Choosing My Career

You are the only one who knows whether you have won or not. Don't try to be better than someone else. Just be the best at what you can be.

-John Wooden's Dad-

I am posting about this because one of my friend told me why don't I share or post about my experience and my knowledge about this.

I also want to write something more secular, so that I may share to my friends who have a different religion. I want to share what I learned from the books that I read in the last one month:

Rich dad Poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Why We Want You to Be Rich by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki
First, Break all the rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
Now, Discover Your Strengths By Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton
8 Secrets of the Truly Rich By Bo Sanchez

I read my friend's blog today on her post about her career choice. She is discerning whether she should work on something that she likes and good at but lower salary, or she should work on something that she doesn't like and not really good at but with high salary.
My comment to her is choose the one that you are good at and you Love it and then receive a high Income.

The question is : Is that possible? My answer is YES!

Ok what I have now is merely knowledge, I can't prove it to you , Yet! So please bare with me and allow me to share what I know and what I am doing now.

My point here is to Work On your STRENGTH, this is the main consideration of my career choice. What is my Unique Selling Point aka Strength?

Strength is a consistent of near perfect performance

-Marcus Buckingham-

By taking this definition of strength, I believe and 100 % guaranteed that when I am working on my strength money won't be any problem. why? Because we are working on excellence peformance!

Let me elaborate more on this. Your strength is something unique, that means there is something which only you can do with a consistent of near perfect performance. To develop our strength we require to develop our TALENTS by learning some related SKILLS.

The equation is Strength = Talents ^ Skill ( exponential )

The reason your strength is unqiue is because it is rooted from your talents.

Talents is a recurring pattern of thought , feeling, or behaviour that can be productively applied
-Marcus Buckingham-

What did I do when I chose my career? I follow my passion, I ask my self: what am I good at?, what do I love to do? Which kind of job that will bring a great satisfaction?

I chose to follow my passion which is one of the trace in order to discover my talent, and then I can work on it, to develop my strength. How about you?

I hope this posting may help my friends who are discerning. Please leave a comment to give a feedback to me.

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.-

-To be continued-

Working for the Lord- Day 2

The second day, I woke up at 8.00 am and then as usual I clean my body as well my soul. I was refreshed body and soul after I ended my morning prayer. Yes it looks boring but this boredom will bring to my greatness.

My second day to write on my heart the verse from Colossians 3 : 23-24.
23 Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters,24 since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.

By the time I arrived at my lab I checked my emails, organised my plan for today and then drink a glass of coffee.... Then....get Hustle!!! I continue my work , the design for the part of the robotic endoscopy surgery.

Today it didn't go so smooth, but that is the main thing... the difficulties, the challenges make me to learn how to meditate upon the verse!! I learn how to pray when I am working.

Praise the Lord!!

Working for the Lord- Day 1

Yeah I am so motivated today. I woke up a bit late, at 8.30 am because last night I slept at around 2.00 am. Normally I will be like zombie for that day because I am a person who need a sleep for about 7 - 8 hours a day.

Before I went to my office today, as usual, I pray and listen to God's word. It sounds so boring to pray every morning but I realize without asking the strength from the Lord before I start my day, I may not be able to work at my best capacity.

When I pray, although I may not feel anything but something routine, but throughout the day or the week God will help me so that I may grow and find at least a clue to be in His plan. I totally agree and believe that God's plan is the best for me.

God's word for me today is from Colossians 3 : 23-24.
23 Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters,24 since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.

This word is the centre of my attention for today.

Whenever I find something exciting in my work ,I learn to praise the Lord, to thank him for an exciting job.
Whenever I find some difficulties in my work, I learn to praise the Lord, to thank him for a wonderful lesson and experience.
Whenever I meet a difficult person, I learn to praise my Master, to thank him for teaching me to be patient and understanding.

Today my Employer taught me about these things. He wants me to do my work for Him.
Not for my salary, not for my personal achievement, nor for any other things but for Him.

I also believe that the reward He promised me is greater that anything that the world can offer me.

Today I regain my motivation, spirit and focus to work on the robotic endoscopy surgery. I can design the robot more patiently and wholeheartedly.Even now I am still excited to continue my work although I am quite tired physically.

Praise the Lord!!

Working For God

I spend my weekend to refresh my mind,body and spirit. I enjoy my weekend and I have a wonderful moment with my girlfriend. We had a very fruitful conversation and she helped me to regain my spirit and motivation.

So.. as I said that I learned to work for the Lord, especially in my current job. I learned that working for God doesn't necessary to be at the church or any social work or ministry.

I can work for God in my current job.

I can work to please my Master as a research staff. I can design for God, I can think for God, I can contact supplier for God. It is a previlage for me to work right now. I also can earn enough money for my living.

I am still not sure how this work will lead me to come closer to God, but I believe right now He is leading me. He want to teach me something, and I know He wants me to do something here, to learn something from my current job.

I want to start praying for my job, colleague, supervisor so that I can learn as much as I can, and I may contribute as much as possible.

Christ@Work Conference

Hi all... I have not been posting for few months and today I am so inspired to write about my experience at the Christ@Work Conference today. It was held at Catholic JC from the morning to the evening around 7.00 pm.


What I want to share is the great experience regarding the spirituality of work.

Before I attended the conference, especially this last 1 month, I felt that I was lacking something in my job. I felt that there is something missing. Although I just have been working for about 4 months, but my first 3 months was a great experience for me to work. I am so excited to go to my lab and think of exciting idea on how to build the surgical robot.


I thought the thing that I missed was my passion, maybe I am at the wrong job? ( Maybe some of you have asked this to yourselves)
Or maybe I am not suitable or not good enough? Or even maybe because I am not earning enough?


I asked myself many questions alike this past one week. I couldn't find the answer, until today I attended the conference. Today I was taught by God through the wonderful preachers in the conference that I should regard my work as a service to the Lord. What I am doing right now is part of His plan, He wants me to discover Him through my work right now. He want me to become witness and beacon of light in my lab ( it's sound awkward though).


But!!!! I get the answer, what is the thing that I am missing this past one month. It is not about passion, or skill, or talent, or salary.... but it is about my employer... Whom am I working for?


I want to say now with conviction and faith that I am working for God!!!

Another blessing that I get today is this:

Its me with one of my favorite preacher. Bo Sanchez.
He comes from Phililpine to bring a session about spirituality at workplace. He is very busy because of the kerygma conference last weekend.


I love his preaching so much because it is so practical and factual. He is really blessed as a preacher and he has touched many people with the love of God including me.


I hope when we meet again next time we could talk more and we could share our experience. To be honest I really want him to become my mentor, but its quite difficult because of place and time constraint.



I want to spend my weekend by meditating and reflecting on the messages that I receive today, and I will start my day on monday to work for God. I am building the robot for God. I want to develop all the talents He gives me.

Praise The Lord!!!

The Faith of Our Abundance Life

Today's readings are from http://www.usccb.org/nab/081107.shtml

From the 1st reading we can read about this :
“When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,that he would give you,
a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,
with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner,
with cisterns that you did not dig,
with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant;
and when, therefore, you eat your fill,take care not to forget the LORD,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.

I am so amazed even the Lord swore for my abundance, the land with fine, large cities that i did not build, houses that full of goods, and etc. If I want to translate to my language it would be like this. God swore to give me : a house that full of love and comfortable for me to live with my family, Passive incomes so that I always satisfy the needs of me and my family, cars or transportation so that I can go to many places God want to show me, and etc.

Maybe some people might say that how come God swore the abundance but there are so many poverty in the world? I was thinking like that, but again today I get the answer from the Gospel:
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,you will say to this mountain,‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I dont ignore the facts that out there, there are still many people who are hungry or suffer. However I take these passage for the context of my life. What I can do is just give thanks to the Lord for the abundance that I have right now. I keep believing that if I have the faith of the Abundance and believe in the Word that God swore. Nothing is impossible for me.

Thank you Lord!

The Abundance Of Our Life

Brothers and sisters:Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion,for God loves a cheerful giver.Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,so that in all things, always having all you need,you may have an abundance for every good work.

As it is written:He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;his righteousness endures forever.The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. (2 Cor 9:6-10)

This verse taught me about the principle of sow and reap, what we sow is what we will reap. If we sow bountifully thought we will reap bountifully action. If we sow bountifully action we will reap bountifully habit. If we sow bountifully habit we will reap bountifully character. If we sow bountifully character we will reap bountifully life!! So how do we get a bountifully life?

God is so good that we live in abundance. He is able to make that all things always having all that I need. If life is so abundance what do we need to complaint for? why we don't be a generous person? the abundance is so great that it will be always enough for everyone!!

If you don't believe that our life is so abundance, try the principle of sowing and reaping.
Sow the thought which is full of abundance, and see what is your life look like.

Praise the Lord for His greatness in the abundance that we receive in this life.

The Image of God

Yesterday I attended a mass which homily talk about the image of God. I was quite surprised by the homily when the priest told us that we tend to have the image of God which we like. We tend to wrap it by the image that we want to receive, or which we are comfortable or happy with.

I am also still do that thing, I have the image of God who is like a loving father ( I think many of people have this image ) and also merciful God who always forgive me, lastly as a great teacher who will always teach me how to grow more and more.

Those images are not wrong, its not a matter of right or wrong, but with this tendency ( which is also normal ) I might not be able to get the real image that God want me to have. I think may be not everyone will have the same image.

The new image that I receive is the image of God who challenge me to do or answer His calling. I just also learn about listening to God's voice. I think God's voice could be in many form : our self talk, our intuition, or even just an idea that pop up during our free time. This new image add in the richness of my relationship with Him.

The point that I want to add is do I receive the image of God that He want to show to me? or the Image that I am comfortable with? for some people the answer is yes, for some people might be no. The most important thing is what are we going to do as the response of our answer?

Faith, prayer and The Secret

I have just read today's reading which are taken from here. The first reading is really interesting, when I see that after looking by themselves, the promised land which is so abundance. The Israelites were so pessimistic and discouraged themselves. Instead of being positive like Aaron who wanted to see at the abundance not to the "challenge" which is the presence of the fierce inhabitant on the promised land.

From the first reading, I asked my self, how many times that in my life, or even in the last one week that I discourage myself by focusing to the negative, to the scarcity? Even the abundance is already in front of me. It just need me to take action to take it, there is no free lunch!!

With the moaning and groaning, complaints, pessimistic of the Israelites even God also became angry with them and He said this :
The LORD also said to Moses and Aaron:
"How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the Israelites against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD, I will do to you just what I have heard you say." (Num 14: 26-27)

God will do to them as what He have heard them say, what does this mean?
Now I want to go to the Gospel reading, instead of being like the Israelites, the woman who has not seen the abundance in front of her, but she believe, she know in her faith. She keep asking Jesus to heal her daughter, she keep trying and trying through the rejection she get from the disciple even from Jesus. Guess what? She never give up!! Until Jesus said "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour. (Mattew 15 :28 )

Why Jesus said that? Let it be done for you as you wish... I want to relate this to the book of the secret or the Law of Attraction. We can see that the woman focus in the healing of her daughter, she know and believe that her daughter will be healed. Before she met Jesus we don't know how many times and fervent she had been praying for the healing of her daughter.
Then she took action, she asked, persistently and believe... with this she was sending her will to the universe and the universe send the answer to the Son of God to heal her daughter.

I was surprised when I reflected these to readings in my life. How many times I was like the Israelites? How many times I was like the woman? both of them get what they wishes, God give them both. Both of them have the same persistence and faith, in different ways or wishes. As the Law of Attraction says "Like attract like". Interestingly Jesus also taught this to us, even our ancestor from the time of moses also taught this to us. If you really ask for something and you really believe it or not, whether it is bad or good wishes, you will get it.

you also can refer to my post about the review of The Secret book at http://seeds-project.blogspot.com/2007/08/secret.html

Sacred Scripture -5-

Return to Sacred Scripture ~4~

This is the last post regarding the Sacred Scripture refering to the CCC, I really hope this small contribution on my perception regarding the Sacred Scripture may help you.

As you can see I don't really give any addition on the 4th posting, because I think it is quite clear. However I am always open for any discussion or comments. Please feel free to give any feedbacks to me.The mystery or I would say the experience of reading and understanding the Word of God has helped me to grow in my spiritual and personal growth. Surprisingly this is also aplicable for non Christian, you can reflect more on the principle that God's Word deliver through this writing.You may try it what the Scripture said, try to open it today and read it, and see how you can learn from it.

On my next posting I will also put my perspective as a Christian on what I receive and understand from my journey in my personal growth.

SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

131 "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life."Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful."

132 "Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture."

133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.

IN BRIEF

134 All sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, "because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ" (Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642: cf. ibid. 2, 9: PL 176, 642-643).

135 "The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired, they are truly the Word of God" (DV 24).

136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth (cf. DV 11).

137 Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not fully "understood except by the Spirit's action' (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex. 4, 5: PG 12, 320).

138 The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New.

139 The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their center.

140 The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God's plan and his Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfils the Old; the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God.

141 "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord" (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps 119:105; cf. Is 50:4).

Sacred Scripture - 4 -

IV. THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE

120 It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books. This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.
The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.
The New Testament: the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of St. Paul to the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to the Hebrews, the Letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, and Revelation (the Apocalypse).

The Old Testament

121 The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.

122 Indeed, "the economy of the Old Testament was deliberately so oriented that it should prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ, redeemer of all men.""Even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional, the books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings "are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way."

123 Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism).

The New Testament

124 "The Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament"96 which hand on the ultimate truth of God's Revelation. Their central object is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son: his acts, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit's guidance.

125 The Gospels are the heart of all the Scriptures "because they are our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Savior".

126 We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels:
1. The life and teaching of Jesus. The Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, "whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up."
2. The oral tradition. "For, after the ascension of the Lord, the apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed."
3. The written Gospels. "The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus."

127 The fourfold Gospel holds a unique place in the Church, as is evident both in the veneration which the liturgy accords it and in the surpassing attraction it has exercised on the saints at all times:
There is no doctrine which could be better, more precious and more splendid than the text of the Gospel. Behold and retain what our Lord and Master, Christ, has taught by his words and accomplished by his deeds.
But above all it's the gospels that occupy my mind when I'm at prayer; my poor soul has so many needs, and yet this is the one thing needful. I'm always finding fresh lights there; hidden meanings which had meant nothing to me hitherto.

The unity of the Old and New Testaments

128 The Church, as early as apostolic times, and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God's works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.

129 Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself.Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament.As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.

130 Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfillment of the divine plan when "God [will] be everything to everyone."Nor do the calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God's plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages.

To Sacred Scripture ~5~

Sacred Scripture - 3 -

Return to Sacred Scripture ~ 2 ~

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT, INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE

Now we will discuss more on How to read the bible, which is my greatest question about the bible. Here is the beautiful plan of God in how to read in His way, through the Holy Spirit, the inspirator and the interpreter.


109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.

110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression."

From these two paragraph, it is said, we must interpret the way God want us to interpret. So that we can get the teaching, meaning, truth of the Word of God. This explanation really amazed me at the first time I read it. I didnt know at all, about the beauty of the Scripture, I didnt know about the Word of God in the human language!! I told to myself, how come that God who is infinite, use the human language to deliver His Word, as we know the language of man has a lot of err and also aruable things. I was reminded by our saviour, Jesus Christ. True God and true man!! How could it be, He who is so holy want to be human? The immortal come down to earth to be the mortal? It works through a similar way in the scripture.

111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."
The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.

112 1. Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture". Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover.
The phrase "heart of Christ" can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted.

113 2. Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church". According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church").

114 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith.By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.

The three criterias here are the great reflection for me personally. It is like telling me about the aspects of the scripture. First criteria, to read in the unity and the wholeness of the scripture, that is why in the liturgy of word during the mass, there are first reading, responsial psalm, second reading and the Gospel reading. This is one of the example to read in the unity of the scripture. It taught me that the content of each book in the bible is unseparated, they are different but unseparated.

The second criteria, as I have mentioned before, that we should read in within the living tradition of the Church. Why is that so? Because the Church pass down the experience from the aposlte, disciple who lived together with Jesus on His earthly ministry through what we called the Living Tradition. So by reading within the tradition of the Church, we keep the context, the meaning and the teaching from the Scripture affirmed by the living tradition of whom lived and experience Jesus.

The third criteria, the analogy of faith. The scriputre contains the Word of God, which revealing Himself to us. Many of the aspects requires faith for us to understand or graps the meaning. Its impossible for us to elaborate everything about God using our mind only.

The Senses of Scripture

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."

117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.
2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".
3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.

118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:
The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.

119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."
But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.

Praise The Lord!!

~ To Sacred Scripture ~4~

Sacred Scripture -2-

Return To Sacred Scripture ~1~

II. INSPIRATION AND TRUTH OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

This part will discuss more about the author of the bible, the "content" of the bible. First, who is the author of the bible?

105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."
"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."

Since the sacred scripture is the Word of God, obviously the author is God Himself. But it was written by man who are inspired by the Holy Spirit. God chose the people who became the writers of the Word of God.

106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."

The chosen people who became the writters are the people, you and me that God want to call and use. As God has given us talents,He called certain men with the talents of writting and who had a close relationship with Him to be the writters. Those people listen and inspired by the Holy Spirit, which is God Himself to write the Sacred Scripture. Therefore we must understand that in the Bible there are both God and human elements there. The Holy Spirit inspiration guard the writters so that the meaning and the truth about God were written according to His will.

107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."

This paragraph is also very interesting, the content of the sacred scripture is the Truth! and without error. Again I repeat the meaning and the teaching of the scripture are without error. However we must also taken note the writer is human, and we can't ignore the human factor in the scripture. When it is said that the scripture teach without error, we must remember that we can't take it as all the language or even the commas are flawless. The inspired writers, was not possessed by the Holy Spirit when they wrote it, but they are inspired. Therefore we need to read it and interpret the way God want us to read and interpret so that we can receive the truth without error.

108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book." Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, a word which is "not a written and mute word, but the Word is incarnate and living". If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures."

This is the teaching of the Catholic church that as a Christian we believe that the entire teaching of the scripture is truth, but not the entire truth is in the Scripture. That is why we don't agree with the Sola Scriptura. From the last sentence, Christ, through the Holy Spirit open our minds to understand the Scripture. We need to understand it as the way Christ want to reveal Himself to us through the Scripture. That is why we need the Magisterium (The Church) with its Living Tradition from the Apostle and passed down to us, to guide us so that we can read and understand the Word of God in His way.

Praise The Lord!!

To Sacred Scripture ~3~

Sacred Scripture - 1 -

I. CHRIST - THE UNIQUE WORD OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

The way of CCC is organised is by paragraph, so if I mentioned about CCC 101, it means the paragraph no 101 from the CCC. Why do I choose to discuss start from Chapter 2-Article 3 regarding the Sacred Scripture? It's because I found a lot of shocking facts regarding the Church teaching and perspective about the Sacred Scripture.

Due to my lack of knowledge and understanding, I didn't know how actually the Catholic or Universal Church interpret, love, respect and inspired by the Sacred Scripture.

Let me start from the first paragraph of this article:
101 In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his goodness God speaks to them in human words: "Indeed the words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like men."

The definition of the Sacred Scripture or the bible that we as Christian reads its actually the Words of God, in human language. Similar to Jesus who is indeed God but decided to became man, God also use human language in His word to be written in the Sacred Scripture.

102 Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:

You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time.

The one Word here means is God Himself, or about Jesus Christ!!He who was in the beginning God with God. We can try to read the entire bible, we will learn and see that it is about God, the father,son and the holy spirit revealing Himself through His Word.

103 For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body.

This paragraph remind me, that during the Gospel acclamation, the reason why , when the priest raise the Bible that he hold before he read it, we usually genuflect. I do it as well, after I got the understanding that the Gospel contains the Word of God in human language, and the Word represent God Himself, because the Word was God (John 1)

104 In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it really is, the word of God"."In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them."

This paragraph conclude of what we believe as a Catholic, that the bible was really the Word of God, and it was about the divine revelation, that God who loves us so much want to reveal Himself through human language. For me, after reading about this four paragraph, I was really amazed, since I didn't really read bible and respect it as the Word of God. The perspective of the Church on the Sacred Scripture from this first four paragraph gave me a bigger picture of what the Word of God is in the bible.

Now I can understand that no wonder we are so encourage to read bible daily by the Church, because by reading it, we are meeting our God, our heavenly Father who wants to reveal Himself to me and to you. I am trying starting from today to read the daily reading from the liturgical calendar of the church. I recommend you to read from this resources : http://www.wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp? with the reflection that really help me to understand and meditate on the Word of God in the daily reading.

Praise the Lord!!!

To Sacred Scripture ~2~

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The fear of the Lord is the beginnig of Wisdom
( Proverb 9:10)

I want to start to post some reflections and articles about Cathechism of the Catholic Church. its the publication of the Church from Vatican. This is the reference text of the Catholic (Universal) Church teaching. Therefore anything about the Church teaching, tradition, are summarized into a book called the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. The source is from http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the result of very extensive collaboration; it was prepared over six years of intense work done in a spirit of complete openness and fervent zeal.

A catechism should faithfully and systematically present the teaching of Sacred Scripture, the living Tradition in the Church and the authentic Magisterium, as well as the spiritual heritage of the Fathers, Doctors and saints of the Church, to allow for a better knowledge of the Christian mystery and for enlivening the faith of the People of God. It should take into account the doctrinal statements which down the centuries the Holy Spirit has intimated to his Church. It should also help to illumine with the light of faith the new situations and problems which had not yet emerged in the past.

From now on I want to post some articles regarding the CCC. I hope what I share about the richness of the Church teaching and tradition may triggered you to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. So that your relationship with the Lord will be more intimate and lovely.

Praise the Lord

Who am I?

This question has been bothering me since I heard Fr Jivan session about salvation. He asked us to write 5 sentences starting with the words I am.... So I supposed to describe my self in 5 sentences. I tried my best to describe my self in 5 sentences.

For me as a final year student right now who will graduate soon. I feel that I am at the cross road right now, I am still a bit confused which way that I should choose? I realise there might be no turning back so its a great decision that I am going to make at this short of time.

Going back to Fr Jivan session, he told us that salvation according to him is to be with God at ALL TIME. He illustrated it with the story of Adam and eve from the book of Genesis. Both of them were with God at all time in their nakedness. For me that state or condition is also applicable for me. I mean God wants to be with me and although I don't have anything with me ( naked ) it would still be alright. Instead it may be the best way to be with God at all time, just me and God, nothing else. It was quite confusing but I believe that what I myself actually want is only that. To be with God at all time, and to be Myself in my nakedness.

From this session I start to reflect on my life and learnt few things. I am created by the Lord as a unique creation, and the reason why He created me is because He loves me. How do I know about this? I cant really explain it, because this conviction came after the process of learning, reflecting, experiencing, listening to God's revelation. I may share with you about this later on my next posting.

So as a unique creation He bestowed on me also a unique composition of talents,endowments and etc. Which mean there will be only one person who is me in this world at this point of time. In my reflection the state of being naked is actually my true self. Which God created me to be. It is the core of my self that I can be the best of me, the truest of me in this life. When I am being naked and with God at all time there will be nothing else I shall want in this world. I feel fulfilled.

I found a way of discovering this core of myself, first is relying on God's revelation, second is to ask my self. Its a way of discovering, meaning that it was already there, its not an invention or a creation of my self. I just need to look for it, it was always there. I am still learning by reading some books such as : Self matters from McGraw Phill, and also Bible from the LORD. I am quite sure right now after looking into my self regularly this past few months I can get a feel of my true self. It is still not completely revealed but I already can see the glimpse of it.

I am writting on my personal journal on every discovery that I made, any thing that the Lord reveals to me, so that I will not forget and this will be like my life project. This is a very interesting journey for me, the journey to the inward of my self. Slowly but sure, God is revealing His plan for me, and also for you.

Praise the LORD!!!!Alleluia!!!

Life in the Spirit Camp (LISC) 2007 " Come. Follow Me"

This is my third experience of attending LISC, and guess what, it is more wonderful and fruitful than before. More for the participant, and also more for me. I was the publicity comm with my bro vidy together preparing for about 3 months on outreaching the participant. It was quite sad because the response was quite bad in number, but we believe God will call many people. So we just do our best and at the end there are about 80+ people attending LISC ( service team + participant). For me personally it was a great experience of doing outreach, although I was not so good at outreaching and praise God He still want to use me. I am really glad that He gave me bro vidy as my partner because he is so reliable.

Then came to the first day of LISC for me as a Facilitator of group 12. When I looked to the name list of my group, I said to myself I want to love all of them and being with them will be a great experience for me. I believe that will happen although the LISC had not started yet. I also have a great partner who has grown wonderfully in the Lord. She has been inspiring me since she start to serve in CPG. I thank God and also chief Facil for giving me a very wonderful and lovely group.

Starting from the first day when we had a very wonderful sharing among my group member. I can feel the openess and sincerity in our sharing. The session were also wonderful, and especially Fr Jivan session regarding salvation. It really inspired me, to reflect on my life about salvation. I really love the way he thinks and reflects on the word of God into his life.

Then on the second to the fourth day, we had our LISC on IHM retreat house. I was quite amazed that we dont have enough bed for the comm, and I need to sleep at "extra" room. I was surprised on the number of people that turn up to stay there. There were great session, and also great testimonies, but my favorite was the testimony from our brother Randy. He shared that he felt nothing on his first LISC last year,but he experience the growth on his life throughout his life in this 1 year, and he told us it was because that God has touched him differently.

I said to my self, WOW!!!!This is the best. I really love to listen on this testimony, because for me personally I prefer that from LISC people can start to commit their life to God, even that they dont receive or experience something extraordinary. But it was their life with Jesus that make the extraordinary life.

For me myself, this year LISC is a very wonderful experience, because God teach me to be more faithful to Him. He comfort me by touching me again, and he want to use me to do greater things for His glory. I am so challenged now by the Lord and I want to grow and commit myself more to Him.

Praise The LORD!!!!Alleluia!!!

My Life In The Spirit Journey

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior. " Luke 1:46-47

I want to share about my past life before I live my life in the spirit. My past life was very different before I experience God personally. I am a very logical person, hence I like to reason every thing, even about my faith and my God. During my junior high school ( secondary school) I was having a very bad life, I was a very bad boy, I smoke, cursed others with dirty language, lied to many people, addicted to pornography & masturbation, and many other things.

One day some one ask me, " andy, why do you believe in God? or Jesus? ", I don't really remember my answer, but I remember that I also began to ask my self about this question. How could I have faith in someone who I have never met before? How could I love someone who I have never heard his voice before? How could I obey someone who I have never touched or feel him before? How could I pray to God whose existence might not be real? and so on and so on.

I asked this question, then my belief and faith to Him diminished and even I didn't believe in Him anymore. I didn't want to go to mass anymore, because I thought its useless and waste my time. I didn't pray anymore, because its just a nonsense to me. I've never read bible because this books is not proven to be true, as historically or anything, and what I believe that this book contains more lies that truths. Lastly, Christianity for me is a big lie, in its faith of something unreal.

I don't know how God's felt about this, but I know His response. Even though I didn't pray anymore, He answered my questions to my self. He reveal Himself to me, let me feel Him personally, but I think it is just my own feeling, and I still don't believe it. Then He let me hear His voice, but I think it is just my imagination. Then He touch my hand, but I think it is just the air con. Then He surround me and hold me close, and this time I cant reject Him anymore, and start to believe that He exist, Jesus is real, and this is the way He answer me when I attended my first LISC during my senior high school.

After I experienced Him personally, I became understand a little bit more about God. I start to attend mass. I start to pray again. Then I start to read bible, and it made my thirst for God became greater. I want to know Him more, then I start to serve Him through CSA community after I attended my second LISC.

That is why, when you meet me, I will ask you to join LISC, because of this journey of my life. I am not sharing of others story, but my own life. That's why I sometimes you might feel irritated by me of asking you to join LISC. Because God also made me feel irritated last time, when He calls me everyday to come back to Him. Now God uses me to call others, I can understand how does it feel to be rejected, when the invitation is not successful.

My journey is not ended, but now I pray to God to let me experience Him more. I pray to God to know Him more, and I pray to God to help me with these by His charism(gift) in my life in the Spirit.

May the Holy Spirit inspires you and moves your heart and life to experience God personally.

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed. "

Psalms 34:19

NTU CSA Praise & Worship

A new page for CSA Praise and Worship. 2 years ago, I was called by Jesus just like in the picture display above. Now, I really praise God for calling me 2 years ago. He changed my life totally. It was only few hour, but the effect after it.... A life changing experience.

I just have 1 question for you. Do you want to live according to His plan? Do you have the longing and courage to answer His calling to you?

You may experience a life changing experience like I did, or even more!!! Because God has His plan only for you!!

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

John 3 :16

Why do we have confession when you can just tell your sins to God?

16Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. (James 5:16)

5When you realize your guilt in any of these, you shall confess the sin that you have committed. 6And you shall bring to the Lord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, a female from the flock, a sheep or a goat, as a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for your sin. (Leviticus 5:5-6)

5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6Speak to the Israelites: When a man or a woman wrongs another, breaking faith with the Lord, that person incurs guilt 7and shall confess the sin that has been committed. The person shall make full restitution for the wrong, adding one-fifth to it, and giving it to the one who was wronged. (Num 5:5-7)

22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ (John 20:22-23)

10For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. (Rom 10:10)

This is some of the verse in the bible that stated clearly that we should confess our sin to one another, and of course to the church. The priest is a person who has the authority from God to forgive sin and also the representation of the church.
There is also an explanation taken from book Lord, Have Mercy written by Scott Hahn.

Sin is a transgression/disobedience/wrongdoing against almighty God. When we sin we reject the love of God. There are two big categories of sins: Original sins and Actual sins.
Original sin is hereditary but impersonal. It is contracted, not committed; and we contract original sin without personal consent/ permission. That is why God can remove original sin without personal consent, as He does with newborn babies on their baptism day.

The same thing cannot be said for actual sin. Actual sin can only be committed through informed consent, or we can say by some action or deed. And so it can only be removed through informed consent. That’s why we need confession.

How to make a good decision

This is one of my business module I take this semester, management decision tools. In business and in fact in anything that we do in this life require us to make decision. Whether it is routine or any urgent and important decision. The decisions we make everyday determine our life, where we will go, what we will do. Whether we realise it or not, our decision reflect about our self. It reflect about of mind, and the way we think and perceive. And everything about a person will start from his or her mind.

Most of the time when me decide upon some choices we consider several things, what is our benefit of taking this choice? Is there any consequences or disadvantage? I heard a very good reflection of our spiritual director, Fr Jivan about yesterday's reading taken from Mark 3:1-6. It is about Jesus decide to heal sick people on Sabbath day, and the Pharisees decide to plan a plot against Jesus. There are two different decisions we can see here, and the decisions are made from two different considerations.

First is about Jesus decision, He decide to heal the sick person. Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”He stretched it out and his hand was restored ( Mark 3:5). He heal him because of the truth that this person need Jesus healing, and how could He ignore him? But during Sabbath day people are not allowed to work, because they have to go to synagogue to pray. Basically this is one of the ten commandment to make the Sabbath day as holy, to worship God. So the consequences of Jesus healed the man is he was seen as breaking the law and the punishment is stoning to death. Did Jesus know about this? Of course and what He did is to keep following the truth, which is to heal the person.

Second is about the Pharisees, how did they react? Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent( Mark 3:4). On the other hand they made a different decision, but actually they know about the truth. They don't have the courage to answer, because they know the consequence. They are afraid loosing their position, status, and their life.

I asked my self, have I followed Jesus's way on making decision? Based on the truth or on the other hand, I think too much about my self and I am also afraid of the consequences?
What is the truth anyway? This is just my belief that the truth lies in our conscience, and mind. We know it like the pharisees, but the question is do we have courage to make a good decision based on the truth?

Try to ask your self, how do I make decision in my life?