Monday 20 October 2014

14. My Monologues with Zacchaeus (Lk 19)

My Monologuejs with Zacchaeus  (Lk 19)

Dear Zacchaeus, 
I want you to know I like you a lot as we have a couple of things in common! 
To begin with, I am thrilled to let you know that I am as tall as you! I mean, almost!  
I don't know if there is any male adult in the whole of Bible who is as tall as you, right? 
Sure, there might have been at least a few, I just don't  know! 
I wish there were many more like you in the Bible! 
It would have provided us with a much bigger Support Group, Isn't so?
It makes me proud that I am able to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with a VIP like yourself! 
Great!
Thank you, Mr. Zacchaeus!
By the way, dear Friend, as a growing up boy in your adolescent years, have you ever felt disappointed or depressed because of your hight? 
Did your cousins and classmates make fun of you, bully you?  
I have been through all that! 
You bet!
So I can understand, to some extend, if you had been through similar situations!  
As a growing up adolescent boy, I had desperately wanted to be taller and tried all sorts of things like putting myself through all kinds of rigorous physical exercise, etc.! but of no avail! 
Then I did try some of those quick fix tricks like footwears with thicker soles. 
It didn't help either as it wasn't that practical!All along, my grandfather used to tell me that  as a child I had an attack of a mild sort of polio which adversely affected my physical growth. 
I was not able to walk properly even at the age of Four! 
He used to keep reminding me, "Forget about the height or the lack of it! you better be glad and be grateful at least you are able to walk....!" 
So as to comfort me and encourage me, he also kept telling me, "precious gifts, like diamonds, usually, come in small packets!!!"
Oh, boy, that, sure, was a great boost indeed! 
It did help me much to lift my drooping spirit!  
Gradually, but steadily, I began to accept the reality! 
Dear friend, Zacchaeus, today I am proud of my height! especially with the company of people like yourself!OK, that's all, for the lighter vein!
Dear friend, just as any young man of your age, you too must have wished and wanted to make lots of money, if possible some quick bucks, Right?
You must have been very efficient as well as effective and your Roman Rulers must have been impressed with your capabilities, Isn't it? 
It, sure, did help you climb up the ladder of power and position and became the Chief Tax Collector! IMy Monologous with Zacchaeus  (Lk 19)
Dear Zacchaeus, I want you to know I like you a lot as we have a couple of things in common! 
To begin with, I am thrilled to let you know that I am as tall as you! I mean, almost!  
I don't know if there is any male adult in the whole of Bible who is as tall as you, right? Sure, there might have been at least a few, I just don't  know! I wish there were many more like you in the Bible! It would have provided us with a much bigger Support Group, Isn't so?
It makes me proud that I am able to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with a VIP like yourself! 
Great!
Thank you, Mr. Zacchaeus!
By the way, dear Friend, as a growing up boy in your adolescent years, have you ever felt disappointed or depressed because of your hight? Did your cousins and classmates make fun of you, bully you?  
I have been through all that! 
You bet!
So I can understand, to some extend, if you had been through similar situations!  
As a growing up adolescent boy, I had desperately wanted to be taller and tried all sorts of things like putting myself through all kinds of rigorous physical exercise, etc.! 
but of no avail! 
Then I did try some of those quick fix tricks like footwears with thicker soles. It didn't help either as it wasn't that practical!
All along, my grandfather used to tell me that  as a child I had an attack of a mild sort of polio which adversely affected my physical growth. I was not able to walk properly even at the age of Four! 
He used to keep reminding me, 
"Forget about the height or the lack of it! you better be glad and be grateful at least you are able to walk....!" 
So as to comfort me and encourage me, he also kept telling me, 
"precious gifts, like diamonds, usually, come in small packets!!!"
Oh, boy, that, sure, was a great boost indeed! 
It did help me much to lift my drooping spirit!  Gradually, but steadily, I began to accept the reality! 
Dear friend, Zacchaeus, today I am proud of my height! especially with the company of people like yourself!
OK, that's all, for the lighter vein!
Dear friend, just as any young man of your age, you too must have wished and wanted to make lots of money, if possible some quick bucks, Right?
You must have been very efficient as well as effective and your Roman Rulers must have been impressed with your capabilities, Isn't it? 
It, sure, did help you climb up the ladder of power and position and became the Chief Tax Collector! 
In course of time, through your own hard work and ingenious ways, you became very rich, Didn't  you? 
The richer you became, the people around you harboured more and more hateful and spiteful feelings towards you because the tax collectors, usually, made themselves rich by gouging on their fellow Jews, Right?  
Sure, they might not have expressed it directly as they were wary of you! They knew very well you were protected by the powerful and ruthless Roman Army!  
Certainly, you must have instilled fear and hate in the common people whom you fleeced and forced to cough up more money! 
But doubtful, if you could ever inspire them to be respectful and loving towards you, Could you? 
Your ill-gotten wealth did not bring in much love, acceptance, and recognition which you longed for, as we all do, Don't we? 
A kind of void and loneliness began to creep into your mind and heart, Right? 
Dear Friend Zacchaeus, amassing wealth through the unjust extortion resulted in alienating yourself from your fellow Jews. This in turn triggered a sort of meaninglessness in  your life, Isn't so? 
Slowly, yet increasingly, your initial insatiable craving for money and wealth began to be on the wane. 
As all these internal turmoil was going on within yourself, you came to know of the presence of Jesus in town. I guess, you had heard of him earlier, Haven't  you? 
A curious wish was born in you, just to have a glance of him, Right? 
Your initial wish gathered strength and grew into a burning desire and turned itself into an earnest urge which compelled you to climb up the Sycamore Tree, just to have a closer look at Jesus, the Messiah.
Dear Friend, Zacchaeus, looking at my life, to a great extent, I am able to identify myself with your dire determination to get rich and to be accepted in your community.
In my thirties and forties, I was determined, like you, to achieve the top-notch lot in my graduate and research studies as well as in Teaching and Parish ministries. Wherever I found myself, at home or abroad, hell or high water, I kept on trying to capture the attention and the admiration of people around. I was determined to do it even the expense of others. I was rather successful in gaining the attention, the admiration, and the love I sought after. 
It made me chuckle!
Gradually, something similar to what you went through, a sense of glut began to gather within myself! Occasionally a thought or two would cross my mind as it happened to you and would take me to my Sycamore Tree, to climb and have a peak of you!
In a sense, I have climbed many of my "Sycamore Trees" umpteen times. I guess, I have done it  at times as a seminarian, as an energetic young priest and even as a senior priest especially right after an Annual Retreat or so. Whenever I had climbed the Sycamore Trees of my life on various occasions and in different locations, without fail, the Lord has stopped by and had called me out and has got himself invited into my life! 
So far so good, right, my Friend Zacchaeus?
Full Stop!
Unfortunately, my Friend, here ends the similarity between the two of us!  
Remember, me mentioning at the start that we have a couple of things in common? 
That's It!
But unlike you, my Friend Zacchaeus, I am afraid, I haven't subjected myself to any radical change as I lapse and relapse to keep on living more less the same sort of lifestyle as before!
I keep telling the Lord and to myself of my so- called determination to change!
But without much a substantial change!
I am afraid and ashamed to admit:
I could only talk the talk but not walk the walk!
You, my Friend, did change outright and openly. 
You did the talk and you did the walk!
But not me, I did not change out right..
You, my Friend, did completely break from your past lifestyle of sin and corruption, Right? 
But not me, I didn't make a clean break from my sinful past.
You, my Friend, did quit your job which kept on perpetrating injustice and exploitation of your own fellow Jews.
But not me, I was content with making some cosmetic changes of my wayward ways.  
That's all!
I have yet to reform radically and to change many areas of my erring life.
I feel it's high time to make that radical change  even as I am into the final phase of my life!
You were very genuine in repenting and generous in making restitution.
But not me, I keep doing it in a half -hearted manner.
So, my Friend Zacchaeus, though we do share something things in common, I am afraid, we do differ in many ways, Don't we? 
But I want to keep working on having a radical change as you had.
I do look up to you as a role model of radical change!
Do keep on inspiring me!

Now, once again, back to the bottom of the Sycamore Tree.
How did you feel like when you were, so to say, caught unawares by the Lord?
Did you feel:
embarrassed? 
shocked?
surprised?
awesome? 
confused?
overjoyed?
a mishmash of all the above?
Did you expect from Jesus a dressing down for extorting of the poor?
Did you fear to be booed and jeered at by the unsympathetic crowd?
But none of such things happened, Right?
Instead, you must have been surprised and overwhelmed with joy when he told he is coming to your home, Didn't you? 
His outright unconditional acceptance of you did melt away your avarice and arrogance and did mould you into a new man of repentance and renewal. 
Unbelievable indeed! 
You were ready and willing to make recompense much more than the legal requirement. 
Your unbridled greed to amass wealth was replaced by your unreserved willingness to make restitution.
Oh, my Friend, Zacchaeus, your repentance was not limited to pious prayers and rituals. You remind me that real repentance is not limited to 'head and heart' alone, but it has to end up in genuine action leading to a change of attitudes and behaviours. You showed it with your decision to shed all the ill-gotten wealth. 
My Friend Zacchaeus, you did switch  your loyalty once for all,  from Mammon to the Messiah! 
You turned yourself into a true turncoat, 
Didn't you?
Now, I am curious to know: 
What happened to you after the Happiest Day in your life?
Did you decide to follow Jesus and become one of his disciples as some of the traditions would indicate?
Were you chosen to fill in the void created by Judas Iscariot? 
Were you given the name Matthias?
As they say, did you became the Bishop of Caesarea?
Whatever might be the case, one thing is certain: My Friend  Zacchaeus, 
You became a 'New Creation', Right?
Dear Friend, Zacchaeus, your  
'heart of stone' was replaced by a 'heart of flesh'
Now I want to spend some time with you: 
in silence.......!
Please, I would love to listen to you! 
Narrate to me your new vision of life!

Dear Jesus,  My Lord and My God, 
How caring and concerned you were as you stopped by the Sycamore Tree! 
You, truly, sought after a Lost Sheep, Didn't you? You never ever broached the subject of his unjust  and cruel profession of systematic extortion of the ordinary folks.On the other hand,
You concentrated on  Zacchaeus, the person who was branded and bracketed as one among the  'tax collectors and sinners.' 
You gave him attention and acceptance. 
You never preached him to repent,  Did you?
You never threatened with Divine Punishment! 
You never asked for reparation and restitution!
You gave him unrequited love and won him over!
You forgave him!
You announced, "salvation has come this house!"
You rehabilitated him as a "son of Abraham!" 
You gave Zacchaeus Unconditional Love!
He gave you back Unconditional Apology and Unreserved Restitution!
You did seek and save Zacchaeus, the Lost Sheep
Jesus, my Lord and my God, you have, on your own, come into my life and offered me the same Unrequited Love over and over!
But I haven't yet responded you as Zacchaeus did Yet you keep offering me the very same Unconditional Love and keep waiting for my Unconditional Surrender! 
Innumerable are the times you have come and sought me and saved me!
Yet I kept on going astray! 
And you kept on coming after!
As the "Hound of Heaven."
My Lord and my God, 
You are the Good Shepherd!
My Lord and my God, 
I want to spend some time in your presence in silence!
Let the thought: you are seeking me to save me....
Let this thought sink in me and I be soaked in it...
"Speak  Lord, your servant is listening. ."
Amen
JoAchen 
Tuesday, October 21st, 2014

PS.
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegetical interpretations nor highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth and thereby helping me to come closer to my God and to my fellow humans. 
Dear Reader, as I keep holding you in my daily prayers, I request you to do the same for me.
Thank you!























n course of time, through your own hard work and ingenious ways, you became very rich, Didn't  you? The richer you became, the people around you harboured more and more hateful and spiteful feelings towards you because the tax collectors, usually, made themselves rich by gouging on their fellow Jews, Right?  Sure, they might not have expressed it directly as they were wary of you! They knew very well you were protected by the powerful and ruthless Roman Army!  Certainly, you must have instilled fear and hate in the common people whom you fleeced and forced to cough up more money! But doubtful, if you could ever inspire them to be respectful and loving towards you, Could you? Your ill-gotten wealth did not bring in much love, acceptance, and recognition which you longed for, as we all do, Don't we? A kind of void and loneliness began to creep into your mind and heart, Right? Dear Friend Zacchaeus, amassing wealth through the unjust extortion resulted in alienating yourself from your fellow Jews. This in turn triggered a sort of meaninglessness in  your life, Isn't so? Slowly, yet increasingly, your initial insatiable craving for money and wealth began to be on the wane. As all these internal turmoil was going on within yourself, you came to know of the presence of Jesus in town. I guess, you had heard of him earlier, Haven't  you? A curious wish was born in you, just to have a glance of him, Right? Your initial wish gathered strength and grew into a burning desire and turned itself into an earnest urge which compelled you to climb up the Sycamore Tree, just to have a closer look at Jesus, the Messiah.Dear Friend, Zacchaeus, looking at my life, to a great extent, I am able to identify myself with your dire determination to get rich and to be accepted in your community.In my thirties and forties, I was determined, like you, to achieve the top-notch lot in my graduate and research studies as well as in Teaching and Parish ministries. Wherever I found myself, at home or abroad, hell or high water, I kept on trying to capture the attention and the admiration of people around. I was determined to do it even the expense of others. I was rather successful in gaining the attention, the admiration, and the love I sought after. It made me chuckle!Gradually, something similar to what you went through, a sense of glut began to gather within myself! Occasionally a thought or two would cross my mind as it happened to you and would take me to my Sycamore Tree, to climb and have a peak of you!In a sense, I have climbed many of my "Sycamore Trees" umpteen times. I guess, I have done it  at times as a seminarian, as an energetic young priest and even as a senior priest especially right after an Annual Retreat or so. Whenever I had climbed the Sycamore Trees of my life on various occasions and in different locations, without fail, the Lord has stopped by and had called me out and has got himself invited into my life! So far so good, right, my Friend Zacchaeus?Full Stop!Unfortunately, my Friend, here ends the similarity between the two of us!  Remember, me mentioning at the start that we have a couple of things in common? That's It!But unlike you, my Friend Zacchaeus, I am afraid, I haven't subjected myself to any radical change as I lapse and relapse to keep on living more less the same sort of lifestyle as before!I keep telling the Lord and to myself of my so- called determination to change!But without much a substantial change!I am afraid and ashamed to admit:I could only talk the talk but not walk the walk!You, my Friend, did change outright and openly. You did the talk and you did the walk!But not me, I did not change out right..You, my Friend, did completely break from your past lifestyle of sin and corruption, Right? But not me, I didn't make a clean break from my sinful past.You, my Friend, did quit your job which kept on perpetrating injustice and exploitation of your own fellow Jews.But not me, I was content with making some cosmetic changes of my wayward ways.  That's all!I have yet to reform radically and to change many areas of my erring life.I feel it's high time to make that radical change  even as I am into the final phase of my life!You were very genuine in repenting and generous in making restitution.But not me, I keep doing it in a half -hearted manner.So, my Friend Zacchaeus, though we do share something things in common, I am afraid, we do differ in many ways, Don't we? But I want to keep working on having a radical change as you had.I do look up to you as a role model of radical change!Do keep on inspiring me!
Now, once again, back to the bottom of the Sycamore Tree.How did you feel like when you were, so to say, caught unawares by the Lord?Did you feel:embarrassed? shocked?surprised?awesome? confused?overjoyed?a mishmash of all the above?Did you expect from Jesus a dressing down for extorting of the poor?Did you fear to be booed and jeered at by the unsympathetic crowd?But none of such things happened, Right?Instead, you must have been surprised and overwhelmed with joy when he told he is coming to your home, Didn't you? His outright unconditional acceptance of you did melt away your avarice and arrogance and did mould you into a new man of repentance and renewal. Unbelievable indeed! You were ready and willing to make recompense much more than the legal requirement. Your unbridled greed to amass wealth was replaced by your unreserved willingness to make restitution.Oh, my Friend, Zacchaeus, your repentance was not limited to pious prayers and rituals. You remind me that real repentance is not limited to 'head and heart' alone, but it has to end up in genuine action leading to a change of attitudes and behaviours. You showed it with your decision to shed all the ill-gotten wealth. My Friend Zacchaeus, you did switch  your loyalty once for all,  from Mammon to the Messiah! You turned yourself into a true turncoat, Didn't you?Now, I am curious to know: What happened to you after the Happiest Day in your life?Did you decide to follow Jesus and become one of his disciples as some of the traditions would indicate?Were you chosen to fill in the void created by Judas Iscariot? Were you given the name Matthias?As they say, did you became the Bishop of Caesarea?Whatever might be the case, one thing is certain: My Friend  Zacchaeus, You became a 'New Creation', Right?Dear Friend, Zacchaeus, your  'heart of stone' was replaced by a 'heart of flesh'Now I want to spend some time with you: in silence.......!Please, I would love to listen to you! Narrate to me your new vision of life!
Dear Jesus,  My Lord and My God, How caring and concerned you were as you stopped by the Sycamore Tree! You, truly, sought after a Lost Sheep, Didn't you? You never ever broached the subject of his unjust  and cruel profession of systematic extortion of the ordinary folks.On the other hand,You concentrated on  Zacchaeus, the person who was branded and bracketed as one among the  'tax collectors and sinners.' You gave him attention and acceptance. You never preached him to repent,  Did you?You never threatened with Divine Punishment! You never asked for reparation and restitution!You gave him unrequited love and won him over!You forgave him!You announced, "salvation has come this house!"You rehabilitated him as a "son of Abraham!" You gave Zacchaeus Unconditional Love!He gave you back Unconditional Apology and Unreserved Restitution!You did seek and save Zacchaeus, the Lost SheepJesus, my Lord and my God, you have, on your own, come into my life and offered me the same Unrequited Love over and over!But I haven't yet responded you as Zacchaeus did Yet you keep offering me the very same Unconditional Love and keep waiting for my Unconditional Surrender! Innumerable are the times you have come and sought me and saved me!Yet I kept on going astray! And you kept on coming after!As the "Hound of Heaven."My Lord and my God, You are the Good Shepherd!My Lord and my God, I want to spend some time in your presence in silence!Let the thought: you are seeking me to save me....Let this thought sink in me and I be soaked in it..."Speak  Lord, your servant is listening. ."AmenJoAchen Tuesday, October 21st, 2014
PS.These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegetical interpretations nor highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth and thereby helping me to come closer to my God and to my fellow humans. Dear Reader, as I keep holding you in my daily prayers, I request you to do the same for me.Thank you!













 






Monday 13 October 2014

13. My Monologues with Luke the Evangelist

My Monologues with Luke the Evangelist

Dear Evangelist, Luke,
Probably,  you may be the least known person among the Four Evangelists and among the other New Testament authors.
There isn't much information about you in the New Testament except what your colleague and companion, Paul writes about you which isn't much either.
Yet one is able to gather a pretty good amount of information about you from your own writings and from the traditions.
You are the one and only New Testament author who is a gentile, right?
It is amazing that a gentile writes a Gospel about Jesus the Messiah and gets it approved and accepted!
I wonder whether you had met with much opposition from the veterans of the early Jewish-Chritian Community!
Some scholars say you were from Antioch while some others are of the opinion that you were from Macedonia.
It matters little.

It seems Apostle Paul liked you a lot and he chose you as his travelling companion. He calls you as the "beloved physician," right?

Were you there with Paul:
When he was bitten by the snake?
Did you medically treat him?
When he was beaten up by the enemies,
Did you medically attend him to soothe his pain?
When he was in shipwreck,
Did you assist him as a physician?
While Apostle Paul, your Mentor, was imprisoned for two years in Caesarea,
Did you give him some medical attention besides the company you kept?
Is it because of these reasons he calls you  the "beloved physician"?

Sure, Apostle Paul must have shared with you all his knowledge about Jesus and answered all your questions and doubts, right?

Some of the bible scholars believe you are the brother of Titus who was the companion and co-worker of Apostle Paul. 
Nothing is known about him except he was a gentile just as you were!
Yet some others are of the opinion that you were the one who was with Cleopas on the way to Emmaus.
Were you?
I would love to believe that!

Some scholars think your name is Lucius of Cyrene and it was hellenized into Lukas.

Some hold the view that you might have met or at least seen Jesus and heard him preach. 

Some of them say you were an artist and a skilled artist-painter and you painted icons of our Blessed Mother and of Peter and Paul!
Though all these nitty-gritty details have their own importance, they are immaterial  for my present reflections.

So I let the experts continue juggling with them.

Dear Evangelist Luke, my own earliest recollection of you is that of an artist-painter. As a boy, my grandmother used to take me to one of her favourite Marian Shrines in the neighbourhood. She used to ask me to kneel down and pray before the old icon painting of the Madonna with the Child which was up above the Main Altar. She used to tell me that it was a miraculous picture, a copy of the original painting of St. Luke. Thus I was aware you were an painter-artist as well as a saint. 
Only later on, from the Sunday Catechism class we were taught you were one of the Four Evangelists.

Dear Evangelist Luke, 
you were impressed with the Praying Jesus, right?
You have presented him praying before many an important moments and events in his life,  like:
just before his baptism
before confrontation with the Pharisees
before calling his disciples
before the prediction of his own death
during the Transfiguration at Mount Tabor
before praying for Peter
before his own death on the Cross

Dear Evangelist Luke,
how I wish I could do it ...
to place myself in the presence of my God at every important moment in my life.
Very often, instead of praying and placing myself in the Divine Presence, either I am almost instinctively worried too much or I am over excited and exuberant due to my overblown ego.

Dear Evangelist Luke,  
you, yourself must have been used to pray at every important moment of your life and must have found it very energizing.Thus you wanted to share with us too,  right?

Thank you for highlighting  and presenting us with a Praying Jesus despite He himself being the Son of God!
Dear Evangelist Luke, 
thank you also for highlighting the Compassionate Jesus,  through the parables
of the Lost Sheep,
of the Lost Coin,
and of the Lost Son (The Prodigal Son).
His compassion for the crying widow drove him to raise up her dead son.

Dear Evangelist Luke,  
your Jesus forgives the sinful woman on the one hand and the tax collector Zacchaeus on the other.
Thus you instill hope in sinners and prodigals like me.
Thank you!

Your Jesus is motivated by compassion and compassion alone urged him to perform miracles and to forgive sins.
The  marginalized and the exploited, the public sinners and the tax collectors experience his compassion and find healing and forgiveness.

Yes, I can vouch it from my own life. Innumerable are the times and occasions when he reached out to me with compassion and forgiveness.
If not, I would not find myself here on this Hilltop Shrine. His immense patience with me and with my wayward and wanton ways for well over sixty years make me aware of my awful inadequacies and the need to keep on repenting and renewing!

Dear Evangelist Luke,
thank you for the ever innocent and romantic scene of
the baby Jesus
"wrapped in swaddling clothes laid....
in a manger"!!!
Thank you for gifting us with this indelible memories of an evergreen Christmas wrapped up in crispy cold and gentle peace, under canopy of stary skies and singing angels from the heavens above and  surrounded by the company of poor shepherds with their bleating sheep from  the earth below!

Dear Evangelist Luke, if not for you, there wouldn't have been the joy of Christmas and our childhood memories of the same.
Millions of us keep treasuring  and relishing those memories in our hearts and keep them nourishing and cherishing in our minds!
Thank you! a million thanks to you!

Dear Evangelist Luke, you emphasise:
The All Inclusive aspect of the Kingdom.
It matters little whether one is:
A Jew or a Gentile,
A sinner or a saint,
A Pharisee or a Publican,
A male or a female,
All are welcome invitees of  the Kingdom.

The punch line:
"the Kingdom of God is within you"
really is very very encouraging  and energizing indeed for us the frail humans!

Along with many many millions
I want to experience and enlarge the Kingdom within me!
I want to relish the joy of having the   treasure of the Kingdom within my
"earthen vessel!"

Yet another attractive and unique feature of your version of the Good News is the presence of those:
Hymns of Joy and of Thanksgiving.

The "Magnificat" of the Young Virgin and newly Expectant Mother is a marvellous and mesmerising piece of poetic theology spontaneously experienced by a happy and grateful soul!
I want to imbibe it and internalise it
and keep singing it everyday of my life.

Yes,
"the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name."

Thank you, dear Evangelist Luke,
for making it known to the world!

So is the "Benedictus" of the elderly priest Zacharias who was filled with joy and gratitude.
As a priest in the evening of my life,
I want to keep singing my "Benedictus": 
"because he has graciously visited"
and keep on visiting me
and keep on delivering me
from my sins and failings.

"Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel..."

Dear Evangelist Luke,
you know what,
the best of all,
I just love the Grand Old Simeon,
"the good pious" man.
He comes across as one of the happiest, old and elderly men the world has ever seen!
There aren't many who have expressed their readiness to go and willings to pray like him:
"Now O Lord, as you said,
let your servant depart in peace...
For my eyes have seen the salvation. .."

Dear Lord Jesus,
This is my earnest wish!
Like the Grand Old happy and content Simeon,
I want to grow gracefully old and peacefully depart!
From my younger and adult days of an Ugly Duckling of sins and failures,
I want to grow into a gracefully old Swan of a happy and content "Simeon."
I want to do it as I keep inching on to the evening of my life.
I want to do it despite all my soul searching and agonizing pangs and pains of growth.
At the end, I want to sing happily like the Grand Old Simeon,
"Domine...Nunc demittis in pace..."
"Lord.. let your servant depart in pace..."

"Domine. .. Nunc demittis  in pace..."

Dear Evangelist Luke,
Thank you very, very much for:
What you are !!!!!
And for what you have written !!!!
A Big Thank you!

Just one more question to you,
a naughty one, please!
Dear Evangelist Luke,
Where were you when they were looking for a substitute for Judas Iscariot?
Why didn't you show up?
You would have made an apt and accurate sub Indeed!

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us Luke the Evangelist!
He did paint a portrait of you bringing out
Your Compassion,
Your Care,
Your Forgiveness,
Your All embracing and All Inclusive attitude.

Lord, I want to spend some time in silence..
in your Presence..
"Speak Lord! your servant is listening"
Amen
JoAchen
Tuesday, October, 14th, 2014

PS
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegetical interpretations nor highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth.
Dear Reader, as I keep holding you in my daily prayers, I request you to do the same for me.
Thank you!












Tuesday 7 October 2014

12. My Monologues with The Pharisees

My Monologues 12

My Monologues with the Pharisees (Lk 11)

My Respected Pharisees, I am truly astounded by the rigorous routine of your prayer life consisting of thrice a day prayers, daily study of the Holy Scripture, the elaborate ritualstic ablutions and purifications which you practise daily without fail etc.

As I understand according to your Jewish Traditions, every Jew is obligated to fast only once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, right?

Yet, my Respected Pharisees, you do fast twice a week which amounts to One Hundred plus times an year. Thus, you fast over One Hundred  times more than what is required by the Law, right? 

Incredible indeed!

Oh, boy! that's a remarkable feat! 

My Respected Pharisees, you were very meticulous in observing all the laws and stipulations, major as well as minor ones. 

My Respected Pharisees, though, as a Community, you were exempted from tithing, you paid it voluntarily. 

How generous of you!

You claimed to be the Guardians and  Keepers of the Mosaic Law and in fact you were! You did everything possible to follow the Mosaic Law strictly and effectively and demanded the same from the faithful.

My Respected Pharisees, over the years, especially from my seminary days, I have been told and taught and have read about your Group. As I understand, your Group had its origin a couple of hundred years before the arrival of Jesus Christ, whom you considered as your Arch enemy, right? 

Some of your honest and earnest Jewish ancestors, pained by the decadence of the Jewish religious practices and the decay of the socio-political life of the time, wished and wanted to get away from all the mess.They were disgusted with existing situation and disillusioned with its leadership, Isn't so?

So these brave men decided to come together as a community and live apart from the rest.They were not priests, but just ordinary Jewish laity. They wanted to lead an upright life based on the strict adherence of the Mosaic Law. As these brave men, your ancestors, got themselves a separate identity and way of life and came to be known as the Pharisees, right? 

Many young and dedicated Jewish men were attracted by the radical and genuine practice of The Law. The common faithful admired you for the heroic practice your faith and looked up to you for guidance. They gifted you with money and material to show their solidarity and support for your movement.

Slowly and steadily, your ancestors and you began to amass land and property. As you gained prominence, you began to have a very powerful influence in religion as well as in politics. Your thorough knowledge of Mosaic Law coupled with your newly acquired wealth and power made you almost indispensable to the Jewish community. Your all pervading powerful presence among the Jewish community became very suffocating indeed! 

Gradually, your genuine and renewed way of life was replaced by a rigorous form of religious formalism. You, Pharisees began to get corrupted to the core and you became an arrogant army of religious fanatics.

Thus your Pharisaic movement which started as a renewal community got itsef degenerated into an ultra formalistic, orthodox, and autocratic group.The prestine purity of Pharisaism was on the wane in a matter of less than four hundred or so years, right?

My Respected Pharisees, your initial fervor, enthusiasm, and energy to live a radical life based on the Mosaic Law resonates very much with a part of my life as a seminarian and as a priest. As i look back to my initial years of religious and seminary formation, I was brimming with religious ferver and genuine desire to follow the gospel values. As a novice, I used to spend more than an hour daily for personal prayers which was over and above the daily community prayers. Speaking of fasting, I went to the extreme. So much so, the Novice Master repeatedly had to order me to eat more!  

Oh, boy! I did engage in many of those pious activities mainly to be seen and to be praised by the rest of my companions and community! I loved to take delight in flaunting my pious practices and devotions. Several times, I used to take comfort in comparing myself with my companions and was proudly convinced of myself to be better than most of them.

I loved to fondle my own "conviction" that,

"I am not like this publican."

I prided within myself and kept on nurturing the budding  Pharisee in me!

That's me, a Pharisee in the making!

Well, going back further into my childhood, I picked it up fast that I could easily win praise and appreciation by putting up a show of piety and pretending to be pious. Sensing that my grandparents loved to see the their grandchildren kneeling and praying the daily Rosary and reciting other prayers, I did just exactly what they wanted to see so as to be noticed and appreciated by them. I played it to the hilt and kept on winning their affection and appreciation! 

I guess it was a mildest form of Pharisaism, right?  

My Respected Pharisees, you might be happy to know this sort of Pharisaic behavior became my frequent companion in my life, be it as a seminarian or be it as a young priest. I could and still am able to put up a pharisaic show of being a good priest. I was and I am often oblivious of the fact that the people around me were able to see and sense my hypocracy! They could easily feel me faking. Yet, I keep on nurturing the growth of the Pharisee in me as he continues to bring me rich dividends in the form of appreciation and applause! 

My Respected Pharisees, with my own pharisaic experiences, I am able to identify with you to a great extend. The near total erosion of the lofty ideals and noble values of your initial years do ring a bell in my ears! 

Coming back to you:

what is it that ticked you off with Jesus?  

You opposed him tooth and nail, didn't you? 

You availed yourselves of every opportunity to trick him and test him, Probably, with a sly smile on your faces,  you approached him with these questions, right? 

Remember, you had all sorts of apparent doubts and questions and wanted to know his views with the ulterior motive of tricking and trapping him, right?

be it on issues like paying the taxes to Romans, 

be it on breaking the law on Sabbath, 

be it on divorce, 

be it on the punishment to be meted out to the woman caught in adultery etc.

Somehow or other, you were bent on demonizing him and then getting rid of him, right?

Is it because, he was perceived a threat to your power and privileged position?

Is it because he kept on warning the public of the destructive type of the "yeast of the Pharisees"?

Is it because, hIs selfless ministry was eroding your selfish authority over the people?

Is it because he was considered to be anti- establishment? 

Is it because he pricked your conscience? 

All of the above factors might have contributed to your intense hate for him, right? 

My Respected Pharisees, it is so hard to imagine people like you to be happy. You are so worked up and worried about your power and position, you are just not able to relax and enjoy! 

Do you ever laugh? I wonder!

Sure, you are very good in laughing at others.

Could you ever laugh at yourself? 

Could  you ever enjoy a lighter moment of a hearty laugh even in the privacy of your own families?

Sure, you could easily grin at others, but not smile at  them, right?

Sure, you could easily frown upon on them disapprovingly, but not appreciate them whole heartedly? 

It takes a loving and caring heart to smile and to have a genuine laugh.

I wonder you have such hearts!

At least your behavioral pattern doen't suggest so.


My Respected Pharisees, do join me for a moment to take a free fantasy ride!

Suppose, Jesus was born more less at the same period when the Pharisaic movement was taking shape, don't you think, the founding fathers of your movement would have wholeheartedly welcomed Jesus with wide open arms?

Because, Jesus stood for more less the same radical change as your founding fathers wanted, 

Don't you think so?

I do!

Your founding fathers and Jesus were almost on the same wave length! They both wanted the practice of genuine religion based on Repentance, Forgiveness. and Love, right?

So, my Respected Pharisees, the antagonistic attitude you had towards Jesus is not due to any serious dogmatic differences. Rather, it is due to your deviation from the essence of Mosaic and prophetic teachings and due to your misplaced emphasis on external observance of the Law at the expense of its internal disposition, isn't so? 

It boils down to your fear of the lose authority and reluctance to give up the power, privilages, position and the pelf you kept on enjoying, do you get it?

Yes, my Respected Pharisees,  it is rather a negative aspect of our human nature to abuse the power and privilages we enoy. It is all the more true when such power and position are unlimited and unaccountable, right?

My Respected Pharisees,  was it not scary for you even to imagine to loose the power and privilages you  have been enjoying for ages? Jesus did not mince any words to keep reminding you of the abuse you were perpetuating and the deviation you were taking from the right path laid down by Moses and Prophets!, right?

No wonder! you were after his blood! 

Well, a sad but true fact is: 

My Pharisaic nautre too has often behaved like you and even joined you in clamoring for his blood!

Lord, you and I know fully well the times I have played up the Pharisee in me! At times as a priest I was able to put up a great show of a pious and praying priest! You and I know, many a times, it was all an hypocritical  show and a drama!

Lord, the names you called the Pharisees and the phrases you and your cousin, John the Baptist, used to describe them,

 like: 

"brood of vipers" 

"whitend  sepulchres"

 "hypocrites" 

All of these phrases could often be applicable to the little Pharisee in me!

Lord! many a times, You are perfectly right and justified in using those phrases to call me too! 

Lord, how I wish! 

Not to allow the little Pharisee in me to act up!

My Lord and My God, You know:

It is not that I am always a Pharisee or through and through a thorough Pharisee. Yet, at times, i am one among them. I have been very formalistic and  devoid of any inner meaning. I can be and I have been very hypocritical. 

It bothers me!

I want to reduces the instances of being and becoming Pharisaical. 

I want to keep in check the little Pharisee in me! 

I want keep him under a tight leash!

My Lord and my God, I am not so much of a Paragon of virtues, 

but very much of a Publican of vices.

My Lord and my God,

I want to refrain the Pharisee 

as well as reform the Publican in me!

My Lord and my God, 

All that I want is to turn myself like;

Nicodemus, the Repentant Pharisee 

and Reformed Publican.

I want to keep on seeking you night and day..

and eventually even to stand up for you in the midst of others...

and to be there at Calvary...

and wait to experience and to enjoy a New Life of Resurrection! 

My Lord and my God, thank you for your immense patience with Pharisee in me!

My Lord and My God, 

I want to spend some time in silence.. 

in Your Presence!

I want to listen to you, Lord!

"Speak, Lord, your servant is listening!"

Amen


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

JoAchen 


PS

These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegetical interpretations nor highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth. Dear reader, as I keep holding you in my daily prayers, I request you to include me too in yours. Thank you!