Being with Jesus In Intercessory Prayer

I love intercession for this reason; it is spending time with Jesus.

Jesus wants intercessors! Remember he requested the company and serious intercession of Peter, John and James during his agony of prayer in the Garden.

Jesus even paused while carrying his cross to ask the women of Jerusalem to pray for the innocents of the world who would also be victims of evil. Jesus requested we never give up in our prayer (Lk. 18:1) and he himself is recorded as constantly going off to lonely places to pray. Jesus wants us to be with Him in prayer about everything and especially in that work of charity- intercession for others.

This past month I spent some weeks at Divine Retreat Center in Muringoor, Kerala where, after my retreat, I felt moved to join the Intercessors. After asking the priest director I was assigned to pray with a couple of other women in one of the many chapels in the English section.

We were given designated prayers to say for the Center. My leader was a Hindi speaking woman from West Bengel. We sang praises, prayed rosaries, Stations of the Cross and so forth for eight hours per day in shifts of two hours each.

During these hours memories from my past kept surfacing and at one point I was so restless I felt the need to go to confession again. The Holy Spirit was purifying me.

Sometimes it was difficult to show up there in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It was challenging to persevere in prayer with my companions, praying loudly with all of our strength in that heat on the hard, granite floor.

Yet, after a couple of weeks I felt some release, freedom and deep peace. It was not all the prayers, it was who we were spending this time with that was so special. J

esus was guiding us and opening his heart to us! It is His work, this intercessory prayer…it is not something we have decided to do… He started this work of intercession.

It is a Godly, holy work bringing peace to humanity and satisfaction to the heart of our Jesus. When we are doing intercession we are spending time with Jesus… while he suffers and continues to intercede for all of fallen humanity to find salvation and be saved. It is a work of being close to Him in his agony and longing. It is a personal time and time to grow closer to Him who loves us all so much. In Praise and Thanks to Him forever!

The Truth About Lying

We’ve all done it.

I know I have.

What is it?

Lie. Tell an untruth. Speak false-ism.

Ask some people, and they’ll tell you it’s OK to tell a white lie every once in awhile. I disagree. A lie is a lie is a lie. I’m not saying I’m perfect or haven’t told the “white lie”, because I have. However, I cannot think of a time when a lie is better than the truth.

I had this discussion with someone who contended that white lies can help people feel good about themselves, which can’t be bad, she argued.

“So” I asked, “if someone asks you if they look good in a mini skirt when in fact that look hideous, you believe that saying ‘Yes’ would be better than telling them they don’t look good?”

“Yes” she said. “People need to feel good about themselves. Why should I make someone feel bad.”

At face value, her point of view seems reasonable. Who doesn’t want to feel good? Or, more succinctly, who wants to make someone feel badly about themselves? I know I don’t.

What happens if we take this idea and run with it? What if a heroin addict comes to me and asks “Do you mind if I shoot up?” Not wanting to make them “feel badly”, I could lie and say “Sure.” Yeah, that makes sense. (sarcasm here)

OK, that’s a ridiculous example. Let’s say I ask my wife if a certain shirt makes my ample belly look…big. She could lie and say “No”, which means I would wear the shirt and ‘feel good’ about how I look. Even if the my belly looks bigger than Santa’s and Luciano Pavarotti’s combined.

So, as I walk down the mall “feeling good”, the truth remains that people will snicker and laugh at how ridiculous I look. And if I see people laughing at me, then I no longer feel good AND my ability to trust my wife becomes undermined.

The problem with lying, whether a white lie or any other lie, is that trust must be compromised. When we lie to another, the trust in our relationship becomes weakened. Honesty builds trust in a relationship. Lying breaks it down.

Heck, when we lie to ourselves, our personal integrity becomes weakened. It becomes easier to avoid the truth. Why do we do it? Because the truth sometimes hurts. It takes guts to look at our shortcomings and weaknesses. But if we can’t be truthful with ourselves, we cannot stretch and grow.

I think, though, the biggest problem with lying is this: It’s the easy way out.

To look someone in the eye and tell them the truth, even if it will sting or just outright hurt, requires a deep commitment to relationship AND a strong measure of love. Along with heavy doses of mercy and compassion.

I’ve had my wife ask me if a pair of jeans made her bottom look big. My reply was “I love you but those jeans don’t.” I love my wife and wanted her to feel good about how she looked but I also wanted her to know the jeans were unflattering. What I said to her was truth … spoken in love.

That’s where telling the truth is difficult. To speak the truth is a measure of love. Love for yourself and love for the people around you.

For example, what if my friend falls into sexual sin with his girlfriend. I’m sure he feels good. However, to let him continue in sin compromises his relationship with God, with his girlfriend, with you, and ultimately, with himself.

Sure, to correct my friend of his sin would be uncomfortable for both of us, even though premarital sex is widely accepted and even expected. But the love of Christ compels me to speak the truth because there is much more at stake here than his “good feelings”.

Jesus was truth personified. All he said and did was a measure of God’s immense love for us. Even if it meant pointing out our sin. And our need forgiveness.

Jesus is the Truth. In Him, we find God’s love, mercy and compassion. The truth is, truth requires these three things — love, mercy and compassion. Which means, when we lie, we have given up some measure of love, mercy or compassion, or all three.

I’m just saying.

The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor 13:13).

How often have we heard this greeting? Possibly the very reason why it fails to stir us as it should.

Can we imagine what we are being wished – the fellowship of the Holy Spirit ! Friends with the Lord and Giver of life ! We know how crucial friendships are – how they can get you broadcasting rights for IPL tournaments and ownership rights in IPL team franchises. We have also seen over the past couple of weeks, not all friendships turn out to be sweet (or is it ‘tweet’)… some ‘sour’ faster than they begin.

But the love that God has for us is an unchanging everlasting love (Jer 31:3). He knew us and chose us… before we were in our mother’s womb (Jer 1:5). That’s true love – love that prompted Him to send His only begotten son (Jn 3:16).

What a privilege to have this love poured into our heart (Rom 5:5). Love poured by Love to recognise Love by responding in Love “Abba Father”. O Perfect Love.

We are in Eastertide after celebrating the Love of God in the Paschal Mystery. As I was reflecting on this, the words of the Psalmist came to mind, “Create in me a new heart O God and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps 51:10). Two distinct parts of the prayer of the Psalmist. And this is what I felt – we pray so hard during 40 days of Lent for a change of heart …but do we pray / prepare ourselves adequately for the renewal in Spirit… my renewal, renewal in the Church.

The Holy Spirit is the One who prepares the Bride for the Divine Bridegroom. And we know the various challenges the Bride of Christ is facing in our times – not to mention the stepped-up allegations and insinuations, most of which are blatantly unfounded and some of which are sadly true (for which our Holy Father rightly guides a “wounded and sinner Church” into a time of penance, assuring us, ever more, of the consolation of God).

Thus, this month as we prepare for the Feast of Pentecost – the birthday of the Church, we pray in a very special way for the Church. That there may be a new Pentecost and not a conformance to the world (Rom 12:2) but a “renewal in the inner being”… that the Church may be the ‘tree of life’ rooted and grounded in love (Eph 3:17) and bearing abundant fruit (Jn 15:5). We pray that the renewal of the Church begins with me. We propose a 24-hour chain-prayer on Pentecost Sunday to pray for the Church. If you would like to be part of this prayer chain, from wherever you are in the world, please email Rosenell.Dalmeida@ril.com (with time preference, if any) and we will revert to you with a time-slot so that we have an uninterrupted time of praying “in one accord” for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church and an outpouring of grace in time of need.

We pray John 15 that we, who make up the Church, may desire to abide in Christ, the True Vine by denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily and following Christ our Master. May the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.

May 2010

Daily Intercessions through the Word of God – May 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
Sat

1/5/2010
2 Chr 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land

We lift up our State of Maharashtra, meaning the great land, with its diverse cultures and a modern cosmopolitan outlook. As we celebrate today the ‘Golden Jubilee’ of our statehood, may we first thank God for the many blessings He has bestowed on us. Let us pray that the light of the Gospel would penetrate the hearts of those in darkness, remove the shackles and break the bonds of those under oppression. As we celebrate ‘Workers Day’ today, through the intercession of St Joseph, we pray for people all over the world impacted by the recession. This month, as we prepare to celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, we pray especially to God the Holy Spirit for the Church

Read more