Dimapur, Feb 1, 2020: Catholics are called to spread inner joy like light in the world and it can come only from God, says Justice Kurian Joseph, former Supreme Court judge.

“Wealth, power, or positions cannot remove darkness; only God’s light can remove darkness,” Justice Kurian told opening session of the 36th annual convention of the Catholic Association of Nagaland on January 31 at Dimapur, the commercial capital of the northeastern Indian state.

The three-day convention has chosen as the theme, “Be the light that shines in the darkness.” It began with Mass led by Bishop James Thoppil of Kohima.

Justice Kurian, who was the chief guest, commended the joyous nature of Naga people and said he was fortunate to be in the land of festivals. “Unless you are joyful, you cannot have festivals,” said the native of Kerala state who was on his maiden visit to Nagaland.

“Unless you have inner joy, you may need external aides to be happy but if you have inner joy, you don’t need any other external joys,” said the daily Mass attendant. External joys, he added, are only temporary. “Inner joy can be only given by the Creator,” he asserted and shared that his philosophy in his life is built on three principles — “nothing is impossible with my God, everything is possible with my God, and my God will not leave me empty handed.”

He urged the Naga Catholics to ponder on questions such as “have I been able to remove darkness in my workplace or the society I live in?” Also emphasizing that there should be life in light and light in life, he said, “We are called to shine in the world as light and we will be able to shine only if we display light.”

“Unless we are charged to the source, we are not in a position to discharge that light”, he added and further expressed “only if we shine, darkness in the world can be removed.

He also told the congregation to “enjoy the company of God” while sharing his own personal journey of faith.

A one minute silence was also observed in memory of the deceased CAN leaders and members.

On the second day, Justice Joseph delivered a talk on “Role of the laity in the Church and society” and Salesian provincial Father A J Sebastian, spoke about the ‘The four Marian Dogmas in the Catholic Church.’

Source: Morung Express News