“Reinforcing hope and courage to everyone!”

(Based on the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist)

There was a school system in a large city that had a program, to help children keep up with their school assignments…
… during the time when the children were admitted for sicknesses.

One day a teacher who was assigned to this program, received a call asking her to visit a particular child.

She took the child’s name and room number and had a short talk with the child’s regular class teacher.
“We’re studying about words in his class now – nouns and adverbs,” the class teacher said, “and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind.”

The hospital-program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon.

The boy had met with a bad accident, been badly burnt and was in great pain.

Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, “I’ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs.”

When she left after teaching, she felt she hadn’t accomplished much.

But the next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that boy?”

The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize.

“No, no,” said the nurse. “You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, you met him, his whole attitude has changed.

He’s fighting back, responding to treatment…
It’s as though he’s decided to live!”

Two weeks later, the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived.

Everything changed when he came to a simple realization which he expressed it this way: “They wouldn’t send a teacher to teach about words, and work on ‘nouns and adverbs’ with a dying boy, would they?”

The gesture of teaching about “words” reinforced hope and courage to that dying boy!

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear.

If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today!

The Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist comes with this great message of “hope!”

The Gospel presents the beautiful incident of the birth and naming of St John the Baptist.

The birth of John the Baptist is the pivot around which the history of our faith turns.

He was the last prophet of the Old Covenant…
… and the first of the New Covenant.

One of the highlighting aspects of the birth of John the Baptist is the message that “hope is not to be lost, even in the midst of extreme barrenness!”

The Gospel of St Luke says that “Elizabeth and Zechariah, both were advanced in years”, but they had no child; Elizabeth was barren” (Lk 1: 7)

Elizabeth’s barrenness was also symbolic of the barrenness of the land, of the world and of the entire humanity…

Wickedness had caused creation to be incapable of nurturing and sustaining life
Sin had rendered human beings infertile, to bear God’s grace and live in holiness

But God…
… is the God of hope
… the God of fulfilling every promise
… and the God of surprises!

From the barrenness of Elizabeth emerged the forerunner of the One who is Life!
From the barrenness of the world, God gave rise to the Fountain of hope and trust!

The entire life of St John – through the key events – is a spectacular reminder of this great virtue of “hope”

A. The conception of John
Even when there is barrenness all around, we need to “hope” in God who is able to work miracles and give us life and joy!

B. The naming of John
Even when there are many worldly voices that seek to distract us from the ways that God wishes for us, we need to “hope” in God and follow whatever He wills, so as to find glory and joy in Him!

C. The life of John in the desert
Even when life takes us through the deserts of emptiness, dangers, hardships and misery, we need to “hope” in God who has a definite plan and purpose for our life!

D. The beheading of John
Even when we become victims of cruelty, exploitation, wickedness and inhumanness, we need to “hope” in God by living a life of truth, courage, convictions and valour!

The Church celebrates the Nativity of only three persons, in her liturgical calendar…

Jesus -“Hope” Himself
Mother Mary – the Mother of “Hope”
John the Baptist – the symbol of “Hope”

We are invited to have our lives truly rooted in “hope” and become beacons of spreading this “hope and trust” to others.

There are many who are sick in our world.

There are many who are burnt by the fires of afflictions and at the point of death
There are many who have lost all faith in life and give themselves up to despair and dejection.

Our gestures of teaching about “The Word – Jesus” can reinforce hope and courage to those dying…
… in sin, in affliction, in depression, in loneliness.

Wish you a Happy Feast of the Nativity of the “symbol of Hope” – St John the Baptist.

May Jesus our “Hope” and Blessed Mamma, our “Mother of Hope” strengthen us!

God Bless! Live Jesus!

“Responding with an emphatic ‘I am for Jesus’ to the questions posed by Christian warfare!”

(Based on 2 Kgs 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36 and Mt 7:6, 12-14 – Tuesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2)

Eight-year old Jack, along with his parents were watching a Passion Play.

(Passion Play is the dramatic presentation of the Passion of Jesus Christ – His suffering, death and resurrection)

Jack was very much emotionally involved watching the play.

The sufferings that Jesus was undergoing was having a deep emotional impact on li’l Jack.

The drama progressed to the scene, where Jesus is stood before the people…
… and Pilate asks the crowd for their choice of persons: Barabbas or Jesus

So the one who was acting as Pilate, stood before the audience, with Jesus and Barabbas on his two sides.

And with a loud voice, he asked:
“So whom do you want? Jesus or Barabbas?”

When li’l Jack heard this question, he felt a deep push within himself…
… he was getting very emotional… he was feeling a sense of urge to defend Jesus…

The Pilate on stage, went on shouting “Jesus or Barabbas… Jesus or Barabbas”…

Finally, being unable to control his emotions, Jack got up from his seat, and shouted aloud:
“I am for Jesus!”

His parents did not realise how to react to this emotional outburst of their li’l son…
… so too the others who were sitting around them.

But Jack went on shouting, with more boldness: “I am for Jesus… I am for Jesus!”

The play had to have an abrupt break…
… but in the meanwhile, many other people also joined the enthusiastic cry of li’l Jack and blended with his chorus: “I am for Jesus!”

What about you?

Are you for Jesus?

Christian life is a warfare…
… with a constant question posing us… “Are you for Jesus?”

The Gospel of Day is an invitation by Jesus to follow Him – by the “narrow gate”…
… and to always make a choice for Him!

Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate… for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt 7: 13-14)

The Sermon on the Mount continues with Jesus presenting the wonderful message of the Kingdom of God and its radical requirements.

One of the key aspects in the Sermon on the Mount is the demand made on the part of the disciple to “make a choice”

One has to radically “make a choice” for the Kingdom of God.
One has to stay committed to this “choice” that is taken and live it to the fullness.

The discipleship to which Jesus calls is radical…
… it requires an honest and wholehearted surrender of oneself to God’s Will
… it demands a complete and undivided focus on Him and His Mission

A Christian either walks on the road to life…
… or walks on the road to destruction!

There is no third alternative!

It is this “choice” that will determine whether our entry to eternity…

Eternal condemnation – is through the “wide gate” or
Eternal life – is through the “narrow gate”.

Jesus says that it is easy to pass through the wide gate…

All those who take life very casually and without any responsibility
All those who are content to make life “merry” and just “live life to the max”
All those who fail to respond to God’s Grace and deny having a life in Him
But this will lead to doom and condemnation!

To pass through the narrow gate is hard…

All those who make a choice to live according to the teachings of the Lord
All those who boldly seek to proclaim the Kingdom by their faithful and holy lives
All those who constantly hold on to the Lord despite hardships and difficulties in life
But this will lead to joy and eternal life!

Christian life is indeed a warfare…
… and we are constantly posed this question: “Are you for Jesus?”

What is our answer?

God Bless! Live Jesus!

“Purifying our lives, rather than indulging in mud-slinging on others!”

(Based on 2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18 and Mt 7:1-5 – Monday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2)

Blessed Mother Mary.
Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Bartimaeus.
Martha.
Mary Magdalene.
Levi.
Peter.
Thomas.
Zachaeus.
Man crippled for 38 years.
The Samaritan Woman.
The woman caught in adultery.
The widow who offered the two mites.
Malchus.
The thief alongside Jesus on the cross…

Relax…

This is not a reference list of all the main persons of the New Testament for some research purpose or study.

But for a moment, let’s look at the lives of these persons….

All of them had to face some sort of trouble in their lives…
… some hitches and dilemmas, were a part of all their lives.

Now, if each of them, were to be placed on trial, as in a court, and judged according to our standards and our human yardsticks….
… Perhaps, most of them would be been condemned and convicted.

Some of them would have been humiliated in public…
… some abused with insults and foul language
… some perhaps would be stoned or even put to death!

This is human judgment.

But in the Light of God’s mercy and by God’s way of judging…
… we know the story of all their lives!

Human beings are least equipped to judge, but their judgments are miserable & condemnable

God is fully equipped to judge, but His judgment is praiseworthy & encouraging!

That’s the difference in judgment between human beings and God!

In the Gospel of the Day, Jesus says, “Do not judge!” (Mt 7:1)

We need to clarify what does the word JUDGE mean…

Jury makes judgments.

Schools make judgments on students.
Companies make judgments on candidates in an interview or in cases of promotion/demotion.
All these does not constitute the judgment that Jesus means.

Judging, in the sense of Jesus, is condemning!

It is to have a negative and pessimistic attitude to human beings and condemning and rejecting them outright and absolutely!!

We could consider “Judge not” from three aspects:

1) We are unworthy to pass a final judgment on any person or situation:

We need to let God be God and as human beings, we need to know our limitations.

2) We are not to judge the motives of other people

Human beings see only the external…
… God sees the heart of the person!

3) We are not to be petty faultfinders:

We need to cease having a “microscopic vision,” in order to scan and scrutinize the faults and weaknesses of others.

In the light of today’s Gospel, we need to examine certain aspects of our life…

Do I…
… maximize the sins and faults of others and minimize mine?
… come to quick, hasty and negative conclusions?
… pass critical stories to other?
… have a strong bias to find others guilty?
… try to be harsh even when speaking the truth?
… dilute an unkind remark by saying, “I was only joking.”
… say something critical and then trying to cover it up?

Even after this examination, if there is a tendency to judge, then there is one person we can be critical of…
… Yes, Our Own Selves!

Yes, let us be judging our actions, our behaviours, our thoughts…
… and seek to purify our lives, rather than indulging in mud-slinging on others!

It’s high time we give up the “vulture-culture!”

Vultures, as we know, are birds, which fly across landscapes and terrains, and with their sharp eyes, swoop down on rotting, dead flesh…
… any flesh that is decayed, becomes a great feast for them!

The “vulture-culture” is very much in our society too…
`

God Bless! Live Jesus!

“Being convinced of the Lord’s mighty presence in our lives and our preciousness to Him, rising above our “fears” and living our Christian Missionary lives with courage!”

(Based on Jer 20:10-13, Rom 5:12-15 and Mt 10:26-33 – 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A)

Five-year old Jack was in the kitchen as his mother made supper.

She asked him to go into the store-room (the place where much of the provisions were stored) and get her a can of tomato soup.

But li’l Jack didn’t want to go in alone there and cried: “It’s dark in there and I’m scared, Mamma”

She asked again, and he persisted in his refusal.

Finally she said, “Jack, look… there is nothing to fear in going to that store-room. Jesus will be in there, with you…”

The constant request and this assurance made Jack to walk hesitantly to the door and slowly open it.

He peeked inside, saw it was dark, got all frightened and started to leave…
… when all at once an idea came, and he said: “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you, please, hand me that can of tomato soup?!”

Well, this little anecdote highlights a common trend that is evident in many of our lives:

Fear takes an upper hand in many of our activities and renders us fragile…
Fear has a strong grip over our minds and hearts in many situations and makes us weak…

The Gospel of the Day is a clarion call by the Lord to ward off anxiety-causing fears…
… instead to be courageous in our life as a Christian.

Our Blessed Lord gives His instructions to His Apostles as they are being commissioned for the mission journey.

Today He touches upon one of the core emotions that can affect the Disciples in their mission endeavour: the emotion of Fear.

Jesus says, “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Mt 10:31)

This fear was not merely about ordinary anxieties of life.

The disciples were being sent into a hostile world where they would face rejection, opposition and persecution for the sake of Christ.
The Lord therefore strengthens them not merely to feel safe…
… but to remain faithful and courageous in witnessing to Him.

Jesus seeks to cast off fear from His followers by showing them the preciousness and value of their lives – how important they are to Him…
… because they “belong to the Father!”

For this, he presents the example of a sparrow.

Though quite strange, Jesus probably had a very pertinent reason for this choice of the common sparrow.

During the time of Jesus (unlike in many of our modern developed cities), sparrows were so common that they were practically worthless.

Two sparrows were sold for a ‘cent’

The word “cent” is the Greek word ‘assarion’.
An assarion was worth only 1/16 of a denarius.
One denarius was the day’s wage for a rural worker.
So, by simple math, a single sparrow was worth only 1/32 of a day’s wage of a rural worker.

Another aspect that could be considered is…

In the Gospel it is said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?” (Mt 10:29)
In the Gospel of St Luke, it is said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents?” (Lk 12:6)

If two sparrows could be purchased for a cent, then a person should get only four sparrows for two cents.

Then why the ‘fifth’ sparrow?

Probably the fifth sparrow must have been an incentive offered by merchants to get people to buy more sparrows.

The fifth sparrow was probably given, just merely to sweeten the deal!

Our Blessed Lord used this practice of “buy-four-get-one-free sparrows” to illustrate how much God values life and how “preciously we belong to Him!”

He emphasizes that not even one sparrow is forgotten before God.

Even a nearly worthless free sparrow is not overlooked by God.
He takes immense interest even in an unappreciated bird!

Therefore, Jesus says, “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Mt 10:31)

The consolation of Jesus is not a promise that difficulties will disappear.

Rather, it is the assurance that even amid trials, sufferings and opposition…
… we are never abandoned by the Father’s loving care.
God often permits storms in life…
… but, amid every crisis of life, He holds us close to His heart
… and gives us the grace to sail over every difficulty

When we have a firm conviction of how precious we are to the Lord – Who is All-Powerful and All-Mighty – our fears will be calmed and our apprehensions will be relaxed!

Fear is one of the core emotions that can affect our life as a Christian:

Fear takes an upper hand in many of our activities and renders us fragile…

But the deeper we are convinced that I am precious and prized to the Lord, the lesser will be our fears!

“What need I fear, when thou art near, O King of night and day” is a refrain from a Christian hymn!

Prophet Jeremiah would beautifully exclaim, even amid persecutions: “But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion…!” (Jer 20:11)

The Prophet was not fearless because he had no problems.

He was courageous because he knew that God was greater than his problems.

Christian courage is not the absence of fear; it is faithfulness in spite of fear!

Yes… Fear can either prevent or propel
… Prevent from moving forward, being afraid of what will happen
… Propel to have a stronger determination and rouse the enthusiasm level

Fear can either be a barrier or a boost:
… Barrier that does not allow any initiative to be taken or any thought-process to progress
… Boost that accelerates the resolve and willpower and helps march towards the goal

St Paul in today’s Second Reading reminds us that…
… “the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.” (Rom 5:15)

Since Christ has already conquered our greatest enemies, we need not be paralysed by lesser fears.
We can confidently acknowledge Him before the world, trusting that He will acknowledge us before the Father.

Are we going to let “fear” PREVENT the good intentions and acts in our lives?

Or can we, convinced of the Lord’s mighty presence in our lives and our preciousness to Him, allow our “fears” to PROPEL us to greater faith and courage in our Christian Missionary lives….!

God Bless! Live Jesus!

“Firmly pledging loyalty and allegiance to our Loving God and trusting Him at all times!”

(Based on 2 Chr 24:17-25 and Mt 6:24-34 – Saturday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2)

A top ranked official, was extremely efficient and skilled in all his works.

However, he suffered from constant bouts of ulcer in the mouth, stomach upset and headaches.

Several medications couldn’t solve this problem.

Finally, a close friend of his, who had been away abroad for some years, met him…
… and knowing of his problems, suggested:
“I have the solution for all your physical troubles.

With all your works and responsibilities, you daily take up a lot of tension and worry.

So all that you need to do is…
Choose any one particular day of the week.

Whenever you get a problem that causes you anxiety…
Write it on a piece of paper….
Drop it inside a ‘Worry Box’…
… and then completely forget about it.

This ‘worry box’ is to be opened on that particular day of the week.”

The official tried this method of “writing the anxieties and problems on a paper, dropping it into a ‘worry box’ and opening it only on a Sunday.”

To his surprise, he found that most of the things that had disturbed him over the past six days were already settled.

It would have been useless to have worried about them.

That’s when he realised, his foolishness in being anxious and worried about a lot of things in life…
… things that deserved no attention for worry or anxiety!

And behold, in doing so, he also found his health to be regaining to full force.

Is that not pretty similar in our lives as well?

We often fret and worry about a lot of things in life…
… only to realise, that most of them, do not actually deserve the “anxiety attention and the worry weightage.”

The Gospel of the Day is a beautiful reflection given by Jesus on this nagging factor in our life – anxiety and worry.

The Lord firstly invites us to have a clear conviction regarding our loyalty: to God or to mammon.

He says, “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt 6: 24)

We can be faithful and committed to only one of them.

To whom have we pledged our loyalty and allegiance…?

To the True and Living God who alone is worthy of every honour and who alone is able to bless our lives with true joy and happiness….?
… or to false and make-believe effigies of money, wealth and possessions which may give momentary satisfactions but fail miserably in rendering true peace of mind…?

When we have made this pledge and commitment to the Lord, He invites us to “live” this commitment.

One of the strongest signs of “living” this commitment is to “trust” in Him!

And an external sign of “trusting” in Him is to not get into the vice of “anxiety”

Jesus asks this very practical and logical question: “Can any of you, by worrying, add a single moment to your life-span?” (Mt 6: 27)

All of us…
… surely, as we live our lives have our quota of tensions and troubles.
… without doubt, as we discharge our duties, will have our share of pressures.

But do we let these tensions and troubles and pressures to get converted to needless “worries” and undue “anxieties?”

It is said that “worry is wasting today’s time, to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.”

Worries and anxieties cause us…
… to miss the beautiful gift of the present – Today
… causing blockage in the golden chances awaiting ahead – Tomorrow
… as a result of the cloud of undue pressures and fears of the past – Yesterday

Humans, as we are, stresses and strains are sure to come our way…
… but, does my Christian Faith help me to convert such circumstances to occasions to trust in God deeper and build our faith stronger?

For a person on deep faith, situations of tension are made into moments of seeking God deeper and experiencing His providence.

For a person of higher trust, circumstances of worries are transformed to occasions of cherishing God’s presence and developing an approach of stronger reliance and dependence.

There is no doubt that life will constantly hurl ‘bricks of worry and anxiety’ on us

Discouragements are an easy trap for us to stumble in our life of faith
Anxieties are easy snares to corner us with fretfulness and fear.

But as Christians, we need to be courageous to use these ‘bricks of worry and anxiety’ into castles of “confidence and success!”

The evil one…
… seeks to hamper our desire to seek the Lord and work for His Kingdom
… attempts to tarnish our good intentions to be a messenger of His Kingdom

Do we succumb to those attacks of “anxiety” and “worry”?
… or do we stand firm, in faith and trust, placing our faith in the Lord, entirely?

Worries and anxieties often eat up our life…
… and many of us even suffer physically, spiritually and socially.

The Lord, our best friend, advises us today:
“Write down your worries and anxieties on a piece of paper… (i.e. speak to me in Prayer!)
… put them into the “worry box”… (i.e. Offer them to My Heart!)
… and open it once a week… (i.e. On a Sunday – the Sabbath Day, set apart for the Lord!)

And you will realise, most of the things that had disturbed over the past six days, were already settled.”

Yes, let us firmly pledge loyalty and allegiance to our Loving God…
… and trusting Him at all times, boldly declare, with hope:
“I seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness!”

God Bless! Live Jesus!