Misunderstandings

The St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Parish of Philadelphia was blessed with the visit of H. G. Mathews Mar Barnabas Metropolitan on Sunday, December 13^th, 2009. The Sunday was celebrated as “Annunciation to St. Joseph” and the gospel reading was from St. Matthew 1: 18 – 25. The reading is about a misunderstanding Joseph had about Mary and the events following. Joseph at first thought to “divorce her quietly” (Mat 1: 19). Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him clearing the confusions and telling him that the child in Mary’s womb is from the Holy Spirit. Joseph was able to listen to the words and understand.

Related to this Gospel portion, Thirumeni said two stories about misunderstandings in the human lives. Once upon a time, His Grace was visiting the patients at a hospital. When he entered one of the rooms, the patient did not pay attention to Him. He did not greet him or initiate any interest to acknowledge the presence of Thirumeni. Even though Thirumeni did not want any special respect, it is the common courtesy for a human to greet another when seen. Thirumeni was surprised by this response and thought about leaving the room. But he did not and made the decision to start a conversation. When Thirumeni asked him “what made him come to the hospital”, he said “I am blind”. Thirumeni felt relieved for not leaving the room due the misunderstanding.

He also said another story which goes like this. There were two female teachers once. They rented a house and were living together. Both of then left the house in the morning and came back in the evening after the classes. One day, both the teachers left the house at different times. One of them came early after the class and found a cigarette on the verandah. It was unusual as neither one of the ladies smoke and thought that some man came to see the other teacher. She kept the misunderstanding to herself. The other teacher came late and saw the same cigarette and thought that some man came to the home while she wasn’t there. She misunderstood the other too. But both of them kept the doubts to themselves, and both of them thought that they will not ask about it and will wait till the other tells. A couple days later, a man came to the house for some work and said that he came a couple days earlier and neither one of them were there, and hence he left!

In both of the above stories, everyone had reasonable doubts. But, when the attempt is made to work beyond the doubt, it turns out to be positive like in the case of the blind man.

Personal Reflection: As humans, we often assume things! When it comes to relationships and personal matters, as we saw in the second story, how often are we understanding? Many times, we tend to link the doubts to make stories and convince ourselves that the story is the truth and become unable to listen to the other person. Often people tend to see the wrong side, and the worst reasons.

What happens if the two teachers in the second decided to talk? It is possible that both believes in what they thought as the truth and will not bother to trust in the other person’s story. In this case, neither one of them knew what happened. It was all guesses. There is the possibility that their relationship might end being unable to trust each other. Or they might believe in each other and continue their friendship. What will we do? Will we be patient enough to listen to the other side of the story and trust it? Our assumptions shouldn’t be judging the honesty of another and that shouldn’t cause issues that will make the other in pain. I am as everyone else guilty of assuming things.

What if I cannot talk? Like in the above case, both of them were not ready to talk to each other. How often can we carry the misunderstandings? Often we think that the misunderstandings we have are the truth! The issues and its depth to be communicated with another person are related to the depth in their relationship. Each person will have a comfort zone of talking to another. I cannot go to a stranger and talk about the issues I have in my life. There will be a close friend with whom I will share it with and another close friend whom I will not be able to share it with. It all depends! Therefore, if we are unable to talk, why shall we make conclusions of our own? Can we rather look at the good side and avoid misunderstandings?

            God is the help in cases of serious misunderstandings that shake relationships. The only option is to trust in Him and make the decisions in prayer. He is the source of divine wisdom that overcomes all knowledge and He is the guide for the sinful human being. Let Him be our Way. 

Religious Tolerance - Response to ICON

Different viewpoints on Christianity and Hinduism have been seen in the forum and some might be fanatic and some are tolerant. Either way, each person has the reasons to believe in whatever they say. But a couple questions and concerns that arise in my mind after reading the posts are below.

India has been accepting and tolerant to all the religions from ancient times. And therefore, we are able to see a follower of each and every religion in India! Indians accepted Christianity from St. Thomas also. From some of the posts we had, it seems like we are arguing that everyone is saying the truth and we are too and that all are different ways to God! All religions have the reasons to believe in whatever they do, and there are explanations too. We do have meaning for everything we do, and they might look weird for someone outside the Church who has no idea about what is going on. Similar is the case when a normal Christian looks at Hindu practices, especially under the impression that we are the truth and they are not. This cannot be fully accepted! But at the same time, while trying to teach the Christian fanatics to try to understand the meanings in Hinduism, aren’t we getting too liberal? It almost seems like we are saying everyone is correct and we are too, and we have no idea of what God is going to do, and hence we are not bothered!

True that we cannot fully understand the reasoning behind God’s plan of who is getting saved. At the same time, are we forgetting the sacrifice that Jesus made? Didn’t Jesus lower Himself to the humans becoming a human to make us reach God? I understand Jesus Christ as the ultimate revelation of God to the humans and the ‘only’ way to reach God. If it was not, then what was the point of His sacrifice? If Hinduism gives me an option to reach God, then why shall I be a Christian? Why did the apostles preach the good news to the whole world if Christ wasn’t the ‘only’ way?

This does not mean in anyway that whatever other religions are doing is wrong. I have been amazed by the verses in the Upanishads like "He is the source of love and may be known through love but not through thought."  All of them might be teaching to lead a good life, and might be teaching about the Almighty in different ways, but how does all that refer to the sacrifice that opened an entrance for the sinful humans in to God’s presence? And therefore, how shall we deal with the tolerance of other religions? Aren’t we supposed to preach about Christ to others? Isn’t what the apostles did? That does not necessarily mean to preach that whatever you see outside the Church is wrong like some do!

 

What is the view of evangelization in our Church? And when I say evangelization, it is not the way Protestants see it, and I am not overwhelmed by their ways! But, I do believe that evangelization is a mission of the Church. How do we evangelize if we are forgetting to preach the sacrifice of Christ and is accepting other religions as other ways to God? 

“The Most Wonderful Time”

Uncle Scrooge is the main character of the classic play ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. He is a very rude and money oriented man with very less or even no compassion. He would never help the poor, will not give anything for charity, and is concerned only about the money he has and about saving it. He will not even do any favors for his employee. The play continues with a series of events occurring in a couple of dreams of Uncle Scrooge, showing different events from his past, transforming him to a better man with a selfless and helping mind. Characters of this extreme behavior are often not seen in our societies. But I doubt that all of us, at least once in a while, become an Uncle Scrooge. It is good to rethink at this Christmas season.

"The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that the sons of men can become the sons of God" said St. Athanasius. Christ came down from the heaven in to the world to suffer so that he can have the humans reach God. It is the ultimate purpose of human life too. Therefore, to reach the oneness with God expected from humans, one shall suffer in God’s name, as Christ came down to earth and suffered. “But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” (1 Pet 2: 20, 21).  It is through this suffering that God expects that we partake in the divine nature. “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Pet 1: 4).

It is our duty to see the concerns and suffering in the world while we celebrate ‘the most wonderful time of the year’. It is also our duty to partake in those sufferings so that those who suffer may be blessed by the Christian love we emit following His words. While a hungry is fed and a naked is clothed, comes the real meaning of Christmas, and it makes it the most wonderful time of the year. 

The Light

Imagine a dark room. A baby entered the dark room with a candle.The darkness slowly started disappearing as the candle started glowing more and more brightly. The darkness had no power in front of the light. Imagine a person staying in the dark room with his eyes closed. The person was in darkness since birth. No light was seen till now. As the room gets brighter, and as the person sees the light, the eyes will not tolerate the brightness. As a natural response, the eyes are closed being unable to tolerate the light. Gradually, the eyes will open as the person realizes the difference. The person will see what is in the room. He will realize his own presence and the presence of other people who might have been staying at the other corners of the room in the dark. He also realizes that whatever he does is seen to others at this point.

Why do we need light in the room? Because, without light, there will only be darkness and darkness is stillness. Stillness is death. The human body, when it is still is dead. The human heart, when it is still is dead. Humans are not called to be still in the dark, but for a journey through the light. In darkness, nothing will be done, or whatever being done is mischievous acts that cannot be done in light. The shameful acts that cannot be visible for others are done in the dark. Therefore, light is essential to prevent the death that happens due to the stillness in darkness and to prevent the shameful and mischievous acts that harm and hurt other fellow beings.

Where do we need light? Light is needed at those places filled with darkness. Is the darkness just materialistic, or can it be spiritual too? For those who believe that there is a God, they have to accept that spirituality is a part of the human being too. For the atheists, there is no proof that confirms the absence of God, but plenty of proofs that confirm the presence of God. Therefore, there is a spiritual aspect for life disregarding the ideas of religions, denomination etc. Basic ideas of all spiritual thoughts are to do good. Good is done in the light. Where can death happen first? The physical body, as well as the spiritual body can die. While the physical body weakens with lack of physical food and nutrition, the spiritual body weakness with lack of spiritual food and nutrition. When the spiritual body is in darkness, the thoughts of good vanish away, and evil and mischief enters which in turn leads to suffering and sorrows. Discover the light which is glowing in front of you. Discover the light of love, and the light of freedom. Christ came to light it. Are we partakers?

"I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Mat 5: 17


Christ fulfills all the prophecies foretold about Him. He was the most obedient servant of the Father. He fulfills all the plans of Father. Thus Christ is the fulfillment of Law.

God after creating Adam hoped that he will obey the commands, but the adversary, the snake, tempted the women and made both sin. Sin came in to the world and thus man became distant from God. Man was scared and was ashamed to come in front of God, because they realized that they were naked. They became afraid of God. They moved away from Lord.

The most merciful God selected the Israel to redeem the world. They were chosen for the redemption of the rest of the creation. God gave prophets for them to guide them in the right path. But they often forgot the word of God and went in to activities which will not please our God. God warned them through the prophecies. God talked about the effects of forgetting Him. God told them about the way to life also through the prophecies. The whole life of Christ is seen in the Old Testament. God specifically and clearly told the Israel about the expected Messiah.

True believers and learners of scripture should have understood Christ as Messiah.

The cover of sin has blinded the Israel and the whole world so much that they were unable to find God and receive His help in understanding the words of God. A few did and they were saved. God directly spoke to many in the Old Testament and in the New Testament about the Savior. The majority was unable to understand that. Therefore, the son of God was cruelly killed in the cross. But His death was very necessary for the redemption of humans. His obedience was very necessary for our eternal life. His perfect human life was very necessary for our spots in heaven.

God created Adam, and he was sinless. But through him, sin came to the world. Through the New Adam, Jesus Christ, who is truly a human being, our sins got cleansed. His blood cleansed our sins which were transfused from the very first generation to the present world. Through the redemptive act, Christ fulfilled the Law and the prophecies.

What is the law that was fulfilled? Law of God is Love. All laws are included in the Love of Lord. God created the humans to share their Love in trinity. But sin has made man unable to love God. God who has no sins was still able to Love the creation and that was the reason for the incarnation of Christ. The purpose of creation was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus being the true man completely and fully loved the Father. He had no sins. Therefore, the Son, who is both man and God was able to fulfill the purpose of creation. Thus, through the complete submission and sinless life, and selfless love, Christ was able to create a path in the midst of the sea of sin, and guide us, as God guided Moses and the Israelites through the sea. Christ created a path through the sea of sin which was preventing humans from reaching the creator.

Through His submission, the Law was fulfilled and our sins got forgiven and we have gotten the chance to reach the Father. Praise be to Him…

Christ for the Common Man

In differences, we proclaim the crucified Christ! From the very beginning of the human era, differences in opinions are very well seen and often these differences lead to ideas of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and, decisions made by those who differentiate, with upholding their own personal right as the only truth! The fact is, many after finding their personal side in a situation with more than one idea, tries to prove what they selected as their option, as true, and seldom try to investigate what the truth is. ‘Prove’ is a key word in the above sentence because it says that the choice one made was not already proven but needs to be proved or investigated. Often, people will go behind the chosen position and try to prove it rather than trying to find what was the best decision to be chosen.

This fact is very common in the Christian history. The millions of denominations and the doctrinal differences all proclaim this simple truth that we fought with a lot of difference in opinions and some instead of investigating the truth went on proving what they have chosen as the truth! In Christianity, every sector has the same nucleus which is Christ, but for many reasons, each claim to be the true Church of God. Understanding Christ as who provides the eternal life, a common man who is struggling to live a decent spiritual life is often confused and many times misguided. The possibility of a common man to investigate, study and find the truth about the Christian Church himself is very low. His options are the teachers and preachers around him, but there are so many claiming they are right and the poor man will get more confused. Each has excellent reasons to prove what they preach also. Therefore, some will stay in the denominations they were born and were raised in, some being over influenced by other denominations migrate, and some being tired of the differences run away too. What are the spiritual needs of a common man? This should be a serious thought to be considered in all the different Christian denominations.

Happiness does not form intellectually. One cannot explain happiness and taste what it is but should feel it to understand what it is. Similar is the case with spiritual happiness too. A living Spirit rejoices in the Word of God. The presence of God makes it happy. Those who love darkness enjoy their activities and invent happiness. But any kind of materialistic happiness one is able to reach is all in vain. True happiness is reached when one realizes the love of the one and only True God. Serving the Lord will fill the people’s hearts with happiness. “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Ps 84: 10).

In life we prioritize, and the top of the list should be God. One should rejoice in the abundant blessings which are being provided every single day and every single minute and second by God to the sinful Human beings and therefore should be able to humble themselves and submit to the Almighty. A common man who submits his life to God all the time will succeed and will find true happiness. Because he is the one who will find happiness in reading and meditating upon His words, he will find happiness in having conversations with God, and he will find happiness in working for His kingdom. He finds a collective congregation as a resource to fulfill his spiritual needs. It is the Church, and the Church often sows the seeds for spiritual growth in individuals. Through Church, which is also the Body of Christ, life spreads in to those who are dead. The same body together keeps one another lively by supporting each other in all different ways. Thus, meditation, prayers, worship and other activities take place in common under one name of Christ, with out anyone willing to focus on their own names, and trying to focus on Christ the most. Seeing the unity and faithfulness, even the gentiles will start glorifying our God.

This feeling of happiness must have been found in the early churches but as time passed, many corrupted and dishonest leaders and preachers entered the group and often lead many in to distraction and wrong ways. These gradually have grown bigger and bigger and, of course, each one trying to prove themselves as the closest to the truth started investigating, claiming and often proving their believes as the only truths. Life of a common man has become much disoriented as he is jiggled between a million different doctrines. And nowadays, focus is more given to the differences and not to Christ. The message of Christ is avoided, and even considered as old philosophical thoughts which cannot be followed any more. In many occasions, congregations turn out to be social clubs. Are we able to meet the spiritual needs of a common man? Why do they migrate or even run away? May be because they are unable to find spiritual happiness and closeness to God.

As the oldest Church in India, do we have an agenda to spiritually convert our people to effectively call with complete faith to our Lord as “My Lord and My God” as our apostle did?

Marriage

Sunday School Grade XII 2009-10 Study Notes

Unit 10
Male and Female
Lesson 30: Marriage

Marriage is a divine institution for the wholeness, happiness and preservation of human life. God created man and woman and united them in love and sacrifice for mutual co-operation. Marriage is holy and dignified.

Marriage is a vocation
Marriage calls a bride and bride-groom to a lifelong covenant. Marriage is not something far from God and marriage relationship is not ugly or unholy. Bride and bridegroom should realize that it was God’s call which brought them together.

Marriage: Characteristics and conditions
Marriage is an act of God with spiritual endowments
Marriage is not only a call but also an act of God in His love. When the Church consecrates the sacrament of marriage, it is God who acts in and through the Church. Couples who are joined through marriage are making a covenant before God about their lifelong relationship. They are bound to keep it unbroken. The Church prays for the couple and God pours His blessings on the union and promises to guide and help them. The couples are responsible to keep their loyalty and faithfulness to God. There are three essential conditions to be satisfied by the couples.

1) The condition of love
God demands perfect and sincere love from the couple. Love is the bond of unity between them. In marriage they are taking to vow of love. Faithfulness deriving from the faithfulness to God, and unselfishness are expressions of this love. Without a spirit of self-sacrifice this is not possible.

Faithfulness, as Christ was faithful to the Father; Unselfishness, as Christ was not selfish and came down for the redemption of the fallen creation; and Self-sacrifice, as Christ died for the sins of us on the cross.

2) The condition of progeny
Married life without parenthood is incomplete. Holy Matrimony was ordained first and foremost for the preservation of human race. Parenthood is the symbol of full self-giving out of deepened love.

3) The condition of spiritual obligations
Christian marriage aims at a Christian home as a basic unit of the Church. The life has begun with God and has to continue with God. The relationship in marriage is viewed as the relationship between Christ and the Church. (Eph 5: 21-33). The Church which is the spotless bride gives herself to the bridegroom, Christ. Christ took her to Himself through His self-sacrificing love. On occasions of conflicts and tests in married life, the couples must pray together, discuss together and support each other.

Family Management
Corporation of husband and wife is necessary. Both have equal rights and obligations and should work together with great seriousness.

Preparations for marriage
As marriage is a significant milestone in life, it should be approached with care and preparation. It is the time which must be governed by sanctity of life and prayerful waiting before God for knowing His will regarding each one.

Discuss:
Finding your partner – How? Discuss arranged and love marriages, positive and negative effects, and relationship with God in making important decisions
Faithfulness and purity in married life
Sharing responsibilities in married life

Man and Woman

Sunday School Grade XII 2009-10

Unit 10
Male and Female
Lesson 27: Man and Woman

Man is a sexual being, and sexual polarity is characteristic of human nature. The masculine and feminine principles can never be isolated, but they interact and complete each other.

Man-Woman relationship in the Church
Man and woman are equal before God. They have to share the divine blessings from God. Both man and woman are created in the image of God and are given the authority to rule over all other creations, and each of them is responsible before God (Gen 1:26-30, 2:18).
In New Testament, a new status is given to women by Jesus Himself. He deals with women as persons worthy to be talked and listened to, in need of salvation equally with men. He made women the first witnesses and heralds of his resurrection.

Role of Men and Women in the Society
Society comprises of families, and ideal families are formed by union of man and woman. The husband and wife are not part of two beings, but parts of a single full being. Therefore, each should give the other undivided love. St. Paul said, “The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church” (Eph 5:23). It means that a man must lead his wife and children in the witness of faith, in trust in God, in steadfast love and in working of God. Only then he become like Christ who is the “Savior of his body – Church”.

Role of Men and Women in the Church
The love between Christ and Church should manifest in families. The important role and men and women in the Church are to make the families models of Church itself.

Celibate men and women work towards the Kingdom of God imitating the life of Christ. Their role is very important too. The functional differences between men and women do not mean inequality in status. In the tradition of the Church, women had been prophetesses and deaconesses. But women were not ordained to priesthood.

Discuss:
Does the Church give man and woman equal importance? Can men accept women with equal importance in the Church?
Moral values of Men and Women in the modern societies and world.
Concept of family in the 21st century.

Pilgrimage through Time

It was some time ago that this idea came across my mind. I began thinking that “Life is a pilgrimage though time”. Why did I think it as a pilgrimage and not a journey? Is both the same? Pilgrimage is itself a journey, but it is a journey that is made with a religious devotion to a sacred place (dictionary.com). Then is life a journey or a pilgrimage? It more likely starts as a journey, but as life goes on, it is transformed to a pilgrimage. To who is it transformed? Is life dynamic to everyone? Or is it stagnant? Can it just be some journey to nowhere? And can it be a journey to the wrong place? All these are possible facts.

We live in a world that considers religion as weird, and who ever speaking of religion as ‘crazy’. Many people just don’t go to Church or so, but say, they are religious. May do believe God exists, but is not interested in practicing religion. They may or may not do anything wrong in their lives. Understand ‘wrong’ by the notions of religion and society. They don’t see or understand any kind of growth in the spiritual lives, and sometimes they even are not sure about the existence of spirituality. They are not bothered to think about spirituality. But they try to be good in actions and try not to be harmful to anyone else. But is this right? Shall one be stagnant in their spiritual lives?

Think about a tree. The tree grows continuously throughout it life and as it grown a ring is added to it. Tree rings are signs of growth of a tree. The cells of a human body grow, die and regenerate, and the human body continues to grow and get old. The nature teaches the idea of growth which is applicable in spiritual lives too. It cannot be stagnant, but has to be growing. Why shall it grow? All journeys are towards a destination. Streams flow to river and river to sea. Therefore, to reach the destination, one has to grow continuously.

Where is the destination? When a little child is asked about his ambition, he answered honestly that he wanted to be a doctor. He wanted to study, grow and become useful to the society. Similar is the case with many children with an option to move forward in life. A will to become something in life is seen in each and every person. This is the worldly destination. But is there a spiritual destination too? The spiritual destination is to reach the uncreated Divine who is the creator and protector of the whole universe. Even though science has attempted to prove the story of creation in many weird ways, none of them has been convincing enough for the millions of believers in different religions around the world. And all do believe in one basic truth that there is a power outside the realm of human thinking. That power is God.

The spiritual growth cannot be stagnant but dynamic. After realizing the presence of a person beyond our intellectual strength, we are able to determine a destination. To reach the spiritual destination, to unify with the divine, we need to travel. We need to find the way. And the way is Jesus Christ. He said that he is the way, the truth and the life. Just not because of that. But the scripture makes it clear that Christ is the revelation of God to humans. He is also fully God and fully man. He is the savior who came down to the earth as a human, preached the word of God, died for the sins of the world, and resurrected from the dead. "The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that the sons of men can become the sons of God" (St. Athanasius). Christ created the bridge of cross over the river of sin that separated humans and God. The dynamicity of spirituality is the growth in Christ.

Now comes the question, how to grow in Christ? St. Paul says that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). Unfortunately, many Christians merely understood the literal sense of this verse and kept believing that after confessing Christ and after believing that He is raised from the dead, a person is saved. Does it work like that? Is salvation a one minute process through confession and declaration? Even the devils believe that Christ is the Son of God and He rose from the dead. “If someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” (James 2: 14).So, is it just faith that saves one? Or is it the decision and habit made to constantly walk in the path of Christ to be saved and to unify with the Divine? God is holy, and when he asks us to come to Him, He is asking us to grow in holiness constantly to get nearer and nearer to Him. Thus one will get saved completely. Therefore, salvation is a step by step process of growing in Christ. It is dynamic, and it is the dynamism needed for a human spirit to attain it final goal. This is the pilgrimage of life through time.

Purpose of Creation

It will be good to explain the Purpose of Creation to understand the donation of Time in a better way. I believe that Purpose of Creation of human being is the Divine Love found in the Holy Trinity, which THEY decided to share with THEIR children (humans), so that the Love and sharing in the Holy Trinity will reach its completeness in all aspects. The purpose of humans is to glorify God, which is very necessary for the survival of us. The glorification of our Lord reaches it maximum when there is a completion in Love, when we truly understand what God’s path is meant and when we truly accept it. This completeness of Love to God has to be attained to Glorify Him purely. As Christians our journey should be towards achieving the completeness of Love towards our Lord.

I think completeness of Love in Humans towards God occurs when there is an equal amount of flow of Love among the Father and the children, or the complete sharing of Love between God and man. Our Lord has given us all the Love, has shown us all the Love and its seen right in front of our eyes. He came to the earth and suffered and died for us and that is the greatest expression of His love towards us. He submitted completely to redeem us. To have the equal amount of Love between us and our God, we should also submit ourselves completely to His will. As Jesus has obeyed His Father completely, we all have the responsibility to obey our Heavenly Father completely. “Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling smell.” (Eph 5: 1, 2)

To complete the purpose of creation, we all have to submit ourselves and submitting ourselves basically means spending our time for Lord. One way to spend our time for God is prayers. Our great Fathers have divided a day in to seven parts and different prayers were being composed to be prayed at those particular times. Nowadays, we often hesitate to do that even in church on Sundays. We often skip through the Morning Prayer before the Holy Qurbana to save time. The same culture is developing in our homes too, when we change our prayer schedule from one time to other based on the time schedule of different shows we have to watch on TV’s. And prayer of course has become something which can be easily omitted if we don’t have time, or it is some thing which can be done in a very short way just by saying a word and a cross.

At the time of creation, God has spent 6 days creating this beautiful world for His children. The effort of God to us is simply amazing, and this shows the love and care He had to us. We read in Psalms 121 that “he that keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” We have a Lord who is watching over us every minute, and not just watching over us but my giving everything needed to sustain our lives as a blessing every single day. God has spent 6 days to create a world for us. How many days do we spend in loving and glorifying Him??? Prayers have become a ritual nowadays, and it has become a 2 hour service on Sundays. Is this what we are giving His back for all the Love He has given us???

St. Paul in his epistle to Ephesians says, “be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks ALWAYS for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”

St. Paul insists to give thanks to the Lord ALWAYS, and to live in speaking words of our God so that it will enhance the spiritual lives of everyone. We all get attracted to the world of pleasure so often, spent all the time for that and forget about the words of God, which is a huge hindrance to the completeness of love we have to acquire.

St. Paul says, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” This leads us to the path of helping those who need it. Helping with money is great but our time and presence also can do a lot more. As I said above, St. Teresa is the best example. By money we can help only the economically poor, but by time we will be helping the spiritually poor and struggling, and we will be saving lives. We will be bringing more souls to the path of salvation by spending our time for those who needs the word of God. And if we are spending our time praying just for our needs, it is very selfish and is against the word of God. As Christians we all have the responsibility to bring our brothers and sisters to the word of God, to the path of salvation so that they also can be with Jesus when He comes again.

To have completeness, we have to share equal amount of Love with God, which means we have to provide the same amount of Love to the nearby brother and the sick and poor we see in this world. As we read in St. John “My children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” We have to love in DEED and in TRUTH. That is love in action, and that is expected from the humans while he was created. There lies the true completeness, when we 'DO LOVE' and not 'Say Love'. Doing Love is different than saying Love. Doing Love requires our time and will. The love we received from God was not said but DONE. And that is the step towards completeness and that is the step to glorifying Him and therefore that is what expected from humans by God, because Loving Him and Glorifying Him is itself the purpose of creation.

Dear friends, donate your time for God, and donate your time for the needy. Let us share the time with each other which we receive as a free gift from God. The smallest amount of time spent can bring marvelous changes. Lord is with us. Praise Him!!!