Sermon thoughts- 3rd Sunday of Easter – B (Acts 3, 12a-13.15. 17-19, 1 John 2.1-5a; Lk 24, 35-48)

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Thomas Kalathil

Repetition is an important method in the learning process.
I remember my childhood:
As we have prayed together in the family in the evenings it was then the time to learn. We had to read aloud our learning portions.
And at this time you hear only the learning children.
We read or wrote everything repeatedly, in order to remember everything so precisely. (Nowadays we mostly hear the sound of the TV at this time.)

Repetition is also very evident in the spiritual life.
Rosary is the best example to it.
By repeating one comes to meditation, to inner peace and also to better and greater understanding of the prayers. Repeated celebrations of the sacraments have the same function.

When we carefully listen to the Gospel in the Easter time,
it will be clear that there are often repetitions.
Jesus the Risen Lord appears repeatedly to his disciples;
he speaks with them, extends his peace.
He says repeatedly that he is risen from the dead so that
the writings should be fulfilled.

We will certainly think that the disciples could easily believe in Jesus.
But it was not simple as we think.
Jesus understands this weak nature of his disciples.
He knew that they need repeated teachings and signs.

Through these repetitions and patience, Jesus could slowly convince everything his disciples.

We too believe that God is in our midst.
Still often he seems to be some “Spirit” for us.
Yes, just like the disciples, we too have the problem to recognize him or to act according to his will.

Yes, we do believe that God is present in our lives, but it is still hard to live accordingly. The disciples of Jesus too had similar problems in faith-
It could be the lack of faith, or be little attention to the word of God or such other obstructions.

But, no evangelist indicates that Jesus was impatient with his disciples.
Jesus was- quite the contrary to that – very understanding.
He tried to do everything to convince them of his resurrection.

I believe and hope that God deals with us in such a way.
He tries to convince us – with his sacraments, through his love, in the community of the faithful or by some charismatic people who witness to God through their lives. He has patience with us. He gives us again chances to be his followers.

The disciples could believe in Jesus Christ in time and this faith changed their lives totally.
I also wish for us this grace – to act in time, make use of the time God gives us and to trace out God in our lives and change our lives as his will.
Let us pray that he shows his Patience to us too.
God bless us all. Amen!
- Fr Thomas Kalathil

Sermon thoughts – 2nd Sunday of Easter time – B (Acts 4, 32-35; 1Joh 5, 1-6; Joh 20, 19-31)

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Thomas Kalathil

“One heart and one mind” – this expression, is familiar to us in the family life. The partners are to suppose to be one heart and soul in love.

Or some monasteries and idealistically minded communities are examples of such unity.
In the first reading we hear that the first Christian community was of one heart and one mind. They shared all their possessions with others. So there was nobody in need, says the Acts of Apostles. This is a very nice report of unity and community- which must be our dreams too.

I think the most important miracle that happened after the resurrection of Jesus, is the unity among the disciples of Jesus. Then when they were together with Jesus, they had some difficulties to understand each other;
there were also discussions about “importance and greatness” among them.

Here we see that the death and resurrection of Jesus unites the disciples.
They are of one heart and one soul. They live these very important values in the community. It happens in the love. There is a trust among them.

We know, Love and Trust are very important in human life.
When these are violated, then the relations are destroyed;
then the people go in despair.

Today we hear in the gospel, that Jesus appears to his disciples.
One can see two parts here:
At first we hear about the appearance of Jesus to the disciples. Jesus talked to them, showed his hands and his side. The disciples saw him; they were happy and were very excited about Jesus. As the climax, he gives them the Holy Spirit and power to forgive Sins.

In the second part we see the story about Apostle Thomas. He is very disappointed with the events happened in his absence. Because he was called “Didymus”- “Twins”. That means, there was some special bond between Jesus and Thomas. Now Jesus, one of the twins appears in his absence, and Thomas become a loser – no vision of Jesus,
no gift of the Spirit and no power of forgiveness.

That makes him blind and he was so sticking on his conditions.
He goes further – he not only wanted to see Jesus but also to touch his body and wounds. It means he wanted to feel Jesus better and closer.

That does not doubt the divinity of Jesus and his power. One can find out his frustration in these words. This despair is simply out of frustration, because he loved Jesus so extreme.
The Gospel – John 11, 16 – gives us an example of his love of Jesus.
” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’ “. He says this as all the other disciples were afraid of Jews. That means Thomas was basically a deeply religious man.

This deep faith of Thomas, we see at the end of the Gospel:
His confession is unique: “My Lord and My God”.
John uses the word “Theos”. It is not just ‘a god’, but Jesus is the personal Lord and God of Thomas. This is the total submission. I think after the resurrection of Jesus there was not such a strong testimony from any other disciples.

The Apostle Thomas is the symbol for all of us who values love and union but sometimes gets hurted and disappointed. Apostle Thomas had the fortune to preserve his inner faith even in the midst of despair and disappointments. He could see and touch Jesus as he wished.
This made him from disbelieving disciple to a strong Apostle of Jesus.

Similar experiences were there for almost all the apostles, especially after the resurrection of Jesus. As they experienced the love and acceptance of Jesus in his words and appearances, they lived this in the early church – and could lead others to be one heart and one soul.

Let us ask God for His grace and mercy – on this Divine Mercy Sunday – as the Apostle Thomas, as the other disciples of Jesus, to preserve us in faith and to proclaim him, in and through our lives even unexpected disappointments and questions are confronted there.
May God bless us all, through the Apostle Thomas. Amen!
-Fr Thomas Kalathil

Sermon Thoughts – Easter – B – 2012 – Mk 16, 1-7

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Thomas Kalathil

Dear friends,
First of all I would like to wish you a Happy and blessed Easter.
God is alive – this is the core message of the resurrection of Jesus.
He is Lord over life and death, the liturgy of the day confirms it.

But my special interest is around the last sentence of the Gospel of Mark 16, 7: “He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you ”

The DESCRIPTION OF PLACE in Mark is very important:
Then, Jesus suffered and rose again in Jerusalem;
It is the place of worship and place of the ONLY temple –
the most important place for Israelites.
But Jesus goes to Galilee, where he lived and worked most of his life time.
Also the disciples had to go to Galilee as Jesus said.read more…

Good Friday – Meditation -2012 – B

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Thomas Kalathil

Today, on Good Friday, our thoughts are with Jesus on the cross and his suffering. We think it’s so awful and painful that the good God suffers.
For Jesus, the pain of his soul should have been bigger than his physical pain. Then, almost all of his friends left him and he stood there in this time of his trail alone.

Today, when I see him as a crucified, I ask myself:
Did Jesus loved his cross? Whether he wanted to suffer necessarily?
We hear Jesus praying in Gethsemane:
“Father, if you are willing take this cup from me …” read more…

Sermon thoughts – Maundy Thursday – B (Ex 12,1-8, 11-14; Joh 13, 1-15)

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Thomas Kalathil

The reading from Exodus narrates a celebration – the celebration of the deliverance of Israel from the slavery and hardships in Egypt. People of Israel experience great miracles of their God – YHWH – in Egypt.

It is a celebration. Nevertheless, it is not quite solemn. Because they are not completely free. But they hope to start their journey to Canaan, the land of promise.
In addition to it they have to celebrate this festival in a hurry. It is not the time to celebrate long as they have so little time. They had to eat the food, as reinforcement or as a backup for the journey. They had no time to prepare it properly. Moreover they are in fear, because they can feel the death outside their doors.
Bitter herbs and unleavened bread … These represent the bitterness of her life, the scarcity of time … This Passover is a celebration of togetherness and the Israelites celebrate it as God had wished.more…