Thinking of our dear Pope Emeritus...

As the news of the CONCLAVE is aired...
that it will commence on the 12th MARCH, by afternoon...
I am thinking of the Feb 27th...
I was happy to be part of the historical event of
the final audience of Pope Benedict XVI...
I prepared this audio file
to post a video perspective of mine...
My simple gadgets
didn't cooperate to the completion of the project...
anyway..since the audio was set...
i thought of sharing this...

The final audience of Pope Benedict XVI - as i saw it

The Embrace that changed me!

If you had a look at the post two days back, regarding the Catechesis of persons with disability, I had shared my feeling with regard to the need to be sensitive to persons who live with disabilities, around us!

Today again we were discussing on the experience we had at the Office of the Sector for Catechesis of persons with disability. One of the three professors, began sharing his experience!

He narrated an incident on the first day of his career as a teacher in a Middle School. When he entered the class and settled himself in the chair, suddenly from amidst the kids who were seated a boy stood up and made his way towards the new teacher. The new teacher was a bit shocked, first of all because the boy was upto something unprecedented, and secondly the boy was autistic and that could be seen on his face and his management of his self. With no experience of this sort and total unpreparedness to deal with a boy of this nature, when the teacher looked at his assistant with bewilderment (in Italy there is a rather widespread custom of having 2 teachers in a class), the assistant who was a old timer of that class gestured the new teacher to be calm... but before that the boy was already holding his hand out towards the teacher. The boy embraced the new teacher, in what he called a squeeze that was in no way gentle or soft! The teacher felt even a little pain and was wondering what to do next, when the old-timer gestured again to remain calm. When the boy released his grip and the teacher just managed to take a breath of ease, the assistant made a sign from behind telling him to return the hug, which the teacher did promptly. The boy went back to his place with a content heart!

The teacher explained to us in a moved tone, what the assistant at the end of the class told him! "This is the first time John (name changed) has come up to a new person and given a hug right away. He seems to find in you some thing that tugs him," said the assistant. The teacher told us, "I was totally unprepared for a boy like that in that class... but that embrace changed me! I have from then got myself trained in educating persons with disability and have linked myself to so many associations that carry on that great ministry."

May be each of us needs that embrace... that hug that changes us!

Love one another!

Mar 8, 2013: International Women's Day
Friday, Week 3 of Lent - Year C.

March 8 - World Women's Day. All women known to me, and those who aren’t too, I thank God today for you all. You make the world a beautiful place to live in. In you, I remember to thank God for our mothers, sisters and every woman, who bears the motherly imprint of God!  Let us live with a divine love in our hearts…that’s the invitation of the WORD today.

LOVE - that is the commandment that Jesus declared to be the greatest. True love is demanding! It presupposes equality, liberty, dignity, respect and regard for each other. Love can never co-exist with injustice, with violence of any kind, with prejudices or judgments of persons, or even the slightest form of disrespect. Do we really love? A question so relevant today as we celebrate Women's day...with things that are reported from various corners of our nation and the world... does the world really know what it means to love!!!