Nice guys and Jesus

Was Jesus "nice"? Proponents would say he had compassion on people: fed them by multiplying loaves and fish, healed sick, raised the dead to life and we cannot but agree He did all these. But was he just a nice guy? Consider the cleansing of the temple. Christ was filled with zeal for God's house and made a whip of cords to drive out the money changers, saying - my house would be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. What does this tell us about Jesus? Was this an aberration in his character?

Certainly not! Jesus did this out of love. How so? Because love is beyond kindness! Being just a nice person on some occasions doesn't work. Jesus stood for something and was willing to be disagreeable. In fact the Word of God tells us His action was immediately taken offense at by the temple priests, who plotted to kill him. My personal thoughts on this action of Christ was for the sake of the innocents who Jesus wanted to be able to come to the Lord and meet with God in the temple.

For me, this applies both to place of worship and the home. Christ has a burning love for innocents as he said “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” How zealous are we about the sanctity of our churches? What example do we set for our little ones, of reverence for the Real Presence? We are called to battle not flesh and blood, but the forces of evil, starting with ourselves. When we bow and genuflect, when we receive Christ in Communion with the respect due to the king of kings and Lord of lords, we join in Christ's battle, directing our zeal for His kingdom at the mastery of our own flesh and bodies. In doing so not only do we worship God and sanctify ourselves, but also witness to children and people around. We help in the work of salvation and sanctification.

How about the other church - the home - the domestic church? How zealous are we, to nurture our little ones, our children in the virtues? Today we have many bright and brilliant minds, but spiritual dwarfs. The world has tried and failed, focusing just on knowledge and skills. How passionate are we to educate our kids to build not only their IQ but EQ (Emotional Quotient) and SQ (Spiritual Quotient)? Do we take ownership and responsibility for their formation in virtue and Christian living? On the home front, as a father of four, I see the promise I made to raise children in the faith is incredibly important and cannot be understated, especially in today's culture. Why do we have so many delinquents, suicidal, depressed young people unable to get out of the vicious cycle when facing the hurdles of life? Because we as a society listened to the lies of the modern dream of success - a false promise of fathers who work hard and provide for their children, but at the cost of the paternal guidance every human being has the right to receive.

We have allowed generations of children grow into men and women who can't handle failure. Because we scoffed at fathers when they corrected their children. We accused fathers of harshness and lack of love, when they wanted to raise them to be able to stand on their own. We have failed to see the weeping hearts of fathers because we couldn't see their faces wet with tears. What will we answer to our Lord when we meet him about how our society taught children to think one parent loves them while the other doesn't. How many more lives must be ruined before we realise that every child has a right to both their mothers and fathers love?

Finally, as a Catholic prayer warrior, I would fail in my duty if I didn't talk about the darker side of the undermining of fathers in our society. We owe our very being and existence to our Creator God, our heavenly Father. The proper name of God is Father, and this is not physical, because God is eternal - beyond space-time. The Catechism teaches:

By calling God “Father”, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. - CCC 239

God did not merely choose to reveal Himself as Father. Rather, He is Father by nature, in two respects: through the eternal generation of the Son in the Holy Trinity, and in His act of creating, especially the creation of those creatures that are “in his image” (see Gen. 1:26). Therefore, human fatherhood is best viewed as a partaking in the Divine Fatherhood of God, one that, by God’s design, is most apt for understanding Divine Fatherhood.

The use of the term “Father,” therefore, is not to be viewed as a concession to the patriarchal culture of the time, but as revealing the very nature of God.

In undermining fathers, our society is allowing the Evil one to sever children from the embrace of our heavenly Father. It's high time we opened our eyes to the downward spiral our children will be headed, unless we act with all urgency and focus on raising children holy and pleasing to God. As in the movie series, Rocky Balboa tells his son to stop whining and stop giving excuses, but bounce back from the hits of life he receives. Let us apply this lesson spiritually and give our children true love, both the nurturing love of a mother and the strong, firm, yet equally essential love of a father, so that they may be able to stand up and live lives worth living, and fulfil the purpose for which they were born.

The Divine Programmer

The scan report was clear "hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis". The situation was begging the natural questions, what, how, why? On the one hand our human limitation is to be concerned and explore the natural options and courses of action and none of those were very promising. On the other hand, as a believer and intercessor I knew something more was needed and recognized that such a situation called for us to go down on our knees in prayer.

There is a story in the Gospel of John chapter 9, where Jesus meets a man born blind. His disciples ask him why this man was born blind, was it because he sinned or his parents? Then Jesus replies, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but so that the works of God may be displayed in him. For us as a couple, this would be an opportunity to trust God and allow him to glorify His name. But at a deeper level, it was an opportunity to us for self-examination. What is our attitude to children? Do we accept children unconditionally as a gift from God our heavenly father or do we take for granted the life that God is placing in our care?

This situation brought us to challenge our faith. I felt like Abraham when he was called to offer his only son, Isaac as a sacrifice to God. We resolved to adopt and attitude of faith and surrender in this situation. Faith as a child in our heavenly Father, knowing how if I as a father had a child who needed something, I would be pleased that my child trusts me enough to ask for that need. Surrender to trust God totally in what he wanted to do and would do. The doctors and our own research told us that depending on the quantity of fluid, the child can have pressure in the brain preventing normal growth of tissue.

I needed no reminder because I was already aware. I had a few times earlier visited some differently-abled children's homes and met orphaned children with this condition. In this context, we would like to think that we wouldn't abandon such children. Here was a situation not about abandoning, because that is not an option, but in our hearts accept with the same joy and gratitude the child that God places in our lives. Yet thinking of the kind of suffering and hardship that may be ahead on the road for the child we pleaded with God and shared the prayer intention knowing that many in our community were united with us in our prayer. I thought "God, these children will be born into some family. Instead of letting them be born into families which won't accept them, if you want it to be born into ours, we are open, let your will be done."

Every morning after we said the guardian angel prayer, besides blessing my daughters Sancia and Tanya, I placed my hand over my wife Seema and also over the womb and prayed the Aaronic blessing, and also this prayer "May the life of Christ in all its fullness flow in you". While I prayed and blessed them I was mindful of the power of the life of Christ and the power of those words. When it was time for the next scan, we approached it with faith and expectation.

Two months after the 5th month scans (we did a confirmation scan after the initial scan), due to COVID19, I was not allowed in the scan facility and was waiting in the basement. I started praying and we had already sent prayer requests in our household group. When I called Seema sometime into when I thought the scan may be almost through, she told me the scan doctor was flummoxed by what he saw and size of the ventricles had actually reduced. There was no explanation how this is possible. We know as believers that when the natural can't explain then only the supernatural it has to be. Since then my heart sings the song "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever"

We all know how from the moment of conception, the fetus continuously and rapidly grows. Even Sancia our three-year-old elder daughter can now explain how the baby grows in the womb. Considering that the cells only grow and never shrink, and that the ventricle size actually reduced, I knew that the only possibility, however far-fetched, was that the fluid quantity in the brain somehow reduced in the womb itself. Come June 18th, I was waiting outside the operation theater for delivery. when they brought him out I saw a normal looking boy, praise be to God. The next day we did a MRI scan and consulted doctors with the report. They said there is no need for surgery. The fluid in the brain is still present but in small quantity and not at high pressure so that the brain tissue growth is normal. Compared with what we were prepared for, this has been a complete and powerful miracle in our lives. Recalling back the confirmation scan we did in Srinivasa diagnostic center, considered the best ultrasound scan center in Bangalore. The scan doctor then said to my wife "not good" and gave a very bleak picture and dismal outlook to the situation.

As a software engineer, I often think of difficult technology problems in terms of God's acts of creation and redemption. How much we are amazed by technology, the man made wonders of the concrete urban environment we live in. Yet how great is God's own works, the universe, the laws of physics and the natural order. The way life grows from a single cell, the zygote which has the master program of God, our divine programmer. Each and every cell in our body has the instructions on how every part of the body should be. We live in the age of artificial intelligence and machine learning but we have never come close to creating a single intelligent self-replicating program that grows itself from a tiny cell, and we probably never will. Even whatever marvels we accomplish as humans, we  achieve it with the faculties which God created in us. Let's think for a moment which is a greater miracle, God healing the child in the womb or the human person. Surely for a software engineer its not too difficult to fix a bug in a software he has written. A doctor may find it challenging to treat a patient and bring him back to health, but what would a doctor say if asked to create a cell which can grow into a human person?

Psalm 8 composed by David says:

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:

My prayer now is "who am I God that you have done so much for me and for my family. Let these your works remind me of your love for me and help me to live my life worthy of being your son." This is my wish for myself and for you all, that we praise and glorify God for his amazing works and that we live our lives in a manner worthy of his sons and daughters. God bless you all, Amen.

UPDATE: It's 1½ years since the above post and our little Reuel has regular vision and physio therapy. With the former his binocular vision has been greatly corrected. Earlier he couldn't grasp objects today he's can't stop grabbing toys and examining them. He also communicates beautifully with the sweetest voice calling his dad, mum and siblings too and much more. We hope with physiotherapy he will stand on his feet soon.

Spiritual Parenthood and the Sacraments

God has blessed me with two little angels, Sancia and Tanya. As a father, the most intimate bonding time with them has been funnily enough through changing diapers and for my wife perhaps it is feeding them. In my experience as a parent, kids can make a complete mess till they learn to use the bathroom and even then it takes them time to learn not to dirty their diapers or clothes. In our spiritual lives, that's what sin does and some of the saints even had the spiritual gift to smell sin on people. So just as babies need a mother or father when they get dirty, we need mother Church when we sin.

In the sacrament of Reconciliation, we go with the stench of sin on us and as a good parent would always welcome the child in such a situation and take them to be washed and cleansed, so also in this Sacrament, the priest who represents God and man listens to our sins and says "through the ministry of the Church, may God grant you pardon and peace and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen". The priest is using the authority given by Christ when he appears to the Apostles on Pentecost and told them "receive the Holy Spirit. Whose ever sins you forgive, they shall be forgiven and whose ever sins you retain, they shall be retained". In this sense, Confession is a spiritual diaper change where God our Father cleanses us and makes us clean and gives us the grace to avoid sin and be holy. However in my opinion, the costly price of this Mercy is the Blood of Christ, the holy Lamb of God. Yet, we must realize that no matter how many times we sin, Confession is free and limitless because the Mercy of God is free and limitless. Just as a parent will not charge the child money for a diaper change (imagine how crazy that would be!), and do it as many times and as frequently as needed, so also the Church will freely dispense of the Mercy and Grace of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Breast milk is actually produced by the alveoli taking nutrients from the blood of the mother. So this is paralleled by Christ giving himself to the Church by giving his Body and Blood for us. Pelicans are known in times of famine to feed their young by ripping their own flesh and feeding their flesh and blood. Thus they have become a symbol of the Eucharist. In this context, Eucharist gives us spiritual nourishment like nothing in the world can give. While breast milk and regular food which we as parents give our children is nutritious, there is only one food that can make us live forever, and that food is the Eucharist. I have found in my own spiritual life, that when I have been frequent to the Eucharist, I am much fortified in my challenge to avoid sin and live out holiness in my life. Hence Eucharist is considered the source and summit of Christian life. No wonder then, that I consider my time and effort in releasing the Mass Finder app a labour of love to do what is in my power to bring people closer to God through the Eucharist.

One of the great blessings in the spiritual life of our family is being part of a community of like minded people. All this started when Sancia was about 3 months old and my wife was at that time in her mothers house (an Indian tradition) and I wanted to make the right spiritual start to our now 3-member family and felt we both badly needed time together to reflect and meditate since the last few months was an arduous journey in our relationship as recently married couple. So we attended a retreat that immensely blessed both of us and enabled us to clear lots of issues with a firm resolution to turn a new leaf and work more towards making our family as God wants us to be. Now we are part of Couples for Christ, India where we get regular spiritual nourishment and opportunity to live our lives deeper in the Gospel.

I used to teach Sunday school catechism some years back and this year, since my little one is a few months old and little less dependent than she was, I decided it was time I answered the desire to share the faith through catechism again. When my kids were baptized, we became more fully conscious of our role and responsibility to bring them up in the faith. I feel that since I have a love for the faith and since that love has inspired me to study it over the years, I have almost an obligation to answer this call and inspire the young people in my charge to love their faith and grow deeper in it. Thus I share in a spiritual parenthood of the Church and of the Father who wants to all people them to himself. So there you have it, so many parallels which show how beautifully we can relate our Catholic faith to our own family relationships and especially to parenthood in a spiritual sense. That's why when Jesus was on the cross in his most important moments, he said "Woman, behold your son and son behold your mother" thus giving his mother Mary as a Mother for us all. Many of the thoughts for this article came while listening and reflecting on Mother Mary in this video, which I highly recommend:

Mass Finder: find nearby churches and services

On Pentecost this year, I released the Mass Finder app on the Android playstore along with the more generic Faith Finder app. Initially the app had about a hundred churches mainly in Bangalore and few others in India. But once the app got released I got requests from different places starting with Sydney, Australia and the Bay Area, California. Checking the search query logs, I found requests from other places including the Philippines and Singapore. To serve our users, the database grew and now we have over 17,000+ churches in 400+ cities in 200+ countries. Most of the common fields are based on the Google places search results including the GPS lat, long co-ordinates, the City, State/Province and Country, the Rating and the number of Reviewers.

If you do a "Find a Church" query, you get a list of nearby churches within a radius of 5-20 kilometers (you can select the range) sorted by proximity and you can click on the Car icon to allow Google maps to take you there (we do not believe in re-inventing the wheel and since G-maps does this job very well, we just allow it to help you get there). If you click on the > link, you get more information about the church, including Address, Contact details and Mass timings. These fields may or may not be present and we are on an ongoing mission to fill in these gaps. Here are the features planned in the upcoming releases:

1. On first use, collect preferences and provide quick help
2. Add Adoration and Confession schedules and provide "Find a Confession/Adoration" service
3. Provide the days Mass readings text or audio to help users prepare for the Mass and if it is in a different language they can follow the readings this way
4. If when a "Find a Church" or "Find a Mass" search is performed, there are no results in the vicinity and the church data is not present, inform the user and provide an option to probe using google to find nearby catholic churches. These may be added to the database after verification
5. Enable search of churches at different location from current GPS co-ordinates
6. Provide points and badges for volunteer contributors and promote when they earn badges
7. Integrate google sign in so that volunteers can just use their google id and not have to remember a separate username/password for their volunteer account
8. Provide a language list selection in preferences (currently single language is available)
9. Provide church verification and mass schedule verification option and also feature to report inaccuracies and out of date information

Faith Finder is the sibling of Mass Finder and is meant to be open to all Christians so that all can find their churches and join the services in their respective churches.

Many people helped bring this to where it is now, but especially I want to thank my wife and family for their support and encouragement and facilitating me to work on the app. I want to thank my friend Snehan Solomon for his initial contribution to the codebase and Kevin Rodrigues for early testing and feedback, Gideon Santiago for designing a beautiful logo and icon for the app (you can find Gideon's profile and work here: https://gidsant.myportfolio.com/work) and Amanda for sharing lots of data about churches and Mass timings in Bangalore. With the continued collaboration of our growing community of volunteers and helpers, I'm sure we will be able to improve the database and the app and bring many more people closer to God through the Church.

C4TKIndia 2014 :: Project Enabler

Dear friends,

It's been a long time (it always is) since I posted on this blog. But rest assured there's some powerful inspiration to do so for the glory of God. Today, it's been more than a year since the day I embarked an a journey for the differently abled. Last year, 2014, Code for the Kingdom www.codeforthekingdom.org organized the first Christian Hackathon in Bangalore at the Marriott Hotel on Vittal Mallya Road. On day 1, a number of official challenges were presented, one of which was the differently abled challenge. This challenge was presented by Dr. Chip Kingery of ProVISION Asia and I too presented my own project proposal, Service Finder, a mobile application to find any service in a place of worship. My idea was for a crowd-sourced application, and the technology I planned to use was AngularJS front-end on top of a RESTful API. Long story short, I teamed up with ProVISION Asia with inputs from especially useful inputs from Manju and Muniswamy, and ended up building the entire app alone, since by end of day 2, my 2 fellow team members, neither wrote a line of code for the front end which was assigned them. So on day 2, I basically coded the backend and that night, I went home and wrote my first AngularJS application using the Internet for reference working till 6am. I then took a 2 hour or so power nap and attended the morning Holy Eucharist at my parish, then landed at the hotel in time to prepare for the final presentation.

Sunday (presentation and demo day) For the morning and even after lunch, no one from my team showed up nor the team from ProVISION Asia. Since Dr. Chip Kingery also serves as a pastor, he did come in the afternoon perhaps with his wife though I don't recall if they were present for the demo. In any case, I gave it my best shot and presented a kind of technically sound case. When prizes were announced, the top prizes went to 2 groups who used audio-visual to good effect. One built a small app which talks Biblical words displayed on screen. The other big prize went to my friend and his team who built a Bible learning game for tiny tots. A participants choice award was also given out. Each of these prizes were of ~50k. OneHope also announced a special prize money of Rs. 50k to take forward projects for people with disabilities.

Charles (aka Dr. Chip) and Jean Kingery - co-founders ProVISION Asia

Fast forward a year since. I get a mail from C4TKIndia organizing another hackathon (v2.0) at the Fairfield Marriott. Later last year after the first hackathon, I had visited ProVISION Asia office and met Dr. Chip and his team of Krupa Paulson (manager), Manjunath, Muniswamy, Winfred Viren and others once there. I've seen their special school for children with disabilities. We had a simple lunch together sitting on the mat on the floor, Indian style and shared some fellowship. Post lunch I made a small presentation about the project for the benefit of the staff who were absent at the final demo at the Marriott. We discussed on a course of action. The team from ProVISION Asia agreed to prepare a set of questions and answers. I look at a list of features and we decided to co-ordinate. We decide that an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) can have a few basic features but most importantly, sufficient question and answers that can help people with disabilities. When last I heard from ProVISION Asia, no progress is reported on this.

Krupa Paulson with Manju

That same year, God blesses me with an opportunity to visit Silicon Valley for a project at WhiteHat Security. Before leaving for the short 2 month trip there, I attend a program organized by Christian Vision at their new software development center in Indiranagar area. Much against my wishes, I leave for Sunnyvale to spend a Christmas away from home. Royston flies from New York to Bangalore to spend Christmas season with my parents. Upon return to NY, Roy does drop into the Bay Area for a weekend in between and we drive to Los Angeles, visiting Universal Studios there. That's a crazy memorable weekend when he had to wake at 5am or something and singlehandedly do the 6 hour plus drive forth and back. On our return trip, we stop by at a restaurant at Santa Barbara for Pacific crab and super seafood. I return to India on Feb 1st after a hectic time at WhiteHat Security, Santa Clara, CA. The project has given me the opportunity to visit a couple of cousins and make some friends there.

Some time later, I see on facebook that Chip has made a trip to the US for his daughters wedding. Some months later I call him and as I congratulate him, he shares his joy in walking his daughter to the altar and then conducting the wedding service as a pastor. On my return to India, I assign to my staff, Maria Shalini, the work on Project Enabler to make it responsive so that it works on both web and mobile. No news yet from Chip or from ProVISION Asia on the prize money.

I also attend a follow up event at CV Global Bangalore office where I make a short presentation on the progress with Project Enabler. Dr. Chip is in Bangalore but pulls out reportedly due to some last minute scheduling conflicts. I meet the good people at Christian Vision, including Ben Scales and Alwin Daniel. Chip meanwhile has been telling me he's waiting for Ben to conduct a hackathon to build more features into Project Enabler. Still no news of the prize money.

So I anyway decide to attend this years hackathon, hoping to meet some people from last years. As a soldier of God, and a Christian in solidarity with all Christians, I attend the second hackathon. I pitch for Church Finder, to find churches based on Language, Geo-location proximity and denomination. Our team of 3, including Kingsley Fernandes and Snehan Solomon build something demo-worthy and present it on Sunday, day 3 of the hackathon. We win the 2nd prize of INR 10,000 in the best idea category. Neither Chip nor anyone from his team attend this hackathon though Chip is reportedly in Bangalore. After the event, I follow up with Code for the Kingdom and Christian Vision and OneHope, and learn that the prize money is to be transferred to ProVISON Asia and Chip. I received email confirmation to this effect from Ben Scales, representing CV (www.cvglobal.co). I therefore proceed to register a domain and put up Project Enabler with the hope to received 2014 prize money and use it to recover some of my staff salary expenses and to pay for the domain and other project costs. Till date ProVISION Asia has not contacted regarding what they intend to do with the INR 50,000 given them to take forward projects for people with disabilities.

Having shared this long story, I want to use this time to bless the Lord for the opportunity to give Him glory through my skills and talents. I write this with immense joy and gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ. Also in solidarity with the Lord, who wept for Jerusalem, he probably weeps for the corruption in some organisations which call themselves Christian, and also to strengthen you, my fellow brothers and supporters in my mission, because we know that Christ conquered sin and death and evil once and for all at Calvary, and as today is a Friday just like the special Friday we observe, the Good Friday, when Christ took up our own sufferings in his flesh and nailed evil and death on the cross forever, and rose again on the third day.

As a Catholic young man, I therefore boldly proclaim and join me if you do, that

For our sake he [Christ] was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

And we are a Resurrection people and hallelujah is our song.
And we will hold fast to the Sacred Tradition handed down to us through the Apostles,
And we young men will take up arms against Satan,
And with Christ our commander and St. Michael our captain,
We will fight to good fight,
We will run our race,
We will keep the faith.
Amen.

UPDATE: I've had sent an invoice to help ProVISION Asia claim the prize so that they can in turn pass on my part in the expenses incurred in paying for the development of the software application plus the maintenance charges. They eventually paid 20,000 of the 50,000 amount and I have not pursued it further.

He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, 
            And He will repay him for his good deed. - Proverbs 19:7

Merry Christmas - Thank You Lord

Father almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, of the great Universe with the stars and galaxies. We praise & glorify your holy name and exalt you for the wonders of your creation. I praise you for your great wisdom manifested in creation, the seasons and times, the great balance of all creatures. I'm humbled that even in this day and age when we humans think we have control, your power and greatness is manifested in the awesome celestial glory of the time zones and you've blessed me to travel great distances to reach unexpected places and placed unexpected blessings in my life. For all that you've done in my life this year and the times past, I praise & glorify your name. As I seek ever to know & love you more, you've blessed me with fulfilling my dreams and as I look at the horizon I know that

You are my portion and cup,
You alone are my prize.

I thank You, Lord Jesus my Saviour for being conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit and becoming Incarnate of the Virgin Mary and becoming man. I thank You  for living among us and allowing us to see Your glory, the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth. Therefore of all my hopes & desires, I realize that only You satisfy. I place my past, present & future in Your hands and say. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus.

The Keys to Divine Authority

This article is about keys. Keys opening up treasures in the depths of truth. Treasures that can be the find of a lifetime, of many lifetimes. The first key is the one to understanding the Word of God in Scripture. This is a key handed down to us through the sayings of Apostolic Fathers like Saint Augustine, who said "The Old Testament conceals the New, and the New Testament reveals the Old". Therefore the key he says, of understanding Holy Scripture is through the lens of unity, the all-encompassing, unifying vision of the giants of the past and present. Standing on the shoulder of giants, we can see several passages in Scripture which bring to light a deeper meaning when we view both Old and New Testaments, not as separate entities, but one unified whole, being weaved by none other than the hand of God, the ultimate author of the Bible.

Using this unified understanding of Scripture, I'd like to bring to your notice two mentions of keys in the -Bible, to reveal the deeper meaning of "handing the keys". The first, Isaiah 22:15-25,

Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace:
“I will thrust you from your office
and pull you down from your station.
On that day I will summon my servant
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;
I will clothe him with your robe,
and gird him with your sash,
and give over to him your authority.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah.
I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;
when he opens, no one shall shut
when he shuts, no one shall open.
I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot,
to be a place of honor for his family.”

I'd like to bring your attention to verse 22, easy to remember chapter 22 verse 22 - I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open. . It reveals the Jewish understanding of certain key phrases which will reappear in the New Testament. What is happening here is that God is supplanting one Prime Minister with another, replacing Shebna with Eliakim son of Hilkiah. God is telling prophet Isaiah to go and tell Shebna that he will be replaced by Eliakim:

"I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open"

Therefore, through these words, God indicates a transfer of authority - the authority of the House of David. In Jewish times, people were ruled by kings and the kings had a "butler" or Prime Minister, who had the authority of the king, who could act on behalf of the king. For example, when Joseph was in Egypt, he was invested with the authority of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Other passages of Scripture also talk about this. The second passage of interest is Matthew 16:13-20.

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 
Jesus said to him in reply,
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. 
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. 
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. 
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. 
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 

Here, Jesus tells Peter that he will be given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. This has two important implications, first that Jesus has the authority of the kingdom of heaven, or Divine Authority. Second, that Peter is actually being invested with this same authority - to act on behalf of Christ. It means that the very authority of Jesus Christ is given to Peter, who as the rock (Greek:Petrus) upon which Jesus would build his church, would have the power to bind and loose.

When Jews read the expression of handing the keys, when they heard the words of binding and loosing, they immediately understood a transfer of authority. This seems too much to fathom for many Christians, because today we find it hard to submit to an authority to interpret Scripture. Yet, to not do so would be to leave ourselves impoverished with a weak understanding of scripture. It would be a building without a foundation, because we would have no way to determine or confirm our interpretation of the Bible.

The Power of Holy Communion

Greetings, dear friends who have journeyed with me on this spiritual blog. Let me share with you a great secret, which can change your life and may even save the world. Yet, if you read the Church Fathers, or go through the documents of the Councils of the Catholic Church, you'll find that this has been the central belief of the Church for twenty centuries. What I am talking about is Holy Communion, also called the Holy Eucharist. It is a reality beyond normal human comprehension, something which we can understand to an extent, but beyond that , it is something which goes beyond the capacity of our minds. However, there is a way to understand this secret better - a simple word, which needs to be experienced to be understood properly .. LOVE, but not just any love, but more accurately, agape love (or Caritas in Latin - Deus Caritas Est was the first encyclical of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI). Agape love is the highest form of love. Agape involves total self giving to the other. The Eucharist is really an expression of the incomparable love which God has for us. The Bible is a beautiful book which tells us about this love, yet this love was not revealed in its fulness for so many thousands of years in the Old Testament, but only revealed in a person - the person of Jesus Christ. It is our privilege, that despite the hard times we live in, we have recourse to this great gift.

Recently I visited the United States, and while there, my brother drove our family (parents and myself) to Washington DC. During our time there, at one point, the roads were cordoned off by cops and suddenly there drove past us, a formation of sleek black cars with dark tinted windows. Everyone watched with bated breath to see if they could spot the President of the United States or another top official of the country. Come to think of it, we as a society (at least most of us) have accepted democracy and elected these leaders into office. Somehow a lot of people saw in Barack Obama a potential leader who could take the country forward. Whether you prefer democracy or monarchy, meeting the head of State is a unique experience which you will remember a long time, especially if your enthusiasm was returned by the kindness of the personality you met. But why am I talking about this? Because every human being, even if they have not experienced what I'm describing, can surely imagine such a meeting in their mind. But more importantly, because there is a King who is far greater than the President of the U.S or the Prime Minister of India. This King has dominion from one end of the Universe to the other. His rule has extended through all known time and continues on to eternity. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for mankind on Calvary and who waits for people like you and me in the Blessed Sacrament, in a vessel called the monstrance (picture at right) or in a place called the Tabernacle. The best part is, we have the privilege of meeting this king and He is never too busy to meet us. For every pinch of love we show Him, He pours out back into us an infinitely more overflowing portion of His limitless love, plus grace to face our crosses, and strength to withstand the trials of life.

How can it be you may ask, that the King of Kings can be present to us in a simple piece of bread? This is where we begin to enter into the infinitely great but simple secret. It seems surprisingly unlikely, but it is questions like this on our faith that have great truths behind them. The key to unfolding this mysterious reality is the love of God. To explain this, we must delve into the deepest kind of love which we can experience in a human context. When two people, a man and a woman are in love, the test of their love is when their relationship is tested by hardships. Many times young people marry and experience a strong bonding in their youth, where the physical attraction and also the complementary psychology of man and woman favours strong bonding during their time together. But as the initial excitement of their relationship wears off, and the passion of their first love wanes, their fidelity is put to the test. So even in this most beautiful form of human love, both partners are fallible humans and need to make a strong effort to remain faithful, but hats off to the couples who have stood by each other for many years, like my parents. Now applying this human love to a divine perspective, we can try to relate to the immense love of God has for us. When we see the Eucharistic Lord before us in what looks like a piece of bread to our human eyes, what we must meditate on is the humility of God. Because the unique thing about God's love is His absolute desire to meet us exactly where we are. God does not show His true power and majesty by taking an awesome form, though He is perfectly capable of doing incredible things. He takes a form like what Jesus took on the cross - humble and meek, speaking few words, but by His very actions, by His passion and suffering on the cross, He shows us how much He loves us. So the Lord we meet in the Blessed Sacrament is one who meets us in silence. Can we listen to Him speaking in the silence of our hearts? You may be a Catholic or a non-Catholic, but it does not matter who you are. What matters is your desire, your thirst. This is the fountain where God quenches the thirst deep within us - a thirst for love, a thirst to know that through our struggles in life, we are not alone. We are in the arms of a great, big, wonderful God.

Many young people have shared with me how certain activities in the Church, they think of as boring. But our human incomprehension is not to be taken as God's limitation. Perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects is the Holy Mass. But let me now give a very simple explanation of what the essence of the Mass is. The Mass has two parts - the Word and the Eucharist. The Word is about the Bible - God's message to us. But the Eucharist is about actually meeting the Lord Jesus in a very intimate way. The Mass is about fellowship. Recall the Last Supper. Jesus with the twelve, and Jesus breaks the bread and gives thanks to the Father and says take this and eat, this is my body. And likewise with the wine. Forget the Theological context, which is really very deep. First take a slice of what the Last Supper really was. It was really a most intimate fellowship meal. Now lets return to the Eucharist. Here, God meets us where we are in a more intimate way - in a fellowship meal. Imagine someone as great as God coming to your own house and what's more eating with you, or better still, Jesus has a house in your city and invites you to supper, where you are an esteemed guest at His banquet! This is the reality behind all the prayers during the Mass. This great meeting between God and us is what this was meant to be. We ought to be at a loss of words at this point. But a loss of words not because we are ignorant during the Mass, but because we are in the presence of such a great reality that no words are sufficient to explain it. The very experience of it is so great that living it as the Church has done through the centuries should be our mission.

And even if you are not a Catholic or have not otherwise have received Holy Communion, God is present to you with the same love, mercy, compassion and grace. He longs to be with you, even though He is God. He does not come in power, but in humility. Can you spend a moment to meditate on His awesome presence and His infinite love? No human experience in this life even comes close to the this. As has been said by Church through the centuries, the Mass is indeed the highest form of worship.

Travelling Memoirs - Pearl Valley

A week ago, my friends and I went on a trip to a nature spot, Muthyala Maduvu aka Pearl Valley, which is reachable via Bannerghatta Road. I recorded my thoughts in a poem:

Seeking nature's paradise we set out,
In the wee hours of a lovely Sunday,
Leaving the noise and buzz behind,
Taking some time off the grind.

Lazy city roads on a holiday morn,
Leaving behind lane and corner,
Blessing songs fill the ear,
As praise and thanks fill the heart.

It's the Sunday after Easter,
The feast of Divine Mercy,
Praying for release of forgiveness,
That our lives may be whole.

For while we free our bodies and minds,
Enjoying the beauty of creation,
We may enjoy freedom of spirit,
Healing of our inner being.

You created us, Lord, for Thee,
And in our hearts, we seek joy,
Joy that never goes out,
In the flame of your limitless love.

As we gaze on streams flowing,
Amid idyllic sounds of birds calling,
Life takes a breath, stands still,
Serenity of Your creation, Father.

Beautiful and without compare,
Your poem of creation, Father,
Your endless song surrounds us,
Can't we live this dream forever?

Nay son, this is just my creation,
My gift for your short sojourn,
But end it must and end it will,
For a new heaven and earth awaits.

Aye, I created you for eternity,
Your soul to outlast this earth,
Your earthly sojourn a cradle,
Before you're born to celestial courts.

Holy Father, sweeter than this earth,
Is to listen to Your timeless voice,
Sweeter than the songbirds,
Clearer than the pearly water.

We tarry near the gushing thread,
Of droplets turning pearly white,
Silvery streaks of sheer delight,
We taste the beauty You created.

Yet deep within we know that this,
Sweet reverie will but pass away,
Like all things of this earth,
And our very lives, breaths, heartbeats.

As we return to our grind,
There in our daily ordinary lives,
We know that this is the place,
You make the finest pearls of creation.

For our souls, Lord, in Your image,
Our deepest longing needs Your fire,
Fashioned and revealed on the Last Day,
We will be made Your pearls of delight.

The Challenge of Christ's Resurrection

Easter is arguably the greatest Christian feast, even more than Christmas. Both these great feasts are inextricably intertwined, because the purpose of Christ taking human form was to conquer sin and it's consequences through His death and Resurrection, to open the door to heaven for humanity. Easter happens once a year, still, it is not meant to get locked in a neat corner of our calendar, but remain alive in each moment of our lives. The Church clearly puts this before us, teaching that every Sunday in the Church's calendar (even the Sunday's in Lent) is a little Easter. Every Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. But what does this mean in our concrete lives?

In the early centuries after Christ, Christianity was an underground religion, banned in the Roman empire, because the Romans took refusal to worship the Roman gods and Caesar (the Roman Emperor), who was also considered a god, a sign of opposition to the state. They equated such worship as patriotism and for these Romans, refusal was taken as a public protest against the emperor and the state. The consequence of this misunderstanding was that many persecutions (state sponsored executions) of Christians were authorized by several emperors. Many Christians were martyred - tortured, burned, fried in oil, crucified, fed to wild animals - subjected to every kind of conceivable torture. Yet, Christian leaders - Bishops exhorted them to remain steadfast, encouraging them with the thought of the Resurrection - being raised to eternal life. So they marched to the lions serenely with a prayer on their lips and joy on their faces, glad to meet their Lord Jesus, to the confounding of bystanders.

For these early Christians faith in the Resurrection of Jesus meant courage to face suffering and death, bringing even peace and joy because of a firm faith of reward greater than anything even the emperor could offer. But what about us, who at least don't have physical danger, though we may face other trials? What difference does Easter make to us? There is a confounding fact of the Church today that is based on the Resurrection - something which many, even within the Church are confounded by - the Priesthood. When a young man leaves his hopes and dreams to embrace a life of celibacy, renouncing marriage and a career following his call to the priesthood, many question, doubt and refuse to accept it. But really if God wants the best for each person, why does he demand such sacrifices of a candidate to the priesthood? This is a very valid question and demands an answer, all the more today when scandal has increased the number of doubters and led to a very negative opinion of this ancient ministry. For the answer, we'll search the history of the priesthood, from its inception to through the centuries. What was it originally intended to mean, and how it has been understood in the centuries past.

The priesthood was instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, when he fulfilled the Old Covenant of the Passover in Egypt, by offering Himself as the Lamb of Sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. We see in the Acts of the Apostles, reference to the "breaking of the bread". So this became part of the worship of the early Church, because their leaders, being Jews, understood that Jesus was really instituting the New Covenant, giving new, richer meaning to the Old Covenant of Ancient Israel. So this was continued after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and has become the present day Mass. The early priests were called presbyters, who received this ministry through the laying on of hands, a practice which has continued to the present day. In the early Church, Apostles laid their hands and ordained presbyters. In the present day, Bishops, who are successors of the Apostles ordain priests by essentially the same rite.

The main function of priests (in any religion) is to offer sacrifice. In the Church, the sacrifice is really of Christ on the Cross. This is what it has been right from the beginning of the Church. At Calvary, Christ, the High Priest offered himself as a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. The essential uniqueness of Christ's Sacrifice was that He was the Priest, the Sacrifice and the altar of Sacrifice. Catholic priests, essentially carry on the priestly ministry of Jesus. They act in persona Christi - in the person of Jesus Christ when they celebrate Mass or hear Confession. The sacrifice of young men becoming priests can only be understood in the context of the life to come. Through their ministry, they make God present among people and provide Jesus own forgiveness for people. So their work really cannot be viewed in terms of material benefit, rather it is spiritual in nature. Their work is really directed to the life to come - they bring God and man together in this life so that man can live with God in eternal bliss in the next.

Catholicism in the sands of time

My Christian faith, for me, is one of the greatest gifts. So great, that I can't bear to keep quiet about it. So, I teach at Sunday school (Catechism) to share my faith with the beautiful children I meet there. A very interesting and amusing question I asked them is what is the meaning of the word Catholic.

Catholic means universal. And my next question to them: what does universal mean? Universal means applying to the whole world, to all people. A theme that appears repeatedly in the Catholic faith is the dissolution of boundaries - boundaries of all kinds. So it doesn't matter whether you are male or female, short or tall, Indian or American, black or white, everyone's invited, everyone's included.

A recurring theme in early Christianity is the transformation in the minds of those close to Jesus about the inclusive nature of the community He wished to be His own. The hints were there from Old Testament times, but became clearer and clearer during and after Jesus time. First, Jesus goes to foreign (Samaritan) lands and preaches to people, heals their sick, etc (the woman at the well, the Syrophoenician woman's daughter). He hints that the kingdom of God passes from those who were first called (the parable of the vineyard and tenants) to others.

During the Pentecost (early Church) period, the Apostles drastic perspective change is clear. Paul, restricted the Pharisaic Judaism of the strictest order is changed drastically after an encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. He changes from one hating all non-Jews to the point of persecuting them, to one embracing Christianity, and preaching to so many different people and helping establish Christian communities in many foreign lands - the Apostle to the Gentiles (non-Jews).

Peter also undergoes a sea change of attitude after a vision indicating God's desire for him to overcome his Jewish mindset to open out to "pagans". He witness the same gifts given to a Roman officer named Cornelius as were given to the Apostles, so that he understood that all were chosen people, not only Jews. However this demand of opening out to all people challenged these two great pillars of the early Church in a famous argument between the two.

The requirements of the Jewish practice of circumcision was not required in an all inclusive Christian community, but the vestiges of ancient practices caused Peter's preferential treatment to the circumcised. Paul mentions how he argued that this was unacceptable. Paul's experience on the road to Damascus was so drastic that he even argued with Peter for the equal treatment of non-Jews as well.

It may be said that these early challenges of clarifying the Church's stance to diversity and difference in nationality, race, etc, have remained challenges at every age and time, till the present day. Despite the challenge, I have seen and continue to see a great openness and universal inclusion in the Catholic mentality. Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador married a woman from the Americas, but he is just one of many. The ethnic mix in South and Central America, regions historically conquered and converted by the Catholic Spainsh and Portuguese varies between Hispanic, African and native American Indian. It is the same in Goa, India which has a Portuguese history and influence.

The Catholic Church is a worldwide family, with a father figure called the Pope. His role is closer to a protector than a dictator. His job not to impose his own will on the Church, but Christ's will. Christ's precise words to Peter were:

You are Peter (Kepha in Aramaic) and on this rock (kepha) I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not stand against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom and what you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth shalled be loosed in heaven

This entails the promise of Jesus that error will not creep into the Church. This is not personal error, but error in the Church's official teaching. Christ doesn't say the gates of Hades shall not stand against you (Peter).

Catholicism and the Lord of the Rings

Reading "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R Tolkien was such an overwhelming experience that had me glued for so many days. I borrowed a single volume edition of the trilogy and could hardly wait for the reading time before bed each day, journeying with the author into the lands of middle earth.

I'm not surprised therefore, to know of its overwhelming popularity - a survey by online bookstore Amazon gave LOTR the numero uno status, adjudging it the favorite book across countries and continents.

Fr Barron is the man behind http://www.wordonfire.org/, he's the exciting sensation on Catholic blogosphere, leveraging the power of the Internet to reach hungry online audiences through videos, talks, articles and other media. Catch him speaking on how Tolkien, a practicing Catholic, wove the story of the Lord of the Rings around his Catholic faith:

Part 1


Part 2

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

This past Monday brought to a close the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity", which started the previous Monday (January 18th). Each year at this time, Christians pray the prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed and that the Apostle John recorded in his Gospel [John 17:11].

I recently finished reading the book "Rome Sweet Home" by Scott and Kimberly Hahn, on their journey to the Catholic Church. Scott and Kimberly were Prebyterian Christians steeped in the Scriptures and faith and practices of their Church. Scott describes their journey to Rome as follows:

"In truth, the journey began as a detective story, but soon it became more like a horror story, until it finally ended up as a great romance story - when Christ unveiled His Bride, the Church."

Peter Kreeft, author of "Handbook of Christian Apologetics" says in the foreword:

"Because of the intrinsic drama of its subject - man's quest for his Creator and his for him - all conversion stories are worth listening to. But not all arrest you and sweep you along like a powerful river as this one does."

Scott writes that as he grew deeper in faith along his journey, he began to realize the great desire of God for unity in the Church - that all believers join together so that they share the communion with one another and with Christ and so that the world sees a visibly united Body of Christ. This, unfortunately is not so today.

It is for this reason, that every year from January 18th to 25th, we observe the "Week of prayer for Christian Unity". This observance began in 1908 with the "Church Unity Octave", an experiment started by Lewis Thomas Wattson (1863-1940), an Episcopalian, at Graymoor, New York, to encourage Anglicans and Catholics to pray together for unity in response to Jesus plea to the Father: "I pray that they may all be one" [Jn 17:21a]. Almost as tangible proof of the efficacy of this prayerful exercise, Wattson, together with the Society of the Atonement founded by him on 7th October 1898 entered the Catholic Church on 30th October 1909.

Does the claim that the Catholic Church is the one true Church sound egotistic and self-righteous? It is not so, because it is Jesus who established the Church. We cannot not follow Him. To deny that the Church that Jesus founded is the true Church would be egotistical. We have a duty to the seek the Truth and once we find it, hold fast to it and defend it. It is honest for people to argue for their faith, even if they think we are wrong. But it should be done with charity and respect for the other person.

Indeed we can learn a lot from someone who has come to the Church from without. Scott Hahn was so overcome by the richness of Catholicism, especially the Eucharist that he feels they (Protestants, though we should rather call them separated brothers and sisters) have the menu while we Catholics have the meal. As cradle Catholics, we have in the Church and the Eucharist, great riches, but how much do we really appreciate it. In fact, if we really did, we would prepare for it sufficiently - the lines for the Confession would be full. Why is it that so few come for confession on Saturdays not only at our parish, but everywhere?

It is upto us to work on our relationship with God daily. We need to pray regularly and read the Bible and go for Mass often, because without this, we cannot face the enemy on our own. Only with God's help and with Jesus by our side can we courageously face up to the challenges of living out our Christian vocation. How can we share something we don't have? We need to know Jesus more and more - through prayer, the reading of the Scripture, listening attentively to homilies and teachings, reading books about the faith and about the Catholic Church. We should know Jesus to the point of overflowing with the desire to share Him. Jesus is not happy to see so many of our separated brothers and sisters not part of His one Body.

Therefore I urge you, dear brothers and sisters to pray to God our Father for the unity of all Christians. We need to join forces because our enemies are not our Christian brothers and sisters nor any other people, but Satan and all his wicked plans. He comes only to steal, kill and destroy. We fight against our own selves to master the desires that take us away from God. This is our greatest need - to be made more like God. But we should be faithful and help each other by our prayers, life and witness. For Bangaloreans, the book "Rome Sweet Home" is available at Pauline Publications, temporarily shifted to Albert Street.

Do not worry about tomorrow

Ash Wednesday began the season of Lent, when the Church observes a 40 day period before Easter. Lent was earlier called the Quadragesima, which comes from the Latin word for forty. Lent means springtime. It is a time to renew our relationship with God - just like in spring everything blossoms with new life, so in our spiritual lives, we should blossom like new flowers.

Jesus said:

Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and everyone who seeks finds, and the door is open to anyone who knocks.

Which one of you hands his son a stone when he asks for bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you, then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will give good things to those who ask Him

Matthew 11:7-11

and:

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow nor reap. They gather nothing into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they? Can any of you by worrying, add a single moment to your life span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say "What are we to eat?" or "What are we to drink?" or "What are we to wear?"

Matthew 6:25-32

The common thread in both sayings of Jesus is faith. If one has faith, one would not worry about tomorrow, trusting that God will provide. The sisters of Missionaries of Charity, to name a good example, do not have any income other than donations from people. They live out this trust in Providence, and their needs are actually provided for. How difficult it is to actually trust everything to Providence.

Fasting is a way to leave aside the worry about food, and remember God. It helps to foster solidarity with those who have little to eat. By fasting or abstaining from things that we like, we live out the message of Jesus, that "life is more important than food and the body more important than clothing". We come to terms with what we really are - creatures of God, who enjoy all good things because of His Providence and Mercy, not because of our merit.

Avoiding things of this life that give us joy is one way of living our the sentiment to God that our real treasure is not the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the things we enjoy, but God Himself. God is far greater than any of these. We have the gift of faith, through which we know, more surely than anything else, that God will keep His promise to grant us eternal beatitude if we are faithful. We hope that we will see God face to face and spend eternity with Him, and we live with that hope always.

Prayer in preparation for Holy Communion

Dear Eternal Father, I thank You for sending Your Son Jesus into this world. Lord Jesus, if an earthly bride can prepare herself so much on her wedding day, how much more should I prepare myself to receive You, who are most generous and loving. You, Lord are more perfect than any husband, giving Yourself to die on the cross for my sins. Help me to observe faithfully the fast before receiving You in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Help me, Holy Spirit to prepare myself by remembering my sins, and help me to worship and adore the Lord with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul and all my strength. Help me, since only with Your help I can be faithful. I ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Prayer before listening to God's Word

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness."

Eternal and ever living God and Father, thank you for giving me the opportunity to listen to Your word. Send Your Spirit on me, so that I may know my faults and weaknesses through listening to this passage. Your Son, Jesus said:

"If you love God, you will obey His command."

Give me faith and love to carry out the lesson this scripture may demand of me, so that while I still have time, I may train and correct myself. May my sins be washed away through listening to these verses. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the You and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

The dignity and respect due to every person

Recently, the news channels brought to light, a violent attack by the Sri Rama Sene activists on women in a pub. Videos of them beating up the women, pulling their shirts were flashed. The women themselves reported being called by abusive names.

It is said that a society is judged by the way it treats its women. Mutalik, the head of the activist group, made a public statement saying that what was happening the pubs was not correct, saying that the attacks on the women was a good thing. I do not argue about the right or wrong of women drinking alcohol in pubs now. What I'd like to speak about is the dignity of every person.

In biblical history, events are recorded about the good and evil of many people. Adam and Eve, and Cain were given the freedom to choose good over evil. Adam and Eve were free to choose to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Cain was free to choose what he wanted to sacrifice to God.

God respected the freedom of these Biblical personalities. The people of Israel sinned many times. They broke the sacred covenant many times. God had a plan for them, that they would be redeemed if they turned back from their sins of their own accord. So God sent many prophets to warn them and ask them to repent. Finally God sent His Son Jesus, to save them from their sins.

Jesus loved the downtrodden in his time. He said his mission was to

bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
let the oppressed go free

- Luke 4:18

Surely, it is much harder to stand up for the weak, but that's what Jesus did.

What is the highest form of social justice? Is it to treat people as a crowd, as numbers that make votes in an electorate? Jesus spoke of people as sheep. Does it mean that they were like a crowd to him, since they are a flock? Nowadays, the word flock is used as a collective, without specifying or stressing on the individuality of the members. However, in Jesus time, a shepherd knew his sheep individually. What this means is that each persons individual personality, uniqueness is treated as such.

Jesus words about his people are:

Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice as he calls
his own sheep by name and leads them out.
- John 10:3,4

It is a very high form of respect to call a person by name, because a name is some thing that is very personal and individual to each person. It is something dear to a person.

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
- John 10:27

Knowing in the Bible is to have intimate knowledge, a deepest bond. It implies great concern and care of a person.

I consider it a great honour to know Jesus and be called His own. And a great joy to follow him. To follow him is a challenge, constantly requiring expansion of oneself. He demands showing respect and treating people with dignity and honour. A true follower of Jesus will treat others like Jesus treated them, with utmost respect. If God treats us with so much respect, regardless of our actions, loving and forgiving us unconditionally, can we be intolerant to others?

Thanksgiving after Vailankanni trip

I've just returned, with my father from a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Health, Vailankanni, Tamil Nadu. With deep gratitude, I thank Mary, Blessed Mother from my heart, for Her intercession for me, for my safety during the trip; and for living a holy life. The past couple of days have been a blessing, and I'm deeply grateful that I could spend them with a prayerful and penitential heart. Despite all the noise and bustle, these were excellent days for reflection due to the long hours away from the daily grind. I thank my Guardian Angel for his protection, and the Holy Spirit for His inspiration and courage, and the gifts He bestowed on me to make this trip spiritually enriching. I am awestruck to know how our Blessed Lord allows himself to be a little infant. He is present as an infant in the apparitions at Vailankanni, drinking milk offered by the poor boy. I thank Him for His great Sacrifice for the expiation of my sins. I thank the Eternal Father for His great love in sending us His Son to die for us. Glory be His name. I thank our Blessed Mother for her fiat, her "Yes" to God's will in Her life.

Hail King of Glory

Here's a poem of thanksgiving to Jesus I wrote during the Christmas of 2008:

The Holy King of all creation,
Leaving the halls of unspeakable glory,
With a heart of unspeakable goodness,
Comes to be born among us.

The High King, great and glorious,
What shall I play for Him?
The angels sing and glorify Him,
They blow trumpets in His royal courts.

He comes bringing great treasure.
A treasure that is not diminished by sharing.
The treasure of His golden heart.
The Master, humble and meek.

What sweetness awaits those who buy
From Him the unspeakable treasures,
The riches He has to offer,
Worth exchanging everything I possess.

Jesus is the King of Love,
For He sacrificed all for me.
How great my joy to sing,
To thank and praise Him unceasingly.

You, Lord are my greatest encourager.
Your words gladden my heart.
With pure unbounded joy,
A blessing in time of drought.

You that bled and died for me,
Who shed Your last drop of blood,
A most pure and holy blood
A price like no other.

For me, a sinner with bleak future,
Crushed by the sorrow I deserve for my sin.
You paid my price in full, my Saviour!
And rescued me from the jaws of death.

For the wages of sin is death,
But You, Innocent, suffered for me.
Can I not bear Your standard, my King!
Can I not fight the good fight today!

Hail King of glory exalted above,
Praised and blessed who gave me Your Mother,
To be Mother for me and for all,
Hail King of immeasurable greatness!

Christ my Light

Living in this world is a constant journey.
There are problems you thought were not there.
There is a place you do not know has thorns too.
Even after prayer and faith, the works of God,

There are burnt down embers of a beautiful forest.
That forest is our lives, sweet and true,
But the burning embers is the reality of life,
And the offering of our hands before our Lord.

But will we offer it to our precious Savior,
Who can change it and make it good?
Who can cleanse it for the better?
Who can take all the darkness away?

How long can a man bear a cross, I ask.
But how foolish am I when in false expectation,
I expect roses coming now, when my Lord is there,
Walking every step with me.

He it is who bears my cross each day,
To carry pain and remorse and huge burdens,
To have gone into the depths of sin and shame,
By coming here to us and conquering all.

Yes, my all-­conquering Savior is the light now,
My solace and peace and comfort and faith,
Each day he looks at me like he did the Cyrenian,
He's the one who bears the weight of my heart.