Jesus the way to Heaven

I might have read the Gospel of Luke many a times, but this time this particular scripture put me into deep thoughts, " With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him,..." ( Luk e 1:17a NRSV ) and with the help and the guidance of the Holy Spirit these findings were worth discovering.  We might be knowing something about prophet Elijah (read more about this prophet from 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 2). This prophet gets a task of intimating king Ahab about the famine because he and along with the fellow Israelites would compromise LORD for Baal. And as Jesus speaks about this prophet, He tells us the timeframe for how long it occurred i.e. for 3years and 6months ( Lk. 4:25 ) The Bible also makes a note of the prophet's appearances of being hairy man with a leather belt around his waist(2 Kings 1:8). The LORD summons him to live at a wadi where he would be fed by ravens with bread and meat (something similar to staying in the wilderness). Prophet Elijah has an enemy th...

Years fly by, and we end up starting lent season with some resolutions to restrict certain things in life. Jesus also begans His ministry by fasting for 40days. As I was reflecting on the 3 questions which the devil asked Jesus I felt like jolting down some notes for me.  What was ash used for in the Old testament? When an individual would put ash on themselves, it was to convey that he/she is undergoing repentance. We see so many examples of people and prophets from the Old Testament using ash as a symbol of repentance. Question one:- The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Luke 4:3 NRSV We often feel that if we have money today, we can do all things. Money isn't bad, but craving for it way too much is bad. Jesus also ate bread in His public life but here He refrains it during His fasting.  Life puts us in lot of dilemma, whether to work and earn on the cost of your soul i.e. by skipping religious involvement for the s...

Do you try your best to be righteous before God? Follow His commandments and yet are struggling with one particular area of your life? Do people still mock you for serving God after the unanswered prayer? As I was meditating on Luke Ch.1 beautiful things the Lord started showing me. Zachariah was from priestly family and Elizabeth was descendant of Aaron. Righteous and followed the commandments of the Lord; but yet childless. Here, childlessness was something that brought in lot of shame, but they never loosed hope. If you compare even Abraham and Sarah were childless. But God intervened!  The society in such situation makes it a hell on Earth for such people. Just imagine if you were in Heaven, people would have prayed for you and not disgraced you. The sole reason being, they know that God uses such things as instruments to draw the attention of the individual towards Him. The analogy to understand Jesus will be like a new born baby, it cannot speak to you, but it knows that the ...

As I spoke to my Cloistered nun friend and was listening to her spirituality, the words that she spoke kept me pondering. We nuns need to be like god(small "g") i.e. in our thoughts, words and deeds. Every word that we speak should lead the person to God. This blog will be what my God kept me thinking about the whole mass. Every time we judge! Yes, we do! May it be someone that we hate or any person who poses a threat to our intellect. We Judge. And soon the Lord started showing me flashbacks of my past where I've been judgemental in a situation and also showed me how He would tackle the same situation.  Jesus showed me series of His life events when He being the King and His Father being the Creator; showed that life is not always happy with possessions and wealth. Crib was His birthplace and not a fancy hospital. Poor Lazarus, Mary and Martha were His best friends and not rich people like Herod. Sinners were someone who could change from their lives then the ones who th...

On the day of the commemoration of the Souls Day, the Gospel reading is really worth pondering upon. It's about the woman of Nain who loses her only son. Let's go more deeper into this passage and understand it. When we lose our loved ones, our whole life goes haywire. Some complain to God how could You do this to us? Some go into depression whilst some lose hope in God. The thing that we fail to understand is, everything that happens is according to the will of God, though be it death or life. When Jesus is made witness to the funeral of the woman's son, He was filled with compassion for the woman. Now, we should not forget that, Jesus was also a human being like us. He too weeped, felt thirsty, deeply moved at the death of Lazarus, became joyful etc. So Jesus really understands our sorrow of losing our loved ones. He's presence is with us in the form of people who take care of us when we are in sorrow. Jesus is the one who uses such good Samaritans to comf...

My life journey with Christ Love and happiness is what everyone seeks for in life. We are ready to do any sacrifices to live a life full of security and free us from all worries. Well, even I live in this so called world and seek such things. But, in my story of my encounter with Christ plays the pivotal role. We all hear this thing called "try to build a relationship with Christ". Sometimes, it feels so bizarre to even think about it that you can have a relationship with someone whom you cannot physically see. Well, I am such a guy who will believe in such things and will try out to any extent. And there was I in relationship with Christ❤ I encountered Christ way back in 2014, but from the year 2018 my actual journey totally in Christ took off. Since then many things changed; like focus, priorities, way of life, way of thinking, etc. This changes can only take place if the Holy Spirit gives you the grace to do so. If you truly understand "LOVE" and co...

Key scripture:- Mt. 16:24-28 Reflection:- Here in this scripture Jesus teaches how an individual can be His follower. As I was inspired by this topic, I hope it also touches you too as it touched me. There are two elements here that Jesus stresses on: one is the "cross" and second is "self-denial" . Let's study both in a deeper prospective. The Cross:- Now, what would you consider a cross?? Is it the same as the wooden planks that Jesus carried up to Golgotha? That's a physical representation of a cross, but spiritually there are many other such things that can be termed as a cross. I would say, it is a thing or a thought or task or suffering which hinders our peace of mind. We run helter-skelter to rectify it but all goes in vain. So, when all our efforts go in vain we remember someone; and that someone is undoubtedly "God". So why do you think we have to go through such vigorous crosses in life? Why no shortcuts? Crosses...