Time to talk of other things ...

  Today is the Feast of the  Immaculate Heart of Mary While the Sacred Heart of Jesus represents divine love and mercy pouring out for mankind, the Immaculate Heart of Mary represents the perfect human response to that love — a life and a heart completely aligned with God's holy will. The placement of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary exactly one day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is entirely intentional. It is a visual and liturgical way of showing that these two hearts are theologically inseparable. Three things to remember about the Immaculate Heart of Mary A]   Purity and Freedom from Sin : The word "Immaculate" means without stain. It signifies the Catholic belief in Mary was conceived without original sin and remained in the state of full grace befitting her unique stature as the Theotokos - the bearer and nurturer of the Son of God B] Total Surrender to God : It represents her famous "Fiat"—her response to the Angel Gabr...

Reflections on the Sacred Heart of Jesus  Introduction: Growing up in Poona in the 1970s and 80s, my paternal grandmother Adelaide Gonsalves, had a large size portrait of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hanging in the living room. Each year the picture was solemnly displayed outside the house for the annual Corpus Christi procession from the Church of Immaculate Conception to St Xavier's Church - that explains why I've always held the image in very high regard.   The   Solemnity of The Sacred Heart of Jesus , which is celebrated on the Friday following the second Sunday after Pentecost (or the Friday following Corpus Christi). The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus  became especially well known in the seventeenth century when Jesus appeared to a French nun and mystic named St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), also known as the messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus During a series of visions, Jesus revealed His Heart as a symbol of His immense love for humanity a...

 Events of Good Friday that fulfilled Scripture     Let's take a closer look at some of the incredible prophesies that were fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross.    From the supernatural darkness over the land, to the veil of the temple being torn in two, to the earth shaking beneath the feet of those who witnessed it, these were not random events but are Scripture coming to fruition.    Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children ... for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry? ( Luke 23:28,31 ). Jesus foretell the grim future, he is the "green wood"—  completely innocent, righteous, and full of life, who has committed no crime but is yet subjected to death by crucifixion. Fact : The "dry wood" represents the city of Jerusalem and its population in the decades to follow; a direct, apocalyptic prophecy regarding the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD—r...

 Jan 1st - Solemnity of Mother Mary, Mother of God and Queen of Peace The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God falls on 1st January, exactly one week after Christmas, the end of the Octave (8 days) of Christmastide.  Solemnities in the Catholic Church are the highest rank of liturgical celebration, higher than feast days or memorials.  By celebrating a solemnity dedicated to Mary’s motherhood, the Church highlights the significance of her unique role in the life of Jesus. It is fitting to honour Mary as the Mother of Jesus because we are not only honouring Mary, who was chosen among all women throughout history to bear the Incarnate word of God, but we also honour her son as our Lord and Redeemer, who is fully God and fully human (like us in all things except sin). Council of Ephesus Jesus’ unique nature as human and divine, both simultaneously and equally, is something we take as a given.  Back in the early days of the church, in 431 A.D., this dogma of our faith was ho...

 St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr Credit: CatholicFire Saint Thomas Becket (c. 1118-1170), once proudly declared, "I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace". He died defending the clerical institution and became the Patron Saint of the Roman Catholic Diocesan Clergy. The cold-blooded murder of St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, inside the hallowed sanctuary of Canterbury Cathedral on December 29, 1170, shocked the whole world. Chancellor of England Thomas Becket was a close friend of King Henry II of England (r. 1154-1189). While Archdeacon of Canterbury, Thomas was made chancellor of England at 36 by his friend King Henry II. Chroniclers speak with wonder of the relations between the King and his Chancellor, declaring that "they had but one heart and one mind". Becket was on excellent terms with the King and served him for seven years as a statesman, diplomat, and even soldier, leading tr...

St Stephen, Deacon and First Martyr The day after the joyous occasion of Christmas, in a plot twist reminiscent of J R R Martin, the Catholic Church remembers its first martyr Saint Stephen.  Stephen, full of faith and the Holy Spirit In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke praises St. Stephen as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” who “did great wonders and signs among the people” during the Church's earliest days.    Stephen was a Jew who most likely came in contact with Jesus during the Lord's ministry on earth. He may have been among the 70 or 72 disciples whom Christ sent out as missionaries, who preached the coming of God's kingdom while travelling with almost no possessions. [ Luke 10:1-24 ]   Stephen, the Archdeacon   Stephen's reputation as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, led the twelve Apostles to choose him, along with six others (Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas), to assist them in administering to the ...

The miraculous rock-image of Our Lady of Las Lajas Deep in the lush Andean highlands of southern Colombia, near the city of Ipiales, largely hidden in a steep canyon above the swift-flowing Guáitara River, lies a marvellous Gothic-style church known as ' Santuario de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Las Lajas' or simply Our Lady of Las Lajas ( Nuestra Señora de Los Lajas) This beautiful building houses a remarkable feat of engineering and was built between 1916 and 1949. The stunning church, now a National Shrine Basilica, is a marvel in itself, but the unique image of the Blessed Mother it houses, known as Our Lady of Las Lajas  (“ lajas ” meaning “slab of rock” in Spanish) , has a fascinating story behind it. The first miracle of Our Lady of Las Lajas As the legend goes, on a dark night in September 1754, an Indigenous woman named María Mueses de Quiñones was travelling from the village of Potosi, Colombia, along the Guáitara River with her daughter, Rosita, who was deaf and mu...

Our Lady of Guadalupe St Juan Diego The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, or Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe , is a deeply significant part of Catholic and Mexican culture.  It centres around a series of miraculous events in 1531, barely 10 years after the brutal Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, near present-day Mexico City, involving a humble indigenous man named Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. The Apparitions of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary A poor  57-year-old  Mexican Aztec native named Cuauhtlatohuac,  a widower who lived in a small village near Mexico City,  was baptized and given the name Juan Diego.  On Saturday morning December 9, 1531, he was walking on a hill called Tepeyac (now within Mexico City) to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honour of Our Lady. He heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared, and within it stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess.  Juan Diego’s Unlikely Mission The lady spoke to him i...