Christ Jesus, Victor!

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Celebrating Jesus as king and marking a special day to venerate him as such has been a rather late development within the church. In 1925, Pope Pius X1 promulgated the encyclical Quas Primas and formally set forth the doctrine of the kingship of Christ. According to that document, Christ is recognized as king by virtue of his (1) birthright as the Son of God; (2) right as the world’s Redeemer, and (3) the power that is his as legislator, judge and executor (Acts 10:42). First commemorated on the last Sunday in October, the feast of Christ the King is now celebrated on the last Sunday of the Liturgical year.

The praying assembly today marks the passing of one year and prepares to welcome another, and is reminded in our liturgy that our King has chosen to exercise his reign as a shepherd like David. In telling of David’s anointing as king, the author of 2 Samuel represents the Israelites as claiming David as one like themselves: “Here we are, your bone and your flesh”. Jesus, our shepherd king, became like us – bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh – so as to know fully and to be known fully by us. That privilege is ours to remember and to celebrate today.

Giving expression to our celebration is the Christological hymn quoted by the author of today’s second reading to the Colossians, (Col. 1:12-20). This hymn establishes Jesus’ primacy over all while reminding his followers of the power of his death to reconcile everything in heaven and on earth, and to make peace through the blood of his cross.

Today’s Gospel (Lk 23:35-43) presents Jesus as the king whose true identity and whose power and sovereignty are proclaimed with great irony through the mocking words of the people, their leaders and the soldiers. Henri Nouwen (Sabbatical Journey, NY 1998) was correct in affirming that the greatest humiliation and the greatest victory are both shown to us in today’s liturgy. It is important, wrote Nouwen, to look at this humiliated and victorious Christ very carefully before we start the new liturgical year with the celebration of Advent. All through the year, we are to stay close to the humiliation as well as to the victory of Christ because we are called to live both in our daily lives. We are small and big, specks in the universe and the glory of God, little fearful people and sons and daughters of the Lord of all creation. Christ Jesus, Victor! Christ Jesus, Ruler! Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

The Day of the Lord

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

My dear brothers and sisters,

Human life is constituted of a series of days, some significant and memorable, others more routine, mundane and unremarkable. There are birthdays that annually mark the gift that is our time in this world. There are baptismal and name days that celebrate our initiation into the life of God and the believing community. There are burial days that remind us that immortality comes only after mortality is fully experienced. There are other sacramental days that signal our passages along the spiritual way: Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation etc.

Against the backdrop of all these days with their varying levels of meaning and importance for our lives, the liturgy for today invites us to consider the day before which all others pale into relative insignificance – the day of the Lord. Prophesied by Malachi (1st reading Mal 4:1-2) referenced by Paul (2nd reading, 2 Thes 3:7-12) and described by Jesus (Lk 21:5-19), the origins of the Day of the Lord are difficult to trace with certainty. First mentioned by Amos (5:18), it seems to have a popular belief that the prophet referenced and reinterpreted. Prior to Amos, the Day of the Lord was associated with the manifestation of God’s power on behalf of Israel; that day its enemies would be thwarted, and Israel would be securely established as supreme over them. Amos and his prophetic colleagues threw a wrench into the popular notion of the Day of the Lord, promising instead that it would be a day of reckoning for all of mankind, especially Israel. It would be an “evil day” (Amos 6:3) on which the sun would set at noon and the earth grow dark (Amos 8:9). All that were proud and high, all that was lofty and tall would be brought down (Isaiah 2:11 ff).

New Testament authors borrowed the imagery of the Day of the Lord, with its apocalyptic symbols and its ambience of reckoning, judgment and retribution, and associated these with the day of the Son of Man or the time of the second coming of Jesus. But rather than meet that day with dread or prepare for that day with trepidation, believers are encouraged to look beneath their apocalyptic fears and allow these to lead up to new hope and trust in the lessons Jesus left with his disciples. Regarding that day, Jesus advised them not to be misled by the prophets of doom. Rather hold fast to the faith. Be secure in the knowledge that I am with you, providing you with words and a wisdom that will help you to discern the truth and to continue witnessing to me in word and work.

Power of Hope

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

As we near the end of the liturgical year, the scripture readings focus on the end of times, especially on how the resurrection of Jesus is the linchpin of Christian faith, the source of our hope and the cause of our joy. As is reflected in today’s first reading (2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-4), faith and hope in the resurrection can strengthen believers against all manner of evil. Because of their faith and hope that they would live again after death, the martyred brothers and their mother were able to endure the tortures forced on them by a cruel and tyrannical king. Most of us will probably not be subjected to torture; nevertheless, it will be our faith and hope in the risen Jesus that will see us through whatever struggles may be ours to endure.

Faith and hope were the factors that enabled the Thessalonians to continue to live the Gospel that Paul had preached among them. In today’s second reading (2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5), the great apostle reminds his readers through the centuries that God is faithful. Human beings may falter in faith or even succumb to doubt and speculation (as did Sadducees, who are featured in today’s Gospel - Luke 20:27-38), but God never fails.

Confident in God’s fidelity and promise of life after death, believers are able to view life, death and all the events in between from a perspective of hope. This perspective does not immunize the believer from sorrow or suffering; rather it enables the hopeful to accept their present reality while focussing on future joys and eternal fulfillment. Testifying to the power of hope, Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Victor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning, NY 1959) argued that the loss of hope can have a deadly effect on human being. As a result of experiences in a Nazi Concentration Camp, Frankl contended that when a person no longer hopes, he no longer possesses a motive for living. With no future to look toward, he curls up in a corner and dies.

As believers, this quality of hope is afforded to each of us by virtue of Jesus’ resurrection. This hope empowers us to endure a seemingly hopeless situation and look to a better tomorrow. It helps us to suffer the loss of another through death, disease or divorce and survive to love again or bear with loneliness, sorrow and pain without losing heart. In short, it helps us find reasons for rejoicing and the courage to continue living, loving, and serving and giving until our complete sharing in Jesus’ resurrection becomes a reality.

The Guest Who Transforms

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Today’s Gospel (Lk. 19:1-10) with its story of Zacchaeus, offers the praying assembly an opportunity to be with a guest who transforms. Jesus is the guest who comes to dinner and Zacchaeus is the one in whom tremendous changes will take place. As Paul Scherer has pointed out in his article “the Gospel according to Luke”, the whole impact of the Gospel was in that meeting. It redeemed the past, transformed the present and redirected the future. Jesus’ acceptance of Zacchaeus, despite his sinfulness, prompted him to change his mind, his ways, his life. He resolved to make amends, he would make restitution for wrong doing – he would give generously to the poor. So great was the conversion of Zacchaeus that Jesus declared him a son of Abraham. He had been lost, but in welcoming Jesus into his home and into his life, he was found. “Today”, Jesus declared, “Salvation has come to this house!”.

Each day of our lives, the experience afforded to Zacchaeus is also afforded to us. Each day, in so many ways, through so many people and circumstances, Jesus says to us, “I mean to stay at your house today”.

Each day, Jesus affirms God’s love for us and for all that God has created. Love, not loathing, is God’s manner of dealing with us, the Wisdom author (1st reading, Wisdom 11:22-12:2) reminds us. Mercy and forgiveness are the ways of God, who overlooks sin and allows time for repentance and returning to the truth. Each day, in countless ways, Jesus reminds us that he is the guest who wishes to “come to dinner". In his coming, he will create the graced atmosphere in which we can, like Zacchaeus , change our lives for the better. Jesus is a self-invited guest who will also become the host - when we welcome him into the home of our hearts and lives, he will feed and nourish our needs and desires.

The food he gives us is the Bread of his Word. It teaches, comforts, challenges and when needed, chastises us. He also gives us as food the Bread of his very self, blessed by God, broken in suffering on the cross and given freely and fully in the redemption of sinners.

IS GOD LISTENING?

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Today’s readings raise some interesting questions about prayer. How does God actually “hear” our prayers? Does our prayer change God’s mind?

The gospel passage (Lk.18:9-14) shifts the questions from the openness of “God’s ears” to the openness of our ears and minds and hearts. Luke’s familiar story portrays in the Pharisee a man who is completely filled with himself. We know from our experience that when we are full of ourselves, there is little room for anyone else. If God’s word is to take root and grow in us, if the needs of others are to find their way into our hearts and consciousness, there must be room for that to happen.

Prayer, most surely, is not about trying to change God’s mind or heart about anything. It is all about changing us. Prayers can indeed be answered by a God who can ”get through” to prayerful people. It is the humble tax collector who has opened a place for God’s entry into his life.

And this is how God hears our prayers, as well. Do we want peace? Then we must pray to become peace-makers. Do we want forgiveness? We must pray for the ability to forgive one another-and ourselves. And so our prayers are as effective as our willingness to be poured out and filled up with something new. It has been said that prayer is a very dangerous endeavour, because it opens us to the risk of change. Not God’s change, but our own. We are invited to do more listening than speaking. In our listening, God might tell us stories about the needs of one another that only we can fill up. In our listening, we become God’s ears “for others”!

Finally, if we expect to hear anything, we must be prepared to act. For “the Lord”, says Sirach, “will not delay. The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Blessed be the Lord!

World Mission Sunday

(Abstract of text from "World Mission Sunday: Homily Notes")

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is World Mission Sunday. The theme suggested for us this year by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith is “Go! Proclaim the Gospel!”

What does that mean for us today? Perhaps we can find the beginning of that answer in the last line of today’s gospel: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?” Faith in what? Faith in whom? Let us look closer at today’s readings.

In the first reading from the book of Exodus (17:8-13), God’s chosen people, like many refugees in our world today, are vulnerable as they start on their long migration out of Egypt. They suddenly find themselves surrounded by a fierce enemy, the Amalekites. In the scriptural passages leading up to this latest threat, we witnessed several examples of how faithful God lovingly protected this tiny fractious remnant on its journey; making a path through the Red Sea, providing bread from heaven and so on. Their leader, Moses instinctively turns again to God for help. Trusting in God once more, Moses tells Joshua to form a small army and to prepare to defend the Israelites. In a drama that must have been a sight to behold, the elderly Moses having climbed a hilltop, extended his arms in prayer to God, “from morning… until sunset.” It was a communal effort. When Moses became tired Aaron and Hur sat on a stone and held up his arms. In the midst of fierce action, there was prayer. In the context of prayer, there was action. Prayer and action go together, linking God and his chosen.

In today’s gospel parable about the widow and the judge (Lk 18:1-8), Jesus speaks similarly “about the need to pray continually, and never lose heart”. In Africa, even today, the family of a husband who has died can legally come and claim his house and possessions, putting the husband’s widow and children literally on the street. Perhaps that is what had just happened to the widow to whom Jesus referred. Once more, we witness prayer in the midst of a particular struggle and struggle sustained by prayer.

Perhaps the main message we can take from the theme of Mission Sunday this year and in the context of today’s readings, is that God is on the side of the poor and the vulnerable in our midst, whether it be a nation or an individual, and that we as followers must imitate this example. On the side of the poor and vulnerable is where Christians belong.

Gratitude

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This week the praying assembly ponders gratitude as a necessary spiritual posture for disciples. Two models of gratitude are held out for our edification and encouragement. One is a leprous Syrian General called Naaman whose cure has been narrated in the 1st reading (2Kings 5:14-17). Our other model is an unnamed Samaritan leper (Gospel, Lk.17:11-19) whom Jesus made whole and holy.

Although both of these men were, no doubt, overwhelmed with gratitude at the dramatic change that was effected in their lives by God through Elisha and through Jesus, the words “thank you” and “gratitude” do not appear in their stories. Indeed, in Hebrew there is no specific word for thankfulness. This grateful posture is described in the Jewish scriptures by the verbs “to praise”, “to glorify”, to “bless”. Ancient Israel’s gratitude issued forth in prayers that praised, glorified and blessed their God. Notice that when Naaman and the Samaritan were healed, their response took the form of a proclamation of faith and a declaration of praise for God and for Jesus. Through the centuries, this character of grateful prayer has been preserved and practiced.

Since the liturgical renewal sponsored by the Second Vatican Council, similar prayers have been introduced into the great Christian prayer of praise and thanksgiving, the celebration of the Eucharist (at the offering of the gifts). In the Christian scriptures, thanksgiving is a characteristic feature of the institution of the Eucharist (Mt. 26:27, Mk. 14:23, Lk. 22:17,19, 1Cor. 11:24) as well as in the multiplication of loaves, which prefigured the gift of the Eucharist (Mt. 15:36, Mk. 8:6, Jn. 6:11, 23). How fitting that the summit toward which all the activity of the church is directed and the fount from which all its power flows is fully imbued with thanksgiving.

Walter Burghardt insists that the Eucharist is a genuine thanksgiving only if we ourselves become Eucharist for the life of the world – only if we are willing to be taken by Jesus, blessed by him, broken with him and fully given as he was. A thankful Eucharistic heart lives each day in an alert awareness that all we are, all we become and all we are empowered to do must be acknowledged as gift.