Live forever! (19th Sunday Ordinary Time)

We were shocked and saddened to learn the death by suicide of Robin Williams. With his success, we could not believe and understand that he could end his life that way.

Mystery clouds events of suicide. No one really knows how one decide to end ones life. But many agrees that suicide is born of despair. That the culprit is depression.

In the first reading, Jeremiah too was in a lowest point of despair.  It is said: "He prayed for death saying: 'This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.'" Only when the Lord touched Jeremiah and fed him that he regained himself and continued his journey.

Despair is a state of hopelessness. A graphic example of a state of hopelessness is an old famous film by Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland in "Cast Away". Chuck survived a plane crash and ended up in a isolated uninhabited island all by himself. He tried to escape the place sailing on his life raft but failed. He also tried making a smoke signal but cut himself in trying to make a fire. Frustrated he resigned his fate.

How did Chuck managed to survive after all depends on two things: First, he resolved to return an unopened Fedex package with a pair of angels wings stencilled to it. Second, he created for himself a personal companion, the volleyball named "Wilson". A sense of purpose and community took hopelessness and despair away.

This is also what Jesus in the Gospel wants to say when he said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

Jesus feeds with a purpose to live forever and this bread he gives is he himself that gives company!

The Hound of Heaven

The Hound of Heaven
14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Readings

First Reading
Ez 2:2-5

I make a lot of complains about almost anything that does not work well according to my preference or generally acceptable standards. I complain about faucets left with water still dripping because its a waste. I complain about inattentive waiters in expensive restaurants because I deserve it after all I am a paying customer. Its natural for humans to complain when ones expectations are not met.

God's expectation is expressed as His Will. The Bible tells so often of many stories where   the people of Israel or humanity in general ignores or turns away from God's Will. The creation tells us the story of Adam and Eve rejecting God's command to stay away from the forbidden tree. The people of Israel while in the dessert on the way to the Promise Land, in the moment of absence of Moses choose to fabricate and worship the golden calf.

God has a solid basis for telling Ezekiel in the first reading that "Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day".

If its us as parents, faced with such "rebellious" or disappointing child we could have declared in frustration, "you are no longer my son/daughter!"

But God is way better than us, instead of disowning us or giving up on us, He sent special envoys like Ezekiel in our midst. Not only great prophets but God sent even his only Son, Jesus despite knowing that his Son will also be rejected. God's faithfulness to us is without end.

The Hound of Heaven is a poem by an English poet Francis Thomson that compares the God and his grace to that of a persistent hound chasing its prey relentlessly not giving up on it. Indeed, God's fidelity is relentless.