Sunday, March 27, 2005
Happy Easter!
It is a day of celebration - The day that Christ rose from the dead. But the story doesn't end after Jesus resurrects on the third day. The story of Christianity goes far beyond the rolling away of the tomb. The celebration of Easter turns into a life of love and service when we believe that through His resurrection, we have a new meaning of what LIFE is about. It isn't merely His resurrection that saved us. It is the belief that God is real and that our faith in Him will eventually save us. A knowing that no amount of suffering, pain or destruction is ever going to shake us. That is, to me, the true meaning of Easter. Christ needs to be born in our hearts, not for a week, not for a month, but for a lifetime.
Remember, a good deed a day keeps Satan away. A happy Easter to one and all...
Posted by Jo at 12:10 AM
Friday, March 25, 2005
Losing my religion
I have no idea what has gotten into me. In recent times, I can’t help but feel that liturgical rites and customs seem to be overrated and overly-rigid. There is a little voice in my head which keeps me thinking that traditional rituals need to give way to more contemporary and more laidback method of evangelization and worship.
As a result, the ceremonies of the Holy Week became an internal Q&A session for me: Why are the bells rung during the Gloria? Why must the priest hold the ‘Host’ and have a mini-procession around the church? Why do we ‘throw’ incense on the bible, altar and congregation? Why do we need to bow at certain times?...
I vividly recall being taught the rationale behind these rituals during catechism classes. And as I was thinking it through again, it suddenly made perfect sense to me and I began to appreciate these little customs of the Catholic church. The very things that have kept us going on for the past 2,000 years….It’s like how laws are a necessary evil, traditions and rituals too, are necessary to keep us close to our roots.
The only ‘misfortune’ I feel is that, through time, these traditions become a routine and people continue doing it without fully understanding why it’s done. That is when the essence is lost and people start leaving the church.
Having said all that, I am really proud of my religion – A faith which is so rich in history and spirituality…A lifestyle so blessed and eternal.
Posted by Jo at 1:41 PM
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Confessions
To be frank, the last time I went for confession was about a year ago. To be brutally honest, I sometimes don't see the need to go for confessions, because I know for a fact that our God is a merciful and forgiving God. Simply put, confessions are a waste of time since you know that God is going to forgive you anyway.
And once again, life has a funny way of making me swallow my words one by one...I went for confession today.
Throughout the whole 'lead up', I was just going with the motion. But as I sat in front of the priest and confessed my sins, I literally felt the load being lifted off my shoulders. No joke. It was like a sink being choked up with dozens of fallen hair and all of a sudden, God's mighty hands just came and picked them all up in one split second, and everything is made clean again. I may be exaggerating a little but the feeling was unmistakable - Knowing that God is so forgiving makes me feel so bad. As I knelt down to say my penance, I was filled with so much of peace, like shit man, after all that I've done (although I didn't commit any mortal sins), I'm forgiven just like that.
It has never occurred to me how much my sins have been keeping me distant from God. That instead of being 5 kilometres away from Him, I'm actually 10 kilometres away, and with each sin, I get further and further away. It's funny because I never realized that He was that far away.
Ok, morals of the story are:
1) Sins keep us away from God
2) Confessions, though conventional, are important in our Christian journey
3) No matter how far we are from God, He will never ever leave us
As Lent comes to a close in a week's time, let's try to sin less and love more...after all, WE are the reason for the season.
Posted by Jo at 9:15 PM
