We are in the summer months experiencing increase in heat conditions with researchers warning of heat waves linked to the climate change. Elsewhere in India, in places like Maharashtra, many people are severely effected by heat waves and many lives have been lost due to heat strokes. We are being cautioned that the frequency and intensity of heat waves are likely to increase further in the coming days. The green cover is getting depleted due to large – scale development and concrete jungles are coming up all over. The necessity of maintaining a balance is ignored by our greed and the attitude of turning a Nelson’s eye to the illegalities by the powers that be. Read more

Holy Week is a most sacred time of the year for it is during this week that we recreate and remember the last week of Jesus’s life here on earth. Beginning with Palm  Sunday, we are invited to be a part of one of the greatest event in the Bible. We welcome Jesus into Jerusalem, waving our palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” A couple of days later, our shouts change to “Crucify him! Crucify him!” during the reading of the Passion.

Having spent most of my life in Kuwait, an Islamic country, we were fortunate to freely practice our Christian faith and thereby I did attend the Church regularly. During the past so many years I’ve dipped in and out of different Holy Week events at Holy Family Cathedral – Kuwait but honestly, I’ve never gone to all of them in a single week.  As I am now permanently based in Goa, this year was my first time, not only fully attending the Holy Week event but also actually participating in them in one way or the other. Read more

May 13th, is the 106th anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the three shepherd children, in a small village of Fatima, in Portugal, in the year 1917. The three children were Lùcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. At the first apparition, Mother Mary asked the children to return to the spot on the 13th of each month for the next six months. These three holy children saw the Blessed Virgin Mary appear to them from May to October 1917.

Mother Mary asked these children to learn to read, write and pray the Rosary – “to obtain Peace for the World, and for the end of the War”, That is World War I. They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. She asked for devotion to her Immaculate Heart and to pray a lot; to pray the Rosary for sinners and sacrifice a lot as many sinners perish in Hell because nobody is praying or making sacrifices for them. These children did all that they were told. Read more

On 28th May 2023, this year, the Church celebrates Pentecost, one of the most important feast days of the year that concludes the Easter season and celebrates the beginning of the Church’s Mission to the world.

Here’s what you need to know about the feast day:

The timing and origins of Pentecost

Pentecost always occurs 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and ten days after His ascension into heaven. Because Easter is a moveable feast without a fixed date, and hence Pentecost too is a moveable feast and depends on Easter date. Read more

The Ascension of Christ is a significant event in Christian theology. This year it will be celebrated on 21st May in the Catholic Church. It marks the moment when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, returned to Heaven after His resurrection from the dead. It is a critical component of Christianity, as it represents the culmination of Christ’s mission on Earth, His victory over death and sin, and His ultimate return to the Father.

The event of the Ascension is recorded in the New Testament in the Book of Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1, verses 9-11. It describes how, after spending forty days with His disciples following His resurrection, Jesus led them to the Mount of Olives, where He blessed them and then ascended into Heaven, disappearing from their sight as He rose up into the sky. Two angels then appeared to the disciples, telling them that Christ would return in the same way as He left. Read more

“Is he not the carpenter’s son?”(Mt. 13:55)

Work, is indeed, an instrument of holiness. We all know and say, “Work is Worship!” Any form of work – at home, at one’s place of work, towards society as a whole, is and has to be viewed and accepted with dignity.

St. Joseph, did not do extra ordinary things but rather, by the constant practice of the ordinary and common virtues, he attained that sanctity, which elevates him, above all the other saints. (St. Joseph Marello).  In 1955, an additional feast day, was declared by Pope Pius XII and is celebrated on May 1st, as the feast of St. Joseph, the worker. This date, is also the International Workers’ Day and believed to reflect St. Joseph, as the Patron Saint of Workers.  He taught Jesus the trade and craft of carpentry and with that, the child Jesus, engaged Himself, with His earthly Father, in skilled physical labour. Read more

“Make me, O my sweet Jesus, a participant, if not of all of Your Passion, at least of a part of it. Recognizing my indignity and my unworthiness, I do not ask You to imprint on my body, as You did in the hearts of St. Augustine and St. Francis, the wounds that You still preserve as precious rubies in Heaven. I do not ask You to stamp Your holy Cross as You did in the heart of St. Monica. Nor do I ask You to form in my heart the instruments of Your Passion, as You did in the heart of my holy sister St. Clare of Montefalco. I only ask You for one of the seventy-two thorns which pierced Your head and caused You so much pain, so that I may feel a part of the pain You felt. O my loving Savior! Do not refuse me this favor. Do not deny me this grace. I will not leave here consoled, if You send me away without so desired a pledge of Your love.” Read more

A heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is at least 40oC in plains, 37oC in coastal areas, and 30oC in mountains.

What does extreme heat do to our bodies?

Our bodies strive to keep a core temperature of about 37 oC whether we’re in a snowstorm or a heat wave. It is the temperature our bodies have evolved to work at. As the body gets hotter, blood vessels open up. This leads to lower blood pressure and makes the heart work harder to push the blood around the body. This can cause mild symptoms such as an itchy heat rash or swollen feet as blood vessels become leaky. At the same time, sweating leads to the loss of fluids and salt and, crucially, the balance between them in the body changes. This, combined with the lowered blood pressure, can lead to heat exhaustion. Symptoms include: Read more

Tadev: Dev boro dis dium tuka, Simao Titiv. Ami zaitea disamnim meutat, nhoim? Tum koso asa?  Simao: Tukai Dev kurpa dium,  Tadev. Hea gormechea disamnim choddso bhair sorunk nam. Hanv boro asam. Tumche Abril-Mai, he chodd umediche ani apurbaieche mhoine suru zale nhoim?

Tadev: Oi, amcheo suttio suru zaleat dekhun ami kuxal asanv. Punn ami bhurgim choddxim ghorant-uch astanv.

Simao: Amchea bhurgeponnar ami chodd ghora bhair astaleanv, tenvuim bi moidanar khellunk vo follam ektthaim korunk, zoxem ambe, kazu, kannddam, chun’nam ani ier.
Tadev: Amchim avoi-bapui, amkam hench sangtat.  Read more