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DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE CHURCH AGAINST THE SOCIAL EVILS
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H.B. Paulose Mar Milithios Metropolitan Catholicose Designate & Diocesan Metropolitan of Kunnamkulam Diocese Malankara Orthodox Church
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One of the most devastating evil of our society is the problem of drinking liquor. The temperance question is the paramount issue of our state. The blending of evil with good or glorification of evil is the most devastating tendency of the contemporary society. Intoxication by liquor being a moral issue, it is a prime responsibility of the Church to lead temperance/prohibition movements. Christian Churches irrespective of denominations should become the hub of temperance activities.
COVER MESSAGE
SPIRITUAL POVERTY LEADS TO KINGDOM OF GOD
By Dr K.C.Nainan, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A
Humility is the mother queen of all the virtues. Really being humble and repentant with a broken spirit and contrite heart is in the state of spiritual poverty. Total dependence on the mercy and grace of God for our salvation is another way to express being poor in spirit. God denies the proud and arrogant people whereas He receives and honors humble and simple people.
BIBLE STUDY SERIES THE RICH YOUNG MAN AND JESUS [LUKE 18:18-27]
By Fr. Dr. Reji Mathew, STOTS Nagpur
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The young rich man who approached Jesus could not update his spiritual knowledge. He could not identify his limitations and draw backs. He puts more importance for his wealth. He prefers the worldly to the heavenly. He wants to get the Eternal Life without loosing his possessions. Jesus asks for a de tour from all who approach him. Repentance and a change of attitude in our life are primary requirements to achieve the Eternal Life.
ARTICLE INSIDE-OUT LIVING
By Prof. Dr. Zac Varghese, London
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We should be developing a partnership with our Lord through our prayer-life for becoming agents of his love and compassion for the world that we live in. I would like to see a Christian living which is centred on the love of Jesus, where Jesus is at home and at the centre of our living. Correct actions should begin with correct feelings and spiritual exercises. People live their whole lives outside of themselves without any relationship with an indwelling Christ.
ARTICLE IS ORGANIC EVOLUTION A REAL SCIENCE?
By Dr. Rajan M. Thomas Pennsylvania, USA
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The heavens declare the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Organic evolution theories cropped out of rational thinking still remains to be a hypothesis and they fail to explain origin of universe and life in a realistic way while the biblical creationism or intelligent design is a socially accepted model which has definitive answer on the origin of same. There is no science and knowledge unless God reveals them to man. Every scientific achievements and developments, has to be for the glory of God, but not to deny Him.
ARTICLE THE ZEAL FOR THY HOUSE CONSUMED ME
The Ten Commandments are the moral sides of the day to day worshipping style of God, not the practical sides of worshipping style or form in toto. The church is holy because it is the abode of God with His children. The journey to the church starts from the miniature church, the family that is outwardly is a trinity, father, children and mother. Because Jesus is the head and the flock the body, we are expected to be holy.
ARTICLE LIFE CUT SHORT
By Mrs. Aju Tharian, New Jersey
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God has a purpose of each one of us. Without God we cannot be what we are today. Surely the Lord will bless you and your household if you give the Lord the first place in your life. Definitely there is a super natural power. It is through the power of God all things happen in this world. There is no place like home. Home is a sweet place. It is a treasured heaven. Each one of us must commit our lives to the Lord. Be thankful for all what God has done for us and will do for us.
ARTICLE
LIVING ON GOD'S DESIGN - SERIES 7
I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL
By Dr. George K. Zachariah, Washington D.C.
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Jesus calls us today as He called His followers in the first century. The elements of our witnessing should be hospitality, sharing our personal stories with one another, expressing a genuine concern for the neighbor and not just viewing that person as an object to be manipulated, and telling in a natural way what Jesus Christ means to you. Self-consciousness may well be the single worst deterrent to Christian witness today.
SYNOPSIS-SERIES
SYNOPSIS FOR
MEDITATION-NOVEMBER
By V. Rev. Thomas P. Mundukuzhy Cor Episcopa
Sanctification/Consecration Suday
Dedication Sunday (Hoodos Etho) - St. Luke 19:47-20:8
Annunciation To Zachariah - St. Luke 1:1-25
Annunciation To St. Mary, Mother of God - Luke 1:26-38
MALAYALAM SECTION:
ARTICLE [MALAYALAM] WEALTH : FOR JUSTICE AND GLORY OF GOD
By Rev. Fr. Kurien Varghese Chandanappally
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Abundant wealth will not give peace and joy in our life. Exceeding dependence of wealth in our life lead us into devastation. The wealth has three defects, which detrimentally affect our spiritual life. Wealth makes man selfish, shatters man to the earth and it creates a false sense of independence. Our attitude towards wealth is very important in spiritual journey. We should not keep vain confidence in our wealth; instead do good with what we have.
ARTICLE [MALAYALAM] CRISIS, FOR THE PROSPERITY OF GOSPEL
By H.G. Yoohanon Mar Chrysostomos Metropolitan
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Hardships and sufferings in our life should not cause for desperation, and God man should not get stumbled on that; instead it should happen for the prosperity and enlargement of Gospel. The persecutors cannot imprison the word of God. St. Paul considered his life was Christ, and his death was gain. It is the undoubted character of every good Christian that to him to live is Christ. The glory of Christ ought to be the end of our life, the grace of Christ the principle of our life, and the word of Christ the rule of it.
ST. ALFONSA - SAINT OF UNUSUAL HOLINESS By Editor Dr. Rajan Mathew Philadelphia |
A simple village girl without any title or honor, Sr. Alfonsa was neither a martyr/confessor nor an illustrated minister. She could boast no ecclesiastical or evangelistic achievements or any oratory excellence. No establishment of any Society or Order is there to her credit. Her identity was basically only as a Franciscan Clarist nun. Yet she became a spokeswoman of the benevolence of Christ in the history of Indian Christianity. She revealed the simple Christian mystical truth by her Christ relation and the portrayal of Christ experience in her life, to the world, more powerful than any theological deliberations. Generations to come will learn through her life, what is the key of fundamental reality and truth of Christianity and Christian faith and to discover the mystery of the grace of sanctity at each vocation.
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About 2000 members attended the Rally from about 37 Churches of various denominations and languages for the first time expressing their solidarity to the suffering brethren in India. The Peace Rally was held at Dilworth Plaza of the Philadelphia City hall, by the Indian Christian Fellowship of Delaware valley on October 26, 2008. Speakers encouraged the crowd and citizens throughout the city to contact their government officials – local and federal – to urge them to help bring and end to the attacks. Many eminent personalities and Community leaders attended the Rally. It was certain that the participant's hearts were warmed by the inspirational words of speakers.
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Bangalore, India (ENI). Church leaders and activists have hailed as "courageous" the decision by a young Roman Catholic nun to publicly recount how she was raped by Hindu extremists in India's eastern Orissa state, and who has reiterated her demand for federal police to investigate the case. More than 20 television crews and many more photographers had flocked to the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute in New Delhi on 25 October to cover the news conference by the 29-year old nun, Sister Meena Barwa. With most of her face covered with a shawl, she read out a two-page description of her ordeal on 25 August. Her address was punctuated by sobs and tears. [514 words, ENI-08-0865]
Courtesy to ENI
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Amritsar, India (ENI). Sikh community leaders in India have urged the Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, to support a Sikh demand for a lifting of a ban on wearing turbans in schools in France. "Wearing a turban is an integral part of our faith and we feel hurt that the French government cannot respect our sacred custom," Gurbachan Singh, information officer of the Golden Temple at Amritsar, appealed to Kobia, who was visiting India and Sri Lanka from 19 to 23 October. [401 words, ENI-08-0855]
Courtesy to ENI
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Cape Town (ENI). A recent surge in the number of media companies in India has led to increased gender stereotyping, a national student Christian body that is seeking to increase awareness about the issue among its members, has told a meeting of global Christian communicators. "Young people who are part of the project in universities and colleges now critically understand the media," said Samuel Jayajumar, secretary general of the Student Christian Movement of India. [300 words, ENI-08-0822]
Courtesy to ENI
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Bhubaneswar (ENI). Church leaders in India have said an inquiry ordered into the case of a young nun allegedly raped in Kandhamal province, amid anti-Christian violence in the state of Orissa, had been instituted only because of media criticism of government inaction in the case. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Bhubaneswar, whose diocese covers Kandhamal, said that what he described as belated action by the government of Orissa demonstrated it had been "embarrassed by media reports". The alleged rape of the nun in Konjamendi took place on 25 August, when a mob attacked the 30-year-old nun and a local priest, the Rev. Thomas Chellan. The mob, said by Christians to be Hindu extremists, then paraded the priest naked through the streets together with the nun in torn clothes. [384 words, ENI-08-0820]
Courtesy to ENI
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Bhubaneswar, India (ENI). Christians and secular groups in India have commemorated the 2 October anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, but attacks against Christians continued on a day that marks the Indian independence campaigner's message of non-violence. More than 100 Christian houses were torched in the troubled city of Kandhamal and nearby district of Boudh in the Orissa district as the nation prepared to celebrate the 139th anniversary of Gandhi's birth. [567 words, ENI-08-0796]
Courtesy to ENI
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