Sunday, February 6, 2022 - Whom shall I send? Here I am, send me.

To read the texts click on the texts: Is 6:1-2a,3-8; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Lk :5:1-11

The theme that shines through all three readings today is what God can accomplish in sinful, weak, mortal human beings because of his graciousness and might. Isaiah, though sinful and weak, became one of the greatest of Old Testament prophets after being touched by God. Saul, who was a persecutor of Christians and so, of Christ, became Paul, and after Jesus, one of the most influential figures in Christianity.  Peter, who even after being chosen by Jesus and regarded in Jesus’ lifetime as the leader of the group of disciples, denied him when it mattered most. Yet, he became one of the founding pillars of the Church.

What also shines forth in the three individuals who figure in the readings of today is their awareness of their unworthiness, and thus, their dependence on God and on his grace. In the first reading, Isaiah is afraid that, because he is a sinner and lives among sinners, there is no hope for him. Yet, with a simple and single touch, all his sins are wiped clean and he becomes the one whom God will send to his people.  He will send Isaiah to tell the people about God’s unconditional mercy and love. This is also the experience of Paul who speaks, in his letter to the Corinthians, of the revelation made to him. On the one hand, Paul considers himself as most unworthy to have received any kind of revelation from the Lord simply because he had closed himself to grace. On the other hand, however, he was the one to whom God revealed a great deal because Paul realised his own inadequacy and weakness. The revelation of the risen Lord made Paul aware of what God could do, in and through him, and he allowed God to work in his life.

The realisation of unworthiness and the conferring of God’s grace find a classic description in the Gospel text of today. Peter had done nothing to merit the call of Jesus or to have him sit and teach from his boat. As in the case of Isaiah and Paul, it had to do with divine choice. God’s call and God’s choice are unpredictable. Secondly, the call to discipleship, in the case of Peter, did not come in a holy place like a temple nor did it come with great fanfare.  The call came when Peter was engaged in his daily life. The point is significant, not because God does not call people in a holy place but, because it is a further sign of the work of God’s kingdom reaching into the arena of human life. Luke, by stating that although they had fished all night, they had caught nothing, is probably indicating the consequences of any kind of enterprise that does not have the Lord at its centre. This allows an opportunity for Luke to show both the success of the activity, which is done on Jesus’ word, and to narrate the commission to Peter and the mission in which he will henceforth be engaged. Peter’s protest of his sinfulness and unworthiness is negated by Jesus’ ability to fill him with all that he needs to become a fisher of men and women for the kingdom.

God’s grace, conferred on Isaiah, Paul, and Peter, is effective. It brings forth what it promises. In the case of Isaiah, it results in blotting out his sin and making him an effective instrument of God’s word. In the case of Paul, grace is responsible for the conversion of Saul into Paul and for the unimaginable breadth of Paul’s’ ministry. In the case of Peter, it results in both a realisation of the consequences of his denial and a renewed commitment to the Lord who first invited him.

The voice of God that echoed in the heavenly court at the time of Isaiah, the bolt of lightning that struck Paul from his horse, and the voice of Jesus that called Peter, continues to ask “Whom shall I send?” This is because, though God is all powerful and omnipotent, he does not work alone but continues to work in and through collaboration with human beings. We can respond to this voice in a variety of ways. One way is to ignore it completely and pretend that we have not heard it.  This response allows us to continue doing what we are comfortable doing.  Another response is to give in to a false sense of humility and think that it could never be calling us because we are incapable, or not talented enough, or not holy enough. A third response is to realise that the voice is calling to us, but to pay no heed to it because the task ahead is too daunting and we do not trust God enough. However, there is also the way of Isaiah, Paul, and Peter. It is to hear the voice, realise our own unworthiness and, even as we acknowledge this, to know that we will engage in mission, not on our own, but with Him who goes ahead of us, guiding our path and lighting our way. It is to know that, though we are of unclean lips, a touch of the Lord can make us clean and whole. It is to know that the grace of God is with us at all times. It is to know that, with the Lord by our side, we, too, can become fishers of men and women.

Saturday, February 5, 2022 - Homily

 If at any given moment we can say that we have done our best and all that is required of us, then we do not need to be too bothered about the outcome.

Saturday, February 5, 2022 - How would YOU define “mission”? Are you engaging in mission now?

 To read the texts click on the texts:1 Kings 3:4-13; Mk 6:30-34

The text of today is about the successful return of the disciples from the mission to which they were sent by Jesus, and forms a sandwich construction with their sending (6:7-13). The verses that come in between are about the death of John the Baptist. Through this structure, Mark wants to indicate that the fate of John the Baptist will also be the fate of Jesus and of his disciples. Nevertheless, the disciples are to continue to engage in mission, confident in the knowledge that their Lord and Master will see them through.

Success and failure is often measured in terms of results. However, what is even more important is the amount of effort that each one of us puts into what we do. If at any given moment we can say that we have done our best and all that is required of us, then we do not need to be too bothered about the outcome.

Friday, February 4, 2022 - Homily - St. John de Britto

Will you like John de Britto dare to stand up for the truth?

Friday, February 4, 2022 - St. John de Britto SJ - Are you like John de Britto ready to face the consequences of standing up for the truth?

To read the texts click on the texts: 1 Cor 9:19-27; Jn 12:20-32

John de Britto was a native of Lisbon, Portugal. He was born on March 1, 1647, and was martyred in India on February 11, 1693 when he was forty-six years of age.

He was dedicated at birth to St. Francis Xavier, and was a noble friend of King Pedro. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen. In his effort to promote conversions among the native Indian people as a missionary to Goa, he wandered through Malabar and other regions and even adopted the customs and dress of the Brahmin caste which gave him access to the noble classes. His dress was yellow cotton; he abstained from every kind of animal food and from wine in an effort to be one with the people he wished to serve. In 1683, John de Britto had to leave India but returned in 1691. He advised Teriadeven, a Maravese to dismiss the many wives he had and keep only one. However, one of Teriadeven’s wives was the niece of the king. Due to this, John de Britto began to be persecuted. On February 11, 1693, he was taken to the capital Ramnad and from there led to Oriyur a small village in Tamil Nadu, where he was tortured and put to death by beheading.

He had wrought many conversions during his life, established many stations, and was famous for his miracles before and after his death. He was beatified by Pius IX, 21, August, 1853.

Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1947.

The Gospel text for the feast of John de Britto is from the what may be seen as a turning point in the Gospel of John. This is because with the coming of the Greeks to Jesus, the Evangelist indicates that the unbelieving world is coming to Jesus. Since Jesus has come not for a select few but for the whole world, this indicates that now the Mission of Jesus will be completed through his glorification on the Cross and his resurrection.

The disciples must realize that following and obeying Jesus, as servants obey their masters, will lead to persecution. What has happened with Jesus will be repeated in the disciples’ lives. While the authority of the one sent is the same as the sender, it is also true that the response to the one sent will be the same as the response to the sender. Those who do not accept the word of truth, spoken by God in Jesus, will indulge in persecution. Those who accept the word will respond by living out that word in their lives.  Rejection of the disciples means rejection of Jesus because it is Jesus who sends them.  Rejection of Jesus means rejection of God who sent him.

In a world in which the resonating message is to “have more”, it is not always easy to speak and live Jesus’ message to “be more”. Those who do this are labelled as crazy and out of touch with reality. John de Britto was not afraid to do this and was ready to face the consequences. He was ready because he was part of the vine to live and die as Jesus did. He stood up for the truth right to the very end.

Thursday, February 3, 2022

 

How often have you given up when the results of your action were not as you expected? Will you keep on keeping on today?

How would you define Mission? Will you engage wherever you are today?

Thursday, February 3, 2022 - How often have you given up when the results of your action were not as you expected? Will you keep on keeping on today? How would you define Mission? Will you engage wherever you are today?

 To read the texts click on the texts:1Kings 2:1-4,10-12; Mk 6:7-13

The text of today contains what may be termed as the “Mission Discourse” according to Mark. Jesus sends his disciples out on mission, and instructs them about the content of mission and provides a strategy for mission. The content combines word and action, proclamation and deed. The Kingdom is not merely a spiritual enterprise, but connected intimately with the whole of life. The strategy that Jesus gives may be summarised in one word, which is “detachment”. Jesus instructs them to be detached from material things and even from the outcome of mission. The job of the one who is sent is to engage in mission and not bother about the results. The results will be taken care of by God.

The Church has two patrons of Mission St. Francis Xavier and St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, whose lives were quite different from each other. While St. Francis Xavier was active moving from place to place with the hope of baptising as many as he could, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus spent her religious life as a Cloistered Carmelite and never went from place to place but remained where she was and still did mission. By placing these two different individuals and lives before us, the Church is pointing out to us that Mission is one: namely working to make the kingdom that Jesus inaugurated a reality. This may be done through various ministries or apostolate. While one kind of ministry may be prayer, another kind can be preaching. 

Sunday, March 6, 2022 - First Sunday of Lent - Responding to temptations like Jesus did

To read the texts click on the texts: Dt 26:4-10; Rom 10:8-13; Lk 4:1-13

Lent is a forty day period of fast and abstinence before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Sundays are not counted as part of these forty days because on Sundays, we commemorate the Resurrection of the Lord.

While “Lent” means the spring season, it also translates the Latin term, “quadragesima” which means “forty days” or literally the “fortieth day”. The forty day period is symbolic of the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert, a period mentioned in all the synoptic gospels. “By the solemn forty days of Lent, the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.” (CCC 540).

By choosing the story of the temptation of Jesus as the Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent, the Church gives us an orientation of how each of us must approach Lent and life itself. The three temptations of Jesus have been seen as corresponding to the temptations of Israel. The temptations involved bread, testing the Lord, and idolatry. Matthew followed this order in his narrative of the temptation scene. However, Luke changed the order of the temptations. Luke placed the testing of the Lord at the end of the temptations because, for Luke, testing the Lord on the pinnacle of the Jerusalem Temple is the climax. The Temple is the place where Luke begins his Gospel and the Temple is the place where Luke’s Gospel will end.

In Luke, unlike in Matthew and Mark, the temptations come after the period of forty days and thus, highlight the fact that Jesus would have been vulnerable. He would have been weakened by hunger. This is why the first temptation arises out of Jesus’ physical need. It is not like, in Matthew, a temptation to turn “stones” into bread. In this temptation, Jesus is challenged to turn “this stone into a loaf of bread”. While this may be understood as a temptation to perform a popular or magical sign, it seems better to understand it as a temptation t use his power for his own benefit. It is a temptation to be selfish and to satisfy one’s own needs. It is also a temptation to concern oneself with the material alone as is evident in the response of Jesus. There is much more that sustains the human than mere physical satisfaction.

The second temptation, to acquire power, authority, and dominion by worshipping Satan, is really a temptation to take the easy way rather than the right way. It is a temptation to compromise. Jesus’ response is that there is only one way to gain authority, power, and dominion and that is by worshipping God, not things or persons.

In the third and final temptation, the devil quotes scripture since Jesus has used scripture to overcome the previous two temptations. This temptation is to put God to the test. Jesus’ response, with words taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, is clear and unambiguous. God is to be worshipped and obeyed and not put to the test. The final verse in Luke, which states that the Devil left him till an opportune time, is Luke’s way of saying that Jesus continued to be tempted throughout his life. This is evident in the numerous requests that continued to be made of him for signs and wonders. It is evident even more, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he was sorely tempted to opt for a way other than the way of the Cross. Jesus, like he did in the desert, overcame all temptations. The uniqueness of Jesus is not merely that he was without sin, but that, even after being tempted, he continued to remain sinless. Thus, the temptation must be interpreted as the constant struggle or conflict between God’s reign and the reign of Satan.

This struggle continues today, even after the death and resurrection of Jesus. We continue to be lured by numerous temptations. One of these is the temptation to be successful at all costs, even if it means belittling others or riding roughshod over them. Other temptations are to have more, rather than to be more, or to choose the easy way rather than the right way, or to sit on the fence rather than to take a stand, or to take the broad road rather than the road of pain and sacrifice, or even to focus so much on the external that the internal is forgotten.

How are we to overcome these temptations? What must our response be in the face of such temptations? We do not need to look far, or go to manuals on ethics, or even listen to the counsel of the wise. We have an outstanding and practical example of how to overcome temptations in Jesus and in the response. In a word, the temptations are not so much about the temptations themselves, or even about Satan and his attempts to entice, allure, and beguile us. The temptations are about Jesus. They are about his fidelity and constancy to the mission. They are about his focus and his commitment. They are about his pointed dedication to God. We are offered today an example to follow and imitate. To be sure, the story of the temptations does not give us ready made answers to all the allurements and enticements we face everyday but, they do point us to the response of Jesus, which at all times remained a response in which God’s will, rather than his own, took primacy.

As we begin the grace filled season of Lent, we are invited and challenged by Jesus’ response to Satan. We are invited and challenged to make Jesus’ response our own.

Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - Homily

 Jesus came to challenge our way of looking at the world.

Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - The Presentation of the Lord - How will you show that the presence of Jesus has changed your life for the better? What three actions will you perform to show that the coming of Jesus has made a difference to your life?

To read the texts click on the texts: Mal 3:1-4; Heb 2:14-18; Lk 2:22-40

Until 1969, the ancient feast of the presentation of Our Lord, which is of Oriental origin, was known in the West as the feast of the Purification of Our Lady, and closed the Christmas season, forty days after the Lord's birth.  However, today the focus is more on the Lord than his mother and hence the feast is named The Presentation of The Lord.

The Gospel text chosen for the feast of today consists of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the purification of Mary and the Song of Simeon.

According to Jewish law a woman became ceremonially unclean on the birth of a child. During this time, she was not permitted to enter the Temple or touch any holy object. On the eighth day the child was circumcised, after which the mother was unclean an additional thirty-three days—sixty-six if the child was female. At the conclusion of this period, the mother offered a sacrifice, either a lamb or, if she was poor, two doves or two young pigeons. That Luke does not mention a lamb but refers to two turtledoves or pigeons may indicate that Jesus was born to the poor of Israel.  In addition, the first son was to be presented to the Lord as a reminder of the Exodus, and then, bought back with an offering. Luke does not mention that Jesus was redeemed either because he was not aware of this requirement or because he wanted to convey that Jesus was constantly devoted or dedicated to the Lord. In this part Luke emphasizes that the law of the Lord was fulfilled in all respects at the birth of Jesus.

Simeon is introduced immediately after the presentation of Jesus and the purification of Mary. He too like Zechariah and Elizabeth is described as “righteous”. He is also “devout”. He looked forward to the restoration of the people and the fulfillment of God’s redemptive work. The Spirit, who had revealed to him that he would not see death until he saw the anointed one of God, is the same Spirit who rests on him and gives him utterance to speak.

His hymn of praise of God is known as the “Nunc Dimittis” (“Now Dismiss”). It is only loosely related to the occasion of the birth of Jesus. It declares the praise of God for faithfulness and the redemption of the people. Though some interpret “now you are dismissing your servant in peace” to mean that Simeon was now prepared to die, it can also mean that he recognizes that he is being released from his mission to watch for the coming of the Messiah because he has now seen the coming of the one who will bring salvation.  His blessing relates the birth of Jesus to the fulfillment of the promise of salvation and looks ahead to the inclusion of all peoples in the experience of the blessings of God. Even as the parents of Jesus wonder at what is being said by Simeon, he blesses them and then addresses Mary, the mother of Jesus. He speaks about the coming rejection of Jesus. Not everyone will want to see the light, not everyone will want to receive the salvation by God for all peoples. Not everyone will recognize God coming in Jesus. Jesus will be rejected and treated as someone to be opposed. Even his mother will have to share in his sufferings.

Jesus came not to make us comfortable but to wake us up from our sleep and this is what Simeon had prophesied. He came to challenge our way of looking at the world. This challenge is not easy to accept because it means that many of our preconceived ideas and notions will have to be given up and we will have to start anew. It is easier and more comfortable to live the selfish and self-centered lives that we are used to rather than be concerned about others. It is easier to be caught up in our own small worlds, rather than get out of our wells and see that life is much more than simply having more.