Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Experiencing Francis and Nature at Red River Gorge
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Nightmare of a History Student
sleepless is my night reading you.
where shall I bury you?
If I bury you on earth,
you will barren our land.
If I cremate you,
you may pollute the environment.
If I dump you into the river,
the water sources will be contaminated.
Where shall I bury you?
I bury you in my subconscious mind,
but I fear you may come in my dreams.
Johnachan
Monday, July 18, 2011
Who are the real heroes?
From my favorite poetess
Nameless naïve ones who have lost their future –
without them I’d lost all confidence in the future.
They could, but they don’t want to get rich –
grasping their innocent poverty parsimoniously.
They could, but they don’t want to find fame –
they’re proud enough having chosen to be a nobody.
They could — with hardly any effort –
but don’t want to, climb upwards.
They’ve taken the road — what a feat!
downwards, downwards – to the peak of the root.
And on from there to discover the hidden prospect
of blossom and fruit — still at the pre-embryo stage.
Blaga Nikolova Dimitrova (1922 - 2003) was a Bulgarian poetess and Vice President of Bulgaria from 1992 until 1993.
When I read this poem, many people like St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Treasa, Gandhi, St. Maximilian Kolbe appeared to my mind.
St. Francis said to me, my father was a rich man and I had all the riches in my life. I could be a chivalrous man among my friends, I could be a center point of many beautiful ladies, I could be a man praised by all. But I renounced all for the discovery of the hidden prospect of blossom and fruit. I remembered the picture of Francis standing on the globe and trying to hug Jesus.
Mother Treasa told me showing her wrinkled face, I could be a beautiful woman in Albania. I could polish my nails, I could spend money on facial, I could dress up beautiful but I renounced it for the uplifting the people of gutters of Calcutta.
I looked at the picture of St. Maximilian Kolbe, he was like an x ray copy. I could count all his bones, a prey of the concentration camp of Auschwitz. A flame raises from his thin and tired body, he is led to heaven with Blessed virgin Mary. He renounced his life for another man, he could save himself but he spend his life for another man.
There are many people who have dedicated their future. What are we dedicating ourselves to discover the hidden prospect of blossom and fruit.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Jesus has no hands but our's
During the last war, a church in Strasbourg was destroyed. Nothing remained except a heap of rubble and broken glass, or so the people thought till they began clearing away the masonry. Then they found a statue of Christ still standing erect. In spite of all the bombing it was unharmed except that both hands were missing. Eventually rebuilding of the church began.
One day a sculptor saw the figure of Christ, and offered to carve new hands. The church officials met to consider the sculptor’s friendly gesture—and decided not to accept the offer. Why? Because the members of that church said: “Our broken statue touches the spirits of men, but that He has no hands to minister to the needy or feed the hungry or enrich the poor—except our hands. He inspires. We perform.”
It is true Jesus has no hands to work in this world. He needs our hands, eyes, feet and mouth. Do not blame anybody for our excuses.
It was in Assisi the Franciscanism emerged. The church was in so called dark age. St. Francis, an ordinary youth from Assisi tried to build up the Church. He never criticized anyone. He changed the world through his exemplary life.
Once St. Francis asked his intimate disciple Leo: let us go and preach? They took a round through Assisi and returned in the evening. Francis did not preach to anyone. Leo asked the reason. Francis said the way we walked, the way we greeted and the way we dressed yes, Leo, we were preaching.
A priest complained to the pope there is nobody good in the world. He said let us start from us.
A poem
Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in the way
He has no tongue but our tongue to tell men how He died
He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible the careless world will read,
We are the sinner’s gospel; we are the scoffer’s creed;
We are the Lord’s last message, given in word and deed;
What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy with other work than His?
What if our feet are walking where sin’s allurement is?
What if our tongue is speaking of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him or welcome His return?
—Annie Johnston Flint
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours, yours are the eyes through which to look at Christ’s compassion to the world, yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good, and yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.”
St. Teresa of Avila, the 16th century Spanish nun
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do".
Dear companions, we need, as a church, to extend Christ’s hospitality beyond our own walls, to serve in our own community in a regular and meaningful way, not just with our financial support but with our own hands. Christ has no hands but ours now. How will we use them? Whether it is to serve at the soup kitchen, or to shelve groceries at the food pantry, or to knit prayer shawls for people in the hospital, or to serve in some way we haven’t yet imagined, we need as a community of faith to commit ourselves collectively to service for others. Let us think about this for the next semester.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Be still and know I Am God
Prophets of doom and darkness will say there is no existence of God.
But the true seekers of wisdom do not agree.
The Hindu sages overcomes the ignorance through yoga. Through which they rise to awareness Brahman is the only reality. Plurality is mere appearance. The true knower is called stitaprnjan. He will realize that tat tvam asi that is thou are Brahman. To this reality sages prayed:
"O God! lead us from darkness unto light
O God! lead us from death unto life
O God! lead us from untruth to truth"
Siddhartha experienced life as sickness, old age and death. He asked himself is what it means? He fell in to deep silence and realized self awareness. He became Buddha - enlightened. He saw these are the result of man's uncontrolled desires like sex, money and life. He who practices the eightfold paths will realize nirvana.
Christianity believes Christ is the centre of the history and the cosmos. Jesus says "I am the life and the resurrection"( 1 Cori. 14:15). In christainity the ultimate truth is the risen Christ.
Education is the progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
Let God unveils in our minds and hearts through education....
The English poet wrote:
"The mountains are hidden by fog
still the peaks are there
the Sun is shadow by the cloud
still it is shining..."
St. Gregory wrote:
"God is within all things but not included, God is outside all things but not excluded, God is above all things but not beyond our reach".