My Articulate Heart

Next time when you have strong sexual drive, know that there is something in it to praise God. The desire is a God-given gift. It is absolutely good and acceptable to God. It is meant to give glory to the creator. It is meant for the loving union between husband and wife. It is meant to point us to our eternal union with God.  Then where is the problem?  The problem is:   The world has deceived us into thinking that when we have a sexual drive it has to be gratified somehow. Unlike hunger, unattended sexual desire does not have any dire consequence. World has manipulated our minds to associate sexual drives with the vices of pornography, masturbation, casual hookups, prostitution and other dangerous and soul crushing evils. It has gotten us to associate our sexual desires with specific body types, acts and fantasies.  World has fooled us into thinking that these vices are a neccessity to meet the natural needs of the human body and it is absolutely OK to in...

Faith is not the human act of merely consenting to theological knowldge but it is the divine act of submitting both our Intellect and Will to God's revelation. If the Intellect alone is employed, knowledge remains simply as true and good life-giving information. It does not transform our life nor does it give life. Faith without action is dead. Jam 2:26 Will is the faculty of the soul which seeks to love that which is known. And 'loving' is not simply liking the information but the act of becoming what we have come to know. In other words loving is to freely act upon the information in such a way that knowledge becomes a living experience. If I come to know that in order to sustain my life I must drink water and if I do not act on this information and drink water, this knowledge does not do me any good.  In order for my faith to be active and alive, my Will has to be in harmony with the Intellect. It also means both my Intellect and Will should be surrendered to God. The di...

If a person can be purified after death, why should we struggle for holiness now? And what does baptism have to do with that change? Who can fathom the mind of God? Still, we know what baptism does to a person. It helps us grow in love and makes us able to do good in the divine sense. Left to ourselves, wounded by concupiscence, we are limited, and our best is never quite good enough. We reach our true potential only in relationship with God. Supernatural love, courage and goodness need divine grace. Baptism gives us a share in the merits of Christ's passion, death and resurrection. We were bought at a great price: God himself took our place. We are freed from the power of sin and death. As Jesus says, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). Salvation is more than being kept out of hell. It heals us from the tyranny of sin and moves us from eternal separation from God to eternal union with him. Then we become truly free, able to live life to t...

We often think that the way to be saved is by applying the salvation that Christ wrought for us on the cross to our lives through an act of faith. Christ should not be seen merely as the supplier of salvation but as salvation itself . We are saved not by applying or believing some magical formula but by uniting ourselves—body, mind and soul—to the person of Christ, in an act of unconditional gift of self. And as Christ rose into freedom and glory, so will we also: from insanity to sanity, depravity to sanctity, sin to glory. Stare not into your own wretchedness and be discouraged. Fix your gaze upon Christ and be united to Him at all times, especially when we wallow in sin. St. Athanasius of Alexandria said, “What has not been assumed has not been redeemed.” Let Christ assume every bit of our unworthiness so we can partake in the redemption He ushers us into. Photo by OPPO on Unsplash

Wisdom is to know God. It is to understand what is pleasing to Him. It is not to be gained merely for its utility in governing our lives or the lives of others. It is to be desired so that we ourselves may come to rest in communion with God. As Jesus said: “This is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” — John 17:3 Wisdom is eternal life. This knowledge of You, O God, is too good for my soul. May I relish it like pure honey...

Divine intimacy grows when the deep longing for the lover, naturally leads to unconditional submission of the beloved to the lover. This longing within is initiated and sustained by eros and is perfected by agape. It is a response to the self-giving, spiritual leadership of the lover who never ceases to seek me out from the depths of my helplessness. If Jesus is the bridegroom who comes seeking me and beckoning me to become one with his divine nature just as in pure nuptial union, can I deal with Him as Eve did with Adam in the state of original innocence (before the fall) and still be fair? Is it akin to how the loving wife deals with her loving husband who is the most powerful man in the world? When there is sincere and authentic love, the power, authority of the lover isn't something to be afraid of. Only the guilty needs to fear.  Two things are necessary for divine intimacy: I should believe what God thinks of me (as precious, invaluable, honorable and beautiful and worthy of ...

In my long and tardy pursuit towards holiness and true freedom, I realised that what kept me from making progress was the lack of asceticism. I'm like a freed domesticated bird perched on its own cage, caught between two worlds, refusing to fly off into true freedom. In order to grow in one thing we will need to cut ties with a few other things that work against the goal. It takes effort and patience to name and nail these attachments. We also need to give up our attachment to false convictions that we hold so dear.  Jesus tells us that “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. Mat 6:24.  Asceticism is training and strengthening our will to choose what is good over what it is long accustomed to - namely the cult of selfish pleasure, attachment to comfort, sloth and lethargy, fear of the unknown, the list is long. Asceticism is a way of teaching us that there is a higher being to a...

Marriage is an institution God established for man and woman to love as God loves. But marriages do face several challenges not because the institution itself is flawed but because the stake holders fail to measure up to it. When a partner turns abusive, family life becomes a real challenge. How as a catholic, we should survive an abusive marriage especially when there is a risk of harm to ourself and children. First of all we must get our parish priest involved and take his guidance. Remember a parish priest is the spiritual father given to us by divine provision. It is operative that we take immediate steps to mitigate the situation and prevent further physical or mental harm to those affected. We must seek expert help to settle down and heal the hurts. Take time to understand how precious we are and our children despite the situation. Be convinced that this is happening to your marriage not because you are bad, or sinful. Know that our God suffers with us. Isaiah 53:5 says "he ...

The Eucharist and the Cross never cease to be a cause for division. Jesus’ announcement of His imminent death and His teaching about giving His flesh to eat were among the events that led many disciples to withdraw from Him. And the stumbling block remains today. While our Muslim brothers and sisters are stumbled by the Cross, many of our Protestant brothers and sisters are stumbled by the Eucharist. The reluctance to embrace suffering and the mystery of Christ’s real presence continue to challenge us even today. Lord, we surrender our intellect to Your revelation and our will to Your commands. Help us to receive what You reveal, even when we do not fully understand, and to follow where You lead, even when the way leads to the Cross.

Falling in Love with Love When we look at the bodies of our spouses and all we can do is despair over what has changed, perhaps we need to ask whether our understanding of love has become unreasonable—and even selfish. Are we so attached to our own idea of physical pleasure that we have come to believe we have a kind of entitlement to it? When a husband constantly communicates dissatisfaction with his wife's body, he does more than criticize her appearance. He can wound something much deeper. He can make her feel, “I am not enough.” And what could be more painful than hearing that from the person to whom she has entrusted her life? Love involves the unconditional acceptance of the other as other. It means learning to receive the person before us—not as an object designed to satisfy our desires, but as a person with her own history, dignity, wounds and story of self-giving. As husbands, we should be able to look at our wives' bodies—their loosely hanging bellies marked with stre...