— a reflection from Roha Hill, Mahrashtra
The evening on Roha Hill opened in calm splendor. The land, traversing to twilight, seemed to breathe with quiet grace as a congregation of young hearts gathered in reflection. The scent of burning charcoal incense rose softly into the cool breeze, mingling with the hush of expectation. Candles flickered to life, small flames heralding the hour of evening prayer. Before the light deepened, Rev. Jins Achen from Sultan Bathery, Kerala, spoke with warmth and reverence.
The air was stilled by Achen’s voice. His tone was soft, unhurried, and stirring; the sound of truth spoken without force.
“We are resting now after climbing this hill,” Achen began, acknowledging the group’s safe, supported ascent. “But do we remember the One who climbed a hill with no rest, no comfort – and carried a heavy cross instead?”
These rhetorical lines were a sudden, yet retrospectively awakening moment. Our climb was brief; His was brutal, lonely, and eternal in consequence. Achen distilled the core exchange into a powerful summary: “We rest today only because He did not. We are refreshed because He was poured out.” He reminded the gathered that this elevation, as our beloved Thirumeni said, is not merely geography – it is a space for spiritual formation, a place where the soul is intentionally and spiritually enriched.
The Two Narratives of Self and Soul
Achen then transitioned to the heart of his message: the two competing dramas of human life, drawn from the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar.
“In every life,” he said, “there is the ego-drama: the story that revolves around me: my plans, my pride, my spotlight.” This path, he cautioned, ends inevitably in emptiness.
“And there is the theo-drama: the story that revolves around God: His will, His love, His purpose.” This is the narrative that shapes us into His divine intent: to be perfect, even as He is perfect.
The difference was not preached with pressure, but offered with liberating clarity. One life is performed for the self; the other is surrendered to the Divine Author. One feeds the self; the other frees the soul.
As the incense curled upward and the candles held steady in the twilight, the true warmth was the quiet realization: every faithful step we take mirrors a far greater, sacrificial ascent taken long ago.
The Conclusion to the trail
The descent from Roha Hill began with each person carrying a small candle; a simple, trembling flame protected by a paper cup. A quiet reminder that grace, vast and profound, is often held in ordinary hands.
The climb ended, the prayers faded, but the question Achen planted remained, not around us, but within us: Are we living a story written around ourselves, or are we stepping into God’s story, the theo-drama, where love is the primary force and we are willing characters?
The hill Christ climbed irrevocably changed the world. The smaller hills we ascend may not look like Calvary, but they are essential to shaping who we become. And as long as even one tiny flame is carried in faith, in a cup, in a hand, or in a heart – darkness is never the final word; there is hope in Christ within the theo-drama.
~ J GEORGE THOMAS aka ART, St. Peter’s Armenian church, Colaba
