May 5, 2019

Third Sunday of Easter

It is The Lord!

I am convinced without a doubt that Christ was raised from dead to life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “Christ’s resurrection is the fulfillment of the promises, both of the old Testament and of Jesus Himself during his earthly life. The resurrection of the crucified one shows that He was truly ‘I Am’, the Son of God and God Himself. Christ’s resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God’s Son and is its fulfillment in accordance with God’s eternal plan” (CCC nos. 652, 653).  St. Paul said it better, “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith” (1Cor 15:13-14). On that first Easter Sunday, Peter and his companions experienced the risen Christ as they never expected to and that changed the trajectory of their lives. Peter was emboldened by the spirit of the risen Lord to stand up to the Sanhedrin and accuse them of being responsible for Christ death. “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and Savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit whom God had given to those who obey Him” (first reading). This is the same Peter, who, a few days ago could not stand up to a young girl and admit that he knew Jesus.

There was something fascinating about Peter that, in my opinion, endeared him to Jesus – the crass humanity of Peter; and this makes the person of Peter appealing to us. We can identify easily with him. Peter was impetuous. One minute he confessed the divinity of Jesus, “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16); the next minute he tried to prevent Jesus from accepting the will of His father to which he was reprimanded by Christ to “get behind me Satan.” But there was an undeniable friendship between Jesus and Peter; the friendship so strong that just a look from Jesus communicated to Peter that he had betrayed that friendship and hurt their relationship. According to William J. Bausch in ‘Story Telling the Word’, “The scene of two men in silent confrontation in the palace courtyard tells us the real meaning of Christianity. It is, when you come right down to it, a living relationship with a living Person. It is always and forever the relationship of redeemed human beings with the person of Jesus Christ in faith, trust, forgiveness, and love – in all the ways that one person is bound to another.”

In today’s Gospel Peter is returning to his trade: fishing. His statement: “I am going fishing” could mean that he was returning to the trade he thought he was good at or he was simply bored and needed to distract himself from the thought of betraying his friend and the constant reminder of the look of Jesus. Could it mean that Peter had some doubts about catching people for the kingdom as he was commanded by Christ? If he was not adept at fishing how would he be in catching people! Unfortunately, Peter, in my opinion, was not very good at catching fish. His first encounter with Jesus was when he was at his duty post trying to catch fish. To the request of Jesus to “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch” his answer was “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets” (Lk. 5:5). For the second time, Jesus met Peter and his companions again during his fishing expedition and enquired: “Children, have you caught anything yet?” “No.” So he said to them “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something” (Jn. 21:3-6). It was when they caught so many number of fish that made John to exclaim: “It is the Lord”. How could they, who caught nothing throughout the night be so lucky, just because stranger had told them to cast the nets on the other side of the boat? John could recall their last encounter with Jesus when they had work all night long and caught nothing. Christ had told them what to do before they had their boats filled with fish. It had to be the Lord. Christ showed Peter and his companions that apart from him they could do nothing. He demonstrated to Peter that he (Christ) was better at Peter’s job than Peter himself hence Peter should learn another trade with the help of the grand master himself. Many times, we think we know it all. We often try to keep God out of our lives. But Christ tells us, “apart from me you can do nothing”. God provides us with the strength, the energy and the wisdom we need to do all that we do and to succeed in them.

Whenever we run away from God, he comes in search of us. “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you” (Jn. 15:16). Unworthy as we are God chose us as he chose the prophets of old and the Apostles. When they sinned, he forgave them and waits for them to turn back to him.  He shows us the father’s love in the story of the prodigal son, (Lk 15); and demonstrates his forgiveness in the story of the woman caught in the act of committing adultery, (Jn. 8). He reached out to Peter at the sea of Tiberias, still caring, cooking a meal for his friends, providing fish for their upkeep, giving them encouragement and hope and offering them forgiveness and love. Yes, it is the Lord, he is the only one who appears when all hope is gone, he refreshes us when water is dried up and the rain refuses to fall. It is the Lord who brings healing and strength to our failing bodies and restores us to wholeness when we are sick. “What am sure about tomorrow is that providence will rise before the dawn” because it is the Lord.

Jesus knew his friend Peter more than Peter knew himself. He knew Peter loved him, but he wanted him to say it with his mouth. After all he had told Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Lk. 22:31-32). He knew that Satan had put his ugly hands on Peter and at the moment of weakness, he denied Christ, Christ was back to make it right. Christ asked him three times, ‘do you love me. “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you”. Yes, Peter was right, Christ knew everything, he knew that Peter loved him.

So, we pray that we may not forget that the Lord stands always at our shores loving, instructing, watching and looking out for us. He has a meal prepared for us. When we are tempted to run away from the Lord, may we not forget our relationship with him. May we have the courage to say with Peter, Lord, you know everything, you know we love you. Please pray for us as you prayed for Peter that our faith may not fail, strengthen us at the moment of our weakness so that we may not betray you. Help us to see the look of love in your eyes for us so that we may weep for our sins and turn back to you. Amen.    

The Accusing Finger

In life we have all met them. Oh yea you know what I am talking about. I mean those who are always pointing accusing finger at others, those who apportion blames, yes those who always find fault with others. It is always their fault and never mine. They are always wrong and I am always right. It all started with our first parents, Adam and Eve. Read Genesis 3:8-13: “When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God then called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden: but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat! The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me – she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.” The Lord God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

There you have it! It is not your fault; it is the fault of Adam and Eve. You are justified indeed not to take blames for anything. You have a false sense of entitlement which makes it easy for you to be right at all times. It is not your fault that you cannot accept that you are ever wrong. It is not your fault that you have become a judge rather than a fellow pilgrim on this journey called life.

But can you stop and think just for a brief moment? Check back and look at your finger when you point it at others. You see, life has taught us a lesson of how wrong we may possibly be not to have observed that when you point one finger (Index finger) at someone, the thumb sometimes looks up (or points) to God while the other three are pointing directly at you. The thumb seems to agree with Ps. 130:3,4, “If you, Lord, mark our sins, Lord, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness and so you are revered.” The three fingers pointing at you, on the hand, are telling you take a look at yourself and your actions: is it really true that you are always blameless in every situation and at all times? Why not ask yourself this simple question: what did I do to provoke such reaction from the other person? Was I perhaps responsible for the reaction I got from that person? Did I behave as a true brother/sister to this person or that person in that situation? It is always good to be introspective, to really look at the man/woman in the mirror to see if I am really blameless.

David was a close friend of God. He sinned terribly against God and humanity up to the point that he did not recognize himself in the story portraying his sinfulness. When Nathan confronted him, David acknowledged his sins. In verse 13 of the second book of Samuel chapter 12, David said, “I have sinned against the Lord”. Please read the whole story in 2 Samuel 11:1-12:1-15. In his remorse, David wrote Psalm 51. In verses 5-7, David wrote, “For I know my offense; my sin is always before me. Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight that you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn. True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.” It is only a person who examines his life daily who can admit that he/she is wrong at times. Socrates, the Greek philosopher stated clearly that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” That is to say that we should be engaged constantly on self-examination and seek to compare ourselves to God rather than human beings. When we compare ourselves to God we discover that we are constantly in need of change and improvement; but when we compare ourselves to others, we will always be tempted to think that we are better than every other person. We find fault with everyone else because we are better than them.

Jesus Christ has strong words for us for thinking this way. Listen to him, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye, while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first, then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye’” Mt. 7:1-5. In his universal epistle, James 4:11-12 exhorts us in these words, “Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. Whoever speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or to destroy. Who then are you to judge your neighbor?

There you are. Before you engage yourself in that blame game you love to play so very much, ask yourself: ‘am I really that better than everyone else?’ Don’t you think you should show some love to your brothers and sisters rather than sit in judgment over them? The golden rule puts it thus: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you”, Mt. 7:12. As you would not want people to point accusing finger at you, do not point accusing finger at others. The world would be a better place if we could observe this simple rule.

The Widow’s Mite – The poor widow’s contribution

 

We have often heard people talk about giving their widow’s mite to mean that they have contributed what they could for a cause. But that is not the same point made by Jesus in Luke 21:1-4. Listen to Jesus: “When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor window putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor window put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” Why did she give from her pauperism? 

Life’s lesson has taught us that poor people are always willing to give to a cause or to others with no question asked. They give food and money to those in need more readily than others; they give without counting the cost. Point of interest: “…But she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.

We know the story of the hen and the pig. There are many versions of this story. Let me recall one of the versions published by Jacki Zehner on October 26, 2012 on her web page www.jackizehner.com: “A pig and a chicken were walking down the road. As they passed a church, they notice that a potluck charity breakfast was on the way. Caught up in the spirit, the pig suggested to the chicken that they each make a contribution. “Great idea!” the chicken cried. “Lets offer them ham and eggs!” “Not so fast.” “For you, that’s just a contribution, but for me, it’s a total commitment.”” This story demonstrates the total commitment of the poor widow to the contribution observed by Christ. Her giving, like that of the pig was total, she gave everything that she had. She is a good example of a sacrificial giver. She gave because she trusted God. She gave because she knew that it is better to give than receive. She gave all she had to the one who gives to all abundantly. She did not know that Christ was watching, but she knew that not giving was not an option. She also knew that she could not pretend to have nothing to give. The God who sees her heart and knows that she had given it all will not allow her to go in want. He will open for her the floodgates of heaven, and pour down blessing upon her without measure. For her sake God will forbid the locust to destroy her crop; and the vine in her field will not be barren, cf. Malachi 3:11. 

So what type of a giver are you? Do you give as a widow or the rich people? Do you give like a hen or like a pig? Giving as described here dose not have to be monetary. If you don’t have in cash you can give in time or in talent, not giving is not an option. Even children can give to God. Let me conclude with this beautiful song written in 1874 by Christopher Ruby Blackall, MD, ”The fields are all white, and the reapers are few; we children are willing, but what can we do, to work for our Lord in His harvest? Our hands are so small, and our words are so weak; we cannot teach others; how then shall we seek to work for our Lord in His harvest? We’ll work by our prayers, by the offerings we bring, by small self-denials; the least little thing, may work for our Lord in His harvest. Until by and by, as the years pass, at length we too may be reapers, and go forth in strength, to work for our Lord in His harvest.”

Why Christ prayed at all times

The Gospels relate instances of Christ praying. I wonder why the second person of the blessed Trinity prayed so much. After all He was both divine and human. John 1:10-11 states, “He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him”. But Christ was sent into the world with a specific purpose, to reconcile the world to God. John 3:16 states clearly Christ’s mission in the world, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. In John 10:10, we read, “… I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly”.  His job was cut out for him and his order was tall indeed. Little wonder why Christ had to pray at all times for the strength to fulfill his mission.

Anyone who lives and works in a foreign country away from home understands the yearning that people have about their home country. They want to know what is happening with the people they left behind. They want to call home and speak to their love ones. Life lessons would conjecture that same situation could be applied to Christ. He travelled away from heaven, his home, leaving His Father behind. Remember, He is the only son of his Father. I would guess that Christ would want to call home and check on his Father from time to time. To tell him about his mission on earth and the difficulties he encountered in carrying out his father’s will. He would need to tell God about the many sick people he met wherever he went, to tell his Father how the devil was hard at work to undermine Him. He needed his father to advice him on how to counter and overthrow the devil. I think Christ had to discuss with his father about the problems he had with the ‘holy people’, the ‘holier than thou’ who made life difficult for him; the Scribes and the Pharisees who wanted to kill him; Herod who wanted to ridicule him and all those who downplayed his good deeds among the people. He was worried about those who should have known better but did not. He was concerned about the hatred, the hypocrisy, the lack of love, the unforgiving people he had to deal with day in day out. He was bothered about all the backstabbing, the gossip, the betrayal and the disloyalty that confronted him on daily basis. Or may be He just wanted to tell his father about his day, about his joys and sadness, about his new friends, those who were assisting him in his mission. He talked to his father about the crowds, the disciples, his apostles and their characters, personalities and temperaments. He talked to his father about the many women in his life and mission. He must have talked a length about his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sure he mentioned Mary Magdalene and how committed she was to his course. Oh Christ had to pray everyday and he prayed hard indeed.

Sometimes he prayed all night. Luke 6:12 states, “In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.’ Mark 6:46 records, “And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray”. Luke 4:42 simply says, “At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. It is my opinion that prayer made it possible for Christ to remain focused on the work of his father. Prayer helped him not be rash in his judgment and decision-making. Because he prayed he was able to see everyone as a son and daughter of God therefore, his brothers and sisters. Since everyone is created in the image and likeness of His Father he was able to see all as a member of his family.

May be if we pray as Christ did we will begin to experience life differently, we may even begin to see people differently. We may begin to love as God loves. We may begin to forgive people and make room in our hearts for them, as we want God to forgive and make room in His heart for us.

To pray in this way means we have to fall in love with Ms. Silence, or Mr. Silence, if you please. We will have to occasionally turn off the TV, radio, IPod, our smartphones and other sources of distractions that struggle for our attention at all times. We may have to talk less in Church with others and talk more with God. Remember this, a person who talks too much and at all times is a nuisance, nay, a disaster unto self and others.  Our mountain and secret place can be anywhere we want it to be. Since our mountain and our secret place is our heart, then, we can retire there whenever we want. We can be on our mountain while in our car, bus or train going to work, at our desk at work, in the classroom or when we are taking a walk. Since prayer is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God, this may be our best workout day and night. Let us always remember ‘to take it to the Lord in prayer’ and nothing will be too much for us to handle since we have God on our side at all times. Recall the words of the Angel to our Blessed Mother in Luke 1:37, “For nothing will be impossible for God”. May 2015 be a year of prayer for one and all!