My People,
Good Morning! I love life. And would that surprise you now? It is the
most precious gift given to us. The word Love has always fascinated me right
from my childhood days. A complex mind would never be able to fathom the depths
or understand the immensity of love. It’s not a magic trick and no talent
required. What it requires is a heart that is obedient to the Heart of God.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 states: - Love is patient and kind; love is not
jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it
does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends;
TREAD with CAUTION!
Christ’s words to Saint Gertrude: One unnecessary word in Church is worth a thousand days in Purgatory.
When you are before the altar, believe that there are troops of angels and archangels trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and veneration. - Saint John Chrysostom.
When you are before the altar, believe that there are troops of angels and archangels trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and veneration. - Saint John Chrysostom.
To me love is everything. I love
listening to love songs. What this song does is it tells what your heart can do.
And it tells me how loved I feel. A beautiful song by Collin Raye. "In
This Life"
there was an emptiness in me.
I was imprisoned.
With one honest touch, you set me free.
Let the world stop turning,
let the sun stop burning.
Let them tell me love's not worth going through.
If it all falls apart, I will know deep in my heart
the only dream that matters has come true;
in this life, I was loved by you.
For every mountain I have climbed,
every raging river crossed,
you were the treasure that I longed to find.
Without your love I would be lost.
Let the world stop turning,
let the sun stop burning,
let them tell me love's not worth going through.
If it all falls apart, I will know deep in my heart,
the only dream that mattered had come true;
In this life I was loved by you.
In this life, I was loved by you.
During the process of Human
fertilization that is the union of a human egg and sperm, I believe it to be
Day 1 in the life of the Baby or
Babies. If you would ask me to explain I’d think that would be really
difficult. But this I know that at that precise moment, life has begun as God
ordained it to be. PRECIOUS LIFE!
We take way too many things
for granted. From the moment life begins, God remembers every second of our
existence. We can’t go back to it and try to understand how we came to be, but
God holds every second so precious, that He stores each moment in His heart and
to Him they are UNFORGETTABLE. Not even our parents can explain our feelings in
the Womb. God remembers everything.
The World has different set
of ideas to understand when to take it as or count the embryo as a human life.
But God is not confused, He knows, because you and I were never accidents. We
were meant to be. Life is life and who can know better than God. So we need to remember this always:
We are His world.
We are His every thought.
We are meant to be and
never an accident.
We are precious to HIM and
totally unforgettable.
He keeps a complete track
on you and me from the moment of conception.
So whoever you are and
whatever you do, make your life count. Never let anyone underestimate you. God
does not. Remember He thinks the world of us and hence He let His only beloved
Son die for us. Make it count.
Don’t let the SACRIFICE of
God from God with the collaboration of all the Saints and Prophets go without
making a mark. The CROSS is our mark.
Sometimes when the storms
come they bring in fear and with it cloud our vision. Before the plant can
sprout out from the seed, it has to face the soil that is hard and dark. What
it has to face is what is needed for the plant to be strong as it comes into
the light and grows to bear fruit. And so it is with our lives, the hard times
are what we need to come to fruition. God knows what and which storms can bring
in the necessary change in us. He knows when, where and why the storm is
necessary. And when it comes God does not dessert us, we may not see or hear
HIM but HE is present more than ever. We just can’t see because our vision is
clouded with fear. Let go of the fear. Remember the word, fear – fears itself.
Anxiety brings in fear and
fear causes chaos in life and many a good things in life are ruined because of
fear. God is faithful! Let God’s plan be activated in our life. Walk with Hope
and walk into His blessings. BE OPEN!
See when
God wants you to pay attention, the smallest detail matters. When HE wants your
attention, He will teach in all ways possible. The Spirit of God is gentle.
This is what God is telling you and me.
1: To be open and listen - To be open to nature. Every part of life is
important and every link needs to be completed before it gets to the grand
finale.
2: To be open to people. To know in this path to life, every-one is
important, we cannot define who when or what, but what God has blessed, no-body
will or can have a say.
3: To be open to prayers and to believe in the strength of prayer. Sometimes we are so burdened with our
thoughts that we don’t realize we are so near to the finish line. At such times
the burden seems even more, therefore we need to pray. We need to believe. I do
and I know at that appointed time I will find ...
Danny - I don’t know the breed, but he is all white and all fluffy. He
is like a little toy-puppy, all cute and full of life. And I don’t know who
gave him that name.
I keep my distance from dogs. I love watching them though and Danny is a
whole new story. The only surviving dog (puppy) we have and yet what a fierce
opponent he can be. He is too small but he does not let that trouble him from
barking at big ferocious dogs.
When we came home, I looked for him, because Danny can never keep quiet.
He lifts his little paws and does the ‘wuff, wuff.' When my mom told me where
he is and I looked at him, it did not look like he would live. He was
completely wounded. And at that moment I felt helpless and I thought if it is
painful he should die. Holy Spirit asked me to lay my hand over him and I don’t
do that, because I am terrified of animals. So I asked my cousin to hold him
and I laid my hand over him and prayed. I prayed as the Spirit of God advised me to. And then I left my
Cross on the wall - for his protection.
Danny is now completely on the recovery road. His wounds are healing and
he can run which is so astonishing to the eyes that saw him like in the valley
of the dead.
This all white and fluffy thing called Danny has changed my perspective
of looking at things. My cousin calls it a miracle and so it is.
Thank You Abba Father.
Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Holy Spirit.
It’s good to care for animals. Some people say that dogs love unconditionally
and I say: ‘To the dog how a human being lives his life does not affect
him. You can be bad or good-the dog will still be loyal. It cannot make
character-distinction. A human being can differentiate and has a free mind to
chose.’ Afraid of the truth-some of the people chose to have pets to live with,
because they cannot speak and if they could I wonder what they could say.
Some people - carry cooked food for animals at night in their vehicles.
They can feed dogs and cats but not children. How shallow can one get?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than
they? Matthew 6:26
My brother Adrian when studying in Kolhapur noticed that some of the
shop owners would throw excess milk away rather than give it to the poor. So
often when walking on the roads in Kolhapur, he would say there would be
Mangoes all over the road and he would regret that nobody did anything of
them.
Some of the so called cooking contests feature certain cooks asking the contestants to prepare a special dish and one notices so much of the food wasted to prepare that dish. Does it at all make sense? They will waste so much food that could have been enough for a number of starving people, but they cook for what will be not even the main course.
I have loved watching certain cooking shows but not all of them cater to the common man.
So often we see people who are deprived of life. People deprived of the basic necessities, no food to eat and no roof above them. They watch their families die before them, mothers holding their dying infants in their arms with the look towards someone who will have mercy on their child. Below are some of the World stats:
More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty.
1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.
I have seen people who have everything and some of them take what even little the poor man has. And then having the best of this world they expect the best of Heaven too.
And if the poor man shows his rage-when he feels his rights have been deprived off, they think he will surely suffer a lot in Purgatory-the reason his bad behaviour. What they think is he must be deprived to enter Heaven easily. So their thinking is they have the best in this world and a free access to Heaven as well.
More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty.
1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.
I have seen people who have everything and some of them take what even little the poor man has. And then having the best of this world they expect the best of Heaven too.
And if the poor man shows his rage-when he feels his rights have been deprived off, they think he will surely suffer a lot in Purgatory-the reason his bad behaviour. What they think is he must be deprived to enter Heaven easily. So their thinking is they have the best in this world and a free access to Heaven as well.
Luke 6:20 states: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
People die every day and starvation must never be the reason. We have all the resources to provide for everyone, because God PROVIDES! HE always does. We need to reach out to our fellow brethren.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart make my heart like unto Thine!
PRAYER: St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Sometime back I was
watching a historical movie, I do not remember the name of the movie but these
are the dialogues that I wish to share with you.
- "Think only of what follows."
- "One is to be admired for rebuilding the self, not judged."
- There will be times where we are powerless to injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
- "Honor is something that all men are born with. It cannot be taken from you nor can it be granted. It must only not be lost."
- "Only time will tell how we are remembered."
I feel the dialogues are
applicable to daily life. And to be truly remembered is to make a mark on the heart of a person or
persons forever. Love is never forgotten; it is always remembered and
celebrated.
Everyone goes through difficult times. There are times when we limit our life by thinking we’ll never accomplish our dreams. It’s our thinking that holds us back.
God’s promises stand true forever! Don’t limit what God can do. We serve a supernatural God and with Him the possibilities are infinite.
There are days when our plans don't work or when someone is rude to us, we could end up getting frustrated and offended. Life is what we make a habit of. If we get everything we want then it will be unbearably difficult, but on the other hand if we take it a day at a time and through the troubled moments thank and praise God then our reaction will be one of patience, love and joy. They say, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond.” It is true isn’t it?
When people tell me their problems and through the time I spend listening to them, when they come to speak of hoping the situation changes or they say I hope.... I reply ‘Hope is a good thing. I know when they come to realize and admit the word on their own; they open the door to greater possibilities. This then is my favourite poem on Hope; written by Emily Dickinson (“Hope” is the thing with feathers).
God’s promises stand true forever! Don’t limit what God can do. We serve a supernatural God and with Him the possibilities are infinite.
There are days when our plans don't work or when someone is rude to us, we could end up getting frustrated and offended. Life is what we make a habit of. If we get everything we want then it will be unbearably difficult, but on the other hand if we take it a day at a time and through the troubled moments thank and praise God then our reaction will be one of patience, love and joy. They say, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond.” It is true isn’t it?
When people tell me their problems and through the time I spend listening to them, when they come to speak of hoping the situation changes or they say I hope.... I reply ‘Hope is a good thing. I know when they come to realize and admit the word on their own; they open the door to greater possibilities. This then is my favourite poem on Hope; written by Emily Dickinson (“Hope” is the thing with feathers).
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
Every day is different and not everyday may be a Sun shiny day. It is our attitude. I wake up every morning thinking
that today could be the day when everything changes for me. I wake up with Hope
with an Expectancy and with Joy. I never give up, one of God’s biggest Graces
on me.
Never put off today for
tomorrow. Make the best of it. Surrender to God and ask for His grace to for
what He thinks is right for your life. Let’s both sing these lines together:-
I'm only human I'm just a man/woman
Help me believe in what I could be
And all that I am
Show me the stairway I have to climb
Lord for my sake help me to take
One day at a time
Cho...
One day at a time sweet Jesus
That's all I'm asking from You
Just give me the strength to do ev'ryday
What I have to d
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Lord help me today show me the way
One day at a time
Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know it's worse now than then
Pushin' and shovin' crowding my mind
So for my sake, teach me to take
One day at a time
Help me believe in what I could be
And all that I am
Show me the stairway I have to climb
Lord for my sake help me to take
One day at a time
Cho...
One day at a time sweet Jesus
That's all I'm asking from You
Just give me the strength to do ev'ryday
What I have to d
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Lord help me today show me the way
One day at a time
Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know it's worse now than then
Pushin' and shovin' crowding my mind
So for my sake, teach me to take
One day at a time
When God leads you to something that you feel in your heart, don’t keep
putting it off. Don’t let something keep you from God’s best. Obey His voice
and walk into His blessings!
Lord, teach me and encourage me through Joseph's life to trust You for every situation that comes into my life. Keep
me mindful that You are always in control.
- God “broke” Joseph by taking him out of comfortable circumstances and stretching him. God often has to break us before He can use us.
- Joseph lived a life of integrity and was faithful to God in the midst of prosperity and adversity.
- There is no mistake in where God has you. Allow Him to use you where you are.
- There is often a delay before seeing God work through us. Delays are a necessary time of spiritual preparation.
- Josephs’ life teaches us that disappointments are vital to spiritual growth because they demand faith and resting all hope upon God.
- We must trust God with our emotions when we are face to face with those who have hurt us deeply.
- God is in control even when it seems that your world is spinning madly out of control.
- God uses even the negative motives of others to bring about His perfect purpose in us.
"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose." Acts 16:25-26
As Paul and Silas sat in
the prison, all bruised it looked like things were over for them. When they had
no hope, nowhere to turn, they began to sing praises to God. As they did, right
at midnight—their darkest hour—there was suddenly a great earthquake. The
prison doors flung open, their chains fell off, and they walked out as free
men!
We’ve all had times when we
felt completely lonely and hopeless. No matter how difficult things may seem,
Remember, God inhabits the praises of His people. Praise precedes victory. When God shows up,
miracles happen.
Day 1st October,
2017 – 1st Sunday, of the month and it’s the youth mass.
One would expect the
confirmation students to be vibrant. Here is an example of their behaviour.
This is what I have experienced, each time a different face but when it is time
to wish Peace they will do it amongst themselves and not with anyone in the
Church. Maybe they consider themselves to represent India and the rest of the
congregation to be Pakistan. Psychologically if this would be an evaluation the
closest, one could come with is classic hostile behaviour (Passive aggressive –
at its best) and one that goes unnoticed and maybe nothing said about it.
Everyone must participate
in the celebration of the mass. There is no excuse for pretence and no excuse
for hostile behaviour in the presence of God.
Day 3rd October, 2017 – Prayer service at St. Joseph
I reach just as Fr. Ashlyn
opens the Tabernacle.
Fr. Ashlyn walked towards
the people during the healing service. It was beautiful.
Eucharisitc
Adoration-prayer service. Today is the best day in a
very long time. Today, my sweet Jesus spoke with me the longest. Jesus calls me His Beloved. It is so beautiful and brings such joy to my heart. There
are no words.
Day 7th October, 2017 – First Saturday, Our Lady of Fatima.
Reading Samuel
Gospel: All those who do
the will of the Father are my brother, sister and mother.
Feast of Our Lady of the
Rosary.
Blessing of Healing – After
the mass, there was the blessing and Fr. Ashlyn asked us to leave after we
receive the blessings. I waited outside till Fr. Ashlyn completed his blessing
all the people. I was obedient to him asking us to leave. He never told that we
can’t stand outside and watch.
Day 14th October, 2017
I prayed for death with all
my heart. I prayed to God to put an end to my life. Being very tired and
through the night I prayed for sweet death till I fell asleep.
Day 15th October, 2017
10:15 am – Fr. Daniel.
Fr. Daniel’s homily brought
me in a manner of speaking to the valley of the living. I could feel life again
in me.
Thank You, Abba Father.
Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Holy Spirit.
Day 10th October, 2017 –
Prayer service at St. Joseph
Fr. Ashlyn.
Day 17th October, 2017 –
Prayer service at St. Joseph
Fr. Ashlyn & Fr.
Francis = prayed over(). I was very glad to see Fr. Francis.
I was so tired in my mind
that I did not want to come at all for the next Tuesdays. I told Jesus what I thought
and I wanted to stay far-far away. I thought Jesus whatever You will.
Speaking with my dad, my
dad asked me to come to Mangalore. When discussing with my cousin, I realized Jesus gave me the
permission to go.
Day 22nd October,
2017
One of the Sunday’s Fr.
Lenny celebrated the mass. It could be the 22nd, I’m not sure.
His simplicity is beautiful.
Day 24th
October, 2017 – I love travelling by Bus. I
saw the Moon and the Star throughout the journey. We reached home by 06:15 am.
I was told by Mama Mary to not worry as Mama Mary would be with me all the time.
I was told by Mama Mary to not worry as Mama Mary would be with me all the time.
Day 28th October, 2017 -
St. Jude & St. Simon's Feast.
My Dad's (name-Simon)
birthday too.
I thought to leave on the
3rd of November, but my Dad wished for me to stay a couple of days more. So now
the date to leave would be the 6th and I would reach on the 7th morning.
Day 1st
November, 2017 – All Saints Day.
Day 2nd
November, 2017 – All Souls Day.
07:15 am mass at St. Ann’s
Church.
06:00 pm mass at St. Ann’s
Church. There was the prayer and blessing of the tombs.
I love the Mt. Carmel Church blessing of the tombs.
Day 7th and 14th November, 2017.
Prayer service at St. Joseph. Fr. Ashlyn.
14th November – Fr. Reuben’s Birthday.
Prayer service at St. Joseph. Fr. Ashlyn.
14th November – Fr. Reuben’s Birthday.
Day 11th
November, 2017 –
07:30 pm – Fr. Alvaro.
Fr. Alvaro in his homily
states - Treated like a dog, lives like a dog, suffers like a dog but is a
human being-The poor man.
Presently this is our human
society and how it looks down on people. I think the sentence is self
explanatory. The gist of Fr. Alvaro’s homily. I agreed with Fr. Alvaro a
complete 100%.
Fr. Alvaro spoke on the
Gettysburg Address my favourite topic and favourite President Abraham Lincoln.
It states that all men are created equal.
Something that everyone
conveniently chooses to forget.
The United
States Declaration of Independence has: all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these
are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness.
Life belongs to each and everybody – no distinctions. The Poor struggle for this. They know nothing of the fancy words like Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. Life is a struggle.
Liberty the state
of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority
on one's behaviour or political views. A right or privilege.
Pursuit of Happiness to
freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy, as long as you
don't violate the rights of others.
Genesis
1:27 states - So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them.
We need to reach to the poorest of
the poor among us. Beginning first, with the poor in our own families. Then
going out into the world. Growing up I often wondered of the suffering of the
poor. I am not talking of the people within the city. I know there are crooks
within them too. But keeping that aside the poorest, have no means to water or
food. What you see (of flesh and bones) is the skeletal remains to say that they
are still alive. I have not met these people but to watch them on TV it still
causes an ache in the heart. We have so much of food growing in abundance; I wonder how
we can reach to the poor. I have seen again on TV children lying on the ground or
in their beds covered with flies. These are babies, what have they ever done?
God created man in His own image.
This is what Genesis says, then how come we have so many classes between each
other. When we are created in the image of God, we are all equal. I see no
equality - I see the rich getting richer and the poor, who cares about them,
they get poorer everyday. We have created the classes-we have brought in the barriers. The Old Christian never lived this way. They shared everything they had.
Christmas is just a month away; let
us remember that Jesus was born in a Manger among the cattle as explained as
part of homily by Fr. Daniel on Sunday. The Angels appeared to the poor
shepherds who were guarding their sheep by night. The poor were called in. They
were OPEN to the call of God.
Let us be OPEN to them and thus be
OPEN to God. I leave my prayer in Your heart Oh God!
Every HeartBeat of mine!
Thy Kingdom COME!
Way to Believe...
Way to Pray. . .
Mass Etiquette
With all my Love,
For Love Prevails!
AnitA.
PRAYER: Abba, Father, keep me obedient and always faithful. Remember, this your
servant.
Mama Mary
keep me humble, I pray. Amen.
Prayer for the souls in PURGATORY:- Our Lord dictated the following prayer to St.
Gertrude the Great to release 1,000 Souls from Purgatory each time it is said.
"Eternal
Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union
with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in
Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those
in my own home and within my family. Amen."