The Best of all is God with us

  When Hidden Guilt Surfaces: A Pastoral Reflection on Sri Lanka’s Current Unrest Sri Lanka is passing through a season of deep unease. Sudden deaths, unexpected confessions, and high‑profile interrogations have unsettled the national conscience. Beneath the political noise lies something more human, more fragile, and more spiritually significant: the eruption of long‑suppressed guilt and unhealed trauma . This is not merely a political moment. It is a psychological and moral moment — a moment that invites us to look honestly at the wounds we carry as individuals and as a nation. 1. The Burden of Suppressed Guilt Guilt is not an enemy. It is a moral signal — the conscience calling us back to truth. But when guilt is buried, denied, or silenced, it does not disappear. It becomes: a quiet fear of exposure a restlessness of the mind a tendency toward aggression a deepening sense of insecurity Psychologists call this suppressed guilt , and it of...

  Fasting Unto Death: What Do Our Religions Really Teach? The news of Suresh Salley’s decision to fast unto death while under CID detention has stirred strong emotions across the country. Whatever one’s political position, his act forces us to confront a deeper moral and spiritual question: How do the great religious traditions view self‑destruction and the choice to embrace death through fasting? Buddhism Buddhism places the highest value on ahimsa —non‑harm toward all beings, including oneself. Intentionally ending one’s life, even through fasting, is generally seen as an unwholesome act rooted in suffering, not liberation. The Buddha consistently discouraged self‑mortification and taught the Middle Path as the way to transform injustice, not self‑destruction. Hinduism Hindu thought also upholds the sanctity of life. While ancient texts mention prayopavesa —a disciplined fast unto death—it is permitted only under extremely narrow conditions: old age, terminal illness, and...

  Understanding “The Other’s World of Pain” — A Calling at the Heart of Pastoral Care In every pastoral encounter, we step into a moment that is sacred and fragile — the now of another person’s life. At that moment, the person before you may be living within what I call “their world of pain.” It is the space where psychological, spiritual, and physical suffering converge. It may not have existed last week, and it may be gone tomorrow, but here and now it is real, and it defines the person’s experience. Your task as pastoral caregivers is not to fix that pain, nor to rush past it, but to enter it with reverence . Pain is not simply a problem to be solved; it is a language to be listened to. It speaks of loss, fear, guilt, loneliness, and sometimes of hope struggling to survive. When you meet someone in their world of pain, you are meeting them at the most honest point of their humanity. When engaged in pastoral conversation — we must to be relentless pursuers of pain . This d...