“The Lord is my Shepherd”
In our somewhat directionless world, isn’t it reassuring to hear our inner voice say, “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want”? These verses from David’s Psalm echo through the three readings of today; not only were they said by Jesus in His own lifetime, but Peter repeats them endlessly after the Resurrection.
After the Resurrection, it was important to catechise. We see once again, in the First Reading (Acts 2: 14, 36-41), how the first Apostle reproached the people for putting Jesus to death and urged them to repent. The reward for their repentance would be to receive “the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The pardon of our sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the New Covenant are the fulfilment of Messianic promises. They are open to anyone who accepts the Word of God and transforms their life. And what a privilege, as St. Peter puts it, “The promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to Him.”
Again, in his First Letter, part of which forms the Second Reading (1 Pet 2: 20-25), St. Peter conscientizes the people. He talks about how Jesus is our Shepherd and Paschal Lamb. By His voluntary sacrifice, He showed us the way from death to life eternal. St Peter therefore invites us to suffer, as Jesus did, in the midst of life’s difficulties, which include misunderstandings, calumnies, accusations, and persecutions, all of which Christians suffer as a stumbling block and rock of offence to the world.
We learn from the Gospel (Jn 10: 1-10) that we have nothing to worry about, for Jesus the Good Shepherd is always by our side. He knows His Father in Heaven very intimately, and He knows us too with the same intimacy. He thus becomes “the door” to Heaven, the Mediator par excellence to our Father in Heaven. And His warning against false teachers and doctors – “thieves and robbers” all – is valid for all times, especially our own. He is the Way and the Truth and the Life; He is our only salvation. He is the door; anyone who enters will be saved through Him alone.
This Sunday, rightly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” may we trust only Jesus to be our Shepherd through life; through Him alone we can have life, and life in abundance. Above all, may our Pope, our bishops and priests be good shepherds, always taking the lay faithful to the right pasture.
Mary to Mira: just a sound away?
The article titled ‘Milagris and Lairai: fostering the bond of divine unity’, by historian Dr Sushila Sawant Mendes (Herald, 23 April 2023)[1] has added to the myth rather than clarified it. One would expect to be enlightened on the origin of the statue of Our Lady of Miracles (also Milagr Saibinn, in Konkani), or the story of the Seven Sisters, or even be favoured with a sociological or anthropological explanation; but that was not to be. At any rate, as a lay reader, I wish to raise a few issues about its interface with Catholic practices in Goan society.
To start with, the loose use of the term ‘divine’ with reference to Our Lady leads to considerable confusion. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is not a goddess but a human being, whereas Lairai, shrouded in legend, is one of the seven sister goddesses to the Hindus. Why link a historical personage to a mythological septet? It is therefore gratuitous to put Lairai on a par with Milagr Saibinn.
Quite understandably, the article is riddled with expressions like ‘It is believed’ and ‘Legend has it’. But saying that “Milagris Saibin is believed to be the deity Mirabai, a sister of Goddess Lairai” begs the question: believed by whom? Is there a formal acceptance of the belief, or is it a belief held by an amorphous mass of individuals that offer flowers or pour oil on the statue? The latter practice is, perhaps, of recent origin and the only one of its kind in Goa.
From the Catholic perspective, the story is not Mariological. And stating that “There is a tradition to offer oil to the Milagris Saibin from the Shirigao Devasthan and mogra flowers are offered to Lairai Devi from the St Jerome Church in Mapusa” is not in keeping with any official Catholic tradition in Goa. So, the onus of showing the origin of such a protocol, if any, lies on our historian-writer.
That the purported institutional exchange is a no-no even from the Hindu side was confirmed by iconographer Dr Rohit R. Phalgaonkar, who has researched the issue.[2] No doubt, Mirabai was one of the seven sisters from folklore, but after her abode, Mapusa (not Mayem, as stated in the article), converted to the Catholic faith, way back in the sixteenth century, the temple authorities in Shirigao (and elsewhere) stopped mentioning Mirabai in the traditional invocations. In fact, “none of the sister temples make a reference to Milagris in their official records and in the religious duties or rituals that they perform at the festival. She is not an icon of the Hindus; she is a Christian icon," he added.[3]
Therefore, to say that Milagr Saibinn has taken the place of Mirabai is not plausible; and Dr Phalgaonkar wonders why Milagr Saibinn would have a link with Lairai alone and not with the other sisters! This only goes to prove that, if the issue is not handled with academic rigour, it can be grist to the myth-making mill even in our day and age.
Not surprisingly, there is a dash of magic realism, which helps bring the story alive: “… it is believed that the two sisters visited each other on the day of their respective festivals.” And risking repetition, the writer says, “Folklore tells us that Milagris Saibin would send flowers as a gift to her sister, Goddess Lairai, during the zatra. Lairai would send in turn oil for her sister’s feast.” That is to say, while earlier on in the article, the two institutions were given credit for the magical feat, now it is Milagr Saibinn and Lairai Devi themselves who show how they care for each other! Can scientific writing sacrifice accuracy at the altar of artistic licence?
With the theme of unity and a sense of disclosure ever present, the writer is keen to show that Goa is an oasis of intercommunal peace; and she bends over backwards to prove her point. That “every generation of the people of Assolna, Velim and Cuncolim have grown up with the belief that the Goddess Shantadurga of Fatorpa is the sister of Saude Saibin of the Church of Our Lady of Health in Cuncolim” is either an exaggeration or it speaks poorly of the catechesis received by the Catholics of those villages (AVC).
That is a facile generalisation, which, read alongside the sentences now in parentheses (“The festival of the Sontrios in Cuncolim and the devotional visits of the Catholics to this temple is a graphic representation of this undying belief. Tomorrow is both the feast of Milagres Saibin at Mapusa and the Shree Devi Lairai Zatra at Shirigao, both to be celebrated on the same day after thirteen years, on April 24 this year”) summarily puts Catholics across the length and breadth of Goa under the sontri or umbrella of a syncretic religion.
The article runs high on emotions. After referring to Lairai’s many sisters, the writer states: “Since all are still sisters, it is understood that people worship at either their temples or churches. It is an emotional explanation of how Goans are still one people with one culture even if, on the surface, they are divided.” Is the writer implying that Goans randomly visit places of worship – and does that effectively prove that they are “still one people with one culture”?
It is undeniable that the Indian Constitution allows freedom of religion and worship, but does that lead to licence? We get the impression that Goan Catholics and Hindus have no sense of belongingness and loyalty: they run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Especially Catholics, followers of a monotheistic religion, to insinuate that they worship indiscriminately is a slur on their character.
We are catapulted into the next stage of mythification, on reading the story of Lairai fighting with her brother Khetko. When the writer says that “The ceremonies [at Shirigao] culminate when devotees walk through fire as acts of repentance by the two sisters who had mistreated their brother”, it is not clear which sister fought alongside Lairai and has been paying for it till date. Contextually, or say, in the writer’s variant of the myth, would it be a reference to Mary who has supposedly replaced Mirabai? The fact of the matter is that Mary had no brother and her world was one of meekness and peace.
Is it only a step from Mary to Mira? Or so it is made to appear – just a transposition of syllables! Whether or not “Goans worshipped the Mother Goddess in a number of forms even before the Portuguese arrived”, it is improper to say that “with the coming of the Portuguese, the Virgin Mary was introduced in her various versions”, for the Blessed Virgin Mary has no “versions” but only invocations and titles. Add to it the statement that the “Goans thus turned from one form of Mother Goddess to worship another”, and you have a gross oversimplification of the historical situation! And needless to say, to examine the claim that “many temples dedicated to the Mother Goddess were rebuilt as churches dedicated to Our Lady” would require a thorough historical approach.
To conclude: Considering that no society is devoid of myths, or even completely homogeneous in its myths, we can make allowances for the article’s ‘mythical reasoning’. India is a land abounding in myths and legends; we usually take them in our stride, considering that they have come down from a remote past over which we have no control.
Accordingly, living as we do in a secular democracy striving towards peaceful coexistence, the writer has ended up secularising the myth, of course, cherishing a well-founded hope for “a strong bond of unity”. But whereas this unity is desirable and even achievable at the social level, to endeavour to merge institutional identities, unite heterogeneous beliefs, and mix up religious doctrines is unacceptable.
Can we guard against processes leading to new myths? It is the bounden duty of academics to get to the bottom of it lest peace and unity become a myth.
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[2] Cf. his lecture titled ‘Seven Sister Goddesses’ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDsQFx4jpII
[3] Interview with Dr Rohit R. Phalgaonkar, 28/29.4.2023.
The Challenge of Faith
Today’s Gospel (Lk 24: 13-35) recounts the events of the evening of the Resurrection, specifically how Jesus, who had anonymously joined two disciples, Cleopas and an unnamed companion, on the road to Emmaus, remained unrecognised by them. Jesus pretended not to know what had happened in those pivotal days. Rather, He heard what they thought of Him: that He was a prophet expected to redeem Israel, and now His body was missing.
Were the disciples feeling it was all over now? Just then, the unknown fellow traveller lamented their foolishness and how they were 'slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.' None of that affected their self-esteem; they even invited the stranger to stay the night with them. It was then at the table—when He took the bread and broke it—that their eyes saw Jesus; he had meanwhile vanished out of sight.
What about us Catholics who have been with the Lord for so long? Do we truly know Him intimately, or do we take Him for granted? Do we acknowledge His presence among us, discern His signs, or does life go on as if He doesn't exist? Shouldn’t the Resurrection alone have definitively proven Christ's divinity, strengthened our faith and inspired us to proclaim to the world that He alone is God? Historically, many who claimed to be prophets or even God have died, and we have seen no hint of the glory they had claimed for themselves.
In contrast, the signs, miracles, and wonders that Jesus performed during his public life, and the marvels that we have witnessed down the centuries, are proof enough that the Church is divine. Jesus still walks the pilgrim path with us; He is with us on our road to Emmaus, a road fraught with doubts and difficulties. Jesus shares in our miseries and brightens our path—a mystery we can discern only with eyes of faith.
St. Peter, the focus of the first two readings, drives the same point home. He, whom the Resurrection has transformed, is out to vehemently proclaim his Master. He denied Him three times, but the Resurrection has now confirmed his faith.
The First Reading (Acts 2: 14, 22-33) is a synopsis of Peter’s first testimony about Jesus to the eleven after he received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He has a bounce in his step and a newfound zeal in his voice. He feels emboldened to speak not only by what his ears had earlier heard, but by what his eyes have now seen: the Risen Lord! Peter conscientizes the people and indicts them for killing the Messiah. Needless to say, God, who is always in control, had let it happen 'according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God' and now 'God raised Him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.'
Peter also reminds the people that, as per David's prophesy, God would 'not let the Holy One see corruption'. The foremost Apostle’s message speaks of everlasting life, as prophesied by the sweet psalmist of Israel and fulfilled in the Paschal mystery. He is proud and confident that such a faith is not abstract but based on a real happening: the Resurrection. Nonetheless, as a final test of his faith, he who became the first Pope ordained by Christ Himself died an inverted crucifixion in the Nero Gardens.
In the Second Reading (1 Pet 1: 17-21), we see the Apostle who had struck the High Priest’s servant Malchus with a sword in the Garden of Gethsemane now seizing the opportunity to strike again.... Peter speaks candidly about his Lord and Master, undeterred by the tumultuous circumstances in Jerusalem. His appeal to the faithful to conduct themselves 'with fear' must be understood as the holy fear of God the Father, not of man. He stresses that Jesus is the Paschal Lamb who has sacrificed His life for the new humanity. 'Through Him, you have confidence in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God,' emphasizes Peter.
Finally, we might wonder if a fisherman like Peter was ever capable of writing such profound exhortations. Most likely, his secretary, Sylvan or Silas, edited his letters, yet there is no denying that they are divinely inspired. The fact that Our Lord chose poor Peter to lead the Church may likewise baffle the worldly wise. But, then, it isn't wisdom that God wants from us, but faith.
Quite paradoxically, a sure way of strengthening our faith is by being fools for Christ, and, like Peter, a rock upon which Christ can build His Church. Dare we accept the challenge of the faith that the fisherman once accepted?
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Journeying from doubt to belief
Would you believe it? The apostles were caught off-guard by the Resurrection! They huddled together in fear, when they should have been rejoicing and shouting from the rooftops! Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, this seems like an obvious point. But the fact is that, although at the Passover Meal Jesus had foretold His return, 'Resurrexit' was likely just a distant concept to them.…
Let’s face it, what does it mean to us today? Does the Resurrection still have a breaking-news effect in our lives? The world had never seen a resurrection before. Jesus had raised three from the dead, but that did not register with those men of little faith!
It was not the apostles, then, but Mary of Magdala who was privileged to first see the Risen Lord. Unable to contain herself, she rushed to break the news to Peter and John, but they simply shook their heads in disbelief. Meanwhile, Jesus appeared to two other Marys and Salome—women were the first messengers to the Apostles—and in the evening, to two disciples travelling to Emmaus. When this duo hurried back to Jerusalem, they found the apostles gathered, bewildered, in the Cenacle.
According to the Gospel (Jn 20: 19-31), when the doors were shut—where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews—Jesus came in and stood among them, saying, ‘Peace be with you’. He had defied the laws of time and space, which probably caused them even more fear. But then, to set all their doubts at rest, He showed them His hands and His side. He instructed them to receive the Holy Spirit and authorised them to forgive and preach in His Name.
This day soon became “the Lord’s Day,” replacing the Sabbath as the day of creation, the Mosaic law, and the Pasch. It symbolised a new creation, a new alliance, and a new, definitive Pasch. The Gospel account may not be exhaustive, but there is no doubt that the Church was on the horizon.
However, the going was not as smooth as it might seem. The Twin has gone down in history as ‘doubting Thomas’ (St John is the only evangelist to refer to the episode); still, we must not hold it against him. By the depth of his love, he believed when he met the Lord a week later; by the strength of his bond, he cried, ‘My Lord and my God’; and by the power of his commitment, he went on an apostolic mission to India.
What a lesson for us! Too often we doubt and remain in that doubt; we ask questions but seldom seek the answers. In our fast-paced world, while we pretend to eloquently reason out, we fail to see that faith alone can touch infinity and set us free.
So many holy traditions can be traced back to the Day of the Lord: the peace greeting, the receiving of the Holy Spirit, the sacrament of confession, and the duty to evangelise. Lest these meaningful commands turn into meaningless rituals, it is essential to remember that our acts must be soaked in faith. The Lord expects nothing short of a leap of faith, for ‘blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’
That transformative faith was evident when thousands converted and lived radically in the wake of the Resurrection. The First Reading (Acts 2: 42-47) tells us that the neo-converts ‘devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.’ By having ‘all things in common’, they sowed the seed of religious communities; by selling or distributing their possessions, they introduced charitable living. This was not an injunction against private property, for they did so ‘as any had need’. But one thing is sure: by refraining from accumulating wealth, they emphasised that our real treasure lies in Heaven.
Thus, the neo-converts lived in the joy of the Lord and felt blessed. That is yet another lesson for us to take to heart. It is a pity that sometimes we distance ourselves from the Messiah, if not reject Him completely. By shameful acts of commission and omission, we repeatedly put him to a shameful death. If the Resurrection does not convince us of the divinity of Our Lord, no other miracle will. In fact, after He rose from the dead, His divinity was even more pronounced than his humanity.
The Second Reading (1 Pet. 1: 3-9) renews our hope. It teaches us that ‘by His great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in Heaven for you.’ We may suffer a little while on earth, but that suffering is a purging. Through it all, we must continue to praise and thank God for our Christian vocation.
Finally, Christ being the reason for our being, we must dispel the darkness of doubt and soak in our belief. In fact, the Gospel account was written precisely ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name’ (Jn 20: 30-31). It promises not a naïve and selfish joy of the flesh, but a deep and self-giving joy of the spirit, simple and life-giving. This is a marvellous hope that we can all nurture as we renew our Christian life; it is a most wonderful way of being Church.
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Why Easter is the bedrock of our faith!
It's thanks to Easter that we are Christians. Whereas the joyful birth of Jesus contained a promise, this was fulfilled through His sorrowful Death and glorious Resurrection. This unparalleled event was the ultimate answer to those who had rejected His luminous earthly passage abounding in wise teachings and unprecedented miracles. He who had come to complete the Jewish religion thus founded a new and sublime religion—Christianity—that would be open to the peoples of the world.
The panoply of readings from the Easter Vigil and Mass tells us the story of the redemption of the world. The seven readings[1] from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament are 'chosen and structured to lead the worshipping assembly into a deep contemplation of the mystery of salvation history—from the beginning of time, when God created the world in all its wonder, to this moment of the Church gathered in prayer, to the end of time when all things will be brought to perfection once again in God's love.'[2] In other words, the readings tell of the Redeemer about whom the prophets had long foretold.
The Easter Sunday (morning and evening) Mass offers a different set of readings, of which the Second Reading and the Gospel have internal choices.[3]
Starting with the Gospel (John 20: 1-9): obviously, it is about the Resurrection! If we read the four Evangelists, we cannot help but notice the multiple differences in their accounts. However, the disparity lies only in the secondary details: while St John (in all probability) wrote a first-hand account, the rest of the Evangelists wrote theirs based on eyewitnesses. Most importantly, none are at variance on the fundamental issue, that is, that the tomb was found without the Lord early on Sunday morning. It was not a desecration; it was undoubtedly the Resurrection!
In fact, those variations only go to show that the Resurrection accounts were not tailored; they were written at different times, between circa AD 66 and 110, in this order: Mark (AD 66-70), Matthew and Luke (AD 85-90), and John (AD 90-110). And even if they had never been written, there would still have been other evidence of the stunning event. Paul’s letters were put together between AD 50-58 and St Luke’s Acts of the Apostles between AD 70-90. Clearly, those letters are the earliest extant texts about the Resurrection, predating the first of the Gospels by over a decade. Would God the Father have allowed the most important event of all history to go unrecorded?
Very pertinently, the first two readings are taken from the accounts of those two travelling companions, Luke and Paul. The First Reading (Acts 10: 34a, 37-43) refers to the now fiery St. Peter chastising those who put Jesus to death. 'But God raised Him on the third day,' he states, 'and made Him manifest, not to all the people but to us, who were chosen by God and witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.' Faithful to the Divine Master’s command, the future First Pope testifies: 'To Him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.'
Even more striking is St. Paul’s testimony related to the Resurrection. Here is one of Christ’s worst persecutors, whose conversion history is so well known that it can be dispensed with here. In today’s Second Reading (Col 3: 1-4), he most convincingly points to Christ 'seated at the right hand of God' and invites us to set our minds on things that are on high. It is the same Paul who famously said, 'If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.' (Cor 15: 17) He championed Christ’s cause—the physical Resurrection—which prompted Roman Emperor Nero to order his beheading.
Let alone dying like Paul, had we only believed more firmly in the Resurrection and spoken more ardently about this turning point in the history of humankind, by now there would have been only Christian apologists walking the earth and no apologetic Christians in sight! After two thousand years of Christianity, can we say we have done enough?
Let us therefore resolve to rise above our frailties—to rise with Christ and to live with Him forevermore, with Him who is indeed the Resurrection and the Life!
[1] The Vigil readings for all Year cycles are as follows: Gen 1: 1-2, 2; Gen 22: 1-18; Ex 14: 15-15, 1; Is 54: 5-14; Is 55: 1-11; Bar 3: 9-15, 32 – 1, 4; Ezek 36: 16-28; and at the Mass thereafter: Rom 6: 3-11 [Year A]; Mk 16: 1-7 [Year B], Lk 24: 1-12 [Year C]
[2] https://tinywebs.site/3k1Fpc
[3] The Second Reading can be either from Colossians (3: 1-4) or Corinthians (5: 6-8). And while the first choice of Gospel text is from St John (20: 1-9), one may alternatively take any one of the Gospel texts of the Easter Vigil Mass: Mt 28: 1-10 marked for Year A; Mk 16: 1-7, for Year B; or Lk 24: 1-12, for Year C. The Lectionary also specifies that at evening Mass, Gospel of the Third Sunday of Easter, Year A, may be read.
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The Suffering Servant
Today is Palm Sunday. The day begins with the blessing of palms with holy water outside the church building. The Gospel read here is from St Matthew (21: 1-11) in Year A, St Mark (11: 1-10) or St John (12: 12-16) in Year B, and St Luke (19: 28-40) in Year C. The priest then leads the congregation in a festive procession into the church, celebrating Our Lord’s Messianic entry into Jerusalem.
However, at the Mass soon thereafter, the mood changes from joyful to sombre, marking the beginning of Holy Week. While the first two Readings and the psalm – Is. 50: 4-7; Ps. 21: 8-9, 17, 18a, 19-20, 23-24; Phil. 2: 6-11 – remain the same for cycles A, B and C, the Gospel changes from year to year, highlighting the three Synoptics: St Matthew (26: 14-27, 66), St Mark (14: 1-15, 47), and St Luke (22: 14-23, 56), respectively. They account for events going from the Last Supper to the Death of Jesus.
St John is thus the only evangelist whose Gospel is not read at this Mass. The Beloved Disciple – who offers a unique perspective on the Divine Master, more theological and mystical – is especially reserved for Maundy Thursday (Jn 13: 1-15) and Good Friday (Jn 18: 1-19, 42), besides two weekday readings. While the Gospel on Thursday focusses on the Last Supper, on Friday, we hear a Passion narrative that begins with Gethsemane and ends with Our Lord’s Death on the Cross.
Coming now to the three Readings of today: in the First Reading (Is 50: 4-7), who is Isaiah talking about? He could well be referring to himself or to an archetypal prophet, for all prophets suffered persecution. Better still, Isaiah could be referring to the One who was to come: Jesus the Messiah! Jesus, an unparalleled Master, is the Servant of God, obedient to the will of His Father in Heaven. Jesus is a model Servant who trusts in God and prevails over His enemies.
That the life of Jesus was a fulfilment of the prophecies of yore becomes clear in the richly textured Gospel passage (Mt 26: 14-27, 66) on the Passion of Christ. The text comprises Jesus’ scandalous betrayal by Judas Iscariot, as foretold at the memorable Passover meal; His moments of intense prayer on the Mount of Olives; His acts of extreme kindness even when His soul was sorrowful to death; His unlawful arrest and summary trial by the high priest; His shameful denial thrice over by Peter; His monstrous condemnation by Pilate; His distressful way to Calvary; His crucifixion, death, and burial.
St Paul in the Second Reading (Phil 2: 6-11) points to Jesus' humility. He who was fully divine willingly became fully human; He who was “in the form of God did not count equality with God (…) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” His total obedience led to His humiliation, which in turn engendered His exaltation. God gave him a name “which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (…) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
No one who has carefully listened to the three readings of today will remain unmoved.
May this Holy Week inspire us to reflect on the human condition and our divine commitment. Today, some of Our Lord’s sufferings are inflicted upon His Living Body, the Church; we perpetrate some of them from within. God might sometimes allow our humiliation and suffering, but never our annihilation; our faith, hope and trust in God’s protection will ensure our final exaltation.
May the story of Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant, and His supreme love for humanity cause our conversion and sanctification.
Don Bosco’s: after a kind of absence
Way back in the 1970s, how did our parents choose from half a dozen schools in Panjim? Don Bosco’s must have been the most obvious choice, given its infrastructure and proven track record; it was a dream school to many from far and wide and all stations in life.
Don Bosco’s had by far the largest educational campus in the then union territory of Goa. The main, (then) two-storeyed edifice, spacious, bright and airy, housed the school, the priests’ residence and the boys’ boarding (especially during the Persian Gulf boom). The building was cut across by a passage leading to a new shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima, where Mass for the students, on First Fridays, was a spiritual feast. Elsewhere on the campus, sports facilities were among the best at the time. And to wrap it all up, the school motto, Virtus et Scientia, pointed to a holistic education and recipe for happiness.
But what man is happy? Only "he who has a healthy body, a resourceful mind and a docile nature," says a philosopher. To our good fortune, that was quite the staple diet we students grew up on; it let Bosco boys stand out not only in academics, but also in intra- and extra-mural pursuits that included music (remember the brass band?); sports (particularly football, basketball and hockey); elocution, debate, and so on. ‘All-rounder’ was a buzzword, in the run-up to the examination of life.
Needless to say, school was no cakewalk; sometimes there was waywardness, dejection and frustration along the way. But, through it all, the aspirations of the Salesian brotherhood shone bright, distilled into that martial anthem whose lyrics and melody render me nostalgic before they finally pep me up:
We the proud Don Bosco boys
brave Don Bosco brotherhood.
Nursing in our heart the joys
Of true knowledge and the good.
Forward march with equal pace
Through our country’s sounding ways
Treading where our fathers trod
In the glorious light of God.
We who are the happy band
Will not shrink from sweat and strife.
In the service of our land
For a brighter cleaner life.
We will toil till out of gloom
Day shall dawn and deserts bloom.
And our country’s blessed soil
Shall be green and gold for God.
Don Bosco’s was clearly ahead of its time. It had a vibrant ‘Past Pupils Association’. When alumni found it tough to secure proper lodgings in the bustling capital, a hostel was built for the purpose, at a far end of the campus. So much for connectedness. But perhaps even more distinctive was the Oratory, an institution inspired by the founder St John Bosco himself. The Saint of Turin had realised, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, that young minds longed for more than just hard skills – they sought loving kindness!
For long, the Oratory functioned in the desacralized, old Fatima chapel located right in the middle of the vast estate; inscribed on its façade were the words ‘Visitasti Nos’ (You Visited Us, in Italian) commemorating the coming of the Pilgrim Virgin statue there in 1950. The place was a safe haven to a motley crowd that included the less fortunate, poor, and abandoned youth. And even those who did not much fancy the place did feel its magnetic pull at some time or other in their lives!
All things considered, it was a matter of pride to belong to a school where one trained in good citizenship of the church, the country and the world. Catechism and Moral Science classes virtually set the tone. And who can ever forget ‘Don Bosco’s Seven Tips to Boys’ bulleted in the school handbook? They always bear repeating:
- Do not waste time.
- Do not offend God.
- Do not overeat before studying.
- Avoid bad companions as poisonous snakes.
- Choose some studious boys as friends.
- When it’s time to play, get in there and play.
- Do not daydream! Keep your mind on your books when studying.
- Above all, PRAY.
Hopefully, a lot of that wisdom has stayed with the “proud Don Bosco boys” and been passed on to generation-next!
Oh, how all of this seems far back, yet close at hand!... Am I lost in reverie? Be that as it may, our alma mater has her feet firm on the ground; even if at times we have taken her for granted, she, like a doting mother, has been there for us. And whereas her alumni have grown old, she has, thankfully, only grown big! Here I wish to pay homage to my teachers, some of them priests and brothers; and to remember my classmates too: we are now a scattered lot, aren’t we? No wonder it feels like a kind of absence….
On the occasion of the triple Jubilee, I salute the Salesian family for holding on. Don Bosco’s has grown into a splendid oasis amidst a slowly emerging concrete jungle; but then again, weeds of the world must not be allowed to close in on it! Don Bosco’s has come a long way, and the Founder’s spirit must live on: this will be a clincher for twenty-first century parents waiting to choose from more than half a dozen schools in the city!
(First published in the Souvenir Back to School)
(Banner: https://sdbpanjim.org/newsdetails.php?id=1505; Pics 2 and 3, courtesy Eustaquio Santimano, Flicker)
A Glimpse of the Resurrection
Today, God speaks in a special way to our world that is filled with inordinate love for life and undue fear of suffering and death. The long and short of His message is that we must trust in Him alone, for nothing is permanent except Him; we would therefore do well to fix our gaze on eternal life rather than set our heart on earthly promises.
On this fifth Sunday of Lent, the three readings offer a supernatural perspective on life and death. Traditionally called Passion Sunday, today marks the start of ‘Passiontide’, a season that invites us to begin a close preparation for Easter. In this run-up, let us seek to better understand the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour and to see those stages in our day-to-day life as Christians. The readings prepare us mentally and spiritually for the greatest mystery of all time.
The First Reading (Ezek 37: 12-14) is drawn from a major prophet of the Old Testament. Ezekiel focuses on how God is always faithful and keeps His promises. He makes God’s mercy and justice known through a vision of dry and scattered bones vivified in the valley. The bones represent the Israelites, exiled and dispersed; their revival represents God’s saving grace to the land and the people. Church Fathers like St Justin, St Irenaeus, and St Tertullian consider Ezekiel’s vision to be an indication of the resurrection of the bodies on the last day.
Although today’s Gospel (Jn 11: 1-45) does not quote Ezekiel verbatim, it shows a realization of his prophecy. Jesus raises Lazarus, in a miracle several notches higher than the cure of the blind beggar at Siloam, in last Sunday's Gospel. Jesus made it clear that the beggar’s congenital blindness was not a chastisement; Lazarus’ illness was ‘not unto death.’ Our Lord delays his coming to Bethany, located some 3 km from Bethlehem, so he might not merely have to cure but to raise his friend to life – ‘for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.’ It is the Lord’s final ‘sign’ to the Jews: to believe in His divinity and the power of the true God.
Jesus takes yet another step, by clearly proclaiming: ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in me, even he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.’ Whereas such a statement crosses the limits of human logic, look at Thomas: he who would later be dubbed ‘the doubting’ one is presently ready to die with the Lord. Are we ready to leave behind our earthly knowledge and pride and believe in His logic?
For their part, the disciples did not seem to understand what Jesus meant by saying that Lazarus ‘has fallen asleep’; they had probably forgotten how He had raised the daughter of Jairus! And the Bethany household too was bemused by Jesus who said, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ In her limited human view, Martha took it to be the resurrection on the last day.
What would we see if we looked through Martha’s glasses? And after knowing what really happened two thousand years ago, do we believe firmly that He is truly the Resurrection and the Life? Are we ready to leave behind our earthly possessions and wear spectacles of faith? Can we say confidently that ours is an awesome God, who never fails, and that He never fails us?
But then, isn’t it paradoxical that the One who gave life to Lazarus was put to death?! Mary, who had anointed Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, was only prefiguring his burial. And Martha, who knew Jesus so well, was so naïve as to say, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.’ It was as if he was dissuading Our Lord from performing so clean a miracle.
All is grist that comes to the mill of the Author of Life. Whereas He can turn bad odours into fragrances and transform death into life, the fragrance of divine fidelity was paid back with the odour of human infidelity. That is to say, life was repaid with death. Whereas the Jews were unmoved by the marvel wrought by the Lord, they moved hurriedly to complain to the Sanhedrin. The rest is history…
We are all Lazaruses wounded by sin. Unless rescued by Christ, we shall remain like dry bones in this valley of tears. St Paul reminds us in the Second Reading (Rom 8: 8-11) that the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us. We must pray that, in untying our sinful bandages, He forgives us our sins. As Pope John Paul II once said, ‘The real strength of a man lies in the fidelity of his witness to the truth and in his resisting flattery, threats, misunderstandings, blackmail, even harsh and relentless persecution. This is the path on which our Redeemer calls us to follow Him.’[1]
[1] Cf. Pope John Paul II, Passion Sunday sermon, 2002 https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4206
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The Challenge of the Light
On Laetere Sunday [1], we joyfully anticipate the victory and the joy that will be ours at Easter. We have progressed through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and are half way through Lent. Through the Liturgy of the Word, we have meditated on the human condition and on our response to God’s loving invitation through the ages.
Looking back, on the first Sunday of Lent, the First Reading focused on the creation of the world and the sins of our first parents. On the second, we heard Abraham's call, the father of the people of God. On the third, we read Moses's story of leading his people out of Egypt.
Today, in the First Reading (1 Sam 16: 1.6-7.10-13), on the fourth Sunday of Lent, we witness the rise of David (Hebrew for ‘commander’) as the ruler of the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah. God bid the prophet Samuel to anoint the youngest son of Jesse (‘God exists’) with oil in his hometown of Bethlehem.
Accordingly, David, a shepherd, replaced the first king, Saul, who had disobeyed God: ‘The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.’ A millennium later, Jesus (‘God saves’) was born in Bethlehem (‘House of Bread’) and would eventually declare Himself the Good Shepherd. Bethlehem, in the hill country of Judah, was located about six miles north-west of Nazareth, where Jesus lived until he was thirty, and about five miles south of Jerusalem, where He would die, three years later. Thus ended the public ministry of God’s slain Lamb, unprecedentedly full of miracles and blessings.
The Gospel (Jn 9: 1-41) speaks of one such miracle or ‘sign’: the cure of a blind beggar. The disciples, keen as they were to know if his blindness was a result of sin, seemed ‘blind’ too. The Master clarified that 'it was not that this man or his parents had sinned, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.' Jesus, proclaiming Himself the 'Light of the World', sent the blind man to Siloam (meaning, ‘Sent’).
That was incipient baptism, carrying as it did a promise of sweet light and refreshing health to the weak and suffering.[2] Once cured, the man called Jesus 'a prophet' and later acknowledged Him as the Son of Man. Clearly, he had received not only natural sight but also supernatural light!
Overawed by this occurrence, the local cabal began to work overtime and close in on Jesus. The Pharisees spread a canard: 'This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.' No doubt, Jesus had cured the blind man on a sabbath, but, as He had said elsewhere, 'the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.' (Mk 2: 23–28)
However, far from recognising Him as the Messiah, some Pharisees argued that he who has not kept the sabbath cannot be of God. Whereas they kept pressing the cured man, expecting him to retract his earlier statement, the grateful man retorted: 'You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes. (…) Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.'
In view of such irrefutable logic, the only thing left to do was hype the case against Jesus. The parents were called upon to make sure if their son was congenitally blind; they did, but since 'the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue,’ they pleaded ignorance as to the author of the marvel.
That was pure blackmail! Alas, how many do the same today! They swim with the current, compromising their principles, so as to gain social acceptance and political mileage. Likewise, arm-twisting and intimidation are rampant; it is the same old story of giving a dog a bad name and hanging him!
At that time, Jesus was at the height of his ministry — but also at the threshold of his Passion and Death. The Light of the World was shining in the darkness, yet the world did not know Him (cf. Jn 1). The cure of the blind man shows Jesus to be the Messiah, who came into the world 'that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.' That is, His light was 'as mighty as to enlighten the lowly as it was to dazzle and blind the proud.'[3] To the Pharisees, who felt targeted by this powerful proclamation, He said that only physical, not spiritual, blindness could be excused…
In today’s topsy-turvy world, one sees the right-minded being banished, while the flawed get promoted. But we are not to be frightened or discouraged. By our baptism, we have been invited to cross from darkness to light, from sin to supernatural life. St Paul in the Second Reading (Eph. 5: 8-14) exhorts us to 'walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them.' Persevering in this mission through life is indeed the challenge of the Light.
[1] So called from the first words of the Entrance Antiphon for Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem" ("Rejoice, O Jerusalem")
[2] Abbé C. Fouard, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Goa: Don Bosco, 1960, p. 290.
[3] Op. cit., p. 293.
Drinking of the Living Water
Moses almost fell out with God for the sake of the people and with the people for God’s sake. The dilemma faced by the most important prophet of the Old Testament is palpable in the First Reading (Ex 17: 3-7): ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’
It’s no doubt lonely at the top—if we venture to do things alone! Moses had God on his side. He saw God face to face and heard Him more easily than he could humour the fickle-minded and ungrateful Israelites. Here was a man who had led them out of an oppressive land, across the Red Sea, and into freedom; yet his countrymen pined for Egypt’s fleshpots!
However, God did not give up. He knew that doubting pointed to seeking. He commanded Moses to strike the rock, and abundant water would be found to quench the people’s physical thirst. He declared the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai for their moral guidance. And one day, there would be a New Moses issuing a new Commandment of Love, and blood and water would come forth from His heart wounded by a lance on Mount Calvary.
In the Gospel (Jn 4: 5-42), Jesus offers the Samaritan woman the water of eternal life. At first, she mistook this water for the sparkling water of Jacob’s well that Jesus had asked for. When Jesus dispelled that doubt, she went to town, exclaiming, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’ Obviously, open as she was to divine grace, she welcomed the Word of God.
Meanwhile, Christ’s disciples kept urging Him to eat and satisfy His bodily need; they failed to see the significance of what He had said: ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ What a far cry from the Samaritan woman who had understood the Lord. Therefore, the perceptive St Augustine sees in her the figure of the Church that was about to be founded. The fact that it took a Samaritan woman to proclaim Jesus as the much-awaited Christ shows that no one is a prophet in their own land and that the Church is destined to attract the whole world!
The Bishop of Hippo has this to say of today’s Gospel passage: ‘The things spoken there are great mysteries, and the similitudes of great things; feeding the hungry, and refreshing the weary soul.’[1] Indeed, his interpretations of the Lord’s weariness, the sixth hour, the five husbands, the fountain and the well, the living water, the harvest and the labourers and, of course, the woman herself are all of great benefit.
God promises to reveal to us the treasures of His love by degrees, and Jesus did the same to the Samaritan woman. He is the Bread and Water of Life, and woe to those who do not believe it. We, who are heirs to the Holy Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition, should not go by new-fangled notions; when we have the Living Bread and Water, what use are sensory delights? And is it not downright stupid for us, who already know the Saviour of the World, to dip into the weird world of petty godmen, false prophets, or cult leaders who go about ruining souls?
Let us, then, turn a new leaf. Let us harden not our hearts but praise and thank God, bow down in worship, and kneel before Him who made us (cf. Ps 94: 2, 6-7). Let us pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our hearts and be sure, as St Paul teaches in the Second Reading (Rom 5: 1-2, 5-8) that ‘since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ’
What does it mean to be ‘justified by faith’? It means receiving God’s grace to be cleansed of sin and be inwardly sanctified, starting at baptism. When we are convinced of and grateful for this immense blessing, we too will go forth, give witness, and proclaim that Jesus is Lord. What a grace it is to have a God who cares for all our needs. The Living Water fully quenches our thirst.
[1] St Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John, Tractate XV, § 1. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/s/schaff/npnf107/cache/npnf107.pdf
Banner: https://www.columbiamuseum.org/collection-highlights/christ-and-samaritan-woman