Toxic waste

A clean heart and mind is an essential requisite of spiritual life. In India, we call those people who have purified mind, soul and heart as "yogi". He is like a lotus: lotus lives in a dirty water but the flower is most beautiful and shining, never affected by dirty surroundings.
Psalmist prays, create in me a clean heart o God and renew a right spirit within me ( 51:10). He Knows that clean heart is important in the spiritual life. The Bible says "blessed are the pure in heart, they are able to see God". It is quite natural that the shadow of the moon can be seen only on a clear water thus also God in our hearts.
We give lots of importance to clean our body, buys advanced body care lotions and cosmetics to appear beautiful and handsome. That is fine! We should care our bodies but we shall not forget our hearts and minds. We put all toxic waste like, hatred, envy, anger and fear into our minds. As the years pass they accumulate as mountains of trash and toxic waste which causes psychosomatic diseases. That is why the Bible always asks us to cultivate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control( Gal. 5: 19-23) which make you strong and joyful.
We clean our house everyday to keep it liveable place. Let us clean our hearts and minds for a healthy life. Let us open our hearts everyday to God's love so He can work nonstop in us.

When I am worried

"When I am worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessing instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings" (White Christmas)

Have you ever tried this method? I tried this method personally and I would recommend; count my blessings and slowly fall in to asleep.

Dear friends, If we need to be worried and spend time worrying we have millions of reasons. Think about Anne Frank, she had tons of reasons to be sad in the concentration camp of Hitler but I think she counted her blessings and made her life happy and joyful.

In today's gospel mother Mary sings when she has lots of reason to be worried and sleepless. She can worry thinking about her husband's reaction when he knows that she is pregnant, she can think about the judgment of the society when they know that she is pregnant without her husband. But look at Mary, she sings a beautiful song known as Magnificat, counting her blessings. She counts her blessings one after another. She praises God, what a beautiful example. She is so happy and she makes even her cousin Elizabeth happy.

So dear friends when you are worried remember mother Mary, Anne Frank and many other people who made themselves happy thinking about their blessing.

One of the Indian Gurus said if you are worried and cannot sleep, listen to the people who are more worried than you. And still it doesn't work go and spend few days in mental hospital and you will realise how blessed you are for not being there.


Dear friends if you are worried and cannot sleep remember these lines : 
When I am worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessing instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings.

Stockholm syndrome

I hope my readers might have heard about Stockholm syndrome. It is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy, sympathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. Stockholm syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm in which several bank employees were held hostage in a bank vault from August 23 to August 28, 1973. During this situation, the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, rejected assistance from government officials at one point and even defended them after they were freed.
I feel many of us, especially those who are considered leaders and role models, have Stockholm syndrome that they become part of what we suppose to be against.
Parents are supposed to be the role models for children. It is from the parents that children learn moral values and love. I was visiting a family and a phone call came for the head of the family and the youngest son attended the call. He said dad, Mr. J was on the line very softly, closing the mouth piece. Dad said, tell him that I am in Bangalore, and will be back in a week. I do not know who is on the other side of the line, may be somebody that he loaned money or a friend whom he wanted to avoid. Whatever the case is, he teaches his son to lie. I have many examples to tell, I fear to write on a blog. We become what we are supposed to be against, I think this is the tragedy of most of us.
A parish priest was preaching about forgiveness and everyone in the parish knows that he is not in communion with the ex trustee. What message he is conveying? He has become part of what he supposed to be against. I think you can imagine tons of things that you have become part of, which you were not supposed to be part of it.
I urge you to reflect if you have become part of what you are supposed to be against. Let this thought give you a push to rethink.

Did we kill God in our hearts?

I was shocked last week to hear from one of the students that we shall not say Merry Christmas in the public schools instead we shall say happy holidays! wishing Christmas without naming Jesus!!Do you feel something wrong? Is this feeling because I am an Indian?

According to Karl Marx, man is a material being and according to Freud, man is a sexual being. But religions reminds man that he is a spiritual being. Recently, I read an article which says 60-80% of Indian youths are happy because they are connected with spiritual centres and in Japan only 9% of the youths are happy! When I write this, you may feel how come he comes with all these data? The ancient cultures and civilisation of thousands years back tried to explain this great Reality. We consciously forget history and take God away from the society and human hearts. The materialistic world teaches that God is dead and long live superman. Are you not hearing digging of the God's graveyard? Yes we are keeping God away from human hearts.

I remember a picture of Jesus knocking at the door. He is powerful to break the door but he knocks to enter because He respects our freedom.

I saw on the Internet a Somalian boy drinking urine from the back of a cow to quench his thirsty. It is a shocking scene for all but I would say hunger is not the problem of today, the problem of today is that we are keeping God away from our children. We have stopped reading bible in the school, using God's name in public and talking about God in the class room. Churches have become empty places and many churches are on sale or even clearance sale! Darkness rules the hearts.

I saw many different texts on Face book in response to the shooting in Connecticut. Somebody asked where is God? We have forgotten God and asks where is God? That's really funny! God is there in all the innocent children and adults who were killed. It is God who suffered.
I liked a Face book message that we need more people to teach about love, yes we shall not forget we need to teach about love, peace and justice. The world is not merely material. We should bring back God in to our society. We write on our dollar bill in God we trust. It is high time to really trust in Him. I hear that the church is full when there is a calamity or catastrophe and recently in Connecticut service. We may forget Connecticut soon but let us pray not to forget what God teaches and also not to forget history. Let us pray with Indian rishis "thamasoma jyothir gamaya- let the darkness be removed and light come in.

Jeeees!

Working class parents,
born in a manger,
no soldiers to protect,
slept on the boats and shores,
disciples were from fishermen,
died between earth and sky on a cross, a cross considered as penalty for sinners, body was buried on a donated land,
women witnessed that he was resurrected where the witness of women considered not true,
But he is the king of many hearts, He is called the King, the king of the universe
And he is my master!

Forgiveness by St. Francis of Assisi

1

Brother Thomas of Celano recounts a curious episode which took place at Collestrada near Perugia:

St. Francis of Assisi has always been considered a great man of forgiveness. Why? Because he recognized the power of forgiveness and the impact it could have in healing and transforming men and women. He also lived out this truth. Here is a story from his life that demonstrates this in a dramatic way.

One day Francis met an acquaintance of his who looked troubled, and he asked him: “Brother, how are things with you?” The man immediately began to rant against his master, saying, “Thanks to my master — May God curse him! — I have had nothing but misfortune. He has taken away all that I possess.”

Francis was filled with pity for the man, and said, “Brother, pardon your master for the love of God, and free your own soul; it's possible that he will restore to you whatever he has taken away. Otherwise, you have lost your goods and will lose your soul as well.”

But the man said, “I can't fully forgive him unless he returns what he has taken from me.” Francis answered, “Look, I will give you this cloak; I beg you to forgive your master for the love of the Lord God.” The man's heart was melted by this kindness, and he forgave his master. Immediately, he was filled with joy.

St. Francis was truly a man of forgiveness, a peacemaker who became a channel of God's grace to others. We can become like St. Francis. When we pray for those who have offended us, it frees us to love as God loves. God's grace has power not only to change us, but those who have done us injury as well.

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"Brother Francis, it would be very grateful for all of us if you talked a bit more about forgiveness."

"Friar Philip, may God, in His divine knowledge, inspire us at the moment and this congregation.

"It pleases us a lot to talk about forgiveness. Forgiveness opens the door of the true happiness, and it sets our hearts free from the oppression of our consciousness. Forgiveness is so holy that it makes us forget the injury, favoring us to re-make friends.

"Who already understood the need of forgiving, it is finally understanding there is a spiritual comfort; who forgives the neighbor for duty, it is a student at the school of self-charity; and who forgives the neighbor for love, it is already free from him/herself and it is connected with the Divine Love.

"Forgiveness is the peace itself! It is the help of the hopelessness because it transforms hatred into love.

"We are human-beings and we desire to get spiritual perfection, but sometimes we feel offended by unexpected attacks from brothers who ignore our work. The Gospel, however, teaches us to forgive in order to keep us away from hatred and revenge that can assault our hearts. We must join our hands and sing night and day the song of forgiveness. It will transform us from captive men into free ones.

"Forgive and you will be forgiven; forgive and your sublime dreams will come true; forgive and you will be strong in the battle against the evil; forgive and you will be blessed by the grace and mercy of God."

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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen

Copied and pasted by me. I found them as food for the spirit.

Be like a pencil

source: “Like the Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:

‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

My reflection on this passage

I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

I like the Portuguese Novelist Paulo Coelho. He has written above 20 novels. Alchemist is the novel that I like most. He gives lot of philosophical notions through his novels. In his novel – like the flowing river – a grandma is talking to her grandson before he begins his school. The grandma says to the boy be like a pencil. And I would like to give you the same message to you today. before you begin this scholastic year.

What are the specialties of a pencil? Can you imagine?

1. Pencil is humble: how? It is ready to correct itself and it carries an eraser. What is written by pen can not be easily erased. 'The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’ An Indian guru says: a pot even if it is golden pot which has kept upside down cannot gather water. If your head is full with pride you cannot learn knowledge.

2. Pencil is symbol of sharpening : it has to be sharpened once a while. "Now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper". What we have to sharpen ? our concentration. In Mahabharata, the disciples under Dhronacharya are learning archery. He asks the first disciple what you see. He says I see a tree, leaves, branches and a bird. Get out of here. The next one says the same. And here comes, the great Arjuna. Guru asks the same question. He says I see the eye of a bird. Shoot, the guru said.. If you have lot of things in mind like, love, internet, games, drugs you cannot concentrate.

3. Pencil is a symbol of dedication: writing and writing the pencil disappear from the world. Acquiring knowledge is not for oneself: it is for the service of human family. 'It always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

4. Pencil is symbol of breaking out of one’s self: 'What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’ Pencil has two parts: hard wooden part and graphite inside. The hard part has to be broken out to be a pencil. In the same way grandma says in the school he has to come out of himself. Your ego has to be broken out of yourself. Narcissism- I, my, mine….

5. 'You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’ Pencil cannot write by itself, it needs a hand to write. We call that hand as God. Once somebody asked St. Boneventure where did you get this knowledge? He said pointing to a crucifix. This is the source my knowledge.

6. I would like to add one more thing that is hard work. Great men achieved wisdom by hard work.