Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

As I read our Gospel story, I had this impression that Pharisees were following Jesus and his disciples to notice that they were picking grains in the field. Were they on a random fault-finding journey? I wondered: “Let’s see what they do on the Sabbath! They are bound to break the law at some point.” Pharisees always brought to Jesus a number of arguments and grievances; many of which were a tip of the iceberg, a symptom of a much bigger problem underneath. This argument about what’s lawful on the Sabbath was the tip of the iceberg. God created the Sabbath for our benefit, to rest both physically and spiritually. But for Pharisees, the law became more important than the resting part. They believed they were right in what they thought and did, and needed no correction. Jesus sorted the argument but still, where did we go wrong by turning everything into an argument? Unfortunately, when we are so busy winning arguments, we don’t realize we are distracted from everything else that migh...

Psalm one begins with: “Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked.” Of course, we wish the circle of all our friends are only good people and thank God that they are not involved in some shady deals, mafia and the like. That’s what I initially understood it to be about. I am sure you just finished scanning all your friends mentally. For full disclosure, I did it too in my mind. I found the meaning behind the counsel of the wicked to be more extensive than I thought. I came to understand that it could simply mean buying into the world’s ways. That made me realize that we always end up with a big mess, when we have become so in love with our own selves instead of God. It is easy for us to slide into the wicked category. None would like to consider themselves wicked! However, we humans, have been nasty to each other, and validated our excuses for doing it. Cain and Abel are our very first example which ended in tragedy. Who will fix this? The United Nations have not...

The Passover of the Jews was near. A big deal for Jews! They rehearsed and remembered their divine rescue from Egyptian slavery, a day that is ingrained in the minds of the children of Israel. As it was customary, Jesus would be in Capernaum often teaching about the Kingdom of God. After having spent a few days with his mom and brothers, he went to Jerusalem. In the Temple, the idea was that people of God gather; pursuing holiness and purity in front of a Holy God, so that God, would come and vindicate them. Remember they were conquered by Romans, they certainly had many prayer requests asking God to intervene in their lives. As part of the Passover celebrations were the Matzah: A simple meal, made from flour and water without any yeast: a symbol of the meager rations the Jewish slaves had to subsist on during their enslavement, and a reminder of the poverty and hardship they endured. When Jesus got to the temple, it was business as usual for Israel’s leaders. The very reason to come ...

If there is anything that fascinate us the most, it would be the existence of other life forms/ other worlds. We are drawn to all kinds of imaginations about life elsewhere in the Universe. Star trek? UFO’s? Are we alone in this vast Universe? Jesus comes describing the realm of his Father’s Kingdom and we are less interested? What is going on? The Gospel of Mark presents the evidence of this Kingdom, where Jesus came from. 3 Witnesses: Peter, James and John went on this trip up on a high mountain with Jesus! They described in detail what they saw and heard. Mark tells us that they were so terrified that they mumbled words just to make small talk conversation. Jesus intended us to see the evidence of God’s glory, a glimpse into the eternal if you will. They saw how changed in appearance Jesus was, and they recognized two of the most respected Israel leaders: Elijah and Moses. Was Jesus showing them a window into his eternal Kingdom? Sort of, on-the-job training and mentoring? Is that ...

We live in a world so sophisticated that we have answers to many questions on our finger tips: We have google/ Artificial Intelligence or new medical equipment that makes surgeries less invasive and more effective. In some way, this progress offers great freedom and efficiency which wouldn’t be available otherwise. But, if we are being honest with ourselves, we recognize the dilemma that still, not all our questions and concerns will find solutions despite all this progress. We run into the danger of hailing this human progress much higher in the place of God. We were made to worship God, if we don’t, we will substitute anything in God’s place. Isaiah warned Israel about putting creatures in the place of God and fearing them more than we should fear God. This prompted God to ask: “Are those fit to be my rivals? To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal? The people of God had been under a lot of distress in Assyrian and Babylonian captivity and forgot the power of their God, and ...

As you know, I still struggle with English idioms even if I have lived-in English-speaking world for decades. There is a new one I recently acquired: To be scatter-brained or mentally scattered. I looked it up: It seemed to describe a situation when our lives have a bunch of things going on at once, and multiple things to manage in each of those areas … it can feel really messy and scattered. This kind of feeling of messiness can cause us stress. We all have been there before, haven’t we? We learn to put up a good face because we don’t want the world to know that we are not in control! Am I right? This is a human trait. We all go through life differently; face different battles and we react differently. Some of us may use aspirin or melatonin (Sleep aid) to cope better, and others develop new ways of coping with stress, some positive and others negative. The Gospel of Mark does not tell us everything about all the people Jesus met. He mentions some really amazing healings that stood ...

Oscar Romero who was the archbishop of El Salvador, was assassinated while presiding at a memorial Mass in the Carmelite chapel of a Hospital on March 24, 1980. The archbishop was standing behind the altar, preparing the gifts at the offertory, when two mercenaries approached the chapel and fired a single shot from a military assault rifle. The archbishop died within minutes from shock and blood loss. He was source of hope for millions of oppressed and impoverished Salvadorians, and was seen as the greatest threat to the greed and arrogance of the oligarchy of 14 families that ruled El Salvador as if it were their own. Archbishop Romero was known to say the truth, and to say it loud and clear. He often said: “The word of God is like the light of the sun. It illuminates beautiful things, but also things which we would rather not see.” This got me thinking... What is it that happens in our communities that we would rather not see? Perhaps most of these may not end up with a 911 call, an...