(1) Why you take a hair cut?. Why you prune a plant? Why Jesus was tested 3 times? Is it connected how to manage earth bound needs of food, power and desires?
(2)During lent why you say"I die to sin and develop friendship with God?"
(3)Lent allows you to prune yourself with regard to your wrong habits,& consider your and universal community. What are the 3 actions you decide to carry out during this lent? (For each category)
(4) Why date of ash wednesday varies each year? How the date decided?
(5)Why God asking you to pray in secret place and carry out fasting with a happy face?what is the difference between fasting & starving?
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Reflection for 5th march 2017, celebrating 1st Sunday mass of lent season,of cycle 1. Church invite us to analyze, how to prune ourself to lead a happy life.
This is lent season. It allowed you to become a renewed person!with change your life to form new discipline. Our life is flowing like a river. when river is flowing it forms it's own bank. Forming it's own bank means the discipline that you created with respect to earth bound and spiritual need. If a river has a good bank, it flows nicely. Similarly if you make a new discipline, your life will be flowing happily.
Major 2 seasons surrounded by good friday and easter sunday are lent and easter. During lent, you identify where you are going out of track and correct yourself like a geo stationary satellite moving in earth orbit 10 000km above ground. Maximum energy it consumes is to keep in track when it goes out of track. Lent allows you to keep tract with in following what God has asked us to do!.
Lent season start from Ash wednesday.
Date of Ash wednesday varies from year to year! Implying date of easter sunday to Vary, unlike Christmas!. Why easter sunday varies?
It has a relation with Judaism, where the Pass Over ceremony is commonly accepted by Christians & Judaism!. Pass over week is based on solar + Lunar calendar!.
How?
Gregorian calendar is based on Earth's orbiting around SUN(365.25days).If a year is divisible by4(but not by400)it results in a leap year(366days).
Equinox occurs when sun is closest to earth's equator. when SUN is directly over earth equator(no shadow).This happens twice/year;Vernal(Mar)&
Easter Sunday is selected as1st Sunday,following Full Moon(10/4/2017)after vernal equinox(20/3).ASH WEDNESDAY(1/3/2017)is placed 46days(40 days lent+last 6 days for pass over)before Easter Sunday(16/4).
On the other hand, CHRISTMAS is always on Dec 25(from this day onwards there will be more daylight time than night time until June 24-birth of John the baptist). Jn said he should decrease and Jesus should increase. Hence Catholic liturgical year revolves around CHRISTMAS & EASTER,representing BIRTH&RESURECTION of Jesus. The theme of the first half of the year is CHRIST IS OUR LIGHT while the rest of the year it is CHRIST IS OUR LIFE. Both epitomizes christmas&Easter respectively. It is obligatory to fast on ash weds & Good Friday.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FASTING AND STARVING!(Enforcing discipline or control in to your life)
Our body always possess adequate body reserves required to maintain the normal functioning of body at the hour of need. If we keep away from food for sometime, the body will still maintain itself. when once the reserve food stored in the body gets exhausted, it is said that the person is starving. Abstaining from taking any food when the body is able to maintain itself utilizing the reserve food in store is called fasting.
But fasting in the absence of reserve food is called starving!.
Fasting helps to enjoy life!
Fasting will not result in decay & death; where as prolonged starvation results in decay & death!. On the other hand fasting will help to clean the system and throw out the toxins(poisons)present in the body, thus helping cure the diseases that take birth from the toxins present in the body. Aversion to food,diarrhea,vomiting & recurrence of fever are some of the devices our body adopts to throw away the toxins that are produced an account of impaired digestion of food consumed. But one can prevent the recurrence of such things by fasting periodically.
Today's readings:
Book of genesis(Gn 2:7-9;3:1-7) says about"creation & sin of our people"
Paul says to RomAns(Rm 5:12-19)" however great the number of sins committed,grace was even greater" Mt(4:1-11) says"Jesus fast for 40 days and is tempted"
Readings remind us : the temptation of today's gospel are not at all temptations to this or that sin,but rather fundamental option which matter for the direction of life. Jesus was tempted in the course of his ministry to choose another way of being God's prophet the messiah or anointed. In A less spectacular way,we too can be attracted by choices which shape the way of our life unfolds. We ask ourselves, what do I live on? What's my true goal? Where is my nourishment? The human no less than the kingdom, is more than food and drink. Only the word of God truly nourished and illuminates.
During lent we die to selfishness and rise to generosity towards others. We pruned ourself a bit, through penance, so that we may grow into stronger, more healthy catholic. If anyone wants to be follower of myself let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me' (Mt 16:24). We do penance for 40 days in imitation of our lord's 40 days fasting in the desert. So lent is really a challenging time.
During lent, you should determine to give up sin. To do that clearly identify 7 ethics of catholicism. Make lent dying to sin and living to God. Then do 3 actions: personal,communal, universal.
Personal: you may used to drink alcohol every day or smoking cigarettes or eating chocolates: or you may used to gossip of others or you may used to judge others, when you identify there is something wrong in you, lent is a good time to prune yourself to be a new person. Identify clearly what is 10 commandment and 7 vices. Try to avoid sins for the love of God.
Communal: think about your nearest neighbors, see what actions that you can carry out for them.
Universal: be alert about outside world, analyze whether they are suffering: see what you can do: if nothing you can pray for them!
In Conclusions:
If we know, that fasting on Ash wednesday, is for our own health, it becomes,easy to develop the mind control. Otherwise, you eat too much in the morning and fast at lunch, then again cover up at dinner. You will fast as excusetic (excuse for not to do a thing)!. It will not help you to develop mind control, the benefit of fasting in to your life!. Hence during lent period, we should be clear, as how to control our physical body, as well as mental, to be happy in this life. This 40 days one has to analyze, whether my desires(or thoughts) are going against jesus' teachings. LENT INVITED US TO REFLECT TO CHANGE POSTIVILY OF REACHING HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE !
We like to have hair cut? Why? It will help us to be comfortable n your life,as well as you will produce pleasant feeling for others. How many times you have hair cuts up to now? Similarly for your own benefit, church is providing you to confess with a priest, be Spiritually comfortable in your life. For that you should be prepared to prune yourself. It is for your own happiness. Every year lent will provide that opportunity for you.
Thank you
GBU
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