04-Jul-2010 Dear Friend,
It is said that some people look at life only from their own point of view. Others make an effort to look at life from the point of view of others. Still others prefer not to look at life at all! They prefer to be passers by – bypassing life! Everyone looks for happiness and for the possibility of leading a full life. Yet fullness of life eludes most because they are closed up in their puny self-centred existence instead of being open to others who can be the source of happiness and fulfilment. In focusing and finding God in others we can find our selves. Have an enriching weekend discovering God in others! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: 15th Sunday of the year ‘Love God and find him your neighbour! 11-July 2010 Deuteronomy 30: 10-14 Colossians 1: 15-20 Luke 10: 25-37 The first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy speaks of keeping the Law of God and observing his commandments always. It also tells us that keeping the law is not difficult though challenging. We might object that we do not know the law so how can we observe it? To which the author replies that the law is always close to us and ever accessible. The law is not something distant or foreign to us. God’s law is as near as his word to us. For those who love God his word is in their hearts and speaks to us in the depth of our heart. The lover is never distant from the beloved. The greatest Law is the law of love. Push A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when the Savior appeared and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day for many years, pushing it with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. He decided to take his thoughts to the Lord. "Lord" he said, "I have laboured long and hard putting all my strength to do which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even been able to budge that rock. Why am I failing?" The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, When I asked you to serve me I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are calloused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done." At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what he wants, when actually what God wants is simple obedience and Faith in him... Inspirational Stories from the Net In today’s gospel we have a young man who comes to Jesus asking him what he should do in order to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus responds with a question: What is the answer given by the Law? Jesus implies that if we search we will find the answer to all our queries in God’s Law. If we want to be happy “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbour as yourself.” But the man was not satisfied, he wanted still further clarification from Jesus and so he asked: Who is my neighbour? He knew that the law demanded that he should love God and that this love should be seen in one’s attitude to one’s neighbour. But what did loving one’s neighbour imply? In answer Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. There is the victim who is attacked, robbed and left wounded by the roadside. Two people, both noted for the observance of the law, came upon the wounded man but passed by. Perhaps they wondered whether they were bound to help by the demands of the law. But they thought otherwise and went their way. The Samaritan, on the other hand, on finding the stranger lying on the roadside did not stop to consider whether it was his duty or not but was moved by compassion to reach out and help the stranger. He went out of his way and carried him to a place of safety and care unmindful of the inconvenience caused. He did not think of the consequences for himself but of the predicament of the wounded person. The focus of the life of the first two persons was themselves. They looked at life from their own selfish perspective. Their life rotated around themselves. The Samaritan, on the other hand looked at life from the perspective of the other person and his need rather than his own. His heart and his love changed his view of the situation. Jesus in so many words, through this parable asks us to do like wise, to be a good neighbour, to look at life from the perspective of love, from the perspective of the other, from the perspective of God. To have life, to truly be happy we have to open our world to others. “A rather banal happening, but it serves Jesus by way of an answer to the question put by a lawyer; ‘And who is my neighbour?’ The law was quite clear. The way to life in practical terms was an existence inspired by love of God and of one’s neighbour. What the lawyer seeks is a clear and certain ruling to identify this neighbour. The story told by Jesus cuts clean across such a narrow conception…A nameless traveller, savagely attacked and robbed by bandits, left for dead by the roadside. Two representatives of the Jewish religion pass by in turn. Did they ask themselves the theoretic question about his being their neighbour? If so they hardly had need of the whole road to Jerusalem to reply to it: neither of them helped the injured man! The one man who does stop is a Samaritan, scarcely one careful of the law and its principles. He does not lose himself in casuistry – his heart is touched. Heeding only his compassion, he treats the victim, as he would like to be treated himself. The lawyer agrees: the Samaritan ‘proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the brigands’ hands’! A surprising definition of the neighbour! To understand it, what Jesus had just said must be called to mind: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ It is no longer a question of defining one’s neighbour with relation to oneself as centre of everything, but to find one’s own position by starting from the ‘other’. This is the way the gospel turns things around – ‘this sign of contradiction, this great contrariness’, which alone initiates man’s slow return back to God. When Christ came on earth, he identified with injured humanity: like a Good Samaritan, he took pity on it! ‘Go do the same yourself, by becoming a neighbour to whoever is in need of you.” -Glenstal Bible Missal Just Take Care of My Eyes! There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend. One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?” The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying. “Just take care of my eyes dear.” Anonymous I Passed Her By A woman was standing on a curb, waiting for the light to say WALK so that she could cross the street. Directly across from her on the opposite curb was a girl of about 17. She too was waiting for the light to say WALK so that she could cross the street. The woman couldn’t help but notice that the girl was crying. In fact, her grief was so great that she made no effort to hide it. For a moment their eyes met. It was only a fleeting glance, but it was enough for the woman to see the terrible pain that filled the girl’s eyes. Then the girl looked away. At that moment the light changed. Each stepped off the curb into the street and started across. As the girl approached, the woman could see that she was quite pretty, except for that terrible grief in her face. Just as they were about to meet, the woman’s motherly instincts came rushing to the surface. Every part of her wanted to reach out and comfort that girl. The desire was all the more great because the girl was about the same age as one of her own daughters. But the woman passed her by. She didn’t even greet her. She just passed her by. Hours later the pain-filled eyes of that girl continued to haunt the woman. Over and over the woman said to herself, “Why didn’t I turn, fall in step with her, and say, ‘Honey, can I help?’ But I didn’t. I walked on by. Sure, she might have rejected me and thought me a nosey person. But, so what! “Only a few seconds would have been lost, but those few seconds would have been enough to let her know that someone cared. But, instead, I walked on by. I acted as if she didn’t even exist.” Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Welcome My Son! A king who had no son to succeed him posted a notice inviting young men to come along and apply for adoption into his family. The two qualifications were love of God and love of neighbour. A poor peasant boy was tempted to apply, but felt unable to do so because of the rags he wore. He worked hard, earned some money, bought some new clothes, and headed off to try his luck at being adopted into the king’s family. He was half-way there, however, when he came across a poor beggar on the road, who was shivering with the cold. The young lad felt sorry for him, and he exchanged clothes with him. There was hardly much point in going any further towards the king’s palace at this stage, now that he was back in his rags again. However, the young man felt that, having come this far, he might as well finish the journey. He arrived at the palace, and, despite the jeers and sneers of the courtiers, he was finally admitted into the presence of the king. Imagine his amazement to see that the king was the old beggar-man he had met on the road, and he was actually wearing the good clothes the young man had given him! The king got down from his throne, embraced the young man, and said ‘Welcome, my son!’ Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth’ ‘I and my God!’ or ‘I with my God!’ Several days after the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, a News paper carried two pictures side by side. The first showed the side of the ship slashed open by a massive iceberg. The caption read ‘The weakness of man, the supremacy of nature.’ The second picture showed a passenger giving up his place on a lifeboat to a woman with a child in her arms. The caption read ‘The weakness of nature, the supremacy of man’. Today’s gospel points to a balance between God and neighbour, between a vertical religion, that includes only myself and God, and a horizontal religion, which includes me and my neighbour. Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth’ May we recognize and serve our God coming to us in our neighbour! 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.
