Friday, July 30, 2010

The Death of John the Baptist (Mt 14: 1-12)

John the Baptist was in bondage, in prison for telling the truth. The prison could take away his physical freedom and made him physically limited.

It is fruitful to analyze different people in this gospel incident and their bondages.

John the Baptist – In physical bondage, unable to move physically according to his wish, was the result of his standing for the truth. But he was a free man as Jesus says “the truth will make you free”. John was a man of the Spirit therefore his was a liberated person though he was in chains.

Herod – The tetrarch, physically free but he was a slave of his emotions (he was planning to marry his brother’s wife though he knew it was wrong) and his pride (since there were many gusts he did not want to break his promise knowing that he was doing wrong). He was not a liberated person but suffering severely from his own self made bondages.

Herodias – the would-be wife of Herod, physically free but slave to her anger (she was angry towards John the Baptist) and her mentality to revenge. She was suffering from psychological and emotional bondages.

The real liberation is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the freedom of the Sons and Daughters of God through we have physical restrictions. As Nelson Mandela said after his long imprisonment -'those who imprisoned me are in severe bondages and in need of freedom'.

The Death of John the Baptist (Mt 14: 1-12)

John the Baptist was in bondage, in prison for telling the truth. The prison could take away his physical freedom and made him physically limited.

It is fruitful to analyze different people in this gospel incident and their bondages.

John the Baptist – In physical bondage, unable to move physically according to his wish, was the result of his standing for the truth. But he was a free man as Jesus says “the truth will make you free”. John was a man of the Spirit therefore his was a liberated person though he was in chains.

Herod – The tetrarch, physically free but he was a slave of his emotions (he was planning to marry his brother’s wife though he knew it was wrong) and his pride (since there were many gusts he did not want to break his promise knowing that he was doing wrong). He was not a liberated person but suffering severely from his own self made bondages.

Herodias – the would-be wife of Herod, physically free but slave to her anger (she was angry towards John the Baptist) and her mentality to revenge. She was suffering from psychological and emotional bondages.

The real liberation is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the freedom of the Sons and Daughters of God through we have physical restrictions. As Nelson Mandela said after his long imprisonment -'those who imprisoned me are in severe bondages and in need of freedom'.

The Rejection in Nazareth (Mt 13: 54-58)

Familiarity may end up in over freedom and disrespect. The people in the village of Jesus were seeing him from the childhood and were considering him like any other. They failed to understand that he is the Son of God because they were very much familiar with Jesus and His family.

Once a parish priest asked the catechism students that who are the most holy people of a parish. One of the answers was those who come for the mass every day. The parish priest exclaimed “then the most holy person would be the sacristan of the parish, because he attends the mass every day sometimes more than once”. The next day the parish priest asked the sacristan to decorate the Alter for a special reason. When the parish priest went to the parish in between the decoration he saw the sacristan smoking near the Alter. Too much familiarity sometimes causes disrespect.

We are close to Jesus, moving in Jesus. We also may fell into this danger of too much familiarity with Jesus that we may think, “it is ok if I do this because Jesus is with me” or “if at all I do not do my responsibilities Jesus know it and understands it”, etc. Familiarity is good. But it should not guide us to use the freedom that comes from familiarity without responsibility.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Faith in Life with the Risen Lord (Jn 11: 19-27)

There are 3 ways of looking at life and using the materials that we have;

1. I have to live today. I want to enjoy today. I am not bothered about tomorrow where anything can happen. These people will not even listen to the advice of the doctors to control the diet that may shorten their life. They are also not worried about the savings.
2. I have to life till death. I have to enjoy life till my death. Therefore to live peacefully till my death I may forgo certain pleasures of today. The diabetic patient may sacrifice the sugar coated eatables in order to live till my death.
3. I have to live eternally. I have to enjoy the eternal life. They believe in life after death. They are the religious people. Here the aim is eternal life. Therefore I am ready to share my materials with others in need and ready for sacrifices in order to have treasure in heaven.

Most of the people come under the second and third category. Jesus tells them three truths. They are;
1. Death is not the end of life
2. Enjoy the eternal life is possible even when we are living in this world.
3. Eternal life is the life with Christ or sharing the life of Christ. (“I am the Resurrection and Life”)

Are we sharing the life of Christ? Can we say as St. Paul said, “it is no more that I am living but Christ lives in me”? The saints are there for as models to follow.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Parable of the Treasure (Mt 13: 44-46)

Hiding the treasure by burring it was a common practice in the olden days since there were no facilities such as present banking system or locker room. If untold about the place where the treasure is buried, it is missed forever for the next generations. Therefore it is quite natural that in the present time the treasures are found rarely when the ground is shaken for any purpose.

The meaning of treasure is something we value most. For a baby it can be a doll. For a teenager it can be his bike. It differs from person to person. Jesus mentions about the treasure that is not material in nature but the life in God.

For some people the food of senses can be a treasure. But they forgo it for the sake of higher treasure that is health. Some others even forgo the treasure of health for their ideologies. There are some others who leave the treasure of ideas for the kingdom values. The incidents of conversions are example for that.

Jesus asks us to search for the treasure. It is a call to understand the real value of the things in life that we consider so great, for which we spend all our time and the worth of discipleship that should be considered as highest of all.

Explanation of the Parable of the Weeds (Mt 13: 36 – 43)

Weeds and wheat are mingled in a field. It is a natural reality that every farmers face. Likewise the world is a mixture of good and evil, a reality that we encounter everyday.
There are two functions of evil – 1. It produces the fruit; and 2. It tempts and makes the good people to do evil. Jesus warns about the power of evil to inspire. This power to inspire is evident in the world as we see drug addicts add new members to their groups, the smugglers do increase, the terrorism is in progress, etc. It is easy to gather people for a bad thing than for doing something good. We may get many friends to have a party with hot drinks but very difficult to get somebody to go to the Eucharist.
Can we think the opposite way, i.e., influencing the evil by good? That was the mission of Jesus. He influenced and changed the evil minded human being into the children of God. It is the mission of the disciples, to inspire those who are evil minded with our goodness. Remember the words of Jesus that says “when someone beat you on one of your one cheek show the other”.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Weeds among the Wheat (Mt 13: 24-30)

If there is a God who is so good and loving why He allows evil in this world? Every day there are reports of killings, rapes, massacres, bombings, stealing etc. that fill the newspapers. Why all these happen? The answer is this gospel passage.

Jesus reveals certain facts in this gospel such as;

- Existence of Evil

- God tolerates the Weed

- The Weeds do not destroy the wheat

- The final victory of God over the everything

Can we pray to God to pull out the weeds as the servants prayed? But who knows we might be the first one to be pulled out and thrown to fire. As in the case of adulterous woman’s incident “those who do not sin through the first stone over her” may be the words of Jesus to us.

Jesus is so kind that he provides even the Weeds a change for conversion in to wheat. We see the conversions taking place in the heart of the people making them good disciple of Jesus. Jesus calls us for a self-examination and conversion to become wheat in the garden of God.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Explanation of the Parable of Sower (Mt: 13: 18-23)

It is a basic truth that if the seed is good and given with the proper conducive atmosphere, the life which is hidden in it would sprout. The farmers experience this reality in every season.

Jesus speaks of the seed that is the Word of God. This Seed is always good in condition that has life inbuilt. It carries with it a mission, a mission to transform.

But it needs two things to grow as in the case of any seed.

1. Protection – Always keep an eye of the enemies that may take away the seed, is the advice of Jesus. Who are these enemies and what do they do? They are what we see and hear, what we listen and grasp, what we imagine and remember and what we meditate and interiorize. They become enemies if we do not filter them properly in comparison with the Word of God. These things destroy the seed totally or partially and make us think that the seed is powerless in today’s world. It makes us to believe of different philosophies that are contrary to the Gospel. It blocks us from re-finding (repentance) The Word.

2. Provide the seed with good conditions – The conditions is the attitude that we should have in our life, ie, the Faith in God, Hope in His saving Power and Love that is forgiving.

Let us be the disciples of Jesus by protecting the Seed and providing it with good conditions to grow.

The Appearance to Mary of Magdalene (Jn 20: 1-18)

Only a few disciples of Jesus got the chance to eye witness the Risen Lord and the first among them was Mary Magdalene. She is therefore called the Apostle (the one who is sent) to the Apostles.

What made her possible to see Jesus? The vision of Jesus was the result of her search with love and passion. The love and attachment to Jesus made her to wake up early in the morning and go to the place where the tomb of Jesus was. It was an act of courage (going alone in the dark), an act with determination.

Another important point to note is, she could not understand Jesus after the resurrection. “She thought it was a gardener”. The blame can be put on darkness (early in the morning) or his head must be covered lightly with a cloth cover. Whatever it be, Mary never expected a living Jesus outside the tomb. She did not realize the nature of Jesus after the resurrection which is beyond time and space.

Jesus asks his disciples have a passionate love in searching him. He also wants us to recognize him in our life situations especially the most unexpected situations and manner. Remember he is beyond “time and space”.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Parable of the Sower (Mt 13: 1-9)

A character study of the Sower, Seed and Receiver

The Sower

- Consistent in sowing

- Never consider it would be a waste of effort to plant the seeds in the less favorite places.

- Abundant in nature

- Great hope in the output of sowing

- Only one nature

The Seed

- Is 55:10-11 – it shall not return to him void.

- So powerful to sprout and make changes.

- The seed is always with a mission.

- The seed here is the sower himself.

- Uniqueness in character

- Small in nature which seems to be ignorable but big when grown.

The Receiver

- Different characters, like “path, rocky ground, thorny ground, good land”

- Ability to change the ground into any of the above nature.

- Freedom to choose the ground or allow the birds to take away the seed.

- Living in the world with tensions, worries, anxieties and evils.

- The capacity of the good ground differs

The Heavenly Father is hopeful in sowing the seed that it will produce a good harvest. He is hopeful that human will use his/her freedom to choose the right soil / prepare the soil or try to change the disposition by selecting what is right. Are we ready according to change according to the will of Father?

Monday, July 19, 2010

Who is my mother and my brother? (Mt 12:46-50)

Mother is –

- One who give birth.

o Eg: our own mothers, though they may not be taking caring of their children.

- One who take care of you, by her love and affection.

o Eg: the mother in the orphanage can be the aaya who take care of the children. In the serial “Noah”, it is clear.

- One who provides for our life, support us by sacrificing their lives

o Eg: In Philippines the OFWs who work abroad for supporting their family and the extended family remembers are considered as 2 mothers.

- For Jesus – “the one who does the will of Heavenly Father”.

o God is the Father and all are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers.

o It gives the elderly a duty to love younger ones as their children, especially less the fortunate.

o It gives the younsters a challenge to consider the elders as their parents, love and respect them and take care of them. Also love everybody as our own.

Word of God

Let the Word of God enlighten us