Beheading of John the Baptist

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When we stand for the truth, the powerful will try to suppress or even punish us as John the Baptist was treated. He spoke out the truth that it was wrong for Herod to marry Herodias, his brother’s wife.

God says to Prophet Ezekiel: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth you will warn them in my name. When I say to the wicked, ‘you will surely die’, and you do not give him any warning or speak to the wicked man to give up his evil ways in order to save his life, he shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you have warned the wicked man and he has not given up his wickedness and evil ways, he shall die for his sin but you will save yourself” (3.17-19)

When John the Baptist obeyed God, man turned against him and killed him. This is what will happen to people who obey God because nowadays we are living in a Godless society.

As St.Pope John Paul II has said “John the Baptist, unable to refrain from speaking of the Law of the Lord and rejecting any compromise with evil, gave his life in witness to truth and justice”. Holy Spirit challenges us through St. Paul: “Am I trying to win human favor, or Divine favor? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ” (Gal.1,10)

Fr.James MAriakumar SVD

 

 

 

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Feast of St. Helena

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“We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called,Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”. (1 Cor. 1, 23,24)

“Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”. (Mt.16.25)

Please listen the Audio in page Media for the homily of Fr. James Mariakumar.

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Assumption of Virgin Mary

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It is fitting that the Holy God, who has become man and suffered the worst form of suffering, be raised by the Father to be the Perfect Man in heaven. God ‘prepared a body for His Son’ (Heb. 10.5) in order to come into the world through the Immaculate Virgin (Gen. 3.15, Is. 7.14, Gal. 4.4). She was conceived without original sin, and cooperating with the grace of God, she lived a sinless life. So it is fitting that the Mother of Jesus, the Word Incarnate, who partook in His salvific mission, should be raised to heaven, body and soul. It was God’s plan that through conversion, faith and living of our Baptism we become the members of the Body of Christ (Col. 1.24) and children of Mother Mary assumed into heaven. She draws us  to share Her own glory. It is our Vocation and Mission to live in such a way that we become worthy of being Her children so as to share Her glory in heaven. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pangs of child birth even until now. Not creation alone, but we ourselves, who have the first fruit of the Spirit groan in our innermost being, eagerly awaiting the day when God will adapt us as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved” (Rom. 8.22-24).

Let us rejoice in the Lord and celebrate this feast in honour of the Virgin Mary, at whose assumption the angels rejoice, giving praise to the Son of God. Mary, the well beloved Daughter of the Heavenly Father, the tender Mother of His Son Jesus and the Most Beloved of the Holy Spirit, please pray for India as she celebrates the 70th year of her Independence today. May we all aspire for the true freedom of the children of God. The song of Rabidranath Tagore: “Into that heaven of freedom, my Father let my country awake” be the song of prayer arising from the heart of every citizen of India.

Fr. James Mariakumar SVD

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The Transfiguration of Jesus

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And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light (Matt. 17, 2)

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Forgiving Love

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Loving the unlovable is the specialty of Christianity

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Walking with Jesus and Mary

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Walking with Jesus and Mary-Fr.James Mariakumar -Heede, N.Germany

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Healing through the renewal of our mind

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Jesus Is Risen indeed Halleluiah

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Jesus’ Resurrection is the ultimate source of our faith and hope. It is the fulfillment of God’s salvific plan. As St. Paul said, ‘Jesus was handed over to death for our sins and was raised for our justification’(Rom.4.25). So resurrection is the foundation on which our Christian faith is built. “If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain” (1 Cor.15.14)

Jesus foretold his Death and Resurrection to his disciples more than once. Yet they were confused and perplexed about everything that happened on the Great Passover day and on Passion Friday. But Jesus never wanted to give up on them. Again and again He tried to reaffirm their faith in the presence of the Risen Saviour. For fear of the Pharisees and the Scribes who crucified Jesus, when they were hiding in dark rooms, and when they were trying to run away from the scene, Jesus appeared before them to recoup their faith. Yes, when we live in the darkness of uncertainty, doubt, despair, fear and frustration, He is all the more eager to enter into our lives to give us His joy, peace, love, comfort and security. He is ready to fill our lives with all these ‘without money and without price’ (Is.55.1).. He wants to involve fully in our pain of rejection, loneliness, insecurity…and release us from them. Let us thank our Risen Savior who wants to walk with us, befriend us and make us enjoy His abundant life. It is for this that He is Risen Indeed Halleluiah!

Mary Pereira

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Way of the Cross

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A Parish Priest noticed one parishioner every day praying the ‘Way of the Cross’ lighting a candle at each station. Very devoutly she would say all the prayers and at the close of each Station of the Cross she would say beating her chest: “Holy Mother, pierce me in my heart each wound renew of my Savior Crucified”. One day after the prayer she approached the Priest who asked her about her wellbeing. While telling about her life she said: “Father I have many sufferings. Please pray that God may take away my sufferings”. Then the Priest said: “Every day you pray to Mother Mary: ‘pierce me in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified’. And now you ask me to pray that God may take away your sufferings. Will God listen to Mother Mary’s prayer or my prayer?”

Yes, often we do not really mean what we pray. In the very meaningful devotion of the Way of the Cross, as we meditate on the Passion of Christ in each Station, we are led more and more to realize that He bore all that for our sins. So we pray: “We adore you O Christ and bless you, because by your Cross, you have redeemed the world”. Jesus willingly accepted the Cross, followed the Way of the Cross and ultimately laid down His life on the Cross. “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own free will” (Jn. 10.18). In each moment of His Passion He thought of us and was willing to bear all that in order to atone for our sins. His love for us was such! “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5.8).

In our day to day sufferings, we ‘bear on our body the marks of Jesus’ (Gal.6. 17). In the prayer of the Way of the Cross, we ask Mother Mary to ‘pierce in our hearts, each wound renew of our Savior Crucified’. This means that we should be willing to accept all the wounds and hurts, all sorts of persecutions, unjust accusations, and undeserved sufferings with the attitude of Christ.  As Jesus came “not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 10.45), we, as His followers should be willing to give our life as a ransom for others.  Let us pray not to take away our sufferings; rather let us pray for the grace and power to accept it willingly as a ransom for those who are the cause of our sufferings, unite our sufferings with that of Christ, and have the attitude of Christ in bearing it without any anger, grudge or sorrow; thus we can change our sufferings into redeeming sufferings. May the beautiful prayer of ‘Way of the Cross’ becomes more meaningful and fruitful in our lives.

Mary Pereira

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Lent – A Season of Self-Denial and Self-Renewal

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We are gifted with one more Season of Lent in our life-time in this pilgrim land. It is a time given by the Lord in order to repair our past sinful ways through a life of deeper prayer, fasting, penance and alms -giving. By controlling the passions of our body, we can free our souls for deeper prayer. By refraining from eating, we can set aside food or money that we can give to the poor and needy. The Church is not forcing us to practice these spiritual exercises, but it is intended to bring about a revival in our relationship to God and to our fellow beings. It is a time of self-denial and self-renewal. We can fast not only from food, but also from television serials, from idle talk and gossip, from judging others, from telling lies, from indulging in lustful passions….and the like. Our fasting indicates or symbioses our decision to give up the ‘dead works in us so that we may serve the living God’ (Heb.9.14).

We can see in the Old Testament and New Testament examples of fasting and prayer when people became aware of their sins against God or when they needed to get guidance and strength from God. 40 days of fasting and prayer reminds us of the 40 days of flood in Noah’s time (Gen.17), 40-year journey of the Israelites in the desert to the promised land (Exodus), Moses’ 40 days on the mountain with God (Ex. 34.28), King David’s rule for 40 years, 40 days of journey of prophet Elijah to reach Mount Horeb, (1 Kg. 19),  40 days of fasting and penance of the people of Nineveh (Jon. 3.4-10) and Jesus’ fasting and prayer for 40 days in the desert (Mt. 4. 1-10). It will only do good if we spend little time every day reflectively going through these Scriptures in order to understand the significance of these incidents.

God overlooks our times of ignorance, ‘but now he calls on all people to change their ways’ (Acts. 17.30). “He allows those who repent to return; he comforts those whose hopes are fading” (Sirach. 17.24). In the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, the Liturgy of Mass ends thus: ‘We do not know whether we will come again for the celebration of Mass”. Yes, our life is so fragile and indefinite. Any moment we can be knocked down by a vehicle, or get a paralysis or a heart attack….; thus the door opens before me to say good bye to this earthly life. Let us not forget the truth that we are living in the End Times; ‘in the time of Revelation’ as Mother Mary revealed to Sr. Lucy, the Seer of Fatima. God, in his goodness and kindness has given us one more time of grace in order to repair the damages and afflictions in our lives and to restore our original ‘God-like image’ in us (Gen.1.26,27). Thus our eternal life in the kingdom of God can be guaranteed. But we need to cooperate with his grace. The Holy Spirit reminds us through St. Paul: “Are you taking advantage of God and his infinite goodness, patience and understanding, and do you not recognize that his kindness is meant to lead you to conversion?” (Rom. 2.4)

Prayer: God of mercy and compassion, we come to you seeking your pardon for our iniquities. Send your Holy Spirit upon us and convict us of all that is not of your kingdom. We place our lives in your hands and seek your will in everything. Let this Lenten Season be a season of complete transformation of our lives. Sweet Holy Spirit of God, touch our hearts and set us on fire for love of you.

Mary Pereira

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