Power of Positive Dreaming!!

"Only when you dream, you can do it. "
Dirubhai Ambani.

Dreams possess power. ‘It inspires man like anything. It stretches out one’s internal self-image and maximize one’s performance. It transcends his limitations and enables him to reach out to the so-called ‘impossibles’. It expands his personality to the boundaries of success so that he can enjoy it peacefully.’ He conquered the Everest, flown through the sky or landed in moon only because he dreamt of it.

Man could conquer Everest only because he constantly dreamt of it.

Edmund Hilary as a young man always looked at the picture of Everest and said. “ Everest, You can not grow further, but I will grow beyond your magnificent weights and will conquer you one day”. He always dreamt of it and he realized it.

Man could fly into the skies only because the two sons of a Bishop dreamt of it.

In “ A Saviour of Seasons’, William Barker relates a story of a bishop from the East Coast (of America) who many years ago paid a visit to a small, Midwestern religious college. He stayed at the home of the college president. After dinner the bishop declared that the millennium could not be far off, because just about everything about nature had been discovered and all inventions conceived.

The young college president politely disagreed. When the angered bishop challenged the president to name just one such invention, the president replied he was certain that within fifty years men would be able to fly.“ Nonsense” sputtered the outraged bishop. “ Only angels are intended to fly.”

The bishop’s name was Wright, and he had two boys at home who would prove to have greater vision them their father. Their names were Orville and Wilbus. The father and his sons both lived under the same sky, but they did not all have the same horizon. People who have dreams are capable of changing the world into unimaginable realms.

Man could land on the moon only because a leader inspired the whole nation to dream of it.

On May 25, 1961, U.S President John F. Kennedy delivered an address to a joint session of the U. S congress. He fitted it “ urgent National Needs” and in it he made a breathtaking announcement: the United States would put a man on the noon and return him safely before the decade was out.

It was both a race to beat an opponent and a challenge to achieve an impossible dream. When kenned mode his announcement, there were many in the space program who didn’t believe it was even possible. Yet in nine years later, the dream became a reality.

Dreams possess immense power. The more important thing this: our personal dream of mission is influential in shaping the future of the world. We can touch the life of others with the dreams of our personal dreams. This is the communitarian dimension of dreaming positive.

Martin Luther King proclaimed, “ I have a dream …” His dream was translated into powerful flow of hope and became the freedom for black community.

Mahatma Gandhi had a dream of Self-reliant India. He traveled along the breadth and width of the country and created a personal dream about India. Millions shared his dream and it became freedom for India.

While traveling in a train, a poor man had a dream- to serve the sick and to protect the abandoned children of Kolkotha. She became mother Teresa and a multitude of destitute enjoyed her care.

The world’s most successful school drop out had a dream- to make computer a household necessity of the modern living. He became the richest man on earth- Bill Gates and a virtual global knowledge community emerged as a result.

Such is the power of positive dreams. That is why Jesus initiated his mission with a great positive dream – the Kingdom of God. Besides being positive it was also big.

An Epiphany of Meaning in the Holy Lands

I have travelled a bit over recent years, thanks to the international technical conferences that I had to attend as part of my PhD work and supported by generous ANU funding. I was impressed by history-laden Europe, where every alley and stone has a tale to tell of centuries old, the wonder of modernity in the US and Canada, the beautiful blend of the new and the ancient in the streets of China, and the natural beauty of “God’s own country” – Kerala (my home state!), where we can breathe God in the air. But nothing has left the lasting impression that my recent visit to the Holy Lands has! The Bible came to life as I walked the walk Jesus and his disciples did in those lands.

After celebrating the first anniversary Mass for my brother at home in September, I started a Holy Land pilgrimage. I was in a group of 50 and took my mum with me. We flew from Kochi to Amman, the capital of Jordan. From Jordan, we entered Israel, then later from Israel to Egypt - all by road. No flights to and from Israel can fly over Muslim countries which surround by it. That is one of the reasons we enter through Jordan and exit via Egypt – but they all are part of Holy Lands of the Bible.

The Moses Moment

In Jordan we saw Mount Nebo, where Moses watched the Promised Land, which he would never enter. It is a stunning landscape, claimed to be the deepest valley in the world, where we could literally look to the horizon to see the Promised Land (present day Israel). That was the “Moses moment” for me where I felt how Moses felt thousands of years back.

Bit of Biblical Geography

To understand the Israel of Jesus’ times we need to be aware that there were three major regions then – Galilee in the north, Samaria in the middle and Judea to the south. Galilee is the place surrounding Lake Galilee (Lake Tiberius and the sea of Galilee are all the same), where Jesus spent most of his time.  Nearby are Nazareth, Cana, Magdala, Mount Tabor and Capernaum, etc. Jerusalem is in Judea, which is 164 km from Nazareth.  Bethlehem and Jericho are within 20-25 km of Jerusalem. It is amazing to learn that Jesus did this walk of 160 plus kilometers between Galilee and Jerusalem three times during his three-year public ministry with his group of friends, called apostles. Jesus deliberately developed his ministry around these three great walks. Samaria was the place of gentiles. Most Jews avoided travelling through this part because they did not want to mingle with gentiles, but Jesus did, which was revolutionary. That’s why we have the Bible story of the Samaritan women.

A Great Travelling (Holy) Family

It was not only Jesus, but the Holy Family were also great travellers. The parental houses of Joseph and Mary are near Jerusalem. But they settled in Nazareth in Galilee – perhaps for work. After Annunciation, we see Mary visiting Elizabeth in a mountain village, Ein Karen, a picturesque village near Jerusalem. Then Mary goes back to Nazareth. Then she returns to Bethlehem for the census, which is few kilometres away from Jerusalem. It’s lot of travelling for Mary. The only means of transport she could afford was a donkey! It doesn’t end there as the Holy Family walks to Egypt, after Mary gave birth to Jesus, through the Sinai desert, which would be somewhere between 200 to 300 kilometres, and returning to Nazareth after the death of Herod.

A typical Holy Land Surprise – Capernaum

One of the great surprises was the city of Capernaum, a city near the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, in Jesus’ time. We would not have gone to that place unless our guide, ‘Moses’, insisted. This is the city Jesus lived in for almost 18 months during his public ministry – that is around half of his public life. When we arrived we understood why Jesus chose to live in that city. Readers may recall that Jesus was expelled from his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4) when he started his public life by saying that the Scripture was fulfilled in Him. He moved to Capernaum. It was a major city from where the road to Jerusalem began from Galilee. That meant that almost all the people from Galilee had to go through this town for their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem and all merchants and other travellers from Jerusalem to the rest of Galilee also passed through this city. There was not a better-connected place than Capernaum in Galilee to spread the new message of the gospel for Jesus. Moreover, Jesus selected his first disciples: Peter, Andrew, James and John from this little town and found a home to hang around in Peter’s mother-in-law’s house.  The house allegedly is still there in Capernaum.  The city had the most prominent synagogue in the region and also a Roman military outpost. The remains of the synagogue, which was built over the foundations of the old one in the 4^th century AD, is still there.

Jesus tried his level best to pursue its inhabitants to convince them of his divinity. He raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus, who was a leader at the Synagogue, and cured a servant of a centurion who was stationed at the Roman post there. Also, he healed Peter’s mother in law at her house and cured the paralysed man who was brought in through the roof of the same house. It all came to life for me when we were there.  We could feel how naturally these things would have happened during Jesus’ time, but of course with great disbelief and admiration from Capernaum’s residents. But interestingly Jesus curses Capernaum towards the end of his life by saying that if he had done the same to them as in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented more (Luke 10).  Sodom and Gomorrah are on the other side of Jerusalem, on the way to Mount Sinai along the Dead Sea. It was amazing how Jesus related these stories, which would have been part of the folklore of Jews, even in Galilee, at that time.

A lot more

A lot more things would bring the Bible to life in the Holy Lands during the remainder of the trip, for example, the feeling the little cloud of prophet Elijah coming from the sea (1 King 18) as we look from Mount Carmel to the sea in Haifa, Bethlehem and Calvary, the passion tracks from Gethsemane to the very city of Jerusalem and the exodus trail from Egypt through mount Sinai. All these experiences bring new meaning to what we read and contemplate in the Bible. 

* To be published in the "Parish Magazine", Corpus Christi Parish.
* Thanks to Robbie Costmeyer for the proof-reading.

New Evangelization in the Parishes

Last Sunday marked the conclusion of the 13th Ordinary Synod of Bishops on “the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith” in Rome. In his final address Pope Benedict noted “it (new evangelization) applies, in the first instance, to the ordinary pastoral ministry… to inflame the hearts of the faithful who regularly take part in Community worship and gather on the Lord's day to be nourished by His Word and the Bread of Life eternal.” It can be read as an invitation to transform our parish activities, especially the parish life around Sunday observance as instruments for the new evangelization. The list of 58 prepositions suggested by the Synod to the Holy Father gives us some directions for the two-fold New Evangelization strategy of kerygma and catechism. Kerygma means the initial proclamation of the good news and catechism refers to the deepening of that experience in faith. Traditionally, parishes tend to be strong on catechetical efforts. So, the challenge of New Evangelization is to open new frontiers in Kerygmatic proclamation of Jesus along with renewed catechetical efforts. Synod suggests every parish to have a “Pastoral Plan of Initial Proclamation” that “animate its members to become agents of the New Evangelization, witnessing through both their words and their lives” as a first step towards becoming a kerygmatic parish (Propositions 9 & 44). Meaningful celebration of the Liturgy, sacrament of reconciliation, family visits, integrating migrants to parish community, parish missions, parish renewal programs and parish retreats are some other instruments proposed by the Synod (Propositions 21, 26 & 44). Let this Year of Faith help transform us into an evangelizing parish.

Ref: Synodal bulletin avaiable at: http://bit.ly/XVbfZv
Published in Corpus Christi parish bulletin on Sunday, 4th Nov 2012.

Nobody’s Perfect!

 One the inspirational thoughts roaming around Facebook will read like this:

Nobody’s Perfect!

NOAH got drunk.
ABRAHAM was too old.
ISAAC was a daydreamer.
JACOB lied.
JOSEPH was abused.
MOSES was a murderer and couldn't talk.
RAHAB was a prostitute.
JEREMIAH was too young.
JONAH ran from God.
NAOMI was a widow.
JOB went bankrupt.
The SAMARITAN WOMAN was divorced

PETER denied Christ.
and LAZARUS was dead!

So, No more excuse!

We are called to perfection - perfection of our Heavenly Father. But we will never be perfect for we are humans and limited in time and space. So too Church. But we don’t have excuse not to try for it and get near to it. That’s why we don’t have excuse not to take care of the victims of abuse whose lives are damaged by human weaknesses. Also we don’t have excuse, not to stand for gospel values but to speak for all good things we value in our lives: children, marriage, refugees and much more. This is because we are called to be healers - wounded healers - the true shepherds who don’t scatter, but gather. We are called to do it with humility and compassion in this year of grace. 

* To be published at the Corpus Christi parish bulletin for the weekend - July 14-15

Love, Kindness, Marriage and Bishop Pat Power – on the Feast of Sacred Heart of Jesus - 2012

Jesus’ heart was pierced and came the last drops of blood and water – a powerful imagery of Jesus’ love, God’s love - to us and to the whole humanity. God loved the world so much that he gave his only son and His Son loved the world so much that He gave even the last drops of water and blood from His heart to the world, which became fountain of grace flowing through the sacraments in the Church.

St Paul encourages us “to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth,
of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge”. The power of love is very well depicted in this short story.

A MOTHER'S HEART         
There is an old tale         
About a boy,         
An only son         
Who fell in love with a lovely girl.         
`You don't love me,        
 You never did,' said she to him.        
`But if you do, go then        
And fetch me your mother's heart.'        
 Downcast and distraught         
The boy walked off        
 And after shedding copious tears         
Came back to his love.          
The girl was angry         
When she saw him thus.And said, `Don't you dare come back again         
Without your mother's heart.'         
The boy went and killed         
His mother, and as he ran         
With her heart in his hand         
He slipped and fell.         
`My dear child, My poor child,' Cried the mother's heart,         
`Did you hurt yourself?'
By Armenian writer,  AVETIK ISAHAKIAN

 Jesus’s love is like the mother’s love. He loves even when it hurts and his love is compassionate.It gently, but powerfully invokes us to love and show kindness.
Yesterday after 21 years after receiving the Nobel Prize, Ang San Suu Kyi – Burmeese democracy fighter – delivered her Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Suu Kyi used her speech to promote kindness and warned against kindness fatigue. It was an emotional ceremony, as you might have watched. She said:

"Of the sweets of adversity, and let me say that these are not numerous, I have found the sweetest, the most precious of all, is the lesson I learnt on the value of kindness. Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world. To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people."

It is this kindness the mission of Christ and Church today in this world. Church does that with great care, but many a time it can be misunderstood. Going back to the story of Mother’s heart, the Church’s heart would add something like this, I guess:

`My dear child, My poor child,         
`Did you hurt yourself?'
`You poor thing. Watch over! There are hurdles ahead.'

That attitude of concern also come from great love and care. One of those issues would be that of the debate on marriage in Australia and this week is very critical for that debate.
As Peter Jensen – the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney noted: “There are some glossy slogans out there (like marriage equality), but the difficulty with slogans is that they are not arguments and, so, are hard to refute, except by slogans in return.” Unfortunately, Church is not in the business of slogan writing. But we can just say with great love and kindness that we value marriage – and the right of our children to be born, raised and nurtured in a family atmosphere – with the care and love of a father and mother.

And we will be remembering the contribution of such a wonderful parental figure in our archdiocese this week – our retiring bishop Pat Power. We acknowledge the love and kindness he has shown to all in our archdiocese and his farewell Mass is on this Tuesday evening at the Cathedral. Let’s say thank you to him.. and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Reference:
http://www.groong.org/tlg/tlg-20061125.html
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/06/16/excerpts-suu-kyis-nobel-peace-prize-speech.html
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/stylish-samesex-campaign-glosses-over-real-issues-20120615-20f6e.html

* Delivered at Corpus Christi Parish, South Tuggeranong, Canberra on 17 June 2012

New Year 2012 – Reflections

 

The past year was a kind of mixed bag - the Arab spring and end of dictatorships in many countries were mixed with global economic woes, centered-round Europe. Our personal life stories many not be too different. This time is the best time to reinvent the ancient Christian spiritual tradition of “examination of conscience” - to take stock of our deeds and actions. Let’s find out some time to sit and relax, may be at the beach side (weather permitting!) and to look back and evaluate our life – both materially and spiritually.

It’s also a time to look forward and to make new resolutions. We may have dreams and wishes, like “I want to pass my exams this year”. But a resolution is bit different where I would say that “I will devout an extra hour everyday for study to pass my exams”. January 1^st is also the feast day of Mary - the Mother of God, who was prepared to put her efforts to realize that title.  Luke chapter 2 verses19 and 51 show us how she “treasured the word and pondered it in her heart" to respond concretely to the plan of God in her life. She not only said “Yes” but also was ready to corroborate it with actions, which we will see all through out her life – till the cross at Calvary and the Upper House with disciples.

Year 2012-13 is called by Australian bishops’ conference as “Year of Grace”. Wish you all a grace-filled New Year. 

Publish in the Parish Bulletin of Corpus Christi parish, Tuggeranong, Canberra, Australia

The Lord is my Boss! (Psalm 23 for Professionals)

The Lord is my Boss!

The Lord is my real boss,
and hence I shall not want.
He gives me peace, even while chaos is all around me.
He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without murmuring and complaining,
that He may be glorified in everything I do.
He reminds me that He is my source and not my job,
and that he plans my future, not my boss defining my fate.
He restores my sanity everyday and guides my decisions,
so that I might honor Him in all that I do.
Even though I face absurd amounts of e-mails, system crashes, unrealistic deadlines,
budget cutbacks, misunderstanding and gossiping co-workers,
discriminating supervisors along with all similar challenges,
and an aging body that doesn't cooperate every morning,
I still will not stop but keep going – for He is with me!
His presence, His peace, His power and His provisions will see me through.
He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me.
He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens to let me go.
Truly, all my security, rewards and recognitions come from him.
His faithfulness and love are better than any bonus check as He meets my every need.
His retirement plan beats every 401k there is – no ups and downs – because
His benefits are the same yesterday, today, and forever!
When it's all said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot longer and for that,
I BLESS HIS NAME!!!!!!

Got from Joynet page:
http://joynet.jesusyouth.org/pg/pages/view/5002/

An Open letter to all "Jesus Youths"

This is my reply to a discussion at JYMACE (Jesus Youth, MA College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, Kochi, India) yahoogroups. I attach my reply first and the mail of Chanchal which provoked it. It is basically a general question and an open challenge to all Jesus Youths.

------------------------------
My Response
------------------------------

Hi All,

I thought, I should reply to this mail (now bit old though).

What I havent seen in JY (better call Jesus Youth, according to Chanchal) regarding "long term commitment" is that Jesus Youths opting for the real "long term commitment" - ie, vocation into priestly and religious life. I worked with Jesus Youth after dedicating myself to Jesus through CMI congregation in the first place. I have seen so many zealous JYs after that (my friends and colleagues). But I havent seen any of them taking the real challenge of committing themselves through priestly or religious vocation. I always thought why? JY is supposed to be the biggest Catholic movement in Kerala/India. But how much/many JY has contributed to the ministerial work of Church? A BIG question to be answered? At some point I doubted JY has become a distraction to the vocations to ministerial priesthood and religious life, by over-emphasizing laity role in evangelization and even sometimes keeping a distance from the local Church authorities for the "development" of Jesus Youth itself. From my experience, I know one thing, there is no substitute for ministerial priesthood and religious life in the life of the Church. But I dont know whether I am fully right/wrong regarding my comments on JY (I know JY is now starting a new priestly ministry and hope this new emphasis on "long-term commitment" is not simply directed at it :). An introspection is always good.

I would encourage all young men and women in Jesus Youth to look into this challenge. If you really feel that you are called to a life-long and complete commitment, please seriously consider the prospect of a religious or priestly life in a religious congregation, in a diocese or in a society. Church needs more priests and nuns. Jesus needs more priests and nuns. God bless.

With love,

Fr Jaison Paul Mulerikkal CMI

------------------------------
Chanchal's mail
------------------------------

Hello George,

Let me be straight. So you have got new insights about Catholic Faith and Life time commitment etc.I have a friend who was a fulltimer some years back in the north east of India, who now believes that what he did then was just an act of impulse. He lives in his own ways now. As you are aware of, this is not a single case, you can find a very large number of such cases.

Are you sure you will not end up like that, when this feel good feeling is all over?

A qn to all: How can we ensure each of us will not end up like that. Just for thought..

Chanchal

CMIs and Cash (some say, it is Cash Making Institute!)

(Pic::CMIS in New York)
I got the following question from a young Catholic girl, who is my chat friend. I also add my answer to it. This is my conviction.

Why are Chirstian institutions so adamant in making money and investement?(This question was asked in the context of your congregation acha,CMI). Aren't you diverting from the cause of Jesus?

I like this question. It is very pertinent to me, as a CMI. We dont make money for the sake of making money. In reality, we are the great debtors. In my province, we got 100+ priests and it is said that every priest's head carry a debt of around 7-10 lakhs!

Yes we do have great institutions. All of them are for the benefit of humanity and for Church and its people. We are running a University in India (which is just one of the many other initiatives). It's all for good. Do we need to stop them? We can.. Then what will be the fate of those beneficiaries, which belong to all religious groups... of Church and Christians in India? The Xians still flourish and are respected in India only because of these institutions, even if they are a minority. If we abandon them, Christians will go down like the dalits or Muslims.

Now, it is my conviction that, Indian Church should make money. It is not to get 'rich'. But to stand on its own feet. In the past, we were relying of foreign money for our projects. But that is not good for Indian Church and India. If Church needs to stand on its two feet, it should be self-sufficient. Either, the Indian faithful have to contribute heavily or Church should raise it on its own. When Bl Chavara started CMI congregation, all of the initial monasteries were erected using the money from people. But, that scenario has changed. People's mentality does not support that method any more. And Church has got the capacity and human resource to do it on its own. So, it must take that responsibility than passing on it to its people. Moreover, India is in a better economic position now than in the past and so there's no point in importing money from outside. That is not social justice. On the contrary, Indian church should be able to support the missions in other poor nations around the world. That is our responsibility. We received when we were in need, now we have to give it back, when we are in a position to do that. If we are hiding away from that responsibility, we are just irresponsible. There's a danger of victim mentality (out of poverty) in our mindset, which actually hinder us from 'generously giving' to others (other poor missions world around).

If we need to be self reliant, if we need to venture into world missions, we need money. Church in India should do whatever possible in legitimate terms to amass it, so that it can keep sustain what they got in India, expand those services and to share its benefits with the Christ's mission around the world.

WYD and the Colonial hang-over

One of the beautiful parts of World Youth Day final Mass was the gospel procession by the Pacific Islanders. I was there, right beside. It was really beautiful, touching (watch it here) . But,... that's a BIG BUT!

The end of the gospel precession really tasted bitter.. The symbolism! The Pacific Islanders 'entrust the Gospel' to a European convoy (at least all looked like Europeans). Then they takes it to the alter, as the Islanders passively look at it! Black and White!

Just reminded everybody of the new Cadbury ad on the TV. The Pacific Islanders wage war over coffee and the Emperor wins, only to see that European colonials came to take the throne.

Dont think that I am too critical. But there are things to be fixed up. In God, there's no race. When we do a liturgy for WYD, which is supposed to celebrate the universality of Church, these things should get right. The powerful symbolism could have all changed, if we had, at least a black or brown person among the convoy who received Gospel from the Pacific Islanders.

Tail piece: During the Saturday vigil, one of the Indian young pilgrims told me. "Look father they pray in almost every language on earth. But why not in any of Indian languages?". He was right. The representation of Indian subcontinental languages were almost nil, except for one of the prayers of the faithful during the final Mass in SriLankan Sinhalees.

I want to answer RIGHT to my fellow young pilgrims from Asia next time. After all Jesus was an Asian and Asia is the cradle of Christianity!

Global Mission of CMIs

Today I have received a copy of the Report of the first session of XXXVI Ordinary General Synaxis of CMI Congregation (religious order, which I belong to).

To my great surprise, No. 10 of the report says:

In the light of the discussions and deliberations the Synaxis arrived at a consensus that there would be 4 major thrusts in our Congregation for the next 6 years.

1. Reorientation of our community as a spiritual movement
2. Global mission
3. To be with the marginalized always and everywhere
4. Affordable quality education for poor

It continues, Guided by the charism of founding fathers, this transformation will help us take new and bold initiatives in the areas of global mission.

I am really glad. This was the gist of my one-page working paper send to the General Synaxis (You read it as a post somewhere below.. My friend - Micheal's comment came as a reply to that post). With the collective will of synaxis fathers, it has been come out as a major thrust of the congregation for the next 6 years. Let CMIs surges into the world with a new mission of Christ. Jay Yesu!

The Dreams Jesus Dreamt

"We are such stuff as our dreams are made of"
Shakespeare.

The dreams, which produce great results in human life, are not those unconscious acts, which come to us as a matter of chance. Rather, they are the decisions or choices we make in the depth of our existence. They are the conscious acts of thinking big about new paradigms and about the future, which in turn becomes the part of one’s own conscious and subconscious levels of mind.

It is the conscious act of creating in one’s mind of the experiences one desire in the future as if it were there and now. According to David Copperfield, “ dreams aren’t a matter of chance but a matter of choice. When I dream I am refreshing my future.”

These explanations suggest two fundamental aspects of the act of dreaming.
1. Dreams are conscious acts
2. Dreams create a mental picture of the future.

Jesus Dreamt

JESUS DREAMT

Those who believe and is baptized will be saved.
Jesus (Mark 16: 16a)

Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt.

Jesus had dreams. He had great dreams about himself, his Father and the world around his and called it as the kingdom of God. His dreams were positive and big enough to inspire himself and others. The power of his dreams helped him to climb even up to the Calvary passionately. He believed in the beauty of those dreams. So he said: Those who believe and baptized will be saved. (Mk 16:16a)

Call to baptism is an invitation to participate in the great dreams of Jesus. It is a call to have dreams in one’s life. One who is baptized is the one who shares the great dream of Jesus- the kingdom of God. Jesus wanted his followers to dream along with him. This is because; he was very much convinced about the power of positive dreams. Dreams always precede reality. Yesterdays’ dreams are today’s reality and today’s dreams will be the future of humanity.

The dreams Jesus intended here are not what one experience in sleep or in daydreaming. They are of different stuff.

Jesus, the Positive Guru

Positive attitude of Jesus

When we see a glass with water up to its half level we can perceive it into two ways: ‘a half empty glass’ or ‘ a half filled glass’. A man with the positive attitude perceives it as half filled glass. Jesus always had a positive attitude. So he watched a widow putting two copper coins into the treasury and recognized it as the greatest of all contributions. (Luke. 21:1-4)

Positive vision of Jesus

Jesus had a positive vision for him God appeared as a compassionate and forgiving father who can embrace a prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24) or could leave his 99 sheep for the sake of a lost one (Luke 15: 1-10). Being the children of same, one, compassionate god he realized the bond of brotherhood between all human beings in a very special way.

Positive action of Jesus

He opted only positive actions. He not only preached to love enemies (Matthew 5:43) and to show the next cheek to those who strike on one but also practiced it in his life by forgiving his enemies on the cross and praying for them. (Luke 23:4)

This is the good news Jesus suggested to his disciples: positive attitude, positive vision and positive action. And he commissioned: “Go into all the world and proclaim Good news to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:5)

Blue Print of Success (in the words of Jesus!)

go to HOME

Carefully read these words of Jesus:


He said to them: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast our demons; they will speak new languages; they will pick up snakes in their hands and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick; and they will recover.
(Mark 16: 15-18)

This passage is interpreted in many ways, especially, in relation to the need of evangelization and with respect to the mode of evangelization. If we can consider Jesus as a triumphant victor at the scene of ascension, we can also interpret this passage in relation to his personal success. If we are willing to see it in the new light of positive thinking, we will be able to find the secrets of Jesus’ personal success through this important commission. Jesus’ words can be understood and interpreted like this:

This is the good news: You can be saved or can win in your personal life, if you are ready to dream and believe. The signs or characteristics of those winners will be the following:

They will have the positive attitude. They will cast out the demons, that is, they will cast away all negative attitudes. They will start to speak a new language of positive thinking.

They will have the positive vision. They will pick up risks and challenges in their lives, which are as dangerous as snakes in appearance. Even if they fail for a few times, they will successfully come out of it, for none of the dangerous drinks can hurt them.

They will choose the positive actions that they will lay their hands on the sick so that the fruits of their success shall go into the hands of the poor and the needy in the society. It is done through selfless service and charity.

This is the simple plan of Jesus for those aspire for great successes in their lives.

Positive Attitude
Positive vision
Positive action

For all these three notions, there is one thing in common. They all are positive. This ‘positiveness’ is the fundamental orientation of Jesus. It is the positive approach of Jesus towards his life.