Human Frailty

Today’s Gospel Text:  "A little while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me." 17 Some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?" 18 They said, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We do not know what he means." 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him; so he said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'? 20 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. John 16:16-20

Reflection: If you think that you do not understand everything about life, then you are treading a safe ground.

Only fools dreams of accomplishing the impossible in all things and everything.  Thus you have it for belief: “Nothing is impossible with man”

Prove O mortal man by living the eternal life! How can mortal man ever boast about achieving every impossibilities of life? He may succeed, but for a while, even to prolong his life here on earth.

More so when it comes to spiritual truths it is always rare and difficult to understand many of its mysteries.  Yet is no excuse for us not to make attempts to understand these mysteries that concerns us for eternity.

In the gospel we see that the dedicated disciples did not understand what Jesus had to say concerning himself. It was a deep mystery for them and they wondered what Jesus was trying to tell them.

They needed to know what Jesus was trying to tell them lest they not lose heart and faith when the incident about the imminent death of Jesus would take place.

We already see signs of such discouragement in them, even as he is betrayed and arrested. Their isolation adds to their fate. 

No one likes to be associated with criminals or even with people who are on the wrong side of a corrupt authority and the disciples were in a similarly situation too and if not pre-warned they would have been lost forever.

Yet they didn't seem to understand the mysteriousness of the word: How can a man, who healed the sick, raised the dead, spoke a wisdom that none of his opponent could counter and delivered and exorcised them from the evil one, ever die and that too an ignoble death?

Such situations require a constant reinforcement on account of the frailty of human thinking.   

The death and resurrection of Jesus and later his interaction with the dedicated disciples and the sending of the Holy Spirit and the company of Mary are all powerful reinforcements kept for them by God and which in turn becomes a source for us too to aid us in our walk with Christ Jesus.

Prayer:  May we Lord have the help and intercession of your church, even that which reigns with you in triumph.

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

Let him Speak

Today’s Gospel Text: Nathan'a-el said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathan'a-el coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" 48 Nathan'a-el said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathan'a-el answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." 51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." John 1:46-51

Reflection: “Come and see.”

We know seeing does not really help us because of our limitations in seeing what we really need to see, of comprehending reality.

I may be traveling in a speeding car and keep my eyes open to see the dangers ahead as if me keeping my eyes open will help me avoid the dangers of life or take preventive measures to escape an accident.

When it comes to seeing ourselves, many people may be able to see us and point many things about ourselves, we too may be able to see ourselves perfectly in many areas of ourselves and yet may never be able to see ourselves as perfectly as we are.

How can we take perfect decisions in life when we do not know ourselves? We may be able to see some of the mistakes we make in life, some immediately, some after some time, some after years have passed and some because someone or something has pointed it out to us. But there may be many which we may never see and never realize. 

How do we know for sure that we have never made many mistakes in life? What is success, if that is the criteria by which go?

One of the most intriguing thing that I have observed in people, is that you point a mistake to people and they are proved wrong and yet they still continue to proclaim or do what is wrong and evil. That’s because they have gained their power and position in society on account of this false thoughts, which society has legitimized and approved as true on account of its own folly or because it is a compulsive disorder, they suffer from.  

If such is the sad distressing situation of human life, then we are living dangerously in a society which approves of evil and untruth and yet life goes on, many a time without a major calamity to shock us and we are comfortable with piecemeal solutions to our problems.

Unless we allow God to speak to us as did Nathanael, who in his zeal to come and see would definitely have failed if not for the revelation of Christ about him, we will fail too.

Allow Jesus to speak to your heart, he is alive and still speaks. Ask him to reveal to you yourself, your true worth and you will be saved from all your troubles.

Prayer: In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Ps 18:6

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

Faulty Formation

Today’s Gospel Text: At that time Jesus declared, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; 26 yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. 27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Matt 11:25-27

Reflection: Our schools and our formation houses train us to be mature men and women. Some teach to have a balanced approach to life and equip us to survive and even reach out to others.  Our formation houses even train us to be balanced and give a holistic formation, though a big question mark.

When it comes to our formation houses; we are trained to be wise and understanding; hence they exercise leadership in the community of God’s people.  

Some in order to be further wise and grow in understanding amass secular certificates and degrees for progressive growth in the organization of the church and are looked up to for such qualifications.

This is nothing but a deviant behavior pattern, benefitting the self more than the people whom we serve.  Hence the sermons are those that are based on such worldly knowledge and wisdom.

Similarly, those formed in our institutions, rise in the corporate work place to accommodate positions of power and authority.  They are able to express with confidence that which need not be sound wisdom, and at the same time their listeners lap up whatever is given to them, due also to their lack of training in discernment.

I often hear the adage; “there is no right or wrong answers”.  If there is no a right or wrong answers then what are they? A partly right answer, and we have every right to use that term when necessary, but it is still a wrong answer. Only a right answer is a right answer.

Now to understand even these small nuances, we require a different kind of wisdom and understanding.  The Church needs to return to such wisdom and understanding to survive in these deceptive times.

"I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes.”

Prayer:  Lord, apart from you we can do nothing; help us to realize the limitations of our mind to comprehend the deeper truths of life and return to know from you like little children.

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