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.

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!

“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.