Ask and You Shall Receive

One of the things people with faith in God does in time of need is prayer. As Christians, we are encouraged by our faith to believe in a God who is also a provider - "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). The Bible is filled with narratives of how God hears the cries of the sick and the suffering, and how He delivers them from their miseries. But I have also noticed a tendency among faithful Christians: they refuse to ask God's help in time of need. Many choose to suffer through their sickness and barely make it through in their daily life, thinking that it is God's will. They often rationalize their state by saying that they haven't done anything so bad to deserve what they are going through, so God must have a good reason for allowing it to happen to them. They might not blame God for their miseries, but not all that happy with Him for letting them suffer. They think it is futile to ask in prayer because, if it was not God's will for it to happen, then a loving God would have fix the problem even without asking. 

People may have many reasons to believe in God and to pray to Him without ever making a personal petition. But in doing so, they are closing their eyes towards a bigger truth about God - He is the giver of all gifts to carry out His plan and purpose. And if any one of us think that God's plan and purpose for us is to live in pain, to suffer with sickness, to agonize over our daily needs, then we don't believe "God is love" (1 John 4:8). For, a loving God could never allow human - the epitome of His creation - to live a life of pain and suffering. If we ever stop and look at the prayer that Jesus taught us, we will see that it is not just a prayer of praises but it is a prayer of petition also. If 'Give us our daily bread', 'Forgive our trespasses', 'Lead us not into temptation', and 'Deliver us from evil' are not petitions to God, then what is?

One of the things that puzzled me over the years was why do we have ask. If all good things come from God and if God's graces are free for all, then why do I need to go in there and ask for help with a particular problem that I am having. Why can't God just step in and take care of it for me. We need to ask because we have fallen out of God's grace through our sins. When we ask, it equates to repentance and humility. To ask is letting go of our pride. By petitioning to God, we are opening ourselves to the mercy of God. This is also the reason why prayers are not always answered right away. Often we ask without fully believing in His mercy, without fully humbling ourselves, and without fully forgiving others. Also, God would sometimes hold back to test our loyalty and perseverance. But Jesus told us the parable of the Persistent Widow to remind us "about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary" (Luke 18:1) of the outcome. St. Paul tells us that we have to keep doing good and stay in God's grace without giving up hope: "Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9). 

So today, if you are thinking about giving up your hope because you haven't seen any change in your situation, think again. God in His infinite wisdom must have a reason for not granting your wish, but that doesn't mean He wouldn't grant it in the future when the time is more appropriate. But we would never get to realize the wish if we are not with Him in the due time. And if you are person who never asked God anything, but to chose to suffer through the difficulties, think again. How would you ever know if it is God's will to have you suffer unless you ask Him?

                           "Your way, God, is holy:
                                    what god is as great as our God?
                             You are the God who does wonders;
                                    among the peoples you have revealed your might.
                             With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
                                    the children of Jacob and Joseph." (Psalm 77:14-16)

A Friend in Need...

We come across so many people during our lifetime. Over the course of time few of them become our friends, but majority remains as just people we know or people we met. Why do we have so few friends? You might disagree with me with the help of your friends from social networking sites, or even by displaying the vast circle of friends you have from work, school, society, church so on and so forth. But I think we call many people friends because we see friendship in conditional terms - we are their friends because they are our friends. We remain friends with them as long as they are willing to put equal effort into maintaining the relationship. And we know who they are - when we see each other, we complain "you never call me anymore!" (Why is it that I have to call you, why don't you call me instead?). When we look closely at these friends, what we realize is that nothing happens or nothing much changes even if we are no longer friends. 

Then there is another category of friends - the selfish ones. Don't just think of others as the selfish ones, we could also be the selfish one in this relationship. One party has a significant advantage in keeping this friendship, and work extremely hard to maintain it. The advantage could be monetary, status, or just convenience. A sub-category for selfish friends is friends we maintain to ensure inequality - people who are less educated, less fortunate, less beautiful, less powerful. These are our feel good friends, they give us the sense of superiority. When we approach friendship in selfish terms, it is shallow - low in comfort levels and void of emotional depths. 

There are many other types of friendships other than the ones I just mentioned. But these two categories probably answer my original question lot better: Why do we find it hard to find true friends? It would be too naive from my part if I say that I am the only one with this problem - true friendships that are unconditional and selfless are disappearing from todays society. What I realized recently is that I have lost most friends than I ever gained. I considered many to be there on my side if I ever ran into trouble, after all a friend in need is a friend indeed. Unfortunately I found none when I needed one. But at the same time I found myself being surrounded and helped by a group of friendly folks, people whom I never considered friends. I had nothing to offer them in return, but that didn't prevent me from getting equality within the circle. It took me a while to figure out what the motivating factor behind these friendships were - it was (is) God. 

Friendship is not a human invention. The first friendship was instituted by God - He created us in His own image and established a friendly relationship. This was done out of pure Love - God had nothing to gain in doing so. The Catechism of Catholic Church teaches us: "God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life." When we stray away from this relationship based on pure Love, all our other relationships including friendship becomes invalid. When we take God out of our lives, we find ourselves remote and self-centered. Reaching outward is difficult because there is nothing good within to share. In this state, life becomes superficial and we seek the company of benefactors and enablers. Many of the people who find it difficult to accept the changes in me came to know me when I was separated from God. I know that the reason for the way they react is a direct result of my past life. I also understand that most of the flares in my daily relationship with others is a good thing, it means I am doing something right - not politically, but spiritually. I sort of understand what Jesus meant when He said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man 'against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's enemies will be those of his household" (Matthew 10:34-36). 

So if anybody out there found me boring lately or if you are annoyed because I refuse to discuss politics, sports, movies, or other current issues, I offer no apologies. Not because I have found a new way to be arrogant, but because I can't apologize for seeking God. I must say that I do in fact still have a strong desire to indulge in sports, movies and everything in between, but "For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him" (Philippians 3:8,9) As I tally up people who have become blessings in my life, I find one thing common in all of them - God. These people have a desire to seek God - to know Him and to love Him. They have a desire to practice the teachings of Jesus Christ without making compromises in every day life. These are people who admits themselves as flawed, but finds strength in the saving grace of God, in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer.

"Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you" (2 Corinthians 13:11)

False Advertisement

I can't remember the last time somebody criticized me for something I did! Growing up, people considered me as the creme of the crop. Mothers of rogue little ones used me as a measuring stick to spank the bottoms of little rascals they were bringing up. Though I never asked to be the poster boy for Goody two-shoes, I never objected it either. And to my credit, I have always tried my best to keep up with my image. I must say that I almost succeeded in convincing everybody that I am not too far off from being immaculate. The problem was that I was anything but the perception of what I was. I too did everything just like everybody else of my age - watched movies inappropriate for a kid, tried smoking as a teenager, tasted Johnny Walker as a young adult, all the while staring at girls. Unlike many of my poor friends who got branded with bad reputation, I did it when no one was looking. You see, I had a reputation to keep up with, the other guys didn't. I did it smartly, the others were careless. 

One of the problems with 'trying to be somebody you are not' or 'trying to appear to be somebody better than you actually are' is the enormous pressure it comes with. It is like walking around with a blinking light on the top of your head, you are constantly being reminded that you are the object of attention. Everybody from the barber who cuts your hair to your kindergarten teacher takes pride in knowing you, for having an acquaintance with you. On one hand you are being elevated by the cause of joy for many, but on the other hand you are being stampeded by the guilt of deception and fear of getting caught. 

To hide is human. The problem is humans also like to put on a show. From a seventy year old retiree who dyes his hair to hide gray to a twenty something executive who chews on mint to cover up alcoholic breath, we all like to put on a show of our good side. We chase perfection not because we love it, but because we are playing 'keeping up with Joneses'. We want to fit into the utopian society, knowing fully well that the society is made up of individuals just like us - dirty on the inside, clean outside. We are husbands and wives who constantly fight behind closed doors, but participates in and wins Best Couples competition. We are parents who spend entire day lecturing kids about putting on good behavior at the dinner table just for one night only because we have guests. We are good citizens who watch porn at the privacy of our homes and speaks passionately against abuse of women and children on open stage. We nod our head in agreement when we hear Jesus sharply criticizing the Pharisees without ever realizing that He called us "white washed graves" - dirty inside, clean outside. 

So what am I supposed to do, live like an open notebook and let everybody make fun of me? That takes a lot of guts, but I am not that courageous. I believe the the best solution is Confession - that's right, tell the priest. Here's why: In the Book of Genesis, it clearly says that man and woman were naked after creation (Genesis 2:25). On the top of the surface, this is unwanted information unless you are planning to make a NC-17 rated bible movie. But for our purpose here, this information is a useful tool to compare the immediate action of Adam and Eve upon committing the original sin: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves" (Genesis 3:7). Adam and Eve committed a sin and their eyes were opened, the immediate reaction was to cover up. The nakedness wasn't just physical, it was also spiritual. This is what happens to us also - the Holy Spirit that dwells in us opens our eyes every time we do something against the will of God. This is not supposed to be a negative thing, it is our Creator's way of telling us to turn away from those actions. What we do is that every time God opens our eyes to see our transgressions, we put a cover over it. The old saying goes, "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig". We can cover up our sins to preserve the image of the poster child, but that doesn't get us anywhere with God, "For the Lord explore the mind and test the heart, Giving to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds" (Jeremiah 17:10). 

The beauty about Catholic confession to a priest is that we are confessing our transgressions to two people at the same time - the priest is the representative of God on earth, and he is also our neighbor. Through confession, even if it is confessing the same sin over and over again, we are exposing ourselves to God in the heavens and also to our neighbor here on earth. In doing so, we are allowing God's grace to work with in us. It strengthens us to withstand temptations, and to recover from addictions. Soon there will be nothing to hide, and we will be able to open our lives to others and let them see hearts filled with saving grace of Lord our God. 

                 "For thus says the high and lofty One,

                       the One who dwells forever, whose name is holy:

                  I dwell in a high and holy place,

                       but also with the contrite and lowly of the spirit,

                  To revive the spirit of the lowly,

                       to revive the heart of the crushed.

                  For I will not accuse forever,

                       nor always be angry;

                  For without me their spirit fails,

                       the life breath that I have given." (Isaiah 57:15,16)

My Peace I Give You

Yesterday Walmart announced that it would open their stores two hours earlier for Black Friday shoppers. So I guess it is time - time to start making lists, checking it, and shopping until you drop every bit of that hard earned penny into the deep pockets of a few privileged Chinese impresarios. Though majority of the US population has no concern for Christ anymore, we care all about Christmas, or at least Christmas shopping. We worry about finding ideal gifts for our family, friends and co-workers, and stress over it when we can't find suitable gifts. As a person who believes wholeheartedly in capitalistic societies, I wouldn't even dare to suggest that we should quit with all these gift nonsense. Instead, I would like to make some practical gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season. 

We usually give gifts to people who are good to us; we also give gifts to people whom we like, love, appreciate or want favors from. This is also the reason why many of us struggle with the "gift of forgiveness". Forgiving others contradicts every thought process of a rational human being, it amounts to saying to the wrongdoer "Thank you for hurting me". Gifts are free and deserving; the person who has wronged us no longer deserve anything free from us - they must "pay" for their actions. We would like to hold onto this gift of forgiveness for as long as we can. We like to see a genuine change of heart from the perpetrator before even consider forgiving him. We always expect some sort of an apology as a precursor. But what we see in the gospels is that Jesus has a totally different way approaching the issue of forgiveness. The best example could be one of the last things that Jesus did - while hanging on a cross, He prayed: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Here, nobody asked for His forgiveness, nobody even showed any kind of remorse for their actions, they were mocking Him, challenging Him to "save himself if he was the chosen one". But for Jesus, it was simply a matter of putting preaching into practice, it was turning the other cheek to the one who struck you on the right cheek, it was handing over the cloak to the one who took possession of your tunic, and walking two miles with the one who forces you to walk with him one mile. 

Forgiveness is a gift, a gift that one can give to an undeserving someone at an undeserving time. Forgiveness challenges human logic because we are being asked to give away something that is rightfully ours to an undeserving somebody, to reward somebody for being mean, rude, hurtful, unfaithful, and everything else that hurt us in some form or shape. Humans want revenge and retaliation when being wronged, and that makes forgiveness a gift from God - something not human. This is what God does, He forgives unconditionally. God made no demands of us before sending His only Son to die for our salvation on a cross, "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). 

Ever wondered why God would insist so much about forgiving the transgressions of others? It was so important to Jesus that he even made it a condition - one of the few conditions that Jesus has in our relationship with God the Father - in the prayer that he taught us, "Forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us" (Luke 11:4). Here is the thing: amidst all our reasons not to forgive, it must be understood that when we forgive others, we do it for us, not for the other person. Forgiveness is freeing ourselves from the pains and torments of the mind. It is allowing God's grace to heal a heart that bleeds and a body that hurts, through the works of the Holy spirit. It is always good to remember that in The Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from evil" comes after the forgiveness - there is no deliverance without forgiveness. Choose not to worry about the price paid for the gift of forgiveness, instead look at it as an investment in God's justice and love. It is far worse and cost is immeasurable to think that holding onto our right to hurt, to resent, to negativity, to anger, and to hate would somehow help us feel better. 

"I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:44,45) 

Catholics are smart

Catholics are smart, we have found an easy way into heaven - through purgatory. What I mean is that we no longer try to get directly to heaven - it is hard, and there is no certainty that anything that you do will take you straight to heaven. We understood what Jesus meant when He said, "Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I will tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough" (Luke 13:24). We understand perfectly that it is easier to go to hell than to get to heaven. And we know this because we have been told so by our parents, catechism teachers, and every other grown up that we ever met who had the good fortune of getting a healthy dose of baptismal water on their forehead. Catholicism we know is a religion of do's and don'ts, a lot more don'ts than do's. 

Looking back at my religious education in a town where 90% of the population was Catholic, I don't remember anybody ever talking about what one should do in order to enter heaven. We were all taught about ways to avoid hell. Churches were overflowing on Sundays and nearly empty on other days - to avoid hell you need to attend Sunday mass. Sacraments were of utmost importance - neither the parents nor the nuns at the local convent want to go to hell for not enrolling or preparing the kids for Holy Communion or Confirmation. As Catholics, we believe that observing sacraments, along with avoiding cardinal sins, will keep hell away. We also have learned from our experience that lying, gossiping, cheating, tax evasion are all part of being a decent Catholic. We know that there are consequences for those things, but they don't land you in hell. Hell is for serial killers and rapists, my little transgressions will guarantee me a place in purgatory, and purgatory is not bad, it is only a temporary place of stay before entering heaven. We have accepted it as a reality that the teachings of Jesus Christ are a bit too much for an ordinary human being to follow; life according the Word of God is no fun. It is impossible to follow Christ in His path, so I will just be a Catholic and go through with the actions - keeping the rules and regulations of the Church. 

Evangelization is somewhat of an unfamiliar word for Catholics. When we hear evangelization, we think of missionary priests or the obnoxious Pentecostal preacher who keeps knocking on your door. But what really is this evangelization? "Evangel" is nothing but another word for the Good News, and what is the Good News? Again the answer is simple, Jesus Christ is the Good News. Evangelization is hearing Jesus Christ, and knowing Him in a personal way. Now that's not Catholic way dealing with Jesus, one might argue. But what is it that Pope Benedict XVI talks about when he say things like, "new evangelization for the transmission of Christian faith ... to help these people encounter the Lord, who alone fills our existence with deep meaning and peace; and to favor the rediscovery of the faith, that source of grace which brings joy and hope to personal, family and social life” (Homily for the Eucharistic celebration for the solemn inauguration of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Rome, 7 October 2012). Could it be that the Pope is trying to remind us that Catholic faith is not about rules, regulations and set devotions, it is about the encounter with Christ - in this life, not just after life? 

Salvation begins when we welcome Jesus into our lives as our Savior. It begins on earth when we are alive. The good news of salvation as narrated in the gospels are about encounters of people with Jesus, and how their lives were changed after the encounter. When you meet Jesus with an open heart, the change is profound - it is meeting God at wherever you are, and Him guiding you to wherever you should be. And Jesus envision all of us to be in the Kingdom of God, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace and joy in holy spirit" (Romans 14:17). God didn't send His only begotten Son to us as a sacrificial lamb so that we all could gather around the bonfire at the purgatory, He wants us to enjoy the freedom that His Son bought us with His own blood, in this life and in the afterlife, into eternity. We are called to be saints, to live the gospel in our everyday life. We are to lead others to Christ by transforming our lives in a radical way, and compelling others to seek righteousness, peace and joy of the Holy spirit by leading the way. Purgatory is not our hope, and we don't put our trust in the prayers of our family members to get us out of purgatory; instead we "strive to enter through the narrow door". We put our hope in our encounter with Jesus Christ himself, for "I am the door. Whoever enters through me will be saved" (John 10:9). 

"By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness." (Romans 2:5-8)

I am getting bored!!!

Ever noticed the vast number number of toys out there - not for kids, but for adults. Grown ups don't call them toys - we call them gadgets. It's all around us. In fact, everything around us is some kind of a gadget nowadays. Gadgets are our way of fixing a big problem that we face in today's fast paced society - boredom. We all complain about not having enough time to do anything, we stay busy all the time. But we are also bored - we are tired of being too busy, getting up to do the same thing over and over everyday. We use the gadgets to relieve boredom - TV, computer, video games, texting, social networking, so on and so forth. But ever stopped and looked at the other side of these gadgets (no, not the side that says 'Designed in USA and Made in China'). Ever thought about the gadgets as objects that actually add on to our busy lifestyle - we don't have enough time for anything because we have too many of these toys to deal with!

Let's talk about hell

The Rich Man being led to hell (Luke 16:14-31)
By David Teniers the Younger - 1647

I think that I spent a lot of time talking and writing about the God of Love, God our Father. What I realized lately is that while talking about God's love all the time I have failed to acknowledge the other side of Him, God of judgement. Before coming into terms with a God who would send His beloved creation to hell, I need to come into terms with the fact that there does exist a hell. Among the people who believe in God, afterlife, and heaven, many resist the idea of hell. When we think about hell, the common image is that of fire. But I need something more than that, hell can't be just about a lake of fire where sinful souls burn forever. As humans, we don't like to be burned by fire, it hurts our body, not our soul. So what kind of effect would fire have for a soul in hell? So it's not fire that makes hell HELL, there has to be something more - something to torment a soul with.