A Message from Fr. Jay
Dear Friends,
‘Who am I?’ is a comedy movie by Jackie Chan that I enjoyed some 25 years ago. If I asked the same question to myself today, it would never be a comedy but leads to a serious reflection.
Some of the answers that I may come up with are: I am a child of God, a Christian, a Catholic, a Priest, an Indian, to be American, speak two languages Tamil and English, member of a family, friend to many, an educated person, am skilled or semi-skilled in some profession. I am kind, emotional, joyful, spiritual and yet a sinner, a penitent soul….and the list goes on. You may reflect more on this and try to find deep down the reality of your life. I usually meditate on this as an exercise every year during my annual retreat.
In the gospel, Jesus is asking the question to his disciples, ‘who do you say that I am?’ to see how they perceived him. He was disappointed at the level of their perception and says, ‘you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do’.
The world today sets goals and models with human thinking and many of them are averse to God’s thinking. But God wants you and me to think like God himself and follow His sets of goals and models, for we are partakers of His image and Likeness.
His goals and models are based on ‘Faith and (Charity) Works’ together. To have faith alone is much easier but to combine faith and charity work is a challenging factor as explained by St. James in the second reading. Generally, God does not want us to suffer. But the sufferings that come by linking Faith and Charity Works are considered holy and spiritual. He gives an example in the first reading on the ‘Suffering Servant’ by the prophet Isaiah. Let us continue to discern who we are by repeating the same question, “Who am I?” because the world needs to know who we are.
Once again, I request you to prayerfully consider voting NO to Amendment 4. While reflecting Who am I, your positive action in voting NO would confirm that you are a Pro-Life person and that is an act of God’s thinking.
God Bless,
Fr. Jay Raju
Reading 1: Isaiah 50: 5-9a
Reading 11: James 2: 14-18
Gospel: Mark 8: 27-35
