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Less Burden ... More Health
By: Rev. Fr. L. X. Jerome
S.J
For the fourth week
in succession we are reflecting on the healing miracles of Jesus. In this context we have been thinking of health and healing
from different perspectives. Not four weeks, but even forty weeks will not be sufficient for us to grasp the meaning of health
and healing that is so crucial to human life. Although this is so crucial, still most of us fail to enjoy good health due
to so many other factors in our lives. Recently I received an email from my sister, where I saw a very lovely message from
Dalai Lama. Here is the message:
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered
"Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And
then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present
or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived." Words of wisdom that can help us examine how each of us looks at our life and, especially, our health.
Today’s Gospel tells us of Jesus healing a paralytic person. Two weeks back, the miracle of the healing of the mother
in law of Simon was followed by these words: And the whole city was gathered together about the door. (Mark 1:
33)
The opening lines of today’s Gospel are almost an echo of these words: And when he returned to Caper'na-um after
some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them,
not even about the door... (Mark 2: 1-2)
Most of those who ‘thronged’ around Jesus were
the poor people who sought His teachings and His healing touch. Later in today’s reading we also hear that some
of the scribes were sitting there… When Luke narrates this miracle, he mentions that there were the Pharisees
and teachers of the law.
While the poor had come to Jesus to hear His message and get healed of their
diseases, the Pharisees, scribes and teachers of the law had come to find fault with Him. These contrasting groups, mentioned
in the context of healing, bring to mind a situation that has arisen in India in the field of medicines.
Most of us are aware
of the free or low-cost medical care given in India. We can feel proud of this fact. Unfortunately, this medical care is being
criticised or being blocked by some multi-national pharmaceutical companies who have come to India not to serve but to make
profit. These companies remind me of the scribes and Pharisees who had come to Jesus to criticise and condemn His healing
ministry and, if possible, block Him from doing good. Here is an extract from the email I have received two days back from
a Social Network called the Avaaz.org about Novartis, one of these multi-national pharmaceutical companies:India is a shining light
in the global health community -- as the world’s largest supplier of affordable medicines, it has saved the lives of
millions across the developing world who otherwise cannot afford sky-high Western prices for essential drugs. India’s
patent law, which prevents big pharmaceuticals from keeping expensive patent deadlocks on life saving medicines, has made
this possible. But for years, big pharmas have tried to overturn this vital law in hopes of unlocking a goldmine, at the expense
of the world’s sick and poor.
Novartis has hired an army of lawyers to kill the patent law and win monopoly
rights over an essential cancer drug. If Novartis wins, the price of the drug would increase 10-fold to a whopping Rs.1,28,000
per month! Even worse, it would clear the way for big companies to patent all sorts of essential drugs, jeopardizing the future
of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and the lives of millions who rely on Indian medicines. An Indian public outcry
could force the company drop the lawsuit. And Swiss members are also piling on the pressure, targeting Novartis in its hometown.
Let’s overwhelm the mastermind behind this immoral lawsuit by flooding Novartis India president Shahani with hundreds
of thousands of messages now. When we hit 100,000 signers, we’ll make sure our action makes headlines across India and
Switzerland in time for Novartis’ annual stockholders meeting next week:http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_novartis_in_india/?vl
Coming back to the miracle in today’s Gospel, we can easily see that the heroes of this
miracle are the four friends who carried the paralysed person on the cot… They took all the risks to bring him in front
of Jesus – even running the risk of dismantling the roof of the house. Why would these friends do this? Because, they
loved their friend. For them, the man lying on the cot was not simply a burden to be carried; but a friend. They would go
through hell to bring him to heaven. “Seeing their faith…” Jesus worked the miracle! They came carrying
the paralytic. The paralytic went back carrying the cot… probably he and his friends threw away the cot on their way
back. Hopefully, no more burdens for the rest of their lives!
A final thought on how we are fond of carrying burdens and
imposing burdens on others… An old man was walking along the road in the hot sun, carrying a burden on his head. A
truck passed that way. The truck driver took pity on the old man; stopped his vehicle and asked the old man to climb on the
back of the truck. As they were going, the driver turned around to see how the old man was faring and to his utter shock,
he found the old man standing in the truck, still carrying the load on his head. The driver told the old man to put down the
load. The old man replied, “No, sir, already you are doing me a favour by taking me in the truck. Let me not add more
burden to your truck with my load. I shall carry it myself.” Some of us (Many of us?) seem to feel comfortable carrying our burdens
for long… Unburdening requires humility. Let us pray that the Good Lord gives us this humility, so that we get healed
of the many ‘unnecessary’ burdens.
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The Mathematics of Healing
By: Rev. Fr. L.X. Jerome Jane was a new recruit in the school. She
had worked just for a week there. On Saturday afternoon the Principal called her and gave her an additional assignment. She
was asked to go to the nearby hospital and teach mathematics to a boy who was bed-ridden there. On Sunday, Jane went there
a bit reluctantly. When she saw the boy on the bed, she was utterly shocked. The boy had sustained third degree burns in a
fire accident and was fighting for life.
Teaching mathematics to this kid? This must be a cruel joke, Jane thought. Still, she
had to comply with the wish of the Principal. So she began to teach him. She made a valiant attempt to hide her shock and
tears and continued teaching him for 30 minutes. Then she said good-bye to him promising to return the next Sunday. On her
way home, she had made a list of excuses she would offer to her Principal for not taking this assignment next time.
The next Sunday, however, she found herself going back to the hospital. She just wanted to see the kid and be of some
comfort to him… Surely no mathematics this time! At the entrance of the hospital she met a lady who was introduced
to her as the mother of the boy with severe burn injuries. The lady politely asked Jane, “Are you the one who taught
my son mathematics last Sunday?” Jane felt like running away. She knew that no one in her proper sense would do such
a thing. “I am sorry about this… I had to oblige my Principal and so…” Jane mumbled. The lady grabbed
Jane’s hands. Her eyes were brimming with tears… “You don’t know how much you have helped him and
us” the mother said. Jane was stunned by these words. She had done something wonderful? The mother continued: “Till
last Sunday my son had given up on his recovery. He had refused to eat and refused to take medicines. But, after your mathematics
lessons, he is a completely different person. He keeps saying to me… ‘If my school has sent a teacher to teach
me mathematics, then they are sure that I would be back to school soon’. Your mathematics lessons have given him a fresh
lease of life. His recovery this past week has surprised the medical staff here. Thank you so much for doing this.”
As the lady was speaking, Jane could hardly hold back her tears…
Dear
Friends, I have narrated this story in some detail just to make us understand a key idea – an idea that has very close
connection to our Sunday Readings today… namely, the process of healing. What is the main reason for one’s healing?
Taking medicines, undergoing surgical interventions, do not guarantee automatic cure. The cure begins from within a person,
from his or her belief that a cure is possible. This belief can be initiated from hundreds of outside sources, known or unknown…
like a pilgrimage taken to Lourdes or the Holy Land, or like the lessons in mathematics given to the boy who was saying goodbye
to this world. Without this inner belief, healing becomes difficult and, in many cases, impossible. In the first reading today
we hear the anguished cry of one who had lost his belief in getting restored to health: Job 7: 1-4, 6-7Job said: "Has
not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling? Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like a hireling who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to
me. When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. My days are
swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope. Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never
again see good.Verse 5 from this verse is omitted in today’s reading. This
verse is a specific reference to the health conditions of Job: “My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin
hardens, then breaks out afresh.” (Job 7:5) This passage echoes the sentiments many of us have expressed in
many painful situations. Two ideas from this passage caught my attention. The first one is that Job talks of one of the most
common experience for most of us. When pain fills one’s life, the first things that take leave of us are… food
and sleep - the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. The second striking aspect of this passage
is the different symbols Job has used to describe his desperate situation… hireling, weaver’s shuttle,
breath. We too use many symbols to describe our life, especially when we are filled with pain. We think of symbols
like the uprooted tree, a boat tossed about in the stormy sea or a dry leaf swept away in whirlwind etc.
To continue with this symbolic language, one can compare pain to quicksand. When we are caught in quicksand we need
to look for assistance from outside, especially from someone who is standing on firm ground. Instead of this, most of us turn
our attention to the quicksand and get more panicky. This panic sets in motion a series of actions (in case of health…
more medicines and more consultations) by which we get more entangled and submerged in the sand. Although Job’s words
here are the cry of a person caught in the quicksand of pain, he ultimately grabs the hands of God and reaches the firm rock
of salvation.Christ offers this helping hand in today’s Gospel. This
passage from Mark (1: 29-39) is the continuation of the last Sunday’s Gospel. In this Gospel passage, once again, three
things caught my attention. First, Jesus cures on the Sabbath Day. If we browse through the four Gospels, Jesus cures many
persons on the Sabbath Day. Here are some of these miracles of healing: The man with a demon (Mark 1:21-26)
Peter's mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39)
The man with a withered hand (Matthew 12:9-13)
The
bent-over woman (Luke 13:10-16)
The man with dropsy (Luke 14:1-5)
The crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:5-9)
The man born blind (John
9:1-14)
http://www.sabbathhistory.com/miracles.shtml
Any type of work was forbidden on the Sabbath
Day. For Jesus, healing was not a ‘work’ but a natural daily human activity like his eating and sleeping. Moreover,
to free a human person from the bondage of evil, any rule can be broken, affirmed Jesus. The second aspect of this passage is that the whole city was gathered in front of Simon’s house.
As we said at the beginning, a person’s healing begins with the belief of getting healed. We believe that God
heals us; but God cannot heal us without our consent. We need to approach God for our healing as the people thronged around
Jesus. The third aspect of this passage is the way in which Jesus healed
the people around him without any fuss. In many of these instances, Jesus made specific requests to the healed persons to
keep it secret. In today’s Gospel, we see him silencing even the evil spirits who acknowledged his power. Doing good
requires no trumpets. We beg of God for three special graces today:
That we or, someone
close to us who need healing, develop the belief that we can be healed and will be healed.
That more and more of us get involved in the ministry of healing
this world in different capacities.
That
we are not hampered by rules and regulations especially when we are involved in the healing ministry… That we are able
to affirm boldly that Sabbath is made for human beings and not vice versa.
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Authority…
Authenticity
By Rev. Fr. L.X. Jerome
This happened ten years ago. I was asked to take up a key position in one of the
Jesuit institutions in India. I did not feel comfortable about it. I felt I was not cut out for administrative jobs. Hence,
I sought the help of another Jesuit who had held much higher positions than what was asked of me. What he told me cleared
my doubts and helped me take up the responsibility.
This is what he told me: “This is not a position you achieved, but an
opportunity to serve. The key requirement to take up a responsibility is your credibility. You may lack the intelligence or
the administrative capacity to do this job. You may not know how to deal with finance and the government officials. You can
always get the help of others in making up this lack. But if you lack credibility, then no one can help you fill that gap.”
His words are still very fresh in my memory. What he shared that day helped me see ‘Authority’ in a very different
way. The key requirement to serve in a responsible position is one’s credibility. The other qualities are added advantages.
Credibility comes from within. It is an inner force. Intelligence and administrative capacity can be learnt and nurtured from
outside. One can get help from others when one lacks the know-how of running an institution. But, when one lacks credibility,
the inner force, then he or she cannot run the institution in the right direction. This is the real meaning of ‘Authority’.
Today’s
Gospel has a key sentence which set me thinking about this past experience of mine. This is what we read in today’s
Gospel: “Jesus taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1: 22)
If we can understand the meaning of authority, we can as well understand how this ‘authority’ set Jesus apart
from the scribes. We use the word ‘authority’ in two different senses. e.g. This person has authority
over this region. This person is an authority on this subject.
The first one is ‘the power
or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience’. The second one is ‘the power to influence others,
especially because of one’s commanding manner or one’s recognized knowledge about something’. (Oxford Dictionary)
The first one is given from outside; the second, develops from within. Another word that is closely associated with this second
type of ‘authority’ is ‘authenticity’… The more authentic a person, the better his or her authority…
something similar to the ‘credibility’ that my senior Jesuit spoke to me about.
This ‘authority’ can best
be explained by the hush that falls or the spontaneous cheer that erupts in a public meeting when a person of great dignity
– say, a Mother Teresa, a Mahatma, a Martin Luther King or a Dalai Lama – walks into the auditorium. This spontaneity
is due to the magical authority this person holds over the people.
I am not here to take a class on the etymology of ‘authority’.
I am interested in making a common human experience clearer to us. Authority is everywhere, starting from our families to
the international arena. We have secular and sacred authority. If the real meaning of authority can be understood, then we
can get rid of so many complications in our world today. The authority enshrined in and exercised by the sacred sphere can create more complications
when understood wrongly. The authority to be a prophet, to speak in God’s name comes from God. This is explained in
the passage from the Book of Deuteronomy given as our first reading today. The people of Israel are sad that Moses, their
famous leader, the one who was able to interpret God’s plans for them till now, was on the verge of death. Moses consoles
them with these words:
Moses said to the people: “And the LORD said to me, ‘I will raise up for them a prophet
like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet
who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods,
that same prophet shall die.’” (Deut. 18:
17-20)
The authority of Jesus elicited quite a few responses. The people admired it. The person with evil spirit feared it. We
also come across the ‘so-called authorities’ misunderstanding and questioning the authority of Jesus. Although
this is not part of today’s Gospel, there are quite a few instances in the Gospels about this reaction. (Mk. 11:
28; Mt. 21: 23; Lk. 20: 2) When someone is truly great, the others who consider themselves great due
to their position and power will feel threatened. Since the latter can shine only in borrowed feathers and can walk only on
the crutches of ‘authority’, they cannot stand the sight of someone who not only can walk on one’s own legs
but can as well fly on one’s own feathers.
Let’s begin an examination
of conscience… How do we understand authority? How do we exercise authority within our families? Does our authority
come from an inner force, namely, moral power born of inner convictions or from external conventions that are threadbare?
When someone is truly great, we admire that person irrespective of whether the person holds any power or position. We know
that such persons are becoming a rare breed among the world leaders as well as in religious spheres. We pray God to send us
true leaders before whom we can truly exclaim: “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean
spirits, and they obey him.” (Mark 1:27)
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Hi, I am God… Here I am…
By Rev. Fr. L.X. Jerome S.J
When was God introduced to me? Or,
when was I introduced to God? A tough question to answer. The best answer I can give is…. All along! Yes,
all along my life God has been introduced to me. I was born and brought up in a Catholic family. I studied in Catholic Schools
and Colleges. I entered the religious life when I was 18. I have always been in a Catholic environment and it is hard for
me to pinpoint one occasion or one stage of life as the moment when God got introduced to me.
I can surely say that the words God, Lord
and Jesus were introduced to me by my parents. I can vividly recollect the family prayer we used to recite almost every night.
Quite a few mornings we were awakened by the toll of bell from the tiny church in our neighbourhood… pleasant memories
of how God came into my life without much fuss.
Later, in my religious life, God was introduced to me in a deeper way. I remember
that in my mid twenties I had to struggle with some painful events. Those were the moments when I questioned about God, perhaps,
for the first time. My spiritual directors helped me get re-introduced to God in a very different way.
Without making any value judgment
on this, I can make one observation here. Last year one of my former students received his Baptism. He was 20 plus when he
did that. When he was getting ready for his Baptism and even now occasionally he sends me some materials over the email and
asks me questions about God and other Christian doctrines. Usually I am unnerved by his questions since I have not thought
about them myself. Since he had made a conscious choice as a grown up man, his understanding of God and Christianity is very
different from mine. I must say that God entered my life without my conscious effort in my childhood.
This Sunday’s Liturgy talks about both these types…
namely, how God gets introduced in one’s childhood and in one’s adult life. Samuel ‘meets’ God when
he is a child (I Samuel 3:3-10, 19). Andrew and Simon Peter meet Jesus as adults (John 1: 35-42). There are a few lessons
– old and new – that we can learn from these two events.
God meets Samuel in the temple. Samuel has been serving in the temple for quite some
time. The opening line of this passage says that Samuel was lying down within the temple of the LORD. (I Sam. 3:3)
This indicates that he was all the time in the temple. Still he had not met God.
I am reminded of the small fish swimming
in the ocean. It was swimming here and there as if searching for something. A big fish asked the small fish: “What are
you searching for?” The small fish answered: “The ocean”. It is possible to search for the ocean while being
immersed in it. It is possible to search for God while being immersed in God’s presence, as in the case of Samuel. Samuel
was a child and, hence, his ignorance can be pardoned. What about us who have taken God for granted in our lives and begin
searching for God mainly when things became tough for us?
In the Gospel we come across two adults getting introduced to Jesus. In the case of Samuel God gets introduced
in the temple whereas in the Gospel, Jesus gets introduced on the roadside. Both in the Bible as well as in human history
God gets introduced more often in very ordinary circumstances and places than in extraordinary places and situations. Since
it is so ordinary, many of us tend to miss the importance of it. Even in the case of the two disciples of John, they could
have missed Jesus. But, they took extra efforts. They followed Him.
The two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to
them, "What do you seek?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"
He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for
it was about the tenth hour. (John 1: 37-39)
Two questions ‘What
do you seek?’ and ‘Where are you staying?’ as well as an invitation ‘Come and see’ are the main
focus of this passage and it gives us two of the fundamental characteristics of a true disciple… Seeking God and Staying
with God.
I
have read this passage from John’s Gospel quite many times and have interpreted it in very many ways. This time, one
aspect of this passage struck me for the first time… the idea of Andrew taking efforts to introduce the Lord to his
brother Simon. As siblings we tend to introduce our brothers and sisters to many things and persons in life. But how many
of us introduce God to our own brothers and sisters? In how many families God is a topic talked about in our conversations?
Another aspect of this passage is the humility of Andrew. He brings Peter to Jesus and Jesus
seems to pay more attention to Peter, calling him ‘the rock’ etc. The meeting between Jesus and Peter began a
historical relationship that has survived 20 centuries. This does not seem to have disturbed Andrew one bit. He came from
the school of John the Baptist who often spoke of how ‘Jesus must increase and he must decrease’. In reality,
John did just that. After introducing Jesus to his disciples he disappeared from the scene. Andrew too disappeared from the
scene. We can surely pray for this wonderful grace of getting our own near and dear ones introduced
to God and once God takes over we can disappear.
Here is a lovely story that many of us are aware
of. This speaks of the sublime relationship between two brothers. We can get inspired from this, once again.
PRAYING HANDS Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village
near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this big family,
the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other
paying chore he could find in the neighbourhood.cDespite their seemingly
hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer the Elder's children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art,
but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at
the Academy.After many long discussions at night in their crowded
bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with
his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies,
in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also
by labouring in the mines. They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to
Nuremberg.
Albert
went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost
an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors,
and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.
When the young artist returned to his village,
the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht's triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable
meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honoured position at the head of the table to drink a toast
to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfil his ambition. His closing words were,
"And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and
I will take care of you."
All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming
down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, "No ...no
...no ...no."
Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then,
holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for
me. Look ... look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least
once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return
your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother ... for me it is too late."
More than 450 years have passed.
By now, Albrecht Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver point sketches, water-colours, charcoals, woodcuts,
and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar
with only one of Albrecht Durer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging
in your home or office.
One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's
abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands,"
but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love "The
Praying Hands."
The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you
still need one, that no one - no one - - ever makes it alone!
http://www.moytura.com/reflections/prayinghands.htm
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