AHMEDABAD : As the Great Lent moves towards its climax after second half, Pulikkottil Dr Geevarghese Mar Yulios, Ahmedabad Diocese Metropolitan, has come up with a follow-up message on how to go about especially for the students of MGOCSM.
The Metropolitan has in a Kalpana points about training our minds so that sin does not make us fall due to our physical bodily pleasures. His Grace has thus called upon all to fast along with daily prayer and prostrations, without which fasting is just a spiritual synonym for dieting. His Grace expresses confident when he points out that “we will win the game with the Cross and will have victory over Satan and Death and are all partakers in this journey.”
Dr Mar Yulios calls upon all to be spiritually willing and physically strong as is quoted in the Bible “Spirit is strong but the flesh is weak”. “This is also a period where we perform exercises to strengthen our soul rather than concentrating on our physical aspects. Fasting is the weapon given by God the Father and utilised by his son himself to defeat the evil forces. We being Orthodox Christians are to follow him in this aspect also,” His Grace notes.
To proove this, the Metropolitan quotes from St Paul’s saying to the Philippians 3:10-14: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;……… forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The Holy Shepherd has reminded the deeds of early church fathers who had requested us to keep aside a small amount saved during the Lent and to donate the same for the poor and the needy.
In this regard, Dr Mar Yulios has immensely appreciated the decision of MGOCSM students of Ahmedabad Diocese.
During the present fasting, they have ventured to make a collection and donate the proceeds to the ‘Prerna’ school for mentally challenged children run by STOTS, Nagpur.
Dr Mar Yulios urges all to kindly support this noble cause and contribute generously to extend the comforting hand of our Lord to the poor and afflicted. An amount as small as Rs 10 per day would lead to Rs 500 at the end of the lent!
The Kalpana dated March 8, 2013 was issued from Soukya Healthcare Retreat Centre, Whitefield, Bengaluru, from where the Metropolitan was undergoing meditation. ~LC
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