Giving: - Generosity or Obligation?

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Giving: - Generosity or Obligation?

This Sunday’s readings invite our attention to issues related to basic needs. In the first reading (Is 55:1-3), we find God providing the banquet of bread and word for all the hungry and thirsty. In today’s Gospel (Mt 14:13-21), we see Jesus hosting a banquet that he provides and over which he presides. There is no question as to who should eat. Those present are simply described as a vast throng who moved Jesus heart and whose ills he cured. We are not told in the Gospel that the disciples were to pass through those gathered and select those whom they deemed worthy enough to eat. We are told only that those present ate their fill and lots of leftovers remained. Several thousand ate that day with no question of their worthiness, or lack thereof, being raised.

We are also told that the responsibility for satisfying the hungry and thirsty of this world was, on the same day, placed on the shoulders of Jesus’ disciples. “Give them something to eat yourselves”, challenged Jesus, and immediately, feeding the hungry became part of the job description of the Christian.

When we look at these texts and others like them it is clear, writes Larry Hollar (Hunger For the Word, Liturgical Press, Minn.: 2004) that the blessing of food and the need to speak out for vulnerable people who lack food (or are deprived of it) are not some marginal afterthoughts or occasional footnotes in the Word. These issues are integral to the identity of those who worship the God of Israel and who follow Jesus Christ. This God raised up leaders in the midst of famine, offered manna to the wanderers in the wilderness, blessed the Sabbath gleanings of the hungry disciples and fed multitudes in a deserted place.

This love of God, insists Paul in today’s second reading (Rom 8:35, 37-39), comes to us in Christ Jesus who blesses, breaks and gives both bread and word, body and blood at every Eucharist gathering. Just as food and God’s provident gifts to the hungry are never far from the scriptural story, neither can those who claim to believe and love this God do so without translating faith and love into the service of the needs of the hungry.

What Would You Do?

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

What Would You Do?

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
If we were to ask a few questions about some important aspects of human experience, how might we answer?

“What would you do to assure the safety and security of your family?” Dozens of answers would be forthcoming regarding proper diet, healthy care, burglar alarms, neighbourhood watches, etc., etc. Similarly, if one were asked, “What do you do to get ahead in life?” the answers would include study, hard work, conscientiousness, responsibility, accountability, etc. If the same question were asked regarding a successful career in acting or professional sports or painting or music, answers would invariably include practice, practice, practice so as to hone whatever talents and skills we may possess.

With these questions and their answers in mind, we turn our attention to this Sunday’s gift of the Word, wherein we are once again asked, “What would you do in order to share in the reign of God?” Through the two parables of the buried treasure and the one really valuable pearl, Jesus teaches his disciples that the reign of God costs not less than everything we are, everything we have and everything we could ever become. Worth whatever risk or sacrifice is necessary, the reign of God is given as a gift to those who are willing to forsake all else in order to welcome it into their lives.

These parables remind us of how good the good news of the kingdom is. To experience radical forgiveness, undeserved and unexpected, is like finding a chest of gold in a forgotten field. To receive the uncommon and always revitalizing love of God is like finding one priceless pearl in an ocean of oysters. To be accepted “warts and all” into the family of God is like being treated with respect and value when others have treated us with disrespect. It is being named “good” when we know we are far less.

Today’s second reading (Rom 8:28-80) well illustrates that Paul understood the joy of discovering God’s love for each of us, the love that names us as good and cherished children. The same loving God gifted Solomon with an understanding heart when he asked for it (1st reading, 1Kings 3:5-12),

Today, God invites each of us to first ask ourselves, “What would you do to share in the reign of God?” Once we have decided upon an answer, God then graces our attempts to live our lives accordingly.

Jesus’ Radical Approach to Evil

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Jesus’ Radical Approach to Evil

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Once there was a public radio program called “The Gestalt Gardener”, in which three experts in the gardening took part. When asked their opinion as to how to handle the perennial problem of weeds, the three experts were of the same mind. Nip them in the bud or better yet, prevent them from taking root in the first place. A variety of methods of extermination, both organic and chemical, were recommended, but all had essentially the same herbicidal purpose. How unlike the method recommended by Jesus in today’s Gospel (Mt 13:24-43). Rather than root out he unwanted garden guests and be done with them once and for all, the farmer in Jesus’ parable advises, “Let them grow together until harvest”.

Did we, asks Timothy Owings, hear Jesus correctly? Obviously yes, but hearing correctly does not lessen the surprise prompted by Jesus’ words. Probing deeper into the parable’s message, we are led to understand that this story represents Jesus’ radical approach not merely to weed control but to us human beings and evil of which we are capable. Just as the farmer said of the weeds and wheat, so Jesus says to human beings both good and evil, “Let them grow together until harvest”. Wheat and weeds growing together: This is risky farming, risky living, risky discipleship. Nevertheless, it is the way of the Lord, who allows time and space and second, third and fourth chances for conversion, growth, for transformation. Jesus’ radical approach to evil does not condone it but rather prefers the catechesis to condemnation and supportive help to shunning.

In today’s first reading (Wis 12:13,16-19) the Wisdom author celebrates those virtues of God that give even the most “weedy” and sinful among us hope and confidence that good growth is possible. Rather than use the divine might to punish the sinful, God urges the guilty toward repentance. In today’s second reading (Rom 8:26-27), Paul assures us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness to pray well, intercedes with God and the saints for us and help us make our own the radical trust that we have known in God and in Jesus. Let them grow together until harvest; give the weediness within each of us the opportunity to change, to be forgiven, to be transformed, to grow. Harvest will come soon enough in God’s good time… for now, let us grow together for growth, for transformation.

Seeds, Words and Their Growth

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Seeds, Words and Their Growth

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
One much-loved teacher gave everyone in a first grade class a lima bean along with an explanation that each of them would be solely responsible for what became of it. With the bean and the explanation, they were also given a paper towel and a small Dixie cup and were instructed to moisten the towel, wrap it around the bean, put it in the cup and place the cup near a window or other light source. After a week or so, the teacher invited them to bring their sprouting beans to school. Some of them were ashamed to say that they had lost the bean or “the dog ate it”. Others had forgotten to keep the bean moist and its growth was stunted. Some forgot about the light source and the bean sprouted but withered. Still others among them were proud to show off a relatively tall and healthy sprout with a hint of a leaf here and there.

Since all of us can, in some small or large way, relate to seeds and growing things, the scripture texts for today, especially Isaiah (55:10-11) and Matthew (13:1-23) are particularly significant. Both the prophet and the evangelist prompt us to compare the word of God to a seed, planted anew in us each week. Like a much-loved teacher, the church provides, through the liturgy, both the seed and the wherewithal to allow the seed to germinate, to grow and thereby to transform our lives. But in order for growth to occur, we must accept the seed, take it home with us and carefully, lovingly tend to it while allowing it also to tend to and care for us. While Jesus lived and walked and worked among us, he planted the seed of the Word in the form of parables. Then Jesus challenged, “Anyone who has ears should listen!” and so does Jesus continue to challenge his listeners today.

Listening to Jesus means understanding and accepting that the seed of the Word is portable, that is to say, it may not be left hanging in the air, intermingled with the smell of candles, flowers and incense. But in order to be portable as well as translatable into every aspect of the human experience, the Word must germinate within the good soil of the human heart and mind and, ultimately, the human will. If the Word we hear does not germinate in us and then travel with us across the threshold of the church and on into the rest of the week, it cannot accomplish its God-intended purpose – to achieve the end for which God spoke it into the world and into each of our lives (Is 55:11).

Our Approachable God

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Our Approachable God

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
God, as is revealed in today’s liturgy, remains utterly approachable. In today’s first reading (Zech 9:9-10), the prophet Zechariah celebrates the approachableness of God, who does not remain aloof and pompously distant from the people but comes away in all meekness. Israel’s God repeatedly assures believers, “I am with you”; “I have seen your plight”; “I hear your cries”; “You are mine and I am yours”. Israel's God made the divine presence as obvious as a pillar of fire illuminating the darkened desert sky or the cloud that signalled nearness by day. By describing the divine love for Israel as that of a mother who never forgets her child (Is49:15) or as a loving parent who teaches a son to walk, raises the infant to his cheeks and stoops to feed him and enfold the child in love (Hos 11:3,4), the prophets of the Hebrew scriptures affirmed the divine desire to be near, to be approached.

That desire took on human form and features in the person of Jesus, whose very incarnation signalled the ultimate gesture of divine approachability. In Jesus, God came so near as to become one of us. This mystery is dramatically and clearly expressed in today’s Gospel (Mt 11:25-30), wherein Jesus first insists that those who know him can also know God who is revealed in him. “Then,” Jesus invites, “Come to me and find rest. Learn from me and be refreshed”. There is no mention of protocol here; no appointment is needed; no political correctness or special attire is specified. There is simply Jesus, made accessible in flesh and blood, made forever present in bread and wine.

“Come to me, take my yoke upon you”, Jesus asks, and then specifies that his is an easy yoke and a light burden. In a comment on this invitation by the utterly approachable Jesus, T.W. Manson (“The Teaching of Jesus”, UK, 1931) has explained that the yoke is not one that Jesus imposes but one that he himself wears. In Jesus’ day, a yoke was a common wooden device that paired two oxen and made them a team. The ever approachable Jesus invites each of us to become his yoke mate and with him and in him, to find our burdens lessened and sorrows shared. Our weariness and weighty worries of life will not drag us down or overwhelm us because the One who has called us into being has shouldered our troubles as his own.

Manifesting Unity & Identity

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Manifesting Unity & Identity

January 18, 2004 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Volume V, Issue No. 8
This Sunday’s 1st reading (Is. 62:1-5) and gospel (Jn 2:1-12) invite us to manifest our identity by becoming aware of our spousal relationship with God. John the Evangelist and Isaiah make use of the ambiance of a wedding to communicate this message. Israel's God was not content to participate in a creator – creature relationship; theirs was a God who invited creatures to be covenantal partners. Theirs was not a political covenant like the one that was forged between Abimelch and Abraham (Gen. 21:23-32). Nor was theirs a covenant of commerce, much as the one established by Hiram and Solomon (1Kings 5:2ff). Even the covenant of friendship shared by Jonathan and David (1Sam 18:3; 23:18) could not compare to the relationship that Israel was privileged to know with God.

God invited Israel to enter into a spousal relationship founded on mutual love. “I will be yours, you will be mine” was the love-language of this relationship. Hosea was the first to describe the marriage of God and sinful mankind in terms of his own love for his adulterous wife, Gomer (Hosea 1-3). Yet, despite Gomer’s weakness, seeming lack of love and numerous infidelities Hosea loved her faithfully and enduringly. So also, insisted the prophet, does God love Israel, despite her sinfulness. More than a century later Jeremiah and Ezekiel following Hosea’s lead described God’s love in terms of spousal relationship. Isaiah also in today’s 1st reading reminded his people that they were the delight of their divine spouse.

Against this vividly intimate backdrop, we should see Jesus making his ministerial “debut” at the wedding feast at Cana. Cana sets the scene for us to imagine God’s enormous passion for mankind. Cana also sets the scene for each member of the praying assembly to examine their own fidelity to God’s love. The reflection on Cana event affords married couples a chance to repair what may have been broken and to renew what may need to be strengthened in their relationships.

In this week of Prayer for Christian Unity, let us strengthen the unity at the family level and manifest our Christian identity as the springboard for the unity of churches.

Sacramental Solidarity

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Sacramental Solidarity

January 11, 2004 Baptism of the Lord Volume V, Issue No. 7

Last Sunday we reflected on “Travelling towards God” keeping the journey of the Magi in focus.“ Are we, the baptized Christians, travelling towards God with one heart and one mind?”, is a pertinent question when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, this Sunday. The question becomes more focused in the context of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that we observe every year from January 18th to 25th.

Lord’s Baptism is a sacrament of solidarity. Jesus desired to be completely one with mankind, so it should not be surprising that he joined the crowd of self-admitted sinners at the Jordan. In all he did he identified himself with every aspect of the human condition. Eventually, Jesus’ solidarity with sinners would lead him to the suffering and death on the cross. It was his loving and unquestioning acceptance that assured the demoniacs, lepers, paralytics, Roman Soldiers and sinful women of God’s care, forgiveness and healing.

Our solidarity with Jesus through Christian Baptism in water and the Spirit would not only require the acceptance of all others as brothers and sisters, but also a share in his suffering and death. In this aspect the gospel for today (Lk. 3:15-16, 21-22) offers both strength and encouragement.

At his baptism, while he prayed, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus to grace him for all that lay ahead of him. A voice from heaven identified him as Son and called him Beloved. This enabled Jesus to say in the trying moments “I am the Beloved of God. Others will leave me, but God will never leave me. I am the Beloved of God. I live by the hope and by the strength found in that identity”. These same gifts are accorded to each of us who are baptized into Jesus’ dying and rising.

By virtue of our sacramental solidarity with Jesus, we, too, are graced by the Spirit, welcomed as children of God and pronounced “Beloved!” When we face the struggles that are inherent to our solidarity with Jesus, we must remember and repeat the blessing, “I am the beloved of God”. Then we, too, can live in the hope found in that identity.