We have to make a difference between the Pharisees and the Pharisaic attitude.

My imagination, very often, was captured by unnoticed, forgotten, and colourless characters in the Bible. May be it has something to do with my life, from Lot to Jonathan, Uriah to Pharisees of Jesus time. I love Pharisees because they were keen followers as well ardent listeners of Jesus. Or may be they still continue to exist through me. Only in adverse situations, very often, the best in you will be revealed. So in this sense the Pharisees helped Jesus to a certain extend to bring out the best in Him.

But how Jesus reacted to Pharisaic attitude is really frightening. We see in Mt.23:23 “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you have practiced without neglecting the others.” The most important question asked by Pharisees may be a difficult one to choose. But I feel the question they asked about the foundation of the church is most important in our time.

In the gospel we see Pharisees asking Jesus Mt.19:3 “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” As they expected, Jesus defended the family saying Mt.19:6, “what God has joined let no one separate.” So when He defended the unity and indissolubility of marriage, He was building up a bulwark for family life.

The family is designed by God to be the clearest demonstration and reflection of the unity and diversity experienced within the Trinity. Therefore it is within a family that we realize, enjoy, and demonstrate in its perfection the relationship enjoyed within the Trinity. Thus the most mystical reality in Christianity is revealed – through family – in its simplest form. So also as we see in the book of ‘Song of Solomon’, – in marriage love – there is a real triad the lover, the beloved and the unifying force between them – the love.

Philosopher Pierre Teilhard De Chardin says, “God created everything out of love.” Thus everything was created in the original covenant of love. A husband and wife in this covenant of love between them and with God ‘procreate’ new life and in their procreation there is a trace, an echo, an image and sharing in the original covenant by which God created all life out of his love.

Late Pope John Paul II too says, “Love between husband and wife must be fully human, exclusive and open to a new life.” If it is there in the basic structure of the society then the main concern of everyone will be ‘how to serve?’ and not ‘how am I served?’ In this spirit St. Paul in his letter to 2nd Corinthians 12:15 say, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for you.” Therefore the orientation of anyone to one’s own self, in any walk of life, is the reversal of the order set by God.

So the question is as Christians are we able to experience God’s kingdom? Or like Pharisees do we fail to strike a balance between religiosity and spirituality and miss out what we set out for? Very often we do miss out and I can vouch for it.

In the book of Joshua chapter 24, we see Joshua helping the Israelites to walk down their memory lane and to experience, how God was with them in order to make a new covenant between God and His people. But we know they failed. Why? The answer is there in the same chapter when we read further in the verse 31 “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.” So as to say, when people with God experience vanished from them, the image of the Lord also vanished like a morning mist from their hearts and minds for good.

Are we also in the same state? Do we look for people with God experiences? If it is so, we are like the musk deer that runs the whole forest in search of fragrance unaware of the fact that it is within. Here once again Sri Aurobindo’s thought becomes relevant. He says, “‘Agni’ in Rig Veda is not mere fire but ‘A Divine Spark’.” We all have this divine spark within. All that we should do is to fan it so that the fire can engulf the whole body. Only then the unifying force that is love will be kindled in all of us. This awakening of Divine Spark within will be a second civilization for humanity as we will begin to see all relationships from a new perspective.

So indirectly Jesus says to each one of us today, when someone divorces his/her spouse or desert anyone in any relationship for that matter, the question he/she will have to face is not, ‘where is your spouse or brother?’ But the very first question that we see in the Bible, Genesis 3:9, “where are you?”

There is a certain amount of Pharisaic attitude in all of us. What we need is a character of docility to accept our short comings and grow further in life. If the little home at Nazareth was the foundation for Jesus we all need to start from our little homes and communities. As the founder of S V D, St. Arnold Janssen has dreamt for all his brothers and sisters, Let us also open our hearts to all the others without any expectation, by accepting each and everyone and thus become one heart and many faces.

- – - written by Br. Jobin Manivelil

The angels were to witness the birth of God’s only Son and flew closer to earth and sang sweetly. They caught sight of the new-born child from the stable’s roof and instantly understood their mission. They were so filled with joy that they burst into a glorious thanksgiving song. It was so melodious that it could be heard all over the Earth. They are known as Christmas angels. We see Christmas angels singing and playing music in Nativity scenes who look so cute and benevolent that they catch young one’s attention and fascination instantly.

The word angel is derived from the Hebrew word which takes the meaning ‘one going’ or ‘one sent’. The Hebrew word is used to denote either a divine or human messenger. The Latin version however distinguishes the divine or spirit messenger from the human, rendering the original in the one case by angelus and the other by legatus or more generally by nuntius.

The angels are represented throughout the Bible as a body of spiritual beings intermediate between God and men; “you have made him (man) a little less than the angels” (Ps. 8:6). They, equally with man, are created beings; “Praise Him all His angels: praise Him all His hosts… for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created” (Ps. 148:2). That the angels were created was laid down in the fourth Lateran Council.

Angels As Personal Guardians

Throughout the Bible we find it repeatedly implied that each individual soul has its tutelary angel. Thus Abraham, when sending his steward to seek a wife for Isaac, says; “He will send His angel before you” (Gen. 24:7). The words of the ninetieth Psalm which the devil quoted to our Lord (Mt. 4:6) are well known, and Judith accounts for her heroic deed by saying; “As the Lord lives, His angel has been my keeper” (Gen. 13:20).

Angles can make communications with the saints in heaven. They constantly intercede for us. When we begin to travel securely along the spiritual path Angels pray to heaven for giving us most valuable graces. Angels can help us even from falling into dangers. A spiritual enlightenment of the human soul is the sole aim of the creation of angels. We will be led by the angles invoking the grace of God, forever.

Related Articles: Guardian Angel Pics, An Angel says, Guardian Angels

Prayer: O my guardian Angel, appointed by God for my protection, enlighten my intellect, guide and protect me from dangers and accidents. Enable me to see the face of God, experience His presence and hear His voice even as you do. Amen.

- – - written by Tony Chittilappilly

The path we tread is important for our life ahead.

It is necessary for every one of us to examine the path we tread. This exercise is required very often, as we are prone to be lead to tread a different path than the one we ought to because of the influence of evil forces in this world. If we go through the Bible we will see that all those people who had and encounter with the Lord had treaded a different path from that very moment onwards.

After visiting Baby Jesus in the manger, the three wise men returned to their Country by another road (Mat.2:12). The path they tread earlier to reach Bethlehem was through King Herod; which now they realized was not the right path to return. In fact, the Lord had warned them not to go back to Herod. All the disciples of Jesus left their old profession, family and other earthly attachments behind them and followed Jesus blindly. In other words, they have deliberately changed their path.

The life of St. Paul, the greatest among the Evangelists, after his encounter with the Lord is a good example of this transformation. A great miracle took place in the life of Zacchaeus after he met Jesus. His very attitude towards life, his life style itself, and the path he tread thereafter were completely changed, quite contrary to the one he followed hitherto. We read in Mark 10:46-52, that the blind Bartimaeus followed Jesus immediately after he was blessed with sight.

The Samaritan Woman became an Evangelist just immediately after meeting Jesus, unexpectedly, at the well. She went around with great enthusiasm telling people that she met the Messiah (John 4:28:30). Let us also examine ourselves whether we are treading the right path. If we are not, it is time that we come back to the right path so that we will safely reach our actual destination.

We have to change our attitude towards others, our own behavior pattern, actions, attachments, priorities etc. Such an exercise will be highly beneficial for the soul as well as the body. Then, we will be able to experience the presence of the Lord within us and this experience will enable us to always tread the right path and become catalysts to change other lives.

Like Moses who when, pleading with the Lord to accompany him and his people, we should be able to say, “Your presence with us will distinguish us from any other people on earth” (Ex. 33:16). In order to obtain the necessary grace for this let us join the Psalmist and confess: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Ps.119:105).

So examine the path you tread. Is it the right one? If not, come…lets change the path we tread.

- – - written by N. A. Thomas, Chennai