17-Jul-2018 Dear Friend, Today perhaps, more than ever before, the image of the pastor has taken a battering. The Church in some parts of the world is still recovering from the scandals caused by some Church representatives in authority and it has been said that there is a drop in attendance in the Church because of the disillusionment of the faithful. How are we to react to whatever is happening in the Church? What is the Lord saying to us right now through His word? May you have a reassuring weekend! –Fr. Jude Sun. Refl. 16th-Sunday “Be with God to become compassionate with others! ” 22-Jul-2018Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Eph. 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34; The kings in Jeremiah’s times were supposed to be good shepherds of the flock entrusted to them by God, but they were using the flock for their own evil purposes. Jeremiah, issues a stern warning against the shepherds who have not lived up to their calling and at the same time a message of hope for those who have suffered at their hands. Today’s message is not only addressed to shepherds of the Church, but also to every Christian because all of us are called to be ‘shepherds’, called to care for others; to encourage one another by the good example of our lives. At the same time if we have been disillusioned by the failures of our leaders, we do not have to lose hope, because God has not abandoned his people. He promises that there will be new shepherds ultimately. He reminds us that He will care for His flock. God has not abandoned usAlexander Solzhenitsyn had been in the Gulag, a Soviet prison camp. He had been forced to do back-breaking labor until he came to the point of exhaustion. With little food and little rest, he was constantly watched by guards and never allowed to communicate with another human being. Never permitted a newspaper, he came to believe that he was forgotten by everyone, even God. In his despair, he decided to commit suicide, but he could not reconcile that act with the teachings of the Bible. Then he decided to end his misery by trying an escape knowing he would be shot. He rationalized that his death would then be at the hands of another and not his own doing. The appointed day came when he would put his fateful plan into action. Sitting under a tree during a brief respite from work, just as he started to jump and run, a prisoner he had never seen before stood in front of him. Looking into his eyes, Solzhenitsyn said he could see more love than he had ever seen before emanating from the eyes of another human being. The prisoner stooped down with a small twig in his hand and began to draw the symbol of the cross in the soil of Soviet Russia. When Solzhenitsyn saw the cross, he knew God had not forsaken him. He knew God was right there beside him in his deepest pit. Little did he realize that at that very moment, Christians all over the world were praying for his release, and within three days he would be sitting in Geneva, Switzerland, a free man.Joe Brown, in ‘Battle Fatigue’ In the gospel we reflect on the new shepherd, Jesus Christ; we see the compassion and care of Jesus both for the shepherds and for the sheep. Jesus had sent out his apostles on their mission and they were returning back tired and weary with all the work they had done. Seeing their fatigues and knowing that they would be drained out because of the demands made on them, Jesus immediately invited them to a quiet rest. And the Gospel adds the reason for this invitation, ‘for many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.’ These lines give us an insight into Jesus. He is not a hard taskmaster making impossible demands of his disciples. He is sensitive to their needs and to their limits and so he suggests a break. In the last part of the gospel we observe the care of Jesus for his sheep. The crowds, knowing where the disciples and Jesus were heading for, hurried to the place before them and when Jesus and his disciples reached there the crowds swamped them. Though Jesus and his disciples needed rest, the needs of the people were a priority for Jesus and forgetting his own need he began to teach and administer to the crowds. We can go through life seeking to meet our own needs first before we think of others or we can put our own needs aside, delay satisfying our own needs and think of others first. Jesus is the good shepherd and he gives his disciples a live lesson in compassion and care. CoolieHere is a true story about a ‘coolie’, a luggage porter. He was poor, illiterate and the lone breadwinner of his eight-member family. He had to labor hard in order to earn a day’s pittance. What was remarkable about this man was that he complained to none despite the hard labor which kept him occupied from dawn to dusk. Unlike his fellow coolies, he would never charge more than his due. He would often help his fellow coolies to carry luggage in addition to the heavy weight he used to carry himself. One day, a gentleman, seeing this act of kindness, asked him, "Young man, I have noticed your generosity. Why do you do this while all others are concerned with themselves?" The coolie looked straight at the eyes of the gentleman and answered: "Sir, I am poor and illiterate. I don’t know any other work than carrying luggage. But I know that I have only one life to live and this life is a waste if I don’t set aside a little energy of mine to help others and share their burden. I know that this is not a great act. But I do believe that my creator does not demand more from me since He knows me more than anybody else."Inspirational Quotes The interruptions are my work!Once, a man went to see a friend who was a professor at a great university. However, as they sat chatting in the professor’s office, they were continually interrupted by students who came knocking at the door, seeking the professor’s advice about something or the other. Each time the professor rose from his chair, went to the door, and dealt with the student’s request. Eventually the visitor asked the professor, “How do you manage to get your work done with so many interruptions?” “At first I used to resent the interruptions to my work. But one day it suddenly dawned on me that the interruptions were my work.” the professor replied. He made his work consist in being available to his students. And it was by no coincidence that he was the happiest and most fulfilled professor on the campus.Flor McCarthy, in 'New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies' No one comes!Mother Teresa tells how one day she visited an old people’s home in Sweden. It was efficiently run. The food was good. The staff was trained, and treated the old people well. It seemed an ideal place in which to end one’s days. There were about forty elderly people in the home. They seemed to have everything they wanted. Yet as she went around she noticed that none of them smiled. She also noticed something else. They kept looking towards the door. She asked one of the nurses why this was so. ‘They are longing for someone to come visit them,’ the nurse replied. ‘They are always looking and thinking, “Maybe my son may be my daughter, maybe somebody will come and visit me today.” But no one comes. It’s the same every day.’ ‘No one comes!’ The phrase haunted Mother Teresa. These elderly people had been put away in this home by their families and then abandoned. That sense of having been abandoned was by far their greatest suffering. Sometimes a person may have no choice but to put an elderly parent in a home. However, it’s the spirit in which this is done that matters. Having put an elderly parent in a home, one person may abandon that parent, whereas another visits that parent regularly. A Christian who doesn’t care is like a lamp that doesn’t give light. But caring is never easy. Yet all of us are capable of caring. All that is required is an open heart. When we care, we are living the Gospel.Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ You have no rights!On a visit to the United States the Premier of China, Wen Jiabao, was constantly bombarded with questions on human rights from the people he encountered. His response was, “We have a different understanding of human rights. You trace your understanding of human rights to Rousseau in the time of Enlightenment. We trace our understanding back to a 13th century Chinese philosopher.” Whoever did the research for the Premier did an excellent piece of work. The language of human rights grew out of a time in history when people felt more secure in understanding their life in the world without reference to God. So the emphasis became human rights, not God-given rights. The Bible doesn’t use the language of human rights. In fact, the disciples of Jesus have no rights, as we see in today’s gospel. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”Sam Rowen in ‘Reflections’ The Good ShepherdA soldier lay dying on a Korean battle-field, and asked for a priest. The medic could not find one; but a wounded man lying near, heard the request and said, “I am a priest.” The medic turned to the speaker and saw his condition, which was as bad as that of the other. “It will kill you to move,” he said. But the priest replied, “The life of a man’s soul is worth more than a few hours of my life”, and crawled to the dying soldier. He heard his confession, gave him absolution, and the two died hand in hand.Anthony Castle in ‘Quotes and Anecdotes’ Symphony of sympathyJames B. Stockdale was a prisoner of war for 2714 days in Vietnam. On one occasion the North Vietnamese handcuffed his hands behind his back, locked his legs with heavy irons and dragged him from his cell to the unshaded courtyard. They left him there to lie for three days. The sun burned him and the guards beat him so much that he could not sleep. Men died with such torture but Stockdale survived, and the reason he did was because of the music of sympathy. That is he got messages from the prisoners that encouraged him to fight on. He would hear a towel snapping in their special prisoner code, and it would say God bless you Jim Stockdale. The sound of a snapping towel in the midst of torture does not seem like much to us, but for him it was a symphony of sympathy that helped keep him alive.John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’ May we find rest in Him to work for others! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
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