Sunday, July 15, 2007

Love Your Neighbour As Yourself

LOVE is the most fundamental quality of a Christian. Hence it is very fitting that I talk about LOVE in my first post. There are many types of love: conditional love, unconditional love, detached love, faithful love, enduring love, sacrificial love, possessive love, puppy love (though I won’t consider this as love). What I will be talking about today is LOVE for yourself.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 22: 36-40

In the Bible, Jesus teaches us that the second greatest commandment is “Love your neighbour as yourself”. The way we treat others is the way we treat ourselves. But it is impossible to love others if we have no love for ourselves. How can we give something that we do not possess?

What does it mean to love yourself? Loving yourself means having respect for yourself, treating yourself well and recognizing that you are a child of God who is LOVED VERY DEARLY by our Creator. It also means that you acknowledge that you are a unique individual with a set of characteristics/gifts/talents that is different from others.

In Jeremiah 1: 5, God tells us that he knew us even before He formed us in our mother’s womb and that He has set us apart before we were born. That is how much he loves us! Even if nobody loves us in this world, we can take comfort that God loves us. God loves us and created us in His own image and this is the very basic reason as to why we have to love ourselves. By not loving ourselves, we are doing God a dis-service.

As you continue in your journey in life, there will be times when people will insult you and try to put you down. They may say things like “You are hopeless!”, “You are useless!”, or “You are no good!”. When that happens, always remember that you are wonderfully created with a purpose by God. Nobody is hopeless, useless or no good in His eyes. Every one of us is precious in His eyes. You know something, God looks at each and every one of you with love in His eyes and He is smiling right now in heaven. He is marveling at you, the person whom He has created.

Once we begin to understand how much God loves us and experience His great love for us and start loving ourselves, we will then be able to love others. This love for others will not be self-seeking. We will be able to love others with the same love that we have for ourselves, with the same love that God has for us. For example we will not overwork ourselves if we love ourselves and treat ourselves well. As a result of this, we will be able to empathize with the maids who are working in our homes and we will not overwork them as well. We will ensure that they have enough rest. We will wash our own glasses and put our plates into the sink after dinner instead of asking them to clear them up for us. Using another example which will be closer to your hearts: You will have respect for yourself if you recognize that you are a unique individual. As a result, you will also respect your friends for their uniqueness and you will not be calling them names.

Thought for ponder: I am a liar if I say that I love God but do not have love for my neighbour. How can I love God who is invisible and yet fail to love my neighbour who is visible.

posted by Titans of God at 9:12 pm

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The Little Flower


Name: St. Therese of the Child Jesus a.k.a. St. Therese of Lisieux
Birth Place: Normandy, France
Parents: Louis and Zelie Martin
Siblings: 4 other sisters
Religious Order: Carmelite Nun
Born: 1873
Died: September 30, 1897
Writings By The Little Flower: Story of a Soul, The Letters of St. Therese
Proclaimed a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1925

THERESE OF LISIEUX (1873-1897) was born Therese Martin in Normandy, France. She entered the Carmel of Lisieux at the age of fifteen. At that time the notion that God's anger on account of sin must be appeased by voluntary self-offering was prevalent in the Church. Instead within nine years Therese achieved holiness through her grasp of the central Gospel truth of God's merciful saving love for everyone without exception. Her short autobiography was written at the request of others and revealed her strong desire that all should know this truth and respond in trust no matter what their condition, sinner or saint. Her teaching has rescued convicted criminals, alcoholics and other addicts from despair as well as pointing out the simple way of trust to countless Christians.

St Therese showed her love to Jesus by walking the way of perfection in the small things of everyday life: "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

She is the patron saint of missionaries and in 1997 was declared a Doctor (that is, an official teacher) of the Church. She is one of the most popular and best loved of all the saints. Her feast day is 1 October

For more information on St. Therese of the Child Jesus, you can refer to Carmelites 20-40.



Story of a Soul can be found at our Katong Catholic Bookstore. It cost about $37 but the book is worth the money.

Extracts from the book which I found very inspiring:

"There is in the Community a Sister who has the faculty of displeasing me in everything, in her ways, her words, her character, everything seems very disagreeable to me. And still, she is a holy religious who must be very pleasing to God. Not wishing to give in to the natural antipathy I was experiencing, I told myself that charity must not consist in feelings but in works; then I set myself to doing for this Sister what I would do for the person I loved the most. Each time I met her I prayed to God for her, offering Him all her virtues and merits. I felt this was pleasing to Jesus, for there is no artist who doesn't love to receive praise for his works, and Jesus, the Artist of souls, is happy when we do not stop at the exterior, but, penetrating into the inner sanctuary where He chooses to dwell, we admire its beauty. I wasn't content simply with praying very much for this Sister who gave me so many struggles, but I took care to render her all the services possible, and when I was tempted to answer her back in a disagreeable manner, I was content with giving her my most friendly smile, and changing the subject of the conversation, for the Imitation says: "It is better to leave each one in his own opinion than to enter into arguments."


Frequently, when I was at recreation (I mean during the work periods) and had the occasion to work with this Sister, I used to run away like a deserter whenever my struggles became too violent. As she was absolutely unaware of my feelings for her, never did she suspect the motives for my conduct and she remained convinced that her character was very pleasing to me. One day at recreation, she asked in almost these words: "Would you tell me, Sister Therese of the Child Jesus, what attracts you so much to me; every time you look at me, I see you smile?" Ah! what attracted me was Jesus hidden in the depths of her soul; Jesus who makes sweet what is most bitter. I answered that I was smiling because I was happy to see her (it is understood that I did not add that this was from a spirtual standpoint)."
Idle Time


A Bible Tip

"They learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not" 1 Timothy 5:13


A Timely Tip

It has often been said that an idle person is one of the devil’s best tools. FBI records in the United States show that this statement is true. Teenage crime is at an all-time high. Disrespect for authority, getting into trouble, and major crimes have increased tremendously; and much of this is because young people have too much free time on their hands.

Even Christian people always seem to be looking for excitement. They dislike the quiet, orderly, everyday living. They feel that something exciting should be happening all the time. And if it does not happen, they become discontented.

In America, life is rushed, active, and filled with lots of pleasure. We want something going on all the time. If there is no real excitement, there seems to be boredom. Boredom leads to idle hands and minds. Idle hands and minds lead to mischief. Mischief often leads to crime. The story seems to be the same from one coast to another, and colour and creed seem to make no difference.

If you are God’s child, that is, if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus, confessed your sin, and believed in Him, these things should challenge, rather than disturb you. They should challenge you to be a different kind of person. They should challenge you to be busy for God, but not so busy that you cannot do any one job effectively. You should be busy winning people to Christ, studying the scriptures, praying for people, doing what you can to help those whose minds and hands are idle.

The devil often takes advantage of our idle time, so we need to fill our time with thoughts of God and be ready to work for Christ, so that Satan cannot come in to conquer us and control our idle hours.


A Final Tip

Satan always likes to find
Uses for my idle mind.


Additional Reading: Hebrews 6:9-12


Devotion is taken from "Devotions For Early Teens" By Ruth I. Johnson




**************************

A Sharing Christian


A Bible Tip

"He that giveth, let him do it simply…he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness" Romans 12:8


A Timely Tip

Sharen and Karen were twins, but most people never thought of them as even coming from the same family. They were as different as day and night.

Each girl had a saving account at the bank, and they each received an allowance for lunches and other incidentals.

One evening as they were sitting in their room. Karen asked. “How much is in your savings?”

”Not very much, I guess. I had more, but –“ Sharen didn’t finish.

”You shouldn’t have spent all your money. I’ve got three dollars and seventy cents,” boasted Karen.

She was about to brag to her mother how much more money she had than her sister. But then she remembered the many times Sharen had used her money for different things.

On Mother’s Day Sharen had bought a beautiful plant. The florist had delivered it too. The day grandfather had been rushed to the hospital, she had sent out one of the biggest plants in the store.

Karen also remembered the many times they had been downtown and she had “forgotten” to take money along. Sharen had shared hers, but Karen had never paid it back. And then, just yesterday, when Jimmy had lost his Sunday school money, Sharen had stopped his crying by giving him some of her tithe.

Karen thought for a minute and then went to find her mother. “Mother,” she said, “how did Sharen become so kind? She’s always sharing her things with somebody, and she doesn’t seem to mind.”

”Maybe it is because she asked the Lord Jesus to make her a sharing Christian,“ said Mother.

And Karen had to agree.


A Final Tip

I’ll share what He has given me,
For more like Him I want to be.


Additional Reading: Proverbs 22:1-9


Devotion is taken from "Devotions For Early Teens" By Ruth I. Johnson




**************************

1) Parents Teacher Meeting
Date: 16 May 2008 Friday
Time: 7.30pm to 9.30pm
Venue: RCIA Room (Priest's House 2nd Floor)

2) Confirmation Mass
Date: 25 May 2008 Sunday
Meeting Time: 4.00pm @ RCIA Room

3) Confirmation 2 Camp
Date: 30 May - 01 June 2008 Friday till Sunday
Meeting Time: 30 May 2008 6.30pm @ Main Entrance Staircase
Venue: Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat House

Going to a Catholic School

Little Zachary was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything... Tutors, Mentors, flash cards, Special learning centers. In short, everything they could think of to help his math.

Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary down and enrolled him in the local Catholic school. After the first day, little Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't even kiss his mother Hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Zachary was hard at work. His mother was amazed. She called him down to dinner.

To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back to his room without a word, and in no time, he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day, while the mother tried to understand what made all the difference.

Finally, little Zachary brought home his report card. He quietly laid it on the table, went up to his room and hit the books. With great trepidation, his Mom looked at it and to her great surprise, little Zachary got an 'A' in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and said, 'Son, what> was it? Was it the nuns?' Little Zachary looked at her and shook his head, no. 'Well, then,' she replied, was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the Uniforms? 'WHAT WAS IT ALREADY?'

Little Zachary looked at her and said, 'Well, on the first day of school when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren't fooling around.'



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