Faith Blog: My God and My All, Let Thy Name Be Glorified!

Last blog, I pondered on an idea that parents are gift from God and they have a call to fulfill towards their children. In this blog, I am going to develop on that idea, in relation to parenthood responsibility. Parenthood is a responsibility, which takes man and woman decisions and God's blessings to accomplish.Parenthood consists of a human father and mother and the Holy spirit. Their triune union brings the child to the world. If we reflect upon creation account in Genesis 2, " Then the Lord God took soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; He breathed the life giving breath in to his nostrils and the man began to live." Accordingly, a child's flesh is a combination of man and woman being the soil and flesh which belongs to the soil in nature and the life comes from God. Many verses from Isaiah supports this concept such as, " The Lord says, " Listen now, Israel my servant, my chosen people, the descendants of Jacob. I am the Lord who created yo

From the website: http://www.vailankannichurch.org/ "Our Lady of Good Health, popularly called "Our Lady of Vailankanni" is in the small town of Vailankanni (5000 residents) located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. It is located 150 miles south of Madras in Tamil Nadu and 5 miles south of Nagapattinam. Our lady chose this place to dispense her miracles to mankind. A strong oral tradition attests to Our Lady’s apparitions at Vailankanni(Velankanni). The tradition is built around the following three significant events: First Miracle Hindu Boy and Annai Vailankanni Sometime during the sixteenth century, Our Lady with her infant son appeared to a Hindu boy carrying milk to a customer’s home. While he rested under a Banyan tree near a tank (pond), Our Lady appeared to him and asked for milk for her Son and the boy gave her some. On reaching the customer’s home, the boy apologized for his lateness and the reduced amount of milk by relating the incident that occurr

" I will always thank the Lord; I will never stop praising him. I will praise Him for what He has done; may all who are oppressed listen and be glad! Proclaim with me the Lord's greatness; let us praise his name together!" Psalm 34 Every man and women is surrounded by the nurturing presence of God. In the beginning of a human life, the nurturing presence of God is reflected through the parental love and protection for their child.Parents or the fostering system for a child brings the divine love to the child. No man can decide for himself about his birth. No one can choose their biological parents before their birth. Biological parenthood is a gift from God and the biological parents are God's nurturing presence.Therefore a relationship between a child and a parent is divine destiny for a man designed by God. Same theme or explanation can be applied to siblings too. There are numerous fostering parents in this world who excel and exceed the expectations to love th

"Clap your hands for joy, all peoples! Praise God with loud songs." Psalm : 47 There is joy in God's presence. There is peace in God's presence. There is unity in God's presence. There is love in God's presence. There are many natural sanctuaries of God, which has the resonance, radiance, and reflection of God's presence in this world. Among them the supreme master piece of God's creation is family. The founder,creator,provider, and protector of the family is God Himself. The first family was instituted and blessed by God in garden Eden (Genesis chapter 1). And the Lord visited the family regularly to see to their welbeing ( Genesis chapter 2). By this we can know that the presence of God was present in origination and sustaining family. Do we acknowledge the presence of God in the family? Do we understand God's presence is essential to protect and sustain the family? Do we know family is a sanctuary of God? Do we know that in marriage, it is not j

"As a deer longs for a stream of cool water so I long for you. o God. I thirst for you, the living God; When can I go and worship in your presence?" Psalm: 42 Saints have shown the model of life which has been illuminated with God's presence. Living in God's presence means that a human subjects himself voluntarily to the will of God, while he lives in this earth. One who lives with the strength derived from the presence of the Lord gives glory to God in all his achievements, and consider, acknowledge, pray, and surrender his own weaknesses to God as an opportunity for demonstration of God's mercy and strength in his life. In this state of mind or attitude, glory and defeat in the life have the same value for the saints because both brings forth God's glory. Living in God's presence is an extension of church experience in to the day today life situations. This is a deliberate action where the man invites heavenly Father's presence in his day to activit

Psalm 100 Sing to the Lord, all the world! Worship the Lord with Joy; come before him with happy songs! Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him; We are his people we are his flock. Enter the temple gates with thanksgiving, Go in to its courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise him. The Lord is good; his love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts forever. Although God is present everywhere, Seeking God’s presence in His temple brings unique blessings. The above psalm describes how to enter into his temple and courts. It indicates that one must worship God with joy and with happy songs. It is appropriate and fitting to see the Heavenly father in His temple. In His temple, there is joy, happiness, and praises, which can quench the thirst of human heart, mind and soul. Some times one can experience physical healing also in His presence. Consider going to church as going to the father’s house because our Heavenly father’s presence is visible

Sacred Hill “The Lord is great and is to be highly praised in the city of our God on His sacred hill. Zion, the mountain of God, is high and beautiful; the city of the great king brings joy to the world. God has shown that there is safety with Him inside the fortress of the city” Psalm 48 Some years before one of my strong opinionated friends was arguing that it was enough to think of God in the heart not necessary to go to the church very often. Her questions and arguments were challenging to me at that time but did stimulate my thoughts and reflections to ponder and dwell in this topic. There are lot of people hold similar ideas, which is an ignorance and avoidance of the divine blessings in the life. This lazy idea keeps multitudes of youth away from the church during their most important period of life. Knowing the blessings and guiding the youth in this direction is imperative and most urgent task of the parents, because it is parents' responsibility to keep the children unde

"Be merciful to me ,O God,because of your great mercy wipe away my sins! Wash away all my evil and make me clean from my sin!" Psalm 51 I surrender myself to you Lord All I need is your presence If I rise I will praise you If I fall I will call you What ever happens I need your presence Grant me the state where I do not exist with out your presence I do not know Tomorrow and I do not understand today But I know your constant love for me Annapoorna Mary 1995 (Translation of poem written in Tamil by author)

God’s love and goodness “Give Thanks to the Lord, because He is good and His love is eternal. Let the people of Israel say, “His Love is Eternal” Let the priests of God say, “His love is eternal” Let all who worship Him say, His love is eternal”” Psalm 118 God is good and the world is filled with His goodness. Seeking, acknowledging, recognizing, understanding, and discerning the Goodness in the world is a gift from God; and it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Seeking goodness gives hope in the life. Acknowledging goodness gives meaning to the life. Recognizing goodness provides inner joy. Understanding goodness provides happiness and motivation in life. Discerning goodness leads to the will of God in life. Appreciating goodness makes one to accept and value oneself and others for what they are. Admitting goodness in the world is the acknowledgment and profession of faith in witnessing the creation of God and His image in His creations. God is good and His creation and creatures are goo

Now, it is August 5th early morning in India and the Festival of Our Lady of Snows is in process. View Our Lady of Snows festival: Tuticorin , India in the following web site. http://www.snowschurch.org Specialty of this church: St. Francis Xavier visited this church in 1542 and baptised people of this coastal town. Pope John Paul II elevated this church to the Bascilica status in 1982. This church festival has association to my childhood faith development mile stone, because in this same day in 1976, I received confirmation in this church with all my school catholic friends from Holy Cross Girls Higher Seconday school. In the above web site you can view Our Lady of Snows festival, all the history and detail about the church.

"The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want" Psalm 23 When ever one reflects and rely upon the above verse in acknowledgment and understanding of divine providence, a peace flows from within. Heavenly Father, I thank you for being my good shepherd. I place my will, intellect, thoughts, action, relations, associations, task, and my entire being in to thy hands. Let Thy will be done Lord! Amen!

Hidden Blessings God's blessings are numerous in the ways of human life. There are revealed blessings and hidden blessings. Revealed blessings are the blessings which belongs to the past. They consist of wide variety of physical , social and cultural opportunities given by the nature. Some of the significant aspects of the revealed blessings are one's gifts, talents, opportunities, relationships,parents, sibbilings, teachers, elders, religion, friends and one's own personality. Revealed blessings are the template in which a man develop oneself. It is the credit in which a man can refer back and rely upon in the difficult times. While the revealed blessing is an essential part of a human life the hidden blessings are vital to lead fufilled evey day life. Every day is unique in it's nature. Every day brings different task, different responsibility, different focus,and different mile stone in the life. Noday is similar in content although it looks similar in most of the

Stages of experiencing redemptive presence of God It is easy to get attracted to the gifts of Holy spirit and the warmth comfort you receive from the presence of God, and the peace that can offer to your soul and life. Many of us get excited enough to think that we have achieved the God's favor and He treats you in a special way. In reality, nobody can achieve God's favor unless it is given to him by God's mercy. Every body has the right to experience the comfort comes from God's presence in this world. The only and simple way to experience that comes from God’s presence is to ask , seek, and knock. It is a simple act of faith that move the heart of the Lord and in return His mercy flows like a river from His heart. Many mystic saints have experienced the deeper dimension of the presence of God and they have demonstrated the great love and devotion, and attraction for God's presence than any other blessings of the world. There is a next deeper level of ex