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Mohandas Gandhi: The Story of My Experiments with Truth

In 1999, Harper Collins Publishers cited Mahatma Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth among one of the one hundred best spiritual books of the 20^th century. This book tells us of the formation of one of the most influential and revered personalities of the last millennium. In five parts, it covers his life from early childhood to the beginning of the Non-Cooperation Movement. In its deep introspection, passion for truth, godliness in all things and a consequent concern for personal integrity and love of one’s fellow creatures, it has touched many readers around the globe.

His father’s uprightness, his mother’s piety and strict adherence to the rules of her religion—these become the standard by which young Gandhi measures his own conduct. These dearly held principles are tested against the experiences of every day existence, developing his strong moral character. In Part I we read the candid report of his boyhood struggles to overcome temptations of various kinds. In South Africa he encounters racism and social oppression. He engages in principled opposition to these, and experiments with community living. This becomes the training ground for the historic undertaking—the Indian Freedom Struggle. His vow of celibacy in marriage, his cooperation with the British as relief worker during the Boer war and the World War I are narrated in sections III and IV. Part V narrates the founding of the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmedabad, the Champaran Satyagraha, and his resistance to the Rowlatt Act.

By then Gandhi has become a man of many parts—newspaper editor, educationist, and a leader whose vision eventually created a great democratic nation. In all his experiments he insists on truth, non-violence and realisation of God. God is truth, and truth can only be realised through ahimsa. It is aspiring after truth that turned him to politics and indeed into all areas of life. Truth, politics, and religion therefore belong together, despite what people claim. With deep humility and a prayerful mind he declares that he seeks to reduce himself to zero and be the last among fellow creatures, and asks readers to join him in prayer to the God of Truth that he may be granted the boon of ahimsa in mind, word, and deed.

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Nelson Mandela: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM (Macdonald Purnell, 1994)

Mandela is to South Africa what Mahatma Gandhi is to India. He spearheaded the anti-apartheid movement and won for his fellow men their freedom and rights. And he helped create a country of racial harmony, avoid a blood bath, which many had feared. Long Walk to Freedom recounts his life as a freedom fighter and the shaper of African destiny. It tells the story of the native people’s struggle against the indignity and brutality of the European hegemony and attain equality and self-determination denied to them for centuries.

Mandela was transformed by the education he received, and this made him realize the vital significance of education as the route to liberation. He became active in the struggle for the rights of Africans and was cruelly treated. Arrested in 1962, he was imprisoned for twenty-six years! In prison he gained the status of a martyr and an icon of human rights. Released in 1990, he was elected the African President of South Africa, in the first multi-racial election the country ever had. The book is an inspiring, passionate epic of the triumph of a man’s determination, suffering, and resilience in the face of severe trials.

A lesson from Mandela: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Another lesson: “If I do not forgive, I will still be living in a prison (of hatred).”

Mandela insisted, when elected president, that what the country needed was not revenge, but healing. For his noble-minded approach to public life and his lack of bitterness towards those who had ill-treated him (, he became one of the most respected statesmen in the world. No wonder there were over ninety heads of state at his funeral—the largest ever.

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True Grit (2010)

Runtime:             110 minutes

Genre:                 Holly wood Revenge drama. (Remake of the 1965 version)

Written & Directed By:     Joel and Ethan Coen

Cast:                    Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper

On the surface, the Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit it is a suspenseful quest across the Wild West, with the climactic gunfight and the bad guys killed by the good guys, etc. At a deeper level, it focuses on the paradoxes of natural ‘justice’ in contrast to the idea of Grace. Maddie Ross, a determined fourteen-year-old girl forces the drunken one-eyed Marshall Rooster Cogburn to avenge the treacherous outlaw Tom Chaney her father’s death. Maddie joins him along with La Boeuf, a Texas Ranger. The chase ends in the dangerous Indian territory where Cogburn and LaBoeuf shoot down Chaney’s fellow outlaws. Maddie shoots Chaney and thus gets her vengeance. The recoil of the gun thrusts her into a snake pit where she is bitten. Cogburn desperately attempts to save Maddie. She survives, but she loses her bitten arm. In the closing sequence, a much older Maddie, a spinster, goes to visit Cogburn—only to learn that he is dead. As the one-armed woman moves into the distance, the hymn “Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way / Leaning on the everlasting arms…” is heard. It reminds the viewer of God’s grace that Maddie has missed, in the unforgiving pursuit of justice.

The movie opens with a half quote from Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth ...” Its second part,” but the righteous are bold as a lion” is not shown but is implied in the later episodes. The movie opens and closes with the violent execution of ‘justice’ by hanging and shooting. The closing hymn tells us what it is all about. Those who champion justice as vengeance are indeed right in seeking it but all get hurt in the pursuit. The distinction between the good and the bad is blurred. All are in need of God’s grace.  Justice comes at a cost, but God’s grace is freely offered to the good and the wicked alike. Maddie’s words in the  opening, “No doubt Chaney fancied himself scot-free, but he was wrong. You must pay for everything in this life, one way and another. There is nothing free, except the grace of God,” applies to her too.

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Runtime:            143 minutes

Director:            Andrew Adamson

Cast:                   Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, Tilda Swinton, Liam Neeson.

Film adaptation of the first story of C S Lewis’s children’s classic The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is set against the background of World War II. The brilliant allegoric fantasy involves four children, several mythical animals, a witch and a lion named Aslan.

During the German bombings of London, the Pevensie children are sent to the country for safety. While staying at the country house, Lucy, the youngest, finds a wardrobe which she opens and magically enters a snow-covered fantasy land called Narnia. There she meets a friendly Faun, Tumnus, who is a slave of Jadis, the Witch who wants to enslave people. Lucy’b siblings too enter Narnia, where her brother Edmund is

Narnia was once a happy place ruled by the majestic lion Aslan, now in exile. They are also told about the prophecy about Adam’s children who would one day come to claim the Kingdom.  They soon meet Aslan, who is waiting for them. Aslan helps them free Edmund from the witch, but has to make a secret arrangement with her in terms of his ‘Deep Magic.’ Aslan offers himself as sacrifice in place of Edmund, but in the final battle the witch realises the real significance of the sacrifice. Aslan returns powerful and helps the children with their army of mythical animals to win the final battle against the Witch and they are crowned the royal family of Narnia. It is a spectacular entertainer—with talking animals, great scenery, a gripping fable, powerful battle scenes and strong characters, both good and bad, with the Christian redemption story set in a fairy tale mode.

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When college students in Tura, Meghalaya, were asked this question, these are the answers they came up with. Their replies show what young people see as priorities today in their setting. It would be interesting to ask the same question to young people in other parts of India.

1. If I were a politician, I would ban alcohol completely in Meghalaya. I would give employment to unemployed people, bring about infra-structural development, and develop the tourism industry. (Bidansal M. Sangma,  5^th semester B.Sc)
2. If I were a politician…I would first repair all the roads of the Garo hills and try to promote tourism so that it would help unemployed people in earning their livelihood. (Tange Chenang B. Marak: 5^th Semester B.Sc.)
3. “First and foremost, I will develop the transportation system in the entire Garo hills so that tourists will come and our economy will improve. Secondly, for those who don’t want to go to school, I will strive to provide opportunities to live on their talents—opportunities to develop their talents and earn their livelihood. Thirdly, since I’m elected by the people, I will work for the people. I will listen to their demands and try to fulfill them, provided they are meant for nation-building. (Chigarikkim K. Marak, 5^th Commerce)
4. “I will develop the entire Garo hills and our State of Meghalaya. Students are not getting admission into colleges.  Therefore, I will welcome the setting up of more colleges.  This will open up opportunities for higher education for our youth.

I will have an airport in Jengjal, in the Garo hills; and railway stations, too, since  affordable transportation is a big problem in the North-East India.  This will boost economy, trade and commerce—and therefore better livelihoods. (Aleg Friedial G. Momin, 5^th Semester Commerce)

5. “We need development. But small development leads to big development. Since in our country, rape is rampant, I will ensure safety of women, using new technology. For example, using drones in crowded places; and in secluded places, I will get CCTV cameras installed.

“Irrigation is most important. As of now, we are depending on the mercies of nature. If there is better irrigation, there will be better income for the farmers. I will campaign for better irrigation facilities for our farmers.

“There are many government welfare schemes for the poor, but they are not reaching the poor.  If the scheme is of Rupees one lac, the poor receive only about Rupees 20,000. The rest goes to the pockets of the officials.  So I would use new technologies to ensure that the beneficiaries get the entire amount meant for them.

“I would include more youth as my workers; and train them to face the future by giving them more opportunities for exposure. Youth have new ideas, so I will take their help, so  we can discuss together for betterment of the public.” ( Pongrike Nikgam A. Sangma)

6. “As someone who grew up in the village and attended government schools, I will ensure that the government schools in the village function in a better way, by appointing well qualified and sufficient teachers for all subjects. I would make available building funds for the school,  to improve infrastructure like laboratories, library and

 I will develop the roads in the villages, connecting each village.” (Pappose N Sangma)

7. “I will make self-defence compulsory in every school, especially for girls, so that they can protect themselves from sexual assaults and sexual harassment.” (Dipu D Shira)

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(Replies collected by Sr Mariola Sequeira SMA)

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On September 6, 2017, Pope Francis fulfilled a promise he had made some time ago. He had said he would visit Colombia if a peace deal was finalized between the Colombian government and the armed rebels, called FARC. The peace deal was finalized some time ago and as he had promised, Pope Francis left for an official visit to Colombia on 06 Sep.

Why was the peace deal so important to Pope Francis? Because he knows very well the price the Colombian people have paid for the past 52 years because of the war between the government and the group of leftist guerrillas, called FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). More than 220,000 people have died and more than 7,000,000 Columbians have been internally displaced. More than eighty-five priests have been assassinated since 1984, mostly because they have taken a neutral pro-people stand, supporting neither the rebels nor the army and opposed drug trade that brings funds to the armed groups. Bishops, priests and religious Sisters have been kidnapped or threatened by these groups.

The official motto for Pope’s trip is “Let’s take the first step,” which calls the Colombian people to do everything possible for reconciliation after the end of the bitter five-decades long civil war. During the visit the Pope will beatify a bishop and a priest who were killed by the guerrillas. On the stage will be what is called the Bojaya Crucifix, a dismembered image of Christ that survived an explosion in a church that killed more than seventy people – most of them children.

But ‘the candle’ I want to hold aloft now in this column is not Pope Francis. He is already shining like a beacon, isn’t he? But many don’t know the man who played the major role in getting the peace deal signed. He is someone whom the Vatican and Pope Francis have supported and encouraged: Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, who has dedicated his presidency to ending the war with the FARC. That Santos could bring the rebels to the negotiating table is considered by many his biggest accomplishment. The negotiations began in 2012 in Oslo, Norway and then continued in Havana, Cuba. Finally, after four years of talks, a historic peace deal was signed on 26 Sep last year with a pen made from a bullet. In a referendum held to seek the people’s approval for the peace deal, it was rejected by a very narrow margin. So the talks continued and two months later a revised version of the peace deal was approved by both the houses of the Congress.

Born on 10 August 1951, in Bogota, Columbia as a member of the wealthy and influential family, Santos joined the Navy Academy as a cadet, then went to Kansas, U.S. to study economics and business administration. He later studied at the London School of Economics and Harvard Kennedy School. An award-winning columnist and reporter, he became the Director of  a popular newspaper.

Appointed in 1991 as Colombia’s first Minister of Foreign Trade, Santos expanded his country’s international trade. He later became the Minister of Finance and Public Credit. In 2005, he co-founded and led the Social Party of National Unity, a liberal-conservative party coalition and after the party won, became the Minister of National Defence, who took a strong stand against FARC and other guerilla groups. But he soon came to understand the need for negotiations with the rebels in order to end the violence and bring peace to his much-scarred country. In October last year Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.” Time magazine named him as one of world’s 100 most influential people.

As disciples of Jesus who declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” we should pray that  the efforts of Santos and Pope Francis to promote reconciliation and peace should succeed.

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When you get into an auto or use other services, do you think of the person doing this job?

“My day begins at six. I prepare tea for my family, and wash my rickshaw. Then my wife Monica, my three daughters and I have breakfast together.  I take my kids to school in my auto and start looking for customers.”

That is how the day begins for Jason (name changed), a forty-two-year-old auto rikshaw driver in Mangalore, Karnataka. He is the youngest of eleven children. His parents were agricultural labourers. He too did the same work until eighteen. Then he went to Mangalore, and did odd jobs in Catholic institutions. His employers helped him to buy a house and a rikshaw, as well as get a driving license. His daughters are studying in classes 10, 5 and 4. One of them is “differently abled.”

Jason’s daily routine includes a ten-minute visit to a church. After that, he goes to the railway station in search of passengers. He tries to be calm and patient in dealing with the passengers, who are tired and harried after their journey and eager to reach home.

“My job has taught me a lot about human nature,” Jason says. “I have learnt to deal with all sorts of people.” He tries to be helpful to the confused, to passengers with luggage, to women travelling with children and elderly persons struggling with their luggage. Some passengers are polite and generous with tips, while others are stingy, paying him even less than the fare.

What are your expenses?

A good part of his earnings go towards the maintenance of the rickshaw. He has insured his autorickshaw, but has no personal accident insurance.

 In between ferrying of passengers, Jason has a cup of tea or spends time talking to fellow rickshaw drivers. He buys lunch (usually a plate of rice) for about Rs. 30. He does not smoke or drink. He arranges his working hours in such a way as to be free to take his children home from their schools. After tea at home, he goes back to his driving and returns home around 8 or 9 p.m., tired but satisfied. He earns Rs. 300 to Rs. 500 per day.

For Jason and his wife Monica, their family comes first. Monica does domestic work in some homes. They both do their best to educate their children and teach them honesty, discipline and hard work. Since they do not have any health insurance, medical expenses are a big burden.

Their idea of relaxation or fun is to enjoy a soft drink (Sprite or Coca Cola) on Sundays, and to go out occasionally for a meal of fried rice or noodles. A few months ago, their two younger daughters received their First Holy Communion. For this special occasion, Jason wore a suit, which a relative lent him.

Jason does not have much of a social life. His reason for not visiting his friends is touching. He understands that for poorer people, feeding a guest can be a burden. So, when a friend or neighbor invites his family for a function, he makes sure that only one family member attends it. “I understand how expensive these functions are. People borrow money to buy food. We should not burden them.”

Jason belongs to an association of autorikshaw owners through which he saves around Rs 200 a month. He has no other money to fall back on in case of an emergency.

“Are you satisfied with your life?” I ask Jason.

“I would have liked my life situation to have been different,” he replies. “But I have no regrets. My parents did what they could, given their financial condition. The schooling I got was what they could afford.”

Then he adds, “God has been with me. He has sent people to help me. With their help, I was able to move from working on a farm to being an auto driver, with my own house and auto.”

Jason does not grumble or complain. He does what he can to improve his situation.

The driving force that energizes him is easy to guess—to provide a better future for his three daughters.

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Do you enjoy traveling? Do you find travel enriching, enjoyable or irritating? Are you put off by the noise, confusion, traffic jams and delays—or more interested in the people you meet, the sights you see, the life unfolding all around you?

Have you notices scenes like these?

Rakesh and Peter, recently retired senior citizens, volunteer to assist in the smooth flow of traffic. They do not have to do it, but they like to do their part in making the city safer and more liveable for all.

There are schools where some of the alumni come to the busy intersection nearby and guide the traffic flow, so that children can enter the school premises safely.

Other inspiring scenes:

• Teenagers and children help the aged and the blind to get to the other side.
• A wayside mechanic assists to set right a breakdown vehicle for no fee at all.
• School kids hold banners to remind drivers of ‘silent zones.’
• Social and religious groups offer food and drink to stranded travellers.
• A blind boy plays a melodious tune on his flute to bring a smile on the face of the passers-by.
• Street plays enacted by college students on social themes entertain and educate.
• Young artists add colour and life to the drab walls that line our bridges.
• Street families with little or nothing radiate smiles and laughter.
• Little children gaze in wonder at the outside world decorated with neon lights and attractive billboards.
• An auto driver reaches out to assist a passenger or a taxi ferrying an injured one to a nearby hospital.
• An alert policeman takes the opportunity to allow the emergency services to have the right of way.

On the road, you will see people at their best and their worst—both deep humanity and utter callousness. You may have come across the following types of scenes, too:

• A driver—whose dashboard carries religious statues and prayer beads—yells abusively at a pedestrian or another driver.
• We see chauffeurs driving expensive cars chewing pan only to lower the window pane and splash red-stained sprays.
• A well-dressed man screams obscenities at a driver who is driving too fast.
• A family has just finished their packed lunch in the car, and now throws out the waste on to the road.
• A driver hoots away to glory, filling the air with loud and harmful noise.
• Normal courtesies of the road, found much more frequently in other countries, are often missing in India. Cutting the line, crossing the lane, and getting ahead seems to be the smart thing. Letting another car go ahead looks foolish, not kind.

As our traffic gets heavier, and vehicles increase by the thousands every day, we need to develop ways of being human on the road—lest travel bring out the worst in us. Here are seven Golden Rules for the Road:

1. Stop blaming: All are in a hurry, including you. We all cause the jam at the crossroads. Slow down. “Life is not a 100 meters dash, but a slow marathon,” Pope Francis reminds us. Respect the rules of the road. Life is too precious; your speed can kill. In general, blaming is a negative and useless way of handling life. Each of us who owns a private vehicle and uses it, is part of the traffic problem.
2. Be Pleasant: The young vendor, the active volunteer, and the tired traffic officer have all seen enough of sad faces through the day. You don’t have the right to add another. Let you face radiate joy, hope, compassion. Let your face shine on them. They will wait to see your face the next day. Happy faces are contagious, they make the world a happier place to live. Be a blessing to every passer-by. Smile at other travellers and drivers. Be pleasant.
3. Talk to your fellow passengers: Stay connected with those in the vehicle. Talk to the driver, he will have a lot of life’s lessons to empower you. Sing along with the kid; the nursery rhymes will make you younger again. Keep your mobile away. Technology and WhatsApp cannot replace our human need for personal connection and conversation with those we journey with. Make meaningful conversations. Travel is a great time for getting to know people and for making friends.
4. Take responsibility: The road is your property too. Engage the municipality to do their job. Lives are lost and vehicles are damaged because of our poor state of roads. Join the campaigns that call for safer roads and clearer environments. Upload photos of spots that need attention and repair. Your timely complain can save many lives. Be a responsible citizen. Hold those who hold public office accountable. If there is not active civil society, government authorities will neglect, damage and rob the public.
5. Be legal and polite: Keep the Respect Silence. ‘Horn OK, please’ is no more the slogan. Correct the offender politely; be it the rash driver or a horning vehicle. Keep the roads litter-free. Give way to the emergency services (such as, an ambulance); every second counts in saving a life. The ambulance could be carrying a friend or relative you know. Avoid the ‘bribe and drive’ epidemic.

Mabel, American lady married to an Indian, shared a difference she noticed between the two cultures. “Here in the US,” she said, “When there is a law, we keep it. If it is not practical or useful, we change it. The Indian mentality seems to be how to break the law and get away with it.” The Indians in the rooms agreed with her.

There is nothing clever or smart about doing illegal things. They just increase the corruption and inefficiency all around.

6. Say “Thank you!”: Never leave without saying a word of appreciation to the driver. Remember, you only paid for the fuel and kilometres travelled, not for the driver’s skill, patience and courtesy. Safety cannot be bought! You reached your destination safely only because you were precious to the driver, at times at the risk of his own life. Think about it. Don’t crib to give a tip; he deserves much more.

In India, we tend to take the services of people for granted, and think we need not thank people, especially those we see as “below us.”

We can learn from the following episode.

A lift attendant in a high rise apartment building in Mumbai sees a man running to catch the lift. The people already in the lift show impatience and irritation. Seeing this, the attendant tells them, “I am ready to wait for that gentleman any day. All of you take this lift every day. He is the only one who tells me, ‘Thank you!’”

The world will be a nicer place if we all complained less and thanked more. Would you agree?

Do you thank your driver?

Go with God:  We never journey alone. God is with us on the journey of life. Start your journey with a prayer and end it on the same. The word for “Bye-bye” in several languages, such as French or Spanish—Adieu, Adios—means “Go with God.” God journeys with us. He is ever present in our life, wherever we go.

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The term “apostle” refers to “someone who has been sent” as a messenger.  Although employed also to refer to messengers in the secular sense and messengers sent by God, an apostle in the New Testament (NT) is mostly a delegate or an envoy of Jesus sent to proclaim the message of the gospel.  In the restricted sense, apostles refer to the Twelve disciples and to Saint Paul whose apostolic or ecclesiastical office was passed on to their successors: the Pope, the Bishops and priests, but, in its biblical sense, it was applied to any messenger of Jesus Christ.

The earliest use of the term in the NT is found in the Pauline writings.  Paul’s notion of an apostle is similar to that of the Old Testament (OT) prophets. He was convinced, like the prophet Jeremiah, that God had set him apart before he was born (Gal 1:15).  When Paul employs the title apostle to introduce himself in the opening lines of his letters, he defines his identity and defends his claim to be authorized by the risen Lord as God’s messenger to proclaim the gospel to the nations (1 Cor 9:1; 15:6-8). Paul also talks about “envoys/apostles of the Church”; here the apostles are those commissioned by the early Christian communities as their representatives (2 Cor 8:23).  An apostle for Paul is thus someone who proclaims the Gospel and administers Christian communities. Note that Paul explicitly includes a woman named Junia among the apostles (Rom 16:7).  He transcends the boundaries of the Twelve and the disciples whom Jesus chose during his public ministry.

The Synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – focused on the use of the term apostles for the Twelve or the disciples who accompanied Jesus during his earthly ministry and witnessed the resurrection.  Luke, who employed the term more frequently than the other evangelists, also used the term apostle to denote someone fully authorized to represent the person on whose behalf the envoy comes or to be a witness to the claim of the one who sends.  The same meaning is implied in the sending of the disciples by Jesus and the delegation of Barnabas and Paul by the Church of Antioch.

Although the designation apostle is given only once to Jesus in the entire NT (Heb 3:1), Jesus very often, especially in John’ Gospel, presents himself as the one sent by God to reveal God’s glory and to give life to believers.  The Gospel of John does not use the noun apostle (except once in the secular sense [13:16]) but employs the verb “to send,” emphasizing the intimate relationship between the messenger and the sender, and highlighting the responsibility and mission of the one sent in relation to the sender. The Johannine Jesus sends the disciples as he was sent by his Father: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (20:21) to continue his mission, to reveal God’s love and creative presence in the world.

As bearers of the gospel message, all Christians are called to be apostles of Jesus Christ. They are called to be God’s messengers to the world. Being an apostle implies a deeper experience of God and demands a commitment worthy of being sent by God to continue God’s creative work in contemporary society.  Apostles are called to be God’s agents to make the ongoing revelation of God’s interventions visible in human history and to collaborate with God’s life-giving actions in the world. May we be credible witnesses, with a deeply cultivated experience of God, keen on bringing God’s compassionate love to people.

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Faith: the beginning of love. The end of love: knowledge of God. (Ad Monachos, No. 3) 

The seven capital sins indicated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 1866) date back to the 4^th century.  Though they were systematically presented by Sts. John Cassian and Gregory, the first to mention them within the Christian tradition was Evagrius Ponticus, a good friend of Sts. Basil, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzen.  He was born in Pontus in 345 CE in the Black Sea town of Ibora.  During his youth, an affair with the wife of a nobleman got him into serious trouble and he had to flee to Jerusalem where Melania the Elder, a revered spiritual woman, received him.  She guided him, and under her influence he decided to enter the monastery.  He first lived in lower Egypt and later moved to Kellia in the Nitrian desert, where he remained until his death in 399.  He was a keen observer of human nature and an astute psychologist who imbibed the wisdom of the Desert Fathers. His works were very popular and would have an endearing influence on spirituality, especially in the Eastern tradition.  The Second Council of Constantinople (553) found Origenist tendencies in his writings, and he was condemned.  Though the Greek works were destroyed, some of his writings survived in Syriac.  They were also handed down under the names of other Fathers, especially Nilus of Ancyra.

Evagrius believed that Christian life involved three essential elements: Praktike (the cultivation of virtues), phusike (the contemplation of created beings) and theologike (the knowledge of God).  Despite the fact that his original Greek works were destroyed, some of the texts which survived to this day include Ad Monachos, the Praktikos, the Gnostikos, the Kephalaia Gnostica, Chapters on Prayer, and various letters of which the Letter to Melania is an important one.  His style of writing was unique and mainly consisted of short phrases which were enigmatic or obscure statements.  They were easy to memorize and contained various layers of meaning.  Only after years of prolonged asceticism and meditation was it possible to understand the profound meaning of these apparently simple statements.  Evagrius’ whole spirituality was oriented towards a restoration of a broken relationship with God and this process began with faith and ended in union with God.  He believed that thoughts (logismoi) stirred up passions and apatheia (the dominations of passions) transformed these passions into agape (love).

The two lines from Ad Monachos offers us a beautiful insight into his spirituality.  The first line describes the beginning of praktike (the cultivation of virtues) through faith.  Love begins with faith and as seen in the second line reaches its end with the knowledge of God Himself.  The link between: a) a life of virtues; b) knowledge and c) union with God is ‘love.’  The entire circle of love which begins in faith and ends in being united with God was presented as follows: a) faith → b) fear of God → c) self-discipline and practice of virtues → d) virtues leading to charity → e) charity leading to knowledge → f) knowledge of material realities leading to knowledge of non-material realities → g) ultimate union with God.  The schema proposed by Evagrius is not a mechanistic process, but a dynamic one which aids spiritual progression.  Today’s world looks for coherent and viable methods in order to progress in spiritual life.  The method offered by Evagrius has stood the test of time and responds to this need even today.  His classifications of passions and virtues, the importance of apatheia and the schema indicated above allows a faith which is rooted in love progress towards a growing internal knowledge of God.

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How does a mother whose children were murdered find peace? Can she ever feel grateful? Does gratitude promote emotional health? How?

Julia (name changed) was one of the participants in a research on parents whose son or daughter had been murdered. Loss of a child through death is one of the hardest and most painful experiences anyone can go through. It is emotionally draining and traumatising in the extreme. The trauma is multiplied when this loss is due to human malice,  as happens in a murder.

One criteria for selection of subjects for this research was that they had experienced a positive transformation in their lives because of this trauma. In other words, these subjects had been able to turn the tragedy on its head and create out of it something good and beautiful.

The research question was: What are the processes and resources that enabled these parents to turn the tragedy into a gift, to turn their trauma into a positive source for growth and transformation?

A surprising finding was that one of the resources that enabled each of the participants to grow out of their pain and create something beautiful out of the tragedy was thankfulness. We might wonder what there is to be thankful for when someone has murdered one’s son or daughter. Yet each one of the participants had so many things to be grateful for.

Among these participants the one who could have turned out to be most bitter and resentful was Julia. Yet, she was, according to the researcher, the most grateful of all the participants. She had only two twin daughters. Both of them were murdered, supposedly, by her estranged husband the same night. Despite this awful tragedy, Julia found much in her life for which to be thankful. That thankful attitude had enabled her to overcome her trauma and grow though her pain and loss. This is what she said:

“I am so fortunate that . . . that it just amazes me, you know. . . .  I am so fortunate. . . . I could not have had them. What they brought into my life is so wonderful and precious, that I really am blessed…. And I am lucky to have those memories now. They are still in my life. Those bullets didn’t take those away. . . . And I have tons of gifts in my life. You know, in the balance of my life, yeah, there is a lot of tragedy, but look at the happiness I’ve got, look at the neat things there are in my life.”

Emotionally healthy persons have genuine appreciation for life and its blessings. They experience spontaneous joy and deep satisfaction in living. They are sensitive to the wonderful things happening in them and around them—the basic miracles of life. While recognising the limitations that life imposes on them, and despite the troubles and tragedies they experience, they are also able to see and appreciate the blessings in their life. They live gratefully.

Gratitude is much more than saying “thank you” to someone who has given us a gift or helped us in some way, or to God for a blessing received. Gratitude, as defined in research literature, is “the capacity to feel the emotion of thankfulness on a regular and consistent basis, across situations and over time.” In other words, gratitude is a disposition that accompanies us through good times and bad; when things go well and things wrong, through success and failure.

Psychological and medical research has found that gratitude is a virtue that has enormous consequences for physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. For example, it has been found that grateful people fall sick less often, and even when they fall sick, they recover much faster than ungrateful people. And more important, grateful people live significantly longer than the ungrateful ones.

The reason for the health benefits of gratitude, research tells us, is that gratitude is seen as the disposition that most creates positive emotions in us. These positive emotions, in turn, strengthen our immune system and help us to ward of disease. They increase our resilience.

Positive emotions also lead to healthier patterns in cardiovascular activity. In other words, positive emotions protect the heart.

The spiritual benefits and power of gratitude can be gauged from the saying attributed to the great fourteenth century Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart. He said: “If the only prayer you say in your entire life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

For us to feel grateful we need to cultivate what Albert Einstein called a sense of “awe and wonder”—an ability to be amazed by the daily miracles that happen around us. He wrote: those “who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe are as good as dead.” Further, “There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.”

The renowned catholic theologian Karl Rahner was once asked, “Do you believe in miracles?” His reply, “No, I don’t.” But he did not stop there. He continued: ‘I rely on them to get me through each day.”

Caroline Duia has a lovely song entitled “Miracles.” Its lyric speaks of the kind of miracles that Rahner refers to: “There are miracles every moment… each day is a miracle with its countless blessings. …Yes, it’s a miracle to be alive and be living… to see the golden sunrise, to hear the birds sing, to feel the gentle breeze, to see the wind dancing in the trees… Isn’t it a miracle that just when you feel lonely and blue, then an unannounced friend comes to sooth and comfort…?”

Life is full of little miracles that should truly make us stand in awe and wonder and lead us to gratitude and reverence. Unfortunately, we take too many things for granted and only see them as very mundane events rather than amazing miracles.

Emotionally healthy persons are aware of these daily miracles, are able to stand in awe and wonder before them and feel grateful.

Emotionally unhealthy persons, on the other hand, mostly live resentful lives. It’s hard for them to see these daily miracles. They have much to complain about, blame and find fault with. All this evokes lots of negative emotions.

These negative emotions impact their general dispositions and colour their relationships. These undermine their immune system, reduce their resilience and make them vulnerable to disease and shorten their lifespan.

One easy means to cultivate gratitude is the daily practice of the Examen of Consciousness that is at the heart of Ignatian spirituality. We take a few minutes at the end of the day to sit quietly and allow memories of the good things—the little miracles—that have happened during the day to come into awareness and we let our heart fill with thankfulness. Gradually we will become more and more sensitive to these and live gratefully—and enhance our emotional health and our happiness.

Introspection

• What does this piece on “Living Gratefully” evoke in me?
• Is my life characterized more by gratitude and appreciation or by negativity and resentment? Why and how?
• Complete the following open-ended statement in as many ways as possible: “I am thankful for….”
• Then spend a few minutes expressing gratitude to God.
• What else can I do to live more gratefully?

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Three of Catholicism’s best-loved saints and two others, less well-known, but who paid for their fidelity with their life.

October 1

St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

When this twenty-four-year-old sister died in a convent in Northern France after much physical suffering, hardly anyone in her community thought of her as exceptional. The superior, who had read the autobiographical account Therese had written under obedience, decided to print a thousand copies of it and pass them around. Several nuns complained, “Who will want to read it?” That book went on to become one of the best-read books of the twentieth century. By 1905—a mere eight years after her death—there were about five hundred letters a day to the Lisieux convent from people who had received favours through her intercession. When some outsiders spoke of proposing her cause for canonization, there were murmurs again, “There was nothing special about her.”

Therese did not see herself as special. She saw her call to holiness as a “Little Way”—a way of complete trust in God and loving surrender to God’s love. In an insight that gave her great enthusiasm and brought meaning to the dull routine of convent life, she wrote, “I have discovered my vocation. At the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love.”

To be love. Isn’t that what each of us is called to be? No wonder Therese of Lisieux is known and loved all around the world. In addition to being canonized (in record time!), she has been declared a Doctor of the Church.

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OCTOBER 4

St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

God has his ways. At a time when economic power in Europe was shifting from the landed gentry to the new merchant class, God called the pleasure-loving son of a rich merchant to teach the church the beauty of poverty.

People loved, and still love, this poor man. Thousands of young men joined the Order he started. Little did he know when he heard God’s voice to “build my church,” that he was being asked not simply to repair an old church building, but to renew the Catholic church. He shunned ecclesiastical titles and pomp, and did not even become a priest.

He hardly wrote or held office. He wanted the Gospel to be the rule book for his friars. He suffered much from the Stigmata, which was one more sign of his Christ-like life. He died young.

Today, there are hundreds of religious orders who call themselves “Franciscan.” The Poverello (The Little Poor Man) of Assisi continues to inspire and challenge. Precisely when the pull of power and money becomes a fascination for many, God seems to raise up some unlikely person to show the rest of us what is truly essential and life-giving. For the answers to our hearts’ deepest longings are not found in wealth and power, titles and positions, but in living the Gospel in all its urgent simplicity. No wonder the present Pope, another Francis in name and life-style, has captured the attention of the world.

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OCTOBER 15

St Teresa of Avila (1515-82)

She was intelligent, unconventional, practical and charming. When she wrote down her powerful religious experiences, Church authorities could not accept a woman who dared to write and teach.

Capable of deep human love, organization and writing, she was, above all, a genuine lover of God—a God who was very real for her, and with whom she felt free to be herself.

Her first four decades were neither very focussed nor fervent. Then one day, passing in front of a statue of Jesus, she experienced a powerful love for him, with the conviction that she was ready to do anything He asked.

Living in a traditional convent, and disappointed with its spiritual mediocrity and worldliness, she saw the need for reform. She faced stiff opposition in this, just as a younger friend and admirer of hers, St. John of the Cross, did from his friars (who, among other things, imprisoned him).

Teresa was declared a Doctor of the Church. She is acclaimed as a mystical writer whose appeals goes well beyond the confines of Christianity. Edith Stein, in her atheistic adolescence, was changed when she read Teresa’s writings—and became a Catholic.

Faced with opposition from outside and inside the church, travelling in discomfort, struggling to give wise guidance to her sisters, Teresa found serenity and inner strength in the One she loved and trusted. Her summary of that core belief is well known:

“Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing upset you. The one who has God, has everything. God alone is enough.”

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October 20

Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko (1947-84)

Physically frail, but strong in character, young Jerzy grew up in Communist Poland. He was ridiculed by his companions for wanting to join the seminary. During his compulsory military training, when he refused to crush his rosary with his heal, he was beaten up and kept in solitary confinement. For not removing the medal around his neck, he was made to stand for hours in the freezing rain.

As a young priest, he volunteered to say Mass for the striking workers. The police kept track of his activities and called him thirteen times for interrogation.

Once, while imprisoned with hardened criminals, he spent a whole night talking to a murderer, who ended up making his confession to Fr Jerzy.

Since he spoke openly and drew large crowds, the Communist regime decided to get rid of him. A group from the military caught him while he was travelling, beat him up, stuffed him in the car boot, took him out again, thrashed him beyond recognition, tied him up, attached weights to his body and drowned him. He was thirty-seven when he died.

In his last public talk, given on October 19, 1984, Fr Jerzy had said: “In order to defeat evil with good, in order to preserve the dignity of man, one must not use violence. It is the person who has failed to win on the strength of his heart and his reason, who tries to win by force…Let us pray that we be free from fear and intimidation, but above all from the lusts for revenge and violence.”

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October 25

St. Edmund Campion (1540-81)

A brilliant young scholar at Oxford University, he was also a powerful orator. He seemed cut out for a great career—in the world or in the church. But his studies convinced him of the truth of the Catholic faith. Becoming a Catholic would mean the end of good career and possibly the loss of one’s life.

Campion went to France, became a Catholic, and proceeded to join the Society of Jesus. He was then sent to England—a very dangerous mission. He wrote about the faith, and friends published his writing in book form, which made him the most famous Catholic in England—someone the government wanted to eliminate.

Campion was arrested and tortured. He was called before the Queen, whom he had seen at Oxford. As a student, he had given a speech in her honour. She promised to free him from jail, if he would become a Protestant minister. He refused. He was sent back to jail, and later executed. His trial was a sham, and the charges trumped up. A genius, gifted with a charming personality and great writing and speaking skills, Campion put his faith first, and paid for his fidelity with his life.

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