Easter 5 B - Vine and Branches

The Lord may find us as we search for him - Mary at the tomb (it's he who finds us even though it's we who search for him even as Zacchaeus). The Lord may give us a personal experience of him in our theological and ideological doubts (Thomas. That's another form of searching for him like Augustine and Thomas Merton). The Lord may open our eyes during the Eucharist and the breaking of the bread and word (Emmaus; the search continues). And if we are willing, he will lead us to the green pastures and refresh, guide and protect us as the Good Shepherd (he will search for us, he will search for our nourishment).

On the 5th Sunday, we are called to realize the symbiotic connection, communion with the Lord. He and we are connected. We really DO NOT have to search if we are connected. Beyond the emotions of Mary, beyond the intellectual uncertainty of Thomas, beyond the confusion in faith in our Emmaus journeys, beyond our waywardness, dangers of wolves and strangers, lack of pastures, the Good Shepherd providing and protecting, we now come as Christians to the realization that we are family, we have inheritance, the same DNA, we shall not be left out, starved....


The Lord meets us at our tombs (Easter-losses), at our locked rooms (Thomes - disappointments and doubts: second Sunday), on our journeys (aimless or disoriented: third Sunday), but more importantly when we do our work (4th and 5th Sundays). Whether our business is about sheep or vine, we need to remain faithful and committed and produce a 100 fold for the KOG and for our families.

Tony Kayala, c.s.c.

The Titanic Priest: Good Shepherd

The Untold Story of the Titanic’s Catholic Priest Who Went Down Hearing Confessions            

Amidst all the tales of chivalry from the Titanic disaster there is one that’s not often told. It is that of Fr. Thomas Byles, the Catholic priest who gave up two spots on a lifeboat in favour of offering spiritual aid to the other victims as they all went down with the “unsinkable” vessel.

A 42-year-old English convert, Fr. Byles was on his way to New York to offer the wedding Mass for his brother William. Reports suggest that he was reciting his breviary on the upper deck when the Titanic struck the iceberg in the twilight hours of Sunday, April 14, 1912.

According to witnesses, as the ship went down the priest helped women and children get into the lifeboats, then heard confessions, gave absolution, and led passengers in reciting the Rosary.

Easter 4 B - Good Shepherd

-Pope Francis: Pastors should smell like the sheep
-Count sheep to sleep
-"What do pastors do to the sheep?", Sunday School question. '"They shear them", little Amy answers.
-One Televangelist: Ho do you run a church? First form, then feed and finally fleece!!!
-A book about another televangelist: Ministers do better than "laypeople"!
-The Chief minister of Kerala, a practicing Christian, was at a Peoples' Grievance Redressal public meeting on April 23, 2015. Over 9,000 people gathered with issues to be addressed by him. He stayed up to 2:30 am the next day from 9:00 am the previous day. There was a power failure and so they started a generator which had barely enough diesel and so it conked out. So they attached a table fan to the only UPS meant for the computer to keep running. So he said, "If my people have to bear this heat, I could also. Turn it off!"
a. Know the shepherd
b. Called by name: Jesus calls: Mary in Grief and loss; Thomas in doubt (don't be an unbeliever), Peter in betrayal (Do you love me more than ...?); Saul the persecutor (Why are you persecuting me?); Zachhaeus, Simon, Philip ....
c. Lay down my life for you - wolf/enemies/persecution
d. leadership today: we are shepherds and sheep: Parents, teachers, cops, politicians, executives
Tony Kayala, c.s.c.

Easter 3 B - Emmaus Journey

-Your mercy, Lord, impels us to walk with every person on the journey of the Lord
-Your mercy, Christ, reveals your face in the breaking of the bread and sharing of our lives
-Your mercy, Lord, encourages us to face the trials and tragedies of life with courage and perseverance

Easter 2 B - Divine Mercy - Recognize by Nail Marks

Tony Kayala, c.s.c.:

1.     Psychologists talk about the left brain and right brain approach or the masculine and feminine in us. As we all know that all women are not right-brained nor all men left-brained. Most of us function from a combination of both. However, at times we seem to function from one side more than the other.

2. Last Sunday it was all the women rushing to the tomb “early morning” before dawn. (Do men love to sleep at that time!) The sensitivity, the grieving of women, the need to anoint a “dead” Jesus are all too obvious. These emotions, wonderful as they are, can also blind us to the reality, psychologists warn us. Who will roll the stone away (that’s men's job too), who could have taken him away (men need to find out), taking him as the gardener (women are not supposed to look at strange men and so don’t examine them properly) are all part of the emotion of looking at the past, looking for a dead Jesus. So Mary Magdalene misses a live Jesus standing before her. 

Easter 2015 - Vigil and Day

Yesterday we came to celebrate death. Today we have come to celebrate life; life beyond death; life beyond the grave.

They left 42 years ago Vietnam. But Vietnam never left them. The horror, violence of those days walked their days and haunted their nights, until they decided to go back to Vietnam. So six of them went back to the old battlefields with new purpose. They spent 10 days scouring the fields for mines they had planted to protect American lives, which killed thousands of innocent farmers. When they came back, their tombs were empty. The tombs they had sealed and kept with the stinking experiences of the past were now freed and there was fresh air.

Empty tomb is the mystery of the Resurrection and the centre of our faith. Resurrection is possible only, i.e. new life, by emptying the old tomb.

Easter Vigil: Reflecting on the Celebration

1.     Darkness.  

The Easter Vigil begins with darkness.  The darkness itself is the first movement of the liturgy, so we begin our preparations with that darkness.  It represents all darkness, and all the meanings of darkness - devoid of light; evil thoughts, motivations, deeds; all that is hidden and secret, deceitful and dishonest, divisive and abusive, immoral and sinful.  It's the darkness of our world, and the darkness in my heart.  If I come to the vigil and restlessly and impatiently fidget in the dark “until something happens,” I miss the power of what is about to happen.  So, we prepare by readying ourselves to experience the darkness.  It is distasteful and reprehensible, embarrassing and humbling, fearful and despairing. Then a light is struck.  It breaks into the darkness. “O God, who through your son bestowed upon the faithful the fire of your glory,

 sanctify + this new fire, we pray, and grant that,
 by these Paschal celebrations,
 we may be so inflamed with heavenly desires
 that with minds made pure,
 we may attain festivities of unending splendor.” 

Holy Thursday 2015 - The Stole and The Towel

Tony Kayala, c.s.c. 

1. Jesus was humiliated in the very heart of his own teaching by his own disciples when they were fighting for position. This is the last night. He was teaching them with his life example and stories for three years. They have to become the Church and continue his mission. So he does three things as a response: a. he exchanges the symbol of position with a symbol of service (stole with towel), b. they want to “take” and he says “Take this and eat” and he “gives”; c. finally he prays to the Father to keep them together in unity. These are the 3 symbols we used as we began the Lent on Ash Wednesday: a. fasting is what we do to ourselves (humility-washing – vis-à-vis love yourself), b. almsgiving is what we do for others (love your neighbour) and finally c. prayer is what we do with God (love God). These are the foundations of our faith – the two commandments lived, explained, understood differently. 

Palm Sunday: Journeying with Jesus beyond the Palms and Spears

2012: http://www.tkayala.com/2012/03/palm-sunday-homily.html

As we have come to accompany Jesus in this week when we enter into his paschal mystery which is the suffering, death, resurrection of our Lord, we also reflect his humanity that took upon himself the human sufferings, rejection, betrayals and sin so that we be freed from them all. 

-We are sinners who have compounded the anguish of sin around us, Lord have mercy

-We are simple people who tend to act like kings expecting respect and reverence; our pride has prevented us from being Christians, Christ have mercy
-We have been fickle and wavering to stand by your values and principles, lord have mercy.

Lent 5 B - Unless a grain of wheat falls -----will be lifted up

"When I am lifted up..."

Check the Sundays gone by: First the devil lifts him up in the desert, then the Father lifts him up at Mt. Tabor, then Jesus "lifts up" ordinary people - Jews and Gentiles - who came to the temple to worship at the Passover by chasing away those who made his Father's house into a den of thieves and then we had Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the desert as a symbol of raising people from the snake bites. First one was to tempt (worldly gratification), second was to comfort (spiritual consolation in prayer), third to cleanse and liberate people (mission, ministries) and the fourth was healing and salvation. Now Jesus says, "when I am lifted up..." This is to me more than the crucifixion. This is an ultimate human and spiritual desire to be lifted up from the darkness, sorrows, debts, daily chores, disappointments, failures and even deaths...from this world (moksha). This is the cry of Christians from Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and India. This is the shout of black people from Fergusson, Alabama, USA. Who's there to lift us up? Our mission is to lift people up. When husbands and wives, parents and teachers, politicians and bureaucrats learn to lift up their wards, each other, our society,  our nation will get saved. Every confession, spiritual direction, counselling, preaching, every hand that wipes the tears off the cheeks, every arm that holds is to "lift up".