The Gift Of Promise

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us experience the promised Paraclete as a person, a presence and a power in our life situations.

 

One of Jesus’ promises is featured in this Sunday’s Gospel (Jn 14:15-21): the promise of his own continued support and presence in the person of the Paraclete or Spirit of truth.

When considering all the things that Jesus could have promised his own, the promise of the Spirit becomes all the more significant. Certainly, it was in Jesus’ power and it may even have been the unspoken wish of his disciples that he would promise them an easy mission, spent among people who shared their traditions a mission that they could exercise in relative comfort of their own homes and hometowns. Jesus could have promised his disciples fame, popularity and a warm welcome from those to whom they reached out with good news. Jesus could have promised his followers power to dominate. Jesus could have assured his that they would be immunized against hostility and prejudice. He could have promised peace without a price and justice without hard work and sacrifice. Jesus could have promised those who gave themselves over to his ministry a life without suffering and pain. But all of these promises, however appealing, pale into insignificance when compared to the promise Jesus did make and keep: the promise of the Paraclete or Holy Spirit. A person, a presence and a power like none other, the promised Paraclete would remain with the disciples and continues to remain with and within those who love and believe in Jesus.

In today’s 1st reading (Acts 8:14-17), Luke recounts some of the first inroads made among Samaritans. The goal of the first disciples challenges us to a similarly zealous concern for those in faraway places who suffer from natural catastrophes such as earthquake, tsunami and mudslides as well as catastrophes devised by human hatred and injustice, e.g. ethnic cleansing, war, tribal conflict, trade embargos that starve the poor, etc.

In today’s 2nd reading (1Pet 3:15-18), the ancient writer reminds us that the Spirit also enables believers to endure the suffering that comes from doing good.

As is reflected in today’s Gospel, the Paraclete enables those who follow Jesus to retain their union with him and with the Father. So also will the Spirit of truth prompt Jesus’ disciples to keep and obey his commandments.

A Church of Living Stones

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us become a church who fully and truly reflects your loving concerns for humankind

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

From last Sunday’s celebration of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, we turn our attention this week to who we are and how we are to live as Jesus’ sheep, or, to put it another way, as church. To aid our prayer and reflection in this regard, each of the scripture selections for today offer images and analogies that emphasize some aspect of what it means to be church. Luke, in the first reading from Acts (6:1-7), will remind us that service is an essential constituent of church, service to God, service to the word, service to one another and, in particular, service to the poor and disadvantaged.

In the 2nd reading (1Pet 2:4-9) we get several images of the church. The first one says that we, as church, are living stones built into an edifice of Spirit upon the corner-stone of Jesus Christ. Reflecting upon the implications we have to ask ourselves these questions: 1) Are we, as the living stones of the church, true and authentic memorials of God’s encounter with humankind in Christ? 2) Do people look at us and recognize in us an “awesome shrine”, an “abode of God”, a “gateway to heaven”? 3) When they are in our presence, do others have the sense that God is with us, within us and therefore with and within them? 4) Does our lack of unity, our indifference to the poor, our refusal to take the challenges of the Gospel seriously render us an obstacle and a stumbling block, a counter-witness to what we are to be as a church of living stones?

The other images are an affirmation of church as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people claimed by God to proclaim glorious works”.

In today’s Gospel (Jn 14:1-12), the evangelist alludes to these works as the proper responsibility of the church. Promising that they (we) would do the works he did and works far greater than his, the risen Jesus left his own an agenda to be accomplished in the interim between his advents. Part of that agenda is to continue being a church who fully and truly reflects the loving concerns of Christ for humankind. Unfortunately, this agenda has not always been met. Let us not forget that we are daily and continually blessed with every gift and grace necessary for fully realizing our potential and God’s intentions for the world.

The Gift of Patience

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, give me the gift of patience to welcome sincere criticism.  Amen.

 

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The fourth Sunday of Easter is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday”, and it is also customarily designated as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. On this day I feel inclined to speak on the gift of patience.

In the 2nd reading (1 Pet 2:20-25) Peter encourages us to be patient. The author of the New Testament as well as Jesus have much to say about patience. The fact that this word is translated in different places by different English words such as endurance, perseverance and fortitude suggests that we are dealing with a very rich concept.

Patience is the discipline of compassion. This becomes obvious when we reflect that the word “com-passion” could be read as “com-patience”. The words both have their root in the Latin word “Pati”, which means “to suffer”. The compassionate life is a life lived patiently with others. Patience is extremely difficult because it runs counter to our unreflective impulse to flee or fight. When we see an accident on the road, something in us prompts the accelerator. When someone approaches a sensitive issue, something in us tries to change the subject. When a shameful memory comes to mind, something in us wants to forget. And if we cannot flee, then we fight. We fight the one who challenges our opinion, we fight the ones who question our authority, we fight the circumstances that force us to change.

Patience enables us to get beyond the choice between fleeing and fighting. Patience is the third way of staying with it, living it through, listening carefully to what presents itself to us. Patience means stopping on the road to help, overcoming fear of sensitive subjects, paying attention to shameful memories. It means welcoming sincere criticism and evaluating changing circumstances. In short, patience is a willingness to be moulded by outside influences even if we have to give up control and enter unknown territory. May I wind this up with a quote from St. Augustine: “Patience is love at rest”.

Presence and Reverence

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Help me, O Risen Lord!, grant me the grace to recognize You and respond to your presence in the breaking of the bread.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In today’s second reading (1 Peter 1.17-21) St. Peter urges his readers to “conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning”. Reverence is an essential aspect of good worship, though it is not always as evident as you might wish when we gather for liturgy.

Often reverence is compromised by our penchant for haste. Fostering an atmosphere of reverence requires enough time to enter into the mystery present in our midst. As the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal notes about the liturgy of the word, it “must be celebrated in such a way as to promote meditation. For this reason, any sort of haste that hinders recollection must be clearly avoided” (#56).

Beyond haste, our problems with reverence often flow from a lack of appreciation for the ways that Christ is present in the liturgy. Reverence means recognizing and responding to the presence of the divine. If we do not recognize Christ’s presence, we are not likely to respond with reverence.

Today’s gospel (Luke 24.13-35) account of the journey to Emmaus gives us a good example of this problem. Only after the two disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread did they respond with awe and reverence. Through most of the account they simply do not recognize that Jesus is with them.

When we take part in the Eucharistic celebration, are we aware of the various ways that Christ is present amidst us: in the assembly, in the presider, in the word proclaimed, and in the sharing of Christ’s body and blood in communion? If liturgical ministers are intensely aware of Christ’s presence and manifest that in the way they carry out their ministries, this will be conveyed subtly but effectively to the assembly. Let us ask ourselves the following questions. Do the lectors wait until all are really ready before they begin proclaiming the word? Do musicians allow significant time for silence before starting the responsorial psalm and gospel acclamation? Do eucharistic ministers handle the body of Christ with care and grace? Is it not advisable to spend 5 to 10 minutes in silent reflection just before the mass?

Christ of Experience

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Help me O Risen Lord, to experience you always and everywhere more than merely remembering you.

The death of Jesus is nothing for us if we have not died with Him; the resurrection of our Lord is nothing for us if we have not been raised with Him”. These are the words of Swiss theologian Emil Brunner (1889 – 1966), who insisted that Christ and the Christ – event are not merely to be remembered but experienced. Citing the example of the first disciples as living proof of his point author Jones once suggested that the early followers of Jesus had little ritual but a mighty realization. They went out not only remembering Christ but experiencing him. That experience became the focal point of their lives, the reason for their joy, the cause of their hope and the impetus of their ministry (1st reading, Acts 2:42-47).

In today’s second reading (1Pet 1:3-9), the author of 1 Peter describes the transformative experience of Jesus’ death and resurrection as new birth, a birth unto hope, a birth unto an imperishable inheritance, a birth unto salvation. This new birth enables believers to face the struggles of life and its sufferings with an irrepressible joy. However unclear it may be to us, the triumph of Easter and our experience of it dramatically change the way we look at the problems of life and the world.

To round out our individual and collective experiences of Jesus, who died but now lives, today’s Gospel (Jn 20:19-31) features the risen Lord breathing the Holy Spirit into his own. Through that action, they and we become “God-breathed”, taking in the very life-breath of the living God. Jesus’ challenge to Thomas remains a challenge for each of us: to move beyond the “touchy-feely” world of empirical science that demands tangible proof and into the realm of faith that doesn’t see but believes and loves the living of faith that doesn’t see but believes and loves the living Lord.

Because of Jesus dead and risen, insisted Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Testament to Freedom, Harper-Collins Publishers, San Francisco: 1995), a new and purifying wind can blow through our present world. Because of Jesus’ resurrection and our experience of it, Archimedes’ challenge can be answered: “Give me somewhere to stand and I will move the earth”. If only a few people really believed and acted on the experience of Jesus’ resurrection, said Bohoeffer, the world and we would be greatly and forever changed. To live in the light of resurrection – this is what Easter means.

Easter and Its Vision

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, enlighten us with a new way of seeing and empower us with a new way of loving and serving all others in your name.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we celebrate Easter and the transforming vision associated with it. Jesus, who was dead, is risen! Alleluia! Today, we celebrate our belief that in Jesus’ death and rising, each of us has been afforded a new and happy beginning. Because of Jesus, we have been called to live what Professor and Pastor Peter Gomes has described as “life on the other side”, i.e. life on the other side of Easter.

Rabbi Harold Kushner (“Who Needs God”, 2000) has affirmed that religion is not primarily a set of beliefs, a collection of prayers or a series of rituals. Religion is, first and foremost, a way of seeing. It can’t change the facts about the world we live in, but it can change the way we see those facts, and that in itself can often make a difference. How appropriate that Peter, in today’s first reading, begins his speech at the home of Cornelius with the words, “In truth, I begin to see that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). Living life in Christ on the other side of the Easter event, Peter had also begun to see as Jesus did, not with shades or blinders of centuries old prejudices that had once separated Jews like Peter, from Gentiles like Cornelius, but with this very vision of God, who sees all with love and welcomes all without distinction.

The new-found vision enabled Peter to finally begin to see the universal intentions of God, to preach the good news at Cornelius’ home and afterward to welcome him and his household as baptised brothers and sisters in Christ.

When Christ died on the cross and rose again, the Cross transformed into a symbol of hope. Do we foresee any kind of transformation in ourselves?

Come Out and Go Free!

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help me to come out of my bonds and find new courage and freedom in you.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This week, the readings focus on the promise of life after death. The prophet Ezekiel (37:12-14) reminds us that it is by the very Spirit Of God that we will be called forth to rise from our graves and live. Similarly, Paul in his letter to the Romans (8:8-11) assures us that the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead also lives in us. The presence of this Spirit transforms us, such that we are no longer bound by the flesh but are freed to live new lives in Christ.

As a sign of the power of the Spirit of God at work in Him, Jesus, in today’s Gospel (Jn 11:1-45) raises Lazarus to life. This sign, the last of seven signs in the fourth gospel, affirms, by way of illustration, the declaration of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life: Whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life and whoever is alive and believes in me will never die.” (25-26). In his capacity as one who was much loved by Jesus, Lazarus is a paradigm of every beloved believer. Therefore, just as Jesus called loudly to Lazarus to “Come out”, so also does Jesus summon each of us to recognize whatever we have allowed to entomb us in death and to “come out” so as to allow ourselves to be “untied” by his grace and “go free”.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from the tomb of self-sufficiency wherein you do not admit of your need for God and for one another. “Come out”, says Jesus, from the tomb of preoccupation with yourself and open your eyes to the needs of others around.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from the secret safety of the tomb of uninvolvement and dare to challenge the injustices in this world.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from the grave of melancholy and despair and be glad in the blessings that are yours.

“Come out”, says Jesus, from under the pile of unfounded fears that have become a virtual burial place; untie yourself from all unnecessary concerns and find new courage and freedom in me.