What Would Jesus Do?

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, C.M.I.

Lord Jesus, help us to apply the question “What would Jesus do?” to the choices we have to make daily.

This Sunday’s Gospel (Mt 4:12-23) invites our attention to the call of the first disciples. It is coupled with Jesus’ command: “Reform your lives”. Without reform or the radical change that is daily conversion, discipleship is not possible. For this we must be willing to ask ourselves again and again, “What would Jesus Do?” and be equally willing to act repeatedly upon our answer.

This question and its acronym “WWJD” are worth exploring. A WWJD web site asks how these four letters became so popular in the youth of America. A youth group from Calvary Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan, brought this question. “What would Jesus do?” to its popularity. Inspired by the 1896 book by Charles Sheldon, “In His Steps”, the youth group tried to apply this question to the choices they all had to make daily. As a tangible reminder, they were simple cloth bracelets that bore the letters WWJD. The fervour of that Michigan youth group might strike a similar fervour in each of us to lead us to truer discipleship. To begin the process of reform, we might consider the following scenarios.

A note in the bulletin makes known the need of a parishioner for a ride to church. The address is in your neighbourhood but you’d rather not be burdened with this weekly responsibility. What would Jesus do?

Your telephone rings and a voice on the other end asks you to help out at the school’s fundraiser this Saturday. You have a movie date planned, so you decline with the excuse that you’re already committed elsewhere. What would Jesus do?

Your neighbour is in the hospital. She’s a widow and has no family in the area but you hate the smell of hospitals and, after all, you might “catch something” and get sick yourself so you don’t visit. What would Jesus do?

Like the Corinthians who favoured certain preachers over others (2nd reading 1 Cor 1:10-13,17), you try to find out who will be presiding at which Mass (or worship service) so as not to be bored to death by Rev. Blank or lulled to sleep by Rev. Doe. What would Jesus do?

Initially it may seem that these examples drawn from the very ordinary events of everyday life have little to do with discipleship. But in a very real sense, these little events and our responses have everything to do with discipleship because the question “What would Jesus do?” must be levelled at every important and seemingly insignificant moment of our lives.

Christened to be Light

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, C.M.I.

Lord Jesus, Lamb of God, “Show me your holy secret of how to expose my light to the world in hidden acts of light and love” (from the prayer of Edward Hays)

Three voices speak this Sunday to remind us who we are, whose we are and who God intends that we become. These voices speak against the backdrop of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Like Jesus, we, who are baptized in his name, are chosen by God, named as God’s children and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Paul in his greeting to the believers at Corinth (Cor 1:1-3), will reference the gift of our consecration by God. Set apart at baptism and empowered by daily grace, each of us is intended for a holiness that will illumine the way of our contemporaries toward God. Isaiah, in today’s 1st reading (Is.49:3,5-6) will again invite us to identify with the servant of God commissioned to be a light of salvation to the nations.

At the time of our baptismal initiation into Christ and the church, light was an integral symbol of the ceremony. A smaller candle was lit from the Easter Candle that represents Christ, the Light of the World. This small candle was then offered to the newly initiated with a prayer that each receive the burning light and sustain the grace of baptism throughout a blameless life by keeping God’s commandments and remaining prepared to meet the Lord in his second coming among us.

But what does it mean to be light in our world? In brief, it means that we must allow ourselves to be consumed. Eberhard Arnold, co-founder of the first of the Bruderhof communities in 1920, has explained the challenge of being light in this way (Salt and Light, The Plough Publishing House, 1998). A light on a candlestick consumes itself to give light to all in the house. It serves the intimate unity of the household because its life consists in dying.

The light that Jesus kindles in a follower of his is not produced merely by intelligent recognition, systematic clarity of thought or sharp discernment. What matters, what produces light, is to live within God’s heart. The light of God’s heart creates community and draws people together. However, this light cannot radiate brightness and strength without being consumed. Holding out the example of Jesus, Lamb of God, Arnold insists that those who experience the world’s suffering and guilt with the crucified Christ, are able to serve the world, with the light and the strength of the risen Lord.

Christ himself is this light and he did not hide his light under a basket or bed. Those whom he has called, consecrated and christened to be light cannot hide, either. And so, let us press ourselves into the service of being consumed so as to illumine the way to Christ for our world.

Baptismal Commitment

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, C.M.I.

Infant Jesus, help us see that the needy are treated not merely with charity but with dignity that is justly theirs as God’s children.

In the movie “The Godfather”, one of the most memorable scenes is the scene of baptism. Connie wanted her brother Michael Corleone to be the godfather in the christening of her son. “Do you renounce Satan?” asked the priest. “I do”, responded Corleone, and in that same moment, the camera cut away from the sacramental scene to shock the viewer with a brutal murder. “And all his works?”, came the question. Again Corleone’s positive response was shown to be nothing more than a lie as another violent killing was perpetrated. So it went all through the baptismal ceremony. Corleone said one thing and did another. His profession of faith was empty, his integrity a sham.

Today’s feast of the baptism of Jesus offers the occasion for turning a reflective eye upon ourselves and our own baptismal commitment. Christ’s own commitment, as reflected in today’s scripture texts, was to assume the role of God’s Son (Mt. 3:13-17), empowered by the Holy Spirit so as to go about doing the good works of healing (Acts 10:34-38) and establishing justice on the earth (Is 42:1-4,6-7). True to his baptismal anointing, Jesus said what he meant and meant what he said. Nor was there any discrepancy between the faith that he professed with his lips and the faith that he lived in the presence of his contempories. For his integrity, he suffered the ultimate penalty - death at the hands of those who rejected him, his faith, his message, his relationship to God and the radical character of his baptismal commitment. We who call ourselves Jesus’ own are also called to live out the reality of baptism, as he did, even at the risk of dying, as he did.

Fortunately, many have taken this risk; one of the most notable of them was Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933. She worked with her mentor and partner in the Gospel, Peter Maurin, to open hospitality houses for the poor across the United States. Within 5 years they had established 33 places where the needy were not just treated with charity but with the dignity that was justly theirs as God’s children. Day and Maurin believed that baptized believers should work to change the very structures of society so as to make room for social justice, equality and peace.

At Jesus’ baptism, Jesus became a dominant social force for the world. At her baptism, Dorothy Day grasped Jesus’ hand and made his work and his mind her own. At each of our baptisms, we were consecrated for similar service. How do we live out our baptismal promises in word and deed in the context of the present crises in the world and thus become a church that Jesus would readily claim as his own.

Epiphany of the Lord

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, C.M.I.

Infant Jesus, may the joy I experience in your forgiving and merciful presence help me draw others to your healing presence.

The word ‘epiphany’ was originally used in Greek mythology in the sense of ‘theophany’, viz., the manifestation of a god in human form. The Christian feast of Epiphany originated in the Eastern Church, probably to substitute some of the pagan theophany celebrations. In the beginning, the feast included the birth of Christ, the manifestation of Christ to Magi, the baptising of Christ and His first miracle at Cana - all events where Christ is being manifested to the world. This feast was adopted by the Western Church in the 4th century, but with special emphasis laid on the adoration of the Magi, i.e., the manifestation of Jesus to the non–Jewish people. In some places, this feast is also called “Christmas of the gentiles”.

According to an ancient tradition preserved and passed on through the centuries by believers, the magi were of three different generations. Caspar was thought to be a very young man, Balthazar was middle-age and Melchior was a senior citizen. The message underlying this tradition is that Jesus, God’s Son and our Saviour, speaks to each of us at every stage and at every moment of our lives. The old hear the call to integrity and wisdom. The middle-age hear the call to service and responsibility. The young hear the call to identity and intimacy. What call do you hear today and how will you respond to it?

Today, as we come with the gift of ourselves to honour Jesus, he will meet us where we are, at whatever age we are, in whatever frame of mind and heart we are, with whatever joys and “baggage” we carry with us. He will meet us where we are and engage us in conversation. He will call us to accept this new year as God’s gift. He will invite us to see in it the promise of a new beginning, supported by grace and enabled by God’s own Spirit. He will encourage us to take full advantage of the gift of yet another chance to become a truer reflection of God in whose image we are beautifully and wonderfully made.

What will you carry away with you after your “visit” and conversation with God? In today’s 1st reading (Is 60:1-6) Isaiah suggests that the joy we experience in God’s forgiving and merciful presence should so shine forth within us that others might see and be similarly drawn to God. In today’s 2nd reading (Eph 3:2-3,5-6), Paul reminds us that our relationship with God in Christ also makes us related to one another and all others including enemies. While this may be challenging to achieve, the universal character of the Gospel demands that this universality be translated into our practical everyday lives.