|
|
|
For, inspired by God, and committed once and for all to writing, [the sacred Scriptures] impart the word of God Himself, without change, and make the voice of the Holy Spirit resound in the words of the prophets and apostles.1.
A friend of mine once wrote, in his diary, of his most fulfilling time. He called it Quiet Time, the time he spends in the morning communing with his Creator with the reading of the Word of God and meditating on it.
A teacher once told me that the more he read the Bible, the more relevant and ministering it became.
My own experience has taught me that nothing parallels the Word of God in revealing the mysteries of the Gospel and our Salvation, and the very nature of God Himself. I have yet to see a book that surpasses the Bible in sheer common-sense, apart from divine wisdom. As Catholics, we believe that the Word of God is one of the two channels of Divine Revelation [Refer 2 Tim. 3:16], the other being Tradition (or the Teaching of the Church) [Refer 2 Thes. 2:15]. The teachings of the Church, as taught by the Magisterium, conform to and never contradict the Word of God.
Yet, I have seen that many of the youth in the Church and in the Renewal are unable to realize the eternal truth in the Word, this treasure trove of wisdom available to us. Enough emphasis is not given to Scripture reading and study. Therefore, in their hunger to know more about God, many people are drawn to Christian best-sellers, some of which offer, at best, very superficial explanations of the mysteries of the Gospel. Others capitalise on sensationalism and lose all objectivity in going to town with new, "powerful" manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In this world of false teachers and prophets (Refer Matt. 15-20, 2 Tim. 3,4 ), we need to be pretty sure of the authenticity of the teachings we follow. For this, we need to know theWord of God. It is His Word that reveals what is Truth and what is not. Depending only on sermons and a Life in the Spirit Seminar is no substitute for a first hand experience of the "voice of the Holy Spirit2" and the revelation received thereupon, through the Word of God.
Therefore, it is imperative that the youth are encouraged to develop the habit of reading the Bible daily. This should be given the highest priority.
" Such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life.S"
The Word of God is living and active. (Heb 4:12)
1.Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Vatican II
The Winning Combination!
After we make our commitment to Jesus and receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, what comes next?
We soon discover that we need both the Power and Character of Christ in order to do His will.
Character without power is like a good driver trying to drive a car without petrol in the fuel tank.
Power without character is like an automobile full of gas in the hands of a 7-year old.
Power may come instantly, such as when gas fill the fuel tank in the car. However character takes time to develop such as when the 7-year old boy gradually grows to be a mature driver.
Character without power in a Christian may result in nothing much happening for the kingdom of God. Power without character may result in many exciting miracles, but ultimately will crash into a wall of pain and disillusionment.
It is certain that we need both the character and power of Jesus. With this winning combination believers can move forward and fulfil God's plan for His Church.
The power of Christ is shown through the gifts of the Holy Spirit whereas the character of Christ is displayed through the fruit of the Holy Spirit ( Refer Galations 5:13-26).
Dear Friends, we bring you the first in a series of teachings on Catholic doctrinal teachings, beginning with the Celebration of the Eucharist, the core of the Catholic faith. These teachings were prepared by Fr. Satish Joseph C.Ss.R.. We hope this series will bring out the richness of our faith and help us to celebrate the Eucharist more meaningfully.
In the Bible, a sign or mark signifies possession. In the Song of Songs, the bride says passionately, `Set me like a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm' (8:6). She wishes to belong totally to the other, to remain inseparable from him. In the book of Isaiah, this imagery was applied to God. While the people of Israel protested that God had forgotten them, God says in Is 49:16, "I have carved you on the palm of my hand, engraved you on the palm of my hand." A sign, then, is a sign of possession.
It is also a protective sign. "The Lord put a mark on Cain lest anyone should kill him at sight." (Gen 4:15). This mark or the sign indicated that Cain was in the custody of the Lord and that no one would be able to harm him. That is why in the Old Testament the scribe marking the forehead of a Jew meant `faithful to the Lord' and those thus marked were saved from destruction. The significance of the mark of blood on the lintels and posts of doors, when the angel of death passed through the roads of Egypt is similar. (Gen 12:21-30).
The Christian context is no different. The Christian is incorporated through faith in Christ and remains sealed. Baptism is a sign, a life-giving mark that cannot be wiped out. This mark is nothing less than the mark of the Spirit imposed by God. When we get baptised `In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit', the true meaning is that of a total dedication, a consecration, a putting on of the name, getting possessed by the Holy Trinity.
So great is the sign of the Cross and the Trinitarian name placed on us that we begin to be `supermen', sons and daughters of God sealed forever, marked forever. We mark not just our physical bodies, but our activity and our rest, our joys and sorrows, our everything. Even our death will be marked by the sign of the cross.
In our practical lives as Christians, what does it mean to mark ourselves with the sign of the cross?
The cross means sacrifice for love, death for resurrection. Making the sign of the cross over our actions means wiping away our selfishness and freeing us for love; it means renouncing vanity, prestige, and the longing to possess and dominate in order to consecrate the work of Christ.
When we begin the Eucharist, we sign ourselves in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
EVENTS...
The Living Lights are a group of youngsters who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ. They invite school and college attending youth to join their Saturday meetings at Mount Carmel College, between 2:30 and 5:00 pm.
Fr. Mathew Naikomparambil vc, from Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor, is to conduct a Bible Convention & Healing Service from the 19th. to the 23rd. of March at the Renewal Retreat Centre (behind Dharmaram College).
The Working Youth facilitates fellowship among youth who are in different professions and who, in turn, can reach out to others with the light of Christ. The group meets at St. Francis Xavier's Girls High School hall from 11:00 am to 1 pm every 2nd and 4th Sunday.
Question From You?
Why is the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession) neccessary? Why not confess your sins directly to God?
Certainly, it is appropriate and even necessary to repent of one's sins before God. When we participate in this Sacrament we are primarily expressing our repentance and sorrow for sin to God, and seeking to be reconciled to Him. Now, the question is why we have to confess to a priest?
"Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" asked the scandalized people, when Jesus claimed the authority to forgive sins. (Mk 2:7; Lk 7:49). But Jesus had the authority as the Son of God to forgive sins, and He gave this same authority to His apostles. To Peter He said, Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Mt 16:18,19). Later He told the other apostles the same thing (Mt 18:18). Even more directly, in John's gospel, Jesus appeared to the apostles on Easter and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Refer Jn 20:22-23).
Jesus had a purpose in granting particular persons the authority to forgive sins in God's name. This is God's incarnational way of relating to mankind; using human beings to continue His work on earth is part of the way God works. Jesus had special authority from His father to establish the reign (or kingdom) of God on earth, and He passed on this authority to His apostles, so that they could continue His mission and ministry after He departed. This follows a pattern that is consistent in the Gospel. Following this pattern, the apostles, in turn, passed on their authority to forgive sins to the bishops.
Secondly, confessing sins to a person reminds one of the social dimension of reconciliation. When you sin, you not only offend God, but your sin has an effect, either direct or indirect, on other people. The priest who grants God's forgiveness not only represents Jesus Christ, but also the whole Christian community, the Church. Hence the priest reconciles the sinner to the body of Christ, the Church.
Thirdly, the priest or minister is often able, indeed trained, to counsel and encourage the penitent, or even pray with the penitent for healing in some areas of sin or brokenness in the person's life.
Jesus uses the Sacrament of Reconciliation to minister to the needs of His people in remarkable ways.
Catholic and Christian - ALAN SCHRECK
"The Sacraments" pp137-139 (edited)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The world says,
"Show me and I'll believe you!"
Christ says,
"Believe me and I'll show you!"
True To Jesus - True to All
Just one noble selfless cause
Governed by divinely eventful
Natural, time-tested laws
Exist to build us to the full,
Being in innermost soul
True to Jesus, true to all
Clear of evil in our role
Of daily rise from human fall!
John Nazareth
The SS Man
A new insight on forgiveness...
It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former Nazi SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door at Ravensbruck... ( a concentration camp, one among many, where 6 million Jews were massacred by Hitler's Nazis.)
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message," he said. "To think that, as you said, He has washed my sins away!"
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to people the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw how sinful they were. Jesus had died for this man: was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.
As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened, From my shoulder, along my arm and thro' my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered, that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
by NIRMAL RAJ
God 's Purposes and the Media
"Sir, can I show you how put on the TV and choose channels?" asks the hotel steward.
"I am 11 years old and TV is my life" replies Kevin, in the movie Home Alone II. I think Kevin has spoken for all the teens and pre-teens of today's world. If you're over 40, you've already seen more than a hundred thousand commercials. It's time then, to make the media serve your purposes.
I wish to share what Malcolm Muggeridge said about God's purposes and the media. Malcolm Muggeridge is a journalist, novelist, and television personality. This section is excerpted from "Christ and the Media".
"It could not possibly be the case, that something men have invented, like the media, could never be serviceable to God. If He put into his creatures gifts which enabled them to send words gyrating round the earth, and through the stratosphere, then somehow and sometime, this must serve his purposes. For me personally the media have come to give off a whiff of sulphur (hell), and yet at the end of the day I have to admit that they can enrich as well as debase a life.
For instance, once when I was standing waiting for a train in an underground station, a little man came up to me and asked for permission to shake my hand. I gladly extended my hand. As we shook hands, he remarked that some words of mine in a radio programme had prevented him from committing suicide. The humbling thing was that I couldn't remember the particular program he had in mind, and yet a human life had hung on it.
Then, I have to say that I owe to the media, specifically television, what has proved to be one of the greatest blessings of my life - Mother Teresa. This occurred by chance. I was asked to interview her for BBC television, and looked over some material about her which had been provided. The moment I saw her I realised that, in the words of the prophet Amos, "the Lord had taken her." Subsequent acquaintance only confirmed this. She has told me more about our Lord, and helped me to understand more about the Christian faith, far, far more, than anything I have ever read, or thought, or heard on the subject.
In the television program that we made about her, "Something Beautiful for God", the fact that she does truly live in Christ, and He in her, shines triumphantly through the camera's fraudulence. With God, all things are possible, as Jesus told the disciples. Yes, with God, all things are possible, even bringing the reality of Christ on to the television screen."
This is a Fallen World!
Man is sinful. No matter what he does, there will be some evil in him. We have to just look at the newspapers to see horrifying accounts of mindless massacre, assault, corruption and whatnot! Such is our fallen state that we consider some people "squares" - people who do not know how to live in thhis world. People who are straight forward are called "Gandhis" and ridiculed! Indeed, to survive in this world, we need to be a little evil minded, we need to be selfish! Or so it seems...Is there no alternative to this?
There is. God, in his wisdom, saw that Man was incapable of righteousness. And that He, being just, would have to punish us, yes, all of us with the eternal fire of hell! But God loves us too much to do that. So He sent His Son Jesus Christ to be punished in our place. And because Jesus died in our place, we have been washed totally clean, if we claim that salvation in His name!
So, dear friend, make a commitment today. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. Just as you have to write a cheque to get your money from the bank, you have to confess that Jesus is Lord, and believe in it (Romans 10:10-13), and by God's free grace, you will be forgiven! The Alternative in this fallen world is Jesus Christ!
Lent
There are two sections in the Liturgical Calendar of the Church:
1.Christmas
2.Easter
The season of Lent starts from Ash Wednesday (February 12th, this year). In olden times, Christians who committed grave faults were obliged to do public penance. For 40 days they wore sackcloth which was blessed and sprinkled with ash from the palms of the previous year. They were not supposed to enter Holy Places till Maundy Thursday.
Today, on Ash Wednesday, the Church puts ash on our foreheads, for the humiliation of our pride and to remind us of the sentence of death we deserve as the result of our sins.
Therefore, Lent is a time of Penance.
The three principal acts of Penance are:
1. Prayer 2. Fasting 3. Alms Giving
Prayer:
It is communication with God.
Refer prayer for cleansing and pardon - Psalm 51:1
Paul tells Ephesians to pray - Eph:18-20
Jesus prays for His disciples - John 17:1
Moses fasted for 40 days - Ex 34:28,
Esther holds a fast to help the Jews - Es 4:16
Jesus fasted for 40 days - Matt 4:2
Alms Giving: It is a cheerful gift prompted by love to help the needy.
Moses's farewell message - Duet. 15:7-11
Solomon's wise saying - Proverb 19:17
Giving - 2 Cor 9:7
In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6 verses 5-8, 16-18, and 3 tells us about prayer, fasting and alms-giving.
Lent is a privileged season of grace and salvation. This season invites us to repentance, to purify our hearts from sin and to live the mystery of redemption in its fullness. This is possible only when we admit that we are sinners. Lenten season is also a time of grace, gratitude and gladness.
Return to Christian Information
Return to Home Page : India Hello, Bangalore Walla, Namaskara!
Return to Bread of Life Home Page
This Page Hosted by 
Get Your Own Free Home Page