Quo Vadis?

So the season of Advent has started, despite all the commercial trappings and merry making it is also a good time of preparation. Many Christian homes are painted and cleaned in time and the decorations are pulled out from the attic. The star goes up along with the tree and Christmas music starts playing regularly. The ladies get busy with the sweet preparation which used to be an event in itself, preparing the ingredients and making the sweets, storing them away in dry containers for Christmas day. As a child I remember wandering around when mum used to make murukkus, achappams, adhirasams among others sneaking in a bite or two and taking the broken pieces for snack time. The smells will be divine and then the baking will start, which will make the house smell like pastry heaven. Back then buying from stores was not even an option unlike today when a lot of the sweets are outsourced. Christmas Day usually was all about waking up early despite the late night service and taking...

Do you know when the act of marriage in a Christian wedding is completed? You may say when the thali is tied, or when the exchange of rings is completed or you may even think that when the groom kisses the bride. Sadly you missed the bus. In the excitement to catch the side shows that are done to satisfy the requirements of society and the people around the actual wedding gets lost and even the camera man and the parents do not notice. If you are puzzled and still wondering what I am talking about I suggest that next time pay attention when the priest who is officiating the wedding asks the bride and groom for consent, when they have said their consent with “I Do” or its variants the priest says “Since it is your …you may join your right hands…” and that ladies and gentlemen is the wedding rite. Whatever happens afterwards is part of the spectacle that we love to behold.  I like to wear a wedding band on my hand because it ensures parity between the spouses...

                                                                                   (image courtesy Google Images ) On Ash Wednesday evening the morning sermon remains with me as I begin this post, actually one line of the sermon struck me hard and kept me thinking. The highlight of the sermon was “slow down; in life we go so fast that we miss the most important things”. I wonder when I have last paused to admire or appreciate all the graces that I have been blessed with. Every day is a miracle and waking up from sleep is probably the biggest of them all is it not? We go to sleep with the belief that we will wake up to a new day and once we sleep we completely cede control, few people never wake up. But since we wake up every day we take it for granted. We rush e...