Is Jesus weeping at Gaza?

Children left with one option to WEEP. 

My eyes were drenched with tears when saw a photo of a helpless woman squatting on the debris of her house, in which her family members were killed. A river of tears was flowing from her wearied and hopeless eyes. Her hope is shattered by the bombs and shelling. I was wondering where would she go after all this bloody ordeal? Clearly, she has no house, no family, no money, and no food; has she got any hope left?

It is said, ‘you laugh and the whole world will laugh with you; you cry and you will be crying alone.’ We have been disturbed at the gruesome and bloody attacks along the Gaza strip for a lame reason of protecting the civilians. I have been made to think that there is no value for life of another human person, and that is why both Hamas and the Israeli forces refuse to agree for truce along the borders. It is disheartening to see the pictures of bloodied innocent people lay lifeless on the rubbles created by heavy bombing by the militants. It is disheartening to see a lonely woman, man or a child squatting helplessly on the debris of their own homes. It is disheartening to hear that militants have bombed the school resulting in killing scores of children. It is disheartening to hear that priest, nuns and Catholic community are being asked to vacate the Gaza city. It is disheartening to hear that mosque has been bombed along the Gaza strip. It is disheartening to hear the number of dead in the last twenty days. It is disheartening to hear that families have lost their beloved children, wife, husbands, grand parents, sisters, brothers and so on. Where can they go to get help and a warm hug of love and peace? Can they get a empathetic hug on the battle ground? Why are we fighting, to kill our own people? Israeli forces are on the hunt for the militants and their tunnels. In this hunt for liberty innocent shed their blood. Is there a peaceful solution, is the jargon of the most international communities.

Honestly speaking, we are helpless just like the people of Gaza and West Bank who sit on the debris of their homes and weep. Weeping is the only option left for these people. We are also left with that option to weep until peace is restored in these areas. One of the persons who had lost his home in the bombing was standing on the rubbles with a faint voice, ‘I have lost everything, where can I go now?’ True, where can he and his family go? Can the militants or Israelis give him shelter or help him to build himself again? This is a daunting question that whizzes my mind every time when I hear the cry of the innocent.

At the audience on Sunday Pope Francis uttered those heart squeezing words, ‘please stop! Enough with all these child deaths!’ Emotionally drained Pope could not hold his tears as he uttered these words, which was evident under his spectacles as it was shown on the giant screen at the Peter’s Square in Rome. Pope wept. He wept at the atrocities and violence done at the innocent people. As we have known from the media that 73% of the people killed are civilians. This is because the civilians live along this war prone area of Gaza and West Bank. Pope also appealed to the people and their leaders to take a path of peace over violence. Violence can be overcome with peace and not violence with violence. It is no more eye for eye or tooth for tooth. It is true that the perpetrators and their followers do not experience the pain of being killed or lost; hence they keep promoting this violence without any human concern. Can God enlighten these people? When every human effort fails the only option left for us is God. We can humbly implore God to embrace this land where blood flows in the streets.

Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus was obviously emotional and moved with empathy to Martha and Mary at the death of their brother. But Jesus did not stop at weeping; rather he consoles the sisters by giving life to Lazarus. People in warzone have not choice left then to weep. Their tears have no impact on the perpetrators hence tears roll down into their wonderful land, which is now a weary and dreadful place. What choice we have as we watch or witness the live bloodshed? I think we are also left with a choice to weep and hope that one day God will restore peace in this land. 

Power of the Church

“Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…” Has it ever occurred to you why Jesus had to instruct his disciples umpteen times as to who will be the authority or who will be in power after Jesus? Once I was at a Mass in a parish, and since it was Lent, the colour of the vestment was either Rose or Purple. As I was preparing for the Mass, I reached out for the purple vestment, but at once a loud voice filled the sacristy saying, its supposed to be Rose and not purple. I was perplexed about whole this bizarre episode of the man. I explained to him that its either purple or rose and in the footnote I told him, if that makes you happy I shall wear the Rose. Then someone in the sacristy whispered to me, why did you budge to his demand, you are the authority in the Church. My immediate reaction was, I am here to serve not to be in authority or power.

It is natural that every human person longs or has power over someone. May be parents over children, teachers over children, and the top notch in a firm over the person under them, priest over faithful etc. Throughout the human history we have witnessed several wars in order to dominate the other. The recent war that is prevalent in Israel and Palestine is the clear example that one nation out rightly dominates the other. Power has made some leaders adamant even adamant to destroy other fellow humans.

In the Gospel of Matthew, when mother of Sons of Zebedee requests Jesus to make her sons to sit on the left and right, Jesus is puzzled at the power mongering people in his own friends circle. It is obvious for the mother of Sons of Zebedee to raise her sons to that power to be the successors of Jesus, because she clearly misunderstood the mission of Christ here on earth. At this time, Jesus was becoming a powerful and revolutionary figure but with he was clear about the purpose of being that revolutionary. He was not looking for a popular revolutionary rather he was service-minded revolutionary. He had a mission of God the Father or in other words to help people to build the kingdom of God. This was not clear to the disciples hence a temptation to be on his right and left.

The Church is a missionary Church, which at the service of the people who is in need. The Church calls us to be at the service of the people on the one hand, on the other had it calls us to reach out to the poor. To do this, we need a strong disposition of service and not of authority. The words “authority” or “hierarchy” in its negative sense have reflected a purpose that is contrary to the purpose that Jesus intended. It is not a pleasant feeling when someone commands us to do this or that in the house of God. However, if this is done in a service minded heart, it is acceptable. We can be sure that Jesus wants us to be at the service of the people, hence words of Jesus, ‘I have come for the sinner and not for the righteous’ come in handy to present my argument. We have see Christ in our mission, in other words, we have make Christ as the centre of our work in the Church. We have to guard against the temptation of domination, power and authority. It is because of Christ’s love for us, our Church today is sustained. It is fed on the Word of God and the Eucharist, from which we draw our strength. At the end, we will joyfully reap the fruits from God’s own garden, a hundredfold, sixty or thirtyfold.  

Kingdom of Heaven

Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? If so, who will go where, and who determines this? These are the few questions that haunt us, particularly the religious persons. The people battle with these questions especially at the death of a beloved person. Expressions like, “go my beloved in peace”, “rest in peace”, make us wonder whether there is place or a state of life after death. Some might define it as an eschatological issue. Sometimes it is scary to think about the furnace in the hell, and who would like to be roasted in the furnace. But generally we are positive about our own life and we reward them will heaven, in face pray for that grace.

My question is does heaven exist? What do we mean when we say kingdom of heaven may come? Kingdom heaven or kingdom of God is not a place either her

e or hereafter. The Greek word basileia is better translated as ‘kingship’, or ‘reign’, or ‘rule’, so it is a ‘reign of God.’ It is an environment or a situation where God’s values prevail. Hence, heaven is here and now; when we built that kingdom of God, we have the heaven.

Is this world a kingdom of heaven? I suppose most people would give me a negative answer because the values of the world do not really correspond according to Kingdom values. At times the evil seems triumphs and good defeats. It occurred to me when the MH17 airliner tragedy in Ukraine hit the headlines, that evil people seem like triumph and destroy the innocent people. It is really shameful for us that there is a few people who try to destroy the kingdom values like the termites in the ground. But it is all-momentary, one day my hope of kingdom of God will surely prevail here on earth.

I am inclined to think that the kingdom of God is here on earth which can be present in our day today life. The pastor in the movie ‘the heaven is for real’ talks about the heaven being present here and now. He says, when a child is born, mother sees the heaven, when a patient is cared for by the nurses, they see the heaven. Therefore, it is significant to think about it and reflect on the kingdom of heaven being here and now. 

Photo: Lovely children from Kumu village in Lethem

Living the Liturgy: Encouraging more participation

Invariably a few of our faithful will be analysing the Mass being monotonous and jarring with routine way of celebration. Someone w

ill come with a confused mind, to say that priest gave an excellent homily or the choir was melodious. There are blames on our way of celebrating the Mass. My article in the previous Catholic Standard on the Eucharist, highlighted some of the important as aspects of the Mass. But there are many more who feel that our liturgy can be improved with more vibrancy and gusto. My question is, who has to make the liturgy vibrant, the presider or the faithful? Everyone can ask a question, what happens to me (presider) and to the faithful whilst celebration of the liturgy? This question could be crucial to keep in mind as we discuss this wonderful discussion on liturgy.

When we think of the liturgy, the first thing comes to our mind is rubrics. The rubrics of the Church are the guidelines for liturgy. They are to be understood and as far as possible applied in our liturgies. This can sound a little traditional and ‘conservative’. Does following rubrics make me traditional or ‘conservative Christian’? I was also of the similar opinion about liturgists, who are the strict followers of the rules of the liturgy. This makes us not to talk about it in our daily conversations, thus resulting in remaining in the archaic understanding of the liturgy, i.e. pre-Vatican understanding.

Liturgy comes from a Greek composite word leitourgia, which means a public duty, a service to the state undertaken by a citizen. Its elements are leitos means public (people), and ergo means to do. From this we have leitourgos, which means a man who performs a public duty or a public servant. The above etymological definition of the word liturgy shows us that liturgy is what people do, or simply what is done in public by both the presider and the people.

Liturgy as participation: When we celebrate the Liturgy we actively participate in the work of God, in other words we respond to God’s call to mission. We participate in the life of God in the celebration of the Liturgy. We participate in the Trinity, because Trinitarian mission is witnessed through sending His Son and Son assuring us an advocate, the Holy Spirit. Our participation in the Liturgy makes us participate in the Ecclesia of the Church.

We are privileged to join the heavenly court in singing “Gloria in Excelsis deo”, a song that is sung by the angels at the incarnation of the Son of God. How beautiful to be part of that chanting. We imitate the angels whilst we celebrate the Liturgy with an active and meaningful celebration. In a way we are impersonating the angelic voice, “Gloria.”

It is not a passive participation. I was watching a cricket match at the providence stadium. I was marvelled at the participation of the spectators in the stands. Everyone with one voice supporting the home team with all their heart and mind and with utmost spontaneity. I was inclined to think, how about that kind of participation in our Liturgy, a participation that involves our whole self, heart, mind and with utmost spontaneity. We have to know the mind of the Church as it is prescribed by the rubrics but this must not curtail our spontaneity and creativity.  

Liturgy as a Journey: An apparent question is, where does the Liturgy begin and end? I was delighted to see at Meadow Bank parish, the choir master would come in advance and teach the response to the Psalm to the congregation before the Mass began. I thought it was wonderful when it is done in that Liturgical approach. Sometimes, people read the readings before hand so that they set an ambience for the proper Liturgy. So, the Liturgy begins much before the proper Liturgy. We have to prepare spiritually to enter into the mood of Liturgy. Hence observing the journey of the spirit, in other words, back and forth of the spirit within us. St. Ignatius in his spiritual exercises asks the directees to observe and watch the inner movements of the spirit. Therefore, my initial question would fit in here, what happens to me whilst I celebrate the Liturgy?

When we invite any guests for a meal to our homes, we prepare much in advance, planning for the cuisine, and then we enjoy the meal together, and at last we don’t just go away, rather we live that experience of eating together. Thence our meal does end at meal time but it continues. The Eucharist is a meal, it is a food for our nourishment, it continues to nourish us after the celebration of the Eucharist. The new missal has wonderful dismissal rite, the ones I like the most, “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord”, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” The Eucharist does not end rather it continues, we are send forth by the presider on a mission of Christ, to bring good news. The Liturgical journey does not begin and end just with the Eucharist. The journey continues.

The journey of the Eucharist itself is very much like the journey of the brothers going towards Emmaus. The journey unfolds itself to the journeyed. The Liturgy of the Eucharist has for ways of journeying, namely, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist (food), journey with the community, and priest who re-enacts the sacrificial journey of Christ. Therefore, there is no alpha and omega point for the Liturgy, rather, it sends us on a Mission of Christ, and hence it is constant. We begin our Liturgy where we end.

Liturgy as an expression of faith: I was enhanced to see a large group of young persons praying and expressing their faith in their own ways at the world youth day at Rio. The prayer was initiated by the Taize and a large cross attracted the youth with darkened ambience in the hall. The youth went to the cross and expressed their deep faith through the form of prayer as and when they were moved to do so. It was almost felt like a form of Liturgy but with a spontaneous approach. The Liturgy is the expression of one’s own faith and it is manifested openly whilst celebrating the Liturgy. What happens to me, when I celebrate the Liturgy? May be I am moved to express my own faith with other members in the celebration. In the Eucharist, the prayers of the faithful, is the clear expression of the faith in God. It moves one to express one’s deep faith in God. Hence, the Liturgy is the manifestation of the faith of the people and something happens to each one in the Liturgy.

Conclusion: Any footballer learns to play football by learning at the street play style, where he is not too much occupied with the rules of the game. Once the footballer learns the game, then his task is to learn the FIFA rules, which eventually helps him to follow the rule naturally.

The Liturgy is in a way like the above example, we learn to celebrate liturgy in our own way, but then eventually we are initiated into a formal Liturgy of the Church, which after all becomes part and parcel of our lives. For most of us the Liturgy has become part of our lives. In case it has not become part of us, let us make it part of us. Let us celebrate the Eucharist as if it is our own celebration, our own meal (food).

Liturgy is not merely rubrics but also creativity. Sometimes, we think that the priest has to be creative, which quite right, but it is the celebration of the people, hence, everyone has to part of this creative Liturgy. It is not merely making it lively through melodious singing; rather does the Creative Liturgy affect my Christian life. We can participate in the Liturgy with all our minds and hearts. Let us not be shy to be participative in the house of God, because we are celebrating the Liturgy as an expression of our own faith in God that we gotten from our Baptism. Let the Liturgy affect our lives, because it is connected to our life experiences. We can go to the Eucharist, as it is the first and the last Eucharist; which means not a routine another celebration of the Eucharist.

The work of our redemption is continued and the fruits are imparted during the celebration of the Eucharist (Peter Fink SJ). We draw our redemptive source from God and it is witnessed and expressed in the celebration of the Liturgy. For St. Paul, the Liturgy and Christian life are one; in other words our Christian life revolves around the Eucharist, and when we celebrate the Liturgy we live a Christian life to the full.

With these few thoughts, I appeal to all the Christians to be more participative in the Liturgy and be more creative in our approach to celebration of the Liturgy that does not mean we are shying away from the mind of the Church. 

Ultimately ask the question, what happens to me whilst celebrating the Liturgy? 

Photo: An Amerindian village celebration of the Word of God. 

“Investing in Young people”

I was invited by the Bishop of Guyana, Rev. Francis Aleyne to attend the conference of the United Nations Population Fund, w

hich is in partnership with the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport to mark the world population day on 11 July 2014. The conference was held under the theme, “investing in young people.” There are a few important aspects of this conference I would like to pencil on my blog.

First of all, I was moved by a young woman who shared her ordeal when she became teen pregnant. She had no one to support her, the society seems to have ignored her and seen her as a person who is disgrace. She was embarrassed to even meet her friends in school. Her testimony was an important revelation for that there is no enough support to the teen mothers or single mothers in our world today. Most countries would look at them as so-called bad mothers who are runaways of the proper families.

Young persons, especially at their teenage, are very vulnerable because they have not only changes in their body but also they are prone diseases and early pregnancies. It is in this situation that we are urged to reach out to these vulnerable people of our society. This will be a challenge for us who work with the young people of our nation. As the UNFPA helps to raise the health facilities, we are encouraged to help particularly the poor of people especially girls. Hence, it would be wonderful to work along with the health ministry to reach out to these young persons of our country.

Culture minister Dr Frank Antony, sounded very bluntly the inequalities in the distribution of the wealth of the world. According to the Oxfam Report, 1% of the world population has half of the wealth and 99% of the world population has other half of the wealth of the world. This is clear sign of an unequal world. Will this get better? I think it won’t get any better, it would get even worse because human beings are born with a vice called greed. But my concern is how can we try to reach out to the poorest of the poor in the developing countries like Guyana and India.

I was happy to hear Dr Frank mention about the parenting of the children. His convincing voice about child must have parents not mother alone or grandmother is still resonating in my mind. I do agree with him, because the child is of both mother and father. Both have to take responsibility in upbringing of the child. This calls to challenge another trend of making children and leaving with the mother, hence single mothers are on the rise. Sometimes these single mothers have to bear the brunt and meet the all the expenses of the child; many times it is hard for them in this economic crisis situation.

In the light above sharing on the conference by UNFPA, I have two important observation or suggestions. Firstly, we talked only about reaching out to the poor, but it was not clear for me about the interior young person who are more vulnerable than the coast people. The people in the hinterland of the Guyana are exposed to teen pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases. It might be for several reasons, most importantly lack of information on responsible parenting. The concerned people can take notice of this situation and make projects to reach out to these young persons in the hinterland.

Secondly, it is significant to introduce these issues and concerns of the youth right in the school systems. Children are investing a great deal of time and money in professional subjects and just ignore some of the life issues that they are going to face in the near future. The school must have some forum to take and discuss the real life issues surrounding the young persons. It must be done on a professional basis, because as Dr Frank Antony expressed the peers guiding other peers will be a disaster. Hence, the school system can concentrate and invest time and resources to reach out to the children. The individual schools can plan a project for this, may be create a social club or life club where the children can call some of the experts to discuss their real life issues.

In all this bottom line is, tomorrow’s world belongs to today’s young people. It is they who are going to be our leaders. Hence, child is the father of the nation.