REMEMBERING FR. MAXIM PINTO

SHORTNESS OF LIFE - WISDOM OF HEART

June 07, 2025 – joy and sadness

June 7, 2025 was a day like any other set to end joyfully with the announcement in the late afternoon of the new Bishop of the Diocese of Jalandhar – Most Rev. Jose Sebastian Thekumcherrikunnel.  Little did we imagine that the joyfulness of the day would be marred by the sudden passing away of our dear Fr. Maxim Pinto in Jalandhar whose unexpected death plunged the entire Northern Ecclesiastical Region and beyond in a cloud of sorrow and gloom.  

A massive heart attack claimed his life while driving back to the Holy Trinity Regional Seminary, Jalandhar in a four-wheeler in the late afternoon of June 7.  He was only 54 years old and had just celebrated the silver jubilee of his Priestly Ordination (May 01, 2000 – May 01, 2025).

Like a flower that we cut young and fresh in order to make our bouquets and decorate our altars, so did the Lord take him away to decorate the eternal sanctuary in heaven and conduct the perennial music of the heavenly liturgy as once he did so enthusiastically for the earthly liturgy.

Trajectory of his life

Born in Mangalore on January 23, 1972, he joined the St. Paul’s Minor Seminary, Lucknow for the Archdiocese of Delhi in 1992, and after completing his formative programmes of orientation, philosophy, regency and theology was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Delhi on May 01, 2000, the Year of the Great Jubilee (Yesu Krist Jayanti) at the Rosario Cathedral, Mangalore by Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza, the then Bishop of Mangalore.  

Seeing him as a gifted priest for pastoral ministry as well as formation of seminarians, Archbishop Vincent Concessao sent him to Jnana Deepa, Pune for Licentiate in Philosophy in 2002 and for Doctorate in Philosophy to St. Thomas Aquinas Pontifical University (Angelicum), Rome in 2006. He completed both the degrees with flying colours, and, as planned by God, was straightaway appointed professor of philosophy at the Holy Trinity Regional Major Seminary, Jalandhar, on his return from Rome in the autumn of 2010. He remained there till his sudden departure from us on June 7.    

The beautiful personality of Fr. Maxim Pinto

A priest of profound spirituality, ever cheerful and humorous, deeply humane, committed pastor and teacher of philosophy, man of scholarship with a penchant for reading and writing, a thinker, a self-disciplined and highly responsible person, always obedient to the Bishop and his superiors, humble and self-effacing, capable formator, gifted musician, keen lover of sports, ever warm hearted and friendly, never critical of anyone but blessed with a positive and optimistic outlook – these were some of the qualities that were spoken about him at his funeral on June 10 at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, and we shall continue to hear the echo of these words for a very long time to come, particularly when we remember him in our conversations until we join him one day at the Eternal Banquet.  

We always noticed in him a life of evangelical simplicity and detachment and a desire to be of help to the poor and needy in the best way he could. There was no craving in him for power and positions, for extravagance and ostentatiousness, for publicity, popularity and lime light though by his giftedness he could have sought it all. He tried to live by the wisdom of the Gospel and imitate his Master in all things.      

Within the twenty-five years of his priestly life, he contributed greatly to the Church, especially in our Northern Ecclesiastical Region, as a formator of seminarians, mentor and guide at Vinay Gurukul, Gurgaon and then at Holy Trinity Major Seminary, Jalandhar, as well as confessor and chaplain to religious sisters, retreat preacher and resource person at many a seminar for the youth and laity.

He was a visiting faculty in philosophy at more than one seminary outside Jalandhar, and would have moved to St. Albert’s College, Ranchi by mid-June 2025 as a resident professor if that move was not postponed to 2026 because of his irreplaceability. Such was his popularity as a human being, priest, teacher and formator. Even now the Holy Trinity Regional Seminary, Jalandhar is experiencing difficulty in filling up the vacancy left behind by his untimely departure.   

Psalm 90: Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom

Fr. Maxim Pinto, in his death, would certainly want us to live every moment by the Word of God that was the very breath of his life. He would have definitely meditated very often on Psalm 90 which reminds us of the ephemeral nature of our life:

‘You return man to the dust

And say, ’Return, O children of man!’

For a thousand years in your sight

Are but as yesterday when it is past,

Or as a watch in the night.

You sweep man away as with a flood; they

are like a dream,

like grass that is renewed in the morning;

in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

in the evening it fades and withers...

The years of our life are seventy,

Or even by reason of strength eighty;

Yet their span is but toil and trouble;

They are soon gone, and we fly away...

So teach us to number our days

That we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Wisdom- primary gift of the Holy Spirit

Wisdom is the primary gift of the Holy Spirit given to us at Baptism and confirmed at Confirmation. It marks the identity of a Christian who ‘walks by faith, and not by sight’ (cf. 2Corinthians 5:7) always looking forward in hope to the city to come because we know that we do not have here on this earth a permanent dwelling place (cf. Hebrews 13:14), but we are but pilgrims on this earth.

Our Lord came to open for us the treasures of God’s Kingdom when he proclaimed the Beatitudes (cf. Mathew 5:1-12) and declared in no uncertain terms: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mathew 6:19-21).

If our heart is on the eternal treasure that lasts forever we will know how to treat the earthly mammon and overcome the greed for the security of this world. It is the ‘wisdom’ we have received from the Holy Spirit, therefore our life on this earth is not just ‘natural’ driven by our natural tendencies but it is hidden in the Holy Spirit. We are ‘spiritual’ persons who discern and judge everything in the light of the Holy Spirit. We have received “not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1Corinthians 2: 12).

The Gospel is the way of wisdom that leads to salvation and eternal life because the Lord himself is our wisdom, the way, the truth and the life (cf. John 14:6), the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26).  He calls us to follow him in his way of the cross so as to enter with him into fullness of life (cf. Mathew 16:24-28; Luke (:23-26; John 12:24).

For the world the cross is ‘foolishness’ and ‘weakness’ but to the one who believes it is the wisdom and power of God because the “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1Corinthians 1: 25).  

St. Paul sums up this discourse in his powerful proclamation: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let one who boasts, boast in the Lord’ “ (1Corinthians 1: 30-31).

Constant readiness to meet the Lord

In his parable of the ‘Rich Fool’ (cf. Luke 12:13-21) Our Lord has clearly laid out the truth that it is more important to be ‘rich toward God’ than to lay up treasures for oneself on this earth. Therefore, we have to be always ready to meet the Lord as good and faithful servants and not be foolish like the unfaithful servant (cf. Luke 12: 35-40) or the foolish virgins (cf. Mathew 25: 1-12).

This quality of constant readiness or constant preparedness is the identity of Christian discipleship which makes us truly wise in the eyes of God, but may not be in the eyes of the world which follows the way of violence, warfare, hatred, injustice, division, revenge, unforgiveness, and everything that we know comes from the evil one. It leads to happiness for some, but much pain and misery to many. The way of the Gospel is just the opposite of it: love, forgiveness, humility, meekness, childlikeness, peace, reconciliation and everything that flows from the Holy Spirit and it leads to joy for all which is Shalom.

In his letter to the Galatians (cf. Galatians 5: 19-24) St. Paul speaks of the ‘fruits of the flesh’ which the unwise produce and the fruits of the Spirit which the wise produce. Foolishness leads to “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” whereas wisdom leads to “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.  

Let us heed his advice which can never deceive us: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise., making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17).

May our dear Fr. Maxim Pinto, God’s faithful servant, attain eternal bliss in God’s Kingdom. R.I.P.