PLS April - June 2009

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PRAY AND LIVE YOUR SUNDAY
July to September 2011

Jesus : We enter into this hour of prayer with the usual brief period of intense silence and stillness in which you seek to quieten your mind and heart, getting rid, in a gentle yet firm manner, of all extraneous thoughts and feelings. The more vigorously you eliminate such distractions the better will be your prayer. Focus for a while on your breathing too, as a racing mind is often associated with rapid shallow breathing while a conscious slowing down of one’s breathing automatically helps in reducing the flow of thoughts till a deep quiet settles over the mind. Do spend some time also in a quick but serious review of the past week, especially on how you were able to live out what you learnt in prayer.

Jesus : The Gospel reading is a familiar one to most Christians and is linked with St. Thomas. The important point behind it is that faith is spread in the community of believers precisely from one believing person to another. No one receives the gift of faith directly from the Father, no matter how much s/he would like it to be that way! You might not be able to see the advantage of this arrangement that I made for My followers, but for one thing at least, it helps to bond and bind the members of My body together a lot better! When each believer shares his/her faith experience, it helps the listener to discover such situations in his/her own life too and thus their capacity to pick out the occasions that make for deep communion with Me becomes all the more powerful and effective in their lives. The key truth of course, is that with the advent of My resurrection, I am no longer available to My people in the form of flesh and blood, a form that prevailed while I lived on earth; but now I am available to My people only through a faith encounter. This is because now I am present not just in a human form and shape which is inevitably limited and circumscribed by time and space, but in a new, spiritual manner, so that any person anywhere in the world can be in communion with Me. Besides, several people can avail themselves of My risen presence at the same time, irrespective of where they are situated in the world.

The further reason behind this arrangement is that after the Resurrection, the work of reaching out to every single person in the world, and of all time, must go on without stop, so that the benefits of My death-resurrection become available to all. For St. Paul wrote, “This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all - this was attested at the right time” (1 Tim 2:3-6). This vision of the Father which includes every single human being on earth can be brought to fulfillment only if each and every single Christian puts his/her shoulder to the wheel and plays his part in the great work of Redemption.

You : Lord Jesus, thank You for sharing this insight with me, because so far I never looked at the problem from this angle. Possibly this is the reason why I am so neglectful about the all-important question of spreading Your kingdom far and wide. Besides, I seem to think of the fact of my being a Christian as a great personal privilege extended to me because of some great qualities that I have. I did not stop to think that every person chosen to follow You receives both a privilege and a responsibility, especially the responsibility of spreading the Kingdom. When we come to think of it, Lord, most of us see our belonging to the Church as something personal and not ecclesial. Lord, help me to deepen this all-important realization in myself, as I feel it will make a big difference even in the way I make my prayer and fulfill all my other Christian duties…

Jesus : It would help if you looked at the situation in this way: the moment you accept the Sacrament of Baptism, you become a part of My body, an integral part of Me and so you share in the very purpose for which the Father sent Me, which is to save every human being that comes into this world. And so, My mission will remain incomplete until I make the Good News known and available to every single human being… this is again what I meant when I said, “That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law’” (Lk 12:47-53).

Remain now in silence and stillness and allow these words of Mine to sink deep into the very marrow of your bones so that from now on you will not only take full responsibility for spreading the Good News in your own life but will also encourage and inspire others to do the same. You can see that most Christians are somewhat lackadaisical in this matter of spreading their faith… they are so apathetic, at least when compared to Christians of other denominations and even the followers of Islam… Today it is said that Islam is the fastest spreading religion in the world – so maybe you have a lesson or two to learn from them! In silence allow the Spirit to light a veritable fire within you, a blaze that will not give you rest until each day you do something significant to spread the message of the Father’s love to a good number of people around you…

After spending a fair amount of time in quiet reflection, turn your mind to prayer for others. For this evening you could remember so many of your fellow Christians who like you concentrate more on themselves as blessed by God without bothering to share their faith with others… pray that they too may receive some of the fire that I spoke about and be a lot more dynamic in respect of sharing their faith through word and example. Actually, in the country in which you live, you have so many opportunities at your very doorstep, not only because of the large number of people of other faiths around you, but also because of the innumerable social evils in which the country is plunged – poverty, violence, communal disharmony, corruption and the rest of it. All this is like thick darkness in which the shining light of your faith will easily beckon others to at least receive the invitation and possibly even respond to God’s call …

Conclude your prayer with a burst of praise and thanks to the Father and a final brief prayer or hymn.

Jesus : As on all other occasions, this evening too begin your prayer with the customary period spent in deep silence and stillness. The more earnestly you quieten your mind and heart, the better will be your dispositions during the prayer, especially your ability and keenness to pick up the message I give you. After all, if what St. Peter said is true, “Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life?” (Jn. 6:68) then every word that falls from My lips should be precious to you – it has the power to lead you to ‘eternal life!’ And isn’t that which every human person longs for: complete unalloyed happiness? And yet so few really attain it, mostly because they are not ready to pay the full price for it!

After you have worked sufficiently to be still both externally and internally, turn your mind to a brief review of last week’s prayer. Make sure that you pick up at least one point which you can improve upon in this coming week! Dialogue with Me over this for a while…

Jesus : From now on, in the readings of the coming Sundays, you will hear of the different parables through which I explained to My listeners the inner meaning of the Kingdom which I came to spread on earth. As you can well imagine, this was the central aspect of My ministry because once people understood exactly what I came to bring to their notice, they would then have the choice clearly laid before them – and the rest depended on what they chose to do. Now the main problem here is that there were several versions of the Kingdom that were already in circulation, and none of them was really the kind of Kingdom that the Father had sent Me to establish. Hence, it was very important for Me to make absolutely clear to people, from the very start, the precise nature of God’s true kingdom as it was in the mind and heart of God himself. You will have noticed that in spite of the careful and repeated efforts I made in this direction, several (perhaps the majority of My hearers, even some of My especially chosen apostles) ended up with the wrong notion of the Kingdom. Hence, it is important for you in this hour of prayer to clearly and firmly grasp this meaning of Kingdom that I preached!

Remember also that it is not possible to explain the entire and crucial meaning of the Kingdom in just one parable. Each parable actually lays before you only one facet of this Kingdom and so you would need to examine all the various Kingdom parables that I gave if you wish to have a complete and clear picture of God’s Kingdom of love! Thus, this teaching should be seen in proper perspective, over a fairly long period of time.

We begin with the parable of the sower. What seems like a reckless sowing of seed indiscriminately could also be seen as a frantic effort to make the seed of God’s invitation reach every person no matter what the current situation of his heart and mind are! It also speaks of a firm belief in My mind that some day My seed would fall into fruitful and receptive ground and then the results would be really encouraging. In the meantime, I would have to patiently continue sowing and not concentrate on the apparent indifference of people in general. Once even a little seed falls in good soil, the “butterfly effect” has a chance of taking over; this means that the example of one person who responds generously has the inner power to rouse others to a better response and thus there is a ripple effect which soon spreads far and wide.

No sooner does this begin to happen than it would not take much strenuous effort to keep the ball rolling and the cumulative effect will be far greater than the sum total of all that one could predict from the start. It is this vision that kept Me going in My repeated efforts, no matter how poor was the initial response of people. Generally, they do not believe My word [that I truly bring them ‘eternal life’ if only they care to respond generously] until they experience My generosity a few times in a very personal way. Once they get the taste of it then there is nothing to stop them and these words of Mine do come true: ‘I have come to set fire to the earth…’ My biggest difficulty was and is today too, to spark off this kind of patience and faith in the few disciples of Mine who do respond positively when it would be their turn to continue My preaching. There is plenty of goodwill in people, but for Kingdom work, goodwill alone is insufficient – what is needed is a burning fire, a passion to achieve something almost superhuman! Although people can see the good fruit borne in their own lives, yet overcoming the apathy and lethargy of others is often beyond them. And so, I had to (and the same problem endures even up to our present day) keep inspiring and motivating My faithful disciples repeatedly, even as I worked among newcomers too!

You : Lord, now I think I can appreciate all that You say because I have the example of My own life before me. Precisely because it is on another level altogether, I do not respond so generously to the call of the Spirit, but once Your power and the meaning and the reality of Your love descend to the visible level, then all earthly realities pale before this new-found love! Lord, how do I sustain my faith in Your word?

Jesus : Actually, when you come to think of it, there is nothing much you need to do, except shake yourself up and decide to act according to My teaching. The Spirit is ever active in your life and will provide you with all that you need. Remember the other parable I told you about leasing the vineyard to tenants (Mt. 21:33-43). What is remarkable in this parable is that the owner, of his own accord, does all the preparatory work and only then leases the vineyard out to others. Similarly, I first of all do all that is needed for this ministry to succeed by way of presenting opportunities, incentives, motivation and the rest. Further, once you begin to show some sort of interest, I intensify My appeals in various ways, like showing you examples of others who are currently responding and benefitting tremendously from their effort. Only when all this preparatory work has been done for you, do I leave you to yourself, so that you can exercise your initiative and effort over the project and thus feel that you deserve to share the fruits that will follow and also enjoy them more wholeheartedly. So then, your contribution is practically nominal yet necessary, as I have chosen to work in this manner. My consciously chosen policy is to reward you abundantly for the least effort you freely and loving make, but often even that is not forthcoming from My people.

Yet, this does not lead Me to take a negative stance towards you and your work. I would rather try again and again until you begin to realize that you could and should do better. For, once this conviction comes from inside yourself, it will most likely endure and be much more productive than if I were to intervene prematurely, or force your response in any way. Again, in all situations I seek to keep the holistic picture in mind and work for the maximum good of all concerned. So, although this approach may seem to be somewhat slower and more people-oriented, in the long run it is much more productive and fruitful from the viewpoint of the Kingdom of God. When a person works with dedication and out of love, the fruits are much more abundant and long-lasting as well.

Now, as you remain in deep interior silence and stillness, go over the various points I have made in this brief explanation and allow the message of each to sink deep into your consciousness so that it influences your attitudes more than your individual actions. It is these attitudes that are more like the tree/plant which would then produce any number of individual actions (fruits) of that particular kind. When one aims at individual actions being improved, there is no guarantee that the fruit will consistently be good and wholesome. Check to see whether in your life there is consistency of ‘fruit’ and in which areas these are seen the most. Are there other areas in which you would need to step up the production of good fruit? Listen to the Spirit as he points out these areas of concern in your life… he will also show you exactly what he wants done by you and which are the results he expects to see more clearly and abundantly in your life. When you have done this for quite some time, towards the end of your prayer time, turn your mind towards those who are in need and pray earnestly for them. Ensure that this prayer of yours reflects the generosity and love that I usually show towards you…

Conclude your prayer with the usual outburst of praise and thanks for the marvelous manner in which I reveal My love for you. Make your final prayer a brief vocal prayer or hymn.

Jesus : Once again we begin this hour of prayer with a few intense minutes of silence and stillness so that we can remain focused only on one point – what God wishes to convey to you during this dialogue you seek to have with him. These are very precious moments and if lost can never be retrieved. In his goodness God will give you several chances but what is lost, is truly lost forever. So, keep yourself clearly motivated and intently riveted on what God shares with you… After you have stilled your mind and heart, make a quick review of your spiritual efforts of the last week. You had picked up one of My qualities as shown in the parable of the Sower – how did that influence you to also be patient, accepting of the efforts of others, impartial in your giving to all and so on… Is there anything you need to do to improve in your prayer itself, besides the fruits that accrue from your prayer?

Jesus : For today you have another set of parables which reveal to you other aspects of the kingdom. At the start it is worth reminding yourself that the Kingdom we speak of here is nothing more than the deep personal relationship that binds us together with the Father and with one another. But don’t forget that a relationship is something living and personal and as such needs to keep growing, else it withers and dies. In other words, if the relationship is not constantly fed with deep personal exchanges pertaining to oneself, then the intensity of feeling between the two parties will lessen considerably and eventually even become dead and lifeless.

Now we move on to look into the meaning of the parable of the wheat and the darnel. The first level meaning which seems pretty obvious is that the love relationship between God and his human friends is not something that will go unchallenged. The “enemy” is ever watchful to see that the wheat does not grow becoming all that it can and should be. The enemy will work hard to deceive you in that he will make the relationship look as if it is thriving but actually it is more like the fig tree with a lot of leaves but no fruit! This could happen because you are regular for your weekly prayer and even come to it enthusiastically. This could give you the impression that all is well. But you could well be missing the very heart of prayer – which is sincere, candid openness to Me and to all that I ask of you, a readiness to do My will. You will remember that at the start of each hour of prayer I ask you to review the last week’s effort. Now you could do even this in a very cursory manner without really looking into the areas that matter. Do you really focus on the quality of prayer seen through its effects on your practical life during the rest of the week? Or again, are you satisfied when you have been able to find at least little fault, not really seeking to improve your performance in prayer!?

Don’t forget that the ultimate test is: how much selfless and self-giving do you find yourself becoming as one week of prayer follows another? How often do you consciously seek to deny your Self in small matters and big? How frequently do you give way to others allowing them to outsmart you, and even rejoicing that they supersede you in one way or other? How often and with what depth do you ask the Lord each day to grant you one solid humiliation, so that the Self is eliminated steadily, making room for God’s kingdom to pervade your life? Do you avail yourself of every opportunity to keep in vital contact with Me, sharing even the smallest details of your day-to-day life with Me? Remember that if you really value your relationship with Me, you will be ready to pay the full price involved in keeping it going and growing. Or putting it differently, do you invest as much in your relationship with the Father as you do with the other relationships in your life, eg. with your friends, relations, colleagues, neighbours and others you value in your life? Would you be ready to ‘sacrifice’ anything that I ask of you, even what is most precious to you?

You : Lord, perhaps the first thing I need is to realize that our relationship is tremendously precious, and that there are several who would like to see it disappear! Every single challenge I face in life is really an attempt to deal a death-blow to this relationship. It challenges me saying: If you are a child of God, then … just as You were in the desert – ‘If you are the son of God, then turn these stones into bread…!’ Also, that the attacks will naturally be subtle ones, the enemy disguising himself in a thousand different ways… appearing sometimes even in the guise of an angel of light… Lord, all along I have been moving around blithely ignorant of the dangers that surround me. Thank you, Lord, for warning me about these wiles of the enemy!

Jesus : While all this is true and you need to be constantly alert, there is no need to be alarmed, for I am with you always. When I told My servants to allow both the wheat and the weeds to grow together, I meant that I would see to it that no real harm came to the good wheat… that I trust that its inner dynamism and strength is capable of withstanding even the most severe onslaughts of the enemy. But again, for this to happen you would need to remain close to Me always, in every possible manner. The moment you seek to work independently of Me, you will experience difficulties. Remember My comparison of the Vine and the branches – as long as the branch remains organically united to the main stem of the vine, it has nothing to fear. However, things will go far better when you cling to Me not out of fear primarily, but out of love.

Stay in silence now and see how you could allow the Spirit to bring about such a situation where you remain always deeply united with Me. You will have noticed that the Spirit and I come to your rescue usually through other persons around you. Similarly you would need to reach out to others in time of trouble, so that My assistance reaches them through you. Often people tend to shirk offering this kind of help with the excuse that ‘when I myself am not steady how can I help others?’ The point to be kept in mind is that in situations such as these, it is really I who help, but using you as an instrument. But the main part of the remedy comes from Me, so you need not worry that you will be credited with the final effect – unless you yourself take that credit for yourself!

So, spend as much time in deep silence as you can, allowing the Spirit to guide you – but make sure that you review very concrete situations in your life, so that the results of your prayer also will be very down to earth and tangible. After you have spent quite some time in this quiet prayer, turn to intercessions for others, particularly for those in whose lives the ‘wheat’ of their lives is constantly threatened by the enemy! Conclude your prayer with the usual burst of praise and thanks to the Father for all his goodness and a short vocal prayer or hymn.

Jesus : As you do almost always at the start of your prayer, spend the first few moment looking into the distractions that threaten to disrupt your prayer this evening… if you can spot the roots of these distractions it might help you to handle them more effectively. Most likely what your investigations will reveal is simply different facets of the Self seeking your attention or driving you to some particular actions. Pick out the most serious or dangerous aspects of these distractions and dialogue with Me about them for a while… eventually you will have to entrust them into My care with faith that I will handle them in the best possible manner, a way that will contribute to your growth. Remain, therefore, in deep silence and stillness – after some time, do spend a short while reviewing the last week, to see if there is some way in which you can improve your concentration, or sharpen your ability to pick up the real message I give you… and also to put it into effective practice over the week without forgetting it altogether.

Jesus : For this week, you have yet another parable for your reflection and better understanding of what the Kingdom is all about. Recall that My parables usually focus on just one point which is explained in depth; generally you cannot extend the teaching to several points, and if you do then you will have turned the parable into an allegory, which is altogether another kind of teaching device that is used in the Scriptures. Coming to today’s parable – the treasure hidden in the field, the central point here is that the farmer did not set out to search for this treasure… he didn’t even know that it was hidden in this field, in the first place. He suddenly stumbles upon the treasure, almost by accident, and seeing its worth (simple as he was, he knew at least that much), he realized that he had before him a priceless treasure, something that would make his life totally different if only he could acquire it!

But the situation wasn’t as easily handled as all that! Since the field did not belong to him, he could not pick up the treasure and walk off with it as if it automatically became his private property once he had discovered it. He could not acquire the treasure unless he first made the field his own – a daunting task for a poor farmer who most likely was a daily wage earner. Yet, determined as he was to get hold of that treasure, he was prepared to go all out, even attempting the impossible, to gain possession of that treasure. Note that perhaps one of the most difficult things he had to do was to keep quiet about the whole affair. For if the actual owner got wind of the real reason why the poor farmer was suddenly interested in possessing the field, he certainly would not have been ready to sell it, in the first place! Nevertheless, his intense desire to obtain the treasure made it possible for him to overcome all the hurdles one by one. We can well imagine his joy when at last he was able to get everything in order, especially the relevant papers and documents, and then become the proud owner of the field and the treasure hidden in it.

Keeping the goal in mind does make the entire process a lot more meaningful and attainable. Often people are not clear in their minds what exactly their goal in life is. Another difficulty is that they often embrace too many goals, and sometimes these goals aimed at conflict with one another. And so, having obtained one with much hard work, the person is forced to forego the other/s and this leaves a lot of confusion and negative feeling in its wake. Hence, My suggestion to My disciples was: first sit down and calculate whether with the amount of resources one has, one is able to build the house s/he intends – if not, s/he would have to trim down his/her over-ambitious desires and be content with what is available within the means at hand. Nevertheless, the key point here is that every good and precious thing in life costs a fair amount of exertion and effort – and that too, a sustained effort with the goal always in mind.

Remain in silence and see whether that is the way you approach the entire question of working towards obtaining the treasure of heaven. Is the Kingdom the first thing you bring to your mind on waking each morning? How often do you really mean what you say in the Lord’s prayer: ‘your kingdom come’? Do you say this prayer with reference to yourself entering the kingdom, or merely that all the rest of humankind may enter this kingdom? Do listen to the Spirit very attentively as he could have some very important instructions for you… after listening attentively, dialogue with the Spirit about what he would want you to do about this aspect of your life. Is there anything in your life that blocks you from attaining the treasure of the Kingdom?

You : Lord, thank you ever so much for alerting me about the dangers of having too many goals in life, and that too, ambitions one at that! It certainly is far better to have a few, maybe just one, and focus all one’s efforts and energies on achieving it and all the benefits that flow from it. I too have been chasing unrealizable goals all these many years and I know how frustrating that can be… Enable me to have the courage to trim down my ambitions and become more realistic.

Jesus : Another aspect you could reflect on is this: how persevering are you in your efforts to obtain or achieve a goal you have set for yourself. You know from your personal experience perhaps, that the moment you set out to do something good, you will face some obstacle or other. These obstacles are simply a test of your faith both in the Lord and also in yourself, particularly in the strength of your determination to achieve your goals. Think for example, of the four friends who carried the paralytic man on a stretcher and took him to the house where I was teaching (Mk. 2:1-12). There was such a large crowd there, that there was no way in which they could take the man in. Now what should they do? Should they return on another more convenient day and time? Or were they to wait till I finished teaching and started leaving the place? Would it be better to send in a request for Me to come out and attend to their need? Ingenious as they were, they did not choose any of these but hit on an even more outrageous solution – they decided to make a hole in the roof and lower the stretcher through it right in front of where I was standing… The moral of the story is, of course, that they got what they were looking for, because they made the effort it took to get the man to Me, straightaway!

Now is that the way you handle your difficulties? Or do you wait for things to happen or for others to reach out to you and help? Reflect not only on situations involving material goals, but also include your spiritual goals in this reflection… That will give you a fairly good idea of what your attitude is in this regard. Having discovered your deeper attitudes, spend some time in silence and stillness allowing My Spirit to take care of what needs to be corrected in you. Your part then will be to cooperate with the Spirit and sustain the changes that he suggests for your improvement.

If you have some time left, you could spend some time dialoguing with that simple farmer seeking to get right into his mind and heart. Discover the sterling qualities he possessed even though he was a simple labourer. He seems to know pretty well what makes for a happy and successful life here on earth – a certain amount of worldly possessions, but obtained by the sweat of one’s brow. He had to use his native creativity and ingenuity in order to finally possess the treasure but was amply rewarded for it, in the long run. He was also able to remain content with what he had before him. The sight of that treasure did not make him into a greedy person wanting to obtain more than was necessary. He had the inborn wisdom to keep silent about the whole affair realizing that if he did make a big noise about his findings prematurely, he would certainly lose everything. He was aware of the number of ‘enemies’ around who would be quite happy to divest him of whatever he had found!

Remain in this silence for as long as you need to, asking the Spirit to grant you this kind of practical wisdom to do all that is needed for you to achieve your goal of entering into the Kingdom of God. As you near the end of your prayer time, turn your mind and heart to a few intercessions for others, focusing more on the current spiritual needs. Conclude with a few minutes of praise and thanks and a short vocal prayer or hymn.

Jesus : We enter into this period of prayer again with the initial few minutes of quiet time in which you seek to still and steady your mind. Ruthlessly drive out all unwanted thoughts and feelings, so that you can attend to My teaching with undivided attention. You are aware that because of a moment’s distraction, untold harm can come to you, as e.g. when driving a vehicle, or when listening to a business partner speaking over the phone, or when receiving instructions – in such situations distractions can lead to you get the wrong message and spend a large amount of time and energy trying to make good the lapses on your part. Here when at prayer you deal with spiritual messages and these can be much more consequential than ordinary daily events of life… So, attend to this question of quietening your mind and heart seriously. As you gain sufficient control over your mind, turn to the usual review of last week’s prayer time and how you were able to live it out during the entire week.

Jesus : In this Gospel passage we deal with the first feeding story in Matthew’s gospel. He places this immediately after the news of the beheading of John the Baptist is conveyed to Me. It seems as if I needed to be alone to cope better with this sad news; but there were other reasons as well. I now had to realize that the preparatory work of John had ended: he had done his best and had moved on. Now, I would need to take over and complete My share of Kingdom work. And so I began at the most crucial and central aspect – telling the people who I really was, the Son of God. For just as God fed his Chosen People with manna in the desert when they journeyed towards the Promised Land, so here I too would feed them with bread in a deserted place. You will have noticed that after the crowds came flocking together in that deserted place, I set about healing their sick. This is a work that keeps people engrossed, as it concerns needs that are truly pressing and important. So, before anyone realized how far the day had been spent, we found ourselves approaching supper time, and it would take the people quite some time to get back home. This presented a perfect setting for Me to feed them right there in the desert.

However, I also wanted this to be a learning situation for My disciples. And so I brought them into the picture by asking them to provide something for the people to eat. They themselves had come up with the suggestion that I send the people away in good time. They were keen on escaping the responsibility of undertaking something that seemed impossible, for they were aware that they did not have the wherewithal to provide for so many in that God-forsaken place! But I wanted them to realize that feeding the people (with one’s own Self, and meagre resources) is the very core of Christian apostolate. The Christian disciple is not one who has plenty and so can afford to share generously and lavishly with others in need. Rather, he is one who himself does not have much, perhaps not even the bare necessities, but whose heart reaches out to the needy with compassion and he is impelled to do something about it, the best that he can. That is when the Father steps in and provides all (and much more) that he needs to redeem the situation.

Remain in silence to see when it was that you too experienced something similar. This could happen not just in terms of food to eat, but also in terms of time and so many other things that form part of your life… Just when you are hard-pressed for time, someone will come to ask for help urgently. So then, you experience a tussle between your own needs and the needs of the other. This is when you are challenged to truly break of yourself and share what little you have with the other. Now, it is important to see that not everyone would be generous in a situation like this. But when, trusting in the Father who is aware of the predicament in which you are, you open your heart to generously reach out to the other, he steps in and comes to your rescue. All you need to do is to place the entire difficult situation in his hands, and step aside, allowing him to take over and do the needful. Of course, you cannot be doing absolutely nothing yourself, waiting for the Lord to do everything for you – you would need to keep your eyes fixed on him, watching for every clue that he gives you. That is your part of the activity involved, and if you can do it faithfully, all will end well for you. Recall such instances that have taken place in your life and if you have not responded satisfactorily, visualize with the help of the Spirit how you would handle such situations in the future.

If you have time to spare, then you could go further. Dialogue with My disciples, asking them what each learnt from this situation, and how they would practice their learning in their own lives, especially when on their own without Me visibly around! Note what each one says to you, because although all twelve were present, each would have seen the situation through his own particular perspective… But there is one important lesson you will learn with regard to apostolate. No fruitful apostolate is ever done by one who is basically self-centred. So you could reflect on what efforts you could make during your training (each day of your life is a part of this spiritual training that I give you, no matter which stage you have reached) to grow in this aspect of selflessness. The more you can efface yourself and that too effortlessly the better will be your ministry.

Remain in silence and allow the Spirit to speak to your heart, pointing out areas which might still be needing attention in our life and especially in your relationships. Dialogue with him - seeking to pick up better examples from your own past and look at each one carefully. After you have covered sufficient ground to last you the whole week of spiritual effort, turn your mind to intercessions for others. End with a burst of praise and thanks and the usual short hymn or vocal prayer.

Jesus : As is customary for this prayer, begin with a few minutes of intense silence and stillness which you consciously foster in yourself. Link this with your breathing patterns, deliberately slowing down the process. Try to retain your breath for some time before exhaling, and then too exhale as slowly and evenly as you can. Once your mind is free of all major distractions, you could turn to a brief review of the last week’s prayer and effort to live out what you had prayed about … Pick out a point or two for improvement in the coming week.

Jesus : In today’s Gospel reading we have the sequel to the feeding story through which I sought to allow My disciples to catch a glimpse of who I really am! But as happened on other occasions too, they were rather slow in picking up the main point. And so there was need of another event, presenting the same truth but from another angle – something that would really shake them up into a deep realization of My true identity. I sent them on ahead to the other side of the lake while I spent the night in prayer and reflection. At dawn before it was really bright, I came to them walking on the tumultuous waters. I could see that they were struggling to keep afloat because of the gusty winds (as often happens on the Sea of Galilee) and now they had to contend with this ‘ghost-like’ figure approaching them. Since their minds were preoccupied with just caring for their survival, I could not really expect them to recognize Me immediately, but it was worth a try.

What I would have liked to check was more the fact of them remembering that I was around, that I would not just leave them to fend for themselves, especially in a difficult situation like a storm. They belonged to Me as My especially chosen ones, and so it was My responsibility to look after their safety – and I would see to it that somehow they remained safe from the attacks of the Evil One. For the turbulent waters of the Sea of Galilee have always been taken to be a symbol of the forces of Evil seeking to engulf the good in the neighbourhood. In My case, the stormy sea sought to drown Me but like a cork in the water, I surfaced again as the victor in this encounter. Although the disciples would not have understood the full implications of My walking on the waters, yet they certainly did catch something of the message taking their minds beyond what they could see. The combined message of the two events, as juxtaposed by St. Matthew is: I am the Messiah who had to undergo the entire Paschal Mystery, the dying part symbolized by the breaking of the bread and then giving Myself to be eaten, and now the triumph over Evil expressing symbolically My Resurrection from the dead! Some of My disciples might have caught at least a vague idea of this combination, for Matthew reports that they ‘fell down and worshipped Me.’

The point you could take for your reflection here is that you too will be called upon to discover My inner nature through the events that form the warp and woof of your day-to-day life. Through every event, the Father speaks to you, revealing his inner nature to you. The key point is that you should be quick enough to pick up the point and learn from it. Had the disciples understood the pattern of the Paschal Mystery (for I had mentioned it several times to them already before the feeding event) they might have anticipated that something like the resurrection could be expected after the feeding event. The sign that they had anticipated this would have been the fact that they did not get frightened at the sight of My approaching them riding on the waves! But this is not what happened; Peter seemed to be the only one who was somewhat ahead of the others, for he requested that he too be given a share in this victory – but subsequent events showed that his grasp of the truth wasn’t deep enough. He needed still more strengthening to be able to face the real challenges of life.

Move into deep silence and review a few instances in which you faced unforeseen and serious difficulties – how did you react in these circumstances? Were you able to recall the pattern of ‘dying-rising’ which is bound to appear in your life as well!?! Remember too that how you handle such situations will be instructive to those around you – they will learn from you how to make the best of such situations. As you review these few instances, listen deeply to the Spirit as he points out to you where you need to improve somewhat… visualize other situations in your life similar to these and foresee how you would act in a new and different way this time and in the future. Place all your reflections, hopes and desires in My hands and you can look forward to experiencing something similar in the new future that I have worked out for you. Do spend as much time as you can reviewing and visualizing such situations, as this is how you prepare yourself to face them from now on. When the difficulty arises, you will not have the time for prolonged reflection, and so you would need to ‘programme’ yourself to give the right kind of response without even blinking an eyelid.

If you have time left, you could ‘interview’ each of My disciples who were present in the boat and learn from them more about Me from their reactions to the event Matthew describes in today’s Gospel. Pay special attention to the process by which each of them learnt this lesson for life. Get them to share also something of how they practiced this pattern and truth of the Paschal Mystery in their lives as they went about spreading the Good News. This part too will be very instructive for you. After all, the Paschal Mystery is the central mystery of life – it shows the way we are all called to live life creatively by:

- letting-go in faith,
- letting-be in hope and finally
- in letting-grow in love.

Once a person has interiorized the pattern of this mystery, life will have no more puzzles and surprises for him. This of course, does not mean that you will have no difficulties and painful situations, but you will have also the resources to face them creatively and come out a victor.

So, once again move into silence and stillness seeking to appreciate these deep truths… place all your reflections and petitions into My loving hands and listen deeply to the Spirit as he guides you in very practical and concrete terms. Towards the end of your prayer time, turn to petitions for others, especially for those who find life full of surprises and who take a long time to decipher what the Spirit says to them. Conclude with the burst of praise and thanks and end with the brief hymn or vocal prayer.

Jesus : Today too we begin by spending the first few minutes in attempting to quieten the mind and heart. The Self in each person is so pervasive and insistent that it enters into all your human activity and has the power to monopolize everything that happens in your lives. Normally, you can run your life without too much disruption stemming from the Self, but during prayer it is of paramount importance to have a distraction-free atmosphere so as to be able to listen to God’s message in all clarity. The problem with distractions is that they not only prevent one from listening carefully, but also distort the message quite a bit. So, one could hear one’s own thinking and preferences, while imagining all the while that it is the Lord speaking. Hence, it is important to spend a few minutes of intense effort to quieten the mind so as to be able to establish a good and fruitful contact with the Father … After you are sufficiently quiet and settled in mind and heart, start the review of the previous week’s prayer and spiritual effort: has it been beneficial and is there some concrete progress made in spiritual growth? Dialogue with me over this for a while and then we shall move in to the topic of this week.

Jesus : In today’s Gospel passage you have a powerful example of faith coming from an ‘outsider’ which goes to show that faith is not the privilege only of the baptized, though they are the ones whose faith should be outstanding. Faith is rather a gift that the Father gives to anyone who is prepared to accept and use it fruitfully. Faith usually includes an acceptance that one cannot do everything by one’s own power; besides one cannot understand the reason behind everything that happens in one’s life – life does hold quite a number of ‘mysteries’ and so faith becomes one of the key features of Christian living.

The gospel shows you the Canaanite woman requesting the cure of her daughter. This brings up a very important situation. It reminds you first of all that the Father wants all people to be ‘saved’ which means that he wishes the fullness of life for every one of his creatures. The Jews (and possibly their neighbours, too, at that time) believed that sickness originated from some kind of sinful rebellion, a rejection of God’s order established in the world. In other words, the sinner goes through life always ‘against the grain,’ he always seeks to swim against the current – which can be a very stressful thing to attempt, besides being dangerous in the sense that the person could be swept away by the force of the current against him. So, basically God would want to help anyone who wishes to reverse such a situation and has the humility to admit that only God can bring this about – for no one can do that on his own.

However, such a request coming from an ‘outsider’ would need to be tested for its genuineness. Does she ask only because of hearsay, because someone else has told her about it? If so, then even if the gift were granted, it would not work for long, because the person does not have the supporting infra-structure. So, in a situation like this, the person’s faith has to be doubly strong. You will remember that even among My followers, they always shared in the faith of the Christian community. When receiving Baptism, the very first part of the Sacrament is the questioning regarding faith: ‘What do you seek from the Church of God?’ And the person responds, ‘Faith.’ And to indicate that it is the faith of the community that is being shared, both the priest celebrant and the few Christians, parents, god-parents and others who are present, make the sign of the cross on the child’s forehead.

You : Lord, I have witnessed the baptismal ceremonies several times but never as yet attended to this aspect. I always imagined this was just a part of the procedure. Now I understand better its significance and also marvel at the way You worked things out with this woman. I imagined that You were pretty tough in Your dealings with her. I even resolved at times not to behave in that harsh way when dealing with outsiders. Lord, You are so marvelous and always seek what is for our good. Deepen my own faith in Your goodness and love for all people and help me never to question whatever You do for us!

Jesus : Yes, now you understand why it was important for Me to act as if I was not interested in her turning to God for a cure for her daughter! If she could survive this test, then she would be able to brave most other difficulties which would surely follow in her life of commitment to the Father. We shall now turn to the woman’s response: notice how quick she was to fall in line with the simile I gave about giving the bread of children to the dogs. All she asked was the crumbs that in any case would go to waste; she assured Me that the children would not be deprived of their lawful share. She also seemed to indicate her belief that the Father was powerful and resourceful enough to provide for every one of his creatures. In fact, with him the more we receive from him the more he has to give… and he assures us that the same will happen to us too when we learn to share in his generosity.

However, leaving all that aside, what touched Me most is her selflessness – she was not in any way trying to thrust her needs before those of others. She was prepared to wait for her turn and take whatever was given to her. With this kind of humility and trust, is there anything that can be denied to such a person? She was truly ‘a person after God’s own heart!’ and so, even though externally an ‘outsider; yet she had all the qualifications of a true ‘insider’, more perhaps even than the average Christian who is born into the faith. What you could take for your reflection then is: how do you work to deepen your faith to this level of selflessness and genuine concern for others – even when and especially when your need is great and urgent! As a born Christian you would possibly need to realize first of all how tremendously gifted and privileged you are – qualities which others not of the faith do not have and cannot take for granted. Isn’t it true that a person realizes the value of his blessings only after losing them? Or after dealing with others who don’t possess them and seeing life from inside their skin, as it were!

Stay in silence for a while now, and try to appreciate this truth in as deep a manner as possible. It will serve as the foundation of your relationship with the Father in covenant. It will also make you more energetic in seeking to deepen and develop these foundational gifts like faith and love. Actually, even here, there isn’t really much that you need to do – the Father himself will provide you with ample opportunities to grow, as long as you avail yourself of all of them. In silence try and pick out some of the opportunities you get each day, especially in the form of set-backs, negative thoughts that crowd your mind, little experiences which are humiliating, disturbing, examples of rejection or whatever. All these are part of the training that the Father offers you so that your faith keeps growing and remains alive. Otherwise, it tends to fade away and might even be seriously lacking when most needed – as when there is a sudden crisis like death in the family and so on. Allow the Spirit to suggest to you the situations that are most likely to become part of your life this week so that you are prepared for them in a very real way.

If you have the time, you could take up another aspect. Dialogue now with the Canaanite woman as she recounts the whole event to the daughter who has been cured! After all, the daughter had not witnessed all that happened as her mother dialogued with Jesus. Listen carefully to how she presents My part in the event and how she educates her daughter too in the matter of faith! As you listen to her, you would probably also gauge that this kind of thinking is the gift that is typical of a woman – her intuitive understanding of which are the key elements in a given complex and intricate situation. Against this background, revert to the silence mode again and thank God for the marvelous ways in which he has distributed his gifts to both men and women as part of their very nature… what a wonderful combination would we not have if all placed their talents at the service of one another.

Ask the Spirit also, to deepen your own ‘fund’ of faith and to give you opportunities to deepen the faith of the others around you. After placing all your needs before the Father, remain in absolute stillness and silence for as long as you can and as you conclude your prayer for today, end with a burst of praise and thanks and finally a short hymn or vocal prayer.

Jesus : We begin again with the first few minutes being spent in quietening the mind and heart from all extraneous thoughts and feelings. Use the help of a slowed down breathing pattern and that would possibly help you a lot to keep those distractions at bay. Work at this with all your might, but ensure that you are quiet and still like a little child fast asleep in its mother’s arms. When you are ready, review the last week’s prayer and living so that you can have a point or two to improve upon. It would help to remember from time to time, that this initial period of your prayer time is actually prayer in that it is like the warming-up exercise that one needs to do before the real period of strenuous exercise begins. Much of the effect of the real exercise depends on the seriousness of the warming-up period… Hence it is worth giving one’s full attention to doing this part properly.

Jesus : It would have been about halfway through My earthly ministry that this event would have occurred. This means that I would have spent the preceding year and a half teaching the disciples both by word and example who I really was – the Son of God, sent by the Father to invite all people into the Kingdom. But this was such a revolutionary idea, or at least totally out of sync with what most people of the time would have imagined, that I was not sure My disciples would have caught the point, and that too firmly and unshakably. And so I asked them point blank – ‘Who do people say I am’?, and seeing that their answers were rather stereotyped, I narrowed it down further to, - ‘Who do YOU say that I am’? As usual, Peter was the first to answer, and his attempt wasn’t bad at all.

Yet, I could see that it was not the way I would have liked it to be. Moved by the Spirit Peter did give the right answer, but deep down in his heart, did he really believe all that he said? And would it be sufficient for him to enable him to face the challenge when the crucial time came? Subsequent events would show that Peter had plenty of good-will but the conviction and strength needed weren’t there to a sufficient degree. Anyway, surmising that all the disciples had enough strength to accept the deeper implications of My being the Son of God, I next spoke to them about the necessity of dying and rising – but it was soon clear that the apostles were totally out of their depth. Peter again was the first to remonstrate. I went on to teach them on three different occasions, yet the full and clear implications had not got into their heads! Having seen the power of God at work in My actions and teaching, they could not but feel that it would be impossible for all the negative things that I spoke of to take place and that too with regard to Myself. They were accustomed to mild reactions from the Pharisees and Scribes but that they would take their animosity to the point of putting Me to death could not enter their consciousness!

It is only after all that I had foretold came to pass that they gradually reconciled with the fact that God’s plan was indeed one which included suffering and dying as part of the process and a central part at that. By the time they grasped the meaning of the Resurrection, they were able to see that some form of suffering and death would also be part of their lives as My disciples, but the Resurrection would have given them the courage to accept it all – believing that the Father would not let them see destruction, but would raise them up together with Me.

As you remain in silence, you could begin with a little soul-searching: how much do you seek to grow in real knowledge of Me in your prayer (not the one you make once a week, but your daily sessions of prayer?). I ask you to reflect on this because it is in prayer, primarily, that one learns who I really am – not just the words and expressions like ‘Son of God’ and so on, but the reality behind it. Further, it is worth recalling that this inner reality is something which only the Holy Spirit can enlighten you about – you will never be able to attain this inner and deeper knowledge of Me by your own powers, no matter how sharp and clever you may be! So, in silence after having done that review, place all your findings before the Spirit and allow him to lead you to this deeper knowledge and experience of who I really am!

After spending a considerable amount of time on these reflections and listening to the Spirit, you may move to intercessions for those who are in need, especially the people around you. Recall some of your acquaintances who have only a superficial knowledge of Me and earnestly plead with the Spirit to enlighten them more and more that they too may come to taste the riches of God’s love and mercy. Conclude your prayer with the usual outburst of praise and thanks and the brief vocal prayer or hymn at the very end.

Jesus : We enter into this prayer again with the few minutes of purposeful and intense silence and stillness in which your main objective is to reduce the distractions plaguing you as much as you possibly can. The more inner silence you have the better will be your prayer. You need to be totally receptive to catch the real message that I give you. Never forget that My ways are not your ways and that as far as the East is from the West so different are your thoughts from My thoughts. And so, you need to be fully open and receptive if you are going to profit from this hour of prayer. Once you have become sufficiently quiet and alert, enter into the review of the past week’s prayer and also reflect on the way you lived out the message you received. Talk out your present difficulties with Me, and we shall see if we can work out a better way of handling these difficulties.

Jesus : In the Gospel passage marked out for this week, we have the reaction of Peter (and presumably of the other apostles too). No sooner did I inform the apostles of the cruel fate that awaited Me as the chosen Messiah than Peter began to remonstrate with Me. In him one sees the instinctive resistance of almost all people to any form of suffering in their lives. And this is true of most people everywhere – they seem to be allergic to suffering and shy away from it in every way possible. In fact, it is amazing what a vast business thrives precisely on this principle – of making life as problem-free and suffering-free as possible! Every new gadget in the market promises to make our lives a little more comfortable, or better, a little less troublesome. But no matter how much we try to dodge the cross, it keeps dogging our steps in one form or another.

That is My message particularly to My disciples and in fact, to all people – that one need not be afraid of the Cross, because rather than diminish life in people who accept it joyously, it actually increases it. Suffering is like pruning with regard to fruit trees. Regular pruning is done precisely in order that the tree may produce better and more abundant fruit; as a matter of fact, what is removed or excised is what is actually harmful to the growth of the tree. But undoubtedly the process of pruning is painful at the time it is done, but the beneficial results are soon clear for all to see. However, there is another point that one must also keep in mind – the more we resist the cross, the more burdensome it tends to become. This of course, is partly psychological, but real nonetheless! All this does not mean, obviously that you have to become a sadist or a masochist, punishing yourself for the sake of punishing, enjoying suffering in itself. There is no great virtue in embracing suffering for its own sake; rather it can tend to make you very negative and pessimistic in your approach to life. And the further unpleasant result could be that once people around you come to know that you are generally negative, they will shun your company and you would end up becoming a loner, for no useful reason at all.

As you remain in silence, reflect on your present attitude towards the sufferings and crosses that come your way. I refer to those that come to you, even without your asking, thrust on you, as it were – they are really God-sent, in that sense! And when your crosses are God-sent, remember that they are tailor-made, just suited to your present capacity, temperament, likes and dislikes and the rest. So you cannot in any way complain that it is too heavy for you. It would help immensely if when a cross comes your way, you reflect that this is going to benefit someone or other around you, or will make your apostolate all that much more effective and powerful. Like the apostles who rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the Name, (Acts 5:41), you too could rejoice when the cross is placed on your shoulders. They key always seems to be to shift the attention from yourself to the other and then you begin to see the whole scenario from a different perspective.

If you find that your present approach is different from the one suggested above, just place your erroneous approach in the hands of the Spirit and ask him earnestly to guide you to the right path. Recall the words I spoke to My disciples: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it” (Jn. 14:13-14). Anyone who sincerely wishes to get back to the right path can expect a total cooperation on the part of the Father – in fact he waits for you to change your attitude and return to his way, because only then will his design for your good be fulfilled. As long as you hang on to your own ways, you will have extra and unnecessary burdens to bear. My way is always the best for you, and besides it is by design suited to your strength and capacity.

Listen carefully to the Spirit and in response you could praise the Father for his wisdom and love, or even thank him for his tremendous love for you, for freeing you from the fear of the Cross, and for providing you with ample opportunities to share in the work of Redemption which I began and invited you to share with Me. As you come to the close of your prayer, turn your mind and heart to intercessions for persons whom you know and could see how they dodge the crosses that come their way… pray that they may have a new vision of the whole process and be generous and fearless when dealing with the Father, because of his infinite love for every single one of his beloved. End with a burst of praise and thanks, summing up your day’s prayer and finally take the short hymn or ejaculatory prayer.

Jesus : We once again begin this prayer with the initial few minutes of deep interior silence and stillness which you consciously seek to nurture in yourself, because this is what will help you to make your prayer effectively and fruitfully. You might help “fix” your mind so that it does not wander, by keeping a picture from the Gospel before your mind’s eye. E.g. you could picture Me seated in a boat teaching the crowds, with yourself being one of the crowd… focus on the words of this week’s Gospel: where two or three of you are gathered in my name… see yourself as one with two or three others, agreeing about what you are going to ask of Me … After some time move into the review of the past week and explain to Me what you see (the good and the not-so-good) in your past week’s prayer … so also with regard to the doings of this week in accordance with the prayer you made in the last session. This will enable you to pick out areas that need attention, starting with this session, and also in all the other prayer that you will make.

Jesus : This passage of the Gospel concerns life in the Christian community. Evidently from time to time, there will be aberrations coming from one member or another, because no one is perfect. Here it is not a question of a person not subscribing to the basic demands of the Gospel… we deal here with one who is a devout Christian, but who because of his/her natural weakness fails from time to time. When you see such a person slip up on some occasions, what are you supposed to do? By lovingly bringing the failing to his/her attention what you do is to encourage and help the person to go closer to the Father; you become an instrument in My hands helping Me to invite the person closer to the goal s/he him/herself has set, but perhaps could not achieve.

But it could happen that the person, for some reason of other, resists your suggestions, and you honestly feel that the matter is serious or could have serious consequences, in this case you could search out someone else who has also noticed the failing and is concerned about it and then the two of you could approach the person concerned again… and so on. But if even this does not seem to produce any beneficial results, then you could hand the matter over to the elders of the Church and leave it to them to work things out… maybe the entire process will reveal that the person who seemed to be a dedicated follower, was/is not really so, and hence something more loving and radical is called for.

The point behind all these instructions for us in a Christian community is that the community is basically concerned about the growth of every single member and that My Spirit of love is present and active in them all. When the community habitually acts out of love, and the motives of each are clear to all, there should be no difficulty in carrying out such fraternal correction. However, if difficulties do arise, then it would be helpful if both parties (corrector and corrected) do take some time to examine their motives and approaches. Maybe there would be something to learn in these areas. Where each member is genuinely at work seeking to follow Me in all things, the Spirit of love can do marvels among them, and the power of My love will be seen very clearly, so that anyone could truly say: Jesus himself is present in and acts through this particular group.

Remain in silence now and see whether this is true of your community. Don’t forget that in every community you do get members who are at different levels in their personal commitment to Me. You are called to work primarily among those who sincerely wish to follow Me; if someone is not really interested, then you can leave him alone, not condemning the person or ostracizing him/her, but giving him/her the space s/he needs to grow – at his/her own pace. In your mind’s eye, visualize yourself being able to allow the person such space, out of love, so that again it is love that brings about a cure or healing. What you might learn from this experience that the challenge placed before you is that you do love this person in an extraordinary way, and with a limitless and selfless love (the kind of love which the Holy Spirit pours out into your heart when you are genuinely open to his work in you!)

If you have time, dialogue personally with someone who seems to resist you, seeking to find out the real reason why the person acts stubbornly! Could it be that the person sees/hears condemnation in your approach? You possibly may not mean that and are not even conscious of it, but that is what s/he seems to hear… If this is so, you would need to work out how you can overcome this difficulty… Ask of the Spirit to show you ways and means of being more clearly loving and selfless in your approach to the other. Especially if the fault is not really yours, meaning that you are sincere about your love for the other, you would need this help of the Spirit to make of yourself a more transparent instrument of his love… and this is something only he can do for you effectively – though it may take more than one session of prayer for this to happen.

When ready, move on to visualize yourself extending such love to at least three different persons through the power of God’s Spirit. You will possibly notice that you yourself become much more calm and peaceful in the bargain… if you do notice this, then you have another little sign of confirmation that you are on the right track and so lend yourself even more generously to the power of the Spirit. Remain in this silence for as long as you need to, and when it is time to conclude your prayer, turn your mind and heart to some intercessions – this week pray particularly for people who seem to resist the work of the Spirit… Finally end with a burst of praise and thanks for all the gifts the Lord has showered on you and let your prayer end with a short hymn or vocal prayer.

Jesus : Once again we begin this session of prayer with the few minutes of silence in which you work hard to still your mind and heart. One easy way to do this is to rivet your mind on one concrete text or picture without analyzing it too minutely… it is enough that your mind doesn’t wander to the things that bother you and grab the whole of your attention. Once you see that things are under control, turn your mind to the review of the past week and your spiritual effort that followed from it… you will certainly pick up a point or two that could have been done in a better and more fruitful way – stay with that for a while and work out a couple of useful conclusions for the betterment of your prayer in the future… also pay attention to the way you put into practice what you learnt in prayer. After all, you make this prayer mainly to obtain a change of life more than to have nice comfortable feelings. After you have worked out a useful point or two, you could move into the real prayer of the day.

Jesus : While today’s Gospel passage is a continuation of last Sunday’s it introduces a slightly different point, viz. how often does one forgive – which brings out a deeper aspect of what forgiveness is all about. Notice first of all that it is Peter who brings up this question – he is always the first to make a start! This no doubt shows his natural enthusiasm and childlike spirit which picks up immediately whatever point I make in My teaching. Possibly it also brings out the fact that Peter understood that I had come to bring things to their fulfillment and so he wanted to know how this would apply to the question of forgiveness. Peter, of course, put a hypothetical question, because it is not too often that one finds a person repeating the same fault even as many as seven times. Nevertheless, the point in question is precisely how does one handle such a situation, if and when it did occur?

In this kind of a case, does the offended person presume that the offender doesn’t mean the sorrow he expresses?... That he doesn’t really want to change his ways, or so it seems?! How does one react to that kind of a person? First of all, I have said several times, that the only thing that will change even a hardened sinner is love – but that love must be an unconditional love if it is to produce any beneficial effects in the other. It is only a limitless and selfless love that genuinely touches the hearts of people in a way that disposes them to look at their own faults and acknowledge them, even being ready to do something about them. Otherwise, the general tendency seems to be that the offender focuses more on the failings of the offended and then somehow justifies his own actions, right or wrong. What forces the offender to make the switch from self to others, is precisely the element of love directed towards him and which he cannot miss noticing that is comes from the offended, of all people!

Further, what would possibly help the offended to adopt this new stance is to realize that as a person he is secure in the Father’s love and so even if the offender has deliberately set out to offend or rubbish him, he cannot really hurt him unless and until he gives the offender the permission to do so. Hence, whenever the offender does hurt him (even several times in succession), the offended does not allow himself to see himself as a victim – he rather focuses on the protective love of the Father – which then leaves him free to go about his own work, without concentrating on how many times the other has hurt him in exactly the same manner! Again, from this vantage point, he is then able to take a more positive stance towards the offender, feeling genuine compassion for him rather than giving in to the feeling of hurt or rejection which would naturally arise when the offended focuses on the hurt. So, where there is no hurt there is no desire or necessity to seek redress either!

There is also the other aspect that could be kept in mind. When the offended genuinely forgives, from the vantage point of God’s constant and infinite love for each person, what happens is that the fault of the offender returns to zero – its very being is destroyed and it no more exists, not even in the mind of the offended. A sufi saint explain the process in this way. Imagine that each person has two sets of pigeon-holed stands on opposite walls of his verandah. One stand houses a set of black pigeons while the other is full of white ones. Each pigeon fits snugly into its appropriate hole. When this person offends someone else, what he does is to send a black pigeon to the offended and it arrives at the place of the intended ‘offended’ party. Now, if the offended responds negatively, what he does is to also send out a black pigeon to his opponent. Seeing the pigeon-hole empty in the stand of the offended, the offender’s black pigeon takes up that empty place, infecting the entire lot of pigeons with its negativity. But suppose the offended does not react in any way but just ignores the intruder pigeon, the offender’s pigeon keeps circling the stand, but seeing that it has no empty or vacant hole to nest in, it returns to its owner’s home and infects his own set of pigeons… a similar process takes place with white pigeons that are sent out by a person – these deposit their treasure of blessings either in the offender’s set-up or bring it back to its original home thus increasing his master’s store of goodness. This is perhaps a good way of understanding the way our actions affect both ourselves and others.

Do you notice how free the offended person is internally when s/he does not react to the intended evil, so that s/he does not see him/herself as caught up in this ‘game’ – s/he can go about his/her work undisturbed. Now it is this approach itself that will perhaps ‘prick’ the offender in the long run, seeing that no matter how many times he offends the other, whether with regard to the same point, or a different point each time, there is appreciable reaction coming forth from the person.

Remain in silence reflecting on these insights and see whether this approach makes any sense to you, so that you don’t need to worry about how many times someone else offends you. You get offended only when you accept to be offended by the other… ask of the Spirit the inbuilt ability to handle ‘offences’ in the manner described here, but which is basically a scriptural approach. “For I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you” (Mt 5:39-42). Try and visualize how you would behave towards the offender, practicing this teaching of mine sincerely from the heart. Picture some very concrete situations determining how exactly you would handle them when they do occur in your life… Also ask the Spirit to give you occasions to practice this truth, but not just ordinary situations, rather ask for tough ones that will bring out the very best in you and in others as well …

After you have poured your heart out in prayer and listened attentively to the Spirit, place all your good desires and decisions in My loving hands and turn to intercessions for others, especially for those who have offended you. Here again, recall My words, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:43-48).

End your prayer with a burst of praise and thanks and finally with a short hymn or prayer.

Jesus : Once more we begin this hour of prayer with the few minutes consciously set apart to quieten your mind and heart. As you begin this prayer, pick out first the point that seems to disturb you the most. Try to figure out why it is that this point disturbs you so much – why is it so important to you that it keeps entering into your prayer time as well? What would happen if you ignored this point altogether, consciously keeping it outside the range of your thinking? You probably would come to the conclusion that it would not make all that much difference in your life or even affect your personally chosen ideals. So then, could you not drop it for just one hour while you spend that time in prayer? This line of thinking would also help in eliminating the most disturbing thoughts and feelings because somehow it involves some personal thought and choice… once this is taken care of, turn you mind to a serious evaluation of last week’s prayer and spiritual effort, particularly about how you could improve your performance and its results…

Jesus : For today’s Gospel reading you have yet another parable, though a pretty complicated kind of parable. But if you focus on the main point of a parable, which ideally is only one, then you will begin to see the point being made. There is first of all the concern of the Master, not just for his vineyard that his plans for it should be fulfilled. He is also concerned about the fact that labourers, especially those who depend on their daily wages for their livelihood, should get enough to care for their families. From the story, he seems to be a sufficiently wealthy landowner with vast properties, enough to keep several groups of workers active all through the day.

But there is one point that might easily escape your attention and it is this: when the Master goes out early in the morning and at the remaining three times, he makes a clear contract with the labourers assuring them that he would pay them a just and fair wage for their labours. When it comes to the last set, the ones he calls at five o’clock in the evening, he merely asks them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard’ (Mt 20:6-7). He sees here a group that is totally at the mercy of the hirer for so far no one really needed their help. That little detail (of the Master omitting the contractual part) gives us the clue to the kind of ‘heart’ that the Father has towards his children, especially the unfortunate or helpless ones. He is compassionate and reaches out to them giving them such a lot, far beyond their expectations, but at the same time making them feel that they have really done him a favour by working, while all the time, it is he who does them a favour by hiring them when nobody else cared to! Isn’t that precisely the way the Father deals with you? After all, what is the value of all the help that you might give him in establishing the Kingdom? More often than not, your interventions only succeed in disturbing his plans, rather than help fulfill them – he has to do most of the real work! Yet, how often do you not take ‘all’ the credit for the success? Besides, can you imagine what would be the further response of this set of workers? Would they rather prefer to belong permanently to the household of such a generous Master?

Had you noticed this little detail you possibly would not have been surprised to find that when paying the workers for their day’s work, the Master began with the last group – you can almost feel that there is something strange going to happen here – and right enough it does. The last-comers get the whole day’s wages, exactly the same as those who did work the entire day in the heat of the sun! Rather than speak of injustice, it reveals the Father’s genuine compassion for his helpless children; further, when God gives, he gives generously but with a certain ‘madness’ behind it. While he could have been also generous with those who worked the whole day, he somehow ‘resists the proud’ – the ones who imagine that they are special in their own right. His heart is drawn rather to the humble ones who acknowledge their own inadequacy and entrust their whole lives into his hands…

Remain in silence and spend some time marveling at this mystery of God’s love – how mysterious are your ways, O God, how marvelous are your designs. You would need to remain in deep silence to be able to appreciate this specialty of God’s love… ask the Spirit to enlighten your mind and touch your heart so that you can appreciate this quality of the Father and never forget it all your life. Stare at it long and hard, till it is almost engraved on your heart. Try and recall other instances where you discern the same surprising quality of God’s love. After you have spent a fair amount of time in this ‘gazing’ into the heart of God, turn your mind to Intercessory prayer for others, especially for those who are satisfied with being merely hired labourers, trusting in their own skills and powers. Conclude your prayer with a burst of praise and praise and end it with the customary ejaculation or hymn.

Jesus : Once more we begin our prayer session this evening with the usual time and effort spent in relaxing and getting oneself into a prayerful mood. This time is much too precious to waste in needless and useless distractions, and so give it of your best. Visualize yourself sitting beside blind Bartimaeus by the roadside and observe him respond to the message that, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by!” Bartimaeus sees this as the chance of a life-time and shouts at the top of his voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me, a sinner!” If you too realized the immense value of this hour of prayer, you also perhaps would have shown a similar enthusiasm in meeting Me. When you have quietened yourself down considerably, turn your mind to a brief review of the past week, both the prayer you made and also the way you lived out its key message. The idea is to ensure that this week’s prayer is done at least a little better and lived out too with more enthusiasm than in the previous week.

Jesus : We have yet one more parable explaining the nature of the Kingdom of God. Recall what we had said earlier that each parable gives us just one facet or aspect of the Kingdom. So at some time, you would need to put all the various bits and pieces together, only then would you get a more or less complete picture of what it is that the Father offers you when he invites you into Covenant with himself. Remember also that merely knowing all these facets is not enough, you would need to experience the truth of the key message given, viz. the unfathomable love of the Father – and then allow that love to re-shape you into his own image and likeness.

Today’s parable tells you first of all that what the Father looks for is effective obedience, not just words or lip-service. The first of the two sons immediately responded negatively to the father’s request that he go and work in the vineyard that day – but eventually, after quite some time, he did go because he realized his fault and changed his mind. The other one accepted joyously at first, but then he was caught up with his own agenda and eventually did not go. The one who repented might have done less work because of the time wasted by his refusal, but possibly he would have put in extra effort to catch up… most likely he would have finished the allotted task with quite some time to spare too. The reason for saying this is that once a person agrees to work with God and the two work together, things go much faster than expected. The key point seems to be that one needs to consent to be an instrument in the Father’s hands, allowing him to do all that he wants with our limited resources placed totally at his disposal.

The other aspect that needs to be attended to is that working in the Kingdom is not a chore or harsh duty, but a privilege and so it calls for a readiness to drop whatever other plans one has and attend to that first. This kind of a call could come to everyone of us, at any given moment – the challenge always is to place God’s work and request above all the other things we personally would like to do, or even feel we have to do. Recall My comment to the man who offered to follow Me, but would first like to go and wish his family and friends good-bye and then he would be totally at My disposal. The reason why no delay is acceptable is that the Father chooses his instrument keeping in view the response of the ‘target person!’ Even though he is favourable at the start, that response could easily change, because he has given in to the wiles of the Evil One – so it is important to strike while the iron is hot. While the Father would certainly offer the target person several chances, the latter acceptance of the person would not be same as the ‘chosen one!’

If you are able to keep this aspect in mind, it would certainly help you be alert and responsive, and in this way benefitting both the other and yourself as well. It is worth remembering also that the Father doesn’t really need your assistance in the sense that he could do the work on his own. Rather, he has chosen to work things out in this way. Recall what is said in the Preface for Sundays in Ordinary Time III “You came to our rescue by your power as God, but you wanted us to be saved by one like us; man refused your friendship, but man alone was to restore it through Jesus Christ our Lord” and after My return to the Father, it is My followers who continue this kind of loving cooperation with the Father’s efforts to bring people back to himself. Kingdom work goes on every minute of the day, and hence the need to be alert and attentive.

Remain in silence for a while, checking how you normally respond to the ‘sudden’ calls that the Father makes upon your time, energy, creativity. The key element of this call is that it is for the benefit of the other. The way you could remind yourself of the importance of this call is the little inner tug you sometimes feel at your heart as you discover that your own plan is somehow being jeopardized by this invitation to reach out to another. An example might help. John has decided that soon after completing his current job, he would rush off to another place to handle another (more pleasant) assignment, one he has been looking forward to the whole day long. But no sooner is the first job done, than Peter desires to ‘consult’ him on some problem that disturbs the petitioner and he seeks an urgent solution to it. But his explanation rambles on and on … Now what is John’s response? Generally it would be to make short shrift of Peter’s problem and hurry off to the pleasant self-assigned new job decided upon. It is at this moment that you would need to remember that what the Father appoints for you is the most important one, both for the petitioner who seeks your help and also for you.

In silence then see how you fare in such situations and dialogue with Me about any aspect that needs attention. The Spirit can heal you of your innate self-centredness, provided you bring it to him and allow him to work on you. So, allow as much time in silence and stillness as you need to listen deeply to God’s Spirit and then move into Intercessions for those in need. You could pray especially for some persons you know for whom to set aside their own pre-arranged plans is very difficult… End with a burst of praise and thanks and the final little vocal prayer or hymn.

July 3, 2011	St. Thomas, Apostle	Let Your Light Shine Before All
July 10, 2011	15th Sunday of Year – A	Sterling Qualities of Kingdom People!
July 17, 2011	16th Sunday of Year – A	The Kingdom is Always Under Siege!
July 24, 2011	17th Sunday of Year – A	Heaven Calls for Consistent Effort!
July 31, 2011	18th Sunday of Year – A	Learning From the Master’s Example!
August 7, 2011	19th Sunday of Year – A	The Paschal Mystery in Action
August 14, 2011	20th Sunday of Year – A	The Challenge That Keeps Faith Growing!
August 21, 2011	21st Sunday of Year – A	Knowing Jesus Personally – Your Greatest Blessing!
August 28, 2011	22nd Sunday of Year – A	Embracing the Cross Lovingly!
Sept. 4, 2011	23rd Sunday of Year – A	Genuine Concern for Community – True Sign of Love
Sept. 11, 2011	24th Sunday of Year – A	Forgiveness – Mark of a True Christian!
Sept.18, 2011	25th Sunday of Year – A	Meet the God of Surprises!
Sept. 25, 2011	26th Sunday of Year – A	Love Shown Through Active Obedience!