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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