3rd Sunday of lent: He stoops to conquer

All of us are born thirsty. The beauty of God’s creation is that 70 percent of the earth is covered with water. And you know 65 percent of human body is also made up of water. So any shift in this balance will make you thirsty. And also God has created within us a thirst for things physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental. For instance, God has created us with a built-in thirst for food, drink, clothing, and shelter. God has created us with a thirst for stability and security. God has created us with a thirst for love, acceptance, friendship, and marriage. God has created us with a thirst for knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and culture.
All of us are born thirsty. Why else does natural man have a consuming desire to acquire wealth? Why else does he crave for the honours and acclaim of the world? Why else does he rush madly after pleasure? Why else does he engage in an endless search for wisdom? Why else does he endlessly explore the earth and the heavens? Why? Because there is an aching void in his life. Why? Because there is something in every natural man that is unsatisfied. Why? Because he is thirsty!All of us are born thirsty. Who and what can quench our thirst? Our gospel today has an answer.
In our Gospel reading we meet a woman from Samaria. This woman is no stranger to thirst. She is thirsty that is why she is at the well to draw water. And a little look into her personal life: that she has been divorced five times and is living with a boyfriend when she meets Jesus, shows that her thirst is for something greater in her life. Here is a woman who is thirsty for a lasting, durable, stable relationship. Here is a woman thirsting for meaning and direction in her life. As St.Augustine says she is indirectly searching for God who alone can satisfy the thirst of our soul. To her good luck she come across a man (God incarnate) who can give her the water to quench her thirst.Jesus also knows something about thirst. He himself is thirsty. He asks the woman at the well for a drink of water. And his thirst also is something more than thirst for water. St.Augustine again sheds some light for our reflection. Here is a God who is thirsting for souls. “ I came to seek and save the lost” said Jesus. Here he is seeking the soul that was lost. So this is an encounter of two thirsty people meeting each other and discussing ways of quenching their thirsts.
Let us now go into the details of the dialogue that is taking place between these two thirsty souls. The common ground for them is the immediate thirst for water from the well that can quench their throats which are dried up. So Jesus comes down to her level and asks for ordinary water. When Fr.Sean asked me what is going to be your theme for next Sunday I told him “He stoops to conquer.” He comes down to her level to conquer her. He finds a common platform to enter into conversation with her. He asks for a drink, and he promises a drink. Starting with this look at the way he raises the level of their conversation. From the impossibility of drawing water from the well, it goes to disclosing of her personal life and the discussion about where to worship God; Where to seek God who can quench our thirst? Ending up in seeking God in “Spirit,” who is the font welling up from within and in “truth” who is Jesus himself.
Another interesting thing to notice is how the through her dialogue with him journeys in her discovery of who he is.
First she encounters him as a stranger, a Jew. An outsider who has nothing to do with her.
Then, she asks are you greater than Jacob? Recognizes that he is some one great.
When her personal life is revealed, she says “You are a prophet of God”
And finally she ends up saying “ Come and see,…… Can this be the Messiah?
That is her journey. A strangers becomes the messiah now.
Secondly ,look at the ending of the episode. A woman who came with a Jar for water leaves the Jar and the well and runs and proclaims that she had found the Messiah who can quench her real thirst. A soul thirsting for God has found the font which is the source of living water. And she is satisfied. And God who is thirsting for souls; who came to seek and save the lost is satisfied that he found the lost soul which is proclaiming him as the messiah now. He is satisfied. When the disciples ask him to eat he says “ He has already eaten. His hunger and thirst are satisfied now for the day”.
During this lent we need to allow Jesus free entry into our personal lives. Jesus wants to get personal with us, especially during this Lenten season. Jesus wants to get into our “private” lives. We have a “private” personal life which is contrary to the will of God. We don’t allow anyone to enter into it because we feel embarrassed about it. But Christ wishes to come into that “private” life, not to embarrass us, not to judge or condemn us, not to be unkind or malicious to us. Christ comes into our “private” personal life to free us, to change us and to offer us what we really need: living water. Will you allow him to come into your life and change it. Think about it and see. Amen.

Lenten Talk given on 21st February2008

Lenten Penances: What are they for?
Let me read out to you a letter a woman wrote to her spiritual director at the beginning of the lent:
"A couple of years ago," she wrote, "I tried fasting but that just left a terrible taste in my mouth. On the two days a week that I would fast, I ended up thinking more about Kentucky Fried Chicken than anything spiritual. One year I tried going to evening Mass at the parish and even spending 20 minutes a day in silent prayer. But, truth be told, these activities didn't do much to change my life, except make me aware of just how holy I can act when push comes to shove. And once Easter came along, I stopped going to evening Mass.
"Then last year," she continued, "I decided to take a more positive approach after hearing parish priest’s homily on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. So I volunteered one night a week at the soup run that we have in our parish. But talking to street people isn't my 'thing,' and I couldn't find anything particularly edifying about washing dirty dishes. After all, I had more than my share waiting for me in the kitchen sink once I got home. So with Lent fast approaching, I find myself in my yearly quandary about adopting a Lenten penance. I just don't know what to do or what it's supposed to mean exactly. Got any ideas?"
Friends, once the lent starts our acts of penance automatically start. But we seldom think about the reason why we do those things and what they mean exactly. Did you ever give a thought to these things. All the penances you do; what are they for?
Often Our understanding of penance is based on our understanding of sin. Unfortunately, many of us tend to think of sin as only individual and specific acts which violate the spirit or actually break one of the Ten Commandments: "I missed Mass on Sunday." "I deliberately lied." "I gossiped and dishonoured the reputation of a co-worker."
When we have such a limited and narrow sense of sin, we are naturally going to have a limited and narrow sense of penance, of righting the individual wrongs we have committed. So we decide to attend a weekday Mass, to tell the truth the next time around, to praise the co-worker. But Does telling the truth the next time around actually fix yesterday's lie? Does tomorrow's praise of a maligned co-worker really heal the harm caused by our gossip?
We think of Lenten penance as simply vacuuming up the dirty spots on the carpet of the soul, and thus we bring a legalistic mentality to this 40-day period of grace. We simply reduce it to an extended calculation of credits and debits. So much I owe so much I give.
Lenten penance really has less to do about vacuum cleaners and the soul's dirty carpets, and more to do with bringing back the harmony that was lost. Sin is all about violating the natural harmony of the soul. It deliberately skews the God-given interrelationships between God, self and neighbour. It slams the door of my heart in God's face. It is losing touch with my middle, my centre, and spinning out of self-control. Sin builds walls to hide behind and constructs bridges that lead me away from my neighbour.
So penance is not simply fixing a broken commandment. It is re-establishing the interrelationships, bonds and connections that our pride, anger, gluttony, envy, greed, laziness, lust--our sin--throw into disarray. It is getting back on track where we belong. It is experiencing the energy--the grace--that comes with maintaining and developing healthy, balanced bonds with God, self and others. In short, the purpose of Lenten penance is to re-establish and preserve the harmonious interrelationships intended by God at the dawn of creation. It is getting in touch with reality. Lwt me read out another story I read yesterday.
“A man went out on a Monday. It was a cold winter’s day. At a street corner he came upon a ragged little girl begging. He was so shocked at her condition that her image haunted him for the rest of the day. That night he slept very little.
He went out on Tuesday. She was there again, in the same spot, with the same sad expression on her small, weather-beaten face. His heart bled with pity for her. He didn’t get much sleep that night either.
He went out on Wednesday. He approached the location with dread. Yes, she was there again. He felt shame and guilt for her condition, and said to himself, ‘I must do something for her.’ But he quickly added ‘not today, I am too busy today.’ That night again the little girl again robbed him of some sleep.
He went out on Thursday. On seeing the girl he got angry and exclaimed, ‘It’s a disgrace! Why doesn’t somebody help her? Where are her parents?’ He slept somewhat better that night.
He went out on Friday. Unable to bear the thought of seeing the little girl, he crossed to the other side of the street. However he saw her in his mind’s eye, and that was just as bad. That night he fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow. But the little girl visited him in his dreams.
He went out on Saturday. He was late and was rushing. Before he knew it, he had passed the street corner where the girl was. Suddenly he realised, that not only had he not looked at the child, but he hadn’t thought of her either. Nor did he think much about her for the rest of the day. That night he slept soundly.
On Sunday he didn’t go out at all, except to go to church.”
Look how gradually his heart of flesh turned into heart of stone. Lost its touch with reality around it. Now Lenten penance is meant to turn this heart of stone back again to be heart of flesh. A heart which can feel the pain Jesus endured for us. A heart that can feel the sufferings of our brothers and sisters around us.
So Penance is not some “extra” tacked on to a person’s life. It naturally proceeds from living out the deepest truth about one’s life. Conversion is simply the means by which we surrender partial truths for more complete truths. That is why church often calls for conversion: ‘Metanoia’. The word metanoia connotes a change of mind and heart, altering one's mind-set toward whole new ways of thinking and acting. This involves taking a look at where we are and trying to see where we ought to be. It involves testing our values and discerning how they stack up against the values that Jesus offers his followers.
So during this season of lent let all our efforts or acts of penance be for ‘metanoia.’ Change of heart or personal conversion. Otherwise all our efforts will be like empty vessel making much noise.
Let me conclude with what our Pope on Ash Wednesday about lent. He said “What does it mean to enter into Lent? It is the beginning of a particular time of penance to combat the evil present in the world, to look evil in the face and combat its effects.” Let this our goal this lent
Amen

(Thoughts are based on the talk given by Albert Haase, O.F.M.)

2nd Sunday of Lent

We live in an age where religion means nothing for many. Recently I met a family where a young man went away when he saw me. When he was asked to stay back he said “ I had enough of religion and priests”. Another young man said religion is not for us young people. And a mother complained “My daughter when she reached sixteen she said I don’t come to church. It’s boring.” My dear brothers and sisters the reason why I am sharing these is that this is a serious problem. We don’t see many young people in the churches. They don’t seem to enjoy the masses and prayers as much as they enjoy parties, beeches and holiday resorts. This is the problem the church is facing, the parents are facing today. The real challenge is to bring this young people to the church.
Often young people say religion is not for us. We don’t see any meaning in it and it is not real. When we hear this we usually condemn them saying that they are caught up in the world and they have no faith or fear of God. It is easy to blame them and leave them to go their own way. This is what most of the parents do. But for the young Religion looks irrelevant and away from reality. They say religion is an escape from reality. It is like Peter on the mountain where he was so excited. He liked it. Forgot about everything. And he said “Lord ! we will stay here. We pitch our tents and stay here.”
But the reality down the mountain is different. Jesus refers to it before he came up the mountain. There is a plot going on to capture the innocent, accuse him, judge him and finally kill him. Peter and others know about it. But Peter does not want to accept it. For him basking in the glory of the mountain is more comfortable than the reality of pain and suffering.
There is a vast difference between Jesus on the mountain and Jesus on the cross. The very purpose of Incarnation is to be Jesus on the cross not to be Jesus on the mountain. Jesus on the cross is more human and more real. His inability to say a word when falsely accused by a band of pre arranged false-witnesses. Innocently carrying a heavy burden as a youth where he was suppose to enjoy life. Pathetically abandoned by all whom he trusted and believed in as friends. Weak and desperate to accept the help and sympathy of Simon of Cyrene and Veronica. Feeling thirsty and hungry and crying out “I am thirsty” in pain. Or the other way Jesus who supplied wine to a wedding party to enjoy. Always had joy in socialising with the so called sinners. And even up to the point of being called as drunkard. Jesus who allowed women to accompany him and help him in ministry. Is he not the real Jesus our children can understand. Are these not the experiences our children have every day. Now, Is he the same Jesus we talk about with our Children everyday. Or is he different one.
The one who has to be kept on the high pedestal. Christ the king high on the pillar. Before whom you should genuflect, bow you head and should not giggle or laugh. Say long prayers everyday.
All is fine till the age of 14 or 15, because they have no clear perception of the world around them till that age. Once they reach that age they see vast difference between what we say and what they experience around them.
There is a dichotomy between the religion or Jesus presented and the reality around. For most of the young boys Jesus is too perfect to imitate or too difficult to make friendship with.
Jesus who walked on water, changed water into wine, multiplied loaves, touched and healed many with a word. A miraculous man.
Peter was fascinated with the Jesus of this type and always he wanted Jesus to be that. But Jesus said let us go down the mountain. It is there the real life is and the real mission is. Peter wants to escape from the reality but Jesus brings him down to reality.
This is challenge facing the church today.
You as a father or a mother how can you make Jesus real to your teenage son or daughter who is bullied and taunted like Jesus every day?
How can you make Jesus real to your daughter or son who cannot get a job even though they are well qualified because they do not have recommendations or support?
How can you make Jesus meaningful to a daughter who is divorced and forced to live alone with the child in this world of competition and exploitation?
How can you make Jesus real to your grandson who is abandoned by both the parents and kept in social care home?
The examples I have used or the words I used may be wrong. But the need is real. We need to bring Jesus down the mountain to make sense to these people. This is our task as priests and parents. If we don’t do this remember the future of the church is in danger.