“Keeping the Promise”
Lent 2009 – Day 32 (Apr 02)
Deshi Ramadhani, SJ
Priests are human too. Strangely, for some, it’s hard to accept. If you know me well and live in the same house, you will immediately know what I mean. Yes, we priests, make mistakes, ranging from simply oversleeping and thus coming late to say Mass, to agreeing to preside a wedding for two different couples in two different churches at the same time! Yet, people keep coming to us priests and ask for our prayers.
A senior priest jokingly said to a group of lay audience, “When your priest says, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ don’t believe him. He won’t do it. There are too many people asking him for prayers, and he can hardly remember each of them.” I can relate to this. Sometimes I can only say in my prayer, “God, I don’t remember who exactly has asked for my prayers and what petitions they have. But I want to keep my promise, and so I offer all of them to You.”
Breaking a promise is a lot easier than making it! This is certainly true with us humans, but not with God. The beauty is this: God knows that we will break our promise to Him, and that’s why God always keeps His promise to us! Yes, I said, “that’s why.” Our inability to keep our promise is the reason for God to keep His promise. After all, in terms of keeping promise before God, we are helpless! What a wonderful God we have.
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Friday, March 7, 2008
Dear all,
Here I am again. There are two changes in this new blog compared to the old one. First, the name itself. I now call it "You Are God, Not Us." It's the title of a little prayer-poem I wrote some days ago. I got up that morning and my heart was suddenly brought to God's forgiveness. By naming this new blog that way, I hope that God's forgiveness will always be a living reality for all of us. Secondly, people now know that "deshisj" is my trademark, so to speak. It is used in the address now. Besides, it's shorter, and I guess, more "user-friendly." Blessings to you all, as we wind down (at the same time up to Calvary) along this Lenten season. Here is the poem. May you be blessed through it...
You are God, Not Us
by Deshi Ramadhani, SJ
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
Had You been us
You would have publicly defamed David
You would have erased his name forever
We would have never known of him
We would only have had glimpses
There was once a mighty king
Who lost all his chances
For walking on the rooftop on a breezy day
And for letting his eyes command his lust
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
Now we can proudly declare
Jesus, Our Lord and Savior
Is from the line of that sinful king
And, we, proudly, can say
We take part in that grace
Poured down to us
Through that fallen king
Lustful, deceitful, murderous,
And because of that, so lovable
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
Had You been us
There would have been no saints
Nor popes, nor bishops, nor priests
Nor preachers, nor ministers, nor leaders
There would have been no sacraments,
Nor the Church, nor us!
There would have been only
People pretending to be You
Forgetting who they really are
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
For the Church of broken people...
Monday, March 03, 2008
Here I am again. There are two changes in this new blog compared to the old one. First, the name itself. I now call it "You Are God, Not Us." It's the title of a little prayer-poem I wrote some days ago. I got up that morning and my heart was suddenly brought to God's forgiveness. By naming this new blog that way, I hope that God's forgiveness will always be a living reality for all of us. Secondly, people now know that "deshisj" is my trademark, so to speak. It is used in the address now. Besides, it's shorter, and I guess, more "user-friendly." Blessings to you all, as we wind down (at the same time up to Calvary) along this Lenten season. Here is the poem. May you be blessed through it...
You are God, Not Us
by Deshi Ramadhani, SJ
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
Had You been us
You would have publicly defamed David
You would have erased his name forever
We would have never known of him
We would only have had glimpses
There was once a mighty king
Who lost all his chances
For walking on the rooftop on a breezy day
And for letting his eyes command his lust
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
Now we can proudly declare
Jesus, Our Lord and Savior
Is from the line of that sinful king
And, we, proudly, can say
We take part in that grace
Poured down to us
Through that fallen king
Lustful, deceitful, murderous,
And because of that, so lovable
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
Had You been us
There would have been no saints
Nor popes, nor bishops, nor priests
Nor preachers, nor ministers, nor leaders
There would have been no sacraments,
Nor the Church, nor us!
There would have been only
People pretending to be You
Forgetting who they really are
God, I thank You
That You are God, not us
For the Church of broken people...
Monday, March 03, 2008
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