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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

It is no longer I but Jesus

When I come to realise that my body causes me to sin, I live in conflict with my body. Like St. Paul I lament in despair " how wretched I'm, who will deliver me from this mortal body ". All my efforts seem futile and I'm discouraged. It is not by my sincere striving that I become holy but by my faith in Jesus. My sincere striving must be to believe with absolute certainty that Jesus has taken my broken body and replaced it with His. The word of God says  "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."   [Gal 2:20] When I believe in the word of God that says I'm a new creation, the Holy Spirit makes the Word come true in me. It is the profession of this faith that renews our mind. The body follows suit. The old body with all it's disordered passions is crucified with Jesus. "He hims

Interior Detachment

We are more keen to appear holy than to be holy. The prayers uttered are often a recounting of our own goodness. It becomes a mere hypocritical act to praise ourselves and to hail us better than others. We are obsessively content with exterior display. We are content if we look good in the eyes of others. This is vanity, pride masquerading as humility. Our prayers do not pierce the clouds, instead destroys what is left of spirituality within us. In the eastern tradition, during the lent, the monks would disperse themselves into the desert far from each other. The penance, self dedication, mortification etc that they do were only known to themselves and God. Even when they are back in the monastery, nobody asks what they did. This was done so that no one does anything in order to look good in the eyes of the other, but purely for the love for God. True humility is unpretentious and is effortless. For the humble, his own sinful nature will always be a reality before him, even if h

The poor in spirit is pure in spirit

The poor in spirit are pure in spirit.  They belong in the kingdom of God. Worry and anxiety does not hinder their vision. They see God face to face. Poverty is a blessed prerequisite to the kingdom of God. But in todays materialistic world poverty is branded as backward and undesirable. The very first beatitude underlines " blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the the kingdom of God . [Mathew 5:3] If you want to know how poor you are in spirit, check how peaceful you are within. Worry and anxiety about the things of this world are signs of pride and lack of trust in God. We are slaves of our own desires. These desires dominate us and blinds our vision. But if our will rises above them, we will have clear dominion over them and experience the fulfilment of all our desires in union with Christ. When our soul is able to see the face of God, It can do wonders with our bodies. When our Body submits itself totally to the soul aligning itself to the will of God, we experi

Among many But alone!

Jesus was in the midst of many but alone. He wanted everyone but everyone wanted only what He had to offer - not Him. Betrayed and estranged by the closest of His friends, He was always alone. Is our story any different?  Jesus, moments before his crucifixion, foretold   "For if this is what is done to green wood, what will be done when the wood is dry?". [Luke 23:31].  He also said " Then you will be handed over to be tortured and put to death; and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name." He continued " but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved." We realize that people around us need us but as you and I we only have Jesus to depend on. When we are betrayed, estranged and are taken advantage of, we know He is there. We do struggle to fix our eyes firmly on Him, stand back up again and continue to climb the mountain that Jesus also tread shouldering the heavy cross. Who else can we go to? Where else will our solace come from?

To be owned by God

Often times we claim ourselves to be better than those around us recounting the goodness and charity we display. But by doing that, we are being hypocritical because we are attempting to take undue credit of what belongs to God while shamelessly ignoring and rejecting the ownership of what really belongs to us, that is our sinfulness. The "goodness' we have is because God in His mercy reclaimed, redeemed and restored certain flawed areas within us. The sinful nature within us remains so because it does not yet belong to God and we refuse to hand it over to Him to be redeemed and to be made Christ-like. We are all, without an exception called to be holy as Christ is. We become Christ-like when we are totally owned by God. God does not do it without our permission. We, by accepting our frailty, consciously yearning to be pure, surrendering our selfish nature and sinfulness to God and patiently waiting for Him to transform us into His nature, set ourselves on this path to Ho

Speaking lies with our bodies

Our bodies are created to express and communicate God's very nature. The original language of the human body is to be a "self gift" to the other. When our bodies conduct itself in a way that is contrary to God's love, it violates it's own integrity and speak lies. The message, our bodies communicate in the nuptial union between man and woman is "I give myself to you freely, totally, faithfully and fruitfully". But if the union is out side of marriage, the act is incapable of fulfilling these demands and thus their bodies lie to one another. Even within marital relationship when couple use each other for the gratification of their own lustful desires, they speak a lie with their bodies. In sexual union, when the couple, by way of contraception, reject the gift of life - the very reward God grants them for participating in his divine life, they lie with their bodies and declare that God's love is not life giving or fruitful. When Judas betrayed Je

Man, the initiator of love and forgiveness

When there is crisis in the family, it is the husband who must take the lead to forgive and reconcile no matter who is at fault. This is because husbands share the role of Christ the initiator of love and forgiveness. Husbands are called to love their spouses just as Christ loves the Church [Eph 5:25]. The bibles says " While we were still sinners, Christ died for us"  [Rom 5:8]. Christ initiated love and offered his forgiveness unconditionally to the erring mankind, his beloved spouse. St. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians states " He washed her clean by his own blood and presented her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless [5:27]. In our fallenness, men have falsely assumed themselves to be invincible and superior to woman. He seeks to earn respect and authority by virtue of his maleness and strength and not by his character. Let him do so by being meek, patient and understanding as Christ was even