Sunday, November 18, 2012

33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) – The coming of the Son of Man (Mk 13:24-32)


Kingdom of God

Introduction
-         
 End of the word is an interesting theme for movie makers. Every year Hollywood produces movies on this topic.  
-          Some are of the opinion that the world would end on Dec 12, 2012 (12,12,2012), while others say it is 18, 12, 2012. The same people said last year that the world would end on 11, 11, 2011. But nothing happened.
-          Jesus says that even he is ignorant about date and time. Therefore, no need to worry about that.
-          End of the world is something negative. So think of, beginning of something else – be positive. It is the beginning of the Kingdom of God.

Content
-         
 What is the essential character of God’s Kingdom?
o   Kingdoms of the world were interested in expanding the material territories. Since they concentrated on matter that is perishable and passing, all the kingdoms became part of history.
o   God’s Kingdom is established in the heart of every human being. It is a rule of love. Therefore it is imperishable.
§  Eg: a mother’s love will be in the heart of the son even after the death of his mother, because it is beyond matter.
-          Two specific nature of Kingdom of God
o   Where everything is God centered.
§  If we trust on material things or persons we become disappointed because all the things of matter are perishable or movable. (gold, persons – they all can change)
§  But God is the only ever-lasting, the unmoved mover, the imperishable, who can give us lasting happiness
o   Where the values of Gospel exist.
§  Love, peace, harmony, etc
-          Jesus came to this world to establish Kingdom of God on earth. He called us to participate in that Kingdom.
o   To enjoy the Kingdom, accept as God as the center of our life and practice the gospel values.
o   We have to begin to live in the Kingdom of God in this world and it will be fully realized in the world to come.

Conclusion
-         
 Jesus also mentions the element of time.
o   The time given to us is limited. Therefore hurry up. Never postpone the good things that you have to do at this moment for the Kingdom. (love, forgiveness, patience, etc)
o   Never think of like, ‘I will quit smoking from next year’ or ‘I will forgive from my next birthday’ etc. Start from today onwards the good things that you intent to do.
o   Let us experience God’s Kingdom here on earth and thus enter into the eternal Kingdom in its fullness after our life on earth.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

31st Sunday in Ordinary time – The greatest commandment (Mk 12: 28-34)


Love of God and Neighbor

Introduction
-         
 We are in the month of November. It is an important month since we reflect on life after death. That is why we celebrated all saints day and all souls day.
-          Two things we do in this month;
o   Praying for the dead
§  For our dear and near ones that they enter into heaven if they are in their state of purification.
o   Preparing for the death
§  Reflecting on the last realities – heaven, purgatory and hell
§  Thinking of how to get into the heaven – Jesus teaches us what to do to enter into eternal bliss with Jesus in today’s gospel.

Content
-         
 Background of this passage:
o   For Jews at the time of Jesus they had to obey 600 plus laws to be the beloved of Yahweh. For an ordinary man it was difficult to remember 600 plus laws in order to see whether he/she were obeying it or not. So they used to ask the teachers of the law to summarize these laws into a capsule form so that they would keep that in their mind, obey that and attain the blessings of God.
o   Jesus, a prominent teacher, summarized the whole laws into two commandments – love of God and love of neighbor.
-          I was thinking in my childhood days that the most easy commandment is ‘love God’, since nobody can check whether I love or not. But later I came across the text from I John 4:20, “if anyone says, l love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he sees cannot love God whom he cannot see”.

-          Love of God has two components;
o   Undivided love
§  Always first preference to God and His Kingdom in my life
o   Unconditional love
§  I do not love God because I have received “blessings” but since he is my God, without Him I cannot exist.
-          Love of neighbor has three components;
o   Patient love
§  God is so patient to us who gives us chances in our life thinking that we would return to Him.
o   Forgiving love
§  Jesus taught us to forgive 7X70 times (unlimited)
o   Self-giving love
§  The love that we see on the cross

Conclusion
-         
 In this month of November let us pray for the departed brethren.
-          Let us also obey the law of love to reach the heavenly kingdom –undivided and unconditional love of God, and Love of neighbor that should be patient, forgiving and self-giving.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Jesus and the blind Barthimaeus (Mk 10:46-52)


A formula to experiencing God

Introduction
-         
 Story of two friends who went for trucking. One was a philosopher and other was an ordinary man. At night they made a temporary tent and slept inside the tent. At the middle of the night the ordinary man called the philosopher and asked, “What do you see now?” He said, “I see starry sky”- What do you think about that? – I think of the galaxies and its origin, the big bang etc… The philosopher asked back, “what do you see?” – I too see a starry sky – what do you think about that? – I think somebody has stolen our tent.  
-          We may have vision but sometimes we do not see things properly. It can be either blurred or partial. Barthimaeus did not have the physical vision but was rich in inner vision. That is why he could understand Jesus as the savior.

Content
-         
 It is interesting to analyze how he received the experience of Jesus. The formula that he used is;
WEAKNESS + STRENGTH = GOD EXPERIENCE
-          His weakness;
o   He had the problem of physical blindness. That was his limitation or weakness. But this blindness became salvific since because of this he felt the necessity of a savior.
o   In the story of Zacchaeus the problem of him was lack of height that made him to climb on the tree. Since he was on the tree Jesus looked up, called him and went to his house to stay.  so he could experience Jesus because he had his weakness.
-          His strength;
o   To reach out to Jesus through his voice – his strength. Since he had a good and loud voice though it was noisy he could reach to Jesus Christ.
o   In the story of Zacchaeus the strength was his money. He distributed it among the poor and acquired the Kingdom.
-          We may sometimes curse about our weakness or get disappointed. But Jesus reminds us that our weaknesses are the stepping stone to the experience. If Bartimaeus had physical eye sight, he would have never experienced Jesus.
-          We are given our strengths to reach out to Jesus and overcome our weakness with His experience.

Conclusion
-           
Our weakness or limitations can be lack of money, health, patience, courage, self-control or our sinful nature. Never get disappointed. Think that these are the steps to attain God experience. Let us use our talents and abilities (strengths) to reach out to Jesus so that he would strengthen us to overcome our weaknesses.