WALKING IN THE LIGHT!

Christmas is over and New Year 2011 is approaching. As I sit here in my office in India contemplating my 6 1/2 years of fulltime volunteer service in Divine, there are so many memories crowding in my mind and heart. I look at the life of "opportunities, material comfort and financial rewards" I enjoyed in my pre-Divine days and my life now...one in which I wish I had more available resources and more people with willing hearts who can make a tangible difference to help our Divine mission.  For a few moments (Yes, just a few!), I wondered if it is worth serving in a mission where we are so dependent on the goodwill of our fellow brethren. Many people have good intentions but they are soon caught up in the busy world that it remains just that - an intention not an action!  But I hold on to the first Word of God I read on my first night I arrived to serve  in Divine  - "Keep busy always in your work for the Lord since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless." (1 Corinthians 15:58) Hence, the fire in my heart for Divine's works continues to burn brightly and with joyful hope...

I have met and spoken to so many people all over the world whose lives have been touched and transformed by this truly blessed Divine-Potta ministry.  Many of them are very grateful for what the Vincentian Fathers and their Divine team have done in bringing God's Message of Love & Hope into their lives.

What I also know first-hand serving here, is the incredible sacrifices and great financial challenges that the Divine-Potta ministry faces on a daily basis. Divine Retreat Centre has no source of income and no savings. Every month, it is a great struggle to get the funds needed for both Divine's extensive charitable and evangelization activities.

Do you find it is difficult to give the best for your family of four? Well, imagine what it must be like every month when the family consists of 3000 members! What's more, they are all poor, sick and in need of long-term care lovingly provided by the Vincentian Fathers of Divine Retreat Centre, who sacrifice their whole lives depending solely on the Providence of God. That is not all! Through the 24-hour Catholic Gospel Channel, Divine TV, God's Word is being broadcast all over the world through satellite and the Internet for free.  This is a huge financial responsibility undertaken for ONE reason - it was a mission entrusted by God through intense prayers and discernment by the Directors of Divine Retreat Centre. What Divine TV gets in donations each month is only a tiny fraction of the amount needed.  Yet, we hardly hear the Fathers making appeals for funds  in any of their mission trips.

Many of you also have had your hearts uplifted by the retreats and the proclamation of God's Word by the Divine-Potta Fathers as they travel wherever God leads them to...within India and around the world. They do not consider anything except what God leads them to do in prayer - there are no requests of speaker's fees or any personal financial considerations ever made. Everything is left entirely in God's Hands. I wonder how many of us ever stop to think of what it takes for the V.C.  Fathers to zealously and courageously carry out their Divine mission all these years.




Divine School Children

We will never know how many lives have been saved, changed or transformed because of the Divine mission. What is important is that we answer the call of God to be His Light to the world! When I see the joy of the faces of the residents in the Divine Homes, I need look no further. The love, joy, and confidence on their faces is priceless. Without the Divine mission, their lives would have been one of abject misery.

We are all called “to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth" and to "love one another'. My fellow sisters and brothers in Christ,  in Singapore, we are incredibly blessed in our lives of bountiful abundance. If we were in the shoes of the poor and marginalized, would we not cry out to God for someone to care enough to lend a helping hand? Would you not dream to have a life of love and dignity? This is Christ’s call to us when we are asked to live as Christians – “Christ in us.” Your regular monthly support can make a huge difference to the Divine-Potta ministry.

As you start 2011, will you consider to be a part of our Divine Family?  As the joyful and uplifting music video below,  “Walking In The Light Of Christ” by the Children of the African Choir goes…. “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine (3x)  every day, every where (2x). I am going to let my little light shine…Woh-oh-oh –oh! Walking in the Light of Christ!”  

Let it be our rallying call to action for Christ in 2011!

Wishing each and everyone of you a Most Blessed New Year!

Seeing Jesus in Their Faces...

My dear Friends in Christ

The Peace of our Lord be upon you!

Through Divine Charitable Trust, we run Homes that care for the poor, the sick, the elderly, the orphan children and many whose lives have been shattered - all 3000 of them.

It is a great joy to go and spend time with our less fortunate brothers and sisters in the different charitable homes attached to the Divine Retreat Centre. On their parched faces, the face of our Lord is always very visible. He is identified with them, isn’t He?

These are difficult times for everyone and we, the Vincentian Fathers of Divine Retreat Centre, are pleased at the interest many of our friends in Singapore have for our charitable activities. It has resulted in this blog being set up for the "Friends of Divine" - so that each of you may have updated news of Divine Charitable Trust.

There are many wonderful life-stories of how those who were in the deepest despair and were ready to give up on life, having a great transformation. We could never do it without our caring and loving benefactors, like the "Friends of Divine" in Singapore.

May Our Lord shower His Grace and Favour upon all of you!

In God's Love

Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

Director - Divine Retreat Centre