{"id":37705,"date":"2015-08-02T04:48:14","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T04:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/?p=37705"},"modified":"2015-08-03T04:48:47","modified_gmt":"2015-08-03T04:48:47","slug":"devotional-thoughts-for-the-10th-sunday-after-pentecost-2nd-aug-201","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/?p=37705","title":{"rendered":"Devotional Thoughts for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost – 2nd Aug 201"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Matthew 18: 1-11<\/span>
\nDear and Respected Brethren,<\/span>
\nWhen the blessed Apostles enquired our Lord, \u201cwho is the greatest in<\/span>
\nthe Kingdom of God\u201d, our Lord showed a child and said \u201cunless you turn<\/span>
\nand become as little children, you will not inherit the heaven\u201d. The<\/span>
\nblessed Apostles also thought as we all do think these days. Our<\/span>
\nlookout is also prominence and the modern man is willing to do<\/span>
\nanything needed to achieve the attention as well as the recognition of<\/span>
\nothers. Our Lord\u2019s command to convert\/turn is very significant and<\/span>
\nmeaningful. The common human nature is to ignore the dependence when<\/span>
\nthere is growth in the personality. The child in his or her infancy<\/span>
\nonly would like to hold the hands of elders while walking. Afterwards,<\/span>
\nthey will not wait for the help from elders. Either they will run away<\/span>
\nor walk as they like. During the infancy, there is the uniqueness in<\/span>
\nall dealings and thinking. Innocence and transparency are the ideals<\/span>
\nof an infant and when he or she grows big, slowly these habits<\/span>
\ndisappear from them. Elders are walking in the directions they like<\/span>
\nand desire. They must be depending their own brain, power, and<\/span>
\ndesires. Our Lord wants us to turn back with\u00a0 a total \u201cabout turn\u201d<\/span>
\nfrom the paths and ways of our choice. He wants us to hold His finger<\/span>
\nand walk ahead. We might say that we are going ahead with an aim of<\/span>
\nour destination. But how many of us could bravely say that we give<\/span>
\nprime importance to the will and wish of our Lord God? Our Lord is so<\/span>
\nsure that our ways and directions are far away from the ways and<\/span>
\ndirections of our Lord God. That is why He is insisting us to turn<\/span>
\nback and come back to the original position where we lost our link<\/span>
\nwith our Lord God. Let us examine ourselves daily whether we are<\/span>
\nkeeping a steadfast link with our Lord God or not.<\/span>
\nIn verse 4 we read, \u201cWhosoever therefore shall humble himself as this<\/span>
\nlittle child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven\u201d. We<\/span>
\nare sure of the humility of the infant. For an infant all before him<\/span>
\nor her are equal. We must consider all our brethren without any sort<\/span>
\nof discrimination. Our Lord again desires that we all must love our<\/span>
\nfellowmen alike. Let us analyze how we are treating with our own<\/span>
\nfellowmen.<\/span>
\nIn verse 6 our Lord cautions against the ones who create offences in<\/span>
\nsociety. We often ignore our Lord\u2019s teaching and go after offences in<\/span>
\nthe families, parishes, churches and other secular fields also. Let us<\/span>
\nremember that a true Christian should not create offences at all. We<\/span>
\nthe faithful must try to get back the guys who often create offences,<\/span>
\nthrough the love of our Lord. Selfishness is the root cause of all<\/span>
\nsorts of offences and sins. So let us try to get rid of selfishness in<\/span>
\nits root level.<\/span>
\nIn verse 11 we read, \u201cFor the son of man is come to save that which<\/span>
\nwas lost\u201d. Searching of the lost sheep is the duty of the Church. The<\/span>
\nChurch and Church leadership cannot escape from this task. We must<\/span>
\nco-operate with the Church to search the lost sheep. All members of<\/span>
\nthe Church must find it a privilege to search the fellowmen, who have<\/span>
\nbeen lost for the Church for some or other reasons. We must realize<\/span>
\nthat Lord Jesus is the real shepherd and He only could provide<\/span>
\nshelter, food and other needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

May God bless all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jose Kurian Puliyeril<\/span>
\nKottayam<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Matthew 18: 1-11 Dear and Respected Brethren, When the blessed Apostles enquired our Lord, \u201cwho is the greatest in the Kingdom of God\u201d, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-devotional-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37706,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37705\/revisions\/37706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}