15th Sunday Better, Smile!

Better smile! 

How did you behave when you were distributing to the 5000 plus gathering?  Were you selfish or generous?  Were you feeling one above them?  Were you partial or compassionate? Were you lavish and careless?  Were you stingy and hard on people?

Now when you walk on the streets, probably there are people in those villages who had been to that same gathering;  they had watched you, observed you or even had a tussle with you.  Now it is their time to react or respond.

Jesus had the capacity to provide food for thousands of people!  Were they miracles or organizational skill is not known to me!

But for him and his disciples, he depended on the people not on miracles!

Public life and service demands; discipline, principle and compassion!

A bank cashier may handle millions of rupees.  But they don't belong to him.  But he could be very kind and pleasant at the cash counter.  You are not losing your money but one who receives can receive both money and a smile!

Mr. Kakkan, Mr. Sathiyamoorthy, Mr. K. Rajaram, Mr. Kamarajar, Mr. Omanthooraar, Mr. Nallakannu, Mr. Lal bagathoor Shasthri, Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Mr. Sahayam are some of the Indian politicians who were highly and exemplarily disciplined in this direction.  They were scrupulously cautious about common money.

A religious, a priest, a politician, a person in government service have ample number of opportunities to handle the common money.  There will be a constant temptation to swab aside some of it or the whole of it.  That is a death trap!

When Jesus instructed, "Don't carry anything more than the bare necessity", he forced them to depend on the people for their salary.  Providence therefore, is not looking up, for assistance!  But look around for your sustenance.  It is not a blind belief in an unknown God but a deep  trust in people around you.

If you have an opportunity to handle common money, just get detached from it and enjoy a total freedom.  It is bliss!!  Don't grumble, don't be silly, don't horde things for no reason, don't be stingy.

The people are provided by the master.  You only have distribution responsibility both with things and service.

Better smile! Otherwise you may go "hungry"!

12th Sunday Endless waves

 

Faith is not merely an intellectual activity!  It is an internal disposition!

Faith is not; thinking (or, believing) that someone or some external force can do something good or bad!

Faith is openness!  Religion tries to give you a set of beliefs and dogmas!  They are needed for any group development!  Keep it up if necessary.  But raise up from religiosity to a higher reality.

Many would say this Sunday that if you trust in Jesus, he will calm down your problems in life!  Good for "kids"!  Don't be a kid for a very long time!  Hold on to your Father!  No, problem!! But now you have children and grandchildren too.  You have to lead them as well!!

When there is commotion and uproar, a good leader takes control of the situation and projects calmness, and proposes guidance.  When there is agitation all around, a good leader would exhibit involved efforts to calm down the commotion.  On the other hand, Poor leaders (like dictators or fundamentalists)  would pour petrol on the fire!

When there is a problem in the community when there is emotions running high due to various reasons, let your internal disposition exhibit fine leadership!

When the weather is rough, better not to venture out!  Wait for a better moment, wait for a conducive weather to take a ride!

Belief will venture you out!  If you survive the trouble, you will add feathers to your belief!  If you fail, you will attribute to another type of belief, such as "God's will" and so on.

Faith is openness!  You will listen to nature, birds, children, experienced people, weather forecasts and so on.  And then you will use your judgment to ACT!

And when there is an unexpected commotion, you will certainly be affected, perturbed, or disturbed.  But, don't get succumbed to it.  Observe and Act!  Take leadership!  Don't worsen the situation by frightening others!  If you frighten the crowd, you will end up creating a religion!

Probably Jesus was pretending to sleep on a tossed-up boat,  observing "all the leaders" creating and adding their bit of commotion in the "boat"!

Be composed and collected in the rough weathers of life!  Waves would come and go, but you will have to survive and sail through!  The second wave, third-wave...

11th Sunday, Plant Trees!

 

Plant Trees!

If humans had not ruthlessly cut down trees and destroyed the nature, we don't have to plant trees today!  That was not our responsibility.  Nature could take care of itself.  But man had intervened and destroyed nature.

Do you know why the elephants get agitated and destroy human inhabitants or agricultural lands?  The elephant herds have their track that they follow for centuries.  Not knowing any of these we infiltrated into the forests and refurbished it for human needs.  We destroyed almost everything; rivers, bird sanctuaries, animals, hills and mountains, even space!  There is a huge and beautiful chain of relationships between all these.  We are just a single and small entity or part of this whole wonderful design!

Humans should not enter the forests!  Senseless people throw bottles, plastics, synthetic materials all over the earth, including the forests and the ocean.  Through the oil spilled by the ships, pollution caused by flights and vehicles, carbon emission, climate change, global warming we have proven that humans are not rational anymore!  River beds are being stolen, Mining has destroyed many places, High sea fishing by motorized vassals has extinguished many ocean resources, Urbanization has put an end to nature's many resources. Nailing trees with advertisements, spilling garbage on the streets, smoking in public places, littering, cutting huge trees for the construction of houses and roads,  and never bothered to replace them with more trees and what not?

Now we run short of oxygen and frantically run for Oxygen cylinders!   What senseless human beings we are!  We are like the disciples of Paramaartha guru cutting the very branch we sit on.

The first reading (Ezekiel 17/22-24) and the gospel today (Mark 4/26-34) refer to how nature grows.  I have no interest in theologizing or theologically interpreting any of these.  Useless and irrelevant to me today!

Go and plant trees!

Don't organize religious ceremonies; gathering people as before the Pandemic and lead to kill them!  This is not the time to scratch our religious sentiments and irresistible irritations.  These are signs of "faith" built on pseudo-religious sentiments.  They cannot even be called faith but stupidity wearing a faith gown!

The Pandemic and the readings today invite us to be spiritual and practical!

Go and rectify the mess we created!

Go and plant trees!!

The body and blood of Christ

 

I have great admiration for St. Carlo (Not declared saint yet by the church, but I personally prefer to call him that way!!) He had great devotion and admiration for Eucharist.  He worked hard focused on collecting Eucharistic miracles!

Thieves had entered a little church at night and broke open the tabernacle, took away the ciborium, and spilled the communion all around!  In the morning when devotees saw the communion on the floor, they were shocked and reported the same to the priest in charge!  He with a lot of fear and devotion collected them back and placed them properly.  The bishop, (I think it was late bishop Thomas of Trichy diocese) quickly came to the spot and consoled the people and finally celebrated a mass among them.  In which he preached, "the body of Christ is spilled all over; in the slums and villages, on streets and dirty places!  The body of Christ is thrown on the streets when the poor are uncared" and so on...

Every person next to you is an embodiment of the same God who lives in you!

If you cannot see the human needs around, your god is blind!

If you detest the smell of the poor,  your god is poor!

If you do not extend a helping hand, your god is lame!

If you cannot be warm to the depressed, your god is a nut!

If you cannot be compassionate to the suffering one your god is useless!

That you have no love for the people around you but can do summersault in Eucharistic devotion or lift yourself 5 ft from the ground in deep meditation, your god may be powerful and influential but is worthless!

In fact "your god" is not God!

Ascension of the Lord Gospel is not a book

You feel very comfortable in the presence of some persons!  They inquire about you, they show interest in you and what you do, they console you when you are down, they talk positive things with you.  They are full of hope and love!  They radiate affection, compassion, and trustworthiness!

On the other hand, there are people who are all the time self-eulogizing!  All the time looking for an opportunity to say something great about themselves.  Even when they visit the sick, they would be preoccupied with themselves and their own concerns.  They stink!

Proclaiming the gospel is not explaining it in words and elaborating its theology or what we have learned from the books and libraries!

Gospel is not a book!  Gospel is not an exhortation!  Gospel is not a historical narration!  Gospel is you!  Yes, You are the gospel!

Be a piece of good news to someone or anyone!  Listening to someone's difficulties, wiping the tears of someone, clasping a hand with compassion, embracing someone with true love, sharing the joy of the other, laughing with a cheerful person, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, be at the service of the elderly or the deserted ones ... you can be good news in so many ways.

For this you must all the time look at the other person's needs, difficulties and situations; other cantered!    If you are self-centered, difficult to be good news to anyone!

Ascension is not from downward to upward! It is from inward to outward!

Therefore, Reach out!

5th Sunday of Easter Load Shedding

 

Look at the pen stand on your table; Old pens that don't write anymore and Pens that you don't use anymore! but, they are all there!  They are a burden to the stand and you!  Look at your table, room, home, and your vicinity!  You will find many useless things but don't feel like giving them up.  Books, old cell phones,  old laptops, clothes, shoes, and whatnot that you don't need anymore.  They get accumulated!  Your beautiful room is like a dark room where you dumb things!  A little garbage bin!

Get rid of them and create space where you can freely move around!

Throwing them away is certainly good for you but if you can combine it with "Giving it away" (to someone in need) is much better.

Similarly, the Mind is filled with thoughts, prejudices, and worries that curtails your happiness!  A hurting word by someone is dead and gone but your mind needs it to torment you!  An incident is no more alive but your mind entertains it to keep you strangled under it.

Your ego is such a poor guy that it cannot say sorry!  It cannot forgo things!  It cannot say "I misunderstood"!  Therefore, you hoard things against so many!  You take in more than what you can chew!  You stick to ideologies that are irrelevant! You get entangled in certain religious beliefs! you get into the morass of prejudices!

You have such beautiful wings with which you can fly around and enjoy the breadth and width of the sky!  But you are stuck to the slush!

Pruning is a must for growth and harvest!

As the pruned leaves and branches become good manure for the plants, similarly that which you have shred will enhance your growth!

Face criticisms and Address issues!  There is no use postponing!  It is better to lose the branches than the whole tree!  Pain can be very constructive if you can properly address it.

We are in the midst of the Covid crisis!  Again, Don't Panic and Don't postpone!  If you have symptoms attend to it immediately.  It will save time, energy, health, money,  family, and your life.  On the other hand, if you panic, you will sink quickly!

4th Sunday Easter Leadership vacancies

 

Leadership characters that were presented by Jesus is far different from that of today's political leadership!

Unfortunately, the elements of political leadership has attracted many including the Christian leaders!

Accumulation of power and money is the hallmark of political arena today!

Distribution of power, money, wealth, food, justice is the characters of Christian leadership.

In a village family, for example, the father of the family earns let us say 500 rupees a day, the mother of the family 250 and there are two income-less children and a grandmother.  The total income, the 750 of the day belongs to the entire family.  The father cannot autocratically spend 200 rupees for his evening drink!

Common money cannot be used for private ends!  Then, it is no more a family, no more a congregation, no more a community, no more a church!  I am not here talking about democracy but Christian spirit and charity!

The two children in your family are totally dependent on your income!  But they are your joy and future which is immeasurable!  The grandmother is income-less!  But she had spent her entire past for this present!   The mother comes back from the fields and works again at home unpaid!  A family is centred around love, charity and compassion, not income and money alone!

Many of our religious communities and churches have lost their credentials and respect among the common people is mainly due to its shift from a Charity model to Income oriented model.  The centre of focus has shifted from ministry and service to income generation!

Sr. Jacquline once told me to visit the Christian Fellowship Hospital in Ottanchathiram.  A couple of its doctors had also helped our village medical camps. In their hospital, payment for hospitalization is done after counselling the person.  If they are poor and unable to pay, they don't charge the regular, I was told!

Kamalaathaal an 80-year-old granny sells one rupee idli in Coimbatore, Vadivelanpalyam!   She just feeds the hungry with a determined heart!

Comedian Vivek who died recently had planted a few million trees in this country with a true determination.

Therefore, you don't need a position or a placement or an appointment or an election to become a leader.

There is a huge number of leadership vacancies in several fields!  Why do you compete in the sticky crowded street?

Feed the hungry, Take care of the orphans, work for the liberation of prisoners, help their families, teach youth culture, federate women, federate peasants, get involved with AA groups, organize cultural troupes, motivate children; Yes, you are needed in so many places.  Therefore break the cocoon of thought patterns and fly free!  Otherwise, it would get rotten!  

3rd week of Easter! Resurrect now!

 

The potential peace between India and Pakistan does exist!  Nothing in this world is dead that cannot be revived or resurrected!  Samundar Singh who had killed Blessed Sr. Rani Maria had a change of heart and is now preaching the gospel.

Belief in Resurrection is exactly that; it is not something that of a past speaking about our future!

Don't die voluntarily!  Don't put the end card so quickly and get buried!!  The deeper you are buried, the longer you are buried, the tougher it is to get out!  Get out of it quickly!!

Relationships can be buried!  Hopes can be buried!  Initiatives can be buried!  Friends can be buried!  Your future can be buried!

Keep them alive!  Not just survival but keep them lively!

Once again let me get back to the same example.  There are fantastic resources in India and Pakistan!  But petty politics had sunk them down and keeps both the countries poor and marginalized!  We both are pouring our hard-earned money into the purchase of ruthless and "useless" arms rather than power projects, watershed programmes, resource development and so on!

When I want to win an election, I do not mind fanning the caste sentiments among youngsters and ruin their lives.  The youth from neighbouring villages or streets see each other as enemies and lose their future.

The dominant caste, their kith and kin go to the universities, fly abroad to get superlative degrees and become doctors, lawyers or get into administrative structures.  But they inflame the others in the name of religion and caste, force a weapon in their hands to fight each other.

Let us change this "deadly" situation!

Tell the children around you to say hello to their neighbour!

Tell the youth to hold hands with their neighbour and look at the bright future!

Tell yourself, to wind up bigotry, prejudice and bias to see together with the fantastic synergy that you can generate as a family, as a community, as a church, as a village or as a congregation!

When you consider someone an enemy you are closing down the shutters!  You spell death!  When you revenge someone, you are wasting your energy and you opt for death instead of life!  After a couple defeats you get disappointed and give up trying, you are winding up!  When you don't get the results you expected, you stop initiatives, you are dying!

Death or Resurrection, therefore, is your choice!

On a single day, one can die several times feeling dejected, feeling discouraged, feeling defeated,  but You can also raise up to love, to relate, to hope for, to help, to reach out!

Resurrection is not a past event!

If your dogmatic faith is all about Jesus raising you one last day after the final judgement or whatever, then logically you should not worry about  His job!  Let us not waste our precious time on hair splitting discussions on what type of body Jesus had when he rose from the dead and so on!

You can beautifully experience Resurrection when you lift up a poor, when you shake hand and re-establish peace with a person when you can bring smile in a disappointed person, why not?

Why choose death when you can resurrect yourself and others?

Why wait for the "Final day" to get resurrected?

 

2nd Sunday of Easter Peace comes from forgiveness

 

The early church is constructing a defensive theology, which is portrayed as historical events in the last chapters of the gospel of John!  Obviously, the church is offering answers to the doubts raised by the early Christians or their opponents; not necessarily with exact chronological events but propositions soaked in faith!  For example, the empty tomb and the apparitions of Jesus don't directly prove anything about the resurrection.  Empty tomb says that it is the same body of Jesus! Jesus appearing in different places including a closed room indicates that it is not the "same" body!  Is He body or spirit?  Their answer is, "It is both"!  He is a spiritual body now, they try to prove!

I have a very keen interest in the historical events around and about Jesus!  I am ever open to thinking beyond the faith narrations of the gospels.  Because we don't get the exact historical events from a love letter!

Thomas the apostle figures in the gospel today.  He seemed to have got out of "their room" and was moving around for some reason!  Probably looking for "Jesus" dead or alive!  Because there was news that the tomb is empty and there is a message leaking that Jesus is alive!  He finally reached Mylapore in Chennai where he was killed by a fanatic! 

Pilot or any ruler for that matter don't easily succumb to people's pressure as narrated in the gospels!  The execution of Jesus was handed over to Roman soldiers and that too for the forenoon of Friday.  Potius Pilot knows that the entire place will be empty and deserted for nearly 36 hours due to the Sabbath observation.  It makes it easy for "their plans".  Jesus had followers and well-wishers even among the Romans and Jewish hierarchy.  I leave it to your imagination, logic, and research.

That was a time when there was a huge infiltration of Brahminism in Southern India, which was refuted by Tamil intellectuals called Siddhars including Thiruvalluvar!  Though the articulation methodology of the gospels and Thirukkural are different the theme is much similar and Thriukural is crystal and cryptic whereas the parables of the gospels were elaborate and cryptic.  Both are eastern ways of communication.

I stop it here; for though it is highly interesting, that is not the purpose of my writing.  I am more attracted by the spirituality of Jesus than the religiosity of any religion!

There will be peace when you forgive is the only theme of Jesus that I pick up in the gospel today.  The disciples of Jesus were terribly upset and angry with what happened to Jesus in the last few days.  Blaming each other, blaming the government, blaming the temple authorities, and even maybe blaming Jesus himself.  Inner agitation, outbursts, tears, emotions for revenge, feeling of helplessness fills the room!  Dejection, sadness, and hopelessness prevail in the atmosphere.  Because he was not just one among them but their leader!

He comes in, offering peace! 

Thousands of people including little children massacred in Srilanka in 2009, the merciless ways in which the Gujarat Muslims were slaughtered in 2002, the killing of Jews under the Nazi regime, the carpet bombing in Vietnam, the atom bombs that killed several thousand in Japan and so many such ruthless crimes against humanity passes through my mind.  Should we forgive the perpetrators of such violence and bloodshed?

My nerves get agitated when I think of such crime perpetrators or those who destroy peace in the community for selfish ends.  They make use of caste feelings, ethnic emotions, nationalist sentiments, historical events; to motivate, support, instigate and justify violence and injustice!

The sister of Sr. Rani Maria, Sr. Salomi, and their mother forgave her assassin! Steward Stein's wife forgives the killers of her husband and two children!  Mrs. Sindhuthai Sapkal forgave her husband who almost killed her and thrown into a cowshed to be stamped by the animals, On the cross, Jesus forgave his killers.

Forgiveness comes from a courageous heart but appears to be weak!  On the other hand, Revenge appears to come from a bold personality but actually, it comes from a very weak mind!

Un-forgiveness creates scars and harms; first in you and then it spreads!

Forgiveness unfolds Peace within and around!

Easter 2021: Refute death!!

 

Get used to Resurrection!

All our fears emanate from the fear of death!

Humans go into tantrums due to fear!  A psychotherapist handles them with medicine and science!  Religion creates beliefs for faith consumption!  Rebirth, Resurrection, Eternal abode are some of them!  If it can help handle fear in you it is very good!  The strongest proponent of all these are those who have no idea or any experience about any of them!

Resurrection after death is not my worry or concern!  Resurrection in this life is my concern!

A tomb is a place where a dead body gets struck!  The dead body has no potency to rise and break the tomb!  The tomb is constructed with concrete or a stone that you don't easily escape from it!

Many elements in this world want to bury you in a safe tomb where you don't agitate, or question or rise up and be active! 

When you get affiliated to a political party, all the leaders become saints par excellence and those opposing them are all devils!  You lose your freedom to think!  You are stuck in a tomb!

You get resigned to fatalism!  A few defeats make you motionless!  You don't want to take any more risk or effort!  Sorry, you are stuck in a tomb!

You get struck with ideologies, You get stuck with prejudices, You get struck with habits, You get struck with practices (for example, people say, bribing is normal here!), You get stuck with your emotions!  What not?

Get up from them!  Don't allow anyone to lay a stone over you!  Roll it out!

An iota of life in you has the potency to move the entire corpse and bring back life in every cell in you!

If a scientist can believe that they can bring back dinosaur to life a single genetic material why not you and me?

Imagine the number of prejudices you suffer from naming them as unquestionable beliefs!  "Drunkards don't change", "Cancer cannot be totally healed", "RSS will never change", "Diabetics will remain forever", "I am old and what can I do now?", "The fullness of truth is only in my religion",  "My race is the best race in the world", "My caste is created by God to rule the entire universe", "Dalits are low caste, Brahmins are higher than all!", "evangelization is not possible anymore"  Just pause for a while and count the number of sludge, you are stuck in!

You have such a massive potency to fly around like an eagle but you get stuck in a little murky idea and refuse to move even a bit and are willing to die quickly!

Here is a man who is refusing to die even after dumping "it" into the tomb and shut it with a massive stone!

Why do you want to die when you can be fully alive? Get up and Fear Not!!  Resurrection is not an event after death!  It is refuting death!  YOU, don't die!! then why do you want to die?

Good Friday 2021: Lose battles to win the War

 

I am against the death penalty!

People who support the death penalty think that it will be a deterrent against crimes!

Indian Penal code allows the death penalty!  But the vast number of crimes both direct and indirect violence are countless!  For example, corruption causes poverty, and poverty kills many people!  It is an Indirect murder!  Therefore, looking at the number of crimes in India one can conclude that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crimes!  The death penalty is a sign of a weak government!

Weak governments use more violence!  They are all the time fearful, authoritative, and full of cowardice!   Activists work hard, get tired, and sleep well!  But, politicians don't get sleep!  They fear all the time that someone including their sons and daughter will overthrow them anytime!  They get drunk with authority that reasoning and history do not educate them!  They make the same mistake which their ancestors did 2000 years ago!

"Eliminating a person will eliminate an ideology" is what they think!  Those among them who have access to weapons use them to eliminate and others use random and many other ways of assassination; cooking up stories, dirty gossip, words, looks, Republic TV, and what not?

Gauri Lankesh was a woman journalist and a human rights activist!  She was allegedly murdered for translating a book into the local language on the Gujarat riots!  Such are many these days!

The theory and practice of Jesus was irritating the rulers especially the Jewish religious authorities!  Their business under the garb of religion was getting damaged!  Their product of God was losing its market!  Obviously, they don't like to see him around!  They quickly joined hands with the politicians to exterminate him and thought that they finished him off!

Be watchful with the enmity that you cultivate in your minds!  Because that leads you further into action!  It is easy to plug out when it is small!   Instead, allow variations, respect the dissent,  oppose the opinion but accept the person, say hello to them, Try to bring in positive thoughts when there is a heavy inflow of negative opinions about others.  Be flexible to change your opinion any number of times, but truthfully!

Elimination tools are many!

Guns, bullets, killer viruses are one type!  The other types are; creating opinions, brainwashing, damaging someone's name, opinion polls, injecting false opinions, listening to Modi and many such!

Plain murderers such as hired hooligans use the first type, the hardware!  Others such as the media use the second type, the software!  But rulers use both!

Good Friday is nothing but a battle between; Truth and such foolishness!  Jesus versus a herd of fools!  Consciousness versus compulsions!  On that Friday morning, Jesus lost one more battle to win a War!  He gracefully turned his painful moment into a powerful tool of conversion!

Therefore don't worry that you continuously lose battles, Be patient and continue to persevere, and be grace-filled!  War is what you want to win!!

Maundy Thursday 2021 Priesthood is Disposition not position!

Fr. Rodney from the Archdiocese of Kolkotta left the priesthood and joined BJP a right-wing political party.  There were a big hue and cry about the same in the Christian circles as BJP is not only a political party but with a strong fundamentalist leaning.  A couple of years ago, Frs. Gheevargeese and Fr. Thomas from the state of Kerala also joined the same party.  There are a few priests in Tamilnadu who openly support the DMK party which is known for corruption had supported ethnic cleansing in Srilanka and known for its anti-people policies. At least in the case of Rodney, he left the priesthood probably realizing that they don't go together!

Jesus was involved in Politics; liberation of the poor, justice for the downtrodden, equality among human beings, and so on!  That is a different type of Politics that every follower of Christ must toe in line with!  Not, petty politics.  Rather, equal distribution of Power, Rights, and Freedom is Politics.  On the other hand, the accumulation of power in the hands of a few is politics!

Jesus was tempted to get into petty politics, like many think that getting into the existing political power structure would help bring forth transformation and justice!  By the time some of them go near the pinnacle they are well-entrenched into the same very corruption they once wanted to eliminate!

In the 80s, Mr. Prabakaran was offered by the Indian army the chief minister's post of the Tamil-dominated North and Eastern Srilanka!  He profoundly refused to accept the offer but fought an armed battle till the end!

Co-opting is an art of politics!  "Get into our gang!", "Get into the system"!  You can have your security, perks, and power!  Many good people get lost in this murky ground with a very poor judgment and a tipsy temptation!

Such nasty political maneuvering has deeply infiltrated into the life of the church and the followers of Christ as well!

Today we celebrate Priesthood in the model of Jesus!

A priest is a leader not just for "Catholics" alone!  He embraces all in compassion more especially the poor in need!  The word Catholic means, universal or all-embracing!  So, if you are a Catholic, don't get into ghettos and small circles drawn by religion, caste, race, and politics!

Priesthood is leadership!  A priest is a leader, leading by example! 

But what type of leadership has attracted you?  Hitler was a leader!  Modi is a leader!  Gandhi was a leader!  Narayanaguru was a leader!  Mother Treasa was a leader!

Leaders of the world use the people to climb the ladders of power and from there they rule the people!  There are other types of leaders who lay down themselves as stepping stones to help people climb the ladder!

A school teacher stays in the same very classroom for many years helping young children to move forward!  These days I see so many illiterate farmers sacrificing their lives to help their children get educated and come up in life!

When you make more and more people serve you, you can very well join one of those parties!  When you humble yourself in service despite your many pains and struggles, Jesus encompasses you!  It is not the spotless cassock that makes you a priest, but the smell of the downtrodden on you, your close association with them, your empathy for them!  Therefore, Priesthood is a disposition to serve and not a position to be achieved!

Next year (2012) for the Maundy Thursday ceremony; how about inviting a couple of Hindus, a couple of Muslims, a couple of Women, a couple of Dalits, a couple of Non-believers, a couple of Physically and Mentally challenged persons, couple of those Uncared orphans?!  Don't worry about the number 12! It is only a symbol; there could be many more!  Instead of getting stagnant with symbols, rubrics and rituals; Expand the ministry of Jesus during the year!  Empower the downtrodden!

Palm Sunday 2021 Freedom is inclusive

 

Freedom is inclusive!

When we liberated ourselves from British colonialism, the British also got liberated!  The oppressor also has clutches to be removed!

The very fact that you suppress someone or inflict pain on someone or use violence against someone you act from slavery; which often is unnamed or unrecognized!  Maybe you are enslaved by an ideology or a mindset or greediness or what not?

People take pleasure in violence against someone, especially those they think are their enemies!  People also do take pleasure in other addictions such as narcotics, tranquilizers,  alcohol, and so on!

Enslavement is also an addiction on both sides!  The oppressed majority gets used to it!  Once when they become aware of the enslavement they want to get rid of it.  The oppressor on the other hand enjoys pseudo authority and one is not aware of the enslavement and therefore does not make an effort to be liberated but enjoys the same!

That is why I say any act of liberation must be inclusive!

I recently saw a video taken in Northern Tamilnadu; a caste mob ransacking a Dalit colony.  It is a terrible act against humanity not just against the Dalits alone.  In fact, it is an act against themselves too!   They don't behave as humans should normally!!  They have reached an inhumane state through indoctrination (in the past) and intoxication (in the present)!  (They both go along well as they belong to the same family.)

Women battering, domestic violence, child abuse, caste, and ethnic violence are all crimes against humanity!  They erupt from poor, weak, and enslaved minds!  Resorting to violence comes from weaklings, even if it is a war between two nations!

Who gets killed in a war?  Poor soldiers who are indoctrinated with nationalism and ideologies will be given rifles and killer weapons to act!  Then they are willing to kill "enemies" or die for their country and their bosses!  They create artificial enemies across the artificial borders!  But, what about the kith and kin of the rulers?  They go into the safe bunkers or go behind the bulletproof vehicles and fortifications.   They get up again and go for electioneering with fresh inflammatory speeches pumped with nationalism and ideology!

In the case of Jesus, a bunch of soldiers take pride and pleasure in torturing a single man!  They are cowards in my opinion as many of us are!

We have no guts to speak the truth or stop bribing officials or bow before rotten politicians and government officials!  We loot the poor through concocted justifications!  We immorally abuse women, children and domestic servants in many subtle and in explicit ways!  When we are in a group we behave like a mob succumbing to group pressure and sacrifice truth, the weak and the poor.

I don't think, Jesus was interested in going through physical pain, beaten up and getting killed!  "Kindly take away the cup of suffering from me" (Lk 22/42) He pleaded with God!  He is not a vampire; as many projects that he was willing to shed blood!

He was a just man, who articulated truth with boldness, he was interested in the liberation of the poor, he was against exploitation, he was annoyed at the temple and overthrew the tables on the corridors!  Like any truthful person, he felt like kicking back the oppressor!  You often see such reactions of Jesus throughout the gospels.

Are you angry, annoyed, agitated, and upset with the system?  You must!  Any human should be!

But, are you part of the system, colliding and collaborating with the corrupt, the castist, the chauvinist, the looter, and the power monger?  Stop it and get out of it!  Become a human first before attempting to be a Christian!

One of the temptations of Jesus must have been to resort to an organized violent reaction against Roman colonialism and its unholy alliance with the Jewish authorities!  People had to shoulder double taxation and two-fold oppression!  Politics and religion were crushing them under!!

Violent reaction to overthrow them seemed to be the logical move!

But, violence would replace the actor, not the plot!  Like aspirin, it eliminates the symptom not the cause!   Temporary and not lasting!!  Nonviolence gives the space for the oppressor to repent and change!  Nonviolence needs more mental stamina, real determination, boldness and terrible patience!

There is no use in replacing male chauvinism with female chauvinism!  One suppressing caste with another suppressing caste!  The liberator becoming the oppressor is not the solution! 

Think; Are you for abolishing untouchability or create another group of untouchables?  We were a British colony for a few centuries.  Are you now going to make Briton your colony?  Will that solve the issue?  Will revenge solve the issue?  Will the replacement of suppressor solve the issue?

A clear stand against oppression is Christianity!  Articulate, Agitate, Organize, Propagate, shout, yell but In the process, don't destroy the person including his or her character!

We want to eliminate the sin not the sinner!  Love the sinner!  Love includes, "vaccination" , "medication", "injection" , "surgery" depending on the level of sickness or siness!

The soldiers had compulsions to be violent!  Jesus decided to be Nonviolent!

Move from compulsions to decisions!  Move from a "soldier status" to "Jesus status"!

By the way, I am saying all these to only Christians who belong to many religions or even religion-less!

5th Sunday of Lent: Cage Him not! Let Him rise!!

 

Release Him, Let him Rise!!

I read an interesting study done among kids.  One of them was this; they showed a picture of an elephant and asked the Indian kids, "What is it?" Everyone replied, "It is an elephant"  But the Japanese kids replied, "It's a picture of an elephant!"

In 1977 Robert Powell acted as Jesus, in the film Jesus of Nazareth.  Then on you see all over the world; in churches, homes, shrines and grottos  Jesus being venerated with the Picture of Robert Powell.  He cried out a few times, not to venerate his portrait!  But who heeds?

"Can you show me Jesus?"  the Greeks asked Philip.

If someone asks you, "Can you show me Jesus?"  Where will you take him?  To your church? To your convent?  To your school? To your home?  To your ministry place?  To your community? To your village? To your parish?  To yourself?  Where?...  where will you take him?  or will you show him the pictures of actors such as Diogo Margado,  Walter Mbamy, Jim Caviesel, or Robert Powell, and others who had acted as Jesus in films?

Or,  Is He Dead?

We are too often busy guessing and highly preoccupied with the historical figure of Jesus!  How he looked like, Did he have a beard or not, What was the exact way in which he was born, died or risen?  This intellectual curiosity however useless will remain forever.  I would say, Just don't get into it, if you want to get enthralled in Jesus!  If you want to do a study on him, anyone can do it! even an atheist can; on dead Jesus!  Jesus of history!!

But, how to encounter him?  The gospel indicates another way!  Those who live for themselves will lose it and those who don't care about it will find eternal life.  If you are self-centred, it is impossible to follow Jesus.  In short, Jesus was selfless and he instructed, "Follow me!"  Where there is selflessness and generosity you will find in your deeper self the Him, even today!  Yes, He is alive!

He will live as long as you are alive, vibrant, active and motivated to love!

When you help someone in dire need or in great difficulty they will always attribute that to God's intervention and if they are believers will attribute to Jesus!

Is your home filled with love, forgiveness, joy, jokes, and laughter?  Jesus lives there!

Is your church or parish filled with acts of compassion, equality, sharing between different castes and social groups?  Jesus dwells in there!

Is your community; other centered? a charity home? Joy-filled? gossip free? caste free? filled with concern and care for each other especially for the sick and the elderly? that there is happiness overflowing on the faces?  Jesus is there!

If you are gloomy, stiff-necked, long-faced, dogmatic, rubricant!  The hell with it! Not only he, no one would like to come closer! Don't imagine that your exquisite theological exhibits will grab him! Nor your prayers and penance will bring him down to your ghettos!  He hates ghettos!  He came to bring down ghettos! 

Therefore, Break your "walls" and build bridges!  Break fences and defenses!  Allow others to enter your life, your community, your homes, and your churches! 

You cannot drag him to hell!  He dwells in heaven and only in heaven!  Therefore, if you want him, make your home, your heart, your community, your church, your parish a little haven; the abode of God!

Some of us are so conscious and rooted (and rotten) in rubrics, statutes, rituals, bells, and all the unimportant matters.  We wrongly think that they please God!  They are matters that are related to an association or a club or an army!  Christianity of Jesus is not even a religion!  Christianity of Rome, Yes!

Jesus is an unending spiritual force!  Don't try to lock him down in cubicles, statues, and shrines.  In fact, You will not be able to!  Let him flow through your acts of love, compassion, charity, forgiveness, encompassing the other, embracing the little ones, hugging your enemy, caring for the deserted ones.

If you don't do this or put an end to these, you will leave him dead in your life!

He dwells in you!  Don't cage and bury him in yourself!  Let the rocks of stubbornness roll out!  Allow Jesus to rise from your heart! 

4th Sunday of Lent; "In"LIGHTenment!!

 

In one of the seminars that I conducted I asked a religious brother, "What would be the best number of students in a classroom?" "Between 20 to 25!  Beyond that, the teacher loses focus and personal attention" he said.

In the same seminar, I asked another brother who had been in the field of education for a long time, "Should medium of instruction be in the native language or a foreign language?" "Definitely in the native language especially in the mother tongue of the student", he replied cogently.

Then why do you admit 60 or 70 children in a classroom or why do you start English medium schools?  There is no frank and truthful answer!

In most of my recollection talks to the religious, I start with a two little questionnaire lasting just 5 minutes.  For example, the first question I ask in the first survey, "What is the big problem the religious of Tamilnadu face?"  1. Caste issues 2. Money related 3. Power related 4. All three.  Almost all of them would tick on the 4th answer,  "All 3".  The next short survey is on self-analysis.  One of the questions is; Are you caste-minded?  All the 14 wrote, "No".  Are you money-minded? "No!".  Are you longing for authority?  "No, not at all".

Then, where is the problem?  When we can be ruthlessly objective about society, There is no frank and truthful answer when it comes to the self!

"People like to remain in darkness!"  we read in the gospel today.

Darkness gives a kind of comfort!  "Darkness" makes it easy for self-justification!

Can I kill animals for my food? Heart says, "No!".   The brain misled by the tongue created a theology, "God created all for humankind!"  Therefore, instead of being a brother or a sister to nature; you self-appointed yourself as the manager!  The entire nature feels frightened at your very sight!  They run away or fly away feeling that a killer is approaching!

Certain philosophies and theologies and sacred books created by you, help you enjoy that darkness!

Tamilnadu state elections are around the corner!  Vow!, almost all of them sound, saints!  The worst is, that they truly believe the same!  The very persons who had shed the blood of the innocent civilians come camouflaged as saviors!!

Option for the poor and Liberation theology picked up momentum among the religious circles from the 1980s!  Then on, the chapter documents or written constitutions smelt with total revolution.

But, ask them, "What is the percentage of the money they spent on social work, health care ministries, ministries for the poor, social justice, hospitals, rural development, education of the rural populace, peace building initiatives in the villages, working with victims of alcohol or drugs, working for sexually abused and their rights? compared to what they had invested on CBSE schools and shrines"  A big smile covers up all the rest!

I am curious, Why people rush erecting English medium schools?  Why turning matriculation schools into CBSE schools? Why rural children's education is forsaken?  Why do you have 60, 70 or 80 children in a classroom?

Ask the government employees, "Is the salary you receive is comparable with the wages of the common people?"  When you demand increments every year and an increase in pay every other year, what about the domestic workers?  Can they manage their life with this salary?  Do I have the same criteria that we use in deciding my salary and my servants' salary?

Treatment of young persons in schools and formation houses is sometimes alarming!  Their right to question, their right to free expression very often are crushed in the name of religion and culture.

When my intellectual comfort goes against the comfort of my heart, it indicates that I prefer darkness to light!

One way of getting out of this discomfort or dichotomy is to make honest efforts to be integrated, being congruent, and being humble enough to accept the reality objectively.

Religion creates the concept of hell to frighten people to come out of this very darkness.

Religion creates gods and goddesses to inspire and invite people to move into the light.

The gospel writer, John connects it with the person of Jesus to lead from darkness to light.

The choice between hell and heaven is nothing but a choice between darkness and light.  Enlightenment and preferred Ignorance!

In other words, The choice between a split personality and an Integrated personality is yours!  Let me caution, being an integrated person is not being a perfect person!  Integrity is not perfection!  Integrity is honesty; both in acceptance of reality and in making honest efforts.

Lucidity is luminosity; means brightness or soundness of mind!

Read the gospel (Jn 2/14-21) again!  You see it.

Ref: John 2/19-21  ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

 

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.

2nd Sunday of Lent. Let She be heard!

 

Let "(S)He" be heard!

Abraham was about to kill his son Isaac on the altar!  There was a voice from heaven and he caught hold of a lamp and killed it in his place.  A long history of change in human culture is told in these couple of lines.  From the cult of human sacrifice humanity gradually cultured itself and replaced it with animal sacrifice, which is also cruel!  Read Hosea 6/6, I desire compassion and mercy (steadfast love) not burnt offerings.  They are abomination to me, they stink!  Jesus quoted these verses (Mt. 12/7) when he was confronted about Sabbath (Ritual and rubrics verses healing the sick.)

A lot of people in west are turning to be Vegans. (pure vegetarians, many don't even drink milk as it is a kind of exploitation of animals)  Surprisingly the highest percentage who turn to veganism are in Israel. 

Vallalaar a great sage of our age, sang, "vaadiya pairai kandapothellaam vaadinen"  (I withered when I see the plants withering).  Thiruvalluvar was a great exponent against killing any kind.  In fact we have no right to do this!

In a simple language it is; Be compassionate!

But the very moment you become conditional in your act of compassion, you will no more be compassionate!  The most corrupt politicians who have exploited the society are very nice to their kith and kin!  Therefore compassion must not be dictated, decided or demanded by the other but it must flow from yourself!

I will be very kind to my pet dog, but will sling stones at the street dogs is conditional.  I will be very kind to my caste people and treat all the others as my potential enemy is again conditional.  I love my linguistic group and ethnicity is fine but treat all others as second class or third class citizens; then it is not love.  If your love is conditional, limited, partial; remember, you have a long way to go!

God is compassionate!  he showers rain on the good and the bad!  Shines light on the upright and the evil ones too!  (Mt. 5/43-48)  He is gifted to shower and shine!   If you want to close your eyes and remain in darkness, it is your choice, the sun will continue to shine!

Don't worry about the response of the other!  "Will he respect my offer of peace?  Will he change?  Will she accept me?".  If you expect change in the other, you will never enjoy life.  Let me be Good, let me be compassionate, Let me be charitable, Let me love!  That is all you can do, you have to do!  Changing the other is not your task.

"You are my beloved son!" an inner and clear voice probably thrilled Jesus!

The creation, this universe, the earth; is filled with this voice, from the very beginning!, "You are my beloved."  Tune yourself to hear it! hear it, clearly!  Because the world is also filled with many other voices and noises!

"You are my beloved" is not another noise that you will hear with your two ears.  You can hear it even if you are physically dumb!  This is an inner voice which is so vivid, obvious and thrilling.  You can feel, you can sense, you can conclude; from so many incidents in your life, from so many interventions in your life; that you are a beloved one!

That voice belongs to the unconditional one, without any expectation, without any demand what so ever!  Jesus heard it! 

But, you are free to imagine and entertain your mind; that it came from beyond the clouds and it was in Hebrew or Greek or Malayalam or Aramaic or German and so on.  Biblical scholars can even arrive from a lengthy theological dissection and exhortation on the exact decibel of that voice!, I just don't care on that!  Similarly the voice from the sky to Abraham! 

To me, this voice is not a sound but an action!  Actions of love and compassion!

Recall your life; When you are in big difficulty, down on earth, at the nadir point, all of a sudden something happens or someone comes to your rescue  incidentally or coincidently; and very often you attributed that to God's intervention of care and love!

Similarly, when you help someone in life, he or she will thank you profoundly but throughout their life they will say, "God had sent him". "God helped me"!

So, Remember, You are carrying God!  You are His voice!  You are His expression!

Therefore, it is not only important that you hear the voice (Receiver), but you are His voice as well! (Broadcaster! Giver)

Let (S)He be heard!

First Sunday of Lent. Ego to Gracefulness

 

Ego to Gracefulness!

Some of my friends stop taking alcohol during lent.  They resume with vigour from Easter!!  And they feel good that they had abstained from alcohol for 40 days.   Some don't take meat!  Some abstain from sexual intimacy!  Some do regular prayers!  Some do fast!

If 40 days of abstinence or reflection on life helps for the rest of the year or life, it is much more appreciable!

The ultimate aim of these practices are not self purification.  Rather self purification is a path we take to be other oriented.

Abstinence from meat!, Has it made you more compassionate to the lives around?  Abstinence from sexual intimacy!, Has it made you more loving and caring your spouse or children?  Did you feed someone who is hungry and starving from your fasting?  Have you become more compassionate through your prayers?

For example, you saved money abstaining from alcohol and spend it again on yourself at a later stage or in a different way on yourself, I say, you better drink than do this drama!

Spend that money, on your needy children or wife or on persons in need!  That makes some sense! And if you feel good, please continue your cheerful lentern practice!  From "cheers" to cheerfulness!

But this is different!

Jesus went into wilderness for 40 days!  And he was tempted!  He won the temptation and returned to Galilee to spread the Good News! (Mk 1/12-15)  At the initial stages of his ministry Jesus probably went through many struggles, challenges, oppositions, feeling of fed up and many disappointments!   "Is it worth continuing?" might have been his strongest challenge.

When you get time you may read the novel, River of Blood in English or Kuruthipunal in Tamil by Mr. Indira  Paarthasarathy.  It depicts the life of persons who work for the liberation of people.  Among all the pains, the rejection by the very people they work for is the most hurting pain!

Those who seriously and sincerely work for the liberation of people must know this!

When you enter liberative work  with enthusiasm alone, soon you will realize you are caught many times on the wrong foot.  That is the time your expectations meet with the raw reality.  Because of this, many will run away!  A few, will step back to launch afresh!!  Jesus did exactly that!  "Action - Reflection - Action"

Penance is far different from this.  Every religion suggests to practice certain types of penance.  Most of them are for self purification.  Incurring bodily pain to purify the spirit. Body Vs the Spirit type of understanding!   Christian penance is not self care but communitarian care.  Most often we think, self purification will lead to social purification!  The more number of individuals who do purification efforts the more are saved!  Christian way of thinking is different, get involved in social transformation and you will realize your self is gradually getting purified!

For example, instead of you going hungry by fasting and feeling so proud and boosted about it, Go and  Feed the hungry.   From Ahangaram to Anugrham!  From self ego you travel to become a carrier of divine grace to others.

Therefore, Care both your body and spirit!  Don't pamper or starve them!!  Don't allow one to dominate the other!  Let both be comfortable with each other! 

Mend your ways!  Instead of sparing more time for your personal needs, including spiritual and religious activities; spend time with the lonely, the rejected, the people in the slums and villages, in the old age home, with the sick and the elderly and the orphans!  May be on the way to them or with them you could say a comforting prayer!  even if it is a short one!!

Try this out during the lent! and if you had enjoyed it, extend the lent!

Lent is a cheerful period! Don't miss it and don't mix it with sorrow!