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Pope warns against feeling spiritually comfortable

Vatican city, November, 2014: Feeling spiritually comfortable is a “state of sin,” Pope Francis cautioned today during his morning homily at the Casa Santa Marta as he reflected on the problem of lukewarmness.

As reported by Vatican Radio, the Pope drew his homily reflections from the readings of the day taken from Revelation Chapter 3 and the Gospel according to St. Luke on the encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus the tax collector.

In the first reading, he noted, the Lord asks Christians in Laodicea to convert because they have become “lukewarm.” They live a “comfortable spirituality.” They think: “I do what I can, but I am at peace and do not want to be disturbed with strange things.”

Pope Francis noted that people who “live well think nothing is missing: I go to Mass on Sundays, I pray a few times, I feel good, I am in God’s grace, I’m rich” and “I do not need anything, I’m fine.”

This “state of mind,” he warned, “is a state of sin, feeling spiritually comfortable is a state of sin.”

The Lord has harsh words for people like this, he said: “Because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

Then, he added, “there is a second call” to “those who live by appearances, Christians of appearances.”

These believe they are alive but they are dead. And the Lord asks them to be vigilant.

“Appearances,” the Pope said, “are these Christians’ shroud: they are dead.”

And the Lord “calls them to conversion.”

“Am I one of these Christians of appearances? Am I alive inside, do I have a spiritual life? Do I hear the Holy Spirit, do I listen to the Holy Spirit, do I  move forward, or …? But, if everything looks good, I have nothing to reproach myself about: I have a good family, people do not gossip about me, I have everything I need, I married in church …I am ‘in the grace of God’, I am alright.

“Appearances! Christians of appearance … they are dead! Instead [we must] seek something alive within ourselves, and with memory and vigilance, reinvigorate this so we can move forward. Convert: from appearances to reality. From being neither hot nor cold to fervor.”

Change of heart

The third call to conversion is with Zacchaeus, “the chief tax collector, and a rich [man].”

“He is corrupt,” the Pope said, “he was working for foreigners, for the Romans, he betrayed his homeland.”

“He was just like many leaders we know: corrupt. Those who, instead of serving the people, exploit the people to serve themselves. There are some like this in the world. And people did not want him. Yes, he wasn’t lukewarm; He was not dead. He was in a state of putrefaction. He was corrupt. But he felt something inside: ‘This healer, this prophet who people say speaks so well, I would like to see him, out of curiosity.’ The Holy Spirit is clever, eh! He sowed the seed of curiosity, and so in order to see him this man even does something a little ‘ridiculous.’ Think of an important leader, who is also corrupt, a leader of leaders – he was the chief – climbing a tree to watch a procession: Just think of it. How ridiculous!”.

Zacchaeus “had no shame,” the Holy Father noted. He wanted to see Jesus and “the Holy Spirit was working in him.”

Then “the Word of God came into the heart and with the Word, the joy.”

“Those of comfort and those of appearance,” Francis reflected, “had forgotten what joy was; this corrupt man immediately gets it”, “his heart changes, he converts.”

And the tax collector promises to give back what he had taken.

“When conversion touches pockets, it’s a certainty,” the Pope declared. “Christians in heart? Yes, everyone is. Christians by blood? All of us. However, Christians with pockets, very few. But, conversion … and here, it arrived straight away: the authentic word. He converted.”

Pope Francis reiterated that these are “the three calls to conversion” that Jesus himself makes to “the lukewarm, the comfortable, to those of appearance, to those who think they are rich but are poor, who have nothing, who are dead.”

The Word of God, “is able to change everything,” but “we don’t always have the courage to believe in the Word of God, to receive that Word that heals us within.”

In the last weeks of the Liturgical Year, the Church wants us all to “think very, very seriously about our conversion,” Francis added, “so that we can move forward on the path of our Christian life.”

- zenit

Tamil Nadu: Priest & believers injured in the attack during church service

Tamil Nadu, November , 2014: On 16th November during Sunday worship service at Konkal Marthoma Church in Udumalpet(TN) a group of more than 100 anti Christian goons attacked the Parish priest Fr.K.A. Sathish, evangelist and Amrutha Raj, grievously injuring them.Two believers are also injured in the attack. The savage attackers have destroyed more than 20 vehicle parked outside the church. The perpetrators desecrated holy alter and continuously abused Christians and deity of Christ.The attackers torn Holy bible and spoiled musical instruments used for worship

Lethal weapons were used in the attack. The attackers demanded Christians to leave Udumalpet or face dire consequences. The attackers are at large and some perpetrators continuously threatening the victims admitted in the government hospital

Global Council of Indian Christians(GCIC) has approached National commission for Human Righs, the Tamilnadu chief Minister and central home minister for protection of Christians in Tamilnadu.

India, November 20, 2014: Last August marked the six year anniversary of the brutal 2008 Kandhamal, Odisha massacre in India, but for Fr. Thomas Chellan, the memories have not faded.

Although most of the instigators have been caught, they have still not gone to trial, the priest said. “The local community utterly failed to protect the lives and property of their Christian neighbors,” he told international charity Aid to the Church in Need.

Now living in New York, Fr. Chellan is safe from the persecution and violence he endured in India. However, he hopes the government will seriously investigate the massacre and others like it.

Six years later, Kandhamal Christians await justice

Following the Aug. 23, 2008 murder of Swami Lakshmanananda, leader of the right-wing Hindu nationalist organization Vishna Hindu Parishad, Hindu fundamentalists took the opportunity to attack local Christians, whom they blamed for the murder.

In the days that followed, some 100 Christians were killed for refusing to convert to Hinduism and 50,000 people were displaced, while 5,600 houses and 300 churches were destroyed.

“Yet, the Christian faith stood out shining amidst the rubble of burned out churches and Christian houses,” he said. Fr. Chellan survived the violent attacks, but said he expected to die more than once during that time. His story is just one of many of those who were persecuted for their faith.

The afternoon after the murder, a mob of hundreds of people descended on his parish’s pastoral center. Fearing for his life, Fr. Chellan, along with his assistant priest and a religious sister, escaped by climbing over the wall of the compound and hiding out in the nearby forest until late into the night.

“We could see our home going up in flames. The mob broke open all the doors and windows, thinking we were hiding inside,” he said.

Fr. Chellan and the sister sought shelter at the home of a Hindu man who took them in despite the huge threat he faced from the radicals seeking out Christians. His assistant priest sought refuge at his brother’s house.

The following day, a smaller crowd of about 50 returned to the pastoral shelter shouting anti-Christian slogans and carrying knives, sticks and axes.

The Hindu man grew nervous hearing about this and asked Fr. Chellan to hide in a shed in his backyard while allowing the sister to remain in his home.

The mob came and searched the man’s house and found the sister and Fr. Chellan.

“I was pulled out and beaten with sticks and iron rods. I sustained injuries on top of my head, my forehead and shoulder,” the priest recalled.

The sister and Fr. Chellan were dragged back to the pastoral center where they tore off the sister’s clothes and brutally raped her. The priest tried to intervene, but was overpowered by the mob.

“When I tried to prevent the men from attacking her I was taken outside and doused in gasoline. Someone took out a box of matches. Seeing that I said my last prayers, thinking my end had come.”

They tied him and the sister together and, even as a police car drove by and other police officers stood on as spectators, no one intervened.

Eventually, their attackers and they were taken into the local police station where they safely spent the night. The next day, police took them to a safer station in the capital of Bhubaneswar where they were able to visit the archbishop, but were then taken out of state in order to receive medical treatment.

Despite this persecution, he said that the Christian community has made strides in improving life for all locals of any religion, particularly by providing education.

“Christians are claiming their rightful place in society, unwilling to put up any longer with religious and social discrimination.”

He explained that the majority of the Christians in the area are considered to be Dalits, or part of the lowest caste in the traditional Hindu hierarchy.

- catholic news agency

Israeli PM orders demolition of synagogue assailants’ homes

Jerusalem, November 20, 2014: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday ordered security officials to demolish the homes of two Palestinians that perpetrated a deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, his office said in a statement.

Netanyahu said the demolitions are part of “series of additional decisions that have been made in order to strengthen security throughout the country.”

His statement, however did not elaborate what were the additional decisions that have been taken.

Netanyahu ordered the highly criticisd punitive measure after a meeting he summoned with Israel’s defence leadership in the wake of the attack in Har Nof, an ultra-Orthodox residential neighbourhood in west Jerusalem.

Two assailants stormed the Bnei Torah Synagogue during the early morning prayers, killing four people, three of them were US citizens and one had a dual British-Israeli citizenship.

Palestinian media identified the assailants as Rassan Abu al-Jamal,27, and Uday Abu al-Jamal, 22), two cousins from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called Netanyahu to condemn the attack. During their talk, Netanyahu blamed Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas for the attack.

Netanyahu and other Israeli cabinet ministers accused Abbas for the recent string of violent attacks against Israelis. After the recent attack, Intelligence Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said, “The hands that held the axes are the hands of terrorists, but the voice is the voice of Abbas.”

However, in an afternoon discussion at the parliament’s security committee, Yoram Cohen, Shin Bet, Israel’s security service chief, said Abbas does not incite “terrorism.”

Sources in the committee, which held the discussion behind closed doors, told Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper that according to Cohen, Abbas and the Palestinian leadership have no interest in encouraging violence against Israel.

The security chief also criticised visits by Israeli parliament member to the site, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif “Noble Sanctuary” and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

He said the spiking unrest in Jerusalem is stoked primarily by visits of parliament members and far-right Jewish activists to the Temple Mount, in attempt to lift the current restrictions which allow Jews to visit the site but not to pray.

According to Cohen, the violent clashes between Palestinian youths and the police were triggered by the death of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khedir, who was kidnapped and burned alive by Jewish extremists in July.

- ians