My beloved ones, every Holy Covenant retreat leads us into new dimensions of life and into new experiences of God being revealed in these times. Very often, these dimensions become tangible through Covenant testimonies. Not every testimony reveals the full depth of the Covenant, but some do. When I listen to them, I am reminded that there are different kinds of people who make the Covenant.
First, there are those who make what I would call a ritualistic Covenant. They hear someone speaking about the Covenant and its experiences, come here, listen to a few classes, understand one half and miss the other, and then simply imitate what they see others doing. They go home, light the blue candle for the morning Apparition Prayer and the green candle for the evening prayer, and assume that this is the Covenant. Such people become a burden to the Covenant because they have no awareness of the great things God is doing through it in these times, nor of the way He works through it. They have heard only the outer form and have entered into it half-heartedly.
Then there are those who live a normal Covenant life. They are honest and sincere. But beyond them are those whose testimonies reveal the true structure of the Covenant. These are the testimonies we must study carefully.
Why can I not share every testimony here? Because not every testimony contains the essential structure of the Covenant. A true Covenant testimony must reveal something very important: it must operate according to the principle, "not by merit, but by grace." Our own ability reaches its limit, and God takes the initiative. God becomes the One who carries the matter forward and brings it to completion.
A few days ago, a brother named Joseph Gregory shared his testimony together with his wife, Kavitha, and their four children. We know what it means today for a husband and wife to raise four children. On top of that, one of their children struggled with hyperactivity. We can understand the weight carried by such a family.
Whenever an extra weight falls upon our lives, it can become a place where the Covenant begins to work in a deeper way. Everyone has ordinary burdens, but sometimes a burden becomes far heavier than what we can manage by ourselves. When that happens, some people confront it in a Gospel way. They bring it before God and allow the Covenant to become the framework through which they face it.
Joseph Gregory and his family were living in Canada. He worked as a sales representative, but his work was not progressing well enough to bring real stability. He could manage daily needs, food, milk for the children, and the ordinary expenses of the household. His wife, Kavitha, worked as a nurse. Yet raising four children while both parents were working created a level of pressure that they could not easily overcome. That was the extra weight in their family.
This is precisely where "not by merit" must begin to work.
When they returned to Kerala, they took the Covenant. And one of the remarkable things about some people is that the moment they enter into the Covenant, it seems as though their Covenant is registered immediately in heaven. God knows their sincerity. God knows whether they are entering into this as a passing experiment or whether they are willing to carry it forward faithfully.
That is something all of us should examine. The moment we enter into the Covenant, God already knows whether we are going to live it seriously. Some people are like flies. They land on one thing, remain there briefly, and then fly somewhere else. Their interests keep shifting. They are attracted for a little while, then move on to the next thing. Such a person may say, "Let me get whatever blessing I can from this," but they do not truly surrender themselves to the Covenant. This is one of the great problems of superficial spirituality. Many families have lived for years with only an external religious structure. They may pray the Rosary in the evening, but not everyone is present. Some shorten it. Some begin only after they have eaten and become sleepy. Spiritual life remains superficial.
But when we look at families who have entered deeply into the Covenant, we see something different. The family itself begins to change. The people change. Their way of thinking changes. And through such lives we begin to understand why God may not have entered certain areas of our tears earlier. The Covenant teaches us how to allow God to step into matters far beyond our own ability.
Kavitha brought the needs of her family before the Lord. In effect, she was saying, "Lord, the jobs we have are not enough to raise these four children properly. Expenses keep increasing. We cannot manage this by ourselves."
That night, she had a dream. She saw a huge building made with the kind of bricks commonly used in Canada. It was a hospital. In the dream, she was shown that she should apply there.
Notice the precision. It was not a vague dream. She was shown the very kind of building connected with what was about to happen. She understood the message to be: "This is the hospital prepared for you. Submit an application online." The next morning, Kavitha applied to a hospital about 1,500 kilometres away. An online interview took place, and she was appointed.
When the Blessed Mother takes up a matter, everything begins to move under God's providence. It is like an engine pulling the coaches of a train. Even if the train carries many coaches, one engine can pull them forward. In the same way, once our life becomes truly bound to God, God Himself begins drawing the different parts of our life into order.
Do not listen to testimonies like this merely as stories. I am not interested in giving you empty stories. Once we begin to see the realistic and concrete ways in which God works among His people, those are the things worth examining. We must listen carefully and ask: how did these people come into such intimacy with God? My children, I have increasingly come to believe that spirituality is fundamentally a matter of intimacy.
What is spirituality? It is deep communion with God. And if someone asks, "What is the Covenant for?" the answer should be the same.
It is not first for stopping a foreclosure. It is not first for selling property. It is not first for arranging a marriage, getting permanent residency, or completing visa processing. If someone asks, "What is the Covenant for?" your answer should be: "It is for a profound spiritual communion with God." If you and God enter into deep communion, many of the other things that trouble you become God's concerns. That is where the real question lies. Even two months after taking the Covenant, are your intentions still only your problems, or has God taken them up as His concerns? This deserves serious reflection.
When I was in the second grade, I used to take wheat to the mill to be ground. When we placed the sack before the miller, he would put his hand into it and sift through the wheat. He was checking for stones and hard lumps. If such things entered the machine, they could spoil the flour and even damage the mill. He would ask, "Did you winnow and clean this before bringing it?" I would say, "Yes, my mother cleaned it." But he would still inspect it. In the same way, before we place our intentions into the Covenant, we must inspect them for hidden stones.
A noble and pure intention is one thing. But an intention may contain something hard, selfish, or malicious hidden within it. When that happens, the intention itself becomes spiritually defective.
Suppose a younger brother's wife comes to take the Covenant. The elder brother and his wife have no children and are still living in the family home. The younger brother's wife writes as her intention, "Let the elder brother and his wife move away so that we can live peacefully here."
At first glance, the request may seem practical. But there may be a hidden stone inside it. Why did she not pray, "Lord, bless my elder brother and his wife. Give them the grace they need. Give them children if it is Your will. Give them a good life"? Instead, the only desire is that they move away. Perhaps deep inside there is another fear: "If they have children, they may claim a larger share in the family property."
God sees that hidden intention. We may write only, "Let them move away," but God reads the heart. He sees whether love is present. If the petition is built on malice, greed, or the desire to benefit from another person's suffering, then it is not a holy intention. We are not submitting our petitions to a local official but placing them before God. When God scans the heart, He sees what lies behind the words.
Therefore, before renewing the Covenant, examine the old intentions. Remove the stones. Turn away from intentions written in panic, greed, rivalry, or wounded pride. The issue is not merely whether an intention pleases you. The issue is whether it pleases God. All six Covenant intentions must be brought under the heart of God. God's will must have priority in all of them.
When that happens, the Covenant becomes something very different. God sees a person who is trying to stand before Him with holiness of intention.
It is dangerous to rush to write all six intentions before even listening to the Covenant class. Some people want an additional sheet, as though they were asking for extra paper in an examination. They want to write ten, twenty, or a hundred more things. But if even one intention contains a stone, it may reveal the deeper problem in the heart. So those who are renewing the Covenant must pay special attention to the holiness of their intentions. Do a self-scan. Ask yourself: "Is this intention truly pleasing to God? Is there greed hidden in it? Is there revenge hidden in it? Is there jealousy? Am I asking God to bless me at another person's expense?" If the intention is holy, it can be placed before God with freedom. If it is not, sanctify it before renewing the Covenant.
Take the example of property. Someone writes, "Let this property be sold." But if God were conducting an interview, He might ask, "Why do you want to sell it?" Perhaps the real reason is that the married daughters may later ask for their share, and the person wants to complete the sale before that happens. Or perhaps the younger brother says, "I will buy it," but the person refuses because an outsider might pay a higher price. God may ask, "Your own brother has no land. Why not sell it to him if he is willing?" And the answer may be, "He will not pay as much as someone else." Then what has become the priority? Money. If profit has more importance than brotherly love, justice, and the Word of God, we must not pretend that the intention is spiritually clean. This is why the Covenant requires an examination of the heart.
If someone has renewed the Covenant five or six times and still wonders why there is no testimony, the answer may not lie in the number of renewals. Perhaps the intentions themselves have never been purified. Perhaps the person has simply moved mechanically through the process, collecting papers, signing books, lighting candles, and repeating the routine.
But the Covenant is a way of life.
Now return to Joseph Gregory and Kavitha. Why did Kavitha receive that dream? Because their Covenant had become something serious in their family. She was shown where to apply, she applied, and the matter moved with extraordinary speed. Joseph Gregory explained something else about their life. He said, "When we see someone in difficulty, we go and ask, 'What help do you need? What is your problem? Tell us. We will help as much as we can.'" That tells us something about their Covenant. The moment an opportunity to help appears, they do not immediately protect themselves from inconvenience. They look for how to serve. This is where basic humanity becomes essential.
Suppose an elderly mother-in-law becomes sick and begins coughing. If the daughter-in-law immediately packs her bag and runs back to her own parents' house because she fears she may have to care for the woman, what does that reveal? It reveals that even basic compassion has not yet developed. Before becoming a great spiritual person, first become human. A person without basic humanity cannot meaningfully claim to be entering into Covenant with God.
My children, God is capable of giving far more than what we place in our intentions.
Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?"
We stand before the God who did not withhold His own Son. If He sees an honest Covenant, He is not limited to the six things we have written down. The first requirement, then, is to become truly human. The second is to become a child of God according to the Gospel. Who is a child of God?
Romans 8:14 says, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."
The Covenant should be made by a person who desires to live as a child of God, someone willing to be led, corrected, redeemed, and sanctified by the Spirit.
Naturally, we come before God with wounds. Life injures us. We experience betrayal, resistance, disappointment, failure, and humiliation. These things affect our character and our emotions.
But when we enter into Covenant with God, we must begin laying down that wounded nature. Just as we remove our footwear before entering a sacred place, we must gradually remove grudges, hatred, pride, and the hard shell created by our wounds. Above all, pride must be laid down. That is why the prayer, "Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine," is so important.
In recent days I have also been reflecting on what spiritual writers call the gift of tears. It is a rare grace. Some people, simply by speaking to the Lord or hearing His name, find their eyes filling with tears. This does not come from emotional weakness. It can arise from deep love for God.
A sister named Rincy Joseph shared such a testimony. She also has four children, all still very young. Raising four small children itself demands enormous sacrifice. There is something similar in Kavitha's testimony. After she received the new job, the entire family had to move about 1,500 kilometres away. They were preparing for the journey when they received a mobile alert warning that a severe snowstorm would affect their route around three o'clock in the morning.
They had planned to leave later, but because of the warning, they adjusted their travel and started early. They travelled with the children and safely reached the new place.
When Kavitha arrived, her eyes filled with tears. The hospital building was made with the same kind of bricks she had seen in the dream. The place itself confirmed the guidance she had received. This is the kind of tangible reassurance that teaches a person, "I am walking on the path God prepared." When a person truly strives to live as a child of God, they do not need to create artificial proof of their sincerity. God sees it.
Our responsibility is to examine ourselves continually. Are we truly children of God? Is our speech worthy of that? Are our reactions worthy of that? In many situations, remaining silent is the holier choice. Sometimes if we speak, we become unholy. We may enter into an argument with someone who speaks harshly, and within minutes we begin using the same tone, the same words, and the same aggression. A person in the Covenant must learn to become silent early, before the conflict drags them down. Why do we feel the need to win every argument? Why do we use words like weapons? Often it comes from the assumption that we are alone and must defend ourselves at any cost.
But someone living the Covenant should know: "I am not alone." This became very important again in Joseph Gregory's family. After Kavitha received a job with a much better salary, she became pregnant again. Joseph immediately remembered what had happened in her previous pregnancies. During her earlier pregnancies, she had suffered severe vomiting for almost eight months. She would become exhausted, unable to eat properly, weak, sleepless, and anxious. His first reaction was fear. He thought, "If this happens again, she may lose the new hospital job."
Then he stopped himself and said, "No. We are in the Covenant." He remembered, "During those earlier pregnancies, we were not living this Covenant. Today we are in the Covenant." This is what I call spiritual awareness. Joseph Gregory's greatest strength was not merely that he had taken the Covenant. It was that he was deeply convinced that he and his wife were in the Covenant. Many people do not possess that conviction. They have signed the paper, lit the candle, and completed the practices, but deep inside they are still unsure whether they truly stand in Covenant with God. That uncertainty weakens everything.
A young woman came to me recently and asked, "Father, should I choose CA or nursing? There is very little time. Please give me a message quickly." Seeing her distress, I prayed before the Blessed Mother and tried to discern a message for her. I gave her a chart in which the options were coded so that she could not know what she was selecting. She prayed, recited the Creed, and marked two letters. When I checked the result, both CA and nursing had been crossed out. Because the result was unclear, I repeated the process using another arrangement so that she could not recognize the choices. Again she marked the options, and again both CA and nursing were crossed out. Then I asked her, "You are not in the Covenant, are you?" She replied, "I broke the Covenant, Father." She had come seeking a message while no longer living the Covenant she had made. This is a serious matter. We may say we have made a Covenant with God, but the deeper question is whether the Covenant has truly been accepted and lived.
Joseph Gregory, when fear arose because of Kavitha's pregnancy, stood firmly in that conviction: "We are in the Covenant." And throughout that pregnancy, Kavitha did not suffer the severe vomiting that had marked her previous pregnancies. The point is not that the Covenant is merely a collection of prayers or devotional actions. It is an applied life of faith. Many of us are accustomed to conventions where we listen, sing, clap, pray, and go home. Those things can help faith grow. But the Covenant demands more. It is not merely listening. It is doing what He says. That is where the challenge begins.
We must also examine the nature of the good works we do. The same outward action can have two different spiritual qualities. There is social work, and there is a grace-filled act. During floods, for example, many people help one another simply because we are human beings living in society. That is good. But when a person in the Covenant serves another person explicitly out of love for Christ, the act becomes something more. They say in their heart, "I am doing this for the glory of Christ's name and as part of my witness to Him." Christ becomes the reason.
Jesus said, "I was sick and you visited me." Therefore, when you visit the sick because of Christ, the act becomes Gospel-shaped. It is no longer merely social work. Suppose someone else says, "We helped a whole hospital. We distributed spectacles to hundreds of people."
That may be excellent social work. But perhaps you left your house and climbed four floors of a hospital just to visit one sick person because you believed Christ was asking you to go. The lift was unavailable, so you climbed the stairs, panting, holding the Rosary in your hand and praying as you went. That very effort can become a grace-filled act because it is offered through love for Christ. The difference lies in the intention and in the Person for whom it is done.
When our attitudes and actions begin to reflect the Gospel, God sees that we are truly trying to live as His children. Communication with God can then deepen. My children, do not tell God, "I will live this way for three weeks" or "I will live this way for three months." Instead pray, "Lord, help me to live like this for my entire life and to remain a witness of Your love." Place your hand on your heart and pray: "Lord God, help me to live for my entire lifetime as a witness of Your love." When God sees that kind of sincerity, the relationship changes.
Joseph Gregory and Kavitha also faced another heavy burden. One of their sons struggled with severe hyperactivity. He would climb onto window grills, let go and fall, overturn desks, push tables, and create situations that were difficult for anyone to manage. Even if three children are calm, one child with intense hyperactivity can consume the attention and strength of an entire household. The blessing in this family was that husband and wife stood together in the Covenant.
Remember this carefully: through the Sacrament of Matrimony, husband and wife have been joined before God. Even if one spouse is not presently walking closely with God, the other can intercede deeply for them. A wife may pray, "Lord, make my husband a Covenant partner too." She should handle him with gentleness. If she comes saying, "Father, another woman is calling his phone," the first spiritual question is not merely what accusation can be made. The deeper question is: "This is the man whose hand I held in marriage. If he has become emotionally distant, how do I intercede for his return to God and to the marriage?"
A child of God does not fight darkness with more darkness. The attitude, "If you go to another woman, I will go to another man," is not the attitude of a person who knows God. Instead, the prayer becomes: "Lord, bringing my life partner back into truth is also Your concern. I will remain faithful to You, live the Covenant, and pray for him." Do not let anger drive you into words that destroy what you are asking God to heal. Sometimes people react impulsively, leave the home immediately, and go to their parents. But anger does not always produce wisdom. A mother may say, "Let him learn his lesson," but such reactions do not necessarily restore a marriage.
The important question is: what is the stand God is asking me to take? Until the Lord gives clarity, remain rooted in Him. Do not let wounded pride make the decision for you. The worldly court is not the ultimate court. God's judgment and God's truth are greater. The Covenant teaches us not merely how to win against another person, but how to remain faithful before God.
Isaiah 29:8 says, "As when a hungry person dreams of eating and wakes up still hungry, or a thirsty person dreams of drinking and wakes up faint, still thirsty, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion."
A person may think they have won while living in rebellion against God. They may think they have secured success, wealth, freedom, or a new relationship. But if it is built by setting God aside, it may eventually prove to be only a dream. The soul wakes up thirsty.
Joseph Gregory did not want to live that way. When he saw the struggle of his hyperactive son, he brought it directly into the Covenant and asked, "Mother, is there a solution for this child?"
This is where communication becomes real.
Previously, the child would go to school and within a short time create such disruption that the school would arrange for him to be sent back home. The parents even had to bear the expense of the special transport. After Joseph and Kavitha brought this matter before the Lord and continued living the Covenant, something changed. The school began asking, "What have you done at home for Antony? He now sits in class like such a calm and well-behaved child."
The parents saw a transformation they could not produce by their own strength.
My children, when I correct you strongly, it is because I want you to return to God quickly. Correction is not meant to humiliate. It is meant to heal. If a wound is infected, a nurse may have to clean it thoroughly before it can close. In the same way, when something in our Covenant life is infected by hypocrisy, selfishness, resentment, or pride, it has to be exposed and treated. The purpose is healing.
Joseph Gregory's family had another testimony. Kavitha had suffered from a severe thyroid condition. At one point, while listening to prayer, whether during Daily Bread or Eucharistic Adoration, a message was proclaimed that the Lord was healing those suffering from thyroid disease. At that moment, Kavitha received the grace she had been praying for, and she later testified that the condition disappeared. Again, the important point is not merely the speed of a blessing but the kind of Covenant life in which such trust, prayer, and surrender were taking place.
Now consider Rincy Joseph. She had three children and became pregnant with a fourth. She told the children, "Your little baby is coming. Pray and wait joyfully." The children were excited. They would ask, "Mummy, when is the baby coming?" They would sit near her, touch her stomach, and wait with great anticipation. Then suddenly she miscarried. Her sorrow was deep, and one of the hardest things for her was the thought that she could no longer bring the baby home to the children who had been waiting. She fell into profound disappointment.
For people growing in the Covenant, we must ask whether these moments of despair can gradually be transformed. A mature Covenant taker does not mean that a person never feels sorrow. It means sorrow no longer has the final word.
Rincy had a particularly intimate way of experiencing the Blessed Mother's presence. Over the years, a few people have testified that when they experience the presence of Our Lady of Kreupasanam, they hear or dream of the sound of rushing water. Rincy described an experience like this. At another stage of her life, her menstrual cycle had become irregular, and she did not expect another pregnancy. During that period, she experienced this sign of rushing water. The next day she discovered that she was pregnant. She received that pregnancy as a gift. Later, during a scan, the doctor initially said that the spinal cord could not be clearly seen and suggested that the baby might be a girl. Rincy had been hoping for a boy, and for a moment her faith faltered.
This is important because even a sincere person can have moments of faltering. But she did not abandon the Covenant. Instead, she intensified her prayer and called out, "Mother!" For her, that word meant Our Lady of Kreupasanam. Her own family members were far away, and in the loneliness of pregnancy and childbirth, the Blessed Mother had become deeply personal to her. She prayed, "Mother, they are saying the spinal cord is not visible. They are saying this may be a girl. What is happening?" Rincy testified that at that moment the surroundings seemed to take on a silver-grey appearance, and she experienced this as the presence of the Blessed Mother in the scan room.
Immediately afterward, the doctor corrected the earlier impression and said, "No, this is a male child. The baby is a boy." What should we learn from a testimony like this? Not that the Covenant exists merely to obtain the gender of a child we want. That would completely miss the point. The deeper lesson is the growth of intimacy and confidence in God.
The goal is not to remain forever at the level of, "Stop this foreclosure," "Get this person out of jail," "Sell this land," or "Give me this particular result." The Covenant is meant to lead us upward into a profound spiritual union with God. The Blessed Mother herself lived from this place of surrender. When she asked, "How can this be, since I do not know man?" the angel answered that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that nothing would be impossible with God.
That is the world of faith into which the Covenant invites us.
If you have made a Covenant with the God for whom nothing is impossible, then examine the Covenant itself. Is it truthful? Are the intentions holy? Is the heart sincere? Is the goal truly in communion with God?
My children, prioritize your spiritual union with God. Let that become the centre of the Covenant. When the relationship is right, allow God to take care of what belongs to Him. May God bless you.
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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