BURNT ALIVE FOR LOVE
Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) was walking along a forest path. He saw a
place burnt by a wild forest fire. Searching among the ruins he found the
charred body of a large bird, burnt to death. The Sadhu was curious to know why
the flying bird did not escape from the forest fire. He touched the charred
body of the burnt bird with a stick. The bird's charred body fell down to
either side, revealing two lovely young birds which were not harmed by the fire. The birdlets opened their tiny mouths as if
to demand a feed.
He could easily trace the
truth behind the scene. It was a demonstration of lofty love and supreme
sacrifice. The mother bird
had rushed to the scene and flown into the raging fire to save her chicks. In
spite of her earnest efforts, she could not save them or carry them away from
the fire. So she made her last attempt to save them. She tightly covered the
young birds completely with her own body in an earnest embrace. The fire burnt
her alive, but she could protect her chicks by voluntarily offering her own
body to get burnt and charred to death. That was a case of sacrificial love, a love
without limits.
The Sadhu used to quote this incident while preaching about the infinite
love of Jesus who died on the Cross to save each of us from the fire of sin.
Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? That is what happens when a mother agrees to kill her unborn innocent infant by abortion. Even if a mother should forget her child, God will never forget the child. Persons who have directly or indirectly co-operated in an act of abortion should repent for their cruel action and seek God's mercy to forgive their sin. They should devote their life to love and serve the poor, little children, as a mark of their repentance.
Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? That is what happens when a mother agrees to kill her unborn innocent infant by abortion. Even if a mother should forget her child, God will never forget the child. Persons who have directly or indirectly co-operated in an act of abortion should repent for their cruel action and seek God's mercy to forgive their sin. They should devote their life to love and serve the poor, little children, as a mark of their repentance.
Jesus taught, "My commandment is this: love one
another, just as I love you. The greatest love a person can have for his
friends is to give his life for them" {John 15: 12, 13}.
St. John reminds us, “My children, our love should
not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action” {1
John 3:18}.
St. Paul advises, “Since
you are God’s dear children, you must try to be like him. Your life must be
controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a
sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God” {Ephesians 5:
1, 2}.
God spoke through Isaiah, "Can a woman forget her own baby and
not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will
never forget you" {Isaiah 49:
15}.
................................................................................................................
© By: Prof.
Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science &
Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's
College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St. Antony's Public
School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil
John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
For more moral stories, parables and
anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit
our web-sites:
This is Story No. 270 in the second site. Please click ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of a page to read previous stories
and click 'Newer Posts' at the
bottom of a page to read newer stories in these sites. Please click on a word
in the 'Story Themes' to read
stories on that theme.
No comments:
Post a Comment