THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR C!

Once, there was a round table discussion on religion and freedom in which many theologians and famous religious leaders were present. Dalai Lama, the Tibetan religious leader and a Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff, were also taking part. During recess, there was a brief discussion between Dalai Lama and Leonardo. Leonardo asked Dalai Lama: “Your holiness, what is the best religion?”

Leonardo thought that he would say: “The Tibetan Buddhism” or “The oriental religions, much older than Christianity.” Dalai Lama paused for a moment, smiled and looked into his eyes and said: “The best religion is the one that gets you closest to God and makes you a better person.” He further asked him: "But what is it that makes him a better person?" Dalai Lama responded: “Whatever makes you more compassionate, more sensible, more detached, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible, and more ethical.” “The religion that will do that for you is the best religion.”

Leonardo was silent at his wise and irrefutable response. Dalai Lama said, "I am not interested in your religion or if you are religious or not. What really is important to me is your behavior in front of your friends, your family, your work, your community, and in front of the world and God." Remember, the universe is the echo of our actions and our thoughts. The law of action and reaction is not exclusively for physics. It is also of human relations. If we act with goodness, we will receive goodness. If we act with evil, we will get evil. we will always have what we desire for others. Being happy is not a matter of destiny. It is a matter of options. And finally, he said: We should be watchful and careful at all times in our lives.

Today is the beginning of Advent season, which reminds us to be vigilant, watchful, and hopeful as we prepare to celebrate the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. On this first Sunday of Advent, we are warned that everything will end. This is a very timely reminder especially for those who continue to believe that they can extend, prolong or perpetuate their worldly pursuit of power, fame, riches and glory, even at the expense of other people and God Himself. The message is simple, loud, and clear. The key word of today's Gospel is WATCH, which sums up what Dalai Lama said to Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff. The word for word, *W-A-T-C-H stands for* :

*W stands for words.* Watch your words. Our irresponsible use of words can hurt and destroy people. Many relationships had been broken with onslaught of vile language, cursing, and gossiping. Let our mouths be instruments of blessing rather than cursing and gossiping, of kindness than condemnation, of appreciation than destructive criticism and of praising than blaspheming. That is why a saying goes this way: “The tongue should be used to bless rather than to curse; to compliment rather than to criticize; to highlight good qualities rather than focus on bad qualities.”

*A stands for Actions.* Watch your actions. It is rightly said, “Actions speak louder than words”. Do our actions reflect profoundly our faith? We know that a mere profession of faith is not enough. We need to express it concretely in deeds. Can we be more loving, caring, and forgiving in our lives?

*T stands for Thoughts.* Watch your thoughts. A wise man once said: “All that we are is a result of what we have thought. It begins with our thoughts; it is carried on with our thoughts and ends with our thoughts.” The New Testament standard is that it is never enough to avoid doing wicked things; it is to restrain our thoughts not to even desire them. The word may never be concerned with judging the thoughts of humans. But for Christ, thoughts are just as important as actions.

*C stands for Character* Watch your character. Saint Paul says: “Fortitude produces character” and “character produces hope,” (Rom 5:4). When trials afflict people, some may allow themselves to whine and grovel in despair, other may spur themselves with the opportunities of merging stronger and greater and nearer to God. Christians are those who set efforts and hopes in bringing about God’s kingdom in their midst. What is the character of our lives? Is it devoted to our own glory or God’s glory?

*H stands for Heart.* “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” (Matt 6:21). If our hearts are fixed on possessions, we become greedy; if they are directed to having popularity and power, we become proud; if our hearts are set on worldly security, we become people of fear. What is in our hearts? Is it a heart full of love for God and for those whom we have committed ourselves to love? Or is it a heart full of H-Hatred, E-Envy, A-Anger, R-Resentment, and T-Timidity?

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Jesus tells His disciples to be vigilant at all times. He tells us to be alert and to be on the watch and not let our hearts cause anxieties of daily life. Let us watch, and our watch will bring conversion into our lives. Let us prepare ourselves for the coming Christmas celebration, which involves a spiritual renewal on our part so that we can celebrate Christmas meaningfully and allow our Lord to come into our lives. Let us be watchful against the devil and his evil ways and resolve to walk in the light of the Lord.

Take care of your thoughts

because they become Words.

Take care of your words

because they will become Actions.

Take care of your actions

because they will become Habits.

Take care of your habits

because they will form your character.

Take care of your character

because it will form your destiny.

And your Destiny will be your life. Remember, there is no religion higher than the truth.

 THE THIRTY THIRD ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B!

Today is the second last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday, we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. So, as we come to the end of the liturgical year, the Church focuses our attention on the last things. On this Sunday, the Scripture Readings traditionally speak about “the end of the world,” “the end of time,” “the final coming of Jesus” and our ultimate future. This is the mystery of faith we profess in the Mass: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Today’s readings bring us stark reminders of life’s limits. We are going to die, and our world is going to end. When the latter will happen, even Jesus in His humanity did not know, though we can form a rough but unreliable estimate of our own life span. As the years pass, our bodies give us increasing hints that death will come to us at any time, perhaps even today.

Death is inevitable, and we can't escape death. When it is time, it is time. There is nothing we can do about it. Every single soul has to taste death. The reality of death is certain. The truth is, none of us know its day and time. But when our final day comes, we can't negotiate any extension. This story will give insight that we can not change our fate. What is going to happen will happen.

One day, death encountered a man and told him that today is your last day.

The man replied, " But I am not ready!"

Death said: Your name is at the top of my to-do list for today.

The man said, "Then, before you take me along, let us sit together and have one Last Cup of Coffee.

Death said: Of course.

The man offered a Cup of Coffee to Death. The coffee was laced with some sleeping pills. Death drank the coffee, and soon, it was fast asleep.

The man took Death's to-do list, wiped his name from the top, and placed it at the bottom of the page.

When Death woke up, it said: "You have treated me so kindly and with full of Love today. I would like to reciprocate you by starting my today's work from the names at the bottom of my list." It was written in man's fate that he has to go eventually with death.

A funeral director who developed his own personal style of letter writing. Before he would sign his name at the end of the letter, he would always close with “eventually yours.” There is no doubt about it. We all will be eventually God’s. We don't know the date and time of our passing away but we are sure and certain that we have to leave this world one day and wait for the judgements and rewards on the basis of our lifestyle.

In the month of November, the feasts of our Church remind us that this world is passing: We must remember where we are going and what we must do to get there. On the first day of this month, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. This feast holds a special place in our heart because it reminds us of the goal of our human life. We are called to share in the eternal life of God, to participate in the divine life of the Holy Trinity, to experience joy in the fulfillment of the deepest desires of our hearts. On the next day, the Church commemorates all the souls of the faithful departed on All Souls Day. This is an instructive and helpful reminder that even though we aim for Heaven, nearly all of us will experience further purification after our lives on this earth end.

Throughout this month, the readings have continued to emphasize these themes: that we will one day die, we will experience the judgment of God, and the actions of our lives will determine our experience of eternity. If we have repented and sought to return to God, we will, finally, be blessed with the vision of his glory. If we turned away from him or sought to satisfy our own self-desires, then we will be allowed to experience the joyless absence of God for eternity.

Today’s readings are no exception. They warn of great tribulation, of the destruction of the universe, and the judgment of all humanity. The Lord tells us to learn from the fig tree: when you see the signs of what is coming, prepare yourselves.

As we ponder the end of our lives, we must remember that we are all called to be holy, to be saints. We are called to turn back to God in this world, to follow the path of divine life. This is the road of the wise. Daniel says, “the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament.”

The Church further reminds us to “be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.” It reminds us of the parable of the virgins and the lamps, awaiting their master’s return from the wedding. Those who prepared themselves were welcomed into the feast, but those who were not were cast aside. In the parable of the wedding garment, we hear that those who enter the wedding feast must be clothed in a wedding garment. When we ponder these parables together, we see that we must prepare ourselves for the wedding feast–Heaven–as best we can.

To prepare ourselves for this moment, we must ensure we are not strangers to our Lord. We must repent daily of anything that leads us away from him. Even better than this, we must come to greet him face-to-face in the greatest of sacraments: the Holy Eucharist. When we attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, we relive the Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord. As he offers himself to the father on the Cross, we offer ourselves to him so that he might lift us up too. Through the power of the Church, we mystically join at the moment when he redeemed humanity. Then, as we receive him in the Eucharist, we receive a foretaste of the banquet of Heaven and the divine life of God.

When we contemplate the last things: death, judgment, Heaven, and hell, we can sometimes fall into hopelessness or into a cycle of anxiety regarding our salvation. This is not what the Church desires for us. If it were, she would not remind us of the great glory that we are to receive, nor would she remind us constantly of the mercy of God. But we also must not fall into carelessness or presumption, so she reminds us of the consequences of our actions or inaction. As we pray, let us ask the blessings of the Almighty God that we may remain always vigilant, and seek out the Lord in all that we do, so that we will have the strength to stand before him at the end of our days.

 THE THIRTY SECOND ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B!

One night in a small town, a stormy rain made it impossible to a newlywed couple on a remote country road to move forward. Unable to go any farther, they got out of their car and walked towards a dimly lit farmhouse. When they reached the house, an elderly couple, carrying a kerosene lamp, met them at the door. Explaining their situation, the young man asked: “Could we spend the night with you? A place on the floor or a few easy chairs will do.”

The elderly couple saw a few grains of rice on the young lady’s hair and understood their situation. “Why surely, children,” said the elderly woman. “We just happen to have a spare bedroom. You get your things from the car while my husband and I clean it up a bit.” Then they led them up to the room. The next morning, the newlyweds got up early and prepared to leave without disturbing the elderly couple. They dressed quietly, put a ten-dollar bill on the dresser, and tiptoed down the stairs.

When they opened the door to the living room, they found the old couple asleep in chairs. They had given the newly-weds their only bedroom. The young man had his wife wait a minute while he tiptoed back upstairs and put another five dollars on the dresser. The heartwarming story is a modern illustration of the poor widow in today’s gospel. Like the poor widow, the elderly couple gave not from their surplus but from the only resource they had.

The Gospel of today seems to be very demanding, which expresses that in our poverty, emptiness and detachment from this world provide a doorway for God to bless us with true riches. In today’s readings, we are invited to reflect on our attitude towards giving. Jesus warns us to beware of and not to imitate the hypocrisy of the Scribes. He is asking us to be charitable towards the needy neighbour even when we have only bare essentials for ourselves. He loves a cheerful giver. He assures us that the measure we give will be the measure we shall receive.

Each Sunday in our worship service, during offertory time, we take offerings in baskets. Do you think Jesus is interested in how much money we put in the offering basket? No, he is not interested in how much we put in the offering baskets, but he is interested in what is in our heart that will make our offerings extraordinary. It is not what and how much we give that matters but rather how lovingly and cheerfully we give. Jesus is more interested in what is in the heart of the giver than the size of their gift.

Humans judge by the amount of money, but God judges our giving by value. The widow's mite, by human standards, meant nothing because it was just two copper coins, but for that widow, these two copper coins meant the whole world to her. The others gave money, but she gave value.

God doesn’t measure the gift by its face value, but he judges it by the sacrifice behind it. That is why Jesus put the widow’s two small copper coins higher on the scale of giving than the large contributions of the others. She gave from poverty, they gave from abundance. The poor man sacrifices more to give his little gift than the rich man does to donate his large one. Remember, we are rich only through what we give and poor only through what we keep.

In the first reading, we see the widow of Zarephath in Sidon recognized Elijah as the man of God and put his need above her need. She gave him all that she had and satisfied his hunger in her utter want. Both these widows portray an image of people who think it is finally God who is in charge of their belongings. This leads us to think of four attitudes towards giving:

*Forceful Giving* : In such case, the act of giving is not inspired from within. It is rather the effect of external force such as prestige, fame, and social pressure.

*Duty based Giving* : The people of Israel in the Old Testament, as well as the Jews in the New Testament, experienced duty based giving in the form of taxes. This attitude still exists in income tax and other official contributions. Jesus himself has clarified his position about this. “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.” If we have a proper attitude towards such giving, we shall do it cheerfully.

*Conditional Giving* : In this case, the person gives something out of the condition of getting it back again. Hence, there is a string attached. In such a case that the joy of giving will not come to the person till the person is paid back. Peter wanted to know what they would get in return for giving up the family and property. Jesus makes it clear that if it is for the sake of the Kingdom of God and if it is accompanied with self-denial, they would get it back 100-fold of all that they have given up plus eternal life with persecution.

*Unconditional giving* : In such a case, as says, when you arrange a dinner, call those who cannot repay you. The people who do this give others little more than they expect from them. Give yourself in the giving of a thing like the widow of Zarephath and the wdow in the temple who gave themselves and have immovable place in the Bible. This is the reward of total self-giving.

My dear people, nature shows us the way. A well that is unused becomes stagnant. A well from which water is often drawn remains fresh. As we celebrate the total self-giving of Jesus in this Eucharistic celebration, Let us build up a proper attitude of giving and ask God’s choicest blessings and pray to make us more generous like the widow of Zarephath and widow in the temple who gave themselves unconditionally and found a place in the Bible and in the heart of Jesus. Amen.

All reactions:

2Maria Stanislaus and Lini Kuruvilla

 THE THIRTY FIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B!

In today’s gospel a scribe asks Jesus to identify the most important commandment of all. Jesus answers the scribe’s question directly. But he mentions two commandments instead of one: love of God and love of neighbour. Why? It wasn’t that Jesus had a problem with maths. The answer is that loving God and neighbour are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other.

A renowned scribe and the interpreter of Torah (Law) in Jerusalem named Rabbi Hillel was born before Christ. He was 80 years old and he probably died in the year of Christ about 10 A.D. His interpretations of Law were less severe than others. Our Lord must have heard him very often, and he could possibly have spoken with him during the three days before the Finding him in the Temple.

Here is one of the tales Our Lord might have heard from him. A certain gentile who wanted to know about Torah (Law) came to Shammai, the leader of the strict interpreter of the Law. He said to him that he would like to become his disciple. He asked him, ''Can you teach me the whole Torah (Law) while I am standing on one foot?'' Shammai got angry with him and told him how can I teach you the whole Torah in few hours? He sent him away. Then he came to Rabbi Hillel with the same question. Hillel admitted him as a convert and gave him the summary of the whole Torah. He said to him, "Whatever is hateful to you, do not do to your brothers." This is the whole Torah: all the rest is commentary. Now go and study.

The whole Christian Torah is to love our neighbours unconditionally and this is one of the greatest commandments of Jesus. Jesus did not stop merely by giving this great commandment but He practiced it in His life. He loved His father through loving us all. It was Jesus' love for His father that prompted Him to be born as a simple human being. It was Jesus’ love for His father that gave Him the courage to be the friend of tax collectors, sinners, outcasts, adulterous and prostitutes. It was Jesus' love for His father that gave Him the strength to carry the cross and die that shameful death at Calvary.

God comes to us through our neighbours. In the love of a neighbour we experience the warmth of God and in his concern we experience the loving kindness of God. We cannot love God without loving our neighbour. The first Letter of John makes it abundantly clear that loving God and loving neighbour are inseparable: ‘Let us love one another since love comes from God, and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is Love’ (1 John 4: 7-8).

We the followers of Christ are called to do what Jesus did, to give a special place to the poorest of the poor in our heart. We are called to bear witness to the love of God by loving one another. But how many of us really see God in our neighbours? How many of us go to Church every Sunday, listen to the word of God and come back to settle scores with our neighbours? How many of us attend the liturgical services daily, experience the love of God, receive Jesus on our tongue and use the same tongue to cast slur on a person whom we do not like? How many of us say the prayers daily and with the prayer book in one hand turn out to help a needy person who comes to our door? How many of us go on pilgrimage to Holy places, do Novenas, and offer masses in all possible churches even visit the Holy Land in the name of the love of God and yet do not care to visit a person who is on his death bed?

The error of the Pharisees is still here with us. There are still many Christians who try to separate love of fellow human beings from love of God. Their commitment to faith does not include commitment to human rights and to justice and peace issues. We shall do well to heed the message of Jesus in today's gospel: that true love of God and true love of neighbour are two sides of the same coin. Any attempt to separate them is a falsification of the message of Christ. “Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen" (1 John 4:20).

At the very heart of Christianity is love. Love is the Christian identity. It is the mark Christ gave to Christians to wear before the World. Only with this mark may the World know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father.

The great Mahatma Gandhi was asked about his view of Christianity. What he said could show us what probably is keeping two-thirds of the world away from the Good News of Christianity: he said, "I have a great respect for Christianity. I often read the Sermon on the Mount and have gained much from it. I know of no one who has done more for humanity than Jesus. In fact, there is nothing wrong with Christianity, but the trouble is with you Christians. You do not begin to live up to your own teachings".

The greatest homage we can pay to the Christian faith is to live in such a way that through us people begin to have a glimpse of the unbounded and unconditional love that God has shown us in Christ. Let us follow the New Commandment of Jesus, Love one another as I have loved you. Amen

All reactions:

2Maria Stanislaus and James Masih

 THIRTY FIRST ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B!

Once, there was an elderly monk who prayed many years for a vision to strengthen his faith, but it never came. He had almost given up the hope when, one day, a vision of Jesus appeared. The monk was thrilled and was enjoying the vision. But then, right in the middle of the apparition, the monastery bell rang, which meant it was time to feed the poor who gathered daily at the monastery gate. It was the elderly monk’s turn to feed them. He was torn between staying and leaving the heavenly vision. With a heavy heart, he turned his back on the vision and went off to feed the poor.

After an hour, he returned to his room, and to his surprise, the apparition of the Lord was still there, waiting for him. As the monk dropped to his knees, the vision said to him, “My son, if you would not have gone to feed the poor, I would not have stayed for you.”

The story conveys the message of today's Gospel, which combines the love of God and the love for neighbour. “You shall love the Lord your God. You shall love your neighbour as yourself”. Jesus adds, “There is no other commandment greater than these.”

At the very heart of Christianity is love. Love is the Christian identity. It is the mark Christ gave to Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father. Love of God and love of neighbour is the most important principle of Christian living. Without the love of neighbour, there can be no real love of God. Every Christian has to be his brother’s keeper. Our entry into the kingdom of God will depend on our ability to put the principle of Christian living into practice.

The plant needs the light of the sun and the sap of the tree to grow. The day needs the night to run its full course. The child needs the smile of the mother to grow. We need each other to grow into maturity. We are supported, appreciated, and strengthened by our neighbours. Life becomes impossible and meaningless when we live in isolation. We can live without our friends, but not without our neighbours.

It is a vain attempt to search for God in the temple, in the mosque, in Gurudwara and in the church premises when He is readily found among our neighbours. God is there where our neighbours are struggling to make both ends meet. He is there where our neighbours try to lead a just and honest life in the face of adversities. There, we must worship God first and then proceed to the temple to offer our sacrifices. Then only our worship will be true, and our offerings will be acceptable to God.

In Gitanjali, Chapter XI, Rabindra Nath Tagore writes,"Leave this chanting, singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee. He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in the sun and in the shower, and His garment is covered with dust."

We see today the tension between Jesus and the Pharisees, the tension between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the tension between the Laws and the heavenly values. God gave commandments to make people understand love. The people of Israel were given laws and commandments not just to practice them but rather to learn to love God and men. The inner purpose of commandments and laws is to experience love. The real purpose of the laws in the Old Testament was to take people closer to God by their virtues and pious activities. But what has happened? Laws remain, but no virtues and pious activities in the heart of the people. At the time of Jesus, He experienced by seeing the hearts of the people that the very laws and commandments which are supposed to take the people closer to God, taking the people away from God.

Jesus wants both laws and virtues to be effective in the heart of the people. People are like machines rather than humans. Jesus is searching for the virtues in the hearts of the people and not simply laws. People are happy by following the laws, but their hearts are full of evil. Look at the sentence, "For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Remember, love with all heart includes our right actions, right thoughts, right emotions, and affections. Love with all mind demands our positive thoughts. If we create negative thoughts in our mind, then we can not love God and men. One cannot love God with half-heart, half mind and half in everything. A person, therefore, should take a whole effort only to love God and men. Soul is the place where God wants to communicate with us. When our hearts, minds, and strengths become positive, then the whole self or person becomes positive in loving God and man.

We talk a lot about our love of God, or more so about our love of neighbour, but the truth of the matter is that many, if not most, of us really love ourselves! Love of self, the least and the last of the commandments of Jesus, in reality, our top priority—naturally. Only by God’s grace can we really and truly transcend our selfishness and pride.

It would be good for us today to check if we are keeping these commandments in our lives according to Jesus’ gradation. In so far as we do so, we are “not far from the Kingdom of God.” In so far as we fail to do so, we are just focused on the ways of this worldly kingdom.

To end this, I would like to share with you our food for reflection of these words:

I searched for my soul;

and my soul I found not.

I searched for my God,

and God eluded me.

I searched for my neighbour;

and there I found all three,

My Soul, My God, and My neighbour. Amen.

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