WALK on . . .

My People,

Good Morning! What a wonderful day it is, when you know you have been given the grace to live another beautiful day. Here I am, with all my love wishing you the Peace of Jesus, and the love of a gentle and loving Mama Mary.

Hope is a wonderful thing. Below are the words that I came across in one of Mother Teresa’s article, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

15th September, 2013, on a Sunday on my way from the Church to home, we were walking through the fair of the Mount, when all of a sudden I felt the flap of a heavy wing on the back of my neck. That very moment I knew it was an angel.

For the entire week I have felt the presence of Padre Pio with me. I cannot understand why I must feel this way. I am a sinner except for the grace of God, who am I to deserve all of God’s amazing goodness?

 

Love is so much more than words can ever say. If in my human capacity, I sat to write, I think I would never be able to fathom the depths of love. Because love is never just a word, it never can be. This is my humble point of view:

Love is a precious gift,
That cannot be bought or sold,
But its value is more than a mountain made of gold.
When you ask God for a gift,
Thank Him for when He sends,
If ever you think of what to ask
Ask for a Love that never ends.

 

God is encountered walking, along the path with us. God is in everyones life. God is always a surprise, you never know where and how you will find Him.

God is, by definition, the one walking the path along with us.

 

Touch wood is something that we say or do in order to ward off evil. The relic (in this case, the piece of wood supposedly part of the Cross) was carried in one's pocket and at the hearing of plague or other misfortune would be touched for protection and safety because of the belief that Jesus (the Son of God) had defeated the powers of darkness by His death on the Cross. There is nothing else in the whole wide world that will ever keep you safe from evil other than the Cross and the Bible. I will say it again – Nothing else in this world. It is never a matter of choice, YOU have to believe.

Walk on with dreams in your heart … this is what I was humming to myself at work. One of the people asked for help and when helping I saw his name ‘Walken’- (isn’t it similar to walk on). Email that was received stated that if there were any queries we need to walk up to the concerned person. Three times, on the same day and ‘Walk-On’ was God’s message to me.

The 26th of September, 2013, I was speaking with a non-catholic friend. She was in terrible pain. She told me how she stopped believing in God. Her family is always facing some problem over the other.

This is what I said there are children who have been orphaned-and some just having a single parent. While they could wish for moments with both their parents that simply is not the condition. I looked at her and said you have your parents, maybe things at the moment are not working favourably, but cherish the moments, with them.

And I reminded her that God always understands.

She told me so many other things of her life. I just asked her to believe in God. I told her that God can do the Impossible.

She asked me if I implemented it. I replied ‘Yes”. I told her that I have the patience in what God has promised me, God will deliver. God is faithful.

After the 7:30 p.m. mass today, there were heavy showers of rain. I did not feel like walking at all in the rain, so I sat for sometime more. I had my umbrella with me. I was in conversation with God, and I was told to go walk and enjoy the rain. I got up and did just that. I enjoyed my walk in the rain.

I love walking in puddles of water (clean). I saw kids in the building who were playing in a dirty puddle of water I showed them a clean one to play in. They were playing with dirty bags, so I asked why not make paper boats and make them sail. They told me the boat would sink. I said it won’t. Then I left. I was waiting for the lift, 2 minutes later, one of the little fellow comes up, I asked him what the matter was, and he told me he was going to get paper from home to make boats. He moved my heart.

 

 

God is willing to meet us anywhere and anytime, but we need to come into His presence with a heart that acknowledges the presence of the King.
Isn't it interesting we are willing to wait for hours, standing in line, to catch a glimpse of some celebrity - yet we think nothing of running into the presence of God?

There are different things that get us excited, that cause us to shout for joy.

Did you know that you are called to Worship the Lord and that the Lord even tells you how to do it?

Psalm 100 shows us the pathway into God's presence.

"Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth". Psalm 100:1

As we walk down the path to worship God, we simply cannot be quiet. God isn't so much interested in our tone and pitch as He is in our heart felt expression. It is you expressing your love and thankfulness to God.

"Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful songs".   Psalm 100:2

The psalmist here speaks of a specific and personal activity of praising God. We glorify God by ascribing to Him the honour and adoration due Him because He is God. You sing to God from your heart, you serve the Lord with gladness.

Through our singing we approach God. It is us acknowledging that He is God and that we are His creatures. So when it comes to singing, sing loud. Express yourself.

"Acknowledge that the Lord is God".   Psalm 100:3

As a person enters the Church and dips their hands into the holy water and does the sign of the cross to recognize that we are entering into the presence of the King of kings. We remind ourselves as to whom God is, and, at the same time, we are reminded of who we are, too.

No matter what our condition be we should praise the Lord when we look to His goodness and mercy.
 

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  Give thanks to Him".   Psalm 100:4

As we enter God's presence we enter His gates with thanksgiving - here we thank God for what He has done. Once through the gates, we enter the courts with praise - here we extol God for who He is.

Praise is the way into worship, and worship is the way into an encounter with the living God. While God is everywhere (omnipresence), God's revealed presence occurs when we worship God. God is enthroned in our praises. Thus, our praise creates the atmosphere for an audience with the King.
 

"Praise His name!"  Psalm 100:4

The word praise means to kneel in worship. It is to show honour to God, by kneeling before Him as the King of kings. True worship always involves falling at the feet of God.

Why on our knees? It is because we are in the presence of the King, the God of the universe.

God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on me but on the character of God that spans the generations. Here are three things I know for certain:

The Lord is good

His mercy endures forever

His faithfulness continues from generation to generation.

 

When I walk in to my office compound, it’s around 6:25 a.m. I love the feeling. The trees all have numbers on them. To me each number represents passages from the Bible. I am not aware of what they mean but I know they are all promises. The Bible is a promise itself, kept by God. So I know, where I am, is where God intended me to be. I am Blessed, I am.

There are two ways to entering in. As I am early the main entrance is shut and so I have to walk on through to get to the other gate. I love that walk. Every time, I do I feel like I am walking in Heaven. Let me describe the walk for you. I hear the birds chirp to glory. And theirs is not a song that stops. It’s continuous. The place has tall widespread trees completely branched out. They seem to be meeting each other in a cuddle to form an arch way (to meet in the middle). I think over time, the trees just couldn’t help but greet each other the way the birds of the air do. There is love all over. It’s a Heavenly walk. Below is the snapshot I have taken especially for you.

 

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.  John 15:12-14

We might not be expected to literally lay down our life for others, but we are called to work for their good, even if it comes at a cost to us. Christ is not telling us that our love is manifest only if we die for someone else. Rather, He is telling us that we must overcome ourselves we must die to the self.

As we spiritually develop, we will become people more concerned about others than ourselves. We must learn how to think of their needs. In doing so, we will be helping ourselves become the people we are meant to be. True love will be concerned about the well-being of the other. One who loves will act out of that love, and they will act without pondering the consequences of their actions for themselves.

 

Every day, I watch people choose the other path. They will complain, they will nag but in all the offensive talk they will never ever talk the truth to the person concerned.

There is a fear in speaking the truth. There is a fear in doing the right thing.

To take seriously Jesus' claims about setting us free is to take seriously the proposition that we are all enslaved to powers beyond our ability to control.

“Truth” refers to the knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus' own self. Jesus is "the way, and the truth, and the life". When we know and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we are set free. “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:32

 

The last week was mentally agonisingly tough. Misery is what I felt. When I sank to my lowest, the Holy Spirit made me think of Mother Teresa. And then it occurred to me mother Teresa lifted babies from the bin. She cleaned the lepers, she saw unwanted and dying people. What were her thoughts like when she saw the miseries of the miserable, the people who no one wanted? She looked after them. What did she do when she experienced total darkness? Its only when it’s the darkest the light makes sense. Faith is tested in the darkest hour. That is where you don’t just say touch wood-You believe in the Power of the Cross. You find, Jesus, You find love. Like Mother Teresa, she found in her heart the capacity to find love.

To love when everything is wonderful it doesn’t take much. Does it?

To love when everything in you hurts-when you are completely broken, that is the love that comes from God.

When the ‘Holy Spirit’ made me realize that, I realized what it felt for Jesus. How difficult it must have been to live with Judas (the one who betrayed). Yet Jesus gave him the same miracle working capacities that Jesus gave the other apostles. There was no distinction made. Jesus loved with all His heart. That’s the way we need to love.

LOVE WHEN IT HURTS THE MOST.

 

I love a person’s capacity to be bold with honesty. I love it when a person can speak what’s on their mind and not think twice or hold it back. I love the capacity to not twist the truth to suit another person’s convenience. I love when a person can speak with passion for the thing they love. I love boldness, I always have.

For years, I walked always asking God is there no one who is bold, who can speak their mind as to what they see? I felt very alone.

You always hear people speak big things but that is not boldness. To me the day I went to St. Peter’s – the rally of the Cross, about 3 1/2 years back that is the day, I will always cherish in my heart. That is the day, I heard Fr. Warner. I will never forget that day and how God liberated me. Up to the day, I had waited forever. 

I have heard Fr. Warner before, but that would be always in the church. But to hear him talk so boldly made me feel taller than the Statue of Liberty (my favourite historic monument). Maybe I didn’t dance the way David did to God. But even now, I thank God. I know, I always will, God liberated me!

May 3rd 2013 & 28th - 29th September, 2013. Praise be God!

 

I believe when You say,
That You will guide me through the way.
The words You speak are the words You say.
Every moment of every day,

I will walk when I cannot see,

Because, Oh God, this is Your will for me.

Help me to overcome my fears,

Knowing Your faithfulness to the years
When I’m broken oh Lord, I pray, for Your grace,
to be with me through the day.

I will walk when I cannot see,

Because oh God of mine, You abide in me!

With all my Love,

For Love Prevails!
AnitA.

 

 

 

PRAYER: Abba, Father, Keep me Obedient and always faithful. Remember, this your servant.

Mama Mary by the merit of your humility keep me humble, I pray. Amen.

 

Mary’s Song. . . .

My People,

Good Morning! I wish you the Peace of Jesus and the Love of Mama Mary to ever lead you to happiness and moreover I pray for you LOVE. 

Heart is the centre of the universe. Given a zillion years man cannot travel to the furthest corner of the universe and get back in time. Our heart is bigger than the universe. Therefore love must prevail.

 

24 Hours in a day. Everybody is in a such a hurry to get to someplace. We all have our destination, set. Life is as complicated as we can make it.

I love children, they are amazing. They are God’s gift. Have you given a look at their faces? Have you listened and understood their concerns? Children have fears too and they are always the little fears. Do you know that their worries if not answered, become what they fear?
Sometimes, when you watch them, you will notice that they have grown a little too fast. Don’t break their hearts, don’t shatter their dreams. All they know and want is to be loved. It’s the adults who need to steer (keep off) their grown up world apart from the children. Children, they are always innocent.

Money can buy a lot of things. Money can't buy you love. So you can buy your kids a lot of gadgets to make up for your absence. But does it fill your child’s life that is the question you need to ask yourself. Are you as a parent here, for your child?
 

Children need to hear words of love and appreciation all the time. Actions speak louder than words and to your children that is what matters in the whole wide world. 

Would this be the only concern, then I would say let it suffice, there is room for improvisation and eventually we will get there? Won't we?

This is my concern: Mothers they always tend to pamper the boy child. Is it a surprise then that these days there are beauty products special salons to groom men?

In fairy tales – It is known that men should be tall dark and handsome.

To me beauty is in the eyes of the beholder-this is the way I perceive things.

To me from the start of time, men have been the hunters this is what I perceive men should be - tough.

 

These days parents are busy bodies. In certain families both the parents work, they have to at times - times have changed.

You know, no matter how busy you are, you need to take the time to realize and get your priorities right. Throwing things under the carpet did nobody any good.

 

I believe that women should be the way God intended. I believe that a woman can’t change her priorities, she will always be a daughter, a sister, a wife or a mother. We are in the 21st century, but that does not change the natural order of things.  You may won’t to dispute the fact. But the Bible clearly mentions in Genesis 2.22  and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Clearly Genesis states that the woman came out of his side, and from one of his ribs, that she might appear to be equal to him; and from a part near his heart, and under his arms, to show that she should be loved by him, and be always under his care and protection.

In all this rat race, in this world – God chose Mary, a virgin with the humility that no other had. Mary was chosen to be the mother of Jesus (the Son of God).

This is to You Oh ‘Queen of Heaven’ – My sweetest Mama Mary.
 

Mary was the most amazing woman in the Bible; and in all of history.

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

When you let God in, the Spirit of God, will bring in wisdom. You will be able to see and understand. We cannot understand if we do not encounter the Holy Spirit.

I am nothing, dust I am and to dust I will return. Genesis 3.19 states: By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

I don’t write as to what I think. No thinking is my own. All greatness is from God. We are in a fast world that changes every second. But ever since the beginning man has but evolved. Nothing is ever constant. The only aspect that has never ever changed is the ‘Almighty God’.  There has been only ONE who pleased the Lord, with her humility, Mary is her name, and this is ‘Mary’s Song’.

When the arch-angel Gabriel greeted Mary, Mary listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she doesn't fully understand and asks about what she doesn't know. Then she gives herself completely to doing Gods will: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

Mary received the spoken word of God in her heart and Jesus, the Word-was made-flesh, in her womb!

Mary was humble because she knew that God the Almighty wanted to do great things, in her, by the working of His power — and according to His plans and purposes. Luke 1:49 states: “for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

Mary exclaims that the Lord scatters the proud and exalts the lowly.
There are two kinds of exaltation: self-exaltation (self tribute) and divine exaltation. Self-exaltation is when we call down on ourselves the curse of God. But the condition for divine exaltation is lowly, Marian humility. She declared that the Lord fills the hungry with good things. Hunger in the Bible means emptiness of everything. We must admit our emptiness, which is another word for humility.
The more gifted a person, the more prone that person is to pride. The more a person has of any riches, the harder it is for that person to be humble.

We can learn to be humble from Jesus. Matthew 11:29 states: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The last week I was speaking with a non-catholic friend, who had gone to Mt. Mary's Church and she inquired regarding the white host (The Eucharist). She told me of how she was in the line but not given the host. She asked me the significance of the white host. And when explaining I told of how Jesus humbles Himself to be present in the 'The Eucharist'. And of how everyday, Jesus breaks Himself over and over through all the masses all over the world-to give us a piece of Himself so that we are strengthened through Him to fight the forces of evil.

Humility of heart is a lowly opinion held by the humble. Mary was aware of her own nothingness. Mary in the “Magnificat,” tells us she was chosen: "Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid." Mary’s whole endeavour was to know and fulfill the Will of God.
A humble soul will not allow itself to be praised.

When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry,

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."  Luke 1:42-45.

And Mary said:

 

 

Mary did not hesitate to go and help Elizabeth with her pregnancy. Humility is the hardest of all virtues. We can be true children of Mary only if we are humble.

 

Faith tells us that the prayer of praise is the first and most important form of prayer we can offer to God. When we praise (we “magnify” God), we are acknowledging God for who He is.

Joy follows praise. God wants us to be happy. He wants us to rejoice in Him, but to rejoice in doing His Will and not that of the world’s or that of our own human inclinations. There is only one real joy on earth and that is to live in Him, for Him and with Him, our Lord. We need to magnify God.

 

WHAT WE LEARN

• Mary trusted God and she obeyed His call.
• Though she would one day be highly honored as the mother of the Savior, she would first know disgrace as an unwed mother. She would nearly lose her betrothed or worse yet, he might even have her put to death by stoning. Her beloved son would be rejected and cruelly killed.
• Mary was young, poor and a girl at that.
• Mary willingly submitted to God's plan.
• Mary and Joseph both obeyed the will of God and followed the instructions to perfection.
• Both Mary and Joseph knew Jesus to be the Son of God. Jesus was taught the job of a carpenter and worked at it. Jesus did everything that His parents asked of Him. Jesus was obedient. He was never given any special preference and He never asked for any.
• We learn from Jesus, Mary and Joseph – what it is to obey God, keeping God first-place and then being a perfect family.  

How do we know that everything was done according to Abba Fathers will. Well we learn it from Matthew 3:17 stating “and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Genuine humility recognizes that all of our talents and virtues come from God. It allows us to live in obedience to His will and His commands. And the more we are emptied of self-love, the more we can let Jesus’ light shine through us.

No matter what we possess and the more we have, the more tempted we are to be proud. But Mary's humility was also the lowliest in her own eyes. The key to humility: is in seeing everything we are, everything we have – seeing everything as a free, undeserved gift from God. But this is possible only by the grace with which the Son of God, Jesus, who became man provides us.

 

Let Mary’s Song be our song too . . .

 

Oh! sweet Mary be with us through the night,

Morning star, Queen of radiant light,
Keep me close to your heart
Let me never ever be apart.

Hail Mary! Full of grace,

Is it too much to ask to see loves face,
could I ask this from my mother,
for this love to be forever?

This I ask with love,

For Help from God above,
What God has promised me from the start,
I pray ‘Hail Mary’, keep us forever, together in your heart.

 

With all my love,

For Love Prevails!
AnitA.

 

PRAYER: Abba, Father, Keep me Obedient and always faithful. Remember, this your servant and forgive me.

Mama Mary by the merit of your humility, make me truly humble, I pray. Amen.

 

I Found YOU!

My People,

Good Morning! It’s good to be writing and its good to be feeling this love in my heart. I wish you the Peace of Jesus and the love of Mama Mary to accompany you in life’s journey.

Memory is such an important part of our lives. How we behave would always be dependent on our memories. It is always a choice we make. We need to know which memories to hold on to and which ones to let go. If you hold on to bad memories then you will miss seeing the good in everything.

In the words of Rudyard Kipling ‘If you can forgive the unforgiving minute’.

With every minute that you are given, make the absolute most of it that you can. The 'Unforgiving minute' refers to the fact that a minute is 60 seconds long. So when that minute is up, it is gone, forever. You can't recall it.

Do the best you can and make every minute count.

Would you believe if I told you I remember my first birthday? I remember the experience of walking on the table to my birthday cake. It’s not humanly possible to remember all that, and yet Abba, Father permits my mind to hold on to all those memories. I’m grateful.

My point being, when you have a good memory, then the bad memories get stored there too. I choose not to trust those hurtful moments. I have to believe in God not my past, not my present circumstances.

I am laying an emphasis on this when I say – we need to ‘BELIEVE IN GOD’and not trust our circumstances, no matter what.

Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I love the thought, of one day being able to go fishing. I have heard my cousins talk about it. It is just one of the things that I love.

Of all the conversations I have had with friends this is one of my favourites. We spoke about fish for a whole 40 minutes. By the time we both reached home from work, it was around 11:00 p.m. I was craving to eat fish and would you believe that was what I had. Do you know that whenever I remember this conversation I am ascertained that God takes care of our littlest wish even before it arises?

 

To Love is a decision we make ― a decision to treat people the way Jesus would treat them.

When we make a commitment to walk in love, it usually means a change in our life. What is love without sacrifice?

That’s why we are told to count the cost before we make the commitment.

1 Corinthians 14:1 says, Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]….

As Christians we need to make LOVE our first priority.

Pursue means - “to follow in an effort to capture.”

Seek means - “to try to find or search for.”

In other words, we need to go after love with all our might and act as if we cannot live without it!

Love is and will be the most important aspect of our lives. Pursue and acquire love, because God’s Word boldly tells us that we’re nothing without it.

When trials come, people experience fear. Mostly it is a fear of the unknown. Trials are important without them you won’t know how to believe in God. It is easy to trust God when everything is working fine. Do you show your trust when everything around you is falling apart.

When trials come, it shows us something new about ourselves. We learn that we cannot survive it on our own. When we think that we can, maybe for that moment we do, but sooner than later we will experience the fall. And God in all His goodness will never say ‘I told you so’.

Romans 8:28 states: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose

When trials come-they don’t just come one minute and gone the other. Trials are over time. They are nothing but a test of our faith. The longer the trial-the stronger the faith grows. During this period of test – a bridge is being built.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was not build in a day. It took years of planning and building.

Trials are what God permits – faith is the fruit of all the labour. The planning and time to build the bridge is mans efforts, but when we undergo the trials-when we show our trust in God-we build a bridge by faith, it is wholly on the grace of God.

The raw materials to build the bridge are --- trials in our lives. The bridge that stands tall and beautiful is a testimony to all the hard labour. The Bridge here in this example would be us. We are and bear a testimony to all that God is and God does.

It’s important to know God’s character. Let’s look at three important traits of God’s character.

God is a God of justice. Justice means that God will always make anything that’s wrong right.

Nobody can mistreat you and get by with it if you have your faith in God.

God is good — all the time—not just once in awhile or when things go your way. Psalm 34:8 says, Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

God is holy. It would make our lives a whole lot easier if we would realize that God is always righteous. Whether it feels good to me or not, and whether or not I agree with it, He’s right.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, each of us can incorporate God’s amazing character traits in our own personality.

 

REMEMBER: Philippians 4:13 states: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
 

I heard these lines from a song just the last week - walk like a champion, talk like a champion. And I thought, oh yeah! Definitely you can do all that when you are at the pinnacle (top most). It’s easy to sing those lines.

It kind of got me to think--that most of the times we rely on our own strength to get any thing done right. Some times we think how best we can make use of another person to get a certain coveted position. We will be extra nice to people from whom we expect something.

I’ve heard of people who love to announce who they are associated with. They always love to take the name of the stars they know, or maybe they stay on the same road, or maybe went to the same school or college.

As humans, we always think of the person in position-as the person in power.  So we never see ourselves as anywhere until we get to any kind of position.

We become restless, jealous, irritable and never content. And why is that?

Could it be that we are never associating ourselves in Christ.

Could it be that we are namesake Christians? Are we so shallow?

1John 2:6 states: Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

John 13:13-17 states: You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

 

Every once in a while

When the moon is bright,
I light up the candles and pray at night,
All I ask is to see your face at the break of day.
If ever there were words that I could say
These only would it be, to the end of day
Every once in a while
Dreams do come true
And you wonder if it could happen to you.

Every once in a while

When the stars twinkle at night,
Every once in a while
With a heartbeat to have seen loves light!

Not just every once in a while

Will dreams come true?
I believe in dreams
The Day I found YOU!

With all my love,

For Love Prevails!
AnitA.

PRAYER: Abba, Father, keep me always obedient and faithful to You. Amen.