Nothing is interesting if you are not interested!

Matthew  17:10-13

10 The disciples, meanwhile, were asking questions. "Why do the religion scholars say that Elijah has to come first?" 11 Jesus answered, "Elijah does come and get everything ready. 12 I'm telling you, Elijah has already come but they didn't know him when they saw him. They treated him like dirt, the same way they are about to treat the Son of Man." 13 That's when the disciples realized that all along he had been talking about John the Baptizer.

Food for thought!

Elijah does come and get everything ready, but they didn’t recognize him! This statement is both informative and a regret. It’s informative because it tells us that Elijah did come; it’s a regret because it laments that Elijah was missed.

The very people whose duty was to receive Elijah, the religion scholars, missed him; they didn't know him when they saw him. They treated him like dirt, the same way they are about to treat Jesus! Why and how did this happen? Why do we miss that for which we have been waiting? Why do we miss the point? Why this mismatch?

This is like asking, why do some students, whose duty is to learn mis the point? Why do couples, who married in order to live together and love each other miss the point? Why do the religious people, whose duty is to love and serve God miss the point? Why do we miss the point?

You have probably heard the phrase, “What you see is what you get.” This saying calls to mind a law of life that has nothing to do with what is being seen and everything to do with who is doing the seeing. In other words, we see what we want to see; we learn what we want learn; we are what we want to be. 

Two people can wake up in the same neighborhood, on the same day, to the same conditions, and yet have a vastly different day depending on who is doing the seeing. One person may have a positive attitude and awaken with the thought, “Good morning, God!” The other may dwell in pessimistic shadows and greet the day with “Good God, morning!” Same words, but a vastly different emphasis. So, what you see is what you get and what I see is what I get!

As someone  once said, “Age is not a question of years. The years may wrinkle your skin but it is the lack of interest that wrinkles your soul.” This same analogy holds true with how interestingly life unfolds for you. Nothing is interesting in life, in school, in marriage, if you are not interested in life. Yes, sometimes we wait for Elijah that’s right in front of us; we may be searching for the kingdom of heaven, which is right within us all the time, yet often we recognize it not. Nothing is interesting if you are not interested!

We must take a stand!

Matthew 11:16-17

16 "How can I account for this generation? The people have been like spoiled children whining to their parents, 17 'We wanted to skip rope, and you were always too tired; we wanted to talk, but you were always too busy.' 18 John came fasting and they called him crazy. 19 I came feasting and they called me a lush, a friend of the riff- raff. Opinion polls don't count for much, do they? The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

Food for thought!

Jesus was saddened by the sheer perversity of human nature. To him men seemed to be like children playing in the village square. One group said to the other: "Come on and let's play at weddings," and the others said, "We don't feel like being happy today." Then the first group said, "All right; come on and let's play at funerals," and the others said, "We don't feel like being sad today." No matter what was suggested, they did not want to do it; and no matter what was offered, they found a fault in it.

John came, living in the desert, fasting and despising food, isolated from the society of men; and they said of him, "The man is mad to cut himself off from human society and human pleasures like that." Jesus came, mixing with all kinds of people, sharing in their sorrows and their joys, companying with them in their times of joy; and they said of him, "He is a socialite; he is a party-goer; he is the friend of outsiders with whom no decent person would have anything to do." 

They called John's asceticism madness; and they called Jesus' sociability laxness of morals. They could find a ground of criticism either way. The plain fact is that when people do not want to listen to the truth, they will easily enough find an excuse for not listening to it. They do not even try to be consistent in their criticisms; they will criticize the same person, and the same institution, from quite opposite grounds.

If people are determined to make no response they will remain stubbornly unresponsive no matter what invitation is made to them. Some of us are much like spoiled children who refuse to play no matter what the game is. Sometimes, we don't know what we want in life. Like these children, nothing is good enough, nothing is bad enough. All is nothing and nothing is all. Nothing is good, nothing is bad. All is good, all is bad. We complain when it rains, we complain when it shines; we never take a stand on anything. 

It would be well if we were to stop judging people and churches by our own prejudices and perversities; and if we were to begin to give thanks for any person and any church who can bring people nearer to God, even if their methods are not the methods which suit us.

John & Johns of life

Mtt 11:11-15

"I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! 12 And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. 13 For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time. 14 And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come. 15 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

Food for thought!

Jesus is declaring that John was nothing less than the divine herald whose duty and privilege it was to announce the coming of the Messiah. John was nothing less than the herald of God, and no man could have a greater and noble task than that. No one is greater than John.

But he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

Here there is one quite general truth. With Jesus there came into the world something absolutely new. The prophets were great; their message was precious, because they were messengers of God; but with Jesus there emerged something still greater, and a message still more wonderful. 

With Jesus’ coming, history got divided into B.C. (Before Christ) and After Christ, or A.D. But what was it that John lacked and that Jesus has? What is it that the Christian has that John could never have? The answer is simple and fundamental. John never saw the Cross nor the ressurrection. Therefore one thing John could never know--the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. The holiness of God he might know; the justice of God he might declare; but the love of God shown in all its fullness he could never know. 

It is true, but the humblest Christian knows more about God than the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. The man who has seen the Cross has seen the heart of God in a way that no man who lived before the Cross could ever see it. Indeed the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than any man who went before.

So John had the destiny which sometimes falls to us; he had the task of pointing men to a greatness into which he himself did not enter. It is given to some us to be the signposts of God. Some people are chosen just to point to a new ideal and a new greatness which others will enter into, but into which they themselves will not come. It is very common that revolutionaries don’t savoir the freedom for which they fought. 

Let us never be discouraged in life, if the dream we have dreamed and for which we have toiled is never worked out before our own eyes and times. God needed John; God needs his signposts who can point others on the way, although they themselves cannot ever reach the goal.

Learn from Jesus!

Mat 11:28-30

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me-- watch how I do it. Learn from me. I won't lay anything heavy or ill- fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Food for soul

Do you ever get tired, worn out, weary? Do you ever feel a need for rest? Are you like some people, weary always rushing from one activity to the other? With long hours of work? With calendars always filled with too many obligations. It is to people like these that Jesus is addressing himself.

Most people are weary today. Many are troubled and agitated in their souls, trying to find rest in all the wrong places. Some look to a mate, to a bottle, to a pill, to friends, to pleasure, to entertainment, to money. We look everywhere and try everything in the effort to find rest for our souls. Nothing and no one in this world can give you and me the peace and rest we seek. That is the bad news.

The good news is that while we run here and there trying to find peace, Jesus says, simply and calmly, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” In other words, there is a place of rest; a place of quietness; a place of peace called Jesus. He invites you and me to come to Him to find the rest our soul seeks. We are looking, running, seeking, struggling, striving, fighting, loving, rushing, searching all in an effort to find what only Jesus Christ can give.

The words of Jesus are very consoling, especially to those of us struggling with whatever burdens. I don't know your burdens; I only know mine. Jesus is saying, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out?" He does not say of what? In other words, what matters is your kind of burden; any burden we may have makes us welcome to Jesus. Financial? Professional? Family problem? Private life? You name it. To all of us Jesus says, "Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me; watch how I do it. Learn from me."

Learn from me. See how I lived, and you too live accordingly; see how I loved and you too love accordingly; see how I suffered, how I lived with my enemies, how I took life's challenges, and do likewise. Imitate me. Take me for your role model.

Jesus garantes us that if and when we live as he lived, that if we imitate him in everything we face in life, if we walk and work with Jesus every single day, we will get three things: he will show us how to take a real rest; we will learn to live freely and lightly; and we will recover our life. In other words, if we take Jesus serious, he will make us live life abundantly. This is why he came: I came that you may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (John 10:10).

Unique You!

Matthew 18:12-18 

"What is your opinion? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn't he leave the ninety- nine and go after the one? 13 And if he finds it, doesn't he make far more over it than over the ninety- nine who stay put? 14 Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn't want to lose even one of these simple believers.

Food for Thought!

The parable of the lost sheep is a clear indication that in God's economy everybody counts. It means that one is as good as many and many are as good as one. Why this? Because there's none of us somewhere else; if any of us is lost there's no more of us living somewhere. It means there's is only one of you, only one of me; you're not repeated and are not repeatable. When we're lost we're lost because they is no substitute. This is why the shepherd left the ninety nine to go after one. This is why God does not want to lose even the little ones.

What does this mean in practice? It means that we're special; that all of us and each one of us is special; it means that there is none like you, there is none like me; that God customizingly made each one of us different; that each one of us is a different story, a unique story. It means that though there may be similarities in our individual stories, we're completely different. It means that each one's story, not only had a different beginning, but also will have a different ending.

The parable shows us that God deals with us on a one to one basis. Though we're many, some say too many, we're known individually and we count. If God deals with us individually, we must deal with God as individuals. Some of us relate with God when we're among many and don't know how to relate with God as individuals. How long can you retreat yourself into private prayer and meditation? When did you last sit down alone to pray without some prayer book, just praying from your heart?

If God made us different and UNIQUE, why do we envy other people? We should instead admire ourselves and the gifts God gave us. Be happy with what you have received from God instead of envying what God has given to others. And appreciate and develop that which makes you unique. Do you know your uniqueness, by the way? What makes you different from everybody else? Or you are the lost sheep? The sheep that Jesus is looking for? Are you not lost?

When Jesus sees our faith!

Luke 5: 17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him. 18 Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. 19 When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, I forgive your sins." 21 That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. "Who does he think he is? That's blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins." 22 Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, "Why all this gossipy whispering? 23 Which is simpler: to say 'I forgive your sins,' or to say 'Get up and start walking'? 24 Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both...." He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: "Get up. Take your bedroll and go home." 25 Without a moment's hesitation, he did it-- got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. 26 The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous-- and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, "We've never seen anything like that!"

Food for Thought!

Who said faith is not visible? It is. The gospel says that “When Jesus saw their faith”, when he saw the eager faith of those who stopped at nothing to bring their friend to his cure, he acted. It still happens. 

Great works are performed not by strength alone but by faith too. Faith is stronger than strength. You can do more things with faith than with physical strength. But when you add strength to faith to purpose or goal, you turn the impossible possible. You have to join the two because faith without works is dead; and works without faith are also dead. 

God created us all with a purpose. I hope you know your purpose in life. If not, find your purpose of life, by asking these questions: Why are you living? Why did God make you? When you find you purpose in life, something you want to achieve or be before you leave this life, then throw into it your strength of mind, your faith, and it will be achieved.

Consider the postage stamp. It's strength consists in the ability to stick to one envelop till it gets to its destination; we too can do anything we want to do, if we stick to it long enough. So know what you want to achieve in YOUR life and press on. Learn from the weather; it pays no attention to criticism; it will never change because people are complaining. In other words, don't let other people discourage you in your resolve; don't give up on your resolution; don't yield until you get to Jesus. 

Like the people in the gospel reading of today, the people who succeed in life are the people who dream and start working on their dream until they realize it. The important things in the world have been accomplished by people who kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. People's criticism is part of the story; don't be upset by what the people say to discourage you; they are by and large like you.

God helps those who help themselves. As the Psalm puts it: Faithfulness and Mercy have met (Psalm 85). Miracles happens when our faithfulness, our struggle, our determination, our faith meets the mercy of the Lord. This is what happened in the gospel reading of today: when Jesus saw their faith in action, their determination, their resolve, he said to the sick man, your sins are forgiven you. 

Let the party begin!

First Reading Baruch 5:1-9 

(Your Name), take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever, wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head: since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven.

The colour purple is the colour of Advent. Unfortunately, purple is also the colour for Lent. This makes us sometimes to think of Advent as a kind of Lenten season. But Advent is very different from Lent. Whereas Lent is marked by penitence, sorrow and self-denial, Advent is a time of getting ready for the party to begin. Are you ready for the party? Are you ready so that the party can begin?

For some people there has never been a party in their life; for them the party of life and living has never began. Yes, because of what we have gone through or are going through, the joy and happiness meant for us may still be elusive. If you are one of those people whose party and fiesta have not began, listen to the Prophet Baruch in the First Reading of today: 

(Your Name), take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever, wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head: since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven.

Are you ready? Are you ready, “since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven.” Please, if you want to shine, if you want to show your glory and be your best, do the following: “take off your dress of (1) sorrow and distress, put on the (2) beauty of the glory of God for ever, (3) wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the (4) diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head.”

First and foremost, change your appearance. Take off your mourning clothes and put on celebration attire. What is the name of the your dress of sorrow and distress? Is it a person, a circumstance in your life? An event in your life? Take it or him or her off yourself. 

Start to look good. Why is that important? Because what we wear reflects and affects how we feel about life. Secondly, it affects everyone else around us. One reason why the philosopher Nietzsche could not accept the gospel message of salvation was because the Christians of his day who claimed to be saved did not look like people who were saved. “If these Christians want me to believe in their God,” he said, “they’ll have to sing better songs, they’ll have to look more like people who have been saved, they’ll have to wear on their countenance the joy of the beatitudes.”

“Take off your dress of (1) sorrow and distress, put on the (2) beauty of the glory of God for ever, (3) wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the (4) diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head.”

This is what John the Baptist is telling his people to do in today’s Gospel Reading (Lk 3:1-6): "Prepare God's arrival! Make the road smooth and straight 5 Every ditch will be filled in, Every bump smoothed out,The detours straightened out, All the ruts paved over. And everybody will see the Life of God.”

You will tell me, how am I to change when my situation has not changed? My answer is this: change not because your situation has changed; change so that your situation  may change; your situation will change when you change. Yes, change first and your spouse will change; change first and your children will change; change first and your boss will change; change yourself and you will change your world. 

Yes, we can live in a depressing situation without being depressed. Not because we are super-men and women but because the joy of the Lord is our strength; we need to prove to ourselves and to the world that our joy does not depend on what we eat and drink, does not depend on someone or on some situation; it depends on the Lord.

Let us begin the party, by singing Shine Jesus Shine!

Lord the Light of Your Love is shining,

In the midst of the darkness shining,

Jesus light of the world shine upon us,

Set us free by the truth You now bring us,

Shine on me. Shine on me.

Shine Jesus shine

Fill this land with the Father's glory

Blaze, Spirit blaze,

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth Your word

Lord and let there be light.

Lord I come to Your awesome presence,

From the shadows into Your radiance,

By the blood I may enter Your brightness,

Search me, try me, consume all my darkness,

Shine on me. Shine on me.

As we gaze on Your kindly brightness.

So our faces display Your likeness.

Ever changing from glory to glory,

Mirrored here may our lives tell Your story.

Shine on me. Shine on me.

Immaculate Conception!

Luke 1: 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth 27 to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. 28 Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.

29 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. 30 But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: 31 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great, be called 'Son of the Highest.' The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; 33 He will rule Jacob's house forever-- no end, ever, to his kingdom." 34 Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man." 35 The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; Therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. 36 "And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months 'pregnant! 37 Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." 38 And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her.

Food for thought!

In today's second reading, (Eph 1:11-12) we read: It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

What this reading is saying is that God has a plan for each one of us. He has this plan from day one of our existence; he created us with a plan; we come into this life for a purpose. This is the good news. The bad news is that, like Mary, we sometimes don't know it. The gospel says that all Mary was looking toward to was her wedding, for she had been engaged to Joseph. When she least expected the angel from God came to her with a very disturbing revelation: 'Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you. She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus."'

Like Mary, sometimes we don't know God's plan for us; we plan and work for one thing when God has quite another thing for us. Like Mary, we get upset and we upset others when we come to know God's surprise for us. This surprise plan can be in our private life, family life, professional life, can be in our business. In all these, God can and indeed sometimes acts contrary to our expectations and plans.

How many people have married someone completely different from the one they dreamed? How many people have moved from their home countries to a completely different country they never ever dreamed of going to? How many people have changed career or jobs to a completely different one? How many people have...? God continues to surprise us because, as today's second reading put it, He has a master plan, an overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

For that reason, when all is done and said, we must say like Mary: Let it be done to me according to thy plan. Imagine if Mary has stubbornly refused to cooperate? Imagine Mary saying to the Angel, Sorry, I am set for marriage; I can't and I won't. Mary would not be the Mary we know if she had refused. Our glory consists in obeying to God's plan for us, even when we don't understand all the details; even if we get upset ourselves; even if we upset others. We should always say like Mary and with Mary, Be done to me according to his plan for me! Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Do you earnestly believe I can do this? (Friday's readings)

Matthew 9:27-31

27 As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, "Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!" 28 When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said, "Why, yes, Master!" 29 He touched their eyes and said, "Your faith has healed you." 30 It happened. They saw. Then Jesus became very stern. "Don't let a soul know how this happened." 31 But they were hardly out the door before they started blabbing it to everyone they met. 

Food for thought!

It is worth noting that Jesus did not answer the blind men at once; they had to follow him into the house. Why does Jesus not answer our needs at once? Why has he not answered some of our prayers? Well, for the two blind men Jesus wanted to be quite sure that they were sincere and earnest in their desire for what he could give them. He wanted first of all to be sure that their request was genuine, and that their sense of need was real.

It is true that there are people who in actual fact do not wish their chains to be broken. There are not a few people who in the depth of their hearts do not dislike their weakness; and there are many of us who, if we were honest, would have to say that we do not wish to lose our bondage. Jesus had first of all to be sure that these men sincerely and earnestly desired the healing he could give.

Another noteworthy thing in today's gospel, is that Jesus compelled these people to see him alone, in private. Because he did not answer them in the streets, they had to come to him in the house. When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. It is the law of the spiritual life that sooner or later we must confront Jesus alone. It is all very well to take a decision for Jesus when we are in a gathering, or in some little group which is charged with spiritual power; it is easy to choose Jesus when we are in a church; it is not so easy when we are home or at work.

After the crowd has gone, everybody must go home and be alone; after church service we must go back to the essential isolation of every human soul; and what really matters is not what we do or say in the crowd, but what we do when we are alone with Christ. Jesus compelled these men to face him alone, away from the crowd. This is why our true prayers are not those we say inside the church, but those we say in our bedroom, in our homes where we are alone; under such environment we don’t pray to impress anyone but God.

Jesus asked these men only one question: "Do you really believe that I can do this?" The one essential for a miracle is faith. There is nothing mysterious or theological about this. No doctor can cure a sick person who goes to him in a completely hopeless frame of mind. No medicine will do a man any good if he thinks he might as well be drinking water. The way to a miracle is to place one's life in the hands of Jesus Christ, and say, "I know that you can make me what I ought to be." 

The last thing to note, not everything Jesus does for us or tells us is for public consumption; there are things Jesus tells or does for us that he expects us not to tell everybody. Unfortunately some of us are the two men: “But they were hardly out the door before they started blabbing it to everyone they met.”

Translate words into works!

"Knowing the correct password, saying 'Master, Master,' for instance, isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience, doing what my Father wills."These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. 25 Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit, but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. 26" But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. 27 When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."

Food for thought!

Jesus was in a double sense an expert. He was an expert in scripture. He is referring to Proverbs 10:25. "When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established for ever" (Prov.10:25). But Jesus was also an expert in life. He was the craftsman who knew all about the building of houses, and when he spoke about the foundations of a house he knew what he was talking about.

There are two great permanent truths within this passage. There is only one way in which a man's sincerity can be proved, and that is by his practice. Fine words can never be a substitute for fine deeds. So often we confess God with our lips and deny him with our lives. It is not difficult to recite a creed, to say prayers, even to go to church or to Bible study meetings. What we need to do is translate words into works.

So as we go to church, go to Mass, kneel down to pray, as we read the Bible, we should remember that it is not enough; it is just the beginning. The second part is to act as the Lord has told us in the prayer. For instance, if and when we pray for rain, we should take our umbrella with us.

Knowledge only becomes relevant when it is translated into action. Many of us would perfectly pass an examination in Christian Ethics with the highest distinction, and yet fail in action. Knowledge must become action; theory must become practice; theology must become life.

There is little point in going to a doctor, unless we are prepared to do the things we hear him say to us. There is little point in going to an expert, unless we are prepared to act upon his advice. There's little point in going to church, in praying, in reading the Bible, unless we do experiment on what the Lord tells us. The problem with some of us is that we distrust what we hear the Lord tell us to do. Mary's advice at the wedding at Cana is very pertinent: "Whatever he tells you, do it." (Jn 2:5).