Faith

Thomas in the dock- Feast of St Thomas

If Peter had his confession, “you are the Christ the son of the living God”, then Thomas had his too, when he said, “My Lord and my God.” Unfortunately we never hear the confession of Thomas spoken with the same adulation as Peter. Thomas has been maligned unfairly for centuries from the pulpit for what seems to be a moment’s weakness of unbelief.  He has forever been tarnished with the name ‘doubting Thomas’ when in reality he is like you and me, a ‘seeking Thomas’; seeking answers all his life with a thousand questions.

If we are to be fair to Thomas, let’s look at the rap sheet of some of the other apostles. Peter denied the Lord, three times but we don’t call him denier. Nathaniel scoffed when he said, “What good can come from Nazareth’’ but we don’t call him a scoffer. James and John were fighting for the right to sit at the Lord’s left and right seats but we don’t call them opportunist.  The rest abandoned the Lord at Gethsemane but we don’t call them cowards.  Poor Thomas, he got the worst end of the Christian preachers stick, and a name, ‘doubting Thomas’ which has stuck to him like feathers to tar.

We all have our moments if not several episodes of ‘unbelief’ or ‘apistos’, in Greek. The English word ‘to doubt,’ is a poor translation of the word ‘apistos’.  To doubt in Greek is ‘distazo’. In John’s Gospel, believing is more a statement of ‘abiding in Jesus’, a relationship shared with Him, not merely a belief in a doctrine. This is why Jesus, in John’s Gospel asks us to ‘abide in Him.’. So the English translations, loosely translated, should really read, ‘do not be ‘unbelieving’ but believe in the relationship we have which did not die on the cross’.

This relationship between Jesus and Thomas was repaired the moment Thomas opened his heart to renewing his faith when he said, “My Lord and My God”. These are loaded words. He uses the word MY, indicating a relationship, an expression of abiding. He did not say you are ‘the Lord and the God’. Jesus, for Thomas, is not only his Lord but also his God and the two are cemented by that three letter word AND.  Thomas is not merely renewing a confession of faith; he is making a confession of relationship.

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Faith

 

Breaking barriers building bridges- 13th Sunday in ordinary time – Mark 5: 21-43

We have one story and two miracles. One miracle is in favour of a socially and religiously prominent official, the other for a ‘nobody’. One of our characters in the miracle story has a name (Jarius) the other is unnamed. One made a request in faith for a healing, while the other, in fear, ‘stole’ a healing in faith. Never have two narratives been married so beautifully to instill faith, and cast out fear.

Incidentally the two stories told as one, are found in all three synoptic Gospels; Mark’s narrative being the longest. Jesus has come from Gentile territory after having worked a miracle there, and now He is on the Western shore of the Sea of Galilee working miracles among the Jews. Jesus makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile.He is constantly breaking down barriers and building bridges.

The miracle stories sandwiched one into the other, give us an insight into the revolutionary social mind of Jesus which knew no boundaries. By the time we are done with this passage, Jesus would have been touched by a haemorrhaging woman and He himself would have touched a dead girl; two ritually impure strike outs for Jesus as per Jewish law. Yet, He is least ‘afraid’ of external norms and looks for faith, and encourages faith in both seekers.

In the narrative of the haemorrhaging woman, she is declared faithful by Jesus, “your faith has made you well.” In the other case, Jairus is encouraged to retain his faith, even in the face of death, “Do not fear, only believe.” The first is descriptive, the second prescriptive. Mark, in his Gospel constantly brings out the themes of fear and faith, and fear in faith.

Jesus has just returned from driving out a legion of demons from a man in Gentile territory. The response of the people of the village was fear, even though they recognized a miracle in faith. Yet they ask Him to leave their country. The woman in this story has faith yet she fears that her touch would pollute Jesus, rendering Him impure, or perhaps the fear that her faith was not strong enough.

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Faith

Saved to Serve- Saturday, 12th week in ordinary time- Matthew 8: 5-17

“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.”

The first three of the ten miracles that Jesus performs after he had delivered the Sermon on the Mount were to social and religious outcasts; the leper, the centurion and Simon’s mother in law. The modern mind may find such a thought laughable that a woman, an ‘outsider’ and a diseased man were all scorned upon; yet it is to these that Jesus, perhaps purposefully, reaches out to. There are two miracles narrated in today’s gospel; the healing of the centurions ‘servant’ and that of Peter’s mother in law. 

Roman centurions oversaw a hundred soldiers and this man was likely in the service of Herod Antipas’ garrison town. We are told that he has a ‘servant’ who is paralysed and in distress.  The Greek translation of the word servant in this passage is παῖς (pais) which translates as boy and thus son. John’s gospel, narrating the same incident, refers to the paralytic as the son of the centurion (John 4: 46)

Be it a son or a servant, it took the centurion great courage to come before Jesus.  Being a civil servant, the centurion most certainly had his ear to the ground and had surely received reports about this compassionate rabbi.  Jews were not known to be kind to their Gentile occupiers and the hatred was mutual, for the Romans saw the Jews as a difficult bunch of religious fanatics.

The centurion, who held civil authority, could have demanded that Jesus be brought to his house but he is sensitive. If a Jew entered the home of a Gentile he would be defiled.  The centurion is thoughtful of these cultural and religious traditions and proclaims the words that have forever found a place in the Eucharistic liturgy of the Latin rite as a confession of unworthiness to receive the Lord; “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

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Opinion

Not in MY name

I must admit to a choleric condition; no it does not mean I have cholera it just means I am super annoyed. I am embittered and exasperated at nonsensical social customs that masquerade as religious requirements in the Catholic Church, especially in my end of the woods of Mumbai.

There is an unending list of these customs which are inextricably linked to Catholic religious practices, none of which bring an ounce of faith to the life of the believer, and yet are practiced far more religiously than the mystery it is meant to celebrate.

Notice how most sacramental celebrations are linked to some social tradition. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy many of them which have now become part of our ‘catholic social tradition’ but when these become larger than life and overshadow the sacrament itself, then I take umbrage.

In the Catholic social circuit, sacraments call for a celebration; be it Baptism, Eucharist (Fist Holy Communion), Confirmation, Marriage or Holy Orders. Ironically, the one sacrament that should be truly celebrated, has no celebration at all. No one throws a party on being forgiven of all their sins and being made holy in God’s eyes, and if we truly need to celebrate anything, it should be this sacrament. I hope I have not inadvertently triggered off some party planner who sees this as unchartered territory with great financial opportunity.

So let me state my case with one such example and here I want to address the ‘social customs’ surrounding death in a Catholic household. I grew up with the tradition of attending mass not only on the day a friend or loved one was buried but also seven days later (called the seventh day mass) and the month’s mind mass.

Interestingly, the Missal has no provisions for such ‘special masses’. What the Roman Missal does provide for, is a mass to be celebrated on the anniversary of the death of a person; rightly, this is the anniversary of the day that the Lord called our brother or sister to Himself. The feast day of the saints too are celebrated on the day of their death not of their birth (John the Baptist and Mary being an exception). So how then did these seventh day (mercifully now discontinued) and month’s mind masses come about?

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Faith

Solemnity of St Peter and Paul, Apostles – Matthew 16: 13-19

The confession of Peter, “you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”, seems all too easy an answer, given the question if asked today, to you and me.  But did Peter fully fathom what he answered? For Jesus says to Peter, ‘flesh and blood has not revealed it to you but my Father in heaven’. So did Peter get it right by himself or was he just prompted by God? Did he fully understand who the Messiah was ?

How do we know when God is speaking to us? How can we be sure that the voices we hear in our head are not simply the chatter of our minds reflecting our own wishes; mere ‘flesh and blood’ responses?  How did Peter know what to say when the other disciples got the answer so wrong?

To understand the word ‘Messiah’ as being uniquely attributed only to Jesus would be as fallacious as to understand that Jesus was the only one crucified in history; yet many Christians believe so. Crucifixion was perhaps the most brutal public execution carried out by the Romans and Jesus was one of the thousands put to death in this fashion. The same understanding must be applied to the meaning of the word Messiah; it would be sentimental to insist that this word must exclusively apply itself to Jesus.

In time, this word Messiah has crystalized in the mind of the modern Christian to be attributed exclusively to Christ, though we would use it loosely to describe a person who comes to our aid in time of great need.  First century Judaism understood ‘mashiah’ meaning ‘anointed one’, to be anyone; from prophet, to warrior or king.  There was no clarity in the first century mind that the Messiah was to be exclusively understood as the Son of God, and perhaps that was also the cause for confusion in the minds of the Pharisees. Perhaps for the Jews, the Messiah was to be another Judge or someone like King David.

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