TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Proverbs 9:1-6; Eph 5:15-20; John 6:51-58) Theme: The True Wisdom: To Taste and See that the Lord is Good Reflection: Eucharist, the heart of the Church, gives meaning to our human and Christian life - We are still in the discourse of the “bread of life”. From last four Sundays we have been reflecting on this bread that came down from heaven. The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, is very important in the life of the Church and in the life of every Christian. That is why the Church is encouraging us to “stop for a while” on such discussion in order to penetrate ourselves deeply into its effective significance. Therefore, we still meditate from the gospel of John the nature and the importance of the bread of life. to have a glance of the past: we have initiated this discourse with the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish; from there we have come to the level of highlighting that we need to search for the bread that comes down from heaven; and from there we are asked to consume this bread, bread from heaven and bread of life, as the nutriment for the journey of our life. - Today, as the continuation of it, we enter into the most significant part of the discourse: Jesus affirms what happens if one participates in the banquet of life and enumerates the consequence and the content of the reception of the Eucharist. Even prior to that, as the introductory part, we may recall the truth that the Eucharist is the heart of the Church. It is true to reaffirm that the Eucharist makes the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist. It is for this reason that the Vatican Council exhorts: “It is not possible to form one Christian community if there is no Eucharistic celebration as its root and its hinge” (Presbyterorum ordinis, no. 6). This indicates the Eucharist is truly the heart of the Church and the Church reaps always a new vigor to be edified as a ‘community of love’. - We are called today into this house of God exactly for this: we have to create and build the community of love. We are capable of doing this because we are Christians and more over we participate in this banquet of love. We are invited to be nourished by the Body and Blood of the Lord so that we become “the edifice of love and life” to the world around. We have this task to do. Eucharist makes us enter into this sense of our life. We have the questions ever present and to which we always strive to provide answers: who we are? From where did we come? Where do we go? These questions rouse in us, not only the curiosity but also, the need for the research of what is the meaning of our life in the world. We are not animals but humans. Humans are composed of “body”, “mind” and also of “the soul”. We have body and mind and that which makes us really human is “the centrality of the soul”. We have conscience. We have heart. We have soul. Therefore, we need to answer the above question, not only with the logic and intelligence but also, and above all, with the right conscience and good heart. - Knowledge of the life eternal: we have various sciences to provide us with the reasons and the logical conclusions. But the technological and scientific developments can fully offer to the man an answer for his never ending desire of the heart? The research of the mind, the desire of the soul, the beating the heart have no end and no stoppable conclusions. The mind continues to search to the end. The heart continues to beat until its rest in some other heart. The soul desires for its eternal uplift-ment. This makes man to rise above the natural and visible reality and to search for the invisible reality of the life. In this way, man always looks above, journey higher and higher and grow not only in the body and in the mind, but also in the spirit and in the soul. Thus, he enters into the knowledge of the eternity and he desires to participate in that reality: invisible and eternal. - To put in simple words: Man is nourished by the ordinary food and drink insofar he is corporeal. He is nourished by the knowledge of the ordinary logic and science insofar he is mental. But above all, he is nourished by the truth of life, which goes beyond the needs of the body and mind, insofar he is a spirit. This final need to grow in the truth is the wisdom that give a sense and a meaning his life as a human being. In the Christian language, man is invited to ‘search for the food that gives life’ – that means in a deeper manner, that he is invited “to participate in life of Christ, the Wisdom of God for the world”. Jesus Christ: Wisdom of God for the humanity - The bread of wisdom: readings of today focus on this aspect of striving always for the bread that gives wisdom. Yes, it is true. Material bread gives health and fitness to the material life. And spiritual bread gives breath and sustenance to the spiritual life. Since man is both material and spiritual he needs both material and spiritual bread. Material bread he has to earn from his daily hard work and fatigue. Spiritual bread he has to acquit (buy or earn) from his daily attitude of faith. The balance between them is very important. He cannot forego one for the other. If he renounces either of them what happens is this: he either loses his physical health or loses his spiritual and interior calm. We may analyze little closely with the help and inspiration of the readings. - Wisdom invites us to be nourished by it (first reading – Wisdom is God’s word): We have a beautiful passage from the book of Proverbs, one of the wisdom books, and therefore, it belongs to the heart. The passage reveals that Wisdom is God’s word and action and now it acts as a person. Taking the place of a person, Wisdom has prepared a banquet. It means that it transforms itself into the common food and invites the men to be filled with it. The invitation of the Wisdom is simple: “come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have prepared” (Pro 9:5). It is not simply to taste a little. It is an invitation of the complete dinner: eat and drink. We are called to eat and drink it so that it has its ‘tent’ in us. It stays with us and in us. It makes us its own. It fills us with its nature of being wise. It takes control of us so that whatever we say or do has some sense and significance. We are around the table on which the wisdom is place in the plate. We may also choose to refuse it but on its part, wisdom has made available for us. We are given the possibility and we are open the space for it consumption. If we accept the invitation and take part in it we are filled with its taste of goodness and love. If we reject and neglect the invitation and throw away the given chance we go hungry, means, we return with the ignorance of mind and the weakness of heart. - Wisdom in the Form of Bread and Wine (Gospel – Jesus is the Wisdom of God): let us convert the above words of wisdom into our life and into our situation: Jesus is the Wisdom of God who has made himself “the bread from heaven” for us. He made himself available for us. He is the “Word made Flesh” for us. In this way, he transformed himself into the food for our nourishment. He has given the possibility to participate in his life. He has created a space for us so that we gather around his table. If we accept him with the faith we have the possibility of having life. The gospel is very keen in placing before us this truth: “Truly, truly, I tell us you: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you do not have life in you” (John 6:53). And Jesus further enumerates the four fruits of the consummation his body and blood. The first fruit of the body and blood of Christ is the Eternal Life and Jesus promises: “who eats my body and drinks my blood has the eternal life” (John 6: 54). The second fruit is the Participation in the Resurrection and Jesus exclaims: “I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54). The third fruit of the reception of Jesus’ body and blood is the continuous indwelling of Jesus in the one who receives him and the words of Jesus are: “who eat my body and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (John 6:56); Jesus pitches his tent in him and he takes his shelter in Jesus. The fourth and the final fruit is the “life through Jesus” and we have the affirming words of Jesus: “Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me” (John 6:57). The one who receives lives no more for or because of himself but lives because of the one whom he receives. Jesus becomes the ultimate point of reference for everything he speaks and does. It is in this sense that Paul also speaks of “life by Jesus” and his words give better sound: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). These are the fruits and effects of the reception of the body and blood are Jesus Christ. - Jesus intensifies the discourse of the bread by referring it ultimately to his flesh and blood, which will be offered for the humanity first of all in the Eucharist and then finally, on the cross. This is what the Church is asking us to assimilate. For many it may seem to be illogical and incomprehensible as it was difficult for the Jews to understand the words of Jesus. But Jesus gradually brings his listeners to the level of seeking and receiving the true bread which comes down from heaven. He makes the platform for the discourse with the multiplication of the bread (John 6:1-15). Slowly, when people started looking for him because he has distributed the bread, Jesus takes another step ahead and tells them to strive for the bread that does not perish (John 6:26-27). Jesus guides the crowd furthermore and tells them that the bread that never perishes is himself: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35-51). There is a gradual growth. Now he presents himself as the New and Eternal Bread that God provides to His People on their journey towards the heavenly Jerusalem. There is a development of the theme from the normal and ordinary bread to the food that endures for eternal life. Jesus until now has invited people to come to him and to believe him so that they are not hungry and thirsty. With today’s gospel, he guides his listeners to the highest step: not only coming and believing him but “eating and drinking him” (John 6:52-58). It is here that the question and the discussion have become very intensive and hard to understand. It is very easy to come and to believe but eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus does not sound well to the ears and does not reach well to the mind and finally does not connect well to the heart. That’s the reason why the Jews started disputed among themselves and wondered of what kind of discourse this could be (John 6:52). But all the more Jesus reveals the content and the heart of the discourse. The one who receives him literally eating his body and drinking his blood in the Eucharist will remain and live through him in this earthly life and will be raised up for the life of resurrection and eternity in the next life. It is this point that we have to arrive at. The Church offers continuously this discourse so that we take to the heart this content of the Eucharist. - Jesus is the Wisdom of God for humanity: Wisdom belongs, not the body or to the mind but to the heart and to the soul. It is not mere intelligence or excellence in the sciences. They are only the preliminary steps to the Wisdom because it is the highest point and it has its origin and end in God himself. Therefore, wisdom demands the opening of the heart to something above. It requires that one rises from this earthly desires and seek for the heavenly reality. It asks to strive for the heavenly will and thus will of God. In this sense, Jesus is the Wisdom of God. He strives always to fulfill the will of his Father even to the ultimate moment of “sacrificing his life” and making his life a “Eucharist” for the hunger and thirst of the humanity. Wisdom in itself is never for itself but is for others. It makes the room for others so that they have a dwelling place in it and they live a “wise” life. Wise life means that the one who receives it “lives for the will of God”. So also Jesus. He in himself is not for himself but for others. He offers everything of himself to others. He invites them to take part in it so that they too participate in the eternal life by accomplishing the will of God. Here Jesus becomes the Wisdom of God for us. And here we become the Wisdom of Jesus for the world because we receive his body and blood. Therefore, the true wisdom lies here: tasting and seeing that the Lord is good (the antiphon for the responsorial psalm). Our Task: taste and see how good the Lord is - Our daily experience of the dinner: We may start with our usual and ordinary understanding. We invite hosts into our home. We prepare for them the best food. While eating the first question we ask is this: How is it? Do you like it? Does it taste better? They are normal questions of the curiosity to know whether they are satisfied with the preparations and with the dishes. We shall try to apply this to our spiritual food. Jesus prepares a dinner for us. He invites us every time to come and dine with him. We listen to his word and ‘receive’ him into ourselves. Now Jesus asks us the same questions: my friends, how is it? is it tasty? Are you satisfied with the food I have prepared for you? When we return home from the dinner that our friends prepared we talk about it. We discuss about its taste. We share within our circle about the experience of the hospitality. But in the case of spiritual dinner we receive here in the liturgical celebration how our attitude is? Did we ever proclaim about the food that Jesus prepared for us? Did we ever give testimony of the Eucharist we have received? Did we ever share with others the taste and the experience we had in the reception of the Eucharist? These are the questions that we have ask ourselves before, during and after the Holy Mass. The kind of answer we have for these questions reveals how really we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Many times we fail to give testimony to the Eucharistic participation. It is because either we do not make good preparations to receive it or because we do not “receive him” with the worthy manner. When we fail to taste and see, we fail also to give a witness. Today Jesus is asking us “to taste and see” who he is and what he is for us. He is inviting us to be “filled and nourished” by him. - Jesus invites us to eat and drink him to the full: In the first reading we see that the wisdom builds a house on the seven pillars and invites the people to the dinner it has prepares. In our time and for our situation: Jesus is the Wisdom of God; the house he has built is the Church; the seven pillars are the seven Sacraments; the dinner he has prepared and invites us to participate is the Eucharist. We are invited to receive him to the brim of our heart. We are invited to have a good and perfect dinner so that we are satisfied completely and our hunger disappears forever. Once we are filled and nourished by “his Body and Blood” we are filled with the wisdom and we become “indwelling place of the Holy Spirit”. - Our attitude should be that of wise: when we are nourished by the Eucharist we become “filled with the Holy Spirit” as St. Paul exhorts us in the second reading (Eph 5:18). We drink the eternal wine so that we become temples of the Spirit. Therefore, we need to demonstrate a wise attitude in our life: “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise” (Eph 5:15). The wise will make use of the time well without wasting even a single minute in the unnecessary discussions (v. 16). The wise will always seek for God’s will (v. 17). They do not lose control of themselves (v. 18). They construct and edify their life of unity and fraternity with others (v. 19) and finally, they glorify the Lord always (v. 20). This should be the attitude of those who are wise. We are called and made wise because we receive the Holy Spirit and we receive him “in the Eucharist”. - Let us accept the invitation. Let us enter with joy into the house of the Lord. Let us prepare ourselves well for the liturgical celebration. Let us embrace with good conscience the word that the Lord proclaims. Let us receive with good heart and soul the banquet he has prepared for us. Let us make our own the Body and Blood we receive. Let us go out and give testimony with our life how good the Lord is and how he has nourished us with the wisdom. This is the meaning of being wise. This is the meaning of “taste and see” that the Lord is good. Let us go and be wise because we are nourished by the “bread from heaven” and by the “body and blood” of Christ from the Eternal Banquet of the Eucharist.

NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (1Kings 19:4-8; Eph 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51) Theme: Jesus is “true food” on our journey of life Reflection: From the mystery of life to the message and to the mission of testimony - We can notice that from three Sundays we have been reflecting on the “discourse on the bread of life” from the Gospel of John. The whole reflection starts with the multiplication of the five loaves of bread and two fish. It is continued with the self-affirmation of Jesus: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). He affirms this in the context of the “search of the people for the bread”. He admonishes people to search not for the bread that perishes but for the bread that remains and lasts long and the bread which only he can provide (John 6:27). While proclaiming and distinguishing between the perishing bread and lasting bread, he unveils the “actual content” and “true significance” of the whole discourse: “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41). This is the starting point for our mediation today. - From the miracle of the multiplication Jesus develops and builds up the truth that the people have to carry with them and live. The truth that finally he reveals is that he alone can give true bread and he himself is that true bread which the Father prepared and sent into the world for the eternal nourishment of the people. The destiny and motive of whole proclamation is to bring the people to this knowledge and acceptance of true and eternal bread. This is the reason why evangelist John, while narrating the miracle that Jesus has performed, elaborates and gives further message and meaning of the miracle. Miracle is not something that has happened and gone but “something that still happens in our lives”. The multiplication has been performed by Jesus and, in every celebration of the Eucharist he still performs that miracle in our lives. Therefore, the miracle has all the tenses. It has a past because it has been worked. It has a present because it is still happening. It has a future because it will take place with its eternal meaning. - The Christian life itself is a miracle because it has its beginning from God, it sustains in God and it will arrive finally to be in God. Thus, as a miracle, Christian life is a mystery. It is mystery because all life is from God from the foundation of the creation: it is the past of the mystery. Life is totally donated to man through his Son Jesus Christ in history and in time: it is the present of the mystery. The same life is not yet fully realized and it will be completely consummated only when the life re-enters into its author, God and that mystery is moving forward with the hope: it is the future of the mystery. Jesus himself, who is the ultimate mystery, reveals and realizes the true life before our eyes. The mystery of Jesus is reveals both in the “Word” and in the “Flesh” because he is the “Word made Flesh”. In the beginning he is the Word but he is not remained only the word but assumed the human nature, the flesh. The mystery of the Word is transformed into the mystery of the flesh. He is both “proclaimed word” and “broken bread”. This is what we celebrate in the liturgy of the Mass. He does not remain as a mystery which is beyond comprehension but reveals it and makes it happen in front of our naked eyes. As a consequence, the mystery is transformed into the message we listen and the mission we imbibe. - To put it in simple words, Jesus does not simply say that he is the “bread descended from heaven” and remains there. Instead, he gives the bread as the nourishment of life. we participate in the mystery with our faith and sacramental life and thus we need to live the mystery. Living the mystery means to listen to message and to do the mission. In the context of today it means this: we need to receive the true bread and we need to provide to the needy the same bread. Message and mission together make the mystery. - Christian life is a mystery: it has to receive and give and give and receive and it is a reciprocal exchange. As the reciprocal taking and giving, life is always a movement. In other words, life is a journey. It goes ahead. Life cannot take stop. When it takes a stop what happens? It becomes stagnant and it becomes unbearable. We can analyze the examples of a stream: as long as the water ‘runs forward’ it is fresh and gives energy to those who receive it and if it stops flowing, it becomes stagnant, undrinkable and moreover poisonous. Life too is like that. If it does not go forward and it finds itself stopped, there is no energy that passes. No one can have some force from it. It is like almost dead. The readings of today, in particular, the first reading puts forward to us this kind of “state of life” of the Prophet Elijah and God comes always to our aid and “makes the life move forward”. Bread God provides: Nourishment for the long and eternal life - Elijah walked for forty days – first reading: The first reading is the best example for the desperation of life from part of man and for the providence that arrive in the right for the sustaining of life from the part of God. Life is God’s gift and he alone takes it back to himself when he wants. Until then the life cannot be stopped. Although it seems to be difficult to carry forward because of the various hindrances, man is not the author and master of life. He has to push it forward until God wills it. Same situation is found in the case of Elijah. He is tired physically and but more than that he is depressed psychologically and spiritually. He is desperate because he finds himself running away for the good he has done. He is afraid because Jezebel seeks to kill him. He is rejected and thus flees for life. His flee and his run for life is so exhausting that he desires to die and he asks God for the same. His prayer is for the cease of life: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better that my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). The amount of fear and anxiety he undergoes for the good he has done is seen here. He has not done something of himself or for himself but has accomplished what God himself has commanded to him. But the result is something unimaginable: escaping for life. His words become true in every human life in one instance or the other. - He really desired that God may take his life. He really prayed that he may die. But he is not the master or author of his life. God still wants him. God still wills that he continues his mission. The mercy and providence of God reaches him in due time. Exactly in the moment of distress and fear, which is dominated by physical hunger, God sends his angel not with the sole words of consolation but with the food that energizes him. Not once but twice, an angel empowers him with his presence and with the providence. Elijah is not aware of the amount of the journey he has to make. But the angel does know. That’s the reason why, angel provides him the food for the second time telling that the journey is a long one. The important phrase is this: “He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of the Lord” (1 Kings 19:8). We can understand two noteworthy elements here: o First, the amount of the food he has taken is not the matter but ‘the food provided by God’ is important. It is God who provides. When he provides, even though it is a small portion, it is enough to complete the journey and thus a mission. Elijah has walked for forty full days with the food provided by God. He is nourished by “the cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water” but is it enough, ordinarily speaking, for the journey of forty days? But here, to Elijah, it was sufficient. It is not because of the quantity of the food but because of the power of God’s providence. o Second, the prophet is re-filled with the faith and spirit of God rather than mere material food. Once he is filled with the confidence that it is not he who does but it is God who acts in him he can re-start his journey with the enthusiasm and vigor. It is this spirit-filled ‘will’ that made him to continue his journey without counting either the days or the distance and to reach his destiny of God’s mountain. - God provides all that we need, but provides in its time: hurrying up or becoming desperate with the distrust with regard to the providence of God is meaningless. We need to believe that God provides when it is ultimately needed. He gives us the mission and he makes us move forward in the mission. If we are tired and lose courage he comes into our aid, not because we ask but because he wills. Thus, like the prophet Elijah, our mission should be ‘accomplishing our journey’ and ‘arriving at our destiny’ and ‘reaching the mountain of the Lord’. - “Who believes in me has the eternal life” – Gospel: Jesus first of all condemns the unbelief of his people. Their unbelief is manifested in their rejection of him and his words. They are not able to ‘digest’ and ‘accept’ his words. His words seem to be hard for them. “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41) is still harder to digest for their mindset. That’s why Jesus, instead of taking about the bread, immediately asks them to believe though they do not understand for now. He invites them to accept it as God’s doing. And he finally affirm that the faith, not the food alone, that saves man: “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life” (John 6:47). - Only after guiding them into the sphere of faith, Jesus says that he is “the bread of life” (John 6:48). In order to rouse in them the authentic faith he compares between the food that perishes and the food that lasts long. He makes the comparison between the manna and the bread he gives. Both are from above. Both are sent by God. Both have come down to feed the hunger of man. It is God who sent Manna and it is God who sent Jesus. Manna in the desert is to nourish the people in their journey to make them reach the Promised Land. Jesus who has come down is the bread to nourish the people in their journey to the eternal life. Comparing both, Jesus affirms the superiority of ‘his bread’ which is himself. Those who eat manna see death but those who ‘eats’ him will not see death. This Eternal Manna is Jesus himself and he says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Jesus wanted to clarify the doubt the Jews and thus create in them the faith but the things have turned to the worse as it will be seen in the further verses. - Jesus highlights that the food which he gives is “his flesh and his blood”. His bread is made available to all. He made this bread to reach to all by his ‘sacrificial death’ on the cross for all. He invites all to eat this bread so that they will the mountain of the Lord, presence of the Lord and in other words, they will “reach the eternal life”. For this, the requirement that is demanded is the faith that Jesus has made himself ‘bread of life’ for us: to believe that he is the food for our life’ journey towards our promised land, towards the mountain of the Lord and towards eternal life. Life is a journey – Jesus is our support and our food - Life is a journey: life is a journey. We are always on the move. We cannot stop or we cannot turn back in our Christian vocation. We are called to march forward towards the altar of God in this life and towards the eternal banquet in the next life. Insofar we journey we are not fixed to a particular system. Insofar we are moving we are not immersed in the same mode of life. Instead, we grow and better ourselves. Since we are the pilgrims and journey throughout, we place ourselves on the road: we are on the road to heaven. We walk ahead to climb God’s mountain and thus, we always look high and watch above. We have to keep our sight above and in high. In a word, our journey is upwards. But in the journey there is no guarantee of safe and painless life. In this journey there is a assurance that everything will be alright without any obstacles. - We climb the mountain of God and in our climbing we also look into the valleys. We try to move upwards and we experience also moments of ‘down’ in life. Our spiritual journey is always entangled within the passing moments of this life. It faces the individualism where no one is found ‘near and next’ to us and thus experiences loneliness and rejection. It faces the liberalism where everyone goes in proper way and thus experiences various psychological complexes such as fear, anxiety, depression and finally death. It faces socialism, political influences, technological attractions and with all these the journey of life takes different ‘roots’ which lead to injustice, unhappiness, perplexity, madness and finally to the state of putting end to the life. - In all these moments of darkness and un-life, the heart of man still searches for the life. Man still hopes for life. He keeps on moving forward with lot of desire for bettering the life. This ‘desire for life’ is something that makes that one to rise up and keep going forward. There are lots of ‘falls’ and lots of ‘stops’ in life. We are tempted to stop our journey. Many a time, our unbearable conditions seem to be very much powerful than our force. We face the situation which Prophet Elijah has faced during the various moments of our life. How many times we must have prayed to God to take away our life? How many times we must have cursed ourselves for the conditions we live in? How many instances there are in our life in which we wanted to end to our life without willing to live anymore? These are the moments of depression and suffering, be it physical or psychological. Exactly in these ‘obscure’ moments that God’s providence and help comes to our aid. - Jesus is our support: God does not leave us alone and drowning. He extends his hand in the right moment. Only we, as the people of hope, have to manifest faith in him and in his providence. Better examples are given to us these Sundays. Last Sunday we meditated that the people of Israel were in the same condition of losing their life for the cause of hunger and they started blaming God and murmuring against him. God has immediately promised and fulfilled an act of providence: he sent them the Manna for their journey. With that they walked for forty years in the desert. Today we have, as we have already seen, another example of Elijah who is offered food by God’s angel and immediately got up and re-started his journey and walked for forty days. In our times, we have the “true and living bread” which has come down from heaven in the person of Jesus Christ. He is our support. He stands by us. He takes our hand and rises up. He does not want that we fall down and lose our life. He has not abandoned the sinking Peter, instead, extends his hand to guide him into the boat of life. What is required of us is to come to his recourse: to seek for his help. The journey will take its start again with the support that Jesus offers to us. He does not wish that we fall short of our destiny. He asks and encourages reaching the mountain of the Lord, to the eternal presence of the Lord. - Jesus is our food: Jesus is our support because he extends his merciful look and generous help. He is not only the God of mere words and mere promises. He is the God who becomes everything for us. He becomes human flesh so that he can ‘be with us’ and this is the first act of love in the incarnation. He becomes ‘Eucharist’ – ‘offering his body and blood’ for our spiritual nutriment and this is the final act of love in the death and resurrection. The whole mystery of Jesus found in the Eucharist: he is our food. He feeds us with his body and blood (as food and water) and makes us to get up and walk so that we keep moving forward. We do not die of hunger and thirst. He invites to come to him those who are hungry and thirsty so that he could satisfy them with his own body and blood. What is required of us is to ask for it and to believe in his presence in the Eucharist. We need to participate with ‘faith’ and ‘confidence’ in the Eucharist so that we are ‘nourished’ by the word and by the food. It is the only way that Jesus has chosen in order to enter deep into our human lives: the Eucharist. Therefore, we need to journey forward and upward until we arrive at our destiny of communion with God. And Jesus is “true food” on our journey of life. Let us consume him, let us get and walk and we are not worried about either about the amount of distance or about the number of days. We can journey all through our life, facing all the valleys of life, by the power of his presence in the form of Eucharist. Let us hurry up with faith to his altar to be filled by this spiritual nourishment which has descended from heaven.

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Eph 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35) Theme: “Lord, give us our daily bread and make us a daily bread for others” – our prayer Reflection: True bread is from above - John’s Gospel instead of Mark’s: we are in the eighteenth Sunday of the Liturgical Year B. Generally we have the readings from the gospel of St. Mark for this year. But strangely we see last Sunday and today, the reading is not from Mark’s gospel but from John’s gospel. The motivation is simple. John elaborates and gives the completion to the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fish. Mark narrates it well but with the meaning of the messianic wonder. John prolongs it giving the theological meaning of Jesus becoming the “true and living bread” for the salvation of all. Therefore, the Church recommends us to have a glance of the narration of John so that we enter profoundly into its significance and make it our own. - Last Sunday – bread multiplied with the loving sharing: Last Sunday we have meditated upon the miracle of the multiplication of five loaves of bread and two fish. The content of it is: God brings into fulfillment the action initiated in faith and trust. The heroes of the miracles are Elisha in the first reading and Jesus in the second reading. Both of them did not have any doubt and worry of the small portion of bread they have or any fear whether it would be sufficient for all or not. They offered the miracle to God. They put all their trust and faith in God. They believed that they only start the action but it is God who actualizes it. God has seen their perfect praise and thanksgiving which is the expression of their faith. As a result the impossible has become possible and the small portion of bread has become sufficient and abundant. This is the content of the miracle we have seen last Sunday. The story is not complete there. The content needs to be comprehended and continued. Reflecting the miracle and glorifying God for it is not enough. It is only the one side of the coin. There is second side: the continuity. The continuity of the miracle is: We have to become the miracle worker and thus multiply our deeds of love. Each authentic believer has the Christian capacity to perform such a miracle of multiplication of love: our love has to be sufficient and abundant for all who come into our life. This is the vocation of those who participate in the miracle of Eucharist. - Today’s gospel – true bread is not from the earth but from heaven: today’s readings lead us one step ahead. They invite us to distinguish between the bread that perishes and the bread that lasts long. Jesus clearly tells the crowds not to worry about the bread that they have been filled with but work hard, with faith and charity, to accumulate the bread which gives them not momentary and temporary satisfaction but ever and eternal salvation. The bread produced and prepared in the oven of the earth, by the hands of man, is important for the material and physical nutrition. It gives strength and growth. But it has its end only in the earth. Instead, there is special and delicious bread, produced and prepared in the oven of the heaven, by the very hands of God. It is sent by God himself from above. This bread is ever lasting. It gives spiritual growth. It keeps the human spirit always attached to the Divine Spirit. This bread has no end. It remains forever. It makes the consumers to grow not only horizontally but also vertically. It makes them to reach the one who prepared it. We need to strive to earn such kind of bread so that we attain the salvation it provides. Let us observe well the readings to understand this significance. Jesus Christ: The Living Bread coming down from heaven - The readings of today invite us to consider and to conquest not only the earthly bread but also heavenly bread. They unveil the mystery of Jesus Christ as the “bread sent by the Father” to feed the redemptive hunger and thirst of the world. Jesus is the New Manna coming from heaven and he confirms it in his own words: “I am the bread of life. whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). - “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you” (Ex 16:4 – first reading): God promises to send a food from heaven after listening to the grumbling of the Israelites against him and his servant Moses. God has initiated an event of delivering his people from the slavery and to lead them to the land full of prosperity. Without much comprehension and without much preparation to face trials, they has set out in their journey. They cried out for the redemption from the Egyptian dominion. They must have thought that God guides them into the safe land without any difficult. In fact, God promised the fertile land for them in future but he never promised that they would reach it without any trials and difficulties. Nothing comes so easily. God demanded their complete trust in his action. But soon they have forgotten the demand and remembered only his promise. When they are attacked by the hunger and thirst they doubted and feared that God has forgotten his promised. They doubted his faithfulness and his promise. - God, seeing their depression and distrust, manifests his mercy and love by providing them what they need: he wills and decides to satisfy their hunger. He makes them promise of sending them food for them and he immediately fulfills it by sending Man-hu, manna, which means “what is this?” Therefore, manna, in the Old Testament, has become the sign for testing God on the part of Israel (because they have tested God), and it has become the sign of the word coming down on the part of God (because God will make his Word a new manna for his people). - The meaning of manna: “what is it?” needs more reflection: The Israelites are aware of the usual bread they eat. Now they find something different and some element unusual before them and in front of their eyes. Out of curiosity and out of wonder they ask themselves what this strange substance could be. This reveals the truth that what God sends is not an usual food but a special and extra-ordinary. Though it is not ordinary it can be consumed. For his people he has sent a food from above and thus satisfied their hunger and thirst. This is the pre-figuration of something more and definitive that God is going to do for his people: he is going to rain bread from heaven. Indeed, he rains in the appointed time: he sends his Word made Manna for his people. Jesus himself takes this event of manna in the desert and the words of Moses and gives them their completion and perfection. He demonstrates himself to be the “New and True Manna” which would satisfy the hunger forever, hunger for salvation and thus, leads those who eat it into heaven, the place of eternal life. - “I am the bread of Life” (John 6:35 – Gospel): Jesus, basing himself on the miracle of multiplication of loaves, produces a discourse of himself as the True and Eternal Bread. He knows well why the great crowds are following him and he admonishes them to work for the bread that will not fade away. He opens this discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum with the vigorous comparison: he opposes the “food that perishes” (the bread) with “the food that lasts for the everlasting life” (Word and Eucharist). He already highlights this difference in his first temptation on the mountain with the beautiful words: “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Math 4:4), the inspiration he takes from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 8:2-3). And it is for this reason God sends not an usual food but completely different food in the form of manna. And it is for this reason what Jesus provides not an usual bread but “his own flesh” (John 6:51: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh’). The antithesis of “perishing food” and “long lasting food” is also found in his earlier dialogue with the Samaritan woman. There he speaks with her about the thirst and water and makes the complete contrast between “the water which quenches the thirst” and “the spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). In this way, Jesus takes what is already prophesied and promised in the Old Testament and gives it completion in his own person. He manifests his superiority over Moses and thus not only provides bread for his people but above all, he himself becomes the bread for them. His true identity as the Word and Son of God is revealed: He is the True Bread coming from Heaven and He is the Fountain of Divine Life for whole world. This miracle happens in the Eucharist: the body and blood of Jesus provided by God for the salvation of the entire humanity. An Invitation to provide and to become the bread: “We are the manna” for the world - Eucharist – The Bread of Life Offered For All: The last thing that Jesus accomplishes in his life is “giving to the world his life”. In other words, he offers himself as the bread of life for the world. The unique and the only effect of the whole mystery of paschal event – His Passion, Death and Resurrection – is this: He gives up his Body and He pours out his Blood for the nourishment of the humanity. The institution of the Eucharist finds its ultimate significance only here. By dying and rising from the dead, he prepares a New Manna and Spring of Water, which satisfy the hunger and quenches the thirst of all those who come to him. And he calls all of them to taste the “living bread” he has given for the world. Eucharist, thus, is not destined only for some but for all. It is prepared and established in the presence of the few but it is ever extended to all. All have an access to it. All can participate in it. All have the possibility to consume it and thus, attaining the salvation it provides. Therefore, Eucharist is the “bread of life” offered for all. - Eucharist – an invitation to become ourselves “manna” for others: now as the active participants and authentic receivers of the Eucharist, we, the Christians have something more to do and something else to become: we have to provide the manna and above all, we have to become ourselves manna. We have to reach such a stage in which we can affirm that “we are the manna” for the salvation of all. We have to attain such Christian perfection in which we can confirm that “we are the food” provided by Jesus for the hunger and thirst of our community and for the people around. The body and blood of Jesus we receive in the communion transforms us to be the bread of life for others. Only that we have to allow ourselves to become such a manna with faith and with prayer. The gospel indicates such a kind of attitude: faith in him leads to the eternal satisfaction (John 6:35). - From refusal to the consummation of the bread: We are the witness for the bread we eat and the effect that produces. Our life has to be the manifestation of the Eucharist. Eucharist is not only a “participation” but also a “becoming”. For all those who do not have an access to this bread and for all those who do not eat this food, we need to be the guide and if required we need to become ourselves the bread. We have to lead them to the bread and fountain of life. For this we need to be the authentic people who prepare bread for all. Not just by our word, but by our very life, we have to invite all to consume the bread that Jesus has placed before the world: Eucharist. Eucharist is the “gratuitous food” that God provides for all. And we are that food and we are that manna and finally, we are that Eucharist. We are encouraged further by the words of St. Paul in the second reading: we have to be renewed in the mind and in the spirit and we have to cloth ourselves with the new self of Christ (Eph 4:23-23). This new self is to become like Christ. In a more specific manner, to put on new self means to be Eucharist for the world: to become sacrificial bread for our community. Only in this way, we realize our vocation of becoming the bread from heaven and the bread for all. Our faith and prayer, thus, should be this: “Lord, give us our daily bread and make us a daily bread for others”.

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (2 Kings 4:42-44; Eph 4:1-6; John 6:1-15) Theme: We are capable of multiplying the charitable works towards and for others Reflection: The Shepherd who provides the nutriment for the sheep - Last Sunday we have meditated that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and he himself calls and sends each Christian to be a “pastor” or a “shepherd” in the world and for the world. In this way, each Christian has the identity of “being chosen” with Baptism and of “being sent” with the mission of the Eucharist. The final words that the Mass offers to each participant are these: “Mass is ended, let us go in peace” or “In the name of the Lord, let us go in peace” or “Let us glorify the Lord with our life, let us go in peace” and so on. These words are not the simple words of ‘accomplishing’ the mass but they are the “invitation” of Jesus to go and spread the seeds of peace in the everyday situation of proper life. - We are nourished with the “Word” in the proclamation and with the “Bread” in the breaking. That means we are “refilled” with the loving grace of Jesus and with his own life. This “refilling” should not go without any fruit. We are “full” of the Lord since He himself has entered into us and he makes his throne in our heart. This entrance and the presence of the Lord in us, with the Eucharist, has its effect. It has its consequence. The consequence and effect is this: We have to share what we have received and we have to fill others with what we have and with what they need. This is the mission with which we are sent “from and by the Eucharistic celebration”. - That’s why we are both “called” in Baptism and “sent” with Eucharist. In other words, we are called “to participate” in the Lord through the Sacraments and we are sent “to share” the same Lord with others. This is the authentic meaning of being a shepherd in and for the world. This is the identity with which we are endowed: a shepherd is not for himself but for others and we are “not” and “never” for ourselves but for others. We follow Jesus who affirmed himself to be the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep and who confirmed it by offering his “body and blood” on the cross for the nourishment of his sheep. If we truly follow such a Shepherd we have “to do just as he has done” because he said: “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). - Each Christian has this mission of being a shepherd. Though some are elected with the special consecration for the purpose of being a shepherd, each one, by the virtue of baptismal call and consecration, has this mission. We are “filled” by the Great Shepherd and so we have to fill others as the shepherds. We are “nourished” by the Good Shepherd and so we have to nourish others as the pastors leading other to the green pastures of faith and charity. In this way, we have the responsibility of “carrying forward” the Christian vocation of ‘feeding the world’ through the same power and grace that the Good Shepherd himself fills us with. - In reality, it is Jesus himself who gathers his sheep, guides it to the ever green pastures and feeds them with the finest nutrition. He does this through the mediation: with the mediation of his chosen ‘shepherd-flock’. We are that shepherd-flock. Therefore, we have double directed mission: first of all, we are his faithful flock who listen to him and follow him and secondly, we are the shepherds appointed by him “by call and mission” to lead the “far away flock” and the “flock without the shepherd” to the greenery of faith and love. That’s why, Good Shepherd provides the nourishment for us and in turn, as the consequence of the mission received, as the shepherds, we have to provide the food for others. This is very clearly explained in the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves of bread and two fish. Let us analyze this event to enter into the deeper meaning of it for us today. Miracle of multiplication: “Giving” praise to God and “giving” bread to the people - “Praise of God” will make the miracle possible: How can the five loaves of bread and two fish be more than sufficient for the five thousand men alone? This is the question which needs to be answered. We all believe that it is one of the great miracles that Jesus has done. At the beginning itself we may affirm the phrase that “nothing is impossible to God” and positively, “everything is possible to God”. But it is only a general profession of faith. The deeper faith on the providence of God is needed: God provides the right thing in the right time to the right person. The miracle is made possible because it started “with the thanksgiving to God”. Every miracle that Jesus has done, is the event that he has done only in the name and with the glory of His Father. Jesus gave praise and glory to the Father before raising the Lazar from the death. Even in this particular instance of the multiplication of the bread the same thing happened. Jesus believed that it is the Father who does everything in him and through him and for his own glory. That’s why Jesus without holding anything to himself, offers to God the prayers and the praise. Once the whole confidence and trust is place in the name of God even the most difficult condition becomes easier: the impossible becomes possible. - Such kind of total faith in God is already prefigured in the Old Testament which we have read in the first reading. Elisha does the miracle but not in his own name but in the name of God, for he says: “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘they shall eat and have some left’” (2 Kings 4:43). This is the answer that Elisha gives to the perplexed servant. The perplexity of the servant has the reason because he knows that the twenty loaves of bread are not enough for the hundred people. He also knows that if the bread is sufficient to all, there will be murmuring and grumbling. But Elisha has always placed his trust not in himself, nor in the servant and not even in the quantity of the bread that they have. He placed his total trust in God whom he has believed. He is confident that God will provide what is required. He is confident that God can feed the plenty with the minimum. This faith and confidence is manifested in his words. If we observe well the words we understand this: he affirms that “thus says the Lord, ‘they shall eat and have some left’.” How many loaves and how many people are not the important element. The small portion of bread has become enough and more to the good number of people: the very minimum is made sufficient to the maximum number of people and what was seem to be impossible has become possible. All this is the work of the Lord for the “faith and trust” that Elisha has placed in Him. Miracle is possible because of the faith and confidence in God. - What Jesus has done is the same and more. What was prefigured in the miraculous action of Elisha is accomplished and given the complete fulfillment in the miraculous action of Jesus. The first thing that Jesus does after taking the bread is “to give thanks to the Lord” (John 6:11). He is not worried about the small number of bread and fish. He is not perplexed to see the huge number of people. He is not tensed whether it would be sufficient or not. When he asked his disciples “to give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37), he already knows the kind providence of His Father. He knows that the only thing he has to do is to offer the action into the hands of His Father. Exactly this is manifested in his “thanksgiving” to God: “Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people”. Jesus did not even wait for the miracle of multiplication. He has done what he has to do: giving glory to the Father. And he has left everything to Him. He gave only five loaves of bread and two fish to the disciples to distribute. But he gave them only after the thanksgiving and glorifying the Father. Even the disciples must have wondered what is happening. The miracle of multiplication took place only when the disciples believed in the words of Jesus and started distributing without doubting his word. Jesus believed in His Father and the disciples believed in Jesus’ word. In the first reading, the servant started giving the bread to the hundred people believing in the word of the prophet. In the Gospel, the disciples started distributing the bread to the huge crowd believing the word of Jesus. The similarity is seen well: it is faith that made everything possible and it is faith that made the miracle possible. Even in the case of catching the miraculous fish, Peter has expressed the similar faith: “Lord, on your word I will throw my net”. On the word of Jesus the disciples started distributing and the miracle took place. Therefore, the miracle is only the effect of the faith professed and manifested. The profession and manifestation of faith is seen in “offering” to God that action that has to be done with “giving praise and glory” to him. True Eucharist: A thanking in the breaking and sharing of the bread - Giving to God “the praise” and giving to others “the bread”: the “act of giving” is itself a miracle. Miracle happens when we are ready to give what is to be given without holding anything for ourselves: giving glory to God and giving goods to others. Jesus is the greatest model for this miracle and he opens for us the possibility to make this miracle. The only thing that is required is “an attitude of giving and giving-away”. We have to learn to give without holding back ‘our glory’ and ‘our desires’. We do not look for our own glory and well being but we have to open the space for others to be highlighted and to create the possible for their growth. - Eucharist – a giving of ‘thanks’ and a giving of ‘bread’: the Greek significance for the Eucharist is “to give thanks”. Jesus multiplies the bread and feeds the sheep that is hungry. He feeds them of their both physical hunger and spiritual hunger. They are physically hungry because they are with him without food for three days. They are spiritually hungry because they are “without a shepherd”. He gives them bread and the bread that nourishes all the possible hunger. He fills both hunger stomach and hunger spirit by giving them not just the bread made of wheat but by giving himself. He will affirm it little further in his discourse of the bread saying: “I am the living bread descended from heaven”. This is the actual meaning of Eucharist: he becomes the food for our life. He himself becomes the bread that is broken and shared. - Miracle of multiplication – miracle of the Eucharist: there are more similarities between the miracle of the multiplication of bread and the institution of the Eucharist. There are few gestures common to them which make the miracle possible: taking the bread, giving thanks to the Father, giving them to the disciples and a command to do the same in his memory. Each gesture has a meaning and each gesture compliments and completes the other and finally all the gestures together make the miracle. “Taking the bread” signifies that we cannot do anything with what we own but depend on the providence that comes either from God or from others: we take from other. “Giving thanks to God” means that we acknowledge the great wonder that God has done in our life and we accept the providence of God: we glorify God. “Giving them to others” means that what we have received from the providence of God is not only for ourselves but it has to be shared: we give what we are to others. Only in this “giving and sharing” the miracle of multiplication takes place and it leads to the overflow of the grace. Our task: Multiplying of our charitable works - Sharing what we have: the first Christian community is the best example for this (Acts 2:43-47). We can observe well the attitude of the believers in Christ: they sell what they have and distribute them to all, they spend the time in the temple, they give praise to God and they break the bread. They actually LIVED the Eucharist literally. They shared everything they have and whatever they have is common to all. In sharing they are united. The single individuals have become a single community because of their sharing. They are not divided but united. By giving away what they have they have become thickly related and spiritually rich. This is the Eucharistic miracle: the bread is broken to be shared by all and by sharing all become the same bread. We have to learn this kind of giving and sharing. This is possible only when we truly and authentically believe in Jesus: the faith in Jesus makes the miracle possible. - We have the capacity to multiply our good action and thus intensify our love: we are invited by Jesus to build a kingdom of love and sharing. That is the reason why, when the people want to make him a king after the multiplication of the bread, Jesus has escaped from their emotional mentality and their mean understanding and has gone to a lonely place. They looked for the king who provides the bread for them every day. Instead, Jesus wanted a kingdom in which all share their love and their life: he wills for the kingdom of love, justice and equality where the hunger and thirst is satisfied not just by “arms giving” but BY SHARING. The difference is more important between “arms giving” and “sharing”: the former is an attitude of giving out of abundance and latter is an attitude of giving out of love and justice. Today, we have the task of multiplying our charitable actions. It is true that we give arms and we make charitable deeds. It is not enough because there is still a great valley between the rich and the poor. We need to do something more. It is not just giving what is required but it is sharing. The demand is very challenging. It asks for our total foregoing at times. It looks impossible for us. But as Christians we can do miracles and we can multiply our good actions. - Faith is the basis and Love is the pillar: In the terms and language of the world it may look impossible to establish a just and equal society. But in the terms and language of Christian love it is always possible. And it is possible only with the profession of true faith and with the acts of love. True love leads us to such an extent of “giving” everything of what we are for the betterment of others. Jesus today calls us to be the shepherds who feed their flock. He invites us to nourish our brothers and sisters around us with the “ingredients of love”. Eucharist in which we partake is the “fountain of life”. We take life from it and share that life with others. Only in this way we can become authentic builders of the world of love and only in this way we become wonder workers and miracle performers. Jesus “fills” our life with this bread of love and “sends” us to provide this bread to all by multiplying our loving sharing.

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF TH E YEAR - B

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

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

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

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

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