St Joseph, Pray for us.

On this feast day of St Joseph, found the below beautiful song with the Divine Office morning prayer.

If 'Jesus grew up in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men' (Luke 2:52), then St Joseph must have been a wonderful, loving Father. If the grown up Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well; told the Scribes and the Pharisees, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her"; cried with Martha and Mary, then, he would have first seen how Joseph respected Mary in the Holy Family.

In my constant failings as a dad and husband, praying today the intercession of him, who was always faithful to his calling as a father, as a protector, as a husband and above all, faithful to God.

Did you wonder where he’d lead you?
Were you afraid of what the world might say?
I feel you understand my fears today
I feel you standing by my side.

You taught the child to be a man
A man whose life my freedom won,
Yours was the shoulder that he rested on
You have the Saviour in your arms.

St Joseph pray for me that I may live my life with Jesus as you did
St Joseph pray for me that at the hour of my death He may hold me
St Joseph pray for me,
That I may follow where the Spirit leads me
Chaste husband of the Virgin wife
Wise guardian of the Bread of Life,
The One beheld the Son of God
St Joseph pray for me!

The little hands that played with wood
The little boy who you called “son”,
You always knew he was the chosen one
Who’d one day hang upon a cross.

Yet you lived to do the Father’s will
Fearlessly followed His commands,
You were the loving and gentle man
He chose to guide his precious One.

St Joseph pray for me that I may live my life with Jesus as you did
St Joseph pray for me that at the hour of my death He may hold me
St Joseph pray for me,
That I may follow where the Spirit leads me
Chaste husband of the Virgin wife
Wise guardian of the Bread of Life,
The One beheld the Son of God
St Joseph pray for me!

Chaste husband of the Virgin wife
Wise guardian of the Bread of Life,
The One beheld the Son of God
St Joseph pray for me!

“Prayer to St. Joseph (Husband of Mary)” Sung by Angelina is available from Amazon.com

For you my child...

Dear Lord,

This is my prayer for her.

That she may know you, not because you are my God, but because she would realise that you alone are her Father, who knew her before you knit her in her mothers womb.

That she may love you, not because of fear or obligation, but because you would give her the gift of faith; the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.

And that she may dedicate her life to you, not out of compulsion, but because of the knowledge that you are her God, who waits for her with love undefiled in the tabernacle, a love that is patient and kind..

This prayer, O Lord, I make my own today.

(Quoted from Khalil Gibran's The Prophet - On Children)

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
 
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

So Help me God...

A Christmas Gift

As my wife and me stepped into The Royal Hampshire County hospital in Winchester in the morning of 23rd December 2011, little did we realise that this would be the day when we would see our sweet precious little (custom-made, of course) gift from heaven. We had waited for more than nine months, played with her, told her umpteen number of stories, sang her all the songs we knew, prepared our home and our hearts for her, and finally, after 40 weeks, were told that the baby was in a breech position. For the medical staff, a detail which was missed; for us a huge shock :), just because we literally ate TENS machines, gas & air and epidurals for breakfast, lunch and supper.

On 23rd morning, the doctor tried to turn the baby around with the ECV procedure, but our child wont budge (so much like her father, "Any less than 4 horns for the rabbit, sorry not listening.."). Baby Anna Claire was born at 14:27 via C-section that afternoon.

As I took her in my arms that day, and every single time I have looked at her after that, I can not but marvel at this wonder of Gods love. God does indeed love the world passionately.

Every single day since, I have asked myself and my God this question, "Lord, what did you see in us to entrust us with this precious child of yours. What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Ps 8:4)". And little by little, in my learning's as a father, I have understood more and more the unconditional love of the Father in Heaven. In the book of Job, the Lord asks Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?... Who marked off its dimensions?... who laid its cornerstone?" (Job 38). In the same way, my child, I do not know the moment you were conceived in your mothers womb, nor how you grew in there. My hands did not shape you, nor did I breathe life into you. I was not there to take care of your little fingers and toes, nor to cuddle you to sleep. But I do know the one whose hands did shape you and who did breathe his spirit of life into you, and its my life's purpose now to lead you to the knowledge of Him, who knew you before I even dreamt of you.

O Lord, your gift is perfect beyond all measure and comparison. When she smiles, my heart glows up. And when she cries, it is my heart that bleeds. Little by little, I am beginning to know the love of a father, and getting a glimpse of the love that let his son die for me and for you. A love that is difficult to comprehend, a love that is irrational, illogical, yet a love which sustains us.

From the moment daddy heard that you have started growing in mummy's tummy, daddy wanted to dedicate this song to you. To you, little angel from Heaven, with lots of love...