Why Ascension?

One strange thought has been plaguing my mind since the last Sunday, the feast of the Ascension. Why at all this feast of the ascension?  Honestly speaking, resurrection itself was "shocking" and more than enough - by all human and divine standards!!  Then why this ascension?

It makes Jesus look incomplete or the salvation story look loose-ended unless He went upto heaven.  Why this additional burden on Jesus and the Father to prove his divinity?  Somehow the feast makes Jesus look less divine if he did not ascend.

Jesus and the winds

Only today did I learn that my little niece is frightened of something:  strong winds or rather the sound of the it.  For the past two to three days Hyderabad has been battered by heavy winds in the evening and some cooling showers after the dust storm the winds rake up.  I was told that at home, to make the place a little more cooler, Mummy and Papa have tied up fibre sheets.  With the evening winds blowing in all directions, those sheets seem to make some eerie sound.  Anet, I'm told, is frightened of those sounds and yesterday when she did not find anyone to hold fast to, she ran to the living room to tell Jesus, "Jesus don't want winds!"

I guess, she has her own rapport with Him - and He with her! 

Talking Prayers

Yesterday as I was standing at the house main portico, when one of the boys came rushing to me and almost literally dragged me to the Chapel. He kept saying, "See, he is talking in the Church!"  Now there is nothing very sacrosanct about not talking in the Chapel.  Our boys do pay due reverence but total silence is not something we ever insist upon.  So this guy being so excited about someone talking in the Church baffled me... till I reached the Chapel and saw Kali, one of deaf and dumb boys, praying.  Well, he was praying in his own sign language and was oblivious of the sounds that he was uttering.  To the one who dragged me in, he was making noise and talking, but Kali was honestly praying!

I guess, not all our boys have yet learnt to pray.  They may have learnt to say a few prayers but not necessarily to pray.

However, the few and spread out prayers of these boys are far more genuine and shorter than most of the Ecclesial dramas that go on in our Churches!  For that I appreciate our boys.  

Of Wants and Needs

While some of our senior boys have a sense of saving money they earn while they learn, most of them have absolutely no desire or will to save or plan for the future.  All that they know and do, as soon as they get some money in hand, is spend it.  And what do they spend it on?  Clothes and phones!!

The former I understand if they do so once in a way, but every month?  The latter, is purchased or attempted to be bought every month!!  There is one boy who is an orphan and has known no one else other than those inside in the house, practically he is living with them all here in the same campus, in the same house and practically in the same section.  But his craze is a new phone, every time he gets some money!

And what's the phone for? Certainly not for talking (if that were the case, any phone would have done and that too bought once).  It is for music, and camera!

I guess this is what it means when wants become needs! 

Of today...

Today is the yesterday you'll regret tomorrow... unless you've already learnt the lesson about yesterday today rather than wait for tomorrow! 

This very moment

A very melodious song I heard over the radio this noon. The lyrics too are very meaningful and lovely.  (from the movie Waqt)

You do not go forward

nor back

all that is, is this very moment.

Unknown shadows cloud the way
Strange hands have surrounded us all
This moment is bright, all the rest is dark
Do not lose this moment, because only this is yours!
Those who truly wish to live, 
pay heed, make the most of THIS moment. 

It is this moment that makes the world mine 
and a heavy burden for the past ages...

To say or not to say...

Having earned a respectable and dignified rapport with my boys of Ramanthapur, I'm now perceived by most as someone who really means what he says.  They like that and are very comfortable to say what they want to say to me too. In fact those whom I've challenged several times in the past are those who now come around and chat with me the most.  Those who merely bluff and are not keen about anything serious, I keep at a distance and that bugs them big time!

With the summer camp on, I'm beginning to see how different the boys from the other centres are.  Not that it is a generalisation, but there are some significant traits of boys from the other centres, not very prevalent here - and quite a few of them are not so healthy or beneficial for all.

The dilemma always is "to say or not to say!"  After all, I'm here for another two to three weeks and neither am I incharge of the camp, nor the dean of studies, but still...

Knowing well that most of the evil that exists in the world is not because of men who do bad things but because the majority who choose not to do anything, choose rather to remain silent and in doing so endorse the evil around them!

Found this nice statement somewhere...

When the battles came, we opted for nice.  We picked polite. We chose silence.  We didn't speak the truth.  We didn't stand up.  Not enough anyway. 

Battle for the Soul

Talking to someone this morning, the person was saying that today we wage a battle for the soul.  It is not the eyes or the hands that are being appropriated but the very soul of an individual, of a nation.

There were/are times when we face some sort of opposition from brute senseless forces. At other times there were/are some random acts of defiance or mud-slinging.  But we now see a change in the onslaught of accusations and the type of thinking that goes behind this sort of maligning.  It is a very subtle game plan with apparently nothing malicious or dangerous, yet a deeper and perceptive look will reveal the sinister plans involved.

Add to this very intelligent agenda of well educated individuals, the provocative interference of bullies.  Often the latter is merely instigated by the former.  The latter is too naive to see the difference and thereby thinks he or she is being a hero, a patriot, a true devotee, a genuine human being.  On the contrary, having given up all sense of reasoning and human understanding, he acts against the very tenets which he claims to uphold and protect.  

Trimming the sermon

Thanks to being in the YaR settings, I've been really spared of those long boring and senseless sermons.  Couldn't escape some of them in Kondadaba and Karunapuram (when on Sundays had to sit through those torture sessions in the Parishes).

So the other day while I was thanking God for this grace, of course briefly, I was reminded of the incident where the local priest was found with a cut on his chin. So naturally after the Mass several of the parishoners asked him what happened.  To which he replied, that while he was shaving in the morning he was thinking about the lawn that needed to be mowed and so distractedly he cut himself. Someone in the faithful replied, "Next Sunday, please think of us and cut the sermon!"

Of prodigal sons and fathers

The last three weeks or so have been quite interesting here at Ramanthapur.  Among the many things that keep happening, a new phenomena was the return of the 'prodigal sons'.  More than a couple of boys, seniors who took off some months ago at different times and with no apparent (stated) reasons, began to return.  These boys were among the "leaders" cadre among the boys.  Their departure did create some flutter in the community then.  So did their return!  Several boys who thought that those who took off have made it big, were quite humbled and in a way surprised to see them return all lost and weary.

While many in the community, confreres, staff and students rejoiced at this 'ghar wapsi', I found it quite unsettling.  While other saw it as a sign of our greatness to be able to attract the boys back home, I saw it as a drawback.  For me it basically meant that we "successfully" made them into cocoons, rather than help them find their wings and take off.  Rather than make it on their own, we have incapacitated them so badly that they cannot survive in the world on their own. Imagine:  a child from the street now is not able to live in the society, in spite of having some skill or trade or profession to follow.

For once, I'm unable to fathom the meaning of the parable of the Prodigal son, in this context!