All of us do pray. We have many standard prayers like the Lord’s Prayer and the Rosary. Most of us also go to Church everyday or on Sundays to attend the Holy Mass and receive the Holy Eucharist. Have you ever thought that the repetitive nature of these have made us look at these or do these in a more casual way, without giving the utmost reverence to these which they rightfully deserve?. Consider the following 3 areas where we should never allow repetition to reduce their immense importance.

1. The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer, our central prayer, the prayer taught by Jesus Christ, the prayer which is said most number of times by any Christian in his life. There is no doubt that all of us know this prayer by heart. But I really doubt that each time we utter this prayer, are we focusing on the real meaning of the words said here? Or are we just doing vain repetitions with our mouth with ten other things in our mind?

Human mind is weak by itself and its restless. Even while praying, it can ponder away across many topics making the prayer just a vain repetition. But my friends, even that vain repetition has some value as you are repeating the words spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ. But just imagine how much more value, more meaning, you can add to your prayers if you really sink in to what your mouth is uttering?

When you say ‘our Father in Heaven’ do also remember that you are calling our God as your almighty father who reigns in Heaven. When you say ‘hallowed be your name’, please really wish for that. Please wish that HIS name will be honored all over the world. When you say ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.’, you are proclaiming that you are waiting for HIS kingdom and HIS will on earth, just as it’s in heaven.

‘Give us this day our daily bread’ is asking him just for today’s meal as you are not concerned what will happen tomorrow or day after. You are sure that the immense mercy and protection and love of our GOD will protect you and your family in the days to come too. ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors’ is a huge one. It should really make us think about those who had hurt us but to whom we are yet to forgive. Just like the parable, the master will forgive our sins according to the scale of our forgiveness level. ‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’ is a humble request to the LORD to keep us away from all those evil eyes and instances of sin and to protect our souls from darkness. We should ask LORD to wash each of our senses in HIS holy blood from the Cross so that no impurity enter us through them.

2. Rosary (Hail Mary)

This prayer also has great importance as its taken from the words of God’s messenger, the angel who visited Mary. We say this prayer 50 times in a normal rosary and I wonder how many among those really count! I have seen people saying this prayer thinking about the food in the oven. Most housewives do pray the Rosary everyday but are all the Hail Marys said with the utmost reverence and concentration? Or is it just for our mind’s satisfaction that I have done my Rosary today?

‘Hail Mary, full of grace’… stop there, remember our Heavenly Mother, she is now being called by the Angel as the one who is full of Grace. Yes, Mother Mary was so filled with Grace than anyone else at that time in this World. ‘Our Lord is with you’…yes, she never did anything against God’s will and He was there with her all through her life, sometimes as Her heavenly dad and sometimes as her earthly son. ‘Blessed are you among woman’… she was the most blessed one among all the woman in the World and you sure know that’s not an easy achievement. Her every action was God-driven and she was so pure in body and soul that she was chosen to give birth to our LORD here on Earth. ‘Blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus’ …stop there, imagine the baby Jesus twisting in her small womb, how blessed a mother she is to have our Lord as her son. And we can also see the greatest of the greatest, the king of Kings, who is humbling himself to just a human baby form inside Mary’s womb.

‘Holy Mary, Mother of God’ has a significance. I know many who still don’t accept the huge importance of Mother Mary in the savior’s plan. They are reluctant to admit that she is our God’s mom. My friends, if you accept Jesus as your God, never be shy in proclaiming this truth that Mary is the Mother of GOD. ‘Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death’ – this one needs some explanation. Ever wondered why we say this line, especially why we point towards the time of our death? Make no mistake friends, the devil will surely come near you in your last moments on Earth and make you remember each and every sin you had committed here on Earth. He will show all those in front of your eyes when your whole life flashes in front of you and seeing all those, you just feel you are never going to make it to heaven and hell is waiting for you.

That’s the time our Mother will come to our Bed with all the angels to help us drive Satan away. She will make sure that we wont be desperate in our last moments here and will pray for our souls to the almighty God so that we go through a calm silent peaceful death. You can make it out yourself if you see different people in their last moments, some are so noisy and frightened while other are so calm and full of joy as they can internally see Heaven waiting for them.

3. Holy Eucharist

Many receive Holy Eucharist everyday, but did that make you consider this as less important in any of those days? Here is one more instance when repetition can deceive you to lower your reverence towards the body of our GOD. What do you feel when the Holy Eucharist touches your tongue? You just receive it, go to your place, kneel there, say your standard prayer and sit back in your seat?

My friend, it’s the Creator of the Universe who is in your mouth now, no one else. The one who has created you and everything else in this world has agreed to come inside you in the form of bread and wine. When you glimpse at the Eucharist, imagine the beating heart of Jesus that you are going to receive. When Eucharist melts inside your mouth, imagine Christ moving all over your body, his flesh and blood combining with your flesh and blood and you are just becoming another Christ here and you sure know that is a huge responsibility. Keep the temple of God clean and away from sin as Jesus now lives inside you.

Conclusion

We cannot live our life without repetition of all the above. They are prayers and sacraments which definitely need to be done a lot many times repetitively. But we just have to be very careful that this repetition is not reducing the glory, the honor, the reverence and the involvement of our complete mind that these prayers and sacraments surely need from us. Don’t let that reduce even by 1%. Ask this blessing from Our God during your next prayer, I am sure the almighty God will give this wonderful blessing to each and every one of you and that will make this humanly impossible task, that I am urging you to do, possible. God bless you all. Amen.

– – – written by Georgy N Joseph

We don’t get to decide to which family we are born into or the financial status of our parents. It happens like everything else, according to our Almighty Father’s plan. Have you ever questioned this plan? If yes, read on.

The First Incident – The Audi car

Today, on the way back from work, I happened to see a beautiful Audi A4 car (costs around 50 lakhs of Indian Rupees) on the road. The awesome appearance of this luxury car made me stand and look at it until it passed out of my sight. This raised many thoughts in my mind. When will I ever be able to buy such a luxurious car like that one? My brain immediately answered that question “No Georgy, you are never going to have that much money to buy that car and even if you earn that much someday, you will surely have a lot other priorities to be completed using that much money”.

This made me think about the owner of the car. Obviously he might be a very rich man, might be a very successful professional or it can be that his parents had lots of money. I mean, he might be born into a very wealthy family who have so much wealth in excess to spare for this luxurious car. This same thought made me look at my family, which is an average one. Even though both my parents were employed, I am sure they can never afford to buy me such luxuries of life. For a second I looked up at the heaven and told in my mind “God, if you had wished, then it would have been me sitting in that luxurious car. I could have lived with all the luxuries that life could provide me. But you chose not to!”. Day-dreaming about my never-to-happen Audi-drive, I moved ahead to the local railway station.

The Second Incident – The Popcorn Seller

After getting into the local train, I happened to see another person who completely made me feel how stupid I was. It was a 10 year old boy selling popcorn to all the train passengers. At each station, he would get down and go to the next compartment and continue his sale. He is doing this all day. I started to guess the condition back at his home.

The boy must be born to a very poor family whose parents are doing manual labor to earn daily bread for themselves and their children. They don’t earn enough to send their kids to school as primary education sounds like luxury to them considering their monthly income. The boy is helping his family for their livelihood. School and education is not possible for him and he will surely end up as a manual laborer just like his parents, unless some miracle happens.

This gave birth to another thought inside my head. “It could have been you in his place. But God chose not to! He gave you well employed parents who could give you very good education apart from all your basic needs. Leveraging on that, you were able to earn a good job in this highly competitive world which enables you to lead a normal happy life and which will also help you bring up your children in the best way possible.” This time, I looked up to the heavens and said THANK YOU LORD for the family I was born into, thank you Lord for my lovely parents who gave me the best of everything they possibly could, thank you Lord.

Be Thankful For Your Family Background

The very fact that you are reading this article on your computer, laptop, iPad or mobile handset is a proof that you are truly blessed than millions of others who live on the same planet, just like you and me. But its too common that we all never look down the ladder of life. Our eyes are only looking at greater things, greater comfort, greater luxuries just like the Audi car that caught my attention. It is not that we should never look at those who are more well placed in life or not try to improve our situation, be it our profession, be it our skills, be it any good thing that we have. On the contrary, we should be making the best use of all the gifts and resources God has provided us in this life and should try to continually improve ourselves, our skill-set, our job status, everything for HIS greater glory.

But please remember that we should never look up the ladder and complain about our present situation. We are very well up the ladder and we have so many brothers and sisters who are less fortunate than us, just like that popcorn seller boy. So while you try to improve yourselves and your present situation and comforts, while you try hard to be in your boss’s chair one day, all this time, please remember: you should never stop thanking our God for your present state of life which He has generously gifted you.

Thankfulness Calls For Action

I am afraid, being thankful alone won’t be enough. Your creator, Our almighty God definitely wants you to utilize all the gifts He has bestowed upon you including your education, your job, your skills, your money, your time, everything, for helping all those less fortunate ones around you. You have much more duties to perform for others. With more gifts, come more duties.

Try to help those who are really in need of your help. Don’t shoo away saying ‘What difference can I make to their lives?’. When you help a child get his forbidden education, you really do make a lot of difference in his life. So, where ever you are, take a look around. I am sure the Holy Spirit will show you hundreds of ways to help those needy ones around you and thereby express your gratefulness to the Lord in its fullness. God bless you all.

– – – written by Georgy N Joseph

When you wakeup in the morning, thank God
For many others, yesterday was their last day
When you open your eyes, thank God
Many others are still in complete darkness
When you move your hands and legs, thank God
Many others don’t have or cannot move theirs

When you sit or stand, thank God
Many others don’t have the strength to do that
When you walk or run, thank God
Many others are unable to do the same
When you brush and bath in clean water, thank God
Many others are not as lucky as you to get clean water

When you have your hygienic food three times a day, thank God
Many others don’t have any food even once in a day
When you drink clean water every one hour, thank God
Many others are deprived of clean drinking water for years
When you have all those little snacks in between, thank God
Many others never had these luxuries of snacks between meals

When you go to school/college, thank God
Many others never had any proper education
When you go to your workplace, thank God
Many qualified people are still jobless
When you come back home safely after a journey, thank God
Many others who started the same journey couldn’t come back

In each and everything you do, remember the less fortunate
Before complaining, remember to look down
And see those who are not so blessed like you
Thank our almighty God for his immense blessings
He has bestowed upon you
Have an attitude of gratitude 24×7

God bless you all. Praise the Lord.

— written by Georgy N Joseph