Leave It In The Hands Of The Lord

by Sebastian Temple, taken from Sing Your Praise to God

Leave it in the hands of the Lord.
Leave it in the hands of the Lord.

Chorus:
Do not worry over what to eat,
What to wear or put upon your feet,
Trust and pray, go do your best today,
Then leave it in the hands of the Lord.
Leave it in the hands of the Lord.

1.
The lilies of the field,
They do not spin nor weave,
Yet Solomon was not arrayed like one of these.
The birds of the air,
They do not sow or reap,
But God tends to them,
Like a shepherd tends his sheep.

2.
The Lord will guide you in his hidden way,
Show you what to do
And tell you what to say.
When you pray for rain,
Go build a dam to store;
Ev'ry drop of water
You have asked him for.

3.
The Lord know knows all your needs before you ask.
Only trust in him,
For he will do the task
Of bringing in your life
Whatever you must know,
He'll lead you through the darkness
Wherever you must go.

Dedicated to dearest Meg :)

Conscience (Part 1)

What is conscience?

"Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law

- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1778

How can we have a well-formed conscience?

"The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. This is how moral conscience is formed."

- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1802

On the supremacy of conscience...

"Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. "He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters."

-Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1782

However...

" (1) One may never do evil so that good may result from it; (2) the Golden Rule: "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.", (3) charity always proceeds by way of respect for one's neighbor and his conscience: "Thus sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience . . . you sin against Christ."Therefore "it is right not to . . . do anything that makes your brother stumble.""

-Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1789

Uncertainty is Inevitable, Worrying is Optional

I tend to worry a lot these days, I worry about the past and I worry about the future. My friends seem to notice a change in me, they say I have lost my "celestine-ness", "glow", "bubblyness", etc. I kinda noticed that too, perhaps I look distracted when I talk to them - lost in my own thoughts. It's pretty silly to be worrying about things that might bother me in the future. (Haha!) But that's what I am doing really.

Hence I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon the following quote in Cassie's Facebook today - "uncertainty is inevitable, worrying is optional", which made me smile a little. As I was pondering upon the quote I remembered my dear Lord said something similar, if not more profound. Allow me to quote what He said in its entirety...

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:33-34

Jesus says not to worry about the future, because we can worry about the future when the future comes because as it is the present has enough problems of its own for us to worry about. In addition, Jesus reassured us in the previous verse that if we give priority to God, we can be sure that He will give us what we need and only what is good. The Lord takes good care of nature, how much way better He would take care of us, we who were made in His own image and likeness? :)

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

- The Serenity Prayer, Reinhold Niebuhr

Offertory

There is more to the offertory at Mass than just giving alms or donations. It is also a time where we are given the opportunity to give worth to God, to show God (in practical terms) how much He means to you, in short, it is an act of worship. However it is not how much we give that matters, rather it is how much we are willing to give. The following passage illustrates this exactly...

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."

Mark 12:41-44

The rich gave their leftovers, whereas the poor widow gave everything and relied on the leftovers. More than an act of worship, this has become her act of faith in God - her belief that God is and will be providential. To take this even further, this act of offering gave her the opportunity to grow closer to God, as she relied less on herself and more on God - literally surrendering herself to God.

Just a thought which I would like to remember. :)

The Resurrection

... it's a tad bit early to blog about Easter but the title's meant for this blog.

I am done with my Wordpress blog, somehow I feel that it lacks character or perhaps I am too used to Blogger's interface. ;) Either way I am back and I'll continue to blog about God and all things related to Him, which pretty much covers everything under the sun. (Haha!)

[Wallpapers] Silhouette Editions. Enjoy!

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I need a new handphone and you can help

Yes that's my handphone (Sony Ericsson K300i) . I know it looks like it has been to war and back... Besides the fact that it shows severe signs of wear and tear, the joystick is also acting a little wonky (I have trouble navigating to the right side of the menu). Sadly the phone's warranty has expired and I am stuck with it 'till God knows when (literally).

So I implore you loyal readers to help me win a new Sony Ericsson W660i...

All you have to do is vote for my Harajuku Doll ...

Just SMS "GS11501" (without the quotes) to 28700. Each SMS costs RM0.50.

Thank you all! :)

[New Blog] Homilies of a Jesuit

homiliesofajesuit.blogspot.com

Excellent homilies. Highly recommended! :)

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Dropout

No I didn't manage to get a free book from Kinokuniya but I WAS THERE in the wee hours of the 21st of July. I can now safely conclude that running up 6 flights of stairs to the 3rd floor is dangerous (especially if you have crazy kids behind, infront and around you stampeding). The sight of people falling over on to the floor makes you think twice if being the lucky 13 is really worth the trouble. I made way for the rest of stampede after 2 flights of stairs (gosh, it is a long way down... I think I might have the fear of heights!) All in all it was a surreal experience running up the flight of stairs amidst screaming Potter fans. Hey this is a once in a lifetime experience right? ;)

P/S: Sorry, no other pictures available other than the one on the left, still waiting for my friend to send the rest to me. :P

P/P/S: I was the "Hogwarts Dropout"! Just in case you guys didn't know... (Thank you Alan, for loaning me your birthday gift!) :D

30-minute Prayer / Harry Potter Book 7 Speculation

Today I was introduced by my spiritual director to the 30-minute prayer, which I was told is a good starting point for one to cultivate a consistent prayer life...

The 30-minute Prayer, a Step-by-step Guide

1. Begin by asking God for the grace. (E.g. "God give me the strength to pray")
   
2. [10 minutes] Examine your current concerns / events that have already happened / events that happened the day before. Talk to God about it
3. Read the Mass readings of the day at normal speed
   
4. [About 2 minutes] Close the bible/missal. Clear your mind of any thoughts. Passages that are meaningful to you will surface
   
5. Read the passage which surfaced in a slower pace
   
6. [10 minutes] Reflect and try to understand the message and what is God trying to tell you in relation to your concerns / events that have already happened / events that happened the day before
   
7. End with a closing prayer (e.g. prayer of thanksgiving)

---

On a different note, I am speculating that the two characters which were predicted to die will be Harry Potter himself and Voldemort.

Remember the horcruxes which Voldemort made to hide "a fragment of soul for the purposes of attaining immortality"[1]? I suspect that the last horcrux is Harry's lightning scar on his forehead. Doesn't it make sense now the reason why Harry feels throbbing pain on his forehead whenever Voldemort's near is precisely because Voldemort's soul fragment is calling out to the Dark Lord himself. Does this not also explain the special connection between Harry and Voldemort? How about Harry's ability to speak parseltongue?

An ending which I imagined...

*Harry directs wand to his forehead*

Hermione *thrusts towards Harry but held back by Ron*: Harry..! NO!

Voldemort: *snicker* Harry Potter... you wouldn't dare!

*Harry still directing his wand to his forehead, closes eyes, takes a deep breath and ... *

[Reader turns to the next page]

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

What do you think? Is this how it's going to end?