Jesus God and Man

Jesus God and Man

Jesus, your love is beyond measure,
No one would give up so much for love,
As you, by giving up the glory of heaven
To live among us sharing our pain and sorrow.

The mystery is still inexplicable,
How God could choose to be a man
And a poor man born in a stable
Possessing not a place where to lay his head.

We are drawn by wealth and power
So we look for a God who is powerful.
To see God in you weak human form, dear Lord
Only faith can, not any human intelligence.

You had the whole world to choose from,
A Mother to give you birth
You chose not a royal maid,
But a humble maid, Mary of Nazareth.

You had the whole world to choose from,
A place to be born
You did not choose a royal palace
But a stable where animals are kept

Like a prince an easy life could have been yours
Avoiding work in sweat and fatigue.
To have your food through others labour
But that is not what you chose.

You preferred to earn you food
By the sweat of your brow
Working hard as a carpenter
Helping Joseph your foster father.

You chose to become a man
To establish your Father's Kingdom
By overthrowing the enemies of mankind,
Death and the devil, who claimed power over man

A bloody battle you had to wage,
Giving your life in sacrifice
To God, the Father, to win his pardon
For sinful men who had gone astray

(Fr. Karthikappallil Thomas)

The Essence of Love!

I see the essence of love in Christ's ultimate sacrifice of His life. The King and source of love has revealed what it means to love on the cross. In total freedom, He laid down His own life for the good of every person. This is really a passionate love for each person. He does not even care to receive love in return. Life is the most precious gift in every person and that is the gift that He has given for you and me. The essence of Love is Sacrifice.

When St. Paul says, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, I believe what he meant was that I am allowing God's love to flow from me to every one. In this way, St. Paul becomes a true follower of Jesus Christ, the King of Love.

Whose footprints you follow?

In the depth of everyone's heart, one desires to make progress in life. One knows the reason and the purpose for which one intends to grow. At this juncture, it is apt to recall what Newton said about the third law of motion: "To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." In life, the opposite reaction to one's effort to develop could be laziness, tendency to postpone things and mediocrity. How does one respond to this fact? In this situation, one of the things that one could possibly do is to follow the footprints of an individual or persons who have walk the tough path successfully. It is important to note that when one is focussed and knows exactly what one desires to achieve, one would avoid wastage of time, energy and life itself.

Decide where you want to go and whom to follow....there are many people who just loiter without going forward.

Happiness Vs. Fulfilment

As one moves about in his or her daily activities, one sets many goals to be achieved. Now, it is important to check out with what attitude one carries out one's daily tasks. In all that one does, if the focus is only to fulfil, then one is pushing oneself. However, if one does work to find happiness, new energy will flow in. Here one is pulled and not pushed.
Find happiness in all you do!

(Doing simple things in an extraordinary manner)

We all need guidance!

When I was a kid there were many loving people who helped me to walk. Today I can not only walk but also run and play games. Now I begin to realise the importance of having good people around me for they help me to mature in my emotional, intellectual and spiritual dimensions. We all need guidance in our life to grow into good human persons.

example: the plant that is well cared for and that received good manure will definitely bear much fruit and be healthy. likewise certain amount of care and guidance is required in every human person especially the youngsters.

Hindsight on the course on Interpreting a Philosophical Text

M.Ph. Seminar: METHODS OF INTERPRETING A PHILOSOPHICAL TEXT

Maria Anthuvan, SDB

Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy, Nashik 422 005

June - October 2015

Text to be interpreted:

Bernard Lonergan, Method in Theology, chapter 10: Dialectic

            I would like to leave a note of appreciation to Fr. Maria Anthuvan SDB, who has taken an extra mile to guide and correct all the presentations of the 10 students. Here, I would like to high-light two things that I learn from the seminar: i) the difficulty involved in the research to really understand the mind of the author as close as possible and ii) the many ways of investigation to arrive at the same.

            After the course, I personally come to know that it is not an easy task to interpret a philosophical text and so also any other reality be it literature, human life and situation. In order to arrive at objectivity, one needs to do a lot of home-works. It also helps me to see things from a broader perspective. At the end of the day, what I cherish most is the experience of the whole process in trying to understand the mind of the author and present it in the class.

 

Hindsight of a seminar on Interpreting a philosophical text

M.Ph. Seminar: METHODS OF INTERPRETING A PHILOSOPHICAL TEXT

Maria Anthuvan, SDB

Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy, Nashik 422 005

June - October 2015

Text to be interpreted:

Bernard Lonergan, Method in Theology, chapter 10: Dialectic

            I would like to leave a note of appreciation to Fr. Maria Anthuvan SDB, who has taken an extra mile to guide and correct all the presentations of the 10 students. Here, I would like to high-light two things that I learn from the seminar: i) the difficulty involved in the research to really understand the mind of the author as close as possible and ii) the many ways of investigation to arrive at the same.

            After the course, I personally come to know that it is not an easy task to interpret a philosophical text and also any other reality be it literature, human life and situation. In order to arrive at objectivity, one needs to do a lot of home-works. It also helps me to see things from a broader perspective. At the end of the day, what I cherish most is the experience of the whole process in trying to understand the mind of the author and present it in the class.