Seeds of Sanctity (SS)

Every human person has the potentiality to become a saint, the men and women whom we consider as worthy of special reverence and respect, who have contributed to the wellbeing of the world and of the universe through their sanctity. But all too often we think it is only the religious men and women who have committed themselves to the Lord through their vows and the clergy who have been sanctified through the sacrament of Ordination are eligible candidates to adorn our Church altars. It does not require me to state that such a notion is quite contrary to the life of sanctity that every person is called to, though the Church as yet, does not require saints from other religious faiths and traditions.

What makes a difference in the life of a saint, and why is it that some are able to achieve greater heights of sanctity, while some others are not? Take the case of some of the modern day saints and the blessed; Blessed Teresa of Kolkata or Saint Alphonsa! I was fortunate to see the last one and a half decades of the life of Blessed Teresa in Kolkata, and yet what a marked difference in the level of sanctity between her and me; true, the comparison does not go well at all. There were so many religious men and women who were contemporaries of Blessed Teresa, and went through similar kind of struggles and difficulties, and yet this saint of the gutters managed to achieve something which others could not.

I understand it is not easy to pinpoint what made saints and Blessed different from their contemporaries! Already at the outset I need to make this point loud and clear: when I say ‘a saint’ or ‘a blessed’ I don’t necessarily imply a person who has received the official approval of the Catholic Church. For I believe the world has so many saints from every nook and cranny of the world that our Church altars cannot contain, and the libraries of Vatican cannot hold! They too are saints, even if the world recognizes them or not, for sanctity is not merely associated with an external approving agency, such as that of the Vatican, but is associated with what one is called to!

As I stand at the threshold of yet another season of Lent this year, I would like to look back at the “way of the Cross”, our traditional piety and a moving means of coming closer to the Crucified Lord, to recognize seeds of sanctity which the Lord had pointed to us, even as he walked that one long journey to Calvary. The seeds are there, sometimes half hidden, sometimes covered by the blood of the Savior, some other times shrouded by the wickedness of humanity. I am here to seek these seeds and make a sincere effort to plant these seeds into the core of my being, so that I may one day walk the same path of Calvary, if not in concrete, but at least in spirit.

What I propose therefore is this : I shall take each station of the Cross, and seek a seed of sanctity hidden in the mystery of the suffering of the Master; these are not time for scriptural study of some key texts, nor time for serious exegesis, but time for a soul-searching seeking together with the countless men and women who had walked the same path of Calvary and found the seeds, and planted them in their souls and one day experienced the honor of being sharers in the life of their Lord. Therefore these are meditations, exercises of seeking and pondering over the life of the Lord vis-à-vis my life here and now! Who knows, at the end of my journey, I may have a seed or two, which may find fertile soil in my heart, and bear fruits which the Lord will be happy with!

In order to provide enough pointers for my body and mind to seek the seeds of sanctity in the midst of my life here and now, I shall spend a few more minutes. Therefore instead of the customary five paragraphs, I shall go up to seven paragraphs, and the last paragraphs will be a prayer of either supplication or surrender to the Lord. Each of the numbers in parenthesis after the title of the Blog will correspond to the traditional Stations of the Cross, and those who may afford can make use of the meditations for the Stations of the Cross too.

Pleasing Pleasantries

As we grow in age and wisdom, one of the most difficult truths for us to digest is that we are expected to dance according to the tunes of others; that ‘others’ may include anyone significant or insignificant, and they stand and stare at us at every unexpected corner of our life, and it is they who make our life quite miserable, if not unbearable. The funny side of this ‘drama’ is that we are expected to change our masks according to the kind of persons who expect and demand from us a particular kind of response, or a ‘performance’ to continue the analogy. Half our lives are spent changing the masks, coloring the glasses, and learning steps to please everyone around us. In the bargain, we fail to live life as it comes to us with a thousand hues and fragrance. When we realize what life is, it might be too late.

I don’t know from where we learn to cultivate the art of ‘pleasing’ everyone who matters in our society. As we join the primary school at the age of five, we begin to learn the rudiments of this art; when the teacher keeps an eye, we behave well, and as soon as the teacher moves to the other side, we begin to show our true color. So we learn to smile when the teacher turns to us, and frown at her back. We do the same at home too; and slowly we begin to say what pleases others. But you may ask me, is it wrong to please others? Of course, no. Sometimes it is possible our natural behavior or response may delight others, and that is a great gift. But if we begin to make people happy, going out of our way, bending our natural inborn qualities, that needs to be questioned.

But the paradox of the drama is that often we communicate to the people just the opposite message than the one we wish them to have about us. When a young lady refuses to meet a man she likes and loves at the railway station, as she embarks on a journey, just because she is afraid someone might catch her with the man, and spread rumors about her personality and character, that only shows that she is obsessed with her good name! But what is this ‘good name’ imply? The very people who may praise her for her serious dealings with men, will also soon accuse her for being so cold and indifferent towards human relationships. Ultimately we all need to learn the lesson that we cannot dance to the tune of others for too long.

While trying to please others, we may lose our peace and sanity, and live in a fool’s paradise, thinking that others have such a noble opinion about us; but the opinions of the people about me can change within moments. After all, how long can we live our lives for others? When we are confronted with the bitter reality, that all our efforts to please others is in vain, then we may begin to live our lives fully and wholly, irrespective of what others think and say about us. That is when we may have the real satisfaction of savoring life in its natural form. It is then that we may be able to see the blue sky and be absorbed by it; we may listen to the song of the bird and forget the worldly worries, the scent of the commonplace flower may take us to another world, far beyond human imagination.

The sooner we realize the need to stop playing to the tune of others, the better it is for us, to really appreciate what life can offer to us. Millions of people who lived lives for others for several decades had not achieved anything more than an animal; such a life is not worth living. The moment I begin to live my life irrespective of others, my friends, relatives, my associates, I own my life as it unfolds before me, and there cannot be anyone coming between me and my life. It is between me and my life; it is very personal and sacred; I cannot allow anyone, however close they may be, to come between me and my life. It is then that I can drown all the masks I had been making all my years, and face life and reality with my naked eye, and present to the world my naked body, as I entered into the world.

Touch of the Sacred

One of the most absorbing moments while sitting at the room of St Ignatius of Loyola in the heart of Rome, beside the towering Il Iesu church, was that sanctity was all around me. Beside me, over me, before me and after me, and I was shrouded by an aura of holiness that I felt utterly unworthy to stand in that place. Sactity and holiness never die, but they envelope everyone who comes in contact with them, knowingly or unknowingly. I remember the accounts of the earliest encounters of Swami Vivekananda with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. There was something so very special in Ramakrishna that Narendra, as Vivekananda was called before he became the disciple of Ramakrishna, could not resist himself. I would not dare say that mine was such an experience, but I was quite moved at the simplicity, and even the wretchedness of the saint, who but had things which were all too simple and beggarly.

The pair of sandals and the cope that St Ignatius used were on display, and looking at them I felt terribly ashamed of having the best of things, while the saint had things worse than that of beggars. One thing was evident that saints transcend the material world, and live in an altogether different world; the worldly matters do not much matter to them, and that is the true mark of sanctity. What to eat, what to dress, and how to present themselves to the world around – these are not their concerns. A distancing from the world makes them closer to the other world; even as they lived in this world, their hearts were in a different world; they were truly like the lotus leaves, which are not affected by the rain drops; the water splashes and flow across. But we live in a world where each one is called to be alike a sponge, which would attract the water drops that may fall on them, and our world slowly becomes heavier and heavier, until we feel it is too heavy for us to carry on.

Visit to the room of St Ignatius has another surprise for me. We sat around the room the celebrate the Eucharist, we about 23 of us were huddled in the small room, and had a simple Eucharistic celebration. Before the mass, our guide had informed us that it was in that very room that St Ignatius has breathed his last, though his room was next to the one where we had the mass. Before his death he seemed to have moved to this room, and in a corner of the room, he died. After the mass, one of the Sisters of our group who had earlier visited the place, came to me, and moved the chair I was sitting on, and lo and behold, there was a small marble slab which said that St Ignatius had died at that very place. The sister said, See, the faithful son sitting on his father! And I retorted, it is truly a privilege for the son to sit on the lap of his father!

During the mass I prayed that while getting in touch with an aura of sanctity and holiness all around us, sanctified by several holy men and women of down the centuries, we may be able to carry a little bit of that sanctity to our worlds. There is also evil equally all around, and we can never be spared from their influence, but if we are surrounded by the aura of sanctity through coming in touch with the presence of several holy men and women, we can be safe, even when living in a world that is corrupt and evil. A lotus can retain her beauty and splendor even in the midst of the dirty and ugly looking slush, and will not allow the slush tarnish her beauty. That is the role of every holy men and women of our age, they help us strike a balance, so that the evil in the world may not over take our lives, and bring an end to all that is good and sacred.

Today I would like to pause for a while as I bow my head with respect and reverence to all the holy men and women who had touched my heart during the day, as I walked along the streets they had walked centuries ago, the very places they had sanctified by their presence, while alive and in death. I would like to be touched by the high voltage of their sanctity so that my body and spirit may get attuned to their sanctity and holiness that I may keep myself at a safe distance from the world that can only think of the passing glory and honor and riches. All saintly men and women had fixed their eyes on higher values and nobler riches, and I too wish to aspire for such high and noble values and riches. Sainthood is a free gift from God, and not many of us are really worthy of beholding the glory, but I would only wish to be touched by the sanctity of these holy men and women, so that I may radiate a spark of that holiness. (Rome)