Don’t make a spectacle of sacraments

  Wedding is a celebration. Certainly, it’s also is a sacrament. So is baptism. But we often forget this fact and turn weddings into a pageant, or a spectacle.   

 Pope Francis recently lambasted the trend in the church community to convert wedding into a spectacle and vanity. This is a different type of celebration which often leads to vulgar display of wealth and influence in the society. In other words, a public display of excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements. Is this Kingdom of God? No.

“Our human weakness prefers a spectacle,” Pope Francis said in his homily at Santa Marta recently. This sometimes happens “in celebrating certain sacraments”, he said, leading us to think about weddings in particular. We have to ask ourselves whether these people “have come to receive a sacrament, to have a feast like at Cana in Galilee, or have they come to have a pageant, to be seen, for vanity?” There is thus a continuous temptation: not to accept that the Kingdom of God is silent, he said.

 People are eager to make wedding and baptism celebrations into a kind of spectacle with music, dance, cultural programmes and scrumptious lunch or dinner. Liquor flows very liberally. A huge money is spent for such celebrations. And everybody forgets Jesus. 

 Remember that the excluded are waiting on the other side. We refuse to acknowledge even their existence. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The great spectacle goes on in the name of baptism and wedding. There’s no wonder that many such weddings finally end up in divorces years later.

 When we get into such pageants, please remember whether we’re on the right side of our Lord. A power show might give you instant satisfaction, importance and power, but the crucial question is: does our Lord want this kind of spectacle along with sacraments? Not at all.   

  Pope recommended a brief examination of conscience to avoid falling into the temptation of the spectacle, by asking a few simple questions. “Are you a Christian? Yes! Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Yes! Do you believe in the sacraments? Yes! Do you believe that Jesus is there and that He has come here now? Yes, yes, yes!” Well then, Pope Francis continued, “why don’t you go to adore Him, why don’t you go to Mass, why don’t you take Communion, why don’t you draw near to the Lord”, so that his Kingdom may “grow” within you? After all, the Pontiff stated, “the Lord never says that the Kingdom of God is a spectacle”.

 His words are clear. Why don’t you come closer to our Lord instead of getting into the trap of pageants.

 “It (sacrament) is a celebration, but it’s different! It’s a beautiful celebration, a grand feast. And Heaven will be feast, but not a spectacle,” he says. Instead, our human weakness prefers a spectacle.

 In other words, the Pope said, “the Kingdom of God is not a spectacle.” So often, the spectacle is a caricature of the Kingdom of God. Indeed, we must never “forget that it was one of the three temptations”: in the desert, Jesus is told: “go to the pinnacle of the temple and throw yourself down, and everyone will believe. Make a spectacle”. “However, the Kingdom of God is silent, it grows within; the Holy Spirit makes it grow with our willingness, in our soil, which we must prepare. But it grows slowly, silently,” he said.

  The Kingdom of God is humble, like a seed: humble. However, it becomes big by the power of the Holy Spirit. And we have to let it grow within us, without boasting. 

Ignore Halloween, it's devilish

 Halloween originates from superstitions that exalt malign spirits and demons

 Is Halloween all about fun and frolic? No. As innocent children around the world get excited about dressing up as ghouls and ghosts, the Catholic Church had warned that celebrating Halloween can tempt people into worship of the occult.
 There's a belief among many people that Halloween was a bit of harmless fun involving fake blood and Frankenstein masks, but they would be gravely mistaken, said Father Aldo Buonaiuto, a Catholic priest who took part in an international conference of exorcists in Rome last week. "Halloween originates from superstitions that exalt malign spirits and demons. Many people see it as a simple carnival, but it is anything but innocent, it is a subterranean world based on the occult," he told La Nazione, an Italian newspaper.

"Halloween is the anti-chamber towards something much more disturbing. For devotees of the occult, October 31 is the satanic new year. It's a time for luring new converts. And it's a time when exorcists have to work harder," said the priest, a member of the Pope John XXIII Association, a Catholic organisation which combats black magic sects in 25 countries around the world. "With the arrival of Halloween, there is an increase in black magic rites, sacrilege and the adoration of Satan, as well as demonic possessions," he said.
 Halloween is one of the most dangerous spiritual holidays of the year. The celebration of Halloween is very common in the US. It has now made an entry into other countries. This writer has come across many Christians and their kids celebrating Halloween without knowing what it represents or signifies. It doesn't strike them that Halloween represents an opportunity to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the spiritual world.
 In response to the growing popularity of Halloween, the association has launched a campaign to replace it with a rival, Christian festival called 'Holyween'. The idea is to banish pumpkins, plastic skeletons and other Halloween emblems and instead hang up pictures of saints and martyrs.
 Churches should hold Masses, prayer vigils and adorations in honour of Christian saints in order to combat the malign influence of Halloween, the priest said.
 Pope Francis recently said at his homily at a morning Mass at the Vatican: "This generation, and many others, have been led to believe that the devil is a myth, a figure, an idea, the idea of evil." "But the devil exists and we must fight against him," Pope said.
Last week, Pope Francis had given a special blessing to a group of some 300 Catholic exorcists meeting in Rome ahead of All Saints Day and the Day of the Dead (Halloween). The nature of devils and demons, and their relationship to all kinds of psychological disturbances (or vice versa) is a complicated question, but on one point the Church is unequivocal: exorcism is no job for amateurs. For both the possessed and the priest-practitioner, driving out the devil can be dangerous to mind, body and spirit.
 The International Association of Exorcists was recognized in June by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy and convened here in Rome last week week to discuss "best practices" and hear from psychologists who specialize in recognizing what may often be indistinguishable differences between demonic possession and mental illness.

HALLOWEEN, A PAGAN FESTIVAL

 In an article in www.cbn.com, Elliott Watson writes that the origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions.
 "Just before reaching a conclusion on the subject, I was struck with the thought that I ought to further my search and find out what Wicca, the official religion of witchcraft, has to say about Halloween. Perhaps they viewed the day as a simple fun and innocent neighborhood activity?" Watson writes.
 “Shock” is the only word to describe what I found. Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who follow Wicca. In fact, it is one of two high and holy days for them. The Celtic belief of spirits being released is current, along with the worship of Samhain (the lord of death) – both are promoted as something to embrace on that day. There is no question in my mind that to those who believe and follow the practices of witchcraft, Halloween represents an opportunity to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the spiritual world, Watson writes.

Devil exists... we have to fight against him

  There’s a great misconception about the Devil, the prince of darkness, or as Jesus calls him, “the prince of this world”. There’s a belief among many people that the devil is a myth, an idea or imagination. No. Not at all.

 Pope Francis, in his homily last week, stated, “they wanted us to believe that the Devil was a myth, a figure, an idea, the idea of evil. However, the Devil exists and we have to fight against him. St Paul recalls it, ‘the Word of God says it’, yet it seems that ‘we aren’t quite convinced’ of this reality.” The prince of darkness is the one who tempt people away from God and salvation.

Fr Gabriele Amorth

  In his powerful book 'An exorcist tells his story', Fr Gabriele Amorth, the renowned chief exorcist of Rome, says, “St John (1John 5:19) affirms that “the whole world in the power of the evil one.” By word “the world” John means everything that’s opposed to God, Fr Amorth says.

 Is the Church doing enough to defeat the machinations of the Devil?

 According to Fr Amorth, who was granted the faculty of exorcist by Cardinal Ugo Poletti, the Pope's vicar of the Diocese of Rome, while the pastoral ministry (of exorcism) is entirely overlooked in the Catholic world today, it was not so in the past. "In some denominations of the Protestant church, exorcisms are still practiced frequently and fruitfully," he writes.

 Fr Amorth says in the book, "Bishops must realize that this ministry is entirely entrusted to their care; it's only they who can practice or delegate and exorcism. Sadly since most bishops have never performed an exorcism, they are seldom aware of the extent of the need." The scarcity of exorcists clearly denotes a lack of interest on the part of episcopate in general. “The first step, the fundamental step, is to reawaken the awareness of bishops and priests, according to sound doctrine the Scripture, tradition, and the Magesterium have always transmitted," the book says.

 What harm can the devil cause to the loving? "He talks of the ordinary and extraordinary activities. There are six different forms for the second category: External physical pain caused by satan, demonic possession, diabolical oppression, diabolic obsession, diabolic infestation and diabolical subjugation or dependence," Fr Amorth writes.

  Pope Francis said the life of a Christian ‘is a military life’ and it takes ‘strength and courage’ to ‘withstand’ the Devil’s temptations and to ‘proclaim’ the truth. This is a ‘beautiful battle’ because it gives us that joy the Lord has prevailed within us, that great happiness. It takes strength and courage, the Pontiff explained, for it is not a ‘simple confrontation’ but a ‘continuous battle’ with the “Prince of Darkness”. It is this close confrontation, the Pope indicated, which is referred to in the catechism in which “they taught us that in Christian life there are three enemies: the demon, the world and the flesh”. It’s about the everyday struggle with “greed, lust, gluttony, arrogance, pride, envy” -- all vices “which are the wound of original sin.”

Pope says, “We could ask ourselves: Is the salvation that Jesus gives us free? Yes, but you have to protect it. And as Paul writes, to do so we have to “put on the whole armor of God” for “one cannot think of a spiritual life, a Christian life” without withstanding temptations, without battling the Devil”. How is this “armour of God” made? The Apostle provides a few details: Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth. Thus, first of all, Truth is required because “the Devil is a liar, he is the father of liars”. Then, Paul continues, one must put on “the breastplate of righteousness”: indeed we cannot be Christians without continuously working to be just.

 In fact, a Christian is a man or a woman of peace and if there isn’t “peace in the heart” then there’s something wrong: it’s peace that “gives you strength for the battle”.

 In the end, the Letter to the Ephesians reads: “above all taking the shield of faith”. “One thing that would really help us would be to ask ourselves: How is my faith? Do I believe or not? Or do I partly believe and partly not? Am I somewhat worldly and somewhat a believer? When we recite the Creed, do we do so only in “words? Are we aware without faith we can’t go forward, we can’t safeguard the salvation of God?” Pope says.

 The armour of a Christian  also includes the “helmet of salvation”, the “sword of the Spirit” and prayer. St Paul advises: “Pray at all times.”

“Pray, pray… one cannot pursue a Christian life without vigilance,” he says.

The wicked bend their arrows and shoot from the shadows

 When people snipe at you and their verbal arrows pull you down, your foundations are destroyed. It's sometimes unfathomable; it can inflict a deep wound in your mind.
 Don't be surprised when poisoned arrows hit you. When people make a sly or petty verbal attack, that's capable of wrecking your life. These arrows can come from your friends, relatives and colleagues. Oh my God, what did I do. When your close relatives thwack you with such arrows, the effect can be devastating and lead to a cataclysmic upheaval in your mind.

 Venerable Rev PK Zachariah of Mar Thoma Church says people who are close to you can give you nightmares with cruel verbal arrows. Take Psalms 11:1-3. "How then can you say to me: 'Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
 They shoot from the shadows. There can be several reasons from jealousy, greed, money to hatred. Anything. They may not directly confront you. It can hit your indirectly and you won't know from which direction it came to you. There are vindictive and vengeful people around us. Some of them are wolves in sheep's clothing with a wicked mind. They want to teach you a lesson. "Hey, who are you... I will show you your place," they tell themselves.
 I'm sure most of you might have encountered such wicked arrows from your near ones. "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" David experienced it in a bitter way when his son Absalom rebelled against him and wanted to kill the king. Our Lord Jesus Christ also faced this when Judas betrayed him. It's a heart-wrenching experience and your tempted for retaliation.   
 But it's Christian way not to retaliate. "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing," says 1 Peter 3:9. 
 "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," says Mathew 5:44. Our Lord clearly tells us to pray for those who send wicked arrows and assault you verbally.   
Yes, He is watching everyone and every move. "The Lord is in his holy temple;  the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth;   his eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot," Psalms 11 says.
 These are tough words... "fiery coals and burning sulfur". It's also a warning from God to those sending wicked arrows.
  

Devil will come back again and again to trap us… but slam the door on his face

 If you think that devil will leave you alone after tempting you once or twice, you’re mistaken. He will come back... again and again. Our victory depends on how we can thwart his attempts again and again. Devil will try to trap us through many ways. It can be through somebody – even a close relative – or internet or our devious and deceitful thoughts and actions instigated by the Satan. It can be our jealousy, envy, greed, adultery or arrogance.

 If we are trapped by the devil and remain oblivious to that situation, my God, it’s quite serious. This situation can keep us away from eternal life in Heaven. We can’t give our souls to Satan. It belongs to God.

 As Pope Francis says, the devil always comes back to us; he never stops tempting man. “The devil has patience. He never leaves that which he wants for himself… that is, our souls,” he says.

 Devil can come back again and again through other people or a sinful situation. After the temptations in the desert, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, in Luke’s version it says that the devil left Him for a time, but during the life of Jesus he returned again and again.

 Pharisees and Sadducees tested Jesus several times. Who inspired them?  “When they put Him to the test, when they tried to trap Him, in the Passion, finally on the Cross… ‘But if you are the Son of God… but you come, you come from us, so we cannot believe,” Pope says.

 In Luke 23:8, we read that Herod questioned Jesus about many things. But He kept silent. Who was acting through Herod? The answer is very clear.  Luke 23:36-37 says, “the soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!"

  Our Lord Jesus was tested repeatedly. We will also face situations when our faith gets tested again and again. Don’t succumb to the machinations of the devil. This detestable creature will act through your relatives, friends, colleagues and superiors. We should be able to see through the devil’s games. Devil has patience. He wants our souls for ever. Internet is a great trap laid by devil to lure people these days. Hundreds of porn sites on the internet are booby traps laid by devil. Many of our children and adults are being trapped by devil through this devious route.

  The biggest problem is that we lose the sense of sin occasionally. There’re others who have lost it for ever. Pope Francis earlier warned that when the Lord is absent among men, they “lose the sense of sin” and others risk falling victim to “Christian mediocrity.” The Pope referred to the “grave sin” of “adultery” as an example.

 Rev Fr Xavier Khan Vattayil, a well-known preacher, says constant prayer and a life in Jesus Christ is essential to keep away evil forces. How can we guard ourselves from the attacks of devil?

 “We need to guard our hearts, where the Holy Spirit dwells so that other spirits do not enter. To guard the heart, as a house is guarded, with a key. And then to watch the heart, like a sentinel: How often do wicked thoughts, wicked intentions, jealousy, envy enter in? So many things that enter in. But who has opened that door? Where do they enter from?” Pope says.

 “We know – Jesus says clearly – that the devil always returns. Even at the end of life, He, Jesus, gives us an example of this. And to guard, to watch, so that the demons don’t enter in, we must be able to gather ourselves, that is, to stand in silence before ourselves and before God, and at the end of the day ask ourselves: ‘What happened today in my heart? Did anyone I don’t know enter? Is the key in its place? And this will help us to defend ourselves from so much wickedness, even from that which we could do if these demons, who are very clever and at the end would cheat all of us, even if they enter,” Pope says.

  We need to understand that devil is roaring around like a lion. He’s waiting for an entry. We must slam the door on his face. Holy Spirit will guide us in our efforts to reject Satan. If we are in constant prayer, as Rev Fr Xavier Khan says, we will be able to identify devil’s machinations to trap us.

Five ‘defects’ of our Lord Jesus

 Does Jesus have 'defects'? This question was raised by Rev Fr John Koovakunnel, a voracious reader, speaker and theologian. Some of us may even think that it’s sacrilegious and blasphemous to even think of any 'defects' of Jesus. He is the Son of God. Rev Fr John says our Lord Jesus has five 'defects'. But wait. He hastened to add: “because of these defects we are saved.”

  Quoting from the book ‘Testimony of Hope’ by Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Rev Fr John repeats, “Jesus has five defects.” Let’s see these defects one after another.

  The first defect is that Jesus has a terrible memory, Rev Fr John said in his sermon during the feast celebrations at Little Flower Church, Nerul.

 “When we go to Jesus and seeks forgiveness and redemption, Jesus forgets our sins. He is a forgiving Lord. He forgets our sins. This is what happened on Calvary as well. When the thief on the right side of Jesus asked for forgiveness of his sins, Jesus, ‘today you will be in heaven with me’. He won't keep our sins and sinful nature in His mind once we surrender ourselves to Him,” Rev Fr John says.

 The second defect is that Jesus doesn’t know maths. His maths is equally bad a la His memory. Leaving 99 sheep, Jesus goes around searching for one missing sheep. “Is one sheep more important than 99 remaining sheep?  For Him, that one sheep is important. It’s much moré than or equal to 99 sheep, he says.

 The parable of the ‘prodigal son’ also teaches us this fact. When the son returns to the father, he forgets everything, embraced his son and gave him a grand welcome.

   What’s the third defect? Jesus doesn’t have any logic. We human beings look at things logically. Please read the parable of missing coin in Luke 15:8-10. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’  Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

  There’s a feast when a missing coin is found. The woman might have spent more than 10 silver coins to arrange the feast. For human mortals, there’s no logic in this story.  

 The fourth defect is risk taking.  “During the time of elections, politicians make various promises that we will do this and that. Mostly these promises turn out to be just hollow ones. But Jesus promises one thing, if you follow me, you will face persecution and sufferings. In fact, all our saints took this risk and followed Jesus. This risk is worth taking,” said Rev Fr John.    

 By taking this risk, we get sanctification. What more you want.

 The fifth and last defect of Jesus is: Jesus doesn’t know economics. He doesn’t follow the principles of economics -- no Keynesian or trickle-down theories. Please read Mathew 20:1-16. “The owner of a vineyard went to the marketplace at the first hour of the morning to find workers for the day. His offered wage of one denarius, a Roman’s soldier’s pay for a day, was generous indeed. The workers in the first group were more than happy to work for the generous wage.

 As the day progressed and more workers were hired, the specific wage was not mentioned, but the landowner promised to pay “whatever is right.” Four groups of workers were hired, the last group just one hour before the end of the day. When the time came for the wages to be paid, the first group of workers saw the last group being paid a denarius and were naturally thinking they would be paid more since they had worked the longest. Their anger against the landowner spilled forth when they saw they would all be paid the same, even though they got exactly what they had agreed upon when they were hired.”

 The Kingdom of Heaven is also like vineyard owner. The reward will be the same whether you were saved much early in the life or just minutes before the death. The good thief on Calvary is also a good example of this. 

  I find the five 'defects' of Jesus very interesting, illuminating and enlightening. Thanks to Rev Fr John and Cardinal Francis Van Thuan.

 Who is Cardinal Francis Van Thuan?

Arrested only a few months after his appointment, Archbishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was imprisoned by the Vietnamese government for 13 years and then released to house arrest. In 1991, Van Thuan was expelled from Vietnam. He went to Rome and began his work in the Roman Curia as Vice President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Since 1998, Archbishop Van Thuan served as the Council's President. In 2001, Van Thuan was named a Cardinal.

 Every year, John Paul 2 used to select a preacher for a course of spiritual exercises for himself and the Vatican's Roman Curia. For the Jubilee 2000, he chose Archbishop Van Thuan. Testimony of Hope is the complete text of those Spiritual Exercises. In his book, Cardinal Van Thuan addresses our need for hope at the beginning of the 21st century. He faced what he described as the agonizing pain of isolation and abandonment. The hope he discovered in imprisonment is also our hope for the Church and the world at this momentous point in history. 

Vatican seeks deep reforms for redistribution of wealth

 Vatican’s pro-poor tilt is more visible these days. I won’t say it’s a Marxist tilt. It doesn’t miss an opportunity to question the “trickle-down” theory which assumes that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.
 Vatican, led by Pope Francis, trashes this theory saying that “this opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”
 Earlier this week, keeping alive the concern for the poor and social justice, the pontiff made it abundantly clear that it requires, on the one hand, deep reforms that provide for the redistribution of the wealth that is produced, and the universalization of free markets in the service of families; and on the other, redistribution of sovereignty, both on the national and the supranational level. This stance may make Leftist economists happy. Many economists like Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz are also on the same path.
 The issue is the exploitation of labour markets, as well as the growth of poverty and inequality. The widening rich-poor gap in many emerging economies and less developed countries is a story of exploitation, inequality and iniquity among people. On the other hand, the throw-away culture is flourishing with people having deep pockets and bank balances waiting for the market to offer new things to grab them.
 Three months ago, Pope Francis said in an interview that the banner of the poor is Christian… poverty is at the heart of the Gospel. "I would only say that the Communists have stolen the banner,” he had said.
Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in veritate, which Pope Francis called “a foundational document for the evangelization of the social sphere” drew attention “to the benefits, but also the dangers of globalization.”
 Vatican Radio quoted Pope Francis as saying, “it is necessary to keep alive concern for the poor and social justice, which must involve the sharing of the riches that are produced and “the universalization of free markets in the service of families” as well as “the redistribution of sovereignty, both on the national and supra-national levels.”
 The Gospel story of Zacchaeus the tax collector is an example of how it’s never too late to correct injustice. The Zacchaeus story is all about legitimate redistribution of wealth.  Zacchaeus said, "half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.…"
 Addressing the participants of the Plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace some days ago, Pope Francis said, “one of the aspects of today’s economic system is the exploitation of international disequilibrium in labor costs, which relies on billions of people living on less than two dollars a day.” Such an imbalance not only does not respect the dignity of those who supply the cheap labor, but it destroys sources of employment in those regions where it is more protected, he says.
 This raises the problem of creating mechanisms for the protection of labour rights and the environment, in the presence of a growing consumerist ideology, which does not show responsibility in the confrontation between the cities and the created world.
 In other words, the State of social rights – and, in particular, the fundamental right to work – is not to be dismantled. This cannot be considered a variable dependent upon the financial and monetary markets. It is a fundamental good with respect to dignity, the formation of a family, and the realization of the common good and of peace.
 Vatican says education and employment, access to welfare for all, are key elements for the development and the fair distribution of goods; for the achievement of social justice; for belonging to society and participating freely and responsibly in political life, understood as the management of the res publica (the State or Republic).
 It’s very clear in its view that visions that claim to increase profitability, at the cost of the restriction of the labor market that creates new excluded, do not conform to an economy at the service of humanity and the common good, to an inclusive and participatory democracy.
Another problem arises from the persistent imbalance between economic sectors, between salaries, commercial banks and banks of speculation, between institutions and global problems: it is necessary to keep alive the concern for the poor and social justice.
 Pope Francis says the principle of Caritas in veritate is extremely topical. A truth-filled love is, in fact, the basis on which to build the peace that today is especially desired and necessary for the good of all. “It allows one to overcome dangerous fanaticisms, conflicts for the possession of resources, migrations of biblical proportions, the enduring wounds of hunger and poverty, human trafficking, injustice, and social and economic disparities, imbalance in collective goods,” he says.
 His message: The Church is always on a journey, seeking new ways to proclaim the Gospel.

We live a life puffed up with conceit these days

  It's very common to see people, especially Christians, puffed up with conceit these days. They look for admiration, boast of their power and influence and, as Pope Francis says, "make themselves seen" with their life full of vanity.

They have no qualms about showing excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements. This is vanity. Vanity is something that can keep you away from Christ. He often rebuked those who boasted. We show one-upmanship, try to look down upon others and pretend “hey, I’m better than you…. have more knowledge and a higher position than you.”

  Who is behind vanity? It’s devil, the father of all liars and iniquities. We’re all in a make-believe world. We fantasize a lot. Vanity, the Pope says, "is a particularly grave spiritual illness":

 When you help the poor, don't sound the trumpet, do it secretly. The Father sees it, and that is enough. The Bible very clearly says that when you get adulation and praises for the charity or tithing in this world, you have already got back in return what you deserved. We often want others to know that ‘I have given this amount to charity or church’.

  If you do it secretly in such a way that your right hand doesn’t know what your left hand is doing, you will get a bigger prize from the Father in Heaven. Our biggest worry should be: Are we sharing enough with others? Like disciples did after the ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Most of us are amassing much more wealth than we actually need.

 Similarly, when you pray, the Lord warned, do not do it to be seen, do not pray so that people will see you; "pray in secret, go to your room."

  Most of us Christians are Sunday Christians. We run around to make more and more money for six days and on Sundays, we go to church and let others also know that ‘I’m also a Christian’. There would be dinners, receptions, cultural programmes and meetings, quietly adding to the clericalism bedeviling the church these days. Praise and worship take a backseat.

 "Christians who live that way for appearances, for vanity, seem like peacocks, they strut about like peacocks," Pope recently said in a homily. Good description. Peacocks love to display their colourful feather in bright sunshine.

 Listen to what he says. “They are the people who say, ‘I am a Christian, I am to that priest, to that sister, to that bishop; my family is a Christian family.’ They boast. What about your life with the Lord? How do you pray? Your life in the works of mercy, how's that going?”

 "How many Christians live for appearances?” he asks. Their life seems like a soap bubble. The soap bubble is beautiful, with all its colours! But it lasts only a second, and then what? Likewise, our money can disappear in a second. We can become bankrupt. A serious illness can strike a close family member, which can bring us back to senses. Seek Jesus before such dreadful things happen in our life. It won’t happen then. But we kneel down for hours of prayers after getting hit.

 “Do I do good? Do I seek God? Do I pray?” Pope asks. But we don’t have the time and inclination.

 The life in this world is finite. It ends one day. The life of a man is not more than 80 or 85 years. After that, what? As Pope Paul VI said, the bare earth awaits us, this is our final truth.

  We’re caught up in this world’s activities. We pretend that we’re busy.

 Most of us behave as if we are going to live for 1000 years. No. When we die much before that… we have to leave our power, money, position and influence in this world. Only our soul will go to the Creator, depending on our life in this world. We should try to remind ourselves about this fact at least once daily.

The most challenging and adventurous belief…

 When you enter the church, what’s the most important, or rather the most sacred, in the sanctum sanctorum? Is it the statue of Mother Mary or St Alphonsa or St George? “No, it’s not,” says Rev Fr Wilson Kannanaikkal, a preacher with over 25 years of priestly experience.

 “It’s the Holy Eucharist in the church which is the most sacred and important in the church. We don’t realize it. It may be due to ignorance or negligence of pure indifference.” Of course, you should seek the prayers and intercession of saints. You should follow in their footsteps.

 For an outsider, it’s just a piece of bread. It doesn’t make sense for him. “But the fact is that it’s Jesus which is present in the bread. “Your eyes should focus on the Holy Eucharist… not on the statues of Mother Mary or St Teresa. You must surrender yourself completely to Jesus in the Eucharist,” says Rev Fr Wilson who conducted a three-day retreat in Little Flower Church, Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

 Eucharist is a mystery. You have to believe in this mystery first, the most challenging and adventurous belief.

 When Rev Fr Wilson was serving in a parish in Kerala, a nun told him about visiting a church in a place called Pathanamthitta which is about 125 kms away from his parish, to see a Eucharistic miracle. 

  “Why should we go there?” the priest asked. “People saw the image of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist in a church there,” the nun said. Rev Fr Wilson nearly fell off his chair. “I was shocked, surprised and angry. The bread becomes the body of Christ during the Holy Mass. Holy Eucharist is the body of Christ in all the churches where Holy Mass is conducted,” said Rev Fr Wilson.

  “When I say the Holy Mass in my church, the bread becomes the body of Jesus. Why should I go to Pathanamthitta to see that miracle. I’m experiencing it every day,” Rev Fr Wilson said. The poor nun actually failed to fully understand Holy Eucharist. Here the actual substance of the bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ, but the physical aspects or outward appearances of the bread and wine remain as before. This is called transubstantiation. Several miracles of Eucharist turning into flesh have also been reported from around the world.

  Narrating another incident relating to the ignorance about Eucharist, Rev Fr Wilson said, “a 58-year old nun attended a one-week retreat. After the retreat, she came to me and said… ‘I experienced Jesus through Holy Eucharist for the first time during the retreat.’ Remember, for nearly 50 years she was receiving Holy Communion without the full understanding that it was the body of Jesus Christ.”

  Believers are taking it for granted. “Surrender fully to Jesus. Show total commitment to Holy Eucharist. Then your life will change,” Rev Fr Wilson said. “But most of us go to the church like beggars. We have a list of demands. We want all our demands to be met. And we don’t show any commitment to the Holy Eucharist.”   

Don’t fight with God… you can’t win

 Can you fight with God? You can’t… and you shouldn’t fight with God. If you fight with God, you can’t win.

  People leave a church over piddling issues. “It may be a small issue like the parish committee rejecting your proposal on something. Then you walk out in a huff. Remember that you are walking away from the Eucharist… from real Jesus,” he says.

 He says this is like fighting with God. “When somebody walks out in this manner, you (fellow parishioners) should try to convince that person and bring him back. If he still doesn’t come back, then leave where he is,” says Rev Fr Wilson.

  Ditto is the case when a person jumps from the church to another religious group. “You’re then fighting with God… and going into the darkness,” he says.

 “People who say that God doesn’t exist are also fighting with God. It’s their arrogance that comes out when they fight with God,” Rev Fr Wilson said.

“There’re some people who have no time for God and church. They are always busy. But when a major crisis happens in their families, they turn to God,” he said. Narrating an incident, he said, “when a ‘busy’ businessman fell sick he went to a doctor. The doctor said they will have to do a biopsy. He was on his knees praying for the next 15 days till the biopsy result came.” If he was on his knees before God earlier, he wouldn’t have encountered this ordeal.

      

         

When catechesis and Mass make way for cultural celebrations…

 What does it mean when a parish drops catechesis and a Mass on a Sunday and celebrates a cultural festival with film songs and dance numbers? This is purely spiritual worldliness lurking behind a fascination with social and cultural gain, or pride in their (believers) ability to manage such cultural programmes. My personal opinion is that it’s like going to the level of a culture club or a social institution.
 This is now happening  in many of our parishes.
  I won’t blame the clergy. For, in parishes, it’s the laity which takes the lead in conducting such programmes. And very often, this originates from a concern to be seen, in a social life full of appearances, meetings, lunches, dinners and receptions. Often clergy is forced to accept and approve such insidious worldliness propounded by closed and elite laity groups. To borrow the words of Pope Francis, they all have the same pretence of “taking over the space of the Church”.
 These laity groups raise funds for music, dance, shamiana and lavish spread of food without any murmur or protest. Ironically, these groups are nowhere to be seen when a charismatic retreat or a prayer meeting or adoration is conducted in the church. The priest runs from pillar to post to get people and money for spiritual programmes. This is what provoked me to write this stuff.

  The organizers of cultural programmes may have 200 reasons to justify their cultural extravaganza in place of catechesis and Mass on a Sunday. My personal opinion is that they are replacing religious fervour by the empty pleasure of self-indulgence and hedonism. In the name of culture and tradition, song and dance numbers were belted out. 
 Do we need to teach children about culture or Jesus? The principal beneficiary of such cultural programmes is not God’s people but the institutionalised church.

 Please don’t think that I’m quoting Pope out of context or extrapolating his comments to justify my opinion and beliefs. Maybe or may not be. As a writer and a journalist I have the freedom to choose my words. 

 To quote Pope Francis again, “the mark of Christ, incarnate, crucified and risen, is not present” during such programmes. As he says, closed and elite groups are formed, and no effort is made to go forth and seek out those who are distant or the immense multitudes who thirst for Christ. Moreover, expectations and hopes of children are given a different orientation, leading to the loss of spiritual fervour. Instead of opening the door to God’s grace, we exhaust our energies in arranging cultural programmes, receptions and lunches.

 I think we can consider such tendencies as “manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism” so forcefully expressed by Pope Francis. The church, as Pope says, shows a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyses and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying.

 There’s no wonder when the same church organises a charismatic retreat or a prayer meeting or adoration, only a handful of people turn up.

  We see an ostentatious preoccupation for such meetings, programmes and dinners and for the Church’s prestige, but without any concern that the Gospel have a real impact on God’s faithful people and the concrete needs of the present time.
  “In this way, the life of the Church turns into a museum piece or something which is the property of a select few,” Pope Francis said in ‘Evangelii Gaudium’. “If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life,” it says.

Tackle rejection from your dear ones… with Jesus in Gethsamane

 Some of us might have faced rejection from our relatives, friends and colleagues. It’s a sensitive situation that can put you off for a long time a la the dying embers in the grate. This can happen in your house, workplace and even in the church.

 Rejection can be a harrowing experience if it comes from your close relatives. You’re completely at a loss, not knowing how to tackle it. Should you retaliate? And any retaliation can become a permanent fissure.

  Brother Thomas Paul, a Catholic charismatic preacher who comes on Shalom television channel frequently, says this can be tackled quite comfortably. In fact, you should happy when you face rejection or insult from your close people.

  Bro Paul once went to the UK for preaching some time ago. When he reached the UK, one family invited him to stay in their house. The lady of the house was keen that Bro Paul should stay in their house. He asked why. “I have many things to say about my personal life. I need your counseling and prayers,” she said.

  Bro Paul listened to her story. It was a story of rejection and slight from family members, relatives and friends. She was leading a wretchedly unhappy life. “I prayed for her. I saw a vision where Jesus was praying in Gethsemane. I saw this lady consoling Jesus in the vision,” Bro Paul said.

  Jesus knew what was going to happen next – His capture, trial and crucifixion.

  Read Luke 22:36-40: Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Not my will , but your will be done” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked.

  Imagine the degree of persecution, rejection, humiliation, insult and the physical assault that Jesus faced after Gethsamane. What you or I are facing is nothing when compared to that harrowing experience. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you,” says John 15:18.  

  “When you encounter rejection and slight from your family members,       

think about Jesus in Gethsamane. She was pleasantly surprised when I told her about the vision. She became overjoyed when I mentioned about seeing her consoling Jesus. Her sorrows and despair disappeared when she realized that she is consoling Jesus whenever she faced rejection and insult from her dear ones,” Bro Paul said.

 You should be happy when you face rejection and insult from your dear ones for no fault of yours.   

 You are likely to come across rejection and insults in the future also. Don’t get despondent and dispirited, you’re with Jesus. He will never forsake you. What you must do without fail is pray for people who reject or insult you. You must pray that the Spirit of God should act on them.  Jesus said to His disciples, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me”: Luke 10:16.

 You’re in Gethsamane with Jesus.   

Why God’s call is missing in several countries? Why churches were shut down?

  What’s the status of the church in European countries? Where’re the priests and nuns? “When I visited the UK some years ago, I was shocked to hear that 14 out of 15 churches in a region closed down. Some of them were sold and became Sikh Gurdwaras, some of them turned into Hindu temples and Muslim mosques…,” says Rev Fr Mathew Elavumkal, VC.

 “There’re no believers. Convents have closed down. There’s no one to listen to God’s call and accept priesthood as a vocation,” says Fr Mathew, an inspiring Catholic charismatic preacher who touched and changed the lives of many people across the world. Through his powerful sermons and prayers, he has brought many believers and non-believers closer to Jesus. I happened to hear the sermon of Rev Fr Mathew, who is also the Director of Divine Retreat Centre, Kerala, India, at the Marian Convention organized by St Mary’s Church, Nakapuzha, Kerala, recently.

 The scenario is bad in Rome, where the headquarters of the Catholic church  -- Vatican -- is situated. I have noticed that every third building in Rome is a church, but most of them wear a deserted look. Even Sunday masses are sparsely attended. It was missionaries from European countries who spread Christianity across the world some five centuries ago. Now developing countries like India are sending priests to European countries to man their churches.

  “If we want more priests and nuns in our church, we should stop this practice of having only one or two children in our families. Parents should be role models for the children, we should take them to the altar of our Lord,” he says. In Holy Bible, please read 1 Samuel 3:1-10. Samuel was a young boy serving in the temple when he heard a voice calling his name. He assumed this voice was that of the priest, Eli. Eventually, Eli realized that Samuel was hearing God’s voice calling to him and instructed him to respond, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." Samuel needed Eli to tell him that the voice he heard was God’s. He didn’t recognize God’s voice on his own.

 You will get a priest from a good family which follows our Lord Jesus. “If we get good children in our families we can help them hear or understand God’s call. It’s a myth that God calls only children from poor families. Children in rich families are not hearing God’s call. They are busy with their worldly life,” Rev Fr Mathew says.

  He says family life is also an equally important God’s call. “God will find a partner for you in the marriage life. It’s not you or your parents or a marriage bureau which should get a partner for you. When you enter into a marriage vow, you will be filled with the paternity and maternity from God. You become a husband and wife only through the sacrament of marriage,” he says.

  Rev Fr Mathew narrated an incident: Parents of a six-year old child came to him. “This child had several bad habits… which I’m not mentioning as children are sitting here. When I talked to the parents, they told me they used to watch porn movies after the marriage to get maximum pleasure. This child was born when they were indulging in such sexual pleasures. Hebrew 13:4 says ‘let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous’.”

  In short, when husband and wife get a child when they were indulging in worldly pleasures and leading a sinful life, that child will have some handicap. It can be mental or emotional or psychological handicap.

 Rev Fr Mathew spoke about a married woman. This woman and her mother came to him when the wife was pregnant and one doctor said the growth of unborn child in the womb is weak and the child, when born, could become mentally retarded. “I strongly advised them not to abort the child. Anything is possible for God. Years later, I saw this woman at a retreat centre. She cried and told me they disregarded my advice and aborted the child. While aborting the child something happened and her uterus got infected. Her uterus had to be removed,” he said.

  While her unborn child was killed, she wouldn’t be able to conceive again. She went into depression. Rev Fr Mathew asked her why she aborted the child against his advice. She said her mother prevailed upon her to get rid of the child as she didn’t want a mentally retarded child.

  When it comes to heeding to God’s call, a country like India is in a better position. But Rev Fr Mathew says there’re ominous signs. Lets pray that more people listen to God’s call – be it for priesthood or family life.

  

‘If you avoid the protection of the church, you may get trapped by devil’

 Is there salvation outside the church? No, says Rev Dr Joseph Pamplani, well-known Catholic theologian and preacher who has done some outstanding studies on the history and tradition of the church. “Church is the fortress set up by Jesus Christ where devil can’t enter. Church is the protective fortress for all believers,” he says emphatically.

 “When you are a member of the church, devil can’t defeat you,” Rev Fr Pamplani says. “Church is a sacrament of salvation. Jesus Christ formed a fortress which is not accessible to devil. This fortress is known as church,” he said at a Marian convention held as part of the feast of Mother Mary at Nakapuzha church in Kerala, India.

  “When you say that you’re a member of the church, that means you are living close to Mother Mary,” he says. Yes, the same Mother Mary who was entrusted to you by Jesus, through St John, minutes before He died on the cross. “Church is the gate of salvation.”    

 “When a believer gets out of this fortress of church for any reason discredit or dishonor priests, devil will catch that person. Narrating an incident from his childhood days, Rev Fr Pamplani says, “When I was young, it was my responsibility to put hen in a coop just outside the house in the evenings. However, some of the hen would avoid the coop and get on to the nearby tree and they would never come down to the coop. One night, we heard the loud sounds from the tree near the coop. A fox had come and took away one hen. It’s very simple. When this hen avoided the protection offered by the coop, it ended up in the hands of the fox,” he says.

 Likewise, if you avoid the protection offered by the church, you may get trapped by the devil. “There’s no hope for anybody outside the church. Here we’re not talking about other religions like Islam or Hindu etc. There’s only one person outside the church. That’s devil,” he says.

“All others are saved by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. After becoming a believer, if you, at any stage, avoid going to the church or skip sacraments, there’s a chance that devil which comes in the form of a fox will catch you. Beware parents, if your kids avoid attending the church on Sundays and keep away from confessions, you need to be scared,” Rev Fr Pamplani says.

  Citing another example, he narrated an incident in a parish in Kerala. “A rich businessmen who owns a transport service filed a case against the parish claiming the parish appropriated 17 cents of land which, he claimed, originally belonged to him. I told the church committee members not to go for a case in a court and instead, return the land to the businessman. After six months, the businessman came running to me, saying he incurred massive losses in his business. Suspecting some curse on him, this businessman offered to return double of what he originally took away,” Rev Fr Pamplani says.

  He says church is the communion of people who strongly believe that nothing is impossible for God.  “For nothing is impossible with God," says Luke 1:37.  Yes, nothing is impossible for God -- this is what God conveyed to Moses in the Old Testament and Mother Mary in New Testament. Mother Mary believed that nothing is impossible for God.

  In a nutshell, what he says is: don’t lose that protective cover of the church. We must remain in that fortress in order to avoid the trap of devil.            

 Who gave us the Bible?

  “Who put together the Holy Bible in the current format?” asks Rev Fr Joseph Pamplani. There were thousands of Christian books, including ones written by St Thomas in the first two centuries after the death of Jesus. It was Pope Damasus, head of the Catholic church in 366-384, in his Decree, who listed the books of today's canon or the Holy Bible in the current form. The Council of Rome in 382 was apparently the forum which prompted Pope Damasus' Decree.