Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul (29th June 2023)

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For the times we have failed to know you intimately, Lord, have mercy...

Having failed to know you intimately, for the times we have failed to love you ardently, Christ, have mercy...

Having failed to love you ardently, for the times we have failed to follow you very closely, Lord, have mercy...

Reading 1, Acts 12:1-11

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Gospel, Matthew 16:13-19

Reading 2, Second Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18

My dear sisters and brothers,

In his spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits makes it clear the aim of the Spiritual Exercises.

In the Sp. Ex. #104 he writes: Grace to be obtained is to know Christ intimately, so that I may love him ardently, and follow him very closely.

So my actual response (bodily/physical) response to Christ is preceded by my emotional (heart) response which is originated by my personal knowledge (head) of the person of Christ… 

Today, as we celebrate the feast of the Saints Peter and Paul, we have two stalwarts before us who have had a very personal knowledge of the person of Christ and as a result, had loved him so ardently and followed him very closely all throughout their lives in all they were and did……

Speaking of Peter, he knew the person of Christ all throughout his life as a disciple…. It is right enough, in the Gospel text of today, Jesus inquires his disciples about their knowledge of him by asking the question, “But, you, who do you say that I am?” In answering Jesus’ question, it was Peter who, in his great proclamation, reveals the identity of Christ, of course through the power of the Holy Spirit, as the Messiah…

It is this knowledge of Christ that made Peter love Jesus fanatically, almost forgetting himself and forgetting what he says and does. We see Peter making a statement not to leave Jesus at his trials, but ends up running away and denying him three times after his arrestation….We see Peter jumping out of the boat upon seeing the risen Lord walking on the water toward him, and then starts doubting and consequently starts drowning in the water… We see Peter fearless to enter the tomb of the risen Christ but was fearfully inside the Upper Room with other disciples until he sees the risen Christ…

It is this Peter that Jesus called, the rock, to whom he gave the keys of the Church, to whom he said, "Take care of my sheep…."

After the resurrection of Christ, we see Peter fearless, proclaiming Christ to the Jews...As a consequence, he receives a death more or less similar to that of Jesus…It is he who is known as the Apostle of the Jews….

Then we have Paul…. When he was still known as Soul, he encountered Christ after his resurrection…He was persecuting and killing those who were known as the People of the Way, the followers of Christ… 

It is said that Paul persecuted and Killed Christians not because he didn’t believe in Christ… Rather, it was because he didn’t believe in the historical Christ who was born in a stable of a human woman, lived among us, and was crucified… In his understanding of Christ, he expected a Christ who would come in glory, in clouds, and in honor, and save mankind without being touched by any human limitation, pain, struggle, trial, and death, almost as a magical Messiah… That’s why he could not accept those who believed in the Christ crucified. So he was persecuting those whom he thought were false followers… 

It is this Soul, upon knowing the person of Christ, the love and the light of the risen Lord, and after his conversion, started proclaiming the very historical Christ to the far ends of the world…And Consequently, received a death not less painful than that of Peter's... And it is he who is known as the Apostle of the Gentles…

You, see…when we look at these two characters and God’s plan or the economy of salvation in the history of mankind, one thing becomes very clear…. God chose, as St. Paul himself says, what the world considers foolish to shame the wise... God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong...And it is on them God founded the edifice of the church...

A church made up of weak human beings yet trying to be perfect; A church trying to be more inclusive of those who believe as well as those who do not by accepting the unity even in diversity and diversity in unity; A church challenged by the age and time, yet trying to be faithful to the person of Christ who not only lived and died with us, but also who was the first to be resurrected from the dead.  

As we celebrate the feast of these great saints, let’s ask ourselves, how much do we know Christ? 

After the examples of these two great stalwarts, St. Peter and Paul, who is Christ to me today, so that I may love him ardently and follow him very closely?

If St. Peter, as weak and faulty as he was, could have done so much, how much more should I be doing for Christ today?

If St. Paul, as irrational and cruel as he was, could have done so much, how much more should I be doing for Christ today?

The Road Less Traveled... Tuesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time (27th June 2023)

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For the times we have taken the broadway instead of the narrow path that you want us to take, 

Lord, Have mercy...

Having taken the narrow path, for the times we have grumbled on the way, 

Christ, have mercy...

For the times we have failed to understand the difference between what it means to take the broadway and what it means to take the narrow path, 

Lord, have mercy... 

Reading 1, Genesis 13:2, 5-18

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 15:2-3, 3-4, 5

Gospel, Matthew 7:6, 12-14

The Road Less Traveled... 

In his famous poem, “The Road Less Traveled” written in 1915, Robert Frost has this beautiful yet thought-provoking ending:  

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

Before Robert Frost, it was Jesus who invited us to take the road less traveled by…

In the gospel text of today, Jesus invites us to enter through the narrow road by saying that those who choose to enter through this are fewer and few…

So, the narrow road is indeed the road less traveled….

This is as opposed to those who enter through the broad way. 

As the song ‘Highway to Hell’ rightly puts it,  it is the broad way 

Where there are no stop signs, 

where there are no speed limits

Where there is nobody to slow you down

Where there is no restriction as such…

And it s a one-way ride, asking for nothing, reasoning nothing, and caring for nothing…

It is the road to destruction and death…

On the other hand, the narrow road that Jesus invites us to take today is the road 

Where there are stop signs.

Where there are speed limits and speed breakers…

Where you are watched and reminded about your speed limits…

Where there are U-turns when need be…

Where there are Yield signs to respect 

Where there is the right of way to be respected for fellow passengers…

Wherein one considers and respects the other’s journey as important as one’s own…

As Jesus reminds us today, the narrow road is the road where we treat others as we want them to treat us… 

It is the road wherein we do not profane what is considered holy…

It is the road wherein we appreciate, treasure, and grow in our pearls - our strengths, our gifts, and our God-given talents, as well as those of others… 

It is a narrow road because it is the road of self-annihilation…

It is the road of self-sacrificing… 

It is the road where others’ concerns, difficulties, and challenges become so real to us that we care for them and encourage them to walk with us together…

It is the road we accept and respects the differences in and around us…

How narrow is the road that you have chosen to travel at this moment in your life? 

How determined are you today to continue traveling on the road less traveled? 

Be Compassionate and Be Perfect... Tuesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time (6th June 2023)

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For the time we have loved only those who love us, Lord, have mercy...

For the times we failed to love those whom we do not like so much, Christ, have mercy... 

And so doing, for the times we have failed to be perfect just as our heavenly father is perfect, Lord, have mercy...

Reading 1, Second Corinthians 8:1-9

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 146:2, 5-6, 7, 8-9

Gospel, Matthew 5:43-48

Be Compassionate and Be Perfect... 

It’s almost always the case that we human beings engage in a barter exchange when it comes to love… 

We are ready to give as much as we receive…

If you do this, I will do that…

You scratch my back, I will scratch your back…

This seems to be the normal rule of thumb that operates in and around us…

In the Gospel text of today, Jesus challenges this existing thesis of love, this transactional, barter exchange, or conditional way of love when he says… you have heard this, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

Then he gives his antithesis - But I say to you….love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you… 

This is his new commandment, the commandment of love… an antithesis to what they had already known and practiced as love. An anti-thesis to what we often understand and practice as love…

Behind this new commandment/ behind his new anti-thesis, behind his new proposition, Jesus’ rationale/premise/his argument is this:

For if you love only those who love you, what is so great about it? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?

Then, he goes on to give his synthesis…Jesus gives the aim of his mission, the aim of his thesis, in life… « Be perfect just as your heavenly father is perfect »

And, how are we going to be perfect? 

By loving one another.. Especially by loving our enemies, those who persecute us, those who disrespect and neglect us, those who do not agree with us, and those who challenge us in life…

It can be my spouse, it can be my companion at my workplace, my children, my parents, my neighbors, my church members, or my team leaders…

Is it possible?

Yes, it is…. Because, in the first reading, as St. Paul in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians reminds us, our master/our guru, Jesus Christ, has already shown us that it is possible to love those who do not like us/ hate us/ insult us/ persecute us

The love of Jesus Christ for us was so much that, though he was rich, he made himself poor, empty, like a lamb dragged to be slaughtered, in order that we become rich, that we become whole, that we experience and remain in love…

How congruent is your definition of love with that of Jesus’ definition and his manifestation of love? 

How perfect are you going to be during this week, in loving one another after the very example of Christ?

He waits….For you and me….11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (17th June 2023)

For the times we have failed to respond to your call, Lord, have mercy...

Having responded, for the times we have failed to obey your commands, Christ, have mercy...

In so doing, for the times we have failed to fulfill your will, Lord, have mercy...

Reading 1, Second Corinthians 5:14-21

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 8-9, 11-12

Gospel, Matthew 5:33-37

 He waits….For you and me….

When we look at God’s economy or plan of salvation in the bible, we can see that there is a distinct way in which God calls human beings, that there exists a certain pattern in which God, the caller, the one who is called, and the calling take place. 

It has always been the case that when God called, it was the duty of human beings to respond to his call. 

And when people responded to him affirmatively, God always commissioned them…

And when he commissioned them, it was expected that human beings would obey him…

And this obedience isn’t blind obedience. Because, when we obey God, he always gives us a promise…. A joy-filed hope to live by, an aim to achieve, and a purpose and a motivation for living and for doing what we are supposed to be doing…   

Take, for example, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, and Paul, to name a few…

The good news is this: whenever God promised people something, the Bible guarantees that God has always kept his promise….

So, God calls, and human beings respond;

And when human beings respond, God commands; 

And when God commands, human beings obey;

And when human beings obey, God promises;

And when God promises, human beings live in hope because God keeps his promise. 

In this light, if we see the first reading today…

God had called Moses, and Moses had responded to him affirmatively,

And when Moses responded to God, he commanded him with a mission, of taking the Israelites out of the bondage of Phero in Egypt.

And when Moses accepted this mission with obedience, it was then that God promised him that he would lead the Israelites to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. 

And it was when the Israelites were on their way to realizing what God has promised that we find today’s first reading which says “When they were on their way to realizing the promise that God had made for them,  that God called Moses once again at Sinai and reminds him how he has kept his promise” 

Not only he reminds them what he has thus far done in their lives and how he has been working with them to keep his promise, but he further assures them of his promise saying “If you hear my voice and keep my  covenant, you shall be my special possession”

Taken this way, one might ask, if God demands of us and we have to obey him, then how difficult it is to be a Christian?

I would say, yes, it is difficult…because our God is not a God who just commands and demands so we should obey him. 

In fact, he ought to do so because, as the second reading of Saint Paul to the Corinthians reminds us, it is he who loved us first…and showed his utmost love for us, even when we were still sinners, by sending his only son to die for us….

God ought to do it all the more because, as the Gospel reading of today reminds us, in the person of Christ, he is moved in his heart with pity because he found us to be like sheep without a shepherd. 

Christ is so moved, so much so that he asks his disciples to pray: “The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest.”

It is this movement in his heart that enables Christ to take some concrete actions on behalf of mankind. There we see not only the choosing of the disciples but, in so doing, once again the repetition of the pattern of God’s calling in the history of mankind:

He calls his disciples by name, and they respond to him;

And there are twelve of them;

Then he commissions them;

Go, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons;

Of course with the promise that ‘Kingdom of God is at hand’. 

It was just yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Christ, and being Saturday immediately following the feast of the sacred heart of Christ, we celebrate the feast of the immaculate heart of Mary….

So, looking through the heart of Christ, let us ask ourselves, how plenty is the harvest today? 

Let’s look at the world we live in today, at our nation, at our neighborhood, at our family, at our own personhood, and at the whole of creation? 

Do I/we live in a way that I/we do not become a reason for Christ’s Heart to sink? In a way that doesn’t bring sorrow to the heart of Mary? In a way that doesn’t hurt the hearts of my brothers and sisters around me? In a way that doesn’t hurt the creation of God? 

How soaring must God’s heart be when he looks at me and all about me, today?

And how am I gonna respond to his calling in such a way that I am gonna bring peace to his heart today?

Through prayer? through a change of heart? Through becoming a disciple/laborer in his mission?  

Christ waits…On the cross with his hands, feet, and heat pierced he waits… in the tabernacle in the decorated loneliness of his heart he waits… In the pain and sorrow of the hearts of my family members (parents, children, spouses) and the brothers and sisters around me he waits… In the agony of the heart of creation today, he waits….

Yes, he waits….God waits…. For you and me….

And in our response to him, he is gonna promise us something today…What is it that God is gonna promise you today that he cannot but keep?