1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity
3. catholicism

CONTENTS
Page
EDITORIAL
03
ZUBZA-BICENTENARY 04
NEW PRIESTS’ DAY
05
LOCAL NEWS
06
ST. JOSEPH
10
FR. FABIO VISITS
IND
11
EASTER TRIUMPH
13
EDITOR
Fr. Jonas Kerketta sdb
Sub-Editor
Fr. Joseph Thuruthel sdb
Design & Layout
Fr. Christudoss sdb
Publisher
Fr. Provincial
Don Bosco Provincial House
PB: 40, Dimapur—797112
Nagaland
Circulation Manager
Fr. Chittissery Joseph sdb
Editorial Team
Fr. R.K. G. Nicholas sdb
Fr. Christudoss sdb
Fr. Jonas Kerketta sdb
Fr. Paul Panii sdb
Fr. Kulathunkal Joseph sdb
Printing
N.V. Press, Kohima
Editorial Office
Bosco Communications
Provincial House
Dimapur, Nagaland
+91—9436062842
E-mail: frjonassdb@gmail.com
Joy can be simply described as a feeling of
happiness. Positively speaking joy is the experience
of delight, ecstasy, pleasure, gladness, rapture, exultation, transport, happiness, glee, bliss while in
negative terms it means the absence of sorrow,
grief, affliction, woe, sadness, distress, anguish. The
word ‘joy’ is found over 143 times in the Bible. In
Christianity joy is inseparably connected with resurrection of the dead both in the Old and New Testaments. So we have Isaiah speaking of resurrection
joy centuries before Christ’s resurrection, “All those
sleeping in their graves will wake up and sing for
joy” (Is. 26:19). After his resurrection Jesus appeared to the apostles hiding in a room but “they
still could not believe they were so full of joy and
wonder” {Lk. 26: 41). St. John records that the
apostles were filled with joy when the risen Lord
appeared to them in the closed room (Jn. 20: 20).
St. Peter describes Christ’s resurrection as source of
living hope (1 Pet. 1: 3). Even those who have not
seen the resurrected Christ but believe in his resurrection experience great joy (1 Pet. 1: 6 – 9). St.
Paul exhorts believers in the (risen) Lord to be always joyful (Phil. 4: 4; 1 Thes. 5: 16 – 18).
Don Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Congregation, is rightly called the ‘Saint of joy”. As an
enlightened Christian educator he made joy “the
constitutive element of his educational system, inseparable from study, work and piety” says Fr.
Braido, one of Don Bosco’s biographers. Of the
four pillars of Salesian spirituality bequeathed by
Don Bosco, the third is the educational system
based on joy and hope [others being (a)Devotion to
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, (b) Devotion to Mary
Help of Christians and (d) Devotion to the Church
and the Vicar of Christ]. If St. Francis of Assisi made
nature holy, Don Bosco made joy holy remembering what St. Philip Neri had said to his followers:
“Run, jump, amuse yourselves as much as you like,
but for pity’s sake, don’t sin!” On 12 April 1846 Don
Bosco published the book Companion of Youth
where he tells boys “I would like to teach you an
approach to Christian living that will keep you happy and content… so that you can say with the holy
Prophet David: let us serve the Lord in cheerfulness. This is the purpose of this little book, serving
the Lord and remaining happy.” St. Dominic Savio
imbibed this spirit very soon. Once noticing a
gloomy boy he told him “Here we make holiness
consist in living as joyfully as we can.” Don Bosco
stressed on Joy. Pope Francis underscores joy when
he says “Where there are religious, there is joy”.
We need to show that God fills our hearts with joy.
Genuine brotherliness in our communities fosters
joy with authentic commitment. Let the joy of the
Risen Lord this Easter 2015 inspire us to serve others more enthusiastically.
Jonas Kerketta sdb
EDITORIAL
EASTER JOY
neighbourhood.
The
school has
done a yeoman’s service irrespective of religion
and
people. It is
open to all
and
helps
everyone
The local level Bicentenary celebration at
Don Bosco School
Sechü - Zubza began on
30 January 2015. The
Salesian
Community
organized a volley ball
tournament for the
Western Angami Region. It was a grand
event because all the
villagers took part enthusiastically. There was lot of good will
shown by the village youth even prior to
the tournament. They helped actively in
the preparations to ensure success for
the tournament. They also enthusiastically participated in the matches. The
scouts consisting of the Aspirants honoured the Chief Guest, Mr. Khunyü Cyril
Rino, the Village Head Chairman of the
District of Kohima and his other G.B.
colleagues with their salute. The commemoration of the bicentenary of Don
Bosco’s birth began with the lighting of
the lamps by the Chief Guest, a representative each from the Salesians, players and organizing officials. Rev. Fr.
Samuel Elow sdb, Rector, delivered the
welcome speech in which he highlighted
that Don Bosco is for everyone. The
Chief Guest in his speech appreciated
and thanked Don Bosco chool, Sechü –
Zubza which has greatly transformed
Dimapur Links
who comes there. The Chief Guest exhorted everyone to protect it and collaborate in its development.The next
event was the official oath taking by the
players and declaration of the sports
event by the Chief Guest. The matches
were played with intensity and competitiveness. Each of the eight participating
teams was represented by a letter of
‘DON BOSCO’. Each of the teams played
very well. The Khonoma team was adjudged the champion of the Bicentenary
Volleyball Tournament. The First Runners-up was Kiruphema A and the Second Runners up was Kiruphema B. The
organizing team led by Fr. Athili Martin
sdb, Headmaster, did a fantastic job.
The celebration of the event brought
more publicity and awareness of the
charism of Don Bosco. His name united
us. We thank and glorify God for the gift
of Don Bosco to our Western Angami
Region.
Fr. E. Samuel.
04
LOCAL NEWS
DBS ZUBZA: BICENTENARY CELEBRATION
On 03 February 2015, the two new
priests of Dimapur Province Fr. Stanislaus Xess sdb and Fr. Gyan Sandeep
Kujur sdb as well as Fr. Manu Mathew
sdb of Bangalore Province (who has volunteered to have his first year of priestly ministry in Dimapur Province) were
felicitated at Don Bosco School, Dibrugarh. The new priests were given a rousing welcome by the Aspirants with a
lively Adivasi dance and songs.
At the beginning of the Holy Eucharist Rev. Fr. Kamil Horo, Rector of Don
Bosco School, Dibrugarh, welcomed the
new priests and all the participants and
wished them a meaningful celebration
of the Holy Mass around the new
priests. The Holy Eucharist was presided
over by Fr. Gyan Sandeep Kujur and the
Word of God was broken by Fr. Manu
Mathew. Basing himself on the life experience that he had in a retreat, Fr.
Manu Mathew beautifully broke the
word of God with much conviction and
enthusiasm. The Mass was concelebrated by nine other priests including the
Provincial Rev. Fr. Nestor Guria sdb.
Some lay people were also present for
the Holy Mass and they prayed fervently for the new priests.
05
During the ensuing felicitation
programme, Rev. Fr. Nestor
Guria tickled the gleeful
thoughts of the congregation
humorously, saying, “It’s such
a huge hall that it can’t be
filled up but the presence of
the new priests even completes an empty hall.” Continuing with his talk, Rev. Fr. Provincial said, “The new priests
had been discerning in their
life the dream of another man called
Don Bosco who had experienced fatherlessness and really wanted to be a father to the fatherless; he had realized
the importance of a teacher and wanted
to be a teacher to those who had no
teachers; he had noticed people in the
cities who had no friends and wanted to
be a friend to all. That was his dream
and because of his dream we are all
here and we have to continue Don
Bosco’s dream.” He exhorted the boys
to continue to pray that one day they
too would be a part of that dream. He
wished the new priests all the best as
they continue pursuing their dream in
the footsteps of Don Bosco. He thanked
the Dibrugarh community for hosting
the beautiful new Priests’ Day celebrations in their community.
At the end of the felicitation programme Fr. Stanislaus, on behalf of the
new Priests proposed the vote of
thanks. He said, “We are here today because Christ Jesus has made us his own
for one purpose – to be with him and to
serve him.” He spoke at length about his
motto which runs: “I am most happy to
spend and to be spent for you” (2Cor
12:15). This motto is very much related
to the life of Don Bosco himself against
the background of a hot summer when
Don Bosco coughed and blood oozed
out from his mouth. Boys fasted and
prayed for him.
Dimapur Links
LOCAL NEWS
NEW PRIESTS FELICITATED
LOCAL NEWS
And looking at the affectionate gesture
of the lads Don Bosco spoke those Golden words: “I owe my life to you, from
now onwards I will spend my life for
you.” He continued narrating the incident that occurred on 03 January 1864,
when Don Bosco had a dream of the path
strewn with roses which is an image of
his mission among young people and
compared the dream with the life they
have embraced as priests of God.
Br. Blasius Tete sdb
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Make It Happen” was the theme of the
International Women’s Day observed on
08 March 2015. Keeping this theme in
mind over 700 women of St. John Bosco
Parish, Tinsukia, enthusiastically assembled at St. Anthony of Padua Church in
Mahakali Tea Estate, Assam. The venue
of the celebration was beautifully decked
with multi-coloured flags and flowers. At
around 9.30 am the faithful, especially
the women folk lined up in rows dressed
in their cultural to welcome the guests of
the day. . The guests included Fr. Surjit
Kujur sdb, Fr. Roy Mathew sdb, Sr. Amulya Minj msmhc, Sr. Teresa Jojo fma,
Mr. Vincent Thomas (Couples for Christ
coordinator),
Dimapur Links
Miss Grace Guria and local leaders of
Mahakali T. E. They were welcomed in
traditional way with washing of hands
and garlanding. They were then led to
the podium with dancing and singing.The day’s programme began with
the solemn Eucharist presided over by
Fr. Surjit Kujur, vice principal of Don
Bosco Higher Secondary School and
warden of Bishop Marengo College
Hostel, Dibrugarh. In his homily he underlined some important points such as
the role and responsibility of a mother
in the family, society, country and
world at large. Soon after the Holy Eucharist, there was hoisting of the flag
which was followed by a lively cultural
dance around the flag. On this important occasion Sr. Amulya Minj the
women’s coordinator of Dibrugarh Diocese appreciated the dedicated work of
the women in the family, Church and
society and exhorted the women to
continue working in unity and thus
bring about improvement in the family
and society. Miss Grace Guria, representing her NGO spoke about pertinent
family matters including education, saving habits and hygiene.
To add more colour to the celebration students from Auxilium Junior College, Tinsukia, staged a thought
- provoking skit entitled “Jamin Bachao”. Fr. Manohar Dung Dung Sdb (As
st. parsh priest) expressed his gratitude and appreciation to all the invited guests for their presence and for
imparting
valuable
messages on the occasion. He also thanked an
d congratulated Sr. Mariam Kindo fma
and her team for seeing to the details o
f the whole programme. The day had a
happy conclusion with sumptuous community meal.
Fr. Manohar Dung Dung sdb
06
Institution for Culture And Rural Development (I-CARD), organized a leadership
skills training from 9th to 11th March
2015. Three students of Leeds Becket
University, UK, Miss Olivia Cowood, Mr.
John Jones Ryan and Mr. Isidoros Lapsatis, kept the 40 participants busy with
physically and mentally engaging games
and group activities. Daniel Brunen of
Germany, a Don Bosco volunteer, too
joined the trainers’ team.
The participants, all school dropouts
and educated unemployed youth, hailed
from Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Sivasagar districts of Assam. They were all
leaders of “Young Misings Association”, a
unique Salesian Youth Movement, under
I-CARD. All three days began with social
service, cleaning Lichubari market area,
and Mother Teresa Nirmal Hriday. It was
both a service to society and a model to
be taken back to their homes, encouraging community service, hygiene and safe
environment. In the half hour meditation
about Don Bosco’s childhood days, Fr.
Thomas invited the youth to be links between poverty and development, like
Don Bosco. Fr. Thomas in his morning
talk each day talked about six aspects
around which one can engage in social
work, viz: Culture, Health, Education,
Economy, Radiance and Sincerity
(CHEERS), and about five rules of life: be
07
a servant leader, keep learning, be professional, focus on the goal and take
others along. Internal transformation,
he said, is an essential pre-requisite for
building the external image of every
community.
The visiting students of Leeds University started the first day with a self
evaluation session. They used mind
mapping to teach leadership skills. The
participants competed to build the
highest and strongest tower with newspapers. Other topics that they discussed were: confidence building, public speaking, self organization as a professional leader, motivation and self
esteem. One could see visible changes
in the attitude and behaviour of the
young from day one to day three. On
10th March, Rev. Fabio Attard sdb, the
General Councilor for Youth, congratulated Fr. Thomas for reaching out to
youth who are out of the main stream.
Fr. Thomas, in his concluding address,
said that the training helped the youth
to “learn to swim in the pool of life.”
Migom Mrinal, a youth leader, said:
“We will take these our new learning to
the villages, and we will bring change
and development”. I-CARD has 420
tribal youth groups in as many villages,
covering 11 districts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Fr. K. A. Thomas, sdb
In the end, it's not the
years in your life that
count. It's the life in
your years.
——
Abraham Lincoln
Dimapur Links
LOCAL NEWS
LEEDS UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TRAIN
LOCAL YOUTH
LOCAL NEWS
SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL 2015
TRAINING IN HARNESSING SOLAR ENERGY
On 11 February 2015 Fr. Jose Palely
sdb, economer of the Salesian Province
of Dimapur, introduced and inaugurated
the training programme for utilization of
solar energy at Don Bosco School campus, Dimapur. We began with five Fathers attending the course. Mr. Walter
Rinderer of Germany, an expert in the
field, is the instructor.
The programme is of three months
duration. The purpose of the course is to
train animators adequately so that they
in turn can train youngsters in the same
useful stream. Basically the training programme helps in the proper utilization of
natural resources of the earth and for
preserving the earth from environmental
degradation. It encourages us to use solar and other forms of natural energy, to
keep our environment neat and clean, to
utilize our resources properly, to plant
more trees. In short it calls us to take
necessary steps in preserving the earth.
Fr. Cijichen sdb
Dimapur Links
The Jesus Youth of Don Bosco College,
Itanagar, organized a “Spiritual Festival
2015” with the theme “Personality Development and Self Esteem”, from the
evening of 6th to 8th March 2015. The
Spiritual Festival was to help the students to go through self examination
and reflection.
The programme was arranged by
(Dr.) Fr. Policarp Xalxo sdb, coordinator
of the Jesus Youth of Don Bosco College,
Itanagar. The animator was Rev. Fr.
Jomon James svd, director of St. John
Paul II Counseling Centre, Guwahati. The
Retreat started with the introductory
talk and enthronement of the Holy Bible.
There were altogether 150 participants.
The preacher guided the participants to
develop good personality based on spiritual values and convictions. It was concluded with a solemn Eucharistic celebration and healing session, followed by
lunch which was served for all.The
preacher was encouraged with the active response of the participants.
Grace, joy and happiness filled the
whole atmosphere. The participants
found the Retreat very useful, as it
brought about transformation, inner
healing and spiritual renewal in their
lives.
08
,
‘HOME COMING’ OF DBS
WOKHA ALUMNI
14th March 2015, was a red letter day
for the Bosconians of Wokha in Nagaland. It was a day of celebrations. Over
100 DBS Wokha Alumni gathered together in the Don Bosco Youth Centre Hall
which was very well decorated and prepared for the programme. The present
staff and students of Don Bosco Hr. Sec.
School endevoured to give a cultural
feast to the invitees.
The highlight of the programme was a
drama entitled ‘The Prodigal Son’, staged
by the hostel boys and girls. Mr. F.P. Solo
Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Nagaland, presented a power
point programme narrating the various
activities of the Past Pupils of the Province.
09
He highlighted the wonderful works
and programmes carried out by the
Don Bosco Alumni in various centres of
the Province as well as abroad.
It may be recalled that seven members of the first batch of students came
from Golaghat (Assam) to start the Don
Bosco School at Wokha way back in
1965. One of them Mr. Y.M. Humtsoe,
Addl Secretary to the Government of
Nagaland shared his experiences of Golaghat as well as of the first year at Don
Bosco School, Wokha. He challenged
the Alumni to live up to the education
they have received and share what
they have received from Don Bosco
with the rest of the society.
Dr. Chumbemo Murry, former Minister
in the Government of Nagaland, and
Mr. C. Peter D.A.O of Wokha district
shared their own experiences. After
relishing a tasty snack and witnessing
the cultural programme, the Alumni sat
together for their business session. The
whole assembly had discussions on
how they would go about celebrating
the Golden Jubilee of the School which
is tentatively fixed for the first week of
October 2015. New office bearers were
elected for another term. The local delegate, Fr. T. T. Joseph sdb thanked
the outgoing office bearers. Provincial
Delegate for DB Alumni Rev. Fr. C. M.
Joseph sdb blessed the congregation
Dimapur Links
LOCAL NEWS
The students owe their sincere
gratitude to Fr. (Dr). R. K. Guangdiat
Nicholas sdb, Principal of the College as
well as to Jesus Youth for organizing this
wonderful Retreat. We owe gratitude to
Rev. Fr. Jomon James svd and to Bro.
Frederick svd for availing themselves to
guide the young people towards spiritual
renewal, a task which they carried out
very diligently.
Fr. (Dr.) Policarp Xalxo sdb
LOCAL NEWS
After a brief photo session, the group
dispersed determined to live Don Bosco’s
charism in whatever walk of life they
may be.
Mr. N. Janbemo Humtsoe, President, DB Alumni, Wokha
ST. JOSEPH – HUMBLE, SILENT
AND JOYFUL PROPHET
A woman was seeking to buy a statue of
Saint Joseph to bury in her yard that her
house might be sold soon. She inquired
about the right way to bury the statue
(upside down or down side up, in front
yard or backyard). The salesperson tried
to explain to her that the essential lied
not in how she buried the statue of Saint
Joseph—in fact he told her that it was
not really necessary to bury him at all—
but in praying to him with faith and confidence and trying to imitate his virtues. I
believe, Saint Joseph himself would undoubtedly have agreed to his counsel.
Dimapur Links
Pope Francis, while inaugurating the
year of consecrated life said, “Religious
make the Church attractive! Wake up
the world! Be witnesses of a different
way of acting, of living. It is possible to
live differently in this world... It is this
witness, I expect from you.” St. Joseph
witnessed to a different way of living in
the world. He was a silent but joyful
prophet. He confronted the value system of his time by his daily living.
His attitude to life was free of
pride, jealousy, hatred, fear, insecurity
and love-lessness. He trailed a pathway
of true love for all, of non-possession
and a life lived not for self but for all.
He witnessed to the possibility of true
love. Through his loving obedience, he
showed that, obedience empowers a
person not to live for self, but for God’s
kingdom, the superior purpose to
which a person can commit oneself and
become a fuller human being. Bishop
Kevin Doran said, “The vows we make
naturally become a burden if they are
not lived out of love. The call to Obedience, to Chastity, and to Poverty or
simplicity of life style, is not a denial of
the goodness of self, of others, or of
things. It is primarily about being freer
in ourselves to follow Jesus and to go
where he leads us.”
Throughout life, people
will make you mad, disrespect you and treat
you bad. Let God deal
with the things they do,
cause hate in your heart
will consume you too.
—-
Will Smith
10
11
On March 19, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI
spoke of Saint Joseph in this way: “His
greatness, like Mary’s, stands out even
more because his mission was developed in humility and in the obscurity of
the house of Nazareth. Moreover, God
himself, in the person of his incarnate
Son, chose this way and style of life in
his earthly existence.” Saint Joseph was
a very humble man. He recognized his
place with respect to Mary and Jesus.
He knew that he was inferior to both of
them in the order of grace. Yet he accepted his role as spouse of Mary and
guardian of the Son of God.
In order to “wake up the world”,
as religious, let us imbibe the ideals of
St. Joseph, of witnessing to a different
way of living, through the prophetic
charism of challenging the value system
of today, of caring for the needy, and in
being perfect adorers of the Risen
Christ who walk humbly with God.
Fr. (Dr.) P. Suresh Innocent sdb
REV. FR. FABIO ATTARD VISITS
DIMAPUR PROVINCE
Rev. Fr. Fabio Attard sdb, Councilor
for Youth Pastoral in the Salesian Congregation, paid his maiden visit to the
Province of Dimapur from 8 to 11
March 2015. During his visit, he interacted with 120 or so confreres in four
Dimapur Links
LOCAL NEWS
Vigo Mortensen wrote, “Religious
traditions will become outdated and irrelevant unless they are rejuvenated by
the import of new insights and challenges.” That is exactly what the religious are
called upon to accomplish: to rejuvenate
the Church with their witness of life.
Consecrated persons are beckoned to
walk the talk. Today’s society is much
more in need of religious who live authentically in daily life what they profess
in words. St. Joseph is the patron and
guardian of the religious. Sometime we
take him for granted, though he guards
us so loyally.
Saint Jeanne Jugan turned to Saint
Joseph with an unshakeable trust to obtain bread for her poor children. She bids
us to see in him a father, in the resemblance of our heavenly Father, whose
Providence watches over His little ones.
Moreover, we turn to him as our model
of union with God in faith. St. Eymard
wrote, “Saint Joseph was the first and
most perfect adorer of our Lord. Faith,
humility, purity and love – these were
the keynotes of his adoration. Silent and
solitary, Saint Joseph was always united
in mind with Jesus and Mary; never did
his thoughts wander from this divine
center.” Moreover, God had bestowed
upon Saint Joseph a special mission in
the Church. He was prefigured by the
patriarch Joseph, who kept supplies of
wheat for his people. However, how
much greater than his prototype was
Saint Joseph. The old Joseph gave the
Egyptians mere bread for their bodies.
Saint Joseph nourished and with most
tender care preserved for the elect of all
ages Him Who is the Bread of Heaven
and giver of eternal life (born in
‘Bethlehem’ which means house of
bread.).
LOCAL NEWS
West Arunachal Pradesh (at Itanagar), Upper Assam (at Dibrugarh), Nagaland (at Salesian College Dimapur) and
Manipur (at Don Bosco Imphal). His interactions familiarized the Confreres with
the vision of the Congregation with regard to youth apostolate as laid down in
the new book Salesian Youth Ministry - a
frame of Reference.
In West Arunachal Pradesh:
On 8 March 2015 Rev. Fr. Fabio paid
a short visit to the Salesian Institutions in
Itanagar. He addressed few of the Don
Bosco College students present and
urged them to be committed and convinced people with strong purpose in life.
He also addressed the Salesians working
in West Arunachal region and explained
the Youth Pastoral Plan of the Congregation. After dinner he left for St. Xavier’s
School, Harmutty to continue his journey
to Dibrugarh the following day.
In Upper Assam:
On 9 March Fr. Fabio addressed the Salesians working in Upper Assam who had
gathered in Don Bosco, Dibrugarh. He
also spoke to the Apostolic boys there.
Next he dropped in at Little Flower
School. On his journey from Dibrugarh he
dropped in Rua Home, Bosco Asha and
Bosco Institute Jorhat, Catholic Church
Golaghat and Don Bosco RangajanGolaghat.
In Nagaland:
At 5.30 pm on 10 March Fr. Fabio met
the Salesians of the Nagaland region including the students of Salesian College
and Bosco College Dimapur. He spoke of
the mandate he received from Rev. Fr.
Pascual Chavez, to ascertain after GC 27,
the actual status of Salesian Youth Ministry in the Congregation.
Dimapur Links
On 11th march 2015, Fr. Fabio entered Salesian Novitiate and DBS Zubza. He met students of CKHSS and
DBHSS Kohima separately, reminding
them to thank God for being able to
study in good schools and to be sympathetic to less privileged children.
In Manipur:
On his way to Imphal, Fr. Fabio
addressed students and confreres at
DBHSS, Punanamai and Don Bosco College, Maram.
In the evening of 11th March, Fr.
Fabio spoke to the confreres of Manipur region. He shared with them the
mind of the congregation on the new
approach to Youth Ministry. He explained the youth ministry as envisaged by the congregation. He also informed that the salesian Youth Ministry document is well appreciated
among the church leaders and is being
consulted widely.
Don Bosco adhered to the rules
of government and opened schools
and started his congregation when
they were being closed in Italy. He
wrote about preventive system after
36 years of work. He wrote a frame of
reference for the preventive system.
In his concluding remark, Fr. Fabio
once again reiterated the need to consider the salesian Youth Ministry - a
Frame of Refrence as a tool to examine and orient our apostolate in
whichever settings we may be engaged.
The effectiveness of
our lives, depends upon what we give to life
and in what proportion.
- Anonymous
12
EASTER: THE TRIUMPH OF TRUTH
AND LIFE
Christianity was born in the grave.
The plant that sprouts in the fire does
not fade in the sunlight; and that which is
born in the tomb does not disintegrate at
death. The day of the resurrection is the
birthday of our Christian faith. It is the
celebration of the death of death, the
beginning of life eternal. Easter is the
good news, which has forever changed
the course of history and provided inspiration for countless millions throughout
the world. It is the conquest of the ultimate enemy of life – death. Victory over
ultimate annihilation, the resurrection is
a mystery of faith, which speaks of another far more wonderful mystery - that
of the love of God incarnated in the mystery of Jesus.If Christmas is the gift of
love, Easter is the gift of life. Easter is a
divine act that has happened in human
history, in space and time.
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The birth of Christ inaugurated a new
history while his rising from the dead
installed a new hope. Resurrection is
beyond the calculation of all reason
and knowledge, beyond the boundary
of reality. It belongs at once to the
realm of the spirit and matter, superseding all human reason and imagination. Neither a Da Vinci Code nor a dozen of Dan Browns can ever fade the
fact of this truth – the truth of this
faith. The resurrection is supposed to
renew the whole world. However, this
doesn’t ‘seem ‘to be the case often.
Ours is a wounded history and we live
in difficult times. We have only to
watch the news on any given evening
or read it at any morning. If there is an
all-knowing, all powerful, all loving God
who is the Lord of this universe, his renewing presence isn’t very evident on
the evening news and the morning
newspapers. There is violence all over,
fuelled on every side by self-righteous
ideologies that sanction hatred and
bloodshed – death and destruction –
along cultural, racial, ethnic and religious lines. Life seems to be threatened
from every side. It is fair and reflective
to wonder: Are we becoming more
afraid of life than death? Where is the
resurrection in all these? Why is God
seemingly so inactive, so silent? Where
is the vindication of Easter Sunday?
These are important questions,
even if they aren’t particularly deep or
new. They are the echoes of the very
questions used on first Good Friday to
taunt Jesus on the cross: “If you are the
Son of God, come down off that cross! I
If you are God, prove it at once! Act
now! ” Then and now, it seems, we
have never figured out why salvation
can’t work like a normal movie where
at the end, a morally superior violence
kills off or avenges all that is evil. Except God doesn’t work like a Hollywood
or Bollywood movie and never has.
Dimapur Links
LOCAL NEWS
It was indeed an enriching experience for
all the Confreres to listen to the inspiring
talks of Rev. Fr. Fabio Attard sdb. The
Provincial and his Council, together with
the Confreres of the Province sincerely
thank him for his dynamic animation regarding Salesian youth ministry. We look
forward to his next visit to our Province.
…. DL Correspondents
LOCAL NEWS
resurrection of Jesus, doesn’t meet our
expectations even as he infinitely exceeds them. What the resurrection
teaches is that God doesn’t forcibly intervene to stop tragedy and death. Instead
he redeems tragedy and vindicates the
death. God rids the world of evil not by
using force to blot it out, but by vindicating what’s good in the eyes of evil so
that eventually the good is all that’s left.
Evil has to forever “look upon the one
whom it has pierced!” until it understands what it has done and lets itself be
transformed. How does this come about?
What the resurrection of Jesus reveals is that there is a deep moral structure to the universe, that the contours of
the universe are love, goodness and
truth and that this structure, anchored at
its centre by Ultimate Love and Supremacy, is non-negotiable: You live life its way
or it simply won’t come out right. More
importantly, the reverse is also true: If
you respect the structure and live life its
way, what is good and true and loving
will eventually triumph, always, despite
everything. If this is true, and it is, then
we don’t have to escape suffering and
death to achieve victory, we have only to
remain faithful, good, and true inside of
them. However, part of what is revealed
here is that we need a great patience,Good and truth will always triumph, but this triumph must be waitedfor, not because God wants us to endure
pain as some kind of test, but because
God, unlike ourselves, doesn’t use coercion or violence to achieve an aim. God
uses only love, truth and goodness, and
God uses these by, structurally and nonnegotiably, embedding them into the
universe itself, like a giant moral immune
-system that eventually, always, brings
the body back to health. God doesn’t
need to intervene like a super-hero at
the end of a Hollywood movie and use a
morally superior violence to wipe out the
bad ones so that the good are spared
pain and death
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and the evil ones are avenged. God lets
the universe replenish itself the way a
body does when it is attacked by a virus. The immune system eventually
does its work, even if, in the short
term, there is pain and even death. But
always in the end, the universe rights
itself. Simply put: whenever we do anything wrong, anything at all, it won’t
turn out right. It can’t. The structure of
the universe won’t receive it and it
comes back to us, one way or the other. Conversely, whenever we do something right, anything that’s true, good,
loving, and beautiful, the universe vindicates that. It judges our every act and
its judgment allows no exceptions.Perhaps that judgment doesn’t
seem to be immediate; it can seem a
long time in coming and thus, for a
time, we can be confused and ask the
question: “Why doesn’t God, truth and
goodness, come down off the cross?”
Gandhi’s own words might be encouraging at such trying times: “When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always
won. There have been murderers and
tyrants, and for a time they seem invincible. But in the end they always fall.
Think of it, always.” It was Gandhi’s adamantine faith that without a single
exception, always, evil is shamed and
good triumphs. The resurrection works
– gently, but definitely, in its own way,
and in its own time! Let the Easter give
us the courage to carry on, in goodness
and truth.
Fr. T. C. Joseph Sdb, Bosco B.Ed.
College, Dimapur
We do not remember the days,
but the moments.
--
Cesare Pavese
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