How Not to Fast

Fasting is not about looks.

We do not have to appear serious, pale, or sad

For sin is not appeased by clothes or food.

True fasting says the Lord

More than food or looks

Is an inward journey of self-empting

We need to open our hearts 

That it may be re-imaged by God

When God restores our brokenness

He equips us to heal our fragmented world

Time to Wrench Away

I love being a Catholic and I believe in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Catholic Church. I also believe that God continues to provide his people with diverse and ample opportunities to continue to deepen their relationship with him. Just two months ago Christians all over the world celebrated the birth of Jesus. Christmas is a fresh opportunity to welcome Jesus into our hearts where he truly belongs. Ash Wednesday is the day Christians all over the world begin a forty day journey of repentance and conversion. I am particularly grateful that the church is helping me draw close to God through these various channels of grace. The church's liturgical seasons are well ordered to help us reflect on Jesus. Personally with eagerness and expectancy I watched and waited for Jesus to come at Christmas. And because I was prepared, I welcomed and accepted him as God’s gift of love to me. I also gladly received and shared his gifts of joy and peace with all those around me. We are all called to do the same so that we all will continue to spread the aroma of Christ. Just like Advent, lent is another season of grace when Christ through his church is inviting me to reflect on the life, suffering and death of Jesus.

Whenever I think of lent, I am immediately reminded of what Jesus endured for my sake. How he was sometimes misunderstood by some of his disciples, how he endured taunts and criticism by the Scribes and Pharisees and how the chief priests connived and killed him. They thought that killing Jesus would rid them of him, but of course they were wrong. I realized that even today many people still experience the things that Jesus went through - even death. Only four days ago, the world gasped in horror as ISIS released a video showing the brutal murder of 21 christian Egyptian Copts.

The ashes we received on our foreheads today (either directly in church or symbolically by reason of mortal nature as dust and ashes) is a reminder that Lent is a time to wrench away from everything that takes the place of God in our lives. A friend once asked me why Catholics have to wait until Lent to repent from sin. I quickly reminded him that in reality Catholics actually practice constant return to God, especially through the Sacrament of reconciliation which is administered as needed. Moreover, I also added that perhaps, in her divine wisdom, the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Catholic Church has determined that there are people who are more comfortable with structure. For such ones, lent is a precious time. Think about those who come to church only once a year at Christmas or Easter. 

Until his death Jesus continued to perform miracles in spite of all the contradictions he encountered. While I continue to work out my salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), this lent is my time to lift my worries, concerns and sins to God. More than that, it is a wonderful opportunity for me to invite Jesus to continue to use me to heal, restore and save souls. In John 5:17 Jesus himself said: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working" During this lent and always, may we continue to reflect God's love and compassion. 

A Great Lentern Prayer

Act of Abandonment to Divine Providence     Providence of my God, I adore you in all your designs. I place my destiny in your hands, confiding to you all that I have, all that I am, and all that I am to become – my body and my soul, my health and reputation, my life, my death, and my eternal salvation. As I rely entirely upon you and expect all from your goodness, I will not give myself up to any useless anxiety. I confide to you the success of all my undertakings, and in all difficulties I will have recourse to you as a never-failing source of help. I know that you will either preserve me from the evils I dread, or turn them to my good and your glory. Peaceful and contented in all, I will allow your Providence to govern my life without worry or over eagerness. Holy, wise, generous, and loving Providence! I thank you for the tender care you have taken of me up to this moment. I humbly and earnestly entreat you to continue the same for me; direct all that I do, guide me in your ways, govern me at every moment of my life, and bring me into the fullness of being that you have destined for me from all eternity. May I please you and give you glory forever. Amen.    Blessed John Martin Moye  Founder of the Congregation of Divine Providence

Time out to Time In

Time out to Time In

Silence is Life

“Please hold your breath for a minute” said my physician during my routine checkup visit two weeks ago. I know that she needed my cooperation to get accurate results. Similarly, I did everything I was told, or so I thought, last month when I visited my dentist. But we later discovered that one of the X-rays had to be repeated because it was blurred. I was not very still.  Maybe some of us have had such experience as well?

The story of our existence seems to revolve around sleep and silence. We need to sleep to survive and function on a daily basis and when life is done, in sleep we surrender in death. The scientific study of the nervous system or oneirology has thrown more light about what happens to us whenever we are asleep. For example we dream only during the phase called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) or paradoxical sleep. Furthermore, REM is important for brain development in infants. Adults need REM for the consolidation of special or procedural memories. In other words, we cannot develop and function normally in life without quietness, stillness or sleep. However REM sleep occurs only when most of our muscles are “paralyzed” in sleep. Think about all the great things that happen when we are still, silent.

Many of the world’s greatest inventors, writers, artists received their inspirations when they were in touch with themselves. For example, there is Albert Einstein one of the best known scientist and intellectuals of all of times. Albert was a theoretical physicist, philosopher and author, widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern physics.

In his word, Einstein said: “Although I have a regular work schedule, I take time to go for long walks on the beach so that I can listen to what is going on inside my head. If my work isn’t going well, I lie down in the middle of a workday and gaze at the ceiling while I listen and visualize what goes on in my imagination”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Mozart was one of the world’s prolific and influential composers of the Classical music who has over 600 works accredited to him. His diverse talents includes the pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. When asked how he did it, Mozart said: “When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer–say, traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during the night when I cannot sleep–it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.”

Blessed Jean Martin Moye

The more I reflect on the virtue of silence and reliance on God, the more I am full of admiration for our beloved father and founder Blessed Jean Martin Moye. In silence, Father Moye learned to contemplate the mystery of Providence and throughout his life, actively taught, lived, and preached that absolute dependence on God is the Christian’s greatest act of faith. Father Moye’s short amazing life was filled with relentless encouragement to the sisters. He admonished them to spear nothing for it is in losing all that we can truly find God. “Adore the lord in all its designs” said Father Moye (Directory page 79). In silence, the designs of God become clearer.

Are we lost, confused or beclouded? Is life a constant attempt to fulfill immediate gratification(s)? acquire fame or comfort? when does it end? Have you incurred so much debt that life has become an endless cycle of paying bills and incurring new debts? Perhaps it is time to quit the boasting, the pounding of chests about all our material victories. Perhaps it is time to learn to study who we truly are. Self-alertness, awareness is attained only when we are in touch with our inner selves. We cannot be that in touch without practice. Creativity and new insights flourishes in solitude. It is only in quietness that we can hear our thoughts, reach deep within ourselves and focus. Let us return to our cores. Those who approach life and especially life’s challenges with calm are apt to get better results than those who are not introspective.  Most importantly, such people will realize that God is their soul’s only truest need. Let us return to God, especially as lent is around the corner 

                                                

You are more Blessed than Not