Introduction:
The disciple asked the Guru: What is more important, the Journey or the Destination? The reply was: Neither, it is the Company. Our strength is that we are Friends in the Lord but the prerequisite is that each one of us are to be first the friend of the Lord. Then, we forge bonding as friends in the Lord, with the end of finding the Lord among His friends, namely the needy, the marginalized, the non-people as neglected. Then novice asked the Master: Can I send emails? The response was: Yes, but no ‘attachment’. Our service should have no attachment but the indifference of St Ignatius driven by the spirit of greater glory of God in the service of the people.
First reading: The first readings today presents the possibilities of policies vs politics – What was prevailing is not wisdom but powerful elements having the upper hand. Man of conscience is often a pain in the neck. We avoid critics but we enjoy fan club (who just want to please us). In the case of Goliath and David, Goliath came armed to the teeth with strategies but David came in the name of God. We also see Gamaliel in the Sanhedrin, who said: If it is God’s words and works, you cannot prevail over them (Act 5:39). We need to see whether finger of God is directing us or our own finger of vested interest is mis-leading us.
Gospel: The first reading sets out principles of life and the Gospel brings out the way of living out the principle. The context is the Jewish Feast of the
Tabernacle. Jesus is walking a delicate right-rope walk: People seek to finish him off but He has not lost his inner strength; He faces the challenge; He goes up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the ultimate destiny of the prophets: The son of man goes as written but woe to him who weaves cunningness (Mt 24:26). He says: I did not come on my own, but I was sent on mission (Jn 12:49). God lays the path and He accompanies. Jesus has inner strength. They tried to arrest him but could not. Earlier they tried to push him down the cliff but could not (Lk 4:29). Life is what happens when we make other plans. At the end of the day: It is not the success or achievement but peace of mind that gives us a restful sleep. Jesus could relax and thank God and serve people undisturbed because He was doing the work of God, namely to go to the lost sheep of the Israel, whether they were lost by chance or stolen and hidden by political device or design. We are invited to the same mission of the lost sheep of God and live out the call of God and our initial conviction in the religious life.
Person:
How these readings reflect on us? Kahlil Gibran writes in his novel The Broken Wings about a young woman who was forced to marry a wealthy and powerful man (the nephew of a Bishop) but she falls in love with someone else. She is put under house arrest and her wings of desire and freedom were clipped. There is a conflict of conviction of conscience with submission to power: no inner freedom but imposed regiment that would not bring in joy and happiness but only subjugation and inner revolution.
We see the same scenario in the case of Daniel vs judges. The central theme of the book To Kill a Mockingbird by H. Lee is “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience”. Conscience is the most powerful tool and the spiritual GPS. Daniel, though young, could withstand the powerful and ruthless judges who were ruling the Israelites with vested interest. Daniel had to deal with people, as Scott Peck describes in his book People of the Lie, like the Judges who condemned Susanna falsely, people who are evil but attack others, instead of facing their own failures
Recently one of the faculty members gave me the biography of Kakkan, a Congress leader of yester years. Mr Kakkan, at one point of time held multiple departments (police, agriculture etc) but simplicity and honesty were his hallmark. Nehru addressed him with respect as Kakkanji; and Kamaraj and MGR held him in high esteem. The author towards the end of the biography writes that people who rallied around him while in power, ignored him or avoided him, when he left office; but he remained a man of inner strength. Crisis is the time to see how many would stand by you; crisis is a moment of inspiration and eye-opener. In the crucial moment of Jesus on the cross and on the dawn of his resurrection, it was not the professed disciples but a single lady who might have been looked down with suspicion and doubt who was there for Jesus to express her solidarity and loyalty.
As a person we face the dilemma of credibility vs creativity. Ignatius would express that his men should enjoy esteem of people and feeling at home with God and people. Today, God often becomes a causality: We brand him under religiosity or rituals, instead of liberating Him as compassion and service.
Mission:
Macaulay played the pivotal role in the English Education Action (1835): His argument for introducing English in India was that only Sanskrit and Arabic were taught for a few (Vedic schools and Madrasas). And there was not any sign of scientific knowledge to form critical mind in the traditional education.
Today what is our vision to people at the present context? Is it maintenance of status quo or going forward taking calculated risk believing in the providence of God, in solidarity with our companions and with the openness to our people? Or, is it our inadequate information or prejudiced views on the call of the day? We need today as well to bat for our people to develop critical thinking: Often in administration, people who rightfully question would be considered irritant. In our mission or in administration, the higher one goes, the more he/she needs are critics and not fans or admirers; and one needs to develop openness to see the reality from the views and perspectives of the stakeholders without imposing our views as the view of our beneficiaries.
Conclusion:
Considering our Call and our Mission we could review, reflect, and revisit our mission and our apostolic lives. We have the choice to choose between wisdom and power: Power would last for the present but wisdom would last forever.
We have to discern between conviction and convenience: Convenience might fetch favours and it is a short-time based; but conviction would give us peace of mind and joy of heart which would last forever.
We need to decide between encountering God to grow and encountering people to finish them off: Encountering God in prayer is productive but encountering people to destroy them, especially based on false accusation and prevailing rumours is self-destructive. Time and history would be there to judge our life and mission. Let us hope that history does not harshly judge us for not being just and fair.
Most of the prophets and Jesus had these dilemma but they chose wisdom, conviction, and encountering God in prayer and in the sill inner voice. The choice is ours in our deliberations, in our missions, and in our lives.
Francis P Xavier SJ
24Mar2023