Saturday, February 25, 2012

1st Sunday of Lent – With Wild Beasts (Mt 1:12-15)

Introduction

- Wild beasts are always dangerous; we cannot expect them to be behaving as friends. Attacking even its master is its natural instinct.

- It was hot news in the US news paper, on October, 2010, that ‘a tiger was seized from an apartment from New York’. People first thought it was a figurative language, but later realized that it was a real grown up tiger. It was of a man called Antoine Yates. He got a tiger calf few years back and decided it keep in his own apartment in NY in secret. The tiger was grown up in his apartment for years. Sometimes it would maul Antoine but he still loved it. One day he was seriously injured by its attack and phoned to the police for help. He was then rescued by the police. They transferred the tiger to a wild life sanctuary.

- Antoine’s mistakes were:

o He did not realize that the tiger calf was growing.

o He tried to be friend with it, but forgot that it has its wild nature.

o He tried to satisfy the tiger secretly, by providing it the food and other facilities.

- Today we reflect on Jesus among the wild beasts. Some scripture scholars is of the opinion that it was very hard for the wild beast to live on a deserted place where Jesus spend 40 days. Therefore it is a figurative language, indicating ‘the evil powers around Jesus’.

Body

- In these days we seldom meet wild beasts around. But when we introspect we see lot of these kinds within our self. They are the evil tendencies within us. It can be tendencies against life, against truth, against sexuality, against neighbor and so on.

- We may commit the same mistake of Antoine.

o He did not realize that the tiger calf was growing: without our knowledge, by our silent consent, these evil tendencies would grow and become uncontrollable one day.

o He tried to be friend with it: we may think that these evil tendencies are friends of mine and will never be a problem.

o He tried to satisfy the tiger: we do lot of things in our life to satisfy the hunger of the evil habits with in us.

- Jesus teaches us how to fight against these evil within us.

o Word of God – Jesus win over the three temptations by using the Word of God.

o Fasting – Jesus fasted 40 days and showed us the power of fasting in fighting against the evil power. Fasting means abstaining from what we like much, eg; drinking soft drinks every day, smoking, alcohol, etc. It strengthens our mind and enables us to fight against the evil power.

o Prayer – When we are connected with God through prayer we are strong.

Conclusion

- Let this Lenten season be a time to reflect on our own self and find out the wild beasts within us.

- Let us not commit the mistakes of Antoine.

- Let us use Word of God, Fasting and Prayer to conquer these evil tendencies within us.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Ash Wednesday - Armsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18)

Introduction

- With the Ash Wednesday we being our Lenten season. At this point of the liturgical year, it is good to remember some important things about Lenten season.

o We have 40 days of lent, beginning from today and ends with Holy Thursday – Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

o It is based on the fasting of our Lord Jesus Christ’s fasting for 40 days in desert.

o Usually there will not be any decoration of the alter or the other parts of the chapel with flowers or expensive materials. It reminds us that we should practice simplicity during this season – simplicity in our dressing, make up, food, life style, etc.

o During the masses in the Lenten season, no ‘Gloria’ is said/sung, and the readings are related to the themes of sacrifice, passion, penance etc. It declares that we meditate and participate in the passion and death of our Savior and prepare for the resurrection.

o It is the time to make renewal through confession.

o The formula used for today’s imposition of ashes is ‘turn away from sins and be faithful to the Gospel’ or ‘remember you are dust, and to dust you will return’. It reminds us the call to repent. It is also a reminder that we are pilgrims here on earth and we have to go one day from this world leaving everything behind.

Body – Prayer, Arms giving, and Penance.

- Todays gospel teaches how to live in this Lenten season. The three important things that we have to practice during this season is – prayer, arms giving, and fasting.

- Prayer, arms giving, and fasting were considered to be three pillars of Jewish righteousness. These things were misused very much at the time of Jesus. It became a ‘showy business’, - to please people than God.

- ASH may be explained as the accronim of these three important virtues. A – arms giving, S – sacrifice (fasting), and H – holiness (prayer).

- The mentality behind these three virtues

o Prayer – the one who prays declares that he is fragile and in need of Divine help for his survival. It is the total dependence on God by accepting our limitations.

o Fasting – with our suffering there is no victory. Jesus entered into the joy of resurrection through suffering and death.

o Arms giving – it fosters the mentality that the material things that I have is not mine, but of God’s. I am just a keeper of the material blessings. Therefore it is my duty to distribute among those who are in need as a good steward.

Conclusion

- Let us renew our life through prayer, arms giving, and fasting during this Lenten season, by becoming aware of the real spirit of those things.

- Let us do it with the right intention – no to show to the people but to fulfil the expectation of our heavenly Father. ‘God who see every secret things we do, would reward us’.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time – (Mk 1:29-39)

Healing Jesus

Introduction

- Today’s gospel may be divided into four parts; Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law, Jesus healed many, he went to pray, he continued his mission.

- After reading today’s gospel reading, the first two parts, a man asked Jesus; “Jesus, you alleviated the sufferings of all those people who came to you. But why are you silent now? All those around me are suffering from different problems and what are you doing for them?” Jesus answered; “I have done a great thing for them. I created you to take care of them”. Again the man said; “Jesus I do not have time and energy to spare for them since I have lot of work to do for myself. I am tired when I am back home. Jesus said; “I too were tired at the end of each day, but look at what I did. Read the gospel passage thoroughly”. The man saw the words that say “rising very early before dawn he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed”. Now he got the answer to his problem, and the way to get the power to work for others.

Content

- ‘Law battery’ is a message that is often shown in the electronic equipments like cell phone and lap tops. It indicates the need to recharge. It is applicable to our lives too. We sometimes feel we lack energy to spend quality time with the partner, children and the dear and near ones.

- The reasons may be – routines, sickness, stress and anxieties, depression, financial worries, over working, bad habits such as smoking, drinking etc.

- The usual tendency of us to re-energize is, to go for a vacation, to go to some tourist places. But even after spending the days in a resort we come back more tired.

- Jesus wishes us to be re-energized every day.

- What should we do to get the energy back? Get connected to Jesus, the source of power. Prayer is the cable that connects us with that power source. Our daily prayer re-energizes us to do the works of His Kingdom in our everyday life.

- Jesus had the habit of praying early morning or late in the evening. That is the time where everything is still and no disturbance. For prayer there should be sufficient calmness and the right ambiance.

Conclusion

- There are different kinds of people in today’s gospel as a model for us;

o ‘Mother-in-law of Simon’ – when she received the blessings she began to serve Jesus and his disciples

o ‘They’ brought them to Jesus (v.32). It the duty of good friends to bring those who are need of healing touch to Jesus that they might experience the Divine.

- Let us be connected to Jesus through our spiritual exercises and serve Him as the mother-in-law of Simon. Let us bring to Him all who are in need of His healing touch.