Heaveny Water !

Tears , they are never ending water drops, especially that of girls .
Never try to stop a person from crying,if he doesn't do it intentionally , as his tears are God given.
They are heavenly water , HIS greatest gift for us to make us calm and cool.
Just feel the freshness and peace of mind after crying and weeping.
It really consoles us and gives us peace at heart!
They are holy water from Above , mean't to water the dryness of our mind.
They are heavenly water gushing out of eyes to make the burning sand inside into a pool and the thirsty dry mind to bubble with springs.
So let the tears come out... let it never stop watering my desolated mind!
Let the water gush forth in the wilderness like streams in the desert!
Amen.

Songs in the Night !

It is easy to sing songs at day, when the sun shines brightly, when the nature is happy !
We enjoy humming to the tunes of the birds and breeze.
When we top in all the exams, when we have all the needful things at our hands, our songs are even more lively and joyful.
All these are normal right ?
But what about songs in the night ?
Do anyone enjoy singing in the night?
It is hard to sing with HIM in distress and in despair.
How shall we sing a hymn of praise thanking HIM in the midst of uncerainities?
But what I say is Songs in the night are divinely inspired!
Until and unless one gets the song from HIS heart and music from HIS lips , one can never sing songs of praises in the darkness!
Lord help me to be with YOU always, in the daylight and even in the darkest hours of my life.
Amen.

Your Grace is sufficient for me!

Today I received a call from one of my close friend. She was totally disturbed and wanted me to pray for her. Even though we talked for a long time on phone, I couldn't help her to get out of that bad mood of hers.I was asking Lord, why I couldn't convince her?

I remember one of my uncle telling me:

'If you are an evangelist, God's power will be with you and he will be protecting you from the evil around'.

If the Lord is within us, people around us can experience His presence through us.He will be speaking through us and each word of ours , each work of ours will bear abundant fruits.

Then I could make out, why my words were not enough for my friend to get relaxed.

The Lord is too far from me right now and I have to prepare myself in prayers and fasting, so as to make my heart a perfect dwelling for HIM.

Even though we are far away from Him, He will never forsake us.We are weak in ourselves, but He can strengthen us.

"Remember, Lord, that you have made me as one who is weak, that you formed me from dust. How can I stand, if you do not constantly look upon me, to strengthen this clay, so that my strength may proceed from your face? When you hide your face, all grows weak".(Ps 104:29):

This Lenten season is truly a season of new thoughts and insights for me.

Praise God !

PSALMS!

I was meditating on the book of psalms these days.

How wonderfully the psalmist has written down the Lord's Glory.

Especially Psalms 131 and 139.

They are revelations like never before!

The Lord has marvelously created me

Have I ever thought of that?

You know me from the very beginning !

You have woven me so carefully and wonderfully in my mother's womb!

You saw me before I was born.

And each day of my life is in your records.

You watch over me all the time!

How precious are Your thoughts about me!

Thank You Lord for the beautiful thoughts you gave!

I was also reading 'A commentary on the Book of psalms' By St. Richard Bellarmine.

Its such a huge book.

The saint has beautifully portrayed the meaning of each and every line of all the 150 psalms.

A must read book!

I think not only king David, each one of us should have a Psalm written by ourselves!

HIS WAYS ARE STRANGE!

I remember, myself giving a sharing on 'The Relevance of Jesus in our lives' to a group of college students long back. Then the Lord me say these sentences."Jesus is the solution to all our problems, But how He solves, will be entirely different in our lives. He is strange and unique in each of our lives".

Recently, once again, Lord made me experience His strange ways in my life.

Days back I had a test paper in class and I performed really bad on that paper. I was damn sure that I will not get the minimum marks.But above all those, my thought was on the reaction of sir, when he gives us the answer sheets.I never wanted myself to be humiliated in front of the class.

So I prayed on my knees, seeking strength to face that difficult situation. Even though I prayed really hard,I took leave on some days,thinking that I may get the answer sheets, those days.

But that paper was never given to us for weeks.

At last that day arrived. The professor entered our class room with the big pile of our corrected answer sheets.

He started distributing the papers, calling each student to the desk, pointing out the mistakes and explaining where to improve and all. (As we are in our final semester, All our teachers want us to score high marks unlike the previous semester results :D )

I was breathless, and was eagerly waiting and getting ready to receive the BEAUTIFUL gift from my professor.

But to my wonder, I was not given the paper till he finished distributing all the papers.

With much reverence I stood up and communicated this good news to him.

He said sorry and said, that he missed my paper while correcting others' and found it just before he came to class that day. He asked me to meet him in the office, so that by then he would correct it and give me the answer sheet.I met him and collected my paper from him that day itself, and I did clear the paper also.He didn't say much but just asked me to do well next time.

That was a real wonder to me.

See, how beautifully the Lord has arranged these sequences to happen in my life!

He is really strange in His ways!

The Right Thing To Do!

Memories make me write.

While I was walking down the memory lane, I stuck up with the International leaders training happened in Bangkok, Thailand, happened last July.

During one of the training days, we had a discussion on VOCATION.

I have heard of married life, singles' life and religious life.The point of this discussion was to discern our call.I remember, I was desperately keeping silence all throughout the discussion.

I felt really bad for not opening my mouth at least once.

Back home after the training,I was disturbed about this.

My problem was 'Have I discerned my call ? If so , what is it?

I'm sure that I'm called to lead a wonderful, beautiful married life.

But Lord has never put that sought of feeling in my mind till now.

I was really disturbed on this.

Because Lord says that I have got a family life for you and never give such a sought of feelings to me.

I shared this concern of mine with one of a senior Jesus Youth.

She said: " Dona , Lord will give you the right feelings, for the right person at the right time. You might have the right feeling to the right person.But the Lord never reveals it, as it is not the right time".

Yes, The Lord has a beautiful plan for each one of us.

He gives us the right directions at the right time.If we are completely in tuned to His Voice, we can see wonders happening in our lives.

The power of PRAYER!

My mom was attending a retreat last weekend and my brother and I were busy studying for our internals which were scheduled on the following week.I was so happy then, as I could fruitfully use those days, preparing for my exams.

I wondered, because that was the first time in last 12- 14 months , that I was studying with such an enthusiasm.

When my mom returned for the retreat, she revealed the reason for my great keenness to study.

During the retreat days, she was praying really hard for both of us.

She was holding us both in her hands and lifted us up to the Mighty Hands of the Lord.

All through out the retreat days she was strongly interceding for us.

It was because of the power of her prayers, I was experiencing that difference in my life.

The power of the Intercession is really strong, and none of our prayers are left unanswered.The life of St.Monica and St.Augustine, exemplifies this TRUTH to us.

How beautiful our lives would have been If many were there to pray for each one of us everyday!

Lord, help each one of us to lead a beautiful life, according to your will.

Mother Mary , pray for us.

St.Don Bosco, pray for us.

Dona a GIFT ???

Long back ,I met an old priest during one of our Jesus Youth gatherings.I was seeing him for the first time.While we started talking, he asked my name and I answered ,my name is Dona.

Then to my astonishment he stared at me, as if he has never ever seen such a 'person' before.

Then he asked, "Dona... what does 'DONA' mean ?

This is the first time a person asking the meaning of my name.

I said, "I don't know".

I have heard in many preachings, that every Christian name will have a meaning.

But i wonder, I have never searched the meaning of my name!

Then that old priest continued, " dear , Dona means GIFT, Adanoi-'The Gift' - in Egyptian language.

I was really happy to hear that.

But the question that struck me was not that.

Again he asked, "Are you really a GIFT to others? Do others find you as a GIFT in their lives? "

I didn't expect him to ask this question. I was speechless at that moment.

Ever since this incident has happened, whenever my name is called out, this big question pops out in my mind - 'Am I a gift to others ? Am I blessing for others?'

Few days back when I was meditating on the Word of God, I stuck up with a verse.

The Word of God says,

'As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.'1 Peter 4: 10

I/We have received a gift form above and the Lord wants me/us to use it in serving others.He wants me/us to be good managers of the His Graces that He has been showering on us, each and every day of our lives.

But do I really do that ?

I don't know !

Lord, help me to be a real blessing for others.

St.Don Bosco, pray for all the youth around the Globe.