Words You Speak can Make or Break Us
by Angelica

As we all know the Bible teaches us in many places how we must treat our fellow human being with dignity and respect. One of the main God-given gifts that separates man from beast is the ability to speak. However, words can build a person, or if misused, destroy him!

It can sometimes be difficult to stop ourselves from sharing some juicy gossip, or pointing out someone's flaws, etc. The Bible teaches us, however, that by practicing restraint in this area and speaking with holiness, we build our spiritual muscles. Not only do we make ourselves better people, we make the world a better place.

Don't Just Communicate, Explain

Don't lose or confuse your audience with too many details, though — save those for written communications.

Why Bad Things Happen to Me?

In 2007, a 23-year-old Baltimore man slipped on a patch of ice and broke his wrist. This young man is a professional swimmer. And the cast on his wrist kept him out of the water for two months.

His dreams of Olympic gold medals seemed out of reach. He was devastated.

By anyone's standards, the broken wrist sounds like a bad thing. A setback. A stumbling block.

But this young man was dedicated. He didn't want his years of training to fall completely by the wayside. So he spent hours using a kickboard, kicking in the pool.

Turns out, all that kicking strengthened his legs. When his wrist had healed and he was back in the water, the swimmer used his extra-powerful legs to beat an opponent by a hundredth of a second.

You may have already guessed that I'm talking about Olympic champion Michael Phelps. That race - which he won by such a narrow margin - landed him a seventh gold medal in the Beijing Olympic Games.

As you can see, a terrible obstacle turned out to be an incredible benefit for Michael.

Perhaps it was even the deciding factor in his incredible Olympic win.

Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows?

It is human nature to go around labeling events as "good things" or "bad things." But - as is clear from the story about Michael Phelps - it is entirely possible that "bad things" are actually "good things" and vice versa.

If you can simply remove the labels from the events in your life… you can save yourself from an enormous amount of worry and heartache.

Of course, we learned how to label "good things" and "bad things" years ago. Today, it is probably an unconscious action.

Knowing how to transform "bad things" into "good things" is one of the keys to Spiritual Power.

(Excerpted from an article by Dr. Srikumar Rao)

Poem: With Jesus

Resolve the Conflict

The Redeemer

Hear the words of Jesus

Trials Will Come

Saving Grace

Perfect Love

It's Fun to Know: Frankincense and Myrrh

Christmas message of Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas

Christmas message from Catholicose Aboon Mor Baselious Thomas I

Christmas Greetings from Rev. Fr. Philip Jacob

Nativity Sermon by St. Isaac the Syrian

Christmas Meditation: ABBA
Why did Jesus squeeze himself into the womb of Mother Mary to take birth as a baby? Couldn't He just appear in the world as a grown up figure and execute His Works?

Thoughts for the Season
Let us see in Jesus, a role model, a significant other. Let us not deviate from God even in our youth. Let us meditate on `CHRIST' during this season and all through our life in this world, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, where by we must be saved."

Where the Mind is Without Fear
A vision for the Christian church.

Holy Qurbana Mystery
The altar of incense is the place where saints present their prayers and praises; and it is delightful to think of it as sprinkled with the blood of the great sacrifice. This is which makes all our worship acceptable with Jehovah: He sees the blood of His own Son and therefore accepts our homage.

The zeal for thy house has consumed me
The author takes a critical look at the worship practices employed in Indian Orthodox Church.

My conversion was not a change of religion; it was a change of heart
A testimony by Anand Mahadevan, Editor of Outlook Business
The world would call me a convert to Christianity. I have no problems with that, though I see my faith more as a relationship with God through Jesus Christ than as a religion. And for the record, I can truthfully claim that no one financially induced or threatened or deceived me into converting to Christianity.

Worship the Lord with Praise
We should pray to God to communicate with Him and to open ourselves to the profound grace and glory of God. What more can we ever get out of it. Or what else do we need ?. After all, to be in God is the utmost thing in our life -- something that all saints and sinners hope for. The joy in God, overflows in praise and worship – wherever you may be, whatever you may be doing, God is with us. In our times of trouble or joy, try to take the time to communicate with God.

Five Senses of Soul
From Philokalia: Volume-4, Nikita Sithatos, lesson 10
Just as in the body there are five senses so in the soul there are five senses

The Parable of the Carpenter
A great story with a great spiritual lesson.

Psalm 23 Devotional
A look at psalm 23 in the context of other passages from the bible.

Mother Is Still Here: An Interview With Sister Nirmala
It has been a decade since Kolkata's “Saint of Gutters”, Mother Teresa went home to God. But Missionaries of Charity, the order established by Mother in 1950, still continues to feel her divine presence around. The moment one enters the premises of Mother's House, one is overwhelmed by a feeling of warmth, peace and serenity like one has never experienced before.

Is God Good?
Why do Christians say, "God is good"? Because He is.
Why do people believe God is a bad God? Due to famines, wars, shootings and violence that take place every day in this world, many assume that God must be bad. They think He is allowing these events as punishment. They believe we anger Him so He sends down tornadoes, hurricanes and every bad thing to strike us.

The Obedience of Faith
You can see throughout the Bible where ordinary people did extraordinary things. The one major difference between them and everybody else is that they did something with what they had received from the Lord. They heard, faith came, they acted, and out of their obedience to faith, God's divine will was manifested upon the earth.

Grace is a Powerful Word
Grace is full of God’s love. That’s grace, amazing grace – a beautiful word.

Canonization of Sister Alphonsa: In Times of Strife a Woman Saint Brings Cheer
Sister Alphonsa will become India's first woman saint when she is canonised by Pope Benedict at a special ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Strange Strategy of God
In my childhood, God the Father was for me a bearded old man and God the son, a handsome Jesus. The Holy Spirit was a mysterious dove sending rays of light from its beak, in an upside down position over the Father and the Son. They were up there in heaven, watching over me and noting my actions in a book. Susan Eapen describes her spiritual awakening in a moving article presented here in 8 parts.
Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Personal Prayer
Prayer is the intimate relationship between man and God. To be more precise, prayer happens when our spirit interacts with the Spirit of God. Prayer can be loud, silent, occasional or regular.

Morth Mariam Yeldos Aloho
Multiplicity of names, absence of clear identification to discern relationship between each of them and translation errors have contributed lot of confusion and gave room for many erroneous interpretations concerning blessed Mary, the mother of God.

Are we loosing our Older Generation also along with our Younger Generation?
People once considered the priests as holy men. Now when we see that the priesthood is no better than the political caucuses, are the people to be blamed for loosing faith? When it is this kind of priest who performs the sacraments, then how can they believe?

A divided house cannot stand
Without Satan's involvement no family could be broken. In other words, behind every break-up of family, husband and wife, there is Satan.

Why the exodus?
Whatever twisted arguments and reasons one can give; in reality, aren't all these fights in the church just for a few buildings only? Is it worth fighting for them for this length of time, at the cost of possibly thousands of 'crores' over the years?

"I will never leave nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous...Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with where ever you go...No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life".
(Joshua 1:5,7, 9)

"Do not be afraid of them...for I am with you and will rescue you. They will fight against you, but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you."
(Jer:1:8,18-19)

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

St. Francis of Assisi

An American would call a Russian his biggest enemy. A Pakistani would say his greatest enemy would be an Indian. But a Malayalee's biggest enemy will be another Malayalee!! We just cannot see another Malayalee being better than us. It is there in our blood!!

Dr. Nigel Kuriakose, Mangalore (ICON)

I found that my main sin was that I had not given God the place and respect due to Him. I was willing to attend any meeting called for by our Boss in time, but I had not been willing to attend the call of the Church Bells. I found that this sin of mine surpassed the rest. God gave me 24X7 hours, money, health, children, but I respected my General Manager more than I respected God who died on a Cross for me. I realized the hollowness of my faith. I realized that I was a worm. It was like the prodigal realizing that he lived among pigs. I was humbled.

Susan Eapen, Bangalore

It is not the material things in life that will bring you more joy. Just look around us. The greatest pleasures in life are absolutely free.

Just for openers, think about love; marriage; families; friends; children; grandchildren; sunsets, sunrises, moonlight nights, twinkling stars; little babies; the gifts of touch, taste, smell, hearing, eyesight; good health; flowers; lakes; clouds; sex; the ability to make choices; and even life itself. These are all free.

James Hunter, The Servant

Remember that we are all weak and are very easily overcome by passions. Therefore be meek and patient to those who sin against you, knowing that you yourself often suffer from the same infirmity as your brother. Forgive those who trespass against you, so that God may forgive your trespasses incomparably greater than the trespasses of others against you. Always be calm, patient, kind-hearted, unsuspicious, and firm, and you will always triumph over your enemies.

Fr. John of Kronstadt, Spiritual Counsels

More Quotes, Thoughts of Day

Useful Bible Verses To Read When You are Worried

References

Website of HG Mathews Mar Severios Charitable Organizations.

Mylapra Retreat Center Website

Rev. Paul Remban sends his greetings and wishes for a great new year. Please visit the new Mylapra Retreat Center Website: