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Memories of Holy Week would always be in the Philippines. Highschool and even college days were the most memorable. I used to be very religious, pious, etc, that I thought I would become a priest or most probably a nun if were a catholic …..
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Being raised a Protestant and went to Catholic schools in the province, I used to go on spiritual retreats and observed all the church activities during this season.
Radio stations especially during Semana Santa (Holy Week), would be playing all those religious music announcing and remembering the day Jesus Christ who died on the cross and how He saved humanity from total damnation through this ultimate sacrifice. I guess this is where I got my RELIGIOUS ROMANTICISM and or dramatic inclinations and imaginations – by listening to the radios awakening my vivid imaginations.
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I always practiced lenten fasting (not eating for days) and asking God for forgiveness for all the sins that I have done, and promised to live a cleaner life thereafter, or til I die before His Second Coming. I felt like a saint – and the only thing missing was a halo on my head. Yes, the tears were easily provoked in those days, and I thought sainthood was just around the corner.
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Or I would say I was totally in tuned with religious spirituality – and yes, there was peace of mind – believing that you were living in the right directions (being good = being saved = eternal life in heaven and not in hell!)
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So, you asked me … what happened?
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(I ultimately became a drag queen and screamed “Walang Himalaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!”)
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Shushhh !!!
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Seriously…
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It is best explained by the man on the cave. When he is still living in the cave, he believes that there were powers out there that controls his life, the cave and his immediate hunting ground. He thinks it is the sun or the moon or the stars. Millions of evolutions thereafter – a thousand beliefs, myths and histories evolved. Your belief is now shaped by the world you were born in and later on by the world you live in.
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As hundreds of traditions, religions and beliefs in the world hold their own truths - it is impossible for one with an open mind to dismiss all the others as false and the one that you believe in as the only truth. I am in total oblivion, and the only truth I hold on to (at least) is that total PEACE and contentment that I used to achieve when my life was not as complicated as today – when I believed as I believed, when I used to listen to the radios during the lenten season and cried, when that hole in my being is fully answered, when I had peaceful nights of sleep at night. Like that man on the cave, who lived and died contentedly knowing that the Sun god which he carved on the walls, was happy with his life.
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How about you?
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As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
Psalm 42:1-3
Psalm 42:1-3
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I am not Catholic b/c Taoism is my religion but however people would like to define the differences between religions in the world I think every religion that we observe or believe in is the same b/c at the end of day the teachings that were taught in each religion is almost similar — often about peace, contentment, empathy, respect, care, love and vice versa. It is a matter of how strong our faith and believe is in our own religion and when in oblivion with faint hopes one can still carry on in the dark to find light of day. This is what I believe in — strongly; my faith and beliefs.
wala gaanong practices ng Holy Week dito. Ergo, I’m in the office …
. Easter has always been a good day though.
ate, hapi easter!
Jase, I’ve read your comments on my wife hattigrace’s blog many times , this time I read you on DT, and now your own post that I find very interesting and prompting a response. Jesus said ” straight is the way and narrow the gate that leads to life and wide is the path that leads to destruction.” matt 7: 13, 14 He also said ” I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” Jn 14: 6. I, we care about you and offer this to help clear up the confusion about many ways to God.
I once lived in confusion and fear. I was raised atheist, so it was very dark at night and very hopeless. I knew I could not save myself. I did not want to die and go into the earth and have that be it.
Where did the moral code origonate from that my parents adhered to so strictly? How really did our beautiful, well-ordered earth come into being? Why did the name of Jesus make me nervous and uncomfortable? Why did I have tears streaming down my cheeks at my best friend’s church when the pastor made an altar call or when the choir sang Eye of the Sparrow?
I think I have shared with you my journey from my dark pit of dispair into faith that eventually landed me home in Rome, the Catholic Church.
You are baptized. It is a sacrament that joins you to the Christian family. It is a grace. It is a heartstring. You may run a million miles away, but He has not forgotten you. He wants you close to Him, loving Him, listening to Him, recieving His love, being a conduit of His grace and hope.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light and only He gives that peace that passes all understanding.
I know you will come back to Him. And be a priest. You are called. You know it. Go home to your Father.