Shepherd's Voice | Episode 10 | Archbishop Peter Machado | Archdiocese of Bangalore

[Music] [Music] [Music] dear friends i'm here once again with you at this shepherd's voice instance or recording that is taking place i wish you a very happy sunday it's a beautiful sunday with a good message you know we are already in the lenten season and the season prompts us to be aware of who we are and what god is doing in our life the lantern season is basically become becoming aware of god's presence in our life and going back to him that beautiful hymn lord i am coming home the gospel of the day gives a beautiful message for us it's from the gospel of saint luke chapter 4 1-13 and it speaks of the temptations of jesus perhaps not just jesus it's temptations of the whole world someone has said all the sins the sinful inclinations and surely the temptations could be summarized in these three temptations which jesus experienced in his life before he began his public ministry the temptations are known to all of us the first temptation is the devil tempting jesus to eat bread made out of stones he says convert the stones and eat them because you are son of god you can do miracles and what does it mean to jesus and to all of us the temptation of bread perhaps is a temptation to depend on material things for our sustenance some summarize it to say that it's a temptation of security you want food you need clothes you need to equip yourself you need a house and so all these things are so important so indispensable for you perhaps there is no place for god god is not necessary today the computers can do everything you switch a button and you get everything you order the food you go to the supermarket you get everything and therefore do we need god and jesus gives answer to the devil to say that man does not live on bread alone if that was the case the people who had bread who had drink who had clothes where cars who had bungalows perhaps would have been the happiest people they are not so therefore the solution is not in bread or in your trying to be secure to be surrounded with security in all forms but to depend on god the second temptation is also equally a very interesting one but see how sharp the devil is the devil takes jesus to a high place perhaps on a mountain a hillock and choose him around the whole world and say such beautiful world we have and all this will be yours if you bow if you prostrate before me we call it the temptation for idols you know just like an idol is in front of you and you are requested to bow before it so also this temptation is ask you to bow before the idols of the world first of all we can say idols means false gods our god is that real god a living god it's not a stone that we do it's not a wood that we are do perhaps we can justify say that this woodwork or this crucifix this statue of our lady reminds us of our lady and we are not foolish enough to say that that is a god that is our lady but then this this temptation goes little more deeper do we have idols in our life an idol doesn't mean only these stone images or perhaps representations in different metals we do have idols there are many whom the job is an idol for others perhaps dear family is an idol i would do everything and anything but i would not be able to give up my family surely we should not give but then does the family does this particular person in your life stand above god that's the question for some their beauty is an idol for some their strength or perhaps their muscles is an idol there are so many people who are in business and that is their idol nothing else is important nothing else perhaps is required for me but that idol i bow before it i prostrate before it there are so many people who prostrate before money before their accounts before their beauty before their prestige these are the idols that jesus is speaking of today and gives an answer jesus himself gives an answer you shall not bow before any idol except the living god the third temptation is also very tricky one as you know jesus is taken to the pinnacle of the temple and jesus is told by the devil beautiful everything and if you could only jump down you know you are god nothing will happen to you nothing can happen to you on the other hand see the gains of this particular exercise the people there down will be surprised that you jumped from on top nothing happened to you the one of the biggest miracles and that could spin off into your popularity that you become one of the most famous persons here as it is the devil seems to be telling jesus you are a carpenter's son who can even notice you who can even listen to you and your job is such a such a small sort of a humiliating job that no one will see you you need publicity you need miracles you need miracles our today's world is looking for miracles looking for dazzling and perhaps the what we call the overwhelming sights and gadgets that make you famous we call it the temptation of miracles because all of us want miracles you know there are so many people going from shrine to shrine pilgrimages doing penance asking god for miracles in their life there's nothing wrong in asking god for miracles there is nothing wrong in asking god for solution for your life there is nothing wrong in asking that you be healed of this cancer of this sickness that you asked you know jesus in the in the garden of gethsemane he himself prayed take this chalice away but not my will your will be done so therefore shortcuts miracles are not the only things that perhaps we need to be looked into because sometimes god doesn't answer looks like god doesn't answer our prayers doesn't work miracles that does not mean god is deaf god is working in our life and sometimes he shows us the hard way when if you have not studied your done your studies the whole year you can't ask for a miracle to pass in your exams if you have not borne this trial the struggle of life you can't ask for success there's the saying in the english there is no gain without pain hard life hard work is also important and we need to carry the cross of jesus you know nowadays we don't like to speak of the cross of jesus the sufferings of jesus we want only the successful stories of jesus you only want the resurrection of jesus we have to remember that jesus suffered and died before he rose again and that's the victory that he got and therefore this temptation of miracles of quick bucks of fast life of fast foods perhaps is sometimes could be dangerous for us because the cross of life also gives meaning to us so let us try to understand i wish you a very happy and holy sunday especially with your family members i'm let me go to another topic that is causing concern today the war between russia and ukraine it's ukraine is a country small country we are told there are many christians there also and many of our people are in trouble now because of this war between these two countries and therefore we have to pray very very seriously for this that god may not god may save us from this war that russia and ukraine may make peace because it is spiraling into more and more difficult problems for the whole world not only lives are lost the the infrastructure of a country is destroyed and there are so many who will be refugees going out and among these people who have to be bailed out or sailed out are many of our indians where khan they especially our students are youth for studies and we are told that they are struggling to come back the government is trying to arrange as much as possible for them for their return but then it's not so easy we can understand there's only already one student who has died from rani bennur dhamangeri district and there are others who don't seem to be healthy and therefore we pray for them in this particular distressing news also we get that indian sisters in poland indian sisters in romania where these our students have flown or perhaps cross the boundaries cross the borders are being welcomed by these sisters of the different congregations and some of them from india our own sisters who are looking after our youth in some way perhaps may not be a big number but it's a good gesture so we pray for these our students who are caught up in a country in a worse stiffened country thirdly i'm speaking to you on this media you know that week after week i'm in this what's called the studio the ave studio that is in palana bhavan that's one of the sort of infrastructures of a rashtra system communication center we have equipped studio and surely many many people have helped us and the other day just two days back we had a thanksgiving program for all our benefactors who helped us in this putting up the studio of recording video as well as audio and i'm told for the serial victor who is in charge there are still smaller things to be bought the cameras the equipments and certain other things in order to make the studio complete and surely i open my mouth to say that if there are some good persons of goodwill who would like to help us we are welcome on the other hand the studio is something offered to the ashrae sees and so our christians from the parishes if you want to make a small video perhaps an audio a cassette of songs or perhaps some program that has to be recorded of your church of your parish of your congregation the religious we would be very happy to do it it's a service that the archdiocese can give to you and surely we will consider our privilege to be at your service for this particular ministry i go down to what's called the women's day it's a beautiful day international women's day frailty thy name is woman said shakespeare long long ago frailty perhaps things have not changed much the women are still frail poor perhaps in the back seat and not given a chance sometimes may suffering is also part of their life so therefore when we celebrate this day first of all we bless them thank god for all the women in our life our own mothers our own wives are sisters and all those people who make a smile because a woman is always special you know there's not much difference between women and men perhaps we have the same rules to play we have the different roles to play but then our equality before god is same has anyone said that man is superior to a woman that woman is inferior to men we have to get rid of these what's called archaic ideas and start treating women as equals as equals so therefore perhaps in your own home in your own society in your own group you can recognize and respect and ask forgiveness wherever we have perhaps offended the women in our lives there are women who suffer in the families in the society i must say perhaps even in the church and that is why we have to be aware of these weakness on the part of women to treat to on the part of men to treat women unequally among us fortunately our ash dies is also in the last five six months the women have woken up not just as individually but as a group they individually they are doing very well many of the women are interpreters today they are in the corporate world they are we have soldiers we have officers we have professors perhaps we have scientists we have doctors engineers they are doing individually very well and thanks be to the encouragement that they receive from your families more and more could join but then in our archdiocese we have this what we call the archdiocesan women's collective group of women coming together in parishes in different parishes perhaps it should be in all the parishes as of now i am told about 35 parishes have formed this what's called the archdiocesan women's collective we have a president mrs priya francis and there are other office bearers who are leading them and already in the course of six months i must say that they have arranged so many programs for the young girls for empowering the girls empowering the women v for she program and besides that they have also organized gender equality programs and one of the objectives on 8th of march that's the international day of women or perhaps the sunday after it or sunday before it in order to organize the women in the parishes they request the support of our parish priests to have a nice strategy for which we have sent the inputs along with my circular and also on that particularly some activity that represents the unity and our generosity towards women don't undereat the women they are powerful they are strong horse illinois roosevelt says a woman is like a tea bag you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water at the times of challenges they come out best and we shall give women equal chances more chances in order to bloom their characters their potentials and very especially what they can do for us in our church and society i now go to the the questions that perhaps you have asked us you have asked me there are three questions that i've been asked number one is when mass attendance is required what if you are traveling is it a sin that when you are traveling surely you can't attend mass the church is not so harsh we understand perhaps when you are traveling when you are sick when you are indisposed you cannot keep up the sunday obligation but you can make up for this sunday obligation in some other way you are not purposely missing it it is inevitable that you are in a particular work or mission or travel because of which you miss so therefore you make up in some way this particular absence for mass perhaps you can have the readings of the bible of that day spend some time in prayer do a good work in order to make up for this non-attendance of yours or the mass which for others in normal circumstances is obligatory uh secondly the second question that has been asked to me is is it important for a priest to wear clerical attire at all times you know i'm wearing this catholic white cassock we see our priests and there are some perhaps who are seen without the chaos so what is it i would say the habit does not make a monk the habit is important but the habit is not i would say important or most important if we are given the impression we have we give the impression that we do this work but the habit is a outward sign of our inward disposition of house what i am trying to say is when a priest is perhaps all by himself when a priest is known to everybody i know that this is a priest and whether he puts his catholic or not so in such circumstances when classic or perhaps the dress their tie is not needed it may not be but for official functions when he's celebrating the mass perhaps when we celebrating a particular function or program when he is representing the community when perhaps something is required of him for which his leadership is being asked for in these moments it surely behooves the priest to wear the attire as also the other religious but i said it is not that for all the times that we have to wear the chassis we have to come a long way to say that perhaps kasich is important but some sign and symbol that you are a priest that you are a religious perhaps could also make up in certain circumstances where you are known where it may not be so important for you you know nowadays in the times of anti-christian or anti-conversion type of this one for some people perhaps it is also an irritation to see a religious symbol at least a tie that to be done if work can be done in a better way without it in a common secular or perhaps neutral platform perhaps we can still go ahead the last question that is being asked here is is it how does one properly disposed of old and town vestments or priestly perhaps attire anything that is connected with the liturgy with the church etc for example a vestment is stone a vestment is perhaps very very old unless it has got an antique value for which we have to preserve it in certain places the other things of the church the things of the altar the cloth of the altar etc since they are being used for holy circumstances we just don't throw them in the basket or perhaps in the waste paper etc but we burn them so that they are not desecrated or rather they are not used for purposes they are not considered as waste or things that have no value etc that is why we burn them so the old vestments the old cloth the purificators perhaps the alter cloth and these materials that are used in the church used on the altar are not to be discarded but could be burnt or put off in a particular place respectfully so that they are not used for purposes which are not liturgical or not even considered as holy so that is why we try to keep up this particular type of way of disposing in order to satisfy ourselves that we have given the proper regard to these things finally father victor cyril victor asked me bishop this lenten season perhaps some message every sunday that i could give on the lenten themes as it was for example what we call the virtues and sins lenten season is meant for us to perhaps build up our virtues in some way at the same time discard our sins and sinful tendencies and so perhaps i also took a clue from that to see that could i start with what's called the capital sins capital sins there are seven capital sins and as opposite also we have the seven virtues which i'll take some other time but i won't take all the virtues on sins today i will take just one capital sin that's called pride pride you know what is pride you know what is to be proud first of all these capital sins are called capital because not only you write them in capital letters as it were they are the ones perhaps that they are driving your life to destruction and that's why they are called capital they are called deadly sins you know death deadly they lead you to death and these sins are so degrading that they pull out the humanity and the divinity of you these sins perhaps are not mentioned enumerated one after the other in what we call in our bible in our scriptures but to the tradition of the church we are told saint gregory was the first one who sort of mentioned about them and saint thomas aquinas in the 13th century he is the one who developed a little of theology or understanding of this sins first of all pride is the first one envy gluttony lust greed anger and sloth or laziness these are the seven sins i speak a little today about pride pride you know there's a popular saying pride will make you fall in the center of the hall meaning to say that you can't be proud all the time there will be a time perhaps the same pride or this capital sin will bring you to the flow residual first of all there are certain things perhaps in english the word pride means something good also and surely something bad i am proud of my country i am proud of my mother my family i am proud of my school where i studied you know these are things which you are that's one so the meaning is in these things that these things which mean to you surely you are to be proud we use the same word of pride for good and for bad but what we speak as the capital sin pride that will destroy us you know we have that beautiful parable in the gospel of luke chapter 18 the pharisee and the publican the pharisee was really a learned man who has done so much for the religion and for generosity among the poor etc he comes and boasts in front of the altar in the temple in the synagogue to say that i have done this i have done that he is really proud and as opposite to him is the publican the publican is the one who will looting the people to the taxes and so he doesn't even consider himself worthy to move into the synagogue he stands outside and said lord have mercy on me for i am a sinner. and we can clearly make out who is the proud man who is the humble man pride surely brings us down pride brought down first of all the angels to the status of devils the main archangel became the lucifer pride brought down adam and eve from their status of being chosen once pride brought out in the whole history we have seen there are so many instances that pride was something not only destroyed us but it cut off our relationship with god so ultimately what is pride pride is an exclusive belief in one's own abilities i can do everything there's nothing that i can i can i say that i boast of my great qualities of my strength of mine this one and so pride is an excessive belief in one's abilities that interferes in the individual's recognition of god that god is important the proud man doesn't take it that others are important he doesn't care for it he would like to say everything sort of centers on him we call it the i sickness i means not the i but the capital i ego in our sanskrit we call it everything for myself everything is my on my own center casting would say it was pride that chained the angels into devils and that is what happens to us also many of us when we come pride we become devilish you know in some cases it's been said that pride is the root cause of also another accompanied also by the other sins and that way it's the most harmful sin and pride is also that which destroys us so perhaps in this week i speak of this sin that is destroying us capital sin pride the next time i shall take envy and as you know as against pride we have humility which is a beautiful quality perhaps i will get time to speak in my future references on the screen here i wish you a good sunday god bless you pray for me and pray for the archdiocese thank you my dear friends please do share your feedback your impressions and your experience or send a message to the email address as you find on the screen archdblr gmail.com and you also have the phone number the mobile number wherein you can send your message or whatsapp on this number archbishop is ready and waiting to answer your questions if you have any question any doubt any uncertainty or there's no clarity upon something you can ask those questions and with the discretion that the archbishop will surely answer these questions in the weekly feature shepard's voice thank you and we look forward to the next episodes

Channel: Bangalore Archdiocese

Views: 495

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Id: yO4xX3Z6Rm0

Length: 33min 42sec (2022 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 05 2022