Poverty of Riches (Bernard of Clairvaux)

"It is natural for a rational being always to seek those things which, in his judgment, are better and more useful for his ends; and he is never satisfied until he has acquired the things that he prefers. A man who has a pretty wife, for instance, looks round with roving eye to find a fairer woman; if he has got a costly suit of clothes, he wants one even better; however rich he is, he will be jealous of anyone who is more wealthy still. You see it happening everyday: landowners still 'lay field to field'. . . and those who live in spacious palaces and royal habitations are daily joining house to house and ever in a fever building new or taking down and altering the old - rectangular for round or round for square. And men in high position, too, are they not always on the climb, trying to hoist themselves to higher places still? There is no limit to such restlessness, because in all these things the absolute can never be attained. It is on this endless treadmill that the ungodly walk... Suppose you saw a starving man inhaling great deep breaths, filling his cheeks to stay his hunger, would you not call him mad? And it is just as mad to think that blowing yourself out with earthly goods can satisfy your reasonable soul."
(Bernard of Clairvaux from "On The Love of God", 1090-1153)

Goalkeeper scores!

This is one unbelievable goal by a goalkeeper.

Click here

There Are Better Books Better Movies

Hype.

That word sums up my feelings regarding the rising craze and box office records that the DVC book has caused. So much that I felt a little sick over hearing people (including Christians) talking about that. It was in May 2005 that the fad and interest was aroused in North America. One year later, it is the movie. My thinking is that we have given it too much attention.

There are indeed other better books and movies to watch, that deserve our money and time. One of the books recently written is the book "Gilead" by Marilyn Robinson. A recommended movie to watch is "March of th Penguin", or "Akeelah and the Bee." It is unfortunate that good literary works are often neglected. Good books will lead us somewhere towards hope or what it means to be a better person. Lousy books that are based on hype are like a Roller Coaster experience. One can have all the thrills and ups/downs of the ride, but eventually, everyone goes back to SQUARE ONE.

Somehow, the power of the media and the hype driven by publicity often leads our human senses to focus on the hype. Often it is not the item itself, but the interest that arose out of people talking about it.

Nevertheless, after all the hype, all the publicity and all the attention, the DVC and Dan Brown will go the way of the Cabbage Patch Dolls, the Tamaguchi, the PacMan, ....

kianseng

When Unity Flounders (Clement of Rome)

Whatever it is, sometimes there will be times where issues can become very divisive. Clement of Rome, a bishop sometime in AD100 have the following advice:

"Suppose there is friction and bad feelings in your church - what should you do, especially if you are involved in the arguments and divisions yourself? Further, let's suppose that you are in the right, that the trouble is not your fault, and that you are a mature and compassionate person. In that case, I suggest that you shall say to the elders and members of the church:

If I am in any way the cause of this trouble, even if unwittingly, or if my presence will in any way serve to perpetuate it, I will move away anywhere you wish, and do anything the congregation says - anything, if it will contribute to peace among Christ's flock and its pastors.

Anyone who adopts this attitude will deserve a high reputation amongst Christians and God's approval."

Should women be allowed to preach in a Liturgical Environment?

My latest musings is on the gender debate. Evangelical scholars continue to debate over whether it is alright for women to preach in a church environment. One group says yes. Another group says no. Yet another group simply cannot be bothered.

My struggle is how to be able to reconcile opposing groups without letting the issue divide the community or the church.

kianseng

Liverpool!

The Song All Liverpool Fans should know.

Lyrics:
When you walk true a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark

At the end of a storm
There is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song
Of love

Walk on true the wind
Walk on true the rain
For your dreams beats ours
And blow

Walk on
Walk on
With hope in your arms
And you never walk alone
You never walk alone

Walk on
Walk on
With hopes in your arms
And you never walk alone
You never walk alone

Listen here.

2 Quotes from Thomas Merton - the Naturalist

1) The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt." (Thomas Merton)

2) This matter of "salvation" is, when seen intuitively, a very simple thing. But when we analyze it, it turns into a complex tangle of paradoxes. We become ourselves by dying to ourselves. We gain only what we give up, and if we give up everything we gain everything. We cannot find ourselves within ourselves, but only in others; yet at the same time, before we can go out to others we must first find ourselves. We must forget ourselves in order to become truly conscious of who we are. The best way to love ourselves is to love others; yet we cannot love others unless we love ourselves, since it is written, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." But if we love ourselves in the wrong way, we become incapable of loving anybody else. And indeed when we love ourselves wrongly, we hate ourselves; if we hate ourselves we cannot help hating others. Yet there is a sense in which we must hate others and leave them in order to find God... As for this finding of God, we cannot even look for Him unless we have already found Him, and we cannot find Him unless He has first found us. We cannot begin to seek Him without a special gift of His grace; yet if we wait for grace to move us before beginning to seek Him, we will probably never begin.
(... Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island)