Wednesday 31 December 2008

Living with Terrorism

(Here i republish an article from lorantalk.blogspot.com)

Terrorism has no heart, no feelings but humankind has to live with but we need to make corrections in our way of life.

Every citizen should wake up to patriotic feelings shed away differences of religion, caste, region and vote to bring impartial candidates. Support the law keepers to allow stringent security at any point, inform about suspicious characters and activities, allow a feeling of unity rejecting acts of divisive politics. Any body breaking the law starting from basic traffic crimes should be dealt with severely as to bring about the discipline of a law abiding nation. Even with any sort of security if traitors within our country help these perpetrators we will still end up in such similar sieges.

Have any country been able to stop the sea piracy that still goes even with availability of the latest gadgets onboard? But the enemy also tends to have the advantage of these new found technologies with the type of funding received from such supporting bodies. Hence only with sensible citizen assistances can we eliminate such barbaric activities. Yes, money is an element which could buy cowards who would rob our country of a peaceful state and all our NRI's should remember not to criticize our country but help to build a nation which has 110 crores of peoples of all diversity rather than compare it other nations developed over a longer period with a limited controllable population. In our humble way we need to start addressing problems of enmity, shed differences in communities, win friendship with our show of compassion and love rather with threats of war to endanger more lives with terror sown into young minds.

If we could induce discipline into our society it will in a period of time improve sensible thinking into the public to elect better candidate rather be fooled by false election promises. If Indians own and manage many great MNC's in the world with international standards, an indicator that we possess the best people who can manage our country in good sensible manner provided the public be able to impartially sort the good ones.

At this hour of crisis we must adopt practical thinking with the limited resources within our system. Without wasting time the present existing laws must be enforced in total faith, book all those politicians who think above the law inciting communal feeling. All such fundamental groups inciting/terrorising such passion also should be banned to start putting our house in order. End result the job of the security officers would become easier with freedom to concentrate on security management.

This the People of India should stand up together to make our Land free from such hate crimes.

Donald DCruz, Mundakkal West, Kollam -691001.
 

Tuesday 30 December 2008

India, an Exporter of Priests, May Keep Them

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/us/30priest.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1230605531-eKJNDT2jxZ197Bew8PK8Kg&pagewanted=all

Le verbe s'est fait chair

Le temps de Noël set le temps où nous tenons dans nos bras le petit enfant Jésus que Marie nous a confié. Aujourd'hui, saint Jean l'évangéliste vient s'asseoir à côté de nous et nous raconte QUI est vraiment Jésus. Et il le fait délicatement, en plusieurs étapes, comme pour nous aider à entrer dans ce mystère.

Tout d'abord, nous dit-il, Jésus, c'est le Christ, qu'on appelle aussi le Verbe, La parole du Père.

Puis, saint Jean nous raconte le rôle du fils de Dieu dans la création du monde. La Père a tout créé par le fils et dans l'Esprit.

En d'autres termes, on pourrait dire que le Verbe est la parole créatrice, sortie de la bouche du père, dans un même Esprit d'amour.

Et saitn Jean termine son enseignement en nous parlant de la Joie que nous partageons avec Marie et Joseph dans la crèche: la joie de saisir que Le verbe s'est fait chair.

Le verbe s'est fait chair: une révélation si difficile à intégrer dans la tête et si facile à saisir par le cœur, qu'un petit enfant le comprend parfois mieux que nos esprits d'adultes compliqués .

Alors retrouvons notre cœur d'enfants, laissons-nous émerveiller devant une telle preuve vivante de l'amour de Dieu, pour chacun d'entre nous.... AMEN.
 

Monday 29 December 2008

La Prophétesse Anne




Est-ce Que L'espérance produit le message de l'évangile s'adresse au monde entier?

La réponse est Oui
Même, si la message est donné à quelque personne en particulier, il s'adresse au monde entier.
Ce fait vérifié ,sur tout ,dans le nouveau Testament est un élément formidable de la parole de Dieu.

La prophétesse Anne, tout comme Syméon, a une relation intime avec Dieu.
Elle a, comme Syméon, le privilège de reconnaître le Messie.
Elle aussi a, louer le Seigneur, même si son cantique n'est pas rapporté dans l'évangile. Peu de personnes ont su, comme Syméon et Anne, que cet enfant présenté au temple, était le Messie attendu.

Syméon et Anne étaient des personnes qui cultivaient une relation intime avec Dieu.

C'étaient des gens ordinaires comme vous et moi.
Dieu s'est fait connaître à tous qui desirent le connaître et le faire connaître intimement.
Syméon et Anne sont de ceux-là. 
Ils sont deux privilégies à qui le saint Esprit, à révélé la véritable identité du petit enfant.


Approchez-vous de Dieu, et il se fera connaître à vous.
Approchez-vous de Dieu en lisent et en méditant sa parole, tout en lui demandent de vous éclairer,

car notre Dieu est un Dieu de lumière.

Image:  icones.priere.free.fr/ presentation.htm

Monday 15 December 2008

God’s Extraordinary Plan: The genealogy of Jesus





















God’s Extraordinary Plan
The genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17).
By: Steven Roe

While the inclusion of Jesus’ genealogy may seem tedious to us today, it establishes Jesus’ place within the Jewish tradition and his continuity with great Old Testament figures.

 It also highlights the Father’s deliberate preparation for the sending of the Son. God carefully unfolded his plan by using his people across the generations—some admirable and some not.

Bible scholars have long commented on the “irregularities” found in Matthew’s genealogy, especially its inclusion of women, an unusual occurrence in Jewish genealogies of that time. St. Jerome said that Matthew chose sinful women for his list, such as Rahab, but this doesn’t accurately explain Ruth’s inclusion. Others have said that Matthew chose foreign women, which is true of Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. Still others have commented that their “irregularity” is the very thing the women in Matthew have in common. Yet each also played an extraordinary part in the history of Israel. They thus prepared the way for the unique and extraordinary role of Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus.

God worked in all of these unique individuals to prepare for the coming of his Son. We can find encouragement in this fact. Whether we are high and mighty or lowly and limited, God invites us and uses us to bring Jesus to others, just as Mary brought him to us. However “irregular” we may consider ourselves, the Father lets nothing stand in the way of his love, not even ourselves. What joyful hope this instills in us, that God uses us in an extraordinary way to bring his Son to others! In this sense, we participate in the ongoing genealogy of Christ.


1. Which names do you recognize from Matthew’s list? Whose story are you most familiar with, and how does that story add to your understanding of Jesus?

2. If you could create your own Christian genealogy, who would you include in your list? What individuals or groups have most significantly influenced your own walk with Christ?

3. Do you know anyone who feels alienated from the church because of events in his or her past? What could you do to show them that God loves them and welcomes them back?

Article Taken From: Matthew: A Catholic Guide For Personal Study And Faith Sharing. General Editor Stephen Roe.
http://wau.org/resources/article/gods_extraordinary_plan/

Sunday 9 November 2008

Homily for November 9, 2008: Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica

 from http://deacbench.blogspot.com
i find thoughts on francis of assisi. thank you
 _________________________________________________
This is one of the more unusual feasts on the church calendar. It doesn’t commemorate a saint, or a biblical event. It celebrates a building. Specifically, the Lateran Basilica, in Rome. It’s the oldest of the four major basilicas in Rome, and as such serves as the official “home” of the pope – the seat of the bishop of Rome. St. Peter’s gets all the attention, but it’s the Lateran that is really the “pope’s church.”

A few years ago, my wife and I got to visit Rome and see the Lateran. You’ll find some remarkable objects – above the altar there are relics of St. Peter and St. Paul. There is also wood that is said to come from the table of the Last Supper.

But one of the most striking spots is actually outside the church. If you go to the square across the street, you’ll see a statue of St. Francis of Assisi, with his arms outstretched. It commemorates an important moment in church history: the Lateran is where Francis went to ask the pope for permission to start a religious order. And if you remember the story, his inspiration was a voice that he heard in prayer, a voice that told Francis “Rebuild my church.”

Well, if you step back from the statue of Francis and stand behind it, and look at it from a particular angle, between St. Francis’s outstretched arms you see the Lateran Basilica. He appears to be holding it up with his hands.

It’s a great image – and a great lesson.

A church building is brick and mortar, wood and glass. But – ultimately – it is supported by the arms and the labor of those who love it.

Ultimately, it is people.

It is you. It is me.

“You are God’s building,” Paul writes to the Corinthians. “You are the temple of God and the Spirit dwells in you.”

And it is up to us to keep the spirit – and to spread it – and to help it to dwell in others.

This Sunday, we’re marking “Stewardship Sunday” or “Commitment Sunday.” You’ll be seeing a short movie about that at the end of mass. I think it shows in a beautiful way how our arms support this church – how we all, together, lift it up to God. And how we then become God’s building, His dwelling place. Indeed, when we receive the Eucharist, as we will in a few moments, we become living tabernacles.

And it all begins here, in this tabernacle, this temple of God.

Many of you may remember Gene Flood, a longtime parishioner here. Gene was an important part of this parish’s history: he was the first baby baptized in this church. And nearly eight decades later, at his funeral here, his casket was sprinkled with holy water from the same font in which he was baptized. It was a beautiful reminder of how we mark so much of our sacramental lives within these walls. From baptisms to funerals and a thousand moments in between.

We are church. But this church, in ways large and small, is us. It is where we measure and mark our lives. And it becomes a part of us.

But there is one part that cannot be emphasized enough.

In his autobiography, Thomas Merton wrote, “I thought churches were simply places where people got together and sang a few hymns…and yet now I tell you, it is the Sacrament…Christ living in our midst…it is He alone who holds our world together.”

That is what this is really all about. That’s why we are here. That’s why we have the youth programs and the choir and RCIA and pastoral care and all the things that stewardship supports. It is to ensure that this sacrament, Christ living in our midst, continues to hold our world together through all that the parish does, all our ministers do, all that we do, together.

We do it because of this: the One who draws us to this sacred place. The One who nourishes our hopes, and who calms our fears, and who makes of each of us – with all our flaws and imperfections – his tabernacle.

It is all because of Christ in the Eucharist.

Remember that. Cherish that. And celebrate it.

Because when all is said and done, that is really what we are supporting.

Our prayer should be that we do that with joy, and with zeal and -- like that statue of St. Francis shows -- with open arms and open hearts.

Saturday 1 November 2008

Religion Impacts Size of Wallet

A study of religious affiliations finds some denominations are richer.


Christian fundamentalists may be at a disadvantage when it comes to cash. A study found a strong link between religious affiliation and wealth in the U.S., with Jews earning the most, and conservative Protestants the least.

Lisa Keister, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University, analyzed longitudinal surveys of nearly 5,000 Americans. She found the median net worth of Jewish participants to be $150,890. Conservative Protestants—including Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists and Christian Scientists—were worth an average of $26,200. Catholics and mainstream Protestants—including Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Unitarians and others—fell in between at about $60,000.

Keister explained the connection between faith and pocketbook by pointing to the role that religion plays in the family. "Families have a big impact on future wealth accumulation, and religion is a big part of family life," says Keister. The study took into account age, education, race and other factors that influence wealth, such as inheritance.

Why were Jews worth so much more, on average? For one, Jewish participants were much more likely to invest in financial versus real assets, meaning stocks and bonds instead of houses. They also began investing much earlier than non-Jews. A strong emphasis on education and good financial habits in Jewish homes contributes, as well as more and better opportunities to increase "social capital."

Keister speculates that conservative Protestants, in contrast, are more interested in the afterlife than in achieving success in this world. Higher fertility rates and hostility toward formal education could also work against their bank accounts. A literalist interpretation of the Bible may also discourage the accumulation of wealth.

Keister does not think the study promotes anti-Semitic stereotypes; rather, she believes that the research provides lessons that could lessen differences between groups. And they don't involve religious conversion. "If we can teach people the basics of saving and saving early, we could improve their well-being," she says.

The study was published in Social Forces.


Psychology Today Magazine, Sep/Oct 2003
Last Reviewed 14 Oct 2008
Article ID: 3014

ALL SOULS DAY

 
"Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them." 
[Saint John Chrysostom - 4th century]
Aladar Korosfoi-Kriesch
All Souls' Day --1910 Oil on canvas, 51,5 x 72,5 cm
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

Friday 31 October 2008

Halloween: The Real Story!

Halloween: The Real Story!
Father Augustine Thompson, O.P.,
The Truth About HalloweenWe've all heard the allegations. Halloween is a pagan rite dating back to some pre-Christian festival among the Celtic Druids that escaped Church suppression. Even today modern pagans and witches continue to celebrate this ancient festival. If you let your kids go trick-or-treating, they will be worshiping the devil and pagan gods. 
Nothing could be further from the truth. The origins of Halloween are, in fact, very Christian and rather American. Halloween falls on October 31 because of a pope, and its observances are the result of medieval Catholic piety. 
It's true that the ancient Celts of Ireland and Britain celebrated a minor festival on Oct. 31 — as they did on the last day of most other months of the year. However, Halloween falls on the last day of October because the Feast of All Saints or "All Hallows" falls on Nov. 1. The feast in honor of all the saints in heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope Gregory III (d. 741) moved it to Nov. 1, the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter's at Rome. Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere. And so the holy day spread to Ireland. The day before was the feast's evening vigil, "All Hallows Even" or "Hallowe'en." In those days, Halloween didn't have any special significance for Christians or for long-dead Celtic pagans. 
In 998, St. Odilo, the abbot of the powerful monastery of Cluny in Southern France, added a celebration on Nov. 2. This was a day of prayer for the souls of all the faithful departed. This feast, called All Souls Day, spread from France to the rest of Europe. 
So now the Church had feasts for all those in heaven and all those in purgatory? What about those in the other place? It seems Irish Catholic peasants wondered about the unfortunate souls in hell. After all, if the souls in hell are left out when we celebrate those in heaven and purgatory, they might be unhappy enough to cause trouble. So it became customary to bang pots and pans on All Hallows Even to let the damned know they were not forgotten. Thus, in Ireland, at least, all the dead came to be remembered — even if the clergy were not terribly sympathetic to Halloween and never allowed All Damned Day into the Church calendar. 
But that still isn't our celebration of Halloween. Our traditions on this holiday centers around dressing up in fanciful costumes, which isn't Irish at all. Rather, this custom arose in France during the 14th and 15th centuries. Late medieval Europe was hit by repeated outbreaks of the bubonic plague — the Black Death — and she lost about half her population. It is not surprising that Catholics became more concerned about the afterlife. More Masses were said on All Souls' Day, and artistic representations were devised to remind everyone of their own mortality. 
All Souls DayWe know these representations as the "Dance Macabre" or "Dance of Death," which was commonly painted on the walls of cemeteries and shows the devil leading a daisy chain of people — popes, kings, ladies, knights, monks, peasants, lepers, etc. — into the tomb. Sometimes the dance was presented on All Souls' Day itself as a living tableau with people dressed up in the garb of various states of life. But the French dressed up on All Souls, not Halloween; and the Irish, who had Halloween, did not dress up. How the two became mingled probably happened first in the British colonies of North America during the 1700s when Irish and French Catholics began to intermarry. The Irish focus on hell gave the French masquerades and even more macabre twist. 
But, as every young ghoul knows, dressing up isn't the point; the point is getting as many goodies as possible. Where on earth did "trick or treat" come in? 
"Treat or treat" is perhaps the oddest and most American addition to Halloween, and is the unwilling contribution of English Catholics. 
During the penal period of the 1500s to the 1700s in England, Catholics had no legal rights. They could not hold office and were subject to fines, jail and heavy taxes. It was a capital offense to say Mass, and hundreds of priests were martyred. 
Occasionally, English Catholics resisted, sometimes foolishly. One of the most foolish acts of resistance was a plot to blow up the Protestant King James I and his Parliament with gunpowder. This was supposed to trigger a Catholic uprising against their oppressors. The ill-conceived Gunpowder Plot was foiled on Nov. 5, 1605, when the man guarding the gunpowder, a reckless convert named Guy Fawkes, was captured and arrested. He was hanged; the plot fizzled. 
Nov. 5, Guy Fawkes' Day, became a great celebration in England, and so it remains. During the penal periods, bands of revelers would put on masks and visit local Catholics in the dead of night, demanding beer and cakes for their celebration: trick or treat! 
Guy Fawkes' Day arrived in the American colonies with the first English settlers. But, buy the time of the American Revolution, old King James and Guy Fawkes had pretty much been forgotten. Trick or treat, though, was too much fun to give up, so eventually it moved to Oct. 31, the day of the Irish-French masquerade. And in America, trick or treat wasn't limited to Catholics. 
The mixture of various immigrant traditions we know as Halloween had become a fixture in the Unites States by the early 1800s. To this day, it remains unknown in Europe, even in the countries from which some of the customs originated. 
Witches - All Souls - All SaintsBut what about witches? Well, they are one of the last additions. The greeting card industry added them in the late 1800s. Halloween was already "ghoulish," so why not give witches a place on greeting cards? The Halloween card failed (although it has seen a recent resurgence in popularity), but the witches stayed. So, too, in the late 1800s, ill-informed folklorists introduced the jack-o'-lantern. They thought that Halloween was druidic and pagan in origin. Lamps made from turnips (not pumpkins) had been part of ancient Celtic harvest festivals, so they were translated to the American Halloween celebration. 
The next time someone claims that Halloween is a cruel trick to lure your children into devil worship, I suggest you tell them the real origin of All Hallows Even and invite them to discover its Christian significance, along with the two greater and more important Catholic festivals that follow it.
This article is written by Father Augustine Thompson, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia
Copyright ©2005-2008 Jesus The Answer

Sunday 19 October 2008

prayer and wall street

Is that sort of prayer, well...kosher?

A writer at Time magazine decided to ask religious leaders in a position to know:
Prayer is humanity's conversation with God. And very often the prayer is a plea. It seems safe to say that in the face of last week's Wall Street drop, more Americans have fallen to their knees than perhaps at any time since the months following Sept. 11.

But how do you pray in times of crisis? After the fall of the twin towers, most prayers for self-preservation also included prayers for the dead and for the safety of all. That sort of bigger, more compassionate plea is not quite as automatic this time around. Is it all right to be straightforward in your imploring — to beseech God on behalf of you and your family's personal fortune — or is that somehow selfish? And is that all there is? Or is this prayer, too, expected somehow to encompass a bigger and more compassionate principle?

TIME talked to Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim clerics about the kind of prayer that is appropriate in a time of possible economic peril and found strong agreement on some basic advice.

"People absolutely need to know that it's natural to ask God's [personal] help in times of crisis," says James Martin, a priest, editor at the Jesuit magazine America and author of the book My Life with the Saints. "It's human and we can't not do it." Martin points out that the Psalms — in many ways the Western model for all personal prayer — are full of such special pleading. And in the Lord's prayer, Jesus doesn't forget to include "give us this day our daily bread." Daniel Nevins, dean of the rabbinical school at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary, also recognizes the legitimacy of the "help me" prayer, noting that the third of four prayers that religious Jews are expected to recite after meals asks God to "grant us relief from all our troubles. May we never find ourselves in need of gifts or loans from flesh and blood, but may we rely only upon your helping hand, which is open, ample and generous." Says Shamsi Ali, imam of the huge Islamic Cultural Center on 96th Street in Manhattan: "In this kind of situation, Muslims turn their face to God and say, 'Almighty God, we submit ourselves fully to you, heal us and strengthen us. What you give, no one can prevent, and what you prevent, no one can give.' "

Rabbi Nevins cautions, "When I ask God for help, I'm not asking for an extra miracle, for a great hand to drop a wad of cash on my mortgage." Such supernatural interventions may occur, he says, "but I just don't know how to prove that." Says Ali: "God accepts our prayers, but God acts based on his wisdom." Says Martin: "If you imagine that God is like a cosmic gum-ball machine, you have to start rethinking your image of God. The help may not come as quickly or in the exact way that you want it. If you pray that your stock goes back up and it doesn't, it doesn't mean that God is not hearing you; it may mean that your prayer is not being answered in the way that you want it to be answered." He adds that "it's important to be aware of unexpected ways in which he might be responding. Look at the way your friends are helping you, or your church community, and that's a way you might feel God helping you."
Check out the link for much more divine inspiration.

thanks to  http://deacbench.blogspot.com/

Sunday 5 October 2008

Optimism and hope

It seems the Optimism is different from hope.
Optimism is a way of expecting things to change in a paricular way, after span of time.
but the first step of hope is to accept the present situation as it is ,
enabling oneself to recognize the deeper significance of the present.

Sunday 31 August 2008

Time it takes for garbage to decompose in the environment:

Glass Bottle.......................... 1 million years
Monofilament Fishing Line… 600 years
Plastic Beverage Bottles…… 450 years
Disposable Diapers………… 450 years
Aluminum Can..................... 80-200 years
Foamed Plastic Buoy……… 80 years
Foamed Plastic Cups……… 50 years
Rubber-Boot Sole............... 50-80 years
Tin Cans……………………. 50 years
Leather................................. 50 years
Nylon Fabric........................ 30-40 years
Plastic Film Container........ 20-30 years
Plastic Bag.......................... 10-20 years
Cigarette Butt...................... 1-5 years
Wool Sock............................ 1-5 years
Plywood…………………….. 1-3 years
Waxed Milk Carton………… 3 months
Apple Core…………………. 2 months
Newspaper………………….. 6 weeks
Orange or Banana Peel...... 2-5 weeks
Paper Towel……………….. 2-4 weeks
Information Source: U.S. National Park Service; Mote Marine Lab, Sarasota, FL.

yes....back to the desk

yes,
after the absebse of two months,  i am back.....to the talk.

Tuesday 12 August 2008

i know you will not believe this....




Your Spelling is Perfect



You got 10/10 correct.



Your spelling is excellent. You also have a great memory and eye for detail.

Friday 1 August 2008

Prof. Randy Pausch (1960- 2008)

July 25th, 2008
Randy Pausch
Professor whose 'last lecture' became a sensation dies
http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/Randy-Pausch/83829780

line from the blog page:

Randy died this morning of complications from pancreatic cancer.
The CMU news story is here
: http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/beyond/2008/summer/an-enduring-legacy.shtml

Monday 28 July 2008

Water-Wine-Blood

The gospels always have a spirit of movement.

From water to the Wine.
From Wine to Blood


It is always a movement towards more density and profoundness.
Our Spirituality is an invitaiton to growth...

“Deeper, deeper, tho it cost hard trials, 
deeper let me go! Rooted in the holy love of Jesus, Let me fruitful grow.” 
(Verse 3 of C. P. Jones’s hymn, Deeper, Deeper.)
 

The light of the world?

We waste lots of our energy formulating hugh abstract solutions for little concrete problems.
We often take Jesus and his Gospel to be so abstract.
What does it mean to be the light of the world?

We oftern fail this grace of light, by stressing more on the word world
But why we fail to see the our world, within the one who sits next to us.

The Problems

It is important how we define particular situations as the problems.When there is a situatin that is demanding, is it obligatory to name it as a problem? No such rules are out there but we behave as if they exist.

A crying child can be seen as a problem and as an embaressment, or it can also be seen as an invitation for a careful response and attention.

It is important how i define people and situations around me.

Thursday 24 July 2008

all those little things of love...

If God is love...how can we experience him?
it has been a question asked over and over again.
It is not that it is never answerd...
but that each one needs to be asnwered personally.
Like many of the answers in the world,
this answer also is a consolation and an assurance.

After long and tiring attempts,
we reach the same conclusions which the others have already affirmed.
Love is not a single big thing...it is a multitude of little things.
like the same way...
Experience of god may not always come in a single instalement...
it can be the greatest event in our lives,
built up by many little encounters and surprises.
We have a God of encounter and surprises.....

Wednesday 23 July 2008

Do not cling to me.....

i saw an interesting topic at Yahoo answers on John 20:17.
Actually i was about to post on the same topic.

After the resurrection Jesus said to mary Magdalene: Do not cling to me.
what does it mean?

For me it signifies a lot.
It should have been an important moment in her discipleship.
A discipleship of marurity.
Jesus prepares her for a life of witness, and not of dependence.
Her first encounter with Jesus, turns her towards Jesus himself.
And this encounter prepares here for a life of witness and faith.

also...it is a lesson that teaches us about the growth relationships

replacing the past....the hugh parther way

We can't change the past,
but we can replace it.

God was there when it happened,
and that is the only past i have.

To begin healing the past and defusing the future, merely say,

The past is God with me.
The presentis God with me.
The future is God with me.
It is always the same

Did you remember today...

God is all pre-occupied about you.
Have you remembered God today?


We have many personal-hells around us.
Do not ever try to turn them into heavens altogether.
first, try to turn them into the earth.
then, if it interests you, you can turn them into heavens.
but i am sure, you will be satisfied with the earth around us....

Inspirational Cards

"The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it." Edward R. Murrow
"When all other means of communication fail, try words." Author Unknown
"The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them." Stephen King
"It is insight into human nature that is the key to the communicator's skill. For whereas the writer is concerned with what he puts into his writing, the communicator is concerned with what the reader gets out of it." William Bernbach
"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel." Carl W. Buechner

Monday 14 July 2008

The way we divide our world.

We are a curious lot.
we have almost all the insolvable problems of our world.
how can we divide our world?

with not much delibration we divide it into those whom we love and those whom we do not.
well..then how about those who love us, and whom we fail to in return.

thats why ,we are forced to think about the ways in which i fashion our world.
do we intergrate or disintegrate it.

Friday 11 July 2008

Letz talk space

we often talk about space
we love cars with more space
we look for the appartments with more space
we demand more space in even our intimate relationships
we have this space-talk always in one or other forms...

Do i give enough space for MYSELF...

Saturday 28 June 2008

believing in the good ground...

some fell on the wayside, to to trodden underfoot.
some on the rock, never to grow enough
some amidst the thorns, to be pierced later
but, some indeed reached the good ground....

i believe and hope in the good ground
after the wayside, the rock, and the thorns...
i will reach the good land....

Wednesday 28 May 2008

On failing successfully...

failure is important: When you win, party like mad.
probably, he who never made a mistake never made a discovery

Professor Mark Dodgson, Director of the Technology and Innovation Management Centre at the University of Queensland, suggests that failure doesn't get the credit it deserves. He points out the positive side of failing. *****read or listen to it here******

*Bridge design has always learned from failure.
*We continuously witness failures in science, technology and business.
*Many new ideas, or innovations, fail because of the sheer complexity of the science or technology or businesses or markets they emerge from.
*Most importantly it entails personal recognition that failure is a valuable opportunity to learn, reflect and develop the strength of our characters.
*It also points to the value of perseverance.
*The other side of failure is that celebrating our occasional successes is hugely important

Saturday 24 May 2008

When we fall

When we fall on the ground it hurts us,
but we also need to rely on the ground to get back up.


-Kathleen McDonald.

Wednesday 21 May 2008

little loves....

These I have loved . . .
Wet roofs, beneath the lamp-light; the strong crusts
Of friendly bread; . . .
. . . and the blue bitter smoke of wood; . . .
Sleep; and high places; footprints in the dew; . . .
All these have been my loves.

"The Great Lover," Rupert Brooke

Tuesday 20 May 2008

face of humanity














Jiang Xiaojuan, 29, a policewoman from Jiangyou County Public Security Bureau, nurses a baby orphan at a shelter on May 16 in the quake-struck Sichuan Province. She breast-fed some babies who had lost their parents during the deadly earthquake on May 12, leaving her own 6-month-old child with her parents.

Monday 19 May 2008

The Polemics of Padre Pio

Interview With Journalist Andrea Tornielli

By Antonio Gaspari

SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, Italy, MAY 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- When the remains of St. Pio da Pietralcina, known as Padre Pio, were displayed recently, something of a confrontation between believers and skeptics ensued.

Nearly 800,000 faithful made reservations to view the remains. Non-believers derided the show of popular piety.

A similar showdown is reflected in two books about the saint.

Historian Sergio Luzzatto wrote a book titled "Padre Pio. Miracoli e politica nell'Italia del Novecento" (Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in 20th-Century Italy), in which he accuses Padre Pio of being an impostor who inflicted the stigmata on himself.

Luzzatto's accusations have been dismantled by Saverio Gaeta and Andrea Tornielli in a book titled "Padre Pio l'ultimo sospetto" (Padre Pio: The Last Suspect).

ZENIT interviewed Tornielli, Il Giornale's Vatican reporter, about the confrontation between believers and skeptics in the case of Padre Pio.

Q: What do you think about the decision to exhume and display Padre Pio's remains?

Tornielli: […] There are many bodies of saints that are on display. Blessed John XXIII is under a crystal case in St. Peter's. I don't recall there being such barbed criticisms when the Pope's remains were displayed.

Q: Why are there so many criticisms? Is it a revolt against the saint or against the Church and people who venerate saints?

Tornielli: One must certainly avoid every kind of fanaticism: The point of the veneration of the saint and the saint's relics is to reinforce our faith in that Jesus whom the saint followed, and to show how the grace of God passes through the fragility of those who are destined to become dust.

Having said this, however, I see a great deal of intellectual conceit on the part of those who feel themselves capable of judging -- of certain "intelligentsias" who view the veneration of saints, popular piety, etc. as expressions of a childish, puerile, uncouth nature. In sum, something to look down upon. It is a shame because it was precisely this simple and powerful faith, through the shrines, that preserved itself even during the post-conciliar tempests. I believe that it is a matter of a critique of people who venerate saints.

Q: Could you explain the main points of your book responding to Luzzatto's accusations?

Tornielli: Luzzatto raised suspicions without getting to the bottom of any of them. He cast the stone and then hid his hand. He read only parts of documents; he made huge mistakes and errors. He cited documents in which it is inferred that Padre Pio asked a pharmacist for carbolic acid and veratrine but he did not explain that on the basis of other documents, it is quite clear what Padre Pio used these things for.

The "historian of the 21st century," as Luzzatto loves to call himself, never bothered to look at a 21st-century medical textbook: He would have discovered there that those acids cannot cause stigmata, nor keep them open and bloody for 50 years. Indeed, the contrary is true: They would have had a cauterizing effect.

In Luzzatto's book, Padre Pio is presented as an icon of clerical fanaticism: an unproven and an indemonstrable thesis, based on nothing, indeed, based on a truly quite grave historical error, given that the "professor" does not know how to read documents and "forgets" to write that during the uprisings in San Giovanni Rotondo in the 1920s a police officer died, assassinated by socialist demonstrators and that this death was the cause of the severe repression. In sum, from the historical point of view, Luzzatto's imaginative presentation completely falls apart.

Q: What is it in the sanctity of Padre Pio and in the proclamation of saints invoked by the people and verified by the Catholic Church that is displeasing to a certain modern culture?

Tornielli: They do not like the physicality, they do not like that one speaks of good and evil, of paradise and hell, they do not like it that there are people who can draw crowds, who can bring many souls to God, to conversion.

They do not like it that there are people who speak of the devil as a person who intervenes in our life and in history, they do not like a simple man of the people -- who does not have degrees or writes for the cultural pages of some newspaper or has academic titles -- clearly showing the beauty and the fascination of the Christian experience and the life of prayer. They do not like the reversal that we see in the Magnificat: "He cast down the mighty from their thrones and raised up the lowly."

Q: After so much study of Padre Pio, what is the idea that you have of this friar who spent the greater part of his life hearing the confessions of people's sins?

Tornielli: His greatest miracle was not the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital nor the countless graces that he obtained from God for the people who incessantly asked him for these. His greatest miracle was spending his life suffering and praying, and above all drawing souls to God.

The other aspect that really struck me has to do with his obedience: In a world in which any visionary -- or one who presumes such [experiences] -- feels free to do what they want and disobey the authority of the Church, Padre Pio teaches that the true mystic and ascetic always accepts that authority. In this too the friar from Pietralcina is an example and a model of true sanctity.

Sunday 11 May 2008

A prayer: Balloons, kites and plants




It is easy to be a balloon, assuming ouselves to be bigger and trying to fly high.
It is easy to be a kite, to fly high with the strings in other peoples hands.
Sadly, all balloons and kites when the wind fails them.

It is hard to be a little plant, spreading the roots, learnig to sustain, then to flower.
The problem with many, are that they just want only to flower....
how can be there any flower without any roots....

Lord, give me the wisdom to be deep rooted in you,
and thus to sustain in you,
and then to flower in you
you are where should i grow and discover.



photo courtesy : rowteight

Monday 5 May 2008

mystic wine....
















The mystic desires what Omar Khayyam calls wine;
the wine of Christ, after drinking which, no one will ever thirst.


- Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Reclaiming the Feminine Mystery of Creation...

i read a beautiful article on this theme here
by LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE

"Then creation recognized its Creator in its own forms and appearances. For in the beginning, when God said, 'Let it be!' and it came to pass, the means and the Matrix of creation was Love, because all creation was formed through Her as in the twinkling of an eye."
- The Holy Spirit as Sapientia St. Hildegard von Bingen


THE MATRIX OF CREATION

The feminine is the matrix of creation. This truth is something profound and elemental, and every woman knows it in the cell of her body, in her instinctual depths. Out of the substance of her very being life comes forth. She can conceive and give birth, participate in the greatest mystery of bringing a soul into life. And yet we have forgotten, or been denied, the depths of this mystery, of how the divine light of the soul creates a body in the womb of a woman, and how the mother shares in this wonder, giving her own blood, her own body, to what will be born. Our culture’s focus on a disembodied, transcendent God has left women bereft, denying them the sacredness of this simple mystery of divine love.

What we do not realize is that this patriarchal denial effects not only every woman, but also life itself. When we deny the divine mystery of the feminine we also deny something fundamental to life. We separate life from its sacred core, from the matrix that nourishes all of creation. We cut our world off from the source that alone can heal, nourish and transform it. The same sacred source that gave birth to each of us is needed to give meaning to our life, to nourish it with what is real, and to reveal to us the mystery, the divine purpose to being alive.

Because humanity has a central function in the whole of creation, what we deny to ourself we deny to all of life. In denying the feminine her sacred power and purpose we have impoverished life in ways we do not understand. We have denied life its sacred source of meaning and divine purpose, which was understood by the ancient priestesses. We may think that their fertility rites and other ceremonies belonged only to the need for procreation or a successful harvest. In our contemporary culture we cannot understand how a deeper mystery was enacted, one that consciously connected life to its source in the inner worlds, a source that held the wholeness of life as an embodiment of the divine, allowing the wonder of the divine to be present in every moment.

read on....by clicking here



Sunday 4 May 2008

Tuesday 29 April 2008

action and stillness


Let your actions be like clouds going by; the clouds going by are mindless. Let your stillness be as the valley spirit; the valley spirit is undying. When action accompanies stillness and stillness combines with action, then the duality of action and stillness no longer arises.

-Pei-chien

I am trying to read the gospel story of Martha and mary , from this perspective...

Tuesday 15 April 2008

mystic musings...
















Tao
is something beyond material existences.
It cannot be conveyed either by words or by silence. In that state which is neither speech nor silence, its transcendental nature may be apprehended."

The search:

Investigation must not be limited, nor must it be unlimited. In this undefinedness there is an actuality. Time does not change it. It cannot suffer diminution. May we not, then, call it our great Guide?

(Musings of a Chinese Mystic, by Lionel Giles)

photo courtesy: jgrantmac

Thursday 3 April 2008

Don't Give Up, You Are Loved



.....Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
Don’t give up
Because you are loved

Josh Groban

Tuesday 1 April 2008

Butterfly Kisses
















Oh, with all that I've done wrong I must have
done something right....

Bob Carlisle: Butterfly Kisses


Image Courtesy: not a MACHiNE.

Monday 31 March 2008

False hopes and expectations











it is possible to sustain our life with some flase expectations...,
Sometimes it works like a medicine..., a sedative.
Urging us to forge the reality.

Everybody has some false hopes.
sometimes serious.. sometimes not so serious...
But if it be possible, do dare to come out of all false-hopes.
It will empower us to tweak the life we have n in hands, for the best.
It can be really a hard job, but it is worth all the struggles...

The first step is to accept that i have some false-hopes.
always the first step is the hardest....


image courtesy: .Hessam

Mending Wall: exceed your boundaries















“Something there is that doesn't love a wall” Robert Frost

Everyone has their own specific boundaries...
it is a shield of thought or a pattern of life that protects us from extreme challenges.
It is an unconscious construct.
It designs , defines, and determines our comfort-zone..

Sometimes, it is a dare necessity to transcend them.
At least for a few times in our entire life, we have to evaluate and re-define them.
I just need not tell you how to do it.
It is All-By-Myself-Task.
All those irritating and disappointing persons and places can actually help me to do it.
Re-define your boundaries, lest we rot in monotony, slowly but definitively.


image courtesy: originalmulli (naomi)

Saturday 29 March 2008

Live as if everything you do will eventually be known











Just when I think I have learned the way to live,
life changes and I am left the same.
The more things change the more I am the same.
I am what I started with, and when it is all over I will be all that is left of me


Hugh Prather


Image courtesy: broadview

Home is a place...
















Home is the place where,
when you have to go there, they have to take you in
- Robert frost -

image courtesy: Terrapin Flyer

I always entertain great hopes...




















I'm not a teacher, but an awakener

Robert Frost

Image courtesy: addicted Eyes

Life goes on...



















In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life.
It goes on...


Robert Frost

image courtesy: Holly 13

feeling a thought
















words make you think a thought
music makes you feel a feeling
A song makes you feel a thought

E. Y. Harburg

image courtesy: abnerzarka

we are the dancers, we create the dreams













We dance for laughter, we dance for tears,

we dance for madness, we dance for fears,

we dance for hopes, we dance for screams,

we are the dancers, we create the dreams.



image courtesy: jason.s

necessary, possible, impossible














Start by doing what's necessary;
then do what's possible;
and suddenly you are doing the impossible.


St. Francis of Assisi



Image courtesy: Candy*

Curiosity











When you make the finding yourself -
even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light -
you'll never forget it.
Carl Sagan

image courtesy:
shburk

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: noise of words















Jesus needs neither books nor Doctors of Divinity in order to instruct souls;
He, the Doctor of Doctors, He teaches without noise of words.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

The places we occupy











The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy.

It depends upon the way we occupy that place.
St. Therese of Lisieux

Image courtesy:
Lumase

Thursday 27 March 2008

Be Earth......

















How should Spring bring forth a garden on hard stone?
Become earth, you may grow flowers of many colors.
For you have been a heart-breaking rock.
Once, for the sake of experiment,
Be earth!

Rumi

Image courtesy:
TomS-M

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Though lovers be lost love shall not...
















In the hope of reaching the moon
men fail to see the flowers
that blossom at their feet.

- Albert Schweitzer


Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

The "Solaris Poem" by Dylan Thomas

Image courtesy: youngdoo

Tuesday 25 March 2008

a prayer for Burma












there may be a thousand reasons for a war,
but for peace there is only one reason...
that humanity needs it like the oxygen...
Peace is a right and a prayer.


image courtesy: gardawind

Sunday 23 March 2008

On Being a Priest & Authentically Masculine

Priestly Identity: Crisis and Renewal (Part 1)
Interview With Father David Toups


By Annamarie Adkins

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A general crisis of authentic masculinity
in society has also affected the priesthood as only "real men" can adequately
fulfill the role of priest and pastor, says Father David Toups.

Father Toups, the associate director of the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and
Vocations of the U.S. episcopal conference, is the author of "Reclaiming Our
Priestly Character."

In this interview with ZENIT, Father Toups comments on the identity and character of the
priesthood, and the various challenges it faces today.

Q: Your book focuses on recovering what you call the "doctrine of the priestly
character." Can you describe this "doctrine" in a nutshell?

Father Toups: The "doctrine of the priestly character" is about the permanent
relationship the priest enters into with Christ the High Priest on the day of his
ordination.

The priest is always a priest; he is not a simple functionary who performs ritual
actions, but rather he is configured to Christ in the depths of his being by what is
called an ontological change.

Christ is working through him at the altar, "This is my Body," and in the
confessional, "I absolve you of your sins," but also in his daily actions
outside the sanctuary.

The character that the priest receives is a comfort to the faithful inasmuch as they
realize that their faith is not based in the personality of the priest, but rather the
Person of Christ working through the priest.

On the other hand, the priest is called, like all of the faithful, to a life of holiness.
The character received at ordination is actually a dynamism for priestly holiness. The
more he can assimilate his life to Christ and submit to the gift he received at
ordination, the more he will be a credible witness to the faithful and edify the Body of
Christ.

Q: Is it your view that the nature of the priesthood is unknown or misunderstood by many
priests? Is mandatory "continuing priestly education" the answer?

Father Toups: Studies show that there has been confusion regarding the exact nature of
the priesthood among priests themselves depending on the timing of their seminary
training.

Immediately following the Second Vatican Council, there was confusion among priests and
laity alike about the difference between the priesthood of the faithful and the
ministerial priesthood.

Vatican II's intention was not to suppress one in order to highlight the other, but
rather to recognize the universal call to holiness and the dignity of both.

The ministerial priesthood is a specific vocation within the Church in which a man is
called by Christ in the apostolic line to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Priests
are different by virtue of ordination, as confirmed by the council itself in paragraph 10
of "Lumen Gentium," which emphasized that the baptized and the ordained share
in the one and the same priesthood of Christ, but in a way that differs "in essence
and not only in degree."

This difference certainly does not mean better or even holier -- that would be a major
error -- but it does mean that there is a distinction.

Cardinal Avery Dulles points out that, if anything, the priesthood of the faithful is
more exalted because the ministerial priesthood is ordered to its service. Hence, a
recovery from the confusion lies in the need to understand the balance a priest is to
find; he is both a servant and one who has been set aside by Christ and the Church to
stand "in persona Christi" -- not as a personal honor, but as "one who has
come to serve and not be served."

The priest need not be embarrassed about this high calling, but should boldly live it out
in the midst of the world. Pope John Paul the Great regularly reminded priests: "Do
not be afraid to be who you are!"

This brings us to the second part of your question, namely, is mandatory "continuing
priestly education" the answer?

In the book, I use the term "formation," not education -- though learning is an
important, component part.

Ongoing formation is essential for every Christian vocation. In the midst of full
liturgical schedules, parish councils, leaking roofs and hospital visits, the priest must
continually open his heart and mind to Christ in prayer and study, annual retreats and
seminars, as well as times of recreation and vacation, if he is to thrive as an
individual and as a man of faith.

Ongoing formation is about deepening one's interiority and fostering a relationship with
Jesus Christ. It is about an ongoing conversion that reminds the priest who he is as a
minister of the Gospel and whose he is as a son of God.

So is ongoing formation the answer? It is certainly a part of the solution to a happier,
healthier presbyterate. Pope John Paul II wrote, "Ongoing formation helps the priest
to be and act as a priest in the spirit and style of Jesus the Good Shepherd"
("Pastores Dabo Vobis," 73).

Q: Some observers fear that encouraging young priests -- many of who are already
attempting to recover traditional liturgical and devotional practices -- to rediscover
their priestly character will only foster a new form of clericalism. Others believe
giving prominence to the ministerial priesthood will diminish the common priesthood of
the faithful -- a development that many see as one of the hallmarks of Vatican II. How
would you respond to critics of your proposal?

Father Toups: Highlighting both the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial
priesthood should actually strengthen both; they are not mutually exclusive or in any way
opposed to one another.

When our particular calls within the Church are not given their proper distinctions, the
Church suffers. St. Paul rightly reminds us of this with his beautiful analogy of how the
Body of Christ is made up of diverse members working together for the good of the whole.

The laity and the priest are not in competition but complement each other's particular
calling.

There is a danger of what John Paul II called the "clericalization of the laity and
the laicization of the clergy" when distinctions are not made in the life of the
Church -- again, different does not mean better. Clericalism is not what happens when one
has a clear identity of who they are, but rather when it is lived in such a way that is
not in the service of the faithful.

The priest should not be embarrassed to wear the roman collar and be called
"father," for this is not clericalism, but he is to do so in charity and
humility as a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

So in response to your remark about younger clergy -- especially those who, in their
youthful zeal, may come across too strong -- let us be patient with them as they mature
in the priesthood. It takes a while for the ontology to catch up with the psychology.

To young priests who may fall into this category, I would simply say, be men of prayer
with the love of Christ as your guiding light, and pray for your own deepening
conversion. One can have all of the right answers, but if they are presented
"without love, you are a noisy gong or a clanging symbol" as St. Paul reminds
us in 1 Corinthians 13.

Thus we do not deny the ministerial priesthood; we live it inside and out. If the priest
lives his calling with humility and service as the driving force, it is more a form of
asceticism than of clericalism. He is a visible sign of the radical commitment of the
priestly life.

Proper knowledge and integration of the sacramental character into the priestly life and
ministry are fundamental for priests to be the men the Church needs them to be.

Q: Is there a crisis of authentic masculinity in the priesthood? Could this be a source
of the vocation shortage, especially among Latinos?

Father Toups: Allow me to rephrase the first question to be more all embracing: Is there
a crisis of authentic masculinity in the world? I would say yes.

There is a crisis of commitment, fidelity and fatherhood all rooted in men not living up
to their call to be "real men" -- men who model their lives on Christ, who lay
down their lives out of love, and who learn what it is to be a father from our Father in
heaven.

So in the context of the priesthood, which flows out of society, there is a particular
challenge to help men grow in manly virtue. The priesthood is not for the faint of heart,
but for men who are up to the challenge of living as Christ in laying down their life on
a daily basis.

As the priest says the words of consecration, "This is my Body," Christ is not
only speaking through him, but the priest is offering his own life as well for the people
to whom he is called to serve.

If a seminarian does not have a deep desire to get married and have children, he might
need to rethink his vocation, for these are the natural and healthy manly desires of the
heart. He needs to recognize that; in actuality, the priest truly is a married man and a
father.

As the priest stands "in persona Christi," he is called to embrace the Bride of
Christ, the Church, as his own spouse. A great danger is for the priest to fall into a
"bachelor mentality," which can become a selfish, disembodied and
non-relational life.

Instead, if he sees himself in a permanent commitment to the people of God, his life of
sacrifice will have great meaning as he lives the nuptial imagery of Ephesians 5:25,
"Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and laid down his life for
her."

When the notions of love, sacrifice and relationship are taken out of the vocation, it
becomes sterile and unattractive to young men. For this reason the DVD "Fishers of
Men," developed by the USCCB office in which I work, has been so well received; it
shows the priestly vocation as heroic and manly in the best sense of the word. To
paraphrase the old Marine slogan: God is looking for a few good men!

Q: What role does the concept of "fatherhood" play in the priestly life? Is
there a fear of this term because of political correctness?

Father Toups: Spiritual fatherhood in the priesthood flows from the understanding of
being a chaste spouse of the Church.

Just as an earthly father feeds, comforts and nurtures his family, so too do our
spiritual fathers feed us in the Eucharist, comfort us in reconciliation and the
anointing of the sick, and nurture us throughout our lives of faith.

For me, spiritual fatherhood is one of the great joys of my vocation -- to be invited
into the hearts and homes of people is such a place of privilege and great
responsibility.

Think about your own life. Priests have -- hopefully -- played an important role in all
of the key moments of life: birth, death, triumphs, struggles, graduations and marriage.

By living out spiritual fatherhood, the priest experiences the great fruitfulness and
generative fecundity of his vocation. For the priest, this should be life-giving; just as
parents will make incredible sacrifices for their children, so too priests do radical
things -- renounce family and possessions -- to be available to their family of faith.

Where there is love, sacrifice is easy.

Benedict XVI, speaking of the kind of mature manhood needed to be a spiritual father,
said: "In reality, we grow in affective maturity when our hearts adhere to God.
Christ needs priests who are mature, virile, and capable of cultivating an authentic
spiritual paternity. For this to happen, priests need to be honest with themselves, open
with their spiritual director and trusting in divine mercy."

We need to move beyond the fear of being "politically incorrect" to being more
worried about embracing the truth of who we are; hence the title of my book focuses on
reclaiming our priestly character.