My dear Brother Marshallans,
I hope you all had a good Christmas and the holidays gave those of you who are often away from home for good reasons, the opportunity to spend quality time with your families. I hope also, that you had some time to reflect on all aspects your life during the past year and have resolved to put right whatever went wrong and to do even better in the areas that went right.
In this month’s newsletter, I wish to share an experience I had at the 2007 International Alliance of Catholic Knights’ meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria, last November. During the meeting, the outgoing International Chaplain, Bishop Coleman of South Africa reflected on the Magnificat – our Mother Mary’s song of praise – “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour ……for He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name”
In the reflection, the Bishop got everyone to take a piece of paper and asked all to jot down blessings he has received from the Lord under the following headings:
-
Physical or material blessings such as a house, car, bank account;
-
Emotional Blessings such as being in love with someone or music;
-
Spiritual Blessings such as faith in God or Church, a miracle in one’s life;
-
Intellectual Blessing such as education, computer literacy, professional competence;
-
Special gift(s) or talent such as having compassion for the poor, leadership, teaching etc.
At the end of the exercise that lasted only about 15 minutes, everyone was amazed at the long list of Blessings the Lord had bestowed on him. The Bishop then drew attention to the fact that God has a purpose in blessing each one with gifts and instead of becoming proud as some do when they receive God’s gifts, we should rather be humble and thankful to Him …”for He that is mighty has done great things for me”. But that was not all, he also reminded us of the Biblical injunction that “to you that much is given, much will be expected”. In a sense therefore God gives us gifts, expecting us to use them to help others as every gift is given for the good of the community. As people in the front line of the Church’s life, it is in sharing our God-given gifts that we make Christ present in whatever situation or circumstance that we find ourselves. That is how we become “the light of the world” and the “salt of the earth”.
As we begin the New Year 2008, I thought it would be appropriate to share my Abuja experience with you. It is possible that some of you may already have undergone similar exercises during your New Year reflection. Nevertheless, I still recommend the exercise to you and urge you to do it as regularly as you can, each time reflecting on the GREAT THINGS that “He that is mighty has done for you”. Then pray, asking the Lord to show you how and where to put the gifts he has given you to use.
My prayer along side yours is that the Lord will also reveal to you, how blessed you are to have been a member of the Marshallan Fraternity and rekindle in you the spirit of Unity, Fraternity, Charity and Service, virtues which are short in supply but high in demand in today’s world.
While I am at it, I wish to announce to you with pleasure that one of us, Sir Kt. Bro Ing. Sam Barnes was installed the Alliance President for the next two years. We congratulate him on this achievement, which has also placed the Knights of Marshall once more in the forefront of reckoning in the worldwide Catholic Knighthood forum.
May I once again, wish you and families, God’s abundant blessings in your health, businesses, careers and above all growth in spirituality, this New Year.
Yours fraternally,
SIR KT. EDDIE PRAH
(SUPREME KNIGHT)