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Yoked to Jesus

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“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” †  Mathew 11: 28-30  What is the labour and burden that Jesus is asking me to deal with? Perhaps I have to let go of the compulsive burden (or is it a sort of entitlement?) that my spouse and children should choose a spiritual path that I know to be right. Jesus accompanied Judas Iscariot to the very end but never deprived him of his freedom to choose his own destiny. Jesus on the other hand, uninterrupted by Judas's choice to reject him, continues to accomplish his mission. He does become a victim of Judas's betrayal but he seldom takes on the victim's identity. In divine wisdom, Jesus chooses to die in our place (and that of Judas) in a redeeming act of love. Rather than being compelled to fix those whom God has entrusted to my headship by m

Holiness and Mission

Holiness is sharing in the communion that exists between Jesus and the Father.  The mission every Christian is called on to do is the very mission of Christ. The mission of Christ was to enable people to share in the communion that exists between Him and the Father – in other words share in the holiness of God. Christ entered into this world for the sake of establishing the Way, the one and only true Gate that leads to God the Father. Those of us who enter through this gate are granted a holy desire to share this gift of communion, because at the core of divine communion is love, characterized by service and total self-giving. When we grow in holiness we grow to be missionaries too. We become a servant of the mission of Christ and also a servant of those around us near and far. When we share the good news of salvation with our brothers and sisters, especially with those who have not known the ‘only way’, we serve them. This service is a fitting response to the great mercy and love

The truth will set you free

Let the Holy Spirit open our hearts to always see and know the ‘Truth’ that Jesus revealed through the word of God, both written and spoken. We must at any point in our spiritual walk aspire for an increase of the divine life within us and never be complacent. What stagnates our growth is the ‘I already know it all’ attitude. Such an attitude will render us ignorant of the great distance one could journey when seeking the fullness of truth and divine life despite our frailty. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Cor 4:7 It is only when we know the truth that we can begin to pull ourselves to that peak of the mountain, raising the standards of our Christian life from ordinary to extraordinary. Come let us trek to the mountaintop. The rope is the scripture. Life’s problems are the recesses in the mountain on which we firmly set foot and climb aloft. However big the mountain of struggles and challenges, God

Do not be Hopeless

Marriage is losing its sacredness and sacramental value. It is fast becoming a social event, a mere arrangement for better economical viability. Money rules lives and all life’s decisions. Families are losing their relevance. Children with diseases are quietly terminated in the womb, and outside the womb. People are hoping to custom design their kids! The letter ‘s’ next to the word ‘kid’ will soon be considered a violation of human rights. Money rules lives and all life’s decisions. Our lives as well are reeling under a strategic move by those who uphold the culture of death. We too have become helpless victims of consumerism. Quality of life today is determined by seeing what our neighbor has that we don’t have. We are being trained to think that ‘our worth’ is something that needs to be purchased at any cost. We are being deceived. We have become mere ‘toys’ in the hands of the few. Our precious lives are now considered as ‘products’ for the few to multiply their money. Our ignor

Eternal Life for All

Eternal Life is to share in the divine life of God. Whoever follows the will of God has eternal life. The will of God is that we believe in the one God sent into the world to save human race - Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you will love Him. Those who love Him obey His commandments. In order to obey His commandments, we need God's Grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. The grace and the power of the Holy Spirit that are required to live a life according to the statutes of God are granted in Sacraments of the Church. Sacraments become effective when we receive them worthily. Sincere repentance makes us worthy. Sincere repentance is a combination of the knowledge of the gravity of one’s own sinfulness and true humility. Remember guilt comes from pride. We seek to be justified by the good works we do. But our good works blind us from the reality of our sinfulness and unworthiness. Good works we render are the ‘work of God’. When we take ownership of our good works,

Drugs and the right to have Life

Drug abuse is the denial of our fundamental right to have life. And those who are involved in the business of providing drugs to people, especially little children, are either ignorant of the gravity of damage they are causing or they are simply blinded by the false hope money gives. We know that our body is sacred and the Triune God dwells there. Our body is not a prison or a useless shell from which we must escape from, as some believe. But instead it is a sacrament that manifests the invisible mysteries of God. We see the true beauty of the human body on the cross, in mother Mary and in the lives of Saints. We believe in the glorious resurrection of our bodies just as Christ experienced it. Yes, it is in the same body with which we are going to spend eternity in union with God. The human body is sacred and priceless. Man’s rejection of God (Original Sin) has caused human lives to become treacherous and painful. But God out of mercy and love towards His own suffering children se

Does God Punish?

Often we think, God was punishing Adam and Eve when He sent them out of the Garden of Eden. We also think, God was cursing them when He said to man "you will live by the sweat of your brow," and to the women "you will suffer the pain of labor." God did not cast them out of the Garden. They distanced themselves from God when they sinned. This distancing is the natural result of sin. Nobody can come into the presence of God without holiness. We see how Adam and Eve hide themselves behind the bushes. We see them trying to cover themselves with leaves. That’s what sin does to us. It distances us from the presence of God. Sin is not an act but a condition – the condition where man loses his capacity to know, love and serve God, and also his neighbor, even if it is not lost completely. The acts we commit are the fruit of this condition. Are we not then confessing only the fruits and not the condition itself! We also see how God covers Adam and Eve with animal ski

Growing out of sin

Even though a man sincerely chooses to follow Christ, the sinful nature in him remains. He is able to follow Christ not because he is already free from his sin but because God loved him first. When we repent and turn to Christ, the grace that God weaves around us is much like a cocoon. Grace is the loving, living presence of God. This unconditional love and the faithful presence of God provide us the right condition to grow and emerge into a beatiful butterfly. When we begin to live in the grace of God, we live no longer by the law of flesh but by the law of the Holy Spirit. We experience freedom. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. [Rom 8:2] This cocoon around us is weakened when we commit venial sins and it is completely destroyed when we are in mortal sin. As we know little sin draws us to little more sin. It is so because si