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Yoked to Jesus

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“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” †  Mathew 11: 28-30  What is the labour and burden that Jesus is asking me to deal with? Perhaps I have to let go of the compulsive burden (or is it a sort of entitlement?) that my spouse and children should choose a spiritual path that I know to be right. Jesus accompanied Judas Iscariot to the very end but never deprived him of his freedom to choose his own destiny. Jesus on the other hand, uninterrupted by Judas's choice to reject him, continues to accomplish his mission. He does become a victim of Judas's betrayal but he seldom takes on the victim's identity. In divine wisdom, Jesus chooses to die in our place (and that of Judas) in a redeeming act of love. Rather than being compelled to fix those whom God has entrusted to my headship by m

അലിഞ്ഞില്ലാതാകട്ടെ ഒരു നറുമണമായി...

എന്തിനെന്നറിയാതെന്‍ മനം തേങ്ങി എന്തിനോ വേണ്ടി തിരഞ്ഞു മൂകമായ് ലഭിക്കുന്നതോന്നുമല്ല നിനച്ചതെ-  ന്നുരച്ചു മറ്റെന്തോ തിരഞ്ഞലസമായ് പറന്നുയരാന്‍ കൊതിച്ച കിനാവുകളെല്ലാ-  മെന്തെ ചാരത്തടര്‍ന്നു വീണൂ മൊട്ടിട്ടു പൂവായ് കാണാന്‍ കൊതിച്ചൊരാ തളിരുകളിനിയും തളിര്‍ക്കില്ലെയോ ഒറ്റക്കിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ഓര്‍ക്കുവാനായി കുറിച്ചിട്ട കുറിതങ്ങള്‍ മാഞ്ഞതെന്തേ മാമകചിത്തത്തിനലസമായലയാനീ മരുവിലുമില്ലോരല്‍പ്പമിടമതെന്തേ കൈവിട്ടതല്ല നീ എന്നെ എന്നേക്കുമായ് എന്നോര്‍ക്കുവാന്‍വെമ്പുന്നോരെന്‍ മനമേ അരുതാത്തതൊന്നും നിന്നഗതാരിലിനിയും അലസമായ് അലയാന്‍ അനുവദിക്കരുതെ മനസിന്‍റെ ദൌര്‍ബല്യമെല്ലാമിനിമേല്‍ മനസിന്‍റെ നൈര്‍മല്യമായിടട്ടെ മനമേ ഒരുങ്ങൂ നിന്‍ മണവാളനായി ചാരത്തണയുമവനിനി നിന്‍തുണയായി നീ മാത്രമാണെന്നാത്മാവിന്‍ ആലംബം നീ തന്നെ സര്‍വവും എന്‍ലോകമതും നിന്നെ പിരിഞ്ഞിരിക്കുവാനാവില്ലിനിയും മമഗേഹത്തിലണയൂ നാഥാ വേഗം എന്‍ ആലാപം നീയേ, ആരാമം നീയേ ദേഹിക്കു തണലേകുമരയാലും നീയേ നിന്നുടെ ചാരത്തണഞ്ഞു ഞാന്‍ മെല്ലെ യലിഞ്ഞില്ലാതാകട്ടെ ഒരു നറുമണമായി

പരിമിതനാമെന്നെ ഒരുക്കണമേ

കലുഷിതമാമെ ന്നുള്‍ത്തടങ്ങള്‍ എരിയുന്നിതവിരാമമീമരുവില്‍ ചെയ്തികളൊക്കെയും തെറ്റുന്നു പാടെ മൊഴിയുന്നതൊക്കെ മുറിവേല്‍പ്പിക്കുന്നു എന്നില്‍ എന്നിക്കുള്ള വിശ്വാസമെല്ലാം കാലഹരണപ്പെട്ടു പോയീ നിസ്തുലം കഴിയുന്നില്ലേ മാനുഷാ  നിനക്കീ ജീവിതം നിന്നുടെ തുണയോടൊപ്പം? ആശ്വാസ മാകേണ്ട  നീ ഇന്നവള്‍ക്കൊരു ഭാരമായി  തീര്‍ന്നുവോ ചിന്തിച്ചു നോക്കൂ തെറ്റിയത് മകനേ അവള്‍ക്കോ, നിനക്കോ? അറിയില്ല സോദരാ, ഈ നാള്‍ വരേയ്ക്കും പരസ്പരം ഉണ്ടായ പ്രശ്നങ്ങളെല്ലാം പരിഹരിക്കാനായി ശ്രമിച്ചീടുകില്‍ പഴയതിലും നില മോശമായി പരിണമിക്കുന്നു എന്നത് പരമ സത്യം വേളിക്കു മുമ്പൊക്കെ നാട്ടുകാര്‍ക്കെല്ലാം ഉപദേശം നല്‍കിയ ജ്ഞാനമൊക്കെ ഇന്നെന്‍റെ കാര്യത്തില്‍ ഉപയോഗ ശൂന്യമെ ന്നാരോട് പറയാന്‍ ആവുമെനിക്ക്‌ എങ്ങനെ മാറണമെന്നറിയാനായ്  യേശുവിന്‍ ചാരത്ത്‌ താഴ്മയായി പ്രാര്‍ ത് ഥി ച്ചതൊ ക്കെയും വ്യര്‍ഥമായോ? അറിയാന്‍ വിതുമ്പുന്നു മമഹൃദയം കേള്‍ക്കും നീ ഒരുനാളെന്‍ മന:ഗദ്ഗദം കാണാമറയത്തെ കാരുണ്യയമേ കാരണമാവണേ എന്‍ വ്യഥകള്‍ തരളിതമാം നിന്‍ മനസലിയാന്‍ പ്രതീക്ഷകളില്ലാതെ സ്നേഹിക്കുവാന്‍ പാ

Subservient disposition

The undignified life of a slave is despicable!   Yet the truth is that every one of us is a slave. We are slaves either to what hold us in bondage or what sets us free. Our well being as slaves depends totally on the character of the master we serve. When we cover our eyes and pronounce darkness as our new master, the Light does not abandon us, but lingers through time, looking to dispel the darkness we retracted to, and re-expose us to the reality of true freedom. Freedom for a slave was possible only if someone paid the owner a huge price in exchange of the slave and then sets him free.  Jesus paid the price. He paid it with His own blood and redeemed us. It took the son of God, a role shift from “the creator” to “created”. From an embryo in the virgin’s womb to an adult, chiseling out grains of wood to make a living.  From a nomadic teacher who dared to question the fallacy of prominent men to the One who would finally restore all that is corrupted and convoluted though an uncond

My daily bread

It's not about Roti and Daal. Jesus categorically said, do not worry about what to eat. We can be as inattentive to this as we are to our growing nails. This is because there are some real things we should be mindful of. Consider an Artist, his Brush and the Painting. As time goes by, what remains and matters is the Artist and the  Painting, not the Brush. No body says this painting was done by the nylon, fan round, flat, size 8, French made, brown Brush. The Artist is God, I'm the Brush, The Painting is my life, a master piece in the making. In another words, Jesus is saying, be mindful of the Artist and the Painting and don't worry about the brush too much. "Give us today our daily bread" alludes to our need for a daily doze of nourishment to translate, a day in our life into a fine stroke of the Artist on the canvas of life. In simple terms, the need for a personal time with God on a daily basis. Since this is all about a relationship, Let us refer to God

Euphoric resonance of success

Success comes to anyone who allow God to work in them. This is guaranteed despite our size, shape, intelligence and competence. As I finished talking, people rise to their feet to applaud what they just witnessed and I walk away with great sense of achievement. I dwell in this euphoric resonance of success and own it completely as my own. I let God, who granted me success, fade in the background to oblivion. Every event is good for itself. After we have done well with one, we must move on, preparing for the next. If we get stuck in the aura, success generates, we miss the possible new life that Jesus offers through death and resurrection. It puts us on the offensive if someone challenge this success. On the contrary if we alienate ourselves from the success and admit that God used me that moment and I did my best by being available, with no agenda of my own, I can move on with out a hangover. Any reaction to my success then, be it positive or negative amounts to my growth into the

The final flight

Finally, a remarkably beautiful butterfly emerges from the cocoon. The other stages of this metamorphosis are the embryo, caterpillar and chrysalis. These stages are rather uninteresting and painful compared to the beautiful butterfly that it finally becomes. Yet inevitable. As a human being I too have these stages. An embryonic stage, gestation time, infancy, teenage, adulthood, old age and death. The truth is that, these are only the initial stages of my life that meticulously shape me into the vivacious, colorful, lively butterfly, that is my eternal life. Bible says: For now I see only a reflection as in a mirror; then I shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. I look to life on earth as a madatory preparation time. Family, friends, career, abilities, challenges, suffering etc are opportunities to mould me, so that, I grow wings, leave my cocoon behind and ecstatically  leap for the final flight to eternity, when the day

Sun of God

Imagine a life with no sun to light up our lives. Day and night does not make any difference. We grope in darkness with out a clue. We meet the wrong people, pick the wrong stuff, drink and eat wrong things. No imagination, no beauty, no colour what so ever. Our ultimate inventions are torch lights to powerful mercury lights and probably some instruments devised to navigate in darkness affordable only to the elite. We get used to this darkness and this way of life with only diminished man made lights at our disposal. Everyone is convinced that this is The life and it is not logical to expect anything beyond this. The few who dare to foretell the possibility of an ultimate light are put to death by intellectuals. Some altered their eyes to extend the brains for increased grasp. Imagine, one morning, Sun comes on in sheer brilliance and lights up the world!. What a shock and a surprise it would be for us to discover that one man had just turned on a switch and the mighty Sun lit up.

The life and beyond

If our life on earth is a dot we make with a pen on a paper, our eternal life is as much as going around the globe a million times. But this small dot decides how we will spend our life in eternity, that is in heaven with God or in hell in total despair. A saint once had a mystical experience of God. It was so profound that in ecstasy he exclaimed, if paradise was like this, I wouldn't need another paradise. To this Jesus in a vision told him, If the experience you had is like a painting of sky, the paradise you await is the real sky. All goodness we enjoy today is a foretaste of our ultimate union with God. Death we fear becomes a gateway to this reality. Maranatha, Come Lord come.