Author: admin
-
FUNEREAL FUNDAS
Funerals are usually dour affairs, nothing to write home about. Yet, having witnessed some interesting funerals on TV in the recent past, I did find some lessons to be learnt and thoughts to be shared. The first one was that of Queen Elizabeth the Second (QE II) who died last 8th September aged 96. Her…
-
CHRISTIAN UNITY IS IMPERATIVE
Let me shoot from the hip. Efforts for Christian unity, or ecumenism, are imperative, not an optional extra. We have just concluded the Christian Unity Octave that is held annually from 18th to 25th January, concluding on the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. The Octave was celebrated with both solemnity and sincerity in…
-
क्रिसमस तारों के बीच
The TRUE meaning of Christmas
-
CONTRASTING & COMPLEMENTARY COUSINS
This piece is occasioned by the Gospel reading at the third Sunday of Advent. From prison, John the Baptist sent his emissaries to Jesus with the question “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” (Mat 11:3). A seemingly innocuous question, but pregnant with meaning. In the midst…
-
IS CONVERSION NECESSARY?
By “conversion” I here mean the explicit act of baptising a non-Christian to make such a person Christian. We know that the right-wing Hindutva brigade has always been against religious conversion, thinly veiled as “forceful conversion”. Several anti-conversion laws have been passed in various States, not just by the BJP, but even by the Congress…
-
ADVENT ADVENTURES
The Advent season is upon us. It is a preparation for Christmas, depending on our priorities. The Hindi word for Advent is Aagman. It is the same word used at airports for Arrivals. Advent means just that – the coming or arrival of somebody or thing. Can Advent be an adventure? It can. However, the…
-
धर्मांतरण का जिन्न
क्या ईसाईओं पर ज़ोर ज़बरदस्ती से या लुभानें से धर्मांतरण का आरोप सही है ?
-
PETER UNCHAINED
(A SEQUEL TO “Generally Speaking”) In February 2017, I was in Rome to attend the marriage of my niece to an Italian. The nuptials were held in the church of San Giuseppe Dei Falegnami constructed above the Prigione Dei SS Apostoli Pietro e Paolo, near the Roman Forum. This is where Peter and Paul were…
-
JESUS & THE TV ANCHOR
TV anchors were recently in the news (pun intended) because of the strictures passed against them by a Supreme Court bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy, in the matter of promoting hate speech. They termed it “multi-layered, like killing someone, you can do it in multiple ways, slowly or otherwise”. What is wrong…
-
GENRALLY SPEAKING
This reflection begins with two Generals, but doesn’t end with them. It is actually about an action packed octave from Sunday 25th September to Sunday 2nd October. I met the first General in Kanpur on the 25th. She was Sr Elvira UMI, former Superior General of the Ursuline sisters. I had last met her in…