Lent Season In Simple Words

Humanity's "Fall" away from God and into sin began with eating.  God had proclaimed a fast from the fruit of only one tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17), and Adam and Eve broke it.  Fasting is here connected with the very mystery of life and death, of salvation and damnation.

The tragedy is not so much that Adam ate food, but that he ate the food for its own sake, "apart" from God and to be independent of Him.  Believing that food had life in itself and thus he could be "like God."  And he put his faith in food.  This kind of existence seems to be built on the principle that man does indeed live "by bread alone."

When He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He became hungry."  Hunger is that state in which we realize our dependence on something else—when we face the ultimate question: "on what does my life depend?"  Satan tempted both Adam and Christ, saying: Eat, for your hunger is proof that you depend entirely on food, that your life is in food.   Adam believed and ate.  Christ said, "Man does NOT live by bread alone." (Mt. 4:4; Lk. 4:4)  This liberates us from total dependence on food, on matter, on the world.  Thus, for the Christian, fasting is the only means by which man recovers his true spiritual nature.In order for fasting to be effective, then, the spirit must be a part of it.  Christian fasting is not concerned with losing weight.  It is a matter of prayer and the spirit.   And because of that, because it is truly a place of the Spirit, true fasting may well lead to temptation, and weakness and doubt and irritation.In other words, it will be a real fight between good and evil, and very likely we shall fail many times in these battles.  But the very discovery of the Christian life as "fight" and "effort" is an essential aspect of fasting.

Christian tradition can name at least seven reasons for fasting:

1. From the beginning, God commanded some fasting, and sin entered into the world because Adam and Eve broke the fast.
2. For the Christian, fasting is ultimately about fasting from sin.
3. Fasting reveals our dependence on God and not the resources of this world.
4. Fasting is an ancient way of preparing for the Eucharist—the truest of foods.
5. Fasting is preparation for baptism (and all the sacraments)—for the reception of grace.
6. Fasting is a means of saving resources to give to the poor.
7. Fasting is a means of self-discipline, chastity, and the restraining of the appetites.

Hope this short articles that I copied from a reliable source can enlight us on the purpose of Lent. Lets make full use of this season to grow in faith, and be a better person, especially in God's eyes. Amen.

He's There For Us, He Really Is...

I am facing some crises lately, like what I wrote in the past 2 posts. Although at times I did feel almost defeated, I never stopped putting hope for a better tomorrow. I just believed that part of it could be God's wonderful plans to give me some adventures and experiences in life, while the rest could come from my own weaknesses. 

I did have to go through some tough days, swallowed my pride and just relied on the strength that He provided me, have a little patient and perseverance, and the next thing I know, He presented me with happy news. He always does this, people. :)) 

I want to thank God that despite all my troubles and challenges, my loved ones are always around. It's not fair that I keep talking about obstacles, making people think that my heart is empty of love. That's not the case. The love in my heart is whole, and thanks to God again for making it sufficient. I can't help be feel blessed.

Guys, never give up. Rewards are on their way. He's smiling at you and have some shame when you start to have silly thoughts in your head. He loves us that much, please don't forget :))

1 John 4

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.

The Journey Of Faith Continues...

I always have questions about religions, especially about mine; Catholic. I'm always surrounded by people from different beliefs, and different groups of Christian, but after all the time accepting the differences, never before that  I was called to start finding out what caused the differences. Now that the person who is the closest to me is also a protestant, he helped to raise up some points where I start to find myself even more curious than ever. It's not because I simply DOUBT, it's because I DON'T KNOW ENOUGH. I think there's a reason why God provides all the knowledge in the world, even making it easier for us to access information more than ever, I feel the need to start using all this to know more about God. 

To be honest, I don't like to be accused to have blind faith. But sometimes I wonder if I've been doing that my whole life. I felt quite sinful when I attended masses and instead of participating, I became an observer. I started to wonder the reasons why the mass is conducted in such a way, with all the rituals and procedures that I don't know why they do it. Even the robes that the priests are wearing, and with all the other things I saw at the altar, I wonder how necessary are they and why they need to be there. Sometimes everything looks so luxurious that I got distracted by the decorations and shining equipments and clothes. I understand that they perform the important event of The Last Supper every mass, that's why they call it Eucharistic celebration. It's about The Bread. Jesus passed the bread to His disciples during the last hour before His crucifixion. I got even distracted that the priests are reading straight from the big Bible near him as they conduct the blessing of the bread. I thought that it would be more heartfelt if they can just speak the words without reading. I thought that they should be able to memorise the words after countless of times handling masses. Yeah, I have all these things in my head. I feel guilty too but if I don't sort them out, I could not just fake my devotion. I don't think that I don't have the right to know and to understand. Like I have written before, No religions are perfect. I don't expect mine to be. But it's good to know and to understand more, so that it won't get in the way between you and your ways of reaching to God. 

I even started wondering about why Mother Mary has her rank in the Catholic Church, while others think that she doesn't even deserve it. It hurts me to see how others speak of my religion as if it was a joke. I've always believe that The Rosary prayer is one very powerful prayer. So I don't think it's fair that others think less of her. There must be concrete reasons why she's put in her position in the Church. That's why, I did some serious readings for the past few days. I'm glad that I could google for some reliable sources - and I even read some random ones written by laymen like me - which I think do help me in understanding what the fuss is all about. 

The result is...I do find some answers to my questions. I wonder what did I do all this time that I didn't look for them earlier. I could be knowing more by now if I did. So again, the reading continues. I do ask for His guidance so I can be guided to come to the articles that really reflect the truth. I convey to Him that I want to know The Truth about Him and  I believe, only by that I can build the kind of faith that we need. So I hope I have great stuff to write and share with all of you.

Note: 13th February is Ash Wednesday :) I will use this season of Lent to learn about that season itself, and to understand the 40 days that Jesus went through. Something that I failed to do before. :))

James 1:5-6

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

I Forgive You, Myself

For the past few days, I had quite a serious setback. I felt like I lost direction. Suddenly I found myself in a peculiar position, where I didn't know where I was going. Suddenly my work, my dream, anything, just met a dead end. Scary right?

How did I handle it?

I have to be really rational and do not do anything stupid that I will regret. First I have to be calm, and try to clear my mind. I did turn to activities which were less fruitful, as long as I could be doing sthing fun to slow down my negativity. I had to find myself back. I need the Fire, the Flame, the Passion to start be enthusiast once again towards my life progression. It's funny when you can still go back to square one after all the things you've gone through. Who can guarantee that you are safe from setbacks?

After wasting some time and indulging in excessive foods and drinks, which usually are our ways of expressing emotional problem, at the same time admit that I DO NEED HELP, so I turned to God every possible moment I could steal. Oh God help me not to get lost. I'm having a hard time with my thoughts and whatever this crises is, I know it's not there to build me, so help me God. Give me your light, show me the way out so I can continue my battle. I have so many things to achieve and I can't slow down. Please God, have mercy on me Your poor and weak child. Saying prayers every chance I had, I didn't forget to BELIEVE that He's working on my problems. Other than that, it could also be a test of Faith from Him. I read somewhere that He will test our Faith with giving us some obstacles. And guess what? All we need to do is COME TO HIM. I might face some difficulties but that's only because I am just a human being. What my wisdom can help me with is - I don't prolong my ordeal to the extent that it's gonna trouble me with getting back in line, and strength in faith can always save me from getting lost in dilemma and crises. All in all, we can see that this is just part of the beauty in life. It has to be survived and lived. 

Myself, I forgive you as I want God to forgive me. As many times before, I survive it again and here I am again, I'm back. Stronger. Thank you and Praise to God.

"The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. . . . Now when they shall fall, they shall be [helped] with a little help. . . . And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed" (Daniel 11:32-35).

A Silent Night...

For someone talkative, do you have any idea how many words you speak in a day? Try multiply that by 7 days a week. Can we expect billions of words? Or zillions? I bet you can't even count. It's uncountable. You can just go with the speed of hundreds of words in minutes times. There are just too many words spoken out, and can anyone able to digest them properly? The next thing you know, none of your words are remembered. Then you start to wonder why. Here's what you need. A SILENT NIGHT. 

I believe that even 2 people who love each other do need A SILENT NIGHT, a time where both can take a break from speaking, or topping up into the undigested words. No one has the capability of sustaining to something with the same acceleration for a long period of time. You must understand that your partner also has his/her things to worry about, not to mention some of distractions that shouldn't be there...Sometimes we are just not fit to be super  charming all the times. There are times when  we fall short of attention, we tend to make our partner feel ignored and neglected. Sometimes we are carried away by the fact that we securely loved by our partner that we don't need that much effort anymore unlike during the chasing stage. When you start to have this kind of thinking, I assure you that your partner need to declare A Silent Night with you. Right, looks like you need this lesson.

It's during the silence that you start to realize that you do appreciate her gazillions of words. That you can even take more than that as long as she just lets you hear her voice like every other nites. Who knows, maybe you can reconnect back to your senses, that maybe you have done some mistakes to her that you didn't take seriously. Maybe only then you realize that it is tough to go by a night without good nite from her. It's sad, predictably. But it sure brings a lot of consciousness to human beings who always forget their ground when they feel like their world is theirs. 

I bet it's healthy to take a break from each other. With a friendly remark and understanding - or especially needed when you start to have all funny thoughts going on in your mind. A silent night is what you need to cool down, to clear your mind and to think twice before you say anything stupid that you might regret. All in all...Go for silent night(s) because you believe that your love can be stronger than what it has been. All the best :))

 

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

FLIRT THE TRUST

In the chatroom this morning, this topic appeared out of nowhere. The topic of divorce that is becoming very common in the marriage of celebrity couples. The fact is, not only among celebrity couples, but also people with all types of occupations, ages, races etc. So this is not really about being rich and famous. So what's the reason?

Then this one senior chatter said that he's been married for 25 years and still in love. So never think that it's not possible for marriage to still last long. Then I asked him, "How do you handle jealousy? Lets say when your wife is being too friendly or flirting to some guys?" Then he answered, "Why need to be jealous? You must have TRUST. If she speaks to some jerk, no need to be jealous." Oh, he didn't consider the possibility that her wife might be too friendly to some attractive guy friends. I added, " I know, but don't you think your partner should know their limits too, that they must not be over friendly with the opposite sex, to the extent that can raise any problems with you? Does flirting sound alright to you?" Then he went silent. 

I really don't know if you guys get it. When people speak about TRUST, yes, of course. You may preach about how you should have trust for your partner... so, everything is solved from there? No, that means you guys don't get it. When you speak of TRUST, it's not the trust giver, it's the receiver. U can't simply order people to Trust someone, no matter what kind of bonding they have, until the person PROVES that he deserves that trust. Then you can speak of trust.

And yes, when you know that you already have someone, you can't just act like you have no one, in the name of freedom. If that's the freedom you want, don't waste anyone's time to be in your life cos people like this are better off alone. When you already make someone be in your life, that person has a heartbeat that beats totally like you. That person is human! If you think she's anything less than you that it's okay for you to just do what you want without thinking what she feels, I don't think even God likes what you do. Not just you are selfish, you are not loyal, you have lack of religious and moral values, WHAT ELSE? If you can't even take care of the heart of a person you love, you are almost good for nothing kind of person. Don't waste people's times -you may go with your way back to the playground and stay there as long as you want, but never come back with regrets. 

You're cheating on God. If  all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? 

(James 4:4, The Message)

Didn't He Ask You Not To Worry?

Just look at those around us. Everyday you hear people expressing their concern - they always worried about something. In fact, that makes most of our problems. It's often about money - what to eat, what to wear etc. You and I have been in this situation too, right. For someone who wants to slowly lead a life of faith, don't you think it is such a shameful thing to worry?

Not until you read this verse Matthew 6:24-34

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I notice that in most situation, it's not like we don't have it. It's because we don't have more than enough when the fact is that what we have is just enough for our need in that particular time. Still, we tend to feel unfulfilled and start to have all sort of self-deprived emotions to consume us. Don't you think it's too much? There's this evil spirit of greed that makes us always want more than what we need. Well, when I am in this situation, I will cool down and think back all the times that I was saved and helped from my difficult situations. I have come a long way and it wasn't even possible to go through half of the journey just on my own. So imagine how many times that He has helped you through your tough times. This is just another time, and He will do it again. If you ask me How can you be sure that He gonna help you again this time? YOU MUST HAVE FAITH AND BELIEVE THAT HE WILL. Your faith means a lot to God before He can work His miraculous ways on you. That's why. Put the things you can't control in His hands, He will do the rest. Alleluia.

Is Unity Possible?

I get this link from one of the blogs that I visit daily. It's an eye opener to the rest of the world. Yes, Unity is possible.

My Religion Or My God?

It's always heated up when we start talking about religion. It's one most controversial topic, and also very sensitive. We can hurt each other using the wrong word. Being a Catholic, who have hundreds of different types of Christians against us, sometimes it puts me in an awkward position. Especially when I come across criticism about what they claim about my religion being wrong and man made. In other words, Catholic is not a religion based on Bible. For someone who has been attending church since a kid, what do I feel when I get things thrown at me, blaming my religion for being Irrelevant? 

While they are busy about the word Allah; should the Christians use it or not, No, I'm not worried about that. Even if they take away the word Allah from our publications, how much harm can it do to Our Faith? That's the thing. It's the faith, people. It's what's inside your heart.Don't worry about stuff that doesn't matter. God is God no matter what you call Him. He remains the same. The issue about, whether or not my Baptism as a Christian is valid - is much much more bothersome to me. Especially when the person who highlighted this to me is someone so dear to me. Of course I'm somewhat offended. But really, I WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH. 

As the sign that someone is baptized by the Holy Spirit is that, they can begin to speak in tongues. It's the spirit language that you can speak, without you yourself understanding the meaning. According to the Bible, it's a language of soul that your soul speaks to God when your conscious body and language knowledge cannot cover every words you want to say to God. It's amazing, isn't it? The thing is, I don't have that gift. I've been reading a few verses mentioning about speaking in tongues, and one of them does mention that it's A MUST for someone to have this ability as a sign that she/he has been baptized  by the Holy Spirit. So? For someone who has been baptised since a kid, now you want to tell me that my relationship with God and the Holy Spirit is NULL and VOID?

He can speak in tongues immediately after the event of baptism by the Holy Spirit, and being a Christian not even 2 years, then again, look at me. So do you mean to say that everything that I'm doing all this time is just Not Valid? There's just too many to explain. Now, I just get clearer why my religion receives all this criticism, and why there are protestants in the first place. But then, I believe that my religion does have reasons doing what they do. I don't want to elaborate more on this. I might tell bit by bit when there's a related topic. All I can say is that, even if I find imperfection with my religion, I still know one thing for sure is that - I am praying to God. I'm not praying to my religion. If they claim that Bible is the Word of God, then did the Bible speak about having a certain religion? I believe that God said about following Him and coming to Him during times of needs. Not even one time that God asks human to start forming religions and only through religions that we can come to Him. I can say my prayer right after this and I will be speaking to God directly, using whatever way that I know. How do I know this? BECAUSE I BELIEVE. 

It's the FAITH in Him that makes the difference. We can speak about our religions and how magnificent we think it is, but at the end of the day, it's still about what YOU DO when you are living your life outside the church. It's still whether you lead a righteous kind of life, do you translate love into charity and stuff like that. A religion can only be so good in telling others what is right and wrong, but if you don't practice what is right, no religion can help you. ONLY GOD CAN. And so much about the religion, if you don't BELIEVE that He has power in your life, He still cannot make your body His temple, and He cannot be your instrument to spread the good news. What's the point?

Like what I read from somewhere. Bible is not talking about religion. It's talking about Love. Maybe it's one "religion" that everyone should speak. So rather than arguing which religion is true, and not, lets look at ourselves and how equip we are as a righteous person in God's eyes. Nevermind about the show and ritual that are getting worldly credit. Maybe I don't have a proper Baptism in other people's interpretation, but because of my Faith, there's no way anything can be a gap between me and God.

Lets not get distracted from the real deal, people. If this turns into feud and start to hurt people by questioning the validity of their religion, that's already handing jobs to Mr Devil to take advantage of us. Don't let him. How can this be the reason of our disunity?

My Religion or My God? Of course it is My God. May He help us people to sort out our differences and realize that He's the ultimate truth that we should put our hearts and minds to follow His way of life. Thanks God :))

The Doll Domination

I pick this title to speak about the woman domination in the world where men are expected to lead. I have to admit that I do have tough characters. Tough as in firmness and as in principal and stubbornness too. In case you ask me, Do I like to be dominant?

In a way, I do. I like to feel like I have strength and abilities where my other half benefits from it too. I like to feel useful in a relationship and I dislike it when my partner is way too strong compared to me that I don't feel like I'm needed and contributing. Yeah, that's the thing. But again, speaking of being dominant, maybe I do need to feel that I have a share of domination. Which means the other half must go to the guy. What kind of guy that can handle that responsibility?

Right. He too must have strength in his characters. It doesn't mean  that he needs to have better education level, which I don't really care that much. If he thinks I am smarter than him, well, I'll let him surpass me in other things. In other words, I don't like to be dominant. I'm into power sharing. 

I like my man to be the one who wears the pants. I like him to be the leader. And if one of us needs to have more power than the other, let it be him. So that's why, as much as I'm practicing my tough side, I must know when to tone it down. I must make him speak his manly voice and I will shut up and listen. I like it when sometimes he tells me what I do wrong and ask me to correct my ways. I like it that I sometimes be the fragile one, that I will sometimes cry over little things so he knows how needed he is. And I do want him to know my weaknesses so that he knows when to be stronger to balance that. In other words, to all the men out there. Your women might be wanting the same thing in your relationship. Especially for the dominant women, you know that they will make the effort to still give you your Manly job to do so that you can have you ego intact. All in all, lets be reminded that relationship isn't about Power. It's about togetherness. 

May God protect and bless the relationship that 2 sincere people have - may they overcome obstacles one by one and may they sustain the love and affection as you command your people to live by. May the love they share just go bigger and deeper from here. Amen :))