Gerald D'Cunha

  “We would worry less if we praised more; thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.” Henry Allen Ironside   T oday is ‘Ash Wednesday’, a Holy Day for Christians. The Lenten season begins today. Since the break of the dawn, I have been receiving (on WhatsApp) from many of my Catholic friends and relatives a message supposedly from Pope Francis. It’s a very relevant message from our present Pope, who is known for some revolutionary ideas about worship and living. I had come across this particular message three Lents before, in April, 2020 to be precise (Check on Google for it: ‘Pope Francis on prayer and fasting’ – published by ‘The Centre for Contemplative Practice’). The message had really made sense to me… But, this time around, the WhatsApp University has rebooted it after making liberal changes. Nevertheless, Pope’s basic message stays: “Dear fellow Catholics, there are several simple ways in which we all can and should observe ‘Fast’ and d...

  I am just asking this: If a fish takes a break from swimming for a few months, will she forget how to swim when she resumes swimming again? Similarly, if an eagle takes a similar break from flying, will he forget how to fly when he resumes flying again? Today, I am set to resume blogging after a gap of over four   months? And, I am just asking the same question: Will I forget how to write my daily, simple stories? The question makes me smile more than think! Just because I did not write my stories for over four months, it did not mean, that I did not weave those stories in my imagination. Writing is just one of the ways in which I am able to tell the stories that are born in my mind. There are many other ways… Silence is one of them! A few days ago, my favourite actor Will Smith walked up to the glittering stage of Oscars ceremony and slapped hard the host, the comedian, Chris Rock. Chris Rock had cracked a distasteful joke on Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett (who s...

  “You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” Saul Bellow   L ast morning, my very trusted friend, and a fellow-trainer, Dr. Deepak, had shared a beautiful poem titled ‘The Will of Amrita Pritam’. It was so beautiful, that it had inspired me to write my yesterday’s Blog – ‘The Language of the Heart’. This morning, my trusted friend sounded a bit concerned… He shared another post which claimed, that the poem attributed to the revered poet from Punjab was a ‘FAKE’ one! Now, what would I do? I wrote this reply to my friend: “As desired in the Will (Kisi ka bhi ho), our ‘Lies, Greed, Envy, Selfishness… all have gone into the funeral pyre. Let’s not lose our sleep over it, dear Deepak. I wrote that piece from my heart. There ends the story. Thanks for the sincere concern. Love.” J esus Christ did not write the Gospels... Mathew, Mark, Luke and John did. These four men are telling us Jesus’ life story using His own words. Now...

  “He who has no Christmas in his heart, will never find it under a Tree.” Roy L. Smith’s L ast night, a dear friend of mine, a Sikh by faith, who lives in London, shared with me the picture of a beautiful Christmas tree decorated by her two teenager girls… “Our Christmas Tree”, my friend captioned it warmly. Well, the Christmas Tree hadn’t come up, yet, at our place. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” I consoled myself. “He who has no Christmas in his heart, will never find it under a Tree,” I reminded myself with Roy L. Smith’s words. I am inspired by Christmas season. More than that, I am incredibly inspired by Jesus Christ’s life. But, then, as I became an adult, my idea of Christmas has undergone a sea-change. The hype and hoopla and the utterly humble crib, to me, look a complete contrast. In my mind, and in my heart, I prefer to remember Jesus Christ quietly… Yes, with least glitter. “Come on,” many times, I hear my friends and relatives saying. A lot of preparation goes ...

  “A thousand sorrows prepares a man to preach.” John Piper   I think, one of the most misunderstood – and misused – interpretations of the teachings of Christianity is this: Jesus died for us… He was sent down by His Father, The God, to redeem us from our sins… So, He is our Redeemer, the Salvador, the Saviour and so on… How nicely, we have washed our hands of our sins and responsibilities! How nicely we have used Jesus as our cross-bearer! What a flawed logic: We are the sinners; but, He has to carry the cross… We are the criminals; but, He has to be nailed on the cross! I can’t swallow this teaching, Sir! Each one of us, here on this earth, is supposed to carry our own personal cross. Yes, God or His Son will come to our help only when we perform our personal responsibilities. “God saves only those who help themselves.” Why on earth, do you think, that this old proverb still floats around? So, if I wake up to my personal responsibility towards my life, the te...

“Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.” Rollo May A couple of days ago, when I had blogged on the plight of migrant workers – particularly those who were mowed down on the railway tracks in Aurangabad, a dear friend of mine had said this in her comment: “In case we can be of help together in any way, let me know… Lockdown will continue for quite some time… I am sure, we can contribute somewhere, somehow. Helplessness, perhaps, is one of the worst feelings ever… And this news made me feel so helpless!” Ever since the lockdown was announced, I haven’t stepped out of the door… Should I dramatize through our PM’s analogy – 'I haven’t crossed the Laxman Rekha’! Why is that? Well, I may try to get some sympathy, citing my recent brush with Cancer and kidney issues. But, the truth is this: I am privileged to be inside my house for all this lockdown period… I have my wife and young son to ensure, that I, along with my aged and aili...

"Talent is like a flower; you have to fully tend to it, if you want something beautiful.” Marinela Reka N ow that we all have enough time in hand, right? “No time” has, always, been our favourite excuse… We hid behind it. But, now, there is no way we can hide… The truth is wide in the open:   All of us have excess time in hand, yes, to do whatever we wanted to, but couldn’t… complaining - ‘No time’! The sunnier side of this lockdown is, that so many are using their time to showcase their talents: they make interesting videos to showcase their talents – songs, dance, music, poetry, drawing, painting, cooking, yoga, fitness, motivation, blogging, mentoring, coaching etc. And, what a way to make the most of these, otherwise, gloomy days at our disposal! “Every adversity brings with it a seed of equal or greater opportunity.” Heard it before? You have to, in deed, believe in it. Else, the adversity becomes even a bigger excus...

“ That charity, which longs to publish itself, ceases to be charity.” Eliza Cook T here is this temptation in almost all of us to tell – and tell it as loudly as possible – how generous, how helpful, how noble we are… Yes, because of our charitable work. Top to bottom – from our Prime Minister to the man on the street - yes, all of us seem to love the optics. When we help someone, we want the world to know about our generosity. That means, we do not want any of our ‘noble’ thoughts and deeds just go like a ship by the night… We want to cash on it… We want to trumpet it, flash it as loudly and as brightly as possible… And, get some strange ‘kick’ out of it: “Wow!” … “Kudos!” … “Great Work!” … “GBU!” … and so on. These are times of distress for all of us… Distress of one kind or the other. Many of us have food to eat, but, no helping hands, perhaps. Our once helping-hands have no food to eat, perhaps. Some of us are in distress, because our aili...

S ome things are meant to be! It’s never advisable to stop a river from flowing the way it’s supposed to. And, whenever we do, it finds its own way to the sea, somehow. We all have seen it… There is this river in all of us, called our ‘talent’. What about that? I think, our talents, too, flow the way they are supposed to. Elvis Presley was a gifted singer and performer. It was he who sang the famous song, “I can’t help falling in love with you.” To me, that song is as much a metaphor about life as it seems to be on its face - romantic. Yes, it’s a romantic song… But, look at its lyrics: Wise men say only fools rush in But I can't help falling in love with you Shall I stay? Would it be a sin If I can't help falling in love with you? Like a river flows surely to the sea Darling so it goes Some things are meant to be Take my hand, take my whole life too For I can't help falling in love with you ...