Friday, December 6, 2013

Seminar on Capuchin Presence, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow


This morning at 10am the jubilee celebrations began with a prayer song to the Holy Spirit and lighting of the lamp by the Bishop Sylvester Ponnumutham of Punnlur. The bishop and the speaker Dr. Paul Thelekatt were introduced by the `provincial minister Br. John Fernandez. The Theme: Capuchin presence: yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. He spoke in Malayam but one friar did the translation for me. The following are the main points of his talk:
-       he spoke about the call of Francis and his choice to be a mendicant renouncing everything for the kingdom of God.
-       Let people look at me with jealousy, I lack nothing
-       He said that we need to preach and live about something which is here and now, the kingdom of God is in you, this awareness Francis came to develop and accordingly he willingly surrendered to the Lord
-       When you are aware that someone else is richer than me, then I become jealous of him
-       Ex: A provincial was leaving for Rome so he asked the members of community to make a list of things that they would like him to purchase in `Rome. All except one did not give the list. Provincial minister asked why no list and the friar said that he has everything that he needs but most of the things are unused so he doesn’t want to add to this list of unused things.
-       Today my interests are basic to everything lese and it is globalized.
-       Capitalism and consumerism is a protest against the religious life
-       Ex: A charismatic priest produced a CD of songs, which he went to sell to another charismatic priest. He asked about the price of the CD and the produced quoted 15 Dollars. The second priest said let me pray and find out from the lord what is the real cost. After prayer he said that the lord revealed him the real cost which is 5 Dollars
-       Mother Teresa said that she was the pen in God’s hand but today unfortunately we have made God as pen in our hand to make known our selfish and egoistic plans to the world.
-       What dominates over life is the effects of capitalism and consumerism
-       The enemies is within who kills the spirit of Jesus
-       Monasticism is a living and fitting protest against the secularism in the world and church
-       Capuchin life can become a genuine protest against secularism today

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