My dear parishioners,

Greetings in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ !

The past month, the world remembered Mother Teresa who died on 5th Sep 1997, in Kolkota at the age of 87. The mother, "The Saint of the gutters" worked in the squalor of slums for 48 years. It is said that she was the first in the community to rise each day-unless the nuns hid her alarm clock. She used to say " I want to be the first to wake and see Jesus….. I am doing the work with Jesus……. And therefore the results are His, not mine".

Indira Gandhi former prime minister wrote of the Mother, " to meet her is to feel utterly humble, to sense the power of tenderness, the strength of love…..gentleness, love, compassion, radiate from her tiny person ". She displayed the attributes and the life of God in her person. We too are called to display God's splendor through our inward characters and consequent outward actions. The church's calling is to confirm to likeness of Jesus Christ, so that the fruit of the Spirit is produced in our lives.

The following is an anecdote taken from a book written by the Catholic bishop, Precival Fernandez . One fine evening a gentleman walked into a fast- food chicken restaurant and bought a nine piece bucket of chicken. He took his bucket to the park for a romantic picnic with his lady. When he opened the bucket, he was in for a surprise. What he found in the bucket was not chicken, but 9000 Dollars in cash. It was apparently the collection for the day's sale. The young man brought the bucket with the money and handed it back to the Manager. The Manger, tremendously impressed with the man's honesty, asked for his name, and also told him he wished to call the local press and the news station to do a story on him. He would become a sterling example of honesty and morality which would be an inspiration to others.

But the man refused to give his name and said that he did not want the undue attention of the media. "Give me my Chicken" is all what is he repeated. The manager, amazed by his humility still insisted on knowing his name. Wearily the man stuttered, " This is the problem. My wife is at home and the women in the car is my girlfriend, now let me have the chicken so that I can get out of here !".

Many of us do a good deed now and then, go to church, say the right things, use the right words and so on. But God sees us on the inside. What matters is not what others think of us and but what is on the inside of us. But what we desperately need is renewal of our personal lives, in our inward characters which will radiate to our family, our work place, our immediate neighborhood and society.

This quarter we have the World Sunday school day, the Voluntary evangelists' association week, the Youth week, the Family week and after which we enter into the advent season. The family is also God's instrument to show forth his splendor to the world.

The simplest prescription for good marriage which is a basis for good family, contain only two points. 1) Walk with the master – 1 JOHN 1: 7; "But if we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another. 2) Work on the marriage-COL 3:23(NIV); "Whatever you do work at it with all your heart."

The renewal brought about by the Holy Spirit needs to penetrate and pervade every area of our personal, family and church life, so that we may show forth his glory and splendor to the world. So it would be right for us to pray, " Lord renew Thy whole creation, renew the world, renew the church, renew my family, but Lord make sure it happens in me first !"

As we are all aware, "JEEVAJAL" a ministry formed for outreach activities by our parish, is in its rudimentary stage. We have started to support 10 HIV positive families by providing them finance for monthly rations. This has been made possible by linking ourselves to "ASHA FOUNDATION( Bangalore).

I hope you will all keep this and all the other developmental needs of the parish in your prayers.

Here is something which I read recently for all of us to ponder. " A student learns what his teacher knows, but a disciple becomes what his master is"

May God Bless you
Yours in Christ,
John George Achen