Art/ Heritage

THE BOMBAY SEMINARY: The Perfect Prefect

 Gregory Peter Cardinal Agagianian, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith and Patriarch Cilicia of the Armenians was born in 1895 in present-day Georgia. He was a member of the Uniate group of Armenian Christians He attended the Russian Orthodox Tiflis Seminary and then in 1906, the Pontifical Urban University in Rome. His outstanding performance at a young age was noted by St. Pope Pius X himself. The Pope is said to have noticed him at a group audience and remarked to the young Agagianian – ‘You will be a priest, a bishop, and a patriarch.’

Decades later, the now Cardinal Prefect, steps onto the Indian shores to bless and inaugurate the Archdiocesan Seminary dedicated to Pope Pius X. Indeed! Life does come a full circle. In this article, we will journey through the events of the Cardinal’s visit to Bombay and his hand (literally) in inaugurating the Goregaon Seminary.

The Cardinal Prefect arrived on the morning of October 4, 1960, at Santa Cruz airport from Poona in a special plane placed at disposal by the Government of Maharashtra. As His Eminence alighted from the plane, he was met on the tarmac by His Eminence Valerian Cardinal Gracias, His Eminence Cardinal Santos of Manila of the Philippines, His Grace Dr. Thomas D. Roberts, S.J. and the A.D.C. to the Governor.

Scouts and guides formed a guard of honor for the distinguished visitor as he walked up the steps of the terminal building to the main hall where a very cosmopolitan gathering, including several priests and seminarians, had gathered to bid him welcome. His Eminence passed through their midst, smiling and blessing as he went. School-boys and schoolgirls, dressed in their uniforms, lined a very large stretch of the fifteen-mile route from the airport to Archbishop’s House…The Cardinal Perfect’s car reached its destination and then the bells of the Pro-Cathedral pealed loud and long, announcing the arrival of the representative of the Supreme Pontiff.

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Faith

Table of grace – Friday, 30th week in ordinary time – Luke 14:1-6

This text of Luke 14:1-6 is unique to Luke and is the final Lucan controversy to take place regarding the sabbath. Once again Jesus shows himself as the lord of the sabbath (Luke 6: 5) who champions works of compassion on the sabbath.

A prominent Pharisee asked Jesus to eat at his home. A number of things took place at this table, but none of them were very pleasant. It ended up being a sour mealtime conversation and all-in-all, it was a most unpleasant occasion.

Meals often feature in Jesus’ parables and in the key moments of his public life. Jesus is at a meal in Cana, with Martha and Mary, at the meeting with Magdalene and at the last supper to name a few. Essentially, this was one long meal; a dinner party of the elite which Luke recorded in chapter 14:1 and goes all the way to verse 24.  It is a meal at which the Pharisees live out their dinner protocol, values, and pecking order as we see this in the next pericope.

Once again, it appears that the Pharisees had a motive in inviting Jesus. They put Jesus at the centre so they could scrutinise him. Jesus does not seem to be invited for the hospitality of it, but for the hostility of it. We are told that they were watching him but as verse seven will tell us, he was watching them!

In verse two we are told that “there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy”. This was such an elite gathering, so how could a man suffering from dropsy simply find his way in such a gathering in front of Jesus? He certainly does not fit into the guest list. He was almost certainly brought in front of Jesus by the Pharisees as an opportunity to trap Jesus yet Jesus saw a hurting man in need of help. It is our misery that calls forth God’s mercy.

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Faith

When silence is not golden – Thursday, 30th week in ordinary time – Luke 13: 31-35

In Luke 9:51, Jesus began his long march to Jerusalem, a march that ends in chapter 19:28, referred to as Luke’s “Journey Narrative”. In this five verse pericope Jesus seems to be receiving some unsolicited advice from the Pharisees. They inform him that Herod is out to kill him and the best thing he should do is to get away from there.

There is no clarity as to what is the real motivation of this advice from the Pharisees. Luke in his Gospel and the Acts has also portrayed some of the Pharisees in good light; a case in point being Gamaliel and at the same time exposed their narrow mindedness and hypocrisy (Luke 11:37-53). One is left a bit perplexed as to why they would insinuate that Herod wanted to kill Jesus. Luke 9:7-9 and 23:8 does not indicate that Herod wanted to kill Jesus but then again we have Herod who executed John the Baptist3:19-20 and 9:9

In any case, Jesus was not one to be dictated to nor does he seem overawed by the threat posed by Herod. Jesus has clearly set his own timetable and God and not Herod is in charge of who dies when. Jesus  does not run away but rather sends a stinging message back to Herod calling him a fox. His integrity was his strength against those who relied on their ability to be violent. As he told Pilate, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’.

Jesus took his orders from God, and he would not shorten his work by one day to please or to escape any earthly king. He refuses to be distracted from his mission of exorcism and healing. Christ clearly has his work mandated for him and divine will must prevail over local politics. The fact that Jesus views it more urgent to go to Jerusalem because of God’s will than to heed warnings about Herod, seems to indicate that the ultimate concern is theological.

Yet it is the same city of God’s habitation (Deut 12:5) that becomes the seat of violent opposition to God. Jerusalem in not only the place of Jesus’ murder but also its agent. It is for this city that Jesus has both words of fierce denunciation yet one senses a vulnerability in his compassion. It is this city that killed the prophets and stoned those sent to it. Verse 35 is clearly a reference to the events of 70 AD when the Romans finally destroyed the city and burnt down the temple.

The voice of God however is still crying out in compassion. Jesus bares his vulnerability in the face of opposition even for a city and her people that have rejected the prophets and will finally reject him. Throughout salvation history, God through the prophets, has attempted to gather together the children of Jerusalem like a hen gathers her chicks when danger is sensed but they refused to accept God’s love.

What then is our takeaway

  1. We must persevere in doing good even in the face of great difficulty. This is a great grace that God gives to us. Often our lives, like the Lord’s, is faced with several hardships. Jesus accepted the cross not only in his crucifixion but in the many small choices that led him to Jerusalem.
  2. Pastorally we have to wear many hats and play many roles. The heart of Jesus had to speak in two voices; a voice of courage, facing down Herod the king as a fox, symbol of destructive cunning; and a voice of grief when he weeps over Jerusalem.
  3. Often we do not speak up as Jesus did against Herod because we are afraid of what we will lose much. Ironically when we live in the fear of what we might lose we become even more vulnerable and open to threats.

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Food

Not just any chilly – understanding the chillies that go into Goan dishes

Sometime ago I wrote an article entitled ‘The Tapestry of Taste – why your curry is not as good as your grandmothers.’ In this article I want to explore one ingredient that truly makes all the difference to Goan cooking namely chillies.

Chillies make a world of a difference to Goan cuisine. The red chilly powder, from just about any packet is just no good for Goan cuisine. From the soil in which it is grown to the pot in which it is cooked, the ingredients, especially the chillies and the method of cooking makes all the difference in reviving the tapestry of taste.

The Portuguese brought the chillies to India and from that point on the heat is on. Chillies which are predominantly found in warmer climates have another benefit. The chilly helps the body perspire which in turn helps the body stay cool.

Chillies in Goa are named after their village or county of origin. Local chillies are called gavti meaning local. There are several types of chillies in Goa and often used in combinations to get that great curry flavour. Goan Hindus use mostly gavti chillies and each house hold has their own preference. Goan Hindu fish curries are very different from their Christian neighbours in flavour.

Kashmiri Chilly: The primary chilly used in Goan cuisine is Kashmiri chilly. This forms the base for all dishes. These wrinkled chillies whose origin is from the valley in Kashmir are now widely grown all over. When it comes to fish or a prawn curry in the North, you use a combination of Kashmiri chillies and the butao chilly which in Portuguese means button because the chilly looks like a button. So if your recipe calls for twelve chillies use about eight Kashmiri chillies to four butao chillies. The Kashmiri chillies available in Goa are fatter and bigger than the ones you source in Maharashtra.

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Art/ Heritage

MARY A MASTERPIECE – ‘Pieta’ by Michelangelo, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, 1498 – 1499

 Pietà, Italian for ‘pity’ and Latin for ‘piety’, is a heart-wrenching depiction of the Blessed Virgin cradling the dead body of her Son Jesus in her loving arms. Bearing no scriptural reference, the Pieta developed as a thirteenth-century German devotion and was regarded as the Vesperbild or ‘the evening picture’. However, you will agree that the word Pieta is synonymous with Michelangelo’s famous masterpiece. Through this article, we will explore to experience its artistic beauty and belief.

In 1497, a twenty-four-year-old Michelangelo was commissioned by the French Cardinal Jean de Bilheres to create ‘the most beautiful work of marble in Rome’ for his future tomb. The artist did not hesitate to rise to the patron’s challenge. He scouted and secured the perfect block of Carrara marble and chiseled stone to flesh. So sublime and admirable was its execution that art-historian Giorgio Vasari praised Michelangelo’s genius saying:

‘It is indeed a miracle that a block of stone, formless at the beginning, was brought to such perfection which nature habitually struggles to create in flesh! No other sculptor, not even the rarest artist with all his hard work, can ever reach this level of design and grace.’

 But what makes this sculpture so special? Undoubtedly it is the profound relation shared by the Mother and her Son. She who cradled her little baby now carries her dead Son. Adhering to the ideals of the Renaissance,  Michelangelo augments this affiliation through naturalism. Pyramidal in shape, the body of the beautiful Virgin is enlarged. This was suited to carry the physique of a fully grown man, her Son into her lap.

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