Some Moments Stay With Us Forever

I was sitting on my bed, trying to figure how to get everything done that needed doing, when my eyes noticed the framed picture on my wife’s bedside table. In it, my then seven year old daughter is riding piggy back on my wife. They are both laughing and smiling.

The frame has an engraved caption, which says “Some moments were made to stay with us forever…”

As I read it, I remembered a day when my daughter was seven years old. She sat in the living room, with her crayons, coloring books and pieces of paper. Seeing me, she called out.

“Look at me daddy! I’m coloring pictures!”

I’m embarrassed to say, I blew her off. Didn’t even respond. I think I even muttered “Who cares?” All she wanted was for her daddy - for me - to look at her and SEE her. Instead, she got ignored. Again.

Some moments stay with us forever.

If there was a picture of that moment on my bedside table, my frame would say “Epic Fail”.

Which might explain why my nineteen year old daughter moved last month, seventeen hundred and ninety seven miles away.

Can you blame her?

We all have moments like this. Moments that dog us with the immensity of our failure. Memories that tug at us from within the silence between heartbeats, reminding us of our stupidity, our selfishness, and whatever else we so desperately try to hide, behind the shadows of our smiles.

Of course it doesn’t help that the enemy of my soul constantly reminds me of these shortcomings, hamstringing me in the shame and guilt of my failures.

Which usually leaves me feeling grumpy. And abused. And just plain miserable.

Like the psalmist,

“My iniquities overwhelm me, a burden beyond my strength.
Foul and festering are my sores because of my folly.
I am stooped and deeply bowed; all day I go about mourning.
My loins burn with fever; my flesh is afflicted.
I am numb and utterly crushed; I wail with anguish of heart.” (Ps 38:5-9)

So what do I do? How do I reconcile this conflict in my heart, between my emotions, my intellect and my will? How do I live in faith when my feelings leave me believing that I’m the only Christian I know certain to burn in hell?

This is about the time when a tall bottle of whiskey looks attractive.

I must admit, some days are better than others. Some days, I laugh at my enemy as I remember God’s promises, such as:

“The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;
They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

God’s mercy and forgiveness are renewed each morning. Filled up to the top. Again. Which means I cannot out sin God’s mercy.

Or I remember this:

“As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us.” (Ps 103:12)

Can you get any farther than that?

In this way, my intellect balances out my emotions, reminding me of the Truth - God is merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. Yeah, that’s from Scripture too.

Other days, my emotions are just too much for my poor intellect. My thinking simply gives up and joins in the shame game, reasoning away anything that might give me comfort or peace. Emotion and reason, being unreasonable.

Those days, I just have to choose to believe God and what He says. I choose to accept as truth that God is merciful and that I am forgiven. I choose to believe that God can redeem, heal and restore my daughter’s heart, in spite of the wounds I inflicted.

Even when I don’t feel it. Even when it makes as much sense as a bicycle with no wheels. Sometimes, I just have to choose to take God at face value. Which, at times, seems like trying to grab hold of smoke.

Or hang on to a daughter when she runs halfway across the country.

She called a couple of weeks after she moved. Told us she found a church just a few minutes walk from her apartment. So she went to mass. And called to tell us about it.

A few days later, she called and asked how to make meatless lasagna, since it was Friday during lent.

Last week, she phoned my wife and left a mysterious message. “Call me as soon as you can. I HAVE to tell you something!” My wife called.

“Hi honey. You called?”
“Yeah mom. I have to tell you something.”
“What’s up?”
“Some new neighbors moved in upstairs. They’re really involved with the young adult group at church. They invited me to come with them and check it out. I think I’m gonna go.”

God gets it. He sees what’s going on and transcends our hearts and our history. Overwhelms us with his abundant love.

And demonstrates that He is present.
Right now.
Listening.

Some moments stay with us forever.

A Physical & a Spiritual Healing!

“Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds!” (Ps. 96)

We must always keep praising the Lord for all he is doing in our lives and trust his providential care. When we look to the past, as did those in Old Testament scriptures, it is to remember all the marvels He has done for his people. When we look to the future, it is to trust that He is shaping and preparing the way for His will to be done in us and will provide all things. When we spend much time in prayer, service and worship before the Lord He does provide for all our needs.

An incident in my life showed me that this continual thanks, praise and worship is justified even in our sickness and confusion. Jesus is planning to heal and bless us all the time.

I had a very severe problem of not being able to sleep. For more than a month I would be up in the night almost every hour restless, unable to lie still until 3:00am. It was a case of restless leg syndrome. After getting only 4 hours of sleep it would be time to go to work. I was exhausted and depressed with this problem. I sought spiritual counsel and healing by prayer with many holy priests.

There was another problem in my life which irritated me. My employer had hired me for a position for which he did not need to provide any medical benefits. Without medical insurance in the US one visit to the doctor costs over $100.00.

Further treatment and medicines will also be very costly. I resented this injustice and complained to my fellow employees about it all the time. Thus, I refused to go to the doctor with this cost and accompanying resentment. I resolved to solve my problems myself, with prayer or by practicing a healthy lifestyle. After getting prayers from several priests and examining my conscience still, the sleeplessness continued. One nun told me to go to the doctor…still, I delayed.

Then one day, out of the blue, I was given over $300.00 from a benefactor who stated that God told him to give me this money. I was helping out in the service of the Lord at the Divine Retreat Center in New Jersey. In prayer, I asked the Lord why this money was given to me when I had enough money already to pay for my expenses.

Then the thought came that I should use it to go to the doctor. What was amazing was that this was just what my healing required; the doctor was very kind, she took a blood test and came up with the solution as due to thyroid and lack of iron. These two deficiencies were the cause of the sleep disorder. The medicine and vitamins were not costly at all. I am completely cured through God’s grace and the physician.

There was also a spiritual healing. No longer do I ever complain about lack of medical insurance since the Lord provided even money to force me to go to the doctor and provide for this need. He is my Provider, not my employer. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.” (Ps. 23:1) My stubbornness and pride were also conquered; the doctor is provided by the Lord and is also to be seen when he so wills it.

“My son, when you are sick do not neglect yourself: but pray to the Lord and he shall heal you. Turn away from sin…and cleanse your heart from all offense….then give place to the physician. For the Lord created her and let her not depart from you, for the physician’s works are necessary…For there is a time when you must fall into their hands…” (Sirach 38:9-13)

What a wonderful spiritual and physical healing the Lord has done in my life! Thank you Jesus for your providential care.

Rick Warren’s Take on Life

Interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren (”Purpose Driven Life ” author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California):

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body– but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn’t going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one.

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Reflections on Gethsemane

One of the most poignant and heart rending scenes in the Bible is that of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I believe this is where we see the Humanity of Jesus so clearly and distinctly. Where He takes on our frail human nature with all its vulnerability.

We see Him go to the Garden of Gethsemane with Peter, James and John in tow. His closest apostles. Those who saw His glory when He was transfigured at Mount Tabor. They will now see His frailty at the Mount of Olives.

Jesus wanted His apostles to share not just His glorious moments, but also His moments of deepest anguish.

I think how that contrasts with me happily sharing about my successes, good things that come my way, but being quiet about the unpleasant stuff; going into a shell when times are bad and not wanting people to know what I’m going through…

He tells them His soul is sorrowful unto death. Deep distress has engulfed Him. He desires the company of His Friends. So human.

He feels disappointed when instead He sees them fast asleep. Not once or twice, but all three times.
He can identify with our hurt and disappointment when we go through hard times and our friends do not stand by us. When our friends cannot grasp the depth of our pain; cannot fathom the anguish deep within.

We see Him pleading with His Father to take away the cup of suffering, to let the hour pass Him by. I think of how we too recoil from suffering. Our flesh revolts, tries to avoid suffering. And Jesus understands this, because He has been there too.

He knows the horrors that await Him, but I think what really gets to Him is that He knows He will feel abandoned and forsaken by His Father Whom He was so closely and intimately united with. As He is taking on Himself the sins of all of us, He will also feel the sense of alienation and desolation that one who has wandered from the loving arms of God feels.

But what strikes me are His words- Not My Will, but Yours. Total submission to The Father’s Will. He chose to be obedient to His Father, to accept and drink the cup of suffering to its dregs. He did not tell The Father, He would accept the scourging but not the crucifixion. That He didn’t mind being crowned with thorns, but did not want to be stripped. And thus, He is an example to all of us of implicit obedience to The Father’s Will. Of saying yes even when the cost is too great, the price is high.

When it means giving up things that will take us away from fulfilling God’s mandate for our lives. When it means taking the road that is rough and hard and obstacle ridden, instead of the easy, smooth road. When it means letting go of our ideas, dreams, wishes, plans and ambitions which may be good but not HIS will for us and letting His desires become our desires.

When it means dying to ourselves, so that the glory of God is reflected more clearly and brightly through us.

Glorify God.. in our Movie choices?

The foundational verse this online magazine Glorify God, was built on is 1 Cor 10:31 which states:

“whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”

Even for those of us who theoretically agree that we should follow the Bible to a T - how many of us go the extra mile to do this practically in our everyday life?

Today a few friends and I got watching a rented dvd of the movie ‘Zohan‘. The movie hardly started and I was put off by the crude and vulgar “humor”. My friends chose to continue watching despite my cringing. About twenty minutes into the movie, I had a choice to make - either I was going to continue watching this horrifically immoral & perverse movie (I don’t even want to mention the obscenities, worse than ‘The Hangover’ too, which I also hated) or I was to leave alone.

It was not even a few seconds after I left that I knew I had made the right choice.

Glorify God in our choice of movies?

Yes, absolutely.

Back home, the Lord led me to read Hebrews 11:16:

^“See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son”

And I felt the Lord explaining to me - by the blood and the sacrifice of Jesus, we are made children of God and hence and heirs to the Kingdom of God. That means we have “inheritance rights”.

Yet, we are warned - not to be “godless” like Esau.

For those of you who may not remember the story of Esau & Jacob, we see it in Genesis 25:

One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red soup!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”) “All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.” “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”

It is easy to have sympathy for Esau. After all he was hungry and tired after all & he was tempted with the soup and he made a wrong decision, which ultimately cost him his inheritance.

It initially seemed to me, rather harsh of Paul to call him godless!

But then I realised that this was a warning to us - it is so easy to sometimes choose instant gratification. It is so easy sometimes for us to make wrong choices, for various reasons.

Esau was only concerned with temporal (not eternal, fleeting) things. Jacob on the other hand was driven by the eternal, he wanted the long term privileged the birthright would give him. Even though he got it by underhand means, the desire of his heart (for the eternal) was what God saw & rewarded him for.

We today gain our eternal inheritance rights simply by accepting Jesus as our Lord & Saviour. Unlike Jacob, we don’t have to scheme to get anything. However, let’s not take our inheritance for granted or so lightly because of that!

Let’s not, Esau, be driven by the temporal aspects of life. Let’s not lose our anointing, that Jesus suffered so much for us to have.

It’s so easy to forget about God completely in everyday choices - be they the movies we choose to watch or the language we choose to speak or food we choose to eat.

Remember, it may be instantly gratifying - or the easier choice to make - but let’s not forget God over a bowl of soup.

The next time you’re faced with a tough choice, say to yourself, “this soup’s not worth it”.

T. J. Smith’s ‘The Harrowing Escape’ (The Quest of Dan Clay, Book 2)

‘The Harrowing Escape’, is Book Two in a Trilogy by T. J. Smith.
(Book One, ‘A World Away’ is reviewed here.)

Back Cover:

Within the hexed walls of the fortress, Dan and his companions are plagued with unsettling questions… questions whose answers will demand a deeper infiltration into the secret recesses of the centuries-old castle, answers which will involve confrontations with the citadel’s animate and inanimate residents, and answers which will entail encounters with the savage beasts of the forest.

Is Dan’s brother, William, alive and a prisoner of the Reclaimers? Will the travelers survive the spellbinding powers of the half-man and half-serpent creatures? Will the rescuers breach the spatial boundaries of the parallel world and return home?

In this second installment, we see the gang of 4: Dan, Sam, Jimmy & Cindy reach the demonic castle and instantly there is a whole host of new characters we’re introduced to. Some helpful, most lethal - but all other worldly in some way or the other.

Though T. J. Smith managed to keep my attention the whole book, I didn’t love this one as much as the first one and found myself wishing there was more action in the castle and less in the forest on the way back. The book has a very satisfactory end, when suddenly a new twist makes way for the third book in the trilogy, which irked me a little.

I however would definetely recommend buying the book (all three at one shot if possible) especially for young adults, as there is plenty of creative imagery, action & understanding of the Catholic faith mixed in the book.

Another great feature I loved, is the e|LIVE code that you get with the book, that allows yous to download your free audio book digital download! Good value for your money spent. Now waiting for the final book in the series.

March 2010

Daily Intercessions through the Word of God – March 2010
Sanctuary Intercessors – India Branch of FBB
International Catholic Charismatic Missionary Intercessors of the Fellowship of the Burning Bush (FBB)
The ‘Intercession Diary’ has the approval and blessings of the Bishops’ Team of the Archdiocese and contains intentions of our Cardinal and the Bishops
(Join us in agreement to intercede each day according to the Scriptures, ask the Holy Spirit how to pray to actualize God’s promises in each situation)

Day/Date Interceding According to the Mind of Christ
Mon
1/3/2010 Luke 22:42 Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will but yours be done
Lent is a time of grace – a good time to meditate on ‘grace’. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us (CCC1996). All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself, by the ‘saving’ cross of Jesus; saving us from the powerful grip of sin. Unfortunately, the world today seems to have lost the sense of sin. This month we focus on prayer based on a scriptural Way of the Cross (used by Pope Benedict XVI last year and prepared by an Indian, Thomas Menamparampil, S.D.B., Archbishop of Guwahati) – We focus on a few stations each week, praying for a renewed abhorrence to sin. FIRST STATION: Jesus in agony in the Garden of Olives. We pray that when faced with the choice of good and evil, we may have the grace to die to self and choose in line with the Father’s Will
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Lenten Grace!

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (1 Thes 5:28)

Grace? What is this grace?

We are in the season of Lent, and we call Lent a time of Grace. Let us use this month as a time to meditate on ‘grace’; reflect on how awesome and truly amazing grace is.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that ‘Grace is favour, the free and undeserved help that God gives us (#1996).’ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself (2 Cor 5:19), by the ‘saving’ cross of Jesus; saving us from the powerful grip of sin and, more importantly, from the dire consequence of sin, i.e. death (Rom 6 : 23).

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.

Unfortunately the world today continues to be increasingly blind to sin. As Pope Pius XII said, “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin”. For too long, we have allowed evil to subtly dim our vision and blunt our consciences. But thanks be to God for His sanctifying grace. All we need is to hold on to Him; cling to His Word and the sacramental graces He gives us through the Church.

Through many dangers, toils and snares; I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far; and Grace will lead me home.

Home to the Father. To Abba, who waits for us with arms as outstretched as those of His Only Begotten Son on the Cross. O Holy exchange on the cross – my death in exchange for His life, my sin for His salvation, my shame for His glory. Epitomised in the exchange of Jesus for Barabbas. We (Barabbas stands for each one of us) who were guilty, were set free and He took our place (scapegoat – Leviticus Chapter 16). He took our punishment so we could become Bar-Abba (Son of the Father).

May we never trivialise the price paid for our salvation. The suffering and death of the Son of God. As sufferings came into human life through sin, it was the Father’s plan that humanity be saved from sin through suffering. May we detest sin therefore and desire a renewed and ever deepening relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit.

Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy; Let me not implore in vain;
All my sins, I now detest them, Never will I sin again.

May Mary, our mother, the one “full of grace” (Lk 1:28), who stood at cross, stand by us as we venerate the Saving Cross, and accompany us as we come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:6)