Month: January 2019

Christian Living 

# Simply Good

Walking On Water

Imagine if Jesus was walking on water and asked you to come and walk on water with Him. Even though skeptical at first, you start walking towards Jesus, fixing your eyes on Him. Suddenly, you look in a different direction. You look down in fear and then start sinking. Gasping for breath, Jesus quickly comes to your rescue; He reaches out to you and lifts you up. This is what happened to our first pope, St Peter. We may find this happening in our lives as well. We must ride and wrestle with the waves of life, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. So, how do we keep our eyes fixed on the Saviour and avoid sinking, in spite of our sins and the temptations we encounter?

Love for Neighbours

In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, Jesus depicts how the final judgement of people will take place. Jesus will ask whether you fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, and performed other services of love. When we have the opportunity, we should serve our neighbours in these ways. But God is also asking us to feed our neighbours with His Word, and to share His teachings with those who are thirsty, because only Jesus can provide living water. “On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, He cried out, -‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me” (John 7:37). Often, we move on to the next step in life, thinking that we just have to be good. But God did not call us just to be good, He called us to be holy. He called us not simply to be comfortable, but to strive for even greater holiness. We might be under the illusion that we do not have to serve God until we become adults and settled with jobs, but the truth is that God is calling each one of us to serve Him here and now.

A Poignant Example

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati lived his entire life as a young man for God. Even while studying, he offered every moment as part of God’s will. He chose to learn mining engineering because he wanted to serve Christ among miners. Whatever little he had, he offered to the poor in the streets. He got out of his comfort zone to speak against the fascist and communist ideals in society and cared for the sick in his community. Helping the poor in the slums during a polio epidemic, he contracted polio, yet he remained selfless. Even while he was gravely ill, he still cared for his dying grandmother. The night before his death, Pier Giorgio asked a friend to buy medicine for a poor sick man he had been visiting. In every moment of his life, he gave glory to God. Just like this young man, we are called to be the new saints of the 21 century. As the author of the poem “We Need Saints” recites, “We need saints without veil or cassock. We need saints who wear jeans and sneakers…we need modern saints, saints of the 21 century with spirituality that is part of our time.”

Will We Have Struggles?

Yes, of course, we will face temptations and persecution from our own peers who may persecute us. People may reject or ignore us. We may even have physical sufferings, but like Blessed Pier Giorgio, we should pray for the desire to serve God even through these trials. Remember that God is with us and that He gave His mother, Mary, to be our mother to accompany us every step of the way. When Sr Lucia became a Marian visionary as a pre-teen, she suffered not only from the disbelief of the Portuguese government officials, but also from her own mother. throughout her suffering Mother Mary and Jesus were always by her side. Just like Sr Lucia, we will be guided by our Blessed Mother in all our difficulties.

Not Alone

Let us remember that we have all the Saints and our own guardian angel, constantly interceding for us. The ‘Word of God’ is our weapon to fight against all evil. Furthermore, we can receive His power in flesh and blood at every Holy Mass to refuel our strength. God has gifted us with the Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so we can always go back to God to receive His forgiveness and grace and to enable us to strive to sin no more. We have been bestowed with the promise of eternal life. Therefore, let us pray that our hope in this promise is increased and let us strive to live for God, for holiness.

St John Paul II reminds us, “Remember that you are never alone, Christ is with you on your journey every day of your lives! He has called you and chosen you to live in the freedom as the children of God. Turn to Him in prayer and in love. Ask Him to always grant you the courage and strength to live in this freedom. Walk with Him, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

by Tina Makkanal from Georgia, USA

Testimony 

God will never let you down

Afew years ago, I would have described myself as quite faithful. To me, faith was all about saying as many prayers as I could. But did I really pray? However, moving on I realized that I didn’t really know how strong my faith in God was. From hearing various testimonies and experiencing a gift myself, I have come to understand that God doesn’t look at how many prayers we say, rather listens to those who place their trust in Him. “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their trouble” (Psalm 34:17). For me, faith came when I had wanted to be placed in Set 1 for maths. I said my prayers, but was never placed in Set 1, the top set. I was in Set 3 out of 4. Personally, for me, this was very disappointing.

I was so caught up in world, that I forgot, without God I would be nothing. I kept telling myself that I would get what I wanted if I worked hard enough for it. At a recent retreat that I attended, a speaker said that it doesn’t matter how much effort you put in, God must approve of that plan too. “For surely I know the plans I have for you” says the LORD, “plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). After two whole years of trying to reach this goal with my own ‘strength’ I was still behind. Even though I went to a Catholic school, attended church weekly and attended retreats, I had not found my faith or established a connection with God. Gradually over time, I learnt that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Recently, while on holiday, I attended St Anthony’s Church in Kochi, India. After hearing the powerful testimonies, I decided to make an intercession through St Anthony. I promised Jesus that if I reached my goal, I would write an article for KR Magazine to share my experience, in the hope to change others’ views on faith. At the start of the new academic year, I was overwhelmed when I found out that I was in Set 1 for maths. I was so ecstatic that I jumped up and down with joy. Today I thank the Lord for what He has done for me, fully convinced that He will always be the bright light in my life.

by Helen James, UK

Faith 

To Go Forth And Beyond

God who is holy and mighty, left His heavenly home and came to dwell with us to redeem the entire humanity. The love of God is, therefore, revealed through the newborn baby Jesus.

Who Is This Child?

“The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength. He has created the world; it shall never be moved. Your throne was established from of old; you are from all eternity” (Psalm 93:1-2). The words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary echo these words, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). Upon studying these verses and contemplating on the life of Jesus, we can understand why the Magi (the three wise kings) visited a child from such a humble family who was born in a manger. The baby in Mary’s arms is not only the King and Lord of all, but also the Saviour of the world. The story of salvation now begins to unfold; everyone who comes into contact with this Divine Child and embraces the new life that streams from Him, will be saved.

Named for a Purpose

This Divine Child was not named by Joseph, His foster-father, nor by His mother, Mary. He was named by the Almighty God and given the name Jesus, which means ‘Saviour’. Life is a gift from God. Even before we were conceived, God has chosen us to accomplish a specific purpose here on earth. “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10). This purpose is uniquely designed for each one of us. This is the end of our identity search. We come to the realization that it is the Lord who named us, who designates our purpose in His kingdom, that our parents are custodians of our life while we are here on earth, and that His desire is to have all of us with Him in heaven. This means that parents have a divine responsibility for each child that they are blessed with. It is for this reason that the Holy Family becomes the icon upon which every family on earth is meant to learn from.

A Life of Purpose

For the Divine Child to arrive and accomplish His purpose, it required a ‘Yes’ from Mary. Her ‘fiat’ changed the course of history for all of humanity, even though the task at hand was huge for such a teenage girl to grasp. The Lord desires each one of us to say ‘Yes’ to Him every day, to choose Him over and above everything else, to accept Him to rule and reign over our heart and life, to trust Him through everything and above all, to love Him. We can always look up to and learn from Mary how to say ‘Yes’ to God, even when we don’t understand. God constantly challenges those who believe in Him to “to go forth.” Abraham received the call to set out for a new land (Genesis 12:1-3). Moses heard God’s call, “So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:10). To Jeremiah God said, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you” (Jeremiah 1:7). In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis highlights the fact that each one who is a believer of the Lord Jesus, has a mission to accomplish here on earth. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). This is how the risen Christ has sent His followers to preach the Gospel, so that faith in Him might spread to every corner of the earth. Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” still holds as true today as when it was given to His disciples. Every Christian must discern the path that the Lord points out for them and must obey His call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to spread the Gospel.

by Anney Ngugi from Ireland

Reflection 

You are not called to settle

In a world of comfort and luxury, it is so easy to become complacent. Often there may be a tendency to become complacent in our spiritual life too. We may start getting comfortable and begin to settle in a specific routine. Is this really what God wants for each of us? The letter to Hebrews tells us, “we want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-12). Did the apostles grow weary of working for the Kingdom of God? No! The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Just as the apostles had this eagerness for a strong faith, we too are called to constantly deepen our faith. The apostles have set a beautiful example for each one of us as to how to grow in zeal every single day. However, God is calling each of us to grow to that next-level of anointing!


The moment we decide to choose Christ over this world, we will begin to face trials. It is through such testing that our faith will be refined of all impurities. St Faustina once said, “from the exploding flames of His Merciful Heart, will flow down upon When we, as children of God, come to serve the Lord, we have to prepare ourselves for testing (Sirach 2:1). me power and strength to keep fighting.” When our Lord provides us with the strength to suffer for His sake, our suffering will pass in the blink of an eye. It is through such trials that our faith will begin to grow.


When we fix our eyes on the Cross, God will begin to work in our lives in many different ways. It is when our gaze rests upon Jesus Christ that our sluggishness and lack of zeal will fade away. The moment we decide to settle in our spiritual life, we block the flow of grace in our lives. We are called for so much more! Have we grown in the love of Christ since we first came to know Him? Let us make a firm decision today to recommit ourselves to Christ and not to lag in zeal!

by Feona Pazhuka from Florida, USA


Editorial 

January 2019 – Editorial

As we begin this New Year with new hopes and dreams, Kingdom Revelator would like to wish all our readers a happy and blessed year ahead. Most of us are eager to come up with resolutions to begin anew and become a better version of ourselves. But in order to do this, we need to surrender our past to Christ. We cannot start a new chapter in our life if we keep rereading the last one. “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This year, do not be afraid to step out in faith in your relationship with Christ. Be bold to make Christ the priority in your life, knowing that He wants to give you everything and bless you abundantly. Move forward with the confidence that there is nothing you will face this year that Jesus cannot help you with. Let us live according to the purpose we are all called to, in Christ.
“There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us.” (St John Paul II)