April 30th: Way to Emmaus

Today we heard a beautiful story of encountering Christ.

Cricket is the sports in India and cricket players are like “gods. When I arrived in USA in 2010, it was the time of Cricket world cup and India was on the final game. That was “the news” in India, people were so excited and we were thinking all the world is watching India and cricket. As I arrived, I asked the friar who picked me up from the airport, may I know the cricket score. He said yes, let us stop on the way. He stopped at a cricket store where they sell cell phone connections. Then I knew that in America not many people know about the game cricket and not one television channel airs cricket game. This broke my heart. What was so close to my heart, what I thought the whole world knew was not matter in America. This exactly what the disciples felt when they started sharing the resurrection experience. 

Jesus asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

One of them, named Cleopas,asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked. This question what things? broke their heart. They realized what matters to them was not a matter to others. And they learned a lesson that this is what Jesus feels when someone says, Jesus is not matter to him or his suffering, crusifixion, death and resurrection not a matter. 

 As they walked further, on their pilgrimage these disciples learned something else in the presence of this stranger that their faith was not deep enough to accept that happened in Jerusalem and they were running away from facing the reality of faith. They thought everything ended with crucifixion of Jesus. They were saddened by the things happened to Jesus. Their eyes were blind folded to see the mystery of faith and to understand risen lord or resurrection. 

We read in the scripture, these two disciples were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. 

According to the readings Emmaus is a village about seven miles from Jerusalem. It says Emmaus is 7 miles away from Jerusalem but archeologist couldn’t identify were Emmaus is. We do not know where Emmaus is. Emmaus, therefore is a symbolic place; a place of crisis of faith. They were going from Jerusalem ( A place of God’s presence) to Emmaus( a place crisis of faith). It means they were taking a wrong way in the life of faith. 

Who has not experienced in life a moment like this?"  “Sometimes our faith enters into a crisis because of negative experiences and makes us feel abandoned and betrayed by the Lord. 

Today we are also witnessing many people are traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus, some of them expressing serious doubts about teaching of the church, some due to scandalous behavior of the clergy, some of them left to Emmaus thinking God abandoned them when they had a crisis. We might have travelled from Emmaus or may be right now we are feeling we are on the way to Emmaus. 

After the death of  Mother Teresa of Calcutta, some personal letters were made public in a book. In one of her letters, she wrote an undated address to Jesus, "Where is my Faith - even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness - My God - how painful is this unknown pain - I have no Faith." This letters are shock to many but this was her road to Emmaus. We know she survived her faith by her love for Jesus, scripture and Eucharist. The story of Emmaus suggests that it is possible to encounter the risen Jesus "still today". 

On the way two things help them; Scripture and Eucharist. We read, "So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. In this crisis they knew that they need more Jesus in their life and learn to trust him.

Dear brothers and sisters, the road to Emmaus is a symbol of our journey of faith, in our life time, we may take wrong way of faith, we may have crisis: there are two indispensable elements that Jesus has given to us: the Scriptures and the Eucharist to meet the Lord. 

Pope Benedict says, for these two disciples the road to Emmaus becomes the way of a purification and maturation of our belief in God: the encounter with the risen Christ gives us a deeper faith. In other words our life crisis are to help us to grow in faith. 

We may face or facing  Emmaus experience in our lives we do not need to be stressed out, Jesus can help us. We may not get an answer from human wisdom but Jesus can help us through scripture and Eucharist. 

Pope Benedict says, "Still today, Jesus speaks to us in the Scripture; still today Jesus gives us his Body and his Blood.

Pope Francis says, "This Jesus, he is the Risen Traveller that journeys with us. And Jesus is here today, he is here among us. He is here in his word, is here on the altar, journeying with us,” 

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

Holy Thursday Eucharist and Priesthood

Today we thank Jesus for giving us the Eucharist and the priesthood. Both the Eucharist and the priesthood “were born” during the Last Supper.  These two sacraments Eucharist and Holy Orders are so closely linked because without the priesthood we would have no Eucharist. 

Priesthood is a great gift that's given by God to humanity and to the church. Think about our faith without these men who have dedicated their lives for the church. Without them we would have missed many things. Francis of Assisi told, If I see an angel and a priest together I will bend my knees to the priest first  and then to the angel. 

We have seen many priests falling from their lives in our life time. We have judged them, criticized them and sometimes hated them. I heard one of the old priests saying, priests are forward players of a soccer team. If you know soccer game, the forward players are the most watched and attacked by the opposition team. It's the same with the church, priests are forward players of the church, they are mostly watched and attacked by the opposition team that's evil. When they fail and if we laugh and celebrate their fail, we are celebrating our own fate. It's like celebrating life while we are attacked. 

I am highlighting priesthood, not because I am a priest but to understand the beauty and gift of priesthood. We need to pray daily for priests and vocation to the priesthood. We as Holy family parishioners should thank for giving us four priests to serve us for a while. And you all know this is a luxury  in Louisville diocese. 

Second, Jesus established Eucharist to be with us. It's culmination of his love. He wanted to be with us in real presence.  He loves us and he doesn't want to be separated from us. And this is a greatest gift to us for spiritual nourishment. 

"while it nourishes us with Christ, the Eucharist which we celebrate transforms us little by little into the body of Christ and spiritual food for our brothers and sisters” says Pope Francis. 

And receiving Eucharist means entering in to sacrificial love of Jesus (that's what we are remembering these days) and become persons of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and sharing in solidarity. 

Many people are so scared to receive Eucharist. 

Pope Francis says “The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

Let us thank God for these two gifts; gift of Eucharist and priesthood. Let us meditate on God's love; the love He showed even giving his only son on the cross
Fr. John Pozhathuparambil

Sunday April 23 Divine Mercy

In the year 2000 Our Holy Father Pope John Paul declared a new feast, the Feast of Divine Mercy to be celebrated for the first time in 2001 on the Second Sunday of Easter, tomorrow. We usually call it Divine Mercy Sunday on the remembrance of St. Faustina who was privileged to receive apparitions from Jesus emphasizing his mercy. Sr. Faustina was born in Poland in 1905. When she was twenty years old she entered the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy where she lived for the next thirteen years until her death on October 5th 1938. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993 and canonized in 2000. When canonizing her Our Holy Father said,

“Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember the events of those years and the horrible sufferings know well how necessary was this message of mercy.”

One of the important vision of Faustina is the picture of Divine Mercy. In February 1931 Sister Faustina saw Jesus dressed in a white garment. Jesus told her to Paint an image according to the vision she see. And in the bottom, Jesus asked her to write: Jesus, I trust in You. In the vision, Jesus held one hand raised in blessing and the other hand touching his garment at the chest as in the picture. From that point in his garment two rays of light emanated, one red and the other pale.

Later Jesus explained, “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross..” (Diary §299)

In the picture, we can see Jesus walking to us. It means Jesus is coming to us with his peace and Mercy. No matter what sins you committed, no matter where you are Jesus is walking to reconcile with you. He comes to you, not in ager but with divine mercy. And what is interesting is that this image is very close to the image of shroud of Turin especially its structure. It’s not just coincidence but it’s the work of God.

Another one is powerful prayer Divine Mercy Chaplet.  A number of times in St. Faustina’s diary we see the power of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy."Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this Chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I want the whole world to know My infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My Mercy.

And as we celebrate divine Mercy, we are reminded of this mercy we need to show each other in order to avoid another war and its suffering. Today we are reminded about when people are suffering and in pain, we have to bring Christ’s peace to them.

Today we need to ask this question: What does "mercy" mean?

To understanding the meaning of mercy, it will help if we examine its etymology. Our English word, mercy, goes back to the Latin: misericordia, which is composed of two words. "Cordia" is familiar to us from such words as "cardiologist" and "cardiac." It means heart. The first part, "miseri" refers to suffering. Mercy, then, means to have a heart for those who suffer or, more precisely, to have a heart willing to suffer for others.

Today’s gospel we see St. Thomas believes Jesus resurrection by putting his hand in Jesus’s side. This side, this wound is the entire mystery of Christ and of God: his Passion, his earthly life – filled with compassion for the weak and the sick. Pope Francis says, “Being apostles of mercy means touching and soothing the wounds that today afflict the bodies and souls of many of our brothers and sisters.”

“Curing these wounds, we profess Jesus, we make him present and alive; we allow others, who touch his mercy with their own hands, to recognize him as ‘Lord and God.’”

During today’s retreat at Franciscan Kitchen for homeless, om of our students shared this beautiful concept of Mercy, "whenever we sacrifice our time and convenience for others, whether it be family or strangers, we are helping Jesus to spread his mercy. Whenever we care for the poor by feeding them and asking them how their day has been, we are helping Jesus give his mercy. It is in the simple moments when we smile at strangers or offer comforting and supporting words to others that help Jesus spread his mercy".

Ultimately mercy results not so much from human effort as from God's free gift. " During the this time of Easter, we ask God to open our hearts so that we might receive into our hearts his Mercy - his Holy Spirit, so that we will be apostles of Mercy. 

Fr. John Pozhathuparambil