MISSIONARIES; NOT VISITORS OR VOLUNTEERS

We live in a world where volunteerism is becoming fashionable. In any poor place, we can see hundreds of volunteers serving in that area. I have seen youngsters staying in a Catholic centre - helping children living on the streets. These youngsters are Catholics by birth but don’t practice their faith - they don’t go for Holy Mass even on Sundays - but they are whole heartedly involved in the work of charity. Is this the kind of charity that the Church looks for? I recently came across a few people from one of the parishes in Kerala who had made a visit to a mission centre in North India - their Facebook pages were full of photographs of them posing with helpless, struggling faces. I thought then that their compassion might last for just a few days. In the Jesus Youth movement, we have been using the phrase ‘Every Jesus Youth, a Missionary’ for the last two years. How can we distinguish between a visitor, a volunteer and a missionary especially in the context of the beautiful Lenten reflection written by our Holy Father on faith and charity?

First of all, a missionary’s work flows out of his relationship with God. It is not a project that needs to be completed; it is not for his satisfaction that he works; the fundamental reason is the love of God - as St. John states, “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (1 Jn. 4:16). “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction… Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn. 4:10), love is now no longer a mere command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us” (Deus Caritas Est, 1). “Faith is knowing the truth and adhering to it (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4); charity is ‘walking’ in the truth (cf. Eph. 4:15). Through faith we enter into friendship with the Lord, through charity this friendship is lived and cultivated (cf. Jn. 15:14ff). Faith causes us to embrace the commandment of our Lord and Master; charity gives us the happiness of putting it into practice (cf. Jn. 13:13-17). In faith we are begotten as children of God (cf. Jn. 1:12ff); charity causes us to persevere concretely in our divine Sonship, bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22). Faith enables us to recognise the gifts that the good and generous God has entrusted to us; charity makes them fruitful (cf. Mt. 25:14-30)” (Lenten reflection by the Holy Father for Lent 2013).

A volunteer is often more concerned about providing for the physical needs of the people, bringing a temporary solution to their sufferings. But a missionary is concerned first of all about the souls of the people that he is serving. Being with the poor and caring for their physical needs are means to fulfil this genuine concern of love. That is where the Holy Father warns us in his Lenten message, “Sometimes we tend, in fact, to reduce the term “charity” to solidarity or simply humanitarian aid. It is important, however, to remember that the greatest work of charity is evangelization, which is the “ministry of the word”. There is no action more beneficial – and therefore more charitable – towards one’s neighbour than to break the bread of the Word of God, to share with him the Good News of the Gospel, to introduce him to a relationship with God”.

For a missionary, the mentality is not “us and them” but only “us” because we are the Body of Christ - we share the brotherhood of Christ with them.

Volunteering often brings satisfaction to the self that comes from serving others - the self satisfaction of doing good for others. Often, this can happen without truly getting involved in the sufferings of the poor. On the other hand, for a missionary, work involves suffering and a painful stripping off of vices.

Once, during the course of a meeting I was attending, a young man who had just returned from a mission trip told us of the beautiful ways in which God had used him to touch the lives of the many poor and suffering people there. When his sharing was over, an elderly gentleman in the group who had been working for decades as a lay missionary said, “Son, I’d like to hear about the change that has come about in you as a result of this mission experience”. In the brief silence that followed, when the young man was struggling for words, I was convinced of an essential characteristic of a true missionary. For when a missionary returns home, his reflections mainly focus on how the trip transformed him internally. A volunteer, on the other hand, is more prone to talking about how the people and place changed as a result of his/her service.

The Holy Father beautifully shows how the relationship of faith and charity resembles the relation between the two fundamental Sacraments of the Church: “Baptism and Eucharist. Baptism precedes the Eucharist, but is ordered to it, the Eucharist being the fullness of the Christian journey. In a similar way, faith precedes charity, but faith is genuine only if crowned by charity. Everything begins from the humble acceptance of faith (“knowing that one is loved by God”), but has to arrive at the truth of charity (“knowing how to love God and neighbour”), which remains forever, as the fulfilment of all the virtues (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13)”.

I am sure that the Jesus Youth movement is looking only for missionaries – knowing that the journey can begin with a visitor who becomes a volunteer and then proceeds to the real call as a missionary. This, then, is the question we should all ask ourselves - “Am I a visitor, a volunteer or a missionary?”

Manoj Sunny

Lenten Reflections '12: Week 7

Reflection: Holy Week  

The Church raises her thanksgiving to the Father in this week of intensive recollection and celebration of the saving passion and the glorious resurrection of our Lord. Lent, as preparation for and leading into the celebration of the sacred Paschal Triduum, is likened to traversing through the desert of thirst, hunger and dearth in order to enter the green pastures and quiet waters gained by the Lamb that was slain and raised to life again (cf. Revelation 5:6-13). Just as Lent is a period of walking towards baptism for those disposed to embrace the gift of salvation, it is also a time for the baptized to deepen their incorporation into Christ.

 

The healing and life-nurturing water of baptism welling up from the side of Christ on the cross (cf. John 19:34;Ezekiel 47:1-12, Revelation 22:1-5) is the fountain for a new and grace-filled life. The banquet of the Risen Lord, which the Holy Eucharist is, enlivens the Christian with holiness and vitality. “As we eat his flesh that was sacrificed for us, we are made strong, and as we drink his Blood that was poured for us, we are washed clean” (from the Preface of Mass of Lord’s Supper in the Roman Missal).

 

The true fruit of Passover is new life, which is Christ-like and animated by the Spirit. St. Paul understood baptism, by which a Christian partakes in this new life in Christ, as a symbiosis with Christ in His death and glory. “… Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the death by glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4). The idiomatic Greek expression baptizein eis Christon, to baptize into Christ, in these verses, signifies baptism as a dynamic and continuous journey of participating in the life of Christ and as a metamorphosis of becoming Christ. Christian growth and maturity consists of becoming “a perfect human being, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (cf.Ephesians 4:13).

 

Jesus’ victory over death ushers in the birth of a new life for the world. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17). The apostle’s magnificent vision of God as the closest neighbor of humanity is explicated as victory over all wails of woes. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with human, and God will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4). Literally,the Hebrew word for tabernacle, mishkan, means one who dwells as a neighbor; indeed it is a spousal closeness (cf. Revelation 21:2) of God with human beings!

 

The Christian communities understood from the very beginning the novelty of Easter faith as an invitation to immersing themselves in the life of the Risen Lord through celebration of the mysteries of faith and by sharing their possessions with one another, particularly with those in need, in a bond of communion. The utopia of not having anyone under dearth among the brethren sprang from the abundance of life in Christ, who made others rich by His life of poverty and humility (cf., 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:5-7) and a new sense of unity that they are the Body of Christ. In this they even earned the envy of their contemporaries. Tertullian (ca. 160-250), a renowned Christian writer noted: “Each one puts in a small amount on the monthly day, or when he wishes, accordingly as he wishes and is able. No one is compelled, and it is given freely. These are, as it were, the deposits of piety. For they are not expended there from on feasts and drinking parties and in thankless houses of gluttony, but for the support and burial of the poor, for boys and girls without parents and destitute of means, for the aged quietly confined to their homes, for the shipwrecked; and if there any in the mines or in the islands or in the prisons… But it is mainly the practice of such a love which leads some to put a brand upon us. ‘See’ they say, ‘how they love… and how ready they are to die for one another’.” (Apologia 39, 6-7).

 

The Holy Bible repeatedly teaches that the worship of God and practice of justice and charity are closely knit virtues. The destination of Exodus is twofold: liberated from the servitude of Pharaoh, Israel walks first to the Mountain of God to receive in their hearts the Torah of God in order to become the very treasure of YHWH, a chosen, holy and priestly nation (cf. Exodus 19:5-6). Guarded by the Law, Israel walks to possess the Land of Promise. Sinai is the destination of Exodus just as the Promised Land. Law is central to the Covenant between YHWH and the People of Israel. It constitutes their true relationship with Him and one another. Leviticus 19:1-20, 27 almost occurring at the centre of the Pentateuch is a clear illustration. Israel is invited to imitate what is distinctively God’s, namely holiness. What is all the more interesting here is that the Torah expounds holiness as a way of life marked by concern for the poor, personal integrity and moral uprightness. The juxtaposition and interspersing of cultic and civilian laws in a single file evince the inseparability of religious life from the secular and that they are of same rank.

 

The perfection which Christ expects of His disciples is practice of justice with an extravagance of charity towards others (cf. Matthew 5:17-48; 7) and loving trust in the heavenly Father (cf. Matthew 6). Any form of piety without justice and charity is a lie or self indulgence (cf. 1 Corinthians 13). Religion without genuine concern for the poor and honest commitment to building up of a sharing and caring society is idolatrous and anti-Gospel. Worship without justice is rebellion against God.

 

An over-consumerist culture is spewing a winter of individualism and indifferentism. Sundered from the past and the future, it is also overweighed by its fast frustrating, boring, and ultimately suicidal bents. The vanquishing of human values from institutions of learning and tending, even those belonging to Christians, plunges the society into the dark of egoism. The benign fruits and resiliency of traditional culture is being washed away by an avalanche of competitive and profit values spun in these centers. A fattened ambition for “excellence and success” today has become an easy mantra for keeping the poor at bay; and thereby these institutions themselves have degenerated into self-catering clubs.

The injustice and evil are in no way limited to the sphere of the world of humans only; their sinister effects are visible in a fast extinguishing of flora and fauna, pollution of water, land and air and endangering of the life of the planet with poisonous emissions. The glaring truth is that it is not the poor or undeveloped nations, but the rich, the developed and greedy nations who have a major stake in ruining the ecology. It is a gospel truth that the health of a society is always in peril in the hands of the greedy.

 

Easter faith can serve as antidote and catalyst for a new society of communion and justice. Symbiosis with Christ inexorably leads to a witnessing to the Gospel, to its message and values. Empowered by the Spirit and illumined by the Gospel, a Christian can stand up to the villainies and vices that mar human dignity and plunge the world into a terrain of gloom and helplessness. The Gospel unleashes a power that can transform, bring about conversion of heart and fill it with a longing for the Lord, the Sun of Justice, to rise over the valley of dearth and death.

 

Spirit of poverty ought to be the hallmark of Christian disciples in our time. It is both a sign of their belonging to Christ and a hand tool for fighting greed which is dehumanizing and a pathogen of all social evils in any society. Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est (where there is charity and love, God is present there). Charity is the sacrament of the presence of God.

 

The Ganges streams of Passover are eternally surging and, as they flow, they revitalize people and places to a civilization of life in plenty for all. The Maranatha, “Come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20), is a vivid cry of the Easter faith, both as an expression of our blessed hope and sincere commitment to prepare ways for His coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.

 

Fr. James Anaparambil

Lenten Reflections '12: Week 6

Evangelisation

Today we live in a world where we are bombarded with confusing values. We encounter a ‘school of thinking’ that considers money as the highest value in life. We also witness many people, especially the young, being pulled into the rat race for money. When this school of thinking is pushed to the extreme, it even leads to the violation of the first commandment - money, and all that can be bought with money, becomes God. This displacement of God from the hearts of individuals ultimately destroys the society.

On one hand we can attribute these problems of the modern society to socio-economic and political reasons. On the other hand, a deeper analysis will reveal that the root cause of most of the problems - whether it is the ‘widening gap’ between the rich and the poor, or ‘global warming’ due to the ruthless exploitation of our planet - is the displacement of God to the margins. This displacement of God from the center of our lives results in unlimited greed, corruption, irresponsibility, violence and so on. If we look back to the days of Jesus, socio-economic and political action was even more relevant then. Given his value system and popularity, Jesus could have easily led a campaign against corruption or even a campaign for food security, health for all, for peace amongst others. However, in addition to His ‘redeeming work’ Jesus led a different campaign – ‘back to the Father’ campaign. Why? It is true that we need socio-economic and political interventions to sort out the problems of today’s society. However, I believe that such interventions will remain as symptomatic treatments if we do not strike at the root cause and bring God back right into the hearts of individuals and societies (back to the Father). This is one of the reasons why Evangelisation is so important.

There is another reason too. I have listened to the stories of many young people. Some of them find their emotional settlement in human relationships, movies, novels, sports, work, food, travel, etc. These are, in a way, healthy means for emotional settlement. However, there are many youngsters who find emotional settlement in alcohol, tobacco, drugs, pornography and the like. From experience we know that these means ultimately destroy them. All of us are aware that we are not supposed to find emotional settlement in unhealthy means. Therefore, I would like to focus on the so called healthy emotional settlements. Of all the above mentioned means of emotional settlement, ‘human relationships’ is considered as one of the most important and common means.

Here I would like to bring two characters from the Gospel. The first one is the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus initiates a discussion with her and in the course of that discussion He talks about the ‘living water’. From her basic need for water, Jesus leads her to her deeper thirst. Finally she had to acknowledge that ‘human relationships’ could not really satisfy her deeper need for belongingness and love. Even her relationship with her current ‘husband’ was not helping her to quench her deeper thirst. Finally, in her interaction with Jesus, she discovers that only God can permanently satisfy her deeper needs.

Another character that I would like to bring to your notice is Zacchaeus. This man had everything; a good Job with the Roman Empire (in today’s context it is like being employed with an excellent Multinational Company); plenty of money; big house, servants and all other comforts. However, he doesn’t seem happy. When he meets Jesus he discovers that beyond all the above mentioned superficial needs, he had a deeper need. Only God could satisfy that need. When Zacchaeus and the Samaritan woman allowed God - Jesus - to enter the core of their lives, they experienced joy and peace that nothing until then had given them. Wasn’t that the beginning of salvation? It is in a way going back to the Father; to the first commandment - giving God the prime place, the first place in one’s life.

Most of us have seen how even the most loving married couples have to finally go to God to quench their deeper thirst. No husband, no wife can fill the ‘bottomless abyss’ that is within each and every one of us. Some people dare to call this ‘bottomless abyss’ the ‘God shaped hole’ in us, which can be filled only by God. This is probably the same ‘restlessness’ that St. Augustine talked about - “our hearts are restless until we rest in you O Lord”. Therefore, evangelisation is important to quench the deeper thirst of every human being as well as for the stability and progress of the society.

The Church always believed in Evangelisation. She inherited it from Jesus. In fact Jesus is THE Evangeliser. Church, being the extension of Jesus in this world, continues His mission. During the Second Vatican Council, Church rediscovered that she exists for evangelisation. On 8 December 1975, Pope Paul VI published his Apostolic Exhortation: ‘On Evangelisation in the Modern World, Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN)’. It was inspired by the Synod of Bishops of 1974 and is considered to be the “watershed” document for contemporary evangelisation. I would like to highlight some of the key points of this document that could be meditated upon, for each day of this week and even beyond.

1. What is Evangelisation: “For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new”. (EN 18)
2. The core of the Good News of Christ: It is “liberation from everything that oppresses man but which is above all liberation from sin and the Evil One”. It is “the joy of knowing God and being known by Him, of seeing Him, and of being given over to Him”. (EN 9)
3. The importance of ‘proclamation by witness’: “Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization”. (EN 21)
4. The importance of proclaiming Jesus: “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed”. (EN 22)
5. The importance of the Holy Spirit: “Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most advanced ones cannot replace the gentle action of the Spirit. The most perfect preparation of the evangelizer has no effect without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the most convincing dialectic has no power over the heart of man. Without Him the most highly developed schemas resting on a sociological or psychological basis are quickly seen to be quite valueless”. (EN 75)
6. The importance of authenticity: “Do you really believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you really preach what you live? The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition for real effectiveness in preaching. Precisely because of this we are, to a certain extent, responsible for the progress of the Gospel that we proclaim”. (EN 76)
7. The importance of love for those whom we evangelize: “The work of evangelization presupposes in the evangelizer an ever increasing love for those whom he is evangelizing... What is this love? It is much more than that of a teacher; it is the love of a father; and again, it is the love of a mother… A sign of love will be the concern to give the truth and to bring people into unity... Let us add some other signs of this love… Respect for their tempo and pace; no one has the right to force them excessively. Respect for their conscience and convictions, which are not to be treated in a harsh manner. Another sign of this love is concern not to wound the other person, especially if he or she is weak in faith... Yet another sign of love will be the effort to transmit to Christians not doubts and uncertainties born of an erudition poorly assimilated but certainties that are solid because they are anchored in the Word of God. The faithful need these certainties for their Christian life; they have a right to them, as children of God who abandon themselves entirely into His arms and to the exigencies of love”. (EN 79)

“Jesus Youth is a missionary movement at the service of the Church”. “Every Jesus Youth, a missionary”. These are some phrases at the heart of our movement. For those who believe in these words, how important is evangelisation! As a Jesus Youth we can be proud that we consider evangelisation as one of the important ‘pillars’ of our spirituality.

We are called to be in this world and minister to those around us. Being in the world we constantly come across aggressive campaigns that push people ruthlessly into ‘empty cisterns’ that aggravate their deeper thirst. Maybe some of them push people for their own financial gains. Maybe some of them do it sincerely because that’s all they know to do to help people satisfy their deeper needs. In this context, it is also important to remember that there is an invisible enemy, the ‘father of lies’ behind these aggressive campaigns to drive people away from God - the source of true life, the living water.

If we are called to be evangelisers, to lead others to God, we have to first learn to quench our own deeper thirst; we have to learn to find our emotional settlement in God, more than in the created things. We are fortunate to be part of a movement that urges us to be rooted in the six pillars of our spirituality, so that as evangelisers our ‘ministry’ will flow from our deep ‘inner life’. This is also one of the reasons why we give so much of emphasis on ‘formation’ in our movement.

Let me conclude with the following questions: How do we begin our day…? How do we end our day…? With TV/internet/mobile phone…? To be a fulfilled Jesus Youth; to be an effective Jesus Youth, we need to direct our ‘deeper thirst’ in such a way that we begin and end each day with the ‘living water’… the source that quenches our thirst forever and ever… May God bless you 

Fr. Mathew Abraham C.Ss.R

Animator, Jesus Youth International Team

Lenten Reflections '12: Week 5

All the believers were one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and much grace was upon them all. (Acts 4:32-33)

These words best reflect ‘Fellowship’ - the fourth pillar of the Jesus Youth movement which we know as: Christian life, a call to live the life of the Trinity in communion with one’s brothers and sisters in Christ through mutual support, encouragement and gentle correction.

In brief let me now explain the opening Scripture:

One heart - This expression denotes ‘tender union’. The believers felt alike, or were attached to the same things, and this preserved them from conflict.

One soul - This phrase also indicates ‘close and tender union’. No expression could denote it more strikingly than to say of friends who have one soul. The Hebrews spoke of two friends as being “one man”. Then, there can be no more powerful demonstration of union and love as when more than five thousand were suddenly drawn together that they had one soul. And this union they manifested in every possible way - in their conduct, in their prayers, and in their property. How different would have been the aspect of the Church if that union had continued to the present time!

The sharing heart of the early Church (vs 32) - All the believers were one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had: Because of their unity, they regarded people more important than things.

They had all things in common: They recognised God's ownership of everything; it all belonged to God and His people.

All things in common: Was this an early form of communism? There is however a contrast between communism and koinonia which is used frequently in the New Testament. Communism says, 'What is yours is mine; I'll take it’. Koinonia says, 'What is mine is yours, I'll share it’.

The effective witness of the apostles (vs 33) - With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and much grace was upon them all.

a. With great power: This is both the result and the root of the attitude in the previous verse. Acts 4:32 clearly says that they were putting God first, people second and material things a distant third.

b. Gave witness to the resurrection: Notice again the central place the resurrection of Jesus holds in the message of the first Christians. They preached a resurrected Jesus.

c. Great grace was upon them all: Grace is God's favour, His smile from heaven, and it was upon them all. God's favour was evident everywhere.

Let me sum up with a story:

Two brothers farmed together. They lived in separate houses on the family farm, but met each day in the fields to work together. One brother married and had a large family. The other lived alone. Still, they divided the harvest from the fields equally.

One night the single brother thought, “My brother is struggling to support a large family, but I get half of the harvest”. With love in his heart, he gathered a box of things he had purchased from his earnings - items he knew would help his brother’s family. He planned to slip over to his brother’s shed, unload the basket there, and never say a word about it.

That same night, the married brother thought, “My brother is alone. He doesn’t know the joys of a family”. Out of love he decided to take over a basket with a quilt and homemade bread and preserves to “warm” his brother’s house. He planned to leave the items on his porch and never say a word.

As the brothers quietly made their way towards each other’s homes, they bumped into one another. They were forced to admit to what they were doing and there in the darkness, they cried and embraced, each man realising that his greatest wealth was a brother who respected, loved and shared with him.

What can we take home from this?

• The ways we relate to one another reveal something of the very nature of God - faithfulness, service, love, compassion…
• A recognition that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ as Jesus Youth and we are to emulate the same in our cells, small groups, prayer groups, service teams and friendship circles.
• Challenge ourselves to live as the Apostles did and help make Jesus Youth the ideal family of Christ.

While concluding I quote “It’s good to be a Christian and know it, but it is better to be a Christian and show it”!

Fr. Varghese Parakudiyil

Jesus Youth India Pastor 

Lenten Reflections '12: Week 4

Sacramental life

As we continue our Lenten Journey into the fourth week, we shall meditate on the next pillar of our Jesus Youth spirituality – Sacramental life. This translates not just into a simple reception of the Sacraments, but a deeper experiential living of the Sacramental grace.

A Sacrament literally means ‘that which is holy or sacred’. It carries a sense of ‘mystery’ as well. Sacraments help us to transcend our physical or human realm and enter the divine milieu. Thus becoming for us each time a healing, forgiving, strengthening and enriching experience. Sacraments are also signs of God’s positive love for us. Though God is invisible and intangible, the Sacraments make present, through visible and concrete signs, the presence of God among us. The worthy reception of the Sacraments in turn compels us to return this love.

The ‘Sacramental Economy’ is a life-time accompaniment of a loving Father. The seven Sacraments are so arranged that from birth to death, the loving and caring hand of God is with us. We who are born to the fallen human nature are transformed into the children of God in Baptism. The Eucharist becomes the food for our life. Sacrament of Reconciliation conjoins us with God and one another. Confirmation strengthens us and makes us courageous and committed Christians. Matrimony and Holy Orders bids us to become servants of charity. Sacrament of Anointing brings hope and healing to the sick. Though this is the reality and we all know this catechesis about the Sacraments, it is imperative for us during this Holy Season to go deeper into the personal aspects of Sacraments.

Let us look into our lives. How many years has it been since we received the Sacrament of Baptism? And how have we been growing in the grace of Baptism? How many times, after our First Communion, have we received Jesus sacramentally? What effects of sanctification are visible in our lives? How strong are we in our commitment to faith even after the reception of Confirmation? How many times have we asked the Lord’s forgiveness in Confession? How many days - if not hours - have we refrained from our confessed sins? What is the level of commitment to our promises of Matrimony or Ordination? How many of us daily recall those covenantal words? Where do we stand in our life of grace?

There is this incarnational aspect to the Sacraments. Jesus is the true Sacrament of God - visible sign of God’s love for us. He is not just a passive or static sign, rather a dynamic and life-giving sign. He carried and actualised what he symbolised. Likewise, each Sacrament is the living symbol of God’s loving presence and action. These are given to us because we are beings with feelings and emotions. So in the Sacraments we are able to experience God not only in a mere intellectual way, but empirically. In turn we, who receive the Sacraments, are to become Sacraments to others around us, just as Jesus is the Sacrament of the Father.

In our daily journey, two of the Sacraments are of more importance and practical application: Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. Lent itself has a penitential nature. The Lord's invitation during this Season is for us to cleanse ourselves of our iniquities. What better means than to frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation for this goal? Receive the Sacrament with due preparation; take time to seriously think of our life, our commitment, our duties, etc. Then resolve to transform our life. We shall thus see, through the observance of this Lent, at least one aspect of our life that we know is not pleasing to God totally removed from us.

Again, participating in the Holy Eucharist as often as possible is an aim we can set. It is not enough that we just go for Mass, but we need to really prepare for it. The Eucharist must become our life. It is in sacrificing our own life that we actualise the Mass. Frequent communion (if possible daily communion) should be our priority.

Many of us may have been observing these Sacraments for some time now. But down the road the fervour dies down. It is time for us to return to the original love. Let this Lenten Season transform us through the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist.

Finally, it is important for us to take a few moments in the presence of God to see the actualisation of Sacraments in our daily life. How many wounds are there on our body - the broken body of Jesus? How much of our ‘self’ has been immolated to bring life to others? Do our life partners see and experience God in us? Do our children understand the love of God in and through us? Do our neighbours touch and hear God in us? Do the multitudes flock to us as they did to Jesus, to hear God, see God, touch God, and experience God? If this happens, then our Sacramental life is real and active.

Wishing you all a fruitful Sacramental life, not just during this Lent, but all through your life.

Fr. Thomas Tharayil