MERRY CHRISTMAS
NOT CONDEMNATION BUT REDEMPTION

When Jesus was born, the Angel appeared to the Shepherds and said: I have good news for you: A savoir is born…He will save you from sin। Today we come together to celebrate this good news: In Jesus, we are a new creation and in him, we have life and hope. Jesus gives us salvation in the following FOUR ways:

OFFERING HIS PRESENCE
God saves us not as an outsider। He involves in our history and integrates himself with our daily life. He is Immanuel. Jesus said to Zacchaeus: Come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.

OFFERING FORGIVENESS
Jesus saves us by offering forgiveness। Many people are captives of the past missteps and mistakes. Many feel that they are unworthy to come closer to God. Many feel that there is no hope. I invite your attention to the story of the prodigal son. According to this story, even without asking anything of his past reckless life, his father, embraced him. Jesus wants to share this Good News with us: “Do not be afraid! Come to me… I will give you rest…”

OFFERING A NEW WAY
Jesus gives us salvation by offering a New Way। The Old Testament Principal, a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye will not work anymore. They were tested and failed. So after washing the feet of his disciples Jesus said: I am giving you a new way, a way of service, humility and sharing.

OFFERING HIS LIFE
Jesus was born in Bethlehem। The word Bethlehem means House of Bread. Jesus continues His saving work by being food (Eucharist) for us.

At the birth of Jesus, the Angels sang: Glory to God in the Highest and peace on earth. When we accept the way of Jesus, there will be peace on Earth and Glory in heaven. Because as Paul said: Everyone in Jesus is a New Creation. Let this Christmas be a time to begin a new way of living. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and every blessing of this season.

CHRISTMAS GIFT
4th SUNDAY OF ADVENT

We are a few days away from celebrating Christmas। Many of us are ready with our Christmas presents. God is ready with his gift too. God is giving us presence in human form. “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel”. Emmanuel means God with us. God’s presence is the richest treasure one can have in one’s life. Presence of God is the foundation of our hope and absence of God is the beginning of crises (Rf: Tower of Babel; Jesus stilling the storm).

Receiving God in our life is the richest blessing that we can have. It is, however, a challenge. The reason is that God comes to our life the way He wanted not the way we wanted। The first receivers of Emmanuel had struggles to cope up with this reality. John had to send his disciple to clarify the identity of Jesus. Mary had to question the wisdom of the Angel. Joseph had to face the ethical and religious challenges.

In order to let God in their lives, John, Joseph and Mary had to go beyond the conventional wisdom। All three had to enter into the divine milieu. They had to break their self-wisdom in perfect obedience leading to complete surrender. Mary said, “Thy will be done according to your will”.

We oftentimes struggle with our faith. At times, it is difficult to see God with us. Like Martha and Mary, we also complain: Where were you when I was in most need of you? Jesus did not answer them in words. Instead, he wept with them. He identified with their pain. Jesus is with us in our sadness, our struggles and joys. Like Joseph and Mary let us ponder on the word of God in our hearts. God will reveal His plan for us and strengthen us to peruse that plan.

GOD OF SURPRISES

Third Sunday of Advent

The third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday। Gaudete means Joy. The Mass for the Third Sunday begins with this Antiphon: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice! The Lord is near (Phil 4:4-5). The reason for the joy is that in Jesus we have a different kind of God. Jesus is coming not to condemn but to comfort; not to punish but to promote; not to destroy but to save.

Most of the ancient religions including Judaism that John the Baptist represents present a scary picture of God. Announcing the coming of the Lord, John said, “Messiah is coming with winnowing Fan. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fear.” Things did not happen the way John predicted. Jesus came with a different image. He became a friend of sinners. Jesus invited them for conversion with a sympathetic heart. Paradoxically, the Jesus ‘preached’ and the Jesus ‘encountered’ by John was different. As a result, John was puzzled about the identity of Jesus. He sent his disciples to Jesus for clarifications.

The good news about the incarnation is the new revelation of God. God is not a God of horror. He is a God of compassion and mercy. It is not the sword but unconditional love is his weapon। He is a loving father who is completely interested in our well-being. Jesus revealed the reign of God by ‘giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and life to the dead.” This was what Prophet Isaiah also prophesied about the Messiah (Isaiah 35:1-10).

Often we approach God with our preconceived ideas। At times, we make absolute statements about God. The truth is that God is beyond our comprehension. The moment we define God, God becomes an idol. The moment we define God we miss Him. Let God defines us instead we define God. Approach God with a receptive spirit, God will surprise us. If we approach God with our own criteria, we receive only in that proportion.

Recently I read a story about a retired teacher। She decided to volunteer some of her times to tutor children at a children’s hospital. She was given the name and room number of a nine-year-old boy. With all excitement, she went to the Children’s hospital. She was shocked to find that he was in the burn unit. His condition was pathetic. She thought of going back home. She, however, got some courage and told the boy, “I will be your teacher while you are here. I am going to teach you English grammar. This will help you in your future.” She spent half an hour with the boy and returned home. She, however, thought that she was wasting time on this boy, and decided not to return. A few days later the boy’s mom called her and said,” Please come and teach my son. After your visit he started responding to the medicine.” The teacher returned to the hospital the following day. As soon as the boy saw the teacher, he said to his mother, “Mother I know I will live. If were dying they would not have sent her to teach me.”

Had we been hopeless and condemned, God would not have sent Jesus to the world. We are precious and priceless being before God. God trust us. God has great plans for us. Jesus came to reveal the heart of God for us. It does not matter who we are today. What is important is who we want to become. As every saint had a past, every sinner has a future. Jesus, who healed the blind, raised the dead….is with us. Do not be afraid! Let us approach him with our blindness and deafness…. He will bring us back to life. There is hope. Where there is hope, there is joy.

COMMON GROUND
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Two days ago, the leaders of both the parties (the Republican and the Democrat) had a summit at the White House with the President Obama. After the meeting they said, “We are trying to find a common ground where we can work together for the good of the country. “ Most of the time people talk about the differences that separate them rather than the common thread that ties them together। The result is not peace but competition, jealousy, rivalry and division.

Finding the common ground and coming together as one family is the challenge of Jesus’ ‘coming। All the readings for the second Sunday of Advent talk about this reality. For example, in the first reading, Prophet Isaiah envisioned the messianic era where everyone lives in peace with one another. He said, “Then the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb….There shall be no ruin or harm on my entire holy mountain…” Yes! Peaceful human co-existence must be the result of Jesus’ coming.

To fulfill this messianic vision of life we need a common ground. We find this common ground in the person of Jesus. He is the common image of the entire humanity। In the mystery of incarnation, this image became a visible reality. If we experience division and conflict today, its primary reason is our failure to see this image in each other. Instead of seeing the image of Jesus in each other, we see our own image. We stress too much on independence ignoring the natural law of interdependence. To assert my ‘self’ and my ‘right’, I focus on my uniqueness that individuates me from others. We tend to limit our life to ourselves. The result is temporary good feeling and permanent feeling of loneliness. We express our lonesomeness through antisocial behaviors.

To have a harmonious existence, our hearts needs to be conformed to that of Jesus। It is by developing having the attitude of Christ ‘who though in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, rather emptied himself’.

For many people conversion to Jesus means going to Church and doing religious rituals. Conversion is more than that. John says, “Produce good fruit as evidence of repentance.” We produce the fruits of conversion when we grow from rituals to relationship. The ultimate purpose of repentance is building bridges with one another. Paul exhorts the church of Rom the same thing. The reason for reaching out the other is the mystery of incarnation. Human body becomes the dwelling place of God. This is our common ground.
Harmonious co-existence is possible when every person lives the threefold Christ-principle. They are:
Mutual acceptance
Mutual respect
Mutual promotion

On this second Sunday of Advent, let us ask these questions. Do I accept others as they are? Do I respect their rightful place and position in the community? Do I give the other what is due to him/her?