278: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

There will come a moment in our life that we would wake up as a different person.

For the past few days I had been having a hard time thinking of what to write here. The reason why I found it hard is because I am afraid that this blog all turn out to be spiritual because apparently, at this moment of my life, the most important matter to me right now is my faith.

Obviously, Lord Jesus humored me when I prayed for Him to 'strengthen my faith', because when He granted my prayer, the only subject I could think of for the past few months is my relationship with Him. I cannot even imagine getting on the day without praying (the rosary, daytime prayer/vespers). I do not pray for the sake of praying, or getting my prayers/intentions granted but because I wanted to be closer to Him, I want to put Him in the center of my life, to be in relationship with Him. So right now, I find it a bit hard not to talk about Jesus.

This is where the problem comes in.

I know it shouldn't be a problem because considering that I own this blog, I can pretty much write about anything here, but I always wanted to have a niche. I wanted to connect to people -- not just to Catholics/Christians -- but to everyone. I wanted to tell my journey as a human being traveling in this world, but it's not the case now.

I guess moving forward you'll most likely read entries about my journey with Jesus. I know it might not appeal to everyone, but it's okay, I understand. But I hope for those who can relate will stick with me. This is, besides, for Jesus.

276: Abstaining from Facebook

From https://arleneplacido.files.wordpress.com

This lent one of the things that I vowed to abstain from is accessing Facebook. To say, I'm one of those people who's consumed of knowing what's happening from the people I know, to knowing the current events. Facebook made things easy for me to know the latest news.

When I decided to abstain from Facebook I actually feared that I may end up breaking it, because Facebook became a habit. However, I was glad that during Ash Wednesday the priest who was conducting the homily said "God had given everything for you, because He loves you. Can you give up something little for Him?". It was right then and there that I told myself that I will be staying away from Facebook.

12 days after, there are few things that I realized:

1. Being unable to know the current updates from the people I know helps me from comparing my life to their life.
2. I am no longer the source of a gossip. With my lack of knowledge of what's happening to people's lives, I usually find myself ending up listening to people tell story of other people. 
3. I can focus on improving myself.
4. I actually have more time than I imagine.
5. Being away from Facebook and being constantly updated of news updates, people's rants, and reading of people's lives helps me achieve peace of mind.

When the lenten season ends, I know I will be back from Facebook. But what I am sure of is that I will end up lessening my activity there because the good things that I have learned from staying away from FB made me realized how much I won my life back.

This also reminds me that when we sacrifice something for Jesus, we get something much better. On my part, God gave me time.

274: It's Lent Season!

Image from http://www.holyfamilysisters.org

It’s Lent Season! This is possibly one of the biggest event for Catholics, next to Christmas. To say, this is the first time that I am actually excited. I never really cared much about Lent because I found it too melancholic. For those who do not live in Philippines, during Lent you can really feel that the nation is in mourning. There are little, to no regular TV programs, most especially during Good Friday to Black Saturday. The retail stores are closed, the people are in their own respective houses praying, meditating, and simply savoring the silence. To me, it’s too bleak. But of course, while others are doing vigil, there are those who spend the Holiday in beaches. It really depends. But where I live, it’s evident that we are in vigil.

You might wonder why I suddenly had a change of perspective. With my renewed relationship with God, this will allow me to go deeper with my reflections and meditations. I want to spend the Holy Week meditating on God‘s love to save us. For me, this is an opportunity to further deepen my relationship with Him, and I’d also like to reflect on my own sinfulness and what can I do to in return for God’s love for me.

CONFESSION. Funny moment. Like what I have said, I never really participated that much during Lent so this is actually my first time to do fasting. I thought that the fasting would start next week, so earlier I enjoyed eating hotdog and egg during breakfast. To my regret, I was told that actually, the fasting starts today. You cannot imagine my confusion with what to do with the hotdog and egg that I ate. I asked my mom if I have to poke my throat so I can throw up the contents of my stomach. On the other hand, I thought I’d confess it to the priest, but then saying ‘Father I have sinned, I ate hotdogs and eggs when I should be fasting’ sounds ridiculous.

Actually, I still do not know what to do with the hotdog and the egg. But yes, I’m actually fasting, I’ve given up Facebook and Twitter, and will reduce my eating to only one full meal in a day.

You, what are you going to do this Lent?

By the way, if you have tumblr. Can you please follow the two blogs that I have created?

http://weareromancatholics.tumblr.com/
http://longlivepopefrancis.tumblr.com/