BE STRENGTHENED BY THE TRANSFIGURATION
March 17, 2019
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal
 
 

In the Gospel of Luke he says that Jesus draws three disciples to the top of the mountain to pray and they quickly go to sleep. It’s not the last time we see that kind of thing happening. In the garden of Gethsemane on the night He was arrested, His soul was sorrowful He urges His disciples to pray as they enter the garden. And then He takes Peter, James, and John and goes further into the garden and says, “Watch and pray with Me”. And then He goes a few paces further and prays and then He comes back to find Peter, James, and John asleep. Spiritual intimacy is hard. There’s something within us that works against it. We enjoy the benefit of it but we don’t want to give the effort that it requires. Spiritual intimacy is hard and there’s something in us that takes a step back and says, “I’m not going there.” We find ways to work around it, to overcome it, to not let the obstacle limit us in our relationships. But just to understand, there’s something in our wiring that resists the kind of spiritual intimacy that Jesus is calling for from these three disciples right here. They go to sleep instead of engaging with Him at this most crucial time. 

I. The Purpose of the Transfiguration is Jesus intends for it to strengthen their faith. Obviously that’s what He has in mind. Would you say it’s failed in its purpose? Certainly it provided no inner strength or resolve for Peter. Peter still denied the Lord Jesus. Or for the others, they still deserted Him. John came back to bring Mary the Mother of Jesus to the cross for a time, but he did not stay. There were no heroes among the disciples and certainly these three men were not heroes because of what they say and experienced on the top of the mount of transfiguration. They all hid away after Jesus’ crucifixion, as John says, “for fear of the Jews.” But if we look further out we can see how Peter and John both profited from their experience and they brought the benefit that they gained to the whole church.

Listen to John 1:14, written decades later.  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Listen to 2 Peter 1:16-18,  “When we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For when He received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice, born from heaven, for we were there with Him on the holy mountain.” The instruction Peter, James, and John now received was intended to be useful at a future period to themselves and to us. they are telling us - the Lord of glory, boundless in His majesty, was crucified for sinners because He offered Himself. No man took His life from Him. 

II. The Transfiguration Confirms an Unwelcome Message: Luke’s account of this event says that Moses and Elijah are talking with Jesus about His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Peter’s response to that message on suffering and death is rejection. “Lord! This shall never happen to You!” Peter doesn’t want a suffering Savior. Peter doesn’t intend to be a suffering follower. He wants to ride in victory with Jesus sharing His triumph over His enemies. That’s the Messiah the rest of the Twelve are looking for. That’s the Messiah the rest of the nation is looking for. That’s why he finds it not so very difficult to deny Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest on the night of His trial, three times - before a servant girl. He wants nothing to do with suffering.

On that mountain through Peter, James, and John He gives the Church a glimpse of the transcendent glory that the Lord Jesus enjoyed before His incarnation and will return to following His passion, death, and resurrection - a glory that He shares with His church, a glory that He shares with His people, a glory that He invites His people into. The point is to sustain us too, when we endure scorn, hatred, rejection, ridicule. St. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, “At my defense no one came to stand by me, all deserted me, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me.” That should be our experience. That what’s this testimony of the Gospel narrative is about - the Lord stands by us and will strengthen us as; He strengthened these three disciples. Through their testimony He strengthens us.

III. The Transfiguration Teaches that There’s More to the Story: In his distracted state of mind Peter suggests that he, James, and John should get about the business of building shelters for Jesus and Moses and Elijah. Luke makes the comment that Moses and Elijah were parting from Him, they were leaving their conversation with Jesus, and Peter wants to hold onto the moment. He’s distracted, even terrified. Mark says that Peter didn’t even know what he was saying they were all so terrified, but he doesn’t want to let go of what’s happening. But in a few minutes’ time Jesus is leading these three disciples back down from the mountain top into the valley and once they’re there they will face head on all the realities of life in a fallen world. There’s a demon to cast out and that reminds them of the reality of daily, spiritual warfare. Their friends are frantic because their best efforts have been insufficient. They’re faced with the need to understand that prayer is a work and that much prayer is required to do the work that they are called to do. But you see, that’s the point of the transfiguration. 

Life in the world as we live it every day is not the whole story.  There’s a reality beyond what we see or recognize and it’s glorious beyond all words. Jesus lifted the corner of the veil and His three disciples saw unspeakable glory. There is laid up for Jesus and all who believe in Him such glory as the heart of man never conceived. It’s not only promised, but part of it has actually been seen by three competent witnesses - Peter, James, and John.

IV. The Transfiguration Tells of the Uniqueness of Christ: To Peter at this moment there is no distinction. All three are glorious, all three deserve honor. The message from God shows us what’s wrong with Peter’s thinking. “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” There’s only one Son. All who preceded Him pointed to Him. All who preceded Him served Him. All who preceded Him spoke His Word. We have no other one in whom we place hope that our sins are forgiven!

WILL YOU BE STRONG ENOUGH TO SUFFER?
March 10, 2019.
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal
 

The forty days of Lent is the annual retreat of the people of God in imitation of Jesus' forty days in the wilderness. As we begin this holy season of preparation and renewal, let us ask the Lord for a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit that we may grow in faith, hope, and love, and embrace His will more fully in our lives.

Before we come to chapter 4:1-13 where the passage deals with the temptation of our Lord, the first 3 chapters were testimony of angels, the testimony of men, the testimony of the Trinity, testimony of genealogy to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. It's fine to have all of these evidences, all of these proofs, all of these credentials in place. But the ultimate question is: Can He save sinners from sin? Can He save sinners from the destroyer, from death and hell? Can He undo what the destroyer did with the first Adam? Can He conquer Satan? If He can’t conquer sin He for Himself, then for sure He can't do it for us. The fourth chapter of Luke is the question: Can Jesus conquer the devil and sin? With the Spirit of God literally driving Him, says one of the Gospel writers, He goes into the wilderness, into this conflict because it was absolutely critical at the outset of His ministry that He be given the ultimate test of the power of Satan against Him to see if He can stand, that is essential to His messianic credentials.

So the Messiah's credentials then must include His ability to demonstrate power over Satan. This is not the only time that He enters into conflict, verse 13 says, "The devil departed from Him, only until an opportune time." He came back on numerous occasions. If He is defeated by Satan, then we all lose, there is no salvation, and we are all damned. The Jews knew that Satan had conquered the sinless Adam. The question was: Could Satan conquer the sinless Jesus? And the Jews knew that Adam was in a perfect environment. Here we find Jesus in the most imperfect of all environments after that forty days of struggle is over, Jesus who is a man feels hungry. Satan senses in that hunger a new vulnerability. Adam had all that he ever needed to eat; Jesus had no food at all. And so, Luke tells us we have a Savior who is not like the first Adam. We have a Savior who can take all the temptation. He comes out triumphant; that identifies Jesus as the One and only Messiah and Savior.

The first temptation is a temptation to distrust God's love. Now when I say that, you can understand that categorically.  You've been tempted to do it, to distrust God's love. You've been tempted to say, “If God really loved me, I wouldn't have wound up in this circumstance. If God really loved me I wouldn't have this illness. If God really loved me I wouldn't be living with so much disappointment. If God really loved me I wouldn't be asking, why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?”

In verse 3: we read that the devil said to Him, "If” or probably better translated, “Since" “since You are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread ….”. The devil never questions the deity of Jesus. They've known Jesus as God before they fell. When they were holy angels before they joined Satan's rebellion, they knew Jesus to be God. They still know He is God. That's why in Matthew 8:29 the demons say, "What do we have to do with You, Son of God?" They know who He is. What's a temptation here? It is certainly not a temptation of satisfying hunger. The implication here is based upon the fact that Satan knew that Jesus had restricted His independent use of His own deity to do only the will of the Father and that He wasn't to do anything that the Father didn't will. In fact, Jesus said in John 4:34, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” Satan is saying look, if God really loved You, You wouldn't be hungry. This is exactly the...the formula that Satan used with Eve, isn't it? What Satan was saying to Eve in the Garden is, "look there's a tree that has fruit on it and God doesn't want you to have it? Well if God really loved you, why would He restrict you? God probably isn't as loving as you think. And Eve bought into the lie that God wasn't as good as she thought He was. He quotes  Deuteronomy 8:3, "I don't live because of bread, I live because God has determined My life."  I'm not concerned about personal sacrifices, I will exalt the Word and the will of God, I will do exactly what the Father tells Me to do.

When this was over, Matthew said angels came and ministered to Him. I think they brought bread. He's hungry. When it says the angels came and served Him, they served Him bread. What Jesus is doing here is He's affirming His absolute confidence in God. And then Satan makes this serious overstatement in verse 6, showing the nations, "For it has been handed over to me and I give it to whomever I wish.” Satan can't give it to anybody. He simply rules the system of evil. He does not determine the nations and who rules the nations. “Therefore if You worship before me it shall all be Yours.” Now Satan has a problem with this. It's what got him kicked out of heaven to start with. He wanted to be worshiped. "I will be like the Most High God," that was his thing. And he hasn't changed at all. He still wants to be worshiped. Now he wants to be worshiped by the Son of God. If he could get a member of the Trinity to worship him, he's achieved what he wanted in the first place.

But he's saying to Jesus, bypass the cross, come on I'll just give You the crown. What he really wants Jesus to do is sin against the Father by distrusting the Father's plan, which involved the cross before the crown, suffering before glory, humiliation before exaltation. And he's saying, “I'll give You a painless path.” Now we can identify with that kind of temptation, to distrust God's plan. You can say in your life, I don't like the way things are going, why did it have to be like this? This isn't the way I would want it. I don't know how long I can take this. Is there a shortcut to the glory? Is there a quick path to the crown? I'm not sure I want to do it Your way anymore. Some come to the conclusion I think I'm going to grab some satisfaction for myself. But Jesus gives the right answer. In verse 8 He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone’.” Dear brothers and sisters, when the Lord gives these answers, He really helps us. He shows us that we can be strong against the temptation to distrust the love of God, strong against temptation to distrust the plan of God. Let us not make bargains with the devil to avoid suffering this Lent.

FROM THE SABBATH TO THE LORDS DAY
March 3, 2019
Deacon Dennis Walters

    Orthodox Jews take the Sabbath very seriously. Viva Hammer, a Jewish widow and recent empty-nester, reflected in the November issue of First Things on her first Sabbath alone, and what the day means to her as a Jewish woman.

    “So many things are forbidden on the Sabbath that the hours prior [to it] are a turmoil of activity. I fill the urn from which I will make tomorrow’s tea, broil fish, and peel vegetables. I switch on the lights that will stay lit twenty-five hours, and turn all others off….  Then I put all devices away, shower, and dress in fresh clothes.”

Reading her reflections, I began to consider what Sunday means (or should mean) to Catholics, and I notice some remarkable parallels between the Jewish reverence for the Sabbath and the Christian devotion to Sunday, the Lord’s Day. For example, there is how Jews see the Sabbath:

“The Sabbath is a memorial to God’s creating the world, in which six days were spent on the work of creation and the seventh on rest….  The Sabbath is inviolable. …Even Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, does not override the Sabbath: When they fall on the same day, they form a joint Sabbath of Sabbaths.”

    The meaning is nearly identical to how Catholics view Sunday, the Lord’s Day: “Because it is the ‘first day,’ the day of Christ’s Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the ‘eighth day’ following the Sabbath, it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s Resurrection. For Christians [Sunday] has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord’s Day” (CCC 2174). Sunday is the preeminent “Holy Day of Obligation.” Even when other Holy Days of Obligation fall on a Sunday, the celebration of the Lord’s Day takes precedence.  (Easter may be an exception, but then it falls on a Sunday so it’s a moot point.)

    Of course, the Sabbath is a day of rest for Jews. “We may not work for pay or pay others to work for us. Our businesses shut.” How many times do we hear Christians lament that some of us must work for pay on Sundays, and that stores stay open on Sundays. We do bemoan it — but we shop on Sundays too.

The Jewish Sabbath is time for personal rest, but not “for a day off, not for a vacation, but for the Sabbath. With its enforced quiet and song and contemplation and afternoon nap.” Despite the individual rest, the Sabbath is a day for community: “Sabbath requires sitting face-to-face with your community, your family, and yourself.” It’s a day for families: “When I talk to Jewish women about their image of family,” Mrs. Hammer writes, “they describe a quorum of children around the Sabbath table. The triumph of the family is around the Sabbath table, and the focus of the Sabbath is the family.”

For Christians, Sunday fulfills the Sabbath. It is the gathering of the Catholic family around the Lord’s table. Sunday “is the pre-eminent day for the liturgical assembly, when the faithful gather ‘to listen to the word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who “has begotten them again, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” unto a living hope’” (CCC 1167). The passage in the Letter to the Hebrews urging Christians “not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some” (Hb 10:25) refers to the “habit of some” to skip Sunday Mass for private recreation — a theft of the Lord’s Day.

Because many Christians claim Sunday as “their time.” They resent the Church for obliging them to keep the Lord’s Day holy, separate, reserved for the Lord himself. Frankly though, Sunday is not and never was intended as one’s own day off, a vacation. Claiming Sunday for oneself is a kind of theft. Yes, it is a day of rest — but rest that includes time for spiritual health in worship and reflection as well as recreation.

The experience many parents face about children’s drifting away from faith is familiar to our Jewish widow: “For half a decade now, I have been single, but the children remained with me. They stopped observing the Sabbath as they floated away into a culture in which one day is the same ceaseless round as the next. I am sad for them in their Sabbath-less world.” What Christian parent cannot empathize with her grief, when the children they’ve trained to worship on Sunday and have sacrificed to provide a Catholic education for float away into a Sunday-less world?

Obviously, those who drift away from the faith, or who explicitly reject it, are responsible for their own actions. But those of us who remain are responsible, too. Just as Mrs. Hammer remains faithful to the Sabbath, whether alone or in community, we remain steadfast in our celebration of Sunday, the Lord’s Day. If some drift away because Sunday is just another day of the week, we need to insist on the day’s true meaning, and observe it accordingly. Sunday isn’t a day off, a vacation. It is a time to obey the commandment to “keep holy the Lord’s Day. We make it special in our homes and in our churches through “quiet and song and contemplation” and participation at Mass.

Christians live under Jesus’ New Commandment, but it doesn’t abrogate the Old. The least we as orthodox Catholics can do is take the Lord’s Day as seriously as Orthodox Jews take the Sabbath.

DO YOU HAVE THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT?
February 24, 2019
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

It  is natural to reciprocate—to help those who help you and hurt those who hurt you. “Do unto others as they do unto you” is simple justice, and has been enshrined in law at least since the Code of Hammurabi (18th Century B.C.), which specified an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Reciprocity is considered a natural, commonsense way to order one’s life as its goal is fairness. And yet Jesus tells us that reciprocity is not kingdom behavior. Just as God goes beyond justice to mercy, we are to do the same. It is a hard lesson. It is un-natural. We can move beyond justice to mercy, but only through the grace of God.

Jesus begins this section by saying, “Love your enemies,” He gives concrete examples to illustrate what He means. He organizes these in two sets of three examples. In the first set of three, He says: “do good to those who hate you”, “bless those who curse you”, “pray for those who mistreat you”. In the second set of three, He says: “To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other”, “and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat,” also  “Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again”.  These examples are organized for emphasis. By giving two sets of three examples, Jesus establishes a rhythm that captures our attention.

The behaviors outlined in the first set of three are general in nature: (1) hatred (2) cursing and (3) abuse. These manifest themselves in many different ways. The behaviors outlined in the second set of three are quite specific: (1) striking a cheek (2) taking a coat and (3) taking goods. When Jesus tells us to love, do good, bless, and pray, He is speaking to the crowd. When Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek and to give to everyone who begs from us, He is speaking to us individually. His finger is pointing directly at you or me. The charge is specific not only in the actions involved but in the persons addressed.

The  principle is “Love your enemies,” and we understand almost instinctively that we must apply that principle creatively and faithfully in relationship to our enemies. The examples which Jesus provides to illustrate the word “love” are not directed at feelings but at actions that are unselfish and uninfluenced by any hope of return. With the principle of love and the six examples, Jesus clearly establishes that we, as His disciples, are not to allow people of lesser principles to set the agenda. We are to give up much, and endure much, for the sake of showing kindness and avoiding strife. We are to forego even our rights, rather than awaken angry passions and create quarrels. In this they were to be like their Master, long-suffering, meek, and lowly of heart. These behaviors might seem weak in the face of hatred and violence, but Jesus transforms them. He demonstrates at the cross how powerful they can be. On the cross, He did not curse His enemies, but prayed for their forgiveness.

Jesus then anchors this section with the command, “As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them” (v. 31). We know this as the Golden Rule. This rule had often been stated in negative form. Philo said, “What you hate to suffer, do not do to anyone else.” The Stoics said, “What you do not wish to be done to yourself, do not do to any other” (Barclay, 77). Jesus’ positive statement of this rule expands its application considerably. We are not only to avoid behavior that we would not want to experience, but are to practice behavior that we would want to experience. This is much more pro-active and dynamic.

In verses 28-36, Jesus has shown us how to respond to people who misuse us. Now He speaks of people who treat us well. He does not deny us the right to give good for good, but denies us special credit for doing so. Giving good for good is simply reciprocity, and reciprocity is not kingdom behavior. Even people who do not follow Christ give good for good. As Christ’s disciples, we are to give good whether we have received good or bad. We are not to be motivated by debts that we owe other people or that they owe us. Jesus calls for an end to such calculation. We are to break the cycle of calculation by giving good; this should be the mark at which the Christian should aim. This is to walk in the steps of our blessed Savior. If He had dealt with the world as the world dealt with Him, we would all have been ruined forever in hell.

Luke 6:35-36 says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is also merciful.” Here Jesus gives us the theological understanding of non-reciprocal behavior. We are to love, to do good, and to act generously, because we “will be children of the Most High.” As children of the Most High, our reward is great, because we are heirs to the kingdom. We get to live under the king’s roof and eat at the king’s table. We get to enter into the king’s presence and to enjoy the king’s protection. It is a life of privilege—a blessed life. Thanklessness and ingratitude should not make them slack their hands from works of love and mercy. Like their Father in heaven, they should never be tired of doing good. Such is the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ about charity. Few of His sayings are so deeply heart-searching as those we have now been considering. Few passages in the Bible are so truly humbling as these eleven verses.

Dear brothers and sisters, how happy the world would be if Christ's precepts were strictly obeyed! The chief causes of half the sorrows of mankind are selfishness, strife, unkindness, and lack of love. Never was there a greater mistake than to suppose that vital Christianity interferes with human happiness. It is not having too much religion, but too little, that makes people gloomy, wretched, and miserable. Wherever Christ is best known and obeyed, there will always be found the most real joy and peace. Let us seek to be joined to Christ by faith, and to be taught and sanctified by His Spirit. We cannot have flowers without roots, or fruit without trees. We cannot have the fruit of the Spirit, without vital union with Christ.

DO YOU HUNGER FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS?
February 17, 2019
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

This is the same sermon recorded in Mt 5-7 called the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, Matthew gave more words of Jesus from the sermon than Luke. There are people who treat this sermon as a statement of ethics, but it isn’t. It’s a sermon about salvation. In fact, it’s the most definitive sermon that Jesus preached, identifying who is saved and who is not. What Jesus taught was absolutely opposite human thinking, even the thinking of religious people. The religious Jews found it offensive and threatening. Now to the average person it sounds crazy. Jesus says that poverty, hunger, sorrow and rejection are a blessing; and riches, satisfaction, happiness and popularity a curse. I mean, basically everybody in the world lives their lives to turn poverty into riches, hunger into satisfaction, sorrow into happiness and rejection into popularity, but this is an authoritative word from God that sets the standard by which anybody can discern their spiritual condition. I would assume that you’re here because you have some interest in the Kingdom of God.

Now take the word “blessed.” It’s the Greek word meaning, “most favored.” It speaks of somebody who is in the most beneficial condition. Then the word “woe,” which in Greek means, “most unfavored.” It means the person who is in the worst condition. When we read “Blessed are you who are poor,  I want you to understand these are not wishes. This isn’t a wish. This isn’t a hope. This isn’t even a prayer. It’s not like, “O God, please bless poor people; O God, please bless hungry,
weeping and hated people,” and, “O God, please curse rich, satisfied, happy and popular people.” It’s not a prayer. These are absolute statements of fact. The poor are blessed. The hungry are blessed. The weeping are blessed. And the rejected are blessed. And the question is; which group are you in? For the desperate, there is blessing. For the self-sufficient, there is cursing. He’s talking about spiritually poor. The people that are blessed are people who understand their spiritual poverty. They understand the bankrupt condition of their soul. They understand that they have absolutely no resources with which to buy God’s favor.

In chapter 4 when Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth, His own hometown synagogue, He said to them, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,”  He has anointed Me to preach the good news.” The good news is forgiveness, the good news is righteousness, but this good news is to all the spiritually poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed or downtrodden. “I come to present good news of forgiveness and freedom.” “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.  I’m too embarrassed,  ashamed, too humiliated to even look at You.”  This is the man with the poor and contrite spirit of  Is 66:2.  This is the one who knows he has nothing. At the time of Jesus, Jews thought their religious observances had earned them righteousness. They were absolutely wrong. Jesus overturned that completely. It is those who know they have nothing and are beggars who are blessed. Why are they blessed? Because, “For yours is the Kingdom of God.” You get the Kingdom. You become heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, possessors of everything in the Kingdom, all the Kingdom has to offer. Eternal life, forgiveness, grace, mercy, joy, hope, security, comfort, peace, love, righteousness, all that is yours.

And the second characteristic of the people who are blessed comes in the second Beatitude, the blessing of hunger.  Verse 21 says, “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.” Again the point is not physical food but spiritual.  Mt 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger for ‘righteousness.’” It’s an intense desire for righteousness. It’s saying, “Look, I have nothing. I am bankrupt. I am a beggar. I can’t earn my salvation, but I hunger for righteousness.” So the blessed are those who have a deep consuming, longing for acceptance with God. They want to be right with God. They want a relationship with God. They want forgiveness. They want their sin to be dealt with. They want fellowship with God. They want eternal life. It’s like Psalm 42:1-2 where the psalmist said, “As the deer longs after the water brooks, so is the longing of my soul after You, O God, my soul thirsts for God, the living God.” When Mary was praising God after the announcement that she would be the mother of the Messiah, she praised God in Lk 1:53 as “the one Who has filled the hungry with good things.” He fills the spiritually hungry of heart. This is a hunger for forgiveness, a hunger for righteousness, a hunger for holiness. So first, there’s a recognition of poverty, spiritual bankruptcy , and then there is a hunger for righteousness. That hunger is the indicator of blessing because the Beatitude says, “For you shall be satisfied.”

The third Beatitude at the end of verse 21 says, “Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh.” These are the people who are sad about their condition. They’re sad about their spiritual bankruptcy. They’re sad about the absence of righteousness. They hunger for that. They are disappointed. They are fearful. They are in pain. And this is the sorrow of repentance. This is the kind of sorrow in James 4:9, “Be miserable and mourn and weep. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you.” That’s the humiliation and the humbling and the sadness of repentance.

The fourth one is the blessing of rejection. Verse 22 says, “Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and cast insults at you and spurn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man.” Here you have gone from spiritual poverty to riches, hunger to satisfaction, sorrow to laughter. Your life has changed. It’s evident. And now comes the blessing of rejection. And this is not how you see yourself but how the world sees you and treats you, which also is an evidence of your blessed condition. St. Paul gave his life to bring salvation, blessing to the enemies of God,  read 2 Corinthians for yourself and see the litany of things he endured. Five times at a synagogue the Jews whipped him with 39 lashes. So, we can do a little inventory on our life. Do you understand your spiritual bankruptcy? Do you have a profound hunger for righteousness? And is our life filled with sadness over your sin. If so we are blessed because he can turn sorrow to laughter. 

RECONCILE YOURSELF BEFORE GOD
February 10, 2019
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

In chapter 4 after the synagogue service when it was dinner time, Jesus went to Simon Peter's house. He cured Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick; she immediately got up and served dinner. Today we are in Mt 5:1-11, but it is time to take Peter to another level.Most probably at that time Peter was a kind of part-time follower, a little bit of fishing and a little bit of following Jesus. By the way, Jesus did this throughout His whole life, even after the resurrection, trying to get Peter to the level He wanted him at. So He gets into Simon's boat. He's going to reveal to Simon and the others who He really is. So He says to him, "Put out a little way from the land." He said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water, let your nets down for a catch.' He knows where all His fish are. One time in Matthew 17, Peter needed money for the taxes. Jesus said, "Go down there, put your hook in the water and pull out the fish and the fish has a coin in his mouth that will pay for both of us." He knew which fish had the coin, and where the fish was.

When you look at Jesus in this simple fishing incident that occurred that day in Galilee, what you see here in Christ is the very essential character of God, He is omniscient. When He had a conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 He answered a question. Nicodemus hadn't asked, but He read his mind. In the story of the Passover dinner with His disciples, He knew about a man who would be going to that house carrying a pitcher and He said to the disciples, "Just go into town, when you see the man with the pitcher, follow him and everything else will fall into place to prepare for the Passover." Dear brothers and sisters, how do we know Jesus is God?  And the answer is, because He manifests all the characteristics of God throughout the New Testament. He is the source of truth, omniscience, omnipotence, holiness and mercy. And when Jesus came, Jesus demonstrated all of those very same attributes of God the Jewish people have heard in the synagogue.

When they had the miraculous catch of fish when they lowered the net at the request of our Lord, Peter is literally shocked by the realization that Jesus knows what nobody knows; He knows where the fish are. Jesus knows where all His creatures are. Peter knows now that he's dealing with the Creator of the universe. They never heard anybody teach the way He taught. They were amazed at His confrontation of the demon in the synagogue now they're amazed at His power over nature, just an amazing expression of His power. Peter knew exactly what he was dealing with. He was dealing with One who was the source of truth, One who knew everything that could be known and One who had power.

In verse 8 when Simon Peter saw the divine display, when he saw this omniscience and this omnipotence in action along with the message of the words of God that had come, he knew in whose presence he stood.  "And he fell down at Jesus' feet.” Fishing was Peter's thing, you know. He knew about fishing. But this was not fishing. Peter had heard Jesus teaching about the kingdom. He had heard Jesus teaching about repentance and salvation and forgiveness. Now the Lord had a very special manifestation for Peter that shocked him. When He saw it, he fell at Jesus' feet and this is the prostration of a worshiper. But not just a worshiper, a worshiper who is frankly terrified because look at his words, "And he said, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord.'" This is that penitence that Jesus is after. This is exactly the kind of attitude Jesus was looking for, not an attitude of confidence, not an attitude of self-satisfaction, not an attitude of religious achievement, not an attitude of self-righteousness, but an attitude of brokenness. This is where the real transformation takes place. This is the moment of his penitence. This is the first time in the Gospel of Luke that someone is brought to the recognition of their sinfulness. And Peter is crushed because he knows he's in the presence of holy God, that's why he reacts this way. He is stunned by the presence of God and is only aware then of his sin because he knows if he can see God, he sees holiness, and God can see him and God sees sin. He says, "Go away, go away." He's afraid for his life, the self-consciousness, the guilt, the shame, the sense of unworthiness to be in the presence of the Lord made him say “go away Lord”.

It is like Abraham in Genesis 18:27 when he says, "I am speaking to the Lord? Who am but dust and ashes." Isaiah who sees the Lord and says, "woe is me, I'm disintegrating, I'm a man with a dirty mouth." One of the most interesting statements of all in regard to this is found in Exodus 20.  God is giving the law and in verse 19 they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen, but let not God speak to us lest we die." Peter is affirming, "You don't deserve to be in my presence, I don't deserve to be in Your presence.” What from Peter's viewpoint is so frightening that he wants to run, is so encouraging to the Lord that He wants to embrace Peter. At the very point at which the sinner feels the most alienation is the point at which the Savior is seeking reconciliation. And here was Peter and his two buddies, James and John, wanting to run when Jesus wanted to embrace them, wanting alienation when Jesus sought reconciliation. This is the glorious moment of their repentance.

And that brings us to the final attribute of God that is demonstrated here, Divine Mercy in verse 10. Jesus said to Peter, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will be fishers of men." The most penitent, is the one who receives the most mercy and becomes the most qualified to accompany the Lord in the great salvation mission. This is kind of where the great commission starts. They spent their life catching fish dead. Now they're going to catch men alive. You catch fish for the purpose of killing them. You catch men for the purpose of giving them life, eternal life. It's an astonishing mercy, my friends, that not only does God forgive the sinner who is overwhelmed by his sin in the presence of the holiness of God, but God clings, God pulls that sinner in, in an embrace in which He chooses to use that sinner forHis salvation enterprise which includes you and me. Thus we become ambassadors for Christ. We become the missionary force that fulfills the great commission.

OF PROPHETS AND HARD FOREHEADS
February 3, 2019.
Deacon Dennis Walters

Prophets have a hard lot. People want to hear what they have to say, but often refuse to believe or act on what they hear.

    Usually, the prophets know this will happen going in to their ministry. We see this with Ezekiel, whom God appointed to be a prophet to Israel’s exiles, who were known to be “of a hard forehead and of a stubborn heart.” God will make Ezekiel’s forehead as hard as diamond; “and whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they will know there is a prophet among them.” (Ezek 2:7; 3:9). We see it in Amos who, when told to get out of town and prophesy somewhere else, replied that he was acting on the Lord’s command (Am 7:12-15). And of course, we see it in Jesus, whose relatives and townspeople were ready to throw Him off a cliff.

    What makes the prophet’s lot so hard? The answers can usually be found in what Scripture scholars refer to as the call-stories, where the prophet becomes aware that he is being tapped. Here are some examples from the calls of Jeremiah and Jesus.

    The prophet’s mission comes from God, not from himself. Sometimes, the prophet is willing to undertake the role asked of him. When Isaiah hears God ask, “Who shall go for Us?” he volunteers, “Here I am, send me” (Is 6:8). Most often, though, the prophet is reluctant to accept the call; when Jeremiah complains that he is too young, the Lord tells him that his youth is not an excuse (Jer 1:6-8). Jesus tells His audience that His mission to preach good news to the poor comes from the Holy Spirit.

    The prophet will meet opposition, sometimes insurmountable, but must persist. God promises to make Jeremiah “a pillar of iron and a wall of brass” because, “Judah’s kings and peoples will fight against you.” (Jer 1:18-19). Jesus testifies before Pilate, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth hears my voice.” (Jn 18:37).

    The prophet is to speak what God says, not what he himself thinks, and not what people want to hear. The Lord gives Jeremiah his mission by telling him, “See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant,” — a mission not calculated to make him popular. Jesus tells the Pharisees that His word is not His own but comes from the Father (Jn 5:30).

    God both purifies and strengthens the prophet for his ministry, but it’s up to the prophet himself to be faithful to the call. When Jeremiah resolves not to speak the Lord’s word any more because of the hostility it receives, it “becomes like a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in.” (Jer 20:9). The Lord even has to correct him: “If you repent so that I restore you, in my presence you will stand.  …You will be my mouthpiece.” (Jer 15:19). In Gethsemane, Jesus submits to the Father: “Not My will, but Yours be done.” (Lk 22:42).

    The personal cost of accepting the prophetic call is often very dear. Jeremiah’s life is to be a warning to Israel, since he is not to marry, is not to attend funerals, and is not to go to banquets, because the coming destruction of Jerusalem will make having children pointless, death will be everywhere, and there will be nothing to celebrate (Jer 16:1-10). Jesus’ escape from the townspeople who wanted to throw Him off a cliff is only temporary, since He knows His ministry will end on the cross.

    Despite the hardness of the prophets’ lot, God keeps speaking to His people through them. He spoke through them in the Scriptures, He did so in the early Church, and He speaks through them now. Always, He hopes His word will penetrate hard foreheads, that it will open closed ears, that it will melt frozen hearts. The word of God that we hear in the liturgy, that we read in Scripture, or that comes to us through other means is God speaking to us through His prophets.

    Through His prophets, God has complained that people hear over and over and don’t understand, or see again and again and don’t perceive; that their hearts are fat, their ears heavy, and their eyes closed (Is 6:9-10). So we might ask ourselves, How do we respond to God’s word? When it names the sins of God’s people, do we include ourselves in that naming or see those sins as someone else’s? Does the naming penetrate our foreheads or just go over them? If we complain that we hear but don’t understand, are we really listening, applying the word to ourselves? Are we listening for what we want to hear, or for what God wants to say?

Prophets have a hard lot because their word is hard. It calls to account, challenges the arrogance that says we don’t sin, reminds us of our baptismal covenant. Their word is hard because foreheads are hard, ears are hard, hearts are hard. But as they become softer, it’s surprising how much softer the Word of God becomes. Then we hear words of forgiveness, love, and guidance.  

If we don’t know how to hear the word of the Lord as we ought to, there’s a simple solution: ask the Holy Spirit to open our ears. Plead with Him to give us a heart that, like that of the prophet Samuel, says, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Or like that of Jesus that says, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”

ALLOW JESUS TO SPEAK THE GOSPEL TO YOU!
January 27, 2019.
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

It  is amazing to think about Luke who, apart from the apostle Paul, was the most influential force in writing the New Testament. In fact, the writings of Luke, which come in two volumes — the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts — add up to fifty-two chapters.  The Gospel of Luke is the longest of all the Gospel narratives and therefore the most thorough and complete. The total, of fifty-two chapters, make Luke the author of one-third of the New Testament. His friend and companion, Paul, is author of another third of it. So, together the two of them penned two-thirds of the New Testament.

Luke 1:1-4  is what we would call a prologue. These four verses, in fact, are one l o n g u n b r o k e n sentence, written in classical Greek. By using this kind of Greek he is claiming a place for the Gospel as a serious classic work; as a true work of literary, historical worth to be given attention by the most sophisticated and highly educated Gentile or Greek reader. In this prologue he talks about his sources, as any good historian would. He talks about other accounts that have been compiled. He talks about eyewitnesses and servants of the Word who’ve handed them down. This is not something He has invented. He has carefully investigated, verse 3 says, and researched everything carefully from the beginning.  He is concerned about actual history. He is concerned about precision as he says in verse 4, "exact truth."  And so, this prologue is very important in establishing Luke as a legitimate writer. This 3rd Gospel tells us its author Luke is a physician,  a historian, a theologian, and a pastor to each one of us. 

In this Gospel we notice something interesting; in verse 3 it is addressed to a man named Theophilus, “it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus.” In Acts 1:1, “In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.” Whoever wrote the first account, that is the Gospel, refers to himself as having written that first account to Theophilus and then proceeds to write the book of Acts of the Apostles. He wasn't there during the life of Christ. He was not an Apostle. He was not an eyewitness to those events. But he's a companion of Paul; Paul had a lot of companions in his missionary journey. The Acts of the Apostles tells their names: Mark, Timothy, Titus, Silas, and Barnabas. Sixty percent of the material in Mark is also in Luke. We may ask why does Luke have to write these again? The only answer I can find was that God prompted him to write and to begin one great narrative from the start; the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner to Christ, all the way to the Gospel reaching Rome through Paul.  Such a comprehensive history had never been written in one inspired, precise, reliable, logical, persuasive account in two volumes. Not only is it the longest Gospel, it's the most thoroughly-researched.

The second part of today’s Gospel is from Chapter 4, when Jesus is in his home town Synagogue. That's how Luke launches his account of the Galilean ministry of Jesus, but keep in mind, now, nearly a year has passed before Jesus begins ministry in this area. It is said that people were amazed at His teaching. It is in this Galilean ministry even His disciples come to ask Him, “teach us to pray.” Jesus gave them the beautiful prayer the “Our Father.”

In that synagogue it says, "The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him and He opened the book."  Jesus unrolls the scroll to read the scripture. The Old Testament speaks of Jesus. In Luke 24:27, where Jesus is talking to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, it says, "And beginning with Moses and all the prophets He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." He was opening the Old Testament and the Old Testament was all about Him. He reads a passage which defines His mission: to proclaim the Good News to the poor, to proclaim freedom to prisoners, to restore sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. In Galilee at the time of Jesus, there was a two-fold segregation: that of the politics of Herod Antipas  and the segregation of the official religion. This became the system of exploitation. Many people were homeless, excluded, and without work. The result was that the community was weakened. Families and the people remained without any help, without any defense. The official religion, as maintained by the religious authorities of the time, did not strengthen the community. Instead, they interpreted the law of God to legitimize the exclusion of many people: women, children, Samaritans, foreigners, lepers, the possessed, publicans, the sick, the mutilated and the handicapped. It was the opposite of the will of God for all! This was the political and economic situation, as well as the religious ideology. Jesus’ announces His vision based on the prophecy of Isaiah, offering an alternative. After finishing the reading, Jesus updated the text applying it to the life of the people, saying, “Today, this reading, which you have heard with your own ears, has been fulfilled!” His way of joining the Bible to the life of the people produced a twofold reaction. Some remained surprised and amazed. Others had a negative reaction. Some were scandalized. They said, “Is He not the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4:22). But they did not accept His proposal. And thus, when He presented His project to accept the excluded, He Himself was excluded!

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus speaks this same word to each of us today - He comes to bring us healing and restoration, pardon and freedom from the oppression of sin, despair, hopelessness, and destruction. Let us ask the Lord Jesus to renew the joy of the Gospel and the freedom to live each day with trusting faith, joyful hope, and fervent love.

THE MIRACLES BEGIN WITH MARRIAGE
January 20, 2019.
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

John has written his gospel for one purpose, he saysthat you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. John writes to give evidence for the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Messiah and is the Son of God, that you may believe that, and that believing you may have life,
eternal life, in His name. We already know that from our experience in chapter 1 in the opening
eighteen verses that some call the prologue, John gives his own testimony that the Word, who
is Jesus Christ, is God, with God, created everything, is the Light, is the life,He is  “The Word,”
“became flesh and dwelt among us, then there is the testimony, by the greatest of all Old
Testament prophets John the Baptist,  he affirms that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lamb of
God.And then starting in verse 38 verbal testimony from Andrew, Peter, John, Philip who are
Old Testament believers who were true worshipers of the true God, who give us first-hand
testimony that Jesus is in fact the Messiah, that He is the One spoken of by the Law and the
Prophets, that He is the Son of God, He is the King of Israel. All of those confessions are made in
that first chapter.
Now we come to chapter 2, we move from verbal testimony to testimony by the works of
Jesus.  He did that demonstrate and prove Jesus is God. He will do what no one but God can
do. And we see that in the very first miracle in chapter 2.Now in John’s book, he gives us eight
signs, eight miracles that Jesus did that are signs pointing to His deity. He turns water into wine
in chapter 2. He heals a dying man in chapter 4. He cures a paralyzed man in chapter 5. He
creates food for thousands of people in chapter 6. He walks on water at the end of chapter
6. He gives sight to the blind in chapter 9. He raises a man dead for days in chapter 11. He
creates a meal in chapter 21, breakfast for His disciples. And then the culminating miracle
beyond the eight, He is raised from the dead. So those are the miracle signs that John
records. And I would just remind you that in chapter 20, verse 30, it says this: “Therefore many
other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this
book.”  And then in chapter 21, verse 25, the last verse in the gospel of John, John writes “there
were also many other things which Jesus did which if they were written in detail, I suppose that
even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”
So, we’re going to start His public ministry, and we’re going to be following that till we get to
the end of chapter 12. And it all begins with a supernatural miracle. Let me read it to you
starting in verse 1, chapter 2. “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the
mother of Jesus was there and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When
the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to
her, ‘Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said
to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’ There is no human way to explain Jesus’
miracle of changing water into wine.Verse 1 says, “On the third day there was a wedding in

Cana of Galilee.”  What that tells us is that from the time that John the Baptist said “Behold the
Lamb of God” and turned his disciples away from him to follow Jesus--those five men to follow
Jesus--from that day to this day everything happens in a week.
The fact that our Lord did His first miracle at a wedding emphasizes the sanctity of that
covenant. He starts his mission with the focus on the family life. Weddings matters. Public
reception if great sacrament matters. The ceremony matters with the witnessing of our friends
and family. For us Catholics People are not married who just live together. People are married
who make public covenant before God and before people. Marriage is a condition of life
designed by God, ordained by God, and authenticated in an open, public covenant. It is the
highest and noblest and best of all human relationships. No other human relationship is as
wonderful as marriage. these days people may have different opinion about the sacrament of
marriage, but the God’s intention of instituting this sacrament of marriage will never change.
Whenever there is a funeral here in our church of someone who lived 60 years or 70 years of
married life, until they die I always speak about the beauty and the sanctity of marriage as a
message to their children or anyone who have come to join for the funeral service. Any society
that fails to honor marriage as a covenant, open covenant between a man and a woman for
life, in which children are reared and cared for; any society that diminishes marriage, that fails
to honor marriage, is corrupt, is doomed to chaos. Our Lord honored marriage by attending and
doing His first miracle at a wedding.
Someone may think you do not know the difficulties that I went through with my marriage,
why I am divorced or remarried. But I am sure you entered that marriage to live together
forever in good times and in bad in health and sickness. Let us pray for all married couples the
god Lord may help them to overcome their problems they are facing. Let us also pray for 4 girls
from our parish recently engaged that Lord may bless them abundantly.
Dear brothers and sisters, the mother of Jesus, who said to Him, “They have no wine.” She
certainly knew what was going on. She is our heavenly mother she knows our needs, she can
intercede to her son to bless our families with His Grace.