On how to be fruitful

John 15
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
7 if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Immaculate Conception and Biology

I often encounter questions regarding the genetic heritage of our Lord Jesus Christ. What would it be like? Would He have any chromosome at all? Did He need any chromosome to be Himself? If He did, then how many? As we are in the DNA age, some tend to look at Jesus as a genetic being. But one should not forget that He is also a God of all creations with infinite ways to make things happen, and so, He could have given Himself something totally unique, never-to-be repeated-twice type of molecular identity. I can not imagine what that would be like, because with God everything is possible. However, to conform to the spirit of being like a human, he could have also simply adopted human genetic make-up which is already available.

Parthenogenesis is by far the only mode of reproduction in nature that comes closest to birth by Immaculate Conception. Lower vertebrates are known to reproduce by parthenogenesis on rare occasions. In recent times, a virgin Komodo dragon named Flora gave birth to four offspring in a British zoo. In reproduction by means of parthenogenesis, the progeny will have the sex and genetic make-up of the mother. Therefore, Our Lady’s own state of conception without sin can be explained by parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis line of explanation, however, runs into problem with the birth of Our Lord. Because, He is Man. Reproduction by parthenogenesis does not yield male progeny. Therefore, this leads to other questions. Did one of the X- chromosomes undergo mutation thus making it behave like a perfect Y-chromosome rather than an X-chromosome? This transformation must occur in the mother so that the child can be normal. Does anybody know of any case of such chromosomal transformation?
Here, we began with valid questions and end up with more questions which, without a doubt, will lead to more speculations and questions. Therefore, Immaculate Conception will remain safely one of the sacred mysteries of our Christian faith for a long time!

Is it possible?

It was too early to reveal. At the time when Moses appeared, Man did not have the knowledge base necessary to understand the creation of universe and life on earth and elsewhere. So, Moses was given only a gist of the gist of creation story. Centuries later, a fuller story of creation of life was revealed to Charles Darwin at first, and then to many others who followed him.

Virgin Mary

Is it too much to ask that in the center of every great story, there is a heroine, or, without a heroine, no great story is ever truly great?
Without Mary, would New Testament story be the same? Or, was it that, it did not really matter who it was, so long as mother to be was a virgin? Or, was Mary the only virgin available, at the time, in the whole of Israel? Or, was it by an act of random choice that fell upon Mary? Or was Mary specially intended from the very beginning to be His mother? In other words, was Mary conceived without sin?
“Good fruits come from only good trees.” God created Mary good so that she could be His mother.
In obedience, she presents Him, in flesh and blood, to the world. And in obedience, she participates in the story of sacrifice to redeem the world.
Though scantily mentioned in the New Testament, in a span of few centuries, she emerges as the feminine face of the church, as Mother to those who call her mother.
It would not be wrong to say that Mary is, indeed, the heroine of the story of human redemption through Christ.

Was St. Paul a stigmatist?

Galatians 6:17 (NKJV)
17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Psalm 90: 1, 2

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all the generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

For those who toiled all night and caught nothing

Luke 5:3-10 (NKJV)
3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
4 Now when He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.”
6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
8 When Simon peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken;
10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”