My Life with the Saints by James Martin S.J.

James Martin is a very engaging and scholarly writer. He is one of the best Catholic writers in America and has written numerous works on faith and morality. He is very persuasive in writing about Catholic faith. He has a way of explaining faith and scripture in a way very palatable to modern minds. He mixes personal details with the topics he discusses.
In this book on some of the great saints of the Church, he makes the saints alive and interesting  to the readers. When we read his biography of these saints, we too tend to become part of their lives.He has a very beautiful  way of presentation, making the saints contemporary and lovable.
Some of the holy people he deals with are Joan of Arc, Theresa of Lisieux,Thomas Merton,Pedro Arrupe,Bernadette Soubrios, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day,St.Peter,St.Joseph and Virgin Mary etc.

Jordan B.Peterson:!2 Rules of Life

I bought this book with  great expectations thinking that there would be some very illuminating ideas in this.I have gone through most of the chapters of the book but it is mostly verbiage with nothing solid  to delight the mind.The chapter that impressed me most was Rule No. 1: "Stand up straight with your shoulders back".
The following are the 12 principles:
1.Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.
3.Make friends with people who want the best for you.
4.Compare yourself to who you were yesterday,not to who someone else is today.
5.Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
6.Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world
7.Pursue what is meaningful
8.Tell the truth--or at least , don't lie.
9.Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't.
10.Be precise in your speech
11.Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.

12.Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street

UGC Guidelines on Autonomous colleges

My article welcoming the new guidelines issued by the U.G.C is published in today's Deepika (Feb.27,18).

Billy Graham

In one of his talks , he says: "I am going to heaven  not because I have preached to millions but because I say the words of the thief on the Cross: " Lord , remember me when you are in paradise."
I was listening to some of his talks on the You tube.
 What a marvelous speaker he is. He is passionately in love with Jesus. The force, power , eloquence  etc of his faith is stupendous. The modern world has not seen a preacher like him.The only other person who can match him in eloquence and faith is Abp.Fulton J.Sheen.These are the two  pillars of faith in the 20th C. Christianity.

Rahner on Prayers

Be  merciful to me,my God.When I flee from prayer, it is not that I want to flee from You, but from myself and my own superficiality.(p.22)

Have mercy on me.Receive me into your Love.And when I come to the end of my pilgrimage, when the day begins to decline and the shadows of death surround me, speak Your last word at the end of my life also: "Father into Your hands I commend his spirit.'

Old Pictures

Old Pictures