SECOND SUNDAY OF THE LENT - YEAR C

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

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT - C

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

FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

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

FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - C

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

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

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

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - C

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

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