He Thought of us/you/me:
'Consider how Jesus, in making this journey with the Cross on his shoulders, thought of us and offered for us to the Father the death he was about to undergo' ( Jesus Receives the Cross - 2nd meditation of the Stations of the Cross).
Take a moment and spend some time on this revelation - before you and me came to exist, God so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to redeem us, and Jesus on his way to death, thought of  us/you/me and offered for us to the Father the death he was about to undergo. What did we do to deserve this? nothing whatsoever, God just love us without compare! Unconditional love, O love that will not let me go! The sinless one, hates sin, yet died for the sinner - me.
As we enter Holy Week, it will be good to spend some time meditating on the sufferings of Jesus while carrying the Cross on the way to Calvary.......relive some of the events. See yourself in the scenes and remain with the Station{s} that touched you most.: who are you in this Station? one who pushed Jesus, mocked him, spat in his face, reluctantly helped him with the cross, or a Veronica who despite any repecursion dared to wipe the face of Jesus?  Where do you stand under the Cross? with the sorrowful Blessed Mother Mary and John. . . ? or a spectator in the crowd mocking him to come down from the cross if He is the Son of God? May be like the soldier who pierced him in His side, you may also come to confess  'truly, this was the Son of God?'
Then what next? how has this confession changed or will change your life?...may the events of this coming week lead us to a new awakening to return or seek the Lord in a new/deeper relationship. He thought of us  even before we came into existence. Without any good deeds on our part He loves you/me/us into folly, but do I know this and love Him in as much as He loves me? .......Have a very blessed Holy Week.........
 

God's Will.
Jesus promised : Whatever we ask according to his will, he will grant us, but how do we know what we ask is according to God's will? Many times it's hard to discern but Merton's Prayer (Thoughts in Solitude) may help us.
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going; I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire, And I know that if I do this you will  lead me by the right road, though I may  know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust  you always  though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone." 
Jesus gave us the example in seeking God's will at all times, when He thought us how to pray:  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...... , Seeking and remaining in God's will enabled him to drink the bitter cup of death, death on a cross. The season of Lent is a period of seeking/discovering and doing God's will,
Happy and blessed Lenten journey.

Life
Life is both  a call and a response. Nothing in life is to be taken for granted. Everything in life is a gift that need to be received gratefully and faithfully. Even Jesus didn't take up the mission of being the high priest for humanity on his own; it was given to him by the Father. In living our vocation that has been given to us there are several seasons and phases. In some phases it involves suffering and purification; in other phases it involves celebration.In some seasons we are called to fast, in some seasons we are called upon to feast. One phase prepares us for the other. It is therefore  important to know that the reason for the season is always rhe one who.has lovingly called each of us by name. Our seasons are not conditioned by some predetermined laws. But are triggered by the presence and action of the one who is the beloved of our soul. He who love you/me/us beyond compare that he will never leave us alone.

"I am already promised to the Lord of the universe. He is more splendid than the sun and the stars and he has said he will never leave me" St Agnes of Rome.

Jesus is the Gift
Do you know that Christmas is the best gift you'll ever get?
 because: 
-  It's the costliest you'll ever receive because it cost Jesus His life. 
-  It's the only gift that lasts forever. 
-  It's one you can enjoy for the rest of your life. 
-  It's given out of love even though undeserved.
Wouldn't this change your attitude to the giver of this great gift? wouldn't you want to love him in return in as as much He loves you? wouldn't you like to share this gift with others? 
Merry Christmas and enjoy this special gift that has been given to us. Take time to open it and let  the Spirit of the Giver help you to understand how much He loves you beyond your imagination. This Christmas can be a new start.....in discovering who you are ...... a child of God........welcome home!

  

The Challenge of the Incarnation : Today, I am invited to sit with the Trinity and imagine how they gaze down upon the world and see it in all its glory and filth:  first to see, second to hear, and third to observe the contrast between human actions and the actions of God. And, miracle of miracles, the Trinity determines that Jesus will enter into the organic life of the world.

So Jesus comes among us. Let the mind stretches and creaks as it tries to absorb this picture: a baby in the cow-feed. The Almighty crying for milk. How could the glorious one accept such iThe ndignity? How could the safe choose vulnerability? How could the strong embrace feebleness with such grace? How can God be so utterly unselfish? Absorbing the Incarnation means facing our own skewed ideas of godliness. It shows us where we equate dignity with pride, or glory with rank, or worth with recognition.

The humility of God holds the mirror up to us. If Christ gives up his honour, his dignity, his omniscient view, and immerses himself in the mess of this world, what are the implications for me? Because surely if Christ is incarnated in the world, are we not called to imitate him by being incarnated too? And what does that mean? It seems to me to be first an act of giving up – Christ leaving the heavenly kingdom to become man; second, an act of giving to – Jesus giving himself as a gift to the world; and third, an act of giving for – working the redemption of humans from eternal death. The Meditation on the Incarnation focuses us not just on what is done, but on why and how it is done.

We may be at risk in what we do, even those in mission settings, maintaining our privilege(s), according ourselves a different status from those around us, being in the developing world but not of it. But Jesus did not do this. The Incarnation shows us ourselves in God’s eyes: we are the poor, the corrupt, the hapless he chose to live with. He lived among us. He did not retain his heavenly jeep or his heavenly rank. ‘A carpenter? From Nazareth, We should not forget that the ‘little sacrifices’ we make, how paltry they are in the context of the Incarnation, just think how protected we are by God’s generosity, His abundant grace without measure.

If we concentrate only on ‘giving to’, we justify all our activities and interventions by our beneficence. However, as we meditate on the Incarnation, and our vision becomes infused in the imagination with God’s eyes looking at the world, it becomes increasingly clear to us that we are not the benefactors here; God is! Often we may donate for a good cause: but what do we donate? Most of the time branded but unwanted gifts, The kind of ‘giving to’ that harms the fragile dignity of the receiver, has nothing in common with the way in which God gives to us in the Incarnation. Let us not fool ourselves with cheap generosity.

If our chief concern is ‘giving for’ the poor, oppressed or otherwise needy groups we may work with, we can become intolerant of causes other than our own.  Incarnational ‘giving for’ is reflective; it examines itself and keeps the focus wholly on the heart of the matter in question.) 

The Incarnation calls all of us, whatever our situation, to leave aside our selfishness and dignity to engage with what is damaged around us. For what can be ‘beneath us’, if Jesus becomes a baby? What indignity could be meted out to us that could compare with the gulf he crosses? God uses the Incarnation, his own giving up, to beautify and dignify our world. How am I being called to give up something of my privilege to be more fully incarnated in my own current setting? How is God inviting me to give myself more to the people or the situation in which he has placed me? And can I consider more deeply for whom or for what I am giving gifts? This time of Advent and Christmas gives us the opportunity to ponder on how we can incarnate his love more humbly, and with deeper generosity, so that it lights our personal world with a glory or a glow or merely a glimpse that points people to the incarnate God who is the GIFT

 Advent is a period of Grace, a call to grow deeper, come to new life and appreciate the God-Gift given to us ! And this Christmas could be a new start for us.

Sweet and Sour
The Word of God is both sweet and sour. It's a double edged sword. It comforts and consoles but also reproves and challenges us. As we like to hear only words of comfort  from friends even when we are walking on the right path, we treat God's Word in the same manner. We keep those scriptures that are comforting while avoiding those that reproves our actions. Life and death goes hand in hand. The Word is Life if takes root in our hearts to bring forth fruit, fruit that will last; but it brings death if we starve our souls by rejecting it. It's a choice we make: the same God who loves and gave Himself up for my sins... who is my shepherd thus I shall need nothing,,,,if He is for me then who can be against me.....etc. also calls me to repentance, to forgive as He has forgiven me, to believe in him,  to love Him as he has love me and to love my neighbour as myself..... to pray for my enemies....... Let us not pick and choose only the Words that comfort us. Next time you order a 'sweet and sour dish', try to remove the sour part from it, if you can. Taste therefore the Word, although it is sweet as honey in your mouth, it will be bitter to your stomach....

The Purpose of Life
Consider that your very existence is a grace given you by God who created you in his own image without any merit on your part. God adopted you as a child in Baptism but what has happened to your Baptismal promise to reject satan and all his empty promises.....? Is your Baptismal candle burning, on a lamp post to give light or hidden under a bushel? God's love cannot be compared to any most affectionate parent's love for their child. God made you all that you are, that you might know him, love him, serve him in this life and thereby come to possess him entirely and eternally in heaven......
Ask yourself,  up till now what has been your understanding of why you are here on earth?

Of all the things we have to do in our lifetime, the most important is to make sure we get to heaven when we die. This is our most importasnt task, yet is it not the most ignored and overlooked......?

Saving our soul in not only the most important duty we face but it is also our only duty. Jesus said: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mt. 16:26)

There is no greater mistake we can make than neglect our eternal salvation. Other errors we can usually correct. If we loose our possessions in one way we can probably regain them in another. Even if we loose our life as long as our soul is saved, all will be well. But if we loose our soul, that loss can never be repaired.

Death  comes but once; the soul if lost is lost forever........