Breath of LIFE!

Hello! 

It has been a long time. I was to put this up two months back, but I know now, it is time. 

I loved this song, the very first time I heard it. Love Can Build A Bridge – The Judds

I'd gladly walk across the desert

With no shoes upon my feet

To share with you the last bite
Of bread i had to eat
I would swim out to save you
In your sea of broken dreams
When all your hopes are sinkin'
Let me show you what love means

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

I would whisper love so loudly, every heart could understand
Love and only love can join the tribes of man

I would give my heart's desire so that you might see
The first step is to realize that it all begins with you and me.

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

When we stand together, it's…

When we stand together, it's our finest hour
We can do anything, anything
We're believing in the power

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

In the world, today, we are under different roofs, but the same reason holds us in our homes. 

Today the 18th of August, we have three people infected with Covid-19 in our building and we are under quarantine with no time limit specified.  

In all this, God is even closer than we think. We often forget that. 

There are predictions, doomsday messages stating of the dangers that are yet to come. 

No body is certain about the origin of the virus.

And please don’t thank, Covid-19 for bringing families together? This virus is killing people, it’s taking loved ones away. People are losing their jobs, businesses have been hit hard and many have crashed. And it is people who suffer the most.  

The question that troubles most people is, 

why does God allow this? 

Why does God not hear our prayer? 

I'll answer this second question, right away. The moment we pray, God has His ears fixed to listen to, what we ask of Him. And the answer leaves His side, instantly, sometimes it gets to us immediately and sometimes, it takes time because there are things that we need to experience, there are things we have to learn. And there are times the answer, is a 'No', which always is for our good. BUT, God always answers. 

Coming back to our first question-why does God allow this? Maybe we don’t realize the things that have happened around us. Let us take this walk together... Only, remember, there are truths that can hurt, probably a little more than hurt, but someone needs to speak them. 

• Billions of people are homeless. Many, from war torn countries, have lost one or several members of their family. Many of them live in refugee camps. The world at certain time supplied them with food parcels and necessities. And the world moved on, not remembering nor understanding the plight of our fellow brethren. 
• We will never understand, how it feels to live with the knowledge of not being able to see their home ever again. We will never understand what it is when they are on a constant run for their life. We will never understand what it feels for the little ones who lose their parents and home and have no one to run to. We will never understand what it meant for them to see their loved ones die for no fault committed. 
• We will perhaps never understand what it means to have at times no food to eat and no clean water to drink. 
• To never know the comfort of being at home and in the arms of our loved ones. 
• What does it feel like, torn away from home and no one to run to?

God watches over the Sparrow, God watches over you and me. 
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? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? Matthew 6:26-27
We have yet to learn, to trust our Heavenly Father by leaving all our cares to Him. 

• Now that we have witnessed the virus and its effects, in the world, maybe we will understand the repercussions of war-famine and the devastation that it causes. For the first time, we will experience a bit of the heartache and separation from our loved ones. Maybe we can learn something. 
• Work keeps families in different parts of the world. Being in the same country, some are still separated by distance. With a lockdown due to the pandemic, it just meant one could not travel at that point. 
• It is always better, to take the time to understand what it means, when a war separates family members. And how it affects the people we may never meet. 
• During times of war, there was mass burial or maybe some were fortunate enough, to have been buried individually. At such times, people were not always aware of the death of a family member. The hardest thing is, to come to terms with the death of loved ones and the arrangements thereafter. And with the pandemic, not everyone is able to bid their final farewell.
• Every cry reaches God. 
• We are made to understand what it means to live in a war zone. War costs more than what we see on TV. Although, We don’t have bombs dropping on us. That experience, alone is like Hell itself...BUT (I had this written way before the Beirut explosion). 
• We are made to experience helplessness. We are in a state of confusion, always wondering when this will end. Let us then remember, our fellow brethren who have lived their entire lives with the hope that somebody will bring Peace to their war torn home. We have never truly understood them, we have never truly prayed for them. Truly, what hurts my brother or sister, should hurt my heart too. But we have never thought that way. Hopefully, we will now. 

• What we failed to understand, God helps us see with our eyes and feel in our heart. 

• The celebration of the mass, is an Eucharistic Sacrifice. We put ourselves in God's presence asking His forgiveness for our sins. The mass is for us, that in the eating of the Body and Blood of Christ, we will find our spiritual nourishment, we would be strengthened for our daily battles in this world.
• These days, The Priests celebrate the mass and for this we thank God. Even though the Churches are closed, (maybe elsewhere, some have opened) God comes to our heart and our home amidst all the chaos, God never abandons us. 
• Speaking on Hinduism and the Hindu holy books, during the mass, is not ideal, because we come to glorify God alone and only seek to please HIM. And the reason I mention this, is because I heard a Priest, script-reading Krishna-as a romantic lover, a saviour, from the Altar a minute before beginning the mass. Maybe the Church, is more open to speaking on such matter, but I believe we must trust in Divine Providence. It was through Divine Providence that Don Bosco attributed all of his work. St. Don Bosco is one of my favourite Saints. 
• It is the heart of the man, his love for his fellow brethren that pleases the Lord. We are meant to look after each other. The granite and marble floors or walls in the House of God are never meant to overtake the love and importance of the people. It is not the stones that make the Church. We need to build people up and when we do, the light of Christ in them, will shine through. Christ did not die for the stones of the Church. Christ died for you and me. 
• Love it was that nailed Him to the Cross. Let us always bring that to remembrance.                             

We say life matters. We think we want justice. But for matters of convenience, we believe that unity is strength. We often choose sides.

But justice is not what we take sides with. Justice is not blind.

A mother loses her son in a tragic hit and run. The culprit is sentenced to a term. It could, feel right. But the next day, the pain comes back making her weary. The term being served by the culprit, won’t bring her son back; his life is not automatically restored.

Then, is this justice? Yes in the eyes of the law, the culprit is punished.

But, Justice to this mother would in reality, mean that her son is alive, all hale and hearty. It is the Knowing that he is alive, that removes all sense of injustice. Given this understanding, only God can bring Justice into this broken world. 

• Violence has increased. In towns and villages, you hear of odd deaths that don't make sense at all. In other instances, people go missing and nobody gets to hear of them. In very rare instances, the body is found 20-30 years later in the deepest forest areas or deep in the rivers. There are so many that go missing and never to be found. Whatever the reason, God has given no body the right to kill. 
• People treat each other bad. We cannot change what is in the heart of a man. If we thought everyone as equal, we would have no war and no bloodshed. This would be a Heaven on Earth. The truth-To God, we are all His children. But we don't behave as brother and sister. We made the distinctions. 
• We see racism across the globe in different instances. History is witness to it. And so is media coverage. Ever heard of people oppressing each other? We do that all the time.  
• Change begins at home. Do not discriminate, no matter what-this should be a golden rule. 
• So if you are black/brown or yellow, we are going to always find someone who could hate us for our colour or our religion or maybe the way we look. We can’t change the way we look-neither can we change the thought process of a person, but we can most certainly be people who will see the good in everything. Even especially when there is little or no good in the given circumstance. Good cannot bring in bad, it can only bring in good. And understand this, even the most powerful coloured person, will find someone who will give them a hard time. Remember:-GOD is always GOOD! 
• Stop relying on the way others see you. See yourself the way God does-as His masterpiece. You are one of a kind! 

• These are the stats I came across, I don’t know if they are accurate. These stats are based on the number of abortions conducted worldwide. How many innocent lives? When we say lives matter, would that not automatically include babies in the womb of a mother. Innocent-defenseless little babies.

Years 2010–2014 56 million abortions occurred worldwide. 

Years 2015–2019 73 million abortions occurred worldwide. 

• The number one killer in the world in 2019 is 42.3 million babies murdered in their mother's womb. 
• What if, the stats are wrong. Let's speak as if it is 1 million babies-as of now, does it not make your head spin? 

42.3 million Babies aborted and we make Covid-19 look like a villain? 

• Do you know the gruesome way, these babies are aborted with? They shriek in pain, only we cannot hear them. Their cry goes to God. We speak of human rights. Does that include the unborn babies?
• And yet when one man killed on the streets created a world-wide human outrage. And I do understand, we must always stand for justice, and rightly so.

• But, what do we do when the number points out to 42.3 million innocents aborted for just the year 2019? 

• Aren't we all such hypocrites?

• Surrogacy is an arrangement, whereby the surrogate mother agrees to bear a child for another person or persons, who will become the child's parents after birth. Surrogacy is one of the many assisted reproductive technologies.
• The exchange of money to get a baby-is buying a baby, like one would buy a product from a store. 

• It was believed, children were a blessing of God, and they were not just mere words. Back then, people did not look at their financial status and plan the right time to conceive a child. They did not talk of admissions to school before the child was born. Planning for children, means one trusts oneself, there is no room for trust in God.
• In the past, people believed that God would take care of every situation that arose and God did. With every addition of a child, came other blessings to the family. True, those were big families and they did not have all the comforts of life, but they had something, that today’s world lacks completely. They had immense faith and trust in God.
• On day 1 of conception, God, The Father’s, blessings are the breath of life, into the womb of a mother. His time, His way. When we plan, my time, my way, we hurt the tender heart of God with our lack of trust in Him. Mary's Yes, to God the Father, bought Jesus, the Son of God into the world. 
• True, as earthly parents, every parent wants the best for their children. God wants the best for us too, we are His children. And God’s best for us, always supersedes our expectations. Trouble is, what we don’t see, we don’t believe. Isn’t it strange that Jesus tells people when healing them, your faith has healed you? Not all of them were witnesses to the miracles, but they believed in what they heard about Jesus. We are the privileged lot, we know everything the good Lord has done and yet we are blind to see and understand.
• A mother does not know the child in her womb as God knows. A mother can make mistakes, Abba Father, never does. 

God has given us a free will. It is the ability to choose between right and wrong. It is we who have abused the will of God for our gains. 

Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus says: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"

The first of the 10 commandments states:- I am the Lord your God! You shall have no other gods before me!

We have broken all of God’s commandments. 

No matter what life brings your way, choose to always love. And love-True Love, will lead the way to the heart of Jesus!

 

I often wondered, about the lives of the poor. I cannot heal their pain. And there are always questions. 

The inn was full, there was not a place for Mary to give birth. They were led to the stable-Manger.

Herod was after the child’s life. Joseph was warned by the Angel in a dream and Joseph took Mary and the child Jesus and escaped to Egypt. And Joseph returned from Egypt, only when the Angel told him it was safe. 

Mary understands God in her silence. Mary sensed that her cousin Elizabeth would need help and what we need to understand is that Mary would visit Elizabeth only with the consent of the Holy Spirit. I heard a nun say that Mary was independent and made a decision to visit Elizabeth. I don't believe that, Mary did anything with her own will. Mary was obedient in all things to God. 

Mary did not question, Mary obeyed and followed, Joseph. 

Mary’s complete trust is - God. 

Mary's Yes, shows no resistance, no complications, just a complete surrender with a trust. Can we live and be like Mary? 

When God plans for our life, He knows what He is doing. Everything is not fair in this world. We have to trust, God leave everything into His hands. 

Mary and Joseph were poor. Jesus was laid in a manger. The HAND OF GOD guided them through the journey. Joseph and Mary were obedient in everything, to the will of God.

When you meet a poor man, know this, God has His best for that man too, just as God has for each one of us. God accomplishes His purpose in each one of us only when we say ‘Thy will be done’. 

THY will be done! All praise and Glory to the Holy Trinity!


REMEMBER-Let us remember as humans we are made with a heart to LOVE.

This is what Abba Father expects of us, that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice to save us from sin and bring us to eternal life. Then we, as, His children filled with love, must have the will to sacrifice and share what we can of what we have, for our fellow brethren to save each other.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

God did not withhold His best. He poured out His Heart and Soul to us, in Jesus. God gave us freely.

We withhold to give our poorer brethren that which God has given us in His generosity. He who has God, has in abundance and therefore lacks nothing. He who counts his wealth as his abundance, lacks God. 

PRAYER:- Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine!