ON BEING BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST (3)

Romans 6:3-4

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect..

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity.

Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence – Solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now I invite you to consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

We continue our meditation on being anointed priest, prophet and king, at our baptism. Our baptism brings us into solidarity with Christ and with him into solidarity with all people of God as brothers and sisters.

To be anointed is to be set apart, consecrated…..to be set apart for sacred use in prayer, in sacrifice, in worship, in the service of God….to be separated from other common things used for common purposes.

Take a moment now and consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Our last meditation was on being anointed priest. We now take time to meditate on being anointed prophet, at our baptism as Jesus was……..

Gleaning through the history of the prophets in the Old Testament, we gain a number of insights about who they were, what they did, how and why they were called and what their mission was. This will enable us to understand what our own prophetic calling is.

The prophets of Israel were men who spoke the truth in God’s behalf. They were not scientists or lawyers or philosophers or theologians in the sense that we know today.
They were preachers, proclaimers, heralds. Their aim was to persuade people to act: to change their ways, to turn to God, to turn away from “other” gods, to listen to God, to seek the wisdom of God and so on. They stood before God for their people and before their people for God.

The prophets were voices of the love, the truth, the justice, the peace and the intimate presence of God. They stood for love, truth, justice and peace.

Take a moment…reflect on the possibility of participating in this prophetic mission in seeking and standing up for love, truth, justice and peace……..

Their experience of God was that in God, love and truth and justice and peace had met…had come together, merged…..and so God’s voice was a voice of love and truth and justice and peace, all in one and one in all…….and the love, truth, justice and peace were unchanging, everlasting, eternal. This is what the prophets were called to proclaim.

• The prophets were to proclaim the unconditional, unconquerable, everlasting love of God.

• They were to proclaim God’s truth…that he is ever present, unchanging.

• They were to proclaim God’s justice….God brings us into himself, reconciles us with himself…it’s God’s doing.

• They were to proclaim God’s peace, Shalom….God brings all things into harmony with himself; God seeks the highest good of his people.

   

• They reassured their people of divine compassion, mercy and tender care.

   

• They also warned their people of the consequences of choosing evil ways and turning away from God and community.

   

• The prophets had a passionate attachment to the religious traditions and the revealed word of God.

   

• They encouraged their people to embrace whatever, within their society, can serve to deepen their commitment to God and to live noble lives and avoid whatever threatens their commitment to God and a life of virtue and honor.

   

• The prophets were other-centered – never centered on themselves. They were at the service of God in their people’s behalf…not for themselves. Personal ambition, desires, or fears were set aside for the sake of the reign of God and the good of the people. The other-centeredness is not separation from others. They were integral part of the community, speaking to the community from within the community.

   

• They had a compassionate understanding of their society, an intense, fervent/ardent devotion to their religious tradition, a passionate love for God’s word and an unselfish dedication to others.

   

• They were men and women of courage and wisdom, standing up for the “righteousness”, the holiness of God in the form of a cry for justice or forgiveness or healing or truth or peace or reform or renewal or concern for others…never for themselves.

We are called and anointed to participate in this prophetic mission.

Take a moment…reflect on the possibility of sharing in this prophetic mission of Jesus. Go back to each of the above ‘bullets’ and reflect on what each of them mean for you at this point in your life.

Take another moment reflect a little more intensely and personally on the thought or insight that seems to have special significance for you at this point in time. What does it say to you at this time and what does it call forth from you?

We know today that Prophesy did not die out after the Bible was compiled. We now know that a prophet is not necessarily someone who predicts the future, but someone who is brave enough to speak out loud what is obvious to everyone. But be aware, stating the obvious is prophetic. It can get you into trouble….all the prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus too, got into trouble.

We share in the prophetic mission of Jesus and we have reason to be prophetic and there is much to be prophetic about……we must be prophets in our own land and time. We must bring good news to the poor and the oppressed, to the neglected women and children, to the victims of abuse and oppression, to those who carry heavy burdens, to the sick and the suffering, to those who are burdened with war and violence, to the widows and orphans……..we must proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor as Jesus did!

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

You are anointed to bring good news….to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favor. How awesome and challenging!!!!

May God help you live out more fully your anointing to share in the prophetic mission of Christ. May God empower you with His Holy Spirit to fearlessly and courageously to work for justice and peace! May He enable you to never make peace with oppression, injustice, violence or war! May you strive to fulfill your anointing to bring good news, to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favor!!!

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs

NEW LIFE….NEW CREATION

We take a break from our usual meditation to get ourselves into the spirit of Lent. We will return to our theme next week. This morning let us reflect on the season of Lent and on what the season calls forth from us.

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect..

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity.

Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence – Solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now I invite you to consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well………

Prayerfully, gently, slowly read…..take time…go slow!    

We begin our Lenten Journey with a cross traced in ashes on the foreheads of all who came to Church on Ash Wednesday as declaration of the necessity of repentance, of change of heart and of faithfulness to the Gospel values. The priest or the minister says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” as he traces the cross in ashes on the forehead of the faithful who come to Church on Ash Wednesday. Lent begins with the call to repentance.

The opening message of Jesus was: “Reform your lives! The reign of God is at hand!” This is the good news…this is the Gospel….the presence of the reign of God, the ‘already’ and ‘not yet’ of Christian life. We do not know how or when all things will be transformed.

To repent is to turn around and toward. Jesus invites is to turn around and toward the kingdom of God. He calls us to realize that we are going in the wrong direction. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God and we need to turn toward the kingdom. On our earth the Kingdom of God is already present in mystery: it is and it is not yet. It is the beyond that is within! One who is transformed by the Gospel values will come to know the “beyond that is within”. This is our hope.

As deformed by sin, violence and war, the shape of this world will pass away. We are offered the hope that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice and peace meet, embrace and abide……… and the blessedness that comes from this transformed world will surpass all the longings for peace which spring up in the human heart.

Our hope is not a passive waiting for things to happen. It calls forth continual conversion if we are to hasten our journey into the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace. The ‘kingdom of heaven’ and ‘God’s reign’ reveal the dynamic relationship we have with God, which enables us to accomplish what God wills. This calls forth a change of heart…real repentance, a real turn around, not just a feeling “sorry” for our sins.

To be part of that reign means to enter into a process of continually experiencing conversion. John the Baptist and Jesus called for “repentance” and that is what conversion is…an ongoing, life-long conversion!

Abide in these thoughts for some time

A necessary and integral part of this continual conversion for the disciple of Jesus, in search of a more just and non-violent world, is the conversion from discouragement and the temptation to escape the suffering of the world to an enduring commitment based on hope. The temptation we often face is to give up the struggle totally, to stop reading the newspaper, to withdraw into a privatized spirituality.

This is not the spirituality of the Gospel of Jesus. The Beatitudes, which flow from the heart of the Gospel of Jesus, lead us to ‘creative insecurity’ or ‘dynamic insecurity’. If you are secure, you don’t need grace….you don’t need prayer…. you don’t need brothers and sisters… you don’t need the power of God. If the reign of God is to be ours, we must have hope…..we must keep going….we must change our attitudes and grown into the “beatitudes”…we must get on the road to conversion.

In the New Testament, Jesus announces the arrival of the Kingdom, the reign of God, in the world. It is a future near at hand…..a future present in the present!!! The believer lives in hope. The concept of hope is most fully developed by St Paul, especially in his letter to the Romans. We boast of our hope for the glory of God. (See chapter 5) In hope we were saved. But hope is not hope if its object is seen; how is it possible for one to hope for what he sees? Hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance. Rejoice in hope, be patient under trial, persevere in prayer. (See Ch. 8 & 12)

Jesus’ resurrection is our most radical sign of hope. It means that the power of sin and death has been overcome (1 Corinthians 15) and that we share in the freedom of the resurrection. We share in it as individuals and as a people. The season of Lent calls us to make a journey from Ashes to fire…..to Easter….to the resurrection of Jesus. Our hope is in this resurrection, that of Jesus and our own.

Believing in the resurrection means making a commitment to live in hope despite the injustices that we are aware of, despite the acts of violence that we read about or, perhaps, have experienced.

We must open our minds and our hearts and our whole life to welcome the abundance of God’s goodness and Grace and be transformed by this gift in abundance. The resurrection of Jesus and the hope of our own resurrection calls us to conversion, to a transformation of our life in Christ.

Nothing prevents personal transformation more than closed mind or heart. Change can not take place if we cling to and clutch at what we think is unchangeable.

When our security is at stake, we may withdraw or fight instead of listening or thinking or praying and talking about the challenges before us. We tend to defend our positions and our feelings and search for others to help us defend them instead of letting them go, or receive new information or listen to different perspectives
that call us forth change in us and in others.

We must remain open and be filled with wonder and awe and surprise……to be unafraid to die and rise again……to give up the present securities and comforts and accept new challenges…to hear new things….to meet new people …to be a people of the resurrection.

Rejoice in small victories and concentrate on the good already being done rather than continually lament the absences. This disposition leads us to hope and enables us to work for further change with perseverance. Let us make our journey of Lent and let it takes to rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus.

My Prayer for you:

May your Lenten days of prayer, penance and almsgiving help you to be reborn in spirit, empower you to love without limits, teach you to pray constantly, help you seek the wisdom of God, enable you to live in compassion and help you celebrate the joy of Easter. May God bless you and your family and keep you safe in His Love.

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs

ON BEING BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST (2)

Romans 6:3-4

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect..

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity.

Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence – Solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now I invite you to consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

Our last meditation was on being identified with Christ in baptism. Our baptism brings us into solidarity with Christ and with him into solidarity with all people of God as brothers and sisters.

We are identified and affirmed as “sons of God” and empowered with the Holy Spirit to live as sons of God and to fulfill the mission entrusted to us.

In Baptism we are immersed into the mystery of love, God’s love. We are washed clean, given a clean garment, a lighted candle and anointed priest, prophet and king….all symbolizing our character….an indelible character!!!

You are anointed priest, prophet and king…How awesome!

Abide in these thoughts for some time

To be anointed is to be set apart, consecrated…..to be set apart for sacred use in prayer, in sacrifice, in worship, in the service of God….to be separated from other common things used for common purposes.

Anointing with oil, after cleansing/washing, signifies separating, protecting, safe-guarding – separated for and safe-guarded from…….The oil that is used for this anointing is also separated, set aside and not used for any other purpose.

Anointing is also a way of “refreshing and invigorating”, an act of hospitality. One of the reasons for anointing with oil was to trap dirt on the surface of the skin so that it did not get into the pores so it was easier to wash off the dirt….reflect on what this means!

Anointing with oil was also done for healing of wounds. In recent times, many have associated anointing with conferring of power. This idea comes from Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit comes and gives power. To understand it as being empowered does make sense, but to see it as being given power is wrong interpretation.

Take a moment now and consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Reflect on being anointed priest at your baptism as Jesus was……..How does it feel at this time as you reflect on being anointed?

Many thoughts and insights come to me as I reflect on being anointed. Thoughts of atonement, sacrifice and oblation, self-sacrifice and total giving and much more.

Searching through the Scriptures and reflecting on the priesthood beginning with Aaron, what stands out as the most basic purpose of the priesthood is “sanctification” – the sanctification of the priest himself and the people of God.

Sanctification, could be described (though inadequately) as making of a saint. It is a process of growing and helping others in holiness….to be restored to our dignity, to our true identity.

St. Paul says, to our true citizenship: “You are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God – being built to become a dwelling place for God in the spirit” (Eph.2:19-22)

We are anointed priest, at our baptism, to participate in this process: to facilitate our own growth in holiness and that of others. Our baptismal call is a call to holiness, “You are fellow citizens of the saints…”

This implies a call to ongoing conversion of life. We participate in the priesthood of Christ when we facilitate our own conversion and that of others.

Growth in holiness means forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. All we do for forgiveness, healing and reconciliation for ourselves and others is a participation in the priesthood of Christ.

Growth in holiness means self-sacrifice, self-gift and eventually total giving. The priest of the ancient days sacrificed bulls and goats for atonement. Jesus sacrificed himself for redemption. We participate in his priesthood by our self-gift, by living self-sacrificing lives……

Jesus took bread, broke it and said: “do this in remembrance of me”….to do what he did, not just remember the words. What he did was break bread, break himself and give himself. We are anointed priests to break ourselves and give ourselves to one another.

Jesus took the cup, blessed it, shared it and said: “this is my blood”…this is my life, I our this out for you……I empty myself for you. We are anointed priests so that we may pour our lives out for one another.

Take a moment now and consecrate your time again and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words……

Reflect on being anointed priest at your baptism as Jesus was……..How does it feel at this time as you reflect on being anointed?

Remember: to be anointed it to be set apart, to be separated, to be safe-guarded, to be protected, to be refreshed, invigorated and to be empowered…….

Pope Benedict in his call for the year of priests underlined the necessary and “indispensable struggle for moral perfection which must dwell in every authentically priestly heart.” This applies to all who share in the priesthood of Christ.

Our Baptismal call is not just for membership in an organized Church. We baptized into Christ. St. Paul tells us, “Are you not aware that we who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Through baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might live a new life….our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body may be destroyed……to live with him….will never die…dead to sin and alive for God” (Romans 6:3-11)

May God help you live out more fully your anointing to share in the priesthood of Christ.

This is my prayer for you today:

May you continue to be remarkable signs of hope!

May you fearlessly dream, speak, stand and work for justice and peace!

May you make no peace with oppression, injustice, violence or war!

May you strive to be shining witnesses of reconciliation, harmony and peace!

May you reach across boundaries and barriers to form community with all people!

And may God who has loved you without measure fill you with blessings and grace and the experience of the joyful communion of the saints of God……..

Abide in this prayer for some time

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs