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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

Did we not invite this for ourselves!

Today, in Delhi, the capital of India, hundreds of women are shouting slogans and staging mass protests desperately seeking protection of their kind from guess who, men!. The slogans say " Teach men how to respect woman", " Woman are not objects of Pleasure" and likes. The very men whom God ordained to protect, nourish, respect and honor woman is now destroying, plundering and devastating womanhood. Men have stooped so low giving themselves to the carnal desires of the flesh objectifying and utilizing woman, thus doing exactly opposite of what was expected of them. As this horror unloose in front of our eyes, there already in full power, behind the curtains, takes place murder of thousands of innocent babies in the name of freedom, career and pleasure. They have sugar coated it and called it "planned parenthood". The very mothers who are ordained to protect, nourish, respect and honor new-born children are now the ones who consent with men to brutally t

Birth control, a deeper reflection

These days, the common thoughts that troubles any married people are the likes below: Is this relationship worth? Will this marriage work? I'm I not risking my future committing to be with this man /woman- forever? Should I sacrifice my career, freedom, well being and all that just to have babies? Second kid? More kids!!!? I can’t manage even the only one I have. Everything seems to fall apart. How can I save my marriage? Is this is my fate. Will I have to live my whole life in misery. Have I become a burden? Can I ever be a good dad or husband? Will I be able to make enough money to meet the rising expenses? The list is endless… If we closely analyze these worries, we will begin to see the following. We have assumed that it is tough to make marriages work. Success in marriage is no longer looked upon as the success of the “fruitfulness of marriage” but individual success - where success is defined by the amount of money and position one is earns in a life time. We have becom

Sharing in the life of God!

Christian living becomes cumbersome and boring if we lack the most fundamental element - that is to have a relationship with God. We, as Children of God are created to share in the very life of God. We are redeemed by Jesus and made once again capable of profound communion with God. People who do not recognize this original call and purpose of all human persons, assumes himself to be a mediocre and insignificant creature who then ought to fight, struggle and make his presence felt by wielding his own might and power. Such a life is found to be self seeking and is thus detrimental to the other. Someone always needs to loose - for him to pedal up. Life remains a burden in the absence of a personal relationship with God. Even the most cherished inter personal relationships we relish are so because of God's relationship with us. The very God-given gift inherited by all human beings is our capacity to offer ourselves as a gift (sacrifice) to the other. This very capacity is the rea

We must move on

Though the work of making us holy is entirely God's, He wouldn't do it with out our "co-operation". What does it mean to co-operate with God?. The cooperation progresses from our sincere and ardent desire to be restored into the image and likeness God originally created us to be. Faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God who was sent to redeem us is fundamental. Prayer is a relationship we develop with God. We come to know God through prayer. Prayer dilates our shrunken hearts and makes it more and more capable of knowing God. But at this point, something that surprises us is that we continue to fall in sin despite this growing relationship with God. And then we sadly realize we have a sinful nature. Concupiscence stares at us with fiery eyes and chuckles. There is this temptation is give up or to live with it. We attempt to develop a theory that allows sin and holiness to dwell together as brothers. If you are you here, we must move on. We are constantly awakened by

Pierce my heart with your love

Lord the lover of my soul, pierce my heart with thy wondrous love. Let thy love burst open my heart and drain all that is bitter within. Let thy love, the pure honey from the rock never cease to nourish it. Oh sweet Divine love, how you love me. My garden is in full bloom. Come sweet fragrance,  let thy love penetrate me, impregnate me.  Love sweet Divine come. Come and consume me like a wild fire. Let thy joy within me grow. Oh, magnificent lion of Judah, let thy strong paws rest on my shoulders. Let all my fear subside. Let thy breeze gently blow into my innermost being, freeing me from the complexities I have created for myself. Oh how much I'm loved by you my God, my father. In your bosom I lie. As my eyes grow heavy and droop, I know I'm loved. I hear you whisper in my ears "You are my beloved".

Authority of Perfect Love

God our father has authored our lives in perfect love and that's why He has authority over us. God created us not out of necessity but out of love. He created us so that we might be like Him. We are created in God's own image that is "perfect love". God's authority is the result of His love for us. Because His authority is founded on perfect love, it does not insist to assert His own will upon us. It instead upholds and respects our freedom to choose. His authority wants us to make our choices in perfect freedom. His loving authority desires to perfect us even when we reject His perfect love and choose evil. We see this love at work in the self gift of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection restoring for us what we lost due to our disobedience. In lieu of the perfect reparation Christ accomplished on the cross He gave us His authority by commanding us to love as He loves us. This is why the authority that God grants us as husbands, parents, administrators, m

Pretending to be in chains

If a man who is set free from chains continues to live as if in chains, what is freedom! Freedom becomes liberation only when we live it. The sacraments cannot do what it is capable of doing, if we do not live the truth it embodies. If baptism freed us from the clutches of sin and restored our sonship, why do we still sin? If Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus given to us as his self gift, why despite frequent reception we remain unchanged?. Why despite so many confessions, we have the same laundry list?. Is it because of the inefficacy of the sacraments itself or because we deceive ourselves? Are we not trying to false justify ourselves and experience some kind of a phony make over by queuing up to receive these sacraments? Fact is we do not want to change. We love our sins. We have blinded ourselves and denied us the reality of the ultimate ecstasy we are capable experiencing in union with God. We have rejected the reality of real liberation in the person o