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?

REFRESH YOUR HEART IN CHRIST

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
NOVEMBER 28

We grow in spiritual life by celebrating and participating in the paschal mystery of Jesus। The paschal mystery includes the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Every time we come together to celebrate the Eucharist, we celebrate these events. We also celebrate the mystery of our salvation throughout the year by assigning each event a season. Thus, we have the season of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Passion, Resurrection and Ordinary time. We call this the liturgical year.

Today we begin Advent, the first season of the liturgical year। The word Advent means coming, coming of Jesus as a saving event। In fact, the Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent begins with a warning। Jesus says, “For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you must be prepared for at an hour you do not expect the Son of Man will come” (Mt 24: 37-44).

Evidently, this is in reference to the Second Coming of Jesus. One may wonder why we talk about the Final Day on the very first day of the year. It is not by accident. It is important that we must be aware of our destination before we begin our journey। Jesus came into history not to keep us here on earth but to prepare us to stand before the Lord holy and undefiled and lead us to eternal life. Thus, incarnation is complete with the Second Coming of Jesus where He presents us to the Father.

Whether Advent is all about Jesus’ first coming in the history or His second coming at the end of time what is important for us is his coming in our life। During this Advent, therefore, our challenge is how we make the coming of Jesus a reality in our life. Definitely, there are numerous ways. I would like to mention three of them.

KEEP THE FOCUS ON THE REASON FOR CELEBRATION

There is this story. One day a few women came to a restaurant. They were in a very happy- go- lucky mood. Out of curiosity, the manager asked them. “Why are you here, today? What is special?” “Oh. Today is the birthday of my only child. We are here to celebrate it,” one of the women said. “Where is the child? I would like to greet him,” he said. “We did not bring him. He is at home.” she said. “Do you think he would have allowed us to enjoy this food if we brought him with us? He would be a real disturbance,” she added. A birthday celebration without the birthday baby being present? The focus of the celebration was shifted from the center to the periphery. Advent is a holiday season for many. Naturally, people are busy with buying and sending gifts, organizing parties and so forth. All these are important. They are part of the celebration and life is meant to be a celebration. However, the Gospel reading on this very first day of Advent begins with a warning; Jesus says, “Be vigilant and Stay awake.” If we are not vigilant, there is a danger of missing the REASON for our celebration. The reason for this season is Jesus: the Birth of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus. If we are not attentive to the coming of Jesus, his coming becomes a non -starter in our lives. Therefore, as Paul says, “Stay awake! Put on Christ and make no provision for the desire of the flesh” (Romans 13:11-14).

OPEN TO CHANGE

The good news of Jesus’ First Coming was that He chose a human body as his dwelling place. By assuming a human form, He restored human dignity. The human body became the temple of God. The incarnation of Jesus must take place in every human person. The Divine must penetrate into every cell of our lives. Therefore, it is not enough to focus on his coming alone, but we need to prepare our lives to welcome him. We need to allow him to enter into our lives and transform us. “This coming of Jesus is not merely an interior, spiritual affair; it happens rather in palpable, concrete forms. Each individual Christian personally and the Church of Christ as a community, is a sign of the fact that God has come and is with us forever.” Our challenge during Advent is like clay in the hands of a potter। We need to place ourselves in the hands of God and allow him to shape and reshape our image until he forms a pot of his liking. St. Erenaus said this: As long as the clay is wet, moist and supple, the shaping is painless; but on the other hand, if the clay is hardened and reactive, it can break under the influence of the Potter. In Adam, the clay became brittle and hardened, so the shaping became painful and even impossible. What kind of clay are you? We can make the clay of our life moist and supple by doing a number of things: By reading, the bible every day during these 25 days; attending Mass on weekdays; preparing for a good confession; attending the bible studies and so forth. Therefore, one needs to ask: What is it that I need to stop doing and what is that I need to start doing during this Advent?

MEET JESUS IN THE ‘NEIGHBOR’

The incarnation of Jesus made every human person another meeting place of God. The uniqueness of Christianity is that we can relate to God only through our neighbors. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite tried to reach the temple by avoiding the victim on the road. Not they, but the Samaritan who stopped on the way to meet the victim caught the attention of God. Where do I find Jesus? Remember, Jesus was born in a manger, not in a palace or any other place of luxury. Jesus is there where people are struggling to celebrate their life with human dignity…Jesus is there where there is a person in need. During this season, let us try to be generous to people who are in need. Thus, let us make this Holiday season a Holy season.

THY KINGDOM COME!

There is one prayer that every Christian knows by heart and that is the Lord’s Prayer. The center of this prayer is the concept of the Kingdom. For example, when we pray the Lord’s prayer, we say, “Thy Kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Today as we celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King, it is quite fitting to reflect on the meaning and implication of Jesus’ Kingdom and His Kingship. (Evidently, king and kingship is not an attractive terms in this age of democracy. As people become more and more focused on individual independence, the term kingship does not have any fascination at all. For many people the word King is a synonym for tyranny and subjugation.)

WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD? It is very different from our popular understanding. The petition “Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven” gives sufficient insights to this question. Kingdom of God is equivalent to heavenly life. Heavenly life is life in the presence of the Lord. This was the life style of the paradise which we lost by human defiance. Therefore, Jesus said to the penitent thief, “You will be with me in Paradise.”

When we are in the Kingdom, we are in the presence of God. This does not mean the disappearance of pain and struggle. The presence of God in our life, however, gives us a new way of seeing things. We are able to see things from the perspective of God. This makes a difference in life. For instance, forgiveness, sacrifice, love and sharing find new values. This is exactly what happened to the ‘good thief’. In the presence of Jesus, he discovered himself in a new way. He brought heaven to the Earth. Therefore, Kingdom of God is not a place or an institution, it is a situation where I allow God to take over my life and replace my plan with God’s plan. It is living as Jesus lived.

WHY IS JESUS THE KING? The Kingdom of God became a complete reality in the person of Jesus. Jesus submitted His life to His Father and consequently He mirrored God in His life. The result was that Jesus and God, the Father became one. Jesus became the way to God, the Father. As far as Jesus is the Way, He is our King.

Jesus was not an oppressive king. His was shepherding. In Jesus’ presence, everyone experienced freedom, life and joy. For Jesus the king the lost sheep never lost His attention. For Jesus neither the prodigal son nor the women caught in adultery was a hopeless case.

PARAMETERS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

REGENERATION: According to Jesus, what we need is not merely a good example or new teaching but regeneration (conversion). He said to Nicodemus, “Except one is born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3-7). Continuous openness to growth, profound desire to confirm after the image of Jesus and courageous acts to accomplish it, is the principal mark of a person in the Kingdom of God.

EXTRA MILE MORALITY: Jesus said : Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and Scribes, you will not enter the Kingdom of God. Sermon on the Mount explains this new code of conduct. This is a total reversal of secular values. According to this new approach, greatness comes through service and love, not by power and might. “Great people show their strength through forgiveness where as the weak prove their strength through fight under the façade of ‘justice.’

CENTRALITY OF HUMAN PERSON: In the Kingdom of God, we grow from rituals to relationship. Jesus said, “Sabbath is for man and man is not for Sabbath”. Man/woman and his/her needs determine the course of action. Remember how Jesus appreciated the act of the Good Samaritan. (The priest and the Levite ignore the wounded man in view of offering sacrifice with cleanliness.) It is sad to see how these days cats and dogs take the place of human beings!

SHARING AND CARING: “If you want to follow me, sell your possessions, distribute it with the poor and then follow me”, Jesus said to the young man. He returned home sad since he had a lot of wealth. God punished the Rich Man not because he was wealthy but because of his reluctance to share his blessing with Lazarus, the hungry. Zacchaeus found salvation when he decided to share his wealth with others. The criterion for the last judgment is ‘nothing but our willingness to reach out to each other with a sharing and caring hand.” The road to the Kingdom passes through the neighbors’ house.

COSMETIC LIVING TO COSMIC EXISTENCE

33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

“When you have my funeral procession, keep both my hands opened in the open casket। Let the people know that their king is not carrying anything with him when finally he leaves this world” ,Alexander the Great told his friends. Alexander conquered more than two third of the world. Towards the end of his life, he realized the truth. Nothing in the world has real worth in the final analyses. They are just fleeting bubbles. Jesus tried to communicate the same message when He made this comment about the temple. “All that you see here- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down” (Lk 21 :5-19). Three things are important.

WORK FOR WHAT REALLY MATTERS!

People live in one of the following three levels:- Appearance level, Having level and being level.
The first group’s main concern is accidentals. They are shallow minded people. They are living in the cosmetic world. The second category is crazy after possessions. Like Alexander the Great, they believe that piling up worldly things create heaven for them. Unfortunately, appearance will disappear and possessions will perish. People living at the being level are the real people. Their focus is substance rather than accidentals। All the saints belong to this rank.

CHALLENGES OF LIVING THE TRUTH!

Many people these days live in denial। They pretend things are great and try to create this impression. The fear of losing security is behind this deceptive mode of living. To live an authentic life in this social milieu is tough. The challenges are colossal. Jesus himself warned against these challenges. There will be false prophets. These ‘prophets’ can be people from our own faith community who spread false teaching which has an easy appeal. There will be war and insurrection. This can be our own personal conflicts between ‘narrow gates and wider gates’. One may experience earthquake and famine. In other words, in the midst of confusion and chaos, one may be scared of losing one’s ground of faith. The holy people faced similar experiences. They, however, faithfully stood with truth and thus their life became a living testimony of what really matters. They became a model for us in faith.

PROMISE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE!

Remember the comforting and encouraging words of our Lord: “I myself will give you the wisdom to make your adversaries powerless…You will be hated by all because of my name but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.” We hear the same message from Malachi: “For you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays” (Malachi 3:20). Therefore let us ‘stand erect and raise our heads’ and by our perseverance we will secure our lives.

Work for things that you can carry with you when you leave this world। What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?