EMPOWER YOURSELF

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect..

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity.

Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence – Solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now I invite you to consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

Thank you for the day……..

Thank you for stillness……………

Thank you for blessing and grace………

Thank you for just being, for me, God.

Gently…Prayerfully…slowly…. Read……

Your may have lots of faith, little faith, shallow faith, superstitious faith; You may have great hopes, little hope, only a wish and no real hope; You may love very deeply and intensely, love a lot, love much, love a little…. Wherever you may be in your spiritual journey, whatever you may be doing at this point in your life…..Empower yourself with the Grace of God:

• Remember: You have been reconciled with God in Christ. You have been immersed into the mystery of His Love and Life in your Baptism. You have been Graced!

   

• Remember the Lord’s word to Paul: “My Grace is enough for you” (2 Cor. 12:9)

• Affirm your goodness, the good deeds you do, the loving things that you make happen for yourself and others….But make it with a gentle understanding of your weakness…..

   

   

• God is forever loving you. You do not have to change, grow, follow certain rules, or be good in order to be loved……

• You are loved so that you can change, grow, be good, be loving…..

   

• Remember: God is ever mindful of you – you are never out of God’s heart, mind or thought….even when you wander off. Another way of saying it is, God never lets you slip out of His mind as He weaves his plan for the whole universe. (Psalm 8:4)

   

• Remember: The Psalmist proclaims (Psalm 8:5) “thou has made him little less than god” “and crowned him with glory”. God made you to image God – to do what He does and to reflect His glory! What an honor!!!

   

• Remember: He is good…… His love endures forever. (Psalm 139:1)

   

• Remember: He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it…because “His Love endures forever”. (Psalm 138)

   

• Remember: God created “my inmost being and knit me together in my mother’s womb”

(Psalm 139:14).

• Remember: “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts of the Apostles 17:28).

• Remember: Nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:39)

• Remember: Jesus prayed for you. He prayed for all believers… “that all may be one as, you, Father, are in me and I in you; I pray they may be one is us” (John 17:20-21)

• Almighty God has crowded miracles into you. Why not let them come forth and live? (Norman Vincent Peale)

Empower yourself!

Be Your Best. Do Your Best. Give Your Best.

Leave The Rest To The Lord.

Abide in these thoughts for a few moments!

Take a moment….pray gently, quietly, in silence and solitude, in serenity and peace!

I feel a deep, warm, comforting harmony within. Thank you, God. You are meeting my need now. You are blessing and Gracing my life. Many hours, days, months and years of my life are waiting to be filled a hundred ways with a hundred prayers. But, right now, at this very moment, I am at peace. I abide in you, God. I dwell in your love, God. I walk with you, God. I sit with you, God. I run with you, God. I do all I do with you, my God. Thank you my God. Amen.

O God, I have come into the quietness and stillness of your presence, that out of this moment, I may take with me a quiet serenity, which will last me through the rough and smooth of my daily life…..Empower me Lord, with a quiet serenity!

I have come to find wisdom, so that I may not make any foolish mistakes, that I may know when to speak and when to be silent, when to act and when to refrain from action….. Empower me Lord, with your wisdom!

I have come to find peace so that nothing may worry or upset me, that I may have peacefulness of heart, that I may be free of deep anxiety, through my daily chores. Bless me Lord, with your gift of Peace which you promised your disciples. Empower me Lord, with peacefulness of heart!

I have come to find courage, to be patient enough not to give up hope, to accept disappointment without bitterness and to accept delay without complaint. Empower me Lord, with virtues of courage and patience.

I have come to find love – to listen to your love so that through the days ahead, I may love, without being attached and possessive; that nothing may make me bitter and unforgiving. Bless me Lord, with the gift of your love. Empower me Lord, with a loving heart!

I have come to spend some time with you Lord, so that I may be empowered to walk with you faithfully and joyfully with meaning, with purpose, with direction, with peace, with serenity and without regrets and resentments, without guilt and shame, without worries and deep anxiety!

I have come to you Lord, to be real, to be true, to be honest, to be faithful, to be gentle and gracious – with a heart desiring deeply to be open and docile to the movements and promptings of your Holy Spirit. I have come praying for the gift of your Grace to empower me……

Gracious God, we are your people, embraced by your love.

We thank you for your presence with us throughout all time.

Free us from all that burden us – heal us form sin and its effects.

Empower us to live your life more fully, joyfully and faithfully.

Strengthen our relationships, unite our families,

transform us into communities of love. AMEN

Back to the top

Pray this again, gently and slowly.

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs

CHOOSING GOD’S WAY

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect..

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity.

Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence – Solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now I invite you to consecrate your time and all that come with this moment….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

May my mind be clear and spacious like the sky……

May all negative thoughts drift away like the clouds………

May my mind be filled with comfort, ease, serenity, peace……

May my heart be pure, simple, undivided that I may see you……………

May my heart be confident and trusting that I may be safe in you………….

May my heart be hopeful, optimistic and positive that I may be free in you…………

Keep repeating these words in your heart

Thank you for the day……..

Thank you for stillness……………

Thank you for blessing and grace………

Thank you for just being, for me, God.

Be still…..Relax

Five Minutes

Prayerfully Read and Reflect

As Joshua and his people continued their journey through the Promised Land, many others, who were not part of the exodus movement, joined them. Joshua called all of them together with those who came out of Egypt and offered them the choice of serving the God of Israel or their former gods. Joshua affirmed, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”. Choosing the God of Israel, the God of the covenant meant rejection of all false gods. All present followed the choice Joshua proclaimed, “We will serve the Lord, our God”. (Joshua 24:1-2, 15-17, 18)

Joshua made his choice: “We will serve the Lord”. Now Join Joshua and make your choice!

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ’sinner.’ ” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:1-10)

Zacchaeus made his choice: “I will restructure my life.”
Now join Zacchaeus and make your choice!

Some of the listeners of Jesus were shocked at the many things that he taught and did. Many of them walked away in protest. Some of them surrendered in faith and accepted the gift Jesus offered although they did not fully understand what was offered to them as a gift. Jesus challenged his disciples, asked them whether they too were going to walk away. Peter, as always, had great wisdom and he said, “Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life”.

(John 6:60-69)

Peter made his choice. Now join Peter and make your choice!

Paul instructed the Ephesians: Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God…… “Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light “…… Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity… Defer to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:1-21)

Paul challenged the Ephesians to make their choice out of “reverence” for Christ. Now you are challenged to make your own choice!

BE STRONG…….

    BE A MAN/WOMAN……

        STAND YOUR GROUND…….

            STAY FOCUSED ON THE LORD…

BE RENEWED IN SPIRIT……….

AND MAKE YOUR CHOCIE!

I will…

• face what need to be faced, honestly and directly
• deal with what need to be dealt with
• accept what must be accepted
• change what need to be changed
• build what needs building
• drop what must be dropped
• pick up what needs to be picked up
• eliminate what needs to be eliminated
• give what needs to be given
• take what needs to be taken
• share what must be shared, generously
• let go of what must be released
• hold on to what must be held, tightly
• incorporate what must be incorporated
• stop what must be stopped, promptly and permanently

Add your own:

Be still…..Relax

Take a moment…Prayerfully choose one or two things that you want to do to restructure your life, to let it become more fully alive and keep you faithful on your journey of life.

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs

WITH GRATEFUL HEARTS

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Sit still…..Relax…….Do not rush………

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Now I invite you to consecrate this day and all that comes with this day….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Pray with me as you begin this meditation….

Enter his temple gates with praise,
And his courts with thanksgiving!

Give thanks to him, bless his name!
For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever,
And his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100 )

Heavenly Father,

We praise You and thank You today for your abundant blessings.
You have blessed us with freedom to be, to work and to worship.

You have strengthened us in time of trial and supported us in adversity.

Remind us to be humble in our abundance,

Help us remember the sacrifice of those who have gone before us.
Let their example remind us to always be thankful,

to always surrender to your plan and purpose for us.

We give you thanks, O Lord,

for Your gift of Yourself, for your gift of our life,
for your gift of our faith, our health, our family, our friends our Church and our country.

Prayerfully reflect on the following…..

Dedicate Yourselves to Thankfulness. (Col 3:15)

I thank God as I take you in prayer…….. (Philemon    4 -7)

For these I pray…… (John 17:9)

I pray also for those who will believe… (John17:20)

Sing and play music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything to

God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-20J

Gratitude is my “return gift” and it’s always there, waiting in my heart!

Begin again and Pray with me….

Loving and glorious God,

Today, I thank you for the many things I often take for granted:

the air I breathe, the water I drink, supermarkets filled to overflowing;

the ability to walk, talk, see, hear, smell, and to work and earn a living.

Dear Lord, where would I be without the gift of my family and friends and all those reliable and dependable people who serve me daily? I thank you today for their presence in my life. I thank you for the gifts you have given to each one. I thank you for the many ways in which they touch my life. I thank you for their laughter, their encouragement and their support. I thank you for every experience I have shared with them, whether good or bad, happy or sad, their presence in my life has made me a better person. Thank-you!

• We are grateful for eyes that can see and ponder, for taste buds that know the pleasures of eating and drinking, for hands that hold and touch and feel, for ears that can delight in music and the voice of a friend, for a nose that can smell the aroma of newly mown grass or delicious food, and can also breathe the air that gives us life…….
  

• We are grateful for the treasure of loved ones whose hearts of openness and acceptance have encouraged us to be who we are. We are grateful for their faithfulness, for standing by us when our weaknesses stood out glaringly, for being there when we were most in need and for delighting with us in our good days and our joyful seasons…..
  

• We are grateful for the eyes of faith, giving us hope in our darkest days, encouraging us to listen to our spirit’s hunger, and reminding us to trust in God’s presence in our life……..
  

• We are grateful for the ongoing process of becoming who we are, for the seasons within, for the great adventure of life that challenges and comforts us at one and the same time….
  

• We are grateful for the messengers of God – people, events, written or spoken words – that came to us at just the right time and helped us to grow………….
  

• We re grateful for God calling us to work with our gifts, grateful that we can serve you by serving others, grateful that we can be of service to the world around us……
  

• We are grateful that we have the basic necessities of life, that we have the means and the ability to listen to the cries of the poor and respond with our abundance…
  

• We are grateful for the miracle of life, for the blessing of the earth that supports and sustains us, for the amazing grace and blessing of our history, for the men and women who gave us spirit and tradition, for today with new opportunities………..
  

Begin Again…

Let your gratitude become more personal, from the depth of your being………

Feelings of gratitude fills my heart today…moments of gratitude fills my life constantly…

It is for those who stood with me when my faith was “smaller” than a mustard seed, for those who shared my hopes, for those who taught me to love and loved me much in the process………..

It is for those who broke with me the kind of bread that fed my deepest hunger and filled my emptiness…….the kind of bread that filled my soul and nurtured my spirit…..

It is for those who poured out the wine of compassion and filled my cup……those who shared their cup with me and who dared to share my cup not knowing its taste………….

Everyday I take my friends in prayer – bring them into the sacred space. In re-membering, a “sacred connection” happens.

Re-member each person…….see each one……..sit with him/her..talk to each one…..pray with each one…….

Gather all your friends and loved ones and stay with them, celebrate with them, pray with them…………..Stay in their presence……..

This is a great moment. A sacred moment. A moment with God. A moment with friends and strangers in the company of God and God’s saints…………..Bless all these people.

Ask God to bless all these people of God’s earth…………….Name them if you can………See the faces of friends and strangers………………Bring them to God…Raise them up to God………….Carry them to God…………This is a sacred moment………..

Don’t get bogged down with words….with words or without words…just a name or just a face or just a glance…………that will do. Desire their good. This is a great moment. This is sacred moment. This is prayer moment…….This Moment of Gratitude!

Gratitude is the memory of the heart! Your gratitude will bless you and help you be and become hopeful, positive and optimistic – see each day, each month, each year as God’s gifts.

Abide in this moment of gratitude for some time

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs

NEW BEGINNINGS (12)

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Breathe in all that is of God and from God…all that is true, honest, pure, admirable, noble, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise, good, loving, kind – all that deserves respect….

Breathe out all that is not of God and from God……..

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in quietness, stillness and serenity. Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence and solitude…to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……

Loving God,

Give us,

A Pure Heart, that we may see You,

A Humble Heart, that we may hear You,

A Heart of Love, that we may serve You,

A Heart of Faith, that we may abide in You. (Dag Hammarskjold)

Our last meditation was on striving to bring our will into harmony with God’s will, on surrendering our desires and opening ourselves to the will and purpose of God.

This meditation is an invitation to reflect on what happens when we fall out of God’s will and purpose, when we fall out of “Grace”, when we go our way, When we set our own purpose, when we try to change God’s will, When we try to bring God’s will inot harmony with ours………

Sacred Scriptures constantly remind us about the consequence of going our way. Rejection and refusal to participate God’s plan resulted in alienation, separation, sin and brokenness. Failure to image God and walking away from God brought about disorder, chaos, “Cosmic disintegration”

Remember the stories of creation in the Book of Genesis….remember how disintegration, chaos, de-creation happened as the couple, Adam and Eve, chose to go their way.

The couple “ate” the fruit – they “took in” that which caused “de-creation”, that which is destructive, death-giving and not life giving.

The couple took into themselves that which was destructive to their true self and this “de-created self” in turn caused “de-creation” in others and in the world.

Take a moment and reflect on the consequences of falling out of God’s will and purpose, walking away from God’s Grace……..

• Alienation from self: the couple ate and realized that they were naked and covered themselves (3:27). Gen.2:25 tells us that they were naked….but without embarrassment, “felt no shame”. Now they are unashamed, after “taking in” destructive stuff. The first tragic effect of falling out of God’s will is “Alienation from self”, loss of inner peace and harmony, loss of the sense of dignity and worth and feeling of shame and guilt.

• Alienation from God: The couple became afraid and hid from God, “I heard you in the garden and…was afraid…and hid…because I was naked”. The second tragic effect of falling out of Grace is alienation from God.

• Inability to accept responsibility: They began to point the finger in other direction than self. They made excuses… “Passing the buck” is not anything new.

• Alienation from nature: The harmony that existed between the couple and nature is destroyed. Even their body rebel – pain, suffering, death, etc. They became vulnerable to suffering and death…they were expelled, alienated, separated from the garden…..

• Alienation from others: One brother ends up killing the other. Falling out of Grace separates us from one another, even from members of the own family.

• Alienation increases – Falling out of God’s will and purpose increases, spreads and causes destruction of the world…causes disintegration of families and communities.

• Falling out of God’s will and purpose disharmony, disunity, disorder. They began to speak different languages…could not communicate with one another.

   

• Falling out of God’s will brought us out of Gracefulness into Sinfulness

   

• And sinfulness is….
  • self-sufficiency instead of faith
  • self-will instead of self-surrender
  • self-seeking instead of benevolence
  • self-righteousness instead of humility

   

   

Falling out of Grace is listening to something less than ourselves, something outside ourselves and desiring something not ours – to be as gods. The result always is alienation from God, from each other and from our own selves. St. Augustine called it “estrangement from the creator, the highest good, for the sake of an inferior good”. This is what we call sin and sinfulness.

Sin is a discomforting and disturbing word…the word is weary, but the reality is energetic and destructive. Sin has receded to the periphery of modern consciousness. Traditional language, themes, models and images of sin don’t seem to be appealing any more. Many regard guilt as a mental “ill-being” rather than a moral “ill-being”.

Sin must be understood as a betrayal of relationship with God or the betrayal of true freedom or the betrayal one’s true self, the way God made it to be rather than as a violation of law. It must also be understood as turning from God to a false sense of freedom and a crippling of the will leading to choices inconsistent with our true nature, our God-given character.

Sin is more than unethical or illegal…it is unholy. It transcends the ethical and the legal and touches the bond between individuals and community and their God….it causes the breakdown of that bond and causes ill health and brings the person and community into “ill-being”.

Sin must be understood in light of the abundance of God’s gift of Grace. “Where sin increased, Grace overflowed” (Rom. 5:20). However, we must talk about sin, acknowledge the existential reality of sin…disobedient freedom must find healing in the obedient freedom of Jesus…if healing has to happen, brokenness has to acknowledged, “those who are well do not need a physician” (Mt.9:12).

Sin is of concern to us not because of its intrinsic value but because it eats away the life and the relationships communicated to us in Christ. Christ’s significance does not come from sin, but sin’s significance comes from Christ, for sin is a measure of our distance from what we are called to be – an image of the Son…. sin is understood in light of the gift of forgiveness, healing and redemption revealed in Jesus.

Take a moment…reflect on God’s will and purpose……God has a plan, a purpose, a will and “God’s will” will happen. God has “ordained” everything with an “end” and given everything the “capacity” to reach the “end”. Man is called to Image God – Walk with the Lord. You are called….We are called to fulfill God’s plan, purpose, will for us.

Take another moment…..Reflect on how you may have fallen out of God’s will and purpose…fallen out Grace.

Take another moment…….Reflect on the need to rise again and again and again……

Take another moment…….Reflect on making new beginnings…..

Be still, rest with God and bless this moment,

Bless this morning, this day and all that is around you!

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs