Embrace yourself……..

Life is too short and we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth, we have to leave this earth in our destined day. But we see around wars, dissensions, fights, negative attitudes, criticism and killing in the name of the religion and God. We are going away from each other, we are forgetting about the solidarity which we once gloried and proud of, today we have forgetting to smile and laugh with each other as our hearts and minds are filled with anger and revenge towards each other. We need to empty our hearts of all negative feelings and emotions and fill them up with love and understanding. We need to get rid of unnecessary baggage’s and luggage’s which makes our human journey more heavy, tedious and tiresome. 

Today many of us are suffering from sickness of pride, selfishness and ego which is creating a distance and separation from each other. We have no time for each other, we are forgetting to spend time and sit and have a conversation with each other. We need a true gut and heart level dialogue, we need to communicate with each other that we are there for each other. So meet, sit, chat, sing and dance with each other instead of chatting and texting on the mobiles and social media. We are a building and cultivation relationships with people miles away from us but those under our nose are forgotten and rejected, ignored and made to feel unwanted. Some of us are experts to express our sorrows and cry when someone dies in the family but while the person lived he was not cared and loved, so why crocodile tears when that person dies, hypocrites we become.

Don’t go looking and judging what type of relationships and connections we have with other in order to welcome and accept him, the question is not whether he is one of us or belongs to us but question is can we sit and look at the other who is unknown and stranger. Can we speak and communicate sweetly and in a humane way. If we try to find mistakes about the others we will never find a way and path to be human but when we just accept the other as he or she is and strike a bond then life becomes beautiful and worth leaving. What is a mistake and what is right and wrong can never be understood and found easily and if we just go on searching for it we will be disappointed because you can never understand what’s right and wrong. 

Happy Feast of St. Augustine

 

The tears of his mother brought about the conversion of her husband and Son Augustine, thus she gave to the Church a great man full of wisdom and spirit. His example has influenced and inspired millions of souls to go through the process of conversion. His conversion has confirmed it that the prayers of the others for the sinners are effective and are heard by the Lord. His Mother did that with living faith and heart that was open and transparent to the amazing grace of God. St. Augustine gives us hope that we can walk in the grace and spirit of God if we surrender totally and close ourselves to the past life. His hunger and restlessness made him to open to the Loving and Merciful God. He is inviting us to be searching and hungering for God who is ever ready to fill us with his presence. 

Today many of us are in search for God, we are restless to experience, encounter, meet God so that our lives are filled with His Love. Augustine was empty of all these and the God of Love and compassion filled his enormous graces to be shared and preached to the hungry and thirsty faithful.  The lack of hunger for God in our heart is the reason why we abandon, neglect and ignore the presence and touch of the Lord. When the desire for God is less we disconnect ourselves from God, others and from ourselves and begin to search false happiness in material world and even immoral world. The end result is that we are without faith and indifference towards God and brothers and sisters.

St. Augustine is inviting us to continue searching and encountering the Lord Jesus. The search should go on till the last breath of our lives. The end result of our search, encounter and restless should be communion and union, facing the divine reality and truth. The search should lead us to love, know, serve and make Him known to the others and sharing the liberating experience of God's love to the others.

Today the Church needs men and women like Monica and Augustine to announce the love and mercy of God, preaching and making known God through their lives, with courage, without fear. They try to imitate Jesus and be like Him in all the situations of Life. To preach all the days of our lives especially today when the world is facing the pandemic and many lives lost and many affected. We ought to share the Love of God with others, encourage and support people in their broken moments. 

Good and Bad Company!!!!!!!!!!!

We encounter and meet many persons in our lives who leave positive and negative impressions in our lives. Some are funny, jovial and give good company and keep us smiling and laughing with their positive approach on everything around them. And there are those who cheat and scandalise is through their lifestyle and some of them even try to destroy our peace and positive environment with their negative approach towards us and everything around them. What we have to learn from these two persons and situations in our lives is what did they teach us? what messages and experiences we learnt from our encounter with these persons. It is not important what they did and said to us but what did we take that is positive to build our lives. 

These days of Pandemic many people have been facing enormous problems in all the spheres of human life, economical, financial, emotional and physical problems and it gives a feeling of hopelessness, some feel that everything is over and humanity at the verge of being destroyed or being wiped away from the face of the earth. I think these feelings are negative and will get us nowhere. The Lord and Creator is right there standing behind , in front, besides to encourage and instil hope that He will be with us in all moments of darkness and will be journeying with us till the end. He is not leaving or abandoning us. SO let us look for Him and feel his encouraging and compassionate pat on our bare open and exposed backs to Him. 

We see and experience in our society that some successful people make fun of those who are not successful or not doing great, this looking down upon the others with the high bloated ego will burst one day. The big and rich, famous ought to help and support those who are trying and success does knock on their doors. Let us not look down upon and with our negative attitudes not communicate to them that they would be always there down the rung. But communicate positively so that they may climb higher like us and enjoy and taste the success in life for which they are working hard.  As someone said this so well that one day Sea with malice and hatred towards a small river saying how long would you like to be small? when will you grow up to be like me big? The small river quietly and with firmness answered that instead of becoming big and being salty it is better to be small and sweet because here the mighty and powerful tigers and leopards bend and drink water form me.

Be Beautiful From Within!!!!!!!!!

Most of us would like to live the life of the other famous person, either actor, sportsman etc. and in the bargain fail to live our life that God has so beautifully crafted for us. We can always remain in the beauty that God has created us with when we accept who we are and what we are expected to do with that life. Let us not beautify with external decorations but internal makeup with God's presence and grace. To be beautiful, means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others, rather you need to accept yourself. 

Many people come for counselling and narrate that they are not happy and they work towards their happiness and joy but at the end they are disappointed because not able to get what they want to achieve. Happiness is..when what you think, what you say, and what you do, are in harmony. There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved. Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life

Most of us get affected by the criticism that is offered to us by the others. Most of the critics are those who are jealous of who you are and what you do. They do not have it or cannot even get close to it. You will never be criticised by someone, who is doing more than you. You will always be criticised by someone, doing less. Remember that....

Surround yourself with people, that have similar mentalities. It can be exhausting and damaging, to hold on to unhealthy friendships!!! One of the greatest human triumphs, is to make room in our hearts, for both joy and pain. We want life, to be as dazzling and painless, as possible. Life, on the other hand, has a way of humbling us, and heartbreak is built into its agreement, with the world. 

Understand Each other, To Understand God.......

One of the greatest human triumphs, is to make room in our hearts, for both joy and pain. We want life, to be as dazzling and painless, as possible. Life, on the other hand, has a way of humbling us, and heartbreak is built into its agreement, with the world. Do not fly too high on praise, or too low on criticism. Adjusting your altitude, to minimize mental turbulence, is a superpower. Perhaps, they were never worthy of your warmth, your understanding, your commitment & your smile. But do not regret a single moment. You gave your all ~ & not everyone has the capacity, to do that. It takes an incredibly big heart, to love those, who make you out.. to be small.

The birds need strong wings to fly swiftly and strongly up high in the sky. Some birds concentrate building up their wings so that they can fly higher and faster than the others, especially the migratory birds who have to fly miles and miles. They do succeed in covering the distance because of the strength and power of all the birds together. The big and small put all their energies in use and soar higher and higher, the outstanding things is their humility that shines out during their flight. We humans cannot fly higher like the birds but if we have the virtue of humility and bow down before each other without showing our might and strength, power and authority, intelligence and wisdom we can touch the sky together. 

Someone said that there are many rich people in this universe but they are not really rich, they are much poorer than the poor on the streets who have nothing of their own which they can call their own. The definition of the rich or moneyed person is that the person is able to live good moral life, respect human and divine values and commandments, the one who can protect his own and those around him and provide security of love and concern, the one who will honor parents and make them the top priority of his life, one who lives with honor, pride and respect, one who does not humiliate and take advantage of the others to make money, if you have this riches and money, you are the most richest person on the planet. 

I always liked and cherished what one of our professors in the seminary said that if we do not understand the scriptures, we will never understand and recognise the Saint among us. If we do not understand and accept the saints we will not accept and understand "God" among us. 

Seek Guidance from Right Masters!!!!!!!

 

Today there are people seeking counsellors, spiritual fathers and gurus for guidance and counselling for various mental, emotional and psychological problems people are facing. Some of these counsellors are very effective, well informed and experienced people who really offer support and guidance. Many of them are ill-prepared and informed as a result they misguide and confuse the clients and at the end extract a lot of money from them. Most of them under the guise of being spiritual guides and gurus end up earning huge money and even abuse their clients in many ways like spiritual, emotionally. It is always advisable to go seeking men and women of faith, prayer and God experience and it is not difficult to trace them as their fruits are seen and spoken about. In my opinion we must approach men and women who are both spiritual, successful and unsuccessful because they carry loads of experiences which is helpful. The successful people tell us what to do in order to be stepping on the ladder of success and from unsuccessful people we get to learn what not to do in search of success and how to accept failures with dignity and pride. 

When we go through bad times in life the thought that dominates our hearts and minds is how to get rid and overcome these moments and be free from all these hassles. But we know well that however we try hard we cannot do away the shadows from darkness, pain and loneliness in old age and at the end of our lives our wealth.  We have to be like flowers which make the thread sweet smelling when they are tied with it and we have to be like flowers make every sweet with our inner scent. Also seek people who are sweet smelling because their presence and person keeps us fresh and happy, such people's company makes us to think positive and remain always proactive and spread a lot of wisdom to us. 

We all have eyes and more or less they are same except in size and color but the way we look at each with the same eyes differently and have different perceptions and visions and according to which we judge those at whom we look. The outlook of a person differentiate him from the rest and this outlook separates man from man, as a result we have interpersonal relationship problems and issues.  

In our human life some things we receive without asking and something we get by going close to them. They are good and positive people whose company is always a blessing as they keep sending positive and constructive vibes to those in whose contact they come. something like ice we go close we receive the coldness which does good if it is warm outside, go close to the fire and it warms us up in winter and makes us to feel better, when you are looking for sweet smell go close to some of the flowers like rose and jasmine they shower the scent which we enjoy and in which we get lost. So it is good for our soul and spiritual life not to bombard GOD BY asking incessantly but by getting close to him in our mind and heart we would receive all that we need at the moment even without asking. 

Mary Accompanies us in our Journey!!!!!!!

 

Tomorrow we are going to celebrate the Feast of Assumption of BVM and the whole catholic Church seems be preparing for this even with a lot of expectations of blessings and graces from our heavenly Mother during this pandemic. We are seeking her comfort and intercession, turning to her maternal care and love during this deadly virus which has created terror and fear among human beings. The feast of assumption gives us assurance of her maternal presence and touch to all of us as she keeps interceding on our behalf to God the Father and Her Son Jesus Christ as she did at the wedding feast of Cana. She will ask her son to release his Messianic divine power for the broken and darkened world. We as her children are expected to increase our confidence, faith and belief in her and Son Jesus Christ. We need to keep listening to the words that she spoke to the servants at the wedding feast "Do whatever he tells you". What we can do is to surrender our weakness and sins at her feet so that she plead on our behalf to the Almighty God. She will be able to get her son to change our difficult situations to precious times so that we would live our lives in worthy manner once again. 

This feast reminds us that she is watching our us from the heavenly abode and she is there in our pains and sufferings, guiding and protecting us to sail safely through all the rough times and moments in life. We human beings over the periods of years since social media and electronic media has entered in our lives, have drifted away from the commandments and teachings of the Church from God's tenderness and compassion, Mother Mary is inviting us to return to the Lord and receive His tenderness and love in our hearts to change the course of our lives in better moments.  It's time that we recognise the value of Mother Mary's maternal presence and have daily recourse to her grace through devotion and praying the rosary. 

The devotion to Mary has to be doubled in these tough moments of the history and invite her to be the part of our journey and history. This devotion to her will allow us to discover the face of God who shares in our joys and sorrow, pain and sufferings. Mary's presence and walking with us in this crisis will definitely encourage us to surrender to all mighty God to take away this difficult moment in our history. She will grant us through her son everything that we need to grow in our divine and spiritual life. As she was present at the beginning and end of her son's mission to encourage and participate in every action of his, so she will do the same if we trust and honor her presence. Her presence in our lives helps us to grow in our faith in Jesus

Let us trust in Mary who urges us to believe and do what Jesus Christ's says. It is good to entrust to Jesus as she did and follow His commandments to live our human call here on earth in a worthy manner. she will walk at our side when we are weighed by crosses and pains, sufferings and diseases. She herself has experienced all that we experience at the moment, so she gives us the keys to face suffering, poverty and insecurity. She comes to us in need bringing with her mercy and healing of her son Jesus christ. 

Journey of Life!!!!!

Sometimes the greatest test in life, is being able to bless someone else, while going through your own storm. When we are burdened with our own burdens, problems and difficulties we normally concentrate and focus on ourselves and others don't matter or have importance in our lives. We want to settle and resolve our situations and difficult moments. But it will be more rewarding blissful if we can think of others who have similar situations like us and be a source of inspiration and blessing to them. Then we see that the storms in our life become less intense and slow down to a peaceful situations. In these difficult moments and storms Don't choose the better person, choose the person, who makes a better you and you make that person better with your experience and guidance! Don't put off opportunities to be a blessing to people, to serve those around you. You don't know, where that small step is taking you. Your purpose could be waiting for you, at that next act of obedience.

One of my spiritual fathers advised me when i had some relationship issues with my companions and we were not one talking terms. When i shared and sought some answers to overcome the spiritual guru advised me saying Michael You need people, that bring out the best in you, people that inspire you to do better, that challenge you, to live a life of excellence and integrity. It was very true and real, as my companion was superior to me in many fields. He challenged me every now and then with his creative mind and behaviour, i misunderstood him completely out of jealousy. He was a brother who believed in his God given talents and gifts and used them to inspire others but would demand sacrifice on the part of the others. He challenged me often and i did learn a lot from him later once relationship was restored. I saw in him a friend who was interested in sharing and communicating the goodness that he enjoyed and experienced on a daily basis.  I learnt from him that It’s not the challenges we face that matters, but how we choose to look at them, and what we choose to do, with those opportunities. I came to know and accept him as The coolest guy around and a brother who was kind, humble, unselfish, honest and self-aware. 

In my journey of life have met people, who will provide unhelpful and unsolicited opinions and make our journey tedious, tiresome and difficult one.  I have learnt to ignore then and their opinions which are normally harmful and negative. Dealing with such people becomes a real skill, and will help you forge a path, to a greater and a more liberating future.

Celebration of Clergy or Priest Day!!!!!

 

Yesterday priests, religious and laity kept sending festal wishes to priests all over the world....The what's up social media was extremely busy sending these lovely wishes and prayers for the priests and religious men. I too received and sent many throughout the day and still receiving even today. What made me to admire is the thought behind those wishes, that i am thought of and prayed for by my dear and near ones from all over the globe. It was a day of thanking the Lord for the gift of priesthood and the ministry that we render in the name of Jesus. The model of John May Vianney clearly sends the message that we need not be intelligent and super human being in order to serve, preach and excrete the ministry in the name of Jesus. He teaches us that it is enough to put on the person of Christ and be like Him in our apostolate. He taught us that we need to trust and believe that the Lord is making use of the priests the way they are. Another big lesson that he taught is that the priests need to be available for the people when they come or call for spiritual service and ministry. It may not be possible sometimes due to massive responsibilities and works that the pastors have to shoulder. But he seems to be saying that let the priests not become administrators and bosses of people, but become spiritual guides to lead them to Jesus the saviour and Lord. 

I always pray that these holy men and women teach us a lot with regard to our call, vocation and exercise of the apostolate. As we know today that many of us are not available for the sheep as a result they stray and seek pastors who lead them on the wrong path. Many of them are confused with regard to teaching and correct christian path and spirituality. As shepherds, the priests have to be updated and renewed in order to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our people. Let us not become workaholic but be real leaders of the people to lead them to the only supreme Leader Jesus. 

The teaching and example of John Mary Vianney will live forever because it is genuine and sincere, it has been left behind from the spiritual bond and experience of the Lord who guided the destiny of Vianney. He faced all the challenges and difficulties in life to be a shepherd of the Lord, he gave totally into the hands of the Lord and made himself available for the service of the people. Today the need of our people is to be listened and spoken to as the pandemic has brought in a lot of stress and tension, people are losing jobs and becoming poorer, children are going through tremendous stress of not being connected with their companions in the school. In this situation the priests have to come out from the comfort zones and be of service to these suffering men and women. We have to be real Jesus and his voice, hands, feet and love. 

"POTIUNCULA" - HOME FOR SENIOR FRIARS, UMRALLE, VASAI

The long time dream for a home where our senior and sick friar could be housed has finally been fulfilled with inauguration and blessing of Portiuncula  friary this morning. It was a right and fitting day as the Franciscan Order celebrates the feast of Portiuncula, Mary of the Angels all over the world. The friary is dedicated to a chapel which is dear and precious in the Franciscan Order. It is in Portiuncula that Francis received the call to repair the churches, it is here that he founded the Order....it is the cradle of Franciscan spirituality.

The Bishop of Vasai Felix Machado blessed and inaugurated the House in the presence of the provincial and his council with few friars. No friars were invited due to pandemic restrictions. The bishop is warmly welcomed by the Provincial council.

The floral bouquet is always a sign of welcome and sign of love and devotion towards the shepherd of the diocese.

The Provincial and Council along with few friars attended the blessing of the House.

The Bishop enters the new house, brings along with him the graces and blessings of Jesus

The formal inauguration of the house by cutting the ribbon....

The House is built on our property next to our Parish and Friary of St. Joseph, Umrale....it is on the main road surrounded by fields and coconut groves.

Consecration by the Bishop

The celebration of the Eucharist and blessing and consecrating the blessed sacrament

Br. Suhas Pereira one of the councillor's announcing the word of God.

Few friars participating in the Eucharist