Solitary Soul

  EVERYBODY’S WORK MATTERS Mario D’Couto              Whenever we talk about work, most people think of it as some sort of necessary evil, something that must be endured in order to put food on the table and pay the bills. Very few of us have the privilege of having that dream job where we wake up every morning with excitement and enthusiasm and because of that we may sometimes feel whether, does our work have any meaning at all? Well, that’s what this blogpost/reflection is about.             The ancient Greeks thought that the gods made human beings for work and so work inherently had no blessing, as the Italian philosopher Adriano Tilgher once put it, “To the Greeks, work was a curse and nothing else.” In fact, Aristotle said that unemployment (by which he meant the ability to live without having to work and not as we would understand today of not having a job) was a primary qua...

  THE COURAGE TO BE …… Mario D’Couto             It’s been a fairly long time since my last blogpost/reflection and to put it in a nutshell, I have been going through quite a bit – from my mother’s heart attack, a change of job, dealing with family issues, it all seemed to come at the same time that there were moments I felt overwhelmed but if it were not for the grace for the Almighty, I don’t know what could have happened. In one of my previous blogpost/reflection called “Looking back” ( https://insightsfromacommonman.blogspot.com/2022/12/looking-back.html ), I dealt with the topic of fear and how it can have its impact on our lives if not dealt with properly and what we can do to overcome it. These last few months have really put me to the test and it felt as though through those experiences, I was being challenged to face my fears. Perhaps, as you read through these words, you may be able to relate with what I am sayi...

  QUEEN MOTHER Mario D’Couto                You may sometimes hear non-Catholics and Protestants objecting to the title ‘Mediatrix’ applied to Our Lady by citing the words of St. Paul, who wrote that Christ is the One Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5) and so this begs the question as to how can these two claims where Christ as the One Mediator and Our Lady as the Mediatrix be reconciled?        Well, to begin with, St. Paul, touched upon this mystery where he wrote, “ We are God’s co-workers” (1 Corinthians 3:9). Yet if Christ is the One Mediator, why would He have co-workers? Can’t God get the job done by Himself? Of course He can. But since He is a Father, His job is raising up mature sons and daughters and the way to do that is by making us co-workers.           We are children of God and this is not a metaphor or just a pious phrase but it is a reality. When...