C.S.Lewis--Mere Christianity

  This is a very good book where many of the Christian doctrines, virtues and Christian morality are explained in an understandable way .No high- flown or pedantic language. In very simple words, Christianity is presented.Many have accepted Christianity by reading this work of C.S.Lewis.He is a great apologist of the Christian faith.His full name: Clive Staples Lewis(1898-1963).A fellow and tutor in English Lit. at Oxford Uty until 1954. Then,  he was  elected  the Chair of of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge Uty.Wrote more than 39 books. Mere Christianity is  a reworked collection of a series of lectures he gave over the BBC to  inspire the faith of the soldiers in the Second World War.Kathleen Norris says : "Lewis seeks in Mere Christianity to help us see religion with fresh eyes as a radical faith."

Forgiveness:

We have to remember how He loves us.Not for any nice , attractive qualities we think we have, but just because we are the things called selves.For really there is nothing in us to love: creatures like us who actually find hatred such a pleasure that  to give it up is like giving up beer or tobacco...

Sexual Morality:

While the rule of chastity is the same for all Christians, the rule of propriety changes. The difference in the dress of a girl in the pacific islands and of a Victorian lady.

Perfect chasity  like perfect charity will not be attained by any merely human efforts.You must ask for God's help...After each failure, ask forgivenss,pick yourself up, and try again.Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again....It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God...We need not despair in our worst for our failures are forgiven.

The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins.All the worst pleasure are purely  spiritual

There two things inside me ,competing with the human self which I must try to become.The Animal self and the diabolical self.the diabolical self is the worst of the two.That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute.

Holy Thursday,2023

•                             Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles and instituting the Eucharist.
• Bread was always in the thoughts of Jesus--physical as well as spiritual.
• He did not want his people to go hungry 
• Multiplied bread twice to feed the crowd of 5000 fist and that of 7000, later.
• On the last night of his life, he made the bread to become the food not not for just a group of people but for all his believers;not for a day but for all the days in their lives.
• Not for the  satiation of their  physical needs but for all their needs.
• Offering not bread that has a limited life but his own life and blood that has no time limits.
• Jesus becoming wholly and totally a part of our lives.
• This  transformation is powerful and overwhelming---Jesus becoming present in our lives, everyday of our lives.
• Our reflections:
• My Jesus, You are everything that my life craves for.I find joy in your presence.Your presence will make me more available to others and help me to wash their feet. Lord , wash my feet and fill me with your life.
• Henri Nouwen: "Lord, I promise I will not run away , not give up, not stop praying, even when all seems useless,pointless and a waste of time and effort.I want to let you know that I love You even though I do not feel loved by you and that I hope in you even though I often experience despair.Let this be a little dying I can do with You.
•  Fulton J.Sheen: "All my sermons are prepared in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. As recreation is most pleasant and profitable in the sun, so homiletic creativity is best nourished before the Eucharist. The most brilliant ideas come from meeting God face to face. The Holy Spirit that presided at the Incarnation is the best atmosphere for illumination. Pope John Paul II keeps a small desk or writing pad near him whenever he is in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament; and I have done this all my life - I am sure for the same reason he does, because a lover always works better when the beloved is with him."

•  St.John Chrysostom: "How many of you say: I should like to see His face, His garments, His shoes. You do see Him, you touch Him, you eat Him. He gives Himself to you, not only that you may see Him, but also to be your food and nourishment"

• St Thomas Aquinas: “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”

  St Euphrasia: “To speak of the Blessed Sacrament is to speak of what is most sacred. How often, when we are in a state of distress, those to whom we look for help leave us; or what is worse, add to our affliction by heaping fresh troubles upon us. He is ever there, waiting to help us.”

• t Francis de Sales: “When the bee has gathered the dew of heaven and the earth’s sweetest nectar from the flowers, it turns it into honey, then hastens to its hive. In the same way, the priest, having taken from the altar the Son of God (who is as the dew from heaven, and true son of Mary, flower of our humanity), gives him to you as delicious food

• St John Chrysostom: “It is not the man who is responsible for the offerings as they become Christ’s Body and Blood; it is Christ Himself who was crucified for us. The standing figure belongs to the priest who speaks these words. The power and the grace belong to God. ‘This is My Body,’ he says. And these words transform the offerings.”

  St Cyril of Jerusalem: “Since Christ Himself has said, ‘This is My Body,’ who shall dare to doubt that it is His Body?”

• Little Flower on her First Communion: " That day our meeting was more than simple recognition, it was perfect union..We were no longer two.Therese had disappeared like a drop of water lost in the immensity of the ocean; Jesus alone remained.He was the master, the King."

Holy Week at Mount St. Thomas,2023

 The celebration of the Holy Week here at Mt. St. Thomas was like a time spent in a Retreat Centre as the whole week was spent in prayers and in the celebration of various liturgical ceremonies. Arrangements were made for the participation of more people at the various ceremonies. The Holy Week started with the Palm  Sunday celebration on Sunday,  April 2. I was a concelebrant along with Fr.Thomas Melvettam, the Cardinal being the main celbrant. The pictures of the procession and the mass came in the papers and also on different channels.This well-coordinated conduct of the ceremonies was a harbinger of the later ceremonies that were well-organized at Mt.St.Thomas.I was also asked to be a concelebrant for the Holy Saturday ceremonies and the mass.All the priests participated in the Yama Prarthankal--Liturgy of the Hours.

The Good Friday Way of the Cross was also impressive and highly devotional as the procession went up to the Main Gate and returned to the Chapel. The Easter procession with the statue of the Risen Lord went up to the Cross and returned.When all the ceremonies of the Holy Week were over, it was as if we were moving from a world of high spiritual events to one of mundane matters. Thank God that everything went smoothly well.

The first picture  is the blessing of the water on Holy Saturday, the second , that of sharing the paschal bread and the third , that of the Palm Sunday procession.