my Articulate Heart

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 understan...

When we lower ourselves and allow our sexual morality to take a plunge, our own consciousnesses question us. We seek desperately to silence it and stay justified. The guilt that haunt us is not because we have broken some social law but because we have broken the very law stamped within our bodies - to be a Gift! Our bodies are created to be "a self gift". God created it in His own nature.  Bible says "God created man in his image and likeness" . [Gen 1:26] St Paul writes "I urge you, then, brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people. [Rom 12:1] The fallen man because of his swollen pride and lack of meekness, tries desperately to justify his act and begins to hate those who lay bare the truth before them. They plot ways to destroy them. We see a classic example of this in Mark 6:17. Herodias, originally wife of Philip, now w...

This generation is led away to think that "attraction" and "love" are one and the same. Alas! they are awfully different. They are the extreme ends of the same track. The lack of understanding to distinguish attraction from love will land us in big mess especially those who tend to think that they are in love and are ready to use their sexual gifts. Attraction to the opposite gender is the natural longing given to man and woman to constantly remind them of their deep rooted need to self donate. It is not love yet. It is only a feeling that must elevated,  in due time, to a higher commitment of sacramental marital love. Marriage indeed is the only fitting sacred alter where the supreme gift of self must be mutually offered. Sex outside of marriage is like throwing away precious pearls to swines. These are the very pearls that make up our core self. Our sexuality is what we are. Masculinity and femininity are the key factors that distinguishes ea...

Let there be men who would give up their lives to defend the dignity of woman, no matter who she is. This statement might sound too stupid and you want to say "life is worth more than that!". Then, let me ask, have you anything that's worth dying for? In our days we do not hold any values or virtues so close to our heart that we consider death than compromising it. Our ideologies have undergone a dramatic change. No one is willing to give up life but wants to preserve it by any means - to make it big in life. The "other person" does not matter any longer. All that matters is I, me, myself. In the past, People have given up lives, choosing not to say a lie. Bodies have been brutally mutilated because they refused compromise on their values. Men have given up lives defending the dignity of woman. Woman have laid down their lives for their men and children. Many have chosen to die rather than defiling their innocence and having to live in sin. Who dares...

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...

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...

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 ...

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 ...

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".

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...