EASTER -2014: ACTS 10:34a, 37-43; COL 3:1-4; JOHN 20: 1-9

A few years ago, Random House published a book called Made to Stick. It is an interesting analysis of six characteristics that make ideas sticky. It was written to help communicators - from teachers to professional marketers - communicate better. One of these six characteristics is credibility. Credibility is the quality of an idea that makes people believe in it, it makes them buy into it. The authors give examples of how to make ideas credible.  They tell about ad campaigns that boosted sales by associating products with celebrities. They also mention something that marketers call The Sinatra Test. The "Sinatra Test" is precisely that - a single example or test case that proves credibility without any room for doubt. Christ's resurrection is what makes Christianity pass The Sinatra Test. The resurrection is the stamp that validates everything Jesus did and said.

Jesus Christ claimed to have the secret to eternal life, to a lastingly meaningful life, to the kind of happiness that we all yearn for with all our being. Others have made similar claims: Buddha, Confucius, Mohammad, Zoroaster, even modern gurus like Deepak Chopra .  And yet, have any of them passed the Sinatra Test? Even one?  Only Christ has won the irreversible victory and shown undeniable credibility, by rising from the dead, attesting what he said was true. The Resurrection makes Christianity absolutely unique.

 If Christ didn't rise from the dead, he has no more authority over our lives than Socrates or Confucius or Buddha or Mohammad. But he did rise from the dead. His victory over evil and falsehood and injustice and suffering is total and irreversible. Has anybody other than Jesus, Mary or Christian saints appeared to others even to people of their own religion? There are hundreds of instances where non-Christians have witnessed that they had the apparitions of Jesus or Mary and been the cause of their conversion to Christianity. But not a single case has been reported from any other religion similar to these ones.

St. Paul writes:  “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your faith is in vain…  And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins…  

If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then the Church is a fraud, and faith is a sham. But if He really did rise from the dead, His message is true! The seventeenth-century philosopher, John Locke, wrote, "Our Savior’s Resurrection is truly of great importance in Christianity, so great that His being or not being the Messiah stands or falls with it." 

The facts that support Jesus’ resurrection are: (1) Jesus himself testified to His Resurrection from the dead (Mark 8:31; Matthew 17:22).
(2) The tomb was empty on Easter Sunday (Luke 24:3). Although the guards claimed (Matthew 28:13) that the disciples of Jesus had stolen the body, every sensible Jew knew that it was impossible for the terrified disciples of Jesus to steal the body of Jesus from a tomb guarded by an armed, 16-member Temple Guard detachment. If they stole the body why did they leave the burial clothes behind? The disciples wouldn’t dare to steal the body risking to face the same fate Jesus faced. The Jews and the Romans could not disprove Jesus’ Resurrection by presenting the dead body of Jesus. 

(3) The Apostles and early Christians would not have faced martyrdom if they were not absolutely sure of Jesus’ Resurrection. They wouldn’t dare to die for Jesus, if the resurrection was a lie made up by them.
(4)  The Apostle Paul’s conversion from a persecutor of Christians and his zealous preaching of Jesus support the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection (Galatians 1:11-17, Acts 9:1)

Only the reality of the Resurrection can explain the reality of the history of the Church:

A few weak, non-influential, and uneducated fishermen from Galilee, frightened out of their wits when Jesus was arrested and executed, suddenly become world travelers, phenomenally successful preachers, and valiant martyrs. And the Church they spread continues to spread after they die, holding fast to the exact same doctrine they preached, century after century, in nation after nation. Only the abiding presence of the Lord can explain this, and only the resurrection explains the abiding presence of the Lord. This is what makes us, as Christians, different. Christ's resurrection makes Christianity the only truly Supernatural religion.

Jesus did not just say He would spiritually rise from the dead. That was easy to tell. Even if his body remained in the tomb, his disciples could claim he is spiritually risen. No; Jesus predicted physical resurrection, not a spiritual resurrection. He was objectively alive. Proving to the disciples by eating food before them and allowing Thomas to touch his wounds and pierced heart. Spiritual things you can not empirically prove. But Jesus proved spiritual things with empirical evidences. When Jesus forgave a paralytic of his sins, the Pharisees contested that he had no power to do that. But then Jesus proved that what he told was true by physically healing him as well. So is his own resurrection too. He told he is the resurrection and life and he proved that by his own resurrection.

As Jesus could walk through stone walls, the removal of the stone from the face of the tomb was not a condition for his resurrection, but a sign of the resurrection. Bede the Venerable wrote, “The angel rolled back the stone not to throw open a way for our Lord to come forth, but to provide evidence to people that he had already come forth.” 

Easter, the feast of the Resurrection, gives us the joyful message that we are a “Resurrection people.”  This means that we are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits and dangerous addictions.  It gives us the Good News that no tomb can hold us down anymore - not the tomb of despair, discouragement or doubt, nor that of death. Instead, we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, constantly experiencing the real presence of the Risen Lord in all the events of our lives.
Nothing can destroy us – not pain, sin, rejection nor death – because Christ has conquered all these, and we too can conquer them if we put our faith in Him. But before we can rise, we have to die, and no resurrection without death. Without dying to self no eternal life can be experienced.

Today’s responsorial psalm was:“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad” . We express our gladness by jubilantly exclaiming “Alleluiah”. The Hebrew word “Alleluiah” means praise the Lord. Christian tradition has not translated it, but uses it as it is in Hebrew. During the lent we have been holding this off from utter it. It is like a sound of cheering like the roar of a crowd at a football match when a goal is scored. Let’s joyfully and lavishly use this now, realizing that in his resurrection we have been justified. Alleluiah.  

GOOD FRIDAY-2014

One night in 1935, Fiorello  La Guardia, mayor of New York City, showed up at a night court in the poorest ward of the city. He dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench. One case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren.  La Guardia said, "I've got to punish you. Ten dollars or ten days in jail." As he spoke, he threw $10 into his hat.  He then fined everyone in the courtroom 50 cents for living in a city "where an old woman had to steal bread so that her grandchildren should not starve." The hat was passed around, and the woman left the courtroom with her fine paid and an additional $47.50. 

In justice the Judge had to punish the woman for stealing. But she had no means to pay the fine. So he himself paid the fine after convicting her. God said to Adam and Eve: do not eat the fruit of the tree and if you do, you shall die. God had to punish them for their violation. If he did not, he would not be trusted with his words, his words would mean nothing, he would not be meting out justice.  But they were not in a position to repair the dishonor done to God by themselves. So, God had to come and do the repairing himself and take death upon himself and free the human beings from death.

Let’s revisit some of the points of the first reading Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Through his punishment we were made whole, by his wounds we are healed… he was stricken for people’s sins. Unresisting and silent, he humbly submitted. He makes himself an offering for sin. Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush him with grief; he will bear and take away their guilt. For he surrendered himself to death and was even counted among the wicked, bearing the sins of the multitude and interceding for sinners.  They put him in the graveyard of the oppressors.( Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were members of Sanhedrin-part of the oppressors). For the anguish he suffered, he will see the light and obtain perfect knowledge. My just servant will justify the multitude;(Paul says we are justified by his resurrection). Everything that Jesus went through the holy week were only the fulfillment of what was prophesied 700 years before him. So, it was no accident.

If sin was the source of suffering, and if Jesus took our suffering upon himself in order to save us from sin, then why do we still suffer? This is an important question, and it has an important answer. Jesus doesn't save us from suffering; he saves us through suffering. Jesus teaches us, by his example, how to find meaning and purpose in our sufferings: by using them as a spring board for trusting in God.

As St Ignatius of Loyola puts it, "There is no wood more useful for kindling and feeding the fire of divine love than the wood of the cross."

Christ's cross shows his limitless trust in his Father's will, which reveals his limitless and unconditional love for each one of us. This is why we kiss the cross today.

Our crosses are intersections of wills.  When our natural preferences contradict what God asks or permits, we are faced with a personal cross.

Every cross is a chance to exercise our trust in God and thereby to rebuild the relationship that sin has ruptured. This is why God sends and permits crosses in our lives. 

One mistake that we all tend to make in our Christian journey is the mistake of going it alone. Jesus allowed Simon the Cyrenian to share the burden of his cross. Sharing the burden of the cross helped Simeon to know Jesus intimately.  Later he became a great disciple of Jesus. That is why his name is clearly mentioned in the Bible, because he was a very well known early Christian. Let’s like Simon follow Jesus on his way of the Cross.

St Francis of Assisi said, "I exhort you brethren, have continually before your mind the blessed passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It will strengthen you, and encourage you to suffer more generously for the sake of his Love."

PALM –PASSION SUNDAY.

Today we are in the middle of a paradox. On the one hand, we are filled with joy. As Jesus enters Jerusalem, throngs of people rejoice. The promised Savior has finally come! The Messiah is here! Redemption is at hand! But then, on the other hand, we turn towards the sorrowful narrative of our Lord's rejection, suffering, and death - with his passion.

Palm Sunday is also Passion Sunday. It is a solemn, silent moment. How can a day of triumph be filled with both joy and sorrow?

In every one of our lives we find this swing from joy to sorrow. In one hand we may carry the palm leaves shouting in joy: Hosana to the Son of David. But the other,  fisted hand may be thrown up in the air shouting: Crucify him, crucify him. As Paul mentions: I sometimes don’t do the things I want to do; I end up doing the very thing I don’t want to do.  Are we not facing this dichotomy within us once in a while ?

The source of our sorrow is sin, our sins, the cause of Christ's suffering. But the source of our joy is Christ's love, the victory of everlasting love, love that   conquers our sins. And so Christians can always live inside the paradox of Palm Sunday, can always find joy, the joy of Christ's limitless love, even amidst the profoundest sorrows.  During these days, the Holy Spirit wants to teach how to live this paradox more deeply.

He will do so as we spend more time with Christ in personal prayer and come together for the special liturgies during the week. Our holy week service begins on Holy Thursday at 7.30 commemorating the last supper of the Lord, which includes washing the foot. Good Friday we have the Passion reflection at 1.00 pm followed by veneration of the cross and stations of the Cross on the hill. Holy Saturday vigil service is at 8.30 pm with receiving in to church some 25 people coming into the church. And on Sunday the Easter services at the usual times on Sunday.

If we live this week well, seven days from now we will know Christ's love for us better, and so we will be better able to experience true Christian joy, even in the midst of life's trials.

Jesus wants to come into our hearts this Holy Week in the same way he came into Jerusalem, humbly and peacefully, riding on a donkey colt. Then, it was a literal donkey colt. Now, the donkey that brings Christ into our hearts is the Church. The liturgical celebrations of this coming week, as beautiful as they are, will only be a dim shadow of the true glory of Christ that they represent, a humble vehicle, like the donkey. But the liturgy is also a dependable vehicle, like the donkey, and Jesus will be truly present in them.

Let’s take time to join this family of believers for this week's liturgies, praying, worshiping, contemplating, receiving the sacraments, discovering what God has to say to us this Holy Week, helping us to find joy in the sorrows of our lives. 

V-Lent Ez 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45 

In Roman poet Virgil’s work Aeneid, there is an account of an ancient king, who was so unnaturally cruel in his punishments that he used to chain a dead man to a living criminal. It was impossible for the poor wretch to separate himself from his disgusting burden. The carcass was bound fast to his body - its hands to his hands; its face to his face; the entire dead body to his living body.  Then he was put into a dungeon to die suffocated by the foul emissions of the stinking dead body. Many suppose that it was in reference to this that Paul cried out: "O wretched man that I am!" (Rom.7:24).  

We all are condemned to a death penalty like this, by virtue of our rejection of God. We all are tied to a dead body for our punishment. But in baptism that body is switched to the body of Christ, which was dead on the cross, but since he rose from the dead, and lives forever, we are not tied to a dead body any more, but a living body that keeps breathing life and salvation into every cell of our being. That is why we are called Christians, breathing Christ and living Christ.

In today’s reading Paul says: if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, 
the one who raised Christ from the dead 
will give life to your mortal bodies also, 
through his Spirit dwelling in you.

Resurrection hope is the central theme of the Scripture readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent. For Ezekiel, in the first reading, it was always God’s intention to raise his people from their graves. We could take this to mean that it is simply God’s nature to raise the dead because God is the life-giver. Ezekiel speaks of the Lord putting his life giving spirit within us – echoing the book of Genesis, where God breathed into the nostrils of clay man. For John, in today’s Gospel, the raising of Lazarus is the final and greatest sign of Jesus, a symbolic narrative of His victory over death at the cost of His own life and a sign anticipating His Resurrection.

According to John, the raising of Lazarus is the sixth of seven signs ( the seventh is his own resurrection). It is also the last and greatest of the miracles worked by our Lord to prove that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, and that through faith in Him believers will receive eternal life.  In other words, Jesus wanted to make this, His last recorded miracle, a convincing proof of His claim to be what He was-the Messiah, sent by God to give new life,  eternal life, to mankind.

While the miracle of raising Lazarus from grave shows Jesus’ divine power over death itself, it also shows Him as a wonderfully sensitive human being.  His love for Lazarus and his sisters is palpable.  Martha's and Mary's complaint that Jesus' presence would have averted Lazarus’ death shows us how real their friendship was.  So do Jesus' tears. He feels the pain of Mary and Martha. He feels the anguish that death brings. The two words “Jesus wept” shows that Jesus  was not only the Son of God, but also the Son of Man, fully human, sharing our grief and our sorrow and comforting us with His declaration, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”  

Today he weeps with each of us and feels the pain and anguish that we feel. He knows our needs and our struggles too. Without any need for a messenger, in his divine knowledge Jesus knew when Lazarus had died. So does he know ours too.

St John points out that "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." And yet, in spite of his love, Jesus doesn't rush back to Jerusalem to heal Lazarus. Nor does he heal him from a distance, as he did with the Centurion's servant. Jesus loves these friends, and yet he lets them suffer. He lets them experience their helplessness and weakness, the painful separation of death and the loss of a loved one.

Did he do it to punish them? Did he do it because he had no power to remedy the evil? 

No, he let them suffer precisely because he loved them. If God protected us from all suffering, we would make the mistake of thinking that earth is heaven, that we could make ourselves truly happy just by our own efforts. And God allows us to experience  suffering as a way to remind us that life on earth is a journey towards heaven - it's the path, not the goal. The goal is heaven, and the resurrection of Lazarus is an appetizer of heaven. Lazarus died again. The tradition says that the Jews put Lazarus and his sisters in a leaky boat and sailed them away, aiming to drown them. But they reached safe in Cyprus and Lazarus became the bishop there for 30 years and was martyred.

What matters in life is not being perfectly comfortable: what matters in life is knowing, loving, and following Jesus Christ. Our sufferings are therefore a proof that God never gives up on us - they are sometimes a last resort to get our attention.

The messengers from Martha and Mary arrive tired and breathless and deliver their one-sentence message, composed by Martha and Mary: "Lord, the man you love is ill." They could have said, "Lord, the one who loves you is ill," as if because Lazarus loved Jesus, he deserved to be healed. But who loved more, Lazarus or Jesus? Jesus loved him infinitely more than he could ever love Christ! They could have said, “ Lord, come and heal Lazarus, who is ill." But that would have dictated what Jesus should do. And they wanted to leave it up to Jesus to decide himself, knowing that his love would do much, much more than they could ever think of - and they were right. Christ's heart could not resist a prayer like that and he unleashed his power and procures the greatest miracle of his ministry.

When we go through struggle, how do we make our prayers to him ? Do we just dictate to him to come and help us; or do we have the courage and conviction to tell him, the one you love is in trouble ?

Jesus asked the people to “Roll away the stone, unbind him and let him go.”  There are so many dark areas in our private life that we often bind ourselves with. We bind ourselves with the chains of slander, gossip, envy, prejudices, hatred, anger; and bury ourselves in the tombs of despair. As he said to Lazarus to come out, he is calling us out of the tomb.

During the season of Lent we are called to bring ourselves to confessional where we can unbind our chains and be freed from the fetters and tombs.

    When we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus will call our name and command, "Come out!”  Am I ready to come out ?

IV- Lent I Sam 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13; Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41

Jesus’ giving of sight to a blind man, reported in today’s Gospel, teaches us the necessity of opening the eyes of the mind by faith and warns us that   those who pretend to  see the truth are often blind, while those who acknowledge their blindness are given clear vision. In this episode, the most unlikely person, namely the blind man, receives the light of faith in Jesus, while the religion-oriented, law-educated Pharisees remain spiritually blind.  "There are none so blind, as those who will not see."  To live as a Christian is to see, to have clear vision about God, about ourselves and about others.

By describing the anointing of David as the second king of Israel, the book of Samuel, illustrates how blind we are in our judgments and how much we need God’s help. Samuel was given the warning: "Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart."  

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul, says that Baptism is an “awakening and living in the light”— Christ:  "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." Paul reminds Christians of their new responsibility as children of light: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of the light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”

From earliest times, today's Gospel story has been associated with Baptism. Just as the blind man went down into the waters of Siloam and came up whole, so also believers who are immersed in the waters of Baptism come up spiritually whole, totally healed of the spiritual blindness with which all of us are born. Raymond Brown comments that in the lectionaries and liturgical books of the early Church, there developed the practice of three examinations before one's Baptism. These correspond to the three interrogations of the man born blind. When the catechumens had passed their examinations and were judged worthy of Baptism, the Gospel book was solemnly opened and the ninth chapter of John was read, with the confession of the blind man, "I do believe, Lord," serving as the climax of the service. Paintings on the walls of the catacombs of Rome portray Jesus healing the man born blind as a symbol of Holy Baptism. The early Christians looked at their Baptism as leaving behind blindness and darkness and stepping into the glorious light of God.

A great part of the way this event is told us by St John is to show us the contrast between the faith of the man, and the blindness of the Pharisees. They refuse to believe the man. They refuse to believe the evidence before them. They are blind to the works of God, even though the Jewish Scriptures ought to have prepared them for the coming of the Messiah, who would open the eyes of the blind.

 “The blind man’s progress in spiritual sight is paralleled by the opponents’ descent into spiritual blindness.” Here is a contrast between those who know they are blind and those who claim to see. According to these blind Pharisees, Jesus, by healing the blind man doubly broke the Sabbath law, which forbade works of healing, and also kneading which was involved in making clay of spittle and dust. So they concluded, "The man who did this cannot be from God, because he does not obey the Sabbath law."

The stubborn pride and prejudice of the Pharisees prevented them from seeing the hand of God in it. This made them incapable of recognizing a miracle. But the cured man insisted that Jesus, his healer, must be from God. The blind man was asked: "Who healed you?" First he answered, “A prophet healed me.” Then he answered, “The Son of Man healed me.” Finally, when he realized who Jesus was, he fell down on his knees and worshiped him. As a result, he was excommunicated. When we fully believe in Jesus as the Son of God, the world will hate us or excommunicate us as Jesus already foretold.

Although the Pharisees have long since disappeared from history, there are still many among us who are blinded by the same pride and prejudice. Spiritual blindness is very common in modern times. Perhaps, the most awful disease in the world today is spiritual blindness. Such blindness refuses to see the truths of God's revelation.  I saw the movie “God is not dead” this week with some of the people sitting here. A professor like the blind Pharisees in this gospel, starts off his class taking a written adherence from the students to the preposition that God is dead. But one student refuses to adhere to that and the whole movie is trying to prove the existence of God by the student and the professor, even against his own conviction, trying to refute that God exists, finally contradicting himself. Till just before the end of the movie he remains blind like the Pharisees in the gospel today, refusing to see the light. That is the sin against the Holy Spirit. Jesus said there is no forgiveness for such deliberate stubborn spiritual blindness.   

We need to allow Jesus to heal our spiritual blindness.  We all have blind-spots -- in our marriages, our parenting, our work habits, and our personalities.  We often wish   to remain in the dark, preferring darkness to light.  It is even possible for the religious people in our day to be like the Pharisees:   religious in worship, in frequenting the Sacraments, in prayer-life, in tithing, and in knowledge of the Bible – but blind to the poverty, injustice and pain around them.  Let us remember, however, that Jesus wants to heal our blind-spots.  We need to ask him to remove from us the root causes of our blindness, namely, self-centered-ness, greed, anger, hatred, prejudice, jealousy, addiction to evil habits and hardness of heart.

Lent is a good time to take stock of how we are affected by this blindness, to see just how blind we have been to Jesus and His call to discipleship, and to realize how often we have preferred to stay blind. Let’s ask the holy Spirit to take control of us and help us leave the stupid stubbornness we sometimes hold on to.

II- Lent:Gen 12:1-4a;II Tim 1:8b-10; Mt 17:1-9 

This Gospel account shares the scene of heavenly glory of Jesus.   While praying, Jesus was transfigured into a shining figure, full of heavenly glory. ( In a few weeks we will find him praying again and that time his face will be red with sweat of blood). But this time he is full of bright light. The suffering in the garden of Gathsemene will lead him to the final glory.  Transfiguration is like the trailor of a movie that will be released after a month-after the holy week. Only a few snap shots are played now. The trailor will incite our hunger to come and watch the movie when released. At the transfiguration Jesus is found with Moses and Elijah, the representatives of Law and the prophets. Moses had met the Lord in the burning bush at Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:1-4). After his later encounter with God, Moses' face shone so brightly that it frightened the people.  So, Moses had to use a veil over his face to prevent the glare before the people. Elijah had traveled for forty days to Mt. Horeb on the strength of the food brought by an angel (1 Kings 19:8). At Mt. Horeb, Elijah sought refuge in a cave as the glory of the Lord passed over him (1 Kings 19:9-18). So Moses and Elijah who found God’s glory are found with Jesus who is Father’s glory. The message that came from heaven at transfiguration was addressed to the Apostles: This my beloved son, to listen to him.

Listening to Jesus, hearing and heeding his voice in our life, is not always comfortable. Abraham discovered this, as we heard in the First Reading. He was living happily and prosperously in the fertile land of Mesopotamia, when God spoke to his heart. God invited him to leave behind his extended family, his business, his homeland, his security, his financial stability, his friends - everything, in fact. And he didn't even tell him where he was going. He just said, "Go to a land I will show you." But God had a plan for his life, a plan that would bring blessings to Abraham himself, and also bring blessings to others through him. Listening and accepting God’s call, he stepped out of his comfort zone and put his trust in God. We can only imagine the turbulence it caused at first between him and his wife, and how awkward he must have felt trying to explain his decision to friends and colleagues.

The call of Abraham was to be blessing for all the communities of the earth. Why did God call Abraham away from his own people. Couldn’t he make him a great nation allowing him to live in the same village he was living? Why did God make his life difficult by making him move to an unknown land ? First of all we need to know that Abraham was a pagan, worshiping pagan gods and living with pagan people. So, in the event of his  getting discouraged with God, there were very high chances for him to fall back to his old way of life, going to his neighbors and relatives who would tempt him to leave his new found God. So, God took him away from his accustomed environment. To get an extraordinary encounter with God, one has to leave everything comfortable to him. Jesus also took the three disciples away to a mountain to let them have a beatific vision of him. As a result of God’s taking him away from his pagan surroundings, Abraham was able to develop a great personal relationship with God. Sometimes God destroys everything that might hinder us in our way of developing a relationship with him.

This would explain why God would ask Joshua to exterminate the populace- men, women and children, in the new conquered cities of Jericho, Canaan and Ai. Chapters 1-12 of Joshua are really bloody battles and stories of extermination of other nations by the Israelites. We would even wonder if it is the same God, the father of Jesus Christ who taught him to teach his disciples to show the other cheek if somebody strikes you on your one cheek. We would wish those chapters in the bible were expunged from it. The reason God asked them to kill all those people was to keep them pure and not get any close to worshipping other gods. All the other nations had many gods. God demanded absolute loyalty from the Israelites, like that of a wife to a husband and vice versa. If they were to allow the conquered people to live with them, their pagan faith would infiltrate the Israelites’ monotheism. That is why the first commandment dictated: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other god besides me. The disintegration of the people of Israel as a nation started with Solomon who married foreign women and allowed the worship of their foreign gods in Israel. So his both sons divided the nation between them.

The reason for choosing Abraham, an anonymous, un-illustrious man cannot be satisfactorily explained. So are the cases of Isaac and Jacob. Esau was the proper heir of his father Isaac and his choice too. But God chose Jacob, though this happened through a treachery from the part of Jacob. Jacob was a cheater. But still God chose him to be the father of a Great nation. H e is named Israel and the land his family inherited is called Israel, the land that was originally promised to Abraham. Even among the 12 tribes of Israel, God had a special choice of the tribe of Judah from whom the Savior was to come. So, God made choices throughout history. As the scripture says: Rom 9:15-19 : For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."  It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.  

 Even Jesus chose a special group of 3 from the 12 and those three had this special vision of the transfiguration. Why did he not include others as well in it ? It is God’s choice. It is to show how God’s grace works in our life too. As Paul says, it is not by works but by grace that we are saved. It is a pure gift. The choice of whole salvation history points to this truth. God loves all, but he chooses some to be model and blessing for others.

Now, when God chooses someone, are those excluded or rejected by God, cursed by God? Not at all. God chooses them “those rejected” to play the role of agents magnifying God’s glory. As God chose Pharaoh to magnify his glory in Egypt, he chose other nations in the history. When Israel strayed away from God, God chose even a more wicked nation to be the instrument of God’s punishment on the Israelites. That would explain why even people who live righteous lives are facing challenges and sickness which have no cure. It does not mean that God does not love them, but he uses them for his glory. Looking at a blind man the disciples asked who is the culprit, he or his parents, who sinned ? Jesus said, neither he nor his parents, but through him God’s glory may be made manifest.  And again Jesus said, referring to the people killed by the fall of a tower in Shiloam and those killed by Pilate. Were they more sinful than others living in Israel? He said no. Well, If not, why were they targeted to be victims? God uses some as conduit or instruments to bring conversion and grace to others. But those made victims are also not rejected by God.

All these choices show that God’s salvation is not merited, but accepted only in grace. But for that, one has to be willing to accept God’s invitation. Jesus’ original intention also was to offer the salvation only through the chosen ones. Jesus himself said, I am sent to the lost sheep of Israel. But when they rejected the free gift of salvation he offered went to the gentiles. That is how the church came to be established as a separate religion from Judaism. The Apostles continued in the Jewish religion, but only by necessity when they were rejected in their worship places they started the group, known as the people of the way, separate from Judaism.

The choice of God continues in the Church too. A priest is chosen to be a blessing to others, more than for himself. No one can lay a claim to be a priest as it is a free choice of God expressed through the church. The same way you too. If you are better or different from others, you are specially chosen, say for instance, being rich, or gifted with a special ability, you are specially chosen like Abraham to be a blessing to others. If you fail to recognize that blessing, that blessing may be passed on to others.

God’s choice does not mean freedom from trouble or sufferings. Abraham had to be willing to sacrifice his own son of inheritance. Jesus the chosen one of God, about whom the Father said today, this is my beloved son, had to suffer to receive the glory. So does all of his disciples too. Without suffering there is no salvation. The lent challenges us to accept God’s invitation like Abraham, to come out of our comfort zones, and to follow God where he leads us and to have a personal relationship with him through prayer, and to become a blessing for others.

Ist Sunday of Lent- Gen 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Rom 12:5-19; Mt 4:1-11

The Church begins the season of Lent with a reflection on the origin of sin among us.

 The first reading from the book of Genesis (Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7) describes the “Original Temptation".  Satan told the first parents, if you eat the fruit :"You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil."  (And they fell for that temptation of Satan.) God can test us and allow Satan to test us too as we find in the beginning of the book of Job. Because without testing we can never know how strong you are. Each time we win a temptation our strength grows.

James 1:13-14 says God does not tempt anybody. Every one is tempted by one’s own cravings. God tests us by drawing us to choose Him and do good things and Satan always to evil things. Any pull to do evil is called temptation. We are inspired to do good, not tempted to do good. The primary part of any temptation is from within oneself. Let’s look at the account of the Original Sin. When Satan asked Eve, did God tell you not to eat the fruit of this tree? What did Eve say? She said: God said ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”  God did not say they should not touch it. Where did this twisting of the fact come from ? From within herself. She twisted the fact and that revealed her attitude to God’s command as being too strict. That made it easy for Satan to make her break it. So, the temptation comes from within oneself and the cause for it comes from outside. That is why Jesus said, it is not what goes into a man but what goes out of a man that makes one unclean.

Back to the Original Sin- God placed the creation under the dominion of man- asking Adam to name every creature. Only those who had power could name anybody. Parents name the children. But when man yielded to sin and accepted Satan’s expert advice, Satan got dominion over man and everything under man.  This truth is verified in today’s temptation story.

Then the devil took Jesus up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” Now, how can Satan give the kingdoms of the world to Jesus, if those did not already belong to him?. Take note the point that Jesus did not refute Satan’s claim of possessing all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus did not say that Satan was telling a lie, the kingdoms did not belong to him.

In John 14:30 Jesus says, the ruler of the world is coming, referring to Satan, who was going to take control over Judas and others in the trial. Then he adds: He has no power over me. That means Satan has power over others.  And in Jn.16:33 Jesus says, take courage I have overcome the world. This he told in the context of his death and resurrection, by which he would overcome the Satan and get the dominion of the world back from Satan to those who will believe in him. (Keep in mind that Jesus was already rolling back Satan’s kingdom whenever he drove out evil spirits from people). So, whoever surrenders himself to Jesus in faith, is no longer under the power of Satan. Yesterday I was reading a piece of news from Egypt where a priest does exorcisms every weekend in his church and most of the people brought there are Muslims. And the Muslims openly admit that their Mulla’s are not as powerful as a Catholic priest in driving out demons.

A few months ago I noticed a lady filling up so many jars with holy water. I asked her why she was doing it? (making our water bill go high, I wanted to say). She said her house is haunted. They get awaken most of the days at the middle of the night and it has been going on for so many years. She is a Baptist. And I told her: You should ask your pastor to do an exorcism; and she said our pastors don’t do that. And I said that, if it does not get any better by the holy water application, give me a call and I would come and bless her house. She did and I went and blessed her house in Burlington and she never came back here for taking holy water, I believe. We know that at the name and cross of Jesus, Satan shudders.

Jesus overcame the world, and when we are baptized in him, Satan has no power over us those that belong to Christ. But he can frighten and intimidate even those who belong to Christ. I once heard that Satan is like a bullying manager who mistreats his employee and tramps down on him. One day a gentle man walks in and observes this mistreatment and offers this employee a job in his firm and he comfortably works for him there. One day, the old employer walks in and finds him working there and starts giving orders to him as he used to before. The employee due to the old fear in him for this old employer feels frightened; not fully coming to consciousness that he is no longer under him. This is what happens with Christians who are afraid of Satan and are under the Satanic fear. We are set free by the blood on the Cross for ever as Paul says in today’s second reading. Through one man came sin and death, but through another man, the Son of man, came pardon of sin and eternal life. (Now you may ask why did Jesus lock Satan in an iron box, instead of allowing him roaming freely now? I believe, it is to help us love God more. Only free beings can love. If we don’t get tempted, we would love God as robots, we need the freedom and make the choice to love God. For that, Satan has to be here around).

But remember that anytime we sin we are moving to the domain of Satan again and we are giving him freedom in our life. And the longer we stay there we get used to that situation. Like the Hebrews who wanted to go back to the old comfort of Egypt.  We feel comfortable in that sinful state and don’t make adequate effort to go to confession and free ourselves again.

We need to know that there are three categories of sins.  On a scale of 30 inches, say for instance, 1-10 are venial sins. 11-20 grave sins and 21-30 are Mortal sins. The gravity of sin is considered on three grounds. First, the objective gravity of the matter.  Secondly, knowledge of the gravity of the matter to the sinner. How much did one know that the matter was grave and all its implications. Third, the co-operation in the matter or the willingness of the sinner in the act. Did he fully or partially co-operate in it. Now venial sin is like a simple sickness, like common cold. For this, there are two options. One can take a medicine or it can be cured by itself, may be taking a few hours of rest. So, we can take the venial sins to confession or repent and ask God for forgiveness by attending a Mass and receive holy communion; that venial sin is forgiven. But the Grave sin is like a grave sickness; say for instance, a stomach ulcer, pneumonia, tumor, cancer. All these grave sicknesses if left untreated, can kill us. So, we need to repent and take it to confession (You cannot treat any of these sickness by yourself, you have to go to a doctor). If we don’t treat them, we are liable to be dead soon.

Mortal sin is something of a different nature. Mortal means deadly. It is like a heart attack; you need a CPR to be resuscitated. So, if you don’t get a CPR ? you cannot be brought back to life. So, it is primarily God’s gracious action that brings a mortal sinner to grace and if the sinner co-operates he will be healed. And if one dies in that state, he is gone forever. That is why the moment of death is considered very crucial for anybody. Now most of the sins that we do, may probably fall under the category of Grave sin. Not going to Church on Sunday, is a grave sin, not mortal sin. In every grade of sin there may be different degrees too. So, we can never really judge the gravity of any sin with absolute certainly and clarity. Even though we know the matter was grave, we don’t know how well we co-operated or how well we knew of the gravity. For instance, an abortion or murder is always a mortal sin. But the gravity of that mortal sin can be varying depending on the circumstances.  In the case abortion, an unwed mother or a well placed married woman, do not fall on the same level of gravity. Their freedom in choosing the matter and the circumstances would be different.

The important thing to be kept in mind during this lent is that we should confront our temptations and conquer them as Jesus did, by fasting, prayer and the Word of God.    As God said to Cain in Gen.4:7, the sin is lurking at the door, its desire is for you, but you must master it.  The “desert experience” was like a training camp for Jesus to enhance his resolve to fight sins. That is why the Spirit led him there. Let’s ask the Spirit to guide us through this desert experience during this lent so that we may be able to defeat the Satan and see through his tricks.