OUR LADY OF FATIMA

Saint of the day
OUR LADY OF FATIMA
TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2008
May 13 is the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. She appeared six times to Lucia, 9, and her cousins Francisco, 8, and his sister Jacinta, 6, between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917.The story of Fatima begins in 1916, when, against the backdrop of the First World War which had introduced Europe to the most horrific and powerful forms of warfare yet seen, and a year before the Communist revolution would plunge Russia and later Eastern Europe into six decades of oppression under militant atheistic governments, a resplendent figure appeared to the three children who were in the field tending the family sheep. “I am the Angel of Peace,” said the figure, who appeared to them two more times that year exhorting them to accept the sufferings that the Lord allowed them to undergo as an act of reparation for the sins which offend Him, and to pray constantly for the conversion of sinners.Then, on the 13th day of the month of Our Lady, May 1917, an apparition of ‘a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun’ presented itself to the three children saying “Please don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to harm you.” Lucia asked her where she came from and she responded, “I come from Heaven.” The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand. The woman asked them to pray and devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to “say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.”She also revealed that the children would suffer, especially from the unbelief of their friends and families, and that the two younger children, Francisco and Jacinta would be taken to Heaven very soon but Lucia would live longer in order to spread her message and devotion to the Immaculate Heart.In the last apparition the woman revealed her name in response to Lucia’s question: “I am the Lady of the Rosary.”That same day, 70,000 people had turned out to witness the apparition, following a promise by the woman that she would show the people that the apparitions were true. They saw the sun make three circles and move around the sky in an incredible zigzag movement in a manner which left no doubt in their minds about the veracity of the apparitions. By 1930 the Bishop had approved of the apparitions and they have been approved by the Church as authentic.The messages Our Lady imparted during the apparitions to the children concerned the violent trials that would afflict the world by means of war, starvation, and the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father in the twentieth century if the world did not make reparation for sins. She exhorted the Church to pray and offer sacrifices to God in order that peace may come upon the world, and that the trials may be averted.Our Lady of Fatima revealed three prophetic “secrets,” the first two of which were revealed earlier and refer to the vision of hell and the souls languishing there, the request for an ardent devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the prediction of the Second World War, and finally the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism. The third “secret” was not revealed until the year 2000, and referred to the persecutions that humanity would undergo in the last century: “The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated'”. The suffering of the popes of the 20th century has been interpreted to include the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981, which took place on May 13, the 64th anniversary of the apparitions. The Holy Father attributed his escape from certain death to the intervention of Our Lady: “... it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death.”What is the central meaning of the message of Fatima? Nothing different from what the Church has always taught: it is, as Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has put it, “the exhortation to prayer as the path of “salvation for souls” and, likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.”Perhaps the most well known utterance of the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima was her confident decalaration that “My Immaculate Heart will triumph”. Cardinal Ratzinger has interpreted this utterance as follows: “The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise.

Customer is the king

Leadership lesson
Customer Complaint

There’s an old saying in the service business:

“The customer is always right!”

For five star teams, it’s not just a timeworn phrase – it’s a guiding principle.

No matter the situation, regardless of the issue, the team’s job is to make sure the customer always FEELS that he or she is right.( Irrespective of the fact that 40% of the time customer when complaint is wrong.)
Sam Walton of Wal-Mart gave Two Rules of Customer service
Rule no. 1: Customer is always the king

Rule No. 2 : If at any case Customer is wrong then refer to Rule No. 1
Certainly, there will be occasions when a patron’s request (or demand) is either unreasonable or just plain impossible to satisfy. But even in those cases, there’s always something that can be done to ensure the customer comes out a winner.
As one top-notch server put it,
“Customers have an absolute right to be right. It’s their money!”

L E A P into handling customer complaints:
LISTEN – focus on understanding their concerns.

EMPATHIZE – imagine yourself in their shoes.

ACKNOWLEDGE – tell them you understand.

PAMPER – go the extra mile to make it right.

Hit Wicket

With the IPL chairman Lalit Modi’s statement that Shoaib Akhtar will not be allowed to play in the Indian Premier League despite being cleared by the Pakistan Cricket board, all hopes for the fast bowler displaying magic with the red cherry in the near future is all but out.
The Rawalpindi Express had been banned by PCB for five years on charges of indiscipline, but a PCB panel confirmed he was free to play outside the country after the bowler tendered an unqualified apology.
The fiery pacer is a case study on how sports can make and break a person. He has seen the highs and lows of his career in a period cut short by aggression, arguments, brawn, brawls and controversies.
The Morgah-born lad of Pakistan had never thought that his sporting career would be filled with such full tosses, yorkers and bouncers of destiny as the deliveries he is so famous for. His run of impressive performances started in 1999 in a pre-World Cup series against India. Nobody would have thought that the novice bowler would scalp eight wickets in the Asian Test championship match against India at Kolkatta in 1999, including the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid off successive deliveries. He took the wicket of Master Blaster in the very first ball of his first encounter. Shoaib's delivery at 161.4km/h (100.2mph) stands as the fastest recorded to date.
His career has been plagued with injuries, controversies, and accusations of bad attitude. After shooting to stardom at a young age due to his devastating pace, he became more interested in glamour rather than cementing his career. His attitude took its toll on his reputation as well as his fitness. He got involved in a verbal spat with Waqar Younis, caught tampering with the ball, abused South Africa’s Paul Adams, and used performance-enhancing drugs. He even claimed of getting match-fixing offers.
Youngsters who want to take up career in sports or any other field should imbibe his good qualities — aggression and zeal — and shun the traits that he is ‘infamous’ for. Shoaib’s sporting career is a best example of how energy if not channelised properly can ruin a person.

Leadership

LEADERSHIP LESSONS

This weeks’ topic: COURAGE

Being ‘Values-Driven’ means two things:

Doing what’s right –
Following our conscience; refusing to compromise ourselves, or our principles, despite pressures and temptations to the contrary, and

Taking a stand against what’s wrong –
Speaking out, and acting out, whenever we see others do things that are incorrect or inappropriate.
Unquestionably, both of those require guts, nerve, and fortitude…they require courage.

Courage is…
Following your conscience instead of “following the crowd.”
Refusing to take part in hurtful or disrespectful behaviours.
Sacrificing personal gain for the benefit of others.
Speaking your mind even though others don’t agree.
Taking complete responsibility for your actions…and your mistakes.
Following the rules – and insisting that others do the same.
Challenging the status quo in search of better ways.
Doing what you know is right – regardless of the risks and potential consequences.

How courageous am I?

Have the courage to seek the truth.
-- David Cottrell