Monday, February 21, 2011

Pray, Pray, Pray!

After reading Dr Kelly Bowring's book (Secrets, Chastisement and Triumph of the Two Hearts) and countless other articles, I see so clearly that prayer is a very powerful means to salvation. 

Not only my own salvation but also that of my brothers and sisters.. my neighbours, my friends, my enemies...!

We are being called back to a life of prayer... but how many will respond to this call?

I remember feeling heavy-hearted about praying... I had so many excuses... I was sleepy, tired, sick, exhausted etcetera etcetera.  But knowing the importance of praying and feeling desperate about not being able to pray, I pleaded with God for the strength and grace to pray.  Amazingly, my pleading was answered.

Now, I wonder why I am so amazed.  I wonder if perhaps I no longer had faith in God's responding to my prayer. 

But now I know.  God DOES answer prayers.  But I had to learn how to pray properly.  I had to have the right state of mind and the right sort of request.  I didn't bother to ask for riches, rank or other material things.  I asked for graces, strength and faith.  I asked for protection and mercy.  Not only for myself but for others.  I asked for the clearing of clouded minds, the righting of confused minds and the brightening of darkened hearts.

And now I cannot NOT pray.  Not when I can hear the clock ticking the moments away and the sand in the hourglass sifting away.

Out Of Sync With The World

Thus far in my journey, I have come to realize that in following the tenets of my religion, I will find myself more and more out of sync with the world.

The world worships materialism, yet the practice of charity doesn't encourage hoarding of riches.  How can you store wealth when you have so many brothers and sisters in need?

The world rewards aggressive and assertive people, yet we Christians are to turn the other cheek and to be humble and lowly.

The world lauds openness and freedom of speech and act and proclaims such things as 'cool' and 'to be proud of'.  Yet how can we as Christians accept 'openness' such as living together without the benefit of matrimony, use of recreational (?) drugs, hurtful sarcasm aimed at others etcetera?

The world accepts the use of astrology and fortune-telling.  Yet our Bible clearly states that these are the creations of the devil. 

My dressing has changed (less form-fitting and revealing) and I'm automatically pigeonholed as 'old-fashioned' and 'conservative'.  The terms are clearly not meant as compliments.  So far, they have refrained from labelling me 'boring'.

Even when I pray, especially in public, I am sometimes teased for being 'holy' and 'overly Christian'.

Sometimes I wonder if I have to withdraw from certain societies and spend my time only with people who understand me. 

But then this has also made me realize how much the world has 'changed', how far it has gone down the road of accepting so many things God doesn't want us to be involved in.  No wonder it has been said that souls are falling into the abyss by the millions....  I think the majority of them don't even realise that their lifestyles are 'wrong'. 


But then they'd know it, if they read the Bible, don't they? 


Well, recently I discussed some things with someone... and I was gently informed that many things in the bible was only relevant to the times of long ago.  However, didn't Jesus say that He is always the same, then and now?  Wouldn't that make God's commandments true, then and now?  Wouldn't that make the lessons in the bible true, then and now as well?

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Divine Mercy Chaplet In Action!

My sister is attending a course that may decide her future... but it all depends on her performance in four assessments.  Truth be told, she didn't fare very well in her interview.  Especially in the part where she was supposed to show how she'd sell certain products.  I found this very perplexing as my sister has the so-called gift of the gab.  She can talk and talk and talk.  Plus she'd sold software for an ICT company and also homes for a property developer.  It didn't make sense that she couldn't even do a demo on selling a product.  Interview nervousness?  Perhaps.

Anyway, I asked my mum to tell me the times of her assessments.  The first one was yesterday (Friday).  During the time of her assessment, I was in a car and did one cycle of the Chaplet.  Well, at least that was what I planned to do.  I planned to do a cycle as I picked my little niece up from playschool and brought her home.   The process was supposed to take only about 15 minutes.  However, traffic was extra bad and instead of 15 minutes, it took me more than an hour.  Somehow or other, I ended up doing uncounted cycles in the space of an hour plus.

Later when I called to check on her,  I heard that she did so well, she was held up as an example to the others.  She told me that she felt light and confident.  Unlike her experience during the interview.  By right, if she truly had a problem with nerves, she would've performed worse in front of an audience than in front of a single interviewer. 

I firmly believe that the chaplet helped in keeping her mind clear and her delivery focused.  She's got three more assessments to get through. So I will be doing the chaplet again.

Some may scoff and shake their heads... but please don't do it in front of me.  For I will pity your lack of faith in God.  Well, who knows... if I pity you enough, I'll add you to my list of people to pray for.  LOL.  That can be scary.

Let me explain why I use the word 'scary'.

Previously I mentioned a friend who had a problem with a jealous colleague.  Well, let me tell you the ending to that story.  Over months, that colleague tried to undermine the bosses' belief in her integrity and performance in the office.  She actually fell ill under all the stress and tension.  She suspected him of being the one behind a poison letter that led to an investigation of her office.  All the while, another friend had been counselling her to 'radiate loving kindness.'  In the beginning, she would just shake her head and say,"I can't.  I just can't."  But towards the end, she just caved in under all the pain and just offered all her sufferings up to God.  Let it be.  Thy will be done.  AND she began praying the Divine Mercy chaplet for that colleague.  I was so happy that she had made the journey from anger to forgiveness. 

And you know what?  The man fell sick.  The day she began praying for him, he fell ill and took three days off. 

Well, she was only human, so she doubled her prayers for him.  LOL.

After that, things turned around for her in the office.  The people who supported this man began deserting him.  The investigation turned up many great things that made her star shine even more, while it made him and his cronies look execrably bad.  He was so busy plotting that he neglected to do his job properly.  Stupid man.  Didn't he realise that a poison pen letter would spark off an investigation?  Now he just sits in the office, more alone than ever and gives her perplexed looks.
What I found interesting was that in the beginning, when he was using magic and she responded with prayers, he was informed by his witch doctor that her witch doctor was really powerful.  That was when he stepped up the hostilities.  HOWEVER, the only 'witch doctor' she had was God.

How did she know all this, you may ask?  Well, when rats abandon a sinking ship, they open their mouths really wide.

What I learned from her sharing is that when we call upon God to help us, He responds.  Otherwise what 'presence' was that, that the witch doctor detected??

The further I go on this journey, the more evidence I uncover about how much God loves us and wants to protect us.  So when I come upon a person who questions the existence of God, I really feel sad at the lack of glory in his or her life.

E, S, Z : As I type this, my chest is hurting.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Reviewing The Secrets, Chastisement and Triumph of the Two Hearts of Jesus & Mary

I finished reading Dr Kelly Bowring's book last month.  And now I am waiting for a further 5 copies that friends have requested.



This book is GOOD.

If you are a Catholic who wonders what is going on in this world nowadays, what the apparitions in Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje etc collectively mean and what needs to be done, then you MUST read this book. Especially when it has been given an imprimatur. Dr Kelly Bowring pulls together statements, messages from various sources (approved by the Catholic Church) and distils the main themes into an easily-understood book as well as provides a manual of sorts. This book is not a book foretelling doom and armageddon... it is one of hope and of optimism. It is one which calls us all to return to God and bring about a wondrous future. 

The ebook version is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

100% Beeswax Candles

I am wondering where I could find 100% beeswax candles. 

If you've been doing a lot of strategic reading into Catholicism and saints' prophecies, you'd know why I ask this.

My Experience With The Divine Mercy Chaplet

I'd known about the Divine Mercy Chaplet for a while now... and most especially after Bro. Stanley Villavicencio's visit but I never really put it into practice until recently.

A month ago, an old friend (a member of the local Divine Mercy Apostolate) sent a strange sms.  Without any preliminaries whatsoever, she asked me to please do a 9-day Divine Mercy novena at 3 a.m. and the 3 o'clock prayer & chaplet if possible.  She urged me to get my whole family (also my sister-in-law's family) to do it.  She specified praying for the breaking of ancestral bondage, conversion of family members, spiritual and physical healing of every member of our families.

My reaction was 'Wow.'  It seemed a bit strong.  I looked around me.. things seemed okay at home.  Well, one family member was facing a bit of a hard time at work and in her personal life.

So, at first, I didn't start straightaway.  A day later, I began.  I already had this Virtual Chaplet tool on my notebook so it wasn't a difficult thing to do.  Then when I mentioned this to my relative, she told me that she had issues with God & religion.  I also felt as if she had a spirit of failure hanging onto her life.  Nothing in her life seemed to be working or improving.  So I recommended that she go for confession.  But she didn't look enthusiastic.

By the third day of my novena (this relative didn't know I was doing it), she suddenly mentioned that she wanted to go for confession.  Oh joy!  I was so happy!  So far she hasn't gone yet but at least the thought had come to her. 

Strangely on the ninth day of my novena, I woke up around midnight and couldn't go to sleep.  So I read a book until 3 a.m.  When I realised the time, I remembered how The Lord Jesus promised St Faustina Kowalska regarding the time 3 o'clock :  "In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world – mercy triumphed over justice" (Diary, 1572) 

I thought that there was a reason I couldn't sleep till 3 a.m. for I didn't have the intention to stay awake till then.  And so I finished my novena at 3 a.m. on the ninth day.

By then, I had gotten used to the chaplet.  It is remarkably soothing and comforting to recite.  The Divine Mercy Chaplet audio I had is also very beautiful to listen to.  The very next day, some trouble resurfaced in that relative's life.  So I decided to do another novena.  I am now in the fifth day of that second novena and I am beginning to truly believe that there is a unseen struggle going on in that relative's life.   Yesterday, I made the resolution to take her for confession at 3pm.  But just as she walked in through the gates at 2.50p.m., a headache I'd been nursing spiked so badly I could barely walk.  I took a pill and went to sleep.  By the time I awoke at 6p.m., the time for confession was past.

I will continue saying this chaplet for her sake until she goes for confession.  I truly believe that confession is exorcism of the soul.  May God grant my wish.

Latest Update :
Today is 10 Feb 2011.  I finished the second novena..at EXACTLY 3pm.  And this wasn't by design.  So that makes the second novena that finished at that special hour.  Coincidence?  Well, I stopped believing in coincidences about two years ago.  AND today is also the day I got some insight into the possible source of this relative's problems. 

So I am starting another novena.  I will do this until she is back on her feet.  They say that persistence gets prayers answered :)

I'm getting questions answered too... as I move from novena to novena.