Militant Christianity

To establish his kingdom, Christ did not form a military system parallel to the powerful Roman army. He could not preserve himself. He was killed. But, he rose, and lives. New forms of militant movements in Christianity may preserve what they like in 'Christianity.' But they will not lead to a risen experience of the Church.

Militant Christianity may support or justify war, side with warring nations. War is a sin. Who minds? The militant ideologies of Christendom is their gospel; a gospel devoid of Christ.

What does it profit if, one day, Christianity wins the whole world, and has no Christ in it?

sacramentality of liturgy

The church is meant to be the sacrament of salvation. No liturgical renewal that does not hold the sacramental nature of making the gospel visible to the world is fruitful. The adorned stones and the solemn festivals in the temple were more aesthetic and awesome than the ordinary carpenter. But the ancient and the beautiful did not carry sacramentality with them.

the temple

Rivers of grace flow in all of us. These rivers meet each of us in one or the other way. That is the way we make ourselves of the temple of God. The dwelling place of God is in the communion of all creation.

Faith- love- healing

The real cost of discipleship is a deliberate choice to love. It is costly because that choice demands laying down all our boundaries that separate others from us. So many 'what abouts' may come on the way to make exceptions to this choice. Such excuses devalues what we choose in following Christ. 

The 'known' disciples immediately become faith healers and miracle workers. Jesus was not a faith healer. The faith that he had or he asked for was not a religious definition of a creed. He healed because he was full of love. It is that love that healed. Do the disciples have the deliberate choice to love? Most healers stand in contrast to Jesus. While preaching religion, they do not denounce hatred and cruelty, but instead propagate enmity  indirectly or directly. They canonize violence. 

Understanding Jesus' words

Did apostles know everything that Jesus taught? No! They gradually understood that their understanding was to be corrected as they moved through various circumstances. They knew that Jesus was guiding them, though not fully knowing what all those things meant. They taught and they lived what they understood. They were understanding gradually. There is a foundation, but it was being built gradually further. Have we understood Jesus, or the apostles? Some of us claim that we do, even more than them. Can we close God to what they understood, and say that we are sure what Jesus said, and still says? Should our interpretations not be open for new light? Understanding Jesus' words receives its impetus from the Holy Spirit that cries out with deep sighs in cultural changes, new trends, pains and tragedies, and innovations and strengths and new capabilities. Thus the understanding speaks the words of touching and completing those groanings.  

The Dead

Where are the dead? We have only one answer. They are in Christ. They live in Christ. Though they 'died,' they live, because Christ lives. Our relationship with the saints and the dead are not as an obligation that the non-doing of a veneration or prayers may cause punishment or trouble for us. Instead, our relationship with the saints and the dead is of charity, personal and divine. The remembering of the dead makes sense only within the communion in Christ as one body. All are part of that body. Remember their lives, the life they endured. We remember whom we know in gratitude and love. We forgive them and ask forgiveness from them. Those who are unknown are remembered in generosity and charity. All being in communion is the joy of the entire body. ||

It is not just about the dead alone, this time is a practice to extend our mercy and kindness to the weak, the vulnerable and the condemned. Just as it helps their sanctification or purgation, it also sanctifies us. A heart to receive the sinful and the vulnerable is essential for our own being in communion with Christ. A saintly ‘we’ group and a rejected ‘they’ group never open heaven for us, rather we close it against ourselves however holy and upright we claim to be. The reality of purgation is in active love and mercy. Often our attempts are only to prove the romanticised reality of a fascination towards purgatory. Very many learned hatred are sanctified under faithful living of Christian faith. They must burn in the flames of love that makes us accept the condemned, the sinful and whom we hate. Often this hatred is justified as fight against the evil, but it only sacralise our heartlessness against our brothers and sisters. Thus we close heaven for ourselves and for them even now. An honest living deepens our communion in the one body of Christ. Except for the moments if there are deliberate evil deeds or holding of hatred, in our simple lives we live a life of holiness. Peace, holiness, sanctity, all these can never be achieved holding it as a high ideal, they are a call and a responsibility we need to commit as individuals and as the church. It is everyone’s role to strengthen, comfort, and console one another. This communion reminds us to live in Christ, in communion with him and with others. Died to sin, died in Christ all have a new self, that is being part of the body of Christ. 

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