Sara J. (kefuwa) > Recent Status Updates

Gah. I just can't. Why did it take me so long to read this. Gah.

Put this on hold for awhile to finish off my library books... xD

If life was an arc of light that began in darkness, ended in darkness, the first part of his life had happened in an ordinary glaze. Here it was as though he had found a polarizing lens that deepened and intensified all seen through it. Thought of his stupid self in Mockinburg taking whatever came at him. No wonder love had shot him through the heart & lungs, caused internal bleeding.

It dulls it, the pain, I mean. It dulls it because you see your condition is not unique, that other people suffer. There must be some kind of truth in the old saying, misery loves company, That's it's easier to die if others around you are dying.

What do you do if you find that something extends beyond the psychosomatic level? Very often all three levels are together: physical & psychological symptoms with the spiritual. This is why we pray for inner healing in addition to deliverance.

- but his entire life is a thanksgiving which is occassionally explicit & solemn so as to draw others to believe & to thank God with Him.: (cf Jn 11,42). This is the reason why a grateful person becomes a person of prayer. It is in this sense that the call to continual gratitude & prayer without ceasing can be understood. For St. Paul, a Christian life is a thanksgiving (cf Rom 1,8; 1 Thes 3,9 etc)

When we look at Jesus' attitude of gratitude, we see that his entire life is a thanksgiving to the Father. "At the Last Supper & the Cross, Jesus reveals the incentive of His entire life & of his death: thanksgiving from His Heart. The Passion & Death of Jesus are necessary in order to fully glorify the Father (cf. Jn 17,1), -

- releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke. Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed & the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own." (Is 58,6,7)

- distinguish between what he needs & what he can give to others. This is why good works are expected from those who fast. Good works are a fruit of fasting & prayer & for this reason fasting & prayer cannot be replaced by them as is often inferred. When the prophet speaks about fasting that is not pleasing to God, he points out selfish behaviour towards others. Isaiah says: "This, rather, is the fasting I wish, -

In order to develop a grateful relationship with God & others, we must decide to fast. Through fasting, a process of purification begins & continues. A pure heart & soul are grateful & are able to see both man & God better. They acknowledge others more easily. When a person gains inner freedom, he becomes able to do good works & even to share his material goods with others. He is able to see clearly what he has & -

When a person becomes blind to what others do for him and only sees what has not been done, he finds himself in a situation of forgetfulness & blindness & opens himself to sin. If we did not forget what our parents have done for us, there would never be a conflict between children & parents. If a husband did not forget what his wife has done for him, & vice versa, there would never be divorces.

Every sin that takes place is actually a fruit of ingratitude. It is a fruit of selfishness and great egoism. When a person does not see what God is doing for him and what others mean to him, he turns to himself and to the world. An ungrateful person is forgetful. This means that he forgets everything good only because of a single situation that does not appeal to him.

However, when there is a disposition of ingratitude in the heart, there can be no peace or joy. Neither God nor man can ever sufficiently serve a selfish and egotistical person. He always seeks more from others, and when he does not receive it, he is disappointed. In that disappointment, violence, agitation and every other evil are born.

A grateful person is thus a person of peace who has joy and hope in his heart. He will never be disappointed because he never expects anything from others but does everything for them.

Even when he raises his own hand against himself and commits suicide or kills someone, again he seeks peace. Therefore, every decision of man is, in its essence, a decision for peace. Clearly when good is being done, personal peace and the peace of others are being realized. On the other hand, when evil is being committed, it is a search for one's own peace at the expense of the peace of others.

The deepest longing of man's heart is actually for peace. In everything we do, whether good or bad, we seek peace. When a person loves, looks for and experiences peace or even when he hates and wants revenge, he seeks peace. When he stays sober or fights against addiction, he seeks peace. When he becomes drunk, he also seeks peace. When he fights for his life and the lives of those he loves, he realizes peace.

The shake that passes will echo. The wave that recedes will come back. The mountain that rumbles will roar.

"Chiseled words are absolute."

There is an art to smiling in a way that others will believe. It is always important to include the eyes...

The essence of love consists in this: that the one who loves is always both near and far from the one he loves. He is always near because he loves. The physical distance is not a hindrance at all in that sense. The one who loves always feels far away and that is why the search for the beloved always starts anew.

An Old Latin proverb speaks about a generally accepted human experience: Plenus venter non-studet libenter - 'a full stomach does not learn willingly.' ... The same rule applied to prayer: a full stomach does not pray willingly. It must rest and sleep.

Do you not know that everyone, who indulges in his desires & thoughts, eats & drinks even though he does not take food? Instead, if you want to live perseverance & fast in a way pleasing to God, protect yourself from every bad word, every gossip, every condemnation & do not open your ear to bad speech. Cleanse your heart from every corporeal & spiritual stain (cf 2Cor7,1) from every desire for revenge & from all envy

My child, this is not fasting. If you renounce food and say something bad about someone; if you judge; if you are venegful towards someone; if you permit bad thoughts to enter in or if, in your spirit, you long to do something else - it would be much better for you to avoid this by spending the day eating, instead of filling yourself with it. What use is it for man to renounce food and give in to all other lusts?

Practice confirms the truth that when a person fasts he prays better, and when he prays better he fasts better and easier. Perhaps we must also say here: what God has joined together let no man separate!

First of all, fasting and prayer are a means to an inner cleansing and freeing. Secondly they are a condition for proper spiritual growth and a proper disposition towards oneself, others, nature and God.

Today, by living on bread and water, man retains his freedom. He does not become a slave to material things or a victim of false promises. In his freedom, he is prepared to love, to forgive, to overcome conflicts and to live in peace. Whenever man forgets his pilgrimage journey, he stops on the way and destroys himself in anxious concerns of this world.

A pilgrim was only able to bring with him the basic necessities of life: bread and water; and this is what he did. Leaving behind his daily life and going on a journey with a bag on his shoulders containing bread and water, he freed himself of all burdens and every excess. Free in this way, he was able to go on to individuals and places where he sought to meet God.