ധ്രുവദീപ്തി: Divine Thoughts // Change Gear without Fear // Mrs.Elsy Mathew, Bangalore

 Divine Thoughts:  

Change Gear without Fear

"Inner darkness cannot be filled with outside consolations" –Pope Francis 

Mrs. Elsy Mathew, Bangalore

Mrs. Elsy Mathew 

Man is a vehicle, his attitude the gears, his mind the steering wheel, his heart the engine and his life the journey. A new vehicle is registered when a new child is baptized. A man sitting on the fence is like a vehicle parked in neutral. When he has an ambitious attitude he shifts to first gear-just moving ahead! With a positive attitude he changes to second—more forceful. And with a successful attitude to life he drives in top gear. But with a negative attitude he changes to reverse gear which hampers his progress. However, the journey (life) is not always smooth. You encounter stray cattle (thoughts), pedestrians (temptations) speed-breakers (failures), and highways (illnesses, setbacks). If you are not alert there can be mishaps (sin).—some serious ones (mortal sins). And if you do meet with an accident (sin) then you can avail of insurance (reconcile with God). Your garage is the confessional box; you get worked on, pay the bill (penance) and return to the road again. A vehicle may be petrol driven or diesel driven. The use of super petrol or diesel ensures smooth functioning of the engine.  Reading good, thought-provoking material adds vigour to your spiritual life. Note that thrash, gossip, hatred, and vengeance are like adulterated lubricants.

There are many disowned vehicles (orphans) lying on the road. There are those lying in oblivion (aged homes). There are some who need attention (moral support, consolation) from the mechanics (priests, family and friends). There are those with weak bodies (fragile people) and some others with strong ones (the healthy). As long as a vehicle is in good condition it is road-worthy. But when the engine (heart) fails then it is consigned to the scrap yard (grave). A competent driver changes gear without fear and at the exact moment. Similarly, a man whose faith is deeply rooted in God, forges ahead in life fearlessly trusting in Him. --(from the book Thoughts for Daily Living).

 Pope Francis

Pope Francis speaks about conversion and preparing the way for Jesus during the time of Advent. The pope remembered that John the Baptist was like missionaries throughout the world today who meet with the people and deliver the "central message” of Christianity. "This phrase is very important: 'The kingdom of God is among you,' says Jesus. And John announces that Jesus will say later: 'The Kingdom of God is at hand and is indeed in the middle of us.' This is the central message of every Christian mission.” However, Pope Francis explained that there is one condition in order to enter to this kingdom: heeding the call to conversion. "The condition to become part of this kingdom is to make a change in our life; that is to repent. To convert every day, to keep moving forward every day. It is to leave the streets, convenient but misleading, the idols of this world: success at all costs, power at the expense of the weak, the thirst for wealth, pleasure at any price and instead to open the way for the Lord who comes.” With this call to conversion, the pope explained that following Christ does not "take away our freedom,” but instead brings "true happiness,” as it frees Christians from "selfishness, sin and corruption.”

 

Again Pope Francis says, darkness in ones hearts separates people from others and from God, leading to a life of pain and desolation. He said filling life with outside consolations or trying to escape from reality, leads to inner torture. "Those who do not know the caress of the Lord does not know Christian doctrine! Those who refuse to be caressed by the Lord is lost! This is the Good News. This is the sincere joy that we want today. This is the joy, this is the consolation that we seek: the coming of the Lord in His power, which are His caresses, to visit us, to save us, just as He would for a lost sheep to bring it into the fold of His Church.” 

The Kingdom of God 

The pope also said the Good News of Christmas asks Christians to share in the sincere gladness and comfort of the Lord, which has the power to change the heart and heal inner division. "The lost sheep who is the most perfect in the Gospel of Judas, of a man who always, had something bitter in soul, words in which to criticize others, always detached. He did not know the sweetness of gratitude to live in harmony with everyone else. Always, because he was not satisfied with this sheep - Judas was not a happy man! - He escaped. He ran away because he was a thief, which became a part of him. Some are lustful, others are ... But there are always escapees because of the darkness in their hearts, which separates them from the herd. And 'that double life, the double life of many Christians, even with pain, we can say, priests, bishops ... And Judas was a bishop, he was one of the first bishops, eh? The lost sheep. The poor man!  We need to understand the lost sheep. Also we always have a little something in us, little or not so little, like the lost sheep."

യേശു പിറന്ന സ്ഥലം- 
ബെത്ലഹേമിൽ   

"There is a word in the Bible - the Lord is good, even for these sheep who never stop to look for Him. There is one word that says that Judas hanged himself, hung and 'repented'. I believe that the Lord will take that word and will bring with it, I do not know, but perhaps that word makes us doubt. But that word means what? That until the end, the love of God was working in that soul, until the moment of despair. And this is the attitude of the Good Shepherd with the lost sheep. This is the message, the Good News that brings us to Christmas and asks us to share in this sincere gladness that changes the heart, which leads us to take comfort in the Lord, and not the consolations that we use to try to let off steam, or to escape from reality, escape from the inner torture, the interior division." May the Lord give us this grace, to wait for Christmas with our wounds and with our sins sincerely acknowledged in order to wait for the power of God who comes to console, who comes with power, but power in tenderness, and in caresses that were born from His heart, His heart so good that He gave his life for us."

 Advent

Advent is a period of waiting for the coming of the Saviour. But it is a paradoxical waiting because the Saviour has already come in history although he has yet to come into our personal lives in some respects at least. Hence advent takes on three dimensions: namely, the commemoration of the long years of waiting by the Jewish race, the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world and the coming of Christ to each one of us in our daily lives. The prophet Isaiah portrays the eager longing of the Jews for the Saviour and comforts them saying that the Mountain of the Lord has appeared at the horizon and invites them to go towards it and ascend its height to see what awaits them in the Day of the Lord. Although St. Mathew paints the Day of the Lord as a day of reckoning it is actually a wake-up call for everyone to be awake and aware of the presence of the Lord in their midst. It is a presence that builds and enhances.

Dorothy Day compares advent to a woman expecting a child. “She lives in such a garment of silence as though she were listening to hear the stir of life within her.” When the Saviour came in history his coming was not on expected lines. He did not come as a warrior doling out vengeance on evil doers. But rather he came as the rebuilder of Israel bringing them healing and invited everyone to love God and one another. He established peace and reconciliation between people. Thus Christ’s coming in our midst today is not as a threat but one that kindles the true life of God within us. It is available to anyone who is awake and aware of what goes on in his or her life at the present moment. Many people are awake to what goes on around them but few are awake and aware of what goes on within them. We need to be aware of what God is doing with our lives in every detail of it and not take the events of life for granted. Sometimes we are lost in some minute details and miss the big picture that God is making of our lives by his intervention in mysterious ways. It is by remaining awake and aware that we are able to recognize the presence of God who is constantly doing something beautiful with it. Our lives are cluttered and require overhauling. It is Christ who can do it for us if we invite him into our lives.

 Xams gift

I am short of words! What Manner of Man is This? I went for shopping to get Jesus a New Year Gift and this was what I had to go through.

I wanted to buy Him a “Shoe”. But what kind of shoe can you buy for a man who has the earth for his foot stool?

I considered getting Him a “Three Piece Suit”  But what kind of suit will I give a Man clothing filled the Temple?

I thought of buying him “Dinner” But this man fed  5000 with 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread..

I said maybe I should bake Him a Cake, But He sent Manna from above.

I settled to play Him an “Orchestra, But what kind of music can be compared to the Host of Angels that Continually Sing his Praise?

I wanted to give Him a “Telephone”  But which network will you give a man that is everywhere at the same time?

I thought of getting Him a “ticket” to ascent, but He just went up like that, not needing an Aeroplane.

I resolved for the Best “Wine” But quickly remembered He turned water into Wine.

Okay, “Binoculars or cameras” But He sees even the inner heart of a man with His bare eyes.

I wanted to give him “Money” But silver and gold belongs to Him.

I could get Him a Designers “Perfume” But a much costly one was used for his feet.

“What Manner of Man is This?” In my confused state, I heard a voice saying give him thanks, praise, worship and Adoration.

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