DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION NO.7: "SUFFERING - SHARING IN THE CROSS OF JESUS" by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

Why does God allow suffering? If there is a God then why is the suffering? Many of us have grappled with these questions when we have undergone suffering s or witness the pain and sufferings of others. What is the purpose of suffering in the context of Catholic Spirituality?

The seventh and FINAL video of the 7-part DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION SERIES at the top of this post "SUFFERING – SHARING IN THE CROSS OF JESUS” by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre Muringoor, Kerala, India affirms with holy wisdom what the true value of suffering in our lives means.

Fr. Augustine shares, “In the Gospel of Matthew 16:21-16, Jesus is inviting every one of us to accept the thoughts of God.  Jesus makes a distinction between the way God thinks and man thinks.  The context  was the prediction that  Jesus made of His own Passion, Suffering and  Death. Simon Peter could not accept what Jesus was saying!’

“When sufferings overwhelm us, when problems and difficulties come our way, it is then that satan will possess our way of thinking. Then our thinking will be merely human and often satanic. The Lord said to Simon Peter, ‘You are thinking as man thinks. Your thoughts are not Divine!: When suffering comes our way, how do we think?”

With Spirit-filled clarity, Fr. Augustine explains that “there are 3 human trends of thinking in our moments of sufferings:”

“1 – We try to avoid Suffering.”

“2 – We are angry at God.”

“3 – We get depressed and believe our God is a punishing God”

“What does the Catholic Church teach about ancestral curses?” Fr. Augustine’s exhorts us to remember, “The Word of God is clear, Romans 8:1. ‘If you are in Christ jesus, you are not under a curse!’  When suffering comes our way, we must keep our hearts clean for God’s thoughts to flow into us.”

“What is the ‘Divine thought’ on Suffering?

“Let every Suffering be taken from the Hands of Jesus. I suffer – Yes! All of us will, all of us have to. Let it be an act of love! I take it from my Jesus as a share in the Cross of Jesus.”

Fr. Augustine challenges every Catholic to accept our suffering with a 'Divine mind-set'. “When a Suffering comes your way, it is a Call not a curse! A Call to be a co-saviour with Jesus!” 

Please do share this last video of our Divine Lenten 2015 Weekly Video Reflection series with your loved ones, prayer groups and friends to make this sacred season of Lent a blessed one. 

Wishing each of you and your families a Blessed Holy Week!

DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION NO.6: "LEARN TO APPRECIATE GOD'S DAILY BLESSINGS TO YOU" by Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C.

How many blessings do you have in your life? Have you ever counted how many blessings you have and have had throughout your lives. Have you ever truly thought about what God does in and through you?

The sixth video of the 7-part DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION SERIES at the top of this post is "LEARN TO APPRECIATE  GOD’S DAILY BLESSINGS TO YOU” by  Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C.,Director - Divine Retreat Centre, Somersby, NSW, Australia. With holy precision, Fr. Michael pinpoints what many people (Catholics included!) are guilty of – taking for granted the blessings and Goodness of God which is in our daily lives. “We are all people who have been blessed by Jesus. We have been blessed a lot. Every tiny little thing that we have received in life is a blessing from God.”

“Sometimes it is difficult for us to recognize these blessings. Some of us say we are blessed only when we have ‘big’ blessings e.g. a job promotion. If I was sick and came for a retreat and got healing, I consider that a big’ blessing. Many of us are so obsessed with these ‘big’ blessings that we fail to see or appreciate the daily blessings that God gives us.”

Fr. Michael shares, “Sometimes you try to ask people what their blessings are and they are struggling! They are struggling to say what their blessings are! If you have all your fingers and toes, it is a blessing. Do you know you cannot walk without toes? They are so tiny but you can’t walk without them.“ We take it for granted these small blessings God gives us. So we are always complaining about what we don’t have Instead of thanking the Lord with gratitude for what we have.”

“If we don’t appreciate the blessings God gives us, we will have a tendency to complain about what we don’t have and compare our lives to what others have. All the time, our orientation is to what others have! When we get obsessed with that, then we will have the desire to get what others have. And to get what others have, we will do anything on the face of the earth."

“We are all people who have been blessed by God in different measures – each and every one of us! Learning to appreciate the blessings you have will stop you from desiring the blessings that others have.”

Father asks each of us - “When is a blessing called a blessing?” More importantly, “Brothers and Sisters, are you a stealer of blessings?”

This wisdom-filled sharing of Fr. Michael challenges every Catholic to take a good hard look into our lives and of how much we have taken for granted what Jesus has done and is doing for us! Have we truly thanked Jesus with gratitude for the daily blessings in our lives?  It is time to start as of today…

Next Sunday, in the final video of the DIVINE WEEKLY LENTEN 2015 Series, Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre Muringoor, Kerala, India, will be sharing the Word of God on "SUFFERING - A SHARING OF THE CROSS OF JESUS”.

Please do share this Divine Lenten 2015 Weekly Video Reflection series with your loved ones, prayer groups and friends to make this sacred season of Lent a truly meaningful one.

DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION NO.5: "FORGIVING LOVE – THE 4 GREAT PROMISES OF GOD” by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

Do you really know how important forgiveness is? In the only prayer Jesus taught in the Bible – the “Lord’s Prayer” that we offer up to our Heavenly Father at every Holy Mass we help celebrate - emphasizes forgiving love is crucial to each of us. Do you really know why it is so integral to our Catholic faith? Do you know of God’s 4 Great Promises in the Holy Bible of the incredible graces that come into our own life when we truly practice forgiving love?

The fifth video of the 7-part DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION SERIES at the top of this post "FORGIVING LOVE – THE 4 GREAT PROMISES OF GOD” by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre Muringoor, Kerala, India exhorts each of us that forgiving love is a command of Jesus which is great challenge we face in our daily lives. Fr. Augustine gives us a timely reminder - “Even when we are persecuted, when we are disturbed and misunderstood by others, as St. Stephen did, we need to pray for them that God may forgive them, that God may bless them and to offer if all to God, That is heavenly. That is typically Christian.”

“When we are in the Lord, when we are one with the Lord, when we are united to the Lord in prayer - that is when we are able to rejoice. The mistake we make is this: we concentrate on our own troubles, on our woes and our problems. And then we judge others! He or she is creating a problem for me. That makes it all the worse than before. Any negative feeling will add to the afflictions of our heart and anger and hatred well up in our hearts.”

“In fact the attitude of forgiveness, even when we are hurt by others, is a command given to us by Jesus! ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ (John 15:12)  As Jesus loved, so are we to love others! The command of forgiving love is a command given with a Promise. In the Bible, 4 times this promise is repeated to us.”

With holy wisdom, Fr. Augustine explains with great spiritual clarity what these FOUR Great Promises are in this sharing of the Word of God. We need to truly understand these Promises of God so that we will fully experience God’s Graces transforming our lives.

“We have many things to endure and to suffer. We want to offer it all to God. We want to turn to God and pray for every one who hurt and offend us. Then we will experience the Glory of God!”

Next Sunday, Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre Somersby, NSW, Australia, will be sharing the Word of God on "LEARN TO APPRECIATE GOD’S DAILY BLESSINGS TO YOU”.

Please do share this Divine Lenten 2015 Weekly Video Reflection series with your loved ones, prayer groups and friends to make this sacred season of Lent a blessed one.

DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION NO.4:"WHO IS GOD TO YOU?"" by Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C.

Who is Jesus for each of us? Do you really know and can you clearly share with deep conviction who and how is God's Presence manifested in your life?

The fourth video of the 7-part DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION SERIES at the top of this post is "WHO IS GOD TO YOU?” by  Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C.,Director -- Divine Retreat Centre, Somersby NSW, Australia challenges every Catholic – “Many of us call Jesus as God. We proclaim Jesus as God. We acknowledge Jesus as God. But deep within our hearts is Jesus actually God? Are we depending - is our total dependence on Jesus?”

"When we look into our lives, we realize that our total dependence is not on God. Our total dependence would be on things of the world - it could be on material pleasures or it could be on human beings. Whenever we lean on material things or we lean on human beings, we are making those material things or human beings our god. Without realizing it, many of us have created little gods in our hearts - things we depend on."

"Is your talents your god? Are you totally dependent on your talents for everything you do in your life? If you are totally dependent on your talents, then your talents have become your God."

"Whenever we give too much priority or over-dependence on material things, these things become our God. It could be beauty, physique, wealth, education - whenever you give it more emphasis than God. I am not saying these are wrong things. These are good things. These good things satan can use to make us worship those things. When we worship it, we make these things our God."

"When we take things that are evil - for example addictions to alcohol,smoking, drugs or pornography, we become dependent on it. When you depend on it, you are leaning on evil not God - and evil destroys! Addictions come from satan and not from God because it destroys the humans body, it destroys the human mind and ultimately it destroys the human soul."

Fr. Michael  reminds us- "The Word of God tells us, 'Sanctify Christ as Lord." (1 Peter 3:15)

"Give Jesus a chance to bring you out of this! There is NOTHING impossible for the Lord if you give Him a chance! The sad fact is many of us have not given the Lord a chance. We give the world a chance. What have that led you to today?

"It's all about giving Jesus a chance, For many of us we lose the battle before it has even started. We think to ourselves - we cannot be healed, we think to ourselves that our addictions cannot go away.When you let go of the things of the world and hold on to the Hand of Jesus, He will never betray you!"

"Look into your heart today - what are the things you have given more priority than Jesus? Who or what else have you sanctified as God?"

Next Sunday, Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre Muringoor, Kerala, India, will be sharing the Word of God on "FORGIVING LOVE – THE 4 GREAT PROMISES OF GOD”.

Please do share this Divine Lenten 2015 Weekly Video Reflection series with your loved ones, prayer groups and friends to make this sacred season of Lent a truly meaningful one.

DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION NO.3:"GO AND RECONCILE! SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION" by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C.

The Sacrament of Confession – of reconciling us with God and others – is a beautiful Sacrament of the Church for every Catholic to receive the supernatural Grace of God to live Godly lives. Yet, it has become the trend among Catholics to just attend Penitential Services twice a year – and that is enough…often without deep reflection to truly repent, forgive and reconcile. Is this sufficient to remember all the sins that creates barriers in our lives with God?

The third video of the 7-part DIVINE LENTEN 2015 WEEKLY VIDEO REFLECTION SERIES at the top of this post is “GO AND RECONCILE! THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION” is a heart-piercing wake-up call for every Catholic by Rev. Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre, Kerala, India who reminds us - “On Good Friday. Jesus took all our sins, all the powers of sin and He paid the price of our sins in His Blood. Jesus dispelled the darkness of sin in the splendour of the Glory of the Resurrection…and then He came and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ It is good for us to know this – if there is no peace and there is always quarrels and conflicts in your family, your parish or in your society, be sure there is sin somewhere deep down. We need to offer all that sin to God for His Peace to flow into us.”

Why is the Sacrament of Confession so vital for the growth of our personal Catholic faith to have a real and deep relationship with Jesus? Fr. Augustine explains with Spirit-filled clarity, ”Jesus sent the disciples to the ends of the world to give people peace, but to give it with a sign – ‘Forgive their sins.’ Jesus established the sacred Sacrament of Priesthood for this purpose. Jesus gave this authority to His Disciples and over the centuries and generations, this authority of “Apostleship” is passed on by the laying of hands on priests and bishops who are the successors of the Apostles.  Jesus is telling every priest - to me - that when someone comes with a disturbed heart or an enslavement to sin, I should give this person peace by leading him/her to the Sacrament of Confession and looking into the person’s eyes, I must tell him/her, ‘In the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, I absolve you of your sins. A ‘sign’ is given - a sign of Forgiveness. And only then are we all sure that our sins are taken away.”

Fr. Augustine passionately exhorts every Catholic that it is time to shake off our apathy of sin in our lives - “Often we can become self-righteous. We can bring arguments to be rooted in hatred, anger and sin. The Lord is challenging you my brother/my sister to become humble as Jesus became humble and obedient even to the Cross! Jesus, strike the root of pride and self-righteousness in my heart and give me a heart like You, Lord – a heart beating in love and mercy; a heart that is able to feel the pain of others and to go and get reconciled with them.”

“No reason justifies me not to go for Confession. No reason justifies me to keep anger against any one. Jesus, give me Your Mind and Heart that God the Father put in Your Body – a heart to be concerned about everyone!”

Divine Retreat Centre, Kerala, India, run by the priests of the Vincentian Congregation of India, is the largest Catholic retreat centre in the world. Retreats in English and 6 Indian languages are conducted every week of the year.

Next Sunday, Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C., Director of Divine Retreat Centre Somersby, NSW, Australia, will be sharing the Word of God on "WHO IS GOD TO ME?”

Please do share this Divine Lenten 2015 Weekly Video Reflection series with your loved ones, prayer groups and friends. May this sacred season of Lent convict our hearts and mind  to truly live for Jesus!