MEDITATIONS FOR PASSION WEEK

"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!". This is in commemoration of the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem. Open your Bible to the Gospel of St.Mark and read 11:1-10. This is again a beautiful reading for Palm Sunday. "Hosanna in the highest!".

 On Maunday Thursday we should go to Church for the Mass of the Lord's Last Supper. The liturgy for this day is given to us in five installments: Liturgy of the Word; washing of the feet; the liturgy of the Eucharist; moving to the altar of repose and, finally, Adoration. 

Good Friday is the celebration of the Passion of the Christ. On this Holy Day we recall the liturgy of the Word, read the gospel of John 18:1-19:42. It is a unique diary on the Passion. In the Chapel of Divine Mercy I show the film Passion of the Christ. Many come, although they have seen it earlier. It is for the heart-breaking experience to relive the pain and the agony of Christ who sacrificed His life for our salvation. "Christ became obedient unto death, even death on a cross".(Phil 2: 8-9) Let us mediate on the suffering of Jesus, and let us both emotionally and physically (in prayer and penance) ask God for His mercy and love.

Faith in the Christian Family

CHRISTIAN PARENTS AND FAITH IN THE FAMILY  By MELVYN BROWN

Young people sense the Divine Presence of God in the world. Parents and many adults have the opportunity to nurture the gift of faith in children; faith which will sustain them through life and as adults in the future.
Parents, in guiding their children in faith will not always have all the answers.  “It’s all right to say you don’t know,” said Cardinal Ronald Hart. There’s a lot of mystery about faith. Don’t give simple answers because some answers are not so simple. It will take a lifetime to under-stand them. Robin Bose, a catechist said, “ The most important thing that parents can teach their children is that they are not alone in the world. They are loved by a God who is the source of all love.”
God can be found in everyday moments which parents can share with their children. One Bengali-Catholic mother found that she and her six-year old daughter got their day off to a good start when she played ‘Christian music ‘.
A lady I know spends time at home and says, “It’s good for your children to see you at prayer. This teaches them more effectively than a lecture. “
“If a child sees the parent struggling to do the right thing, sometimes failing, the child will have compassion “, said Mary Mathew, a junior school teacher. She suggests that a parent who tries to live by the Gospel’s values, strives for a healthy spirituality, respects human dignity and is sensitive to the needs of others.
While many parents are eager to pass along the faith that has meant so much to them, some struggle with how to introduce religion to their children. One parent said; “What are they going to believe when we don’t know what we believe? “ The answer is found in prayer, self-performance, in helping the helpless, in attending services and asking God to guide and help.
When one parent enrolled her daughter in the local parish Sunday School, she discovered her own faith rekindle. She believed that she had to do more leading by example.
Youngsters have a spiritual sense that can be tapped. The large numbers who turned out to greet Pope John Paul II during his visit to Calcutta indicated this interest.
Faith is a great legacy. Yet, ultimately it is a gift of God – as individual, as unique as each of His beloved children.
Psalm 25: 4-5 says, “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in Your truth, and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation. “
A Catholic priest once impressed me when he said : “ God speaks most powerfully in the wilderness experience, for instance, when the family faces divorce, unemployment, illness or other trouble, God is with us throughout life and ‘ can do things in you if you’re open to Him’. So, let us as a family open the door of Faith in our own family, each to his own.

HOW JESUS DEALT WITH TEMPTATION REFLECTION BY MELVYN BROWN

First Sunday in Lent - A Reflection by Melvyn Brown

Jesus was the divine pilgrim to journey on earth , to have communion with mankind , and to live the prophecies foretold by God’s messengers from the moment of birth to the resurrection – fulfilling the most extraordinary promise of God … the gift of His Mercy and of Salvation through Christ our Lord.

This First Sunday in Lent is our personal pilgrimage which has begun with Ash Wednesday. We will now enter the world of prayer, sacrifice , spirituality and penance in a special way. Jesus was “ led by the spirit of God “, into the desert to confront Temptation and the evil-one.

In the lonely and vast miles of sand and solitude , in the barren and uninhabited wild appeared the devil. Satan was visibly frustrated to find Jesus fasting and in prayer. The demon decided to put temptation before Christ . To entice , inveigle , to provoke and dare Jesus to accept his vile offers.

In the Gospel of Mathew (4:1-11) we are told of the days when Jesus, led by the Spirit of God, was sent into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. The rugged paths , the empty wasteland, the scourging heat of the blazing sun, the long hours of prayer and fasting had thrown a challenge to his human being. Jesus’ body was weak , his lips dry and parched , his skin blistered , his eyes burning with the raging desert wind and spiriling sand. Jesus refused to be embedded in grief. He would not bow to the tortured flesh – there was much more to endure , to suffer and bear for the salvation and redemption of mankind – to pay the price for the forgiveness of their sins , to shed his blood and to die . In Psalm 51:2 we listen to the words of the psalmist : “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin ! “

Satan challenged Jesus. “ If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. “ (Mat.4:3).

Jesus saw the transparency in the plan of the malignant spirit. “ It is written, “ said Jesus , “ Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Furious with hidden anger the fiend took Christ to the highest pinnacle of a temple. “ If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down …(Mat.4:5-6). Jesus replied, “ It is written, “ You shall not tempt the Lord your God. “

Ultimately, the devil showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus turned to the devil and said in a loud voice : “ Begone , Satan ! for it is written, “ you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” (Mat.4:9-10).

Temptation is a virus which comes to all of us in many forms. Jesus met the enemy face-on. He dealt with temptation to help us understand the greater insight into the trust and mercy of God – to have faith in His word and to believe in His heavenly kingdom. Pope John Paul 11 once said, “ The faith is like a strike of lightning, illuminating everything. “. ( Rocco Buttinglione ).

The Unsolved Mystery in Miracles By Melvyn Brown

The Oxford Dictionary states that a “Miracle” is an extraordinary and welcome event believed to be the work of God , a saint, etc. A miracle could be a question of faith above reason. In the holy Puranas, there are various stories of miracles involving several Gods and Goddesses Among them the favourite has always been those of Lord Krishna’s. In Hindu society and other faiths these stories of miracles have the power to strengthen ,reaffirm beliefs and even change the lives of people.
The “ Circle of Life “ was the miracle vision which Buddha had in the process of his meditation in achieving enlightenment. Sociologists would refer to the Lord Buddha’s miracle as most welcome to the rejuvenation it introduced in Hindu society in a breakaway bid to tone down the often tough way of life-style in certain areas of their religious laws and customs.

 The Christian Bible, however, is documented and authenticated with miracles. The Sacred Book is divided in two parts : the Old Testament and the New Testament. Miracles in the first book are many, with prophets making statements of a coming Messiah , which would all come true after hundreds of years in the second book.

The miracle of creation , the ark built by Noah , the burning bush, the dividing of the Red Sea etc. are events in the history of the Old Testament. In the holy books of the New Testament we have the Virgin birth , the coming of the Messiah , His ministry and miracles – the greatest miracle of all time, His resurrection.

 C.S.Lewis, the theologian (1898-1963) said, a miracle was an “interference of nature by supernatural power.” Saint Thomas Aquinas in his writing , Summa Theologica seven hundred years ago stated , that a miracle consists in whatever God does outside or beyond the order commonly determined or observed in nature. With miracles , in essence, we are confronted with faith versus reason , or as one might interpret an incompatible world-view with belief systems. All this leaves society with two groups of people : those who believe and those who don’t.

Stigmatism , a bizarre phenomena is a miracle. Walking on red hot coals is a miracle. A faith-healer , or a clay figure of a cow drinking milk , a bleeding icon etc. are miracles. Every religion has their own miracle : the Hindu, the Sikh, the Jews, the Christians, the Chinese and so on.

Miracles often permeates the physical world. They are even generated by the spiritual realm. Miracles are a phenomena, often beyond human explanations or the attributes of science. Miracles , from Lazarus to Lourdes are keeping on happening. ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) , NDE ( Near Death Experience) , UFO ( Unidentified Flying Objects) Visions of the Virgin Mary etc.
are miracles.

 Recently, in Colorado Springs a mother Tracy Hermanstorfer, 34, went into cardiac arrest at the moment when she was to give birth at the Memorial Hospital on Christmas Eve. With prompt attention and speed the Doctors did a Cesarean Section and delivered a boy-child who came through lifeless, said Mike ,the boy’s father. Tracy Hermanstorfer’s heart had stopped beating. The doctors revived the newborn child. Seconds later Tracy ’s pulse returned inexplicably – a sign that she might regain her life. For four minutes she had been without a pulse. And then, the Doctor said both mother and child were safe and healthy. There was no medical explanation.

 “That’s why,” said Hermanstorfer, “ I mark this up as a miracle.”  Yet, another miracle took place after 23 years when a woman Delia Knox, 46 was hit by a car on Christmas Day 1987, by a drunk driver. She became paralysed in her legs and lost all hope of ever walking.  In 2010 Delia attended a healing service at an evangelistic meeting in Mobile , Alabama . The preacher was Nathan Morris. After Nathan prayed for Delia, she felt the Holy Spirit saying to her ‘ Get up’, and she did, feeling life return to her legs after 23 years. She walked. There was no medical answer from the side of science. It was a miracle.