Scenarios Just Curious
Curiosity is not bad in itself, but it must be used properly. It is something like hunger. If we eat properly, our hunger serves us well and we grow strong and healthy. If we eat more than we need, or we eat foods that are not good for us, we weaken. Even worse, if we satisfy our hunger with deadly poison, we die. To deliberately eat what is poisonous is gravely wrong. In similar way, we can satisfy our curiosity in healthy ways when we are interested in knowing what is good and true. There are some things we should know ---- about ourselves, our loved ones, our work, about creation, and especially about the ways of God and his law of love. In these matters, the goal is not merely the satisfaction of our curiosity, but the fruit of knowing the truth and acting upon it. Often we grow curious about things that are simply a waste of time. That is the habitual condition of very many people today. They live in the idle curiosity, which they thoughtlessly satisfy with"junk food" for the mind. They keep us with latest trends, constantly checking their social networks and media, listening for anything that will catch their interest. Babies, who are not yet trained to distinguish what is helpful and harmful, will put anything into their mouths. We do not allow them to continue this way ---- for their own good we teach them. We need to use the same sort of practical wisdom on ourselves. If we keep indulging without thought or discipline, we remain immature. There are some things which we are better off not knowing, so to indulge our curiosity about them is worse than the waste of time, it is sinful. A very common is gossip, in which we reveal the hidden faults of others, or stir up others' interest in matters that do not concern them. Curiosity in such cases is more accurately named temptation. This is equivalent of a hunger for poisonous food. There is no healthy way to respond to such hunger. There is nothing beneficial about filling our hearts with sinful distractions.We have to deny them, and turn our attention to more worthwhile concerns.♥
His True Identity and His True Mission
It is sad that many people, even those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, remain so skeptical about him. About less important matters, people readily believe much of what they are told. This is what gives the media such powerful influence over society. Rumors spread like wildfire and are often accepted. People believe many theories and unfounded speculations, and they freely share them through their social networks. The Lord looks at spiritual ruins differently than we do. Where we see shameful failure and lost opportunities, he sees a future more glorious than ever. He looks at our hearts and says, "Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former." He reminds us that we are not working by ourselves. On our own strength, we could never build the temple worthy of the glory of the Lord. No, he encourages us strongly 'to take courage' and get 'to work' because he is with us, as he promised. "My Spirit continues in your midst ---- do not fear!"♥
"When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus. We must not fail to hep our neighbor, because in them we serve Jesus." - St. Rose de Lima
It's common thing to hear-read this, "I earned this. I deserve it! If anyone else wants to live like me, let him work harder. I haven't done anything wrong. Why should I give my hard-earned money to some lazy beggar? He would probably just waste it .... " When we are absorbed in our own comforts, we become blind to the needs of others, even to the most obvious basic needs of the poor. If we can fulfill our call to love, we must be aware of this weakness in our nature and overcome it by putting into practice what we believe. To change our hearts takes strong effort, in cooperation with God's grace. In the next life, the Lazaruses whom we failed to love will not condemn us, but our lack of love will be the cause of our torment. We do not have to search for the Lazaruses in our life, for they are near us, but we must open our hearts in order to be able to recognize them and love them.♥
As the Lord was always faithful in the past, he is faithful to us today, and we can be sure he will always be faithful, "for his mercy endures forever." This process of recalling all that the Lord has done for us is a very fruitful spiritual practice. Our memory that God has always been faithful to us with unwavering love is holy and precious treasure. This is part of the art of pondering in the heart, which we learn especially from Mary. When we recall with gratitude how God has blessed us in the past, the eyes of our hearts are open to what he is doing in the present as well. Without this "sacred memory," we are likely to misunderstand what God is doing, and may even suspect that he has abandoned us, like an unfaithful spouse. We never allow the hardships of the present to cancel out our confidence in the goodness and merciful love of the Lord. As we give thanks for the faithful love of God, we grow more aware of our responsibility to love him in return, and to be faithful in our love for one another. Since we are created in the image and likeness of God, and faithfulness is a hallmark of all God's relationships, we are called to be faithful to love, according to our situation and state of life. The more our love resembles God's love, the more his love will shine in our world ---- which is hungering so desperately for authenticity and fidelity in love.♥
"The classical doctrine on the missio Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit was expanded to included yet another "movement" : Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world . . . . Our mission has no life of it's own : only in the hands of the sending God can truly be called mission, not least since the missionary initiative comes from God alone."
~ David Bosch ~
The Lord knows what we are capable of. As he sends us forth, he knows what challenges we will face and when we will be ready to face them. He stretches us, so that our love will expand to include not only our relatives and friends but also those who betrayed us, those whom we would naturally want to exclude from the circle. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he plants his own love in our hearts, an instrument of his blessings for the whole world. ♥
As human beings, everything we are and have, we have received as gift from God, often through the instrumentality of others. And because we have received, we give to others the gift of what we are and have. However, it is often tempting to keep our gifts for ourselves, and not share them with others. Sometimes we are tempted to give, but only to get something in return ---- praise, a good name, status and power in society. Sometimes we give to God in order to get favors ---- a good job, success, and healing. Whereas it is admirable that we expect favors from God and not from human beings, how much more wonderful would it be if we can give, freely and joyfully, for the sheer joy of giving, without expecting anything in return, neither from human beings nor from God. Freely. Totally. Joyfully.♥
"Where your treasure is, there your heart is also." Our hearts can easily become fixed on "earthly treasure." Our tendency to look for happiness in material things is what makes us so susceptible to the clever deceptions of the world of advertising. Everyone knows, of course, that buying a certain product ---- a soft drink or shampoo will not give us the earthly paradise that the commercials portray, but as long as we long for earthly treasure, the advertisements are still effective. We are told not to waste our time storing up material wealth, such as money, clothes, possessions. These things are good when they are used for the right purposes, but they simply do not last, so they cannot give us lasting security or happiness. Since we live in an age when so many products are deliberately manufactured 'not to last', this message should be even more obvious to us. All we have to do is look at a ten-year-old car or cell phone and we can see that material things can give us only passing happiness. The odd thing about living in a materialistic age is that this very lesson is so often missed. The rapid breakdown of one gadget only leaves us hungering for the new, improved version. How can we be so easily fooled into thinking that this one will succeed in making us happy, when the previous ones all failed so miserably? We can be quite irrational about our early possessions, like the compulsive gambler who thinks that he will be satisfied forever if he can just win the jackpot one time. Even if we are to buy a product that will potentially last for generations (if it is not lost or stolen), a piece of golden jewelry, for example, or a diamond, we will not enjoy it forever ---- we will leave it behind when we die. The ancient Egyptians used to bury their kings surrounded by things that they thought they would need in the next life. When archeologists dig up their tombs thousand of years later, most of the items are corroded. But even those that remain intact are of absolute no use to the dead man buried with them. Completely Change the focus of our hearts to "store up heavenly treasure," treasures that really lasts. At the very end, nothing else will matters but, love.♥
MANILA
."She had never seen poverty on this scale. 'How can one person possibly make a difference.' For every one person Sienna fed, there were hundreds more who gazed at her with desolate eyes. Manila had six-hour traffic jams, suffocating pollution, and a horrifying sex trade, whose workers consisted primarily of young children, many of whom had been sold to pimps by parents who took solace in knowing that at least their children would be fed. Amid this chaos of child prostitution, panhandlers, pickpockets, and worse, Sienna found herself suddenly paralyzed. All around her, she could see humanity overrun by it's primal instinct for survival. 'when they face desperation . . . human beings become animals.' For Sienna all the dark depression came flooding back. She had suddenly understood mankind for what it was ---- a species on the brink. 'I was wrong,' she thought. 'I can't save the world.' Overwhelmed by traffic mania, Sienna broke into a sprint through the city streets, thrusting her way through the masses of people, knocking them over, pressing on, searching for open space. 'I'm being suffocated by human flesh!' As she ran, she could feel the eyes upon her again. She no longer blended in. She was tall and fair-skinned with a blond pony tail waving behind her. Men stared at her as if she were naked. When her legs finally gave out, she had no idea how far she had run or where she had gone. She cleared the tears and grime from her eyes and saw that she was standing in a kind of shantytown ---- a city made of pieces corrugated metal and cardboard propped up and held together. All around her the wails of crying babies and the stench of human excrement hung the air. 'I've run through the gates of hell.'
~Excerpt, Inferno, Dan Brown ~
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
~ Voltaire ~
Francois-Marie Arouet, November 21, 1694-May 30, 1778
Hello Dan Brown, 'presumed you visited Manila. As they say there is always two side to a coin. It's heart rending to depict poverty as hell. If a person realizes that some worldly element is distracting him/her from this goal, there shall be no hesitation to distance oneself from such element. As per the Mosaic Law, every sacrifice was to be salted in order to consecrate the offering and remind the people of one's covenantal relationship with God. Therefore, losing saltiness would mean losing one's purity of intent. As Soren Kierkegaard has noted, "purity of heart is to will one thing," and this one thing is God and God alone, . . . . (Sirach 5:1-8 / Mk 9:41-50). One way to identify wisdom is to recognize its opposite. If we are wise, we will not allow foolish "inner conversations" to take place in our minds. We will not give in to overconfidence, the sin which the Catechism calls 'presumption.' There are two kinds of presumption, one kind moves us to rely too much on our own wealth or personal strength, as if we were more powerful than God, the other kind moves us to suppose God will forgive us even if we are not repentant. All who are wise in the ways of the Lord know that we must often choose a path that seems more difficult now, in the future, we will be richly rewarded. One leading to reward, the other to punishment. To the foolish the choices may seem rather insignificant. On the positive side, there is the simple act of giving someone a drink of water. It is not a grand act or an impressive sacrifice ---- it will not be reported in media or change the world. We may be tempted to think that small acts of charity are not even worth doing, but the Lord says the man who does this "will not go without his reward." On the negative side, misleading a "simple believer." Causing another person to sin ---- especially one of the Lord's "little ones" ---- is a very serious matter. The world may treat sins as no more than light entertainment, but anyone who commits them merits a punishment harsher than being "plunged into the sea with a great millstone fastened around his neck." To emphasize the seriousness of any actions or decisions that will determine our eternal destiny. Which direction are we going in, toward eternal life in heaven or toward eternal punishment in hell? We are better off entering the Kingdom of God crippled than entering hell with our bodies fully intact. The roots of sin are not in the hand, the foot, or the eye. What must be "cut off" is every attachment to sin in the heart. We are better off gouging out our presumption and making a good confession than gouging an eye.
Many people consider the use of such grim images ---- like drowning under the weight of a millstone or burning in a fire that never goes out ---- to be unpleasant and improper in our days. We are not supposed to make people feel uncomfortable. Only positive messages are considered acceptable. Jesus is not so concerned about how we feel, but how we are living and where we are going. His message of love and mercy includes the disturbing truth about hell. God loves us all, therefore, "Everyone will be salted with fire" ---- the fire of divine love.
Storm come and go, as often as before, sometimes it took almost everything, sometimes it leaves nothing, sometimes it leaves us nothing. But through all these, with the beautiful sunny disposition of a rainbow, life goes on. Life always goes on. Standing tall, Manileños has but one word for you MABUHAY!♥
"Accept God's message for what it really is : God's message, and not some human thinking."
~ 1 Thessaloninas 2:13 ~
Go out to all the world, and tell the good news.
"Flesh and blood" means the full presence and reality of a person. "Eat my flesh and drink my blood," he said. "But, but . . . . " is what we have heard people say through the ages as at the beginning. To eat is to assimilate completely : your food is in your stomach, but on its way to become you. We are invited to assimilate deeply the full presence and reality of Christ. When you become knotted up in technical ifs and buts about how Christ is present in the Eucharist, just cut the knot and go back to the basic meaning. Jesus himself gave no explanation when asked.
Let's get it on, as we continue our own "journey to Damascus," part of what we experience is an ever-greater appreciation of the mystery of the Eucharist. Indeed, Jesus' flesh is real food and his blood is real drink!
Those without faith see this claim as an impossibility and a scandal. Those with weak faith do not take the Lord's words seriously, and treat the Eucharist as a mere symbol. But we who believe know that Jesus is giving us life, eternal life, the very life he shares with the Father. Before this inexpressible gift, we collapse in gratitude and humble adoration.♥
Acts 9:1-20 / Jn 6:56 / Jn 6:52-59
For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
"I am the bread of life." I am what satisfies the deepest and most elemental needs of humanity. I am the most intimate reality in your life : As intimate to you, as sustaining as the food in your mouth. I am the one who keeps your awareness bright like a lamp, your heart warm, your will healthy, strong and gentle. I am the one who enables you to raise your eyes, to see beauty and glory in the world, and to open the eye of your spirit till you see God.♥
1 Pt 5:5-14 / 1 Cor 1:23, 24 / Mk 16:15-20
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease ---- where there are tongues, they will be stilled ---- where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror ---- then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part ; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain : faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.♥
~ 1 Corinthians 13 ~
Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
We sometimes wonder why God does not reveal himself more obviously in the world. Why does he hide his face from so many people? He could easily display his presence and power, and, it seems to us, this would move more people to believe in him.
We are all aware o f the names and faces of famous celebrities ---- movie stars, entertainers, and sports heroes. They have been "revealed" to us by the media. We can see and hear them everyday if we want to. But do we love them? We may admire them, or be grateful for what they have done. We may even idolize them. But we do not really have a relationship of love with them. In fact, we do not even really know them in a personal way. Something more than media exposure is necessary ; we need a more personal encounter. The same is true of our relationship with God.
God shows us more than beauty and vastness of creation. He reveals himself to us in his Son, and in his name sends us the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. This God alone is worthy of our worship and adoration. We cannot make an idol of him because he is true and living God. He reveals that he wants a relationship of love with us, for he himself is an infinite communion of love. so Jesus tells us : "Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him ; we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him." God wants to share his very life to us, to dwell within us. Together we form one living communion of love. "The image of the vine and the branches."
Memory is a mysterious part of our being. We see or hear or smell something that takes us right back to our childhood, and we remember something that had lain for many years in our memory. It is important to remember the right thing! And imagine what you would become if you remembered all the things you should forget! Two people can grow together in one home and one of them remembers goodness while the other recalls only misery. In some measure you are what you remember. The Holy Spirit is God's Reminder. This spirit can heal your memories, working deeply in your past, rearranging, freeing, healing everything there. It is the continuation of Christ work in us. "God has come to us in the form of men!" but as a true man, in Jesus Christ : "Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father"♥
Acts 14:5-18 / Jn 14:22 / Jn 14:21-26
Into your hands, O lord, I entrust my spirit.
It is the ordinariness of the bread that is so astonishing! Jesus wants to be ordinary for us. "A very precious relic," wrote Meister Eckhart, "is not willingly allowed to be touched to be touched or seen. Therefore He clothed Himself in the cloak of the likeness of bread, just as my bodily food is transformed by my soul, so that no corner of my nature is not united with it . . . . There is not so much as a needle's point that is not united with it. What I ate a fortnight ago is as much one with my soul as what I received in my mother's womb. So it is that whoever receives this food purely becomes as truly one with it as my flesh and blood are one with my soul."
Jesus' patient responses continue to draw us further into the real meaning of the bread from heaven. The manna, as great as it was, was still only a sign of "the real heavenly bread" which the Father gives for the life of the world. With the request, "Sir, give us this bread always," Jesus reveals even more : "I myself am the bread of life." . . . . He has not come simply to give us loaves, but to give us himself.♥
Acts 7:51, 8:1 / Jn 6:35 / Jn 6:30-35
What return can I make to the Lord for all that He to me?
We have been asking him to open our minds to understand his words, for he says, his words are "spirit and life"! However, Jesus' words of life concerning the Eucharist are also a challenge, a "hard saying," like his teaching on the necessity of the cross. "Does it shake your faith?" The same challenge is placed before us. And because many are shaken by the truth about the Eucharist, a sad division remains among Christians to this day. "Do you want to leave me too?" He will not change his teaching in order to accommodate our limitations. The truth cannot change ; we must change. To remain with him, we must accept the truth in all its fullness.
Through the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, we share in the same divine life and power as Peter and the apostles. This does not mean we need to perform dramatic signs, but we are called to live a deeply Eucharistic life, full of confidence in Jesus Christ, whose life is in us. The more we abandon ourselves to him in faith, the more powerfully he can work through us to give spiritual life and health to others.♥
Acts 9:31-42 / Jn 6:63, 68 / Jn 6: 60-69
I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved ---- all the cities that I have visited, all my ancestors . . . . Perhaps I would have liked to be my father, who wrote and had the decency of not publishing. Nothing, nothing, my friend ---- what I have told you : I am not sure of anything, I know nothing . . . . Can you imagine that I not even know the date of my death?
~ Jorge Luis Borges ~
There is something prosaic and shallow about the listeners of Jesus. They are very literal people, paralyzed by the immediacy of what is before their physical eyes. They simply cannot see beyond the physicality of Jesus into the immense possibilities of Christ. Thus they confuse the meaning of death or age that Jesus speaks of. No wonder they pick up the stones in their hands. In total contrast to these people is Abraham. Abraham has the capacity to imagine, see beyond the literalness and limitations of the physical world and his own physical self into the possibilities of God. In other words, he walks easy on the road of faith. He understands the language of God, and God finds it easy to converse with him. How would it be between God and me ---- you? Do we talk and hear the same language?♥
~Gen17:3-9/Jn8:51-59~
He has risen! Whenever we recite the Creed, we profess our faith that "On the third day, he rose again from the dead." We celebrate our faith with particular joy on Sundays, because each Sunday reminds us of the great victory over death that Jesus won Easter Sunday. This is the joyful declaration that makes Easter Sunday the beginning of a whole new era. "This is the day the Lord has made ---- let us rejoice and be glad!" Happy Easter!♥
♥ Happy Easter! ♥
Alleluia! He is Risen! With great joy, we celebrate the Lord's triumph over sin and death! He has made it possible for us to "pass over" from sin and death, into glory and eternal life. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Making a communion with the Risen Lord in our Hearts, becoming one Mind, one Heart, one Spirit with Him.♥
Reflecting on Jesus' descent among the dead can strengthen our faith in the limitless mercy of God. He does not abandon anyone in hell ---- he will go to the farthest and most remote place to rescue even one wandering sheep. Even when we find ourselves in the spiritual death of sin, even if we fall into the most unspeakable mortal sin, we are not beyond the mercy of God. The famous line of Betsie, the sister of Corrie ten Boom who survived the hellish horrors of a Nazi, death camp, reminds us that, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is deeper still." ---- "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."♥
One of the worst burdens any person can carry is the weight of guilt.This is the burden that has crushed the human family since the time of our first parents. We have offended God himself ---- our sins our immeasurable, and our debts unpayable. We belong to the family of Judas and Caiaphas and Barabbas. With each of our sins, we have, like the guard in the palace of the high priest, crowned Jesus with thorns. Who could ever take on the full weight of our guilt? Only God can restore the balance of justice. But since the punishment we deserve for sin is death, and God cannot die, it would seem that we are left helplessly crushed. God, however, comes to our aid by taking on our human nature. The Master becomes the Servant. At Christmas, he who is without beginning was born. On Good Friday, he who is immortal died. "Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world."♥
"He was pierced through our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and the Lord burdened him with the sins of all of us." This prophetic description captures exactly what happens today, on Good Friday. Jesus is the suffering Servant, and we are the sinners who look on in astonishment ---- at first in distress at how badly he is treated, but later with gratitude for what has been done for us. Why anyone would love us enough to suffer willingly for us is bewildering. But while we cannot fully understand why, we can know by faith that the advantage we receive from this one man's suffering and death is enormous. This day is "good" not because of what our sins have done to God, but because of what God has done to free us from our sins. It is 'very good', even better than the "very good" pronounced by the Lord at the completion of the six days of creation. By his death, Christ wins for us an even greater new life, a whole new creation. It is very good! Indeed, a Good Friday.♥
