A rich businessman had grown greatly in his endevours.

>> He became greatly possessed with acquiring more wealth and seeking for greater power.

His sole intention in life was to find ways and means to gain more wealth (by hook or crook; by honest or corrupt ways!) and capture more positions of power.

Though a Christian…

… he cared hardly for his family

… he bothered least about his faith

One day, while sitting in his posh office, pondering on ways to augment his wealth and prestige in the society…

… his eyes went towards the Crucifix that was placed on his table.

Looking from the place where he was sitting, he could see…

… The Crucifix and a Chair that was placed opposite him.

And suddenly a thought came across his mind:

“What is more important for you in life?

>> Cross or Chair?”

This thought stuck him badly.

>> Being greatly disturbed… he sought to ward off that idea from his mind.

But it kept disturbing him…. “Cross or Chair… Cross or Chair!”

Well, it’s not known whether that incident changed his life.

But this question is placed before each of us:

“What is more important for you in life?

>> Cross or Chair?”

The Gospel of the Day is the incident of the mother of the sons of Zebedee aspiring to obtain a place of honour for her children..

… through which, Jesus poses this question of supreme importance to us as well:

“What is more important for you in life?

>> Cross or Chair?”

This incident is sandwiched between two important instructions by Jesus..

1. His master plan of establishing the Kingdom: His Passion, Death and Resurrection

2. His master technique to allow access to the Kingdom: The way of Humility

1. His master plan of establishing the Kingdom: His Passion, Death and Resurrection

Jesus predicts about His sufferings to His disciples (Mt 20: 17-19)

>> It was clearly His way of telling His chosen ones, that His Kingdom is not to be one that accords prime importance to power and position…

… instead it was about obedience and self-giving.

2. His master technique to allow access to the Kingdom: The way of Humility

Jesus further teaches His disciples that the key to enter the Kingdom is the way of humility (Mt 20: 26-28)

>> It was clearly a reminder as well as a warning, that His Kingdom is not reserved for the powerful or the mighty…

… instead it is to be given to those of meek heart and lowly self.

It’s in between these two powerful “Kingdom” teachings, that we have the incident of the mother of the sons of Zebedee seeking for a place of honour for her children (Mt 20: 20-24)

The incident showed that they had quite badly misunderstood Jesus…

>> They mistook His master plan of establishing the Kingdom as being “through force and power and might!”

>> They mistook His master technique to allow access to the Kingdom as being “the way of Supremacy!”

But Jesus shatters this misconception by posing a master question: “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” (Mt 20: 22)

>> “Drinking the Cup” for Jesus meant the Master Plan of His Passion, Death and Resurrection

>> “Drinking the Cup” for Jesus meant the Master Technique of the way of Humility

This incident is a reminder and warning for each of us as well:

1. Are we willing to be in accord with the Lord’s master plan of establishing the Kingdom: His Passion, Death and Resurrection?

2. Are we ready to practise the Lord’s master technique to allow access to the Kingdom: The way of Humility ?

Jesus clearly poses this question of supreme importance:

“What is more important for you in life?

>> Cross or Chair?”

Very often we settle down to sit on the “Chair”…

… the ‘chair’ of comfort and relaxation

… the ‘chair’ of lethargy and indifference

… the ‘chair’ of materialism and individualism

But the Lord challenges us to carry the “Cross”…

… the ‘Cross’ of responsibility and commitment

… the ‘Cross’ of witnessing to the Lord and trusting in Him

… the ‘Cross’ of serving the deprived and being sensitive to the need of the other

The way of the Christian is none but the Way of the Cross.

>> The path of the Christian can be none but the Path of Humility.

Let us give heed to the words of St Louise de Marillac (the patronness of the parentless and of Social Workers):

“If humility, simplicity and charity which produce support, are well established in you…

… your community will be made up of as many saints as there are persons!”

Yes, let us dare to follow the Path of Humility…

… and seek to positively answer to the question that Jesus poses to each of us:

“What is more important for you in life?

>> Cross or Chair?”

God Bless! Live Jesus!

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Quotable-quote-a-day-with-St Francis de Sales (SFS) – “In the midst of all the occupations of the day, see to it that you do not become too absorbed in material things.

>> Keep a tight grasp of Christ’s Hand!”

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Barter is a system of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money.

This type of exchange was relied upon by early civilizations.

Goods were exchanged for food, tea, weapons, and spices.

• The barter system requires the giving of a good (product), to receive an equivalent good.

• It is a system which involves the dimension of providing and obtaining, offering and receiving.

The Gospel of the Day calls for a similar barter system…on a Divine realm though…

• Giving to God and obtaining His graces and favours.

• Offering to God and receiving His blessings and mercy.

The Lord, continuing His teachings on a practical Christian life, exhorts, “…give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give, is the measure you get back” (Lk 6:38)

Jesus brings a very concrete example from the market scene, to drive home his point of generously giving.

The context of Jesus is the market in Israel, the middle-east part of the world.

As in many places today, this area witnessed markets that had buyers and sellers engaged in bargaining and negotiating over prices, quality and the amount of things and goods.

There would be many of the open-air markets, where the farmers would bring their grain—wheat, corn, barley—and spread it on a mat on the ground.

Potential customers would examine the grain, make an offer, and the bargaining would start….

When a price was finally set, the customer would offer his container—usually a large bowl or pot or an open vessel—and the seller would use a scoop (measuring spoon) to fill the container.

There would be some interesting steps in this process of measuring the grain for a customer and which Jesus quotes in His approach to giving:

• First, the seller would fill the container to the top.

• Secondly, he would press the grain down and fill some more.

• Thirdly, he would shake the container so the grain would settle and then fill in some more.

• Finally, he would fill the container until it overflowed!

The contents of this overflowing container would then be transferred to a pouch or a bag so that the buyer could bring home the contents from the market.

Well, this process could sound a bit strange and weird to us in the modern world.

• We live in times, when contents are sold by the weight, and not the volume..

• We live in times, when manipulations are done to give as less as possible…

But this is where, Jesus, bringing in the example of the market, invites generosity in giving…

• Our giving ought to be measured not by weight, but by volume…and that refers to a far-greater amount of giving!

• Our giving ought to, not be curtailed down by clever manipulations…rather is to be done very generously and lavishly!

St Paul in 2 Cor 9:6 would say, “Whoever sows sparingly, will also reap sparingly; whoever reaps bountifully will also reap bountifully”

Our giving ought not to be a calculated effort…rather should be a overflow from the heart!

When we engage is such a lavish and generous giving, God too will shower His abundance, in a similar and much better fashion!

“For the measure you give, will be the measure you get back” (Lk 6:38)

Of course, that is not to say that we are limiting God’s power of giving…

>> God surely showers His gifts lavishly!

>> God surely pours His blessings overwhelmingly!

But the Lord invites us to be involved in a Divine Barter System…

• Give to God, who deserves all, so that we may be worthy to receive His blessings.

• Give to God, who is worthy of all, so that we may be blessed to receive His graces.

In the Divine barter system, the advantage is that, we get much more than what we give… we obtain far greater than what we offer!

God’s giving is not to be seen just from material or physical aspects…

>> In fact, that would just be a very limited and low level of understanding.

God’s gifts are to be understood more from a spiritual perspective:

… Gift of His mercy to live a life in union with Him.

… Gift of His grace to be faithful and more committed.

… Gift of His love to be better human beings and be more charitable.

… Gift of His salvation to enjoy eternal bliss and happiness with Him .

All these gifts will be surely lavished and given… “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured out into our laps!”

The greatest exchange – the Divine barter system – is seen and experienced in the Holy Eucharist…

… at every Holy Mass.

Let us give ourselves entirely to the Lord… especially at Holy Mass and through the Mass, at all times of the day… to all persons in our life.

Then, in the words of Fulton Sheen, we will be graced to hear the words of the Divine Lord telling us…

• You give me your humanity, and I will give you my Divinity!

• You give me your time, and I will give you My eternity!

• You give me your broken heart, and I will give you Love!

• You give me your nothingness, and I will give you My all!

God bless! Live Jesus!

——————————–

Quotable-quote-a-day-with-St Francis de Sales (SFS) – “ Frequently give up some of your property by giving it with a generous heart to the poor

>> It is true that God will repay us, not only in the next world…

… but even in this!”

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The March 9, 2015 issue of the New York Magazine reports an interesting article on “Forgiveness”.

According to this article, the animal kingdom has been the subject of studying the patterns of forgiveness and reconciliation for many scientists.

Much of the research has involved gorillas and chimps.

It is found that they often enter into fights with each other…
… only later to embrace and continue their companionship.

Similar traits of behaviour has also been noticed among goats and hyenas.

However, the researchers have found that one species of animal doesn’t seem to forgive (atleast externally)

They are domestic cats.

(Well, there might be many of us, who will out rightly reject this theory, especially those who really like cats.

But let’s just take this as a ‘research finding’ and not the ultimate truth.

Researches findings, of course, are subject to exceptions and limited by conditions and interpretations!)

Human beings too have our moments of grappling with the aspect of ‘forgiveness’.

 For some people, it’s easy to forgive…
 But some others struggle hard in serving out  pardon…

The Gospel of the Day is a teaching by Jesus on this necessary virtue of “forgiveness”.

To the query of Peter, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him” ( Mt 18: 21), Jesus illustrates His reply with the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

One of the principles in this virtue of forgiveness is the avoiding of a “mathematical accounting policy” in granting pardon.

As human beings, there is sometimes an avoidable tendency in us to “keep counts” in our relationships…

We make a count or keep a rough numerical impression…
… of how many times a person has done good to me
… of when was the last time a person behaved badly with me
… of how many times a person has hurt or caused harm to me
… of how often has a person offended me or spoken ill about me

Relationships…
… sometimes get reduced to mere mathematical entities
… sometimes find themselves entangled in the web of calculative units

It’s in such situations that “forgiving” the one who has erred against us becomes a ‘calculative’ affair.

Thus, we find that Peter in the Gospel asks Jesus, “How often must I forgive the brother who has sinned against me?”

We maintain, sometimes, a sort of an imaginary “fault-account” book.

And our thought-process takes the following pattern:

 “This person, on so and so date, committed this mistake
And on so and so date, I had forgiven him”

 “This person, on this particular day, had behaved in a very indifferent manner to me
And a particular number of days later, I had extended my pardon”

But Jesus today warns us to stop looking at life and relationships from a “mathematical” or “calculative” perspective.

What is the basis for Jesus to say this?

It is simply the fact that all of us – without any exception – are the beneficiaries of the mercy and forgiveness of God.

• God abandons all mathematical calculations in extending His forgiveness to us
• God lets go of every measure of computation in allowing us to receive His mercy

Rom 3:23 says that “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by His grace thorough the redemption in Jesus Christ”

 Each of us finds ourselves sinking in the “boats of sinfulness and guilt”
But it is the Mercy of God that still keeps us ashore.

 Each of us pass through the “deserts of shame and culpability”
But it is the Forgiveness of God that nourishes us with the oasis of blessings

This “free and underserved” reception of the Forgiveness of God places an undeniable responsibility on us to extend His pardon to all.

The prayer “Our Father” gets recited so often by us, during the day or in our prayers.

But do we realise that it contains a clause, whose condition, if not fulfilled, brings upon a self-inflicted consequence.

We pray, “Forgive us our sins.. as we forgive those who sin against us”

Even though the mercy of God is always made available for us, it can be truly received only if one is willing, generous and humble enough to “forgive” the faults of others.

Forgiveness is a powerful weapon that, of course won’t change the past, but will sure transform the future.

Even the animal kingdom in general, displays traits of forgiveness and reconciliation.
 How much more are we, as human beings, who are created in the image and likeness of God, bound to forgive one another?

Perhaps, some of us have a feline flavour in us to “avoiding granting pardon” and “nurturing the grudge”

But can we let go of our “pride and arrogance” and “put on Christ” (Rom 13: 14) to become that “flower which perfumes the hand that crushes it”

May the Gospel of the Day strongly cause us to take realistic resolutions to cherish our relationships with the freedom it deserves and to generously sow the seeds of forgiveness and mercy in the hardened fields of broken and damaged relationships!

God Bless! Live Jesus!

Facebook is the popular online social networking service, which has achieved immense levels of popularity and usage.

Many use it, on account of its…
… versatility in finding and maintaining contacts
… easy to use features and the availability of readily accessible tools
… resourcefulness which helps to gain a lot of information and entertainment

One of the features that is available on Facebook is the option to “unfriend” someone.

To “unfriend” means to remove someone from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking website.

The technique to do that is pretty simple:
 Going to the person’s profile
 Hover over the ‘Friends’ button at the top of the profile
 Click on “Unfriend’

It’s as easy and straightforward as that to “throw” someone out of the friend list!

Real life too, sometimes falls into this “simplistic” technique to “unfriend” people from life – especially people who are close to us and who ought to deserve “repeated” chances before the ties are severed…

… Someone offends us – either out of ignorance or perhaps due to some reason – but we easily “break ties” with that person

… Someone speaks a bad word about us and we take so much offence that we lose all our peace of mind and devise schemes to terminate or harm that person – either physically or socially or mentally

… Someone acquires a bad name – out of false rumours or maybe even out of some true incident; but we make a mountain of the mole and go on to further critically damage the image of that person

Our life sometimes makes it so easy “to unfriend” someone… even our own family members, or close friends or some other person who has played a deep role in our lives.

The Gospel of the Day invites us to reflect in depth on this our trend to “unfriend” people from our lives, without even giving them further chances or opportunities to remedy themselves.

Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone” (Mt 18: 15)

Jesus was a person who had an important principle in all His teachings: the need to strive towards perfection.

In Mt 5: 48, Jesus says, ” Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect”

It’s this pursuit of perfection in human relationships that makes Jesus to invite us in being careful, cautious and vigilant with respect to severing our relationships with one another.

“Friendship”, it is said, “is delicate as a glass – once broken it can be fixed but there will always be cracks”

Jesus, therefore warns us on the need to “handle with care” our relationships.

The “pursuit towards perfection” makes it inevitable for a Christian – a follower of Christ, to go beyond one’s own limitations and situations in maintaining relationships – preserving and perfection the fine ones, mending and restoring the broken ones.

• It is easy to say “I don’t like you any more” because of some bad experience
… but it takes Christian Gentleness to respect and accept a person, despite his/her faults or failures

• It is easy to show a person the exit-door in our relationship due to some misunderstanding or ego-clash
… but it takes Christian Humility to let go of one’s “proud and adamant mentality” and lower oneself to try to understand better the person in fault and his/her situation and background

• It is easy to harbour grudge and to nurture ill-feelings and to spread the contagion of malicious talks regarding  a person whom we don’t like
… but it takes Christian Charity to allow the honey of Christ’s love to permeate our hearts and to be able to find goodness even in the midst of a slush of ‘apparent dirt’ in the person

Our lives, families, communities and societies are being plagued by a number of cancers with respect to relationships:
 Backbiting and spreading false rumours about people and situations
 Cooking up bogus stories and building up on some true incidents to fashion an “interesting and spicy” report regarding particular persons
 Actively engaging in forming groups and cliques against a someone in order to satiate one’s own pleasures and get through one’s personal agenda for life

Are we ready to be bold to let go of all such tendencies to which we can be prone and instead engage ourselves in radical Christian charity and humility?

May we seek the intercession of St Jane de Chantal, whose feast we celebrate today for greater strength in our personal relationships.

She is the patron saint of forgotten people, in-law problems, loss of parents, parents separated from children and widows.

May her words inspire us:
“If we truly love our neighbours, we refrain from saying anything prejudicial to them.
 We support everyone as we would like to be supported.
 We try to give the example that we would like to receive from others.
 We excuse and forgive the blunders of others as we would like ours to be forgiven and excused.
 We rejoice in the happiness of others and are sorrowful in their pains, just as we would like them to respond to us in ours.
 We graciously help others in their needs both by prayer and actual service.

In this way we truly show our good-will and love.”

God Bless! Live Jesus!