SPRINGBOARDS and WALKING STICKS

  The parable of the sower, Mark 4: 1-20, makes us existentially grounded in an age when people get concerned, nervous, and even panic attacks because they or their students and children do not achieve 100 percent every time. Jesus tells us a parable about our existence. This parable consoles me many times. Barely about 25 percent of our instances and talents bear fruit; that too sometimes 30 fold, some times 60 fold, some times 90 fold, and very few times a 100 fold. And that is okay. Jesus never condemns it. He makes us understand it. We live in an age of distraction; whether we like it or not information flow into our rooms and into our heads through television channels, Internet etc. Our plans and programme have no place; our plans get crushed, carried away, dried up. In the words of the parable, the Word of God, which has 100 percent potency, suffers a great set back. In the final analysis, only 25 percent of our day, only 25 percent of our talents, Only 25 percent of our money, o

 The Word of God penned down as the Bible reveals the God on high and God on earth –the incarnated Word. It has inspired, challenged, questioned, and directed our lives time and again all through history, every great Christian’s metanoia began by being confronted by the Word of God. The Word of God is the conscience keeper of every Christian; perhaps even of some great people who are not Christians. Aperuit Illis is the apostolic letter by Pope Francis, meaning, “ opened to them .” He titled the letter after Luke 24:45, “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,” which took place after our Lord's resurrection when two of His disciples were traveling on the road to Emmaus. On 30 September 2019, on the Feast of St Jerome, the man who translated the Bible to Latin (Vulgate), Pope Francis instituted the annual observance of the Sunday of the Word of God, devoted to the celebration, study, and dissemination of the Word of God on every 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.   Word of Go

 Do we need leaders in a Utopian Society? However utopian a society may be, if there are humans, they will obviously form into groups and organisations. According to the study of Peter Ferdinand Drucker, an American management consultant, educator and author, if we put a group of people together what can naturally come out of them is friction, confusion, and underperformance; for anything more than this we need leaders. A group cannot self-direct itself. If we as a group need order, peace, success, etc. we need leaders. Think about the best leaders that you ever worked with? What did they do or say that inspired you? Is it their yelling, forcing, not allowing you to speak up, etc? or is it their gentle ways that brought the best out of us: made us a little more courageous, a little more comfortable, people who harnessed the better side of us? When we imagine ‘leaders’, we have ideas of people who are super humans with super powers and magical spells, like heroes in Marvel studio films.

 All of us are on multiple journeys simultaneously. Each one of us has one’s own individual journey to make, towards one’s own personal goals and destinations: from passing the exams to being an entrepreneur. That is excellent. One without a personal goal will not get up from her/his bed everyday. You get up every single day from your bed; and dust yourself off, push yourself, pull yourself, carry yourself and go forward everyday till you reach your destination, your goal. And when you reach your destination, your goal that you have in your mind now, you will find new destinations and goals. So as a person you are constantly leading yourself to new places. This is what we call as personal success. Humans, being social animals, we also find ourselves journeying with varied kinds of groups/institutions/teams. We must also succeed, reach newer heights as a group, as an institution as well. We, students, in many senses, decide as to how famous an institution that we are studying in, and gr

 John is arrested; and Jesus shows up. John is made to disappear from the streets of Galilee, from the desert, and from every scene where he was making an impact; Jesus appears on the streets of Galilee and says aloud, ‘the time has come’ (Mark 1: 14-20). Jesus goes to the place where the voice of God was arrested and suppressed. It is Christian to show up in places where the voice of truth is suppressed, where humans are suppressed. Showing up is important to carry on the good works, and to resist indifference, exclusion, injustice and so on. Dr Jacob Naluparayl says, do not be sad and disappointed when the voice of justice, the voice of God is silenced, rather it is a sign that your time has come to begin God’s ministry. It is like the handing over of the baton by runners in a relay in athletics. The next runner does not feel disappointed and dejected when the last runner stops running; rather he gathers the baton and begins where the other has stopped.  Though we would like to imagi

 The Tamil harvest festival Pongal linguistically means, boiling over or overflow, is a festival of abundance and plenty. If one has the sense and disposition of abundance within, one can’t but overflow. And this festival, in the leap years, coincide with Sankranti celebrated in the neighbouring state Karnataka and some other states in varied names; which celebrates the change/ transition of the sun from the zodiac of Sagittarius ( dhanu ) to Capricorn ( makara ). Life and its seasons are in constant change. These both festivals put together we get the underlying premise of Mark 2: 18-22 –abundance and change. We often choose to live a miserly life of misery. The bridegroom in the gospel is a metaphor for plenty and abundance, it is a call to celebration. New cloth and new wine imply call to change. Do not get stuck in the past of any kind and destroy the new and its possibilities. New wine needs new wineskins. Abundance and change is the chorus or the refrain of the hymn called Jesu

 Today is Sunday. I began my day with my usual Catholic Sunday service; standing in the middle of a church, filled with faith filled, convinced, and uncomplicated people, praying, singing, sharing, and celebrating. There was energy, there was vibe, there was devotion, and nothing lacked from the usual Sunday services. But from people walking into the church, to the entrance hymn, to the recessional hymn to people walking back home; everything looked and felt like being in an automated mode. Nothing unexpected happened, and nothing unexpected was even expected. Nothing unanticipated was heard, no one was expected to listen to anything that is unanticipated. It was a ritual performed and participated in the most ritualistic manner as possible. It was a kind of implosion into once own faith, certainties, and, age-old practices. Nothing is neither further clarified, nor challenged. Later in the day I was at Chitra Shante (Art Fair) by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath , which had artworks by

 John 1: 19-34 is John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus, and who he is in relation to Jesus. In Matthew 11:11 we find the testimony of Jesus on John, “ Truly I say to you, among them that are born of women there has not been anyone who is greater than John the Baptist.” What is the greatness of John; that he lived in the desert, ate meager food, clothed in camel skin, or he condemned others for their sins? The greatness of john is in the fact that he led people to someone greater than himself. That is a great act of humility. Most of us have a kind of gravitational force to ourselves. We attract people to ourselves, our ideology, place, and style. In other words, we limit people to ourselves. John led people to something/someone greater than himself, his faith, his religion, his place, and ideology. John was preaching a religion of retribution, a god who is punishing. He was so passionate about it that he preached it with rage and fury. In Mathew 3: 7-10 he calls the people, “you br

 God has become human. Yes. God is on the side of humans. God and humanity coexist in the same place, in the same body. It is going to challenge the theist and
the humanist alike. No night has been so life-changing as this night. No birth has ever challenged humanity to this degree as this birth. No child has mesmerised and attracted the world for varied reasons as much as this child. Humans fall in love with this child at the very first sight of it. People are infatuated with its sweetness and warmth. It is nice to be around a child who makes no demands. In the fullness of time Jesus grows up, his uncompromising humanity grows up, and
the challenge begins; contrary to people’s expectations the adult Jesus goes to their worship places, Jesus meets them in their tax-collecting offices and on their busy streets, Jesus visits their homes, and he asks them the primordial question, ‘Where is your brother? Where is your sister?’ And people fall out of infatuation. Christ-birth is a gift to a

 As the holidays begin, we plan as to what to do this Christmas. What to do big this time? There can be nothing bigger than this. Behold him. Behold the one who showed up. Behold the one who showed up when humanity needed him the most. We began our waiting for the Lord four weeks back at the beginning of advent with lighting the first candle on the advent wreath –the candle of hope. Today on Christmas day, according to John 1: 1-18 we celebrate Christ, the eternal logos, the Word who came into the world as Light of the World; the light that shines in the dark; the light that darkness cannot overcome. Into the darkness of this day, a light is born. To light a candle is to show up, to stand up, to show up is an act of courage. Ronald Rolheiser narrates the story of apartheid. In the days of apartheid in South Africa, Christians living there used to light candles and place them in windows as a sign to themselves and to others that they believed that some day this injustice would end. A c

 God was born in a stable, in a cowshed. Humanity could not even imagine it. Jesus was born as human. A mystic says, human nature is like a stable inhabited by the ox of passion and the ass of prejudice. If we watch closely, these animals in us take up a lot of room and which I suppose most of us are feeding on the quiet. And it is there between them, pushing them out, that Christ is born and in their very manger he is laid—and they will be the first to fall on their knees before Him. Christ came to the most unexpected; therefore there is Christmas. A cow shed is build just on four pillars, or wood pieces; and often they are without walls, so it has unlimited space. Thus there is place for Mary, Joseph, angels, animals, shepherds, kings, and for all. The place where Jesus was found indicated the nature of his kingdom and kingship. It is a kingdom where there is place of all.

 The Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh, before he became famous as an artist (he never became famous as an artist in his life time) before he tried his hands at painting, joined his father who was a pastor and preacher. Van Gogh was newly posted as pastor at a small mining village in the southwestern Belgium, called Borinage. It was Christmas, and everything was ready in the church. The church was decorated, crib was ready, and so is the liturgy. Van Gogh the pastor waited outside the church in his spotless cassock to welcome the people to the church for the Christmas celebration. He waited but even after an hour only a few children came to the church. He curiously noticed that adults came to the gate of the church but did not enter the church, rather they peeped in and seeing the well-decorated church and the dressed up pastor returned back sad, not knowing what to do exactly. Van Gogh called a little girl, took her along and asked her to take him to their houses. Van Gogh the pastor, fo

 The Gospel of Luke begins with two stories of impossibility, two stories of impracticality: the story Zachariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1: 5-25) and the story of Mary and Joseph (Luke 1: 26-38). Zachariah and Elizabeth were advanced in age, but now bear a child. Mary a virgin, who has not been with a man, now has a child. Both the actors in the stories and the readers of the stories say in unison, this can’t happen. The infancy narrative, which leads to Christmas, begins with stories of impossibility; the era of Christ begins with stories of impossibility; Christianity begins with stories of impossibility; Christianity is for those who believe in the impossible, believe in the new. Isaiah 43 long ago had foretold in loud and clear voice, “Behold I do new things… I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” And as the gospels unfold, the stories of impossibility continue: the lame walk, the dumb speak, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and the entire world sees the mer

 We meet john the Baptist in the second week of advent. A man filled with passion to the degree of rage and fury. He said, “You brood of vipers, who told you that you could escape the punishment that is come?” (Matthew 3:7). Or again, “The axe is laid at the root of the trees, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down” (Matthew 3:10). John the Baptist was so very passionate, but how? Who would be passionate about living the dessert, eating meagre food of locust and wild honey, wear camels skin, etc.? It is so difficult to do what he was doing. Passion does not necessarily come from what you do, but passion comes from why you do it. Passion does not necessarily come from what you do, but where it is taking you.  The why question is so very important. Was Jesus so passionate about being on the cross? Was Jesus passionate about being beaten and abused by the soldiers and the crowd? No. He was passionate about truth, justice, love, and much more; which took him to many s

 This is a new beginning. You are in a new campus, with new teachers and classmates, and, I am sure, at least few of you are moving into a new city. Though change is exciting, it can be scary; and that fear and anxiety is perfectly normal. I know you have mixed feelings of emotions right now: feelings of excitement, feelings of anticipation, maybe even a little bit of nervousness. But going with the past experiences and statistics of studies at IIPR, your two years here will be worth the time that you spend here. Education is a process towards being civilised. Humans' journey to being civilised has intrigued researchers and anthropologists. Margaret Mead (1901–1978) was an American anthropologist. She was also very vocal on societal issues, such as women's rights, nuclear proliferation, race relations, environmental pollution, and world hunger. Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilisation. The student expected Mead to talk about

 How many lives do we have on this earth? One, two, three, four, or more? One of the foremost thinkers and philosophers of China, Confucius, four centuries before the common era, said, “We have two lives; the second one begins when we realise we have only one.” One can begin our second life from any point in one’s life. The gospels present umpteen examples of this. The thief on the right side of the cross of Jesus began his second life at the fag end of his life on this earth. In Luke 15: 11-32 we find the prodigal son, realising the warmth and love in his father’s house, returns back home and thus begins his second life. In Luke 19: 1-10 we have Zacchaeus, realising the folly of the undue wealth he had amassed, decides to give much of it to the poor, thus begins his second life. Every time we show a little more courage to love, speak the truth, etc. we are beginning our second life. When we decide to help someone, or more importantly, be brave enough to ask for help we are beginning o

  Home is a vineyard. Jesus talks about a fig tree planted in a vineyard (Luke 13:6). One may take it for granted, but in truth we grew up because of the vineyard. A fig tree could have grown up anywhere; it is not a very delicate plant, yet we the fig trees have been planted in a vineyard. Occasionally we must recollect memories of that vineyard, that privilege. It was the memories of a vineyard that he had grown up in which gave courage to the wayward prodigal son sitting in the pigsty far far away from home and family. He began making his small but steady steps towards his home. Family or home is a permanent and enduring relationship; but as individuals we long for fleeting and passionate relationships and pleasures. Often one is forced to choose between permanent relationship and fleeting pleasures. Perhaps one must find moments of fleeting passionate pleasures within permanent relationships. Fleeting pleasures pass. Permanent relationships assure us that when our hands grow cold a

  Receiving calls for generosity; givenness demands giving; privileges entail responsibility. Luke 10: 1-12 we find Jesus, after months of teaching, and sharing life together, sending out his disciples to go, meet, greet, and give peace. In contrast in Luke 10: 13-16 we find Jesus disproving the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum for not doing anything further with the privileges and graces they had received. In other words they refused to go out.  A tree must not only have roots to gather nutritions, but flowers and fruits as well.  Our life must not be exhausted with what we receive, gather, and collect. Our life must not be exhausted with the education that we have received; our life must not be exhausted with the altar of rituals and long prayers. We must at some moment go out to meet, greet, and give peace. One must move out to meet the needy and their need.  Jesus categorically says, take nothing for your journey. Whatever we dearly, stubbornly, and committedly carry in

 In Matthew 18: 1-5 Jesus is asked one of the questions that we often hear echoed in our families, organisations, and in communities, ‘Who is the greatest?’ Jesus takes a little child and places in the midst of them as an example of greatness. St. Teresa of Lisieux (1873 -1897) , also called as St Teresa of Child Jesus, or simply called as the Little Flower, lived only for 24 years on this planet; he entered the Carmelite convent at the age of 15. Minusing the formation period, she hardly lived 9 years as a religious. As a religious she never held a big position, she did odd jobs like the sacristan; the highest post she ever held was one of an assistant novice mistresses.   Mother Teresa of Calcutta was first called Agnes. 1928 Agnes left home to join a convent in Ireland. 1929 She arrived in Calcutta, India, to join the missions. In 1931  Agnes became a nun (aged 18); and when she had to change her name, as it was the custom, she chose the name, Teresa. She was for the reason why she

  Luke 9: 7-9 is about fear and courage. What made Herod frightened? What made Herod anxious and wanting to see Jesus in this context is the credibility of the man called John the Baptist, the ethos of the man called John the Baptist. John the Baptist, in every practical sense, was an insignificant man living in the desert. He had no kingdoms or armies. And it is interesting to note the one afraid of him? The king is afraid of him; he wants to see him. In persuasive writing, one of the compelling aspects of persuasion is ethos. Ethos is the character and the spirit of the one who is peaking or writing. Nothing can replace it; you may have the best logical structure for the essay, written in a very emotional language, but nothing can match up to the force of credibility of the one who is communicating. Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the candidates of Indian origin, running for the US presidential elections 2024, answers a question of a curious young lady about how to revive the ethos and coura

  Retreat is to take a step back, it is a time to slow down. We live and work with many people. All are going in varied speeds, in varied thoughts, and are in varied worlds. We step aside, allow the family, community, colleagues, or crowd to go on with their normal world, life, and work. Retreat is to be alone. For reasons, in the scriptures whenever God spoke to people, they were alone. They were made to step aside. Jacob, for example, sets up a camp and he alone crosses over to the other side of the river; there he wrestles with God (Genesis 32). Abraham meets God on mount Moriah (Genesis 22). Moses meets God on Mount Sinai. And he comes down with the two stone tablets which have the Ten Commandments. Jesus constantly stepped aside to be in communion/prayer with his Father. We step back from the people and go up with Moses on to the mountain, like Moses, remain alone on the mountain with God, and when we return back what do people expect from us? What do the people who are with us in