The greatest joy a human being can possibly experience is to be in the presence of our Creator. Today, we are given that precious opportunity. Christians call their place of worship a Devalayam, or Temple of God. Though we commonly use the technical term church, we truly recognize it as the dwelling place of God because of the Real Presence of the Holy Eucharist, where Jesus Himself dwells in the Blessed Sacrament.
True to His promise, Jesus says, "I am with you always, to the close of the age." When we come into the House of God, we are blessed to experience three forms of His divine presence. Two of these presences are rooted deeply in our faith, while the third can be experienced even by an unbeliever. All of them are according to the promises Jesus gave us.
What is the first presence?
Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Catholic Edition)
This is His spiritual presence within the Church, for we are gathered here precisely in the Holy Name of Jesus. Therefore, the supernatural and experiential spiritual presence of Jesus is assured among us. We can invoke this divine presence in our homes, or even in an open field, as long as we gather in the name of the Lord.
What is the second presence? It is the active presence of the Lord in His Holy Word. Scripture says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
John 1:1: "...and the Word was God." (Catholic Edition)
Because the Word is God Himself, we must pay close attention to where and how the Word is proclaimed. The proclamation of the Word must be in accordance with the tradition of the Church and grounded in Apostolic tradition. Otherwise, if someone simply attends a retreat, picks up a Bible, and starts preaching without formation, those who listen can be led astray.
For two thousand years, the Church has preserved the faith through sacred tradition and Apostolic communion. The true Church of the Lord is the Church that has existed since the time of the Gospels. One must always discern whether a community is rooted in that Apostolic Church. Many groups call themselves churches, but merely giving a group a name does not make it the Church of God. For it to be the true Church of God, it must be rooted in the Apostolic tradition established by the apostles according to the commission of the Lord Jesus.
Some may ask, "Then why do we not have only one Rite? Syro-Malabar is one Rite, Malankara is another, and Latin is another. Why not make everything one?" That confusion comes from a lack of knowledge. When the apostles went to different countries and preached the Gospel, they observed the spirit of prayer, local customs, and the way people traditionally worshipped God. They integrated that beautiful heritage while establishing the Church there. That is why different Rites were formed. Everyone should deeply respect and honor their own Rite, because it is through that specific tradition that the faith was handed down to us.
Without real knowledge, some people wander into every retreat center and church, hold a Bible under their arm, and shout verses. I have seen many such places, and I have slowly removed such people from my fellowship. They do not understand sacred tradition, Liturgy, Church history, or Ecclesiology. They may know a few memorized Bible verses, but if such people lead the Church, they can unknowingly spread errors and false teachings.
That is why the number of lay brothers preaching in the Kerala Church has become lower. Those who wish to minister have been strictly instructed to uphold the teachings of the Magisterium. When that requirement was made clear, those without theological education or the willingness to study could not continue in the same way. What we must always remember is this: if you truly intend to grow in Christ, you must remain within the Apostolic Church that has existed since the time of our Lord.
What is the third presence of Jesus? We know His presence among those gathered in His name, and we know His presence in the Word. The third presence is the very reason every Catholic church is built: the life-giving Real Presence of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.
Do you know why Kreupasanam has been kept so simple? In 2012 or 2016, Mother Mary showed me in a dream that everything should be even simpler. I saw the front covered with palm leaves, with only the word God written there. Kreupasanam was shown as a simple hall, with the front tied with palm leaves and the word God written in steel letters. There was not even a cross at the front.
If we build terrifyingly grand, cathedral-like churches and say they are for everyone, the language of that grandeur may not resonate with everyone. It may feel as if the place is only for those already established in the faith. But people who come to Kreupasanam are often burned, shattered, and crushed by life. For them to experience God here, the divine experience is usually through Mother Mary first. Once they come to know Mother, she brings them straight to Jesus.
We do not preach heavy theological doctrines to you constantly. Teaching is minimal here because we believe that once you have a genuine personal experience of God, you will seek God yourself. I do not cook the spiritual rice, roll it into balls, and spoon-feed it into your mouth. I provide the raw rice; you must cook it yourselves. I do not force or disturb anyone.
As for me, I have told Mother Mary that my core subject is tears. I handle human tears here. Whoever has tears must have a simple and easy way to see the Lord. Tears are the common theme of Kreupasanam. Tears can come to anyone at any time, and whoever is crying needs immediate comfort and help. Empty words are not enough. Mother Mary herself is the best intercessor.
Whether the issue is deep sin, a dark past, criminal cases, divorce, living together, a ruined family, or bondage to alcoholism, none of that is taken as the first reference here at Kreupasanam. The first reference is your tears. If you have tears, those tears will find peace here.
Now, returning to the third presence: Jesus says in John 6 that our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but the Bread He gives is different. Whoever eats this Bread will live forever, and this Bread is His flesh given for the life of the world. He also says, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them." This is the life-giving Real Presence of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.
That is why magnificent Catholic churches are built. If every church costs two crores or eight crores, why is that? If I had the money, I would build one for eighty crores, because I know what the Holy Eucharist truly is. We are creating a piece of heaven on earth. The One who gives us eternal life, who paid the ultimate price and made perfect atonement for our sins, dwells there in His glorious Real Presence. Before the infinite worth of the King who dwells there, what is money? The Real Presence of Emmanuel, God with us, becomes the fountain of our adoration and the anchor of our lives.
My beloved ones, Kreupasanam is essentially the sanctuary of the Blessed Mother’s apparition. If someone asks, "What is Kreupasanam?" the simple answer is this: it is the place where our Blessed Mother appeared. Why did Mother appear? She came to warn us of impending disasters and to ask for our prayers. Why are we gathered here today? We came to pray when disasters struck our lives.
And what did God say to those who came? He asked us to make a Covenant with Him, to form a responsible relationship. A relationship can exist without responsibility, but an irresponsible relationship bears no fruit.
Imagine a father who drinks and squanders everything, even when his children have reached marriageable age. He is still a father, but he lacks responsibility. What is the use of merely holding the title of father if he does not fulfill the responsibility of that relationship? Sometimes a young girl runs away with someone who simply winked or waved at her. When I ask, "Girl, what happened?" she replies, "Father, if I stay in this house, who will marry me off, and who will look after me?" When we stand in her situation, we are left without answers, because the person responsible for that relationship has been irresponsible.
Therefore, the relationship itself is not the problem; the lack of responsibility is the real problem. In the same way, anyone can say, "I am a child of God," and anyone can call God Father. But the title must be validated, justified, and confirmed through responsibility.
What does the Covenant do? In the Covenant, we take up responsibilities that prove we are truly in relationship with God. It is not merely about being called children of God, but about accepting the responsibilities given through the Gospel. When we do this, we gain a rightful spiritual claim before God.
When God gave us the Covenant, it was a spirituality given through the Blessed Mother: a commitment to live according to His Holy Will. We make this Covenant with Jesus through the intercession of the Blessed Mother. When we fulfill our responsibilities, God, who is truthful and faithful, fulfills His divine responsibilities toward us.
Sadly, some people renew the Covenant again and again but still lack its true spirit. This fills me with sorrow. Recently, an elderly man named Martin Thomas from Wayanad came here. His mission is to find those who are stuck or faltering in their Covenant life. He counsels them, helps them recognize their mistakes, and brings them back to the right path of the Covenant. I never asked him to do this; he began this apostolic ministry on his own.
Martin Thomas buys newspapers in eleven different languages out of his own devotion. Who asked a Malayali in his late sixties to buy newspapers in eleven languages? Yet he carries them on his journeys. Wherever he goes, if he finds people who speak those languages, he speaks to them about the Covenant. Some complain, "I took the Covenant, but I did not receive any benefits, even after renewing it twice." But Mother told me that the Covenant is an immediate solution. If someone renews it twice without seeing grace, the flaw is not in the Covenant itself; somewhere, the Covenant has not been firmly established in that person’s life.
Martin Thomas has taken up the holy task of finding those whose Covenant life is fluctuating. He helps them discover whether they failed in their Acts of Mercy, apostolic ministries, or other responsibilities. He encourages them to fulfill what is lacking and to renew the Covenant properly. Because he formed an intimate relationship with God, the Holy Spirit inspired him to seek out those who are spiritually lagging.
If you desire to stand truthfully before God, He will reveal every path for your salvation. But first, you must become communicable with Him. That means you must maintain constant interaction, dialogue, and holy conversation with God. This is not casual chatter with strangers; it is conversational friendship with the Lord. To enter such a relationship, you need unwavering faith, and deep-rooted faith is strengthened through trials.
Some people leave after the first or second hurdle. I have poured out my heart delivering more than five hundred sermons on the Covenant. If someone has taken the Covenant sincerely, they should listen to the teachings to repair their broken Covenant life with God and recognize where they have gone wrong.
For some, the failure lies in a lack of genuine love for God. For others, the mistake is giving excessive importance to worldly problems and pushing God into second place. For many, their problem has become their god. When a worldly concern takes the place of God, it becomes an idol.
Think of a drop of water under a microscope. Once you see the bacteria crawling inside it, you may hesitate to drink it, even if it came from the finest source. In the same way, we must examine the soul and see where the Covenant has gone wrong. Often, we will find that God is absent and a worldly problem has taken His place.
Whenever anything becomes more important than God, it becomes an idol. The despair that follows is the despair of an idolater. If a person becomes obsessed with migrating to New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, or any other place, and then collapses when that desire is not fulfilled, that despair has come from worshipping a worldly desire as an idol.
That is why Jesus taught us to pray, "Hallowed be Thy name." The Lord’s Prayer is the perfect medicine for this despair. But the tragedy is that many recite the Our Father only with their lips, not from the depth of the heart. Medicine meant for the soul is being applied only on the surface, like an ointment.
The Our Father opens the door completely for God: "Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." If we become worthy to pray this from the heart, our other intentions will naturally be placed in their proper order. The greatest challenge for a Christian is to obtain the spiritual license to pray the Our Father truthfully.
Some come seeking only one intention again and again: a particular marriage, a particular person, a particular worldly outcome. Their own intention has become their god. How can such a person truly pray, "Thy will be done"? To pray the Our Father sincerely, we need a profound love for God and the surrender to place His will above our own.
Some people come and say, "Father, please pray for me. I failed my driving test twice; both times I hit the pole on the eight track." Spiritually, many people still have not passed the eight-track test of the Our Father. Even at sixty or sixty-five, they are still hitting the pole because they have not learned to say, from the heart, "Let Your will be done."
Through the Covenant, we often give spiritual homework: apostolic work, acts of charity, and a life of holiness. Why? So that you may lead a deeply responsible Covenant life with God. When I stand in the Holy Presence of the Lord, I present you before Him. I know you have many struggles, and I desire, along with our Blessed Mother, that they be resolved. But first, we are trying to make you presentable before God.
If you take the Covenant and then ignore it, becoming careless and elevating worldly concerns into idols, you betray God and bear the consequences. Then you open your mouth and say, "I renewed it twice, but I did not see any change." But the problem is not the Covenant; the problem is the way the Covenant is being lived.
Now look at the issue faced by TD Joseph. His blood count dropped drastically. His hemoglobin fell to eight, when the normal level should be at least thirteen. Then it dropped to seven, then six. He could not climb even one step without panting. A drop in hemoglobin drains the body of strength.
He went to a doctor, who first suspected dengue fever and treated him for it. He also had typhoid. But even after dengue treatment, his platelet count did not rise; it kept decreasing. Usually, when dengue improves, platelets increase. But in his case, the situation became critical, and he was referred to St. John’s Hospital in Bangalore.
At St. John’s, the first blood test revealed the real problem: sixty-five percent of the cells in his blood were dead cells. It pointed toward blood cancer. With only a small percentage of healthy blood cells remaining, survival itself became uncertain. The doctor explained that if it were Type 1, short treatment could cure it; if Type 2, more intensive treatment was needed; but if Type 3, even treatment could not cure it. When they checked, it was Type 3.
Yet doctors continue treatment as part of their medical ethics. Even when a person appears to be dying, they still treat, perhaps hoping that God may save the person. The first cycle alone involved seven injections and twenty-eight pills, and there were seven cycles in total.
TD Joseph, exhausted and bedridden, called a priest he loved. Long ago, this priest had built their parish church, and he was now in a priest home in Pala. TD Joseph said, "Father, I have become bedridden and may die next week. You must come and bury me. Father, you yourself must come and conduct my funeral service before you leave." His whole tone had changed. This was a tragic soul facing what he believed was his final fate.
The priest told him, "Nothing of the sort will happen. You will live for many more years. I will pray for you." TD Joseph is the brother-in-law of Martin Thomas. Martin Thomas went to see him in Bangalore and said, "Let us go and see Mother Mary at Kreupasanam. Mother is the best person to make a decision in this matter. We only need to go there and set foot on that soil; Mother will take care of the rest." That is faith.
I have asked Mother Mary that anyone with tears, even before taking a Covenant, should receive help the moment they set foot on this soil. Other things may come later, but on the first visit, a person with tears must be sustained.
Back in 2003, hardly anyone came here. For an entire year, we prayed the perpetual Rosary day and night. People without understanding asked, "Why are you praying so much? Is there any need for this? Are you out of your mind?" Even coworkers said, "There is no need for us to show this much zeal." But the issue is not merely the quantity of prayer. The real matter is acquiring the credibility to pray in the divine presence of God.
Anyone can pray. Even a disturbed person may sit and pray, then curse the whole town. That is not the point. Prayer must have credibility before God. Like factories that produce mats only because they have orders from America or England, prayer bears fruit when it is accepted by God. If prayer is rejected or damaged, even a lifetime of prayer will not bear the intended fruit. Therefore, what we must first seek is credibility before God.
The greatest victory of the Covenant is this: a person who genuinely seeks God, not merely worldly survival, gains credibility before God. Even if that person has not received a single material blessing, he will walk through sun and rain, share the Word, give testimony, and preach the Lord with zeal. Then God recognizes, "This is the one. This person is communicable."
So before we pray, we must gain the license to pray. We must become acceptable in the divine presence of God. The great word here is acceptability. If you are acceptable before God, there is no need to heap up endless prayers.
Sometimes, when I place my hand over a cancer patient, I simply look at Mother Mary’s face. I only need to look because Mother Mary knows the work done all these years: the stands taken, the suffering endured for the redemption of souls, the times of being trampled down, and the effort to remain a Gospel witness by blessing those who persecuted me. That is credibility: trustworthiness before God in prayer.
Consider the crucifixion. Many people were crucified during the time of Jesus. The Romans crucified thousands. Crosses were everywhere. But we do not pray the Way of the Cross for the thieves. Why? Because Jesus alone bore the Father’s seal of approval as the Lamb of God who made perfect atonement for the sins of the world. He alone is the Savior.
John 6:27: "For on him God the Father has set his seal." (Catholic Edition)
Before Jesus began His public ministry, the Father declared His acceptability at the baptism: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." At the Transfiguration, when the apostles struggled to understand the prophecy of His Passion and Resurrection, the Father again confirmed Him: "This is my beloved Son... listen to him." Before sacrifice and before atonement, the Father’s validation came.
Through Father, Jesus is saying to you now: before you pray, first earn acceptability for your prayers. Even before you take the Covenant, strive to ensure that the Covenant you are about to take is acceptable in God’s divine presence.
What our Blessed Mother told me during her apparition and the Covenant, God has never failed to fulfill. Every word of it is true. You only need to step onto this holy ground during your time of tears.
Now return to TD Joseph. He had already called the priest and asked him to prepare for his death. But the miraculous turn came through his brother-in-law, Martin Thomas, an extraordinary apostle of the Covenant. Martin went to him and said, "There is nothing to worry about, Joseph. You only need to come before the Blessed Mother, and she will take care of the rest." He did not preach complicated theology; he simply said, "You need to see our Blessed Mother. The moment you step on that holy soil, you will be healed."
Why could Martin say that? Because he is a deeply anointed missionary who has found favor and acceptance before God. His mission is to travel and find those who have faltered in Covenant life. He visits homes where people say, "We took the Covenant, but we have not received spiritual experiences or miracles." He sits with them, rebuilds their spiritual foundation, counsels them deeply, helps them renew the Covenant, and often stays with them until they can bear witness to grace.
Because of this, Martin’s spiritual standing before God is a tremendous asset. His bond with the Blessed Mother and her apparition is intimate. To TD Joseph, Martin gave one strict instruction: "When you go there, do not complicate your prayers with many words. Say only one sentence: O Mother, please transform me into a living witness of your apparition."
My dear children, the true consuming fire of the Kreupasanam Covenant lies there. Over time, the Holy Spirit revealed this truth in the midst of preaching. All apostolic work, all Gospel sharing, and all acts of mercy must lead to this central prayer: "Mother, make me a living witness of your apparition."
It is like a wedding where, in the rush of celebration, they forget to tie the thali. There may be a grand reception, but if the very act of marriage is forgotten, what is the use? In the same way, the true knot of the Covenant is to become a living witness to the Blessed Mother’s apparition.
Martin Thomas lives this. After taking the Covenant, he received profound spiritual and material grace. He regularly visits destitute families, the poorest of the poor, those living under tarpaulin sheets and makeshift shelters. He asks whether they have rice, how they are surviving, and what struggles they face. In many homes, there is no income at all. The breadwinner may have died, debts may have piled up from medical treatment, and even rice becomes impossible to buy.
People may claim poverty has been eradicated, but the reality is different. The desperately poor are still among us. Martin finds such families and personally brings an entire month’s worth of groceries and provisions to their doorstep. He is not a wealthy businessman; he is a simple farmer who raises two cows. Yet this humble dairy farmer has formed a holy fellowship.
They established a Covenant community in Wayanad, and this fellowship carries out these Acts of Mercy. Martin is the fire and fuel behind it: through his encouragement, constant intercession, and the community’s united prayers, provisions reach homes where no one is able to work. If such families go to local shops, they may be insulted for their unpaid debts. The life of the poor is filled with agonizing despair, and understanding this pain is the duty of everyone who takes the Covenant.
You must step out into the world and understand the brutal reality of the poor. If you cannot help them directly, bring the matter to Kreupasanam. Say, "I visited this house, and their situation is desperate." We do not know how God’s providence will work. When such cases come, I announce them to the faithful and to fellowships that can help. Do not restrict charity only to individual efforts; form spiritual communities and carry out Acts of Mercy together. A responsible spiritual society bound by a holy Covenant cannot live only for its own survival.
This is why acceptability before God matters. Martin does not stop with one form of service. TD Joseph also learned to live the Covenant deeply. He instructed his son, who earns a salary, to set aside the tithe — ten percent of his yearly income. Then husband and wife sit together, discern prayerfully, and distribute that money to those living in deep poverty and agony.
A heart that burns to give to the poor must grow within us. God must look at us and see that we have embraced His Gospel. Then we will not need to run around in panic about our Covenant. The first thing we must build is spiritual credibility — the credibility to stand in the Covenant.
Look at what such Covenant life looks like: visiting orphanages and homes for the destitute, washing bathrooms humbly, clipping nails, bathing the helpless, and serving those who cannot repay us. That is how a true Covenant blazes like a consuming fire. Across Kerala and throughout the world, there are many intercessory missionaries like this.
The Covenant does not work when people merely tuck a Bible under their arm, sit in a corner, and pray selfishly for their own son, daughter, goat, cow, or cat. It does not work when people march with Bibles while seeking only their own needs. The Covenant works when we become living witnesses of the apparition and servants of the Gospel.
Now return to TD Joseph. Martin told him, "Let us go and behold the Blessed Mother. You do not need long prayers. Just pray: Mother, make me a living witness of your apparition." TD Joseph came here and spent a whole day. Since he needed a place to stay, he rented a small room nearby on the upper floor. When he arrived, his illness was so severe that he could not climb even one step. Because no other rooms were available, he dragged himself up, taking nearly one and a half to two hours to reach the room and collapse there.
The next morning, he came down to take the Covenant. The moment he took the Covenant and stepped onto this holy ground, he cried out, "O Mother, please make me a living witness of your glorious apparition!" Nothing else. Everything else is secondary and will be added later.
What does an open prayer mean? It is like opening a shop. Inside the shop, there may be many cash boxes and cupboards, but the shop itself is opened with a single key. That key is the prayer: "Blessed Mother, make me a witness to your apparition." All apostolic work is ordered toward that one purpose. You can pray it when you sleep and when you wake: "Make me a witness to the Blessed Mother’s apparition." It is not only beautiful; it is powerful.
That day, after seeing his medical reports, I was able to meet him and speak with him. I took his intention and placed it before the Blessed Mother. Through her intercession, I surrendered it to Jesus, anointed his head with holy oil, and he went to rest, planning to leave the next day. But the moment he left this place and lay down, he suddenly felt strength returning to his body. The man who had previously crawled began climbing stairs steadily. Right then, he knew the Blessed Mother had touched him. By the next day, he felt completely healed. That is the profound secret at the foundation of this prayer and apostolic work.
While TD Joseph was in the hospital, Martin Thomas did something remarkable. Instead of sitting beside him with a gloomy face, he took newsletters in eleven languages, selected six of those languages, and walked through the busy roads of Bangalore distributing them. He asked people which language they spoke, gave them a newsletter in that language, and shared his testimony about the Blessed Mother.
Some bystanders are so gloomy that the patient feels even worse just looking at them. That is not Christian life. Look at Martin and learn. He admitted his brother-in-law to the hospital, then went out with newsletters and prayers, speaking about the Blessed Mother. Such people only need to look toward Mother here. My children, we must take a complete U-turn in faith.
TD Joseph was admitted a second time. They gave him the first injection of the first cycle. At that time, his main doctor was not there; the treatment had already been prescribed and written on the chart. After the injection, TD Joseph kept saying, "I feel completely fine now. Please do a test." Because he insisted, and because he no longer sounded like the weak man they had seen before, the staff became doubtful. Still, they said, "We cannot simply do a test. You are under the care of the specialist, the Head of Department. He must authorize it. He will come on Thursday."
When the Head of Department arrived on Thursday, they took the second report. Seven injections and seven times twenty-eight pills had been prescribed, yet only one injection had been given. The Head of Department said, "In my entire profession, in all my years of service, I have never seen anything like this. The sixty-five percent dead cells have vanished, and one hundred percent new healthy blood cells have filled his body."
This is what it means to be a witness to the apparition. One single prayer: "Mother, make me a witness to your apparition." That is where the real power lies. All the apostolic work you do, all the acts of charity you perform, and all the responsibilities of the Covenant are meant to lead you into becoming a true living witness of the Blessed Mother’s apparition.
Disclaimer: All content in this post is credited to Dr. Fr. V.P. Joseph Valiyaveettil of Kreupasanam Marian Shrine, Kerala, India. I have simply served as a translator and editor in gratitude for the opportunity to assist. If Fr. V.P. Joseph believes any content here infringes upon his rights, I will remove it immediately upon request.
Father’s Malayalam sharings contain profound insights on covenant living and growing closer to God. As language barriers may prevent many from fully receiving these teachings, I have translated and highlighted key points from his YouTube sharings into English as a humble effort to help others in their covenant journey, just as I myself have been inspired.
I warmly encourage everyone to share this website with others who may benefit from these reflections. May all who visit this page be blessed and drawn closer to God.
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