Fr Dr K M George

18/03/2026

POLAR ICE

Our mother earth has two beautiful ice caps – one on the north Pole, the Arctic and the other on the south, the Antarctic. Scientists tell us that these caps are very ancient. The one in the Antarctic region is about 34 million years old, while the other in the Arctic pole is about 3- 4 millions.

This massive mountains of snow and ice, glassiers and ice sheets protect us from excessive heat and keep the earth cooler since they reflect a lot of the sun’s rays back to space. They maintain the sea levels, influence ocean currents and control the climate of the Earth. They also provide unique habitats for polar bears, seals and emperor Penguins.

A major environmental problem for the planet earth is the melting of these ice caps gradually formed since the Ice Age. We have already begun to see the disastrous consequence of the melting of polar ice. Raising the sea level it can drown many great cities and even countries like Bangladesh that lie low. Global warming due to human activity speeds up the melting of the ice caps, and that in turn intensifies the global warming process - a vicious circle.
The most tragic paradox today is the “scientific” exploration of the polar regions initiated by powerful governments in the name of progressive science and advanced research in meteorology and biology. Scientists know very well that even nano particles of plastic are now detected in polar snow. Massive equipments , and large number of explorers sent by the governments with ulterior motives really pollute the poles. In the name of scientific inquiry, political powers are looking for profit-making resource like oil, natural gas, minerals as well as political and military conquest of the region.

In short, the polar region could be a future battlefield if we judge by what is happening today in our world, particularly in West Asia. Think of ballistic missiles, drones and bombs and even nuclear weapons blasting the region and contaminating the purity and deep silence of the polar regions. It is totally unthinkable for any human person brought up even with some modest degree of civilized human behavior , even the slightest notion of law and order and some trace of compassion to fellow creatures on this planet.

Polar ice is holy like all other natural resources . Greedy humans should not trample underfoot the virgin snow and the sacred ice cap. Its holiness is similar to the holiness of virgin forests like the Amazon. Moses face-to-face with the burning bush was asked by God: “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

The peoples of the world should be able to tell their mad rulers who are driven by lust for power, vengeance and the unthinkable greed to conquer: ‘Do not come come closer to the Poles, for the earth where you are standing is holy and pure. Cast away your dirty panoply of power and weapons for the sake of the future of life on this holy planet”.

“Holy to the holy and pure “-St James Liturgy.

(Kmg, 18 March 2026)

17/03/2026

OCEAN

The ocean is a great mystery. About 80% of it is still unexplored. All oceans are connected, though we call them by different names. It’s all just one body of salt water. Maybe we can call it ‘ world ocean’ as well.

The deepest ocean point is about 11 km deep, in the Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean . If You place Mount Everest at this point, its peak will still be 2 km underwater.( Everest’s height is 8848.86 m)

We differentiate between a sea and an ocean, but the difference is only a matter of size and partial enclosure by land. Example: the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The adventure of setting sail to cross the ocean by Christopher Columbus (1492), and then by Vasco da Gama in (1497) shaped all the geopolitical, religious-cultural landscape of the present world we inhabit. Although we have deep and bitter disagreements with the colonial- missionary movement of the European powers initiated by Columbus and da Gama, we should acknowledge the great adventure they dared.

I remember visiting the port Restelo in Lisbon, Portugal, where Vasco da Gama and his large crew prayed the whole night in the chapel of Restelo before sailing to India. We heard stories about a huge crowd of mothers, wives, and children gathering there and bitterly wailing as their men left for unknown lands over dangerous oceans. No expectations for their safe return. But that European adventure changed the history of the world up to now in the 21st century. Both Columbus and Gama planned to reach India though they had only heard about a legendary India.

It is strange India is surrounded by the ocean/ sea on all three sides, but Indians never ventured into the Ocean. In fact it was taboo to cross the sea, even at the time of Mahatma Gandhi in the late 19th century. We do not know if it was out of respect for the boundless ocean or just out of laziness or lack of imagination..

We are familiar with the expression “ oceanic feeling” introduced by the French writer Romain Rolland in a letter to Sigmund Freud,.. It has mystical- philosophical undertones, and denotes the psychic-spiritual experience of losing oneself into infinite vastness and being deeply connected with the world. Oceanic feeling transcends the separate identity of the ego that dissolves into the total reality.

Some of the philosophically inclined early Fathers of Church compares God’s Being to an “ocean without shores”- an amazing imagery! They also say that human sin is just like drop of dirt in the infinitely vast ocean of God’s compassion.
In a saying attributed to Christopher Columbus he says “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Without ever caring for such philosophical rumination and the experience of the infinity of the ocean, our modern civilization seems to be interested only in exploiting the enormous marine wealth of oil and natural gas, of fish and seafood, of minerals and pearls. In return we pollute it with all the fatal waste of our consumerist life, and our wars and violence.

We will certainly be confronted by the Creator of the oceans with that decisive question faced by Job : “ Where were you when I laid the foundation of the Earth? ( Job 38:4).

(Kmg, 17 March 2026)

16/03/2026

Rock

Rock has played a major role in human civilization, both material and spiritual. The first form of human art appeared in the form of drawings and paintings on the rocky walls of caves some 40,000 years ago. Think of the gigantic blocks of stone used in the Egyptian pyramids, and in the Great Wall of China. Remember the celebrated sculptures of Michelangelo created out of marble, a form of rock.

In biblical history, Moses received the Ten Commandments on a tablet of rock. You still can see neatly split thin granite slabs on top of Mount Sinai. ( Some of us retain the vivid memory of climbing by night to the top of Mount Sinai in 2011, walking and camel riding for some 7 hours from the famous Saint Catherine’s monastery in the Sinai desert in Egypt ). While the people of Israel were wandering in the desert for 40 years, they complained to Moses that they had no water. Moses struck the rock with his stick and water flowed out for the people. In a parable Jesus himself praised the wisdom of the man who built his house on rocky ground and not over sandy terrain. He would even rename his chief disciple Simon as Petros meaning rock in Greek.
In India the emperor Ashoka after his conversion to Buddhist ideas of peace and nonviolence, installed in different parts of his empire his celebrated Rock Edicts containing instructions for people on moral, environmental and interfaith conduct of life rooted in compassion , tolerance, and harmony.

In spiritual literature, the Rock has become an important metaphor. For example, the rock of faith, God as the rock of refuge, and the rock of salvation.

However, if we look at the physical status of the original rock formation we get a different picture . The crust or the outer layer of our planet earth is massively rocky. It is divided into several tectonic plates, and the plates gently move over the mantle of the Earth, the solid but slightly flexible part of the inner core at temperature at about 4000 degree Celsius. The division between various continents depends on the movement of these gigantic rocky tectonic plates. Their movement creates earthquakes and volcanoes as well as mountains and valleys over millions of years.

We build huge structures and skyscrapers on Rocky terrains, assuming that they are solid and immovable. For example, the legendary skyscrapers in Manhattan, New York, including the now vanished World Trade Centre , were built on incredibly strong bedrock.

In our moral discourse, we take rock as analogy for hard heartedness and inflexible stubbornness. But looking at the geological picture you see that there is no rock that cannot melt, move or crumble to dust. And there is no human heart that cannot repent and renew itself. This is our hope for the future of humanity . But we see no such sign in the hardened hearts of the war lords of our world today. However, they too will repent, but may be too late and futile, for the demonic crime they commit against humanity by the mad use of wealth, weapons and power. However, let us not fall into despair, but continue to pray for this “world that God so loved”, and for the melting of the rocky hearts of the world rulers. There is no rock that cannot melt or be crushed to powder.

(Kmg, 16 March 2026)

11/03/2026

Lake

Two lakes in biblical geography at the time of Jesus are famous. But they are also called seas. The sea or the lake of Galilee, and the lake called the Dead Sea.

The major contrast between them is that the lake of Galilee is a freshwater body and the Dead Sea is a highly concentrated salt water body. The first one receives water mainly from the Jordan and flows out to keep its water pure. The DeadSea always receives water but never flows out. Its saltiness increases to the point of death for all living organisms.

Many daring touristic visitors to modern Israel, must have eaten the legendary Peter’s fish from the Sea of Galilee, and must have dared to enjoy the floating sensation in the Dead sea. People with Thalassophobia or fear of deep and vast water bodies like the ocean maybe more comfortable with lakes because they are not as deep and risky.

Jesus deeply loved the lake of Galilee though he was not a fisherman by training like Andrew and Peter, James and John. He called the sea workers as his first disciples and not carpenters who belonged to his own trade. Some of the important incidents and teachings in the life of Jesus took place in and around the lake of Galilee, also called the sea of Tiberias or the lake of Gennesaret. Jesus loved to stay on the sea side during the day, and occasionally enjoyed a boat ride with his disciples . He was totally relaxed and slept well in the boat even when the lake became stormy and tumultuous. It was something similar to a child-like trust in the lap of the mother Sea. Sometimes when evening came he would say to the disciples “ Let us go over to the other side” This crossing the waterbody reminds one of a spiritual seeker after “Theertha” in India. Jesus was then a theerthadaka, a pilgrim, ever on the move over the rising and falling of the waves, contemplating the ever receding horizon and the unmanifest Reality that lay beyond. The thickening blackhole of the night would then vibrate with pulsating particles of light. Jesus knew that deep beneath fresh water lakes there are hidden fountains and streams that continually enhanced the water’s life-giving purity and transparency.

(KMG, 11 March 2026)

10/03/2026

Waterfalls

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls. (Psalm 42:7)
Deep in my childhood memories the soothing, showering sound of a mini waterfall still echoes. It was caused by a gentle stream that ran through our ancestral property, and flowed steeply from a cliff down to some 25 feet below. We children enjoyed playing under its refreshing shower of crystalline water. In quiet nights I could sleep listening to its somniferous humming. Ever since that early experience every waterfall, big or small, from charming Athirappally to roaring Niagra continued to enchant me.

In fact, Waterfalls are an eternal fascination for anybody anywhere . Still, we do not know the secret of its universal allurement. Although the multifaceted Leonardo da Vinci, engineer, artist, poet and scientist, initiated the study of fluid mechanics, he never ceased to be puzzled by the mystery of the waterfall.
When the psalmist sings that the “deep calls to deep in the great roaring of the waterfalls” he must have experienced a very profound mystical sensation of the depth of existence where the levels and means of communication are far beyond our sensory and verbal exchanges. Some would interpret it as the quest of the individual soul for realization and union with God.

It seems the Zen Buddhist tradition has some insights into the enigmatic charm of waterfalls. Their teachers point to both the impermanence and the authentic nature of the element of water. If you look at the steadily falling water threads they look stable, but in fact they are flowing, and so they are impermanent. Also, the falling water shows its true nature, that is, it always flows to lower levels, and never flows up.

These characteristics are very important in the Buddhist spiritual tradition of one seeking one’s genuine identity. The waterfall, therefore, becomes a crucial image in Zen Buddhism.

Whatever be the interpretation, the common people love to see the dazzling spectacle of sparkling silver threads, the misty aura of water droplets, the de-stressing melody and the occasional glow of some rainbow colours around a waterfall. A gracious touch of heaven in the cleansing, refreshing showers from above!

( kmg, 10 March 2026)

10/03/2026

കോട്ടയത്തമ്മയുടെ സ്രഷ്ടാവായ കാനായി കുഞ്ഞിരാമന് ആദരം

09/03/2026

LILY

“And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”
(Matthew 6:28–29)

Anyone who learns to draw and paint begins to observe objects around them in more and more fine details - shape and form, light and shade, depth and projection, tonal values and blending of colors, and so on. But this is only an elementary stage. Creative artists begin with physical reality but move on to ever new aesthetic dimensions that may contradict our usual logic and sense of beauty. Artists like Pablo Picasso or MF Hussain were not always understood by those whose perceptions of art and beauty remained caged in some parochial perspectives and sectarian standards.

King Solomon was praised as the unique model of royal glory and splendor, opulence and magnificence in Jewish rabbinical tradition. Jesus, a Jew and a popular teacher or Rabbi, said that one of those tiny wild flowers in the field was more splendidly dressed than Solomon in all his glorious regal vestments. Self-assuming Jewish teachers must have thought of Jesus the untaught Galilean as simply foolish, or out of his mind or outright heretical.

The wild lily is too small and unimpressive a flower that human beings hardly notice them. While walking over the meadows in Spring, they unknowingly crush those feeble flowers underfoot.
The eyes of Jesus penetrated the veneer of things unlike those of ordinary artists, and recognized the amazing complexity of that humble flower. This is something similar to scanning a very ordinary thing using an electron microscope. What you see then is radically different from the usual. A small live flower with an intricate structure and pulsating colours is compared to the finely spun but dead royal outfit of King Solomon. Life in the simple flower is that matters and it is contrasted with the lifelessly artificial and the pretentiously pompous. Here is an aesthetic vision that inverted the worldly standards considered as normal.

It is the same sharp and tender eyes of Jesus that fell on the ugly and untouchable l***r, the bent old woman, the helpless paralytic, the desperate Canaanite woman, the despised blind man, the condemned woman caught in adultery, the possessed madman…Ugliness,untouchability , contempt, and marginalization give way to beauty,embrace, healing and inclusion. This is the upending of the so called logical and the normal.

Jesus makes use of the plural. Not one, but many lilies of the field! There was only one glorious Solomon, but tens of thousands of wild flowers that excelled him in beauty and glory! The Plural eclipses the claims of the self-assuming Singular.

( Kmg, 9 March 2026)

07/03/2026

VALLEY

“In the valley of silence
I found my soul,
And in the stillness between two hills
my heart heard
the whisper of eternity.
For the valley is not empty
it is the cup that gathers the voices of heaven.”
(attributed to Khalil Gibran).

Some 12 years ago I visited the Bsharre village up in the mountains of Lebanon, and stayed for a few days near the birthplace of the celebrated poet Khalil Gibran. Bsharre village overlooks the ancient Qadisha Valley. On the steep rocky mountain sides of the Holy ( =Qadisha) valley Christian monks and believers cut into the rock and built monasteries, caves for hermits and churches.
For some 1600 years the valley provided protection for the inhabitants from various conquerors. We can also see legendary Cedars of Lebanon protected in the valley. ( As I write these words, some 120 km away from the deeply quiet Quadisha valley, part of the city of Beirut on the eastern Mediterranean is literally under fire, quivering from fatal missiles and bombs. The stillness and silence of the Holy Valley could be broken by the deafening violence and helpless moaning of people from down there).

Brought up in traditional Christian homes in Kerala, we children were taught to babble the 23rd Psalm at the age of 3 to 4.
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me..”

We children never understood what that frightening phrase “valley of the shadow of death” meant. Much later to our dismay we understood a little bit, but we are comforted to know that the Great Shepherd’s compassionate rod and staff protect us from all fear of evil. In these dark days the arrogant and self seeking masters of the world show no pity for the common people who elect them, enthrone them, and feed them. Let us pray, ‘ Lord, have mercy’, and return to that hearty hymn of absolute trust, contentment and gratitude that we used to recite as little children.

( kmg, 7 March 2026)

06/03/2026

06/03/2026

Starry Nights

The Greek philosopher Plato, evoking Socrates, said: “Wonder is the beginning of knowledge”. The biblical statement “Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”( Proverbs 9:10) is very similar.
The human ability to experience amazement at whatever they see is the first source of all philosophy, literature, science, mathematics and technology until today . The best way to wonderment is to gaze at the starry sky.

Faith also starts with wonder. Abraham (Abram)was very sad and desperate that he had no children. He shut himself up in his humiliating lack of self worth. But “ God took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” (Genesis 15:5).

Star-gazing saved Abram’s life, rooted him in faith and made him the father of nations. His children were to be “ as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore” ( Genesis 15:5).

This expression is still being used in modern astronomy to indicate that the number of stars in our universe is uncountable even with very advanced telescopes. Carl Sagan, well known astronomer who was passionate about finding life outside the planet Earth, used to say that for every grain of sand on earth there are 10,000 stars in the sky.

Stargazing is one of the most ancient passions of highly intelligent mathematicians and astronomers, particularly in countries like present Iraq, and Iran (Persia). There are amazing observations about constellations of stars in the book of Job.

Our modern instruments like the Hubble telescope and the more advanced and complex James Webb Space Telescope continue to explore the universe, revealing new galaxies with billions of stars in every galaxy. This process is never complete because the universe is inflationary and is expanding with ever accelerating speed. Our contemporary astronomers will tell us with some humility that we know only a little trace, about 4 or 5 percent, of what is there. We are unable even to imagine what lies beyond. The number of stars they estimate on the basis of the number of galaxies is very approximate and uncertain. Does it mean anything to us when they say stars could be
1 septillion or
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000?

Stars have always been the guiding lights for the navigators on uncertain seas. A special star guided the three Persian magi to the newborn infant Jesus.

Stars can influence life on Earth with gravitational and electromagnetic forces as well as with various cosmic rays. Bbut the great Christian teachers never subscribed to the astrological belief that human destiny is decided by stars, planets and their movements.
Instead, they affirmed human free will guided by the discerning Spirit of God as decisive for shaping our history and destiny.
Jesus routinely departed from the crowd in the evenings and gazed at the starry night sky over Galleon landscapes.

Likewisewe if we dare to practise meditative stargazing whenever possible we will be enabled to share, even in a meager measure, the mystery of the star-decked universe and the gracious providence of our heavenly Father.

( kmg 6 March 2026)

05/03/2026

Rain.

In our ancient prayers the biblical expression “showers of blessing” appears very often ( Ezekiel 34:26). Rain is heavens blessing for the parched earth, but, of course, rain in moderation, in between the extremes of drought and flood. We in India rejoice at the first sign of Monsoon clouds after a very hot summer. But there is deep anxiety too with it as we hear and see the thundering clouds flashing deadly lightnings. Could it be a devastating flood this time?

In spiritual and poetic literature rain is often a metaphor. It stands for the tenderness of God for the soul that is arid and thirsty . “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water”.(Psalm 63:1).

It is our deep yearning for some trace of meaning when life turns blank and even absurd. Poet Tagore craves for the inner rain likewise: “The horizon is fiercely naked — not the thinnest cover of a soft cloud.”

Rain and moisture make all
dry seeds sprout. It is life that thus germinates. No life on earth if there is no rain. In spite of all our advanced scientific inventions and the military might of the nations, humanity still depends absolutely on the natural cycle of rain and rivers, mist and moisture for life. That is why rain is considered as grace, tenderness and the life-giving touch of heaven. West Asia on the eastern Mediterranean is essentially a desert region where the craving for the showers of rain’s blessings , both spiritual and physical, have always been intense. Now paradoxically human greed and pride shower missiles, drones and shells or just fire over fellow human beings in west Asia and the Persian Gulf regions . The lord of darkness in the form political rulers now reigns supreme. Dear friends, Let us hold fast and pray to God our Creator all the more intensely to shower his tender mercy and soften the hard hearts of the powers to be, and save the people from the evil power of darkness. God bless you.

(Kmg 5 March 2026)

01/03/2026

Leaves.

The other day, while walking in the Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi with a friend of mine, I noticed a poster that read: “Do not burn the leaves. Bury them.”

This is, of course, a wise nature-friendly tip. Burning leaves naturally adds smoke and carbon dioxide to the already polluted atmosphere. Delhiites already know the consequence of stubble burning in Punjab after every harvest .

Dead or alive leaves play a major role in the cycle of plant life. While living they keep chlorophyll for photosynthesis and nourish the plant. After death the degenerating leaves create natural fertilizer for plants and trees. Both functions are integral to the life of the trees. So strictly speaking, we cannot draw any big contrast between life and death in the case of leaves.
In fact, this is true or all living organisms, including the human species.

From a biological point of view, life is a cycle, and therefore no starting or end point in the circle. Add to it the cyclic rhythm of the seasons, and the cosmic cycles of the sun, moon and stars . This phenomenon underlines the concept of history and time as cyclic. There is an eternal return. Birth and rebirth are in cyclic succession. There is, of course, rewards for a life well lived and judgement that awaits evil doers .

The biblical understanding of time and history as illustrated in Christianity and other Semitic traditions is more like an arrow, a straight line. Time never returns. Therefore, the human ethical and moral responsibility to accomplish life truthfully according to the divine plan is very high. Because there is a judgment at the end, and eternal heaven and hell are poised before us there is a certain urgency to live out the life in truth, hope and love.
Both these worldviews can be brought together for a better understanding of our world reality as in the case of leaves. They are born and they die, but both are integrally tied to each other serving the life of the tree.

As we almost finished our stroll, a sudden gust of wind stroked the trees. Yellow and orange-red leaves started falling. They, however, didn’t fall to ground in a straight line, but zigzagging and dancing all the way in a gentle fall to death. How great it is to be able to dance gleefully back to Mother Earth!
God bless you.

(Kmg)