Love Prevails!: Underneath the STARS.....

My People,

Good Morning! At times all of us wonder and at certain point we have this question if God is going to answer ‘my prayer’. The hardest thing to do is to hold on to the promises of God. It is a long road.

This is a part of a song I think, I love the words, it is from the movie 'August Rush'.

Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night Neath the cover of the blue skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breeze that blow
And I'm trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the nights magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine and blush

This is a movie that I loved watching. I missed the beginning of ‘August Rush’ – but it was worth the watch. It’s about love, patience and when you believe-dreams do come true. God is our biggest Motivator. Love always will find a way. No matter where you are, Love will bring us through.

A story where a child uses his gift as a clue to finding while believing that his parents are alive...

This is the story of a young Irish guitarist and a sheltered young cellist who have a chance encounter one magical night above New York's Washington Square. They separate. Lyla realizes she is pregnant. After an argument with her father, she is struck by a car. She gives birth prematurely, and her father secretly puts her son up for adoption, allowing her to believe that the baby died.

Both Louis and Lyla give up their music careers. Eleven years later, Evan Taylor is living in a boys' orphanage where he meets Richard, a social worker. Evan has the ability to hear music wherever he is. Convinced that his parents will find him, Evan runs away to New York City, "following the music" in the hope it will lead him to his family.

Lyla is called to her father's deathbed and he admits that her child is alive in New York. Louis decides to reconnect with Lyla and flies to Chicago to find her. Due to misunderstanding, he ends up in New York, where he gets his band back together. In New York, Lyla goes to Jeffries' office and Jeffries identifies Evan as her son. She takes up the cello again and accepts an offer to perform with the Philharmonic at a series of concerts in Central Park.

In New York, Evans musical gift leads him to success but also gives him some trouble. A musician known as ‘Wizard’ gives Evan the stage name "August Rush". He uses Evan to make money and prevents him from achieving success. Seeing the posters that Jeffries has posted for the runaway Evan, Wizard destroys all the ones he finds, hoping to keep Evan and his gift for his own gain.

The Wizard and his "children" living is raided by the police. Evan takes refuge in a church where a girl, Hope introduces him to the piano and written music. He picks this skill so quickly that Hope gets the attention of the parish pastor, who enrolls August at the Juilliard School. Evan is granted an opportunity to play his music in Central Park in front of thousands of people.

Wizard pulls August (Evan) out of the school threatening August to tell the authorities about his true identity. On the day of the outdoor concert, August is forbidden by Wizard to attend. August meets Louis in the park and tells him of his dilemma and Louis encourages him to go. August leaves Wizard with help from Arthur, who also rebels, and flees to the concert.

There are three composers featured, of which he is the last; his mother is the cellist in the preceding performance. As Evan is conducting the orchestra in his rhapsody, Lyla and Louis come to the concert following the music again. The family finally get together!

Jeffries identifies August as Evan and heads for the concert. August arrives in time to conduct his rhapsody. Louis also arrives realizing Lyla was playing at the concert. August finishes his rhapsody and as he turns discover his parents, smiles knowing that he was always right about knowing they loved him and gratified that his faith in fate has proven itself.

Before anything appears to be happening in the natural, know this that God works overtime and behind the scenes. God’s moments are undefined and unexpected. They happen “Suddenly”

Question - How long must I wait?

Answer - Don't lose hope because God is about to do a sudden thing! He is the author and finisher of our faith. What God has started, He will finish. For the Promise God has made in our lives, we need to learn to wait.

Isaiah 28:21 says," The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim..." David had been anointed king of Israel. He was in the position that God had for him when the Philistines came to seek him out. When something powerful is to be fulfilled in your life, it will always be tested. Hell will not let you come into the God ordained moment without a fight.

Perazim means, ‘a breakthrough’. It means that God reverses the natural order of things as He did with Jacob and Esau. It is a divine reversal- a blessing.

This is one of my favourites in the Bible-Joshua. I love his confident boldness, his daring ways. He was a committed defender of the people of Gibeon. He got into a battle with the enemy and was outnumbered. Joshua began to overcome the enemy but the sun started to go down. God told Joshua that he would be victorious.

The Bible says that Joshua called out to the sun and commanded it, "Sun be still!" God longs for us to have that faith in His word. He promised victory, Joshua believed. It was the longest day, in history where the Sun and Moon, stood still. God expects us to be daring in our faith.

Don't give up. Don’t stop believing! God is about to move in a mighty way!

We often wonder why we have to wait when God could have moved suddenly. The answer for each of us is - He needed me to learn how to wait. So the question is not if we'll wait, but rather how we’ll wait. And I believe how will determine how long.

A passive person hopes something good will happen but after a short time, he gives up. The expectant person believes the answer is just around the corner. His heart is full of hope. He wakes up every morning expecting to find his answer and suddenly what he’s been waiting for happens.

It’s like when a woman; carries inside her the promise of life. The moment she learns of her pregnancy, she knows the promise is fulfilled—it's just a matter of time.

We need to wait on God and trust Him with a simple faith. When our hearts are eagerly waiting to hear Then, God moves suddenly!

Acts 16 tells of how Paul and Silas were attacked by a crowd, beaten and thrown in jail. Verse 24 says the jailer put them into the dungeon and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, God showed up. Paul and Silas were praying and singing and began to worship the Lord. They began to wait on God.

Verses 25-26, "But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were unfastened." God answered them suddenly!

When people patiently and expectantly wait on God in the midst of trying circumstances, God breaks through suddenly.

Stay full of hope and expectation. God's power is limitless, and He'll break through for each one of us.

God moves when you least expect. God can send you a sign or He might give you a vision. He might even give you a dream. That is God telling you to get ready because He is going to move fast. Have you ever been startled especially when you thought you were not up to it and God said ‘yes you are’?

When you are surrounded on all sides and you are by yourself, remember you are not. God can come suddenly and rescue me and you.

In Acts 2:2 it says, “Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like tongues or flames of fire appeared and settled on each one of them and everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.”
Those 120 people had obeyed Jesus. He said to wait until the Spirit comes. They were waiting. They were praising, encouraging one another, and they had an expectation in their heart.
Do you have an expectation in your heart that God is going to move suddenly in your life? You need to have it, because God delights when you have that kind of faith.

God did humiliate and lower Himself. ‘He humbled and emptied Himself’. The greatest example of humility "the Word was made Flesh." By this union the Creator was united with the lowest. Jesus walked in Humility before teaching it. He practiced perfectly what He preached.

Day 13^th June, 2015 – After the 7:30 evening mass. I stayed back. I think it’s called the prayer service, meeting whatever. I was not keeping well, but I wanted to be there. When Jordan spoke and of all the times I have heard him, he never did speak something that would possibly hurt anyone.

‘Even if you are weak, God will hear you’. This is what one of the speakers said and I thought, wow did he just say that? When one of the Bible teachers says something like that, it sounds odd? Doesn’t it?

Then there was this lady, who came forward, and gave a figurative number for each parish. All I know is I heard numbers. I think what she was trying to say is the number of people they can reach. So she quoted a 1500. And then there is this other lady, who is stylish but yet when she does the reading will remove her footwear. I hardly know her. Yet what she did surprised me. She immediately walks up to the mike and says you know through the net we can reach 5000 people. Competition it brings out the worst in people.

I was miserable listening to all the big talk. It was more about them and less of Jesus. Jesus approved of me going home.

This matters so much, because all this happened on the day of the Eucharistic Adoration.

During Eucharistic Adoration, we are to remain "silent" in His Presence and open ourselves to His Graces which flow from the Eucharist ... we become what God wants us to be!

Jesus waits for our little Acts of faith, adoration, love, thanksgiving, repentance and charity that we can offer Him.

Pope John Paul II in one of his homilies said, “It is pleasant to spend time with Him, to lie close to His breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in His heart ... If, in our time Christians must be distinguished by the “art of prayer”, how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual conversation, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament?”

He humbles Himself to come before us as a piece of bread... He is calling us to reflect on our own life's situations that call us to humility. Are we humble, as God wants us to be?

When we look upon the Sacred Host, Do our souls magnify the Lord - making Him more in focus, and larger to others around us?

Question we need to think on...ITs about Jesus!

Psalm 63, "O God, You are my God -- for You I long! For You my body yearns; for You my soul thirsts, like a land parched, lifeless, and without water. So I look to You in the Sanctuary to see Your power and glory. For Your love is better than life; my lips offer You worship! I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands, calling on Your name. My soul shall savor the rich banquet of praise, with joyous lips my mouth shall honor You!"

Jesus asks for so little.... yet, He gives so much! "The Eucharist - the whole Christ"

I thirst for you my LORD!

God has bigger dreams for our lives than we could ever imagine. We find God-sized dreams overwhelming, but no matter what don’t settle for anything less than God’s best.

Have you turned away from God’s dreams? If it is the case, it’s not too late. God never gives up. It simply means that we must remain faithful to His calling on our lives. If a dream dies, dream another dream. Look at it from another perspective. The dream is the same, only the way we look at it will change. God is a never a quitter and neither should you be.

Joseph spent at least 10 years between the time of his dream and the realization of his dream. Part of that time, he spent in slavery. At least two years of that time, he spent in prison. But the dream still came true. God positioned Joseph in a place where he would be able to save his entire family, and all of Egypt as well. Joseph could have given up on the dream. He could have given up on God. He could have taken glory for himself upon the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream but, instead, Joseph remained faithful believing that God’s guiding hand was at work.

Between dreams, life happens. Will we give up on the dream? Or, will we remain faithful to His call, remaining in hopeful expectancy of the dream that God has given us?

And one day, perhaps when we least expect it, we may wake up to that bright and glorious morning, knowing that God did work His purpose out in our lives. God is faithful let us pray that we learn to be faithful too. Amen.

Jesus meek and humble of heart make my heart like unto Thine!

Day 13^th June 2015 – After coming from church, I got to watch the latter half of the movie. This is something I believe about this movie. I’ll explain

When Lyla is asked why after so long she wants to look for her son, she responds. I've waited eleven years, two months, and fifteen days just to find out that he's alive! I've been counting.

This is how her son, Evan responds to being questioned how long he has been in the orphanage. Eleven years and sixteen days. I've been counting.

Lyla always believed that her son was alive. At night she always felt that she could hear him!

Evan says this: Sometimes the world tries to knock it out of you. But I believe in music the way that some people believe in fairy tales. I like to imagine that what I hear came from my mother and father. Maybe the notes I hear, are the same ones they heard, the night they met. Maybe that's how they found each other. Maybe that's how they'll find me. I believe that once upon a time, long ago, they heard the music and followed it.

And this is what I believe that the words, thoughts, feelings are always going to be similar, because they are with approval from God. This is a movie, I won’t deny that, but have you never come across something that had made you feel oh my God, this is too good to be true.

And it is. That’s precisely the way I feel. I am living on God’s time now. Amen.