The Grace that Produced the Fruit

 Never asked, always given

Mathew Anthony

5 minutes ago

October 11, 2026

Those of us who have been slightly short of being brilliant, i.e., did reasonably well in all other subjects but were falling short in one or two, were given grace marks and ‘pushed through’ and promoted to the next class.

That is true, or should be true, in the spiritual world. As human beings, we are fallible. King David was fallible. The account begins in 2 Samuel 11:1-2, during the springtime when kings typically went to war. However, David remained in Jerusalem while his army, led by Joab, besieged the Ammonite city of Rabbah.

One evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of his palace. From there, he saw a beautiful woman bathing. Her name was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s mighty men. Wrong place. Wrong time. But grace can push us through.

Imagine we have been called to the wedding banquet by the King himself. “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ (Mt 22:4) Did we go for Holy Mass today? Did we attend the family rosary?

Not everyone can lay out a feast like a king or a billionaire can for their son’s wedding. We expect nothing but the best. Since the invite is from the king or the billionaire, we know we must dress our best, not to stick out in the silken crowd. Do we know what feast God has laid out for us? God, the creator of the king and the billionaire, whose do we are so keen to attend? God holds out such an invitation every day? Do we perceive it? Do we value it?

We calculate the worth of the gift we offer to the bridal couple. It should be commensurate. We cannot come through as beggars. We count the days to the event. We socialise the invitation as a badge of honour. Is being Christian a badge of honor? Do we socialize it? Do we go to God as beggars or sons and daughters of the King of kings?

In contrast, for the wedding reception of the son of the help in our home, we automatically discount the spread we can expect. Why do we do that? We know what we pay the help at home and perhaps her economic situation. We will produce excuses to wiggle out of the invite. We will even lavish a cash gift to fund part of the expenses. Assurances are given with no intention of keeping. The invitation is shoved into a corner. Out of sight. Out of mind. Is that our attitude to the Sacraments of the Catholic Church too? Do we believe the Catholic Church has nothing to offer for the status we enjoy in our society? Is the Church only for those in need?

Unknown to us, the help’s son was a brilliant engineer who worked overseas. His wedding reception had the who’s who of the tech world. The reception was in a seven-star hotel. The engineer’s father is a rickshaw puller. He and his mother saved every penny they earned for the son’s education until scholarships sped him on his way to academic success and a remunerative career overseas. He bought a house for his parents in a gated community. But they expressed their discomfort staying there on their own. Where would they park the rickshaw, their lifeblood? It would be odd to go to work in the neighbour’s house? They continued to live in the slum area where they had always lived. There they were among their own. There they had respect. Above all, they continued to do what they were doing when raising their child. In that life, grace produced fruit. The gated community was just that ‘gated’. Cut off from real life.

To them, more precious than material blessing was the mystery of the priceless grace. A gift bestowed on them by a benefactor who also gave them their loving son and now daughter-in-law. They knew grace is given, not asked for. It is not of human making. Their life was difficult. Anyone who has been on a rickshaw ride in Kolkata, pedalled by a man withered by age, the puller’s only source of income to put food on the family table, will know what that life is.

Such is the life of many in our country. Yet despite their difficulties, they are joyful. They don’t despair despite their condition. They want the opportunity to work. The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. (Mt 20:1-16). Even if it is to pull a rickshaw or to work in a home where the owners ironically can barely afford their salary. It is an opportunity to earn by the sweat of their brow to have a shelter over their heads, clothes on their body, warm food to eat, and a place to sleep, raise children, in a loving, open, chatty community, all who are alike in joy and misery.

Despite their son’s wealth, they knew they were in the right place at the right time in the slum among brothers and sisters, not strangers. Each one knew the others’ family history. There was nothing to hide. No one was eyeing their true wealth: fraternal peace and the joy of living.

They had good health and a good spirit despite the rigour of making that small living. They had a prince of a son, who was not disturbed that his parents preferred to live where they did and did not aspire to a gilded cage. It was not a matter of shame for him. They loved him, and he loved them. He had married a sweetheart from his slum days who had the same rags-to-riches success materially, but spiritually she still cherished the friends she made in childhood who she supported with her newfound wealth.

Wealth did not change this family. They were better for it. They were humbled by their good fortune. They were grateful for the efforts of their parents and benefactors who got them there. They chose the battlefield to slumber. They did not have a concept of an off day. Every day was spent at work, with family or doing community service with the poor. To remind them where they came from and who got them where they were today. The grace of God.

What is a mystery to them and to some of us when we think about where we were and where we are today. It is the same question. Why were we chosen to be showered with this grace? Why did providence consider us to be elected for this grace? Because he called, and we answered? “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (Mt 22:14)

- Mathew Anthony

Stuff Happens, Remedies Follow

 For God Wills It

Mathew Anthony

Sep 16, 2026

September 16, 2026

In Genesis, we read, “Now the earth was chaos and waste, darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim (the Holy Spirit) was hovering upon the surface of the water. Then God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. God saw that the light was good. So, God distinguished the light from the darkness.” (Gen 1:2-4)

It would be specious of me to suggest that it was the case in the week that I spent at our home stay at Kuzhapilly Beach, Cherai, Ernakulam, Kerala. But it did feel like that. Things worked only in the breach. Through perseverance, the light finally shone through, dispelling the darkness that overwhelms when things don’t go right.

My trip coincided with the arrival of two guests at the homestay. I knew they were coming, but I imagined they would be in their room; I in mine, doing my work – which included conducting a full-day workshop on storytelling and personal branding for faculty of an academic institution. That, however, was not the case. I was in the thick of sorting out things for the guests.

The guests were of Indian descent, East African-born, and US citizens. I had to let go of my favourite room - Atithi Bhagwan Hai (Guest is God). They had booked the room. Check out https://mathewanthony.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/215812420?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fhome. Stuff happens when guests arrive and begin their stay. Well-behaved ACs play truant – declaring a lightning strike. For a communist-ruled state, this was a feature, not a bug.

Red flag (Lal Chanda) flutters aloft on electricity poles. Street lights take their scheduled breaks at dinner time (during the week I was at the homestay). When this unexpected event happens, it is illuminating – drawing attention to the inverters seeking voluntary retirement, having put in their years of mandatory service like non-commissioned defence personnel. The service response to this situation is expeditious - to subvert any attempt to rethink the matter, as the cost of replacement is substantial, filling the annual quota of some providers.

Kerala had a power surplus from hydropower generation over its many rivers. But now there is an oxymoronic scheduled load shedding, seemingly unscheduled. Unusual term: load shedding. Given there is no power, it begs the question: what is being shed and on whom? In Kerala, you cannot engage your own people for load lifting or shedding. The loaders are unionised. Only the unionised workers on their term will lift, and quick to shred the goods if shortchanged.

Our guests arrive and alight from their AC cab into the sweltering heat of Kerala, which respects no seasons but only its own reason to bake anything that moves, stoved into God’s Own Oven. It was all working a moment ago. Now it is not. I called the guys who sold us the AC. They called the Brand AC technician. He called the day off. And the next day - ad infinitum.

Finally, the brand AC technician called. He was fully rested and now ready to work. I checked different rooms where the ACs may need servicing. The AC man is actually coming. Got to get all the ACs serviced before he goes AWOL again.

In our homestay, the cat was at play (not the mouse), littering the room with three kittens in the wash clothes bag, having sneaked in when the door was left ajar and got shut in when the door was closed.

I entered the room – a mini whirlpool had struck the site. Blinds were torn. The wash bag was scattered. Anything movable was moved. No union worker was involved to dictate terms. Just the cat trying to chart his escape after littering three kittens in the wash bag. It would be a stretch to think a body bath was the cat mother’s intent. The anarchist emerged and darted for the open door, not before another spared blind was also cat-nipped- a parting gift of sorts. The room had to be quarantined.

Americans wash up differently after offloading. Jostling for limited toilet rolls during COVID lockdown was replayed many times over on US channels. But Indian toilets are not wholesale tissue absorbent. The sewage plumbing went on strike. The water flushed up - not down. That it happened in Kerala is a mere coincidence. Now two bathrooms were quarantined.

Returning to “ Atithi Devo Bhava ” – the guest itinerary was figured out. Their international health check-up was organised. Excursions to hotspots were arranged. (Athirapilli Waterfall was covered in the last post). Food of their choice – home-cooked - was served. A day-trip on the Houseboat at Alleppey is planned. A trip to tea plantations in the hill station follows.

The homestay location is serene and peaceful, nestled amongst fishermen far from the maddening crowd at Cherai Beach. Between the ‘backwaters and the ocean ’. US Congresswoman from Michigan Rashida Tlaib gave the term ‘river to the sea’ a different twist; censure followed.

In my one week at our home, alias homestay, so much happened. The Good God steered us through by blessing us with guests who showed patience, understanding, and empathy with the fact that an 86-year-old mother of four, including me, was managing the homestay with her steadfast army – almost brilliantly. “For blessed are the people God has chosen for his inheritance.” (Ps 33:12). Stuff happens. Remedies follow when God wills it for his people.

- Mathew Anthony

Suffering, Santification, and Grace

 

August 6, 2026

I stubbed my toe against an immovable object and tottered. I winced with pain. But I did not curse. Instead, I thanked God for his “everlasting love” “with unfailing kindness” (Jer 31,3).

I had stumbled, but I did not fall. “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” (Ps 37,23-24).

There was a time when I would have reacted differently. While not the cussing type, nor was I the praising type. But over time, a sprinkling of God’s grace helped me proclaim, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (Ps 119,71) The reality we need to come to terms with is, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3,23-24)

Accepting that I am a sinner, and I know that for a fact, with an honest audit of my thoughts, my words, and my deeds for just a day, a favourite hymn of mine became a recurrent prayer: “Sanctify Me Oh God, Cleanse My Body, Mind and Soul, Purify Me and Make Me Whole”. I am sure those familiar with the hymn were not reading the words but singing along with me as you read them, as I did while penning them down.

The thought I want to share with you for your reflection, dear reader, is whether sanctification is possible without suffering.

Our own Lord went to the Cross. Could He have sanctified us and liberated us from sin without shedding of His blood? In Mt 16:21-22 Jesus declares that he needs to go to Jerusalem. There He will be killed and rise again on the third day. Peter would not accept it. “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Thereafter, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to witness His transfiguration in the company of Elijah and Moses (Mt 17), with God the Father testifying, “This is my beloved Son … Listen to Him”.

Jesus had to make it clear even to His closest disciples that He is the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament. That His victory will not be achieved by force and the shedding of others' blood but through hideous suffering and by the shedding of His own blood. The submissive Servant King to the will of his Father.

It is pertinent to introspect. Can an athlete achieve excellence without enduring suffering? Is it possible to scale Mt Everest without enduring great hardships? God Incarnate was human. Jesus resonated humanity at its lowest ebb – man’s inhumanity to man. He elevated suffering to Godliness. He became the curse and the shame reflected by the scarred, limp body on the Cross. When we shun suffering, are we inadvertently also shunning the opportunity for sanctification/excellence and the grace of God to be poured into our mind, body, soul, and spirit?

St Paul had the issue of ‘thorn in his flesh’. He prayed three times to God. God’s response was not what we are trained to expect. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor 12,9)

That brings me back to the core of my thesis, dear reader, who have patiently persevered (and a bit about perseverance later) to read this far: without suffering there is no sanctification; without sanctification there is no salvation. We need to remember we are a sinful generation. To be received in Heaven, we must be sanctified. Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God … rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant… he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The saints we venerate in the Catholic Church did likewise. “If any man should come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16,24)

Hence, we too must cherish, yes cherish, the little suffering - the ‘stubbing of the toe’ or a chronic skin problem that makes our skin itch incessantly or sporadically, the undeciphered ‘thorn in the flesh’ in the case of St Paul – therefore universal for everything that bothers us.

I pray for the Lord’s small mercies given more frequently than one humungous suffering. But I am also aware that God is the dispenser of this choice, not me. So, I must gird myself for whatever is to come – even the unimaginable suffering that St Paul encountered and signed off with the sword separating his head from his body.

The words of St Paul, much as I try, I cannot get the order right; in fact, true of much of Paul's writings: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Cor 4,8-10)

And the one even harder to practice is “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4,4-8)

Not idle words or rhetoric. Paul did rejoice despite the suffering he endured. Paul’s first recorded imprisonment occurred in Philippi, as described in Acts 16:16-40. After casting a spirit of divination out of a slave girl, Paul and Silas were seized, beaten, and thrown into prison. Despite their suffering, they prayed and sang hymns to God, leading to a miraculous earthquake that opened the prison doors. The jailer, witnessing these events, converted to Christianity along with his household. This incident underscores the power of faith and the transformative impact of the Gospel.

In the littlest possible way, when we have any sufferings, the sources of sanctification open up. Instead of decrying the suffering, why not thank God for his small mercies, words that are normally uttered when we receive relief from suffering. Turn it on its head. In the time of suffering, rejoice and offer up the insufferable itch as a means of partaking in the Lord’s suffering for our sanctification. “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Rom 5,3-5)

Start small. When you feel an itch – don’t rub it or scratch it or do anything – but in faith offer it up to the Lord – and you will be amazed. It will stop being a bother from ‘lack of attention or attendance’. In the process, you have saved yourself the ignominy of making it worse by attending to it. Now, experiment with not just physical suffering but also emotional stress of being misunderstood, humiliated by your own loved one – spouse, parents, siblings, and ostracised socially by your community because of a stammer or a mannerism or disorder.  Is humiliation suffering? I vote it is one of the worst. There is no medicine for it. Just your forbearance not to be affected by it, and the temptation to do likewise and fall into sin. The devil's ‘click’ bait to entice you to sin.

When you are being humiliated, offer it up, and you will buy peace (that passes all understanding) for yourself and the other person. The Word teaches us: Therefore: “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” (Rom 12,20). “Coals of fire” is symbolic of the Holy Spirit you pour upon your enemy as one of my other favourite hymns extols: Spirit of the living God, Fall afresh on me. Melt me, mould me, fill me, use me. In this instance, use my enemy and me that you may be glorified.

Despite our efforts to be good, we are prone to error and sin. To err is human; to forgive is divine. While we expect God to forgive us our transgressions, we tend not to forgive others their transgressions, despite avowing in the Lord’s Prayer that we will do so. Let the Lord’s Prayer or any prayer or retreats we attend, and the Word of God we read, not be mere activities like brushing our teeth in the morning, but let it become a source of conviction of the errors of our ways that we may receive timely sanctification to prepare us for our hour of death.

In the Anima Christi we pray: Suffer me not to be separated from Thee. From the malignant enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me. And bid me come unto Thee, that with Thy saints I may praise Thee for ever and ever. How prepared are we for the final hour?

We need relentless sanctification. Use the opportunities of little sufferings to terminal ones. Start with practising with the small ones to take on sizable ones that are crushing - to the spirit, body, mind, and soul. In that our suffering, often inevitable as part of life’s journey, is not wasted. And we are better prepared for the final hour. For eternal salvation. Amen.

A Companion Reflection

Saint Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church Sermon 96 §1-4.9 Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ What the Lord has commanded us: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself” seems hard and difficult. Yet it isn't either hard or difficult because the one who commands it is the one who helps us to fulfil what he commands. For if that saying of the psalm is true, that: “according to the words of your lips I have pursued difficult paths” (Ps 17[16],4), so also is true the saying spoken by Jesus: “my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Mt 11,30). For anything hard in the command, love turns to sweetness. We know well of what marvels love is capable. There are times when love is of doubtful worth and is depraved. Yet how many difficulties will not men endure, what humiliating and unendurable treatment will they not suffer if only they might attain to what they love!... Since life's great enterprise must be to choose well what one should love, is it surprising that anyone who loves Jesus Christ and desires to follow him denies himself to love him?... What is the meaning of what follows: “Let him take up his cross”? Let him endure what is painful and so let him follow me. For when a man begins to follow me by acting according to my precepts, there will be plenty of people to disagree with him, oppose him, discourage him. And that on the part of people who claim to be Christ's friends. Those who stopped the blind men from crying out (Mt 20,31) were walking in Christ's company. So, whether it is a matter of threats, flattery, prohibitions, if you want to follow Christ, turn it all into the cross; endure it, bear it, don't let yourself be overcome... You love the world, but you should rather love him who made the world... We live in a holy world, that is good, reconciled, saved or, rather, that is to be saved but which is saved now in hope. “For in hope we were saved” (Rom 8,24). In this world, therefore, that is to say in the Church, which wholly follows Christ, he said to all: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself.”

 

Reflections - God's Grace

God’s Grace

Humble and Upright

 

"But, for the grace of God, I don't know what would have happened to me" 

"I can say for sure that it was only God's grace that saved me" 

"If not for God's grace, I certainly would have lost my mind, when the tragedy hit the family" 

These are common comments we hear every day – and we give it as much thought as we would if someone were to say, "Oh! Today, I got a great bargain at the corner shop sale". 

It is human to remember God when we are in trouble and acknowledge his intervention in our lives when the outcome is positive. Perhaps, it is also important to reflect upon God's presence in our life, when all is going well. One way to do that is to constantly seek His grace upon our life and the lives of our dear and near ones. 

Is it as easy as that? Is God's grace available just for the asking? Remember the great floods, when "only Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen 6:8). And, what about those who perished in the flood? Seeing their wickedness, the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth. The Word of God says, "He was grieved in His Heart". 

Who, then, is God's grace reserved for? We learn in Psalm 84:11

               For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

              The Lord will give grace and glory;

               No good thing will he withhold

               From those who walk uprightly.

Clearly God's grace is reserved for the upright and the righteous. Jesus Himself exhorted us, "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added on to you. (Matt 6:33). Is righteousness, then, the only quality sought by God of his people? According to James 4:6, humility is another key attribute, for James says, "God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble". 

When we speak of God's grace, who is the giver of this grace? Jesus Christ, undoubtedly. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). Paul adds to what John has said by stating in Ephesians 1:7 " In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His grace.". 

So, what is the means of obtaining this grace? We know that righteousness and humility are a must. However, does that guarantee God's grace in our life? According to St Paul (Rom 11:6), "The choice is based on His grace, not on what we have done. For if God's choice was based on what we do, then his grace would not be real grace. And, again, in Ephesians 2:8 the great evangelist Paul says, " For by grace you have been saved through truth, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God." 

Now, for those living in grace, like St Paul, grace can take another dimension altogether, where a negative exists because of God's grace. Paul entreated Jesus three times to take away a physical ailment that was tormenting him, a 'thorn in the flesh'.

Our one-sided understanding of grace would lead us to believe that Jesus would have heard Paul's prayer and rid him of this problem. Instead, Jesus tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness"(2 Cor 12:9).

Strangely, Paul rejoices in this assurance given by Jesus, in much the same way as Peter, when asking Jesus to wash him from head to toe, after initially resisting the idea of Jesus washing his feet. The significance of 'humility' must be seen in this light. 

A key part of living in grace is to know and unconditionally accept whatever God has in store for us – like Paul did - the good and the seemingly painful (joyful or redemptive suffering to atone and purge the negative qualities in us or in someone else that God has entrusted in our care). 

As we usher in the New Year, let us seek God's grace that our faith will remain resolute and strong – in good times as well as bad. And, as St Paul is known to do at the end of most of his letters to the new Christian community – may you too be blessed with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Reflections - Touch & Go

Touch and Go

Grace makes the difference

It was March 19, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic was sweeping the developed countries having begun in Wuhan, China. It affected Singapore too, but the government’s proactive measures on the virus’s virulent nature had the spread of the virus in check. At least, it seemed that way then, but we were to know better, later.

My mother was in Singapore then, staying with my younger brother. My mother was scheduled to return back to Kochi, Kerala, on the 24^th. My brother had a sixth sense that Mum’s stay in Singapore was untenable, even for the few days that was left for her scheduled departure.

He took a call and made efforts to advance Mummy’s flight back to Kochi, Kerala. There were cost implications of changing booking dates, but in the light of what was happening, it weighed less on the decision. My brother targeted to book Mummy back on 19^th March.

Meanwhile in Kerala and Karnataka (we stay in Bangalore), the fear of contracting the virus was spreading and restrictions to free movement was being considered by both governments.

At the International airports in India, the incoming passengers were being screened and tested. In Bangalore, some of the passengers were taken further outskirts, and tested at temporarily set up facilities with no toilets and amenities, sometimes involving 10-12 hour wait for the passengers who were already bone tired from the journey and immigration process.

Some were being ordered to be quarantined in their homes for 14-28 days. The international passengers’ return to their residences and localities was spreading fear among their neighbors. Municipal wards where incoming passengers were staying were notified to the public to ensure restricted contact.

In Kerala, taxi drivers were refusing to ply to the airport to pick up international passengers.

My mother is 80 years old – but physically many years younger – she still travels everywhere on her own. But the fear created around the virus and attendant restrictions, quarantine, cab drivers’ uneasiness to ply to the airport to pick up passengers, neighbors turniing hostile toward the returnees from abroad – had created a pall of gloom and trepidation to an otherwise feisty lady – my mum.

It was in this milieu that my wife and I decided that we will travel by car to Kochi from Bangalore to personally pick up Mummy from the airport and bring her home to a place we have on Kuzhuppilly Beach.

Expecting mummy’s flight to be booked on 19^th afternoon and arrival in Kochi by 10 pm in the night, my wife and I, packed up our bags to leave for Kerala by car early on 19^th morning.

Then we got a final confirmation about my mum’s travel plans by late 18^th 

evening. The flight on 19^th was full. The last flight to Kochi from Singapore (due to the pandemic) was on 20^th and fortunately my mum got one of the last few seats on the flight.

God’s providence.

However, between 18^th and 19^th the scenario for my wife and me completely changed. The Karnataka government had imposed restrictions on traveling out of Karnataka with checkposts put in place. There was also concern that the Kerala government was responding likewise to restrict entry and exit of vehicles between the states.

We had to drop our plans and inform Mummy accordingly. God’s provision prevailed again.

Mummy had no problem when she arrived at Kochi airport, other than the mandatory 28 days quarantine at home. She got transport easily. One of the cabs plying to the airport picked her up and dropped her safely home.

As I write this reflection, we are on April 26, 2020. More than 37 days from the day we were to travel to Kochi from Bangalore. The plans then were to return back to Bangalore in a couple of days after settling Mummy in with all that she needed. Or alternatively, bring Mummy with us back to Bangalore.

The big ‘IF’.

If we had left for Kerala as planned on 19^th March, we would still be in Kerala with no definite end date in sight, locked down in Kerala while our  five children are lockdown in our home in Bangalore.

A worldly response to the last-minute changes to my wife and my plan to travel by car to Kochi, and the potential consequences as narrated above would have been, “How lucky we are?”

Our response was, “Thank God for your mercy and grace on Mummy and on us”.

“But because of his great love for us, god, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” Eph 2:4,5

To be blessed with God’s grace is such a marvelous benediction. It wards off danger. It opens up opportunity. It closes doors (we were restricted from going). It gets you entry into places where admission is restricted.

Grace is free. You cannot buy it or work to earn it. It is given. For a purpose. To draw us closer to God.

He showers His grace on those whose hearts are yielded to Him.

You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Jn 14:16

You may not be the paragon of virtue. You may not be steeped in prayer. You may not be righteous in every sense of the word. You may not be practicing charity and alms giving. Yet you may be a candidate to receive his grace.

If the twelve apostles Jesus chose for his ministry were to be put to the above test of virtue, prayer etc., they would woefully fail.

It is not that all the apostles Jesus called to follow Him had the benefit of receiving something: ‘miraculous catch of fish’, led Simon and Andrew and James and John, sons of Zebedee to follow Jesus; Nathanael marveled and followed Jesus when Jesus said he saw him under the fig tree; Mary Magdalene, because Jesus cast out seven demons from her.

Matthew, the future apostle, evangelist and Gospel writer, may have witnessed Jesus’ miracle at Capernaum where he was running a tax collection booth for the Romans – a much reviled Jew collecting taxes from his own, the Jewish people. Jesus said, follow me, and he left the booth and followed Jesus. Jesus had not done anything personally for him from what we know. In fact, Jesus asked Matthew to host him and his disciples for a meal. Matthew was rich.

There were 5000 men and 4000 men again (and their families) on two different occasions, who were sumptuously fed by Jesus on five loaves and two fish on one occasion with 12 baskets of fragment left over after the eating.

The breaking and the multiplication of the bread was a prefigurement of the body and blood of Christ that we Christians receive in communion and at every Eucharistic celebration commemorating Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The fragments were sacramental and could not be left around to be trampled. It had to go back to the ‘tabernacle’. On Jesus’ instruction it was assiduously collected filling the 12 baskets.

Did all of them who were witness to the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish follow Jesus? Maybe they did. Maybe they did not.

We don’t know for sure except that 3000 and then 5000 were converted in Jerusalem on Peter’s bold, spirit-filled preaching, after the Holy Spirit descended on the 11 apostles, Mother Mary, and other disciples who were gathered in the Upper Room.

In that Upper Room during his 2014 visit to Jerusalem, Pope Francis’s homily highlighted three major events that took place in that sacred space, two millennia back, and it continues to be reflected in the life and image of a fruitful Church even today:

“Here, where Jesus shared the Last Supper with the apostles; where, after his resurrection, he appeared in their midst; where the Holy Spirit descended with power upon Mary and the disciples, here the Church was born, and she was born to go forth.”

Those who followed Jesus had their hearts yielded to Jesus.

Was it easy to follow Jesus under opposition from two major forces at that time in Church history?

1.   The “elders, Chief priests and scribes’ in the Sanhedrin who opposed Jesus, with the notable exception of Nicodemus and Gamaliel who argued for Jesus and Peter and Paul, respectively

2.   The Roman occupying forces, who found Jesus and the emboldened apostles a nuisance to peace in the occupied area

Following Jesus also meant giving up everything you owned to the common kitty so that all the early Christians irrespective of what they contributed, their needs would be met equally.

Jesus offered neither protection from persecution or individual prosperity.

However, In Luke 10:19, Jesus did say, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”

To support the great commission given to the apostles and disciples, the promise is repeated by St Mark in his Gospel Mark 16: 17-18  “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

Why did the early Christian risk their life and their possessions to become part of this community? What was the compelling reason?

The Jewish people were waiting for a messiah since Moses brought them out of Egypt and from slavery to the Promised Land.  Now, the Promised Land was occupied by the Romans. The general expectation from a Moses or Elijah-like messiah was to overthrow the occupiers and gain freedom from their oppressors. But Jesus did not fit their conception of a messiah.

For that the Jews will have to wait for Jesus’ second coming.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” Zechariah 12:9-10

But there were those among the Jews (and Gentiles) who were able to see that in Jesus there was redemption and salvation: forgiveness of their sins and eternal life, which no one else could offer.

Jesus demonstrated that He had the power to forgive sin and (so) He had the power to grant eternal life.

Jesus healed the paralytic lowered from the roof marveling at the faith of the people who had brought the paralytic to Jesus in such a dramatic fashion. To the disapproving Pharisees, He said, “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So, he said to the paralyzed man, "Get up, take your mat and go home." (Mt 9:6)

How do we in our times reach the level of maturity of the early Christian to hunger for redemption and salvation – for forgiveness of sins and eternal life?

How do we shed our possessiveness and sense of entitlement to our God-given wealth and be more liberal to tend to the least of our brethren without feeling stressed like Ananias and Sapphira who hid half their property sale proceeds from Peter and the community pool and were struck dead?

How do we wean ourselves away from our creature comforts and transition to wanting eternal life – making that desire salient to our life – working toward salvation of our soul?

How do we make sin our #1 enemy, not people?

How do we seek to unite our families around the crucified and risen Son of God, Jesus Christ?

The questions are infinitesimal and so will be eternity if we are not able to find answers for them at a personal level and at the level of the community.

We need grace. Or it is touch and go.

Sunday, April 26, 2020