PARADOXICAL

The faith chronicles

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

God's message, ?.??.????

"You are not God!"

posted by Resty Odon # 5:31 PM 0 Comments

God's message, 1.24.2013

"God knows what you're going through."

posted by Resty Odon # 5:31 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Nouwen: Forgiveness doesn't need to be accepted to be given

Healing Our Hearts Through Forgiveness

How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? Our deepest desire is that the forgiveness we offer will be received. This mutuality between giving and receiving is what creates peace and harmony. But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the other is first and foremost an inner movement. It is an act that removes anger, bitterness, and the desire for revenge from our hearts and helps us to reclaim our human dignity. We cannot force those we want to forgive into accepting our forgiveness. They might not be able or willing do so. They may not even know or feel that they have wounded us.

The only people we can really change are ourselves. Forgiving others is first and foremost healing our own hearts.

posted by Resty Odon # 6:22 PM 0 Comments

Problema vs Pagsubok (Problem vs Trial)

Problema - nakakabigat (burdens)
Pagsubok - nakakalakas (strengthens)

- Fr. Fernando Suarez

posted by Resty Odon # 6:18 PM 0 Comments

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Nouwen on forgiveness

Forgiveness, the Way to Freedom

To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, "I no longer hold your offense against you" But there is more. We also free ourselves from the burden of being the "offended one." As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God.

posted by Resty Odon # 5:42 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Sin and Joy

Sin means selfish interest now. Joy means prioritizing Jesus, others, and you, in that order.

- Fr. Fernando Suarez

posted by Resty Odon # 11:07 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Nouwen on the folly of loving out of loneliness

Yearning for Perfect Love

When we act out of loneliness our actions easily become violent. The tragedy is that much violence comes from a demand for love. When loneliness drives our search for love, kissing easily leads to biting, caressing to hitting, looking tenderly to looking suspiciously, listening to overhearing, and surrender to rape. The human heart yearns for love: love without conditions, limitations, or restrictions. But no human being is capable of offering such love, and each time we demand it we set ourselves on the road to violence.

How then can we live nonviolent lives? We must start by realizing that our restless hearts, yearning for perfect love, can only find that love through communion with the One who created them.

posted by Resty Odon # 2:12 AM 0 Comments

Nouwen on the value of solitude

The Voice in the Garden of Solitude

Solitude is the garden for our hearts, which yearn for love. It is the place where our aloneness can bear fruit. It is the home for our restless bodies and anxious minds. Solitude, whether it is connected with a physical space or not, is essential for our spiritual lives. It is not an easy place to be, since we are so insecure and fearful that we are easily distracted by whatever promises immediate satisfaction. Solitude is not immediately satisfying, because in solitude we meet our demons, our addictions, our feelings of lust and anger, and our immense need for recognition and approval. But if we do not run away, we will meet there also the One who says, "Do not be afraid. I am with you, and I will guide you through the valley of darkness."

Let's keep returning to our solitude.

posted by Resty Odon # 2:11 AM 0 Comments

Friday, January 18, 2013

Nouwen: Optimism vs Hope

Living with Hope

Optimism and hope are radically different attitudes. Optimism is the expectation that things-the weather, human relationships, the economy, the political situation, and so on-will get better. Hope is the trust that God will fulfill God's promises to us in a way that leads us to true freedom. The optimist speaks about concrete changes in the future. The person of hope lives in the moment with the knowledge and trust that all of life is in good hands.

All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all lived with a promise in their hearts that guided them toward the future without the need to know exactly what it would look like. Let's live with hope.

posted by Resty Odon # 3:43 AM 0 Comments

Nouwen: "Our vocation is to each be ourselves"

Be Yourself

Often we want to be somewhere other than where we are, or even to be someone other than who we are. We tend to compare ourselves constantly with others and wonder why we are not as rich, as intelligent, as simple, as generous, or as saintly as they are. Such comparisons make us feel guilty, ashamed, or jealous. It is very important to realize that our vocation is hidden in where we are and who we are. We are unique human beings, each with a call to realize in life what nobody else can, and to realize it in the concrete context of the here and now.

We will never find our vocations by trying to figure out whether we are better or worse than others. We are good enough to do what we are called to do. Be yourself!

posted by Resty Odon # 3:42 AM 0 Comments

Solitude vs Loneliness

Finding Solitude

All human beings are alone. No other person will completely feel like we do, think like we do, act like we do. Each of us is unique, and our aloneness is the other side of our uniqueness. The question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness or whether we allow it to lead us into solitude. Loneliness is painful; solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.

posted by Resty Odon # 3:41 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Dream interpretation: Being lost

I think this one gets it right:

http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/dreamdictionarysearch.pl?method=exact&header=dreamsymbol&search=lost

Lost
To dream that you are lost suggests that you have lost your direction in life or that you have lost sight of your goals. You may be feeling worried and insecure about the path you are taking in life. If you try to call for help, then it means that you are trying to reach out for support. You are looking for someone to lean on. Alternatively, being lost means that you are still adjusting to a new situation in which the rules and conditions are ever changing.

posted by Resty Odon # 6:57 PM 0 Comments

Dream interpretation: failing an exam or failing to take the exam

This interpretation is resonant for me:

http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/examdreams.pl?method=exact&header=dreamid&search=examintro

"I Failed The Test"

To dream that you are taking an exam, indicates that you are being put to the test or being scrutinized in some way. These dreams highlight some anxiety or agitation that you are experiencing in your waking life. In such dreams, you may find that you cannot answer any of the questions on the test, that the test is in some foreign language or that your pencil keeps breaking during the test. Perhaps time is running out and you cannot complete the exam in the allowed time. Or perhaps, you arrive late and miss the exam. These factors contribute to failing the dream test. These dreams usually have to do with your self-esteem and confidence or the lack of. You tend to believe in the worst about yourself and are often overly worried that you are not making the grade and measuring up to other people's expectations of you. You may also experience the fear of not being accepted, not being prepared, or not being good enough.

Test dreams also suggest that you are feeling unprepared for a challenge. Rarely, these dreams are about the actual content of the test, but rather it is more about the process and how you feel during the exam taking process. These feelings often parallel how you are actually feeling in a particular challenge or situation in your waking like.

Test dreams are also an indication that you are being judged. These dreams serve as a signal for you to examine an aspect of yourself that you may have been neglecting and need to pay more attention to. You may be harboring some guilt because you did not prepare enough for a school exam, meeting, business project, or some project. Most of the time, though, people who have such dreams are unlikely to fail a test in real life. This dream is rooted in the fear and anxiety that you may not meet other's standards. You are afraid to let others down.

posted by Resty Odon # 6:48 PM 0 Comments

Monday, January 14, 2013

Is it love?

From: http://youthencounterblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/true-love.html -------------------------- True love Are your palms sweaty, is your heart racing, And your voice caught within your chest? It isn't Love, it's Like. You can't keep your eyes or hands off of them, am I right? It isn't Love, it's Lust. Are you proud, and eager to show them off? It isn't Love, it's Luck. Do you want them because you know they're there? It isn't Love, it's Loneliness. Are you there because it's what everyone wants? It isn't Love, it's Loyalty. Do you stay for their confessions of Love, because you don't want to hurt them? It isn't Love, it's Pity. Are you there because they kissed you, or held your hand? It isn't Love, it's being Unconfident. Do you belong to them because their sight makes your heart skip a beat? It isn't Love, it's Infatuation. Do you pardon their faults because you care about them? It isn't Love, it's Friendship. Do you tell them every day they are the only one you think of? It isn't Love, it's a Lie. Are you willing to give all of your favorite things for their sake? It isn't Love, it's Charity. Does your heart ache and break when they're sad? Then it's Love. Are you attracted to others, but stay with them faithfully without regret? Then it's Love. Do you accept their faults because they're a part of who they are? Then it's Love. Do you cry for their pain, even when they're strong? Then it's Love. Do their eyes see your true heart, and touch your soul so deeply it hurts? Then it's Love. But do you stay because a blinding, incomprehensible mix of pain and elation pulls you close and holds you? Then it's Love. Would you give them your heart, your life, your death? Then it's Love. Now, if Love is painful, and tortures us so, why do we Love? Why is it all we search for in life? This pain, this agony? Why is it all we long for? This torture, this powerful death of self? Why? Because it's... Love

posted by Resty Odon # 11:38 PM 0 Comments

Quotes from Gandhi

To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which though easy enough to understand is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world. It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us. This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good heart whatever they might have to say.

posted by Resty Odon # 11:37 PM 0 Comments

The golden rule, as expressed in various faiths

" The Golden Rule not the Rule of Gold "

Baha'i

"Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself."
...Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah,71...

Buddhism

"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful."
...Udana-Varga,5:18...

Christianity

"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
...Matthew7:12...

Confucianism

"Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you"
...Analects 15:23...

Hinduism

"This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you."
...Mahabharata 5:1517...

Islam

"No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself".
...Sunnah...

Jainism

"In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self"
...Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara...

Judaism

"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the law: all the rest is commentary"
...Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Native American

"Respect for all life is the foundation."

Sikhism

Don't create enmity with anyone as God is within everyone."
...Guru Arjan Devji 259, Guru Granth Sahib...

Zoroastrianism

"That nature only is good when it shall not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self."
...Dadistan-i-Dinik, 94:5...

posted by Resty Odon # 11:36 PM 0 Comments

Saturday, January 05, 2013

Quote

“The purpose of your time on earth is not primarily about acquiring possessions, attaining status, achieving success, or even experiencing happiness. Those are secondary issues. Life is all about love of God and love of neighbor. You may succeed in many areas, but if you fail to learn to love God and others, you will have missed the reason why God created you.”

posted by Resty Odon # 2:03 AM 0 Comments

Quote

"Don't feel superior toward others just because they sin differently from the way you do."

posted by Resty Odon # 2:03 AM 0 Comments

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