Faith in Christ vs Faith of Christ

We have faith in Christ, we drink deeply from it to nourish our spiritual selves; we flock to him, his churches and devotions. The real challenge is to have the faith of Christ. How did a nomadic carpenter live with such completion, happiness, aesthetics, and a sense of transcendence? He is the benchmark. There is no use in having a benchmark from someone equal to you; that would make no improvement in anyone. Benchmarks must be more challenging. For example, a hotel decides to be as hygienic, and germ-free as an operation theatre. Such a decision will revolutionise hotel hygiene and cleanliness.

We drink of the faith in Christ to our fill; but the faith of Christ gushes forth from our heart as compassion, inclusivity, love, and hope. Gospels are the aesthetics of the faith of Christ. Jesus told his disciples, who asked him, where shall we prepare the Passover meal, go into the street, there you will find a person carrying water (in my imagination it is a woman), he will take you to the broad, elevated, decorated upper room. There are obvious characteristics of people having the faith of Christ.

Do we still flow? Are we stuck? Getting stuck in various things is common. Bobby Jose was stuck in his room for three years. He withdrew into his room; no reading, no writing, not even praying. The only consolation all through the three years is the regular knock on the door by his brothers, calling out his name and cheering him up back to normal. The Old Testament has the story of the town where Lot and his wife lived catching fire. Only they both were saved, and they were not supposed to look back, but Lot’s wife gets stuck in the loss, of the past, and looks back; she becomes a pillar of stone. We need to get out of certain predicaments. One of the best ministries is to help people come out of the state of being stuck in life.

Will you accept life? The river accepts everything: people throw flowers, dirt, oil lamps, and even half-burned dead bodies into the river; the river accepts them all. Life is like a spiral staircase, no one knows what is waiting at the next rotation; misunderstandings, debts, departures, and so on. ‘Eat what is set before you’ (Luke 10:8) about unconditional cultural fusion. Food was an important medium for the Lord. The Lord is the divine host. What is placed before is prepared and served by the Lord.

Bobby Jose does not speak of miracles, not because he does not believe in miracles; he knows that Jesus of Nazareth was attested to by God through miracles, wonders, and signs (Acts 2:22). Miracles tell us that an alternative is possible. 99 percent of the time you never have an alternative. People don’t change. Even young people join a seminary when they are fifteen or so; they grow up, become forty, fifty, etc. Only the body mass changes, one may mature to have a better gravity that one doesn't fall easily. Miracles don’t work as much as acceptance does. Bobby is not sceptical of miracles, he is happy, but accepting life is better. Jesus too after working miracles warned people to be quiet about it. We don't live by miracles, by cheap grace, but by accepting the realities given to us.

Once a special child who was autistic was brought to the Capuchin ashram/retreat centre. Its parents (Meera and Hari) prayed for his cure in loud voices, the child could not react, nor act like getting healed for he did not know what was happening. A preacher was preaching, and he told them this; God had a special child with autism, and he was searching the earth to see to whom he could hand over this child to take care of, finally, he found Meera and Hari, and God gave it to them. It is not a special child, but these are special parents. They accepted, and that was a miracle.

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Am I a chill person? A chill person is approachable. People find solace in chilled, relaxed people; because they believe that this person would not judge but would understand his story. What made Mother Mary leave in haste to the house of his cousin Elizabeth? Mary had a strange story to tell, and not many would understand it, she felt that Elizabeth would understand her for she now had a similar story. They both stand on extreme edges: one is too old to conceive, another too young to conceive. They need people who listen to and understand stories that are strange and difficult.

Am I moving towards the sea? Do we see the sea? Where are we going? A river at the source is shallow and broad. As it moves on it becomes deep, perhaps narrow, and powerful. Finally, there is the sea; the purpose of our flowing is to constantly converge into greater rivers and finally converge with the sea.

Do we see the sea? The river/we keep flowing/moving chronologically (Chronos is the forward propelling time that we measure with clocks, on watches, etc.). But there is another time, Kairos: a qualitative time where you have the opportunity to move forward in the present, untethered by any moving clock or calendar. Richard Rohr refers to Kairos as those moments in life where you stop and say, “‘Oh my God, this is it. I get it.’ Or, ‘This is as perfect as it can be.’ Or, ‘It doesn’t get any better than this.’” We all know those moments, but only a few embrace them. There is an element of serendipity, and a feeling of seizing an opportunity, in those precious moments when time stands still and everything feels possible.

Evoke the thirst of our time. It could also be said to quench the thirst of our time. Seeing a glass of water can evoke thirst in us. Does our presence be like a glass of water that evokes a desire in others? Does our life evoke in others a desire for transformation? Does our depth call others to move deep? The Samaritan woman in John 4 had to leave the well full of water and go for the streams Jesus evoked. Even Jacob had drunk from that well. Well is not going to be a substitute for the streams within.

The good news is that you are a river, accepting others unconditionally into your lives; and you have rivers/brothers around you who are flowing still and accepting you unconditionally, and the breath of Christ is moving over it.

Notes taken during my annual retreat, preached by Bobby Jose Kattikad, Capuchin.

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