Solitary Soul

Finding God in troubled times Cl. Mario D’Couto sdb             Serenity is another word for calmness, composure and so on. When I began to reflect on what exactly this virtue was, I began to realize that it is easy to keep calm and cool when everything is going on alright. The challenge comes when we are faced or confronted by difficulties and problems.             In the Church, we have so many saints who have borne witness to this fact like St. Francis of Assisi, Heinrich Suso and others. Among them I would like to highlight one incident that I came across when I read the life of Heinrich Suso. This incident is one which has been cited by many scholars in mysticism. It is known as the “Tower Experience” . Once it so happened that some of his colleagues wanted to find whether Suso was really calm and composed as he seemed. They paid a woman to accuse Suso to his provincial ...

God knows us better than we know ourselves Cl. Mario D’Couto sdb             The original title of this article was ‘Priesthood’ and it was written by a certain Bishop named Tom Burns. This article is one of the many articles found in the book called ‘Priesthood- A life open to Christ’ written by Fr. Daniel P. Cronin. I was taken up by this article when I read it the first time and hence this is something that I would like to share with you.             In the beginning of this article, Bishop Burns shares of his experience where one day he found on the rear window the following note, ‘Be patient with me. God hasn’t finished making me yet’ . This idea was actually taken from one of the earliest Fathers of the Church, Tertullian, who said, ‘Christians are made; they are not born’ .             Applying this in the context...

GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS Cl. Mario D’Couto sdb           It is interesting to find that sometimes in life, God works in ways that none of us would have imagined. For example if Yahweh Himself could choose a person as King like Saul who would eventually become a disaster morally speaking, no one need be surprised if Bishops or priests who do not have all the prerequisites for sound leadership are chosen by higher authority. The permissive will of God is inscrutable since we now hardly at all the reason for such permissions – such as Jesus choosing Judas. It is also surprising to see that God does not go for those who are already strong to do His work. Perhaps in our time, we could interpret that the Lord calls ordinary people to carry out His command and there are numerous instances that we can give as examples to substantiate this point like God choosing Abel, Jacob, David. All of them were the younger ones and perhaps as we would say t...

TURNING YOUR LIFE INTO A NEW LEAF Cl. Mario D’Couto sdb             The story of Rapunzel is one of the popular stories found among the fairy tale books of children. But it has a value to teach. Just to mention the story in brief, there was a little girl named Rapunzel who was very beautiful. She was captured by a witch, who knew that if she wanted to hold on to the little girl, she had to convince her that she was ugly. If she knew she was beautiful, she would go off with one of the many young men who came to consult the witch. If on the other hand, she knew she was ugly, she would be afraid of being seen by them and would therefore hide when they were around. So the witch gradually convinced Rapunzel that she was ugly and she hid for fear of being seen when anyone who came to the witch’s house.             One day when she was combing her hair in her room, she became consci...

ROSARY AND EUCHARISTIC DEVOTION Mario D’Couto sdb             It could happen that a person could object saying that it is not right to honour Mary during the holy hour when Jesus should be honoured. Such a thing would be true if Jesus and Mary were to be contradictory to each other. However such is not the case.             Jesus and Mary are Son and Mother and therefore theirs is the closest possible relationship at the human, affective and biological levels. The Word that became flesh in Mary’s womb was also in Her heart; She welcomed the Father’s Word and ‘ kept’ it. She is therefore also in the best spiritual relationship with Jesus Her Son, the Word made flesh.             The Rosary is not merely a Marian devotion. It is not right to put Jesus and Mary in isolation from each other. Jesus cannot but be pleased if a...

Is Mary important? -          Mario D’Couto Sdb             In the very first place, we must note that Mary is a human person like us, yet She occupies a special place of honour as She had brought forth Our Lord into this world.             It is interesting to see how some Catholics bow at the statue of Our Lady and forget Our Lord Jesus. Such a thing would be a blasphemy! In fact Mary Herself says in the Gospel of St. John, “Do as He tells you” (John 2:5) not what She tells. Thus, one could raise the question, why should one honour Mary at all as the Mother of God?             To begin with, we should note that when we pray to Our Blessed Mother, it is through Her intercession that we come close to Her Son Jesus. Besides, I suppose that She Herself would not want that to happen a...

COMPASSION: THE IMAGE OF GOD’S LOVE CL. Mario D’Couto SDB             Compassion is one of the trademark virtues of a Christian. In Matthew 5:48, it s written, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” . In parallel to this is St. Luke’s version, “Be merciful, even as your Heavenly Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). In doing so, Luke is only clarifying and putting beyond dispute a pint made in Matthew’s Gospel.             The demand “to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” is illustrated by the powerful stress of Jesus on compassion: “Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so   that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44-45). Here we see with unmatched clarity the characteristic feature of bot...

THE GREATEST PITCHER Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he shouted through the backyard, wearing his baseball cap and holding his ball and bat. “I am the greatest hitter in the world” , he announced. Then he tossed the ball into the air, swung at it, and missed. “Strike One!” he yelled.             Undaunted, he picked up the ball and said again, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world” He tossed the ball into the air. When it came down he swung again and missed. “Strike two!” he cried.             The boy there paused a movement to examine his bat and ball carefully. He spit on his hands and said once more, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” Again, he tossed the ball in the air and swung at it. He missed. “Strike three!” “Wow!” he exclaimed. “I’m the greatest pitcher in ...