The day before Lent

Damien Scott commented on Monastic Mumblings...

"Having spent several years at Mardi Gras in New Orleans (in town on religious business, really and truly, with a bunch of priests, nuns and seminarians), I learned a wonderful lesson from attending the parades. (And we didn't go to anything raunchy.) It is all so pretty, and bright, and they throw what look like jewels and coins and the people shout and grab and knock one another over to get the biggest and the best. And you walk away exhilirated, weighted down with necklaces and gaudy objects, your pockets stuffed with doubloons. And in the morning, you see that it is all nothing, broken strings of plastic beads, tin coins that buy nothing, stale Moon Pies, cracked plastic cups...

An excellent preparation for Lent: a full blast exprience of the emptiness of the prizes our culture holds out to us and for which we will trample one another, screaming gimme, gimme, gimme!.

A sister friend says you can't have a good Lent if you don't have a good Mardi Gras. I finally understnad what she means.

And it is a lot of fun!"

You've guessed it (or at least I assumed you did): today's Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French) which can mean many things. To some who follow the Catholic tradition, today might be the last day to pig out on meat (or any other delectable foods, for that matter), also to some others today will be the last day to prepare (their heart and stomach) for the season of Lent.

I like Damien's illustration of how life really is to many - a pursuit of the material wealth which really means nothing on it own at the end of the day. Therefore Lent is not only a period of repentance and penance, but also an opportunity for us to experience how it is to live without 'our wants'; in other words with only 'our needs'. Of course what are 'wants' or 'needs' can be debated, but let's not go there now shall we? :)

Shucks! Does that mean I have to abstain from the net? :P

My Catholic Altar

Yeap. I have converted my space for CDs into a mini-shrine, complete with a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Baby Jesus (from a nativity scene), an icon of the Blessed Virgin and (as a friend would like to put it) the quintessential Catholic symbol, the rosary.

p/s: just in case you are wondering, where is the crucifix? well, it's at the top of my bedroom door. ;)

A Witness To Hope

"Shaped by the terrors of Nazi-occupied Poland and the subsequent brutalities of the Communist regime, John Paul II became one of the world’s greatest proponents of religious freedom and human rights. With rare historical stills and archival footage, along with new location footage taken in Rome and Poland, this richly textured film traces the personal life and struggles of the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years. Based on George Weigel’s book of the same title, Witness to Hope is a complete and intimate portrait of an extraordinary leader."

- A Witness To Hope - the Life of John Paul II (DVD)

John Paul II was known as the "fearless pope" - his fearlessness stemmed from his total surrender to God and his acknowledgement that the Almighty has the best course of his life planned out. And so I was reminded that I too had to surrender my life to God and trust that He has my best interest.


Jesus, I trust in You.

Valentines

Ditto dude. ;)

(Image from Postsecret)

Amazingly Fearless Race 2006

Yeap. Our very own local REALITY GAME! :D

ALL ARE WELCOME.

Join the excitement and fun! For more details, leave a comment or better still email me!

Cheers!

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Related post:

Amazingly Fearless Race 2004 Write-Up

Strange / After thought

Strange... I was told by the president of my ex-college's Catholic Students Society (CSS) that Christian Fellowship (CF) was (heavily) promoting their club today - "out of the blue". Orientation's over, no events, nothing. Just promoting weekly meetings. What's more according to her: just today she was informed that the lecture room she booked weeks ago [for CSS weekly meetings] was claimed by CF for the whole year. Poor girl had no alternative but to pick a room next to the one CF laid claim.

I don't want to jump into any conclusions, I just *hope* that this is all a coincidence and NOT as a response to the CSS meetings.

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On a slightly different note...

After much contemplation and consultation. The CSS have decided to hold future meetings on the original proposed timeslot [i.e. concurrently with CF's]. The time slot chosen was never intended for conflict/competition, rather the CSS considers it to be good timing for most students in college. Besides the CSS' target audience are mainly CATHOLICS. So what's the competition about?

Hey, if Saint Francis Xavier's CATHOLIC Church and Glad Tidings are able to have Mass/service on the same street AND day! Why not CSS and CF? Frankly, I don't think non-Christians will be "torn" between these two Christian societies! I understand Ms. A's worry that this will show non-Christians how disunited Christians are, but the truth to the matter is: THERE IS NO TOTAL UNITY among Catholics and Protestants (or even among the 25,000 denominations). So why "fake" unity or hide our divisiveness? Wouldn't that be deceptive?

QUESTION: What if non-Christians pose questions which touch on issues of Christian disunity?

Answer: Simple - just explain to them.

Case closed.

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Related post:

• Four Biblical Truths

Misunderstood

My well-intentioned meeting with Ms. A at my ex-college turned hostile when she got to know that the newly established Catholic Students Society (CSS) meeting is running concurrently with Christian Fellowship (CF; which she's the teacher advisor of). She became all puffed up, teary and emotional. If I didn't know better, I thought she was going ballistic!

I totally understand her worry (she's Pentecostal/Fundamentalist by the way) that non-Christians might be confused with two CHRISTIAN meetings running at the same time.

I.e. she's worried that non-Christians might not know which meeting to attend and end up not attending either. Thus not knowing who Jesus is. Making Hell a definite destination.

But it is not our intention to cause such confusion, rather the decision for the scheduled slot was dependent on the current cell group leader's schedule! Despite my patient (and I was really pa... tient...) explanations, she continued pouring her (yet-to-pass) grievances to me, complete with dynamic hand gestures.

I think her emotions have caught on to me, as I feel kinda bad right now. Of course, of course, we'll try to reschedule the meeting to another day which will NOT clash with CF's. But that will also be dependant on the new members' schedule.

*Sigh*

All I wanted was to know how is she doing and to say "HI" - and was hoping to have a good chat. Sad that the conversation ended on a bad note.

Poor Ms. A

Part 3: What do you think?

I was waiting for replies to my previous post in the comments section, but there was none. Here is something interesting for you to chew on:

According to an interview with Lillian Too published in HBS Bulletin Online.

Too said:

"Feng shui is not magic, it's not superstition, and it's not a religion. It's a science, more than 3,500 years old, that's based on the ancient Chinese understanding of energy flows."

However in an interview in 2002 with the Star, Too seemed to contradict her previous statement by saying:

"You can say [Feng Shui] is part superstition".

Now, is it or is it not a superstition?

Part 2: What do you think?

The current results from the latest poll:

But if science is defined as "the state of knowing", how can it be reconciled with superstition which is defined as "a belief or practice resulting from ignorance"?

Your thoughts?

[Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary]

What do you think?

Can something be both "science" and "part superstition"?
	Yes
	No
Free polls from Pollhost.com