Citius, Altius, Fortius : Olympics In Jesus' Times

The London games are still a couple of days away and the first medals are yet to be won but any Christian worth his salt would know that the fight for a podium finish is not a new one but one that is at least 2000 years old. 

Today , The Church celebrates the feast of  St. James (Apostle & Martyr). James was the brother of John, another apostle of Christ. Holy scriptures tell us in Mark 10:35-45  the story of how these two brothers filled with ambitions of wane glory approached the Lord requesting for a official position to the right & left of Christ, once the Lord would establish His Kingdom. Now in Olympic parlance, the winner is at the centre, the silver medal winner is to the right of the  Gold medal winner and the bronze medal winner to the left of the Gold winner. So effectively, these two assumed themselves to be the next best after Jesus and had probably begun romancing the idea of succeeding Christ and inheriting His kingdom. Obviously, they had no clue of what they were asking for. There is no point blaming these two, the other 10 apostles were no different. Though they did not demand positions or designations, they were blinded by jealousy and competitive spirit. They must have muttered amongst themselves “How dare these two ask of such a high favour from the Lord, do they think we are not as good as them or do they think we are dead?" Insecure at the thought of their other brothers taking prime positions in the kingdom (the reality of which they had no clue of) must have made their inner being writhe with avarice. Perhaps, the thought of losing a race, which never existed, was too much to bear. 

The good Lord knowing well what was going on in the feeble minds of the ten calls them and ends up giving them one of the most avoided teachings of Christianity today. Those who want to be first in heaven will have to come last here on Earth and those who want to be great in the Kingdom will have to become the least in this world. There is a paradox in here. Sure enough, Christianity is religion of many paradoxes. I mean where else do you get a God who out of sheer love for His creation, comes down to become man and dies for His people. Where else do we get a God, who not only takes our sins away but also forgives them all. He erases our sins and washes us white as snow. A God who saves us inspite of us.  This paradox was highlighted by 'TheWoman@thewell' in one of her blogs sometime ago. Makes a fine reading.

To the ambitious duo, the Lord asked them if they will drink the cup (of suffering) which is He was about to drink. Of course, still with only starry dreams in their eyes, they replied ‘yes’. Though they had no idea what they were saying ‘yes’ to, James & John ended up proving themselves as men of their word, though it was only James who attained physical martyrdom. Infact, all the disciples of Jesus (except Judas) came out victors as true disciples following their master’s footsteps, bearing their respective crosses and attaining heights of holiness not by might or power of their own but by sheer Grace which flowed directly from the Lord himself as His Spirit led them from one place to another in their ardent quest to make Him known, the One who had saved them, sent them. By the time they were done, the cravings of worldly success had left them and desire to be at a lofty position and be known as successful leaders was dead. All that was alive and glowing was a desire to meet their maker, their saviour, their All in All. To win Gold , Silver or Bronze meant nothing anymore, all that meant was to lose everything and gain Christ in return.

Happy Birthday, Mother Church

First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13

Gospel: John 20:19-23 

It's 50 days since Resurrection (Easter Sunday ie). Today, the universal Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost, aka Pentecost Sunday. With the feast of Solemnity, as it is also known as, we also come to an end of Easter Season. In John 16:12-14 , The Lord had promised his disciples the gift of Holy Spirit, who will come to enlighten them (and also us) about things to come and about the mysteries of salvation which the Lord taught them during his earthly ministry. And sure enough, a week after (please note that last week we celebrated feast of Ascension) the Lord ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, who had gathered together in prayer in the upper room. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, the triune God-head that Christians worship, the first two being, God, The Father and God, The Son, Jesus Christ. Perhaps an elaborate description of Trinity is required here and will follow soon. (As little as I myself have, out of my limited knowledge, understood and as much as I can explain)

Coming back to today's feast. It's one of the principal feast of our Church and is also understood to be the birthday of the universal Church as from this day on, the apostles filled with the Holy Spirit were able to lanuch out to the world and proclaim salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. Although, certain theologians have come about with their points as to why it should not be called the birthday of Church. I do not wish to get into the nitty-gritty of it and would rather wish all of us who are a part mother Church, a happy feast. 

Let's now get into the beauty of today's liturgy. Today's Gospel was taken from John 20:19-23. It's taken from an incident immediately post Jesus' Resurrection. As the apostles are locked inside their room, fear having gripped them, for they thought that the Romans/Jews will be after them (now that the Lord was crucified & dead) the Lord enters their room, that is locked from inside, and stands before them. As a proof of His Resurrection, He shows them the marks of nails on His palms and says something which was much needed in that locked room, "Peace be with you."  The first sign of anyone claiming to be filled with or being led by the Holy Spirit is that peace is with/in him. Then He said to them "Receive the Holy Spirit."  The process of receiving the Holy Spirit, according to priest who gave the homily today, has two steps. The 1st step happened in the above Gospel passage, where the Lord asked to receive the Holy Spirit and they received it also. The 2nd step happens in first reading of the day which is taken from Acts 2:1-11 . In this reading, we see how the apostles filled with the spirit began to manifest the gifts of the Spirit and were able to speak in tongues other than the language they had otherwise learnt. 

The same principle applies to any christian. First step takes place during baptism, a sacrament through which we receive Holy Spirit and partake in the death & resurrection of the Lord. Baptism ensures that the baptised is a part of Christ's church and His Spirit indwells in him/her even though there may not be any physical manifestation of His presence. And the second step, that of use of the gifts of the Spirit and the resultant manifestation takes place at a time when we are ready for the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit. The timing of this may differ from person to person according how much he yearns for the gifts of the Spirit and how much he seeks to use these gifts for the greater glory of God.

The last verse of today's Gospel  sheds light on sacrament of penance, I feel led to write about it & shall do so in the coming week. Starting tomorrow, we restart (from where we left before lenten season) following the calender for Ordinary time in our daily mass and also for Divine Office readings.

And He Ascended Into Heaven......So Shall We, One Day

                                                               

Today, The Church celebrates the great feast of Ascension. It marks the end of Lord Jesus' earthly stay in the world after His resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Paschal candle which was lit on Easter night vigil and continued to be lit during all Mass celebrations will not be lit after today's celebrations and in a week's time we will celebrate the feast of Pentecost (the day when The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the upper room). So why did the Lord stay back for 40 days after his resurrection? He could have said, 'Hi-hello' to His disciples and probably spent some 'quality time' with His beloved Mother and rushed back to heaven or may be he could have just appeared to them in dreams & visions only and thus passed on His message indirectly. But as per the Gospel narratives, He spent time with them physically. When He met them, walked with them, spoke to them, ate with them, He was truly present to them & with them, as in flesh & blood. Just like regular people like you and me are to each other. St Leo, The Great (Doctor of the Church & Pope, 5th Century) gave a sermon 1500 years ago on the importance of Ascension.The following is my understanding along with quotes by the Great Leo himself.

1. To Convince Us of IT's Truth : We all know that the apostles were all completely dejected by the death of their Master on Good Friday. The manner in which He was taken out by Jews and Romans could put the fear of death in the soul of many a brave heart (and these were ordinary people of Israel). So the Lord had to spend time with them, convince them that He was for real, that all that happened to Him was not something which was enforced on Him by anyone but He took it upon Himself. That it was all a part of the great plan of salvation which God, in His love, had manifested through life & death of Christ. Their 'grief laden' minds had to be loved out of mistrust and fear and into a greater & stronger faith. Most of all, it was not just for the sake of the apostles that He remained with but for all those who, in the centuries to come, would start believing in Jesus as the true Saviour but because of human weakness, wisdom of the world and even persecution, would lose hope and way. In effect, the apostles represented the whole of Church which would go through it's lows of sin, heresy & unbelief. Thus solace given to apostles meant consolation also for Church of later years ie, us.


2. To Give Critical Instructions/Ratify His Teachings : Now that He had risen, Jesus had to unravel the deep mysteries of our faith to the disciples, which hitherto, they had no inkling of. The mysteries were ratified and the divine truths were planted in their hearts. Disciples were illumined (as on the road to Emmaus) about how all the Scriptures pointed to Jesus Christ as the Saviour, how breaking of the Bread, the Eucharist ie, must play a role most crucial in their community worship. They had to be taught about the founding of the Church, the primacy of Peter over all disciples (Peter was made the caretaker of earthly flock & was earlier assigned the keys to the gates of heaven).

3. Resurrection of The Flesh Had To Proved : Of all the miracles that Jesus had done during His lifetime, both before and after Resurrection, the most important one was the Resurrection itself. The raising of Lazarus was also nothing but a prelude to The Resurrection. To the unbelieving Thomas, He showed the marks of nail on His palms. ".....He invites them to handle Him with careful scrutiny, because the traces of the nails and spear had been retained to heal the wounds of unbelieving hearts, so that not with wavering faith, but with most steadfast knowledge they might comprehend that the Nature which had been lain in the Sepulchre was to sit on God the Father's throne." All of these miracles point to the fact that not just the soul but even the body will be resurrected on the final day. Because He rose, we will also rise one day and ascend to the glorious highs which He rose to and calls us to be in.


4.The Privileges of Ascension Could Be Appropriated To Mankind : Such was the cathartic power of Ascension that disciples were no longer despondent that The Lord had once again left them. This time, unlike Good Friday, they went back praising & worshiping the Lord. They now knew that they had received much more from Ascension than whatever was taken away by Devil. By the end of the 40th day they were filled with an assurance that they will never be abandoned again. That the Lord will be with them till the end of time.

".....Since then Christ's Ascension is our uplifting, and the hope of the Body is raised, whither the glory of the Head has gone before, let us exult, dearly-beloved, with worthy joy and delight in the loyal paying of thanks. For today not only are we confirmed as possessors of paradise, but have also in Christ penetrated the heights of heaven, and have gained still greater things through Christ's unspeakable grace than we had lost through the devil's malice..."  (St.Leo, The Great)

"This I command you, to love one another"

First Reading:Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
Gospel : John 15:9-17

We have entered the final week before the feast of Ascension of our Lord, which will be celebrated coming Sunday.

I do not know the reason, but the Gospel reading for today was same as yesterday (Sunday Mass). If anyone can enlighten me with the reason, I would be very grateful. The title of the post is the last verse of today's passage "This I command you, to love one another". It pretty much sums up 2nd of the two commandments which the Lord gave for us, the first being 'Love God with all your heart, mind and strength.'

Let’s start with the first reading from The Acts, though. The disciples are now 11 in number because Judas had committed suicide in self condemnation after betraying Jesus at the Garden of Gethsamane. They decide to take in one more member to bring the no. of disciples back to 12. And the criteria they set for themselves is very interesting and note worthy. The criterion for selection was that he must be a man who had been with Jesus right from the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan to the time He ascended from earth into heaven. In other words, the new 12th disciple should be someone,

-         Who knew Jesus in and out.

-         Knew and (beleived) the reason why Jesus came into this world.

-       Knew what the master went through (Baptism,Passion,Crucifixion,Death & Ressurrection) and experienced what the master went through, at least in some measure.

-         Who partook in the divine master’s very life. 

And I wondered If I were to apply these requirements to my life, ie, if I were to apply for the post of the 12^th disciple, how much of a chance do I have in getting the job. I think it will be what a corporate HR guy will call “a Fitment issue”. The 11 chose Mathias as the 12th disciple and today we also celebrate the feast of St.Mathias.

Coming to the Gospel, I found this faint, yet beautiful link to the 1^st reading. Verse # 15 (No longer do I call you servants………but friends for I have made known to you all that I have known from my father.) The Lord is forging a new kind of relationship with His disciples. No longer is it a slave-master relationship. Infact, it’s not even a God-believer relationship but God Himself now intends to take this relationship to a new level of intimacy. He boldly claims that His love for them (us) cannot be matched as he says in verse 13 “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” And He urges us to love one another as He has loved us. Now that's a pretty challenging ask. A point worth deeply meditating upon.

Mass Journal : Finding Meaning & Purpose In All Things

"Find meaning and purpose in whatever that comes my way and do it with all sincerity with utmost faith & diligence and without any doubt and complaining."


(Homily on the Feast of St.Joseph, The Worker)

The Feast of Annunciation

Today, as we close in on the business end of this season of Lent, the Church celebrates the feast of Annunciation, the day when angel Gabriel announced the plan of salvation to our Blessed Mother Mary ......that God will take the form of man by being born of her.Mary's humble and brave 'yes' allowed God to proceed with His plan of salvation and she conceived the Saviour in her womb.

All that mattered to her the Will of God. Everything else was just incidental. The church rightly recognising her role in the plan of salvation celebrates this feast since the early part of first Millenium. For a moment, the timing of the feast almost looks improper. I mean, aren't we in Lent. But take a closer look and we see 9 months on we celebrate the feast the Birth of our Lord, also known as Christmas. So the feast of annunciation has to be celebrated now ie 9 months before the birth of Christ.

Let us not forget that each feast that we celebrate is backed by thorough reason and logic which in turn is  based upon Sacred Scripture and early christian tradition.

Happy feast to one and all......:)