ALL SAINTS DAY

Today, November 1st is All Saints Day. This day, we honor the life of every Christian who walked the path of Jesus. Some of them were canonized; others were not. Some of them were popular; others were not. Some of them were simple people but lived their lives with a passion for Christ. We celebrate the memories of all of them today.

Who were these people? Who are these Saints? These are the ones who lived the Beatitudes. This is the reason why we are invited to reflect on the Beatitudes (Mt 5ff)on this All Saints Day. Beatitudes are not a substitute for the 10 commandments. They are the spirit behind the 10 commandments. They are in fact the reflection of Jesus’ own life.

Beatitude means blessedness or happiness. The desire for happiness is natural to every living being. No one can survive without it. Finding the true source of happiness and discovering the right means to obtain it make one’s life genuine, holy and real. The beatitudes offer both. In fact all the eight beatitudes have two parts: Promise of a blessing and the condition to obtain that particular blessing. For example, in the first beatitude, the promise is the Kingdom of God and the condition to attain the Kingdom of God is poverty of spirit. Saints are those who discovered the true source of happiness. They realized that true happiness is finding God. They also discovered the restlessness of heart without God. (Augustine).

Many of us know the source of happiness. The dilemma is that often we get confused with the multiple choices. Saints are those who discovered the true path to happiness. The second part of the beatitudes spell out the means to obtain these blessings. Have a look at the first beatitude. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” To come under the reign of God, one has to empty one’s self. One has to make space for God, casting out all other rulers from one’s heart. This is the first commandment. Remember Jesus’ instruction to the rich young man, “If you want to enter the Kingdom of God, sell the property and share it with the poor.” (Mk 10:21). Abraham had to give up everything and threw his life in the promise of God (Genesis 12:4). When Jesus emptied His Self God raised him up (Philippians 2:8-9). Liberation from the bondage material ambitions is the foundation for holiness.

Holiness is not limited to any particular group or individual. Anyone who is open to God’s call is holy. For this matter any baptized Christian is a saint. Since baptism make us part of the Body of Christ and members of God’s Family, no one is outside of holiness. St. Paul understood this truth and addressed every Christian Saint (1Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 2:19). The same reason inspired the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council to emphasis on the Universal Call to Holiness. This was a remarkable change from the traditional view on holiness. For centuries people understood holy life as something reserved for a chosen race! The fact that most of the canonized saints were either from priestly and religious class or from royal and elite class reinforced this belief. Consequently ordinary people were even scared of dreaming to become a saint. Vatican Council corrected this view on holy life and restored the biblical understanding of holiness.

Living a holy life or beatitudes does not require extraordinary talents or gifts. Remarkable and spectacular works have nothing to do with holiness. Good works may not always reflect holy life. Holy life, however, always bears good works. It is not success but faithfulness that matters for God. Martin De Porres was a humble servant in the monastery. John Viany struggled to complete his seminary studies. Little Therese never ministered outside the convent. Sr. Alphonsa was sick all the days of her life. They were ordinary people from ordinary parents. All of them became great saints. We don’t need great talents to feed the hungry or to visit the sick or to clothe the naked or to welcome a stranger. We need only a heart of Christ. We all have the basic ingredients to make a great saint out of us.

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As every Saint had a past, every sinner has a future.
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ALL SOULS DAY

We know the story of St. Augustine. He struggled a lot in his life to find happiness. He tried several things in his search for joy. Finally he found happiness in the presence of the Lord. After his conversion experience, he made this beautiful statement. “O Lord, you made me for yourself. Until I find my rest in you, my heart remains restless.” Every saint has the same message for the world. As we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the goal and purpose of our life is to know God, to love God and to live in the presence of God, seeing his face, eternally.

Who will see the face of God? Jesus himself answered this question. In Mathew chapter 5 verse 8 Jesus says: “Blessed are the clean of Heart, for they will see God.” The beatific vision of God belongs to the clean of heart. In other words we need continuous transformation until we are totally conformed to Christ. People who reached this stage are saints and they enter the Kingdom of God immediately after their death. According to the Fathers of the Church they become part of the Glorified Church.

Those who do not experience that transformation, need further purification before they are to be admitted to heaven. They go through a stage called purgatory. To purgate means cleansing from the effects of sin. The Fathers of the church call them the suffering church. On All Souls’ Day we remember all the departed who need further assistance.

According to Scripture, a person in purgatory cannot do anything for himself or herself, we, the living, can. That is why we need to pray for them. Some times people say: “I have been praying for a particular person for a long time. How long do I need to continue? The answer is: Our prayers never go in vein. If that particular person already reached heaven, then our prayers goes to someone else who needs our prayer. We are a corporate entity. We are the Body of Christ.

Our challenge! Do not conform to the values of the world, even though at times they may have glittering appearances. But they are deceptive. They are empty promises. Our call is to choose between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of darkness…the Kingdom of life and the Kingdom of Death. It is hard. Hence, Fathers of the church called the Earthly church a Militant Church. It is possible to have a successful fight because God has given us grace at baptism; God has given us guidelines to follow in the form of Commandments and beatitudes. The saints had proved it. And finally we are not alone in this fight; Jesus is with us.

WILL TO BE HEALED
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October २५

A few days ago I met a man on the street. He was drunk and was totally confused. He said, “Sir, Can you please help me to get home? I am lost?” The experience of being lost is a common phenomenon. The gospel reading for the 30th Sunday presents a situation where Bartimaeus, a blind man, is desperately looking for a way out. He was living in the street of Jericho. When he heard about Jesus passing that way, he cried out, “Jesus, I lost sight, help me to see.” (Mark 10: 46-52). The question is: What made him blind and what kind of blindness did have?

City of Fall
He lost sight and direction because he was living in the wrong place and he was on the wrong path. He was living in Jericho. Jericho was a symbol of fall. Remember the story of the victim in the parable of the Good Samaritan. He fell into the hands of robbers while he was leaving Jerusalem to go to Jericho. Jerusalem is the city of God whereas Jericho was the city of evil. He was leaving the city of God. There is no clarity, no safety and no peace outside of God. We find Zacchaeus also in Jericho. He was struggling to find peace. Bartimaeus, the hero of our present story, was also living in the streets of Jericho. He was in the wrong place and on the wrong path. The result was total disorientation. He lost the way. He was in total darkness. People who live out side of God are in the wrong place. Where there is no God there is darkness, confusion and conflict.

Son of Honor
Every miracle of Jesus has historical and symbolic significance. Bartimaeus might be physically blind, but the focus is on his spiritual blindness. A number of things will substantiate this point. First of all, physical blindness was attributed to sin by traditional Jews. It was considered to be a punishment from God. Secondly, this was the only place in the Synoptic Gospels where the name of a person who was healed was mentioned. In this story, he mentioned Bartimaeus’ name twice. The word Bartimaeus has a double meaning. In Aramaic it means son of defilement and in Greek it means son of honor. Mark uses the name Bartimaeus in both senses, first in Aramaic and then in Greek. It means he was living in shame but had the potential to live in honor. Thirdly, Jesus said to him, “Your faith has saved you”, instead of saying, “You are healed.” Finally, Mark says, “He followed Jesus on the way,” a clear indication that he had been living on the wrong path.

Will to be Healed
The great thing about Bartimaeus was that he did not waste the moment of grace. He did not let the opportunity fade away. As soon as he came to his senses and realized the need for vision, he rushed to Jesus. He was not influenced by the crowd. Nothing stopped him from pursuing the desire of his heart. He responded with urgency. He ended up in the world of Jesus. The gospel says: “He followed Jesus on the way. He discovered the way of Jesus and took a new direction in his life.” The result of conversion is a new way.

Work of Grace
We all experience moments of conversions. We all witness strong feelings towards God. These are works of grace. The irony is that these moments of conversions rarely occur and even if they happen, they may not last either. Jesus visited Jericho several times. Even though Bartimaeus was living in Jericho, only once did he feel Jesus’ presence. If we delay in responding to the call of grace, we may lose the urgency of the call. Do not despise or ignore the inner call for conversion. They are moments of grace. We need a will to be healed.

Helpful Hints
In order to respond to the work of grace, Bartimaeus did a number of right things they are helpful hints on our journey of Faith. First of all, he accepted the truth about his life. He had the humility to acknowledge his blindness. Secondly, he was not ashamed of bringing his weakness before Jesus. Thirdly, he did not pay attention to the thinking of the mob. Fourthly, he was persistent in his appeal to Jesus. Finally, he showed his sincerity by living the new way.

The important questions we need to ask are these: What is the Jericho of my life? Is there any obstacle in achieving my goal? How seriously am I trying to make my way right?

Mission Sunday

-October 18-

Today is Mission Sunday. We often talk about being on a mission. What is a mission? How can we become missionaries? A mission is simply sharing our faith experience. If we have a strong experience, we cannot help but share it. I remember an incident that happened some time ago. One of my friends developed blood cancer. He visited many doctors but none could help him. My friend was terribly disappointed. “There is a Pilgrimage Center in Goa. Make a pilgrimage there and offer some prayers then you will be healed,” someone told him. He made the pilgrimage and to his great surprise he was miraculously healed. He was very excited by this, to say the least. Since then, whenever he meets a cancer patient he tells them: “Go to Goa…! You will be healed.”

This is what mission means. It is sharing our Christ experience with one another. If we have a strong experience we cannot help but share it. Saint Paul says: “The love of God urges us.” Pope John Paul II said: “Faith is complete when it is shared.” This is what we see in the lives of the Apostles and the Disciples. When they experienced the power of the Risen Lord, they started to share it. When they were stopped from preaching, Peter and John said to the Sanhedrin, “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). We are the fruits of their sharing.

Our Church is missionary by nature. The dimension of sending was explicitly implied in Jesus’ calling. He called them to ‘be with Him and to be sent’. Different times in his ministry Jesus reminded his disciples of this Task. When he appeared to his disciples after the resurrection Jesus said: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.. I am with you always, until the end of the age.”(Mt. 28:19-20) Minutes before His Ascension Jesus repeated the same: “You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the Earth”( Acts. 1:8).

Now it is our turn to continue this mission. How do we carry out this mission? How do we proclaim the God News of Jesus? We can become missionaries in three ways:
1. By becoming pray-ers. Our model for this is Little Theresa of the Child Jesus. She never saw the world that was outside of the four walls of her convent. But, by her prayers alone, she became the Patroness of Missionaries.
2. By witnessing. Jesus says: By your love show the world that you are my disciples. So living our faith in our day to day life is the most powerful way of Evangelization. People may not read the bible but they do read our lives. Actually mission begins with the evangelization of the Evangelizer.
3. By sharing. Jesus himself is our model. He emptied Himself to fill our emptiness. He became poor to make us rich. By sharing our being and our possessions with the underprivileged we can become living Gospels.

I would like to conclude this reflection with this little story. Once when Jesus and his Disciples were traveling they saw a handicapped person on their way. Seeing this person’s misery, Peter asked Jesus: “If God is such a loving Father, why did He create him without hands. Doesn’t He have any solutions for this person’s problem?” Jesus replied: “Yes! He created you with two hands.”

Less Luggage, More Comfort

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Once, a European visited a Monk at his residence. It was a small hut. The visitor was surprised when he saw his room without any furniture. Out of curiosity he asked the Monk, “Where do you keep all your furniture?” The Monk smiled and said, “Where is yours?” The European replied, “Are you kidding? I am a traveler…I carry only what is necessary for my travel.” “I am a traveler too,” the Monk answered.

Whether we accept it or not, the truth about the life is that we are on a journey. As St. Paul rightly put it, “We do not have a permanent city here on earth. We are on a pilgrimage.” The gospel story emphasizes this point today. The rich young man said, “What should I do to inherit Eternal life? Or how should I prepare for the final journey?” He was aware of the eternal nature of life.

Last month I traveled to India. Two things were in my considerations while I was packing the luggage: Take things that are allowed to carry in a plane and take whatever is necessary to make my stay pleasant when I reach the destination. This is true with our life journey too. We need to make discernment. We need to sort out things according to priority. We need to push and pull things. Jesus explained this using the picture of ‘a Camel and Needle’s Eye’. Evidently a camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle. The eye of the needle in this context represents the narrow gate on the outer wall of Jerusalem. This gate is too narrow that a camel can barely pass through. If the camel is carrying a load, even if it bent down, it cannot pass through. The camel has to be unloaded.

The rich man wanted to enter the eternal life. As the camel needed to be unloaded, he was required to be unloaded too. Jesus instructed to him to fix two things to make his travel possible. They were: sell the property and share it with the poor. His attachment to wealth and his lack of care for poor were the obstacles on his way.

Every person is different. Different people have different kinds of attachments. What are the things I need to unload to enter the Eternal Life?

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Choose Life, Your Mother Did

Respect for life -October 4

A gentle man said: “I am a good Catholic. I follow 7 out of 10 commandments.”… 10 commandments are not 10 recommendations; they are 10 requirements to become part of God’s family. Hence, even if we follow 9 commandments and violate one, we fall short of glory.

This Sunday, October 4, is Respect for Life Sunday. We are invited to reflect on the value of life and our obligation to defend and promote life. Respect for life is the FIFTH Commandment. It says, “Thou shall not kill.” This commandment presumes three principles. They are:-
· Life belongs to God
· Right to life is a fundamental right
· We are the care takers of human life.

From this perspective the fifth commandment goes beyond its literal meaning. It is a call to Pro-life. Very often we restrict pro life to the anti-abortion movement. It is more than that. Pro-life means:
· Defend and protect the unborn child
· Create healthy atmosphere for children to grow and mature
· Reach out to the poor who are denied of basic human conditions for a dignified life
· Work for justice and equality for all
· Take care of the elders and homebound
· Avoid hatred, war and violence
· Cultivate moral and human values
· Safeguard the good name of others

Respect for life means all these. It is defending and celebrating life from womb to tomb; conception to natural death. No one can be a Christian without opting for life because Jesus came to the world to bring life in it abundance. Tagore, the great Indian Poet and Nobel Prize winner said: “Every time a new born child is born into the world, God says two things: I love humanity. I trust humanity.” When we accept and appreciate life, therefore, we are responding to God’s love and proving that we are trustworthy.

How do we promote life? There are number of ways. The first and foremost thing in this regard is upholding the sacred institution of marriage. Appropriate sex education, moral and religious formation and disciplined and purpose oriented life are other ways to enhance the appreciation for life.