Solitary Soul

CHRISTMAS – A TIME FOR INTIMACY WITH THE LORD Mario D’Couto             On looking at the title, one may get the impression that only Christmas is the season for having an intimacy with the Lord. But that was just the beginning. Our Lord Jesus Christ invites us to have a relationship with Him every day.             Last year, I had done a course called the ‘post-critical philosophy of God’ and if I could summarize the whole course in just a phrase, it is just this, “Life is not so much about us seeking God but rather God seeking us” and I think that the season of Christmas brings out this message strongly.             In the past, Christian theologians shaped their concept of God by Greek ideas of complete perfection. Since God was totally complete in His own being, God was absolutely immutable. Whatever happened to creat...

You are YOU! Mario D’Couto SDB             It was once said by Albert Einstein that God does not play dice and applying this in the context of creation, we can say that God has certainly not created junk, especially in the case of the human person. Each of us is unique and we are unique for a purpose. Each one’s purpose is very different from the other. Even if it is the same, it would be executed differently. In this regard, I would like to share a poem by Russell Kelfer which deeply impressed me, You are who you are for a reason You are part of an intricate plan. You are a precious and perfect unique design, Called God’s special woman or man. You look like you for a reason Our God made no mistake He knit you together within the womb, You are just what He wanted to make The parents you had were the ones He chose, And no matter how you may feel, They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind, And t...

A Soccer Player for Christ! Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             The 6 th of November 2011 was a red letter day for the community of Divyadaan as it was a day to celebrate the stunning victory in the finals of the Inter Parish Football tournament. From being two nil down to making it 3-2 in just ten minutes was indeed a breath-taking achievement. Being an avid fan of football/soccer, I thought that there are quite a few values that one can pick up from the beautiful game.             For those who do not play football/soccer, it is a game played with 11 players, where there is a goal-keeper, the defenders, the mid-fielders and the strikers. It is a team game where the whole target is about shooting goals and the more goals the team shoots, the better. What is striking about this is that, being a team game, each player needs the other to win; what would the strikers be without the...