Trinity Sunday,Sleeha 2nd S,May 30,10

Trinity Sunday,Sleeha,2^nd S,10

(Jn.16:12-15)

Today we celebrate the feast of the most Holy Trinity. In today’s Gospel, while speaking about the Holy Spirit who will be given to the disciples after his departure from the earth, Jesus mentions his identity with the Father as well as with the Holy Spirit.

In our faith journey from the time of our baptism until our death , it is in the name of the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit that we are blessed and anointed. Our daily life begins with the sign of cross in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, without resorting to any high flown language of rhetoric expresses very simply that God is three in one.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out that the Trinity is a “mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God.” It is a mystery beyond our comprehension. We know it because Jesus has revealed it. It is incomprehensible because human reason is incapable of comprehending it.

Just as one cannot look at the Sun with naked eyes, so also one cannot understand the mystery of God with one’s intellect. St. Augustine in his book on the Trinity says: “Before You lies my knowledge and my ignorance; where you have opened to me, receive me as I come in; where you have shut me, open to me as I knock. Let me remember you, let me understand you, let me love you. Increase these things in me until you refashion me entirely.”

Sir Isaac Newton speaking of the vast vistas of knowledge that lie ahead of him as he tries to understand the mysteries of the Universe says: “ I do not know what I appear to the world but to myself I appear to have been like a little boy playing on the ocean shore…finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell…while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” If Newton felt so baffled and awed by the mysteries of the universe, there is no wonder that we would be really struck by sheer incomprehensibility while we try to grasp the mystery of the Trinity.

In trying to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity, we often ask ourselves why Jesus should reveal this doctrine to us and whether we would be much more comfortable in knowing that God is one than knowing that God is three in one.

Our Lord has a purpose in revealing this mystery. If Jesus had not revealed this, we would never know that it is love that is in the heart of God. Jesus calls God as Father and wants us to call Him also as Father. To Philip who asked him to show the Father, Jesus responds by saying that seeing Him is seeing the Father. Jesus gives also an inkling into the love that is in the heart of God in the parable of Prodigal Son, one of the most beautiful parables in the Gospel. Without the son even asking for a meeting, the Father waits on the hill desiring intensely to meet him and pour his love lavishly on him. Jesus has summarized all his teachings and commandments into the commandment of love: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Nothing else is more important in his eyes than

a life based on love. Nothing else can transform human life except love.

Through the revelation of the mystery of the Trinity, Jesus invites us to replicate the love that is in the heart of God. He is asking us to live in love whatever may be our preoccupations, professions or states in life. In our homes, work places and social gatherings, the guiding motive for our actions and thoughts should be this unselfish concern for the well-being of the other person.

Christian societies and Christian families are often violently torn apart because of this lack of love, compassion and understanding. We are too much caught up in the spirit of the world that we become too aggressive in pursuing our selfish and personal ambitions to the detriment of the happiness of other people.

The celebration of the feast of the most Holy Trinity is an invitation to each one of us to become icons of love in the community in which we live. May the people who interact with us may feel and experience the Christian love that is in us which reaches out to others , seeking their well-being and goodness.

Pentecost, Sleeha 1st S,May 23,10.

Sleeha 1^st S,May 23,10

(Jn:16:5-15)

(Pentecost)

Today we celebrate the feast of the Pentecost. On this day we celebrate the founding of the Church, the first public gathering of the faithful who accepted Jesus as their Savior.

Pentecost is a Jewish Feast known as Shavout and it marked the end of the grain harvest. It was celebrated 50 days after the Passover, in commemoration of the Ten Commandments received by Moses on Mt. Sinai. It was on the day of the Pentecost that the disciples gathered in the Upper Room in prayer. As described in the Acts of the Apostles (2:1-4), as they gathered for prayers, tongues of fire descended on them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately after, they became very strong and confident about their faith in Jesus and ventured out in public to speak about Jesus. Until that time, they felt cowardly to face the public, in spite of the assurances by given Jesus during His various appearances to them that He would be with them. On this day, Peter walked to the courtyard of the Temple and addressed the vast crowd thronging there speaking about Jesus and asking them to accept Him as their Savior.

On that day itself, some three thousand men accepted baptism and became the first members of the Church.

The feast of the Pentecost is an important day in the story and development of the Church. It is on that day that the Spirit promised by Jesus came to abide in the hearts and minds of the disciples and gave them the courage and confidence to speak on His behalf.

“The feast of Pentecost calls upon each one of us to practice the spiritual gifts we received at the time of our Confirmation. You and I can’t change the whole world. But we can change a part of it.”(Mark Link)

In today’s Gospel, in his farewell address to the disciples, Jesus speaks about the parting gift that He is going to give them: His own Spirit. In unambiguous words, he tells them that it is good that he goes away because He can send them the Holy Spirit. Jesus explains further what the Holy Spirit is going to do in their lives. He will enlighten their moral and religious awareness. The Holy Spirit will make them aware of the sin of the world in rejecting Jesus who is their Savior, will make them know how truthful Jesus is because of His identity with the Father revealed through His resurrection and Ascension and finally the condemnation of the world through its rejection of Jesus. The Holy Spirit will also open their minds and hearts to the plenitude of truth and they will be able to bear witness to Him and His message.

Jesus has given us a very powerful gift . The Spirit of God will be a constant presence in our lives. In times of darkness and defeat, we will never be alone. The Spirit of God will lighten our paths. In times of great mental anguish and pain, He will console our hearts. In times of crisis, He will show us the path to choose. Jesus, thus, asks us to be confident and hopeful in our lives. Whatever may be the problems and challenges we encounter in our lives, we are given the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit. On this day when we celebrate the feast of the Pentecost, we shall reaffirm our faith in our Lord and regain our hope and confidence. We shall say with St. Paul, ”If God is for us, who can be against us?”(Rom:8,31).

Easter7thS,May16,10

Easter 7^th S,May16,10

(Mk.16:9-20)

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 may be the consequences.

What is important to Jesus is their willingness 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. 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 cross the oceans to preach the Gospel. We need just cross the street across our homes 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 from 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 interaction 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 “uncivililisation” of individualism.”(Pope John Paul II,February,1994.)

Easter6thS,May 9,10

Easter 6^th S,.May 9,10

(Jn.17:21-26)

In today’s Gospel, which is a part of the Priestly Prayer of Jesus, we hear the deep yearning of Jesus for the bond of unity that should among all those who believe in Him. This is a powerful exhortation to all the disciples and believers in Jesus to remain united with one another as well as with Him and with the 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 for those who believe in 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 great and abiding intimacy in a way similar to the unity between the Father and the Son.

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.

Jesus very clearly explains the basis of this unity. 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 exit among the believers. No other factor will be able to sustain the bond of unity. Love which would involve forgiveness and care for each other should become the basis of unity. Unity among believers should come from real love for one another.

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 walk towards the house of our neighbor and offer him our 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.

(Mother’s Day)

Easter 5th S.,May2,10

Easter5th S,May2,10

(Jn.21:1-14)

In today’s Gospel, we find Jesus making his third appearance to the disciples. 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 on 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.

Easter4th,S.,April25,10

Easter 4^th S, April 25,10

(Jn.16:16-24)

In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus speaking about his departure and the temporary sadness that would come to the disciples because of his absence from their midst. Actually, Jesus was speaking about his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven when he was referring to his departure. Jesus assures them that the sorrow would be only a temporary phenomenon. Jesus makes it clear that they would be protected more strongly after his departure and that what whatever they ask the Father in His name would be granted to them.

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. We often wonder whether there will be any one to offer us support and strength. 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 is always with us. We are never alone. 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.

With great humility and feelings of repentance, we shall approach our Heavenly Father and place our requests to him in the name of His beloved Son. Spiritual transformation has to happen in the depths of our souls. We have to repent of our sins and reconcile ourselves with our neighbors “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.”(Archbishop Sheen)

Easter 3rd S,April18,10

Easter 3^rd S,April18,10

(Jn. 14:7-14)

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 such 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 with all candor 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 pints 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 depend on 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?

We don’t have many in our midst to show us the Father, the Father who will never forsake us, who will come to our help in the dire moments of helplessness, the Father 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 as well as to reflect that love in our dealings with others who come into contact with us.