It is hard to believe that we are
ending the year 2011 very shortly. It is a time to celebrate Christ’s birth
too. It is God given opportunity to evaluate on the past, on the present and on
the future. We have good many achievements in the past with regards to the
sacraments: 130 baptisms, 300 confirmations, 265 prepared for first Holy
Communion and 33 marriages. And there are very many activities besides the
sacramental life in our parish. Given the success of our past, our focus for
the future must be envisioned by the help of God. Abraham Lincoln once said:
“The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.” One thing I admire that we have great people
with different ministries. We are fortunate to have volunteers and supporters
who contribute time and energy whenever there is a call. I want to thank each
of you for your dedication.
We are all given a call to grow a
stronger community as we begin the new-year, keeping Mary our mother as a
model. It is the age of the visual. Television forums becomes an
ever-increasing portion of our daily life. Advertising is a multi-million
dollar industry. Physical beauty is a marketable product. “Miss World” is not
born; she is assembled by those whose business is to market beauty. For those who
can read the neon signs of the times, the message is loud and clear. War had
been declared on ugliness. A world so obsessed by physical beauty and so
dismissive of sin is condemned to futility. We need the saving grace of a
Redeemer not the bland inducements of an advertiser.
Real beauty is not a matter of
the length of a nose or the shape of a mouth. It has to do with the quality of
the person. Probably, two of the most beautiful people of recent times were
Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Kolkata, India. Neither of them would
have distinguished themselves in a beauty contest. Yet nobody would hesitate to
call them beautiful persons. Undoubtedly, the most beautiful creature to grace
this planet was Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Mary’s transparent beauty derived
not from any physical endowments but from her plain heart without sin. Mary was
a beautiful person unscarred by sin. Then, beg the Lord that every family in
the world may have its own fruitful journey in this new-year with Our Blessed
Mother Mary. God bless.
Vivat Jesus,
Fr. S. Susai Raj.
In modern times the family has
again come under attack, from all angles it sometimes seems. There are those
who insist that the disposal of a living, unborn child should be a “right” of
its mother. The elderly and feeble, rather than being revered and respected
come under attack due to their “drain” on the economy and lack of
“contributing” to society at large. We have, unfortunately, witnessed the rise
of a ‘Culture of Death’.
