See who’s missing !

God keeps on saving people in history. Christmas is the beginning of this salvation history. And so, in turning once again to the episode of Christ’s birth at Bethlehem, we come not to recall Christ’s birth twenty centuries ago, but to live that birth here, in the twenty-first century, this year, in our own Christmas here in India.The Council says humanity’s mystery can be explained only in the mystery of the God who became human. If people want to look into their own mystery – the meaning of their pain, of their work, of their anxieties, of their suffering, of their hope – let them put themselves next to Christ. If they accomplish what Christ accomplished – doing the Father’s will, filling themselves with the life that Christ gives the world – they are fulfilling themselves as true human beings. If I find, on comparing myself with Christ, that my life is a contrast, the opposite of his, then my life is a disaster. If what the Council expects of us is true, then, no one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God – for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, the marginalized, the oppressed, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God.If God has come for the poor and marginalised then all the stuff that our culture identifies with Christmas-the trees, the lights, the shopping, the dinners and Santa himself-may be just a diversion for us. The Christmas trappings are not bad in themselves. But they may distract us from the uncomfortable truth that Christmas isn’t a celebration that the rich and comfortable can fully celebrate. Christmas for the poor and the humiliated of our world is the beginning of a revolution that lifts them up. Mary our mother had already said why God sent the child she bore: “He has brought down the rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; but sent away the rich empty handed.” (Luke 1:52-3)If what Mary said is true, then the hungry kids in Africa have more to celebrate than we do. The children in our slums and rural India have more to celebrate than we do. The poor can rejoice because God so identifies with them, that in Christ God entered the world as one of them. That is the real Christmas. We who are rich and powerful in the world can acknowledge Christmas intellectually, but it isn’t good news for us in the same way.Our celebration of Christmas can grow richer and more genuine as we identify and accept in ourselves our points of poverty and humiliation. The place of our greatest weakness is the humble stable where Christ can appear in our lives. Christmas shows us that our pain and humiliation are not things to reject but are windows through which God’s love and grace can enter. God has in his goodness, incarnated himself even to the concrete events of the injustices, tortures, humiliations, rejections of our own sad history. That is where we are to find our God. Advent time is given to us to remind ourselves that we need to prepare for Christmas. Ample time is given to us by the Church before we could worthily celebrate the birth of the great God amidst the simplest and the poor.But what are we going to prepare? How are we going to prepare ourselves for Christmas? I am sure there will plans and preparations for clothing, cakes, sweets, decorations and dinner with close friends. In a parish level there might be a greater preparation. There might be an elevating singing with a well trained choir, an elaborate liturgy, and there might even be a mighty crib for baby Jesus.While all these are needed for an external celebration, do we feel the need for preparing ourselves during this advent by making ourselves simple? Do we include the poor, the simple and the marginalised for whom God planned the incarnation? But see who is missing! In all our preparations, and later in our celebrations, the poor will be missing. We shouldn’t be surprised if Jesus himself, the protagonist of this great celebration, is missing. It might even turn out to be our celebration setting Jesus aside, to make our celebrations more comfortable and enjoyable. We can never meaningfully celebrate Christmas without including Jesus who is in the poor.Let us carefully see who is missing in our Christmas celebration. It is with those who are missing Jesus will be born. Amidst this missing lot you will witness the real Christmas.

Glorious Steve

Power through weakness

There are some events that are simply massive - ‘once in a lifetime’ events. Events like the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the tragedy of 9/11, or Tsunami that hit on 26 December 2004. But there was one event that was simply a ‘once in eternity’ event: An event so big that the whole calendar of humanity turned around to count before and after it. That event is “The Christmas story”, a historic event that, at the time, seemed so insignificant, was happening in a dirty stable in a far off land. Just over 2000 years ago a baby was born to an ordinary young woman called Mary. That baby was Jesus; a man who would challenge the world like no other. The Christmas narrative has everything necessary for a great story. There is political intrigue, conflict (international, national, ethnic, and marital), anticipation (the key to every good Christmas), the drama of a delivery room, fear, and amazement. Good stuff. But one thing that makes an impression about the Christmas story is how simple and unadorned it really is. God often brings to us the profound in the midst of the ordinary. On December 26th, The Bethlehem Gazette probably read, “Joseph and Mary, a boy, 17 inches long, 7.7 lbs.” Nothing stunning. Babies are born every day.Don’t misunderstand. The birth of a virgin-born son is no little thing. The eternal Word becoming flesh does not happen every day. The Christmas story shows how God fills the seeming insignificant with his presence and makes what might have been mundane into profound mystery.First, we should notice the insignificant places. Our story gives passing mention to Rome, centre of the inhabited world and Syria, gateway to the East. The influential people and those who ruled others lived there. The lifestyles of the rich and famous were recorded there. But the focus is on little places, such as: Bethlehem, which used to be the city of the great king (David), Puny and insignificant Nazareth from where Mary and Joseph hail and the manger where the baby Jesus was lying.No one cared much about Bethlehem, Nazareth, Manger and the fields. Bethlehem was nothing to write about. Certainly it was not where you’d go on your honeymoon, leave along for the birth of your first child. Nazareth too was insignificant. Nathanael later asked of Nazareth, “Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).Is it just possible that Bethlehem, Nazareth, the manger, and the fields become key places in God’s self-revelation? Could it be that there really are no little places in the world? Maybe when God comes near, all the little places become big!Second, we should notice the insignificant people. The important people of the world mentioned are: Caesar Augustus and Quirinius. But our text gives only passing reference to these men and that is probably done so as to root our story in history. Our story focuses on a poor young couple from Nazareth. Mary and Joseph, shepherds and the innkeeper—well, not really. In fact, he is so insignificant; but, It’s amazing to notice how much importance he gets in the average Christmas pageant. God uses ordinary people—just like you and me. It reminds us of 1 Corinthians 1:26, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.” Let’s face it: the people in the Christmas story were nothing to write home about. Neither are we. Maybe when God comes near, all the little people suddenly seem to matter.These events and features of Christ’s birth have always been interwoven with insignificant and secular stuff. The challenge for us is to ensure that Christmas is not emptied of its spiritual essence.Do you come from a remote town? Take heart, Christmas can happen in your little town. Do you have the self-esteem of a slug and feel as if no one cares whether you live or die? Take heart, Christmas announces that you matter to God. Do you feel as if nothing big ever happens in your life? Take heart, Christmas is for you. Christians believe that the incarnation is very significant. We believe in what Col. James Erwin, former moon walker and astronaut, once said, “God walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.” Yes, Christmas is significant, but the story itself tells us that the way of God in the world is still “power through weakness.”

Glorious Steve

THE STUFF IN STYLE

Teachers Day’ is here. We think of our beginnings.The first thought that is still fresh in mind is the experience, either good or bad, that we had in our early schooling. We fondly think of some teachers who inspired us, convinced us of what we should be and helped us to dream a good future both for ourselves and for the society. Dan Rather said, “The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called “truth.” The real heroes of our youngsters are not the cine stars but the teachers who made an impact. Often this fact is not brought out to the fore because there is no more glamour in the teaching profession.The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate ‘apparently ordinary’ people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. Only teachers bring us a meaning system that challenges our convictions. As a result we are able to have fair ideals for life. History proves this point. Most of the wise men we read in history were teachers too. They not only had the right kind of knowledge to impart; they had the right kind of teaching style. That is how they are remembered in history. There are many such good teachers even today, full of wisdom and knowledge. Unfortunately we cannot see or measure the fruits of their real teaching. It shows itself only after many years of experience. It stays dormant inside as meaning system till the right moment comes. Jacques Barzun rightly pointed out, “In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so.” The fruits of our education may be seen only after ten or twenty years.This being so difficult, the struggle of teachers is to bring out a result that they themselves cannot see or experience. With a blind aim and hazy direction, they are asked to guide the students. Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task. Great men believed in the power of education. Aristotle wrote: “The fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” Education is the key to any change or revolution and this lies with the teacher. That is the power of the teacher. Amidst the entire struggle a teacher undergoes in the classroom, he/she also realises his/her power-power to change the students and the society. The real power comes from empowering the students.The secret to this power lies in his own being rather than in his doing: What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches. This is the key to miracles in education.The end of education is the expert discernment in everything. A good education helps us to weed out the bad from the good and the counterfeit from the genuine. This helps us to opt for the good and the genuine when we make true life choices. A good teacher is an instrument in reaching this goal. William Arthur Ward said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” A good teacher not only has the style of teaching but the right kind of stuff and passes on the stuff in style to inspire.

Glorious Steve

The wisdom of the ages

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Every being and every thing in this universe seem to be connected. There is connectedness between the people who lived and are going to occupy the planet earth.
There is also interrelatedness between animate and inanimate beings. It appeard to the enlightened that they were living amidst one great big reality.
People from various places and times differed in food habit, dress code, climatic context and other external features; but there is harmony in their search for meaning, struggle for life and the way they solved their problems.
They walked the same earth as we do. They shared the same dream, aspired for the same truth, hoped for the same future as we do now. We share many things in common. In that way we are connected with our ancestors.
People learnt secrets about living not only from other cultures but also from animals, plants and other beings.
This collective wisdom of the ages is what we call heritage or cultural heritage. Albert Camus wrote, “Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.” It is for this purpose everyone needs to nourish the gift of heritage.
Heritage is such a strong term that it seems to have become popularly interchangeable with history itself. It suggests however some obligation on the part of the present to the past and also on behalf of the future, and that the past should give us in some way a lesson for the present and future.
Heritage suggests continuity, perhaps of ideals felt to be in decline, and usually suggests some fixity of form or practice.
Heritage, like tradition, is a way of managing the past, managing history and (re)presenting it in the present.
Heritage is in a sense, not only a ‘reading’ of the past but a ‘writing’ of it - a way of establishing ‘history’ itself. This places considerable responsibility on the presentation and also offers great opportunities for manipulation of it for commercial ends.
There are many contradictions. Ironically something becomes ‘heritage’ only when it is in danger of being lost.
Heritage suggests agreement about what is to be valued and what an object or activity means - whereas at the time of its creation and use there would certainly have been conflicts of opinion.
Certain elements of heritage considered to be noble for some groups of people have been diametrically opposed to other groups of people.
Caste system for example is a bad influence that corrupted the Indian heritage. This stratification, though deplorable and hated by everyone due to its penetration in the daily life of the people, is an evil affecting the finest thread of our heritage.
Similarly, India’s social structure is a unique blend of diverse religious, cultural, linguistic and racial groups. But this fine unification is often threatened by elements of hate.
The heritage handed on by Don Bosco and the early Salesians is not a mere collection of rules and regulations. Instead, it is the collaborative effort of Don Bosco with God and our Blessed Mother together with the collective wisdom of so many of the dedicated Salesians.
From 14th to 20th of this month we celebrate the world heritage week. It is a week to reflect about our roots and the meaning of our life.
We need to understand that the wisdom of the ages is collectively presented to us in the form of heritage. Making sense of it is our duty. It is primarily the duty of those who call themselves educators.
Just as Branch Rickey says, “What matters is not the honour that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.” After all what we need to do is to leave our best contributions to the society. When it is done, we should sit and rejoice in our own works, for that is our heritage.

Glorious Steve

Laughing to forget…

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Human beings love to laugh. The average adult laughs 17 times a day. Humans love to laugh so much that there are actually industries built around laughter. Jokes, sitcoms and comedians are all designed to make us laugh. For us it seems so natural. But it is quite interesting that humans are one of the only species that laughs.
Three major things seems to trigger laughter. We seem to laugh when we find something unexpected, illogical and incongruous. Laughter might also be aroused due to one’s feeling of superiority over another. But most of the laughter also come out of relief from tension.
Under these conditions, our bodies perform what the Encyclopedia Britannica describes as “rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions” -- better known as laughter.
We change physiologically when we laugh. The noises that usually accompany this bizarre behaviour range from sedate giggles to boisterous guffaws. We stretch muscles throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up, and we breathe faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues.
“Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter,” said Friedrich Nietzsche. Most convincing health benefit we can see from laughter is its ability to dull pain. Numerous studies of people in pain or discomfort have found that when they laugh they report that their pain doesn’t bother them as much.
In his own research, Provine has found that we are 30 times more likely to laugh when we’re with other people than when we are alone. People who laugh a lot may just have a strong connection to the people around them. That in itself might have health benefits.
Many today agree that regardless of whether laughter actually improves your health or boosts your energy, it undeniably improves your quality of life. At the same time as Goethe said, “Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at.”
Perhaps laughter must indicate trust in one’s companions. Many researchers believe that the purpose of laughter is related to making and strengthening human connections. “Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter there is, the more bonding within the group,” says cultural anthropologist Mahadev Apte. This feedback loop of bonding-laughter-more bonding, combined with the common desire not to be singled out from the group, may be another reason why laughter is often contagious.
Studies have also found that dominant individuals -- the boss, the tribal chief or the family patriarch -- use humor more than their subordinates. If you’ve often thought that everyone in the office laughs when the boss laughs, you’re very perceptive. In such cases, Morreall says, controlling the laughter of a group becomes a way of exercising power by controlling the emotional climate of the group. So laughter, like much human behavior, must have evolved to change the behavior of others, Provine says. For example, in an embarrassing or threatening situation, laughter may serve as a conciliatory gesture or as a way to deflect anger. If the threatening person joins the laughter, the risk of confrontation may lessen.
Provine believes that laughter, like the bird’s song, functions as a kind of social signal. Other studies have confirmed that theory by proving that people are 30 times more likely to laugh in social settings than when they are alone (and without pseudo-social stimuli like television). Even nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, loses much of its oomph when taken in solitude, according to German psychologist Willibald Ruch.
New Year has begun. Everyone is serious about drawing some plans for the whole year. It might sound odd to read about laughter in the beginning of the year.
Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. But in the name of decorum and decency even the basic need to laugh is being minimised in the present social setting. Many even control people by controlling their laughter.
Laughter is the shock absorber that eases the blows of life. It is a weapon to fight against our weakness and moments of dullness. It is a weapon to fight drudgery and boredom. Laughter challenges the one who laughs and those around him to by its dynamics. People look at laughter differently. A pessimist looks at laughing even in the right place and right time, as something sinful and indecent. An optimist looks at laughter as medicinal. Looking at the pessimists Voltaire wrote, “God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”
Indeed, an optimist laughs to forget, a pessimist forgets to laugh.



Glorious Steve