Grandeur Evokes Awe, But Love Transforms

REV. SAJU JOSEPH ICTE’23, DIOCESE OF SAN JOSE

It is a once in a lifetime experience, re-energizing, spirituality nourishing, broadening the horizon of understanding, blessing, and much more could be said about my time in the Holy Land as part of the ICTE sabbatical program.

Before my pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I had the privilege of visiting many basilicas and churches in Rome. The lifelike sculptures, artistic beauty, perfection of paintings, creative architectural styles, the mosaic marvels, and the stories behind them fascinated me. Awe and wonder were the result of these visits. In contrast, during the first four days of our pilgrimage in the Holy Land, we visited various places around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus ministered. The simplicity of the setting was very captivating. I came back with the realization that Christ’s ministry then and now does not require grand settings. In other words, our investment in grandiosity is not a requirement for Christ’s genuine ministry—it can take place in a hospital room, it can take place in walking with someone on their journey of life, it can take place with a compassionate utterance anywhere, it can take place with an outstretched hand in a street corner, and more.

On another note, we live by the values we celebrate. If we do not live a value, celebrating it become meaningless. For example, a divorced couple celebrating a marriage anniversary is a joke. Similarly, when we live by the values and celebrate them, the values are re-enforced and the persons are re-energized to live by them—it is the same with the Eucharist. In his ministry, Jesus lived the value of giving oneself to the Father’s will and celebrated it at the Last Supper. He continued to live it in his suffering and death.

The best way to make Eucharist meaningful for oneself is to become Eucharist or break oneself on the world altar. Cosmetic changes can never be a substitute for this. A mother of five once said to me, “When I had given it all for my family and came to the Eucharist, I perfectly understood Jesus’ words ‘this is my body broken for you,’ a meaning I could not discover from theological books—that love transformed me.” Pilgrims come to the Holy Land to be transformed by this kind of love.

After the sabbatical and Holy Land pilgrimage, I go back with these realizations: Christ’s ministry does not require a grand setting, the more I live Eucharist, the more meaningful the celebration becomes, and grandeur evokes awe, but love transforms! I thank, Fr. Edward Linton, our director, and the PNAC community for facilitating this experience for all of us at ICTE. n