my Articulate Heart

Jesus calls each of us to a 'totally faithful' relationship with him when he says "no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" [Mathew 6:24]. We see in the Gospels, examples of lives thrown open in total submission to Christ. Let me illustrate three such lives here. First is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary's holiness is the result of her total submission to Christ. We see her responding with with emphatic 'yes' when she says 'be it unto me according to thy word'. We witness her life being completely in submission to Christ from beginning to the end and it continues to be so. When Jesus tells the disciples 'my mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and obey it'.[Luke 8.21], he is telling them if you want to know what is it to be mothers and brothers, you must learn from my mother and brothers. The relation Mary shared with Jesus was

"In order to be successful, we should do our 50% and God will put in his 50%". This is the saying that we have been hearing as we grew up. But is this the formula to be successful? I do not think so. No body can be successful unless he puts in his 100% and still stretch beyond to an extend that is otherwise not possible. This is not being workaholic but far from it. This is all about aspiring to be what God has created us to be. How can I do it? First step is to have an ardent desire to know the Truth about everything. Questions you must ask yourself are; why am I here on earth? who put me here? what is my purpose? where I'm going when I die? why do I die at all?. Turn to God for an answer, turn to the scriptures, turn to the teachings of the church. Look up the YOUCAT [Youth Catechism] or CCC [Catechism of the Catholic Church]. Ask the right people. Go to the Blessed Sacrament and ask Jesus these questions and he will guide you to the right resources or whisper in y

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 from you, do not demand it back. “Do t

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 inseparable. One cannot love without knowing the truth. Both

God's first commandment is to be fruitful and multiply.[Gen.1.28]. When we reflect on child birth, we know it is painful to be fruitful. Every conception leads to fruition. In the case of birth, the seed of life the women conceives has to be delivered. Her body prepares for this event by dilating painfully beyond what is visibly possible. But at the end the reality of a new born child turns this pain into inexplicable joy. Jesus on the cross gave himself to his bride and continues to give himself in the Eucharist. His body and ours unite in a one flesh union leading to a similar fruitfulness. Our bodies must expand; stretch beyond what seems visibly possible, to be fruitful. When we co-operate with the plan of God, just as Mary did, just as the church does, we too will glorify God and his Joy shall be full. This pain is the unconditional sweet pain we suffer for the other. Just as Christ washed his bride clean by his own blood before he embraced her in an eternal nuptial bond,

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 Spirit, hi

Mary became the mother of Jesus the incarnate son of God, not on her own accord but because of the work of God. But the work of God alone would not have made her the Mother of Jesus, expect for her own personal excellence in being lowly and totally obedient to the will of God. The motherhood of Mary is a harmonious blend of Gods work and Mans co-operation. Jesus, at few specific occasions calls Mary "Woman" and we tend to wrongly understand it as being suggestive of her irrelevance in the salvific mission of Jesus. On the contrary those are the high-points where the second Adam and the second Eve reverse the ill brought into humanity by the disobedience of the first parents by their perfect obedience. Old testament promises and prophesies dutifully come to be fulfilled at these moments. The wedding of Cana, where Jesus performs his first sign is a pre-cursor to the work he will accomplish on the cross. He refers to the "hour" as he does in few other occasions t