My Dear Fathers, Sisters and Brothers Grace and peace from God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
I.Lent
With Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on the 14th of February, we will enter into the Holy Season of Lent. It is a time to repent of our sins, to renounce resolutely sin and sinful tendencies and to return to the Lord our God.
Biblical Words for Sin: In the Bible sin stands for the idea of missing the mark. Judges 20:16 speaks about seven hundred left-handed Benjaminites who are able to sling a stone at a hair’s breadth without missing. The word translated “miss” is the same as the word “sin”. Refusing to grow into the image and likeness of God is to miss the mark or goal of our life. Close to this idea of sin is Prophet Daniel’s words to Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar,: “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” (Dan 5:27). St. John of the cross would have paraphrased it as: “You have been measured by love and found wanting.” According to St. Paul it would be falling short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).
Another Biblical word for sin is rebellion or transgression. Whereas rebellion indicates a state of mind which opposes the will of God, transgression describes the action which follows. Men are “alienated” from God, and they have become “enemies” in their mind (Col 1:21). This alienation has found expression in the spirit of revolt and the refusal of subjection to God. Behaviour of this kind is described as “transgression” that is, stepping over the LakshmanRekha (Commandments of God).
Yet another Biblical word for sin is “iniquity.” It means crookedness, perversion, distortion. It is the opposite of being straight or upright. It conveys the idea that what was originally straight has become bent and twisted. Man is no longer as God made him, but has become disfigured.
Repentance and Forgiveness of Sin
Sin is to be repented of and forsaken. This is God’s primary invitation to sinners. Through prophet Isaiah the Lord says, “Let the wicked abandon his way, let him forsake his thoughts, let him turn to Yahweh for he will have mercy, for our God is generous in forgiving” (Is 55:7). According to Mark the Evangelist Jesus began his ministry with the call to repentance, “The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways and believe the Good News” (Mk. 1:15). His disciples too did the same. On the day of Pentecost Peter said: “Each of you must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven” (Acts 2:38).
Repentance is a change of mind about sin accompanied by a detest for it and a turning away from it. Repentance is choosing to live as the image and likeness of God. Repentance will impel one to re-establish his/her relationship with God, neighbour, true self and creation.
When one truly repents of sin he/she will confess it to God. King David acknowledged his sin: “Then I made known to you my sin and did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my faults to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Ps 32:5).
The prodigal son said: “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you” (Lk 15:21).
St. John assures us, “If we confess our sins He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 Jn 1:19).
Sin is not the central message of the Bible but redemption of human kind through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Father who loved the world so much. St. Paul asks the Christians of Rome, “Can we sin again?”, and gives the answer too, “Of course not: we are dead regarding sin.” (Rom 6:2).
I wish each of you a Holy and Fruitful Lenten Season!
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
I take this opportunity to congratulate all those who have John the Baptist as their patron. He was an extraordinary saint and the celebration of his Jayanti itself is an extraordinary thing. For in the Catholic Church the day of a saint’s departure from the world is celebrated as his/her feast. The ‘Jayanthi’ of a saint is not celebrated. The exceptions are Jesus the incarnate Son of God, his most Holy Mother Mary and St. John the Baptist.
His birth took place due to a special intervention of God as he had to be the precursor of the Anointed One. He was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth in their old age when they had already given up the hope of ever having a child. His birth proves the axiom: God hears all our prayers and in his time he makes all things beautiful.
John was a prophet of extraordinary humility. He had the respect and attention of the whole Jewish nation when he confessed that he was neither the Messiah, nor Elijah nor the Prophet. At a time when people were doing everything possible to appear before the world bigger and greater than what they were, he had the humility to say that he was not worthy to untie the thong of the Messiah’s sandal. At a time when people were dying to be in the limelight and were ready to trample on and even eliminate others to be on the top, he preferred to be a counter sign and said, “He must increase and I must decrease.” A truly humble person is able to say, “I am what I am by the grace of God.” Or, “The Almighty has done great things for me.” A truly humble person is able to accept gratefully his/her self as God’s gift and is able to submit himself/herself to God’s loving plans knowing fully well that they are better than one’s own.
John was a prophet of exceptional courage. A prophet is someone who speaks on behalf of God and interprets God’s will. Unlike the boy Samuel, John was familiar with God’s speech and ways. And he did not hesitate to announce God’s message to all. He was ready to denounce the Pharisees and Sadducees- powerful and influential groups in the then Jewish society- because they were hypocrites (Mt 23:15), blind leaders of the blind (Mt 15:14) and wicked in that their hearts were full of murder (Jn 8:37). He called them to repentance and warned them against God’s judgement.
Inspired and strengthened by God’s Holy Spirit he chastised the despotic King Herod and told him that it was not lawful for him to have his brother’s wife (Mk 6:18). John is a glowing example for Christian courage which is the willingness to say and do the right thing regardless of the earthly cost.
Let the life and message of John the Baptist lead us to true repentance for our sins, help us love Jesus more and more and give us strength and courage to give witness to his mercy!
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
I consider holy seasons like Advent and Christmas to be God’s special gift to us
human beings. Nobody can put the same level of effort continuously for 365 days.
God knows that we are weak. Therefore, He gives us privileged times such as Advent
and Christmas. The better our Advent preparation, the better will be our Christmas.
Because of Jesus human beings are remade in the image and likeness of God. Jesus
is God’s love and mercy incarnate. The anniversary of his birth invites us to remove
from our lives all that stands as an obstacle to the spiritual birth of Christ in
the soul.
The spiritual birth of Christ in the soul is brought about by facing our inner emptiness
and acknowledging that it can only be filled by God. We prepare ourselves by regularly
setting aside time for silence and stillness we associate with the night of his
human birth, letting solitude keep us open and receptive in the presence of God.
We reflect the light of Christ into the world by giving ourselves throughout the
year, serving the poor and homeless, being patient with our community members and
support staff, taking time for a little kindness to others.
During the holy seasons of Advent and Christmas as you engage yourselves in different
apostolates and activities connected with these holy seasons, I hope you will set
apart time to reflect on the mystery expressed in this mahavakya of the Bible: “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes
in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
Jesus is God’s gift to us. And Jesus gave himself totally to his Father and to his
brothers and sisters. I am sure, just as Jesus gifted himself to God and others,
we too would like to give ourselves totally to God and others. To God we will give
our love in prayer and to his people our love in service.
I think it was St. Francis of Assisi who said that during Christmas even the walls
should be fed with good food. Let the joy of Christmas flood your heart and soul
and may it overflow from there to the people you interact with. I know that at Christmas
time Priests and Religious have much to do. Try to practice what St. Paul asked
the Colossians to do: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17).
Let us ask Our Heavenly Father to give us an outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that
we may grasp the mystery of God’s love revealed in Christmas, that Jesus Christ
is the embodiment of God’s love and mercy! May the Holy Spirit that has been poured
into our hearts make our love fruitful in service! I wish each one of you a Holy
Advent and a very Happy Christmas!
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
Lenten Season is a very special, grace-filled and challenging time of the year.
It is a time during which we surrender ourselves more and more to God so that “Christ
may be formed” in us through the work of the Holy Spirit (Gal 4:19). Like John the
Baptist we say, “He must increase and I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). Through the threefold
means of prayer, almsgiving and fasting, we try to eradicate our ego and sinful
tendencies and let the Christ in us increase. During Lent we make special efforts
to practice the virtue of justice. By prayer we practice justice toward God, by
fasting, justice toward self and by almsgiving, justice toward our neighbor.
By prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we fulfill the greatest command given to us by
our Lord, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind........ you shall love your neighbour as yourself”
(Mt 22:37-39). The essence of prayer is love. St. Theresa of Avila says that meditation
does not consist so much in thinking a great deal as loving a great deal. The real
measure of our relating to God is love; the love we bring to it, the love we put
into it, and the love we take from it. Prayer is an expression of our love for God
and we do not calculate or preoccupy with what we will get in return.
We said that prayer is an expression of our love for God. But prayer becomes more
authentic when it is accompanied by fasting and almsgiving which are expressions
of our solidarity with and love for our neighbour.
St. Peter Chrysologus shows the interconnection between prayer, fasting and works
of mercy: “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So
if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard,
hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to other, you open God’s
ear to yourself.”
Holy Father Benedict XVI, a world renowned scholar, theologian and thinker, has
an easy and lucid writing style. The Lenten Message he wrote in 2009 was on the
value and meaning of fasting. Though only two pages long, it is rich in biblical
references, extracts from the writings of the Fathers of the Church and his own
profound personal reflections.
The Pope begins his message describing Lent as a season of intense spiritual training,
a time to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Easter and for the experience
of God’s power. Citing the examples of Moses, Elijah and Jesus Himself we are told
that prayer and fasting is the right preparation for mission. The preventive power
of fasting is highlighted by saying, “…fasting is a great help to avoid sin and
all that leads to it.” Fasting is said to be “an instrument to restore friendship
with God”. Apart from obtaining God’s favor and protection fasting undertaken as
a sign of repentance can ward off impending dangers and punishments. Fasting done
with the right motive proclaims to the world that the true food of human beings
is not bread but God, His Word, His Will.
Fasting becomes more fruitful and beneficial when it is accompanied with works of
mercy. In his message the Holy Father underlines the traditional Christian belief
that fasting has healing power. It heals believers of all that prevents them from
doing the will of God.
Fasting helps us to live well the first and the greatest commandment. Taking St.
Augustine’s imagery of sinner as a twisted and tangled person, the holy Father says
that fasting confers unity to the whole person, body and soul, helping to avoid
sin and grow in intimacy with God. The punch line of his Message is, “May every
family and Christians community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order
to cast aside all that distracts the spirit, and grow in whatever nourishes the
soul, moving it to love God and neighbor.”
I wish each of you a Holy Lenten Season!
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
The angels told the women “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He
is not here, but he has been resurrected!” This is a news of great joy for all of
us. Jesus, who walked the roads of Judea and Galilee, died on Calvary hill, and
was buried in a garden tomb, has been resurrected. He walks with us just as he did
with the disciples going to Emmaus.
What gives the teaching of Jesus its power is the resurrection. Without the resurrection
the Sermon on the Mount would have been mere exalted ethic. The resurrection proves
that Jesus is who he claimed to be God-incarnate. The resurrection is the Father’s
seal of authenticity on Jesus’ word and deed.
When through faith we fully accept that Jesus is who he claimed to be, we experience
the resurrection. St. Paul says, “If you confess with your lips ‘Jesus is Lord’
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one
confesses, resulting on salvation.” May the risen Lord remove all un-truth from
our minds and dispel the darkness of our hearts! May he grant us victory over evil
and a full measure of divine life!! Happy Easter!!!
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
We are in the Season of Lent, a very special, grace filled and challenging time
of the year. It is a time during which we surrender ourselves more and more to God
so that “Christ may be formed” in us through the work of the Holy Spirit (Gal 4:19).
Like John the Baptist we say, “He must increase and I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).
Through the threefold means of prayer, almsgiving and fasting we try to eradicate
our ego and sinful tendencies and let the Christ in us increase. Of course the process
of becoming Christ is a life-long one, but during lent we put in our best efforts
and hasten that process.
Lent is a time for us to grow in our desire for God. St. Augustine said long ago
that the deepest desire of our hearts is for God and God alone can satisfy that
desire. The greater our thirst and desire for God, the greater will be our fulfillment.
Catherine of Siena wrote what she heard from God: “The soul that longs to see me
will see me, seeing me she will know me, knowing me she will love me, loving me
she will possess me, possessing me, the supreme and eternal Good, she will be satisfied.”
As we intensify our prayer during Lent, it is worth listening to what Gandhiji said
about prayer: “Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening… As
food is necessary for the body, prayer is necessary for the soul….No act of mine
is done without prayer…I am not a man of learning, but I humbly claim to be a man
of prayer…It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without
a heart.” We are remained of our Lord’s instruction: “When you are praying, do not
heap up empty phrases…for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Mt
6:7-8)
By prayer, fasting and arms-giving we fulfill the greatest command given to us by
our Lord: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind…you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37-39).
The essence of prayer is love. St. Theresa of Avila says that meditation does not
consist so much in thinking a great deal as loving a great deal. The real measure
of our relating to God is love: the love we bring to it, the love we put into it,
and the love we take from it. Prayer is an expression of our love for God and we
do not calculate or preoccupy with what we will get in return.
I said that prayer is an expression of our love for God. But prayer becomes more
authentic when it is accompanied by fasting and almsgiving which are expressions
of our solidarity with and love for our neighbor.
St John is absolutely right when he says that it is our love for one another that
perfects God’s love in us. “No one has seen God; if we love one another, God lives
in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 Jn 5:12). That concrete acts of charity
are a necessary condition to fulfill the greatest commandment is clear from the
following words of St. Paul: “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will
fulfill the Law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).
Prayer opens our heart to our brothers and sisters in need and to the pain of the
world. The second Vatican Council says, “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and
the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way
afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of
Christ” (GS 1). Make sure that you get the maximum from this Lent. I wish each of
you a Holy Lenten Season.
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
There is no other event in the history of salvation that gives us as much joy as
the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes as the rising sun to give light to
those who live in darkness and the shadow of death. To all those who live in the
darkness of fear, anxiety, sin and sickness, discouragement and depression, the
good news of great joy is: “Today a Saviour has been born to you.” He is the image
of the invisible God; to see Him is to see the Father; to have communion with Him
is to have communion with God.
He was named Jesus because He was born to save His people from their sins. His birth
is news of great joy for us. His birth was a prelude to His death. His humble birth
in a manager, immediate persecution by Herod, the massacre of Holy Infants of Bethlehem-
these are signs indicating the life that awaited Him. They are signs of the cross.
But they are also the sign that the broken relationship between us and God will
be restored. Jesus sacrifices everything in order to free us and redeem us. His
life and death proves that He is indeed the son of the living God. But the son can
only be known by faith. Martin Luther says, “The real blessed faith that God’s word
and work demands is the firm faith that Christ is born for you and that His birth
is yours; that it took place for your sake. For the Gospels teach us that Christ
was born for our sake, and that He died and suffered all things for our sake. The
angel does not merely say that Christ is born. He says for you, for you He is born.
As St. John says in his letter we need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to say
God became man in Jesus Christ (1 Jn 4:2). Therefore, when we celebrate this great
feast of Christmas our attitude must always be one of helpless humility recognizing
that it is never by any power of our own that we can take one step of progress in
our understanding of the things of God. It is a gift and one for which we must ask
earnestly, sincerely and constantly. For God does not reveal Himself to the clever
and conceited people. The mysteries of the Kingdom of God are revealed to the little
children who are humble. The humble shepherds of Bethlehem were the first ones to
receive the good news of Jesus’ birth and to have a darshan of the incarnate God.
Saint Simeon and Prophetess Anna were humble people and they too were blessed with
the darshan of the Messiah. The scripture says very clearly, “God resists the proud,
and shows favour to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5).
God not only reveals himself to the humble but He dwells in the hearts of the humble.
“For thus says the Most High, He who is enthroned forever, He whose name is holy:
I reign exalted and holy, but I am also with Him who is contrite and humble in Spirit”
(Is 57: 15). Mother Teresa says, “Without simplicity and purity you will reason
the reality of Jesus and His mother into a dead thing. Your self sufficiency, your
selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit his coming to live in your
heart, because God cannot fill what is already full.”
If we do not believe that God became man in Jesus Christ, we remain in the dark;
and the dark brings fear and sadness. If we do not believe, we miss the true meaning
of life and the future has no hope. To believe in the fact that God became man is
not to walk in doubt and illusion. It is to step into the world of God, and so into
reality. Without faith in the incarnation there can never be true peace, true joy,
true hope and good will among people. Without faith in the incarnation celebration
of Christmas benefits us nothing. For mystic Angelus Silesius says, “Were Christ
born a thousand times in Bethlehem and not in you, you would still be eternally
lost”. At this Christmas let us approach the crib of Jesus Christ in humility and
faith, so that He may be born in our hearts.
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
In the suicide bombing that took place near Wagha border on November 2, 2014, 61
people, including 10 women, 8 children and 3 security men, lost their lives.
The Times of India of November 12, 2014 reported about one of the worst medical
tragedies of Chhattisgarh State. Botched sterilization killed 10 women and put the
lives of 40 others in great danger.
Such horrible incidents happening at alarming frequency can cast a pall of gloom
over us all. Yet it is precisely at such times that we need to light the advent
candle of hope. In the days of apartheid in South Africa, Christians there used
to light candles and place them on windows as a sign to themselves and to others
that they believed that someday this injustice would end. A candle burning on a
window was a sign of hope.
Let us hope, because the Lord says through Prophet Ezekiel: “The lost I will seek
out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will
heal.” There shall be peace and joy among the followers of Christ. The Kingdom of
God is amongst us- in our midst. This is what we believe. God is with us. God is
always there for us, and God is always ready to help us.
Psalm 31:24 says: “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you
that hope in the Lord.”
Regarding hope Robert Speight writes: “We inherit from our miraculous past the theological
virtue of hope. Hope is always humble and frequently disappointed. Hope is not the
house. Hope is not even the hands that build the house. Hope is the hands that shape
the rubble into some sort of a shelter for the night when the house is ruined. It
cannot be separated from its theological sisters ‘Faith and Love’. But it is not
to be confused with optimism, which is a conceited and secular cousin inherited
like a passing bout of influenza from the ease and pride of life. The true basis
of our hope is God.”
Father Ronald Rolheizer expresses this beautifully in the following passage: “We
hope not on the basis of a worsening or improving evening news cast. But because
the deepest reality of all is that God exists; that the centre holds that there
is ultimately a gracious Lord who rules this universe. And that this Lord is powerful
enough to re-arrange the atoms of the planet and raise dead bodies to new life.
We light candles of hope because God, who is more real than anything else, has promised
to establish a kingdom of love and peace on this earth; and he is gracious, forgiving
and powerful enough to do it.”
May this season of Advent deepen your spirit of prayer, strengthen your hope and
increase your joy.
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
We celebrated the Independence Day of our country recently. On that joyous day we
pledged our lives and love to our Mother Land. Let us rededicate ourselves daily
to the service of our country and our people. Let us resolve that we will not fail
to make our contribution to the work of nation-building, that we will strain our
every muscle and expend every ounce of our energy to create an Indian society where
there is equality and justice, peace and harmony, progress and self-reliance; that
we will collaborate with all people of good will to create a Kingdom of God here.
In that Kingdom there will not be walls of prejudice, but only bridges of understanding;
there will not be the cancer of doubt, but only a healthy trust. In that society
sadness will give way to gladness, weeping and lamenting to singing and dancing;
doubt will be replaced by faith, and despair by hope.
But how long a time must pass before such a Kingdom arrives? When will such a society
ever be born? It will begin to take birth in your heart the moment you can say in
all sincerity 'I believe in Jesus Christ; I believe in the Father's love for me
and for the world; I believe the Holy Spirit's power to enkindle in my heart the
fire of His love'. When the flame of faith burns brightly in your heart, you will
be able to say with St. Paul' “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Then the fire of love and the flame of faith will spread from your heart to other
hearts, even as it spread from St. Paul's heart to Timothy's grandmother Loi's heart
and from her heart to her daughter Eunice's heart and from her heart to Timothy's
heart.
If this Kingdom of God does not mean mere eating and drinking, but justice, peace
and joy, then it is imperative that every member of that Kingdom perform works that
promote justice and peace, and radiate joy.
Pope Paul VI once remarked, “If we wish to have true peace, we must give it a soul.
The soul of peace is love. It is love that gives life to peace, more than victory
or defeat, more than self-interest or fear, weariness or need. The soul of peace
is love, which for us believers comes from God, and expresses itself in love for
men”.
The Second Vatican Council says, “In our times a special obligation binds us to
make ourselves the neighbour of every person and actively helping him when he comes
across our path, weather he be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign labourer
unjustly looked down upon, a refugee child born of unlawful union wrongly suffering
for a sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturb our conscience”(GS 27).
When our hearts are filled with love, our eyes will not fail to see injustice done
to and violence perpetrated on our brothers and sisters, our ears will not fail
to hear their agonizing cries for help, and our conscience will not leave us in
peace until we act in their favour. I wish we could make our own what Father Camilo
Torres said about himself and his countrymen. “I chose Christianity because I felt
that in it I had found the best way of serving my neighbor. I was elected by Christ
to be a priest forever, motivated by the desire to devote myself full time to loving
my countrymen. As a sociologist, I wished this love to become effective through
science and technology. Upon analyzing Columbian society, I realize the need for
a revolution that would give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing
to the naked, and bring out the well-being of the majorities in our country. I feel
that revolutionary struggle is a Christian and priestly struggle. Only through this,
given the circumstances of our country, can we fulfill the love that men should
have for their neighbours.”
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
Faith in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the central doctrines
of Christianity. To believe in the resurrection is more than simply accepting that
God will raise the dead. It means believing in Jesus’ Resurrection. And that means
believing that Jesus is now Lord, and now offers us a share of risen life. To truly
believe in Jesus’ Resurrection is to perceive it as the central reality on which
we build our lives. And to do what makes us Christians.
The resurrection is not only a future reality, but a present one. By raising Jesus
from the dead not at the end of time, but right in the middle of it, God has injected
the resurrection’s power into the present age. It is more than a future hope, which
can comfort and motivate us; it is a life changing reality – a power – for us here
and now. To believe in the resurrection is to allow ourselves to be affected by
it. In baptism we are joined to Jesus not only in his death but also in his rising
from the dead.
To be Christian is to cooperate with Jesus’ risen power at work in us. To read the
scriptural passages about resurrection and ponder them, is only half a response.
The other half is to pray them, and enter into the reality they are talking about.
My faith in the Easter Event allows me to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and Saviour
of every situation on earth. This means that, despite appearances to the seeming
contrary, my faith and that of the Church for two thousand years teaches me to believe
that Jesus is always and everywhere the supreme ‘In-Charge’. This is the dogmatic
basis for the Saints’ unshakable trust which witnesses powerfully to others in time
of great stress and danger.
The saintly archbishop Oscar Romero is a shining example for this. I quote here
the very words he spoke just two weeks before his murder on March 24, 1980: “I have
often been threatened with death. Nevertheless, as a Christian, I do not believe
in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran
people. I say so without meaning to boast, with the greatest humility. As pastor;
I am obliged by divine mandate to give my life for those I love- for all Salvadorans,
even for those who may be going to kill me…. let my blood be a seed of freedom and
the sign that hope will soon be reality. Let my death, if it is accepted by God,
be for the liberation of my people and as a witness of hope in the future.”
May the risen Lord grant you unshakable faith, boundless joy, undying hope and abiding
peace! With the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, may you succeed in transforming
every evil into a blessing and every wound into a grace! I close this reflection
with the words of St. Paul: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in
all circumstances; for this is the will of God for you. Do not quench the Spirit….
test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1Th
5:16-22).
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
Lenten Season is a very special, grace-filled and a challenging time of the year.
It is a time during which we surrender ourselves more and more to God so that “Christ
may be formed” in us through the work of the Holy Spirit (Gal 4:19). Like
John the Baptist we say, “He must increase and I must decrease” (Jn
3:30). Through the threefold means of prayer, almsgiving and fasting, we try to
eradicate our ego and sinful tendencies and let the Christ in us increase. Of course
the process of becoming Christ is a life-long one, but during Lent we put in our
best efforts and hasten that process.
Lent is a time for us to grow in our desire for God. St. Augustine said long ago
that the deepest desire of our hearts is for God and God alone can satisfy that
desire. The greater our thirst and desire for God, the greater will be our fulfilment.
Catherine of Sienna wrote what she heard from God: “The soul that longs to see me
will see me, seeing me she will know me, knowing me she will love me, loving me
she will possess me, possessing me, the Supreme and the Eternal Good, she will be
satisfied.”
As we intensify our prayer during Lent, it is worth listening to what Gandhiji said
about prayer: “Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening........
As food is necessary for the body, prayer is necessary for the soul........... No
act of mine is done without prayer............ It is better in prayer to have a
heart without words than words without a heart.” We are reminded of our
Lord’s instruction, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases........
for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:7-8).
By prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we fulfil the greatest command given to us by
our Lord, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind........ you shall love your neighbour as yourself”
(Mt 22:37-39). The essence of prayer is love. St. Theresa of Avila says
that meditation does not consist so much in thinking a great deal as loving a great
deal. The real measure of our relating to God is love; the love we bring to it,
the love we put into it, and the love we take from it. Prayer is an expression of
our love for God and we do not calculate or preoccupy with what we will get in return.
We said that prayer is an expression of our love for God. But prayer becomes more
authentic when it is accompanied by fasting and almsgiving which are expressions
of our solidarity with and love for our neighbour.
St. John is absolutely right when he says that it is our love for one another that
perfects God’s love in us. “No one has seen God; if we love one another, God lives
in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1Jn 5:12). That concrete acts of
charity are a necessary condition to fulfil the greatest commandment is clear from
the following words of St. Paul, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way
you will fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).
Prayer opens our heart to our brothers and sisters in need and to the pain of
the world. The Second Vatican says, “The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties
of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, are
the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” (GS 1).
Make sure that you get the maximum from this Lent. I wish each of you a Holy Season
of Lent.
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad
God has blessed us with the gift of one more year. Even as we thank and praise Him
for this gift, let our prayer be, “Oh Lord, do not add just days and years to my
life, but add your divine life to my days and years”.
At the very beginning of this New Year 2014, it gives me great joy to entrust all
of you, together with our whole diocese, to the maternal care and protection of
Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God. Earnestly do I pray and also wish each one
of you happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. May God, the Emmanuel, abide with
you each and every day of the New Year to guard and protect you from all evil and
to lead you on the path of His divine peace and salvation.
I am sure you have your own particular dreams, expectations and visions for the
New Year. In keeping with your dreams, expectations and visions, you also have made
certain resolutions. May God bless and conform all your dreams, expectations and
visions to his divine will and make them fruitful. May you have His divine courage
and strength to mend and bend your ways to His divine will.
Our world is beset with spiritual, economic, social and various other problems.
God forbid that we add to these existing problems. On the contrary, let our aim
and effort be always to eradicate these problems by our upright and righteous lives.
Once again, I pray and wish each one of you a Happy New Year. May God Bless you.
+ Most Rev. Raphy
Manjaly
A few more days, and it will be Christmas. It tells us that God is full of love
and compassion. The birth of Jesus was the result of God’s love and compassion for
the world, a world suffering the ravages of evil deeds of human beings. The Bible
says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). The
life of Jesus is a window into the compassionate heart of God. In other words, Jesus
is the supreme example of the divine compassion.
The heart of Jesus was filled with compassion and through his words and deeds it
flowed to the people who came in contact with him.
People loved Jesus not only for what he was, that is, embodiment of holiness, love,
compassion and forgiveness, but also for what they became when they were with him,
that is, persons of great dignity, goodness, beauty and children of God. The Lord
Jesus had the ability to bring the best out of people.
Christmas tells us that God put on our human nature so that we could put on his
divine nature. If God is compassion and love, it is when we live a life of compassion
and love that we resemble God the most.
The meaning of Christmas is not found in the external show but in the internal glow.
When the flame of compassion begins to burn brightly in our hearts and spreads its
light through our words and deeds, then we know that we are in the Christmas season.
I wish each of you a wonderful and joyous Christmas! I pray that in the ensuing
New Year you may enjoy peace and joy, health and wholeness, progress and prosperity.
Most Rev. Raphy Manjaly
Bishop of Allahabad