FOREVER HIS

St. Therese of Lisieux (Little Flower) inspires me with many thoughts....Tomorrow is her Feast and I want to thank her for the example of her life....I have learnt from her to understand that to be holy we have to be little! We have to trust our Father God to provide everything for us. This will save us from leading a hassled life full of petty pursuits and greed. Also in our ordinary daily life and through our little acts of love, we can glorify God and love God. In our little sacrifices and pains lies a great worth, a preciousness and beauty. Life has meaning and purpose and a glorious destiny. Therese suffered physically too and died at the young age of 24 but her inspiration to us lives on. She is the Patroness of Catholic Missions. It is strange for us to believe that a cloistered nun who never stepped out of her convent could be called a missionary. But that she is because of her prayer life! She prayed for priests and religious, for the missionaries and evangelists as she firmly believed that she had been called to pray for them. That was her role, she felt! She did this with her whole heart teaching us that holiness comes from love and sacrifice. One may find God in the ordinary, mundane and routine grind of daily life. Let us pray to St. Therese that we may be granted the same abandon of faith and love in our Heavenly Father as she had. And also that we learn to be simple. Amen

HE CAME FOR ME

I have thought of this very often....that Jesus came for me...a weak and sinful person. His love surpasses my understanding. I am unable to fathom how could he, being God, love me! For me it is hard to love people who do not love me...I am very often harsh, judgmental and difficult. My words and my actions show my discomfort or disagreement. I would want many people to change! I would be happy to see them reach a standard or degree where it would be easy for me to love them! And how strange that I do not ever shrink back to receive the unconditional, forgiving and selfless love of God! I am happy to receive mercy and grace, his presence and blessings but when it is my turn to give back what I have received freely, I am bankrupt!!! I suppose this is not only my condition but the condition of every human being who fails to give back to others unconditionally what he has received from God. We want but we are so stingy when we have to give. I just pray that God would change our selfish hearts to give love and blessings to all...even to those who are undeserving (according to our standards!), thankless and unloving. We can remember that - He came for me so I can also be like him...and learn to love! Amen.

GOD'S VOICE -IV

Finally, I want to say that God speaks to us through our LIFE EXPERIENCES. Noted Christian author, C. S. Lewis says – Pain is the megaphone of God. Truly, our sufferings and problems are also messages from God in the same way as our joys and comforts are a blessing from God. God is closest to us when we are in pain. He speaks to the broken hearted and forsaken. He never rejects the rejected, but chooses to be their companion and friend. God through our pains guides us into his will. And his will is to make us like himself! He therefore allows us to be moulded by our painful situations, sufferings and sickness into his own image. He refreshes us and renews us and grants us so much more than we could have ever imagined or desired. Pain allows us to think, seek and find. We learn to pray and to hear HIM speak. Pain quitens us and makes us meet our hidden selves. And inside all of us is GOD! So whatever situation we are in, we are in his range! We need to tune up and get in line with his wavelength. God is clear. Let us therefore choose to hear his clear warnings of love and change so that we may enjoy life and find our destiny! Amen.

GOD'S VOICE -III

The third way in which God speaks to us is through people. God reveals his plan for our lives through the words and actions of the people around us especially those who love us and know us closely. However we should have the discernment to know that even in this category, God uses only very few and selected people to convey his message to us. Words that are selfishly motivated or angry or with sinful intentions can never be from God – no matter who speaks them. However, reversely God can also use the harsh words of our critics to correct us! The best way to hear from God then would be through FAITH COMMUNITIES that are around us. They are to a large extent the voice of God because their basis is God and prayer. There is also a common bonding of supernatural love and friendship that unites the community and thus it makes it sacred, secure and selfless. Let us aim to join such a community where we are can hear the SPIRIT OF GOD and see God in action. Let us move from ourselves to others and thereby reach God.

GOD'S VOICE - II

Another powerful way of hearing the voice of God is by listening to our inner conscience and inspirations. The HOLY SPIRIT of God resides in each one us and wants to lead us on the way of LIFE and LOVE. However, since this ‘voice’ is so gentle, many a times we end up missing it or ignoring it. This is due to the fact that we are most of the time surrounded by various voices that are loud and demanding. These voices that come from the world leave us numb, tired, depressed and discouraged. Very seldom do they encourage us or give us the love and rest that we are seeking. What we need therefore is to quieten ourselves before God and let him speak to our souls. He wants to give us all that we need – guidance, inspiration and solace. We just need to draw near to him and he will embrace us. We only need to shut up or restless minds and shut out the noises of the world to receive his divine light and life. Don’t speak, just listen!

GOD'S VOICE - I

God speaks to us in various and different ways. I have realized that one of the most important ways is through the Scriptures. When we read or hear the Word of God (The Bible), God’s will, his ways and his plans are clear to us. The Bible is an inspired book and clarifies to us the nature and character of God, which is LOVE. Also we can realize that our life is a LOVE STORY written by a God who formed us, delights in us and cherishes us. He protects and preserves us and wants to bless us. However the irony is that we reject and refuse his Love and choose our own ways. From the first book of the Bible (Genesis) to its last chapter (Revelation), we see man’s rebellion, disobedience and mistrust. It is amazing to see that even though throughout history God has revealed himself to various individuals, communities and nations, yet they have chosen to ignore and disrespect him. However, even amidst this sin and confusion of humankind, God’s voice is clear and consistent. His love never ends and is completely personified in the life of Christ. Our past, present and future makes sense when we read the Bible. Our pain and suffering takes on a new dimension. Our problems are sorted out. And more than anything else our destinies are made clear – HEAVEN. All this leads to finding ourselves and our lost joy, peace and hope. God speaks but are we willing to listen?

THE REAL LIFE

Life is not meant just to be lived for ourselves. It has two main and critical dimensions which we need to understand – Relationship with God and relationship with our fellow beings. The world we live in darkens our perceptions about life because it is broken, sinful, full of strife and problems. We are on one hand bogged and crippled by the difficulties and pressures that surround us and on the other we are pulled by our desires and often fall prey to our own pleasures and gratification. Both these factors blind us and we are lost. We all want harmony, goodness, justice and peace. However, many a times we are unable to step out. But the fact remains that real and meaningful life is enjoyed by those who live for God, and for goodness. Loving Him, they can love others; serving Him, they can serve others; knowing and trusting Him, they can understand and trust others. Unconditional, honest and pure love and service flows from such people. Jesus said – Love God and love your neighbour, for this is the summary of the Law and the Prophets. We all say that we believe in God but that’s not enough. Belief should transform into action. Once our belief in God and his principles takes on a new and deeper dimension, our life will change for good. Once God rules over our intentions and actions, then we will be transformed to be his agents in this broken and hurting world. We can find ourselves once we find God.

BEING BUSY

THE BEST PART

The students of my Bible class love to share their thoughts and inspirations with me and with each other every time. This week also as we studied the Book of Exodus together, all of them came up with some very beautiful insights. The crux of all their thoughts culminated in their expressing the fact that GOD WANTS TO SPEAK. Yes, we all realized that God wants to talk to us. He loves to reach out to us. The Bible reveals his love, his thoughts, his plans for us. He wants us to come to him daily so that he could nourish us with his WORD. In the Gospels we read how Jesus had commended Mary(who had sat at his feet) and who had listened intently to his words. Martha, her sister, was busy with many things and had no time for the Lord. Infact, she came and complained to Jesus about the inactivity of her sister. She asked Jesus to tell Mary to come and help her with the chores. The reply of Jesus was - "Martha, Martha, you are busy with so many things. But Mary has chosen the best part, which will not be taken away from her." Yes, the point is there is a BEST PART, which we all can have and which we all need - LISTENING TO THE LORD and HEARING HIS WORD. We discovered this as we studied together and I hope you would too. Building our life around Jesus and his Word is the best thing we can do....to become the best...and to experience life at its best!

GOD WITH US

It was after some months that I went to the hospital yesterday. I was amazed, as always, to see the number of people who were present there. The crowd increases day by day. Infact the number of departments, the number of super-specialty wards, consultants, all are growing by leaps and bounds! It's a mixed sign - both good and bad- about the human condition. Good because we have lots and lots of progress to see in the field of medicine. Bad because the number of sick and diseased(and the types of diseases) are increasing at a scary rate! Anyway, whenever I visit the hospital, I feel it is a DIFFERENT WORLD all together. with its painful reality of suffering people and families. Yesterday too this feeling of being in a claustrophobic world gripped me. Yet amidst the gnawing feeling of fear and grief, I felt the presence of God. I could feel serenity and even rest. I felt the Lord speaking to me in the words of Psalm 23 - When you walk through the valley of death, I will be with you. I knew he was asking me not to be afraid but to trust in his love and protection. He is with me...even in the deepest darkness. He is with all of us...each one of us...only if we would just stop looking around and would look inside! He lives and loves you and me...He is with us everywhere....even in the hospital....even when we are alone...and suffering...Just dare to believe..

BEING DIFFERENT

All of us seek to be loved, accepted and appreciated. We want people to like us and actually that's fine. But this may always not be helpful because many times, if we go overboard, we may end up becoming 'people-pleasers' with no identity of our own. Actually in the world around us we do see a lot of such things happening as we see young people especially trying to ape and follow their friends at the cost of common sense and at times, even their values and emotions. This results in heart breaks, painful situations and grief (and for some depression). The world around us offers us a lot - money, fame, power, glamour, all kinds of pleasure and amusements but this is not the real life and getting everything we want is not the right way. In today's Gospel reading we see Jesus teaching his disciples to take the NARROW GATE which leads to eternal life. Actually, I feel he says to all of us that even though living for God and his Kingdom may be difficult and tough in the natural world yet if you hang on, you will see great results in your life. There is a promise of blessing in these words of Christ - promise of everlasting peace, love and joy. Don't we all long for that? Yet, we often choose the WIDE WAY of the world and its false pleasures and end in pain. Whereas, Jesus promises that HIS LIFE of truth and righteousness will bless us eternally. So lets choose today for ourselves...God bless...

FATHER'S DAY

Suddenly in the morning one of my students reminded me that today was FATHER'S DAY. I had forgotten all about it and had not wished my dad, I was a bit surprised and a little shocked at the same time. It struck me that I had not wished my dad or got a gift for him. However, even before this thought could take root and make me regret about my forgetfulness, a beautiful thought struck me. I suddenly realised that I had to first thank and praise my FATHER IN HEAVEN, the One who is FATHER of us all. I immediately prayed the OUR FATHER and I blessed my FATHER GOD in my heart for he gave me life and he gave me my earthly parents. Infact, as I sit down and reflect, I feel many children would not have their dads around with them. Some are orphans or maybe have lost their dad or are separated physically or emotionally due to a family problems. Infact I know many young people who find it hard to relate to their dads and face much pain due to misunderstandings or feelings of painful rejection, abuse or betrayal. For such people, Father's Day could even ring a bell of sorrow, nostalgia and grief. But if we were to just quiten the noises of our mind and heart and listen to the SPIRIT OF GOD, then we would find in ourselves the quiet assurance that there is a FATHER who is ABOVE ALL and the GIVER OF LIFE and all the GOOD GIFTS in our lives. Today what we are here because GOD OUR HEAVENLY FATHER willed us to be here. He is the MASTER DESIGNER of our lives, our ultimate PROVIDER, PROTECTOR and SAVIOUR. Our earthly fathers represent him and we can thank them for all they did too but we should know that the TRUE SOURCE is OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. Let us pray as Jesus taught....Our Father in heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven....Amen.

EQUAL

Today at the Holy Mass, the second reading touched me. St. Paul clearly explained how God sees us. For him there is no Jew or Gentile (no racial discrimination), no man or woman (no gender bias), no slave or free (no status difference). He sees as all one - as his children. Actually he does that because of what Jesus, his own precious Son, did for us. By his death and rising again, Jesus gives us all an opportunity to experience new birth. When we are thus re-newed, we get the likeness of the SON OF GOD i.e. JESUS CHRIST. This enables us to enjoy all the heavenly graces of our Father in heaven. God sees us as his beloved precious children. He cherishes us and he wants to enjoy the wonderful graces of his love. We are needed. We are not inferior to anybody. We belong. We are one. We are special. Thanks to Jesus, who enables us to know that LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL and we are LOVED.

ATTITUDE

The words of todays Gospel say that the eye is the LAMP of the whole body and if the eye is good then our whole being will be good and full of light. This is very true and especially if we are going through a tough phase in our life. If we hold on to the positive and true, if we expect goodness and success, then surely the results will be good and positive too. For what we desire we do ultimately get. God sees to it that his children enjoy this life and be happy. However what matters is our attitude. Our whole life will depend on what we think and how we respond to joys and sorrows. Love, faith, forgivness and joy can take us a long way. They can give us HOPE and the will power to succeed. Look at life from God's angle and it will make sense. It will fill you with courage to move forward and achieve your destiny. Amen

UNIQUE

Today on the 18th of June 2010, I felt inspired to start this blog. Alone with myself at home and reading a book, I just sat down and the Lord took me into my past and showed me how he had made me UNIQUE and given me a NEW LIFE. Infact, he made me feel that he had given me much more than just gifts and talents...He had given me a heart of his own...A heart that could love and share. I also remembered that he had made me come through a difficult period of my life. In October 2001, I had undergone a KIDNEY TRANSPLANT and was given a new lease of life. My life which had taken a whole new meaning since then. I know there are millions in this world who suffer like me and go through endless rounds of hospitals and medicines. Through my blog I want to inspire and help them. If God can change my life and make me a new person, he can do the same for anyone who hopes and trusts in him. I want to help by giving hope. I want to say that this is not the end...a NEW JOURNEY has begun into a NEW LIFE...Amen...and God bless