To be a saint

Yesterday the Catholic world rejoiced. For, two new saints were canonisized. Among them was a teen of 15 years. Carlos Acquitis. Born in 1991 in London, he used technology to serve God. In this day and age media play a major role in making, or breaking, perceptions and beliefs. It serves only two purposes. To inform and to act. While the former is passive, the latter is active.

Carlos chose to do both. Himself being a devout Catholoc (though the BBC quotes, for some "he did not appear to be especially devout"), he wanted to share the abundance of the Eucharist. As they call him, he was a "God's Influencer". 

He died in 2006.

No one likes to be a saint. What do you mean by "to be a saint" ? Are you somehow inferior to others? Or are you bestowed by supernatural powers? Carlos, on the other hand, was a "saint next door".  You could relate to him. If he were alive, he would be the same age as my sister. 

But yes once you are under God's protection or blessing, you can suffer a bit more, take more of that life's uncertainties and vagaries. Jesus himself asked God to take away the pain if He is willingn(Luke 22:42). Yet Jesus did die a painful death. 

Maybe Carlos's canonization is an invitation to be a saint in our own little ways. Even if we can't be, we can at least die trying. 

Onam 2025

I can't imagine how it would be if I were not a Keralite. The social cohesion is much stronger than elsewhere. No matter your religion or views, the general consensus is to accept each other devoid of judgement and bias.

Onam is one such occasion to celebrate this unity. And here's me wishing you all a happy Onam. 

Just as different hues of yellow, white and red make a flower mat, let this Onam remind us that difference among us is whats keep us together. 

മഞ്ഞയും വെള്ളയും ചുവപ്പും നിറങ്ങളിലുള്ള വ്യത്യസ്ത വർണ്ണങ്ങൾ പൂക്കളം തീർക്കുന്നതുപോലെ, ഈ ഓണം നമ്മെ ഓർമ്മിപ്പിക്കട്ടെ, നമ്മൾ തമ്മിലുള്ള വ്യത്യാസമാണ് നമ്മെ ഒരുമിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്.

Along came a mosquito...

It's just rained. The air is cold and still and its way past midnight. I am desperate to get a goodnight sleep. The only thing is I can't. The constant buzzing of mosquitoes around me keeps me awake. Knowing that only my face is exposed I quickly tuck in under the blanket. They still fly around like miniature fighter jets ready to find a weak spot. Slowly my mind drifts off. I wonder why God created the mosquito. What's the purpose of it? What good can come from it? Were there a pair in Noah's Ark? Surely He knows the diseases it can cause. If blood symbolises life, these little insects are drawn to life. It gives them nourishment and to its eggs. Then my mind takes me to Jesus. He himself offered his body and blood to us. And then, right there at that moment I came to the profound realisation what John 3:16 actually meant.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"

I have heard this verse countless times. There is no denying I didn't know what it meant. As a Christian I know Jesus, his purpose and his legacy. 

But what I didn't know or care to know was the actual fact that God Loves Me More Than Jesus. Of course God loves Jesus, his Son. But the defining moment came when his Son was chosen to die for us. Logically... 

[It's been more than 2 years since I had this in draft and I have lost what I had in mind. Still I thought of publishing it.. Here goes...] 

Geat are thy works O Lord!

I love science. I did both my graduation and post graduation on it. I get excited and intrigued by its  discoveries and progress. Be it the particle smashing colliders, the space probing telescopes or the sequencing of genomes. What scientists do is to tell the workings of the natural. They propose, they test and they find. They begin with an unknown to ultimately reach a known.

Yet, despite all it's achievements, I'm still not sure of the origin story. From the origin of the universe to the precise moment when a new life is born. Who decides the perfect time to begin. Is there a conscious that permeates both space and time? A logic for creation and destruction? If it was infinitely hot and dense in the beginning, what triggered expansion? Why was it dense and hot in the first place? What prevented another to form somewhere else? Or did they? 

I on the other hand, willed for a baby. With God as my creator and me as a cocreator brought forward a tiny little being, a baby boy. After 6 years of marriage, I finally have a son. Thanks to all the prayers from persons known and unknown. 

If you are trying for a baby, a small spiritual suggestion then. If you are Catholic, offer a mass for all the babies that could not make it alive. Do this for 3 months. So, a mass for each month. May God bless you. 

When COVID came knocking, I opened the door

With COVID all around, it's variants emerging at dizzying speed, I was spared from it...until now. For the past two days, I was having high fever. Did two Antigen tests and came positive for both. I might need to do a PCR test. 

As I write this I am in isolation. I need to keep my family and those around safe. Now that after 5 years of marriage, by God's grace, we are expecting a baby in few months, I could have been more careful.

Last week, I had my cousin's engagement and this was the only time I remember, since Covid began, I let go of my mask and that too in crowd.

As its impossible to point from where or how I caught it, I can say masks help a lot. 

Digging your own grave

Human beings are stange. They do things which they know for sure hurts their soul. They have a choice. And they choose destruction. They know what awaits at the ends. Yet they choose evil.

And then there are others who obeys God's will, loves him, and abhors evil. But even when things go wrong, they never fail. They are steadfast.

If I truly be honest, I am of the first category. You?

On the other hand, despite what I do, God loves me. I say it because I see it in my life. I guess this is what it means to be "unconditional". So that it may help me to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Yesterdays and yesteryears

I just went down the memory lane. From my life in Ireland, Dubai to here right now. Have I achieved anything? Nada. Was there anything to be achieved? If having a good education and then a job for settling in is an achievement. Then no. I have not achieved it.

But sometimes not achieving anything makes me dream of how life could or could have been. Will these dreams drive me to chase success? Don't know.

After all what is success? Money? Good job? Reputation? Your success is different to mine. It is subjective. If I succeed to not have a sugary diet for a day, can you say it doesn't even meet the definition of success?

I believe as long as anything requires or warrants a struggle to reach that peak of feeling successful, then yes you just had success. At that peak, you look down at the boulders and mountains you climbed to reach here. You realise if it weren't for those, there would be no struggle and no success.