Two blind men (Mt 9:27-31)

The man was narrating how he lost his job. “I just gave up my seat to a blind person on the bus. And then I lost my job”. 

“Why? What was your job?”

That’s how I lost my job as a bus driver.

Jesus cured two blind men in today's Gospel. There is a strange thing that happened in this miracle; Jesus allowed them to follow him on the way until he reached his house and only then he healed them. They cried out all the way saying, "Son of God, Have mercy on us!" Why? 

Why did he wait for so long, the whole journey, to heal them?

Why is he asking the question, "Do you believe that I can do this"? 

There are three lessons from this Gospel. 

• Sometimes the Lord invites us to make a long journey of testimony in order to have an ultimate Messiah experience. During this journey, we may have to follow Christ without knowing clearly what is our destination. Things are not clear because of our blindness. But we need to make this long journey only by having faith in his mercy. 
• We need to pronounce these words very often within ourselves, Yes, I can, I will. If human beings did not believe in these words, we would still be monkeys. You need to believe in yourself for success. Jesus asked an important question to them; Do you believe that I can do this? Do you believe in Messianic power? We need to believe in the Man whom we are following. Sometimes we may follow him simply, but we need to pose this question; Is it worth following him? Is it meaningful to follow Him? I follow him because I inherit eternal life. 
• The responsorial Psalm says like this; the Lord is my light and salvation. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?  Lord is the true light and a way for salvation. There is no doubt about this. Those who follow him shall not walk in darkness. 

No Turning Back

We are at the end of the Ordinary Time and the Advent Season is approaching. That's why the readings of these days alarm us about the end of the world and the coming of the Son of God. The central message of today's Gospel is the sudden arrival of the Son of man into this world. He will come in the moment when no one is prepared. So it is good to be always prepared always. 

In today's Gospel, the Final day is compared and divided into five metaphors; The period of Noah, the days of Lot, someone on the housetop, and two of them who are in fields.

What are the lessons: 

We do not know the day of arrival. Everything will happen unexpectedly. We cannot predict. Life will be normal in our eyes. How to face that day? 

The first reading and image of Lot's wife give a good example for all of us to face the end of the world. St. John says, "Let us love one another. For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments". It is not enough to fall in love, it is necessary to remain in love, walk in that love fulfilling God's commandments. 

Think of Lot's wife. Still now the pillar of salt named Lot's wife is existing on Mount Sodom, near the southwestern part of the Dead Sea in Israel. We would think what errors this poor lady committed? Is it a big sin just to turn back? She might have turned to see her village out of curiosity? Maybe out of a doubt, she wanted to confirm the burning of her house? Maybe out of enthusiasm? 

Yes. Turning back is a wrong action. Leads to sin. Do not turn back when you are just at the goal. Sometimes we turn back just to look at the others. It may be sometimes good to turn back, but it is dangerous to stop and rest. 

Our life does not give us time to rest and turn back. Just go forward, NO TURNING BACK. 

Survival to the Weakest

Luke 17:1-6

Jesus gives continuous pieces of advice in Luke Chapter 17, but they are not found in order. There are three different pericopes, just collected and placed here; Invitation not to be a scandal to the little ones, forgiveness to the neighbor and to have faith like that of a mustard seed. The central theme will be that of love of neighbor. 

I recently watched a video of Dalai Lama, in which he says, "Forgiveness does not mean to forget/tolerate/to be indifferent" We should keep a good memory of that negative thing. But because of that we develop anger and hatred, this we need to work out, control or channelize. 

Forgiveness is a process, not an event or it happens in a flash one day. You need to develop your heart. Why God said very often in the scripture, "harden not our hearts"? God speaks to us through the desires of our hearts which is also part of the Ignatian spirituality. So, we need to become more and more aware in a sense, that what God wants and what we really, most deeply desire are the same. We pray to God so that he may make our hearts know him or his will easier for us. Sometimes, we will be very convinced of a thing, which is not true. This is because of ignorance. Psalm 119 says, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, and light on my path". 

The survival of the fittest is Darwinian evolutionist theory which is also the natural instinct of every human being. At the age of 13, I always wanted to be the best.”,  the best basketball player, the best student, the best classmate. Most of the time, it did not work well. We are born with the survival of the fittest mentality. Survival of the fittest is the thinking that only the best are truly valuable in this life.  This thinking is a lie. Jesus said, The last will be first, and the first will be last.  (Matthew 20:16)

God’s answer to the survival of the fittest is the survival of the weakest. Thus, Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. We have no strength at all to fill our need to feel valuable.  That is why the apostles are asking to increase their faith, when Jesus asked them to forgive many times. Only Jesus was able to do this for us.  In His weakness, dying on the cross, He succeeded in making us what we have always wanted to be – important regardless of our performance.