Timing

 There is the age old saying, 

The early bird gets the worm. 

Today it occurred to me... 

...and the earlier worm, escapes the bird! 

I guess it is all about timing. 

No Jesus?

 Interesting article challenging the belief that Jesus was a historical figure! .... There was no Jesus

Different groups of people who look at the person and the history of Jesus from different angles: The Christian theologians, who believe that Jesus was real... including all his miracles, resurrection... 

Then there are the liberal Christians, who separate faith from history.  They are willing to review and accept evidence about the non-existence of Jesus, without actually disrupting their traditional belief. 

The third group who would believe in a historical Jesus, sans the miracle-rich aspects of the New Testament. 

The author of the above article claims to be of the fourth minor group which doubts altogether the earthly existence of Jesus.  The theory suggests that Jesus was a mythological figure, like Romulus or Robin Hood. 

Major argument being: No historical records of Jesus during his lifetime.  All posthumous records. 

But I think the closest the author gets to proving is (as in his own words): ... if Jesus did exist, we know next to nothing about him. 

Hypatia and Christian militantism

 It is easy to grow blind to one's own mistakes or faults.  The same can very specially be true of one's own belief, religion, family or group.  Once we realise this drawback, one ought to beware of it consciously and repeatedly check ourselves, to be open to criticism and feedback.  

One such historical blunder that Christianity made in its early history was the 'murder' of Hypatia.  The following video clearly spells out the incidents that led to the death of this scholarly woman and eventually the decline of philosophical thinking in Greece.  In a way, if Christianity replaced the 'crude' paganism of the Roman era, it also did away with other good things... not all of which can be classified under 'collateral damage'. 

Of course, to now blame Christianity for this, in the twenty-first century, would not be any wiser.  But important lessons from history should always be learnt.  

Forgiveness and hell

 More than two decades ago while studying philosophy for the first time at Yercaud, I heard this particular theory of hell (from Fr Stan), which quite startled me.  He said that there is hell, but there's no one therein!  It was quite strange for me to hear that, after a whole lifetime of hearing that all bad people end up in hell.  Surely to now imagine an empty hell was quite a task.  (Of course, in the later years, visiting the Karunapuram Shrine and viewing all the graphic depiction of people being roasted on fire by two devils, or being deep-fried in boiling oil... was quite amusing!). 

Recently reading a particular court case of a woman being tried for a hit-and-run case which took place 7 years ago, and which he vehemently denied, even after showing clear evidence for the accident, the author spoke something similar about hell.  This particular woman, kept denying the accident in the belief that God told her that she only hit a pole and not a person, and after much evidence and proof, she accepted to only hitting a homeless person (as if there was no difference between a pole and a homeless person!).  The author of the article speaks of hell as something locked up from the inside.  And that we put ourselves there and only we can let ourselves out - but often, don't!  In the case of this woman, she put herself there, her self-deception put her there, her lies put her in... and she made herself at home! 

Meaning of success

 Some interesting quotes from Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Kind," said the boy.

 

"What do you think success is?" asked the boy. 

"To love," said the mole. 

 

"What do you think is the biggest waste of time?"

"Comparing yourself to others," said the mole. 

 

"One of the greatest freedoms is how we react to things"

 

"Often the hardest person to forgive is yourself."

Creation lessons

The creation story in the Bible has God working six days of the week and on the seventh day, taking rest. There is from then on, this whole lord of the work vs lord of rest debate.  Interestingly the Lord works six days and rests only one day... after admiring all the good he has done.  In general, we tend to focus on the final day of rest as special, important.  So Sunday is always special.  It is holy day.  

Let's look at it from the creation's perspective.  I think there was nothing special about the day.  From the work and creation perspective it was a break.  A pause.  A time to recuperate, rejuvenate, revive.  Not just the Lord, the creator but creation as well.  

As for the debate between the lord of work vs the lord of prayer... we need to primarily keep in mind, that ultimately it is the same Lord!!  

St Joseph, the worker

 We remember St Joseph, the worker today. It is interesting to note that the one thing (among many others, I'm sure) that Jesus learned from Joseph was basic carpentry! The hymn during the prayers has this particular verse which is very interesting... 

And surely 'twas a gracious thing 

when, standing at his father's knee, 

The world's great Craftsman and its King

Not king but craftsman learned to be. 

True indeed, if Jesus were to have learned carpentry from God the Father, it would have only been through some magic. But here he had the opportunity to learn firsthand from someone who knew his craft.  

Tributes to one's dad

It has been a while now, since I came across these two songs... both of them about the figure of the father in the family, especially from the perspective of the child.  Two very beautiful and moving tributes to their respective Dads... Very very meaningful and heartfelt, deep from one's own personal experience. 

Jax - Like my father loves my mom

I wanna come home to roses, 

Dirty little notes on post-its

And when my hair starts turning grey,

He'll say I'm like fine wine, better with age.

I guess I learnt it from my parents,

that true love starts with friendship

A kiss on the forehead, a date night

fake an apology after a fight.

I need a man, who's patient and kind

Gets out of the car and holds the door

I wanna slow dance, in the living room like 

we're 18 at senior prom and grow old with someone 

who makes me feel young 

I need a man, who loves me like ...

my father who loves my mom! 

The other one is about a son expressing his anguish at his dad's serious illness. 

Dean Lewis - How do I say goodbye...

How do I say goodbye 

to someone who's been with me for my whole damn life 

you gave me name and the colour of my eyes

I see your face when I look at mine

So how do I say goodbye

An eternal work-in-progress

During my last visit home, looking around the garden, it struck me that it was 'work-in-progress'.  That was nothing different or surprising, but what hit me hard was the realisation that it always - ever since my childhood - has been so!!  An eternal 'work-in-progress'.  The whole of it; all the time!

All my time at Chertsey, I took care of the garden of the house. Looking back even that garden was a w-i-p!  No sooner that I left, Godwill took it up and John sent me some photos of the transformed garden - it was so beautiful. Perfect. No more w-i-p!!  

I think there is some strange tendency among us - should I say, Indians or particularly gardeners - to never ever achieve completion.  Looking further back, at our gardens and farms in Mangalore or in the Province, nowhere are they complete.  They are always 'under construction'.  All of it. Not just some part of it, but all of it, all the time!  

I think it is basically an art or style of functioning.  We always have work to do!! There is always something that needs to be done.  And it can never ever be completed!  

Vocation camp

 Being present for the first day of the vocation camp at Karunapuram, brought back memories of my own first vocation camp in Gunadala.  The travel from Hyderabad to Gunadala, I have no memory of, but certainly the return journey is vivid in my mind.  I travelled back with Fr Balaswamy and Fr Anand.  Charlie was the driver of the jeep!  

The excitement of settling in the dormitory, the first family get together... The excitement of the cricket match, wherein I took a hatrick of wickets, for which Fr Gnanam - then a brother and the umpire of the match - congratulating me).  The sharing of food in the dining hall, a totally new experience, because back at home all of us were used to being served by our mothers, so none of us at the table had any clue of proportion and distribution!  Washing the utensils was not in our dictionary at all, leave alone cleaning the table after meals.  

The one aspect that I liked most of this particular camp in Karunapuram was the fact that two-thirds of the participants were boys from our own settings - something very very rare all these years!  These boys knew 'Don Bosco', felt at home with Salesians.  That's something really really good.  It is an indicator that we Salesians are doing some good. Irrespective of their desire to join us or not,  the very fact that they choose to attend the vocation camp is encouraging!