Catholic Communication: Speaking with God

The Thrifty Catholic

Hello all! It’s been awhile, hm?

Here at home the winter has been getting a little bit chilly and school is starting to wrap up for the semester (thank goodness!). So I’ve been a bit busy!

I just wanted to quickly write up something that’s been on my mind recently…
How do you know when you’re actually communicating with God?

This question has puzzled my mind since becoming Catholic. Actually it wracked my brain when I was agnostic as well. I’ve always had trouble figuring out how to really talk and listen to God. However, I think I’ve finally got it figured it out…to some extent.

But what does scripture and the saints say?
St.John says that we know all things through the Holy Spirit. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” And St.Paul says that God enters our very thoughts. “Not that we are…

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Sacred Profession

Priesthood is sacred profession. Priests are special people chosen by God to serve others. A priest lives in faith and leads with love, guiding souls to God above in Heaven. It takes a great amount of devotion and sacrifice and long 10yrs of training to become a priest. My brother Fr. Tom had the perfect nature of selflessness and service mind to follow Jesus and serve people as a missionary and as a pastor in his 37 years of priesthood. ‘A TRIBUTE’ is his biography and how he touched other people’s lives and made a difference as a priest.

My Brother and my hero

A Sacred Profession

Priesthood is sacred profession. Priests are special people chosen by God to serve others. A priest lives in faith and leads with love, guiding souls to God above in Heaven. It takes a great amount of devotion and sacrifice and long 10yrs of training to become a priest. My brother Fr. Tom had the perfect nature of selflessness and service mind to follow Jesus and serve people as a missionary and as a pastor in his 37 years of priesthood. ‘A TRIBUTE’ is his biography and how he touched other people’s lives and made a difference as a priest.

Living a Christian Lifestyle

The Holy Spirit will prompt if you are right or wrong before you act if you are filled with Holy Spirit. This can happen only if your heart is clean from sin. Of course the devil is always there to tempt you to choose the wrong one. God has given the freedom to human to choose what he or she wants to do. But when you love God and walk close to Jesus you have the Holy Spirit with you so you can make the right decision.

My first Christian book was a result of hard work and faith in God

Unfortunately we are weak human sometimes falls for devil’s worldly temptations and commit sin. Acknowledge and ask pardon to God for your sin as soon as you recognize it and you will be in the right path again. A lot of Christians do a lot of good deeds to help others but always good to check our intension of our doings. It’s worth nothing in front of God if it is with a bad intension like for a personal gain. This is applicable to any anyone including priests and missionaries. My Brothe,r Fr. Tom’s life story reflects the presence of Holy Spirit and visible in his biography ‘A TRIBUTE’.

You receive Holy Spirit in your life from Words of God from the Bible. By reading daily and listening to words of God, Holy Spirit will guide your spiritual life. Daily prayer life is necessary to live a spiritual life. It goes hand in hand with Bible reading. Good Luck!

The Grieving Process

Everyone grieves differently when a loved one passes away. It seems easier for some and hard for others. When I lost my brother ‘Fr. Tom’ it was very hard for me accept it and move on. I didn’t feel like I could move on.

He was my strength and I knew I could count on him for anything. When he passed away suddenly I felt helpless and alone. However, by the help of God’s Grace I realized that God is my strength and He revealed it to me that I should focus more on what my brother’s strengths even though my brother is no longer with me.

How bravely and courageously he faced everything in his life. If my brother were alive today, he would want me to be strong and move forward courageously.

About a week after Tom passed I had a dream that reminded me of this picture

When Tom passed away I had immeasurable desire to preserve his memory in writing. I didn’t want the world to forget about my caring, loving brother and the wonderful things he did for others.

I even had a dream about a month after his death showing a book with lot of pictures in it. In my dream I saw the pages were flipping fast with pictures and it stopped on a page with a picture of him holding these animals in his arm and shoulder. Then I knew I had to write this book and he wanted pictures in it. Anyway “A TRIBUTE” is product of that. Writing this book helped me a great deal with the grieving process.

A Proud Christian

I am a proud to be Christian. I always try to reflect my Christian values in my action and words. But as a weak and vulnerable human being to worldly temptations and I have fallen many times. But with God’s Grace I am aware about the situation and able to get up and move forward. I always had a close relationship to God with my Parent’s help even at a young age. When I am in trouble I knew to run to God and he will be there for me. I have so many stories to share where God lifted me up in His hands during difficult times.

I hope to raise awareness of my brother’s contributions to our world. His smile brought joy to many.

I have thought about writing stories about all blessings in my life many times. But never did. When my beloved brother Priest Fr. Tom died it was so shocking and unbearable. He was an amazing priest who did work tirelessly to build the kingdom of God on this earth. Suddenly it crossed my mind to write a book about him for all the wonderful things he did. I didn’t want to people to forget the Christian witness life he led and thought it will be good inspiration to others to follow Jesus. So here I am with my book ‘A TRIBUTE’ to my brother.

It was a truly pleasure to write and now have the confidence to write a book about my own confrontation with God myself. Who knows there will be more books to come! It is very easy to forget in this fast changing world to forget the purpose of your Christian life on the earth. When you walk close to God he will guide you with his Holy Spirit to accomplish your purpose.Go

Lissy Manavalan

The importance of a Christian life

An introduction to “A Tribute”

It’s interesting how little we consider the lives of others until our lives, with theirs, are no longer intertwined. Perhaps we acknowledge their existence, give them their due of our company, but it’s only after their deaths, or amidst that pivotal awareness of detachment between our two lives, that we even begin to contemplate that other life and the richness with which it was fulfilled.

I write this book as a story of a priest who loved unconditionally, but more importantly as the story of my brother, whose life I contemplated myself, mere days upon the realization that he was no longer with us. Within the week of his death, on a lonely flight to India, it was in those moments that memories, the product of such reflections, rested heavily on my mind. The product of those memories was this book, with the stubborn persistence that I harbored that such memories must never dissolve away.

My brother and my hero, Father Tom

My brother Fr. Thomas Plathottam had a special gift from God to understand and interact with people of diverse backgrounds. It’s the story of a missionary who made a difference in people’s lives through his work and touched their lives in a unique way. He was a true follower of Jesus. I decided to write this book because in his life story, I saw how nothing is impossible with the Holy Spirit.

I hope this book will inspire others, especially seminarians, priests, missionaries, laypeople and other Christians from all over the world, as my brother’s life inspired me.