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.
Banner: https://reclaimingourchildren.typepad.com
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.
Banner: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/fra-angelico-christ-glorified-in-the-court-of-heaven
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
Banner: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/471846
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
Goencheo Mhonn'neo - III | Adágios Goeses - III
Damos aqui uma terceira lista de adágios,[1] extraídos do livro Enfiada de Anexins Goeses, obra bilíngue (concani-português), de Roque Bernardo Barreto Miranda (1872-1935).[2] E desta vez, transcrevemos cada um deles também na corrente grafia romana, embora ainda não estandardizada, da língua concani.
Salta logo à vista, na grafia moderna, o desaparecimento dos sinais diacríticos, a saber, os acentos agudo, grave e circunflexo, o til, a cedilha, o apóstrofo e o hífen, que haviam sido introduzidos por influência do português, durante séculos a língua oficial de Goa. Há quem diga que a romanização da escrita causou a eliminação ou deformação dos sons originais do idioma concani.[3] Mas isso, a ser verdade, não teria sido por inépcia do alfabeto romano que, por meio de certas convenções, bem podia dar conta do recado; mas simplesmente por falta de esforços concertados no sentido de padronizar a escrita.[4]
Será que não houve alguma eliminação ou deformação dos sons quando, por compulsões históricas, o concani – escrito originariamente em Goykanadi, alfabeto em desuso há seculos – passara a empregar os alfabetos devanagárico, canarês, malaiala e persa-árabe? Ora, no século XVI, perante esse mare magnum gráfico e a concomitante falta de meios de impressão, o alfabeto romano veio mesmo a calhar, e, ao longo do tempo, ajudou a engrossar a literatura profana e religiosa do concani, língua esta que, por estranho que pareça, havia os que a queriam somente como língua falada[5] e não literária.
Urge notar que perante o papel que a romanização da escrita teve na preservação e promoção da própria língua, é insignificante a alegada eliminação ou deformação dos sons que ela teria causado. Foram os utentes do concani romanizado, na sua esmagadora maioria católicos, que a usaram como língua literária, enquanto outros, por sinal, os hindus, tiveram unicamente o marata como sua língua literária, e só muito mais tarde, ou seja, nos anos sessenta do século XX, vieram a patrocinar o concani; e o fizeram usando caracteres devanagáricos, tal como em marata e hindi, de entre outras línguas indianas.
Em todo caso, deixemos aos peritos determinar se o que modernamente está assente na matéria da fonética e ortografia do concani se acha completamente livre da influência de idiomas dominantes, tais como o inglês e o marata. Aliás, não cremos que exista um sistema de grafia perfeito e igual para todos os tempos; o dinamismo linguístico não o permite.
Passando, em seguida, para o vocabulário dos utentes do concani romanizado: vê-se, no texto ora em consideração, que, sem aferrado purismo, em concani são usados muitos vocábulos portugueses (anjo; festa; padre-vigário; presidente), e vice-versa (betle/bétele; ceira), sendo esse fenómeno osmótico muito próprio de línguas vivas. Assim, longe de se corromperem, ambas as línguas se enriqueceram.
Por sua vez, Barreto Miranda, livre de preconceitos, valorizou não só a sabedoria do povo como também a língua da sua terra natal.
Concani | Tradução literal | Tradução livre
Sarquém anjyachém, cornyô devtçarachyô. | Sarkem anjachem; kornneo devcharacheo.
São de anjo as feições
e de demo as acções.
Uma lindíssima aparência
encobre, às vezes, má essência.
Pann’velichyá nibann moxingak udâk. | Panvelichea niban moxingak udok.
A água com que a betle[6]
(trepadeira) é regada,
apanha-a o moringueiro,
ao qual está enroscada.
P’lo benefício feito aos protegidos,
ficam, às vezes, outros atingidos.
Muy zahunn sakor khavunk zay. | Mui zavun sakhor khavunk zai.
Qual formiga tem de ser,
Quem queira açúcar comer.
Tem que ser, muito pequeno
e humilde, como formiga,
se quer viver bem, sereno.
Fest cortá ganv, Padre-vigarachém nanv. | Fest korta ganv, Padri-vigarachem nanv.
Fest cortá ganv, pirjentichém[7] nanv. | Fest korta ganv, presidentichem nanv.
É freguesia que festeja,
mas quem leva a glória da festa
é padre-vigário da igreja.
Melôlê gayêk bará xér dud. | Melole gaiek bara xer dudh.
A vaca que morreu,
doze ceiras[8] de leite
regularmente deu.
Depois da morte de alguém,
dizem dele sempre o bem.
Vhodd gharak poklé vanché. | Vhodd gharak pokle vanxe.
A casa tem o aspecto apalaçado,
mas ocos são os caibros do telhado.
A casa tem a aparência
de abastança, mas as arcas
não têm a suficiência.
Hatachim canknâm tçouchak arsó zay? | Hatachim kanknnam pollovpak arso zai?
Porventura há precisão
de espelho, para alguém ver
as joias da sua mão?
Não há nenhuma utilidade
servir-se de coisas ou meios,
de que não há necessidade.
Xettiló bôil baynt poddló, ganv ailó | Xettilo boil baint poddlo, ganv ailo
xêtt poddló, konui na ailó. | Xett poddlo, konnui na ailo.
Caiu no poço o boi dum mercador
a aldeia inteira lá compareceu.
Tendo, porém, caído o mercador
ninguém, pessoa alguma, apareceu.
Variante:
Xettitçó bôil mortá zalear, sogló ganv | Xetticho boil morta zalear, soglo ganv
pautá, xêtt melyar konui ye na. | pavta, xett melear konnui ie na.
Se morre um boi dum influente,
toda a aldeia comparece.
mas, em morrendo o influente,
nenhuma pessoa aparece.
Ek taltann taliyô vazâ nãy. | Ek talltan talleo vazonant.
Uma mão só, palmas
não pode bater,
sempre de outra mão,
tem que depender.
Há actos que não podem
ser postos em acção,
sem haver dependência
ou cooperação.
Tus kanddunn hatak fôdd. | Tus kanddun hatak fodd.
Pilando casca de arroz,
nada se adquiriu, senão
as empolas para mão.
De tanto trabalho feito,
não se auferiu proveito.
[1] Cf. Revista da Casa de Goa, Série II, No. 18, Set-Out 2022, pp. 33-34
[2] Roque Bernardo Barreto Miranda, Enfiada de Anexins Goeses, dos mais correntes (Goa: Imprensa Nacional, 1931)
[3] ManoharRai SarDessai, A History of Konkani Literature: from 1500 to 1992 (New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2000), p. 22.
[4] “… representa os sons melhor do que os alfabetos indianos não modificados; e não implica nem com a música nem com os vocábulos.” (Mariano Saldanha, “A Língua Concani: as suas Conferências e a acção portuguesa na sua cultura”, in Boletim do Instituto Vasco da Gama, No. 71, p. 28)
[5] Não é de admitir que se tenha perdido toda a literatura em concani nas fogueiras da Inquisição, pois encontrar-se-ia algo desse registo pelo menos fora da jurisdição desse temido Tribunal.
[6] O mesmo que bétele, planta aromática (Piper betle) cultivada na Ásia.
[7] Corruptela de “presidente”.
[8] Antiga medida de peso, na Índia.
Publicado na Revista da Casa de Goa, Série II, No. 21, Mar-Abr 2023, pp. 59-62
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:a786b796-6b92-390e-a630-270a0648453a
Transfigured by the Cross
God created man in His image and likeness and dialogued with him in Eden. But alas, Original Sin soon interrupted the dialogue. The covenant with Noah followed the Edenic covenant; it was an everlasting covenant of "common grace", made with all of humanity and creation. It not only served as a foundation for subsequent covenants (Abrahamic; Mosaic) but is also seen as a foreshadowing of the final, new covenant in Jesus Christ.
The Abrahamic covenant is the subject of today's First Reading (Gen 12:1-4). God chose Abram to start a new family line. Trusting entirely in God’s Word, Abram left his hearth and home in Ur, Mesopotamia, and walked into the unknown, to a place later identified as Canaan. This act is far from comparable to the migrations of our days, which happen to places of which we have prior knowledge.
The Lord promised Abram: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing (…) and by you all the families of the earth will bless themselves.” Can you imagine the magnitude of Abram's trust in God's promise?
Abraham became the first of the Hebrew patriarchs. Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac and a grandson named Jacob; they inherited the covenantal promises. Meanwhile, God renamed Abram (meaning ‘God is exalted’) to Abraham (‘Father of many nations’) and Sarai ('my princess') to Sarah ('princess' or 'mother of nations'), indicating an expanded role. He did so simultaneously, to signify their shared role in the covenant. Jesus's genealogy is traced to Abraham, whose near-sacrifice of Isaac foreshadows Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.
In the Gospel (Mt 17: 1-9), we note that the apostles Peter, James, and John had a vision of the Resurrected Lord. Jesus was “transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as light.” To complete the picture, “there appeared before them Moses and Elijah [central Prophets of the Old Testament], talking with Him.”
At that point, Peter, savouring the moment, wished to stay put on Mount Tabor. He was shaken out of his comfort zone when “a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.’” The apostles, filled with awe, fell on their faces. Jesus advised them to rise and not to fear. They had an insight into the Lord’s divinity, albeit no inkling of His mission on earth; they also felt emboldened to follow Him.
Their experience was brief but marvellous. Jesus wanted His Apostles to treasure its memory and later testify to its truth. Significantly, it is precisely Peter, James and John who would be destined to witness the Agony in Gethsemani! So, “it was fitting that their faith should be fortified beforehand and their eyes illumined by the effulgence of the Godhead.”[1]
How far are we fortified—transfigured—by learning of the apostles' experience? Or, like Peter, do we only wish to feel good and dream of happier days to come? The Transfiguration was–and will always be–a sign that Christ’s mission does not lend itself to trivialisation. Also, we must be conscious of our special mission as Christians and not be disheartened or tempted to give up. When we look around and see people wallowing in sin, we ought to see how their happiness is only a mirage.
Those who have chosen the narrow part are the fortunate ones, for they are continually transfigured. Jesus had instructed the Apostles to “tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” He indeed rose from the dead; and today, it behoves us to testify with conviction.
In the Second Reading (2 Tim 1: 8-10), St. Paul says that we have to also “take [our] share of suffering for the Gospel in the power of God who saved us and called us with a holy calling (…) and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.”
We can never thank God enough for our Christian vocation. Being inheritors of an exalted tradition of faith in action, we need to come out and call the world’s bluff. It is high time the world realised that drawing back from the Cross is at cross-purposes with God’s loving plan of salvation. Hence, let us move forward decidedly and be transfigured by the Cross.
Banner: P. P. Ruben’s Transfiguration of Christ
https://www.ecwausa.org/the-transfiguration-of-jesus-in-matthew-17/
[1] Abbé C. Fouard, Jesus Christ the Son of God (Goa: Don Bosco, 1960), p. 263.
From Trials to Triumph
Today’s readings are a perfect start to Lent: they rewind to the creation of the human race and return to where we stand today. They are cathartic, to say the least. They invite us to renew our faith in Him who sent His Only Son to save the world from the havoc caused by our first parents.
The First Reading (Gen 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7) speaks of the Garden of Eden, where it all began. If it weren’t for Original Sin, the history of humankind would have been different, you may say. But then, why think only of the negative side of the Fall? God, who cranks out good from just anything, tweaked it in our favour. Felix culpa, therefore, “O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer,” as the Exsultet (Paschal Vigil Mass hymn) chants.
In the Second Reading (Rom 5: 12-19), St Paul gives a striking description of how “sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.”
Further, “if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
That is, sin came in through Adam; grace, through the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. So, the Apostle to the Gentiles wraps it up as follows: “Just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.”
In the Gospel (Mt 4: 1-11), Jesus, the New Adam, reverses the wrong that Adam committed in the Garden of Eden. And behold the spirit and substance of the Son of Man: whereas Adam feasted and fell, Jesus fasted and did not fall. Jesus in the desert represents the new Israel and the new Moses (both of whom spent forty years there) and the new Elijah (forty days).
What a pearl of wisdom Jesus presents when the devil tempts Him in His human state! Jesus says: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” This has since become the one invigorating thought for when we are tempted by power, knowledge and riches that the world deceptively offers.
Humankind, marked by sin since its inception, is now at a crossroads. We have misunderstood His loving kindness and have taken Him for granted. Finally, having quite lost the sense of sin, we are at a loss to know how to regain our innocence and obtain divine grace. Life feels like a combat, a minute-to-minute battle between the forces of good and evil, grace and sin, God and Satan, only to those with a pang of conscience.
How long can we continue this? Life is short and unpredictable. Let us be steadfast in God’s love, embrace the Cross, and experience God’s mercy. Let us not be disheartened, for if Jesus did experience umpteen trials and temptations, why won’t we? Like Him, we too shall triumph over sin and see the light of the Resurrection.
Banner: Sandro Botticelli's Temptations of Christ, Sistine Chapel (1480-82)