LENT II Gn 15:5-12, 17-18, Phil 3:17—4:1, Lk 9:28-36

The main theme of today’s readings is an invitation as well as a challenge to us to do what Abraham did — put our Faith in the loving promises of the merciful God — Who sent His Son to die for us and to transform our lives by renewing them during Lent. Our transformed lives will enable us to radiate the glory and grace of the transfigured Lord to all around us by our Spirit-filled lives. The three readings describe the spiritual transformation experiences of three of our heroes in the Faith, Abraham, Paul and, of course, Jesus.  The Bible is filled with amazing characters who had been saved from many tormenting experiences. There are many Bible stories on faith that can also help us steady our faith while we are going through storm. The story of Deborah’s faith in hard times. Queen Esther’s faith in challenging times.  The Story of Daniel’s faithfulness and the Lion’s den inspire us to keep our faith.

There is a story of a man who lost his way in the desert.     

It was a very hot day and the sands were glittering like gold in a desert. Andrew, who was touring the place lost his way in the desert.

He couldn’t find his way back and the water in his bottle was completely dried. He was in desperate search of water, Otherwise, he will die due to dehydration

As he struggled walking in the desert, he saw a small hut at a distance. Initially, he thought it was just an Illusion. But he continued walking towards it and as he reached clones, he realized it was a real hut.

He opened the door and found nobody was there. It seemed like, the place has been abandoned for a long time.

He was surprised to see a hand water pump that had all connections intact and a pipeline to the ground.

Then he started pumping but there was no sign of water. And he continued his effort and he gave up finally due to exhaustion.

He started searching the hut for any other source of water. Then he found a bottle of water hidden in the corner.

He was very happy and when he was about to drink the water, he found a piece of paper attached to it.

In the paper, it was written “Please use this water to start the pump. It works. After you have done, don’t forget to refill the bottle again.”

After reading the message in the paper, he went into dilemma “Will the pump work, if I use this water? Is the pump in good condition?”

“Can I trust what is written in the paper?  If it is false, then my last source of water will be wasted”.

He paused for a minute and closed his eyes and prayed.

Then he poured the water from the bottle into the pump and started pumping it.

Soon, he heard a bubbling sound and water started pouring out.

There was a moment of relief on his face. He drank the water and filled his bottle. Then he got refreshed and refilled the bottle from the hut.

He stayed in the hut for some time and looked around. Then he was a pencil and a map explaining the direction to the nearby village from the hut location.

He was happy that his faith in the water pump has worked. Similarly, he believed that the map will also direct him in the right direction.

Then he wrote in the paper “Have faith. It works”. And he kept both the bottle and paper to the exact place from where he took. Happily, he left the hut

In our life, there will be times where we need faith to move forward. The moment we start believing, things will fall in our place.

Last Sunday in the Gospel we listened to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. There is nothing in the wilderness except the stretch of barren land. Hence, wilderness is a place of want. Want of shelter, want of water, want of food, want of guidance to keep the location. We go through such conditions in our lives too. We too are tempted in our faith in time of want. In the wilderness of our life, we experience the want of love, want of comfort, want of consolation, want of support, want of material needs, want of financial support, want of emotional assistance, and want of physical help. These are the times we are tempted to give up our faith. We see it clearly in the life of Job. 

In our lives too in time of want the devil will appear in the form of a well wisher, a friend, a family member, a benevolent benefactor and in many other forms.

When Jesus overcame all these temptations it led to his transfiguration. We are destined to overcome all these. It should lead us to our transfiguration. 

During today's Gospel Reading we heard that Jesus went up the mountain to pray with three Apostles, Peter, John and James. While they were on the mountain, the appearance of the face of Jesus changed and His clothing became dazzling white. Then, Moses and Elijah appeared and started talking to Jesus.

The event did not pass unnoticed. Peter and the other two disciples witnessed the glory of the Lord Jesus. They witnessed, as far as it is humanly possible to see with the human eyes, the brilliance that comes with the transforming glory that awaits those who will be changed in the image of Jesus Christ.

When we are able to over the temptations in our lives we too will be transformed like Jesus. The radiance of a man of faith will reflect in us. This season of prayer and fasting should help us to achieve this goal.

 

 

 LENT 1 [C]: Dt 26:4-10, Rom 10:8-13, Lk 4:1-13

Moses gives some interesting advice in our first reading today. He tells the people: when you finally claim the land that God has promised you and have begun to harvest the first fruits of its soil bring these first fruits to the altar and offer them up to God as a gift. And as you do so, testify: testify before the priest and the people. Begin by reminding yourself where you came from; then, remind yourself how your life has changed, the impact God has had on your life. Finally, remind yourself of the good things that you have in your life now because of your friendship with God. [I wish we all could remember to do that each time we walk into the Church: Where we started from, where we are now, and acknowledge the role of God in getting our here].

 St. Paul asks the same from the first Christians in our second reading: ‘By confessing with your lips you are saved’. The English word ‘salvation’ comes from the Latin word ‘salus’ which means health: it is where we get our English words ‘salve’ and salutary from. To be saved is to be made healthy. To be saved is to be made better after the sickness of sin. Ultimately our full healing will happen in the next life when we will become like God as we see him as He really is.

 

On the first Sunday of Lent we follow Jesus into the desert for forty days and forty nights. Like Jesus we go on the front foot and we confront the sources of sin and temptation in our lives empowered by the Spirit and making full use of the tools that the Spirit gives us for this struggle: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. All of these things are meant to help us remember the Lord and his Goodness. These three means of spiritual empowerment are not practiced by the Christians only. These are common to all major religions.  

[Unlike in Islam, the Catholic Church is very lenient in enforcing the fast-rules. We have a lot of exceptions and loop holes. Even on a fast day we are allowed to have two half meals.  Compare this with fast in Islam. They are not allowed to swallow even saliva from dawn to dusk. The fast is broken even if a little water goes in them through any orifice while one is swimming or taking a shower. One ex-Muslim commented on the stench coming out from one’s mouth if he didn’t even swallow saliva for 12 hours. But that is a perfume for Allah, according to Quran. And when they break the fast they eat the most delicacies available in the world. Muslims spend three times more on food in the month of Ramdan than all other months. They are allowed to eat from sundown to dawn. Not allowed to have sex during the day, but allowed at night. And they say they do rigorous fast. One Hindu girl got converted to Islam after being fascinated by the rigorous fasting of Muslims. Of course she didn’t know the full picture.] They certainly read the whole Quran in the month of Ramdhan.  Do we read some extra bible during our lent? Are there some different things that we do during lent?

The Church assigns temptation stories to the beginning of Lent because temptations come to everybody, not only to Jesus, and we seem almost genetically programmed to yield to them. We are surrounded on all sides by temptations, and they have become so familiar to twenty-first century life that we scarcely notice them.

Bible scholars interpret the graphic temptations of Jesus described by Matthew and Luke as a pictorial and dramatic representation of the inner struggle against a temptation that Jesus experienced throughout his public life.

The devil was not trying to lure Jesus into some particular sin — rather, he was trying to entice Jesus away from the accomplishment of his Messianic mission, mainly through a temptation to become the political Messiah of Jewish expectations, to use his Divine power first for his own convenience, and then to avoid suffering and death.

After being unsuccessful with Jesus, the devil departed from him for a time. He left Jesus but would wait for another opportunity. That “time” came at the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. It came again whenever people demanded signs from him to prove who he was (Lk 11:16, 29-32; 22:3, 54-62; 23:35-39). Ultimately, it came in Gethsemane with Jesus’ agony (struggle to affirm the Father’s will for him) and on Calvary when Jesus was crucified.

We need to confront and conquer temptations as Jesus did, using the means he employed: Like Jesus, every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth, and positions of authority, and is drawn to the use of unjust or sinful means to attain good ends. Jesus serves as a model for conquering temptations through prayer, penance, and the effective use of the ‘‘word of God.” Temptations make us true warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. We are never tempted beyond the strength God gives us. In his first letter, St. John assures us: “The One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Hence, during Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies with prayer (especially by participating in the Holy Mass), penance, and the meditative reading of the Bible. Knowledge of the Bible prepares us for the moment of temptation by enabling us “to know Jesus more clearly, to love him more dearly and to follow him more nearly, day by day,” as William Barclay puts it.

 

Cycle (C) 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Sir. 27:4-7; 1 Cor. 15:54-58; Lk. 6:39-45

The first reading from the book of Ecclesiasticus contains wise and precious advice on a number of topics. Today’s reading deals with human speech, and tells us that the character of a person is revealed in his conversation. Today’s Gospel also confirms the same message. Every tree can be told by its own fruit. Out of the good treasure of the heart, the good person produces good, and out of evil treasure, the evil person produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks." If a bottle of acid trips over, milk won’t come out of it, but only acid. The same way what is in the heart comes out through words.

Jesus says a tree is judged by its fruit. Sometimes a tree can give false impression that it is laden with fruits. Once Jesus saw such a fig tree and went over to it and found nothing on it and he cursed it. There was another such a tree that gave a huge impression of having a lot of fruits but brought out only sour ones.

This is the story of a religious founder who lived in the 7th century and whose followers form the second largest religion in the world. He was so vile that even Hitler and Stalin would come only next to him in matters of atrocities.

He beheaded 700-900 Jews in a single day after capturing the Jewish settlement of Banu Qurayza after besieging them for 25 days.  After falsely charging them for siding with the enemies of the Muslims Muhammad orchestrated for a verdict that all of their men should be killed, their property divided, and the women and children taken as slaves".

The following is the quote from the book, life of Muhammad written by a Muslim. “Then the apostle went out to the market of Medina (which is still its market today) and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for the captives and struck off their heads in those trenches as they were brought out to him in batches. There were 600 or 700 in all, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900.(The life of Muhammad,(A translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah) A. Guillaume, Oxford University Press, New York, 1978),p.464.

One man writes: I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair. (Sunan Abi Dawud 4404, Book 40, Hadith 54)

Another incident is like this: Some people from a far of village came to Muhammad and they said they were sick. Muhammad sent them to drink camel urine and milk. And when they got well they raided the camels of Muhammad and drove them off. They killed the herdsman of Muhammad who was a believer. Muhammad sent (people) in pursuit of them and they were caught. He had their hands and feet cut off, and their eyes put out. And they were thrown in the hot sun to die and when they asked for water he forbade them any water. (Grade: Hasan, Sahih, Sunan Abi Dawud 4369, Bk. 40, H.19).

An 80 year old poetess who wrote distasteful poetry about Muhammad was killed very brutally. Her hands and legs were tied to two camels from opposite sides and pulled apart. Another young poetess who did the same thing, and who had four young children, was sleeping at night with her little baby sleeping on her belly was her head cut off, for denigrating/disparaging Muhammad.

There are a few cases where Muhammad allowed his henchmen to tell lies to befriend people to deceive them and kill them stealthily. A man named Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf told some unpleasant things about Muhammad and so Muhammad allowed his henchmen to tell lies to him about Muhammad so that they can befriend him and get closer to him and one held his hair and the other stuck knife into his heart. Muhammad allows Muslims to do Taqiya, means lie.

The Quran says: “The punishment for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: Q.5:33— Yusuf Ali

A couple of years ago a college professor from my home state in India, named a fictitious character in a question paper as Muhammad. Some Muslims attributed it as blasphemy for naming Muhammad a funny character and when he was coming back from the Mass with his wife and his sister who was a nun, some Muslims stopped him and got him out and cut his one foot and the hand from opposite side as prescribed in the Quran. So, when some people say the Muslims do not practice the atrocities ordered in the Quran, that is not true.   

 

Allah says: I will cast horror into the hearts of the disbelievers. So strike their necks and strike their fingertips.” (Q.8:12 — Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran). After killing mutilate the body.

We have to judge a tree by its fruits. A religion is to be judged by what it professes, not by what some followers practice. Christianity is not to be judged by you or me but by what Christ taught us and what is in the Bible. The same is true with Islam. That is why Jesus said, judge the tree by its fruit. If the tree is bad the fruit also will be bad.

 

Our Lord teaches us not to judge people, but he does teach us to judge actions: evil people do evil things, just as good people do good things. 

In order to lead a blind person, one must be sighted; in order to teach, one must be knowledgeable; otherwise, the blind person and the student will be lost. The point of this image of the blind leading the blind is that we must be careful when choosing whom to follow, lest we stumble into a pit alongside our blind guide. We are Christians who have Jesus as our guide, Jesus who said, I am the light of the world. Let’s pray that we be given the light of grace to be good fruit bearing trees manifesting the glory of God to people around us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

VII SUNDAY: (I Sm 26 2:7-9, 12-13, 22-23; I Cor 15:45-49; Lk 6:27-38)

The first Reading from the book of Samuel shows the extraordinary example of magnanimity given by David.  David had a golden chance to do away with his enemy, King Saul. But David refused to have Saul killed because Saul had been “anointed” king of Israel by Yahweh. With one of his commandants David sneaked into Saul’s camp and took the spear and pitcher of water from beside the king. In those days, revenge was considered sacred, and to spare one’s own enemy was considered both foolish and dangerous. David’s generosity was something totally out of the ordinary in his time.

In the Gospels Jesus gives a firm command to his disciples “Love your enemies and do good.”

It was something strange to the listeners of Jesus, because the Law of Moses established in case of offences received was that the revenge should not exceed the offence.

“Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, .. (Ex.21:24) Jesus knew how difficult it would be for his listeners to accept it. 

There are people in this world who are specifically told to hate people of other religions. Hate them, not because they behaved badly towards you but because they are people of other religions. That is the only reason. You may probably say, oh that is not true. Every religion is a way to God and every religion contains goodness and truth. Well, I want to draw your attention to what Islam teaches.

 

The Quran teaches NOT to LOVE ANYONE OTHER THAN A MUSLIM: Islam is the only Religion that mandates its followers to love only Muslims and hate non-Muslims. Allah would have no relation with those who take disbelievers in Islam as friends. Here is the quote from Quran.

. “The believers (ie. Muslims) must not take the disbelievers [Jews and Christians] as friends instead of the believers. And whoever does that has no relation with Allah whatsoever, unless you (do so) as a protective measure (in order to) save yourself from them. (Quran 3:28-Mufti Taqi Usmani).

“…saving yourselves from them by speaking in a friendly way towards them, while your hearts dislike[s] this”.  This is the commentary on the Quran 3: 28. This means that a Muslim has to pretend that he is friendly but hate you in their hearts.

Muhammad said: “Those who follow Allah are harsh towards the disbelievers and compassionate towards each other. …. “. (Q.48:29 — Abdul Haleem)

“O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians for intimate friends. They are friends to each other. Whoever takes them as intimate friends is one of them.” (Quran 5:51-— Mufti Taqi Usmani)

Allah stirred up enmity and hatred among Jews and Christians until the Day of Resurrection. (Quran 5:14-— Abdul Haleem)

Fight them until there is no more persecution, and worship is devoted to God…”Quran 2:193.  — Abdul Haleem

Quran even says the Christians and Jews are worst of creatures. Quran 98:6- Sahih International:

Muhammad told the Muslims not to greet the Christians and Jews. ”Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it”. (Sahih Muslim 2167 a, Bk. 39, H.16)

Wish good only for Muslims: Muhammad said, "None of you will have faith till he wishes for his (Muslim) brother what he likes for himself” (Bukhari 13, Bk.2, H.6).

Allah tells the heavenly angels to hate Christians and Jews: He said when Allah hates a person, he tells the angel Gabriel to also hate them. Then Gabriel hates that person and calls out to the people of heaven and tells them to also hate that person, and then that person is hated in heaven and on earth (so the hate is spread around): Sahih Muslim 32:6373 (6705).

Muhammad cursed Christians and Jews on his deathbed:  Bukhari 56:660 (3453); Sahih Muslim 4:1082 (1187)

Those who have faith fight in the way of Allah, while those who disbelieve fight in the way of Satan. Fight, then, against the fellows of Satan. Surely Satan's strategy is weak. (Q.4:76- Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi

So, fight in the way of Allah. You are not responsible but for yourself, and persuade the believers (to fight in Allah’s way). It is likely that Allah will prevent the mischief of those who disbelieve. Allah is the strongest in power and the mightiest in punishing. 4:84-  Mufti Taqi Usmani

Allah cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, the Jews and Christians. Quran (3:151) —

"You (true Muslims) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind." means, the best of peoples for the people, as you bring them with chains on their necks till they embrace Islam. (Bukhari 4557, Book 65, Hadith 79]

 

These teachings cannot be from a only true God. Because if God is the creator of all, He is the father of all, He cannot give order to kill His own children if he/she is on the wrong way or even in sin or do not even believe in Him. Jesus said your heavenly father makes sun shine on the good and bad alike. Therefore, this is from devil. Because Jesus said, the devil comes to steal and Kill. He is a liar from the very beginning. Judging by this verse of Jesus, Islam is from evil. But the Muslims are not to be hated, because they are victims of devil. They happened to be in and most of them forced to be converted and once they are in they cannot go out if it, as it is forbidden by death penalty. So, have pity on them and pray for their conversion. One of the intentions of my every day Mass is Lord convert at least a 100 Muslims today to believe in the true God.

There are some Afghan families are rehabilitated into our area. If you happen to them, reach out to them. Of course they won’t know your language now, but gradually make them aware what they are into. Make them realize they are on the way to destruction. It is very difficult to travel to a foreign country and speak to them about Christ, but once they are in our neighborhood, it is much easier.

 

 

In his final commandment to his apostles Jesus said, “Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another” (Jn 15:12). Another good reason for us to forgive our enemies is, “(so that everyone will know that we are his disciples” (Jn 13:34-35). Thus, Christian forgiveness can be a form of evangelization.

What makes Christianity distinct from any other religion is the quality known as grace, i.e., God’s own life working in us, so that we are able to treat others, not as they deserve but with love, kindness and mercy. Therefore, we need to be Christians, filled with grace, ready to love and forgive those who hate us.

 

 

 

 OT VI [C]: Jer 17:5-8; I Cor 15:12, 16-20; Lk 6:17, 20-26

John D. Rockefeller, Sr.(1839-1937, was a millionaire at age 23. At the age of fifty, he was a billionaire. He was the richest man in the world, but he was a miserable, rich man. At the age of 53, he was eaten up with physical diseases and ulcers. He was a grabber, not a giver. He was always trying to get more money and he was a greedy man. Greed had so consumed him, that at the age of 53, the doctors told him he had one year to live. Just one year. Here’s a billionaire, the richest man in the world, and all he could eat that year, all that his stomach could handle was milk and crackers. Milk and crackers. The man could go out and buy any restaurant in the world, buy it; he could have any food before him on the table, but it wouldn’t do him much good. It was in that year, that Rockefeller began to look at his life. He said, “I have all these possessions, and I’ve never been a giver.” That’s when he decided to become a giver. He gave to Churches, to hospitals, to foundations, and to medical research. Many of the discoveries we’ve had in medicine have come from money provided by the Rockefeller Foundation. —That man who had only one year to live at age 53, began to live, and began to give, and do you know what happened to him? He started releasing all of the internal negative things that were killing him. He got rid of his stress, his tension, and his ulcers, and he lived to the age of ninety eight, a saint to many. Depending on one’s strength and wealth can never give any solution to the ultimate problems of our life. But trust in the ultimate power of God can change our life.

Today’s readings teach us that true happiness, or beatitude, lies in the awareness of who we are and of what we are supposed to do. They remind us that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and that we will be  happy in this world and in Heaven only when we share our blessings with our brothers and sisters in need and work to uplift them, thus declaring our “option for the poor,” as Jesus did. The eight Beatitudes Jesus gives in Mathew and the four Woes and Blessings in Luke contradict the ideas about real happiness found in the Jewish culture and in our modern society.  According to these modern notions, wealth, health, power and influence are the true Beatitudes. 

The first reading tells us that true beatitude consists in placing our trust in God and in putting our trust in His promises. The Responsorial Psalm, (Ps 1), finds beatitude in keeping God’s Law. St. Paul warns us, in the second reading, that true beatitude is obtainable only in Heaven, and that Christ’s Resurrection is our assurance of reaching Heaven for an everlasting life of happiness. In today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples in the paradoxical   blessedness of poverty, hunger, sorrow, and persecution because these contradict our natural expectations in every way.  “Blessed are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, insulted, and denounced,” because in poverty, we recognize God’s reign; in hunger, His providence; in sorrow, true happiness; and in persecution, true joy.

 

Father Louis Everly, a noted Belgian theologian, priest and writer says that so many people never find happiness because they do not know where to look for it. Too many people make the mistake of seeking one more material thing, one more pay raise, one more promotion, one more problem solved, one more handicap overcome. “If only I had that,” they often say, “I would be happy.” — Too late they learn that happiness does not come from the outside but from within.

Many people fall into the devil's old trap of seeing their Christian life as a list of obligations, a hindrance to fun, and a limit on their freedom. But when they come to the right understanding why they were created and why they are in this world they could seek and find true happiness.  Jesus doesn't want us to waste our lives; he wants us to live them to the full.

 

The manufacturer always knows what's best for the product. Everything Jesus teaches, everything he asks of us, everything the Church teaches about how to live, what to do, what to avoid -these are the manufacturer's instructions, meant for our benefit, for our blessedness. Therefore, we can never find blessedness away from Jesus’ teachings. If we are blessed here on earth according to Jesus’ teachings, we will be blessed in heaven too. This Sunday we need to examine whether we are really seeking real blessedness here so that when we are finally called home we will hear Jesus tell us: Come blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.

 

 

 THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY [C] (Dec 26, 2021)

(1Sm 1:20-22, 24-28; 1Jn 3:1-2, 21-24; Lk 2:41-52)

 

On this feast of the Holy Family, let us reflect on the privilege we enjoy, of belonging to the most beautiful family the world has ever known: the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. The Church is our sacred family. This family sanctifies its members by the holiness of its head, the Christ. All the holiness that belongs to this family is conferred by Jesus to its members. Since the head is holy, the family is holy. We say in our creed: I believe in the Holy Catholic Church. We may think, is that really true? We know about ourselves how sinful and unworthy we are. We also hear a lot about other members of the Church who do not behave in manner worthy of this adjective “holy” of the Church. Only those who are not in mortal sin are really members of the mystical body of Christ. Mortal sin separates one away from God and therefore one cannot be in the Holy Church where God is sacramentally present. The Church is the sacrament of God, sign and reality combined.

 

That there are sinners, like you and me, in this family hardly needs pointing out. Nor should it surprise us. Jesus saw his mission as bringing healing and hope to sinners. It is the same for the Church. In Jesus’ day, some sinners welcomed his love, let it turn their lives around, and we know them as saints. Others brought about his crucifixion. When disciples of Jesus sin, we do so in spite of who he is, and against his teaching and example. It is the same today with the Church. We sin in spite of the beauty and grace that make the Church what it is.

This beautiful family is the ‘Body of Christ’ in the world, the ‘Temple of the Holy Spirit’. It embraces and consecrates us in the sacrament of baptism. The risen Christ, through the Church, continually pours into our hearts that Spirit of love that binds the heart of Jesus to the heart of God. He promises a bridegroom and a bride to consecrate their mutual self-giving in such a way that they are a sacrament to each other of God’s love. When a disciple dares to take up his challenge and ‘do this in memory of me’, by offering his or her energy to carry on Jesus’ ministry in various parts of the vineyard, he promises to sustain them by his love and to make their ministry fruitful. He is there to embrace the sinner and to sustain us as our earthy journey nears its end. At every step of our journey, at every turn in the road, he is there, present in his Body, assuaging our hunger and quenching our thirst.

Think of all the beautiful people who are part of our Church family – and it is the desire of the heart of Jesus that no one would be left out. All are welcome, and we are to play our part in making that welcome apparent. The synod that is coming up in Rome in April is meant to take improving actions after listening to all the people in the Church family. This listening is not just from church going Catholics but even from other Christians from different traditions and also from non-practicing Christians. The Church takes it seriously and wants to listen to its children of all walks and traditions. Therefore, for the coming two-three months let’s take some time to think and discuss about how we can make the Church really a family that can grow not only in number but in depth of holiness of life.

 

 On this feast of the Holy Family let us renew our commitment to not only to our own family, but also to our Church family. This includes a searching of our souls to see if, with God’s grace, we can move towards resolving any hurts that keep the family divided. Let us commit ourselves also to work for social and especially church structures that welcome men and women to enrich us by sharing their special gifts. Let us reflect more deeply on the feminine as well as the masculine experience of love as we look to God, our Father-Mother. By baptism we are all brothers and sisters and we are all called to be fathers and mothers to each other as well. We need everyone’s gift, everyone’s love, for we need each other to be sacraments of the fatherly and motherly love of God.

May the celebration of this feast of the Holy Family help us to dedicate ourselves to the well being of our both families: the Church family and the biological family. May the Holy Family of Jesus Mary and Joseph become a beacon light for us in this endeavour.

 

CHRISTMAS Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-16; John 1:1-18

On this joyful evening/night/day, we are celebrating the day of the birth of Jesus. We share the Joy of Mother Mary, we share the joy of St Joseph, we share the joy of the Shepherds and we share the joy of the Angels.

For four weeks now we have been preparing to celebrate this blessed day. Through four Advent weeks we have been listening, reflecting, praying about the expectations of a people that walked in darkness. It was a time of hope, hope expressed in those magnificent messianic oracles of Isaiah, visions of universal peace when there would not only be no more war and not even preparations for war. Spears and swords, instruments of death and destruction, would be turned into plowshares and pruning hooks, farm tools that cultivate the fruits of the earth and give us life.

 It was a time of promises yet to be fulfilled, a time of eager longing and expectation, a time of hope, that this could be a better world and that something great and wonderful would happen to let us know that God continues to be faithful, that God has not abandoned his people, and that God would break into our sad and sorrowful world with proof of a love beyond all expectation. Christmas is the fulfillment of those expectations. However, this fulfillment is not totally here. Though, Christ came into this world and fulfilled his mission of bringing peace to this world, only when he and his message are accepted and appropriated in each one’s life that fulfillment of the promise will remain incomplete.

 

Now, Why did God become man? Pope Benedict in one of his Christmas homilies said here is why.  

In the Credo there is a line that on this day we recite on our knees: "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven." This is the fundamental and perennially valid answer to the question -- "Why did the word become flesh?" -- but it needs to be understood and integrated. The question put another way is in fact: "Why did he become man 'for our salvation?'" Only because, we had sinned and needed to be saved?

Blessed Duns Scotus, a noted Franciscan theologian, regards God's glory as the primary reason for the Incarnation. "God decreed the incarnation of his Son in order to have someone outside of him who loved him in the highest way, in a way worthy of God." This answer, though beautiful, is still not the definitive one. For the Bible, the most important thing is not, as it was for Greek philosophers, that God be loved, but that God "loves" and loved first (cf. 1 John 4:10, 19).

 

Christ did descend from heaven "for our salvation," but what moved him to come down for our salvation was love, nothing else but love. Christmas is the supreme proof of God's "philanthropy". John too responds to the why of the Incarnation in this way: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever should believe in him would not die but have life everlasting" (John 3:16).

So, what should be our response to the message of Christmas? The Christmas carol "Adeste Fideles" says: "How can we not love one who has so loved us?" There is much that we can do to solemnize Christmas, but the truest and most profound thing is suggested to us by these words. A sincere thought of gratitude, a feeling of love for him who came to live among us is the best gift we can give to the child Jesus, the most beautiful ornament in the manger.

 

The first to hear about his birth were shepherds, poor people, looked down upon by others because, despite the importance of their occupation, it was one that violated the intricate regulations of ritual purity, and so they were excluded from the synagogues and from temple worship. A major theme of Luke’s Gospel will be Jesus’ mission to the poor and the outcasts. He was one of them. He would be rejected by his own. There was no room for them in the inn, so he was laid in a manger.

Interestingly in Saint Luke’s short account of the birth of Jesus this manger is mentioned three times. We are told that Mary laid her infant in the manger. The shepherds are told that it is a manger which will be for them the key to identifying new born saviour. And it is when they reach the unlikely scene of a new-born in a manger that they recognize in this the person of the saviour, the Messiah and Lord.

The manger is thus a sign, not just for those mentioned in the Gospel narrative but also for us. When we look at the manger this evening what is it pointing to in today’s world? The manger is first of all a reminder that God tells us that if we want to understand who God is, then we have to look first of all at the humility of Jesus’ birth. The God of power and might appears in our midst without any of the trappings of what power and might mean in our terms. When we recognize that Jesus is born as an outsider, then we realize that God must be different to what we think.

The mystery we celebrate today is not just a historic occurrence that happened once two thousand years ago. The Incarnation, the enfleshment of the Word of God, is a mystery that is still with us. How does this mystery become real in the lives of each and every one of us?

Listen to what St. Theresa of Avila has to say on the subject: Christ has no body now but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.

It’s Theresa’s insight into the mystery of the Incarnation and how it continues in our lives today. After all, as St. Paul so strongly insisted, we are the Body of Christ. Since that is so, then, it is in and through us that the Incarnation remains actual, that the presence of Christ is manifested in our world today.

Since God took on our human nature, we now share in God’s own nature. There is in each and every one of us at least a spark of the divine. How do we best celebrate the birth of Jesus? By accepting so great a gift, by letting that spark shine, by using our heads and hands and hearts to show the world the compassion that was born two thousand years ago but is still with us. Jesus is still Emmanuel.

May the peace, the joy, the love, the wonder that this day celebrates be yours today and every day of your lives. Amen.