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What’s Good Friday to me?

It’s been long that I’ve blogged. However this Good Friday after watching the youth enact the Passion of Christ very well, I thought of penning (typing) down some of my own thoughts.

Jesus was put to death by the Romans for many things apart from their own political agenda. They feared that this guy didn’t worry about anything but rebelled against the ruling government for what he believed was true.

The Jews didn’t particularly liked them cause he kept on correcting their way of life. Kept on correcting their idea and concept of Gods will. The Jew definitely went by the book, did all that they thought was holy and spiritual to get closer to God. Yet in the midst of doing all this they forgot one small thing: Humanity.

Basic human values like love, concern, respect, etc. Their job of doing the religious activities surpassed love for one another.

Jesus tried his best to tell them that their pride in doing God’s work overshadowed the basic needs of Gods people. But unfortunately it all went in vain. In spite of telling them so much about Gods love, they were too blinded with their own concept of doing God’s will.

Jesus died teaching us how to respect and love people not matter who they are, what they did, how rich or poor they were. He showed us the true meaning of Love.

Are we waiting for Jesus to come again and die teaching us basic human values ?

I’m sure our sins have to be eradicated in our lives by ourselves but that only possible by understand Jesus’ meaning of love.

I wouldn’t want to drag this note more and just end it by quoting  Mother Teresa “How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live?

Walking On Water

This was my homily which I had to give at St Pius Seminary on the 10th of August

Visitors to the Holy Land like to take a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, the sea on which Jesus walked. A certain tourist wanted such a ride and the boatman told him the fare was fifty dollars. “Fifty dollars!” exclaimed the tourist, “No wonder Jesus walked!” A proper understanding of the gospel story of Jesus walking on the sea has a lot to teach us about not only who Jesus is, but also about the faith of an individual believer.
The miracle story of Jesus walking on the sea, together with the one that goes before i.e. the multiplication of loaves, shows us that Jesus is Lord and has authority over all forces natural and supernatural. The Jews believed that the sea was the home of supernatural demonic forces. A rough and stormy sea was regarded as the work of these spirits. By walking on the raging waves and calming the stormy sea Jesus is showing himself to be one who has power and total control over these spiritual forces.
Although there are many Christians among us who have surrendered their lives to the Lord they still live in constant fear of superstitions, evil spirits, witchcraft, and curses. Today's gospel brings us the good news that these powers of darkness stand no chance at all when Jesus is present and active in our lives.
From the point of view of an individual believer like us, the story of Jesus walking on the seas, especially the involvement of Peter in the story, is a lesson for disciples who are tempted to take their eyes off Jesus and to take more notice of the threatening situation around them. In the gospel, Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water”. Jesus gives him the word of command and says, “Come”.
It would seem like Jesus is commanding the impossible. Yet whatever Jesus commands us to do he gives us the power to do it. And an ordinary man Peter who is just like you and me does the impossible and walk on the seas, coming to Jesus.
This is exactly what St Paul also tries to tell us in his letter when he says ‘All things are possible through the power of Jesus Christ’. However Further on in the gospel we also notice that Peter on noticing the strong wind gets frightened, and began to sink. While Peter kept his eye fixed upon Jesus, and his word and power, he walked on the water well enough; but as soon as he took notice of the danger he was in, and focused on the waves he became afraid and began to sink.
There is a lot of insights that we could draw and learn from this gospel. Let’s take this time to think of situations, distractions, problems in our lives that force us shift our focus from Jesus who is all powerful.
Let’s remind our selves that inspite of all these situations; we have Jesus present with us who promises us that there is nothing impossible for him. Just as he calmed Peter by saying Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid, lets hear his voice, step out in faith and surrender our entire lives to Jesus. We can also take steps of increasing our faith by making use of the different gifts God as blessed us with like the Bible, the MOW classes, the church , the sacraments our personal prayer times, the Holy Spirit etc . Cause in the end St Paul sums it up the best by saying, for we (Christians) walk by faith, not by sight.

Rejoice In The Lord Always

In the Letter to the Philippians, it’s quite evident that Paul rejoices and treasures his friendship with the Church of Philippians more than any other church. He takes pleasure in boasting that he had never taken help from any man or any other Church before and it was from the Philippians alone that he greed to accept a gift. In this letter we see that Paul rejoices in the Lord in any given situation.

Paul gives exhortations that are both specific and general in nature.
We see in verses 1 – 3 Paul gives specific exhortations to individuals there at Philippi while in verse 4, we find the first of several exhortations which are certainly needful for all Christians: "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"

The word Joy is a keyword in this letter. If not the word ‘Joy’ he uses a derivation of it which appears more than 16 times in this letter.
Here are a few examples of Paul who found Joy “Always”
1. In his prayers - Ph 1:4
2. In the proclamation of the gospel under adverse circumstances - Ph 1:18
3. In the unity of the saints - Ph 2:2
4. In the prospect of being a martyr for Christ - Ph 2:17
5. In the love of the brethren - Ph 4:10

It is definitely true that Paul rejoices in everything that he does and always.
This joy is humanly impossible to achieve.
Here are a few examples of the temporary and fake joy which humans achieve:
Money
Wrong relationships
Pride when given authority
Drinks, Drugs
Material Acquisition, etc.

However, the never ending and abundant joy which Paul is experiencing and speaking about is ONLY found in the Lord.

Paul also very practically gives advice and tells us how to avoid hindrances to abiding joy.

For e.g.: Memories of past failures etc
1. Such often leaves people in a state of discouragement or depression
2. Paul, however, provides the solution in Ph 3:12-14
a. Realize your imperfection, yet press on to better things!
b. Forget your past failures, reach forward to future successes!

Conclusion:
‘Rejoice in the Lord Always’ doesn’t mean to ignore the bad realities and problems in life.
It means that in spite of the presence of such problems we still hold on to the Lord and not let these problems over shadow the joy which we have in our life.

PS: As I was writing this assignment I just though of this saying:
Don’t tell Ur Problems how big the problems are; Tell your problems how big Our God is!!

Saved By Grace

GRACE = God's Redemption At Christ's Expense St. Paul through his letter to Romans says that we all are thoroughly blest that we have Jesus Christ who died for us and wiped the slate of our lives totally clean. He also says that there is absolutely nothing that we can do by our own merit that can save us. It’s only through the grace of God that we are saved. We cannot earn our grace by our works and deeds. Works and deeds in turn should be an outflow of our lives. Lives which should be filled with gratitude and love for Christ. Romans 11:6 says, ‘but if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. Paul tries to tell us that Grace is given to the undeserving i.e. all of us since there is nothing that we can do to earn it. Paul here keeping the Jews in mind points out that that we tend to focus much more on our activities and works and in turn forget the main focus that is God. The law was given to the Jews at Mount Sinai, and showed them the way to live according to God's will. However, with it came the temptation to see the relationship God wants with us as a set of do's and don'ts. The law was a teacher, to show us God's holiness. The law was supposed to help us live holy lives so we could approach God. It was not to become a means to reach Him in our own strength. It is infact grace that sets us not only free but also gives us the power to overcome sin. Romans 6:14 ‘for sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.’ It is just because of grace that we even have the hope of salvation. Paul in his letter to the Romans 3: 9 – 18, says that no one, absolutely no one is righteous in this world. Thus none of us by our achievements can boast that we have earned salvation taking an example of the Pharisees who by any means did keep the law more than us but yet Jesus rejected them. Romans 3:23-34 clearly states that all of us have fallen short of Gods glory and sinned. By what means then can our works save us. An excellent example from the Old Testament would be King David who totally messed up and broke the commandments; yet he was a man after God’s own heart having an amazing relationship with God. Paul clearly states that in the end the most important thing is what we “believe in our hearts” Romans 10:9, our interior conversion to Christ. If not by works then how should we live our lives. Only by Grace! We must acknowledge our complete and utter dependence on Grace. The Church affirms that no man can merit for himself the Grace of justification; between God and man there is an infinite inequality. Human acts of attempted obedience to any Law can only condemn us because we can never live up to God on our own terms, we always fall short. Grace alone can save. With grace should also come humility!! Romans 12:3 says, “For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith.” Even as I write this assignment, the only thought and person which comes to my mind is Jesus. Romans 3:24 says, ‘being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: It’s only through the loving act of Jesus that we can approach our father. He who was perfect, sinless and the most humble gives grace to all of us who are sinful and boastful. Truly, we are saved By Grace