Choose Life

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18, Psalm 34: 3-21, Ephesians 5:21-32, John 6:60-69)

When Jesus finished his teachings about the Bread of Life, his disciples came to him and said, “Many returned to their former way of life, saying, ‘this teaching is hard; who can accept it?” However, Jesus’ reply was simple. He said to them, “Do you also want to leave?” By making this seemingly harsh statement, Jesus was inviting them to make a radical decision in life – a decision for or against life.

Life is a series of decisions। There are only two choices:-Life or Death. The first man (Adam) was confronted with this challenge. He was asked to make a fundamental decision – a decision, either for life by denying the fruit of the tree or for death by eating it. He failed the test and paid the price. At the very outset of his public ministry, Jesus, too, was asked to make a similar decision – to eat the bread of the earth or to eat the bread of the Father. Jesus came out victorious in this test. He said, “Doing the will of my Father in heaven is my food.” God the Father approved his decision and introduced him to the world as his beloved Son. Before sending the disciples out for their mission, Jesus gave the same test to them: “To eat the flesh and to drink the blood of the Son of Man.” They, also, passed the test. Peter, representing all, said to Jesus, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Now, it is our turn…! Jesus is inviting us to make a fundamental choice. Life is a constant struggle to make the correct choices, because in every person two principles are at work – the life principle and the death principle. (S.Freud). It is easy to opt for death (the pleasure principle) as it is less demanding and immediate in terms of results. The pleasure principle is behind the fast development of the instant or consumer culture. Instant culture is tolerable as long as it does not enter into human relationship. When it becomes a style of human relationship, the result will be ‘adultery, divorce and abortion’. Option for life is difficult, though it is messianic. It is difficult as it demands sacrifices. But the result of delayed satisfaction (Sacrifice) is eternal happiness and peace.

Like Joshua addressed his people, Jesus also tells us today, “Decide today whom you will serve?” Can we answer with Peter, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the holy one of God.”

Test Of Love

LOVE IN ACTION
I know a beautiful story about a couple with whom I personally became very close. Both of them were working in an Income Tax Office. It was at this place where they met for the very first time. Their relationship progressed and developed until it reached the point where both of them considered the possibility of marriage. Just three months before the wedding was to take place, the young man was in a serious accident and he became totally paralyzed. It was a terrible disappointment for the couple and everybody else that knew them. His fiancé stayed with him in the hospital. Her parents tried to persuade her not to do this. No one was, however, able to change her mind. She decided to marry him as they had originally planned. She said: “It wasn’t his body that I loved ... I love him ... I love his person”.

CALL TO LOVE
If there is no love, there is no Christianity. If we don’t abide in love, we don’t know anything about God because God is love. Love is not a quality of God. God is love. Jesus himself underscored this view when he said: ’By your love you will reveal that you are my disciples’. On the sixth Sunday of Easter, we are invited to reflect on this basic principle of Christianity. For example, the second reading (1John 4:7-10) starts with this advice: “Beloved, let us love one another, because God is love; everyone who loves is begotten by God”. Jesus repeats the same message in the Gospel: “As Father loves me, so also I love you. Remain in my love” (John 15:9-17). Therefore, Christian vocation, as St. Therese of Lisieux put it rightly, is a call to love.

LOVING AND LIKING
There is an inner urge in every human person to love and to be loved. Everyone talks about the beauty and fruit of love. In spite of all this talk and excitement about love, everyone finds it difficult to stay in love. Where is the problem? The problem lies in the fact that many of us are confused with the concepts of loving and liking. They are two different realities. Liking is the function of instincts of which we haven’t much control. It is an instinctual behavior. Anything that flows from an instinct is not premeditative. A human Instinct responds to whatever appeals to the senses. It can be looks of a person, the color of an object, the way she/he dresses, a certain manner of behavior, a particular quality of a person and so forth. We subconsciously fall in love with whatever is appealing to the senses. Very often we fall in love with people because of certain fascinations that have a quick impression on the senses. This sort of love ceases to exist as soon as these qualities disappear. Love based on liking alone is doomed to fail because the external appearances are transient.

On the other hand, love is a decision. It is an act of the will (Thomas Aquinas). Therefore even though we may not like someone, still we can choose to love him/her. In genuine love, likeability is only one aspect of many. Likeability definitely makes love easy; likeability makes a person more lovable.

One’s philosophy and vision of life can be a strong factor in loving someone. For example, what inspired Maxmillian Colby to die for a fellow prisoner was the statement of Jesus that “there is no greater love than laying down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus could lay down his life for all humanity because he accepted everyone including the prodigal son as members of his family. Even though, we may disagree with someone or do not like certain behavioral patterns of a person, still we can make a decision to love him/her. The decision to love someone helps us to look for the likeability in that person. That in turn changes our attitude towards him/her. This is the challenge Jesus places before each of his followers.

Criteria of Love
Love is an act of will. It is wishing the good of the other as other. Love is sacrificing one’s self to the extent of creating enough space in one’s self for the other. How do we know that we really love someone? What are the parameters of love? Christian love has three characteristics:
1. It is other oriented. The moment you start to think about others and their growth, you have begun to live Christian Love. If your life and activities do not bring happiness and growth to others, yours is not Christian love.
2. Christian Love is action oriented. Love is not an abstract thing. It should take on a concrete form. For example, we make available our time, talents, and treasures to the person we love. In genuine love there is always an exchange of words, an exchange of persons and an exchange of gifts. God so loved us by sending His own Son. Jesus loved us by giving His own Body and Blood. We must show our love through concrete actions.
3. Christian Love is expensive. There is no genuine love without a price or sacrifice. For example, to forgive someone who offended us or to defend somebody whom we don’t like…is really a sacrificial act. The amount of sacrifice that goes along with our concrete actions measures the real depth of our Christian Love!!

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No one is rich enough to do without a neighbor (Danish proverb)
Love your enemies, for they tell your faults (B.Franklin)
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A mother was telling her six year old about the Golden rule.
‘Always remember,’ she said, ‘ that we are here to help others.’
The youngster mulled this over for a minute and then asked, ‘Well, what are the others here for?’ (Christian Herald)

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World Vocation Sunday

(Fourth Sunday of Easter)

Recently I had a phone call from India. The number looked unfamiliar. Even though I had no clue whatsoever about the identity of the person on the other end, I picked up the phone. With excitement I asked, “Are you John?” “Yes! This is John! What a surprise. How did you recognize my voice?”, he exclaimed. John invited me for a college reunion. We never had any contact for at least 17 years. Still I recognized his voice. It is not easy to forget the voice of someone whom we love, even if we don’t have any contact with that person for a long time.

In the gospel reading (John 10:11-18) Jesus makes a similar statement. Jesus says, “I know mine and mine know me. I know my sheep by name and mine recognize my voice” The key to friendship is this mutual recognition. The key to discipleship is the same, too. No discipleship is possible without listening to and recognizing the voice of Jesus.

Why is listening to Jesus important?

Listening to Jesus is important because as we heard in the first reading (Acts of the Apostles 4:12), Jesus is the only name given for our salvation. Jesus became the sole source of our redemption through his supreme care for all humanity that led to the sacrifice of his life. The relationship and commitment of Jesus to humanity is compared to a good shepherd because for a Jew, the imagery of a Good Shepherd is the highest symbol of God’s faithfulness to Israel. God’s love for Israel is compared to that of a good shepherd. Psalm 23, for example, describes God as a Good Shepherd.

A Good shepherd knows his sheep by name, gives hundred percent care for each sheep and if he loses one, he looks for the lost one until he finds him. Finally, a good shepherd defends and protects the life of his sheep. If a shepherd lost a sheep he had to have a very good explanation. He had to prove that he had done everything possible to find the sheep. If someone attacked a sheep and killed it, the shepherd had to prove that he put up a good fight to save the sheep by showing marks of wounds and injuries.

In the person of Jesus, people saw the manifestation of God’s caring love. In Jesus, we see all these virtues. Calvary is the last proof of his faithfulness. Hanging on the cross and showing his wounds, Jesus says: ‘I have done everything to save you’. We are the fruits of his sacrifice. God approved the way Jesus walked and presented Him to the world by bringing him back to life. Listening to Jesus is, therefore, vitally important, and the early disciples recognized that. They declared: ‘ There is no salvation thorough anyone else, nor is there any other name under Heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved”.

Listening and recognizing the Voice of Jesus is the mark of our faithfulness. Jesus had done everything to perfection. Now it is our turn to show our faithfulness. This we do through the act of listening; constantly listening to his voice and recognizing his presence. The problem is that we are bombarded with a lot of voices (distractions) today. The voice of the secular society, the voice of the self and the voice of various isms are a few among them. Many of these voices appeal to our ears and look good. In the midst of these confusing voices how do we discern Jesus’ voice? How do we prove that we are his faithful Disciples? There are different tools to discern Christ’s voice in our life and understand God’s plan for each one of us. They are prayer, Scripture reading, the celebration of the sacraments, charitable works and different ministries in the church.

Listening Alone is not Enough

Following the Word of Jesus completes the act of listening. Listening alone is not enough. St. James says: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1: 22). Listening is complete in the act of following all the way to the extend of laying down one’s life for the sheep entrusted to oneself. St. James continues: “If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like” (James 1:22-24). To the woman who said to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breast at which you nursed” he replied, “Rather blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it”. (Luke11: 27-28)

Responsible Stewardship is the proof of active following. Following Jesus means taking the responsibility of our call. We too are shepherds in our own life situations. Some of us are parents, some of us are teachers, some of us are doctors. We are given responsibilities of one kind or the other. The important question is how are we taking care of our ‘sheep’?

There is this little story. It is about a father knocking on the door of his son’s bedroom at eight o’clock in the morning. The father said, “Son, get up. It’s time to go to school”. “I’m not going to school today. I have three reasons for saying this,” the son replied. “Number one, I want to sleep. Number two, going to school is boring. Number three, the kids are teasing me”. The father then replied, “But you have to go to school today. I, too, have three reasons why you must go to school today”. “Number one, it is your duty. Number two, you are fifty-five years old. Number three, you are the Principal of the school”.

Being the headmaster of the school, it was his responsibility to get up early in the morning, reach the school on time and motivate the staff and students. In order to lead our homes, communities and nations in the right direction we need to follow the example of the Good Shepherd, Jesus.

Following Jesus Through Priestly and Religious Vocation

Today we are invited to hear Jesus’ call in a in a particular way. Today is World Vocation Sunday. We are called to listen to his call to the priesthood and religious life. As you are well aware, today our church is suffering from a shortage of priestly and religious vocations. We cannot imagine a situation where we don’t have enough priests because no priest means no Eucharist and no Eucharist means no Catholic Church.

The problem is not with God, it is with us. God is still calling us to ministry but we either do not recognize his call or we fail to respond to it. If a person fails to respond to God’s call not only he/she, but the whole community suffers. Therefore the families and communities have a great responsibility to encourage our young men to consider the priesthood as one of their options. On this day, I invite parents to see how they are listening to the voice of God and shepherding their families to bring up good shepherds. Family is the primary catalyst of faith formation. Family is the domestic church where vocations take root.

Love at its best! (Good Friday)

In 1947, Aug 15, on the first Independence day of India, Gandhi made this appeal to the British: “Leave my country, not as enemies but as friends”. A news reporter asked him: “How could you forgive the British who occupied your country for several years? How could you tell them to leave as friends?” Gandhi replied: “I learned this lesson from Calvary, from Jesus on the cross”.

The death of Jesus made a difference in the world. The death of Jesus touched the hearts of Billions and it opened a new way of living. On this Good Friday let us spend a few minutes reflecting on the transforming power of Jesus’ death on the Cross.

The sacrifice of Jesus showed the world the possibility of transforming an evil situation into a moment of grace and reconciliation. Jesus did not deserve death. It was inflicted upon him by the powers of evil. He could have easily avoided his crucifixion by destroying his enemies. He had the power to do so. He, however, chose a different course of Action. Victory always implies defeat of someone else. And as long as there are defeated people, there is the possibility of revenge. So he chose to forgive and break the chain of hatred. He prayed, “Father, forgive them” Luke (23:34). The result was immediate. The Centurion, who was in charge of his execution, surrendered his weapon and said, “He is really the Son of God” (Mark 15:39). His worst enemy became the first evangelizer.

Jesus was really successful on the cross, especially in his act of forgiveness. There are limited options to get the world back to God and to one another. Surely one is by the act of forgiveness. The modern world takes forgiveness as weakness. The truth is just the opposite. The weakness of forgiveness is more powerful than the strength of pride. Looking at the Crucifix, Archbishop Gudier said: “There is a greater greatness than the greatness of success that is the greatness of failure”. Many of us are living in a hell-like situation, because of our unwillingness to forgive. A little more humility can bring back the lost paradise.

The sacrifice of Jesus made suffering a sacrament of grace, a means of redemption. No one likes suffering. Suffering in itself can be evil. When we accept suffering for a noble purpose, it becomes a sacrifice; it becomes a means of grace. Jesus showed this at Calvary. He accepted suffering and offered it to God for the salvation of the world. Thus His suffering became a source of grace.

Suffering and sacrifice are part of the human experience. A grain of wheat cannot produce fruit unless it falls on the ground and dies. The same way, we can’t achieve anything worthwhile without sacrificing many of our personal comforts and desires. To bring up our children in the right way, parents needs to sacrifice some of their interests. To achieve a good grade in school, students need to give up some of their fun times. All these bring certain amount of suffering. This suffering shapes the quality of our lives. Martin Luther King said: “If a person has nothing worth dying for, he is not fit to live”.

The death of Jesus challenges us to work for justice. The suffering Jesus underwent was not the result of his wrong choices. It was the suffering of the world. It was the suffering of the leper…It was the struggles of the sinners…It was the pain of the outcast…When Jesus reached out to give them a life, he lost his life. There is no doubt that ‘real love suffers and hurts’. When Mother Therese started her work in Calcutta, some Hindu priests went to the police and asked them to stop her on grounds that she was converting the people. The police visited her place, but were touched by her work of charity. They returned to the priests and said: “Yes, we will stop her if you take up the work she is doing”.

And finally, his death reminds us of our sinfulness. Remember the first murder recorded in the Bible: the murder of Abel: God asked Cain: “Cain where is your brother?” He replied: “I don’t know!”(Genesis 4:8ff). Today, we cannot say that we don’t know Jesus. We cannot wash our hands like Pilate. Let us take the responsibility of the death of Jesus and start working for the Kingdom of God.

Dies to Rise! (Fifth Sunday of Lent)

My first supper in the seminary is very fresh in my memory. I was only fifteen years old then. After the inaugural talk by the Rector, we all proceeded to the dining hall for the dinner. Everything looked beautiful to my eyes except the dinner that was served. I was a vegetarian all my life and the food served was non-vegetarian. I informed my situation to the person in charge of the meals. I never thought it was going to be a big issue. The Rector came to me and said, “Sebastian, if you want to stay here you have to eat what we serve. There is no special treatment in the seminary”. He was not funny at all.

It may sound funny but it was a heart breaking moment in my life. I was asked to give up something which was part of my life style. My desire to become a priest was stronger than any other personal interest. I did not want to shatter my desire to be a priest for a choice of food. I ate the food even though I ended up in the hospital. I learned a lesson though. We cannot achieve anything worthwhile without paying a price. The price can be big or small, silly or serious.

Jesus Sacrificed
Jesus beautifully explained this truth when he said: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24). Jesus became Christ not through any short cut. He grew into the fullness of his vocation by going through a series of sacrifices. Through obedience he was made perfect (Hebrews 5: 8-9). He had to give up his personal desires. He had to say no to his friends (Peter). He has to give up his Jewish identity and finally he had to sacrifice his earthly life. His sacrifice did not end up in vain. God exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above all other names.

Growth/ progress demands sacrifice. This is a natural Law. A child who is unwilling to give up his toys will not reach adulthood. Parents who are unwilling to grow old gracefully will prevent their children from becoming adult. To grow new leaves, the branches have to shed the old ones. In order to achieve anything worthwhile, one needs to pay a price. Unfortunately many people are happy with the Status Quo. A lot of them are unwilling to explore the possibility of something higher and more noble. Naturally they miss the opportunities to become great. It could be either due to ignorance or fear.

Sacrifice <> Suffering
Many people views sacrifice as suffering. This is the problem with many of us. Any sacrifice which is not related to a higher cause can be seen as suffering. Jesus was able to take up the cross because he could relate his death with the resurrection. Jesus considered his cross as a gateway to a higher good. Events make sense not in isolation but in its connectedness. A smile of a new born baby melts down the birth pain of a mother. A gold medal in the Olympic Game makes years of hard work look pleasant.

We all make sacrifices on a daily basis. The Hindu Scripture talks about three kinds of sacrifices.
1. Sacrifice without knowing the value of the object one sacrifices.
2. Sacrifice because one is forced to renounce it.
3. Sacrifice even when one knows the value of the object one renounces.

This third one is the Christian act of sacrifice. This is voluntary and redemptive. Jesus willingly took up the cross. His suffering became redemptive. No act of sacrifice goes in vain, if we approach it in this way.

What Choice Will You Make?
For people who are willing to sacrifice, the possibilities are as high as the sky. The world is continuously evolving. The best is yet to come.

Similarly, our life is an unfinished project. It is fashioned after the image of Jesus. Until we reach the fullness of Christ we remain incomplete. Naturally there are only two possibilities: progress or regress (growth or decline). No progress means decline.

The choice is yours.