Faith

Feast of the chair of St Peter- Thursday, 1st week of Lent-  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.  

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Faith

Voice of HIS word versus vices in my heart – Wednesday,1st Week of Lent – Luke 11: 29-32

It’s not uncommon in the gospels, to find the Pharisees and the people demanding a sign from Jesus. Make no mistake they were not asking for a miracle but a sign. A sign points to a greater reality, a reality they were not ready to accept.  So let’s place reality in perspective. In Luke 11: 14, Jesus has healed a mute, yet some of his critics’ say that He  has cast out the demon through the prince of demons, Beelzebul.

Not once but twice in the same Chapter, they ask Jesus for a sign, to trap Him. So Jesus tells them that no sign will be given to them except that of Jonah. Now make no mistake, the sign of Jonah is most erroneously compared to the three days that Jonah spent in the belly of the fish vis-à-vis Jesus’ resurrection.

What is Jesus talking about then?  In answer to a woman who blessed the womb that bore Him and the breasts He suckled, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” For Jesus the living out of the ‘Word of God’ is paramount and it is this ‘living out’ that Jesus offers as ‘a sign’ in the narration of Jonah and the people of Nineveh.

Jonah was a reluctant prophet who did not want the people of Nineveh to repent. Jonah knew that God would have mercy on the enemies of his people. Nineveh was an ancient city located at the mouth of the Tigris River across from the modern day city of Mosul in Iraq. At one point of time it was the capital of Assyria. It was here that the Jews were forced to live in exile and understandably Jonah had no love for these ‘evil people’ or their land. It was they who had plundered and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem (325 BC) and forced the Israelites to spend half a century in exile.

Yet it is to them that Jonah is called to proclaim God’s call to repentance. An infuriated Jonah would rather die than communicate a message of repentance. In the story, he asks to be thrown into the sea and was swallowed by a big fish. The thought of preaching God’s word of repentance was unbearable; knowing that should they repent, God would pardon the people and the city. Jonah is most certain of His merciful God’s forgiveness to these hated enemies of his people, who in the story, eventually repent and are saved.

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Faith

When Jesus gave us a prayer- 1st Week of Lent- Tuesday- Matthew 6: 7-15

The Lord’s Prayer is to be found in all the three synoptic gospels, namely Matthew, Mark and Luke. In Matthew’s Gospel it consists of six verses, in Luke’s gospel; three verses and in Mark’s Gospel it is all of two verses. (Matthew 6: 9-15, Luke 11:2-4, Mark 11: 25-26). The context of the Lord’s Prayer differs in the three Gospels.

What is the context of the Lord’s Prayer as seen in Matthew’s Gospel? Jesus gives us this prayer in the context of ‘how not to pray’. He uses the ‘hypocrites’ as an example who love to pray standing up in the house of worship and in the street corners so that everyone may see them. So Jesus suggests that we go to our private room, close the door and pray to the Father in secret. That is, Jesus is telling us to pray privately, by ourselves, to God. He is giving us an instruction on ‘private prayer’ and in continuation of this instruction He gives us the Lord’s Prayer.

Even more, in verse 7, Jesus says, ‘do not babble like the pagans when you pray’. Why does he say babble?  The pagans would say the name of their gods again and again, mindlessly. Jesus did not want his disciples to be babblers but disciples who prayed. Disciples who meant what they said, to their Abba.

The Lord’s Prayer is part of the great Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). This sermon is given primarily to his disciples (5:1). So from all of the above, we can conclude that the Lord’s Prayer as seen in Matthew’s gospel, is a disciple’s prayer to be prayed in private. Then why do we say the Lord’s Prayer in public?

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Faith

A matter of the heart- Monday of the first week of Lent-MT 25: 31-46

We know that Jesus is REALLY PRESENT in the Eucharist, but He is also ‘really present’ in the poor. In scripture we read, “what so ever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters that you do unto me.”  So when ever we reach out to the poor, it’s not ‘as if ‘ we were doing it for the Lord; we ‘are’ doing it to Him. Jesus is really present in the hungry, naked, lonely, and sick and those  in prison. So any good we do, we do it to Jesus himself.

This passage of Matthew is taken from the last of the “great sermons” preached by Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel.  The JBC describes this passage as a master piece, the high point and grand finale of last of Matthew’s five discourses. As this sermon draws to a close we find our self stepping directly int the Passion Narrative. This is Jesus farewell message to the masses, the last sermon of his public ministry and His personal appeal to us to prepare ourselves, if we wish to enter the kingdom. The list that Jesus enumerates contains six of the seven corporal acts of mercy (the one missing is the burial of the dead) .

When you look at the life of Jesus, it is clear that he made a ‘preferential option for the poor’; a recurring theme in the Gospels. Mother Teresa often said that the Gospel can be summarized in five words; ‘you- did- it-unto- me’. These humble words, each not exceeding four letters of the alphabet, carry the strongest message not only of Christian almsgiving but love in action.

Jesus’ call to almsgiving is not a mere distribution of one’s wealth. When Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees because he did not follow their customs of ritually cleansing the cup and dishes before eating, He responded by saying that if they really wanted to be cleansed, they should give away the contents of those vessels: “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil; but as to what is within, give alms, and behold everything will be clean for you.” (Luke 11:39-41)

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Art/ Heritage

PICTURING THE PASSION: ‘Christ washing His disciples’ feet’ by Tintoretto (1548-49)

 The narrative of today’s painting is simple and yet its significance is revolutionary. The Gospel of John recites: ‘Jesus got up from the table removed His outer garment, and taking a towel wrapped it around his waist. Then he poured water in a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.’ Clearly, Jesus employs simple ordinary means to express His magnificent extra-ordinary love.

The love for this theme of art is best expressed by the Italian painter ‘Tintoretto’. Born Jacopo Comin, Tintoretto (the little dyer) took his name from his father’s profession of dyeing (tintore in Italian). Noticing the paint daubs on the dyer’s wall, his father apprenticed him to the studio of Titian. However as fate would have it, Titian sent the young chap home in 10 days, apparently ‘jealous’ of his extra-ordinary skills.

These spectacular skills were spelled out in most of his paintings with phenomenal energy that earned him the term ‘Il Furioso’. He imitated the bold muscular style of the Mannerist school of art while emulating the colour and light of the Venetian school. It is with this noble conception that he placed above his studio a plaque that read, ‘Il disegno di Michelangelo et il colorito di Tiziano’ (The design of Michelangelo and the colour of Titian).

Tintoretto staged his narratives as a theatre director. He employed light and dark, foreshortening in order to transform religious scenes into enthralling performances. The spirit of Counter Reformation reverberated through his art works. One such beat is ‘Christ washing His disciples’ feet’. Painted in 1548 – 49 for the Church of St. Mark, currently it is on display at the Prado Museum in Spain.

Tintoretto approaches the narrative in a practical manner. The foot washing would have probably lasted for 40 minutes. He therefore does not paint his subjects in solemn silence. Rather on the wings of his imagination he soars beyond sanity.

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