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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