On the death of Osama Bin Laden

As I checked my mail this morning I saw on yahoo mail the picture of Osama Bin Laden. I thought it was one of Bin Laden’s propaganda videos, but on closer look I saw that it was about his death. So on this day, May 2, 2011, under the Democratic dispensation, Osama has been killed by Obama. Noticed the irony? There is only a difference of the second letter in their names ‘S’ and ‘B’. This can’t be true. This man eluded the best and the most expensive Intelligence in the world for nine years and five months. His capture or death would have given a big boost to George Bush presidency. But that was not meant to be for him. Hard luck!

Osama Bin Laden was considered the America’s No. 1 enemy. I remember September 11, 2001. How can I forget that day? It was a day after my birthday and life was good. I was preparing breakfast in the kitchen when I got a call from a friend in New York, he said “Austin have you seen what a crazy pilot has done?” Tune to CNN and see the picture of one of the twin towers burning. As I tuned to CNN I saw the second plane flying into the second tower and the two towers were burning. CNN also reported that another plane had hit the Pentagon and that another plane was brought down in Pennsylvania. The country was thrown into mourning as about three thousand people lost their lives. It was a sad day indeed!

Osama Bin Laden, the founder and spiritual leader of extremists Al Qaeda group accepted responsibility for these dastardly acts. It was difficult to imagine such hatred for America. My question has always been, what really has Americans done to Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden for that matter? Due to the attack on American soil, America went to war in Iraq and later to Afghanistan. Scores of Americans have lost their lives and millions of dollars have been expended on these wars. Today the hunter became the hunted and America became the victor. President Obama said it so very well, “America did not choose this war, it came to our shores” Life’s lesson rings true here, six days belong to the thief but only one day belongs to the owner. Yes, America has taken back its pride and who is laughing now!

What does the death of Osama Bin Laden mean to the world? What reactions and emotions does his death evoke? There was an outpouring of joy as people gathered to celebrate the death of Osama. People said it has brought closure to the families of those who lost their loved ones. Really? Can the dead come back to life because Bin Laden is dead? I doubt it! World leaders are reacting, mostly positively and congratulating America over the death of Osama. Here is what the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J.  said regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden. “Osama Bin Laden, as is known, claimed responsibility for grave acts that spread division and hate among the peoples, manipulating religion to that end. A Christian never takes pleasure from the fact of a man’s death, but sees it as an opportunity to reflect on each person’s responsibility, before God and humanity, and to hope and commit oneself to seeing that no event become another occasion to disseminate hate but rather to foster peace.” I have mixed feelings regarding Bin Laden’s death. I would have preferred for him to have been arrested and brought to book. I would have wanted him to be given life imprisonment after trial. But then “it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed” John 11:50. Hatred can only beget hatred. But then I am speaking as a priest and not as the leader of a nation. I know that many people would have different reactions concerning the death of Osama, but what would Christ have done in Osama’s case? Was Osama created in the image and likeness of God? I think he was. How does the forgiveness preached by Christ fit into Bin Laden’s world? Here is his teaching: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on bad and the good, causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” Matthew 5:43-46. So you see my predicament? How can I be a true Christian - citizen of heaven and a citizen of the world at the same time? Just thinking allowed. What do you think?

The Thomas in us!

Today the Catholic World celebrates the second Sunday of Easter. On this Sunday also we celebrate the Divine Mercy of God. It is most fitting also that today Pope John Paul ll, who was, himself devoted to the Divine Mercy was beatified in the Eternal city of Rome. The Gospel reading at Mass today was taken from John 20:24-29. Here we read “Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.” Why did Thomas miss the apparition of Jesus? And here is the point; he missed that first appearance, the first blessing and the first offer of peace from Christ himself.

Whenever we miss the community of God’s people, the place that we should be, we miss out on a lot of things. We miss out on the blessing. We miss out on the information offered and many emotions and reactions of the time. What we are left with is nothing but the leftover that at times makes it very difficult to believe. And when this type of information is being passed around, there are certain additions and subtractions in the info. We tend to spice up the info also to our advantage. This, truly, was the lot of Thomas our patron saint when we fail to show up. The community of God’s people needs all of us, with our talents, our gifts, our weaknesses and our strength, it needs us all to stand out and show up so that the body of Christ the Church may be complete. Let no one say ‘I am not worthy’, let no one say ‘I have nothing to offer’, let no one say my contribution will not count, and certainly let no one say ‘I will not be missed’. God needs us all. The body of Christ will not be complete without one of his members.

The Thomas in us is nothing but a drag; it makes us give reasons why we should not be there. It makes us rationalize on important issues and causes us to make fun of sacred things. When we think of Thomas the absentee, let us remember the redeemed Thomas, the one who put his hand in the side of Jesus and was awed by the risen Lord and he worshipped him with “My Lord and my God.” Let us open our hearts to the converted Thomas and adore our risen Lord.  

John Paul the Great!

Today, the 30^th day of April the Catholic world, nay, the whole world have gathered in Rome in anticipation of the great event that will unfold tomorrow May 1, 2011 - the beatification of Pope John Paul ll. Since the election of Karol Wojtyla to the See of Peter in 1978 the Catholic world has never been the same. He reigned as pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City for almost 27 years, the third longest in the history of the Papacy. Here was a man who was born to be saint. From his upbringing and all that he went through no one was in doubt that a saint was in the making. John Paul showed the world how to serve the Lord both in sickness and in health. He said ‘yes’ to God with every aspect of his life. He taught us how sickness could be an occasion for greatness, a great moment of grace and a transition to eternal life. The beatification of John Paul is an invitation to all that we are born to be saints. In Mt. 5:48 Christ exhorts us “Be holy for your heavenly Father is holy.”

It is fitting that his beatification should take place on the second Sunday of Easter – the Divine Mercy Sunday. John Paul was a strong believer in the mercy of God and maintained that of all that we need, it is the Divine Mercy of God that we need the most. He was convinced that God’s mercy comes to us most powerfully through the sacrament of reconciliation and he received this sacrament once a week. According to Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who was the Holy Father’s press secretary, John Paul ll was in touch with all through prayer and prayed personally for all the intentions that he received.

John Paul’s love for young people could better be experienced than imagined. He inaugurated world youth day, an occasion to bring young people together all over the world. He enjoined them to live a radical life of Christian discipleship. He made sure that world youth day was held in different parts of the world. This afforded young people the opportunity of traveling and getting to know the different countries in which the event was held. I was blessed to have traveled to Canada, Germany and Australia for these youth events, thanks to Pope John Paul ll. The love that the Holy Father had for young people and vice versa was made evident during these events.

One of those who testified before the beatification was Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre who was cured miraculously of Parkinson disease, the same sickness that the Holy Father suffered from. Her miraculous recovery opened the way for the beatification process. She was diagnosed in 2001. She saw in John Paul ll a pastor after God’s own heart; he was a defender of the poor and those who had no one to defend them. Sr. Marie felt an emptiness, a big void in her life, as we all felt, when the Holy Father passed. In June 2005 she prayed asking John Paul ll to intercede for her. She was healed of her sickness and today she is ever so grateful to God and to the late pontiff for granting her good health.

The personal secretary to John Paul ll, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, in his testimony said that John Paul used “praise be Jesus Christ” to greet those he was to meet, he used the same phrase himself on this occasion to greet the world because he said he felt the presence of John Paul in the gathering. He recounted that he first met the pope as a young professor and recalled that the pope lived a simple life in communion with God. He noted that John Paul ll was upset on two occasions; his first anger was directed towards the Italian Mafia because of organized crimes in Italy. The second time was during the Angelus before Iraq war. He pleaded in tears that America should not invade Iraq. He noted that war was not good, that he had lived through war and saw the futility of it. Therefore everything should be done to seek for peace rather than war. How right was this man of God for the war is still ragging on and many lives are lost on daily basis due to it. He concluded that when the Holy Father passed, instead of saying the prayer for the death, they prayed ‘Te Deum’, in praise of God for a happy death.

As we celebrate this great event in the life of the Church, let us thank God that we have lived to see this day. Let us fall back on the Divine Mercy of God by making use of the sacrament of reconciliation whenever we fall short of God’s mercy and love. God cannot deny us the one thing He knows we are most in need of – His Divine Mercy. May Blessed John Paul ll intercede for us all! Amen.

It is the Lord!

The story of the resurrection was not a common event in history. It was never heard that a man who died and was buried came back to life on his own accord. The raising of Lazarus was by no means the same in magnitude with the resurrection of Christ. Theologically speaking, the resurrection, the ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles took place in one and the same day. But since this concept would be too heavy for our material minds to conceive, the Church saw the need to spread this event over a period of 50 days; 40 days before the ascension and 10 days before the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. During this period, we witness Jesus appearing on different occasions to his apostles. But can we prove that Christ truly rose from the dead?

The first prove of the resurrection is the empty tomb. The women saw the tomb, they saw when Christ was buried and they saw the soldiers who guarded the tomb. They went back to the tomb three days later and saw it was empty. The body of Christ was not in it. They “saw the wrappings lying on the ground. Presently, Simon Peter came along behind him and entered the tomb. He observed the wrappings on the ground and saw the piece of cloth which had covered the head not lying with the wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself” John 20:5-8. We are told that they saw and they believed - believed what? Could it be that they remembered what he had told them? “As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day” Mt. 20:17-19.

The second prove is the fact that Christ ate with his apostles. “While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them” Luke 24:36-43.If one eats fish some bones will certainly remain and these bones can be seen, touch and felt. After the resurrection Christ was constantly reminding his apostles of what Scriptures said about himself.   

In spite of all these it was still not easy for the apostles to understand it easily. Little wonder then why they were bent on returning to their trade - fishing. This was the situation in John 21:1-14. Here we read the following: “Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” We can understand the statement of Peter in two ways. I am going fishing could mean that he was returning to the trade that he knew so much about before his call, or it could mean that he was bored and wanted to do something to distract himself. For the purpose of this post, I want to take the first option. That is Peter was returning to his trade. Unfortunately for him, the trade he thought he knew so much about failed him, for we are told that they caught nothing the whole night. Here again Christ made his appearance to prove to Peter that apart from him he could do nothing. He demonstrated to Peter that he Christ was better in Peter’s trade than Peter himself. He now took it upon himself to teach Peter how to fish. “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something. So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”

Many times we seem to think that we know it all. We often attempt to put God out of our existence and feel we can do it all by ourselves alone. We often celebrate our scanty triumphs and strike our breast that we have achieved what no other person has ever achieved in life. But truth be told; we can do nothing if God the father did not provide the strength, the energy and the wisdom needed to do it. We have to see the Lord standing by the shore of our lake as we struggle on our own for a catch of fish. Yes, where can we run from him? The Psalmist asks us a simple question: “Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too. If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand holds me fast. If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light” – Darkness and light are but one.” Psalm 139:7-12. Peter and his friends may have thought that they had run away from Christ, but he found them once again and taught them a lesson in humility, love, patience and providence. If God does not provide for us all our labor is in vain. God’s providence is beyond our expectation, beyond our dreams. For what I am sure about tomorrow is that providence will rise before the dawn. Why? It is the Lord and he will provide for my needs.

Appreciation

Appreciation simply put means acknowledging the good in others. It can mean showing some love and concern to others either because of their good looks, or their contribution to make life better for others. Life’s lessons abound that teaches us that if we appreciate people for what they have done, they tend to do more. Unfortunately ours is the world where we think of ourselves more than others and the contributions of others do not seem to mean much to us.

Who we are today is only possible because of the contributions of others; therefore we should be appreciative of others. Our parents have done much for our existence. Our forebears made a lot of contributions that have shaped the world for us to excel and achieve our dreams. Do we always show them appreciation and love? Not all the time. We often hear parents complain over the bad treatments they received from their children. William Shakespeare, in King Lear captured the truth of the ingratitude of this magnitude when he noted, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” He noted in another place, “Blow, blow, thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude.”

Many people tend to accumulate things without taking the time to enjoy what they have. They forget the wise saying of life that “We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have but rather in recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” How true! How can we not take the time to appreciate nature, to smell beautiful flowers given us in abundance by God; to take a walk along the bushes and admire the tress and hear the melodious songs of the birds! This saying rings true that “Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumblebee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” The world would be such a wonderful place if we could but appreciate what we have instead of complaining and whining over what we don’t have. “We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, “Why did this happen to me? Unless we asked the same question for every joy that comes our way.”

I often ask people if they love what they do. The answer surprises me all the time. Many people do not like or enjoy their jobs. They see their job as one of those chores that they must do in order to pay their bills. This is a wrong attitude towards one’s job. We should be excited to go to work every day. “The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one”. Great! Just look around you and see how happy they are who have no job. Would you really want to be one in that number?  We should be loyal and devoted to our jobs and appreciate those who made it possible for us to have it. If you are so bitter about you job, why not quit?

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” When we appreciate others, we are indirectly appreciating our creator. When we appreciate others, we appreciate ourselves in the process. Please learn to see something good in everybody and in very situation. Kindly be slow in speaking ill of anyone until you are able to say something good about everyone. Appreciate first before finding fault. “So learn everything you can, anything you can, from anyone you can – there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.” 

How foolish you are...?

How would you like Jesus to say to you, “How foolish you are? Jesus asked the two men on the road to Emmaus this simple but interesting question. But why? The men were obviously frustrated, flabbergasted and despondent. From their discussion we can deduce easily their state of mind. They were upset with Jesus for acting as a stranger in Jerusalem. To the question, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?” amidst emotion laden with surprise we are told, “They stood still, with sad faces”, then one of them mustered up courage to ask him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have been happening there these last few days.” Again, Christ acting as if had no idea what they were referring to asked, “What things?” they had this answer for him: “The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him,” Lk. 24:19-24.

From the above answer I have no doubts that these men were disappointed with the Jesus project. They had closed their minds to the Scriptures. They were obviously very negative and one could feel their incredulity, doubts, cynicism and apathy as they recounted their litany of woes to this stranger. Were they trying to educate the stranger about the failure of Christ or what really was the point they were making? With the type of picture painted above one could hardly see these men as missionaries. There was no conviction in their narrative except their disappointments. There was a total lack of trust in the person of Christ and these men had lost hope completely. Little wonder then why Christ took the time to speak sense into their heads. Jesus did not waste time in pointing their mistakes to them, but not before calling them fools. “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” Now the lectures! The bible stated that, “Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.”

When you are in doubts and confused, where do you turn to for comfort? When you are disappointed who do you turn to for consolation? We are prone to complaining and whining when things do not go our way. We close our minds to options and at times, we even turn against God and the Church. It seems to me that the bible has most of the answers to our problems if we but take the time to read and pray it, we will get the sense of direction that we so desperately need. We often blame our problems on everybody except ourselves. Truth be told, we have what it takes to pull ourselves up from whatever situation we find ourselves in. We have all the means needed to assist us do just that. We have our God who loves and cares for us and only wants us to go to him and ask for what we need, but often times we do not take these approaches; instead we behave like these men on the way to Emmaus. Remember this, no matter where we run to, Christ will always meet us on the road, and if care is not taken, he will call us foolish men and women. Foolish; because we doubt his love. Foolish; because we do not trust him enough. Foolish; because we do not read the Scriptures. No wonder St. Jerome cautions us that ignorant of the Scriptures means ignorant of Christ. May Christ not call us foolish. Amen

The Woman of great Love - 2

Still in John’s Gospel we meet this woman again at her house mourning the loss of her brother. She is partly upset here because the one she loves was not there when her brother died. On seeing Jesus she confronted him right a way, “If you were here my brother would not have died.” Her trust in him is unflinching; her love unlimited, her hope is untarnished and her faith is undoubted. In spite of this tragedy, frustration, sadness and loss, she had the courage and strength to dare to believe. John captured the emotions of Mary when she came to meet Jesus. We are told, “Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell a his feet. Jesus saw her weeping and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved. Where have you buried him?” He asked them. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered. Jesus wept.” John 11:32-35. How would he not weep for the ones he loved! Because of her faith, Lazarus was restored to life. This is the power of love in action.

Wherever this woman appears she does something good and demonstrates her love for Christ. During the passion and the crucifixion of Jesus, she was there. She never moved far away from her love. With the mother of Jesus, she stayed. The Bible talks about Mary the mother of Jesus and the other Mary. It seems the name Mary is synonymous with good deeds. When Christ was brought down from the cross, she was there; and she was there when he was buried. She saw it all, she experienced it all, and she loved him through it all. She marked the tomb well hence Luke’s Gospel tells us, “Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb.” 24:1-3. But Matthew tells us this: “After the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.” (28:1). Here she witnessed something extraordinary. She did not find the body. Mary is distressed, she is sad; she cannot believe what she had seen. Mary started crying. “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” was the answer she gave to Jesus who appeared to her and asked why she was crying. Mistaking him to be a gardener, she told him, “If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him”, John 20:13-15. How can one describe this love! She loved him in life and loved him even more in death. Imagine this woman going to remove the dead body of her loved one, carrying him all by herself alone, afraid of nothing and no one.

Does it surprise you then that Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection? It should not. Love, we are told conquers all things, and endures all things. Mary persevered, Mary persisted, Mary never gave up; Mary never stopped loving. Mary’s love was rewarded. Though Mary’s love seemed to have died for a brief moment, her love was given back to her. She became the first witness of the resurrection and she became the first missionary, commissioned to go and preach the resurrection. “Go and tell my brothers that I go before them to Galilee.” Mary was forgiven because she loved much; she loved much because she was given a second chance by the one who loved her first. When every other person had given up on her, her love did not give up on her. Let the story of this woman of great love be our own story. No matter what the situation may be do not give up on yourself. Remember that there is no one on earth who has not committed any sin. There are people who have committed worse sins than yours. The fact that they have not been found out does not mean that they are saints. And who is a saint by the way if not the sinner who fell down many times and got up again because of Jesus. Jesus is always there to assure us of his love, his mercy and his forgiveness. He is always prepared to give you a second chance. It all depends on what you do with that chance. Yes, Mary truly chose a better part and it should not be taken away from her. She chose to love Christ with her second chance. She chose to serve her Lord with all that she had. She demonstrated the summary of the commandment as given by Christ, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is all we are commanded to do. By this shall all know that you are my disciples if you love one another!