First week of lent almost closing Tuesday, Mar 15 2011

I STOLE THIS FROM A DOMINICANS BLOG =O

Mea culpa!

anyways its good!

And this guy is cool: http://www.hancaquam.blogspot.com/

 

How is Jesus tempted?

First, he is tempted to reject God with a show of pride. Prove you are who you say you are by performing a miracle.

Second, he is tempted to reject God by testing His promise of love and care. Place yourself in danger so that God will be forced to prove His promise to rescue you when you are in trouble.

Third, he is tempted to reject God by taking on worldly power and prestige. Forsake the worship of the Lord and be rewarded with temporal prominence and political power.

Each time Jesus rejects the temptation and rebukes the devil. How? Each time Jesus successfully resists the devil, he does so by placing God first, by putting his Father upfront and on top of their intimate relationship, making his Father and His Word the lens through which he sees these tempting offers.

Notice also what Jesus doesn’t do when tempted. He never appeals to himself or puts his “needs” ahead of God. Never does he invoke his own power as the Son, or try to fight the devil with theological argument. He doesn’t negotiate or dialogue. He doesn’t listen carefully, ponder his options, and then decide based on a cost-benefit analysis. He doesn’t compromise or make any temporary deals. He doesn’t parse the language of the temptations, contextualize their content, or critique their literary forms. He doesn’t re-envision their meaning or try to make them relevant. He rejects them. Outright.

Jesus resists the devil by boldly and obediently speaking the truth. With each temptation, Jesus begins his rejection and rebuke in the same way, “It is written. . .” He pulls on the prophetic tradition of his heritage, God’s Word in scripture, and turns the devil’s deceit into a fulfilled revelation, a unveiling of the truth made manifest in the desert.

Lent is our chance to do what Jesus does. While in this desert for forty days, we take the devil’s false promises to us and turn them into the fulfilled promises of God’s love and care for us. God will love us against our will, but He will not prevent us from taking the devil’s deal if we will to do so. He will give us everything we need to say No to the devil, but He will not say No for us. We must act; we must say to the devil’s face, “It is written…” God and His promises come first.

The devil knows what we sometimes forget: the power of temptation lies not in accepting his lies as true in but rejecting God’s truth as false. In other words, we do ourselves far more spiritual damage when we make God an enemy than when we make the devil a friend. Why? With God as your enemy, all His gifts become intolerable burdens. You will not hope. You will not love. You will not trust. Enmity with God is a much darker, a far more dangerous place to be than mere friendliness with error and deceit.

Each time Jesus resists the devil’s temptation and rebukes him, he invokes his love of the Lord with the words of our prophetic tradition, “It is written…” He invokes the Covenant between the Father and His people; he opens the doors of his heart’s tabernacle and lets the Word blind the devil. He turns the devil’s false promises into the fulfillment of the Father’s promise to love us and care for us.

When tempted to reject God in pride, humble yourself in gratitude for what you have been given.

When tempted to reject God by testing His promise of love and care, remember that He will never lie; He will never fail.

When tempted to reject God by taking on worldly power and prestige, offer worship to this world’s only Lord and King.

And when you have successfully rejected all these temptations, do something to really make the devil crazy: thank him for his temptations because without them you might have made it through this Lenten desert without the urgent chance to become better friends with God.

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Something for May Thursday, Mar 10 2011

Opus Dei rocks!

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Lent :) Thursday, Mar 10 2011

Dear Passer-by,

I have decided to give up Facebook for this years lenten season. So if you happen to be a friend of mine who is on my FB list do not be alarmed, we’re still friends! I just need your prayers and I will be back again in 40 days hopefuly a better person.

Facebook eats up a lot of my time. Imagine the things I can do for G-d, myself, and others with that time outseide of Facebook! I am tired of my sins and  I want to take communion with a contrite and sincere and happy heart!

Things I wish to instill in myself this lent for love of G-d (of which your prayers and concern will really be of help!) are listed down:

1) Assist at Mass every Thursday mornings 

2) Full Rosary – All Mysteries- On Sunday

3) Be Cheerful

4) Attempt Patience

5) To Pray the Divine Office

6) To heal all broken relationships

7) To pray for Holy Mother Church, Her People, Her Priests, and most especially the Pope

8- To Fulfill my duties as a student diligently and prayerfully

9) To build up my self-control (against: Computer Games, Social Networks, Sloth, Unhealthy Food Intake and Temptations of the Sexual Nature)

10- To pray sitting up, standing up or kneeling and not lying down on my bed

If you are a Catholic, or even a passing Christian reading this, I need your prayers very dearly!

If you’re reading this let me know if I can pray for you too!

I am a sinful person and my focus in life has become rather distorted lately but I aim to change all that or as much as I can possibly change during this lenten season. I have had enough of sin.

God be with you.

your brother,

Andrew

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Do you know who I am? Tuesday, Jul 6 2010

Do you really know who I am?

You do not. I am insignificant. I am a nobody. I have ceased to exist.

I am dead. I have destroyed my self my identity… I have nothing.

For it is not I who live anymore, but God who lives through(in) me : Galatians 2:20

If anyone had loved me and still does so, I beg you do not love me but He who resides in me I wish only that He be loved. I wish to decrease so that my lover must increase : John 3:30

Nail me to that cross with you my Lord, for I entrust my whole being; body, soul, and thought to the wood that bore your body and tasted your blood.

I embrace that Cross you bore with the same delight of a child nestling in the warmth of his mothers’ breasts.

I have lost this life…I have lost myself in Love (Caritas).

God is love (caritas) and he that abides in love (caritas) abides in God, and God in him: 1 John 4:16

Amen.

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Walking with the Saints: Everyday Holiness Wednesday, Jun 16 2010

These are my personal notes and quotes from Saints to become subjects of prayer to make my day holy and fill up my subconscious with thoughts of purity. I am trying hard to combat my sinful nature and I know the saints are helping me. I am lazy to write it all in a diary so I will write it here (You may join me on this inspiring journey as I trace the footsteps of the saints and attempt to love Jesus as they did, we can pray together that we have the courage to accept Gods’ call to become his own!) :

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A Woman Of Valor: Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

“I have prayed much in these days. I entrust myself to the Lord with faith and hope, even against what the medical dictates are telling me; either the life of the mother or the life of her creature.

Trust in God

Yes, it is up to me to fulfill my duty as a mother. I renew to the Lord the offering of my life. I am ready to face the worst, provided I may save my child.” ~ On the life-threatening complications during her pregnancy~

Her Husband writes to her: “You have not done exceptional things, no exceptional sacrifices, you have not looked for renunciation for the sake of renunciation, not heroism for heroism. You felt and did your duties as a young lady, as a spouse, as mother and doctor with full availability to  the plans and will of the Lord, with a spirit and desire of sanctity, for you and for others…”

One of her prayers goes like this: “Jesus, I promise to submit myself to all that you will allow to happen to me. Just make me know your will.”

List of her eleven resolutions:

• I take the holy resolution to do all for Jesus. Everyday one of my actions, every sorrow, I offer them all to Jesus.

• I take the resolution to serve God. I do not want to go to the cinema any longer without knowing if it can be seen, if it is modest and not immoral.

• I wish to die rather than commit even one mortal sin

• I wish to fear mortal sin as if it were a serpent. And I repeat a thousand times, death rather than sin.

• I pray the Lord to help me not go to hell, and therefore avoid everything that might hurt my soul.

• I will say a Hail Mary everyday so that the Lord may grant me a holy death.

• I pray the Lord that I may understand his great mercy.

• I shall obey and study, all for the love of Jesus, even though I do not like it.

• From now on I wish to recite my prayers on my knees, in the morning, in the church, and at night, in my room at the foot of my bed.

• I wish to bear any scolding. The way of humility is the shorter way to reach humility.

• I will pray the Lord to let me go to heaven. I will always say that I fear not to go there so that I will pray, and with the help of God I will enter the kingdom of heaven with all the saints and holy souls.

BE FAITHFUL TILL DEATH

This Jewish Hymn known as the Eshet Chayil (A woman of valor) based on Proverbs 31: 10-31 best describes the story of this Holy woman in all her earthly life:

אשת חייל Eshet Chayil

Eshet chayil mi yimtza v’rachok mip’ninim michrah
An accomplished woman, who can find? – Far beyond pearls is her value.

Batach bah lev ba’lah v’shalal lo yechsar
Her husband’s heart relies on her and he shall lack no fortune.

G’malathu tov v’lo ra kol y’mei chayeiha
She does him good and not evil, all the days of her life.

Darshah tzemer ufishtim vata’as b’chefetz kapeiha
She seeks wool and flax, and works with her hands willingly.

Haitah ko’oniyot socher mimerchak tavi lachmah
She is like th emerchant ships, she brings her bread from afar.

Vatakom b’od lailah vatiten teref l’vetah v’chok l’na’aroteiha
She arises while it is still night, and gives food to her household and a portion to her maidservants.

Zam’mah sadeh vatikachehu mip’ri chapeiha nat’ah karem
She plans for a field, and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

Chagrah v’oz motneiha vat’ametz zro’oteiha
She girds her loins in strenght, and makes her arms stong.

Ta’amah ki tov sachrah lo yichbeh balailah nerah
She knows that her merchandise is good; her candle does not go out at night.

Yadeha shilchah vakishor v’chapeiha tamchu felech
She sets her hands to the distaff, and holds the spindle in her hands.

Kapah parsah le’ani v’yadeiha shil’chah la’evyon
She extends her hands to the poor, and reaches out her hand to the needy.

Lo tira l’vetah mishaleg ki chol betah lavush shanim
She fears not for her household because of snow, because her whole household is warmly dressed.

Marvadim astah lah shesh v’argaman l’vushah
She makes covers for herself, her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Noda bash’arim ba’lah b’shivto im ziknei aretz
Her husband is known at the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.

Sadin astah vatimkor vachagor natnah lak’na’ani
She makes a cloak and sells it, and she delivers aprons to the merchant.

Oz v’hadar l’vushah vatischak l’yom acharon
Strength and honor are her clothing, she smiles at the future.

Piha patchah v’chochma v’torat chesed al l’shonah
She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the lesson of kindness is on her tongue.

Tzofi’ah halichot betah v’lechem atzlut lo tochel
She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Kamu vaneha vay’ash’ruha ba’lah vay’hal’lah
Her children rise and praise her, her husband, too, and he lauds her.

Rabot banot asu chayil v’at alit al kulanah
Many women have have done worthily, but you surpass them all.

Sheker hachen v’hevel hayofi ishah yir’at Hashem hi tit’halal
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears G-d, she shall be praised.

T’nu lah mip’ri yadeiha vihal’luha vash’arim ma’aseha
Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Striving against vanity. If it does not please God…it is not worth a dime.

St. Therese Ora Pro Me.

Amen

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Son Bathing Under the Cross Wednesday, Jun 16 2010

I was thinking of Love today, again.

Yes I really do have all the time in the world to think, at least until this week ends and school begins again.

I was talking to a friend and in the midst of our dear conversation (We spoke of God, Saints, Love) I realised how superficial love has become to this world.

Gone are the days when soul mates who are facing a crises in their marriage/relationship would do just about anything to win each other back giving victory to Love himself. Today little less than a trivial argument may resort to the signing of divorce papers.This era we live in is the reign of the ‘absence of Love’.

The ‘I love you’ phrase has ended up pretty much as just another mushy phrase. It has lost its reverent air it once boasted of. It used to mean so much, these are just some but its immense beauty was fathomless; I accept you for all your weaknesses and short comings, I accept your human nature and your earthly wants but we will overcome them with Love, I know I need you but I also know you need me, I recognise your humanity as being equal to mine your feminine/masculine being as gifts that contribute to your wonderful character, I recognise the flaws in your personality but I also recognise my own we will overcome them with our Love, I recognise the transcendent beauty of God in you as a human being with a uniqueness that I may not be able to comprehend but I will grow to love in time and I am willing to allow that uniqueness in you to fill my own to make us one whole person.

Today all these are filled with ‘buts’, or perhaps not even present.

Consider this:

Read it? Read it again. To Love you, the world today will have to kill you (the real you) and turn you into a zombie-fied version of what was you. You are now the personalised property, albeit independent, of someone elses’ life a realisation of some sick fantasy .

They talk so much about humanity as in ‘crimes against humanity’ and the like but where is humanity when people treat each other as commodities  to live in comfort. Is that what you are? A basic ‘need’ an emotional property  of another person?

Love is being persecuted on Earth and His silent pleas will go unhindered in this heart no longer! This world is rejecting Love, knowing this how can I stand idle? No! I reject this world. I follow the path of buffoonery and foolishness. I wish never to profane nor sin against Divine Love, death rather.

True Love is blind! Blind to this world yes, but He opens your eyes to heaven!

“God is Love and anyone who lives in Love lives in God and God lives in Him”

1 John 4: 16.

Amen

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Walking with the Saints: Obedience Wednesday, Jun 9 2010

These are my personal notes and quotes from Saints to become subjects of prayer to make my day holy and fill up my subconscious with thoughts of purity. I am trying hard to combat my sinful nature and I know the saints are helping me. I am lazy to write it all in a diary so I will write it here (You may join me on this inspiring journey as I trace the footsteps of the saints and attempt to love Jesus as they did, we can pray together that we have the courage to accept Gods’ call to become his own!) :

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Of Selfless Obedience and Holiness : Saint John Bosco

In times of quietness, our hearts should be like a tree, lifting their branches to heaven to draw down strength which they will need to face the storms that will surely come in life.

“I would like you to learn how to make honey like the bees do. Do you know how they go about it? First of all, they do not act independently, each on its own, but as a team, under the direction of a queen bee, whom they all obey in every detail. Secondly, they go from flower to flower to extract nectar, and only nectar.

Now let us see what this means for you. Honey is the image of all good things that stem from piety, diligence, and cheerfulness. These three things will bring you immeasurable joy, sweet as honey. But you must imitate the bees.

First obey the queen… . Without obedience, there is chaos and discontent, and nothing will be right.

…You must also imitate the bees in choosing only what is good and discarding the rest. Each of you must find what is best in your companions and then try to imitate them in that.

…What must be done is to say determinedly: I want to make that virtue my own.

There is also another way of making honey. Get a small notebook and write you little secrets in it: suggestions from your director or teacher, impressions from sermons, examples which are more easily imitated…By this means you will soon have a rich store of honey, that is to say, of worthwhile knowledge, good works, and holy joy, stemming from the peace within your heart.”

~From the Heart of St.John Bosco.

Dominic Savio once told Don Bosco: “I feel a deep yearning, an earnest need, to become a saint. I never knew that it could be so easy, but, now that I understand one can be happy and holy too, I definitely want to become a saint”.

Don Bosco praised his resolve and showed him that the first things God wanted of him were:

• Constant,moderate, cheerfulness.

• He advised him to carry out his scholastic and religious duties, diligently- and always.

• To join the games of his companions at recreation.

• At the same time, he forbade austere penances and long prayers as unsuitable to a boy his age.

Dominic Savio obeyed, but one day Don Bosco saw him very dejected.

“I really don’t know what to do!” the boy complained. ” The Lord says that unless I do penance I can’t go to heaven, and you won’t let me do any. What are my chances of heaven?”

“The penance our Lord asks you is Obedience. Just obey and you will be doing enough.”

“But won’t you let me do some other penance?”

“Yes, I will let you do the penance of bearing insults every day and patiently suffering heat, cold, wind, rain, tiredness, and all the discomforts which God may send you”

“But I have to suffer these things anyway.”

“If you offer them all to God, they will become virtues and bring you merit.”

“Is there anything else I can do?”

“Yes! Strive to win souls to God.”

“Thank you, Father!”

From that moment on, Dominic became so anxious for the salvation of souls that he resembled a true apostle.To find out how he could best help his neighbour, he avidly read the lives of the saints who had particularly distinguished themselves in this regard: Philip Neri, Francis Xavier, Francis de Sales and others.

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St.Dominic Savio:

Striving against vanity. If it does not please God…it is not worth a dime.

St. Therese Ora Pro Me. Amen

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Walking with the saints: Suffering Wednesday, Jun 9 2010

These are my personal notes and quotes from Saints to become subjects of prayer to make my day holy and fill up my subconscious with thoughts of purity. I am trying hard to combat my sinful nature and I know the saints are helping me. I am lazy to write it all in a diary so I will write it here starting with this post (You may join me on this inspiring journey as I trace the footsteps of the saints and attempt to love Jesus as they did, we can pray together that we have the courage to accept Gods’ call to become his own!) :

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Suffering with Love: Venerable Benedetta Bianchi Porro

Brief History on her suffering: Afflicted with Poliomyelitis at an early age. At age 12 she needed to wear a tight corset around her chest because she had weak lung muscles and to prevent her spine from deforming. During her teenage years she started to slowly lose her hearing. At age 23 she suffered paralysis in both her legs. At the age of 27 she was totally blind.

Priceless Roses (Little snippets from the 147 letters written and dictated by her to her friends) :

” My Days are long and tiresome, but equally sweet with the light of God. I can no longer offer anything to the Lord. My hands are empty. I have  just a few crumbs of bread. But also here, from my bed, I feel all the tenderness of the blooming springs and I offer to God all the flowers of the world which have bloomed under the sun. I think again of my last hour, if I will experience fear, I will say without shame: I am afraid, Lord strengthen me. “

“Please pray for me. I still have a few crumbs to give to the Lord. My mind sometimes staggers. It is a deadly desert. I am afraid! If I say things with no sense, I ask him to keep me silent. I walk my crucified life, and in a short time I will be still. She, who in suffering comes near to him, becomes sweeter, while the one who keeps away from him will cease to believe”

“Darkness is ugly, I know, and yet I know that I am not alone in my silence, in my desert, for while I walk, he is here. He smiles at me. He precedes me. He encourages me to bring to him more crumbs of love”

“Darkness weighs down on me, but I prefer it if this is the price to walk with more light within myself “

“I am stunned. The days are all the same. I grope in darkness, and I have light within myself. I can only babble, and I have infinite things the sweetest things to communicate to him”

“I keep awake for a long time, but if temptations come to me, I call him, even though I become pale with fear immediately noticing his presence that consoles me and brings light in the midst of darkness. If I stagger,he immediately looks at me and calls me, and he finds me. “

“…The more I go on, the more I have the certitude that he who is all powerful has done great things to me and my soul glorifies the Lord. Indeed, at every moment , in every blow, I have the proof that God assists me in the sweetest way “

“I repeat that to live I need to feel that God lives in me “

” One day I will hear nothing. But I will always hear the voice of my soul. This is the voice I have to follow”

Striving against vanity. If it does not please God…it is not worth a dime.

St. Therese Ora Pro Me.

Amen

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Waivin’ Flag and some other stuff Wednesday, Jun 2 2010

Wavin’ Flag

When i get older, they’ll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.

When I get older, I will be stronger,
They’ll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back

Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it’s my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat,

So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we’ll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It’s not far away, so for now we say

So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that’s what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn’t hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.

But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we’ll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It’s not far away, but for now we say,

And everybody will be singing it
And you and I will be singing it
And we all will be singing it

When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag

The Other Stuff:

“Do little things with great love”

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Truly Monday, May 24 2010

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