The Story of the Ascetic

Hi all… I hope you had a wonderful week?

Thanks for all the messages I have being receiving, I can’t thank you all enough. It shows we are all trying to build a true catholic community.

You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt: 5:48) Holiness is a value every Christian must strive for. The Gospel of this week reminds me of a young boy who wrote a letter to God saying "Dear God, I want to be just like my Daddy when I get big, but with hair on my head." we all want to be holy but sometimes like the boy's dad, we’ve lost our..? Nevertheless, God is still a gracious God. The psalmist sums up the goodness of God this way...

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear him."

A short story from Anthony de Mello, SJ:

There once was an ascetic who lived a celibate life and made it his life's mission to fight against sex in himself and others.

In due course he died. And his disciple, who could not stand the shock, died a little after him. When the disciple reached the other world he couldn't believe what he saw: There was his beloved master with the most extraordinarily beautiful woman on his lap!

His sense of shock faded when it occurred to him that his master was being rewarded for his sexual abstinence on earth. He went up to him and said, "Beloved Master, now I know that God is just, for you are being rewarded in heaven for your austerities on earth."

The master seemed annoyed. "Idiot!" he said, "This isn't heaven and I'm not being rewarded - she's being punished."

Maybe holiness lies not so much in subjecting ourselves to austerities, but more in being true to who God created us to be. We're all created in God's image, so our genuine selves must be good and worthwhile.

No one can find your meaning for you. You find your true self in the unfathomable love of God as the psalmist said “HE” redeems your life from the Pit, and crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. For where there is love, there is bound to be perfection. for the love of God perfect all things. I hope we all strive to be perfect just like our HEAVENLY FATHER.


Peace…

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The “Angel of the Trans-Amazonia”.

Six years ago this month, more than 2,000 poor Brazilian farmers walked to the remote jungle town of Anapu for the funeral of a catholic nun whom they called the “Angel of the Trans-Amazonia”. The angel had being murdered on a forest path after being intercepted by two gun men who fired six bullets at her.


Dorothy was involved with the Pastoral land Commission, an organization of the Catholic Church that fights for the rights of rural workers and peasants and defends land reform in Brazil. She worked on a local sustainable development project- protecting the valuable biodiversity, but harvesting fruit and other products from tree.

Hundreds of community leaders have being killed in this tribal clash. After she started receiving death threats Dorothy commented, “I don’t want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle for the farmers who live without any protection in the forest.” Dorothy stand was intercepted by two gun men on 12 February, 2005; she tried to read a verse from the New Testament bible she was carrying to her killers before they shot her dead.

She was post-humously awarded one of the eight 2008 UN prizes for Human Rights. Dorothy often wore a tee shirt saying: THE END OF THE FOREST, IS THE END OF OUR LIVES.

We are all constantly faced with choices to make everyday concerning our life, career, family etc. To be frank it’s not easy to make daily decisions regarding any aspect of our life. However, decide we must. The protesters of Egypt made a decision and they were able to overcome. We are shaped everyday by the decisions we make.

Dorothy Stang didn’t die because she wanted to die, rather, she died for a cause, the protesters of Egypt protested for a cause. Christ died for a cause. We may not know our cause at present but through the daily decisions we make we might come to the realization of our ultimate cause which for me is God.

The good news is as Christians, we have a road map, to make a good quality choice which will lead us to our final destination and that is what we are constantly being presented to in the Gospels. Choose well and avoid evil. Remember, "what no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualize; God has prepared for those who love him."

Though, the people of Egypt celebrated their victory in their struggle for democracy and human rights as President Hosni Mubarak resigned last week, many died. We pray for the 302 people that died in last week’s struggle in Egypt. May they rest in peace.

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And Happy VAL. to all

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