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| Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C. |
Lent is a Season of Grace, when
God is waiting to repair every damage affecting our life and restore us to the
glorious existence that He always intended for us. This is the Season of
Salvation when the invitation of the Lord rings in our heart, "Repent, for
the kingdom of God is at hand." (Mark 1:15) The image before our eyes is
the Lord standing at the door of our hearts, waiting patiently and knocking at
the door, reminding that He is there for us to bring light into our darkened
hearts and homes.
“The Branch Cannot Bear Fruit By
Itself Unless It Abides In The Vine” (John 15:4)
In our day to day living, we turn
away from God and as a result end up with hurts and wounds that haunt our
memories and attitudes to life and to our future. As a result, we live life
disturbed and distressed. Our relationships get strained. Frustrations
accumulate in our hearts. We become victims of the tides of our moods and life
gets drained of all charm. We come to God asking for small favours like success
in business, a good percentage of marks in our exam results, healing of aches
and pains. We pray for such favours because we have misinterpreted our problem
by superficial standards. However God who alone has delved the depths of our
hearts knows where all our unhappiness stems from. Hence when we turn to God,
the first thing He does is to take authority over sin in our heart. Sin that
blocked our connection with God has alongside blocked the flow of graces into
our lives.
“His Mercies Never Come To An
End” (Lamentations 3:22)
Repentance means turning to God
with a firm determination to surrender our lives to Him. This conversion comes
to us when we realize how we lost the joy and meaning of life in the ways of
sin. The Lord promises here that when we are totally surrendered to Him, the
Kingdom of Heaven will be established in our lives. This is an offer of love -
revealing to us what God always intended for our lives. He is waiting to take
authority over everything gone wrong in us as He did with the paralyzed man.
When He becomes the Lord and King of our lives, the Kingdom of God is ushered
into our hearts. St. Paul tells us this state of God's sovereign rule in our
hearts brings in the righteousness, peace and joy of the Holy Spirit (Romans
14:17).
Righteousness means being right
with God and with everyone God has brought into our lives. When my relationship
with my God is purified of the attitude to revolt, I experience that I am a
dear child of God. That ecstatic experience of love sets my relationships with
my family, friends and society right. All forms of hatred and jealousy and
indifference are washed away from my heart and I become ready to live for those
God has placed in my life. This cleansing of my relationships brings in great
joy and peace of the Holy Spirit into me. This indeed is the experience of
Paradise that God has intended for our lives from the very beginning.
As the first pages of the Bible
reveal, Paradise is characterized by the cordial relationship man has with God,
neighbour and nature. Nature provided everything necessary for the sustenance
of the human society. Relationship in the family was characterized by total
acceptance and love of each other as Adam said to Eve - "You are the bone
of my bone, the flesh of my flesh... You are my very own." However, the
seed of doubt was sown in the heart of man about God's Plan for him and he
thought that he can become greater than what he was and superior to what God
wanted for him. Man rejected the Paradise God fashioned for him wanting to
build one of his own. As a result man became empty, losing even his
self-esteem. This is what Adam expressed when he said to God, "I was
naked, so I hid." (Genesis 3:10) Nakedness referred not so much to the
lack of covering on his body but to the sense of shame in having lost his stand
with God. In fact it was God who came calling Adam by name. To call someone by
name means an approach of love and consideration. The question God asked Adam
is very significant, "Who told you that you were naked?" (Genesis
3:11) The shame and emptiness that Adam felt was not God's verdict but man's
own making.
“If We Are Faithless, He Remains
Faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13)
There is often a gross
misunderstanding that God comes to punish and to curse when man commits a sin.
No wonder, when something unfortunate happens, we are inclined to blame God!
When we fail in some endeavour or our dear ones fall ill or even when there is
a natural catastrophe, the first reaction of man is the fear and despair of
being punished by God. Such a thought leads us away from love, hope and faith
in God. Indeed it is not a punishing God whom Jesus came to reveal. Rather
Jesus spoke to us about a God who loves us to the ultimate point of giving
Himself to us to make sure that we do not perish in the curse of sin -
"God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who
believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life." (John
3:16) However it remains true that everyone
who lives in sin is in a state of emptiness and shame. It is not what God
brings to him but it is the eventuality of his option of sin rejecting God. The
Word of God tells us that "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)
The rejection of God necessarily brings in a culture of death that takes away all
that is beautiful in the human heart and relationships. A ray of light cut off
from the lamp becomes darkness. A stream isolated from the spring dries up. The
dryness and emptiness that man feels is not a punishment that God gives to him
but a ruin that he brings upon himself by cutting himself off from the source
of his life and happiness.
In every such unfortunate moment,
God comes calling man, waiting to take authority over all the destruction
wrought by sin as He did at Eden with Adam. Adam did not turn to God in
repentance; rather he began to blame the other. "The woman you gave me led
me to this sin." There human bond ruptured. The earth began to rebel
against man by putting out vicious thorns and thistles, demanding hard labour
for fruit. This was the loss of Paradise. Even then, man was not abandoned by
God but was instead promised a Saviour who would crush the authority of sin
enslaving man. God also consoled man by availing for him stitched leather
garments to cover his shame.
Jesus reveals to us that the Way of Salvation is in the direction of turning to God in the moments of our ruin in sin. In the remarkable parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus paints the fascinating picture of a father eagerly waiting for the son who rejected him (Luke Chapter 15). When the son goes away into his choice of alienation from the father, he slips into penury and wretchedness. This would seem a fitting penalty for the cold-hearted, wayward son. However the father’s heart was set on the restoration of the son. The moment the son returns towards the home, the father rushes to him to welcome and accept him, surpassing all norms of natural justice and propriety. He restores to the son everything that was lost. There was great rejoicing in the family. Jesus ends the parable by asserting that this joy was what heaven was made of. "There will be great rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10)
“If You Return, Then I Will Restore You” (Jeremiah 15:19)
While I was in a South Indian
city for a programme, a couple came to meet me. They were beaming with smiles.
They came to thank me for what the retreat did for them five years ago. The
husband was a software engineer and the wife a school teacher. They were
happily settled with their two children when he got an offer of a job in a Gulf
country. The whole family was overjoyed at what they understood as a
breakthrough in the husband's professional and the family's financial status.
The wife suggested that he head first to the new country and make himself
secure in the job ad find a suitable accommodation for the family. She proposed
to stay back with the children till the end of that academic year after which
the entire family would join him.
He proceeded to the Gulf and took
up the job. In the desert, he felt very lonely. He would call home twice daily
to speak to his wife and children at morning and night. A month later, he was
invited to a party by one of his colleagues. There a lady was introduced to
him. She was very considerate and friendly and began to keep in touch with him.
Soon the relationship slipped into sinful dimensions. A couple of months later,
a fierce-looking stranger came to his flat one evening and showed him pictures
of his intimacy with this woman. To his great shock he realized he was caught
in a trap and compromised. The goon black-mailed him that he could have these
photographs publicized and it would cost him his job, his reputation and
everything he had. He could even be imprisoned in this alien country. He begged
this stranger to spare him and his family of the shame and all that would
ensue. This man in a threatening tone warned him that for this, he would have
to pay him an exorbitant ransom amount every month. To manage this, the man
realized he had to work overtime.
He was so shattered by guilt that
he could not speak to his wife and children. He was unable to support them or
send any amount regularly. Meanwhile, the family was preparing to join him.
They were very distressed that there was no communication from him. He somehow
managed to return home but had become an alcoholic wreck. The wife was grieved
and confused by the horrible change in her husband. She could hardly recognize
the man who had returned from the Gulf.
It was in this situation that
they came for a retreat. The husband was not ready to open up his hidden load
of sin and its disastrous consequences. However, with the help of the Holy
Spirit I was able to help him to bare out the unbearable burden in his heart.
Later in a disposition of prayer, I led him to share with his wife the painful
secret of his past. They felt the powerful Presence of the Holy Spirit healing
them and comforting them. As they reached home, they spent their days in prayer
and going for the Holy Mass every day. With the help of a friend, he could
secure a job. They are now living together as a witnessing family - praising
and thanking God for rebuilding their lives and for the new lease of joy and
sharing in their marriage! We are reminded of the psalmist who describes
blessedness as when transgressions are
forgiven and sins are atoned and expiated by the Mercy of the Lord. “When I
kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long... Then I
acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will
confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
(Psalm 32:3,5)
We are tired of life because of
the burdens placed on us. This season of Lent, the Lord is inviting us to
abandon ourselves into His Arms that surround us - to forgive us and restore us
to fortunes that slipped away - leaving us in an impoverished existence. The
world today is slipping rapidly into despair because it chooses to cling to and
persist adamantly in the wrongs of the past, finding fault with everyone else
for its misfortunes. We, however, are invited to move ahead in life towards our
sovereign God who is waiting to manifest His glory.
Let Us Pray
God of Mercy and Compassion, we
thank You for this season when You call us again to taste Your unchanging and
liberating Love. Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, for You are the Love
that alone can fill our hearts and bring meaning to our lives.
Today we are tired of life and
lost in relationships only because our hearts wandered away from You. As we
return to You, Lord, we want to place in Your Hands all that burdens us - all
our failings and secrets that we were ashamed of. We place in Your Hands every
area of life where You had no control. Lord, we pray, be the Lord and Master of
our lives for when You lead us, our life will be worth living and will become a
blessing to this world. Lord we thank You for Your Mercy that is never
exhausted and Your Graces that are ever new.
Amen.
