Dear friends,
Hope you are well.
 
Recently I came across a video that was sent to me. It was about a plant that eats insects. The name of it is Venus Flytrap. That video showed how the plant eats the insect. This plant is a small one and it is found the regions of South and North Carolina. The scientists say that the plants lure the insects to them and trap them. The reddish interior and the nectar secreting glands of the plant make the insects think that it is a flower. Thinking that it is a flower, the insects approach the plant and as they sit on the plant, the hormones in the plant start acting fast enough to trap the insects into the plant. Then after trapping the insect, the organ becomes an external stomach and tries to digest the prey. It may take from two to three days or even more to digest the prey depending on the size of the prey.
 
When I was reading about this plant I was really excited and I imagined the way the devil lures people to himself and leads them to destruction. The interesting thing about the plant was that how the plants attract or lure the prey with their external appearance. I was reminded of how Eve felt with the forbidden fruits of the Garden of Eden. The scripture reads thus: The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. (Gen: 3:6a). The eyes of Eve were the first cause of temptation. It is through the eyes that the beauty of the fruits appearance enters in to the mind of Eve. This is something similar that happens to us.
 
We live in a world filled with varieties of allurements. There are a lot of things that seem to give happiness and contentment to people. But most of them are not so. They are all allurements and temptations to attract people. There are agents to get those allurements promoted at most expensive cost, which most of the times is the health of people, life of the people, happiness of people and anything good that people can enjoy. All these are at detriment of the people’s good. As those preys are allured and attracted towards the flytrap, these externally or seemingly good stuff also allure people to deception.
 
This kind of temptation occurs in two phases. First is to distract one from the real good elements like faith, morals, discipline, good values, spirituality and things related to these. The second phase is to affirm that those bad stuff are going to be good. Those things are like material pleasure and acquisition of material wealth. This affirmation part is so strong that it entices one’s mind and makes us believe that what is portrayed as good is completely true. The sad part is our brain easily succumbs to those allurements. This is how we fall into spiritual sins through the material beginning. To keep us on the alert and live properly is a very big challenge posed in front of us. We need to keep our faith and conviction strong enough to withstand all these worldly temptations and be the chosen one of God.
 
May God bless you and keep you away from the earthly allurements.
 
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Fr. A. Antony
 

Hi friends,
Hope you are all doing well. This past week we had some good rain, little more than what we really needed. That is the abundance of nature’s generosity. Let us be grateful. Mother nature is always good until we mess with her.
In India, when the results for the examinations come out, we see students who fail in the examinations commit suicide. This sure happens in other countries too. They are not able to take it that they have failed. I saw on the news that one TV celebrity with versatile personality, Anthony Bourdain committed suicide. Some people who incur a loss in business or people who lose their loved ones commit suicide. The statistical data show that in the US, the rate of suicide keeps increasing. One study says that the rate has increased a 30 year high, which is alarming.
Why do people commit suicide so easily or quickly? One of the many reasons is that they do not equip themselves to face the hard realities of life. They might not have been trained or brought up the harder way which could enable them to accept and face the real situations of life. The first thing we need to understand is that the life is not a rose bed with all fragrance and softness. Sometimes it is a hard bed with some stinks sometimes and we need to take it as it comes. If we have only positive things in life, the life will become so monotonous that it may end up to be another reason for suicide. The life will lose its taste if it is always sweet. Sometimes we need bitter things to understand and appreciate the sweetness of life.
Another thing about life is that it is not our own. We did not earn it or we did not merit it. It is a purely gratuitous and a generous offer from God to whomever the life is given. We do not have any right over it except to cherish it and make to the full length until it is decided by the owner that the life given by him needs to be taken away from us. Until then we need to hold it fast enough and cherish it with all goodness for others. The life’s worth is not really understood as it is not hard earned. Only those who struggle with life with all sickness and deceases would to some extent know the value of it. Sometimes we are given struggles to strengthen our life, but unfortunately, we fail the test very often and so bad.
Terminating one’s life is not a solution to any problem or trouble. In fact, it is going to be the starting point of troubles for the other people who are left behind after one commits suicide. Life is given to us to enjoy it. When I say enjoy I don’t mean that everything is going to be cozy and comfy. As we enjoy the roller coaster, we need to take it. There are ups and downs in the roller coaster, but still when we are done with it we cherish the very thought of it. Life is something similar to that. Though we have lots of ups and downs, at the end of the day we should be able to cherish the thought of it. That is why God has given us time to live and then cherish it in our thoughts. Those who have overcome the temptations of suicide will sometime think of this time in future and laugh at themselves saying, “Did I think of committing for this silly reason at that time of my life? Really?”
This is what we need to do: Expect all troubles in life, and when they come we will be happy that we were right or when they don’t come we will be happy that we did not get any trouble. Simple. Let us remember those people who encounter troubles that they could not counter. May God give them courage and grace to live a happy life.
God bless. Sincerely in Christ Jesus,    Fr. A. Antony.
 

Dad,
I never knew you fully well, because I saw only your outer self, not your inner self.
I never knew that you loved me more than I could love myself because I did not see you giving me in person what I wanted, it was always the mom who did it.
I never knew that you were concerned so much about me, because I did not see you spending more time to play with me not realizing the times that you were not with me were the times you toiled for me.
I never knew that you worried about my life and my future, because you did not speak to me about that a lot to me, not realizing that you worried about how I was going to achieve my goal for my future and worked hard to achieve that for me.
I never knew that you were so happy about me and my little achievements, because I did not see you sharing your happiness with me but you were proud in front of others about those little achievements.
I never knew that you were committed to make me an educated person, because it was the mom who told me she wanted me be educated when I wanted to be so.
I never knew that you cared a lot to get my petty wishes fulfilled, because it was mom who offered to give me anything I wanted, though they were very small.
I never knew that you were interested in things that I was interested in, because I could not tell them to you but to mom and sure enough I was that she was interested in what I was interested in.
I never knew that you carried me not only on your shoulders, to let me see things that even you did not see, but also in your heart’s depth that I can never fathom.
I never knew the troubles and struggles that you went through for me except what mom told me about, because you never wanted to boast about anything you did for me.
I never knew the amount of sacrifices you made for me, because they had never been made known to me and I never cared to know about them.
I never knew you were supportive of me in anything I did, because I saw only your stern corrections behind which the unseen tears from your heart were, whenever you were seemingly harsh to me.
I never knew that you were everything for me in my life, because you were behind me holding me strong and steady, not in front of me telling me things about your endeavors.
I never knew the moments that I slept in your arms, because it was only after I slept I was shifted to your arms which were ever ready to carry me.
I never knew and shall never know the kind of father that you were, because nobody could tell me that and I never realized that.
Though mom was there for me all the time, you were behind her bearing us together in your arms. I never knew that.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.
 

Dear friends,
Hope you have been enjoying these days with a pleasant weather.  The good weather makes us feel a lot better and makes us active.  Hope this continues in the days coming forth, too.
I recently happened to watch a small video of Pope Francis who in a gathering was giving a speech.  He was telling a joke about a humorous priest.  It seems there was a priest with a great sense of humor in one particular parish.  There was a woman in that parish, too, and she was a big gossiper.  She used to gossip always about others and she did not forget to brag about herself.  She bragged about herself so much like this: Father, I come to church every day.  I am living near the church.  I am so close to the church that I can look at the altar of the church even from my house.  The priest had known her very well. As she herself said she was regular to church and there was another regular thing she hid from the priest and that was that after leaving the church she used to go to all the houses and keep gossiping about everybody.  But the priest had known that.
Time passed by and one day the lady fell sick and she wanted to have communion, because she was housebound because of her sickness.  She called the priest asking him to bring her communion.  The priest told her in reply, “Don’t worry. With the long tongue that you have, you can reach the tabernacle.”  Saying this joke the Pope said that this gossiping is a terrorism.  He meant it and it is right.  Nowadays the habit of gossiping has become the dearest virtue of people.  They find such a joy in gossiping.  This is an expression of undue and inappropriate curiosity over the affairs of other people.  Pope Francis was right in saying that gossiping is a terrorism.  In his words, “Yes, the gossiper does the same as the terrorist.  He approaches, talks to one, throws the gossip bomb, destroys and leaves quietly.”  This is what happens in a gossip.
The habit of gossiping is a double-sided knife.  When you gossip, you not only destroy the other person about whom you gossip, you also destroy your own self.  By gossiping, you distort the good image that people hold about you.  What good do we gain by gossiping about others and distorting our own image?  There is in no way that any good could be achieved.  By gossiping we expose our weak nature.  Gossip is used to speak bad about other people.  That is not at all a Christian charity.  If we need to have that Christian charity, we should keep our tongue on hold about other people.  We do not have any need that we should talk about other people.  Another thing is that all our gossips, at least most of our gossips, are lies arising from our jealousy.  It is because we are jealous about other people being good or others are appreciated for their gifts of any kind, we try to degrade them by our gossip and they tend to be most of the times false.
We as good human beings and people of charity towards others are called to be the bearer of good tidings to and of the people.  All the contrary is the expression of our uncharitable attitude and that results in a lot of trouble to the family and the society.  So, let us try to think good of others and speak good words about others.  We in that way will be the witnesses of the Truth, Jesus Christ.
God bless.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Fr. A. Antony
 

Dear friends,
Hope you are trying to keep cool in this summer. I hear we are facing a record high temperature these days, at least some time in this past week. I have set up my air conditioners in the rectory. So, I am in pretty good shape now though I suffered the heat a little bit. Hope to find some pleasant days. I am also planning to ride on my motorcycle. Many have been asking me about it. Got some things fixed for that and ready to go!
This week we are celebrating the Solemn feast of the Most Holy Body and Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is called Corpus Christi Feast. This feast is celebrated in solemnity because it is the most important one as it is recognizing the love of Jesus who despite our unworthiness was willing to offer Himself up for us and stay with us to the end of the age. His love for us is so express that he wanted to be with us with His Body and Blood integrated into our own mortal body and blood. This is something too tremendous for any human being to be endowed with. We the believers of this great mystery are greatly blessed.
This great Feast the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Christ should remind us of our Lord’s love for us which should lead us to the proper response of his love for us. Most of the time the reception of the Body and Blood of Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist becomes nothing more than a fancy ritual, because of our improper understanding of the Holy Sacrament. Properly dealt with, the reception of the Body and Blood of Christ should make us Alter Christus, the other Christ. But it does not seem so, because we do not let that change take place within us.
All over the world, we see an immense intolerance towards the religions and the freedom of religions is at stake. People do not let others to practice and follow the religion of their own and their own conscience. Most times we succumb to such intolerance and back away from our faith though not publicly or openly. Spiritually we accept the easy way not worrying about discarding the faith. This is an easy way out into the destruction of our souls. This is dangerous not only for us and it is dangerous to the whole society we live in.
Today’s feast should make us strong in our faith. This should enable us to bear witness to the everlasting love of God. It is by this feast we become one with God and we become the ambassadors of His great Love. We need to become the preachers and livers of the unfathomable love of Christ. When we live such a life, this feast will have meaning and our celebration of the Eucharist will be effective in our lives.
May God bless us and be with us always both spiritually and physically.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. A. Antony