Vineyard & Cornerstone

 

I felt the fiancee or the valentine not mine but in the book of Song of Solomon was with me and who invites her sweet heart in chapter 7 verse 12 “Let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grapes blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom.”  

Bible from Genesis to Revelation portrays the term Vineyard in 82 instances. Today I would like to invite you for a small waltzing through vineyards, hopefully which will help us to place Christ the cornerstone in our lives. The vineyard becomes an icon of hard work in the book of Genesis Chapter 9 verse 20 and it’s written “Noah, a man of the soil was the first to plant a vineyard. The opening lines of the book of Prophet Isaiah Chapter 5 verse 1&2 brace the above notion, “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug and cleared of stones and planted it with choice of vines.” In verse 4 Prophet becomes peevish to accept the snide outcome, “He expected it to yield grapes but it yielded wild grapes.           

Christian life as a vineyard needs hard work to squeeze the vine of virtues. Plough the land with the spade of faith, clear the stones and the thorns with the hand of hope and plant the red grape of love. Built a tower with prayer, hew the press of Sacraments. To promise us the best vine we need to prune it with gospel. And here the Gospel of St. John chapter 15 verse 2 never becomes a second thought, “Every Branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”  

Couple of days before, I had a video on my Facebook wall. A granny along with her grandson was in a bakery to buy a birthday cake for her better half and for him of course his grandpa. Once they ordered the cake of their choice the salesman requested them to pay the bill at the cashier desk.  They were ferreting the money to be paid for the cake as they were having the jaunt to the teller desk. Unfortunately they found no sufficient money to be paid after their search in the pockets, purse and pouch. A young and astute guy was observing them and felt it would be a needle in the haystack for them. And he goes before them and clears the account. The granny and her grandson smiled at him.  He gives a sticky note to the boy as he pats him on his cheek. The line on the chit reads, “Be Blessed and Be a Blessing.” The scene twists as the grandson gives the sticky note to his grandpa. The grandpa recollects the episode in which he had given the same chit to a beggar boy who missed the boat to have a day’s meal. Yes the granddad was a blessing for the young guy in his childhood days and the grandpa is blessed in his old age days.

For Psalmist vineyard is the symbol of Blessing and it is underlined in chapter 107 verses 37& 38 “They sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. And by his blessings they multiply greatly.”  The labours at the vineyard in the gospel of Matthew chapter 20 verses 9 & 14 illustrate the same, “Those hired about five O’clock came and received their usual daily wage. And I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.”  In the Jewish tradition vineyard is culturally and economically centred in everyday life. Being a catholic we are called to be blessed and be a blessing for the other. To be blessed and to bless the other, Christ has to be the corner stone of our life. St. Paul through the letter to Philippines chapter 4 verse 8 elucidates the same idea, and I quote , “ Finally, beloved whatever is true , whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellency and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

 Another dimension or implication of Vineyard is that it signifies the new life. Gospel of Luke through the parable of the barren fig tree amidst the vineyard would give a better understanding, noted in chapter 13 verse 8, “Sir let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it.”  It’s up and running for the prophet Amos too and we read in chapter 9 verse 14, “I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their vine.”  The land owner in the Gospel augurs the privy of new vineyard and it reads in Matthew chapter 21 verse 41, “And leases the vineyard to the other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time. Pablo Neruda a veteran Chilean poet and a diplomat has the same view as he versifies, “You start dying  slowly if you do not change your life.”     

Let me sign out by detonating with a climax of an Indian Movie titled ‘Vineyards for Us to Dwell In’ in Malayalam നമുക്കു പാർക്കാൻ മുന്തിരിത്തോപ്പുകൾ  . The Plot, Solomon the protagonist falls in love with the girl Sofia of the neighboring home. As he spent time with his girlfriend he realizes that his honey has agony of discrimination in her home by her stepfather. Solomon convinces everyone about his marriage to this girl which can provide her comfort and show his way of life. The idea of marriage is opposed by her stepfather and the family which led him to leave the village. After few months he comes back and meets her. As Solomon meets Sophia he asks her you thought that I wouldn't come again. Her two word reply I thought changes the whole scene. Solomon takes Sofia with him and makes her the supervisor of the next season's harvest in the vineyard and his life too.

Keep in mind that the protagonist of our life movie as Catholics, Christ will come again and to be the supervisor for all seasons of crop, let us be the vineyard of hard work, the vineyard of blessing, the vineyard of new life and place Christ as the beacon of our vineyard.    

PIPER A CRUX TO DEEPEN FAITH AND CHRIST

Piper an Oscar winning animated short film for the year 2017 has been whats apped by my friend Anusha as I was sharing with her the stress and the struggles I face in my life. The plot of the story depicts how a young sand piper overcomes its challenges to find food at the sea shore. The first day as the young sand piper search the food with its mother the tide on the sea shore has heaved him away. Cataclysmic experience at the sea shore petrified the young sand piper and roosted him in the nest. On a fine morning a hermit crab invites the young sand piper to ferret the food at the sea shore. Reprising the jittery experience the piper started its jaunt with the hermit crab to the seashore having anxiety in the mind. Unfortunately the tide was surging and at this juncture the astute young sand piper looked the hermit crab and he found that the hermit crab hides him in the sand. The young sand piper emulates the same. As the water flows over the sand piper it opens its eye and finds the beauty of the sea. As the sand piper realises the clinch in his daring step and it becomes the most intrepid piper to seek food on the sea shore even during strong tides.  Yes to be Different and Daring one need to go deep. And so Jesuits the largest and leading religious order in the Catholic Church had its tagline for their 36^th General Synaxis as “Row Into Deep,” Albert Einstein adds the same flavor as he tweets “A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is not what it is built for.” A classical scene portrayed in the gospel of John chapter 21 verses 1 to 6 in which the worth of rowing deep is depicted,  the disciple were fishing throughout the night but they could not cast a single fish. The scenario changes up and down as Jesus enters to the frame. Jesus utters them cast your net deeper. It is from the same sea shore where they could collect fishes which makes them in demanding to pull out their net.  Peter Knowing the in and out of the fishing has sensed that dark like a needle in a haystack. A savvy fisherman knows the availability of the fish is in the deep sea.  Casting net at the periphery of the sea sketches Peter’s character and his faith. He was not sure of the resurrection of Christ and thus leaves for fishing. Being in the fringe of your faith you achieve nothing. Jesus did not tell Peter and his crew to change the sea in order to get more fish but demanded them to cast it into deep and it would be the climax of that episode. Of course deepening our faith will help us to face the challenges and changes; and once you experience the beauty of rowing deep like the sand piper in the short film will brace us to paint the life red.I feel the cry of St. Thomas in the Gospel of John chapter 20 vesicle 25 may not become on second thought here. He jousts with disciples in bereft and uttered; unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe. And he soothes the Mantra out of blue, when he sees the risen Christ which every Christian should keep in his heart and mind, “My Lord and My God.” Experiencing the gashes of Christ souped him up to be the radical disciple of Christ. Let us roll up our sleeves to row into deep to experience Christ and the Challenges of Being a Christian. And let me break the ice with the tongue of Christ; “those who want to follow me take up ones own daily cross and follow me.” Yes the Injuries and lesions of my life can only deepen Christ in my life… Amen.  

Hidden Trinity in Yesterday

Trinity is an arcane notion for an ordinary man. Being a usual man I used to attenuate by a jaunt with St. Augustine as I hear the concept of Trinity. It was a fine evening Augustine had a stroll on the sea shore.  He met a child who was fetching water with a sea shell from the sea and pouring to the tiny conduit he made.  Having seen this, the philosopher in Agustin had a query to the child. What are you doing? The cute and curious child replied with a smile on his face, I am trying to dry the sea. Agustin’s logical mind responded to the child and said it is impossible. The child broke the ice with a locution, ‘To dry the sea with a sea shell is unmanageable, if so the quest you have in your mind right now is impossible too. And Agustin writes he was thinking about Trinity.  The impossible becomes possible if one can think in the stream of Jesus. And it is written He communicated the Good News to the people with stories and parables. One can construe the theological notions if he / she are ready to link the day to day life events and experience with the knowledge already has with the same.  In that sense Yesterday the movie directed by        Darrell Roodt becomes a pivot to elucidate the Trinity.

Yesterday as a movie has the plot of a peculiar African woman called Yesterday who counters with AIDS and struggles to raise her daughter and to support her husband who has been collapsed by the same illness can be connected with the idea of Trinity.  The understanding of trinity is Three Persons in One God. This idea of Trinity expounds that God has 3 different personalities for different functions. Consider that Yesterday as God who owns the different personalities. The film depicts how a woman being one does the multifaceted tasks in her life. Being a woman she is a wife, mother of her daughter, friend of the teacher. As an AIDS patient Yesterday the protagonist of the film who knows her life is at stale. The awareness of the illness makes her to be more multitasked to face the music.  The people who are connected especially her husband and daughter depends on her strength, nurture and hard labor. Realities of African women are exclusively portrayed in the movie.  An explanation to the painting by Fr. Orobator SJ ( A women returning from the field with bundles of produce and firewood piled on her head and a baby strapped her back and one hand she has hoe the instrument and the other hand holds her load not to fall. The shocking part she gives breast feed for an old man) in his book Theology Brewed in African Pot underlines the same qualities of a woman.

The Trinitarian God is like Yesterday the African woman in the movie combines many sides. Yesterday is God for her husband and daughter who satiate their situational needs. The salvation history can be linked with her illness. It was a time when the earth required salvation God comes in the form of Son and continues the work through the Holy Spirit. Yesterday knew that the situation was falling worst.  And her multitasked role developed as a mother who wishes the bright future of her daughter, as a nurse who treats the husband as patient even to the extent by constructing the hospital for the better situation. Yesterday was there before the tomb of her husband as an image of the Holy Spirit who continues to be with the world in continuing the mission of Son. Yes she makes sure that her husband is safe in the tomb as the concluding scenario portrays it.

To conclude that Trinity is a God concept which we use in our theological dialogues, but many are the ways in which God meets us where we are, here and now like Yesterday. The circumstantial representation on Trinity avoids the mysterious element. God as the Trinity elaborating through the character of Yesterday from the film procures an insight which invigorates the impossible Trinity of Agustin and Church teachings. It’s in our hand and heart to choose such God, as Orobator SJ rightly said ‘God is the one we meet everywhere who sees both the inside and outside.’