SPRINGBOARDS and WALKING STICKS

 Good Friday brings us to the foot of the cross, and face to face with Christ hanging on the cross. You can’t escape the cross and the man hanging on the cross today. You are prayerfully, compellingly, or even violently brought to the foot of the cross. At the foot of the cross you meditate on the spirituality and philosophy of the cross. Gripped by the holiness of the cross and the man hanging on the cross, we fall on our knees in veneration. I. As we look at the crucifixion scene in Luke 23 we find three crosses and the men on those crosses in conversation on mount Calvary. Their response to the violence an endurance that is happening around would perhaps represent various categories of people who made that gory journey, starting with is arrest on the Mount of Olives, passing through the offices of Annas, the former high priest, Caiaphas, the high priest, Herod, the ruler of Galilee, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and finally to Mount Calvary, the mount of crucifixion. We fi...

 Art faces, looks outward. Art, like any visual, is made to be seen. Art begins its life facing outward, a silent message positioned at the boundary between creator and audience. By its very nature, art is made the explicit purpose of being witnessed by others. This fundamental characteristic—art's inherent visibility—gives it a unique purpose than mere aesthetic appreciation. Consider how art functions in our world: it may repel, like a scarecrow standing sentinel in a field, establishing boundaries and creating distance. Alternatively, it might beckon us forward like an inviting multi-cuisine restaurant sign, promising nourishment of a different kind. This duality speaks to art's versatility as a communicative medium. When art invites engagement, it doesn't simply request passive viewing but actively encourages consumption, questioning, rethinking, and deconstruction of its messages and meanings. The most powerful works transcend their origins, breaking free from the soci...

 Maundy is from the Latin mandatum , meaning mandate, command, commandment. Jesus places before his disciples and all of us, three mandates. He instituted the Eucharist and mandated them to do it in remembrance of Him . When at the table, Jesus took bread and wine, blessed it gave thanks, broke bread and shared it along with wine to eat and drink; and told them, whenever you come together celebrate this in my memory. And it would also mean whenever you celebrate it must bring you together as a family, community, and society. Let this be the bond between you; let this be the identifying factor among you. At Emmaus, while Jesus broke the bread, the disciples recognised him. Jesus loved them, and loved them to the very end. And commanded them, as I have loved you, you must love one another . For Christians love is not a choice, Jesus commands it here as a mandate. Jesus washed his disciples’ feet; and commanded them, if I who you call as your master and lord, have washed your feet, ...

  This day begins at Bethphage (place of figs), with the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We began with enthusiasm, happiness, and with hosannas to the great king. We enter the church; slowly the palm branches go down, and as we read the passion narrative the cross of Jesus comes up. The king, who sat on a young donkey that walked on the garments and branches laid on the road, is now hanging on a cross, naked. The enthusiasm and happiness of people have turned into a feeling of sadness and mourning. The words from Zechariah 9:9, “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey" is replaced with the words from the servant song in Isaiah 53:2, "He had no form or beauty that we should look upon him, and no majesty that we should desire him.” Celebrated author of the book The Alchemist , Paulo Coelho, in his book, Like the Flowing River , suggests that life is composed of three distinct moments: ‘a lot of people’, ‘a few people’, and ‘almost no one’...

  One of the maxims of spirituality is that human life is not about ‘doing’ but ‘being’. Just be and, unlike animals, we begin to experience emptiness. As we can’t enter the same river twice, we also can’t do anything twice, or same as before. We are in constant becoming something other than what we had been. Life is not static. We are not unchanging entities frozen in time, but dynamic beings in constant flux—always growing, learning, and transforming. The essence of humanity lies not merely in our existence, but in our capacity for evolution. We are not just being; we are becoming. This distinction is profound. To "be" suggests a fixed state, but to "become" embodies the journey of transformation that defines the human experience. Each day, each moment, each choice carries us forward on this path of becoming—sometimes deliberately, sometimes unwittingly, but always inevitably. Consider the child who becomes an adult. The transformation involves not just physical g...

 Let not your heart be troubled, trust in God (John 14:1). As we hear the death of a loved one, we rise in protest and complaints; we wish the news were not true. In the hearts and minds of those who love, people always remain young; they never become old enough to die. Often what determines our age is the love of people around us. Our protest ends when we know that he/she is with someone more dear and loving than ourselves. Once a master had a large garden of rose plants planted, handed it over to a gardener to take care of it. The gardener along with his entire family stayed in the garden and took care of the rose plants. The rose plants grew up, had buds and flowers. And there in the middle of the garden was an amazing rose flower; it stood part from all other in its beauty and charm. The gardener and his entire household loved that flower. One day the gardener had gone to the market and arriving back home, and he found the rose plucked off. He protested, yelled, even cried, and...

 Even where kings once ruled supreme, there existed a curious counterbalance—the court jester. This figure, permitted to mock even the sovereign, made possible one of humanity's most enduring social truth telling mechanism: humour. Far from being merely a source of entertainment, wit and humour serve as essential elements of human connection, social critique, and personal resilience. As Gandhi wisely observed, "If I did not have a sense of humour, I would have ended my life long back." This profound statement reveals how humour functions as a survival mechanism in the face of life's greatest challenges. When confronted with adversity, the ability to laugh provides perspective and resilience that can sustain us through our darkest hours. The power of wit extends beyond personal comfort. Throughout history, humour has served as a social critic, challenging authority and puncturing pretension. The court jester's role was not merely to entertain but to speak truth to...

 Jesus has a complaint and he protests (John 8: 21-30); Jesus is saddened and disturbed because the people neither know Him, nor knew the Father who sent Him, nor the fact that He is doing His Father’s will.   The Jews expected a messiah like, king David, king Cyrus, etc. but Jesus was not only in keeping with their expectation of the messiah but also unholy. In Mark 14 we find Jesus dining with a leper called Simon in Bethany. The Torah condemns a leper as an unholy person, and those who come in contact with him. The task is to know the truth about Jesus, our God, and what is the Will of his father that he is trying to carry out. Perhaps there is no other text so close to the identity of Jesus as Philippians 2: 6-11. It is written before the gospels were written. The Letter to the Philippians, along with Paul's other letters, was written before the Gospels, with scholars generally placing Paul's letters in the 50s CE and the Gospels in the 70s-100s CE. It is a hymn that the f...

 John Chapter seven (John 7: 1-30) portrays two groups of well-determined and motivated people. Both have well defined mission to accomplish. There are the leaders of the people, the high priests, the Pharisees, etc. planning, plotting and scheming to kill Jesus. They are so well motivated that they will not rest until it is accomplished. On the other side we have Jesus, motivated as he says, to do the will of his father who sent him and from whom he is come. He knows what will happen, he is waiting for his hour. He too will not rest until his mission is accomplished. Two sides: one looking for an opportunity to kill, another waiting for his hour to die. The maxim of every war, every capitalistic business is, kill but don't die. You may destroy others, but don't get destroyed. Brutally put, but its true. It is the military dictate and of every country. It is the business rule of every corporation. We teach it to our kids, through the games they play. We remind ourselves of it o...

 Picture a classroom where questions are met with impatience, where unique perspectives are dismissed, where vulnerable thoughts are cut short. Gradually, hands stop rising, eyes avoid contact, and the once-vibrant space becomes a vacuum of missed opportunities and untapped potential. This silence is not respect—it is retreat, it is a silent protest, and it is dissent. When teachers fail to listen, they unwittingly construct invisible barriers. Students quickly sense when their contributions hold no value, when their voices are merely tolerated rather than treasured. The natural response is self-preservation through silence. Why risk sharing when no one is truly receiving? This silent classroom is a warning sign. A teacher who does not listen will soon be surrounded by students who do not speak. Andy Stanley has spoken about it on leadership, "a leader who does not listen will gradually  be surrounded by people who do not speak." It is true in every field, including educatio...

 People in Spain recount an old folk story. In the city of Barcelona, there lived a father and a son; the son's name was Antonio. They get into a little misunderstanding, egos get hurt, and in the rage of anger and stubbornness the son leaves home. Father waited thinking that Antonio would come back, a few hours passed, a day passed, his son did not return. He went in search of him, but he could not find him. The father was desperate to find his son, so he approached the city's most popular newspaper to give a notice of missing. He gave the advertisement as, Dear Antonio, meet me at the central fountain in the evening next Saturday. All is forgiven. I accept you as you are. I love you -your father. The father could not wait for next Saturday to arrive because of the anticipation of finding his son. On Saturday the father goes to the central fountain and there he finds hundreds of Antonios, waiting and looking out in expectation of their fathers to show up to receive them. Ther...

 John chapter five begins with Jesus healing a man who was lying at the pool of Bethzatha (a name that means, house of mercy, house of grace) sick for 38 years. The Jews looked at the act of healing by Jesus and the healed man carrying his mat and walking as breaking the Sabbath law; and they questioned and began to make life difficult for Jesus. Thus Jesus answers, My Father goes on working and so do I, …all good works are done through and with God, ...and those who do good shall rise to life (John 5: 17-30). Continue working for our God works continuously. Work is one of the most tangible agents, forces for transformation. Consider any civilisation, community, society, family or individual who have transformed themselves, it’s undeniably through work –hard work. A lazy society or individual reaches nowhere. Don't just work; do constructive, good, and compassionate works. The gospel stories are parables of this great truth. A Samaritan doing good to a wounded stranger lying by the...

 There are milestones that mark our lives. Moments when you realise nothing will ever be the same again. Being graduated is such a moment. From now on your lifespan is divided into two, before my graduation and after my graduation. The volume and diversity of choices, options, and opportunities multiply when you get graduated. The problems that you had when you began your graduation studies, and had during it, seem small now, and you are masters at solving them. You look back and smile at them with a pleasant feeling for you haven’t collapsed under its weight, or even if you had collapsed once or a couple of times, you have got up and walked again. You have made it through, you have done it, and you can do it again with the experience and resourcefulness that you have gathered. Congratulations to you. Be Grateful Look at the stage, and to your right and to your left, you will find your teachers. Like in a film, some of them were, of course, your heroes, some of them were your villa...

 How successful have you been with your vineyard, your business, your institution, your parish, your family, and your relationship? If you have been achieving good amount of success, here is a warning for you—read Matthew 21: 33-46. It is story of workers who refuse to give the owner of the vineyard the share of the produce. Apparently, it is the story of successful workers in the vineyard, in truth, it is the story of the tragedy of shallow success. When the vineyard made profit, the workers began to assume ownership, they misappropriated the vineyard, and treated disrespectfully and violently the servants of the master, and treated brutally his own son. People who refuse to acknowledge others and their role and input becomes dangerous to peace and running of society. A master, who was so very generous a while ago, perhaps would not mind that he is not getting fruits and grapes from his vineyard, and the workers are keeping it for themselves. Instead he definitely would have been ...

 It is vulnerable on the one hand to be mega rich and on the other hand to be utterly poor. Mega richness, most often, takes a person away from God; for he/she doesn’t feel the need of God in their lives. He/she has everything that he/she needs thus God becomes irrelevant. He/she asks, ‘what has God to do with my life?’ It is vulnerable and dangerous to come to a state that I don't need others in my life. Abject poverty, most often, takes a person away form God; for he/she doesn’t see the hand of God in their lives. He/she has nothing to smile about in life, all that they have is suffering and pain; thus God becomes impersonal, meaningless. He/she asks, ‘what has God done with my life?’ People become vulnerable and may become dangerous when they are unable to trace the contribution of others in their lives. The virtue of being spiritual is to have God in us whether we are mega rich or utterly poor. The virtue of being spiritual is to have God in us in our richness and in our povert...

  Here is a humble submission by, perhaps the greatest Physicist of all time, Isaac Newton (1643-1727), “ If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants .” Who are these giants that he is referring to? Of course, his father, mother, teachers, leaders, and so on. If so, how do we reconcile this with the gospel passage, Matthew 23: 08-12, where Jesus tells his followers call no one on the earth, as you father, mother, teacher, or master? This is a warning against the pride of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, and the like. They occupy seats as though they are the ultimate, the last, and the final. Jesus says be aware. Within that context Jesus tells us “consider no one on the earth, as your final father, mother, teacher, or master? They were great shoulders to stand on and see beyond; but what you have seen is greater than where you had stood to see it. At some point we must let go where we stand and leave for what we see. While standing on t...