The Progress of A Pilgrim- A Journey

 Day 2: Coonoor  A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu If you're a traveler, plans hardly have a place in your life.  My trip to this beautiful hamlet was never preplanned and yet was one of the best I've made so far.  From walking on the clouds to making new friends, Day 2 had its own charm. My day began with The Sunday Mass at the majestic Cathedral atop the mountain. The trek felt amazing, especially since it was early morning!  Post- Mass, I joined my group and traversing through meandering roads we reached the ever gorgeous Ooty Lake. Decked with humongous pine and ferns trees on either side the lake gorged gorged through with an astonishing view of the Nilgiris.  Another interesting thing about the trip was the visit to the tribal women's thread garden, created by women over 12 years with minute stitches creating over 150 different species of Nilgiri flowers which if nothing felt not only real but also fresh as ...

  Safarnama Jise safar-e-ishq hua ho use safar se mohabbat kyun hai, yeh puchte ho? Jo manzil bina hi rah chal pada hai, janaab unhe ghar dikha rahe ho? Mohabbat jiski waadiyan, samundar,aasman ho, use chaar diwalon mein kaid kar rahe ho? For those who aren't aware of Urdu,  "for the one who has fallen in love,  why do you ask, 'why did you fall in love'?" He who's love are valleys, hills, the waves and vast blue sky, why do you try and imprison him in 4 walls? Nestled in the Bosom of the Nilgiri Mountain Ranges lie the three neighboring hamlets. The erstwhile summer home of the Madras Regiment of the British Raj, Ootacamund or Ooty is home to some bloodcurdling horror stories of the lady in white, to the delicious homemade chocolates to the famed Nilgiri teas and coffees to epic Neogothic Cathedrals and Churches to cheap yet amazing woollens.  Join me as I explore the history and culture of these three hamlets.  Day 1- My day began with an early morning bus i...

  Talk to Me is a good scary movie.  Good story but it's a reminder that Satan and the Fallen Angels are real. Magick of any kind is of the evil one.  Scripture tells us a thousand times to stay away from mediums and all things that spell magick even astrology for that matter.  Satan can manipulate our greatest weaknesses and our biggest sorrows bringing us to Perdition.  In our pains we must never turn to any other forces than that which God has given us.  Demons are real and they do meddle in human affairs.  But we on our part, can stay away from them by keeping away from the occult and from all things God forbids us to do. The Church has always believed and taught that the dead do not talk with us unless God  commands them to do so, as is the case of The Holy Souls from Purgatory who have been sent to men and women of the Faith strengthening their Faith in the Holy Sacrifice of The Mass, or the damned souls who are sent to warn people of dire c...

  We Catholics should be very grateful especially because it is only in the Catholic Church that God has preserved the Full Deposit of Faith.  But at the same time we ought to be careful that we do not receive the Eternal Rebuke, "they worship Me only with their words but their hearts are far from Me." Every Devotion we perform on a daily basis,  say the Rosary, Confession, daily Mass, Adoration, Scriptureand Spiritual Reading,  Reciting The Offices- everything is aimed towards only one Goal and that is to drive us to become Saints. St. Dominic Savio learnt this so very young and therefore said the Saint, "I would rather die than offend God again".  Unlike the monks, we who live in the world,  we often excuse ourselves by our busy daily lives office work and so on. To us St. Bruno says, “While the world changes, the cross stands firm.” And so must we stand firm.  One could say he has The Faith. But is he/she faithful as a Catholic can only be seen in h...

  Since the Fall of The Angels and The Fall of Man,  the enemity between the Darkness and the Light has become even more evident and has reached its peak today.  We may deny the existence of Personified Evil or even the existence of anything supernatural, but in the times we live in,  it becomes even more evident.   But, to understand what led to this or rather, why the most perfect beings could be overwhelmed with pride and jealousy,  we need to go back.  Back at when God created the Earth,  Heaven and the Heavenly Bodies.   God being All Good,  created all things out of love. God, who is Love Personified never intended to create an evil Personified.  But yet somehow,  His Omnipotence knew what would happen and how He would play His part in the Drama of Salvation.  God Created the lights to distinguish between day and night.  Theologians often suggest that it was on that day and time God created the Angels....

  For what is man but dust and ashes, At eventide he withereth, But 'tis God The Maker,  The Lord Eternal,  Who maketh the soul not carnal, Raise o Christian Soul thy heart  To The Heart who loved thee more, For apart from the Heart of God Thy created heart be sore. O Word Who loved and loves us still, Thy Name Name we sing for aye! Thy Name my parched lips may fill, When my soul to Heaven may fly.  O raise thy voices dawn and even, Raise a Prayerful sigh! Nothing can but capture that Heart, But prayer alone that raises thee, Prayer the greatest art. O Christian soul sing thy cry to Heart of Love. And with that song, like a swallow, fly to Heaven above. #thoughtsongod

  Ever felt left out at a time everyone talks about your bestie and forget about you even when you're around? It's The same with The Third Person of The Blessed Trinity, name; The Holy Ghost.  But unlike us God The Holy Ghost never feels left out since He is Equal to The Father and The Son in every way. Fully God, Fully Lord, Fully Divine and Fully Eternal. God The Holy Ghost is often depicted as a Silent Mild Dove. That is because love and care is attributed to Him. This doesn't mean He is as strong as The Father and The Son. No! He is equally Omnipotent as The First Two Persons of The Holy Trinity.   God The Holy Ghost is first mentioned in Sacred Scripture in The Book of Genesis, as He hovered over the Formless Earth.  He proceeds of The Father and The Son is often referred to as The Manifestation of The Love Between God The Father and God The Son. It was He who often spoke with the Prophets and The Patriarchs in the Old Testament,  revealing the Divine ...

Family is the beginning of a societal structure,  the smallest factor of the Church and yet the most important of all. Without a good family,  ethics and values never are born.  Saints would never be here and minus the Holy Family of Nazareth,  Jesus wouldn't have Incarnated to become man. The essence of Catholic families,  is God and not man or the world.  A Catholic family is a domestic Church.  The family centers around the Altar and the Sacraments.  This family holds itself together only via one focal point. God. Day begins with prayer and ends with the same. Often we seem to feel left out in the world but the words of St. Bruno always remains in our hearts, "while the whole world changes,  The Cross remains still". This state of stillness is True Peace.  We can have endless things but nothing contents a Catholic heart than a good Confession and a good Holy Communion. Just as we pray that God may grant us holy Priests, we must pray f...

  The Sign of The Cross has been a Prayer by itself since the beginning of Christendom.  By His Death on The Cross our Saviour and Lord,  Jesus Christ transformed an ignominious symbol of torment to the very Sacred Symbol which adorns our Altars,  Cathedrals,  Steeples and more. Christendom minus the Cross is as good as dead. Coming back to the Signum Crucis Prayer. Somewhere around the 3rd Century A.D, St. Constantine the Great,  Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire was loosing a great battle.  But of the very things that the world,  the flesh and the Devil makes evil; God can make good. And thus The Blessed Trinity in all His splendor shone upon this pagan ruler. And a voice from Heaven sought a soul. This voice cried to Constantine, "In this sign thou shalt conquer". While some state it was THE CHIRO that we see on Altars and some believe that it was the Blessed Cross on which our Redeemer died.  As a result of his victory,  the Empero...

  Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying glorious Son. -Stabat Mater No man born of woman dare say, he has endured as much as Christ or His Mother did. Every Wounds on the Sacred Hands and Feet of The Saviour had a twofold impact.  The Physical and the Spiritual.  The Physical  Body of Christ's Humanity suffered the severest of pains. Be it the Scourges, the beatings, the stripping off of His Clothes, The Crowning with Thorns -everything pained His Most Tender Virginal Flesh and tore it off His Body.   While Spiritually, His mind was "sorrowful even unto death". The Sins that man had ever committed, or were presently committing and the Sins we would commit in the future plagued The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Being God He knew how many would never use the Balm of His Precious Blood and convert. He knew how many would still choose satan to Himself. How men would still choose wealth and complain like the ancient Israelites. He kn...

I was traveling by a hill On the outskirts of the City There, I heard a dying Man cry to me. "Thirst I for my loved But gone is she far off Dos't thou know whither he went  Canst thou bring him hither?" I raised my head an saw, A Man crucified upon a Cross.  His tears flowing down the cheeks, His Body Fully torn, With all the Blood shed, He was out fully worn. I asked whom He sought.  "Thy soul thy soul my love." When I cried asked who He be! Replied the Man, "Jesus on Calvary" I wept, I mourned , I lamented for this Man's painful destiny.   Woe that from His face I didst flee Living Waters leaving, Putrid waters to drink.

 It is in our sufferings and our crosses, we truly see what this world really is. It's truly the vale of tears. To fall in love with the world would truly mean hating. In all things,  we must never attach ourselves to this dark dark world and its prince, The Devil.   Detachment is an ascetic virtue not just for monks and cloistered nuns or even The Priests. It is a necessity for us, the laity as well.  We should prefer nothing to God, says St. Benedict. As Christians,  we're all supposed to be monks and nuns. Not that everyone is called into the roof of the Monastery or given the Habit.  But all of us are called to be Alone in the world,  for God. My fellow Catholics, the more I look around,  I see how Satan has grasped the souls, even of those who were born elects. My friends and family in Christ,  look around you and you'll see the demons wreaking havoc in the world. Only through penance and strengthening of our Faith through the Sacra...

On one occasion, as St. Dominic was by night walking about the convent of S. Sabina, guarding his flock with the vigilance of a good shepherd, he met the enemy in the dormitory, going like a lion seeking whom he might devour; and recognizing him, he said, "Thou evil beast, what doest thou here?" "I do my office," replied the demon, "and attend to my gains." "And what gains dost thou make in the dormitory?" asked the saint. "Gain enough," returned the demon. "I disquiet the friars in many ways; for first, I take the sleep away from those who desire to sleep in order that they may rise promptly for matins; and then I give an excessive heaviness to others, so that when the bell sounds, either from weariness or idleness they do not rise; or, if they rise and go to choir, it is unwillingly, and they say their office without devotion." Then the saint took him to the church, and said, "And what dost thou gain here?" "M...

The Beautiful Vesperal Hymn to the Blessed Virgin, Salve Regina rightly proclaims this world as a "vale of sorrows". In this world,  we can never be too happy. If we are wealthy, we worry about our wealth being stolen.  If we're poor, we cry out, why we don't possess wealth. But the truth is, this world,  after the Fall of our First Parents were devoid of Happiness.  For man was made for God and God alone is the Happiness of Man. But the fallen man is so busy trying to seek Happiness in things that he's forgotten his Creator.  "He was sent to His Own, and they did not accept Him", says St. John The Evangelist and Apostle; in The Prologue of His Gospel. Man has always sought that Happiness but before God The Son came down only a few sought Him as He is. So the non-Israelites or the Gentiles sought Him in things and creation. And because God The Holy Ghost had yet not descended, Man had not the Truth and thus, made God's for themselves.  But as St. Pau...