Chavara a Transformational Leader

Rich Dad and Poor Dad is a book by Robert T. Kiyosaki just read and closed. The gist of the book is how both the rich and the poor teach their kids to earn money. As we are sitting on the shore of the Blessed Sacrament, we remember a Dad who was rich in spiritual, intellectual and social reformations and he teaches how to be rich alike. Let us ask a question to ourselves what did make him to be rich in these realms? I believe he had a Penual experience. Penual is a place which we find in the book of Genesis where Jacob sees the face of God. There is a slight connection between this place and the last lines of the Gospel passage. “I tell you just as you did it one of my family, you did it to me.” It clearly portrays where we can see the face of God, and it’s true in our service to the Marginalized. Then who is this marginalized? It doesn’t mean just poor people or low cast people alone but includes who all not having access to what common man or woman has. Seeing the face God in the other made Bl. Chavara a transformational leader. Whatever he did in his life span had given access to the marginalized whom Jesus considers as His family members. Don’t assume that there is no notion of marginalization in the modern world.  It is at hand in modern form. The present Indian scenario is a good example where humanity and all its qualities are demeaned. The flat culture, People stay at same home without loving each other, brother kills brother, father rapes daughter, thinking that they are mere objectives for one’s own pleasure. As we are getting closer to the canonization process of Bl. Chavara exactly 100 days ahead. Let us think of becoming a transformational leader. To inculcate and presume his leadership model we need to engage in an ongoing process of transformation, transformation from my present life to a life planned for me by God. Then St. Paul will tell by looking at us” You are a letter of Christ prepared by Bl. Chavara written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God.” So let us pray for that Grace to be a letter in Chavara’s Poem. 

Jithin Kalan CMI