Christmas Pictures

A picture Journey of a pandemic Christmas

After the mass, the church was closed according to the pandemic regulation and the crib was projected through the cctv. 

                     A Christmas lunch

A prayer

Oh! God, bless me with good thoughts and help me to express them in words. 

We pray, bless everyone with their bread..

world Fisheries Day

We live, We celebrate, We protect: Fishers, Oceans, Mother Earth, Statement of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), World Fisheries Day, 21 November 2020 https://worldfishers.org/2020/11/19/we-live-we-celebrate-we-protect-fishers-oceans-mother-earth/

The Fisher men of Vallarpadam

She was sitting at the far end of the church where the boats still arrive. I have known her for as long as I have been coming to Vallarpadam. At first, I knew her as the wife of a hard working fisherman, then as a helpless wife of the same  fisherman who have taken to heavy drinking and finally as as an enterprising honest woman who sells candles and flowers to the visiting devotees. I liked her last role because she was proud to earn her living rather than rely on devotees charity. Sun or shine, she was out in the church compound walking around and offering candles, her face always burned by the sun and energy sapped by the heat. But she always had a cheerful smile on her face and never cursed the devotees who turned down her candle offer. 

So when I saw her on the all souls day sitting under the tree by the jetty, a bit felling sad, I asked, " what has Corona done to you?"

She smiled and sat silent for a while and said, "church is closed for over six months now, nobody is coming to church and there is no candles sale any more."

Yes, it was a difficult situation, I assured her she is not alone in her anxiety and disappointment, we all are going through the same phase. 

"How come you are here at the jetty?" I asked a little surprised since I have hardly seen her at that side of the church. 

She pointed at the boat moored in the lake and told me, "they will throw me some fishes after a while for the dinner", shaking the paper bag she was carrying in her hand. 

It didn't take long to make out her situation, she gets rice from the govt. free and her curry from the kindness of the boat fishermen. The neighborhood brotherhood, helping hands in the time of need and the disaster. 

I was glad and grateful that this hard working lady is somehow surviving the Corona and its devastating impact. 

As I walked away I realised, I didn't have anything with me to spare for her, except my prayers for her. 

Fr. Abel of Kalabhavan

Remembering the very creatively gifted father on his death anniversary who ran the creative arts platform of Kalabhavan, which has been the stepping stone of many who made their careers and lives in the creative field. 

One of the best loved songs of Fr. Abel:

ഈശ്വരനെ തേടി ഞാൻ നടന്നു

കടലുകൾ കടന്നു ഞാൻ തിരഞ്ഞൂ

അവിടെയുമില്ലിവിടെയുമില്ലീശ്വരൻ 

വിജനമായ  ഭൂവിലുമില്ലീശ്വരൻ 

എവിടെയാണീശ്വരന്റെ കാൽപ്പാടുകൾ

മണ്ണിലൊക്കെ ഞാൻ തേടി കണ്ടില്ലാ..

എവിടെയാണീശ്വരന്റെ സുന്ദരാലയം

വിണ്ണിലൊക്കെ ഞാൻ തേടി കണ്ടില്ലാ...

കണ്ടില്ല   കണ്ടില്ലെന്നോതിയോതി

കാനനച്ചോല പതഞ്ഞുപോയി

കാണില്ല കാണില്ലെന്നോതിയോതി

കിളികൾ പറന്നു പറന്നുപോയി 

അവസാനമെന്നിലേയ്ക്ക് ഞാൻ തിരിഞ്ഞൂ..

ഹൃദയത്തിലേയ്ക്കു ഞാൻ കടന്നു..

അവിടെയാണീശ്വരന്റെ  വാസം

സ്നേഹമാണീശ്വരന്റെ രൂപം

സ്നേഹമാണീശ്വരന്റെ രൂപം  

ആബേലച്ചൻ

Couples @ Mary Vallarpadam

Husband and wife should be like hand and eyes; when the hand hurts, eyes cry, and when the eyes cry, the hands wipe away the tears. 

Gratefulness

Is our intellect added to us after we are born?

Intellect is not something that is added to us later. It must have existed in the self inorder to have manifested itself, later. 

"The tree must have been contained in the seed or could not have sprung out of it". 

So too, intellect must have been contained in the self from the beginning. 

With this context introduced, please go to the words of Jesus and also the Psalms:

"Gratefulness is the greatest offering that humans can offer to God."

Our intellect is the one that dissects all our emotions. The emotions are already pre-existing in our self. It merely come to us according to the situation and we experience it. 

The way we feel about our work, before, after and inbetween...all of that we are merely experiencing. With our intellect we work to avoid faults and failures in our work preparation and execution. The aspect of preparation in itself is an emotion we are experiencing. So is joy, apprehensions, disappointments etc..

Let us work our intellect well, discern our emotions and be grateful to God for the whole of it. That way we will be always above the emotional impacts that life brings us.