President Vice President Sunday June 16, 2019 Vol …...2019/06/16 · Sri Lanka. Indian Primer...

Sunday June 16, 2019 Vol 150 No 23 20 Pages Rs: 50.00 Registered as a newspaper

“The LORD begot me, the firstborn of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago? (Proverbs 8:22)

The CaTholiC weekly of sri lanka“ R e g i S t e R e d i N t h e d e Pa Rt m e N t o f P o S t S o f S R i L a N k a” u N d e R N o. Q d / 4 8 / N e w S / 2 0 1 9

The lack of discipline within the rank and file of politicians in the Sri Lankan political arena has

created a sordid, miserable and very disappointing situation in our country. Murder has gradually be-come a part and parcel of Sri Lankan culture, said His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbish-op of Colombo. His Eminence made this observation ad-dressing those present as Chief Guest, at the cer-tificate awarding ceremony organized by the Siripavarakiththi Dhaham Pasala attached to the Ashwaththaraama Historical Temple at Thal-gasyaaya, Akmeemana, Galle, last week. His Eminence went onto say that, this blessed land of ours today has turned out to be a playing field of reckless murderous gangsters and killers of precious human life. Our Motherland, the land of our birth was soaked with innocent blood

when the bombs blasted killing and injur-ing hundreds of devotees at religious plac-es on Easter Sunday. The reason for this state of affairs is crystal clear. It is nothing but the lack of discipline among our politi-cians and they have created that unfortu-nate situation, the country experienced. His eminence also expressed fear that differences of opin-

ions of the present day politicians might jeopardize the process of investigations into the Easter Sunday terror-ists attack, which had turned the country, into a pool of blood. “We are of the view that the terrorist bomb at-tack on Easter Sunday was not something that came out in haste, all of a sudden. But it was an act carried out after long years of

It is sad: Murder, part of Sri Lankan Culture ?

Cardinal Ranjith

Pic by: T.Sunil Fernando and Roshan Pradeep

"My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the injured. I am con-fident Sri Lanka will rise again. Cow-ardly acts of terror cannot defeat the spirit of Sri Lanka. India stands in solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka," the Indian Primer said in a Twitter. Indian Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi paid homage to St. An-thony’s Shrine, Kochchikade, Colombo , no sooner he touched the Sri Lankan soil, commencing his short stay in the island nation after winning his second term in Office as Prime Minister of India. On his arrival, the Indian Prime Minister was warmly re-ceived by Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Bandaranaike International Airport Katunayake and was directly taken to the terrorist hit Colombo, Kochchikade Shrine dedicated to St. Anthony’s of Padua, accompanied by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith Archbishop of Colombo and Housing and

Cowardly acts of terror

cannot defeat the spirit of Sri Lanka.

Indian Primer

➢ COnTD On Pg. 15

Lankan culture enriched by Fr. GonsalvezThe Contribution made by Fr. Jakome

Gonsalvez to make Catholic Reli-gion, indigenous and close to Sri

Lankans, Sri Lankan culture and tradition was of great significance. Rev. Fr. Dr. Anthony Fernan-dopulle, lecturer at the Borella Aquinas College of Higher Studies, made this ob-servation delivering his key note address at the Aquinas College Auditorium to mark the 15th Graduation Day ceremony of the Aquinas Faculty of Theology, affiliated to the Urbanian University of Rome. The event was organized by the Rev. Fr. Sheron Chandana Dias, Rector Deva Dharma Niketanaya. His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, the Chancellor of the Aquinas

College of Higher Studies, commenced the new web-site of the College participating

Pic by: T.Sunil FernandoHis Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the distin-guished invitees being taken to the Aquinas College Audi-torium by Rev. Fr. Sheron Chandana Dias, the Rector Deva Dharma niketanaya.

➢ COnTD On Pg. 15

Thank youFr. Saman

for your contribution to the Messenger.We wish you well

in your future mission

MESSENGER, the Catho-lic Weekly of Sri Lanka begins a new journey with Rev. Fr. Camillus Fer-nando Phd (Rome), Mssc (Kelaniya) assuming duties as the New Editor of the English Catholic Weekly beginning with this issue. This appointment is in addition to the respon-siblities already he holds as the Editor of the Sin-hala Weekly gnanartha

Pradeepaya cum Lama Pradeepaya and the post of the Director of Catholic Press. This is the first time in the Catholic Press one person is looking into all three vital areas. Fr. Fernando prior to his appointment as Edi-tor of the Sinhala Weekly, Gnanartha Pradeepaya, served in his capacity as the Rector of Holy Cross Col-lege, Kalutara and Rector

at St. Aloysius Minor Semi-nary, Borella. He also had served as the Dean of the Philosophy Department at the National Seminary - Our Lady of Sri Lanka, Kan-dy and was a Member of the tutorial staff at Peter's College, Bambalapitiya. He also served the People of God, as an assistant at Ragama Parish and then as Parish Priest of Dalugama and Maligawatte.

At present he also serves the Asian Region as the Ex-ecutive Secretary of the Office of Evangelization of Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC). We Wish Him God's blessing in this new endeavour.

Pic by: T.Sunil Fernando

Sri Lanka will rise again

Messenger begins a New Journey

Inside StoryThe Lankan

Catholic Flag-Pg 4

Archbishop Gomis

Trinity Sunday

Episcopal Appointments 2019/ 2022

➢ See Pg. 2

His Lordship Rt. Rev. Dr.

J. Winston S. Fernando, SSS

President

His Lordship Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin B.

Gnanapragasam

Vice President

His Lordship Rt. Rev. Dr. J. D.

Anthony Jayakody

Secretary General

Cardinal Ranjith had

courage to declare Sri Lanka a

Buddhist Country; not Politicians! -

Matugama Gunarathana Thero

➢ COnTD On Pg. 15

2 The Messenger June 16, 2019

From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. (Proverbs 8:23)

COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT - Bishop J. Winston S. Fernando,SSS

VICE PRESIDENT - Bishop Justin B. Gnanapragasam

SECRETARY GENERAL - Bishop J. D. Anthony

PERMANENT COUNCIL - Bishop J. Winston S. Fernando,SSS - Bishop Justin B. Gnanapragasam - Bishop J. D. Anthony - His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith - Bishop Norbert M. Andradi, OMI - Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe

FINANCE COMMITTEE - Bishop Harold Anthony Perera (Chairman) - Bishop D. Valence Mendis (Vice-Chairman) - Bishop Justin B. Gnanapragasam (Vice-Chairman)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL - Rev. Fr. Tony Martyn

Episcopal Appointments of the Catholic Bishops' Conference from 2019 - 2022

Name of Commission Chairman Vice-Chairman

CNC for Education, Catechetics Bishop Valence Mendis Bishop Joseph Ponniah & Bible Apostolate

CNC for Justice, Peace & Bishop Justin B. Gnanapragasam Bishop Maxwell G. SilvaHuman Development CNC for Migrants, Health, Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe Bishop Noel EmmanuelTourism & Prisons CNC for Inter-religious, Bishop N. M. Andradi, OMI Bishop Joseph Ponniah Dialogue & Ecumenism CNC for Social Communications Bishop Maxwell G. Silva Bishop Noel Emmanuel CNC for Seminaries, Clergy, Bishop Winston Fernando SSS Bishop Valence Mendis Religious & Secular Institutes Bishop Justin B. Gnanapragasam CNC for Missionary Activity Bishop Harold A. Perera Bishop Joseph Ponniah CNC for Liturgy & Culture Bishop Cletus Perera, OSB Bishop Emmanuel Fernando CNC for Laity Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe Bishop Harold A. Perera Bishop Noel Emmanuel

Public Relations His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith

CNC for Doctrinal Matters His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith Bishop Valence Mendis Bishop Noel Emmanuel Bishop Joseph Ponniah

Missio Scholarship Board Bishop Harold A. Perera Bishop Emmanuel Fernando Bishops’ Institute for Bishop J. D. Anthony Rev. Fr. Tony MartynOrientation Studies (BIOS) (Moderator) Joseph Vaz Secretariat Bishop Vianney Fernando - Bishop of Kandy

Joseph Vaz Trust Fund His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith

Lionel B. Emmanuel Bishop Harold A. Perera Bishop Justin B. GnanapragasamTrust Fund

National Directors & Chaplains - 2019-2022 CNC FOR CATECHETICS, EDUCATION & BIBLE APOSTOLATE - Rev. Fr. Benet Shantha Fernando (Catechetics & Bible Apostolate) - Rev. Fr. Ivan Perera (Education)

CNC FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS - Rev. Fr. Lal Pushpadeva O.M.I.CNC FOR MISSIONARY ACTIVITY - Rev. Fr. Basil Rohan FernandoCNC FOR LITURGY & CULTURE - Rev. Fr. T. SoosainathanCNC FOR LAITY - Rev. Fr. Roy Clarence SMALL CHRISTIAN CUMMUNITIES (AsIPA) - Rev. Fr. Hyacinth TisseraSOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL - Rev. Fr. Roy Clarence CATHOLIC NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE LAITY (C.N.A.L) - Rev. Fr. Tony MartynCNC FOR JUSTICE, PEACE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT - Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunathilake CNC FOR MIGRANT, HEALTH, TOURISM AND PRISONS - Rev. Fr. Sanjeeva MendisLEGION OF MARY - Rev. Fr. Ignatius L. VarnakulasinghamCATHOLIC YOUTH FEDERATION - Rev. Fr. Malcolm PereraNATIONAL FAMILY APOSTOLATE - Rev. Fr. Claude N. NonisCURSILLO - Rev. Fr. Tony MartynST. LUKE’S DOCTORS GUILD - Rev. Fr. Crispin Leo

@ Rt. Rev. Dr. Valence Mendis - Secretary general (CBCSL)

Episcopal Committee Appointments of the CBCSL from 2019 - 2022

Tribute of Honour to His Eminence

A special tribute of honour was conferred on His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo by the "Seekers of Truth Foundation" recently. The Special Honour was conferred on His Eminence in recognition for his pioneering efforts to bring about peace in the country and reconciliation among the different communities following the Easter Sunday massacre of the faithful. Picture shows Mr. Nalin Samarakoon, Attorney-at-Law and organiser of the foundation handing over the plaque of honour to His Eminence in the presence of Venerable Deranagala Paduma Thero, Patron of the Foundation and Mr. Premanath Dolawatta, Attorney-at-Law and other Attorneys-at-Law, members of the Foundation.

Pic. T. Sunil Fernando

Rev. Fr. Jude T. Fernando TOR who is currently involved in missionary work in the United States of America held an exhibition of his painting and other artifacts to coincide with the Silver Jubilee of his Priesthood at "Welsh the Daigle Centre."

Prior to his missionary work in the USA Fr. Jude Fernando served as a priest at the Mapuppameni Parish in South

Africa for a long period of time after being ordained in 1994. The paintings and the artifacts came in for much praise of the American visitors who purchased them. Rev. Fr. Fernando intends to spend the income from the exhibition for the retired Priests and Nuns of his Order in Sri Lanka. In the picture Rev. Father with a drawing painted by him.

C.R. Dickson Anthony

Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Priesthood

NoticeRetreat - 2019 at Tewatta (17th - 21st June)Preacher : Rev. Fr. Darrel CoongheBegins at : 7.30 a.m.

1. Rev. Clariyan Fernando2. Rev. Claude Nonis3. Rev. Fr. Suranga Warnakulasuriya4. Rev. Fr. Suraj Fernando5. Rev. Fr. Anura Dias6. Rev. Fr. Niroshan Perera7. Rev. Fr. Shanaka Mendis8. Rev. Fr. Ruwan Tharaka Alwis9. Rev. Fr. A. Samaratunga 10. Rev. Fr. Nilantha Heshan Fernando 11. Rev. Fr. Yohan Placi Fernando12. Rev. Fr. Ranjith Edirisinghe13. Rev. Fr. Sheno Fernando14. Rev. Fr. S.A.D. Chrisantha Kumara15. Rev. Fr. Manoranjan De Silva16. Rev. Fr. Prassana Fernando17. Rev. Fr. Felician Nissal Madushan18. Rev. Fr. Niranjan Peiris 19. Rev. Fr. Rex Vincent Jayaseelan

Rev. Fr. Patrick Perera - Director


EditorialEmail:[email protected]

Website:colomboarchdiocesancatholicpress.com Telephone: 011 2695984 Fax: 2692586 / 2670100

June 16, 2019

SINCE FEBRUARY 1869

When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water. (Proverbs 8:24)

The Easter Sunday terror attack triggered aiming Catholic and Christian community gathered to worship at the Altar of God, is now under

investigation. Last week, the media reported that the Muslim Ministers en bloc had tendered their resignation from the portfolios they held to facilitate the investigation into the carnage with no hindrance from them or their community. While the President and Prime Minister were not happy to see the mass exodus of the Muslim Ministers, Deputy Ministers and State Ministers vacating their Ministerial Portfolios, divergent views keep passing through social media on their decisions to resign. The Media also reported that the Committee assigned to carry out the responsible task of investigation, had complained that some of the top brass still prevent them proceeding with the task assigned to them. If that is true , it is an indication that there are some who prefer no investigations at all. But what those who claimed to be causing hindrance, should do is to follow the example set by the Muslim Ministers and allow the investigators to do their duty. Otherwise the public would lose confidence in the whole process of investigation and its outcome. The live-telecast of the investigation process, should be encouraged. At this point, we focus our attention to break down of administration. While the 'Easter Sunday' attack of hallowed places remain the main cause, our humble opinion is, that the brutal attack however has exposed the naked truth of the position of those who govern the country right now. We are totally against violence and we vehemently register our protest against any form of violence. But we must accept the fact, that unpardonable 'Easter Sunday' massacre that caused a loss of good number of innocent lives and many others were left with fear and bodily harm, had awakened the government and the people from their dreaming world.

It is also sad that some power crazy politicians are trying to take the advantage of the incident to gain political mileage. But what the country expects from them all, at this juncture is, to act as 'One Country and One People' putting aside all differences for the good of the country and the people. It is the responsibility of each and every Member of Parliament, if they are true representatives of the people, if they love the country and the people they represent, to act as one body and find a lasting solution to prevent repetition of this type of incidents in the future. Instead of pointing finger at others, one must turn into one's-own-self and examine thoroughly to see what contribution each one has made to the turn of events that cost dearly to the country and her people. Here lies the vital question. Do we have MPs among the Parliamentarians, brainy and intelligent enough to grasp and understand the true position of the country right now? Are they able to stand out from the circle and think freely? Our people are more intelligent to know, that utterances of some of our MPs on this vital issue were very childish and bias. They are unable to see things as they are; and they are not open-minded. At the very first opportunity our people will teach a bitter and unforgettable lesson to the opportunist politicians. Our country was the 'role-model' to most of the neighbouring countries, on the path to progress. It is a historical fact. In the opinion of the unbiased critique today our country is far behind those countries, where development is concerned. This is because of those elected by the people have put the 'self-before the country'. They have appointed their political henchmen, relatives or friends, to very vital positions, ignoring the most qualified, suitable and capable people that ensure the smooth progress of the country. Thus the whole country suffers, owing to the folly of a few.

We are reminded of a country and people loving politician who put the 'country-before-the-self. He was representing Negombo. Once his son informed the Minister that he was to be appointed to a very high and important position in the State -sector. Point blank the question from the Minister to his son was: "do you have the necessary qualification?" There is a very great vacuum of Ministers and MPs of such calibre today. The duty of people as responsible electors of their representatives is to elect, those able to understand issues and intelligently resolve them. They should not elect thugs who threaten to set fire to Parliament or turn the state assembly into a mockery a place of jokers. As a sort of habit we know our people continued electing though most unsuitable persons, as their representatives, based on very personal agendas. The same set of MPs ran the affairs of the country taking turns for years and years. It is high time now, to take serious, the one's right to elect. At least now people should resolve to elect those who are, intelligent, capable of understanding issues, and committed to the task they are elected and create no room for regret later. Our country is like man who has not grown with his age. The country seemed to be suffering from some undiscovered ailment. Although the country chalks 72 years after independence, one cannot be proud of the progress the country has achieved. We should ask ourselves; where have we gone wrong? Why we could not grow as we should, like our neighbouring countries? We need a set of people as our representatives to find out the cause and to recommend measures to move the country towards true development. It is our responsibility not to create room for any country to control us or make our country a colony once again. Let us offer our humble prayers during this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Which is very close to us as He Promised to be our 'leading Light' in this hour of our need.

Ignoring the qualified, the capable and appointing political henchmen will destroy the country

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has filed a Fundamental Rights case in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on the recent Easter Sunday

bombings launched by Jihadist terrorists. In the said application, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has been named as the 57th Respondent. The said petition states inter- alia, that His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has expressed his support for the efforts taken by the Bar Association in instituting this application in the public interest. The said application further seeks to vindicate the cries for justice from the general body polity, which has shown remarkable sensitivity and solidarity not only with the victims but also with the urgent national cause for strengthening, entrenching and consolidating national security and the safety of the people. The Petitioners to the said application have further spelt out that as a matter of humanitarian consideration and also as civic minded civilians, both in the public interest and in their capacity of those representing the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, they were seeking relief in respect of the victims of St. Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade, St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya and the Zion Church, Batticaloa, as well as those who died at Shangrilla, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury Hotels and New Tropical Inn, Dehiwala. As already set – out, the Petitioners have received the mandate from the Archbishop of Colombo who is made the 57th Respondent hereto, to afford the Right Reverend Archbishop, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith notice of his application. The Petitioners further aver that, with regard to the innocent victims who succumbed to the bombing attacks on Easter Sunday and lost their precious lives

as well as those who were injured and maimed in those attacks and whose lives were otherwise altered and impaired beyond further redemption or mitigation, that the only way to even remotely recompense them is to make payment of meaningful and adequate compensation to such persons and their families. Moreover, the Petitioners have highlighted that there have been many cases identified by the churches and the parish communities, where worshippers who attended the churches that were bombed, are still unaccounted for, and in respect of whom there is yet to be any kind of identification, not only to provide them with the last religious rites according to their religion, but also to provide their families, an adequate form of monetary recompense for the destruction of their lives. The families feel strongly that proper release is not being made of the precise and accurate statistics of those who actually died in order to play down the situation. In this context, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka have sought a direction from the Court to forthwith establish a relief fund, in consultation inter – alia, with the Archbishop of Colombo, in order to provide sufficient financial compensation and also assistance in the form of a lump sum payment as well as a recurrent monthly payment to the families who lost their loved ones to support their daily expenses, persons and children who have suffered injuries and/or to their families, for the medical expenses as well as for their daily expenses. The Petitioners have further requested the Court to effectuate a comprehensive re-count and the accurate preparation of statistics on the number of deaths that occurred in the Easter Sunday bombings, in consultation inter-alia with the Archbishop of Colombo.

The Archbishop of Colombo filed an affidavit in these proceedings in order to apprise the Supreme Court of several of the concerns of the Catholic Church in the aftermath of the Easter bombings that occurred on the 21st April 2019. Moreover, he has condemned in the strongest possible terms, the series of acts of terrorism carried out by extremist Jihadist groups, which caused the deaths of over 250 people. He has further stated that the said terrorist attacks which had occurred on the 21st April 2019 had been perpetrated specifically targeting even the Christian faithful of two historic and prominent Catholic Shrines situated in the Archdiocese of Colombo (i.e. St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya and St. Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade) and had resulted in the loss of numerous innocent lives, injuries resulting in disability, pain and suffering at an unprecedented magnitude and that the aforesaid atrocities committed on the 21st April 2019 in fact, are attacks committed against the entire Nation of Sri Lanka as a whole. He has brought to the notice of the Court that due to the aforesaid magnitude of deaths, injuries, destruction and trauma caused as a consequence of the said terrorist attacks on the 21st April 2019, a special urgent rehabilitation project had to be commenced and implemented in the Archdiocese of Colombo by the Seth Sarana Caritas Colombo – the Social Services arm of the Archdiocese of Colombo, for the affected families at the said churches of St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya and St. Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade, titled “Psycho - Social and Pastoral Programme for the families of the Easter Sunday Tragedy 2019”. In these circumstances His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith further states that, it would be a

Fundamental Rights Case filed by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka on the Easter Bombings

Contd. on Pg. 15

By Shammil J. Perera - President's Counsel


Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth. (Proverbs 8:25)

The Sri Lankan Catholic flag, a p p r o v e d

unanimously and sanctioned in the Ju-bilee Year 2000 by the Catholic Bishops’ Con-ference of Sri Lanka, is being popularly used today not only in Sri Lanka but also among Sri Lankan Catholic communities living abroad. It is certainly very encouraging that it is so. However, it is good to give all who view the flag a fair knowledge of its meaning and significance. This article intends to do so. Our flag is tri-colour – blue, white and yellow (gold). White (Silver) and Yellow (Gold) form the back-ground of our flag. These are the two colours of the Pa-pal flag and it is used here to indicate that we are one with the Universal Church and that we acknowledge the supremacy of the Holy Father. The symbol of the Cross is depicted in Blue on the white background. Thus the combination of blue and white depict our traditional devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary. These are the colours in which She appeared in Lourdes and has been traditionally portrayed in images. Sri Lanka has always maintained a great de-votion to the Blessed Virgin from ancient times and a large number of our churches are named in her honour. In proof of this we have the most popular Shrines of Madhu, Matara and Thewaththa. In addition She is also venerated today as Our Lady of Lanka. Therefore, the Cross before which She was given to us as Mother is coloured in blue on the white background. The unique symbol of the Cross is that of the Anuradapura Cross – the most ancient symbol of Chris-tianity discovered in Sri Lanka. Varied interpretations have been give to this archaeological find from the very moment it was dis-covered, but today’s research have made things clear-er even though some prejudiced minds fail to see the truth. There is no doubt that Christianity was intro-duced to India by St. Thomas, an Apostle of Jesus Christ who entered there in 52 A.D A symbol of a Cross attributed to this Apostle is the most ancient symbol of Christianity found so far, in India and Sri Lanka too. In Sri Lanka it is the Cross discovered during archeological excavations in Anurad-hapura. This was discovered in 1912 by the then chief draughtsman of the Archeological Department Mu-handiram P. D. A. Wickremasuriya. Muhandiram Wickremasuriya informed the Archeological Commissioner at the time Mr. E. R. Ayr-ton of this find. Ayrton who examined the object hastily concluded that this was a Portuguese Cross, and said so. Ayrton died the same year and was succeeded by A. M. Hocart. Hocart was more cautious examining the ob-ject and made reference to it in his publication the “Ar-cheological Survey of Ceylon” dated 1924. He described the stone pillar thus – “In F,7, lying on the floor level, was a fragment of a rectangular column on which is cut in sunk relief, a cross of a floriated type standing on a stepped pedestal from which emanate two fronds on each side of the cross like horns.” Explaining further he wrote that he supposed that it, and four fragments in room 2, were carried off from some ruined building in the vicinity and that building was probably a church.”1

Hocart was of the opinion that this Cross did not belong to the Portuguese period but was not too affirmative in his opinion because of the resemblance it bore to a Cross (of similar style) discovered in Kotte. This cross in the Kotte Kingdom to which Hocart referred was not a cross of the Portuguese. It was in fact a cross of St. Thomas origin, which was already here in Sri Lanka, and discovered by the Portuguese on their ar-rival. This is confirmed by the Portuguese historian Fernao de Queyroz S.J. in his book “Conquista Temporal

e Espiritual de Ceylao” where He admits that there were two crosses in Sri Lanka when the Portuguese arrived. One was in a suburb of Colombo in the church of the Apostle St. Thomas and this was a cross on a small column stone; one of those which the glorious apostle worked with his own hands, and it was the sec-ond which they had in Ceylon.2 The second cross, described by the Portuguese historian Queyroz is a cross of St. Thomas, found in Mutwal, at the mouth of the Kelani River. As the Kelani river was the outlet for the pro-duce of the Kelani valley, and a popular trade centre it was known as Battalpola (Wattala). It remained a popular trading centre especially for the Persians. Hence, it is not improbable that the Mutwal cross is a relic of the presence of Christians in Ceylon. Making specific reference to the Cross in Co-lombo Fr. S. G. Perera states – “…by far the most ancient fact recorded of Colombo is that it once possessed a cross dating from the early period of Christianity. In the church of St. Thomas at Mutwal, there was preserved in Portuguese times a cross carved on a column of stone, which was ascribed to St. Thomas the Apostle.”3 It is well known that the Portuguese did not know where Anurdhapura was. They could not locate Anuradhapura until the beginning of the 17th century. And it was the Franciscan missionary Fr. Francisco Ne-grao, who was the first European to mention the ruins of Anuradhapura. This was between the years 1610 – 1629 A.D. Fernao de Queyroz himself mentions the futile attempts made by the Portuguese to discover Anuradhapura, and mentions how he later got all the information about Anuradhapura from Fr. Negrao. Therefore, it is impossible to imagine that they carried a cross there at that time and had a church. Later, H. W. Codrington, the well known scholar, himself affirmed that the Anuradhapura Cross belonged to the Persian Christians of St. Thomas. He added that this is really “a Persian Christian Cross” and is almost identical with the cross of St. Thomas discovered by the Portuguese in 1547 on the Mount of St. Thomas in My-lapore, South India. During the early period of the discovery of the cross in Anuradhapura, there was doubt among our own scholars as to whether this was a cross of a Catho-lic community or whether it was a relic of a Nestorian presence in Sri Lanka. Even the well known Catholic historian His Lordship Bishop Edmund Peiris OMI de-scribed it as the “Nestorian Cross of Anuradhapura” in an article he contributed to the then famous Christmas Annual edited by Mgr. Manik Muttukumaru and pub-lished by the Diocese of Chilaw. The title of his article was “The Nestorian Cross of Anuradhapura”. However, His Lordship concludes his article stating that this cross closely resembles the “Bleeding Cross” of St. Thomas in Mylapore.4 The Mylapore Cross or the “Bleeding Cross” in Mylapore is a Cross carved by St. Thomas and is now on the hill where he was martyred. It is believed to be that on which St. Thomas laid down his life. It had traces of his blood and is said to change colour periodically and sweat blood and water. This unusual phenomenon happened on 18th December almost every year in the course of a few years. These miracles are clearly record-ed and witnessed by thousands of pilgrims. This was accidentally discovered by the Portuguese in 1547. During the past few decades much research has been done regarding the beginnings of Christianity in Asia. One of the most valuable documents is the work of the Greek historian Nikephoros Calixtos Santhapolos who wrote eighteen volumes covering the first seven centuries of Christianity in South Asia. In one volume he refers to the visit of St. Thomas to Colombo (Sri Lanka). This further confirms that the cross in Colombo could have been his own work. A number of other Crosses have been discov-ered also in other countries in South Asia. Besides the one on Mount Thomas in Mylapore near Madras, four in the vicinity of Kottayam, and one in Travancore in Kerala. Another cross was discovered in Goa in the year 2000. To locate Christian communities in Sri Lanka,

and more precisely in Anuradhapura, most of our his-torians have relied on the evidence of Cosmos Indi-copleustes who wrote in the sixth century that – “Even in Taprobane, and island in Further India, where the Indian sea is, there is a church of Christians, with clergy and a body of believers, but I know not whether there be any Christians in the parts beyond it.”5

Based on this document many presume that there were no indigenous Christians in Sri Lanka. Cos-mos was a Persian and a Nestorian and it is understand-able that his main interest was in the Persian Christian communities in the different places he visited. Further-more, he did claim that he did not know whether there are any Christians in the parts beyond it. Hence, it is clear that he is not making a blanket observation about all the Christian communities in Sri Lanka at that time. Therefore, we cannot connect the Anuradhapura cross with a Nestorian community that is supposed to have lived in Sri Lanka. This article does not warrant a full exposition of the presence of Christians in pre-Portuguese Sri Lan-ka. However, very briefly it could be stated that Catholic missionaries have been in Sri Lanka from the first cen-tury. And this includes one of the Lord’s twelve Apostles - St. Thomas. If he was here, it could be safely concluded that subsequently his own disciples and converts from India also continued their interest in Sri Lanka, a coun-try in such close proximity to South India. A document found in China describes in detail the depiction of our Cross has also seen in the Anurad-hapura Cross very clearly. It is described as follows – “In the cross rising from the lotus, the passion of Chris-tianity finds its place in the Eastern symbol of being rooted in this world but rising above it to full beauty and fulfillment.”6 The pedestal on which the cross stands rep-resents the earth. Out of this earthly pond arise two lotuses (on either side) which symbolize the different philosophies and thinking of the world and these are like the beautiful lotuses that grow in the pond. But, just as the lotus fully blooms only when it receives the rays of the sun, the wisdom of the world blooms only when it receives the light of Christ. The cross is shown shedding light at the upright top extreme and trans-verse beams. Martin Palmer, in his book has dealt lengthily of how “Christianity was skillfully set within the fun-damental spiritual images of ancient China.”7 We can attribute the same compliment in respect of our cross to Sri Lanka. The information above suffices to convincingly conclude that the Cross in Anuradhapura is a cross of St. Thomas' design, and not a Nestorian Cross. There could have been a group evangelized by the St. Thomas Christians either local or of foreign traders.

1. Archeological Survey of Ceylon, 1912 – 13, pg 5.2. The Spiritual and Temporal Conquest of Ceylon - pg 715.3. Fr. S. G. Perera S.J., Historical Sketches – Ceylon Church History – pg 10 - 11. 4. Catholic Christmas Annual – 1956 pg 5.5. Cosmos Indicopleustes – Christian Typography, edited with English Translations by J. M. Mc Crindle, London: pg 155.6. Martin Palmer - The Jesus Sutras, The Ballantine Publishing Group NY pg 9. 7. Idem – pg 8.

The Sri Lankan Catholic FlagBy Archbishop Emeritus Oswald gomis


absent, missing or vanished. This “vanishing trick” is not mainly due to higher statistics of divorces and separations in marriages but due to the negligence of children by their fathers. They go to work in places far away from their families. Take the case of Sri Lankan fathers working in the Middle Eastern countries to maintain their families. Even if the fathers are living here in the same houses they bring their unfinished work home and use phones and computers to finish their business transactions from home. It may be the case of fathers who come “tired” after work and do not have any quality time for their children or the wife. The fathers spend time watching TV or before the screens of their lap tops. They hardly have time to join in a family meal or devote time to pray together.

Tormented Children It is the growing children who are tormented by the negligence of their parents. There are millions of children in the world growing without a roof over their heads. They live in the streets, and beg or participate in child labour to maintain their families. Many go hungry and thirsty deprived of any educational or health care opportunities. If they are lucky to have mothers and fathers, they can still be victims of aggressive drunken fathers and mothers who have no time to look after them. Sri Lanka is a signatory to the UN resolution on Rights of the Child which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1997. The purpose of this resolution is to protect the rights of children all over the world whether Contd. on Pg. 15

While as yet the earth and the fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world. (Proverbs 8:26)

BiTS &PiECES

By idam

Health relatedIssues in Sri Lanka

By Dr. Maxie FernandopulleEmail:[email protected]

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) can be described as types of medical practices to consisting of all forms of medicine other than

western medicine. CAM gains more attention worldwide, as a means of finding solutions to health problems, where Western medicine has failed to find relief to patients suffering from diseases. If we examine the term alternative medicine, we should answer the question --- Alternative to what? The Western medical doctors will want to say it is alternative to Western medicine they practice. In fact some Western practitioners claim that Alternative medicine is inferior to the Western medicne they practice, which they may consider as the most effective medicine available to human beings in the present day. But remember in a developed country like China Traditional Chinese Medicine is the main stream medicine and therefore Western medicine is an Alternative medicine. In fact even in Sri Lanka before the British made the Western medicine the state supported system of medicine, Western medicine was a form of Alternate medicine, to the country’s traditional system of medicine.The principal form of medicine then was traditional Indian medicine called ‘Ayurveda’ and a form of indigenous medicine called ‘Deshiya Chikithsa’. Another form of medical practice resorted to, is called traditional medicine. It comprises of traditional knowledge developed over generations within various societies prior to the era of modern Western medicine.There is some overlap of CAM with traditional medicine. Types of alternate medicines are also included in CAM list There are 58 forms of CAMs out of which about 15 forms are practiced in Sri Lanka. Some of them are Ayurveda and Deshiya Chikithsa, Siddha, Unani, Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Yoga, Faith Healing, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Naturopathy, Dance therapy, Hypnotherapy and Meditation. It is worth and very important to remember ‘QUACKERY’ is another type of medicine practiced in Sri Lanka, practiced by unqualified, unregistered persons who cause a lot of harm in our country by treating the sick with Western medical drugs. There are 40,000 quacks in Sri Lanka. Some of them had been bottle washers in doctors dispensaries and aware of the names of some drugs and now prescribe them to innocent sick people. Is CAM made use of by people? There is no doubt about its use. According to a World Health Organization document titled: WHO's traditional medicine strategy 2002 -2005, 75% of population in

France, 70% in Canada, 48% in Australia, 42% in U.S.A, and 38% in Belgium have had recourse to CAM at least once. Americans have spent 30 billion dollars annualy on alternate medicine. Why is CAM been made use of? In the poorer developing countries people make use of it because of easy accesibility, especially in distant rural areas where Western medicine is not easily available. In Sri Lanka it is claimed that there is an M.B.B.S qualified doctor within five kilometers of any paticular remote place. Doctors are appointed to distant rural health care institutions, but even though he or she is expected to be in that station for 24 hours, in reality he or she is physically present only for a few hours, often due to lack of housing and lack of other facilities. He or she resides in a bigger town close by and travel from there to work for a few hours. In the nights a pregnant woman in labour or a bleeding child has to be carried on a chair across the paddy fields or shrub jungles to obtain treatment from a state hospital. There is also gross maldistribution of qualified doctors in Sri Lanka. Doctors' 70% of them live in the triangle with the apex in Kandy and the base of the triangle between Chilaw and Panadura. In some Colombo teaching hospital outpatient departments (O.P.D.s) there are over 50 doctors (Medical officers for O.P.D.) appointed, but there are only about 20 tables and chairs for the doctors to sit and examine patients. In the developed world patients prefer to use CAM beause of adverse effects of Western medicines (chemical drugs). Another reason for the demand of CAM is that Western drugs are very expensive. The doctor practicing Western medicine is very busy and do not spend enough time with the patient and listen to the problems of the patient. The doctors do not attend to the patient competently, compassionately and caringly. The public are not well informed of the facilities and the patient are not adequately explained the nature of his or her illness and the names and the effects of the drugs prescribed. Western medicine freely accepts that there is no cure for many chronic illnesses in their science which is admitted by better doctors and conveyed to their clients. The other systems too probably has no cure but the practitioner himself or herself may not be aware of this limitation. Ayurveda it is one of the oldest healing systems of the whole body. It was developed 3000 years ago in India. It is based on the belief that health, wellness, depend on the delicate balance between the mind, body and the

spirit.But treatment may be geared towards specific health problems. The drugs used are from plants and herbs. Hence the adverse effects are very minimal. Perhaps about 75% of our people resort to Ayurvedic treatment. The medicinal ayurvedic preparations are clearly useful in many instances. The local application of oils and pastes certainly help in musculo-skeletal disorders. Their is now a tendency to combine Western medical treatment and Ayurvedic theapy. The central organization structure, registration of Ayurvedic doctors and their medications are not very effective in Sri lanka. Acupuncture In this treatment thin needles are inserted to various parts of the body through the skin at various points in the body. It is based on the premise that blockage or disturbance in that flow of body’s life energy or ‘qi’ cause health issues. The action of the needle is to restore the fluid ‘qi’ balance, balance the body’s energy, stimulates healing and promote relaxation. It relieves pain by releasing endospres, the body’s natural pain killing elements, and by affecting the part of the brain involved with mood via a chemical Serotonin.

Homeopathic medicine. It is another form of medicine that reacts to toxicity of Allopathic or Western medicine. It is based on the theory that substances which causes adverse effects in certain persons may be used to treat or prevent symptoms in a person who is ill in miniscule amounts, known as the ‘doctrine of similars’.

Massage therapy it is a soft tissue manipulation which is a very popular form of medicine without any harmful side effects. In conclusion a very large pecentage of certainly acute illnesses are cured spontaneously perhaps by the body’s defence mechanisms even if left alone. And our doctors take the credit and more drugs are sold and consumed. Very often the drugs prescribed by a doctor or a hospital health care officer is not totally used when there is no quick response. The patient throws, the drugs prescribed and go to another doctor for a happier diagnosis and get new drugs or perhaps the same drug in a different shape or colour. 30% of drugs manufactured do not reach the location it has to, which is the body of a patient. Many diseases are cured despite drugs and doctors. Also more importantly DISESASES are caused by DRUGS, and DOCTORS is a famous dictum in a popular text book of Pharmacology. I have added DIET and DIRT to it.

COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Fathers and mothers are the primary teachers and caregivers of every child who is born into this world. Without the joint effort of both parents

children will not grow to become useful and productive members who will contribute positively to society. Without the collective upbringing by both parents children will grow up to be burdens to themselves, their families and to the society. Because of the higher statistics of divorces and separations in families most of our children will not get the love, warmth and formation from both parents in their young days. According to the psychologist Sigmund Freud, during the first formative five years of a child’s life this type of mutual love and affection from both parents is paramount. The family unit is gradually becoming obsolete in some parts of the world. Early divorce, separation and the absence of any form of civil marriage are threatening this parent-child bonding which is extremely essential for the all-round and holistic formation of the child. On the First of June we celebrated the global day dedicated to parents. In 2012 the United Nations General Assembly declared this as a day when we concentrate on the importance of parents and families for the betterment of the future generations who are born and growing up in a proper family atmosphere. Without the love, caring and bonding by both parents children will have a lopsided growth. There are many one-parent families in the world not only because of separation and divorce among the parents, but also because of economic and social reasons. Sometimes one of the parents has to spend time away from home and family because he/she is

Importance of Parentingworking in a place far away from the family. Because of economic reasons mothers have to leave their babies with caregivers. Sometimes parents who come home from work have no patience to spend quality time with their family or children. Thus the children’s need for parenting and bonding is neglected. Especially because of equal rights for both parents and need for mothers to be an essential part of the work force, children lose critical love, care and bonding with their mothers, which is an essential part of growth and care for young children.

Lessons and Values Pope Francis in his apostolic exaltation on family, “Amoris Laetitia” (AL) says referring to mothers, that a society without mothers would be dehumanized, for mothers are always even in the worst of times, witnesses to tenderness, dedication and moral strength. “A mother who watches over her child with tenderness and compassion helps him/her to grow in confidence and to experience that the world is a good and welcoming place. This helps her child to grow in self-esteem and in turn to develop a capacity for intimacy and empathy.” Guidance and tenderness from the mother contribute to the growth of the children and her example creates in them religious and moral values. AL speaks of the necessity of a father figure in the family. Children need the masculine identity for the overall growth of a child as a member of the family. “But the clear and well-defined presence of both figures, female and male, creates an environment best suited for the growth of the child.” Western culture has become a society without fathers where the father figure is symbolically


“When he established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep. (Proverbs 8:27)

Trinity Sunday – Gospel Meditation (John 16:12-15) – Year CRev. Fr. nilindra gunesekera

The Most Intimate Life of God

Catholic doctrine teaches us that the One God is a Holy Trinity, comprising three distinct persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today, we

meditate on the lessons to be learnt from the manner in which God revealed His Trinitarian presence and the inter-relationship between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We begin our meditation. As I sit engrossed in prayer, I remember the Sh-ema Israel of Deuteronomy 6:4, ‘Hear O Israel. The Lord your God, is the One Lord’. At the same time, I also re-member the text of Genesis 18:2, ‘He (Abraham) looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground’. This Pentateuchal text recalls how God is represented by the three persons who stood at the door of Abraham’s tent by the oaks of Mamre, and promised that Sarah would give birth to a Son by springtime next year (Genesis 18:10). As I continue to ponder on this OT text, I also recall Isaiah 48:16, ‘Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit’, where the prophet refers to God and His Spirit as two distinct persons. Of course, there are other texts such as Genesis 1:26 ‘Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."’, which refer to God in the plural. Today, the majority of scholars prefer to explain such texts in terms of a plu-ral of majesty, which simply points to the glory of God,

rather than to a plurality of persons. Nevertheless, the texts of Genesis 18:2, and Isaiah 48:16 indicate a plu-rality of persons within the One Divine Presence. As I continue to reflect on the mystery of God, I realize that the all powerful (omnipotent) and all embracing (om-nipresence) deity cannot be constrained or confined within the narrow definitions of monotheism. As I gaze around the portals of the church, my eyes are drawn to the Most Blessed Sacrament. I realize that the dogma of the Holy Trinity – three per-sons in One God, is intimately linked to the divinity of Jesus, who repeatedly insisted. ‘The Father and I are one’ (John 10:30). I realize that the clearest and most explicit Trinitarian text in the NT, pertains to the Bap-tism of Jesus, for the Father’s voice is heard, as the Holy Spirit descends upon the Son. As I continue to reflect in prayer, I realize that the presence of three persons in the One God-head is also proof that lasting relation-ships in which community is forged, and families nur-tured, are appropriate setting for the search for God. Another insight that I receive is that the presence of the Holy Trinity can also be experienced both in solitude and in community. For, not only did Jesus pray alone (Mark1:35), but He also prayed with His disciples, es-pecially at the Passover (Luke 22:8), and when He cel-ebrated the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26). As I meditate further in prayer, I also see the collaborative and supportive roles played by each of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, in effecting the plan of salvation. For instance, God the Father is the author and initiator of the plan of salvation, while God the Son be-comes the agent who expedites salvation, and the Holy

Spirit is the Counsellor who leads believers to a fuller understanding of the revelation of Jesus. The Trinitar-ian divine presence is the basis for mission. Therefore, my meditation leads me to the realization that the mys-tery of the Holy Trinity is not an abstract theological notion but a mystery of love that invites us to be loving collaborators who are of one mind and heart, in serving the Lord in whatever vocation that has been entrusted to us. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (John 3:16). The saving love of God stands behind the gift of the Son. Hence, collaboration in the course of exercising ministry or living out vocation entails self-giving in love. The Son was sent that the world might be saved. Yet, judgment takes place because of the refusal to believe. Hence, once again, the mystery of the Holy Trinity reminds us that our motivation must be love of Jesus, and we should not be distracted or discouraged by the apparent lack of response or the lukewarmness or indifference of other collaborators. Indeed, today’s Gospel provides deep insights into the nature of collaboration between the persons of the Holy Trinity. Just as the Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and declares it to His disciples with greater clarity, so too must we who collaborate with Jesus, take His teachings and declare it with greater clarity and compatibility for our times. Therefore, let us not resign ourselves to the sins of the world by accepting it as un-changeable. Let us join hands to confront the evil in the world through ‘collaborative ministry’.

One and Triune GodFrank Sheed, the leader of the street-corner preach-ers of the Catholic Evidence Guild in England, said that at the beginning of their apostolate they avoided the Trinity because they were convinced that they could not express it adequately, and the crowd, a non-captive audience, would not respond to it. But soon they re-alized that if they wish to speak about the Christian God they would have to talk about it. So with fear and trembling they began to speak about the Trinity. And to their great surprise the crowds were fascinated by it. It’s surprising that they were surprised! The revelation of the Trinity is one of the great-est proofs of God’s love for us. When we wish to relate to someone, we introduce ourselves. We let ourselves be known. God is our Creator who endowed us with the capacity to know and to love. Whether we accept it or not, He is our Maker and we are His creatures, whom He so loved that He elevated us to the level of children of God. Fr. Rodney Kissinger said, we do not reveal our-selves to those we do not love. And we reveal ourselves in proportion to our love. In revealing the Trinity God revealed His very nature, His most intimate life. As a matter of fact, the revelation of the Trinity is one of the greatest proofs of God’s love for us. The Trinity is the origin of our lives, the model for our lives and the destiny of our lives. To reveal etymologically means to remove the veil, to unveil in order to make ap-parent what lies beyond the veil. Though God is myste-rious and transcends man’s knowing power, He chose to let Himself be known within the bounds of the com-prehension of a created intellect. Thus, it should be a frequent subject of our meditation. After all, eternity consists in an unending bliss of beholding the infinite beauty and goodness of the One and Triune God.

Bit by bit revelation In His infinitely wise providence God, gradu-ally revealed to mankind His inmost being, that is, as He is in Himself, and not just as the cause of created things. In the Old Testament He makes known above all His oneness, and His complete transcendence from the

world as its Creator and Lord. We learn that God, unlike the world, is uncreat-ed; that He is not limited in space (immense) or in time (eternal); and that His power knows no limits (omnipo-tent). Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, says the liturgy, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other (Deuter-onomy 4:39). Only you, Lord, are God. And again, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone (Deuter-onomy 6:4).” It is Christ who reveals to us in all its fullness the inner workings of the Trinitarian mystery and calls us to participate in it. “No one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matthew 11:27).” It is He who speaks to us of the co-existence of the Holy Spirit with the Father, and who sends Him to the Church to sanctify it until the end of time; and He it is who reveals to us the perfect oneness of life of the Three Divine Persons (John 16:12-15). In fact, all three persons of the Trinity are found in five of the key scenes in the Gospel: • the Annunciation (Luke 1:35) • the Baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:21) • the Last Supper (John 14:16) • Calvary (John 19:20) and • the Ascension (Luke 24:48) The unaided human reason would never have conceived nor perceived that the most High God is not only one, as Israel had passionately believed. God is One in Three, i.e. Triune: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity was refined and solemnly defined in the first four Councils of the Church and has been professed in the Creed and at Mass for centuries. The fount of supernatural life The prayer Angelic Trisagion proclaims, “You be praise, to You be glory, to You be thanksgiving world without end, O Blessed Trinity! Having completed the commemoration of the mysteries of salvation, from Christ’s birth in Bethlehem to the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the liturgy now invites us to con-

template the central mystery of our faith: the Blessed Trinity, the ineffable mystery of God’s own inner life and the fountain of all gifts and graces. The mystery of the Trinity is the starting point of all revealed truth, the fountain from which proceeds supernatural life, and the goal whither we are headed: we are children of the Father, brothers and co-heirs with the Son, and continually sanctified by the Holy Spirit to make us ever more and more resemble Christ; accord-ingly, we deepen in the understanding of our divine filia-tion and become living temples of the Blessed Trinity. It is true that creation is attributed to the Fa-ther, redemption to the Son and sanctification to the Holy Spirit. But the fact and truth of the matter is that the Trinity was the efficient cause of all ad extra (i.e. outside the Trinity) actions of God. “The Trinity is also the origin of Christianity. Without the Trinity we can-not understand Christianity. What would Christmas, Easter and Pentecost mean if there was no Trinity? The Mass begins and ends with the sign of the cross, the profession of faith in the Trinity. All of the prayers of the Mass are offered to the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit,” Fr. Rodney said. This, the ineffable mystery of God’s intimate life, is the central truth of our faith and the source of all gifts and graces. Thus, it is continually invoked in the liturgy. We were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and in their name also are our sins forgiven. We begin and end many prayers by invoking the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the uni-ty of the Holy Spirit. St. J. Escrivá exclaims, “God is my Father! If you meditate on it, you will never let go of this consoling thought! Jesus is my dear Friend (another thrilling dis-covery) who loves me with all the divine madness of His Heart. The Holy Spirit is my Consoler, who guides my every step along the road. Consider this often: you are God’s - and God is yours (The Forge, 2).” During the day let us often say the prayer: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit…”


history of salvation many are the events that baffled the trust and the faith in the Lord. Only the Spirit of the Lord could enlighten and help us to place them in the right perspective. Dear friends, never show that you are of little faith. Ask the Holy Spirit and Mother Mary to strengthen and enhance your faith. Let us pray and hope that the Holy Spirit would enlighten each and every one of us so that we would see the hand of God both in good and evil experiences trusting that God could bring good out of evil.

Faith enhanced by the signs of the time The carnage of Easter Sunday could be an eye opener to the reality of the society that we are living in today, the value-systems that we are promoting and encouraging, the attitudes and behavioural patterns that we project to our younger generation through our media and example. There are lessons to be learnt, life-amendments to be made. Let us pray so that all of us may become better human beings and exemplary Chris-tians while praying and sympathizing with the grief-stricken brothers and sisters. We believe in a loving, merciful and a compas-sionate God. We also believe that everything happens ac-cording to His providence. We believe that He wants us to be happy in life Hebrews 13.5 “I will never fail you nor forsake you”. “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.’ Isaiah 49.16. I am the Good Shepherd, I know my sheep and they know me too” – Matthew 10.30. In disasters and unintelligible cruelties of hu-manity we need a mindset that would make us not be reactive but proactive. Throughout salvation history I see God preparing us with a mindset that can help us to act as God’s witnesses. God has been merciful and kind compassionate and forgiving. Jesus Himself expressing this He said from the cross, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” This should be our attitude and perspective in the face of such miserable situations. It is in the light of all these Faith experiences that we can clearly understand the carnage at St. Se-bastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya, Negombo, St. Anthony’s Church, Kochchikade, Prayer-centre of Batticaloa and Hotels in Colombo. As chosen people of the New Testament we are also called upon to interpret what is happening around us in the light of our faith. So, a Christian will also be an interpreter of daily events and place all the events in the right perspective so that we may be true witnesses of God’s good news. God Bless you all.

A god of this nature, can he, allow this kind of cruelty, this kind of carnage? When we go through Scrip-tures; we see how god treated some people. We see Him at the very beginning after the sin Adam & Eve committed. He promised to send a Messiah as a Sav-iour. We also see our god even in the Pharaos time, chosen people were punished and later He prepared Moses to save the chosen people from Slavery.

When he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth. (Proverbs 8:28)

By Rev. Fr. W. D. g. Chrispin Leo

Carnage at St. Sebastian’s Katuwapitiya, Negombo and St. Anthony’s

KochchikadeFaith Foiled My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the car-nage which took place on Easter Sunday has had a great impact on all of us. It has shaken the faith and trust es-pecially of the family members of the victims who are with us today. They keep asking where is God and why did He allow this to happen? It happened in His own temple as His devotees were there to thank Him for the Gift of the Resurrection given to His Son Jesus Christ and all of us. Is God behind this?

Let Faith Grow Remember God saying that your ways are not my ways. When Jesus was born how many babies died to save Baby Jesus from Herod? Herod represented the cruel and inhuman people of our day who are behind the carnage on Easter Sunday. How many died before Moses liberated the chosen people from the slavery of Egypt. How many soldiers of Pharaoh got drowned in the Red Sea? How many snakes caused death to the cho-sen people in the desert until Moses was asked to raise the bronze snake for people to look at and be saved. Is this a fore-runner for all of us to look at Christ who has been raised for all of us to find answers in moments of trouble and trial, distress and doubt? Why did Jesus the Innocent man had to go through such horrendous suf-fering, death on a cross and fulfill the Will of a Father who is loving, merciful, compassionate and kind? Only God knows. Through all these historical happenings and the evolution of a Mysterious Salvation History, has God thrown some light to understand the horrible carnage of Katuwapitiya and Kochchikade not forgetting Batti-caloa. Your ways are not my ways. God who created the world with a purpose has His Own plan and its for you and for me to understand and interpret, and see the hand of God in all these events. Have faith and trust in the Lord. In the Book of Isaiah, we are told, “Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you.” (Isaiah 49)

Interpret in Faith. When the Ethiopian Eunach found it difficult to understand and interpret the Scriptures, the Spirit sent Philip to help the Ethiopian. When the disciples found it difficult to understand what Jesus was trying to com-municate, He took extra effort to explain to them for ex-ample the Parable of the Sower. When the two disciples were on their way to Emmaus and did not understand the Death of their Leader Jesus Christ on a cross, Jesus Himself comes and explains to them how Jesus had to die according to the Scriptures. Having enlightened by Christ they go back with deeper faith and conviction to enlighten other disciples. I am happy that our Chief Pastor Malcolm Car-dinal Ranjith through his preaching and writings ex-plained to us how to face the Easter Experience and interpret in the light of the Scriptures. Bishops’ Con-

ference too made meaningful contribution motivating the faithful to act with mercy and compassion and thus bearing witness to a God of mercy, love and compassion. The priests and lay leaders acted with patience and empathy, courage and sacrifice to bring about healing and consolation, joy and peace of mind. Our vocation as Christians is to be interpreters of the Word and live ac-cordingly while helping others too to do the same. Death in the face of Faith The bombings killed 258 people. Death is not an end but a beginning of a new life. That English Poet John Dunn would say, following the trend of thought of St.Paul, “Death! do not think that you have overcome a person by putting him to death because in death itself there is life and in death itself you are defeated.” So dear brothers and sisters we have a few of our brothers and sisters physically gone but in God they live and are very close to you and me. They believed in the Word of God and was nurtured and nourished by the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus says “He who eats my body and drinks my blood will never taste death.” Again Jesus says “He who hears my word and keeps it will live and have eternal life.” So look at Christ who hangs on a cross so that you may find solutions to your problems and doubts. He is raised for you and for me. Look at Him and in and through His eyes try to see the reality. Then you become true witnesses and interpreters of the Good News of the Lord. The injured are about 500 and those affected are hundreds. The majority of the dead are Sri Lankans, with at least 46 foreigners among those killed. Our prayers and sympathies are with you, our brothers and sisters. As I was writing this article a lady came to see me and was saying even during the LTTE period we did not have this kind of experience and she says that many people are perturbed by this attack and their faith is shaken. Many would opinioned to this. However in the

“Sri Lanka is a beautiful country blessed with a beautiful nation. I know it by ex-perience as we have Sri Lankans quite a lot here in Rome. We cannot tolerate at any cost what they suffered on Easter Sunday. We just want to say that we are

with them” said Most Rev. Gino Reali, the Bishop of Porta Santa Rufina diocese at Via Cassia, La Storta Cathedral at a spe-cial commemoration mass said for the Easter victims in Sri Lanka. His Lordship further mentioned that terrorism at any cost cannot be tolerated and that the solidarity of the Church is such that we do not just feel for one another but do remain in perfect communion in sharing the burdens always. He mentioned that the blood bath of these innocent “mar-tyrs” will truly intercede for the healing of the mourning families and for the na-tion continuously before the heavenly Father. Very Rev. Msgr. Neville Joe Perera, the national coordinator for Sri

Lankan migrants in Italy who concel-ebrated at the mass made a special vote of thanks to His lordship and the pres-byterium of the diocese for making this special arrangement to commemorate the Sri Lankan Easter Sunday victims. He further noted that Sri Lankan migrant community in Italy mainly comprised of Catholics amount to 150000 and more than 2500 persons work in la Storta. He also reminded of His Lordship Gino’s special love for Sri Lanka as he has vis-ited the island twice and especially the friendship with Malcolm Cardinal Ran-jith, the Archbishop of Colombo. He also made a special note of the political situ-ation in the aftermath of the tragedy and doubts among the masses on national

security. Dr. Daya Palpola, the Sri Lankan ambassador to Italy who attended the mass was warmly received by His lord-ship. A large community of Sri Lankan migrants settled in Rome (La Storta) as well as priests of the diocese and many Italian la faithful who are in perfect soli-darity with Sri Lankan community in Rome were also present. Looking at this event from faith point of view it was a wonderful opportunity for Catholics liv-ing in Italy to make a powerful prayer of intercession for the affected Church in Sri Lanka. Contd. on Pg. 15

The Bells of the Cathedral of Porta Santa Ruffina rings for Sri Lanka…By: Rev. Fr. Anton Dinesh

Vice Chaplain- Infernetto Community


Dear Friends, Peace of Christ.

This is a painful talk Painful because we have gathered here after the death of innocent people, killed inside the church in Sri Lanka. Our prayers and fellowship are with the Christians families. This talk is painful because we belong to a faith tradition, that preaches NOT vengeance but forgiveness and reconciliation. We never condoning the heinous crime against human-ity, are called to emulate Christ who on the Cross amidst his gro-tesque suffering could call out “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do”.

It is painful It is painful to know that Easter became Good Friday for our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka on that fateful day. We sit at the graves of Holy Saturday and waiting for the streaks of hope of resurrection amidst the silence of the graves. Until that happens the pain persists in the dawn, in the noon and through the pestering pain of the survivors, the rela-tives wading through this heart wrenching tragedy. Words fail in these paralyzing moments of darkness. A catastrophic tragedy reminding us of the cry of Ra-chel: A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Ra-chel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

Increasingly persecuted community - Christians As international groups have pointed out, Christians have become the most persecuted re-ligious group in the world. In the Middle East, in China, in India, in Sri Lanka, in Egypt, in Libya and other places Christians have become the scapegoats. In many Middle Eastern Countries the once flourishing Christian com-munities have disappeared. Too many innocents lost their lives and their blood cries out.

The Challenging Task to the Shepherds of Asia We need to be people of Hope, especially those of us who are Shepherds. We cannot allow ourselves to be gripped by fear and paralysis. These are the moments the Shepherds need to walk through the way of the Cross – never losing the hope of a better tomorrow – not only

for our people but those who fell victim to evil. As Shepherds, we are called upon to be hope generat-ing agents. Remember the Psalm 23. This is a Shepherd’s song. It is dark everywhere. With faith and hope let us sing with the psalmist: “Even if we walk through the Val-ley of Death, You will guide us”.

Road Ahead – Preaching Peace, promoting Reconciliation The first task is to preach peace – not vengeance. I come from a country where religious extremism saw violence and tears of the thousands. When Pope Francis visited Myanmar, he left a mandate “Do not repay hatred with hatred. Be an instru-ment of peace”. Let us remember violence begets more violence. Killing begets more killing. And eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is an outdated mandate. Remem-ber Gandhi who said “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Christ road-map is differ-ent “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” These words may look unkind and painful at the present situa-tion. But that is the way of Cross. Violence is for the weak. Non-Violence and forgiveness is possible only for those who are strong morally and spiritu-ally. This sensibility needs to be nurtured among our people. The Church, in the words of Francis of Assisi, needs to become an in-strument of peace praying “where there is hatred, let me sow love.” At this juncture, Chris-tians face four threats to their life and dignity:

1. Nationalism: This phenomenon, often cited as a backlash to unfettered globalization is a fast spreading danger. Nationalism is defined as "loyalty and devotion to a nation, especially a sense of national consciousness "exalting one na-tion above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as op-posed to those of other nations or supranational groups." The danger in many countries of Asia is a warped sense of victimhood of the majority community: “the minority complex of the major-ity community”. Both in Myan-mar and Sri Lanka and in India, groups that celebrate their vic-timhood are becoming main-streams. The minorities become the scapegoats. Rene Girard the philosopher has treated the vio-lence against the minorities as the process of “scapegoating.”

Historically, nationalism has been used to define and explain everything from radical political and militaristic movements like Nazism to strong protectionist policies controlling modern for-eign policy and economy. Nation-alism, in its extreme forms, has led to genocide, the Holocaust, and more specifically, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in 1990s and elsewhere. Many of us come from countries where the toxic lava of nationalism and hatred is in full flow. In India, self-professed "Hindu nationalist" Narendra Modi has been elected with a robust verdict. Violence against Christians and church person-nel is becoming a norm. Even in Europe and US nationalistic politicians are on the rise. Over concerns for economic wellbe-ing, Britain announced its exit from the European Union in 2016, dubbed "Brexit." Even in the most wealthy country like US white nationalism is threatening Jews and African Americans.

2. Terrorism: What is Terrorism? In the last five years, Christians have shed blood in Asia and the Middle East by sui-cide bombing. Terrorism has been described variously as a tactic and strategy, a crime and a holy duty, as well as a justified reaction to oppression and an in-excusable abomination. But the killing of Christians is connected to the global conflicts in the near east, an increasing identification of Christians with the western political and economic interests. Attacking Christians also brings immense publicity for terrorists. The world has not taken seriously the silent genocide of Christians.

3. Religious Extremism Some years ago, Profes-sor Samuel Huntington wrote a provocative book: The Clash of Civilizations implying that the western Christian civiliza-tion will be at loggerheads with Islamic civilization impacting peace and development in the world. He proposed a hypoth-esis that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. The events of the last two decades seem to prove his prediction. Violence in the name of religion is growing. Terrorist acts done in the name of religion, typically aim to enforce a system of belief, view-point or opinion. The validity and scope of religious terrorism is limited to an individual’s view or a group’s view or interpreta-

tion of that belief system’s teach-ings. There are some researchers however, who argue that religion should be considered only one in-cidental factor and that such ter-rorism is primarily geopolitical. What has happened in Middle East and Afghanistan in the last four decades is growing into international threat to small communities. With the spread of social media, terrorists have found safe spaces to spread their mission of hatred. In recent years religious riots in India, the slaughter of innocent Muslims at prayer by a white Nationalist in New Zealand, Muslim suicide bombers killing Christians in Sri Lanka have all made religion seem valueless and brought disgrace upon organized religion’s reputation. What is missing is the vigorous condemnation of the fringe groups by the silent ma-jority. God tells us that such ac-tivity must not be covered up or sanitized by believers. It must be vigorously and publicly con-demned since it undermines the very ability of religion to influ-ence people to live according to God’s directives. Now, people presume that religious people can do dastardly things.

A threatening example is ISIL (ISIS) This group claimed re-sponsibility for the Sri Lankan Easter attack. Thought to be wiped out in Middle East, the Sri Lankan attack demonstrated its growing influence in Asia and Africa. ISIS aimed to create an Islamic state called a caliphate across Iraq, Syria and beyond. The group was implementing Sharia Law, rooted in eighth-cen-tury Islam, to establish a society that mirrors the region's ancient past. ISIS is known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and other acts. ISIS uses modern tools like social media to promote reactionary politics and religious fundamen-talism.

Terrorism is not a poor man’s game The jihadi bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday are the latest reminder that terror-ism is not driven by deprivation or ignorance. As with the 2016 cafe attack on foreigners in Dha-

ka, Bangladesh, the slaughter of churchgoers and hotel guests in Sri Lanka was carried out by educated Islamists from wealthy families. Two of the eight Sri Lankan suicide bombers were sons of one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen. Several of the attackers had the means to study abroad. Terrorists are neither poor nor do they represent the interests of the poor. The inter-ests of the West and its handling of the Middle East crisis continue to be the root cause of spread of disaffection and dastardly acts.

The past role of the West in supporting dark forces Most of those who in-dulge in violence in the name of Islam are those inspired by an ultra conservative movement: Wahhabism. According to many authors, aided by the oil price boom, Saudi actively promoted these ultra conservative Islam, to various parts of the world. But the oil price boom was not the only factor contributing to Wahhabism’s rapid spread. The so called Islamic terrorism did not start with the some Muslims. The export of this jihad-fostering ideology was also promoted by the United States and its allies to stem, for example, the threat from Soviet communism: The painful role of some rich western countries in the modern day ter-rorism is well documented. The CIA, according to the author Rob-ert F. Kennedy Jr. (the nephew of former U.S. President John F. Ken-nedy), “nurtured violent jihadism as a Cold War weapon”. Target-ing terrorists and their networks brings only temporary success—but the long-term strategy needs to focus on discrediting these ide-ologies that attract attackers.[1] We need to understand innocent Christians are sacri-ficed because of the last five de-cades of geostrategic conflicts between the Islamic countries and the West. More such vio-lence cannot be ruled out. The very name Christian has become a liability. Western Societies have the capacity to protect them-selves. But Asian countries and African countries especially the Christians will bear the brunt of violence. We appeal to all na-tions – solve your geostrategic conflicts. Live and let live Asian Christians.

Stand Together for Peace – Let Compassion be the Common Religion of the World

To FABC MEMBERS - 16th May 2019 in Bangkok Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, SDB

By Rev. Fr. William LaRousse MMAssistant general Secretary FABC

(To be continued next week)

By Very Rev. Fr. Ciswan De Croos

First Reading: Proverbs 8: 22-31 Here wisdom is personified. And it is from God and has been there from the beginning. It has been there even before earth was created. He has been besides when everything in relation to creation took place.

Second Reading: Romans 5; 1- 5 Taking as an example Christ; St. Paul is ready to undergo suffering for the glory of God. For he says, “we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is poured to us through the Holy Spirit.

Gospel: John 16: 12-15 Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide us to all truth which was revealed by the Lord. He will glorify God and Jesus Christ.

Reflection Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, three persons, but one God. It has never been easy to grasp completely or to explain fully of God or of the Holy Trinity. Hence we call it a mystery. This is no matter to be alarmed. For if we humans could understand God fully, then God would no more be God or we become equal to Him or even more powerful than Him. We can understand only certain qualities of God. Even those facts and qualities which we are aware of are what have been revealed to us by God direct or through Jesus Christ His Son. The Trinitarian aspect of God is revealed very early in the Gospel and it occurred quite often in the New Testament, but is not in the Old Testament. This may be because in the polytheistic background the Trinitarian aspect of God

could be misunderstood as another form of polytheism. God therefore did not bring in the Trinitarian aspect of Him to the fore at that time. This does not mean that the Trinitarian aspect was not there from the beginning. In the creation story God is mentioned as the Creator, God head. The Spirit is also mentioned when it says, “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” The Son too is mentioned when God speaks; “Let there be…etc. It is word and it is the Word that was made flesh in the person of Jesus. Occasionally it was revealed from the heavens. There were times when the Israelites asked for the guidance of the Spirit, either to choose or to anoint a leader, king or a prophet. The Son is promised as the Saviour yet to come in the future. Therefore it is wrong to say that the Trinitarian aspect of God is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. May be it was not clear, but was mentioned in the way that could be acceptable to the people of that time. It may be even that with Christ, things were revealed clearer and in concrete form. On this Feast Day what we ought to do is not to break our heads trying to understand or grasp fully the Trinitarian aspect of God which is a mystery even for the greatest scholar, but find such qualities that are there in the Holy Trinity and try to adopt them into our lives and thereby by become more and more Christian in nature and Christ like in our day to day living. We can get at these facts through Jesus Christ, for He reveals things better and clearer. We also could get at these facts through the Word of God, the Bible. We could even pray that God would reveal them to us direct. For example we could adopt the Trinitarian unity into our lives. Three equal forces united together, which we cannot see in our present day to day

lives or society. It is love that binds them together, so that no evil force can separate. The fact that though they are powerful still makes them able to love the powerless and make them powerful. The sacrifice which they do so has to come down into the world in order to raise the fallen and the down trodden, into the grace of God and also the sharing of the same blessings with the unblessed…etc. But one very important fact that we ought to remember is that the idea of the Holy Trinity is not a creation by a Council or the Church, but is there throughout the Bible and it is mentioned at least in today’s Second Reading and in the Gospel which are taken from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans and from the Gospel of Matthew respectively.

Aid Story 1 The explorer had returned to his people who were eager to know all about the Amazon. But how could he ever put into words the feeling that flooded his heart when he saw flowers of breath taking beauty and heard the sound of the forest at night? How to communicate what he felt in his heart as he sensed the danger of wild beasts or peddled his canoe over the treacherous part of the river? He said “go and find out for yourselves. There is no substitute for personal risk and personal experience.” To guide them however, he drew a map of the Amazon. They seized upon the map; they framed it in their Town Hall. They made personal copies of it. And every one who had a copy considered himself an expert of the Amazon, for did he not know every turn and bend of the river, and how broad it was and how deep it was, where the rapids were and where the falls were? The explorer lived in regret at the map. It might have been better if he had not drawn anything.

It is said that the Buddha steadfastly refused to be drawn into talking about God. He was probably acquainted with the dangers of drawing maps for the potential scholars.

Aid Story 2 A priest was sitting in a Chicago Airport waiting for his plane. A man sat beside him and began to give his opinion on religion. He boasted: “I won’t accept anything I can’t understand. Take this business of three Gods in one God or whatever it is. I can’t buy that. Nobody can explain it to me, so I will not believe it." Pointing to the sun streaming in the window, the priest asked; “Do you believe in the sun?” “Why of course,” the doubter admitted “All right.” The priest continued, “the rays you see coming through that window are from the sun, 90,000,000 miles from here. The heat we feel comes from both the sun and from its rays. The Holy Trinity is something like that. The sun is like God the Father; the sun sends out its rays, God the Son, proceeds and comes the Holy Spirit, the heat. Can you explain how that happens?” The doubter quickly changed the subject.

Saying: In SOUND you can SHOW that GOD is ALIVE.In SILENCE you can FEEL that GOD is ALIVE.

Trinity Sunday

Father, when Philip said to Jesus, 'Lord, show us the Father and it will be enough for us,' Jesus replied, 'Have I been so long with you, and still you do not know me, Philip?Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, too; so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?'Father, I confess you are the everlasting God whom no one has ever seen or can see, But I believe that in Christ your Word you have shown yourself to be our Father and poured out your Spirit on all mankind. In that timeless beginning from which sprang the world's beginning.you lived with your Spirit and your Word in love. And yet Christ's followers all dare to speak of that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have gazed upon and handled concerning the Word of life.For the life was disclosed to us and we saw it and witness to it and cry aloud to others the eternal life which was with you, Father, and was disclosed to us. We thank you, hidden God, for disclosing yourself in Christ as our provident and gentle Father, and for bringing us into the beautiful fellowship of your Holy Spirit

Father Son and Holy SpiritNASA's recent discovery shed new light on

what the Bible says, thus confirming that these biblical stories are in fact true.

In the words of Mr. Harold Hill, the Presi-dent of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, also a consultant in space programs: "One of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland". Scientists were inspecting the positions of several space objects including the Sun, the Moon and the planets and their positions in 100 and 1000 years - this is done regularly in order to prevent our satellites from colliding with the orbits of the planets. The orbits have to be de-termined on time so that the space projects do not interrupt their course. During the computer calculations, a red signal put everything at a standstill, meaning that something was wrong, either with the data or the results. After the in-tervention of the service department, the scien-tist concluded that somewhere in space a day was missing in elapsed time! Nobody could solve the issue until one Christian explained that in Sunday school they were told about the Sun standing still. Of course, no one believed, but when the man took the Bi-ble, he opened the book of Joshua and a pretty absurd statement made a lot of sense. They read the passage when God said to Joshua: "Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not be a man of them stand before thee." (Joshua 10:8). Joshua was worried because he was surrounded by the enemy, and if darkness fell, he'd be conquered. So Joshua asked the Lord to

make the sun stand still! That's right. "And the sun stood still and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their en-emies. Is this not written in the book of Ja'-sher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hastened not to go down about a whole day." (Joshua 10:13). The scientists soon concluded that this was the missing day. They examined the computer calculations and found that the time missing was in fact 23 hours and 20 minutes, which doesn't make a full day like in the Book of Joshua. After reading the Bible again, they saw that it said "about (approximately) a day". Al-though theBible was true, they were still missing 40 minutes which had to be accounted for, be-cause if not, it could create problems 1,000 years from now. The Christian then remembered some-thing in the Bible which said that the Sun went backwards. No one believed again, but then they opened the Bible and were proved wrong. Hezekiah was visited on his deathbed by Isaiah the prophet, who told him that it's not his time yet. Hezekiah asked for a sign, and Isaiah asked if the Sun would go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? Hezekiah answered: "It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten de-grees; nay, but let the shadow return backwards ten degrees." "And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz." 10 degrees equals 40 minutes! The 23 hours and 20 minutes from Joshua and the 10 degrees (40 minutes) in the two kings account-ed for the missing day!

(+ Og)

Biblical stories are true

When he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command. (Proverbs 8:29)

By Joe Stanley Fernando


Dear Friends, Peace of Christ.

This is a painful talk Painful because we have gathered here after the death of innocent people, killed inside the church in Sri Lanka. Our prayers and fellowship are with the Christians families. This talk is painful because we belong to a faith tradition, that preaches NOT vengeance but forgiveness and reconciliation. We never condoning the heinous crime against human-ity, are called to emulate Christ who on the Cross amidst his gro-tesque suffering could call out “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do”.

It is painful It is painful to know that Easter became Good Friday for our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka on that fateful day. We sit at the graves of Holy Saturday and waiting for the streaks of hope of resurrection amidst the silence of the graves. Until that happens the pain persists in the dawn, in the noon and through the pestering pain of the survivors, the rela-tives wading through this heart wrenching tragedy. Words fail in these paralyzing moments of darkness. A catastrophic tragedy reminding us of the cry of Ra-chel: A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Ra-chel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

Increasingly persecuted community - Christians As international groups have pointed out, Christians have become the most persecuted re-ligious group in the world. In the Middle East, in China, in India, in Sri Lanka, in Egypt, in Libya and other places Christians have become the scapegoats. In many Middle Eastern Countries the once flourishing Christian com-munities have disappeared. Too many innocents lost their lives and their blood cries out.

The Challenging Task to the Shepherds of Asia We need to be people of Hope, especially those of us who are Shepherds. We cannot allow ourselves to be gripped by fear and paralysis. These are the moments the Shepherds need to walk through the way of the Cross – never losing the hope of a better tomorrow – not only

for our people but those who fell victim to evil. As Shepherds, we are called upon to be hope generat-ing agents. Remember the Psalm 23. This is a Shepherd’s song. It is dark everywhere. With faith and hope let us sing with the psalmist: “Even if we walk through the Val-ley of Death, You will guide us”.

Road Ahead – Preaching Peace, promoting Reconciliation The first task is to preach peace – not vengeance. I come from a country where religious extremism saw violence and tears of the thousands. When Pope Francis visited Myanmar, he left a mandate “Do not repay hatred with hatred. Be an instru-ment of peace”. Let us remember violence begets more violence. Killing begets more killing. And eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is an outdated mandate. Remem-ber Gandhi who said “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Christ road-map is differ-ent “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” These words may look unkind and painful at the present situa-tion. But that is the way of Cross. Violence is for the weak. Non-Violence and forgiveness is possible only for those who are strong morally and spiritu-ally. This sensibility needs to be nurtured among our people. The Church, in the words of Francis of Assisi, needs to become an in-strument of peace praying “where there is hatred, let me sow love.” At this juncture, Chris-tians face four threats to their life and dignity:

1. Nationalism: This phenomenon, often cited as a backlash to unfettered globalization is a fast spreading danger. Nationalism is defined as "loyalty and devotion to a nation, especially a sense of national consciousness "exalting one na-tion above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as op-posed to those of other nations or supranational groups." The danger in many countries of Asia is a warped sense of victimhood of the majority community: “the minority complex of the major-ity community”. Both in Myan-mar and Sri Lanka and in India, groups that celebrate their vic-timhood are becoming main-streams. The minorities become the scapegoats. Rene Girard the philosopher has treated the vio-lence against the minorities as the process of “scapegoating.”

Historically, nationalism has been used to define and explain everything from radical political and militaristic movements like Nazism to strong protectionist policies controlling modern for-eign policy and economy. Nation-alism, in its extreme forms, has led to genocide, the Holocaust, and more specifically, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in 1990s and elsewhere. Many of us come from countries where the toxic lava of nationalism and hatred is in full flow. In India, self-professed "Hindu nationalist" Narendra Modi has been elected with a robust verdict. Violence against Christians and church person-nel is becoming a norm. Even in Europe and US nationalistic politicians are on the rise. Over concerns for economic wellbe-ing, Britain announced its exit from the European Union in 2016, dubbed "Brexit." Even in the most wealthy country like US white nationalism is threatening Jews and African Americans.

2. Terrorism: What is Terrorism? In the last five years, Christians have shed blood in Asia and the Middle East by sui-cide bombing. Terrorism has been described variously as a tactic and strategy, a crime and a holy duty, as well as a justified reaction to oppression and an in-excusable abomination. But the killing of Christians is connected to the global conflicts in the near east, an increasing identification of Christians with the western political and economic interests. Attacking Christians also brings immense publicity for terrorists. The world has not taken seriously the silent genocide of Christians.

3. Religious Extremism Some years ago, Profes-sor Samuel Huntington wrote a provocative book: The Clash of Civilizations implying that the western Christian civiliza-tion will be at loggerheads with Islamic civilization impacting peace and development in the world. He proposed a hypoth-esis that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. The events of the last two decades seem to prove his prediction. Violence in the name of religion is growing. Terrorist acts done in the name of religion, typically aim to enforce a system of belief, view-point or opinion. The validity and scope of religious terrorism is limited to an individual’s view or a group’s view or interpreta-

tion of that belief system’s teach-ings. There are some researchers however, who argue that religion should be considered only one in-cidental factor and that such ter-rorism is primarily geopolitical. What has happened in Middle East and Afghanistan in the last four decades is growing into international threat to small communities. With the spread of social media, terrorists have found safe spaces to spread their mission of hatred. In recent years religious riots in India, the slaughter of innocent Muslims at prayer by a white Nationalist in New Zealand, Muslim suicide bombers killing Christians in Sri Lanka have all made religion seem valueless and brought disgrace upon organized religion’s reputation. What is missing is the vigorous condemnation of the fringe groups by the silent ma-jority. God tells us that such ac-tivity must not be covered up or sanitized by believers. It must be vigorously and publicly con-demned since it undermines the very ability of religion to influ-ence people to live according to God’s directives. Now, people presume that religious people can do dastardly things.

A threatening example is ISIL (ISIS) This group claimed re-sponsibility for the Sri Lankan Easter attack. Thought to be wiped out in Middle East, the Sri Lankan attack demonstrated its growing influence in Asia and Africa. ISIS aimed to create an Islamic state called a caliphate across Iraq, Syria and beyond. The group was implementing Sharia Law, rooted in eighth-cen-tury Islam, to establish a society that mirrors the region's ancient past. ISIS is known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and other acts. ISIS uses modern tools like social media to promote reactionary politics and religious fundamen-talism.

Terrorism is not a poor man’s game The jihadi bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday are the latest reminder that terror-ism is not driven by deprivation or ignorance. As with the 2016 cafe attack on foreigners in Dha-

ka, Bangladesh, the slaughter of churchgoers and hotel guests in Sri Lanka was carried out by educated Islamists from wealthy families. Two of the eight Sri Lankan suicide bombers were sons of one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen. Several of the attackers had the means to study abroad. Terrorists are neither poor nor do they represent the interests of the poor. The inter-ests of the West and its handling of the Middle East crisis continue to be the root cause of spread of disaffection and dastardly acts.

The past role of the West in supporting dark forces Most of those who in-dulge in violence in the name of Islam are those inspired by an ultra conservative movement: Wahhabism. According to many authors, aided by the oil price boom, Saudi actively promoted these ultra conservative Islam, to various parts of the world. But the oil price boom was not the only factor contributing to Wahhabism’s rapid spread. The so called Islamic terrorism did not start with the some Muslims. The export of this jihad-fostering ideology was also promoted by the United States and its allies to stem, for example, the threat from Soviet communism: The painful role of some rich western countries in the modern day ter-rorism is well documented. The CIA, according to the author Rob-ert F. Kennedy Jr. (the nephew of former U.S. President John F. Ken-nedy), “nurtured violent jihadism as a Cold War weapon”. Target-ing terrorists and their networks brings only temporary success—but the long-term strategy needs to focus on discrediting these ide-ologies that attract attackers.[1] We need to understand innocent Christians are sacri-ficed because of the last five de-cades of geostrategic conflicts between the Islamic countries and the West. More such vio-lence cannot be ruled out. The very name Christian has become a liability. Western Societies have the capacity to protect them-selves. But Asian countries and African countries especially the Christians will bear the brunt of violence. We appeal to all na-tions – solve your geostrategic conflicts. Live and let live Asian Christians.

Stand Together for Peace – Let Compassion be the Common Religion of the World

To FABC MEMBERS - 16th May 2019 in Bangkok Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, SDB

By Rev. Fr. William LaRousse MMAssistant general Secretary FABC

(To be continued next week)

By Very Rev. Fr. Ciswan De Croos

First Reading: Proverbs 8: 22-31 Here wisdom is personified. And it is from God and has been there from the beginning. It has been there even before earth was created. He has been besides when everything in relation to creation took place.

Second Reading: Romans 5; 1- 5 Taking as an example Christ; St. Paul is ready to undergo suffering for the glory of God. For he says, “we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is poured to us through the Holy Spirit.

Gospel: John 16: 12-15 Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide us to all truth which was revealed by the Lord. He will glorify God and Jesus Christ.

Reflection Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, three persons, but one God. It has never been easy to grasp completely or to explain fully of God or of the Holy Trinity. Hence we call it a mystery. This is no matter to be alarmed. For if we humans could understand God fully, then God would no more be God or we become equal to Him or even more powerful than Him. We can understand only certain qualities of God. Even those facts and qualities which we are aware of are what have been revealed to us by God direct or through Jesus Christ His Son. The Trinitarian aspect of God is revealed very early in the Gospel and it occurred quite often in the New Testament, but is not in the Old Testament. This may be because in the polytheistic background the Trinitarian aspect of God

could be misunderstood as another form of polytheism. God therefore did not bring in the Trinitarian aspect of Him to the fore at that time. This does not mean that the Trinitarian aspect was not there from the beginning. In the creation story God is mentioned as the Creator, God head. The Spirit is also mentioned when it says, “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” The Son too is mentioned when God speaks; “Let there be…etc. It is word and it is the Word that was made flesh in the person of Jesus. Occasionally it was revealed from the heavens. There were times when the Israelites asked for the guidance of the Spirit, either to choose or to anoint a leader, king or a prophet. The Son is promised as the Saviour yet to come in the future. Therefore it is wrong to say that the Trinitarian aspect of God is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. May be it was not clear, but was mentioned in the way that could be acceptable to the people of that time. It may be even that with Christ, things were revealed clearer and in concrete form. On this Feast Day what we ought to do is not to break our heads trying to understand or grasp fully the Trinitarian aspect of God which is a mystery even for the greatest scholar, but find such qualities that are there in the Holy Trinity and try to adopt them into our lives and thereby by become more and more Christian in nature and Christ like in our day to day living. We can get at these facts through Jesus Christ, for He reveals things better and clearer. We also could get at these facts through the Word of God, the Bible. We could even pray that God would reveal them to us direct. For example we could adopt the Trinitarian unity into our lives. Three equal forces united together, which we cannot see in our present day to day

lives or society. It is love that binds them together, so that no evil force can separate. The fact that though they are powerful still makes them able to love the powerless and make them powerful. The sacrifice which they do so has to come down into the world in order to raise the fallen and the down trodden, into the grace of God and also the sharing of the same blessings with the unblessed…etc. But one very important fact that we ought to remember is that the idea of the Holy Trinity is not a creation by a Council or the Church, but is there throughout the Bible and it is mentioned at least in today’s Second Reading and in the Gospel which are taken from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans and from the Gospel of Matthew respectively.

Aid Story 1 The explorer had returned to his people who were eager to know all about the Amazon. But how could he ever put into words the feeling that flooded his heart when he saw flowers of breath taking beauty and heard the sound of the forest at night? How to communicate what he felt in his heart as he sensed the danger of wild beasts or peddled his canoe over the treacherous part of the river? He said “go and find out for yourselves. There is no substitute for personal risk and personal experience.” To guide them however, he drew a map of the Amazon. They seized upon the map; they framed it in their Town Hall. They made personal copies of it. And every one who had a copy considered himself an expert of the Amazon, for did he not know every turn and bend of the river, and how broad it was and how deep it was, where the rapids were and where the falls were? The explorer lived in regret at the map. It might have been better if he had not drawn anything.

It is said that the Buddha steadfastly refused to be drawn into talking about God. He was probably acquainted with the dangers of drawing maps for the potential scholars.

Aid Story 2 A priest was sitting in a Chicago Airport waiting for his plane. A man sat beside him and began to give his opinion on religion. He boasted: “I won’t accept anything I can’t understand. Take this business of three Gods in one God or whatever it is. I can’t buy that. Nobody can explain it to me, so I will not believe it." Pointing to the sun streaming in the window, the priest asked; “Do you believe in the sun?” “Why of course,” the doubter admitted “All right.” The priest continued, “the rays you see coming through that window are from the sun, 90,000,000 miles from here. The heat we feel comes from both the sun and from its rays. The Holy Trinity is something like that. The sun is like God the Father; the sun sends out its rays, God the Son, proceeds and comes the Holy Spirit, the heat. Can you explain how that happens?” The doubter quickly changed the subject.

Saying: In SOUND you can SHOW that GOD is ALIVE.In SILENCE you can FEEL that GOD is ALIVE.

Trinity Sunday

Father, when Philip said to Jesus, 'Lord, show us the Father and it will be enough for us,' Jesus replied, 'Have I been so long with you, and still you do not know me, Philip?Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, too; so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?'Father, I confess you are the everlasting God whom no one has ever seen or can see, But I believe that in Christ your Word you have shown yourself to be our Father and poured out your Spirit on all mankind. In that timeless beginning from which sprang the world's beginning.you lived with your Spirit and your Word in love. And yet Christ's followers all dare to speak of that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have gazed upon and handled concerning the Word of life.For the life was disclosed to us and we saw it and witness to it and cry aloud to others the eternal life which was with you, Father, and was disclosed to us. We thank you, hidden God, for disclosing yourself in Christ as our provident and gentle Father, and for bringing us into the beautiful fellowship of your Holy Spirit

Father Son and Holy SpiritNASA's recent discovery shed new light on

what the Bible says, thus confirming that these biblical stories are in fact true.

In the words of Mr. Harold Hill, the Presi-dent of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, also a consultant in space programs: "One of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland". Scientists were inspecting the positions of several space objects including the Sun, the Moon and the planets and their positions in 100 and 1000 years - this is done regularly in order to prevent our satellites from colliding with the orbits of the planets. The orbits have to be de-termined on time so that the space projects do not interrupt their course. During the computer calculations, a red signal put everything at a standstill, meaning that something was wrong, either with the data or the results. After the in-tervention of the service department, the scien-tist concluded that somewhere in space a day was missing in elapsed time! Nobody could solve the issue until one Christian explained that in Sunday school they were told about the Sun standing still. Of course, no one believed, but when the man took the Bi-ble, he opened the book of Joshua and a pretty absurd statement made a lot of sense. They read the passage when God said to Joshua: "Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not be a man of them stand before thee." (Joshua 10:8). Joshua was worried because he was surrounded by the enemy, and if darkness fell, he'd be conquered. So Joshua asked the Lord to

make the sun stand still! That's right. "And the sun stood still and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their en-emies. Is this not written in the book of Ja'-sher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hastened not to go down about a whole day." (Joshua 10:13). The scientists soon concluded that this was the missing day. They examined the computer calculations and found that the time missing was in fact 23 hours and 20 minutes, which doesn't make a full day like in the Book of Joshua. After reading the Bible again, they saw that it said "about (approximately) a day". Al-though theBible was true, they were still missing 40 minutes which had to be accounted for, be-cause if not, it could create problems 1,000 years from now. The Christian then remembered some-thing in the Bible which said that the Sun went backwards. No one believed again, but then they opened the Bible and were proved wrong. Hezekiah was visited on his deathbed by Isaiah the prophet, who told him that it's not his time yet. Hezekiah asked for a sign, and Isaiah asked if the Sun would go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? Hezekiah answered: "It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten de-grees; nay, but let the shadow return backwards ten degrees." "And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz." 10 degrees equals 40 minutes! The 23 hours and 20 minutes from Joshua and the 10 degrees (40 minutes) in the two kings account-ed for the missing day!

(+ Og)

Biblical stories are true

When he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command. (Proverbs 8:29)

By Joe Stanley Fernando


Then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day,’ Playing before him all the while. (Proverbs 8:30)

Appreciation Tribute to a SisterSo was Ann Rajeswari Douglas, she bloomed into

this world in May and emitted her fragrance to all who came in contact with her.

She lived a life of prayer, was a comforter to her family and all who came into her sphere. Either words and deeds of comfort to solace the distressed found suc-cour in her. Affectionately known as Ann was an expert in making up her savoury dishes to feed the hungry. She was a strict disciplinarian. Her first place was in her family nurturing her younger brothers and sisters. She nurtured them in their studies, organising leadership and fashion trends, just as she advised her pupils and friends. She agreed on marrying the person proposed to her, and spent a decade and five years to give love, comfort and prominence to her husband Hubert Xavier Rasiah who was spoiled from his childhood. He was the apple of her eye. As an all-rounder she made all western and eastern dishes for him. She held her in-laws with es-teem and pride as precious. They too, in return loved her very much. She was the head-mistress in her parish catechism class. She sang in three choirs and was fully involved in church work. Full of love and loyalty her husband classed her as a perfect wife, till he had an acute heart attack, which took him to lie in the arms of Jesus, Mother Mary and Joseph. This made a big turn in her life. She suffered

silently "Where have I wronged in caring for him? O my God let him reach the best place in your midst." Was her prayer and yearning. She carried the Rosary in her fingers. With every moment of tranquility she recited the Rosary. As a staff member of St. Bridget's Convent she worked extremely hard for the welfare of the children and the school. She and her husband worked for the destitute children. Poorest of the poor children at De La Salle, Co-lombo 15. All those who knew her, parents and pupils gathered around her in respect as a friend in need. She had Holy Masses said for all those who had gone before her to God, for their sainthood. She included the abandoned souls too. As years passed while pining for her husband she embraced her nieces and nephews, pupils and loved ones children as Children of God, bestowing on them gifts as presents and prayers and spiritual guidance. Then came a hard blow which she did not diag-nose. The ugly head of diabetes which led to failure of a leg. Her legs were used for the good cause of others for the glory of God. She lived with her sisters but her in-laws were really concerned. Suffering alone was not an easy task but she kept silent. She had to give up her teaching at Aloysius Seminary.

The children, parent and adults who came to her for English instruction turned out to be her pals. She would smile and converse making all around her happy. Ann for the first time asked to be admitted to St. Peter's Hospital. W h a t e v e r she did, she did for the glory of God. She was a light for the doctors, nurses and even the minor em-ployees. She loved them all and they too were fond of her, the pleasant patient. On the 9th of December at midnight that is 10th she offered herself to God in silence saying the Rosary. May her soul rest in peace. May the turf on which she lies continue to bloom to emit the fragrance and God grant her solace in heaven. Written by the Late Therese Douglas prior to her death and sent by the her Sisters.

Fr. Dalston Forbes Fourth Memorial Oration “Building Evangelizing Communities in today’s Context. Challenges & Opportunities”

By Rev. Fr. Leopold Ratnasekera OMI(Abridged version for the Messenger)

1. We know from Vatican II that the Church by its very nature is missionary, that is, by its very essence and that to evangelize, is the vocation and therefore an obligation and commitment of every baptized per-son. Further, we are told that the Church exists to evangelize. The Church is never static, it is always dynamic, on the move, with proclamation (Keryg-ma), witnessing (Martyrion), practicing commu-nion (Koinonia) and exercising charity and mercy in service (Diakonia), especially towards the poor for whom the Kingdom of God has come.

2. The missionary Church is a continuation of the Mis-

sion of God who has sent His Son on a mission of redemption who had the spirit of the Lord upon Him to evangelize and bring freedom and healing (Luke 4: 18-19) and who in turn sends His disciples empowered by the Spirit to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to teach all nations as all the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles testify (The so-called missionary mandate).

3. In fact the birth of the Church with the apostles pro-claiming bravely attested by signs, and with hun-dreds of thousands embracing the faith was due to the outpouring of the Spirit which in one way also was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel (2:28) who declared: “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall proph-esy." It is the Spirit that is behind the great numbers

being added to the Church and the communities of believers blessed with peace. Pentecost is another clear drama of evangelization stirred by the Spirit. Evangelii Gaudium of Pope Francis has a long chap-ter on “Spirit-filled” evangelizers (cfr specially nn 259-283).

4. For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the

Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new……..not only of preach-ing the Gospel in ever wider geographic areas or to ever greater numbers of people, but also of affect-ing and as it were upsetting, through the power of the Gospel, mankind's criteria of judgment, deter-mining values, points of interest, lines of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of salvation.- Pope Paul VI Evangelii Nunziandi nn 18 and 19.

5. In the same way as Israel in the Old was chosen to a holy nation, sacred priesthood to be a sign of Divine Presence amidst the nations, (Exodus 19:1), so also, in the New Testament, the Church which is the community of the chosen witnesses, is anoint-ed as a sign raised among the nations (1 Peter 2:9). Vatican II teaches that the Church is the sacrament of salvation and the sacrament of unity of mankind. How can we forget the life-style of the early com-munity of believers as an evangelizing community as reported in Acts 2: 42-47.

6. The Theology of the Local Church and the issue of the indigenization of the Gospel, the inculturation

question has its theological base in the Incarnation of the Word in the person of Jesus of Nazareth the Word made flesh and dwelling amongst us (John 1:14). He introduces a sub-culture of kingdom val-ues as seen in the kingdom parables and Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is pro-cultural coming as He did from His Jewish religious background but also transcends cultures in the sense that His teaching cannot be limited to just one culture. Now, evange-lization has to be directed to this cultural complex.

Let us also remember that incultura-tion has two phases: one is to inculturate and adapt the faith, worship , theology etc to the culture in which the Church finds itself. At the same time, she has to evangelize the cultures themselves as Ad Gentes advocates: purify, ennoble and perfect those values. Hence, it is a question of both inculturation of the Faith and at the same time evangelization of cultures: a two-pronged missionary movement.

7. The Question of the Pluralism of Religions: While in certain part of the world traditional Christianity is losing ground due to pressure of secularization, on the other hand, the Church faces a challenge from many non-Christian religions and faiths in coun-tries where these are in the majority. What can a minority Christian community, very often brought in a colonial garb do, in proclaiming the Gospel, celebrating it an living it in such an environment? Despite the fact that we respect and honour all reli-gions, we are challenged with the perennially valid mandate to teaching all nations, thus struggling with the basic and primary missionary duty of the first evangelization. Contd. on Pg. 15

IntroductionIn the light of the missionary mandate which is per-manently valid as recalled by Pope St. John Paul II in his encyclical entitled: "The Mission of the Redeemer" (1990), the task of building evangelizing communities, molding them all into agents of mission and kingdom-building has become an unchallenged priority in view of preserving the missionary nature of the Church ev-erywhere: thus making her really the prophet and a servant of the Gospel bequeathed to us by Jesus Christ, the first-ever evangelizer sent by God. In recent times, there seems to have been a lull in the matter of evan-gelization though St. Pope Paul VI had opened to us a

Church that has to be in dialogue with the religions, the cultures and the secular world at large and taught very clearly that there are many forms and paths of evangelization other than direct preaching. Evangeliza-tion means bringing the Gospel to impact society from within so that its thought patterns, values, ways of life etc would be transformed to fall in line with the values enshrined in the Gospel while at the same time cou-rageously challenging anything that would contradict those values. The urgent need of turning our dioceses at large, Catholic institutions parish communities, the small Christian communities, our associations and oth-er apostolic groups to be missionary and become au-thentic evangelizing agents has once again surfaced in

face of increasing impact of the secular culture and its accompanying phenomena as urbanization, material-ism, hedonistic ways of living and pushing the religious and the spiritual into the margins with a development model that is soul-less and a material prosperity but-tressed only by technology and other scientific feats. We must not forget that there are increasing threats to peace and harmony which are decisive Gospel values. Ways and means have to be found by which the Church can become a light to the world and function as the leaven of society and salt of the earth.

PART – IWhat Are The Theological And Pastoral Issues Involved in Building Up Evangelizing Communities ?


Playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the sons of mens (Proverbs 8:31)

Significance of Poson to Sri LankaLet us drown our sorrows and trials caused by in-

human terrorism of evil ones, through wisdom and unity on this Poson Poya Day, celebrated by

our Buddhist brothers and sisters; remembering the words of Jesus Christ, "Happiness lies more in giving and sharing than in receiving." Well, as per the significance of Poson, the in-troduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka by Arahat Maha Mahinda (son of King Asoka of India) at Mihintale, wanted to gauge the wisdom of oneness with one an-other as a just ruler, maintaining peace and harmony of all his countrymen by King Devanampiya Tissa; before converting him and his court to Buddhism. In fact this test of wisdom was done during the third century B.C. Solving the "Mango riddle" and the "riddle of relations" convinced Arahat that the King is a wise and

a loyal ruler with human values to rule the entire popu-lation, without dividing them into related and non-re-lated groups giving priority to human dignity. Let me quote only the answers in brief of this wise ruler, to enlighten our much esteemed readers; Mango Riddle answers in brief; "Beside this particular Mango tree there and many mango trees and besides these mango trees there are other trees and besides all these trees there is this particular Mango tree." Riddle of the Relations answers in brief; "I have relations and non-related people and besides all of them there is one, that's me." Hence, we wish all our Buddhist brothers and sisters a very happy Poson Poya Day.

Well, pray-ing and worshipping united as humans though others are dif-ferent form us, can unite all Sri Lankans in times of grief and sorrow. In fact King Devanampiya Tissa, reminds us of the wise and courageous King Solomon of the old Testament, who was not misled espousing worldly values, who's "life - blood" was truth and hu-man dignity and believed that all the people around him are valuable gifts from God.

Ivor Hapuarachchi

Catholic MarriageOrigin of Marriage After God created Adam and Eve, He blessed them and said "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it." (Genesis 1:28) His blessing was a great gift for them to have children of their own. In doing so, He bestowed on them their respective responsibilities towards each other. This was the begin-ning of a nuptial relationship between a man and a woman. With the passage of time to avoid immorality, it was neces-sary that every man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband, and this union served as a legitimate and customary formality of marriage during the time of the Patriarchs and also in the Mosaic dispensation. God was particular that this union between a man and a woman should be lifelong and they should be faithful to each other. The Book of Mala-chi deals with occasions when God re-fused to accept offerings of priests who estranged their wives. In one instance He said "It in because the Lord has seen how you dealt with your first wife, the wife of your youth. You betrayed her although she was your companion with whom you made a covenant." (Malachi 2: 13-14) This stricture was intended for all those who believed in Him. The will of

God in that in marriage, the husband and wife should remain as one. The one who betrays his wife cannot encounter God. God is also concerned that a woman who marries a man should be a good wife. A Scripture in the Book of Sirach reads: A wife's grace gladdens her husband and her prudence refreshes his body. A wife who knows how to be silent is a gift from the Lord. The well-trained wife to invalu-able. A modest wife is a favour among favours: the chaste wife is priceless. Like the sun rising over the mountains of the Lord, such is the enchantment of a good wife in a well-kept house. (Sirach 26: 13-16). Marriage in Jewish Culture Marriage took place in accor-dance with the laws and customs that prevailed in Jewish society during the time of the Mosaic covenant. There was also a law that provided that if a man married a woman and then disliked her due to some notable defect he dis-covered in her, he was free to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away from his house. If this woman later mar-ried another man and he died, her first husband was precluded from taking her back as she had been defiled. (Deuteron-

omy 24:1) Besides this, the Book of Leviticus dealt with the law of morality which strictly prohibited sexual relations outside marriage. (Leviticus 18: 1-30). God said "Keep my laws and do not follow any of these abominable customs which were practised before you, so as to defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God." (Leviti-cus 18:30). gospel Teaching Jesus Christ elevated marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament which was intended to sanctify the lawful union of one man and one woman and give them the sraces necessary to live their lives to-gether. This Sacrament ensures the mu-tual consent of the contracting parties to take each other and give themselves to each other. They are bound to the faith-ful to each other and live their lives with affection for each other in prosperity and adversity. On one occasion during a dis-course Jesus had with His own people, He said "Man has now to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body; so they are no longer two but one body; let no one separate what God has joined." (Matthew

19:5-6). But He also said that a man may put away his wife only in the case of unlaw-ful union with another (Matthew 19:9). Christianity and Polygamy Christianity does not allow Po-lygamy which is permitted in some soci-eties in the world. In these societies, men are free to marry and have more than one wife at the same time. It gives the man a dominant authority and a direction of his own. If he is not in one house, he may well be in another house with another wife. Polygamy lowers the status of a woman, leaving her helpless and sub-ordinate in such an exposure. In these societies, the laws are so framed that women are deprived of their rights and privileges which woman in other societ-ies enjoy without discrimination.

E. M. Aldons

False News and Social Media: Shall We throw the Baby with Water?One of the major

trends in the world all of us have wit-

nessed is the ubiquity of social media a term known to us as the “new media”. Once we were hailing this new trend a further boost to strength-en the democratization of the information and com-munication technologies. So called the “New Media” come to our screens by way of mimes, video, text, and audio formats. We in-vited wholeheartedly and opened our windows to the new media, because unlike the familiar tra-ditional media such as newspapers and televi-sion, new media facili-tated two way interaction with a large number of people at the same time; people were connected with each other directly, without a gatekeeper who

can control the contents, and in addition relatively popular web sites were almost free without any fees and anyone could join them. However, we are aware that negatively new media has upset the face of governance and democracy. As explicated by Amanita Deb, Stacy Donohue, and Tom Glai-syer (2017) cherished principles underlying de-mocracy, such as trust, in-formed dialogue, a shared sense of reality, mutual consent and participa-tion are put to challenge and put to test by certain features and attributes of social media. With the recent unfortunate events, im-posing of curfews, and temporarily closing social media, the spread of false information has become a popular topic and concern

among ordinary folk as well as the academic com-munity. Even if govern-ment takes steps to close the social media, there are ways and means still to go into the closed social net-works using appropriate web application and other search engines. Banning or not banning social media is a contested question, and as citizens depending on media to play a vital role promoting democracy, we need to discuss the nature of the fake news and how to minimize the damage it can do. Due to recent shifts in the media eco-system with the dawning of Web 2 or technologies, and the popularity of the Internet most of us are vulnerable and exposed to fake news coming from many sources. According

to the current research on the topic, one could define fake news “As misinforma-tion that has the trappings of traditional news media, without going through a presumed editorial pro-cess known as “Gatekeep-ing”. We have witnessed how social media acts as fuel, and an at -scale con-tent platform and distri-bution channel, for both viral “is” mis-information and “dis” information. These two types content sometimes mistakenly conflated into the term “fake news” and made use by both state and private sectors, in many cases using bots. Both types of fake news are an immi-nent threat to the public square with multiple and competing realities and compounding the lack of

agreement about what constitutes truth, facts, and evidence? Even in Sri Lanka, we are witnessing how so-called “populist “ leaders deliberately make use of these platforms with the help of trolls, “hackers for hire” and bots, on open networks using “Twitter” and “Youtube”. In order to communicate directly with their electorate, they subvert established pro-tocol, shut down dissent, marginalize minority voices known as “spiral of silence” project soft pow-er across borders normal-izing hateful speeches and views appealing to extremism. Most of the time content of the fake news sites are sensation-alized in intentional ways to drive up the volume

clicks and shares. How-ever, we need to identify and make a distinction between what we call the “Fake News” and deliber-ate, and purposeful ideo-logically slanted news, disinformation, misin-formation, religious and political propaganda in-cluding sugar-coated hate speech. Discernment and distinguishing what are what is the truth and false are important because re-search is done in most of the countries, especially by PEW Research Center, due to the constraints of time, many of us are culti-vating or getting addicted to getting news from the social media particularly from Twitter, Facebook, and YOUTube. Spreading

Contd. on Pg. 15

By Theodore Fernando, Warnakulasuriya

By: Prof. Theodore Fernando Warnakulasuriya


“So now, O Children, listen to me. (Proverbs 8:32)

Does honesty pay off?“Is telling the truth always rewarding Little Bird?”“What is your opinion?”“Well I’m between the devil and the deep blue sea.”“Why?”“Because sometimes I feel that the present world thrives on lies and not truth… I have seen how some-times lying can solve problems… So, I don’t know which to choose.”“I think a lie doesn’t have a long life. Sooner or later the truth has to surface.”“But there are occasions where people got into trou-ble by trying to be honest.”“I agree. In practical life there may be situations where people get into hot water by trying to be genuine…But in most cases, speaking the truth in all situations have brought about positive results ..”“Why do people lie Little Bird? Is it a quality that comes from birth?”“I doubt!…Children can’t play mind games...It is the adults that teach them to lie…I’ve heard a story.… A boring man used to come to see a busy man. And one day when that boring man came, the busy man told his six-year- old son to tell him he was not at home…The child went and told him, ‘Father said he is not at home…’ Later the fa-ther scolded the child saying that he was an idiot…See!...we preach truthfulness, but teach them to lie, and innocent truthfulness is punished. How bad!...In fact we have to reward truthfulness…Then only children learn to avoid lying and be hon-est in all matters…A boy broke the glass window of the classroom, and when the teacher asked who had done it, all stu-dents were silent and scared. But the boy who did it, through his shivering lips said,“ I did it.” The teacher, instead of punishing for the offence, rewarded the child with a book, and praised him for being hon-est…”“Can we be truthful all the time?”“It is when individuals use lies to mislead and ma-nipulate others that it becomes a curse.Some people lie with a good intention. They call it ‘white lies’ or constructive lies …Such lies can be fairly innocent, or even kind. For example, without delivering a shocking bad news at once you can al-leviate the shock by ‘modifying’ the message.You can comfort someone (without any personal benefit).But the problem is how to identify an innocent lie and a deliberate whopper!Liars, cheaters, manipulators, pretenders and de-ceivers are everywhere. They use lovely words.. Most commercials do this. Politicians and media do it.You get trapped and cry later for foolishly trusting a liar.The bottom line is…speaking only the truth makes life beautiful and meaningful.Truthfulness strengthens relationships, romantic and married life and even careers. No one wants to start a relationship with an imposter.When dealing with lies, you are scared and uncom-fortable. You feel butterflies inside the stomach. But when you are being honest, you feel free…People will trust and love you.Jesus said, ‘The truth shall make you free.”So, be truthful and enjoy that freedom…!”

Michael Angelo Fernando

By Rev. Fr. Athanasius Samarasinghe

Coincidences that are a sign of Answered, Prayers(Louis Pasteur the great scientist) (1822-1895)

I have a great hobby in reading biographies of great people. One who touched me most is the scientist who established the germ theory in animal and hu-

man diseases and introduced the process we call "pas-teurization" - Louis Pasteur. He was a splendid man who had great empathy for others. He hated war and injus-tice and was inspired by compassionate people like St. Vincent de Paul who believed that service to humanity is a service to God. Pasteur's own creed was beautifully expressed "I see everywhere the inevitable expression of the Infinite in the world; through it the supernatural is at the bottom of every heart". His religious minded life style is very well dem-onstrated in an incident recorded here below. This inci-dent took place when train journeys were just becoming popular in France. One day, a rich young man was trav-elling in the train; there was an elderly person sitting

in front of him and in-tently read-ing a book. The young man started talking to the elder and en-quired gently what book he was read-ing so much absorbed in

it. "It is from the book of mark in the Bible" said the elder; and then explained how Lord Jesus blessed five loaves and two fish and five thousand were fed. The young man asked "Do you believe such fables". "With all my heart and mind I believe this" replied the elder. The young man with disdain said "minds of people like you are brain-washed and that is why you believe such stories. I am a scientist and do not believe in such foolish faiths." He went on talking and boasting himself as a scientist, everything to be believed must be liable and verified. The elder didn't say anything. In a short while the young man had to alight at the earli-est station; So getting up from his seat he thanked the older companion for the time of conversation they had and said "sorry I didn't get you name." The elder gave his visiting card. The young man seeing the name 'Louis Pasteur' the well known scientist on the card hung his head and left without any further remark. When people achieve greatness, they should become more humble. That is what we see in the life of Louis Pasteur. Because of his deep faith in God, a major hap-pening in his life which could be called a coincidence, was more likely an answer to his prayers, It occurred during the 1870-72 Franco Prussian war, a disaster op-posed by Pasteur who called war the "Massacre of two nations." He was forty-eight at the time and the war went badly for the French. He and his wife Mari

e were terribly concerned for their son, who had enlisted in the French army and was fighting under General Bourbaki. When the news came that Bourbaki had been disastrously defeated and that his men were scattered in retreat, trying to save them-selves from being slaughtered by the Germans the Pas-teurs' did a remarkable thing out of love for their son. They found a half broken down old cart the only vehicle available, and the two of them accompanied by their daughter, set out to try to find their son. It must have seemed like a hopeless task. The roads were full of soldiers from the various regi-ments in tattered clothing, begging for bread. When the Pasteurs' tried to get information about General Bour-baki's regiment, they were told that out of the twelve hundred men he had, there were maybe three hundred still alive. This devoted family was doing a lot of pray-ing as they searched among the devastated soldiers for their loved one. For, amazingly they found their son. As their Cart limped into a place called Pon-tarlier, they saw yet another soldier stumbling by them on the road. Mme Pasteur shouted out her son's name, asking the soldier if he had seen him. The biographer relates that the ragged soldier responded "Sergeant Pasteur? Yes he is alive; I slept by him last night at Cheffois. He has remained behind, he is ill." The Pasteurs, started again on the road, I am sure with much anxious prayer. They were barely out of Pontarlier, when a rough cart came rumbling over the frozen road. In it, lying on a pile of straw, covered with a ragged coat was a soldier. It was their son. The family was so filled with gratitude and emotion, they couldn't say a word, but only embraced. With the love of the family the son recovered from his wounds, rejoined his regiment and survived the war. It could be argued that the Pasteurs found their son by chance. But I have read this segment of Pasteur's biography many times and always am convinced that the Pasteur's quest had a happy ending because God worked down on them, saw this as a love story in ac-tion, and was pleased. When this great scientist Pasteur died on Sep-tember 28 1895 one of his hand rested in his wife's hand the other held a crucifix. Pasteur was a man of faith and a man of prayer.

Let us meditate on Psalm 119.93-96"I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast given me life I am thine save me.For I have sought thy preceptsThe wicked lie in wait to destroy mebut I consider thy testimoniesI have seen a limit to all perfectionbut thy commandment is exceedingly broad.

A True Follower of ChristIf a person who is hungry and poor,Comes to your house and knocks at your doorA true follower of Christ, will feed him with what he has even a piece of bread,If he has better provisions the beggar will be well fed.A true follower of Christ will share other's mutual woes,And sympathise for burdens that on earth on each other flows.Many eyes are filled with tears of loneliness, sadness and fear,A true follower of Christ will help them never more to shed a tear.A true follower of Christ, his eyes are always open to God's view,And always be faithful and sincere in all they do.A true follower of Christ will never shirk God's command,Because he very well knows that God will bless him with God's gracious hand.

J. A. Dulcie Perera


Word Hunt

Girls, come and help us! Boys, come and help us!

“Today fleeting relationships are preferred to the stability of a definitive life project. But a house built on the sand of frail and fickle relationships cannot stand. What is needed instead is a rock on which to build solid foundations.”

- Pope FrancisHey there Young Evangelizers, Once we accept a friend request on Facebook, it gives us the options to either ‘Take a Break’ or ‘Unfriend’ the friend whose request we once accepted. In today’s digital era, we seem to have incorporated the options provided in technology to our lives in the real world as well. We are following a culture of connecting and disconnecting relationships. The root cause for such attitude towards each other is because we tend to treat each other as a commodity and not as a person. A commodity at our disposal, at our beck and call, for us to use and discard. If we do not gain any benefit from such commodity we can easily break our ties with it. Turning a blind eye towards the other person and failing to identify that they too are made of flesh, blood and emotions is a sin we are frequenting today. The fruits of this sin are abortions, physical abuses, character assassinations, murders, etc; As the Pope says, our relationships with each other ought to be built on a rocky foundation, which is solid. It should be able to withstand any storm. Jesus Christ did not give us the options to unfriend or take a break from those around us. Instead our calling is to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5, 43 – 47). Let us learn to value each person around us and respect each other. MJ & AJ.

SaintS of tHe Week

ss. Thomas More and John fisher, Martyrs (22nd June) • Death – 1535• Canonization – Pius XI, 1935• Patron Saints – Statesmen and PoliticiansInteresting facts:• They are two Eng-lish Saints• St. Thomas More (1478-1535) was a hu-manist and an intellectual. He worked as a lawyer and explored theology through his written works, many of which were defenses of the Catholic faith against heresy• He studied at Oxford and briefly con-sidered religious life, but he eventually followed a vocation to marriage and fatherhood• St. Thomas was appointed by King Henry VIII to be Lord Chancellor of England in 1529• The “Lord Chan-cellor” was the highest ranking member of the King’s Cabinet. Historical-ly, the role entailed great judicial responsibility• St. Thomas More stood firmly in his Catholic faith when Henry VIII be-gan to pull away from the

Church. The King wanted a declaration of nullity for his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, but the Church, upon examination, could not find his marriage to Catherine invalid• St. Thomas re-fused in 1530 to sign a letter asking the Pope to declare the marriage null, and would not sign an oath acknowledging the mon-arch as the supreme head of the Church in England• In May 1532 Hen-ry pressured the English synod, the Convocation of Canterbury, to submit the clergy's authority to his own. The day after the con-vocation agreed to Henry's

terms, St. Thomas resigned as Lord Chancellor• St. Thomas was sentenced to execution, which took place in July 6, 1535• St. John Fisher (1469-1535) was or-dained a priest when he was about 22, and was ap-pointed Bishop of Roches-ter in 1504• He lived an inten-tionally simple lifestyle and was an intellectual. He studied theology at Cam-bridge, where he became chancellor• Among his writ-ings is a commentary on the seven penitential psalms

• St. John Fisher studied Henry's request for a declaration of nullity, but could not find grounds for such a declaration• He refused to as-sent to the Succession to the Crown Act 1533, which recognized the King's su-premacy over the Church in England and declared the daughter of Catherine of Aragon illegitimate, and was imprisoned for trea-son in April 1534• St. Fisher was jailed, starved and de-prived of all sacraments, but he didn’t budge on his position• St. Fisher was made a cardinal in May 1535, in the hopes that Henry would not dare execute a prince of the Church• St. Fisher was ex-ecuted, head on the chop-ping block and all. He removed his hair shirt, and said the Te Deum and Psalm 31 right before giv-ing his life for the Kingdom of God and in the Honour of the Church, June 22, 1535Source – Catholic news Agency

Catholic LingoTrinity

The word Trin-ity is coined from the Latin words Trinitas – Three or Tri-ad and Trinus – Threefold. T h e dogma of the

Trinity as stated in the Athanasian : “the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God”. The doctrine of the Trin-ity is affirmed by the baptismal commission of Jesus Christ: “go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Mat-thew 28, 18). The mystery of the Most Holy Trin-ity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in Himself. The Incarnation of God's Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father the Son is one and the same God. The mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of the Son (John 14, 26) and by the Son "from the Father" (John 15, 26), reveals that, with them, the Spirit is one and the same God. "With the Fa-ther and the Son he is worshipped and glori-fied" (Nicene Creed). "The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and, by the eternal gift of this to the Son, from the com-munion of both the Father and the Son" (St. Augustine). By the Grace of Baptism "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", we are called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity.

Source – Catholic Encyclopedia; Catechism of the

Catholic Church

Do-It-Yourself (DIY)Bending Water with a CombThings you need:• An ordinary comb• Access to a tap with running water

Method:1. Comb your hair several times (note: your hair should be dry and rel-atively clean for max effectiveness)2. On the vertical, bring the comb toward the water (but don’t touch the water) and the electricity you just generated with the plastic comb and your hair should cause the water to bend toward the combN.B.You may need to try it a couple of times to get it to work.Lesson LearntWhen the negatively charged comb comes near the water, it repels the electrons in the water, so that the side of the water nearest the comb then has a positive charge. The attraction between this posi-tive charge and the negatively charged comb results in a net force on the water, bending the stream.

Source – Redtri.com

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I have much more to tell you, but cannot bear it now. (John 16: 12)

14 June 16, 2019the Messenger

After the celebration of the Feast of Ascension of Jesus we celebrated the

feast of The Pentecost, which is the completion of 50 days of Easter last week. The Greek word P2enta means fifty. After the death and resurrection of Jesus the disciples were uncertain and fearful about the things that happened and about the future. “When the Day of Pente-cost had come, they were all to-gether in one place. 2. And suddenly from Heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heav-en living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native lan-guage of each. 7 Amazed and aston-ished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speak-ing about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”(Acts 2:1-13) Sound of a mighty wind

What did the Spirit meant to the Apostles? The apostles were in the up-per room. Suddenly there was a sound. It was the sound of a mighty wind. The wind filled the room in which the sound was like a hurricane. Then there ap-peared tongues of fire, which rested in each one of the apostles. This Spirit, made the Apostles the delegates of Jesus’ mission. The Apostles who were in the upper room in fear received the Spirit, which enabled them to spread the Good News all over the world. They were able to preach the Gospel so that it was un-derstood by everybody in their own lan-guage. The Tower of Babel story in the Bible shows that due to the worldly am-bitions of the people and also due to the godless life they spoke in different languages and as a result were unable to build the tower. The Holy Spirit gives us the courage and Spirit to overcome the worldly attachments and get closer to God. After the death of Jesus the Apostles were living in fear. They did not have a proper direction. The wind and fire, which came upon them casted out the fear from them. Similarly, the Holy Spirit helps us to put aside unnecessary fear and bring joy and happiness. Holy Spirit gives us the power and strength to live as the Children of God. Our relation-ship to God is renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we recite the Apostles' Creed, we say that the Holy Spirit is the “giver of life”. In the real life human be-ings have to face problems due to various reasons. (Finances, sickness, unemment,

terror etc.) When we are frustrated and wearied by life’s problems, Holy Spirit gives us the strength to change our hearts and face to the real life situation. The Acts of the Apostles shows how the Apostles went to preach the Good News of Jesus and convert people to Christian-ity in different lands.

Holy Spirit gives the great gift of love and forgiveness. “Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven to them (John20:22-25) This great gift of forgiveness makes our hearts free and console us. It gives us the strength to live in peace and harmony with the others. With this act of forgiveness we are able to see others as our brothers and sisters. In the upper room in Jerusalem Mary was there with the disciples wait-ing for the descending of the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit was the Birth of the Church. At the time of the Birth of the Church Mary's presence was very significant as she was the Mother of God with full of grace. Mary’s presence when the church was born on the day of the Pentecost made her the Mother of the Church and also Our Mother as well. On the Pentecost day The Mys-tical Body of Christ was filled with Holy Spirit. The expression mystical body of Christ means that Christ is the Head of the Church and the Church is the Body of Christ. By the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles on the Pentecost day the Spirit and Grace was injected to the Spiritual Body of Christ. “The Church which He founded by His Blood, He strengthened on the Day of Pentecost by a special power, giv-en from heaven. For, having solemnly in-stalled in his exalted office, Peter, whom He had already nominated as His Vicar,

He had ascended into Heaven; and sit-ting now at the Right Hand of the Father He wished to make known and proclaim His Spouse through the visible coming of the Holy Spirit with the sound of a mighty wind and tongues of fire. [41] For just as He Himself when He began to preach was made known by His Eternal Father through the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on Him in the form of a dove, [42] so likewise, as the Apostles were about to enter upon their Ministry of Preaching, Christ our Lord sent the Holy Spirit down from Heaven, to touch them with tongues of fire and to point out, as by the finger of God, the supernatural mission and office of the Church.” (Encyclical by Pope Pius xii- Mys-tical Body of Christ) Transition of the Apostles

On the Pentecost Day Holy Spir-it came as two images. As a mighty wind and tongues of fire. The mighty wind is the Breath of God poured on the disci-ples. It is the Spirit of God, which brings us back to life. The tongues of fire is the fire, which burns the sins away and stays within us. The tongues of fire enabled the Apostles to speak in a language they did not know before. They were able to spread the Good News of Jesus. Here we can see the transition of the Apostles who were gathered in a room in fear. They got the strength and courage to proclaim the Good News without any fear. The Apostles were able to propagate faith as Christ requested from them. Therefore go and make disci-ples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”(Matthew28: 19)

What does the Pentecost means to us? In a world where there is sin, hatred, animosity, fighting and corruption the Spirit comes to our help and lead us in the cor-rect path. Like the tongues of fire the Holy Spirit will burn away our sins. If we can listen, if we can sur-

render to Holy Spirit we will be able to overcome temptation. With the grace of the Holy Spirit we can be the Body of Christ, which is a part of the Mystical Body of Christ. Jesus Christ who died for us and ascended into heaven gave us a person who transforms our lives. Hence Pente-cost Day is the beginning of a new life. It is the beginning of the Church. Pentecost completes the Pas-chal Mystery. Christ’s Death, Resurrec-tion and Ascension are completed with the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit poured on the Pentecost Day created love, patience, kindness, self control, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness and good-ness in our hearts. The Apostles filled with the Spirit were able to love and serve the Lord. This applies to each and every Christian who has a mission to spread the Good news of Jesus, to resist evil, to forgive, to love one another and to be

kind and truthful and make the world a better place. The Holy Spirit will grant us the grace that is required to enhance our spiritual life. Prayer is a two-way conversation

Do we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit? How can we listen to the Holy Spirit? Through prayer we can hear the voice of the Spirit. Prayer is a two-way conversation. Firstly we thank God, we praise the Lord and we make requests to God. Listening to God is also another aspect of the prayer. Holy Spirit communicates with us when we listen to Him in silence. The Holy Spirit can speak to us through the Scripture. It helps us to un-derstand what God wants us to do. The Holy Scripture was written with the in-spiration of the Holy Spirit. When we listen to the Gods anointed people like the Bishops and the Priests we listen to the Voice of the Spir-it as the Grace of the Spirit has already been bestowed upon them. Sometimes there are instances where the Holy Spirit prompts us to do certain things. In the Scripture Paul was prompted by the Spirit to avoid visiting Mysia but instead to go to Macedonia. Paul and his companions trav-elled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the Word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to en-ter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedo-nia, concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them." (Acts 16:6-10) Sin severs our connection with God. Hence making a confession is an-other way of listening to the Holy Spirit. Also if we can find a quiet time to pray this will help us have a relationship with God and also listen to the Holy Spirit.

Eric Perera

with the

In the upper room in Jerusalem Mary was there with the disciples waiting for the

descending of the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit was the Birth of the Church.

At the time of the Birth of the Church Mary's presence was very significant as she was the Mother of God with

full of grace. Mary’s presence when the church was born on the day of the

Pentecost made her the Mother of the Church and also Our Mother as well.

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” (John 16: 13)

15 June 16, 2019 Messenger

He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. (John 16: 13)

Contd. from Pg. 7The Bells of the Cathedral of ... The biblical reflection of the day focused on the event of Res-urrection. What we Catholics and Christians in Sri Lanka ex-perienced on Easter Sunday this year is no different from the first Christian experience following the death of the Lord. Hav-ing seen our Churches full of people turning to mass graves in seconds we see how the innocent dreams and wishes of the disciples of Jesus were shattered in seconds and how they felt defeated at His death. Just as we were brought low in the midst of the non- believing world that asks us, “Where is your God?” the confrontation at which we were speechless and hu-miliated, the first disciples who fled and hid themselves in fear were humiliated equally. Just as ‘fear’ in its highest terror keep our Church doors closed, the first Christians seized with ter-ror. The risen Lord destroy all emotions of defeat, humiliation, shame and fear of terror when he appears among His friends and tells them ‘Peace be with you’. It is the same assurance we carry forward at this darkest hour of death, that the Lord is in control and He is risen. We believe this strongly, we believe this on behalf of dozens of our people who have lost their life, their hope and their earthly company. We believe for the suf-fering Church in Sri Lanka and across the globe. We do believe for the universe at large. In this darkest hour of death, let us hold firm to the mantle of the Blessed Mother and stand at the cross of Jesus, firm in faith that whoever dies with Him is brought to life eternal with Him.

Contd. from Pg. 10Fr. Dalston Forbes Fourth ... We also have a Spirit Theology that accommodates the ac-

tion of God in all men of good-will, genuine searchers af-ter truth, leading virtuous lives, practicing love and com-passion etc.. Theology of Religions has probed therefore into the possibility of salvation outside the Church and to clarify the salvific value of religions other than Christian-ity.

8. Christian Fundamentalism with its proliferation of sects is still making strong in-roads into the traditionally Catho-lic and Christian areas and has become a worry to all the main-line Churches. It is certainly a concern for the Catholic Church that is losing many of her faithful to these sects for one reason or another. Maybe our proclamation is not a touching message, our prayer styles and rituals are monolithic (not charismatic enough), our preaching not accompanied by signs or may be that we do not care enough for our poor!

9. The New Issues that have emerged regarding missionary evangelization: issues such as human liberation (Evangelii Nunziandi nn 29-39), human rights, justice and peace, en-vironmental issues. These are considered contemporary kingdom values that should be part of our mission. Justice we are told is a constitutive part of evangelization. Hu-man rights are a basic revelation coming from the very first chapter of Genesis and made more solemn by the mystery of Incarnation. Peace is the message that comes not only with the Birth of Christ in the angelic song over Bethlehem, but it is a basic theme of the Old Testament as well. Environmental issues are rooted in the theology of creation and the Christian understanding of nature and the cosmos at the centre of which is man, the main actor. Church’s concrete concern with this issue in her modern mission has come to the fore with the apostolic exhor-tation of Pope Francis entitled :”Laudato Si”, on care for our common home. It calls for a Ecological Education and spirituality. Contd next Week Part 2

Contd. from Pg. 11The spread of False news... or dissemination of fake news is relatively easy due to the fact of fast pace information travels in today's state of art media channels including the modern “Swiss Knife” known as ver-satile mobile phones. Looking at the ubiquity of all types of information sources, especially youtube we are compelled to rely on heuristics and social cues in order to make out the credibility of information and what is true and what is fabri-cated. Political and other social and religious institutions have lost their credibility due to powerful politicization and we are forced to accept as Bible truth what these new media chan-nels tell us. Naturally, some of us are tempted to pass these so-called “News to others and it is very difficult to correct or correct when they spread to the intangible public sphere or public space. The very nature of these social media is such that they keep on changing constantly and we are helpless to stop their spread. Since social media or new media platforms have become part and parcel of our daily lives, and give us the necessary infrastructure for democratic debate is it correct to ban or temporally suppress or ban social media as authori-ties have done in Sri Lanka? No doubt they have become the modern “public square”. The immediate question arises in one’s mind is that what responsibility do the news organiza-tions and companies have or what role they should play in shaping information and news and affecting public opinion and behavior? In order to keep social media platforms going some argue just as it is unconscionable for a editor or edi-tors of traditional media outlet to not to care about or neglect what he/she publishes, promotes or endorses, the designers of social media site’s non-neutral algorithms have a respon-sibility to self control his or her code’s role in selecting which content needs to prioritize or de-prioritize, and to consider the wider implications that these models have on democratic

deliberation. Alarmed by the mushrooming of fake news, many news organizations have taken initiatives to fight fake news. The BBC, for instance, has announced a commitment to debunk fake news that is widely shared on social media. As stated by (Isaac, 2016) Fact-checking organizations have become anoth-er bulwark against fake news with PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, ABC News, the Associated Press, and Snopes all fighting it on Facebook. However, one of the dangers of fighting fake news is that by forced to correct fake news, journalists, unconsciously offer fake news websites the ability to push topic issues, and even attributes into the public agenda. It is also heartening to note that firms like Facebook and Google have announced steps to combat some of these is-sues themselves. For example, Google has founded First Draft News Coalition, and Facebook is joining the Ford Foundation. The OMIDYAR Group founded in U.S.A. advocates the other examples of self-regulation that might work:

a. Technological/engineering decisions taken by social me-dia firms to change how their algorithms work to address these issues.

b. Decisions to allocate at-scale resources to community standards, including effective grievance redressal mecha-nisms.

c. Adherence to self-generated industry standards and com-mitments to minimize the unintended consequences of social media technologies and platforms.

d. Information and partnership with the International Fact Checking Network and with Germany’s Corrective to com-bat the spread of mis-and dis-information.

Finally, social media platforms could commit to greater transparency around dark advertising, collaborating with researchers and civil society groups to provide access to data about how information is being shared and targeted when the public interest and public is in danger.

Sun: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Prov. 8: 22-31; Rom. 5: 1-5; Jn. 16: 12-15 Pope's DayMon: 2 Cor. 6: 1-10; Mt. 5: 38-42Tue: 2 Cor. 8: 1-9; Mt. 5: 43-48Wed: Memorial of St. Romuald, Abbot 2 Cor. 9: 6-11; Mt. 6: 1-6, 16-18Thu: 2 Cor. 11: 1-11; Mt. 6: 7-15 Fri: Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious 2 Cor. 11: 18, 21b-30; Mt. 6: 19-23Sat: Memorials of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop & SS. John Fisher, Bishop & Thomas More, Martyrs 2 Cor. 12: 1-10; Mt. 6: 24-34Sun: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) Gen. 14: 18-20; 1 Cor. 11: 23-26; Lk. 9: 11b-17

Liturgical Calendar Year C 16th June - 23rd June 2019

Contd. from Pg. 1It is sad: Murder, part ... planning. We also do not know whether it was a plan from within or outside of our country. But the attack though aimed at the Catholic and Christian churches, its impact was not limited to that religious sector but the impact of the attack was felt in and out of the entire country”, His Eminence added. Welcoming His Eminence as the Chief Guest of the occasion, the incumbent Monk of the Temple Ven. Matugama Gunarathana Thero said that he was very much impressed by the outspoken nature of His Eminence Cardinal Ranjith. "It is this Cardinal who had the guts, the courage, not any politician to declare without any hesitation that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. I was very much impressed by His declaration and I was keen to invite Him for this occasion". The Ven. Thero said: “My decision has nothing to do with what happened on Easter Sunday and how He gave lead-ership to bring about an atmosphere of peace and calm in every part of the country. I personally went and invited Him on April 4th, and He was very glad and willingly accepted my invitation.” His Eminence who attended the award ceremony on the invitation of the incumbent Monk of the Temple Ven. Matugama Gunarathana Thero was accompanied by Most Rev. Raymond Wickremesinghe, Bishop of Galle. Among the distinguished invitees to grace the oc-casion was Most. Ven. Uduwalagama Sri Mahinda Naayaka Thero , the Chief Monk of the Shiysamopali Chapter and the members of the Sanga Community.

Contd. from Pg. 1Sri Lanka will ... Construction Minister Sajith Premadasa along with the Rev. Fr. Jude Raj Fernando, the Administrator of the Shrine. The Indian High

Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu was also among the officials who joined Prime Minister Modi on his visit to St. Anthony's Church. Picture shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi venerating the relics of St. Anthony.

Contd. from Pg. 1Lankan culture enriched ... as the Chief Guest. “ Making the way forward Catholic Religion be part of Sri Lanka Culture via His poetical language ” was the theme of the key note address, delivered by Rev. Fr. Anthony Fernandopulle. Observing the efforts made by the scholarly priest from Goa to master the language and cultural pattern of the natives, Fr. Fernandopulle, said that we are indebted to his commitment to make Catholic Religion get deeply rooted to the Sri Lanka soil enabling its spreading far and wide within the Sri Lankan Community, giving it a new face to suit the cul-tural condition of the land. Fr. Fernandopulle said: Fr. Gonsalvez arrived in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the year 1705 and laboured hard to make Christianity akin to inhabitants of this country and his service is second to none. It was basically due to his effort in composing facts of Christian religion in the language of the in-habitants ensured that Catholic faith remain steadfastly with the natives. Addressing the distinguish gathering Fr. Fernan-dopulle pointed out Fr. Gonsalvez using his language skills he came close to his listeners. He was well versed in music, poetry and drama of his land and he was making every effort to transmit that knowledge in a language and poetry easily understood by the natives, playing a bigger role in bringing his listeners very close to him. Fr. Fernandopulle stressed the point that the religion that Fr.Gonsalvez preached was not alien to the Sri Lankan cul-ture and environment. He convinced his listeners that it was universal and adoptable to any culture and suits any people, anywhere. Certificates to the graduates were distributed by both His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and His Lord-ship Rt. Rev. Dr. J. D. Anthony Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo in the presence of a large number of priests at the Auditorium to grace the occasion.

Contd. from Pg. 5

Importance of....they are living in a normal family situation or as destitute or orphans. By being born into this planet they have a right to nutrition and growing. Later they have a right to normal healthcare and at least primary education. Especially in the war-torn and conflict-stricken countries children’s basic rights are negative. Unfortunately, we hear of mothers and fathers who are not only hurting their children but even going to the extent of ending their lives. We in Sri Lanka hear of instances of mothers poisoning or drowning their children before they commit suicide. We also read stories of fathers torturing children by burning with cigarette butts and making them sleep without food. But we also hear of religious and social organizations who are dedicated to helping orphaned and destitute children and give them a proper shelter, a nutritious meal and proper schooling. Pope Francis in his apostolic exultation says that children are gifts from God and they have to be looked after by their parents, families and relations. To this category we also should include the governments. We human beings have no other choice than to love them, nourish them and to cherish them and educate and help our children grow properly. It is our duty to safeguard these gifts that the Creator has bestowed on us for nurturing, safe-keeping, cherishing and not hurting.

Contd. from Pg. 3

Fundamental Rights...matter of grave importance, both for the sake of reparation as well, to provide some form of proper closure for the relevant family members of such victims who are yet unaccounted for, that such a list is properly and forthwith compiled and produced in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. It is further stated that unfortunately, religious harmony cannot exist in a context where there is no National Security and where the basic safety of the Citizens of the country and the National Security is not accorded the foremost place by any Government. His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, firmly states that the above mentioned averments are not merely his sentiments, but clearly appears to be the collective sentiments of the people of this nation. The case was called on the 4th and 6th June 2019 and now formally fixed before a Bench of seven Judges of the Supreme Court on the 12th July 2019 together with all the other cases filed on this matter. The Affidavit of the Archbishop was settled by Duthika Perera, Primal Ratwatte and Varuna Senadheera, Attorneys at Law and Shammil J. Perera, President’s Counsel.

happened because of the negligence and unconcerned attitude of those corrupt top level officials. Their failure to act on time, design and apply corrective measures were the outcome: the loss of innocent lives., he further said. By their obedience, to the Voice of God, the Catholic community in Sri Lanka manifested their manner of conduct and that had brought admiration of Sri Lankans and the people across the globe, as well. Through their obedience to the Voice of God, they have manifested the true values of Christianity : Love; compassion and that life is meant to live and not to destroy or bring about destruction. His Lordship also urged the Catholics to plead with God in their prayers. Through the intervention of Blessed Virgin Mary, on behalf of the families who have been traumatized by that cruelty to human life, and we humbly beg for the blessings for the lasting peace in our Motherland.

Godfrey Jayaweera

XX Messenger June 16, 2019

If I were asked to explain the Easter Sunday massa-cre in Sri Lanka, I would say that it was a thunder in the blue sky. The tragic events that caused death to

more than 300 people have left us with some baffling questions and we are today reeling from the shock. As a nation, we were slowly emerging from the bitter ex-perience of thirty years of civil war and our people just began to taste what it meant to live in peace and tran-quility. That pleasant experience of peace and tranquil-ity was short-lived. Today once again we live in fear, sus-picion reigns all over, our economy is badly affected and people seem to have lost their trust in political institu-tion which has once again failed to inspire and motivate the people it serves. I am not an eyewitness of the tragic events but I am in touch with people who mourn the death of their loved ones, who nurse the wounds of their near and dear ones and above all people who have been traumatized by what happened. I have been visiting and talking to people at Katuwapitiya, probably the place most affect-ed by disastrous events. Katuwapitiya Church is located in Negombo, an area popularly known as "Little Rome" because of its great catholic population and obviously a huge number of catholic Churches. I am a member of the CARITAS convent at Thalahena, a few Kilometers away from Katuwapitiya Church. Easter is celebrated in grand scale at Katuwapitiya church with a procession carry-ing the statue of Risen Christ after mass. The Holy Mass which preceded the procession had almost come to an end when a human being with no regard for human life detonated killing hundreds of devotees in darkness and

remembering a Bud That never Blossomed!

despair. Who gathred to celebrate the Feast of Our Risen Lord. – Easter Sunday. I am the Grade 06 class-teacher at Loyola Col-lege, Daluwakotuwa Negombo. I pen these words to Remember A Bud That Never Blossomed. Chamod was one of my students in grade six. He hailed from Katuwa-pitiya parish and had lost his mother some months ago. He was taken care of by one of his aunties. His father is in his early 60's. Chamod was active and I would even describe him as hyper-active in the positive sense of the term. Indeed he was not only a friend to his companions but a friend in need. He was very supportive and help-ful. He did seek the attention of others in whatever he did. I considered it normal because he was not fortunate enough to enjoy the love and affection of the one who carried him in her womb. He was lovable, friendly but naughty as well. He was a team-person and could work with anyone. During our class picnic on the 05th April, a few weeks before the blast, I have captured a photo of Chamod on my mobile. That was perhaps his last pic-ture. Amidst fear and uncertainty, after a delay of

one month, our Catholic schools reopened for the sec-ond term on the 22nd May. There was tight security. Children gradually started coming back to the school but not Chamod. He had left us for ever together with his aunt on that fatal day. They had died inside the Church. I learned about his death when I visited Katu-wapitiya within half an hour after the bomb blast. At Thalahena, we had just finished our Easter Sunday Holy mass, when we got news of the tragic event at Katuwa-pitiya. We rushed to the place and we could not believe what we saw. In no time, the priests and Nuns of the region were ready to be at the service of the victims of the bomb blast. They were ready to console and help the afflicted, to give hope to people and to be with them in that dark moment of sorrow and disbelief. We will continue to walk with them giving them a helping hand. Their loss is irreparable but we will stand with them giving them hope and strength. At school, my students are still in shock. They talk about their friend. They know that they will never see him again in the class. But he lives their memory. The memory of the Bud That Never Blossomed will linger in the memories of my children. He will blossom in their minds and hearts and thus his memory will be perpetuated as our dear friend, naughty and loving, and his desk and chair adorned with flowers will continue to talk to us as the missing one in the class. Requiescat in pace. !

Rev. Sr. Chandrika Grace

The timely and prudent action of His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith prevented a backlash that could have registered a very detrimental impact on that the larger society. But it was great the Catholics of this country showed to the world their obedience to the Voice of God, said His Lordship Rt. Rev. Dr. Vianney Fernando, Bishop of Kandy Diocese officiating as the chief celebrant of the Eucharistic celebration assisted by Rev. Frs. N. Abraham and Leonard Wijerathne. The memorial service was held at St. Anthony’s Cathedral, Kandy. The Eucharistic celebration was organized in remembrance of 13 devoted Catholics belonging to the Diocese of Kandy who were also victims among all other victims of Easter Sunday massacre at the Shrine dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, at Kochchikade, Colombo. Delivering His homily, His Lordship observed that 13 persons from Kandy Diocese were among more than 300 persons killed by the bomb blast. They sacrificed their lives on Easter Sunday while attending the glorious Easter Sunday celebration, rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His Lordship said the innocent victims of the bomb blast included children, orphaned and disabled. Bishop Fernando underscored the fact, all that had

timely action of His Eminence prevented backlash in the country

I love you to the Moon

Eight years so far,Feels as yesterday as far.Being the pet of you since we’ve known,From my birth till you’ve gone.Remembering the memories we ever had,From the same birth mark to the qualities we both had.

Today here I am grown,Missing you since you are no more.Knowing that you are looking at me from up aboveBy guiding me and protecting me from all what’s around. Today I’m waiting to see you soon,To tell you I love you to the moon.

By Devni Rajaratne

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