Genesis 22:7 Abraham replied, "God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice"

These words stuck me. Indeed God gave The Lamb as Sacrifice for all our sins. He gave his only Son to be crucified for our sake. How much prophecy is hidden in these words that Abraham spoke generations before the Promise was given for a Deliverer!

Found this poem as a comment  for the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvou2XxB5Cs and thought its relevant to what I have in mind right now...

I said, "God, my loved one died."

And God said, "So did mine."

I said, "God, it is such a loss."

And God said, I saw mine nailed to a cross."

I said, "God, but your loved one lives."

And God said, "So does yours."

I said, "God, where is he now?"

And God said, "Mine is on My right and yours is in the Light."

For the Blessed Sacrament

This Christmas vacation my brother had advised me to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament daily for an hour. I almost forgot about it today when my friend said she wanted to go to church. I accompanied her. I prayed in the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is kept and was wondering what to do when I my eyes fell on these prayers kept there. The first one is an opening prayer to Our Saviour Jesus Christ who lives in the Tabernacle and the second one is the closing prayer before we leave the place after meditation. I am posting for the sake of others who would like to spend their time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

To Jesus Our Master

I am here before Your Tabernacle to give You an account of my life of my particular mission. You have conquered me as You conquered St.Paul. I surrender everything and always want to be in You and for You alone.

Forgive me, Master! Do not be silent. I feel You have brought me to this solitude to speak to me, to enlighten me, rebuild me in Yourself. Be free to do what You will in me, work in me until Christ is formed. I trust in You. (Gal 4:19)

Prayer before  the Blessed Sacrament

Divine Jesus, lonely in so many Tabernacles without visitor or worshiper, I offer You my poor but loving heart. Oh Sweet Jesus, let me lay at Your Sacred Feet; my daily shares of joys, struggles, sorrows, anxieties, worries, hopes and fears. And do thou in the stillness of Your Heart, tenderly gather them in thy Sacred Heart. Silence my doubts, calm my fears and grant that day by day I may become more united to You.

Dear Jesus, it will not be long, till then I leave my poor heart before Thee. Let its every beat tell You that I love You and long to be free with You. Bless me before I go, my Jesus, bless my home and my undertakings, bless my family, my relatives, my neighbours, my friends and my enemies. Amen!

"The Lord is my salvation, whom shall I want,

  The Lord is my salvation, whom shall I fear!"

The Peace that God gives...

Have you ever noticed that what a hot cup of coffee gives you during a break in-between stressful work hours. A relief, it seems to clear your mind, de-stress you and give you calmness. But, thinking about it this change is nothing compared to the peace that Jesus gives.

Jesus said, "I give you Peace, my Peace I give you". He says, that the Peace he gives is not the same as what the world gives us. All the happiness, joy, ecstasy, etc that world offers leaves a trace of bitterness of the past, a little unfulfilled desire for future, a sense of guilt sometimes of being selfish, a bit of disheartenment when comparing our gifts with others...but the Peace that God gives to those believe in him is totally different.

He has mentioned that this is the Peace which makes the Saints and martyrs endure the sufferings of the world and persecutions with a smile and empower them to pray for their executioners. For us too, this is the Peace which brings smile to our lips when we have lost all the hope in life, in people, at work and more.

Today God made me realise once more that when we submit our will to him, when we are in the brink of losing all our hope, he is watching us. Just when we are about to fall, he holds us in his arms. This Prince of Peace whispers through his Holy Spirit that still he is the Lord of our Life. That whisper which is conveyed to the disheartened soul is not heard by the material ears, but the echoes of the whisper resound in the heart and mind bringing peace which is inexplicable except for the smile on the face in light of the toughest moments in Life.....

Praise the Lord! Blessed is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World!!!

Time and attitude towards Offerings..

One day while discussing spiritual matters with my brother, he explained something regarding Time and God. When God created the world, the first thing he did was to separate Light from Darkness and named Light as Day and Darkness as Night. So, Day and Night came to be the first measure of time. When in Life we complain of so many things saying why some things take so long to be done or some memories so long to be undone, when we ask God why he takes so long to punish someone, we must understand the fact that God is outside this thing called Time. For man what seems to be days, months,years and centuries are a mere nothing to God. And that also explains his infinite Love and Patience towards Mankind, waiting for it to come back to Him with a repentant heart. Time is given to Man as a means of proving his perseverance, carrying on his hope till the end of his Time and rely on God for all the happenings in human life.

Another thing which came up for discussion was Offerings given at the Mass, how much it should be and how much Tithe should be given to the Church and how much on charity. My brother explained that its not the money that counts but the attitude with which we give it. He told us a short prayer that he prays while giving an offering, " Lord I am like the Pharisee who gave an offering out of his abundance, make me like the widow who instead gave up her everything". Beautiful, isn't it?

Gethsemane..

Watched a video and soul-stirring song which came via a forward mail. I didn't know the author else I could have acknowledged them here. Just posting the lyrics...

Jesus climbs a hill
to the garden still
His steps were heavy and slow

Love 'n' a prayer
took him there
to the place only He could go

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He went willingly
to Gethsemane

He felt all that was sad
Wicked or Bad
All the pain we would ever know
While his frnds were asleep
He fought to keep
His Promise made long ago

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He went willingly
to Gethsemane

the hardest thing that ever was done
the greatest pain that ever was known
the biggest battle that was ever won
this was done by Jesus
the fight was won by Jesus

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He gave His gift to me
in Gethsemane

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He gives His gift to me
from Gethsemane

Praise the lord for ever and ever...

Friday my Mom had called to inform she was diagnosed of having stones in her gall bladder. My mother had gone on a general check-up and the scan had revealed this. I was deeply perturbed hearing the news. I had not planned to go home the weekend, but after hearing the news I went home.

All throughout Friday, I was thinking of reading all about gall bladder stones on the net. But, since I had lot of work at office I couldn't do it. After office I went for Eucharistic adoration, prayed for my Mom and started home. Coming home on Saturday morning, I accompanied my Mom to the hospital. The general physician after looking at the scan report directed us to meet the surgical specialist.

Afraid as such about surgery, we were waiting for the specialist for couple of hours. At the end the specialist came and right away suggested her to undergo surgery. I interrupted him asking if its anything serious and whether she should undergo surgery immediately though she is not feeling any pain in her abdomen. The doctor said that if the patient is not feeling any pain she can very well wait and undergo the surgery.

Not yet satisfied, we came back home and booked an appointment with a gastro surgeon for Wednesday. By evening my sister was inspired to look in the Internet about gall stones. When she searched this is what she found,

"Some people who have gallstones are asymptomatic and do not feel any pain or discomfort. These gallstones are called "silent stones" and do not affect the gallbladder or other internal organs. They do not need treatment."

Praise the Lord!! We immediately called our Mom, made her sit beside as she read out loud the information. My mother too praised the lord for his great mercy. Thanks to the Lord for the countless blessings he showers on us!!!