Solitary Soul

CHRIST – OUR TRUE KING Mario D’Couto             On the very outset, wishing you all a very happy feast of Christ the King to each and every one of you. As the above title suggests, Our Blessed Lord is indeed our true King. A King is one who looks out for his kingdom and all who are part of it. Likewise, we who have become the adoptive children of God through the precious Blood of Our Lord, have been redeemed by His suffering, death and resurrection. This is what forms the basis of this article through which I intend to show that the true purpose of Christ coming was to liberate us from the slavery of sin; that while the Israelites thought of His Kingship as a source of political freedom, it was actually a source of spiritual liberation.             To situate ourselves, we first need to understand how the phenomenon of sin came into existence. While there ...

THE POPE AS THE SOURCE OF UNITY OF THE CHURCH Mario D’Couto             The Catholic Church has always been looked upon as one of the most organized system in the world and what is it that has sustained its unity? It is Christ Himself! It is Christ our Lord who has held the Church together and it is through His successors that this has been carried on. With a few exceptions to some of the Popes who have not been paradigms of virtue, most of them have led saintly lives. Yet, that does not taint the image of the Church for it is not a human invention but is the work of God Almighty.             God has always used human intervention to accomplish His purpose. Now if such can be the case, it is not surprising to see that God can choose someone to lead His Church. The Pope or the Holy Father, in a sense, is also the source of unity as he represents Christ. It is fr...

CHURCH GROWTH Mario D’Couto             In his book, “The Faith of our Fathers,” Cardinal James Gibbons gives us a beautiful insight about the growth of the Church. He compares the growth of a Church to the growth of a tender sapling. When we first plant it, we water it and soften the clay about its roots. But when it takes deep root we leave it to the care of nature’s laws. In like manner, when Christ first planted His Church, He nourished its infancy by a miraculous agency but when it grew to be a tree of fair proportion, He left it to be governed by the general laws of His Providence.             It is truly amazing to think how the Church has grown. Despite all the ups and downs, the Church has indeed grown to great heights. This is a clear sign to show that this is the work of the Lord and not some human intervention. Currently, with all the mess that the C...

PRAYING FOR THE DEAD AND THE INVOCATION OF THE SAINTS Mario D’Couto             We have just celebrated the feasts of All Saints and All Souls day (which are on 1 st and 2 nd November) and with that in mind, I thought of sharing a small reflection in line with this topic. While prayer helps us to stay connected with God, when we pray for each other, it also helps us stay connected with each other. This article is a ‘justification’ (if I may use the word) for the need to pray for all those who are deceased and also for each other.             Sometimes some people would want to think that it is sufficient enough to pray to God and that we don’t need anybody’s help or intervention. However, this cannot be the case since no individual is an island. We re all, in some way connected. Hence it is not surprising for people to ask to pray for each other or for people t...