Jesus' School of Servant Leadership

July 25, 2018: Remembering St. James

2 Cor 4: 7-15; Mt 20: 20-28

Feast of any Apostle reminds us of the wonderful words that St. Paul utters today: "we hold this treasure in earthen vessels". Every apostle has his own weakness, nevertheless the gift that they are and that they possess, surpasses everything as God's power and might is revealed in it.

Feast of St. James (with the Gospel that we are given to reflect today) reminds us of this more strongly and adds another specific teaching, a teaching from Jesus' School of Servant Leadership. In Matthew's and Mark's versions of the Gospel, we find every time that Jesus foretells about his passion, he follows it up with the discourse on servant leadership (as we see in Mt 16:24ff; 18:1ff; 20:20ff). James and John took time to realise that the only thing we can inherit from Jesus is his identity as Suffering Servant!

Eventually they wanted to bear the crown that Jesus mentioned and that is what they did. James led the community of Jerusalem... humble and service minded as the Master himself; and his blood shed like the Master's (Acts 12:2). Let us praise the Lord for the apostle St. James and be prepared to witness to the Lord till our last breath!

Mercy and Faithfulness

Tuesday,  16th week in Ordinary Time 

Mic 7: 14-15,18-20; Mt 12: 46-50a

The message that enlightened us on Sunday, continues through the week too...calling our attention to the faithfulness of the Shepherd who has committed himself to our good, without measure or without limits. The most concrete expression of God's faithfulness is God's mercy which is so boundless and plentiful. 

We are called to be merciful too: be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful, instructed us Jesus once. Our concrete way of living out mercy is being faithful to the biddings of the Lord. Being faithful to the biddings of the Lord would consist of being attentive to everything around me, being truly concerned about everyone around me and being open to the promptings of the Spirit within me.

Mercy is not about doing some charitable acts here and there and now and then. But it is becoming like God, growing in our godliness and being signs of God's faithfulness to those who are in need of it. Being God's presence to those around us, especially those who need it the most, who need it badly, who depend on it for their sustenance. 

The starting point of growing merciful, that is growing up to be like God, is to listen to the Lord and do what the Lord wants of us. That is the only way we can grow to be children of God and become truly brothers and sisters of the Son of God, our brother Jesus Christ. 

Want to see signs? Here is a project of life

Monday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 23, 2018: Mic 6: 1-4, 6-8; Mt 12: 38-42

"To do the right and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God" - Micah presents a project of life in these precise words (Mic 6:8). It is a project that he gives to the people to walk in the Lord's ways and not to weary the Lord with their unfaithfulness and stubbornness. 

How different are we from the people whom Micah addresses today in the first reading? Aren't we just like the pharisees and the others who were incessantly asking for signs from the Lord? Crying statues, bleeding icons, moving crosses... do not they continue to be a craze these days! Should they be? 

Of course, for us miracles are a daily feature, because our God is an awesome God. But looking for some strange phenomenon and glamorous happenings, is not the "Christ"ian outlook of a miracle. For Christ the miracle is in the hope that we can give each other; miracle is in the love that we share with every one around us; miracle is the everyday faith in the Lord and the resultant serenity amidst all the din. 

Let's resolve to do the right, love goodness and walk humbly with the Lord and we will see miracles all around us, on a daily basis!

THE 4G SHEPHERD

A Shepherd for our times

July 22,2018: 16th Sunday in Ordinary time

Jer 23: 1-6; Eph 2: 13-18; Mk 6: 30-34

Take a look at the scenario today - at the so-called shepherds, the leaders all around us! There are some who are special but they do not stand out as much as the other usual ones, the usual ones who are treacherous, fending for their own good, thinking about nothing other than themselves, ready to sacrifice anything or anyone to attain the goals that they have set for themselves which would serve them and them alone, twisting and twirling their words, having their own definitions for virtues, doing all they can to have and to retain power unto themselves, oblivious of the struggles of the least, using others as stepping stones and ready to trample upon anyone for the sake of their ascent! These are the shepherds of our times. The sad fact is, this does not happen only in the socio-political milieu today but even in the spiritual world!

It is against this background that the readings of today make a great sense to us! They present to us a Shepherd par excellence, a Shepherd for our times - the times that speak of 4G - yes, a 4G Shepherd. We would do well to look at the way the Lord leads us in contrast to the life of the so-called leaders of today. The aim is not to judge these leaders, but to learn from the Lord and to form ourselves to be the Shepherd's true flock, true followers and true apostles!

While the power conscious of today seek to divide people, stratify them and polarise them to gain their own benefits, the True Shepherd GATHERS all. The first reading and the second underline this grace that the Lord brings us - the grace of unity and peace! Yes, this is the sign of the True Shepherd. Gathering the remnant, gathering the different people, gathering all into one is the task that Jesus took upon himself - to gather everyone, to reconcile everything in God! We are called to be persons who gather, not divide, not polarise, not scatter.

While the self-centred generation of today thinks about oneself and one's own possessions, growing evermore avaricious and insensitive to others, the True Shepherd GIVES himself to us. Paul's central message has always been that: that Christ gave himself up that we may be brought to the state of being children of God. Endless greed and craze for pleasure blind the generations of today and we cannot belong to the flock of the True Shepherd if we follow the trend. We need to stand up for truth, stand out in our choices and some times even stand alone, and be ready to give of ourselves to stand for the good and for God.

While the grief struck mentality of the world is all the time striving and chasing after the comforts and in the meanwhile accumulating grief and depression, the True Shepherd GLADDENS the spirits of those who come to him. Come to me, rest in me, learn from me, be nourished of me, grow in me and become like me, calls the Lord today. The Shepherd knows the struggle that we are involved in, the problems and pains that we are facing on a daily basis - that is why he tells us today: Come apart and rest a while!

While the craving to dominate others becomes the force that moves persons to action today, the True Shepherd, who has the entire universe under his command, GOVERNS us with love, a love that is sensitive, a love that is delicate, a love that is selfless, a love that is ever-giving, a love that reaches out, a love that works marvels for our good and not for its own glory...a love that is God. That is the principle that governs the entire reality, the principle that is the foundation of everything that is good or godly: the principle of LOVE, which has to characterise the life of every one in this flock. The call is to receive this love from its source, the Lord, the True Shepherd and grow in it, and learn to give it to all, little by little! 

Choice! the choice of God!

Saturday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 21, 2018: Mic 2: 1-5; Mt 12: 14-21

Jesus was living dangerously. But he chose to, for the sake of the Reign of God. He stuck his neck out for the poor, for the oppressed, the marginalised, the ostracised, the exploited, the forgotten in the society. He believed that the Reign of God belonged to them. His life was a hope to the least, the last and the lost. Crucifiction was not just one event of his life, it was all his life: at every choice he made and at every step he took, he knew he was getting closer and closer to the Cross!

In this choice Jesus was making present the God of the Old Testament who sided the oppressed, who stood by the just in their struggles and who kept watch over the persons who strove to live according to God's will. The first reading points out the choice of God, the choice for the poor and the suffering. This predilection on God's part distinguished Jesus and the choices he made. His choice was, the choice of God. There apparent and real dangers, and Jesus knew it well.

Nothing could stop him from proclaiming the Reign of God for he knew he had come precisely for that, to establish the Reign of the God of Truth, the God of the suffering, the Lord of the least, the protector of the lost, the hope of the last. Our identity has to be our Choices, may they be forever in keeping with the choices of God!

Something greater around!

Friday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 20, 2018: Is 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8; Mt 12: 1-8

God deigns to do strange things for the love of those who trust in God! The first reading is one such episode. There are so many others, like the burning bush (Exo 3), the water from the rock (Exo 17), the sign of the fleece (Judg 6:36ff), and many more. These are merely to show that there is nothing or no one greater than the Lord and anything is possible with God!

When it comes to showing mercy to those who trusted, the Lord is lavish, prodigal and unreasonably generous, because God's love is unconditional and everlasting. That was a difficult message for Jesus to communicate to the law abiding, traditional and painfully legalistic Jews. Even today the Lord tries to impress upon us the same message, the message of how loving the Lord is, how unconditional God's love is and how far from judging the love of God is. 

No rule can be too big and no custom too important, than the love that the Lord has for you and me and the longing that Lord has for our total well being. When we feel the tendency to be legalistic, when we find ourselves prone to judge, when tasks at hand draw our utmost attention, let us realise: something greater is around us, something greater envelopes us, something greater sustains us - and it is, God's love, the love which became a human person and gave his life for our salvation. 

Come to me, all who are far away from me!

Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 19, 2018: Is 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19; Mt 11: 28-30

The yearning of a Godless soul, the struggle of a people who have gone far away from God is intensely presented in the first reading today. The world today is treading that path indeed... trying its best to define life sans God; trying to convince everyone around that it is possible to live without having anything to do with anything called god! Worse still, the trend today advocates creating our own gods and creating gods of ourselves! 

We think we have solutions for every problem and even for those that we do not have the solutions, we create shortcuts that can keep the pain and the struggle away for the time being. Hardly do we realise that the problem persists and it keeps brewing under cover, only to explode one day beyond control. And at that point we would find no return!

The Lord invites us today to the true consolation, the real solution, the authentic peace that can give meaning to our daily life and all its strife. He does not promise an absence of yoke, nor does he lure us with a negation of burden...he promises a yoke that fits us perfectly and a burden that proves really bearable: because we live it in the Lord's company. 

'Come to me' says the Lord, because all the struggle is since you have moved away from me. Come to me...and learn of me...and you will find meaning, peace, consolation and serenity! 

All things belong to God... even you and me!

Wednesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 18, 2018: Is 10: 5-7, 13b-16; Mt 11: 25-27

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, says Jesus today in the Gospel. 'God as the author of history', has been a concept so strongly evinced by the narratives of the Old Testament. Even the super powers like Assyria and Babylonia were considered to be commissioned by the Lord to make certain twists and turns happen in history. This is the background against which Isaiah chides Assyria saying, they think they are the masters of their own destiny and the authors of their success. They fail to understand that there is someone far beyond and above them, who "sits in the heavens and laughs"(Ps 2:4) at the folly of the proud.

The Lord scatters the proud hearted and raises the lowly (cf Lk 1:51); God reveals things to mere children and sends the haughty empty! All things are God's and from God everything draws its life and its sense. If I approach life with this sense, my worries find a way out, my concerns cringe to my feet and bearing my burdens become a child's play! What a saving wisdom it would be to recognise that all things belong to God, yes even you and me, and all that we dream; everything belongs to God, and in God we live, move and have our being!

Right Faith and Right Living

Tuesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

Is 7: 1-9; Mt 11: 20-24

Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm. What is that which differentiates a Christian in this world - it is not the name or the external signs or identities by belonging to a group or the other; instead, it is a matter of faith, an internal disposition towards the Lord who has called you and commissioned you. 

Right faith has to create right living; right belief and right action are after all essentially dependent in so many of the religious traditions, as we know of. 

The Integrity that Jesus demands of us is basically one of right belief and right living. Sometimes circumstances and situations can force us to take decisions or make choices that are not proper to the life that we have been called to. It is not so strange to commit such a mistake. But it is not only strange, even highly unbecoming of a child of God when he or she has received all possible warnings and all possible signs of God's directions but still makes a choice that is not worthy of a child of God. Worse still, if the person justifies that choice. And worst of all, nothing can help the one who decides to remain with that choice in spite of all this.

Faith which is not translated into right living and a living that is not guided by right faith, are totally alien to a true child of God. Even if the simplest of signs is given, a child of God will acknowledge it, make sense of it, hold on to the light that the Lord provides and and shape his or her life according to God's will. Where do I stand in this regard?

The Challenge of Orthopraxis

Monday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 16, 2018: Celebrating Our Blessed Mother of Mount Carmel
Is 1: 10-17; Mt 10: 34 - 11:1

What Hosea spoke last week, Isaiah speaks this week...they both underline the importance of Orthopraxis! True Christian life does not consist only of worship and of adoration, it consists of justice and charity as a concrete translation of worship and adoration into action. The action that goes well with a balanced love for God and for one's brothers and sisters is called the Orthopraxis, in simple terms. 

It may sound simple but it is tough in two senses:

I may feel out of place when I begin to take this 'orthopraxis' seriously, because the rest of the crowd seems to be busy doing what they believe to be 'normal' or 'ordinary'...and I alone seem 'out of the ordinary' or in plain terms, 'a stranger'. Even those who are with me, those who surround me at close quarters may not approve of what I live by.

Secondly, it is certain to be tough because orthopraxis demands that I mean what I pray... that whatever I do on a daily basis does not go against anything that I say in my so called 'prayer'; that what I do by way of 'prayer' may find its continuation in the rest of the things that do during the day.

As we celebrate the memory of our Blessed Mother of Mount Carmel, it is opportune for us to look upto her as a model of Orthopraxis - there can be none better than her to have lived this orthopraxis absolutely after the heart of her Creator!

Let our prayer transform our daily life and may our daily life inspire our prayer! Thus will be born orthopraxis in our lives and let the world be inspired by it!