30 My Monologues with Jesus in the Wilderness (Mt 4, Lk 4)

30 My Monologues with Jesus the Tempted  ( Mt 4, Lk 4)

Dear Jesus,

As you waded through the bubbling, cool  clear, fresh, flowing waters of River  Jordan where you had your baptism,

the heavens were opened,

the Spirit of God descended in the form of a dove,

and the proclamation from your Heavenly Father was heard affirming and  acclaiming you as,

"my beloved son."

It was so Solemnly and Personally reassuring for you as a genuine Human Being as well as the true Son of God, right, Oh, Lord?

Dear Jesus,

For sure, it must have been a very loving and caring filial experience of fellowship with your Father, Wasn't it, Oh, Lord?

Isn't it the First time your Father spoke up publicly and validated your Sonship?

You must have felt elated and rightly proud of your Father as you have always  been right, Oh, Lord?

Dear Jesus,  

Yet, this joyful experience of your Baptism as well as the Heavenly Affirmation of your Divine Sonship is in marked contrast with the sombre solitude and the trying times in the Wilderness where you fasted for forty days, and was tempted  by the devil.

Right after the feasting experience of your Baptism, you were led by the Spirit to the wilderness and you started fasting for forty days as you "eat nothing during those days."

You must have had some sort of an access to a Wadi or to an Oasis for potable water, didn't you?

Dear Jesus,

As a boy, I was awed to know that you could go on without food for forty days in one stretch!

Oh, boy!  Unimaginable!  Indeed! for a mind of a nine year old boy!

My Grandmother used to say to us kids with a voracious appetite, "Don't gulp down and binge like little brats, look at Jesus who could stay forty days without food! But you, kids can't even stay away from food for a mere forty minutes!"

How right she was!

Dear Jesus,

Yet another thing, as a boy, I marvelled about your Forty days sojourn in the Wilderness was your courage to spend those dark nights out in the open "with wild animals" around. It was real scary for a nine year old boy even to imagine so!

Oh,  Dear Jesus,  

I used to wonder where you spend the nights!!

In a hut or in a cave, or out in the open?

Or was there an Essene Community around offering you a night shelter?

Wasn't it real dark at night?

Did you have some sort of fire providing you warmth and light?  

The blistering hot days and the cold nippy nights of the wilderness must have been real tough, weren't they?

You did have a Full Moon and a New Moon within those forty nights, right? The starry skies as well as the moon-lit nights must have been a relaxing as well as refreshing experience,wasn't it? Except for the noises of the birds and beasts, and the howling wind,  I guess, it must have been very calm and quiet.

I used to imagine about the Peace and tranquility you enjoyed all through the forty fasting days.

But it wasn't that easy at all, as the devil kept bugging and egging you on, right?

Humanly thinking, it looks odd that your Father didn't even make a single supportive appearance as you were constantly tempted by the seemingly persistent devil. May be, He was so sure that you can and will handle the situation single handedly on your own, right?

After all, you are His own son, so to say,  the chip of the old block, Aren't you?

Your Father was so right,

You did handle the devil so well!

Dear Jesus,

One more thing which impressed me about you  as a boy was your fearlessness of the devil!

The night, the darkness, and the devil were stuffs which we kids were scared of.

But you were undaunted indeed!

As a little boy, one of my favorite quick prayers before going to sleep was for the protection from darkness and devil!

In your case, it was  just the other way around.  The devil  was scared of you!

Dear Jesus,

As it is narrated,

You were "led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." Right?

So, as per the narrations, the very purpose of you being led by the Spirit into the wilderness was to subject yourself to be tempted, right?

To get strengthened and be fortified for your ministry?

I had been often tempted to think that you ventured into the wilderness primarily to  communicate with your father and be in communion with Him and the devil made use of the

time to tempt you and deflect your communion with your Father!

Dear Jesus,

Why weren't you tempted at your Baptism where you got your cousin, John the Baptist, to baptize you.

There you were surrounded by JB, your cousin and some of his followers, and above all you had your all loving and a caring Father vouching for you, right? You were almost on cloud nine!  

What more one needs to be tempted by the devil to make you feel puffed up and be proud?

Dear Jesus,

Again, I wonder:

Why were you not tempted in the Temple?

Remember, when you were in the Temple or in the Temple precincts on several occasions, the Jewish leaders were amazed by your integrity, by your authority, and by your eloquence, weren't they?

This would have provided the devil with a very suitable background to tempt you to be proud, right?

Dear Jesus,

The devil tempted you neither at the Baptism nor in the Temple Precincts as you were in high spirits, right?

It was not at all a vulnerable time to strike. Though the Devil at times tempts us humans to be proud and haughty when everything goes well for us as in the case of our First Ancestral Parents and of Job. But the devil loves to  tempt us the humans when when he finds us in the most vulnerable of times, when we are under great physical or emotional or spiritual struggle and stress.

Dear Jesus,

While you were in the wilderness, the inclement weather, the loneliness, the prolonged fast and above all your quality concentration in prayer-filled Reflections, all these factors propelled you into a struggling, tense frame of mind.

From the human point of view,it was a very vulnerable time, right, Oh, Lord?

And strike, he did!

While the iron was hot!

hoping, to make a kill!

But he failed  and failed miserably!

Dear Jesus,

You were "in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan." Right?

As per this narration, one gets the impression that you were being tempted all through the forty days and not just the fag end.

Sure, towards the end of your forty day of fast, the devil came up with Three specific Temptations, right?

Dear Jesus,

What was wrong in turning the stones into bread? Remember, you had completed your forty day fast following  the traditions of Moses and Elijah. So the persuasive suggestion of the devil was not meant to interrupt your fast. After the long fast, you were hungry and there was a legitimate physical need and a desire to satisfy the hunger, right? To turn stones into bread and thus meet the physical needs of hunger was neither wrong in  itself nor was a sin in itself, right, Lord?

But it was an undesirable shortcut to satisfy your immediate need of hunger at the expense of you of your planned view of carrying one's cross.

Dear Jesus,

You know it all, don't you?  

I am someone who looks for shortcuts and quick fixes. If there is anyway out, I would be eager to explore and exploit it for my selfish gains. Often, that's me!

In my eagerness to ease my hunger, I wouldn't mind to turn any available stones into every attainable bread of instant satisfaction!  For example, instead of reading, reflecting and trying to apply to my own life and thus preparing a homily or so I have often had recourse to ready to deliver sermons which would certainly serve the purpose and get the applause!

That's just one of my minor shortcuts ways of turning the stones into bread!

How I wish to keep on working for a strong will and firm resolve!

Dear Jesus,

The devil  wanted to dare God to rescue you diving down from the pinnacle of the  Temple playing on your pride and presumption.

But you didn't fall in the trap.

Then again,  I am very quick to jump into situations and problems without much prior preparations and with much presumption. I presume that my fellow men and women and even You would be there with a safety net to hold me unhurt!

I do have a tendency to depend  entirely on others to meet my emotional needsfor security. What I need to learn that I have to earn it rather than presumptuously expect or demand it.

Dear Jesus,

Finally, the devil took you to top of  "a very high mountain and showed (you) all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor" and tempted you with authority, adulation, power, position, and pelf. But you didn't fall for it either!

Finally, finding himself unsuccessful, the devil left you, "until an opportune time."

Dear Jesus,

Numerous are the occasions when I have been attracted to undue and unearned adulation and admiration,especially as a young ambitious priest, pastor, and teacher. I have used crafty, cunning as well as clever means to attract attention exclusively to me and to me alone!

In hindsight, I feel ashamed of my many maverick ways to get attention glued on to me!

How i wish to fight off the triple temptations of physical, emotional, and psychological nature which the devil had played on you!

Dear Jesus,

As you know, unlike with you,  the devil has succeeded many many times with me.

I have succumbed to him several times!

I am deeply sorry for yielding to the temptaions.

Yet, in no way, I want to give up my struggle to keep fighting him off.

I know he will keep coming to me whether I am in the "Paradise"  of success or whether I am the wilderness of failures.

I know he will keep coming at every "opportune time."

May the memories of your successful struggles continue to inspire me, May they continue to strengthen me to keep on fighting him off!

Dear Jesus,

I want to spend some time in silence with you in the Wilderness!

Amen

JoAchen

Saturday, February 21st, 2015

joachenmonologues@gmail.com

Facebook:
My Monologues

Joe Monologues
Blog :
www.my-monologoues.blogspot.in

PS
Dear Reader,
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth. They are a part of my, 'Prodigal Priest's' journaling on my Pilgrimage to the Home of our Heavenly Father. You are welcome to share them.
Dear Reader, I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours.

I plan on uploading a Reflection each on 7th, 14th, 21st, and on the 28th of every month. If you do not want get these Reflections via email, please send a note and your email id will be deleted from the mailing list.

Thank you!

My  Lord and My God!

29 My Monologues with Jacob and Rachel, the First Valentine Pair in the Bible (Gen 29)

29 My Monologues with Jacob Rachel,  the First Valentine Pair of the Bible (Gen 29)

Dear Jacob and Rachel, the First Valentine Pair of the Bible,

Oh, Dear Jacob, the Enamored,

The Village Virgin must have been a knock out, right, Jacob?

No wonder, your Rachel is depicted as, "beautiful of form and face."

Or else, it wouldn't have been a love at first sight for you, right, Jacob?

Your Rachel, the Shepherdess, must have been a beauty to behold, wasn't she?

You were swept off your feet by the very first sight of her, weren't you?

Usually it is the energetic young men who tend the sheep.They take them out in the morning for grazing, they watch them, water them, and lead them back home in the evening. It was very rare in your culture for a young maiden to do the shepherding, that too single handed, right?

Your Rachel seems to be one of the very few shepherdess in the whole of the Bible, isn't she?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Besides being very captivatingly beautiful and irresistibly attractive, your Rachel must have been a very outgoing, outspoken, and a very courageous village girl who daringly donned the role of a smart shepherdess, right? As per the narratives there were other shepherds in the vicinity tending their sheep.Yet your Rachel seemed to be the one and only shepherdess among them. Despite being the only girl around, your Rachel neither felt intimidated by the presence of those males, nor was she harassed by them. It seemed to have bothered her little to be the lone female around.

As you know, shepherding being a rough and tough job requiring a strong physique which she must have had, right?

This is exactly what you saw as Rachel was guiding her father's sheep towards the well to water them and then take them back to the pen for the night.

Oh, Dear Jacob, the enamored,

Your Rachel had the beauty, the brain, as well as the brawn, didn't  she?

She sure was a refreshing sight for your travel tired eyes, right?

Your eyes must have feasted on her,right?

When her vibrant eyes met with your eager eyes, they fell in love, right?

The silent yet very penetrating optical communion between the two pairs of your eyes did pave the way for a deeper relationship, don't you think so?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

You always gave the impression of being a Mamma's boy with chubby cheeks. Unlike, your twin brother, Esau the hunter, you were never known for your muscular strength. Yet astonishingly, you had the physical strength, the mental courage, and an amorous heart which instantly led you to roll away the huge stone covering the mouth of the well. Unsolicited you helped her to water the sheep! Very thoughtful and caring you were!

This is the first recorded incident which narrates your hitherto unseen altruistic attitude, right?

Oh, boy, you really got changed, haven't you?

In the Narratives you were hardly seen doing any hard work, except hanging around your Mom, right?

By rolling away the stone from the mouth of the well,  you were like the "The Valiant Knight", weren't you?

You did impress her! Didn't you?

And Rachel didn't resist when you gave her your first kiss, right?

She was receptive and cooperative, I guess!

So your attraction was mutual, wasn't it?

Wasn't it your first ever passionate kiss you had with Rachel, the irresistibly attractive shepherdess?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Oh, boy!  

Love at first sight, it was! right?

Or, was it an instant infatuation? Whatever!

One thing is certain, it was the beginning of a relationship which would lead you both to be wedded as husband and wife and eventually becoming soul mates and parents, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

As is narrated, you wept aloud as you kissed the girl of your liking.

Was it a cry of joy for having found Rachel, your cousin?

Was it a cry of unbelievable surprise as you met with the prospective bride?

Don't you remember, your aging and doting father with severely impaired vision had packing you off on this trip to find a prospective bride for you from the family of Laban, your maternal uncle?

Finally you have reached safely the land of Laban, your uncle.

So it was a cry of happiness, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Was it also cry of gratitude to your God whom you had encountered on the very first night of your long drawn sojourn?

Remember, your God had promised you to protect you!

Partly, it must have been tears of thanksgiving as well, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Was it also, partly, a cry of a guilty heart for having cheated your twin brother and your own father?

Oh, love smitten Jacob,

You must have been on the road or rather on the run for four plus weeks or so, right? You had to cover a distance of about Seven hundred kilometers or around Four hundred miles from Beersheva in the South to Haran in the North.

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Don't you remember the circumstances which, so to say, forced to flee from the murderous, vengeful wrath of Esau, your twin brother?

Was it not the ingenious idea of your smart and shrewd mother to pack you off to a far away place of safety?

Your aging, ailing, blind father with an aching heart, was presented with the apparent reason of finding a prospective bride for you. Yet again the the good old helpless Isaac was treacherously treated by you and your Mum, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Through the cunning and calculated exploitation of the weakness of your twin brother, Esau, you succeeded in securing the Birthright from him,didn't you?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

In collusion with your conniving mother and through treacherous means you cheated your aging father and secured from him the Ritualistic Final Blessing meant for the eldest, didn't you?

Having pocketed both the Birthright, as well as the Final Blessing, you felt invincible and thought you had the whole wide world under your feet, didn't you?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Then came the bolt from the blue!

The wildest fury of your twin brother Esau was unleashed! Holding on to your life, you had to run away, never knowing of your return, if at all there would be one, right?

Finally, four weeks passed and about four hundred miles bypassed, there you are at the well, with a pretty girl present right before your roving eyes!

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Don't you think you are a go-getter?

You wanted the Birthright, didn't you?

The go-getter in you got it, didn't he?

You wanted the Final Blessing, didn't you?

The go-getter in you got it, didn't he?

You wanted to have Rachel, didn't you?

The go-getter in you got her too, didn't he?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Remember, the day you left your home, the place where you had been spending all your life, ever since you were born?

Remember, the first sunset and the subsequent night without your mother and her supportive and even her overbearing presence?

Remember, the loneliness and the abandonment you felt during the four weeks of long and arduous desert days of your journey?

Remember, the first night in the magnificent desolation of the desert? As you slept came the Lord,

the Great Go-getter?

Oh,  Jacob, the enamored,

Your God, the Great Go-getter got you

for good! Didn't He?

Wasn't it your first ever God Experience, right?

The God Experience sets you in top gear on your Pilgrimage of  personal growth, didn't it?

To begin with, He replaced the feminine presence of your mighty mother with an equally tough and tenuous feminine presence of your Rachel, right?

Then, the Great Go-getter let Laban, your uncle do the role of a  tough trainer. He agrees for seven years of hard labour in return for the hand of Rachel whom you loved so passionately.

Seven years seems to be one of  the longest dating and courtship, right, Jacob?

But for you, seven years, "seemed like only few days," because of your "love for her", right?

Oh, boy, seven long years of dating, waiting and courtship!

You both must have worked together, tended the sheep together,

took them out together,

and brought them back together, right?

You both must have sat several times by the very well side where you had met for the first time,right?

You must shared your dreams together.

You must have

Gone for Walks together,

Eate together,

Laughed together,

Had friendly fights together, right?

In hindsight, don't you think the seven years of courtship and dating and waiting were in many ways

the best of times in your life?

    

At the end of seven years, long awaited day came, your wedding with Rachel.

Totally shocking, you were administered a very similar bitter dose of the very same pill of deception you administered to your brother and father, don't you remember, Jacob?

Leah, instead of Rachel in the bridal bed!

The deceiver gets deceived!

Yet your undying love for your Rachel didn't get diminished!

Though you had children with Leah, your heart was always with your much loved Rachel, right?

Oh, the brave and beautiful Rachel,

Though the cultural constraints of your time had placed limitations on you as a lover, you did love your Jacob very deeply, didn't you?

Surely, the Leah fiasco must have been very painful indeed!

Had felt it coming?

Yet you were able to adjust with realities of life, right?

Sure, it was a tension filled married life.

You felt neglected by Jacob especially when you couldn't bear children, right?

You might have felt being punished by God.

You felt threatened by Leah, your sister, didn't you?

You were very possessive of Jacob.

You had fights with him as well as with you sister.

The birth of Joseph, your first born must have been the best moment in your married life as you longed to be a mother, right?

Then came your second son.

It was a welcome and a goodbye!

As you ushered in Benjamin, your  second son, you said goodbye!

Leaving your Jacob heartbroken!

And your sons orphaned!

Your Jacob kept your memory alive and found solace by transferring his love for you to your sons Joseph and Benjamin!

Oh, dear Jacob and Rachel,

Though you were together only for twenty one years or so you have had very healthy and high voltage courtship and dating lasting for seven long years, right?

You must have had tens of thousands of memories of these seven years and must have enjoyed reminiscing them over and over,right?

Oh, dear Jacob and Rachel,

I join you both to thank the Lord, our God for the gift of the romantic love which He had instilled and ignited in you!

May all the young lovers all over the world find happiness and fulfilment in their relationships.

May their lives and relationships bring glory to Him and gladness to them!

May all the couples have a

Happy  Valentine Day!

May they cherish their love for one another!

May their relationship flourish!

Oh, God of love and relationships,

I thank you for the gift of the feminine love I have experienced all through my life.

I am immensely grateful to you for the maternal love I enjoyed however brief it might had been.

As with Rachel and Benjamin, it was a Hello and a Goodbye for my mother and myself!

I am grateful for the love I have been experiencing from my sister, from my female cousins, classmates, friends and colleagues!

Lord, I thank you for the female adulations, friendships, infatuation, romances of my younger growing  years and for the more mature friendships and for the healthy soulmate relationships later in my life as a priest and pastor.

Lord I thank you for gifting me with various degrees of healthy female friendships and for their enduring love without which I wouldn't be what I am today.

Bless them, Lord!

May they be

happy,

healthy, and

be blessed

here and hereafter!

Amen

JoAchen

Saturday, 14th February, 2015

joachenmonologues@gmail.com

Facebook:
My Monologues
Blog :
www.my-monologoues.blogspot.in

PS
Dear Reader,
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth. They are a part of my, 'Prodigal Priest's' journaling on my Pilgrimage to the Home of our Heavenly Father. You are welcome to share them.
Dear Reader, I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours.

I plan on uploading a Reflection each on 7th, 14th, 21st, and on the 28th of every month. If you do not want get these Reflections via email, please send a note and your email id will be deleted from the mailing list.

Thank you!

My  Lord and My God!

28 My Monologues with the Unforgiving Servant (Mt18) Part Two

28 My Monologues with the Unforgiving Servant (Mt18)  Part Two

Oh,  the Unforgiving Servant,

How could you ever be so heartless, cruel, cut and dry to your servant who owed you just a hundred Denarii?  

Remember, a few minutes  ago, you were forgiven by your King to the tune of about 600,000 Denarii, right?

Remember, Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

You were, so to say, crawling and groveling right in the presence of your King who had ordered you and your family to be thrown into prison.

Don't you, remember?

Remember, Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

Just as your servant pleaded and begged for mercy, you too did make a similar plea, may be, a more dramatic one.

Have you forgotten it?

If so, how could you?

Remember, Oh, Unforgiving Servant,

You hadn't begged for the cancellation of your debt.You had only pleaded for some more time to reimburse the amount, right?

Was it a ploy to buy time?

How could you ever have payed back such an enormous amount even if you were granted more time as per your request?

It was next to impossible, right?

Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

Most probably your King was fully aware of all these raw realities.Yet he went out of his way and had compassion on you and wrote off the entire debt you owed him, running into an enormous amount, didn't he?

Wasn't it a real surprise for you?

Wasn't it a totally unexpected gift which was far beyond the wildest of your imaginations, right?

It must have been mind boggling, right?

Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

Weren't you happy?

The parable doesn't mention you being very happy and jumping around shouting with joy, praising God, like the blind man who got healed and could see!

Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

After having got your huge debt cancelled, as you were returning,

What was your emotional state?

Were you in a happy mood?

Were you in grateful mood?

Were you in a snobbish mood?

Were you in a smugy mood?

Were you on victorious mood?

Remember, Oh, the Unforgiving Servant, You didn't even care to express a word of gratitude to the Compassionate King who wrote off your entire debt, right?

Probably, you didn't even deserve to be forgiven as your own subsequent unmerciful behavior has shown so.

Your inhuman treatment of the servant who owed you a mere hundred Denarii did prove it, right?

Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

Don't you think, your King knew you through and through and the sort of the person you are?

Most probably, he might have!

Yet he wrote off your debt!

How compassionate he must have been!

Oh, the Honorable, Compassionate King,

How could you ever be so generously forgiving?

Didn't you feel real hurt as your servant betrayed your trust?

Were you that naive to have believed him?

Didn't you know that you are being taken for a ride?

Didn't you know he was a cheat?

Oh, the Honorable, Compassionate King,

The above questions come from a petty mind like mine!

Your thinking is by far, ahead of mine!

Mine is short sighted, indeed.

Your compassion is by far ahead of mine!

Mine is very minimal.

Your generosity is by far greater than mine!  

Mine is just a miniscule!

You accepted him as he is with all his street smart, cunning, and cruel ways.

You showered him with compassion and  generosity.

You are, in fact, no ordinary earthly King!

You are the symbol of the Heavenly Father!

You resemble Our Father in heaven, right?

You resonate His immeasurable compassion.

Jesus, my Merciful, Forgiving Lord,

This parable is meant for me too, right?

Countless are the times you have forgiven me, freely forgiven me,

unconditionally forgiven me, right?

Innumerable are the instances of my failures, failures willful, failures vicious,

failures serious, failures significant,

failures as a son, failures as a sibling,

failures as a friend, failures as a foe, failures as a seminarian, failures as a young priest, failures as a senior priest, failures as a pastor, failures as a teacher,

failures of pride, failures of prejudice,

failures of avarice, failures of arrogance, failures of lust, failures of a lusted life,

failures of revenge, failures of retaliation,

failures of deceit, failures of deception,

failures of dishonesty, failures of denials,

failures of laziness, failures of a lukewarm life,

failures of an unfaithful, an unrepentant life,

failures of unbounded ambition and greed,

failures of unbridled addiction and attachments,

failures big, failures small,

failures of thoughts, words, and deeds,

failures from age Seven to near Seventy!

You have forgiven me of every one of my failure, right?

Oh, my Forgiving Lord!

Grateful indeed I am!

Oh, Compassionate, Forgiving Jesus,

You have kept on gifting me with your Forgiveness for all of my above failures.

You have forgiven me several times,

You have forgiven me over and again

for one and the same repeated failures, you have forgiven me time and again!

You continue to keep on forgiving me,

Seven times, Seventy times Seven times. You keep gifting me with your repeated, compassionate, and total forgiveness, don't you, my Lord and my God?

Oh, Jesus my  Merciful, Forgiving Lord,

Do I deserve your repeated forgiveness?

No way, not at all!!!!

It is your Unconditional gift, indeed!

I do humbly, gratefully acknowledge!

Oh, Jesus my Merciful, Forgiving Lord,

Yes, the fruits of your Forgiveness,

I keep on exploiting them repeatedly.

In hindsight, it is so obvious I have neither appreciated nor understood sufficiently enough the depth of your compassion for me and the breadth of your patience with me over the years!

As a result, it hasn't occurred to me the need, the necessity, and the ease to offer forgiveness to my fellow humans who seek it from me and expect of me!

Jesus, my Merciful, Forgiving Lord,

There is a short, sturdy, unforgiving, unmerciful, and an ungrateful Servant alive in me. Every now and then, he does act up in an arrogant way causing much pain to my fellow humans. Despite a priest, I often keep presenting myself a Counter Witness to your immense Patience, to your unlimited Compassion, and to your unconditional Forgiveness.

Oh, Lord, that's me! often enough, that's me!

Jesus, my Merciful, Forgiving Lord,  

I want to keep on my struggle to fight the short, sturdy, Ungrateful, and Unforgiving Servant in me. At first, I want to control him and eventually evict him from my life.

Jesus, my Merciful, Forgiving Lord,

Even as I am inching towards the evening of my life, I want keep on forgiving and seek forgiveness from my fellow humans!

Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

Both of us, you and me, are at times  unwilling and unable to forgive our fellow humans, right? It might be due to our inability to acknowledge and appreciate the forgiveness of the Lord which we keep getting and we keep having, right?

Sad indeed is our situation.

Pathetic indeed is our condition, right?

Oh, the Unforgiving Servant,

How long will it take for us to relish on the divine forgiveness and then pass it on  to our fellow humans as and when necessary?

Let me share with you one of my unforgettable experiences as a thirteen year old adolescent school boy. In our village school we had a very young and handsome male teacher who taught us Bookbinding and Bookkeeping. He was in love with an equally young and beautiful lady teacher.

In those days, i, e, half a century ago, it was all arranged marriages. Falling in love, dating, courting, etc was rarest of the rare cases. So it was the hush-hush talk among us students. It so happened during one of his classes some of us amused ourselves with an on the spot drawn cartoon of the love pair on a piece of paper. As we were passing it around among ourselves we were caught. Unfortunately I was spotted with the piece of paper in my hand. Oh, boy, I was a nervous wreck. He asked me to meet him in the Staff Room. Sure I was scared and expected a through verbal thrashing besides other punitive actions like reporting to my father etc. Scared,  I walked in, expecting him to be furious, but  to my great surprise, he was calm. He told me that I could be taken to the Headmaster and make it real rough for me. He said he would forgive this time and he tore up the paper with the cartoon and he burned it right in front of me! Oh, boy, it was incredible indeed! I couldn't believe my eyes and ears! His gesture of forgiveness did touch the heart and mind of me, a thirteen year old adolescent boy!

This was an event about a half century ago, taking place in a rather conservative Catholic village school. Any open talk about romance, sex etc. were a taboo!

Though,  a co-ed school, it was a strictly gender segregated.This incident has been quite memorable for me. I began to have respect and affection for him and used to visit him even after becoming a priest. He could have made my life of a thirteen year old student miserable. I was saved from being presented as a bad boy. I was and I am grateful to the teacher concerned for gifting me with this memorable experience of forgiveness.

Jesus, my Merciful, Forgiving Lord,

I want to keep gratefully recalling the innumerable instances of forgiveness you have been gifting me with. I want to keep relishing them. I want to draw from them the much needed strength and inspiration and in my turn keep gifting forgiveness to my fellow humans.

Lord, bless all those who have gifted me with their forgiveness.

Help me to have the humility and generosity to reach out in forgiveness to all those whom I should!

Oh, Lord, above all, everyday, I want to rise up in the morning and retire at night with a grateful heart, with a forgiving thought.

Jesus, My Lord and My God,

I want to spend some time in silence in Your Presence recalling the recent instances of your gracious gifts of forgiveness you have gifted me with

as well as my fellow humans have given me.

Amen

JoAchen

Saturday, February 7th, 2015

joachenmonologues@gmail.com

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PS
Dear Reader,
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth. They are a part of my, 'Prodigal Priest's' journaling on my Pilgrimage to the Home of our Heavenly Father. You are welcome to share them.
Dear Reader, I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours.

I plan on uploading a Reflection each on 7th, 14th, 21st, and on the 28th of every month. If you do not want get these Reflections via email, please send a note and your email id will be deleted from the mailing list.

Thank you!

My  Lord and My God!