And to God...the things that are God's.

Everything belongs to God.
Surrender to God your life, make GOD your top priority and place all your Hope in Him.
Matthew 22:15–22 and Mark 12:13–17 and Luke 20:20–26 

The questioners were Pharisees and Herodian’s. They sent to Jesus their spies, since they themselves were suspected by Him. The questioners believed that the spies might succeed more easily in getting a response. 

The questioners expected a negative answer which would place Jesus, in a difficult situation with the Roman governor. They expected that Jesus would oppose the tax. Their purpose was to trap Jesus. Luke 20:20-"to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor".

The governor was Pilate and he was the man responsible for collecting the taxes. The spies flattered Jesus by praising His doctrine and His love of truth. By their flattery they hoped to force Jesus into a decision. They asked Him whether or not it is right for Jews to pay the taxes demanded by Caesar. "Should we pay them, or should we not?" Mark 12:15 or “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” Matthew 22:17 

If Jesus said, ‘Pay the taxes,’ then the Jews who refused to accept the domination of Rome will reject Jesus. And if Jesus says, ‘Don't pay the taxes,’ then Jesus would be in trouble with the authorities. 

Jesus calls the spies, hypocrites and then asks one of them to hand a Roman coin. Their producing the coin implies their use and acceptance of it. Jesus looks at the coin and asks whose head and inscription are on it. They take Jesus’ question as a sign of His ignorance and they answer sincerely, Caesar’s. They provide our Lord with the answer to their question and Jesus responds: 
"Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Matthew 22:21.

The people who had the coins were only using what belonged to Caesar until Caesar said to give them back in taxes. 

Many of the Jews refused to pay the taxes, imposed on them. They would not cooperate with the Roman authorities, represented by Caesar.  In the words of Jesus, paying taxes to the Roman emperor would be an earthly duty. 

When Jesus was responding to the spies, He was reminding them that the coin belonged to God. For the Jewish people, everything belonged to God. Jesus reminds us, we belong to God. Everything is God's.  

We live in a world, where there is absolute poverty. Everyone has a right to a full, human life and not everybody gets it. It is a world full of injustice. The people who suffer, they know that there is nothing they can do, but bear the consequences. 

The Reign of God, implies that there is justice for everybody, equality for all, there is love, peace and joy. We must reach out to the poor, the outcasts, those who are rejected in our society. 

The Gospel, It is the Power of God, His Spirit speaking to us and guiding us in every aspect of our lives. Scripture is clear that only Divine authority is absolute. 

The questioners were impressed. Matthew 22:22 states that they "marvelled"; unable to trap Him any further and being satisfied with the answer, they went away. 

A surrender implies that one is obedient to God. 

A rule is laid down with an intent that it must be followed. We are to be obedient to the people that God has placed in our lives and in positions. 

We are in troubled times, a time of uncertainty. Let us remember, we are not here by accident. Our sinful nature has brought this about. 
Let us remember, to be truly repentant.
Let us also remember that this is God’s Universe and we have to surrender everything to God. 
Give back to God everything, our lives, our relationships and our all. 

And all the time remembering that GOD IS IN CHARGE!

The Prodigal Son...

I believe when our hearts remember the good, the wonders God has worked in our lives, we will be bolder in our faith, expectancy and reliance in our Almighty God. 

In the Book of Exodus, Israel was in bondage to Egypt. On their way to the Promised Land the Egyptian galloping horses were gaining on the Hebrews. Hundreds of chariots were racing them. There were high mountains on the left and to their right. The Red Sea loomed ahead of them. 

“What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” 

I realize, most times, this is our question. And especially now, during these dark times, when the answers are not up to us. But then again, we kind of pushed ourselves to believing that the answers were always up to us. 

For the people caught between Pharaoh, the mountains, and the Sea, to remember how they got there meant remembering that God had established a covenant with them long before. It meant to remember that God had never abandoned them even when they were unfaithful to that covenant. It meant to remember that God had led them out of captivity in Egypt and had given them a hopeful vision of a promised land. That’s how they got to where they were. God had led them there. 

Finding oneself on shaky ground, all caught up is no accident. That’s where you’re bound to end up when you’re following God’s call. (For this example-the case of the Israelites). The same God who called you there will call you out of there. God will see you through to the next place. 

In the case of COVID-19, we are right in the middle of nowhere. I say nowhere, because we have brought this on ourselves. Sorry is a beautiful word. That is what we need to feel in our heart, and tell God, how deeply we feel for the wrongs we have done. Having prayed and being in prayers, we need to be STILL, which we are but we have to be in God. That is ‘TRUST GOD!’ 

“What do you do when you don’t know what to do?”

We remember the mercy and faithfulness of God. We remember that God’s love endures forever. We remember the mercy of the Father for His son in the Parable of The Prodigal Son. 

The long-suffering Hebrew people wondered out loud if God had abandoned them. But God replies: How could I forget you? Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she forsake the child of her womb?” 

We bring to remembrance those who are dying of COVID-19 and those who have died. We try to understand what it must have felt for them. They died, with no family members around their dying bed, where someone could have held their hand. They suffered intensely and in their dying moments, they felt abandoned. 

Jesus Crucified, cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46

Having felt abandoned, Jesus knew, His Father, is always with Him. The Father never abandoned His Son Jesus and He never abandoned those dying of COVID-19. He will never abandon anyone of us.

We pray for the COVID-19 dying, that in their feeling of abandonment, the Spirit fills them with the dying Jesus and His words and a fresh understanding that no matter how they feel, that God never abandons. I pray for Gods arms around each of the dying. 

No matter who they are, we pray that their heart be filled with Your Love oh, Lord and their fear gives in to Your strength. Fill them with Your Peace, all encompassing God! 

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; Isaiah 49:15-16 

“What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” 

The Battle of Jericho, the Israelite’s first, is won by surrounding the walls of the city and walking around them, causing them to miraculously collapse.

It’s always good to Remember…. Remember the miraculous siege on Jericho? Remember God’s faithfulness: 

PROBLEM– Israel had a big problem with the city of Jericho being so heavily fortified. verse 1 

PROMISE– The Lord had promised Israel the victory “see I have given Jericho into your hand” v2 

PARTNER– The Lord, their partner gave Joshua the strategy “You shall march around the city…” v3-5 

PREVAILED– Victory! “They utterly destroyed everything in the city” v21. 

Remember When God says it He settles it. 

We forget that God is in control and He will take care of us. In forgetting we open the door of our minds to anxiety and fear. 

Remember-Remember: God is for us and with us. 

We need to remember that God watches over the Sparrows, He watches over me. 

“What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” 

The parable of The Prodigal Son, one does not hear of the Father losing his temper or even saying anything to that matter, to his son who asks for the share of property. In fact the Father, gives to him, his share, no terms-no conditions attached. Luke 15:12 And he (the father) divided his living between them. 

The father on catching a glimpse of his son from a distance, returning home, runs towards him and full of compassion, embraces and kisses him. 

We get a glimpse of the loving heart of our Abba Father, His heart that is tender, so full of love. His ways that are gentleness and compassion. And He waits for us with no questions, but a heart that is ready to embrace us, like we did nothing to hurt Him. 

We begin by remembering that God, will not abandon us here, in this fight. 

R E M E M B E R . . . . .

Thank GOD!

Sometimes we ought to ask ourselves this question, what if God was like us. I mean if God was rude, cruel and threw His weight on us. What if He just gave us ultimatums with no time frame? If we had no free will, wouldn’t that change our whole perspective? 

God is patient. He is kind. He is merciful and full of compassion. God loves us with all His heart. 

When I am done for the day, and I am about to sleep, I love to think of all the wonderful things in life. And I like to wake up with the feeling of goodness.  

I love to wake up with all my thoughts on God and the first thing I would love to do is to run to Him. 

No matter what the situation is or however the day goes, I believe that nothing ever happens that God is not aware of. Knowing that, my day gets better, with no anxiety. There are times, I too fall short and worry, but then I know God is in Charge!

I Thank God for every thing. Nothing is too small. He is GOD and from the Heavens, He watches over me. He knows the hurt, He sees me cry. I say Heaven, but I know He is in my heart. I don't need no proof of that. There are certain moments when I could burst into tears and just that moment, I hear Abba Father, say, not a tear must fall. 

I pray for God's grace, always and every bit of it. I want to absorb every bit, that I can. I have this grace to always remember the good things people do for me, no matter how little they may think it is. To me it means the world. Surprisingly they forget, but I always remember.  

Thank You, God. I thank You, for You in my life! 

In our prayers, at Home and after the Rosary, we thank God.

We thank God, for our time of coming together to pray. We ask God to help us pray the Rosary, with holy fervour and with love and a deeper understanding of every word that is in the prayer. 

We thank God…

For this life and the privilege of knowing God!

For keeping us in His protection.

For the air we breathe!

For the roof under which we live and are blessed to call HOME!

For God’s generosity in providing us with food and water.

For the weather.

We Thank God for our Priests.

We Thank God for the family we are blessed with and the company of each other.

We Thank God for everything good and the not so good.

We ask God’s forgiveness when we might have taken things for granted and may have forgotten to thank Him.

I thank God for this privilege - to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him in this life and be happy with Him in the next (our Home in Heaven).

I Thank God for His presence during the time of our prayer (the Rosary) at home. We thank God for being in our midst not just during prayers but being with us always.

I thank God for His presence in my life.

I thank God for this beautiful life.

To my Trinitarian God, all Praise and Glory be! 

Thank You, Abba Father. 

Thank You, Jesus. 

Thank You, Holy Spirit. 

A Purpose under HEAVEN!

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1

God's timing-Not one minute early and not a second late.

God permits us with times of waiting to stretch our faith in Him and to bring about change in our lives.
When we wait God's way, we become patient. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It's developed only under trial.

In the book of Exodus we learn that God led the Israelites the longer, harder way on their journey to the Promised Land because He knew they were not yet ready to go in.

During these times of the Pandemic, we are also on a journey, a journey to rediscover ourselves, who we are or whose we are in God. God never failed to take care of the Israelites. God never fails in taking care of us.
We have to trust God with all our heart. When I feel fear, I surrender it to Jesus. I say, ‘Jesus I trust You’. Jesus has taught me, to surrender the situation when it arose and as many times as it did. I do as my Master says. And the beautiful thing about it is, I feel strengthened.

In all this I'm constantly learning. In a difficult moment, it is so difficult not to give in to the fear, but it is precisely that moment of fear itself, that I must trust God. 

The devil likes to hold us to an area of fear. And once there, he likes to play that over and over to gain complete control. But when we surrender that fear to God as many times as it arises, we speak of our trust in God. (The devil has no control, when we surrender a situation to Jesus.) When we speak out our trust in God, we magnify God and not our fear.

God's training period simply requires us to do, what He tells us to do and when He tells us to do it...without questioning or trying to figure everything out. 

When God directs our paths, He leads us in ways that sometimes may not make sense to us, so we're not always going to understand everything. It is, then, that we must Trust God. 

I leave every instance of my life to God. If I walk to the Right, it is with His will, if the Spirit of God says, walk to the Left, then that becomes the way for me to walk on. The spirit of God directs me in everything I do. 

Obedience + TRUST GOD! 

The sooner we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and accept His will, the sooner, God can work His plan in our lives. 

After a seed is planted, there is total darkness and hardness below the ground. The plant has to push its way through. It takes time for this to happen. After we plant seeds of obedience, we feel like nothing is happening. This is the moment, we need to trust God. And like the seed that finally bursts through the ground into a beautiful plant, our seeds of obedience break forth into a beautiful manifestation of God in our lives. 

Everything happens in God’s time! We are not to figure out how, where or when, but to simply Trust in God. 

Often we give up and let failure convince us, God has said no, when in reality He has simply said "WAIT." 

God is ready for us to move ahead but we often think we're unprepared to do something because we lack certain potential. 

God makes us wait, to test our faith in Him and also to prepare us for what He is making us wait for and to develop patience and determination in us. 

In this Pandemic, we have learnt that no matter how powerful and however prepared we thought were were to combat our opposing countries-with the latest technology, when hit with a virus, we remained dumb-founded. Our intelligence is total foolishness to God. 

God is all Wisdom! He created all the things we give ourselves credit for. We need to learn humility. 

I find this behaviour to be absurd, people adding their credentials on the walls, on the table, the door frame, Facebook etc... They are proud of their achievements or accomplishments. 

The will of God for Jesus was fully accomplished in His perfect obedience to the Father. At the moment of Jesus’ utterance, John 19:30 “It is finished,” the power of sin and Satan was finished. This is the accomplishment of Jesus, that through Jesus, the Son of God, we have eternal life. He sacrificed His life with love on the Cross, in a brutal death with all its entrapments for us. 
All we have done, is for ourselves and we over glorify ourselves. What have we ever done for love of Jesus and our fellow brethren? 

Our accreditations don’t say who we are in God, it just speaks for what we have achieved on Earth. God defines us for who we are in Him. 

We must acknowledge, GOD is our All! 

With time and a true repentance, we realize that our lives are nothing without God. Humility teaches us that every answer is always up to God. When the answers are up to God, we pray. To pray we need to trust and surrender to an all wise and loving God. 

In the surrender, we learn with the Spirit of God, to wait in Patience. We learn, OBEDIENCE is a pre-requisite to all of God’s marvellous dealings in our lives. We learn, to love and trust in GOD’s PERFECT TIME!