MUSIC - MEMORIES OF JOY IN OUR LIVES

 

I have always loved music and growing up with five older sisters and brothers (and two younger ones!), there was always some music blaring in the background during the day. I remember dancing as a little 3 or 4 year old kid to the song "LET'S DO THE TWIST" by Chubby Checker (YouTube video above) which I distinctly remember my late elder sister taught us. Oh what memories of laughter and innocent joy those family times were when I now think of it decades later! I wonder how many of you danced to it as a child and even years later like I did. :)

Even until today, when I hear the songs of the Beatles, Temptations, Chubby Checkers, I remember my early childhood days...days when playing did not mean computer war games - it meant playing dress-up (trying on my elder siblings' clothes, costume jewelry and my Mum's perfumed talc powder and perfume and heeled footwear) one moment, cycling around the housing estate....and climbing up and jumping down from trees like Superman the next. Our best friends were the neighbourhood kids. We would run and play from one house to another. No one was a stranger in our neighbourhood. Different songs will be blaring loud from different homes in different languages - well, that was truly a time when Malaysian life was simple and all races lived happily without racial undertones being exploited by politicians.    

I am sure for many of my friends from my high school who like me had gone to Canada and USA for studies remember the songs and videos that electrified the world like the THRILLER video of  Michael Jackson which was played on MTV endlessly - and we all remained glued to the TV each time it was played...as well as his  BILLIE JEAN and BEAT IT videos. Michael Jackson broke all racial barriers and became a worldwide sensation. For youths like me all over the world, it was a decade in which we had great hopes of our future - that nothing could stop us! Even now, we can listen to songs and remember at what period in our life we heard it. At the end of each term - there were end-term parties where we all danced with joy that we had passed our exams and our dreams to be working adults was becoming closer. 

Music is like a joyful, gentle yet deep touch of God in our heart. I cannot imagine a world without music. Music has brought the world together. I distinctly remember Bob Geldof's  inspiring BAND AID effort, the hauntingly conscience-awakening song - "DO THEY KNOW IT IS CHRISTMAS?" charity single sung by top British and Irish musicians to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia during Christmas 1984. This song became the biggest selling single in UK Singles Chart history - selling 1 million copies in the first week alone. It went on to remain as the No. 1 in the UK SIngles Chart until 1997 - an amazing 13 years! I will never forget BAND AID as I was in my final year as a Business Administration student majoring in Marketing Management.  I wanted to do something positive and fulfilling that made a difference to the world. My heart was already by then awakened by Blessed Pope John Paul II's visit to Toronto in 1984 (please refer to my link: 03 May 2011 blog post). It was in this period of my life in the 1980s  - more  than any decade - when I knew in my heart, I wanted to contribute meaningfully to  our world. I did not know how but that is when the seed of "humanitarian effort" in my heart was planted. I wanted to be a "global" citizen for the world is ours. I did not want to just make an individual effort but hoped to also encourage and inspire others to take a worldview. I was always happy to contribute to fund-raising efforts by people from all walks of life and faith - for it is a life that is important not what faith one practices. Below is the YouTube video of "DO THEY KNOW IT IS CHRISTMAS?" sung during LIVE AID in July 1985.

My life remained in this mode where my career was my all-encompassing goal. I was blessed to travel to many parts of the world - working with so many different nationalities. It remained as such until my first retreat in Divine in 1998. After that, a group of friends and I in Singapore decided to be pro-active through a prayer group we had formed to help overseas mission work as well as to pray together once a month. in 2004, I came to serve fulltime here in India. It has not been easy and many times I realize the wonderful Grace God has given me to serve here all these years despite my preference before for a totally different lifestyle. Life here is different. No one will understand community life unless they have lived through it. There is no way to explain it - one has to live it to experience it!

One of the greatest joys I have in my life here in Divine is the time of prayer and the Praise & Worship during the retreats held here. So many hymns have touched, moulded and transformed my heart. I have felt great joy, hope, courage and even pain and sorrow - all through the beautifully inspired lyrics - as St. Augustine of Hippo said, "When one sings, one prays twice." I love working in my office and singing to my favourite Christian hymns on the YouTube after midnight. I often find great inspiration for my work in these hours when  my heart is soothed and my spirit lifted up by the touching hymns. Whenever I am feeling down or stressed, it is these quiet moments of music where I can sing to my heart's content that makes my life seem brighter!

There is one hymn that has truly touched my heart these past few months - "THIS IS THE AIR I BREATHE". Each time, it was sung during the the weekly retreat's  Inner Healing session during the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, I have wept and felt intense emotions as I sang it. I have never felt closer to God. How can a song pierce through the deepest layers of my heart like this? I believe God is all around us in nature, in people, in us and also in music. When I lay my  heart bare to God, the Holy Spirit, touches me deep within to speak to God of my heart's desire and to know in return God's special message just for me! 

My  wish for all of you is that your lives will always be filled with beautiful meaningful music - to enrich your heart  and to strengthen your soul. So who says, God does not speak to each of us? Let us learn to worship and praise God with hymns each day.

Below is the YouTube music video - "THIS IS THE AIR I BREATHE " by Hillsong. I suggest you turn out the light, switch off your mobile, quieten your heart with some bible meditations in a candle-lit room and let this hymn touch your heart too...God is with us!

TRUE FREEDOM COMES FROM OUR HEART

What does "freedom" mean? Are we living as free people or are we held back by unseen chains in our life? If we believe we have freedom, are our hearts filled with courage and hope to live with a firm purpose as Mahatma Gandhi who inspired millions of people? He truly believed - " We must become the change we want to see in this world." He lived his deep heartfelt conviction and helped bring independence for his beloved homeland, India, without advocating any violence.

The longer I live on this earth, the more I am convinced that many of us make the mistake of believing that the freedom to do anything is the same as having freedom in our hearts to do the right thing! We just have to look at the lives of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Eva and Hans Rausing and so many others who seem to have all the material wealth and freedom to do anything - and yet they could never have inner peace and true freedom of their heart. Their hearts were imprisoned by the invisible chains of sin - drugs, alcohol and living for their own human desires. They lacked HOPE and a true PURPOSE in life which can only come when we allow God to live in our hearts. The need for a Christ-centred life is what is always proclaimed during the Divine retreats weekly. Each of us need the spiritual discipline to train our hearts to recognize God's Voice and to live according to His Will - not to what people are telling us and expecting us to be or what we want based on our human desires.  When we have faith in God, our hearts are empowered tremendously to have hope and courage - for we know God's Promises in the Holy Bible. I personally find these three Word of God have constantly helped me to be steadfast in my ministry especially in moments of doubts and trials in my life:

• "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)
• "My grace is all you need for my power is greatest when you are weak."  (Galatians 2:20)
• "Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fails. Love is eternal. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8) 

The week of 22-27 July 2012 was an amazingly anointed week  here in Divine Retreat Centre. The much awaited POWER 2012 - Divine's 7th International Youth Conference and Couples Retreat -"CHRIST IN YOU - THE  HOPE OF GLORY" (Colossians 1:27) took place. There were around 5000 retreatants in our English campus (including the resource people and volunteers) for Divine's International Family Renewal week - they came from all over India and from 25 countries around the world. It was a moment of great joy that for the very first time, the Apostolic Nuncio to India, His Excellency Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio inaugurated POWER 2012! Every one of us witnessed a great transformation in the retreatants and even in ourselves as the week went by. Each day, the joy and hope especially in the Youths were so tangible and infectious. 

There were tears and moments of deep intense reflections as they heard the Word of God dynamically preached by Rev. .Fr. Augustine Vallooran V.C - Director of Divine Retreat Centre, Rev. Fr. Michael Payyapilly V.C.  - Asst. Director, Divine Retreat Centre, Rev. Fr. Joseph Edattu V.C. - Asst. Director (Malayalam Retreats), Most Rev. Julian Prowse - Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney (Episcopal Vicar for Renewal  & Evangelization), Australia, the "Rapping Friar" and star of World Youth Days - Rev. Fr. Stan Fortuna CFFR from New York, USA, Rev. Fr. Andre Patenoude known as "Our Lady's Trobaudor" from USA, Jude Antoine from Malaysia, Lalith Pereira from Sri Lanka and Divine's lay preachers.

Rapping Friar - Rev. Fr. Stan Fortuna CFFR from New York, USA

Our Lady's Troubadour - Rev. Fr. Andre Patenaude, USA

I cannot find the words to describe the beautiful Spirit-filled Praise & Worship sessions of the POWER 2012 music ministry bands: Divine's very own Singing Couple - Glen & Teresa La Rive and the Soul Welfare Band, and the greatly anointed music ministry teams: the FAITH Band from Goa, India  the EMPOWERED Youth Music Ministry Band from Sarawak, Malaysia, the Slovakian Singers from Slovakia and Sri Lanka's Risen Lord Community. The incredible Power of the Holy Spirit filled the retreat halls - the joy in the Youths and Couples prayerfully worshipping and also dancing in great joy for God with total freedom in their hearts was a sight to behold! It was just each of them  in union with Christ!

There were so many God-experiences that were shared by the youths and couples. I personally had quite a number of them from India, Malaysia, Qatar and Mauritius share with me their personal experiences of Jesus during POWER 2012. They know without a doubt - this was just the beginning of fulfilling Christ's mission in their lives. Their mission has begun! As for all of us in Divine, we can only thank God from the depths of our hearts for the huge privilege of being called to serve here and to do what He empowers each of us to do - "Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all mankind." (Mark 16:15) It felt like He brought the world to us in this special blessed week. The Divine Youth Team, the volunteers, the workers and most of all the V.C. Fathers will all definitely agree - in Christ, we truly witnessed the Hope of His Glory in all the retreatants as they returned to their own countries and homes. Every one of us know ONE true fact - we can only live with full freedom when we TOTALLY surrender our lives to Jesus. When He is in full control of every moment that we live, we are set free forever!  

At the top of this post is the YouTube pictorial music video of DIVINE's POWER 2012 MEMORIES - "Christ In You - the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27) set to Matt Redman's song "We Are the Free" which was the theme song for POWER 2012. 

 Let us pray for the Fire of the Holy Spirit to burn brightly forever 

in the hearts of every POWER 2012 retreatant.

 A great REVIVAL has begun!