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Narrow Garden

02 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Discernment, Ecumenism, Faith, Holy Spirit, Humility, Judiasm, Literature, Love, Meditation, Philosophy, Reading, Religion, Sociology, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Uncategorized, Wisdom, Writing

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Harvesting from the fraternal wisdom of His Holiness Pope Francis.

In every age, we find certain motifs of human dispensation in leadership, standing out as though a heritage, passed on by the preceding generation to the succeeding one. The motifs of seeking self glory, rigidness to personal ideologies, high handedness, vanity and indifference towards unwilted concepts. At times, fatally obsessed with the latter, such ‘detached’ leaders; succumb to the ethical and spiritual paralyses which can follow the pursuit of these motifs. It is a chronic disease that has extensively punctured the immunity sphere of numerous Christian and Non-Christian leaders across the globe. Considering irrelevant; their feats or accomplishments in the ‘service of the Church’.

Pope Francis in his ‘Address to a meeting of the Congregation of Bishops’, introduced a savoury appetiser to the contemplative, which has the potential to call the bluff of their so called discernment of people/person by spiritual leaders. Characterising those who would be ideal for episcopal ministry, His Holiness said, “we need someone who knows how to raise himself to the height of God’s gaze above us in order to guide us to Him. We need those who, knowing the broad scope of God is more than his own narrow garden, can guarantee us that what they aspire to is our hearts, and not a vain promise.”

To rise above one’s selfish personal agenda and work towards the collective aspirations of those entrusted to one’s care, needs the willingness to submit to the goodness of humility. Just like how a variety of flowers bloom in a well nurtured garden, so should the wisdom, love and piety of a pastor or a lay leader bring forth the splendour of diverse fruits of the Holy Spirit in the service of the Church.

Ever since antiquity, God has always trumped man’s intellect and wisdom. Even a faithful servant of God, such as the prophet Samuel, could not at first instance, believe the choice God made in David, to be anointed as King. The faithful and fruit bearing servant of God, Samuel too, allowed the eyes of his flesh to influence his discernment of God’s will for Israel new King. And God spares no time in ‘raising Samuel’s gaze to His vantage, and then the prophet rightly understood that David, though is now still a shepherd boy, truly is the one to lead God’s first born – Israel (cf.1 Samuel 16:1-13).

In the case of the first Bishops, instituted by our Blessed Lord Jesus Himself, at one point, as His Apostles, some were debating (rather disappointingly; to say the least), about who should sit on either side of Him in heaven (cf. Mark 10:37). It is not an uncommon feature among followers or disciples or even workmen under a manager, to be carried away by a charismatic leader, so much so, that there begins an unhealthy attachment towards him. Such an attachment blinds one’s mind and heart to the actual mission of the leader as well as their own. In the case of our Lord Jesus, His Apostles became blind to an important fact of the Incarnated Word. That what He does is the will of the Father and not His own. And by humbling Himself, He desired humility, especially from those whom He personally called for a life such as His.

This blindness towards the scope of God’s will, power, providence, love and mercy, and every other attribute in His nature of Godliness, is a sure and wide path to lead God’s people into eternal darkness and loss of perfect union with God. Stewards of God’s mystical body on earth, both clergy and laity, should realise the reality of implicit accountability that comes with the responsibility & authority received by them from God, over His people and also their temporal resources. A fiery and persevering personal relationship with Christ, the epitome of leading people to God, with the knowing of God’s mind & heart for His children, assures the manifestation of the counsel needed from God, to be stewards of His dynamism in the flourishing of His immeasurable, life-filled garden on earth; the Church. 

St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Basil, St. Ambrose, St. Celement, St. Leo the Great, St. John Chrysostom, and also the likes of St. Joan of Arc, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. John Paul II, St. John XXIII and the litany of saints who discovered their Christian calling and consequently allowed themselves to become slaves of God’s will for the people vouchsafed to them, is never ending, and never ceases to inspire all generations. They all tread the path of higher knowledge and wisdom, love and compassion, reason and spirituality, only because they chose to deny the luxury and deceiving impregnability of their narrow garden.

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Some flowers produce distinct, exotic and tantalising aromas, some provide healing elements, some; beauty to landscape and some substance to other creates. All these together make a flourishing garden, where birds find a haven to lift their voices to the heavens, beauty appealing with inspirations to the creativity of our human mind, and above all, giving us glimpses of the complexity and at the same time subtlety of God’s beautiful plan for His children. Just as the garden does not exclude thorns and bushes which may be less attractive than flowers, people whose hearts and minds are filled with deception are also part of this world which God created. Nonetheless, as an seasoned gardener would pick only that from the garden which adds to the greater purpose of beautification and fruitfulness of the environment, having pruned the thorns and weeds, so much so does God expects His forerunners, His leaders and His teachers to fix their eyes, mind and heart on His greater purpose  and pick those who will become instruments of fulfilling the ongoing work of salvation.

Detachment is absolutely necessary for the people of God, in order to know God and also His purpose in their lives. Dwelling in his own comfort, especially when a Christian is called to lead a congregation, shutting his/her mind to the plan of God, which He chooses to work out through different peoples, is a massive blow to the prospering of The Kingdom on earth. Such a dwelling in comfort is, what St. John of the Cross describes as when the leader is tormented and afflicted as is a man lying naked on thorns and nails, if he chooses to recline on his appetites, rejecting zealousness towards God’s greater purpose.

If you are a leader in the vineyard of The Lord, then view the world and the Kingdom of God from the vantage point of God. Ask God to grant you the grace to be open to His zestfulness, and fulfil His scope of work in the economy of salvation, instead of being imprisoned in the decorative narrow garden of self-righteousness, false humility, relativity and modernism. 

John Roger Anthony

Catholic Lay Missionary

 

FIRE AT WILL

01 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Discernment, Ecumenism, Faith, History, Holy Spirit, Humility, Judiasm, Latin Church, Lent, Literature, Love, Meditation, News, Parables, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading, Religion, Sociology, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Uncategorized, Wisdom, Writing

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The will of God

Conforming our body, mind and soul to holiness.

“God willed that man should be ‘left in the hand of his own counsel’ (Sir 15:14), so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, para 1730. This teaching of the Church is followed by an illustrious quote of St. Iranaeus of Lyon, “Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.

The source of the creation of man is the will of God. This prompts us to the truth that God has a will. He willed everything into creation, into being. ‘He saw everything that He created and said it was good. Man He created and said it was very good.’ There is no reference in Holy Scriptures or the teaching of the Church, which speaks in contrast about the goodness of the will of God. According to the angelic doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, God does not only have intellect but also has a will.

By creating the human person in His holy image and likeness, God has established an indelible mark of uniqueness upon man which sets him apart from every other created creature in heaven or earth. God’s intention and will for this superior being (man) has always been that of love, abundance and intimate union with Him. God’s choicest blessings poured upon man is categorically expressed when He says to him, “Behold I have given you…everything that has the breath of life” (Genesis 1:29-30). For because of man’s disobedience, he forfeited the dominion which God gave him, and his soul throughout every generation there-on cries, “restore us to yourself , O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old” (Lamentations 5:18).

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Now, after having severed his intimate union with his Creator, man found himself in the frightful need of his salvation. In the very depth of his conscience, man hears the deafening warning of God, “they do not say in their hearts, let us fear the Lord our God…and your sins have kept good from you” (Jeremiah 5:24-25); which strangely also sounds as a bugle of hope for the one who repents truly and desires eternal union with God. It is only because man is loved the most by God, for he is a creature most lovingly created by God, the truth in the words of Blessed John Henry Newman will echo until the end of time, “I am created to do something or to be someone for which no one else is created; I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has… God knows me and calls me by my name.”

Having created us that we may have joy, God the Father, through His beloved Son Jesus, desires that we be wholly and fully united with Him for eternity, that our joy be complete (John 15:11). What is good, acceptable and perfect in the sight of God is the will of God for man (Romans 12:2). Therefore, St. Francis of Assisi, exulting in the Holy Spirit, cried out, “This is what I want, this is what I seek, this is what I long to do, with all my heart!”

Our words, thoughts and actions should correspond with the will of God. We’ve understood what the will of God for us is that we may be one with Him for we have been formed by him. Such a correspondence to the will of God requires perseverance. To persevere and not give up in glorifying God by conforming to His perfect will for us each day of our lives, is the mark of a man truly reciprocating love to the Father, through Jesus Christ. How does one understand what pleases God and honours His will in our lives? St. Ignatius answers this most eloquently saying, “Better than anyone else, the Holy Spirit will teach you how to taste with the heart and carry out with sweetness what reason shows to be for the greater service and glory of God.”

The human spirit experiences perfect peace in submitting to will of God. When man understood the power of the beatitudes and found it relevant for all generations, (practiced even by those before Christ; who learnt it from the veiled words of the prophets of God), he believed that the hand of God’s hope, deliverance, justice, mercy and peace will flow even out of the horrors such as the holocaust, world wars, genocides, abortions, abominations, sacrilegious, slavery and so on. St. Gregory Nazianzen therefore justly proclaimed, “Voluntas tua pax nostra” – “In your will is our peace”. God’s word attests this as truth when He speaks through His prophet saying, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). We become the brothers, mothers, sisters and fathers of our Blessed Lord Jesus when we do the will of God, (Mark 3:35).

That we may live a life worthy of the Lord, the saints pray for us, as St. Paul’s says, “we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9-12). Even though the will of God may seem strange and unacceptable by those who live by the flesh. Obedience to that perfect will is the food for the body, heart, soul and spirit of the righteous. It silences “the ignorant talk of foolish people” (1 Peter 2:15). “From the rising of the sun to its setting” (Roman Missal), may every human heart and mouth proclaim, Matthew 6:10, “Let Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

ESTIMATE THE COST

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Discernment, Ecumenism, Faith, History, Holy Spirit, Humility, Judiasm, Latin Church, Lent, Literature, Love, Meditation, News, Parables, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading, Religion, Sociology, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Uncategorized, Wisdom, Writing

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Valuables and invaluables, life gains momentum by the thrust of both. Or does it really?  Except for the ones who are homeless, utterly poor, or afflicted with desperation, excluding them, the rest of the population in almost every part of the world, spends on things and services which are not in anywhere relative to their income. There is no estimation of what’s available at our disposal to make a life..how much ever short or long lived that life may be.

Historians believe or rather claim that it took around 2000 years…yes, you read it right, 20 centuries to finish building the great wall of China. According to a 2009 estimation, it would have costed £54 billion to build this 13, 171 mile structure. The two year executive education program run by the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania costed a student a whopping $192,900 in 2016. Brian Acton tweeted this on Aug 4, 2009, “Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life’s next great adventure.” And then he moved on to created a multi-billion dollar company called ‘Whatsapp’. Whether you’re ambition soars as high as building a wonder of the world or you aspire to graduate with the most expensive degree offered in the world, so that you earn the highest salary ever offered, or you wish to multiply the wealth of your enterprise by investing in a pathbreaking business idea, any of this will demand of you to make an estimate  of what you have, what you can give, what you can expect in return and what it will make of you in the end. An intricate due diligence of the sacrifices to be made, challenges to be faced, obstacles to be overcome, so on and so forth.

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No matter how great is the desire of your heart, is there any desire that can cost you your life and yet let you keep it? There’s none such desire save one. The desire to be a disciple of Christ. Being a disciple of Christ, not merely a follower, comes with an incomparable cost…your very life. In today’s world, more than ever, money plays a very important role in acquiring or possessing comfort or luxury. In the ancient of days as well, money in the form that it was used, played a significant role in determining the standard of living. In the Old Testament however, we learn a very unique role of money, which directly influenced the state of the soul. In ancient Israel, BEKAH, SHEKEL AND TALENT were important currency. Bekah has special significance because it was used as atonement money, for the service of the Tabernacle. From the age of twenty and above, every Jew had to pay half a shekel of silver (1 Bekah) as a ransom for his soul. The Lord promised them that there would be no plague upon them if they paid this tax faithfully (Ex 30:12:14).

A Disciple of Christ is called to renounce himself/herself completely. There is nothing so dear or precious in this world than his Lord Himself, for a disciple to hold on to. The Lord categorically explains the COST OF DISCIPLESHIP in His own words in Luke 14:33, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has, cannot be my disciple”. This cost estimation preludes with a very severe warning. Luke 14:26 says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brother and sister, yes, and even his own life, he CANNOT [emphasis added by me] be my disciple“. In our case, after reading this, and in the case of the great crowds that accompanied Him (Luke 14:25), after listening to Him, we all might be tempted to re-think about fulfilling the 4th commandment given by God Himself. However, there is no love on earth or in heaven that the human heart can experience and reciprocate to, than the love for God and fulfillment of His word, while at the same time obeying every commandment of His. There is none greater than God and therefore there is none that we should obey first than God Himself. The crowds, no matter how great, followed The Lord for miracles, food, astounding speeches and discourses, love and even an escape from their day-to-day tensions.

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Are we the same, one among the crowds, or even worse, among the mob that follows Him to trap Him, attack Him and then finally abandon Him. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. It is in giving that we receive. It is in loving that we are loved much more. It is in forgiving that we are soaked in Divine Mercy. It is in total abandonment to God and absolute emptying of oneself do we become Disciples of Christ. No ambition, no career, no relationship, no wealth, no prosperity can atone our soul, except for the cost that was paid by the Son of the living God. Only 1 Bekah each was so precious that it could atone for their souls, among the chosen people of GOd. In the case of you and me however, it was not money (as underestimated by Judas), rather t’was One soul that had the power to atone and redeem all souls, starting from the beginning of time and until the end of it. That One soul, that one Bekah of the Divine economy, is Jesus Christ. The perfect estimate, most accurate for salvation of all mankind. Life Himself in return for all life.

So, just like the temple money had to be Jewish and could not be Roman money (which had pagan images), the cost of Discipleship has to be our own lives (the image of God) and not any holocaust or vain sacrifice (pagan). So, let us not undervalue the cost that our Lord paid for our eternal freedom and life, let us not underestimate the work of grace, which empowers us to pay the singular cost of discipleship. Because everything else, as King Solomon – the richest of all, once said, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”.

~ John Roger Anthony

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PURGATORY AND ME

02 Friday Nov 2018

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Love may cost something to somebody and it may not cost anything to anybody. Either of these could be true if love is quantifiable. Is love quantifiable? What is the unit or measure?

As a Catholic, I believe that love is a person. This belief was taught to me by the Word of God. 1 John 4:16b specifically states that ‘God is love’. God is a person. God is infinite. Therefore, love is ‘infinite persona’. Love is not simply a feeling or an emotion that articulates a thought or feeling or sentiment or need. Through God’s love poured out in man, man lives love. He illuminates this innate characteristic of the Triune God in ways which not only satiates human faculties but also enflames the soul within.

Among the greats of ancient philosophers, Aristotle believed that in-order to love another person one needs to know how to love one’s own self. This should not be understood as selfishness because Aristotle makes is very clear that self-love for him means that which is expressed in the love of virtue. In other words, this great Greek philosopher cautions about the danger of a person’s pursuit of self-love by means of seeking and acquiring self-pleasures, wealth, power, which runs every risk of exploding into a life of bad habits, bondages, vices and evil. Self-love by the love of virtue teaches true means of loving the another person. Irrespective of whether that person is your beloved or a stranger. Why should we love our own selves, because God’s word says, “I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well (Psalm 139:14). Having God as our creator is enough for us to love ourselves. This is true in the case of every human person.

If we love ourselves by love of virtue and hence learn to rightly and sincerely love one another, then we will have no ambiguity about how to love those who have ‘died, yet will live forever’. The souls of the faithful departed await the beatific vision by a ‘fiery purification’ from every stain of sin, in purgatory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a, “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” which is experienced by those “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). It further teaches that “this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031).

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(Pic: Jacopo Vignali’s portrait of St. Michael the Archangel freeing the souls in purgatory)

Purgatory is not only the realm of purification of those who have died in God’s grace and friendship, but is also a temporary abode of souls who experience indescribable thirst for an ‘indispensable act of love’ by the souls living on earth. This indispensable act of love is praying for the souls in purgatory. This act emanates only from the love of virtue, by the very example of the Son of God, Jesus. Christ the perfect mediator and spotless vessel of prayer to the Father for the living and the dead, teaches us to pour out our love to the souls in purgatory by praying for them and offering small and big sacrifices, the biggest being the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist.

We are commanded by our Lord Jesus to love another as He loves us, (John 13:34-35). ‘One another’ does not end with the people on earth, but reaches far beyond time and space, into the realm of God’s chosen, who are soon, not yet, about to ‘live in the presence of God’. These suffering souls, “who are detained”, as articulated by St. Basil the Great, long for our love through our prayers and sacrifices. This ‘All Souls Day’ onwards, let us daily, in the words of St. John Chrysostom, “help and commemorate” these beloved, suffering children of God. 

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. +

~ John Roger Anthony

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Calvary of those who fear

28 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Discernment, Ecumenism, Faith, History, Holy Spirit, Humility, Latin Church, Lent, Literature, Love, Meditation, News, Parables, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading, Religion, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Uncategorized, Wisdom, Writing

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+JMJ+

A child has a tremendous sense of emptiness at the loss of a prized or dear possession. The sense of loss is so profound in a child because at that tender age where a human slowly but inquisitively discovers the art of expressing his/herself through the mesh of emotions, adapt to reactions, connect to possibilities both significant and insignificant, it is this important phase of life where the child; through these events, also encounters and adapts to fear due to something being lost. This is fear of loss affects and plays a very pivotal role in the spiritual realm.

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Whether we are fortunate or less fortunate, blessed or deprived, able or enabled, many of us receive something or the other from those who care about us or are obligated to us; not necessary that they be those who love us truthfully. It could be presents or generous donations or in the case of those who are among the poorest of the poor; anything given to them becomes possession of great value and they try to protect it with their life. Our possessions are no only a collection of gifts but also of our own hard earned money. By our labor, sacrifices and perseverance we accumulate belongings and treasures. At the loss of such things, the sense of being deprived of them and the fear of having lost it can at times also lead to a rolling some effect in life. If we especially loose something that we were meant to protect or manage then the fear of loosing that item or person is tremendous.

Fear…according to the dictionary is an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm. The connotation of fear is quite negative. According to its meaning, it is unpleasant. It is not something that one would desire or yearn for. The fear of underperformance, unpreparedness, loss of a beloved or a valuable and also the unique fear of the possibility of loosing something and not being able to replace or restore.

God on the other hand reveals a very unique and endearing aspect of fear which is contradictory to the worldly consensus about this human emotion. There are several instances in scripture where the first and instant reaction toward God or His heavenly messengers have been ‘fear’. In Revelations 21:8 tells us the “cowardly” or “fearful” (King James Version) will not be in God’s Kingdom. However, there is a particular reverential attribute given to fear in Holy Scriptures. In the beginning there was ‘fear of The Lord‘, now ‘fear of God‘ is most prevalent.  Take the example of all heavenly beings who surround God and His most high and holy throne above the heavens. All these innumerable ‘creatures of light’ – seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels and angels (according to St. Thomas Aquinas’ ‘Summa theologiae’) present their beings before The Lord of Hosts with a mysteriously profound sense of awe, submission and holy fear. This ‘fear of The Lord’, in Hebrew ‘yirah’, or the Greek noun ‘phobos’ makes a person receptive to knowledge and wisdom. The priests, prophets, kings and patriarchs submerged themselves in this fear in all their thoughts as well as encounters with God. Even the peasants and the lowly such as the shepherds who received a thunderous annunciation of the savior while they were tending their flock  by night, were filled with this fear. The Holy Virgin Mary – Mother of God, submitted herself with to her creator’s most holy will, with holy fear in her being for Him.

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Going back to loss of something precious, let us remember that faith in the One True God – the Most Holy Trinity is the most precious of gifts that we receive from The Trinity Themselves. St. Paul in Ephesians 2:8 says, presses the truth saying, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”. God is our creator, this is our belief and He who is love has given us an immeasurable and unfathomable measure of love by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son Jesus. Therefore we are bound by love to protect, safeguard, nurture, feed, share and build this invaluable gift of faith. However, the earth and life on it is constantly batter with sin and corruption. With the loss of the appetite for the holy and obsessed with the abnormal hunger for that which is unrighteous and evil, our being which was created holy and powerful has become vulnerable and at times mortally victim to sin. Constant susceptibility to concupiscence and the loss of self-control drives us to the loss of what could be the loss of God Himself.

The loss of God is indescribable and unmatched. Man can profit the whole world but with the loss of God, he looses his very soul. This is irreparable loss. The corrupt and evil will never have or seek remorse for having offended God and His people. The sinner who repents truthfully will however be lifted up out of sinful bondage, cleansed and purified by Divine Mercy and exalted by agape. Against the gigantic tides of the culture of death, perversion, sin, sacrilege and corruption in the world, we our summoned to be holy warriors of The Kingdom of God. The one who rejects His Creator and God will curse The glory of The Cross, but a sinner who humbles himself and delights in the shame of having to even crawl towards God’s forgiveness, will glorify The Cross and exalt the ‘Son of Man’ nailed upon it, wounded for the sinner’s transgressions (Isiah 53:5). Satan may claim that he can steal, kill or destroy the human soul. But faith and fear of The Lord negates every attack of ‘the enemy’. The one who has been beaten by ‘the enemy’ yet seeks The Lord, will embrace his/her cross and complete the journey of reconciliation and faithfulness. The world may see it as a walk of shame, but the repentant child of God will embrace and glorify it with humility and love for God.

Therefore, God, through His word, Church and working in individual as well as community lives, is constantly reminding us of the magnanimity of pain and suffering our soul would bear if we do not keep in safe possession the faith He bestows upon us. He is constantly reminding us the we need not be scared of Him or be afraid of Him as we are at the threat of danger or terror, rather he gently caresses us towards cultivating reverence, worship and holy trembling/fear for Him. This holy fear does not add anything to the eternal and incorruptible glory of God, but rather adds immeasurably and unequivocally to our redemption and pilgrimage to our Father’s home.

A repentant sinner bears humiliation, mockery, pain, sorrow, abandonment, with the hope that his ‘fear of The Lord’ grants him a sense of holy shame, leading him to conversion with a contrite heart and in the end await the crown of righteousness.

+JMJ+

When God calls, answer

25 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Discernment, Ecumenism, Faith, History, Holy Spirit, Humility, Judiasm, Latin Church, Lent, Literature, Love, Meditation, News, Parables, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading, Religion, Sociology, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Wisdom, Writing

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There are precious moments in the hours when light emerges from the darkness, when the sun dawns upon the earth and the moon fades into the clouds. Those moments when these incredible celestial bodies play see-saw, the whole world is at the brink of a whole new beginning. Those who live to see the day break, either acknowledge or are oblivious of the fact that God has chosen to be merciful and loving towards them, and is giving them another chance to discover the awesomeness, extraordinary potential and unique charisms that He has poured to the brim in their lives, to bear great fruit.

Thousands of thousands of people all around the world are seeking to find, to know and experience the purpose of their lives. Some want to know what best they can do to make their life fulfilling. Some others who realize and live their kingship with God – are yearning to know their call. God’s children choose to discern their ‘calling’ – purpose in life.  In James 1:5 it is written “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Wisdom is the key to discern the will of God in one’s life. It surely is not easy by mere human intellect or emotions. God’s grace is the supernatural link to embark on the journey of discernment as well as to decode the will of God in one’s life, a will which is holy, perfect and that would bring great glory to God alone (ref Jeremiah 29:11).

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But it is surely not very easy to know what’s in God’s mind for us. His plan for us has been in His mind even before the creation of the world. He is a God of unthinkable, unspeakable and immeasurable omniscience. To come close to an understanding of such an implausible design for life, many saints and mystics have generously and freely taught by experience – of what I call the art of being ‘collaborators of love’. Our life is a gift of love – God. To live life to the fullest can be possible only when the fruit of that love is manifested precisely as Love would expect. The best part however, is that Love is never forced upon us. So, one needs to seek, find and fulfill. Among the many saints, doctors and mystics of the Christ’s Church, many have recommended and even designed systematic ways of discerning one’s call in life. Be it St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Paul, St Augustine and so forth.

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One of the most important aspects of discerning one’s calling/vocation in life, common in all the recommendations of saints, is to have a heart and mind that is willing to explore. Cooperation with God’s grace will do the rest. One common challenge or rather shortcoming in discerning vocations is that we fail to see in and around our own circumstances. We look for answers or for God’s voice everywhere, but seldom in the very present circumstances of our lives. This ‘angle’ is as important as every other. It is clearly and repeatedly evident in the lives of many of those who responded to God’s call, mentioned especially in the Holy Gospels. Jesus entered in to the very now of people’s lives, spoke to them in the midst of their day-to-day realities and called them. Now those who said yes to His call did not spare time in doing so. By grace, they let their hearts and minds to follow the call, to experience the possibilities and in the end bear fruit that would be greater than their most unthinkable imagination.

Peter and Andrew were fishermen, and Jesus entered in the very center of their lives and called them to be ‘fishers’ of men. The same He did with James and John. Jesus met Matthew just as he was – a tax collector. Wanted him to experience God (Himself) in his very own house, and then at His call of ‘follow me’ – Matthew left everything and followed Jesus. When Jesus calls, He expects us to respond and not procrastinate. That’s because when He calls, He is also mindful that our weaknesses, commitments, attachments, etc, make it impossible for us to follow Him. This is why He gives us grace, and longs for us to cooperate with that grace at the earliest or rather immediately. Failing which, such grace may not occur again. When the rich young man asked the ‘Good Teacher’ what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus acknowledges that the man lived his life following the commandments but yet there was one thing that he had to do. Jesus did not mince words in letting him know what that one thing was. Jesus said, “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me (Mark 10:21)”. You see how Jesus spoke to him in a language that the ‘rich man’ was accustomed to all his life? The language of possessions, wealth and treasure – but only now it had a paradigm shift in meaning. So what did the rich young man do? Scripture says, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

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Dear friends, most of us desire to fulfill God’s will in our lives, but not all of us have the same spirit of obedience after God reveals his plan for us. God surely knows us better than we do. Holy Scriptures in Psalm 139:4 says, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” God speaks to us in our every day circumstances. He wants us to look into ourselves. He speaks to us in ways that we can surely understand, if and only if we have the true desire to submit our will to Him and to cooperate zestfully with His grace, to a call that will illuminate His image and likeness, with which He fearfully and lovingly created us. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).” Let us be open, be willing, be courageous and let ourselves be willed towards heaven by His grace.

We Adore Thee Corpus Christi

07 Sunday Jun 2015

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“Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). In the beginning, God who is eternal spoke the Word and there came into being all that He saw and considered good. How glorious and indescribably overwhelming to even begin to discover the joy creation might have experienced when it came into being by the sound of the voice of The Almighty God. This same Word, which was with God, became incarnate as man, taking the species of flesh, blood and soul. Through His salvific purpose on earth, Jesus, fully God and fully Man, gave purpose to man’s grafting into the vine that is holy and everlasting. The Body and Blood of God Incarnate – Jesus, is the Word that became flesh.

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The feast of Corpus Christi is the celebration of the reality of God present in the lives of baptized Catholics, around them and within them, not only for the nourishment of their body and soul, but also as the source of Divine Utterance from the mouth of The Father, constantly at work, creating all things new, and with a sigh of immeasurable contentment saying, “it is good” (Genesis 1:31). Jesus gave us His body and blood not as a symbolic gesture for intellectual or spiritual contemplation, but rather fundamentally as life to our soul that falls victim to the fatal corruption of sin.

St. Catherine of Siena was invited to drink the Precious Blood of Jesus, which flowed from His side.  After drinking from the Fountain of His Precious Blood, she could not eat or drink anything more.  For seven years before her death she lived on no food but Our Lord in the Eucharist.  She was not hungry, but remained active and strong.

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One of the most well known attitudes towards the real presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist is the attitude of disbelief. Many believers and unbelievers throughout the ages have either lacked faith or trust in the actual, real and living presence of Jesus in flesh and blood in the species of the consecrated host. There have been numerous incidents around the globe where our dear Blessed Lord Jesus has been gracious enough to reveal the glory of His human nature in it’s very species of flesh and blood, within the transubstantiated Eucharistic bread.

A hardened heretic in the region of Tolosa challenged St. Anthony that if he can prove with a miracle that in the Eucharist of believers there is, however hidden it may be, the true body of Christ, he will renounce every heresy and submit myself to the Catholic faith. He said that if his mule, which he would starve for 3 days, ignored the fodder and rushes to adore the living body of Jesus in the host, and then he will instantly convert. St. Anthony agreed. Finally, asking for silence the man of God said to the animal with great faith: “In the name of virtue and the Creator, who I, although unworthy, am carrying in my hands, I ask you, o beast, and I order to come closer quickly and with humility and to show just veneration, so that the malevolent heretics will learn from this gesture that every creature is subject to the Lord, as held in the hands with priestly dignity on the altar”.

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God’s servant had hardly finished speaking, when the animal, ignoring the fodder, knelt down and lowered his head to the floor, thus genuflecting before the living sacrament of the body of Christ. The faithful were filled with uncontrollable joy, and the heretic, renounced the his doctrine in front of all present, and from then on was obedient to the precepts of the holy Church (Benignitas16,6-17).

As the Church of Christ Jesus acknowledges the real presence of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, she ‘proclaims his death and resurrection until He comes again’ – Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation I. She celebrates the meal, which assures eternal sustenance of the soul and life everlasting with The Trinity. The reality of a Catholic life is immersed as well as illuminated in the radical reality of the Body and Blood of Jesus in the species of the Holy Eucharist. Without this reality there is no Catholic faith, without the Catholic faith there is no hope for eternal life with the One True Eternal God.

With heartfelt gratitude to Pope Urban who instituted the feast of Corpus Christi and to St. Thomas Aquinas for his venerable work in praise and adoration to this glorious feast, I wish you all very Happy Feast of Corpus Christi.

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Let’s go fishing!

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Ecumenism, Faith, History, Holy Spirit, Humility, Judiasm, Latin Church, Lent, Literature, Love, Meditation, News, Parables, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading, Religion, Sociology, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Wisdom, Writing

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Gospel Reflection, John 21: 1-14

The glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus begins a whole new ‘creation narrative’. Jesus who is the ‘Logos’, The Word which became flesh, now dwells amidst His creation as the Risen Christ, glorified by God. The resurrection is the genesis of a new creation of God. This new creation is also filled with unblemished love, purity and holiness, as was the first creation, until it bore corruption so intense that it disrupted the equilibrium of all of creation. But what is unique about this new creation is that it is a gift of God’s love as well as His mercy. In the beginning when God created the world, He created it out of love and saw that everything was good. But now, through His risen Son Jesus, He creates everything with His love but also with His compassionate mercy. And it is this image of God, the quintessential image of mercy that renews the image of all of creation and aligns it with that of God.

In today’s Gospel reading, the risen Christ Jesus appears once again to His friends. The Evangelist John says in his gospel that the apparition happened at the Sea of Tiberias. ‘It was on or around this lake that Jesus did many of His wonderful miracles. 18 of the 33 recorded miracles of Christ were probably done in the immediate neighborhood of the Sea of Galilee. In the city of Capernaum alone He performed 10 of these. The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias (Hebrew: יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, Arabic:بحيرة طبريا‎), is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately 53 km (33 mi) in circumference, about 21 km (13 mi) long, and 13 km (8.1 mi) wide. The fresh waters of the lake are clean, and they have always been well stocked with a variety of fish.’ (Source: Wikipedia and bible-history.com)

pic for gospel on jesus apparition to his disciples at sea of tiberias

During His ministry on earth, Jesus taught His disciples to be fishers of men. On this particular day Simon Peter decides to go fishing for actual fish and not men. It is important to observe that Simon Peter upon whom Jesus bestowed the ‘great ordination’ as I call it, of being the rock upon which the One Holy Apostolic Catholic Church of Jesus would be build, is back in being engaged with his earthly profession. St. Peter is teaching us that having received Jesus in our lives, one should never forget the world in which we live and the responsibilities given to us. Those responsibilities come from God himself, in order to cultivate a culture that promotes dignity of labor, dignity of life and caring for the creation of God.

In our daily works in the world, we are also called to be fishers of men. We are expected to be on our boats of faith built in the wood of the Gospel truth and the light of the Church, equipped with the nets of righteousness, love, humility and wisdom. The Gospel reading accounts that they went fishing during the night. Our mission too as fishers of men, commissioned by our Baptism into the Catholic Church, is to venture into the waters (lives of people) especially when they are struggling in the darkness of sin, loneliness, despair and suffering.

Today’s Gospel also shows us that it is not always guaranteed that whenever we venture into the sea (“Go make disciples of all nations” – Mt 28:19) we will be received with open arms or have a ‘good catch’. We should be aware and open to the fact that we may have to sail back to our shore empty handed. Nevertheless, the resurrected Christ yet assures us that He will be there with us in our mission, as early as the break of light at dawn, and if we listen to his voice when He calls and throw the net in the direction that He asks us to (submitting to His will), then we will have a great catch and that our nets (Church) will still be able to contain. Through such an experience, the eyes of our hearts will instantly recognize the presence of The Lord even from a far off distance, just as the beloved disciple John did, and proclaimed, ‘It is The Lord’.

Therefore, we should always remember to look forward to have our first conversation of each day with God. For in the peace and serenity of day break, The Lord is watching out for us, praying for us and looking out for us to guide our course for the day. Jesus will then also invite us and lead us to be refreshed as well as be nourished by a meal with Him (Holy Eucharist), and by doing so He fulfills His promise of providing us with our daily bread (spiritual and temporal) from His Father in heaven. Let us allow our entire being to be renewed by the love and mercy of the Risen Savior and be partakers of His glory and eternal life of holiness, freedom and peace. Amen.

Jesus: The Way, The Truth, and The Life

01 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Ecumenism, Faith, History, Holy Spirit, Humility, Judiasm, Latin Church, Lent, Literature, Love, Meditation, News, Parables, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading, Religion, Sociology, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Wisdom, Writing

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Lenten Reflection: Day 43

Gospel, John 14: 1-6

This He saith, because it was probable that when they heard they would be troubled. For if the leader of their band, one so entirely fervent, was told that before the cock crew he should thrice deny his Master, it was likely that they would expect to have to undergo some great reverse, sufficient to bend even souls of adamant. Since then it was probable that they considering these things would be astounded, see how He comforteth them, saying, “Let not your heart be troubled.” By this first word showing the power of His Godhead, because, what they had in their hearts He knew and brought to light. As He comforteth Peter when bewildered by saying, “but thou shall follow afterwards,” so also He gives this glimpse of hope to the others. For lest they should think that the promise was given to him alone, He saith, “In My Father’s house are many mansions.”

“The same place which receiveth Peter shall receive you.” For a great abundance of dwellings is there, and it may not be said that they need preparation. When He said, “Ye cannot follow Me now,” that they might not deem that they were finally cut off. So earnest have I been concerning this matter, that I should already have been given up to it, had not preparation been made long ago for you.” Showing them that they ought to be very bold and confident. Then that He may not seem to speak as though enticing them, but that they may believe the thing to be so.

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Seest thou that He giveth them proof that these things were not said without a meaning? And He used these words, because He knew in Himself that their souls now desired to learn this. For Peter said what he said, not in order to learn, but that he might follow. But when Peter had been rebuked, and Christ had declared that to be possible which for the time seemed impossible, and when the apparent impossibility led him to desire to know the matter exactly, therefore He saith to the others, “And the way ye know.” For as when He hath said, “Thou shalt deny Me,” before any one spake a word, searching into their hearts, He said, “Be not troubled,” so here also by saying “Ye know,” He disclosed the desire which was in their heart, and Himself giveth them an excuse for questioning. Now the, “Whither goest Thou?” Peter used from a very loving affection, Thomas from cowardice.

If the Jews questioned among themselves when they heard (of His departure), although desirous to be rid of Him much more would those desire to learn, who wished never to be separated from Him. They feared therefore to ask Him, but yet they asked Him, from their great love and anxiety. What then saith Christ?

“In My Father’s house are many mansions”; and again, “No man cometh to the Father but by Me.” This He would not tell them at first, in order not to throw them into greater despondency, but, now that He hath soothed them, He telleth them. For by Peter’s rebuke He cast out much of their despondency; and dreading lest they should be addressed in the same way, they were the more restrained. “I am the Way.” This is the proof of the, “No man cometh to the Father but by Me”; and, “the Truth, and the Life,” of this, “that these things shall surely be.” “There is then no falsehood with Me, if I am ‘the Truth’; if I am ‘Life’ also, not even death shall be able to hinder you from coming to Me. Besides; if I am ‘the Way,’ ye will need none to lead you by the hand; if I am also ‘the Truth,’ My words are no falsehoods; if I am also ‘Life,’ though ye die ye shall obtain what I have told you.”

Now His being “the Way,” they both understood and allowed, but the rest they knew not. They did not indeed venture to say what they knew not. Still they gained great consolation from His being “the Way.” “If,” saith He, “I have sole authority to bring 26 to the Father, ye shall surely come thither; for neither is it possible to come by any other way.” But by saying before, “No man can come to Me except the Father draw him”; and again, “If I be lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men unto Me” (Jn 12:32); and again, “No man cometh to the Father but by Me” (Jn 14:6); He showeth Himself equal to Him who begat Him. But how after saying, “Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

– The above is an excerpt from a commentary of St. Chrysostom on today’s Gospel.

One of you is going to betray Me

31 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by Word Ignite in Bible Commentary, Blogging, Catholic, Charity, Christian, Church, Contemplation, Culture, Ecumenism, Faith, History, Holy Spirit, Humility, Judiasm, Latin Church, Lent, Literature, Love, Meditation, News, Parables, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading, Religion, Sociology, Spirituality, Teaching, Theology, Wisdom, Writing

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Lenten Reflection: Day 42

Gospel, John 13: 21-33, 36-38

It is no light question, brethren, that meets us in the Gospel of the blessed John, when he says: “When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” Was it for this reason that Jesus was troubled, not in flesh, but in spirit, that He was now about to say, “One of you shall betray me”? Did this occur then for the first time to His mind, or was it at that moment suddenly revealed to Him for the first time, and so troubled Him by the startling novelty of so great a calamity?

Was it not a little before that He was using these words, “He that eateth bread with me will lift up his heel against me”? And had He not also, previously to that, said, “And ye are clean, but not all”? where the evangelist added, “For He knew who should betray Him:” to whom also on a still earlier occasion He had pointed in the words, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” Why is it, then, that He “was now troubled in spirit,” when “He testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me”?

He was troubled, then, who had power to lay down His life, and had power to take it again. That mighty power is troubled, the firmness of the rock is disturbed: or is it rather our infirmity that is troubled in Him? Assuredly so: let servants believe nothing unworthy of their Lord, but recognize their own membership in their Head. He who died for us, was also Himself troubled in our place. He, therefore, who died in power, was troubled in the midst of His power: He who shall yet transform the body of our humility into similarity of form with the body of His glory, hath also transferred into Himself the feeling of our infirmity, and sympathizeth with us in the feelings of His own soul. Accordingly, when it is the great, the brave, the sure, the invincible One that is troubled, let us have no fear for Him, as if He were capable of failing: He is not perishing, but in search of us [who are]. Us, I say; it is us exclusively whom He is thus seeking, that in His trouble we may behold ourselves, and so, when trouble reaches us, may not fall into despair and perish. By His trouble, who could not be troubled save with His own consent, He comforts such as are troubled unwillingly.

Il bacio di Giuda di Ignazio Jacometti (1854).

Strong-minded, indeed, are those Christians, if such there are, who experience no trouble at all in the prospect of death; but for all that, are they stronger-minded than Christ? Who would have the madness to say so? And what else, then, does His being troubled signify, but that, by voluntarily assuming the likeness of their weakness, He comforted the weak members in His own body, that is, in His Church; to the end that, if any of His own are still troubled at the approach of death, they may fix their gaze upon Him, and so be kept from thinking themselves castaways on this account, and being swallowed up in the more grievous death of despair? And how great, then, must be that good which we ought to expect and hope for in the participation of His divine nature, whose very perturbation tranquillizes us, and whose infirmity confirms us?

“What thou doest, do quickly,” not because thou hast the power in thyself, but because He wills it who has all the power.  “Now no one of those at the table knew for what intent He spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the money-bag, that Jesus said unto him, Buy those things which we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.” The Lord, therefore, had also a money-box, where He kept the offerings of believers, and distributed to the necessities of His own, and to others who were in need. It was then that the custom of having church-money was first introduced, so that thereby we might understand that His precept about taking no thought for the morrow was not a command that no money should be kept by His saints, but that God should not he served for any such end, and that the doing of what is right should not be held in abeyance through the fear of want.

“The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice.” Although thou say, “I know not the man;” although thou say, “Man, I know not what thou sayest;” although thou say, “I am not one of His disciples;”6 thou wilt be denying me. If, which it were sinful to doubt, Christ so spake, and foretold the truth, then doubtless Peter denied Christ. Let us not accuse Christ in defending Peter. Let infirmity acknowledge its sin; for there is no falsehood in the Truth. When Peter’s infirmity acknowledged its sin, his acknowledgment was full; and the greatness of the evil he had committed in denying Christ, he showed by his tears. He himself reproves his defenders, and for their conviction, brings his tears forward as witnesses.

Nor have we, on our part, in so speaking, any delight in accusing the first of the apostles; but in looking on him, we ought to take home the lesson to ourselves, that no man should place his confidence in human strength. For what else had our Teacher and Saviour in view, but to show us, by making the first of the apostles himself an example, that no one ought in any way to presume of himself? And that, therefore, really took place in Peter’s soul, for which he gave cause in his body. And yet he did not go before in the Lord’s behalf, as he rashly presumed, but did so otherwise than he reckoned. For before the death and resurrection of the Lord, he both died when he denied, and returned to life when he wept; but he died, because he himself had been proud in his presumption, and he lived again, because that Other had looked on him with kindness).

The above is an excerpt from St Augustine’s tractates 60-64, 66 on the Gospel of St John.

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