my Articulate Heart

The call to deny our self, take up the cross and follow Jesus must resound in our ears day and night, no matter what vocation we are chosen to lead. This is inevitably an invitation to the peak of Calvary to empty our self and give life to the other just as the Eucharist cures our soul and gives new life. Christ sealed the marital covenant with his church, by his self gift of the Eucharist [His body and blood], on the altar of the cross, embracing us into a one flesh union with Him. We who are united in the marital covenant, sealed by His blood [sacramentally] too become one flesh with our spouse, where the alter is - the bed. The sealant that consummates the marital covenant is sexual love, just as Eucharist is in the former. This union indeed is modeled on the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We too are made partakers of this mystery as Christ unites us to His body. The covenant Jesus sealed on the cross with us [the church] is renewed in every celebration of...

Mother Teresa often reminded her sisters "we are not social workers, but brides of Christ". What they saw in the impoverished and downtrodden is not a mouth to feed or a wound to heal but rather the dignity of the person and his original need to embrace life in fullness, through Jesus Christ. Much more than a meal and  momentary well being, what matters to each person is that he is raised to live life in fullness to eternity with God the father. True love for the neighbor is to be concerned about the salvation of his soul. It is expressed attending first to a his immediate needs, leading to the original need. We are incapable of realizing this original need of every man for an "abundant life in God" unless we embraces this truth in Jesus Christ. Any good done to others, that is not done abiding in Jesus, fails to achieve the real potential of our divine the call to share. Jesus said "love each other just as I have loved you" [John 13:4]. Jesus loved...

Revisiting the missionary role of the laity The lay faithful along with priests and religious form part of the labour force Jesus sends forth into His vineyard. [Mathew 20]. Everyone without an exception are called; some at the first hour, some at the third and some at the eleventh hour. [Paraphrased from christifideles laici] Blessed are the ones who are called at the first hour, because they have been granted ‘bonus time’ to spend with the Good Master. The labour in the vineyard becomes for them a fulfilling experience because they treasure the proximity of Jesus right here in this temporal world. Jesus’ mandate to preach the Good news to the ends of the earth has no exception. If one is not a missionary [labourer in the vineyard], he/she is either insensitive to the unconditional love and mercy of God or is too proud to admit the same. He/she has indeed turned a deaf ear to the call. St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians says “ Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel...

Sexuality can truly be understood only if  the dignity of the human person understood. A human person should be understood in the light of his divine nature and the infinite capacities he is endowed with - to love, express love and mature in love. In the absence of the this, sex can only be perceived as a commodity or a capacity to pleasure oneself or on the other extreme, as an ugly, detestable thing, leading to evil. Below examples substantiate the two extremes. If I encroach into my neighbor’s garden, pluck and eat the apples growing there because it gratifies my desire and my hunger, I certainly have unlawfully utilized what belong to the other. But on the other hand, if I become a part of the family [marriage] that owns the garden, I become the owner of the garden and I commit myself to do what is necessary to care for the garden and the apple trees until I breath last. To share in its fruit is the gift of that self giving. By doing that ...

Halt Hear His call It may be a strayed thought or a convincing compulsion.  It could be an indistinguishable yet clear voice from within or a sentence fallen out of the mouth of a stranger or a word from a TV show or a tweet, a post in Face book that bring us to an unusual “halt” in the midst of the daily madness. God is gently but constantly seeking our attention, just like a loving father, full of compassion and love in order to show us the way to joy and un- surpassing peace. He is called the hound of heaven by Francis Thomson in His poem titled the same. As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, unhurried and unperturbed, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace These gentle invitations of God are often stifled by our overarching worldly priorities. This time when you come to a holy halt, hold on to it. It is your father voice to return. Turn around Hear His call, turn around! Pursuing ou...

The Church is daily filled, says St. Augustine, with those who come to petition for temporal advantages, that they may escape this calamity, obtain that advantage in their temporal concerns: but there is scarce one to be found who seeks for Christ, and pays him his adoration, through the pure love he bears him. (Maldonatus)

May I humbly refuse you, dear satan, for I have found something way better, sweeter and permanent than the pleasure of sin. May I humbly refuse your demands, cravings and what sounds like your rights dear body, for what you really need is food that gives eternal life. The Lord surely is debugging certain serious anomalies inside of me. I wouldn't have realized so grave a  "weakness" with in, if I had not denied my body, the generous supplies. It growls, shouts, rolls on the ground, for a fill. I grow in phony compassion towards what looks like it's genuine plea to sustain. Hey! It is Jesus who gives you life to the fullness. "Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal." [John 6:27] Fasting is a process of truly becoming aware of my body, mind and soul but most essentially body. It's abou...

Never have I really prayed for protection against evil. My logic has been that "asking the father, over and over, "to protect me", showed my lack of trust in Him. And assumed that being a child of God, His hands ought to be over me". I claimed to be close to Christ and boasted nothing would harm me. I now realize, I was proud and  was arrogant. Struggling through the trials, I humbly realize that evil one can have a go at me. Not because my God is week but because I'm far from being a perfect child yet. My pride held me at a pedestal and expected the sovereign God to protect me. Alas! how arrogant and proud I was. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. [Mathew 4:1] "And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:" [Luke 22:31] Satan was allowed to test Jesus the son of God. Apostle Peter too was sifted like wheat. No saints are an exception to this. B...

To sin and separate ourselves from God is totally a personal act initiated by a personal decision and an action that fulfills the former decision. The sole onus of the sin lies on the individual. Therefore no one else can be held responsible of my sin except myself. But contrarily, to hate sin and come back to embrace God’s love requires more than a personal decision and action. It requires the supernatural assistance called the grace of God. No one comes to God expect by his mercy. This mercy is not available beyond our death. The one who perseveres in sin due to ignorance or wrong understanding is more likely to receive the Grace of God to change than those who consciously persevere in offending God despite adequate knowledge of the inappropriateness of his action. God’s intervention in Saul’s life [by throwing him off the horse] was not a result of his repentance but due to the genuinity of his intention to serve God. A true return to God is characterized by the followin...

"The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." [Mark 12: 28-31] In the first part of the above commandment, Jesus points us firstly to the need for a 'conscious desire of the heart' for God [to live not according to my will but God's]. Secondly the need for 'conscious choices/decisions of the mind' [as against the natural choices] and thirdly the need for 'conscious actions' of the body [actions that confirm the above desires and choices]. In the second part of the above commandment, Jesus is saying "be concerned about the souls of others as much as you are concerned about your own soul not missing heaven". In other words, loving oneself means that ...