St. Sebastian Church

Every Christian eagerly awaits Christmas, because it is a joyous season. There is a different kind of feeling. The air is different and this is the reason people wait for Christmas. It is a time to reunite families. Families who are far and wide anxiously wait for this time to meet their family members and friends.

Do you know there is time of preparation for this big day “CHRISTMAS”? We have to prepare the way and the time is called Advent. What is Advent? – Advent is a time of Expectation, waiting and preparing for the celebrations of Nativity of Jesus. Latin Word Adventus Means arrival or coming of Christ. During Advent we have four Sundays to prepare.

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Why is good health so elusive in these modern times?

Sometimes one cannot help but reminisce about the good old days of our childhood when good health was in abundance among the people and there was a general feeling of contentment and well-being.

Why do we have youngsters as young as 25 years nowadays succumbing to heart attack, diabetes, hypertension etc., when in the past these terms were practically unheard off?

The fast food culture makes it cool to hang around MacDonald’s and savour those burgers, French fries, rolls etc. No one likes to eat nutritious home cooked food.  Walking or cycling for even short distances is old fashioned when its more fashionable to zoom around in one’s latest trendy car. It doesn’t matter that your abdominal girth keeps increasing!!During our childhood days there were few cars and scooters around. The 100cc bike revolution in 1984 started a new path to laziness. Maruti brought out the 800 in early nineties and from then on it’s a cut throat competition among the various automobile manufacturers to bring out new and supposedly better models, even if it’s just old wine in new bottle.

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For Our reflection prior to the Christmas Festivity.

About 2000 years ago, when our Heavenly Father sent His beloved son to be born of Virgin Mary, what could have been His thoughts and feelings? I believe, God is pleased if we contemplate this aspect so that our thoughts and feelings identify with that of our Heavenly Father. If this happens, will we not celebrate Christmas with the right attitude and with appropriate disposition? To know what were God’s thoughts and feelings, let us list the events prior to and soon after Jesus’s birth. Those events are:

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Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ on 25^th December. The significance for Christians is their belief that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’, the messiah sent from God to save the world from sin. Christmas is the festival of peace, joy, love and goodwill when families are reunited, houses are decorated with lights, x’mas trees and gifts exchanged. Saint Nicholas is associated as Santa Claus – the fat, jolly, red-clothed, white bearded Santa.

The real meaning of Christmas actually is Emmanuel, God with us. Christmas is special because it reminds us concretely that God is indeed with us in every circumstance of life. So let us embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior.
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Recently the church sounded an advisory cautioning the use of plastics in our celebrations. This shows that the church authorities too are aware and very much concerned about the growing menace of the use of plastics.

Plastics! What are they? In simple words they are large molecules made from small units which get repeated to form the large one (macromolecule)

Can anyone guess the age of plastics, when they actually came into existence? It was in the year 1950, and from then, there is no turning back. Why was it so important? Those born in that decade or earlier, will recall that all articles we used then were made either of wood or metal. Now most of the articles are made of plastics name it, it is there – furniture, toys, bags, pens, refills to name a few.

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We all believe that after we die, our soul goes to heaven, hell or purgatory. We fear Death and nobody wants to die, probably because of the final judgement before God. Do good on earth and you are rewarded with eternal glory in heaven. God has given each one of us an Indication Panel to guide us through life and prevent us from getting turned upside down and crashing! That indication panel is the value system given to us in the Gospels in clear terms, summarized beautifully in just one sentence “Love God and Love your Neighbour”. All the Saints kept their eyes on this Indication Panel and never lost sight of what was important. They have been rewarded with Sainthood by the Church to be honoured and glorified by the faithful. We also have our very own, those that have died and gone before us. Maybe our father, our mother our grandparents, our brother or sister, our friends and acquaintances who have attained eternal salvation. They too are praying for us and keeping a watch over us. They may not be declared as Saints but they are Saints in equal measure. All Saints’ Day is therefore a solemn holy day celebrated annually on 1^st November and is dedicated to these Saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven.

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Social media can best be described as web based communication tools that enable its users to interact with each other efficiently and effectively. Some of the prominent examples of social media are Facebook, Twitter, What’s app, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat etc... Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate with each other, share their views, pictures, videos and do business. With growing reach of technology people are bound to use social media in some way or the other. From developed to developing nations people are connected via social media.  However, on the other hand it has also adversely affected society. As the saying goes, ‘’water can give life, and water can also take life. It all depends on how you use it.’’. Similarly social media can be a boon or a bane, it all depends on how constructively and effectively it is used. Willingly or unwillingly it can still have positive and negative impacts on its users.

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1 Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers.”

What is Righteousness?

A person is righteous in the eyes of God when he/she has right relationship with God and with self, (guided by constructive self-love as opposed to destructive self-love), with family members, with others and with the environment.

We can rightly infer that our prayers – Thanksgiving, Praise, Worship and Petitions become powerful when we love God. First and foremost let us thank and praise God for the gift of life. There could have been a situation where I am not created. I do not exist. Also for Redemption. Are not all other gifts secondary?

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