Sunday, October 23, 2011 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 22: 34 - 40

Do you know which is the greatest love story ever written? Or the greatest love episode ever took place? Is it Romeo Juliet or Laila - Majnu, Ambikavathi - Amaravathi or Shajahan – Mumtaz? Yes these are truly great stories of love but the greatest love story ever happened in the human history is the love story of a person called Jesus Christ who loved the humanity to the extent of sacrificing his life on the cross.

The motif that runs throughout the chapter 15 of St. John’s gospel is love. There is no doubt that Christ loved us but can we love Christ? How can we love Christ? Is it possible to love Christ? If we say yes, what is the concept of Christ you and me have? Is he like our beloved whom we meet every day or talk to every day. I am not reducing love of Christ purely to human level but that can serve as the spring board for us to take off in to his divinity.

 “I miss you” is one of the oft repeated phrases we say to our best friends What does that mean? It only means that we felt the absence of his/her presence. How many of us can say ‘I miss you Jesus’.  People who are in love find it hard to think of a world without the other. They need to hear the voice of the beloved always; they want to be in his/her presence throughout their lives. Do we have such longing for Christ?

I confided to one of my spiritual directors saying that I find it hard to love Christ because I have not seen him. All that I know is from the Scripture and the Catechism classes. How can I love a person whom I have not even seen? How can I miss someone whom I hardly know personally? How can be rooted in his love when no love relationship has taken between both of us? He answered me saying that the love of Christ is manifested through several other people and sometimes even directly by Himself. I have heard this answer several times from several people but this time I gave a serious thought to it. We hardly open our eyes to the reality. Every day Jesus tells you and me “I love you” But we hardly have time to hear it.

What is the problem of world today? It is not so much the Globalization, terrorism, violence, Caste system etc. These are only the symptoms of a serious problem or a killer disease. The virus that causes this disease is the culture of ‘Lack of Love’ If we love someone sincerely we will not exploit them, we tend to be gentle and caring with them, we will not discriminate our beloved. We live in a world which is promoting anti-love culture. Slowly we are becoming narcissistic in our approach. This is only reflected in our day today life.

I am just talking about the human love and transposing it to Jesus. But we should not stop only there. The quality of the love of God is not as ours. He loves us continuously even if we sin against him. His love is filled with grace; he keeps telling us “I love you with all your defects”

God created us not because he had nothing to do. He created us because He loves us. Every love creates love. His love created us but we as usual betrayed his love and fallen away. It surely hurt God but he still keeps loving us. He went on to make the greatest covenant in the human history in Mount Sinai. We broke the covenant and kept hurting him. When we had gone too far from his love, God understood the danger and he wanted to save us and so he sent the prophets. What did we do? We killed the prophets and insulted God. God did not stop with that, He did not get frustrated with our attitude. As we read in Jn 3: 14, He so loved the world that he sent his only son to save us. His incarnation was the decisive manifestation of God’s love. Did we respond to him? No! We kept rejecting his love. We went to the height of insensitivity by crucifying our savior on the other hand God went on to show his love on the cross. There is no doubt he saved us! But what is our response? We as cruel sons and daughters keep rejecting God’s love. One can even ask what is the need for this God of love, to love us. It is not his need to love us,  he loves us simply because he loves us.  Such is our God of love. Very few of us respond to his love. Every time we commit sin, we reject his love. Every time we fail to see God in the poor, orphans, widows and the marginalized we fail to accept this God of love. We have lost that childlike innocence.

Is it possible to be rooted in his love? It is possible to be nested in his love. It is wonderful to be with God. But God’s love is not passive it is active love. God’s love brings in transformation. If we sincerely love God it will be manifested in our love towards our neighbour.

The moment we develop hatred, favoritism, insensitivity we move away from God. He is father who is stretching his arms to embrace us the prodigal sons and daughters. He is ready to accept and love us as we are but we have to take the first step to return. Once we return to him, a huge banquet is waiting for us. But that does not stop with that, we have to start living a responsible life. We cannot continue living a life of prodigal sons and daughters.

The Evangelist John repeatedly speaks about love of Christ. Christ calls us to abide with him in his love. He is calling us to be branches in his vine. He is not asking us to enjoy the grapes rather he is asking us to be part of the plant. The fruits of the vine and the branches are for the humanity at large. As ministers of word of God we are called to be rooted in Christ and together with him bring fruits of salvation to the humanity at large.

Karl Rahner speaks about Radical the unity of love of God and love of neighbour. It is true that we cannot equate these two. If we say that love of neighbour is equal to love of God we are actually committing the greatest sin of idolatry. At the same time we need to realize that love of God without love of neighbour would be and incomplete. It is incomplete because the love of God is expressed through love of neighbour. There are persons who would love to spend a good deal of time in prayer but cannot spend a little time with the needy. This would be an incomplete love of God. On the other hand there are some who think that only by loving neighbours we can reach God which is equal to idolatry. Our love for our neighbour should eventually lead us to God in faith. Christ spent his day in ministry and most part of the night in prayer. Mission and prayer are inseparable components; one without the other would be missing the other half of the reality.

Today’s world needs love both of God and neighbour. Love of God is always there but many are blind to this supreme love. We need to make them realize that God loves them with all their sinfulness. This love of God should be concretely manifested in our love for the world at large. On the judgment day when Christ asks us whether we gave food to him, whether we clothed him, whether we visited when he was sick, whether we welcomed him, we should not be asking a foolish question, Lord when were you in need and when did I neglect you? It is not for the sake of judgment we should love him rather it is our Christian call to love the neighbours. Christ again defines a neighbour through the famous parable Good Samaritan. We should be proud to call ourselves as Christians because it is the only religion where God has lived a life of a human being and showed us the path to live a fruitful life. We are supposed to be enlightened people, we cannot give excuses saying that we were ignorant about God’s expectation from us. Let us be the carriers of love which is possible only when we are nested in Christ’s love which is nested in Father’s love through the Holy Spirit. 

THE QUESTION ABOUT THE GREAT COMMANDMENT – AUGUST 19th FRIDAY (Mt 22: 34-40)

God gave us the beautiful commandment to love Him and our neighbours. Commandment is not something optional, it is an obligation. It is like rules for a game without which a game is not possible. God, the author of creation, gives commandments to his creation to ensure peace and harmony. Jesus beautifully summarizes all the commandments into two without which our existence on this earth will lose meaning.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, wanted to trap Jesus by asking him to cull out the greatest commandment from 600 rules and regulations. Jesus silences them by picking out the significant two commandments. He quotes Deut 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Jesus may be an itinerant preacher but was surely not an ignorant preacher.

What is the problem of world today? It is not so much the Globalization, terrorism, violence, Caste system etc. These are only the symptoms of a serious problem or a killer disease. The virus that causes this disease is the culture of ‘Lack of Love’ If we love someone sincerely we will not exploit them, we tend to be gentle and caring with them, we will not discriminate our beloved. We live in a world which is promoting anti-love culture. Slowly we are becoming narcissistic in our approach. This is only reflected in our day today life.

God created us not because he had nothing to do. He created us because He loves us. Every love creates love. His love created us but we as usual betrayed his love and fallen away. It surely hurt God but he still keeps loving us. He went on to make the greatest covenant in the human history in Mount Sinai. We broke the covenant and kept hurting him. When we had gone too far from his love, God understood the danger and he wanted to save us and so he sent the prophets. What did we do? We killed the prophets and insulted God. God did not stop with that, He did not get frustrated with our attitude. As we read in Jn 3: 14, He so loved the world that he sent his only son to save us. His incarnation was the decisive manifestation of God’s love. Did we respond to him? No! We kept rejecting his love. We went to the height of insensitivity by crucifying our savior on the other hand God went on to show his love on the cross. There is no doubt he saved us! But what is our response? We as cruel sons and daughters keep rejecting God’s love. One can even ask what is the need for this God of love, to love us. It is not his need to love us, He loves us simply because He loves us.  Such is our God of love. Very few of us respond to his love. Every time we commit sin, we reject His love. Every time we fail to see God in the poor, orphans, widows and the marginalized we fail to accept this God of love. We have lost that childlike innocence.

Karl Rahner speaks about Radical the unity of love of God and love of neighbour. It is true that we cannot equate these two. If we say that love of neighbour is equal to love of God we are actually committing the greatest sin of idolatry. At the same time we need to realize that love of God without love of neighbour would be an incomplete love. It is incomplete because the love of God is expressed through love of neighbour. There are persons who would love to spend a good deal of time in prayer but cannot spend a little time with the needy. This would be an incomplete love of God. On the other hand there are some who think that only by loving neighbours we can reach God which is equal to idolatry. Our love for our neighbour should eventually lead us to God in faith.

Today’s world needs love both of God and neighbour. Love of God is always there but many are blind to this supreme love. We need to make them realize that God loves them with all their sinfulness. This love of God should be concretely manifested in our love for the world at large. On the judgment day when Christ asks us whether we gave food to him, whether we clothed him, whether we visited when he was sick, whether we welcomed him, we should not be asking a foolish question, Lord when were you in need and when did I neglect you? It is not for the sake of judgment we should love him rather it is our Christian call to love the neighbours. Christ again defines a neighbour through the famous parable Good Samaritan. We should be proud to call ourselves as Christians because it is the only religion where God has lived a life of a human being and showed us the path to live a fruitful life. We are supposed to be enlightened people, we cannot give excuses saying that we were ignorant about God’s expectation from us. Let us be the carriers of love which is possible only when we are nested in Christ’s love which is nested in Father’s love through the Holy Spirit.

July 24, 2011 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mt 13:44-52 or 13:44-46

Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no use.

He now longed to reach home to see his mother’s face and bid her adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit him to reach his distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, “I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail.” With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king’s last wishes.

“My first desire is that”, said Alexander, “My physicians alone must carry my coffin.” After a pause, he continued, “Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury”. The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute’s rest and continued. My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin”.

The people who had gathered there wondered at the king’s strange wishes. But no one dared bring the question to their lips. Alexander’s favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. “O king, we assure you that all your wishes will be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?” At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: “I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt.

I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that No doctor on this earth can really cure anybody. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the path to the graveyard is to tell people that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life with the greed for power, earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish my people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world”. With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last.

The man who wanted to conquer the whole world realized the smallness of earthly realities only in his death bed. Death revealed to him the true treasure.

What is the treasure? 

Treasure is not something like a 100 rupees note we find on the road, it is a huge quantity of money, gold, silver or any other precious stones buried under the earth. People did not have banks or ATM cards those days and so they followed this method to preserve their properties. Due the wars and sudden death of the person, several treasures were left buried.  If a person finds a treasure, it means he has found lifetime means for his living and therefore he tries to buy the land at any cost. Too much of interest also might arouse suspicion in the mind of the owner and so it has to be done skillfully. Treasure is not something one earns by hard work but inherits it by luck.

What are our treasures?

All of us are looking for treasures in our lives. For some of us it is the relationship that we establish, for some it is a person whom they love most, for some it is their family, for some it is money, power, wealth so on and so forth. People living in cities like Bangalore to own a house is equal to the finding of treasure. Today every square foot of land itself is a treasure leave alone the treasure buried beneath it.  There is nothing wrong in it but should we not search for the treasure which is eternal?

There are several examples of people who hunted for earthly treasures but finally realized that the real treasure is Jesus Christ. St Paul thought Jewish tradition was his treasure, St. Augustine thought worldly life was the real treasure, why go so far, we might know several people who were drunkards and drug addicts but have become people completely transformed after a retreat. The reason was simple. They found out the real treasure.

We are all so lucky you know, because we are born as Catholics. The very fact that you and I are Catholics we are given access to the greatest treasure called Jesus Christ.  We need not go in search of this treasure. Our faith, Our God, Sacraments, Scripture, Catholic tradition and Christian community all these form part of the treasure. It is not hidden from us. It is given freely to us. But are we aware of it?

We should value the treasure?

You give an option to a child and ask him/her to choose between 5 rupee coin and a 2 rupee coin, most of them will choose the latter because, it is bigger than the 5 rupee coin. If you tie a puppy using a gold chain, is it going to be aware of its worth? If we do not know the value of treasure, having treasure with us is useless. We need to be educated about the value of a treasure. Though we may have the greatest treasure in the person of Jesus Christ who nourishes us with his word and bread, we may not realize the worth of it. You might own the best of gadgets but without knowing to operate it, it is useless. What is the use of owning a Ferrari without knowing to drive it. Several times, we have the Bible with us, we attend mass, listen to sermons, participate in liturgy but we seldom realize the worth of it.

Money, wealth, pleasure, possession may give us security but the fact that our life is short and one day we need to leave behind all these, tells us how secure we are really. Whether you own a multi storey building or live on a platform, at the deathbed all become equal. We know all these and we are well aware of this situation, but still we go behind these temporary treasures.

We should not stop at acquiring the treasure but need to make full use of it. We need to begin our deeper search within our faith. There are so many things left unexplored in our faith. We need to begin our inward journey and allow Jesus to become part of us. Christianity is not a religion which promotes only personal sanctity, it is also communitarian. We have the responsibility to share this treasure with others.

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.” “Is the man of the house home?”, they asked. “No”, she said. “He’s out.”

“Then we cannot come in”, they replied. In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.

“Go tell them I am home and invite them in!” The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a House together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know. One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of you want in your home.” The woman went in and told her husband what was said.

Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!!”, he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!”

“Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.” The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.” Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?”

The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!”

Yes, living a life filled with love is a true sign that we have inherited the true possession. Christ is love and love is what makes us Christians and therefore we are called to love God who is the true treasure and thus reach to our needy and marginalized neighbours.