PERSEVERANCE IN YOUR JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM

Job 3:1-3.11-17.20-23/Lk 9:51-56

Job's sufferings are intense and they were rare in this form in any community of the people of Israel. Those sufferings can never be compared to any patriarch of Israel who existed before Job. But Job is teaching the way how to approach the problem of suffering in our life. He never blamed God at any moment of his life even if he would lose his life. He blamed the day of his birth; he blamed himself, but he never blamed God. He refused to blame God while his friends were forcing him to deny God. 

Nowadays, many people lose faith easily, especially when their close friends/beloved ones disappear suddenly from their life by death. People blasphemy against God for simple discouragements in their life. Satguru says, "Do not blame others for your situation, look to your past to find what led you to where you are." Job is making this process towards self-realization. 

Job lost his family, wealth, and even his health. But he firmly decided not to curse God. The Book of Job is not speaking a lot about his strong faith in God. Today it is not our wish to lose our money,  everything. We should cultivate our hearts like Job did even in smallest losses in our life. 

Jesus also had the same heart in his journey toward Jerusalem. Samaritans did not welcome Jesus as he was journeying to Jerusalem. Usually, the Jews travelling from Galilee to Judea (north to south) would avoid entering into Samaria because it is defilement/impurity for them, so they used to walk close to the Jordan. Jesus breaks the tradition, he wanted to travel to and through Samaria which was less crossed by the people. Jesus is not hindered by the rejection, he takes a different route and continues his journey. It is written, "he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem". His focus was clear.  

When our focus is clear, we need not blame anyone. God is the supreme companion of our journey. We ask God for his perseverance on our side. 

Today also the Church commemorates St. Vincent de Paul, the French saint who became the symbol of the successful reform of the French Church. He started his life by just doing his simple pastoral ministry in Clich. While preaching, he loved to prepare well the people for the sacrament of Confession. This work became his passion. The need to evangelize and assist these souls was so great and the demands were beyond his own ability. There he founded the male and female order and another one for the lay institute of women. Today we pray for all the Vincentians for their fruitful ministry around the world. 

It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Eccl 3:1-11, Lk 9:18-22)

 The author of the Book of Ecclesiastes tells not only that everything is vanity, but also through today's readings, he says "there is time for everything in our life". Everything in our life happens according to fate/time. Things will not be transformed even though you do not like them; The Sun rises every day, the birds travel and nature does its duty and so does human life also. The question arises; Is everything in life already predestined? Successful people ask this question very often. Is my destiny put here? or hard work? Satguru, an Indian sage says: when you are less conscious of your activity, life will look like an accident. When you are walking, your body registers many kinds of smells, and voices, but we are not conscious. You are only conscious of less than one percent of your activity, When we are doing something unconsciously, then they will definitely look accidental.

Saturday 30th Week Romans 11:25-29 Luke 14:7-11

Salvation is personal, not private. 

St. Paul argues with the People of Israel who thought they would be redeemed because they were the only ones called. That is not so. If so, even Paul was redeemed, was also a son of Abraham. But he wants to preach against the private faith. 

Their individual salvation has nothing to do with God's choosing to bless the gentile nations as He had chosen to bless Israel with the promised Messiah.

We need not try to choose the place of honor, I need not go alone, we should go together, and learn to be redeemed together. 

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord! - Beautiful sufferings of Job

The first readings of this week are taken from the book of Job. The book of Job is a part of the wisdom literature in the Hebrew Scripture. And the book is under the category of proto canonical section. The book is canonized even though we do not know clearly the author and time when the book was written. Did Job really exist? Is it an epic story? We do not know. But for the Jews, Job is the metaphor/symbolic figure in whom we are all present. 

The book deals strongly with the problem of suffering and evil. One thing is certain here: the book was written at an important time when there were different concepts on suffering. 

• Suffering was a product of the fall, a consequence of human sin/disobedience against God. (cf. Book of Genesis; Adam and Eve rebelled against God and so suffering entered into the world) 
• Suffering/evil is due to our wrong /sinful choices. (cf. Deuteronomic laws) If you do good, you will be rewarded, if you do bad, you will be punished. 
• Suffering is there because there is a generational curse. He or she is born disabled because his/her generation has committed sin.

The book of Job is the turning point in the history of salvation about the true understanding of human suffering. Job did not bother about satan, he believed in the powerful God who controlled  the satan. Look at the words of Job, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away". He was very sure that God took all the things away, not Satan. It was God who allowed the suffering to enter the human world. God permitted Satan to make suffer/test His servant for a certain time. 

A Philosophy author said, "Others are the Hell" which is true when you do not look at God, when you start comparing yourself with others. Job did not look at others while suffering. He looked at God. 

In today's Gospel, disciples are envying someone who was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Jesus did not see them as hell but as means to enter into heaven. “Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”

LIFE IS MEANINGFUL BECAUSE THERE IS GOD

1st Reading Eccl 1:2-11 and Gospel Lk 9:7-9

From today onwards, the first reading comes from the book of Ecclesiastes, for three days. Ecclesiastes, in Hebrew, is also called Qohelet, (Preacher), and is considered one of the Old Testament books of wisdom literature. The book starts with the frustrating (but important) message of the author: "Everything in this world is vain, meaningless or useless". 

The Hebrew word "Habel" was used to refer to Vanity or meaninglessness. The origin of this Hebrew word will surprise us, that is (h)Abel, which was also the name of one of the sons of Adam-Eve. The Hebrew in those times was written  without vowels. (HBL makes also the name of Abel). 

Abel was righteous to God. He offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Even though he found favor from the Lord, he was brutally killed . Why the good Abel was killed and the evil Cain lived? Neither God, nor his sacrifice could save him from his brother. This was the background of usage of this term by the author of Ecclesiastes, "Everything is vain, meaningless and useless". 

The author says that Labor is vain. I clean my room in the morning and it is dirty again the next day. Many people work hard in their life and after their sudden death, people never remember their work in their life. The author says "Nothing is new under the sun". The initiative you have done, is done by someone in the corner of the world. Since there are no new things happening in this world, everything is vain, the author says. 

How can we understand the message of Ecclesiastes? The relationship with God is the best relationship than any other human relationship. It never fails or leaves you down. Even though it seems that God has abandoned you sometimes. But God's relationship is better than any other human relationship which is always limited. 

Today's Gospel tells us how Herod was anxious to see Jesus (cf. Lk 9:9). Such an urge to see Jesus was born out of curiosity. Because Jesus was performing great miracles. But some people seek God because there is life. For Jesus told the disciples, "why do you come to me? are you also not leaving like others". The response from one of his disciples was, "Lord, where shall we go? for you have words of Eternal life?" 

Life is meaningless without God. But God gives meaning to everything .       

Grow my Grace, 1Cor15:35-37; 42-49 Lk 8:4-15

 Christ transforms, he is the catalyst of every change and evolution in our life. We come to this world in a weak, corruptible body that through the grace of Baptism receives in itself the strength and love of the Holy Spirit and the gift of adoption as a child of God. The sacramental grace is not visible, but it remains in us as a seed. Only after the physical death the invisible becomes visible to the person. That unvisible seed of the eternal life, sown into an invisible but eternal soul can grow in us and bring fruits of grace and love in us and for the others.

In the Gospel we find the same image of the seed. God sows, but just as the father of the prodigal son, He seemingly does nothing more to sustain that seed. He disperses the seed and goes away waiting only the harvest time. The soil is our heart and soul and he leaves to the heart of the person the wish and freedom to maintain, grow and cherish the received gift. God may seem mean to us like this. How can He expect only to come at the end of the times and collect the fruits without any personal effort? He even enrages if the fruit is missing or of bad quality. Ultimately, it is not just. 

A tempted answer is, God has prepared the soil, whatever type of soil it is. He gives graces to the person through his Word, His Holy Spirit and the Church over that initially barren land of our heart. Do we accept and embrace those graces? Do we recognize them in our life? We should recognize the value of the seed we have received in our Baptism and cherish it by tilling the hard soil of our heart, by watering it with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and by pruning the unnecessary branches with the help of the Holy Catholic Church that offers us the Word of God, sacraments. These are the working tools. The work is hard and often painful. But if we only expect to see the seed grow without any personal effort, it is possible that the fruits will hardly or even never come. The personal involment and effort to follow God's deeds and plans is fundamental.

Only now we can understand that God is not mean. He accompanies us every day, every minute in our life. He expects us to grab his sowing hand and say: be with me all the days of my life.

I AM LIFE AND RESURRECTION 1Cor 15:12-20; Lk 8:1-3

 

If the Lord is not risen, we are all dead both in this life and after death. St. Paul teaches and corrects his beloved brothers and sisters in faith, who seemingly have erred in their convictions. The philosophical teaching is concluded in a positive way: Jesus is risen and we all will rise with Him.

The first reading and the Gospel are a logical sequence that the Mother Church offers us after the messages we received through the liturgy yesterday and the day before. There was the theme of death on the cross and beneath it, but death cannot have the last word in our life. There is God who acts. God will always have the last word.

Jesus also announces the same good news in the NT; the Kingdom of God will last forever. The Evangelist Luke mentions in the Gospel that Jesus is being followed by his disciples, but he gives a very short narrative of that in today’s Gospel. He gives more details and attention to the women who follow Jesus. Why? Are they important? The chronicle may be important but the message behind those names is far more significative. These women lived in a state of sin or in touch with it. Mary from Magdala is famous for her past. There are also other wealthy persons who may have not lived in sin, but for they come from higher classes, may have been in touch with the political and religious world that is not far from sin. Not necessarily all were Jews. So, the message is that there is hope and space for all. All are welcome in Jesus’ company, whatever their origin or life may have been.  That life has been forgiven and forgotten by God’s great mercy. “Go and sin no more”. Jesus invites to go and follow him, who leads to the Kingdom of Love.

God invites all, rich and poor, small and VIPs, crippled and athletes into his Life. What he expects from us if faith that He is the Almighty. These women showed their faith also by giving their wealth to the community of Jesus. They understood that God is never short in giving his mercy and his Providence. He pays hundred times more for each pence we give: Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. That good measure is the Eternal Life, abundant and endless.

Mary, our Mother, teach us how to love your Son - The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, Heb 5:7-9; John 19:25-27

 

“Maria, madre mia, Maria, madre nostra, vieni a vivere con noi.”

Mary, my mother, Mary, our mother, come and live with us.

These are words of a song. Mary suffered under the Cross. She must have felt that remaining in this world without her only begotten Son had no sense. She climbed the mount of sorrow in order to be deprived there of her only Joy for the salvation of the whole world, past and future.

Egoistically speaking, what was left to her after the death of the Beloved Son? Yes, of course, there were friends and other women with her, but as the world submerged into darkness, also her heart was covered by heavy burden of sorrow. She had to rely on her faith in God, so not to be drawn into despair. She had to elevate her sorowful heart from the earthly condition and think beyond. Only faith can do that.

Jesus prays in the moments of despair and human weakness. Prayer teaches obedience. As he suffered, we follow his example, because he is the Way. Mother Mary did the same. She followed him to the top of the hill, prayed and hoped. God certainly cannot abandon his Servant like this. Through faith we have to give time and hope to God who leads the history. She gave time to God’s plans and hoped. She also obeyed to the pain of the cross. Do we have strength to do the same? Certainly not. Our instinct of survival calls us for reaction, rebellion, and salvation. But the salvation is only in Christ, on the Cross, founded on the will of the Almighty. It is so hard sometimes to pronouce " thy will be done", because we fear and know that sometimes it will be so different from the desires of our heart.

Let us cut into pieces desires of our hearts as Mother Mary did under the Cross and follow the Mother to the mountain of happiness that one day will appear in front of us.

Look up; Do not look down - Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross ( Num 21: 4b-9; John 3: 13-17)

God through Moses, His servant and his Son invites us to lift up our hearts and eyes to the heaven and to the Cross. We should not look down towards the earth and try to escape the pains of the Cross because then we will be in worse pains, like those inflicted by the serpents in the desert. Jesus remained steadfast on the place where he was nailed. Coming down means to permit the evil to touch us. The One who came down from the Heaven for us invites us to direct our eyes towards Him.  

The Cross has two dimensions. The horizontal one: what is our relation to the neighbour? Are we in chains in these relations? The second one is the vertical dimension towards God. Are we also nailed and we cannot move? Even in that case, even if we cannot walk towards God, he gives us the opportunity to look at Him, raise our eyes . The eyes are the mirror of the soul and they are sufficient to ask help. God is never late. He may be slow but he comes on time.

That look is the true prayer of our soul that goes up to the Heaven, unspeakable prayers supported by the Holy Spirit. That is the prayer of the servant of God who asks help to not remain alone in the trouble.  We often feel alone and abandoned by everyone in the moments of suffering, but today's feast reminds us that every cross, sooner or later, is exalted and glorious. Every suffering is important for God and it leads us to Him, who never abandons us. The Cross is beloved to him, because through it we repeat the sufferings of his beloved Son and he cannot be away from the Son.

SPIRIT OF ACTION AND LIFE ( 1Cor 12: 12-14;27-31a; Luke 7:11-17)

The Spirit gives life. Not only does He give life but moves the living creatures to actions. Jahweh's name revealed to Moses speaks about this living and moving Spirit: I am who I am. I act. The Spirit that gives life to the Christian community invites to unity in differences. Not all can be legs, or eyes, or heart. The community lives only through the diversity of different ministries and gifts. Some people sing at the Mass, some bring flowers to the altar, some are good in proclaiming the Word. But all are for the Glory of God.

In today's Gospel we see the same Spirit in action. He gives life through Jesus Christ and the boy who was dead can get up and speak. He can announce the Glory of God and his bounty in his life. The same his mother. She was prostrated by pain. The Gospel of Luke walks with Jesus towards Jerusalem. This passage in particular makes us think of mama Mary. A widow whose only son is dead and being brought to the tomb. Maybe also Jesus foresaw the Passion of his mother and was deeply moved. He restored life and the Spirit to the grieving community. Life that is meant to bring fruit of conversion, unity and action for the major Glory of God.

FAITH IN JESUS

1 Cor 11: 17-26/ Lk 7:1-10

The readings invite us to have unity in Christ. It is not important our social or racial or religious provenance. Both rich and poor, Romans and Jews, Greek should have same aim; Being one in Jesus. 

This was not easy for the early Church. There were many heresies existing to divide the unity in Christ. In the first reading st. Paul invites to share same bread and wine, with love for the others. 

In the Gospel, we see the unity, and not disunity as in the prodigal son, when the centurion sends his Jewish friends to invite Jesus. They share the same faith and hope in Messiah.

But the faith of the centurion goes beyond. He makes another step. We often base our faith on something that we see or hear or touch like st. Thomas who was stubborn for a whole week.

The centurion first invites Jesus to come, but his faith undergoes the transformation of perfection when he sends his messangers again, for the second time, to stop Jesus from coming. 

He believes unconditionally. No need that Jesus steps into his house.

We are invited to this faith. Faith without touch or eyes. Only with ears and heart. The faith of Shema, heart, strength and mind. The original faith of Isreal that Jesus praises. 

 Faith, you see, is about change. Its goal and experience are to be changed for the good in heart, soul, mind, and life. The journey of faith is in its essence a journey of transformation. We are changed into the spirit and life with God and of God. I try to open my own heart to the ways that God is changing my perspectives and attitudes about life. It is sometimes wonderful, sometimes challenging, and more often than not, surprising.

Prodigal Son (Luke 15 )

1. Father:

Today’s gospel story is a famous story called “prodigal son”, but in actual situations it has to be called prodigal father because the whole story is centered on the incredible love of the father for his son.

This Father lost everything for his son; not only property but also his name and fame. Younger son is asking for his portion… According to the prescriptions of Torah, the son can request their property only at the death of the father. The son is asking as if putting his life at risk. Today most of the parents want to have their own will, written down carefully while they are still strong and alive so as to avoid many legal problems when they pass away. They want their children’s future to be secured. Asking his property as in this case, was a big offense to the father’s own existence. Nevertheless, he shows his paternity in 3 ways;

The Father loves younger son in freedom. He respected his freedom and agrees to divide the property. Although the father knew ahead the danger that was going to happen, he knew well about his future lavishing,  he let him go. This gives us an insight about God’s love: for love to be true, it must be freely given; it cannot be forced. True love cannot put many conditions and it respects freedom. People who are possessive, controlling cannot offer true love. As children grow older, the parents must give greater freedom, including the freedom to make mistakes.

God asks from Moses the characteristic behaviour of the Father “Go down to your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt”. Go down from your position, state and identity. In all the parables of the gospel, it is revealed through careful and diligent search; for the only one sheep, the shepherd has to leave the sheepfold, the woman bends down and searches for the only one coin. In this case, the father does not go and search; but his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He went down from the palace, ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. We need to take steps in order to go down and meet him. A parent thinks about the children all the time, and works hard to save money for them. But no! That's not enough. We should be able to understand their situation, and put ourselves into their shoes.

An unknown author said, the younger son would go out of the house because there was no mother in the story. Still, there is a presence of maternity inside the figure of the father. “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. The original language for having compassion, comes from the love of the womb. This maternal characteristic of Yahweh is quoted very often in the book of the Prophet Isaiah. The center of the whole parable is the maternal love of a father for his sinful son.

There is a beautiful legend in which someone has pictured the “Last Day” in Heaven. It’s the last day that the gate of heaven is open. Everyone is celebrating, dancing, and singing, grateful that they have made it to God’s eternal home. Everyone except Jesus. He is standing very quietly in the shadows near the gate. Someone asks Him what He is doing, amidst all the celebration. He replies, “I am still waiting here for Judas.” Meaning, the Lord is still giving Judas Iscariot a last chance to turn himself in. The story symbolizes the infinite quality of God’s forgiving love. But it’s up to Judas to use his free will to accept or reject Jesus’ offer.

2.   Younger Son:

What are the accusations on the younger son? He spent all the money lavishly, drunkard, selfish, womanizer, lazy, but only one is true; he did not realize the love of the Father. That is absolutely equal to a sin. He faced three kinds of humiliations;

He works under the gentile; he hired himself out to one of the local citizens. A Jew can have 10 gentiles as slaves. But a Jew should not work under a gentile. Hunger and thirst are not humiliation for a Jew. Lowering oneself under a gentile is a big humiliation.

He was asked to take care of the pigs; which is one of the degrading jobs. The occupation was forbidden for the Jews, because pigs were considered unclean animals.

He eagers to eat the pods given to swines, but nobody would give him any. For the Jews who are forbidden to eat pork, to feed swine and eat the “husks the pigs ate,” means they have reached the lowest level of their social status. Jews give great importance to the rituals before eating and they can consume only kosher food, so this was unthinkable for an orthodox Jew.

After these three humiliations, there comes the realization of his own state and state in front of God.

Then the young man came to his senses. The moment the son realizes the sins against our neighbor, he recognizes his state before God, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” Suffering is a way for the realization of God. Ramana Maharishi, “Suffering is a mother of God’s realization”. 

3.   The elder Son:

For me, this parable could also be called the “unforgiving brother.” This elder brother was supposed to be the good guy in the story. He did not protest; he did not make father suffer. When the father divides the property, two thirds of the property go to the elder son. But he didn't receive it. It seemed he was not interested in the money.

The elder son is the symbol of Jews themselves. They believed that they were pious and clean; and faithful to the law, so they were the ones who had the right to inherit all the properties of the Father. They cannot accept the fact that this younger “prodigal brother” will be accepted back again to the community as part of the children of God. They cannot reconcile with the fact that the father accepts the younger son who in their eyes has become a gentile.

 At the end of the parable, the father became upset with the elder son who was angry at receiving the younger son. For God, the sin is not the heaviest thing to be considered. But disunity is much more than sin. He cannot accept that. Going to a foreign country is not a problem for the father, but being in the same house, and still staying outside is a discredit to the father. House is a symbol of heaven. The elder stayed outside, not because he was not accepting to enter but because he refused to enter. He thinks he was the only one who was good, and therefore he was the only one who deserved to be in his father’s house. The gate of the father’s house is always open to those who want to come back and humbly say sorry. Nothing has to be deserved, but is graciously given. 

We need to return to the father’s house: We are all sinners. Whether your sins are more visible like those of the younger son or more hidden like those of the elder son, the message for us today is that we all need to repent and return to the father’s house. The younger son needs to turn back from his frivolous lifestyle and return to the father’s house and be a responsible and obedient son. The elder son needs to turn back from anger and resentment and learn to share the house with the apparently undeserving younger brother.

After teaching her Sunday school kids about the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a religion  teacher asked them: “Now tell me: Who suffered the most in the story?” A child raised her hand and answered, “the fatted cow.” Absolutely! Next to the fatted calf comes the elder son who remained outside while the party went on inside. He did not even taste the fatted calf that he had helped to raise. All because he stuck to his own ideas of fairness and justice and failed to see that the father’s ways are not our ways. They cannot accept the fact that the father would even offer the “fatted calf” (the Messiah) to celebrate sinners’ return to the Father.

For those who do not leave or who think they are always at the father’s side, please be careful of self-righteousness and/or spiritual pride. Let us never lose sight of or belittle the power of grace in our lives. Sinners or saints, we all must anchor our lives on God’s grace, mercy, and love.