Daddy, where are you?
Daddy where are you?.... why has your little girl become  suddenly anxious  ?...... why has she become afraid?   .......afraid of the future   uncertain of her left from her right? ........where are you daddy?............ why  does she doubt your faithfulness?   why does she feel alone and abandoned,.... unsure of your ever presence,..... even to the end of time?........... Daddy where are you?. Why has the darkness become so dark enveloping her? ..........Oh,  there you are, ....

Yes my child, why have you become anxious? .... why do you doubt....... why have you taken your eyes off me? ......I have never left your side.....with outstretched hands I take hold of  your  feeble  hands......... together we will  walk side by side........

Oh Daddy calm her fears, ....... deliver her  from unnecessary anxieties........renew her confidence in you that she may trust you more than ever...........be her refuge and let her hide under your wings during the storms of  life........deliver her from her fears........ Daddy do not hide your face from her.............. you alone be her provider.......lead her through the various cycles of life.........for you are the Lord of the seasons............the Alpha and Omega.......the beginning and the end and everything in between.........one day at a time.......lead her  steadily along the path home

Abba Father, thank you for bringing her thus far, let her dwell in your light........ in your light may she see light, ......for those who walk in light do not stumble........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..

True Peace
Peace, peace, peace...... where can we find true peace? ... Why has so many 'Peace Attempts' failed in resolving issues between warring factions?...... Is world peace an illusion? ..The key to true peace begins with self...... attaining true peace should begin with me........ Living in peace with self and each other is an echo of the famous Prayer of St Francis of Assisi who was one of the many  great imitators of the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was Jesus who taught us how to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies, feed the hungry, clothe the naked.....who though he was God did not cling to his Divinity but emptied himself and took on the nature of slave even unto death, death on a cross though sinless. He demonstrated forgiveness on his deathbed - the cross, as he prayed for those who crucified him .... Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing........He came and gave his life as a ransom for many....... by His death we have all been saved .......whether we accept  or believe that Jesus is our Saviour....You and I have been bought at a Price !.

Subsequently, we can dare to pray as Jesus taught us through His life and death.............
Lord make us an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow your love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is darkness, light
Where there is sadness, joy
Oh Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;/
To be loved, as to love; For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it is in dying tat we are born to eternal life.

If these become rooted in our lives then we can each become an agent of Peace, ...starting with the self. Each day ask yourself how can I be an agent of peace today  in my home, at work, in my Church community, in my neighbourhood?, and look for opportunities to be such an agent. .

We cannot talk about peace in a vacuum and no gun can bring a lasting peace. Peace needs to begin in the heart of each individual, then there will be no strangers but friends not yet met..............no enemies but brothers and sisters because Jesus our big Brother, through His death and resurrection has reconciled us with God our Father. In his farewell Discourses, He gave us a.o.: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your let your hearts be troubled or afraid........... (Jh 14: 37)

True peace is not the absence of war but the ability to sleep through the storm.... the ability to remain focused in the midst of chaos......... the ability to hope and trust in the face of despair........ the ability to love the enemy who hates you........Since the Peace of God surpasses every understanding that is why Jesus, the Prince of Peace,  is the key to True lasting Peace  through each person starting with self, to the world.  ....the world in which you and I live. .... Each person therefore,  is a gateway to peace........ and since peace is a gift from God, each one of us has the seed of peace ingrained in  our hearts,... germinating/growing slowly.... depending on how it is nourished..........  Hate, anger, jealousy, unforgiveness........ can choke it's growth... while love, joy, patience, kindness,   ...... can enhance its growth.

Therefore let us allow the True Peace of Christ to flourish ,,,,,, in our hearts....... flowing like a river.... flowing out of you and me..... flowing out into the desert, setting the captives free...... Let it flow through me.... let it flow through you ..... let the peace of God flow out through us.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..

Taking Stock
Seventy years may seem a long way, but compared to eternity it's only a flash in the pan. Ps. 90: 4 "a thousand years in your eyes are merely yesterday"..... so what is 70 or 80 for the strong ones? Yet, it's good to take a peep at how the years have quickly passed and and the 70 milestone is a good  occasion. So what do you look  back to see?..... Not to the regrets or the disappointments......  for thee mistakes  only remain as such, if the inherit lesson(s) is never learned. So I look back to the wonderful things that God by His grace has done ....for His goodness and mercies have no end.....His amazing love is incomprehensible.....God's grace leading me into ministry........ the last decade has been the most fruitful of my spiritual journey...... With gratefulness, I acknowledge  the many beautiful God children I have come to mother....... pastoral school formations..........uncountable hours preparing and celebrating liturgies.......and an amazing new faith family that has come my way. These are memories that have enriched not only my life but the life of the community in which I serve. I'm grateful for His abundant love that has brought me so far and will continue to lead me...... for what do I have that I have not received on loan? ... what do I know that I have not been taught and what can I do on my own if not by His grace.....?

I believe the best is yet to come so I will not dwell long in the past. Even though I can't look into the future, I know that His love and mercy towards each one of us, is unchanging so I will continue to trust him in whatever new plans he has, for I know that his plans for me are good. He will not deny me for his own sake. If He has led me so far, will he now abandon me? He has prepared a table for me............... my cup is running over......... and his goodness and mercy shall continue to follow me all the days of my life...

Any word of caution? speaking out loud; I'm learning to live one day at a time..... allowing  the Lord to take the lead, for by total surrender he leads in ways never imagined.......study and live the Word..... let the Word of God find room in your heart ...... spend time at his feet........ and discover who you are  ... a child of God  and He the creator of heaven and earth is your Daddy............so can he give stone when we ask for bread?....No, He will give the necessary grace to lead us into knowing and loving Him and the Lord Jesus whom He sent to save us..... Appreciate and acknowledge His goodness and never cease to count the many blessings poured into your lap......Let the world know of His unconditional love towards the sinner.......for He is nature is love.........

We are all on this journey.. .. pilgrims travelling together,.... needing each other on the way. ... falling and getting up till we reach the final destination. We are all fighting the good fight ..... but remember only those who persevere till the end will receive the crown. Therefore let's not rest on our oars because we  don't know the hour or the time....The day may be far spent but there is still work to be done.....continuing to bear fruit even in old age so let's use our God-given talents wisely for His glory.......staying awake in prayer.....In the 'Banana Republic' the old usually go first but in real life..... each one of us is on a countdown. ...

God himself is the Lord of life... the Alpha and the Omega .... and everything in between. Celebrating life is recognizing and appreciating the gift, given on loan......It is sacred and therefore need to be used  wisely for we have to give an account very soon ........ even 100  years passes quickly away

What we have seen and heard
A lot has happened these last days as the Christian world celebrated Easter and Scripture Readings during these days focus on witnessing to what have been seen and heard. On the first day of Easter morning, Mary Magdalene and the women who went to the tomb were sent to the Apostles to report to them what they has seen and heard from the risen Lord.(Mt. 28: 1-10). The same evening 2 of the disciples, disappointed with the events of the Crucifixion. death and burial of Jesus (left Jerusalem on their way to Emmaus,....when Jesus caught up with them they could not recognize him because of their great sorrow. On reaching their destination they invited this stranger who explained the Scriptures to them on the way to stay with them for the night..... and then their eyes were opened as they recognized Jesus at table when He prayed and broke bread with them. Immediately they got up to return to Jerusalem the same night, to tell the others what they have seen and heard from the Risen Lord.( Lk. 24: 12-35)
Witnessing to Christ is giving testimony to what have been seen and heard from the Lord. 2000 years later we today, through the power of the Holy Spirit continue and or called to give testimony of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Like Peter and others we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. For we are witnesses of the Holy Spirit burning in our hearts.   Blessed  are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.......many prophets longed to see what you see but did not see it, and hear what you hear but did not hear it.... (Mt. 13: 16-17)
How then do we see.....and how do we listen? are we seeing though do not see, hearing yet do not hear or understand? This is possible today just like Issaiah prophesied long ago: these people hear but never understand, ever seeing but never perceiving for their  heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes... otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn to the Lord to be healed....What we see and hear from the Lord need to be told to others....... Our hearts need to be filled with a burning passion to share with others what we have seen and heard from the Risen Lord. It cannot be contained, cannot remain a secret for a privileged few.... it is the Good News!......Jesus the Christ is Risen!....He is alive!.... He goes before us and .we see and touch Him at every Eucharistic celebration, there we hear his Words..... He stands at the door and knocks...... He desires to come into each heart and make your life a celebration if only you will open your heart for him to  enter.......

What can be so worst than what you  face right now?
What can be so worst than a terrible disease that is slowly zapping life out of  you.... a disease with no visible cure for an innocent child..........the untimely devastating death of a loved one that you wished was only a nightmare,  the fear of an illness lurking in your heart that keeps you awake most nights......... the bleak future staring at you in the face.......... the homeless that has lost every dignity of living.........the poor caught up in an unjust greedy or 'religious/political' wars? ......Yes, cruel things do happening to good people......but  what can be so worst than what you are battling with right now? Doubtlessly, even all these are horrible things to happen to anyone, I can't imagine that there could be something  more worst than any or all of these put together on a plate for any one.person or groups of people to endure.
All of the above are all related to things  perishable, transient or temporal. .... Life is only for a while... we are only here for a while may be 100 + yet that is still very short in comparison to what is next after this transitional period. If eyes have not seen or ears have not heard what God has  in store for those who believe in Him, then the other side of the coin: what can be so worst is: There is more beyond,  the best is yet to come.
Life is beyond our control as no one can ever have all the answers at any given time..... you have not got it all together even though you may have the dream house,..... winter lodges, summer huts scattered across continents ..... fleet of cars, a fantastic fulfilling job.....the money keeps doubling even when asleep, etc. Though these can be good depending on how they are obtained and used, they are also transient in nature as they can quickly vanish.
So what can be worst than what you face now .... or best than what have now? We are told not to be afraid of those that will kill the body and after that can do no more. But to fear him who after killing the body, has the power  to throw you into hell (Lk. 12:4-5).    
Living a life separated from God and willingly refusing to be reconciled before any tragic death will lead to separation of the soul from God for all eternity and that is the most worst thing that can happen to any human being. The terrible things can destroy or devastate life but cannot separate one from the love of God poured into our hearts through Jesus. Who or what can separate us from the love of God? .....shall  trouble or hardship, or persecution or famine or nakedness.......I am convinced that neither death, nor life,..... anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom. 8: 28 - 39)
Just as it's true that no suffering here on earth can separate us from the love of God, it is equally true that what does it profit a man for gaining the whole world at the expense of his soul....The salvation of our soul is our only important pursuit because when our soul is lost, all is lost.   The only thing that can separate us from God is sin, and dying unrepentant, rejecting God.. Each day offers us an opportunity to accept God's love through Jesus as the death of an unrepentant sinner does not benefit God in anyway...... he wishes that all will come to repentance and accept his forgiveness. The Precious Blood of Jesus shed on the Cross was for our salvation so that at the end of this brief life we may spend eternity with Him ....where do you want to spend eternity? ... .... Nothing can be more worst, whatever your situation in this short life span than to spend eternity without God. .... ....The season of  Lent reminds us of the love of God made manifest through the cruel death of Jesus on the Cross....... It's an opportunity to meditate on the great ocean of God's love and mercy made possible to all ....... we still have two weeks of Lent, it will be enriching to meditate on one Station of the Cross each day, .....enter into the scenes and see how much God has to stoop low to reach out to you.... Allow the Station(s) to speak to your heart and spend more time/days on a particular Station that touches you most,........ enter into the mystery of Christ's redeeming suffering  uniting yours and others to that of Christ.......to find some meaning to suffering in that of Christ...........The best is to live a life in union with Christ now already, under whatever situation, leading into eternity and that is what Jesus came to give us,....... life, abundant life with Him, in Him and through Him!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What if she has said ' No' ?

Do you ever wonder why you did not say 'No' to a decision you made that has led you to the situation you are in right now? May be if you had said no, your life would have turned out differently but whether it would have been better or worse off that you will never know. Accepting the things that happened through you is growing up as things don't happen to us for us to become victims but things happen through us so that we could learn a lesson to achieve our purpose in life. So look back with hindsight to see what lessons you have learned  to share with others.
Today, Christians celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation..... when the Angel Gabriel was sent to a young virgin , called Mary, in Nazareth, to  request her to become the mother of  Jesus (Lk. 1: 26 - 38) It's a very important feast on the Christian Calender. Without the 'Yes' of Mary to God's request to become flesh in her womb, the promise of Salvation would have turned out differently. Mary had a freewill and therefore was free to say 'No or Yes'. She was full of grace so by that grace she fully understood  the implications of saying 'yes' to God. We see the fulfillment of Isaiah's  prophecy and the unfolding of God's plan of redemption in the event leading to the Incarnation, the birth of the Messiah King. The new era of salvation begins with the miraculous conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary. ..Life, therefore,  begins with conception and not at birth ... This child to be conceived  in the womb of Mary is the fulfillment of God's promises. He will be "Great, Son of the Most High God"...... and his name shall be called "Jesus", which means "the Lord saves"....... Without her 'yes' Jesus would not have been conceived to be born at Christmas..... And how will Jesus save? ..... death on a cross and so there would have been no Easter.....Can you imagine a life without Christ? .....It is remarkable to note how Mary responded to the word of God delivered by the angel Gabriel.  Her question, "how shall this be, since I have no husband" is not prompted by doubt or skepticism, but rather by wonderment! For the Annunciation is a Mystery of Grace, it's an exclusive work of God, a pure act of Grace on God's part. ..... Mary's  prompt response of 'yes' to the divine message is a model of faith for all believers.
On this feast day commemorating the Archangel Gabriel's announcement of the Incarnation, may we realize and be amazed with the fact that God became a human being like us in all things except sin. ... Imagine the Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth and all that it holds.... but when he really wants something to be done, he does not force his way.... he comes the Mighty, Omniscient one comes, .... to one of his poor, weak creature and asks...... Just as Mary was not under any compulsion to say "yes", God does not force his will upon any of us either .....
May our praying the "Hail Marys" in the Rosary, from this day forth, take on a new meaning in our prayer life. .  May we renew our own commitments to the 'yeses' we have said to God and may His will be done in our lives

Hearing and seeing

Have you heard...................?
We are very eager to hear the latest news... .... what's up?.............. what's going on? Even though we have  24 hours Newsreel yet the ear is not tired of hearing. But what do we do with all that we hear? do we actually remember all that we hear or do we fully understand all that we hear? and do we hear all that we listen to?..........
God has spoken and continues to speak to his children but do we hear Him? The Scriptures, continue to speak to us today even though they have been written thousands of years ago; they are alive. The circumstances for which they were given have not changed, as God continues to call us back to come to him. Jesus came to fulfill the Scriptures to show that they were written about Him but had his death on the Cross made it easier for us to turn to God?
Hear Oh......... the Lord your God is One, you shall love Him with all your might, your heart and your strength.......... You have heard how it is said..... love your neighbour........tooth for a tooth....an eye for an eye.....  but I tell you love your enemies........  pray for those who persecute you.........love one another as I have loved you then the world will know that you are my disciples........listen  all you have ears...........Be holy for I your God I'm Holy....... be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.......come to me all who are heavily burdened and I will give you rest......come back to me with all your heart, long have I waited for your coming home to me........
We have ears but do we hear and understand all these love appeals of the Lord? How true is the prophecy of Isaiah in our generation today? Having eyes but not seeing, ears but not hearing,....for have  we also not closed our eyes, stuffed our ears unless  we see and hear and repent?  really seeing and hearing should lead to change...... to repentance, a broken spirit........
The Holy Spirit as a helper will lead us to the truth, convict  us of wrong doings and give us a true spirit of repentance which brings us to the fountain of mercy...to forgiveness and reconciliation. with the Father through the saving grace of Jesus on the Cross.
The choice is ours, and today is all that we have as we are not sure of tomorrow.