5-Dec-2010
Dear Friend, Many of our fears stem from the unknown. We spend so much time worrying about what might happen to us in the future. Will I pass the exam? Will I get the job I want? What is happening to me? Have I got some sickness that cannot be cured? Is it worth carrying on with what I am doing? The future is the great unknown that we fear. But hope gives us strength to carry on. Our God is a God of hope and He never let’s us down. Have a hope-filled weekend! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Third Sunday of Advent ‘We are waiting in hope for the Lord!’ 12-Dec-2010 Readings: Isaiah 35: 1-6, 10 James 5: 7-10 Matthew 11: 2-11 In the first reading from the book of Isaiah the prophet addresses his people, who are very disillusioned because of their exile to Babylon. Will their slavery ever end? Will they return home? Is there any future for them? They wonder whether they will be annihilated. Isaiah comforts them with strong words: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble feet. Be strong! Here is your God… He will come to save you!” Isaiah promises good times ahead! Unfinished Play Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American writer. When he died in 1864, he had on his desk the outline of a play he never got a chance to finish. The play centered around a person who never appeared on stage. Everyone talked about him. Everyone dreamed about him. Everyone awaited his arrival. But he never came. All kinds of minor characters described him. They told everybody what he would be like. They told everybody what he would do. But the main character never appeared. The Old Testament is something like Nathaniel Hawthorne’s play. It too ended without the main character putting in an appearance. Everyone talked about the Messiah. Everyone dreamed about him. Everyone awaited his arrival. But he never came. All kinds of prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, told the people what he would be like. They told the people what he would do, But the Messiah never appeared. Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ In the gospel the focus is on John the Baptist as he too waits for the revelation of the Messiah. John was thrown in the dungeon awaiting his death, and his faith is severely tested. He needed assurance and comforting. He sends his followers to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” John the Baptist was a holy, God-fearing man, yet he ended up sentenced to death. At times we too can be disillusioned by the circumstances of our life. God seems to have abandoned us! Are we on the right path? Is the struggle worth while? Will it bear fruit? At times like these we need to hear the reassuring words of Jesus: “Blessed is the person who does not lose faith in me!” When the two disciples of John asked Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come?” Jesus might have replied with a straight answer, “Yes, I am.” But he didn’t. Jesus pointed out to his works. Actions always speak louder than words. So instead of convincing John’s disciples with his words, he pointed to the works he was doing. Those works were exactly the kind Isaiah had predicted for the messianic times. He was quite happy to let his works speak for themselves. Our faith is always a fragile thing and at times we will be shaken and disheartened, but we must hang on. We are blessed if we do not lose faith in Jesus. And twice blessed are we if, like Jesus, we are able to show forth our faith in deeds of love and mercy. Living the Word It happens in many a person’s life. Certainty gives way to doubts, enthusiasm for a cause is replaced by a need for reassurance, commitment is undermined by a sense of being betrayed. It happened to John the Baptist. The fiery preacher who challenged the life style even of kings now wonders whether it was all in vain. The great forerunner of the Messiah wonders did he back the wrong man and give his life to a foolish cause. From his prison cell, he pleads with his cousin to intervene to renew his hope and restore his inner peace. Jesus moves to do just that. He sends the Baptist reports of his own life style with its care of the sick and the poor, its miracles of healing with its preaching of God’s kingdom of forgiveness and new beginnings. It was not what John expected from a Messiah but it was what God intended the Messiah to be. John understands, accepts and is renewed even to the heroic surrender of his life. In our time, many people have such Baptist moments and some people have them often over the years. The certainties of another time yield to the searching of a changing world. For some, the trusted ones seem to have betrayed the cause. Tom Clancy in ‘Living the Word’ Strengthen Weary Hands Little Miriam and her daddy were crossing a narrow bridge over a river. Fearing for his child, Miriam’s daddy said to her, “Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don’t fall into the river.” Miriam said, “No, daddy! You hold my hand.” Puzzled, her father asked: “What is the difference?” “There’s a big difference,” replied Miriam. “If I hold your hand and something happens to me, I may let go of your hand. But if you hold my hand, I’m sure that no matter what happens, you’ll never let go of my hand.” Like Miriam, the Israelites rested safe and secure in God’s Hands. God’s Hand – and their helping hands – Signified hope. Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’ The Hand of God Former Director of School Education of Tamil Nadu, India and ambassador of UNESCO, H.S.S. Lawrence’s autobiography is entitled ‘The Hand of God: My Life and Times’. Lawrence, a committed Christian, was instrumental in introducing the 10+2+3 system of education in Tamil Nadu and pushed for primary education in North-East India too. In the preface Lawrence writes: “I wish to present my life as a record of faith and surrender in our Lord Jesus.” What a wonderful way of ‘strengthening weary hand’s by illumining uneducated minds! Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’ Why Are You Outside? – Not Involved Henry David Thoreau was an American writer who authored the renowned essay ‘Civil Disobedience’. He championed the freedom of the individual over the law of the land. He distinguished between ‘law’ and ‘right’. He wrote: ‘What the majority passes is the ‘law’ and what the individual conscience sees is the ‘right’, and what matters most is the ‘right’ and not the ‘law’.” Once Thoreau was imprisoned for a night for his refusal to pay the poll-tax as a protest against the government’s support of slavery and its unjust war against Mexico presumably in support of slave trade intentions. When he was arrested, he hoped that some of his friends would follow his example and fill the jails, and in this way persuade the government to change its stance on the issue of slavery. In this he was disappointed. Not only did his friends not join him, one friend paid the tax on his behalf and got him released the very next day. When he was in the prison, Emerson, another American writer, came to visit him. He said to Thoreau: “Thoreau, Thoreau, why are you inside (jail)?” And Thoreau replied, “Emerson, Emerson, why are you outside?” Thoreau was a great lover of truth. He suffered because he spoke and stood for truth. Emerson said in his obituary of Thoreau, “He was a great speaker and actor of truth.” John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’ Are You the One? Yes, Jesus was ‘the one who was to come’. But where can people find him today? Once, a group of salesmen were attending a sales convention. They had assured their families that they would be home in time for dinner. But the meeting ran overtime so they had to run for the train. Tickets in hand, they dashed along the platform. One of them knocked over a table supporting a basket of apples. But neither he nor any of his companions stopped to help the young boy who staffed the apple stand. All reached the train and boarded it with a sigh of relief. But then one of them felt a twinge of compassion for the boy whose apple stand had been overturned. He immediately decided to do something about it. Saying good-bye to his companions, he returned to the scene of the accident. He was glad he did so. He discovered that the boy was blind. The sales man began to gather up the apples. As he did so he noticed that some of them were bruised. He took out his wallet and handing the boy some money he said, ‘Here, take this for the damage we did. I hope we didn’t spoil your day.’ As he started to walk away, the bewildered boy called after him, ‘Are you Jesus?’ Are you Jesus? In a sense, he was. Because he acted like Jesus. So where is Jesus to be found today? In his disciples. Blessed are we if we do not lose faith in Jesus. And twice blessed are we if, like Jesus, we are able to show forth our faith in deeds of love and mercy. People will encounter Jesus in us. Flor McCarthy in ‘Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ Disillusioned or Determined In her book Return to Love, Marianne Williamson points out that a friend said to her, “Marianne, I’m so depressed by world hunger!” Marianne replied: “Do you give five dollars a week to one of the organizations that feed the hungry?” She goes on to say she asks this question because she has noticed how people who participate in solving problems don’t seem to be as depressed as those standing on the sidelines doing nothing. Application: Have we recently gone out of our way to help someone? Gerard Fuller in ‘Stories for all Seasons’ May our hope be renewed in discovering His presence in our midst! 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.
