Mourn and Weep

Today’s Gospel Text: Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. John 16:20-23

Reflection: There are many reasons to weep and be sorrowful in life:

We could be weeping and sorrowful because we have lost a loved one or because we have failed in an exam or lost a precious article or on account of hurt, rejection, pain or on receiving a beating from someone or a break in relationship, etc., etc.

There are sacred reasons too why people mourn and weep and are sorrowful; when people see the desecration of sacred things, whether material or spiritual deposits; be it the dogma of the church or the sacred artifacts that belong to the patrimony of the church.

The saints weep for the church even in heaven when it faces persecution whether of internal origin or external. The saints weep also when the doctrine of Christ is watered down or when the members of the body face persecution; for this is their suffering.

They weep and are sorrowful when sinful men continue in their stubborn ways and those in authority practice a tolerance of evil and crush righteousness for the sake of momentary peace or for pseudo-values, which are sometimes falsely termed as gospel values.   

Sorrowfulness and weeping is a fruit of great pain, which need not always be physical but most often is on account of a deep emotional hurt due to a feeling of rejection, public shame, insults, etc.

In the scripture we have a situation of sorrowfulness and weeping for a particular reason; Jesus is clearly the reason for this weeping.

When it comes to Jesus there is no neutral ground either you are weeping and sorrowing for him and his cause or you are rejoicing over your triumph over the God of all creation.

But God’s silence, his patience, his endurance of our wicked ways,  his tolerance of our attacks on him or by way of corruption of his teachings are but momentary  instances of victory for the evil human mind who allow themselves to be deceived while interpreting God’s action with blind selfish gratification.

May we who follow the path of Jesus learn from this patience of God and not take advantage of it and seek to change ourselves with his grace. 

Prayer:  You O lord, who sets on high the lowly and lift up those who mourn console us in our day of perversion against your holy one. (cfr. Job 5:11)       

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We are His

Today’s Gospel Text:  All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; 39 and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:37-40

Reflection: These words of Jesus are full of assurance and strength; “All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.”

This assurance should gladden anyone and should spur them on to continue in all faith with the Lord who assures us of his presence and strength.

This passage sometimes makes me wonder about its truth; what happened to Judas then, was he not cast out?

A close look at Judas’ story will help us realize that it is not Jesus who cast him out, neither has Jesus in his life time cast out anyone who has come to him.

It means that Jesus may have been reluctant to answer their prayers or may not answer them.

In other words, he may rebuke and correct us but he will never cast us out if we come to him.

It means that we may sin and may commit the many sins on account of our many weaknesses but he is not the one who is going to cast us out; for he came to save us and in him is our Salvation. 

What may happen is that by deliberately indulging in sinful activities and behavior that goes against God’s holy will we may open ourselves more and more to Satan and his rebellious ways and thus may find ourselves move away from Christ by our own free will.

Judas made a choice of going out from the presence of Christ and rejecting him. He had his plans and ideas in place and put it into practice little realizing that he was accomplishing the work of Satan and being his instrument.

Hence it is necessary for us not to remain in our sinfulness for long but to repent and turn to him who is merciful.

Prayer:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Ps 51:10-12

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God’s Warning

Today’s Gospel:  And they came to Beth-sa'ida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24 And he looked up and said, "I see men; but they look like trees, walking." 25 Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village." Mark 8:22-26

Reflection:  (Read this reflection along with that of Fri. 10^th Feb. 2012) There are two actions of Jesus in the gospel which are very prominent and stand out starkly; the first one is that of leading the blind man out of the village by the hand and the other is that of telling the healed blind man not to enter the village. 

Whatever the reasons for such an action, could this action of Jesus be a prejudice or abhorrence or disdain for the village of Bethsaida? In Mt. 11;21 and in Lk. 9:10 we find Jesus even cursing Bethsaida for refusing to believe.

We often overlook the fact that God too rejects families and parishes and churches and villages and towns, cities and nations for their unbelief and rejection of the commands of God.  We often wonder why God does these things.

Some of these actions of God are an absolute judgment, while the other milder actions of God are judgments that invite the people to repent.  God does punish and his punishments many a time are supposed to be a curative and a timely warning for the individuals and people to repent and turn to him.  

The task at hand is not easy; hence it is better to trust in the Lord rather than on human wisdom.

Prayer: How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word. With my whole heart I seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments! Ps 119:9-10

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Healing Achieved in Humbling

Today’s Gospel: Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decap'olis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. 33 And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Eph'phatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak." Mark 7:31-37

Reflection: They brought him who seemed to be a hopeful case of a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech.

What is the difference between the deaf and dumb and a person put out from among the people? Not much as it amounts to almost the same. We do not know how many of these who brought him to Jesus may have teased him and made fun of him for his deformity? We do not know how his own parents may have treated him.  He may have been shamed for no fault of his. On his part he could not freely express his pain and sorrows to those around. There may have been no one who would understand him perfectly.

It was like being perennially under the Law of Moses which isolated a person from among the community: “But the Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again."  So Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days.” Num 12:14-15

Jesus using his spit and taking him aside from the people are significant actions that communicate the healing he offers to those who experience rejections and go through the isolation on account of the insensitivity of people.

Prayer: They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me…   Job 30:10-11

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