Wrestling with Scripture

One of the most beautiful gifts in life is to have someone sincerely pray for you. I have been so blessed to have had people who prayed for me when I needed it the most and I wanted to share those examples to demonstrate the power of prayers. I might have already shared it in other blogs but I can go on repeating the goodness of God in my life. My hope through this blog is that reading it, you might get down on your knees and pray for that person who needs your prayers. To start with, my dear mother. Well she always prayed for us, however there is this one incident that always stuck with me. We had a party, after which me and my sister got very ill from food poisoning when we were really young. I remember I was in the third standard at the time and I ended up being the worst affected. Both me and my sis were rushed to the hospital. However, I refused to eat anything because I couldn't keep anything down and that kept worsening my condition. It had been almost 5 days and I just kept

Very often we call ourselves Christians because we go to mass on Sunday or say our prayers at home. Some may even say they are Christian because they believe in God. However is that enough? Are we called, to simply believe? We often want a Christianity that is easy and feel weighed down by the commandments, codes of conduct, obligations and almost anything that forces us to change our ways. We forget that we are called to walk on a narrow path that isn't easy and sometimes very lonely because not many will walk with us. In the Old Testament we read that God saved his people and lead them to the Promised Land. However, he didn't let them enter until he gave them a head to toe makeover. Since they had been living in sin in Egypt which was full of idolatry and immoral behavior, he gave them commandments, codes of moral conduct, he asked them to change how they ate, how they dressed and how they worshiped all for one purpose. So that it was ingrained in them that they were chosen b

As a child, I could relate to Jesus or God the Father but I always found the Holy Spirit very mysterious and sometimes scary. I would only be able to relate the experience of the Spirit to people talking in tongues or trembling which would scare me a little. It was over time, after I had a strong experience of the Holy Spirit myself that I slowly began to see him as a person. Looking back at life, I don't think I would still be alive without the presence of the Spirit. What I want to do in this blog is recount the ways the Holy Spirit has been there for me, hoping that my experience may inspire someone to call upon the Spirit of God today and deepen your relationship with this kind and gentle friend.  The Spirit my counsellor: Very rarely have I heard the voice of the Spirit so clearly as when one day, before we were married, my fiancé wasn't keeping well and his parents were out of town. I checked up on him in the morning and his fever seemed under control so I felt it was sa

It's been a really long time since I have written a blog, but something in today's Gospel reading, struck a chord with me. It was the fact that Jesus on his way to Calvary was offered wine mixed with myrrh, a commonly used pain killer in those days but he refused to drink it. Even the cruel crowd and heartless soldiers who have witnessed probably hundreds of executions, knew that the pain of crucifixion was too much for a human to bear and in an escaping glimpse of some humanity they offered him some relief, but he wouldn't take it until he completed his mission. This verse thugs at my heart strings because it reminds me of times when I knew suffering was in store for me but I desperately searched for a way out. One such incident,  happened to me two years back when I knew I was having a miscarriage. It's something I haven't spoken of till now, mainly because for me, it was more than anything a battle of my faith. I couldn't understand why it was happening to me

To understand why Catholics call Mary the Ark of the New Covenant, we need to go back to the Old Testament and understand a little about the Ark of the Old Covenant. We know that God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle for him so that the people knew that God was abiding among them. Within the Ark of the Covenant was placed a golden jar holding the manna that the Israelites ate in the desert, Aaron's rod and the stone tablets of the covenant. When the Ark was completed, a cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of God filled the tabernacle. If you fast forward to the New Testament you will see something similar happen when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, the angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. It was after this that she became a tabernacle for the living God. This living tabernacle was far superior to the old one. While the old Ark contained the word of God on stone tablets, the new Ark contain

This is one of those questions whose answer is both 'yes' and 'no'. Yes it can be a sin, if it inhibits one from using their reason and right judgement. Drunkenness is condemned again and again in the Bible especially when one is drunk on the job, which causes them to make crucial mistakes that affects others. So in short, drunkenness is a sin. For that instance, anything in excess would be considered as abuse, even eating too much would be the sin of gluttony.  However, it is not a sin to drink moderately and we have ample of Bible passages that show us this. One example is  Ecclesiastes 9:7 "Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do." In fact, St Paul even encourages it in small quantities 1 Timothy 5:23 "No longer drink only water, but take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.  I have often come across people who have given up drinks after they

If you are a Christian, you have probably been making the sign of the cross since you were a child, saying the words, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." However, not everyone knows the reasoning behind this gesture. Some denomination of Christians also regard it idolatrous, however there is compelling biblical evidence to support the practice.  From the writing of early church Father's, we know that the practice of the sign of the cross was already well established by 2nd century.  In fact St. Basil the Great taught that the sign of the cross was a tradition handed down from the apostles. In the fourth century, John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople recognized the biblical nature of the sign of the cross and encouraged his flock to sign themselves. The early Christian apologist Tertullian wrote "In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting

We know that the purpose of any religious place or the foundation of any religion is Worship. We also know that worship is always directed towards God. Hence it isn't important that you are touched by the preaching or for the hymns to be uplifting. It is only important that worship is done in a manner that is pleasing to God.  Hence, in order to understand how to worship, we must know the God we worship and how he wants to be worshiped. What is the nature of the God we worship? Some people describe god as a superior force, a energy in the universe, superior being etc. However, this isn't the description of the God of the Bible, right from the Book of Genesis we see God creating man in his own image and likeness. What does that mean? Genesis 5:3 uses these same words to describe the relationship between Adam and his son Seth. "When Adam had lived one hundred thirty years, he became the father of a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth." To cr

When I was much younger, I was asked to come along for a prayer meeting, it was my first so I went with a bit of hesitation. Everything was going well, until the person conducting the meeting, asked the congregation to pray in tongues. It was literally the first time I heard about it and being curious, I took a look around the room only to end up terrified as I seen people's hands trembling and heard them speaking in a language I couldn't understand. That day I decided I would stop going for any further meetings as I didn't know what to make out of that experience. I remember thinking, they got to be making it up, how is this even possible? Growing up, I struggled to understand how we profess to believe in One God, when there are three persons of the trinity, God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. One explanation which really helped me came from a priest who asked us to think of the trinity as an olive tree. Imagine God the Father as the roots, Jesus as the branc

We profess our Christian faith by reciting the Creed, However I know many people feel uncomfortable reciting one particular statement from the Creed which is "He descended into Hell". They often think it is some mistake and needs to be changed. However, all it needs is a little understanding of the concept of Hell aka Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek. Before Jesus opened the gates of Heaven, by his death and resurrection, it was believed that both the righteous and the unrighteous went into a common place called the realm of the dead known as Hell/Sheol/Hades. It was thus named because it was deprived of the vision of God, they were still awaiting the Saviour. While we often imagine Hell as this dark and steaming place flooded with devils, it basically refers to an absence of God and that's exactly what the realm of the dead signified. Although both the righteous and unrighteous were to abide there, it was believed that their experience there was very different,

Almost every Good Friday, we hear people ask, why is it called 'Good Friday' when Jesus died such a horrible death? Why did he have to die, couldn't God find another way? What is the significance of his death? If we had to answer it in one sentence, we would say 'he died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.' But to a non believer and also to many Christians, this might not explain enough. We need to travel back in time to truly understand the significance of the cross. The problem of sin and the origins of sacrifice When sin enters man's heart, he struggles to maintain his relationship with God. Just like Adam hid himself in the garden of Eden after he disobeyed God, man is unable to face a Holy and pure God in a sinful state. This separation from God is unbearable for man. Our ancestors who were mainly sheepherders or farmers, used sacrifice as a way to tell God how sorry they were. They sacrificed to God their livestock or their grains w

With all honesty, let me admit, I am also afraid in the face of the outbreak of the Coronavirus and I am sure you are too. However, the situation we are in right now reminds me of the disciples who after the death of Jesus were filled with fear of the Jews who were out to kill them. They hid indoors just as some of us have isolated ourselves. While they faced an enormous threat from outside, the bigger problem lay inside each one of them and that was "fear".  But think for a second, why were they really fearful? One of the reasons could be that they thought that Jesus had left them and they felt helpless, another could be that they were doubting if he was truly who he said he was and yet another could be they were fearful of death because most of them had denied Jesus and were living with guilt. This could explain why one of the first things Jesus did after he rose from the dead was to appear to them and say "Peace be with you". Have we also lost our peace in t

There is a new trend among people these days, claiming to be spiritual but not religious. They find religion to be unnecessary and also consider it to be the cause of most problems in the world. One of the popular understanding among spiritual people is that each one can practice their faith in private instead of coming together in an organized institution. We know that there is nothing wrong in being spiritual, all religious people are in fact spiritual as they deal with the spiritual dimension. However, why is being religious, frowned upon by many? By the very definition, religion simply deals with the worship of a God or gods. According to Christianity it would be defined as the worship of the one true God, but the definition wouldn't stop there...If we go back to the Biblical understanding of religion in the letter of St James, he says "If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that

Oscar Wilde, once said "I can resist everything except temptation." However the Bible would disagree, "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1Corinthians 10:13) Temptations on their own are not the problem, it is only when we give into them that they lead us down the path of sin. On the contrary, resisting them actually makes us stronger and holier. The reason we fall into sin is because temptations appear in the disguise of something good. Greek mythology speaks of Sirens, which were dangerous monsters that used to sing sweet enchanting music to lure sailors on to rocky shores resulting in shipwrecks and death. In the same way even sin entered the world when Eve, decided to eat the forbidden fruit, which on its own seemed harmless and was probably tasty but in her doing so, she defied God, bringing destruction to herself and to the h

Recently I read about the famous Hillsong worship leader who said he is losing his faith. I also know a few friends who said they were faithful Christians but lost their faith along the way due to questions they had or circumstances in their lives. There have been times when I myself felt like I am not as enthusiastic or faithful as I used to be. However, here is the thing, faith is a gift according to Ephesians 2:8 " For by grace you have been saved though faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God". Since it is a gift given, it cannot simply go away on its own. A gift however can be kept in a corner and never used, it could be ignored or it could be given away. Faith is something that needs to be constantly exercised or it weakens like any muscle in your body would without exercise. Let's look at some of the common reasons why people feel they are losing their faith and what to do it those situations. Going through a dark time in your life

There is one verse in the book of Job, which I battled with for many years. "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” It is the latter part of the sentence which I used to find most difficult. The reason is because this man Job was a righteous man, who did everything in his power to please God. Yet when everything he loved was taken away from him including his children, his livelihood and his health he still managed to say 'blessed be the name of the Lord'. Try saying it when life knocks you down and you will know that it is one of the most difficult things to do.  When I read this for the first time, I said to myself, I can never be Job. Being someone who has experienced loss of dear ones and been severely ill a couple of times, my first response was usually to battle with God, doubt him and even give up on prayer, on a number of occasion. But over the years, I began to realize something. Even when I was knocked down, somehow I f

In a world where one night stands, live-in relationships and casual sex is common talk, many do not even know the meaning of the word, chastity. Even if they do, its often looked down upon as an ancient concept and also frowned upon in many circles. To remain chaste is to avoid all forms of sexual intimacy and the temptation towards such, outside the bonds of marriage. Chastity is the opposite of lust and lust is the opposite of love. To lust over someone is to see what we can get out of the other inorder to fulfill our own desires. But to love is to die to ones own selfish desires, for the well being of the other. To observe the virtue of chastity is to avoid looking at a person as a means to an end, instead to look at the other with love. Why is  fornication (sex outside marriage) considered a sin by the Church ? Sex outside marriage is considered a mortal sin and this is based on Jesus' own teachings where he says "I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman wit