Dear friends,
Hope you are all doing well. With the warm weather this past week, life was a little better. Praised be God. Hope good fortunes keep coming our way. At the same time, we need also to remember those affected by the hurricane Florence in the states of South and North Carolina, Virginia and many other East Coast states and more. By the time I write this message, the outcome of the hurricane is estimated to be a bigger disaster. So, let us keep them in our prayers.
I happened to watch a tv gameshow. In that game there was a particular time when the team was given a task in which each one was asked to convince someone else to make a sacrifice and would get rewarded. The first player was told privately to convince one other member of the team to make a sacrifice for him, and the first would be rewarded. This first player went to one of the members and told him that he (the other player, not the first player) would be rewarded if he could sacrifice for the first player. The other member of the team trusting the first player’s word accepted to do the sacrifice. When all in the team had completed the task, the team members came to know that the first player had lied to the person in order to convince him to make the sacrifice. All the members of the team became mad at the first player for the cheating game. When asked about it, the player said that it was his strategy to win the game.
Lots of foul things that we do have become strategy. To tell lies, to cheat, to steal, to spoil the name of others and anything of this sort has become strategy. We call it intelligence, prudence and being smart. Whatever kind of positive names we may give or positive adjectives we may add, the fact remains unchanged. That is: Lie is a lie. Survival of the fittest is a prominent theory in the animal world. But this theory is creeping into the human society so fast that in few decades or so, even killing someone might be an ‘okay thing’, if it is done for my survival or my benefit. What I say might seem an exaggeration, but for sure this would become true, if the world keeps travelling in the same direction as it is now. There would come a situation where I will be right even if I betray my friend or brother for my survival, I would be right even if I suppress others for my survival, I would be right even if I covet others’ property for my living. We do not need to get into such contaminated and chaotic society and nobody would want that.
We have learnt “Honesty is the best policy’. We the Christians are called to be people of exemplary life. To put it in the words of Jesus: You are the salt of the earth (Mt: 5:13) and you are the light of the world (Mt: 5:14). If that is what we believe, let us be true to our heart and true to our call. By being dishonest and insincere, we may win only for a while but we will lose the eternal victory. So, keep the truth in the heart and mind and the Truth will set us free. (Jn: 8:32)
God Bless.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. A. Antony
Hope you are all doing well. With the warm weather this past week, life was a little better. Praised be God. Hope good fortunes keep coming our way. At the same time, we need also to remember those affected by the hurricane Florence in the states of South and North Carolina, Virginia and many other East Coast states and more. By the time I write this message, the outcome of the hurricane is estimated to be a bigger disaster. So, let us keep them in our prayers.
I happened to watch a tv gameshow. In that game there was a particular time when the team was given a task in which each one was asked to convince someone else to make a sacrifice and would get rewarded. The first player was told privately to convince one other member of the team to make a sacrifice for him, and the first would be rewarded. This first player went to one of the members and told him that he (the other player, not the first player) would be rewarded if he could sacrifice for the first player. The other member of the team trusting the first player’s word accepted to do the sacrifice. When all in the team had completed the task, the team members came to know that the first player had lied to the person in order to convince him to make the sacrifice. All the members of the team became mad at the first player for the cheating game. When asked about it, the player said that it was his strategy to win the game.
Lots of foul things that we do have become strategy. To tell lies, to cheat, to steal, to spoil the name of others and anything of this sort has become strategy. We call it intelligence, prudence and being smart. Whatever kind of positive names we may give or positive adjectives we may add, the fact remains unchanged. That is: Lie is a lie. Survival of the fittest is a prominent theory in the animal world. But this theory is creeping into the human society so fast that in few decades or so, even killing someone might be an ‘okay thing’, if it is done for my survival or my benefit. What I say might seem an exaggeration, but for sure this would become true, if the world keeps travelling in the same direction as it is now. There would come a situation where I will be right even if I betray my friend or brother for my survival, I would be right even if I suppress others for my survival, I would be right even if I covet others’ property for my living. We do not need to get into such contaminated and chaotic society and nobody would want that.
We have learnt “Honesty is the best policy’. We the Christians are called to be people of exemplary life. To put it in the words of Jesus: You are the salt of the earth (Mt: 5:13) and you are the light of the world (Mt: 5:14). If that is what we believe, let us be true to our heart and true to our call. By being dishonest and insincere, we may win only for a while but we will lose the eternal victory. So, keep the truth in the heart and mind and the Truth will set us free. (Jn: 8:32)
God Bless.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. A. Antony
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