“HAVE LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS” (John 10:10)

Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

The youth flocked from different countries to the Divine Retreat Centre in search of life. The Ninth International Youth Conference was celebrating as its theme the grand offer of Jesus, “Have Life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). In fact the Lord describes this as the very purpose of His visitation: “I have come that you may have life in all its fullness.” The promises of Jesus had always this tone – the generosity of God inviting us to graces in full measure. While speaking of joy He said, “I say these things that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). The peace He offered again was something that would completely dispel all anxieties and unrest of the heart. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). He came indeed in the form of man to fill us with Himself as St John writes, “Out of His fullness we have all received grace” (John 1:16).

“I Have Called You By Name” (Isaiah 43:1)

This offer of the fullness of life was a great revelation for the new generation. It was indeed beyond their asking and imagination for they had settled for the minimum in their practice of religion. 

For many young people, though Christian by upbringing, God was an abstraction or a vague power that was distant and irrelevant. Though they habitually prayed, it was mostly an exercise done out of a sense of obligation. They could not imagine that God was there to listen to them. It was at the retreat that they were led to the experience of God as someone real in their lives – God had become for them a love that touched their hearts, transforming their lives to give them a new purpose.

When Serena, an engineering student, heard Jesus calling her by name during the Eucharistic Adoration, she was thrilled by the revelation that she was not one in a crowd but very special to the Almighty God. She observes, “Though I was a cradle Catholic and I observed all the obligations, for me God was too distant to be considered. Even when I went to church, I felt I was there as part of that big congregation. I never imagined that I could be of any consequence to God. I lost my interest in God. I even lost the sense of the sacred. I never even considered that God was there. It was at the retreat that I was drawn to the reality of God at the altar. I realized that He knew me by my name and that His eyes were upon me. That sense of love filled my heart and it is for this love that I wish to live.”

The marvelous experience of the Spirit was unmistakable as the one effect was the revelation of a God of compassion, closely following the concerns of His children.

Virgil from Goa described that he had come for the retreat with a heavy heart. “I doubted God cared for me. I took it for granted that my name would never be called out. My despair was mounting when I started to think on these lines. This was during the Inner Healing prayer service. I could not concentrate and I was doubtful if Jesus would hear me. That was when Father called out my name and the message went thus, ‘Hand over your heavy heart to Jesus’. I felt a fire pass through my body and I cried out aloud. I could not be worried what those around me would think of me; for at that very moment I realized that Jesus cares for me and that He has not given up on me. I started believing in the Presence of Jesus and would love to experience this over and over again!”

“Our High Priest Understands Our Weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15)

Lewis, a medical student, was born and brought up in a traditional Catholic family. Though he was by nature very intelligent and hard-working, when he came for the retreat he was a man suffering from a tortuous sense of shame and self-contempt. In the first year of his medical studies, his friends had introduced him to watching pornography. He resisted the pressure in the beginning but soon thereafter gave in and found himself addicted to the evil. He could not concentrate during the lectures and lost interest in his studies. He was not able to sleep either because the pernicious images that he had seen during the day on the computer would return to haunt him when he lay down to rest. He started on sleeping pills and would wake up in the morning more tired than when he had gone to bed. He felt desperate and lost. He could see no way out of the crisis. He knew no one could help him. 

He came for the retreat in his desperation. From the start of the retreat, he prayed in tears as he was reasoning to himself that God would not answer his prayers for he did not deserve God’s favour. However something very beautiful happened! During the Offertory at the Holy Mass, he confessed in earnest prayer to his helplessness in this habit of his addiction. He placed his wretched state of mind on the altar alongside the bread raised up on the paten. He had almost given up on his medical studies - yet as he prayed he began to sense a new hope that God would intervene and set him free. He continued to look at the altar and offer with the Host, the filthy images that were stuck in his mind - residues of the evil habit that had enslaved him.

At the very moment of Consecration, when the celebrant raised the piece of bread and prayed the liturgical words of the Consecration, an awesome fear gripped him, for he saw behind the altar not the priest any more, but Jesus in the garb of the High Priest and the words were coming from the lips of Jesus, “This is my body.” He was still more shaken for the realization dawned on him that the bread Jesus was holding up was what he had offered with the ugly memories of his past. It struck him that all the mess that he had made by his sinful indulgence was now being taken up by the Lord. The Lord was taking responsibility for his licentiousness. The Lord was being broken in his place. Great love flowed into his heart and with ineffable joy, he began to repeat the Name of Jesus! His life choked by the ugly mess of sin was now purified in the Heart of Jesus. During the distribution of the Holy Communion, when he received the Sacred Body of Christ, he felt a flame of fire burn into his tongue. This soon developed into a pleasant burning sensation that filled his heart and seemed to take over his entire being. As he was describing this to me, he turned and said, “I knew I was made a new creation.”

I remembered the account of the experience of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended upon them in the form of tongues of fire. In that burning sensation, they were created anew to be the pillars of the Church proclaiming that Jesus is the Lord and Saviour!

As Lewis was describing this life-transforming experience, he shared with me that he was taking on the mission of bringing over the very friends who had led him astray - for them to experience the liberation Christ was offering them from their despoiling addiction with its destructive effect. “I am praying for them. When I return, I will meet them personally and I know God will be merciful and save them as He has been so good to me.”

“Proclaim The Praises Of Him Who Called You From Darkness” (1 Peter 2:9)

Year after year, God is leading His children to the International Youth Conference to a deep and life-transforming experience and through it moulding them as His witnesses! The gospels describe in detail how Andrew and John pursued Jesus, being directed by their Master John the Baptist. Jesus turned and asked them “What do you seek?” They said, “Rabbi, where do you stay?” Jesus invited them to “Come and see.” St. John concludes this encounter saying, “We went and saw and stayed with him” (cf John 1:35-39). That was the beginning of a new life of discipleship. This intimacy grew into surrendering their lives totally to Jesus and it matured into a great desire to bring the whole world to the same experience that they were blessed with. Much later St. John would begin his letter declaring, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” (1 John 1:1-4).

In their search for life in all its fullness, the youngsters came to a realization that there were many factors that stifled the flow of life. In the milieu of education and work, they were often associated with friends who were so secularized that God did not mean anything to them. The media has brought in a very materialist set of values that focused on momentary pleasures and luxurious living. All the time the talk of the youth was about the latest brands of clothes, cars and mobiles. Their preoccupation was to find time to hang out in malls and pubs. It seemed that money was all that one needed to make it in life! Relationships had become fragile and were seen as dispensable, with no perspective on the future. Any talk of religion or religious values was considered as obsolete and offensive. The youth has been sucked into the new, nefarious culture devoid of vision and values.

All these trends perpetuated by peer pressure had led the youth away from the foundations of their faith. They were doing things against their own will because they were not able to resist the compelling influence of their friends. They had to hide much from their own parents because they knew their behaviour patterns would not be acceptable. When the youth experienced the Power of God’s Love liberating them from the clutches of their addictions and deceptive thinking, it was clear that all along, deep in their hearts, they resented the slavery that peer pressure had come to mean for them.  

“I Will Declare Your Name To My Brothers” (Psalm 22:22)

During the counseling and in the feedback notes many of them expressed their great desire to share their newfound love of Jesus with everyone around. This enthusiasm is a clear revelation of how they wanted to fight back against the evils of peer pressure by becoming agents of life to the very culture that led them to death.

This expression of their new mission was not mere wishful thinking but evolved as clear decisions that the youngsters had settled for. Mary Claire writes that she is determined to speak about Jesus at least to one person a day. Derrick’s decision is to get all his friends for the Power Conference next year. Stenisa has taken it as a vow to “help my friends to experience Jesus as I have experienced Him.” The youngsters are charged with a new mission in their life, a reason to live for! The mission of evangelization that the Popes are recently speaking about has come into their hearts in a powerful way. The Church is enriched with a fresh batch of warriors whose heart beats for the Love of God!

Reading through the feedback forms, I am reminded of the cry of St Augustine, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”

The grand finale of the Conference was marked by the solemn High Mass officiated by the His Eminence Cardinal George Allencherry, the major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church. There was an emotional moment, memorable to every participant. The Cardinal at the end of the Mass, came in front of the altar and knelt down in his priestly vestments before the multitude of the youth, and sought their prayers. He was suffering from unbearable pain in his shoulders. It had become acute with the monsoon season. The youth moved by an affectionate and filial response, prayed with great fervour for their Shepherd! Later the Cardinal joyfully shared during his breakfast with the Vincentian Fathers that he was completely relieved of the pain! The youth were already becoming channels of the fire of God’s Healing Love. The love and prayerfulness in their hearts is bound to bring healing and life to the Church and to this world.

Let Us Pray:

Thank you Lord for bringing Your children to experience the Loving Promise of Your Son that they would receive “Life In All Its Fullness” (John 10:10). They have gone back to their educational institutions and workplaces with the thrill of this Promise being fulfilled in them. Let your Holy Spirit continue to fill them to be the torchbearers of Your Kingdom. Let the whole world know that the fullness of life that every heart is searching for is in You.

Amen.

DIVINE MUSIC VIDEO - "ARE YOU LIVING YOUR FAITH?" - WORLD MISSION SUNDAY 2014

"ARE YOU LIVING YOUR FAITH?" -WORLD MISSION SUNDAY 2014 is a special music video by Divine-Potta Ministry on Mission Quotes that every Catholic should reflect re Christ's Call to each of us. The hymn "THRIVE" is sung by Casting Crown who own all the copyrights to this music.

In his WORLD MISSION SUNDAY 2014 Message, Pope Francis exhorts the Call of Jesus to every Catholic – “Dear brothers and sisters, on this World Mission Day my thoughts turn to all the local Churches. Let us not be robbed of the joy of evangelization! I invite you to immerse yourself in the joy of the Gospel and nurture a love that can light up your vocation and your mission. I urge each of you to recall, as if you were making an interior pilgrimage, that “first love” with which the Lord Jesus Christ warmed your heart, not for the sake of nostalgia but in order to persevere in joy. The Lord’s disciples persevere in joy when they sense his presence, do his will and share with others their faith, hope and evangelical charity.”

World Mission Sunday is celebrated by the Catholic Church on the third Sunday of October - this year on 19 October 2014.

Divine Retreat Centre is the largest Catholic retreat centre in the world. Retreats are held every week of the year in English and 6 Indian languages. 

Over 10 million people have attended retreats here since the Divine-Potta ministry by the Fathers of Vincentian Congregation of India opened Divine Retreat Centre in late December 1989.

VIDEO: "BEHOLD I AM THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD" (Luke 1:38) by Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C.

Why is Mother Mary so important in our Catholic faith? Why do we honour Her as the Mother of God? What role does She have in our faith journey?

In this spiritually enlightening talk during a retreat at Blessed Sacrament Church in Singapore -  "BEHOLD I AM THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD (Luke 1:38)",  Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C., Director -- Divine Retreat Centre, Somersby NSW, Australia, explains with great clarity and holy inspiration why Mother Mary is given the greatest honour by Catholics for Her unique role in our faith journey on earth. 

Father shares, "The Lord knows what we need and He gives us a Mother who will intercede for us - a Mother who understands sorrow and pain because She went through it with Her Son. That is why Jesus gives Her as a beautiful gift to you and me. Let us know in our hearts that we have a Mother in Heaven praying for us. Unceasingly She is interceding to God for us. Whenever we are fighting ugly battles especially sin, ask for the Blessed Mother's intercession because the one person who fights against the evil of satan is the Blessed Mother and the one person satan is afraid of is the Blessed Mother!"  

For details of Divine Retreat Centre Australia, please visit the website: www.divineretreatcentre.org.au

Divine Television ministry is part of  the evangelization efforts of Divine Retreat Centre - the largest Catholic Retreat Centre in the world. 

DIVINE TELEVISION  (UK/Europe & Middle East) Is known as GOODNESS Channel in India & Asia-Pacific and DVN Network in USA/Canada. 

It can also be viewed worldwide as DVNONLINE at www.dvnonline.org

“MATTHEW GOT UP AND FOLLOWED HIM” (Matthew 9:9)

Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

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St Matthew is mentioned in the gospels as one of the twelve apostles of Jesus.

St. Matthew is mentioned in the gospels as one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. The twelve Apostles were chosen by Jesus by name to be with Him and to be sent out to preach the gospel. St. Matthew therefore belongs to the band of the closest associates of Jesus and became the primary teachers of the gospel message.

The biographical details that we know of St. Matthew are minimal and fragmentary. He was born in Galilee as the son of Alphaeus. During the Roman occupation of Palestine, Matthew was a government official with the charge of collecting taxes from the Jews for Herod Antipas - the tetrarch of Galilee. His tax office was located in Capernaum. As a tax collector, he was despised by his own Jewish community and was considered an outcast.

The Gospels tell us that after his call, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. His apostolic activity was first restricted to the Christian communities of Palestine. His gospel is designed to convince the Jews that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah - in whom all the promises of the messianic kingdom are fulfilled. It is believed that after his apostolate in Palestine, he went over to Ethiopia and even perhaps to Parthia and Persia during the time of the persecution by Herod Agrippa in 42 AD.

“It Depends Not On Human Will Or Exertion, But On God Who Shows Mercy” (Romans 9:16)

St. Matthew, in his life and message, proclaims that salvation of man is because of the Mercy of God. He should have been surprised that Jesus invited him, who was regarded by his own tribe as a public sinner, into the group of the chosen Apostles. He was a tax collector and as was usual of that profession, he was dishonest and driven by greed until he was chosen as a disciple of Jesus. The gospel tells us that Jesus met him in Capernaum in his tax booth on the main highway. He must have been collecting customs duty on the imported goods brought by farmers, merchants and caravans. According to the Roman Empire's system of tax collection, a tax collector paid a huge amount as tax revenue to the government and then would go about extorting unreasonably high taxes from the citizens and travellers to ensure for himself a good commission. They were protected by the Roman soldiers in their business. Precisely because of this system, the tax collectors were notoriously corrupt and because their decisions were enforced by Roman soldiers, no one could fight them. Matthew was well aware that he did not deserve to be close to a godly person like Jesus. However as soon as he was called by Jesus to follow Him, he responded immediately. We learn three lessons about following Jesus.

The Good News of the Gospel is that it offers God's Grace not depending on human merit. God does not exclude anyone from His friendship. In fact, the Pharisees and the scribes were shocked that Matthew was included by Jesus. In response to this Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners."(Matthew 2:17)  Matthew himself was deeply aware of his unworthiness to be a disciple of Jesus. However, he was more impressed by the fact of his special call to be in such a close association with Jesus. Hence he was not ashamed of his sinful past - rather his past made him grateful for what the Master had done for him. It is noteworthy that while Matthew avows that he was a publican, the other evangelists do not mention this derogatory word about him. This could have been because of the reverence and the honour they felt to their brother evangelist. In fact, the word publican was so derogatory that it is always used in the gospels in reference to the despised sinner. In the gospels, several times the two words come together "publicans and sinners" (Matthew 9:10, Luke 15:1) as well as "publicans and prostitutes" (Matthew 21:31).

However St. Matthew does not shy away to use this term about himself because of the decision he had made to quit his past life and follow Jesus. He responds instantly to the Call of Jesus. The gospels tell us, "He rose and followed Him" (Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:28). It was an instant readiness to respond to the Call of Jesus - leaving his tax accounts incomplete without the fear of his masters. This ready obedience to the Call of Jesus meant abandoning everything especially what guaranteed him a source of sure income. He did not weigh the consequences of his obedience or calculate the possibilities of a certain future. Moreover his response was a celebration for him because we are told that he made a great feast in honour of Jesus in his house. It was during this feast that, when the Pharisees and the scribes murmured about Jesus associating himself with publicans and sinners, Jesus proclaimed the mystery of God's heart, "I desire mercy not sacrifice." (Matthew 9:13)

The call and response of St. Matthew reveals the central focus of our salvation. Our life in God depends on God's Mercy and not on our merit. When God chooses us and we respond generously to His Call, even our painful and sinful past experiences will bathe in the Glory of the Mercy of the Lord. We will then look back into the past not with shame and regret but with an ineffable joy for having been forgiven by the Compassion of the Lord.

“Not By Works But By His Call” (Romans 9:12)

St. John Chrysostom commenting on the Call of the Apostles explains to us that though these Apostles have a glorious name and rule in the salvation history, their past was sinful or socially insignificant. While St. Matthew was a tax collector and there was nothing more despicable than that;  Peter, Andrew, James and John were called when they were fishing which was considered a socially low profession in those days. However the glory of their ministry comes from their call and their willingness to respond wholeheartedly.

I know a businessman who is very committed to the Lord. He is known for the charismatic gifts that the Holy Spirit has bestowed on him. People approach him in the moments of their distress to be comforted and to be guided. He has a way of telling them openly of his own past that was anything but inspiring. He had an unholy affair and his prayer life was to the minimum. His friends had led him to drinking and gambling habits. He was not honest in his business either. That was when he met with a heavy loss in his business. In desperation he came for the retreat as he did not know where else to go. Even his wife and son had deserted him. His spiritual crisis led him to the retreat centre. He was deeply moved by the experience of the Mercy of God. He came to a painful realization that he had taken God for granted. His routine religious observances were out of a custom rather than acts of faith. He realized how far he was from God. It also occurred to him that his failure in business was a blessing which brought him to the Lord. In that failure he felt the call of God to turn to Him and to make Him the priority of his life. His return to the Lord was complete and wholehearted! He spent a few months in the retreat centre and with the help of the Fathers, he got his family back. He spent his time in prayer and got a call from God to the ministry of counselling. He got attached to the retreat centre and began his service of counselling for the retreatants. Something striking about him was that he would tell his own conversion story openly without any shame. When I spoke to him about this, his comment was that all that he was, was God's work in him. He was an example of what God could achieve with a human life. He would not take credit for his ministry. He is grateful to God for all that He does in and through him.

“To Be Moulded As He Pleases” (Sirach 33:13)

Here indeed we touch the inner core of Christian life and ministry. When we want to be what we want to be, we make a mess of our life. When we surrender our life in the Hands of God, God is able to mould us according to His Will. That is when God is able to achieve through our lives what He wants of us. It is only then that we become relevant to and accept our role in the Divine history of Salvation.

Once Matthew offered himself in the Hands of Jesus, there was no turning back and he made sure that he did not want to go back to his old ways by the grand celebration of his conversion in the banquet he held in his place. It was the bidding of a farewell to his old friends and a declaration of his new life. It was at this feast that he learnt the lesson of God's Mercy. From then on his concern was to make Jesus known. As a tax collector, he would have been fluent in Aramaic - the language of the people, and in Greek - the language of the market place. He wrote his gospel for the sake of his own people by demonstrating to them that Jesus was the Messiah awaited by the Jewish nation. His gospel was the answer to the question posed by the disciples of St John the Baptist, "Are you He who is to come or shall we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3)  Of the four evangelists it was Matthew who proclaimed to the Jews that in Jesus, their hope of salvation was realized! Even today, it is the Gospel of Matthew that reveals to us that our aspirations for a meaningful life are fulfiled in Jesus Christ.

“Those Whom He Called He Justified And He Also Glorified” (Romans 8:30)

St. Matthew teaches us two lessons. Our present life is not to be determined by our past. Whatever might have gone wrong in our past, we shall not languish in guilt and shame. What is needed is to wait to hear the invitation of the Lord, "Come and follow me". Our God is not a god of the past but the Lord of the future. Every saint has a past and every sinner a future. The more we delay to answer the Call of Jesus, the more wasted our lives will become. Following Jesus will bring in glory to our life. We shall always be ready to rise up and never be satisfied with the status quo. Great will be our future when we are ready to follow Him.

Once Matthew followed Jesus, he was listening to the words of the Lord. That is what is meant in being a disciple. Jesus said as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock." (Matthew 7:24)  Matthew not only listened but wanted the whole world to hear the words of the Master and follow the way of The Lord that leads to life. It was for this purpose that he wrote the gospel. The concern of Matthew was that no distraction of the world should deter a disciple of Jesus from following the Way of the Lord. "The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock." (Matthew 7:25)  What Matthew has achieved with his discipleship was to make sure that those who followed Jesus will build their lives solidly on the Word of God. A man who would have wasted his life by collecting customs has made his life meaningful in the kingdom of God by gathering souls for God!

Let Us Pray

Help me, Lord to wait on You, inviting the Holy Spirit – that God’s Own Power will enlighten and come into my heart:

-That I may be able to understand God’s Will.

-That I may be able to accept God’s mission for my life.

-That I may be able to hear God’s Call in my heart and in my life.

Open my heart, O God, for Your Own Spirit to come upon me.

Amen

“FOR FREEDOM CHRIST SET US FREE” (Galatians 5:1)

Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

The one message that Christianity has always proclaimed is the unconditional and infinite Love of God for humankind. More than every other love the world has known what the Bible projects is the tender personal care that God has for every one of His sons and daughters. He turns everything to our good so that there is no room for any fear or anxiety in our hearts. However we do face problems and impossible situations at every juncture of our life. Often we get depressed and at other times irritated with God's apparent silence at the sight of human misery. There are people who even end up giving up on God - questioning the very meaning of life. "Why me?" is a painful cry from the heart of many who are not able to cope up with the challenges of life. In the midst of our trials and struggles the Lord as Emmanuel (God with us) stands inviting us, "Come to me you who are tired and burdened, I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)  Genuine religion will lead us to the open arms of the Lord waiting to comfort us. However if we miss the Face of the Lord, we can easily be deceived by wrong answers that misinterpretations of the Bible and tradition of the Church lead to. 

“The Lord Has Forsaken Me” (Isaiah 49:14)

An elderly woman came to me to pour out her woes. Life seemed impossible. All she could see were problems. Everyone in the family was suffering. Her husband who had stopped drinking some years ago had taken to the bottle again. Her son was well qualified but was not getting a job appointment. Her daughter was not getting a proper alliance for marriage. This lady herself had a problem of insomnia - the inability to sleep at night.

She had attended a retreat a couple of months earlier and the counselor in that place identified her situation as the consequence of an ancestral curse. This so-called messenger of God declared that a curse had fallen upon the family which was why everything was going haywire. He prescribed a set of daily pious exercises including a certain number of rosaries and novenas to deliver them from this curse. The lady had to do much reparation for the family to be delivered from the ancestor’s curse. When she received this direction, she was at first relieved but when they returned from the retreat she felt more desperate. She had been told that if she failed to fulfill her daily prayer obligations she had to do the double of it the next day. That was the only way she was told that the curse coming down from the ancestors could be averted. She tried honestly to fulfill these obligations but because of the family responsibilities, she would invariably fail. On the one hand she could feel the curse of the ancestors pressing upon the entire family and on the other hand the failure to fulfill the pious obligations crushed her. In such despair she approached me.

I explained to this lady that as a baptized Christian, all the ancestral curses are washed away in the waters of the Sacrament of Baptism. I quoted to her the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I further explained to her that the Sacrament of Baptism is God's own hands reached out to us to save us through the ministry of the Church. If this ministry cannot save us from ancestral curses, any amount of pious exercises will not be able to effect that salvation.

“I Will Never Forget You” (Isaiah 49:15)

I took time with her to make her understand that the problem of each member of the family is to be understood in isolation and to be solved. Her husband would have to open his heart to the Lord once again to experience the Power of the Holy Spirit to defeat the evil power of alcoholism. Her son had to prepare himself more intelligently to face the interviews and with the help of God, he would get an opening. Her daughter was not able to find her future spouse because the right person God had destined for her was yet to come her way and would do so at the appointed time. The whole family has to learn to wait upon God as Jesus instructed the Apostles. The Apostles asked the Risen Lord whether that was the time when He would usher in God's Kingdom. The Lord responded saying that they had to wait until "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." (Acts 1:8)  I prayed for her and helped her to prepare for the Promise of the Holy Spirit and His consolation. She indeed received the great peace of the Holy Spirit. She was able to sleep well. She also got the courage to intercede for her husband and children with Mother Mary on her side. Prayer was no longer a burden but a support and confidence.

Earlier she became distressed because of the wrong ideas and reasons placed in her mind by the counselor. It looks unfortunate that certain preachers and counselors are taking recourse to the easy answer of ancestral curse to solve the burning problems of life. Instead of turning to God for a solution, they are directed away from God to the desperate myth of curse of the ancestors. Instead of giving people the confidence of God’s Saving Love and the Hope of heavenly intervention, they are led to the helpless situation of blaming their ancestors for their misery.

“For A Brief Moment I Abandoned You” (Isaiah 54:7)

The Old Testament indeed speaks about ancestral curses coming upon man. "For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:5-6)  We find a few other places in the Old Testament where there is a similar mention of generational curses (Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9). It is noteworthy that in all these passages, the generational curses are called down only for the specific sin of idolatry. A Jewish interpretation of this passage specifically uses the term ungodly fathers and rebellious children. This refers to the realistic situation where a father has a sinful way of living and the children imbibe his sinful attitudes. In other words,the children make a choice to repeat the sins of their fathers. This is a warning to the parents not to live in sin setting a wrong example for their children. Moreover, in the next verse God promises "I will bestow mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Therefore the teaching to the children is to turn to God in repentance and not repeat the sins of their ancestors.

In the prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah there is a clear assertion that the children will not have to pay for the sins of their parents. "You ask why is not the son charged with the guilt of his father?" Because the son has done what is right and just, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. Only the one who sins shall die. The son shall not be charged with the guilt of his father, nor shall the father be charged with the guilt of his son. The virtuous man's virtue shall be his own, as the wicked man's wickedness will be his own." (Ezekial 18:19-20)  This is the clear denial of any generational curse coming upon a human.

No one is permitted to blame his ancestors for his own misery. One has to take responsibility for one's own life. The prophet in fact begins the entire case with a more powerful question, "Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man what is the meaning of this proverb that you recite in the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten green grapes, thus their children’s teeth are set on edge’? I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among you who will repeat this proverb in Israel. For all lives are mine; the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine; only the one who sins shall die." (Ezekial 18:4)

“My Love Shall Never Leave You” (Isaiah 54:10)

Prophet Jeremiah speaking of the same proverb says that it is not to be even uttered again in the house of Israel. "In those days they shall no longer say, ‘the fathers ate unripe grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’, but through his own fault only shall anyone die; the teeth of him who eats the unripe grapes shall be set on edge." (Jeremiah 31:29-30)   It is pertinent that the prophet speaks about this new liberation in the context of the new covenant that God was to establish, "The days are coming, says The Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah." (Jeremiah 31:31)  In this new covenant, God promises total forgiveness of our sinfulness, "For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more" (v. 34). This was indeed a prophecy of what the Saviour would do for humankind. At the Last Supper, Jesus took the chalice of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you." (Luke 22:20)  It is in the Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that we find total liberation from all our sins and the curses coming down from ancestors as well as our own personal inequities.

In Jesus Christ, all the promises of the Old Testament are fulfilled. The Old Testament looks forward to the person and teachings of Jesus for its completion. Hence Jesus corrects and completes the Old Testament teachings. Jesus said, "Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17)

Hence the usual formula that precedes the teachings of Jesus, "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors... But I say to you." (Matthew 5:21-22)  The Old Testament teachings on anger, hatred, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation etc. are given a new interpretation by Jesus (Matthew 5:21-48). To this list St. John adds the teaching of the ancestral curse. While relating the healing of the man born blind, St. John describes the disciples asking Jesus whether the blindness was because of his sins or the sins of his parents. Jesus rejecting this popular notion among the Jews answered, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him." (John 9:3)  Here is a clear teaching of Jesus rejecting all talk of generational curses promising that God is ready to intervene in every form of human misery. Jesus went about healing every sickness, forgiving all forms of sin, saving broken families and thus preparing for the culmination of the work of salvation in His Death and Resurrection. Jesus took the powers of sin and death upon Himself and paid the price of it all in His Blood. This act of salvation was the ultimate manifestation of Divine Love. "No one takes it (my life) from me but I lay it down on my own." (John 10:18)

“If You Repent, I Will Restore You” (Jeremiah 15:19)

The salvific effects of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus flow down to us when we are baptized in Jesus Christ. In His first sermon, after having received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, St. Peter proclaimed, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)  This was the joyous proclamation of the early Church. St. Paul writing to the Romans explains the effects of the Sacrament of Baptism. In this Sacrament of Initiation, we are united with the Lord Jesus. The original Greek word used is “symphitos”. By this St. Paul means that as the foetus is united with the mother, so is the baptized person united with Jesus Christ to the effect that all the former’s sins and curses flow into Jesus and grace flows back into him. It is in this context that St. Paul affirms how Christ exempts us from the curse by taking it on Himself. "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse of us." (Galatians 3:13)  St. Paul categorically asserts, "Hence now there is no curse for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)  The word used is 'en christo' which really means incorporated into Christ Jesus. This explains what happens at the moment of Baptism. As a branch is cut off from the main stem and grafted to a new stem, so are we disentangled from our human ancestral line and connected to the new stem that Christ Jesus is. This is the regeneration that happens at the moment of Baptism. Jesus Himself explained this when He said, "I am the vine and you are the branches," (John 15:5) inviting us to abide in Him and promising us that He will keep us united with Him. It is in this new life received in baptism that we have the promise that "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone and the new is come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The Church explains further this teaching of the Holy Bible in its sacramental theology. The Catechism of the Catholic Church officially teaches us, "By baptism all sins are forgiven, original sins and personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the kingdom of God, neither Adam's sin nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God" (CCC 1263). The teaching makes it clear that what happens at baptism is altogether a new beginning in Christ Jesus making the baptised a "new creature" (1265), without any roots that reach back to any evil in his biological ancestry. Eventually if he commits any personal sin, the grace of the Sacrament of Confession washes it away. When we understand correctly the biblical teaching as elaborated by the Catholic Theology, we will come to the Truth of what Jesus said, "If the Son sets you free you are free indeed." (John 8:36)   It is this freedom that makes life with Christ a celebration.

“I Will Be Their God, And They Shall Be My People” (Jeremiah 31:33)

The remedy to the sins and curses, whether personal or ancestral, is the baptismal regeneration - the grace of the Sacrament of Confession and a life of grace united with Jesus Christ. Those who look to special exorcisms and generational healing rites run the risk of getting entangled with the New Age influences. The New Age theories show ways of escaping personal responsibilities for our own choices and decisions. They urge people to look elsewhere than in themselves for the source of their problems. The Church has always insisted that we are responsible for our choices and actions before God. Through an honest soul searching when we find out that we have gone astray from the Lord Jesus, we come back to Him in repentance which culminates in the Sacramental Confession and conversion. This is the way of ushering in the Kingdom of God in our personal lives and in our community relationships. The first sermon of Jesus was - "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17)  

Retreats and counseling should help everyone to understand oneself and to turn to God in repentance. In the Sacrament of Confession, a renewal of the grace of Sacrament of baptism is effected. All that God seeks is our freedom to live life in all its fullness. For the days of trial, He is there giving grace. To even mention that suffering is the working of a curse is to negate the truth of Christianity which is founded on a God who is love and on Christ crucified to set us free from death and every shadow of evil. Let us remember the sure promise of His Love and Presence with us and turn to God with confidence in our every trial.

  

Let Us Pray

Lord Jesus You came down to the world as our Saviour. You set us free from the sins and curses that are the plight on this earth. You instituted the Church to continue Your ministry of liberation in this world. Thank You, O Lord, for Your Infinite Mercy that flows into us in the moments of our misery. Let us turn to You and live - finding all the answers in You. Let us never be disheartened by our struggles, rather find our hope in You.

Amen.