Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the virtue that is most difficult to practice. We forgive so that we may heal others and move forward. Forgiveness allows our hearts to stay open so that we may flow love rather than remain contracted. We must choose to be loving and contribute our love to the world. It liberates us from holding on to the past. Mark Twain rightly said, “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it” Let us try to be more forgiving though some times it hurts.

To be Truthful is to be Human

The birth of every child reveal that there is good in each human being. Truthfulness is innate in each human being. A person is good and truthful from birth but the society, which is a human creation, defiles the human being. Therefore we don’t find all human beings being truthful, but it is innate in each human being, and so we can say, “To be truthful is to be human.” I don’t restrict the word ‘Truthful’ to mean only ‘being realistic’ or ‘telling or expressing the truth.’ I want to see it in a broader perspective that is, being truthful is to be reliable or faithful, loving, kind, generous, patient and all human qualities which make a human being, a human being.

            For example we can say that lord Ram had all these qualities impregnated in him. He was told that he had to go to exile and he knew the reason why he was sent into exile. He was sent into exile due to the evil intentions of Bharat’s (Ram’s brother) mother, so that her son Bharat might become king. As we all know, when Bharat went to meet Ram, he (Ram) did not take revenge or have guilt feelings for Bharat. The lord Ram accepted Bharat with open arms and without guilt. He had love for his brother.

            In today’s world many people have taken the shortcuts in life. Many have adopted the insincere, unfaithful and untruthful life. They do many wrong things but deep down in their heart they hear the inner voice which I would call as truthfulness. It is as precious as a pearl, found in the oyster deep down in the sea. Once you get it you feel, you are the top of the world. In the same way truthfulness is also a pearl of great value in our life. Whoever discovers this pearl (truthfulness) has great value in life, and life full of values is a true life. We are called to live life to the full and we can live life to the full only if we are truthful to ourselves and to the people with whom we live. Being human is nothing but to understand other human beings and feel their feelings. Therefore to be truthful is to be human.

            “to be truthful means to be yourself.” Why do people take the wrong path? Because they messed up their lives and don’t have time to be themselves. Once we realize the treasure within, we don’t need to be accepted by others, because people throw stones at good fruit bearing trees and not at bad trees. In the same way if your inner self says something, you must do it. To hear our inner self we need to be by ourselves and in a state of calm. Many of the great people (Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Baba Ambedkar and many more) have become great because they have faced the difficulties and insults and strengthen themselves by hearing their inner voice telling them to stand firm in truthfulness.

            Nothing in nature is for itself, rivers don’t drink water, trees don’t eat fruits, the sun doesn’t give heat or shine for itself. Living for others is the true way of living human life. Many a time we take our lives for granted, which is very bad on our part. Big buildings are built with small bricks. In the same way we must enjoy the little things in life, for one day we will look back and realize the they were the big things. The habit of being truthful needs to be taken care of at the beginning then only in future life, one can start living a truthful life. Truthful life is the identity of living a true human life.

            People, who understood the true value of life, lived their lives to the full and lived it truthfully and meaningfully. As William Penn rightly said, “I expect to pass through life but once. It therefore, there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it , as I shall not pass this way again.” Keeping his (William Penn) words in mind whoever lives, lives to the full. Understanding all aspects of life and balancing ones life “is to be a truthful human being”   

Simplify Life

Life is not so simple, it is complicated. Who make the life so difficult? God created the life simple, but it is we who make the life complicated. Some one rightly said, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

     When I think about the village life, it is quite simple. Being a religious I too am called to learn to live a simple life. when life is less complicated, we feel more balanced and peaceful. Let us strive to live a simple life.

Sharing

Buddha says, “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” It is very true when you share you double your happiness. There is much to share in both the inner and outer aspects of life and there are many different ways in which to share. We can share what we have, and what we know, but most of all we can share who we are from the heart. 

Respect Others’ Views

Man can not live in isolation and so he needs others’ help to survive in life. We know that we need others’ help, and so we need to respect others’ views too. If we don’t respect others views than we are contributing in the culture of use and throw. We don’t respect the person but we respect him because of our own selfish motives. In this way we objectify a person.

     For the sake of humanity, we need to respect others and their views. Once we learn to accept and respect others view, we can do the things in a very creative way. When I involve others I get many ideas and in this way I can be more creative. So let us accept and respect others views and be more creative.

Receiving

Every good turn of ours is received by some or the other living beings. Ivan Panin rightly said, “For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.” We need to honor this in our own self by being open to receive what the others have to offer us. Every day we receive many things from God but we take them for granted. God has blessed us with senses and we receive many things through our senses but we fail to realize them. today let us be aware of the things we receive from others and be thankful to God.  

Patience

Many a time we want things to be done as we want, we don’t accept things as they are, and we want them immediately. We don’t have the patience to wait.

     We need to remember that when we are impatient, we feel irritated, angry and sometimes say unkind things that we later regret. In this way we hurt many people and break many relations. We are grateful when others are patient with us, so let us take a deep breath and take a resolution to  practise patience.

Honouring Agreements

“Your life works to the degree you keep your agreements,”- Werner Erhard. All of us want respect and dignity in life. Respect and dignity come when we keep our words and agreements. It is dishonoring of both ourselves and others when we don’t honor an agreement, whether big or small. If we do what we agreed to do, we are living with integrity, honesty and authenticity. By honoring agreements we stay balanced and create balance in the world we live in. let us keep our words and promises and create a balanced world.  

Have Fun

Some one rightly said, “The more fun you have, the greater your value to yourself and to your society. The more fun you share with others, the more fun you have.” We went for our Hike last Sunday to a place call Sinnar. We really had a good time there; hiking, playing, doing some action songs and having fun together.

     The end of day was really a tiring one but we really had a lot of fun. Now I believe that the more fun you share with others, the more fun you have. Once you know how to share your happiness with others you can have lot of friends and  more fun.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the virtue that is most difficult to practice. We forgive so that we may heal others and move forward. Forgiveness allows our hearts to stay open so that we may flow love rather than remain contracted. We must choose to be loving and contribute our love to the world. It liberates us from holding on to the past. Mark Twain rightly said, “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it” Let us try to be more forgiving though some times it hurts.

Family

The family is an institution for society. It shapes the society, because it is the workshop where characters are shaped and the garden where all virtues are planted to bloom in future life. So let us enjoy our family life and improve our societies, our country and the world at large.

Understanding

Understanding is an important aspect of human life. It starts from the self; I need to learn to understand my self. I need to understand my own feelings and emotions. I must learn to understand myself in good as well as bad situations. Once I know to understand myself, it is easy to understand others. When you understand others you create peace and harmony in them. When I understand myself and those in my world, I am working for the peaceful world. Let us understand our own selves and strive to build a peaceful world.

Mother Mary’s love

Stories are the best way to remember things. So here is a story to show how great the love is of our mother for us.

            After the death of Saint Paul, he went to the heaven and asked his other friend, John, “where is mother Mary?” John replied, “She is in hell.” Saint Paul was shocked and he asked, “What is she doing there?” Saint Paul took Saint Paul to the window. Saint Paul saw that mother Mary had a glass of water in her hands and she was giving water to those, whose tongues were totally dried and who were crying for water. Mother Mary was dropping the water in their mouths.

            Dear friends mother Mary loves us so much that she doesn’t want any of her children should go to hell. And suffer in the fire of hell.

            Being a Christian God has chosen us to save other souls too. First we have to save our souls then only we can help mother Mary in saving others soul. Mother Mary wants us to live with God.

            Without God our week is like; mournday, tearsday, wasteday, thirstday, fightday, shatterday and sinday. So let us allow God and mother Mary to he with us everyday of our lives.  

Mary is present at the hour of our death.

Mary is particularly present at the moment of our passage from this life to eternal bless. In the second part of ‘Hail Mary’ we pray: “Holy Mary, Mother of god, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” It is a simple request, but a sincere one. We know that at the hour of our death we are sinners and we need Mary’s help. She is the expert in that hour. She herself faced it with serenity. She had prepared herself for it throughout her life, living each moment as if it was an eternity. Mary was present at the hour of Jesus’ death before he said, “It is finished” and gave all humanity to his mother as her children. It was the will of her son that she should take care of us throughout our lives and at the hour of our death. Just as she took care of Jesus, she will take care of all the children that Jesus has assigned to her.

     We pray for this everyday. Three times during the Angelus we pray and fifty times during the recitation of the Rosary she is reminded to come to our aid at that unknown but decisive hour. Mary will certainly not miss her appointment.   

God gives word to speak

Once upon a time a poor Hindu man went to the church. He liked the prayers and the way people worship of God. He started going to the church everyday. Once he expressed himself to the parish-priest, and requested him to baptize him. The parish-priest saw that the man was firm in his believe about Jesus, he baptize the man.

     The head of the village was upset about the man conversion. He reported the case to the court. The man was presented before the court along with the priest. The judge questions the man, “The priest has converted you to Christianity?” The man replied, “Why can’t I become a Christian by my own will?” the judge asked him another question, “has the priest given you this cycle for becoming a Christian?” The man replied, “Why can’t I buy the cycle with my own money?” then the judge got angry and told him, “so the priest has taught you how to answer the questions?” The man replied, “Have you told the priest that these were the questions that you were going to ask me?” the judge had no answer to this.

     So dear friends if God has given you some task, don’t worry He will provide you with words to speak.

      

I am only…

Many a time I think, how can I do this thing? I am only a cleric. How can I do that I am only a student, and the list goes on. This happen, may be because I have low self-esteem.

      On the other hand one can take this as the only means to escape from responsibilities. When you don’t want to do certain things, you may say that, “It is not in my hands because I am only…”  If you don’t give bribe, this tend happen mostly in government offices. Not only that, but if we are not careful it may happen in our own lives. We may find ourselves living life half heartedly.

Heaven on earth

Heaven is not a physical place, located perhaps on a planet at the edge of the universe. Heaven is God’s loving space and it exists wherever he is. In Scripture and Christian history the very word “Heaven” speaks of God’s presence. For example (Gen. 28:17) Heaven surrounds us because God is in everything and is with us. When God touches our lives he acts not from a distant place above the sky. He reaches out to us from heaven, his living space with us, that is, his presence

God created evil

God is master and creator of all things. He knows what is good and what is evil for His creature. He knows that his creatures are weak and they may fall into temptations. He knows that it is His creation and He need to be there with His creature always. He also knows that some of his creatures would neglect Him. He has given free will to his creatures. He respects the will of his creatures.

     God created shadows; it was in order to better emphasize the light. In the same way God created evil, in order to better emphasize the good. So the evil which we see in the world is purely created God. He is responsible for all these sufferings in the world. This is what people believe in the present situation.

      But what I believe in, contradictory to present situation. No, God is not purely responsible for the sufferings in the world. But I believe that we contribute in creating evil in the world. God loves us so much that he even gets good out of evil for us so that we may realize the goodness of God. We tend to forget God’s goodness and again embrace the evil and deny God. But God still loves us. 

I have no hands but yours

God so loved the world that he sent his only son for our salvation. We so hated God that we killed his only son. After his death on the cross it is not over but just begins. It is just begin by Jesus begging with us. He says, “I have no hands, but yours my son. That’s why I come into your hands each morning. Lend me your hands so that I may still work wonders in your life as well as in the life of people you love and hate.” Let us heed the pleading of Jesus and allow him to work wonders in people’s lives.

Love of the Lord

There is only one love that is the love of the Lord. All other loves are sparks of that divine love. One day a spark of love (that is my friend) sent me a card on my birthday. In it she had painted: “today I caught myself smiling, and I wondered why! Then I realized that I was thinking of you. It is your birthday.” I wrote back, “These days I too catch myself smiling often, but then I don’t wonder why. For I know that I am thinking of you, and that you are thinking of me too.

     Then, when I was praying a thought came to my mind about God and I asked God, “do you lord, catch yourself smiling when you think of me? I think God must often find himself smiling while thinking of me. For I know and he can’t possibly hide it from me that he is in love with me because I am too in deep love with him.

Time Is a Gift

Imagine that you have won the prize. And each morning your bank would deposit 86,400 Rs/ in your private account for you to use.
However, this prize has some rules, just as any other game has certain rules.
  The first set of rules would be:
Everything that you don’t spend during each day would be taken away from you.
You can not simply transfer your money into some one else’s account, but you can only spend it.
Each morning when you getup, the bank opens your account with another 86,400 Rs/ for that day.

  The second set of rules:
The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say,
it’s over, the game is over!
It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.
  What would you do about it?
You would buy anything and everything you wanted, not only for yourself, but for all people you love, right?
Even for people you don't know, because you cannot possibly spend it all on yourself,
you will try to spend every penny, right?
  ACTUALLY, this GAME is a REALITY!
 Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank. Many a times we just take for granted.
 

  The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!
Each morning when we getup we receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us. What we haven't lived up that day is forever lost. Yesterday is gone forever.
Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time.... without warning.
  So, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?
 Don’t they worth more than the same amount of money?
Think about it…
Enjoy every second of your life, because time flies so fast than you think.
 
So take care of yourself, be happy, and enjoy life!

  Good Day to you all…

The Apple

Recently I was reading a book called “Wit and wisdom of good pope John 23^rd. as we all know that he was a Pope with humor. I want to share a joke which I read in his book and so joke goes like this; once at a banquet the Apostolic Nuncio to France found himself seated next to an elegant lady in a dress cut over generously low in the neck. When dessert was served, he invited her to take the apple which he held out to her. Since the lady showed surprise at this gesture, Msgr. Roncalli added: “do take it , Madam, please do. It was only after Eve ate the apple that she became aware of how little she had on!”

Thursday walk

Some one rightly said, “Where there is a hill there is a valley, where there is winter there is spring.” Life is just full of unexpected joys as it is of unexpected sorrows. Today when I went for my Thursday walk, I encountered rich people as well as street vendors and beggars. I could see joy upon some of them and sorrow upon the others. Many of them believe in living one day at a time. Many of them have no choice but to take up such job for their survival. I could do nothing but to pray for them. I went further and to my surprise I saw a woman from a middle class family. She removed her Tiffin and gave some of her food to poor ladies who were sitting at the edge of the road. This incident made me reflect about God’s love. God shows His love to the poor and invites us to do the same.  

Suffering in the world

What is human life? Is human life all about sufferings, pain, and evil? Where is God, when all this things are happening in the world? In a way we are responsible for sufferings, pain and evil in the world. We can not blame God for everything. Creating heaven or hell in this life as well as in the next is in our hands. To create heaven, we need the grace of God. To answer the above questions, God might tell us, “ I made you to bare witness to my love.” Another question may arise, what can we do? How can we change the world? The son of God came into the world and sacrificed himself for us. Being the son of God, he did not change the world but left it to us because he respected our freedom. How can we change the world without going against others freedom? We need to change the hearts of the people we live with. We can change the hearts of others with the help of God. 

Pornography

When I think about the term pornography, a question arises in my mind. What is pornography? Pornography is not sex. Sex in itself is good. Sex includes sensing, touching, caressing and it involves the whole person. In pornography these elements are missing and so the pornography is not good. Pornography is taking advantage of someone else’s pain, suffering, dignity and vulnerability. It is dehumanizing because it objectify person, there is no respect and so on. It is not healthy sexual communication but it is all about male domination of women.

     There are many negative impact of pornography. Here some of the negative impact; erectile dysfunction, numb pleasure response, erosion of will power, loss of our ability to imagine. It conquers our mind and invades our brains. Once it conquers our mind, our perspectives about people changes. We see people as an objects.

Parallel virtues connected to Salesian life.

We as Salesians value virtue ethics though many a time we failed to practice. In virtue ethics we consider human person rather then one’s actions. Being human we are weak and we fall into temptation of judging people merely on their actions rather then looking at a person as a whole with his/her limitations. Virtues are habits that shape our characters, and vices are the habits that in some way cause an obstacle to reach happiness. We Christians cultivate good habits at home, in our families. As Salesians we continue those good habits and cultivate some more in order to be an example for the youngsters in our oratories and apostolate. To be a good religious especially in today’s world you need to be virtuous man/women. In other words we can say that virtue plays a key role in the life of a consecrated person. Telos is the centre of virtue ethics. As a Christian or a religious my Telos is God. As a chosen one my Telos is radical following of Jesus. The question arises here is; what about people who are not religious? Not all are called to follow Jesus in the same way as a religious do, but all are called to make this world a prominent place. Some of the practices we follow as Salesians help us reach our Telos. For example the Salesians are known for their hardwork, dedication, joy and optimism. In this way we Salesians not only direct ourselves towards the Telos but also lead other people towards it.

Our Common Home

Human Beings are created in the image and likeness of God. We are the pinnacle of His creation; therefore we have tremendous responsibility of taking care of all things created by God. Today we speak about loss of biodiversity. Each year thousands of plant and animal species disappears, which we will never know and which the coming generation will never see, because they are lost forever.

     We must consider the sun as our brother, moon as our sister and the earth as our mother. We must keep our ears open to the cry of our mother earth. We must be ready to stand for our mother earth. We must protect and create awareness for our common home. It is our common home because every one has the right to make use of it. In order care for our common home we need to get rid of use and throw culture.     

My vision on human life

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”-Bil Keane. We humans prefer to live in history and mystery but fail to live in the present, which is the gift of God. In this way I too fall into temptation by living in history and mystery, I too neglect the gift of God. God plays a key role in human life, without His grace and support human life is futile. The question arises, what about the atheists? At present the number of people who don’t believe in God is increasing. People lose faith in God due to the difficulties and trails they face in life. They give up on God but God never gives up on them. The motto of human life must be ‘love’. Love can take away all our sorrows and pain. It is very easy to say that we must love even our enemies but it is very difficult to practice in life. If we live our lives loving others, it is really beautiful. Why do I say that we must love, because I believe life is a journey, once you pass by it, you can never come back to it. Leave your legacy in such a way that people may remember you for the good that you have done and not for bad.

     In my life, I ask God ‘why me lord, why this burden in my life.’ I fail to realize that life is a beautiful journey with the colorful sides, some times bright, sometimes dark or both dark as well as bright. I fail to realize that life is a beautiful gift given to us by our heavenly father. It is a free gift, we never choose it, but it has been given to us. Therefore what we do with this free gift is more important than asking the lord ‘why this burden.’ We are needed where we are, as in the heavens; each and every star fills the appointed space. So we fill that place, where God has need. Many a times I wander why am I not like the other? I always compare myself with someone better then me and fail to use the potency to become good which God has blest me with. This article helped me to reflect upon my own life and be thankful to God for very many blessings in my life.

Learning something new

Learning something new

We had many priest in our campus this week. They were making their annual retreat here. Every night, different priest would give the good night talk. Once father Joel spoke very well about looking at things with different perspectives. He shared a story. A man named Tom used to work in a company. Everyday he would carry some hey in a wheelbarrow. The security would come and check hey and let him take hey. This would happen everyday. Once Tom’s friend asked him why he would carry hey in the wheelbarrow everyday home and get it back with same stuff. Then Tom said that actually he would rob the wheelbarrow everyday but the security guard used to think that he would carry something else under the hey. So he would check everyday.

      Let us change our perspectives of looking at things and learn something new everyday. Not just get stuck to one idea. 

The nature … God’s creation

 When I see the world around me, many questions trigger my mind. The first question that comes to my mind is; what God must be thinking about His creation? I think God too will have many questions for us. Some of the questions that He would ask is; “Do you know who am I? I am somebody you live with everyday though many a times without realizing it. Somebody who wants what is the best for you and what is essential in your life. Without me you can do nothing and you won’t manage to live, though many a times you are not aware of that. But for my misfortune, you don’t respect what I give you. I have given you this clean and wonderful nature, full of colors and beauty. Why do you give me back dirt, wrappers and polluted things? Why did I give you living creatures… to kill? to experiment? to satisfy your selfish motives? Don’t you like them? Don’t you respect them? I gave you life… do you give me back death? Is that the legacy that you want to leave to your children? Do something for me, for you and for everybody. If you don’t do it, who will? If its not done now, then when it will be done?” This is the cry of God so let us heed His cry and do something about it.    

The mother earth

 ‘The Seven Wonders of the World.’ Can you tell me which are the present ‘seven wanders of the world’. (1. Egypt’s great Pyramids, 2. Taj mahal, 3. Grand canyon, 4. Panama canal, 5. Empire state building, 6. St. Peter’s Basilica, 7. China’s great wall). Do you agree with this answer? But I don’t agree with this answer. I am totally confused, because I find myself with a big list of wonders. Finally I have to select the best ones among them and so the seven wonders of the world for me are; “1. To see, 2. To hear, 3. To touch, 4. To taste, 5. To feel, 6. To laugh and 7. To love.”
  So my dear friends, wonders of the world are within us, we need to realize them. Let us be the cause of happiness for other people and let them know that they are loved. Let us thank God for blessing us with these wonders, and be sensitive to the needs of others and be sensitive towards our mother earth.

Trustworthy Friends

Friendship is needed for every human. Every heart needs friendship. It is said,”Friendship is a ship which never sinks. It is true, it you get such friends be grateful to God and to them. true friends are the friends, when you have nothing to give them, when you are in need, when difficulties surround you and when the world goes out of your life and they come in to make you feel God’s love is great, they are the true friends. Therefore it is appropriate in saying, “Birds that live in a lake will fly away when the lake dries up, but the lotus in the same lake dies with the lake. That’s the commitment in friendship. If you have trustworthy friends be thankful to God, for every life in this world is painted by God’s own hand. He pained your friends’ life, so that whichever color is missing in your life, you may take from them. All beautiful flowers beautiful the garden, in the same way all friends put flavor in our lives. Trustworthy friends are like a golden sunbeam, chase the clouds away and bring some precious moments to treasure. In the biographical memoirs of st. John Bosco (vol.1) Louis Comollo said to John Bosco before his death: “Friendship does not consist only in complying with a friend’s request during life but it also means carrying out after death whatever has been promised.” We know how they carried it out even after death. So have trustworthy friends and enjoy your life to the brim.

I Ask For a Little O Lord I don’t ask to have faith like Abrahem But I ask you to increase my faith to remain faithful to you Lord I don’t ask to have strength like Samson But I ask for a little strength to carryout your mission Lord I don’t ask to have wisdom like Soloman But I ask for a little wisdom to draw people towards you Lord I don’t ask to have a call as the call of Samuel But I ask you to help me listen your calling Lord I don’t ask to have a vision like Zechariah But I ask you to help me understand your will in my life and remain close to you.

Quotation of King Darius “He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is simple. Teach him. He who knows not, but knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him. He who knows, but knows not that he knows, is asleep. Wake him up. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise. Follow him.”- King Darius of Persia. While reading this few sentences for the first time, I was delighted but latter on when I reflected upon them, a question triggered my mind. ‘What about man who knows not but still pretends that he knows all?’ The answer is; ‘he is a deceiver.’ He deceives others as well as his own self.

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