9-Aug-2013
Dear Friend, There are moments in life when we cannot be silent, when we have to take a stand, rather than be passive. When truth needs to be spoken, when injustices are being perpetrated, it takes courage to be stand up sometimes alone and single-handed. If we believe that God is truth and is always on the side of justice, especially for the weak and poor, then we cannot be God-believers unless we are truth-tellers. Have a discerning weekend listening to God who disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: 20th Sunday of the Year: Prophetic call: "Stand by me and I will stand by you!" 18-Aug-2013 Readings: Jeremiah 38: 4-6, 8-10Hebrews 12: 1-4Luke 12: 49-53 Today we encounter the prophet Jeremiah, an outspoken and relentless defender of God's truth and justice. He had been warning the people that their continued infidelities to the covenant with God would result in the destruction of Jerusalem. The people did not like Jeremiah's warnings and complained that his message was demoralizing the people. He was accused of treason and punished by being lowered in a cistern where he was stuck in the mud until he was rescued. Jeremiah knew he had to speak the truth and warn the people no matter what the consequences for his life. Despite his pain, the prophet remained faithful to his mission. Courage to confront In the 1920s an English adventurer named Mallory led an expedition to conquer Mount Everest. His first, second and even his third attempt with an experienced team met with failure. Upon his return to England, the few who had survived held a banquet to salute Mallory and those who had perished. As he stood up to speak he looked around he saw picture frames of himself and those who had died. Then he turned his back on the crowd and faced a large picture of Mount Everest looming large like an unbeatable giant. With tears streaming down his face, he spoke to the mountain on behalf of his dead friends. "I speak to you Mt. Everest, in the name of all brave men living, and those yet unborn. Mt. Everest, you defeated us once, you defeated us twice; you defeated us three times. But Mt. Everest, we shall someday defeat you, because you can't get any bigger and we can!" John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies' Today's gospel a challenging one, is called the gospel of the sword, or the gospel of fire because of the inevitable confrontation it speaks of as part of living the Christian life to the full. Jesus bluntly states the meaning and purpose of his life when he says, "I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!" Jesus does just that when he touches any human being. Once touched by Jesus our lives can never be the same. He ignites us to live fully; He pushes us into the centre of life so that we are forced to take a stand for or against him. He goes on to speak of the consequence of being his follower; "Do you suppose that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household will be divided." Jesus never resisted hard decisions for fear of not being accepted or liked. He never sought harmony and a middle way in every dispute. These words of Jesus disturb us. Can he really mean what he says? In today's gospel Jesus talks about his mission by using the metaphor of lighting a fire, and he refers to his passion by using the image of a baptism to be received. Both fire and water are ambivalent symbols. Fire can be awesome and it was seen by the Israelites to symbolize the presence of God. It was also terrifying in its power and symbolized its ability to cleanse, divide, destroy and purify, as the Jews experienced during their exodus to the Promised Land. Jesus also says he has a baptism to receive, which brings to mind another ambivalent symbol of God's activity -water. This water brings life, refreshment, cleansing and healing but also destruction and death. Today's gospel puts Jesus and what he stood for in sharp perspective. No one who accepts Jesus can be the same. His message would bring a sword, even to people who were closely related to each other. Jesus, like Jeremiah, demands a decision either for or against his message. Who are the prophets among us? How does God's word bring about division and opposition today? Fiddler on the Roof An example of the opposition that that faith brings about in a family occurs in the play Fiddler on the Roof. The story takes place in Russia in 1905 and the plot centres around a man named Tevye, the father of a poor Jewish family. He has five daughters but no son. His eldest daughter marries a tailor who was not chosen for her by the traditional matchmaker. After a struggle with his conscience Teyve accepts the marriage. His next daughter marries a college student who has broken with many Jewish traditions. After another struggle with his conscience, Teyve accepts this marriage too. Finally, his third daughter, Chava, marries a non-Jew, a young Russian soldier. When Golde, Teyve's wife breaks the news to him, Teyve, says, "Chava is dead to us! We must forget her." Alone, Teyve, sings a beautiful song called "Chavalah". In it he pours out his heart to God. He can't understand why Chava did what she did. At that moment Chava appears and pleads with Teyve to accept her and her husband. Teyve looks up to heaven and says: "How can I accept them? Can I deny everything I believe in? On the other hand, can I deny my own child? (But if I deny everything I believe in,) if I try to bend that far, I will break. No Chava!" -When Jesus invited people to follow him, he realized what he was asking. For them it meant doing what Chava had to do. It meant leaving father and mother and family. Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies' Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness Keller Weaverling, a kayak guide had come thirteen years earlier to Valdez, Alaska, to get away from the world. All that changed literally overnight when the bulk carrier Exxon Valdex, dumped 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound. It was a ghastly catastrophe to which he just could not stand neutral. To quote him, "It was like coming home to find your house totally vandalized, your pet dog killed, and your wife raped, gagged and bound. I needed to get involved." So when the Valdez Bird Rescue Centre was looking for someone to lead a wildlife rescue operation after the Exxon Valdez spill in March 1989, Kelly stepped forward in the conviction that "it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." He organized 220 workers and 43 boats to rescue wildlife endangered by the spill. -Cut from the same cloth is Waleed Sadruddin. In 1989, this seventeen-year-old lived in Portland Oregon, across the street from the boarded-up windows of a former crack house. When he saw his friend join street gangs, he felt it was his call to "light a candle rather than curse the darkness" -he just could not stand neutral. He organized his peers into a high-school fraternity -as a positive alternative to street gangs. Members of the fraternity sponsored dances, clean up graffiti, and helped one another with homework and family problems. These are just two of the eight million such stories reported throughout the U.S.A. They are seemingly ordinary people with an extraordinary desire to do something positive. These are people who walk in the footsteps of Jesus who said, "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already burning." James Valladares in 'Your words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They are life' The Truth Teller Many years ago, a certain Greenland Eskimo was brought to New York City for a short visit. He was filled with wonder at all the miracles of sight and sound in New York City. When he returned to his native village he told his people the stories of a building that rose into the very face of the sky; of the street cars, which he described as houses which moved along the trail, of the mammoth bridges, artificial lights and all the dazzling things of the metropolitan city. Many of the people could not believe him. Those who did not believe him looked at him coldly and walked away. The villagers called him a 'liar'. He carried that name the 'liar' to his grave. - The road of the truth-teller has always been rocky. As a result, many of the prophets were killed. Jeremiah died at the hands of his own people. Socrates had to sip poison. Jesus was crucified. St. Stephen was stoned. Bruno was burned. Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King and Archbishop Oscar Romero were shot to death. The decision to follow Christ can meet harsh rejection. In 2004, Sr. Helen Prejean, a prison chaplain at Stewardship Conference in New Orleans, wrote a book, 'Dead Man Walking' which became an Oscar winning movie. Sr. Helen sought reconciliation between prisoners on death row and their victims' families. She met with harsh words and actions. Taking a stand and telling the truth often invites division and opposition. You are either for or against Jesus. There is no comfortable way of following Jesus! John Pichappilly in 'The Table of the Word' Do we stand for God? Some time ago a newspaper columnist Arthur Jones, shared an important moment in his earlier life with his readers. It happened when he was drafted into the Royal Air Force and found himself in military barracks with 30 other men. On the first night he had to make a decision. He had always knelt to say his prayers. Should he continue to kneel now that he was in military service? He squirmed a little and then said to himself: "Why should I change just because people are watching? Am I going to begin my life away from home by letting other people dictate what I should do or not do?" He decided to kneel. By the time he had finished, he became aware that everyone else was aware of him. And when he made the Sign of the Cross, he was aware that everyone else knew he was a Catholic. As it turned out, he was the only Catholic in the barracks. Yet, night after night he knelt. He said that those ten minutes on his knees often led to discussions that lasted for hours. On the last day in boot camp, someone said to him, "You are the finest Christian I've ever met." He replied, "Well, I might be the most public Christian you've ever met, but I don't think I'm the finest. Still, I thank you for what you said." - That story illustrates one of the points of today's gospel. Commitment to Jesus means taking a stand on certain things. And sometimes that stand sets us in opposition to other people. Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies' Let's stand for God and for his values so He will stand for us! 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.
