Thoughts over dinner.

So dinner with the family was amusing. Instead of the usual talk of sports or politics, we had my grandfather (not the one I blogged about previously, the OTHER one) ad his friends as the point of the evening.

My dad remembered a time wherein he had to spend Good Friday with his dad and his dad's friends (composed of a spiritual Jesuit and some Philosophical ivy league smart-asses) over in their mountain cottage project called Tanay. They were having barbecued pork and chicken among other things. My father asks "Why are we having pork dad? Shouldn't there be fasting and abstinence?"

Thus came the birth of the Fasting and Abstinence Conspiracy. According to one of my grandfather's friends, fasting and abstinence had begun with a need. Jesus addressed that need by encouraging his followers to eat fish on Fridays. The need?

Remember ladies and gents, the apostles were poor fishermen.

Have you ever seen the movie Chocolat? With Johnny Dep?

Yeah that one. Watching it made me realize something. During lent, it isn't quite what you take away or keep away from that is the point. It's what you're giving. Yes Lent is there to help us understand what Christ went through.

But let's try turning things around a little. Christ's denying temptation and eventual death and Resurrection wasn't about the suffering he went through! It was about the salvation he was giving us. What does this tell us?

Lent is all about the giving folks. Not the taking away. So you can't not eat meat on Fridays. That should be fine. Find a poor hungry man to eat meat with you. You can't not have sweets? Make sure you have enough to share then.

Nothing wrong with the usual sacrifices. Just understand why you are doing them. Personally, I give up all meat for the duration of Lent. It's tough, as I'm a carnivore. But that's fine. My mindset is, if I become more like Jesus giving up meat for a bit, then that's cool. Also, it never hurts to lower my carbon footprint by keeping away from burgers for a while.

Ours is a positive religion, so don't take away. Give.

What a point.

"Yesterday is history,
tomorrow a mystery
but today is a gift.
That is why they call it the Present."

Yes I just quoted a talking turtle from Kung Fu Panda. It was an awesome movie. It moved my soul.

Ok, seriously though, I was listening to a homily once (one that wasn't overly preachy and that I managed to stay awake for) where the priest stated that Ours is a religion of surprises. Not only did God decide to save our eternal souls, he decided to do it Himself. By becoming a man just like us. Kind of. And not only did He die for us. He came back to LIFE for us! I mean hot damn.

A surprise is something unexpected, something that undeniably catches us with our proverbial shorts down. This morning I woke up hungry and aching for something good to eat. Unfortunately, as I had a long night I had overslept and I figured I wouldn't have time to prepare a little something for breakfast.

Lo and behold a packed meal of rice and tuna waiting for me on the kitchen table on my way out. Whose was it? Mine. Yup. All mine. Our cook thought I would like some for breakfast and figured I would be out late.

See? A surprise. Today, I also got a hug from a preschool student of mine that normally runs away at the very sight of me. I also managed to get some serious paperwork done right away. My baby brother got the longboard he wanted. It was also his birthday. (Hey, his birthday surprised ME at the very least.)

Of course, I get a couple of nasty surprises as well. Like forgetting the test papers I'm checking at home. But then, the good surprises outnumber the bad ones, more often than not. And why would anybody want to linger on bad surprises?

Every day is a gift. We should spend more time making the most of our gifts, and appreciating the surprising details.

(I really like tuna and rice. And my brother. So cool beans.)

Jesus Jokes

I've been wanting to have long hair for ages. Unfortunately, due to haircut codes in school and ROTC and whatnot, I never really had that chance. The closest thing I ever got to my dream ponytail was an F4 style hairdo that didn't really work that well on me. I looked a little bit like this:
No, that isn't me. That's just how my hair kind of looked like. Moving on with the story, I always used to get a verbal beating from my grandfather about how uncouth long hair was, and how i looked scruffy and undignified. One day I got fed up of all the comments, so I answered him back with a light-hearted "But Grandpa, Jesus never cut His hair in His life! Not once. Ever. Don't you want me to be like Jesus?"

I was grounded for a week. I caught on to a new trend though. With Jesus, I felt like I could get away from anything. Why are you wearing slippers to the mall? "Mum, Jesus never wore shoes." How come you never told us you were going out? Everyone was looking for you all afternoon! "Jesus disappeared at the Temple for more time than that! He became savior of mankind!"

Needless to say, I was grounded a lot.

I don't think I'm the only one who found the Jesus Jokes funny though! Yes, I know the commandment says not to use The Lord's Name In Vain, but I'd like to think the God that I know and love and praise has a sense of humor, and knows the difference between light teasing and downright blasphemy. Anyone who knows me would know that those comments were made in jest, never to be taken seriously.

I've been taught that God is a loving God, a forgiving God. I know Jesus had laughed and smiled as well as forgiven and sacrificed. He'd been human too, if only for a while. So why can't He have a sense of Humor as well? I believe He manages to chuckle along with at least a few jokes.

So what is the purpose of all this? Well, I just figured I'd share my own personal thoughts and feelings about God and religion and spirituality, for posterity. For myself. And if someone reads this, and maybe grows a little closer to the Person In Charge, then great!

And if people read this and start thinking I am a horrible heathen unworthy of being a Christian and a Catholic and should Burn In Hell With Capital Letters then all I have to say to you aside from "Lighten up!" is:

Jesus Made Me Do It.