Prayer and Family

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Infant Jesus, bless all the members of our family with reverence and faith-filled prayer. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In recent years, words such as “dysfunctional” have been used to describe the changing face and growing fragility of family. Almost every day media brings before us some horrific account of abuse or neglect or worse. Parents abandon children; children mistreat elderly parents. Unwanted newborns are left to die in dumpsters or in bathrooms at high school premises. Poverty creates even more problems, as children go hungry and whole families find themselves homeless. Economic concern have caused the disintegration of family bonds when one parent or both must travel far from home to earn an adequate living.
 
The Holy Family, whose relationship we honour and celebrate today was not without its own struggles. A betrothed man, Joseph feels jilted; words at the child’s presentation in the temple cause anxiety; a political threat causes the family to seek refuge in a foreign country and hide out in Nazareth after their return; a child runs away in Jerusalem; a son is arrested and executed in his prime. Truly, theirs was a family fraught with all of the ups and downs, joy and sadness of our own families. Yet, as in all good families the manner in which Mary, Joseph and Jesus dealt with the exigencies of their life together made all the difference.

Theirs was a union characterized by reverence for one another which helped them to cope with the difficulties in their lives. Another coping skill, a vital aspect of healthy holy family life, is faith-filled prayer - prayer alone and prayer together. Today’s gospel (Lk 2:41-52) illustrates beautifully that Mary, Joseph and Jesus valued prayer and allowed it to punctuate the various moments of their lives. Because of their piety and their desire to observe the Jewish feasts, the Holy Family would have made prayerful pilgrimage to Jerusalem at least once a year for Passover. Prayerfully, Mary and Joseph presented their son to God in the temple. Prayerfully, Mary pondered in her heart the will of God, to which she and Joseph submitted even without the security of full understanding. May the Holy Family help us pray together and stay together as a family.

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Babe of Bethlehem

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Infant Jesus, you take away the sins of the world, grant us your peace. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

God chose Bethlehem for his Son. Why? If Jesus was born in Rome or Alexandria or Athens or Corinth, it would have made more sense from the point of view of spreading His message. Sophisticated Rome would have been an excellent home base for Christianity. Jesus would have found a warm welcome in Alexandria because that city was famed for its cultural, educational and commercial offerings.
Home to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, wouldn’t Athens have welcomed the wisdom that Jesus had come to impart? Wouldn’t the thousands who passed through Corinth, who gathered there for business and pleasure, have been interested in Jesus’ words and works?
Given the divine power and purpose, Jesus could have entered into the human situation at any time in any place. So why Bethlehem? According to the prophet Micah (1st reading, Micah 5:2-5a), Bethlehem was small and insignificant compared to the other clans of Judah. Perhaps it was chosen because Bethlehem was David’s family home and the place of his anointing as king. The very name Bethlehem means, “house of bread”, an appropriate title that anticipated the one who would give bread for the life of the world. Aside from its association with David and the nurturing symbolism of its name, another aspect of Bethlehem’s history suggests its special importance. The village of Bethlehem was about five miles south of Jerusalem and the main livelihood of the village was shepherding. People on pilgrimage to the Holy City for Passover purchased their lambs in Bethlehem. How significant that Jesus, the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the salvation of the world was to be born in Bethlehem!
In today’s 2nd reading from Hebrews (10:5-10), the author reminds us of the saving power of Jesus’ sacrifice. While we celebrate the joy of Jesus’ birth, and while we rejoice in his coming among us – just as did Mary, Elizabeth and John (gospel, Lk. 1:39-45) – our focus must not be solely on the baby of Bethlehem and the peaceful crèche. Christmas’ greatest gift was nailed to a cross, and through Him all other good gifts have come – life, light forgiveness, peace, justice, hope, faith and joy.

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Characteristics of Waiting

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Infant Jesus, instil in us your justice and mercy as we await your coming. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The weeks of preparation for Christmas is an opportune time for cultivating a spirituality of waiting. The characteristics of the one we await affect the character of our waiting. Jesus is the loved one whose coming we await. And so joy and hope-filled anticipation are to characterize all our Advent days and nights.
Today’s scripture selections make it clear that the coming of Jesus should prompt even more than joy and hope in us. Because he who comes is justice and mercy personified (Baruch 5:1-9, 1st reading), our waiting for him must be marked by similar justice and mercy. Because he who comes is the very salvation of God (Lk 3:1-6 gospel), we who await him must give ourselves over to the work of salvation. Paul clearly understood this, as is reflected in his prayer for Philippian converts (Phil. 1:3-6,8-11, 2nd reading); therein, he expresses the wish that his readers be found rich in the harvest of justice. He also prays that they might learn to value the things that really matter while awaiting the coming of Christ. Today’s Paul’s prayer and the coming Christ challenge our values and priorities, and they challenge us to be renewed in our efforts in the cause of justice, mercy and salvation.
How can we, who await a just and merciful and saving Lord, live in constant preparedness for his coming? Author Walter Burghardt, offers five suggestions:
Allow the words of scripture to take hold of us. The word we read and study must be the word we pray, and the word we pray must be the word we live. We should consent to be transformed, consumed and directed by it.
Be converted by the heart, mind, will and spirit of Christ, who is justice, mercy and salvation. This means loving as he loved, serving as he served, living as he lived and, when necessary, suffering and dying as he suffered and died.

Help and serve others in their need, without any consideration of deservedness. Jesus wanted his followers to understand that justice is not simply about giving others what they can prove they deserve.
Recognize poor regardless of their monetary status and attend to their needs. The term “poor” should include not only the economically disadvantaged but also lepers, widows, orphans and sinners.
Let justice be a lens through which we see all of reality; for justice means fidelity to all our relationships – with God, with one another, with the world.
May infant Jesus help us live justly, mercifully and peacefully with all others through him, with him and in him.

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A Spirituality of Waiting

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us imitate our mother who said in her waiting, “Let it be done to me according to your word”. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
A reflection on the book “A Spirituality of Waiting” authored by Henri Nouwen (1993) seems worth considering for this advent.  As Nouwen has affirmed, waiting is not a very popular posture. Many consider waiting a waste of time. For many waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go. Think of the “first strike” approach of some nations towards others. The more afraid we are, the more difficult it becomes to wait. But advent is a season that is marked by a spirituality of waiting.
In the pages of Jewish and Christian scriptures, we will find a different attitude toward waiting. Recall psalmist’s prayers. They enunciated the hopes and longings of their people, who awaited God’s messianic intervention on their behalf: “Our soul waits for the Lord who is our help and our shield.” (Ps. 30:22) “My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn.” (Ps. 130:6-7)
In the gospel we find the waiting of Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Anna, Simeon and John the Baptist setting the scene for the welcome of Jesus.
The quality of waiting in these scriptural heroes and heroines can be characterized in several ways. Nouwen describes them thus: First, theirs is a waiting with a sense of promise. Like a seed growing within, the promise promotes endurance. We can only wait well if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. In today’s first reading, Jeremiah (33:14-16) reminds us that all God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus, the shoot of David, who comes among those who wait in order to do what is just and right.
Second, the waiting that we see epitomized in the scriptures is active. Our ancestors in the faith did not remain in a passive or idle state. They were actively and fully present to each moment. Paul, in today’s second reading (1Thes. 3:12-4:2) reminds us that our active waiting for the Lord’s second advent must be exercised in love for one another and for all. In the gospel (Lk. 21:25-28, 34-36), the evangelist exhorts us to fill our active waiting with constant prayer and careful watchfulness for signs of the Lord’s nearness.
Our waiting for God and for Jesus is also to be patient and open-ended. Mary exhibited this manner of spirituality in her waiting when she said, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk. 1:38)

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Kingship of Jesus Christ

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help me transform myself by putting on your mind, your will and your heart. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The last Sunday of the liturgical year is always celebrated as the Solemnity of Christ The King. How do the worldly monarchs prepare us for understanding the kingship of Jesus Christ? Unfortunately for the most part, they do not. Jesus’ kingship is exercised in a manner that has rarely been reflected in other rulers, be they kings, queens, tzars, sheiks, presidents, prime ministers, or even bishops and popes. Many of these would enforce their ownership and strongly assert their power and authority. Jesus invites free acceptance of himself and his care. Many of these would rule for their own interests and purposes, but Jesus exercises his power as protection, his authority as service. Earthly sovereigns may force conformity to their will upon their subjects; Jesus, as king, invites those whom he has called to be friends, brothers and sisters to be transformed by his dominion.

Acceptance of Jesus’ sovereignty will entail a daily, deliberate and lifelong willingness to be transformed by Him. This will involve a transformation by his words, by his mind, by his will and by his heart. His words were truthful; his mind was fully intent on God and goodness; his will was conformed to God’s will; his heart was warm with welcome for all, full of forgiveness and compelled by compassion. The transformation of believers by the power and kingship of Jesus Christ is far from complete. Indeed, as we limp along toward the goal of establishing Jesus’ dominion in all people and places, discouragement may set in and paralysis may ensue. As German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg once observed, our present world with its wars, injustices and brutalities, demonstrates the gap between itself and kingship of Christ.

Our King, Jesus, achieved his kingship, his victory and his glory through suffering, humiliation and death. While humiliation and suffering aspects of Jesus’ kingship will be featured in today’s gospel (Jn 18:33-37), the glorious victory of Jesus is anticipated in today’s first reading (Dan. 7:13-14). In today’s second reading (Rev. 1:5-8) the author of Revelation will transpose this description to the risen Jesus.

God’s kingdom, in Jesus , has not yet come in all its fullness. We can maintain hope because of faith in our king and the coming kingdom.

INTERESTED IN VOCATIONS? Call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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END OF THE WORLD

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us to be more attentive to the ways of God here and now. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The last Sundays of each liturgical year invite our attention to the last things: the end of the world, death and judgment, reward and retribution. The intended purpose of this focus on the end time is to prepare us for the final reckoning and to make us more attentive to the ways of God here and now. Still some of us engage in undue worry and speculation as to the exact time, place and circumstances of the end.
In 960, Bernard, a visionary in Germany, announced that the world would end on Good Friday in 992. A century later, an astronomer named John of Toledo calculated that a major calamity would destroy the earth in September of 1186. A group of London astrologers speculated that the world would end by a flood in February 1524. The German astrologer and mathematician Johannes Soeffler supported that view and specified the date of destruction by flood as February 20, 1524. As a result, Count von Laggleheim ordered a three-story ark to be constructed for his family. When the rain began to fall on February 20, a panicky crowd trampled the Count to death while attempting to board his ark. The world did not end.
Charles Long of Pasadena, California, wrote a 70,000- word tract outlining the details of the end of the world which was to happen at 5.33 p.m. on Sept.21, 1945. But nothing happened. It seems that we human beings have a propensity for end-of-the world prophecies even when these are disproved time and time again. Let us learn the lesson given in today’s gospel, (Mk.13:24-32): “As for the exact day or hour of the end-time, no one knows it.”
Useless worry and speculation must give way to careful preparedness. That preparedness, as is given in the first reading from Daniel (12:1-3), consists in living wisely and justly in all we are, in all we do. That preparedness, according to Hebrews author (2nd reading, Heb.10:11-14,18) , also consists in trusting the power of Jesus’ saving sacrifice to forgive sins and to sanctify sinners. Victorious over sin and death, Jesus has gone on to God and to glory; there he waits to call us home at a time and in a place we do not know. No one knows. Hope and trust must wipe out worry; faith and fortitude must blot out fear. The attention that might have been given to the false predictors of the end must instead be given over to the words and wisdom of God.

INTERESTED IN VOCATIONS? Call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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Sacrificial Giving

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, empower me to practice sacrificial giving. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Do you give from your surplus of your store? Another way to ask this is, do you offer your leftovers or the food you obtained for your main meal? In today’s Gospel (Mk 12:38-44), the widow in Jesus’ example contributed “her whole livelihood”, everything that she had. Even though her offering was financially less than that offered by the rich contributors, because she gave her livelihood and not her surplus, she offered more than the rest. Her offering is an example of sacrificial giving, giving the total gift of self out of love for another or in response to another’s need.

She has that in common with the widow of Zerepath in today’s first reading (1Kings 17:10-16). When asked to make a little cake for a guest, rather than use the last flour and water she had for her son and herself only, she is willing to give what she had planned for their main meal, their last meal. No leftovers here. What happens? She had enough for her, her son and her guest for a year! God blessed her willingness to give sacrificially out of love for the stranger, in response to the need of a traveller in a nomadic land, where travellers were dependent upon the kindness of strangers.

Do we practice sacrificial giving or surplus giving? An illustration can be given from the life of Jim, a Dominican missionary. He was in El Salvador in 1989 when the Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were martyred. Jim was pastor to a parish that was built on a garbage dump. The parish served all who came, whether they were leftist or rightist, pro-government or anti-government, part of the system or part of the revolution. Parish members gave people Bibles and helped them reflect on the Gospel in ways that invited a change of life , so as to live the Gospel more clearly. The community also operated a clinic that served all who came, regardless of politics or religious conviction. These two activities made them subversive in the eyes of the military. As the pastor, Jim’s name appeared on the death list.

So Jim went to his people and asked: “What will help you more ? Would it be more helpful for me to stay here and die for you? Or would it be more helpful for me to go back to the States and let people know what’s really happening here”. The community discussed and prayed. They finally said, “Go back and let people know what's really happening and put pressure on your government to stop supporting ours until it really helps the poor and cares for all our citizens”. He was willing to give his all, either in death or in the risk of being caught. He gave from his store, giving his all not counting the cost, out of love for his people. He still witnesses to justice and peace today.

Sacrificial giving is what the gospel asks of us. Jesus, who offered his life once for all of us, empower us to give of our store, like the widow in the Gospel and the very food we have obtained for our meal, like the widow of Zerepath. May these examples of sacrificial giving help us affirm where we already give sacrificially or move us to change our ways of giving and living.

INTERESTED IN VOCATIONS> Call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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Footprints of Saints

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, make us a community of hope following the footprints of saints. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. The word saint comes from the Latin word sanctus, which means “holy”. Literally, the word saint means “holy one”. It recalls God’s command to the chosen people: “Keep yourselves holy, because I am holy”. (Leviticus 11:44). Early Christians, like St. Paul referred to one another as “holy ones”, or “saints”. The New Testament uses the word over 60 times in this sense. With the passage of time, however, the word saint was reserved exclusively for those Christians who were martyred or who had lived lives of remarkable holiness. Today, the Church recognizes as “saints” thousands of men and women whose lives have mirrored, in a special way, the holiness of God. It is these people whom we honour today.

The scheduled readings for this Sunday are replaced with the traditional readings for All Saints. The 1st reading from the Book of Revelation (Rev.7:2-4, 9-14) contains two separate visions that John experiences. The first vision refers to a well-known number: 144,000. This number is the square of twelve (144), multiplied by one thousand (thus 144,000). Scholars think the number “twelve” may represent the historic twelve tribes of Israel, and the number “one thousand” may represent the universal scope of all people saved by Christ (i.e. the new Israel). The “seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God” represents the mark that will identify those to be saved (i.e. the elect) who have suffered for their faith in Christ. These are among the first generation of Christian Martyrs. The second vision is meant to encourage all those who were currently suffering persecution (the “great distress”) for their faith in Christ.

In the second reading (1Jn:1-3), the author John urges the recipients of his letter to be a community of “hope”, to be imitators of Christ, as “pure” as Christ himself.
The Gospel reading (Mt.5:1-12a) narrates the beatitudes, the new law issued by Jesus. They can also be seen as a list of qualities that defines a saint. As we listen to these beatitudes hopefully we find ourselves connecting to some of them. If we do, we can be assured we are showing others what it means to be a living saint.

INTERESTED IN VOCATIONS> Call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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Sight and Insight

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, give me enough insight to understand that my call is to be faithful to you in all my life situations. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
“God has not called me to be successful. He has called me to be faithful” (Mother Teresa). This inspirational quote was printed on a memento when Mother Teresa died on September 5th 1997. May her mediation give us sight and insight in all our life situations.

Today’s gospel (Mk. 10:46-52) brings before us Bartimaeus, a blind man, so as to make us aware of our blindness. Jesus asked of Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” With no hesitation whatsoever, the reply came back, “I want to see”. This blind man challenges us to take our place beside him and make his request our own; “I want to see!”.

Some may be tempted to advise, “Be careful what you wish (pray) for”. When believers open themselves in faith to the power of God, new sight and insight will surely come – and so also will come responsibilities and challenges, all of which will make demands on our time and talent and treasure. Therefore, real courage is needed to allow the prayer of Bartimaeus to find its voice in our lives: “I want to see!”.

In an excellent essay on the experience of Bartimaeus William J. Bausch suggests that those who have both daring and courage to pray, “I want to see”, should be prepared to see three things. First, we would want to see that the most important thing in life is relationships. Many of us sacrifice our relationships for careers, jobs, entertainment, power, success and the like. We don’t spend time together; we don’t eat together… and for what?

Another sight or insight that might be granted us when we pray, “I want to see”, is the ability to recognize those we may otherwise have “overlooked”: e.g., the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden, etc. We may have deemed it easier not to see a problem that needs attention, e.g., gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex addiction, etc.

A third realm of sight and insight that might come into clearer focus if we pray, sincerely, “I want to see” is the manner in which God’s love can and should be perceived in our lives. God’s love can be evidenced in the kindness of strangers, in the support of family and friends, in the beauties and wonders of the universe. For those who would see, the manifestation of God is everywhere, in everyone, in everything, in you, in me.

INTERESTED IN VOCATIONS> Call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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God-given Mission

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us give ourselves fully and freely to the God-given mission and become your witnesses. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Go west young man and make the country grow!” Thus read the title of an 1881 editorial by John B. L. Soule that was first published in the Terre Haute Express. Taking those words to heart, many made their way into the American West. Some travelled by wagon train, others opted for the stagecoach. The stagecoach companies sold three different classes of tickets: first, second and third class. First and second-class ticket holders retained the right to remain seated during the entire trip. Third-class ticket holders were held responsible for helping to fix a problem like pushing or pulling a stuck wagon.

With this colourful bit of history in mind, we turn to today’s Gospel (Mk 10:35-45). Jesus and his disciples are also travelling, not west, but from Caesarea Phillipi in the north to Jerusalem in the south. On their way, Jesus has been instructing his disciples in the blessings as well as the rigors of discipleship. He has been frank, speaking more of service and suffering less of power and prestige. Jesus will repeatedly (three times) allude to the inevitable conflict and struggle he would face in fulfilling his God-given mission. It would appear that he saw his role as more comparable to the Isaian servant whose innocent and vicarious suffering for sinners is so graphically depicted in today’s first reading (Is 53:10-11). Nevertheless, the disciples remain without full understanding as is reflected in the request made by James and John, Zebedee’s sons. In essence, they asked Jesus for the privilege of travelling with him holding first class tickets and enjoying the privileges thereof.

By expressing their wish to be seated at Jesus right and left, it would also appear that the two sons of Zebedee presumed that Jesus, too, was riding first-class into glory. They misunderstand what it means to share Jesus’ cup and bath (baptism); thinking of these as a sharing in his kingdom, they are full of confidence. “We can!” they offer excitedly. How many of us are similarly unaware and uninformed regarding the cost of discipleship? We start out well, with the enthusiasm of first-class ticket holders. Yet when the cup turns bitter and the bath becomes an immersion in sacrifice… when our third-class ticket status requires that we give up our seats and plunge wholeheartedly into fixing what needs to be fixed, mending what is broken and reconciling that which has become alienated, we balk.

INTERESTED IN VOCATIONS> Call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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Daring Wisdom

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us attach ourselves to you as if to a lifeboat in a stormy sea.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Once upon a time, long long ago, two men lived in an arid land. Nothing grew there except cactus, lizards and sand fleas. Growing weary of being so thirsty, they decided to travel to Niagara Falls. Upon their arrival, they discovered water thundering down in abundance. Overjoyed at such a discovery, one of the men collected water in bottles and decided to come again every six months. The other man didn’t go back, but built a house by the river.
Which of the two men showed himself to be truly wise, wise in the ilk of a Solomon (Wis 7:7-11) or wise in the manner of a Jesus (Mk 10:17-30)? With which of these two men would you identify? Whose lead would you follow? Probably only a few of us would dare to admit that we might choose to go back to life in the desert and rely on the occasional visit to the river and the falls. Would we dare risk our sure base of security? Would we chance the loss of everything?
But this is precisely the choice put before would-be disciples by Jesus in today’s Gospel. Represented by the man who ran up to Jesus to ask about a share in everlasting life, the disciples’ choice is clear: One could continue to remain at the status quo keeping the rules that had been one’s guide since childhood, viz., not killing, not committing adultery, not stealing, not lying or defrauding and honouring one’s parents. There is a certain comfort level here and one that can be attained with a modicum of faithfulness and perseverance . After all, these are the rules of an honourable life and there is obvious virtue and a certain wisdom in living one’s life within these parameters.
Nevertheless, Jesus’ word to the man who ran to him and to every would-be disciple cuts the willing listeners to the quick. Like a two-edged sword (Heb 4:12-13) that penetrates and divides soul and spirit, joint and marrow, the words of Jesus lay bare and expose the heart and mind of the disciple. While Jesus’ words are always spoken in love (Mk 10:21), they are not without their challenge. Come away from your comfort zone and from the satisfaction of your adeptness in keeping the law, Jesus says. Come away from knowing what you are to do, when to do it and why. Come away from the safe harbour of familiar rules and obligations.
Let go of what you have stored against a rainy day, your secured savings. Let go of what makes you feel invulnerable and prepared to face any and all exigencies and emergencies. Come away challenges Jesus. Let go, he invites. Then come and follow me. Attach yourself to me as if to a lifeboat on a stormy sea.

INTERESTED IN VOCATIONS> Call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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The Garden of Marriage

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us pull out the weeds in the garden of marriage and nurture self-giving love, the love that calls for compromise  Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The readings of this week focus on the foundational relationship of all families: the partnership between a husband and a wife.

The first reading from Genesis (2:18-24) presents God’s search of “suitable partnership” for Adam. This Genesis creation story presents the interesting notion that it takes two attempts to find “suitable partnership” for man. God begins the process of finding a partner for Adam with the animal kingdom. This seems like a logical place to find a partnership for Adam since both man and “the wild animals and various birds” were created out of the same substance: “out of the ground” (compare Gen. 2:7 and 2:19). And in Adam naming the animals, he would know them intimately (This speaks to the widespread ancient belief that naming something gives you intimate knowledge of that which you name.) Curiously, “none proved to be suitable partners for man”. So God attempts to find suitable partnership for Adam by using another strategy. And this one proves effective: God finds suitable partnership for Adam not out of ground from which he himself was created but rather through Adam’s own body. God puts man to sleep and builds from his “side” (a more accurate translation than “rib”) a new creation. It is the sharing of flesh and bone that united man and woman. Now the man names this new creation “woman” and together they find “suitable partnership” in their ‘clinging’ to one another.

As the Genesis story tells us, the process of God searching and finding suitable partnership for man was not without its challenges. It took hard work and tenacity even by God himself. Perhaps this is why Jesus is so insistent in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 10:2-16) that “what God has joined together, no human being must separate”. Jesus insisted that not only prohibition of husband divorcing his wife but also a wife divorcing her husband.

The second reading (Heb 2:9-11) connects to this notion of partnership between man and woman in a profound way. But here it is not partnership between man and woman in terms of flesh and bone; here it is partnership between the human and the divine in terms of suffering and death. Hebrews teaches us that in Jesus’ suffering and death the human and the divine have found “suitable partnership”.

MATRIMONY A BEAUTIFUL VOCATION Matrimony ‑ a beautiful vocation so misused today. Celibacy ‑ a beautiful gift so misunderstood today. Whether we do God’s work in pairs or as a single person in ministry or in a community, we do God’s work because He calls us. If you feel God is calling you to a Church vocation, call Fr. Jose or visit http://www.vocationstoronto.ca/

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Accentuate the Positive

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, foster in me a positive outlook and help me guide others to find the way. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The readings of this Sunday present us with several challenges. The first reading and the gospel remind us that God’s Spirit is not confined to our church or even to Christianity. The Spirit of God can be bestowed on whomever God chooses. Moses’ contemporaries (Num 11:25-29) did not understand this; they wanted Eldad and Medad to be stopped. Jesus’ disciples (Mk 9:38-48) suffered from a similar parochialism. Those to whom the second reading (James 5:1-6) was addressed seemed to have stifled the Spirit by giving themselves over to passing things of the world. Hence the harsh condemnation of the rich who mistreat the poor. The gospel also raises the issue of scandal, a topic that hits far too close to home now-a-days.


The natural impulse might well be to take the harsh tone in our self examination and evaluation of others this weekend. Certainly there is room for prophetic voices that call us to account. Some might challenge our continuing negative attitudes toward Christians of other denominations, as well as our view of Jews and Muslims and other non-Christian believers. Others might condemn our lack of efforts to correct injustice in our society and to help the poor truly both at home and around the world. All of them would have solid ground on which to stand.

The deeper question, though, is whether this stance of condemnation is the most effective. Perhaps we will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Certainly a more positive approach is more conducive to celebration. So we should consider how we can lift up this weekend some of the positive efforts in the community to combat the evils noted in the readings.

Who is doing good work in our community to combat injustice? Who is working for peace day in and day out? Who is truly serving the poor? Who works to foster ecumenical activities and understanding? Who is devoted to the care of children?

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Serve and Grow

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, show me how to serve and make me grow.  Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Karl Rahner, our most mature theologian in several centuries, has this to say about children: “In the child, an adult begins who must undergo the wonderful adventure of becoming a child of God, for this is the task of maturity”. The readings of every Sunday invite us to fulfil this task of maturity. Today’s readings seem to provide a solid base for thinking of ourselves as adults/leaders in the making.


The letter of James (3:16-4:3) speaks of the difference between human wisdom and divine wisdom and describes the fruits of living by God’s wisdom. All our catechetical efforts are aimed at guiding believers into that wisdom. In the gospel (Mk. 9:30-37) Jesus gives a good example of divine wisdom when he teaches the Twelve that they must be the servants of all. They must redefine greatness as service and consider it an honour to be the last and a privilege to serve the least of all. A child is typical of the person who needs things, and it is the company of the person who needs things that disciples must seek. Certainly, it is easy and even pleasant to cultivate the friendship of those who can do things for us whose influence can be helpful to our purpose. Similarly, it is equally easy to avoid the company of the person who inconveniently needs our help. But the demands of discipleship go far beyond what is easy. The reversal of the world’s standards in his teaching is striking. The first reading (Wisdom 2:12,17-20) can serve to remind us that following God’s ways does not always bring us acceptance. Here again, the world’s standards of a successful life are different from God’s standards.

Servant leadership is always a delicate balancing act. People will not accept leadership unless they sense that the leaders are truly acting in the community’s best interest. Ultimately it is a matter of love. Leaders must love the church enough to act always for the good of others and love it enough to endure the opposition that will come even to the most selfless leadership.

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Growing Deaf?

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, when I grow deaf, make me attentive to your voice. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,


The theme set forth in today’s scriptural reading is the danger of deafness as regards to hearing and heeding the Word of God. Those who allow themselves to become deaf to the whisperings of God are inviting tragedy by placing their relationship with God in danger.

Our Israelite forebears in the faith believed that those who suffered from deafness were lacking in wholeness. Indeed, such a person was regarded as somehow unclean and therefore incapable of full participation in the life of the community. Moreover, the restoration of hearing and wholeness to the deaf came to be associated with the coming of the messiah, the era of salvation (1st reading, Isaiah 35:4-7a). That Jesus had the power and the willingness to cure the deaf (Gospel, Mk. 7:31-37) was a sure signal to his contemporaries that the messianic era was being realized in him and through him. Jesus’ cure of the deaf man was God’s way of making crooked ways straight at the dawn of a new era. The deafness Jesus cured was more than physical; Jesus also reached out to restore spiritual hearing and healing to all those who, for whatever reason, had grown deaf, insensitive to the word of God in whatever venue that word may have been spoken.

As we come together for weekly worship, our venue is a liturgical one. The word that is proclaimed challenges us to recognize that it is meant to be portable and translatable. To put it another way, the scriptures that we hear with our ears are to be carried away with us in our hearts and minds and memories. This being so, we will be able to revisit the word that is proclaimed on Sunday so as to be renewed in it and challenged and directed by that same word on every other day of the week.

Besides its most obvious liturgical venue, the word of God is proclaimed and challenges us to hear and heed it in other venues as well. The voice of God is ever present in word, in sacrament, in church teaching and in Christian insight. At times, however, the venues through which God speaks are unpleasant and we are tempted to turn a deaf ear to the cries of the poor, to their need for food, shelter, clothing and care. Those who profess to belong to the Lord must rouse themselves from deafness and be attentive to the Lord’s many and varied voices.

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“Authentic Holiness”

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, make me understand that the heart of religion is not ritual and law, but love of God and neighbour. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,


Is our holiness skin deep or heart deep? This is the question that the readings of the day place before us.

The first reading from Deuteronomy (4:1-2,6-8) reminds readers that the rules by which they are to live are God-given. Careful observance of these laws leads to life and the joy of knowing the nearness of God. To bring the Deuteronomist’s exhortation to fulfilment, Jesus insists that mere external observance of the law or lip-service is insufficient. Authentic commitment and moral code will then be translated into positive practical action.

In today’s second reading James (1:17-18,21-22,27) describes good Christian moral living as an outgrowth of the word of God rooted within the believer. Act on this word, urges the ancient writer; don’t just listen to it, live it. Had the Pharisees and others of Jesus’ contemporaries been of similar mind (Gospel: Mk 7:1-8,14-15,21-23), they would have understood that the moral demands of the law and the authentic purity the law was intended to bring about could not be achieved by mere external actions. Washing one’s hands as the Pharisees did, is a sanitary act, at best. However, the cleansing of the heart by faith, prayer and interior conversion of mind and will can effect a spiritual purification.

To achieve this purification and to maintain it is a lifelong process. To aid our understanding of this process, social psychologist Kohlberg has identified 6 stages that lead to moral maturity. Good is done or evil is avoided: (i) in order to seek reward or avoid punishment, (ii) as a result of self centred use or abuse of other people, (iii) as a result of peer pressure, (iv) as a result of adhering to law, (v) due to a humane sense of equity, (vi) as a result of personal convictions. The process of moving from step one, where behaviours are dictated by reward mentality, to stage six where a healthy conviction and a holy conscience guide one’s words and works, is not always a smooth one. Along the way many can be deterred by peer pressure or by settling for mere external conformity. Therefore it is providential that our path toward authentic holiness and moral maturity is repeatedly illumined by God’s word.

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“Decisions and Choices”

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, bread of life, help me make right decisions which reflect your mind and will. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
You don’t get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you are going to live. Now.” These words of folk singer Joan Baez resemble the thought of Spanish philosopher and essayist José Ortega y Gasset who said, “Living is a constant process of deciding what we are going to do.”
Obviously, our lives are fraught with events and circumstances, people, places and things that require of us a choice. Some of these are of far greater importance than others. For example, the decision as to one’s course of study, a career, the married or the single life, the decision to allow an unborn child the freedom to live. All these decisions and choices should, insisted the late Thomas Merton, “enable us to fulfill the deepest capacity of our real selves.”
Unfortunately there can be times in any given life when a circumstance beyond our control is thrust upon us, leaving us, it seems, with no choice in the matter. When Viennese psychiatrist and neurologist Victor Frankl (Man’s Search For Meaning, NY, 1959) was interned in a Nazi concentration camp (1942-1945),he nevertheless retained his freedom of decision making. Though imprisoned under horrendous conditions, Frankl claimed to enjoy “the last of the human freedoms: to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance, to choose one’s own way.” Hence the importance of making right decisions for becoming fully who we are, fully human, fully alive.
Other voices speak a similar message to us today through the scriptures. In today’s first reading (Josh 24:1-2, 15-17, 18 ), Joshua, who succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelites, challenged his brothers and sisters in the faith to decide whom they would serve. Would it be the God who had led them forth from Egypt and through the wilderness? Would it be the God who fed the hungry traveller with manna, quail and water from the rock, despite their sinfulness? Or would they turn to other gods? “ Decide today whom you will serve, “ charged Joshua, fully aware that the future of his people hinged upon their answer. Then, as if to set the tone and strike the path, Joshua announced his own decision: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
In today’s 2nd reading (Eph 5:21-32), the Ephesians author describes the proper behaviours of those who have decided to follow Christ. That decision should evoke a mutual caring, love and fidelity, such as that which Christ exercises toward the church. Christ’s decisions should inspire his followers. Do our decisions and their consequences reflect the mind and will of Christ?
In today’s Gospel (Jn 6:60-69), Jesus asks if his gift of himself as real food and real drink will be accepted and received, or will his words of invitation be considered too hard to endure or to take seriously? Decisions! Choices!

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“True” Food & Drink

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, bread of life, help us experience your abiding presence with us. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Gospel reading for this Sunday also remains centred on the theme of Jesus as “the bread of life” (Jn 6:51-58) Jesus continues to teach the crowds about the salvation he offers the world while the Jews continue to quarrel about the meaning of Jesus' words. As the first and second readings (Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20) insist, “wisdom is necessary” to grasp the full meaning of Jesus’ words.
The original audience who heard Jesus’ words (Jn 6:51-58) struggled to understand their meaning: The Jews quarrelled among themselves, saying “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” We too, as 21st Century Christians, give considerable pause when we hear Jesus say, “ Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood….Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood…” Much of the ancient and the contemporary debate lies in whether or not to take Jesus’ words literally. Is Jesus telling us to literally eat his flesh and drink his blood”? The answer to this question lies in the way Jesus expands on his words, “eat my flesh and drink my blood” in vv 55-58. Jesus speaks of his flesh and blood as “true” food and drink. What makes Jesus’ flesh and blood “true” food and drink is that it allows us “to remain” in him. This idea of “remaining” in Jesus will be an important image that Jesus draws upon in his farewell discourse with the disciples as he speaks to them about the vine and branches metaphor at the Last Supper (Jn 15:1-17) Jesus then says he who “feeds on me will have life because of me”. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus is providing us with the basis of our Catholic belief in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine. The bread and wine in the Eucharistic meal is the flesh and blood of the resurrected Christ that assures us “whoever eats this bread will live forever”. The bread that came down from heaven for the Israelites in the desert sustained them only for their 40 year journey to the promised land. Jesus taught the crowds that this was a foreshadowing of the bread that God would be offering the world through him, not just for the journey here on earth, but also for the journey to eternal life.
It would be a mistake to take Jesus’ words literally here: Jesus is not endorsing cannibalism! However, Jesus’ words are “true”: we who “feed” on the Eucharistic bread – the bread which is the real presence of Christ – “remain” in Jesus and Jesus remains in us. In this way Jesus is “ the bread of life”.

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Food as the Channel of Relationships

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, enable me to experience Eucharist as the channel of God’s love and your abiding presence with us. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Food is a basic human need that has sustained each of us since birth. It speaks of loving and caring, giving and sharing, living and growing, and even dying and rising. Through the giving and receiving of food, relationships are established and strengthened, and when they are strained the sharing of food can even renew the ties that bind us one to the other.
This Sunday and next Sunday the Gospels and the first readings will focus on food as the channel of God’s love. Through the gift of food that sustained him for 40 days the prophet Elijah was able to keep his task of preaching a powerful and challenging message to an unwilling and unyielding people. That food of hearth cake and a jug of water that he ate under the shade of a broom tree that told him that God was with him, that his mission was necessary and that God would provide food all along his journey. God had similarly provided food for the Israelites journeying through the land that they would make their home. Manna, quail and water from the rock spoke of a great and caring love that would not allow the faithful to collapse.
Jesus had communicated the same message by providing a hearty meal of bread and fish for the many (Gospel, July 30). Food was the channel he used to reveal the extent of God’s love for humankind. Jesus’ gift of bread and fish was a sign of and a prelude to the greater gift of himself, first in his sacrificial death on the cross and then in the sapiential food of his word and the sacramental food of his very self. Food is the channel Jesus chose to communicate not only God’s love but also his abiding presence with his own. When we eat the food that is Jesus, with faith in our minds and hope in our hearts, we are being given a foretaste of eternal life. In our sharing, we become one body, one with Jesus and one with one another.
Because of the oneness forged at Eucharist, it seems only right and fitting that those who are fed will go forth to feed others. Some hungers are desperate, as in the famine-ridden areas of our world and among the unemployed and homeless; obviously, those hungers must be recognized and satisfied immediately. Other hungers will require an extended commitment to justice and to charity that addresses the long-term structural causes of hunger. These too must be acknowledged and satisfied with long-term plans that will not quit until food becomes a channel that communicates sincere care and compassion for the worldwide human family. Shouldn’t everyone know the joy of hearing the words, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long” (1st reading, I Kings 19:4-8) and “If anyone eats the bread I give, that person will live forever.”? (Gospel, John 6:41-51)

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Give Thanks To The Lord

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, the bread of life,thank you for filling the void in my heart. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we continue to read from the 6th chapter of John’s gospel (Jn 6:24-35), we focus today on the bread from heaven. The first reading (Ex.16:2-4,12-15) recounts the gifts of quail and manna that God sent to the Israelites in the desert. Jesus insists that God’s gift in his time is greater, for he himself is the bread from heaven.
This might be a good Sunday to focus catechesis on the eucharistic prayer. This central prayer of the Mass is fundamentally a prayer of thanksgiving for all the gifts that God has given us, both throughout history and in our own time. The readings provide a solid context of salvation history on which to base catechesis about this prayer.
Pastorally, it is important for members of the assembly to realize that entering into the eucharistic prayer fruitfully requires them to come to Mass with an awareness of the reasons they have to give thanks. Certain items in our parish bulletin might remind you periodically of the value of taking a few minutes during the week to reflect on God’s blessings so that you arrive at church with grateful hearts.
In some parishes, liturgical planners even invite people to recall such reasons for gratitude before the celebration begins. In some parishes, presiders periodically invite such awareness just before beginning the proclamation of the eucharistic prayer.
It is a good habit to make use of the texts of the eucharistic prayer as a basis of our own prayer. It is with that in mind some parishes provide the text of one of the eucharistic prayers as a bulletin insert as an aid to personal prayer at home. This might lead us into deeper prayer when the eucharistic prayer is proclaimed during the Mass.
“Father, you so loved the world that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Saviour… To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to those in sorrow, joy. Lord, gather all who share this bread and wine into the one body of Christ, a living sacrifice of praise” (Eucharistic Prayer IV).

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Eucharistic Encounter

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, challenge us to rethink our needs and share with the hungry. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this Sunday and for the next four Sundays, the praying assembly will be the honoured guests at a summer “picnic” hosted by God. There on the mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, all who wish may gather with the multitude that was fed by Jesus for an extended eucharistic encounter. As the picnic encounter progresses, those present will also be nourished with the truth and wisdom of Jesus’ teaching about his life-giving death and the gift of his very self as food.
Born in Bethlehem, i.e., in the village called “house of bread”, Jesus challenged his followers to be food for others, salt in the world (Mt. 5:13), without which mankind cannot survive. Six times the four evangelists have portrayed Jesus as multiplying bread in order to feed the multitudes. Through Jesus’ actions, the miracle of the manna was repeated and the gift of the Eucharist was anticipated.
Because of their extended reflection and focus on John 6, these next five weeks of “picniking” with Jesus and the multitudes will bring home to us the realization that Jesus does not just provide bread; rather Jesus is the Bread.
In today’s first reading (2Kings 4:42-44), the narrative of Elisha multiplying barley loaves provides the background for John’s stipulation that the bread Jesus multiplied was barley bread – the food of the poor. The second reading (Eph. 4:1-6), sandwiched in between the first and the gospel (Jn. 6:1-15), both of which are centred on miraculous gifts of bread, is the “meat” of Christian commitment. In this passage from Ephesians, Paul reminds those who are privileged to be fed by God of the manner of life that is expected of them, viz, a life worthy of such a gift – a life characterized by virtue, mutual love, care and support – a life built on peace and lived in harmony.
Jesus’ sign of multiplying the loaves for the many challenges us to rethink our needs, to downsize our appetites, to share with the hungry and thereby truly appreciate and cherish the Bread of life.

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Shepherd’s Mission

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us maintain our centre in God and become peacemakers in the world. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Sunday we are invited to focus our attention on Shepherd’s Mission. The readings place before us a comparison between good leaders and those in whom the character and qualities of leadership are sorely lacking. In the 1st reading (Jer. 23:1-6), the prophet Jeremiah bemoans the consequences of poor leadership, viz., the people who look to them for leadership, example and direction find quite the opposite and as a result, they suffer; they are scattered, driven away and lost. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Jeremiah promises a divine intervention as the only antidote. Someone shall be born of David’s lineage to do what is just and right.
The second reading (Eph. 2:13-18) assures that peace, security and salvation will be established through the promised One and the good news will be announced to all, far and near. Through him believers will come to know God as loving Parent and ever-present Spirit.
That promised someone, of course, was Jesus who is featured in today’s gospel (Mk 6:30-34) as continuing the formation of his followers. The disciples who were sent forth on mission are returning to render an account of themselves and their efforts. As part of their leadership training, Jesus invites them to come away with him to an out-of-the way place and find their rest in Him. This away-time, this time of peace and prayer, quiet and rest in Jesus is as necessary to the disciple as breathing. Without it, the demands and challenges of Christian service and commitment can choke and stifle even the best of intentions.
Concerning the need for finding and maintaining one’s centre in God, Jesus reissues his standing invitation in today’s gospel: Come away with me to rest, to listen, to be renewed. Therefore let us return repeatedly to the one who leads and guides us, feeds and teaches us, heals and forgives us and remains ever present to empower us in all our efforts in the cause of salvation.

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Dealing With Rejection

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, enable me to accept the pain of rejection as a sharing in your redemptive suffering and empower me to proclaim your word effectively. Amen.

How do you handle rejection? How do you feel when another refuses to recognize and accept what you have to offer? Rejection has been proven to be an inevitable companion on the bumpy road to success. Take for example, the experience of Beethoven, who was dubbed by his teacher, “hopeless as a composer”. No stranger to difficulty, Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He did not become Prime Minister of Great Britain until he was 62 and then only after a lifetime of defeats and setbacks. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor who said he lacked ideas and imagination. He also went bankrupt several times before opening the doors to Disneyland. Eighteen publishers rejected Richard Bach’s novel “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. To date, this repeatedly rejected book has sold 40 million copies in more than three dozen languages. In 1905, the University of Bern rejected a doctoral dissertation as being “irrelevant” and “fanciful”. The physics student who authored the paper was Albert Einstein. Disappointed but not defeated, he persisted and we all know to what extent he changed the world.
Having listened to this litany of stories about the rejection endured by writers, musicians, statespersons, artists and entertainers, we cannot help but recognize a common thread through them all. Despite even repeated and prolonged experience of rejection, each of these individuals did not allow anything or anyone to deter them. Undaunted, each persevered to become the person and to achieve the purpose toward which they had dedicated their lives and energies.
In today’s 1st reading (Amos 7:12-15) and Gospel (Mk 6:7-13), the praying assembly is offered additional lessons in dealing with rejection in the persons and experiences of Amos the prophet and Jesus our Messiah. Despite the objections of the priest Amaziah, who wanted to be rid of the prophet and his confrontational message, Amos knew that he had been deployed and equipped by a higher power than the priest. He preached his message without stinting or diluting its truth.
In today’s Gospel, as Jesus prepares the Twelve to minister in his name, he tells them that they will, indeed, encounter rejection; he also offers them and us a method for dealing with this inevitable aspect of discipleship. “ If any place will not receive you…..shake its dust from your feet….as you leave.” By this symbolic action, the disciples pledge their willingness to make a new beginning, carrying forward none of the “baggage” of rejection. It means setting out anew with no trace of anger, resentment or desire for revenge upon those who have chosen not to welcome them or their message. They will accept the pain of rejection as a sharing in the redemptive sufferings of the One who calls us to ministry.

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Thorns that Perfect

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, give me your grace and strengthen me in my weakness Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In his book “The cost of Discipleship” (1963), German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “When Jesus Christ calls us, he bids us come and die.” Obviously, the same could be said of any call from God. As is evident in today’s 1st reading, Ezekiel (2:2-5) knew quite well the costliness of answering God’s call to be a prophet to his contemporaries. “Dying” for Ezekiel would entail communicating an unpopular message to a rebellious people and bearing with the consequences of their rejection. Such suffering was and is an integral aspect of the ministry of the Word: “they shall know that a prophet has been among them” (v. 5)

That this suffering and dying for the sake of the Gospel was known to Jesus is sadly attested in today’s Gospel (Mk 6:1-6). As far as his hometown folks were concerned, he was just too local to be important. Even Jesus’ relatives thought him to be “too much for them”.(v.3)
When Paul following in the footsteps of Ezekiel and others, became a minister of God’s word, and when he attached himself to Jesus, he knew the suffering, rejection and dying that are intrinsic to such a relationship. In today’s 2nd reading ( 2Cor 12:7-10), Paul gives a name to his struggle for Christ and the Gospel – “ a thorn in the flesh”. The thorn from which Paul wished to be relieved may have been anything from a physical malady to a particular temptation or short temper.

More important than an accurate identification of Paul’s “thorn”, however, was the manner in which he learned to deal with it. First, he wanted to be rid of it; as he regarded the “thorn” as a hindrance that kept him from giving his all in God’s service. Gradually and only through prayer, Paul was led to understand that his “thorn” and whatever weakness it unmasked in him combined to create a venue wherein the power of God were clearly and undeniably manifested in him. Not only did Paul become content to bear the burden of his “thorn” but he also regarded his struggle as a matter for boasting. His boast lay not in himself or in his ability to grit his teeth against the suffering but in the power of God that he had begun to realize was at work and alive within him.
Paul’s frankness in sharing his weakness begs us to think of those thorns that we consider as impediment to our ministry, those people, things, circumstances or situation that, if they were absent, would render us so much more effective and our work so much more successful. For each of us the thorn shall have a different name. Like Paul, we are invited to rejoice and even boast of the thorn that reveals our weakness. For it is in the acknowledgement of our utmost weakness that God’s grace can act most powerfully.

“My grace is enough for you”, says God; “ in your weakness, my power reaches perfection.”

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Bishop Grecco's Visit

Bishop Grecco's Visit

Click to view all the pictures.

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Heroes and Models

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, make us heroes and models of suffering in hope. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The feast of Peter and Paul that marks the end of the Jubilee Year of St. Paul, brings us face to face with the twin pillars of the original church. They are popularly known as the “Apostle to the Jews” and the “Apostle to the Gentiles”. Both Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome in the mid sixties. Scholars agree that it is highly unlikely that they both died on the same day. June 29th was probably chosen by the church as the day of their death because of the earlier association of June 29th with Romulus, the founder of the city of Rome. By replacing the day honouring Romulus with the Christian feast day of Peter and Paul, the church attempted to “baptize”, as it were, yet another pagan celebration. The Christian observance of the feast of Peter and Paul began in Rome in A.D. 258. Even though it is difficult to attribute the foundation of the church in Rome to Peter or to Paul, it is because they are acknowledged leaders of the Jewish and Gentile missions that they have been recognized as being indirectly responsible for the foundation of the Roman Church.

Last Sunday we heard about how Jesus calmed the storm at sea. This 13th Sunday in ordinary time we hear about Jesus healing a woman and raising a little girl from the dead (Mk. 5.21-43) Each of these miracle stories are tied together by the theme of faith in the person Jesus. In the second reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, we hear about “the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Paul tells the Corinthians that Jesus, though rich, became poor for our sake so that we could all share in Jesus’ abundant wealth. Paul speaks of Jesus here as a role model. Like Jesus, we too are called to share the abundance of our resources with each other. In the simple act of offering resources from our surplus to others in need, we help create a community of equality where everyone’s burden is lighter.

Both Peter and Paul were made heroes and models for us by grace. Let us draw inspiration from them and submit ourselves to God’s grace.

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Pilgrimage to St. Pauls'

Pilgrimage to Churches named after St. Paul

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A Greater Power

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

A Greater Power

Lord Jesus, help us cultivate trusting faith by daily giving ourselves to God’s care. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Natural disasters like tsunami of 2004 that struck 12 countries in Asia and Africa, floodwaters of 2005 that ravaged India and Pakistan and the hurricanes like Katrina that hit North America made the whole world look on in shock and horror. In the face of these powerful watery cataclysms of nature, doesn't it seem that the God who created the universe in all its balance and beauty has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the perils of humankind? Today’s readings challenge our thinking.
We are told by the author of Job in today’s first reading (Job 38:1, 8-11) that God can shut the doors of the sea, set its limits, fasten the bar of its door and command that proud waves be stilled. We are also assured by the evangelist Mark in today’s Gospel (Mk 4:35-41) that Jesus has the power to command both wind and sea, and these elemental giants of nature shall obey him. The author of the responsorial psalm adds words of comfort to the voices of Job and the evangelist Mark. In Psalm 107, the ancient composer tells us that the same God who can command the storm to blow can also shush it into a gentle breeze and bring travellers to their desired haven upon calmed and placid seas.
If all these words are true about the power of God being infinitely greater than the surges and swells of the turbulent seas and oceans and flooding rains and rivers of this earth, then what shall our posture be before such greatness? To find the answer to this question, Mark draws our attention to the boat wherein Jesus and his disciples were sailing the sea of Galilee. Tossed about in the squall, with waves breaking over its sides, the listing boat was beginning to take on water. Yet while the disciples panicked, Jesus lay in the stern, sound asleep. In Jesus, we discover the attitude that we are to emulate in order to weather the storms of life, both natural and spiritual. That attitude, one of complete trust and faith, would see Jesus through all that lay ahead of him; that same trusting faith is ours to cultivate by daily giving ourselves over to God’s care, God’s will, God’s designs for our lives.
Faithfulness must characterize all our dealing with God – not part-time faithfulness, but daily deliberate trust. Only such a daily effort will prepare us for when disasters come our way. Even when panic chokes our hope and fear threatens our faith, we must always remember that a greater power than panic or fear is sleeping soundly in our sinking boat.

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Covenantal Companions

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Covenantal Companions

Lord Jesus, strengthen us through the Eucharist to give our own life’s blood in loving service to others. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Mass is both sacrifice and meal. On this solemnity of body and blood of Christ we remember those two aspects in festive mode. The sacrifice is the broken body of Jesus given in death on the cross. The meal is the blessed, broken and shared Eucharist of the body and blood of the Lord. It is through this sacrifice and meal that new and eternal covenant between God and humankind was sealed and ratified. The covenant is the everlasting bond of the love by which all are united to God in Jesus Christ.

Though we can see various types of covenantal agreements throughout the Jewish and Christian scriptures, most were structured on the same basic pattern, i.e., two or more parties would bind themselves to a ritual agreement, the terms of which would be spoken or written. Oaths were sworn and curses were agreed upon and accepted. Then the covenant was sealed, often with the sacrifice of an animal that was cut or split in two (hence the expression, to cut a covenant). Both of the contractual parties then walked between the animal halves, each agreeing that a similar consequence should befall the one who would breach the covenant. A meal would be shared, for our ancestral brothers and sisters in the faith believed that those who ate together were bound as partners and protectors of one another for life.

Covenant also serves as an apt vehicle for expressing the relationship. Through the covenant of Sinai, referred in today’s 1st reading from Exodus (24:3-8), God initiated a relationship with the chosen people: “I will take you as my own people and you shall have me as your God!” (Ex.6:7). As part of ratification, the blood of the sacrificed animals was sprinkled on both the altar (which represented God) and people.

In today’s second reading, the Hebrews author compares the Sinai Covenant, sealed with the blood of goats and bulls with the new and everlasting covenant forged by Jesus, who, as both high priest and perfect sacrifice, has sealed it with His own blood. That this covenant was being initiated for us is clearly enunciated in today’s gospel (Mk 14:12-16, 22-26). Each time we gather to remember and to celebrate Jesus’ saving sacrifice we become, once again, true companions of the Lord. From the Latin words cum and panis, companions are those who share bread together.

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Trinity in Liturgy

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Trinity in Liturgy

Lord Jesus, may your loving action lead us to the transformative power of the Holy Trinity. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Trinity Sunday is one of the four solemnities of the Lord during Ordinary Time. Since these feasts are dependent upon the celebration of Easter, they are called movable solemnities of Ordinary Time. The solemnities are: Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, Sacred Heart and Christ the King.

Adolf Adam calls them feasts of devotion and feasts of ideas. As feasts of devotion they are expressions of piety born in response to an internal or external trial. As feasts of ideas, each one extols a particular truth or specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. By stressing these truths or mysteries, the Church hoped to renew and strengthen the faith of God’s people.
The Arian controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries gave rise to a strong emphasis on and devotion to the Trinity in Spain and Gaul. Arius, a priest in Alexandria who died in 336, denied the divinity of Christ. As a result, faith in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the equality of the three Divine Persons was threatened. The Councils of Nicea and Constantinople (381) condemned the heresy and formulated the Nicene Creed, the profession of faith recited at every Sunday mass.

The heresy had an impact on Catholic faith and life. Preaching sought to strengthen faith in the church’s doctrine regarding the Trinity. The first preface of the Trinity found its way into the liturgy in the 400’s as this feast was born out of controversy. The modern preface of the Trinity appeared during the eighth century. By the year 1000, the feast of the Trinity was celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost. The feast reminds the faithful of what it means when we refer to the Father, Son, and Spirit: We believe in three Divine Persons in one God.
The Sunday assembly professes faith in the Triune God when it begins every gathering by invoking “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

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Pentecostal Spring

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Risen Jesus, revive us in the Spirit so as to experience the Pentecostal spring of the early church. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Sunday we celebrate the solemnity of the First Pentecost, the gift of the Spirit unleashed upon the world. Those who knew themselves to be the recipients of that gift became newly identified as Church. And so Pentecost is rightly called the birthday of the church.
By the power of the Spirit the first members of the church began to understand what it meant to be church in the world. Being church meant bringing the good news of God’s love and forgiveness to all in the society. Being church meant gathering for the breaking of the Bread, both of the Word and Eucharist. Being church meant living in the awareness of the risen Christ and offering the joy of that same awareness to others. Being church meant belonging to a life-sharing community wherein no one suffered for lack of food, clothing, shelter, companionship or any of the other necessities of life. Being church meant being a people who no longer thought solely in terms of me and mine, but of we and us and ours. Being church meant living and caring and sharing in such a manner that others were drawn to desire a similar belonging.
The Pentecostal spring of the early Christian church stands in sharp contrast to the icy rigidity of the Christianity of later centuries. Eberhard Arnold, founder of the Bruderhof Communities (fellowship based on Jesus’ Great Sermon) believed that the contemporary church has lost something of the fire and faith and unconditional love of its ancestral forefathers. It was this awareness that made the insightful Pope Blessed John XXIII convene the Vatican Council II “to fling open the windows of the church in order to bring about a new Pentecost”.
What began with Peter and Company almost two millennia ago in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-11, 1st reading) and what was continued by Paul and the many members of the one body of Christ (1Corinthians 12:3-7, 2nd reading) can and must be continued by us today.

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Ascension and Salvation

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Ascension and Salvation

Risen Jesus, fill us with your Spirit and inspire us to involve ourselves in the problems of the poor, needy and the lost Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension of the Lord. Jesus, who rose from the dead as the conqueror of sin and death is now returning to the glory that was His from all eternity. With the mystery of our salvation having come full circle, it may seem like the end of the story. However, and as today’s feast reminds us, it is the beginning of a new chapter in the story of our salvation.

God’s willingness to be personally and fully involved with the world is shown in the incarnation of Jesus, in mandating the continuance of his mission, Jesus required a similarly incarnational involvement from his followers. “Go”, says Jesus, in today’s gospel (Mk 16:15-20) “into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation”. In today’s second reading, (Eph. 4:1-13) Paul reminds us that ours is a mission intended to fill the universe in all its parts. Therefore, when the question of the two white-clad men is repeated in our hearing today, (“Why do you stand here looking up at the skies” Acts 1:11), that question should serve as an impetus toward: (1) helping us to shed the urge for un-involvement;(2) avoiding a wait-and-see attitude, and (3) in compelling our direct and devoted incarnational involvement with the world. We live now “between-the-times”, i.e., between the first and final coming of Jesus. We can call it “church-time”; this is the time of salt-and-light-involvement with the work of Christ in the world.

In celebrating the ascension of Jesus today, we are not celebrating the completion of His mission, but the continuance of our own. As first established by Jesus, ours is a mission of salvation that has been affirmed as existential, i.e., of this world, and eschatological, i.e. of the world to come. Existentially, salvation involves justice, i.e., actions geared toward the reform of the oppressive forces and structures in society; eschatologically, salvation is also geared toward the permanent union of humankind with God. Since salvation is liberation, the feast of ascension should inspire us to involve ourselves in the problems of the needy.

“CALVARY LOVE”

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

Risen Jesus, fill me with your spirit to live Calvary Love.   Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It has been pointed out that when all is said and done, love boils down to a question of giving. It is a question of self-giving. It’s a question of forgiving. And it’s a question of thanksgiving. Today’s readings invite us to give ourselves in love.

Jesus describes a particular kind of love in today’s gospel (Jn. 15:9-17) He says, “Love one another as I love”. Again He says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. This assurance was clearly and irrevocably enunciated in Jesus’ gift of Himself on the cross. The fact of Jesus’ great and incomparable love stands as a challenge to those who would call themselves his disciples. They are called similarly to lay down something of themselves, for love’s sake.

Peter for example (Acts 10, 1st reading), had to lay down his prejudices when he was directed by the Spirit to go to Cornelius’ home and to accept him and his household as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. In today’s second reading (1Jn. 4:7-10), there is an indirect suggestion that believers must lay down hatred, suspicion and mistrust so as to love one another as God loves.

Anglican author and missionary to India, Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) has described the laying down quality of love to which believers are called as “Calvary Love”. In an article by the same title, Carmichael proposes that if I belittle those who I am called to serve, pointing out their weak points in contrast with what I think of as my virtues, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I am content to harbour a hurt although friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If the burdens of others are not mine too and their joys mine, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. Calvary Love is willing to lay down the self in the service of others. This is the love to which each of us must aspire.

Our Unity In Christ

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

Risen Jesus, help us stay united to you and give visibility to your presence when we gather as Church Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On any given Sunday, we gather from places near and far to be nourished with the Living Word and the Living Bread. We come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Some of us actively participate in the singing and the prayers; others prefer simply to watch and listen. Some of us will listen to the homily and take something of it home to feed upon during the week. Others will doze off or do a mental critique of the preacher’s ideas, delivery, etc. Some of us are nursing hurt, plotting revenge or stoking grudges; others are praying for the power to forgive and be forgiven. Some of us go forth from the praying assembly renewed and resolved to do better, to be better. Others will depart much in the same frame of mind and heart as when we arrived.

Despite the differences among us all of us, regardless of race, gender, age, attitude, social class, individual preferences and experiences -- all of us are one in Jesus Christ and, for that reason we are also one with each other. It is because of our oneness in Jesus Christ that we, though many and varied, have gathered together today. It is precisely because of Jesus Christ and our individual relationships with him that we can grow into a community, related in love and mutual support and service to one another.

The reality of our unity in Christ is the focus of our scripture texts for today. As Luke points out in today’s first reading from Acts (9:26-31), the shared union of believers in Christ enabled the early church gradually to overcome their fear and animosity so as to accept Saul the persecutor who had become Saul the proclaimer of the good news. Today’s second reading (1Jn 3:18-24) reminds us that those who are one in Christ and those in whom Christ remains are to love one another in truth, i.e., in deed as well as word. As a heart touching image of our oneness in Christ, John the evangelist offers us in today’s gospel (Jn 15:1-8) the graphic image of the vine and the branches.

Administrator or Pastor?

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

Risen Jesus, good shepherd, transform your priests into a miracle of sacrificial love. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s readings grace us with the assurance that we are God’s very dear and beloved children (1Jn 3:1-2) and that Jesus, by whose name we are being saved (Acts 4:8-12) is our good and caring shepherd. Though the images of shepherds and sheep may not immediately appeal to us, they are deeply ingrained in our biblical tradition. The ancient Israelites practiced a herding economy. Abel was a shepherd, as were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Moses and David. Sheep and other herded animals provided the nomadic tribe with its staple foods and with raw materials for clothing and shelter. When the nomadic tribes got settled and as they evolved into monarchies the image of the shepherd was appropriated as the model for a good ruler.

Given the intimate and lifelong relationship that the ancient shepherds and their sheep shared, this image is an apt one for describing the bond between Christ and the Christian. However, it is this very provident, protective, selfless and enduring intimacy that challenges contemporary ministers who are called to shepherd or pastor God’s people. Jesus in today’s gospel (Jn 10:11-18) alludes to this challenge when he compares the shepherding style of the good shepherd with that of the hired hand. Whereas the good shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep, hired hand runs away at the first sign of danger.

Neither is a mere administrator a true pastor. Today’s gospel also offers a challenge in this regard. Whereas an administrator may be able to take charge, to manage, and organize things in the most efficient way, it is the pastor who realizes that all those skills are to be understood as secondary and subordinate to personal piety and selfless service to the needs of others, particularly the lost, the sick and the needy. Those who would serve God and others as shepherds and pastors should, suggests Roland Faley, mirror Christ in his availability and sense of service even when it is inconvenient.

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Redemptive Mercies

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

Risen Jesus, touch me and transform me through the redemptive power of your mercy. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Divine Mercy giving importance to the scriptural readings. This Sunday’s readings also remind us of the redemptive mercies of the Lord. The redemptive power of the resurrection and the response that enables the believers to appropriate it, viz., repentance form part of the two aspects of this mercy.

In the first reading from Acts (3:13-15, 17-19), Luke presents Peter preaching to his Jewish brothers and sisters the good news that God’s gracious offer of salvation did not expire on the cross. On the contrary, the power of Jesus’ resurrection reaches into the past, present and future with its redemptive mercies. Even though many of them had not availed themselves of those mercies prior to Jesus’ resurrection, Peter assured his fellow Jews that they could still do so. All that would be necessary for them to know the redemptive power of Jesus-risen was an act of repentance. Do this, says Luke through Peter, “so that your sins may be wiped away!”

The second reading (1 John 2:1-5) assures the repentant that the risen Jesus continues to act as our intercessor. Through the saving sacrifice of himself, he has redeemed us of our sins. This redemption is not ours exclusively but it is for the sins of the whole world as well. This is the real miracle of the resurrection. In spite of the evil, ugliness and pain of the world, at the centre of this world’s reality is the Divine Lover, keeping watch over all. In spite of our failures, our rejection of love, our pettiness, our destructiveness, our violence, God loves us and continues to reach out to us and to offer us the redemptive power of resurrection.

That same power is celebrated in today’s gospel (Lk 24:35-48) wherein the risen Lord appears to his own and commissions them to “preach penance for the remission of sins to all the nations.” When Cleopas and his friend told of their Emmaus experience to the Eleven and their companions, and when the Eleven and the others shared with the Emmaus travellers their own experience of the risen Jesus, a community was born and a mission was inaugurated – all through the power of the resurrection. All of this has come about to proclaim together to all people that death does not have the last word, that hope is real and God is alive.

The Gifts of Easter!

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Risen Jesus, help us become a spark of Easter light in a world still filled with Good Friday darkness.   Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Jesus transformed the greatest tragedy in life into Easter Power and the speciality of that power is that it is communicable. Have we experienced this communicable power in our lives? Have we succeeded in communicating it to others through the gifts we received?

The gifts of Easter, viz redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal, were present in the early Christians. This is attested by Luke in today’s first reading (Acts 4:32-35). Changed by the Christ-event, those first believers “stood out” from the unchanged masses! They maintained a holy and healthy unity among themselves despite the differences. Distinctions as regards gender, race, ethnic background, socio-economic status and means of livelihood had formerly been causes of friction and separation among them. But Easter changed everything. To allow divisiveness again to cloud the union that should characterize the community of believers is to reject the gifts of Easter and to bear counter witness to the saving cross of Christ.

That cross, says John in today’s 2nd reading (1John 5:1-6) has made us children of God and assures us of the love of God for each of us. That cross, says theologian Alistair McGrath, is at the heart of Easter’s gift. Through the cross, through Easter’s gifts, everything has changed.

In order to enable us to accept Easter's changes within ourselves, within others, and in order to sustain our faith and maintain a ministry and a lifestyle consonant with those changes, today’s gospel (Jn 20:19-31) reminds us that we have also been gifted with the Holy Spirit. That spirit promotes peace when others would clamour for war; that spirit enables faith to grow beyond doubt (as in the case of Thomas) and empowers those into whom it is breathed to forgive and be forgiven rather than to remain in our sins. That Spirit and the reality of the Christ Event we call Easter can change the world. Are the changes and gifts of Easter evidenced in me? In you?