Merry Christmas

It was Christmas, many of the church going folks, walked down the street after their regular service and began to distribute gifts and sweets to the less fortunate. 

While doing so, one of the groups, came to where an old man was sitting. He was a destitute and the streets were his home. 

They went and gifted him clothes and something to eat. The old man  gratefully accepted their kind gesture and enquired the reason for this benevolence. It's Christmas, they shouted in glee.
"Can we have Christmas every month ?" he asked  

No one understood the meaning of these words. There was present in the crowd a child who heard these words. He often wondered what this meant to have Christmas every month and grew up like the rest, restricting the good deeds to his church and moments like today.   

Time we took Christ out of the Crib and into the streets and celebrated Christmas all days of the year. 

A Good Start.....

Received the below message on my Whatsapp from a friend,

Cardinal has launched the new job portal www.e2elinks.com.
Thanks to the entire team of Fr John Almeida, Royston Braganza, Carlton Periera, Francis Fernandes, Margaret D’Costa and Ruth D’Souza led and encouraged by Bishop Allwyn for this initiative

Good start. But if we were serious in ensuring employment of the bread winners, then research should have been done by profiling the candidates, available skillsets and skilling them softly with tools of their trade into employable levels first. 

With a rapidly changing background, it is absolutely necessary to ensure the foreground is in Sync, else it would be mere Noise we create, instead of Music. 

Job Portals are just too many both in India and Overseas.
Do we know what is the requirement of Industry, both in - Mumbai/Maharashtra/India/Overseas - in these changing Times.
Why are these candidates nearly there but Never there, and hence lose the race.
What is it that's stopping the Employers from grabbing them at the First interaction. 

Let's not lower the Threshold  of employment, but instead raise the Standard of our candidates, by skilling them to a level more than the job requires, so that they rise in their new positions with head held high.  

   

The Apple continues to be Eaten......

Many of us are of the opinion that after the Devil prompted Eve to pursue Adam to eat the Apple, he rested...      Wrong   

The Devil has been present through Time, pursuing a single point agenda of proving God wrong in creating Man by selecting an energy form other than him. In this pursuit we have the Devil telling us what to eat, what to wear, how to speak etc. This has caused us to avoid everything created by God, and go for bio engineered derivatives. 

How does the Devil work here. He advertises the benefits of these engineered products, through his middlemen, who could be Big Pharma Companies, Genetically Modified Food Manufacturers or other destroyers of Nature.

He manages to convince us with his set of arguments, the way he convinced Eve, that we are on the way to progress every time we listen to his (read Devil's) advice, and challenge the authority of God. ..  and

Every time we challenge God, we are driven out of Paradise.
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Liturgy of the Word

The Mass is both a Memorial and a Sacrifice
Liturgy of the Word, the First of the Two principal rites of the Mass. This typically consist of three readings.    

The First from the Old Testament (A term wider than Hebrew Scriptures).
The Second from the New Testament.
The Third is from the Gospels - the four narratives relating to the life and death of Jesus Christ.
The first New Testament reading is from the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, or the Revelation to John. 

What we Roman Catholics and followers of the Lord would like to witness is a change in the above as below:
Instead of the Gospel, can we focus more on the Parables - the 37 Parables he preached, and the other 9 mentioned in the Bible along with the Hundred others he spoke of.
In the Readings, can we have one reading as a brief on the decisions taken at the 2 Vatican Councils, and the 21 Ecumenical Councils, so we the believers are informed and fully aware of the happenings in the Church.
The other reading can continue as decided, and The Parables instead of The Gospels

Washing of the Feet

The Last Supper is the final meal that Jesus shared with his apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion and provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist.
Later this became a retelling of the events of the last meal, and a ritual which recounted that meal. What is forgotten is that after the meal......
He rose from Supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself. He then poured water in a basin and began to wash his disciples feet 

Jesus then instructs his disciples,"If I then your Lord and Teacher have washed your Feet, you also have to wash one another's feet. (John 13: 14-17)

After that he wore his garment and was seated, as he said unto them," Know ye what I have done to you.Ye call me Master and Lord: and yes say well; for so I am. If I then your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
The entire emphasis that night was on serving one another as commanded: "Love one another, as I have Loved you."

The Mass today dwells only on the Supper and the bigger question posed before us is, have we relegated washing of the feet to a once a year ritual.

Forty Days

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Monday that the 21-day nationwide lock down will be extended for another 19 days until May 3, a move that experts said would flatten as well as delay the cycle of infections. We began with a 21 day lock down which has now been extended by another 19 days. This makes it Forty Days.   

The earlier 21 days would have ended with the Passover. This was an important date in the Covenant. But it did not. Any more number of days could have been decided upon. Why +19. Because then it totals to Forty.
Now, Christianity uses Forty Days to designate important time periods.
Before his Temptation, Jesus fasted Forty Days and Forty Nights, in the Judean desert (Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2)
Forty Days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to the Ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:3)
During Moses life he lived Forty years in Egypt, and Forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery.
Noah entered the Ark in his six hundredth year, when the floodgates of heaven opened, and rain fell for Forty Days and Forty Nights until the highest mountains were covered, and all earth based life perished. 
Forty shows up in the Bible in such places as the Forty years in the wilderness for the Jews,
Forty years from the crucifixion of Jesus to the destruction of Jerusalem;
Forty days of Moses on the Mount receiving the Law, Jesus being with his disciples for Forty days following the resurrection,
many of the Judges judged for Forty years;
Saul & David reigned for Forty years etc

Mentioned 146 times in Scripture, the number Forty generally symbolizes a period of Testing, Trial or Probation. Angel number Forty is a message from your angels reminding you that you are safe, well protected and loved.

When the Light went Out

Where were they when the Light went out

Where were the Apostles at the time of the Accusation, the Condemnation, the Journey to Calvary, the Crucifixion, the lowering of the corpse from the Cross, and laying in the Tomb. 

Scripture speaks of Mary - mother of James and Joseph, Mary - the mother of Jesus, Mary - the mother of the sons of Zebedee, Salome and Mary of Clopas, being around at the time.

Where will you be when the Light begins to flicker

I

For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Matthew 23:39
Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" Luke 13:35









  

Where are all the Charlatans Gone

Matthew 7: 15 - 20 / Ezekiel 13:9 / Jeremiah 23:16

Beware of False Prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.    

These wolves were Live on National and International Television, hosting Channels of their own, visible largely on Internet and Religious Events, conducting Prayers, curing Society of all ills with a touch of their hands, a wave in the air, or a push to the floor.

Travelling Globally with large troupes, creating high decibel sounds, adding to their ever widening client base to fund their activities and lifestyles in the name of religion. 
These are the people who went first into hiding. 

Where are they who claimed to be Anointed and Spoke in Tongues  Who walked around their places of worship, holding high their Holy Books, and pretending they were the Annointed ones. 
These are the people who went first into hiding. 

The Wrath .. .. ... .. and the Cure

Various outbreaks of Pandemic diseases, have prompted many to ask why God allows or even causes Pandemics and whether such illnesses are a sign of the end times. But then we say daily "World without an End." So that's ruled out.  

The Bible describes numerous occasions in the Old Testament, when God brought Plagues and Diseases on his people and on his enemies. (Exodus 9:14, 16) (Exodus 12:13, 15:26)  
 

40 days, 40 nights in the Ark, Noah's family was confined in a Boat. No Windows, No devices to Communicate.They only heard the rain. They spent their time Praying, loving each other, and caring for the animals. God the Father took care of them, as Noah was a man of Faith and obeyed his Word.

God also warned his people of the consequences of disobedience (Leviticus 26: 21,25) After giving the Mosaic Law, God commanded his people to obey it or suffer many evils. There are many examples of God's wrath in getting his people home. In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, God said to Solomon, When I shut up the Heavens, so that there is No rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague. Only when they turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from the Heavens and forgive their sin and heal their land.

In the New Testament, Jesus healed every disease and sickness, as well as plagues in the areas he visited. There is No way to determine whether the Pandemic has a spiritual cause, but we can be certain that as the Lord said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." His Parables teach us the way to live in various situations. We only need to understand the 52 Parables he narrated.

Scientifically it will be seen that those who survive the Pandemic have a higher immunity, maybe that's the answer. Eat Healthy and raise your immunity.
Remember even though there is an ocean of viruses out there, and life seems like a stormy ride, our God is watching over us! Be faithful to him and wait patiently. The rain will stop one day. A rainbow will shine and all will be well again.

As to how to stop the disease, currently we are relying on the practice of isolation. At the last pandemic, Sailors were held on Ship for 30 days in the Venetian port city of Ragusa, to keep them in isolation, until proved they were not sick. This became known in Venetian Law as a Trentino. With time they increased the forced isolation to 40 days or a Quarantino. This had a better effect and the origin of the word. 
The world now stares at being Quarantined.