Oasis Magazine Vol 3

St. Thomas Yuvajana Sakhyam Events 2010-11

A publication of St. Thomas Marthoma Yuvajana Sakhyam, Kuwait - Vol. 3

Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there. ~Clarence W. Hall

From the President ... ന�ോമ്പ~ (രുചി വെടിയു – രുചി പകരൂ ) ന�ോമ്പ~ ആചരണം ഒരു ശുചീകരണ പ്രക്രീയാണ്. ദൈവീക മന്ദിരമായ മനുഷ്യ ശരീരത്തെ ശുചീകരിക്കുന്ന പ്രക്രീയ. അനുരജ്ഞ്ചനത്തിന്റെമയും നിരപ്പിന്റെശയും ശുശ്രൂഷയുടെ ദിനങ്ങളാണിത്. കുരിശിന്റെ വഴിയിലൂടെ സഞ്ചരിച്ച് മനസ്സിനെയും ശരീരത്തെയും ശുചീകരിച്ച് പുതുജീവന്‍ പ്രാപിക്കുവാന്‍ന�ോമ്പ~ നമ്മോട് ആഹ്വാനം ചെയ്യുന്നു. ആഗ്രഹങ്ങളെയും അഹന്തയെയും വിദ്വേഷത്തെയും വര്ജിരക്കുവാനും നിയന്ത്രിക്കുവാനും ന�ോമ്പിലൂടെ നാം പരിശീലിക്കണം. രുചികളെ നിയന്ത്രിക്കുകെയും വെടിയുകയും ചെയ്യുന്ന കാലം കൂടീയാണിത്. രുചി വെടിഞ്ഞു ല�ോകത്തിന്ന് രുചി പകരുവാന്‍ കഴിയുമ്പോഴാണ് ന�ോമ്പ~ ആചരണം അര്ഥ്ോ�കവത്താകുന്നത്. ദൈവത്തോടും സമ സൃഷ്ടികള�ോടും ചേര്ന്ന് നിന്ന് സര്വ്വത മേഘലകളിലും രുചി പകരുന്ന ശുശ്രൂഷയില്‍നാമും പങ്കുകാരാകണം.

Hearty Congragulations !!!

Our shakha got registered for the first time with the register number G 2/1.

Analogy

Editorial Board: Rev. Thomas Koshy P. (President) John Sam George (Chief Editor)

- Student of UTC Bangalore

A publication of St. Thomas Marthoma Yuvajana Sakhyam, Kuwait - Vol. 1

Bobby Johnson George (Sub Editor) Simmy Varghese (Sub Editor) Biju P. Abraham Elizabeth Mathew Thomas Varghese

Dear Parishioners, The 3rd edition of the Oasis wishes you all a fruitful lent and hope it brings all blessings from the Lord Almighty.

Lent is the time of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter. Fasting can discipline your eating habits and control your diet which also can cleanse your body. Lent also can be a time to discipline our routine, cleanse and confess to be meaningful humans. It should not be just giving up some food items alone.

This should be a time of sacrifice in remembrance of our Lord and savior who gave his life for each of us. This is the time we should understand the real meaning of “Passion of Christ”. We as Christians should be able to celebrate this Easter after preparing our body and soul by observing a meaningful and fruitful lent.

This being the last edition of the fiscal year 2010-2011,we thank all the members for their valuable contributions in the form of support and articles. We also wish the new office bearers of the Yuvajana sakhyam, all the very best to work as a team in the New Year.

We, the editorial board also take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous Easter!

Elizabeth Mathew.

by Rency Thomas

Lent- A Time to Identify the “Good Friday People” Around.

It is an oft-quoted pulpit joke by our Achens that they are quiet careful while delivering the GoodFriday sermons because a large chunk of the congregation they will be meeting thereafter in the next Good- Friday only. So incase if they preach anything that doesn’t make sense their will not be any opportunity to correct it, till the next Good-Friday. These are people whom our Achens fondly call as the “Good-Friday People”.

I would like to draw your attention to Sheila Cassidy who claims that she is the first one to coin this usage “Good- Friday People” which titles one of her books also. She uses this term to refer to the people who, for whatever reason, find themselves called to powerlessness and suffering. For her Good Friday people are those who are very specially loved by God, for he has called them to walk towards him along a particularly narrow path, the road to Calvary, the same road as God’s son.

This Lenten season should be a time to identify the “Good Friday People” around us who go through the Good Friday experience. I feel it is apt to share the story of Saint Francis of Assisi who once found a leper coming across the road. St. Francis who was a great philanthropist ran, hugged the person and started kissing on each of the wounds of the leper eccentrically. Amazingly all those wounds and scars started vanishing and it is believed widely that only five wounds were left on leper’s body at the end. This gave a new revelation to Francis that it is Christ who represents those who are suffering. Let this Lenten days be a time in which we take a conscious effort to find out the Good Friday people around us (which includes the first category too) and make them part takers of God’s Salvific Act.

Reflections

by Alishba Tanya John

The importance of fasting depends on its meaning. Fasting is not about abstinence from food only; it is first of all, abstinence from sin. By detaching ourselves from earthly goods and realities, fasting has a liberating effect and makes us worthy of the life according to the Holy Spirit. It allows us to establish the proper priority between the material and spiritual, giving priority to the spiritual.

In our materialistic society we learn to identify ourselves through self-indulgence and we tend to see the fasting only as a time of deprivation and penance. Fasting is the feast of the soul and good fasts are like medicine which cures our soul and mind, along with other virtuous works, it leads us to the eternal life. In our spiritual battle, fasting protects us from the evil one. It not only resists the attack but also trains our body and mind for the battle. Fasting is a great weapon against the evil one. Through fasting Christ defeated the Satan and has given us this weapon to overcome evil. Fasting and abstinence are the two weapons for cultivating the field of Christian life.

Cover Story now as Great Lent begins, we undertake the fast to prepare ourselves to receive the risen Christ on Easter!

Yet how is it that fasting prepares us? Is it something magical, which will take effect only if we follow it exactly? Certainly not! True fasting prepares us to receive God, because it is not merely confined to the abstinence of food. On the contrary, true fasting involves abstinence from everything that distances us from God. By emptying ourselves of sin, of gossip, of hate, and every other evil which fights against us, we allow ourselves to be cleansed and refilled with the contents of the gospel. By removing those obstacles, we make room for God to come into our hearts and refill the glass of our lives with His message. He now becomes the source of our nourishment, for as Christ said, “Man cannot live by bread alone.” Fasting is thus a way for us to empty all the things which take up room and “fill” the glass of water, which is ourselves.

Fasting aids in this transfiguration of ourselves because true fasting is active and alive.

God Himself pronounced this through Isaiah when He said, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your homes; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

If fasting is not accompanied by good works, then that fast is dead. That fast is merely a dead ritual, devoid of the presence of God. If fasting becomes merely an exercise of abstaining from food, then its true purpose has become lost.

The true nature of fasting shows that the rituals of a life lived faithfully before God are not empty gestures. They usually have profound meaning and can point us in the direction of realities far greater than ourselves. An important part of living our faith is in knowing our faith.

Our ignorance, however, has another side to it: when we don’t know the reasons why we do the things we do, we may end up following them blindly for a while. As a result, we may no longer see any need to continue doing them. From misuse they may fall completely into disuse. The unfortunate consequence is that we lose sight of the importance of things that can enrich our lives and enliven our faith.

Why do we cut off that small portion at the end of the roast? What is the reason for fasting? Some of us take these practices for granted, while others simply abandon them completely. Unfortunately, both act out of ignorance. As a Christian, don’t be satisfied with the response “that’s the way my mother did it.”; don’t be satisfied with following things blindly when it comes to the practice of your faith; rather, as best as you can, make and active attempt to learn more about your faith and actualize it daily in your life to the glory of God. Remember to fight the good fight; to run that race that is before you; to keep the faith; and with Great Lent in your sights, remember to keep the true fast.

Eye Opener

by Manoj Philipose Different ways of fasting during the season of LENT

1. FAST FROM ANGER AND HATRED. Give your family an extra dose of love each day.

2. FAST FROM JUDGING OTHERS. Before making any judgments, recall how Jesus overlooks our faults.

3. FAST FROM DISCOURAGEMENT. Hold on to Jesus’ promise that HE has a perfect plan for your life.

4. FAST FROM COMPLAINING. When you find yourself about to complain, close your eyes and recall some of the little moments of joy Jesus has given you.

5. FAST FROM RESENTMENT OR BITTERNESS AND GOSSIP. Work on forgiving those who may have hurt you.

6. FAST FROM SPENDING TOO MUCH MONEY. Try to reduce your spending by 10% and give those to the poor.

Remember : “ The will of God will never take you to where the grace of God will not protect you”.

Make this year’s Lenten season more fruitful, meaningful and contemplate and meditate the : suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

God bless you.

Footnote

by Rexy Augustine Gigi

Cover Story

by Rev. Fr. George Varughese C. , Orthodox Church, Kuwait.

HOLINESS

+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The holiness we seek does not consist of human perfection or strength of will. It is a gift of God, a share of his own nature, a union with him that only he can produce. It is as far above and beyond our best efforts to obey and live righteously as the heavens are above the earth. Nothing that we can do and no effort that we can make is sufficient to produce true holiness.

Only God can do that.

When she asked her mother for the reason for this curious custom, her mother replied, “I do it because my mother always prepared her roasts that way.” She visited her grandmother one day and asked her the same question. “I always had to cut off a bit from the end,” her grandmother said, “ because my only pan was too small.” Her grandmother had a good reason for what she did, but the others had repeated the practice for no good reason other than “that’s the way my mother did it.”

We have been put in a crucible, every one of us, a purifying test by fire which God uses to do what we cannot do. For in the circumstances of our daily lives, again and again we must choose to believe in and obey God’s word, and to confront the humiliating reality of our own sinfulness, which is revealed in our failures. We can escape this struggle if we wish. We can avoid the humiliation of repentance by making our excuses. But if we do that, we will find in the end that we have surrendered ourselves to a far more humiliating slavery to sin.

“Surely God must know that I cannot change this!” Yes, God knows it, and he knows that in this you are no different than every other man, woman, and child, yet he has called us nonetheless to holiness. We do not have to offer God excuses for not being holy. We need simply to continually turn to him in humble and trustful repentance, and let him, through his grace, clothe us in his own holiness.

Growing up, I recall my parish priest telling an anecdotal story about a couple who were newly married.

One night, these newlyweds were preparing a roast for dinner. While preparing the roast, however, she cut off a few inches from the end of the roast. When I asked her why she did this, she replied, “I don’t really know, but my mother always did it that way.”

In many ways, we do exactly the same thing. We respect certain religious traditions and observe certain practices of our faith simply because “our mothers did them.” This is not necessarily wrong, but it is a sure prescription for turning these traditions into empty and meaningless customs. With our faith, it is not only important for us to know what we should do, but also why we should do it. The reasons for certain customs, traditions, and practices are as important as our commitment to preserve them.

In some ways, this is how we fast. We fast without knowing exactly why. We just know that it’s something that should be done. As we enter Great Lent, and the great fast begins, we will probably be told about various practices or instructed about certain customs about fasting. Someone may tell us that we are not to eat meat during Lent; perhaps someone else will tell us to not have any dairy products; or perhaps we will be told to curb our diet in other ways. In most instances, we are told to do these things without being told the reason why.

What exactly, then, is the reason for fasting? One answer might lie in the story of a wealthy businessman who went to retreat at a distant monastery. His journey to the monastery was a sincere one; it was a journey in which he wished to grow closer to God. When he arrived at the monastery, he was warmly greeted. Later, he was brought before the abbot of the monastery to seek spiritual direction. While in the presence of the abbot, the abbot asked the man if he would like a glass of water. When the man responded with a “yes”, the abbot began to pour him some water. The abbot poured and poured until the water reached the very tip of the glass; but he didn’t stop! Instead, he kept pouring and pouring so that the water overflowed the rim of the glass; ran onto the table; and drenched the expensive suit which the man was wearing. Jumping up in a frenzy, the man yelled at the abbot, “What are you doing? Look at what you did to my suit!” Turning to the man, the abbot said, “You are like this glass of water. You are so full of concerns—concerns for riches and other anxieties of the world. You are completely full. There is no space for you to hold anything else inside. There is no room for God to come in. Before God can come in, you must empty yourself and make room for Him to enter.”

The reason for fasting, then, is precisely this: Fasting is a way of emptying ourselves from the cares and concerns of this world—A means of preparation and conditioning, which will enable us serve God and grow closer to Him. Preparation for God’s service was the very reason why some of the greatest witnesses of the faith fasted.

Moses fasted for forty days before he met God on Mt. Sinai; the prophets fasted before they pronounced the word of God; and Christ himself fasted for forty days in the desert before He began His ministry.

Indeed, even today, an athlete will prepare for a match through intense diet and training; so too, as Christians, we engage in a similar preparation by fasting before receiving Holy Communion; and now as

P.T.O