“then i saw a new heaven and a new earth.” 
(rev 21:1)

a  new year has dawned ! it was just a few days ago that we celebrated the birth of jesus christ who is god !  he who was god,  came to the earth by taking the form of a human being, in order to establish a new heaven and a new earth !
in the world today, especially in the asiatic countries like india, there are several people who are not christians. but the news that god became man is not meant for christians alone, but  for all people! we direct our hearts and our thoughts towards god so that our hearts would then become a new heaven and our house would become a new earth. it is when our thoughts and actions , our feelings and senses are geared towards god, that such a miracle occurs.
during the november of last year, the 26, 27, 28, 29 were days that shook not only the city of  mumbai, but the entire world. several criminal and terrorist acts saw the killing of several hundreds of people of various nationalities.
we thus see that the present generation is busy frightening each other, one nation causes unrest to another nation, instigates terror, and commits an outrageous act of shooting innocent people down. this is the mindset widely prevalent among the nations of the world, and that too of slaughtering human beings in the name of religion. and what can say about this?
when we say that god took the human form, we mean that we should subdue the violent animal instincts and learn to activate the divine traits of love , peace, joy, patience. as soon as we speak about jesus, some tell us that we should not indulge in conversion . we should know that he belongs to the entire human race. and conversion does not belong to one particular religion !  it belongs to the entire humanity. human kind should undergo transformation. human kind should ponder over, meditate much on god. yes, humanity should give up violence.
this is mentioned in the very beginning of the bible. abel and cain were brothers. cain was the elder of the two. abel was the younger. abel performed good deeds and offered the best sacrifices most pleasing to god .when he offered sacrifice, the pleasant fragrance that was emitted, was pleasing to god and reached up to his throne. but cain was just observant of all this. he did not know how to offer sacrifice with a clean and genuine heart. bitterness, hatred and jealousy took possession of his thoughts and aspirations. such thoughts and wishes took on a giant shape of envy. his jealousy manifested itself as a big evil force. cain took his brother alone to a field very craftily, and killed him at once.
this act of terrorism( evil action) which began during the time of cain and abel has taken on various forms, spreading its venomous tentacles , trying to hold the world in its grip. evils such as brother beating up a brother to death, brother threatening his brother ! this is cruelty in its superlative form- and this is terrorism. this is what is rocking and destabilizing the world today. and that too people belonging to a particular religious group? these people speak of carrying out a ‘holy war’ in the name of god. they threaten and force people to fight ,and by doing this they believe that they can rule the entire world. they also think that by these actions, they glorify god.
but it was god himself who had created the world ! it was he who created the entire human race on the land ! and it is in front of him that people keep slicing one another, threatening people at gun point. all these are inexplicable atrocious deeds.
today we have to take time and see how god meets the world. a new jerusalem. we read in the book of revelation that man should prepare himself as a decked bride and wait with an expectant heart and mind , in order to meet the lord.
humanity is compared to a decked bride. this was why jesus came to deck the people with goodness
it does not matter to what caste, community, race or to which nation we belong ! we all belong to god. every man and woman belongs to god
. we are all human beings. we may be pakistanis, indians, srilankans or americans. each of us is precious in his sight ! each of us should prepare ourself as a bride in front of god. for this we should possess purity of heart, a tender bearing  and a freshness in our thinking. this is what god desires.
we read, “ and i heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
see, the home of god is among mortals. he will dwell with them as their god; they will be his peoples, and god himself will be with them;” (revelation 21:3)
god himself  will dwell with us. he himself will relate with us. he will dwell with us, stay with us, and lead us onward, so it is said. immanuel-god with us.
hence by leaving away all the evil human tendencies and by developing an attitude of ushering in of god’s reign, our nation will prosper. our people will be happy. we will all be happy. this was why christ came searching for this world. conversion is not for one or two people. the entire humanity should turn towards god.

greetings!
rev.fr.v.ignatius s.j.

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