Christian Unity....
Greetings ....hows the saturday coming along for everyone? hope everyone had fun in a way or another...was a usual saturday for me....had chance to rest more and sleep in....woke up ard noon and started the first phase in reformatting my computer.....gona start backing up my stuffs slowly over the next few days.....my computer has started to go berserk.....blue screen of death every now and then...kinda gets on my nerve.....so gona wipe out everything clean and reinstall everything....before that....gona back up all my stuffs...
Went for mass in the evening.....and i must say..today's homily by Fr John Lau kinda touched me and i find it somehow meaningful...its was on Christian Unity as it was Christian Unity week...Fr Lau talked about the various aspect of unity in the universal church.....between the different christian groups and religion.. and of course.....unity with in a parish itself....this suprred me on into further relfections about it...
Unity in the universal Church:
Guess kinda surprised to see this? well.....its a rather sad fact that though the catholic church is universal (i.e. exists practically everywhere on this planet) with its control coming from the Vatican in Rome and the Pope being the head of the church. Human nature has stepped in and moulded the hearts of the church's children over the world to resist this unity.
It can be seen at times in various places...many acts of dis-unity can be seen. For example, churches are not following closely the teachings/instructions of the church...having to add on stuffs on their own with out authority.....Liturgical abuses whereby the Eucharistic celebration or the mass is being celebrated wrongly and its rubics(rules) not being followed faithfully.
All this and many other happenings can be seen as dis-unity in the church and it hurts the church on the whole....though you or me may not see the harm or it does not affect us directly...but the fact still stands....the harm is done....
Unity between different Christian Groups and Religion
This is really a hot topic in today's context...with the world having so much sad happenings and hurt occuring, the effects of religion on bringing comfort to the displaced and harmed ones can be seen....it can help steady a person's emotion and being back faith.....
However, some how...somewhere....some people will always have to go against the flow...attacks on various groups are made....criticisms....comparisions.....claims of who's religion being the real one and etc....some of these are done in war of words......but sadly...some go beyond just that...bombing of churches...destruction of mosques....taking away innocent lives with it just ain't the way......have we forgotten that at the end of the day....though we may have different believes or practises....we still belong to one God? There's no deny to that....you cant say that Yaweh God and Allah are different or separate Gods.....a look at the various religion's roots would have indicated that they are linked in a way.....and that way is that there is only ONE God....
We all have to learn religious tolerance.....cultural respect....and also the respect for other people's believe...
Unity with the parish
There is this saying "charity starts from home".....I would like to add one as well....unity also starts from home....in the church context...that home would be at the parish level....today....any practising catholic who goes to church often would have in a way heard stories or complains of some kind......be it about the priests or a paritcular person's character....competancy...or different church groups methods of operation....
To add the final topping to the problem.....we can see ugly acts at times.....church groups "fighting" with each other.....using war of words...spreading rumours..... and through actions like boycot of events....protests with the priests and etc....
Why are we behaving in such manner? Dont we all belong to the same family of God? let alone the same parish......
All this boils down to one point....our purpose in serving or participating in the religion...are we there.....for our own glory, fame, benefit? or are we there because there is a buring desire and zeal in our hearts to serve our God...and through our actions...serve our fellow brothers and sisters....and with this .....gain spiritual comfort and love....
really very sad to see such bad stuffs happening.....haizz......unity is really lacking...
___________________________________________________________
Abba Father,
You are ever powerful and wise beyond all wisdoms, guide us and keep our close to you.
Send your spirit upon us to guide and correct our actions; our selfish hearts, our lack of faith, our stubborness and all other faults.
Help us to see that unity is vital and we can have all the love, wisdom, perform all sorts of observances, reverence but if we are all not united, we cannot say that we belong to your church.
For your son has said, "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Amen
Went for mass in the evening.....and i must say..today's homily by Fr John Lau kinda touched me and i find it somehow meaningful...its was on Christian Unity as it was Christian Unity week...Fr Lau talked about the various aspect of unity in the universal church.....between the different christian groups and religion.. and of course.....unity with in a parish itself....this suprred me on into further relfections about it...
Unity in the universal Church:
Guess kinda surprised to see this? well.....its a rather sad fact that though the catholic church is universal (i.e. exists practically everywhere on this planet) with its control coming from the Vatican in Rome and the Pope being the head of the church. Human nature has stepped in and moulded the hearts of the church's children over the world to resist this unity.
It can be seen at times in various places...many acts of dis-unity can be seen. For example, churches are not following closely the teachings/instructions of the church...having to add on stuffs on their own with out authority.....Liturgical abuses whereby the Eucharistic celebration or the mass is being celebrated wrongly and its rubics(rules) not being followed faithfully.
All this and many other happenings can be seen as dis-unity in the church and it hurts the church on the whole....though you or me may not see the harm or it does not affect us directly...but the fact still stands....the harm is done....
Unity between different Christian Groups and Religion
This is really a hot topic in today's context...with the world having so much sad happenings and hurt occuring, the effects of religion on bringing comfort to the displaced and harmed ones can be seen....it can help steady a person's emotion and being back faith.....
However, some how...somewhere....some people will always have to go against the flow...attacks on various groups are made....criticisms....comparisions.....claims of who's religion being the real one and etc....some of these are done in war of words......but sadly...some go beyond just that...bombing of churches...destruction of mosques....taking away innocent lives with it just ain't the way......have we forgotten that at the end of the day....though we may have different believes or practises....we still belong to one God? There's no deny to that....you cant say that Yaweh God and Allah are different or separate Gods.....a look at the various religion's roots would have indicated that they are linked in a way.....and that way is that there is only ONE God....
We all have to learn religious tolerance.....cultural respect....and also the respect for other people's believe...
Unity with the parish
There is this saying "charity starts from home".....I would like to add one as well....unity also starts from home....in the church context...that home would be at the parish level....today....any practising catholic who goes to church often would have in a way heard stories or complains of some kind......be it about the priests or a paritcular person's character....competancy...or different church groups methods of operation....
To add the final topping to the problem.....we can see ugly acts at times.....church groups "fighting" with each other.....using war of words...spreading rumours..... and through actions like boycot of events....protests with the priests and etc....
Why are we behaving in such manner? Dont we all belong to the same family of God? let alone the same parish......
All this boils down to one point....our purpose in serving or participating in the religion...are we there.....for our own glory, fame, benefit? or are we there because there is a buring desire and zeal in our hearts to serve our God...and through our actions...serve our fellow brothers and sisters....and with this .....gain spiritual comfort and love....
really very sad to see such bad stuffs happening.....haizz......unity is really lacking...
___________________________________________________________
Abba Father,
You are ever powerful and wise beyond all wisdoms, guide us and keep our close to you.
Send your spirit upon us to guide and correct our actions; our selfish hearts, our lack of faith, our stubborness and all other faults.
Help us to see that unity is vital and we can have all the love, wisdom, perform all sorts of observances, reverence but if we are all not united, we cannot say that we belong to your church.
For your son has said, "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Amen
posted by See Tho Zhang Jacob at
10:44 PM
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