Quiet Day in UTC

The first Quiet Day of the academic year 2015-16 of the United Theological College will be held today and tomorrow in the Ziegenbalg chapel of the UTC. Monsignor Fr. Dr. S. Jayanathan, the director of the Archdiocesan Communication Centre of the Catholic Church, Bangalore Archdiocese will be the Quiet Day leader. The Quiet Day sessions start today evening at 8 P.M. and continue tomorrow at 8:30 A.M., 11 A.M. and 3 P.M.

Monsignor Fr. Jayanathan is the Vicar General of the diocese and has held various positions in different churches and institutions of the Catholic Church in Bangalore. He is a well known preacher and retreat leader.

Quiet Day on July 29 and 30

The United Theological College Bangalore

QUIET DAY

Tuesday and Wednesday, 29^th and 30^th, July 2014

Theme

“For Such a Times as This: Discerning Christian Public Witness”

                                                                    Leaders
 

Dr. Gladson Jathanna

Professor of History of Christianity, 

Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore

and

Mr. Santhosh George Joseph

Theatre and Media Catalyst,

Kanthari International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs, Kerala 

Rev. Dr. Gnana Robinson preaches for Quiet day

The quiet day and retreat for the third term in the United Theological College was held on March 4 and 5 in the Ziegenbalg chapel. The preacher for the quiet day was Rev. Dr. Gnana Robinson, the former principal of the UTC and the founder president of the Peace Trust, Kanyakumari.

In his four meditations Dr. Robinson challenged the UTC community to think about the real reason for theological education. He lamented on the present state of affairs in the country and various churches.  Corruption, lack of transparency and misuse of power is becoming rampant and nothing is being done to stop it.

Dr.Gnana Robinson explained to the community that knowing God is eternal life. He further reminded everyone that we all have to ask ourselves the question as to “why are we here?"

The worship convener Rev. Dr. Evangeline Anderson Rajkumar, the chief chapel steward Mr. Raja Samuel and the bhajan secretary Mr. Aby Thomas did the arrangements for bhajans, hymns and worship orders and showed a couple of documentaries in between.

Bishop Devasahayam preaches for quiet day in UTC

The Quiet Day retreat for the first term of the academic year 2013-14 was held in the UTC on July 30 and 31 in the Ziegenbalgh chapel of the UTC. The Rt. Rev. Dr. V. Devasahayam, the bishop of the CSI Madras diocese lead the sessions for the quiet day retreat. 

Bishop Devasahayam spoke on the UTC theme for the year “Christian discipleship: Call, cost and commitment.” He spoke at length on all the sub themes and developed a spirituality which can be emulated by theological students and future pastors. He brought in the need for spiritual development centres in theological colleges.

The bishop developed the theme of a Christian call by saying that a call is not dependent on human merit or virtues. God fancies calling the meek to put to shame the powerful. He said that “God does not call the qualified but qualifies the called.” The call for discipleship is also a call for a new life. One should be child like and be ready to change. Discipleship also implies companionship. It is being in the company of Jesus. Discipleship suggests following. The shepherd is the father, the sheep the people, Jesus the gate and the Holy Spirit the gate keeper. One should resemble Christ and commit to the values of the kingdom.

 Bishop Devasahayam expressed that discipleship is collective discipleship. The Holy Spirit is given to a community. Are we able to escape the divisions of class, caste and gender? Every such division is a denial of discipleship and the Christian church. Discipleship aims at continuity. 

Jesus taught his disciples the way of the cross. One must base one’s faith on this. One must do away with selfishness and choose a life of sacrifice. Therefore, one must lose one’s life to gain it. Suffering has a redemptive value. Bishop Devasahayam was happy to be in his alma mater and lead the quiet day this year.

Quiet Day

Bishop P.J. Lawrence

The Quiet Day of the college is being led by the Rt. Rev. Dr. P.J. Lawrence, the former bishop of the CSI Nandyal diocese on February 12 and 13 in the UTC Ziegenbalg chapel. The quiet day meditations spread over four sessions will be based on the theme "God of Life: Lead us to justice, peace and compassion".

The preacher was welcomed by the principal and the worship convenor. Bishop Lawrence reminded the community of the role played by critical thinking in theological education. He made a call to realise the importance of silence and detach oneself from one's mind for this purpose. God is present in and around us and the quiet day meditations are for this purpose. The sessions will continue today. 

Quiet Day

Rev. Dr. Daniel Premkumar

The first term Quiet Day retreat was held on August 1 and 2 in the UTC. Rev. Dr. Daniel Premkumar, Director of the CSI Synod Diaconal Concerns was the retreat leader. The retreat was divided into four sessions and started  yesterday night and ended late in the afternoon today. The retreat leader emphasized on entering into the persona and talked of three things which is love for God, love for neighbour and love for both God and neighbour.

Matthew 22:32-40, Mark 5:1-10 and Mark 4:1-9 were the various passages chosen. As part of the persona of the self, Dr. Premkumar talked of the caste divide in the church in India and the anti-people thrust by the government and insisted that the good news is not seeking personal gains but transformation of the total context in which we live. In a re-reading of the bible passage of the prodigal son he stressed that the forces of darkness have taken over the land of the poor. The story of the prodigal son was used to highlight the plight of those with HIV-AIDS. He therefore called for a re-conferring of the status of sons and daughters to those who have been distanced from the church just like the prodigal son is re-conferred his status by his father.

Quiet day, UTC

August 2 and 3, 2011

The quiet day in the UTC was led by the principal of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Dr. M. Gnanavaram. He spoke on various Pauline themes. He challenged the students to think about the themes, life in spirit, life of unity, life of service, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.