Individual Anointing

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, make the sick experience your healing through my presence while they receive anointing. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s gospel story of the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12) can serve to remind us of the importance of friends and family and members of the community in the care of the sick. The four men who carried the sick person to Jesus for healing are not identified nor are their relationships to the paralytic explained. Yet it is clear that his healing depended on the assistance of others, as well as on the healing power of Jesus.

This kind of care for the sick is encouraged in the official rite for anointing. “If one member suffers in the Body of Christ, which is the church, all the members suffer with that member. For this reason, kindness shown toward the sick and works of charity and mutual help for the relief of every kind of human want are held in special honour” (#32) “It is thus specially fitting that all baptised Christians share in the ministry of mutual charity within the body of Christ by doing all that they can to help the sick return to health, by showing love for the sick, and by celebrating the sacraments with them. Like the other sacraments, these (anointing, communion of the sick, viaticum) too have a community aspect, which should be brought out as much as possible when they are celebrated.” (#33)

This is still a new idea for many Catholics, and it needs to be the focus of parish catechists. Whenever someone is anointed, family and friends and members of the parish should be included as much as possible. It is still far too common for a family member to request anointing for someone in the hospital or a nursing home and see no reason to be present when the sacrament is celebrated.

Obviously there will be situations when anointing must be celebrated with only the priest present to represent the community, but such minimalism is only appropriate in emergencies. Normally the sacrament should be celebrated with a community of the faithful gathered around the sick person to support them in faith and prayer.

Liturgy planners and parish staff might profit from discussion of ways to gather parishioners when someone is anointed. Some anointing (e.g. before surgery) might be celebrated during Mass, either on the weekend or on a weekday.

Those who care for the sick and take communion to them might be invited to take part when the priest comes to anoint. Catechesis of the parish can encourage family and friends to join such celebrations.

Whispering Hope

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us proclaim the hope that you whisper in our ears, through our lives. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s readings whisper hope in our ears. In the first reading (Job 7:1-4,6-7), Job’s sad harangue might bring us down except for the fact that we know the rest of his story. Just when it seemed that Job could plunge no deeper into darkness and despair, something happened to change his heart. He encountered God, and from that encounter onward, Job began to look not just at himself and his struggles, he began to look to and listen to God. He was comforted by the inscrutable and awesome mystery of a universe he had not created and could not understand. In a word, he began to hope, and in his hoping he learned to trust and fling himself and his sufferings headlong into God’s hands.

When Jesus moved in flesh and blood among us, he offered the same hope: hope in him, hope in God, hope for salvation and for healing and forgiveness. In today’s Gospel (Mk 1:29-39), Jesus offers hope in various ways – through the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law, through his power over evil as seen in his cures of those possessed, through his prayer in a lonely place that prepared and equipped him for continued service and through his proclamation of the good news throughout the synagogues and villages of Galilee. In each of these efforts, Jesus communicated to human beings the love of God that enabled them to hope.

In today’s second reading (1Cor 9:16-19,22-23), Paul describes the hope that enables him to keep preaching even when this brought him rejection, misery and disillusionment. Like Jeremiah (20:7-9), his predecessor in ministry, Paul knew that he was only a messenger of God’s word. Hope drove Paul; hope pushed and pulled Paul along and empowered him to preach, even when logic and practicality would have dictated otherwise.

A similar hope enabled another minister of the Gospel nearer to our time to persevere despite widespread opposition to his hope for a “new Pentecost” within the church. One of the key figures of the Second Vatican Council, Leo-Josef Cardinal Suenens of Belgium once declared himself and his hope in these words: “I am a man of hope, not for human reasons not from any neutral optimism, but I believe the Holy Spirit is at work in the church and in the world, even when unrecognized and unnamed… To hope is not to dream but to turn dreams into reality. Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.”

Listening to God’s Voice

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, free us from within by our connection with God’s word and lead us to understanding, insight and faith. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It may be both helpful and challenging to take our cue for this week’s reflection from today’s responsorial psalm (Ps. 95). In an appeal to the praying assembly to hear and heed the word of God as it is spoken through prophets like Moses (Deu. 18:15-20, 1st reading), through apostles like Paul (1Cor. 7:17,32-35, 2nd reading), and through Jesus (Mk. 1:21-28, Gospel), the psalmist prays “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.”

As we analyse the above statement, we are made aware that God continues to speak, even today, in a variety of ways and through a variety of venues. Our ancestors in the faith stood in awe before God’s word. They sensed its power, its wisdom, its nearness. God’s word was connected to everything that happens in a day, in a lifetime. The author of Deuteronomy gave voice to this connection: “and these words I command you today shall be in your heart… teach them to your children… talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and gates” (6:6-9).

Nothing is left out here. The word is connected to sitting, walking, to lying down and rising up. It is on our hand, between our eyes; it marks our comings and goings. To understand how connected we must be to God’s word, recall the experience of Helen Keller. Blind, deaf and mute and locked inside herself, she was given to frequent bouts of rage and frustration. Relief and freedom came to Helen in the person of her teacher, Annie Sullivan. One day, as teacher and pupil were at the water pump, Sullivan held Keller’s hand under the flowing water and tapped into it the sign for water. Water, Word. Suddenly, Helen’s face shone with understanding. The water connected with the word. That sign, that tapping, it means this wet, flowing, cool stuff in my hand!

There is another, even greater connection when the word that is tapped into our hands and hearts and lives is the word we call God’s word. When the word that is spoken and heard in liturgy, hymn, psalm or prayer, these divinely inspired human words stammer a connection between people and God. These are human words, yet we understand them to be claimed by divine power. These words connect us to God, and when that connection is made, their lives are changed. Like Helen Keller, freed from within by the connection of water and word, so does our connection with God’s word bring about understanding, insight, freedom and faith.

Call and Repentance

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, help us repent and reform our lives so as to bring all the churches together to a new orientation. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the end of this week for Christian Unity, the readings invite our attention to two categories of missionaries. In the first reading (Jonah 3:1-5, 10), we get the picture of an unwilling missionary in the person of Jonah the prophet. In the gospel (Mk.1:14-20) we come across Simon, Andrew, James and John as ready-to-do missionaries. In which category do we classify us?

Though we may speak of prophet Jonah as an unwilling missionary who accepted his mission only after some powerful prompting and legendary marine adventure, if we were to look into the historical background, we would probably have sympathy for him and might see a reflection of our lesser selves in him. Jonah hated the Assyrians (Nineveh was their capital city) because of the cruelty of their evil doings. Assyria waged numerous military campaigns west of the Eupharates in order to search out and seize prized timber, minerals and new commercial opportunities. Those who would not submit to their advances were subjected to unspeakable acts of butchery. To ensure that their westward conquests would be permanent, the Assyrians engaged in the wholesale relocation of the conquered people. This had been the fate of Israel in 722 B.C. Is it any wonder that Jonah was revolted by the very thought of exercising a ministry on their behalf? Can’t we readily understand his desire to die rather than lift a finger or speak a word that might prove helpful to his enemies? As we join Jonah, allowing hostility toward the Assyrians, (and all such political bullies) to well up in our hearts, the sacred word offers us a surprising lesson. Even sinners as profligate as the Assyrians, can change and when they do, God forgives.

Called by God, missionaries of the good news of salvation are also empowered by God, and God who can make the weak strong, is the great guarantor of their mission. Considering our own missionary efforts in the service of the gospel, we will probably find ourselves somewhere in between the absolute refusal of Jonah and the rapid response of Peter, Andrew, James and John. Our challenge will lie in relying on God.

Call and Response

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Infant Jesus, make me respond to your call, listening to your voice in the poor and the sick. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

God’s call can come to us at any moment, in any place and in any circumstance. Samuel’s dramatic call to service, as narrated in today’s first reading (1 Sam. 3:3b-10,19) is an example of that. Just as Eli mentored Samuel on his way, so may we need assistance in understanding and responding to God’s call.

In the 2nd reading (1Cor.6:13-15,17-20) Paul talks about some of the responsibilities inherent in the privilege of Christian vocation. Called by God, and baptized into the life of Jesus and the church, believers thereby become temples where the Holy Spirit comes to take up permanent residence. The privilege of becoming a sacred place, a sacred person, requires that the believer live accordingly.

The gospel (Jn:35-42) gives us the vocation experiences of the first disciples. Those who are called by God are called to a life of seeking and searching for God’s will and God’s ways. Those willing to risk and venture into the unknown will, however, find a home in Him. Notice how the evangelist describes the evolution of a vocation. (1) Someone points the way (John the Baptist witnesses to Jesus); (2) the motives of those called are questioned (“what are you looking for?”); (3) those called admit of their desire for belonging (“Rabbi, where do you stay?”); (4) the challenge of commitment is issued (“come and see”); (5) in their response to that challenge, those called also accept to live accordingly to a new reality (“your name will be Peter”) and within the embrace of a new relationship (“they stayed with him”); (6) having become aware of the gracious gift of vocation those called then reach out to share the joy of that experience with others (“he sought out his brother to tell him, we have found the Messiah”)

In our individual and communal mindsets, we regard the vocations of prophets, apostles, priests, nuns, etc. as special calls. Prompted by the renewal of the Second Vatican Council, we have come to understand that the gift of vocation is an experience afforded by God, not just to a special few, but to all. Indeed all are called by God, all are invited to respond to God and to make their entire life’s work a necessary and integral part of their response to God.

Baptism and the Mission

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, empower me for the mission you gave me in baptism. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Christmas season is coming to a close this Sunday with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. This gives us an opportunity to celebrate the gift of our own sacramental baptism. Celebrating our baptism is to be marked by a renewed resolve to embrace the mission that has become ours by virtue of our baptism into the life of Jesus and the church.

Most of us can readily recall the date of our birth as well as the birthdays of relatives and friends. Some among us also remember and celebrate feast days, i.e. the calendar date given over to honouring our patron saint. But how many of us set aside the date of our baptism for special remembrance and festivities?

Author and theologian Mark Searle (Christening: The Making of Christians, 1980) would have us mindful of the fact that for many centuries the Roman church observed the custom of celebrating the anniversary of baptism. Searle likened the day to a sort of “class reunion” for the baptized, their sponsors and the bishop. They celebrated the Eucharist together on what might be called their Christian birthday. Searle also suggested that anyone trying to rediscover the traditions related to the celebrations of Christian initiation would feel like reviving the annual celebrations of Christian baptism. In the meantime, we have this feast of Jesus’ baptism to remind us of our own.

Regarding the importance of Christian’s sacramental initiation, Raymond E. Brown once said, “The day a person is baptized is more important even than the day when a person is ordained priest or bishop.” Indeed, these other consecrations derive from and depend upon the grace that is conferred and begins to grow in the believer at his/her baptism. The Second Vatican Council declared “Through their baptism and confirmation, all are commissioned to the apostolate of the church by the Lord himself…the baptized laity are called in a special way to make the church present and operative in those places and circumstances where only through them can she (the church) become the salt of the earth”. (Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, #10,35, Nov. 1964). With these responsibilities in mind, let us also recall that just as Jesus’ baptism was the starting-point for his public ministry, so also does our baptism prepare us for service.

The Lord of All Peoples

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, CMI

Lord Jesus, bestow on me “the gift of inclusiveness” and help us recognize our oneness in You. Amen.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We gather today in this season of Christmas joy to celebrate the manifestation of the Lord to all the peoples of the earth. The three wise men paid homage to the Christ child by presenting Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Our celebration of this feast becomes meaningful only when we approach Jesus with the “gift of inclusiveness”.

The homily given by a young priest near the end of the film “Chocolat” may well illustrate this gift of inclusiveness. “I think we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do”, he says, “by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include”.

The solemnity of the Epiphany or the Manifestation of the Lord is about who we include. It celebrates the wondrous revelation that Christ’s coming was intended not only for the Jews but for all the peoples of the world. It rejoices that this child of Bethlehem is also the Lord of all nations and all peoples. It is, in this sense, the quintessential “catholic” feast.

The church has always a strong tendency to exclude those who are different from us. This instinct to exclude must be continually confronted by the truth of the gospel. This solemnity seeks such confrontation.

Usually the power of this feast is reduced by historicizing it and focussing only on the arrival of the magi. What is more appropriate is to find ways to highlight and celebrate the actual diversity of the parish. What about having people in their own ethnic dress included in the entrance procession? Or having people of different nationalities carry banners or flags representing their heritage? What about using music drawn from different traditions and using different languages, at least for simple responses that all can learn easily. Let this day be a day to celebrate the diversity that the parish embraces. Let us pray for all those that people consider “different”, and pray for the grace to recognise our oneness in Christ.