Life's Journey with God

27/7/2020 What is worship all about? No, not just praise and worship, but really the act of worshiping God. In Luke 4:8, it says that "you shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve". Let's first explore CCC 2096 & 2097 for some answers and look at each sentence separately. "Adoration* is the first act of the virtue of religion." Diving deeper into the meaning of 'virtue' is "a firm disposition to do the good" as explained in CCC 1803 and the phrase 'virtue of religion' is mentioned in CCC 1807 as "justice toward God, a moral virtue of having constant and firm will to give their due to God". In other words, adoring and worshiping the Lord is the first action that we consciously choose to live as a justice towards God . "To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love." Acknowledging ...

26/7/2020 Our separated brothers and sisters (the protestants) will often place emphasis on scriptures. In fact, they very much believe only in sola scriptura . But what about us? Do Catholics also see scripture the same way? Definitely. Our faith is very much based on scriptures and traditions. In fact, I will quote Pope John Paul II here: "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord . She has always maintained them, together with sacred Tradition, as the supreme rule of faith , since as inspired by God and committed once and for all to writing, they impart the word of God Himself without change, making the voice of the Holy Spirit resound . For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them ." (Dei Verbum #21) God really speaks through scriptures and He speaks to us in personal ways. It is not a static, historical account of the past but it is very much ali...

19/7/2020 I really had to break down the posts I was writing because there was just SO MUCH that challenged my own understanding of God. Some added on to what I already knew and hence, helped me to really assimilate those truths into my life but some things (which I will explain below) were really something of a new revelation to me. Please reach out if you are confused or have more questions from this, and I would be glad to have a chat with you over a cuppa! It can be quite overwhelming haha, I totally understand. 'Abba' is not Daddy God We are quite familiar with this term which has appeared in scripture many times such as Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6. The name 'Abba' which is Aramaic for Father doesn't really mean dad. The Jews at that time addressed God as Father in the context of Him being the Almighty Creator and didn't have a close relationship with Him. An easy explanation of why we still address God as Father is because Jesus did so. So anywa...

14/7/2020 No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit. This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit : to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally , the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son. — CCC 683 This week's lectures on the Holy Spirit didn't just meet my expectations of really getting to know the third person of the Trinity, it absolutely blew away all expectations. It wasn't just the teachings that made an impact, it was really God who was so real and present throughout. I could choose to write down all that I've learnt in this post but I think more than that is really reflecting on how it has changed my relationship with God and how it has changed me personally. Before this, I really relied on definitions, scripture, cat...

13/7/2020 If we look at the Bible, Christ can be defined as "the one who is to come" (Yahshua) and "the anointed one" (Messiah). As Christians, we know the salvation story, of His humble birth in a stable, His ministry here on Earth, and His ultimate passion on the Cross for humanity. But who is Jesus really? In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by nature and not by adoption (CCC 465). His personhood is fully divine and fully human (not partly, not quarterly but 100% both) — there is no duality to Him. He has a human intellect and will, yet perfectly attuned to His divine intellect and His divine will, which He has in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit (CCC 482). He is "like us in all things but sin" (Hebrew 4:15). What does that mean? Like me, I had questions to follow up with those statements. Some of them are listed below in hopes that it may help you to understand better who Christ is, an...

3/7/2020 God is so many things at once (omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent) and yet at the same time, He just IS.  What do I mean? God is simple — He is a divine being, a pure spirit, undivisible by any physical or metaphysical means. He is "eternal, infinite and unchangeable, incomprehensible, almighty, and ineffable" (CCC 202). God exists out of time, in eternity hence came the description of God who is, who was, and is still to come (Revelation 1:8). The Lord lacks nothing and is in need of nothing. The reason why God chose to create mankind is because He wants to share this selfless and overflowing love with 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... God draws close to us to seek Him, to know Him and to love Him" (CCC 1). As humans, there is always growth and change involve, where we move from potentiality to actuality. But for God, because He is immutable, ...

2/7/2020 Here's a little something about the Triune God which we Catholics believe in! What is God? A divine being, essentially God ✨ Who is God? God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit The nature of God is what unites the Trinity. The personhood is what distinct them. Each divine person has their own unique personal property but performs common work (CCC 258). Divinity cannot be divided, it is always one. The concept of one God can be found in both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament: Dt 6:4, Gen 1:26, Gen 11:7, Gen 18:2, The Annunciation in Lk 1:26-38, Baptism of Jesus in Mt 3:16-17, The Transfiguration in Mt 17:5, and the Commissioning of the Disciples in Mt 28:19 A term to best describe the Trinity by the early Church fathers is perichoresis , which is essentially a dance of love which is so intertwined, harmonious and in sync that it looks like one, somewhat like a tango but not quite too. The Relationship of the 'Lover – Beloved – Love...

1/7/2020 I decided to move away from daily reflection posts this week and write something else here. This week, we are exploring the personhood of God the Father. It starts with understanding how we view this God so that we can fix the false image and voice of God. Even though this isn't my first time exploring my false images of God, I actually spent many hours to reflect during the activity. While listening to the sharing, there were also areas that were revealed to me that brought back memories of past hurts. Some areas of hurt that were brought up reminded me of the times when I was feeling small as if I was one of the many in the crowd, not being important, fear of disappointing others and not meeting their expectations. This false image of God being disinterested in me, that I have nothing to offer, stems from the negative experiences I went through during my childhood which has instilled in me the need to do more, paired with the need to achieve a certain standard of p...