Jesus Youth Monthly Reflection | Malayalam/മലയാളം
Recently I met a young couple expecting their first child, and during the course of our
conversation they excitedly shared their hopes and dreams for their child and what
they were expecting the child to become in the future. Yet, the mother was just four
weeks pregnant. If such is the case for us humans, how much more must our
heavenly Father plan and dream about each one of us (Jeremiah 1:5; 29: 11). It is
Jesus who reveals that the Father’s plan for us is that we, “may have life, and have it
abundantly” (John 10:10). We were all initiated into this life of God, through the
sacrament of baptism and are expected to journey into its fullness, by becoming more
and more like Christ. St. Paul expresses this truth succinctly when he says, “My little
children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you”
(Galatians 4:19). He expresses the deep need for Christ to be formed in us and we
are told such formation requires a regular and challenging journey of obedience
(“teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” – Mathew 28:20).
How focused and keen are we on the formation of our thoughts, attitudes and value
systems, in accordance with God’s will and design?
November 2021 | Malayalam/മലയാളം
“Every other person who ever came into this world came into it to live. Christ came into it to die. Death was a stumbling block to Socrates — it interrupted his teaching. But to Christ, death was the goal and fulfilment of His life, the gold that He was seeking” (Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ).
“Every other person who ever came into this world came into it to live. Christ came into it to die. Death was a stumbling block to Socrates — it interrupted his teaching. But to Christ, death was the goal and fulfilment of His life, the gold that He was seeking” (Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ).
October 2021 | Malayalam
The Church gives the faithful an incredible
opportunity to renew their missionary
commitment through World Mission Day, which
falls on the penultimate Sunday of October. “The
World Mission Day itself is not an isolated
moment in the course of the year but rather a
valuable opportunity to pause and reflect on
whether and how we respond to our missionary
vocation…” (Pope Benedict XVI, WMD 2011).
This month, we focus on the verse Pope Francis
has taken as the theme of this year’s World
Mission Day.
For the newly baptized believers of Thessalonica who had converted from paganism
and a culture with loose ethics, the warning of St. Paul would have been hard to
comprehend. “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid
sexual immorality…For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life” (1 Thes
4:3-7). Slowly but steadily, the Gospel of Christ expelled the lax moral standards
prevalent at that time and heralded a new era. Sadly, the decline of Christian influence
is progressively manifested in declining moral standards worldwide. It is no wonder
that there is a growing indifference to the demands of the Gospel among the youth,
who mostly have been brought up in a culture of hedonism and self-centeredness. Yet
it is in this very culture that we, as Jesus Youth, are called to hold aloft the banner of
truth that sets people free.
വിചിന്തനം
സെപ്റ്റംബർ 2021
"അസന്മാർഗികതയിൽനിന്ന് നിങ്ങൾ ഒഴിഞ്ഞുമാറണം........ അശുദ്ധിയിലേക്കല്ല, വിശുദ്ധിയിലേക്കാണ് ദൈവം നമ്മെ വിളിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത് " (1 തെസ 4,3-7).
ഓഗസ്റ്റ് 2021
അബ്രാമിന്റെ ഭാര്യ സാറായിയുടെ ദാസിയായിരുന്നു ഈജിപ്തുകാരിയായ ഹാഗാർ.
സാറായി തന്റെ ദാസിയെ 'വാട ക അമ്മ'യായി ഉപയോ ഗിക്കാൻ പദ്ധതിയിട്ടു.
എന്നാൽ താൻ ഗർഭിണിയാണെന്ന റിഞ്ഞ ഹാഗാർ സാറായിയെ നിന്ദയോട െ
വീക്ഷിച്ചത് അസ്വാരസ്യങ്ങൾക്കു തുടക്ക മിട്ടു. സാറായി അവളോടു ക്രൂരമായി
പെ രുമാറുകയും ഒടുവിൽ ഹാഗാർ മരുഭൂമിയിലേയ്ക്ക് ഓടിപ്പോകുകയും ചെ യ്തു
(ഉൽ.16,1-4).
Hagar was an Egyptian slave of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Sarai’s plans to use Hagar as a surrogate
mother had run into rough weather when Hagar began to treat her mistress contemptuously. Sarai
retaliated and Hagar had to flee (read Gen 16:1-14). Abram might have bought Hagar as a slave for
Sarai when he sojourned there to escape the famine in the land (Gen 12:10-20). The faith of her
owners in God would have rubbed off on her. Now famished and lonely, this pregnant woman is
wandering in the desolate wilderness not knowing where to go or what to do. Yet in that forsaken
and lonely place, she hears her name being called. It was an angel of the Lord! He reveals the plan of
God for her and the babe in the womb. “I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot
be numbered for multitude”. But she was to go back and submit to Sarai, for to the Lord, she was
Hagar, the maid of Sarai.
In the heart of every man and woman there is a
yearning for love. Love in its varied forms stirs up
our hearts. Jesus renewed and perfected this call
to love. Moreover, he became the best model of
love and strongly challenged us to lead a life rich
in love. Further, he continues to give every person,
thirsty for love, his beautiful gift of the Holy Spirit,
who moves us to experience his love, and in turn
helps us to grow in love.
Jesus Youth Monthly Reflection
Malayalam/മലയാളം
June 2021
Salvation history is the unraveling of God’s love
for man, the greatest of which is the Incarnation
of the second person of the Trinity, who became
man to seek the heart of man with His own
heart. Jesus told St. Gertrude, “Nothing gives me
greater joy than the human heart, yet how much
I am denied the love of the human heart”.
June 2021
Salvation history is the unraveling of God’s love
for man, the greatest of which is the Incarnation
of the second person of the Trinity, who became
man to seek the heart of man with His own
heart. Jesus told St. Gertrude, “Nothing gives me
greater joy than the human heart, yet how much
I am denied the love of the human heart”.
The manifestation of the love of God for men reached its climax on the Cross and the cry of Jesus, ‘I
thirst’ epitomizes it. As a ‘missionary,’ we often understand this as a call to satisfy Jesus’ thirst for
other souls. But in contemplation, we must hear from Jesus’ mouth that it is for my soul that He
thirsts foremost. As St. Teresa of Calcutta said, ‘I thirst’ is something much deeper than Jesus just
saying, ‘I love you.’ Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you — you cannot begin to know
who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be for Him”. Unless this truth penetrates our
souls, we may try to do many things for Him instead of letting Him complete the good work He
started in our soul (Phil. 1:6). It is with Him and in Him and through Him that one can reach out to
other souls. “He who does not gather with me scatters” (Mt. 12:30). The Master himself said, “If any
one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of
his heart shall flow rivers of living water’” (Jn. 7:37-38). “Blessed is he, who drinking from this
fountain of love, sees how his thirst grows in the same instant in which it is satiated” (Cardinal
Etchegaray).