SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF TH E YEAR - B

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Jer 23:1-6; Ps 23:1-6; Eph 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34) Theme: We Are Called To Be the Shepherds In the World and For the World Reflection: Transformation from the prophets to the pastors - Last Sunday we have reflected that we are called to be the prophets and to speak in the name of the Lord. We have also seen that we have to acknowledge our identity as the prophet comes from God himself. God speaks through the mouth and mediation of the prophets. Finally we have also seen that Jesus is the Great Prophet IN whom God is ever present and IN his whole being, that is his every word and every action, God manifests himself. Thus, God has spoken through the prophets first and ultimately IN Jesus. We are also “called” and “sent” in his name: to be his testimony in the world. - This Sunday, the message is little more profound and deeper. We are called to be the pastors or shepherds. Prophets only talk and manifest in their words God’s love for his people. But the pastors/shepherds have a task more effective. They not only speak in the name of the Lord but moreover they feed the sheep. In the former, the word is enough; but in the latter, it is the action that is evident. In the former, the message is provided; but in the latter, the food is provided. In the former, there is a testimony of word; but in the latter, there is a testimony of love. The word goes beyond itself and opens the space for the concrete action. Prophet is the one who says that God will provide the eternal banquet for his people. Instead, the pastor is the one who actually and really provides it. - There is this transformation from being the prophets to being the pastors. The difference is to be understood well. This does not mean that the pastor eliminates the role of the prophet and replaces him. It is transformation that takes place. This is clear from the biblical revelation too. Prophets are seen only in the Old Testament except John the Baptist who actually is the one who prepares the way for Jesus. Now the question arises: why the prophets are not seen in the New Testament? The answer is here: Jesus is both Great Prophet and Good Shepherd: He does not stop merely with the proclamation of God’s love but goes forward to prepare an Eternal Pastures for his people. He prepares this Banquet of Love not merely with the word but with the concrete action on the cross and in the resurrection. - From Jesus the role of the prophet is hidden under the cover of concrete action of the pastor. Prophecy is there as long as the word is preached but it has to go beyond itself and has to take the form of the reality. Jesus himself is the model and fountain for this transformation. Prophet is satisfied with the carrying of the word of God to his people. Whereas the Shepherd is not satisfied until he finds his sheep, frightened and wounded, and gives them the life and life in abundance. We are called to the pastors in this manner. Yes, indeed, we are the prophets as we have seen on the Sunday past but this Sunday Jesus asks us to climb yet another step. He calls us to be the shepherds of his people. He calls us to take care of his people and offer them the hope and salvation. We can do this only when we take up the example of Jesus. The entire action of both prophet and pastor has its origin in God himself. It is God who reveals the plan of his love to his people through the word of the prophets and through the feeding of the pastors. We have roots for this in the Old Testament itself. It is God who provides the pastors who lead his people, Israel and in fact all the people of the world, to the ever green pastures of his love and life. God himself provides the pastors: It is the Will of God - Shepherds after the heart of God: In the first reading we have the prophecy of Jeremiah. God promises to his people: “I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them” (Jer 23:4). In the beginning of the prophecy of Jeremiah God already makes known his plan: “I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer 3:15). The book of Jeremiah as the rest of the prophetical literature shows that God establishes his pastors. It is the promise made to the people of Israel who are in the Babylonian slavery. The context is already presented: God wills to restore his people after the exile. The exile was caused by the evil doing of the pastors that were before. God wants to remove all these evil shepherds and raise up the pastors “who are of his heart” and “who pasture his people”. - To proclaim and to gather the scattered sheep: the task of the pastors that will be raised up by God himself is in the double form: first of all, they have to proclaim the messianic hope and secondly, they have to call into unity all the people that went away from God’s path. o First, to proclaim the messianic hope: the pastors that God raises up are not the eternal pastors and they only prefigure the Great and Good Shepherd that God raises up for his people. Through their life and work they manifest the messianic hope to his people who are desperate and helpless in their condition of slavery. Their task is to bring the people the good news that God will fulfill his promise one day and restore them under the wing of love. o Second, to unite the dispersed people: the people of Israel are scattered because of the loss of battles and the various enslavement. They are the chosen people of God. He has made a covenant to be with them if only they remain faithful to him. But the story changed. They have become unfaithful and neglected God who has chosen and called them for himself. On the other hand, God is always true to his promise and faithful to his covenant. He wants to show his goodness and mercy and thus wants to gather all his people around one table of love. The shepherds are established by God for this purpose of uniting all the scattered people. This is indeed the promise of God: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply” (Jer 23:3). - The Promise is fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ: the promise that God made through the prophets and in particular through Jeremiah is now realized. God raised up His own Son as the Shepherd of his people: he proclaims the message of the kingdom of God and gathers all the people of the world into one sheep with and under the Cross. o Jesus is the True and Good Pastor: Jesus himself affirms that he is the Good Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He is the good shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep and saves them: “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He also distinguishes between the good shepherd and a hired shepherd. Hired shepherd works for the salary and he is only concerned of his payment. When something unusual happens and there is a threat to him and to the sheep he prefers to save his life first rather than guarding the sheep. He is not for his sheep always. He is with the sheep only as long as he is paid well and as long as there is no danger. On the other hand, the true shepherd is quite different: He is for his sheep always and in every situation. He does not even step back when there appears some danger. He himself goes out to face the danger and thus makes the safe and secure way for his sheep. He goes further even to give up his life when it is needed to save his flock. In this way Jesus is the Good Shepherd who offers his life for his sheep. o Jesus prepares the Good Pastures: Jesus, the good shepherd, by giving his life on the cross gathers all the people that are gathered because of their fear and desperation. He gathers them by the unity of the Cross. He unites both God and man vertically and he brings peace between the people horizontally. This is what is expressed by Paul in the second reading of today: Jesus is our peace (Eph 2:14). In the Cross where both vertical and horizontal poles meet Jesus establishes the unity of God and humanity. This event of the Cross is manifested in the concrete manner in the “Banquet of Love” he prepared for us in the Eucharist. This was also the promise of God through the Psalms: He prepares a table for his people (Ps 23:5). The good and green pastures that the good shepherd prepares are this Eucharist of God’s love. He leads and guides all those who are hungry for God’s salvation to this banquet and ‘they will be with the Lord for ever’ (Ps 23:6). He does not leave his people alone and neglected after his going to the Father and it is for this purpose that He chooses for himself “the shepherds to feed the sheep.” Jesus chooses for himself his pastors: It is a call of Jesus - The work of feeding the flock has to be continued until all gather around the table of the Lord. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has initiated and has given the accomplishment to this work through his Cross and Resurrection. But after his Ascension to His Father this mission has to be carried forward until the last day. For this mission of feeding the sheep Jesus has chosen for himself the disciples. This call to become the good shepherds contains two reciprocal elements: first, an invitation to stay with him and second, a command to feed the flock. o An invitation “to be with Him”: The call of Jesus extended to his disciples is first of all not to go and preach immediately but “to stay with him”. We see this already in the election of his disciples: “He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message” (Mark 3:14). First to be with him and only then to be sent out. This is the invitation Jesus made and it appears in different forms. In John 1:38-39 we see Jesus inviting his disciples “to come and see” Him. It is a call to come and see first and learn from him what he is and how is, apart from where he is. This invitation also implies the aspect of learning from him. He calls them to learn from him. In Mathew 11:29, Jesus invites all his listeners to take up his cross and to learn from him that he is gentile and humble in heart. This is seen also in the gospel of today: Jesus invites his disciple to come away to a deserted place (Mark 6:31). He calls them to come apart so that they remain only with him and learn from him his life and mission of “offering the proper life for his sheep”. o A command “to feed the sheep”: the invitation is followed and sustained by the command and commission. Jesus invites his disciples not only to be with him and to learn from him but also to go out to do the same: this is the missionary aspect of every disciple. To Peter and to all the Apostles, the Risen Jesus entrusts this mission of feeding the sheep. His command is to “feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). This feeding the sheep or pasturing the flock has two directions: internal and external.  To feed the lost sheep of the fold: This command is for the internal life of the faithful. The mission is offered to look after the proper believers who actually belong to the community of faithful but somehow have been missed the way with the discouragement and scandal of faith and thus, remain “away” from the Church. The disciples are called to feed such sheep who belong to the church and yet remain indifferent for various positive and negative reasons.  To feed the sheep without shepherd: This command is for the external mission of the Church. The pastors/shepherds have to take care also the sheep that never have faith. All the people belong to God though they do not externally profess their faith. They are actually the sheep without the shepherd (Mark 6:34). The pastors have to show compassion and love for them too to bring them to the shelter of the Good Pastor, Jesus Christ. Conclusion: We are the pastors in the world and for the world - All the Christians are called to be the shepherds: Some are elected in the virtue of consecration. Pope, Bishops, Priests and Deacons are consecrated for the special ministry of shepherding the people. Some are elected in the virtue of the call and this call is received by every Christian in the Baptism. They also share in the ministry of being pastors in the sense of caring for the people with concern and love. What does it mean to feed the sheep or to be/become pastors? The readings of today throw some light on this. From the three readings we can draw out three points to learn and live in order to be good shepherds. - To create a new society of justice and equality: The first reading inspires us to be pastors in the sense of constructing a society with justice. Our God himself is called “God our Justice” (Jer 23:6). As the pastors we need to work for this building of renewed community of fraternity and justice. - To carry to all the message of peace and reconciliation: The second reading offers us the illumination for this element. Jesus is our peace and he has destroyed the wall of separation and has established friendship. This happened with the power of his Cross. We are called to defuse this peace and reconciliation. We need to destroy every barrier that brings “distinction and distance” among the people with various motives. We are pastors who carry this message to all first being ourselves at peace and harmony and then only by proclaiming both by word and action the message of unity. - To care for the “sheep without shepherd” with the banquet of love: The Gospel is very particular to narrate the compassion of Jesus when he saw the crowds following him: he saw them as the sheep without shepherd and begins to feed them with the word first and then with the food (the passage that follows today’s gospel). Now we are the pastors. First thing we have to remember is that as Christians our life is not (only) for ourselves. It is always for others. Therefore, we have to take care of the sheep that is entrusted to us: in the family, in the office, in the society, and in the Church. Every one of us has a role to play. This care for the proper flock leads us also to extend our care and concern. In the world there is also another sheep without shepherd: people without faith and knowledge of the Good Shepherd. We need to extend our mission of being pastors to others also. In fact, this is what we do when we extend our help to the collaborating and charitable institutions. Our love crosses the borders and breaks the barriers. Only thus, we can be good shepherds after the heart of Jesus Christ. We need to take this task on our shoulders because we are all called to be the shepherds.

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Amos 7:12-15; Eph 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13) Theme: We are called to be the prophets – Let us march forward with the mission Reflection: God speaks: through the prophets – In the Prophet of Jesus - Last Sunday we have reflected on the great and model prophet: Jesus. He is the prophet who has come in the name of the Lord. Still he is not just one of the many prophets that went before him and who also appeared in the name of the Lord. He is totally different and radically superior because it is God himself who appeared in the very person of Jesus. God directly intervenes his people. God directly talks to his people. It is no more a mere voice of God that comes from the mouth of the Lord. It is the Very Word of Him because Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh. God in the human form and prophet in the very human nature. - Other prophets are God’s voice through their mouth and mediation. God speaks through them. God appears to his people through the word of the prophets. With regard to Jesus it is completely different. God does not speak through Jesus like any other prophets. But He speaks IN Jesus. Jesus’ not only word, but every action is God’s. Jesus does not merely represent God but He is God himself and his very life is not his own but God’s. Thus, he becomes a prophet because he is the Word of God and he becomes a distinguished and exemplary Prophet because God speaks in him. - We are called to be prophets like him and after him: we are called to share in his prophecy. Therefore, we should not be just like any prophet of the Old Testament but we are prophets of the New Testament. The difference we have already seen: God speaks through us but it is not enough because it is like that prophecy of the OT. God has to speak IN us. Our whole life, its words and actions, are to be the testimony of the very life of God in us. This means that we have to give testimony not just by our words and actions but with the very integrity of both word and action of our life. Then only we can be good followers of the great prophet Jesus and then only God can really and concretely speak IN us, not merely through us. The readings of today highlight what it means to be a prophet with the deeper and inner meaning. Amos: acknowledging the proper identity coming from the divine call - Chosen and Sent: two important elements we have to understand in the prophet Amos are these that he is “Chosen and Sent”. Any prophecy is not of its own. Any word uttered in the biblical prophecy is not a personal word of the prophet. God first Chooses someone and secondly He Sends him into the field. o Merit of the person is not the matter: it is God who selects the person and he chooses according to his will. Therefore, in any divine call man cannot demand for anything and cannot boost on his merit or capacity. God can call even a poor and incapable in the society and can make him rich in the wisdom and powerful in the proclamation. It is absolutely God free choice. No human power can claim and question its authenticity and its efficacy. And the biblical revelation demonstrates the different prophets and their profession prior to the call. Best example is our Amos himself: he is just a shepherd man who feeds the sheep. o A mere voice for God’s word: it is God who sends “the selected”. Therefore, any prophet of the OT gives his ears and voice to what God proposes and what God disposes through them. Not even in his dream a prophet speaks what is his. He has to and he is called to speak only what God tells him to speak. Every word that comes from the mouth of the prophet is God’s very word. With the divine call the prophet is not given the guarantee of the secured life but only a mission: mission that has to face the hardness of the heart of the people. God one thing is assured: it is God who does everything through him therefore, a prophet can put whole trust in his providence. - Acknowledgement of the mission: the one who goes out as “chosen and sent”, first of all, acknowledges who he was before and who he is now. This acknowledgement is more important for the committed mission. Only the one who is aware of his previous condition and his transformed status now into the divine mediator can do justice to his call. Only then he can confront the difficult moments and problematic situations of his presence and proclamation. This is what we see in the case of Amos: He is not only aware of his call but also acknowledges it before others who question him. He says that he is a mere servant who pastures the sheep but now he is no more the mere shepherd but one who comes in the name of the Lord to proclaim his word. When he acknowledges his identity as “chosen and sent” for the mission he is no more frightened of anything and anybody. With courage and commitment he proclaims what he is commanded and indicated to speak out. - Prophecy is God’s initiative: all this “chosen and sent” and “acknowledgement of the mission” show that it is not man who begins the work of the prophecy but it originates from God’s initiation. Amos again inspires us in this aspect: he is the pastor and he would have continued it without any problems but he reveals it is God who has chosen him and has sent him to them. This removes the veil to make it clear the mystery: failing to listen to the prophet is equal to failing to listen to God himself. From the viewpoint of the prophet the mystery is clear: since he is called and sent forth he cannot but speak what God indicates. The instance and incident is seen in the prophet of Jonah. He wanted to escape from God’s call but finally finds himself in the utter helplessness and begins to speak God’s word to the people of Nineveh. - The prophet MUST speak: It is God who begins the work according to his design to bring the dispersed people to himself. Therefore, the prophet cannot reject his call. God both calls the person and strengthens him in his mission. God’s initiative cannot go undone. As the consequence, the one who receives the call speaks only what he hears and receives from the one who sends him. In a word, he cannot but speak for God. This is clear even in the New Testament. Jesus has chosen and sent the twelve disciples after his resurrection and we see the beautiful testimony of apostles in the very beginning of their mission: “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). This is the courageous testimony of the coward apostle Peter and John. They reveal that God’s word cannot remain un-proclaimed. They also reveal that they cannot even hide God’s word. It has to be proclaimed. The prophets do not have their program and their proposal to proclaim but only speak out God’s will and his loving plan because they come in His Name, not in their own name. Life of the prophet: message from God and dependence on God - Message that matters: in the prophetic structure the mission is oriented on the message given by God. The quality or the capacity of the person who is sent is not very much important in this structure. His message is important because it comes from the will and initiative action of God himself. Therefore, not the person but the message he carries is to be considered. Above all, the accent is on the One who sends this prophet entrusting him a message. The one who appears with the message of God, first of all, accepts that it is not his word but the Word of the One who sent him. In this way, even prior to the proclamation of the message, he already announces with his presence and mission that it is God who speaks. Thus his message takes effect and force: God speaks to his people because he loves them, because he wants to bring man back into fellowship with him in his Kingdom. Every prophet appears with the similar message: message of God’s love. The people should not stop only with the questions: where does this prophet come from or something of his life? They cannot stop with the external observance of the person. First because it is beyond their logic because of its divine origin and second because it is not that which matters. They have to concentrate on the words he pronounces and the message he conveys. Message takes the priority because it is coming from God. - Divine providence (Gospel): today’s Gospel demonstrates the attitude of the one who is sent. He should not preoccupy himself with what he has to carry and how he has to arrange his bag. Jesus is very clear in his admonition: “He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics” (Mark 6:8-9). The missionary is to be preoccupied only with the “mission entrusted” to him. Everything else is not of his concern. It is God who sends him; therefore, He will take care and provide everything for the mission. Mission of the prophet is always and completely dependent on God’s providence. Jesus also when he sends his disciples two by two for a mission, he already gives them the authority (Mark 6:7). What is needed for the mission is the authority that comes from the divine providence. The rest will be take care in the due time. Jesus tells this in the different way somewhere else: “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mathew 6:33). “These things” here means the food, the drink and the clothing (Mathew 6:25-32). This is same with the one who is sent for the mission: he has to seek for the proclamation of the message received without being worried about his corporal existence. God provides everything: because a worker deserves the wage and the missionary deserves the sustenance. Jesus is the Great Prophet and those who follow him receive from him the mission of the prophet. Therefore, the one who is sent has to learn the same attitude of Jesus: for he says “my food is to do the will of my Father” and “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Every messenger has to imbibe this missionary attitude of total dependence on the providence of God. Conclusion: We are the prophets in the world - God has chosen each one of us for a certain purpose. Each one has a particular role to play in the will of God. It is the love of his choice for us. Already with the Baptism He has kept each one of us apart. He has chosen us from among various people of the world to be the testimonies of his love. This is the conviction we should always have in mind and carry it in heart: this makes us to know our Christian identity and to live our Christian vocation. Identity reveals who we are: the followers of Christ and prophets of God’s word. Vocation reveals what we are: Sowers of the love of God both by life and by testimony. This is the effect of our mission which comes out as the fruit of our attitude and task. Two things we have to learn from Amos are these: to be conscious of the divine mission and to be dependent only on him. - Prophetic and Apostolic mission: we are called for the mission and we have to be aware of this reality. We are both “called” and “sent” to spread in the world the values of the Christ’s event. We have to speak and act in the name of God in the society and thus we have to introduce the new modality of life: life of the gospel. But this prophetic mission has to be always accompanied and attested by the personal life of credibility. Credibility means making the integrity between the word we speak and the action we do. Mind and heart have to be perfectly in harmony for the mission to be successful and effective. What we think, what we utter and what we do all should have balance. For this integrity of life and the credibility of testimony Jesus proposes two virtues: need for liberation and urgency of evangelic poverty. - Need for liberation from the desires of the world: we have to liberate ourselves from the belongingness to the material world in all the possible senses. We are attracted to the fashions of the world and we are obsessed with the passions of the earthly life. We need to get out of them. We need to renounce them. Jesus commands his disciples to leave the world behind and follow him so that they never turn back. We are also called for the same purpose. Here we have two directions to make: renouncing means first of all, leaving aside our personal desires and it means secondly, to give away what we have. This is what Jesus asks the rich man who wanted to follow him: sell out what you have and come and follow me (Luke 18:22). Everything of the world is the gift of God and it belongs to each one, not only for some powerful and authoritative hands. We need to be the first ones to free ourselves from this false and temporary possessions and thus we are more free to spend our time for the Lord and to concentrate well on the mission we are entrusted. - Evangelical poverty: it is always connected to the first one. When we liberate ourselves from the passions of the world we become poor and empty. This poverty and emptiness we chose not for ourselves, but for the Gospel and thus it is called evangelical poverty. The great model for this kind of poverty is Jesus himself: He is rich but being rich he made himself poor so that we, who are poor, can become rich and by his poverty he made us rich (2 Cor 8:9). Jesus’ poverty is manifested in every instance of his life: from the incarnation where there is no place to stay to the cross where he remained naked. Poverty also has double direction: it means first of all to forego everything for some purpose and it means secondly to be filled with the grace of God. Thus, the poverty has a positive character: it makes us to depend totally on God’s providence. Jesus has thrown himself totally on the will of His Father. Whole of his earthly mission he remained poor and dependent on His Father and at last he commends his whole life (his breath and spirit) to him on the cross. This evangelical poverty of Jesus manifested on the cross makes him enter into the richness of life and glory: God lifted him up above all as the king of the universe (Phil 2:11). This will be our reward too if we practice this poverty for the gospel of love to the humanity. - Therefore, we have to be conscious of our mission of “being prophets” in the world: prophets called and sent in the name of the Lord. By our word and life we need to proclaim God’s love to the world. In our journey God is with us because it is He who starts and sustains the prophetic mission in us. Thus, with the awareness of beings the prophets, let us march forward with the mission.

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2 Cor 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6) Theme: Our Testimony: People may know that there is amidst them a Christian Reflection: The eternal war between God’s love and Man’s rebellion - Today we celebrate the fourteenth Sunday of the Liturgical year. Through the readings of today, the Church reminds us that we are called to give testimony of our faith. We are invited to give testimony so that the people around us know that there is a Christian among them. In other words, we are placed as the prophets and announcers of God’s presence in the world. All the three readings of the day propose this theme to us today. - Even prior to this theme of giving testimony as the prophet in the world, there is some strange element that the word of God makes us remember. It is this: that there is ever continuous battle between God’s immense love for the humanity and man’s ever increasing revolt against God. This battle is not born today. It is there from the beginning of creation of man and his placement before and in the presence of God. The first rebellion and rejection has already started in the Garden of Eden when man wanted to take his post as God. In fact, the sin of the first man has its begin in this revolution against God. Man has fallen aback from the immense love of God rejecting the very nature of “his image and likeness” he is endowed with. - The revolt which began in the Garden of Eden has continued and has reached its peak on the Calvary where man finally killed Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the Word made Flesh, God himself. Man has nailed to the cross the tremendous love of God. But this is only one side of the story and history. This only man’s story. However, there is another side. There is second side of the story. More powerful and most gracious story of salvation. God continues to love man. God continues to be with man. God continues to hold fast to man. God continues to restore man. God continues to elevate man to his original dignity and destiny. - This second story has its profound foundation in the call of Abraham. God wanted to bring man into the relationship of love with himself. Man started going away seeking his own way and thus continuously closing the door of his life. Man began to move towards his own destruction. Man, in his freedom and given autonomous status, started creating his own world where he is the boss and master for himself. He is creating his own sphere where no one else, not even God, but himself be the god. It is at this juncture of man’s getting away from the right path that God himself made the initiation. God himself took the first step to bring man back to life. This first step of God in saving man has its starting point in Abraham. God has chosen a man for himself. God has kept aside his selection. It is with Abraham that God wanted to rebuild his presence of love and life. God’s merciful love has got up from his eternal seat of glory (in heaven) and has set out in search of the man in perdition. - Finally, God’s love has encountered man on the Mount Sinai where God has made a covenant with man. The covenant was considered as the final act in which man entered into divine life. With the establishment of the covenant it was thought that the story of God and man has is final emerge. God promised to man to be faithful and man also promised to be always with God. But the covenant of life has lasted only for a moment. Man has proved again that his nature of rebellion is over the boundaries. He continued to reject God and his word and thus he has broken both the promise and the covenant. The story of God and man has taken another level. The people of Israel, God’s chosen nation, began to search of some other god rather than staying with their God who called them into the bond of love with them. In fact, on the other hand, it is God himself, who often and again, answered the unfaithfulness and rebellion of his people with the faithfulness and love. - Today’s first reading is the best example for it. God calls his people as “rebellious race’. Ezekiel receives the message of God: “I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me” (Ezek 2:3). The message seems to be hard to understand. The words that are found in the message are difficult to comprehend. In the vision God’s message reached to the prophet and we may well notice the words about the condition of the people of Israel: they are a nation of rebels; they transgressed against God; they are imprudent and stubborn. This shows that the life of Israel was, is and will be always like this: a nation that rejects God’s love and his presence amidst them. - In fact, it continued until the time of Jesus. God has come down to visit man and to be with him in the person of Jesus. But the people were not ready to accept him. Above all, his own people did not receive him. John observes it with the intense care in his gospel when he says: “He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him” (John 1:11). Not only that they did not accept him, further they rejected him and his presence and his word has become a motive of scandal as it is expressed by Jesus himself in today’s Gospel. Jesus has come to his own home town. He started preaching in the synagogue. His teaching was so impressive that everyone was taken by surprise and wonder. - Let us revise the words of the gospel: “many who heard him were astounded. They said ‘where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is he not this carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and are not his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:2 and 3). We may observe two expressions of the hearers: they are at the same time “wondered” and “offended” (v. 2 and v. 3). First feeling is a wonder (v.2): they accept that his words are tremendous, his wisdom is marvelous and his deeds are powerful. Yet, they are not satisfied with the wonder. There is second feeling: a fear and an offense (v.4). They could not digest the way Jesus, who is one among them, doing marvelous things. One way they really wonder at this work and on the other way they reject him because they could not believe that he can do it. There is already a contradiction in their attitude. They see his work and wonder at it and at the same time they neglect him just because he is like any other among them. - The fact that is noteworthy here is this: the people have become rebellious and stubborn. They hear the good news but they don’t heed them. They see the good works but they don’t comprehend them. At least by his words and works in the villages around they know him to be a prophet but they would not accept him. Finally, what happens is: the Word of God is neglected; the prophet of God is rejected; the presence of God is revolted; and the love of God is nailed to the cross. This is the war between God’s love and man’s arrogant attitude. Summary of the Reading: God is always, however, present in the life of man - Though there appeared terrible words like “rebellion”, “stubborn” and so forth in the first reading, the passage ends with the positive vibration of God’s concern for his people. God says to Ezekiel: “whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them” (Ezek 6:5). God feels hurt when man revolts against him. God feels painful when man, his image and likeness, goes away from him with the rebellious face. Our God is not a God who is not without emotions. He is moved with the human attitude. When man heeds him he joyously and abundantly blesses him. When man rejects his love he feels tremendously hurt. God feels for the man. God moves for the man. Still, our God is a God who is always above the human emotions. He feels when man rejects him but he is not affected very much by this. Feeling is one thing: it is positive and constructive. Being affected is another thing: it is negative and destructive. God is not affected by man’s doing because he knows man and his nature. He knows that man is a failure in using his freedom. He knows that man is in the self-contradiction. He knows the condition of man. - God understands man profoundly. He is not affected by man’s rebellious nature and hard-hearted attitude. It is because His love is above all these human contradictory attitudes. His love surpasses everything. His concern for man is ever present. This love and concern makes him to appear himself in the human form and in the human condition. This love and concern makes him to offer man his presence. His love descends as an answer for man’s redemption and restoration. God’s love for his people is already presupposed and promised in the Old Testament. God sends his prophets among his people so that they have the possibility of returning to him. This is what the first reading presents to us: Ezekiel is called to be the prophet among his chosen people and he has to be amidst them preaching and proclaiming whether they heed to him or not. Whether man accepts or not, God always places his presence amidst his people. - Gospel of today is more focusing on this aspect of God’s love and interest for his people. Jesus is always on the move in proclaiming and demonstrating God’s love in his words and deeds. His preaching, as the prophet and more over as the God’s Son “sent into the world”, is both for the chosen race as well as for all. His travel of proclamation continues day by day and in village by village. We see it clearly in the preceding chapters and also succeeding chapters of the gospel. Jesus, who was always on his mission (gospels of previous Sundays), has come to his home town (today’s gospel) and he sends his disciples one by one into the villages (the gospel that appears in the next Sundays). Even the last verse of the gospel affirms this. When his people have not accepted him and his teaching, Jesus went on his way to the other town always proclaiming (v. 6). - God is always present in the life of man: He is God with us. With the mystery of Christ, his presence has become permanent in the world and with the man. Every time when the word of God is preached what is proclaimed is the presence of God amidst man. Now as far as we are concerned our presence has the task of reminding people around God’s own presence. We represent God’s presence. Those who feel our presence have to feel God’s presence. Therefore, now, in our time, we are the prophets in the world and we are the presence of God’s love in the world. We as the community called the Church: the Church is the prophetic presence of God in the world because it works in the name of God and by the power of the Spirit. Summary: My grace is enough for you! - Second reading is of particular significance today. From the beginning of his creation man is growing and developing: he is growing positively in his freedom and creative and generative capabilities and he is developing negatively the attitude of absoluteness and the desire of being god or above God. All this is because of the pride and arrogance that man received from his disobedience and rejection of God’s love. Paul admits that there is the possibility for the mounting of pride in man. He sees it within himself. He sees it as injected by Satan and his evil deeds (2 Cor 12:7). He sees also the instigation of the Satan as an occasion with which we are reminded of the thorn that pins us all the time. With this pain we become careful and attentive, not to fall into the temptation of rising above. With this pain we remember that we are still weak and not strong as we often misunderstand ourselves. - Weakness also manifests God’s presence and omnipotence. In order to teach man not to grow in pride and arrogance, God himself has assumed the condition of humility and weakness. From the Incarnation to his death on the Cross we can well observe his poverty, his meekness, his obedience and his humility. He never gave even a small chance for growing in pride and arrogance. He always has put in trust in his Father and continued it until perfectly completing His mission with the death and resurrection. Weakness is raised to the level of Omnipotence. Humility is raised to the level of eternal glory. Obedience is raised to the level of ultimate exaltation. - Paul understood well what happened in the humble appearance of Jesus on earth: the pride and arrogance of man is destroyed and manifested as destructive elements. They are no more useful for man. They only throw man into the pit of damnation. They only create disorder and disharmony in the world and among humans. Paul is well aware of this. That is the reason why wants “the thorn of pain” always to be in him so that he is reminded of not growing in pride. His words are very affirmative: I take advantage of my weakness because may the power of Christ remain in me (v. 10). He enjoys when he is weak and powerless. He is joyful even in his failures. He knows well that weakness and powerlessness keep him alert in his rapport and relationship with Christ. He knows that when sin bounds the grace of God abounds doubly. We have to learn from him the right human attitude. His attitude towards God’s love is not that of arrogance but that of joyful acceptance of his human condition and searching for the will of God always. The Church is the prophet in the world and we are the Church: - The Church is the prophet amidst the rebellious and proud man. We have to finally realize our vocation and our Christian mission in the light of the readings. We are called to give testimony of faith whether the world accepts it or not. At least with our testimony the world knows that in its midst there is a prophetic presence of God. And that’s what the Church is tirelessly doing as the part of her mission: it searches and researches the truth of God and proclaims his love to the world. Her preaching and proclamation is not without hurdles and hardships. How many people now criticize the Church and its presence is considered useless in the world. The criticism is from both: from the within and from without: - Church faces the criticism from the outside: The technological and scientific man often treats the Church as out-dated and old-fashioned. The political world tries to eliminate the Church because it sees it as the hindrance for its power as it has done already with Jesus Christ. But this is from outside of the Church and for other institutional powers. They do it because they have to justify and defend their own presence in the world as the Church herself defends her presence. This can be already presupposed because the good is not often accepted by the pride and arrogance. Love is not entirely comprehended by the selfish powers. - Church faces the criticism from the within: the more dangerous and rebellious criticism comes from the within herself. There are critics of the Church within the Church. We ourselves criticize the Church, her teaching and her sacraments as meaningless magic. We treat the hierarchy as the selfish and frightened body. Instead of sowing the seeds of communion and solidarity we attack our Christian neighbor for the motive of jealousy and prejudice. This is what is happening right within the Church, among us. This is more pathetic situation. It reminds us of the first reading. God’s love is rejected by his own people. His Church or his presence is criticized by the chosen members themselves. This is also can be presupposed because the prophet is not completely understood and accepted in his home town. But still, the prophet does not keep quite. He accomplishes what he has to accomplish: his word and his deeds are always present. Each one is called to be a prophet within his limited world: - We have to learn from what is happening. We have to open our eyes to see the truth. We have to open our hearts to embrace the situation as it is without masking it. We have to open our spirit to purify the Church from within and from without: from within with the personal and spiritual conversion and growth and from without with our testimony of faith. It is easy to blame the Church as the whole. But in reality, each one is responsible for the condition of the Church. Each has his/her role to play because each baptized member is called to be “a prophet”, “a witness” and “a true Christian”. - Our testimony manifest the presence of God: we have to remember this truth: as Christian it is no more we who speak and act but it is Christ who does all this in us. Our words have to come out of us as the kind words of Jesus. Our deeds have to come out of us as the loving deeds of Jesus. In a word, whether our neighbors/our community listen or not, comprehend or not, we have to manifest our faith: testimony of kindness and love of God in the world and for the world. Are we ready to take up this mission? Do we believe in ourselves that we can do it because His grace is always with us? Do we carry within ourselves our identity of being a Christian and a prophet in the midst of our people? - Let us remember well: It is for this purpose that we are sent into the world as the prophet Ezekiel. Let us be aware of this; it is for this testimony that we find ourselves as the Christ’s followers. Our testimony is the manifestation of God’s love: all may see that God is present in them and with them.

TWELFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

TWELFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Job 38:1, 8-11; 2 Cor 5: 4-17; Mark 4:35-41) Theme: Jesus is always there in the boat of our life Reflection: Life Is A Boat Journey - Today we enter into the twelfth Sunday of the liturgical year. We are slowly getting into the boat of life. Boat of life is not at the shore. Boat of life is not motionless. Boat of life is always in journey towards its destiny. Once we start our boat journey there are only two things we can do: either we come back with the failure to starting point or we travel ahead with dedication and hard work to reach the destiny. There is not third way. There is no middle drop. Third way and the middle drop would be only our perishing in the waters. First thing we have to know is that the boat is made not to be on the shore but in the water and on the move. Otherwise there is no meaning for the boat and it is equal to its non existence and non living or to its deadly condition. - Same with the life. Our life is a boat. It is made not be without motion and without action. It is not made to just to sit and while away the time. It is not made just to be indifferent and inactive to it. By the very word with which it is called, “LIFE” is something that is dynamic, energetic, moving and generating. Our boat of life is created for the travel and for the journey towards its destiny. It is oriented always towards its goal. Once the life’s journey begins there are only two directions it can make: either turning back with the face of a failure or to continue the travel until the end, until reaching the goal for which it is destined. There is no escapism. There is no third way of leading the life. The escapism and the third way would be “killing our life” or “becoming useless” as if we never existence or as never alive. - This is the situation of man. He is destined to travel. He is not only destined but his destiny is blocked with variety of difficulties. He himself made his journey difficult. His journey is difficult because the “root of his travel” is either unknown or neglected with the technological growth. He takes pride in his scientific, technical and industrial growth that he often throws out the ways that are trodden before him by his forerunners. He wants to fly in the skies, very good, but often forgets the ground as his departure and his arrival. He wants to cross over the oceans, of course he is capable, but often forget the shore as his start and his destiny. Journey is not the skipping; rather it is walking step by step. Journey is not the jumping; rather it is moving forward stage or stage. - There is always continuity in the journey. The past, the present and the future are interlinked. The past gives him experience, with that experience he lives the present for the betterment of the future. If one element of these is missing, enough, the life will not be complete. One may desire to skip or jump but it is only a momentary, because he has to come down and there is no other way. The ground and background is more important for the life’s journey. Man has to always keep in mind his coming and his going, thus, his arrival and his departure. Only then the qualitative journey is possible. Otherwise what happens is that he finds himself in the path that leads to nowhere. Finally, he steps in the no man’s land. His journey is terminated in the middle. He falls short of his destiny. - To put in the human logic, he is not guaranteed safe journey and ‘assured root’. There is always a hindrance in the root that man takes and in the way that man prepares. His technical developments have bettered his conditions of travel but not guaranteed hundred percent. The only “safe and secure root” that was prepared and revealed is Christian Faith. Not that there are no difficulties and hindrances in this root but “all the obstacles” are already overcome by Jesus. He offers the power to man to walk ahead with trust and with confidence. He is the Way and when man makes his journey through him and in him he does not falter. - He is there in the journey next to us. He is there in the boat of life. He is there both as the boat and guide. The only thing we have to do is this: we have to keep on moving ahead in spite of struggles of life with the faith that He is present with us. This is what Jesus teaches us today with the readings. Especially in the Gospel he invites his disciples not to be afraid of wind and the storm that shake the boat of our life. The Message of the Readings: In Him We Have Peace and Tranquility - First Reading: God Is the Creator and Sustainer: - Our God is the Lord of the Universe and its order. He is the creator and he sustains everything. He is the One who places each creature at its post and guides it. Therefore, the creation itself is in order as it is made by the Lord. The beauty and the order of creation are already expressed in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. God has created everything and “it appeared to him as very good”. The whole creation is good and beautiful because it is the handiwork of the Lord. This is the first thing that the believer/man has to keep in mind. Still there is seen lot of disorder both in the cosmic realm and also human sphere. The surprising question arises then: When God created everything good and beautiful, how did the disharmony enter into the world? If God is the author of life alone how do we find fear and death in and around us? - The answer is not so easy. But from the viewpoint of the biblical revelation there is always an answer. God made everything well and good. He created man and woman, in the particular manner, in his own image and likeness. He endowed them with the divine dignity of being always with him. He put everything that is good, in the hands of man and under his dominion. Man is made capable, because of his given freedom and dignity, to watch over well and to utilize well all that is under his authority. Man is given the capacity to control and sustain the order of the creation or the world. The divine command is that man has to control, with wisdom and knowledge, the available things. The story has been reversed or completely changed when some stranger entered into the scenario. The stranger who entered into man’s life is evil inclination to become more powerful and more authoritative. This evil inclination has reached to its peak with his pride and arrogance to become like God. Here, as the consequence, he has encountered the strange reality, the fallen state which ends up finally in his death. - Man is given control over the creation, not over God. But man wants more. He wants to be God. He wants to create and recreate the world. In fact, man can better the creation and can place it according to the good use of all. He can do this because he is given enough status to be over and above the creation. That is only with the matter of the world and created things, not with God. But, with the fact when man wanted to replace God and wants to be God, already man is out of his control. He loses control because he becomes imbalanced. His freedom and his divine dignity have lost their way. His power and authority have become selfish and destructive. He is slowly losing his control over the world, though he thinks that he is actually ruling it. Now man finds himself in the fear and frustration because he is not able to control all that he wants to control. His capacity to control is at stake. Above all, he is controlled by his daily failures and incapacities. The daily fears and frustrations have become his food and drink. Finally, he has lost his life: he has lost freedom, lost dignity, lost the capacity to domain. He lives just because he has to live forgetting the point of departure and point of arrival. He finds himself amidst the natural calamities and human struggles. - In the first reading, God, once again, reminds Job of His eternal power to hold fast to the creation and to sustain it with order and with harmony. He reminds Job that He has the power to divide the waters and to place them between the two walls. He reminds him that whole creation is under his control and he is the triumphant God. He finally reminds him that the creation is not under blind mechanisms but under the watchful eye of the Omnipotent God who gives it an order and makes it beautiful to live. To put in a word, in God we find the origin and order for everything that is good. - Second Reading: In Christ everything is made anew: - The fear and death of man is finally overcome. The life of man is made anew. Man is renewed and recreated into a new being. Man is given the possibility to re-find his capacity and his dignity. All this renewal and renovation has take place with the very blood of God-man Jesus. Man who has fallen into desperate condition of failures and fears is finally raised up again. God himself came to his rescue because man cannot save himself. God has taken the first and initiative step to live out what has to live and to die for what man had to die. Jesus Christ, Word made Flesh, God-man, has lived every pathetic condition of man very profoundly even unto death. This is the only way with which he can open the doors of life for man. He has resolved the human existential fearful and dreadful situation and he has done this by shedding his blood and by offering his own life. He would have chosen in other path/ or the way to rise up man from this condition because nothing is impossible for him. But, God has assumed human nature so that he experiences to the core every minute aspect of being human and thus open the way for man. Now the way is prepared. Now the truth is manifested. Now the life is regained: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”, he affirms. - Paul reminds us this truth in today’s second reading: “He has died for all, because all those who live, do not live for themselves, but for the One who died and is risen for them all” (v. 15). “By dying he destroyed our death and by rising he restored our life” is the mystery of faith we profess and proclaim during the Holy Mass. Jesus has given the man a direction to take and a way to follow. Nothing is out of our hands but He has kept everything in our hands. He already made path and kept it before man. Man has to first of all become aware of his renewed condition in Christ. He has to accept the way that is offered to him as a gift. He has to live in and for Christ. All this is possible when he accepts his existential and pathetic condition as having a way out in Jesus Christ. Paul affirms once again that “if one is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away, here are born the new things” (v. 17). The fallen creation and the fallen creature is restored and re-ordered. The newness is provided. The gift of harmony is offered. To put in a word, it is in Christ we have our peace and tranquility. - Gospel: “Calm down O wind and storm!” - The gospel reading is full of meaning and message. Jesus calms down the terrible wind and stops the frightening storm with command and authority. His words and actions confirm this: “He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still’” (Mk 4:39). But what happened prior to it is important. The disciples are in travelling along with Jesus. Their travel is in the boat. Indeed, it is Jesus who invites them to come along with him because it is his mission: his mission extended also to the other shore. Jesus asks them to participate in his mission: “Let us go across to the other side” (Mk 4:35). There are two things to be considered here: o First, crossing the sea means crossing the borders and reaching to the people of other side; Jesus mission is not only for the Israel but also for others. His mystery and mission is for all. He does this and he invites his disciples to take part in it. o Second, crossing the sea is an adventurous and difficult task. One has to prepare himself to confront so many disturbances and hindrances on the waters. All this is part of the sea journey. The goal is the only aim. The other shore is the only target. It is important that one has to start the journey and reach the goal. Yet, the most important thing is that one commits himself for the journey and does not stop it in the middle or turn back. - When Jesus calls them to make the journey along with him he also reminds them the difficulty of it. The winds blow. The storms arise. The waves turn down the boat. But the disciples have to be still courageous and confidence because their journey is not alone but With Him. When he is there with them they need not worry. The natural action of the sea because of the climate is that it becomes furious at times. The natural reaction of the sea travelers to this is that they become frightened. But the case with the disciples is different. Jesus is with them. Whether he sleeps or he is awake, it does not matter. He is there in the boat. The sustainer of the creation and the one who keeps everything in order is there in the boat. This fact, they have forgotten. They have closed their eyes to the presence of Jesus. That’s the reason why Jesus first rebukes the winds and then immediately rebukes also his disciples for the lack of faith in him. Jesus stands above the fears of the calamities. He is the ruler of the creation. The creation and even its powers cannot do him any harm. He ordains and orders everything. - The Sleep of Jesus has a theological significance. Usually, the expression of sleep in the gospels indicates the death. When the twelve year girl is dead, Jesus exclaims that she is not dead but only asleep. And such sleep is not permanent but only for a while. When Jesus is asleep in the boat there is wind and the storm and the disciples lost their courage and have become frightened. This also signifies of the near future in which Jesus enters into death and the disciples will be scattered with fear. But his sleep of death is not permanent, he rises again. He rises again to wipe away all the fears of life’s journey. There will be storms of persecutions and winds of criticisms of faith but the one who believes that Jesus is there with him need not fear. Jesus calms down the life’s struggles and leads the boat into the other side of the shore: he securely places us in our destiny. Conclusion: We Need To Place Our Trust In Him - We need not worry about our journey of life’s boat. Jesus’ presence is always assured to us. He is there with us and by us. “When He is with us, who can be against us” is the affirmation of Paul (Rom 8:31). We need not fear. We need only to have faith in him. He may seem to be sleeping but in reality nothing happens without his knowledge. He is the author of life and sustainer of order and harmony. Not only of the creation but also of the creature, that is, man. - The natural forces also have lot of frightening effect upon us. We often have the impression that the natural forces are irrational, dangerous and devastative. When we are affronted with the earthquakes or tsunamis or any kind of destructive natural calamity we are faced with dread fear. We think that they are foes and enemies of man. We have reason to say that. We justify the fact with our logical and rational mind. Once we get to know that they are totally beyond our control we fall back. Once we understand that we face failures when we deal with those calamities we move forward to blame even God. We even murmur and blame God because we think that it is he who sends them so that man can come to him with fear and trembling. Here we have wrong image of God and at least of Christian God. - The biblical culture reveals totally different fact. Every aspect of creation has its reference to and in God because he is the creator. When it is in God and has originated from God, it is always good and beautiful. He puts everything in order. The disorder has entered into the world with the fallen nature of man. Though God never wills, man has opted for it in his free choice. Man started using the creation and all that it contains with the wrong purpose. Thus, the purpose of creation is distorted and disordered by man. God knows it. But he never wants that it remains in the disorder. He comes down to man to teach him how to put trust in God and work for the harmony of the creation. Jesus has done thing by his death and by his resurrection: he has made everything new and he has obtained the order and harmony both of man and creation. - That Jesus, the king of the universe is with us. He is in our boat. He walks with us. He calls us by his Word. He strengthens us with is Bread. He assures the Way. The boat is on the safer side. We are in the boat and Jesus is also with us in the boat. We have to place our complete trust in him. Not that we do not have struggles and sufferings. Sure, we have and we will have. But they cannot do any harm to us because the Master of Peace is with us. With this confidence we go ahead. We will continue our journey with the faith that He Is With Us.

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY - B

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24; 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43) Theme: The Power of God’s Touch: We are Saved! Reflection God’s Touch: A Question? An Exclamation! Or An Affirmation. - We celebrate today the thirteenth Sunday of the Year. In particular this Sunday reminds us of the Power of God’s Touch. All the reading of the day teach us the truth: we are touched by God and by this touch we are healed, we are purified and we are redeemed. The central message of the word of God, read and proclaimed now before us, is that God wants to be very closer to man and He will to embrace him. - We may draw many themes from today’s readings: The justice of God as in the first reading; or equality of all in having the earthly goods as in the second reading; or/and finally, the mercy of Jesus towards the sick and the dying. But today, we limit ourselves to one theme different than what are mentioned above, yet it contains in itself all the cited themes. And the theme, as well introduced, is this: that Power of God’s touch saves us. - God touches man! Is it a question? Or is it an exclamation! Or is it an affirmation. The words are beautiful and sound well to listen, “God touches man”. But to see its authenticity and affirm its efficacy is not that simple. Here comes the act of faith. In faith we experience that God touches us and that our God is not far away from us. o Pagan Experience: For the world of unbelievers and the pagans, this statement that “God touches man” remains still an unanswerable question. They could not digest how, if at all there is a God and that God is really a God who is above all, can he touch man and how can he make himself reachable to man. God is above all and beyond all human comprehension. And if it so, for them, this statement is ridiculous and is nonsensical. Therefore, it is still a question for them. o Religious Experience: For the believers and the religious people and who have embraced faith in God, this statement is no more a question. But still, it remains an Exclamation! It is a thing of surprise. It is an experience of wonder. They feel that somewhere and somehow there is a touch of God. They see that their spirit is being elevated and they remain in the inexpressible and unexplainable condition where they exclaim with “owe and wonder” that they are touched by their God. This is common to any religious experience of the world religions. What is noticed there is just an emotional feeling that they have God’s touch. It goes little further, cancels the question of the pagan and unbelievers, and enters into the exclamation. Therefore, it is still an exclamation for them. o Christian Experience: “God touched man” or “God still touches man” are neither the statements of the doubt any more (as of the experience of pagans and unbelievers), nor the statements of wonder and surprise any more (as of the experience of the ordinary religious people). They are the statements of “Affirmation”. In the Christian experience it is affirmed that God has already touched man and still he is touching him. He has already touched man when He assumed the human nature and condition in the Incarnation. He is still touching and wishes to touch man in the Eucharistic celebration where Jesus enters and makes his presence pass through the recipient of the communion. o God of Touch: Christian God is not just a God of words. Yes, He speaks to man and he reaches to man in the words of the Prophets. But he does not stop there. His reaching has arrived to its peak level and to its highest point: He touched the human nature and He wore the human condition in Jesus Christ. Here He is not just a Jewish God who spoke and who speaks with mere words. Here He is a Christian God who acted and acts with the concrete events: with the Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection. These events open the truth: God will to be with man and raise man above and finally to make him get up. These are the gestures also seen in the Gospel of today and we will reflect them a while after. o An answer Unveiled: The question of the pagans and unbelievers is answered. The exclamation of the religious people is purified and made whole. The answer and the wholeness of the statement are found in the very life of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, now pagan have no reason to question. Therefore, now ordinary religious people have no reason to be satisfied with a mere feeling. They are called to accept and embrace the truth that God touches man and it is confirmed in the Christian experience. Christian experience, therefore, is not just an experience of faith and it goes beyond: it is the full and active participation in the very life of Christ. God is Life and He shares his Life with Man: The Summary of the Readings - First Reading – What is created is Life, not the death: o The first reading of today from the Book of Wisdom reveals the truth that everything is created by God to be in existence and to be alive. Let us listen to the words again: “For he created all things so that they might exist; the generative forces of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them, and the domino of Hades is not on earth” (v. 14). These are words and words from the wisdom of Salomon and these wise words are the words of the Spirit because wisdom is the gift of the Holy Spirit. o The author starts his book with these words and in the beginning itself, in the first two chapters, makes the observation of human life and death. God has created only life, not the death. Death is not God’s intention or creation: “God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living” (v. 13) and he concludes the second chapter of the Book with the same affirmation: “for God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity, but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it” (Wis 2:23-24). o Creation is full and whole because it is being created by the Word of God in the Spirit. In particular mode, man is created in his “image and likeness”. Therefore, will of God is that everywhere there is life and there should be existence. But man suddenly finds his life has a block: the death. He grumbles against God for creating this frightening reality called death without knowing where does it come from. He thinks that even death is created by God. Once again the words of Wisdom unveil the truth that “everything is whole and complete with the life” because it comes from the act of the Living God. The words of Wisdom unveil also the truth that “the death is found in the world because of the devil’s act”. o The wholeness of creation and of man is now in danger with the entrance of death in the world. The purpose of God is that man is in life and with life always. This purpose is blocked by the fear of death. God who never wants the death of the living and in particular, the death of his creature, takes an initiative step to come to man as man so that he can put full stop to the power of death. o This is the Christian mystery: God has seen the helplessness and dramatic condition of man in his confrontation with the sin and death. God who has seen does not just speaks a word but Sends the Word, His Word into the Flesh, so that he can open the way for man. Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, has fulfilled what God has planned with his Passion, Death and Resurrection. The fruit is this: God touched man; He healed him; He brought him out from the fear and clutches of death; and finally, He made him alive again because He is God of Living who never desired the death. The power of touch of God is this: it renews man and revives him into life. - Second Reading – God’s poverty makes us Rich: o The beautiful message of St. Paul is once again admonishes to acknowledge the truth of God’s touch. Why did at all Christ has come into the world? Why did at all God willed to appear in the human form? Why did at all Christ shared in the human slavery condition? These questions find their answer in today’s second reading and from the inspiring words of Paul: “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). o Context of the passage is this: there was a charitable collection to be made for the Church of Jerusalem and for the difficult condition of the church. Paul encourages his people to share their having with generous contributions. He dedicates two chapters, eighth and ninth, of the second letter to the Corinthians for this purpose. Within this context appears also today’s reading. Paul reminds them the generosity of Jesus Christ: he takes to himself poor human condition so that it will be elevated into spiritual fructification. He renounces his rich status and assumes the poverty so that the poor man becomes rich. o His message primarily manifests his exhortation in the economic and social level but it simultaneously reveals his invitation to be in Christ and to be as Christ: to be rich in the Spirit and to be rich with the Life of God. This is the spiritual richness that Paul essentially speaks about. We are poor in the spirit because of the inclinations to sin and because of the influence of death. But with the coming of Christ the scenario is changed. We have become spiritually rich because we are given life. We are touched by God’s generous love: we are given life. o This fact reminds us that we are not created poor though we appear poor in the world. We are created to be rich and to be full. But not in the worldly sphere and in the earthly measure. We are created and called to be rich in the Holy Spirit. Where there is Spirit of God there is life. We are filled with the Spirit of God and thus, we are filled with life. We are people of Life, not of death. The power of touch of God is this: it empowers the poor and makes them rich, not in life, but with life. - Gospel – Jesus extends his hand, touches and raises the child to life: o In the Gospel we have two miracles very tightly linked: a woman suffers from the illness from twelve years and a twelve year girl faces death. The common elements are two: first, the number twelve and second, the experience of Jesus’ touch.  First – “Twelve”: Twelve is the number which is more frequent in the bible as number seven. Seven indicates the fullness and completeness. Then what about the number twelve? What does it indicate? It is difficult to answer. One thing may be observed: in the Old Testament it indicates the twelve tribes of Israel and in the Pauline epistles it indicates the twelve fruits of the Spirit. Other than this, what it could indicate when it is compared with the number seven, is this: when the number seven points to the completeness, number twelve which is superior to it, must indicate to that which is more. It should indicate and point, thus, to the reality beyond the measure and beyond calculation. It also reveals that it enters entirely into God’s sphere because we cannot measure what is God and his nature. This also reveals that the two miracles of Jesus manifest the very sphere of God to humanity: Sphere of God’s Life Kept Open for Man.  Second – Jesus’ Touch: Woman touches Jesus and Jesus touches the girl. In the first instance, Jesus allows himself to be touched by human being; he opens the possibility for man to touch him; this is why, the woman was able to touch Jesus and finds herself healed immediately. In the second instance, Jesus extends his hand and touches the child/girl; he has come to be with man and to reach out to man; he has come to show that God’s presence is amidst them and God’s hand is extended to him; to manifest this truth to the humanity that Jesus touches the girl and raises her up. This also indicates the stage of faith: woman is mature in faith and girl still depends on the faith of her parents. Yet, both of them experience the healing touch of Jesus: both of them are saved from the power of sickness and of death. Jesus has given them Life. o Woman and her Faith: In the case of woman it is her faith that has saved her. If we observe well the gospel we find four gestures of the woman:  Hears the truth of Jesus: the woman has heard that Jesus is has come there to her town and to her village and that He has done already many wonderful things. Hearing the message of Jesus’ presence is the first step.  Comes to meet Jesus: Her listening is not complete at home itself. She has come. She has reached the presence of Jesus. Her hearing made her to move towards Jesus.  Believes Jesus: She heard that Jesus could do good things. She came with the faith that he would heal her. Hearing and coming led her to believe in him. His presence made her to be confident and hoping for the healing.  Touches Jesus: Hearing the message, coming to his presence and just believing are not enough. The faith has to reach another level. It has to touch Jesus. The woman did the same. She touched and got healed.  What is learnt from her gesture is the process of faith through which we are touched by Jesus and led into new life and new beginning in him. o Little Girl and the Faith of her Father: In the case of the girl the story is different. Instead of the girt, her father professes his faith in Jesus and pleads him to cure her. Even if the condition worsens from sickness to death there is nothing to worry only if he has faith. That’s what Jesus: “do not fear, only have faith”. Jesus does not mind what the crowd is talking or murmuring. He knows what he has to do. What he needs is the faith on the part of the girl or her parents. Once that faith was expressed he goes to the girl, touches her and raises her up. For him illness is a momentary and death is just a sleep. He knows that it is God himself who is reaching out to man and touching him profoundly so that man has a salvation. o What is understood from this is the fact that not only the proper faith but also faith of other has an efficacious nature in the Christian faith. The first event in which such kind of faith is professed is the baptism: the child is not in the condition of making consent and thus, it is parents who make the consent on behalf of the child and it is valid perfectly because the grace-fetching nature that faith has. Prayer for each other, even praying for the dead is also part of this kind of faith. Jesus himself prayed for others, during his earthly life and even more on the cross, and taught that the prayer of others can bring “healing and salvation” for us. - All the reading manifest that God does not want us to be in the pathetic and perishing condition. He wills that we are well and whole. He desires that we are well physically, mentally and socially. He desires that we are whole spiritually. Not only that He desires our well being but He does everything possible to make man well and whole. He has already done this in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Even now He does the same through the presence and mission of the Church and the Sacraments: He Heals and Saves Us by His Touch. Conclusion: We are called to extend the Same Divine Touch to the Needy and to All - Well. What are we to do today? Nourished by the word and sacrament, we experience the same divine touch. We are healed. We are cured. We are saved by God’s touch. Enough? Shall we keep the efficacy of the touch with ourselves or can we open the door of our life to extend it to others? - Magic of Human Touch: We already know what magic the human touch does in our life. A kind word can comfort us. A small act can console us. A smiling face can heal us. A simple touch can encourage us. This is our daily experience. Each one of us has this magic of touch. We want to receive it often from others and we also give it often to others. The golden rule of the New Testament empowers us here: we have to do to others what we want to get from them (Mt 7:12). We like to be touched and felt loved and the same we have to do: we have to extend our touching hand and warmly embrace all those who are around us, the discouraged, the depressed, the desperate and the neglected. - Power of Divine Touch: to do this we need to remember two things: o First of all, we have to acknowledge that we are touched by Jesus and that we are profoundly and deeply embraced by his loving arms. As Christians what we have is not only for ourselves, but for others. The same divine touch we have received we have to extend. We should realize that we are capable of doing this magic. We are capable of healing others. We are capable of empowering others. We are capable of creating wonders in the life of others. The only defect is: we close our eyes and neglect our Christian capacity. o Secondly, once we become aware of our capacity and acknowledge our power of touch received from the Lord, we do not keep silent. It makes us to rise up from our seats to reach out others. Our hands become longer and bigger because our hearts become wider and larger. We reach out to others and thus, we can also become the cause of healing and salvation for others. Can we do it? We can because it is not we who are doing but Jesus, the eternal doctor, who is extending his touch with the means of our hands. - Touch the Lord and Touch others: Eucharist in which we participate is not just a while host to be eaten. It is the Body of Jesus. He is coming into us. He is touching us. He is reaching us. He is taking hold of us. He is filling us with his warmth love. He is empowering us to go and do the same in his memory: Do this in memory of me” are the central and missionary word of Jesus to all those who participate in this healing and saving banquet. We become partakers of the Eucharist and thus we become also the Sharers of the Eucharist. We are touched so that we will touch others. We are healed so that we will heal others. We are saved so that we will save others. That is the Power of God’s Touch: We are saved and we are saving others.