Geevarghese Mar Coorilos

Paulos Mar Gregorios: A Challenge to us

At the Anniversary Celebration of Gregorian Study Circle in Houston on 12th December, 2001

I feel at home today while being with you all here in this Kerala House because I am also from Kerala. And these pictures of the great national leaders and freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi fill my heart with warm feelings. And, of course, the spiritual presence of Paulos Mar Gregorios here is very uplifting to me.  

I feel honored to be a part of this celebration, because I had the special privilege of being a disciple to Mar Gregorios. I joined the seminary when I was 17, and Mar Gregorios became its principal in the same year as Fr. Paul Varghese. He spent most of his time there except when he had other important commitments. And he helped the seminary grow as we see it today. I must confess that he has influenced me more than anyone else. There is an orphanage founded by him at a place called Talacode, Mulanthuruthy in India, and I am responsible for that as its president.

I feel overjoyed to see that there is a group of people here interested to know more about him, and to study his thought and work. I should say that the report of the activities of Gregorian Study Circle, which I just heard, makes me feel proud.  

It is a privilege for me to talk about the charisma of Mar Gregorios, for I believe that his dynamism is still challenging us. Mar Gregorios was one of the greatest personalities I have known. It might be worthwhile to look at his personality from different sides. This is not going to be a very formal speech, but will be a set of unarranged thoughts. It is hard for me to limit myself to half an hour once I start talking about him.

Mar Gregorios was a very powerful person, in the sense that he had the privilege, strength, and knowledge to confront the world leaders. As a philosopher, he could smash down some of the hard challenges he faced. In spite of all his power, there were occasions when Mar Gregorios confessed himself to be a humble, simple child in the presence of God, in the presence of saintly people who were close to God, and in the presence of dynamic people who effectively contributed to the well being of mankind. The dynamic people I talk about include people like Mahatma Gandhi, who were willing to identify the presence of a supreme being as a supreme power that governs the universe though they didn’t equate Jesus Christ with the supreme being.

By being a child in the presence of God, he was always willing to and was longing to receive God’s wisdom. He had the open mindedness of a student; willing to receive any new piece of information. Whenever a new piece of information came his way, he captured it, analyzed it, and evaluated it to see its merits and defects, to see how it could be beneficial or harmful to the humankind, and to see how it could be used for the glory of God.  

He was always willing to run to God’s presence, and open up himself. He had nothing to hide from God. That freedom with God was his strength, and that seems to be secret of his success. This person, who tried his best to come as close to God as he could, will remain a challenge for anybody.  

This child-like openness attracted him to children. A child would always capture his total attention, and he would become an even younger child in order to come down to the level of that child. I remember that while in seminary he wouldn’t let anyone disturb him in the morning hours because he would be engaging himself in a very creative activity of some kind. If someone accidentally knocked at his door, Mar Gregorios could become very furious, and could make a hell there. However, if that person happened to have a child with him, the situation would be totally different. He literally followed what Jesus Christ said about children, and thoroughly enjoyed their presence.  

I remember another incident in Vancouver, where WCC was having its global assembly with delegates from every member church. Mar Gregorios was one of the top leaders there. During a break time, Mar Gregorios was found chatting with a handicapped woman in a wheelchair. After chatting for a few minutes, he embraced her to express his joy of having her presence there, and to identify her presence as a contribution to that event in Vancouver. Such a gesture from someone like him meant so much to the delegates gathered there from around the globe.

He had a unique skill not only in receiving and digesting information, but also in disseminating it. He was an excellent teacher. This skill was very much evident when he would stand in the pulpit and expose the word of God. He had a special charisma to go to the depth of the word of God, and to enjoy its beauty.  

When Mar Gregorios climbed up the steps of his vocation to the leadership of WCC, and then to the leadership of global inter-religious events, he was becoming a very controversial person in his own church as well as in the Christian world. His thought and deeds didn’t conform to the traditionally acceptable formulas. People even feared that he was abandoning Christianity for some other religion. But if you get a chance to read his unfinished autobiography, you will see how comprehensive and how all-encompassing his outlook was. There existed no paradoxes or controversies in his thought.  

The positions he held in the church, in the WCC, and elsewhere were not colorful, as we would expect. They were seats of thorns for him. However he faced all those challenges with extreme determination. He overcame even the challenge of his own physical illness while he inaugurated the Centenary celebrations of the Parliament of World’s Religions in Chicago.

Who was the most influential person for Mar Gregorios? Or, to rephrase it, did he have a role model who helped him to shape up his life? Yes, there was someone. He was none other than Gregory of Nyssa, the fourth century Christian philosopher. Mar Gregorios made this fourth century father his subject of doctoral studies. He went into the depth of his thought, enjoyed it, and translated it for us, the people of the twentieth century. His focus on the thought of Gregory of Nyssa transformed him so that the whole world was benefited of his contribution at various levels. When he was elevated to bishophood, Mar Gregorios chose his name from his Guru and role model, Gregory of Nyssa.

I am glad that there is a forum to study the thought and work of Mar Gregorios. It helps us to look back at the great life he led, and pay attention to the message this great man of God gave us. Such a forum that continues the legacy of Mar Gregorios has great relevance in our world.

Let us be a Blessing to All!

In Houston, TX in April 2004

Dear friends, today I want to share with you a couple of lessons we may learn from the Palm Sunday celebration.

God has called us as a community to be a blessing to all the creation. While consecrating these palm leaves, we pray to bless not only these leaves, but also all the vegetation in the world. When we celebrate the Danaha Perunal (Epiphany), we ask God to bless all the water in the world. Our fathers who wrote these prayers had such an all-embracing outlook to pray for all the creation. During most of our important celebrations, the priests turn to the four directions, and bless the entire creation. The church, representing God, is here for the blessing of the world. We don't pray just for ourselves. We are here as an instrument for God to bless all the creation.

If we hold expectations of God, we get upset when God does not do things exactly as we expect. While singing Hosanna to Jesus, the people felt comfortable with Jesus because that was something that went according with their expectation of the Messiah. But after a week when Jesus gave himself to be arrested, the same people didn't feel comfortable with it -–that didn't go with their expectation of Messiah. They shouted to crucify him with the same tongues. This reminds us of Mahatma Gandhi, who went along with the expectations of the people at times, though he couldn't please the people all the time.

Thus Hosanna teaches us that we must be willing to approach God with an open mind --without any expectations of God. How else can we be a blessing to the world?

Message from the Cross

In Houston, TX in April 2004

Don't weep for me! Weep for yourselves and for your Children! Lk. 23:27 –31

While Jesus was walking toward Calvary carrying his cross, a great multitude of people followed him. They felt sorry for Jesus. The women among them began to mourn for him.

Here is a leader who was unjustly punished. The highest court in the nation convicted him, and was given the capital punishment. While he was taken to execute his punishment, a large number people followed him in sympathy for him. Any other leader would have taken pleasure at that sight, and would have encouraged them to weep even louder.

However, Jesus was a different kind of leader. His reaction was totally unexpected. He turned around and told them: Stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

I see a similar situation here. I can see a multitude of people here celebrating Good Friday. Many of us have been fasting all day. Many of us have been weeping thinking about the pain our Lord went through. Most of us were walking barefoot in the procession. It seems that we are the same kind of multitude that followed Jesus. We sympathize with Jesus. We are mad at those people who crucified Him. And what has Jesus got to say to us all: the same thing. He is asking us to stop weeping for him. He doesn't need our sympathy.

But he wants us to weep for something else: for ourselves and for our children. He wants us to take some responsibility. Are we willing to do that? If we really want to follow Jesus, that is what we need to do. We need to take responsibility for ourselves and for our children. Jesus does not need casual followers. Are we willing to listen to Jesus today, and start weeping for ourselves?

Here is your son! Here is your mother! John 19:26 -27

While Jesus was on the cross, he suffered excessive physical and mental agony. However, he was totally in control of himself. He was fully aware of whatever was happening. He was there on his own choice. It seems that he didn't care much for his own pain. However, in spite of experiencing such excruciating pain, he could sense the pain of others.

Seeing his own mother, he could sense the pain in her heart. What mother in the world can withstand the sight of her son being tortured and crucified! Moreover, she was going to lose her son. Life suddenly turned meaningless for her. She had been living with her son and for her son. Now that he is leaving her, what should she live for? Life has no more purpose for her. The world suddenly changed before her very eyes. In situations like this a lot of people decide to end their lives. We all keep on living because life has one or other purpose for us. Mary's life was centered on her son, but now she is losing that center. And she is losing her very existence. Looking at the face of Mary, Jesus could see all that. He sensed the pain and the bewilderment Mary felt at the depth of her soul.

Next to his mother stood John, the youngest and the most beloved of his disciples. If Mary was losing her son, John was losing his closest friend and master. Perhaps Jesus was like a father to John. We don't know the dimensions of relationship that existed between John and Jesus. John's world was also centered on Jesus. Jesus' death was suddenly transforming John's world as well. He was suddenly becoming helpless and hopeless. Life suddenly became meaningless to him. From the cross, Jesus could read all that on John's face.

Jesus saw before him two of his dearest people, and he decided to do something about their pain. He called his mother, and asked her to accept John as her son. And likewise, he called John, and asked him to accept Mary as his mother. In the very next sentence we read, "In that hour, John took her into his own household." This made life suddenly different for both of them. Both of them gained a sense of belongingness, and life was no more without purpose.

Can we follow Jesus' example? Can we disregard our own pain, and see the pain of others? Can we gain the ability of Jesus to look into the hearts of others, and see the unuttered pain they feel at the depth of their souls? Can we do something to alleviate the pain of the people around us? 

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