These are your Brothers and Sisters

These are your brothers and sisters ...

Soon after my baptism in the Holy Spirit during my last visit to Divine, I had received the gift of visions, which manifested itself strongly especially after consuming the Eucharist. The third vision I received was particularly powerful. It consisted of fast moving montages of beggar children, war wounded, the sick and the dying. It concluded with a voice over from Jesus saying: "These are your brothers and sisters."

The vision was repeated this time, with the added message: "Help them!" A few days earlier, when I was in Bangalore, Fritz Mascarenhas had advised me to keep myself open to God's will for me, even if it did not seem particularly appealing or went against what I believed was His will. Here it was. I had figured myself for an evangelist and here was God telling me to become like Mother Theresa!

As always, I awaited confirmation about the message. It didn't take long coming. The very next morning, Fr. Augustine spoke about how Divine started its subsidiary centers for AIDS and mental patients, the homeless and the dying. He had got a message from God telling him to start working with such people. When he protested that he was an evangelist, he heard God saying: Practice what you preach!

Looks like I have an interesting year ahead of me!

Divine Retreat Center, Muringoor

Our Lady; a permanent resident of the Center

After six weeks of hectic touring I was feeling spent and needed a recharge. Divine Retreat Center, where I had made my first retreat four years back, seemed an ideal place to recharge the batteries and I took an overnight bus from Bangalore on the 16th, soon after my session at Logos. Not only did I get the reinvigoration I wanted, I got to hear a whole lot terrific testimonies. I also received another spectacular anointing of the Holy Spirit.

In all honesty, I hadn't expected one this time as I didn't believe a repeat of the 2002 episode that set me on fire was possible. There might have been a chance of some anointing on Friday, during the Anointing session, but as I was to leave early in the morning, that was out. However, on Thursday evening, just before the Inner Healing session commenced, I suddenly felt myself sucked into the heart of God, and simply exploded into tears at the tremendous love I felt there. I just don't have words enough to thank God.

Another blessing during this retreat was a meeting with Fr. Augustine Valooran, the Director of the Center. In another lesson in humility, after I asked this great servant of God to pray for me, he asked me to pray for him. I thought that was really remarkable and I made another mental promise to myself to always remain humble, no matter how much the fame increased in the future.

Discipleship Program, Logos, Bangalore

On December 16, I preached my only retreat in Bangalore for this mission run. It was at the Logos Retreat Center, which is run by the Vincentians, the same group of priests who run the famous Divine Retreat Center at Cochin. It was a good session, and with it, I brought to an end my preaching mission for 2006. I won't say I wasn't happy it was over; I was close to total exhaustion and didn't think I'd be able to manage even a half hour talk without some rest.

The Other Side of Missionary Life

As I made my way to KGF on a three hour bus journey on December 15 for a more personal mission, I couldn't help but wonder if people realized that the missionary life was not a glamorous one, despite what some of the entries in this blog might seem to suggest. It is a hard, often lonely life, being on the road continuously, living out of a suitcase, sleeping in new beds every few days, and separated from home and family for weeks on end. It was a lot easier the last time around with my daughter for company, but it isn't always possible to travel with wife or child, or even companion, despite the fact that it is good to do so. Jesus always sent his apostles out in twos! But I'm not complaining. It does have its moments, and the best are when you discover that somebody's life has changed as a result of what you have done.

Prayer Groups

The mission to Chennai concluded with talks to three prayer groups, one of which was packed with novitiates for the local nunnery. Another turned into a prayer session, but was wonderful for all that. My right hand, which I had sprained rather painfully, was healed after that session, which suggested that the Spirit might have had a lot to do with the change in plans. There is one more session left in Bangalore, and that brings an end to my preaching sessions for 2006. I am glad because I am totally exhausted.

Discipleship Program, San Thome, Chennai

Tremendous anointing at San Thome

The parish priest expected 50 people. Over 250 showed up and he was delighted. So was I, not only with the crowd that was present - huge for Chennai - but with the obvious hunger I could see in them. I was even more delighted with the tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Church in San Thome on December 10. I believe that there was not a single person who sat through the seven hour program who was untouched, and I believe that many among them will spearhead the Christian revival in Chennai.

Some of the people who were instrumental in putting the Discipleship Program together were Leela Francisco, who not only opened her heart to this servant of God, but also her home; Babu Manuel, who led the Praise and Worship beautifully; and Gaspar, who led another wonderful choir: I am truly blessed by the music support that I get wherever I preach. My gratitude also to the Parish Priest, Fr. Lawrence Raj, who was a very gracious host, for his role in making this happen.

Don Bosco, Ainavaram

My first appearance in churches generally consists of a short talk, with the much longer Discipleship Program (DP) conducted during my subsequent visit. This was reversed in Don Bosco, Ainavaram. I had conducted the DP here on July 8 this year. I returned five months later - almost to the date - to give a short talk on one of the parables of Jesus: The Buried Treasure (Matthew 13:44).

MIssion to Chennai

The Little Mount Prayer Group

The Chennai mission began on December 8 with a talk to over a hundred members of the Little Mount Church prayer group led by Benjamin Gonzaga. Benjamin, who is also part of the National Service Team, is an extremely anointed man of God who exercises many of the Charisms of the Spirit. I feel blessed to meet such people and it is one of the several bonuses of my travels.

The Silver Cross - Part II

On November 17, while preaching at St. Anne's Church in Poona, I had lost my little silver cross and though I had little hope of finding it, it "miraculously" turned up the next morning. Today, half an hour before I was to leave for the airport to Chennai for my next set of programs, I discovered my cross missing again. I believed it had gone into the wash!

As I felt a wave of panic sweep through me, as it always did when I couldn't find the cross, I heard a familiar voice ask me why I was so attached to it and if I was wise in being so. Embarassment replaced panic and I hastily apologized, telling Jesus that I was okay without it. If He wanted me to have it back, He could return it; otherwise I'd live without it.

The morning after I reached Chennai I received a note from my hosts in Sri Lanka saying they had found the cross and would courier it across to me. Even as I thanked God for letting me have the cross back, I also thanked Him for the lesson he taught not to be attached to anything, not even items of religious significance.

A Return to Mary - And Miracles

I have always had a special place in my heart for Our Lady as she was instrumental in returning me to the faith. In the early days, I used to say the Rosary regularly, but in recent times had relegated her to the back room, preferring to give more importance to the Holy Trinity, as I believed they deserved.

At the leader's retreat I had attended the day before, however, two of the priests (including Fr. Matthew) confessed how they too had been guilty of neglecting Mary (for various reasons including the Protestant influence), only to realize later that they had been wrong. As one of the priests testified of how much more anointed his talks became after asking Mary to intercede for him, I realized with a sense of dismay that this was perhaps the reason why the anointing had lessened in my own ministry over the past few months. While I was still effectively reaching out to people and miracles were still taking place, the frequency and intensity had diminished. I determined to begin the rosary again, and I could perceptibly feel the power begin to flow almost immediately.

A little later, a lady came to me saying she had a severe pain in her hand and leg. She had been suffering for the past several weeks. The instant I placed my hand on her head I felt the anointing flow and wasn't the least surprised when she said that the pain had left her. Miracles followed right through the day.

People who aren't too fond of Mary are likely to dismiss this as more Catholic propaganda, but I know that my best days in ministry have always been when I ask Mary to pray for me.

Leader's Retreat

I attended a leader's retreat given by some priests from Divine Retreat Center in Cochin headed by the founder of the center Fr. Matthew Naikamparambil (say that three times fast) and though the talks didn't seem particularly targeted to leaders, I was grateful for the opportunity to just sit down and listen rather than do the talking for a change. I was rewarded with some very powerful anointing.

Before the day was over, however, Lalit (referenced earlier) invited me to talk to a Sinhala prayer group that gathered in the evening. It was one of the groups that he headed in Sri Lanka. I have never been able to refuse an invitation to share the Word of God and thus found myself preaching again before the day was over. Lalit, himself, translated my talk from Engish to Sinhalese.

Seminarians, Prisoners and Choristers

A talk to a group of seminarians started off the month of December. Though the disparate ages of the audience - they were aged between 14 and 24 - and their relative reticence threw me a little, the talk went down fairly well.

Later in the evening I addressed a fairly large Tamil prayer group who were participating in an all night vigil. A translator helped get my message across.

Talk at a night vigil

By the time I got back home it was past 2 in the morning, but I still managed to wake up fairly fresh at 6 am to leave for another talk - this time to the prisoners in Colombo's main prison. There were nearly 100 prisoners present for the talk, which was the most anointed yet.

Patsy (in pink) with the young ladies who backed me with music

In the afternoon, I met with the group who had provided me with the musical accompaniment for my talks in the churches. There were nearly 21 of them gathered for practice and listening to them was like listening to angels in heaven. I spent the better part of an hour with them, noticing that the anointing had risen even higher. The bad guys were undoubtedly getting clobbered in the heavens!

Bomb Blast in Colombo

Bomb blast in Colombo

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse and the man leading the military campaign against the Tamil Tigers, escaped an assassination attempt that killed a male suicide bomber and four others while injuring 13 people. Though in Colombo, I was nowhere near where it happened at the time.

Sri Lanka has been racked by violence for several years now with separatist rebels from the North creating an atmosphere of tension. Soldiers are lined all over the city, sometimes separated by less than 100 feet from each other, and check vehicles regularly for bombs or ammunition.

St. Lawrence's Church, Wellawatte

St. Lawrence's Church, Wellawatte

The oppression that had been upon me since my entry into Sri Lanka lifted on November 30th as I felt the anointing flow powerfully in the third talk in the country at St. Lawrence's Church, Wellawatte. By the time it was over, I knew that the rest of the mission would be wonderful. I have no doubt that it was the general feeling of helplessness that I felt after the previous day's talk and the resultant passion in prayer that contributed in no small measure to this new confidence.