Don’t Understand God’s Will? You are not Alone.

“Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them…His mother treasured all these things in her heart. (Lk. 2:49-50)

Mary and Joseph did not understand the word of God, yet they were privileged to spend most of their lives in the presence of Jesus.

How important is understanding when we are following our vocation, God’s plan in our lives? Must we reject the path of simple trust, meditation and prayer because things happen to us beyond our control?

Mary simply kept the words and works of Jesus in her heart, in quiet meditation. God’s
perfect will was accomplished in her life. This is the basis of saying the rosary: the
pondering of Jesus/ God’s plan of salvation.

We do not need to understand, simply believe and trust! Thus, we Christians are always be characterized by joy. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (Jn. 10:10) our joy when we begin to act in a worldly way. We begin to resent people or situations that cause us suffering or
discomfort.

We begin to become agitated in our confused and sometimes hateful mind. We become arrogant and try to do things ourselves. Look at the life of Mary and ponder what suffering she continuously experienced since her vocation to be the Mother of God began at the annunciation. Saying the rosary frequently when we are in difficulties can help us to follow God’s plan in trust.

It is so difficult for a three year old to keep up with a parent’s gait. God’s plans at times may seem too much for us, but that is no reason to sit down, pout and have a temper tantrum. We are called to pray and receive the Holy Spirit who will give us the wings to keep up with the Father and the Son!

The rosary calms the mind, keeps us joyfully pondering Jesus. This prayer gives us something to do
with our anxiety! (Phil. 4:6-7)

We should know where the Lord is leading us and keep out of all sin. After this, we must continue to pray and ask for the help to complete His will. We do not need to understand it all. Mary pondered the life of Jesus and his words in her heart. We can do the same to remain calm and strong by saying the rosary. In our lack of understanding let us remain close to our Mother and her simple, humble way of being with Jesus.

Meditate on moments in Mary’s life which were difficult for her to understand:

Annunciation
Christ’s birth in a manger
Finding Jesus in the Temple
Standing at the foot of the Cross
Death of the innocents
Death of Joseph
Betrayal of Judas
Martyrdom of apostles
Her silent role in salvation

All for the Glory of God!

As I pen this few lines to you, on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – which I feel is possibly the REAL “Valentine’s Day”, I can indeed feel the surge of love in my heart for my Saviour “who loved me and gave His life for me” (Gal 2:20).

The surge of our hearts, however, must be accompanied by the equal and opposite reaction of our hearts recoiling from sin as we cry the words from the book of Hosea, “My heart recoils within me” when confronted by the thought of ‘going against love’ … which effectively is what sin is.

In the recent past our newspaper and electronic media are buzzing with the news of corruption scandals and fasts. As we reflect on these goings on, and try to discern what the Spirit is saying to us through this, two verses spring out from Scripture;

“You will not let your holy one know corruption” (Ps 16:10)
“Is this the fast that I seek” (Isaiah 58: 5)

While the former Scripture verse refers to bodily corruption, the same can be applied to spiritual corruption as well. If we truly walk in the way of the Lord and yield to His Will then the Holy Spirit shall keep us from all corruption.

The “fast” that the Lord seeks from us, is not only abstinence and fasting from food products, but also one of depriving our ego and starving our pride… so that we can truly be the bread broken for others.

Both these are the essence of the Lord’s Prayer on which we reflect and pray throughout this month. Obedience, flowing out of love, to the Will of God and the readiness to die for love of neighbour, are the two elements that make us “alter Christus (other Christs)”. “On these hang the law and the prophets” (Mt 22:40)

This July, let us therefore, truly make the Lord’s Prayer, “our prayer”… so that the “our” in the “our father” comes alive by the power of His Spirit. So that we have the willingness to fast from elements that the Spirit shows us – my pride, my attitude, my desire to jump to conclusions, my stinginess and lack of charity, my eagerness to rush to judge and condemn others, my criticizing nature, my desire for self-glory, etc.

I urge us all, myself included, to spend a few extra moments each day when you pray, to ask the Holy Spirit to show you the areas of “corruption” in your life that need His burning and purifying love. Pray also for the grace to fast from areas of pride and self; that truly the Lord will “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’ as we journey on the path to holiness, which is Christ Himself.

May all we do be for the “Greater Glory of God” and may St Ignatius and the other saints whose feasts we celebrate this month, pray for us. Be with us Mary along the way.

St. Anthony: Doctor of the Church

St. Anthony: Doctor of the Church

St. Anthony could be said to have become the quickest saint in the history of the Catholic Church because he was canonized by Pope Gregory IX less than one year after his death on 13^th June 1231. He is typically depicted with the Infant Child Jesus, to whom He miraculously appeared, and is commonly referred to today as the “finder of lost articles.”

Anthony was born in 1195 (13 years after St. Francis) in Lisbon (now Portugal, then a part of Spain), and given the name of Fernando at Baptism. His parents, Martin and Mary Bulhom, apparently belonged to one of the prominent families of the city. At the age of 15 he entered the religious order of St. Augustine and then left it and joined the Franciscan Order in 1221, when he was 26 years old. The reason he became a Franciscan was because of the death of the five Franciscan friars who shed their blood for the Catholic Faith in the year 1220, in Morocco in North Africa, and whose headless and mutilated bodies had been brought to St. Anthony’s monastery on their way back for burial. St. Anthony became a Franciscan in the hope of shedding his own blood and becoming a martyr.

St. Anthony’s most famous miracle may be the sermon to the fish. We have been told that when a crowd refused to heed him, St. Anthony turned his back on them and preached from the shore to the fish in a lake. The fish responded by lifting up their heads from the water to hear him better.

Perhaps we would never have heard of Anthony if he hadn’t gone to an ordination of Dominicans and Franciscans in 1222. As they gathered for a meal afterward, the provincial suggested that one of the friars give a short sermon. Quite typically everybody declined when the superiors asked. So Anthony was asked to give “just something simple”. Anthony, compelled by obedience, spoke at first slowly and timidly, but soon enkindled with the power of the Holy Spirit, he began to explain the most hidden sense of Holy Scripture with such profound erudition and sublime doctrine that all were struck with astonishment. With that moment began Anthony’s public career. He journeyed to many places in Italy and also to many parts of Southern France on what became an evangelical crusade. His brilliant sermons and special style drew such huge crowds that the churches could not hold the people who came to hear him. A platform had to be set up outside in the town square because of the number of people who came to hear him speak. Soon the platform had to be built outside the town and cities. Eventually ten, twenty and thirty, thousand people were attending his sermons. In 1228 he preached in Rome before Pope Gregory IX and also to the clergy and the people. Pope Gregory was so impressed that he called St Anthony an “Armory of the Bible.”

Among the many miracles St. Anthony wrought in the conversion of heretics; the three most noted recorded by his biographers are the following:

· The first one is that of a mule honoring the Host when a heretic challenges him to defend the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament. Anthony tells him to starve his mule for several days, but when it is offered food at the end of that time, the animal refused the food placed before him, till he had knelt down and adored the Blessed Sacrament, which St. Anthony held in his hands. Legendary narratives of the fourteenth century say this miracle took place at Rimini, Italy.

· The second most important miracle is that of the poisoned food offered him by some Italian heretics, which he rendered innoxious by the sign of the cross.

· The third miracle worthy of mention is that of the famous sermon to the fishes. He is charged with preaching the Gospel to the people of northern Italy. When human hearts prove stubborn and unresponsive to the call of grace, Anthony goes down to the waterside and begin to speak to the fishes, calling on them to praise their Creator. God shows his approval of Anthony’s message by making dumb creatures more ready to listen than rational human beings!

The enthusiasm with which St. Anthony fought against heresy, and the great and numerous conversions he made rendered him worthy of the glorious title of “Hammer of the Heretics”. He died at the age of thirty-six years on 13 June 1231. He had lived fifteen years with his parents, ten years as a Canon Regular of St. Augustine, and eleven years in the Order of Friars Minor. He was canonised by Pope Gregory IX on the 30^th of May 1232, in just less than a year of his death. Upon exhumation, some 336 years after his death, his body was found to be corrupted, yet his tongue was totally incorrupt, so perfect were the teachings that had been formed upon it. St Anthony was later proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1946.

Anthony is the Wonder-Worker of Padua and the whole world. He is perhaps the most celebrated evangelizer and the most popular saint-doctor that the Catholic Church ever had. He teaches us to be in state of communion with God. Anthony suggests a very practical maxim: avoid as much as possible any distraction that removes your thoughts from God and heaven.

Feast of Visitation of Our Lady (31st May)

Feast of Visitation of Our Lady (31^st May)

Each year the Universal Church celebrates the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and recalls Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth. The event is recorded in Luke 1:39-57. This Feast commemorates what is the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: Our Lady’s visit to her cousin, Elizabeth; who was six months pregnant with St. John the Baptist at the time. At the end of the Archangel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Our Lady that she will conceive, he tells her that her cousin, Elizabeth, an older woman thought barren, will also conceive. Feeling the presence of his Savior, John leaped within the womb of his mother Elizabeth upon Mary’s arrival; John was then filled with the grace of God.

Like most feasts of Mary, the Feast of visitation of our lady is closely connected with Jesus and his saving work. According to Luke’s Gospel, the visible people present are Mother Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. However, Jesus and John the Baptist take the scene in a hidden way. Jesus makes John leap with joy—the joy of messianic salvation. Elizabeth, in turn, is filled with the Holy Spirit and addresses words of praise to Mary; Mary sings what is now known as “the Magnificat” in response.

We can learn few special characteristics from Mother Mary’s visitation. When angel Gabriel announces Mother Mary that her cousin who was considered barren is pregnant; she went with haste or hurriedly to the hill country of Judea. This is an important element of hope for all people who devotedly approach Mother Mary for solutions. Although she herself is now pregnant, taking the extreme step of traveling to a hill country in those days to be with her cousin, who might not want to disclose her predicament of old age pregnancy. This feast thus reminds us that Mother Mary is the hope of all at any difficult moments of life. Let us also learn Mother Mary’s example of readiness and hurriedness for our brothers and sisters around us.

As the ‘Ark of Covenant’ helped to unite the 12 tribes of Israel by being placed in David’s capital; so Mother Mary brings God’s presence into the lives of other people. Let our devotion to Mother Mary bring all families and Christians to God’s presence closely.

St. Francis Xavier: Model to follow

St. Francis Xavier: Model to follow

The feast of St. Francis Xavier is celebrated on December 3. He was born in 1506 as a son of an aristocratic Spanish-Basque family. While studying at the University of Paris, he met St. Ignatius Loyola and that become a life changing event for Francis Xavier. Ignatius changed Francis’ goal in life with the question of the Gospel “What profit is it, if you gain the whole world, and lose your soul?” Together with six friends, Francis professed religious vows at Montmartre, Paris, starting the Jesuit community. After some studies of theology, Francis was ordained priest in Rome on June 24, 1537.

Ignatius of Loyola assigned Francis to work in India, and on May 6 1542, Francis arrived in Goa after a yearlong voyage. From there, Francis Xavier began to work among the poor of South India, Malacca, and the Moluccas Islands (Indonesia).

On August 15, 1549, Francis Xavier arrived in Kagoshima, Japan, where he established the first Christian community. In July 1552, Francis Xavier sailed for China, but he arrived at Sancian Island. He fell seriously ill with a fever, and died in Sancian Island on Dec. 3rd, 1552. On 11 December, 1553, Xavier’s body was shipped to Goa. The body is now in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, where it was placed in a glass container encased in a silver casket on December 2, 1637. Francis Xavier was proclaimed Saint on March 12, 1622, declared Patron of all Missions, by Pope Pius X in 1904.

As St. Francis was a great missionary to Africa, India and Japan, we all should consider our missionary duty. Jesus’ last words on earth were to his disciples, telling them “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19). We as the members of the Universal Church; are Christ’s disciples and missionaries today. We can spread the Gospel through daily witnesses in our home, work, school etc to show how we live the Faith.

Prayer: Lord God of compassion and mercy, you opened a door in the East for St. Francis Xavier when you sent him to preach your Gospel. Send us in our day over the face of the earth, so that the joy of our Mother, the Church, may be made perfect. Amen

The Power of Eucharistic Adoration

“Look to Him and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed” (Ps. 34:5)

During my Bible College experience at Divine Retreat Centre I have felt most blessed and privileged to be in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament adored and exposed in several locations throughout the campus. I may have taken for granted His Presence filling my day and comforting my soul in the night. Over the holiday break I visited Orissa and there interviewed a sister who had lived through the horror of the 2008 Kandhamal persecution. Her testimony enabled me to gain a new appreciation for the power of intercession and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Sr. Mary P. of the Daughters of Charity narrated her story of being in their girls school when the destruction broke out. She, with 11 sisters, 35 girls and 3 priests took refuge in the hostel as the safest place to escape attack; at the same time they set up the Blessed Sacrament in one of the rooms for adoration/intercession. As they heard the nearby structures explode they continued to pray for deliverance before the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus throughout the night into the next day. The 3 priests decided to escape into hiding in the forest to protect the sisters and girls; meanwhile the vigil continued with the day and time scheduled for the destruction of the school and church given via telephone warning. Although the government forces were supposed to reach them before that time they could not advance through the tremendous road blocks put up by the opposition.

I lift my eyes to the hills–from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Ps. 121, 1-2)

All in all no one protected nor saved them but the Lord Himself as they clung to Him in vigil. Even though every sign of Christianity (churches, homes, etc.) had been destroyed in their town in Raika not a hair of their heads had been touched nor a brick of the Church, convent or school destroyed.

Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. (Ps. 91,9-10)

In fact, their whole complex was then used as a refugee camp where the sisters were able to show the love of God through their comforting presence to all the homeless, persecuted Christians. This story touched me very much; our Lord is a mighty God but one who chooses to remain hidden, simple and poor in the bread of the Eucharist.

It is most important that we understand the gift of Eucharist and how powerful it is when we truly pray and worship His Real Presence. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand…” (Jn. 4:22, N.A.B.). It is clear here that Jesus expects us to worship with intelligence and full understanding. Our year of study of His Word helps us to worship in this way.

Most of us are familiar with the Bible verses which refer to the Blessed Sacrament and hear them repeated in daily Mass. The Church’s teachings bring light and depth to our understanding of the mystery of Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. the other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. CCC 1324
…by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church. CCC 1407

In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith…CCC 1327

In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. This presence is called ‘real’–by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present. CCC 1211

When we come before the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel being adored we must recollect ourselves to know that Jesus it truly present there, as explained in the above passages. A Presence which cost him his life.

Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us “to the end,” even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love. CCC 1380

When we come before Jesus in his Eucharistic Presence to adore, love, spend time and thank Him we are affirming to Him that ‘yes’ we do believe what he said when he changed the bread into his body; we prove our deep faith by kneeling and bowing before the Eucharist.

St. John Chrysostom declares: It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered. CCC 1375

John Paul the II had a deep love for the Eucharist and devotion to this gift, the height and summit of our whole faith. He encouraged devotion to Eucharistic Adoration.

The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offense and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease.

Simply spending time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is conducive to developing intimacy with Him. Are not intimate friends always happy to share quiet time together? Jesus calls his disciples to “be with Him” (Mk. 3:14) and so the serious disciple of Christ will expose mind and heart to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament–often!

When we come before Jesus in the Sacrament to intercede, worship and adore remember that story from Sr. Mary who actually witnessed her whole mission saved during their Adoration vigil. Believe that, besides the personal blessing, your prayer before Our Eucharistic Lord is also helping someone somewhere in the world in a similar struggle against evil.
Let our adoration never cease! JPII

St Joseph - a model for many

It is said that faith is nourished by prayer; this is the most precious treasure that Saint Joseph transmitted to each of us as we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph, husband of Our Lady on March 19 every year.

As the Bible tells us, Saint Joseph was the descendant of the royal house of David. A village carpenter of Nazareth, he was chosen among all men to be the husband of Virgin Mary and protector of Jesus Christ. To his loving care was entrusted the childhood and youth of the Redeemer of the world: our Jesus Christ. He reveals to us the perfect model of Christianity through his purity of heart, patience and fortitude in difficult moments of his life with Mother Mary and Child Jesus.

What we know about the life of Saint Joseph is contained in the gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. He has become known as the “Just man” by saving Mary, who was found pregnant after the betrothal with him. As a local custom any women accused of adultery could be stoned to death and he decided to divorce her quietly (Mathew 1:19-25). We also see St. Joseph as a man of faith and obedience to God, as angel came and told him about the Child Mary was carrying; St. Joseph immediately and without doubt took Mary as his wife.

When the angel appeared to him second time to convey that his family is in danger, he left everything he owned and fled to a distant country Egypt with his young wife Mary and baby Jesus. We see in gospel that St. Joseph waited in Egypt till the angel told him to go back (Mathew 2: 2-13). All these incidents quite clearly demonstrate the faith, obedience to god and patience of St. Joseph as a model for us.

As a mere carpenter St. Joseph was poor in worldly possessions; however was obedient to local customs as we see that when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified- he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons- as they could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).

As a guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth, St. Joseph has undergone many hardships and challenges in life. Are these qualities are model for us in our life? In today’s world when success is measured by power, prosperity and material possessions; let the model of St. Joseph may be inspiration for many families and workers across the world. As a patron of workers Saint Joseph the Worker is observed on 1st May every year. Joseph is also patron of the universal Church, fathers, carpenters, and social justice.

In the words of Pope John Paul II: “Saint Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten our families.”

Prayer to St. Joseph:
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath, Saint Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.
Amen.

Lent 2011

“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7)

As news swirls all around of corruption, scams and scandals of various hues, I notice myself quickly jumping to judge and condemn. It is so easy to look at the speck, while gingerly dodging the beam in our own eye (Mt 7:3). God’s Word tells us, in what can be viewed as both brutally honest to those in denial and yet calmingly reassuring to those bordering on scrupulosity, that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).

Sin (‘hamartia’ in Greek) means to miss the mark. Even the best sharpshooters tend to miss the mark sometimes, we falsely reassure ourselves. But our mandate from our Lord is very clear, “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Perfect 10/10. Bulls-eye.

For this, rigorous training is need. And Grace. In some sense, that sums up ‘Lent’.

As Pope Benedict XVI in his message for Lent 2011 writes, “The Lenten period, which leads us to the celebration of Holy Easter, is for the Church a most valuable and important liturgical time. As she awaits the definitive encounter with her Spouse in the eternal Easter, the Church community, assiduous in prayer and charitable works, intensifies her journey in purifying the spirit, so as to draw more abundantly from the Mystery of Redemption the new life in Christ the Lord.

He chooses for his theme “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him.”(Col 2: 12) though which he urges us to rediscover our Baptism, so as to renew our acceptance of the Grace that God bestowed upon us at that moment, thus illuminating and guiding all of our actions. He continues, “Through the traditional practices of fasting, almsgiving and prayer, which are an expression of our commitment to conversion, Lent teaches us how to live the love of Christ in an ever more radical way”.

“By rendering our table poorer and by bearing some form of deprivation – and not just what is in excess – fasting, far from being depressing, opens us ever more to God and to the needs of others, thus allowing love of God to become also love of our neighbour (Mk 12: 31). The practice of almsgiving is a reminder of God’s primacy and turns our attention towards others, so that we may rediscover how good our Father is, and receive his mercy. By meditating and internalizing the Word in order to live it every day, we learn a precious and irreplaceable form of prayer; by attentively listening to God, who continues to speak to our hearts, we nourish the itinerary of faith initiated on the day of our Baptism”, he writes.

This month as we focus our prayer and efforts not to “miss the mark”, by leaning on Grace and disciplining ourselves, we pray especially for our youth. As Pope Pius XII said, “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin”.

We pray and fast, for ourselves and our young people, that we move out of the trap of relativism and focus ourselves on the Way, the Truth and the Life. In the words of our beloved Pope, “May our Lenten journey, in which we are invited to contemplate the Mystery of the Cross, reproduce within us “the pattern of his death” (Ph 3: 10), so as to effect a deep conversion in our lives.”

Be Holy!

“…as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

The above exhortation by our first Pope (1 Pet 1:15,16) is the exhortation with which I wish to begin my letter to you this month. We, in the Western India region – Pune, Goa, Mumbai -, have just been treated by the Holy Spirit (thank you, Lord) to a spirit-filled visit by Steve Ray, passionately challenging us to love Christ and His Church, founded upon Peter the rock (Mt 16:18) and reminding us of the primacy of Peter and his successors… and the need to love and obey them.

And here is St Peter, in 1Pet 1:15-16, reminding us of our calling… to be holy. We began 2011 by reminding and recommitting ourselves to our sanctification – our City, our community, our families, ourselves. This month too we continue to pray that our lives be built on the rock. As we focus our prayer on ‘building’ on the rock, we also pray this month for the property / housing aspect of our brethren in Mumbai – those homeless and those harassed by land-grabbers, corruption, etc.

So many of our community are losing their sleep, peace, health, time and money in property-related matters; daily in court, often fighting cases against their own ‘blood’. May they seek first the kingdom of the Price of Peace. In our endeavour for holiness, the writer to the Hebrews reminds us to “Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” (Heb 12:14). May we strive to build our lives on Jesus Christ the rock (1 Cor 10:4).

February is known, especially by the young, as the month of Valentine’s Day. Let us make full use of this month to fall once again in love with Jesus and His Word. Let us this month celebrate VD – not Valentine’s Day, but Verbum Domini, the recently published post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation (note, we began this letter with an exhortation to holiness by our first Pope and the same theme continues by our present one), on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.

Let each of us, to the best extent possible, get hold of a copy of this wonderful ‘love letter’ by our Holy Father and fall more in love with The Word of the Lord (Verbum Domini). The Word of God assures us that “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” (Mt 7:24) May we build the foundation of our families, our careers and our ministries on the rock of the Word of God.

Verbum Domini (#85) specifically refers to marriage and families and states that “the word of God is at the very origin of marriage (Gen 2:24 & Mt 19:4-8)”. It continues, “The great mystery of marriage is the source of the essential responsibility of parents towards their children… Spouses, through a love which is faithful, reciprocal and fruitful, are the first to proclaim God’s word to their children. To this end the Synod urged that every household have its Bible, to be kept in a worthy place and used for reading and prayer.” We pray especially this month for families, even with small kids, to build their relationships on the Word, by re-discovering, sharing and praying the Word, through a variety of traditional as well as creative methods, including lectio divina, imaginative prayer, skits etc.

I conclude with the same words that Pope Benedict XVI concludes Verbum Domini “May every day of our lives be shaped by a renewed encounter with Christ”.

A Magnificent way to start the year!

My Soul exults in the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour…
For the Mighty One has done great things for me, And holy is his name

Mary’s magnificat (Lk 1:46-49) gives us a wonderful disposition with which to start the New Year. An attitude of praise and gratitude. And a true and deep understanding of our identity and purpose ‘in Christ’.

“First of all, I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness.” The words of our earlier Holy Father at the start of the New Millennium continue to ring true as we commence our New Year. Pope John Paul II stresses “the call to holiness” as “an intrinsic and essential aspect”. He continues in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thes 4:3). It is a duty which concerns not only certain Christians: All the Christian faithful, of whatever state or rank, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48). This ideal of perfection must not be misunderstood as if it involved some kind of extraordinary existence, possible only for a few “uncommon heroes” of holiness. The ways of holiness are many, according to the vocation of each individual. The time has come to re-propose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary Christian living.” (NMI #30,31)

It is towards this end that our intercession this month focuses on praying with renewed fervour for our sanctification. And not only for ourselves, but also that of our communities, our land and our Church. Let us, as intercessors, humbly and boldly take our place, lest the Lord say, “And I sought for anyone among them who would … stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” (Ez. 22:30)

We also wish to take this opportunity to sincerely appreciate each one of you and your continued zeal for intercession. Month-on-month we are edified by your enthusiasm and the feedback we get. Many are going through ‘the valley’ but the grace of God continues to ‘lift our heads’ (Ps 3:3). As we ‘labour’ in prayer for our Church – this month with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the Catholic Apologetics Programs – we know that our ‘labour is not in vain’ (1 Cor 15:58).

Pope John Paul II continues, “This training in holiness calls for a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer.” (NMI#32) “Our Christian communities must become genuine “schools” of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly “falls in love”.

How grateful we are to the Holy Spirit, our sanctifier, who has inspired the Church to begin every New Year honouring Mary–the Mother of God. A model of holiness and prayer. May her blessings and prayers be with us throughout this year as we ‘press on’ (Phil 3:12) to ‘sanctify ourselves’ confident that ‘tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among’ us (Joshua 3:5). Let us boldly say “I know not what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future.” Wish you a Holy New Year ahead.

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