Kaitha 4th S,Aug.1,10

In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses the occasion of the accusation of the Pharisees against his disciples to teach them about the real meaning of religious traditions and spirituality. The Pharisees who are scrupulously observant of every tiny bit of their rituals and traditions complain to Jesus about the disciples not washing their hands before eating. Washing of the hands is purely hygienic and it has nothing to do with spirituality. But they do not look into the meanings of these rituals. All these externals are important for them since they see in the strict observance of these rituals a religiously well observant Jew.

Jesus makes them see that these are ritual have no religious implications. What is important is not what one does externally but what one does feel in one’s heart. One can observe these rituals but can be ruthlessly cruel and unreligious. Citing the words from the Prophet Isaiah, he shows them how hypocritical and unspiritual they are if there is no love of God in their hearts. If one loves God, it would necessarily mean that one would be reverent and respectful to one’s neighbors.

Jesus lets them know about the hypocrisy hidden in their rules and rituals. The commandments of God are set aside for the commandments of men. God has asked them to honor their parents. But they have devised rules to circumvent the meaning of the commandment of God. What they are doing through their traditions and rules is trying to annihilate the very meaning of the commandment of God. The observance of the commandment of God is the most important things in one’s life. Jesus tells the disciples what is important is what comes out of the heart of man. It is the spiritual transformation that happens in the depths of our souls that makes real changes in our lives. The evil thoughts in our hearts produce evil actions. If we are loving, forgiving and merciful in our hearts, our actions would also reflect them.

These words of Jesus to the Pharisees and the disciples have great relevance for us. We often think about our spiritual lives and wonder whether what we are doing externally through our pious devotions do make us the real followers of Christ. We are also reminded by our Lord today that what is important in our lives are not pious acts and devotions which have no inner meaning but real changes happening in our lives through love and forgiveness .One who forgives those who have hurt and reaches out to them and helps them becomes the real disciple of Jesus. In our personal lives, when we forgive and be merciful, we become spiritually richer and blessed by God. Inner spiritual transformation based on love, forgiveness and mercy is what is important before the Lord.

As we listen to these words of Jesus, let us ask ourselves how spiritually transformed we are, and how merciful and forgiving we are.

Today is the day for us to reach out and forgive and reaffirm our love totally for the Lord.

Kaitha 3rdS,July 25,10

Kaitha 3^rd S,July25,10

(Jn.9:1-12,35-38)

Cardinal Newman on his way to England after a visit to Italy wrote the famous poem, “Lead, kindly Light,” asking God to guide him as he was making plans to begin the Oxford Movement which would later culminate in his conversion to the Catholic Faith. Like Cardinal Newman, we too have often prayed to God for guidance and wisdom in many of the important phases of our life. In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of himself as the Light of the world. As long as we walk in the daylight of his Divine Splendor, we know, we are taken care of and that the dark alleys of our lives will always be illumined by His presence.

Today’s Gospel is a great revelation of the Light of God coming into the life of a man born blind at birth.

St. John’s Gospel is one of great literary themes and symbols. Several layers of meanings are packed together in each episode or event. The early part of the Gospel is even termed as the book of Signs, spanning over the first twelve chapters, where the Evangelist shows how Jesus reveals his Divinity through different signs—miraculous deeds.

The healing of the blind man is a great study of contrasts between light and darkness, between faith and unbelief and between physical vision and spiritual blindness.

At the pool of Siloam, Jesus sees the man born blind from birth. Dispelling the notion existing among the people that such sicknesses are caused by one’s sins, Jesus uses the occasion to show mercy and compassion of God. After anointing his eyes with clay, Jesus asks him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, reminding the disciples, thus, of a similar event that took place in 2 Kings 5:1 where Naaman, the Syrian general was told by the prophet Elisha to take a dip in the waters of the Jordan for his cure from leprosy.

The pool of Siloam was a reservoir built inside the walls of Jerusalem to store the water that came from a natural spring. King Hezekiah in the 8^th C.B.C. built a channel to carry this water to the city. The Hebrew meaning of the word is: “sent.” In a way, the event also implies that salvation, healing, faith comes through ones’ relationship with Jesus, the one who is sent by God.

“Church tradition has seen this miracle as a symbol of the sacrament of baptism, in which water is used to cleanse the soul and give the light of faith. According to St. Augustine, “ this blind man represents the human race…..he washed his eyes in the pool whose name means ‘who has been sent’. He was baptized in Christ.”

St. Thomas Aquinas too has a similar interpretation: “He sent the man to the pool called the pool of Siloam, to be cleansed and to be enlightened, that is, to be baptized and receive in baptism full enlightenment.”

We see a paradoxical phenomenon in this miracle. As the blind man makes step by step progress in his spiritual growth, we see the Pharisees moving in the opposite direction , falling more and more into the abyss of spiritual darkness.

For the blind man, first, Jesus was a man, and then a prophet and later, the Son of God, worthy of worship. His blindness is totally over. He is spiritually and physically capable of seeing. He commits himself to Jesus. He is ready to say: “I do believe.” The Pharisees, on the other hand, are given evidences of the divinity of Jesus first, by the blind man, and later, by the neighbors and the parents. Even though they are endowed with physical vision, they are spiritually blind. Their spiritual blindness reaches to such a great extent that they try to cast the blind man out of the society. Actually, through their action, they cast themselves out of the real society, the society of God. Instead of seeing in the event the presence of God and thus opening their eyes to the real Light, they choose to become spiritually blind. Instead of gaining faith, they fall into unbelief.

This should be an eye opener for us. We think we see. But in the practices of the faith , many a time, we are like the Pharisees ; we are spiritually blind. We are not open to the grace of God and do not allow ourselves to be washed by the waters of grace.

Our arrogance, our pride, and our abusive behavior to one another are all symptoms of our spiritual blindness.

We have to move from our spiritual blindness, from being persons who do not value and appreciate the services of others to becoming appreciative of others, from being selfish to generous attitudes, from closeness to openness, and from a lethargic faith to a fervent practice of faith.

May the Lord give us the grace to undergo such a spiritual transformation.

Kaitha 2ndS,July18,10

Kaitha2nd S,July18,10

(Lk.15:11-32)

The former Archbishop of San Francisco, Abp. Quinn, once wrote: “The Catholic Church is not a museum of saints but a hospital for sinners.” All of us are sinners, frail and weak, struggling to walk on the path of holiness. Our membership in the Church does not mean that we become automatically holy. We need the grace of God every day in our life to become holy and perfect.

Today’s Gospel presents before us the through the parable of the Prodigal Son the great mercy and love of God for sinners who return to Him in repentance. The Pharisees are suspicious of Jesus because He is spending time with sinners and the outcastes of the society. For them, the division of the society is perfect: the righteous and the sinners—those who observe the law and those who violate them. Those who observe the law are the righteous and the beloved of God. Those who violate are outside the purview of God’s grace and mercy. Subverting this argument and behavior, Jesus opens their hearts to the abundant mercy and generosity of God.

The parable is also a reminder to the Jews as a nation that those who are considered gentiles and outside of the providence of God are no longer alien to the grace of God.

God’s immense love and infinite compassion are described very vividly in this parable. Day in and day out the Father is waiting for the son to return. When he returns, he is accepted totally and restored to his former status as the son of the family. The Father does not scold him nor does he ask any explanation of the time spent away from him. The love of the Father knows no bounds. The son is given all due honors. The robe, the ring and the festive banquet are symbols of the new life.

Our Lord is also giving us a slight peep into the unfathomable love of the Father. We can never measure the depth of love the Father has for each one of us. When we repent and give up our sinful life, the Lord our God accepts us totally and gives us a chance to begin our life again. How consoling and comforting it is to know that God will not abandon us even though we are sinners. We are always given opportunities to return to Him. We don’t have to feel squeamish because of the fact that we have sinned. We are not eternally condemned. There is always a chance to come back and regain our relationship with God.

“Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father’s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.”(Catechism of the Catholic Church, p.1439)

The parable is narrated from three perspectives: that of the younger son, that of the father and that of the older son.(Navarre Bible).

The young man’s story is a classic account of the story of every sinner. It is a parable about our lives as sinners. We become cut off from our people as well as from God through our sins. But the way is open for us to repair the damage through our repentance. Forgiveness is granted freely by God.

The second perspective is that of the Father where we are given a peep into the heart of the love of God the Father. That love has no limits. God is always ready to forgive our sins and give us the grace of being united with him. Our past sins do not become a stumbling block in our relationship with him.

The third perspective is that of the older brother. He feels offended by the overwhelming generosity of the Father. He thinks that he is not rewarded for his faithfulness and that the son who squandered everything is accepted without any punishment. In his heart, he feels that the younger son should have been punished. But God’s ways are different. It does not follow the standards of men. The generosity of God is beyond human understanding.

In the historical context, the older son represented the attitude of those Jews who thought that God should reward them for their faithfulness and that gentiles should not be offered salvation along with them.

The older son could not forgive his younger son in spite of his repentance. He has no real understanding of religion whose purpose is transform us into loving persons. His strength does not reside in God but is coming from his own small world-view.

We also belong to this category. We too become enraged that God treats the faithful as well as the unfaithful equally. We need conversion from this state of mind that is unforgiving and judgmental.

“Every human being also is this elder brother Selfishness makes him jealous, hardens his heart, blinds and shuts him off from other people and from God.” (John Paul ll).

Not only should we be faithful always in our lives abut also be free of this envy and hardness of heart. Our love for others should be totally devoid of any feelings of jealousy and selfishness.

The sacrament of Reconciliation offers us the golden opportunity of experiencing the great mercy of God. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we go through the process of conversion and experience peace and joy in our lives.

This is also an occasion for us to reconcile with God by repenting our sins as well as with people with whom we are estranged.

“This parable invites us to ask ourselves three questions. Am I a person who is intolerant and unforgiving of the faults and sins of others? Am I a person who has messed up my life and is now ready to trust in God to save me? Do I really believe in a God whose loving forgiveness makes possible my conversion and repentance?(Alfred McBride,O.Praem.)

Kaitha 1stS,July 11,10

Kaitha 1^st S,July11,10

(Lk.14:1-14)

Jesus uses always the occasion of meals for teaching. He is present at the meals not just for dining alone but for teaching too. Most of the meals described in the Gospels are occasions for Jesus to reveal some thing about Himself or about His Father or about His mission. In today’s Gospel, we find Jesus at the house of a prominent Pharisee who invites him for meals. But the reputation of Jesus as a healer goes before him and there is a man afflicted with dropsy, waiting to be healed by Jesus. The dropsy was thought to be incurable. But it is not compassion for the man suffering from an incurable sickness but suspicion and anger that fill the hearts of the Pharisees. They were waiting how Jesus would be responding to the appeal of the sick man. In their narrow minds, they think that Jesus should not cure the man on the Sabbath but,instead, should ask him to come on another day.

For Jesus, the man was too precious to be ignored. He reads the thoughts of the bystanders and questions the rightness of their thoughts. He asks them whether they would not pull their oxen or asses right away from the well if they fall into it on a Sabbath day. He is very critical of their hypocritical behavior. He lets them know that the sick man was too precious to be ignored. He is a son of God and is as important to him as anyone who is present there for the meals. Jesus uses the occasion to broaden their minds on a real understanding of religious life and spirituality.

In the eyes of Jesus, every human being is precious. Every one is brother or sister to us. All are important for us. A true religious attitude should make us available for the needs of the helpless and the needy around us.

It would be a strange twisting of the teaching of Christ, if we restrict our help only to those who belong to our race or caste. Jesus was always breaking the bonds of caste and ethnicity. Through the parable of the good Samaritan and through the dialogue with the Samaritan woman Jesus was breaking these bonds of narrow-mindedness and was trying to broaden our spiritual vision to become more inclusive. Christ’s love knows no boundaries. So should be our love for others.

There was the famous story of Peter Reddy, the great lay apostle in Southern India, who once asserted the dignity of the human person before a doctor who did not assign a bed to him when he was admitted to the hospital. When the doctor saw him reading an English newspaper and found out that he was a person with an M.A. degree, he came to help him because he had an M.A. degree. To the surprise o the doctor, Peter Reddy refused the help and told him that he was not an M.A. but a MAN.

That is what Christian faith asks us to do---to the help those who are in need.

Today’s Gospel also speaks about the need to have humility in our life as well as the care we should have for the poor. Jesus always appreciates when we assume our real self before others. It is when we exalt ourselves before others that we become humbled. If we make ourselves lower than others, then there is no way we will be humiliated. Humility is truth. Before the august majesty of God, before his mercy and kindness, we are nothing and we have nothing. That is why St. Teresa of Avila has said that humility is truth. She further says: “I was wondering once why our Lord so dearly loved this virtue of humility….it is because God is sovereign truth and to be humble is to walk in truth, for it is absolutely true to say that we have no good thing in ourselves.”

“Humility means to live as Jesus lived—not for ourselves, but for others. It means to use our talents as Jesus used his—not for ourselves and our glory, but for others and their needs.”(Mark Link)

We are asked to take the low road, the road of humility, of service and charity. Jesus emphasizes again how necessary it is to take care of the poor and the disabled in our society.

“Who has given you rain and land, food and home, art and law and society, a pleasant life and the family? Was it not God, who now asks you to be kind and generous in and above all the things he has given you?”(St. Gregory the Great)

What a beautiful vision and way of life our Lord gives us in today’s Gospel!

Let us be more gentle and compassionate in our attitudes and avoid all kinds of thoughts and conduct that smack of fundamentalism and hypocrisy.

Sleeha 7thS,July 4th,10

Sleeha 7^th S,July4,10

(Lk.13:22-35)

Today’s Gospel presents Jesus as a teacher, traveling through villages and towns teaching about the kingdom of God. Through the parables of the mustard seed and leaven, he explained to his listeners the nature of the kingdom of God, telling how God can accomplish great things through small beginnings. He was making it clear that the kingdom of God would not come into being with the power of a volcanic eruption but through small acts of obedience to the will of God. It was at this time that some one asked him: “Lord , will those who are saved be few?” The reply to that question came from Jesus too right away: “Strive to enter by the narrow door.” Jesus also reminded him that many would try to enter but they would find it impossible to get into the kingdom.

The question posed by the man is also one that is raised by many of us at different times in our lives. What about us? Would we be saved? We have been leading Christian lives. But we know we are imperfect. In spite of our acknowledgement of Christ as our Savior, we have fallen into evil ways. Our sins outweigh our good acts. But still we make determined efforts to walk in the Christian way. We are also asking ourselves whether we would be saved. The answer of Jesus to all of us is that we have to enter through the narrow door.

It is through our repentance and surrender to the will of God that we will be attaining our salvation .Our name as Christians will not entail us the kingdom of God but it is our life as Christians that makes us worthy of entrance into the kingdom of God.

Jesus through a parable makes it very clear to his listeners that race, clan or friendship does not entitle anyone to enjoy eternal salvation.

Israel was chosen to be the people of God. But the people will not enjoy the right to salvation if they remain stubborn and obstinate and refuse to accept the plan of God in their lives. It was God’s plan that they should accept Jesus as their Savior and undergo a spiritual transformation in their lives.

It is not the Law that is going to be their means of salvation but Love. Their life has to be transformed by the presence of God’s love. The presence of the love of God will enable them to become compassionate and merciful there would be no more distinctions between the gentiles and the non-gentiles All are brother and sisters, the children of God. It is that kind of transformation that will make them the heirs of the kingdom of God. For every Jew, to follow the path of love and to accept all human beings as the children of God is like entering the gate of heaven through the narrow door. As the parable makes it clear , the participation in the rituals of the Jewish tradition will not help them to enjoy the benefits of salvation but a life lived in obedience to the will of God which is the acceptance of Jesus as their Savior is the path to salvation.

As the Vatican Council document Lumen Gentium points out, Christians need to “use the strength dealt out to them by Christ’s gift, so that , following in his footsteps and conformed to his image, doing the will of God in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor.’

Today as we listen to the words of Jesus on salvation, let us try to live a life totally attached to God and making ourselves available to our neighbors. It is through our love, forgiveness and compassion that we live our faith authentically and make ourselves worthy of eternal salvation.