my Articulate Heart

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 aspire for

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

Eucharist and Cross never cease to be a cause for division. Mention of his imminent death and giving his flesh to eat are the events that lead to the withdrawal of disciples. And it continues to be so. While our Muslim brothers are stumbled by the Cross, our Protestants brothers are stumbled by the Eucharist. Reluctance to suffer and the element of mystery remains the stumbling block even to the modern day.  Lord we surrender our intellect to your revelations and will to your commands.

Looking at the bodies of our spouses, if all men can do is to despair, know well that our position is unreasonable and irrationally mean. We are obstinately attached to our pleasure domain and we feel we have a monopolistic entitlement to selfish pleasure. Our position shatters them. We are questioning their very existence. What could be more difficult than feeling 'I'm not enough' especially when it comes from the one to whom they have committed their entire life to. Love involves an unconditional acceptance of the other as other. As husbands we should be able to gracefully look at our spouse's loosely hanging bellies riddled with stretch marks, hard and rough palms and cracked foot and spent out breasts and admire them, and sincerely say to her honey they are so beautiful! and that they have only become better. Say to her that those stretches and scratches are proof of the sacrifice you have made for me and our children. They are like the wounds on the resurrected bod

Beloved, my journey towards the fullness of God’s glory is not a lone journey but one that I make along with you. This is how God has intended it for us. It is because we are made for each other. I long to be with you rest of my life. We can help each other especially in times of our weakness, selfishness and pride, so that we remain in God our father who has terrific plan for our future. Beloved, I will love you, respect you, defend you and serve you, donating my whole self as a gift to you, just as our God loves us, giving himself up totally for us.  We are equal before God but we are not the same. It is precisely through our differences do we complement each other. You make up for what I lack and I make up for what you lack. Beloved, it is you who complete me. And I’m happy that it is you who complete me just as God completes us. Through all this, I realize how special we are. Our Father has fashioned us in his own nature to love and to be love. I will initiate love and forgiveness

Suffering is the consequence of sin. World cannot escape it. And it has never been able to come to terms with it, on its own. The temptation has always been is to run away, resist and brood over it. But our attempts were in vain. As sin increased, suffering, injustice and violence increased in the world. Humanity was crushed in the mess of its own making. But God did not abandon the us. The merciful Father sent his only Son to save us. He became a ransom for our sin and gave human suffering a new meaning and a new dimension. Thus we have a model before us. It is the model Jesus unboxed. Now in Jesus, suffering takes on a new meaning and a new dimension. Our suffering is no longer in vain. It now has the power to discipline us, sanctify us and save our souls. What was the Jesus model of coping with suffering? Did Jesus chase suffering away or vanquished it? No. Instead He plunged right into the midst of the very sin, injustice, and violence that humanity suffered. Though he was without

Pornography is silently destroying the lives of boys and girls, adults and the middle aged alike. It has successfully dismantled marriages and pulled apart families. It is corrupting priests and seminarians. It is making entry ways into convents and communities. It is invading every strata of human presence. Let us call spade a spade - Pornography is a disastrous epidemic of epic proportions. What do we do about it? How do we protect ourselves and our young? How do we heal and restore those who are harmed by it. How to educate people about this intrinsically evil epidemic. How to empower them to willfully reject it? In the divine design, man and women would enter into the sacred sexual union in the sacramental framework of marriage, fully prepared to become a gift to each other and become parents of the children their union begets, assuming responsibility, accepting hardships and challenges. This valiant marital commitment gave them meaning and purpose to their lives.