August 26, 2012

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: Joshua 24:1-2,15-17,18

   Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: "If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." But the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

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Second Reading: Ephesians 4:21-32

   Brothers and sisters, be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

Gospel Reading: John 6:60-69

    Many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus 

   Discipleship is a gift of God. ("For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father"). Human efforts and human desires will never make one a disciple. Human efforts will make one to understand things in a human way only. This will lead to murmuring, leaving Jesus and going back to old ways and even betrayal.
   But a man who has been chosen by God and has received revelation from God (it is not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven) will cling to Jesus and to his words (Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life). These disciples will believe and be convinced and proclaim that Jesus is the Holy One of God.

August 19, 2012

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: Proverbs 9:1-6

    Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; She has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: "Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding."

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Second Reading: Ephesians 4:15-20

   Brothers and sisters, watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

Gospel Reading: John 6:51-58

   Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus 

   Jesus offers himself as the life-giving food for the people. His body and blood (the Jews believed that life was in the blood) and that is the whole person is offered as food for the people. It is not the dead body (useless, decaying flesh) rather it is the life-giving body and blood is given to the people. This food is that which has come down from heaven. This food is given by the Father and this is far superior (and beyond comparison) when compared with the manna.
   This food is life-giving; it gives eternal life; it gives resurrection; and it gives communion with Jesus and in turn with the Father. The present-people are far superior to the ancestors. The ancestors were also cared for by the Father and were fed in the wilderness by the Father. That was only the foretaste of what was to come in Jesus.  The present-people are given the opportunity to be in communion with Jesus and be united with him forever and this is through sharing of his life in his body and blood.

August 12, 2012

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8

    Elijah went a day's journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: "This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers." He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, "Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!" He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

தமிழ்

Second Reading: Ephesians 4:30-5:2

   Brothers and sisters, do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

Gospel Reading: John 6:41-51

   The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus 

   The Jews were caught between visible reality and the invisible reality; between human conditions and the divine conditions; between the human relations and the divine origin etc. They began to murmur about Jesus because they could not accept the divine origin of Jesus. Their eyes could see Jesus as the son of Joseph but their faith was not able to Jesus the son of God.
   They believed in God and they acknowledged the activities of God in Exodus. They were celebrating this God in Passover and in fact they accepted God in the past. This God was also present here and now. He is present in Jesus and he is doing the same mighty works in and through Jesus. Their faith was so weak that they were not able to see God in Jesus. Only those who believe that Jesus has come down from the father have eternal life.

August 5, 2012

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4,12-15

    The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "Would that we had died at the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!" Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God." In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."

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Second Reading: Ephesians 4:17,20-24

   Brothers and sisters, I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; that is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Gospel Reading: John 6:24-35

    When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus 

   Jews believed in signs. Signs revealed the presence of the divine. Their journey of exodus began with the signs. God worked signs against the Egyptian which were proofs that God was with them. Later he worked signs for them in the wilderness and they were again proofs of the presence of God among them. God redeemed them with signs and wonders. Now they asked Jesus to work miracles to prove the presence of God in him and in his activities.

   In this passage Jesus reproached them for going lower than asking for signs. They were coming to him because of food. They came to him for food that perished. People who experienced the divine; seen the signs from the divine were stooping down to material things. He challenged them to go after eternal things: eternal food. Eternal food has to come from above (from the Father) and Jesus was the one who came down from the Father and he is the eternal food.