Crises Management
(Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time---B)

Rejection and unfair criticisms are not uncommon. The Scripture readings for the fourteenth Sunday in ordinary time deal with this social sin. During his commissioning Ezekiel was warned that his message would be rejected by people. The gospel reading also describes a situation where Jesus faces opposition, rejection and humiliation from his own people. Like Jesus and Ezekiel, we too may have stories of rejection to share.

It is impossible to eliminate oppositions and prejudices as long as people differ in ideologies and perceptions. Therefore the challenge is how to approach people who always oppose us and put trouble on our way? How do we handle them without losing our peace? The Gospel reading this Sunday has an answer to this question. When Jesus was outrageously criticized and humiliated by racial comments, instead of being carried away by their attitude and observations, instead of getting frustrated and impatient by their inhuman behavior, Jesus approached that crisis situation in a very gentle and professional way. Jesus did 4 things:

1. Jesus put things in its proper context/ situation: Before reacting to their criticism, Jesus analyzed the psychology and the nature of the people. Jesus discovered that they did the same to other prophets too. So this was nothing new. Jesus realized that being this was the nature of the people; he could not expect anything better from them. The same way, when people criticize us or pass negative comments about us, wait a minute and ask: who are these people? What is their background? Are they mature? If they are mature people, listen to what they are saying otherwise ignore them.

2. Jesus waited with patience for a favorable time: When Jesus realized that they were stubborn and prejudiced, he did not try to convert them by argument or by force. Jesus gave them time to reflect. Argument will not do any good. Give them time to realize their folly.

3. Jesus did not take it as personal. Jesus did not take their criticism as personal. Criticism can be self destructive if we allow them to touch our ego. In that case, we become self defensive and over reactive. In this context St. Paul’s experience is educative. He said’ “When I am weak, then I am strong. Power is made perfect in weakness. God’s grace is enough for me.” Our moments of failure can be turning points in our lives that eventually lead us to greatness

4. Refocuses his attention: Jesus did not change his teaching because of their rejection of his teaching rather he changed the audience. Jesus moved to another place where they were willing to listen. When we are faced with rejection and humiliation, instead of wasting our energy justifying our position, go to the people who understand and appreciate us.

If we can apply this methodology of Jesus in our crisis situation, that will give us hope and peace।

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One minute wisdom
A little black boy was watching the balloon man at the country fair. He was trying to get the attention of a crowd of young customers. The balloon man allowed a red balloon to break loose and soar high up in the air. Then he released a blue balloon, then a white one and a yellow one. They all went soaring up into the sky until they disappeared. The little black boy stood looking at the black balloon for a long time, then asked, “Sir, if you send the black one up would it go as high as the others?” The balloon man gave the kid an understanding smile. He snapped the string that held the black balloon in place and, as it soared upwards, said, “ It is not the color, son. It is what’s inside that makes it rise.” (Anthony De Mello)
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Challenges of Faith
(13th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

The gospel reading for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time presents two healing stories for our prayerful consideration: The healing of a woman afflicted with hemorrhages and the raising of the synagogue official’s daughter (Mark 5:21-43). These stories are important as they give us insightful tips for our spiritual life. I would like to mention a few of them.

1. Equal availability of God’s love…!

The Woman and Jairus, the main characters of the stories respectively, represent two groups of people: the marginalized and the centralized. The woman in the story personified the ‘voiceless, nameless and faceless’ people of the society. For example, she has no name, no title and no address. She is simply nobody. She is one among the crowd. On the other hand, Jairus has a name, title and address. He represents the elite and the privileged. Differences in their social standings, however, did not make any impact on the approach of Jesus. He was equally present to both. God is the God of all. Everybody is equally precious before His eyes. He has our names carved in the palm of his hands. He does not leave the lost one on the way thinking that “I have the 99 with me.” (Lk 15: 4-7). As St. Paul says: Jesus became poor to make every one rich before God (2Cor 8:7-15).

2. Faith, Precondition for God’s Grace…!

Jesus asked everyone who came seeking his help: “Do you believe that I can do this for you?” It is faith that does the magic. The faith of the woman was unparalleled. She said: If I touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” What a tremendous example of trusting faith. Like Abraham she believed with full confidence that ‘God will provide’. A genuine faith has the following two characteristics.

A). Expectant Faith: It is praying with the conviction that you have already received what you are praying for. This little story may help to illustrate this point. A whole area was very badly affected by a drought. People started praying for rain. The parish priest arranged a prayer service for this petition. The date was picked and was announced in the church. People from all over the region rushed to the church to pray. But after the Holy Mass, the parish priest, to everyone’s surprise, announced that the prayer service for rain has been canceled. “Why?” all the people shouted. “Nobody brought an umbrella”, the priest replied.

B) Action Oriented Faith: A genuine faith is always accompanying some action. For instance, the woman in the gospel story touched the edge of Jesus’ cloak. The synagogue official fell at the feet of Jesus. Zacchaeus climbed the tree. These were external expressions of their faith.

3. Crowd, a constant obstacle

When Jesus said, “This Child is not dead but sleep”, the crowd ridiculed him. “Why trouble the Teacher, she is dead.” Even Jairus’ own people responded in a similar fashion. Very often crowd is an obstacle to come closer to Jesus. Zacchaeus had to climb a tree to avoid the crowd. The four men who brought a paralyzed man to Jesus had to break open the roof to bring him closer to Jesus (Mk 2: 3-4). Jesus removed the doubting crowd before he healed the child. Mark says, “He put them all out.” (Mk 5:40). How do I overcome the pressures of a crowd? A disciple is someone who steps out of the crowd and declare Jesus publicly.

LOOK UP
12TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

The gospel reading for the 12th Sunday of the ordinary time (Jesus stilling the storm) reminds me of a story that I heard when I was in the fourth grade. Once, a teacher took his students on a trip to the ocean shoreline. They took a ride in a sailboat. Suddenly they ran into a tempest which really rocked the boat. The sail itself was snapped into two and part of it fell into the boat. The boat lost its control and direction. The roaring waves began to spill over into the boat. “We are in danger. If any one of you has the courage, climb up the mast and then tie the remainder of the sail to the mast. That way we are able to regain control of the boat,” the Captain said.

One of the boys climbed up and tied the sail to the mast. Then he tried to climb down. He couldn’t because while he was climbing down he looked into the boat and into the sea. He saw that the boat was filling with water. The waves were crashing into the boat and rocking it. He was scared and started crying out in panic. “Don’t look down. Look up and climb down,” the Captain instructed him. The boy did as the captain ordered. The sky looked calm and quiet now. So the boy no longer felt scared and nervous. He felt confident, so he continued to climb down while looking up. The captain then told the students, “The world is an ocean and our lives are like small boats in it. When problems and difficulties arise and rock our little lives don’t get panic but look up, look up to heaven. God is there to comfort and console us.”

Look up. Turn to God. Come into his presence. You will be safe. This is the message of the Gospel reading too (Mk: 35-41). Remember the Gospel story. The violent storm rocked their boat. The disciples were in panic. In fear and tremble, they cried out and awakened Jesus. Everything cooled down. They experienced stillness and calmness. Three things are important to notice.

1. They did everything right. It is true that they were panic and fearful. Their frustration, however, turned into a prayer. Frustrations and hopelessness, anxieties and worries, pain and struggles, all these are part of life. What is important is how we respond to that. The story of Job is a great example of growing through struggles.
2. Who was really sleeping, Jesus or Disciples? The faith of the disciples was asleep. Even though Jesus was with them, they experienced his absence. This is possible in our life too. The busy-ness of our life can take away our focus from God. They re-turned to Jesus, everything once again returned to the normal. Focus on Jesus. Only then you will be safe. When you focus on yourself, all kinds of problems will pop up. Doing the latter is like looking at things that are too close when we are traveling in a car at a fast speed. When you look at objects that are close up, they will appear to be moving away from you. But if you look at distant things, they will move along with you. Those who are rooted in Jesus are never uprooted.

3. Peaceful storm. Jesus and the disciples were facing the same storm. They, however, responded differently. While the storm shattered their peace, Jesus, slept peacefully. Jesus did so because He was always in the presence of God, his Father.

Awaken to God’s presence and awake his presence in you. You will be safe and no storm will touch you. Those who put their trust in the Lord are like mount Zion, that cannot be shaken, that stands for ever. As mountains surround Jerusalem, the Lord surrounds his people both now and forever (Ps 125:1-2).

CORPUS CHRISTI

(Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ)
June 14,2009

Before I received my driver’s license, I spent a few hours practicing my driving skills. Charlie was my guide and instructor. He had me drive the free-ways, the highways, the city streets, all kinds of roads. I did all the driving. Charley just sat beside me. Never once did I feel any sort of nervousness. A few weeks later, after securing my driver’s license, I went for a drive. This time I was all alone. All at once my legs and hands started to shake. My heart began to beat rapidly. “Why?” I asked myself,“ I have my license now…before I had no license ... but I never experienced any fear at all”. I started to rethink. Then I came to the insight that I needed. When I drove before I was not alone. Beside me was a person who was an expert in driving and he could control the car in case of any danger. Though he was not driving, his mere presence gave me confidence. Presence of the other is a great strength.

The awareness of God’s presence is the most powerful strength that I can have on my journey of life. The example of Peter walking over the water is a telling example of this fact. As long as he was in the presence of Jesus, Peter could walk on water. The moment he got distracted, he began to sink.

We can think of experiencing God’s presence in a numerous ways. The Eucharist, however, is the only place where we can experience the real presence of Jesus. As we celebrate Corpus Christi, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, it is highly desirable to reflect on this aspect of the Eucharist.

The institution of the Eucharist was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. He said’ “I will not leave you alone. I will be with you till the end of the world.“ After the institution of the Eucharist Jesus said, ”Do this in memory of me.” His promise of staying with us is made permanent through the mystery of the Eucharist.Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist strengthens us in different ways। I would like to mention three of them. Jesus gives us:-

1. A sense of being loved through the active memory
When we celebrate the Eucharist we make the redemptive story alive, active and experiential. Active memory is something that evokes in our minds the feelings and responses that are similar to the original one. For example, the death anniversary of my Father and death anniversary of my neighbor evoke totally different emotions and feeling in me. The remembrance of my father is almost like reliving my life with him. Similarly the breaking and sharing of the Bread and Wine bring to our memories the unparallel love and sacrifice of Jesus that brought us back to life. The awareness of this unfailing love of God is our hope and comfort. If we can make this memory alive every time we celebrate the Eucharist, then we live in the presence of God all the time.

2. A sense of purpose through right direction
The major problem that we are facing today is self-ism, ego-ism, individual-ism. Here Jesus gives us a model to follow. In the Eucharist we have an action plan. First of all, this is a mechanism of breaking, sharing and empowering. When I am willing to break and share, I reveal my God given talents and share them with others bringing us to the fullness of life. Secondly, Sharing makes Eucharist. When Jesus took the bread it was a lifeless material thing. When He broke and shared it, it became Jesus himself. When we share our life, they become Eucharist. Again, everything in the world has the potential to become the Eucharist. The sacredness is hidden in the secular. It is our responsibility to unfold the sacredness in the secular and to change the world into Eucharist. This kind of understanding of the Eucharist not only give us orientation for a better life but also makes us feel good about ourselves as we become more and more useful servants.

3. A feeling of connectedness with the divine
Body cannot survive without food. A branch cannot exist unless it is connected to the main tree. The soul cannot function without being connected with its source. The Eucharist is not only the food that nourishes the soul but the bread that connect us with the Divine. In this sense it is the breath of God. Our sharing in the Divine life though the Eucharist gives us the strength and confidence to face the temporalities of life with courage and hope.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus was physically present in the world to lift up the people from their miseries. He continues his saving presence through the mystery of the Eucharist. Eucharist is his saving gift to each one of us. Approach him in faith and with confidence, you will be a different person. Bishop Sheen said, “My stay before the Blessed Sacrament changed my human ways into divine.” Stay with Jesus who is willing to stay with us.
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