Spirituality

“The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.” – Albert Einstein

Cognitive dimension, the second area of Wholeness:

In our presentation of the ‘Wholeness paradigm’ in the July issue, it was pointed out that the cognitive dimension refers to all our intellectual functions and the processes involved in exercising them. In other words, it pertains to the mental aspects of our every-day lives. I would consider cognitive or intellectual dimension as the central facet of our search for wholeness. While the other five dimensions are essential for achieving wholeness, the cognitive dimension is often the compass that guides us through the complexities of life. It is through our cognitive faculties that we manage our thoughts, beliefs, reasoning and intellectual pursuits. Also, it is our cognitive dimension that assists us in interpreting experiences and understanding what is going on in our lives.

If our intellectual dimension is in fact, the compass that guides our life, then it is important that we understand it with all its intricate functions. Intellectual dimension is all about growing intellectually, sustaining curiosity about all things new, valuing lifelong learning, and responding positively to intellectual challenges that come on our way. It also consists of expanding our knowledge and skills which would help us to discover our potential.

Fr. Dr. Joseph Jeyaraj, sdb

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Mission is a sharing of what discipleship of Jesus means and helping people live that out in their everyday life. It is not so much a mission on Jesus as a mission of Jesus; it has to do more with dying like Christ than for Christ. It is a witnessing to what Jesus preached and stood for, namely the Reign of God. Disciples follow the footsteps of Jesus in his life, preaching, and death. It is as simple as that, but with enormous consequences for our present-day world and society, and for ourselves personally.
Mission is Right Here
This understanding and approach to mission breaks the stereotype of mission on territorial basis – as if some lands are mission countries and others mission sending countries. Mission should be pursued in every corner of the globe each with distinct focus and emphasis, dictated by the local context and socio-political conditions. Mission is not distant; it’s right here, around us, within our immediate communities and neighbourhood. Way back in 1943, a French priest, L’ Abbé Henri Godin startled the Christian world with his booklet “France, pays de mission?” – France a mission country. Today, increasingly, we understand that every nation is a mission nation.
Mission encompasses people, society, nature and environment. Vatican II provides a document, “Ad Gentes,” explicitly addressing mission. However, the true mission document of Vatican II is “Gaudium et Spes,” delving deeply into the Church’s presence and engagement in the modern world. It offers inspiration for living out Jesus’ teachings in the political, social, cultural, and economic spheres we encounter daily, either directly or indirectly. Pope Paul VI’s “Evangelii Nuntiandi” – a mission document – surpassed earlier approaches to evangelization by intimately connecting it to the social message of the Gospel and the Church’s social teachings. Ultimately, evangelization should bring about a transformation from within, permeating the various layers of human life (EN 18).

Fr Dr Felix Wilfred

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Ignatius of Loyola in his Autobiography does not call himself a priest, master, leader, founder etc. Instead he calls himself a pilgrim. It is said that the word pilgrim appears seventy seven (77) times in the Autobiography of St Ignatius. He was a pilgrim because – he was in search of the Divine. He was on a pilgrimage from “ego” to Christ (or the Divine). In doing so he travelled from his mind to the heart. No doubt it was a long journey that he took up in order to reach from the self to the other. They say the longest distance in the world is – from one’s mind to one’s heart! His Autobiography is called Testament and Testimony. It is the Testament because it is the proclamation/expression of faith and it is the Testimony because it is the witness or proof of his faith journey. Now this pilgrim saint leaves behind a precious gift called Daily Examen of Consciousness for our spiritual growth. The pilgrim saint by offering this precious gift to us invites each one of us to be pilgrims in the world of today.
Certainly, it is in my prayer that God gradually reveals Himself to me and the mystery of His Plan for all of reality in Christ enabling me to know and love as the divine persons know and love. It is in prayer that I experience His invitation and challenges to me personally. “You are mine; I have called you by name.” Is.43:1. This is why the examen is prayer and is related to my daily, personal and contemplative prayer. My prayer would be empty if I did not order my life or remove the obstacles or impediments to respond to Him. It is the daily examen that helps me to feel and recognize those interior invitations/movements of the Lord that guide and deepen this ordering/relationship. To be prayerful means to find God in all things not just in the time of formal prayer – even after the formal prayer.

Fr Richard Mascarenhas SJ

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Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish scholar and mystic, actively participated in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s peaceful protest in Selma in 1965. Upon his return from Selma, someone asked him, “Did you manage to find time to pray while you were there?” In response, he said, “I prayed with my feet.” He would say that his peaceful protesting and advocating for Civil Rights was his greatest prayer of all.

Inspired by the letter of the CRI President Sr. Nirmalini AC, religious men and women organised and took part in rallies all across the country. This is something unfamiliar to many of us and yet its significance is becoming increasingly essential given the state of the nation.

Spiritual author Brian McLaren writes: “There is nothing more radically activist than a truly spiritual life, and there is nothing more truly spiritual than a radically activist life.” The current moment calls spiritual people to get active and the activist people to get spiritual. We need our internal revolution to direct the outer revolution.

Br Sunil Britto CFC

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Lend me ………….

Lend me a chance………………….

Lend me a chance to prove………

Lend me a chance to prove my love for you.

Time and time again I spoke in simple syllable

Give me a chance to speak again without hurting

To write the right without cutting or over writing

To say sorry or thanks, for the truth that lies in every lie.

To save and safeguard the name and fame

To undo the mistake and delete the wrong

To hold back all whom I have pushed out

To feel for you as you feel for me.

Lend me a Lent…….

To come back to you with all my heart

Sr Mariella CTC
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Centuries ago, while everyone looked at the earth as the centre, Nicolaus Copernicus asked them to look at the sun as the centre. The Copernican Revolution is a shift from a geocentric understanding to a heliocentric understanding.

During his recent visit to Slovakia on 14^th September 2021, Pope Francis spoke to  the young people about a Copernican shift in their personal lives with regard to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

I am not the Centre

What is this Copernican shift? It is the understanding that, with my sins, I am not the centre in the Sacrament of Confession. At the centre is the encounter with God who welcomes, embraces, forgives and raises me up. We go to confession as children run to embrace their parent. Pope Francis says, “God is never ashamed of you. God loves you right there, where you are ashamed of yourself. And God loves you always. Does God take offence? No, never. God suffers when we think He can’t forgive us, because it is like telling Him, ‘You are weak in love!’ Instead, God rejoices in forgiving us, every time. When He raises us up, He believes in us as He did the first time. He does not get discouraged. We are the ones who are discouraged, He is not. He does not see sinners to label, but children to love. He does not see people who have erred, but beloved children; wounded, perhaps; and then He has even more compassion and tenderness. And every time we confess — never forget this — there is a celebration in Heaven. May it be the same on earth!”

Fr Leon Cruz SDB

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Saturday’s morning sun shines forth for me to bask in its rays and in the freshness of its light and warmth.  Arms outstretched, I breathe in the fresh air and feel refreshed, relaxed and renewed.  Joy fills my heart and pen runs freely in praise of the Almighty God for His beauty, variety and creativity in nature.

Awe-filled, I sat and wondered at the variety of trees, plants, leaves, flowers and fruits.  I noticed a tree with lush green tender leaves with tiny flowers full of sweet and strong smell, glowing pure and shiny in the warmth of the sun. Opposite to it I could see a tree fully naked with dry branches, but no leaves or flowers.  Next I came across a tree filled with leaves yielding fruits once in a year and resting for the rest of the year.

I asked Father God; the garden, the soil, the gardener, water and sunlight are the same.  How is it, at the same time, one flowers, one withers, and one is short, another is tall.  One is filled with fragrance and another with no smell?  I heard Him whisper to me that each in due season will flower and bear fruit.  They follow the wise cycle of birth, growth, death and new life.  They are free from the compulsive behaviour of being always right and smart or being in the lime light forever or being efficient throughout.

Sr Nambikkai Kitheri SAP

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God Experience

In 2014, I was doing a spirituality course at Adhyatma Vidya Peetam, Bangalore, as preparation for my final commitment. One day, a professor asked us in the class whether any of us has had a ‘God-Experience.’ As I was seated on the first bench, I raised my hand and said, ‘Yes, I have.’ The priest asked me to share that. So, with conviction, I got up and said, “This morning I’m alive and that’s my God-Experience.”

When we walk in the light of the Lord, when we move with the awareness of God, every second of our life becomes a ‘God-Experience.’ We do not need great miracles to take place to know our God, for we have been created by the God who sent His only Son to become one like us and we have been redeemed by the God who went up to Calvary and stretched out His hands on the Cross saying, “I love you this much.”

Sr Lini Sheeja MSC

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A doctoral thesis I guided at Madras University was on the impact of religious practices on depression. The research scholar, Johnny KK, tested the depression levels of terminally ill patients before and after “religious therapy.” There was a measurable diminishment of depression.

The dissertation also included a 136-page Review of Literature which showed the mounting evidence for the impact of religious practices on mental health. The evidence grows each decade.

Psychology and spirituality (or religion), once seen as enemies or rivals, are close allies today. One of the main reasons for this is the abundance of psychological research that shows that spiritual practices (such as meditation) or religious practices (such as private or common prayer or church attendance) promote mental, and even physical, health. In one word, people who practise meditation and regular prayer enjoy better mental health, and, in a number of cases, faster recovery from illness.

The findings are worth quoting.

Meditators have lower blood pressure than non-meditators.

Meditators manage negative emotions, such as depression or anger, better than those who do not meditate.

Practically everyone I know who has practised Vipassana meditation spoke of its positive impact, such as, facing situations more calmly and being aware of oneself.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

Fr Rappai invites us to move from just “reciting prayers” to a deeper link between work done with love and prayers coming from a grateful heart.

Besides the morning prayers and Eucharist, most Religious communities have a formal community prayer, normally towards the end of the day, expected to be joined by all. In male religious communities the practice is on the decline or abandoned. It may be worth reflecting why the community prayers in religious communities are declining.

Increasing workload, mobility, individual and institutional work schedules in communities with multi-apostolate responsibilities could explain why community prayers are half-hazardly attended. Another major cause could be the endless mass communication floating around us – printed, audio, audio-visual, social media etc…. that all of us (male religious more than female) use most of the day. Calamities, accidents, violence and negative news seem to be the staple of the print, electronic and social media. They linger in the mind, disturb our peace, sleep and tranquillity, for long. Reading, or listening attentively to lengthy prayers written by someone else, often routinized, becomes a drudgery.

Why Less Interest in Community Prayer

Is that the only, or even the main, reason?

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Fr Rappai Poothokaren SJ