleagues and neighbors. In those moments we are at a loss to find peace and strength in our lives. It is then the words of Jesus become more meaningful and powerful: “I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you.”

The joy of the Resurrection can only be experienced in the background of the Cross. It is the suffering and death of Jesus that made the glorious phenomenon of the Resurrection such a stupendous experience.

We can understand and experience the joy of the Resurrection more meaningfully when we pass through rejection, suffering and solitude. It is when we think we are all alone or the whole world is against us or when we are condemned without any reason, that we really experience the joy of the Resurrection as Jesus reaches out to us, reminding us that He will never forsake us. Resurrection makes us understand that nothing on earth can any more take away the joy and peace from our hearts as long as we believe in him and walk with him. Jesus is the anchor of our life and the fortress of our protection.

Without any ambiguity or reservation, He tells us that whatever we ask in His name will be granted to us by our heavenly Father.

Spiritual transformation has to happen in the depths of our souls. We have to repent of our sins and reconcile ourselves with our neighbors.

Archbishop Sheen expresses the need for reconciliation and forgiveness to experience peace and joy in our hearts: “There are so many unwashed dishes in the sink of our consciences; our souls look like unmade beds. But if only once we would be humble enough to look inside and admit the mess, we would see how God can write straight with our crooked lines.”

Easter 3rd S,May 8,11

Easter 3rd S,May8,11

Easter 3^rd S,May8,11

(Jn. 14:7-14)

Tony Hendra, a British born, Cambridge educated American writer and TV producer who had a very riotous life as a young man wrote a book called “Fr.Joe Joe who saved my life.” In this book, he details his contacts with Fr. Joe and how the priest saved his life. He was introduced to this Benedictine priest called Father Joe while he was in England. Through the ups and downs of his life he kept in touch with Fr. Joe. When he realized that he was a total failure as a family man as well as a writer, he asked Joe permission to join the monastery to lead a life dedicated to the ideals of monasticism. Fr. Joe told him to go back to his family and be a good husband a good father.

To be a father involves a lot of qualities and qualifications. It exemplifies all that is beautiful, noble, sacrificial, dependable, and reverential in life. For a child, the Father is everything that is ideal and noble in life.

Once a young mother, speaking at a public function honoring her father’s 6oth birth day, remarked that it was through the love shown to her by her father that she came to a greater understanding of the love of God the Father.

Very rarely are such statements heard now from the children about their parents. The exemplary lives of the parents do elicit powerful reflections on the goodness, generosity and mercy of God the Father.

In today’s Gospel, in response to Philip’s question, Jesus tells him that those who have seen Him have seen God the Father.

Many of us in our reflective moments have wondered about the life in heaven and how the Father in heaven would treat us. But in today’s Gospel, we have a very candid statement from Jesus on how the Father would appear to each one of us. Jesus asked them to look at His life in order to know more about God the Father,

How was Jesus to them in his works and teachings? He was all mercy and kindness. He was available to everyone who approached him asking for healing. He gave life back to the dead. He comforted the suffering. He presented the image of a loving Father in heaven using the parable of the prodigal son. He forgave the sins of the woman caught in adultery and reinstated in society those who were ostracized like the tax collectors and lepers. In hundreds and thousands of ways he showed the different aspects of a loving and merciful Father in his interactions with the people. He tells Philip that one who has seen him has seen the Father.

Jesus also points out that anything that is asked in His name will be granted. Philip’s question is an occasion for Jesus to reveal who He is, His identity with the Father in heaven and His boundless mercy and compassion. Thus, in today’s Gospel, we find someone who will always be a Father to us. We don’t have to go anywhere looking for comfort and support, healing and renewal, mercy and love except in Jesus Christ, our Savior.

In our society, as so many concerted attacks are being orchestrated against the unity and cohesion of the family, it is appropriate to reflect on the responsibilities and tasks of parents. Tim Russert, the late NBC TV commentator has written a book, “The Big Russ and Me” on his father who did two jobs to put him through private schools and college. He waxes eloquent describing the strong influence his father has had on his life. The motto of the book is that “children stand on the shoulders of their parents”, meaning that all the accomplishments of the children are due to the love, hard work and exemplary Christian faith of their parents.

Today as we reflect on the Fatherhood of God, it is very proper to ask each one of us how we are fulfilling the duties entrusted to us in our roles as leaders, parents and teachers. Can the people who are entrusted to us say that it is because of us as parents, teachers or leaders that they have been blessed with such a good Christian life? Can we offer ourselves as models of good Christian life to those who are entrusted to our care?

It is sad to say that we don’t have many in our midst who exemplify through their lives the qualities of a true Father, one who will never forsake us, who will come to our help in the dire moments of helplessness, and who will comfort us in the heart-broken moments of great tragic experiences.

May the words of Jesus that we heard in today’s Gospel help us to experience more warmly the love of our heavenly Father and make us committed to a way of life that offers love, forgiveness and compassion.