Newsletter – 5th Week of Eastertide

Dear Friends

This week has been busy for most people I have spoken to. Even the children at primary and secondary School have been taking exams and studying hard.

When we are too busy, we tend to be irritable and get stressed out easily.  We are in no condition to glorify God through our lives, and we are too busy to see the grace of God at work in the world around us.  That is why it is important for us to slow down and take some time to grow closer to God.  Instead of thinking of God for just a few minutes when we wake up or fall asleep, our prayers to God should be constant throughout the day.  Slowing down will give us more time for reflection in our daily lives. 

Excessive busyness as being a major problem among teenagers as well as adults.  Many young people are involved in school, sports, clubs, and other activities.  They are often busy from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep.  In today’s world, we are constantly busy. 

Technology has given us instant communication.  We are always doing something; we have continuous access to entertainment at our fingertips.  Our world is filled with noise. 

This way of life can become dangerous for teenagers, as it can for anyone.  A schedule that is overly busy is not healthy physically or spiritually.  We need to remember to allow ourselves enough time to see the goodness of God in our lives.  The Lord tells us, “Be still and know that I am God,” (Ps. 46:11) and this is important advice for us to follow as we strive to live as Christians. 

It may not be easy to see God in our daily lives today, since God is no longer walking among us, just as He did at the time of the disciples, to whom He appeared often after His resurrection. But do we then abandon God in the search of something more tangible, for something more real? That is why many of the faithful in Christ had lapsed in their faith in God, simply because they had been allured by the evil one and his myriad tools that he used to lure mankind away from God.

God’s love and faith in us will be a key weapon in the fight against the devil and his fallen angels, who ceaselessly tried to divert us from the true path towards the Lord. But we must remain faithful to him.

Many of us are so embroiled and involved in our pursuit for success and wealth, that we forgot that the Lord is always with us. We enjoy the company of money and material goods more than we do the Lord.

How many of us find it a great chore to just go and attend the Sunday Mass to worship our Lord? And how many of us then spend so much time in our career and our work, and in the attempt to secure more pay and more money? With many of us seduced by the allure of money, and in our obsession of attaining more of it, we forget the Lord and His love.

The Lord Himself had said, that we should not worry about our lives and what we are to have in our daily lives, since God Himself will provide all that we need, just like how He provided for the animals and other beings that He had created.

It is important that we know how to listen to Him and hear His voice.  In today’s busy, chaotic world, we can easily miss His voice if we do not slow down long enough to listen.  Only in silence and prayer can we truly hear what God is saying in our hearts.  It is important to our spiritual health that we do not become exceedingly busy to the point that we are never able to hear God speak in our lives. The busier we are the more we need to make sure that we spend an adequate amount of time in reflection and prayer.  

May God bless all of us.

With my warmest wishes

Andrew

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