What will you have for lunch tomorrow?

Just smile and say "Thank you God! You are wonderful indeed!"

Somewhere in Kenya (Thika??????)


















































































































































































A link from my friend Jessica Chemeri!
God Bless you!

Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist!
Prepare the way for the Lord!

Extrimist Muslims Burn Church Buildings in ZANZIBAR- TANZANIA

Radical Islamists are suspected in the demolition of two church buildings on Tanzania’s semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar on Sunday (Nov. 21), as members of the congregations have since received death threats from Muslims.

The church buildings belonging to the Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) and the Evangelical Assemblies of God Zanzibar (EAGZ) in Masingini village, five kilometers (nearly three miles) from the center of Zanzibar city, were torn down at about 8 p.m., said Bishop Fabian Obeid of EAGZ. Mwera police received reports on the attacks on Monday morning (Nov. 22).

The latest in a string of violent acts aimed at frightening away Christians in the Muslim-dominated region, the destruction on the island off the coast of East Africa has raised fears that Muslim extremists could go to any length to limit the spread of Christianity, church leaders said.

“One Muslim was heard saying, ‘We have cleansed our area by destroying the two churches, and now we are on our mission to kill individual members of these two churches – we shall not allow the church to be built again,’” said one church member who requested anonymity.

The TAGT brick building was under construction and nearing completion; members of the congregation had gone to worship in their new building for the first time on Sunday. The EAGT building where more than 30 members met was a mud structure.

EAGT Pastor Michael Maganga and TAG Pastor Dickson Kaganga said they were fearful about the future of the church in Masingini. Pastors in Zanzibar have scheduled a meeting on Saturday (Nov. 27) to discuss how to cope with the destruction of the two buildings, said the chairman of the Pastors Fellowship in Zanzibar, Bishop Leonard Masasa of EAGT church.

Muslim extremists in Zanzibar, in concert with local government officials, have long limited the ability of Christians to obtain land for erecting worship buildings. In some cases they have destroyed existing buildings and put up mosques in their place.

Frustrated at obtaining government help to apprehend criminals, church leaders said they have little hope that the perpetrators of Monday’s attacks will ever be caught. In most cases the government sides with the attackers, delaying investigation out of fear of upsetting the majority Muslim population that opposes the spread of Christianity.

In 2009, officials in Mwanyanya-Mtoni colluded with area Muslims to erect a mosque in place of a planned church building of the EAGZ, Pastor Paulo Kamole Masegi said.

Pastor Masegi had purchased land in April 2007 for a church building in Mwanyanya-Mtoni, and by November of that year he had built a house that served as a temporary worship center, he said. Soon area Muslim residents objected.

In August 2009, local Muslims began to build a mosque just three feet away from the church plot. In November 2009, Pastor Masegi began building a permanent church structure. Angry Muslims invaded the compound and destroyed the structure’s foundation, the pastor said.

Church leaders reported the destruction to police, who took no action – and also refused to release the crime report, so that the case could not go to court, Pastor Masegi said.

Meantime, construction of the mosque was completed in December 2009. The planned church building’s fate appeared to have been sealed earlier this year when Western District Commissioner Ali Mohammed Ali notified Pastor Masegi that he had no right to hold worship in a house.

Zanzibar is the informal designation for the island of Unguja in the Indian Ocean. The Zanzibar archipelago united with Tanganyika to form the present day Tanzania in 1964.

Muslim traders from the Persian Gulf had settled in the region early in the 10th century after monsoon winds propelled them through the Gulf of Aden. The 1964 merger left island Muslims uneasy about Christianity, seeing it as a means by which mainland Tanzania might dominate them, and tensions have persisted.

Kwa hisani ya
credit & copyright : CompassDirect

and WAVUTI

Strong Statement heard today;

"Thank you Jesus for saying YES to the CUP"


Dr Scott Hahn- (Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he has taught since 1990, and is the founder and director of the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology. In 2005, he was appointed as the Pope Benedict XVI Chair of Biblical Theology and Liturgical Proclamation at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania)


http://www.scotthahn.com/about-dr-hahn.html

O, how our daily "NOs" cost lives of Souls.

Dear Jesus,

Hail my King,
Hail King of Kings
Hail the only one and true King
it wasn't only yesterday, but today and for ever; You are my King
you are indeed the King of my soul,
King of my heart,
King of my life,
King of the Heaven and the Earth
King of all that is seen and unseen, visible and invisible
King of my breath
If my mouth fails in any way to acknowledge your Kingship,
Let my breath do so. If it fails,dear Jeasus, let my soul do so!



Dear Jesus, hail my King!
It's me,

your unworthy servant!

Piccola- Marie

New Eve, New Ark, New Mother

Dear OCMs and friends!
It's very late here in Stockholm; It's midnight, but I won't sleep until I share this video with you.










To Jesus through and with Mary.


All done inlove,
Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist!




PS: You may wish to share the video as a spiritual act of mercy

TODAY'S GOSPEL READING: Ordinary time!

From LK 19: 1- 10 (Ordinary time)

Today's reading is one of the popular readings that even if one is not a regular reader of the bible, will not miss it. Zacchaeus! A short and senior tax collector! Since in Stockholm the daily masses are celebrated in Swedish , I usually carry my bible with me, so that I can follow the mass during the liturgy of the word. Unfortunately, I didn't check what would be the Gospel reading today, but since I knew the one for a previous day, I made a guess. Well, I waited for the Priest to start reading and immediately I catched it. Thank you Jesus!


If one has to write about today's gospel, books and books might not be enough, that being the case therefore, I will put down few comments which speak lauder to me and perhaps to many other. Basically, I have set two parts which provide on one hand, a beautiful insight which sets as the base of the story and on the other, is the the way forward.

The first part recounts who Zacchaeus is, and how he encountered Jesus Christ (Perhaps it is also a good way to examine ourselves; "who we are" and our daily encounter with Christ"

"...Suddenly a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He kept trying which Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd; so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way." (Lk 19: 2- 4) Isn't that beautiful?

Zacchaeus knew his weaknesses, most of which were accorded to him by human standards yet still, He ran forth to get at least a glimpse of Jesus. It's sad that we spend much of our times trying to figure out what people sees in us, at times, even crying that we are not like A or B. It's beautiful to think that God does not think in our eyes but His divine love and the splendour of his unfathomable mercy. If we could only strive to see a "a glimpse of him" in our daily lives, we would gladly walk with Psalm 23 in our minds at every minute we breath in and out.

"O Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing. I
In grassy meadows he lets me lie". (Psalm 23: 1- 2)
How Sweet it is !


It should be noted that what Zacchaeus needed was only "the glimpse of Jesus", but Let's see the reaction of Jesus on the second part;

"When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke at him, 'Zacchaeus' ,come down, Hurry, because I'm to stay at your house today"


How many times do we lament about unheard prayers? One person once commented "I don't doubt that God exists, but I doubt if he knows I exist" How sad! Today's Gospel is calling us to realise how much God doesn't miss a point in our lives. He knows every thing concerning us, not only our worries and happiness, but even the little things that we think they are of no value. Everything matters to him. Even if we have a loose button in our shirts, he cares. O how wonderful God is! Even the Psalmist support this account when he says

" Yahweh, you examine me and know me, you know when I sit, when I rise, you understand my thoughts from a far. You watch when I walk or lie down, you know every detail of my conduct. A word is not yet on my tongue before you, Yahweh, know all about it...Where shall I go to escape your spirit?" Ps 139: 1-4, 7b)

These words spoke directly to me and I could not help wondering how Sweet Jesus is looking up at me saying "Little Flock come down.. hurry". I believe that eyes are the lamp of the soul as well as the heart . The way someone makes the face- by showing emotions-, is in most cases contributed by what the person feels inside, and would more or less express the same, through the eyes. When Jesus stopped and talked to him, how you think Zachaeus' face looked like? One may wish to create a kind of face decorated with the shy but yet bright eyes. I'm convinced that his whole face was full of joy and smile. Had it not been for the intervention of the Good Lord himself, probably Zacchaeus would have fallen down out of shock. (oops!) But another thing reminds me of constant calls from the Lord wishing to come to our houses and the question still remain; how do we respond? If we look at the book of Revelation;

"Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and open the door, I will come in to share the meal at that person's side" (Rev 3: 20).

Zacchaeus as well as you and me, could choose to remain up there yet still, He went down joyfully. I can clearly see that some of us tend to stay on top of the TREE or whatever it might be, without rushing down to welcome our Lord. He says "Hurry.." If we recall how our blessed Mother received the news from the Angel, St Luke writes of how Mary visited her aunt Elisabeth.
He says,

"Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could into a hill country to a town in Judah." (Lk 1: 39)

Christus spes nostra (Christ Yesterday, today and for ever)
In simple put, Let's strive to see his glimpse, once he calls, lets rush down in humility.

All done in Love

Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist.

Only you; my heart desires!

Dear sacred heart
Dear Jesus,
How my heart desires and longs for you,
How my poor heart tremble in fear
I'm none other than poor,sinful and weak little one
Only you my heart desires!
I look at myself and see how imperfect I'm
I see how I have been wounding your Sacred Heart,
The rays of mercy shine forth towards me but my face quickly hides down
How merciful and loving your sacred heart is, O Jesus,
Though my face falls down with shame, my whole being runs to your mercy.
Only you Sacred heart of Jesus, Only you my sinful and poor heart desires.
If I look around me O sacred heart,
All I see are the consequence of your mercy
I then search my place and see, only contempt which I add
If I look deep, deep down this Holy Eucharistic Heart of yours O Jesus,
I realise it's only you, only You that I have been searching for
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, Only you, my poor sinful heart desires.


All done in love,
Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist

A PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Dear OCM, I would like to share with you a prayer which I was given by Sr Elisha-Mary MC during the commemoration of the centenary birthday of Mother Teresa of Calcuta. Please say it as many times as possible it's real beautiful prayer.





Dear Holy Spirit,
Soul of my soul; I adore you¨
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me and console me.
Please tell me what I should do, and command me to do it.

I promise to be faithful to whatever you permit me to do, only show me your WILL.
Amen.


All done in love,
Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist!

THE RELUCTANT BRIDE

The Order of Carmelite Discalced is one of the religious orders in the Catholic Church which follow a radical way of life. If I to write about the nuns alone (excluding the Carmelite men religious), the first hard reality is that they are cloisterd. If I borrow the definition of Wikpedia, "A cloister (from Latin claustrum, "enclosure") is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southern flank, usually indicates that it is (or once was) part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went on outside and around the cloister". Kindly don't be scared by the word "Radical"above, but, it's important to keep that in mind. I would like to to quote one if the sayings of their reformer, St Teresa de Jesus (St Teresa of Avila) and probably you might get the gist of what I'm talking about. St Teresa was writing about how a person (A Carmelite nun for that matter) should renounce the World's standards of wisdom in order to attain to true wisdom. St Teresa de Jesus says

" Do you think that it was right for our good Jesus to have to suffer so many insults, and those who heaped them on Him were right, and that they had any right todo Him those wrongs? I do not know why anyone is in a convent who is willing to bear only the crosses that she has a perfect right to expect: such a person should return to the world, though even there such rights will not be safeguarded."- The Way of Perfection pg.83


Just writing about Cloisters, an anecdote pops in my mind which pushes me back in mid 1990s when I was in a secondary school. I can't just ignore how we used to run around the Benedictine's monastery seeing only "Clausura, Clausura posts everywhere.( Clausura is kinder a "No entry" area). When I saw the Poor Clares for the first time ; say twenty years a go, begging for food at the market in Songea, I had very vague ideas about who were they, and it never occurred to me that one day I would even "consider" this kind of life.

Back to the point, it is important to note that for quiet sometime now, I have been thinking about the Order of the Carmelite Discalced. O Carmel! I never thought that I will dare to even write an email enquiring about you! O Carmel, how I'm falling in love with you bit by bit! Still, I don't know where our Good Lord is leading me (I truly TRUST in him and his timings). If I look back in my life, I can't deny the fact that I feel like "A Reluctant Bride"

Dear OCMs, I have been invited to visit the nuns (OCD) in Finland and If God Wills, my Spiritual Director might join me. I will keep you updated. By the way, I'm still waiting for a reply from other Carmelite nun in Tanzania.


Please pray for a Reluctant Bride!

Best n' Peace,

Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist!(I have fallen in love with the Nazarene Carpenter)

Vocations Retreat at the Birgitta Sisters in Djursholm - Stockholm

On 29th through 31, I attended a retreat for people who are discerning religious life and priesthood which was organised by Mosgn Göran Degen Seminary Rector and Leader of the Vocations Team. Along with, were Sr Elisabeth Bunning and Michelle Mope Anderson. Approximately, we were around twelve; four women and eight men. It was such a wonderful retreat.




Infront of the Birgitta sisters cloister

Personally, the retreat was well organised in the sense that it gave the participants an opportunity to not only learn how to hear God's voice, but also how to respond. As a matter of fact, the silence and even the walk with the vocation directress were one of the aspects which opened my eyes to even little details which I usually consider as being of no significance.









"The joy of service" was the theme of the retreat entailing how one should respond the call with the joy of serving and serving in joy (So cool). Often times, many think that a call to religious life for instance, is the call to be miserable, boring and sad. On contrary, one should focus on the essence of the calling; the purpose, who calls and why. If there is a missing link between the "the call" and "service", the religious life becomes rather a myth. Yes "service" and "joy" is the magic behind a religious life. Joy is not necessary happiness, but Joy; enjoying to serve God and souls amidst pains, crosses, etc, etc, JOY,JOY such a beautiful word.(This reminds me of a song which a Benedictine nun taught us in class when I was in Secondary school. The song goes like this;


Joy, joy my heart is full of joy*2
My saviour dear, is ever near
that's the reason why my heart is full of Joy.




One of the things that struck me was the whole issue of listening to God's voice. How do we Listen? This is one of the big questions in discerning religious life. How do God speak? Does he come like a fire same as he did to Moses, or in soft voice as it happened to Prophet Elijah? Adrienne Von Speyr ( From the book; THEY FOLLOWED HIS CALL: Vocation and Asceticism, revised edition of 1986) writes that "God Calls and a man has only to listen. The ear which God the father has given man is capable of receiving the call that goes out from God.




But it seems that it is always a long road from the ear to the will and to love. God calls in in scripture, God calls in Sermons God calls also in every prayer"(page 13-14). The problem with most of us who are discerning the voice of God; especially me,tend to talk more than listening, as a result, our constant struggle has been wondering here and there searching for His audible voice.






Any way, we were told to spend our precious times in listening the voice of God and as Michelle puts it "You listen with all your body; does it burn, any fear? anxiety, inner peace and so on. She added that "If God calls you to do any of his works,He will as well give you all the resources you need such as health etc, so one needs to open oneself to feel how God is speaking to him or her." So in essence, we have to try being attentive and listen, as God speaks to us.





We also got an opportunity to view a film "The Call" about the religious community; Family of Jesus the Healer which added another special spicy in the programme. After the Retreat, My friend Ieva and I walked around Stockholm just to enjoy God's creation and also talk about vocations. At the end we came up with 8 ways to hear God's voice for we believe that vocation is like a seed so it needs pruning, water, manure etc. I added few things and 've come up with ten tenets which are;


1. Attending daily mass
2. Receiving the holy Eucharist daily
3. Frequent confession
4.A daily prayer to the Holy Spirit
5.Devotion to our Lady and Daily recitation of the Holy Rosary
6.Daily scripture reading
7.Holy Hour
8.Reading the lives of the saints
9.Deepen your prayer life, Please get a spiritual directorate
10. Solitude; Set time of silence just for you and for Him, get to know the one who's calling you.








By the way, it happened that in Sweden they have Halloween a week later than the usual Halloween which we all know (a day before all saints day so I couldn't fulfil my promise, Soooooooory) we all know. So, basically I did nothing!

























All done in love,
Piccola - Marie of the Eucharist.