Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Message from Diocesan Episcopa......................... 3
Editorial ................................................................ 5
Preserving the Timeless while Adapting to the
Times..................................................................... 7
Onam ripples .......................................................11
Eucharistic Life: An Invitation to Preserve the
TIMELESS .......................................................... 12
Young Mowglis of the Pack ................................. 15
Book Review........................................................ 16
Editorial
Preserving the Timeless while adapting to
the Times
For God so loved the world that he gave
his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life (John 3:16, New International
Version, NIV).
Lord Griffiths told us at the 34th Mar Thoma
Family Conference that the above biblical verse
was one the favourite verses of his congregation at
the Wesley Chapel when he was selecting a theme
for a sermon on the Pentecost. He asked his
congregation to repeat this verse from their
memory in different native languages, and it was
Pentecost once again with different tongues. In
the King James Version (KJV) we see the phrase
everlasting life and this phrase is commonly used
in our worship services. What does eternal or
everlasting mean?
Ravi Ravindra, a professor of Physics, Philosophy
and Comparative Religion, who wrote a
significant commentary on St. John s Gospel
(The Yoga of Christ), says: Eternity does not
refer to an extension of time or an everlasting
continuation of time; it pertains to timelessness,
to a dimension of being, of consciousness and
perception, which is outside time. Everything that
can be specified and defined belongs to
dimensions of time and space. In TS Elliots
poetical imagination this timelessness is an
occupation for saints:
Mens curiosity searches past and future
And clings to that dimension, But to apprehend
The point of intersection of the timeless
With time, is an occupation for the saint?
Onam ripples
Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Devalokam,
Kottayam
Eucharistic Life: An
Invitation to Preserve the
TIMELESS
Rev. K. Jameson, Ireland
I Am the Living Bread which came down from
heaven; if anyone eats of this Bread, he will live
forever. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My
Blood abides in me, and I in him.(St. John 6:5158).
Immediate Context
This passage reminds the importance of
faith in understanding the life and mission of
Jesus Christ. This discourse happens when Jesus
was in a synagogue in Capernaum, in the settings
of a Jewish worship centre under the background
of the discourse of Jewish Passover tradition. The
Gospel writers, especially John considerably uses
signs and symbols like door, sheep, light, salt, etc.
to describe the life and mission of Jesus. In this
passage, Jesus himself helps us to understand his
identity through symbolic representations. In one
sense, with the help of signs and symbols the
Church preserves the timeless truth about Christ
and continues to adapt to the teachings of Christ
through the very act of faith every day especially
through the celebration of Eucharist.
In this Eucharistic passage, the author is
working at two levels. The main thrust of the
dialogue is to point Jesus as the revelation of God,
the true bread from heaven, the bread of the
manna. As the ancestors of Israel were nourished
by the heavenly manna, Jesus nourishes the
whole world with the gift of his body and blood.
In this passage Christ offers himself as spiritual
food through the symbols of bread and wine.
Bread is an essential thing in the physical world in
the same way as a spiritual food. Jesus gave
himself to the whole world as the spiritual food
and exhorts us to experience him in our daily
lives. Christ offers himself as life giving bread.
Christ became bread in order to give us life and
life in its fullness.
12
14
15
Book Review
The Lives around us
(Daily Meditation for Nature
Connection)
By Dan Papworth, Published by Christian
Alternative, Winchester, UK, 2015
16
At the end of
this meeting
Thirumeni very kindly gave me a copy of his book
on his life story, Athmakatha. The following is
my immediate, inadequate, short reflection on
this book. I finished reading this book at one
stretch in one day, often with tears in my eyes. My
immediate reaction was that the book should be
translated and made available to a wider
readership because it is not like any other
autobiography. In this book Thirumeni is giving
us a guided tour of his spiritual journey so far. He
describes amazing people that he met thus far and
how through various incidents he was able to
experience the presence of God in his interactions
with people and nature.
One amazing reflection on Mar Chrysostom by
Rev VP Mammen summarised the life of this
great bishop for me. Rev Mammen was
interviewing him for the missionary work in
Karnataka in 1939 (Page 95). He was not very well
because a fever on the day before the interview;
therefore, his father informed the interview panel
17
Reports
The Second Mar Thoma Youth
Conference
"Remember your creator in the days of your
youth.
Subin Mathew Parayil (Secretary of the Youth
Fellowship)
Career Advice
21
22
Photo Gallery
23
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