Be Watchful

God is always with us.
And HE speaks to our heart, through words of the Holy Bible; through people; through events and circumstances.

Through the current circumstances, God is warning us about the fate of our sinful and unrepentant life.

Those who have built their life on solid rock— on  persevering Faith and Love of God, are secured now and for eternity. No disaster or enforcement can quarantine their Faith and Hope in God. Their Faith proves strong, undeterred by the calamity, and their life will continue in Peace of God, as ever, when the wave of difficult circumstances is over.

But as for those, who have built their life on sand— on Pride; vanity and unbelief— retribution keeps waiting for them on the day of doom. Their life blindly continues on the path of ruin, with a restless heart that seeks the transitory peace of the world. Their heart is lulled by the peace of the world, and their eyes are prevented from foreseeing their ruin.

Reflecting on the parable of "wise and foolish virgins"— our life progresses through pleasant, difficult and inevitable moments, and eventually reaches the "last hour" of our life— an hour of fear; an hour of confusion; an hour of powerlessness and helplessness; an hour of inactivity.
Then, there will be no time to turn back or borrow oil— no time for repentance and amendment of life; No certainty to expect a miraculous Grace, to receive the gift of Faith in God.

The 'lamp' that the foolish virgins¹ carried is— the faith in the false securities of the world; false hope of the world; pride in their own potential. The spurious light of the world subtly leads our life to gloom. Once in gloom, there will be no hope for those who foolishly traded their life with the satisfactions of the world— their lamp cannot  be lit again.

The wise virgins²  carried the 'lamp' of Faith³  in God. Even though, at times, the 'children of light' find themselves in a gloom, they can renew the strength of their Faith (light their lamp) by the Grace of  God, and rise again.

Faith in God, is not something that can be easily acquired at the last moment. And deeds of charity⁴ cannot be performed at the last hour. One cannot hopefully expect to enter into God's kingdom, at the expense of Charity performed by the Faithful ones. Furthermore, each one's deeds in Charity will scarcely suffice to justify their life in Christ.

Our Faith in Christ, needs to be accompanied by deeds of Charity— as a proof of our love for Christ— that we do not attract God's rebuke— of being 'evildoers' and be condemned.

Those who have perseveringly advanced through life, with their lamp of Faith, lit up with the deeds of Charity, will come to a fruitful end— their soul will be ready to enter into God's wedding feast.

As for those, who have lived their life hoping in the false securities of the world; in unbelief, and their seeming faith in Christ— will find themselves rejected— condemned to Eternal damnation.

1. The children of the world.

2. The children of light.

3. Faith in Jesus Christ— the 'living word' — that gives us Eternal light.

4. Deeds of Charity is the 'oil' — which cannot be bought or borrowed at the last moment.

Our 'lamp' of Faith always needs to be lit up with the deeds of Charity (oil). Our deeds of Charity in reverence of God, shines like a bright light on our path, and brings us safely to our Eternal Home.

A little sincere Love— as small as a mustard seed

If a little Faith, as small as a mustard seed, can move mountain.
Then, our sincere love¹ and sincere resolve²  to live in God— although small as a mustard seed, will move God's heart to relent³.

1. Sincere love— calls for amendment of life— renouncing all the sinful ways of life: Pride; self-centeredness; pride that defies God; disbelief in God; half-heartedly practicing religion, with the pretence of Piety; blasphemy; dishonesty; avaricious; haters of good; abusive; disobedience to Parents; disrespect to Parents; unloving; unforgiving;  infidelity in marriage; Abortion; Divorce; sins of lust (promiscuity; homosexuality; adultery; sins of youth ); killing; human trafficking; slander;  false witness; perpetrating violence; treachery; wicked and selfish plans that sow discord among the nations; and every sin that goes against God's commandments of Love.

2. To live in God, through repentance.

3. To forgive us our sins; to heal us and save us from every danger that threatens our life.


Everything (our work; actions and feelings) in our life needs a touch of sincerity— as an offering in Love, and reverence to God.

Forgive us, Heavenly Father— for we have sinned

We are anxiously and desperately seeking to be delivered from this deadly pandemic.
But the greatest pandemic that has ever affected the world, and has continued for generations is— our unbelief in God; our indifference to God and our sins.

Our unbelief in God is more dangerous than any fatal pestilent disease and evil.
Pestilence and evil can do physical harm or fatally endanger our life.
Unbelief  can do an irreversible damage to our soul and can lead us to eternal damnation.

Calamities and tribulations befalls us not to destroy us, but to warn us— to turn away from sin; from our indifference to God and to turn towards God.

Like the stubborn, unbelieving and unrelenting Pharaoh, do we need a lash of tribulations to bring us to our knees?— to acknowledge our sins and repent like the people of Nineveh.

A brief respite caused Nineveh to believe in God and renounce their sinful ways.
Nineveh repented— and God relented.

A temporary standstill has allowed nature to refresh and heal itself.
But our human heart, human life, and human soul cannot heal on its own— it needs the Grace of God.

We should acknowledge God and seek HIS forgiveness for our unbelief; our indifference and our sins.
We should seek first to be delivered from this evil, which corrupts our heart and separates us from God.

For the Lord God says: "at one stroke I would subdue¹ your enemies and turn my hand against your adversaries— if only my people would listen to me, and walk in my ways."

For our God, is a God who saves.
For our God, is a God who is compassionate and rich in Faithful Love.
For our God, is a God who relents and who never fails to help us at any time or place.

1. Psalm 81:13-14

God is with us— God cares for us

We say— we are suffering; we are in pain; our life is miserable and God cares less for our life and God makes us suffer.
In truth, God is with us— and HE cares for us. It is we, who disregard HIS commandment of Love.

Human misery exist, because we choose to live our life, by our own selfish desires— rather than governing our life, by the commandment of Love.
Human laws has not the power, to alleviate the sufferings of the world— God's commandment can.

God allows suffering¹, because we are unbelieving, and stubborn to change our wrong ways of life.
Suffering is God's instrument, to humble us and to bring us on the path of Eternal life.

Calamity and devastation befalls us, to wake us to the truth, of  God's presence in our life; to awake us from the slumber of sin and indifference to God.

For those who believe in God— God's wrath²  is a just discipline, to bring weak human nature on the right path.
For those who don't believe in God— God's wrath is a punishment.

Take care, that the tree of your life is inclined to the path of Eternal life.
For the direction in which a tree inclines, where it inclines, there it will fall— when the time is ripe.

1. Our own misdeeds cause us to suffer.

2. Natural calamities; catastrophic events.

Healing the world

The world will begin to heal, and Peace will be restored, when every human heart reconcile¹ with God and acknowledge God.

1. Reconcile by acknowledging one's sins against God and repenting through Love.
Reconcile through Humility— by accepting God's authority in our life.
Reconcile through Faith— by believing in HIM ( believing in HIS Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, whom HE sent into this world, for our salvation and to be witness of HIS Faithful Love).


The present circumstances allude to Job 37:7—"he brings all human activity to a standstill, for everyone to acknowledge his work."

Where is your Faith?

Faith¹ is invincible— fear is conquerable.
Faith leads us to life— fear drives us towards death.

1. Faith in God.

Once again, Simon Peter is sinking into troubled waters, for the weakness of Faith.
Pestilence strikes us and fear of death causes our weak Faith to sink into the mire of surrounding tribulation.
We need to focus more on Jesus— rather pestilence, which is around us.
Remember, God is in the city, it cannot fall… God is with us. [Psalm 46:5]
Our God is a God, who saves. [Psalm 68:20]

As in the times of King David, when Epidemic struck the land, he chose to submit himself to the great mercies of God. [2 Sam 24:13-15]
Instead of trusting our lives to the Mercy of God, we are demonstrating the weakness of our Faith, by falling prey to the fear of pestilence.

When hand sanitizer takes precedence over Holy water ( that is Blessed during Easter, to banish the unclean spirits; to trample the complete strength of the enemy; to cure every kind of uncleanness and infections)  for safe guarding life, what remains of our faith? What kind of Faith do we profess?
When a reverential kiss in veneration of Crucified Christ, is avoided for the fear of contamination, what kind of Holy reverence do we profess?

Our Faith will count to be of more worth, in the eyes of God, if we stand firm in our Trust in HIM— in these difficult times.


As in the times of Prophet Moses, when people were bitten by fiery serpents, for their disloyalty against Yahweh. [Numbers 21:9]
We need to look with Faith and Hope on the standard of Christ ( who suffered; died and Resurrected for our salvation )


The first Christians sacrificed their lives and saved their Faith in God ( and saved their soul ).
Where is our Faith?— that we are giving in to panic and fear and shrinking from our Christian duties.

Once again, the Shepherd is struck and the sheep are scattered.
We are betraying our Trust in God, in the face of pestilence (in the fear of death ).
The Lord says: "Anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it." (Mark 8:35)
Losing our life for God's sake doesn't necessarily mean yielding to death— rather, to act prudently in Faith and to put our lives in HIS care ( to HIS great Mercy ).

Once again, the Disciples cry out in fear: "save us Lord, lest we perish".
And even in these troubled times, we will still hear HIM say: "why are you so frightened, you who have so little faith?"

Our God is always with us, to calm all our fears and anxieties.


Not far from our own times, in 1854, when Turin (Italy ) was struck with Cholera epidemic,  St. Don Bosco, along with his oratory boys,  demonstrated his heroic Faith, by helping and serving the abandoned cholera victims— without he or his boys contracting the fatal disease. And St. Mother Teresa, is another great example for our times— who served the lepers, in her great Trust in God.


Christ has won victory over death and sin.
As we prepare our hearts in repentance and our trust in God, during this lent, are we going to let fear become victorious over our weak Faith?

What kind of Easter are we going to celebrate?

Let our Faith in God, become victorious in the Resurrected and Triumphant Christ—and let fear be vanquished from our hearts.


P.S. The Church has certainly not acted Prudently in Faith, in this respect.
Corona virus pandemic has induced fear in many hearts and has scattered their Faith in God.
And many tribulations of such kind might happen in the future.

Are we going to let our Faith suffer in the face of fear?

All these catastrophic events with reference to our Faith in God, allude to Jesus's words:
"But when the Son of man comes, will he find any Faith on earth?"  (Luke 18:8).

P.S. I am glad, Bishop Pascal Roland (Belley-Ars, France) is acting Prudently in Faith, on his part, for his Diocese.

Faith

Lack of Faith in God, gives rise to lack of Reverence.
Lack of Reverence to God, gives rise to lack of Obedience to God.
Lack of Obedience to God, gives rise to misery¹ and sin and lack of Peace.

1. Human misery is because— we do not trust wholeheartedly in the Divine Commandment of God, to govern our life.
No human law can put rein to human wickedness and alleviate the difficulties of life.