Posts by Radhika Sharda, MD
Go First to the Lost Sheep of Israel
If you had lived during the time of Jesus, would you have recognized him? How would you have known him to be the Son of God? Indeed, we would have been hard-pressed to understand His true identity, as his own disciples were. It could be said that the Gospels are first and foremost an answer…
Read MorePure of Heart, Poor in Spirit
Few things attract me more than conversing about the deep questions of life. Years ago, when I began my RCIA journey into faith, I was blessed to experience one such discussion in our opening class, in which we were invited to ponder and reflect upon the Beatitudes of Jesus, one by one. The question at…
Read MoreThe Holy Name
When I was a child, long before my conversion to faith, I rarely, if ever, uttered the name of Jesus. It was not simply the fact of my Hindu background which restrained me, but a certain sense of the power and mystery enfolded in that name. I regarded the name of Jesus as something forbidden…
Read MoreAnd No One Will Take Your Joy from You
Today’s Gospel reading echoes with the refrain of joy. Jesus reveals to his disciples the promise of imminent joy, yet it is a joy purchased only through suffering. Walking through Fire Perhaps the most joyful passage I have known in all of literature comes from Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which the poet Dante finally reaches…
Read MoreChoosing Light or the Shadows
Christ is Risen, Alleluia! As Christians we are heirs to the extraordinary reality of the Resurrection. We celebrate this miracle not simply on one day but throughout our lives. Jesus of Nazareth, put to death on the Cross, rose bodily from the dead, a miracle so shocking that it transformed the disciples who encountered him.…
Read MoreFor God So Loved
Growing up in a Hindu family, I went to the temple once or twice a year and was perplexed by the large idols I saw there. They loomed silently over the people like alien figures, expressionless and unfeeling. The silence I felt there was deafening. In stark contrast, the Cross stands like an exclamation point…
Read MoreMiracle, Not Magic
What do miracles look like? Do they flash before us like a spectacle, visible to all who look? Or do they unfold in a more hidden and quiet manner? The miracles we encounter in the Gospels are most often acts of hidden transformation, evident only to those willing to see them. Magic versus Miracle Last…
Read MoreGiving God Your Address
Have you ever noticed that mailing a letter to someone involves reciprocity? You can’t send anything to someone unless he has told you his address. I often marvel at this specificity of location, every time I pen a letter to someone. Out of all the addresses in the world, that person happens to live right…
Read MoreMake Space for Eternity
What happens when something eternal enters human history? How do we, who live in the measures of time, even fathom what the realm beyond time might be like? The Cosmic Calendar Consider the vastness of the universe. Every time we step outside, we encounter a glimpse of the largeness of Creation. Years ago, I came…
Read MoreEven the Smallest Spark is Enough
Every time I light a candle, I am vividly reminded of the gift of faith. As I watch the candle wick catch flame, I marvel at the way a soul can suddenly transform to light, once it receives even the smallest spark. To go from not knowing Christ at all, to knowing and believing in…
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