Urbi et Orbi

On Friday, 27th March, 2020, Pope Francis gave the world a special blessing, Urbi et Orbi which is practised only on Christmas and Easter, standing in the middle of the empty St. Peter's Basilica Square, alone under the temporary canopy while it rained steadily. As the Corona situation continues and getting worse in Italy and around the world, the whole country was under a lock down which kept the people away from the square. 

Dear Pope Francis, thank you for your spiritual leadership and for that wonderful feeling of being United with Christ and the God, along with you, the representative of the Apostolic spiritual chain of our generation. 

We Pray, God, all we longed for is the union with you through our Lord Jesus Christ. Please don't let the anxiety and the fear of the present time affect the peace and Joy we enjoy through that Union. Our only treasure and keeping in this world. 

May Your will be done....

Corona Sunday

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 as Pandemic. Wuhan, the city in China, where the Virus originated has been ravaged by the epidemic bringing that country to a standstill. In this new world of global economy and interactions, our own people who were in that city brought the virus to our country. It was bound to happen, the way world is interconnected now and it has happened. The precautionary measures taken by our state government helped to contain the virus to a very limited incidence. Still, precautionary measures meant avoiding public contacts among humans as the virus is spread from human to human.

Basilica at Vallarpadam

The empty Church

Its not often we see our Basilica without any pilgrims

I was coming to Mary and Meenakshi Amma after almost two months, being away on the east coast for work. To offer a mass in mother tongue is always very engaging. Tthe masses were cancelled except the morning and the evening ones. 

My God, help us contain the virus, may it not spread in our land and every country. Give us the forbearance to do things the way it is to be done to get rid of this disease. May all those who are in the frontline to fight the disease be blessed, the medical staff, hospital employees, government authorities, the transporters, policemen and everybody associated with the program, may all those and their families reap the benefit of serving the mankind at the time of this historic and disastrous pandemic. 

We pray for the grace to be by You, never to loose hope and faith. 

Advantages of Prayer

Prayer is a conversation with God,
Prayer liberates us from all wrong thoughts.

Even in our free time keep saying our favorite prayer,
Prayer will always generate positive thoughts in us,
Unfailingly, prayer will keep us away from all evil.

Even if the whole world rises up against us,
Plot and conspire for our fall, nothing, 
Will happen to us, if we are prayerful in our lives.

We will be peaceful in all circumstances,
The grace of the Lord will be in us.

No matter how adverse the situation is, 
Nothing will affect us. 

So, Let the day begin with a prayer,
Let us stay prayerful, whole day!

Sunday

Semester is coming to an end at my teaching assignment. A little too stretched preparing notes for the final classes and conducting them. Though the days before Sunday was class free, I had to spent them on class preparation, the occupation continued till Sunday noon. By evening I went to town to our Cathedral church where they were getting ready for the feast of the Christ the Kind with procession and such. Since I had to take the 8 PM bus to my village, I couldn't stay there for long.

The grace to accept that no one and nothing is perfect, the humility to understand the folks around us are even more so and we ourselves are flawed in many ways. Perhaps the greatest gift one can receive is to have the humbleness to understand and live accordingly. No easy task, as we know, many lives have perished around this rock of destruction. In terms of a mate, to receive someone who thinks and lives that way is a blessing, indeed.

Such were my thoughts when I was walking around my town after the visit to the church in the evening, taking pictures..

The month of November is coming to an end so very fast and we are on December quickly and Christmas is here. Enjoy the advent my dear friends.

Sunday

It was raining heavily the last few days. Sunday morning was overcast and cloudy. What more to say, woke up late and did not go to church. Spent the day practicing some stars and snowflakes for the Christmas cards.

By evening the sun broke free, by that time, the bus to town had already left. So, a day, more or less, at home in the village, alone. 

We were poor and uninformed without any friends or powerful relatives. We followed You and Your ways and you blessed us with wisdom and knowledge and gave us the courage and grace to hold ourselves when our country became independent and doors were opened to all to everywhere.

Yes, there were moments, when we doubted ourselves and our own worth when we competed against the best of our country who came from different backgrounds, You were there for us, in our hearts as a person, a distinct personality, perfect like a Guru, consoling and guiding us.

Thank you, Lord, our journey is on, please don't let us do anything to loose You and ourselves. 

Cyclone Bul Bul Sunday

The week that went by was full with work. The coming week is going to be same with the classes where I teach will term off for the semester. I was preparing class notes late into the Saturday night and woke up very late for the Morning mass on Sunday. On my way to St. Joseph's in the evening the shared auto rickshaw took a level cross halt and I could walk around a bit before we resumed our trip.  It was a beautiful golden evening in our village a perfect ending to a warm sunny day. One couldn't help thinking of the misery of the unfortunate folks of Bengal where cyclone BulBul have made the landfall. We were facing the same predicament two weeks ago. 

At St. Joseph's I came across the very spirited and enthusiastic elderly Sr.  who lit up my evening. I do not know why I never could talk to her earlier.  Thank you My Lord, for sending Angels my way and also for giving me enough to buy a new phone after the one I lost 60 days ago. It's such a shame I cannot be more careful to not to loose expensive work tools. 

Bless you my friends, may you have the grace to do your thoughts and deeds well.