Reflection - 87

“Come and see” (Jn. 1:39). This was the replay Jesus gave to the two disciples of John the Baptist who asked him where he was staying. In these words we find the meaning of vocation.

This Gospel passage is one of many in the Bible where the “mystery” of vocation is described, in our case the mystery of vocation to be Apostle of Jesus. Each Christian vocation comes from God and is God’s gift. However it is never bestowed outside of or independent of the Church. Instead it always comes about in the Church and through the Church because, as the second Vatican council reminds us, “God has willed to make men holy and save them not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness” (1bid).

 It has been rightly said, “The secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer.” Not just our failure to pray, but our failure in prayer. In the story of the Pharisee and the publican the Pharisee is one who prayed long and often, but he was a miserable failure. His prayers were never heard by God because neither he nor his prayers were ever right with God.

Oswald Smith (Canadian pastor, author, and mission’s advocate.) who said, “When we work, we work, when we pray, God works.” Throughout history, the men and women that God has used mightily have been people who knew how to pray and for whom prayer was both a priority and a necessity. As we study the gospels and the training of the disciples by the Lord, we find that prayer is to be a vital part of a disciple’s life.

As we study the life of Christ in the gospels, we note a consistent pattern:

(1) In the midst of a busy schedule, when men were clamoring in their need for His attention, Christ retired to pray and to draw upon the resources of God the Father for He knew that “the Son can do nothing of Himself” (Mark 1:32-37).

(2) When it was time to choose the disciples we don't find Christ reviewing the qualifications of each of the disciples. Rather we find Him retiring to pray. This is clear in Mark 3:13 and Luke 6:12-13. Why? Because “the Son can do nothing of Himself.” He needed the direction and provision of the Father.

(3) When Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus He raised His eyes heavenward in dependence and thanksgiving for what the Father was about to do (John 11:40-42). The actual prayer of Christ is not given, only the fact of His dependence, thanksgiving, and confidence that His prayer had been heard. The words of verses 41 and 42 imply, however, that not only did He pray to the Father, but that He wanted all those standing around to know it as well that they might learn the secret of dependence.

(4) When He fed the five thousand. The words “and looking up toward heaven” demonstrate the Lord’s prayerful dependence (Mark 6:41). Also, “He blessed the food” which shows He thanked God the Father for it and for what He, the Father, was about to do through Jesus, the man, a God-dependent, God-approved man.

So when we work, we work. When we pray, the Father works. So out of this conscious and constant sense of need, there arose a continuing attitude of prayer: a continual expectation in the Lord Jesus that if anything was to be done, the Father must do it both by way of initiative, and wisdom, and power. Now if this was true of Jesus Christ, how much more shouldn’t this also be true for us? Indeed, prayer according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus is to be a vital goal of true disciples.

Bro. George Maria Lumina

Reflection  - 86

(St. Mark 12:24)

Jesus said to them is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of god?

Though Jesus is asking the question to the Sadducees, for many years the same question is asking to each one of us. We are called to serve in his vineyard if we don’t know the scripture or the power of the one who created us then it will be a difficult task to reach our destiny. Many of us simply try to work God into our day and to fit in a few prayers here and there. The reality is that we should be working our lives around God and around prayer. Our Creator loves us so much, and really wants to help us live the best life possible. It would be in our best interest to spend time with Him each and every day.

In the gospel of st. mark Jesus is saying I am the god of Abraham, I am the god of Jacob, I am the god of Isaac. Most of the days we used to hear this especially in the holy Qurbono so that we know it but we have to ponder is are we aware about it? No matter what you are going through or what is troubling you, bring it before God. Let Him help as only we can and wants to. May we all have the strength to put our trust in the Lord, and may we all be granted the healing we need.

We are called to be another Christ, we should know the power of the one who created us, the scriptures and who is he? If we are familiar with these things then our journey toward his paradise will be more effective and powerful. We need people in our lives that will help support and encourage us in our faith journeys. We need people who will remind us that we do not need the things of this world, but rather all we need is God.

The simple method to know our creator and to build up a personal relationship with him is possible only through a complete true love towards him. Our love should be a genuine love it should not be a fragile one. Jesus tells the scribe today that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and that the second is to love our neighbor as our self We must also remember that we are not simply called to love God, but we are also called to love our neighbor as ourselves. This means that no matter what those close to us may do or say, we are still called to love them as ourselves.

Let us ask the help and support of our mother Mary and all the saints in order to have true love towards him so that gradually we could build a personal relationship with the one who created us. Father above, we thank you and praise you for the gift of this day. Lord, thank you for all that you have blessed us with in this life and for all that you do. Lord, help us to live for you and to make this life into what you will for us. Lord, we are your children, help us to be obedient to you and to serve only you in our life. We ask this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.

                                                                                                        Bro. Varghese Malayil 

Reflection - 85

 “O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting” 1 Chronicles 16:34. “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him” Psalm 28:7.

Today we are going to meditate up on thanksgiving. It is said that the best attitude is the attitude of gratitude. We all are called to be grateful as our life is depended on the other. In simple words, as man is a social being he is depended on the other. It is also said that there is no rich man who deserves any help from the other and there is no poor man who cannot offer any help to the other. So we all are depended thus our very nature is demanding a thankful heart from all of us.  

Gratitude is nothing but being aware of the favors and helps that the other offers to us and its respond in words and deeds. Or Gratitude is the combinations of two acts namely being aware of the favor and help and saying thanks. Without the awareness of the favor from the other we cannot be thankful. But sometimes we concentrate on saying thanks not even being aware about the favor. Thus automatically we become thanks givers without the awareness of the favor. Being aware of the favors that we receive help us to be more worth.

For example, as we walk up , if we have the awareness that God is the protector of life and there are many who cannot even to see the fine morning we will automatically give thanks to God. Also we will be thankful to our timekeeper who helps us to walk up every day in time. As we move on we will come to know that the web of dependence is getting wider and wider. In this sense we are grateful to the farmer who works in the field and the fisherman who goes across the sea to fish and even many thing that we use namely food, dress, table, pen and so on. Then we came to know that the web of dependence go beyond our imagination and at the end it reaches to the provider of all things. This awareness will help us to have the real gratitude of heart and word.

Dear friends , the attitude of gratitude is the awareness of the favor that we receive from the other and help us to say thanks as well as help us to be more humble and make us ready to stretch our hands to help others. 1. Thesa. 5: 18 says: “Give thanks in every circumstance for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”.  So dear friends let us try to be more aware of the favor and help that we receive from the other and let us try to say thanks and pray for them. Thus let us try to cultivate the attitude of gratitude through which we can attain the humility the mother of all virtuous.

                                                                                   Bro. Abin Mathew Cyriac