18-Nov-2012
Dear Friend, Most people try to influence others and exercise control over people either openly or in subtle ways! Leaders exercise power and dominate others in the hope that that they might leave a mark and be remembered as great and powerful human beings in history. But there are people who have all the power they need but refuse to control or dominate people. They exercise an even greater influence on others when they choose to serve others! Such a man was Jesus Christ the King whose kingdom was one of love and service to humankind. Have a grateful weekend acknowledging Him as Our King! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Feast of Christ the King: "I am King! My kingdom is not of this world!" 25-Nov-2012 Readings: Daniel 7: 13-14Apocalypse 1: 5-8John 18: 33-37 The first reading from the Book of Daniel speaks to the people in exile, who were disillusioned about the kings who ruled over them. The prophet says, "Your God is coming to you, your King is come to you. He is not from below, He comes from the heavens. He will come to save you. Yes he is Lord and King but different from earthly rulers. The point of the reading is that God is coming to his people. He will not be like the kings who have led the people astray, who have used their power for their own personal glory, who have dominated and crushed the spirit of the people. The Son of man will come to bring hope to his people, and his kingdom will never end, this hope no one can take away. The King and I In 1956 actor Yul Brynner won an Academy Award for his role as the bald and autocratic King of Siam in the movie The King and I. The film was based on the musical written by Rogers and Hammerstein for Broadway, where Brynner also played the part for a record number of times. In this musical, the King of Siam imports a British governess to his exotic kingdom to educate his children. At the start they have frequent cultural clashes, but in the end the king and the governess form a true and lasting friendship. Have we discovered our King and our royal calling? Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds' The Gospel reading goes on to stress how different this King is from the kings of the earth; totally different, a sign of contradiction. The whole idea of Christ being king does not come up at the height of his popularity but at the moment when every one, all his disciples and followers have abandoned him. When he seems to be powerless at that moment he claims kingship. "Yes I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this." His kingship consists in bearing witness to the truth; "all who are on the side of truth will listen to my voice." In the Gospel we see the Kingship of Jesus contrasted with worldly power. Pontius Pilate was the Governor of Judea, a powerful man who questioned Jesus to judge his innocence or guilt. Yet it would seem that Jesus is questioning Pilate and he is made to face the truth. Pilate is ill at ease while Jesus is the one who is in control. Jesus points out that his kingship is not in the realm of political struggle or power. His kingdom is not of this world. Jesus has surrendered all power He came not to be served but to serve. Today this King invites us to serve those in need. When it is the judge who is on trial Sometimes in a court case it can happen that it is not so much the accused who is on trial but the judge. Indeed, sometimes it is the very concept of justice itself that is on trial. Take the case of Louise Woodward, the 19-year-old English au pair whom a jury in Massachusetts convicted in 1998 of killing an eight-month-old baby, Mathew Eappen, who died in her care. But many people who followed the trial were convinced that a miscarriage of justice had taken place. In view of conflicting medical evidence, it was hard to see how the jury could have found, beyond reasonable doubt, that she had killed the baby. Her defense team appealed against the verdict. At the start of the case, Louise was the one who was on trial. But now the focus shifted onto the judge, Hiller Zobel, who was reviewing the verdict. As we waited for his ruling, questions were raised as to his character. It was said that he was a very independent-minded man. A man not swayed by popular opinion, or one who bowed to pressure. The verdict he reached would show if those claims were true. Now it was Judge Zobel who was on trial. After careful deliberation Zobel changed the jury's verdict of second degree murder to involuntary manslaughter. Yes, a child was dead, and Louise bore some blame for his death. But she was not a murderer. And since she had already served seventeen months in prison, he set her free. In the eyes of most neutral observers, his verdict was a fair one. Judge Zobel emerged from the trial with an enhanced reputation. He was shown to be a man who was passionately concerned about justice. Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies' The King and I Soren Kierkegaard was a philosopher and theologian who lived in Denmark about 150 years ago. In one of his books there is a story about a king who fell in love with a peasant girl. The king knew that it was next to impossible for him to marry the girl. Kings never married peasants; they always married royalty. But this king was so powerful that he knew that he would marry the girl and get away with it. But another thought occurred to him. If he married the peasant girl and stayed king, there would always be something missing in their relationship. The girl would always admire the king, but she could never really love him. The gap between them would be too great. She would always be conscious of the fact that he was royalty and she was merely a lowly peasant. So the king decided on another plan. He decided that he would resign his kingship and become a lowly peasant himself. Then he would offer his love to her as one peasant to another. The King realized, of course, that if he did this, the situation could backfire. He could not only loose his kingdom but the girl as well. She might reject him, especially if she thought him foolish for doing what he did. And so the King had a problem. What should he do? The King finally decided that he loved the peasant girl so much that he would risk everything to make true love between them possible. - Kierkegaard never told how the story ended. He never told whether the girl accepted the king's love or rejected it. He never told whether they lived happily ever after or not. Kierkegaard had two reasons for not telling how the story ended. Firstly the point of his story was the king's love for the lowly peasant girl. It was so great that he renounced his royalty and his throne for her. The second reason why Kierkegaard never told how the story ended is that the story has not ended yet. It is still going on. It is a story whose ending has not been written. It is the story of God's love for each one of us. The King in the story is God; the girl in the story is us. Only we can write the end of that story! What will it be??? Anonymous The interview is over The story is told of a man who travelled to London to attend an interview for an important post in the security services. When he arrived at the appointed place he found five other applicants in the waiting room, all discussed their prospects. There was no security on duty. A sign on the wall stated that applicants were to knock and enter the interview room at fifteen-minute intervals, beginning at eleven o'clock. They were to leave the interview room by another door, so the nature of the questioning could be kept secret. The applicants discussed this strange arrangement; they reflected on what questions they might be asked; they wondered what qualities would be needed for the post. At eleven o'clock, one of them who said he had been the first to arrive went to the door of the interview room, knocked and entered. The remaining five men continued to discuss various matters among themselves. So, the time passed. At a quarter past twelve the last man to arrive rose from the chair, walked over to the door of the interview room, knocked and entered. When he stepped into the room he was confused by what he saw. Behind the large oak table that dominated the room sat his interviewers: they were the same five men who had been in the waiting room. The interview was already over! -We believe our final interview with the Lord and King will be on judgment day. In reality it has begun! "What you did to the least of my brethren you did unto me." Anonymous The Master's symphony God was the composer of the music of the universe. He wrote a symphony of heavenly music, all in perfect harmony. To the birds of the air he entrusted the pan pipes, to the long grass he entrusted the strings. To the clouds and the oceans he entrusted the percussion. He allotted sections of the orchestra to all parts of his creation. There was one section of his creation that he decided to treat differently, i.e. human beings. He had gifted them with reason and intelligence, and therefore there was no need to write the score for them, as they would know how to blend and harmonize, without receiving instructions. The music began and it was heavenly. The harmony was enchanting, and the sheer beauty of it all was breathe-taking. Things continued like this for some time. Then one day there was a shrieking discordant note that shattered the harmony of the universe. This was followed by complete silence. "What was that?" whispered the trees. The birds replied "That was people. They refuse to continue in harmony with the rest of us, and they have decided to do things their way." What will he do now? whispered the grass. "He may tear up the whole score. He may write a new one. One thing is certain he cannot pretend it did not happen, because that discordant note will reverberate throughout the universe for eternity." And what do you think God did? He searched among every sound that ever was, until he found the discordant note. He took that note, used it as a theme, and wrote a whole new score based solely on that note. Out of that discordant note he wrote a whole new symphony of heavenly beauty, which we now call salvation. The story of salvation is based on our weakness and failure. Only God could think of such a thing! Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel truth' That man died for you In April 1865, the slain body of President Abraham Lincoln lay in state for a few hours in Cleveland, Ohio. It was on its final journey from the nation's capital to Springfield, Illinois. In the long line up of people filing by the body was a poor black woman and her little son. When the two reached the president's body, the woman lifted up her son and said in a hushed voice: "Honey take a good long look. That man died for you." What that black mother said to her child can be said about Jesus by every mother of every child. Pointing to the body of Jesus on the crucifix, she can say: "Honey, take a long, long look. That man died for you." And so Jesus is the King of Kings. He is the King of Kings not only because of who he is but because of what he did. Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies' Let's be loyal to our Lord and King and live to spread His Kingdom! 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.
