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All Souls Day 2011

The Marianists at Deepahalli -- the REDS Boys, the Aspirants, and the Scholastics -- celebrated All Souls Day.  Fr. Varghese began the liturgy with a blessing.  The celebration began with each worshiper placing a list of his dearly departed in a symbolic coffin.  The coffin was then carried in procession into the Chapel.  Each person then placed a flower in the coffin and lite a candle in hope of the Resurrection.  Fr. David gave the final blessings. 

'What man is this . . .'

"What sort of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him?"  Some are quick to question the reality of the miracle and, thus, to make of Jesus an ordinary sort of man.  Thus, the question of those in the boat who experienced the waves and the winds was pointless.  There was no help against the storm and the wind and the wave.  

The actuality of the miracle disturbs us because the miracle reveals the closeness of God midst our storms.  "Where is your courage, your faith?"  We have none -- neither courage nor its foundation, faith.  We are the ordinary sort of men.  We are overwhelmed by the storms and heavy seas of our times and lives.  No messiah is to be found asleep in our boat.

Fear is the final perimeter of our lives without the miracle that is Jesus.  Jesus is the Center: remove the center and things fall apart -- so far apart as to be beyond all human repair.  "Lord save us for we are lost and do not realize it."  The greatest loss is not to know one's loss.

A paradigm shift?

To use a somewhat overworked word, are we not perhaps seeing a paradigm shift in the structure of religious life from ministry to spirituality?  from a centering of the work to be done to the interior to be experienced and shared?  from Martha busy with all the doings to Mary listening at the feet of the Master?

Might we consider religious life not from the needed tools and offices for church and social ministries to a reflection on the journey inward?

Diwali at Deepahalli in video

Diwali at Deepahalli 2011

On Wednesday, 26 October 2011, the Marianists on the Deepahalli compound gathered to celebrate the Indian Festival of Diwali.