Saturday, July 25, 2009

Come on, do not be afraid!

"There are very few people who realize what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace.” Silence is the absence of the EGO! Amazing Grace!
I have been granted the gift of another day! TODAY ! The enemy of FAITH is FEAR!
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Friday, July 24, 2009

Life in its wholeness

To experience life in its wholeness: Joy, Anguish, insecurity, Contradictions of Living Existentially Enjoy a few quite moments of silence before reading the following… Let all the tension in you flow away… Read the following insights one by one; allow each sentence to touch your inner self… Do not rationalize… Just wonder… Let your whole self be changed for the better…
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1) In the best of us there is the worst...” I can will what is right but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil that I do not want is what I do.” (Rom 7/18-19)
2) In the worst of us there is the best...” For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom 8/2
3) The masculine and the Feminine...
4) Our strength as Weakness; Our Weakness as strength... “... Strength is made perfect in weakness... for when I am weak then I am strong.”
5) Every opportunity is a crisis; every crisis is an opportunity... hence discernment...
6) Western principle of Contradiction: Either/ Or (White or black)...
7) Eastern Principle of Contradiction: Both/and... (White and black)
8) Contradictions are solved at higher levels: union, convergence, love...
9) Be friendly with your weakness/shadow...
10) Without fight there is no victory...
11) Without resistance one cannot walk; if the floor is too smooth it is difficult to walk...
12) Differences are to be accepted, appreciated and celebrated... 13) Reality is a rainbow... it is not monochromatic... 14) Wounded healer... Jesus is the wounded healer... We are called to participate in this mission... Interir Freedom -> Passionate attachment -> On fire -> Compassion - > Peace... Peace... Peace... Peace... Peace. *****************

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Praying with short texts

Response to the posting on my blog (22nd July, 2009)
By Fr. Joseph Chira, S.J.,
Missionary in Guyana for forty years and now serving in the Kerala Province of the Society of Jesus.
Thank you very much indeed, Fr. Chira.
May God be praised!
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[Dear Malpan,
Thank you for communicating with me through your blog.I appreciate very much your effort to help others pray the Scriptures.I have done some similar attempts to pray. I used to advise others during my missionary pastoral presence in Guyana for forty years to pray with short texts that say something personally to each one. Some have found it an ideal way to be in the presence of the Lord during the hustle and bustle of the day.You have done a great job in spelling out how the verse changes one's attitude and mood for the day for God's praise and glory as well as experiencing peace of heart.Today I was telling our 17 prenovices how they could listen to the Scripture reading of the day (Feast of Mary Magdalene) and look out for verses that touch them and find meaning in their life.Some of the verses from today's scripture readings that touched me: "I will seek him whom my heart loves.""My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God." "Your steadfast love is better than life."Jesus said to her, "Mary" She said, "Rabbouni." (Jesus calls me by name and I respond, "Master")May the Lord be praised through your loving effort to glorifying him by sharing your discoveries with others.
With prayerful good wishes,Fr. Joe Chira, S.J.]
(E-Mail id: <jchirasj@gmail.com>)
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Refugees of Climate Change

ASIA : Refusing ‘refuge’, climate change and human movement -
OVER THE PAST DECADE a new term has entered the lexicon of policy makers and the media: climate change refugees. Human movement caused by environmental factors – drought, land degradation or significant climate events (like cyclones) – is not new; what is new is the number of people now thought to be susceptible to such pressures. In a recent report, The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis, Kofi Annan described millions of people suffering because of climate change and ultimately being uprooted or permanently on the move because of it. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, it is becoming difficult to categorise displaced people because of the combined impacts of conflict, the environment and economic pressures. The spectre of climate change has also turned attention to the small Pacific nations of Tuvalu and Kiribati. These former British colonies straddling the equator – known then as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands – gained their independence only three decades ago. In recent years they have featured in media reports as "sinking islands" that will be uninhabitable by the middle of this century, with their people becoming the world’s first "climate refugees." Kiribati has a population of around 100,000, while Tuvalu, with only 10,000 people, is the world’s smallest state apart from the Vatican.
As researchers with an academic interest in forced migration, we recently visited Kiribati and Tuvalu. As we drove along the main road on the central Kiribati atoll of Tarawa, with the lagoon on one side and the ocean on the other, the sense of vulnerability to the environment was palpable – and that sense of vulnerability is magnified when there is an extreme event like a cyclone or king tide. But are the apocalyptic projections about the state of these two nations, and their people, accurate?While they face very similar challenges, Tuvalu and Kiribati are not identical in their approach to the pressures generated by climate change. But in both countries we discovered that there is a wholesale rejection of the "refugee" label, both at the political and community levels. For the people of these small Pacific nations, the term refugee evokes a sense of helplessness and a lack of dignity that contradicts their very strong sense of pride.
It’s important to remember that people at risk of environmental or climate displacement are not "refugees" as a matter of law. A refugee is someone who has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, who is outside their country of origin and whose government is unable or unwilling to protect them.
Even as a merely descriptive term, the refugee label is at best pre-emptive, and at worst offensive, for those to whom it is ascribed. In both Kiribati and Tuvalu people resoundingly reject it. At first, we could not grasp why, despite its legal inaccuracy. As scholars of forced migration, we view refugees as very resilient, capable people who have overcome adverse situations to secure protection for themselves and their families. Many refugees make a significant contribution to their new societies, including some who have achieved notoriety in their fields of endeavour: politician Madeleine Albright, Czech writer Milan Kundera, scholar Edward Said and artist Judy Cassab, for example.
But among the populations of these small Pacific countries, which are not themselves signatories to the Refugee Convention and whose languages do not even have a word for refugee, the term has many negative associations. We wondered whether this was partly a response to the draconian policies implemented under the Howard government, particularly the Pacific Solution. (Tuvalu, for example, was approached as a site for an offshore detention centre, but declined.) But the reaction seems to run far deeper than that. Interestingly, it highlights some of the central failures of the international system for providing protection to refugees and other displaced people, most notably the failure of many countries to provide assistance and accommodation, leaving millions of refugees in camps or leading precarious lives in bordering countries.In part, the discomfort with the refugee label stems from the fact that, by definition, refugees flee their own government, whereas the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu have no desire to escape from their countries. (The exceptionally low rate of visa overstayers from Kiribati in Australia suggests that these are people who like being at home.) They say it is the actions of other countries that will ultimately force their movement, not the actions of their own leaders. (These countries have some of the lowest emissions rates in the world.) This is coupled with fears that the refugee label connotes victimhood, passivity, and a lack of agency.
In Tuvalu and Kiribati refugees are viewed as people waiting helplessly in camps, relying on handouts, with no prospects for the future. To be a refugee, in their eyes, is to lack dignity. Some men told us that for them, being in such a situation would signal a failure on their part to provide for and protect their family. Tuvaluans and i-Kiribati people don’t want to be seen like that – they want to be viewed as active, valued members of a community. For this reason, the president of Kiribati is trying to secure enhanced labour migration options to Australia and New Zealand so that those who want to move have an early opportunity to do so, and can gradually build up i-Kiribati communities abroad.
This long-term strategy would see gradual, transitional resettlement so that, if and when the whole population has to relocate, there would be existing communities and extended family networks which those left behind could join. The president hopes that in this way, i-Kiribati culture and traditions will be kept alive, but that his people will also be able to adapt to new cultures and ways of life.Nevertheless, there is recognition that at some future point in time, migration schemes will also need to be accompanied by humanitarian options. The government of Kiribati is keen to secure international agreements in which other governments recognise that climate change has contributed to their predicament and acknowledge "relocation" as part of their obligation to assist. The government of Tuvalu, on the other hand, does not want relocation to feature in international agreements because of its fear that if it does, industrialised countries may simply think that they can solve problems like rising sea levels by relocating affected populations rather than reducing carbon emissions, which would not bode well for the world as a whole.Interestingly, despite the rejection of the refugee label, governments in both Tuvalu and Kiribati recognise that certain refugee law principles might have a place in addressing questions about legal obligation, and that some features of the refugee protection regime are pertinent to the present problem. One government official in Kiribati conceded that a framework akin to that of the Refugee Convention, minus the refugee tag, would be welcomed.Both governments have at various times sought relocation options in other countries, most notably Australia and New Zealand.
Just this month it was reported that Indonesia had offered to rent out islands to countries affected by climate change, and the Maldives has talked about buying up land in India or Sri Lanka. But there is much more to relocation than simply securing safe territory; those who move need to know that they can leave and re-enter the new country, enjoy work rights and health rights there, have access to social security if necessary, and be able to maintain their culture and traditions. They also want to know what the status of children born there would be.
At present, there is little in international law that would prevent a host country from expelling people should it wish to do so. If en masse relocation to another country is being considered as a permanent solution, then the situation is far more complex than a standard immigration plan. In the absence of territory formally being ceded to the affected country, there needs to be security of title and immigration and citizenship rights for those who move.
There is also a real question as to the impact that climate change has in this whole scenario. Neither of us are climate change sceptics, but we recognise that movement from these countries is, in the absence of a sudden natural disaster, a complex process. It involves multiple motivations inspired by a number of pressures that may compound on individuals and families in different ways at different times.
As one government official in Kiribati observed, climate change overlays pre-existing pressures – overcrowding, unemployment, environmental factors and economic development – which means that it may provide a tipping point that would not have been reached in its absence.
The view is somewhat different in Tuvalu. There, some government officials worry that highlighting the complex and multifaceted dimensions of movement will detrimentally shift the focus away from climate change, and that the magnitude of that problem warrants maintaining attention solely on its impacts. Yet we were intrigued to hear that whereas ten years ago any community meeting related to climate change would draw a large crowd, interest has died down in recent years. The explanation was that some of the doomsday scenarios advanced a decade ago have not eventuated.
While people could describe recent changes to the environment, weather patterns and local resources – changes they attributed to climate change – they also felt that they could adapt to them over time. We also grappled with the belief that God had promised Noah that there would be no more floods and God could to be trusted to keep this promise today. Certainly the impacts of climate change on low-lying atolls must not be underestimated. But there is a risk that solely focusing on climate change obscures other social changes that together provide a more realistic impression of why people act in particular ways, including whether they stay on their atolls or seek to migrate elsewhere.
Such an approach acknowledges the role of climate change in exacerbating existing social, economic and environmental pressures. This is not to suggest that complacency is an appropriate response. Rather, it is important to work with the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu to develop sustainable solutions that enable those who wish to remain to do so for as long as possible, and that facilitate the gradual movement of families and communities to help ease the transition for movement over time.
While raising the profile of these countries and their future is crucial, so too is garnering international support, creating sustainable and harmonised solutions, and listening to the voices of those concerned so that migration can become part of a broader adaptation response.Talk of sinking islands and climate change refugees may stimulate media interest and the popular imagination, but it is an oversimplification of the reality and suggests a situation of movement (or preparation for movement) which simply does not exist. The process itself is likely to be far less dramatic than the Atlantis-style predictions. Gradual disappearance as more people start to live outside the territory is the likely scenario.
At present, there are no visible signs of departure plans. People are not fleeing, but they are reluctantly recognising that at some point in the future their home may no longer be able to sustain them. Many have family or friends living abroad, and one quickly learns that mobility is, as in many Pacific countries, a historical pattern that continues to this day.(Jane McAdam is Director of the International Refugee and Migration Law Project at the Gilbert and Tobin Centre of Public Law at the University of NSW and holds a three year Australian Research Council Grant, Weathering Uncertainty: Climate Change "Refugees" and International Law. Maryanne Loughry, Associate Director of JRS Australia, is a psychologist who researches the psychological and social effects of forced migration and is presently piloting a study on the human dimensions of climate change in the Pacific.) - http://www.jrs.net/news
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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Help my unbelief

Let me be open to the healing touch of the Lord today!
How to live the presence of God?
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On the last but one day of a directed retreat I gave recently in Nairobi, during the Eucharistic celebration, I shared with the retreatants one of the many ways of practising the presence of God in our daily life.
As the participants were all of them belonging to a Congregation of Religious I was inspired to share with them the following way of living the presence of God. The context of sharing was the last but one day's Eucharist of the retreat.
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If someone were to close his/her eyes and say "I do not see God in my life", would that person ever be in a position to experience the presence of God in the daily events of his/her life? Not likely. In God's providence of course the possibility of His breaking into one's life in an extraordinary way is always possible. But that is not the ordinary way.
"Open your eyes" the Lord would whisper in your heart, "and see me labouring, protecting and nurturing your life today". This calls for deep faith in God who trusts me in spite of my limitations.
Then I shared with them following:
"As I take part in the daily Eucharist,
if I open my ears of my heart to the various prayers and readings of the celebration of the Eucharist,
I will certainly be touched by a phrase or a verse from the sacred readings or prayers of the celebration.
Let me take note of the particular phrase or verse and consider it as the "WORD OF LIFE" for the day.
Let me suppose the verse that strikes me is the following:
"Bless the Lord, O my soul;
and all that is within me ,
bless his holy name." (Psalm 103:1)
I open myself to the healing touch of this verse. When the Mass is over and I enter into my daily schedule of activities I can repeat this verse in the silence of my heart whenever an opportune moment suggests itself in the course of the day. It may be a joyful moment when someone tells me a word of encouragement. It may be when someone misunderstands me and criticises me or gets angry with me. It may be a moment of tension, some struggle, a mood out experience, a negative self talk or a deep mental agony.
With great faith, hope and love I pray,
"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me , bless his holy name."
I repeat the verse whenever I am inspired to do it. If I think that I have a tendency to forget, I can write it down and keep it on my table or in my pocket. It will not take too much time either.
However busy I am,
this way of praying the presence of God is available to me.
My willingness and readiness is all that is necessary.
I can be sure that the loving presence of God will overwhelm me with its miraculous healing power.
If I practise this method daily, and at the end of a particular day if I spend a few moments in examining my consciousness I will be surprised to find that the experience of the loving presence of God has positively influenced my thoughts, words and deeds for the greater glory of God.
"O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!"(Psalm 118:1)
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NB: Even if one is not able to take part in the daily Eucharist, still this method of living the presence of can be practised. Take any passage from the Sacred Scripture and read it attentively or listen to any devotional hymn and allow yourself to be touched by any phrase or verse. Relive that phrase during the day as it is suggested above. You can be sure it will work. The Lord is with me twenty four hours of the day, seven days a week.What is important is that I make an effort to be in touch with Him.
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Sure enough this is a very simple method. The sceptics would not heed to it saying: "It is too pious and outlandish".
Let us remember that in spiritual experience, the simple prayer with great faith, hope and love can lead us to profound experience of God. Why don't we give it a try. If you are a practitioner of this form of prayer in any of its form, I will be happy to have a short write-up on your practise and experience and I assure you that your writeup will eventually published in this blog pending of course your permission to do so.
Let me request you to contact me using the E-mail id given at the end of this post. Thank you very much indeed.
May the Lord's loving presence touch you and heal you! May His name be phrased fore ever more! ---------------------------
Sense of humour First Day of School -
This little girl comes home from her first day at school and says, "I'm never going to school again!". Her father asks why. She says, "The teacher said the 5+5 = 10. Then she said the 6+4 = 10, and 7+3 = 10 and 8+2 = 10 and 9+1 = 10." The father asks, "What's your point?" "She needs to make up her mind!'
Found Money -
#1: "Last Sunday I found a wallet packed with money down by the church." #2: "Did you give it back?" #1: "Not yet. I'm still trying to decide if it's a temptation from the devil or the answer to a prayer." --------------------------

Monday, July 20, 2009

Walking in faith

The Smell of Toasted Bread I don’t take illegal drugs
As illegal drugs are for mugs.
I’ve stopped smoking cigarettes
And rarely place gambling bets.
Since I quit alcoholic drink
I’ve been feeling in the pink.
I get my highs from simple things
My modest way of life brings
Like when something pleases my eye
I often get a natural high.
Or when I hear music in my ears
That moves me to joyful tears.
Or even the smell of toasted bread
Often goes straight to my head.
Or the taste of my morning tea
With some caffeine stimulating me,
But, my greatest high could be in the touch
Of someone I love very much!
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Courtesy: Jim Wilson: Aberdeen, Scotland
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vmalpan@gmail.com

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Peace

AFRICA: Prayer for Peace and Healing of
the Wounds of War and Violent Conflict
God of Life, we are filled with a deep yearning for peace and reconciliation in Africa where your beloved people have experienced too often the suffering wrought by war and by violent conflict We ache with the loss of those who are displaced from their homes and villages Fill their loss with your comfort. We are fearful with those who are living in danger Calm their fears with your courage And we find great hope in the many African efforts to build lasting peace and to restore wholeness to broken communities and nations. God of peace, send your Spirit to renew the African continent. Heal the wounds of war Help us to be present in solidarity from every corner of the world as the great African journey toward true and lasting peace is realized. Amen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Courtesy: MARYKNOLL.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION The scariest drive I’ve ever had! I was in a kind of ‘on and off’ conversation with the fellow behind the wheel. And then I became aware that I had lost all connection with him. He was talking to someone else on his cell phone.
Here was I wondering how he could give his attention at one and the same time to what was actually happening on the road, to what might easily happen, as well as conversing with someone in the electronic ‘out there,’ when, to my horror, his second cell phone chimed in.
Wonder of wonders, he was able to manage to hold two conversations while driving his vehicle at a considerable pace. I was filled with awe since I’m hard pushed to manage more than one thing at a time, and mostly not very successfully. I was also filled with fear.
True enough, I was strapped in with the required safety belt, but, in the circumstances, what kind of security was that?For my part, I’ve needed my full, undivided, concentration to motor along our twisting narrow mountainous roads in Grenada, with a sheer drop to the sea on one side, and a steep rock-face on the other.
Nowhere to go but over - and down, down, down or into - and smash, full-stop.
The on-coming traffic takes possession of the road, of both sides as well as the middle as it belts along straight at you. Dexterity of the highest order, supreme concentration and very actual grace alone ensure the possibility of survival.And now my imagination chokes.
By contrast with all these limitations of mine (and of others, did they but realize it) at one and the same time our Heavenly Father with infinite wisdom and love is receiving and answering literally millions of prayers uttered in dozens of languages and concerning a myriad of different intentions.
Together with this he is loaded with the detailed exercise of governance over the whole of creation.I am overwhelmed as I think of the mind and the will that is God.
To the skeptic it’s all very simple. No problem! ‘If you can’t understand it, if you can’t prove it, just be reasonable. Don’t accept it.’ We who believe can’t go this way. When we profess that Almighty God is mystery we’re talking not only about his power.
We’re talking about his capacity to give his undivided, specific, attention to the minutiae of everything, absolutely everything.
MY WAY is definitely not GOD’S Way. Admitting this is the beginning of wisdom, perhaps the totality as well.
Courtesy:Peter Clarke O.P vmalpan@gmail.com