Silent Response

Recently on 11^th February 2014, in Lourdes Shrine, Perambur, many people have flocked to see something extraordinary and supernatural in the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Many are excited about it. Just I thought of recording about what should be our response to these events in my perspective.

We have a good tradition in the Bible and in the Church about how some personalities have responded to the supernatural events like visions and apparitions.

Though they were surprised about it but have not been too much emotional or excited about it rather pondered in silence about those events.

Mother Mary herself was pondering and reflecting in silence about the revelations.

In fact, Zechariah was made dumb by God about the vision.

Joseph silently accepted Mary on account of what was told in his dream.

The recognized visions, apparitions, which have been so far approved, are those personal revelations to individual persons like Bernadette and others but in fact had come along with a strong message to the world. There have been no approved apparitions to masses or group of people so far in the Catholic tradition apart from the Biblical tradition like for example Jesus apparition to his disciples after his resurrection.

Great mystics who had mystical God experience have become silent after such an experience.

St Thomas Aquinas, who was a great mystic and author of Summa Theologica (a long discourse on Theology) after having a vision considered his own written work as rubbish and did not want to write further, although his work still forms the basis for theological discussion in the seminaries even today.

Great mystic and philosopher, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (from Indian tradition) have advocated his disciples to be mute about the divine visions and experiences. He says that the supernatural events like visions or mystical experience is essentially ineffable, indescribable, and non-communicative. He gives some metaphors to illustrate this:

• The bee buzzes around the flower when it longs for honey. When it collects the honey it is silent.
• When an empty pitcher is dipped in water, it makes a gurgling sound. When it is filled and hauled up, the sound ceases.
• At a banquet there is a good deal of noise while the guests are waiting for the food. When they are served, they speak less and less. And when the last course is over, there is only the faint sound of wiping the banana leaf.

Soren Kierkagaard, a theistic existentialist philosopher says,

“As my prayer become more attentive and inward

I had less and less to say.

I finally became completely silent.

I started to listen

- which is even further removed from speaking.

I first thought that praying is hearing,

not merely being silent.

This is how it is.

To pray does not mean to listen to oneself speaking.

Prayer involves becoming silent,

And being silent,

And waiting until God is heard.”

Blessed Mother Teresa says:

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Live in the NOW!

Life is full of surprises which the human mind often fails to grasp because of the fast moving lifestyle everyone have embraced.  Let us take a few moments to stop here and reflect with the help of this age-old fairy tale known as ‘Peter and the Magic Thread.’

Peter was a very lively little boy.  Everyone loved him: his family, his teachers and his friends.  But he did have one weakness.  He could never live in the moment.  He had not learned to enjoy the process of life.  When he was in school, he dreamed of being outside playing.  When he was outside playing, he dreamed of his summer vacation.  Peter constantly daydreamed, never taking the time to savour the special moments that filled his days.

One morning, Peter was out walking in a forest near his home.  Feeling tired, he decided to rest on a patch of grass and eventually dozed off.  After only a few minutes of deep sleep, he heard someone calling his name.  ‘Peter! Peter!’ came the shrill voice from above.  As he slowly opened his eyes, he was startled to see a striking woman standing above him.  She must have been over a hundred years old and her snow-white dangled well below her shoulders like a matted blanket of wool.  In this woman’s wrinkled hand was a magical little ball with a hole in the center and out of the hole dangled a long, golden thread.

‘Peter,’ she said, ‘this is the thread of your life.  If you pull the thread just a bit, an hour will pass in seconds.  If you pull a little harder, whole days will pass in minutes.  And if you pull with all your might, months – even years – will pass by in days.’  Peter grew very excited at this discovery. ‘I’d like to have it if I may?’ he asked.  The elderly woman quickly reached down and gave the ball with the magic thread to the young boy.

The next day, Peter was sitting in the classroom feeling restless and bored.  Suddenly, he remembered his new toy.  As he pulled a little bit of the golden thread, he quickly found himself at home, playing in his garden.  Realizing the power of the magic thread, Peter soon grew tired of being a schoolboy and longed to be a teenager, with all the excitement that phase of life would bring.  So again he pulled out the ball and pulled hard on the golden thread.

Suddenly he was a teenager with a very pretty young girlfriend named Elise.  But Peter still wasn’t content.  He had never learned to enjoy the moment and to explore the simple wonders of every stage of his life.  Instead, he dreamed of being an adult.  So again he pulled on the thread and many years whizzed by in an instant.  Now he found that he had been transformed into a middle-aged adult.  Elise was now his wife and Peter was surrounded with a houseful of kids.  But Peter also noticed something else.  His once jet black hair had started to turn gray.  And his once youthful mother whom he loved so dearly had grown old and frail.  Yet Peter still could not live in the moment.  He had never learned to ‘live in the now.’  So, once again, he pulled on the magic thread and waited for the changes to appear.

Peter now found that he was a ninety-year-old man.  His thick dark hair had turned white as snow and his beautiful young wife Elise had also grown old and had passed away a few years earlier.  His wonderful children had grown up and left home to lead lives of their own.  For the first time in his entire life, Peter realized that he had not taken the time to embrace the wonders of living.  He had never gone fishing with his kids or taken a moonlight stroll with Elise.  He had never planted a garden or read those wonderful books his mother had loved to read.  Instead, he had hurried through life; never resting to see all that was good along the way.

Peter became very sad at this discovery.  He decided to go out to the forest where he used to walk as a boy to clear his head and warm his spirit.  As he entered the forest, he noticed that the little saplings of his childhood had grown into mighty oaks.  The forest itself had matured into a paradise of nature.  He lay down on a small patch of grass and fell into a deep slumber.  After only a minute, he heard someone calling out to him.  ‘Peter! Peter!’ cried the voice.  He looked up in astonishment to see that it was none other than the old woman who had given him the ball with the magic golden thread many years earlier.  ‘How have you enjoyed my special gift?’ she asked.  Peter was direct in his reply.  ‘At first it was fun but now I hate it.  My whole life has passed before my eyes without giving me the chance to enjoy it.  Sure, there would have been sad times as well as great times but I haven’t had the chance to experience either.  I feel empty inside.  I have missed the gift of living.’ ‘You are very ungrateful,’ said the old woman ‘Still, I will give you one last wish.’  Peter thought for an instant and then answered hastily.  ‘I’d like to go back to being a schoolboy and live my life over again.’  He then returned to his deep sleep.

Again he heard someone calling his name and opened his eyes.  ‘Who could it be this time?’ he wondered.  When he opened his eyes, he was absolutely delighted to see his mother standing over his bedside.  She looked young, healthy and radiant.  Peter realized that the strange woman of the forest had indeed granted his wish and he had returned to his former life.  ‘Hurry up Peter.  You sleep too much.  Your dreams will make you late for school if you don’t get up right this minute,’ his mother admonished.  Needless to say, Peter dashed out of bed on this morning and began to live the way he had hoped.  Peter went on to live a full life, one rich with many delights, joys and triumphs, but it all started when he stopped sacrificing the present for the future and began to live in the moment.

An excerpt from the book “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma.

Wheat and Weeds

Jesus told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.  While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and left.  When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared.  Then the servants of the owner came to him and said: ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field?  Where did the weeds come from?’  “He answered them: ‘This is the work of an enemy.’ They asked him: ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ He told them: ‘No, when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them.  Let them just grow together until harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the workers: Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn.” (Mt 13:24-30)

This parable of Jesus drives us to reflect upon a very crucial perception we undergo in everyday life.  In the worldly standards, the suggestion of the servants appear to be a good suggestion as any well-informed farmer would do.  But when it comes to the application of this parable in the field of human heart, the words of the master project itself to be words of wisdom.  The master prevented them from pulling the weeds for this one reason, “when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them.”  The master knew how difficult it is to distinguish between the wheat and the weeds.  They look so much alike.

Our human perception and experience is so limited and finite in comparison with the Divine intervention.  When applying this indistinguishable fact in our human relationships, it is really difficult to differentiate between the “wheat” and the “weeds”: To differentiate between the genuine lovable person from the not genuine; To differentiate between the faithful person from the unfaithful; To differentiate between the truthful person from the untruthful person.  But still we proceed with our human relationship with lot of complexities with a hopeful trust in the person whom we love.  If that is the phenomenon among human beings, how much more it would be with God who is so loving and caring unconditionally towards each one of us personally.

Thought breeds fear

How does fear come about – fear of tomorrow, fear of losing a job, fear of death, fear of falling ill, fear of pain?  Fear implies a process of thought about the future or about the past.  I am afraid of tomorrow, of what might happen.  I am afraid of death; it is at a distance still, but I am afraid of it.  Now, what brings about fear?  Fear always exists in relation to something.  Otherwise there is no fear.  So one is afraid of tomorrow or of what has been or what will be.  What has brought fear?  Isn’t it thought?  Thought creates the future as death, and I am frightened of that.  So thought breeds fear.  I think about my losing a job or I might lose a job, and thought creates the fear.  So thought always projects itself in time, because thought is time.

An excerpt from the talks of Jiddu Krishnamurthy (An Indian Philosopher).  This particular speech of J Krishnamurthy makes me to reflect often.

Mighty Tree & A Tender Plant

There was a huge tree in a small forest and by its side was a little plant. The tree was proud and haughty because of its large size. The tree called the plant and said, “I have been watching you for long. You are tiny. Why do you not spread your roots and grow big like me, so that you could be stable and strong like me?” The plant replied, “I’m quite comfortable with my size. I feel I’m safe and stable."  The tree laughed aloud and said, "Look at my size and see my roots that are spread so deep on earth. Nothing could shake me. Ten men together cannot uproot me. But you are so small and tender that one can pluck you away with two fingers.”

The plant did feel offended. It thought time would answer the question who is strong and who is weak. A few days later there was a very heavy storm. It uprooted all the big trees and destroyed the forest. When the storm had passed; people from the nearby villages entered the forest to survey the damage and to use the fallen trees. The mighty trees were lying on the ground with all roots facing the sky and leaves scattered on the ground. But the small plants, though shaken by the hurricane, were not uprooted. In a day or two they stood erect and new leaves started sprouting in them. They were stable even though they were feeble.

The villagers cut the trunks and branches of the trees for firewood. But they took care of the small plants which, they know, would grow up and build the forest once again. 

Big or small, God creates everything with a purpose.

God's Foolishness

Today is April Fool Day. I had a wonderful reflection on this day about a biblical verse which I like and cherish the most.

God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. (1Cor 1:25)

On 1st April 2011 around 1.00 p.m. after having one hour spiritual sharing with Rev Fr R V Mathias with the intention of getting his guidance and advice, the final statement uttered by him still lingers in my mind.  He said,   “Rationality is the best weapon that can safeguard and makes triumphant one’s ego, that is ‘I’ which is not the true self. The True Self is the Divine Self which often shines gloriously in every self outside the framework of logicality. One’s purpose of living does not start from one’s ego but one’s purpose of living always proceeds from God himself which human persons fail to understand.”

On parting from him, lastly I said to him about the thing that I was reflecting these days. I was supposed to join the staff picnic to Sri Lanka from 30th March till 3rd April. Therefore I applied for my visa to Malta (to go on 12th April) much in advance one month earlier with the hope of receiving my passport in time to go to Sri Lanka. But I do not know, whether fortunately or unfortunately, I did not receive my passport even by 29th of March 2011. Then I said to myself, may be it is God’s Will that I should not go and He has better things for me in these four days. On 30th March 2011, I saw Rev Fr R V Mathias who had come to Sacred Heart Major Seminary to preach retreat to the seminarians. From that moment onwards, something was telling to my inner spirit that I should meet him personally and get his guidance about my priestly journey. I fixed an appointment with him on this day and spoke to him for an hour. It was really God inspired experience and sharing. I was enlightened on certain matters. Now I said to myself, this is God’s best plan that had to give up the trip to Sri Lanka in order that I may experience the Divine Will for me through the person of Rev Fr R V Mathias.

The Flower & The Butterfly

Once there was a man who asked God for a flower and a butterfly.  But instead God gave him a cactus and a caterpillar.  The man was sad; he did not understand why his request was mistaken.  Then he thought: Oh well, God has too many people to care for, and decided not to question.  After sometime, the man went to check up on his request that he had left forgotten.  To his surprise, from the thorny and ugly cactus a beautiful flower had grown.  And the unsightly caterpillar had been transformed into the most beautiful butterfly. 

God always does things right.  His way is ALWAYS the best way, even if to us it seems all wrong.  If you asked God for one thing and received another, TRUST.  You can be sure He will always give you what you need at the appropriate time.  What you want is not always what you need.  God never fails to grant our petitions.  So keep on going for Him without doubting or murmuring.  Today’s THORN… Is tomorrow’s FLOWER!   God gives the very best to those who leave the choices up to Him!