My Articulate Heart

“In order to be successful, we should do our 50%, and God will put in His 50%.” This is the saying we have often heard as we grew up. But is this really the formula for success? I do not think so. No one can truly succeed unless he gives his 100% and then stretches beyond what seems humanly possible. This is not about becoming a workaholic. It is about aspiring to become everything God has created us to be. Seek the Truth How do I begin? The first step is to have an ardent desire to know the truth about everything. Ask yourself: Why am I here on earth? Who put me here? What is my purpose? Where am I going when I die? Why do I die at all? Turn to God for the answers. Turn to Scripture and to the teachings of the Church. Read the YOUCAT, the Youth Catechism, or the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). Ask people who can guide you. Go before the Blessed Sacrament and ask Jesus these questions. He will guide you to the right resources and, perhaps, whisper the answers into the depths of...

Here is a classic example of how Jesus wants us to stretch beyond what is seemingly possible by human standards. This is not because Jesus is hoping to enjoy some kind of sadistic supremacy over his creation by raising the standards so[oooo] high. But instead he alone knows who we are and what we are capable of. He knows very well that all he has done is now possible for humans through Him. This is precisely why he said "Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father [John 14:12] Now here is what Jesus has to say to us today. “But I say to you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks and if anyone has taken something...

Heart is the innermost recess of a man where he meets with himself and God. Man cannot understand one without the other. His understanding of himself will be obscure and distorted if his understanding of God is obscure. And he will not fathom God without understanding first, himself. Heart is where convictions are formulated. The "condition" of our heart defines them. A wounded heart will not be able to make a true and complete assumption concerning anything. It lacks the fullness of love to understand the truth. Heart that needs forgiveness cannot love until it is healed in the light of pure love. Our past experiences, beginning from original sin contribute to our brokenness. Only pure love can heal it. Not human love but the love of the one whose love is eternal, unchanging and unconditional. It is Gods love. It is the pure honey found in the rock. Only God can remove the bitterness within. Truth and Love is insepar...

God’s first command is to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). When we reflect on childbirth, we realise that being fruitful can be painful. Every conception leads towards fruition. In the case of childbirth, the seed of life that a woman conceives must eventually be delivered. Her body prepares for this event by dilating and stretching, sometimes painfully, beyond what seems humanly possible. Yet at the end, the reality of a newborn child transforms that pain into an inexplicable joy. On the Cross, Jesus gave Himself to His Bride, and He continues to give Himself in the Eucharist. His Body and ours are united in a one-flesh communion that leads to a similar fruitfulness. To become fruitful, we too must allow ourselves to be stretched beyond what seems humanly possible. When we cooperate with God’s plan, as Mary did and as the Church does, we too can glorify God, and His joy can become complete in us. This is the unconditional, sweet pain we willingly endure for the sake of another....

Sin is the result of not giving God his due, Man his and Myself mine. Sin is the lack of Love. Sin is the reason we will be cast into hell fire. Sin is the root-cause all miseries of mankind. If sin is such dreadful thing, why do we desire it deep within? As St. Paul says why do end up doing what we do not want to do. Blame it on the law of sin at work in our bodies. The world we live-in too is hostile to holy living. WeLooks like sin always has the last laugh! What are we to do? How is holiness possible? How long does it take? Is it worth? On our own, we are incapable of uprooting and avoiding sin. But in Jesus we are more than conquers. Jesus by his perfect obedience, self sacrifice and resurrection destroyed the claw of sin forever. He founded the church upon himself and apostles. He instituted sacraments as a means to give himself to us. Beginning with Baptism, through all the sacraments, Jesus washes us clean by the merit of his perfect sacrifice, gives us his Holy S...

Mary became the Mother of Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, not by her own power or initiative, but through the work of God. Yet the work of God alone did not make her the Mother of Jesus without her free cooperation. Her motherhood is a beautiful harmony of divine grace and human cooperation. Mary’s “Let it be done to me according to your word” opened her heart completely to God’s will. Her lowliness, faith, and obedience made her a willing participant in the mystery God was accomplishing through her. At several significant moments, Jesus addresses Mary as “Woman.” We can easily misunderstand this as diminishing her importance. But the opposite is true. These are precisely moments when Scripture reveals her unique role in salvation history. At Cana, when Jesus performs His first sign, He says to Mary, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4) The reference to His “hour” points forward to His Passion and glorification. Later, Jesus declares...

Jesus is the expression of God the father. He is also the thought and word of the Father. When the Father wishes, son is at his disposal saying here I’m.  John, in the first paragraph of his gospel describes Jesus as Word, God, Creator, Light and Life. Also as the one who comes to restore our lost identity being the children of God. He emphasizes Jesus being the one who restores life. The word being spirit takes on flesh, a mortal body -in order to live as man ought to live and becomes a the sacrificial lamb of God in order for all human beings to walk the path He walked. In the book of revelations Johns sees Him being the lamb that is standing even after it is slaughtered.  St.Paul says offer yourselves as the living sacrifice holy and acceptable before God. We receive life by offering our mortal bodies with its carnal nature to God the father through Jesus on a daily basis. As St. Paul says we take on the nature of Jesus little by little through this constant and progress...

Replying to the Pharisees who asked his disciples: why is your master eating and drinking with the sinners and tax collectors, Jesus said: " Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice .' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners " [Mathew 9:13] paraphrasing the text from prophet Hosea " For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings " [6:6] Mathew was a literate, dutiful employee of Herod Antipas who collected tax from the Jews on behalf of the Romans. Jews considered such men an outcast because they extorted their own people. Jesus invites him to be his disciple and he obeys. This obedience involves a great sacrifice especially considering the riches and the lucrative profession Mathew is leaving behind to follow the son of man who has no place to lay his head. Jesus in saying that he has come seeking not the righteous, but sinners reiterates that he searches out for hearts that ...

Do I have love enough within to love You to my hearts fill? Like a well with water almost dried up, I feel so barren. How will I give to those who come to draw from me water for a drink? My kneeling and praying does not fill me much. The words I speak to you has no resonance. My sins weigh me down. Handles and hooks that lead me to wretchedness surface everywhere I lay down to rest. I feel them to be more real than you Lord, though I know they are like mirage that actually not there. Help my week vigour and zeal. My bones so frail they cant help me stand and hope, I stumble and sway off to fall. I need a helping hand, would you reach out my lovely one? I know you are near. Your hands surround me, holding me tight, wiping my tears dry, helping my bones to walk again. Inside of me a voice rise, I love you, I really love you. Restore me beloved, my soul forlorn. I hear my love, see how he comes leaping on the mountains, bounding over the hills, My love is like a gazelle, like a you...

I often prayed, Lord please let me experience pleasure that is greater than the pleasure of sin that I might not succumb to what is temporary and detrimental, but seek to satisfy me with what is supremely pleasurable and eternal. I now understand the folly and the impudence of that statement (prayer) which denied my own strength in Christ and challenged the nature of God itself. Imagine ourselves to be in a deep pit filled with dung and we are wading in it; some deep inside,  some neck deep , some barely avoiding the top layer holding on to some twig by the wall, others attempting climb up in vain, yet few others strenuously yet joyfully climbing up, holding on to an invisible rope (of faith) as though with some special power (grace). This invisible rope, yet visible though the eye of faith, is the path of salvation Christ lowered for us into the pit after breaking open the door which sealed the pit and separated us from what was Divine. The light has come in...