Christ of Experience

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Help me O Risen Lord, to experience you always and everywhere more than merely remembering you.

The death of Jesus is nothing for us if we have not died with Him; the resurrection of our Lord is nothing for us if we have not been raised with Him”. These are the words of Swiss theologian Emil Brunner (1889 – 1966), who insisted that Christ and the Christ – event are not merely to be remembered but experienced. Citing the example of the first disciples as living proof of his point author Jones once suggested that the early followers of Jesus had little ritual but a mighty realization. They went out not only remembering Christ but experiencing him. That experience became the focal point of their lives, the reason for their joy, the cause of their hope and the impetus of their ministry (1st reading, Acts 2:42-47).

In today’s second reading (1Pet 1:3-9), the author of 1 Peter describes the transformative experience of Jesus’ death and resurrection as new birth, a birth unto hope, a birth unto an imperishable inheritance, a birth unto salvation. This new birth enables believers to face the struggles of life and its sufferings with an irrepressible joy. However unclear it may be to us, the triumph of Easter and our experience of it dramatically change the way we look at the problems of life and the world.

To round out our individual and collective experiences of Jesus, who died but now lives, today’s Gospel (Jn 20:19-31) features the risen Lord breathing the Holy Spirit into his own. Through that action, they and we become “God-breathed”, taking in the very life-breath of the living God. Jesus’ challenge to Thomas remains a challenge for each of us: to move beyond the “touchy-feely” world of empirical science that demands tangible proof and into the realm of faith that doesn’t see but believes and loves the living of faith that doesn’t see but believes and loves the living Lord.

Because of Jesus dead and risen, insisted Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Testament to Freedom, Harper-Collins Publishers, San Francisco: 1995), a new and purifying wind can blow through our present world. Because of Jesus’ resurrection and our experience of it, Archimedes’ challenge can be answered: “Give me somewhere to stand and I will move the earth”. If only a few people really believed and acted on the experience of Jesus’ resurrection, said Bohoeffer, the world and we would be greatly and forever changed. To live in the light of resurrection – this is what Easter means.

Easter and Its Vision

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, enlighten us with a new way of seeing and empower us with a new way of loving and serving all others in your name.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we celebrate Easter and the transforming vision associated with it. Jesus, who was dead, is risen! Alleluia! Today, we celebrate our belief that in Jesus’ death and rising, each of us has been afforded a new and happy beginning. Because of Jesus, we have been called to live what Professor and Pastor Peter Gomes has described as “life on the other side”, i.e. life on the other side of Easter.

Rabbi Harold Kushner (“Who Needs God”, 2000) has affirmed that religion is not primarily a set of beliefs, a collection of prayers or a series of rituals. Religion is, first and foremost, a way of seeing. It can’t change the facts about the world we live in, but it can change the way we see those facts, and that in itself can often make a difference. How appropriate that Peter, in today’s first reading, begins his speech at the home of Cornelius with the words, “In truth, I begin to see that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). Living life in Christ on the other side of the Easter event, Peter had also begun to see as Jesus did, not with shades or blinders of centuries old prejudices that had once separated Jews like Peter, from Gentiles like Cornelius, but with this very vision of God, who sees all with love and welcomes all without distinction.

The new-found vision enabled Peter to finally begin to see the universal intentions of God, to preach the good news at Cornelius’ home and afterward to welcome him and his household as baptised brothers and sisters in Christ.

When Christ died on the cross and rose again, the Cross transformed into a symbol of hope. Do we foresee any kind of transformation in ourselves?

Come Out and Go Free!

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help me to come out of my bonds and find new courage and freedom in you.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This week, the readings focus on the promise of life after death. The prophet Ezekiel (37:12-14) reminds us that it is by the very Spirit Of God that we will be called forth to rise from our graves and live. Similarly, Paul in his letter to the Romans (8:8-11) assures us that the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead also lives in us. The presence of this Spirit transforms us, such that we are no longer bound by the flesh but are freed to live new lives in Christ.

As a sign of the power of the Spirit of God at work in Him, Jesus, in today’s Gospel (Jn 11:1-45) raises Lazarus to life. This sign, the last of seven signs in the fourth gospel, affirms, by way of illustration, the declaration of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life: Whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life and whoever is alive and believes in me will never die.” (25-26). In his capacity as one who was much loved by Jesus, Lazarus is a paradigm of every beloved believer. Therefore, just as Jesus called loudly to Lazarus to “Come out”, so also does Jesus summon each of us to recognize whatever we have allowed to entomb us in death and to “come out” so as to allow ourselves to be “untied” by his grace and “go free”.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from the tomb of self-sufficiency wherein you do not admit of your need for God and for one another. “Come out”, says Jesus, from the tomb of preoccupation with yourself and open your eyes to the needs of others around.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from the secret safety of the tomb of uninvolvement and dare to challenge the injustices in this world.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from the grave of melancholy and despair and be glad in the blessings that are yours.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from under the pile of unfounded fears that have become a virtual burial place; untie yourself from all unnecessary concerns and find new courage and freedom in me.

Journey to Light

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, give sight to those who walk in darkness and sin.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At this time in our journey through Lent parishes with RCIA members conduct the second scrutiny. Our conversion journey becomes more focussed when the elect undergo the scrutiny on this 4th Sunday of Lent. If the ritual called scrutiny is to be effective, it must touch the reality of our lives, both our individual lives and the shared life of the community and culture within which we live. Are we deeply in touch with the conversion process that the elect experience? This can be judged from the way we reflect over today’s word of God.

We see two distinct veins in John’s account of the blind man, one of light, one of darkness. (Jn. 9:1-41) The man born blind is brought from darkness to light. The Pharisees, on the other hand, who thought they saw, descended into deeper darkness, for they would not see. Their very obtuseness led the once-blind man to reach the dazzling light of revelation; he came to know who the man Jesus really was, the one who said, “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the World”.

Follow this progression. To his neighbours, who asked the identity of the one who cured him, he simply responded “the man called Jesus”. The light of truth was just beginning to dawn. Later, when interrogated by the Pharisees, he declared, “He is a prophet!” Light is increasing.

The Pharisees had him tell his story again; trying to trick him, to prove that there had been no miracle, declaring that Jesus could not be from God. It mattered not what the man said; he would not be believed. Still, he boldly proclaimed that if Jesus were not from God, He would not have opened his eyes. The Pharisees threw him out of the temple and so descended more deeply still into self-imposed darkness.

Learning of this, Jesus sought him out, gently asking if he believed in the Son of Man. With his response, faith reached fullness, as he declared his belief that Jesus was indeed the Son of man, and worshipped him!