gadfly

Simon of Cyrene has a particular attraction for me whenever I read Matthew 27: 32. We all know the cruel journey that our Blessed Lord undertook to Calvery to redeem us with a burden of the cross. Simon of Cyrene, a youth who returns from the countryside is forced to carry our Lord's burden for a while. I think that the disciples of Christ can learn an important lesson from this person. Simon wasn't the one who began the mission of redemption but our Blessed Lord. He only intervened rather called to carry forward the mission for a while. The mission itself was completed by our Lord. Likewise we aren't the ones who began the mission of salvation but the interveners or helpers called by our Lord to carry forward the mission for a while, that may be during our life on earth. Hence, it is our privilege to carry on the work of redemption for the few years we are put here on earth.

Today's gospel reading taken from Luke 15: 11-32 is a wonderful story of a son who decides to go away from the father to live by himself, trusting the resources he has got as his share. This parable perhaps is one of the famous ones told all over the world. At first, when the priest began to read I said to myself, 'oh, the story of the prodigal son.' But the words of the father, "this son of mine was dead and has come to life; he was lost and now has been found," made a deep impression on me. God as a loving Father awaits our return patiently. Lent is the time that we come to life and find the right meaning for our existence by turning our focus to God. There is nothing as satisfying as living in the hope that God loves us and desires our well being. No matter how stupid we are, we are his children. By turning to Him, we come to life and find ourselves, the meaning for our existence. 

One of the things that keeps ringing in my mind is a statement that I heard somewhere, "Never do a thing for which you will regret later." Many a times life does not go the way we think it should. It takes different routes, unfamiliar and frightening at times. In the course of life journey, we are called,  I believe, to give out whatever we can to those around. Giving out is not necessarily material things; it could be a kind word, a gentle touch or a pleasant smile. What happens, by and large, is that we withhold than stretch out our hands. It seems to me as an obvious truth in life that whatever is ungiven is ever lost. Every day  as  I go to bed, I am deeply aware that I am far from perfection and I haven't tolerated the little imperfections in people around me. What comes across to me in these moments of such realizations, is what Heidegger said that "birth is accompanied by death." We are mortals and our days are numbered is such a profound re...

When we observe the global  scenario  today we could hear the cry for democracy in many places  especially  in the troubled Arab world and at the same time we could sense a popular distrust in democratic governments. At this juncture, we are at the cross-roads of opinions for and against democracy. Abraham Lincoln defines democracy as “rule of the people, for the people and by the people.” Very often democracy is considered to be the golden standard of governance.  However, those of us who live in democratic socio-political countries are aware how far it has taken us forward – corruption and violence, to name a few, thrive.  Everything is not well with democracy and we could never accept that consensus as truth (It allows special interest groups to gains subsidies and regulations beneficial to them but harmful to the society. Some call it the tyranny of the majority). All the same it is the best viable political option. History – West Ancient...

Introduction Education has been one of the prime concerns of any civilized society (Education comes from two Greek words educare - meanin g to draw out - and educere – physical development). However, it is not understood the same by all. For some, education is the accumulation of knowledge; while for others, it is learning of skills required to sustain one’s life in the competitive world; and still for a few, it is the process that enables the holistic development of the person. We observe two trends of thought that dominate the life of our modern society. One hails ‘realism’ calling on man to be realistic (what matters in life is material well-being. Education should aim at developing in man the necessary skills to make a living) and the other advocates a kind of cold passion for knowledge in the name of academic competence. Both the trends have got serious ramifications for the society at large. Even as the number of the so called ‘literates’ increase steadily, there...

India is one of the rarest nations that contain multi-cultural-religious-linguistic communities. Perhaps this is what makes the world to look up to us for tolerance, peace and religiousness. Difference has been our strength. This perception of India is changing alarmingly with the increasing number of human right violations across the length and breath of this great nation. The danger of fundamentalists flexing their muscles is more imminent than late or never. There is a severe breach of law as far as the fundamentals of the Constitutions are concerned. In a secular state such as ours, it is but a sad happening. It so appears that only in papers we are a democratic secular state not in reality!  Some of our politicians are blatantly communal; their hands are full of blood (examples are not wanting. Just check the profiles of our MPs you will know how many have cases of murder, rape, corruption, cheating and vandalism). I was disgusted to see chief ministers (for instance, K...

            1. Introduction Education has always played a vital role in the shaping of any nation. It has been the torch-bearer of human progress and thereby remained a natural component of all societies. Many men and women, both in the East and the West, have dedicated their lives for the betterment of their societies through education. One among them is Paulo Freire. He is one of the luminous intellectuals of the 20 th century whose words and deeds are closely intermingled with his experience of poverty, hard work, oppositions and exile. He was born in 1921, in Recife, the Northeast of Brazil. Freire’s family suffered greatly during the great depression of 1929. Even as a boy he vowed to fight against hunger and injustice. Qualified as a lawyer he went on to complete his doctoral studies on education. Soon after the military coup in 1964 Freire was jailed for seventy five days for his subversive educational activities. It was in exile that he ...