A JESUIT'S BLOG
Sunday, 29 January 2023
Monday, January 30, 2023 - Homily
Monday, January 30, 2023 - How often has another person’s need been more important to you than your own?
To read the texts click on the texts: Heb 11:32-40; Mk 5:1-20
The healing miracle of today is known as the healing of the Gerasene demoniac. The man is so utterly possessed, that it seems almost impossible that he will be healed. Addressing Jesus as the Son of the Most High God, the demon attempts to possess Jesus. However, Jesus will have none of it, and silences him with a word. The name “legion” used by the demoniac may mean on the one hand that he did not want to give his name and so be cast out by Jesus, and on the other hand may also refer to the Roman occupation of Palestine. The presence of pigs suggests that it is Gentile territory, because Jews considered pigs as unclean animals, and would not have them near. Some have raised questions about the destruction of nature because of the fact that the herd of pigs is drowned after the demon is sent into them. However, it may also be interpreted as the extent of concern that Jesus had for the man. In other words, the salvation of a human being is worth any price. The healed man becomes an apostle.
Saturday, 28 January 2023
Sunday, January 29, 2023 - How do you deal with the victims?
To read the texts click on the texts: Zeph2:3; 3:12-13; 1 Cor1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12
There
is a tendency even today among some of us to project the solutions to all our
problems into the future. This may be termed as “a pie in the sky when you die”
kind of theology. While it is true that till the coming of Jesus projection
into the future alone made sense, after his coming what must spur us on is not
only the future but the present and all that it offers.
This
is why it is understandable that Zephaniah, writing probably around 640-609
BCE, promised that God would preserve a remnant, To this humble remnant or
anawim belongs the promise of a secure future: “They shall pasture and lie
down, and none shall make them afraid” (3:13). This oracle announced the future
realization of an ideal.
However,
in the case of Matthew, who is writing after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the
“secure future” of Zephaniah is first present in the person of Jesus in a
unique way, and secondly is also in the future. This means that the beatitudes
that Jesus pronounces at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount do not merely
describe something that already is, but also bring into being the reality they
declare. They are a declaration of who disciples are already and who they must
continue to be.
The
Sermon on the Mount begins with the nine beatitudes. Called “blessed”, are the poor in spirit who have surrendered
self-will and self-reliance and every other base of security to welcome the
reign of God. Also “blessed” are those who are gentle, mourners and those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness or justice. These are basic dispositions of
the believer who accepts his needs before God and his openness to receiving his
gifts.
The
second group of four which speak of the merciful, the pure in heart,
peacemakers and those persecuted in the cause of justice seem to reflect the
attitude of humans to each other. These identify with Jesus in his person and
mission.
In
what many consider as the ninth beatitude, Jesus speaks to the disciples
directly. These are blessed even in the abuse and persecution that they will
encounter because of their association with Jesus.
The
key feature of blessedness is that it involves living a deliberately chosen and
cultivated sort of life, which does not get involved in the power and violence
of the world, and which, because of this fact, makes the ones living it
immensely vulnerable to being turned into victims. That is the centre of the
ethic as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
If
we then turn to the end of the Eschatological Discourse – Jesus’ last discourse
(Mt 25:31-46) before his passion, we find something similar at work. In the
famous passage of the last judgement, the judgement is defined not in terms of
belonging to this or that group, or believing this or that dogma. The judgement
is presented in terms of the human relationships towards victims – those who
hunger, thirst, the naked, sick, or imprisoned. Those who are rewarded are
those – whether or not they know anything of the world which is blind to its
victims, and have reached out to help them. It is here, the crucified and risen
victim who is the judge of the world, and the world is judged in the light of
its relationship to the crucified and risen victim.
For
Matthew the arrival of Jesus and his proclamation of God’s kingdom create the
conditions by which the world can be changed. The promise to the poor in spirit
and those who are persecuted for justice, that the kingdom of heaven is
“yours,” might better be translated as “on your side” or “for you.” The
dispositions and action praised by Jesus provide an alternate vision to
contemporary, destructive attitudes and trends.
The
beatitudes generate trust in God in difficult circumstances, not simply enable
us to endure hard times. None of us can avoid the traumatic experiences that
life so frequently presents. In Africa and Asia millions of our fellow human
beings suffer disease, poverty and the effects of war and natural disasters
that some of us have never experienced or even imagined. The challenge of
Christian faith is to accept and live a sustaining relationship with God in the
most trying circumstances.
The
beatitudes define the way that Jesus himself lived to the point of death as a
rejected religious evolutionary and unjustly condemned criminal. The spiritual
power to live the life of the blessed comes not through our most noble human
efforts, but through the gift of grace that the Spirit gives us. Paul realized
this when he said that God those the foolish and weak of this world to shame
the wise and the strong, Are Jesus’ praises and Paul’s declarations really too
much for us to believe?
Friday, 27 January 2023
Saturday, January 28, 2023 - Homily
Saturday, February 28, 2023 - Have you stopped rowing the boat of life because you are overwhelmed with the storms? Will you start rowing again today?
To read the texts click on the texts: Heb 11:1-2; 8-19; Mk 4:35-41
The Gospel reading of today appears immediately after Jesus has completed the Parable Discourse. It is commonly referred to as the miracle of the calming of the storm. While this miracle appears also in the Gospels in Matthew and Luke, the language of the disciples in Mark is harsh. In Matthew, the disciples address Jesus as Lord, and their cry is a plea for help, much like our “Lord have mercy” at the penitential rite. In Luke, like in Mark, Jesus is addressed as “Master” but no allegation about his uncaring attitude is made. In Mark, the disciples allege that Jesus is unconcerned about them. Mark also brings out the contrast between the agitated disciples and the serene Jesus. Jesus is able with a word to calm the forces of nature, and suddenly, there is a great calm.
Thursday, 26 January 2023
Friday, January 27, 2023 - Homily
Friday, January 27, 2023 - Do you more often than not focus on the present or the future? Do you focus on the now or on the later?
To read the texts click on the texts: Heb 10:32-39; Mk 4:26-34
The text of today contains two parables.
The first of these (4:26-29) is known as the Parable of the seed growing
secretly, and is found only in the Gospel of Mark. The second (4:30-32), known
as the Parable of the Mustard seed is also found in the Gospels of Matthew and
Luke.
In the first parable the point that is
being made is that the one who scatters the seed only does so and then goes
about his routine, not worried about the outcome of his effort. The seed
continues to grow, simply because he has first scattered it. He knows that by
worrying the seed will not grow faster, and so he lets it be.
In the Parable of the Mustard seed, the
point that is made is that from little, there will be much. Small beginnings
have great endings. The parable is a call to begin what one has to do without
worrying about how small or big the outcome will be. The growth is sure and
definite.
When Mark says in 4,33 that Jesus did
not speak to the people without a parable, he is in effect saying that there
was a parabolic character about all of Jesus’ teaching. This means that all of
Jesus’ teaching involved the listener and it was the listener who supplied the
lesson to the teaching and not Jesus. This indicates a freedom of choice that
every listener was given at the time of Jesus. They were the ones to decide for
or against. Jesus would never force them to accept his point of view.
It is sometimes the case that we spend
much of our time worrying about the outcome of our actions even before we can
do them. This attitude does not allow us to be in the present moment and so the
action that we do is not done to the best of our ability. We do not put
ourselves fully into the action that we do. At other times, we do not act at
all but only worry. While the first of today’s parable is calling us to act and
then relax rather than worry, the second is assuring us that our actions will indeed
bear fruit.
Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Thursday, January 26, 2023 - Homily
Thursday, January 26, 2023 - How would you define the WORD OF GOD? Have you assimilated this WORD?
To read the texts click on the texts: Heb 10:19-25; Mk 4:21-25
The text of today follows immediately
after the interpretation of the Parable of the Sower and the seed and contains
two similes: that of the lamp and the measure. In Mark they seem to be
connected with the response that a person makes to the Word spoken by Jesus.
This Word is not an esoteric or secret Word. It is a Word that is to be make
known, to be revealed, like a lamp is to be on a lamp stand. If one is open and
receptive to this Word (the Measure of one’s openness) one will receive from
God not only the ability to understand it but also to assimilate it.
Sometimes our closed attitudes and minds
and our reluctance to accept change and newness may result in our missing out
on all the revelations of the glory of God taking place around us. If we only
open the eyes of our heart to see and the ears of our hearts to hear, we will
be able to find God in all things and all things in him.