There is no shortcut to true genuine happiness and fulfillment…If we are to live in a world of liberty, equality and fraternity, then believers and non-believers should do just that…over and above our individual convictions but yet,not denying our own differences -Benedict XVI
Truth is: what will set you free.
Why is it so hard to lose ourselves to religion? The readings today made me think about this. In an age where self-identity is king, the most difficult thing is to abandon ourselves to something supernatural, something metaphysical and clearly something we ourselves are not in complete understanding of. The fear of losing who I am can cripple me from truly desiring to be a better person. In an act of resistance, I cling to my old ways and desire to do as I please, even though it is not the best action. It even causes me to sin.
Truth is: When we think about our personal identities, we are called to desire things that help fill the void in our hearts. The void is only something God can fill. We fill it, however, with vice, greed, selfishness and pride. Losing that identity, even though we know it’s wrong, is a terrifying thought. When we do decide to take the leap, we realize that the plunge was refreshing in the end.
The readings for today suggest the importance of fasting and penance for Lent. While I frequent the confessional more than I have ever thought possible, it is perhaps one of the most disregarded sacraments that we Christians take advantage of. Of the two sacraments we are allowed to take more than once (the other being the Eucharist, marriage doesn’t count silly), reconciliation is the sacrament most practiced by Jesus in His ministry. As John did before Him, he told people to change their ways and follow God’s law.
If you don’t understand the purpose of reconciliation, here’s today’s truth: If someone wrongs you and they ask for forgiveness, you are obliged to forgive them if they are truly sorry for what they did. For example, when a child asks him mom for forgive him for breaking a lamp, he feels bad because his mom got mad at him and he feels that he should fix his relationship with his mom. While his mom forgives the child, to discipline him, the mom grounds him for a week. Like this situation, we ask God to forgive us for disobeying His commands. While Jesus’ sacrifice already forgives us for every sin that we have and (will) do, God still needs to ground us so that we will be disciplined. While God has already forgiven us, our relationship with Him is strained. When we go for reconciliation it’s like asking, “I’m sorry. I promise to not do it again. Please take me back. Let’s be good again. I’ll do anything so you’ll take me back.” The practice of penance is just not to ask for forgiveness from God, but it’s to humble ourselves to the Lord and ask Him to discipline us to do good and avoid all evil.
As they say, we have now entered an era of the Purple Revolution. While the Purple Army rallied down city blocks of Macleod Trail, even more rallied to the voting polls to cast their ballots heralding an interesting change in City Hall. Evidently, the purple triumphed and Naheed Nenshi has become the 39th Mayor of the City of Calgary. Evidently, as the papers keep saying, Democracy is not dead in this City.
The lull of civic apathy echoes what we feel in present society. Discontent fuels even more discontent. Concerns for one another are pushed aside. People’s ambitions are often self-serving and the common good becomes “personal” good. For whatever reasons we may have – busyness, problems with time, a lack of information, or even a lack of desire to be involved – we made a stand (sometimes standing in line) to write an X on a sheet of paper and dropped it off to a cardboard box. This time though, those boxes are more than filled than usual.
I didn’t vote for the new mayor. I voted for another candidate that championed the arts a bit better and called for a different kind of change. I have no qualms against Nenshi either. He is clearly a champion of new democracy, driving many new voters to the ballots. While I was waiting in line to vote, I heard his name buzzing in many different languages. He made use of current media to engage youth and often apathetic voters. He seeks to build a transparent council while putting people first. Though we don’t admit it, we love to complain. We also often hope that we are heard.
Truth is: I am an advocate of youth culture. I definitely want more culture in this city. This city already has a giving heart, a desire for exponential growth, a sports fanbase that can rival any city. However, this city lacks a culture of people that are engaged at all times; a culture that fosters growth for youth and realize that their voices can be heard; a culture that builds current young people to build this city for the future. This democratic process has helped that happen. It’s funny, because Nenshi had my vote 6weeks ago. I had to jump the fence. Haha. I wore purple just for the occasion.
John 16:12-15
I like today’s Gospel. It’s short and sweet. The point is profound yet even monkeys get it. Jesus puts it simply: “Everything that the Father has is mine (Jesus’); for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you (v.15).” He says that what Jesus has will be given to us, and what we have, the Father also has.
Beware of the concept of ownership and property. What we have, the Father originally had. Our free will came from the Father. Our liberation from sin, henceforth, the Kingdom of God, is ours because it came from the Father. God took what was His Son’s and gave it to us. If he can take from Jesus, God can take from us too (think of Job).
Truth is: We do not live to glorify ourselves, for our lives too, came from God. Rather, like the Spirit that shows the truth about God’s love and glory, we live to glorify the Father, just as Jesus lived to glorify the Father.
I think one of my biggest pet peeves is being made to wait. I want immediate results. I want answers right after I ask them. I want things to move right now. It’s funny because I put a double standard on other people. While I want stuff immediately, I don’t give other people stuff they need right away. I am more than late and tedious in replying back.
Aren’t we all like that sometimes? Patience is something that we all lack one time or another. It’s been so long since I blogged that I realized a lot of important things since I got back from Spain. We are spoiled with the results we get almost immediately: No longer the need for tedious research, we can always Google it; No longer do we need to travel far and wide for stuff, just order it online. Fast food, drive through, credit cards to spend the money before payday…to name a few.
One of the things I have realized about myself is that I don’t like to work through a lot of the things I want to happen in my life. I always wish I could skip the work and get to the results – in academics, sports, relationships. I know that it takes a lot of effort, but I just shrug the work away. Damn, aren’t I a piece of work.
Truth is: Like me, maybe you also need to learn to be patient and wait. It’s not some lame rhetoric that I’m preaching. The season of Advent is a time of preparation, of great anticipation for the coming of the Lord. Sometimes, we skip the preparation and go straight to the holiday. In the process, we skip the unwrapping and go to the present right away, discarding the work that our gift giver put through in wrapping the gift for us. My current hang-up is that I can’t wait until I graduate. That, and the impatient rush to move to the next stage of my life. But with most things that God wants to give me, I have to work hard and wait long in order to make the present truly worth it. Maybe He wants that for you this season, too.
5 weeks home. I realize that things have gone back to normal. However, the normalcy can be truly deceiving. The days are just right. I can talk to my girlfriend on real time and not having to organize a set date between time zones that works for both of us. I can drive my car wherever I go and not worry about meeting people at Prado to go somewhere. I can hug the people I can about. I can work again, after huge prayer time. But best of all, times have truly been great for mass. You can never get tired of hearing mass, even the same homilies, as long as it’s in your language.
Now, I’m no stranger to hearing mass in another language. I’ve heard it in English, Filipino, Bicolano, Spanish, French, Thai, Japanese and even German. So what’s stopping me from hearing mass in all these languages all the time? The largest difference, I think, is that when we pray, our minds can only comprehend so much before our heart takes over. We can’t really pray from the heart without first emptying the mind. Once all that things we can pray, think or say has been done, now the heart can take over. The heart is a clear line of communication with God. As far as I know, to be one with God is to attune your heart to His.
I love praying, even at my worst. My prayers can be few and far between. Or just little 5 second things to God that I realize. Prayer is key. This month has been filled with little reminders of how blessed I am that I can pray and I am able to pray wherever I am. No matter what the language, the prayers are the same. They are conducted in the same spirit of prayer that stems from the same God, guided by the same Spirit, modeled after the same Son. If you got that, you can pray anywhere. Prayer is true and the most direct way to communicate that you can ever know. You can touch so many lives with one prayer. The greatest thing about being Catholic to me: is that the prayer you pray right now – an Our Father, a Rosary, the Eucharist – in whatever language, is prayed in the same way under the Trinity. The same order, the same rites. I know, because I have experienced it for myself. Chances are, someone else is praying whatever you’re praying right now.
It takes courage to pray as well. Our toughest times are the same as our happiest times. We can pray in both. Time is not our obstacle to prayer, it is us. It takes courage to say that I can make time for the Lord right now. It takes courage to say grace before eating in a crowded room filled with people who might now believe in what you believe. It takes courage to affirm someone and tell them you’re praying for them, even though they don’t really agree with prayer. It takes courage to say that you sinned and apologize to the Lord. It takes courage to not receive communion because you are in a state of sin. It takes courage to ask for a blessing because you admit your unworthiness to the Lord. It takes courage to say, I am a man/woman of God in your actions.
Truth is: It takes courage to pray. It takes more courage to let the mind go and let the heart take over. To pray is to lose yourself and be at the closest point you can be to Heaven, since God’s there and clearly, you’re not (yet).
Upon arriving home, I have nothing but extreme joy upon the welcome that I received from the airport. Thanks to all who came by and helped me with my arrival. I was truly surprised and grateful to all of you. I was greeted with a fantastic dinner when I got home, one that I heartily ate. Nothing beats prime rib steak, beef caldereta and extra sour beef sinigang. God, I missed my beef.
Tim Horton’s greeted me upon arrival at Pearson. As much as I hate being in that aiport, there was joy to be had. Buying ‘Fool’ was my second pleasure. I read Fool in two days, pretty exciting stuff.
Household was great. Thanks for all who came and had a lively discussion about “God & Science.” Glad stuff doesn’t have to be separated between the two of them. Besides, the random rants, Truth is: It’s good to be home. Really good.
I have come and gone. Things I have seen and things I have done. I’ve seen the world but the world’s just not the same when you’re missing something, someone you’ve left behind. As I walked along the last 7 days in Sevilla, there were a lot of “lasts” that I really uniquely experienced in Sevilla:
To all those I have met along the way, it’s been a wild ride. I have truly enjoyed your company. Thank you for sharing all this time with me and putting up with my stupidity, my friends will tell you they got a good break from it. I have made fantastic friends here, whom I hope will come visit me in Calgary. I’ll visit you after I’m done school, after December, sometime then. With belief or unbelief, I see God in you and I will continue to pray for you. Your hearts have spoken true to me and I hope mine has run true to you.
Truth is: People have places to call home. Even if we work far away, called to mission, living a dream or being away on a whim, home is a different feeling. As much as I love Sevilla, it is only a temporary home. My true home is not here. My true home is where my heart is, where I left it.
Sevilla, I love you. I’ll return to you, with my heart next time. But for now, I’m on my way home. I’m coming home, to my heart, as fast as I can.
You can see everything from up top, but still so far from your reach.
I sit on my desk contemplating the next things ahead. Currently, there are a few assignments to be handed in: a 1000 essay comparing the Granada frontier with that of 19th Century United States (which I am not so interested since I could care less about American history), a presentation analyzing 3 romance poems from the Granada frontier, a presentation regarding New Zealand tax policy and its status as a “fiscal paradise” and finally, a character analysis for a book from which I have read for my Spanish Language class. I am reminded of what we talked about today in Marketing: between sender and receiver, the encoding and decoding of the message, there is some noise that permeates the channel inhibiting the message to be clearly sent. The noise in my head is thought itself.
I have less than 17 days before I leave Spain. To some, I has probably stretched as long as it could, to others clearly not enough time passed. I can’t help but be excited for coming home. I can’t help but realize that time is running out for some new time to fill the rest of my year. I spent nearly half a year away from home, and yet I don’t feel like I’ve had enough.
I feel this way because as I have subscribed to this Catholic podcasts, I realize that I still have a year and a half’s worth of content to absorb before finishing the podcasts. In my impatience, I desire to get them done. But rushing through the information without proper discernment nor reflection is simply to accomplish nothing. I think about the trials we must face in life, in the academic and natural education of our minds and our souls, that at the end of the day, we cannot even fathom the things that we need to know. In our impatience, we forget the journey and focus too much on the destinations. “Where are we headed?” is discussed more often than “How are we getting there?.”
Truth is: I barely know anything. Even with the vast travels, the life experiences, the education, what do I really know? I feel not depressed by this notion, but rather I am more invigorated. Life has so much more in store for me and for everyone around me. Everything I have done before is not moot, rather just the foundation for more experience and for careful application in life. To know everything is to be God. I seek not to be God, but to know Him. To know God is to know Love, and in the end, I know my purpose and my reason for existence. How can we even think that we know everything about the universe when we still cannot comprehend the reason for existence?
