A. Back ground:
last sunday we reflected about how to develop our soul, to handle Anger. Anger if we cannot develop to quench by pardoning,will add many other unwanted disagreements to cause a simple misunderstanding to grow like a "BUSH FIRE"blocking "GOD'S WILL" for you,and further you create another person angry. That why Jesus said"PARDON NOT 7 TIMES, NOT 77 TIMES, BUT 777". ANGER is a major disease to loose HAPPINESS of our life!. That is why we always say "PEACE BE WITH YOU"
We cannot be a good christian if we don't develop mental power to quench anger.
Today, all readings concentrate about how to (1) extend the good news for all generations
(2) Be a rich catholic follower of Jesus, to enjoy your life!
"The highest reward for man's dedication to excellence is not what he gets from it, but what he becomes through it."
B.
Preamble to the sunday reading:
B.1
Happiness:
outcome of christianity is to lead a happy life. Fear,sorrow are normal in life. Christianity teaches us a practical method of reducing fear & sorrow, in our life to reach happiness in a practical way. It trains to establish link with God & saints. It is highly personal to you. When you know the subject, establish connection with God,Mary,Joseph & saint's,you are not dependent with the action of clergy or any other christian for your happy life!. In your life you can wear many hats, but changing the hat, you will not increase your capacity to think!. Clergy or your friends will help you to further your link with God, to enhance Happiness in your life! But their actions are going to be independent to your faith!
This reminds what Jesus said Mt 10:32"... Whoever acknowledges ME before men, I will acknowledge him before MY FATHER in heaven. But whoever disown me before men, I will disown him before MY FATHER in heaven"
It is not important, how you get the teachings of Jesus but how you practically establish link with God, to follow His will & practically observe that you are reducing fear & sorrow in your life.
B.2
Church:
Without a basic unit of family, there is no society!. Similarly church will pass the good message of Jesus, throughout the human generations!.
Jesus Christ himself has formed the church. Church has well defined structure to carry the Jesus message until the end of the world!. It has 3 major functional units. Cannon law is for administration, Catechism is to explain the subject. Curia is to handle financial activities
The present challenge of church pope francis spoke about:
Pope Francis in His "Joy Of The Gospel" talks about "Isolation" of the church from the people says(quote part of sect 89:)
"UNLESS THESE PEOPLE FIND IN THE CHURCH A SPIRITUALITY WHICH CAN OFFER HEALING AND LIBERATION,AND ALL OF THEM WITH LIFE AND PEACE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME SUMMONING THEM TO FRATERNAL COMMUNION AND MISSIONARY FRUITFULLNESS,THEY WILL END UP BY BEING TAKEN IN BY SOLUTIONS WHICH NEITHER MAKE LIFE TRULY HUMAN NOR GIVE GLORY TO GOD"
Root-less faith
At school we start learning, at universities we further that learning,in the society we practice the learning and develop an faith on that learning. Similarly, christianity we learn from school or sunday school, we get root-less knowledge. At sunday mass we develop that knowledge, apply practically in leading our life. The mysteries we learn from childhood, will no longer a mystery when you start focusing on that subject and start analyzing.
You study biology at school but that is not at all sufficient enough for you to become a medical doctor. You focus more to become a doctor, similarly if you want to become a specialist, you focus much more on your doctor knowledge. As a specialist you don't stop learning. You start practicing the subject to cure people. You star learning new scientific developments on the subject.
Christianity is similar to that, the more you start focusing(easy method is sunday reading) more you unfold so called Mysteries learn from school!.
You become a catholic who has surrendered your will to God's will with FULL FAITH
YOU WILL ENJOY YOUR LIFE AS ANTICIPATED FROM CATHOLISM.
SUCCESS OF YOUR LIFE IS CONSTANT ORIENTATION OF YOUR WILL TOWARDS THAT DIRECTION!
Sex:
Sex become vital element in day to day life!. Hence it is important to analyze this in more depth!
When sexual pleasure becomes primary goal or object of a person's desire,it is sinful. Essence of proper sexuality resides within the permanent and faithful covenant of marriege whose union is originated to Love(unity) and Life(procreation).
Selfish sex is Sinful & harmful because it goes against nature of human sexuality, Unlike other human functions like eating, which can be both physically necessary & psychologically/ socially desirable. Human sex is necessary for human race but not for individual. Person needs to breath,to eat,to sleep but a person does not need SEX. Person can have sex if he is married & if he uses it as an intimate sign of giving of SELF,BODY & SOUL to his beloved spouse. Otherwise,it becomes merely an act of self stimulation & there is no giving of self-instead it is taking of self!.The unitive (love) & pro creative(life) elements are 2 lungs that work together. Isolating or separating one from the other is often a self inflicted wound on the person. The damage may not be immediately recognizable,yet the long term effect is HIGHLY DESTRUCTIVE!
Freedom is always subject to law!. God created human with freedom subject to not to have sex. Human betrayed!. Then Jesus gave us back freedom subject to LOVE
Accention of jesus, assumption & immaculate conception of Mary is always connected, since jesus is having a verginal birth!
C.
Today's reading;
Prophet Isaiah reminds us God's word" WORDS GOING FROM MY MOUTH DOESNOT RETURN TO ME EMPTY,WITHOUT CARRYING OUT MY WILL AND SUCCEEDING IN WHAT IT WAS SENT TO DO"
Paul talks about the importance of following the Jesus Message!
Gospel:
Seed is the word of God. God has been sowing His sacred word in human hearts all thru' history. God's word has a mysterious power& it has never lost that power,but word,the seed without rich soil, in which to take root in individual human mind, will not bear fruits! Or deprived Happiness in individuals life!. At birth, we start breathing, subject to gravitation and start developing our soul. If your life is flowing like a river(soul), the 2 bunts of the river is your health(enhancement of breathing) and how you balance worldly appetite of SEX-regeneration,MONEY-assets,
In summary:
Mt:13:1-23 parable is talks about seed(church) as well as soil. Seed: the action of church to reach people. Here church means all baptized catholics. Seed-It is about kind of soil that we are,about our receptivity to the seed. It is also about fertilizer,without which even good soil becomes fruitless
D.
Conclusions:
D.1 Present Church;
Church is doing comparably good service to the uplifting of our society.
reference Pope Francis "THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL" section 81, quote" At a time when we most need a missionary dynamism which will bring SALT & LIGHT to the world, many lay people fear that they may be asked to undertake some apostolic work and they seek to avoid any responsibility that may be take away from their free time. For example it has become very difficult today to find trained parish catchiest willing to persevere in the work for some years. Something similar is also happening with priest who are obsessed with protecting their free time. This is frequently due to the fact that people feel that over bearing need to guard their personal freedom, as though the task of evangelization was a dangerous poison rather than a joyful response to the God's love which summons us to mission and makes us fulfill & productive. Some resist giving themselves over complete to mission & thus end up in a state of paralysis & acedia.
D.2. Good message & carriers!
While appreciating the church efforts to reach the good news of happiness, we have to alerted about negative examples, set by few of clergy tends to undermine the good message in peoples mind. These turn over people have shallow knowledge of christianity,their happiness will depend upon certain poor actions of few of clergy! It is like you try to change your handwriting by changing the pen or that you change your capacity to think by changing your hat. The knowledge gain about establishing a link with God is independent of clergy individual behavior and this can be achieved in many ways through the modern social electronic network systems. Practicing sacraments we need clergies assistance!.
D.3 Problem at a glance!
We see the problem is 2 fold. In developed countries, it is difficult to find lay people & very few of clergy set a bad example(due to present information explosion era, a minor fault get amplified to provide negative publicity) though in developing countries, the participatory role of lay people is not properly synergise by the church authorities, where church has become a PRIEST KINDOM! Or ice burger,isolating from laymen & other clergy!
D.4. Gap analysis
Human paradigm has been changing from each revolution from Agriculture, printing, industrial & now Communication. In future we can expect transport & energy revolutions where we will see people travel by driver less cars,helicopter instead of overland cars and various type of energy sources like solar,Ethonol etc. Efficiency of human being is increasing from each revolution(no of works that can be done for a unit time is efficiency). With the increase of efficiency human have to find new ways of listening to God, since there are many distraction to human mind
Since the purpose or outcome of christianity is to achieve Happiness in this life as well as outside this world(time base happiness in this life-river,eternal in heaven-sea), methods adopted by the church has to be reviewed in the eyes of new ways of living stemming from the scientific advancement of the world!. Highlighting what are the basic needs to live for human is important. Earth,air,sunlight, water are basic needs but not SEX.
Without SEX you can live!. This is reality! Introduction of birth control has changed the culture of basic social unit of family. living together,Gay marriages, abortion are immediate results that can be seen!. Thinking pattern has been greatly influenced by communication revolution. Web sites, face book, blogspots & twitter are already become common social media's. While TV is having advanced features!. In time to come you can observe smell thru' tv & telephones!
Under this scenario, one has to identify the Gap in between GODS KINDOM to PRESENT SOCIETY & find solution to bridge the GAP.
In general 2/3 of the world population, believes God Concept & christian become 1/3. If we can make CATHOLIC - HAPPY CATHOLIC, major problem can be solved & by example to all other people tend to follow if they see HAPPY CATOHLIC.
D.5 SWOT ANALYSIS!(Individual to you)
Basic SWOT ANALYSIS of a catholic!
SWOT is important to implement for any Task!.For you as a Catholic,
S-strength-you are created to live HAPPILY
W- weakness-due to original sin,death & sorrow came,human can go against 10 commandments,as well as God's will to you(sin)/
O-Opportunity-thru'Baptism-
T-Threat- without your knowledge your Will supersede God's Will. You can lead a happy life with SWOT analysis.
D.6 SWOT analysis of our CHURCH
S- Strength-
church has a good administration structure, well defined process for sacraments, Good cannon law, good documented catechism & reading on Holy Mass.
Sunday mass is obligatory for catholics!.
W- weakness
Church has yet to do many things to pass the good message to people. Today is a information explosion society. We train our catholics, from school,sunday classes, preparation for first holy communion, preparation for confirmation, preparation for marriages, homily at sunday mass. All these areas administratively there are good concepts and records BUT INSIDE THESE PROCESSES ACTUAL SUBJECT MATTER HAS BECOME COMPLEX(there are 2 teaching methods- one is to teach clearly, so that all people to understand, other one is confused method of teaching- just to understand only for the teacher- sometimes one might feel whether the church follows 2nd method. It is true that clergy has devoted their life to promote God's Kingdom, but if they are lazy/too busy to read and acquire knowledge, how can they teach/preach!, in a widely changing environment!.
Church has many Peters but less Pauls.
O- opportunity
Majority of people in the world are Christians. Most of them appears to be name sake. Before depleting too much, new method using all latest social media's such as web sites, face book, blog's, twitter, tv, telephones to used. With what?
Clearly define subject matter, explaining simple methods of achieving the said goals in each of the following
school,sunday classes, preparation for first holy communion, preparation for confirmation, preparation for marriege, homily at sunday mass.
For example: Addressing clearly:
(1) Difference between old & new testament
(2) What was changed by jesus
(3) Conceptual difference between religions
(4)Clear application of 10 commandments/ specially for children
(5)Different learning from school, every sunday, there should be a clearly defined subject matter to analyze(otherwise what you learn from school, never expand, ultimately you become a poor practicing catholic with varying mind, and cannot find solutions to the problems you face in life) sunday homily the 3 readings has to be clearly explain, to convince Jesus new message of LOVE!
(6) Have a good common document to prepare children for confirmation!(Since they become adult in Catholicism)(uniformly)
(7) Similarly, have a good document for marriege preparation(country/ region wise)
(8) How to differentiate your will from God's will(practical application for family, work place and society)
Church can prepare small vedios to explain above in U- tube/ blogs etc to be used!
T- Threat- there is a severe threat, deriving from advancement of science, & efficient method of achieving worldly gravitational benefits deriving from money, power & sex, depriving overall happiness of not balancing all these 3, with spiritual gravitation HOPE,CHARITY,FAITH.
The pleasure seeking attitude in life cannot help us to become partners with God!. The desire for pleasure is a good thing in life. LIFE WILL BE SAPLESS WITHOUT IT! What is dangerous is inordinate craving of it. Jesus advocates a life that is simple. He is conscious about the dangers of riches,sex and money!.
At last, we have to make Catholic to HAPPY KNOWLEGABLE CATHOLIC, to change this world towards God!
GBU
