Second week of Advent: Have a desert experience in your life

I was in New Mexico last Wednesday and Thursday for a meeting. And I took shuttle from El Paso airport  to Las Cruces.  At some point I went through deserted areas. Desert, I noticed is a place of silence. It is a place where distraction and attachments are eliminated. 

In the Bible desert has an important role in the spiritual journey. We read, Israelites had to pass 40 days through the desert to get to the promised land. Jesus spend 40 days in the desert before he started his ministry. Today's gospel, Mathew tells, we hear a voice of one crying out in the desert. And this voice says, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

This advent season church is saying to us that we also need a desert experience in our lives.  We need time and place where distractions and attachments are eliminated and where we can hear God. What God is saying? What God wants from me? Is there anything that I need to change in my life? Yes, we need a desert experience during advent. That's why church recommends fast and pray during advent. 

Christmas is a time of distractions shopping, greeting cards, lights, cooking, gifts, lots of attachments and distractions. In this busy time of the year we may forget to prayerfully to look in to ourselves, especially where we are with our spiritual journey. 

We have stories about elephants in India. One of the stories is when elephant drinks water, it stirs up the water. You may ask why? It's scared to look at itself. It's scared to see how huge it is. We are sometimes very much like elephants, scared to look in to ourselves. So we keep ourselves too busy, we avoid all reflective times, we use earphones, headphones, loud music, partying to keep ourselves busy. Someone said, busy means being under Satan’s yolk. Dear brothers and sisters, this advent season recommends that we need a time away from distractions, time alone to reflect where we are? What God wants is to do?

In the gospel reading,  John the Baptist is preaching to us, repent and prepare the way for the Lord. He is asking us to form your life, have more quality of life. The word he uses is metanoia. According to google, Metanoia can be defined as "a transformative change of heart; especially: a spiritual conversion. The term suggests repudiation, change of mind, repentance, and atonement. 

The message of metanoia is to change your attitude. Change your ways of perusing the world. Start thinking my life belong to God, my life is not all about me. Stop thinking of yourself as your project. Turn around and build yourselves on God, change your ways. This is the greatest message of the advent. Change yourself and be prepare to receive Jesus in your heart.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are not too late; we are not gone too far from the grace of God. when Christ comes to our lives, whatever opposed to him must be cut off. Therefore, we just read in the scripture, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. It's not saying God is cruel. It is saying that we can't embrace God with our sins. We need to change ourselves. What's is needed to be cut off hast to be cut off. 

One of my friends was alcoholic. One day I recommend to go for a retreat. He said, no I will not, because I know I have to change and I have to avoid my pleasures. One good thing is he was so truthful. If God wants to come to our lives we have to change, give up our sins and repent.

Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is Emmanuel and he wants us to be with us, let us spend some time in advent in silence and give up our sins and accept him in our hearts and minds. And we will be able to say on Christmas Day, yes, he is with me, with in me, around me, hosanna!

Solemnity of Christ the King - November 20

This is the last Sunday in the Liturgical Year and we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. The proclamation of Jesus Kingship is dominated in the preaching and teaching of Jesus. “To the other towns also I must proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God because for this purpose I have been sent.” (Luke 4:44) He taught his disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” (Matt. 6: 10) He told them to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.” (Matt. 6: 33)  “Jesus said to his apostles: ‘as you go make this proclamation: The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 10:7)

 

The story of the crucifixion, proclaimed on the Feast of Christ the King, reminds us that the Reign of Jesus isn’t a reign of glory and power, but of service, love, and complete self-giving in order to rescue human beings from evil, sin, and death. Instituting this Feast of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI declared: the peace of Christ in the reign of Christ. This means that we live in the peace of Christ when we surrender our lives to him every day, accept him as our Savior and King and allow him to rule our lives.

 

Caring King. Jesus does care for His people. Ezekiel 34 speaks of the Lord in terms of a shepherd who cares for his flock. It summarize His care, I myself will look after my sheep … I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered … I myself will give them rest … The lost I will seek out … The injured I will bind up. The sick I will heal. So Jesus is a caring King. He’s been good to us. He has led us, rescued us, purified us, instructed us, and graced us.

 

Conquering King. Jesus has destroyed the power of many sins. He cleanses the temple of our soul. He has conquered so much of our pride. And one by one, He is diminishing lust, greed, anger, envy, and replacing them with greater love, compassion, and kindness.

 

Concealed King. He is the newest King of all. He is a King who is hungry, thirsty, sick, and lonely, a foreigner, in prison, and a stranger. He is in the needy. He is in the discouraged ones who cannot find a job; He is in our children who need to be taught and encouraged; he is in the co-worker who just lost some body; he is in the friend who was diagnosed with cancer. He is in the lost youth or family member who needs instruction and needs to be drawn back to the Sacraments. He’s in us, in our struggles and needs.

 

Yes, Jesus is our King, a caring and intimate King, a conquering King who never forces, a King who is hungry and thirsty, a King who washes our feet, a King who comes to serve rather than to be served. He is a King, one who rules with love. We meet Him every day: in the Eucharist, in the poor, in His Word, in the events of our day and in our very self. He is just one prayer away.”  So let the devotion to Christ the King brings peace and reconciliation in our society, with love and justice and peace.

 

So this feast is an invitation to all those who have power or authority of any kind to compare their use of power or authority with Jesus. They have to use their power to serve others and building up of a more just society.  Never use the power in any way that might cause pain to others and it should help to alleviate pain. Jesus as the King of love has anew commandment of “Love one another as I have loved you,” and we love others as Jesus loved, unconditionally and sacrificially. During this Holy Mass let us pray that nations and individuals will be humble enough to look at how Jesus used His power and bring about the kingdom of God. Let us always remain loyal to Christ the King who is the Head of the Body, the Church.

~Fr. George Munjanattu

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C

THIRTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Mal 3:19-20a // II Thes 3:7-12 // Lk 21:5-19

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

We all are well aware that Halloween is over a couple of weeks before and yet I feel like this Weekend as a scary weekend/Sunday. Why do I say? The readings we just heard are not pleasant; it speaks about judgement and punishment. It is simply in black and white; it reminds us about the end of everything.

So, let me tell you a story:

Once upon a time, a poor woman with her infant child lived in a remote village who struggled to find her daily living. Her poverty was so intense and she was even afraid that her only child would die deprived of nutritious food. She cried to God to open some ways so that she and her child will live happily. God heard her prayer, of course, God hears any intense prayer, and send an angel to her. The angel appeared to the woman, consoled her and told her God heard her prayers and wanted to give her enough of wealth so that she and her child can live safely in the rest of their life. In a short span of time, the angel led the woman and her child to a cave. The cave was closed and at the entrance of the cave the angel gave some direction to the woman.

The angel told,

“Look, this is a cave covered with full of wealth. You are given an hour of time and you are free to take as much as treasures from here with in this time. After an hour you have to come out of the cave and the doors of the cave will be closed; it will never be opened for you. So be sure that don’t forget to take the most valuable treasure of your life.”

The woman went inside the cave with her child. You can imagine she was stunned by the enormous wealth stored in the cave. Then coming back to her senses, she laid aside her baby and began to grab gold and precious stones. Time to time, the angel reminded about the time and told her don’t forget to grab the precious one. Finally, the time arrived, she has to get out of the cave. She worked until the last minute and managed to get out. The doors of the cave was closed for ever. The woman was so happy that she has collected the wealth for generations. She looked everything once again and began to hold it with pride. Then she remembered about her child and realized that she forgot to take the baby from the cave. The Baby is inside and the doors are closed. The woman cried out to God again with great pain. The angel came back. And told her: Honey, I told you each time don’t forget the most precious one; but you didn’t get me. We have no way to get into the cave. What is the worth of those wealth if she loses the child for whom she collected the wealth?

We heard in the opening of the gospel that the people of Jesus’ time were so proud to say about the beauty of their only Temple. They were so admired about the beauty and riches and they thought that the beauty will be there eternally. Just as the people in the Gospel, we tend to admire the beauty and riches of the Temple which means the beautiful reality of this world or the firmness of our human institutions, as if they were permanent, eternal and able to offer a solid foundation for our hope. However, on the other hand, just as Qoheleth says (Ecclesiastes 1:2-4), "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!" No human reality can stand firm, all is mere appearance, all these things we experience (again, even our solid institutions) will disappear.[1] This is a contrasting situation in which we tempt to think transitory objects are real and the Real are momentary.

What is the attitude of people that we meet in today’s Gospel?

The people of Jerusalem praised the temple for its permanence and they placed their confidence in the transitory things. They were glorifying momentary and perishable things as if they were perpetual and eternal. Here, Jesus message is clear: none of the things that could offer security and firmness to their lives (including the most important religious reality, the Temple), would stand for a long time.[2] It is true in our life too none of the things that we are holding now including our wealth can offer security in our life. These are transitory which may lead us to God if we make good use of them.

This is the question, then we are asking today?

Where am I clinging to? Am I holding on God or things that have only momentary values?

St. Augustine raises a wonderful question. When soul depart from one’s body, we say the person is dead? What happen to a person if his / her soul loses God? St. Augustine Says the person is spiritually dead. Because, just as the soul, itself, is the life of the body, in the same way, God is the life of the Soul.[3] So if God is absent, away from one’s soul, how we can say that a person has life in its fullness. For that person it is the end of everything.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I encourage you all to listen to the Spirit and ask yourself whether you are experiencing the presence of God in your life and in your family. You may have a God problem in which you find some difficulty to believe something, something that is not meaningful to your rational mind. That is ok. But i am asking you keep looking for God who is missing from your soul. Because, If God is away from your center of life, your soul, what is the worth to say that you have a life and you have everything else? So don’t forget to hold on to the most precious thing in your life.

Friar Tony Vattaparambil

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[1] http://www.frnick.com/homilies/american_bible_society

[2] Bonventure, Commentary on Luke( Franciscan Institute Publication, NY:1969-1970.)

[3] Arthur A. Just, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament III, Luke (Inter Varsity Press, IL: 321)

32 Sun. Resurrection should shine on our face...

As we near the end of the Church's liturgical year, the readings become more eschatological -- having to do with the end times, its more about our life after death.  In today's readings, we look briefly the question of the resurrection and the character of the life we are to live in anticipation of it.  A common question that people 2000 years ago and now are still asking, "is there life after death?". In today's gospel, the Sadducees who did not believe in resurrection confront Jesus with their ridiculous story of an unfortunate woman who had married and then lost seven husbands. They did not start with the real issue, namely belief in life after death and the consequences of our daily decisions in determining life after death. They were trying to fool Jesus but Jesus was very clear about his teachings.  Jesus reply was very direct, he said "there is life after death and God is the God, not of the dead but of the living." In the first reading we see a mother and her sons die for what they believed and they believed that God will rise them up. They were ready to bear any suffering for their faith because they knew their life is safe in the hands of God.

I was 11 when cancer took my mum's life. My brother was 5 years old. I thought life is ended and my family felt emptiness for the first time, we felt darkness inside us, we felt silence in our home. I remember that night when everyone left after funeral, my father, brother and myself sat in the porch looking at the stars believing that one of it must be our mother. I know it's not only my experience, it's the experience of many of you who are hearing me today. You might have felt or still feeling the same pain, emptiness and darkness after the death of your beloved one or ones.  

But in all these emptiness, darkness something gave us hope that was our faith, our faith in resurrection, our faith on life after death and our belief that we all will meet all again. I remember I asked my aunt, what happened to my mum? Did she become dust and gone forever? She told me that, be strong John, do good things, one day, we would meet again and she's alive with our Lord. This gave me hope to live and live a good life. Pope Francis says, it is beautiful “to think of Heaven, all of us will meet there, everyone. It is beautiful; it gives strength to the soul.

Why we have gathered today around this altar, it’s because we believe in life after death and we believe that we are making preparation to heaven by celebrating and leading a good life. And if we believe in life after death church would like us to reflect how much preparations we are making in our lives? How mindful we are about our life after death.

one of my friends shared how her dad became catholic: her dad was not a believer and his actions she thought will not take him to heaven. On a thanksgiving day when everyone was around the dining table,  she asked him, dad if one day we all die and go to heaven and if you are not there what will be our feeling. He had a realization that he was not making steps by doing good things to be in heaven with his family. The next Sunday he went to the church, received baptism and started a good life.

The thought about life after death inspires us to lead a good life. Many people have changed their bad life just thinking of their death and life after death.  Since there is life after death and we believe so, we seriously need to think of the character of life we are to live in anticipation of the life after death. In the 1st reading, the moral messages it contained is that the brothers would rather die than to sin. They believe that after Death, God will raise them up. We learn from the 2nd reading, "May God strengthen you in everything good that you do or say. This is how we should prepare our character of life. Do good in what you do and say and eternal life is waiting for you.

Franciscan spirituality is a spirituality which preaches joy of resurrection and life after death. I remember a story from St. Francis, one day, friars prepared a delicious meal. And Francis asked one of the friars to bring some ashes. He poured in his food and started eating food. One of the friars asked Francis, we prepared delicious food and you are spoiling it with ashes. Francis said if I enjoy this food, my body will be happy but my soul will be week. Even in eating St. Francis was mindful about his life after death and cautiously taking each actions in preparations for it.

Pope Francis said "the Good News of the Resurrection should shine on our face, in our feelings and in our behavior, in the way in which we treat others.” Let us be people of resurrection and be mindful each day about our actions which will lead to life eternal.

Related with today’s readings, I am giving you two questions:

 How mindful we are about our life after death? How much preparations we are making to join our family members in heaven?

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil OFMConv.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary time

THIRTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14|2 Thessalonians 2: 16-3: 5|Luke 20:27-38

“He is not God of the dead, but of the living (20:38)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

In the introduction, I mentioned that we are near the end of the church liturgical year and in the couple of weeks after, we will begin a new liturgical year with the Advent. So, these last days of our liturgical season, we will be focusing to reflect on the end times: what will happen after my life here on earth? I think it is also appropriate to reflect on those questions in the month of November, since we remember them during this time.

Why do we want to speak about Resurrection in our Christian life? Or more specifically, why should I believe in heaven?

St. John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople of 3^rd century gives us a wonderful observation on the theme. He observes: “In everything or deed the driving force of one acting is hope of future reward. For the person who plows is plowing for the sake of a harvest. And a person who fights is fighting for the sake of a victory. So take away the hope of resurrection then the observances of piety has been damaged”[1] I think along with Chrysostom, it is wonderful to reflect our attitude towards the life after death. Cardinal Shöenborn, a Contemporary theologian and the Archbishop of Vienna, Austria, recently attributed the declining influence of Christianity to the decline in our awareness on our life after death. He argues that since so many modern Christians don't take seriously the Last Things (death, judgment, heaven and hell) we are less dynamic, less purposeful, less committed to doing great things for Christ, the Church, and the world. He notices that “Something very strange has taken place in recent years: Christians have lost touch with heaven. “Of the desire for heaven, our ‘heavenly home,' we hear hardly these phrases now. "It is as if Christians have lost the orientation that for centuries defined the direction of our journey. We have forgotten that we are pilgrims and that the goal of our pilgrimage is heaven.  But now, we do not long for heaven; we take it for granted that we will get there. This analysis may be exaggerated, but I am afraid it is essentially true." The thought about our resurrection will give us the strength to face the challenges not only in our spiritual life but also our daily burdens. [2]

When we are sure about our destination, we tune all our actions in conformity to the end. Sometimes I wonder about one of our saintly friar, St. Maximilian Kolbe whose 75^th anniversary of his Martyrdom, we celebrate this year. What was the driving force that helped him to face the challenges of his life? He was a brilliant young scholar who earned his first PhD by the time he was 21.During his seminary years, he studied science on the side, and was even designing space travel mechanisms long before World War II. As a young priest, he put his notable talents to work by beginning an Apostolate called the Knights of the Immaculata, dedicated to spreading the Gospel through mass media. When the Nazis conquered his native Poland at the start of World War II, St Kolbe's publications strongly denounced Nazi errors and Crimes. And so the saint found himself arrested, threatened, released, and, when he continued to publish criticism of the Nazi regime, arrested again. This time he was sent to forced labor at the Auschwitz concentration camp. To be able to help his fellow prisoners, he publicly acknowledged that he was a Catholic priest. As a result, he received special treatment from the guards: beatings, attacks by dogs, the dirtiest and heaviest work, the carrying of the corpses... Through it all, he kept encouraging his friends. He told them: "No, they will not kill our souls... They will not be able to deprive us of the dignity of being a Catholic. We will not give up. And when we die, then we die pure and peaceful, resigned to God in our hearts." Eventually, he offered his own life in substitution for a young man who had been randomly chosen for execution.[3] Maximilian knew very well that his destination is not here on earth. There is a heaven above in which he will have a vision of God face to face.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I totally understand that it is not fashionable to use the terms such as heaven, life after death, beatific vision, eternity etc. Since it is not sounding meaningful to us, what we do? We eliminate those words from our spiritual dictionary. I see it as a dangerous move in our spiritual path. Can anyone eliminate words such as love, sorry, care, help, friendship etc. from our life dictionary? I think no one can. Because our life is based on those words.  In the same way, we can never eliminate the word heaven and eternity from our collection of spiritual vocabularies. Because these words coins our self, our identity, our faith and our destination.

May we have the courage to reaffirm our destination which gives the meaning of our life here on earth.

Friar Tony Vattaparambil

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[1] Bonaventure. (2004). Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. In r. J. Karris, Works of St. Bonavneture (pp. 1789-1807). St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publication. 1939

[2] http://www.frnick.com/homilies/epriest November 5, 2016 1.50 PM

[3] http://www.frnick.com/homilies/epriest November 5, 2016 1.50 PM

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time : Do I long to see God in my Life

THIRTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Wisdom 11: 22-12:2|Thessalonians 1: 11-2: 2|Luke 19:1-10

“And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature” (19:3)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

Once upon a time, there existed a few bugs at the bottom of a pond and they used to crawl around the pond. They wonder what happens to their members who climb up the stem of the lily; they never come back. “They wondered what it’s like up there.” Once, they agree among themselves that the next one who is called to the surface will come back. The next little larva that finds itself drawn to the surface by nature, crawls up the stem and out on the surface on the lily leaf. It was really bright up there. It had been so dark and muddy down below. They won’t believe this. Suddenly something begins to happen. The larva begins to open out. The grub spreads out two huge beautiful colored wings and becomes a beautiful dragonfly. It never imagines that this could have happened. It thought it would remain a grub forever.

It seems to me that the story of Zacchaeus almost like the story of the bugs. He was a publican, the chief of the tax collector, a man entirely abandoned to greed, whose only goal was the increase of his gain.[1]    But he longed to see Jesus, a mere curiosity like ours to see a Hollywood star. But   that eagerness to see Jesus changed his life totally.  

The Story of Zacchaeus, what does it teach us?

First of all, the life Zacchaeus teaches that whoever longs, genuinely, to see God or God’s interventions in their life, God also take that longings so seriously. And God takes initiatives to visit him/her and receives him/her as His own.

Secondly, whoever takes God seriously, has to face the obstacles in their life to attain their goal. In the Gospel, we hear   Zacchaeus desired to see Jesus but the crowd prevented him to see Jesus. In the Gospel tradition, the crowd is always a hindrance to people who want to come to Jesus.[2] We have number of examples in the Gospels: the blind man in the Gospel of Luke chapter 18; the Paralytic in the Gospel of Mark chapter 2; the deaf and dump in the same Gospel chapter 7. The Crowd which is inclined to evil, repels people from Jesus rather than leading them to Him.[3] So, getting away from the crowd is so important in our spiritual progress.

Do I have the desire to see Jesus or His interventions in my life? If so, what kind of crowd that preventing me to see Him?  These are the questions that Gospel raises to us today. Each one of us may have different crowd that hinder us to see God. For some of us may be some addictions, for some others may be the social Medias; may be our wrong relationships. Each one of us has to identify from one’s life- what kind of crowd that block one’s vision to see God.

What Good news that we can take into our heart today?

I think this is the Good news that we can take to our heart. We can see God like Zacchaeus in the Gospel. In order to see Him, we must model Zacchaeus spiritually. Instead of giving the power to the crowd to control our life, we must control our crowd in which we have the possibility to go beyond the crowd like Zacchaeus did. St. Augustine, while commenting this passage make an observation. He says, “The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore tree”.[4] Climbing a sycamore tree for Zacchaeus was really foolishness. Because if he cared people over Jesus, then he would never attempt to climb up the sycamore because people would mock at him. But he cared Jesus over the people and ignored what his fellow citizens would say. I think it is clearer if we put it in the words of St. Bonaventure: “Zacchaeus realized that the foolishness of faith leads to the height of wisdom of Christ.”[5]

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I understand the peer pressures and mocking comments from your friends when you take religion/ faith seriously. I also understand that practicing faith in our society is a real challenge. But I recommend you to reflect this question tonight: When you stand at the cross road of faith to make a decision to step, would you listen to your crowd or would you go beyond the crowd like Zacchaeus?

May our Merciful Lord bless you
Friar Tony vattaparambil Ofmconv

  

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[1] Alexandria, C. o. (2003). Commentary on Luke . In A. A. Jr., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament III Luke (pp. 289-292). Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press.

[2]Bonaventure. (2004). Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. In r. J. Karris, Works of St. Bonavneture (pp. 1789-1807). St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publication.

[3] Bonaventure. (2004). Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. In r. J. Karris, Works of St. Bonavneture (pp. 1789-1807). St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publication.

[4] Augustine (2003). Commentary on Luke . In A. A. Jr., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament III Luke (pp. 289-292). Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press.

[5] Bonaventure. (2004). Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. In r. J. Karris, Works of St. Bonavneture (pp. 1789-1807). St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publication.

30th Sunday Homily Religion without compassion is terrorism

Today's gospel parable of Pharisee  and tax collector is very relevant in today's world. It's not something that happened 2000 years ago. It's something that still happening today.  We see so many people holding on to religious beliefs, traditions and faith without loving one another. In worst case, we see terrorists killing people in the name of God and religion. These kind of people believe that thy are righteous in the eyes of God and believe that they follow right religion. 

Pharisee in the parable is one of them, he believed, he is not like the rest of humanity. He thought he is following right religion he says of himself, He is not — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. He even compares himself with others. He continues, he fasted twice a week, and he payed tithes on his whole income.’ According religious practices he is a good practitioner but he lacked love for others and his life was centered around himself. He lacked love, mercy and compassion for others. He was self praising to God. 

Once I was in India with Bellarmine students and we visited a Jesuit Ashram and one of the teachers there told us, religion without love and compassion is terrorism. That was an aha moment for many. 

We may find people like this Pharisee  in work places, parishes, religious life. They are full of themselves, despise others saying sentences like, I am the only one who hard work here, I am the only one knows things better. My prayer life is better than you. My poverty is better than you. My religious practices are better than you. They are full of themselves and they forget others and to be kind to others. And not only that they are constantly judging others. Jesus asks us Catholics not to be like this Pharisee being full of oneself and judging others. 

 I might have shared this story I like to share it once again. Lady and 7th station of the cross. What she does is the good practice of the religion but that didn't turn her to love others. 

In the second story, Jesus shows us the tax collector, he is bad man in the society, he cheated his own people collecting money for Rome. But this tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ Jesus says he went home justified. This is one thing important in religion and faith humbling yourself. Humility is beginning quality to understand God and others. 

Dear brothers and sisters, this parable of Pharisee and tax collector teaches us that the entire point of religion is to make us humble before God and to open us to the path of love and compassion. 

Liturgy, prayer, the precepts of the Church, the commandments, sacraments, sacramental—all of it—are finally meant to conform us to the way of love. 

I am giving you two questions for your thoughts and reflection. 

1. How often we use knowledge and practices of religion to put others down? 

1. Does my practices of religion turn in to loving and not judging others?

29th Sunday- Your Prayer in emergency

Your Prayer in Emergency…

Luke 18:1-8. Today, we can have access to any emergency services just by ‘dialing’ a few numbers on our telephone. In the UK, it is 999; in the European Union it is 112,  in India 100 and in some countries it is 911. There are also separate numbers to call the police, fire services, or medical assistance.   The first emergency number system to be used in the world was in London.  It was on 30 June 1937 that ‘999’ was first dialed and a special red light flashed on the telephone operator’s table.  Thus began the system of emergency services. Have we ever called an emergency number in our life?  If ever we called an emergency number, I am sure, it now brings to our mind some traumatic experience. In any case, the emergency number is not the most frequently dialed number on our personal telephone.  The most dialed number in your phone.is may be that of your lover, spouse, child, parent, friend, or business partner?  And what does that frequently dialed number say about your own priorities in life?

In the gospel today we have a reminder on making frequent calls to God. By the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow, Jesus emphasizes the “necessity of praying always and not losing heart.” Constancy in prayer is Faith in action.  Now, here is a more important question:  how would you describe your own acts of calling on God!  Are they emergency calls, or are they frequent calls?
-When you are facing danger, call on Psalm 91. Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Look at some the emergency numbers in sacred scriptures.

-When you are worried, call on Matthew 6:25-34 The Heavenly Father feeds everybody.
-When you are sad, call on John 14. Jesus Comforts His Disciples
-When you don’t feel loved, call on Romans 8:38-39. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God
-When you feel no one is on your side, call on Romans 8:31-39 who shall separate us from the love of Christ
-When you are suffering, call on Romans 8:18-30 Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.
-When you need courage, call on Joshua 1. Never rebels against to the word of God. Be strong and courageous!
-When you are seeking peace, call on John 14:27. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
-When you want to live a happy life, call on Colossians 3:12-17. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, we are called to peace.
-When you don’t understand what God is doing, call on Isaiah 55:8-9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Jesus tells us that we should pray, pray a lot, pray often, and be untiring in turning to God. Consistency, perseverance, steadfastness, along with continuing courage, is needed in our lives. When we are facing great difficulties along with emotional and spiritual crises of various sorts we may say: “I’ve tried everything. Now the only thing left to do is to pray.” Prayer should be our normal way of life, not just a last resort in times of difficulty. Stay always connection with God.

We live now in a world that offers us quick answers to our problems along with quick responses to our needs. All of our needs and wants can be fulfilled these days in no time at all. Most of our days are crowded and blocked with things to do. Within all of this,  we need prayer, meditation, and time with God.

- Personal prayer is of great importance in our life of prayer. Talking to God in our own words, praising Him, thanking Him and presenting our needs before Him -- transforms our whole life into prayer. Bring all our successes and failures, joys and sorrows, highs and lows to God in prayer.

- Never expect to get whatever we pray for. A loving father may refuse or accept our requests. God is like that. He knows what to give, when to give and how to give it. Only God knows what is good for us in our life.

- To make our prayers effective, be consistent. Our prayers do not change God's will. Instead, they bring our minds into line with God’s reasons.  Sincere and persistent prayer makes us ready to accept His will.

There is a way to pray with the heart, which God can hear, and answer. To speak from the heart is to speak to the heart. God can read our heart, and that is more important than any words we might say. Prayer is not an isolated act – it is a way of life. We need each other’s prayers. We need each other’s strength.

Fr. George Munjanattu OFMConv.

October 9, 2016 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

TWENTY EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2 Kings 5: 17-17|2 Timothy 2: 8-13|Luke 17:11-19

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

There is a story about one of our friaries in India. The Friary is named after St. Francis of Assisi and we call in our language Assisi Snehalaya- House of Love. This is a house set apart for the care and cure of the HIV affected Patients. It was erected as a religious house around the year 2000, when in our society HIV-AIDS was considered something like God’s curse for one’s wrong doing; therefore, those who are infected must be expelled from the society. I remember, reading the circular letter of our then Superior, addressing the need of the society. He compared the situation of 20^th century with the situation of Francis’ time. “Francis, seeing the need of his society took care of the lepers. In the same way, we (Franciscans) are called to respond to the needs of our society and this is our responsibility to take care of the modern day lepers-the AIDS patients[i]. AIDS is no more a threat in our society and therefore, they are no more lepers. But I think the name is still so important. More than a physical ailment, it can well describe the attitude of a society on people who lives in the margins of it.

The ancient world was terrified of leprosy, which is a contagious disease, and having no cure they banished lepers from society.  Lepers became outcasts, required by the law to stand at a distance from people, and to shout ‘Unclean, unclean!’ when they saw anyone near (Leviticus 13:45f).  The Samaritan leper in our today’s story was doubly isolated, for there was deep religious hatred between Jews and Samaritans.

What kind of lepers that we identify in our modern world? St. Bonaventure brings up with four kinds of spiritual leprosy that is possible in the background of this Gospel in his Commentary on Luke. There is a possibility of the leprosy that develops from the evil fear, there is a possibility of the Leprosy that arises from carnal desires, there is a possibility of leprosy that develops from the evil intensions of the sight and there is a leprosy that is the outcome of our pride.  Bonaventure develops these spiritual ailments from the observations of St. Augustine on the theme of Fear and Love. For St. Augustine says, “Love and Fear lead to every deed done justly. In the same way, love and fear lead to every sin. In order to do good, we love God and fear God. But in order to do evil, we love the World and fear the world.”[ii]

Fear and Love of God leads to an inclusive spirituality where nobody is alienated no matter what they are. On the other hand, fear and love of the World build exclusive agenda where narrowness of mind dominate everything.

Every society, every group, has outsiders.  How a group sees and treats outsiders is the clearest indicator of the values the group is based on.  Is there any possibility of an open society where all are welcomed? We might expect that all religious societies, since they claim to be in the service of God, would be open societies; but some of them shrink into cults, and many develop cult-like qualities.  There is always a war between inner and outer.  If the outsider is regarded only as an enemy, then we can be sure that the inner life is diseased in some way.  This is how we estimate the life of an individual; it is also how we can estimate the life of a society.  An individual who only knows who he or she is against, has no positive identity at all; likewise a society. 

A Christian society that is deaf to the outsider and that marginalizes some of its own, can hardly be described as Christian.  Pope Francis, in his very first week as pope, spoke about a tendency in the Church to “self-referencing.”  A Christian community of any kind is not a group of likeminded people who confirm one another in their narrowness, but a group that reaches out to those whose lives are in chaos, whose voices are not heard, whose presence is not welcomed.[iii]

Brothers and Sisters, what kind of leprosy that we faces in our day to day life? Does my Christian identity allow me to welcome everyone and accept them as they are? Or am I afraid of my society and anxious about my social status which leads me to take an exclusive position in which the other is my enemy and outcaste? This is the challenge the Gospel gives us today.

May the Eucharistic Lord, heal our troubled conscience and society. May we have the light to see everyone as God’s child. Amen

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[i] J.CILIA, Circular Letter to the Provincial Custody of St. Maximilian Kolbe, India 1999.

[ii] St. Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter XVII, Vol.3

[iii] http://frnick.com/weekday/today_s_good_news