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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