My beloved ones, I have mentioned this during the retreat these past few days, and it deeply pleased me to see how many people participate in this online Covenant retreat.
Many say it feels just like sitting inside the church. They bathe, dress properly, wear their holy garments, and attend with devotion from their homes, casting the Covenant retreat from their mobile phones to their televisions. They attend with the faith that the Lord will speak to them through it.
But each person participates according to their own measure of faith. Some attend with devotion, believing that the Lord will speak. Others attend as though they are watching a television program. They leave in between, answer phone calls, go outside, chat with others, and return whenever they wish. We must always remember this: the way we conduct ourselves in the holy presence of God determines what we receive from Him.
If we set ourselves apart with devotion and burning love, the Lord receives that disposition.
Jesus said in Matthew 10:41: "Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a righteous person because he is righteous will receive a righteous person's reward."
This is a standard of measurement we must pay close attention to. The Lord measures according to the way we receive and respond.
As Jesus also says in Luke 6:38: "For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
This opens a new door for us. Whatever we truly invest before God, we receive according to that measure. If we approach holy things carelessly, the fruit will also be lacking. But when we approach with reverence, God responds accordingly.
Now look at the testimony of Reshmi Thomas. What did she do? She closed her room, covered herself prayerfully with a veil, and participated in the online retreat with devotion. While she was attending from her own home through the television, a message came during prayer: those suffering from uterine prolapse were asked to place their hands on their lower abdomen and pray. At that very moment, the bleeding and the prolapsed uterus that had troubled her for years stopped, and it never returned. See how quickly grace can work when faith and reverence are present.
Why do we listen to the Word of God? It is not merely to hear moral advice. We listen so that we may know God, understand His ways, and learn how He works in our lives. If we want to know how God responds to our behavior, we must know Him more deeply. There is always a spiritual climate around the Word of God, and we must enter that climate properly.
Many of you in the Covenant do good works. But some do them only as a ritual. They think: "Since I have taken the Covenant, let me go and visit the sick. If I do not do it, perhaps my Covenant intention will not be fulfilled." About half the people approach works of mercy in this way. They go, see the sick, give some money, and leave. But if it is done only as compulsion, that is not the spirit Jesus wants.
Matthew 25:36 says: "I was naked and you clothed me, I was ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me."
If we do works of mercy only so that our own foreclosure stops, our visa is renewed, our job comes through, or our marriage happens, then we have reduced mercy to a transaction. But Jesus connects works of mercy to eternity.
He says in Matthew 25:34: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
So when we do good works, our focus should not be only on the intentions written in the Covenant. Our deeper focus should be eternity — to find God, serve Him, and be received by Him.
That is why Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers stripped him, beat him, and left him half dead on the road. Many passed by, but finally a Samaritan came, poured oil and wine on his wounds, bound them up, placed him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him.
Then Jesus adds something very important.
Luke 10:35 says: "The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.'"
Who is the one who says, “I will come back”? Spiritually, this points us to the Lord who will come again. Here, Jesus opens a wider understanding of mercy. Mercy is not limited only to a fixed list. It means: “Take care of his matter. Take care of her matter.” The person’s need may be sickness, debt, foreclosure, marriage crisis, hunger, loneliness, or some other unbearable burden.
Yesterday, while I was praying here, a person told me, "Father, our house is facing foreclosure. Can you help me?" I did not feel annoyance toward him, because that is his situation. Each person has a unique struggle, and sometimes their situation pushes them to ask for help. The point is not to blame them, but to understand the matter that is crushing them.
During the floods, we sent clothes, green gram, rice, and other supplies from here. But when people went to the relief camps, what did the women there ask for? Sanitary pads. At first, many may not think of that. But for women staying in relief camps for weeks or months, without proper facilities, that was an essential need. This is what it means to take care of someone's matter. Works of mercy cannot be limited to only fourteen categories, because each person has a different suffering.
So now a new word comes before us: Covenant mind. When you are in the Covenant, your mind must also enter the Covenant. We must ask ourselves: "I made the Covenant physically, but has my mind also made the Covenant?" Sometimes the body and hands make the Covenant, but the mind remains in warfare. A Covenant mind means the inner person has accepted the Covenant as the most important matter of life.
If you are asked to wake up at five o'clock to pray, and you keep twisting the discipline because your mind refuses it, then the Covenant mind has not yet formed. Look at those who come here for the six o'clock retreat. They come from different places, and many would have woken up at four o'clock. Their minds have aligned with that commitment. In the same way, everyone who enters the Covenant must form a Covenant mind.
The first stage of the Covenant may begin with our intentions. We bring our needs before God and ask Him to act quickly. But in the next stage, God Himself becomes the intention. When God becomes the Covenant intention, we begin to live by His promise: "I will be with you wherever you go."
This does not happen through mere recitation. For someone who has no other way, prayer may be all they can do. But for the one who has the ability to act, love for God must be expressed through works. Then God understands our sincerity.
In Mark 9:50, Jesus says: "Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."
This is deeply connected to the Covenant. Our subject is the Covenant mind, a transformation of life through which we live the Covenant as a sacred standard, guided by obedience, discipline, and love for God. God does not make the Covenant merely with the physical body.
Jesus says in John 6:63: "It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail."
Therefore, the Covenant must be made with the mind and spirit. A Covenant mind knows: "I have entered a sacred Covenant with God. Therefore, this Covenant is the most important matter of my life."
In the past few days, when reflecting again on the testimony of Reshmi Thomas, she said something profound. At one point, her job and her Covenant life were no longer aligning. If she focused only on the job, she could not live the Covenant properly. So she sat and spoke with the Blessed Mother: "If I go ahead with this job, I cannot live the Covenant life; but if I live the Covenant, I may lose my job."
Because she had a deep anointing of the Holy Spirit, she understood this truth: "The Covenant is not for the job; the job is for the Covenant." Immediately she made a firm decision: "Even if I lose my job, I will continue my Covenant." That is the heart of the matter. A cart moves only when the horse is tied in front. If the horse is tied behind the cart, it will not move.
Some people take the Covenant only for a specific intention. When that time comes, they treat the Covenant like a heavy load to be put down. If the Covenant feels like a burden to you, it means you took it only for the intention. But the Covenant itself should not feel heavy, because everything related to Jesus becomes light when love for Him increases.
Matthew 11:30 says: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
We priests live celibate lives twenty-four hours a day. To many in the world, that looks like a terrible burden. Many young people today are so absorbed in reels, entertainment, and the sexual world that they think, "If I become a priest, I cannot marry." To them, celibacy feels heavy. But for those who have received the divine call, it becomes light. In the same way, if your Covenant is burdening you, you have not yet seen the God of the Covenant as your own.
Honestly speaking, many people in the Covenant are waiting for it to finish so they can put the burden down. They are like people doing festival business who only wait for the festival to end, collect their money, and go home. They treat the Lord in a business-like manner. But the burden of the Lord is light when love is real.
If you are asked to visit the sick in a hospital, you may immediately ask, "Who will come with me? What are the visiting hours? Can I go alone?" You may gather excuses. But if your own child were lying in the hospital, you would catch the first auto-rickshaw and rush there. Why? Because when it is your own child, the burden is light. As long as you do not see God as your own, the Covenant will feel heavy.
So if the Covenant feels heavy to you today, it means you have not yet seen the God of the Covenant as your own. It means the Covenant mind has not fully formed.
You may attend conventions, retreats, and Church programs, but you should not listen to the Covenant with the same casual ear. In the Covenant, we are taught how it works, what its mechanism is, and what we may call Covenant engineering. It teaches us how to bear greater fruit.
Jesus Himself speaks about greater fruit. John 15:2 says: "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit."
God is not satisfied with minimal growth. In spiritual life, He looks for greater fruit. Covenant engineering means creating greater spiritual output - not merely the fulfillment of the six intentions we wrote down, but deeper transformation and greater works with God.
John 14:12 says: "Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."
Therefore, when you are truly faithful to God in the Covenant, newer doors will open. The fruit will not be limited to only what you asked for.
The other day, a man named Vishnu shared a testimony. He was a soldier. He had worked in the army for fourteen years, yet his salary and the debts at home were not matching. He thought he might need to go abroad for work, but he did not know where to go or how to go.
Through a friend in Kothamangalam, he accidentally came to Kreupasanam. The friend said he was going to the Alappuzha church because he had an exam and wanted to see the Blessed Mother. Vishnu said, "Then I will come too." He came, prayed like everyone else, and returned to Kashmir.
Later, while in the army, he saw a Kreupasanam testimony on YouTube and thought, "My God, I went to that place." The desire to return came into his heart. He prayed to Mother: "If I am to come again, I need leave. I have just returned from leave, so there is no chance. If I am to come to you, Mother, you must grant me leave this month." To his amazement, leave was granted that very month.
When a person steps out of the house to enter the Covenant, God already knows the intention. The Covenant is a bilateral agreement — one party is you, and the other party is God. It is not an agreement with your property, visa, job, or stomach. If you fail in your responsibility toward God, then with whom are you making the Covenant? With your own need.
Some people come only to get something done. They do not attend retreats, do not go for confession, do not do works of mercy, and only do things outwardly for namesake. If there is no space for the Holy Spirit, the Covenant cannot bear fruit. From the beginning, we must make a good investment in prayer and sincerity.
Acts 10:47 says: "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?"
While Peter was still preaching, the Holy Spirit fell upon the people. In the same way, when we listen to the Word of God and sincerely decide to enter the Covenant, the Holy Spirit can begin working immediately. The Covenant life is one of the most excellent ways to receive the Holy Spirit.
For Vishnu, Mother confirmed the sincerity of his intention. He walked all the way from Kothamangalam, nearly eighty kilometers, to take the Covenant. Until then, no one had walked here with that intention. Most people who come to take the Covenant keep checking the time and asking, "When can I leave? How many hours will it take?" But Vishnu walked with seriousness and desire.
We must convince God that He is the most important part of the Covenant. Even if we began with selfish motives, we must pray, work, and change our hearts before God. We do not make a Covenant with an intention merely to get things done. We make the Covenant with God.
Those who make a Covenant with God will be ready to do anything for God. But for that, what is needed? True love of God. The core element of the Covenant is the love of God. Often, however, what people have is not love for God, but love for their intention. That is why their Covenant flickers out like a lamp without oil.
My dear ones, there is another testimony that amazed me. It is about a brother named Suresh who works in Oman. He is about forty-five years old. Suresh suffered a stroke. There were blocks in five places in his brain. He collapsed and could not get up or walk. His hands and legs became stiff, and he lay like a lump of flesh. Because his heartbeat and circulation were severely affected, he was sent back from Oman in a wheelchair. He landed at Nedumbassery and was taken to several super-specialty hospitals in Kerala. They took him to hospital after hospital, but no one could do anything. Because there were five severe blocks, attempting to clear even two could have caused immediate death. Finally, one super-specialty hospital said all they could do was give painkillers and sleeping pills.
Kerala has excellent medical facilities. Many foreigners and people from other countries come here for treatment because high-quality care is available at a much lower cost. We often fail to realize the value of our own land. Yet, at the same time, we must pray for Kerala's economic and social condition. Our production sectors have suffered, many industries have collapsed, and people depend heavily on IT work tied to foreign time zones. We must surrender Kerala's economy, work culture, and production sectors into God's hands.
Now, returning to Suresh. He was rejected by all the hospitals and remained bedridden in severe pain. Then tragedy deepened. His wife stole the money he had brought, had an affair, and ran away with another man. When such suffering came, it became clear that she had not truly stood as a wife.
Then his father, fearing that legal problems might affect the remaining property, came to the bedridden son and got the property transferred. Since Suresh could not even sign properly, they forcefully took his thumbprint. His father and siblings took the land, saying they had received nothing from his earnings. In the end, this suffering man was left without money, without property, and almost without the bed he lay on.
It was then that his daughter showed him a powerful Kreupasanam testimony on YouTube.
My children, many lives depend on such sharing. When we share these testimonies, we are not merely sharing a video. We are placing God before people who believe their lives are over. At Kreupasanam, God is doing mighty works, hour by hour, to establish the apparition of our Blessed Mother. Those who receive blessings must remember: you are chosen to become witnesses to the apparition of the Blessed Mother.
If a person has renewed the Covenant three times and still has no testimony or spiritual fruit, something must be examined seriously. Where did the Covenant life go wrong? Did love for God diminish? Did material desire become more important than God? Was it only a temporary show to get something done? These questions must be asked honestly.
How was Suresh brought here? He was carried in a wheelchair. When his daughter showed him the testimony, he said, "It is true; if I go to that place, maybe I will be saved. But how can I go? I am lying here like a dead body, taking sleeping pills and painkillers three times a day." Then two or three friends lifted this eighty-five-kilogram man, placed him in a wheelchair, brought him here, carried him upstairs for the Covenant class, brought him down, and helped him take the Covenant.
After taking the Covenant, he returned home. Later, when his candle was running out, he came on his own. This is important. Others had brought him before, but now he himself desired to come. The Word says: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." The decision must come personally from within us.
One day he said, "My candle is not finished yet, but I will go see the Blessed Mother and buy another candle." He came on his own, renewed the Covenant, bought the candle, and went back. He had no earthly support left. His wife had left, his money was gone, his property was taken, and he had to depend on others even for bus fare. He was a man completely defeated by life.
But the hand that wins is the hand that holds the wounded hand of the Lord. The Lord's right hand is the hand of victory. Those who stood with Him abandoned Him, betrayed Him, stripped Him, nailed Him to the Cross, and placed Him in the tomb. But God the Father raised Him up.
Isaiah 41:10 says: "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God."
On the day Suresh renewed the Covenant, he sat alone in the morning and lit the candle. While sitting on the bed, his leg twitched. He understood that Mother had come. In his mind, Mother told him to try pressing his foot down. There was no one around, so he pressed his foot down. Then Mother told him to try standing up. He stood on one leg. Then she told him to press the other foot down. He did so. Then she told him to walk inside the room. He walked. Then she told him to walk out to the road. And he walked along the road.
This is the man who had been relying on sleeping pills and painkillers, whose life was considered finished, whose wife had left him, whose property was gone, and whose strength had disappeared. Even when everything seems finished, God says: "Nothing is finished, because I am with you."
The core of Suresh's testimony is his second coming to Mother. No one forced him. No one carried him that time. He came because he desired to come. That honesty matters. As long as the Covenant is tied mainly to a worldly intention, it will feel heavy. But if the Covenant becomes an opportunity to love God, then the burden becomes light.
Matthew 11:28-30 says: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest... For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
All your life's problems and burdens must become occasions to love God, live for God, and become a witness for His sake. When you take the Covenant, you should immediately say in your heart: "Lord, make me a witness as soon as possible. I will share my testimony and make Your name known." That is true prayer.
But some people stubbornly decide: "I will not give testimony. I will not distribute the newspaper. Who will see me? To whom will I give it?" Such a mentality cannot bear Covenant fruit. It is trying to misuse God for one's own survival and livelihood.
Another testimony from Kannur has been watched by millions of people. That sister was drowning in debt, and her family was about to be thrown out of their house. She went to a deserted field to end her life. In that darkness, someone gave her a Kreupasanam newspaper. That newspaper became the hand that saved her. She got into the same vehicle she had intended to use for suicide and came here. This is why sharing matters. Many sinking lives have been reclaimed through these testimonies.
So when you come to such a place, you need a clean heart. What is a clean heart? It asks: "How can I love God? Why am I taking this Covenant? To love God, to live for God, and to become a witness to the Gospel." If the mind is reformatted in this way, God will understand your sincerity.
If, instead, you come calculating how to avoid testimony, how to avoid sharing, how many newspapers you must give, and how quickly you can finish, this is not the place for such trickery. This place is for those ready to live for God with a backbone, just as the Lord loved us without reserve, even unto the Cross.
One of the items used in the Covenant is salt. What is salt a symbol of? Salt represents God's right. According to Leviticus 2:13, salt is connected with the covenant of your God. It reminds us that blessings come not by merit, but by grace.
This is also reflected in Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God."
When we place salt in a place facing foreclosure, on a property that will not sell, or in relation to a job we cannot obtain, we are declaring: "This is not my skill. This belongs to God's right. Not by my merit, but by Your grace."
But to have the authority even to place salt in faith, God must see that you belong to Him. For that, you must do good works, works of mercy, and missionary work. Otherwise, if you simply come here and rush to place salt without a Covenant life, it will not work. Only those who have salt within themselves should place salt.
Jesus says in Mark 9:50: "Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves."
This must be linked with Matthew 5:13: "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?"
And also Matthew 5:16: "Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."
When Jesus says, "Have salt in yourselves," it means: let there be good works in you. Good works are works of grace. Every act done with Christ at the center. That is why, when completing the Covenant, you are asked what work of grace you have done. Without works of grace, the Covenant remains incomplete in spirit.
Long ago I learned something from a simple experiment. If water is placed in a vessel and an electric current passes through it, the current affects mainly the area near the wire. But when salt is added, the salt separates into ions and allows the current to travel through the water more effectively. The current reaches even the far edges of the vessel.
The same principle applies to the Covenant. Making the Covenant is like the current. Works of mercy are like the salt. When you do works of grace after making the Covenant, the Holy Spirit receives freedom to act powerfully within you, and the power of the Covenant spreads through your intentions and your life.
There is no use in making a Covenant and sitting idly at home. The moment you perform works of mercy with love, the immense power of the Covenant begins to radiate. As we prepare for Pentecost, remember this clearly: good works carry the fruits of the Covenant into all your intentions. Without good works, grace may stop at only one or two areas. But when salt is truly within us, the Covenant becomes alive, powerful, and fruitful before God.
Disclaimer: All content in this article is credited to Dr. Fr. V.P. Joseph Valiyaveettil of Kreupasanam Marian Shrine, Kerala, India. This English adaptation has been prepared as a humble effort to make Father’s Malayalam YouTube sharings more accessible to a wider audience, with the assistance of translation and editorial resources.
Many of Father’s teachings were originally shared within the context of the Kreupasanam Covenant and may therefore include references or practices specific to that spiritual journey. Nevertheless, this blog is intended for everyone. Whether or not you are a Covenant member, it is my hope that these reflections, biblical teachings, and testimonies will encourage you in your own walk with God.
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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