home

When she was leading the agitation, she was not aware that the police had been strictly ordered to disrobe her and have her photographed. The ruthless dictator and the extremists thought that kind of humiliation would silence her. The unscrupulous policemen standing behind her did try to tear her dress off and managed to bare her back. But her supporters fought and succeeded in protecting her from further humiliation. But the outrage and the shock did not silence her. Asma Jahangir, described as the “gutsiest woman of Pakistan,” fought courageously against dictatorship and religious extremism till the end that came on 11 February this year.

Born on 27 January 1952  into an affluent family in Lahore, Pakistan, Asma Jilani Jahangir studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Lahore. In 1978 she received her law degree from Punjab University, Lahore. Right from her childhood Asma was exposed to activism and political struggle. Her father, Malik Ghulam Jilani, though a civil servant, was a fearless activist who was frequently jailed for opposing military dictators. In fact, the first time Asma appeared in court was to plead the case of her jailed father.

In 1983, Safia Bibi, a blind 13-year-old girl, was raped by her employers, and as a result became pregnant. But what happened to her can enlighten you about what really goes on in Pakistan. Her rapists accused her of ‘fornication’ and the court fined her and sentenced her to flogging and three years of imprisonment. Asma and a group of supporters staged a protest and later she defended Safia in the court. Widespread protests and pressure finally made the appeals court overturn the infamous verdict that sought to punish the victim of the crime.

Asma advocated peace with India, and so the extremist elements often accused her of being an Indian agent or a traitor.

She worked initially at the Lahore High Court, and later at the Supreme Court. In the 1980s, when she became active in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, the regime of Zia-ul-Haq put her in jail. In 1986, she moved to Geneva, and became the vice-chair of the Defence for Children International. In 1988 she returned to Pakistan. She co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and was its Secretary General for a few years. Asma became Pakistan’s first woman to serve as the President of Supreme Court Bar Association. She served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion for six years from 2004 and on the U.N. panel for inquiry into human rights violations in Sri Lanka, Israel and Iran.

Asma spent her life defending the human and women’s rights, rights of religious minorities and children in Pakistan. She was a staunch critic of the Hudood Ordinance that decreed that victims of rape had to prove their innocence or else face punishment themselves. She also fought against efforts to bring in Proposed Law of Evidence, which reduced the value of a woman’s testimony to half of the value of a man’s testimony. In a letter to The New York Times, Asma said that “Women are arrested, raped and sexually assaulted every day in the presence of female constables, who find themselves helpless in such situations.” She had to pay dearly for criticizing Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws that were used against the minorities.

She won a number of awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award and the French government’s ‘Officier de la Légion d’honneur’ award. But the international recognition of her courage and struggles did not prevent the Pakistani government and army from harassing her. If she was not jailed, she was put under house arrest. In 2012, she came to know that an assassination plot against her had been hatched at the highest level of the security establishment. But she refused to leave the country. She said, “I will not leave. My ancestors are buried here, and my life is here.”

That life ended on 11 February 2018, when she suffered a brain hemorrhage. Writing about her funeral on 13 February, Rabia Mehmood, a Pakistani woman journalist, said, “it turned into a poignant display of women’s resistance in Pakistan… Her funeral was a staggering manifestation of her legacy, a radical send-off befitting a feminist icon. It was subversive not only because thousands of men and women stood next to each other praying, but also because those men and women were Christians, Sikhs, Shia, Sunni and Ahmadi.”

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Who is your favourite saint?

Suppose you answer, “Therese of Lisieux,” or “Francis of Assisi,” or “Oscar Romero,” or “Don Bosco,” or whatever, it says something about you rather than about that saint.

When someone says, “I follow Jesuit (or Franciscan, or Carmelite or Vincentian) spirituality, it does not mean that Ignatius of Loyola or Francis or Teresa of Avila or Vincent Ferrer is our main model or point of reference. These saints cannot invent a new spirituality. They are disciples, not masters. There is only one Master.

You join the Christian Brothers or MCs, or I join the Salesians, not to become fans of Edmund Rice or Mother Teresa or Don Bosco, but to become more like Jesus. You and I cannot differ in the essentials.

Our spirituality cannot be defined by our group affiliation, but by our Christ-like life. Our students and patients, teachers and parents, whatever their religion or professional competence, can make out whether we are Christ-like or not.

What, then, is the use of belonging to special groups? Why not be a spiritual “freelancer,” and walk through the world with our eyes focussed on Jesus? After all, he himself didn’t join any special group.

We most certainly can. There are people leading excellent, inspiring, spiritually deep lives without being part of any special group. Think of Abdul Kalam or Etty Hillesum or Mahatma Gandhi or our own saintly family members or professional colleagues.

Being in a group or structure makes sense, if we use sincerely the helps it offers. It can be a cop out or worse, if I am not serious about my spiritual journey.

I was recently in Varanasi, and heard touching stories about the Krist Bhaktas. They are Hindus, but call themselves (and are) “Devotees of Christ.” On the Lenten Friday I was there, five thousand (!) of them had come to Matridham Ashram for the Way of the Cross. They may be more serious followers of Jesus than I am.

Then why join groups? Why be part of the Church or of a religious order?

For structured helps. Like what?

If I think that the kind of structured helps this religious order offers will help me to become a better follower of Christ, then this choice makes sense. Otherwise, it can be an escape, or worse.

The helps are these:

• Example of the founder and other inspiring members.
• Good teachings: Helpful ways of praying, meditating, relating, working, etc.
• Counselling, spiritual direction, sacramental helps, fraternal correction.
• Support and challenge of community life.
• Focus on, and dedication to, a mission (which, again, cannot be opposed to or different from the mission of every baptized person, but only a particular way of living it).

Are there handicaps?

Yes, of course.

I can stay in out of fear of facing life outside, or to enjoy the security, comfort and social status this group enjoys. If so, I may become pleasure-centred, power-hungry and mediocre. I will end up more immature and less God-centred than my married siblings. This, too, happens. A mediocre or irresponsible group member simply enjoys the reputation of the group and the personal privileges he or she gets from it.

Spirituality—living lovingly, wisely and responsibility in our concrete setting, using our gifts and accepting our limitations, or trying to become the best possible version of ourselves—cannot be guaranteed by group affiliation.

To be spiritual, for the Christian, means to live as Jesus lived and taught. It is, as is well-known, a path of active and forgiving love, compassionate and just dealings and incorrupt integrity. Whoever treads that path, as He did, is spiritual. Group membership does not assure godliness. My being Franciscan or Teresian is no proof of discipleship. The final and demanding test is active love extended to anyone in need. The final “passport control,” will not check which group I joined, nor which “spiritual” practices I most assiduously cultivated. If you have doubts, read the Gospels—or check the life of your favourite saint.

Being part of a special group can help my spiritual journey—if I take responsibility for my growth and fidelity. If not, I will simply repeat the slogans of the group, neglect my personal responsibility, and end up a frightful mediocrity—or worse. There are saints, heroes, mediocrities and crooks in every group.

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This is the message of Pope Francis, for World Communications Day which will be celebrated on the Sunday before Pentecost, 13 May 2018. The World Communications Day was established by Pope Paul VI in 1967 as an annual celebration that encourages us to reflect on the opportunities and challenges that the modern means of social communication afford us to communicate the Gospel message. The celebration came in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which realised it must engage fully with the modern world.

Here is the summary of the message of Pope Francis for the World Communications Day 2018.

Purpose of Communication

• Communication is God’s plan.
• We communicate essentially for fellowship.
• Communication helps us to express and share all that is true, good, and beautiful.

What is Fake News?

• In general, it refers to the spreading of disinformation on line or in the traditional media. It has to do with false information based on non-existent or distorted data.
• The effectiveness of fake news is primarily due to its ability to mimic real news, to seem plausible. Secondly, this false but believable news is “captious,” inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices, and exploiting instantaneous emotions, like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration.
• It is based on deliberately evasive and subtly misleading rhetoric and at times the use of sophisticated psychological mechanisms.

Purpose of Fake News

• To influence political decisions, and serve economic interests.
• To grab power.
• To manipulate the reader.

Evil Effects of Fake News (1,2)

• Fake news spreads fast. Even authoritative denials cannot contain the damage.
• Lack of healthy confrontation and other sources of true information.
• Unmasking fake news becomes difficult due to many people who interact in homogeneous digital environments (e.g., lack of use of other media of information).
• Fake news discredits others, presenting them as enemies, to the point of demonizing them and fomenting conflict. It leads to arrogance and hatred.
• It appeals to the insatiable greed so easily aroused in human beings.

Our Response to Fake News Culture (2-4)

• There are several efforts in net and media to raise awareness on fake media.
• Teach people how to discern fact from fake.
• Recognise truth from falsehood through their fruits: negative effects (conflicts, division…) or positive effects (e.g., constructive dialogue, mature relationships…)?
• Journalism is not a job but a mission, to protect news.
• Information is not based on speed of the news or audience impact but people who receive it. Journalists form people by generating goodness, trust, communion and peace through news.
• Promote journalism of peace as opposed to falsehoods, rhetorical slogans, escalation of shouting matches, verbal violence and sensational headlines.
• Promote journalism by people for people, of voice for the voiceless and less concentrate on breaking news and sensationalism.

Quotes

• There is no such thing as harmless disinformation; on the contrary, trusting in falsehood can have dire consequences. Even a seemingly slight distortion of the truth can have dangerous effects.
• The heart of information is not the speed with which it is reported or its audience impact, but persons.

Concluding prayer to turn to the Truth

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters.

May our words be seeds of goodness for the world:

where there is shouting, let us practise listening;

where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony;

where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity;

where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity;

where there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety;

where there is superficiality, let us raise real questions;

where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust;

where there is hostility, let us bring respect;

where there is falsehood, let us bring truth.

Amen.

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PANDITA RAMABAI SARASVATI (1858-1922) – DIED 5 APRIL 

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati was an Indian woman, born to a Brahmin father, Anant Shastri, and his second wife, Lakshmibai. Her father, a learned Sanskrit scholar, taught Puranas in the temples for a livelihood.

Ramabai’s family became ostracised from the moment her father started teaching Sanskrit to her mother. From then on the family fell into poverty and took to the road as religious itinerants. When Pandita was sixteen, her parents and sister died of starvation. Only she and her brother Srinivas were left.

Both of them decided to carry on their father’s teaching work. They continued travelling all over India. Her passion for reading never faltered.

Ramabai’s fame as a lecturer reached Calcutta, where she was invited to speak.  At the age of twenty, she became the first woman to receive the title of pandita (female pundit or Sanskrit scholar) and Sarasvati from Calcutta University.

After the death of Srinivas, in 1880, Ramabai married a Bengali lawyer, Bipin Behari Medhvi. The marriage both inter-caste and inter-regional upset society’s traditions. The couple had a daughter: Manorama.

Among her husband’s books Ramabai found the ‘Gospel according to St Luke.’ She was fascinated by what she read. She wanted to know more about Christ, but met her husband’s resistance and gave up.

After Medhvi’s death, in 1882, Ramabai moved to Pune. There she founded the Arya Mahila Samaj (Arya Women’s Society) to promote women’s education and uproot the practice of child marriage.

From then on she travelled widely in India and abroad to bring forth women’s emancipation through education, fairer laws and attitudes.

Her speeches and addresses on the importance of women’s education had deep reach and impact. One of them even nreached Queen Victoria and incited the starting of the Women’s Medical Movement by Lady Dufferin.

While in England, Ramabai experienced the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. She and her daughter became Christian.

Ramabai travelled quite extensively. Her genuine compassion towards the plight of widows, girl-brides and uneducated women mobilized women from all over the world.

In 1888, Ramabai came back to India. She started the “Sharda Sadan” (House of knowledge) for girls.

Pandita Ramabai kept on her work and care for girls and women till she passed away on 5th April, 1922.

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PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN (1881-1955) – DIED 10 APRIL

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit. As a philosopher and palaeontologist, he strove to understand the links between science and faith.

He was the fourth of eleven children. From his father, Emmanuel, an amateur naturalist, Pierre learnt the observation of nature. From his mother, Berthe, he learnt spirituality.

As he grew, Teilhard’s interest in the world of nature drew him to study geology and natural sciences.

After he entered the Jesuits, his spiritual director helped him understand that he could give glory to God through following his intellectual interests.

In 1914, as the World War I started, Pierre was enlisted into the French army though he was already an ordained priest.

The slaughter and crippling of millions of men shook Teilhard’s faith. However, he could see, even in the midst of human tragedy, a sense of communion with the world and communion with God united in the crucified Christ.

He later wrote: “…the war was a meeting … with the Absolute.”

He was appointed to teach at the University in Paris, and later asked not to do so. Instead, he was “exiled” to China, where he did splendid studies in paleontology, and was part of a team that discovered the famous fossil, Synanthropus Pekinensis.

Several of his writings, combing science and spirituality in creative ways, were misunderstood by church authorities. He was not allowed to publish them. When friends outside the church published them, it made him and his ideas very well known. His ideas have been cited by Pope Francis in the 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’.

Teilhard’s unique relationship to both paleontology and Catholicism allowed him to develop a highly progressive, cosmic theology which took into account his evolutionary studies. Teilhard recognized the importance of bringing the Church into the modern world. He was both a scientist of calibre and a mystic—but very few within church circles understood him.

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CÉSAR  ESTRADA CHÁVEZ (1927-1993) – DIED 23 APRIL 1993

César Chávez was an American labour leader and civil rights activist.

He was born to a Mexican-American family of six children. During the Great Depression, César’s family lost their land and all they had. To survive, they became farm workers.

In 1942, Chavez quit school and started working full time as a migrant farmer so that his mother would not have to slave in the fields.

In 1946, he joined the United States Navy, hoping it would give him the opportunity to learn skills for his future. However, the military experience turned out to be “the two worst years of his life.”

He married, and became the father of eight children.

Chavez worked in the fields until 1952. He then became an organizer for the Community Service Organization (CSO). He became widely known later for his struggle to procure a just wage for farm workers. He undertook several “spiritual fasts,” seeing this as “a personal spiritual transformation.” These fasts were influenced by the Catholic tradition of penance and by Mahatma Gandhi’s fasts and emphasis of nonviolence.

In 1988, Chavez attempted his last fast to protest the exposure of farm workers to pesticides. He fasted for thirty-five days before being convinced by others to start eating again. He had lost fifteen kilos. It caused health problems that eventually led to his death.

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ST GIANNA BERETTA MOLLA (1922-1962) – DIED 28 APRIL 1962

Gianna Molla was a pediatrician and a mother who chose to die so that her child might live.

She was born in Italy, the tenth of thirteen children

In 1942 she began her studies in medicine. Besides her studies, she was active in the Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action) movement and an adventurous woman who loved skiing and mountaineering.

In 1949, she received her medical degree, and opened an office close to her hometown.

Gianna had planned to join her brother, a priest in the Brazilian missions, and offer gynaecological services to poor women. When her chronic ill health prevented her from doing so, she continued her work at her clinic and specialized in paediatrics.

She reflected and prayed over her vocation. Having felt called to the vocation of marriage, she embraced it with enthusiasm and resolve to wholly dedicated herself ‘to forming a truly Christian family.’ She married Pietro Molla, an engineer. They had four children.

During the second month of her fourth pregnancy, Gianna developed a fibroma in her uterus. The doctors gave her three choices: an abortion, a complete hysterectomy or the removal of the fibroma alone.

As a mother, doctor and committed Christian, Gianna felt morally bound to choose her child’s life over hers. She therefore opted for the removal of the fibroma. She told the doctors that her child’s life was more important than her own.

On 21 April 1962, Holy Saturday, Gianna’s fourth child, Gianna Emanuela, was delivered. Gianna, however, continued to have severe pain. She died of septic peritonitis one week later. She was thirty-nine years old. Among her last words were, “Jesus, I love you.”

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Reflecting on their thirty-three years of marriage, Kevin sees the inadequacy of youthful romance and of other worldly views of this way of life. While “marriage as sacrament” is certainly very meaningful, the real beauty of it is seen when couples live it as a vocation and a mission.

For over twenty-five years Crystal and I have been trying to live out God’s plan for our married life. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that we have been married for thirty-three years!

In the first years of our marriage Crystal and I were living what most would consider a successful life. We had two beautiful and healthy children, a comfortable house with two cars in the garage and enough extra money to enjoy at least one extended vacation a year. By the world’s standards we had everything one could hope for in a marriage. Why was it that we, two faithful Catholics, found ourselves struggling to be joyful and loving with one another?  What we came to discover on a Marriage Encounter retreat back in 1991 was that our relationship had developed much like so many others had in our country, drifting from feelings of love into marriage because it seemed the next right step.

Romantic Love Not Enough

Often, feelings of love and romance convince couples that they are meant to be together for life, only to find out a few years down the road that these romantic feelings are not strong enough to overcome a lack of true understanding of what it takes to give life to one another for the long haul. We found ourselves to be much like so many of the couples whom we currently meet when we facilitate their marriage preparation.  Even when these young couples have good role models, they come to us with no real conscious recognition of what it takes to live a committed married life. It comes as no surprise that more than half of these relationships fail. Relationships we fall into are much more likely to turn out differently, perhaps even badly, than those we choose to enter into with our eyes wide open.

It was on that retreat weekend in 1991 that Crystal and I committed to stop living our married life according to the world’s plan for our lives. We decided to put aside the notions we might have grown up with concerning what marriage was supposed to be. Instead, we chose to be married according to God’s plan for us. It has been a very rewarding journey full of new discoveries and insights into not only what God has in store for us, but also for what He requires of each of us. As we began to work together in marriage ministry, we grew in our appreciation for the difference that seeing marriage as a sacrament—as opposed to a mere living arrangement—could make. Over time, understanding that our lives together could be a source of grace and strength not only for us and our family but also for others was satisfying and rewarding. The more we came to appreciate the difference our sacramental life could make, the more we understood how blessed we were.

Marriage as Sacrament: A Blessing

So, clearly, marriage as a sacrament is a good thing. So much better than the “contractual” 50/50 relationship the world asks us to shoot for or even the “covenant” relationship evangelical Christians teach. Yet, no matter how good living as a sacrament was, it somehow didn’t make it that much easier to live out on a day to day basis. Don’t get me wrong, it was more comforting knowing that I wanted to do what God wanted me to do, but the demands of long hours away from home and a successful career often left me stressed and anxious.  Crystal was doing a magnificent job of raising our two children and providing for a warm and welcoming household.  Why wasn’t I at peace then? As I look back on those years I have come to understand that, while Crystal embraced her role as wife and mother, I still clung to my role as provider of the family.  It wasn’t until a few years ago, as we were working on a new retreat format for couples, that I came to appreciate that marriage was not only a sacrament;  it should also be treated as a vocation—a life’s work.

Seeing married life as a vocation has become a powerful distinction for me to try to comprehend. It pretty much changes everything. Perhaps, most significantly, vocation requires a conscious choice—a choice which, because I failed to consciously make it, I lived for too long as a career person who just happened to be married with two children.  Family was a distraction from my real life’s work of being a successful business professional. Choosing a vocation requires inquiry and knowledge of the choices available.

Foolish Assumptions about Marriage

Unfortunately for me and for too many others, we form our assumptions early in life about what our state in life is to be.  We don’t question our assumptions, we don’t explore other options and we further assume that we don’t really need to learn anything before taking on the role of being a spouse. However, I have now come to better appreciate how looking at life through the ‘vocation lens’ can be truly instructive. For example, early in life I chose to be a lawyer. I knew a few lawyers in my hometown. I had seen several on television over the years. Obviously, that ‘experience’ of lawyers didn’t equip me to be one.  Likewise, in order to be a doctor, priest, religious sister or a spouse requires more than the vicarious experience of others.  It requires that we acquire the knowledge, skills and abilities needed before we can expect to adequately serve others in our chosen vocation.  It is truly unfortunate that Catholic couples are not adequately alerted to this reality during their preparation for the sacrament of marriage. If, before they exchange their wedding vows, couples were required to have even a small measure of the education and training that priests and religious receive, they would be far better equipped to live out their married vocation.

As I have come to contemplate the power and beauty of vocations in our Catholic Church, I have reached a much deeper appreciation of the gift of our priests and religious. As difficult as it can be to live in marriage and try to bring Christ to a wife and family, I can only imagine the challenges of bringing Christ into our entire Church community.  I have come to understand that, while living out a vocation can be tremendously rewarding, there can also be periods where it may seem tedious, mundane or thankless. For me and for all Catholic Christians, it is at these times when the added dimension of the mission we have been given can provide a little inspiration. I need to recall that my vocation is not only in service to the people I meet, but also that it is work done to advance the mission given to us by Christ when we were commanded by Him “to go forth and make disciples of all nations.”

These days Crystal and I are living in a little bit of chaos, as we share our home with our daughter and her three young children.  Even as I grow weary of the noise, commotion and clutter, I know that I am being graced with the opportunity to live out my vocation as husband, father and grandfather.  I am reminded of this each time we gather at the dinner table and share how He has blessed each one of us that day. While the world would tell us that as a retired couple we should be enjoying an escape from the cold of our northern climate, I can feel confident knowing that we are right where our vocation calls us to be at this time.

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The Charism Statement of the Christian Brothers reads: Deeply aware of the Father’s providential presence in life, Edmund Rice [our founder] was moved by the Holy Spirit to open his whole heart to Christ present and appealing to him in the poor. This statement till today grips my heart, and I feel that it sums up, in a profound way, what it means for me to be a Brother in the world today.

MY BACKGROUND AND CALL

I was born on the 7^th of April, 1978, into a family with three siblings. I studied in Regina Mundi School in Goa, a school run by the Christian Brothers. I was inspired by the lives of the Brothers. I found in these men not just teachers of subjects, but also mentors who were caring, compassionate and ever ready to reach out. It was this example of the lives of the Brothers that led me to say YES and join the Brothers. I was then asked to do my Higher Secondary in Shillong. After completing my studies, I had to decide whether I was still interested in being in the Congregation. And, I said YES.

MY FOUNDATIONAL EXPERIENCE

I spent a few months doing my Postulancy, following which I joined the Novitiate. It was here, during my first retreat ever, that I was gripped by a deep experience of the love of God. It happened while I was meditating on the Baptism of Jesus. All of a sudden, from deep within me, I felt God as a most loving Father, saying those words to me: “You are my beloved son. I love you.”  It was as if the heavens were opened, and I felt embraced and wrapped up in so much love and tenderness, like I had never experienced before. I do believe even now, that it was this profound God-experience that has been, and continues to be, the foundation on which my life as a Religious is built and sustained. As a result of this experience in the Novitiate, I fell madly in love with God, whom I now wanted to know, experience more, and give my whole life to. Towards the end of my Novitiate, I professed my First Vows on the 24^th of December, 1996.

BEING PRUNED THROUGH MANY EXPERIENCES

My First Mission was among the Khasi people, in a lovely village called Mawjrong, in Meghalaya. I believe that the seeds for working among people ‘made poor’ were first sown in my heart while I was here. My time in Mawjrong was,  however, cut short, as I was sent home to help look after my father, who was diagnosed with cancer. My father passed away in December, 1997. It was during this time that I felt God holding and sustaining me and my family. This deepened my faith in God’s love for me.

During my years of pursuing my Degree (1998-2001), I felt deeply drawn to God’s Word, and began spending a lot of time studying the Scriptures. My life was being driven by a love for the Gospels and the New Testament Letters. The letters of St. Paul gripped me, and I wanted to experience in my heart what Paul experienced—being gripped by the person of Jesus.

After my Degree, I was involved in many ministries in some of our schools—Mount  Abu, Challakere, Mumbai and Kurseong. Teaching in these schools, working with students in music and singing, animating youth, conducting sessions on spiritual and other topics that interest youth, accompanying groups for walks, picnics and camps were experiences which I saw gave meaning to their young lives, and also gave me a sense of fulfilment as a Brother.

December 29^th, 2005, was the day I professed my Final Vows. During my month-long silent retreat, in preparation for my Final Vows, I knew for sure that Jesus was calling me to an intimacy with him, to giving myself totally to him and to working for his Kingdom.

In the middle of my being transferred to various places, I lost my mother to a yearlong battle against cancer. I was fortunate to have spent almost a year with her during this time. Her passing away on the 4^th of October, 2009, left a deep void within me.  However, my mother’s faith in the love of God for her, and her deep love for the person of Jesus, particularly during this time of great pain and suffering, continues to inspire me to this day.

I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to pursue a Bachelor’s in Theology in Vidyajyoti College in Delhi. Those were three years of grace! Studying Scripture and other subjects gave me a greater understanding and clarity to my own faith.

BEING A PRESENCE THAT TRANSFORMS

In the year 2015, a letter was sent to us Brothers, asking us to discern whether we would be a part of Our Way into the Future, an invitation of our Congregation calling Brothers to live and work as a community actively engaging with people ‘made poor.’ I accepted the invitation. I now live in a village called Patharlyndan, with three wonderful young brothers. As the document “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother” says: “The mission is not “what he [a Religious Brother] does” but rather his very life itself made communion with the least.” Engaging with the people in the village in and through their joys and struggles, working together with them in bringing about a transformation in their lives through empowerment, is what I see is my role as a Brother.

How can I make God present in the world today—in the village in which I am working? How can I be, to the people around me, the presence of God—God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s gentleness…? These are some of the questions that I constantly ask myself. I realize that the call to be a Brother can take on different expressions.   As I draw inspiration from the Gospels, the more I dwell deeper on them, I see that this is exactly what Jesus was all about—seeking always to make God real to all who met him.

THE CONSTANT CHALLENGE

One of the challenges of being a Brother is to make the vocation of a Brother understood. To many, being a Religious Brother is being ‘half-baked’ or not being intelligent or smart enough to be a priest. I meet many people (some very educated) who look at the vocation of a Brother as not as ‘high’ a calling as the priesthood! Even in so many religious gatherings, the opening statement is often addressed to Fathers, Sisters and Friends—with Brothers left out altogether! This is sadly done more by priests and sisters than by the laity.

I feel that Religious Brothers have a very prophetic role to keep alive the memory of Jesus as Brother. Remembering Jesus who told his followers: “And you are all brothers” (Mt 23:8), we Brothers are challenged to be a presence that makes God incarnate in the world.

RADICAL LOVE AND DISCIPLESHIP

I am very happy as a Brother. I can never imagine myself being anything else! Through all my years, it is especially in my moments of pain and brokenness that I have encountered God.  God’s Word in Scripture and my personal prayer  time have nurtured me through these years and helped me go through very difficult moments in my life. At every stage of my life I have been drawn—sometimes in spite of myself—closer to Jesus, to a deep love for him and to a radical following in his footsteps.

I pray that young men who sense the call of God to this vocation may have the courage and find the grace to respond to this amazing invitation.

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Brother David Ryan Silva CFC: Brother David Ryan Silva CFC completes 25 years in the Congregation of the Irish Christian Brothers. He is presently working together with three Brothers in Patharlyndan, a village in the West Khasi Hills.

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“What on earth am I here for?” Life has meaning and purpose when we stretch beyond the ‘clock of routine’ and engage our lives on a ‘Divine agenda.’ We were never created to merely drift and coast on the sands of time. God has created us for greater purposes. Rick Warren, in his best seller, Purpose Driven Life, offers paradigm-shift solutions to a battery of questions we keep asking ourselves. Paramahansa Yogananda writes in Man’s Eternal Quest, “The initiative to undertake your most important duty in life is often buried beneath the accumulated debris of human habits.”  Socrates, the renowned Greek philosopher, puts it plainly, “An unreflected life is not worth living.”

Inspired lives are those of people who stepped out of the ordinary. They stretched the limits of their existence to a higher realm of living meaningfully. In simple words, they found their true CALLING in life and responded to it with a clarity of purpose and a generosity of heart. Every Vocation is a unique ‘Call’ offered by God to each individual. All of us, therefore, rightfully have a vocation story to live. It’s not just about a Mother Teresa or a Martin Luther King, nor is it about the Mahatma Gandhi or a John Paul II. When I, as an individual, align myself to become the blueprint that the Master Creator has set in place for me, then, I have truly lived my Vocation in life.

Evelyn Waugh, in Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder, presents a beautiful conversation between Cordelia and Charles:

Cordelia: I hope I’ve got a vocation.

Charles: I don’t know what that means.

Cordelia: It means you can be a nun. If you haven’t a vocation, it’s no good however much you want to be; and if you have a vocation, you can’t get away from it, however much you hate it.”

We fulfil our Vocation by living lovingly, joyfully and generously in our chosen setting—Priesthood, Religious, Married or Single Life. Vocation is not primarily about which group we join or what work we will do, but about holiness of life. Just staying in is not the meaning of persevering in one’s vocation. As Fr Pascual Chavez SDB, the former Superior General of the Salesians and a great authority on religious life, used to say, “Perseverance Is not the same as fidelity.”

Am I faithful to my vocation today? The answer is found in the way I live this day. Are my deeds, words, desires and decisions in line with what God wants me to do here and now? If so I am faithful. If not, I am staying in, but I am not faithful.

No one is left out of this invitation. It is wrong to say, “I never had a vocation.” Everyone has. Sadly, history tells us of many who chose the ‘abandonment of the call.’

Vocation is a life-long call and response—not just an event. Here are a few guidelines to help us along the journey.

1. God’s Initiative is Paramount: The starting point is from God. God is the master-caller. A vocation is not my choice for God, but rather God’s choice for me. God calls me to be a priest, rather than I choosing to be a priest. The one called cannot place self over God’s agenda. Every vocation is therefore sacred and divinely blessed. The moment I place self over the Divine Caller, I trade my Vocation for a mere profession or career. The spotlight moves from God’s agenda to my own selfish motives.
2. Faith is Essential: A faithless person cannot respond to God’s call. It takes faith to answer a call. Jonah wasn’t ready the first time the call came to him. Fear made him run away. Jonah was called a ‘second time.’ His first call was shrouded in total fear. Faith enables us to answer the call more readily and freely. A vocational crisis begins the moment we replace faith with fear! If ‘Formators’ are not persons of deep faith, the whole discernment process becomes blurred by fear and the formee is often left in the dark tunnel of perpetual doubt!
3. God’s Agenda is our Mission: Every Vocation is for a particular mission. To respond to our vocation, we need to sync our will with the Divine will. When God calls us, he wires us with a heart to listen to his voice and to follow His will. God’s agenda is always for peace, justice, love and righteousness and the advancement of His people and world. Any disconnect from God’s agenda will makes us instruments of war, injustice, hate, and a broken humanity and world. Our Vocation is to become ‘Harvesters’ in God’s abundant fields.
4. Each Vocation is Unique: My ‘calling’ is my calling! It’s not given to another. No one else can respond for me. Moses wanted his brother Aaron to stand in for him. Jeremiah wanted someone older to replace his youthful self. Our human limitations are never criteria for God to take away the call from us. He calls us mortals and ordinary people to make an extraordinary journey. Pope Benedict tells us, “Each one of you has a personal vocation which He has given you for your own joy and sanctity. When a person is conquered by the fire of His gaze, no sacrifice seems too great to follow Him and give Him the best of ourselves. This is what the saints have always done, spreading the light of the Lord and transforming the world into a welcoming home for all.”
5. Motivations Need Purification: At times, our motivations in responding to God’s call must be purified along the journey. Choosing to sit by the right and left side of the throne of God was a wrong motivation in following Jesus. Formation and moments of proper discernment are essential to purify our intentions. Thomas Merton, the great mystic, writes in No Man is an Island, “For each of us there is only one thing necessary: to fulfil our destiny, according to God’s will—to be what God wants us to be.”
6. Soul Friends to Discern with You: Every vocational response, be it priestly, religious, married or single, goes through a ‘crisis stage.’ Doubts set in. The journey seems difficult and ‘walking out’ seems the easier option. My own priestly journey had similar difficult times. The heart gets passionless, the mind gets visionless and the mission seems to be a boring exercise! In such moments, the presence of ‘soul friends’ play a very important role. Talk it over, seek counsel, be open to rediscover your ‘first calling.’ Discernment and prayerful support are two essentials wings to keep one from falling apart.

Finally, all Vocations are sacred and unique. Priesthood or religious life is not higher than marriage. We are all called to holiness of life! Whoever lives a life close to God and fulfils God’s plans, is faithful to one’s vocation and contributes best.

An inspiring man whose life journey has galvanized the world can throw light on our vocation journey. This is what Pope Francis says in his message for Vocation Sunday 2018:

“The joy of the Gospel, which makes us open to encountering God and our brothers and sisters, does not abide our slowness and our sloth.  It will not fill our hearts if we keep standing by the window with the excuse of waiting for the right time, without accepting this very day the risk of making a decision.  Vocation is today!  The Christian mission is now!  Each one of us is called–whether to the lay life in marriage, to the priestly life in the ordained ministry, or to a life of special consecration–in order to become a witness of the Lord, here and now.”

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If you ask four children to draw the picture of a house, will they draw them in the same way?

No.

A kid living in an Indian village will probably draw a thatched hut.

A city boy may draw a multi-storey building and indicate a flat, e.g., 4C, as his house.

An Eskimo child may draw an igloo.

A wealthy girl or boy may draw a mansion.

All four are right, of course. There is no one way of understanding the term, “house.”

These four are different “models” of a house.

Similarly, there are four basic “models” or key ways of understanding spirituality.

The first is COMMUNITARIAN. Someone may say, “I follow Franciscan spirituality,” or “Here are the elements of Ignatian Spirituality.” In such language, one is aware of being part of a special group, and one is expected to follow the values and practices of that group.  Thus, a novice mistress is expected to know the “spirituality” of her order and to train the novices in that.

Casting the net wider, one may speak of Christian Spirituality, Hindu Spirituality, Buddhist Spirituality, etc. Think of Lent for Christians, Hindu dietary rules or the Islamic Haj.

The second is PSYCHO-DEVELOPMENTAL. Proponents of this approach are not writing for followers of a particular religion or religious order, but for all human beings. This approach takes emotions and human development seriously. Thus, when we speak of the spirituality of mid-life, or women’s approach to spirituality, we are talking about how emotions, gender, stages of life or facing death affect the way we understand spirituality.

The third “model” can be called CONTEMPLATIVE. Thus, when we observe silence during a retreat or in an ashram, this is understood as a spiritual practice. When someone sets aside a week or a month for meditation or a retreat, this is supposed to help the person’s spiritual life. Some people spend time regularly in ashrams. Others attend Christian retreats, or Hindu ashrams or Vipassana meditation.

A fourth approach to spirituality is SOCIO-POLITICAL. Some call it liberationist, taking the term used by Liberation Theologians. People are moved to take trouble to fight for justice, to procure rights for the deprived. Others take up common concerns like gender issues or ecology. Still others fight for racial or caste justice. Just to pray for a better world without getting involved in the struggles for justice seems to them to be an irresponsible and selfish escape.

All four approaches or models have their strengths and weaknesses.

They are also mutually critical.  In India, the so-called “Ashram group” (those who are enthusiastic about retreats, ashram life, contemplation, Sanskrit chanting, monastic life, etc.) and the supporters of Liberation Theology have been strongly critical of each other. The first group tends to see the other as being political rather spiritual, and the activists see the first group as escapists cut off from the needs and struggles of people. Both quote Jesus, saints and Church documents to support their stand. For the first group, a saint like John Mary Vianney is an excellent model for priests. For the second group, Oscar Romero or Sr Valsa John are more inspiring.

For the complex world of today, and to respect the different gifts and ministries of people, we need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each model.

Further, we need to develop and propose an integral spirituality that is not lame or one-sided. We need to be men and women of community; we need to be emotionally healthy; we need to be contemplatives to see the deeper truths about ourselves and about God; and we cannot be blind or indifferent to the gross injustices happening around us. Hence the need of living an integral spirituality. One-sided models can do harm.

In the coming issues, we shall look at these issues one by one.

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Do you know someone who is not carrying a cross? We all are. What makes our crosses different is their weight. But our crosses are metaphorical, referring to the sufferings we have to endure. Can you believe that there is a man who literally carries a cross—an actual cross?  He walks around, meets people, prays for them, and even travels abroad carrying a twelve-foot, wooden cross that weighs forty-one kilograms!

One night in 1982, Keith Wheeler was on a beach in Florida, watching the ocean and thinking about life. It is at that moment, he says, he understood the value of the death of Jesus on a cross. Three years later, in 1985, while he was praying at night, he felt that God spoke to him: “I want you to make a cross and begin carrying it through the streets of Tulsa on Good Friday.” He obeyed, made a cross and on Good Friday carried it along the streets of Tulsa, a town in Oklahoma, U.S.A. He believed that God wanted him to be a pilgrim of peace who carries the cross, the symbol of reconciliation, to every nation.

Now Keith Wheeler has walked with that 12-foot, wooden cross over 24,000 miles, through more than 175 countries on all seven continents! Keith has carried the cross through places such as Tibet, Iran, Iraq, China and even, Antarctica. He has carried the cross through many nations at war such as Libya, Bosnia, Rwanda, the Chechen region and Palestine. And yes, he has come to India, carrying his cross. This is what he has to say about his visit to our country: “We began carrying the cross in Kanyakumari (formerly known as Cape Comorin). It is the southernmost tip of India where the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea come together. From there, we walked north up into the state of Kerala. So many people wanted prayer … people would just stand there staring at the cross and then burst into tears, as we would share with them about God’s love and how He wants to forgive us and have a relationship with us and give us eternal life. It was awesome! People were constantly offering me food and drink. They kept hanging garlands of cloth and of flowers around my neck. Oh, the love of the precious Indian people! These weren’t just Christians, there were also Hindus and Muslims!”

Well, can you travel to 176 countries carrying a 12-foot wooden cross without facing any problems? Keith has been arrested about forty times. Once he says he was beaten and left for dead. People who did not like what he was doing have tried to run him over. One of his legs has been broken in twenty-one places! The weight of the cross has caused welts to develop on his collar bone.

Keith Wheeler, 57, an American and ecumenical Christian, is happily married. Nicole, his wife, often accompanies him on his cross-carrying trips. They have five children. You may wonder if he has other ‘crosses’—apart from the wooden cross he carries around. His twenty-four-year old daughter, Hannah, is on dialysis, and she “has to stick a needle in her body twice a day, five days a week,” he says. His son is autistic. “I believe that God’s heart breaks for the lost and hurting of this world. I know that one day He’ll wipe away every tear from our eyes.”

Keith says, “I’m not an evangelist or missionary; I’m simply a pilgrim. I am a pilgrim follower of Jesus. I go with Jesus, the cross, and the simple message of God’s love for all people…”

Let Keith Wheeler keep reminding us of the Love that died on the cross for our sake and on the third day rose victoriously to be with us till the end of time.

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Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), the post-synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, was presented in MAGNET in September 2016. This article looks at the ways in which it invites priests and religious to be meaningfully involved in family ministries. (The numbers in parenthesis refer to the Document.)

1. Visit Families: Family visits are formative and educative. Pastors, together with women religious, should organize family visits, and animate families in a friendly way.
“When visiting our people’s homes, we should gather all the members of the family and briefly pray for one another, placing the family in the Lord’s hands.” (227)

2. Accompany Couples after their Marriage: Priests, religious and lay animators should accompany couples, especially to face the challenges of the first years of marriage.
“It is all the more essential that couples be helped during the first years of their married life to enrich and deepen their conscious and free decision to have, hold and love one another for life.” (217)

3. Create a Family Cell at the parish: Help families facing problems. Know experts who can help, and put families in touch with them.
“Parishes, movements, schools and other Church institutions can help in a variety of ways to support families and help them grow…The parish office should be prepared to deal helpfully and sensitively with family needs and be able to make referrals, when necessary, to those who can help.” (229)

4. Catechise the Family: “We pastors have to encourage families to grow in faith. This means encouraging frequent confession, spiritual direction and occasional retreats. It also means encouraging family prayer during the week, since ‘the family that prays together stays together.’” (227)

5. Animate the Sunday Liturgy: Prepare the Sunday Liturgy in such a way as to help parents.
“Many are touched by the power of grace experienced in sacramental Reconciliation and in the Eucharist, grace that helps them face the challenges of marriage and the family.” (38)

6. Form Pastors and Religious towards Family Ministry: The formation curriculum needs to be redesigned to include family ministries, and include pastoral experience with families.
“Along with a pastoral outreach aimed specifically at families, this shows the need for a more adequate formation… of priests, deacons, men and women religious, catechists and other pastoral workers.” (202)

7. Renew the SCC/BCC in the parish: “The main contribution to the pastoral care of families is offered by the parish, which is the family of families, where small communities, ecclesial movements and associations live in harmony.” (202)

8. Promote Adult Catechesis: A proper catechesis of the parents helps them deal with the moral and spiritual formation of their children.
“The Church is called to cooperate with parents through suitable pastoral initiatives, assisting them in the fulfilment of their educational mission.” (85)

9. Promote the Language of Mercy: Pastors should be agents of God’s merciful love, not harsh judges.
“The Church’s way, from the time of the Council of Jerusalem, has always been the way of Jesus, the way of mercy and reinstatement… The way of the Church is not to condemn anyone for ever; it is to pour out the balm of God’s mercy on all those who ask for it with a sincere heart.” (296)
At times “we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators. But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.” (310)

10. Invite a Family: As we visit their homes, invite a family once a month to share your prayer life or community life. Invite a poor family to have a meal with your community.
“Let us not forget that the Church’s task is often like that of a field hospital.” (291). “The family has always been the nearest hospital.” (321)

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