Easter Greetings

 The disciples of Jesus waited behind the closed doors of their temporary home in Jerusalem. Their master, the one they loved very much, was arrested and pronounced guilty of sedition and blasphemy by the religious court; the death sentence was approved by the Roman Governor and their master was crucified to death. Before they had the time to understand what is going on, their master was dead and hurriedly buried in a cave tomb. 

They were now waiting for the Sabbath to get over to return to the tomb to complete the anointing of his body which they could not complete on the day He died. On that fateful Friday Sabbath was already upon them when the Romans took the dead bodies down from the crosses and they hardly got the time to prepare Jesus's body for burial before it was placed inside the tomb. Everybody left in a hurry to start the Sabbath hoping to return early on Sunday morning to complete the anointment. 

Our heart goes out to the disciples and the women who were with them, especially Mary of Magdella, when they stood outside the tomb grieving while the lifeless body of their master lay still inside the tomb. The still body of their Master, who was their world and life for nearly three years. 

As their grief grew deep they couldn't help but think about the injustice of it all; their master being accused of a baseless accusation and being killed unlawfully on the day of Pessach. They were simple fishermen and workmen from Galilee with no connections or friends at higher levels of their society to appeal for help. Their helplessness added to their misery. No matter how deep their sighs were and how long their tears ran down, none of them, absolutely no one among them had any idea of what they are going to feel when the day broke after the Sabbath.

Are you ready?

Easter greetings, my friend. 

Good Friday

Some pictures from the Good Friday observation at Vallarpadam Basilica.

I

Not Knowledge but love.

 Knowledge alone will not change a man, the experience of love will.

Altar today

The peaceful moments of the quiet hour at Vallarpadam Church dedicated to the Holy Spirit is strengthening as well as consoling.

Feast of Corpus Christi

Feast of the Body of Christ. 11.30am mass at Vallarpadam. 

Vishu

The whole day was beautiful with divine sunlight on Vishu. The sky was blue and clear, a summer treat.

Do Not Give Up!

Easy to say. Give up what?

We have decided to walk The Way. The way will keep us away from the "Mayas" of life which can take us up or bring us down. That is the way our human minds are. We are designed that way.

The Way, make us-help us look at Life in a different way. Not the ability to control events from happening or not happening, but the blessing to react to events differently from our default.

Abraham is an example, Job is an inspiration, there are plenty in the Bible; stories that can keep us whole.

May our Mind has the Grace to be with Him always and in everything.

An unexpected Gift..

There are some incidence in our lives which make us aware God is watching over us and He see to every aspect of our lives. I was aspiring for two books which I wished I could own for my recent reading and research I am doing but could not 'cos one was expensive and the other was out of print. One of my friend who has both loaned me one of them for some time and I had to return it before I could finish with it as he himself was referring to it for his work.

Yesterday, I accidentally got an opportunity to meet the spokesperson of the big organization which had actually printed the expensive book and he considering my interest and the work I am doing gifted me a prized copy of the very book I was longing for.

Without realizing, I stood up and bowed as I saw God's Hand working through him.

Wonderful are your ways and amazing the way You read the minds of your faithfuls...

A blessed one

Rosary Month

Work and efforts for bread was little too occupying this month that, missed being in the church for long.

Bread

Wishing everyone the strength and grace to enjoy their toil for bread. Blessed are they who can earn theirs from work they love to do.

Illusion

Life and its illusions. Its difficult to see through the happiness, sorrows and the other emotions and its phases life bring to us. We go up and down with it. Some elate and exhilarate us, some broke us. But the end we know we are carried away and has missed the point.

At those times, when we are blinded by the "Maya" the thought of the eternal existence, the memories of the titbits of the true colors of the real being, keep us going, without being too much affected by the illusion.

PS: Picture borrowed

Muziris

I was reading the acts of Apostle where Paul takes the ship to meet Cesar and the 14 day ordeal he had to experience at sea. What an amazing account of life at sea during those times. Perhaps the ship he was travelling which was bound for the ports of the eastern land Asia could be our Malabar shore-Muziris- which  was a famous trading port of that time.

Monsoon Sunday

The Sunday after the feast of Holy Ghost. Vallarpadam Church was beautifully decorated. I did not take my camera. What a miss.

The blue pearls of serial lights glowed all over the main hall. The altar was decorated with more flowers and fresh covers over every table top.

The Portuguese image of Mary was placed in the middle of the main tower at the entrance. 

Since the festive mass on the 8th day of the feast was celebrated at length, the 11.30 am mass was at 12. Since the schools were opened the worshipers were less today.

Twice it rained, giving all of us the rich feel of the the strength and boldness of the monsoon at Vallarpadam. Sky cleared quickly both the times. 

Met a local committee member who gave me some information about Meenakshi Amma. There is a book available there now, written by Fr. Joseph Thottath, which has some history of the Church.

It is nice to see the Hindu family still has some connection with certain rituals of the church. I wish it continues that way forever. The symbol of our Kochi society's harmony and brotherhood.

The annual trolling ban started yesterday and there were many boats moored infront of the church. Another beautiful sight and a great photo opportunity.

Holy Communion

How lucky those children who received today their first Holy communion, the day-April 27th- when two Popes, John XXIII and John Paul II was declared saints.

Fishing

Customarily, this year too the monsoon saw the trolling ban. Fishing in motorised boat is controlled, to protect the fish environment and also for the safety of fisher folks.

Pictures of the Boats that are moored at the "KADAVU" of Vallarpadam.

PS: Kadavu(Malayalam) = Jetty

Monsoon

 The monsoon 2013 has arrived in its full grandeur. Just as the summer was hot and bashing the monsoon too this year is "telling".

On a rainy day there is not much contrast in color, everything looks grey. Here is a picture of the church on a rainy day. Not many were around on the weekday morning when I went there in the rain.

Mind's eye

For some reasons my style of personal prayer has changed. I like these days to sit quietly and meditate. Opening the minds eye and let the soul experience the being and the universe.

I have been reading more about Siddharth Gautam Buddha, the prince of Kapila Vastu.  Indeed, it has influenced me alot. The style of opening mind's eye.

The way Jesus used to spend a lot of time in meditation and prayer. It's upto us to follow His steps and find out how He organized His thoughts and dealt with it to help ourselves.

Vasco Da Gamma

Last month we celebrated the 525th anniversary of the arrival of Vasco Da Gamma. Without the Portuguese influence, there would not have been the Church at Vallarpadam and also many other churches in and around Kochi.

It make one wonder why Portuguese had such a strong faith in Mother Mary.  They had built a church and honored the faith and celebrated their resort in Mary in all the lands they have shored. 

It was one heck of a sailing which Vasco Da Gamma in his ship Sao Gabriel undertook along with the fleet he lead to reach India. The turks  have blocked the other route to India, and the Europeans were desperate to find another sea route to the East for trade. That is why he took the risk upon the command of his King John II of Portugal to find the spice route. 

To sail around of Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa was a nightmare. Only the severest of faith can help a man from despair and destruction. Such was the bad weather in the channel of Mozambique. It was the faith of Vasco Da Gamma and the other sailors and their resort to Mother Mary which helped them survive the ordeal and let them sail through the coasts of Mozambique, Mambosa and Milindi, from there all the way across the ocean to Calicut favoured by the current and the Monsoon. 

On May 28th, 1498, Vasco Da Gamma, stood in front of Zamudiri (Zamorin) not as a conqueror but with all the humility of a trader asking permission to trade in the King Zamorin's land. 

Rest is history.

The rains

The monsoon is here. Rains after a long summer. Whole day rains. 

Church was still crowded this morning. I enjoyed walking up my 15 minutes to the church holding an umberella, walking along the road with rain water flowing and ofcourse fresh dog shit :) . Rains can be messy. 

Picture from the church, the tiled building is our old school. 

Every body has to be ready for the monsoon, umberella, rubber slippers et al..