I must decrease

"He must increase, but I must decrease." - John 3:30

Photo by Pexels.com

 Two years ago on 26th of February was my sister's wedding. The bridegroom was the perfect match for my sister by His Grace and His Providence and I was the most joyful person one could have met on that day. My joy knew no bounds. My joy had no barriers. I was only bustling with joy. Verse 29 from John chapter 3:  "The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete."

When the groom has his bride, the best man is joyful. He's not jealous or angry, because that outcome is exactly what he wanted in the first place. In this way, John the Baptist has acted like a best man for Jesus. The bridegroom is the Messiah; the bride is the Kingdom of God- the church, consisting of all who are willing to receive Him. Hence the beautiful lesson we learn from John in verse 30 is "He must increase, but I must decrease." The purpose of John the Baptist was to exalt Christ, not himself.

The world we live in is in a way like bats. Bats don't ever go the right way up. They fly sort of head down, and they hang feet up head down, and basically, that's the way they think the world is. So the world in a way think very much like that.: "me first".

When we make Jesus the centre of our lives, when He is placed first, we can be assured we will be doing the will of our Father. Wherever we are, whatever vast or insignificant our ministry for our Lord may be, when Jesus is the centre stage in every role and area of our lives we are sure to say:  "He must increase, but I must decrease."

"No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven." (John 3:27). The next lesson we learn from John the Baptist is when Jesus's popularity was increasing, John the forerunner prophet was not jealous, but glad to tell that everything we receive is from our Father. Thus, if Jesus is getting all the recognition even that is from above. Likewise the simplest of thing, like the meal we eat; to greatest blessing we receive, is all from our Creator. Hence our every success we must attribute it to God. Without His permission not even a sparrow in His care will fall to the ground.

To sum up whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Let Him increase and we decrease for the Love of Christ.

Reflection on John 3:22-36 by Shalley Fernandes

Filius revelare (Mt. 11:27)

Humility is the key to understand the mystery of the Kingdom of God. Isaiah describes beautifully about humility in 10: 15, “Does the ax claim more credit than the man who wields it, or the saw more strength than the man who handles it? As though a staff controlled those who raise it, or the club could raise what is not made of wood!” Moreover, in the Gospel, Matthew 11:27, Jesus Christ is humbler before His Father. Jesus knows from whom He has come to the world and all people that Father has entrusted Him to lead.

Humility is about the ability to listen by heart. When Jesus Christ came to the world and spread the kingdom of God, Jesus in his meditation recognized that the wise men rejected him and simple people received him. Jesus in Matthew 11:25 said, “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children”.

The question is why the learned and the clever cannot understand about salvation that comes from God and simple people can easily accept Him and His teaching about the Kingdom of God? The answer is that the wise men receive Jesus’s teaching with their intellectual arrogance and simple people accept Jesus by their heart. Simple people can listen by heart to understand the mystery of the Kingdom of God. The heart is home to the Word of the Lord. Those who keep only the Word of the Lord in their head cannot comprehend why Jesus comes to the world to spread the good news.

Intellect and faith are like two wings that bring us to enter the Kingdom of God. To accept the gospel, on one hand, we need human thought and on the other hand, we need trust. Those who deny faith can be falling to rationalization and those who deny intellect can be falling into believing something blindly and immerse in believing the wrong truth. Therefore, reasoning helps us to understand our faith. On the other hand, we need faith, for we cannot explain many things or we can say it is a mystery.

Jesus’ presence and the Kingdom of God can be understood if we welcome Him in our hearts. It can happen if every man chooses a humble way to personally experience God’s presence in his or her daily life. We pray may God open our hearts to be more understanding about God’s presence in Jesus Christ and let the word of the Lord dwelt in us.

By Fr. Aris Mada, SVD

Ad maxillas suas (Ho. 11:4)

Each of us thirsts for love. Although there are many needs and desires in the heart of people, it is love which makes them feel fulfilled and satisfied. We cannot live without love from our parents, friends, and other people. Without love, our life becomes too difficult and we get depressed. But even if we do not experience enough love from other people, we are loved by God our heavenly Father.

We often look for love but not in the right place. We engage ourselves in so many activities and try to do many things. Eventually, we get disappointed and we sometimes do not even know why.

The crucial thing in love is to let be loved by the Lord. We are to allow him to take us in his arms. We are to abide with him and experience on our own how great is his love towards us. Jesus Christ wants to lead us with reins of kindness and with leading-strings of love. He loves to embrace us like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek. The Son of God wishes to send the gift of the Holy One as spiritual food for our soul.

Are we ready to accept such enormous love from the Father? Do we need anything else besides the love of Christ? Dear sisters and brothers, for sure it is much more than we can imagine. The Holy One God in our midst.

Let us rejoice in the Holy Spirit today and every day. As the Blessed Mary rejoiced while she conceived by the divine grace.

We are really beloved children of God who are to live in love and in order to love.

By Fr. Jozef Trzebuniak, SVD.

Deus dilexit mundum (Jn. 3:16)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Today Church celebrates Trinity Sunday. It’s a great mystery. The mystery of the Holy Trinity revolves around the mystery of love between the three Persons in one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And that love is poured out to humanity, who is made in the image of God, so that we can love one another with the love of God who is Trinity.

As we heard Jesus said in the gospel: God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life.

There are three profound moments when the love of God entered into the world, and these are: At Bethlehem when God was with us; At Calvary when God was for us; At Pentecost when God is in us.

The Trinity is truly three Persons (as we say): Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are intimately related to Each Other. Each is one with the Other.

Why is this feast kept now, a week after Pentecost? At Christmas and Easter, it is the mission of Jesus that occupies us. At Pentecost, it is the sending of the Holy Spirit. So, each year, we are reminded of God’s self-disclosure, ‘your wondrous mystery’ as the Collect calls it. And today, in a sense, we stand back. We try to register what has truly been happening in this whole sequence of events.

God is love. There are Three Persons in the Trinity, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Together they represent the fullness of love. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father. The Holy Spirit is their love for each other.

We are made in the image of a triune God. God the Father, who created us, his Son who saved us, and the Holy Spirit who continues to guide us. Our lives should reflect the Trinity. We should be always creative like the Father, compassionate like his Son, and dispose our talents in the service of others like the Holy Spirit.

God bless you all and have a blessed week,

Fr Rajesh Minz, UK