February 2012

© St. Mary‟s Malankara Catholic Church, Toronto

St. Alphonsa hoped and thanked

God through her pain and bad times

and Moses, our forefather hoped

and looked forward to a new begin-

ning throughout his wait for the

Promised Land. The column Snip-

pets from Science - Glimpses of

God’s Beautiful Mind features an

article on “The Ark of the Cove-

nant.” Travel back in time in a liter-

ary and spiritual journey as Amit

Mathews takes you through myster-

ies relating to the Ark and specula-

tions on its whereabouts. The arti-

cle also covers issues like human

weakness towards power and

leaves you with something to pon-

der about. As we prepare ourselves

for the upcoming Lenten season,

have a read through “A Lenten

Journey: Things to Consider this

Season” by Jonathan Mani. True

sacrifice of the season calls us to

fill a void in our lives with the Holy

Spirit. Lent is not about what you

have chosen to abstain from, but

what you do with that abstinence.

Let us all fill our abstinence with

Lenten spirit and take this season as

an opportunity for spiritual growth.

- The Editors

MONTHLY EVENTS

Newsletter Volume 3 Issue 8

2:00 PM Malayalam Class

2.30 PM Song practice

3:00 PM Sunday School

4.00 PM Prabhatha Na-

maskaram ( Prayers before

the Holy Mass)

4.30 PM Holy Mass

3.30 PM – 4.15 PM –

Confessions

Contact Information: Fr. John Kuriakose,

222 Ridley Blvd,

Toronto, ON, M5M 3M6

Tel: (416) 485 7781

[email protected]

Sunday Liturgy

Malankara Catholic Church St. Mary’s Mission Toronto

St. Eugene’s Chapel◊13 Regina Avenue◊Toronto, Ontario◊M6A 1R2

www.stmarysmalankaracatholicchurchtoronto.ca

[email protected]

Inside the Issue

Saint of the month 2

MCYM famine 3

Lent 4

Snippet from science 5 - 6

Kids Korner 7 - 9

February 2012

© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto

Feb 4 - Women‟s

prayer meeting at

Santhosh & Aswathy‟s

residence

Feb 5 - Monthly youth

meeting

Feb - Sunday School

Ecam

Feb 11-12 - MCYM

Midwest regional con-

ference

Feb 25 - Monthly par-

ish prayer meeting at

Raju & Shirley‟s

residence

Welcome everyone to our second

issue for 2012. The Year started off

with the One day Fasting and Prayer

Event for our parish Youth on January

7th, focusing on the discussion theme

“Soldiers for God: Defending your

Faith.” The event truly helped the

Youth to deepen their faith and em-

brace in the new beginning through

their sacrifice of food for 12 hours.

The event included input sessions

from Rajesh Jacob and our parish

Youth Moderators Ashwathy Mathew

and Amit Mathews; Group Discus-

sions and interactive games that broke

the ice and made the event not only a

spiritual success, but also memorable

and fun! We appreciate our parish

Youth for being exemplary role mod-

els for our children in Sunday school.

The Saint of the Month for February

also demonstrates similar traits

through his actions: St. Auguste. His

life is a story of sacrifices, sufferings

and unquestioned faith in God, a shin-

ing example for all of us. In Kids

Korner this month, we have two mini

feature articles by Anna Shajee and

Sara Shajee, about two outstanding

followers of God who taught us never

to lose hope: St. Alphonsa and Moses.

mailto:[email protected]


Malankara Catholic Church


St. Auguste was born on 6 Janu-

ary 1814 in La Rochelle-Normande,

France. He was the youngest of nine

children born to Nicolas Chapdelaine

and Madeleine Dodeman. Following

grammar school, Auguste dropped

out to work on the family farm. Early

in his life he felt a call to the priest-

hood, but his family opposed it,

needing his help on the farm. How-

ever, the sudden death of two of his

brothers caused them to re-think their

decision, and they finally approved.

He entered the minor seminary at

Mortain on October 1, 1834, study-

ing with boys half his age. This

earned him a nickname, Papa

Chapdelaine, which stuck with him

the rest of his life.

Papa Chapdelaine was ordained on

10 June 1843 at age 29, later on be-

coming an associate pastor in

Bouncy for seven years beginning on

23rd February 1844. In 1851 he final-

ly obtained permission from his bish-

op to enter the foreign missions, and

was accepted by French Foreign

Missions. He was two years past

their age limit, but his zeal for the

missions made them approve him

anyway. He stayed long enough to

say a final Mass, bury his sister, and

say good-bye to his family, warning

them that he would never see them

again. St. Auguste left Paris for the

Chinese missions on 30th April 1852

and landed in Singapore on 5th Sep-

tember 1852.

Due to being robbed on the road by

bandits, Auguste lost everything he

had, and had to fall back and regroup

before making his way to his mission-

ary assignment. He reached Kwang-si

province in 1854, and was arrested in

Su-Lik-Hien ten days later. He spent

two to three weeks in prison, but was

released, and ministered to the locals

for two years, converting hundreds.

Arrested on 26th February 1856 dur-

ing a government strike, he was re-

turned to Su-Lik-Hien and sentenced

to death for preaching about Christi-

anity. Tortured with and died with

Saint Lawrence Pe-Man and Saint

Agnes Tsau Kouy on 29th February

1856 in Su-Lik-Hien, China. He was

beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 27th

May 1900 and canonized by Pope

John Paul II on 1st October 2000. St.

Auguste Chapdelaine‟s feast day is

celebrated on February 27th.

-Isaac Mathew

Saint of the Month- St. Auguste Chapdelaine’s




Many people believe it is a good idea to start of any new beginning, the right way. MCYM Toronto believes in

this too and that is why we start of every New Year with a famine, in fellowship, sacrifice and love. The theme

for this year‟s famine was “Soldiers for God.” We wanted to learn more about how the life of a Catholic young

adult in today‟s world should be and how to be one. The day consisted of fasting for 12 hours on January 7th from

9 am to 9 pm at John Thomas‟ family residence, whom we thank dearly for their hospitality and care. Throughout

these 12 hours, we focused on prayers like the Holy Rosary, Bible reading and reflection which included group

discussions. There were also talks given by our MCYM unit‟s animators, Amit Mathew and Ashwathy Mathew,

and our Sunday School headmaster, Rajesh Jacob. In addition, Holy Mass, an Hour of Eucharistic Adoration,

meditation and Evening prayers were done to deepen our spirituality and relationship with our God, in which our

vicar, Fr. John Kuriakose, had joined us. We also donated the 100+ food items, our parish had gathered for the

Christmas Food Drive, to the food bank of the church, where we attend Holy Mass. This was a blessed experi-

ence in the sense of fasting and at the same time donating food to those in need. At times like this the Prayer of

St. Francis, the patron of MCYM, comes to mind,” For it is in giving, that we receive/ It is in pardoning that we

are pardoned/ and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.” I speak for all those who attended, that striving

to be a “Soldier of God” is the best „New Year‟s resolution‟ we could make and that there is no better way to start

off this blessed year other than with God‟s grace!

- Neil Thazhamon

MCYM Famine 2012




The time is coming. A period of

soul-searching, sacrifice and repent-

ance. A time of self-denial, self re-

flection and almsgiving. As 2012 rolls

into its second month, we as Christians

look forward to the season of Lent.

Lent is the period of 40 days before

Easter that is used to prepare for Holy

Week. Starting on Ash Wednesday,

many of us will partake in solemn re-

flection and decide to give something

up in order to prepare for the Passion

and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In

order to be true to ourselves however,

we have to admit that we are not cele-

brating lent in its fullness. So what

does this mean?

A big part of lent is sacrifice,

but the question arises: Why sacrifice

at all? One of the main reasons you

will hear is so that we can partake in

the suffering of Jesus, particularly

when he went to the desert to fast and

pray for 40 days. But taking on a sac-

rifice should extend beyond this. The

point of sacrifice is to place ourselves

in a state of vulnerability so that it al-

lows the Holy Spirit to work within us.

Imagine the vulnerability of Jesus

when he fasted for 40 days and imag-

ine his weakened physical state during

this time. The irony of the situation

though is that His weakened physical

state was the basis of His strengthened

spiritual state. This is what we try to

accomplish through sacrifice. As Paul

clearly states in Romans 12:1, “I ap-

peal to you therefore, brothers, by the

mercies of God, to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice, holy and accepta-

ble to God, which is your spiritual

worship.” By this account, sacrificing

is an opportunity to fill a void in your

life with the Holy Spirit.

The next big question to answer is:

what constitutes meaningful sacrifice?

LENT What would be the point of

our journey through lent if we felt

forced to embark it? Your mentality

towards the season shouldn‟t be along

the lines of “What should I give up?”

but rather, “How should I give this

up?” Remember that what happens

during lent isn‟t the result of what you

have chosen to abstain from, but what

you do with that abstinence. If your

intentions don‟t extend beyond obli-

gation towards the season, you are

greatly limiting the opportunity for

spiritual growth. Pray that you will

be able to celebrate lent because you

want to celebrate it. From there, eve-

rything will be added unto you.

In conclusion, lent is a season

that gives purpose to our lives, not

only in terms of waiting for Holy

Week, but in terms of the journey to

get there. It is important to under-

stand the meaning of sacrifice, its im-

portance, how to carry out a penance

and what state of grace we should be

in when we celebrate lent. Only after

we have met these criteria will we be

active participants in this journey.

Pray for grace this season and God

bless all of you.

- Jonathan Mani

Of course all of us choose to

give up certain things, but if they mean

nothing to us, then it‟s pointless to even

partake in such an endeavour. As hu-

mans, the only true things that we can

give up is our time and our bodies, and

a way to assess if your sacrifice is

worthwhile is by putting it up against

these two criteria. Ask yourself these

questions: Is what I‟m about to forsake

a common necessity in my life? If so,

will abstinence from such a thing give

me more time to spend with my God?

Will abstinence from such a thing al-

low me to think and reflect upon my

spiritual life? Answering yes to the

first question would be a bodily sacri-

fice and answering yes to the last two

questions would be a sacrifice of time.

So technically, you could give up choc-

olate for lent (if you consider that a

necessity in your life), but would that

bring you closer to God during those 40

days? For some people it may, but for

most of us, the answer is a hard, re-

sounding no. Therefore, you should

choose to sacrifice things that have be-

come ingrained in your lifestyle. That

way, when the urge arises, you can use

that time to pray. That brings up an

additional point. A way to test if what

you are giving up is meaningful to you

and God is to see how tempted you are

to act against it. It may sound strange,

but temptation can work to your benefit

here. The more tempted you are to

break your abstinence, the harder you

should pray, and of course, the harder

you pray, the closer it brings you to

God.

During this season, it is also

important that you pray for piety. Piety

is a feeling of deep reverence for God

and for all things associated with the

church. What this helps us to attain is a

state where we want to do what God

wills, rather than feeling obligated.




THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

And the temple of God was opened in

heaven, and there was seen in his tem-

ple the Ark of His Covenant: and there

was lightning, thunder, an earthquake

and great hail.

Revelations 11:19

The Ark that housed The Ten Com-

mandments

The Ark of the Covenant was first

mentioned in the best selling book of

all time – The Bible. In the intervening

years, the Ark has been the topic of

numerous debates, books, plays, and

even an Indiana Jones movie, Raiders

of the Lost Ark. While it‟s religious

significance is second to none and its

historical importance profound, the

Ark is best known for its mystifying

disappearance! According to the Book

of Exodus, the Ark was made con-

forming to specifications as laid by

God to Moses. It was constructed by

artisan Bezalel, and measured 2½ cu-

bits long, 1½ cubits wide and 1½ cu-

bits high or approximately 4 feet and 2

inches in length and 2¼ feet in both

width and height (or depth) in modern

measurement (Exodus 37: 1). Made

from acacia wood, and coated inside

and out with pure gold, it was perfect

for its task: to house the tablets upon

which God had inscribed the Ten

Commandments. The Ark also con-

tained Aaron‟s rod, a jar of manna,

and the first Torah scroll as written by

Moses (Hebrews 9: 4). Four golden

rings adorned the ark‟s corners where

posts could be inserted for carrying it.

Its cover was sculpted entirely of gold,

with two cherubs guarding each end

(Exodus 25: 12-15). The space be-

tween the cherubims was thought to be

God‟s throne and the Ark God‟s foot-

stool, a symbol of the pact between

God and the people of Israel; hence, the

Ark of the “Covenant.” So, where is the

Ark of the Covenant?

Legends of the Lost Ark

From the moment Solomon‟s temple

was built, the Ark was housed there in

the sanctuary known as the Holy of Ho-

lies, which the high priest entered but

once a year, on the Day of Atonement.

Earlier, the Israelites carted the Ark

along with them from place to place be-

cause it possessed potent power with

which no mortal could contend or chal-

lenge – most notably when it was taken

into battle (1 Samuel 4: 4-5). On one

occasion, when the Ark was carried be-

fore the people of Israel, the waters of

the Jordan River stopped flowing and

dried up (Joshua 4: 7). The Ark was also

instrumental in reducing the mighty sto-

ried walls of Jericho to rubble (Joshua 6:

6-20). Curiously, after its account of the

first temple‟s destruction (around 586

BC), the Bible makes one last mention

of the Ark in the second book of Macca-

bees: the Ark was hidden by prophet

Jeremiah in a cave on Mount Nebo, in

present day Jordan (2 Maccabees 2: 4-

7). However, since the books of Macca-

bees were Deuterocanonical (from the

Second Canon) and not universally ac-

cepted by all Christians, this theory has

been very controversial fanning the fires

to even more questions. What happened

to the Ark? When the temple was re-

built, why did it no longer house the

Ark? Is the Ark still resting in the cave

where prophet Jeremiah concealed it or

was it subsequently removed? Why was

it hidden in the first place? These ques-

tions have perplexed Bible scholars,

theologians, archeologists and historians

for centuries. Interestingly, Mount Nebo

is also rumored to be the site of Moses‟

death. How fitting it

Nebo is also rumored to be the site of

Moses‟ death. How fitting it would be

for the father of the Law to be buried by

the base of the mountain where the Ten

Commandments found their final resting

place! The Ark could finally rest but the

legends begin. One legend has King

Josiah hiding the Ark under an unspeci-

fied wood shed. Two prominent Israeli

rabbis have asserted that the Ark is hid-

den in a cave beneath the Temple

Mount in Jerusalem, directly under the

site where the Holy of Holies stood dur-

ing the temple periods.

‘X’ does not mark the spot

The best-known legend for the Ark‟s

disappearance has the fabled chest end-

ing up in Ethiopia. When Menelik (King

Solomon‟s son with the Queen of She-

ba) rose in prominence, the elders of

Israel were forced to compete for the

King‟s attention. None too pleased with

the situation; the elders demanded that

Menelik return to his mother, the Queen

of Sheba. Solomon concurred, but on

one condition: that the elders of the land

each send their first-born son to Ethio-

pia alone with Menelik. So, Menelik

left the Promised Land with Azarius,

son of Zadok the high priest. But he did

not leave empty handed. Before depart-

ing, Menelik crept stealthily into the

temple and stole the Ark of the Cove-

nant. And the Ark is said to remain se-

cretly hidden away in an Ethiopian

church‟s chapel. Another similar legend

places the Ark in Elephantine, Egypt.

The Jews from this region petitioned

Jerusalem for permission to build a tem-

ple of their own. The nature of this re-

quest was extremely controversial – and

it is therefore hardly surprising that it

took a whole two centuries for it to

come to fruition. But it did: The son of

the high priest at the time carried out the

request and build the temple at Aswan.




Almost all early Christian, Jewish and Moslem traditions

have some popular Ark legend passed through the gener-

ations as part of folklore and only one thing is certain.

It‟s extremely well hidden and the site is unmarked; so

much so that centuries of treasure hunting have been of

no avail. The search continues to this day.

What if?

Theories and legends about the Ark of the Covenant are

many, and it is interesting to speculate about the effect its

discovery might have on everything from Middle-East

politics to the separation of Church and the State. Would

the discovery of the Ark create accord or discord among

groups that place faith in the Old Testament? From the

Bible, we do know that the Ark is a source of unfathoma-

ble power; and men have never been good with power.

History is testimony to the adage that “power corrupts;

and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” There‟s hardly a

doubt that the discovery of the Ark will be the greatest

archeological, historic and scientific discovery of all

time, and would rewrite the history of History. However,

the discovery also has the potential to unleash a new

chapter of unrest in a region plagued by troubles. Per-

haps, it‟s best that the Ark of the Covenant remains hid-

den and obscure in the mists of antiquity.

Next month: The Queen of Sheba

Stay tuned!

- Amit Mathews

St. Alphonsa

St. Alphonsa is one of the most famous saints from Kerala, India.

Her early life is well known and well documented. Although, she lost

her mother at a very young age, she grew up in faith and showed

reverence to God. She loved God more than anything else and at a

young age she decided to follow God. Her aunt tried to force her into

marriage but she refused knowing whom she really wanted to be with.

This was a major challenge in her life but she overcame it by burning

her legs and destroying her physical beauty reasoning that no man

would like a physically deformed woman to be his wife. This proved

that she had a different call and wanted to follow Almighty God.

Her wish came true on May 19, 1930 when she became a nun and

took her vows to serve God for the rest of her life. She worked for

God and her strong faith never faded. After a couple of years she was

bed- ridden because of a disease and she died. All through her

sufferings she never gave up hope and thanked God for the pain and

asked for even more. She accepted everything without any complaints

whatsoever. We can all learn a lesson from her life and thank God

through our bad times. It’s good to always remember no one has

suffered as much as Jesus suffered from the time he was arrested till

his last breath at the cross. St.Alphonsa should always be a role

model for each one of us. Ask for her intercession for she will be a

great help through your difficult times.

By Anna Shajee

Moses

A son was born to an Israelite woman. The mother managed to hide

the baby boy, for she feared that the King of Egypt would kill him.

She managed to hide him for three months. After three months,

she could not hide her son any longer. With hope, she put her son in

a basket and placed him in the shallow waters at the edge of the

river Nile. In the meantime Pharaoh’s daughter came to take a bath

in the river. Suddenly, she noticed a basket floating in the waters

peacefully and had her maid open it. There was a baby boy inside!

The baby was so adorable that the princess wanted him for herself.

She named him Moses. Now Miriam, the baby’s sister, was watching.

Miriam asked if the princess wanted a maid for the baby. Yes a maid

was needed! So begins, the story of one of the most important

character from the Bible.

Moses was an important person to God, because he was the chosen

person to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and from slavery.

The truth about his identity was revealed to him in due time and he

accepted the fact that he was a Hebrew himself. It was Moses who

led the people out of slavery, and led them across the Red Sea.

When the Pharaoh’s guards chased the Israelites, it was God who

performed a great miracle by parting the Red Sea. Whenever God

got angry with his people, it was Moses who pleaded with God to not

punish them. It was Moses who received the Ten Commandments of

the Lord at Mount Sinai. He obeyed the Lord and lived a good life.

Even though Moses died before entering the land of Canaan he was

able to see the Promised Land. Moses was a very important person in

the history of Israel.

Done By: Sara Rachel Shajee

February 2012

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Transcript of February 2012