In the first reading, we are reminded that the early church was not without its share of domestic problems like the ones we have in our own times. The Hellenistic group complained that their poor widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. Another problem was that some people were so overworked that they were neglecting other more important duties. The solution was the appointment of deacons who would be responsible for the food distribution task. The way the early Church resolved the problem showed the Church as an organization with an atmosphere of love. What is important is that problems have to be faced openly by discussion and adjustment done in a spirit of prayerful discernment always motivated by Christian values.
We’re on our way
Gandhi’s ‘Dandi March’ initiated on March 12, 1930, is a
landmark in India’s freedom struggle. Gandhi walked with 78 satyagrahis for 23
days from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal town of Dandi about 380 kms way in
defiance of the salt tax imposed by the British. In his ‘My Experiment with
Truth’ Gandhi writes that he instructed people “to make salt along the seashore
wherever it was most convenient and comfortable.” The 75th anniversary of
the event was commemorated in 2005 with Indian and foreign yatris retracting
this historic ‘way’. Indeed, great Indian leaders have imprinted wondrous
‘ways’ on the sands of time. –“I am the Way, the Truth, the Life” asserts
Jesus. Jesus’ way is an inclusive path of love, service and self-sacrifice
animated by ‘right thinking’, and ‘right action’(Life).
Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’
The Gospel contains the farewell discourse of Jesus and is tinged with sadness as well as advice. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house and I am going to prepare a place for you.. You know the way to the place where I am going." Jesus is going but he does not want to leave his disciples, he desires to take them with him, hence he reminds his disciples: "You know the way to the Father.” The "way" is obedience to the teachings Jesus gave and the manner in which he lived his life. The earlier name the Christian community gave itself was "Followers of The Way"; it was not until later, at Antioch, that they were called Christians. But the apostles tended to forget the way. In reply to Thomas' question "How can we know the way?" Jesus does not give a handbook that will answer all their questions, nor does he hand them a book detailing every law. There are no road maps into the future. He does not say "I have a way," nor "I will show you the way." He simply points to himself and declares who he is as a memorable summary of the good news: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me." He alone is the gateway to God, the access to the Father. Jesus is the face of God, the heart of God, the word of God. Philip still does not get it. He asks Jesus to "show us the Father" hoping for some extraordinary vision and Jesus replies that whoever has seen him has seen the Father. Jesus stuns them all by claiming that in seeing Him they have seen the heavenly Father. The one mission of Jesus was to reveal the Father. He alone reveals the Father in the 'way' he lives, in the 'truth' of his words and in his 'life'. He reveals the Father in the 'ordinary' things of life, in 'routine' events and 'small' people. The Gospel passage end with Jesus' renewed call to a deepened faith in Him if not in his words then in his works. He promises that those who believe in him will do the same works that he has done and even more. We know the works of God are to give life and to restore meaning in life or enrich life's meaning. This is our challenge today, to engage in life-giving works rather than death-dealing ones.
Be the fuse!
On November 26, 1965, Time magazine had a story that can give us all food for thought. An electrical fuse about the size of a bread box failed, resulting in 80,000 square miles along the US-Canadian border being plunged in darkness. All the electrical power for that entire region passed through that single fuse. Without that fuse no power could reach any point in that vast region. Like that fuse box each of us has a tremendous potential for good or evil, which can affect a multitude. Jesus promises us believers all his power and even more. All we have to do is walk the way he walked and be Jesus to a waiting world today!
Jesus the Way!
All of us have some experience of getting lost and having to
ask for directions. We have approached a stranger and asked, “How do I get to
such and such a place?” There are three common responses. The person says:
“Sorry. I can’t help you. I am a stranger around here.” Needless to say, that’s
no help to us. Or the person proceeds to give us a set of complicated
directions that leaves us totally confused. That’s not much help either. Or we
might be lucky enough to meet a kind person who says, “I know where it is. But
it’s a bit complicated. I’ll tell you what. Just follow me and I’ll take you
there.” Here the person is not content to give us directions and leave us to
it. Here is a person who is willing to be our guide. It’s a tonic to meet
someone like that. – The way to God is the most important way of all. It’s the
way that has baffled many. At the Last Supper the apostle, Thomas, asked Jesus,
“Show us the way to the Father.” Jesus might have given a set of complicated
directions. He didn’t. He did something better. He said, “I am the way. No one
can come to the Father except through me.”
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’
An eternal home
It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of home. But
we have to go out into the world to know how lovely our own home is. But
imagine if we had no home to go to. Nelson Mandela told of how during the long
years of his imprisonment on Robbin Island he had a recurring nightmare. He
said: “In that dream, I had been released from prison –only it was not Robbin
Island but a jail in Johannesburg. I walked outside the gates into the city and
found no one to meet me. In fact, there was no one there at all, no people, no
cars, no taxis. I would then set out on foot towards Soweto. I walked for many
hours before arriving in Orlando West, and then turned the corner towards No.
8115. Finally, I would see my home, but it turned out to be empty, a ghost
house, with all the doors and windows open but no one there at all.” Truly, it
is impossible to exaggerate the importance of home. When things fail, when we
feel tired and lonely, there is always home to go to. It is not only on earth
that we need a home. We also need a home to go to when death brings down the
curtain on the day of our life. Without such a home life would be a journey to
nowhere. For believers, we spend our lives searching for God, and grouping our
way towards God. To die is to go to God, and to go to God is to go home.
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’
He wanted to be a dropout!
It was 1950. The old cardinal of Naples was in his office
and seated before him was a young priest who was asking for permission to
become a drop-out. He wanted to live on the streets of Naples with the alley
boys. The old Cardinal could not take it. He knew what life was in Naples:
200,000 out of work; young boys hanging on the streets because their parents
were without work. They lived by stealing, begging and black marketizing. They
slept on the streets and dodged the police. This young priest, Mario Borelli,
wanted to help them, give them a roof over their heads, and a bit of human
warmth. That the cardinal could understand. But why must the priest become a
drop out himself? Mario knew exactly why: "If I go to these boys as a
priest they will spit in my face. They are fearfully distrustful." After
ten days the Cardinal approved. Mario went on the streets. He begged, collected
cigarette butts and became a vagrant. Gradually he won the hearts of those
youngsters. When he found a primitive shelter his youth went with him. They
weren't able to do otherwise -they were drawn to him. Mario had something
irresistible about him. They had no word for it because it was something they
had never before experienced. How could they know that word was love? Perhaps
we can now better understand why God became man. He wanted to be one with us!
Living life to the full
Henry David Thoreau was an American writer and philosopher.
At one point of his life he decided to take time out. He went to live for two
years in a shack in the woods in Maine. In his book, Walden, he tells us
why. He says, “I went into the woods to confront the essential facts of life,
lest when I come to die I should discover that I had never lived.” We should
live in such a way that we won’t look back and regret that we had wasted our
life. G.K. Chesterton talks about how sad it is when someone dies ‘with all the
music inside him.’ We could add: how sad it is to die, with all the life, all
the love, and all the joy inside one. Life is generous to those who seize it
with both hands. Thoreau says, “Fear not that your life will end; fear rather,
that it may never have begun.
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’
Have you enjoyed life?
There is a delightful Spanish legend that goes like this.
When people arrive at the gate of heaven seeking to enter, St. Peter asks them
a strange question. He says to each one, “Tell me this. Have you taken
advantage of all the earthly joys which God in his goodness made available to
you while you were on earth?” If a person answers, “No I haven’t,” Peter shakes
his head sadly and says, “Alas, my friend, I can’t let you in –not yet at any
rate. How can you be ready for the heavenly joys if you have not prepared
yourself for them through the medium of earthly ones? I shall be obliged to
send you back down to earth until you learn better.”
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’
*****
From Fr. Tony Kadavil’s Collection
1) “My
Father’s house.”
When St. John Chrysostom was summoned before the Roman Emperor Arcadius and threatened with banishment, he replied, “You cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.” “Then I will kill you,” exclaimed the Emperor angrily. “No, you cannot,” retorted Chrysostom, “because my life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Your treasures shall be confiscated,” the Emperor replied grimly. “Sir, you can’t do that because my treasures are in heaven as my heart is there.” “I will drive you from your people and you shall have no friends left,” threatened the Emperor. “That you cannot do either, Sir, for I have a Friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” In today’s Gospel Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, gives us the same assurance. “In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”
2) Surprises in
Heaven:
A few years ago, a minister of the United Methodist Church was forced out of his congregation and the ministry because he had the “audacity to preach heresy” during his Sunday sermon: "I'm in a church,” he said, “which acts as if God has a very small house, with only a few rooms and only one door. But thanks be to God, God's house, according to Jesus, has many rooms, many places to dwell. If it were not so, he would have told us." To add fuel to the fire, he explained his theory with a story. A good man died and was ushered into heaven, which appeared to be an enormous house. An angel began to escort him down a long hallway past "many rooms". "What's in that room?" the man asked, pointing to a very somber-looking group of people chanting a Gregorian Mass. "That's the Roman Catholic room,” said the angel. “Very high church.” "What's in that noisy room?" the man asked, pointing to a group of white-clothed people dancing, clapping and singing and occasionally shrieking out loud. "That's the Pentecostal group," said the angel. "Very lively." "What's in that room?" asked the man, pointing to a group of bald-headed people meditating to the sound of an enormous gong." That's the Zen group," said the angel. "Very quiet. You would hardly know they were here." Then the angel stopped the man, as they were about to round a corner. "Now, when we get to the next room," said the angel, "I would appreciate it if you would tiptoe past. We mustn't make any sound." "Why's that?" asked the man. "Because in that room there's a bunch of very fundamentalist Christians; and they think they're the only ones here." In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives a true picture of his Father’s house.
3) The tremendous claim by
Jesus
The sages of India prayed the “Guru mantra” in Sanskrit
language every morning centuries before Christ: “From falsehood lead me
to truth, from darkness lead me to light, from mortality lead me to
immortality” (“Aasato Ma Sath Gamaya, Thamaso Ma Jyothir Gamaya, Mrtjyor Ma
Amritham Gamaya”). Centuries later Jesus gave the answer to their prayer
through his tremendous claim: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."
In fact, Jesus took three of the great basic concepts of the Jewish
religion, and made the unique claim that in him all the three found their full
realization. This means that he alone is the surest way to God. He
alone can authoritatively and flawlessly teach us truths about God and he alone
can give God’s life to us. John’s central message is that Jesus is both the
revealer and the revelation of God. If we wish to know who God is, what God
thinks and what God wants of us, we must attend to Jesus the Word of God.
4) Jesus is the Way
We go to God the Father who is Truth and Life through Jesus and we call Jesus the "Way" because he is the visible manifestation in human form of all that his Father is. To those who teach that all religions lead us to God or that religion is immaterial provided man lead a good life, Jesus has the answer that he is the safest and surest way to God because he came from God and he can lead us to his heavenly Father. The founders of other religions had either wrong ideas about the way to God or they were not sure guides. Lao-Tse (604-531 BC), the founder of Taoism said: “Get rid of all desires, you will have a contented life on earth, but I am not sure about the next life.” Buddha taught people to reach self-realization through total detachment and “nirvana”, but he was not sure if these would lead one to God. Confucius confessed that he did not know of an eternal life or the way to attain it. The founder of Islam, Mohammed Nabi, admitted that he had no hope of the future unless Allah should put His mantle of mercy on him. However, Jesus claims that he is the only way to God. When a Person is a Way for us to get to the Father and everlasting life, that Way is found only in our relationship with Him, that is, in our union with Him in mind and heart, in will and action. But Jesus’ sure way to God is the narrow way of the cross. It is the least-traveled way of humble, loving, self-giving and committed service to others. To follow the Way of Jesus is to become a special kind of person, a person whose whole being reflects the Truth and the Life that Jesus reveals to us. It is to be a person of Truth and Life who is totally identified with the vision and the values of Jesus. The medieval monk Thomas à Kempis the author of Imitation of Christ explains Jesus’ statement, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” thus: "Without the way, there is no going; without the truth, there is no knowing; and without the life, there is no living.”
5) Jesus is the Truth
Gandhi said, “God is truth.” Jesus is the truth because he is the only one who reveals to us the whole truth about God. He teaches us that God is a loving, merciful, providing and forgiving Father. He also teaches us the truth that our triune God lives in each one of the believers. Jesus is the truth also because he has borne testimony to truth, demonstrating through his life and death the love of God for human beings. Truth here is that complete integrity and harmony which Jesus himself revealed, not only in what he said and did, but in the total manifestation of his life and person. Jesus is the truth, the word of God. To seek the truth elsewhere is to stumble and fall, to deal in falsehood and lies. So we pray the 86th Psalm, "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth." For us to live the Truth in that Way is also to be fully alive, to be a "fully-functioning person,” responding totally to that abundance of life which Jesus has come to give us.
6) Jesus is the Life
As God, Jesus has eternal life in himself. In
addition, he is the one who gives us his life-giving Holy Spirit. Jesus
is the Life also in the sense that he allows us to share in God’s Life through
the sacraments. Christ rose from the dead for two reasons: first, to give us
eternal life; second, to make us fully alive now. His Spirit animates every
moment of our lives. To be fully alive is to be in God. Thomas a Kempis of The
Imitation of Christ fame wrote, "Without the Way, there is no going.
Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living."
Additional Stories from Father TK
1) “You have Faith in God; have Faith also in me” (John 14:1).
Dr. Robert Schuller, that legendary advocate of
“Possibility Thinking,” says that there are two words that have killed
more God-inspired dreams and hopes than anything else he can think of.
These two words are "Be realistic!" If we Christians,
Dr. Schuller says, were "realistic" then nothing would be
accomplished. But if we have real, dynamic Faith in God and in Jesus
His Son we can do anything. He cites the example of Tom Dempsey--a young
man who was born with half a right foot and a deformed right arm but a ton of
faith. Dempsey wanted to be a football player--in spite of his
considerable handicaps. And he did play football. He became a
kicker for his high school team. But that wasn't enough. He
wanted to play college ball. And again, he became the kicker on his
college team. But when he graduated from college, his dream became even
wilder and more fantastic. He wanted to be a professional football
player! A professional football player with half a foot and a
deformed right arm! Impossible! No coach would
accept him. They all shook their heads - all except one. And it is
ironic and more than coincidental that Dempsey became a kicker for the
professional football team, The New Orleans SAINTS! The rest, as they
say, is history. In 1972, Dempsey kicked the longest field goal ever--63
yards! All because he was not "realistic"! All
because, Schuller tells us, Tom Dempsey had Faith in Jesus Christ who
gave him the strength to do what he dreamed.
2) “Is anyone down there?”
There is the story of a man who fell off a cliff. On
the way down he manages to grab a tree limb. Peering into a deep canyon,
he calls out, “Help, please. Is anyone down there?” After an unbearable
silence, a voice answers, “Yes, I am here.” “Who are you?” the man shouts.
“It’s Me, the Lord!” Greatly relieved, the man says, “Thank you. Have you
come to rescue me?” “Yes,” says the Lord. “Let go. I will catch
you.” The man thinks for a second, and then asks, “Is there anyone else
down there?” Well, we can understand the man’s reluctance to let go, but,
in reality, there is no one else down there. Jesus says it quite plainly
this Sunday, “I am the Way” (Jn 14:6). He does not say a way,
but the way.
3) They think they are the only ones up
here."
Bill O'Reilly of the O'Reilly Factor summed up this thinking
perfectly in one of his "talking points" by telling a joke about a
certain denomination and then making his point. He said, "Saint Peter was
leading a group of new arrivals on their first tour of heaven. Suddenly he
stopped and put his finger to his mouth. "Shhh," he whispered.
"We can't make a sound when we walk by this room. Remember that."
When they passed out of hearing range one of the new souls asked,
"Why?" Peter replied, "Because that room is full of Southern
Baptists and they think they are the only ones up here."
4) "How many of you would like to go to Heaven?"
A Sunday School teacher asked the children in her
class: "How many of you would like to go to Heaven?" All of the
children raised their hands except one little guy named Derrick. When the
teacher asked him why he didn't want to go to Heaven, he said, "I'm sorry
Mrs. Smith, but my Mommy told me to come home right after the Sunday school
class, and she was fixing an apple pie for me." Well, like that little
boy, Heaven is still a desire and a dream for most people. For example 77% of
Americans believe in Heaven, and 76% of Americans believe their chances of
getting there are "good or excellent.” Now there are still some people who
either don't believe in Heaven or don't care to go there even if there is one.
The psychologist, Sigmund Freud, said, "Heaven was a human fantasy rooted
in man's instinct for self-preservation." Harvard philosopher, Alfred
North Whitehead, once asked, "Can you imagine anything more appallingly
idiotic than the Christian idea of Heaven?" It is not idiotic for those
who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and who believe in his promise of a
heavenly abode as described in today’s Gospel.
5) "Who do you think is 'very likely' to go to
Heaven?”
U. S. News and World Report did a poll a few
years ago of one thousand respondents, and they asked this question: "Who
do you think is 'very likely' or 'somewhat likely' to go to Heaven?" They
asked this question about thirteen prominent figures. You will be fascinated by
the results. Of all of the celebrities, the biggest vote-getter was Mother
Teresa at 79%. Who came in second? Oprah Winfrey at 66%. Third place went to
Michael Jordan at 65%. Fourth place went to Colin Powell at 61%. Princess Diana
scored an impressive 60%. But when it came to politicians, the figures began to
plummet. Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton each scored 55%. Coming in next was
President Bill Clinton at 52% (keep in mind this was before the later
scandals). But then what is surprising is to find that even heavenly
connections didn't seem to help much in some cases. Only 47% thought that the
popular televangelist Pat Robertson had an inside track to heaven. The bottom
figure was O. J. Simpson who gathered only 19% of the vote. But this is the
amazing part. The biggest vote-getter of all was those who were surveyed,
because more than 87% of Americans surveyed, believed that they were most
likely to go to Heaven. In today’s Gospel Jesus assures his disciples that he
is leaving them to prepare Heavenly abodes for them.
Where is God when evil is more evident than good? "Show
us the Father" when evil seems to have its way. The July, 1990, issue
of Time magazine reported that at least 600,000 Americans are
infected with the AIDS virus, more than 136,000 have become sick, and some
83,000 of those have died. Victims of the disease basically fall into two
categories: people who have had sex with infected individuals and drug addicts
who acquired the virus from contaminated needles, which brings another monumental
dilemma into the picture - drug abuse. What we really want to know is,
"Where is God when evil has its way?" and the ache deep down in our
souls causes us to cry out, "Show us the Father." Christian friend,
it is all in knowing how to look. Many of you will remember that several years
ago one of the Russian cosmonauts left his capsule and floated in space,
remarking to the mission control that he did not "see" God anywhere.
C. S. Lewis has said, "If a man never sees God on the earth, he will never
see him in space; but if a man sees God here in the faces of men and women in
his daily life, then when you hurl him into space, he will put his hand upon
the face of God." Lewis concludes, "The seeing eye is tremendously
important." The eye discerns such evidence as it is equipped to
acknowledge.
The phone rang at 1:00am in the home of Leo Winters, a brilliant Chicago surgeon. It was the hospital telling him that a young boy had been tragically mangled in a car accident. Dr. Winter's hands were probably the only ones in the city skilled enough to save that boy's life. He got on his clothes, jumped into his car and decided the quickest route to the hospital would be to drive through a dangerous neighborhood, but since time was critical, he decided to take the risk. He came to a stoplight and when he did, a man in a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt, opened the door, pulled him out of his seat and screamed, "Give me your car!" The doctor tried to explain that he was on an emergency call, but the thief refused to listen. He threw the doctor out of the car, jumped in and sped off. This doctor wandered for more than 45 minutes looking for a phone so he could call a taxi. When he finally got to the hospital, more than an hour had passed. He ran through the hospital doors, up the stairs, to the nurse's station. The nurse on duty looked at him and shook her head and said, "Doctor I am sorry, but you are too late. The boy died about 30 minutes ago. His father is in the chapel if you want to see him. He is awfully upset, because he couldn't understand why you didn't come to help." Doctor Winters walked hurriedly down the hallway and entered into that chapel. Weeping at the altar was a man dressed in a dirty flannel shirt and gray hat, whose eyes were blinded by tears. The boy's father looked up at the doctor in horror and realized his tragic mistake. He had foolishly pushed away the only man in that city who could have saved his son. (Kent Crockett, Making The Day Count For Eternity, pp. 27-28.) There is only one person that can save your soul. When you exit this life, at the moment you die, you will enter into eternity. If you intend to go to Heaven, you had better make sure you take the one Way, which is the only way and His name is Jesus Christ.
8) “I am at home in my Father's house”:
The great 18th century Bible commentator, Matthew Henry,
anticipating that some would unduly mourn his passing, wrote these words of
comfort and assurance: "Would you like to know where I am? I am at home in
my Father’s House, in the mansions prepared for me here. I am where I want to
be--no longer on the stormy sea, but in God's safe, quiet harbor. My sowing
time is done and I am reaping; my joy is as the joy of harvest. Would you like
to know how it is with me? I am made perfect in holiness. Grace is swallowed up
in glory. Would you like to know what I am doing? I see God, not as through a
glass darkly, but face to face. I am engaged in the sweet enjoyment of my
precious Redeemer. I am singing hallelujahs to Him who sits upon the throne,
and I am constantly praising Him. Would you know what blessed company I keep?
It is better than the best on earth. Here are the holy angels and the spirits
of just men made perfect...I am with many of my old acquaintances with whom I
worked and prayed, and who have come here before me. Lastly, would you know how
long this will continue? It is a dawn that never fades! After millions and
millions of ages, it will be as fresh as it is now. Therefore, weep not for
me!"
9) Do not be afraid:
I heard a story about a fella out in Los Angeles who had a
strange phobia. He was afraid to cross the street. He
felt perfectly at ease when he was in his car riding along the street, but when
he was out walking and would come to an intersection, his face would begin to
flow with perspiration, his heart would begin to palpitate and his blood
pressure would soar up, and his knees would become Jello. It was a
very real problem. There are times when you simply have to cross the
street. At last he thought he’d better seek out a psychiatrist to
help him with the problem. And he found one who told him that he
could help him overcome that fear. And the psychiatrist told him
that the first thing he needed to do was to imagine himself, just to sit back
and use his mind, and imagine himself going back and forth across street, and
going back and forth across the street unharmed. And then after he’d
done that, he was to go out at a time when traffic would be least, and go ahead
and begin to cross and re-cross intersections until he felt
comfortable. But how in the world in Los Angeles could you find a
time of day when it would be least busy? The psychiatrist told him
to go on Sunday morning – on Sunday morning the Catholics would be at Mass, the
Protestants would be on the golf course, and the Jews would be out at Palm
Springs. So, all week long, all week long, he practiced in his mind
crossing the intersection – back and forth in his imagination. And then on
Sunday morning, he went out and he walked across the first intersection he came
to only to be struck down by a Seventh Day Adventist who was on his way to
work. Jesus’ word is clear. We need not fear the
future. Death is not the end for Christians. Death is the
intersection between our earth life and our eternal life, and we need have no
fear crossing that intersection. Our doubts need not suppress the
pull of our discontent. Heaven is ahead and Jesus is there. He has
prepared a place for us. In Heaven we will be with him.
Karl Barth was lecturing to a group of students at
Princeton. One student asked the German theologian "Sir, don't you think
that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in
Christianity?" Barth's answer stunned the crowd. With a modest thunder he
answered, "No, God has not revealed Himself in any religion, including
Christianity. He has revealed Himself in His Son." In no uncertain terms
let me say to you this morning that there are three great religions in the world
today: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. But there is only one Son of God; only
One through whom God has revealed Himself and only One whose teachings stand
above all others. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life for all men and women.
Did you know it's politically incorrect to preach about
Heaven? The cultural referees say it is escapist or hopelessly sentimental.
Hollywood and the media generally teach that this world is all there is.
According to their version, you better get all you can now, because your death
is just like that of dogs and cats. I heard about a little four-year-old boy
who was walking on the beach with his mother. They came upon a dead seagull.
The little boy asked, "Mommy, what happened to him?" She said,
"He died and went to Heaven." The little boy pondered that a moment
and then asked, "And did God just throw him back down?"
At age ninety-three, Rose Kennedy was being interviewed by a
magazine reporter. By this time, four of her nine children had died violently.
Another daughter, Rosemary, severely retarded all her life, would soon be gone.
Mrs. Kennedy had outlived her husband long enough to have seen his rather
profligate and unscrupulous life told and retold in the press. She was an old
lady, hit by tragedies again and again. The reporter asked about all this and
Rose Kennedy answered, slowly: "I have always believed that God never
gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. And I have always believed
that, no matter what, God wants us to be happy. He doesn’t want us to be sad.
Birds sing after a storm," she said, "Why shouldn’t we?"
In his book The Transforming Friendship, Leslie
Weatherhead passes on to us a lovely story of an old Scotsman who, when he was
very ill, was visited by his minister. As the minister sat down on a chair by
the bedside, he noticed on the other side of the bed another chair placed at
such an angle as to suggest that a visitor had just left. "Well,
Donald," said the minister, glancing at the chair, "I see I am not
your first visitor." The old Scotsman looked up in surprise, so the
minister pointed to the chair. "Ah," said the sick man, "I'll
tell you about that chair. Years ago I found it impossible to pray. I often
fell asleep on my knees, I was so tired. And if I kept awake, I could not
control my thoughts from wandering. One day I was so worried I spoke to the
minister about it. He told me not to worry about kneeling down. "Just sit
down," he said, "and put a chair opposite you. Imagine that Jesus is
in it, and talk to Him as you would to a friend." Then the Scotsman added,
"And I have been doing that ever since." A week later the daughter of
the old man drove up to the minister's house and knocked. She was shown into
his study, and when the minister came, she said quietly, "Father died in
the night. I had no idea the end was so near. I had just gone to lie down for
an hour or two. He seemed to be sleeping so comfortably. When I discovered that
he was gone, he hadn't moved since I last saw him, EXCEPT THAT HIS HAND WAS OUT
ON THE EMPTY CHAIR AT THE SIDE OF HIS BED." Jesus said, "I will not
leave you orphaned; I am coming to you." And He, my friends, is a Man and
God of His Word! Thanks be to God!
During the Second World War, Prime Minister Winston
Churchill gave some of the most stirring speeches of all times. After England
had suffered a demoralizing defeat at Dunkirk, Churchill reminded the House of
Commons about their commitment to ultimate victory. He said: “Victory
at all costs, victory in spite of terror, victory however long and hard the
road may be, for without victory there is no survival. We shall not flag or
fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on
the seas, we shall fight in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the
cost may be. We shall never surrender.” With words like that,
Churchill aroused the hearts of his people to remain undaunted, even though
they were on the verge of destruction. He encouraged them not to lose faith,
however fierce the fight became. In today’s Gospel Jesus gives one of his own
stirring speeches. The scene is the Last Supper, his disciples are present, and
the time is the eve of his darkest hour, the day of his death. And yet, in
spite of knowing that the worst is about to occur, Jesus tells his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have Faith in God and Faith in me.” (Albert
Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
15) You can make a difference!
On November 26, 1965, Time Magazine had a
story that can give us all food for thought. An electrical fuse about the size
of a breadbox failed, resulting in 80,000 square miles along the US-Canadian
border being plunged in darkness. All the electrical power for that entire
region passed through that single fuse. Without that fuse no power could reach
any point in that vast region. Like that fuse box each of us has a tremendous
potential for good or evil, which can affect a multitude. Jesus promises us believers
all His power and even more. All we have to do is walk the way he walked and be
Jesus to a waiting world! (Anonymous; quoted by
Fr. Botelho).
16) He wanted to be a dropout:
It was 1950. The old cardinal of Naples was in his office
and seated before him was a young priest who was asking for permission to
become a drop-out. He wanted to live on the streets of Naples with the alley
boys. The old Cardinal could not take it. He knew what life was in Naples:
200,000 out of work; young boys hanging on the streets because their parents
were without work and could not feed them. They lived by stealing, peddling
stolen goods, begging and black marketeering. They slept on the streets and
were like wild cats and dodged the police. This young priest, Mario Borelli,
wanted to help them, give them a roof over their heads, bread and a bit of
human warmth. That the cardinal could understand. But why must the priest
become a drop-out himself? Mario knew exactly why: "If I go to these boys
as a priest they will spit in my face. They are fearfully distrustful."
The cardinal considered. "Give me ten days to think it over." After
ten days he approved. Mario went on the streets, an old cap back to front on
his head, in ragged clothes, a cigarette end in the corner of his mouth. He
begged, collected cigarette butts and became a vagrant. Gradually he won the
hearts of those youngsters. Soon he was even the head of the gang. When he
found a primitive shelter his youth went with him. They weren't able to do
otherwise -they were drawn to him. Mario had something irresistible about him.
They had no word for it because it was something they had never before
experienced. How could they know that word was love? Perhaps we can now better
understand why God became man. He wanted to be one with us to show us the way
and save us, “God-with-us,” that is Jesus, the Way to the Father. (Pierre
Lefevre, quoted by Fr. Botelho).
17) St. Augustine’s discovery of God:
Late have I loved You, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new,
late have I loved You! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there
that I searched for You. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things
which You created. You were with me, but I was not with You. Created things
kept me from You; yet if they had not been in You they would have not been at
all. You called, You shouted, and You broke through my deafness. You flashed,
You shone, and You dispelled my blindness. You breathed Your fragrance on me; I
drew in breath and now I pant for You. I have tasted You; now I hunger and
thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for Your peace. (St.
Augustine, The Confessions X, Chapter 27/Section 38; quoted by Fr. Kayala).
18) Showing the way:
Like the shepherd, and like Jesus, a mother has a close and
deep relationship to her flock or family. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to
protect them from danger. And there’s nowhere she wouldn’t go to seek out the
one who strays or gets lost. A mother’s love for her family functions even when
she can no longer protect her children herself. There’s a beautiful story in
the autobiography of Jimmy Cagney, the famous Hollywood actor. It takes place
in Cagney’s youth when his mother is on her deathbed. Around the bed were the
four Cagney boys and Jeannie, their only sister. Because of a stroke, Mrs.
Cagney could no longer speak. After she had hugged each of her five children,
she lifted her right arm, the only one that was still functioning. Jimmy
describes what happened next: “Mom indicated Harry with the index finger of her
useless hand, she indicated me with her second finger, she indicated Eddie with
her third finger and with her fourth finger, she indicated Bill. Then she took
the thumb, moved it to the middle of her palm, and clasped the thumb tightly
under the four fingers. Then she patted this fist with her good hand.” Jimmy
says her gesture was beautiful. Everyone knew what it meant. The four brothers
were to protect Jeannie after their mother was gone. It was gesture that no
words could have duplicated in beauty and meaning. (Mark Link in Sunday
Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
19) Gandhi’s “Dandi March”:
The “Dandi March” initiated on March 12, 1930, was a
landmark in India’s freedom struggle. Mahatma Gandhi walked with 78 hunger
strikers (Satyagrahis) for 23 days from Sabarmati Ashram to the
coastal town of Dandi about 380 kilometers away in defiance of the salt tax
imposed by the British. In his book My Experiments with Truth, Gandhiji writes that he
instructed people: ‘to make salt along the seashore wherever it was most
convenient and comfortable.” The 75th anniversary of this event
was commemorated in 2005 with Indian and foreign pilgrim-yatris retracing
this historic “way.” Indeed, great leaders have imprinted wondrous “ways” on
the sands of time. -You’ve probably read the “Footprints in the Sand” anecdote.
When the man complains that he saw only one set of footprints in the sand
during his trials and sufferings, the Lord replies, “Those footprints are mine!
It was then that I carried you!” We can joyfully sing that popular song, “We’re
on Our Way to Heaven” not because we’ve discovered salvific ways to Life, but
because Jesus – the Way and the Vehicle – carries us heavenward. (Francis
Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
20) They knit together with prayer:
A group of women meet one or two evenings a week. They
light a candle and offer a prayer together, perhaps sing a hymn. Then
they begin their sacred work. The women are part of a ministry that has touched
many lives in many churches and parishes. They knit and crochet prayer
shawls. The shawls are given to individuals suffering through a time of
transition, crisis, illness or need. A wedding, the birth of a child, a
broken bone, an illness, the death of a loved one -- all are occasions for the
“hug” in the shape of a shawl. While stitching, the maker of the shawl
holds that person in her thoughts, making the very act of knitting a prayer.
Those who receive the shawls say that they feel loved, cared for and, most of
all, surrounded by God’s love and compassion. They are deeply moved to
know that someone has cared enough to pray for them and to make a cozy, warm,
comforting gift. The mother of a young girl battling cancer told the
knitters in her parish that her daughter said that when she felt bad, she
wrapped herself up tightly in the shawl and it made her feel better.
Another woman refused to take her shawl off during her final months of life
because it was her “scarf of love.” Many who have known the solace of a
prayer shawl in their last months ask to be buried with the shawl around their
shoulders. But the knitters believe that they receive as much from making the
shawls as do those who receive them. Their simple knitting and gentle
prayer become offerings and symbols of God's compassion for others -- and God
is as present to them as they knit as He is to those who will wrap themselves
up in the loving warmth of the shawl itself. [From “Knit Together with Prayer”
by the Rev. Susan S. Izard, Spirituality & Health (November/December
2004.
To do the simplest work of compassion and
charity in God's spirit of love is to do the very work of Christ; the most
hidden and unseen acts of kindness will be exalted by Christ as great in the
Kingdom of his Father. On the night before he died, Jesus asks his
disciples to take up “the work that I do” – the work of humble servanthood that
places the hurts and pain of others before our own, the work of charity that
does not measure the cost, the work of love that transcends limits and
conditions. (Connections).
*********
Eric Clapton, arguably the greatest living rock guitarist, wrote a heart
wrenching song about the death of his four year old son. He fell from a
53rd-story window. Clapton took nine months off and when he returned his music
had changed. The hardship had made his music softer, more powerful, and more
reflective. You have perhaps heard the song he wrote about his son's
death.
It is a song of hope:
Would you know my name if
I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same if I
saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on,
'Cause I know I don't belong here in heaven.
Would you hold my hand if
I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
if I saw you in heaven?
I'll find my way through night and day,
'Cause I know I just can't stay here in heaven.
Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart, have you begging please, begging please.
Beyond the door there's peace I'm sure,
And I know there'll be no more tears in heaven.
Jesus has just had the Passover meal with his disciples. He
has washed their feet in an act of servanthood. He has foretold his betrayal
which Judas will soon perform. He has predicted Peter's denial. He has told
them he is leaving. But he adds this word of hope: Do not let your hearts be
troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are
many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you and will come again and take you to
myself. So that where I am, you may be also.
Hardship has a way of getting our attention. Pain slows us
down. Very few us, after facing a trial, come out the same way we entered in.
Jesus understood this and attempted to prepare his disciples for the road
ahead.
___________________________
The difference between learning a language and living a
language is shown by how well we understand the unique idioms of our new TGiF
world (Twitter, Google, instagram, Facebook). Living languages change and adapt
to the worlds they are living in. So there is a constant invention of new
words, and even new dictionaries, like Urban Dictionary, that tells us daily
what these new words mean.
Ancient Latin and Koine Greek are beautiful, expressive
languages. They speak of love in a language of love that is unsurpassed in
beauty and vibrancy. They are languages that speak about our greatest desires
for spiritual connections too. But these ancient languages have not been spoken
for millennia. And they do not have any special words for new designations like
the internet, or robots, or string theory, or sushi.
English has always been "on the move." What is
most familiar to you today? Words like "Facebook,"
"Twitter," "iPad," "Face Time,"
"Fandango," "Snap Chat," "Apps." These would have
been gibberish a decade ago. In March of 2014, some of the words added to the
definitive and prestigious Oxford English Dictionary included: crap shoot,
honky-tonker, selfie, twerk, wackadoodle, bestie, bookaholic, scissor-kick,
do-over, DIYer, to name just a few. Today these strange new words are
guideposts to our daily lives. That is the way a "living language"
keeps alive. It keeps changing. It re-invents itself all the time. A fossil
language does not communicate. A fossil faith does not communicate, much less
change the world.
In the first century, there were lots of words being
revisited, reframed, and reinvented. As the disciples and first followers of Jesus
encountered the reality of the cross, and then the shock of the empty tomb, the
whole concept of "Messiah" was looked over and under in a fresh
way.
From the Hebrew tradition of Isaiah (28:16), God is
identified as a foundation stone. God is an immovable rock, the primordial
solid stone. Peter himself had been identified as "petros," the
movable stone as opposed to petra, the immovable bedrock. Peter knew his own
weaknesses all too well and chose to write about a new kind of "rock."
The image Peter offers is even weirder than the identity Jesus had given him as
a "stone," as a petros (me stone), and upon this petra (we bedrock)
Jesus promised to build his church. The Me is built upon the We. In Christ
Peter's insecurities will be made solid, as will ours...
The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining
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_______________________
What's With the Fork?
A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been
given three months to live. As she was getting her things in order, she
contacted her pastor and asked him to come to her house to discuss some of her
final wishes.
She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral
service, what Scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be
buried in. She requested to be buried with her favorite Bible.
As the pastor prepared to leave, the woman suddenly remembered something else. "There's one more thing," she said excitedly.
"What's that?" said the pastor.
"This is important," the woman said. "I want
to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite
what to say.
The woman explained. "In all my years of attending
church socials and potluck dinners, when the dishes of the main course were
being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It
was my favorite part of the meal because I knew something better was coming-like
velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie.
"So, when people see me in that casket with a fork in
my hand and they ask, 'What's with the fork?' I want you to tell them: 'Keep
your fork. The best is yet to come!'"
Alan Carr, Biblical Facts about a Place Called Heaven
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One Way Out
The year was 1275 BC, before Christ. The land was Egypt. The
ruler was Pharaoh. The leader of the Jews was Moses. The Jews had been in
slavery for four hundred years to the Egyptians, building their cities and
pyramids. But God had sent the plagues, and now the Jewish nation was beginning
their exodus from slavery. And at this particular moment, they were stopped by
a body of water, the Red Sea, the Red Sea, and the Egyptian chariots and horses
were rapidly coming to attack and bring death and extinction. It seemed there
was no way out and then a miracle. Suddenly, before them, the Red Sea opened up
and there was only one way. Only one way out. Only one way to avoid death and
extinction and that was through the Red Sea.
That paradigm, that visual image of only one way out of
death and extinction is deeply woven into the theology of the Old Testament and
New Testament. I still can clearly see a picture poster from a Bible Series
that I used to teach of a high piece of land on the left, a deep chasm in the
middle and a high piece of land on the right. The high piece of land on the
left represented Earth; the high piece on the right represented Heaven; and then
there was a bridge in the form of a cross that went from Earth to Heaven. It
was only on the cross of Christ that we moved from Earth to Eternity. It was
the only way. It is the only way.
Edward F. Markquart, Only One Way Out
__________________________________
The Perfect Church
Those of us who are part of the Church know we are not what
Jesus called us to be. We spend too much and share too little; we judge too
many and love too few; we wait too long and act too late. Perhaps you are
saying, "Show me a church where ministers aren't self-serving; where
hypocrisy has been purged away; where church members don't waste time and
energy squabbling over petty details; where love is genuine, and I'll become a
member." You'll wait a long time, my friend, for such a church takes up no
space on this earth. It has floated up, up, up and disappeared beyond
Oz.
Or perhaps, such a church lives as a memory -- a time when
disciples believed, when faith could move mountains, and motives were
pure.
Barbara K. Lundblad, The Body of Christ Takes Up Space on
Earth
____________________________________
The Wednesday Worry Box
Sometimes, if you will just wait, problems take care of
themselves. J. Arthur Rank had a system for doing that. He was one of the early
pioneers of the film industry in Great Britain, and he also happened to be a
devout Christian.
Rank found he could not push his worries out of his mind
completely; they were always slipping back in. So he finally made a pact with
God to limit his worrying to Wednesday. He even made himself a little Wednesday
Worry Box and he placed it on his desk. Whenever a worry cropped up, Rank wrote
it out and dropped it into the Wednesday Worry Box.
Would you like to know his amazing discovery? When Wednesday
rolled around, he would open that box to find that only a third of the items he
had written down were still worth worrying about. The rest had managed to
resolve themselves.
If you have a troubled heart, ask God to give you a new
perspective. Also ask him to give you patience so that you do not jump ahead
and worry about a problem that may never come. But most important of all, ask
God for more faith. Faith in God is the best remedy for all our problems. Jesus
put it plainly, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God;
believe also in me."
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, adapted from Daily Bread, 11
December 1999. Cited by David Jeremiah, Slaying The Giants In Your Life
(Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2001), pp. 67-68.
_________________________
Making Anyone Laugh
The great American humorist, Will Rogers, had the reputation
that he could make anyone laugh. President Calvin Coolidge, on the other hand,
had the reputation that he never laughed. Want to know what happened the time
those two met? Rogers was invited to visit the White House and as was the
custom, the president's assistant brought Rogers into the Oval Office. As was
the custom as he entered, the assistant said, "President Coolidge, this is
Will Rogers. Mr. Rogers, this is President Coolidge." To which Rogers
leaned forward and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't catch the name." With
that, President Coolidge cracked up and started laughing.
Don't you wish you were as quick on your feet as he was?
Quick with a comeback, quick with just the right thing to say. Well, of all the
things that Jesus said, some of the most significant are the words in today's
Gospel reading, when Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the
life."
Lee Griess, Return to the Lord, Your God, CSS Publishing
Company, Inc
_____________________________
An Evening Prayer
A century ago John Henry Newman wrote an evening prayer
which expresses well the whole spirit in which we see the present in the light
of that place which Christ has prepared for us:
Support us, O Lord, all the long day of this troubled life
until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, when the busy fever of life
is hushed, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, a
holy rest, and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Dean Lueking, From Ashes to Holy Wind, CSS Publishing
Company
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When We Glimpse Paradise
In 1816, Lord Byron wrote a narrative poem that has become a
classic. The poem is titled, "The Prisoner of Chillon," and it is the
story of a man incarcerated in the dungeon at the Castle of Chillon near Lake
Geneva, Switzerland.
The prisoner was in a narrow, cramped dungeon cell for such
a long time that he began to think of it as home. He made friends with the
spiders, insects, and mice that shared his cell. They were all inmates of the
same dungeon and he was monarch of each race.
The years in the dark dungeon cell had taken their toll. He
was no longer unhappy or uncomfortable. He had grown accustomed to his
environment and came to think of his chains as friends.
One day a bird perched on the crevice of the ledge above and
began to sing. It was the sweetest music he had ever heard. Suddenly, the
desire to see the outside world overwhelmed him. He grabbed the walls of his
cell, and began climbing and struggling up the wall so that he could look out
of the little window. In that moment, he saw a world that he had forgotten.
There was a crystal blue lake ... and some tall green trees ... and the
beautiful little white cottage that he called home nestled against the green
hills ... and an eagle soaring majestically across a blue sky.
He saw them all for one magnificent moment and then he fell back into his cell...
