XXXII Sunday of the Year

SHE GAVE ALL SHE HAD

1 Kings 17:10-16; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44 or 12:41-44

Readings for the XXXII Sunday of the Year

In the late 70s, a young man walked into church one evening with his first salary: a thousand rupees. After communion, the celebrant announced a collection for the new parish school. When the ushers reached the man, he put his salary envelope into the collection!

Sharing about the incident, he said: “I didn’t know from where my next meal would come but I put my entire salary into the collection. I was reckless! Today I make several times that amount. But I’m sure I won’t repeat that action.” He added: “When we possess much, we find it difficult to give it all.”

The reverse is certainly true in today’s readings!

The widow of Zarephath gave everything she had, her son’s and her own last meal, to a foreigner whose God she did not even worship. And this God provided for her!

The widow in the temple offered two of the smallest coins in circulation. In the arithmetic of the kingdom, the widow’s mite is worth more than all the other contributions. While the others gave from their surplus, she gave all that she had. God must have provided for her.

Last Sunday we concentrated on the “Great Commandment”. The ultimate love towards God is found in these two widows. Right through this section in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has shown the emptiness of the Pharisees’ religion; he now presents this widow as an example of someone who gives all she has to God. Further, the poor widow typifies what Jesus has done and will do – give everything, give himself as an offering to God. Jesus hopes that his disciples will take their cue not from the scribes’ ostentation but from the widow’s piety and generosity. 

If these poor widows could give everything to God, if a young man could give his whole salary for God’s work, what about me: What am I going to put into the “temple treasury” this week? Will I be recklessly generous and trust in divine providence?

True generosity is measured not by what I give, but by what I have left over after I give!

XXXI Sunday of the Year

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28b-34

Readings for the XXXI Sunday of the Year

In a cartoon strip, Frank and Ernest are standing in front of rows of shelves of books. The sign on top of one of the shelves reads: “Law Library.” Franks tells Ernest: “It’s frightening when you think that we started out with just Ten Commandments.” 

It is frightening! The Jews started out with Ten Commandments and ended up with 613; there are 1752 canons in our Canon Law! 

There were two tendencies in Judaism: one expanded the law into many regulations; the other gathered the law into one summary sentence. Further, there were two schools of thought: one believed there were lighter and weightier matters of the law, and one could prioritize; the other held that all principles – even the smallest – were equally important and binding. Hence, the question the scribe asked in the gospel passage was a living issue in Jewish circles. 

Jesus’ response gathers up the scripture of Israel in one statement. He quotes the creed of Judaism, the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:2-6, first reading): “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Alongside this creed, Jesus places another passage (Leviticus 19:18): “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” For Jesus, it is a combination of these texts that makes the summary and the essence of the law; religion is loving God and loving people. 

The scribe, pleased with Jesus’ reply, makes a pertinent point: such love is better than all ritual sacrifices. But it is always easier to let ritual take the place of love; it is easier to let worship become a matter of the church building instead of a matter of one’s whole life.

 

Jesus loved God and people totally. 

How am I going to imitate Jesus in the week ahead? How shall I love my God with my whole being? How shall I love my neighbour as myself?

PS: G.K. Chesterton said that the great lesson of Beauty and the Beast is that a person must be loved before he/she is loveable. Unless we feel loved, we cannot love. Just as abused children grow up to become abusers, loved children grow up to become loving adults. God loves and accepts us “just as we are”. Therefore, we can love and accept ourselves and in so doing, love and accept others.

XXX Sunday of the Year

LORD, I WANT TO SEE

Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52

Readings for the XXX Sunday of the Year

In Pastor Steven Albertin’s office, hung a modern picture, a maze of colours and shapes. He knew this picture contained some profound artistic message but was unable to figure it out. 

One day, Adam, a kindergartener, came to his office, saw the picture, and asked: “Do you see what I see?” The pastor asked: “Do you see something in that picture? I don’t.” “Pastor, can’t you see Jesus hanging on the cross?”

The pastor stared at the picture, tried to find the image of the crucified Jesus hidden in the maze, but couldn’t. Slowly Adam moved his finger along the picture: “There, Pastor, is Jesus’ face, his arms outstretched on the cross.” The image began to appear. There hidden behind the colours and the shapes was the image of the crucified Jesus. 

Adam helped a “blind” pastor to see the suffering messiah.

Like Pastor Albertin, many of us fail to see Jesus in the maze of colours and shapes in our lives, in the suffering in our lives and around us. We need help to see him and to make sense of suffering.

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus helps blind Bartimaeus see! 

This healing appears at the end of the section on discipleship in mark’s gospel, in which the theme is suffering. Jesus thrice predicts his passion and death; each time his disciples fail to understand the meaning of suffering in his mission. They are blind. For instance, in the verses preceding this text, Jesus makes the third prediction, and James and John ask to sit beside him in his glory.

Mark uses the healing of Bartimaeus as a device to open the eyes of the disciples to the meaning of suffering. Mark contrasts the disciples with the blind beggar. Jesus puts the same question to Bartimaeus that he put to James and John: “What do you want me to do for you?” James and John wanted to advance themselves; Bartimaeus asks only to see.

Before the encounter with Jesus, Bartimaeus is blind, sitting, on the side of the way. After his encounter, he sees, gets up, and follows Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. Bartimaeus has understood the meaning of suffering in the life of Jesus and of a disciple. He is the paradigm of the ideal disciple.

Like Pastor Albertin in the story, like the disciples of Jesus, we fail to see Jesus as the suffering Messiah, we fail to understand that suffering is an essential part of discipleship. Like Bartimaeus, we sit by the side of the road of life and struggle to make sense of suffering. 

May we, like Bartimaeus, recognize Jesus passing by the way, and call out to him to heal us. May we cast off our cloaks, our false securities and follow Jesus on the way… because it is the only way to life.

XXIX Sunday of the Year

TRUE GREATNESS

Isaiah 53:10-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; Mark 10:35-45

Readings for the XXIX Sunday of the Year

When India became independent, the Defence Minister offered to make General Nathu Singh Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. He declined since General K.M. Cariappa was senior and more eligible for the post. The Minister offered the position to General Rajendrasinhji Jadeja; he declined for the same reason. On 15 January 1949, General Cariappa became the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

Generals Singh and Jadeja knew that what matters is not where you sit, but where and how you serve. That is what Jesus teaches his disciples in the gospel… again!

James and John ask Jesus for places of honour in his kingdom. The episode continues the theme of discipleship in the Marcan gospel. Jesus has consistently challenged his disciples with the core values of the kingdom: they are to become like children, like servants; to give up all attachments; to be willing to take up their cross and follow – all this in the context of the passion predictions. After the third prediction, James and John ask for special status!

The other ten are indignant, perhaps, because the brothers beat them to the bargaining spot. Jesus instructs them again that the exercise of power in his kingdom is radically different from the exercise of power in earthly realms; that greatness is through humble service. Their model is Jesus himself. John in his gospel conveys the same message through Jesus’ servile act of washing the feet of his disciples.

The first reading, which is the fourth servant song, gives us another aspect of servant leadership: suffering. 

In the kingdom of God, true greatness comes through service and suffering.

Do I understand Jesus’ teaching on discipleship or do I clamour for position and power? Am I willing to be serve and to be “the slave of all”?

XXVIII Sunday of the Year

QUENCHING THE THIRST FOR “MORE”

Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30

Readings for the XXVIII Sunday of the Year

In The Success Syndrome, Steven Berglas writes that individuals who “suffer” from success crave more. He cites the case of Dennis Levine, who was convicted of insider trading in the 1980s. Levine said when his income was $100,000, he hungered for $200,000; when he was making $1 million, he hungered for $3 million. Berglas comments: “People, who find that $200,000 did not make them happy, strangely never ask themselves why they thought $300,000 would make them happy… but keep craving for more.” 

None of us are big-league cravers, but all of us are constantly seeking more. This desire for “more” is at the heart of today’s liturgy.

The young man in the gospel comes to Jesus seeking something more. He has kept the commandments and led a righteous life. Deep down he knows something is missing. How can he fill this void? Jesus’ solution: “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor…; then come follow me.” 

But the man fails in his quest for “more” on three counts: 

First, he had many possessions. He is “rich” not because he is wealthy but because he is dependent on himself and his resources. 

Second, he lived selfishly. He was rich but was unwilling to share his resources.

Third, he fails to understand the incomparable grace of following Jesus. He is unlike Solomon, who (in the first reading) discovers that Wisdom is superior to all else in his life.

Like Dennis Levine and the young man, we constantly want more. 

How do I quench this desire for more: with people/ things/ gadgets and gizmos/ habits? What are my “possessions”? 

Today’s liturgy reminds us that our cravings can be satisfied only by God. Berglas’ prescription for a cure for the success syndrome: “What’s missing in these people is deep commitment/ religious activity that goes far beyond just writing a cheque to a charity.” What’s missing, in a word, is God!

Blaise Pascal puts this beautifully: “There is a vacuum in the heart of every man [and woman]; a God-shaped vacuum which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus”!

May I allow God to fill the vacuum in my heart; may I quench my thirst for more with him and his love.

XXVII Sunday of the Year

STAY COMMITTED

Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16 or 10:2-12

Readings for the XXVII Sunday of the Year

The elderly couple in the check-out line were talking about their upcoming golden wedding anniversary. The young cashier piped in: “I can’t imagine being married to same man for 50 years!” The wife replied: “Well, honey, until you can… don’t get married!”

This little exchange conveys what marriage is: two people—not only imagining—but also deciding and pledging to stay in a relationship forever. Marriage is a commitment. So are religious life and the priesthood!

This is the core of today’s first reading and gospel.

In response to the Pharisees’ question about the legality of divorce, Jesus argues that Moses’ permission for husbands to divorce (cf. Deuteronomy 24:1-4) was “because of the hardness of your hearts.” 

He, then, turns to the biblical ideal of marriage, as God intended it “from the beginning of creation”. In God’s plan (cf. first reading), marriage is not about male superiority/rights, but a communion of love between complementary partners who become one flesh. This oneness is not only a union of bodies, but also a union of minds, hearts, and wills.

This love reflects God’s love; it is a commitment with a beginning and no end. 

Love-commitment is difficult because it means loving the other as she/he is; it does not redesign a person. Pope Francis alluded to problems in marriage when he said: “Families have difficulties… will quarrel. Sometimes plates fly. And children bring headaches. I don’t want to speak about mothers-in-law… but difficulties are overcome by love.”

There are four p’s to overcome this mega “p”: be prayerful; be positive; be polite; be playful.

What will I do to stay committed?

On a lighter note, someone asked Henry Ford on his fiftieth wedding anniversary for his rule for marital bliss and longevity: “Just the same as in the automobile business: stick to one model.”

XXVI Sunday of the Year

STIFLE NOT THE SPIRIT

Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Readings for the XXVI Sunday of the Year

Some years ago, during Cricket Australia’s tour of India, Matthew Hayden was to return home after the test series. But he performed brilliantly in the tests and the selectors added him to the ODI squad. Some argued that he shouldn’t have been included because he wasn’t in the original squad. That didn’t matter for Cricket Australia; what mattered was Hayden was a good player in good form. They didn’t stifle Hayden, and it paid off.

This episode gives a sound principle to build the “God Squad”. It shouldn’t matter whether one was part of the original team or not; all that matters: is God’s Spirit in him/her?

The liturgy invites to recognize that God’s Spirit works in all people of good will and to co-operate with it.

In the First Reading, Joshua asks Moses to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying because they were not part of the “in-group”. In the Gospel, Jesus’ disciples stop a man driving out demons in his name because he was not one of them. Moses’ and Jesus’ responses are instructive! They taught their followers to recognize God’s work inside and outside the immediate community; kingdom work is not reserved to a few chosen ones; it is for all people of good will. To refuse to recognize that people of other faiths are doing the work of God or to stop them is to deny the working of the Spirit in these people.

 

The world is saturated with the Spirit of God. 

Can I open my eyes to the good that others do, recognize God’s spirit working in them, and co-operate with them? 

May I cooperate with (and not stifle) the Spirit and believe that there is place for every person of goodwill in “God’s Squad”!

XXV Sunday of the Year

WELCOME LITTLENESS

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; James 3:16—4:3; Mark 9:30-37

Readings for the XXV Sunday of the Year

An oft-repeated anecdote to start! A fisherman was carrying his catch of crabs in an open basket. A passer-by remarked: “Aren’t you afraid the crabs will crawl out?” The fisherman replied: “No! Do you know anything about the behaviour of crabs? Watch!” As a crab crawled towards the top of the basket, the others pulled the climber down. This kept happening! The crabs would not allow the others to climb towards the top.

It’s not just crabs that pull one another down. We do the same because of jealousy and selfish ambition. 

Today’s readings address these two foibles that destroy people.

In the second reading, St James writes: “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.” He lists the reason for war and conflict: unsatisfied craving.

The first reading from the Book of Wisdom is an inside-view of how selfish minds work and illustrates the extremes to which jealousy and selfish ambition can lead a person when confronted by a “righteous man”. 

It’s the same in the gospel. The religious leaders are jealous of Jesus, the righteous man; his virtue is an examination of conscience for them! He predicts that they will hand him over to torturers. 

Jealousy and selfish ambition destroy people and community. Jesus smells these foibles enter his fledgling church! He has just instructed his disciples on his passion, but suffering does not fit into their perspective of the kingdom. They are busy discussing their great positions in the kingdom. 

Jesus nips this one in the bud. He puts a child in their midst and challenges the twelve to welcome him/her. When they can welcome “littleness,” they welcome him.

In effect, Jesus compares himself to the child who cannot resort to power tactics when threatened. On the road to Jerusalem, in the face of suffering and death, he can only turn to his Father in trust; this makes him vulnerable.

When we are righteous and live upright lives, we can be sure that people will pull us down. The challenge before us: 

Will I give in to jealousy and selfish ambition? Will I resort to power tactics or will I welcome the vulnerability of a child?

How will I welcome and accept the child part of my personality, and become less power-conscious and success-oriented?

XXIV Sunday of the Year

WHO IS CHRIST? WHO IS A DISCIPLE?

Isaiah 50:5-9a; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35

Readings for the XXIV Sunday of the Year

Before joining an organization, prospective members need to know the organization’s identity-mission and their job profile.

Likewise, to belong to the “organization” of Jesus, disciples need to know Jesus’ identity and mission, and the profile of a disciple. 

Today’s readings set out in clear, unambiguous terms the answers to these questions.

The Gospel is the mid-point of Mark’s Gospel. 

The first part of the Gospel revealed Jesus as the Messiah who mediates God’s power by teaching and healing with authority. It reaches its climax with Peter’s faith declaration: “You are the Christ.” 

The second part will reveal the kind of a Messiah Jesus is and will be: one who must suffer, be rejected, and be killed. Must! There is a necessity about his suffering and death. Jesus is not a glorious king or a military leader; he is the suffering servant. The revelation of his identity culminates on Calvary when the centurion looks at Jesus on the cross and says: “This was the Son of God.” The crucified Jesus is the Son of God.

The first reading forms a backdrop for the Gospel. It highlights the resoluteness of Yahweh’s servant in facing the suffering that comes his way as a prophet.

But suffering has no place in Peter’s idea of messiahship. He rebukes Jesus, who tells him to take his place as a disciple – behind the Master! The disciple must take up the cross, lose his/her small-fearful-insecure self, and follow Jesus. Being a disciple necessarily involves suffering.

Messiahship and discipleship are not only about suffering. Jesus is convinced that he will be raised from the dead. He promises his disciples that if they die to themselves, they will find life in communion with God.

We are not prospective disciples; we already belong to Jesus. We need to be clear about his identity-mission and our profile. 

Who is Jesus for me: is he merely a wonderworker/ healer? 

How do I see discipleship: as a taking up of my cross and following Jesus along the Via Dolorosa? Am I willing to accept pain and suffering and the grief of life?

XXIII Sunday of the Year

FACETIME OR “FACE-TO-FACE” TIME?

Isaiah 35:4-7a; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37

Readings for the XXIII Sunday of the Year

The great paradox of our time is that we live in an age of social communication, but we rarely communicate; we have hundreds of social-network friends but few real-life friends; we FaceTime with people, but seldom spend “face-to-face” time with them. We encounter/ create barriers to communication.

Jesus faced similar communication barriers in his ministry. 

Throughout his ministry, Jesus has been pleading with people to listen to his word. They do not! The disciples cannot understand his teaching, the crowds want wonders, his own people do not accept him, the religious leaders see him as a threat. Mark presents group after group with its spiritual blocks.

Then, Mark presents a man “who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech.” He wants to but cannot communicate. Jesus takes him aside away from the crowd and spends time with him; he communicates with him through touch, a language he could understand. Jesus gives him back his ability to communicate – he can hear, he proclaims Jesus.

There is a parallel between the deaf-mute and Jesus’ disciples. The man could neither hear nor speak; he needed healing. The disciples could not understand Jesus’ message and therefore could not proclaim it; they, too, needed healing.

We need to be healed of our spiritual deafness and muteness. 

Will I allow the Lord to take me aside to touch me? Will I move away from the crowd (of people and gadgets) to spend time with my loved ones and communicate in a language they understand?

May the Lord touch us and restore our ability to communicate. May we disconnect from the virtual world – at least sometimes – to connect with people and reality around us.

 

XXII Sunday of the Year

CLEAN HANDS VS A CLEAN HEART

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Readings for the XXII Sunday of the Year

Jesus and Jim were walking around in heaven. They saw Jim’s parish where the Eucharist was being celebrated. Something puzzled him: he could see the priest move his lips, the lectors read, the choir sing, and the organist thump the keyboard. But he couldn’t hear a sound. Was there something wrong with the amplification system or with his ears? Jesus explained: “We have a rule that if they don’t do things on earth with their hearts, we don’t hear them here at all!”

We “do” many “religious practices”; often our hearts are not in them! Today’s readings remind us that religion is not about externals and about fulfilling obligations; it is living God’s word from and with our hearts.

In the first reading, Moses urges the people to be faithful to God’s laws, which expressed their relationship with God. Over the years, the elders added numerous regulations to govern every action and every situation of life. The focus moved from love to the exact external fulfilment of the law; from relationship to ritual.

It is one of these numerous “traditions” that the disciples did not follow: they ate their meal without the ritual washing of their hands. The dialogue between the Pharisees and Jesus highlights a crucial difference between two mind-sets. For the Pharisees, religion was a performance, a meticulous carrying out of external regulations without concern for attitudes. For Jesus, religion was a matter of the heart; about love of God and care of neighbour. 

This is also the thrust of the second reading: true religion is listening to and acting on God’s word and caring for the weak and oppressed.

Like the Jewish elders, we can make religion a ritual while our hearts are far from God and neighbour. The attitudes that motivate our actions, the way we associate with our neighbour – this is the heart of religion.

Today’s readings invite us to undergo the “heart test” to reveal who and what I am before God and before neighbour. To what do I give importance: clean hands or clean hearts; ritual or relationship? Is my heart in all that I say and do? If not, I need to bring on the heart sanitizer!

XXI Sunday of the Year

STAY COMMITTED

Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69

Readings for the XXI Sunday of the Year

A few weeks before the 1924 Paris Olympics, a member of the USA canoe team, Bill Havens, faced the toughest decision of his life: his wife was expecting their first child about the time of the event; should Bill go to the Olympics or be with his wife? His wife urged Bill to go but he decided to be with her. 

The US won the gold medal. Ironically, the child was born much after the due date; Bill could have competed and returned in time for the birth. But he had no regrets. He had made a commitment to be with his wife always; he was faithful to that commitment.

Bill Havens’ story is a powerful illustration of commitment to our choices.

The first reading describes the covenant renewal before the Israelites entered the promised land. Joshua gathers the people, declares his choice to serve God, and asks them to make their choice. The people make their choice: “We will also serve the Lord.”

In the second reading, Paul urges husbands and wives to be faithful to their marriage commitment. This fidelity is based on Christ’s fidelity and love for his church. 

In the gospel, Jesus offers his apostles the choice to be with him or to join the ranks of the deserters. He had been popular as the wonder worker, the healer, the feeder of the multitude! Then he started talking tough. Many disciples were confused about his teaching about the bread of life, then found it intolerable/unacceptable, and finally chose to leave him. 

Jesus gives the Twelve a choice: to remain with him or to leave. Peter tells Jesus that they cannot turn to anyone else. They have made their choice and remain committed to it.

The liturgy challenges us to stay committed to our choice for God… every day. 

Do I remain faithful to God in times of difficulty or do I “no longer go with him”? Am I faithful to my commitments? In what aspects do I need to deepen my commitment to God and my family?

A sequel to the Bill Havens’ story! 

Twenty-eight years later, Bill received a cablegram from his son, Frank, from Helsinki, the venue of the 1952 Olympics: “Dad, I won. I’m bringing home the gold medal you lost while waiting for me to be born.” Frank Havens won the gold in canoe-racing, a medal his father had dreamed of winning but never did because he lived his commitment.

There is a sequel to our commitment stories too! May we stay committed!

XX Sunday of the Year

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE!

Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; 6:51-58

Readings for the XX Sunday of the Year

In 1982, Johnson & Johnson learned that bottles of Tylenol sold in Chicago had been laced with cyanide and had left seven dead. CEO James Burke chose to pull every bottle of Tylenol off the shelves nationally and design a tamper-proof bottle. He did not have to do it; he could have pulled only the bottles in Chicago. That move cost J&J $100 million but won them scores of loyal customers.

Our choices affect our destiny!

The first reading portrays wisdom as a woman who sends her servants to invite people to her banquet. Subsequent verses describe Dame Folly who invites passers-by to her meal of stolen bread and water of deceit. Banqueting at the feast of Lady Wisdom brings life and new perception; eating at the table of Dame Folly brings death.

In the second reading, St Paul gives the Ephesians three “be-attitudes”: be wise, be sober, and be thankful. 

On Justice Sunday, these are “be-attitudes” we must choose: be wise to understand that the cause of injustice and oppression is our selfish quest to grab more for ourselves; be sober in using the goods of the world so that there is an equitable distribution of the world’s resources; be thankful for God’s blessings. 

In the gospel, Jesus contrasts the manna in the desert with the bread that he gives: the manna not eaten within the day had to be thrown away; it was no longer good. After Jesus fed the five thousand, the disciples gathered twelve baskets of fragments; Jesus gives (and is) bread which lasts. He is the new manna that lasts forever and gives us everlasting life. “Whoever eats this bread (a choice!) will live forever.”

What are the choices I make: Am I wise, sober and thankful? Am I satisfied with the junk food with “empty calories” the world offers or do I feast on Jesus the living bread?

May you and I make the right choices; they affect our destiny!

XIX Sunday of the Year

BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY

1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30—5:2; John 6:41-51

Readings for the XIX Sunday of the Year

A senior citizen went to a restaurant for lunch and always had soup. One day the manager asked him how he liked his meal. He replied: “Good but you could give me more bread. Two slices aren’t enough.” 

The next day the manager told the waitress to give the man four slices, then eight. Still not enough! The manager told the waitress to give him a whole loaf. But the senior citizen wanted more! 

The manager wanted to satisfy this customer. The next day, he ordered a huge loaf of bread from the bakery, cut the loaf in half, and served it with the soup. The senior citizen came for lunch and devoured the soup and the huge loaf. The manager—hoping he had finally satisfied the man—asked: “How was your meal today, Sir?” He replied: “It was good, but I see you’re back to serving only two slices of bread!”

Bread was important for this senior citizen… like it was for Elijah and the people of Israel.

In the first reading, Elijah—fleeing from Queen Jezebel—came to a broom tree, sat under it exhausted, and asked God to take his life. God had more in store for him and fed him with bread. Strengthened by that bread, Elijah walked forty days and nights (symbolizing a life span) to Horeb. God gave him bread for his journey. 

In the gospel, the people—concerned only about material bread—follow Jesus even after he has satiated their physical hunger. He tells them there are other hungers which he alone can satiate. He is the bread of life that sustains them on their journey of earthly life and to eternal life.

Bread is vital for us. God knows the journey that each of us travels. He knows that, like Elijah, we often must flee from forces that seek to destroy us: addictions and sicknesses, materialism, the pressures and pretensions of a godless society. He knows that often that, like Elijah, we want to say: “This is enough.” God sustains us and nourishes us with bread for our journeys.

In moments of “exhaustion” when I say “this is enough”, will I allow God to touch me and strengthen me? Will I eat the bread of life and journey to my Horeb?

XVIII Sunday of the Year

CRAVING SOMETHING MORE…

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

Readings for the XVIII Sunday of the Year

The book “Acres of Diamonds” narrates the tale of Ali Hafed. Hafed, a wealthy Persian, owned a large farm with orchards, fields, and gardens. He had a lovely family and was a contented man.

Contented till an old priest told Hafed that if he had a diamond the size of his thumb, he could own a dozen farms. Hafed asked: “Where can I find these diamonds?” The priest said: “Search for a river that runs over white sands between high mountains. In those sands, you will find diamonds.”

Hafed went to bed discontented. Craving diamonds, he sold his land, and travelled the world… till he became so broken and defeated that he committed suicide. 

Sometime later, the man who purchased Hafed’s farm led his camel to the garden brook. As the camel drank, the man noticed a flash of light from the white sands of the brook. He dived into the brook and pulled out a glistening stone. He had discovered the diamond mines of Golconda.

Had Hafed remained at home and searched his own land, he would have had “acres of diamonds” instead of wretchedness and death in a strange land. 

Whether fact or fiction, Hafed is a symbol of everyone who is discontent with what one has, who constantly seeks “something more”, a search which invariably/ inevitably leads to disappointment and frustration.

Hafed is a symbol of the Israelites during their journey to the Promised Land. In Egypt, they longed for freedom. In the desert, they yearned for food and water. When Yahweh provided them manna, quails, and water, they craved novelty. Israel’s story is a story of craving and dissatisfaction.

Hafed is a symbol of the crowds – in today’s Gospel – who “came… looking for Jesus” searching for bread to fill their hunger. Jesus led them gradually to the truth that their search would find fulfilment in him. Like their ancestors, they remained dissatisfied with what he offered them, and sought something more.

Is Hafed a symbol of me? Am I content where I am and with whatever I have? Does my hunger for contentment and meaning find fulfilment in Jesus the Bread of Life or do I search for “diamonds” everywhere when the greatest treasure is with me? 

May I realise and discover the “acres of diamonds” I have all around me.

XVII Sunday of the Year

HELP PEOPLE… HELP THEMSELVES

2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15

Readings for the XVII Sunday of the Year

We have many and conflicting requests for help. For instance, you are working on a critical task and someone needs help. You return after a hard day at work and your child has a project/ needs a drop/ is unwell.

Jesus experienced something similar.

Today’s gospel opens with him going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee after John’s beheading to avoid danger or to grieve over his loss. He cannot be by himself: the crowds follow him; he is faced with an unexpected demand, an intrusion on his privacy. 

We usually counter such situations in one of two ways: ignore these calls that conflict with my plans/ needs or (if I’m someone who cannot say “no”) always put aside my plans and respond though I cannot/ do not want to respond. Neither response is appropriate; neither is the one that Jesus made. 

Jesus had compassion on the people and satisfied their hunger. But it is important to recall two points. 

First, Jesus did not wave a magic wand to produce food. He asked the disciples to provide for the crowds and worked with the “five barley loaves and two fish” which they gave him. He drew on their resources!

Second, he “withdrew again to the mountain alone” because he did not want to make the people dependent.

Sometimes compassion is helping people by giving them resources and oneself. More often, compassion is helping people find their own resources and themselves.  

An anecdote to end! A girl was watching chicks hatch. A dozen chicks were huddled under the mother hen; one egg was unhatched. She could see a little yellow body pulsing and struggling through the cracks in the shell. The kid picked up the egg and peeled the shell. The chick gasped and stopped breathing.

The little girl ran to her mum with tears in her eyes and told her what had happened. Her mum explained that each chick must struggle to break through its shell; it becomes strong through that struggle. She concluded: “There are some things that you cannot do for others; they have to do these themselves.”

Will I, sometimes, reach out to meet people’s needs, and at other moments “withdraw” so that they become independent? Will I discern when to help people and when to help them help themselves?

XVI Sunday of the Year

HE HAD COMPASSION ON THEM

Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34

Readings for the XVI Sunday of the Year

The oncologist walked through the parking lot with just one thought: the dire diagnosis he had handed Jim. Advanced pancreatic cancer. He noticed an elderly gentleman handing tools to someone under his stalled car. That someone was Jim! Doc yelled: “Jim, what are you doing?” Jim crawled out, dusted off his pants, and said: Doc, my cancer didn’t tell me to stop helping others.” He waved at the man to start the car. The engine roared to life. The man thanked Jim and drove off. Jim got into his car and took off as well. 

His pain did not stop Jim from seeing another’s predicament and reaching out to help. 

We have heard about similar stories of compassion. Perhaps we have experienced such compassion. 

The greatest story of compassion is about God’s compassionate love for his people, of his constant and caring presence with his people through shepherd judges and kings. 

However, as the first reading portrays, some shepherds showed no concern for the needs of their people. God’s response is swift: he will be their shepherd and raise new shepherds for them. 

The model of these new shepherds is Jesus, who is filled with compassion for people. In today’s Gospel text, Jesus manifests his compassion twice. 

He has compassion on his disciples, who return weary after their missionary travels, but are interrupted by the “many who were coming and going” so that “they had no time to eat”. Jesus takes them to a lonely place. But there is no “lonely place”! The people see where the boat was headed and get there first! 

These are the “poor of the land” considered ignorant, labelled sinners, and treated as outcasts by the pharisees and scribes. Jesus has compassion on them. His tiredness does not stop him from seeing and responding to the people’s need. and he tends the flock by teaching them. By not sending the people away, Jesus gives his disciples a profound teaching and an illustration of the tender love of God for his people.

The Lord invites us to have this caring and compassionate love. 

To whom and how am I going to be caring and compassionate in the week ahead? How do I handle “interruptions” to my moments of rest/ leisure/ work?

XV Sunday of the Year

CALLED AND SENT

Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13

Readings for the XV Sunday of the Year

She begins her program with a Bach symphony. She next plays an Irish air, then a Bob Dylan folk song, and finally a jazz improvisation. The venue: a hospice. The audience: one, a 70-year-old woman with terminal cancer. Through her music she provides a measure of peace for those walking their last steps in this world.

She was a “little” Carmelite nun! She was not qualified (in her words: “I am only tenth pass.”). But people from every walk of life – bishops, priests, religious, laity – and every religion came to seek guidance. She was one of the best spiritual directors I have met.

With their “walking sticks” – a guitar and a listening ear – these two unnamed apostles reach out to the needy. They make us realize that we don’t need much to be apostles of compassion and healing.

 

This is emphasis of today’s liturgy. 

The first reading is about the prophetic ministry of Amos, a sheep-breeder from Tekoa, Judah. God sends him to Israel, where he denounces social injustice and religious laxity. He goes to a foreign land and pulls them up for their laxity! He is not a prophet. God’s word: “Go prophesy” is his only qualification. 

The Gospel is about the mission of the Twelve. They are unqualified for the mission: no social position, no education in scripture/ theology. Plus they had Jesus’ instructions: “no resources”! What do they carry with them? A walking stick, authority from Jesus, his message, and trust in him. 

All of us, by our baptism, are called and chosen. St Paul emphasises that in the second reading. We are called and chosen and given the mission to proclaim the good news, to reach out to the sick and the downtrodden. 

We do not have to be qualified “professionals” to proclaim the good news, to reach out to God’s people. We have the sole qualification we need: BDC… Baptised Disciples of Christ!

Do I believe that God has called me and given me the mission to be his messenger to the people in my life? How am I going to proclaim his message in the week ahead? What is the “the walking stick” I will use to reach out to people?

XIV Sunday of the Year

REJECTED

Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6

Readings for the XIV Sunday of the Year

In 1960, religious persecution broke out in Sudan. Paride Taban fled to Uganda. There he studied for the priesthood and was ordained. When the Sudan situation stablized, Fr Taban returned and was assigned a parish in Palotaka. His parishioners always had white priests before who gave them clothing and medicine. Fr Taban was like them—black, poor… with nothing material to give them. His people would not accept this poor black man as a priest.

The story of Fr Taban is an example of the rejection every prophet encounters. Prophets in Hebrew history and in Christianity have met with resistance and hostility. 

We have an example in the prophet Ezekiel in the First Reading. God calls him to proclaim his message to his people and warns him that he will face resistance. God challenges Ezekiel to be a prophet regardless of the people’s response.

The Second Reading is an excerpt from a section called the “letter in tears.” Paul’s beloved Corinthians have betrayed him by shifting allegiance to the “super-apostles” who have seduced them with their eloquent speech. All that Paul has is a “thorn in the flesh”.

In the Gospel, Jesus’ townsfolk are astonished at his wisdom and at the reports about his miracles. But they know he is the carpenter, the son of Mary and Joseph; they have grown up with him. They see the outward person, but they do not listen to his words. Their prejudice and familiarity make them blind. They reject him.

We are not different from the Israelites, the Corinthians, and the Nazarenes. God constantly speaks to us through people we know. We do not recognize his voice because the message is unpalatable, because the messenger has weaknesses, because the messenger is someone we dislike or know very well. 

The Word of God challenges us on two fronts. 

It challenges us to receive God’s Word irrespective of the messenger’s status/ power/ origin. 

It reminds us that we, because of our baptism, are prophets. We may be afraid and feel incompetent; God will work through our fear and incompetence. 

Will I discover and listen to the prophetic voice of God in ordinary and simple people? Or am I impressed by showy rhetoric but impervious to the grace that comes through weakness?

How will I, a simple and ordinary person, be his prophet?

XIII Sunday of the Year

THE TOUCH THAT HEALS

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; 

Mark 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43

Readings for the XIII Sunday of the Year

Sue Knutson was hiking alone in the mountains when her foot slipped between two boulders. She felt sharp pain in her ankle, and then collapsed on her back. 

Miles from civilization, Knutson, a nurse, held her leg in the air and used the only resource available—her hands—to reduce the swelling and shooting pain. She held her hands a few inches from her ankle and breathed deeply and slowly. The pain began to ebb, and after thirty minutes she was able to limp to the road unassisted. At the emergency room, doctors said she had a severe medial lateral sprain and she’d have to be in a cast for four months. Six weeks later, her ankle had healed enough for doctors to remove the cast. Knutson had used the power of touch. 

That’s what Jesus does in today’s dramatic passage. We have two healing stories and the people involved could not be more different. Jairus represented the upper crust of society: rich, powerful, and religiously prominent. The woman was a social outcast: since she was haemorrhaging, she was considered unclean and not allowed to set foot in the synagogue. In each situation, Jesus’ touch makes the person whole. God, in Jesus, loves them into wholeness and restores them to community and communion.

Even more, he establishes a relationship with them! He calls the woman “daughter” and Jairus’ daughter “little girl”. God, in Jesus, makes them his children.

This Gospel reveals Jesus as the source of life and healing; it reveals our God as “pro-life”! As the first reading says: “God takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living... he fashioned all things that they might have being.” 

Each of us needs healing. Like Jairus’, we need to come to the Lord, fall on our knees and plead with him to lay his hands on us. Or like the woman, we need to touch him. May we hear his words “talitha koum” addressed to each one of us, and experience healing and wholeness. And may we, in turn, touch others to health and wholeness.

XII Sunday of the Year

LORD, DO YOU NOT CARE...?

Job 38:1, 8-11; 2 Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41

Readings for the XII Sunday of the Year

Monty had severely handicapped limbs, the result of polio. Through dogged determination, he got a degree and a job. Then he developed a vision problem; doctors discovered that his retinas were becoming detached. Monty found himself facing blindness and immobility.

We can identify with Monty’s experience. There is so much turmoil and suffering in our lives. When we think things have quieted down, more turmoil erupts. We wonder how much more can we take! 

That’s probably the unasked question in the disciples’ minds in today’s gospel! 

The incident happens after a long teaching session which made “it impossible for them even to eat.” Jesus decides to cross to the other side of the lake, the only way they can leave the crowd behind. 

As soon as they embark, they face one of the sudden windstorms that often whip up the Sea of Galilee. These veteran sailors panic as the boat begins to fill up. Where is Jesus? He is oblivious to what is going on and is – Mark puts it vividly – asleep on a cushion.

Tired after handling crowds, they must battle a windstorm with the master asleep! How much more can they take? They cry out: “Do you not care that we are perishing?”

Let’s return to Monty! He grew bitter. Then he noticed happenings around him: his co-workers carolled at Christmas; his neighbours held campaigns to raise funds; a surgeon volunteered to operate. Post-surgery, his eyes were fine. Monty said that he felt loved and cared for, and a deep sense of God’s love. He was in a storm but a storm in which he discovered God was with him.

The disciples, too, discovered that God was with them during that storm! Roused out of sleep, Jesus rebukes the wind and the sea. In commanding the sea, Jesus affirms his power over chaos and evil (in Jewish mentality, the sea is a reminder of the primitive chaos); he shows that he is Lord.

Mark’s Christian community saw this event as a sign of Jesus’ saving presence amid persecutions that threatened its existence.

There are times God seems absent or oblivious. Like the disciples, we want to cry out: “Do you not care...” We’d do well to recall the opening phrase of the First Reading: “The Lord addressed Job out of the storm.” The same Lord addressed the disciples during the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The same Lord addresses us during our storms—within and without.

During the storms in my life, do I believe that Jesus is on board with me, and can I hear him address me? 

To journey with Jesus is to journey through storms, not around them! These may disturb our peace but will not overcome us because the Lord is with us saying “Quiet! Be still!” to the storms… and to us. Why, then, am I still afraid?

XI Sunday of the Year

STARTUP!

Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34

Readings for the XI Sunday of the Year

Jeff Bezos started an online bookstore in his garage in Bellevue in 1994. Today Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin started a search-algorithm project in a friend’s garage in 1998. Since their project was interfering with their schoolwork, they tried to sell it to Excite for $1 million, which rejected the offer. Google is the most trafficked site in the world.

In 1976, twenty-year-old Steve Jobs hand-built fifty computers in a garage in Cupertino. Today, Apple is the most valuable tech company in the world.

Everything starts small, including the kingdom of God! It is a startup! In the gospel, Jesus gives two images of the kingdom.

The first image emphasizes that the building of the kingdom is God’s work. It goes on whether we are aware of it or not! Our task, like that of the farmer, is to scatter the seeds of the kingdom – love, joy, hope – and to wait!

In the second image, Jesus compares the kingdom to a mustard seed. The tiny seed grows into a large shrub and provides shelter for birds in its branches; the kingdom has tiny beginnings and gives space for people of different races and regions. A similar image in the first reading speaks of God taking a tender shoot and causing it to grow into a mighty cedar, a dwelling for birds of every kind.

In a world where we face numerous difficulties and challenges– as individuals, as families, as communities, and as a church – it’s so easy to give in to discouragement. We want to give up because our little acts seem to make no difference to the world; we can’t see how there can be light anywhere in this darkness; we don’t know how a loss or a death can result in life. These are parables of hope.

Bezos, Page and Brin, Jobs didn’t begin by trying to create Amazon, Google, and Apple; they started an online bookstore, a search algorithm, and a computer. The mustard plant didn’t start from a shrub; it started from a small and insignificant seed. The kingdom of God is not an established empire; it begins from little acts of love and kindness.

Will I begin from where I am, scatter the seeds of love, joy, encouragement, support... and leave the growth of the kingdom to God? Where and how will I scatter the kingdom seeds?

May you and I scatter the seeds of the kingdom, act with love, and walk with hope that God will bring to fruition our small beginnings.

    

X Sunday of the Year

MISUNDERSTOOD!

Genesis 3:9-15; 2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Readings for the X Sunday of the Year

A teen wrote: “I feel misunderstood. When I have difficult things going on in my life, I can’t talk to anyone in my family about it; they usually tell me that they get what I’m feeling. They don’t. Has anyone else had the same experience or am I crazy for having these emotions?”

An adult said: “I feel trapped in a world that judges me at every turn and yet never bothers to try to help or understand.”

Sounds familiar? Have you ever been misunderstood? Has anyone taken your words/motives and twisted them around? The writer Pandora Poikilos puts it succinctly: “They have the unique ability to listen to one story and understand another.”

Jesus experienced something similar! Nearly everyone he met misunderstood him/his mission, misrepresented his words/ works. They used the things he did and said in love to attack him in hate!

Today’s gospel is one of the “sandwiches"—passages in which one event is inserted into another—in Mark’s gospel. Mark inserts the Beelzebul controversy with the scribes between the coming of Jesus’ family to take him home and his pronouncement about his true family. 

Mark makes a connection between Jesus’ family and the scribes. Both misunderstand Jesus and his mission; they cannot grasp his single-minded dedication to God’s will. His family thinks he is “out of his mind”; the scribes say he is in league with “the prince of demons”.  

How did Jesus deal with misunderstanding? 

On this occasion, he refused to return home with his relatives. Though his mission was proving to be frustrating, he refused to quit; he would accomplish his mission. He made his family those who accepted him and this mission of doing his father’s will. He confronted the scribes; he called them out for their refusal to see the power of God at work in him and his works. At other moments, he chose to remain silent.

How do I respond when people misunderstand me and my motives/ mission? 

I need to learn from Jesus to be steadfast; to find “family” that accepts me and my mission; to discern when to confront and when to remain silent (I have a right to respond but not an obligation to!).