“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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Redemptive Mercies

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, C.M.I.

Risen Jesus, touch me and transform me through the redemptive power of your mercy. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Divine Mercy giving importance to the scriptural readings. This Sunday’s readings also remind us of the redemptive mercies of the Lord. The redemptive power of the resurrection and the response that enables the believers to appropriate it, viz., repentance form part of the two aspects of this mercy.

In the first reading from Acts (3:13-15, 17-19), Luke presents Peter preaching to his Jewish brothers and sisters the good news that God’s gracious offer of salvation did not expire on the cross. On the contrary, the power of Jesus’ resurrection reaches into the past, present and future with its redemptive mercies. Even though many of them had not availed themselves of those mercies prior to Jesus’ resurrection, Peter assured his fellow Jews that they could still do so. All that would be necessary for them to know the redemptive power of Jesus-risen was an act of repentance. Do this, says Luke through Peter, “so that your sins may be wiped away!”

The second reading (1 John 2:1-5) assures the repentant that the risen Jesus continues to act as our intercessor. Through the saving sacrifice of himself, he has redeemed us of our sins. This redemption is not ours exclusively but it is for the sins of the whole world as well. This is the real miracle of the resurrection. In spite of the evil, ugliness and pain of the world, at the centre of this world’s reality is the Divine Lover, keeping watch over all. In spite of our failures, our rejection of love, our pettiness, our destructiveness, our violence, God loves us and continues to reach out to us and to offer us the redemptive power of resurrection.

That same power is celebrated in today’s gospel (Lk 24:35-48) wherein the risen Lord appears to his own and commissions them to “preach penance for the remission of sins to all the nations.” When Cleopas and his friend told of their Emmaus experience to the Eleven and their companions, and when the Eleven and the others shared with the Emmaus travellers their own experience of the risen Jesus, a community was born and a mission was inaugurated – all through the power of the resurrection. All of this has come about to proclaim together to all people that death does not have the last word, that hope is real and God is alive.

The Gifts of Easter!

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Risen Jesus, help us become a spark of Easter light in a world still filled with Good Friday darkness.   Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Jesus transformed the greatest tragedy in life into Easter Power and the speciality of that power is that it is communicable. Have we experienced this communicable power in our lives? Have we succeeded in communicating it to others through the gifts we received?

The gifts of Easter, viz redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal, were present in the early Christians. This is attested by Luke in today’s first reading (Acts 4:32-35). Changed by the Christ-event, those first believers “stood out” from the unchanged masses! They maintained a holy and healthy unity among themselves despite the differences. Distinctions as regards gender, race, ethnic background, socio-economic status and means of livelihood had formerly been causes of friction and separation among them. But Easter changed everything. To allow divisiveness again to cloud the union that should characterize the community of believers is to reject the gifts of Easter and to bear counter witness to the saving cross of Christ.

That cross, says John in today’s 2nd reading (1John 5:1-6) has made us children of God and assures us of the love of God for each of us. That cross, says theologian Alistair McGrath, is at the heart of Easter’s gift. Through the cross, through Easter’s gifts, everything has changed.

In order to enable us to accept Easter's changes within ourselves, within others, and in order to sustain our faith and maintain a ministry and a lifestyle consonant with those changes, today’s gospel (Jn 20:19-31) reminds us that we have also been gifted with the Holy Spirit. That spirit promotes peace when others would clamour for war; that spirit enables faith to grow beyond doubt (as in the case of Thomas) and empowers those into whom it is breathed to forgive and be forgiven rather than to remain in our sins. That Spirit and the reality of the Christ Event we call Easter can change the world. Are the changes and gifts of Easter evidenced in me? In you?

Jesus lives! Joy abounds!

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Risen Jesus, help us open our hearts to the grace you won for us on the first Easter Sunday. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The grave becomes a holy place of communion and remembrance because of the person and the event we celebrate today: Jesus, alive, sprung from death to live forever.

Before Christ’s coming, however, it was the custom in pagan Tuscany for tombs to face west, as death meant the closing of life’s day and the passing into eternal night. After the Christ event, it became the custom among Tuscan converts to have their tombs facing east because Easter had come with all its promise, bringing life and light to all. At the heart of this change of attitude and tomb direction is the joy that the Christ-event has unleashed in the world.

A similarly vivid contrast can be found in the catacombs. In one chamber that dates back to the time of Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.), the tombs are marked with pagan signs depicting gloom and hopelessness. Nearby is a chamber where those who lived within the century after Julius Caesar’s assassination are buried. These were the Christian martyrs who were burned or crucified or torn asunder by the wild beasts. But in this chamber and others like it there are no derogatory remarks or bitter complaints. Here, there is no gloom. On the contrary, paintings and carvings of lilies adorn the tombs, testifying to a belief in immortality. The inscriptions express a serene and authentic joy, and the entire chamber seems decked out as if for a marriage rather than a funeral. A spirit pervades the place: it is gladness that excludes all enduring sorrow.

What accounts for the difference among these burial chambers? It is the conscious presence of the Living Christ whom God raised up on the third day, who was seen by countless witnesses, who ate and drank with his own after he rose from the dead (Acts 10:34, 36-43, 1st reading). Joy and hope and peace are the signs of Christian faith because Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified is raised; no longer does the tomb encase him. He lives and so shall we who believe in him live forever (Mk 16:1-8, Gospel). Therefore the signs that celebrate our faith are signs of triumph, signs of light, signs of life. These are the signs by which others will know to whom we belong. Jesus lives! Joy abounds!

The Jerusalem Syndrome

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, transform the Jerusalem within us and help us become what we are meant to be. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Jesus made His entry into the city of Jerusalem over 2000 years ago. The city called holy now continues to be an unholy melting pot of fighting factions - both religious and political. Once the psalmist described Jerusalem as a ‘city of compact unity, with peace within its walls and prosperity in its buildings’ (Psalm 122). At present Jerusalem is a veritable war zone. In a city that should be characterised by God’s own justice and equity, retaliation and revenge are the order of the day.

The theological tenor of this Holy Week prompts each of us to recognise that there is something of Jerusalem in all of us. Inasmuch as grudges are retained and forgiveness refused… inasmuch as vengeance is plotted, if only in the mind…inasmuch as we rejoice at the misfortune of another, withhold justice from the victimised or cast an unseeing, apathetic eye upon the plight of the poor,…inasmuch as we continue to return tit for tat, evil for evil, insult for insult… the Jerusalem syndrome lives on and we are all affected.

Despite the fact of our faults and failings Jesus wills to come to us once again, in the mystery of His Passover. He wills to heal and forgive so that the Jerusalem within us might be transformed and we may become what we are meant to be - a people united, a people of peace, a people who cry for justice.

To prompt our efforts in this regard, a 14th Century sculpture, ‘Christ on Palmdonkey’, may aid us. Now housed in the Augustiner Museum in Freiburg, this sculpture was made to be pulled on a cart in the Palm Sunday procession. To those who look upon him, the sculptured Jesus’ unfocused eyes seem to see what no one else can see. There is penetrating insight into the ‘Jerusalem of the human heart’ but also an immense compassion. This same Jesus rides into our hearts today and sees us for who we are. Nevertheless, He loves us because of who He is.