Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Jeeees!
born in a manger,
no soldiers to protect,
slept on the boats and shores,
disciples were from fishermen,
died between earth and sky on a cross, a cross considered as penalty for sinners, body was buried on a donated land,
women witnessed that he was resurrected where the witness of women considered not true,
But he is the king of many hearts, He is called the King, the king of the universe
And he is my master!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Forgiveness by St. Francis of Assisi
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Brother Thomas of Celano recounts a curious episode which took place at Collestrada near Perugia:
St. Francis of Assisi has always been considered a great man of forgiveness. Why? Because he recognized the power of forgiveness and the impact it could have in healing and transforming men and women. He also lived out this truth. Here is a story from his life that demonstrates this in a dramatic way.
One day Francis met an acquaintance of his who looked troubled, and he asked him: “Brother, how are things with you?” The man immediately began to rant against his master, saying, “Thanks to my master — May God curse him! — I have had nothing but misfortune. He has taken away all that I possess.”
Francis was filled with pity for the man, and said, “Brother, pardon your master for the love of God, and free your own soul; it's possible that he will restore to you whatever he has taken away. Otherwise, you have lost your goods and will lose your soul as well.”
But the man said, “I can't fully forgive him unless he returns what he has taken from me.” Francis answered, “Look, I will give you this cloak; I beg you to forgive your master for the love of the Lord God.” The man's heart was melted by this kindness, and he forgave his master. Immediately, he was filled with joy.
St. Francis was truly a man of forgiveness, a peacemaker who became a channel of God's grace to others. We can become like St. Francis. When we pray for those who have offended us, it frees us to love as God loves. God's grace has power not only to change us, but those who have done us injury as well.
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- Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
- Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
- Where there is injury, pardon.
- Where there is doubt, faith.
- Where there is despair, hope.
- Where there is darkness, light.
- Where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love.
- For it is in giving that we receive.
- It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
- Amen
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Be like a pencil
source: “Like the Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho
A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’
‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’
‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’
My reflection on this passage
I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
I like the Portuguese Novelist Paulo Coelho. He has written above 20 novels. Alchemist is the novel that I like most. He gives lot of philosophical notions through his novels. In his novel – like the flowing river – a grandma is talking to her grandson before he begins his school. The grandma says to the boy be like a pencil. And I would like to give you the same message to you today. before you begin this scholastic year.
What are the specialties of a pencil? Can you imagine?
1. Pencil is humble: how? It is ready to correct itself and it carries an eraser. What is written by pen can not be easily erased. 'The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’ An Indian guru says: a pot even if it is golden pot which has kept upside down cannot gather water. If your head is full with pride you cannot learn knowledge.
2. Pencil is symbol of sharpening : it has to be sharpened once a while. "Now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper". What we have to sharpen ? our concentration. In Mahabharata, the disciples under Dhronacharya are learning archery. He asks the first disciple what you see. He says I see a tree, leaves, branches and a bird. Get out of here. The next one says the same. And here comes, the great Arjuna. Guru asks the same question. He says I see the eye of a bird. Shoot, the guru said.. If you have lot of things in mind like, love, internet, games, drugs you cannot concentrate.
3. Pencil is a symbol of dedication: writing and writing the pencil disappear from the world. Acquiring knowledge is not for oneself: it is for the service of human family. 'It always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’
4. Pencil is symbol of breaking out of one’s self: 'What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’ Pencil has two parts: hard wooden part and graphite inside. The hard part has to be broken out to be a pencil. In the same way grandma says in the school he has to come out of himself. Your ego has to be broken out of yourself. Narcissism- I, my, mine….
5. 'You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’ Pencil cannot write by itself, it needs a hand to write. We call that hand as God. Once somebody asked St. Boneventure where did you get this knowledge? He said pointing to a crucifix. This is the source my knowledge.
6. I would like to add one more thing that is hard work. Great men achieved wisdom by hard work.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Experiencing Francis and Nature at Red River Gorge
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Nightmare of a History Student
sleepless is my night reading you.
where shall I bury you?
If I bury you on earth,
you will barren our land.
If I cremate you,
you may pollute the environment.
If I dump you into the river,
the water sources will be contaminated.
Where shall I bury you?
I bury you in my subconscious mind,
but I fear you may come in my dreams.
Johnachan
Monday, July 18, 2011
Who are the real heroes?
From my favorite poetess
Nameless naïve ones who have lost their future –
without them I’d lost all confidence in the future.
They could, but they don’t want to get rich –
grasping their innocent poverty parsimoniously.
They could, but they don’t want to find fame –
they’re proud enough having chosen to be a nobody.
They could — with hardly any effort –
but don’t want to, climb upwards.
They’ve taken the road — what a feat!
downwards, downwards – to the peak of the root.
And on from there to discover the hidden prospect
of blossom and fruit — still at the pre-embryo stage.
Blaga Nikolova Dimitrova (1922 - 2003) was a Bulgarian poetess and Vice President of Bulgaria from 1992 until 1993.
When I read this poem, many people like St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Treasa, Gandhi, St. Maximilian Kolbe appeared to my mind.
St. Francis said to me, my father was a rich man and I had all the riches in my life. I could be a chivalrous man among my friends, I could be a center point of many beautiful ladies, I could be a man praised by all. But I renounced all for the discovery of the hidden prospect of blossom and fruit. I remembered the picture of Francis standing on the globe and trying to hug Jesus.
Mother Treasa told me showing her wrinkled face, I could be a beautiful woman in Albania. I could polish my nails, I could spend money on facial, I could dress up beautiful but I renounced it for the uplifting the people of gutters of Calcutta.
I looked at the picture of St. Maximilian Kolbe, he was like an x ray copy. I could count all his bones, a prey of the concentration camp of Auschwitz. A flame raises from his thin and tired body, he is led to heaven with Blessed virgin Mary. He renounced his life for another man, he could save himself but he spend his life for another man.
There are many people who have dedicated their future. What are we dedicating ourselves to discover the hidden prospect of blossom and fruit.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Jesus has no hands but our's
During the last war, a church in Strasbourg was destroyed. Nothing remained except a heap of rubble and broken glass, or so the people thought till they began clearing away the masonry. Then they found a statue of Christ still standing erect. In spite of all the bombing it was unharmed except that both hands were missing. Eventually rebuilding of the church began.
One day a sculptor saw the figure of Christ, and offered to carve new hands. The church officials met to consider the sculptor’s friendly gesture—and decided not to accept the offer. Why? Because the members of that church said: “Our broken statue touches the spirits of men, but that He has no hands to minister to the needy or feed the hungry or enrich the poor—except our hands. He inspires. We perform.”
It is true Jesus has no hands to work in this world. He needs our hands, eyes, feet and mouth. Do not blame anybody for our excuses.
It was in Assisi the Franciscanism emerged. The church was in so called dark age. St. Francis, an ordinary youth from Assisi tried to build up the Church. He never criticized anyone. He changed the world through his exemplary life.
Once St. Francis asked his intimate disciple Leo: let us go and preach? They took a round through Assisi and returned in the evening. Francis did not preach to anyone. Leo asked the reason. Francis said the way we walked, the way we greeted and the way we dressed yes, Leo, we were preaching.
A priest complained to the pope there is nobody good in the world. He said let us start from us.
A poem
Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in the way
He has no tongue but our tongue to tell men how He died
He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible the careless world will read,
We are the sinner’s gospel; we are the scoffer’s creed;
We are the Lord’s last message, given in word and deed;
What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy with other work than His?
What if our feet are walking where sin’s allurement is?
What if our tongue is speaking of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him or welcome His return?
—Annie Johnston Flint
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours, yours are the eyes through which to look at Christ’s compassion to the world, yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good, and yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.”
St. Teresa of Avila, the 16th century Spanish nun
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do".
Dear companions, we need, as a church, to extend Christ’s hospitality beyond our own walls, to serve in our own community in a regular and meaningful way, not just with our financial support but with our own hands. Christ has no hands but ours now. How will we use them? Whether it is to serve at the soup kitchen, or to shelve groceries at the food pantry, or to knit prayer shawls for people in the hospital, or to serve in some way we haven’t yet imagined, we need as a community of faith to commit ourselves collectively to service for others. Let us think about this for the next semester.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Be still and know I Am God
Prophets of doom and darkness will say there is no existence of God.
But the true seekers of wisdom do not agree.
The Hindu sages overcomes the ignorance through yoga. Through which they rise to awareness Brahman is the only reality. Plurality is mere appearance. The true knower is called stitaprnjan. He will realize that tat tvam asi that is thou are Brahman. To this reality sages prayed:
"O God! lead us from darkness unto light
O God! lead us from death unto life
O God! lead us from untruth to truth"
Siddhartha experienced life as sickness, old age and death. He asked himself is what it means? He fell in to deep silence and realized self awareness. He became Buddha - enlightened. He saw these are the result of man's uncontrolled desires like sex, money and life. He who practices the eightfold paths will realize nirvana.
Christianity believes Christ is the centre of the history and the cosmos. Jesus says "I am the life and the resurrection"( 1 Cori. 14:15). In christainity the ultimate truth is the risen Christ.
Education is the progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
Let God unveils in our minds and hearts through education....
The English poet wrote:
"The mountains are hidden by fog
still the peaks are there
the Sun is shadow by the cloud
still it is shining..."
St. Gregory wrote:
"God is within all things but not included, God is outside all things but not excluded, God is above all things but not beyond our reach".