FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

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

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

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

TWELFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

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

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY - B

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

ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME – Year B (Ezek 17:22-24; 2 Cor 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34) Theme: We are detached from the world and attached to the heaven Reflection Introduction – we are on the journey towards our Christian maturity - We have in the eleventh Sunday of the ordinary time of the year. We have just retaken the path, the path towards our entrance into the kingdom of God. As Christians in the world we are always in the journey and the journey means to go always ahead in well being and in the hope. In most of the time of ordinary period the church keeps open to us the mysteries of the kingdom of God which have been already revealed in the life and action of Jesus Christ. Yet, those mysteries are still in the revelation for us and all through our life we are asked to grow in these mysteries. - As the part of such spiritual growth we have today the two parables of the kingdom of God. Jesus always preferred to explain the mystery of God’s love and His kingdom in way of parable sayings. Parable is a means of explaining the hidden meaning with the help of the content of daily life: it may be with the things that we use in our common life and it may be the simple words that we use in our daily talk and it may also be the situations of which we are thoroughly familiar. Jesus makes use of such kind of means, means very closer to the ordinary life of the people, so that they could easily catch the significance it reveals. - As we have already schematized in the theme, the common meaning of today’s readings is: that we are picked up from the world and place in the upward direction towards the heavenly bliss. In other words, we are uprooted from the soil of the world and upgraded in the spiritual aspiration so that we do not live as though belonging to the world but as if inserted into the life of grace, thus belonging to the very life of God. We will see how the readings help us to understand this truth: the truth of Christian identity of being above the world. First Reading: Small branch picked up and planted by the Lord grows into big tree - In fact, it is from the first reading that we have the fullest meaning of the theme proposed. The first reading is taken from the book of Ezekiel. It reminds the promise of God to the people of Israel that he would pick them from the multitude of nations and place them on the high mountain. The words of the prophet are crystal clear and express well the promise of the Lord: “I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain” (Ezek 17:22). - First and above all, it is the work of the Lord: it is he who makes the promise and fulfills in the time he himself appoints. The Lord has already chosen for himself a small nation through the calling of Abraham and through the patriarchs that followed him. He named it Israel. He gave it an offer of liberation through the establishment of the covenant with them: the covenant of fidelity. It is through the living of this covenant with trust and love that they would enter into the land of freedom. For this He has worked many signs and wonders both in the wilderness providing food and water for them and in the new land by providing them many victories. Though it is a small nation it was flourishing just because of the powerful hand of God. - The story did not end there and did not reach its peak. People who are chosen and called to be faithful have forgotten all that God has done for them. They have become insensitive and inactive to the words and commands of God. They have failed to live up to the conditions of the covenant. The nation has neglected its roots and its base. It has given up its author and founder. The consequence they started tasting the bitterness of failure in the battles. They started reaping the rotten fruits of suffering and scarcity of daily living. They started experience the filth of slavery and captivity. Finally, they are out of their freedom and outside of their Lord’s house. But the story of the faithfulness and mercy of God continues. The covenant is broken not by two partners but only by one. The other is still strong and faithful and it is the Lord himself. He is the Lord of mercy and God of love. Therefore, He did not leave his chosen sect to its fate. He wished to bring them back into their higher dignity and to the life of grace of the covenant. He promises to make them once again a people of his love. - It is from this promise we have the first reading of today: He will make sprout the tree of David’s dynasty. He makes this possible by uprooting them from the numerous people and from the various nations and by placing it in the high mountain as the separated people. They will become a great nation to which all come for their refuge and secure life. This promise is ultimately fulfilled in His Own Son Jesus Christ. Gospel: Not the quantity but quality of the heart that counts much - Jesus himself points to this coming of the kingdom among them in his person and the mystery of his presence of which they have to be aware of. As the content of the parables of today’s gospel reading reveal, it is not the quantity of the seed that is sown but is its quality that matters and that gives good growth. The two parables, the man who sows and the seed that is sown, have an internal unity. Apart from the common concern about the mystery of the kingdom of God, they refer both to the man and the seed. - The seed has both the capacity for growth and possibility for spoil but it certainly depends on the one who sows it for its good growth: “Kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground” (v.26). This first parable reveals the fact that the seed has the capacity to grow by itself and still, it also has the possibility of losing its identity if it is not found in the good soil. o Capacity for growth: In fact, the seed that falls in the good ground has the capacity to sprout and produce fruit but what happens if it falls on the rocky land or in the bushy thorns? Therefore, only after finding itself in the good soil it has the capacity. o Dependence on the sower: But even prior to that it does not simply depend on the seed for its growth but on the one who sows it in the tilled and prepared ground. It is the sower who takes care and makes ready the good soil for the seed. He does not want the seed to go in vain or fall in the useless soil and lose its existence. He wants its growth. - The measure of the size does not matter but the internal potency that matters: the second parable is the parable of the mustard seed which is smallest of all the seeds in size and in measure but it has the qualitative productive nature if once it is planted (vv. 31-32). It grows into a great tree so that all the birds come under its shade and find their living place. o Kingdom is a reality which is almost invisible and incomprehensible at the beginning of its entrance into the world but its final splendor will be so great that all reach to it for their spiritual security. Once it grows into the great tree of life with is arms extended, as the branches, it offers to all the protection and peace. o It has the capacity to grow just because it was planned, prepared and planted by God himself in the world. His kingdom is his renewed Covenant in the Person of Jesus Christ, whose branches of redemption are outreaching to the every corner of the world. It is in Jesus that all have the possibility of finding their personal dignity and freedom. It is in him that they find their growth in fullest sense: they realize what they are and who they are only in his rays of light. Second Reading: We are in the time of maturity as good Christians - It is the time of bodily existence: Paul recalls our daily life. He reminds how we are and how we lead our life. What we have is only bodily life. But this is not the destiny of our earthly life. The destiny of bodily is its transformation into the spiritual and eternal existence. - It is the time of exile: Paul also admonishes us to be attentive to the way of life we are living. We are not in our land. We are called to be in the kingdom of God and that has to be realized at the end of our life. Meanwhile we are in the life of transition and in the life of passage: we have to passes from the desert to the land of the living, from the exile to the freedom. - It is the time of preparation for the life of the Lord: the bodily existence and the exilic life of this earth will pass away and we will reach our final destiny and the tent that is prepared for us and that is the life with the Lord. We will be with the Lord and in the Lord. For this purpose we have to prepare ourselves daily. - How to prepare? By being always confident (v.6), by walking with faith (v.7) and by doing what is pleasing to him (v.9). It reminds us that we are in the time of preparation and in the period towards the maturity. Conclusion – We are the diamonds in and for the present world - Christ himself is the Seed of God (Word of God): o He is sown and planted into the human soil: In the incarnation and in death, he has assumed human nature and he has entered into human death. In the proclamation and in the resurrection, he has sprouted into new life. He is planted in the ground of death and he is grown into the life giving tree. o He is the seed, unknown and refused: John puts it well: “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him” (John 1:10-11). When Jesus has come to his people they did not recognize his presence, they did not intend his words and they did not understand his actions. More than their comprehension they have rejected him and put him to death. He is the neglected and rejected seed. o He is the seed, small and humble – poor and weak: Both in the incarnation and death his smallness and humility, his poverty and helplessness are manifested. He has nothing to wear and nowhere to lay his head when he came into the world, only a manger became his dwelling place. He has nothing on his body and nowhere to rest his head when he left the world, only a cross became his refuge and it was all his wealth of the world. He is the seed so small, so humble, so poor and so weak. o Yet, once planted in the ground in death he has risen/sprouted to life on the third day, he became the savior of the world and the refuse of redemption and the dwelling place of peace. Unless the seed falls into the ground and dies, it has not life. Jesus is the seed thrown into the ground and died and transformed and now became the tree of life in the midst of the garden of the world. - Church/ community of believers is the Seed of Christ and the Spirit: o Jesus is the seed of God who is thrown in the human world and who has become the tree of life. Now Jesus is the man who sows the seed in the world by his redemptive merits. The seed which he plants the present world is his Church. o The Church is the seed that is small and often unintended: Though the small Christian community has grown into powerful tree of grace in the world, still the Church is poor because all that she has she pours out to others; she is still humble because she obeys and accepts in silence all the her master’s instructions; she is still in the growth because she puts herself at the disposition of the truth, of the charity and of the solidarity. o The church is the seed, neglected and rejected: the church is often like the hidden seed because its existence is often neglected by its own members because of their failure to be faithful; the church is often rejected by the other entities which seems to be powerful and dominating with their rapid technological and scientific developments; but once it grows it is the only consolation to the world and it is the only tree of hope to which and around which all gather. - Each one of us is the seed of the Church, of Christ and thus of God: o We are called to be small and humble: Jesus assures the blessedness of the poor in Spirit (Mt 5:3). He invites his listeners to be like him meek and generous (Mt 11:29ff). Let us not regret when we are not understood. Let us not be discourages when we are not recognized. Let us lose our heart when we are openly rejected with any kind of inhibitions. In this we manifest our littleness which will grow slowly in the greatness in God’s presence. o We are in the spiritual journey towards the harvest of blessed joy: we have not yet finished our journey. We are still in the walk towards our promised land. What we have to do in this journey is contained in two things: one, we have to remember well that we are detached from this world and are placed within the divine life, and second, we have to spend all our energies, capacities and possibilities, to grow into a fruitful tree for our neighbors next to door and to all in the society.

CORPUS DOMINI - Year B

CORPUS DOMINI: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – Year B (Ex 24:3-8; Heb 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) Theme: We are the Eucharist – We are the Visible Presence of Jesus in the World Reflection: We are called to be filled with the mystery of God - We have completed the Liturgical Time of Easter with the Ascension and with the Pentecost. We are supposed to re-start and continue with the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. Though in the weekly Calendar we already started the Ordinary Time, Sundays we still celebrate the feasts of the Lord. In ordering the Calendar this way, the Church intends that we have to participate fully in the mystery of the Lord so that with the vigor of God’s presence we can continue our year. - Participation in the mysteries of Christian faith and the mystery of God is the only motive. The mystery of God is revealed or unveiled to the utmost level in the Paschal event of Jesus and in the sending of the Holy Spirit. We celebrated the paschal time and now it is time to celebrate the mysteries of God before we enter into the ordinary time of the year. Thus, we have the Solemnity of the Trinity in the last Sunday, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ today, and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the next. - With the celebration of these feasts we enter into the mystery of God so that we are transformed into testimonies of his presence to the world. Last Sunday, in the Feast of the Trinity, we have celebrated the abyss of love of God, One and Three. Today we are celebrating the Feast of Corpus Domini, as we often call it, in which we remember that the same abyss of love of God is manifested as something very near to us and as something very close to us. Love of God is made itself present to us. In other words, God made himself a person near to us and a presence amidst us. He has come so close to us so much so he offered himself to us as our food and drink. Old Covenant is perfected in the New Covenant - Today’s antiphon of the mass expresses the Lords providence: “I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with the honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (Ps 81:16). We are nourished with the finest wheat and our thirst is quenched with the honey from the rock. The verse from the Psalm reveals the truth how God has taken the side of his people in their exodus. The people of Israel had suffered a lot because of the hunger and thirst and they invoked the Lord even to the extent of testing him. Lord, who is always attentive to the prayers of his people, had fed them: he fed his people with the finest of the food – Manna in the desert and with the tastiest drink – Water from the rock. - God, who has provided their physical nourishment to his people, has willed to fill them also with the spiritual nourishment of his Word. For this He has made an alliance (a covenant) with them. His covenant with his people was marked by the blood. This is narrated by today’s first reading: Moses takes the blood, sprinkles it first on the altar and then reads out the commandments of the covenant and when people have given their consent “their amen” to what is read, he sprinkles the blood also on them so that they become part of the covenant (Ex 14:6-8). This order of the alliance, (sprinkling of blood first on the altar, and only finally on the people), shows that it is God himself who takes the initiative to call people to himself, otherwise, by themselves people cannot climb to God because of their infidelity. He wills to be present among his people and he invites people to be open to this presence. - With the sprinkling of the blood the alliance was established between God and his people. Jesus too repeats the same order. First, he reveals Gods loving will to live among his people. Secondly, he invites his disciples to participate in that love by keeping his commandments. And finally, he establishes the new and eternal covenant between God and people by offering his own blood and by instituting the Eucharist. - The covenant Jesus establishes is new and eternal because it supersedes all the sacrifices of the Old Testament and transforms them into perfect sacrifice. The blood of the goat and rams of the Old Testament sacrifices is replaced by the “very blood” of Jesus himself. No more a third element of sacrifice but he himself becomes the victim for the covenant. This makes the New Testament alliance of God in Christ as an everlasting and perfect covenant. This is the mystery we are called to participate in so that we are filled with his presence and with his power to become his carriers of his love. Memorial of the Paschal Mystery – The Fruit of Redemption - The opening prayer of today’s celebration has twofold character: what Christ has left for us – the memorial, and what we receive from it – the benefits. The opening prayer of the mass goes this way: “Lord Jesus Christ, who has left to us the memorial of the Paschal mystery in the admirable sacrament of Eucharist, grant that we adore with the living faith, the mystery of your Body and your Blood, so that we feel within ourselves the benefits of the redemption.” The first part of the prayer reveals the mystery that Jesus has left with us his presence as the memorial celebration and the second part of the prayer is the invocation of faith so that we participate in the fruits of salvation. We reflect for a while on these two aspects of the prayer. - First – the memorial celebration of the paschal mystery: The Eucharist we celebrate every time in the Church is not a repetition of the sacrifice that is offered by Jesus on the cross. It is neither a simple repetition nor a simple acknowledgment. It is not even a mere recalling to our mind what Christ has done. It is more than that. Recalling has the presupposition of forgetting. Instead, it is a memory. It is a memory in which mind is always aware of what has already happened, thus eliminating the element of forgetting of it even for a single moment. Memory is something which remains always and in all times. It is the constant living of what has already happened as if it still takes place right now. It is a commemoration of what has been already accomplished once and for all. It is the same sacrifice of Jesus once fulfilled is now continued in his remembrance: “Do this in memory of me” is the command of Jesus on which the daily Eucharist is celebrated. The mystery is already fulfilled once and for all since Jesus has done it once and for all as the Letter to the Hebrews keeps it evident: “He entered into the sanctuary, once for all, not with the mediation of the blood of rams and goats but in the virtue of his own blood, to obtain in this manner the eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12). It cannot be repeated because it is not the blood the animals that was shed and which can often repeated but it was his own blood that was poured out. He knows that we cannot repeat it that’s the reason why he asked us to do it “in his memory”. Therefore, the Eucharist is the memorial celebration of the paschal mystery. - Second – the benefits of redemption: what was left with us by Jesus is the celebration of the Eucharist. We have to celebrate it with the living faith. The prayer helps us to learn to adore the body and blood of Christ. Adoring signifies both “admiration” and “mission”. Admiration of what has been presented to us should lead us to living of it as the part of our Christian mission. The fruits of the celebration do not come to us just with the admiration but with the vocation of it. We both profess our faith and testify it with our life. Both should go hand in hand or one should lead to the other: wonder of the mystery and living of the mystery or wonder leading to the living. - What are the benefits it fetches for us: first of all, by the celebration of the Eucharist, we become the real Eucharist; we become the mystery of love; we become like the one whom we receive in it: alter Christus – another Christ. Secondly, we participate in the promises of its nutrition. Jesus enumerates the fruit of the receiving of his body and blood. In his discourse about the “Living Bread” in St. John’s Gospel, sixth chapter (54-57), Jesus assures what will be the fruit of eating his body and drinking of his blood. He describes the four fruits: the one who eats his body and drinks his blood 1) has eternal life, 2) he will be raised up on the last day, 3) he lives in Jesus and Jesus lives in him and finally 4) he lives for him whom he receives. Jesus willed that he wants to be with them and in them in the form of their spiritual nutriment. For this he wills to make himself Eucharist in which he gives his body and pours out his blood. He calls his disciples to take part in this eternal meal. But at the end of the discourse we see many people walking away from him because they did not comprehend him well. They discussed and disputed among themselves with the questions: how can he give his flesh and blood? And how can we eat his flood and drink his blood? They did not want God to be with and within them. They did not imagine that God can present himself so closely to the people: to be with them and for them. They walked out because their intelligence could not reach God’s will of making alliance with his people in the Eucharist. Thus, the fruit of redemption is this: that our memorial celebration transforms us to be the living and visible Eucharistic presence in the world. Eucharist forms Christian and Christian forms the Eucharist - Eucharist is the fountain of Christian life: there is no Christian life without the celebration of the Eucharist. The true Christian takes his foundation and his force from it as if otherwise he has no breath for his life. This is true and the testimony for this is evident from the beginning of Christian faith and life: o The First Christian Communities gathered to “break the bread” – to celebrate Eucharist – for they knew that it is the only source which keeps them united and makes them a community (Acts 2:43-47 and 4:32-37). o The earlier martyrs testified it: “Without the Sunday’s celebration of the Eucharist we cannot live” was the testimony of the martyrs of Abitene. A martyr and a saint Felix believed that it is Eucharist which makes the Christian and Christian who makes the Eucharist. St. Leo the Great wrote that our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ transforms us into the one whom we receive. o Even in our times the Eucharist has the same unconditional and unchanging effect on the lives of the Christians. It forms the Church because it is only because of this celebration that all gather together. It is the life of the Christian community. It is for this reason, Vatican II exclaims Eucharist as the fountain and peak of all the sacraments. - We participate in the mystery of Eucharist: How blessed we are for we are given the possibility of embracing the Eucharistic presence of Jesus. When we participate in the Holy Mass, when we queue up for the communion reception, we touch Jesus by our hand, we taste him with our tongue, we receive him with our faith and finally we embrace him with our heart. This is the blessedness we are endowed with through our profession of Christian faith. We practically and really Touch, Taste, Feel and Embrace Jesus the Lord. This is the mystery. Still we become part of the mystery because he hold it tight in our heart. One the one hand, it is the will of Jesus to be with us and it was his desire from the beginning; it is for this he had assumed our human nature so that he can touch us (even wash our feet) and he can make himself our food and drink (even to become our body and blood). On the other hand, we are happy to receive the call of Jesus to participate in this mystery; unlike the hearers who went away failing to understand Jesus’ words (John 6:60-71), we have comprehended well his words and professed our faith like that of Peter “Lord, you have words of eternal life” (6:68) and finally become participants of the mystery of Eucharist. - Our preparation should be adequate: In order that our participation is worthy enough of the efficacy of the mystery we need to prepare ourselves well. There are many questions we have to ask ourselves before entering into the Church for the Holy Mass: where am I going? Am I really ready to receive him? Did I really prepare myself? How is my attitude towards receiving the Holy Communion? Am I worthy and well prepared? The preparation would be adequate for the reception of the mystery only when we are able to give answers for these questions. Our preparation should be sincere and authentic because it is not a joke or a game to receive the Lord himself into ourselves. It needs high attention and spiritual purification. We may receive the communion without good adequate preparation but what happens is: the communion becomes only a white host. It will not have any effect in our life just because we have not embraced it with worthy manner. Let us be alert and let us keep watching well our attitude and our presence around the altar. What we receive in the Eucharist should not go into misuse. We cannot give the bread from table to the dogs under it, Jesus warns. His warning is very applicable if we receive the “bread of life” with inadequate behavior. - Mystery is Open to us but the question is: Are we open to the mystery in the same manner? Let us celebrate the feast but let not the feast just a celebration but A Witness of Mystery of Eucharistic Love of Jesus. Our words must become actions. Our coming into the church must become our reaching out to other. On the entrance door of one of the Churches it is written: “Let us enter into the Church to love God and let us go away from the Church to love our neighbors”. Thus, it is we who have to become the “true Eucharist” and it is we who have to become “the real and visible presence of Jesus” in the Church and in the World.

TRINITY SUNDAY - Year B

TRINITY SUNDAY – Year B (Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40; Rom 8:14-17; Math 28:16-20) Theme: We are generated in and by the Love of the Trinity Reflection: End of the Paschal mystery – Beginning of our journey of Faith in the name of the Trinity - We have completed the celebration of the Easter Time with the Solemnity of Pentecost – the descent of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are empowered and led to the truth as Jesus has promised. Jesus promised that when the Spirit comes he will bring his disciples into the understanding of the truth. Holy Spirit has arrived and rested on them in the form of tongues of fire. Fire symbolizes both purification and recreation: purification by burning what is of old nature and re-creation by making one into a new being on the other. Such work of the Spirit has already begun in the disciples. Their old nature of fear is burnt away and thus they are purified of their mind. They are created anew with the gift of courage and fortitude. And the effect is seen immediately in the preaching of the apostles and their testimony of life even to the extent of dying for their Lord, Jesus Christ. - After such a great celebration of the Paschal mystery with which we have to begin our true and daily journey, the Church admonishes us to begin the Ordinary Time of the Year by reflecting once again on the great mystery of God and his love for the humanity. As a result of this desire of the Church we celebrate in the coming Sundays, including today, the feasts of the Lord: first, the Trinity, then, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and finally the Sacred Heart of Jesus. - In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: We start, thus, this Sunday and the days in the rest of the year, in the Holy Name of the Trinity. We require such a celebration of the Trinitarian mystery because Triune God is the foundation of our faith, life, journey and our final destiny: “we live, move and have our being in HIM.” What happens when we invoke the name of the Trinity? We become mindful of the PRESENCE and EFFECT of the Three Divine Persons who is, in a mystery, the Holy Trinity. There are Three Divine Persons and all existing as one God; we may attribute and distribute particular events and interventions to each of the Persons, such as, the creation to the Father, the redemption to the Son and the sanctification to the Holy Spirit. We may do it in the human logic and human understanding, but in reality and in mystery, they are not divided and they remain an inseparable unity. Indeed, each particular event is the common act of the three persons together. Trinity in Perfect Unity – unveiled in the mysteries of creation, salvation and sanctification - We can revise once again the mystery of the unity of the Trinity in relation to the creation, salvation and the sanctification of man and the world: o in the creation, though it is attributed exclusively to God the Father, there is the presence of the Son in form of the Word spoken and there is also the presence of the Spirit hovering on the waters; o in the redemption, though it is attributed exclusively to God the Son, there is the presence of the Father in form of the Will fulfilled and Plan accomplished and there is also the presence of the Spirit which has led the Son to carry on the mission that the Father has commissioned him; o and finally in the sanctification, though it is attributed exclusively to God the Spirit, there is the presence of the Father who is the fountain of all sanctity and holiness and there is the merit of Son’s death and resurrection through which the purification and sanctification flow and to give full completion, the Spirit who sanctifies comes from the Father and the Son and therefore, there could not be the Spirit except in and through the Father and the Son. - The Trinitarian Unity is the Source for the unity of whole creation and whole humanity: o We find it hard to prove, in the human level and in the human concepts, the mystical union of the Three Divine Persons. But in the revelation of the Scriptures, both in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, we observe the presence and the effect of the united work of the Trinity with regard to the whole creation and humanity. o In the Old Testament we see the undivided design of God for the salvation of man. The whole plan of God and all the events that take place within this view go hand in hand as the many rings of the same chain. The chain is unbreakable from the creation to the intervention of God in choosing for himself a people and till the extension of the promise to whole humanity. It is the one and same mystery of God within the framework his promise of salvation. o In the New Testament we see the continuation of the same redemptive design of God. It is not something that starts newly with the New Testament but what whas already initiated by God in the form of promise is brought to its fulfillment. The only novelty is that this fulfillment has taken place in the perfect and eternal manner. But the unity of the chain continues. The will and design of God has been fully obeyed and brought to the completion (“It is accomplished” – the final words of Jesus on the cross) by the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. This is the mystery of God in the process of salvation. o In the Time between the salvation and eschatological consummation, that is in our present time of the Church, the unity of God’s plan continues. We see the presence of the Holy Spirit who inspires and sanctifies and leads all to the communion in God. Even this is not a divided mystery but the same mystery of the Old and New Testaments. Thus, the unity flows from the beginning of the creation to the ultimate end of it on the last day. This is the mystery of God in the progress of salvation. o In this way, it is the whole Trinity who has worked for the salvation of man and creation. Not just single person but the totality of the Three Persons who is the cause of creation, redemption and the sanctification. - The presence of the Trinity in the work of salvation: o The project of salvation: it is the Father who promises the savior, it is Son, who is present in every Word spoken by the prophets and it is the Spirit who is present in transmitting the word by the Father; o The Incarnation: it is the Father who has sent the angel Gabriel to Mary with the good news of salvation and blessings of grace; it is the Son who has taken human form in her womb; and it is the Holy Spirit who has come down upon her. o The Paschal event: the passion-death-resurrection of Jesus Christ: it is the Father who wills, it is Jesus who obeys and completes it and it is the Spirit who strengthens Jesus to accept and fulfill this will of the Father for the salvation of humanity. o The Pentecost: we have seen already in the last week about this: it is Father who sends the Spirit in and through the merits of Jesus Christ his, Son and finally it is the Spirit who descends to initiate his mission of sanctification of the world and leading it the Father. o The Eucharist and other Sacraments: in the Eucharist, the fountain and culmination of all the sacraments, it is the Word of the Father that is Spoken, it is the Deed of the Son enacted and it is the Power of the Spirit that effects the fruit of salvation: It is the Father who sends the word. It is the Word/Son who is spoken. It is the Spirit that speaks. Therefore, in our time, it is the Eucharist which is the fullest manifestation of the Holy Trinity and we can contact and interact with God the Trinity in our daily Liturgy. o The Church: the Church is a mystery and therefore, we can see the presence and effect of the Holy Trinity in the Church too:  Church is the People of God, the Father (the people who are chosen/elected, bought and redeemed and in a word, the people that God called for himself)  Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Son (the body which has Jesus as its Head, the Spouse who is washed and prepared by the Bride-groom for himself)  Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit (the temple in which the Spirit pitches his tent, the holy place in which the Spirit dwells, the holy edifice where the Spirit acts).  Church is One because it is Trinitarian. Church is Holy because it belongs to the Father who is Holy. Church is Catholic because the redeeming act of Jesus has universal character as he has died for all. Church is Apostolic because it is the succession that is transmitted by the power of the Holy Spirit. God in One and Three – a mystery of the Trinity - Is God one or many? in other words, Is God monotheistic or polytheistic? In the Christian Faith God is One but not monotheistic as in the Jewish and Islamic belief. Judaism and Islam believe that they only one God, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is not even polytheistic in the Christian understanding just because there are Three Divine Persons in the Godhead and each of them being God in himself, constitute only one God. This is the mystery. Mystery which remains a mystery for the human logic. Still it is mystery revealed and manifested in the Second Person Jesus Christ: o We cannot simply bypass the mystery of Trinity because Jesus himself proclaims it in his word and deed when he says that:  He is sent by the Father (it is Father who sent me and I am in the Father and the Father is in me)  He himself is the witness of the Father (I have not done what is mine but what my Father has told me to do)  He promises the Spirit who will be sent after his return to his Father; o In the baptism of Jesus once again the Trinity is revealed as it was in the Incarnation:  Jesus who has gone to river Jordan to be baptized  Father speaks about his son: “he is my beloved son, listen to him”.  The Spirit comes down on him in the form of a dove. o Therefore, if we really believe in Christ, we believe also his words and we accept his deeds with faith in which there is the manifestation of the Trinitarian God. So Our God is neither monotheistic because there are Three Individual Divine Persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit), nor he is polytheistic because these Three Persons are not three God but one God (Triune God). He is the Triune God: God in three divine persons. Trinity is Unity of Love – the only way to know him is Love - Trinity is Unity and Community in Love o Trinity is Unity: as we have reflected the Three Persons in Godhead are United just because they are in Love and they are the love; o Trinity is the Community: Three divine person, not being divided, creates the community:  Trinity is a family without borders of hatred and heredity;  He is a society without barriers of race and color;  He is a world without limits of war and aggression. In this way, the Trinity stands as a model for the family-society-world and on the whole: to the whole humanity and creation itself. o This is in the bond of Love: love is not an act of a single person; there should be at least three elements which constitute love:  One who loves (the Father)  One who is love (the Son)  The love that passes from one to the other (the Spirit) - The knowledge and understanding of the Trinity is possible only in Faith and Love: o Ideas fails because they are personal (each one has his own idea and his own background for thinking and finally the personal thinking is always limited to the self) o Philosophy fails because it is not objective (each philosophy has its reasons when the reason has limits and cannot go ahead it concludes that ‘the object’ doesn’t exist just because it is not conceivable, tangible and do not fall in the spheres of knowledge) o Theology also fails because it is only a search towards the Objective Truth (theology can really go beyond the reason and really work hard to search and can coin many words: for example : hypostatic union in the matter of Christ’s humanity and divinity; consubstantiation: to explain the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist; it is nice to see the progressive aspect in the theology but it has its limits to reach and to express the ultimate Truth) o Only Faith understands it and Only Love reaches it:  In Faith: we leave aside our own limited ideas, leave aside the philosophical reasoning, leave aside also theological failures and we can, more than knowing God in concepts and words, Adore him as he is;  In Love: as we have seen, love has no limits either personal or not even common (because majority believes it need not be true in the matter of God); it reaches beyond; it lives this moment of unity and community; - To Believer and to Love - Our immediate action and is the only secure way: o Keeping aside thinking how God looks like, how is he and where is and all (all the questions are only in the human mind; God has no questions, instead, stands as an ANSWER for all; o Living in faith and love: We are not in the capacity to come out of our own mind to understand others giving them the chance of talking. We are not in the capacity to come out of our own homes to meet others giving them the chance of entering. Still further, we are not in the capacity to sacrifice our own life to give other a chance of living. This is our human limitedness. In such a finitude of our being, how can we presuppose to understand the mystery of God and his presence and effect in us; we need to transcend our finitude and give way to the faith and to the love. - The only way we have before us is: TO BELIEVE AND TO LOVE. The faith keeps the human logic aside to give way to the embrace of a mystery. Love makes the one to totally surrender himself to the mystery without any doubt even if it costs his very life. And in Christian understanding both faith and love are the two aspects of the same coin and two realities of the same mystery. - Therefore, acknowledging that we are born out of the love of the Triune God, let us take glory only in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and glorify him saying: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end, Amen.