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At midlife, we can feel in our bones that we are going to die.

One of the most central dynamics of midlife is centred on meaning and purpose. Midlife forces us to ask some radical questions about ourselves, the meaningfulness and direction of the life we lead. These questions are invitations to us to make better sense of our past and present, and create new meaning and purpose for the future, so that we can live the second half of our lives more consciously, that is, the way our “soul”—meaning our deep authentic self—wants us to live.

There are four kinds of questions we usually ask ourselves as midlife creeps upon us:

1. Who am I?
2. Whose am I?
3. What have I accomplished?
4. What do I feel about the way I have lived and now live?

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Fr Jose Parappully SDB

The story of an extraordinary artist who was much more than a painter.

On 25 March every year, when we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, many people, trying to imagine what could have happened during the momentous event, would see, in their mind’s eye, this famous painting. It shows the angel Gabriel announcing the good news to the Virgin Mary. It was painted by someone who will soon be a saint. Blessed Fra Angelico was born in Tuscany, Italy, around 1395. His parents named him Guido di Pietro. Guido, who took to painting from an early age, became a mendicant Dominican Friar, taking the name of Giovanni (John). Fra is a contraction of ‘Frater’ which is Latin for ‘Brother.’ He belonged to the community at Fiesole, near Florence, and therefore he was known to his contemporaries as Fra Giovanni of Fiesole. It was his exemplary life that earned him the surname ‘Angelico.’ So his name, Fra Angelico, means ‘the Angelic Friar.’

After living for ten years at Cortona, Fra Angelico was assigned in 1436 to the newly built friary of San Marco in Florence. This move placed him at the centre of artistic activity of the region. A nobleman called Cosimo de Medici, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Florence, offered him generous financial support and urged him to paint in the friary, where he had a cell reserved for himself. It is here that Angelico came up with the masterpiece ‘Annunciation’ at the top of the stairs leading to the cells. Many other smaller frescoes on events in the life of Christ adorned the walls of each cell in this friary.  The remarkable luminous quality of all his paintings impressed everyone.

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Fr M A Joe Antony SJ

3 May World Press Freedom Day

The 26^th World Press Freedom Day global celebration is taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 1-3 May 2019.

This year’s theme “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation” discusses current challenges faced by media in elections, along with the media’s potential in supporting peace and reconciliation processes.

UNESCO fosters a free, independent and pluralistic media, the safety of journalists and how we can push back against a growing climate of disinformation. On this day it confers awards on deserving organizations, individuals or institutions that have made commendable contributions in the promotion and defense of press freedom in any part of the world, specifically when the achievement is made in the face of danger. The Day celebrates the elementary principles of freedom of the press to assess the worth of press freedom worldwide and to protect media from attacks that are put on their independence.  It salutes those journalists who have lost their lives in line of duty and informs the citizens about the violations of freedom of the press. In several countries, publications are fined, suspended, censored and shut down, while editors, publishers and journalists are attacked, detained, harassed and even murdered.

India

While the number of journalists being attacked on duty has been reduced, this still goes on at an alarming rate. Investigative reporting has become extremely dreadful in India where fifty-four journalists were attacked and seven lost their lives in the year of 2016-17. India is ranked 136^th in the world out of the 179 listed countries to be the worst country for journalism. It is extremely vital in India to raise awareness about the essence of press freedom. Though our Indian constitution does not mention the word ‘press’ anywhere in the rights, it offers the right to freedom of speech and expression. Yet, this right is subject to certain restrictions for reasons of protecting the security, integrity and sovereignty of India. Laws like Prevention of Terrorists Act and Official Secrets Act have been utilized in order to limit the freedom of the press.

29 May International Day of UN Peacekeepers

Since the year 1948, the Security Council was set up by the United Nations and given the primary responsibility of maintenance of international peace and security. This was necessitated by the happenings of World War II where there was a colossal loss of human life, to ensure that there would be no recurrence of this. The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is a tribute to people who serve or have served in UN peacekeeping operations. The peacekeepers are honored for their high level of professionalism, dedication and courage. The people who died for peace are also remembered. There have been fourteen peacekeeping missions in the world so far, out of which half have been in Africa. These missions have not all been successful. However, it would be unfair not to recognize the success stories of some of these peacekeeping missions. The missions to Cambodia, Angola and Mozambique are among the notable success stories. Also ongoing are missions in South Sudan, Central Africa Republic and Mali.

The peacekeepers are meant to use amicable and diplomatic means of maintaining peace wherever they are deployed. However, in some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. This is more so when the lives of the peacekeepers are threatened. For the UN, the fact that most States are sovereign already limits the capacity in which they can act and the extent to which it can get involved in the matters of a State. The UN cannot overstep. Hence sometimes there is really not much help it can give. Its ‘hands’ are tied.

The peacekeepers face a lot. The first challenge is leaving the comfort and love of a home and family and going to a foreign territory where the living conditions are mostly deplorable. It takes a toll on them, and that is why, before going, there are measures taken to prepare them psychologically. In some instances, after interacting and coming into a peaceful agreement, tables turn and they face hostile attacks. The residents turn against them, forcing their use of arms to defend themselves. This sometimes ends in loss of lives and sustaining of injuries.

We salute all the peacekeepers. We are proud of them.

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Sr Esme da Cunha FDCC

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The Least of These: The Graham Staines Story (2019)
Director: Aneesh Daniel. Cast: Stephen Baldwin, Shari Rigby, Sharman Joshy, Aditi Chengappa. (2019. 112 minutes)

This movie dramatizes the story of the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his family who were burnt to death by an extremist during their mission among the destitute lepers in Odisha in 1999.

Manav Banerjee,  a  job-hunting journalist with his wife in full term pregnancy, gets a dream job  as reporter with New Orissa newspaper.  Manav’s editor Mishra assigns him to track the activities of Graham Staines to implicate the missionary in a case of illegal conversion.  He demands incriminating evidence, which Manav is not able to. Manav is scared of leprosy and is prejudiced against Christian missionaries. He visits the lepers’ sanatorium in the remote village where Staines and family live with the poor lepers who are thrown out by their families and village.

Manav fails to understand such selfless acts of charity. He approaches it with the popular prejudice that the missionaries are using leprosy care as a pretext for proselytization aimed at undermining India’s social fabric. His repeated attempts to find incriminating evidence fail.  Once he gets into trouble with the villagers as he speaks against the local customs. To escape their wrath, Manav cunningly incites them against the missionaries.  His words make Mahendra and his buddies want to murder Staines and his family. They set fire to the jeep in which Staines and his young sons were sleeping. All three die in the fire.

In the midst of her intense suffering, Gladys Staines forgives the murderers. Manav has a change of heart and confesses to her his role in the incitement to murder. He confronts his editor Mishra to publish the truth, but fails. Manav publishes the true story in a national daily, exposing the lies propagated by New Orissa. He also comes to realize that Babulal Mishra, the cured leper he had encountered many times to get a confession of illegal religious conversion, had actually never changed his religion. Besides, Babulal was actually the father of the editor Mishra. He had been expelled from his community and ritually “cremated” on account of leprosy. Manav returned to share the life of the leprosy patients in the Staines’ establishment. Gladys Staines and her daughter continued the work of her husband.

 

Restless Heart (2012)
Director: Christian Duguay. Cast:  Alessandro Preziosi, Franco Nero, Monica Guerritore, Johannes Brandrup, Alexander Held, Katy Louise, Sebastian Ströbel, Serena Rossi. (2012. 180 minutes)

The movie is based on the story of the illustrious saint and philosopher St Augustine (354-430). It draws most of the events from his Confessions. The film echoes the famous lines from Augustine’s Confessions: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

The story is presented from the point of view of the aged Bishop Augustine in Hippo. The Vandals are about to attack the city. Augustine’s attempts to make peace fails. He declines to escape to Rome on board ships sent by the Pope, wanting to be with his people.

The flashbacks take us to Augustine’s early life in Thagaste in East Africa. Augustine’s pagan father is unfaithful to his wife and disliked by his son. Monica, the devout Christian mother, is praying for the conversion of both. Ambitious for a career in rhetoric, he arrives in Carthage to train under the famous lawyer and orator Macrobius. As a rising star in that world, Augustine lives a dissolute life and takes a mistress with whom he has a son. His power of rhetoric and unscrupulous ways make him a successful lawyer.  Under the advice of his close friend Valerius, he goes to Milan to be the advocate of the emperor Valentinian against the saintly Bishop Ambrose, who is famed to be the greatest orator in the empire. Ambrose has been speaking against the Emperor for the rights of the Church. Augustine is now a Manichaean. Bishop Ambrose comforts Monica, saying that a son of so many tears cannot be lost.

After much personal struggle and hesitation, Augustine hears God’s words asking him to “take and read.” The passage he gets pierces his heart, and he bursts into tears. He is received into the church by Ambrose. Augustine becomes a priest and then bishop in Hippo. His writings are among the best-known religious classics of history. One of the most famous lines from his Confessions is his telling God: “Late have I loved Thee, O beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved Thee. Thou wert within me, and I outside.” God had sought him, drawn him to himself and given Augustine what his heart was always longing for.

 

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Dr Gigy Joseph

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Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

Born in Kempen, Germany in 1380, he joined a group called the Brethren of the Common Life, which included both clergy and lay persons, and lived a simple life, supporting themselves through their own work. Later, he joined an Augustinian monastery, and was ordained a priest. He wrote what became the most influential Christian spiritual book outside of the Bible—The Imitation of Christ. Thomas held that we are all called to imitate Christ—not in his external deeds, but more in his internal attitudes. He believed, too, that everyone is called to holiness.The main obstacle on this path was not one’s external situation, but one’s self-attachment. Reacting against unnecessary academic complications, he insisted on leading a good life rather than on talking about such a life. He wrote simply, avoiding intellectual jargon or complicated theories. No wonder the book has appealed to so many—and also been criticized by some as being anti-intellectual. Its impact is undeniable.

Thomas died on May 1, 1471 at the age of ninety-two. Here are some quotes from his famous and simple masterpiece.

“God regards the greatness of the love that prompts a person, rather than the greatness of his/her achievement.”

 “A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer way to God than a deep searching of the sciences.”

“I would rather feel contrition than be able to define it.”

“On the Day of Judgement, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done.”

“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”

“If God were our one and only desire, we would not be so easily upset when our opinions do not find outside acceptance.”

“The Lord bestows his blessings there, where he finds the vessels empty.”

“A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.”

 

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The Imitation of Christ
Thomas à Kempis

Composed in Latin in the 15^th century, it is considered the most popular Christian devotional book after Bible, well accepted among both Catholics and Protestants.Arranged in four thematic sections with short reflections and practical advice on deepening our spiritual life, the book begins with reflections on the nothingness of humanity and the need to follow Christ. The soul has to withdraw from the vanities of the world and its temptations, practice humility, give up the clever disputations of theologians and endure the world’s contempt. Solitude and silence are to be sought. Faithfulness, fervor and avoidance of overconfidence are required for salvation. Section II speaks of the need for humility as a directive for interior life. God will defend us against others’ malice when we have a clear conscience. The lengthiest part (Section III) is a dialogue between Christ and His disciple, dealing with the theme of consolation. Despite the promises of the Lord, many remain indifferent. He promises that he will never let down anyone who trusts in Him and is faithful. Perfection is to be sought in total surrender to God. When the soul thinks that it is farthest from God, then is God the nearest.

The final section speaks of the vitality and necessity of the Blessed Sacrament through which grace is conferred to the soul crippled by sin.  In order to receive the Sacrament, one must “make clean the mansion” of one’s heart. We must shut out the whole world with its sinful clamour, seek solitude and meditate of one’s transgressions when the Body of Christ is offered in the Mass and in Communion. The book does not claim any originality of thought or expression. But it is endearing for its forthright clarity, sincerity and practical insight it provides into Christian spirituality. Thomas À Kempis’s book has remained an inspiration and guide to all people across cultures and acknowledged by great men like St Thomas More and Ignatius Loyola to Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi.

 

When Life Hurts: Finding Hope and Healing from the Pain You Carry (Baker Books, 2013)
Jimmy Evans & Frank Martin

All humans carry hurts. Some get over it and many carry them through life. Pain and emotional hurts often go unattended and lead to all kinds of disorders and unhappiness. The authors speak of a “hurt pocket” inside us in which we collect and preserve the heavy burden of  hurts, destroying happy relationships and  making life joyless and empty. Quoting  anecdotes from personal experience and from those others whom he knew, Evans presents practical ways through which we can get healed and restore emotional and spiritual health. His method is firmly grounded in the Biblical truths. Inner peace is brought to us through forgiveness. We have to forgive ourselves as well as others. Taking responsibility for our own decisions and being open to God’s mercy and forgiveness can transform us.

 “Only God can bring true healing to our hearts and help us resolve the unprocessed pain residing in the hurt pocket of our spirits. But that healing can only begin when we decide to give him access to the deepest and most painful area of our hearts.” In moments of suffering we may be tempted to reject God.

God can heal the deepest and the most painful wounds. But He first needs us to open up to him and own those struggles that hold us hostage to sin or insecurity or dysfunction.  Christ is the “Hurt healer.” Three truths about divine healing: (1) Healing is a partnership between us and God; (2) It is a lifestyle and demands a change in the way we live; (3) It is about finding God’s purpose for our lives.

“We all know that God can deliver us from our pain, but instead He often chooses to deliver us through it. God allows pain and turmoil because it is often during times of suffering that we’re most engaged in the relationship. He uses tragedy to draw us to himself. “Sometimes hurt and sin can be passed down generations, establishing patterns of negative behaviour inherited from our elders. By seeking God’s help, we can break the legacy of inherited hurts.”  The book includes an eight week study guide for individuals and groups.

 

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Dr Gigy Joseph

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Much to be learnt. Much to be done

Up to the age of twelve, I found church services, catechism classes (and priests in general) extremely boring. We boys did all we could to cut catechism classes. We went to church because our families made us to, not because we found it appealing. Most priests were not approachable, not did they help us youngsters to find religion attractive. All this changed only after I came to the Salesian school.

Today, a number of priests do make Jesus and his message appealing to the young. So, too, there are excellent religious (sisters and brothers) as well as lay apostles who conduct great programmes for youth. One of the very good things happening now is peer ministry by youth. There are young people who conduct very good programmes, including retreats, for teenagers and youth.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

Here is a frank account of one man’s mid-life confusion and search, and what a retreat did for him. God used two unlikely people to help him see the light—a Sister he did not know, and a violent young criminal facing a 40-year jail term.

In the beginning of the Inferno of The Divine Comedy, Dante tells Virgil he does not know how he ended in this “dark wild wood in the middle of life’s journey.” I was forty-eight years old, in the middle of my life’s journey, in what I considered the darkest, wildest wood of my life. Things were getting rough and I was actually considering a “long-permanent-break” from the Congregation. Weeks turned into months, and then, one February morning after receiving a fiery email (which I considered too unfair) from one of my superiors, I took off to Santa Monica (I was living in Los Angeles at that time, and I was part of the Chaplaincy team in Men’s Central Jail).

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Brother Carmel Duca MC

Love can bring hope and create miracles in the midst of desperation and misery. See what a group of concerned Sisters and their co-workers are doing in Asia’s second largest slum, situated in India’s swanky capital city.

You enter Sangam Vihar in the heart of Delhi and see this shocking scene. All around you are thousands of dilapidated huts, most of them “tents” made of gunny bags and sheets of plastic that serve as the roof over the head for many, many families. You have just entered the second largest slum in the whole of Asia. It is found in India’s capital city, which boasts of a swanky new airport with three terminals rated as the best airport in the world in its category, posh residential areas and much wealth.

I enter from one edge of the slums. Here comes Lalitha with her four children, taking them to St Gianelli Social Service Society (GSSS) headed by Sr Ema, belonging to the Sisters of Our Lady of Garden.  Lalitha’s two boys, both below ten, are rag-pickers.

“Are you happy to go to school?” I ask them.

With a mischievous smile, one boy says, “Yes,” while his brother says, “No.” One said he is happy to go “because in the school we play; we dance, study and eat a tasty meal served by our Sisters.” The other said, “I too feel happy, but I cannot attend the tuition classes in the evening. I have to go to faraway places to collect rags. I find it hard to study.” Both the boys are telling the truth.

I ask Sr Ema about this. She tells me that the Centre runs classes for the slum children from 11 am until 1 pm. From 3 pm to 5 pm, they offer free tuition for the regular school-going children.

The sisters started this centre in 2007. It provides free lunch to 120 slum children. The meals are sponsored by a scheme called “Bread Noida” run by the IMS Fathers.

Brilliant Kids
“These children are very intelligent and creative,” Sr Ema tells me. “I love to work with them.  They feel quite free with us. They are ready to give any programme any time. They can give items on the spot. You play a song from the CD, and they dance joyfully.  Ask them for a skit, and they act out their reality.”

Comparing these children to the students in the so-called “normal schools” in which she has worked, Sr Ema says, “I have worked in some of our schools. For any programme we train our students for days together and yet we feel anxious whether they will perform right. Here, instead, we do not need to give them any practice. Our children manage any programme boldly and creatively. I admire their tremendous talent and energy.”

“What activities do you do with them?” I ask her.

“We conduct rallies, mostly to create awareness on health issues, education, children’s rights and leadership. We have found that the Children’s Parliament is the most effective way of making them aware of their rights and teaching them how to demand their rights. Here, the most essential or disturbing issues are discussed.  This is the way their voice is heard in the Children’s Manifesto for 2019 (CM2019).”

Speaking about the Children’s Parliament, one of the staff, Mrs Godhambary, says “We have divided the whole group into five units comprising of thirty-six children. Each child is given the responsibility of heading a ministerial position,  like health, home, finance, education, environment, etc. Last month, with our help, the “Health Minister” organised ‘Beti Bachavo, Beti Padavo’ rally with a hundred children which drew the attention of their parents and CM2019.

Another staff member, Mr Gaurav, says “Every month we conduct a health camp on health and hygiene issues. Max Hospital, Delhi, sponsors this programme. Doctors from Max come and conduct necessary tests and administer medicines free of cost. The children and their parents enjoy this programme as they display different issues of health and hygiene through puppetry and street play. We have one Dr Pearl rendering free medical service to women.”

Coming back to GSSS, it has seven staff members. Sr Ema wishes they were better paid, but the centre is not financially self-sufficient. She is full of praise for a Catholic man from the parish who pays Rs 16,000 every month towards staff salary.

I am struck by what Sister tells me about a certain Mr Govind. He works for Childline in Indore. Sr Ema looked after him when she worked among street children in Khandwa. He says, “She is my mother.” He gives her credit for his life and achievements. He has no one to call his own; so, he works for the children who have no one. They remind him of his own childhood.

A girl called Ashwini is doing her 12^th standard. She started coming to GSSS eleven years ago Even now, she continues to visit the Centre. She tells the Sisters: “Without you, study would have been only a dream for me. Here I could study, and also look after my younger sisters and brother.” Her three siblings are also studying at the Centre.

A Muslim girl called Praveen Sheikh had a great desire to study, but her parents did not want it. The efforts of GSSS brought her to the sisters. Now she says, “I will study not only up to the 8^th standard. I will do my 9^th, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th.” She is determined to complete school. “She has become courageous and decisive,” adds Mr Gaurav proudly.

For Sr Ema, GSSS is not the first experience of working with the poor. Earlier, she was in Khandwa, MP. Together with another Sister called Ambika, she noticed the rag pickers, runaway boys, children of unwed mothers, drug-addicts and pick-pockets at the railway station.

What to do for these children, who seemed to have no one to turn to, and no home to call their own?

The two Sisters started to meet them on the railway platforms. They attracted them with songs, games and offering them hot meals prepared in the Convent and serving them on the railway platform.  The boys seemed happy to enjoy the company of the Sisters. Slowly, the Sisters approached the railways authorities, and asked them to lend them a room with a toilet. Seeing the good work of the Sisters, the authorities readily agreed. They gave them a room on the platform. The Sisters brought some plates, boxes and carom boards and other play material. The boys found a home for a shelter, warm food, some entertainment. Each child was also given a trunk in which they could keep their belongings. One key of the trunk was given to the child and another was with the Sisters. As the boys started trusting Sisters, they even handed their earnings to the Sisters, or kept it in their boxes. They now had something to call their own. More than that, there were people who cared about them. Further, they had a place for taking bath and for washing their clothes—“luxuries” they had never had before.

Later, these children were shifted to a government-run day care centre nearby. The Sisters were allowed to take care of the girls.  When the number of boys and girls increased, the Sisters began their own Nava Jeevan Children’s Home. The Railway authorities, the Police and other government officials were very co-operative. They would send boys and girls to this Children’s Home. Everything had to be done according to the Government rules, of course.

Nav Jeevan renders day and night care to the children. It has taught and cared for 1500 students so far. With the initial training offered by Nav Jeevan, these children are  sent to neighbouring schools. Many of them study in English Medium schools. Nav Jeevan Children’s Home run by the sisters of Our Lady of the Garden takes care of the expenses of these children.

Sr Ema did her Post Graduation at the Indore School of Social Work. She has now worked among street children, rag-pickers and slum dwellers for twenty years.

I ask her: “What makes you feel at home in this ministry?”

She tells me, “From my initial formation days, I had a dream of teaching poor children. I felt this calling in my heart. I am happy here.”

(The photos show life in Sangham Vihar—adults, children, “houses,” cooking, working.)

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Sr Celine Vas BS

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One of my favourite stories from Antony de Mello’s books is the following.

While a Mullah was in prayer, a woman tripped over him and continued her errands without even stopping to apologize. Later on, the same day, the Mullah met her again and berated her for the rudeness with which she had behaved with him. The woman seemed astounded. She went on to explain her surprise: “Sir, I was worried sick for having lost my husband! If I could not even realize I had tripped on you, such a respected Mullah, how then could you possibly notice me, a peasant, while being in conversation with God?”

The first person who comes to my mind as this story’s quintessence is Regina.

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Sr Marie Gabrielle Riopel SCSM