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As I was reflecting on why it is so difficult for one to remain holy.

For the fascination of wickedness obscures what is good, and roving desire perverts the innocent mind.

Wisdom 4:12

And then I was led to this passage….

For the lowliest may be pardoned in mercy, but the mighty will be mightily tested.

Wisdom 6:6

“Some people need spirituality more than others, right now I am comfortable with where I am at.”

This is a common line or reply whenever one is called to either deepen their faith or relationship with God.  Even before sharing can begin, a full stop followed by an exclamation mark is laid down.  So does it mean we who are trying to share God’s love with our brethren should give up? No, it just means we should pray for the people we are reaching out to and let God soften their hearts. In time if God willing and by their own free will they too will get to experience His love.

Here are some thoughts of our holy Father Pope Benedict XVI

• A Christian knows when it is time speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak.  He knows that God is love and that God’s presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is to love.
• We all ask ourselves what the Lord expects of us.  It seems to me that the greatest challenge of our time is secularization: that is, a way of living and presenting the world as if “Deus non daretur”, in other words, as if God did not exist.  There is a desire to reduce God to the private sphere, to a sentiment, as if He were not an objective reality.  As a result, everyone makes his own plan of life.  But this vision, presented as though it were scientific, accepts as valid only what can be proven.  With a God who is not available for immediate experimentation, this vision ends by also injuring society.  The result is in fact that each one makes his own plan and in the end finds himself opposed to the other.  As can be seen, this is definitely an unlivable situation.  We must make God present again in our society.  This seems to me to be the first essential element: that God be once again present in our lives, that we do not live as though we were autonomous, authorized to invent what freedom and life are.

“Immaculate Heart Of Mary, I place all my trust in you.”

Fr.John Corapi

“Your apostolic effectiveness and mutual communal enrichment depends not on the amount of time you spend with people but of the quality of your presence.”

Fr. Thomas Dubay

“What I have come to understand is that this whole groundwork of prayer is based on humility and the more a soul lowers itself the more God raises it up.”

Teresa of Avila

I attended just one of a series of talks on the discernment of spirits so far and had even bought the book ‘Landmarks’ an Ignatian journey which briefly covers some aspects of it. (Haven’t finished reading it )  Both of them are great resources on the subject.  But lately this is what comes to mind :-

If I continue to thirst and hunger for righteousness, would I not instantly recognize my Lord’s voice?

“To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” John10-3:5

On a Facebook newsfeed this question was asked of Catholics :-

Share you faith with us, what’s good about being a Catholic?

Well I suppose you’d never think of such an answer unless you’ve been asked the question.

Here’s my answer (Comment on Facebook)….

The fullness and completeness of our faith together with it’s sacred traditions in total communion with the Holy Trinity and the Faithful built on a foundation of love.

What would your answer be dear brethren?

When we reflect on just how much forgiveness we need for ourselves, are we then able to be more forgiving of others.

Forgiveness is an act of profound love given to the unworthy. This is what we receive, this is what we should give readily.

Once again I felt uncomfortable at what was communicated to us through today’s homily.  Uncomfortable not because I totally disagreed with this loving Priest of ours, but because I felt it was once again incomplete and was left to misintepretation.  At first I thought it best that I should just remain silent but after the Eucharistic Celebration and dimissal, I made my way to speak with him to clarify what he meant because I did not want to go against Church teachings nor did I want to misinterpret what he said.  However I believe that after our discussion he meant what he said to begin with. 

I am still groping myself and trying very hard to increase my faith reading Scripture and learning from our Church Fathers and so my aim is not to prove the Priest wrong but to explore what is taught to us through the Catechism of The Catholic Church.

I cannot repeat word for word what he said in his homily but in essense it is about God’s infinite love for us.  Sinners by definition are not necessarily those who do wrong but those who acknowledge that they have wronged God.  He then showed us a slide to discuss among ourselves what we thought God’s love means to us when we wrong him. ( again the below may not be word for word )

1. God is angry with us and wants to go for confession.

2.God loves us so much that he still wants us to receive Jesus through the Eucharist.

3. God loves us even more and wants us to go back to him.

I personally chose 3. because that it what I believe the Gospel is teaching and showing us.  That is no matter, how much we have sinned against God he is still waiting for us with open arms to receive us so long as we have a contrite heart and are truly repentant.  We do not have to fear or stay away from him.  Jesus our shepherd is willing to leave behind the ninety in his fold behind, face the wolves and weather just to look for his one strayed sheep. 

The loving priest on the other hand said something like this… perhaps the people in the Old testament viewed God like that, which is an angry God.  He then said that God’s love for us is actually nos. 2 & 3. That is why he says when people who ask him in the confessional if it is a sin to receive Jesus in the Eucharist without having gone for the sacrament of reconciliation he says NO.  After all we say ” Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed” before going for communion.

Now this is what got me uncomfortable…..At first I thought he meant that if we had not committed any mortal sins and are truly sorry for all our venial sins that we may have unwittingly committed.  Then during the penintential rite; the breaking of bread when we sing the ‘Lamb of God’;and when we ask God to make us worthy through the prayer mentioned above, only then we are made worthy to receive Jesus.  Apparently he meant what he said, that we can partake in the Eucharist so long as we are truly sorry for our sins.

So what did St Paul mean in his letter to the Corinthians? (1 Cor 11-27:29) when he said ” Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.  CCC1385  Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion. For the different kind of sins kindly refer to CCC1852.

And what about the the second precept of the Church? CCC 2042 (“You shall confess your sins at least once a year.”) ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation,which continues Baptism’s work of conversion and forgiveness.

Even in the love story of the prodigal son, we see that the son was truly repentant not just sorry. (Luke15:18) The father of course knew this immediately by the fact that his son had come back to him, hence he was filled with compassion and joy.  Because sin in essence keeps us far away from our loving Father.

I believe that if we want to receive the divine body of Jesus our saviour in the Eucharist, we must receive him with the purity of a contrite heart and are repenting from our sinful ways. (Words and Actions) Only when we do so, will we experience the fullness of communion with Him and his Church.

Being sorry or remorseful is not good enough, we must be repentant. Take the case of Judas Iscariot, was he repentant or remorseful?  I believe he was remorseful but not repentant.  If he was repentant, he would have submitted to the will of God and asked for forgiveness instead of taking his own life by hanging himself. (Matthew 27:4-5)  So then if we are truly repentant, then we must listen to Jesus who teaches us how to live our lives.  The first step is to go for the sacrament of reconciliation which Jesus himself established through his apostles. Matthew 16:19 / Matthew 18:18   

Like the Apostles, we too are sent out to search for lost sheep and welcome them back into the fold.  But I believe we are to also guide them so that they may receive fully the fruits of communion with God and his Church.

*update 2045hrs*God is first to welcome the sincerely repentant sinner, teaches Benedict XVI

We should always pray to know God’s Will for us, we shall then not question nor seek first to understand His Will, but accept in humility and utter “Thy Will be done.”

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Awesome is Our God!

I talked to Jesus today in the Adoration room, before attending the Divine Mercy Devotion followed by the Eucharistic Celebration.  I did not plan for it at all,  in fact I was totally unaware that the first Friday of the Month is dedicated to the Divine Mercy followed by the Eucharistic Celebration which begins only at 8pm here in the Church Of St Anthony.  But I thank Almighty God for the wonderful experience.

It is so liberating to humble yourself before God, raising your hands in total surrender high above your head in Praise and Worship! I was given the opportunity today when the Eucharistic Celebration ended with the final hymn…..”How Great Thou Art!”

*Added Note on 4 Sept 0007hrs*  It has just dawned on me that the Holy Spirit had given me ‘new wine’ to drink.  And so I pray for you by brothers and sisters in Christ, that you too will partake in the ‘new wine’ offered to you.

Luke 5:33-39

Bible Literacy

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Bible literacy is highly important for all Catholics and reading the bible requires a certain discipline.  While we pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us, we too must yearn to know God for ourselves and His love for us through his Word.  Only then will we approach the Bible with reverence,  and the practical knowledge to unlock it’s treasures will be made available to us.

Below is a humorous example of a man with a certain single attitude towards reading the bible :-

He says…..

This might happen if we do not have the discipline or proper attitude…  
😀

We spread our faith not by going from one place to another knocking on doors  or standing on a soapbox with a megaphone in hand.  Instead we do so by building relationships with others on the foundation of Love and Truth.

On today’s homily…..

I just felt the homily given today by one of our Priest, on the Gospel Luke 13:22-30 was not complete somehow.  I mean the Priest’s message in our Church that God does not punish but rather has only infinite love for us and is calling us to receive him is only one aspect.

I on the other hand think God allows us to experience the consequences of our actions or inactions, so in essence that is the real punishment.  Also the Gospel has two dimensions to it, one is already mentioned by the Priest today and the other I feel was about the unrepentant who presumed in God’s mercy.  These are the ones who reject God’s call to come back into his loving care and choose instead to live in sin, thinking that there would always be time for repentance.  However their time had run out.

I could be wrong……

What do you think?