‘They did not understand’ Lk.2.51

Neither Mary nor Joseph understood what boy Jesus meant when he said, “I must be busy with Father’s affairs.” The passing comment of St.Luke, “they did not understand what he meant”,  is important to grasp the true greatness of Mary as well as that of St. Joseph. St. Luke adds, “ His mother stored up all these things in her heart.” Lk.2.51

 In Mary’s heart, there was a big store of things she did not understand. She did not understand all the words of angel Gabriel. She did not fully grasp why the promised child had to be born in a stable. She did not understand why she had to flee with the child to Egypt soon after his birth. She did not understand fully the words of Simeon, “A sword shall pierce your own soul.”  She did not understand when later  at Cana  Jesus said,“ Woman, what concern is that to us and to you?”  Mary did not understand when during Jesus’ public life Mary went to see him and he asked, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Mt. 12.48.  Mary did not fully understand why he had to suffer and die such a shameful death on Calvary.

There is a school of thought that says that Mary perfectly understood from the beginning all that was going to happen to Jesus. There is another school of thought that says that ‘they did not understand ‘ all that Jesus said and did. Luke seems to belong to the latter school of thought.

Faith is to believe in things that we don’t see. At Cana, we are told the disciples believed in Jesus after the miracle of water turning into wine. But Mary believed in Jesus before the miracle. By telling Jesus, “They have no wine”, Mary was not just passing on information but asking for a miracle. How did she know Jesus could work a miracle for he had not worked a miracle until now, for St John says, ‘ this was the first of his signs.” Jn. 2.11

Faith is to believe without signs. Faith is to believe that God is larger than our minds. Faith is to give a place in our hearts for things we don’t understand.  There are things which the heart knows that the mind doesn’t understand. This is the truth that Mary teaches us. Mary treasured in her heart things that she did not understand.  Mary teaches us that we can hold on to God’s promises even when we don’t understand.

Mary walked the pilgrimage of faith. Just as Abraham walked up the mountain of Moriah with Isaac by his side and the wood of sacrifice on his shoulders and yet believed that God is faithful to his promises, in same way Mary would walk up another  mountain with her Son by her side and the wood of sacrifice on his shoulders and like Abraham  believe God will bring about a fulfillment of his promises.  By their ability to believe Abraham became the Father of Faith and Mary the Mother of Faith. The true greatness of  Mary is her ability to believe. This is what Elizabeth proclaimed when she said, “ Blessed is she who believed” Lk.1.45. Thirty-three years later Jesus after his resurrection, would repeat the words of Elizabeth and proclaim Mary’s true greatness, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Jn.20.29   Mary is the first of those who have  not seen and yet believed. We would be taking  away Mary’s true greatness if we didn’t understand the passing  but  important remark of St. Luke, “ they did not understand what he meant.”

-        Fr T.V.George sdb,  Feast of the Holy Family, 31 January 2023.

 

 

The Slaughter of the Holy Innocents

The slaughtering continues even today

 Jesus became a refugee, a migrant, even before he reached his first birthday. He was forced into exile by a cruel king. Innocent children who knew nothing about Jesus, nor ever heard the name of Herod became the victims of politics and power struggle.

The story is being repeated even after two thousand years with far more ferocity and cruelty in the same district and close to the same border-crossing through which Jesus, Mary and Joseph escaped. Jesus was lucky to escape into Egypt but today mothers and children wanting to escape into Egypt find the border gates closed and firmly bolted. There is no chance of escape. High walls, barbed wires, and soldiers armed with machine guns stand guard.  Soldiers of Herod killed with swords, one at a time. Today cluster bombs and guided missiles raining from the sky kill dozens at a time.  Parents who are living in small villages and children playing in the fields, and who have never known Hamas nor ever heard the name of Netanyahu are the victims of modern Herods. Innocents are being massacred as they try to flee.  Machine guns have taken the place of swords. Speeding jets have taken the place of horses. The world has progressed but towards its own destruction!

Oppression, persecution, and slaughter are but signs of deep insecurity and fear. Today’s monarchs and despots dressed in neat suits and wearing ‘netas’ caps,  protect their position and perpetuate their power  by silencing free speech, controlling media, jailing opponents, and  putting to death even innocent women.   They  neatly cover their insecurity and fear in shining wraps of patriotism, love for the nation, and defense of the Constitution of the country. So long as despots  rule, innocents will die.  Truth does not fear, only duplicity, falsehood, lies lead to fear and insecurity.  

Jesus escaped the hands of Herod but he will not escape the hands of Pilate. He will be slaughtered by Pilate not by sword but by nails and a lance. He died so that no more Innocents may die.  The slaughtering of the Holy Innocents is but an anticipation of the slaughter of ‘The Holy Innocent.’

-Fr T.V. George sdb, 28 December 2023,  Feast of Holy Innocents

 

   

                                                              The Cradle and the Cross

A Christmas Reflection

He was born in a Cradle

And died on a Cross.

 He had the animals for company at birth,

and two thieves on either side when he died.

 The shepherds came to meet him when he was born,

Three women stood beneath the cross when he died.  

 

Soon after he was born, he had to flee to Egypt.

To be put to death, he was led outside the gates of Jerusalem.

 The shepherds were the first to hear the angels sing,

The fishermen were the first to listen to the  Good News.

 His birth, his life, his preaching, his death had but one message,

The message of the Cradle and the Cross.

 “ You are the salt of the earth” he taught.

Salt has to go into the boiling water and loose its colour and shape,

then only,  it has meaning, then only it can bring taste.

 “ You are the light of the world” he said.

A light, the moment it is lit, begins to die.

Only by giving, only by dying, it can bring light and life.

 

“ I am the bread of life”  he said.

Wheat has to be ground, powdered and  baked in the hot oven to make bread.

And bread has to be crushed, broken and eaten in order to bring life.

 

“Unless a seed falls and dies it remains a single seed”

A seed has to go under the mud and loose its shape and figure and die

then only new life can spring, one to many, death to life.

  “ He took bread, said a blessing, broke it, and gave it”

With these words and actions on the night before he died,

He summarized all he taught and lived.

He was chosen by the Father, Consecrated , sent into the world

To be broken in a Cradle and a Cross and given for the life of the world.

 He was born onto a Cross.

His birth, his life, his teaching, his death has but one theme

The theme of the Cradle and the Cross. 

-           Fr. T.V.George sdb, Christmas 2023

 

                                                                 Two young men

One died by stones, the other by sword

Two young men, both are energetic, eager, full of life and wanting to do things big. One is riding on a horseback, the other limping chained with fetters. The one on horseback is thrown to the dust and turns blind, the other looks up and has a vision of  heaven.  One is eager to enforce the law of Moses, and the other wants Jesus and his law of love to reign. One becomes the aggressor, the other the victim. One guards the clothes of the persecutors, and the other prays for his enemies.  One prides to guard the purity of the law,  the other has no laws to defend, other than the law of love and he practices it by praying for his enemies. One is witness to the death of the other. Perhaps the drops of blood of the one being stoned,  are spilled on to the other. One who is alive thought he had the last laugh and had won a victory, but the one dying, with his death would prevail over the other. The death of one young man disturbs the life of another young man. The joy, the serenity, and the prayer of one who is dying disturbs, questions, and becomes the cause of a new life for the other. What Stephen could not do with his arguments, he achieves by his death. He converts his enemy. Saul becomes Paul.  One has finished his course, and the other is about to begin it. 

Death brings life. The first life that Stephen brings with his death is the new life of Saul. There is no doubt what triggered the Conversion of Saul to Paul was the prayer of Stephen as he died. No Prayer is unheard. No tear is wasted. No death is in vain. Why should a young man give up his life? How could one die with the face of an angel?  How could a victim of persecution pray for his enemies? These thoughts deeply disturbed Saul as he rode to Tarsus with power and authority. He was always seeking for the truth in his life. But now the truth seemed to evade him and his enemy who died with a smile on his face and a prayer on his lips seemed to possess the truth. Why should one die if not for the truth?  Saul wanted an answer. Deeply disturbed, struggling for an answer, he hears a voice that throws him down from his horse into the mud. The man who arises from the mud is no more Saul but Paul. Stephen has achieved the victory. Aggressor becomes an Apostle.

It first looks a bit odd that before the Christmas decorations are removed and the stars are taken down, we should see the blood of the first martyr. The merriment of Christmas seems to be cut short by the death of Stephen, the day after Christmas.  There is no dichotomy. Birth and death are two sides of the same coin. The theme of the Crib is the theme of the Cross. Jesus was born onto the Cross. The merriment of the first Christmas did not last long. Soon Herod will hunt for the child. Soon innocent children will shed blood for Jesus. Jesus was born to die and to bring new life with his death. That is what the death of Stephen reminds us. Stephen really had a good catch, a big catch by his death. The new life of Saul.  Saul becomes Paul.

-        Fr T.V. George sdb, 26 December 2023, Feast of St Stephen.

 

 

                                                " Come Blessed of my Father..."

Dear Ancy, Sr Sal Maria, Shobha, Kochurani and Maji,

Let me express my sincere condolence and closeness to you all during these moments of pain and loss. I am unable to be with you all as you bid adieu to your loving father. I assure you tomorrow, on his burial day , my Mass will be for the repose of his soul that he might enjoy Peace and Rest with God. You can be sure you have another inteccessor in heaven.

When I was reading the Gospel of today, the Hymn of Mary, I was thinking of your parents, when I read the words, “ He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and raised up the lowly.” When I met Mathew Chetan for the firsts time he was making photo frames in a little shop, and I met your mother in a small thatched house, a short, weak ,lowly ,humble figure.  There were no trappings of greatness or wealth  about them both and yet  God has done through them what even the mighty and the rich would not dare to do.

The Rosaries and the prayers of all the sick, the old, the abandoned and handy-capped inmates of Mariyalayam will not go in vain.  No tears will be in vain, no prayers will go unanswered. Surely, Mathew Chetan , will be hearing the voice of a just judge  saying, “ Come Blessed of my Father, for  I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….Enter into the joy of your Master.”

It is the Christmas season and  you may be hesitating to make your Christmas ‘Merry’ and the new year ’Happy’.  I am sure what your parents  want you to do at this Christmas  is to  Praise God, with all the inmates of Mariyalayam, for the marvels done through them  to so many  people and to join  in their  own  joy of heaven. The theme of Christmas is also how God has raised up Mary, a lowly servant,  to be the Mother of God, and a lowly child in the manger to be the Savior of the world.

Let me also express my deep appreciation for the way Kochurani and Shaji looked after him all these years when he was sick and bed ridden. So often the old and sick are considered a burden to the children. But to you all he was a loving dad and not a burden. God has promised that he will not forget to reward the one who gives even a cup of cold water, so how many cups of water and plates of food, you will have given!  You will not loose your reward.

I will be joining you all spiritually as you walk in procession to the church to bid farewell to a great noble soul.  Let us praise God for the great things done by the Almighty  through him.

Yours sincerely,

Fr T.V. George sdb

Nepal