He is there

Scripture/Bible: Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36 As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high." Luke 24:35-48     

Reflection:  There are something’s in life you cannot keep to yourself, you will voice it out irrespective whether the other likes it or not. 

You are satisfied with ordinary or extraordinary food at restaurants and then one fine day you are in a restaurant way above the rest and you will definitely tell the whole world; “ hey, look this is what food is meant to be, it is too good man, superb!” and on and on.

If, having heard of such things from others you would want to get into that experience yourself and will leave no stone unturned in order to get into the experience yourself. 

Because there are some experiences in life which are safe, good, pleasant and pleasing and they are worth getting into.

So we have it in the Gospel reading that the encounter which the disciple had on the road to Emmaus was something that was so very intriguing and out of the world.   I am sure if given an opportunity they would want that experience but at the same time it was satisfying enough for them to go around and tell their Brethren of what had happened on the road to Emmaus.

Speak Jesus, talk Jesus and walk with Jesus and he will always be with you in a special way till you come to a point where what you speak and talk will be what you have seen, heard, touched and believed.


In other words having heard about him, we need to keep at it again and again till we begin to encounter him always, everywhere and in all the things we are at in our lives. Then it would not be difficult to talk about him to others.

Prayer:  “Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast. Ps. 139:7-10 NRSV

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Let Jesus

Scripture/Bible: When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Caper'na-um. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea rose because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, 20 but he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. John 6:16-21

Reflection: The deeper meaning of life is sometimes brought about by another reality or incident in life.

The Disciples having got into a boat to go to Capernaum where their home was were in reality moving away from the Lord and apart from the Lord. 

How could they, the Lord’s disciples, go away without the Lord, rushing to get back home to be with their near and dear ones? It is like rushing back from an Eucharistic meal with out carrying Jesus with us. 

Often times in life we are so caught up with our many loves and attachments and we move away from the Lord thinking that we will smoothly face the vagaries of life.  Like the sea that rose, so also troubles rise like the sea in the darkness of our faith.  We keep at it, rowing and rowing.

Blessed is the man who recognizes the Lord as not far from them, though his presence could at times be frightening in the darkness of life and the guilt that our conscience carries.

Can we find assurance in those words of Jesus; "It is I; do not be afraid?"

Allow him to come overboard, allow him that room in your life, trust him a little more and rest assured that even if the problem may not immediately cease but you will be soon close to that safe place, the land where you are at home.


Hence there is no safe place than the presence of Jesus with you.

So do not be afraid to invite the Lord in everything you do and in all your relationships. Allow the Lord to lead and guide you, and if, when journeying you realize from the rising trouble your mistake, then there is hope still. 

Prayer:  “If thou, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.”  Ps 130:3-4

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Followers and Disciples

Scripture/Bible:  After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiber'i-as. 2 And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" 6 This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?" 10 Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost." 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!" John 6:1-14

Reflection:  There are various reasons why one would follow a leader. Today’s gospel reading reveals one  such reason why people followed Jesus, viz. signs of his healing people from diseases.  They were, for the sake of signs, even willing to follow Jesus across the Sea of Galilee on the other side. 

Signs are a great attraction and seeing those signs they may have recognized Jesus as someone great and mighty.  But did they recognize the real Jesus and how he is to be recognized?

Unless he reveals himself to them they will never be able to recognize him as he is to be recognized. No smart man on earth can do that, even with one’s best learning or observational ability.  What they recognized about Jesus was commendable but not legitimately correct.

Hence we could safely ask; were these in reality followers of Jesus? Did they recognize Jesus as who he is?  No.

What Jesus wants is true followers; one’s who are willing to learn the serious things of the kingdom of God from him and willing to dedicate themselves as his disciples. 

Here is a clear sign of discrimination between the ordinary followers and the serious followers. It is the disciples he can lead to the test and speak the secrets of the kingdom, and here in this case he speaks to Philip; “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?"  vs 5.

While the effect of his signs were meant for the benefit of the people the learning from the sign was meant for his disciples; “This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” Vs. 6

Prayer:  Lord, lead me by thy light and guide me to the truth.

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Eternal Life

Scripture/Bible:  He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks; he who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony; 33 he who receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for it is not by measure that he gives the Spirit; 35 the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:31-36

Reflection:  Who has seen heaven and eternal life that you preach to us about it? A wonderful question based on a wonderful ignorance of facts? Or is it that people don’t care to believe.

Is it because they can't see and it is really beyond their grasp that they don't want to believe in eternal life and eternal damnation? We could even not believe even if we see things as they are.

You see a human being in pain and there is every possibility that you would not want to believe that he or she is in pain or may not want to get to understand the nature and depth of that pain.  "He is just acting it out", you may say.  Possibly you could be right but not every possibility is a lie either and rarely one would want to check the veracity of the situation.

So often we make our experiences and our half baked knowledge the norm and guiding principle and even apply it to others.  We may believe in the philosophy of subjectivity and perspectavalism and proclaim truth as relative but when it comes to action we are either seductively objective or objectively authoritarian in our actions. 

Prejudices and pre-judgment is the norm of our lifestyle and yet we think we are walking in righteousness. 

Teachings on eternity, after life and the truth about it is a humanly verifiable fact presented to us by Jesus who makes the secrets of life accessible to us through his word and by the action of his Holy Spirit. 

We need to give Jesus a chance rather than go by our pre-judgments and prejudice.  In this we have nothing to lose but instead an eternity to gain beginning with its experience here and now; hence it is no pie in the sky!  

Prayer:  Lord I come to you, help me to know and believe in your assurances.

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Believe

Scripture/Bible: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. John 3:16-21

Reflection:  Believing seems to be the magic formulae or it seems to do the job of saving.  It also seems such a trivial thing and can easily come under the lens of critical scrutiny.

How can a mere action of belief save the world from eternal damnation? If Jesus is saying it then what is it that he is communicating when he says that the only way for anyone wanting to be saved is to believe in him and him and them whom he sends in his name, with power and authority?

With this question in mind, I will seek to answer it from various angles and because our reflection is meant to be short I shall seek to answer it with some short answers and queries:

There have been many leaders both religious and secular in history that have made great promises, which of them have been successful for long with their ideologies?

Who among them have given such sound, simple and elaborate teachings on being saved, hell and eternal life and the problems of the world?

Who among them can claim to be the Savior and yet have performed the saving action by being the lamb of sacrifice, the most innocent, one who died one of the most miserable deaths in human history? He died in order to take away the sin (that human situation that separates us from knowing the truth of God and in defense of which he had to die) of the World?

Who among them have satisfied that need in man to seek a sign, in order that they may not have difficulty in believing in him? He did it with supernatural signs and continued with it through his holy servants and still continues his work to all who approach him or his holy servants with firm belief and sincerity of heart.

Which followers of any system or leaders can tell anyone with confidence that their God loves them no matter how sinful they maybe, can forgive their sins and that they will be able to experience him and his forgiveness even right now if they come to him with sincerity of heart and mind?

What is more, they can even claim that proof of God’s love by directing them to look at the Sacrifice of the cross. The cross of Jesus and the humiliations he endured for our sakes, a historical incident recorded by even historians, is the proof of his love for humanity sealed by his most precious blood.

Prayer: A sincere prayer is always from the heart: Make yours right now after reflecting on the above.

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The Spirit Blows

Scripture/Bible:  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' 8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicode'mus said to him, "How can this be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." John 3:7-15

Reflection:  This is sheer madness; imagine the world where everyone does what they want? Yet the world operates on this same principle; do what you want and feel like doing. 

In this church too we could have a situation where each one does what they want. But fortunately one of the strongest element of Christian faith is to seek God’s will in total discernment. But every discerned act in submission to the mission of the church is like the action of the wind; we don’t know where it comes from and where it goes.

In the ruling or administrative class the people who will be the most insecure would be the ones with a socialist mind set, who think that by controlling people there will be peace and unity in society. These are people who are comfortable with uniformity and deduce that it will bring about peace and unity. 

These will rather thrive on creating fear even ruling in an atmosphere of twisted fear with an outwardly freedom which is always deceptive.   As long as things are subjected to them even by means of mere information or permission it is considered safe, no matter what abuses may take place.

The trust in self is more than trust in God.

On the other hand those who value the working of the Holy Spirit believe that God is still at work by the action of the Holy Spirit and only seeks to discern and promote the action of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus refers to as the wind.

Just as the wind “blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes” so also the working of the Holy Spirit.

But rejecting this working of the Holy Spirit in the Christian milieu many have gone in search of the illusory Holy Spirit in other religions.  This is a sheer mockery of the faith.

Some have even become instruments of persecution and have sought their best to quench the working of the Holy Spirit by every means available at their disposal.

Prayer: Lord, may I be faithful to your teachings.

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How to Know Jesus?

Scripture/Bible:   Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicode'mus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicode'mus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' 8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit." John 3:1-8

Reflection:  By any human reason this is foolish and absolute stupidity; you are asked a question or you are discussing a particular topic and then the answer you get is something more vague and different.  Your gaze is shifted to another topic all together. 

How can Jesus answer Nicodemus like that and lead him in a different direction? 

But that’s how it is before the mighty wisdom of God – "For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" 1 Cor 2:16

Nicodemus knew enough about Jesus but he did not know Jesus and the only way he could do that was to be born anew. His knowledge of Jesus was not enough to save him nor was his theological knowledge enough to know Jesus personally; for what he had learnt and observed was purely from his human vision and reflection. 

He required the attitude of another knowledgeable Pharisee, maybe a contemporary of Nicodemus, may have been younger to him and yet converted, much latter than him, after the resurrection of Jesus: 

St. Paul the Pharisee testifies; “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.  Phil 3:7-10

Prayer:  Lord we cannot really know you without your help, come to my rescue O Lord my God!

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