LIFE IN THE FLESH - LIFE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

A life without the Holy Spirit:
 
Is empty and void in despair and sadness
Is vexed and tossed by temptations and enticements
Is weak and desperate in the flesh with sinful attachments
Is broken and wounded with anger and unforgiveness
Is in bondages of passing lust and passions
Is in darkness and blindness not knowing the right way
Is in perversity, licentiousness and immorality
Is a life crushed with pains and sickness
Is a life where God is a Distant Being
Is a life where Christ is only a historical past
Is a life where the Gospel and God's words are veiled
Is a life where laws and commandments are meaningless and coarse
Is a life where the Church is a mere secular institution
Is a life where prayer and liturgy are dead
Is a life where virtues and holiness is foolishness
Is a life where duties and responsibilities are burdensome
Is a life where ministries and missions are mere professions
 


Whereas a life with the Holy Spirit:


 
Is meaningful and worth living
Is challenging and vibrant
Is a life with Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us
Is a life in the Kingdom of God
Is a life where one is led in the Way, the Truth and Life
Is a life of peace, joy and consolation
Is a life of power and grace
Is a life of holiness according to God's will
Is a life of authenticity and truthfulness
Is a life in the Church the mother who cares
Is a life where authority and commandments become easy
Is a life where burdens become light and yokes easy
Is a life where prayer and sacraments become part and parcel of life
Is a life where one hears God's voice in the Holy Scriptures
Is a life where one finds answer to all his problems
Is a life where one finds the healing touch of the Divine Master
Is a life where one's soul burns with love for God and others
Is a life witnessing Jesus Christ always and everywhere
Is a life that brings the thirsty neighbours to the Living Water
Is a life burning out for Jesus and His Kingdom
Is a life that finds a seat in the eternal banquet. AMEN

 

Author : Fr. James Manjackal

 

Start praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from 11th May until Pentecost on 19th May

THE JOY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL

 “If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it” (I Cor 9: 16).

By Fr. James Manjackal MSFS


Preaching the Gospel to every creature is a mandate given by Jesus Christ to all His followers (Mk 16: 15). The joy of every priest, who is called to be another Christ, is to become a coworker with Jesus Christ preaching the Gospel and healing the sick. As Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit at Jordan to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick, every priest is anointed and empowered at his priestly ordination to do the same ministry and thus to continue the works of Jesus Christ on earth. (Lk 4: 18, Acts 10: 38).
 

I never thought of becoming a preacher when I was studying in the seminary, nor even in the early days of my priesthood. This was mainly because of my stage-fear and inferiority complex; these prevented me of appearing before others or in any public performance in the past. I was an introvert with a shy and withdrawn character. I could never imagine being a vagabond priest, going from place to place with a Bible in the hand preaching before thousands of people and enduring trials and sufferings. All that I expected and prayed for was a safe, secure and comfortable priesthood. Hence I had secured my degrees on Philosophy and Theology in order to become a professor, which was a comfortable job in my eyes. When I was appointed professor in Fatimagiri seminary at Nilambur, Kerala, during my regency, my expectation doubled and I thought that one day my superiors would send me abroad for higher studies.

 

It looked as if God answered my prayer after my ordination, then I was appointed professor in SFS seminary, Ettumanoor, Kerala. But my joy and comfort as a professor there did not last long because after a few days I fell ill with tuberculosis and stones in the kidney. It is the prayer of a new Catholic convert that healed me both physically and spiritually empowering me to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick. When the Lord asked me to resign my job as a professor and to go throughout the whole world to preach the Gospel, I felt insecure and threatened in my inner self as I did not want to leave all the comforts and security that I enjoyed as a professor in the seminary. But when I said, “here I am Lord, I go as you command” I experienced a great joy in my soul and I received courage and grace to surrender all my love and craving for worldly pleasures and comforts. As a consequence I was able to jump into insecurity and uncertainty with my Jesus which in fact is the greatest security and solace of my life. In 1967, when my provincial secured a sit for my higher studies at the University of Eichstatt, Germany, I refused to go because I had already found the joy of preaching the Gospel. In 1986, when the then provincial forcefully sent me to Rome again for higher studies at the Angelicum University, I was “restless” as I had lost the joy of preaching; still along with my studies I found time to preach in several places in Italy. Cardinal Lourdusami, the president of the propaganda fide, who sponsored my studies, called me and said at the end of the first year, “Father James, you are here in the university like a fish out of water, your joy is in preaching and not in studies, hence stop your studies and go for preaching”. With a mere diploma on Spirituality, I returned to Kerala for preaching.

Ever since I preached my first charismatic retreat at the parish church of Mammood, in the diocese of Changanacherry in February 1976, I have not done anything else in my priestly ministry except preaching the word of God and healing the sick. The Lord has taken me to the ends of the world, sending me to 102 countries in all five continents. When I look back upon these my last 36 years of preaching I simply shed tears of joy thinking of the amazing grace that the Lord gave me during my labyrinthine journey of evangelization. I was misunderstood several times by the Catholic hierarchy in Kerala and elsewhere. I was always careful to preach only the sound doctrine of the Gospel and the Church, I made no compromise in my preaching and I never minced words to interpret the authentic teaching for my own advantage or to please some people for the sake of their applause and appreciation. Often, the words I spoke were sharp like a two-edged sword, like a rock breaking hammer and a forest-burning fire. The words of St. Paul were always ringing in my mind, “proclaim the word: be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through patience and teaching”(II Tim 4: 2).

I preached emphatically on the need for reciting the holy rosary in family prayers, the devotion to the Holy Eucharist by adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and the use of the Crucifix in the Catholic Christian life. As a result a section of the Syro-Malabar church misunderstood me and condemned me as an anti-rite realistic. In fact I had respected and encouraged all the three rites in Kerala by preaching retreats in the parishes of all the three rites and celebrating Mass in those rites. But I always insisted on the necessity for unity in the church and under no circumstance could I support the unhealthy attitude and the competitive rifts between the rites. Unfortunately this misunderstanding led me to my being kidnapped in April 1993, the consequent sufferings of which left permanent scars both in my body and soul. When the kidnappers blindfolded me, they beat me to the extent of breaking my hand and my leg, they inserted a needle into my penis, tonsured my head and forced me to drink urine, the Spirit of Jesus gave me power to offer all those sufferings for the success of my ministry. He gave me courage and grace to forgive them all and to pray for them. All they wanted was to stop me preaching.

The good Lord to whom I gave myself unreservedly was always holding me in His loving hands specially when I was rejected and disowned by others. The Lord allowed me to emerge young and energetic as a phoenix from its burning ashes! In fact, the kidnap and the consequent sufferings were a novitiate for me to equip myself for a specialized ministry to preach the Gospel among the Arab Muslims in all the Arab and Islamic countries. I was imprisoned and beaten four times in Saudi Arabia, once in Kuwait and another time in Oman. Kidnaps, imprisonments, persecutions, perils, calumnies or rejections could not take away my joy in preaching the Gospel; they could not deter me from my love for Jesus and the Gospel. Whenever there were oppositions and obstacles in my evangelical journey, the good Lord was clinging to me more closely empowering me with grace and courage to go ahead more zealously. He was turning all the sorrows into joy; and all sufferings brought abounding and overflowing blessings on me and on the people among whom I worked. No superiors, no confreres, no friends, no persecutors, no enemies could take away the joy of preaching from me nor could stop me preaching. I rejoice in the Lord always. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

It is great and marvelous that the Lord is sending me to countries and people neither knowing their language nor their culture. I am an Indian Keralite, I can only speak Malayalam fluently, my mother tongue and a little bit of broken English; but it is a wonder that the Lord takes me to the Germans, the Spanish, the French, the Portuguese, the Italian, the Croatian, the Polish, the Czech, the Slovakian, the Russian and the Chinese languages and cultures to preach the Gospel to hundreds and thousands of people. I have learned by my own experience that differences of languages or cultures are not barriers to preach the Kingdom of God. I know well that I have no literary eloquence or persuasive elocution in my preaching; all my preaching and the confirmation of it by signs and wonders are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ working in me. The main sources of my power are the holy Eucharist, personal prayer and celibacy along with the prayers of many in the world.

Great is the joy of seeing the results of preaching the Gospel. It is a great delight to see people being saved from the tsunami of sin. What was said through prophet Hosea is true today, “My people perish for want of knowledge” (Hos 4: 6). Today even Christians themselves do not know Christ the only Saviour; they do not know the need of the Church and the sacraments for their salvation. I rejoice and praise the Lord seeing the conversion of many people, both of those who never believed in Christ and of those Christians who had abandoned faith and salvation. When people come away from their sins the pollution of sin that brings curses upon the earth is removed and the planet itself is blessed. When man – the crown of creation – returns to God, the birds of the air, the fishes in the water, the animals in the field and all animate and inanimate beings on earth are blessed because all of them are created for man and man for God. Thus I preach to all creatures according to the command of the Lord.

Great is the joy when I see many physical and spiritual healings take place in my ministry! What a joy when I see many married couples who were separated or divorced return to their life of love and unity, forgiving and accepting each other. I praise God with joy when I see people liberated from Satan and evil spirits, healed from depression, anxiety, fears, guilt, suicidal and criminal tendencies and from compulsive bad habits like drugs, smoking, alcohol as well as immoralities such as masturbation, homosexuality, pornography, etc. I cannot but rejoice and praise God when I see the paralyzed and the lame getting up and walking, the blind seeing and the deaf hearing, people with cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson, psoriasis and other incurable diseases getting healed in prayers and going back to their normal life and work. When people are born again by the Holy Spirit through my preaching, I feel as the father of many children; indeed many who attend my retreats call me “papa”.

When I see all these signs and wonders in my retreats and conventions, I become more and more aware of my nothingness. I realize that it is Jesus in me who is preaching and doing wonders through His Spirit. I know that I am only a donkey to carry Jesus on my back to the temples of Jerusalem that are human hearts. When people speak well of my ministry with applause, I am careful to give all those praises to Jesus who is on my back. I am always reminded of what Jesus has said, “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘we are unprofitable servants; we have done, what we were obliged to do’” (Lk 17: 10). I am already in the evening of my life; I am 67. Recently, I had a heart-surgery, I have a swollen leg and many wounds on my body that bleed, but all what I wish is to preach the Gospel until my last breath. I request the readers of this article to pray for my own salvation, which I am seeking with fear and trembling. The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with

HOW TO MAKE PERSONAL PRAYER

By Fr James Manjackal M.S.F.S

Select a best time for your personal prayer and include it in your schedule. Let it be the best time when drowsiness, tiredness or calls from outside do not disturb you. For most people early morning is the best time. Try to pray every day at the fixed time that it may become a habit in you. How wonderful it is if you can meet the Lord at the same time every day. 

What is Personal Prayer

Personal prayer is not reciting prayers from some pious books, it is not saying the rosary, or reading the Bible, it is not time to pray for others, it is not to pray before a picture or a statue. 

It is you and your God alone; it is closing the door of your eyes and ears and entering into the sanctuary of your heart where you meet the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit.

Praise and Thank God continuously

It is good to praise and thank God for sometime to enter into personal prayer. Where there is praise there is God! Enter His presence with praise and thanksgiving. Have a lot of praises and thanksgiving during your prayer. Praises will keep you away from distractions and bondages that come from the evil one.

Once you are in His presence surrender yourself before Him with small songs like  Father I adore you, lay my life before You (Son and Spirit) . Anyone in the presence of the Lord will feel his unworthiness and unholiness to be in His all Holy and Almighty presence. Hence one must spend little time asking God pardon and mercy for the sins committed.  

You must experience the compassionate and merciful Heart of Jesus from where the Living Water flows into your heart washing you and cleansing you and giving you a new heart (Ez 36:26). After receiving His pardon and after having reconciled with God and having forgiven all, you must again thank and praise God for His goodness to you. Forgive everyone and be reconciled with all in your heart (Mk 11:25) 

Healing and Release of all Bondages

Spend sometime in asking the Lord to heal you from your past wounds of the heart and of the present. Bring all your wounded memories to the Lord and get yourself healed by the wounds of Christ. By His wounds you are healed (I Pet 2:24). 

Present your hurt feelings, your feelings of rejections, unlove, fear, anxiety, inferiority complex - all negative experiences to the Lord s wounds and claim your healing of the heart. Present the scars of your past sins, guilt, sadness, etc. to Him and claim a deep inner peace and joy within. In this precious moment of grace you must get yourself freed from all bad habits and the desires of the flesh so that on that day you will not be conquered by sin. 

You will hear Jesus telling in your heart,  My grace is sufficient for you  (II Cor 12:9). During this time can ask for your own physical healings too if you have any. 

After having obtained a new life in Jesus through repentance and inner healing surrender your entire self to the Lord, your heart, your mind, and every part of your body, your plans, your desires, your work, your money, your programs, your travel, your relationships, etc. (Rom 6: 12-19). 

Sing loudly in your heart

You can sing in your heart a good song of surrender like  All to  Jesus I surrender  Along with the surrender of your complete self you must ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with power and grace. You may sing a small song to the Holy Spirit. Open your heart to the Spirit and receive the Spirit with all fruits, gifts and charismas (Gal 5: 22-23; Is 11: 2; I Cor 12: 4-10). 

This must be the most beautiful time of your personal prayer. Here you will have various experiences of God, like the Living Water flowing through you with love, peace and joy. You may experience the Lord's presence in you with spiritual, emotional manifestations too. 

You may, here, have visions; perhaps you may hear the Lord speaking to you giving you guidance and direction. If you have presented a problem to Him, you will definitely get an answer. Through this insight, revelations, words of the Spirit within you, you will hear the Spirit telling you  do this, don't do this, go this way, don't go this way, etc. 

Personal and Intimate friendship with Jesus

During this most important part of your personal prayer you are entering into a personal friendship with Him. Here you can speak to Him whatever you want like a brother or a friend (Jn 15: 15). Make intimacy with the Lord in your heart. 

Commit your life to the Lord

During this time you may make decisions with the Lord for that day so that all you do will be according to His will and plan. If the Lord tells you not to do certain things or to alter your plans be obedient to Him. 

Feel and Accept God's Love

Fill yourself with as much as grace possible for you so that you may walk in His grace and love. Have much thanksgiving and praise giving in His sweet and loving Presence. If you spend the time well with the Lord, you will not know how your time has passed with the Lord. 

End your prayer with the Sign of the Cross

When you end the prayer you may make a sign of the Cross on important part of your body and entrust yourself to the blood of Christ for protection and care. Thus with much grace and God's love do the works of the day with much peace and joy. If you pray this you will see many blessings of the Lord daily in your life and you will see that the Spirit leads you.
 

Enkindling the Gift of the Holy Spirit received by the Laying on of hands - 2Timothy 1:6

Priests retreat. Bialystok - Poland. May 16 - 20. 2011

 Arch Bishop Most Rt. Rev Edward  Ozorowski and Fr James

Fr. James preached a retreat for priests in Poland at Bialystok in the Shrine of the Divine Mercy from 16th May to 20th. 

Some 134 priests attended the retreat with great enthusiasm. Most of the priests were from the Arch Diocese of Bialystok. There were some religious priests also. Fr. Jiji Manjackal, nephew of Fr. James,a missionary of St. Francis de Sales working in Philippines also was there to attend the retreat. All the priests attended the retreat from the beginning to the end.

The subject of the retreat was "enkindling the Gift of the Holy Spirit received by the Laying on of hands" ( 2Tim 1:6). All the talks were on priesthood. 

On the second day in spite of his heavy schedule of visiting parishes, the Arch Bishop Most Rt. Rev Edward  Ozorowski came to the hall to greet the participants and to give a short message. There was inner healing prayers and prayer of renewal of priesthood by the laying on hands.

On the last day some 18 priests gave testimonies of healing, conversion and change of lives.The retreat was organized by Ewa Gierejko and her community under the able guidance of Fr.Zbigniew Snarski, the spiritual director of the seminary. 

The priest's retreat officially ended with the concelebrated mass of all these priests on 20th at 3PM in the big Shrine of the Divine Mercy where the relics of St.Faustina and of her spiritual director Bl.ks.Michala are venerably preserved. 

More than 2000 people attended the Mass. The Sanctuary was packed with people. Fr. James preached and prayed for healing after the Mass. After the prayers of healing, all the priests went down to the people to lay hands on the people and to bless them individually. 

It was a great experience  of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the people gathered.

 Testimonies of priests

Some Testimonies of priests who attended retreat with Fr James

1. "When I attended the retreat of Fr.James at Torus last year, I was liberated from my habit of smoking for 25 years.In this retreat I received much inner healing.My priesthood is renewed. "

2. "In the past I had six surgeries.When I came to this retreat I was unable to kneel down.Now I am fully healed, I can kneel down for hours without pain.The Holy Spirit healed my soul and gave me a new heart."

3. "During the prayers my name was called out, I received an inner healing from feelings of fear ,and rejection.I received the gift of forgiveness.I was able to forgive all.Now I am filled with great joy and peace" 

4. "In this retreat I prayed for the gift of chastity and clelibacy,and the Lord gave them to me.I am healed of my pains on my knees "

5. "I am healed from all fears and inferiority complex. I am strenghtened in my priesthood.  "

http://www.jmanjackal.net/eng/priestespl.htm

Father James Manjackal 
He is a missionary in the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales. He was born on 18 April 1946 in Cheruvally, in the state of Kerala in South India. He was ordained priest on 23 April 1973. In 1989 he founded “Charis Bhavan” – a Charismatic Renewal Retreat Centre in Kerala. One of his books entitled “33 Charismatic Prayers” has been translated into a  dozen or so languages. From May 16 to 20 the charismatic preacher will conduct a retreat for priests at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Bialystok (more info on: www.rekolekcje.bialystok.pl). From July 14-17  Fr. James will preach a retreat for married couples in Bialystok. This year he will also conduct retreats in Ostroleka, Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poznan and Torun.
  

Fr James preaches risen Christ with immense power and authority to muslims in Saudi Arabia and across the Globe

With six other priests I had the opportunity to participate on this extraordinary retreat again. I published about this retreat the testimony of 4 pages and now I want to add additional impressions. These retreats are truly exceptional and difficult to compare with any other. The person standing in front of you is someone who is absolutely and totally committed to God, is permeated by God and blessed with extraordinary gifts of healings, and enters into the depths of faith. The testimonies that he gives are difficult to describe. The experience is necessary. Not only encyclopedic but especially experienced biblical concept is remarkable beside the gift of healing and entering into a special human problems.

For example, with the concept of Sin he is able to open directly a flood of biblical references that fit completely into one another and form a logical whole. Very few people truly love God and they miss the context. At this time we live in a special stage of eclipse and because the absence of a deep inner relationship I might even call it DARKNESS. Many great theologians certainly exceed in biblical science but in their recitation and the concept is more perceptible great professionalism and a kind of restraint and caution to the enthusiasm and the right radicalism. Contrary Father James has it very genuine and real. 

His impressive speech in which he emphasis on clear and vocal diction, which is interwoven with examples, singing and repeating the commonplace as it should be Jesus, Jesus, and similar lunatic speeches emphasizing literally live connection with the Lord, this is something UNPRECEDENTED, POWERFUL and LIBERATING: there is no need to worry about any superficiality or that some comes on the retreat just because of the healing. If such a person just wants the healing this person is quickly literally sucked into the drama of reality to the Bible, the Holy Scriptures. This person sees and hears and turns. Otherwise one would have run away, because there is not other option.

I was personally very strengthened by the presence of another outstanding priest who with his bravery and courage proved to be in a church in many ways. It's a Jesuit father Francis Lízna, who I grandly admire. Certainly there are known his books describing his incredible journeys across Europe, from Fatima to the Crimea and elsewhere. Alone, on his foots! Father Francis himself testified about his initial skepticism when his parishioners enthusiastically recounted the events of past retreat, which I wrote a long essay, and made no secret of his prior doubts. Now he saw and believed. 

Here I would like to mention some of the pain of this kind, where we hear different skeptical views of those who did not experience something similar themselves. Here I should highlight the amazing father Cardinal Christoph Schönborn who visited Medjugorje and gave very strong testimony at the end of last year. Therefore SOLID and CLEAR SOUND OF CHURCH is extremely valuable, especially at this difficult age full of half-hearted and empty phrases. 

Father James is here absolutely authentic. You can clearly see that his every word is a hammer blow, but it is also full of love and understanding. There is no feel of many insurances and rhetorical maneuvering which can be sometimes perceived in other cases. To be sure, such expressions can be also valuable because everyone has the opportunity to create these semi-real images of truth. 

But father JAMES has this view prepared in his heart and with immense power and authority he communicates it. His amazing courage to preach to the Muslims in the Persian Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia is something incredible. He also published evidence of his suffering and torture that he experienced and it is always evidence of authenticity. 

Some people are worried about the future of the Church. It is utter nonsense, because the Holy Bible is clear "that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". But they can overwhelm individuals who lose the truth of Christ and take the myths, or even restrictions of institutions that promote crimes especially in the moral area.
 

I am not specific here, because every thinking creature, which is set in the realities of the world perceives the ongoing corruption that is in the stage of crystallization and early will occur in numerous confrontations, which have long been evident in countries with an Islamic majority. Attacks and harassment, which has prelude in different types of chicanes and even attacks on the head of the church will naturally grow as Christians do not extend to the forms that are degrading any religion. It is about violence.
 

It always starts at the stage of chimeric perception of the situation in which a supporter of the violent concepts forces to remove all obstacles and chooses the absurdity as it was invading Iraq or bombing of Belgrade. It can be expected in the near future as well. Satan, whom many don’t consider as a real entity forms his followers exactly as he was tempted Jesus in the desert and in other situations, he is becoming increasingly impatient, and as the murderer from the beginning will soon lead physical attacks on the believers. 

Therefore, it is so fundamentally important to use even this SHORT TIME OF GRACE and fully open to God. Hopefully not because of the certainty that we shall be saved physically, but to save the SOUL. The soul is immortal. Therefore we are so grateful to father James and others, to father Anthony, who has such a great gift for young people and other God gifted witnesses. Therefore, we are grateful for MEDJUGORJE, for FATIMA but also for all other places where we hope that MOTHER MARY comes, or came to repeat what she said at Cana: MAKE EVERYTHING HE SAID ... 

Time we are experiencing is difficult. But has it been easy anytime in history? And just when Christians were experiencing oppression their inner strength grew. The exterior was removed by cleansing, imprisonments, liquidations. It precedes the professional preparation and moral addiction to money, power, influence. Today's modern-day slaves tying with their commitments in their golden cages, cut off from reality and thinking that their power is the power and money are actually the most vulnerable because they live outside of reality. But also normal ordinary people are making their “absurd land” with their addictions of all kinds.
 

I just watched part of a program on our youth, wallowing in meaningless games full of violence and killings on the internet and saw how this device is diabolical. Yes, it is a fact. But there is also something much more beautiful and fuller. There is an offer of our Lord Jesus Christ and His gift of love that we can discover and draw. It is a way of life, not skulls and deadheads killers, not destructive violence.

Dear father James thank you ... I'll try at least a brief lift in English and I would be very grateful if there can be found someone who could make at least short extract out of this writing.

Retreats for next year are already full! Let us pray that father James could come more often and in particular to GIVE RETREATS TO THE PRIESTS! We need it the most. Our priest's duty is to preach the CHRIST and not myths or pleasant stories. God's word is strong and sharp, and gives an opportunity for reflection: 

• WHERE DO I GO? 
• AM I IN THE MERCY? 
• DO I LOVE JESUS and the CHURCH? The one founded by Jesus? The one true and Catholic?
• Do I love Mary, or am I playing a double game that reverence for Mother of God wouldn’t touch someone? 

These are personal issues. Let us thank God that there are preaching people who stand on full Apostolic foundation. Pray for courage and wisdom especially for those who are entrusted to lead the Church.

Let us pray for the Holy Father, it's a solid column, let us pray and give thanks for Czech father Primate Archbishop DOMINICA DUKA on the St. Adalbert Tribune. Lets ignore provocations and attacks, but entrust the Holy Spirit, He'll make what is own to him and create the church in the power of true witnesses. Let us be full of peace, because we are VICTORIOUS. With the Christ on the cross and even when we go though painful time, let us rejoice anyway. Peace and goodness and a lot of grace... 

Published on Magnificat (Slovakia) - Click here for the original page

http://www.magnificat.sk/2011/01/katolicti-knezi-pro-jezise/

Heavenly Father's Love Letter

My Beloved Child,

 You may not know me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways. Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image. Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being. Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring. Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation. Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb. Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born. Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me. John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. 1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. 1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. 1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father. Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you. Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession. Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things. Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires. Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus. John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being. Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. 1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me. 1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen. Luke 15:7

I have always been Father, and will always be Father. Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is - Will you be my child? John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you. Luke 15:11-32


Love,

Your Dad.

Holy Spirit's Empowerment changed me to - live JESUS - Fr James M - personal testimony

I decided to live for Jesus alone and to spend my life in preaching His Kingdom - Fr James Manjakal M.S.F.S

At home from my childhood I have heard my mother praying to the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the evening family prayers which would last one to one and half hours. Later in the seminary at the beginning of the classes and important events there used to be a prayer or a hymn to the Holy Spirit. This is all I knew of the Holy Spirit in the past. There was not even a teaching or a thesis on the Holy Spirit in my theology course. Of course I knew from my catechism that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and that He gives grace in our lives. But I never had an experience of the Holy Spirit until I came to it through the powerful prayer of a young man. After my ordination to priesthood on the 23rd April 1973 I worked in the missions of Visakhapatnam for about an year and then I was appointed as a professor in S.F.S. Seminary Ettumanoor, Kerala. As I was a student in the seminary it was my earnest desire to be professor in a University or seminary, a comfortable and honourable position in priestly life. I could never imagine going about like a vagabond from place to place putting up with different situations, people, culture and food. In myself I was seeking material comforts and security of happy living. In 1975 I happened to read articles on healings and the gift of tongues from an American Magazine "New Covenant". I could not believe that on these days people are healed by faith and prayers. I scoffed the gift of tongues saying that it must be the hysteric mournings of women!. My mind was filled with the pride of my knowledge in Philosophy and Psychology. Then I heard about a Charismatic retreat in Poona in North India. Along with an old priest of my own congregation I attended the retreat preached by Fr. James D´Souza. He was a powerful preacher and a good singer. I liked his preaching and singing. I did not go for a healing prayer as I was not sick. I made a good confession and followed all the instructions of the preacher like raising and clapping hands. When he spoke of the gift of tongues and other Charisms I thought they were not for me but would be for the spiritually elite. On the day of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit I prepared myself well and sat on the chair along with other participants. I did not experience anything special during the laying on of the hands.

The preacher while praying over me said, "James one day you are going to be a charismatic preacher", hearing this I laughed loudly and said "never, never". Not only that I could not accept the peculiar ways of the Charismatics but I was always a timid person in front of others. In my school days and later in my seminary training I was unable to give a speech. Even after my ordination I was a total failure on pulpit. I still remember well what happened to me at my first sermon. After my ordination with much reluctance I agreed to celebrate the Mass and to preach on the following day which was a Sunday. At home I had prepared a few notes on the Gospel of the day and kept them on the side of my new Bible. I had no problem in saying the Mass because I would look at the Mass-book and recite the prayers and at other times I used to keep my eyes closed as I was scared of looking at the people. After the reading of the Gospel I fixed my both eyes on the main door at the back of the Church and began to search for the papers with notes kept on the side of the Bible. I became so nervous and fearful, I forgot whether I kept them on the right side or left. I was afraid to pluck the eyes from the door and look into the Bible for I thought by doing so I would see the people and with the stage-fear I would fall down even. Already I was shivering and sweating. Several times I attempted to address the audience saying "my dear, my dear...." I couldn't say an single sentence. A few minutes already passed, seeing my pathetic condition the parish priest whispered through the window "enough that you preached, now you can continue with the Mass." Like a balloon blown out, with shame and self-pity, I continued the Mass. I was sure that the people might have been laughing or sympathising with this timid young new priest!. After the Mass when I went to the Sacristy the priest commented "He is a missionary of St. Francis de Sales, what is he going to preach". That is the reason I laughed when the preacher told that I would be a preacher. But it was a prophesy!. For the last 32 years my life was spent only on preaching all around the world!.

On the last day of the retreat almost every participant gave testimonies of healing, experience of prophesy, vision, tongues, etc. But I had no testimony to give. Many had the experience of meeting Jesus and had heard Him speaking to them! I felt sad. I began to accuse myself of my pride in not co-operating fully with the retreat and not yielding to the action of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps at this point in the depth of my heart I began to desire and thirst for the Spirit. With much curiosity many of my friends asked me of what I had received in the retreat but I could not give a precise reply. It was one week after the retreat that I fell seriously ill for the first time in life. I was in two hospitals for more than four months. I became weak and pale. I could not eat food due to my pains in the stomach. I had severe back-pain. I would vomit out even the tablets given. Standing up I could not say Mass, I used to say Mass on my bed with the help of some other priests. Seeing my severe pain and my pathetic condition many thought that I would not survive even. At last my sickness was diagnosed to be Tuberculosis in the kidney along with kidney stones and infections. I was to have ninety injections and two year's tablets for the cure of T.B. The doctor suggested a surgery in the kidney after ninety days of injection.

On the seventh day since the treatment started, something great happened in my life which changed the whole of my life. In the afternoon after my usual siesta I was talking from my bed to two sisters who came to visit me. Suddenly a young man of twenty came towards me and asked "Father, shall I pray over you for healing". At that time the Charismatic renewal was not known and spread in Kerala, not even priests used to say prayer for healing. But the Pentecostals used to pray for healings. As a Catholic priest I would not like a Pentecostal laying hands over me, a priest. When I asked him of his identity he said that it was only eight months that he had met the Lord and received baptism and that he was endowed with many charisms of the Holy Spirit. I could not believe then that it was the Spirit who told him while travelling in the bus to come and pray over me in the hospital. Never we had known each other before! He did not wait for my permission to lay hands, ending the sharing of his testimony he laid his hands over my head and started praying. He prayed "Father in Heaven, send your Son Jesus now to this priest suffering from kidney T.B., kidney stones and infections and restore him complete health of body and soul". Then I thought in my mind that he might have seen the hospital chart where my sicknesses were reported!. I did not then know that he was praying with the gift of word and knowledge. Several times he was shouting out praises to God and sometimes praying in tongues too. I felt some kind of power flowing from his hands towards me. Then I began to know the power of praise and loud prayer. In the retreat I could not appreciate the noisy prayers with loud praises. Suddenly I thought of the prayer of the Blind Beggar Barthimaeus. He was praying loud "Son of David, have mercy on me". Although the disciples tried to keep him quiet, he kept calling out all the more. Then Jesus called him to his side and granted his request (Mk 10: 46-52). Expressions of the mouth are the expressions of the heart indeed!. A loud and intense words of the mouth is the sincere outpouring of the great desire and faith of the soul. "I cry aloud to God, aloud I cry to God that He may hear me" (Ps 77: 1). The apostles at the time of the first persecution raised their voices to God and prayed. Their prayer was so powerful as to shake the house where they gathered (Acts 4: 24-31). All my scepticism about noisy prayers was fully healed. I too began to pray with him with loud praises.

Then the boy began to pray with a different tone pointing towards my inner-self of the past life. He prayed "O Lord this priest is a good priest but he is unable to preach your Gospel for he is very shy and timid because of his inferiority complex which he developed in his early childhood. He lost his father when he was seven. He felt himself rejected and discriminated among the other five children with whom he grew. The young widowed mother had a lot of problems to bring up the children. As he was very fat and big in size his brothers and sisters were fooling him by calling "fatty". The school companions used to call him "blacky" because of his colour. Thus this child was very much wounded in his early childhood. He has a lot of resentment in his heart towards many. Lord, Holy Spirit take away his inner wounds and resentments and give him a new inner-self. Set him free from all his bondages and power of darkness. O, Holy Spirit fill his heart with your love...." I was astonished at this prayer. He was cutting my inner-self into pieces with the power of the word of God (Heb 4: 12). All what he said was true in my life. I knew that all what he said in prayer was not in the hospital chart! He was reading a chart from the Holy Spirit!. In tears I remembered the words of Jesus "I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike" (Lk 10: 21). Again I shed tears over my pride, specially of my intellectual pride. I felt I was so mean in my worldly knowledge to measure and limit the immeasurable and unlimited wisdom and love of God. I realised that this young man, a new convert was born again in the Spirit while I, a traditional Catholic, an ordained priest, remained in the flesh. I began to understand that what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love Him, this God has revealed through the Spirit, for the Spirit scrutinises everything, even the depths of God (I Cor 2: 9-10). I felt the living water flowing through me and liberating me. I felt a kind of power flowing through. There was a feeling of warmth on my stomach and on the part of the kidney on the back. I believed that the Lord was healing me. I claimed the healing and praised Jesus.

At the same time I had a fear within whether this man who was seeing me through and through, would speak out my hidden sins too specially in front of these two sisters. Then he prayed "Jesus it is you who called him to priesthood, but he is offering Masses with an unclean heart and unclean hands". The words of prophet Malachi came to my mind and began to convict me of my unholiness in priesthood. "O priests you are despising my name by offering polluted offerings on the Altar." (Mal 1: 6-7). He continued his prayer saying "this priest is having a lot of unforgiveness towards many, give him grace to forgive others and wash him in your precious blood and give him a heart whiter than snow" (Is 1: 18). By this time the Holy Spirit himself began to convict me of my sins (Jn 16: 8). I did not know that the boy had gone out of the room with the sisters to pray over for others. I saw a white sheet of paper in front of me in which all my sins were clearly written, sins that were confessed, and sometimes hidden in the confessions due to fear and shame. I saw clearly the people towards whom I had unforgiveness and with whom I had not reconciled in my heart. I saw my heart which was covered and darkened with the veil of bad habits and the web of insincerity. The word that the communion in an unholy heart brings condemnation (I Cor 11: 27) began to push me into a deep crisis in my inner conscience. I had a deep rooted bad habit from my teenage. Even my hands were stained with the stink of smoke. In tears I told "Lord, I can't get out of these bad habits. I am helpless. I can't continue as a holy priest". In tears I began to cry out to the Lord, perhaps first time in life praying with tears. I was in utter confusion whether I should leave my priesthood or continue. The Spirit in me was telling if I continued I should be a holy priest, a different person. I thought that the Masses offered in the past were not accepted by my Father in Heaven and none of my prayers were heard by the Lord. When I went to the Altar I should have forgiven and reconciled (Mt 5: 23). I should have forgiven others in order that my prayers would be effective (Mk 11: 25). I thought that I was a wretched being, totally lost! I was in total darkness, doubt and confusion. I thought I was defrauding God and others with my priesthood. I was praying in my helplessness "Lord save me a sinner".

My God Lord did not abandon me in my desperation. First time in my life I saw the Risen Lord walking towards me in full light. His face was glowing, His white garments were glittering. He was surrounded by many angels. I could hear the melodious music of the angels. He put His hands over my shoulder, I became very small before Him. He spoke to me very clearly "James, you are my priest forever. Even when I was conceived in my mother's womb (Mary's womb) you were there as a priest sharing my eternal priesthood. I forgive all your sins and make you completely new". It was a big revelation for me that I was in His body when He took the human form. Mary became my mother much before Jesus gave her up to mankind on the Cross saying "Behold your mother...". I really experienced the closeness of mother Mary, I felt I was consoled and healed in her lap although I did not see her. I have no words to express my experiences in this ecstasy which lasted for more than three and half hours. The Lord told me to make a good general confession of my past life. Also He instructed me to go and get reconciled with those with whom I had ill feelings. In my long time of seminary training or in the Noviciate I never had the experience of encountering Jesus in prayer or of hearing this sweet voice although my novice master and my spiritual directors tried to teach me to contemplate and to pray. Now I knew that prayer and contemplation was not something which I could achieve but which I could receive only as pure gift of the Spirit.

I woke up from my graceful dream when a nurse called me my name. I saw her standing before me with the injections and tablets. With much joy in my heart I told her that I had a deep experience of the touch of Jesus and that I was healed. As she left the room I was praising God with a strange voice, I felt that my language and words were removed and the Holy Spirit gave another language and words the meaning of which were unintelligible to me. The very gift, the gift of tongues, which I did not want, was given to me by my Lord. I was really trying to comprehend with all the holy ones the breath and length and height and depth of the immeasurable love of God manifested through Jesus, His Son (Eph 3: 18). After a while the doctor who diagnosed my illness and prescribed the medicines came and scolded me for not taking the medicines. He said "Father you are a priest, I believe that you have some sense and knowledge, do you think that you are healed by the prayer of that newly converted boy. If you don't take medicine you will get a relapse." I said "sorry doctor, I shall take the medicine but I know I am healed by the prayer of the boy". I took the tablets and yielded to the injection in front of the doctor because I knew that doctors and medicines were in the plan of God and I promised that I would continue the medicine until he would tell otherwise (Sir 38: 1-2).

I was happy and joyful. I began to tell the bystanders and sisters about my healing. I could have a deep and sound sleep that night without a sleeping pill. That was the first physical healing I received. Ever since I got the kidney problem I could not sleep without a sedation. I got up at 4 a.m. as someone woke me up. Surely it was the Lord (from that day I do my personal prayer daily in the morning at 4 a.m.). I sat on my chair and prayed for one and half hours with the same experience of the previous day and even with much more. At this prayer the Lord put His wisdom into my mouth and gave power to preach His Kingdom and commanded me to resign my job as a seminary professor and to go out to preach. After the prayer I had a morning walk for an hour. Till the previous day I was unable to get up alone from the bed and to walk around in the room!. After a bath I went to the Chapel and celebrated the Mass amidst more than one hundred and fifty people. The reading of the Gospel was from Luke chapter nineteen, the story of Zecchaeus. Without any previous preparation, fully relying on the Holy Spirit I was able to preach for eighteen minutes and that too looking at the face of the people. I felt that I was completely set free from the burden and bondage of fear and inferiority complex. I felt a special intimacy with those who were in the Mass. I could look at them with freedom and love and I felt that each one was my brother or sister. After the Mass having noticed my change in my behaviour the doctor ordered for a repetition of all laboratory tests. Then he called me to his room and showed me the old and new results of the clinical tests and confirmed that my kidney was completely healed and that I could stop all medicines and get discharged from the hospital. I don't know how to explain the joy that I felt at that moment. I said, "praise the Lord" and embraced the doctor and left the hospital.

I went out of the hospital as a new man with new decisions and determinations. I decided to live for Jesus alone and to spend my life in preaching His Kingdom. I resigned my job as a professor and stepped out for preaching after spending forty days fasting and prayer. Ever since 17th. February 1976 when I preached my first charismatic retreat, probably the ever first charismatic retreat preached in Malayalam, in Kerala, till now I have spent my time in preaching His word only. My loving superiors then had offered several chances to go to Germany or to Rome to pursue doctorate but I refused because the Spirit told me, "I am sufficient for you". "No one who has set a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Lk 9: 62). During my seminary training when I saw many of my companions being sent abroad for higher studies I had a great desire to go abroad for degrees. Thanks be to God, now the Lord has fulfilled my desire with my continuos preaching of the Kingdom abroad. How true it is that when we surrender any of our worldly desires for the sake of the Lord, He would return it hundred-fold!. It is true that Jesus made use of me to build a prayer house for Him, at Athirampuzha, Kerala, known as Charis Bhavan. In my preaching of retreats, conventions and healing services I had to meet with oppositions and persecutions even. But the Word of God, that every one who wants to live a holy life would be persecuted, consoled me and strengthened me (II Tim 3: 12). I know that all the gifts and powers given to me, a weak being, in an earthern vessel to behold the treasure of his power (II Cor 4: 7). With St. Paul I too will say that I have the strength for everything through Him who empowers me (Phil 4: 13). His power was manifested in time of my kidnaps and my imprisonment, in the Muslim world of Arab countries, and in insults and in misunderstandings by my own superiors and friends. I conclude my testimony with the words of St. Peter, "Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed, you also may rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the Name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you" (I Pet 4: 12-14).od rests upon you" (I Pet 4: 12-14).