Solitary Soul

PURIFYING OURSELVES Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             In the book of Exodus, we see Moses encountering God in the form of a burning bush. On looking at the burning bush, he wanted to go (out of curiosity) forward by his own powers in order to comprehend the exterior ‘why’ of God though his reasoning powers. But he learned that the first step to receive God’s ultimate revelation of Himself was to be stripped, unencumbered by his own self. Moses became God’s prophet when he was completely purified in his heart having taken off his shoes, leaving behind all of his securities and protection. Purity of heart is an attitude of the Christian of constant conversion, of turning to the indwelling Trinity abiding within him and crying out constantly that every past memory, every experience of yesterday, last year or at the beginning of consciousness be brought under Jesus Christ, just as it is rightly written in the second letter of St. P...

ECO – SPIRITUALITY Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             James Lovelock, a British atmospheric chemist published a book in 1979 called, Gaia: A new look at life on earth . The basic idea about this book is that our earth functions as a single unit and this is supported by various living life-forms and organisms, especially plants and trees. This is also known as the Gaia Hypothesis since it is not a proven fact but it is just that our earth is not something to be fragmented but rather it should be looked at as a whole. This would therefore entail that we need to respect and take care of every life-form living on our planet be it a plant, an animal, the sea, the air and so on.             This hypothesis resonates along similar lines with the ancient cosmological theories of the earth. The cultural cosmologies recognized and affirmed the earth as a “Mother” preserving a soul. ...

THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             The great philosopher Aristotle once said that man is a rational animal. But I would like to add that he is also a social animal. Hence whenever we have gone through some fear or doubt, sorrow or misfortune, we all feel the need of comfort and consolation from our parents, a loved one or even our friends, especially those who are close to us.             Anticipating our needs, our Lord already knew that given the fact that the human nature is frail, we need someone to support us. Hence, He instituted the Sacrament of Confession. So Jesus who knows like nobody else does, says, “Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).             It is for this reason that He appoints His priest to represent Him to be anothe...

MY EXPERIENCE WITH AN ATHEIST Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             I remember one occasion (3 rd April 2012) while I was travelling from Nashik to Lonavala, I encountered a family. At first, they seemed normal although later, when the husband tried to get into a conversation with me, I eventually discovered that he was an atheist. For him, he did not care in the least whether God existed or not. He told me that he would always take his family to Shirdi (one of the holy places in India) not for a pilgrimage but rather for a picnic. He was completely influenced by science. Science for him was his only answer and religion was nothing but a bunch of superstitions.               The arguments that he put forth were quite valid. For example, he began by stating that the human person evolved from a monkey (an ape) and he substantiated his argument by giving enough and more fact...