A HOMILY
TO Celebrate
THE triple
jubilee
OF
fr. edwin d'souza
swami Premananda Naik Salgaoncar
October 16, 1993
Mãe de Deus Church
Saligao, Goa INDIA
a tribute to the
wonders of love
[delivered in english & Konkani]
Pritichea Bhavamno anim Boinimno,
Amchea Padribhavachea, Bhovmanest
Edwinachea, padriponachea bhangarachea utsova disak maka vhoddli khuxi asli ho
sermanv mae-bhaxen porgottunk. Punn tin karanank lagon hanv pati sortam.
Poilem karan zaun asa hem. Muze mukhar maka akhea sounsarachea ani
Bharotmatache bhavarti disti podtat, ani maka dista ki te amchi mae-bhas
sompeponim somzochenant. Dusrem karan: amche Goynche ani kherit baxen
Saligaonche bhavarti donuim bhaxeo -Ingles anim Konkani- somzotat. Tisrem ani
mukhel karan zaun asam hem. Swami Premanandachea jivitachea sottor ani panch
vorsam bhitor godlelim "mogachim vizmitam" vo "wonders of love" porgottunk
moji mae-bhaxechi zanvai pavonam.
Dear Family and Relatives,
Friends and Well-wishers, Admirers and
Supporters, Disciples and Followers
of FATHER EDWIN D'SOUZA - Swami Premananda
Naik Salgaonkar - and my dear Delightful
People assembled in this gothic edifice at
Saligao, an edifice which has a memory of more than two centuries of religious
ceremonies, liturgical celebrations and profession of the Roman Catholic
Faith!
We are privileged this morning to be the
witnesses of yet another religious celebration and public profession of faith
earmarked to THANK THE TRIUNE GOD FOR THE GRACES BESTOWED ON THE TRIPLE
JUBILERIAN, FR. EDWIN D'SOUZA. Let our refrain resound afresh as we sing in
Konkani the harmonious song of the angels at the birth of Christ (Luke 2:14)
"Glory to God in the Highest Heaven and Peace on Earth to humans of goodwill!
Moima Devak, Moima Devak unch sorgim, [2]
Ani Xanti Tachea ixttank
sounsarim! (Luke 2:14)
"Glory to God in the Highest Heaven
and Peace on Earth to humans of goodwill!
1. THE GIFT OF DIAMOND AGE
Last month I was privileged to be present at the Council
for a Parliament of the World's Religions held in Chicago. Dr. Gerald Barney
of the Millennium Institute in his key-note address entitled What shall we do?
The Critical Issues of the 21st Century, addressed the council as follows:
We humans have begun asking questions about "sustainable
development." This is an important question, but it does not go deep enough.
We must also begin asking questions about "sustainable faith." (Barney 1993,
67)
The 75 years of life as lived by Fr. Edwin speak volumes
both of "sustainable development" and of "sustainable faith." The lived
experience of Swami Premananda is a challenging yet grateful response to God
at the service of the little, the lowly and the lost. Both as the
founder-director of the JUZE VAZ BOYS' TOWN and POPE JOHN XXIII HIGH SCHOOL in
Quepem [entrusted generously to and run efficiently by the Salesians of Don
Bosco as DON BOSCO GANV since 1986-87], and as a sanyasi of intercontinental
standing with headquarters at the JUZE VAZ ASHRAM in Portais Pangim, Fr.
Edwin's life is the living proclamation of the Word of God as spelt out by
Saint Paul in the first reading (Eph 4:1-3, 11-13 or 2 Tim 4:1-2, 6-8). He has
run the race with unprecedented novelty and success and has radiated the love
of God in season and out of season! For this let us join in singing the
praises of God:
Moima Devak, Moima Devak unch sorgim, [2]
Ani Xanti Tachea ixttank
sounsarim! (Luke 2:14)
"Glory to God in the Highest Heaven
and Peace on Earth to humans of goodwill!
2. THE GIFT OF GOLDEN PRIESTHOOD
In his Letter to Priests on Maundy Thursday 1993
entitled Christ Yesterday, Today and Forever Pope John Paul II exhorts all
priests to be firmly rooted "in the whole Tradition ... and in the Truth which
is Christ." The past 50 years have seen Swami Premananda carry the message of
the Wholeness and Truth of the Priesthood of Christ to the four corners of the
globe, and in a very significant way to the four corners of Goa. Like Blessed
Jose Naik Vaz, the founder of the Oratorians in Goa, Fr. Edwin has traveled
through and beyond challenging territories to bring God's healing touch (Lk
6:19) to Christians and non-Christians alike. What a Priesthood!
"The heart of the priesthood is the priesthood of the
heart!" is one of the statements of John Raphael Quinn, the Metropolitan
Archbishop of San Francisco, which appeals to me and which, I feel, sums up
the 50 years of the Priesthood of Christ as lived by Father Edwin. For the
wonderful and prophetic way in which Fr. Edwin mediated and continues to be an
instrument of God's Love and Compassion let us praise and thank God by singing
together:
Moima Devak, Moima Devak unch sorgim, [2]
Ani Xanti Tachea ixttank
sounsarim! (Luke 2:14)
"Glory to God in the Highest Heaven
and Peace on Earth to humans of goodwill!
3. THE GIFT OF INITIATION IN THE IGNATIAN LIFE-STYLE
The Gospel passage (Lk 6:12-13, 17-19) which Swami
Premananda has chosen for this liturgy describes the call of the apostles and
centers on the healing mission of Christ. The Director of the International
Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Rome, Fr. Herbert Alphonso, in his tiny
book entitled The Personal Vocation: Transformation in Depth through the
Spiritual Exercises describes the dynamic reality of the call, or
election, as "becoming aware in growing inner freedom of God's personal design
or plan for me, so that I can accept it profoundly in my life to live it out
faithfully and generously." (Alphonso 1990, 18.)
The key to Ignatian Initiation which Swami Premananda
celebrates today is, in my opinion, the gift of the "Discernment of Spirits"
which led him to realize his "Personal Vocation," as a project of life flowing
through harmonious integration, wholesome creativity and genuine happiness. If
we were to ask Fr. Edwin to give a one-word description of this gift, I am
sure he would exclaim: "COURAGE!"
It takes courage to answer a call, It takes courage to
give your all, It takes courage to be true! For the courage which Swami
Premananda, or Father Edwin, a true and courageous son of Saligao, has
exhibited by his mystical approach to life and his generous response to God,
humanity and the cosmos, let us praise and thank God as we sing anew:
Moima Devak, Moima Devak unch sorgim, [2]
Ani Xanti Tachea ixttank
sounsarim! (Luke 2:14)
"Glory to God in the Highest Heaven
and Peace on Earth to humans of goodwill!
THIS PROPHET IS ALSO A MYSTIC
When all is said and done each one of us will stand at
the cross-roads of life and rightly or wrongly carry with us an impression of
Swami Premananda, or Fr. Edwin. What I have shared with you is a series of my
impressions about a MAN, who like Jesus the Living Christ transcends humanity,
whose footprints on the sands of time will last for many generations to come,
and I hope will set a new trail for the Church in Goa. I want you to pause for
a brief moment and consider if I have been true to the task which this MAN
assigned to me on August 13, 1993 when like Mary of Nazareth (Lk 1:46-55) he
wrote: "In the homily give the whole praise to whom it is due, that is, to the
Lord whose mighty arm made use of my lowliness to work wonders of love."
Permit me, my dear brothers and sisters, to conclude my
narration of the wonders of love, praise and thanksgiving with an insightful
story-meditation from The Heart of the Enlightened by Fr. Anthony de
Mello.
An ancient legend has it that when God was creating the
world, He was approached by four angels. The first one asked, "how are you
doing it?" The second, "Why are you doing it?" The third, "can I be of help?
The fourth, "what is it worth?" The first was a scientist; the second, a
philosopher, the third, an altruist; and the fourth a real estate agent. A
fifth angel watched in wonder and applauded in sheer delight. This one was the
mystic! (Mello 1989, 47.)
Let us conclude this homily by applauding in sheer
delight the workings of God's Spirit in the Prophetic Life of Father Edwin
D'Souza or Swami Premandanda Naik Salgaonkar, who is also a Mystic of the
'WONDERS OF LOVE!'
______________________
SOURCES AND REFERENCES
Alphonso, Herbert. 1990. The personal Vocation:
Transformation in Depth through the Spiritual Exercises. Roma: Centrum
Ignatianum Spiritualitatis.
Barney, Gerald O., Jane Blewett and Kristen R. Barney.
1993. Global 2000 Revisited: What shall we do? The Critical Issues of the
21st Century. Arlington: Millenium Institute.
Beverluis, Joel. [Project Editor] 1993. A Source Book
for the Community of Religions. Chicago: The Council for A Parliament of the
World's Religions.
Coelho, Ariosto J. [Vardhan Naik Sardessai] 1993.
Mandalas Within-Beyond Life: A Trans-Epistemological Inquiry into Transformation
from a Dying Disciple to the Dance of Delight. [A Doctoral Dissertation] San
Francisco: California Institute of Integral Studies.
A
TOAST
TO Celebrate
THE SILVER
WEDDING
OF
nimmi cana coelho
& rosarito coelho
February,
2006
Coelho Mansion
Aquem ,
Goa INDIA
Viva! Moments that take our
breath away
Dearest Jubilerians Nimmi and
Rosarito,
your family
-Baba Rohan, Bai Nadine- relatives, friends and well-wishers assembled
here
Thank you for this unique privilege of addressing
this august assembly on this silvery night. I would like to share with you
what a wise person wrote: "Life
is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take
our breath away" [Author Anonymous].
October 18, 1953 was, without a doubt, a day that took my breath
away. This moment recalls my very first recollection of a new born baby boy,
who was later christened "Rosarito." Another breath-taking day was February
4, 1931, the day our parents got married 75 years ago. I hope you will
excuse me if I do not recall that day! I'm grateful to Nimmi and
Rosarito who decided to celebrate their love along with Valdemira and
Xavierito on their Golden Wedding.
As I focus on February 4, 1981 many a pleasant and breath-taking
memory come to my mind. I'm confident that many of you, who were present on
that day twenty five years ago at the Rosary Church in Navelim and at Club
Harmonia in Margao, will have your own precious memories. I would like to
share one incident as described by my sister Angela, who had traveled from Nairobi
to participate in this dual event -Rosarito's & Nimmi's Wedding and Our Parents' Golden
Wedding. She was assigned the important task of picking up and accompanying Rosarito's Bride to
the Church. The golden sun was
setting beneath the silvery sands at Colva beach when
the white limousine drove past Aquem on its way to the
Cana residence in Betalbatim. The driver took a diversion via Nuvem. The
limousine had just entered a bundh flanked with tall coconut palms on
either side, when a horde of grey water
buffaloes decided to escort the decorated Bridal limousine. The driver honked. The more
he honked, the faster the water buffaloes ran in unison in front of the
vehicle. I wonder if the water buffaloes knew that the Bride
was going to marry a great grand nephew of Roque TiTio, who had vested water buffaloes
with the red and white opmursa and sent them around the Navelim Church
a century earlier.
As I recall the Nuptial Eucharist I remember
blessing and addressing not one but two brides and two
grooms during my homily. Nimmi was without a doubt most beautiful, captivating and
radiant as she with her nightingale voice and Rosarito, her debonair groom, made
their commitment of fidelity to each other "In the name of the Father,
and of the Son and
and of the Holy Spirit."
Today, February 4, 2006 we've witnessed the same captivating and
prayerful charm as they exchanged their vows flanked by their son Rohan and
daughter Nadine. Over these twenty five years
they have proved to each other, to their children and to all present that they
"married not only the person they wanted to live with but also the person they couldn't live without" and that they complement each
other in more ways than one. We're all witnesses to their love for Jesus
Christ as a couple and in their various leadership roles among the Couples for
Christ Movement.
Along with my wife Vivian, my elder brother and sisters,
Nimmi's sister Prudenciana and all the members
of our families I would like to thank you Nimmi and Rosarito for your love and
friendship, for lovingly accompanying our parents till the end of their lives
on earth in Aquem, for your
fidelity to Christ and to family traditions. May you have many more years of
a very happy and peaceful marriage. May Rohan and Nadine be your greatest joy!
May all who know you and come in contact with you be blessed!
Finally, Rosarito and Nimmi, this is my wish and prayerful toast to you
both today and every day of your married lives:
May Your silence be comfortable.
In that silence, may you experience the height of intimacy, the depth of communication and the powerful presence of God’s Spirit of Love that gives and forgives.
I
wish you HAPPINESS AS A MARRIED COUPLE! Viva!
A
TOAST
TO Celebrate
THE WEDDING
OF
LEANDRA
D'SOUZA &
BLINSTON FERNANDES
December 23,
2006
Sarzora, Saligao
Nuvem ,
Goa INDIA
May your silence be comfortable
Dearest
Godson Blinston and the beautiful Bride Leandra,
your families, relatives, friends and well wishers assembled here to celebrate
your love!
At the very beginning of this toast to your
happiness as a married couple, let me share with you a humorous story.
After his election to the papacy, Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany missed
driving his car. One day he gently communicated to the chauffeur his great desire to drive. After much thought the papal driver
agreed to the request of His Holiness Benedict XVI. Now the Pope was at
the wheel and the driver took the Pope's seat. Within a minute the Pope
exceeded the speed limit and caught the attention of the Police Officer
on duty, who pursued the speeding vehicle only to realize that it was
the Pope who was driving it. The confused Officer called his Superior,
who advised him that he should proceed to give the lawbreaker a ticket.
The Officer pleaded saying, "I cannot penalize this driver. He is
someone great." The commissioner retorted, "Is he, the Major of
Rome?" "No. It's someone greater." "The President of Italy?" "No,
someone even greater." "Who could it be?" "I do not know, but I know for
certain that the Pope is driving him."
Dear Blinston and Leandra, you're in that seat and
someone greater than the Pope, the Holy Spirit of Love, is driving you. That is
the commitment you made a few hours earlier at the Church of Our Lady of the
Assumption in Sarzora. Under the inspiration of God each of you will take turns
in the driver's seat at the wheel. I'm confident that your upbringing and
education will enable you to keep driving through the highways, byways and super
highways both on land and in cyberspace. Since your births in Nairobi and
Lucknow and your schooling in Margao and Saligao your parents have been the
greatest and best teachers to educate you in the ways of God and men. May you
continue to cherish and practice the values they have nurtured and fostered in
you.
At the beginning of the twenty first century your quest
for excellence led you both to the Farmagudi Engineering College where in 2002
you began to dance to each other's tunes and played musical chairs. The music of
your individual lives led you to Mumbai and Ahmadnagar in pursuit of your
ambitions for fame and glory, until you comfortably sat on different chairs at
the Dell Company in Bangalore. Since February 2006 you've been planning to
travel together and dance to the words of St. John the Evangelist, "Beloved let
us love one another, for love is of God and he who loves is born of God."
There's no better music for a newly married couple than this verse, which you
placed on your wedding invitation card.
Dear Blinston and Leandra, The reality of committed
love for a married couple begins with the engagement RING, develops with the
wedding RING and matures through suffeRING. As you take the driver's seat and
drive though life may you learn to use these three precious RINGS appropriately:
|
CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS
IN
harmony
with
The Rhythm of the Breath |
|
A HOMILY
TO Celebrate
THE EPISCOPAL
ORDINATION
OF
BISHOP
JOSEPH ROSE, osb
June 2,
2002
St. John's Parish Church, Hayward, CA
Spiritual
Leadership
in our Contemporary Church and
Society
MY DEAR PEOPLE OF GOD:
Bishops, Bishop-Elect, Priests, Monks, Oblates and
Faithful Parishioners,
Twenty five years ago when Raul Nicolau Gonsalves, the
Archbishop of Goa and Patriarch of the East Indies, ordained me a Priest among
the Salesians of Don Bosco, I had no idea that I would be called upon to preach
to Bishops about their role of spiritual leadership in our contemporary society
and in the Church in America. As I went through my experiences of priestly
ministry and recalled the many authors and books that I've read over these years
it became clear to me that in the course of this homily I should focus on MY
PRIESTLY MOTTO:
With you a disciple of Christ, for you His Priest today.
I want the Bishop-Elect and everyone present to know that
the original quote from the beginning of the sermon of St. Augustine on the
Shepherds (Sermon 46, 1-2) reads,"I clearly exhibit two distinct
features: one, that I am a Christian; two, that I am appointed overseer of
others. The fact that I am a Christian is for my benefit; that I am appointed an
overseer is for yours. My own good is to be considered in my being a Christian;
in my being an overseer, only yours."
Though selected from among the People of God to exercise a
functional, ministerial and leadership role, every Bishop and Priest never
ceases to be a disciple of Christ. This dual responsibility is at the heart of
the Priesthood. Archbishop Quinn of San Francisco described it as "The heart
of the Priesthood is the Priesthood of the heart" (Homily to Clergy on
Maundy Thursday, 1991). I realize now more than ever before that it is the
'PRIESTHOOD OF THE HEART' or 'The Ministry of Compassion' which sums up the
responsibilities of any candidate called to participate in the fullness of the
Priesthood as a Bishop in the world today.
THE CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS SCENARIO exposes us to the
reality of How a "Christian Country" has become the world's most religiously
diverse nation. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs work
side-by-side with Protestants and Catholics. The new religious diversity is now
a Main Street phenomenon. In A New Religious America Diana L. Eck
(2001), a leading religious scholar, writes: "How Americans of all faiths
and beliefs can engage with one another to shape a positive pluralism is one of
the essential questions -perhaps the most important facing American society.
While race has been a dominant American social issue in the past century,
religious diversity in our civil and neighborly lives is emerging, mostly
unseen, as the great challenge of the twenty first century." The answer to
such a challenge is not an easy one. Some admit that Christianity is facing a
deep crisis.
Gerhard Staguhn (1992) in
GOD'S LAUGHTER: Physics,
Religion and the Cosmos with thought-provoking honesty offers the following
penetrating conclusion to his book. "The deep crisis of Christianity may be
connected to the fact that it does not admit humor and has never accepted the
erotic aspect of love. The crisis of modern science may be connected to its
failure to introduce humor as a universal constant in nature. Research is done
too obsessively and with too little humor, governed as it is by the false belief
that human existence per se can be reduced to a formula. I have a dark feeling,
though, that a humorous quantum of action is hidden in nature that refuses to be
mathematically defined. It guarantees that behind every secret that man regards
as the ultimate one, another "ultimate"secret will appear, each time accompanied
by an engaging, not at all scornful, laughter. But it will only be audible for
those who are endowed with truly "spiritual" ears. A Jewish proverb says: 'man
thinks, and God laughs.'"
Little wonder, then, that so MANY SEEKERS ARE LOOKING FOR
THE "SPIRITUAL" in order to penetrate the inner secret of life and death,
intimacy and isolation, freedom and responsibility, meaninglessness and purpose
(Yalom, 1980). A plethora of spiritualities accompanied by a cornucopia of
spiritual practices is available to the American populace. Elizabeth Lesser
(1999) in her book The New American Spirituality provides directions
through the four landscapes of the spiritual journey: "The mind: developing
awareness, learning meditation, easing stress and anxiety - The heart: finding
what one really loves, dealing with grief and loss, becoming fully alive - The
body: returning the body to the spiritual fold, healing, coping with aging and
fear of death - The soul: naming God for ourselves, exploring other realms of
consciousness, trusting the mysterious nature of the universe, developing
compassion and forgiveness."
How is the Christian Church facing the issue of religious
diversity and spiritual leadership at the beginning of this century? What is the
role of a Christian Bishop vis a vis these challenges? The answer has
to focus on how a Bishop accepts THE CHALLENGE OF CHRIST in today's Gospel (St.
John 21/15-17) passage, "Lovest thou me more than these? ...
Feed
my Sheep." This is how Bishop Augustine of Hippo (Sermon 46,
29-30, 1-2) interprets Christ's answer to Peter: "There were many apostles,
but to one he said, 'Feed my sheep.' Away with the notion that good shepherds
are lacking at present; let us not entertain the idea; may the Lord's mercy
never fail to produce and appoint them. ... Surely, if there are good sheep,
there are good shepherds too, for good shepherds are made from good sheep. But
all good shepherds are in the one, are all one reality. Let them feed the sheep
- it is Christ who feeds them. ...For if I speak my own opinions, I shall be a
shepherd feeding myself not my sheep; but if what I say is his, it is he who
feeds you, no matter who is speaking."
The Bishop-Elect belongs to the Order of St. Benedict. I
would like to share two readings from the BENEDICTINE SPIRITUAL TRADITION."The
whole of the spiritual life turns on these two things: we are troubled when we
contemplate ourselves and our sorrow brings salvation; when we contemplate God
we are restored, so that we receive contemplation of ourselves we gain fear and
humility; but from contemplation of God hope and love" (The Sermons of
St. Bernard). "This is the kind of zeal which monks should exercise
with fervent love; ... Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and may he
lead us all alike to everlasting life.(The Rule of St. Benedict)."
I would also like to share an INSIGHT ABOUT SOLITUDE as
described by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette in
A Monastic Year
(1996). "Thomas Merton, the renowned Cistercian monk and a lover of
solitude, expanded on this search for the authentic self in many of his
treatises. In "The Inner Experience: Christian Contemplation" he once poignantly
wrote: I must return to paradise. I must recover myself, salvage my dignity,
reflect my lost wits, return to my true identity. The early desert monks, with
that deep realism and profound common sense that was uniquely theirs, also
taught their disciples to cultivate the love of solitude. Again and again they
repeated, "Stay in your cell and do not leave it. Sit in your cell, and your
cell will teach you everything." For them, the humble solitude of the monastic
cell was the furnace of Babylon, where the transformation from the old self into
the new self in God's likeness took place. The task of the disciple was to heed
his master's advice and persevere, in spite of the trials and often boredom of
the cell, alone with him who is Alone. Gradually the disciple learned to
discover the wisdom of this teaching. Solitude then became for him not only the
place that led to the discovery of his true identity, but it even more so became
the place where he could find and work out his daily salvation."
It is from this deep solitude that a
contemporary Episcopalian Bishop, a controversial one, describes his SEARCH
FOR THE AUTHENTIC JESUS (Spong, 1993). "The worship of this Christ does
not turn me into a pious or religious person, and I trust it will not so turn
you. I cannot worship the Christ who fulfilled every human aspiration without
also embracing the world gladly, as he did; or without walking into the future
beyond every conventional frontier, as he walked. I cannot stand in awe of
freedom and wholeness in this Christ and not seek to break every tie that binds
me or any other human being into anything less than full humanity. My worship
demands that I be willing to contend against prejudice, bigotry, fear, or
whatever else warps or denies another's personhood. Worship of this Christ is
thus for me a call to life, to love, to compassion, to sensitivity, and to the
quest for justice. It is a call to the risks of involvement and confrontation
with every other human being. To worship this Christ is to celebrate the present
life and to hope for fulfillment that must lie ahead."
This homily would not be complete if I did not, even briefly, dwell on the
reading from The Epistle (I Timothy 3/1-7) of the day. agree with
Paul's encouragement to Timothy, even as I encourage Bishop-Elect Rose, that "IF
A MAN DESIRES THE OFFICE OF A BISHOP, he desireth a good work." I would like to
conclude with an insightful story from Fr. Anthony de Mello's
The Heart of
the Enlightened (1989): "A friend once told the manager of an orchestra
that he would love to have a position in the orchestra. Said the manager, " I
had no idea you could play an instrument." "I can't," was the reply. "But I see
you have a man there who does nothing but wave a stick around while the others
play. I think I can handle his job."
I am not sure how many conductors would be required to
orchestrate the spiritual life of the six billion human beings on this planet.
In my estimate, one out of every five who is a baptized follower of Christ could
do a fantastic job both as a disciple and as a leader in our contemporary
society. MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA stands out as one of those extraordinary
personalities who captured the spirit of Christ and the fascination of our world
as a Minister of Compassion with the 'Priesthood of the Heart.' May her tribe
increase! We may do well to pay heed to her words (Collopy 1996): "Keep the
joy of loving the poor and share this joy with all you meet. Remember works of
love are works of peace. God bless you."
References
Augustine of Hippo. (1974). Sermons. in The
Divine Office Vol. III. London: Collins. pp 538,580-581
Benedict of Subiaco. (1974). The Benedictine Rule
in The Divine Office Vol. III. London: Collins. p 107*
Bernard of Clairvaux. (1974). Sermons. in The
Divine Office Vol. III. London: Collins. p 523
Book of Common Prayer. (1928). New York: Oxford
University Press.
Collopy, M., (1996). Works of love are works of peace:
Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press.
D'Avila-Latourrette, V., (1996). A Monastic Year.
Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company
Eck, Diana (2001). A new religious America. San Francisco:
Harper SanFrancisco
Lesser, Elizabeth. (1999). The New American
Spirituality: A Seeker's Guide. New York: Random House.
Mello, A.
de, (1989). The heart of the enlightened: A
book of story meditations. New York: Doubleday.
Spong, J. S., (1993). This Hebrew Lord: A Bishop's
Search for The Authentic Jesus. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
Staguhn,
G., (1992). God's Laughter: Man and His Cosmos. Translated by Steve Lake and
Caroline Mahl. New York: Kodansha America Inc.
Yalom, I. D., (1980). Existential Psychotherapy.
New York: Basic Books, Inc.
A HOMILY
TO Celebrate
EASTER
WITH THE PARISHIONERS OF
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH
March 26,
2005
St. John's Parish Church, Hayward, CA
Staying Young
in our Contemporary Church and
Society
MY
DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS,
"If ye then be
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above." [1 Col. iii. 1]
As Christians we are not a Good Friday
Community but an Easter People -A Community of Believers- energized by the
power of the
Living Christ who is eternally young. It is his power that makes
us energetic and fully alive to "be still and know that I am God" [Psalm
46/10].
Easter comes with the message to STAY
YOUNG for "Life is not measured by
the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"
[Author Anonymous].
Mr. Walter Marston from San Francisco
recently forwarded to me an email with
The Dash Poem. The poet Linda
Ellis reflects on the dash that separates the years of birth and death on
many a tombstone. The dash stands for the life of the
individual. Unlike Ellis I would like to focus on the two most important
breaths that describe the dash. The first breath at birth and the final
breath of death. The festivities of Christmas and Easter are the
celebrations of these two significant breaths or moments in the life of
Christ and in the lives of his followers.
Throughout
history theologians and commentators have understood the mystery and the
reality of the Resurrection of Christ in a number of ways. While some have
attempted to explain the resurrected body in physical terms others have
described it as a phenomenon that occurs only after death. I like the
way St. Iranaeus of Lyon, an author of the first century, has described it,
for "The glory of God is a human being fully alive."
The
fullness of life as lived by Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, is the
mystery, the reality and the glory of the resurrection. John Dominic Crossan,
a Christian theologian, describes the miracle of the resurrection of
Christ as parabolic, i.e. like a parable, a metaphorical way to indicate the
mystery and reality of the fullness of life as lived by Jesus in the here
and now, for "everyone was filled with awe and glorified God" [Luke
7/16]. Taking a cue from Jiddu Krishnamurthy, a philosopher who draws deeply
form the spiritual traditions of India, I would like to describe the power
of the resurrection of Christ as the meeting point of history and eternity
-the explosion of the moment.
The challenge of the resurrection of
Christ for us today is to live our lives fully in the present -where the two
significant moments of birth and death explode
both within and beyond enslaving memories of the past and anxiety-ridden
projections into the future. It is indeed an explosion of
forgiveness and hope! It blends history with eternity in God! It accepts the
creative newness of life in abundance [John
10/10 & Brihadāranyaka Upanishad
5.1.1]. It centers
a flame with no name or aim of fame or shame at life’s game! It lets go
that love may grow and joy overflow in imitation of Christ crucified and
risen.
Now, I know better
"Today is the first day
of the rest of my life,
Today is the only
explosion
that truly matters."
Birth or
death, fullness or emptiness are two states of breathing and being. It is
much easier for us to experience the
presence of God as energy, enthusiasm, excitement, happiness and
other elevated feelings. There are times when we may be called to experience
the absence of God in our
lives - an emptiness that like a dry, weary land thirsts for water [Psalm
63/1, John 19/28]. St. John of the Cross, a Catholic Mystic of the
XVI century, describes this emptiness as "the dark night of the soul."
Thomas More, a contemporary author, in The Dark Nights of the Soul
writes that such dark nights or states of depression have a purpose to
purify, strengthen and make the soul soar to unprecedented levels of being,
creativity, enlightenment and compassion. Jesus Christ on the cross
experienced distress and exclaimed: "Oh God, my God why have you forsaken
me?" [Matthew 27/47] ... "But Jesus, again crying out in a loud voice
yielded up his spirit" [Matthew 27/50], thus redeeming the world.
Easter
comes with the message to LIVE FULLY IN THE PRESENT in fulfillment of the
Divine Plan [Jeremiah 29/11] for "Life
is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that
take our breath away" [Author
Anonymous ].
The
American media these days have chosen to focus on Terri Schiavo/Schindler.
Some commentators have suggested that the imposed fast unto death offers a
commentary on how Americans today address life and death issues. We have
also been praying for Marta Romero, a courageous woman, a loving mother and
grandmother, a faithful Christian and a devotee of the Virgin of Guadalupe,
who in the name of Christ decided to go on a self-imposed, deliberate and a
total fast on Ash Wednesday. Yesterday, I was told that her days are few and
soon she'll take her last breath.
[Marta Romero died on Monday after Easter at
10am
and was buried in San Mateo, CA on
April 2, 2005.
Terri Schiavo/Schindler died on March 31, 2005.]
We do not
know when will be our last breath! The message of Easter is clear -live
every breath as though it were your last. Take a deep breath: simply breathe in radiance (Awaken), fulfilled experience life
(Balance), freely breathe out peace
(Center),
and emptied experience glory (Delight). This is the rhythm of life with the Spirit of
the Risen Lord.
"I pray by breathing." Thomas Merton
"Breathing in I smile, breathing out I relax."
Thich Nath Hanh
If ye then be
risen with Christ, breathe those things which are above STAY YOUNG and
FULLY ALIVE!
I WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY EASTER!
[continued from column 1]
1. engage all your individual strengths and qualifications
to realize your personal goals and purpose in life; 2. blend your intellectual,
emotional and spiritual resources to create a new family, may all your troubles
be little ones; and 3. do not shun suffering, accept it as you would accept your
shadow.
Finally, dear Blinston and Leandra, this is my
wish and prayerful toast to you both today and every day of your married lives:
May Your silence be comfortable.
In that silence, may you experience the height of intimacy, the depth of communication and the powerful presence of God’s Spirit of Love that gives and forgives. If you do this, your marriage will indeed be a
happy and a lasting one, and all near and dear to you, especially your
children, will be happy.
I
wish you HAPPINESS AS A MARRIED COUPLE!
Viva!
|
A
HOMILY
TO Celebrate
THE BIRTH OF
CHRIST
with the white robed monks
and contemporary catholics
December 10,
2004
Presidio Interfaith Chapel
San Francisco,
CA
Birthing Divine Conscience
in our Contemporary Church and
Society
MY
DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS,
I consider myself
privileged to have this opportunity to break the Word of God with you, the
White Robed Monks of St. Benedict and the Benedictine Network members
assembled in this historic Interfaith Chapel at the Presidio in San
Francisco, California on this tenth day of December, 2004. I’m grateful to
the Main Officiant, Bishop and Abbot Robert Dittler, OSB, for giving me
this opportunity and requesting me to speak to you as to eight year olds.
I hope I’m not belittling anyone here!
In all humility, as
I reflect on the Gospel passage chosen for this occasion ( "At
that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their
midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like
children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles
himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And
whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me."
Matthew 18/1-5)
the words of Angelus
Silesius, a mystic who lived in the XVII century, come to my mind. In my
opinion, he has captured the spirit of Christmas in The Cherubinic
Wanderer where he writes, "Christ could be born a thousand times
in Galilee – but all in vain until He is born in me." During this homily I
would like to dwell on two significant themes related to the birth of
Christ in history: 1. 2000 years ago and 2. Today.
1. THE BIRTH OF JESUS OF NAZARETH 2000 YEARS AGO
"Christ could be
born a thousand times in Galilee"
Yes, "Christ could
be born a thousand times in Galilee, but all in vain until He is born in
you and me." Who is this Christ that was born 2000 years ago?
A recent issue of
Newsweek (Dec. 13, 2004, pages 48-58) carries an article by Jon
Meachem on the truth behind the birth of Christ. The Anglican theologian
in an interview on The O’Reilly Factor summarized his views for the
contemporary scientific mind by stating that the secular society needs to
know what rigorous Biblical studies have revealed about the birth of
Christ, viz., that the narratives of the birth of the historical Christ in
the Gospels, especially of Matthew and Luke, are enshrouded in myth and
mystery.
Beyond myth and
mystery, I would like to adopt a mystical approach that is based on faith.
I like the way in which the Anonymous Author of One Solitary Life
has answered the question about the existence of Christ:
He was born in an
obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter
shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he was an itinerant
preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He had no
credentials but himself. At the age of thirty three he was condemned on
trumped up charges and nailed to a cross between two thieves. He was
buried in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Twenty
centuries have come and gone and He is the center of human history. All
the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the
parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that were ever crowned have not
affected the life of man on Earth as much as that One Solitary Life,
JESUS CHRIST: Yesterday, Today and Forever.
2. TODAY, THE BIRTH OF THE CHRIST IN OUR
CONTEMPORARY WORLD
"Christ could be born a thousand times in Galilee, but all in vain until He is born in me."
The contemporary
religious scenario exposes us to the reality of how the United States of
America, a "Christian Country," has become the world's most religiously
diverse nation. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs work
side-by-side with Protestants and Catholics. The new religious diversity
is now "A Main Street Phenomenon." In A New Religious America
Diana L. Eck (2001), a leading religious scholar, writes: "How Americans
of all faiths and beliefs can engage with one another to shape a positive
pluralism is one of the essential questions -perhaps the most important
facing American society. While race has been a dominant American social
issue in the past century, religious diversity in our civil and neighborly
lives is emerging, mostly unseen, as the great challenge of the twenty
first century."
The answer to such a
challenge is not an easy one for us given our demographics in the San
Francisco Bay Area. How can Jesus, the Christ, answer this challenge? It
is again my opinion that Sam Keen has answered this in his book entitled
Fire in the Belly (1991) where he states that
Every generation
discovers a different Jesus – The Magical Savior, The Wonder Worker, The
Mystic, The Political Rebel, The Labor Organizer, The Capitalist, The
Communist, The Greatest Salesman Who Ever Lived, The Protofeminist, The
Ecololgist. As Albert Schweitzer said, "Men searching for the historical
Jesus look into a deep well, see a reflection of themselves, and call it
Lord."
But who is this
Lord? As I stand in front of you and look into the deep well of my
personal, collective and divine consciousness I am reminded of a story. It
is about a group of school kids who were enacting the First Christmas.
The children had
rehearsed much, and every actor knew the part well. Johnny, the eight
year-old who was acting as the Inn-keeper had to refuse Joseph with the
words, "Sir, there is no place in the Inn. Take your wife and go
elsewhere." On the final day, as the drama unfolded, little Johnny, upon
seeing Mary, the expectant mother, forgot the script he had so well
rehearsed. Moved with pity and compassion Johnny’s heart missed a beat
and without the blinking of an eye he muttered, "Come in!" It goes
without saying that the play could go no further. The act was over.
Everyone in the audience burst into spontaneous applause. Little
Johnny’s message was clear.
Stephen Covey (2004)
in The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
declares that "When the history of the world and of institutions,
societies, communities, families and individuals is finally written, the
dominant theme will be the degree to which people have lived not by their
socialized conscience but by their divine conscience."
The message of
eight-year-old Johnny is to go beyond our socialized consciousness and
make place for the divine in each one of us. This is by far the greatest:
"To love God and man with all your body, mind, heart and soul" (Matthew
22/37-38). May the Divine Child within each one of us be born afresh with
spontaneity and freedom so that glory and peace (moima
ani x anti)
are possible today. This is the Lord, the word of God made flesh, that we
are come to worship. "Oh come all ye faithful, oh come, let us adore Him"
so that we may experience divinity in our humanity and give our personal
expression of "Glory to God and Peace on Earth!"
Rabindranath Tagore,
the Indian poet and a1913 Nobel Laureate once remarked that "every child
comes into the world with the message that God still loves the world." God
created us and sent us into the world with His message of love. The true
challenge for each one of us lies in making that message of love a reality
in our lives. The celebration of Christ’s birth is an occasion for us to
reflect on the birth of the Divine Child in each one of us and in every
child of God, so that the birth of Christ in Bethlehem two thousand years
ago and in San Francisco Bay Area today are both divine. May the reality
expressed by Angelus Silesius be ours today
"Christ
could be born a thousand times in Galilee
– but all in vain
until He is born in me."
I WISH YOU A VERY CHRIST-FILLED
CHRISTMAS.
|
A HOMILY
TO Celebrate
THE CLOSURE OF
ST. JOHN'S PARISH
September 24,
2006
St. John's Parish Church
Hayward, CA
The Concluding Homily
MY
DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS,
During this
Final Homily at St. John’s Church I would like to focus on the following
verses from the Gospel of the day: "For your Heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Be not
therefore anxious for the morrow." [Mt. 6/32-34]
Our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ in his farewell discourse to his disciples
said: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be
scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone, because the
Father is in me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might
have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good
cheer; I have overcome the world." [Jn. 16/ 32-33] Our
Heavenly Father, too, gives us the same message in the Gospel: "Be not
therefore anxious for the morrow." May these words offer us comfort
and solace as we grieve many losses today:
- a community
that sustained our faith since 1988,
- parishioners
who provided friendship and fellowship,
- priests who
offered pastorally efficacious and relevant liturgy, and
- a vestry that
provided meaningful and spiritual leadership.
In today’s
epistle we heard St. Paul tell us, "Ye see how large a letter I have
written unto you with mine own hand." I hope I am not being
presumptuous when I say that St. John’s Church is God’s Letter to
us. See how large a letter God wrote to us. Every Sunday that you have met
as a Community to celebrate the Liturgy of the Word and Eucharist since
its inception in 1988 and incorporation in 1993 is a chapter in this
letter. You may or may not recall the hundreds of chapters, but they have
made an impression on your souls. You have grown by listening to the Word
of God, by breaking Bread together, by worshiping as a family of
Believers centered around the heart of Christ and by carrying out His mission
of service with love and compassion following the example of
Saint John the Evangelist, the Beloved Disciple.
Though I have
been a part of your lives since July 1997, I consider it a great privilege
to be a part of this letter and thank you for accepting me as your Rector. There are many whom I did not know as the
Lord had called them to their eternal reward before I accepted liturgical
and pastoral leadership
of St. John’s Parish. I’d like to compare their lives and ours to
significant paragraphs in this letter. Let us take a few moments as we
silently pause and listen to each of those members who have gone ahead to
prepare a place for us:
Fr. Hampton
Earl Elmore (1924 + 1994)
Karl Herbert
Dittrich (1911 + 1998)
Lillian
Thompson (19__ + 1999)
Jane Miller
(19__ + 2000)
Bishop Ogden
Miller (19__ + 2000)
Fr. Ralph
Campbell (1937 + 2000)
Thelma N.
Dowling (1913 + 2000)
John Harrison
(1916 + 2000)
Mary
Swearingen (19__ + 2002)
Eugene
Riccomi (1921 + 2003)
Marie
Katevecs (1910 + 2004)
Marie B.
Clary (1921 + 2005)
Anne
Howe(190_ + 2005)
George B.
Dowling (1912 + 2005)
Paul E. Mauk
(1934 + 2005)
Marian
Rubino-Nessi (1920 + 2005)
Paula
[Jennie] Cates (1907 + 2006)
Their message
for us can be summed up in the gospel verse that I chose for this homily.
Their wise admonition for us reads: "Be not therefore anxious for the
morrow, but be of good cheer; we have overcome the world."
Today,
September 24, 2006 the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, is the last
chapter in this letter from God. We may not meet together
as the community of St. John’s Parish, but we can definitely continue to
write God's letter with the wonderful happenings in our lives and share
them with the other scattered members.
You and I are the paragraphs with
which God wants to send a message and use us as
Christ-like leaders in our
contemporary church and society.
The Hymns that
we chose for this concluding Eucharistic/Thanksgiving Service are very
meaningful. We began the Liturgy by singing Onward, Soldiers of God.
Yes, we belong to God. We will fight tooth and nail and, if necessary, lay
down our lives for His sake. This is our calling, our ultimate sacrifice
as soldiers of God. Onward we travel. The Gospel of the day [Mt. 6/32-34]
begins with "no man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the
one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the
other." Our past and future are like two masters. Jesus tells us that
the only way we can serve God is by letting go of our past and our future
and
by living in the present. God described Himself to Moses as "I am,
who am. " Every time that we came together as a community to worship
God, we made it a point to let go of chronological time, which is a
measure of the succession of moments that move continuously from the past
to the future, in order to experience God. The liturgy that we celebrate
transports us to the heavenly realm which is eternal. As long as we live
on earth we are subject to change and need chronological time as a measure
in order to achieve the goals that we undertake. However, we need to
realize that our life in God is eternal.
We sang
Nearer My God to Thee as the Gradual hymn. As we gradually approach
God, we enter into the mystery of the Infinite. It is a spatial metaphor
and considers distance from God as being near or far. Spirituality from
this perspective can be either centrifugal or centripetal. We came to
Church Sunday after Sunday to be close to God and experience intimacy with
Him as Communion with the Eucharistic Lord. Then, after Communion with the
Word of God we went away empowered to serve Him in our homes, families,
workplaces, cities and the world at large. We continued our daily lives
breathing in and breathing out the
Spirit of God. I wonder if we could say with
St. Paul today "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I
unto the world... for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus"
[Gal 6/14b &17b]. Thus, St. Paul like Christ crucified was able to
experience the Infinite Power of God in spite of pain and suffering. He
transcended the dichotomy that existed between the centrifugal or
centripetal forces in his life. No little wonder that he is considered by
many experts to be the Founder of Christianity.
We prepared for
this homily by singing Amazing Grace. "But by the grace of God, I
am what I am" [1Cor 15/10] humbly
confesses St. Paul to the Church at Corinth. It is by the grace of God that Fr. Elmore and
the first Vestry founded St. John’s Parish, and it is amazing! It is by
the grace of God that we close this Parish today, and it is amazing! This
is the mystery of grace, through which we find the amazing answers to all
our
beginnings and endings. "For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not
therefore anxious for the morrow." Mt. 6/32-34
Our communion
hymn is going to be Let All Mortal Flesh Appear. Let us in all
humility continue to appear before God as mortal flesh that we are. Every
Sunday we recited three times "Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee,
but only say Thy word and my soul shall be healed." Let us continue to
make this our
spiritual practice wherever we are. For trust and humility
are the two corner stones of the spiritual edifice. May we continue to
experience the healing, wholeness and holiness -"his kingdom, and his
righteousness"- that we seek.
With the help
of the
Mystical Risen Lord, who has overcome human frailty and mortality, let us
seek those things that are above -"his kingdom, and his righteousness"
so that we can finally sing Holy God
We Praise Thy Name, the concluding hymn. Sunday
after Sunday for over a thousand times the parishioners of St. John's
Church have sung "Holy, Holy, Holy, ..."
Let us continue singing and experiencing in our hearts the threefold
holiness in honor and in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
"Brethren, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit. Amen"
The ending of
the Epistle of Paul to the Church at Galatia [6/18]
|
|
CREATIVE IMPRESSIONS
with
Impermanence
:
The Rhythm of the Universe
|
|
