Fourth Sunday of Lent

 

FOURTH SUNDAY LENT, JOSHUA 5. 9a, 10-12, 2 COR 5. 17-21, LUKE 15. 1-3. 11-32

Focus: Repentance, return and renewal are the key ways for a changed and transformed life. Such a life is the best testimony for true faith and discipleship

1.       The gospel of the day presents before us the parable of the prodigal son. This is very popular and familiar. Three figures stand out, namely, the father, the younger son and the elder son. The younger son is the central figure because of his repentance, which is the key theme of holy lent. However, the other two too are very significant. All the three teach us some fundamental life-lessons.

2.       Contextually, the father in the story refers to God the Father; the younger son refers to the gentiles and all the despised and the sinners that include the Samaritans, prostitutes, and the tax collectors; the elder son refers to the Jews, the chosen people. The Jews had great contempt toward all the non-Jews and condemned them. But, Jesus elevates them over and above the Jews.

3.       Practically and existentially, the parable is not just a historical story. This is a living story. It is our own story, each one’s. The father is God the Father; the elder son represents all the self-righteous, the so-called holy and religious people. The younger son represents all those who are fragile and wayward.

4.       From the part of God, His loving mercy is never tired or fed up with us. He never abandons us. He always loves us and waits upon us to repent and return. He is ever ready and eager to receive us into His arms and embrace us. He does not wait to chide us or question us or penalize us. For Him, it is enough that we realize our deviations and repent and return to Him. He celebrates our return and restores us to the original dignity.

5.       Most of us may resemble the prodigal son. Like him, our fragility leads us to prodigality. We want to go away from the Father and His house. We reject His love, relationship, counsels and guidance. We have a sense of false freedom, we feel suffocated and restricted. Many times, we want to be totally free to do whatever we like and prefer.

6.       Like the prodigal son, we too let ourselves loose. We fall into unnecessary and unworthy interests and pleasures. We squander away our resources, money and energies on vain and harmful aberrations. We lower ourselves into undignified piggy situations.

7.       While this “falling” takes place in any one’s life, what is important is that we also “rise up” like him. This needs a sincere realization and repentance, return and reconciliation. We need to be anguished over our prodigality, our faltering steps. We must rise, retreat our steps, reunite with the Father, recognize our unworthiness, reconcile with Him and thus regain our lost dignity.

8.       In this context, we must consciously guard against the ‘elder son’s syndrome’. He suffers from a self-righteous attitude. He regards himself as a righteous and loyal person. And he disregards his brother as a loose immoral. He disowns his own younger brother and so distances himself. He does not even want to address him as his brother. He protests before his father, “This son of yours has devoured everything" (Note! He does not say, “this brother of mine”). His attitude and relationship with his father is also very wrong. This is evident in his grievance against his father: “all these years I have been working like a slave…”

Direction: A son is not a slave. A son does duties out of love and freedom and not out of slavery or servitude. Only in repentance and renewal, we find our true belongingness to God

(REFLECTION 2)

1.       The story of the prodigal son is very familiar to all, and thus there is also the tendency to take it for granted. First of all, it is not a mere story of an individual, of the past. Rather, it is the story of each of us, and is a present, ongoing story. It reflects everyone in our basic human fragility, frailty and vulnerability, as well as the capacity for nobility to rise above. There is an inherent tendency to be prodigal, but also a strong drive for renewal as well.

2.       Thus we can trace two movements in this whole journey of the prodigal son: a downward movement leading to ruin, and an upward movement leading to restoration. While the downward sliding is due to the human weakness that always surrounds us and waits to pounce upon us to strike us down, the upward soaring is due to the divine benevolence and strength that also super-abounds in us and shields us and is eager to lift us up. The prodigal son’s fall and rise symbolize our fallibility and conversion, and his restoration confirms God’s condescending mercy and forgiveness, and an indulgent and positively prodigal generosity of the Father, symbolized in the father in the gospel.

3.       The repentance and conversion of the prodigal son was made possible, certainly due to the deep awareness of the misery of his fallen condition, but also due to a profoundly piercing and anguishing consciousness of the surpassing love of the father. This makes to us very clear that a true repentance is possible, deep and durable, only when there is an authentic anguish at causing immense pain to the Father. Awareness, acceptance and encounter of human fragility and divine nobility will result in human repentance, divine forgiveness, and regain of the lost human dignity

4.       Now coming on to both the movements, the whole story can be presented in a series of alphabet R: the downward comprises Resent, Refuse, Reject and Ruin, and the Upward comprises Reflect, Remind, Recall, Realise, Repent, Resolve, Rise, Return, Rekindle, Reconcile, Reunite, Regain and Rejoice

5.       In the downward movement, we see that the prodigal son resents any good, any advice, admonition and guidance that is proposed to him, refuses to take heed and to make amends, and thus rejects all the dignity, the freedom, the closeness of being the son to the father in the house, and opts to ruin himself, by dissociating and distancing himself from the house and the father. This ruinous condition can be amply clarified in reflecting a little in detail on his “piggy” situation: in his pathetic and deplorable condition of misery, he is not only among the pigs, not only works with and for them, but also becomes one of them; he becomes like them, and no different from them

6.       It is worthwhile for us to see how this piggy situation prevails over us as well, in so far as we too embody the same qualities of a pig: dirty, smelly, noisy, lazy, does not realize the value of what is valuable, is led by the mob mentality, stubborn, aggressive and reactionary, quarrelsome and fighting, always stoops down, unsteady running after any pig, and swallowing anything indiscriminately. How often do we dirty and soil ourselves, by unclean thoughts, words and actions? How often do we spread around foul smell through our ill-placed words and deviated motivations? How much do we resent silence and interiorisation, eager to be noisy, and also intimidate and bulldoze others by big mouths and damaging speech? How often are we so slothful, and thereby neglect our duties, and also obligations and promptings of charity? How often are we negligent and indifferent toward what is sacred and precious? How often do we become so impulsive and indecisive, easily misled and carried away by the mob mentality? How often are we adamant and obstinate, sticking to our own ideas and opinions, refusing to be flexible and accommodative? How often are we resentful and violent in our attitude and approach? How eager are we often to react and get into conflict? How often do we stoop down so low and below, remaining earth-bound, succumbing to lesser urges and interests? How much we can be so unstable and unfaithful in our relationships and friendships, being flirting and frivolous? How often do we willingly devour so indiscriminately and unwisely, any rubbish and harmful that is present and presented to us? Is this not the “pig” nature in us?

7.       The story of the prodigal son becomes a worthwhile and memorable one, because he does not stop with the downward movement, but sets upon the upward movement. He reflects on his piggy situation. He reminds himself of his past good times. He recalls the past glory in contrast to the present misery, the past abundance in contrast to the present scarcity, the past freedom in contrast to the present slavery, the past dignity in contrast to the ignominy, the past closeness with the father in contrast to the present distance. He clearly realizes that he has made the greatest blunder. He deeply repents, being pierced in the deepest recesses of his heart, that he “broke his father’s heart”, “sinned against his father and the heavens”, and that he is “no longer worthy to be the father’s son”, and so deserves “only to be counted among the father’s many servants”. He resolves to make repairs. He rises, not only physically but also from his fallen condition. He returns to the father, retracing his steps to where he came from, and being directed back to the father. He meanwhile rekindles within, that lost fire of love for the father. He gets reconciled with the father. He is reunited with him concretely and directly. He is restored to his original dignity and relationship and thus he regains what was lost. All this results in a true rejoicing and celebration.

Can we too make this upward journey? How long do we want to be content with the ruinous downward journey, stooping to sin and steeped into it? Can we raise ourselves and rise up and regain our lost dignity and communion?

 

 

 

4 th week days of Lent

28 MARCH – 02 APRIL 2022: HOLY MASS REFLECTIONS

28 MARCH 2022: ISAIAH 65. 17-21; JOHN 4. 43-54

 

Focus: The essence and beauty of faith is to place one’s trust totally and unshakenly in the Lord even amid hopeless and frustrating situations

 

1.       In life, there are certainly problems and sufferings. No one is exempted from them. The kind and the degrees may differ but the fact remains. There are experiences of sicknesses, failures, losses, separations, death. These are what we call the “boundary situations”. These often push us into disappointment, depression, emptiness, and hopelessness.

2.       It is in such moments, our faith and hope in God come as the greatest rescue. The official in the gospel exemplifies such faith and hope. Even in such a hopeless situation of his son close to death, he confides in Jesus. Even when Jesus does not go personally to his house as he requested him but says only by word, “Go, your son will live”, he trusts in the power of Jesus’ word.

3.       True faith is trusting God not only when everything goes well. It is clinging to Him even when everything goes wrong. It is persisting to ask Him even when we don’t seem to receive. It is seeking Him even when He does not seem to be found. It is knocking at Him even when He does not seem to open.

4.       Thus, true faith is essentially hopeful. It hopes against hope. True faith believes in God’s unfailing love and mercy. It is convinced that God never fails in His promises and assurances. True faith hopes in the creation of “new heavens and a new earth” by God even amidst old and corrupted earth.

5.       Having faith does not mean that all the problems will disappear suddenly and magically. It is more a matter of a changed perspective. It is looking at things differently and confidently. It is facing adversities with reinforced strength and light. It is being able to remain calm even amidst a storm.

 

Direction: Perhaps a true prayer can be, not so much for not having any problems; rather for facing the situations as they come with trust, patience, and courage. If it is God’s will, we shall overcome them and eliminate them; if not, we shall forbear them

 

(REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 15 MARCH)

 

Focus: Things may go wrong so hopelessly at times. But do not lose heart. Because, as long as God is with us, life can never be hopeless. So, let us firmly confide in Him.

 

What an assurance! What a consolation! What encouragement! What a rejuvenation of the drooping spirits! The words of God through the prophet Isaiah in the first reading are indeed springs of hope and courage. God promises: "I shall create new heavens and a new earth; no more cries will be heard; there will be all rejoicing and happiness; the old things will not be remembered". These words are intensely timely and comforting, especially in our own present times. We are still in the fearful grip of the Coronavirus. It has thrown the whole world into chaos, dread, and death! It has subdued every power before it! It has upset the whole rhythm and order of life, has taken away the beauty and worth of life! Yes, evil can be powerful and frightening, but God is more powerful and assuring. He is a God who can work miracles, just with the power of the word even at distance.

This is what is testified in the gospel episode. Jesus heals and revives a royal official's son at death's bed. All that is needed is a deep faith like the faith of that official. He requests Jesus to come personally to his house and heal his dying son. He urges Jesus to come soon and urgently before he dies. But Jesus just says, “Go, your son will live”. Here is seen the utter faith of the official. He does not ask Jesus how. He does not argue with Jesus that his faith is sincere and he is not just looking for signs and wonders. He does not go on explaining to Jesus how deep his faith is. He does not even insist that Jesus should go personally with him. The master says ‘go’. The healer assures that his son would live. That was enough for him. No more questions or doubts. Enough that we have faith like that official, and surely God is ever ready to remedy and heal even the worst situation.

 

Direction: As long as we still hope against hope, we will surely experience the power and intervention of God. What is needed is a faith that surrenders its misery to God

 

29 MARCH 2022: EZEK 47. 1-9, 12; JOHN 5. 1-19

 

Focus: When we allow God’s grace to encounter us and flow upon us, we will not remain sick or invalid. We will be healed and start walking with vigour

 

1.       In both the readings, from Ezekiel and John’s gospel, we have the mention of water. In the former, it is a temple river and in the gospel, it is a pool. What is common is that the water is resurging and healing. Where the river flows, everything lives, remains fresh, grows, and bears fruits. And the pool heals every invalid that gets into it.

2.       This water symbolizes God’s grace. It is always flowing and available. But, many do not get to it because they are invalid. This invalidity is no more the physical but the spiritual. It is by sin. That is why, Jesus tells the healed invalid, “Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you”.

3.       We need not infer that he was invalid because he sinned. It is a possibility. But what is more important here to note is Sin makes us invalid. It makes us immobile and tepid toward God’s grace. Sin sickens and invalidates us.

4.       We need to seek healing by throwing ourselves into the waters of grace. The length of 38 years of invalidity is shocking. The man had been there by the side of the healing pool for 38 years and still could not get healing.

5.       This length of duration shows the insensitivity of the people who did not help him into the pool. The invalid man lost in this heavy competition for healing. On the other hand, we must also appreciate his persistence and undying hope. He never gives up hope and never stops trying.

6.       The question of Jesus, “Do you want to be healed?” looks silly because who does not want to be healed? Here the point is we need to personally desire to be healed. We need to feel the need to be healed. We must desire to get up from our beds and start walking. We need to shake off our lethargy to glue to our beds of negligence, indifference, and sloth.

 

Direction: Am I too long accustomed to sin that I do not want to move from my bed of comfort zone and convenience? Do I realize that I am invalid in so many ways, failing in my fervour for God and others?

 

(REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 16 MARCH)

 

Focus: When the streams of God's grace flow over us, life will be enlivened, refreshed, and renewed

 

In the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, there is a vivid and beautiful description of the river that flows from the temple. This symbolizes the streams of God's grace and the gracious effects of it. Wherever the river flows, there is life, freshness, growth, healing, nourishment, fruitfulness, and abundance. Thus, when God's grace flows upon a person, life becomes revived, refreshed, strengthened, and abundantly fruitful.

This is what happens in the gospel in the case of the person immobilized for 38 long years. On one hand, the length of his illness shows the height of human indifference. What a sad story of insensitivity and selfish competition: Within 38 years, nobody gave any priority to get him healed. None helped him to get into the healing pool. Everyone was bothered about his own health and wellbeing. On the other hand, we also see the steadfastness and perseverance of the sick man. He never gives up his desire or hope. He never stops trying to get into the pool to get healed. He does not get despaired or dissipated. In such a context, Jesus enters into his life. He understands his situation. Even without being asked for his intervention, Jesus takes initiative and heals him. The same will happen in our lives as well. Jesus is ever waiting to heal us. He knows that we need healing. But he wants us to know that we need healing. He wants us to desire it and seek it. It is very interesting that after healing the invalid, Jesus orders him not to sin anymore. Does Jesus imply that his invalidity is because of his sin? The point here is not that all those who are sick must have committed some sin. Rather, all those who sin will certainly be sick in some or other way. Sin itself is sickness. It will immobilize us and make us invalid. Sin takes away our movement, our activeness, our enthusiasm for God and good. It will make us “lie down on the bed” for years and years. We need to “get up from our bed and walk ahead”. This is the real healing.

 

Direction: All others may disappoint us and fail us, but God never fails us and it is enough that we trust him

 

30 MARCH 2022: ISAIAH 49. 8-15; JOHN 5. 17-30

 

Focus: The first duty of any true love is the recognition of the love of the other. If we really love God, then our first duty is to be deeply aware of His love for us

 

1.       Often we hear so much about love. But at the same time, there is a great lack of love. Love is misunderstood, falsified, and abused. That is why we find so much egoism, animosity and aggression even in the name of love. This only shows that love is not rightly understood and exercised.

2.       In such a context, today’s word of God gives us the best sample of true love. God’s love is that best and truest love. God Himself is the greatest lover. In Him, we find the true love, its features, its functions, and its effects.

3.       In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, God compares Himself to a mother and us to His nursing children. Just as a mother can never forget her nursing child, God too can never forget us. His love surpasses even this: even if a mother may forget, He will never forget us.

4.       His love never ceases and so He never ceases to work for us. This is the very mission of God, to constantly manifest His love in manifold ways. He gives His own life to us; liberates us from our imprisonments; brings us to light from our darkness; quenches our hunger and thirst; guides and leads us in the right paths; comforts the afflicted

5.       God wants to show and shower this abundant love upon us directly and concretely. For this, He has sent His only Son, Jesus Christ. Thereby, Jesus is the embodiment of the Father’s love and its living vehicle and channel. Through Jesus, God powerfully testifies His caring and guiding love.

6.       All that Jesus is and does is rooted in His inseparable communion with the Father. And his mission becomes unfailing obedience and loyalty to do the Father’s will. As the Father loves the Son, He empowers the Son with His own life, light, and power to give life, to guide and empower and to judge and reward eternal life. Similarly, as the Son loves the Father, he is united with Him and does ever His will.

 

Direction: True love is passionate, selfless, and committed. It is testified in concrete actions. God shows His love in a ceaseless outpour of His grace and works of benevolence. How do we show our love for God?

 

(REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 17 MARCH)

 

Focus: Who can measure the love of God! What can one compare it with! He never forsakes us. He never ceases working for our good, growth, and happiness. Blessed are those who realize and experience this!

 

The greatest beauty and the most beautiful greatness of our God is He is ceaselessly at work. It is the work of love. It is a relentless mission and project of transforming our lives into something beautiful and great. What does this imply? It means, God will nourish us, and we shall not hunger or thirst. He will lead us and we shall not be harmed or misguided. He will comfort us and we shall not remain afflicted. He will lift our spirits and we shall not lie desolate. It is a love that is incomparable and immeasurable. It is like a mother’s love for her nursing child. A mother never forgets her nursing child. But even if such a thing happens, even if a mother forgets her nursing child, even if her love fails, God’s love for us never fails. He never forgets us or abandons us.

Jesus’ coming to us and living with us is the greatest sign of this love and work of God for us. Jesus tries hard to make the people understand this. He wants to draw their attention to God who loves them and works for them ceaselessly. He never rests, because His love never rests or halts. Throughout his whole life and mission, and through his preaching and healing, what Jesus wants to reveal and show to the people is just this: God loves us and works for us. It is beyond times and seasons, beyond any conditions or restrictions.

It is in this spirit and with this mind, Jesus speaks of his communion and oneness with God, his likeness to Him, and his power and judgment. But instead, people understand the wrong side. They misunderstand as competition with God all of Jesus’ doing God’s will. They misunderstand as claiming equality with God all the closeness, likeness, and oneness of Jesus. They misunderstand as blasphemy all his deepest God-consciousness of seeing everything in reference to God. They misunderstand as disrespecting and violating Sabbath his timeless love-work like God’s. Hence blaming and persecuting Jesus.

 

Direction: If only one lifts his eyes and realizes the unstoppable and untiring love of God and His working for us, we will be eternally grateful and passionately committed to doing God’s work!

 

 31 MARCH 2022: EX 32. 7-14;  JOHN 5. 31-47

 

Focus: Authenticity comes from reliable evidence and testimony. But even authenticity will be rejected when there is obstinacy and rigidity of the heart

 

1.      The confrontation between Jesus and the Jews continues. The Jews vehemently oppose him, refuse to believe in him, and reject him. Jesus persistently tries to convince them. He draws their attention to various solid witnesses that authenticate him. One is John the Baptist, who was like a burning and shining lamp that bore witness to Jesus, the true light.

2.      Another witness is Jesus’ own works that are always altruistic and oriented to the good of others. There is absolutely no trace of evil or harm in his works. They all proceed from the Father and conform to His holy will.

3.      The third witness is God the Father Himself. The Father consistently bears witness to His only Son about His total communion and intimacy with the Son; about the Son being sent by Him and doing always His holy will; about empowering His Son to guide and judge; about Himself being so pleased with His Son; about glorifying His Son; and about owning, guarding, guiding and strengthening the disciples as well.

4.      The fourth witness is the Scriptures. They contain eternal life and bear witness about Jesus, the Messiah. But despite such valid and authentic witnesses, the Jews do not believe in Jesus and do not accept him.

5.      The reasons are given very clearly in both the readings. According to the first reading from Exodus, one main reason for unbelief is the stiff-necked mentality of the people. Because of this adamancy, they corrupt themselves; turn aside quickly out of the Lord’s way; desecrate themselves by worshipping a golden calf.

6.      In the light of the gospel, one reason for failing in a faith response is the lack of love of God within them; another reason is seeking their own human glory from the humans and not seeking the glory of God.

 

Direction: Failing in our faith in God is self-responsibility and so it will bring also self-judgment and condemnation. We need not blame God for punishing us; it is we ourselves who do the auto-condemnation

 

(REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 17 MARCH)

 

Focus: How true it is that we vex God often with our stiff-neckedness! But thanks to the same God who is so flexible to relent and be benevolent yet again!

Really it is a sad thing that no seldom many people test God's patience and benevolence with a spirit of obstinacy and closedness toward God. How painfully God laments over the people of Israel. For, so easily they forget the marvels that God has worked in their lives. They forget the mighty liberation. They become ungrateful and attribute all the credit to a mere idol. They turned aside from the way of the true God. They corrupt themselves. They are truly stiff-necked. But, Moses is deeply concerned for them. He makes an enormous effort to tone down God's wrath. He tries to evoke sympathy in their favour. It is not playing down their wrongdoings and infidelity, but elevating God's fidelity. In simple, he attests that God's fidelity is not conditioned or reversed by the people's infidelity. He is stable and steadfast. What a nobility and power of intercession!

The same stubbornness of the Jews confronts and torments Jesus. He takes the role of Moses: on one hand, he constantly speaks the truth; he urges the people to accept and follow it. He challenges their lack of transparency. On the other hand, he bears testimony to God's love and fidelity. He calls them earnestly to believe him by calling different sources as his testimonies. These are Moses and his teachings, the sacred Scripture, John the Baptist, the Father Himself, and Jesus' own works. These are authentic witnesses to his divine identity and divine mission. But, sadly no witness can convince them. Because they are so closed and blind and hard.

We are invited and summoned to believe and change.

 

Direction: God goes on speaking to us, enlightening and calling us to know God and to get closer to Him. Let us believe Him and live with and for Him

 

01 APRIL 2022: WIS 2. 1a, 12-22; JOHN 7. 1-2, 10, 25-30

 

Focus: There is always so much opposition to good and persecution of the good people. The reason is quite simple: in their lack of wisdom, they are led astray; in their wickedness, they are blinded

 

1.      The hostile spirit between Jesus and Jews keeps mounting. They seek to kill him. Once again Jesus in the gospel and wisdom in the first reading clarify to us the real reasons for this mounting antagonism. In Jesus’ own words, it is because they know neither the Father nor His Son. They do not know the Father, the true God who sent His only Son; neither they know the Son who came only from the Father and not of his own accord.

2.      Instead, the Jews were caught up only with the superficial and secondary details like his human birth, the place and conditions of his birth, and his human parents. Now the words of the first reading apply exactly in the case of Jesus. They are hostile to Jesus because they are ungodly.

3.      All the ingredients of this ungodliness become perfectly matching to the case of Jesus. They reason unsoundly. They think he is inconvenient to them as he opposes their actions. He reproaches them for their sins, their base, and unclean ways. He becomes a reproof of their thoughts. The very sight of him becomes a burden to them.

4.      Further, his ways are strange and his life is unlike that of others. He professes to have knowledge of God and boasts that God is his father and he calls himself a child of the Lord. He claims that God will protect the righteous, and recompense the holy and blameless with the prize of happiness and life.

5.      Therefore, they want to test and see whether his words are true. They want to subject him to insult and torture to the extent of a shameful death. Their reasoning is simple: if he is truly righteous and God’s son, he will be protected and delivered from the hands of his adversaries; he will remain gentle and forbearing.

Direction: Many may think like the ungodly in the word of God, that is to test and see the authenticity of the goodness and holiness of good and God-fearing people. But do they realize that they are making themselves liable to God’s judgment? Who are we to put others to the test?

 

02 APRIL 2022: JER 11. 18-20;  JOHN 7. 40-53

 

Focus: Knowledge is good and needed. But it should be positive and productive. It should not shroud us in the layers of shallow reasoning and blind us to the truth. It should not make us presumptuous

 

1.      Many times it is strange and also sad that the people with more knowledge become shallow and stubborn in their own thinking. They are caught up in their restrictive territory and refuse to look beyond. They become fixated on their reasoning and ideas and reject the other side. This is truly intellectual blindness and arrogance.

2.      This is what happened in the case of the Pharisees and scribes in the time of Jesus. They were acclaimed scholars and teachers of the law. They were the interpreters and guides of the Scriptures. Their main argument and objection against Jesus were predominantly based on Scriptures and law.

3.      The Scriptures say that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was. But instead, Jesus comes from Galilee. Besides, he also often defies and breaches the law. If Jesus were to be the Christ, then he must come from Bethlehem and David’s ancestry. He must also abide by the law.

4.      But, perhaps just a little more close and deep query would have discovered the actual details about Jesus. If only they wanted, they would have easily found out that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that he is the offspring of David. But they did not want to go beyond the external and apparent certainties. They were stuck up with his earthly origins. Hence they did not know the truth.

5.      What prevented them from the right knowledge? It is clearly their antagonism and prejudice. They just did not like and appreciate Jesus. Unlike Nicodemus, they were rushing to condemn him even without first giving Jesus a hearing and learning what he does. The prophet Jeremiah in the first reading laments in deep anguish and his words apply quite rightly to Jesus. Like a gentle lamb, he is led to the slaughter. Against him, they devised schemes to destroy him completely as a tree with its fruits.

6.      But commendable is the spirit of forbearance and surrender of the prophet and Jesus as well in the face of such hostility and unjust persecution. As in the words of the prophet, both “commit their cause to God” who judges righteously, and who tests the heart and the mind.

 

Direction: Our knowledge should never make us self-righteous and obstinate. It should never be harmful to others but only beneficial. We should always seek to know and follow the truth. And we should go to any extent to be faithful to the truth

 

 

(REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 20 MARCH)

 

Focus: Good persons suffer on behalf of God and good, but they never give up and abandon the right path

 

The prophet suffers. This is so much and humanly unbearable. He suffers ingratitude, deception, and betrayal at the hands of his own people. He faces persecution and even to the point of death. This is all the more excruciatingly painful because it is his own people for whom he did so much, for whom he pleaded so fervently to God not to punish or destroy them for their iniquities but to be merciful. And so, humanly speaking, he should seek revenge. But he is really a God-fearing and God-trusting man. So he entrusts his case and cause to God.

This is the same spirit that Jesus manifests in the face of undeserving and unjust suffering. His own people refuse to believe in him. No amount of miracles, no amount of powerful and godly teachings, no amount of witness from the sincere messengers, and no amount of wise advice from leaders like Nicodemus, would melt their stubbornness. Their jealousy makes them prejudiced. Their prejudice leads to hatred. Hatred blinds them to the truth. Their blindness leads them to unbelief. Unbelief leads to rejection, and rejection to evil plotting and conspiracy finally ends in murder.

But, just see Jesus. No amount of affliction and problem makes him be shaken in his loyalty to God's will, in his compassion towards his people. At no point, does Jesus backtrack from God's will or doubt the rightness of God's ways. And at no point, does Jesus feel retaliation towards those hostile to him and never he wishes bad for them. So instead of feeling furious toward those who did wrong to Jesus, we should get more convinced by looking at the prophet and Jesus. 

 

Direction: Often it is a wonder for me, why and how the leaders and the people as well could not get more correct details about Jesus' birth and lineage. That only shows that when faith is shallow, knowledge too becomes shallow and deviated.