The only thing Kelli could offer
Kelli was a third-year medical student, on a rotation in
oncology. This particular day she was not her usual enthusiastic, upbeat
self. She was having doubts.
“The only thing I have to offer is my
compassion,” she confided to her supervisor. “But now I wonder what
my words can mean as I look at Sheila. It’s all overwhelming. I’m
not sure I can keep doing this.”
Kelli’s supervisor understood; her doubts are an occupational
hazard for doctors and nurses who treat the terminally ill.
But over the next month, Kelli had several opportunities to practice her “only”
contribution.
Sheila was the 35-year-old mother of four whose husband,
Michael, was a nurse at Kelli’s hospital. A persistent bout of “walking
pneumonia” was finally diagnosed as metastic lung cancer. Sheila began a
demanding protocol of chemotherapy. Sheila was able to share with Kelli
the full range of emotions common to all who struggled with cancer: fear,
anger, sadness, joy at small successes, and gratitude. Kelli’s innate
kindness and approachability helped Sheila get through those difficult weeks.
Another of Kelli’s patients was being treated for a
condition called bronchiectasis. Quite unexpectedly, his cough worsened
and he went into respiratory distress, requiring him to be put on a
ventilator. The poor man was terrified as the medical team went to
work. Kelli stayed with him the whole time and explained every step of
the procedure.
“Now, Mr. Bernard, I know this tube is uncomfortable, but we
need it to help you breathe. Hold my hand. I’ll stay with
you.” And she did until he was settled and comfortable in the intensive
care unit.
Sheila’s husband, Michael, was on duty in ICU when Kelli and
Mr. Bernard arrived.
Later in the day, at the end of rounds, Kelli and the other
students were meeting with the supervising physician to review the day.
During the conversation, Michael poked his head into the room.
“Is Sheila alright?” the doctor asked, fearing the worst.
Michael seemed shaken and didn’t speak for a long time.
“I just wanted to tell you,” he began, “all of you, how much Sheila and I
appreciate the care she’s getting. It’s not just the medical stuff.
I mean that’s important, and we know she’s getting the best medical treatment
available. But’s it’s the way you take care of her — and
me — that makes it so different.”
He then turned to Kelli. “I was watching you hold that man’s hand.
I listened as you talked to him and I tell you, do you know how long it’s been
since I’ve held anyone’s hand in there, or thought about how it must feel to be
on one of those things . . . I want you to know, Kelli, that you, and each of
you, have reminded me of something I had long forgotten. And I won’t
forget again to comfort those I take care of.”
Sometimes compassion — the only thing we can offer — is the most important and
remembered gift we give.
[From “Regaining Compassion” by James W. Lynch, Jr., M.D., Journal of
the American Medical Association, May 13, 1998.]
Kelli has learned that compassion is the “rock” of her work as a
physician. It is on that same “rock” that Jesus establishes his church, a
community of men and women whose lives mirror the love, peace and justice of
God. In taking on God’s work of reconciliation, in our struggle to
forgive selflessly and humbly, in our often less-than-successful attempts to
imitate the compassion of Jesus, our church and parish reflect the face of God
to our world.
***
In the first reading, God promises to give the keys of the house of David to
Eliakim with full authority over his royal household. Eliakim was among the
leaders in Jerusalem during the critical Assyrian siege. Here he succeeds
Shebnah to the office of chief steward. He will hold the ‘key of the house of
David’. In the Biblical world, officials were invested with keys as a sign of
stewardship and power. In the New Testament the text is applied to Jesus. Peter
is given the keys of the kingdom. God shares His power with those whom he
chooses.
Search and you may find…
Late one evening Jerry lost the key of his moneybox and went
down on fours looking for it outside. His neighbours joined him in searching
under streetlights until all were exhausted. “Where did you lose the key?”
asked a concerned friend. “Inside my house,” replied Jerry. “Then why look for
it outside?” “Because,” explained Jerry, “there is more light outside than
inside my house!” We often look for keys in wrong places and, ironically, the
key to understand today’s readings is a key: of the House of David in the first
reading and of the kingdom of heaven in the gospel. On April 24, 2005, at his
installation as Pontiff, Benedict XVI described himself as “weak servant of
God” showing deep awareness of being servant of servant. Likewise, on Oct. 22,
1978, when Pope John Paul II began his ministry he said, “Open wide the doors
for Christ!” It is heartening that those who hold the keys are aware of their
responsibility to serve and open Church doors for the Spirit’s action. Have we
been given the key to the kingdom of God? Francis Gonsalves
In today’s world, we have a glut of opinion polls especially
around election times. These opinion polls show the variety and often
contradictory views people can have about particular issues or personality. In
the gospel we have an example of an early opinion poll conducted by Jesus
himself. Though it was a limited one, it concerned a vital question, namely the
identity of Jesus. ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ Jesus knew who he
was. The question was for the benefit of the disciples. In his time, the
question was on everybody’s lips: Who is this man Jesus? The question echoes
through the entire gospel. Jesus rejected the inadequate answers of others and
demanded that the disciples speak for themselves: “And you, who do you say that
I am?” “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter answered. All of
us as believers have to give our personal answer to that question. A person
cannot be baptized without a profession of faith. The more people we have in
the Church who believe out of personal conviction, the more the Church will be
founded on rock. The profession of faith is only the beginning. We must live
our faith. We must allow our lives to be shaped by our faith. Peter is the
centre of today’s gospel, he is the leader but he has his weaknesses and
faults. He denied Jesus, He did not fall simply because he was weak. He fell
because he felt he was strong. In giving authority to a man who denied him,
Jesus showed that he was establishing his Church not on human strength, but on
his own love and faithfulness. God does not choose perfect people to do his
work. God chooses people who are flawed, but nevertheless have the capacity for
greatness and holiness. Peter’s story helps us to understand ourselves and
shows us how to develop a close relationship with Jesus.
How to have a God-experience?
A young boy approached an enlightened person and asked him
what he must do to have a God-experience. The enlightened one closed his eyes
and remained silent for some time. The young man asked again, “What must I do
to have a God experience?” The enlightened one opened his eyes smiled at him
and closed his eyes again. The young man in his restlessness repeated his
question a third time. Now the enlightened one opened his eyes, smiled at the
young man and told him, “I told you twice. Seek the Lord in the silence of your
heart and you will have a God-experience. The closed eyes help you only to open
your inner eyes to see God enthroned in your heart. The atmosphere of external
silence is only an attempt to experience inner silence. Once you open the cave
of your heart with the keys of inner silence and deeper awareness you stand
face to face with God.”
Robert D’Souza
She may not know but I know…
Every day Tim would go to the nursing home and visit her.
And each time Tim would explain who he was and why he was visiting. He would
tell the story of his children and grandchildren, all the activities and all
the news of his family. And while he was feeding her lunch each day, he would
gently remind her that he was married for 52 years to the same woman and that
woman was her. Then each time she would smile brightly as if told for the first
time. That woman was Margaret, and Margaret suffers from Alzheimer’s disease,
she moves in and out of reality. Tim tends to her each and every day before he
leaves, he caresses her gently, kisses her and tells her that he loves her
dearly, knowing well, that tomorrow he will have to repeat the whole routine
over and over again. His friends plead with Tim as to why he continues to put
himself through this. They tell him, “She does not even know who you are
anymore.” And he would always respond in the same way, “But I know who I am.” Do
I know Jesus? Do I know who I am? John Pichappilly
Who is Jesus?
During the Second World War, in his famous BBC Radio talk-
‘Mere Christianity’, C.S. Lewis said, “I am trying to prevent anyone from
saying the really foolish thing that people say about Him: “I am ready to
accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.”
That is the one thing we must not say. A man who is merely a man and said the
sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either
be a lunatic-on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg –or else he
would be the Devil of Hell. You must make a choice. Either this man was, or is
the Son of God; or else a man or something worse.” If we accept Jesus as a
great moral teacher, then we must necessarily accept Him as god, for great
moral teachers do not tell lies. One person who fascinates and baffles everyone
–both believers and non-believers, is Jesus Christ. One is surprised by the
simple life of Jesus, and the tremendous impact He had on history. John Rose
One Solitary Life
Jesus was born in a manger, in a simple carpenter’s family;
He never went to school, nor attended college; He never wrote a book. Until the
age of thirty he was a village carpenter. At thirty he became a nomadic
preacher; but he never travelled more than 200 miles from the place of his
birth. When he was thirty-three years old, public opinion turned against him;
He was betrayed by his friend and deserted by the others. He was unjustly
condemned to death and was nailed as a criminal between two thieves. When he
died, they laid him in a borrowed tomb. Twenty centuries have come and gone.
Till today he is the central figure of history. No library is complete without
his biography. All ages and dates are numbered from His birth; He never led an
army, never held a gun; but all the armies that ever marched and all the kings
that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of a man on this
earth like that ONE SOLITARY LIFE.
****
From Fr. Tony Kadavil’s Collection:
1: “Who do you think I am?” In 1896, after
fifteen centuries, Athens renewed the Olympic Games. You can imagine how proud
the Greeks were to host the first modern Olympics. The Greeks were by far the
most successful nation in terms of total medals (forty-six), 26 more than the
U. S. Nevertheless, their number of first-place finishes (10) was one fewer
than the Americans who gained 11. The last competition was the marathon.
Greece’s entrant was named Spyridon Louis, a water carrier with a little
military training, and not much competitive background. He learned endurance by
transporting mineral water from his village to the city. When the race started,
Louis was far back in the pack of marathoners. But as the miles passed, he
moved up steadily. One by one the leaders began to falter. The French hero fell
in agony. The hero from the United States had to quit the race. Soon, word
reached the stadium that a lone runner was approaching the arena, and the
emblem of Greece was on his chest! He even slowed down for a glass of wine. As
the excitement grew, Prince George of Greece hurried to the stadium entrance
where he met Louis and ran with him to the finish line.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece_at_the_1896_Summer_Olympics).
— In this sports tale, we have something of the history of the human race.
Jesus Christ started from way back in the pack. He was born in relative
obscurity, never had many followers, commanded no army, erected no edifices,
wrote no books. He died young, was buried in a borrowed grave, and you’d think
he’d be quickly forgotten. But, no! His reputation has grown, so that today
Jesus is worshiped on every continent, has more followers than ever before and
sixteen times has been pictured on the cover of Time magazine, while Jesus’
sayings have been translated into more than 200 languages. Consider: Socrates
taught for forty years, Plato for fifty, and Aristotle, forty. Jesus Christ
only taught for three years. Yet which has influenced the world more, one
hundred thirty years of classical thought or three years of Christ’s? In the
Library of Congress there are 1,172 reference books on William Shakespeare,
1,752 on George Washington, 2,319 on Abe Lincoln, and 5,152 on Jesus Christ.
Perhaps H. G. Wells best summed up the runaway difference in interest.
“Christ,” he wrote, “is the most unique person of history. No man can write a
history of the human race without giving first and foremost place to the
penniless teacher of Nazareth.” As Emerson once noted, “The name of Jesus is
not so much written as PLOUGHED into the history of the world.” Today’s Gospel
challenges us to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior as St. Peter did at
Caesarea Philippi. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
2: “Who is Jesus?” In his teens, C.S. Lewis was
a professed agnostic. He was influenced in his conversion to Christianity by
reading G.K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man, and through the influence of two
of his Christian friends. After his conversion, he wrote a number of books
defending Christianity. During the Second World War, in his famous BBC radio
talk, “Mere Christianity,” he said, “I am trying to prevent anyone saying the
really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus: ‘I’m ready to accept
Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That
is the one thing we must not say. A man who is merely a man and said the sort
of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a
lunatic, on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would
be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is,
the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” — If we accept Jesus as a
moral teacher, then we must necessarily accept Him as God, for great moral
teachers do not tell lies. (John Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies)
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
3: “Suppose Jesus were to come here.” Without
the 19th century essayist Charles Lamb, William Shakespeare would be “missing
in action.” It was Mr. Lamb’s essays that snatched the 17th century playwright
from undeserved obscurity after he had been famous for Andy Warhol’s fifteen
minutes. One night, Lamb and his guests were chatting about the Bard over
Spanish port and Cuban cigars. “Supposing,” someone asked Lamb, “Shakespeare
were to stroll into our dining room at this moment.” The essayist replied, “We
would raise a glass of port to the great man.” “Supposing,” said another,
“Jesus were to come here.” Lamb answered, “We would all get down on our knees.”
— There is the essential difference between the Man from Nazareth and all other
great people you can think of. “The Christ is God, and all others, no matter
what their deeds, are but fools who strut on the stage for a brief time and
then exit.” (Fr. Gilhooly) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
4: “I am the governor of this state.” When
Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a
second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no
lunch), he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was
famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the
woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next
person in line. “Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “do you mind if I have
another piece of chicken?” “Sorry,” the woman told him. “I’m supposed to give
one piece of chicken to each person.” “But I’m starved,” the governor said.
“Sorry,” the woman said again. “Only one to a customer.” Governor Herter was a
modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a
little weight around. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of
this state.” “And do you know who I am?” the woman said. “I’m the Lady in
Charge of the Chicken. Move along, Mister.” —This is a short, and simple, and humorous
story about two people viz. Governor Herter and the Lady in Charge of the
chicken, each trying to exert authority over to the other by telling – “who I
am”.
5. “But how did the other ear get burned?”: On Sunday
morning, a man showed up at Church with both his ears terribly blistered, so
his pastor asked, “WHAT happened to YOU?” “I was lying on the couch watching a
ball game on TV while my wife was ironing nearby. I was totally engrossed in
the game when she went out, leaving the iron near the phone. The phone rang,
and keeping my eyes on the TV, I grabbed the hot iron and put it to my ear.”
“How dreadful,” gasped the pastor. “But how did the other ear get burned?”
“Well, you see, I’d no sooner hung up and the guy called back!” He just didn’t
get it. Lots of folks never get it, never understand how life really works,
even at the simplest levels. That’s why Jesus is pressing his followers — and
us — so insistently in today’s Gospel: “Do you understand Who I AM,” he asks,
“and what My being here means for you?” (Msgr. Dennis Clarke)
6. “But on the other hand..” Three of the
clergy—a Lutheran, a Catholic, and an Episcopalian—ended up at the Pearly Gates
one day. It was St. Peter’s day off, so Jesus was administering the entrance
exam. “The question is simple,” he said. “Who do you say that I am?” The
Lutheran stepped forward and began, “The Bible says . . . ” but Jesus
interrupted and said, “I know what the Bible says; who do you say that I am?”
The Lutheran said, “I don’t know,” and fell through a trapdoor to that other
place. The Catholic stepped forward and began, “The Pope says . . . ” But Jesus
interrupted him and said, “I know what the Pope says; who do you say that I
am?” “I’m not sure,” said the Catholic, and promptly fell through the trapdoor
to that other place. Jesus turned to the Episcopalian and asked, “Who do you
say that I am?” The Episcopalian replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the
Living God!” Then, just as Jesus smiled and gestured for the Pearly Gates to be
opened, the Episcopalian continued, “but on the other hand…”
21- Additional anecdotes:
1) “To draw out all his savings?” A teacher was
giving her students a lesson in logic. “Here is the situation,” she said. “A
man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his
balance, falls in, and begins splashing and yelling for help. His wife in her
riverside house hears the commotion, knows he can’t swim, and runs down to the
bank. Why do you think she ran to the bank instead of calling for help?” A girl
raised her hand and asked, “To draw out all his savings?” In today’s Gospel,
the disciples are faced with a similar situation – like being in class when the
teacher asks a very important question. We want to seem intelligent so we blurt
out an answer – not always the right one – but an answer
nonetheless. In today’s Gospel lesson Peter blurts out an
answer that is theologically correct, inspired, and amazing.
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
2) Mount Rushmore National Memorial: When one
thinks of South Dakota, one thinks of Mount Rushmore. Carved into the
mountainside by Gutzon Borglum are the heads of four of the great leaders of
the United States. It’s ironic that this monument is in the heart of an area
sacred to the Lakota and Dakota people whose ancestors possessed the land
centuries before George Washington’s family came to America. Thousands of
Americans visit Mount Rushmore each year. Many come away with flags, patriotic
symbols and T- shirts reading, “God Bless America.” Perhaps they feel a rush of
pride and make resolutions to be better Americans in the future. Let us
remember that Christians are part of the Rock. Jesus built his Church on the
Rock of Peter as a reward for his great confession of Faith in the Divinity of
Christ. The members of the Church are given a new face on the same Rock, the
face of Jesus, as they proclaim his love, mercy, and forgiveness in their daily
lives. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
3) “But I know who she is and I know who I am:” Every
day Tim would go to the nursing home and visit her. Each time she would ask Tim
who he was and why he was visiting her. And each time Tim would explain who he
was and why he was visiting. He would tell the story of all the children and
grandchildren, all the activities and all the news of his family. And while he
was feeding her lunch each day, he would gently remind her that he was married
for 52 years to the same woman and that woman was she. Then each time she would
smile brightly as if told for the first time. That woman was Margaret, and
Margaret suffers from Alzheimer’s disease; she moves in and out of reality. Tim
tends to her each and every day and before he leaves, he caresses her gently,
kisses her and tells her that he loves her dearly, knowing well, that tomorrow
he will have to repeat the whole routine over and over again. His friends plead
with Tim as to why he continues to put himself through this. They tell him,
“She doesn’t even know who you are any more.” And he would always respond in
the same way, “But I know who she is, and I know who I am.” — The reality of
our lives is that we are known by our actions. How we treat one another is how
we first know who we are for ourselves and that is how others come to know us.
It is our actions that we will be known for. And that is what Jesus asks today,
“Who do people say that I am?” Do I know Jesus? Do I know who I am? (John
Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
4) Who is this Jesus? Where do we find Him? In
his book, Pray from Where You Are, James Carroll recalls something many of us
remember from our childhood. Every Sunday, the comic page of our newspapers
used to carry a series of printed games. One of everybody’s favorites was a
picture showing some scene, like a family enjoying a picnic in a park. Printed
beneath the picture were the words, “Can you find the man hidden in the
picture?” You’d look and look, and at first wouldn’t see anything that looked
like a man. Then you’d turn the paper this way and that to get a different view
of it. Suddenly, from the edge of a fluffy white cloud you’d see an ear. Then,
from the green leaves of a tree you’d see a mouth, and so on, until you’d see
an entire man’s face smiling out at you from the picnic scene. Once you saw the
man, that picnic scene was never the same again. For you had found the hidden
man. You yourself had seen the smiling face. It’s the same way in our own
lives. We Christians know by Faith that there is a Man hidden away in every
scene of daily life. And that Man’s name is Jesus. Once we find Jesus, up close
and personal, no scene in our lives is ever the same. That is part of the
message of today’s Gospel. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
5 Confusion most confounded: Just take the world
of medicine. Anyone confused the way I am? Does it seem to you that one study
is always negating the finds of the previous study? Hormone replacement therapy
is great. No. Hormone replacement therapy causes cancer. Saccharine causes
cancer; NutraSweet is good. No. NutraSweet causes cancer and Saccharine is
good. LowCarb/HighFat is the best diet. Whoops, no, we meant to say
NoFat/LowCarb is the best diet. Being slightly underweight is best. No. Being
slightly overweight is best. Stock market recommendations and economist’s
predictions are equally confusing. Watch Fox’s Saturday morning stock market
analysis. The experts end up calling each other’s advice ridiculous, completely
wrong, amazingly erroneous, and downright stupid. Same thing happened at
Caesarea Philippi where Peter declared Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of the
living God. Jesus congratulated him as the spokesman of God the Father’s
revelation. At the same time Jesus warned his disciples not to tell this truth
to anyone. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
6) What is in a name? In Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet, Juliet says to Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by
any other name would smell as sweet.” The Journal of the American Medical
Association did a study on the names of people in the medical profession in the
United States. Doctors’ names included: Needle, Probe, Lance, Ligate, Drill,
Scope, Bolt, Pin, Croak and Klutz. On the up side, we find physicians named
Fix, Cure, Heal, Brilliant, Able, and Best. Our vet’s name is Dr. Fish. There
is an Episcopal priest in New York City named Donald Goodness. Do names make a
difference? Can a person’s name determine his or her destiny? If you had the
choice, would you pick Dr. Brilliant or Dr. Klutz? Many actors will take a
stage name because their real name is considered unattractive, dull, or amusing
for the wrong reason, or because it projects the wrong image, or is considered
too “ethnic.” Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus, who gave Simon a new name,
Peter, made him the bedrock foundation of his Church.
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
7) Film –Shoes of the Fisherman: When the Italian
pope dies in the latter part of the twentieth century, the Cardinals debate who
will succeed him. Some want a conservative pope, while others feel that modern
times call for a different approach so that the Church can speak to the real
needs of the people. The conclave elects a Slavic cardinal who was imprisoned
for twenty years by the Communists. He becomes Pope Kiril I. He feels
constricted by Vatican protocol, so he ventures out one night to meet the real
people of Rome. He also relates with theologians in difficulties with pastoral
kindness and understanding. At his papal coronation, he gives away the tiara.
He tries to negotiate an accord between the warring nations, China and Russia,
and he says he is ready to sell the treasures of the Vatican to alleviate
starvation in China. When Morris West’s novel, Shoes of the Fisherman, first
appeared in 1963, it was regarded as prophetic. When John Paul I died in 1978
after barely a month in office, the Polish Cardinal, Karol Wojtyla, was
elected, and Pope St. John Paul II is considered to have been one of the chief
influences in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Morris West was even more
prophetic than people realized. Shoes of the Fisherman takes past perceptions
of the papacy and papal authority and looks at them in new ways. Like Pope
Kiril in the film, Pope St. John Paul II traveled outside Rome and tried to
enter into dialogue with everyone. He exercised spiritual authority and tried
to show that the role of the papacy was for service, especially in the
political and economic arenas. The film shows the end of one era and the
beginning of a new one. Shoes of the Fisherman continues to challenge audiences
to understand the papacy more deeply. Shoes of the Fisherman was almost a
blueprint for the papacy of Pope St. John Paul II. The film expresses a different
yet converging definition of what ‘Church’ means and what authority and service
entails. (Peter Malone in Lights Camera….Faith!) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Fr. Tony
8) Pray TV and the dog Spuds MacKenzie: The ABC
television network carried a program titled Pray TV. Actor John Ritter played
the role of an evangelist. Incredibly, some 22,000 people called local
television stations wanting to pledge financial contributions to Ritter’s work.
These figures were verified by various telephone companies who had monitored
and logged the incoming calls. Just after a scene in which the evangelist said,
“We need your prayers,” a fictitious toll-free number was flashed on the
screen. Many viewers around the country tried to phone the number to offer
prayers and money. It pays never to underestimate the gullibility of the
American people. Characters in soap operas tell horror stories about viewers
who confuse the actors with the roles they are playing. In 1968, when actor Leslie
Nielsen played a brutal sheriff in the television film Shadow Over Elviron, he
received more than two hundred poison pen letters, mostly from women. Some of
these were shockingly vulgar. Even Spuds MacKenzie, the dog on certain beer
commercials, receives an average of five thousand letters a month. Not the
trainer, not the sponsor, not the agent, not the handlers – the dog herself
receives the fan mail! Winston Churchill once was congratulated on the size of
a crowd that turned out to hear him speak. He said the crowd would be twice as
large if he were being hanged. Jesus wasn’t really that concerned about what
the masses were thinking about him. He knew that some in the crowds cheering
him would later shout the loudest for his crucifixion. So, he wasn’t really all
that concerned when he asked, “Who do men say that I am?” However, he was
concerned when he turned to his disciples and asked them, “And who do you say
that I am?” Jesus’ plan for the salvation of the world lay with this small
group of men. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
9) “You are the Christ.” Fr. Herbert O’Driscoll
uses a wonderful image to explain the structure of the Church. His idea is to
look at all of the last 20 centuries as rings of time, or as concentric circles
of time. Today’s Christians, in the 21st century, are in the
outermost circle, farthest away from the center – which is a Cross. We are
brought into the circle, into the Faith, in large part because somewhere,
somehow, someone in the circle just before ours took us by the hand and said,
“Come,” and so drew us in. That is one very important reason why we are here.
That person was able to do this for us because someone had taken him or her by
the hand and had drawn that person in. And so it went, back through all the
centuries until we reach the hands that had actually touched the mark of the
nails. In this way, Christ builds his Church. We constantly re-live this Gospel
story. When we say to Jesus, “You are the Christ,” he says to
each of us—“You, too, are Peter, you too, are a rock, and with you, also, I am
building my Church.” What happened to Peter continues to happen and actually
includes us. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
10) Peter Johnson the Rocky: It is said that
Winston Churchill never liked talking to subordinates. He always wanted to go
to the top because he figured that was the only way he could get any action.
So, as the story goes, when Churchill went to heaven, he met St. Peter at the
gate and said, “Who are you?” When Peter said, “I’m St. Peter,” Churchill said,
“To hell with you, get God!” How did poor Peter get this job in the first
place? It all started with the story recounted in this text when Jesus renamed
him “Rocky” and gave him the keys to the Kingdom. Actually he called him Cephas,
an Aramaic nickname meaning rock. Its Greek counterpart is Petros which also
means rock. Thus, on that day at Caesarea Philippi about 20 miles north of the
Sea of Galilee, Simon Johnson, as he was known to his fishing buddies and his
family, got a new name — Rocky. Rocky was the big one, bigger than the boxer by
that name: Marciano or the character Sylvester Stallone played in the movie
called Rocky and all its sequels. I can just hear him calling the other
disciples with a tough Brooklyn street kid accent, “Hey you’se guys, let’s go
get some fish.” (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
11) “Catholic Church” or “universal church”: A woman
was talking to her Presbyterian minister, taking him to task for using, in
praying the creed during a worship service, the words, “I believe in the holy,
catholic church” instead of saying “universal church” or something similar,
because, she said, it was “not Presbyterian.” “Well,” the minister replied,
“you don’t mean to say that you believe that the only way you can get to Heaven
is by being a Presbyterian, do you!” She thought a minute and said, “No, not
really. But no genteel person would think of going any other way.” [B. Clayton
Bell, Moorings in a World Adrift: Answers for Christians Who Dare to Ask Why,
(San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990) p. 87.] (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Fr. Tony
12) “The powers of death (Gates of hell) shall not
prevail against it.” There is a story about a poor guy who died. Much to
his surprise he was sentenced not to Heaven, but to Satan’s domain. Before he
was admitted, however, he was interviewed by Satan himself. “It’s pretty bad
down here, isn’t it?” asked the man. “Not at all!” said Satan. “You’re
surrounded by people who know how to enjoy! Each day we have a theme. Monday, for
example, is Party Day! We party around the clock. Tuesday is Alcohol Day! An
open bar, take all you want! Wednesday is Tobacco Day! The finest Havana
cigars, all the best cigarette blends.” The guy begins to brighten up. He says,
“I’m sold. Let me in!” They let him in the gate and he promptly falls into a
fiery pit where he is prodded by a nasty looking thing with a pitchfork. “Hey,”
he cried, “what happened to those Theme Days?” “Today is Thursday,” Satan
giggles with glee. “Thursdays, we tell lies!” (The Jokesmith).
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
13) “The powers of death shall not prevail against
it.” No. 2 Elaine Pagels is a distinguished professor at Princeton
University who studies and knows a lot about the human phenomenon of religion.
She begins her book, Beyond Belief, with an unusual anecdote and a very
powerful witness. On a bright, cold Sunday morning in New York, she interrupted
her daily run by stopping in the vestibule of a church to get warm. Two days
earlier, her two-and-a-half-year-old son had been diagnosed with an invariably
fatal lung disease. Two-and-a-half years old. Barely born and already dying.
Imagine the pain in her heart, if you can. But here is how she describes that
scene in the Church that day: “Since I had not been in Church for a long time,
I was startled by my response to the worship in progress–the soaring harmonies
of the choir singing with the congregation; and the priest, a woman in bright
gold and white vestments, proclaiming the prayers in a clear resonant voice. As
I stood watching, a thought came to me: Here is a family that knows how to face
death…Standing in the back of that church, I recognized, uncomfortably, that I
needed to be there. Here was a place to weep without imposing tears upon a
child; and here was a heterogeneous community that had gathered to sing, to
celebrate, to acknowledge common needs, and to deal with what we cannot control
or imagine.”
(http://www.uccseb.org/Sermons/2004/March%2028,%202004.htm )
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
14) “God does not always settle accounts in October.” There
is a story about an irreligious farmer who gloried in his irreligion. He wrote
a letter to a local newspaper in these words: “Sir: I have been trying an
experiment with a field of mine. I plowed it on Sunday. I planted it on Sunday.
I harvested it on Sunday. I carted the crop home to the barn on Sunday. And
now, Mr. Editor, what is the result? This October I have more bushels to the
acre from the field than any of my neighbors have.” He expected applause from
the editor, who was not known to be a religious man himself. When he opened the
paper the next week, there, sure enough, was his letter printed just as he had
sent it, but underneath it was the short but significant sentence: ‘God does
not always settle accounts in October.’” Let us ask ourselves, when did we last
show ourselves disciples of Jesus, or witness him in public? (Gerard Fuller in
Stories for all Seasons; quoted by Fr. Botelho). V
15) Under Rock and Key: Late one evening, Jerry
lost the key of his moneybox and went down on fours looking for it outside. His
neighbors joined him in searching under streetlights until all were exhausted.
“Where did you lose the key?” asked a concerned friend. “Inside my house,”
replied Jerry. “Then why are we looking for it outside?” “Because” explained
Jerry, “there is better light outside than inside my house!” We often look for
keys in wrong places, and, ironically, the keys to understand today’s readings
is a Key of the House of David in the first reading, and the Keys of the
Kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel. On April 24, 2005, at his installation as
Pontiff, Benedict XVI described himself as “weak servant of God” showing deep
awareness of being “servus servorum Dei” (servant of servants of God). Likewise,
on October 22, 1978, when Pope St. John Paul II began his ministry, he said
“Open wide the doors for Christ!” It is heartening that those who hold the Keys
are aware of their responsibility to serve and open Church doors for the
Spirit’s action. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Gospel Deeds; quoted by
Fr. Botelho). (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
16) “I am a Christian. I refuse to give up my
Faith.” Neo-martyr Michael Paknanas was less than twenty years old, and he
worked as a gardener in Athens in the 1800s. The Turks, who enslaved Greece at
the time, were trying to convince him to give up his Faith. When flattery and
wealth failed to persuade him, they put to use some of their more convincing
standard missionary work by torturing the teenager. When all the tortures
proved to be futile, the executioner was preparing to behead the young man, but
at the same time he was feeling some compassion for him. So he began cutting
his neck slowly with the sword by administering very light blows, while asking
the martyr to reconsider. The martyr’s response? “I told you, I am a Christian.
I refuse to give up my Faith.” The ax-man struck with another light blow to
make some more blood flow, to possibly convince him. The martyr repeated, “I
told you, I am a Christian. Strike with all your might, for the Faith of
Christ.” This totally aggravated the executioner. He did exactly that, and St.
Michael was sent to the Heavenly mansions. These are the people who understood
who Jesus is, and what his place is in their lives. (Fr. Bobby Jose).
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
17) “There are five things you need to know:” There
is a beautiful story about the pencil. The pencil maker took the pencil aside,
just before putting it into the box. “There are five things you need to know,”
he told the pencil, “before I send you out into the world. Always remember them
and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be. One: You will
be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in
someone’s hand. Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to
time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil. Three: You will be able to
correct any mistakes you might make. Four: The most important part of you will
always be what’s inside. And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must
leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.” The
same applies to each one of us too. When we find an answer to Jesus’ question
(“Who do you say that I am?”), we will be able to make ourselves useful to our
contemporaries. We have to undergo the process that the pencil undergoes. One:
We will be able to do many great things, but only if we allow ourselves to be
held in God’s hand, and allow other human beings access to the many gifts we
possess. Two: We will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by
going through various problems in life, but we’ll need it to become a stronger
person. Three: We will be able to correct any mistakes we might make. Four: The
most important part of us will always be what’s on the inside. And Five: On
every surface we walk through, we must leave our mark. No matter what the
situation, we must continue to do our duties to the best of our abilities.
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
18) Ready to Serve? Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
was a former professor of psychiatry at the University of Chicago. She wrote a
best-seller called Death and Dying. The book grew out of interviews with
hundreds of people who had been declared clinically dead and then revived.
Repeatedly these people report that during their near-death experience they
underwent a kind of instant replay of their lives. It was like seeing a movie
of everything they’d ever done. How did their instant replay affect these people?
Did it reveal anything significant? Commenting on this, Dr. Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross says: “When you come to this point, you see that there are only two
things that are relevant: the service you rendered to others and love. All
those things we think are important, like fame, money, prestige, and power, are
insignificant.” Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus gave authority to Peter and
his successors in his Church to serve God’s people. (Flor McCarthy in New
Sunday and Holy Day Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
19) “Pioneers of Persuasion” In his book The
Image Makers, William Meyers has a chapter called “Pioneers of Persuasion.” One
of the stories tells how an ad executive, Rosser Reeves, used carefully spliced
television commercials during the 1952 presidential campaign to sell General
Eisenhower to the public “like a tube of toothpaste.” Ever since then,
professional image makers and marketing experts have been employed to package
political candidates in a glamorous way so that they will appeal to the voters’
emotions. To be successful today, office seekers have to be as concerned about
their image as about the campaign issues. Appearance and performance on
television are as important as one’s experience and programs. — In the Gospel
today, it seems that Jesus, too, was worried about his public image. “Who do
people say that the Son of Man is?” he asks his disciples. In response, they
give sort of the latest Gallup poll readout of their day: “Some say John the Baptist,
others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But as we read
further, we see that Jesus was not interested in his popularity rating. He is
interested in the more profound question of his essential identity. “Who do you
say that I am?” Moreover, Jesus is not aiming so much at finding out who he is
-he knows that already – but is leading his disciples to discover this for
themselves. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
20) God Has His Own Reasons to use His authority and
power when He wants: : Annick Theuroueville, a 20-year old French girl
who had been paralyzed from birth, took part in a Rosary pilgrimage to Lourdes
on October 7, 1975. In her wheelchair, she joined the procession of more than
40,000 pilgrims, and then bathed in the pool fed by the original stream Our
Lady had Bernadette find, and use to drink and wash in, some distance from the
grotto. After bathing, she complained of being very tired. At three o’clock the
next morning, she awakened in her hotel room. On a sudden impulse she got out
of bed and walked. Apart from painful efforts to use crutches, she had never in
her life done this. The other pilgrims at the hotel were amazed to see Annick
come down the stairs for breakfast. Doctors who examined her on October 8 could
find no medical explanation for her recovery. Of course, the medical bureau at
Lourdes is very cautious about pronouncing cures miraculous. Conclusions are
reached only after several years of observation. Naturally everybody was
interested in asking Annick’s own reactions. Many knew that she had long since
accepted her disability as the will of God. “It means joy” she answered, “but
also sadness. For I ask myself, why me and not the others?” …Who has known the
mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? (Romans, 11:34. Today’s second
reading). (Father Robert F. McNamara) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr. Tony
21) To really know is to be transformed by what one
knows: The following story shows that a simple, receptive heart is
necessary for truly knowing Christ (cf. Anthony De Mello, The Song of the Bird,
New York: Image Books, 1984, p. 112). We are witnesses of Christ. Our personal
transformation testifies to his saving presence in our life. A dialogue between
a recent convert and an unbelieving friend: “So you have been converted to
Christ?” “Yes.” “Then you must know a great deal about him. Tell me: what
country was he born in?” I don’t know.” “What was his age when he died?” “I
don’t know.” “How many sermons did he preach? ”I don’t know.” “You certainly
know very little for a man who claims to be converted to Christ!” “You are
right. I am ashamed at how little I know about him. But this much I know. Three
years ago, I was a drunkard. I was in debt. My family was falling to pieces. My
wife and children would dread my return. That’s what Jesus did when I turned to
Him and asked for help.” (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) Fr.
Tony
***********
From Sermons.com
Jesus and his disciples ventured into the District of
Caesarea Philippi, an area about 25 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee. The
region had tremendous religious implications. The place was littered with the
temples of the Syrian gods. Here also was the elaborate marble temple that had
been erected by Herod the Great, father of the then ruling Herod Antipas. Here
also was the influence of the Greek gods. Here also the worship of Caesar as a
God himself. You might say that the world religions were on display in this
town. It was with this scene in the background that Jesus chose to ask the most
crucial questions of his ministry.
He looked at his disciples and in a moment of reflection said: "Who do men
say that I am?" The disciples begin sharing with Jesus what they have
heard from the people who have been following Jesus: Some say that you are
Elijah; others say John the Baptist, still others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets. It's always been this way, Jesus as seen by the masses is seen in so
many different ways.
You can speak of Jesus as prophet, holy man, teacher, or
spiritual leader, and few will object. But speak of Him as Son of God, divine,
of the same nature as the Father, and people will line up to express their
disapproval.
Who do people say he is? Who do you say he is? And what are
we called to do? Let's take a look at the answers to these three
questions...
___________________________
Sin is less something we succumb to or fall into than it is
something we are seduced by. And the greatest seduction is pride. Pride is holy
halitosis. Like all bad breath, you're the last person to know you have
it.
Last week in Zurich, the pride of a gold medal champion, a
3000 meter steeplechase runner, managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory. French runner Mahidine Mekhissi, already a two time European champion,
found himself in the final 100 meters of his race. He was well ahead of the rest
of the pack. After a long backwards glance confirmed his apparent victory over
the trailing field of runners, Mekhissi began to celebrate early. He stripped
off his jersey. With the jersey went his identifying race number. He put the
jersey and number in his mouth as he cavorted to the finish line, taunting his
competitors with the pride of victory.
Mekhissi's antics did not sit well with his colleagues. Or
the race authorities. After multiple complaints were filed by the other
competitors, Mekhissi was disqualified. He won. But he lost. He won the race.
But he lost the game. Mekhissi was so proud of his prowess that he managed to
turn a clear victory into a humiliating defeat.
The line between pride as honor and pride as hubris is often
a hair's breadth distance. The honors that come with personal accomplishments
are worthy and welcome. Showcasing one's successes is a bit trickier. Proving
one's skills and self-worth in action is one thing. Proclaiming in words one's
worthiness to the world is another.
Our reading for this morning is a portion of Paul's
communication to a Gentile congregation in the heart of Rome...
_________________________
The Authority of the Church
There is general agreement that the phrase "the gates
of Hades" is poetic language for the power of death (see Isa. 38:10). What
is meant is that the congregation of the new covenant will persist into the age
to come despite all the efforts of the powers of darkness to destroy it.
"The gates of Hades" may here represent a defensive posture: death
will strive to hold in its prison house all who have entered its gates, but the
Messiah's congregation will triumphantly storm the gates and rescue those
destined for the life of the age to come. Douglas R.A.
__________________________________
Without the Struggle, There Are No Wings
A family brought in two cocoons that were about to hatch.
They watched as the first one began to open and the butterfly inside squeezed
very slowly and painfully through a tiny hole that it chewed in one end of the
cocoon. After lying exhausted for about ten minutes following its agonizing
emergence, the butterfly finally flew out the open window on its beautiful new
wings.
The family decided to help the second butterfly so that it would not have to go
through such an excruciating ordeal. So, as it began to emerge, they carefully
sliced open the cocoon with a razor blade, doing the equivalent of a Caesarean
section. The second butterfly never did sprout wings, and in about ten minutes,
instead of flying away, it quietly died.
The family asked a biologist friend to explain what had
happened. The scientist said that the difficult struggle to emerge from the
small hole actually pushes liquids from deep inside the butterfly's body cavity
into tiny capillaries in the wings where they hardened to complete the healthy
and beautiful adult butterfly. The lesson? WITHOUT THE STRUGGLE, THERE ARE NO
WINGS. Collected Sermons, David E. Leininger
_______________________
The Triumph of Jesus
In 1896, after fifteen centuries, Athens renewed the Olympic
Games, thus fulfilling the dream of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France. You
can imagine how proud the Greeks were to host the first modern Olympics. You
can also imagine how disappointed they were at their athletes' lack of success
in event after event.
The last competition was the marathon. Greece's entrant was
named Louis, a shepherd without competitive background. He'd trained alone in
the hills near his flock. When the race started, Louis was far back in the pack
of marathoners. But as the miles passed he moved up steadily. One by one the
leaders began to falter. The Frenchman fell in agony. The hero from the United
States had to quit the race. Soon, word reached the stadium that a lone runner
was approaching the arena, and the emblem of Greece was on his chest! As the
excitement grew, Prince George of Greece hurried to the stadium entrance where
he met Louis and ran with him to the finish line.
In this sports tale we have something of the history of the
human race. Most historical figures make their impact, achieve a measure of
fame, books are written about them, but as the years go by they begin to fade.
Less and less is written or spoken of their lives until they rest in relative
obscurity.
With Jesus Christ, however, one finds quite an opposite
phenomena! Christ started from way back in the pack. He was born in relative
obscurity, never had many followers, commanded no army, erected no edifices, wrote
no books. He died young, was buried in a borrowed grave, and you'd think he'd
be quickly forgotten.
But, no! His reputation has grown so that today he is
worshiped on every continent, has more followers than ever before, sixteen
times has his picture been on the cover of Time magazine, and his sayings have
been translated into more than 200 languages.
Stephen M. Crotts / George L. Murphy, Sermons For Sundays:
After Pentecost (Middle Third): The Incomparable Christ, CSS Publishing
Company, Inc.
___________________________
Call Him God
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
addressed the inclination to say nice things about Jesus, but to stop short of
calling him God.
He wrote, "I am here trying to prevent anyone saying
the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to
accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be
God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man
and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic-on a level with a man who says he is a poached
egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either
this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You
can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you
can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any of
that patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not
left that open to us. Nor did he intend to." C.S. Lewis,
_______________________________________
Public Notions of Jesus' Identity
Some, said Peter, say that you are Elijah. Now why would
people think that Jesus was the long deceased prophet Elijah. Elijah was, of course,
a highly revered personality in the religious life of the Hebrews. His defeat
of the 450 prophets of Baal on the top of Mt. Carmel was a story that was known
even by the little children. It was a commonly held belief among the Hebrews
that one day Elijah would return and that would mark the end of the world. In
the very last passage in the Old Testament, in the Book of Malachi, we find
these words: "Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before that great
and dreadful day of the Lord comes."
Most of you have read Charles Schultz's comic strip Peanuts.
One day we see that the television is on but there is no one in the room
listening to it. The announcer is talking about a golf tournament that is in
process. He says: Smith has to make this putt to win the championship. There
will be no tomorrow." And just as he says, "There will be no
tomorrow," in walks Lucy. She immediately goes into a panic and starts
running around and yelling to the other children: The world is coming to an end.
They just announced it on television. Her panic quickly spreads as we see all
the peanuts kids as they go wildly screaming about. Finally in the last square
we see all of the children huddled on top of Snoopy's doghouse waiting for the
end of the world. And Charlie Brown finally speaks up with a puzzled voice: I
thought that Elijah was supposed to come back first."
Well Charlie Brown knew his Bible. Elijah was supposed to
come back before the end time. When the disciples told Jesus that some people
thought he was Elijah, they were expressing a common thought among the people
that the end was very near.
Staff, www.Sermons.com
_______________________
A Point of Reference
The state highway department in Pennsylvania once set out to
build a bridge working from both sides. When the workers reached the middle of
the waterway, they found they were thirteen feet to one side of each other.
Albert Steinberg, writing some time ago in the Saturday Evening Post, went on
to explain that each crew of workmen had used its own reference point. No
wonder they did not connect.
In that same article Steinberg tells about a small disc on
the Meades Ranch in north central Kansas where the thirty-ninth parallel from
the Atlantic to the Pacific crosses the ninety-eighth meridian running from
Canada to the Rio Grande. The National Oceanic Survey, a small federal agency
whose business it is to locate the exact positions of every point in the United
States, uses the scientifically recognized reference point on the Meades Ranch.
So far, no mistakes have been made, and none are expected. All ocean liners and
commercial planes come under the survey. The government can build no dams or
even launch a missile without this agency to tell it the exact location to the
very inch. "Location by approximation," the article goes on to say,
"can be costly and dangerous."
That's why there is so much chaos in our society today.
Everyone's using their own reference point. What we need is a universal
reference point so that we can say, "Here. Here is how the good life is
lived."
For Christians there is such a reference point - and that is
Jesus. What would Jesus do? That is the question that continually helps us in
our quest for right living. Jesus not only revealed the character of God but he
also patterned the ideal life for humanity. King Duncan
One Generation Away from Extinction
It has been pointed out that the Church is always one
generation from extinction. If we don't spread the Gospel, it will be just one
generation away from disappearing from the face of the earth. It's a compelling
idea, isn't it? It enhances our sense of Christian responsibility. We need to
get out there and work for the Gospel or the Church could fade into history.
Perhaps you have heard the old story about Jesus appearing
in heaven just after his resurrection. Jesus is giving a progress report on all
that has happened while he was on earth. Moses is there and he asks him,
"Well Jesus, did you leave things in capable hands?"
Jesus responds, "I did. I have left behind Mary and
Martha and Peter and the other disciples."
Moses said, "What if they fail?"
Jesus said, "Well, I have established the Church and
filled it with the Holy Spirit and they will carry on."
And Moses said, "What if they fail?"
Came the reply, "I have no other plan."
There's a great tension there. God is at work here in our
church but we've been given the keys of the Kingdom. We have work to do and
Christ calls us to it. The prophet Micah put it this way: "do justice,
love mercy and walk humbly with thy God."
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com
________________________________
People See Things Differently
People see things differently all the time. For
example, three people - a minister, an archaeologist, and a cowboy - were
getting their first look at the Grand Canyon one day. The minister exclaimed,
"Truly this is one of the glories of God!" The archaeologist
commented, "What a wonder of nature this is!" And the cowboy said,
"Can you imagine trying to find a lost steer in there?" People see
things differently.
The Messianic hope of those in the Jewish community who held
such a belief was that the Chosen One would reestablish the supremacy of Israel
among the great nations of the world. The assumption was that this would be
accomplished in a violent and vengeful manner, with the forceful overthrow and
total destruction of the current ruling powers. But before this happened, the
prophet Elijah would return to herald the coming of the Chosen One. As a result
of these hopes, Jesus had to somehow communicate to his disciples and others
who had such high hopes for him that what he was offering was something
completely different from what they expected.
***********
Irom Sharmila of Imphal India fasting last 14 years and force fed through tubes
by the Govt fighting for a cause - against extra ordinary powers to the
military.
Lata Tare of Baramati, MH, India ran at a marathon beating
all experienced and well clad young runners. She was 61, grand mother,
wearing a Maharashtrian 9 yard saree, no shoes or sandals. She needed the money
for her husband's surgery. She didn't care for the trophy.
Yellavva from Yadgir Dt of Karnataka-400 Km north of
Bangalore was 9 nine pregnant with her first child. Her village was totally
marooned by flood waters. No ferries, no road connections. She tied pumpkin and
other gourd pods on her body for floatation and buoyancy and swam 1 km across
14 feet deep waters and reached a hospital to give birth.
Ramesh Ramanathan is the founder of Bangalore based NGO Janagraha. Studied in US with his wife. Cycling at night from class to pick up his wife working at a McDonald's. They both resigned the jobs to come and work for people.
