SECOND SUNDAY OF THE LENT - YEAR C

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE LENT – C (Gen 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17- 4:1; Luke 9:28b-36) Theme: We are invited to follow the Way of Jesus to participate in His Transfiguration Reflection: A Pilgrimage towards the Future Glory - We are in the second Sunday of the Lent. We are in the preparation period for the Great Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. It is a period of Spiritual Renewal. Every Sunday/ every week, the Church offers the scriptural nourishment for our spiritual pilgrimage. Last week we have been reflecting on the desert experience of Jesus. Jesus is with his Father in prayer and fasting, in order to gather all the strength to initiate his mission. The first hurdle has come already in the beginning of his mission in the form of the famous three temptations – hunger, power and success. It is with the power of the desert experience – with the power of being with his Father and with the presence of the Spirit – that Jesus has thrown out the evil and its inclinations. We have carried with us the possibility of the desert experience of life in which we will finally win all the hurdles with the power of the Word (scriptures) and with the strength of the Spiritual Food (sacraments). We have also learnt that it is through our being with the Lord in prayer and fasting that we transform of our life of desert into the life of joy. - With the same intention of the enabling us to move forward in our spiritual walk, the Church offers us today, in the second week of Lent, the episode of Transfiguration. The main theme to which we need to turn our attention is this: Jesus is transfigured in glory and all those who follow him will also participate in the splendor of his transfiguration. The theme of the transfiguration is important in this period of spiritual renewal because it arouses in us the hope of becoming like the Lord. It provides courage to encounter the daily difficulties with the hope of receiving the crown of glory. It opens the space to realize the original dignity and splendor with and for which we are created. It also pushes us forward in our daily struggle with the hearts raised with the faith in the Lord. We are well acquainted with the details of the episode of transfiguration because we have been reading it and listening to it often. In order to enter into the spiritual significance it offers us for this Lent, we need to look at it from its contextual reading with which Luke places it. In other words, we need to understand the context of the episode of the Transfiguration. - The context – Jesus is in the mental and spiritual crisis: If we analyze what has happened in the chapters prior to the ninth chapter in which there is the story of transfiguration we can understand the context better. There are two things that disturb and agitate Jesus: the first is the tension between the Old and New Testaments and the second is the incomprehension of his identity. o The tension between the Old and New Testaments: Jesus preaches about the Kingdom of God which embraces the entire world. He reaches out to the needy and sick with the miraculous healing. He proclaims the preference of the Lord to the poor and dejected ones of the society. He invites all, even sinners and outcastes, into the salvation that God is about to bring. This is the novelty of the message of Jesus. In fact, the whole gospel of Luke has the characteristic of God’s preference for the poor. The chapters that preceded the present episode indicate the Good News that Jesus brings to each and everyone. His discourse on the Beatitudes shows the crystal clear distinction that Jesus makes preferring the poor and rejecting the rich and further he preaches love for the enemies (Luke – sixth chapter: the poor are blessed and the rich are cursed, further the love for the enemies). His acts of healing and forgiveness makes his intention evident that God wants to embrace all (Luke – seventh chapter: he heals the servant of the roman officer, brings into life the son of the widow, and above all, forgiving the woman). He proclaims belongingness to the family of God all those who accomplish his will (Luke – eight chapter: the true family of Jesus in the verses 19-21). What Jesus speaks and does is in the contradiction to the belief that the religious and political authority of his time have. They consider Jesus’ message as directed to question their power and authority. They grow in hatred towards him because of his message of salvation. The belief they have preserved until now seems to be shattered. They believe that the salvation is only for them. They feel that they are the only preferred ones by the God of their fathers in the Old Testament. With the coming of Jesus and with the arrival of his Gospel there is a tension between the Old Testament and the New. The tension arises because former speaks of God’s intervention only in the history of the people of Israel and latter invites all into the possibility of salvation without any barriers. The tension is only created with the human logic because they have failed to understand that Jesus is, in reality, not abolishing the Law and the Prophets but giving them the new meaning. Jesus is tired of the attitude of the authority, both political and religious, which is creating unnecessary tension. o The incomprehension of the identity of Jesus: Apart from the tension that has come about with the novelty of Jesus’ preaching, there is also a misunderstanding of his person and mission. It is seen as an immediate context to the episode of transfiguration. Both the people and the disciples do not understand him properly. Jesus asks the disciples about the public opinion about him (Luke 9:18ff.). The public has different opinions of him: some consider him to be John the Baptist, some Elijah and others one of the prophets. Jesus turns towards his disciples to know what they think of him. Even they have misunderstood his identity. Indeed, they consider Jesus to be the Messiah but their idea of Messiah is different. They have the idea of Glorious Messiah who will come to fight and thus establish his kingdom on earth. The disciples have only partly and partially understood his presence and his person. Jesus is tired of the incomprehension on the part of both people and his own disciples. - With the tension and with the incomprehension Jesus is undergoing a mental agony and spiritual crisis. He is tired of the attitude of all the people towards him – be it religious, political, be it common public and be it his own chosen ones. He desires to offer this critical situation to his Father. He wants to regenerate the strength amidst the discouragement and the crisis that surround him. The only way he prefers to regain the spiritual energy is the prayer. All these conditions lead him to the prayer. Jesus goes on the high mountain to pray. The prayer and all the preceding incidents that lead him to it, is the context of the episode of transfiguration. Reading: Glory and Splendor are only the Fruits of the Passion and Death - Jesus goes to pray: Gospel is clear in indicating that Jesus climbs the mountain with the three preferred disciples – Peter, John and James – to pray. His only occupation for now is to pray, not to be transfigured. With all the mental burdens and spiritual agony Jesus wants to be with his Father. It is his prayer. Prayer for Jesus is to be in the presence of his Father. Prayer for Jesus is to listen and follow the will of his Father. In prayer he pours out all the conditions of tension and incomprehension to the Father and asks for the energy of the Spirit. - He is transfigured: While he prays, he is being transfigured. The transfiguration appears here as the fruit of the prayer. When one is united with God and he allows himself to be immersed in spirit of the Lord, he becomes transfigured. He receives splendor and glory. His face shines like the sun and his garments become candid. Jesus experiences this transfiguration. He shines with the heavenly glory. The transfiguration on the Mount Tabor is only the anticipation of the ultimate glory he receives in the Resurrection, after his being disfigured on the Mount Calvary. It is revealed by the two men that stand by him in the next scene. - Law and the Prophets accompany him: Moses and Elijah appear with the glory in the transfiguration. Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the Prophecy. By their presence and conversation with Jesus they indicate two things. First, they respond to the tension between the Old and New Testament and reveal that Jesus is the One who is proclaimed and promised in the Old Testament. Second, they respond to the novelty the Jesus brings by offering himself in the passion and in the cross for the accomplishment of the salvation. Thus, they reveal both Jesus’ person and his mission. They unveil the true significance of the transfiguration. - The reaction of the Peter: The disciples are astonished with the amazing appearance of Jesus. They are also wonderstruck with the presence of the great personalities of the Old Testament. The Messiah appears in Glory. Indeed, they want and they expect for this glorious Messiah. When he finally appears to them on this mountain they could not but react to it. Peter, taking the word of all, tells Jesus: “Master, it is beautiful for us to be here”. Immediately the gospel makes it clear that he does not know what he says. It is not the first time. Peter is often inspired to speak out without knowing exactly the meaning of the words he utters. In the Gospel of Mathew 16:13-23, the unawareness of Peter of what he speaks is made clear. He receives appreciation from Jesus and immediately after a little while he receives also admonition from him. Even here in this context of transfiguration, the disciples are content with the glory. The want to be always with that glory. They do not want to come down from the mountain. They ignore the life that has to be faced down the mountain. They forget that this glory is only a momentary anticipation and soon they have to go back to the normal life. They want only glorious Jesus, not the suffering servant of the Lord. Their eyes become blind with the wrong idea of Jesus. At the same time, the reaction of Peter represent every ones overwhelming joy in the presence of the Lord. - The presence and testimony of the Father: As soon as the Old Testament figures have disappeared, now enters the Father. He gives his testimony to his Son. He reveals to the world the identity of his Son. He appears in the form of cloud. The cloud in the life of Israel signifies the presence of God. God accompanies them and guides them in the form of the pillar of cloud. Not only with his presence in the form of cloud, but also with his voice he manifests the person and the mission of his Son. The Old Testimony is over and it disappears and gives the space for the New Testimony. The New witness is the Father himself. Conclusion: Let us confront the crisis – it is the only way to the Transfiguration - We are already transfigured in Baptism: The context and the content of the episode of the Transfiguration is the spiritual nourishment for us for this Lent. We learn one important aspect from this. We are given the glance of the glory. As it is given to the disciples on the mount Tabor, it is given to us every day in the Word proclaimed and in the Sacraments celebrated. We know who Jesus is and what he has done for us through the liturgical activities. We enter into the very person and mission of Jesus for us. We become partakers of his glory. Indeed, by the Baptism we are already transfigured and given the face of Jesus. We already carry within us this identity and these sparks of glory. Yet, all this is only temporary. They only give the taste of that eternal glory for which we are waiting. - The ever-lasting glory will appear “afterwards”: We are only in the journey. We need to arrive at the point of destiny. Our Christian destiny is to participate in the fullest manner in the celestial splendor. It happens, as the Christian faith teaches, not now. We need to complete the exile of this world and only “afterwards” we receive the crown of glory. Meanwhile we can experience this glory through the prayer and through the commitment to our Christian vocation. We need to wait for this future glory. Here enters the virtue of hope. We carry on our life with the hope of final transfiguration. Until then we move forward with the faith and confidence, following the foot prints of Jesus. His way is only the way of the Cross which leads us to the grotto of the life of Resurrection. - Let us confront the crisis with the Christian Hope: The transfiguration gives us the courage to face the crisis in which we find ourselves. Our life is full of complexes: fears, mental and spiritual crisis, and every existential tension. One thing that we are still under the mountain. We need to climb the mountain for the experience of the glory. We have every possibility to confront the difficulties. We need not fear. Jesus never promises the way of roses but the way of thorns and stones. He promises the spiritual nourishment of the Christian faith to confront them with joy and hope. He has done it before us. He has paved the way for us. With him and through him we can carry our cross and travel towards the Calvary. First we need to be disfigured with the renouncement of the worldly passions and inclinations. Only then we have the possibility for the transfiguration. This is what we are invited to do in this pilgrimage of spiritual renewal: let us follow Jesus, confront our life’s conditions and climb along with him on the mountain of life to be transfigured.

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT - C

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT – C (Dt 26:4-10; Rom 10:8-13; and Luke 4:1-13) Theme: Let us enter into the desert of life and win the trials: for we are Full of the Holy Spirit Reflection Lent: Journey of the Spiritual Renewal - We are in the Time of Lent. We have just started our journey of the Lent. It is a journey because for forty day we walk towards the Great Feast of the Easter. We need to begin our journey and in fact, we have begun it with the Ash Wednesday. In the journey there will moments of joy. There will also be some hurdles which tend to block our journey and make us look back and return. As we enjoy the joyful moments, we need to face also the difficult moments. The journey has to continue in spite of numerous stops and hindrances. Our journey has to proceed further with the hope and challenge to reach the destiny. If we concentrate well on the way and get through the hurdles with courage and commitment, touching the goal is not very hard. Instead, if we allow ourselves to be attracted to the false images and either stop or turn back, we come back to the point of departure. Then, we will be no more victorious but failures. - Journey of the Spiritual Renewal: Lent is thus a journey and not a simple journey. It is a journey of Spiritual Renewal. Renewal always demands for the leaving/renouncing something and taking up something new. Lent is the time in which we need to say good bye for all the passions of the world and thus be clothed with the Spirit of Christ. Our life becomes spiritually renewed. In the season of Lent, Christ proposes, through the Scriptures the ways and means for this renewal: praying, fasting and arms-giving. Rightly, Pope Benedict XVI calls Lent as the Pilgrimage towards the Interior Life. We need to look into ourselves. We need to examine our conscience. We need to realize well our origin and our destiny. Looking into ourselves needs lot of sincere attempt and authentic research. Is it possible as our life is so much immersed in the mind-breaking sounds of the world? We need not worry. One immediate answer is this: there is a possibility. Today’s readings pave the way towards interior life with the experience of the desert. - Desert Experience Helps Us To See Within: The most effective way for the Spiritual Renewal is to look into ourselves: to turn our sight into ourselves. The Church, as every year, proposes also for this Lent, the desert experience. What is desert experience? In the language of the world, desert is a place of hunger and thirst, a place of terrible fear of losing life, a place of desperation and a place without the way out; in a word, it is place where human life is not possible. In the spiritual sense, as the Scriptures testify, it is the place of interaction, as the episode of Israel in the desert points. It is place of interaction with oneself and with God. How can this be possible? In the desert, there are two important aspects: silence and solitude. In the silence of the heart one can listen to the voice of the interior conscience. In the solitude of the life one can feel the presence of the personal Lord. In the desert there is no disturbance from the exterior life: no passions to attract and no ways to misguide. One is all alone with oneself and with God. It is the favorable time to make these two movements: towards within and towards heavens. Nothing else to do. It is a period of experience with ourselves and with God in whom we believe. It is for this reason, the desert experience – life of silence and solitude – will help to become spiritually empowered. Once, we recognize the aspect of spirit and realize the falsity of the material world, we can have the fruitful destiny. We become victorious and stand above ourselves and above the world: we are with and in Christ. This is the destiny that the season of Lent puts before us. No need to be preoccupied. We can have this desert experience because there is Our Master, Jesus Christ, who entered into this experience and come out victorious. Readings: Jesus’ Desert Experience – A Spiritual Power for His Mission - A Time of Preparation for Public Ministry: Jesus enters into the desert to experience His Father’s presence and will and to prepare himself for it. It happens in between his Baptism and the beginning of his Mission. It serves as the connecting point between two important aspects: Baptism, where he is revealed as the One with whom God has well-pleased and the Mission, for which he has come down and through which he has to reveal God’s love to the world. It is, thus, a very significant period in the life of Jesus. It is in this Desert Experience that Jesus interacts with himself for the concentration of all the spiritual power and interacts with His Father without whom he can do nothing. It is for this purpose Jesus enters into the desert to be all alone, yet with the full of the Holy Spirit. He meets his Father’s will in silence and solitude, in prayer and fasting. He does not desire anything material. He is not occupied and preoccupied with the daily food and daily living. All he desires is to be with his Father, who sustains him and leads him. It does not mean that he does not encourage any material needs. But there is a particular time allotted entirely for his Father: away from this world and to be closer to his Father. By this he reveals that everyone has to spend some time in silence and in solitude, so that he can enter into himself by which alone he knows himself; further to spend some time in prayer and fasting so that he renounces the desires of this world and enter into the world of God by which alone he knows his spiritual destiny. The desert experience of Jesus is an occasion to recognize his Figure and his Vocation: who he is and what he has to do. It is therefore, a time of preparation for the future mission which he has to begin immediately. - Entry of the Devil: Jesus is filled with the power of the Spirit and the presence of his Father in prayer for forty days. As long as he is in prayer and spiritually empowered the Devil has not entered. There is no door opened to it because Jesus is strong in the Spirit. It is waiting for its turn. It cannot and it has no capacity to disturb one who is spiritually deep and profound. It has its power only with the exterior things. His pawn can be thrown only when one is materially and physically weak. This happens exactly in the desert experience of Jesus. His interior life is filled with the presence of his Father and the joy of the Spirit to commit himself to his mission. In this context, the devil does not dare to touch him or tempt him. After forty days of fasting he feel hungry. Though in mind and spirit he is strong, he became weak in the body with the hunger. It is the time for the devil. He enters into the scene. He is unable to touch within him. He touches only what is exterior and material: the hunger. This is the time of the entry of the devil. When one is enchained with the material passions, the passage is prepared for the devil to touch. He takes the occasion and leads him completely into the world of desires and passions blurring his mind and spirit. With the same intention of obscuring Jesus from his person and mission, the devil enters to do something taking the advantage of his hunger. But when one is spiritually strong, he can win over the exterior attractions. The devil has no last word. Last word will always be of the one who is spirit-filled. This happens in the meeting between Jesus and the Devil. - The Three Famous Temptations: The devil tempts Jesus in the three highest possible ways, hunger, power and success. It is here a man falls very easily because the bundles of wants are part of his life ambition. The devil in fact waits for this moment. The one who resists these temptations with the power of the inner spirit remains untouched and un-tempted. Not that the devil does not tempt such a man. It tries to drag man from his good personality and his proper vocation. It tries and tries but if the spiritually-grown man is strong enough to continuously resist, it turns back with failure. The life of the saints is such. They are indeed put into the test. But they remain un-contaminated because they combat with the power of the Spirit. Jesus is an example for this. He fights with the clever and cunning devil with the force of the Word of God and with the Power of his Prayer. For each temptation he quotes from the Scriptures: “Man does not live by bread alone”, “you should adore the Lord your God” and “Do not put the Lord to the test.” He demonstrates that one can get through the temptations if he is acquainted well with the power of God’s word. Not three, even thirty temptations can be overcome with the power that flows through the presence and the word of God. Conclusion: We are placed in the desert of life – Let us Fight with the Spirit - In the name of Jesus we can combat the trails of life: We are sent into the world after our Baptism. We profess our faith and being with the Lord through the beautiful moments of entrance into the faith. We desire to enter into the camp of Jesus – sphere of his life and work. For this we are sent into the life. Our life often seems to be a desert. We are faced with the material hunger, mental depression and spiritual desperation. We enter into the desert of life. After our Baptism and before entering into the Christian task, we need to have the desert experience as Jesus had. It means, that we need to spend some time in prayer and fasting and in silence and solitude so that we prepare ourselves well with the spirit. Once we are empowered with the spiritual life, no attraction of the world can pull us back. We need to fear of entering to the desert. Christ is before us. He is walking ahead of us. If we follow his foot prints there is no chance for our fall. The devil may come to blur our life and our work. We can combat the temptation of the devil in the powerful name of Jesus. The name of Jesus is our weapon to win the evil. - Victory is the destiny of our Journey: Insofar we combat the temptations with the spiritual strength we never lose. We cannot but have them in our life. They come in every moment of our earthly life. They have been there from the very beginning of human life. They will be there till the end. There is no human life without the numerous temptations that make a horrible attack. They have come in the life of Jesus. They will come also in our life. They become part of our daily experience and existence. We move forwards fully armed with the power of Christ to combat them and win them. Our movement is a forward movement, towards a destiny. The destiny, the point of arrival, is not the loss of life but gain of new life. We will stand victorious because Our Master is victorious. He entered into the new life of resurrection and glory after he has encountered all the promptings of the devil, not only few minor temptation but even the passion and death. The victory of Jesus will be our victory. The glory of Jesus will be our glory. The joy of Jesus will be our joy. Finally, the life of Jesus will be our life. With Christ we combat the hindrances and in Christ we are rise up victorious over the fading powers of the devil and evil inclinations. In fact, this is the destiny we have to arrive at after our journey. The Lent will end up finally with the Easter. The mourning will end up with the joy. The desert will finally end up with the fountain of life. We need to cross through all these hurdles to arrive at the desired destiny, the Resurrection and life. With and In Christ we are always secure to emerge as victorious. With this confidence in the desert experience of Christ, we also enter into the desert of life and combat all the temptations, for we are filled with the Spirit.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – C (Is 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11) Theme: We Are Called To Be The Fishers Of Men Reflection: Preparation of the boat of faith and net of charity - Sunday of Christian vocation: We are in the fifth Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Year. The theme that can be extracted from the readings of today is very simple and yet fundamental: the call to become the fishers of men. As the consequence we are invited to reflect upon the Christian vocation and mission that we are entrusted with. Jesus calls us as he called his first disciples. His call is always to spread the good news of God’s abundant love to the world. As the fishermen we have to throw the nets of our life and catch the people in the world. To fish the people means to attract them to the Christian faith and to draw them to the salvation. - Can We? Is the question: In this context the question that we can pose ourselves is this: are we really capable of fishing the men? Are we in the state of attracting the people to the faith? Can we really proclaim the word and call to the people to the salvation offered by Jesus? These, and many such questions, emerge from the mind when we are placed with the gospel passage as today’s. Yet, we need to answer the questions. We can try responding them. If we approach from the view of our humanity and human nature, we may immediately affirm: “No, we are not capable of fishing the men”. But we have another approach: approach of faith. If we try to answer the question with the view point of our Christian faith and charity, the response will be very positive: “Yes, we can do anything in and with Jesus”. This is the correct stand point. We are human and incapable, it is true. But our story and our history does not end there. We are Christians and thus, Spirit-filled fishermen. We can cross the boundaries of human capacity and enter into the zone of Jesus where there is the Spirit who enables us to accomplish the mission of our call: we can catch the fish – we can attract the people to the faith. - Imagery Analogy of the Gospel: The world is like sea. There are various kinds of men as there are different types of fish: big and small, powerful and powerless, strong and weak, healthy and unhealthy, good ones and useless. The Christians are the fisher men. The boat is the faith. Nets are the charitable works. Fish is the people. The neighboring boats are the other faiths found in the world. A times, in fact, every time where is a catch of the fish, there is also need of the other boats to bring them to the shore of salvation. There is possibility of catching the fish by the human force and capability. But it has a limit. Sometimes there may be an instance in which the human capacity finds its boundary and stop functioning. The result will be the inability to catch the fish. There is a possibility beyond the possibility: divine providence and an spiritual force. It will certainly help the one who seeks for it. It catches up and continues the fishing from where the human strength has stopped. Its result will be above the human calculation. In the same area where the human capacity failed to do something good, it will enter and create sensation with the enormous and miraculous effect. It is only because of the divine power. Yet, the divine power needs human cooperation. Fish itself will not come out. There should be an integration of many elements for making the good catch of the fish: fishermen, the boat, the net, the human will and with all these, the divine help. - The missing of anything will be the missing of the mission: fishermen/Christians need to have the boat of faith, the net of charity, the human desire for the catching, and with all and above all, the spiritual help. If any one element misses, the entire mission of fishing will be only tiresome and futile work. The result will only be a complaint of insufficiency of human power as Peter has done in the gospel. On the other hand, if there is an openness and acceptance of the word of Jesus and the nets are thrown on the power of that Word, the result will the recognition of divine action which goes beyond our imagination. Only with this divine power we can do what is impossible for our human capacity. That divine power is with us always. Jesus assures us that divine word and help if only we acknowledge our nothingness before him. Peter has done it and we will do it and we can really become the fishers of men. Readings: God’s call needs to be accepted with liberty, with instance and with readiness - Jesus and the first disciples: Gospel reading of today contains Peter’s acknowledgment of the person of Jesus and Jesus’ transforming him into the fisher of men. It is not a direct invitation. According to Luke, the call of Peter is not so simple and general. It has a process. It starts from nowhere because in the first instance Jesus’ intention is not to call those three, Peter, James and John, into his fellowship. But slowly it grows into a personal contact between them and finally becomes an incident of discipleship. It becomes an occasion in which Jesus becomes the Master and those three become the disciples. Many things happen before the final realization of the interaction between them. The gospel denotes at least four movements which happen one after the other like a rings of the chain. It is called a movement because what happens first leads to the second which leads to the third and finally happens the fourth. The reflection on the four movements is needed for the profound understanding: - First - Each busy with his personal work: In the first movement there is no any kind of relationship between Jesus and those three fishermen. Each one is busy with his work. Jesus is there with his mission: proclaiming the kingdom of God to the great crowds who have come to listen to the word of God. The three men are there with their work: repairing the nets and preparing the boats for the fishing because they are fishermen. Each one needs to be aware of his work and has to do it with vigor and enthusiasm. There is a work each one is entrusted to do or is obliged to do in his social context. Fulfilling one’s duty is also a personal mission. This personal mission of each individual requires a need of the other which makes a meeting of the persons possible. Jesus and the three, who are with their works, move towards each other. The first step is taken by Jesus himself for the preaching of the word. - Second – Interaction between Jesus and Simon: Jesus moves towards the boat and gets into it because the crowds are pushing each and he is not at ease with the proclamation. The boat he gets into is the boat of Simon. Jesus needs the boat and he asks the Simon to go into the waters. Simon, as the owner of the boat, listens to Jesus and guides it into the sea. The first interaction between them takes place because of the need of each one of the other. Jesus needs the boat and Simon needs a passenger. The interaction becomes a dialogue between them and thus the third movement takes place. - Third – The dialogue between the two: Jesus finishes his work of preaching. He looks at Simon and starts talking to him. He reminds him of his work: fishing. He asks him to throw the net into the waters. Peter responds to Jesus: “Master, we have tried whole night for catching the fish but in vain.” He does not stop there. He continues: “But, on your word I will throw the net.” The response of Peter contain two parts. First part, he expresses his failure. Second part, he expresses his faith. What could be the reason for the manifestation of faith: “According to your word”. Peter did not see Jesus before. He did not know him. The first moment he is meeting him is just now. Where does his faith and confidence have come from. It might have come from the proclamation that Jesus was doing before. He has seen great crowds coming to him. Peter might have observed him with much surprise and listened to his words. Jesus’ words must have created in him a spark of faith. There was a growth of confidence in him as he was listening to Jesus’ words of salvation. Now is the time to express it. He immediately connects his faith to his words and says: “I will do it but only because you say.” He throws the net. There is a miraculous catch of fish which they have never seen in their life time. The three men call the other boat for help. The dialogue between them and the miracle that took place leads to the final movement. - Fourth – Denying the self and Following Jesus: If the miraculous catch of the fish creates a wonder in them, what happens to Peter after that is more dramatic and emotional. Peter suddenly becomes aware of the presence of Jesus as the Holy One and of the power of his word. In front of Jesus, the Great, Holy and Divine One, Peter feels himself a small, human and fragile. Not only that he feels himself to be that, he goes further to confess it: “Lord, go away from me for I am a sinner”. Peter who have seen a Master in Jesus in his preaching, sees a Lord in him in the working the miracle. The attitude of Peter is very inspiring one: he knows who is and acknowledges with courage before Jesus. What is our attitude before the presence of Jesus? We need to learn from Peter. We have to first of all, know ourselves – who we are and what we are. It is not enough. There is another step ahead. Before Jesus we cannot hide anything. We have to confess ourselves – with all our humanness, with all our helplessness, with all our smallness and with all our weakness. The first one we do it. We know who we are and what are our capacities and weaknesses. In the second one, we step behind because we do not want to accept and acknowledge who we are. We want to pretend to be something else. We have a lesson to learn from today’s gospel and from Peter: to know and to confess our real selves. Jesus is happy with the Peter’s attitude. In fact, he desires such a total conversion and self-denial from those who want to be with him. Peter has manifested this very soon and with the words: I am a sinner. Until now Peter acknowledged himself small and sinner before Jesus. Now Jesus knows that Simon could be the possible Peter to whom he can hand over the keys of the kingdom. Only, when Peter places himself before Jesus with the denial of his self and with the expression of his trust, Jesus tells him: “Do not fear, from now on you will be the fisher of men”. Once, Peter has received this commission, he and his relatives, James and John, leave everything aside and follow him. Conclusion: Though unexpected we need to be prepared for the call: - Call of Jesus comes in the way unexpected: The call of Peter and the first disciples, according to Luke, is not casual. It does not happen automatically. The usual fashion is this: Jesus sees the Peter and calls him: Oh! Peter you seem to be good and open. I need you. Come and follow me; and Peter, jumping with joy, follows him. No. It does not take place so commonly. It is a long process and it requires that one sees Jesus, acknowledges and confesses oneself before him, thus purify himself with the radical conversion. Once one receives such a purification from the self-life, he becomes more available for the other. Peter becomes the disciple of Jesus with the purification of the self. He accepts himself as a sinner. Jesus acknowledges it and makes him clean and entrusts to him the mission of catching the men. The same purification before receiving the call is revealed both in the first reading and second reading: the prophet Isaiah accepts that his lips and his hands are unclean for the mission and immediately there is fire which purifies him and he is ready for the mission: “Here I am Lord, send me”. The missionary is purified before being sent. The same thing happens to Paul: in the second reading, Paul accepts that he was the persecutor of Christians but the grace has come to him to purify and to prepare him to his messenger. We are also called during the time of our baptism. What happens in the Baptism? We confess that we are sinners. With the water Jesus purifies us. With the Spirit he empowers us. With the New and white vestment, the symbol of our sanctification, he covers us. With the torch of faith he sends us. We are entrusted with the particular mission. We are sent into the sea of the world. With the boats ready and with the nets prepared. We need to be mindful of this mission always. We go, not on ourselves, but on the command of the Lord. We throw the net, not on the power of our capability, but on the word of the Lord. We do not expect. The fruit is his. The fruit is abundant. There will be a miraculous catch of men. We will be able to attract the people if only we throw the testimony of life in the ocean of confusion and depression. The Call is His. The work is His. The force is His. And the fruit is His. We are only the nets in his hands. We have to be aware of this Christian vocation we are entrusted with. Jesus calls and we need to respond to it without hesitation. - We need to respond to Jesus with the freedom and without hesitation: This is the common element we find in three readings. God expresses his desire: “Whom shall I send and who can go for us?”. The immediate response of Isaiah is: “I am ready Lord, send me”. With the journey to Damascus Paul understands that it is Jesus Christ himself who is calling. He immediately responds to him with the receiving of Baptism and with the commitment to preach the Risen Christ. Peter, once he is purified, his response is immediate. He does not hesitate anymore. He expresses his desire to follow him with freedom and with readiness. So also the other two disciples – James and John. Such a response Jesus is asking from us. Today is the time to renew our commitment for the mission we are entrusted with. We take part in the mission of Christ himself. We need not worry about our situations and our failures. After all, it is not we who do but it is Christ himself who carries the vocation of catching the world through us. What is required of us only one thing: we place ourselves before him with freedom and with readiness. We need to express such willingness as Christians. There is a need for the fishing of the world. Jesus calls us to be the fishermen. Let us go out into the world with the boat of faith and with the net of love and we can meet the miracle that Jesus will accomplish through us. Indeed, for this we are called and for this we are sent: to be the fishers of men.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - C

FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – C (Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19; 1 Cor 12:31 – 13:13; Luke 4:21-30) Theme: Jesus invites us to embrace the salvation with freedom and with love Reflection: The presentation of the program of salvation - God presents his plan of saving man: We enter into the fourth Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgy. Today, the word of God invites us to accept and to embrace the possibility of the salvation offered to us. The salvation is open to us and we are only invited to receive it. We are obliged. We are not forced. God keeps his plan and work of salvation open. He calls every person to enter into it, not out of compulsion but out of committed love and personal freedom. In fact, God reveals this act of salvation, not only with the arrival of Jesus. From the beginning God loved the humanity that he wills that no one is lost. It is the plan of his love to save the humanity. He presents the program of salvation in the time and in the history: he chooses a group of people for himself, offers them the liberation both from the slavery of the enemies and from the bondage of sin and death, and finally, places the salvation open to all. For this he has elected the prophets. They have appeared time and again when the chosen people were not in the grade of accepting the word. They have made known again to them the project of God’s love and redemption, by calling them back to the fidelity to the Alliance. Whenever there is a prophet to encourage them people renew their act of faith and thus accept the God’s way. Often being preoccupied with the problems and troubles they get us against the prophet and his word and finally rebel against God with the ignorance and with the pride. They become unfaithful to him and thus they reject the possibility of salvation that God desires to offer them. - The act of salvation begins with the chosen people: God’s salvation is not only for the chosen people of Israel. God, who wants to save man/humanity from the loss of dignity and life, begins to act. For the initiation of his act, he calls a group of people through the Patriarchs and guides them through the Judges and Kings and finally promises them both the temporary liberation from the various slaveries and eternal liberation from the clutches of death. It is true that God begins his deeds of salvation with the small group. But his salvation has no boundaries and limits. It goes beyond the small group. It embraces every being in the world. This is the message God proclaimed through the prophets. Though the message is directed immediately to the Israel, it does not stop there, it is directed to the entire humanity. With the various instances God manifests his love for the world. His love for the poor, for the afflicted, for the widows, for the dejected of the society, for the immigrants and foreigners is always present through the prophetic words of the Old Testament. Jesus presents two small examples of God’s divine salvation, not only for the elected people, but for those outside. He cites from the Old Testament the two persons chosen and helped: the widow is saved from the hunger and the Naaman the Syrian is cured from the leprosy. They do not belong to the chosen people. Yet, God’s salvation is manifested to them. It show that no one can stop God’s act for those he loves and God loves every human being. John proclaims it: God loved the world so much that He sent his only Son … so that all may have life through him (3:16ff). - The gift of salvation is offered to all: Already with the presence and predication of Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, the message of salvation for all is manifested. This is what we have already meditated upon in the last week. Jesus taking the scroll of prophet Isaiah and reads from it: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, He has sent me to proclaim the good news to the poor, liberation to the prisoners, good sight to the blind, the year of the grace for all…(Luke 4:18ff). Jesus reveals that the prophecy is ultimately about himself. He reveals that this is the mission, promised by God and prophesied by Isaiah, that he has come to accomplish. The message of the prophecy is clear: God offers his love and his salvation to everyone – in particular the rejected and neglected of the society – to the entire world. Jesus confirms it in front of his people, the chosen people, declaring with the one phrase comment: Today, this Scripture is fulfilled before your eyes (Luke 4:21). He confirms that the salvation that God will for the entire humanity will be fulfilled in and through his person and his mission. It is through Jesus that God ultimately throws the light of salvation on all and invites all to respond to it with the choice of freedom and love. Readings: Message of salvation creates admiration but faces the rejection - Jesus proclaims that the promise and the prophecy of the Lord – the Scriptures – is fulfilled in his person and in his mission and that he has come to bring the good news of salvation to all. The words that have come from his mouth have created an admiration and a wonder in the minds of the listeners. His town people, his relatives and his kith and kin are taken up by the marvelous attitude of Jesus when he has read the scriptures and commented on it very briefly and more authoritatively. But the admiration of the people is soon turned into a jealousy and anger. They know who Jesus is and thus they could not accept the beautiful words to be true and authentic. They know that Jesus is one of their relations and is son of Joseph, the carpenter and therefore, for them, he is one of the normal and ordinary Jew. They could not believe how such a power comes from him and how he is able to proclaim with such an authority. They could not believe that a messenger of God can be one of them. They could not believe that the message of salvation can originate from their country. Above all they could not believe that God can act in such a simple manner because they always had the idea that the savior would be very royal and powerful and will come with the mighty army. - Wonder and rejection at the same time: It is true that there is wonder at the beginning. They would have meditated and reflection upon the God’s word, referred and proclaimed. Their wonder which is true and authentic could not last longer. Their preoccupations and their visible and tangible knowledge of Jesus have blocked their spirit of wonder to the words of grace. They made their mind victorious over their spirit of joy. They have give more importance to their minimum knowledge of their relative, Jesus. They are unable to go beyond their rapport with him and see who this Jesus could be in truth and what his words mean to them. They stopped their knowledge of him basing themselves on his father, mother, brothers and sister. Specially, the religious and political authority present for the liturgy of the word of that day could not bear the wonderful and promising words that have come from his mouth. They have perceived soon that this message is particularly against them. They thought that he is instigating his people to accept his preaching to be a call for salvation. They, the authority of the temple and the leaders of the politics, would reject Jesus soon. Further, they make the people to reject him because he is proclaiming something that is never heard before. They could not bear the message of salvation to the poor, neglected, prisoners, the blind and to the least of the society because they consider these people to be the cursed of the Lord. They could enter into the message of Jesus deeply both for the fear of authority and for the cause of the jealousy. The consequence is very clear: they reject him and his message. The wonderful message face the unanimous rejection. - Nothing can stop the message of salvation: Jesus knows that he is rejected and he accepts it and affirms it: no prophet is accepted in his home town. He is not discouraged. He has not lost his heart. He knows that this situation is not only with him but even prior to him many prophets were rejected and punished. Yet, he continues his mission. Knowing their plot to destroy him he passes among them and goes on his way. If these people reject, there will be some other people who will certainly accept his message. He leaves his home town to preach the good news of God’s love to others. Message of salvation may face rejection but it cannot be stopped. Its presence and its power is beyond any human impediment. It is a will and an act of God. Nobody can stop it, though they may reject it personally. The first reading presents both the call of Jeremiah and his mission which will face the same rejection from the people. But the messenger has to continue with his mission. The message has to be proclaimed anyway. God promises to Jeremiah that it is His Loving Plan: It is I who have known you, it is I who have called you and it is I who have stabilized you to be my messenger and therefore do not have any fear but preach the message and I will be with you until the end (first reading – God promises his presence with the messenger). So, the message of salvation is always in continuous process of reaching the people, in spite of its acceptance or rejection by them. One thing is evident here: God’s salvation is offered to all as a gift and God continuously invites the people to accept it with the freedom and with love. Conclusion: What are we doing? Accept or Reject? - Let my mouth speak of your wonderful deeds (Responsorial psalm): In the responsorial psalm of today we have responded with the words: my mouth speaks of your marvels o Lord. God’s word comes to us read and proclaimed. How often we are paying attention to it? How do we embrace the word and carry with us its meaning? We come to the Church and the celebrations. We say the prayers. We sing the songs. Are we really aware of what we are doing? We have greatly repeated the words of the responsorial psalm. How many time we have allowed our mouth to speak of the words and deeds of the Lord? If we merely say the words without entering into relevance for us, what do we learn from it? Before the word proclaimed we are confronted with an answer from us. We cannot remain indifferent to the invitation of the Word of God. We need to respond to it: either we accept it or we reject it. We do not have any other way. The third way is to be pretending only. The pretense is more dangerous than rejection. Yet the message of God is facing more pretension that acceptance or rejection. - Rejection of salvation by outsiders: If the word is not heard the situation can be understood. But once the word is made known, once Jesus has extended his call, no one can stay untouched and un-responded. There are those in the world who do not believe in God, who do not believe in any other religion and those who do not want to enter into the question of God at all. They already reject the possibility of salvation offered to them by Jesus. They do not pretend to believe. They are quite clear that they do not want to entertain any idea of this kind. Whatever may be the reason they stay outside the circle of God. Yet the story can have a different angle. They have still the possibility of obtaining salvation by their good human values in which they live for others with love. At least indirectly they sow the seeds of goodness and thus they, who do not speak of God publicly but practice the virtue of charity, have an entrance into the salvation. - Rejection within the believing community: The word is proclaimed and there are few who accept it and live it with dedication and commitment undergoing lot of sacrifice and insults. They are already within the circles of salvation. They are the faithful believing community. There is also dangerous situation in the believing community itself. Often, we are not excepted, the rejection of God’s word appears inside the Church. It is more dangerous because it is neither acceptance nor rejection, but pretension. We cannot know the mind and attitude of those who pretend. So also very often we listen to the word, we accept it because it is marvelous and beautiful like the community of Nazareth. But we do not live it because it demands the total change of our life. It asks for the renounce of what we have – indeed, what we are – and to take up what is of Christ. Until Jesus and his word does not disturb our daily life and our earthly and material wants, we are fine. Once Jesus asks more from us – little more time for prayer, little more spice of love in the works, little more commitment for the Christian testimony – we feel disturbed and we feel somehow demanded more. In such a situation of discomfort we conveniently keep ourselves away from the Lord and the celebration of the Church. We do not say that we do not believe. We neither accept that we are totally committed Christians. We only escape. We only pretend. For this, we come to the Church as an obligation. God never obliges us. We want to pacify God. It is really a situation of pretense. We may pretend with the fellow beings, not with God. we cannot escape his eye. He leaves us for our freedom: we may accept him with love or we may reject him with the want of the world. The decision is in our hands. - Let us renew our attitude towards the salvation proclaimed: It is true that we are in the constant struggle to be the good and authentic Christians. It is also true that there is an interior tension between our desire for God on the one hand and our incapacities to rise above our daily troubles. Often we demonstrate a great quest for the spiritual enrichment yet finding ourselves falling to the ground before our human needs. We have the spirit of living up to the word of God, yet often we lose control of ourselves with the passions of the world. As long as we maintain a true interior struggle we are still on the way towards attaining the salvation. God’s Word comes down to us both in the form of the Scriptures and in the form of the Sacrament exactly for this: to strengthen and empower us to be authentic spiritual pilgrims. Jesus invites us to renew our attitude towards the message of salvation. It has to be constant and daily task. We are not be satisfied and content with the few prayers we recite and with the small works we accomplish. There is still a long way to go. But if we continuously try without turning back we are sure to reach. God once again promises us his ever presence with us. Jesus always sustains us with his word and bread. The Spirit is always guides us as the light towards the Christian destiny. The only thing needed from our part is this: we get from the fall, renew our spirit, put on the armor of faith and love, and keep on walking towards destiny. The Christian assurance is there always with us: nothing and nobody can stop us from the salvation if only we take up the footsteps of Jesus, the savior. Therefore, let us embrace the gift of salvation with freedom and love.