Faith

Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist

Capernaum had just one word on its lips – Jesus. There was no nook or cranny that did not know or speak about Him. Jesus had made this town His home and that’s not all! He had already worked more than twelve miracles here, and many were hailing Him as the Messiah.

Capernaum was a small town but not a sleepy one. You can’t be inactive when you’re situated on one of the most popular Roman highways. The Via Maris or the way of the sea was the most ancient trade route, dating from the early Bronze Age, linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria.

The fact that this was a trade route could mean only one thing – there were tax collectors. No one disliked these tax collectors more than the Jews did. So you can quite imagine Alpheus’ disappointment when Matthew, his son, chose this as a career. It seemed fast money was the order of the day and  the traditional occupations of Capernaum seemed to hold no charm.

Why could Matthew not be like Simon, Andrew, James or John? What was so wrong in honest living even if you smelled of fish the whole day? Matthew’s professional choice only added to the greying hair of Alpheus, to say nothing of the insults that he had to face.

Alpheus’ mind recalled that day when Matthew was to be named. Alpheus could only think of how blessed he was to have this child after so many years of waiting. His name would be called Mattityahu, a gift of Yahweh. But now this ‘gift’ seemed to become a liability. Alpheus could not even get his friends to enjoy his hospitality, for who would sit with Matthew’s new found tax collector friends?

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Faith

A meal hard to digest- Thursday, 24th week in ordinary time – Lk 7:36-50

The story of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet occurs in each of the other three canonical Gospels with a few differences in the each narrative.  In Luke’s narrative, there is a gradual revelation in the story. First we are told who the host is (verse 40), then who the guests are (verse49), the action that prompts the chief guests speech (in this case Simon’s unspoken action) and finally the speech of the chief guest, namely Jesus.

The setting is a meal that Jesus was invited to by a Pharisee named Simon. It must be assumed that Simon had developed some admiration or friendship with Jesus for table fellowship was shared with those that one was close to. There are others who point out that this setting in Luke is similar to a Hellenistic (Greek) symposium, an ancient genre in which a host invites guests to his home to dialogue about weighty abstract matters like love, friendship, or wisdom.

In such a setting, a woman who was a sinner in the city learns that Jesus is in Simon’s house. She obviously decides to gate crash this ‘dinner symposium’ but not with her lofty words or thoughts on love or friendship but with her simple but profound actions. She washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, wipes it with her hair and anoints His feet with ointment which she has carried in an alabaster jar.

Simon’s dinner party which was supposed to be a lively discussion with Jesus is now stunned into silence by the action of this unnamed woman. But more than the silence in the room, the Gospel highlights the ‘silence’ in Simon’s heart. The ‘symposium setting’ of this meal would necessitate the participants to air their thoughts aloud and here was Simon who now “says to himself” or rather begins to doubt in his heart if Jesus was truly a prophet, for Jesus did not object to the woman’s action.

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Art/ Heritage

Breaking barriers building bridges- Wednesday, 24th Week in ordinary time – Lk 7:31-35

Jesus is in Capernaum; He has healed a centurion’s servant and raised the widow’s son at Nain (7:1-17). We will see something similar in 8:40-56, only this time round he will cure a sick woman and raise a dead woman to life. St. Luke bookends this section with similar miracle stories but true to his presentation of Jesus the miracles are for all; men and women.

For Luke, the mission of Jesus is ‘for all’ and ‘to all’. It is meant to present Jesus as one who has come to shatter all boundaries of divisions. Jesus is breaking down barriers as much as He builds bridges. However all do not receive his mission with the same openness. The resistance to His calling is quite clear and it seems that Jesus expresses this frustration quite openly in today’s Gospel reading.

Throughout this section, pulsates the theme of ‘who does’ and ‘who does not’ respond generously to God’s messengers, be it John the Baptist and now Jesus, the Messiah. Interestingly it is the Gentiles, tax collectors, sinners and the hopelessly sick who acknowledge Jesus’ words; they hear His word and follow it. This is the new Israel, the new reconstituted Israel.

In sharp contrast stand the “Pharisees and the lawyers who rejected the baptism of John the Baptist and in doing so rejected God’s purpose for themselves” (vese30). Their behaviour is now tantamount to childish stubbornness for all they desire is to follow their own way.

While they reject the ascetic life style of John the Baptists as too rigorous they reject the table fellow ship that Jesus is so often found at, as being a lifestyle of a “glutton and drunkard”. Neither mournful durges nor happy songs would make this passionate group of Jesus haters sway.

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Art/ Heritage

MARY – A MASTERPIECE: ‘The Nativity of the Virgin’ by Pietro Lorenzetti (1335 – 1342)

 The ever beautiful, the ever immaculate Virgin Mary for ages has enchanted every artist. Her tender appearance is the most beloved in Christian art. Her heavenly beauty radiates her eternal grace. On this glorious day as the heavens rejoice and the earth gladdens at her birth, we are drawn to the sleepy yet idyllic little town of Siena. Beyond its Tuscan countryside stands its magnificent Cathedral dedicated to the most Blessed Virgin Mary. It is here that we encounter one of the earliest yet one of the most brilliant depictions of her birth. It is executed by none other than the innovative Pietro Lorenzetti (1280 – 1348).

In order to truly grasp the aura of his masterpiece, we need to traverse back in time. In a world where the physical was largely ignored in favour of the heavenly and spiritual realm, Lorenzetti through his paintings embarks upon a renewed interest in human figure and space. The background of his paintings were no longer flat gold rather Lorenzetti explored earthly environments and suffused them with landscapes and architectural edifices. 

The painting in consideration is a ‘triptych’ (Greek for ‘three folds’). The scene is set in a modest yet beautiful medieval household of 14th century Siena. The occasion is far more significant and delightful. Below the starry Gothic skies lies the elderly and voluminous St. Anne. Resplendent in red and gold, she reclines on her bed admiring the little morning star, the fruit of her womb. As St. Anne dwells on the mysteries of the Most High, two young women prepare to bathe the new born. While the first pours water into the hexagonal vessel, the second cradles the infant.

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Faith

 

Jesus is the cure for He endures- Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross – Numbers 21: 4-9

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated every year on September 14, recalls three historical events. The first is the discovery in AD 320, of the True Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. This was found under the temple of Venus in Jerusalem. The second is the dedication of the Church in 335, built by Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulchre and Mount Calvary. The basilica was named the Martyrium, and the shrine, named the Calvarium but both were destroyed by the Persians in 614. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which now stands on the site, was built by the crusaders in 1149. Finally, the feast celebrates the restoration of the True Cross to Jerusalem by emperor Heraclius II.

But in a deeper sense, the feast also celebrates the Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation; His salvific death on the Cross and His resurrection, through which, death was defeated and the doors to Heaven opened now to sinners.

The first reading of today, taken from the book of Numbers gives us an insight into human behaviour and God’s divine response. During their wanderings in Sinai, the Israelites suffer from a series of self-inflicted short term memory losses. They forget the goodness of God and His constant provision for their many needs (not their greed). When they were hungry He gave them manna from heaven, but they tired of the taste of these “cakes baked in oil” and demanded meat; which guess what, they got in the form of quails!

When then, would this grumbling against God stop? The serpents seem to be a just punishment for a people whose demands resemble a sushi train that constantly needs replenishment. Yet Yahweh relents with what may best be best described as a nudge, in the form of a prayer, as compared to the demands of this ‘pushy’ people.

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