Just as I start to doubt myself when I see Nat acting up every now and then , i flipped open a book and it says...
"In practising the art of parenthood, an ounce of example is worth a ton of preachment."
Well, maybe i gave Nat too much preaching... tons too much.... time to give that ounce of example.
Praise God! how He speaks!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Pray unceasingly
It’s amazing how we were being taught the Liturgy of the Hours (also known as the Divine Office) at CSC and we realise how much we are really lacking in prayer especially when we are so so busy with our earthly matters. The Liturgy of the Hours is the richest single prayer resource of the Christian Church. It provides prayers, psalms and meditation for every hour of every day. It has existed from the earliest times, to fulfil the Lord's command to pray without ceasing.
It’s been more than a month since I’ve been without a helper. I was so so tired…. Always rushing to fetch the kids, to do the housework but so so missing out my prayers. Then one night as I went to bed, so tired, forgetting even to say a simple thank you prayer to the Lord, I had a dream. I dreamt that I was rushing rushing to church for some procession. I managed to go but was at the end of the procession. When I woke up, as I went to shower, a voice within me said Pray! Pray until something happens. Pray unceasingly. 2 days later, the same message came via an sms. WOW! Thank You Lord for reminding me.
It’s been more than a month since I’ve been without a helper. I was so so tired…. Always rushing to fetch the kids, to do the housework but so so missing out my prayers. Then one night as I went to bed, so tired, forgetting even to say a simple thank you prayer to the Lord, I had a dream. I dreamt that I was rushing rushing to church for some procession. I managed to go but was at the end of the procession. When I woke up, as I went to shower, a voice within me said Pray! Pray until something happens. Pray unceasingly. 2 days later, the same message came via an sms. WOW! Thank You Lord for reminding me.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Lectio Divina
Using the Lectio Divina
Lectio ( to read) Divina (Divine)
Advocated by Fathers of the Church.
In preaching and believing, words come alive
1 Tess 2:13
Full meaning
Particular audience, specific situation.
Holy Spirit is important coz Holy Spirit helps us to grasp the full meaning
We require the disposition necessary
1.Humility
2. Silence
3. Recollection
Use effectively for community prayer.
4 steps of Lectio Divina
1. Reading - Lectio
2. Meditation - Meditatio
3. Pray - Oracio
4. Contemplation - Contemplatio
Convert scripture into prayer
E.g. John 4:10 If you only knew
Use text you are familiar with so that you can reflect deeply
Ask for sense of God's presence -> Holy Spirit
1. Choose a text of scripture
Easiest way use text of daily mass.
Awaken you heart to pray.
Read slowly meditatively
Keep on repeating the text. Re-read a few times with reverence and attention
2. Meditate - Discursive prayer
Using the intellect - Reading, Remembering, Recalling
To be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in you heart.
3. Prayer of the heart. From the head to the heart.
Effective prayer - allowing feelings of the heart to be felt.
Talk to God as a friend, intimate manner. -> Be conscious of God's intimate love
Pray like a child -> spontaneous. From the insights you get from the text
4. Contemplation - prayer of simplicity
Prayer of quiet. Just listening. Just being there
It's the heart that makes us do things, not the mind
Lectio ( to read) Divina (Divine)
Advocated by Fathers of the Church.
In preaching and believing, words come alive
1 Tess 2:13
Full meaning
Particular audience, specific situation.
Holy Spirit is important coz Holy Spirit helps us to grasp the full meaning
We require the disposition necessary
1.Humility
2. Silence
3. Recollection
Use effectively for community prayer.
4 steps of Lectio Divina
1. Reading - Lectio
2. Meditation - Meditatio
3. Pray - Oracio
4. Contemplation - Contemplatio
Convert scripture into prayer
E.g. John 4:10 If you only knew
Use text you are familiar with so that you can reflect deeply
Ask for sense of God's presence -> Holy Spirit
1. Choose a text of scripture
Easiest way use text of daily mass.
Awaken you heart to pray.
Read slowly meditatively
Keep on repeating the text. Re-read a few times with reverence and attention
2. Meditate - Discursive prayer
Using the intellect - Reading, Remembering, Recalling
To be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in you heart.
3. Prayer of the heart. From the head to the heart.
Effective prayer - allowing feelings of the heart to be felt.
Talk to God as a friend, intimate manner. -> Be conscious of God's intimate love
Pray like a child -> spontaneous. From the insights you get from the text
4. Contemplation - prayer of simplicity
Prayer of quiet. Just listening. Just being there
It's the heart that makes us do things, not the mind
Nov 20 My Prayer
Father Lord,
I am slacking in my prayer life.
I know you have sent the Holy Spirit many times to help me, to wake me up at 3am, 4am 5am.
Lord, give me the grace that I need.
1.The grace to proclaim Christ by following Him
John 13:15
1John 1-3
we cannot proclaim Jesus until we encounter Jesus in a personal way and Father, You have so graciously given me that encounter. Help me to use it and not let it go.
Father, give me the
2. grace of sensus Christian, of love of Christ, feelings and sentiments of Jesus, the same kind of love for Jesus in John 2 and Jairus.
Father, give me the
3. grace of transformation
4. the grace to experience Jesus in His kenosis (emptying of Himself)
Father Lord, today as I make my prayer, help me to use the word as a means to encounter Jesus.
Relationship between the word and Spirit
Luke 24:25-26
The Gospel is not the book. Jesus is not the word. Jesus is the word made flesh.
Things that I get after reading the readings and reflecting also on the daily reflection that Fr William Goh wrote
First Reading:
Being a witness and a prophet
We will suffer. We will be persecuted. Persevere and You will be exalted!!!!
We are called to be like the apostles, to be courageous in the face of persecution when we proclaim the truth about God and the sin of the world. Like them, as the olive trees of God, that is, precious in His sight, God will see us through in all our trials and win the victory for us. We must remain focused and have our sight not just on this world but in the final victory that will be won by Christ Himself.
With faith and confidence like the prophets and the apostles before us, God assures us that we would not be killed until we have finished our work. God is faithful to us. And even if we are killed in our body, He will raise us to everlasting life with Him forever.
The three-and-a-half days refer to the trials of life but they too would share in the resurrection of Christ as reiterated in the gospel. The enemies would eventually come to realize that they could not destroy the Church and the witnesses of Christ, for God is the ruler over all.
Responsorial Psalm
Blessed be the Lord my Rock!
He is “my mercy and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust, who subdues my people under me.” It is He “who give victory to kings, and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.” Indeed, the 1260 days (that is, three-and-a-half years) signifying the time of trials of the Church, will be overcome by Christ. The Church will not be vanquished by the forces of evil. Rather the Church and the saints of God and the martyrs will be victorious at the end.
Gospel:
The gospel is a conscience of society, a pain to those who do not want to hear the truth and a nuisance to a secular world that proclaims a freedom without authentic freedom but a new form of slavery.
For “at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?" The Sadduccees wanted to discredit the doctrine of resurrection.
Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive. ALL MEN ARE IN FACT ALIVE!!!!!
Yes, the world is very hostile towards Christianity, especially Catholics, because of our stance against the secular values of the world that promote the culture of death in all its forms, a permissive culture that does not respect the dignity of the person, especially of women and the young, the ethics of business and science, the rights of the marginalized, the poor and the migrants. Besides the global dimension of persecution, as individual Catholics, we too face persecution in terms of trying to live a life according to the gospel values. Whether at home, in the office or even in Church, we know how difficult it is for us to be true to what we believe in as temptations are many. Striving to grow in holiness and live a life of integrity is our constant trial as we fight against the temptations and the seductive ways of the Evil One.
I am slacking in my prayer life.
I know you have sent the Holy Spirit many times to help me, to wake me up at 3am, 4am 5am.
Lord, give me the grace that I need.
1.The grace to proclaim Christ by following Him
John 13:15
1John 1-3
we cannot proclaim Jesus until we encounter Jesus in a personal way and Father, You have so graciously given me that encounter. Help me to use it and not let it go.
Father, give me the
2. grace of sensus Christian, of love of Christ, feelings and sentiments of Jesus, the same kind of love for Jesus in John 2 and Jairus.
Father, give me the
3. grace of transformation
4. the grace to experience Jesus in His kenosis (emptying of Himself)
Father Lord, today as I make my prayer, help me to use the word as a means to encounter Jesus.
Relationship between the word and Spirit
Luke 24:25-26
The Gospel is not the book. Jesus is not the word. Jesus is the word made flesh.
Things that I get after reading the readings and reflecting also on the daily reflection that Fr William Goh wrote
First Reading:
Being a witness and a prophet
We will suffer. We will be persecuted. Persevere and You will be exalted!!!!
We are called to be like the apostles, to be courageous in the face of persecution when we proclaim the truth about God and the sin of the world. Like them, as the olive trees of God, that is, precious in His sight, God will see us through in all our trials and win the victory for us. We must remain focused and have our sight not just on this world but in the final victory that will be won by Christ Himself.
With faith and confidence like the prophets and the apostles before us, God assures us that we would not be killed until we have finished our work. God is faithful to us. And even if we are killed in our body, He will raise us to everlasting life with Him forever.
The three-and-a-half days refer to the trials of life but they too would share in the resurrection of Christ as reiterated in the gospel. The enemies would eventually come to realize that they could not destroy the Church and the witnesses of Christ, for God is the ruler over all.
Responsorial Psalm
Blessed be the Lord my Rock!
He is “my mercy and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust, who subdues my people under me.” It is He “who give victory to kings, and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.” Indeed, the 1260 days (that is, three-and-a-half years) signifying the time of trials of the Church, will be overcome by Christ. The Church will not be vanquished by the forces of evil. Rather the Church and the saints of God and the martyrs will be victorious at the end.
Gospel:
The gospel is a conscience of society, a pain to those who do not want to hear the truth and a nuisance to a secular world that proclaims a freedom without authentic freedom but a new form of slavery.
For “at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?" The Sadduccees wanted to discredit the doctrine of resurrection.
Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive. ALL MEN ARE IN FACT ALIVE!!!!!
Yes, the world is very hostile towards Christianity, especially Catholics, because of our stance against the secular values of the world that promote the culture of death in all its forms, a permissive culture that does not respect the dignity of the person, especially of women and the young, the ethics of business and science, the rights of the marginalized, the poor and the migrants. Besides the global dimension of persecution, as individual Catholics, we too face persecution in terms of trying to live a life according to the gospel values. Whether at home, in the office or even in Church, we know how difficult it is for us to be true to what we believe in as temptations are many. Striving to grow in holiness and live a life of integrity is our constant trial as we fight against the temptations and the seductive ways of the Evil One.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The Conversion Experience Retreat
This is reproduced from the flyer....
So what is The Conversion Experience Retreat all about?
Who should attend?
What can I expect to take away from the retreat?
This is a 4 day stay in programme designed to help individuals, especially Catholics, revive their faith through a deep personal encounter with God.
So why is it called a Conversion Experience Retreat?
Conversion Experience is the fundamental experience of being loved by God unconditionally in Christ Jesus.
This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven (1John 4:10)
Many of us Christians think we do not need to be "converted", after all we are already baptised.
However one cannot speak of a real conversion without having first encountered the love of God.
The Conversion Experience Retreat is thus designed to enable participants to Christ's Passion and the power of His resurrection.
For it is only through an experience of God's love and mercy that we can learn to love ourselves in God and our neighbour. (1John 4:7-16)
You will experience God's love, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and inner healing.
Be empowered in a new life in Christ!!!!! AMEN!!!!
So what is The Conversion Experience Retreat all about?
Who should attend?
What can I expect to take away from the retreat?
This is a 4 day stay in programme designed to help individuals, especially Catholics, revive their faith through a deep personal encounter with God.
So why is it called a Conversion Experience Retreat?
Conversion Experience is the fundamental experience of being loved by God unconditionally in Christ Jesus.
This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven (1John 4:10)
Many of us Christians think we do not need to be "converted", after all we are already baptised.
However one cannot speak of a real conversion without having first encountered the love of God.
The Conversion Experience Retreat is thus designed to enable participants to Christ's Passion and the power of His resurrection.
For it is only through an experience of God's love and mercy that we can learn to love ourselves in God and our neighbour. (1John 4:7-16)
You will experience God's love, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and inner healing.
Be empowered in a new life in Christ!!!!! AMEN!!!!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Take time and take stock!
I went to the Conversion Experience Retreat early May this year. Learnt that retreat came from the latin word vacare which means to empty oneself. To go to nature and abstain from normal activities.
This retreat was my first in a very long while!
Many of us when we start to get busy with our school and our work, we always say we got no time! No time to take a vacation sometimes.... much more a retreat.... you gotta be kidding!It took me a long long while before I said, there's never a better time and made the step to go for this retreat.
Have you heard of The Woodcutter story?
Well, it goes like this : He had no time to sharpen the saw. He was putting more time but yet cut lesser trees. Why? coz his saw is blunt!
so don't we have to take time out to pray?
Even Jesus and His disciples does.
Mark 6:30-33
The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught. There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn't even had time to eat. So he said to them, "Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while," so they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place. Many people, however saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples.
We have to take stock of what we do.
Find focus.
We are grappling with so many issues. When we say no time, we are putting our time into something else.
The devil will try to get you away. Fight the devil. Shame the devil.
Be disposed to be able to receive.
Am I glad I found time to go sharpen my saw :) Praise the Lord!
I pray that you find time too :)
This retreat was my first in a very long while!
Many of us when we start to get busy with our school and our work, we always say we got no time! No time to take a vacation sometimes.... much more a retreat.... you gotta be kidding!It took me a long long while before I said, there's never a better time and made the step to go for this retreat.
Have you heard of The Woodcutter story?
Well, it goes like this : He had no time to sharpen the saw. He was putting more time but yet cut lesser trees. Why? coz his saw is blunt!
so don't we have to take time out to pray?
Even Jesus and His disciples does.
Mark 6:30-33
The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught. There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn't even had time to eat. So he said to them, "Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while," so they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place. Many people, however saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples.
We have to take stock of what we do.
Find focus.
We are grappling with so many issues. When we say no time, we are putting our time into something else.
The devil will try to get you away. Fight the devil. Shame the devil.
Be disposed to be able to receive.
Am I glad I found time to go sharpen my saw :) Praise the Lord!
I pray that you find time too :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
