Solitary Soul

INTERPRETING THE WORD OF GOD (The Bible) Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             The Bible is and should be understood as a book of books. It is not one single book but a collection of different writings by all God’s people over a period of time through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting to see the different approaches to the scriptures from the Catholic and Protestant perspective. A Protestant would want to see the Bible as a book written literally in a way that God wanted it to be. Hence, for such a person, every word in the Bible has to be understood in its literal sense. This is not the case, however, for the Catholic. The Holy Scripture is not to be understood as a science or mathematic textbook nor some kind of fairy tale story or a romantic or a thrilling novel of fiction since it was never meant to be that way. The Bible is itself, as mentioned before, a fruit of tradition and that is why the approach ...

OUR LADY AND THE HOLY ROSARY Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             There is an intimate link between the Rosary and our Lady for in as much as we speak about the Holy Rosary, one cannot ignore the personhood of our Lady and vice versa. Although apparently it would seem that it is Marian in character, the Holy Rosary is very much a Christo – centric prayer. It is a meditation on the Gospels which is nothing but the life of our Lord. During the recitation of the Rosary, We remember Christ with Mary We learn Christ from Mary We conform ourselves to Christ with Mary We pray to Christ with Mary We proclaim Christ with Mary We listen to Christ with Mary             Our Lady is considered to be the perfect and incomparable model when it comes to the contemplation of Christ, for in as much as She was His perfect disciple, She was also His Mother. In a unique way,...

SCIENCE AND CHRISTIANITY Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB In recent times, it has been observed that science and religion have been against each other for various reasons. In as much as both fields of study depend on reason, the research and opinion from these two fields of study would seem poles apart. So why is this conflict there in the first place? To respond to this question, let us take a brief overview of how these two fields of study came up. Science is a systematic study of reality which is based on verified facts while religion deals with the study of one’s faith. Actually, to be more precise, the word religion can have a broader meaning for in as much as it refers to the study of one’s faith, it also includes other aspects such as rites, customs and traditions. It would be surprising to note that science owes its origin to religion. Some of the first scientists were the monks in the monasteries. If such was the case, then why is it that these 2 fields of study are always ...

A CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF VIRTUE ETHICS Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             It would seem that ethics cannot be spoken in isolation from Christianity. The moral teachings of Christianity is so essentially linked with the complete package of Revelation that all attempts to separate it from that wider context are futile and this is precisely because Christianity alone addresses human beings as they actually are, revealing them their true destiny and good. Thus can we speak of a philosophical ethics that is incompatible with the teachings of Jesus? To respond to that, we would have to look at how philosophy was during the medieval period. The medieval period, which was otherwise known as the dark ages, was a time that was given the tag, “Fuga mundi” or ‘going away from the world’ and perhaps this may serve as a clue to the answer to the above question. Some of the prominent thinkers of this period were Bonaventure and Thomas...

THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRISTIANITY Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB          Every religion has some truth to communicate and it is indeed a valid path to the divine. Just as different streams and tributaries flow towards the sea and so many branches are held together by the roots, so too we could say the same for so many religions. Thus in all this, what is the place of Christianity? Is it just like one among the many religions that we have? What is its unique contribution?             Before we could try to answer this question, let us first try to understand whether there is a God? Reverend Randy Alcorn, founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries in Oregon sometimes presents his people with two creation stories and asks them whether it matters which one is true. These are basically classified into the secular and Christian account. In the secular account, the creation story goes thus, “You are ...

GOD’S SILENCE Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB             In one of my previous articles called “Silence – The Other Side of Prayer” [Please refer to the old posts for this article] , I had written about the need for silence in prayer as sometimes we are caught up with the notion that prayer is a series of petitions to God. But as we all know, such is not the case. Prayer can also mean just being in the presence of God and enjoying His presence. But how does one really come to that level? In that article, I had mentioned that if we are in tune with God, we don’t need some kind of external manifestation to prove that God is there, for God speaks to us in the daily events and circumstances of life. In this article, I wish to understand a little more about the silence of our dear God, “Why does God remain silent in the midst of suffering, problems and difficulties?” “Why is it or what is it that make people to think that way?” and so ...