Am I a dog? Weakness is strength

We are familiar with the story of David and the Philistine (Goliath). David is chosen to be the king of Israel and he had responsibility to protect the people from the mighty Philistines. Philistines were stronger in terms of army and power but people Israel were weak but depended mostly on God’s assistance. David has an important task to overpower the mighty and liberate the people of Israel from the clutches of sword and spear. The story begins when David prepares for the battle. He took his staff in his hands, a sling and five smooth stones. It was a shepherd’s staff unlike the warrior staff that Philistine had. It was not a sword, javelin or spear but mere sling and stones. Using slings in war was quite common. The slings were made up of leather patches held together with two strings coming out either side about three feet long. From this we know that sling is probably poor people’s armour to defend from the mighty armour of sword, spear and javelin. Story continues further, Philistine is ridiculed before even David could strike the stone. “Am I a dog that you come with sticks?” I would have been a greatest insult for a mighty warrior like Philistine when David presupposes that he can strike him. Thus the confidence of David is tremendous in the story. That is why David responds to Philistine, “you come with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, this day God has delivered into my hands and I will strike you down and cut off your head.” This he does, first of all he strikes him with his sling and cuts the head off.

I would like to point out the dynamics of the story. First of all, there is a symbolism of power driven by human arrogance, which will eventually be defeated, and other hand symbolism of weakness but strengthened by God, which will eventually be triumphed. Philistine was a powerful arrogant champion and depended on sword, spear and javelin. His power was vested in the worldly weapons. It is quite natural to think that when we have weapons we can overpower the weak. In our world today, we see, hear or experience modern Philistines who think that they can win by oppressing the weak, voiceless and marginalized. They might win but that triumph will not last very long. However mighty it may look, but it would tumble like the mighty Philistine.

On the other hand, the weak will triumph because God is on their side. David’s sling was able to defeat the mighty sword of the Philistine because God was with David. Even though David was weak, God made him strong. In fact, we are strong when we are weak. St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness. So I shall be very happy to make my weakness my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am quite content with my weakness and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.”

Do we feel weak? When do we feel weak? Do we dwell on our weakness to influence our lives? Weakness is not a permanent state of human person; in fact it is not even a situation. Weakness is just the absence of strength. We become strong whilst we are weak because weakness is the stepping-stone to strength. We progress learning from our weakness. In all this, Christ is our stronghold and refuge. There is a tendency to think that mighty rules the manger but in truth it is the weak rules the world. God is at side of the weak, Jesus said, “It is the sick who needs the physician.” Let us hold on to our Lord and Saviour when we are weak and He will make us strong.

Learn not to 'give up'

There is a familiar story in Book of Samuel, in fact the birth of Samuel. Elkanah had two wives, namely, Hannah and Peninnah. Elkanah offered sacrifices to the Lord and gave portions to Peninnah whereas he gave only small portion for Hannah because she was barren. Even though he loved Hannah more yet he considered it was a curse that she is barren. This bothered Hannah and distressed her life. In the bitterness of her soul she prayed to the Lord with tears and made a vow to give him to the Lord for the whole of his life and no razor shall ever touch his beard. When she prayed this with utmost longing for a child in her, the Lord did not let her down, when including the chief priest Eli assumed that she is drunk whilst she was praying. The Lord hears her plea and grants her a son named Samuel and the rest is history. This story suggests that Lord never lets us down but from our part we need to seek with that longing in our soul for Him. At times, circumstances of life will influence our life style and eventually make us slaves to that circumstance.

There will be always people in our lives who will discourage us or even lead us to give up in life but if we are rooted in God, nothing can influence us. “If God is for us who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). We have to believe in the truth that God is for us always; God is good, all the time. It is natural for any human person to be discouraged when someone is pointing out at us how we should be or how bad we are? These kinds of phrases will undermine our own worth because we believe that we are in the image and likeness of God. In the recent times, we have heard about sad stories of people either ending their own lives or inflicting violence on others. It seems like the image of God has been distorted, in other words, there is no respect for the human person.

Pope Benedict XVI writes in Caritas in Veritate that "The Church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics, fully aware that 'a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized.'" (no. 15).

We, as parish community can influence our society to a large extent because our parish community has a responsibility to reach out to the people who need our loving touch. I would like to extend any form of support to any parishioner who would like to make a difference in the life of this nation. Let us learn not to give up and let us help others learn this trick not to give up.

Heart Speaks unto Heart

“A sacrifice to be real, must cost, must hurt and must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, and fruit of love is service and fruit of service peace.” These words of Blessed Mother Teresa are true in the lives of many saints in the Catholic Church. Saints are not dropped from above but they were born, bread and nurtured here amongst the people. As we celebrate ‘All Saints’, let us thank God for the saints of God who have helped the Church with their unceasing love and service. Having said that, we also witness people in our lives that live a saintly life, a life full of service and love for others. As a priest, I am given a mission to be at the Service of the people of the parish, especially to care for the pastoral needs of the faithful. What is your mission?

“All Souls Feast” is celebrated in the Church on the 2 November. The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which, on departing from the body, are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions are debarred from the Beatific Vision and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, almsgiving and especially by the Sacrifice of the Mass. It is our duty to pray for the dead but most importantly, we also need to pray for ourselves in order to be cleansed by the Lord. Every often world pose us with challenge and temptations come hence, we might slide into iniquity. Cleansing must be done here and now. What do I like to be cleansed from?

Priesthood: A sweeter and a lighter yoke

This week, we the Clergy of the Diocese of Georgetown will be attending our annual Clergy Conference with the theme, ‘…and God saw that it was good.” As I ask your prayers for all the priests in the Diocese who are serving God’s Church in different corners of Guyana, I also request you to know other priests of the diocese. It has been a blessed time for me last three months in the parish.

Priesthood is not easy and not difficult but challenging. After vesting the newly ordained priest at the Ordination, Bishop goes on to say these words, “Take the yoke of the Lord, for His yoke is sweet and His burden light.” This is true in the life a priest, sometimes it is a heavy yoke, meaning to say, challenges in life a robust and enchanting, if one is not rooted in Christ, can easily fall into the trap of the enchanter. It is a yoke given by the Lord, so it has to be sweet and light. Through prayer and Lord’s assistance, a priest can make the yoke lighter and sweeter.

St. John Vianney in his catechism on the Priesthood says, “If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. St. Teresa kissed the ground where a priest had passed. When you see a priest, you should say, "There is he who made me a child of God, and opened Heaven to me by holy Baptism; he who purified me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul. " At the sight of a church tower, you may say, "What is there in that place?" "The Body of Our Lord. " "Why is He there?" "Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass. "

Ordaining me to the diaconate Archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith said, “you are ordained priest to yourself and the people of God, hence you have dual role.” I had to shed lot of my own inclinations, ideas, opinions, interests, family, friends, hobbies, manner of life, and so on for the sake of the flock that God has entrusted me with. I would like to end with words of Blessed Mother Teresa, “A sacrifice to be real, must be real, must hurt and must empty oneself.”

My heart: a cradle for the Infant Jesus

Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur had finally succeeded in getting their homemade airplane airborne on December 17, 1903. Ecstatic over their success, they sent a telegram from Kitty Hawk, NC to their sister in Dayton, Ohio saying, "First sustained flight today. Fifty-nine seconds. Hope to be home for Christmas."

Well, it seems sister was so thrilled by their success that she immediately took the telegram to the editor of the local Dayton, OH newspaper. The following morning edition found the Wright brothers' name splashed across the front page. The headline that day read, "Popular Local Bicycle Merchants Home for the Holidays." Quite obviously, the newspaper editor had missed the important point of the historic telegram.

Christmas is here yet again. As the name suggests its Christmas, it is about Christ and not about anything else. “God becoming man, or Maranatha” is the event that we celebrate with joy and jubilation. We have been preparing for Christmas both externally namely, cleaning the house, preparing Christmas culinary designs and internally namely, novena, confession, reading scripture, prayer and so on, which is a good thing to do and duly rewarding. But most important question one must ask is, why did I prepare? Or more specifically, for whom did I do all this?

It is crucial during this time we focus on God becoming Man, the mystery of the incarnation. God took initiative in the history of human salvation by sending His Only Begotten Son to be our redeemer. Let us make this as the key of all our preparations during Christmas because Christ must be our focus and not ourselves. In other words, it is to welcome Christ in our midst as Prophet Zephaniah says the King is in your midst and as John the Baptist says, He is mightier than I am. The king and mightier is in our midst, namely, in our lives, in our families and in our Church community. Let us keep Christ in the center of all our celebrations because it is Christmas, birth of our Lord. Let us sing happy birthday, sing lullaby, sing carols and most importantly let us make our hearts a cradle for the infant Jesus to laydown and rest.

I would like to wish everyone peace and joy of Christmas to you and your families both in Guyana and overseas. May this Christmas be a time of grace and blessings. I am grateful to God for each of you in this parish. May you always be surrounded by Christ’s joy and peace.