Archbishop Anil Couto explains why this new book on St. Paul is indeed a spiritual treasure.
By Archbishop Anil Couto
The Full Gospel, A Pauline Perspective by Fr (Dr) Fio Mascarenhas SJ, D. Min and Sr (Dr) Renu Rita Silvano OCV, STD, Mumbai: St. Paul’s, 2023, pp. viii + 126, Price: Rs. 150.00.
The conversion of Saul, the enemy of the nascent Church, to Paul, the “chosen instrument” (Acts 9:15), marks a turning point in the Church’s mission to proclaim Christ’s Gospel of salvation to the world. Paul’s letters testify to his total immersion in the Paschal Mystery of Christ from which flowed his profound reflections on the meaning of Christian discipleship and the essence of Christian life.
From a fanatic for the Law of Moses he became an indefatigable apostle of the Full Gospel of Christ directly received “through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12), and so he could exclaim, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
Amidst the pulls and pressures of life and the attractions of the world it is very easy for Christians to lose sight of their Christian identity and the unique gift of salvation Christ has bestowed on the world through his suffering-death-resurrection-ascension and Pentecost of which they are called to be witnesses. It is very important therefore for every Christian to be reminded of his/her identity and what constitutes the Christian faith of which Paul is the exponent par excellence.
This precious book, The Full Gospel, a Pauline Perspective, written in the context of the preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025, will certainly serve as an invaluable help for the renewal of the Christian faith which never ceases to challenge all Christians to a new life in Christ.
This precious book, The Full Gospel, a Pauline Perspective, by Fr Fio Mascarenhas and Sr Renu Rita Silvano – the Indian luminaries of the Charismatic Renewal Movement – written in the context of the preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025 will certainly serve as an invaluable help for the renewal of the Christian faith which never ceases to challenge all Christians to a new life in Christ.
The twelve chapters of the book are deeply meditative as well as informative; they offer reflections on the essential aspects of Christian life drawn from the writings of St. Paul along with a glimpse into his life and his missionary journeys which form the background.
The book is indeed a spiritual treasure which is not to be read once and kept aside but to be returned to again and again for our spiritual nourishment.
In what way can we affirm that St. Paul is expounding the Full Gospel? Because Pauline teaching underlines: a) the whole truth about Jesus Christ; b) the Christian essentials i.e., priority of grace, salvation by faith, centrality of the cross, new life in the Spirit, belongingness to the Body of Christ; c) the identity of a Christian which is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, leading to a personal relationship with the Father of Jesus Christ, and to a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit; d) the truth of being co-heirs with Christ (cf. Romans 8:14-17); e) the confidence to proclaim “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20); f) the ability to face life confidently – “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Roman 8:35); g) the ability to call God ‘our Father’ i.e., ‘Abba’ h) that Jesus is the pioneer of our salvation who teaches us the mystery of the cross as an invitation to love; i) that the Holy Spirit is ‘the Lord’, or God; j) that suffering is meaningful.
The twelfth chapter is in two parts – 12 A on ‘Praying with St. Paul’ which invites readers to make our own some of his prayers, e.g., Ephesians 3:14-21; Colossians 1:9ff, Romans 15:5-6, 13 etc., and 12 B which is a Pauline Lectio Divina on Romans 8:31-39 as a model. The book is indeed a spiritual treasure which is not to be read once and kept aside but to be returned to again and again for our spiritual nourishment, especially in moments when strong negative currents from within and without tend to take us away from the path of the Gospel.
Archbishop Anil Couto, the Archbishop of Delhi, also serves as the Ecumenism Chairman of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops’ of India. He is a member of the Commission for Inter Religious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. He can be contacted at archbishopdelhi@gmail.com.
Fr. Anbarasan, SJ, explains why he chose to work in Meghalaya and the challenges he faces in that north-eastern State.
By Anbarasan, SJ
I have been working as a missionary in Meghalaya for the past nine and half years. What inspired me to volunteer to work in this region, far away from my own State?
Not merely the village I hail from, but also many of the people in my native village in Tamil Nadu, India are named after St. Francis Xavier. That is true for both men and women. I learnt that this great saint, who is the Patron of the Missions, brought the good news of Jesus to India, Japan and Malaysia. After he arrived in India, he never returned to Spain, his home country. Almost all the people in my village are Catholics. Most of our Parish Priests were Jesuits. All these lit the flame of desire in me to work as a missionary.
I had been expressing my desire to be a missionary to my Provincials, but I never specified where I would like to work. I just said I want to go where there is a real need, where there are not enough priests and resources. I did not desire to go to any rich country or even a developed area in India.
Our MDU Provincial agreed to send me to the Kohima Region and the then Regional Superior of Kohima Region agreed receive me. I came here on 29 June 2014. My first assignment was to be the Socius to the Director of Novices and Administrator at Arrupe Jesuit Novitiate at Shillong. I was there for 13 months and a half, during which I had an opportunity to learn the basics of the native tongue of the Khasi tribals for about 3 weeks through a crash course offered by the Salesians of Don Bosco. The British and Welsh missionaries taught the local people to use the Roman script for Khasi. I learnt at least five new words every day and soon my Khasi vocabulary grew to about 1,000 words. I started using them in my conversations.
Here people don’t make fun of you when you make mistakes while trying to speak their language. They come to you when you are alone and gently point out the mistakes. During that year when I was the Socius, I accompanied the novices in their weekend ministry, taught them Catechism, introduced to them the lives of Jesuit saints, and encouraged them to develop a reading habit.
On some occasions my pastoral ministry demands walking for six or seven hours. If we use shortcuts and climb up and down the hills, it takes three hours.
Pastoral ministry
I began my pastoral ministry in August 2015. Then onwards my ministry has been mostly pastoral. I was the Parish Priest for more than seven years at St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish- Maweit in West Khasi Hills District under Nongstoin Diocese. It has 39 villages as sub-stations. Since childhood I have had the habit of going for long walks. That is very helpful now.On some occasions my pastoral ministry demands walking for six or seven hours. If we use shortcuts and climb up and down the hills, it takes three hours. But I do it with joy. The mantra prayer or Jesus Prayer, which I learnt in my novitiate, helps me now. So, all my walking moments are moments of prayer.
We cannot visit certain villages during the rainy season, which starts by the last week of March and goes on till the second week of October.
Of the 39 villages only 13 have chapels and the rest need some structures that could accommodate at least 50 persons during prayer or Eucharist. In those villages people put up temporary structures, in front of a house or a common place used for meetings, using tarpaulin sheets for the roof and bamboos for seats. Unlike the churches in other Indian States, in the villages here you cannot sit on the floor. It is so unbearably cold.
People here are mostly poor and their food is simple. Theirs is a subsistence economy. They don’t have much to save. Whatever they earn they spend for survival. For six months during the monsoon, people have some agricultural work and their staple food is rice. We eat rice for all the three meals. During the dry months they go as daily wage earners to work in the mines, based on the availability of work and the permit from the government.
Village chapels
In spite of all these, they pay their dues for the care of the priests and catechists. All villages have a specified piece of land which is set aside for the construction of their own village church.
But I know that they can never build these village churches without financial help from other Indian States. Whenever I receive invitations for the opening or blessing of a new church in Tamil Nadu, built or renovated after spending lakhs or crores of rupees, the thought in my mind is: ‘How happy and grateful we and our people here would be, if the money is sent here!’ With just three lakhs of rupees the local people can build a village church in which 50 to 60 persons can pray or worship.
Last year we built a village church with free labour offered by people on weekends and small donations from friends, relatives and well-wishers both from Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu. And two more village churches are getting ready to be opened.
Here people don’t make fun of you when you make mistakes while trying to speak their language. They come to you when you are alone and gently point out the mistakes.
Since the total Catholic population of the parish is 4,960 plus and growing, we have divided the parish into three sub-districts containing 13 villages each under them with one head-catechist each. The head-catechist will assist in all pastoral and catechetical activities. A Jesuit who serves as the Principal in our school at the main station serves as assistant pastor. We also have a religious Sister who goes round touring villages along with the pastor. The people from these sub-stations in a sub-district assemble together on Sundays for the Eucharistic celebration. This way we are able to offer Masses in each village at least four times in a year.
My consolations
What are my consolations in my difficult pastoral ministry in the past seven and half years? We rectified 189 marriages, baptized 1638 babies and about 60 elders. On an average, we have at least 230 baptisms every year and give First Holy Communion to 981 children and the Sacrament of Confirmation to 796 youth in the presence of the Bishop or Diocesan Administrators as his delegates. Thousands come to make their confessions every year.
For the past five months I serve as the new pastor at St Paul Parish at Jalaphet village of East Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya under Jowai Diocese. It has nine villages with an average of 62 families in each village. The total Catholic population will be over 3,600.
Khasis of Meghalaya
Khasis are tribals with a matrilineal system, and so men here are at a little disadvantaged position at home, though they wield power in State politics and gain honour at public forums. Men in the rural areas study up to class IX or X and then they drop out from schools and become labourers who work for daily wages. Many of them are drivers. Only those who join seminaries get the opportunity to pursue higher studies. But men who live in cities or small towns have chances to go to college and get a government job.
At Khasi homes the uncles have a say in decision-making with regard to family matters, though they don’t bequeath any property. The family’s property is inherited by girl children and a lion’s share of it goes to the last daughter of the family, who is in charge of fulfilling the family duties. In case any of her brothers comes back home due to some misunderstanding with his spouse or with the family he is married to, it is the youngest daughter who looks after him. Mostly men here are docile and submissive. When marrying a woman a man almost renounces his family and goes to the bride’s village. Both boys and girls assume the title or the family name of the mother. During celebrations or family discussions the entire family comes together in the house of the mother in law or the last daughter.
Compared to other Protestant Churches, Catholicism is a new arrival that came to this region about fifty to seventy years ago. But Catholicism has brought some equality among women and men and respect and honour to men. Couples living together without a formal marriage is considered quite normal here. Thanks to the Catholic teaching about the importance of sacramental marriage, many couples who have just lived together for years are entering sacramental marriage or get their marriages rectified and registered. This ensures that the children will not be abandoned.
The State of Meghalaya
Meghalaya is a far more peaceful State than the other Northeastern States. The State has 60 elected Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). National People’s Party (NPP) with 25 MLAs, got the support of 2 BJP MLAs and other regional parties and formed a coalition government. The present Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma, is the head of the NPP party. This is the second time that Mr. Conrad Sangma, the son of former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Mr P. A. Sangma, is the Chief Minister.
Meghalaya has 12 civil districts and its three major languages are Khasi, Pnar and Garo. All these three main tribes live in a specific area, but they move to all places within the State for work and some marry women of the other two major tribes without much fuss, since all of them are matrilineal.
Seventy per cent of Meghalaya’s population are Christians. Among them one third are Catholics and two thirds are Presbyterians and Baptists.
The Future of the Region
As many of the readers of INI may know, the Jesuits from Karnataka came as missionaries in 1970 to Kohima to start some educational institutions at the invitation of the then Nagaland government. Then they gradually moved further to Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya. What was a Mission became a Region during its Silver Jubilee year in 1995. Now Kerala Jesuits work in Tripura Mission. North Brahmaputra valley is served by the Jesuits of Ranchi province. From the year 2020, the Golden Jubilee year of the Mission, we have a good number of local vocations from various tribes especially from Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland. And at present the Region has 71 Scholastics and 3 temporal coadjutors in formation. We are 73 priests and of these two thirds are missionaries from Karnataka. In the next ten years the native priests will be surely more than the missionaries from other States of India. Hopefully this Region will become a Province soon.
Fr A. Anbarasan, SJ (MDU) is a missionary priest, serving as the Pastor at St Paul Parish, Jalaphet of East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya. He can be contacted at: anbarasasj@gmail.com
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu points out the significance of the latest document from Pope Francis on caring for the environment.
By Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu
I read our Pope’s documents in Spanish to get an intimate sense of what he’s feeling. I also refer to him as Francisco, because as a Latin American and a child of immigrants, he teaches us to listen to the most vulnerable. Today the most vulnerable of God’s creatures is the planet itself, and it is the Earth’s cries that reverberate with the poverty, displacement, famine, and suffering of the poor.
From the start of Laudate Deum, Papa Francisco provides a key to understanding why caring about creation matters. Caring about our planet’s suffering is about following Jesus. We can’t just know about Jesus, but we need to accompany him in such a way that his tenderness toward creation, from the lilies to the birds, will enter our hearts.
Laudate Deum’s goal is to move us. As he addresses the letter to “all people of good will,” it is clear that Francisco, as a prophet, hopes the urgency in his voice will break our hearts and his truth-telling will spur us to effective action. If Laudato Si’ is a masterful and authoritative document about the state of our environment, Laudate Deum is a prophetic scream of sorrow and a call to action. How can we possibly claim to love God and intentionally destroy all God has made?
Pope Francis, as a prophet, hopes the urgency in his voice will break our hearts and his truth-telling will spur us to effective action.
We need to hear Francisco’s broken heart in this letter as he counts off eight years since Laudato Si’. “Our world is crumbling,” he tells us, and “we are close to a breaking point.” Surprisingly, he begins his impassioned appeal by quoting the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from a little-known and anemic “background” document in which they claim to promote “prudent action predicated on justice to address the growing impact of global climate change.” The Holy Father knows that unless we get the United States to make serious changes (the United States is one of the two most polluting countries on Earth, and the other is China), the global inaction against climate change will continue. He also knows that Catholics in the United States, embroiled in pointless and damaging culture wars, have largely ignored Laudato Si’. This affects the whole world.
Last year, I addressed a large group of Latino Catholic lay ministers and catechists about Laudato Si’. I asked them, “Is your parish community involved in teaching and action on behalf of the environment?” I wanted to be wrong in my prediction. I wanted them to raise their hands and tell me of robust programs and engaged communities. I wanted us to be filled with hope. Yet, in a room of hundreds of Catholics, only a few raised their hands. The surprise and sadness that struck us was palpable.
In 2021, Creighton University published a study reviewing more than 12,000 English-language columns written by bishops in their official publications. Their goal was to rigorously ascertain the reach of Catholic social teaching about climate change on the U.S. Catholic community. The study’s conclusions are painfully sobering: Fewer than 1 percent (yes, you read that right) of these writings meant for the formation of Catholics in the pews mentioned climate change.
How can we possibly claim to love God and intentionally destroy all God has made?
My experience with faith communities bears this out. In this country, we Catholics are stuck in what the study calls “silence and denialism” on the single most important threat to life. Unlike in other countries, where Laudato Si’ has seeded all kinds of ecclesial movements and ministries in support of planetary flourishing as an essential act of Christian faith, the Pope’s call to ecological justice has seemingly remained unheard in the United States. The study reports that even in the few instances where climate change was mentioned by the bishops, “they diminished and distanced themselves from Church teaching on this issue.” Astonishingly, in several of these columns “the bishop downplayed the Pope’s authority to teach about climate change.”
It is high time for us to step up, as Papa Francisco exhorts us, and demand education and action on climate change for our church communities as an act required of our faith in the God of life.
The Creighton study makes clear that partisan politics is playing an outsized role in the United States and discourages attention and action on climate change. We are living in an atmosphere where the political, understood as the necessary actions for a society to function and live together, has been collapsed into partisan ideological rigidity. Because of this, Christian requirements rooted in Jesus himself—caring for the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, and the stranger—are denied in favor of an ideologically conservative partisan agenda. In Laudate Deum Francisco exposes the strategy of holding on to power by ridicule, misinformation, blaming the poor, and claiming job losses. None of these claims are true and each of us should be busy dismantling them.
We are the Church, and it is high time for us to step up, as Papa Francisco exhorts us, and demand education and action on climate change for our church communities as an act required of our faith in the God of life.
Fr. V. Joseph Xavier, SJ, explores the options available for minority colleges when the NEP 2020 is fully implemented.
By V. Joseph Xavier, SJ
Parliamentary elections are just a few months away. If the BJP comes back to power for a third term – as widely believed after the party’s easy victory in December in the State assembly elections in three northern States – we can be sure they are going to implement the NEP eagerly and earnestly.
The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, brought in by the BJP-led Central government in 2020, aims to overhaul the higher education system in India in its entirety. NEP proposes to merge the existing multi-layered higher education institutions into three types of institutions. There would be only 15,000 institutions all over India as against 40,000 colleges that exist today. What are the three types of institutions NEP speaks of?
Research Universities: These Universities would be funded by the Union government and would be hubs of excellence in research. They would focus on holistic, multidisciplinary education. They would foster a culture of broad-based learning. With a research-driven approach, these universities can form international partnerships, facilitating knowledge exchange and best practices. These include Central Universities, and stand-alone institutions like IIM and IITs. They would have a student-strength of 5,000 to 25,000. There will be one such institution in each State as per the policy.
Teaching Universities: The existing State Universities would be converted into Teaching Universities. These universities would be under the State Governments. These universities would concentrate on teaching and research. The student strength is expected to be 5,000 to 25,000. Each district of the State would have one such University.
Degree Awarding Colleges: The institutions which have more than 3,000 students would be given the power to award degrees. They should be autonomous colleges, which have shown consistent high academic standards and high grades in NAAC and NIRF. They would be governed by a Board of Directors. It is not clear how this Board will be constituted. The institution would become self-financed, but it could receive donations. They would be multidisciplinary and the curriculum and mode of examinations could be determined by the institution. These institutions would have to follow the norms laid down by the State government. Admissions, however, would be based on the results of the exam conducted by the National Testing Agency. There would be no reservations in admission.
Will these self-financed institutions be out of reach for the poor? What happens to our oft-proclaimed commitment to the poor and the marginalized?
The rest of the institutions that have less than 3,000 students would have to merge with others or be converted into either Adult Education Centres or Libraries or Centres of Vocational Education.
Therefore the question is: when NEP 2020 is fully implemented, what will happen to most minority educational institutions? Most of them are in rural areas and have less than 3,000 students. This means they should be ready to merge with other colleges called ‘cluster colleges.’ The implications of merging our colleges with others to become cluster colleges are still not clear. If we are not ready to merge them, they can only become libraries or adult education centres.
Some of our institutions which have more than 3,000 students can theoretically become degree-awarding colleges. At present we don’t know if all such minority institutions would be allowed to become degree-awarding colleges. Keeping these in mind, the minority institutions have to plan their strategy for the future. There is a possibility of starting Private Universities like the Ashoka University. But these are high profile universities with high fee structures and cater most to the urban elite who can afford to pay these high fees for their education and, most often, plan a career abroad. But we can’t serve the poor or the middle class.
The other option open to the minorities is the State Private Universities. They are less expensive than the Private Universities and so can be accessible to the middle class. Since they are autonomous, they can be innovative. But they will have to be self-financed. Will these self-financed institutions be out of reach for the poor? What happens to our oft-proclaimed commitment to the poor and the marginalized? If and when NEP is fully implemented, the poor and the marginalized would inevitably be left out. Education would become elitist, as in the past Gurukul system.
In this context, all those who are in higher education and their leaders, including the Provincial or the General or the Bishop, should urgently discuss this basic question: are we ready to make our colleges what the NEP would allow us to – degree awarding colleges or merge with others and become just colleges in a cluster?
If we are going to make our colleges self-financing Private Universities, they will have to be governed by a Board of Directors. We will lose what we have been enjoying all these years – the right to administer our institutions.
If we are going to make our colleges self-financing Private Universities, they will have to be governed by a Board of Directors. We will lose what we have been enjoying all these years – the right to administer our institutions.
If we are not ready for these, then the only option left to us will be to make our institutions State Private Universities that will come under the State government. So far 26 States have enacted State Private University Acts and Kerala is in the process of doing so. The advantage of opting for this is that it is possible – at least in some States -to influence the State Government to amend certain sections of the Acts which would enable us to help the poor and minorities. This is what the Jesuit-run St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata has done.
The new Act passed in many States allow the State Private Universities to have ‘satellite centres’ five years after starting the university. So even if one of our colleges becomes a State Private University, our other colleges could become satellite centres of that university in the course of time. In such a situation, the minorities must come together and think of strategies to cope with the completely new scenario that will emerge because of the NEP.
A former Principal of Loyola College, Chennai, and former Research Director at the Indian Social Institute, Bangalore, V. Joseph Xavier, SJ has worked in the field of Higher Education for more than 40 years. He can be reached at: vjosephxaviersj@gmail.com.
Fr. Errol Fernandes, SJ, in his article, affirms that Lent is a season when we should leave every negative thought.
By Errol Fernandes, SJ
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. Every year on Ash Wednesday, the Gospel text is from Mt 6:1-6, 16-18. In these verses which form part of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (5:1:7:29), the Matthean Jesus speaks of three pious practices prevalent at that time. These were almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Jesus prefaces the instructions on the HOW of these practices, with what may be seen as an anchor to what follows.
This anchor is that there ought to be no ostentatiousness. Pomposity is condemned in the practice of pious duties. There is a great difference between living a conspicuously good and godly life (5:13–16) and striving to gain a reputation for piety. The difference lies not only in the motive, but in the result: the former brings glory to God, the latter only to the self. The ostentatious person gets his/her reward from humans, which is not the true reward. The true reward is the one received from God. The ostentatious person is a hypocrite (originally meaning ‘actor’) because he/she is performing before an audience in order to impress and gain applause.
In this regard, it is instructive to note that Jesus does not use the imperative before his teaching on the pious practices. This means that he does not impel a person to give alms, pray or fast. Instead, he uses the adverb “when” or “whenever” which exhorts and even encourages, but does not force. In other words, what is done must be done from one’s heart and because one wants to do it for the deed itself.
We can look at almsgiving, prayer and fasting as metaphors in which almsgiving may be seen as an outward activity flowing from an inner disposition, prayer as an inward activity which results in an outer transformation and fasting which is both inward and outward.
On the surface level, almsgiving is seen as an act of giving in charity to a needy individual or to an institution. On the deeper level, almsgiving may be seen not only as an act but an attitude or disposition. It may be seen as an attitude which thinks of the other before oneself.
There is a great difference between living a conspicuously good and godly life and striving to gain a reputation for piety.
To be sure this does not mean that we do not take care of ourselves. It means instead that we realize that one of the better ways of self-care is to care for others. While we might not expect a return favour for every good deed that we do, it is very likely that we may expect a thanks from the person who has been the recipient of our action. The attitude to which we are invited this Lent is to give with no expectation whatever. We are not even to expect thanks for the good that we do.
The words of Jesus in this regard are, “But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Mk 6:3). While we will not impose our goodness on others, we are called to give even when people are ungrateful. Jesus summarizes this beautifully in Lk 17:10, when he tells us, “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”’
Prayer has been defined variously. Some see prayer as talking with God, others as listening to God, still others as being silent in front of God and as simply being. My own definition to which I invite you this Lent is, “Prayer is action”. By this I mean that whether one talks with or petitions God, listens to God or is silent in front of God, the result of my prayer is what matters. If my prayer does not result in my becoming more loving, caring and other-centered, it is sterile. My encounter with God must lead to a transformation.
In the case of Zacchaeus, his brief encounter with Jesus led to a total transformation. The one whom people considered dishonest, a sinner and a cheat was transformed into a man who totally renounced his former ways. He became a generous giver (Lk 19:8). This change was not because Jesus asked or expected him to change, but because of his own desire to change after his encounter with the Lord.
If my prayer does not result in my becoming more loving, caring and other-centered, it is sterile.
The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane is a classic example of transformation after prayer. Before he began to pray, Jesus was frightened, even terrified. He admitted as much to his inner circle of disciples when he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ (Mk 14:34). However, after his prayer, though he received no audible response from his “Abba”, he was transformed, fortified and invigorated. He was able to face the challenge of the cross as is evident in his words to his captors after his arrest, “But let the scriptures be fulfilled.” (Mk 14:49).
The invitation then is to not merely recite prayers, but to be transformed after every time of prayer we spend with the Lord.
Fasting is usually associated with abstaining from food and drink. This abstention is of different types. Some abstain from morning till night, other abstain from one meal or from certain types of food. Many studies have shown the benefits of fasting from food at least once every week. But we are more than food and drink. There is more to fasting than fasting from food and drink. The invitation this Lent is to fast from everything that is negative. As a matter of fact, LENT can be seen as an acronym for Leave Every Negative Thought. If we do this, then our words will be positive and our actions even more so.
Fr. Errol Fernandes, SJ (BOM) is Chaplain of the Shrine of the Infant Jesus at Nashik Road. He is active on social media. He has his own YouTube Channel on which he posts videos every day. He also has his own blog which is updated every day. He can be contacted at errolsj@gmail.com.
We are happy to make the latest issue of INI, dated January-March ‘24, available to you on 14 February ‘24 – which happens to be Ash Wednesday as well as Valentine’s Day.
My dear friends,
We are happy to release this issue of INI, dated January – March 2024, on 14 February. 14 February this year seems to be a ‘bitter- sweet’ day. Why bitter-sweet?
First why bitter? This year 14 February turns out to be Ash Wednesday, when the Lenten Season begins. Many may see the season of Lent as a bitter time, when any fun activity is frowned upon. Why sweet? Because 14 February happens to be the Valentine’s Day, when lovers and friends everywhere celebrate love and friendship in many different ways.
If you think about it, you can see that Lent is in no way a bitter season. The original meaning of the word, ‘Lent’, the scholars say, comes from a word which means the Spring, the welcome season when flowers bloom – not wither, when there is growth and not decay. The Lenten season leads you to life – not death, life symbolised by Easter Sunday. Please read Fr. Errol Fernandes’ article in this issue to be convinced of this. Therefore we release this issue on a sweet-sweet day.
Enjoy the articles in this issue and send the link to all your friends and relatives.
