Fours and Sixes of Life

Cricket is one such game that makes its fans, especially those in India, go crazy about everything that is related to it. The cricketers are immensely worshiped by their excited fans and at the same time these devotees make it a point to know the cricketer‘s personal life and whereabouts, as their pass time activity. The atmosphere of a cricket match is worth experiencing at least once in a lifetime. A packed stadium with attractive and creative fans, neutral viewers, non-stop commentaries, energetic and animated performances, continual uproars and cheers for every delivery all have a part in a cricket match. More so if you happen to witness a T20 match, you will be overwhelmed with the sensational and thunderous atmosphere of the stadium and soon you might find your-self one with them. It is also a pleasant sight to view the stadium after the match, the viewers move out with mixed feelings whereas the fans seem to be either dejected or high-spirited.

Apart from the feeling factor that the audience carry with them, there is more to the game. For instance, in a T20 match, there is always a continuous uproar of the audience for two consistent moments i.e. for a clean four and for a massive six.

A clean four is hit by a batsman keeping in mind all the positions of the fielders. With this clear picture, he chances the ball through the gaps present between the fielders. Therefore, a clean four is possible only with the help of an appropriate judgment, keeping in mind all the odds. If we drag the same principle to our life, it would apply thus; we can orient our life towards success only with the help of appropriate judgments and decisions. And luckily it is an everyday activity for us. Without these daily judgments and decisions our life would come to a standstill.

The next and the most important task for a batsman is to hit the maximum. He takes the risk to hit a massive six, as he hits the ball high in the sky and sends it beyond the boundary line. It calls him to send the ball flying at the right moment. And the right moment would be when he believes in himself. The same formula is applicable to our life, apart from the everyday decisions for a regular living; we need to make timely daring decisions so as to challenge ourselves. This will add flavor to our living.

Finally, to taste and enjoy the coffee of Success we need to flavor it with daring steps and contain it safely in our cup of dream because every batsman steps onto the field with a dream to be the best.
So let your dream help you to strike fours and sixes for a purpose-filled living.

Cl Lawrance Vincent

Dream, Dream, Dream…

Dreams are a part of human life. They begin to occur in childhood and are usually of the utopian or goody-goody type. Children for example dream of possessing superpowers or of being important people. Some may perhaps have dreams about places, situations or things. Dreams may be pleasant or they may be nightmares. Whatever the case, dreams influence our lives in some way or another. For instance, a child who dreams of being a king or queen may show development in leadership skills, while another having a nightmare may develop a phobia of darkness. Such a relation is not strict or scientific. Psychologists like Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and others invested a great amount of time and resources to studying dreams. In fact, there is a branch of study called Oneirology that is the scientific study of dreams.

Dreams are good for health, psychological studies show, as they offer a way out for hidden desires. Usually we are unable to fulfill all our desires during the time we are awake. So when we sleep our subconscious mind activates our unfulfilled desires and goes about fulfilling them. But I don‘t want to give you a psychology reading on dreams. What I really want to talk about is dreaming. I wonder whether we still dream. I hope we haven‘t labeled dreaming as childish as that would be sad and untrue! Dreams are a wonderful part of being human. They offer us a possibility of letting go of our inhibitions and living unrestrained. The danger is of getting lost in our dreams and blurring the lines be-tween dreams and reality.

Dreams, I believe, have the power to influence us and perhaps even to teach us. They can reveal to us aspects of our personality that we are perhaps blind to. Therefore we must take them seriously. Not all our dreams, however, are worthy of attention. A common phenomenon is forgetting dreams once we wake. Let this not disturb us. What is important is holding on to the feeling (if we can recall it that is). I hope that after reading this you will take your dreams a little more seriously. Dreams have something to tell us. Let us connect with them and use them to improve our way of living and looking at the world.

Cl Ian Pinto sdb

Your Life - Is Your Dream

                                                    Lessons once learnt will live forever‘

Returning to Divyadaan is for me a return to the early lessons as a Salesian at Divyadaan, my first year of studying philosophy.

People change yet we remain – my batchmates who accompanied me, lived with me, helped me and saw me grow have moved on just like me in their own fields of learning.
For me a dream would realistically means understanding the words of the famous philosopher Frederich Nietzsche, ―He who has a why to live can live almost anyhow. The WHY of Nietzsche is for me the meaning of dreams.

Dreams are the reason for my reality. I very often retro-spect about my life and how people, situations and times have come to fall in place like a puzzle finding its piece in the larger sphere of life. It once was a dream for me to be a Salesian. It was a dream to be like a certain young boy Johnny Bosco from Becchi running around the streets inspiring young and old alike with his acrobatic and natural talent. He taught me by creating dreams for his boys and making them a reality. It was a dream for me to answer a call that so many before me received in million different ways from the man who first showed us the way to dream.

As I live my dreams everyday, realizing them step by step, fulfilling my daily tasks and making real little by little every bit of it, I thank God for all the lessons he has granted me in the few years of life he has given me.
I am a sojourner… returning to Divyadaan for me is returning to where I began realizing my dreams and preparing myself to fulfill them. Signing off for now for there is still a lot of dreaming work to be done.
I end by wishing you dreams..dreams and more dream for you and your families!

Cl Joyston Machado

DIVYADAAN COMMUNITY ANTHEM 2016

HUM EK JAAN HAI...THE COMMUNITY ANTHEM THAT THE BROTHERS COMPOSED FOR THE COMMUNITY DAY CELEBRATION 2016...IT IS RICH WITH ELEVEN INDIAN LANGUAGES USED IN IT AND ALSO HAS LOT OF IN DEPTH MEANING AND IS AWESOME.....

EVEReady

EVEReady

When we get a transfer to a new place, we carry our luggage, books and other work items necessary for our ministry. When Jesus got a transfer to the earth, he came with nothing. We would expect him to come with something extraordinary from heaven, but he brought nothing along. That is because he knew he would find everything he needed for his mission in our world itself. More than introducing us to the spirit world, Jesus incarnated to introduce us to the full possibilities of our world. Jesus knew very well that relationships are the greatest resource and blessing. Therefore he entered as a child into a family with Mary and Joseph and lived together with them. Human Relationships are the greatest resource and blessing.

I decided to better my relationship with my Christmas friend. I wanted to begin by giving him a good Christmas gift. So I used Fr Maria’s android to google out some gifts on sale. Christmas sales and offers at Amazon, Ebay, Big Bay, were fabulous, but not reasonable. The other day, I went to the Divyadaan market to hunt for some useful item. It did not help much, but I saw a pack of EVEReady batteries. The word EVEReady remained in my mind as I hopped back to the brother’s room. The quality of being EVEReady could serve as a wonderful medium to build up and to enhance relationships and to add meaning to my Christmas celebration.

In fact, Jesus himself was EVEReady. Jesus was ever ready to do God’s will – so he came down to us, ever ready to heal the sick – miracles, ever ready to spend time with people whom society ignored – sinners and poor, ever ready to give all that he had for others – total generosity. He spontaneously helped those who approached him and also others who did not. There is nothing higher or deeper than sincerely following Jesus and live the way he lived.

Each of us comes to celebrate Christmas in his/her own way; some full of happiness and gratitude, others with worry and loneliness. How can we be EVEReady? When it comes to purchases, a good number of people are rushing and racing at the speed of light. But we ought to race at the speed of love. Look around. There are so many individuals who are near us whose lives we can affect. We must spontaneously care, be hospitable, be generous, be well mannered with our neighbours. There are qualities more basic than our vows: to be honest, to respect

the reputation of another, to be compassionate and forgiving. If you want to add joy to your life, then add joy to someone else’s life. The joy of Jesus’ birth will reach you when you reach out. The more you reach out spontaneously, the more joy will reach you.

While trying to be EVEReady, there are two questions that we need to be cautious about: one, ‘what will others think or say about me?’ and two, ‘what will I get out of it?’ These two questions paralyze our desire to reach out spontaneously to our fellow humans. People will call you proud, boastful, and the like. But you should be calm. Secondly, you will not be rewarded or appreciated for the mercy you show others. Be calm once again. Our readiness and generosity is not to attract people or to gain rewards, but to please God. That is our sole motivation – nothing but you, O God.

So launch out. Take a moment to look around to recognize him in those who do not have joy and peace in their lives. Let us do the little within our means to alleviate the pain and misery in their lives by at least saying a prayer for them or offering them the little that we have. Let us do whatever we can to give them the hope that triumph (JESUS) will one day wipe out the sadness in the hearts and bring lasting joy.

Bosco Carvalho sdb