Love

"Love expresses its existence by labouring for the beloved one."

-His Holiness Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria

"Momentum"

I am very hesitant about the validity of the argument that consists with momentum at its heart.  Anyone who watched England play in the second test would say that they would have "no momentum" heading to today's first day of the third test.  Instead of getting demolished, they have gotten Australia all out on 136!  James Anderson looked absolutely superb and Cook's decisions as captain were top notch.

Albeit, Nathan Lyon might battle Anderson for the sobriquet of best bowler of the match!



29 July 2015
Feast of St. Martha 

"On a long caravan trip..."

"On a long caravan trip across Texas this man had some experience of thirst, as the party with which he traveled was several times put on a meagre water ration for days together.  But he had not suffered then as he did now.  Since morning he had a feeling of illness; the taste of vertigo.  As these conical hills pressed closer and closer upon him, he began to wonder whether his long wayfaring from the mountains of Auvergne were possibly to end here.  He reminded of himself of that cry, wrung from his Saviour on the Cross, "J'ai soif!"  Of all our Lord's physical sufferings, only one, "I thirst," rose to His lips.  Empowered by long training, the young priest blotted himself out of his own consciousness and meditated upon the anguish of his Lord. The Passion of Jesus became for him the only reality; the need of his own body was but a part of that conception."

-Death Comes For The Archbishop by Willa Cather

Mother of God

So many have hatred in their hearts for Christ.  This is really tragic to see.  Instead of loving their Divine Master, they have turned towards the gaudy meretricious lies of The Deceiver.  However, what is just as diabolic is when one comes in contact with those have a strong hatred for the Mother of God.  How can this be possible?  Does not meditating on Our Lady melt the heart from its attachment to sins and lead us to life as it is supposed to be lived?  How can one be neutral or even hate Mary, Most Pure?   When the Protestants started their evil revolt, how could they deface the statues of the Woman who gave birth to Christ?  The Woman who is our refuge in times of trouble?   The Woman who strikes fear into Satan?

Hail, Our Life, Our Sweetness, and our Hope!

From the Desert Fathers

"Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, 'Abba as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts.  What else can I do?'  Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven.  His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'if you will, you can become all flame.'"

Paradise at the Crease

"Time in the middle was precious freedom from the world for Sachin Tendulkar. Though he took guard while fixed in the gaze of a billion-plus acolytes, this was his space, his moment. Writing in the New Statesman, Ed Smith argued that "the batting crease became his sanctuary from fame, somewhere he could escape the soap opera of his life".

Beautiful article on ESPN Cricinfo by Nicholas Hogg on getting lost at the crease while playing/watching cricket.


23 July 2015
S. Apollinaris Episcopi et Martyris

St. Mary Magdalene

In St. Mary, we find a great saint especially for this time.  In this sex crazed world, you cannot even go to the grocery store without practicing custody of the eyes.  Corruption in dress, speech, and action has demolished the souls of so many and who knows how many will be damned because of sexual sins!  Oh St. Mary, You who knew how addicting and how demoralizing the sins of the flesh were, please intercede for us to The Lord.

St. Mary Magdalene, pray for all who struggle with sexual addictions especially for the youth who are so easily manipulated by the lies of Satan.  Pray that we may turn away from what blinds us and bind unto Christ, who is Our Life.  Through Christ Our Lord.

How fortunes can change

I went to sleep last night with South Africa's score of 136 for 3 (they were 136/1 at one point) and I woke up this morning to learn that they were all out on 248!!!  I suppose this is what happens when you take a six month break from Test matches.

Prayer

“Virtues are formed by prayer.
Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy.
Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.”

-St. Ephrem the Syrian 

The run out of Ben Stokes

just epitomized this Second Test for England.  A triple digit run victory for the Aussies seems to be on the platter.

19 July 2015
VIII Sunday After Pentecost

Agony.

347 minutes.  233 balls.  96 runs.  Dragged on.

Almost there, captain.

Highly impressive, Mr. Smith

215 off 346.  Brilliant innings by Steve Smith.  A double century at Lords but to be finished by the reverse sweep lbw!

Reminded me of another fellow named Michael Clarke who put a number on India in a 2012 Test.  Honestly, the whole trip to Australia was a failure (we were whitewashed) but that Clarke performance consisting of 329 not out will be forever etched in my memory.  No matter what Yadav, Khan, Sharma and others did, they just could not get Clarke out.  To say it was brilliant would be an understatement.

Now only if he can recapture that past excellency....

P.S:  Johnson's full length delivery to get Ballance was a thing of beauty.

How quickly the glory passeth!

About twelve days ago, one of my very close cousins had his wedding in England.  I did not go because I am trying to limit my vocations/money spending and also because I do not seem to do so well when it comes to large crowds (which Punjabis in England seem to create).  Long live introverts!

Now, I do not know how other cultures celebrate their weddings but Punjabi people go all out for a wedding. The planning starts a year before and the actual week of the wedding is filled with events on every single day.  I will not go into depth on these ceremonies but the traditions are long and can be quite complex to the outsider.   The culmination happens with the wedding itself and the reception afterwards.

I was contemplating on a person who would attend the wedding.  How he must have prepared for the wedding a year before.  How he choose what he was going to wear on each of the days.  On what he was going to say to woo the hearts of those Punjabi honeys at the parties.  

And now?  Now what?  It is all over.  The excitement has passed.  The many words that were spoken have ceased to enter the vacuous ears of many.  How quickly the glory passeth!  I do not write this to tell you not to attend weddings. Of course not!  You should definitely attend events that are worthy of your attendance. What I am saying is that remember how it all passes.  How the beautiful decorations will one day be unrecognizable the midst of dust.  How those sublime dresses will one day find their way in the back of a closet never to be seen again.  How our very existence on this earth will pass.

Also, if you are a fellow introvert like myself and you feel like you are missing what life is offering you because you miss out on events, remember that it really does not matter at the end.  Your daily schedule may simply consist of working, praying, reading, sleeping and that may be it but that is all that you need.  Who cares what your friend Amanda is doing and how she posts her party pictures on Facebook.  Don't you see that it all passes? 

"Soon you'll be ashes or bones. A mere name at most—and even that is just a sound, an echo. The things we want in life are empty, stale, trivial." 

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 

Importance of Friendship

Coming off from another beautiful summer Los Angeles night at In-N-Out and Barnes and Noble with my two best friends, I realized something.  How beautiful is it to have friends.  My two best friends are Catholic and it feels so great to be able to talk about things that you just can't talk about with others around you. Whether it has to do with women, sports, cars, beer, tobacco, particular vices that we deal with, it just is great to have friends that you can consider to be your brothers to discuss these issues with.

Honestly, if you are lucky to have friends that have your back, thank Our Lord for them daily.  It is a dark world out there and our closest friends can be our greatest lights in our journey towards Heaven. 

16 July 2015

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Just Keep Going

I was thinking about how so many of us can get so caught up in the problems of the Church.  Some are worried about the Synod, some are concerned what the Holy Father will say next, some are frightened about the growth of internal division.

Honestly, we all need to grow up.  Why does it matter you and I about what is happening at the Vatican or what the Pope is going to do next?  How does that help us in any way?  If anything, these events can bring scandal to many lighthearted Catholics and destroy their interior life.

I have a problem with this so I make a firm resolution to limit my time on/stop visiting some certain blogs which talk about what the Pope said or what Cardinal X, Y, and Z's thoughts on marriage are.  If you struggle with this too, then I have some things to say to you.  Detach thyself from this useless stress producer and start doing something productive. Start exercising and hit up the weights.  Those skinny arms are not going to grow by themselves and you can utilize your energy on something life changing.  Go get a holy girlfriend.  If you are a married, start loving your lady more.  Think of new way creative ways of winning her heart on a daily basis.  We can all do more! Fight until your life ends!

You feel me, dear reader?  The art of salvation consists of doing the same things over and over again on a daily basis.  Prayer, work, exercise, study etc.. these are the ways that will give you a vibrant life.  Wasting our lives on what the Pope is doing and the crisis in the Church will only make us angry and less charitable.

Also, remember to pray for the Holy Father!  After you have detached yourself from these sites, you will notice that your prayer for him will be more pure and refreshing.

14 July 2015
Feast of Saint Bonaventure

On Communism

"Communism, moreover, strips man of his liberty, robs human personality of all its dignity, and removes all the moral restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse.

-Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris

12 July 2015
VII Sunday After Pentecost

Saturday Evening Music: Imran Khan's Gora Gora Rang

Today will be a odd twist for many of you have been used to....well, let's say more refined music that is usually on my blog. This piece comes from the Punjabi musical world.  I will eventually make a post about my beloved culture which is so close to my heart but for now the music will do.

This is a more modern song to say the least and would not be indicative of the true Punjabi musical tradition!  If you stick around next week, I will post a more traditional song that reflects the culture in a more profound way. Nevertheless, as a 23 year old, you can consider me sort of a "modernist" when it comes to my musical taste!

Our Lady

The Blessed Virgin, as Queen of all hearts, deserve a reverence from us Catholics which is, I think, more obligatory than optional.  Many will counter that statement by saying that one does not need Our Lady or any of the saints in order to make it to heaven.  I find such counter arguments to be very tiring and tragic. How can one expect to survive and to merit from the sorrows of life without the assistance of the Blessed Virgin? How can souls which are deeply ingrained in sinful ways ever come out of their vices without the guidance of the Queen of Heaven?  How can a man who is addicted to pornography ever learn about the true dignity of women and to leave away his sinful past once and for all without the inspirations of The Theotokos?

You see, the glory of the Virgin is not truly comprehensible to us here on earth.  Even those who are the most devoted to Our Lady cannot fully fathom Her greatness and Her favor with God.  Think about this. The Second Person Of The Blessed Trinity, Our Lord Jesus Christ, was conceived in Her womb by Her consent and not by force.  St. Bernard gives a very moving meditation on the moment which echos in the sphere of eternity when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Our Lady asking for Her consent 

“If you consent, we shall immediately be set free. We all have been made in the eternal Word of God, and look, we are dying. In your brief reply we shall be restored and so brought back to life… My Lady, say this word which earth and hell and heaven itself are waiting for. The very King and Lord of all, He who has so desired Your beauty, is waiting anxiously for Your answer and assent, by which He proposes to save the world. Him whom You pleased by Your silence, You will please now even more by Your word. If You let Him hear Your voice, then, He will let You see our salvation.” 

I do not have the exact quote with me but Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his "Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives" wrote something like (either quoting St. Bernard or making his own reference) that it was as if Heaven and Earth took a deep breath waiting for Our Lady's response.  All of human history had found its pinnacle in this one moment.  The shame of the fall of our first parents. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. The regrettable and heart wrenching sin and shame of David.  Let us not forget all the sins that would take place after the Birth of Our Lord.  The sins that cheating spouses engage in that would result in broken families and broken lives.  Sins that are so dirty that one should not even talk about them for even thinking about them is too painful to ponder over.  All of these sins and this whole condition of spiritual poverty had its fingerprints on this world.  Yet, it was in this pinnacle (The Annunciation) where God entered the realm of human history.  He no longer wanted to accept sacrifices in His Throne in Heaven, He was to dwell amongst us.  However, to do this, being respectful of free-will, He decided to be born of the Virgin.  So when Our Lady was reflecting over the situation the Archangel brought before Her, it was in that silence which God, the Heavenly Angels, those in the Limbo of the Fathers and those in Hell were listening to with great attention.   No other silence would ever be as tense as this one.  Yet, as Our Lady opened Her mouth, at the first words of "Ecce ancilla Domini..." the Angels rejoiced and the walls of hell shock by the penetrating cry of Satan.

How could we ever say thank you, Our Lady?  

Tradition and why we fight for It

“We do not change the boundaries marked out by our Fathers. We keep the Tradition we have received. If we begin to lay down the Law of the Church even in the smallest things, the whole edifice will fall to the ground in no short time.”

-St. John of Damascus 

7 July 2015
Ss. Cyrilli et Methodii Pont. et Conf.

Saturday Evening Music: Mozart's Clarinet Concerto

A wonderful job done by the Cleveland Orchestra.

4 July 2015
Saturday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Romans 1:21-32

"Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools  And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts, and of creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves.  Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature.  And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error.  And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient;  Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 

Foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them." 

One person who commented on the comment sections of this post posted these Verses and I have found it relevant to post it on my blog.

Parenting

My best friend and I had a wonderful night last night talking about interesting topics while going to the greatest restaurant in the world, In-N-Out, and then invading the Barnes and Noble to see what their Christian section had in store.  Nevertheless, as we conversed from issues ranging from failing seminaries to Laudato Si, one issue came to be the most fascinating of the night.  We talked about our parenting philosophies and put them into several intriguing hypothetical situations!

We are both unmarried 23 year olds so our ideas were not based on sort of experience but it was quite enlightening because it made me reflect on the failure of many parents in today's society.  We often hear people, who consider themselves to be Catholic, put out arguments promoting contraception and the like because apparently they do not have money for the extra "expenses."

Honestly, I see this argument as complete hogwash.  I think almost all families can have more children if they STOPPED WORSHIPING THE FALSE GODS OF PLEASURE AND ENJOYMENT.   They say that they cannot have kids but at the same time they want their Maui trip ever summer.  They want to go to fifteen baseball games a year or they just have to have the newest car.  The truth of the matter, these Catholics have no spiritual and material discipline and they see children as a "burden".

Even though I am far from perfect, I have created certain resolutions that I intend to follow when/if I get married.

• One vocation in my life and this will be the honeymoon.  Then it's time to get to work, honey!
• No new cars.  If a SUV is to be purchased, then it must be used.
• Limit going to restaurants.  I have not created a specific guideline for this but this is key in saving money.
• Going to the Movies?  No. 
• Cable TV?  No.

These only a few but I am still crafting my parental ethos.  It will require discipline but I do not want to be a fruitless fig tree at the time of my Judgment!  I have committed enough sins in my life and I do not want to add more to the list.  

Pray for me, a sinner.

2 July 2015
Feast of the Visitation

Happy Feast of the Visitation!

From First Vespers in the Monastic Office, The Antiphon at the Magnificat:

Beata es Maria quae credidisti: perficientur in te quae dicta sunt tibi a Domino, alleluia. 

O Mary blessed art Thou that didst believe for there shall be a performance of those things which were told Thee from the Lord. Alleluia.

I have a special love for this feast for two women that I love dearly have their birthdays on this day!  May Our Lady guide them and all of us into the ways of salvation.

The Introit for Tomorrow's Mass (Salve Sancta Parens)

1 July 2015
First Vespers of The Feast of the Visitation