Prayer to unleash the power of God inside us

Help us God to identify the power of the image of God that we are created in. May we not step back thinking that we are ordinary and simple people who can't make a difference in this world. Instead, allow us to connect with our soul so that we can see the sufferings in life and react accordingly to them. Today, make us think that we don't need the usual things of the world to succeed but only need to uncover the image of God inside us. Lord, may this understanding inspire people from ordinary backgrounds, bereft of flashy degrees and societal success to come out and do their best by believing profoundly and deeply in God. Jesus, may we not hide in the comfort of the weekend but explore the power of our mind which is fed by unending faith in God. Someone is waiting for us to speak and act, to make a difference and to change something. May we use the power Peter had to say that "Silver and gold I have none, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk." May our prayer this weekend trigger healing, fight injustice and bring happiness. Today we hold on to you Holy Spirit and believe that indeed we can change the world for the good. In your name triune God we pray. Amen.

Prayer of suffering

Help us Lord to become you and to sacrifice ourselves at the altar for you. We are so concerned about our status and our future that we have forgotten the gospel and the suffering which accompanies it. In Matthew 16 our Lord Jesus, when Peter said that you are the Messiah, you declared that you would build your church on Peter the rock. But when he took you aside and said that you will never suffer, you declared to him “Get behind me Satan”, for he became a stumbling block for you. May we God, never be a stumbling block before you and prevent the poor from being fed and the needy from getting help. Instead let us declare that you are the living God who takes care of all who come to you. May we never see and experience the gospel as comfortable but as suffering which will bring victory and the foretaste of the kingdom of God. Bless us and strengthen us Lord to carry our cross cheerfully. Amen.

Don’t hide your face from God this lent

St. Luke 5:12-16

The passage of Jesus healing the man with leprosy kicks off a multitude of miracles committed by Jesus. But it will be revealing for us to check the first part of St. Luke 5 and then read verses 12 to 16 to understand an interesting contrast which will help us observe lent in a better way. This contrast between good and bad and accepted and unaccepted makes us question certain usages.

Jesus speaks to a crowd and he has his future disciples with him. They fish but are unsuccessful in their attempt. Jesus advises them to let down the nets. They get a big catch of fish. Simon is overwhelmed with shame that he kneels and tells Jesus to move away as Simon Peter considers himself a sinner. Jesus though still offers him hope. Our lent many a time is like Simon catching fish. We are confident that our lent is making us pure and strong whereas without Jesus there is no lent! Simon then realizes his inadequacy and hides his face from Jesus by kneeling down. Our lent is a hiding from God as we kneel and take part in the lent but never offers ourselves to God to be moulded according to God’s plan.

The leper on the other hand is our model for lent. He is the outcast. Like all lepers he would have faced the humiliation of informing people that he, a leper was coming and that they should not defile themselves because of him. It blinded the society so much that the word leper because synonymous with sinner. This is the man who talks to Jesus. But unlike Simon, he feels no shame of inadequacy. He has nothing to lose because he has not gained anything. The leper then kneels like Simon but unlike him, tells Jesus “If you wish (choose), make me clean.” In the process of touching and healing the leper, Jesus is healing us and our shame which we try to hide by observing lent.

But unlike Simon who was the accomplished fisher man, we can benefit well if we look at the leper, who was in turn the man looked down upon. While Simon gives up and asks Jesus to leave, the leper finds strength in his condition and invites God into his heart and life. The lent of Simon is the lent we unwittingly observe. We are lenting but we are pushing God away. The lent of the leper is what we should observe. It sounds and looks disgusting, but it is the lent to follow because we are asking God “Lord if you wish (choose), make me clean.”

What a beautiful lent this can be when we follow the foot steps of the leper, even though we are not sure how it is. The leper is confident and hopeful. On the other hand steps taken by the accepted may not take us to God because God is being asked to leave by the dominant. Let this be a lent when we leave society’s accusations and labels with them and kneel before God and say “If you wish, make me clean.” We can qualify that and say “If you wish make me a clean father/mother, if you wish Lord make me a clean son/daughter, if you wish Lord make me a clean sibling, if you wish Lord make me a clean person, if you wish Lord make me a clean friend and so on. Lent is not a time to live on our assurance and skill rather it is a time to live on the assurance of God.

A young child was told by her parents to observe lent. She asked questions about lent and tried to understand what it was. Her parents finally told her that lent meant sacrificing something we like so much. After some thought she said “I am going to have a study lent. I love studying, so I will stop doing that this Lenten season!” There is much wisdom in what the girl said because she noticed what the elders were doing. Let us stop hiding from God this lent, telling God that we are sinners and asking God to leave. Instead, let us leave that to Christ Jesus. Let him decide who we are and what we mean to him. In the course of this lent rejoice if others reject you because that means you will be accepted by God. Amen.   

Be human and forgive for a true Lenten experience

Forgiveness is a critical part of our spirituality which we are not able to control and use properly. The reason for this is that we are filled with expectations of what we want from various people around us. The closer people are, the more are our expectations. We also give to others expecting something in return. Lent cannot be a time when we lent ourselves to get something in return. It is a process of self-examination and self-cleansing whereby we let go of our expectations and are willing to forgive seventy-seven times or seventy times seven, meaning as many times as needed, almost till our expectations are extinguished.

In St. Matthew 18:21-22 Peter wants to know the rule to be followed. Jesus gives him the sense to be undertaken. Lent for us becomes a 50 day routine where we would like to fulfill certain prayer timings, diet restrictions and feel we have fulfilled something by doing this. Seldom do we realize and are willing to accept that lent is a big teacher of how we should conduct ourselves not just for 50 days but the rest of our lives. Peter wanted to be absolved and wanted to know that he was doing the right thing. Jesus puts up a new challenge in front of him and reminds him of the journey he has to undertake in all probability till death.

Forgiveness has to come from top to bottom and cannot be expected bottom to top. The one who wants authority, position and a place of honour has to go through the process of forgiving wholeheartedly and continually. So much that forgiveness will become part of one’s life and a natural reaction to what someone does to us. We are always trying to teach a lesson to someone and forget that lent is a time to teach ourselves first. We are not teachers who are supposed to punish and change someone but learners who are supposed to forgive and change ourselves. Perhaps what Jesus said to Peter is very important considering Peter was going to take up leadership in the church. This leadership according to Jesus could not be taken forward with rules but had to break the rules!

In today’s life forgiveness is one of the most difficult things for the clergy and laity alike. We simple refuse to forgive, and behave with others keeping something in mind well into the lent and well after it. Confessions are often filled with the disability to forgive and the final acceptance that “after all I am a human being!” Jesus becoming human for the sake of humanity shows us what a human being is capable of doing. Even as Jesus was human and divine at the same time, he suffered on the cross and felt the pain. He did not use his divinity to escape from or move beyond the pain. The “after all I am a human being” comment does not give us an excuse but rather puts a responsibility on us. Jesus reminding Peter is Jesus reminding us today that if we would like to develop, move forward and take over leadership roles, we have to claim the fact that we are humans and we are capable of forgiving instead of saying after all I (we) am a human being!

This lent it would be meaningful to try and write to people, talk to them over the phone, meet them, or even do something symbolic to suggest to them that we are indeed sorry for anything that we have knowingly or unknowingly done to them and reach out to those who are trying to say sorry to us and tell them that we forgive them for whatever misunderstanding has happened. This is not an act of meekness but an act of courage where we are willing to accept the power of humanity reignited in us by Christ Jesus. Jesus answers Peter and Jesus answers our lent today by telling us to forget and forgive. We are human and we are capable of forgiving. Amen.




Picture 1 courtesy www.rejuvenatingwomen.com
Picture 2 courtesy www.psychologytoday.com

Fishing out the best in people

St. Matthew 4:12-22
12 Now when Jesus[a] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”[b]
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus calls his first disciples with the very famous one liner “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Jesus here dwells on a very important aspect of discipleship using the profession of four of his principal followers. They were casting their nets and he sees the potential in them and calls them to join him. Interestingly they do so.

What does it mean to say that “I will make you fish for people”? There is an emphasis on the people and the fact that the disciples have to concentrate on them. Here is a call to change the philosophy of using people for business to catching or identifying people to save them. The disciples who were fisher folk went about their business so that they could sell their catch to people. Jesus on the other hand calls them to give up their business of fishing and move on to a spiritual catching of people so that the people will eventually benefit. What before was a benefit for the disciples changes into the benefit of the people.

Who thinks about our good? Society need not think about our benefit and good. Friends, colleagues, and acquaintances may not think well about us and wish a better future. On a lighter note the below forward I got shows how people belonging to other professions may not think well and wish well about us.

“The Irony of Life”
The lawyer hopes you get into trouble
The doctor hopes you get sick
The police hopes you become a criminal
The teacher hopes you are born stupid
The landlord hopes you don’t buy a house
The dentist hopes your tooth decays
The mechanic hopes your car breaks down
The coffin maker wants you dead
…Only a thief wishes you “Prosperity in life” and also wishes you have a sound sleep.

The thief obviously has his own reasons for hoping like this. The essence of the forward is that not many people wish us well because they are in the process of wishing themselves well. On the other hand the church tries to wish us well. Whenever the church doesn't, it moves away from the original message of Christianity. This message is the message that Jesus gives Peter, Andrew, James and John. “I will make you fish for people.” This can be translated as “I will make you (teach you) fish for the good in people” and make you identify and hope for the good in them instead of hoping their downfall and in the process making your life out of it.

Jesus is calling each one of us in our own capacities to fish for the good in people and multiply that as a business instead of wishing for bad about people. One cannot completely be businesslike and instead should be Jesus like. May God help us to be fishers of people and be part of God’s valuing of people instead of living out of the downfall of others. Amen.


(Excerpts from a sermon preached in St. Ignatius Church, K.R. Puram, Bangalore on January 11, 2014.The forward used in the sermon was sent to me by Mr. Joe Jacob.)