Madhu blast: Bishop gives details

Madhu blast kills 9 children
By Yohan Perera and Ranjith Jayasundara reporting in the Daily Mirror of 30th Jan 2008

A blast within the LTTE controlled area of Madhu, last afternoon, killed a number of children and injured several more, Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph told the Daily Mirror. Meanwhile, the LTTE and the Army traded charges over who was responsible for the blast.

The bishop said the children who were caught in the explosion usually travelled between Thadchanaamaruthamadhu and Madhu to attend school. He expressed frustration over the failure of both the government and the LTTE to treat the area as a war-free zone.

Reports say that 9 school children, the principal of the displaced Chinna Pandivirichchaan School and two teachers were killed and a further 17 wounded when a Deep Penetration Unit of the Army triggered a Claymore mine targeting a bus carrying school children in rebel controlled territory in Madhu.

It is said that the bus was approximately 1km away from the Madhu church when the explosion occurred. It had been on its way to Pallamadu from Madhu and after picking up the children at Thadchanaamaruthamadhu.

The principal was among the dead. Seven children were critically wounded and 12 of the 17 wounded persons were in critical state, the report added.

Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph said a number of children were killed in the attack though he was not in a position to confirm the exact number of causalities. “A teacher and three other men have also been killed in the attack,” the Bishop added.

Golden Jubilee - Archbishop Oswadl Gomis

Spiritual Boquet to the Shepherd

A number of lay organisations, including the Charismatic Renewal, are planning to present His Grace Rt. Rev. Dr. Oswald Gomis with spiritual boquet on next Saturday when he celebrates the Golden Jubilee of his ordination and 40 years as a bishop. The service will be at the Cathedral of St. Lucy, Kotahena at 9.00 am. on 2nd Feb. 2008

Gandhi loved Christ

Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected leaders of modern history. A Hindu, Ghandi nevertheless admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Ghandi he asked him, "Mr. Ghandi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?"
Ghandi replied, "Oh, I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Apparently Ghandi's rejection of Christianity grew out of an incident that happened when he was a young man practising law in South Africa. He had become attracted to the Christian faith, had studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. And so he decided to attend a church service. As he came up the steps of the large church where he intended to go, a white South African elder of the church barred his way at the door. "Where do you think you're going, kaffir?" the man asked Ghandi in a belligerent tone of voice.
Ghandi replied, "I'd like to attend worship here."
The church elder snarled at him, "There's no room for kaffirs in this church. Get out of here or I'll have my assistants throw you down the steps."
From that moment, Ghandi said, he decided to adopt what good he found in Christianity, but would never again consider becoming a Christian if it meant being part of the church.
How we treat those others tells e people MORE about what we believe, and what followibng Jesus means to us than all tracts we pass out, or all the fine semons we deliver.

St. John Bosco
(1815-1888)

John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.
Encouraged during his youth to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism.
After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoemaking and tailoring.
By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.
John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854 he and his followers informally banded together under Francis de Sales.
With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.

In Sri Lanka, the feast of the Saint is being celebrated at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Palliayawatte, Hendala and in the Parish of Maliboda in Deraniyagala where an estate chapel is dedicated to the Saint.

Reason and Revelation -AQUINAS

St. Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274)


By universal consent Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.
At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and later become abbot. In 1239 he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy.
By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.
Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.
His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished.
The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on.... All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.

What is Manavalakalai?

MANAVALA KALAI (SIMPLIFIED KUNDALINI YOGA) CONDEMNED BY THE VATICAN

Since of late some Catholics, specially from Colombo North, have taken some fascination towards Mana Vala Kalai. We feel that it is our duty to warn the unsuspecting Catholics of the dangers of this practice.

Mana Vala Kalai was founded by Vethathiri Maharishi, his Wrld Community Centre is in Thiruvanimyur, Chennai where thousands of people flock every day. The courses conducted are on a beautifully coined Tamil word MANAVALAKALAI to imply a non religious flavour. But it is actually the simplified form of Kundalini Yoga (SKY) with the ultimate purpose of unleasing the "serpent power" or the "coiled energy" in yuou to make you like unto God.

A young gentleman from Bangalore has written to me that he had practiced this and was drived to near madness. He was rescued in time by his younger brother who, after prayers in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

This practice was condemned as early as in 1989 by Pope John Paul II as being incompatible with Christianity. Full details of this could be got from writing to stanisdevot@yahoo.co.in

The miracle of Marcsri: Silver jubilee today

Marcsri, the home for the abandoned celebrates its silver jubilee. The home is situated in Katukurunda, a village 40 km south of Colombo along the coastline. The blind, the deaf and the orphans are being taken care of at this home of love and compassion. One is reminded of the work of compassion of Mother Teresa when you visit this home founded by Sister Rita, a catholic laywoman.
Sister Rita hails from a respectable family in Galle in 1934 and entered the order of Sisters of Charity at the early age of 18. However, she had to quit her convent due to ill health. Her stomach and eye disorders made her return to lay life and took up teaching profession. Later she married Marcus Perera and came to live in Katukurunda. They were childless and tragedy stuck her when she lost Marcus suddenly in 1982.
Then she realized that she was called for a special service by God and started visiting the government hospital nearby taking care of patients. Some of these patients had no one to visit them or provide with food and other essentials. She invited some to her home and started taking care of them. She had no plans or any facilities in hand. However, her work was not only one of charity but of immense faith. Gradually the home developed. All her services are free although contributions from benefactors are accepted.
As usual, the church too did not look at her service with much favour. The neighbours and relatives thought that she has gone mad. How can she take up these burdens when her own existence was on a day to day basis. But the immense faith of this simple and frail woman was powerful eough to carry on this meiision of charity.
She sold her bangles, earrings and other valuables to buy food, medicine and clothing for the patients. With each new arrival the cadjan shed was extended. Rita herself washed, fed, cleaned and gave compassionate care to the patients and continues to do so even today not only in the main Marcsri home but in all the homes which she visits regularly.
Rita Perera started without any project or plans but her mission has grown into a massive miracle ministry. Yet she has no big plans for the future. She prefers to live from moment to moment, from day to day, trusting and depending on the Lord to provide shelter, food, clothing, medicine and tender care to hundreds of people daily.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and its justice and everything you need will be provided unto you". The promise of Jesus has come through powerfully in the life of Rita. She gives all the glory to the Lord and is ready still as she was at the beginning to do whatever the Lord tells her to do.
"Even if the Lord tells me today to leave the Marcsri homes and go elsewhere for a mission, I am ready to let go of everything and follow the Lord," Rita told us. Today the main Marcsri home at Katukurunda celebrates its silver jubilee.
Colombo’s former Archbishop, the Rt. Revd. Dr. Nicholas Marcus Fernando and Galle’s Bishop, Rt. Rev. Dr.Harold Anthony Perera will preside at a concelebrated holy mass this evening to mark the 25th anniversary.