I was reading an article by my brother and friend Fr. Shaji published on the Assisi magazine's online site. It was about the cost of discipleship. That's when a truth struck me. How brilliantly Jesus showed the spirituality inherent in the lives of ordinary people!

Jesus always spoke in parables. He took his parables from their life's social, cultural and historical contexts. The parables stirred the imagination of his listeners. More than that, his questions stirred their thinking. O what powerful questions he asked the people?!

"Do people gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?" (Mt. 7:16)

"Can any of you by worrying add one cubit to his lifespan?"

(Mt. 6:27)

"Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first calculate the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?"

(Lk. 14:28)

To all these questions, the answer would be "No"; "None" and "No one is able." Thus, from their own experience and inherent nature, he urged them to ascend a little higher.

Now look at these questions.

"Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?"

(Mt. 7:9)

"Which of you, if his sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lift it out?"

(Mt. 12:11)

"Which of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, will not go after the one that is lost until he finds it?"

(Lk. 15:4)

Which woman (among you), having ten coins, if she loses one of them...does not search diligently the whole house until she finds it? (Lk. 15:8)

The answer to these questions is "No one"; "We all do it."

How skillfully he empowers and convinces them that God is in them, and that God would do the same even more!!

And that's where I often fail!