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MESSAGE FROM OUR SERVANT

LEADER JOSEPHINE THOMAS:

KARISMA - BACK
AGAIN PRAISE GOD!!

Our last issue was printed
a fortnight after the feast of
Pentecost and distributed
during our prayer community's 16th
Anniversary celebration on the first
weekend of July 2011. It is about a
fortnight after Pentecost now, when I am
writing this note for our first issue of
Karisma for 2014, which is being
published after a long break of three years.
It will be published and distributed on the
28th of June when we celebrate our 19th
Anniversary in God's service as a prayer
community. Many changes and
unexpected incidents have been the
reason for this break and we sincerely
apologise for not having the Karisma
published for these three years. We pray
that you will once again be inspired by the
Holy Spirit and be strengthened in faith as
you read this issue and join us in glorifying
our God in all that we do, Amen! Alleluia!!


19 YEARS AND GOING WITH GOD'S
GRACE & MERCY!

The Vision Statement of KNK reads: 'The
building up of the Kingdom of God in
Hoppers Crossing and to the world in
general through the various ministries,
thereby transforming Gods people - the
Body of Christ or Katawan Ni Kristo, who
are filled with the Holy Spirit, enflamed with






love for the cross and the word and
radiating the joy of the Gospel.'

On the 11th of June 1995 a group of
people came together with this vision and
Katawan Ni Kristo (the Filipino term for
'Body of Christ'), now fondly known as
KNK was born. In accordance to their
vision and God's plan, the group started by
the Filipino community has embraced
everyone who has a love for our Lord
Jesus - and what started as a Filipino
prayer group is now a multicultural prayer
group; where all are invited no matter
which nation they are from, truly forming
The Body of Christ.

19 years our God has blessed us and
guided KNK in fulfilling its vision by helping
us build the Kingdom of God one brick at
a time. Slowly and surely we are moving
forward and with His grace and mercy,
what started as a small gathering of praise
and worship in the community centre has
now moved on to becoming a group
gathering in the Church praising and
worshipping week after week before His
throne with our Lord Jesus Christ present
to us in the Blessed Sacrament. What a
privilege indeed that we are called in His
presence each week!

Beginning this year, with the blessing of
our parish priest, we have been given this
great grace of weekly adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament each Saturday when
we commence our prayer meeting at
2.30pm in the Church. We conclude our
Praise & Worship with praying the Divine
Mercy Chaplet and Benediction.
Strengthened by the Spirit, we move on to
St. Peter Apostle Mission Parish, Hoppers Crossing, VIC Australia 3029 Ph: 9749 4300
Email: thomage@yahoo.com Helping to build the Body of Christ Facebook a/c: Katawan N. Kristo
KNK Prayer Community
Official Newsletter of
Katawan Ni Kristo
(Body of Christ )
Prayer Community
Vol No 1/June 2014


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the teaching and sharing portion of our
prayer meeting and end the prayer
meeting with a song of Thanksgiving. We
then move to the community centre for
fellowship and prayer ministry.
A group of 40 to 50 people gathered in a
big church like ours makes it feel like there
are very few praising our God, but we
know and we believe that, as is in our
Vision Statement, when we are filled with
the Holy Spirit, enflamed with love for
the cross and the word and radiating
the joy of the Gospel - we surely will, by
witnessing Christ's love, draw many to
come and share our joy that is given to us.
Our Almighty Father will then one day
answer our prayers and fill our church with
people whose hearts burst with the love of
Christ and make our Church resound with
joyous praise!! With this hope we have
started 2014.



Our Lenten pilgrimage to Shrine Ta Pinu
was blessed as always and we had a
wonderful day reflecting on the love or our
God and enjoying our fellowship after an
uplifting Eucharistic Celebration.
On the first Saturday of each month, we
have our parish Healing Mass instead of
our prayer meeting and we minister to the
people who come to this mass from
various places with our gift of music and
prayer.
Our parish had the special privilege of
observing the Hours of Grace with round
the clock adoration for three days a week
before Pentecost. Members of KNK went
at different times of the day and night to
adore and worship our awesome God. It
was a wonderful time of grace.
Pentecost was very special indeed for all
of us, we spent all night in the presence of
our Eucharistic Lord praising, praying and
worshipping in awe. Rosalito Ramirez, our
guest speaker at midnight, warmed our
hearts with his talk on the power of the
Holy Spirit and I should say that when the
night was over and we walked out after the
Spirit filled Eucharistic Celebration, we
were indeed transformed and empowered-
filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit!
We Praise & Thank God for his abundant
blessing on our prayer community and for
all the wonders He works in our lives. As
servant leader of KNK I feel humbled at the
marvels He works and answers every
prayer we lift up to Him while we minister
to each other and to all who call on the
name of Jesus. All Glory, Honour and
Praise to our Father, Son and Spirit
Amen!!

The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not
want. Psalm 23:1
By Anthea Hankins
There are a lot of
wonderful miracles the
Lord has done for me and
my family but there are a
few of them I would like to share with you.
Dominic and I were blessed with another
gift from God on 16/3/2011, our baby girl
Deanna. She was four weeks early, and
the Heavenly Master had planned
everything so well. The day Deanna was
born it so happened that Daniel my son
was sick, Dominic stayed home to take
care of him. I had my pains and we made
KNK members at the Shrine of Ta Pinu

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it to the hospital hoping to hear that it was
just false pains, but I was told that I had to
have an emergency C-section; I was very
scared, though I was having my second
one. Then Dom and I were making calls
and that was making us more nervous. It
so happened that Dom saw Fr. Matthew,
who came to pray for someone else.
Fr.Mathew prayed over me and I felt some
peace and a lot better.
Deanna was born and we were glad to
hear that we had a baby girl, just as the
Lord had promised us. We thanked the
Lord for blessing us with yet another
bundle of joy. God sends his Angels to
assist us in time of need; yes we had a lot
of help and support from our family and
friends. I thank the Lord every day for all of
you; especially my KNK family because it
is in moments like these that I feel strong,
knowing that there is a big army (Gods
Angels on earth) interceding for me. Bless
the LORD, you His angels, who excel in
strength, who do His word, heeding the
voice of His word (Psalms 103:20)
That evening my mom and Doms mother
flew in to help Dominic and me. Deanna,
was a very pleasant baby, I was asked to
feed her every three hours, everything
seemed just fine. She did not cry or wake
for her feeds, so I was asked to express
and feed her. The next day when she was
checked, it was found that she had
Jaundice and she was very inactive,
hence not waking up for her feeds. Her
eyes were yellow and she was losing
weight. I began to worry and I was very
sad and I started praying and requested
our KNK members to intercede for me. I
felt very strong and I was not willing to give
up. I was told that she had to be sent to the
nursery to be under the lights and I could
go there and see her. My heart sank, but I
asked God for the strength. And he said
unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most gladly therefore will I
rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me.....
(2 Corinthians 12:9)
That night when Deanna was in the
nursery, I was in the shared ward alone. It
was the most painful, slow, lonely night in
my whole life. I prayed to Jesus and asked
Him to help me, I felt so sad and helpless.
I could not go to the nursery as I was
feeling dizzy to walk that far.
But God heard my prayer and once again
sent me His angels; one of the nurses
came and helped me and she took the
expressed milk for Deanna. The next
morning I was to be discharged and the
nurses told me that if Deanna did not put
on enough weight, I would have to leave
her in the nursery under the lights for one
more night and I would have to return
home. But I asked Jesus to please give me
the grace to be strong if that was asked of
me. In my heart I wanted to go home and
take my baby with me.
The next day, it was time for the results
and waiting there seemed like the longest
wait. The paediatrician told me that
Deanna had put on a little weight but not
enough for her to go home with me. Then
I asked her if I would have to go home
without her. She said that she would want
me to stay another night at the hospital
with Deanna by my side in my ward; she
said that she would have me re-admitted
as they had already discharged me. I was
the happiest mother, and I could not stop
praising God for his mercy upon us. The
next day Deanna was discharged with me
and we came home together. Praise the
Lord! The LORD is my strength and
song, and He has become my
salvation; This is my God, and I will
praise Him; my father's God, and I will
extol Him ... (Exodus 15:2)
Now I would like to testify about Daniel (my
son) who used to get febrile convulsions,
whenever he has a fever caused by any
infection. He has had these convulsions
twice so far and Praise the Lord Dom and
myself were together with him at both
times. When we checked with the doctors
as to what we can do to prevent this from
happening, for instance keeping the fever

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under control or anything else - we were
told that just like how some of us perspire
to bring our body temperature back to
normal, this was the way Daniels body
would bring his temperature back to
normal. It was hard to see him and not be
able to do anything, and then once the
convulsions were done, he would become
so weak.
Dominic and I stressed a lot whenever
Daniel got sick. In August when Daniel had
a temperature we closely monitored him
and did everything as informed by the
paramedics when he had the febrile
convulsions the first time, but we were not
successful. Daniel still convulsed and we
questioned as to what we were doing
wrong? But after a lot of questioning, we
both got tired of getting stressed and just
surrendered it to our Lord Jesus. This
hope does not disappoint us for God
has poured out his love into our hearts
by means of the Holy Spirit who is
Gods gift to us. (Rom 5:5)
We held on to this promise and claimed it
every single day. We believe that Daniel is
healed and praise God for his mercy on us
his children.
Deanna developed eczema on her face
and other parts of her body and our KNK
healing ministry prayed for her and she is
a lot better now. We believe she is healed
in Jesus name. Thank you, Lord. O give
thanks unto the LORD; for he is good;
for his mercy endureth for ever .
(1 Chronicles 16:34)
TESTIMONY - DECEMBER 2011
Tester of Faith - My Road to Healing

By Mabel Fernandes

I was diagnosed with
severe osteoporosis
arthritis on my left knee
eight years ago in
Auckland. I was treated at that time by the
doctors and was healed; but I still couldnt
bend my left knee a 100%, resulting in
muscle weakness which subsequently left
the muscles almost dead. Inspite of this I
continued to be active and went about my
routine.

When I moved to Melbourne in 2007, my
knee gave me trouble again. After
consulting the GP at Springvale, x-rays,
scans, etc were done to check the severity
of the knee as I used to get severe pain. I
was then recommended to a renowned
knee specialist Dr Justin Lade in 2008 who
confirmed that the left knee was badly
damaged. I was put on strong pain killers,
exercise and hydrotherapy. With these, I
was able to control the pain, and started
feeling better again. Then I moved to Point
Cook from Clayton in December 2009.
With the stress of moving house, settling
down, etc, my knee condition worsened.
Standing, sitting, walking everything
became a challenge so I went back to
Dr.Justin Lade, and he advised immediate
surgery for total knee replacement. While
the specialists informed me that recovery
period will be 2-3 months, the assistants
during the pre-surgery assessment
informed me that recovery was 6 months.
Confused with the lack of proper
information, I decided to resign from my
job not sure if my work will give me leave
for six months. However, Gods grace was
at work and my employer refused to
accept my resignation and granted me
leave for six months instead.

On December 5
th
, 2011, I underwent
surgery for total knee replacement. From
here onwards, I was on a journey where

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my faith was put to test. The surgery left
me in lot of pain, discomfort and I was truly
disillusioned. I had not been prepared well
on the aftermath of the surgery and I felt
totally ignorant of it all. I developed
pulmonary embolism, which I was told
would be fatal if the medications were not
taken as prescribed, and exercises had to
be done with caution, etc. The nurses,
ward clerks, physios, hydro-therapists,
and staff were very patient; their love and
warmth for the patients, in spite of their
arduous work was indeed commendable.
I followed all instructions of the hospital,
but my knee would not bend to 90
degrees, it remained at 50 degrees. This
meant a longer stay in the rehabilitation
ward to attain the desired results. The
news of my husband being laid off from
work caused depression, loneliness and
bitterness in me and I struggled not to
reveal my inner self to my family.

I would fight with the Lord every day in the
ward but to no avail. I was kept in the
hospital for little over a month, and indeed
it was a miracle when I was discharged.
My stay at the hospital was frustrating, but
the Lord showed me His purpose and
made me use this time to talk to the other
patients about the love of Jesus. I realised
how blessed I was, having family and
friends visit me regularly while there were
many others who hardly had any visitors.
Hence, whenever possible I would
converse with them and witness to them
the love and care of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I was depressed when Danny lost his job
not knowing the marvellous plan of our
loving God. He knew that I needed all the
help during recovery, Danny and the kids
helped me out a lot, but Danny was my
solid rock driving me to my physio
sessions and taking care of my every need
as I was totally dependent on him for
almost everything.

This continued till March and I started
feeling good. Around this time, Danny got
another job in the month of March. On the
first day of his training at the new job, I was
admitted back again in the hospital by my
specialist as my knee did not bend to 90
degrees and he was not happy with my
progress. So a second surgery was
performed on 13
th
March. Something went
wrong with the second surgery, and I was
in extreme pain, and I just couldnt bear it.
I was given morphine, sleeping tablets,
etc. to ease the pain but it was unbearable.
Some of my friends from another prayer
group came to visit me and saw me in
pain. They stormed heaven for help.

On 17
th
March at 3.00 am, I became
serious. I was going into cardiac arrest.
The heart surgeon woke me from my sleep
and told me that there is an emergency. I
thought something went wrong in the ward
so I looked around, and he said the
emergency is on me, as I was going in for
cardiac arrest as my heart beat was not
good, pulse was bad, oxygen level was not
reaching the brain. The nurses were
working on me whilst I was asleep. The
heart doctor told me that I would need 3
bottles of blood and might put me into ICU
ward, and he wanted my consent. I just
became cold and I didnt know what to
answer, and I blabbered that I want to
speak to my family, as I thought I was
going to die. But he stressed on the
urgency of the consent, and I gave in. I
asked him how long they will take to start
the blood transfusion, he said around 2
hours, as they have to test my blood and
get it from the blood bank from some other
hospital.

I started praying to the Lord. I didnt want
to call my family at 3.00 am as they would
get worried, so I waited until 5.30 am and
tried to ring Danny but I ran out of credit on
my mobile, and then I started crying, so I
drafted a text message for two persons,
one for my husband and then another to a
good friend, and left it at that. Surprisingly,
the text message went through, and this
friend immediately rang me and asked
what the problem was, so I burst out crying
on the phone. Immediately they contacted
my husband and they rushed to the
hospital. Well, in the meantime, the

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doctors and the nurses started working on
me and stabilised my heart and all the
other levels.

During that week, I was sent for body scan
to check for any abnormalities. Three
days before my discharge from the
hospital, miracles took place.

First miracle I was in the ultra sound
room to scan the pulmonary embolism on
both my legs. As the sonographer was
doing the scan, something went wrong
with the machine, and the computer went
blank. She was dumb founded, she
couldnt understand why, she tried again,
and the computer was a blur. So she
excused herself for a minute to talk to the
Head of Sonography. I was alone in the
room when I had the vision of the Lord,
very distinct. In the vision I saw Mother
Mary with the rosary in her hand, and saw
angels forming a guard round my bed. In
between the guard, I saw horns (of the
devil) trying to get inside the guard, but the
angels were just dancing around and not
allowing those horns to get me. That was
the time, our Lord came towards me with
his hand extended, and his words were
PUT YOUR TRUST IN ME. I thought I
was dreaming or having hallucinations,
and probably started doubting that
moment, what it was, I just couldnt
understand, and got frightened. I tried to
close and open my
eyes to see and the
vision was there. I
started crying. That
moment, the
sonographer and
the head of the ultra
sound came in. He
started the scan on
my legs. He started
on my right leg, he
found everything was good, then he
started scanning the left leg (surgery leg),
he was amazed. He did the scan
numerous times, to find out where the
pulmonary embolism had reached, he was
shocked, he said something strange is
happening, he scanned every part of my
leg, he said it is a miracle. The pulmonary
embolism has disappeared! I just became
dumb founded, and I said Praise Jesus,
the doctors saw my faith and they said
they will prepare a report and send it to my
specialist and all the other doctors, as the
main problem ie pulmonary embolism just
did not exist!

Second miracle The next day, head of
another unit came to my ward, and had a
long chat with me for almost an hour.
Finally he said that he has come to take
away all my illnesses and will put me on a
road to recovery. I asked him what his
name was, he said Adam, so in
confirmation of the Lords message, I told
him that he was sent by God as he is a first
creation of God. He just looked at me
puzzled, I clarified that he has a biblical
name. He walked away with a radiant
smile.

Third miracle The following day, early in
the morning, the assistant doctor came on
his rounds to check on me. He tried to
bend my knee; he saw that it was not doing
well, so he said that he will prepare a
report to send me to Sunshine Hospital to
the rehabilitation ward for two months! I
was shocked. I started praying to Jesus.
After some time, a nurse manager who is
in charge of the Sunshine Hospital Rehab,
came to my ward with another doctor
(head of the rehab at Footscray). This
nurse manager knew that I was wary to go
there, hence came with this doctor, to
convince me. The head of the Footscray
rehab started talking to me and he told me
that all the doctors have given him all sorts
of reports, but he wanted to hear from me
how everything transpired to this stage. At
that time, coincidentally (work of the Holy
Spirit), the nurse manager received a call
on her mobile, so she excused herself and
went outside the ward. She was gone for
a long time, and I seized this opportunity
to tell the head everything. He was
impressed. Within no time, he signed me
off saying that he is going to discharge me
that afternoon itself, and that I can
continue my physio as an outpatient at

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Sunshine Hospital. He just placed his trust
in me, no questions asked. The nurse
manager didnt get an opportunity to
debate on it. I was discharged that
afternoon, and then started my rehab to a
road to recovery.

During these three days, the presence of
the Lord was very very strong, he just
didnt leave my side, and I could feel he
was working in these three days through
different doctors.

What can I say, it has been a journey, and
in all this mayhem, my great Lord gave me
and my husband the best gift, our 25 years
of married life with all my friends who came
from New Zealand, and they gave us a
fantastic time. It was the work of the Holy
Spirit. They sacrificed their time, to give us
the best gift of being with us, sharing and
caring, their love and happiness
overflowed the cup of blessings. All this
wouldnt have been possible without the
help of our Lord.

Last but not the least, after his work is
done, our good Lord has blessed my
husband and me with good jobs, even
though it was a trying and helpless
situation, he rescued us! We were without
jobs for ten months!

The job loss happened at a time as our
Lord knew what was going to take place,
so that I could be well taken care of, and
he restored everything what was lost!

During these trying times we have had
many praying for us, family and friends
caring for us helping ease the difficulty of
this journey - thank you and God Bless all
of you - I Praise & Thank God for each
one of these angels that He sent our way.
There is always Victory in the name of
Jesus! PRAISE GOD! THANK GOD!
ALLELUIA! AMEN!



A TRIBUTE TO MY LOVING DAD

By Anita Dsouza

It was 25th September,
2011. I received a call from
my brother in Canada that
my Dad who was in India
had a fall on the street when he was going
to Church, he was in a lot of pain and had
been rushed to hospital. The diagnosis
was that he had a fracture in his hip and
had to go in for a hip replacement
operation. My first instinct was I need to go
to Mumbai to help my parents out. It took
me about a week to get there. Meanwhile
the operation was done. The doctor had
assured him he would be able to get back
on his feet quite soon. When I arrived in
Mumbai dad was not in good shape, he
was in a lot of pain and he was not able to
move and he was feeling very weak.

Dad had been diabetic for most of his adult
life and as a result of his inability to move
he developed a bed sore. The bed sore
continued to get worse and in a few days
he had to get operated on it. The doctor
now said to me it would take a long time
for him to get better. He was in hospital for
about 40 days, he had taken a lot of
medications to control the infection, he
would not eat the hospital food and as a
result became even weaker. It was hard on
all of us to see him suffering like that. He
was in pain, restless, unable to sleep. It
was very hard on my mum as dad wanted
her constant attention and he had to be
attended to constantly. However I tried to
be there and take as much of the burden
off my mum as I could. Meanwhile my
brothers too had come down from Canada
and we all tried to support each other.

When the doctor said we could take him
home, dad was overjoyed. He just hated
being in the hospital. When he left hospital,
he was still very weak, unable to move by
himself even on the bed. The doctor had
told us to constantly change his position on
the bed every two hours so that he would
not develop more sores.

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All this time whenever I went to church,
tears would just stream down my face. I
did not know why this was happening, I
would spend a lot of time in prayer and
reading the Bible. I prayed the Rosary and
Divine Mercy Chaplet everyday. Reading
the Word gave me a lot of comfort and
assurance that the Lord was very close to
us.

Dad had become so frail and weak and
seeing his trembling body was just so
hard. One day as I was praying with my
eyes closed, I saw a vision of Jesus
Crucified body on my dads bed. At first I
did not know what it meant, but gradually
I came to the understanding that Jesus
was with us all in our suffering. That vision
showed me
that he was
still suffering
with us. For it
is said in
Isaiah 41:10
`Do not be
afraid I am
with you! I am your God let nothing
terrify you! I will make you strong and
help you; I will protect you and save
you. (Is. 41:10). I held on to Gods
promises and prayed for strength for my
dad and all of us.

I thank God for the time I got to spend with
my dad during those two months. I was his
confidante and he would tell me all that
was on his mind. It made me very happy
to be there for my dad. After being in
Mumbai for two months I decided to return
back as it was not easy for my family back
here. Dad was a little better, but I would
not say there was a great deal of
improvement. Saying goodbye to mum
and dad was not easy and to leave them
in that state was difficult (as I do not have
any siblings in India) but I just put my faith
and trust in the Lord.

Meanwhile we found a good nurse for dad,
she was in fact a relative and lived nearby.
She was an expert in wound care and took
good care of him. Meanwhile a cousins
wife also came to help out and she was
also an expert in looking after bedridden
patients. I could see how the Lord was
providing all the help that was required.
The people from the church were just
magnificent, they would come and visit
dad and that would cheer him up. A
neighbour Allwyn would always come and
pray over him and we would have a praise
and worship at home which gave my dad
lots of peace and joy. God was sending all
his angels to help dad and mum in their
troubles.

When I returned to Melbourne in
December, I was still thinking about the
vision and I wanted to have a better
understanding of it. I knew the Lord would
let me know in his time. I could not
understand why my dad was going
through so much suffering and I was still
looking for answers.

One Sunday mass in February
Fr.Sebastian spoke on suffering. He said
how we ought to rejoice in suffering.
Suffering makes us humble and depend
completely on God. Truly God speaks to
us in many ways. When I came home I
was very happy, I felt God was speaking
to me. That night when I was going
through Facebook, I happened to see an
excerpt from St Faustinas diary which
sent shivers through me and I quote
below:
`At the same time, I saw a certain person
(Father Sopocko) and, in part, the
condition of his soul and the ordeals God
was sending him. His sufferings were of
the mind and in a form so acute that I pitied
him and said to the Lord, Why do you treat
him like that? And the Lord answered, For
the sake of his triple crown. And the
Lord also gave me to understand what
unimaginable glory awaits the person who
resembles the suffering Jesus here on
earth. That person will resemble Jesus in
His glory. The Heavenly Father will
recognize and glorify our soul to the extent
that He sees in us a resemblance to His
Son. I understood that this assimilation

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into Jesus is granted to us while we are
here on earth. I see pure and innocent
souls upon whom God has exercised His
justice; these souls are the victims who
sustain the world and who fill up what is
lacking in the Passion of Jesus. They are
not many in number. I rejoice greatly that
God has allowed me to know such souls.
(604)

This was a revelation to me by the Lord
and it all became very clear to me. I could
now understand the vision of the crucified
Christ and my dads suffering. I truly felt so
humbled that our God had chosen my dad
to undergo suffering and I was filled with
great joy and peace. I was now rejoicing in
my suffering.

Shortly after that dads condition
deteriorated and he told my mum that he
was not going to live long. During his last
month on earth, his body was in bad shape
but strangely dad used to just sleep most
of the day and night and he was very
peaceful. It seems like Jesus had taken all
his pain upon himself. About 10 days
before his death, my mum saw a vision
whilst she was in church and she saw dad
close to Jesus heart on the crucifix. She
knew the end was near.

I immediately went to Mumbai as his
condition worsened and got to be with dad
for the last 3 days. He was able to see me
and my brother and he just kept on looking
at us, then he drifted off into a deep sleep
and peacefully went to his heavenly abode
on March 12, 2012 at 8.30 pm.

That evening on March 12 at around 6 pm,
I had just opened up the Bible and it was
St Pauls second letter to the Corinthians
Ch. 4 and 5 and I read through this again
and again, I felt so comforted that the Lord
was speaking to me and sending me
consolation and reassurance. I would
urge you to read this as I found great
comfort in reading this passage. And this
small and temporary trouble we suffer
will bring us a tremendous and eternal
glory, much greater than the trouble.
For we fix our attention, not on things
that are unseen. What can be seen lasts
only a time, but what cannot be seen
lasts forever (2 Cor.4:17-18). This was
again a confirmation to me that when we
endure suffering we will be rewarded with
eternal life where we will be in the
presence of our God forever.

I praise and thank the Heavenly Father for
all he has done for me and my family.
Thank you Lord for the gift of your Divine
Mercy and Love. Thank you for walking
with us every day. I would also like to thank
the KNK Prayer community for all your
prayers and support to me and my family.


THE POWER OF PRAYER
By Rosemary Fairney

One of the many
privileges I have had
during my life was to be
a nursing sister,
especially with the dying,
and being on hand to be able to call the
Priest to certain patients nearing the end
of their earthly life. Also to be able to sit
with patients and recite the Divine Mercy
Chaplet, which is a very powerful prayer.

On my days off or after hours, I used to
take the Holy Eucharist to three nursing
homes in the Werribee area, being a
Eucharistic Minister, and sit by the bedside
of a very ill patient and say the Divine
Mercy Chaplet. Sometimes these people
had not practiced their faith or been near a
Church in many years, and one would see
miracles occur, where even at the last
moment, they would turn to God, and allow
a Priest to come and anoint them. Of
course the hands of the Priest are so
powerful and his prayers for the dying.

We often lift up our hands in despair when
praying for a family member or friend, and
think our prayers are wasted, but the
power of prayer is wonderful and God will
help us in HIS time.

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My father was an example. Not having
been born in a Catholic family, he was
always very against God, and would not
allow the family to attend Mass or have
religious instructions. My mother taught
me about God and faith in secret, and
fortunately for me he allowed me to be
sent to a Catholic Boarding School in Mt
Gambier, SA where the Mercy Sisters
were a delight and I was so thirsty to know
more about God. Their instructions were
wonderful and I was one boarder that sat
continuously in the Chapel, in awe of all its
beauty and being the House of God.

Of course our faith and spirituality
continues to grow throughout life, and God
has placed some wonderful people on my
path to guide me and help and this all
comes about by Gods grace and being
open to it.

Life can hand out some very difficult
patches, but I believe this is when God
reaches out to bless us and one can look
upon the Cross as the gold in our lives.
Even when everyone seems to have
deserted you, you are never alone. God is
always present, and giving you HIS Love
and Peace. So I have been very blessed.

Getting back to my Father, my husband
Bill and I were looking after my elderly and
frail parents. I had prayed all my life for my
Fathers conversion before he died. It
seemed impossible that he would ever
change his attitude towards God. He was
admitted to hospital in his last earthly days,
and I would sit with him all day and pray.
He even let me hold his hand which
normally would have been unthinkable. He
became very very frightened and agitated
towards the end as he knew death was not
far away. I told him he was about to meet
his Master, and would he allow me to
phone a Priest and to my amazement he
said yes. So this was arranged and he was
like a docile child when Father came (he
had known his story) and he confessed
and Father anointed him and stayed and
prayed with him for a while. My father
relaxed and fell into a deep sleep from
which he never awoke and I know for sure
He would have greeted him with his
DIVINE MERCY. Of course Purgatory is
the place to be purged until we reach
Heaven but continuous prayers and
Masses have been said for Dad. May he
RIP with the Lord.

There was more detail than what Ive
written, but this is the short version. Having
been a Eucharistic Minister for many
years, I had to discontinue this service due
to bad health.

Having Bill as my husband has always
been a blessing and now I am a member
of KNK Prayer Community and look
forward to going each Saturday and being
with my brothers and sisters in Christ.


Address of His Holiness Pope Francis
Meeting with Ordinaries of the Holy
Land
Upper Room, Jerusalem, 26 May 2014
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated
Mass in the Upper Room - the cenacle - in
Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, on the
final day of the three-day pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. Below, please find the full text
of the Holy Father's homily.

Dear Brothers,
It is a great gift that the Lord has given us
by bringing us together here in the Upper
Room for the celebration of the
Eucharist. Here, where Jesus shared the
Last Supper with the apostles; where, after
his resurrection, he appeared in their
midst; where the Holy Spirit descended

11 KARISMA

with power upon Mary and the
disciples. Here the Church was born, and
was born to go forth. From here she set
out, with the broken bread in her hands,
the wounds of Christ before her eyes, and
the Spirit of love in her heart.
In the Upper Room, the risen Jesus, sent
by the Father, bestowed upon the apostles
his own Spirit and with this power he sent
them forth to renew the face of the earth
(cf Ps 104:30).
To go forth, to set out, does not mean to
forget. The Church, in her going forth,
preserves the memory of what took place
here; the Spirit, the Paraclete, reminds
her of every word and every action, and
reveals their true meaning.
The Upper Room speaks to us of service,
of Jesus giving the disciples an example
by washing their feet. Washing one
anothers feet signifies welcoming,
accepting, loving and serving one
another. It means serving the poor, the
sick and the outcast.
The Upper Room reminds us, through the
Eucharist, of sacrifice. In every
Eucharistic celebration Jesus offers
himself for us to the Father, so that we too
can be united with him, offering to God our
lives, our work, our joys and our sorrows
offering everything as a spiritual sacrifice.
The Upper Room reminds us
of friendship. No longer do I call you
servants Jesus said to the Twelve
but I have called you friends
(Jn 15:15). The Lord makes us his
friends, he reveals Gods will to us and he
gives us his very self. This is the most
beautiful part of being a Christian and,
especially, of being a priest: becoming a
friend of the Lord Jesus.
The Upper Room reminds us of the
Teachers farewell and his promise to
return to his friends: When I go I will
come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am you may be also
(Jn 14:3). Jesus does not leave us, nor
does he ever abandon us; he precedes us
to the house of the Father, where he
desires to bring us as well.
The Upper Room, however, also reminds
us of pettiness, of curiosity Who is the
traitor? and of betrayal. We ourselves,
and not just others, can reawaken those
attitudes whenever we look at our brother
or sister with contempt, whenever we
judge them, whenever by our sins we
betray Jesus.
The Upper Room reminds us
of sharing, fraternity, harmony and peace
among ourselves. How much love and
goodness has flowed from the Upper
Room! How much charity has gone forth
from here, like a river from its source,
beginning as a stream and then expanding
and becoming a great torrent. All the
saints drew from this source; and hence
the great river of the Churchs holiness
continues to flow: from the Heart of Christ,
from the Eucharist and from the Holy
Spirit.
Lastly, the Upper Room reminds us of the
birth of the new family, the Church,
established by the risen Jesus; a family
that has a Mother, the Virgin
Mary. Christian families belong to this
great family, and in it they find the light and
strength to press on and be renewed, amid
the challenges and difficulties of life. All
Gods children, of every people and
language, are invited and called to be part
of this great family, as brothers and sisters
and sons and daughters of the one Father
in heaven. These horizons are opened up
by the Upper Room, the horizons of the
Risen Lord and his Church. From here the
Church goes forth, impelled by the life-
giving breath of the Spirit. Gathered in
prayer with the Mother of Jesus, the
Church lives in constant expectation of a
renewed outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. Send forth your Spirit, Lord, and
renew the face of the earth
(cf. Ps 104:30)!
ARISMA
Official Newsletter of Prayer Community
Karisma is published on a quarterly basis. It contains reading materials
directed generally but not necessarily limited to its members.
Comments, suggestions and articles for publication are welcome. The
editor has the discretion to edit or not publish any article submitted
based on Karisma guidlelines
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