THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – C (Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1Cor 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21) Theme: Today, The Word of God “finds” its Fulfillment IN US Reflection: Jesus is both the Messenger and the Liberator - Structure of the Gospel passage: We are entering into the third Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Year. The readings of today lead us to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Word. Even prior to the reflection, there is an important aspect that we need to make a note of: the structure of today’s gospel passage. We find a strange combination in it. It consists of two parts: the first part is the first four verses of the beginning of the Gospel of Luke and second part is immediately refers to the fourth chapter. Why is this structure? It is neither for the confusion nor without the reason. The simple logic is this: the Church introduces us into the Gospel of Luke. Though two weeks have been passed, there was no possibility of begin the Luke’s Gospel in this Liturgical Year C. The year started with the Baptism of the Lord and then last week we have been offered with the reflection of the wedding of Cana. It is for this reasoning the Church proposes the beginning of the Gospel (1: 1-4) to make us participate into the mind and heart of the evangelist. In fact, here in the beginning verses, Luke declares his desire to write the events of Jesus placing them in the order so that there will be fullness of sense and meaning for those who read it. After inserting us into the Gospel of Luke, the Church immediately enlightens us with the ministry of Jesus (4:14-21). The centrality of the passage is the person of Jesus himself who takes into himself the Old Promise and synthesizes it in him and gives it the fullness of realization. It is for this Jesus proclaims: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled as you listen it” (Luke 4:21). - Message of Liberation: Jesus enters into Nazareth. He goes into the synagogue for the celebration of the Sabbath. It is his turn to read the scriptures and explain it to the people. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah is given to him. Jesus opens it and finds the message: God’s plan of sending the anointed for the liberation of every human being. The message is all about the redemption of the people where are under various modes of slavery: some are blind, more than physically, spiritually; some are imprisoned, more than being chained in the jails, in the clutches of the evil spirit; some are oppressed, with more than material burdens, with the loss of hope and salvation; in one way or the other, importantly, all have become poor, deprived of care, concern and love. God proclaims the plan of his love for all these people. The message is manifested through the prophet Isaiah: God announces the definite liberation of all those who were in the deportation and as the result found themselves in the condition of poverty and oppression. Each and every word of the passage contains the aspect of liberation. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. For this he has consecrated me with the anointing; he has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim the liberation to the prisoners and the good vision to the blind and to announce the year of the Lord’s grace” (4:18-19). The context of the message is the slavery of the people of Israel. Yet, its ultimate realization takes place in Jesus as he himself proclaims it. Jesus reads the passage from Isaiah. He sits down. All look at him for the explanation of what is just read. Jesus silently assimilates the message into himself. He does not give long sermon. He does not make number of comments on it. He just utters one phrase: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled as you listen it” (Luke 4:21). - Jesus is the Liberator: The message does not any more remain just a promise of the Old Testament. It is not any more a mere proclamation of hope. The time of its concrete realization is arrived. The promise and the hope of the entire Law of the first covenant are embodied in the person of Jesus. By accepting to read the passage from the Old Testament, he enters into the promise of His Father and into the Hope of Israel. He takes them into himself and finds its fulfillment in himself. He is aware of his mission: being sent by the Father to bring back the fallen human being into the divine relationship. Other times, when the same situation of reading has come, Jesus might have explained the scriptures. But this time when the message finds both its messenger and its fulfillment, there is no more any need for a detailed commentary. Jesus is conscious that each word of prophecy is about himself. He acknowledges his mission of taking upon the action of liberation. He is setting out with the message to bring it to its fulfillment. He sets out as the Liberator: he carries with him and within him the good news of God’s salvation. His proclamation becomes an action: an act of liberation. The liberation proclaimed by Jesus is a total liberation. It touches man in all his dimensions. It is not one particular part that man needs to be liberation. The liberation is not limited to one aspect of his life. It is entire human being that is to be liberated. Man is hungry, not of the bread alone, but he has hunger of ideologies, of justice, of sense of life, of meaning for living. He is forgetting of his identity as human being and often he is deprived of “being human” by the various fascinating and deceiving images of living. The totality of liberation consists in man’s return to his original condition of being really “human and divine”. Jesus appears as Liberator in bringing man back to the condition of God’s sons. Readings God’s Word proclaimed needs to be received and lived - God’s Word needs Human Amen (First Reading): The first reading of today presents to us the liturgy of the word that takes place in the assembly of the people of God. Ezra, the priest brings the law before the gathering of the people, reads it to them so that they would intend it. People extend their ears to the book of the law. He, the priest and the scribe, stands in the high place, and while he opens the book of the law, all the people stand in feet. He blesses the Lord for the word he has given and the people respond with the raised hands “Amen, amen”. Then the Levites read the law of God with the different passages and explains to the people with its sense and meaning. This is the structure of the liturgy of the word that is found in the book of Nehemiah. This is what we find here in our assembly of gathering too. The readings take place. At the end, the lector will say: “this is the word of God” and we respond: “thanks be to God”. The same thing happens after the priest completes reading the gospel: “this is the gospel of the Lord” and we respond: praise be to you O Lord. In other words: the word of God is proclaimed. All those who intend it with the attentive ears will respond: Amen, amen. What do it mean? The word is offered, and it is received and embraced by those who listeners. It’s hearers has a double task with their amen: they carry the word within them and they proclaim it with the testimony of their life. Thus, God’s word does not go in vain. It looks for the human response. It is finally accepted with the Amen on the part of the receiver. - The result of listening to the word is unity (second reading): It is the listening of the word that builds the community of faithful. It is God’s word that invites them to be together. It is God’s word that creates one mind and one heart in the community. Each one who enters into the liturgical celebration has his/her personal intentions and individual views. Each is different in listening and in comprehending the word. There may be diversity in intending the word. They may come up with the different understandings. But in the liturgy of the word, when the word is proclaimed and explained, all receive only one message from it. It is the spirit of the readings that is proclaimed and therefore, all have the possibility for having only one understanding. The spirit keeps them united both in listening and understanding. Paul speaks that unity that the spirit creates in the community. He explains it with the analogy of One Body and different organs in it. Each organ has its specific function. Yet its function is always in the view of other organs. Each organ finds its action and meaning only in and with the presence of the others. Otherwise there is no growth, above all, there will appear only division. Body becomes broken up and it is no more called a body. It is with the view of the Body that all the organs must exercise the proper function. So also the listening of the word finds its function with the view of the mission of Christ. If the action of the word’s listener is not united with the mission of Christ, it has no sense and meaning. It becomes private and individual action which will not have a meaning for the community. Both the word from the part of God and its acceptance from the part of the believers make the community. If we all participate in the liturgy of the word, embracing the one word, we all work as the community and for the community. The result of the listening of the word is the unity between the members of the Christian community. Thus, the power of God’s word is the unity of believers. - Jesus enters into the Old and gives it a New Understanding (Gospel): Jesus enters into the temple and teaches the law giving it a new dimension. The teaching of Jesus in the temple teaches at least two things: that he belongs to the Hebrew origin and as every Jew he manifests his desire to get into the heart of their cult by making the law a life giving one. The novelty that Jesus introduces is this: he offers himself as the fulfillment of this law. He does not indeed abolish the law but gives it a new meaning and makes it perfect (Math 5:17ff). Moreover, the passage of today’s gospel, is the synthesis of the entire mission for which Jesus has come. The prophecy has the double meaning: in the immediate meaning, it was addressed to the people of the Babylonian slavery, and in the remote meaning, it reveals the messianic salvation in the future, through the work of God’s son. It is this second meaning that is fulfilled in Jesus. It is for this, by quoting from the text of Isaiah, Luke manifests the context of Jesus. He introduces the entire ministry of Jesus through this prophetic quoting. The scroll of Isaiah (61: 1-29 contains the great themes that characterize the gospel of Luke: the Holy Spirit, Messianic Anointing, the eschatological liberation, the joy, the divine intervention in favor of the poor/anawim and the oppressed, and finally, the proclamation of God’s grace. The same program is introduced differently in Mark (1:14-15). The discourse is not long there. The words are more original than prophetic: “The time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God is near; repent and believe in the good news.” Mathew is little elaborative in introducing Jesus in the ministry which is revealed in the discourse on the mountain (chapters 5, 6 and 7). Jesus accepts all that was promised by his Father in view of him – the law, the psalms and the prophets. He keeps it in the process of realization and in the ultimate fulfillment in his person and in his work. He teaches with authority because he takes the Old Law into himself and lives it and brings it to its completion. The rapport between his word and his action is very strong and it is so strong that his action announces the new way of understanding the law, not anymore with the letter but with the spirit. It is for this reason, his action goes beyond the ethnic boundaries and touches everyone who is in need of salvation: the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed. Jesus does not comment on the prophecy but makes it into a reality: “Today, this scripture is fulfilled as you listen to it.” He does not speak anymore. He acts. His word is an event. His word is an act of salvation. The promise becomes a fulfillment. The word is already in action. The Messenger sets out to be a Liberator. Conclusion: The world looks at us for the message of salvation - We are the mobile bible: Jesus comprises the entire design of God for the humanity and carries it within him as his mission. He sees the destiny of the promise and hope in himself. He walks with it all through his life, even to the point of total self-donation for the liberation of humanity from the various burdens. As we are called to be his messengers and followers, now, it is our turn to read and explain the scriptures to the world around. As Jesus has assumed into himself all the hope of Israel and given it a new dimension of life, so also we need to transform the words of the scriptures into our very life and proclaim its meaning through our life-giving testimony. In this way, we become a bible in movement. We become a walking scriptures. We become a mobile bible. As we walk along, the people must be able to see in us the Word of God, thus find the consoling and liberating force in us. Through the witness of both word and action, we need to repeat the words of Jesus: Today, the will of God is fulfilled in us as the people observe it. - We are hope of world’s salvation: One important thing to be noted in the gospel passage is this: all have fixed their eyes on Jesus, so that he would give them some solution for their hope. So also, the world, burdened by many complexes – fears, desperation, failures, anxieties for power and domination and what not – is looking at us, Christians, for the definite answer. It has fixed her eyes on the teaching of the Church. More than this, it has fixed its observation on the life of the Christians. We need to give them a solution. We need to show them the way, the truth and the life. We have with us Jesus who is himself the Way, the Truth and the Life. We need to live in the world as the instruments of life and liberation. To be an authentic means, the first thing we need to do is this: to receive the word with open heart. Only when we are full, we can share with others. Only when we are full of God’s word, we can proclaim it to others. Only when we enjoy the fullness of liberation from all the clutches of passions, we can offer some solution to those who are still in such bondage. We are God’s answer to the World’s hope and life. Such is the task we are entrusted with: a holy and challenging task. We need not fear to carry it on. In fact, it is not who are doing it but it is the same force of the God’s Word and the Spirit that makes us move further with the proclamation of Christian dignity both with the message and with the action. It is here that the Word of God Finds its Fulfillment IN US.

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - C

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – C (Is 62:1-5; 1 Cor 12:4-11; John 2:1-11) Theme: We are Called to Fill the World with the Wine of Joy, Hope and Salvation Reflection: Participation in the first sign of Jesus - First sign of Jesus’ manifestation: We are in the second Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Year C. Usual readings for the Liturgical Year C are from the Gospel of Luke. But today, we have the gospel passage from John. It is not without motive and significance. The Church invites us through this particular message to embrace the public life of Jesus and to enter into his manifestation. After the Baptism, with which Jesus has started his public ministry, Jesus set out to reveal the love of God for the humanity through his words and deeds. The first sign of this revelation, according to John, happens in the wedding celebration of Cana. The door of his divine manifestation takes place with the change of water into wine. John, unlike other evangelists, does not call it as a miracle but as a sign: sign indicates a profound reality in the external gestures. Changing the water into wine is the external gesture that indicates that God is about to realize his plan of love for man in and through Jesus, his Son. The life of man will be transformed into the wine of joy, hope and salvation. - God’s design of love is eternal: It is not only in Jesus that God reveals his love for man. Whole through the time and history God manifests his desire to be with man. From the first act of creation, in which God has created a companion for himself in his same “image and likeness”, God wills to stay with man. He wants marry the humanity. This is revealed in the continuous manner right through the centuries. Through the judges, kings and finally through the prophets God expressed his desire of love for his creature, for man and for the entire world. His desire has reached its ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh. - Wedding of Cana is the image of God’s love: Although we have been reading and meditating often this gospel passage, today we will try to give it a spiritual painting, before we enter deeply into exegetical reflection. The mother of Jesus is there in the marriage and Jesus along with his disciples is invited for the wedding. The wine is over. Mother tells to the son that they have no wine. Jesus asks the servants to fill the jars with the water. He commands them to take it and to give it to the one who leads the wedding. The guide is surprised to see the better and tasty wine and expresses it with the owner of the marriage, bridegroom. The words are important: usually, the better wine is served first and when all have drunk to the full, the less quality wine will be placed but you have left the good and better wine until the end. - Jesus is the best wine that God serves to the world: The simple passage leads us to the deeper meaning. God was serving the wine to the world. The wine is the symbol of joy, hope and salvation. God’s wine appeared in the form of the men He has chosen and sent, that is, the forefathers, the judges, the kings and the prophets. God served this wine right through the first and old alliance with his people. This wine is over. There is no wine any more. The people are in the face of sadness, desperation and perdition. God, who is faithful in his promises, comes out this time to give to the world, the most precious, ever tasteful and the best wine. The best wine that is offered to the world is Jesus Christ, His Eternal Son. It is in him, the New Wine and New Covenant, that God provides to the world the possibility of joy and salvation. Jesus reveals God’s love to the world and brings back/ buys back the prodigal bride to God by the donation of his life in the passion and through the death on the cross. This is His Hour that Jesus talks about. The hour of realizing the wedding of love between God and humanity. The hour has not come at the wedding of Cana but at the wedding of the cross. Wedding of Cana, thus, is the first sign which indicates that the True wine of love will be poured out for the joy and salvation of God’s bride, the humanity. The first sign leads to the final sign, the meeting of love between God and man in the wedding of the Cross. The Hour has come, the marriage has taken place and the mission accomplished. Jesus stands out in the world as the New and Eternal Wine that God gives for the salvation of the world. Readings: The role of Mary to stand between the Old and New Covenant - Mary in the context of God’s Wedding with the humanity: The wedding in the scriptures stands to reveal God’s love towards his people. It was already expressed in the different ways through the prophets, Hosiah (2:21-22) and Isaiah (62:1-5 – today’s first reading). His mother, He and his disciples are invited for the wedding. Mother, in the wedding the God prepares, is the knot between the Old and New Testaments. She is the connection between the two. She belongs to both the testaments: she symbolizes the end of the old and the beginning of the new. The New Testament will take place with Jesus. She is only a knot or connection because she does not belong to the Old because her life and existence is in the new. This does not mean that she belongs to the New because the New is in the Hour of Jesus. Yet she belongs to both of them: she brings down what is old and introduces it to the new. She makes possible the passage between the two. The old is to be completed in the new and the new has to find its basement and foundation in the old. Therefore, the presence of Mary in the wedding feast is important. - They have no wine: There is a moment where the wine gets over. Wine is the precious and significant thing in the wedding feast. When it is not sufficient or gets over, the feast will have a shameful ending. The first one to notice this is the Mother. She notices that the wine of the Old Testament is over. The law and the prophets have reached to the end of their service. The wine is over. The world has no wine. Mother brings the situation to her Son. The old covenant has become empty. Mother leads it to the confrontation with the new. The jars of purification now appear empty. The time of purification with the water is over. The jars of the Old Testament have served until now the humanity. The observation of the old law is exhausted. It has finally finished its term and its time and stood empty before the new. With the intervention of the Mother the interaction between the Old and the New has taken place. Now there are no more jars of water. They emptied themselves to become the jars of New Wine, Jesus. - Water is transformed into wine: With the prayerful and caretaking request of the Mother, the Son fulfills what is required for the time being, in the symbolic way: takes the water and makes it into wine. The ultimate transformation and the final change of the water into wine will take place when His Hour Comes. For now “his hour has not yet come”. Yet Jesus does what is needed. He does it. He starts it. He gives the beginning for his manifestation. The first sign will finally realized in the last sign: the Cana will lead to the Calvary. He shows that he is moving towards his hour by working the first sign. By working this way, Jesus neither rejects his mother nor anticipates his hour, as many think. He, in fact, recognizes the role of his mother who places the need of the Old Testament before him. He then realizes his mission of filling the Old with the advent of the New. No more water in the jars. They are to be filled with the wine. Not with any quality of wine. But with the best quality of wine. He fills the jars with himself – with his presence and total donation of the self. He himself becomes the Wine that God provides to the world. Water is transformed into the Wine: Jesus embraces and takes into himself all that is old – water, and transformed it into the new creation: all become persons in Christ. - The better wine is revealed and recognized: God’s revelation is in various modes, often in the little and small ways. He prefers to manifest his will to and through the last and least ones of the world and those who have no importance and recognition. The various kings and prophets of the Old Testament are evident for this. God reveals himself to the small and humble. The ultimate revelation His Son, Jesus, also has the same procedure. When Jesus is born, the first message is to the least of the village, to the shepherds. He makes himself known to the strangers and to the outside the chosen race, to the Magi which happens in the Epiphany. He reveals himself to the ordinary people in the time of His Baptism in the river Jordan. Even today, the first sign he completes, it was the great ones to whom he has revealed it. Jesus prefers to reveal it, first of all, to the servants of the feast: it is before him that Jesus works this transformation. It is from the poor and humble, who embrace the signs in faith, that the manifestation extends to the rest. Here, the servants take the “water changed into wine” to the head of the banquet. Finally, the sign is recognized and accepted by the owner of the wedding. Jesus wishes to manifest himself to the simple and poor because they are ready to listen to him and accept him. Once again Jesus reveals this truth by the first public sign he works. Now not only the servants but all know that “there is precious and better wine” amidst them. Conclusion: Our turn to change the water of man’s routine life into the wine of joyful celebration - Modern man – the conqueror of the world: It is time for us to situate ourselves in the context of the world. What is world? It is its beings: the human beings. Modern man is running and running ahead. With the technological and scientific development man is “growing” to the heights. It is true, that he is growing in knowledge and mechanism of life. He is moving forward in the conquest of many things. His life seems to be well secured. He is in the possession of comfort and luxury. His growth in the computer and his research into the science makes him busy and occupied: above all, preoccupied. He plans his time well. He systematically organizes his life. He works hard, often over time, so that he can settle in life. He was an ordinary worker. He became a master with the committed work. Now he tries to become god himself. He moves ahead towards controlling everything of the world. He wants to conquer the world and stand over it. In fact, he has the knowledge and capacity to do it. He is indeed towards the achievement of his desire: he becomes the conqueror of the world. - Yet he lacks wine – he has no wine: what is the result of man’s growing as the victor and controller of the world? He becomes a Robot. All his trust is in the machines. There is growth of the pride and selfishness on the other side. He desires to grow. If there is something hindering he does not mind to eradicate and uproot it. Often, the hindrance may appear in the form of the family. For his personal and individual growth, he keeps himself away from all these bonds and relationships. He creates his own personal world and feels himself as the master, most of the times, as god of it. Well. He has the freedom, knowledge and capacity to do it. But there is one thing lacking, Jesus reminds it: “If a man wins the whole world and loses his soul, what is the advantage”. In growing as a working machine, man forgets that he has a heart and soul: he forgets his belongingness and his responsibility as the integral being. Being content with what he is and what he has, often he puts up pretense of being happy. Being satisfied with his individual and personal growth, often he masks himself with the artificial smile on the face. He tends to cover up his stress, his worry, his inability and finally his need of the other. He acts as self-content. What happens in reality is this: he becomes an empty jar. He has no wine: the joy disappears, hope is being lost and the doors of salvation are closed. - We need to serve wine to him: The world has no wine. Mary told Jesus in the wedding of Cana. Now Jesus tells us the same. He invites us and sends us: “You are my disciples and I have filled you with the wine of my life; the world around you has no wine; the life of man has become an empty jar; there was only a water before, water of routine and distressed life; even that water is over; the life is reaching its ruin; and you fill it with the wine of joy, hope and salvation.” This is our Christian vocation. This is the task of our faith. We are filled with joy of the Lord by our participation in the act of faith. We are offered and nourished with the Word and with the Eucharist. Jesus changes our life of water into the life of wine. In fact, we are the witnesses to the beautiful and wonderful transformation. Now it is our turn to work the same miracle. We need to serve the wine to the modern man. We need to provide the moments of joy, hope and life to the world. We need to open the doors of new life – transformed life in Christ – so that the whole world participates in the joy of the wedding celebration that God works in Christ and through our faithful testimony of life. We are the bride of God’s love and we need to be the mediators of the wedding between God and the world as Jesus was. Our “hour” of testimony has arrived: let us go and accomplish the task. It is the only way for participating fully in the life of Christ. Let us be always mindful of our Christian witness: we are called to fill the Jar of the World with the Wine of Christ.

BAPTISM OF THE LORD – YEAR C (Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22) Theme: We Are Reborn In The Spirit Of The Lord Reflection: Baptism reveals the identity of Jesus: his persona and his mission - Entry into the Ordinary Time of the Year C: Today, we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus in the River Jordan. We are in the period of the fullness of manifestation of Jesus. Jesus manifests himself to his people and to the entire world. It is this self-manifestation of the Lord that we have been celebrating all these festive days, from the Nativity of Jesus right to the Epiphany. We have completed the period of Christmas with the last Sunday. Now we enter into the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical year. In fact, apart from the Baptism of the Lord, today is the First Ordinary Sunday of the Year. The special celebrations come, we enjoy them and they go away. So also the time of Christmas. Yet, the manifestation of the Lord continues. The baby Jesus has grown into an adult. He is young boy and he is now ready to take upon himself his vocation and his destiny. What is his vocation and his destined mission? It is manifested here in today’s feast of the Baptism. In a word, today Jesus is revealed to the world publicly with his Baptism and with the mission it entrusts to him. - Two testimonies for the revelation his identity: With the Baptism the identity of Jesus is revealed: his person and his mission are exposed to the world. Who is Jesus who appeared on earth and what is his task in the world? The question is answered by the two testimonies that are offered by the gospel passage of today. The two testimonies are: human and divine. Human testimony is in the person of John the Baptist and the divine testimony comes down from the heaven with three signs. Three signs are opening of the heavens, coming of the Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice that penetrates the ears of the people. Let us just have a glance at these testimonies and these signs. - Human Testimony: John the Baptist gives testimony to the coming of the Messiah and what he will do. The first part of today’s gospel is very clear in this (Luke 3:15-16). People were in the expectation of the Christ and the Messiah. They were waiting eagerly for his coming. Whenever there appears a man of God/man from God or any prophet speaking in the name of God, people think of him as the expected Christ. The same thing happened even in the case of John the Baptism. It is not they soon misunderstand these God-Sent messengers. It is only the “eagerness of their desperate cry”, the “hope in the promise of God” and their “need of liberation” that made them to see in them a savior. But John the Baptist immediately clears their doubt and answers to their anguish: “I only baptize with the water, but the one who is coming after me is stronger than me and I am not worthy of taking off his sandals; and he will baptize in the Spirit and in the fire” (Gospel). With this proclamation John gives testimony for two things: one, he says that he not the one whom they expect and wait for and two, he says that the Messiah is on the way and is very near. His testimony goes little further: the True Messiah and the Promised Christ will give baptism of the Spirit and of fire, that is the baptism of Renewed Life. It is here that John reveals the identity of Jesus: Jesus, true Christ and Messiah brings the world into the divine life of God. - Divine Testimony: There is another testimony presented in the Gospel and that is the testimony from above. It is from above, therefore from the divine will, that the identity of Jesus’ person and mission is revealed to the world. This testimony appears in the three signs: heavens are opened, spirit hovers over him and the voice from the clouds. o The first sign is that the heaven is opened. Before the appearance of Jesus on the earth, the heavens were closed because of the sin of man. The wall of separation is built with the pride of man between God and human being. The identity is Jesus is proclaimed through this sign: with the arrival of Christ the heaven were reopened and the passage is prepared for man to enter into the divine life. This is the mission of Christ. He has come to lift up man from the dust of fear and anguish to the joy to the heavens of joy and glory. o The second sign is the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. In the scriptures the role the Spirit is to lead a person to the proper vocation and destiny. Here with the coming of the Spirit upon him, after the baptism, Jesus is entrusted with a specific and particular mission. He is called and sent for offering to the world a new life in the Spirit. He is to pour out his spirit for the life of the world. o The third sign is the voice from the clouds. It is not just any voice from the heavens. It is the voice of God, the Father. How can we say that the one who speaks is the Father? Answer is clear in the words that he speaks. He calls Jesus as his Son. “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased”. The revelation is evident: Father gives testimony to the presence and the work of His Son in the world. It is in Baptism that he reveals it openly with the voice which will happen also little later in the moment of the Transfiguration. - With the two testimony of both human and divine persons Jesus is given the mission of fulfilling the loving will of God for the world. The purpose of his entry into the world is revealed in the time of baptism. It is therefore, the Baptism is the primary manifestation of Jesus’ identity to the world as he starts his public ministry. It is apt that with this Baptism that the salvation of man is initiated concretely and publicly. In Baptism – the mystery and the mission of the Trinity is revealed to the humanity - Baptism of Jesus reveals the reality of the Trinitarian God at work in every event of salvation: Our Christian faith confirms and proclaims that our God is Triune and three persons who are the ‘communion of reciprocal love’; in love three become one; theology also elaborates this truth by saying that ‘in love which is the binding force of union each person of the Trinity moves towards the other two with complete self-offering and with the total openness to be filled by others’. It becomes a play of love; in love there is total self-giving and total receptiveness; in love there are no conditions; in love there are no limits; in love there are no boundaries; therefore in perfect giving and receiving each stands before the others: because of love and it is for this reason we say that ‘God is Love’. - In every event that God intends and brings into realization there is the presence of the Triune God: in the act of creation – there is the Creator, the Word he utters and the Spirit who hovers over the waters: and we say it is an act of the Father in the Son and in the Spirit; in the act of incarnation – there is the Father who wills and makes his Son enters into the world, the Son Jesus who obeys the Father and makes himself to appear in human form and the Spirit who makes this will of the Father and the incarnation of the Son possible with his power; now in the event of Baptism – there is the Son who stands there for the baptism, the Voice of the Father who testifies him as the Beloved Son, and the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove; in this way, the Baptism of Jesus reveals the presence of the Trinity in the work of renewal of human being through the grace of baptism. - The consequence of the revelation of the Trinitarian mission in the Baptism is that each baptized person becomes a person in the Trinity: He becomes the beloved child of the Father, he becomes the brother of the Son and he becomes the agent of the Spirit’s sanctifying life. The baptized is inserted into the eternal design of God’s love. He receives a call to interior divinely life and a vocation to give testimony to the life received. It is this mission that we have received during our Baptism: to renounce the evil inclinations and to cling on to the divine power of faith. It is wonderful opportunity to recall those moment and to renew our promise of Christian faith and vocation. Let us be the spirit-filled children with whom God has well pleased - What can we carry with us – and in us – by the celebration of and the participation in this feast? We can do one thing important: we can recall to our mind the moment of our entrance into faith and carry in us the task of Christian vocation. It is with the Baptism that we are immersed in the life of Christ. We become persons in Christ. We can renew our promises of keeping ourselves away from the seductions of the evil spirits and of taking upon ourselves the armor of the Spirit of Christ. We receive the life of grace with the Baptism. We receive not only to keep it for ourselves but to share it with the others. Here is our testimony: we need to spread the fragrance of faith to those around us, with the loving words and kind deeds. The Christian vocation of being in the world as the disciples and as the heralds of Jesus is what we are entrusted with the profession of faith in Baptism. - We are no more children of darkness and followers of the Satan. We are children of God and the members of the faithful community. Thus, we are spirit-filled people. As the children of God we need to lead a life that is pleasing to God: it is possible by offering ourselves as the sacrifice of his love. As the members of the Church, we need to build up the community through the bricks of collaboration and solidarity. The Spirit within is always active. He is dynamic in his presence and in his power which will be manifested though the testimony of our life. - We have received an identity through the baptism. We are no more of this world. We do not belong permanently to this passing time and history. We are children in the Spirit. This is our identity as Christians. Our identity is revealed through our person and our vocation. When we preserve our faith then even our identity is safeguarded. If we neglect our faith, we lose our identity. If the salt loses its saltiness, it is useless and is thrown away to be stampeded. If the light loses its power to shine, it is just a thing to be dumped into the garbage. Jesus proclaims that those who receive him and follow his are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Math 5:13-16). We are his salt and we are his light. We receive this identity only through the baptism. We are not only called to faith but also enabled and empowered to be the witnesses for the taste of love and for the splendor of divine glory. We need to recognize our Christian capacity. We can do anything and everything without fear and without any hesitation, just because it is not we who do, but the Spirit who does in us and through us. - Witness in the difficult moments of life: Often the Christian vocation demands for the committed life and dedicated action. It is not so easy when the human values and above all, the spiritual qualities are losing their place both in the mind and in the heart of modern man. Yet, we need to set out to change and to call the people into the true life. Jesus has set out into the public ministry and started inviting each and everyone into the kingdom of fraternal love and the starting point for this is his baptism. Now as we renew the promises of our baptism, let us fill our mind and heart with the mission of Jesus. Let us walk along with him so that we also reach the destiny he has reached. The destiny is not the death as it appears in the first glance. But the destiny is the life of glory through the resurrection which is possible only “by dying with him”. The nature of true baptism consists in this: we take part in every single event of Jesus so that we are with him, for him and in him. This is what we are invited today to do: to give testimony to the Life of Christ in the world because we are spirit-filled and well pleasing children of God.

EPIPHANY OF THE LORD - YEAR C

EPIPHANY OF THE LORD – Year C (Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3, 5-6; Math 2:1-12) Theme: Let us read well the signs of the times and change our way/ways Reflection - Centrality of the feast of Epiphany: today we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, that is, the self-manifestation of Jesus to all the people of the world. It is an important feast for the Church that she keeps it between two great manifestations of Jesus in the world: Jesus’ self-presentation to the world in his incarnation and Jesus’ self-sacrifice and offering of new life to the world in the paschal mystery; it is for this reason, the church proclaims today the date of ‘Easter’ and all the principle celebrations around it starting from the Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Advent; in this way this feast serves as the central and connecting day of the whole liturgy of the Church; it ends with the all the manifestation of the first mystery of Jesus on earth: his birth and his presentation to the whole world as the ‘boy’ born for the salvation of the humanity; and it opens the new manifestation of the second and final manifestation of Jesus on earth: his baptism, his public life and ministry and his paschal event of passion-death-resurrection and thus, as the ‘messiah’ who offered his life to obtain new beginning for all those who follow him; such is an importance of the feast we celebrate today: we close our adoration of baby Jesus and we move towards finding the adult and matured Jesus who is ready to fulfill his Father’s will and thus manifest his unconditional love on the cross. - Celebration is perennial: Jesus’ manifestation is an ever growing and an never ending celebration; He wills to manifest himself always and everywhere there is a true need; today is the ultimate manifestation of the purpose of his ‘entrance’ into the world and his ‘indwelling’ among the people; he has already manifested himself on the day of Christmas: he manifested himself to Mary and to Joseph; he manifested himself to the shepherds in the night bringing them to himself through the message of an angel; he manifested himself to the few people of Bethlehem; - Universal significance of the feast: Now is the time to widen and enlarge this manifestation; now is the time to make this manifestation universally significant and that all people are called to participate in this revelation; now is the time to invite all to ‘follow’ and ‘to see’ the glory of God; and this is the feast of Epiphany: the manifestation of the Lord to the Magi, means wise men, from the east; Although Jesus is born in particular time, in particular place and to the particular parents, his birth is not confined to the particular people; his birth is for all; his love is for all; his glory is for all; his joy is for all; and thus his self-manifestation is for all; to his people first and to all others next; the coming of the Magi from the distant place signify that they do not belong to the elected people of Israel but belong to the section outside the chosen race; his fragrance of love permeates the whole earth; his message of salvation embraces the whole universe; his invitation to participate in the eternal joy reaches to the ends of the earth; thus this feast has a character of universality and catholicity in our particular sense; - Call to have great joy: the magi have found great joy when they have seen the star which was always a guide for them from their house to the savior’s house; today is the day of joy just as all the Christian celebrations are the moments of finding the true joy of the Lord; this joy is not restricted to some people alone; it crosses the boundaries of all spheres of life; it is an inner joy that the heart finds in ‘embracing’ the Lord born of us. - understanding the signs of the time: the wise men from the east have seen the ‘strange star’ in the sky as they are also astronomers and they have immediately understood that there is something miraculous event taking place; they have so curious and they are so overwhelmed by this star that they have followed it till the end; they had made their way to the place where it has pointed them to. It has to be same with us as we celebrate this feast. God in fact provides us many ‘signs’ and ‘occasions’ to find out his interventions in our life; we have to be attentive to these ‘little’ yet ‘meaningful’ manifestations of the Lord; this is what is for us understanding the signs of his presence; once we understand what this sign/or incident or the occasion means for us we are encouraged to follow it until we reach its final realization in our life; now let us see ‘the star’ of this particular feast for us today and what it ‘shows’ to us and where it guides us. From this particular celebration of the Feast of Epiphany we can learn at least four things in order to have the same experience of the Magi, the Wise men of the East: First: Our desire for the Lord has dominate our knowledge of him - Having a knowledge of the word of God and having a teaching of the scriptures thoroughly in the mind is not enough to have the experience of the Lord or to participate fully in the manifestation of the Lord but we need have desire for him and this desire is the fruit of the knowledge of the Lord; there it is not enough that we stop with knowing him but we move towards desiring because only in the desire we get him and only in the desire we become united to him and only in the desire we become part his life; - It is this message we learn from the attitude of the Magi today: it is in contrast to the leaders and the priests of the people of Israel; King Herod and his priests have turned the pages of the scriptures, have found the prophecies about the baby-savior born in Bethlehem and thus, they acquired the full knowledge of who, where and what of the ‘king of Jews’; but they have not moved even a single ‘step’ to go and see him; they have stopped with the knowledge they got; they are happy to find out all the references of him; they are content to guiding the magi with the exact information of the birth of the king in Bethlehem; but the fate is that ‘they have not moved’ out of their houses; they are satisfied with the knowledge of his birth; they never had a ‘desire’ to see him and to meet him; - But the attitude of the Magi is different and goes beyond that of ordinary knowledge of the priests and leaders of the locality: they too have the knowledge and they too have seen the star and they understood well what it means for them and for the world; for the world it gives the message of the new born king; and for them it gives the message of making a ‘journey’ towards him and to embrace him with all their life; once they have understood this and once they had this knowledge of the ‘king born for the Jews’ and to all they have not remained there. More than having the knowledge of it, they had desire to find out what it means and where it leads; they had the desire of becoming part of this great event in the history; they had the desire of offering their total life to the one who is born in the world and to the one which this star indicates and leads them; this is this desire that made them ‘move’ or step out from their houses and from their places; this is this desire that made them to have a long journey; though they travel for long time they are tired or they have not given it up; because the desire in them has dominated their physical fatigue and their mental knowledge; their desire to see the baby king is so great that nothing stopped them from their journey; so it is desire that goes beyond the ordinary knowledge of him; - We are called to learn this truth that ‘our knowing of Jesus’ is not enough to participate in his manifestation and we need to have ‘the desire’ to find him and to be with him and to be for him; unless we have this desire it is difficult for us to see his light and his glory; it is this desire that will make us move out of our comfort zones: like that of our house, our family, our relations and specially, our thoughts, our ideas, our knowledge and all that what is ours; it is this desire that will makes us make a ‘journey’ towards him who is our king and savior; otherwise we remain in our houses and with our occupations and preoccupations without recognizing the ‘true life-giver’ born for us; therefore, let our knowledge of the bible or scriptures has to lead us to the desire of finding him and to the desire of having him and finally to the desire of ‘being with him’ always. Second: we have to make ourselves ‘humble and small’ in front of the greatness of the Lord - The Magi are not an ordinary people; according to the tradition we come to know that they are Wise men, the astronomers who read the stars and thus, in a certain sense, they are scientists; there is also another understanding of Magi that they are kings from the east and it is known with the gifts they carry to offer to the ‘strange one’, Jesus, who is born. By this we know that they are in any not small people but ‘they are already great’ in their status and in their places; - But their attitude of making themselves ‘small’ and ‘humble’ by their leaving their royal and kingly throne and position and following a star that would lead them to the ‘wonderful event’ for the universe is noteworthy; it was in reality not necessary for them to abandon their greatness as rulers/as kings but they have still done it because they have recognized that there is born a King who is above all kings and specially, above them and their own kingdom; they have made themselves small and unworthy and in the particular manner they have so humble that they have give up their dignity and have come down to ‘glorify’ the King of kings; - Even their gestures demonstrate this virtue of their meekness and humility: let us read once again the verse 11: “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Let us observe keenly the important acts; first, they have entered into the house or the presence of the king born for the world; secondly, they have ‘seen’ him; thirdly, they have bowed down and adored him; fourthly, they have opened their bags; and finally, they have offered the gifts to him; each gesture is very significant; - This is the teaching we have to learn from these wise men: o First: let us make ourselves small and meek; we have to give up our pride and arrogance; we have to recognize that we are humans and in any way not greater than God as we always tend to be and pretend to be; we have accept our unworthiness before the great manifestation of the Lord; what are we? We are after all his creatures and the work of his hands; how can we try to dominate him or at least how can we question him and his actions; if we do not understand them let us ‘try’ at least to be ‘quite’ because we have no capacity to comprehend all the marvelous events of the Almighty for us; this is the teaching not only for us Christians but to all those who pretend to be ‘gods’ and tend to dominate the world with their knowledge and scientific experiments and with their technological enhancements; they are great things that man can do; we accept this fact that God has given the capacity and capability to the man; but it doesn’t mean that we can overtake God and take up his place; Jesus being God made himself appear in the human and much less in servant form; it is to teach us that we are small and we have to be humble before ‘appearance and action’ of God; o Second: we have to imbibe well all the gestures that the Magi have manifested so that they could really fulfill their desire by ‘embracing’ the King of kings: we have to first of all ‘enter’ into the house of God and we do it every time we come for the mass or for the prayers; entering is not enough; we have to ‘see’/or participate in what is this small baby Jesus is doing for us right now, means, every time when we come we have to ‘observe’ well the word proclaimed for us and the Eucharist given for us; entering and seeing is not enough; we have to ‘bow down and adore him’ with all our meekness and with our smallness as the wise men of today have done it; from this act of adoration come also ‘opening’ of the self, not only the shelf, opening of the heart, not only of the eyes and this will make us ‘offer’ all that we carry from our house; we carry from our house all the troubles, all the difficulties, all the sufferings and also with them, all the hopes, all the desires to be good Christians and this is for us, the gold, the incense and the fragrance; only in this way we can ‘participate’ totally in the mysterious manifestation of the Lord; Third: We have to leave the way we have come and take another way - The third point we have to learn from the Magi is that we have to return to our homes and our work and to our life itself with an ‘another way’ found from the joy of meeting the baby savior; the Magi have done this and they encourage us to follow the same; let us reflect again the last verse of the gospel passage of today: “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their country by another road” (v.12). The previous verse 11 is full of gestures of Magi in their confrontations with the baby king and the present verse 12 is the decision-prepared by an angel by which they have made their return journey in a different way; and both these verses are conjunct with a word “and” which signifies that there is a close link between the first and the second and that the first one leads to the second and the second is the fruit of the first. - The Magi were always attentive to the ‘sign’ or ‘star’: from the beginning they were following the star because they were attentive to it; now again there is God’s intervention in their decision, this time it is in the form of a ‘dream’ and yet they were attentive to heed to it; it is this attentiveness and heeding to ‘God’s sign’ which made them to save themselves and the king whom they have just embraced and adored from the furious Herod on one hand, and which made them to take a different way/another way that their return is not just like their coming but it is different because it is filled with joy of experiencing the presence of God in the world; they have changed their way; they have trodden another way; their return is quite different and joyful; - We are invited today to ‘change’ our ways of return as those of Magi; we here into the church; we listen to the word of God; we experience joy of being in His presence; this joy should be continuous; we have to carry this joy to our homes, to our lives, to others whom we meet and to our working places; this joy has to be shared; this joy has to be reaching to other through us; for this we have to return to our homes differently; it has a spiritual meaning: we have to return from the presence of the Lord to our homes/our lives with the renewed heart and transformed life; the way we have taken to church is that of ordinary and usual one; our way to God’s presence is full of hurdles and full of doubts and full of desperation; but once we participate in the glory of God all these will be transformed into the ‘hope of joy’, ‘courage of confronting the life’ and finally ‘joy of living them’. Therefore, let us change our way; let us renew ourselves; let us leave ourselves to be transformed by God; Fourth: We have to be ‘true’ and ‘authentic’ researchers of God - We enter into the last point that we can learn from the Magi today; Magi as we have already noted are not the Jews; instead, they are gentiles; they are pagans; they are outside of the house of Israel, the privileged ones of God; - But they are the ‘symbol’ for all those who search for God with sincerity and with truth: they have come all the way from their countries ‘searching’ for the one who is born to change the fate of the world; they have come from distance ‘seeking’ the true God who would be amidst his people; they have not stopped their researched; they have continued until they have found him whom they are searching in spite many doubts and many hindrances on the way; - We have to be ‘authentic’ seekers of the truth and ‘sincere’ researchers of God: we are circled by many religions and many faith and many ideologies; we are affected by lots of doubts about the presence of God and specially about his silence towards the suffering humanity; we are attacked many a time by many who come and block our faith by creating number of doubts about the scriptures, about the church, about the failures of the priests and about the failure of Christians in giving testimony of life; - When these attacks come from outside we are immediately shocked or disturbed; we feel as though our foundations were shaking; we tend to really cling on to them and their powerful images; specially, few religions who always find fault with the Christianity; it is normal that we are disturbed and preoccupied about the effect of these religious attacks; - But we need not fear them; we can make these stumbling blocks as the stepping stone for climbing upwards in our authentic research for the truth; they give us possibility to deeper our own faith and to deepen our seeking; they are the occasions for us to question our stand as Christians and to grow in the firm faith; they are the doors for us through which we enter into the reality of ‘true and authentic’ faith that will sustain us; we have to learn to treat them with respect, not with fear; - The Wise men of today’s reflection are our models and examples; they have never given up their research and their seeking; instead, they have made even the chosen people to recognize and to realize who this baby is and for whom he is born; if we sincerely seek the truth we do not give up until we find it; and seeking the truth is a process and we are still in the process; we know the Jesus is born for us and we have accepted him as our savior but as Christians; still we do not have answers for all the problems of the world; but our trial is always is there; our research is always there; the world’s technology and science and the other religious pressures give us the possibility and encourage us to ‘continue firmly’ in our seeking the truth and in growing in faith; let us learn to be sincere seekers of God; Conclusion: You/I are the star of the world - Jesus is the star of God’s love to the world; he is the light of the world as he himself manifested in his proclamation; he is the light that has shown on the people who are walking in the darkness; he is the true light in which we see ourselves clearly and thus take part in his ‘heavenly splendor’; - Church is the star of Jesus in the world and for the world; the church leads all men to the truth by its interpretation of the scriptures and by its proclamation and theological explorations of the truth: Jesus Christ - the Truth, the Way and the Life; - Each Christian is the star to the others; we have to shine in our life first with the joy and glory of God and thus we have the responsibility of throwing this light on others; we have to guide the world now; for this we have to ‘deepen our own life and faith’. - Today and Now, You are the star and we always have this vocation of being the star; and you have to guide yourself, your family, your work and your life to the manifestation of Jesus; - For all these, let us remind ourselves, let us first understand well the signs of the God’s presence and doing in our lives and change our way/ways with the renewed heart and transformed spirit and be the ‘true seekers’ of God.