Anger of God

Today’s Gospel Text:  And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them. Mark 10:13-16

Reflection: There are some emotional expressions which cannot be easily ignored, such as the cry of a child or the anger of most living creatures.

What is it that makes us feel angry? Broadly speaking, there could be good reasons or for the wrong reasons.

One could be angry for pure self centered reasons, for example, a father could get angry with the child because he can’t read his newspaper or because he is angry with his boss and so he lets out his frustration on the child or his wife or sometimes even on a domesticated animal at home.

Humans so often manifest anger indiscriminately and for the wrong reasons and sometimes if there are good reasons for anger it could be misconstrued as a wrong.  Some look at any manifestation of anger as wrong.

Anger in itself is a pure emotion, created by God when he created life for the good of life. It is power in our hands which can be used and abused too.

Blessed is the man who makes less use or rather the right use of the power he wields in order to get work done and more so uses it for the glory of God.

Therefore in scripture you have St. Paul exhorting the Christians: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” Eph 4:26-27

Why did Jesus have to angry?

In the gospels we see Jesus very rarely getting angry but always for the right reasons:  He is seen to get angry with the Pharisees on account of the hardness of their hearts; a condition in which they failed to see the saving truth of  God’s love for them.(cfr. Mk. 3:5)

In the temple he is seen to drive out the money changers who desecrate the temple of God and thus invites God’s wrath. (cfr. Jn. 2: 14-21)

In today’s gospel we see him angry with the disciples when they fail to see the great love that God has for preserving whatever innocence a child may have and the quality that makes them open to receive the kingdom of God in their hearts.

God’s anger in this life manifested by the many calamities and sometimes difficulty around us is an action of his love for us so that we are not lost like the rest of humanity who reject him.

Prayer: Turn not thy servant away in anger, thou who hast been my help. Cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation! Ps 27:9

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

He is with you

Today’s Gospel Text:  After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tibe'ri-as; and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathan'a-el of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zeb'edee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing.  4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." 6 He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.  9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. John 21:1-14

Reflection: We are now in a quandary, if we read the post resurrections scenes and this is one of them: Did Jesus engineer their absolute no catch situation?

Whole night they struggle and not a single fish in their net.  How can that ever be? How can God be so hard hearted at these poor fishermen and make them struggle the whole night until dawn in order to just show them a simple miracle?

Or could it just be a coincidence that they did not catch a single fish and then Jesus appears to perform a miracle?

The truth is this: God is the absolute master of every situation, especially to those who have put their trust in him.  For them, his working in their lives, no matter how hard and difficult is no small thing, but it is always and in all situations will be a mighty working of his power and might.

The Dedicated Disciples experience one such love action of God; for each time they experience the hide and seek of God it proves what the beloved John communicates in the Gospel:

“…… when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 13:1

God loves us that is the reason he allows these trying moments and difficulties so as to accomplish something greater. He is accomplishing his mighty works in you when he testing your faith.

This reason Peter the Apostle exhorts the early Christians, to those who believe, he does all these things so that their faith, which is more precious than silver or gold, may be tested in the fire and purified:

    

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Prayer: Lord, let me never lose sight of you each time when I am walking in the valley of darkness. Let me count on your assurance that you are with me with your crook and with your staff.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Love and Mercy

Today’s Gospel Text:  For the complete text of the Good Friday gospel test read here; Click on link here:  http://dedicateddiscipleship.blogspot.in/p/good-friday.html

Reflection: The greatest event the world has ever seen, irrespective whether it admits or not, is the event of the resurrection of Christ, celebrated the world over as the Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday communicates a powerful message that Christ rose from the dead on the third day.

It doesn't begin or end there; for the one who rose was also the one who was slain, given the most miserable death in the history of the world. Hence Easter together with Good Friday makes one consolidated event along with the Maundy Thursday. 

His being divine and therefore the Lord and master of the universe is only secondary.

If God wanted he could have made his divine presence felt in this world by great signs and wonders but there would be no lasting memory of it. 

True, lasting and noble memories are built on love and not just on power and might.and God’s love is visibly made manifest on the wood of the cross. 

The type of rejection, suffering and pain he had to undergo in order to prove his love for humanity is now for all generation to benefit from; it is an everlasting memory, which we even bring to mind at every Eucharist and even participate in it for our sanctification and salvation. 

This voice of his love still rings through history; when the only innocent man in the history of humanity was raised on the cross to meet his end from there came forth a voice which proves beyond doubt the love of God for the salvation of humanity:

"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34

Did he not have the right to condemn the many? If anyone who has been wronged has the right to condemn then he had it all the more.

Thus at the cross Christ proved himself as the savior of humanity by opening his arms in forgiveness to all, including his enemies; the very ones who crucified him.

This action also proves his eternal love for all who, acknowledging their sinfulness, come to him for mercy and love.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, I come before you as a sinner, seeking your love and mercy: Have mercy on me and on the whole world.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Acceptance in Christ

Today’s Gospel Text:  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

3 So he told them this parable: 4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.' 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:1-10

Reflection: I am sure many of us may have faced rejections in life and may have gone through moments of great pain and anxiety.

Some of us for a reason that has been good and sound and others may have gone through it for the wrong reasons. If we have realized our faults then we would get over the rejections fast and accept the reasons for our misery and overcome the hurt feelings of rejection faster.

What happens when we experience rejection for a right or good cause? What happens when we face rejections for somebody else’s faults? What happens when we face rejections rightly but on account of our weaknesses and compulsions?

In all this we have hope of acceptance in Jesus who accepts us in great love, no matter how sinful we may be: "This man receives sinners and eats with them." (vs.2)

The rejections of the world no longer matters to us, for we have acceptance in Christ Jesus. It is not an acceptance to sin more and do more wrong but it is an acceptance to return to sanity, truth and true love.

It is a call to change by living in the love of Christ Jesus, who himself suffered on account of the total rejection by men and by God who rejected him for a little while on account of our sins.

Christ Jesus not only accepts us but teaches us what is right from the wrong. He further strengthens us by grace to overcome the many weaknesses of our lives.

He also makes us instrument of his love to others, so that we are able to reach out in love and service; a service in which we present Christ Jesus as the perfect aide and company for the lonely who walk in righteousness before God.

Prayer:  God our Father, we thank you for sending Christ Jesus to be with us forever and to have his help in every difficult situation of life.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Love of Neighbor

Today’s Gospel Text: And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" 29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 32 And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any question. Mark 12:28-34

Reflection: Love is the greatest commandment of all and I am sure no one will doubt that.

There are times I have often been in serious discussion and they have been individuals who have rendered the whole discussion flat by just one statement: “In the end what is important is that we love”

As if asserting that the horizontal commandment is the most important, they think that if we love one another is enough to enter into heaven. And what they say is even broadened to include the love of anyone and everyone.But in the end love no one.

In all these false assertions, the love that one practices is the love that seeks to please and compromise on the truth of God and sound doctrine.  Thus one even has to act crooked with all types of lies in order to present oneself as loving, gentle and kind.

There have been times, when I have heard experts in New Testament quoting St. Paul’s famous words on love, as if the horizontal dimension is the only important:element: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”  Rom 13:8

What one fails to learn is that St. Paul's assertions is to a community that is born out of love for God and he is preaching to a community on the aspects of brotherly love.

Then there have been some who have quoted from St John’s letter: “If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20

Here St. John in his letter is shocked about a community that is supposed to be loving God and yet not loving him enough by loving his commandment of loving one another. He sums it up well in the statement below:

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” 1 John 5:2

Hence what Jesus asserts in the gospel about loving God is prime and important. 

Prayer:  Lord, I pray that I may love thee above everything and thus be an instrument of loving my neighbor too.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Do you Fast?

Today’s Gospel Text:  Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved." Matt 9:14-17

Reflection:  Can someone approach a family and tell the children: “Why do we and your parents work to earn and you do not work nor labor in order to earn?”

I am sure no one would do that with small children, you cannot really tell that to a small child.

What happens to a grown up child of 18 or more and if they are not working? Can one approach and make a similar statement and ask them why they are not working in order to earn a living?

Wait a minute, who are we to do that if the parents have no objection to their children not working. 

Jesus in the Gospel communicates a similar attitude, not to burden God's children with the demands of the law, but allow the disciple the freedom, whether to fast or not.

He, by talking about a bridegroom communicates a very important message on fasting and penance, which though based on freedom of choice, could be an invitation to participate more vigorously then the law could demand of anyone.

Christian history has enough proof of the rigor with which the saints, not just the canonized ones but the non-canonized ones too, fasted for the sake of Christ.

How is that possible? It is possible if our relationship with Christ is like that of the Bride with the bridegroom.  As long as the bridegroom is there the bride is happy but the moment the Bridegroom is taken away, it is as if all happiness is robbed from the bride and she is willing to make any sacrifice, if within her means to return to her Bridegroom.  It is the deep longing for the bridegroom that does the miracle!

For the dedicated disciples, being with Jesus was a moment to grow in love and attachment to Jesus the bridegroom, but when Jesus the bridegroom would be taken away, suddenly and more so violently from them, they will definitely miss those great moments spent with the Lord and will fast and pray in order to grow in that closeness which was with them before and without which they cannot be noble instruments of God.

Similarly, the indwelling Holy Spirit and our constant encounter with him creates in our hearts the eager longing of that of a bride for the bridegroom and we are with a little effort from our side, able to seek that union with him through fasting, penance and prayer.

Prayer:  Lord, may we never lose sight of your calling and seek you with all our heart, soul strength and mind, even if this means fasting to seek your face.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

The Parables

Scripture/Bible: And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. 2 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7 But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others. Mark 12:1-9

Reflection:  Why does God have to speak to us in Parables? Is it because he doesn’t want us to understand the mysteries of his kingdom? Could it be true that he doesn’t want all of us to be saved?

What would happen if Christ would have told us things plainly? Could it be possible that we would have understood things better and we would know his will and his ways?

Jesus has spoken to us plainly where we need to know plainly and he has spoken in parables where we need to know things from the richness of his kingdom.

One primary reason I see is that we would not know the richness of the mystery of God, which is best brought out through the parables of Jesus.  It offers us a storehouse of wealth and meaning.

It is an invitation to trust God in interpreting them because our sinful self can draw our own meaning and even read into the ordinary sayings and actions of Jesus our own meanings.

If we can read into the ordinary actions of Jesus our own meaning then how much more will we not do with the parables!

The Parables are also an invitation to trust in the love of God for us and what he has to teach us in the simplicity of a parable.  Yet it can be no simple and easy process when the Lord begins to minster to us through his word. It is a process of sanctification through fire. (cfr. Jn. 17:17)

Can a child be made to run fast by his father when he or she is just beginning to run, lest the child fall and get bruised? Similarly, God knows the limitations of a sinful human mind which needs to slow down, seek the Fathers help through the Holy Spirit and receive from his abundance, through the vessel of the word.

Prayer: “How sweet are thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Ps 119:103-105

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Love Jesus - Part II

Scripture/Bible: Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!" 23 The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" 24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:20-25

Reflection: (Read yesterday’s reflection to understand the full meaning of today’s reflection.)   "Lord, what about this man?" Why did Peter ask the Lord this question concerning John the beloved Apostle? Is it because he felt that John met the important criteria of love so as to qualify and deserve an important posting in the Lord’s work and mission?

Seems to be true; for was John not a beloved disciple whom Jesus loved and who lay close to his breast at the most crucial moment in Jesus life. What is more, was he not the one who showed much concern for his neighbor when he made it a point to ask; "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?"

Yes, this disciple was the only one who seemed to have died a natural death at Ephesus. He is the one whom the Lord entrusted to his Mother and who took Mary home with him.  The greatest treasure that John could have was the mother of his master to care of.  This privilege he has enjoyed primarily on account of his being the beloved of Jesus, who loved the Lord much and even follows him, like Mary, to the cross.

It is to this John that one attributes the 4^th Gospel, the three epistles and the book of Revelations.  

From John’s writings about the life of Jesus we have an extraordinary insight into the life of Christ, which none of the other evangelist have produced.  From him we learn in a special way that Jesus is the eternal word of God who was always with the Father.  

John brings out the most beautiful insights into the role and life of Mary and her role in the church. I am confident that this insights have been greatly nourished by Mary's presence in his life.

Take Mary home with you as John did and you will never regret, as you will be still a great instrument of the Lord as John was. His proclamation of the Gospel still continues to make a great impact on the lives of the millions.

Prayer:  Lord that I may know you and your love for me and thus respond to you with undying fidelity.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us