Am I leaf, branch or Root person?

Now that Lent has drawn to a close and the season of Easter has unfolded the mother of all events, the resurrection of Jesus, we are invited to enjoy and savour the fruits of Easter during this season. We are invited to continue our reflection on our own lives, in order to cement our relationship with God and each other. It is a favourable time for us to introspect to gaze at our relationships with our brothers and sisters. In our modern times, social communication has helped to large extent to converse and build relationship from far and near. This has made our world truly a global village. But, the question always remains, has our modern world brought people together only virtually or in reality?

I thought the analogy of a tree given by Mr Taylor Perry would be helpful to unfold our relationships. Perry through the analogy of a tree explains the people who visit our life, be it friends, family, acquaintances, employees, co-workers, and so on.

Leaf People: Some people come into our life and they are like leaves on a tree. They are only there for a season. We can’t depend on them or count on them, because they are weak and are there only to give us shade. Like leaves, they are there to take what they need and as soon as it gets cold or a wind blows in our life they are gone. We can’t be angry at them, that is just what they are.

Branch People: There are some people who come into our life and they are like branches on a tree. They are stronger than leaves, but we have to be careful with them. They will stick around through most seasons, but if we go through storm or two in our life, it is possible that we lose them. Most of the times they break away when it is tough. Although they are stronger than leaves, we have to test them out before we run out there and put all our weight on them. In most cases they can’t handle too much weight. But again, we can’t be angry at them, it is just who they are.

Root People: If we can find some people in our life who are like the roots of a tree, then we have found something special. Like the roots of a tree, they are hard to find because they are not trying to be seen. Their only job is to hold us up and help us live a strong and healthy life. If we thrive, they are happy. They stay low key and don’t let the world know that they are there. And if we go through an awful storm they will hold us up. Their job is to hold us up, come what may and to nourish us, feed us and water us.

While a tree has many limbs and many leaves, it has only a few roots. Look at our own life. How many leaves, branches and roots do we have? What are you in other people’s lives? While thanking God for the gift of roots let us also make efforts to be roots in other’s lives. That was what Jesus was and we are called to be like Jesus our root.

What kind of person am I?

There is an Amerindian legend in Guyana called “The Caiman’s Fire”. According to this legend, Caiman held the ball of fire in his mouth and never shared with people and other animals. Caiman enjoyed cooked food every day. People and animals also wanted to try the cooked food and they came to like the enticing taste of cooked meat and fish. Hence, they had a deal with Caiman to cook the food for them with the fire that he possessed for which they had to give him some share from their hunt. This deal was good for Caiman but gradually Caiman became selfish and take big share from others hunted. Eventually people and animals wanted to have fire for themselves but they failed all the attempts to get it from the mouth of the Caiman. Hummingbird had a trick to open Caiman’s mouth so that they can get the fire out of him. Caiman was invited to a banquet where there was food and drink. During this banquet every animals would do some acts to make Caiman laugh and open its mouth but Caiman was very cautious not to open its mouth lest fire fall out of his mouth. Everyone took turns to crack jokes and funny antics; everyone roaring with laughter except Caiman. Animals showed off their skills, and while everyone laughed and was having fun, the Caiman did not even break a smile. The birds did magnificent swoops in the air and brought expression of “oohs” and “aahs” from the guests but the Caiman remained as glum as ever.

Finally, green-tailed Jacamar began a very funny dance. As the Caiman looked on, he suddenly gave out a loud chuckle and burst out in loud laughter. Immediately, flames spurted form his mouth. All of a sudden, the hummingbird – as swift as every – flew into the caiman’s mouth, grabbed the ball of fire in his beak, flew away with it, and dropped in on a pile of dry wood. In no time, a great fire sprang up, and there was a mad rush to collect pieces of burning wood.

There are three kinds of people that cross our lives:

Closed fisted Person: These are like Caiman who refused to share the ball of fire with others rather kept it tightly closed in its mouth and also grabbed share from the innocent hunters. These persons come into our lives but create a negative impact. In turn, they have the power to control us. We try to dance according to their tune so that we might one day get what we lack.

Pope Francis says, "Tenderness is not weakness; it is fortitude. It is the path of solidarity, the path of humility. Please, allow me to say it loud and clear: the more powerful you are, the more your actions will have an impact on people, the more responsible you are to act humbly."

Open fisted Person: These are like other animals that showed off their skills in order to get the ball of fire from the mouth of the Caiman. They could be our parents, family, friends, teachers, and colleagues etc. who share their knowledge and wisdom so that we may be able to spurt out our best. These are people who will do their bit to contribute to our growth. They open their fist of knowledge and wisdom to share with us.

Pope Francis says: “Teachers, you have to teach not just the subject, but also life’s values and habits.”

Open arms person: These are like the Jacamar did the final dance to convince the Caiman to open its mouth and it did. Parents at times become Jacamar to get the best out of their children. They make their ultimate sacrifice to get the ball of fire from their children. They go to any extent to convince their children that they can do it. They never give up and never tire or retire but keep pushing. Their arms are always open to embrace and release when needed. They embrace with open arms when we fall and release us with open arms when we are successful.

What kind of person am I? 

Holy Orders

“…the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands" 2 Tim 1:6

Holy Orders is the Sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It includes three degrees: Episcopate, Presbyterate, and Deaconate in other words, Bishop, Priest and Deacon.

Points to remember

·       Only Bishop can administer this sacrament through ordination and laying of hands.

·       Jesus Christ instituted the priesthood on Holy Thursday, the same time when He instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

·       Only Baptised man can receive the Sacrament of Orders.

·       This sacrament is directed towards the salvation and service of others. Thus priests are the servants of the community.

·       Their mission is to build up the people of God through teaching, preaching, good works, and the administration of the sacraments.

·       Priests are set apart (consecrated).

·       Priesthood is ministerial priesthood which is different from the common priests of the faithful.

·       This sacrament confers an indelible spiritual character and cannot be repeated or conferred temporarily.

·       Celibacy is a discipline of the Church that has been effect since 306ADE and made mandatory in 1074. Mat 19:12, 1 Cor. 7:8, 7:27-38.

·       Priesthood to male only does not imply that women are inferior to men in anyway.

·       The priest acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) as another Christ.

·       All priest share in the one priesthood of Christ.

Priesthood for the Church

Priest is a man of the Eucharist: The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and the celebration of the Eucharist is central for the Church. Priest celebrates the Eucharist in persona Christi. There is an unbreakable bond between the Eucharist and the priest. Priesthood becomes fulfilled when he celebrates the Eucharist.

Priest is a man of prayer: ‘I nourish you with what I myself live on,’ St. Anselm said. The proclaimed truths must be discovered and adopted in the intimacy of prayer and meditation. Our ministry of the word consists in expressing what was first prepared in prayer. Priest is the mediator between God and men; many turn to him asking for prayers. Thus prayer, in a certain sense, ‘creates’ the priest, especially as Pastor.

Identity as priest: Many priests wondered whether priest is necessary in the face of secularisation and the abandonment of religious practices. Therefore, priest wondered about the identity. From the start, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote, the priest was ‘taken from among men and made their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.’ This is the best definition of the priest’s identity. Every priest, according to the gifts bestowed upon him by the Creator, can serve God in various ways and with his priestly ministry, can reach various sectors of human life, bring them closer to God.

Fidelity to Christ and the people of God: Priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Priests fulfil their vocation by trusting in God’s support and constantly striving for holiness. Through the deep friendship with Christ, a priest becomes a bridge between God and His people. Therefore, a priest seeks the flock of God with love and mercy by cultivating the tranquil conviction that the One who began the work will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The priest has a specific role in the parish community as pastor and leader. His primary role would be to pastor the people of God through the celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacraments. Thence, the priest pastors the community on behalf of the Local Bishop, who appoints him as the parish priest. The Second Vatican Council recommends, "Parish priests ensure that the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is the center and culmination of the entire life of the Christian community" (Decr. Christus Dominus, n. 30). Without Eucharistic worship as its beating heart, the parish dries up.

Fr. Jerri Dias SJ

Sacred Heart RCIA

Family as Domestic Church

“The Family is so to speak, the domestic Church.” Vatican Council II

From the beginning, the Church was formed from believers ‘a their whole household.’ New believers wanted their family to be saved (Acts 18:8). In our modern times (often hostile to religion), religious families are extremely important centres of living faith. They are domestic churches in which the parents are the first heralds of faith (Vatican Council II). In the home, father, mother, and children exercise their baptismal priesthood in a privileged way. The home is the first school of the Christian life where all learn love, repeated forgiveness, and prayerful worship.

Understanding the Domestic Church

1.     The families are not only members of the Church but also as organs and communities of Christ’s Body. Hence, family becomes integral part of the Church. There is not church without families and vice versa.

2.     Domestic Church is not only to marriage but now extended it to the family which proceeds out of marriage and states: ‘It is possible to refer to the Christian family as a small church possessing in itself a sharing (communication) of the very mystery of the union of Christ with the Church.

3.     Parents are consecrated (Consecrati) to their roles. In other words, parents are consecrated or ordained to play their roles Christian parents in the family.

Family in God’s plan: A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Its members are persons of equal dignity. A family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In procreation and education of children it reflects the Father’s work of creation. It is called to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ.

Family and God: In the context of the family that we first learn who God is and prayerfully seek His will for us. Parents must regard their children as the children of God and respect them as human persons and educate their children to fulfil God’s law. God is the head of the family.

Parents as evangelisers: Through the grace of the Sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are first heralds for their children. The family, hence, truly becomes a holy place for the holy people to dwell. In families, members evangelize each other by way of care and love.

Family as missionary: The basic mission of a family is to bring affinity of feelings, affections and hence, nurture relationships. As a domestic church, the family is to take on the task to be transmitters of faith in their own familial situations. The baptismal and marital promise has to be fulfilled in their day to life. In baptism, the mission is to be priest, prophet and kings. In marriage, a man and a woman vows to conjugal relationship to the good of the spouses and to the procreation of children. This way, a family truly becomes missionary.

The Word of God in the Family: For most of us, the family is the place where the Word of God is first proclaimed, received, and studied. Ideally, a family must read the Bible together, for example, a short selection before the evening meal. Most often, telling the story of Jesus and Mary and the saints proclaims the word much less formally. The family is the true heralds of Good News and promoter of Gospel values.

The Sacraments in the Family: The sacrament of marriage is the foundation to the domestic church. The sacrament that joins a man and a woman in a life-long and indissoluble union that generates new life is the beginning and on-going sustaining force of the Church in the home. The domestic church brings its members to the Church for the celebration of the sacraments. Parents bring their children for baptism and religious education. The sacraments become reality when families live out these sacraments in the families. For example, when a family returns home from the celebration of the Eucharist, they are summoned to live out the self-sacrificing love of Jesus Christ made present in the Mass and which they carry within themselves in virtue of Holy Communion with him.

Conclusion: Christ is the head of the mystical body, the Church. Each family constitute the organs of this mystical body, the Church. Every members of the family further constitute the organ of the Church. Families are necessary for the Church to continue to be active in the world. The Church’s foundation is built on families, and if families stay or stray from Church, both will collapse. In order for the Church to continue, families must be part of it and in order for the families to live in harmony, Church must help them to be united. Therefore, the Church and family are intertwined and cannot be separated. Without the help of the family, the task of the church becomes onerous.  Most often I tend to think, it is not only because of theologians and learned that the Church is erect but because of a few grey head persons praying rosary in the corner of the church.

The domestic church serves as the hermeneutic by which one comes to know the truth about marriage and family. One might acquire knowledge by reading or preaching about marriage and family but unless one lives this reality, one will be theoretically sound without any concrete experience.

Fr. Jerri Dias SJ

Mother Mary's Labor pains

Apart from Christmas extravaganza, the Catholic Church prays the Christmas Novena (Latin word ‘novem’ means ‘nine’) and most of the parishes pray this devotion early in the morning. This devotion contains singing of 16 stanzas of ‘Bemdita Sejaes’ and Holy Eucharist. Devotees dedicate these nine days reflecting on the scriptures leading up to Christmas. This devotion normally begins on 15 of December and end on 23 to begin the Christmas Eve Mass on 24 night. This devotion helps us to contemplate on the mystery of the Incarnation (God becoming a man). For those of us who are part of this novena, we know the experience of joy and peace of Christ in the cool early morning. It is really a wonderful way to prepare for Christmas.

My experience of Christmas Novena has been wonderful. It is a ‘once a year’ experience of love, peace, and serenity. This devotion helps me to grow in my own spiritual journey alongside other devotees at the novena. The singing of Bemdita Sejaes is truly a reading of the Scripture where we praise God for Mother Mary who becomes a ‘Theotokos’. It is like accompanying our Lady in her days of pregnancy before the childbirth. Every mother would need support as she goes through her labor before the birth of her child. Every father would have to be the side of her to make her labor lighter by supporting her and lending her helping hand. I borrowed this inspiration of following our Lady in labor from tradition followed by Catholics of Madeira whose tradition we have embraced by Portuguese immigration in Guyana.

In Madeira, the Christmas Novena Masses happen early in the morning and their purpose is to celebrate the nine months of Virgin Mary’s pregnancy. The liturgy is meant to make the faithful meditate on each step of Our Lady’s pregnancy, from the Annunciation to labor on the night of December 23. The novena concludes on Christmas Eve with Midnight mass. The early morning Masses are part of a traditional Iberian Marian devotion to Our Lady of Good Labor, represented by a figure of a pregnant Mary.  In Portuguese this Lady is also called Our Lady of the “OH”, recalling the sounds of a mother in labor. When we think of pregnancy we think of the beauty of bringing life into the world.  Mary brought life to the world like no other. Christ our savior was in her womb and through these nine days, the people of Madeira contemplates every moment of that pregnancy to prepare for Christmas (Source: Salt & Light Media).

In Guyana, Christmas Novena has its long history and tradition, which could be traced back to 1861 when Fr. Benedict Schembri celebrated Christmas midnight Mass at the newly constructed Church on Main Street. This Church was basically helped the Portuguese from Madeira who spoke mostly Portuguese. Under the “padroado” (The privilege of patronage extended by the Pope to the King of Portugal) system, initially, Sacred Heart operated as “the Portuguese Church” being the Centre of pastoral activities for the Portuguese community throughout Guiana. Only in 1932 was this status revised and Sacred Heart constituted as a normal parish. The indefatigable Schembri established guilds and charitable associations, organized religious and cultural events and generally strengthened the bonds of fellowship and faith among the Portuguese. Of particular note was the introduction of the Christmas Novena, with a 3;00 am the mass on each of the 9 mornings before Christmas. This practice rapidly became a popular and enduring feature of Catholic churches throughout Guiana. Even the “Bemdita Sajaes” a hymn to Our Lady with words in the Madeiran dialect of Portuguese became a much-loved feature of many an African and East Indian family Christmas.

In conclusion, let us encourage each other to continue this inspiring tradition of accompanying our Lady through these nine days and prepare our hearts and minds for the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we prepare, let us also be the ‘Theotokos’ = God-bearers in our own little ways. It is also a time for our families, to pray together and celebrate together. Let our celebration have Christ in it. Let this Christmas truly be a time of helping each other to bring joy and laughter to the world.

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