I wish all my
friends a Happy and Blessed New Year!! This is a season when many of us evaluate
our past, in view of creating a better future. In the midst of adversities, God
speaks to the people of Israel through prophet Jeremiah: “For I know well the
plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for
woe! plans to give you a future full of hope” (Jer. 29: 11).
What ever we are
thinking of doing in the coming year should be submitted to God in prayer. We
should be renewing our faith life in prayer as we are expected to be growing in
Christ. St. Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians says: “So whoever is
in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new
things have come” (2 Cori. 5: 17).
Enjoy each day
as a gift from God and submit us completely to God’s will. We will be blessed:
“The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; they are
renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness. My portion is the LORD,
says my soul; therefore will I hope in him” (Lamentations 3:22-24).
I share with
here my Poem for the New Year which I wrote in 2013 when I was helping out in a
parish in Motta Visconti near Milan, Italy.
A Poem for New
Year
Another year
came to my life and passed away steadily
It had become
old and part of history readily
White and cold
in winter with gentle sunlight in the spring
Cloudless skies
of summer and a few bare branches in autumn
Stayed with me
for twelve months – not more, not less
A new dawn of
life is unfolding in every opening of my eyes
A new year
begins where old one ends
Last year’s
oaths have become old, died and ignored
I am still here
with new hopes and fears
Oh, it is just a
new start for my old habits and passions!
Adding more
virtues and vices to the store of my ‘collections’
I am growing and
dying in every passing year of my life
I come to this
exit to make a new entrance to the highway
Next year’s
history is a mystery, revealed only in time
Will I come
again to make another beginning?
Will the smell
of this rain bring a new leaf or another storm with it?
Not sure, still
counting the blessing – be it better than the last!
The map of the
world is so big, hard to spot my place in it
The world is
bigger than I can travel in my lifetime
I better be a
butterfly or a flower with a short and sweet life
Flying around
the world spreading the wings of color and joy
Than walking
around like a Tasmanian devil or Fire Ants
Barking and
biting in ‘dangerous devilish snare’!
I need depth to
my life than length to expand it longer!
Your ammunition
could be made of unusual materials
“Reconcile with
your brethren, before you die
Bring no tear,
but wipe away every tear to make them smile
Time passes
quickly; present becomes past soon,
Future becomes
the new present today,
With the rhythm
of life in this passing world
Be present to
the present moment to live it fully
Your greatness
be exposed in serving the weak and the lowly
Examine your
conscience before embracing the bed at night
Let the sun not
set in your anger today – the Bible says”
It is better; I
live it fully before telling the world
How to live in
this passing world of joy and sorrow!
Let me muse
through the world with amusing thoughts
Drowning in your
Spirit should transform my way of living
I wish to open a
fresh page in the book of my life
Decorate my book
with fragrance and flowers
Let it smell for
the rest of my life bringing everyone to Christ
Help me to fill
the blank pages with fresh words of life
The book from
last year is already gone
With some dots,
arrows and red pages in it
“Red pages” as
if a pig has been slaughtered in it
Strange,
that we become pious and holy in an instant
As the silent
limbo of my past life will come
Waking me up to
be ‘weird and happy’ than ‘normal and miserable’
It is never too
late to make it straight!
The stroke of
midnight creates many more drunken people
I want to be
drunk in my passion to love my brethren
Struggling to be
holy until the last breath of my life on earth
I love the
radiant light of the candle at the altar of the Lord
Dispelling the
darkness of many hearts and minds in worship
Lord, I rest in
your shade for my troubles to fade away
You are the alpha,
omega and the center of my life
Your love and
embrace, all that I care and crave for today.
