I Swear

Today’s Gospel Text:  "Again you have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' 34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil. Matt 5:33-37

Reflection: Do people still swear and what is the significance of the action?

How else would one convince another if not by swearing? I have seen sometime parents swearing on their children too.

What a risk to take, especially for a liar or is it a risk for the parent who may care less for their child.

What if it is a sincere one and the other party would not like to believe in what you have to say?

There are times we take the mercy of God for granted and swear and then under our breath may say sorry to God.

Will certain situations, places and positions which customarily require a swearing in ceremony allow one with a mere yes or no?

The ultimate question remains: Why in the first place swear at all? Is there a message that Jesus wants to communicate to us?

I suppose that Jesus wants to tell us that any swearing based on the divine does not promote the glory of God and degrades the name of God and the things that concern him.

What is more, such swearing cannot come from any divine inspiration or from good human intentions but instead comes from the evil one.

It is an attempt to bring God’s name to contempt because we as humans cannot in any way match the divine name and the divine things, even if we were to be truthful, because such kind of truthfulness is our standard which falls short of God's standard. 

It is also an attempt rule over God or claim rights over him and his things just as Satan tried when he rebelled against God. Hence he makes the children of men do the same. 

Do I swear then? 

Prayer:  Lord, help us never to walk the path of evil.

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

Sign of the Cross

Today’s Gospel Text:  After the two days he departed to Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.

46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Caper'na-um there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." 49 The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 50 Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to mend, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live"; and he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. John 4:43-54

Reflection: Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." (vs. 48)

How fortunate were these people who saw the signs and wonder which Jesus performed; for their eyes beheld the great works of God in their midst and they were many who believed and were blessed.

What shall we say about our generation, there are quite a few who are simple and eagerly believe when they see the signs and wonders taking place in their midst

But there are many in our generation who care less for these signs and wonders.

Signs and wonders are first of all the great merciful actions of God. God need not perform signs and wonders but he does that in order that we may believe in him and his love.

Hence the actions of Jesus whether to raise the dead and heal the sick and set people free from the yoke of slavery to sin and demons are actions that reveal the mighty love of God to humanity; so that free from the yoke of sicknesses, fear and guilt they may serve God in the freedom of their heart.

If God performs a sign for us, we now know that he does so in order that we may believe and trust in him, as one who is true, real, all powerful and almighty and that he is the only one who can save us.

Hence the greatest sign of all times, which required of him to prove himself to us and his love for us is the  sign of the death on the cross.

    

"This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.  For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nin'eveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. Luke 11:29-30

  

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Cor 1:22-25

Prayer: Lord, may the sign of your cross transform me each day more and more into your image and likeness.

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

Human Limitations

Today’s Gospel Text: He also said to the multitudes, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming'; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? 57 "And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper." Luke 12:54-59

Reflection: You travel by a public transport or eaves drop on conversation between friends or colleagues and invariably the whole conversation revolves around the hot topics of the day, dished out either by the television or the daily news paper or any other sources.

Each one has an opinion about the things happening or even if not then the many may humbly submit to an opinion which they feel is right. Disagreements if any is a clear indication of the individuality and the ability to have an opinion differing from the other.

To have an opinion about things is a perspective and however right or convinced one may feel in ones heart that they are perfectly right, yet they may not always be right.

In some situations the right opinions may get discarded and false one easily assimilated and adopted.

And in quite a few instances the right opinions may just elude us.

The most shocking element is that there are situations when one may even know that they don’t have a right opinion about things and yet may hold and even proclaim their opinions to others with all conviction.

Our masses like to live in deception too and would welcome indiscriminately the falsity that people offer them.  A dynamic personality has only to capture their imagination and they can use the masses to piggy back a revolution.

There are those who claim an element of neutrality or may not mind the term “fence sitters” and yet may not always be right in their decisions.   

One reason for the confidence we have about our opinions is because of our particular expertise in certain fields which we extrapolate it on to other areas of knowledge wrongly or we think that to be an expert in any field is more than enough to reach our ultimate destiny.

Jesus in today’s gospel reading warns each one of us such deception in ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, help me realize the limitations of myself bereft of immortality.

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

ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS

Today’s Gospel Text: "And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9 but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." Luke 12:8-12

Reflection: Christ Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him (Jn. 14: 6)

The above is a revelation of love by Jesus to the world. He loves us and hence he died for us on the cross while revealing to us the necessity of believing in him.

If we do not believe in him then we are believing in the many falsities that exist and are constantly proclaimed in and around us by our education, media and the people we interact with in daily lives. 

Besides these factors we are also inspired by the dark world of the evil one and hence create our philosophies and world view with the assistance of the evil one.

No one who denies Jesus can claim that they are free from the evil influences of the evil one and yet be true to their word; that they are independent and do not believe in him.(cfr. 1 Jn. 2: 22-23)

Such is the nature of the belief system which clearly shows that not to believe in Jesus is to believe in either self or others, which ultimately includes believing in the lies of the evil one.

When we believe in Jesus, we primarily believe in the truth of God as revealed by Jesus and this truth is able to save us.

Hence, he who believes in Jesus or claims to believe in Jesus cannot deny Jesus and his salvific mission of love to mankind.

Not to acknowledge him before men means not to participate in this mission of love of Jesus. At the same time it means to promote the mission of the devil and his lies. It means a failure to tell our human enemy that God still loves them and he can save them only through his Son Jesus.

No saints or angels can be an instrument of this Salvation which Jesus offers if they have not acknowledged Jesus before men. They are saints because of this role they have played in acknowledging him before men.

Prayer: Lord, help me realize that not to acknowledge you before men means to promote and proclaim a lie that leads to eternal damnation.

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

Scientific Mind

Today’s Gospel Text: While he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him; so he went in and sat at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you. Luke 11:37-41

Reflection:  There are those who are scientific minded and those who are the spiritual minded. Even among the spiritual minded there are rare and few who are really spiritual minded and trust and act in a pure spiritual way in matters of health and cleanliness too.

This is so because we by our sinful nature tend to be rationalistic, even though ultimately, it is not our rationalism that keeps us alive nor were we born with a rationalistic mind so as to exist in the first place.

Why then we pride in our rationalism? I too am rational in my ways but I disdain the extent that I am because it does not help to proclaim the highest truth of life and even God’s existence, power and providence.

Though science has its value and place in life, it has its limitations too. The spiritual mind beats the law of science and the scientific mind is not able to understand it. Some who have made themselves slaves to science see the wonders and yet refuse to believe lest they may have to give up the comforts of professionalism which they hold on to.

Who would  want to believe  Jesus in what he is saying? Among those who believe, how many would from today onwards not wash their hands while eating?

Though I would still wash my hands for cleanliness sake but I strongly believe in the truth of the message of Jesus. I do so after witnessing the many miracles in the lives of so many people who have sought to clean the inside of their cup and thus keeping disease and infection far away.

There are also many who believe in this message of Jesus, but on account of certain unforeseen or unperceived blocks may hold on to the scientific for a reason and time, till the Lord. whom they trust, will cleanse them from the inside in areas of much more importance to him.  

Hence the dedicated disciples are in no way comfortable under scientific treatment and thought; they look forward to that complete trust and dependency on God’s power, which is his salvation at work in us.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be transformed by the renewal of mind, so that I may walk in your good, perfect and pleasing will. (cfr. Rom. 12:2)

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

Wrath of God

Today’s Gospel Text: "Woe to you, Chora'zin! woe to you, Beth-sa'ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:13-16

Reflection: “God is love and he will not bring sinners to judgment, he is not as cruel as you think he is, he loves every one and hence will save everyone”

If anyone thinks of God in these terms then they have only to read this message of Jesus wherein he proclaims woes on the inhabitants of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum.

God indeed is love and his love cannot be taken for granted by one person in order to score over the other.

It is a self-centered way of looking at sin, as something personal and not affecting others.

Whatever sin we commit by breaking the divine law, as revealed in Scripture, we invite a curse on ourselves and also on our families and on the society or community in which we live in.

My individual sin affects all and may even have an effect on the generations to follow.

If we tolerate a serial killer in our midst and would not allow the law enforcing agency to act against such a one then we are inviting him to keep at it, even allowing our own lives to be in peril.

Why do whole cities and nations get destroyed by calamities? Why do sicknesses, pains and accidents thrive in certain places and situation?

Many a time it is due to the judgment of God on account of our sinfulness; for reasons best known to God. As for humans, it could be the nice people and nice neighbors who faced destruction.

In such interpretations we are not sitting in judgment, as some would accuse us  but rather it is a call to plead to God for mercy and reaching out to them in love as God would still want us to, so that the individual may not be lost for all eternity. 

Nevertheless, the call to believe in his assuring word remains: God indeed is our protector and no harm shall befall us unless he has allowed it. 

In such interpretations we are not sitting in judgment as some would accuse us of but rather a moment of pleading to God for mercy and reaching out to them in love as God would still want us to, so that the individual may not be lost for all eternity.

Prayer:  Father of mercy and love, save humanity from the impending wrath on account of their rejection of the Gospel truths.

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