Blessing of God be yours…

“Save me O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.” (Psalm 54:1-2)

O Good Father God, I praise You . Heavenly Father, keep me within Your loving glance. Yaweh, You are the most powerful One !You are the One who knows me through and through.
Father God ! You know all the temptations that come my way, and all the evil ones that oppose me . You know too all the worldly thoughts that attack me, all the worldly pleasures and attractions, all lustful desires, You know it all O God !

O God, Yaweh, I praise You with a heart filled with gratitude. Cast Your merciful glance on me O God. You are the God who created me and have blest me and have prepared me solely for Yourself !  You have anointed me with the Holy Spirit that I may be Yours and Yours alone! My Loving God, save me and grant that especially these days I may never ever go away from Your loving glance, that I may never slip away from Your caring Hands, and that I may always stand holy in Your Presence.

Lord show me The Power of Your Mighty Name. Save me by The Power of Your Holy Name O God!You are the Most Powerful One !The Holy One! The Power-filled One! You are filled with all that is good ! Grant that I may experience it all O my God !
Father God, You sent Your Holy Son to this earth !
He was filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit and went to the wilderness to pray ! Lord God may Your Holy Will be done !He prayed trusting in Your Mighty Power, Trusting in Your Mighty Name, Trusting in Your glance, that Your Holy Kingdom may be established on this earth !
So place me too in close proximity to Your Son, O Father God. You took Him to the desert filled with Power ! Place me too close to Your own Son and grant me the grace that I too may stay and  pray in the desert with Him.
Grant that I may be separated away from the things of the world, and be filled with Your Power to hold the Hands of Your Son, that I may be close to Him, following His footsteps!
Lord You chose me for Yourself ! You separated me away from the world solely for You!
Grant that I may always live for You alone, that I may constantly think of You, that I may walk in the footsteps of Your Holy Son, that I may stay in the desert with Him, and that with Him, I may be victorious over the evil one. Grant me the power to see Your Holy face.
Grant me the gifts of Truth, Righteousness and The Word of God.  Grant me Your Holiness.
Grant O Loving God , that I may stand holy in Your Presence, and fill me with the Grace that I may bear Your Word in my heart to stand against the evil one.
You anointed Your Holy Son ! Grant me too now the Power of that Anointing, O Father God !
Lead my way O God ! Speak to my heart O Holy Spirit God! Grant that bearing Your Power within, I may go to all the nations and proclaim Your Word that I may go from house to house proclaiming Your Word, to proclaim to all those I come in contact with.
Grant that I may carry the message of Peace and Joy to the peoples of the world. So use me as Your instrument my Father God !
Bless me ! Thank you my God !

When we are about to meditate on the public life, and of His Good News works, we shall read Mathew, Luke and Mark’s Gospels one after another.
Now we shall meditate on Matthew’s Gospel and Luke’s Gospel.

THE BELOVED SON OF THE FATHER!

Our Lord was baptized in the river Jordan and came up the shore. As soon as He emerged out of the water , after being baptized, the heavens opened and there was a great manifestation regarding Him , in the midst of the crowd gathered.
The Holy Spirit God descended on Him like a dove coming down from above. It was then that the Heavenly Father’s voice was heard that was audible to human ears.

“And a voice from heaven said,” This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

God the Father Himself revealed to the world, that Jesus was His favoured and beloved Son.
The One most loved by the Father! The Holy Spirit descended on Him and anointed Him. God thought of Him with love and was very happy and proud about Him. Just at the very moment when the Heavenly father rejoiced over His Son and revealed Him to the world, we read in Matthew chapter 4 that the same Holy Spirit led Him to the desert. We read the same in the beginning of the 4th chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  We feel surprised and astonished when we read this, of The Son most Beloved of the Father !
 At the moment when God the Father rejoiced over Him the Holy Spirit fills Him and leads Him to the wilderness. Not only that, Matthew mentions that He was led to the wilderness also to be tempted by the devil.
Then is the desert necessary for the most Beloved Son of God? To the One most loved by the Father , should there be temptation?
The Beloved One of the Father ! The Heavenly Father feels gratified and proud in thinking and again thinking of Him. At that moment it looks as if the Father Himself had slipped Him away from His Hands. That He had forsaken Him !
O my Beloved Father God, have You forsaken me !
The truth of it is that the Father Himself had willed this for His Son. The Beloved One of the Father! The One enveloped by the Holy Spirit God ! He now allows Him also to fast in the wilderness. He felt hungry. Then the evil one came to tempt Him.

The Temptations:
Let us read the 4th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel and the 4th chapter of Luke’s Gospel. The temptations that came along the way of Jesus were the craftiness of satan.
What are the crafty designs of satan?

It draws the Lord towards worldly attractions. Money! It could be symbolized with bread. Today everyone talks of ‘Business’! Satan brings a method to transform Jesus into a Business man.
It shows all the heaped up stones in the desert place and asks Him to turn it all into Bread and that they could then eat it. It draws Jesus to be fully immersed in the things of the world. ‘Wealth’ is the attraction towards money and things. It is nothing but the thoughts of the world and the desire to make the world one’s own.
Satan cheated the first man and the first woman to forsake God’s Word and to eat the fruit of that forbidden tree.
It brings the same attraction to Jesus in another form in the desert. At Eden it showed the fruit. In the desert it showed the stones and asked Jesus to turn them into bread. What actually binds us all in tight grip is the attractions of this world.  And the basis of this attraction is food. If we were to hold  on to a thing constantly like some product of the world, money, fruit or bread in our hands and eat them up, then we use and enslave them. Instead if it becomes so habitual, then that thing would enslave us to the world.
It is not that we take the fruit or money in our hands and enslave them. But this was how satan devised a plan to make the Lord a slave to this very thing called money . It was then that He tore apart and thwarted the design of the evil one.
He said to satan that man does not live by bread alone , but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
This was what happened in the garden of Eden. It made man forsake God’s Word, gave the  worldly attractions to man, and destroyed the man of this earth.

Satan uses another method too. He takes Jesus to the highest peak of the temple tower. Taking Him up to the highest point, he asks Him to jump, telling Him that God’s angels would hold Him up , and that they would hold Him so that His legs would not dash against any stone. We can call this as the second step to the first temptation. This is the worldly show. When all the things of the world are in the hands, then the ego, ‘pride of the world’ seeps in.
As man gets possession of all the things of the world , then the feeling of ‘I’
dominates a person’s thinking. This was given as the second step in temptation for Jesus.
‘You should not live relying on God. All the world is in Your Hands! You own the pride of it all ! If you fall from this high place, then all will stand enslaved to You. Then You can stand with Your head high as a great person in this world. Make Yourself great.’
This is the second step of tempting Jesus where, it asks Jesus not to rely on God, but on the things of the world and to thus make Himself great.  But here too Our Lord thwarts the evil designs of satan.
Do not tempt the Lord your God, leave your selfishness and ego. You do not have to put on airs in front of God.
A grain of wheat has to fall to the ground and die. Unless it falls to the ground and dies , it will not bear fruit. The grain of wheat that has fallen to the ground will produce fruit a hundred fold. Similarly that which breaks the designs of the evil one is an undaunted faith in God, and this is God’s way. The faith which is a steadfast walk with trust in God, breaking free from selfishness and ego.
Hence God’s way is one of faith. Satan’s way is that which destroys faith giving way to ego and self-pride.

After being defeated, satan again tempted Jesus the third time ,using a third method. Actually this is just one method, a method that satan gives for God.
Satan boldly tells God,  “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
It is a crafty method by which it teaches, “ Deny God, believe in the things of the world, believe satan”. And this is also a crafty method by which to destroy the faith in God and trust in God. This is what we call Godlessness or unbelief.  This is the method not to trust in God, but to trust in the world, and trust in satan who is the head of this world.
Our God understands the crafty wiles of the evil ones and defeats it.
Jesus said to him, “Away with you, satan ! for it is written, ‘ Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’”
Faith will bring victory over satan. If man should win over the world, then he can do it only with firm faith in God.
                 A prophet has taught us that a man will be saved by his faith, isn’t it? It is the same teaching that our Lord Jesus gives us today, as well.
Hence , leaving all the fascination for money, worldly pride, sinful thoughts of deserting our God and accepting satan as the master of life, let us destroy all these harmful evil thoughts, by having a firm faith in God, and in simple ways,  let go of  our pride and ego. We should thus serve and worship our God. May the Holy Spirit help and guide us towards this these days. Having this sole thought in mind , St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians thus:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that  you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” ( Ephesians 6: 10-12)
Let us also take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God as our armour and fight against the evil one and emerge victorious. ( Ephesians 6: 17)
I wish you joy !

“ Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray.”
( Psalms 5:2)

Loving Father ! I thank You. Yaweh, Mother, I place my entire family at Your Feet.
Make this day and this whole year holy for me.
Several times during the day, I heave a sigh. Lord You pay attention to the sighs of the poor! Pay heed to  my voice, my sighs as well O Lord !
I cannot beg from any one else except You. So I turn to You in humble request.
Day and Night I look on Your Holy face. I wait and long for You alone Lord. May this entire year be Yours.
Lord You were pleasing in the Sight of Your Heavenly Father ! The Heavenly Father accepted You saying, “ This is my Beloved Son.” So too I ask You to place my family and myself within the precious glance of the Heavenly Father .
Mother Your Loving Son was most pleasing toYou! You preserved Your Son as One most pleasing to the Father! You safeguarded Him saying, ”Yaweh ! I place my Son at Your Feet! ”
You carried Your Son always in Your arms and brought Him up most pleasing to the Heavenly Father, dear Mother !You brought Him up acceptable to God and to the world, filled with wisdom and knowledge.
Keep my family and myself within Your loving glance. Intercede for us toYour Son and to the Heavenly Father !
Father God keep me and my family within Your Loving and Merciful glance. May this whole year be Yours alone.
You know my sufferings, my troubles, my yearnings, my plans, You know them all.
I wonder what is going to happen this year ! What ever are the troubles I am about to face! I don’t know how I am about to repay my debts, all these I fear within my heart.
Thinking of my family, my husband, my wife, my children I heave a sigh , I have so many longings and sufferings, O Lord.
My daughter should be married. My son should be placed in a good job.
The construction of the house should be well finished. All these are the constant thoughts that make me suffer.
The diseases in my body should vanish.
I long in desperation for not having a child after so many years of married life.
Father God, You who pay heed to my petitions, You who pay attention to my longings, I place all these at Your Feet.
May this whole year be most pleasing to You. Bless me and my family.
Paying heed to my longings, fulfill all my heart’s desires, O Lord.
Holy Spirit God, You who lead this world on, You who prepare the people for the coming of the Lord, Fill this earth ,Fill my family and me with Your Wisdom, Power, Your Love and Peace. Save me.
Teach me to live this day and the whole year, most pleasing to God, within His sight, to live as witnesses to Your Peace, and teach us to live our lives most pleasing to You.
Bless us O Lord ! Bless us O Father! AMEN !

“HE WILL COME AGAIN
(Acts 1 : 11)

From time immemorial, there have been many religions in the world, and they all enjoy their unique traditions. There are several religions like the Hindu religion, Islamic religion , the Buddhist religion and so on.
Many of them speak of Christianity as one religion among these religions.
Calling it ’Christian Religion ‘ is itself very wrong.
Jesus did not come to the world to propagate a religion. The Christ is God who became Man !And this is the truth. To which religion did He belong? There is no religion for Christ.  Christ can be equated only with Himself.
The invisible God took a visible form and became man.
Read the Books of our Bible. Jesus Christ did not come to spread a religion. Nor does He belong to any particular religion. God is the One who created this world! He was the divine Word and He Is The Word ! He was with God. He was Himself God. The initial
Chapter of John’s Gospel has mentioned this.
He took the form of flesh in this world. The Eternal Word , who was God, took on the form of flesh. That is He became a man like us, and this is all!
Jesus Christ belongs to every one ! He is not a property of any one religion. He does not belong either to the RC or to the Pentecost.  We cannot say that Jesus Christ does not belong either to the Hindus to the Muslims.
He is God who became man ! Immanuel- God with us, and that is the truth. This is what we read again and again in the Books of the Bible.
When St. Paul has to speak about Jesus this is what He says clearly in the Second letter to the Philippians chapter 2. Read it.
He who was God, who was equal to God, did not cling to His position. He sacrificed His position, laid aside the thought of being equal to God, and became man. By emptying Himself, He took the form of a man, scorned, ostracized  , trampled upon and stood in this world as a slave.
Jesus Christ lived as a man whom all could see. He emptied Himself. Took the form of a slave. He lowered Himself to the level of accepting death on a Cross.
Since He thus took up the death on the Cross, He was lifted up high.He is seated once again in the state of God at the right hand of God the Father.
He separated men from the snares of sin and made them all people who belong to God.
He was born, grew up, died and rose again ! This is  the history of Jesus Christ ! It did not stop with that. After living for a few years in this world in visible form, He lives in an invisible form in our midst even today. The first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles beautifully describes this.
He returned to The Father. He sits once again with The Father. While His disciples were looking up at Him in the skies, He who was visible to the naked eye became invisible .Our Lord had already told this to the disciples .
“Thus it is written , that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead  on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Jesus did not teach them to “go to all the world and spread a Christian religion.” But He said, “ Go and live as my witnesses.” I have lived in this world as the Son of the Father , I lived among you as The Son most pleasing to the Father. I lived with you, shed my Blood for you and have made you all the property of the Father. You all belong to God. You are people who are most beloved and belonging to The Father. Now you all go as my witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Live as my witnesses in India, in Sri Lanka, in America, Australia, Italy and every where. You can enjoy my Presence.
The one who knows me, knows The Father.” As Isaiah the prophet said, just as the waters fill the oceans, so should the knowledge of me fill the whole earth. The whole world should know about me.( Isaiah 11:9)
So you live as witnesses. Know that I will come again to meet you. Keep the thought always alive in your heart.” The disciples constantly repeated this in our Bible.
Read St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.
“For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” ( Thessalonians 5:2)
God will surely come back. He will return to meet the people. He will come suddenly. Just as the pangs of labour come unexpectedly on an expectant woman, so will the Lord’s coming be. No one can escape when He comes. No one should even think that they should escape.
My dear friends ! You are not people who walk in the dark. That day will not come to you like a thief. You all belong to the Light ! You are those who walk in the Light ! Hence never walk like those who belong to the darkness of the world , but  walk as those who belong solely to God. What if one belongs to Hinduism or Islam, there is no place for any religion here. Walk as those who belong solely to God, to Christ alone, this whole world belongs only to God . All the people who live on this earth belong only to God. There is no place for divisions among people in the name of religion.
You cannot afford to sleep like the others. Be awake and conduct yourselves with diligence.
My dear friends when Our Lord comes again, we should be ready to meet Him. Everyday we should keep the Lord Jesus in our thoughts and walk with diligence.
Pray, “Until You come O Lord,  I shall not forget Your sufferings. I shall live in these precious thoughts .”
Also pray thus, “He will come, Jesus will come again, He will come in the clouds of Heaven. He will take me with Him. I will therefore live with clear sightedness and holiness. I will clothe myself with the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
In the Book of Revelation written by John , this is what he has explained as a reminder to the people.
The Lord will come for sure, wait in expectation. Be joyful!
‘I am coming soon. The reward that I am about to give each one according to his deed is in my Hands. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,  remember this always.’  

Fr. V. Ignatius. S. J.

Last update on 02 June 2008