Tuesday, March 2, 2021

3rd Sunday of Lent: Market Spirituality

 


Market spirituality!

Moses was introducing a day of rest! (Read Exodus 20/1-17)

Many years ago I read a book titled, Intimate enemy! The gist of the book is this; the enemy might have left you physically but the traits you imbibed from him dictates from inside!  The British left you but you continue to be "British" in many ways!  Language, dress, behavior, type of education, right-hand drive, police ill-treatment, Laws and so on!  Many even today continue to live in British India.

These people with Moses were in Egypt as slaves!  They had crossed over to a land of liberation.  But the "slavishness" has not gone yet!  They continue to slog.  Probably new types of rulers have emerged from within! Some of them might have been worse than the British! sorry, the Egyptians!!

The tough task of relieving them from Pharaoh is over but now the toughest task for Moses and other leaders is to introduce civilization, culture and a better life.

Domestic workers, cooks, daily wage earners, gardeners, errand boys and girls, farmworkers, construction workers, women with menial jobs are all unorganized and have no voice!  They continue to be exploited in terms of hours of work and salary.  Sometimes, when they ask for their rightful rest or higher salary; many think they are arrogant.  We often call them in the singular.  On the other hand, those who are well organized with Labour unions or in government jobs or associated with political parties; they ruthlessly eat up the vast junk of the hard-earned Gross National Income.  Imagine, the way in which the majority of the government employees work and the un-proportionate income they get.  If it is their right, what about their duty towards their job?  If they can easily claim their rights, what about the majority; the unorganized sector which forms a huge number of the population?  Then the more important question, if the state employees who constitute 1% of the total populace enjoy the majority of the income,  what about the exchequer on social sectors like, education, health, road construction and so on?

We are in 2021! The chasm between these two sectors of the working-class indicate that we stay far behind the time of Moses in many aspects!

A few days back, I read the news that a businessman from Theni in Tamilnadu, who loves Lord Vengadesha in Thirupathi Temple, offered 3 and half kilograms of gold as an offering.  There were a lot of reactions from different quarters to this act, that he should have given the money to the poor or to the orphanages and so on.

Kindly understand human nature!  when you love something, somebody or some gods or goddesses; you don't have any reason to justify that!  Most of us are that way!  I have seen people pampering pet animals.  I have no idea about it.  But, if I begin to judge people from my social perspective, I will be simply condemning these people. And they can condemn me, saying I have no mercy for lives on earth.  So, it is better not to read and judge others from my own perspective.

Churches, Temples, and Mosques in this country have plenty of property offered by such "lovers" formally called devotees.  They love God or their deity and offer their gifts!  The administrators of these Holy places must think together constructively, think in support of the poor, think in support of the common man, think in support of the needy, and think in support of God!  God attracts this wealth not for Himself but for His people!  But the intermediaries play havoc in the name of God!

Jesus was furious in the temple.  The temple in Jerusalem sounded like a market place!  (Read John 2: 13-25) Money, money, and money!

Play on the emotions of the people, you can earn quite a lot of money.  Many shrines look like malls in the cities.  Alluring and bargaining! Sounding crazy!

The doctor would tell the parents, "Your girl must go through cesarean and pay 25,000 immediately!" They will sell anything to do that.  Because they love their girl and don't want to take any risk.  Many hospitals have become markets!

The lawyer would say, "Pay or you may have to go to jail"; you will sell your property and pay. Courtrooms have become markets!

You will pay in the police station, you will pay to the judge, you will pay in government offices,  middlemen, priests, gods, and goddesses!  Your attachment and fear are great opportunities for those who want to exploit and earn!

Beautiful professions have become opportunities for exploitation, earning money, and imposing cruelty.

"You cannot serve both God and money at the same time" Jesus once said! (Mt. 6/24)

When we run schools, hospitals, service centers, churches, places of worship, shrines, old age homes; what is the primary purpose? Money or service?

Today's gospel ends by saying, "He knows the heart of every man!"

Do I know my heart?  Where does it lay?  Charity, Love, Compassion or Trading, grabbing and exploiting?

Attempting to stop exploitation will not stop exploitation!  Start doing good, begin sharing, begin loving, extend your hand to the needy, smile at your enemy, hug the indifferent one.

3 comments:

  1. அருமையான பதிவு வாழ்த்துக்கள்

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very true... Especially the love offering even in Churches are very high... One church before the panademic box collection was 3 lakhs per sunday.. What happens to this money collected.
    Very inspiring giving is more fruitful then recieving

    ReplyDelete

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