Jubilation is an English word very commonly used to indicate merriment and celebration of joy. It appears to be linked with the word 'jubilee' and usually, there is great jubilation around any jubilee. When we dig back, 'jubilee' is a concept emerging from a mandate of the Old Testament. Leviticus Chapter 25 gives its details. Interestingly, the original Hebrew word 'yobel' (jobel?) means a ram's horn used as a trumpet, calling out to announce the onset of the jubilee year.
In simple terms, it is the Sabbath of Sabbaths - or the Great Rest!! Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word 'Shabbat' meaning 'to cease' or 'to stop'. The human need for 'rest' is spiritualised and 'deified' through the religious diktat of 'Sabbath' so that the avaricious human nature may, at least, with some fear of the unknown disciplining almighty, sustain themselves by resting and relaxing for a day, in turn also letting the planet and all other fellow beings have some rest from their work as well!
Jesus restored the legalistic observance to its original meaning of 'well-being' and 'wholeness' (rest for wholeness, rest with the Lord for wellness), and he was kind of obsessed with ensuring that his Sabbaths were spent in the company of the resting fellow faithful, while boldly going about powerfully 'healing' the afflicted on those days (Acts 10:38)! This is indicative of the prominence Jesus attached to wholeness and wellness in His life and ministry. Apparently, he lived a frugal, but healthy life. He was never reported ill! He is always on the move! But he is happily there in the company of the rich and the poor, and relishing a good feast that comes his way!
While we celebrate the jubilee of these two beloved sisters - Sr Mary Clare and Sr Rose Ann of the Holy Cross adhering to the regulations of the third order of the Franciscans - I think they present an apt picture of two disciples of Jesus the Healer, with their training and ministry as a nurse/public health worker and a pharmacist respectively. Whew! what a terrific ministry - of 5 decades and still both of them in one piece! Most of us present at this gathering have not even lived so many years! Praise the Lord for this ineffable gift!
When I heard the Gospel being read today - Jn 15:15ff, I felt like Jesus declaring after reading out from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue and looking around and telling the congregation: 'this has come true today'. Amen! In today's Gospel, Jesus says, the one who abides in me, and I in him, shall bear abundant fruits! We are sure that in the past 50 years this dynamics has sustained through them - Them in Jesus, Jesus in them, and abundant fruits, wellness, well-being! Congratulations, sisters!
So I feel on such occasions, we need to skip reading a typical Gospel passage. Instead, we ought to highlight their life and ministry and that should serve as a live-proclamation of the gospel! May words of the gospel today continue to ring true in your lives and in the lives of all those who claim to be Christians, and further doubling up as 'consecrated persons'!
In this fashion of carrying on the wellness mission of Jesus, they have indeed become partners and leaders of a global process and the global goal of 'good health and well-being' (SDG 3) of the 17 odd goals set by the world nations for the year 2023. The world nations aspire for good health and all the 17 odd goals are directly or indirectly linked to this crucial one. Some of them bear a very direct link with this vital ministry - no poverty (1), zero hunger (2), quality education for all (4), gender equality (5), clean water and sanitation (6), affordable and clean energy for all (7), sustainable cities and communities (11), responsible consumption & production (12), climate action (13), life under water (14), life on land (15) etc. Let us be proud that hopefully consciously, or unawares, they have been contributing to these noble global goals. Thank you, sisters! Congratulations!
When I saw the gathering and recollected the fact that these two senior women, had joined as two very young women or girls from their small neighbourhood of Karanchira (Thrissur) or Thodupuzha (Idukki) of Keralam, and had sacrificed their small families and neighbourhood, the Lord has indeed rewarded by making them truly members of the global family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam), being carers to communities far and near, North and South, East and West! And this very gathering in the name of this widespread province of the Holy Cross sisters itself is evidence of their attaining this global citizenship!! Again, hearty congrats sisters!
The church recognises consecrated life as a close following of Jesus Christ, who sought the will of the Father and who went about doing good. One of my senior confreres, after living this mode of life for over 50 years, commented: whoever be the one who 'invented' this mode of life, should be given a 'nobel prize' - he was putting it in a very light vein, emphasizing the safety and security this life had provided him, though hardly anyone would choose consecrated life with such motives! That is a great gift - being a free moving, available, global family member - in exchange for the sacrifice of one's own small family and possessions!
Today's first reading (Acts 9:26-31) narrates Saul's drastic turn around into Paul, from the pestilent persecutor to the prophetic proclaimer of the gospel, bringing consolation and peace to people. May the jubilee celebrations make the jubilarians and each of us celebrating them, look at our own small and short lives, and resolve for effective turnaround to be harbingers of good news and peace wherever we are sent!
The Psalms (21:22-30) echo the sentiments of a true Jubilarian - And my soul shall live for him, my children (in this case, it could be the hundreds they have served and nurtured) serve him. They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come, declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn: 'These things the Lord has done'.
Coming back to Jubilee as the Sabbath of Sabbaths, it appears to be a great Economics of material sustainability (thousands of years before the concept itself gained currency), couched in religio-spiritual idioms. It is basically the rest for land or earth to replenish itself, and not to exhaust itself of its limited resources - a cautionary step bearing very well the reality of 'carrying capacity' and 'limits to growth' in mind.
With the post-Laudato Si thinking, I feel jubilee should take into account, the basic principles of sustainability - the 3 R's of 'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle'. From the conventional 3 Rs now, two radical R's have been introduced with several others - Rethink and Refuse! Rethinking is a very valuable process to happen with any jubilee - about one's life, one's purposes, one's habits. However, to me, the biblical jubilee implies another set of R's:
1. Rest - Rest for oneself; we usually term it a Sabbatical! Rest with the Lord (not yet eternally), but in the Lord's company
2. Review - Rethink: how one's life has been, how it could be in future, how Lord-permeated it is.
3. Restore, Revive and Renew: Restoration of the relationships is a core of OT jubilee. The land, the people and their mutual relationships to be tempered with justice, with God, with goodness. That leads to the 'revival' of one's real life, leading to a fresh start again, with the energetic thought that 'today is the first day of the rest of my life'.
For land and a people, 49+1 = 50 years is not a very long period. Years and individuals go by, but the land and the people remain. But for an individual, 50 years of a profession or a career path is a really long one. Even a family life of husband and wife for 50 years is a really long one, with the probability of not accomplishing that by the sheer reason of being alive being very high! Hence, the ingenious adaptation of a half/mini jubilee at 25 years, to my mind, makes more sense. It is a good time to rest, recoup, review, restore, revive and renew! For a Christian disciple, I would say it is an ideal time to visit the Holy Land, get energized from the land where Jesus walked, and get revived for a renewed committment to a life of unconditional and invincible goodness.
It is indeed heartening to learn that these beloved jubilarians, past their 70, are still active in their ministry! May they continue to do so... bhooyascha sharadshataat - may they live and see even beyond the hundred! So for us, the congregation and the faithful, it is indeed a great matter to celebrate this rare feat - a marathon run!!
However, I feel, it is important that every jubilarian should celebrate one's jubilee by planting a tree, as that would go a long way (symbolically or otherwise) in spreading unconditional goodness - of shade and shelter, of life (water and Oxygen), of food (fruits and leaves), of beauty (leaves and flowers and the tree itself) and of healing (medicine). As Fr. Bobby Cap. would say: the set of questions for the last judgement has been revised, especially with Laudato Si (2015) & Laudato Deum (2023): No more of the series - Did you feed me? Did you give me to drink etc, rather, just a single question: Did you plant a tree? So, let each jubilee be accompanied by a suitable tree planted for the future generations!
So let us all wish our beloved sisters the very best!
Grateful to God, may they continue to do the good work the Lord has begun in them, and may they continue to be the good news, a hundred years and beyond!
तत्। चक्षुः॑। दे॒वहि॑त॒मिति॑ दे॒वऽहि॑तम्। पु॒रस्ता॑त्। शु॒क्रम्। उत्। च॒र॒त्। पश्ये॑म। श॒रदः॑। श॒तम्। जीवे॑म। श॒रदः॑। श॒तम्। शृणु॑याम। श॒रदः॑। श॒तम्। प्र। ब्र॒वा॒म॒। श॒रदः॑। श॑तम्। अदी॑नाः। स्या॒म॒। श॒रदः॑। श॒तम्। भूयः॑। च॒। श॒रदः॑। श॒तात् ॥२४ ॥
May you see 100 autumns (years), may you live well a 100 years
May you listen to good things, especially the scriptures a hundred years and may you instruct others in those good ways a 100 years, and May you remain illness-free (healthy) a 100 years!
And may you see, listen, instruct, remaining healthy for 100 years and more!!
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