13/09/2013
Judging others kills, reflects cowardice in facing own defects
Pope: Judging others kills, reflects cowardice in facing own defects
People who judge and criticize others are hypocrites and cowards who are unable to face their own defects, Pope Francis said.Gossip, too, is "criminal" as it destroys, rather than exalts the image of God present in others, he said in his early morning homily Sept. 13 at his residence of Domus Sanctae Marthae.
"Those who live judging their neighbors, speaking badly of them, are hypocrites because they don't have the strength, the courage to look at their own defects," he said.
12/09/2013
The Consolata 17th annual golf tournament.
The Consolata 17th
annual golf tournament.
In a world of sport, many involve themselves for
gain either materially or physically but this was not the same with the
Consolata golf event; a missionary oriented event! Golf? But many know golf as
a game define by "playing a
ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive
strokes in accordance with the rules." Is this not pleasure? Sure but for
the missions too. Interesting is that, it is one of the games where you don’t need
a standardized field, food can be consumed, cigarettes can be smoked, drinks
can be taken, and carts are used! Or rather, it is a pleasurable and fun making
sport!
The Consolata missionaries in Toronto, Canada, with
the aim of supporting missions and missionary projects in and outside Canada,
has created some events (the Consolata Canada club events) of which their
proceeds go to the intended missions. The C3 (Consolata Canada club events) are
celebrated annually, of which they comprise of: blessed Joseph Allamano day,
the Passover supper, the dinner dance, the spring fashion show, the Consolata
day, the Consolata pilgrimage to midland, the mission Sunday, the Christmas
concert, the new years eve, and the golf tournament.
10/09/2013
Does crying ever solve anything?
...allow yourself a good cry because it is human and okay to be sad
(a shoulder to lean on is optional), then pick yourself up and get a move on.
You would think (and hope) that when a person reaches a
certain age, she would have put all that childhood crying behind her. It is a
fact, though, that women cry more than men. By the time they are 18, women cry
on average four times more than men. Blame it on social conditioning. It is
deemed okay for women to express their emotions but males are culturally
pressured to control their feelings.
Hormones play a role, too, in particular the hormone
prolactin which is connected with the production of tears as well as breast
milk. Boys and girls have the same level of prolactin until they are 12. The
amount in girls then rises so that when they are 18, girls have 60 per cent
more prolactin than boys.
The tear glands in men and women are also anatomically
different. According to Dr Frey's research, when men cry, 73 per cent of the
time tears do not fall down their cheeks. Their eyes get misty but tears don't
gush out. But when women cry, it's like a tap has been turned on and tears form
rivulets down their face. It's been found that crying relieves stress. When you
shed 'emotional' tears (as opposed to tears that come about when you peel
onions or when your eye is irritated), the tears excrete toxins that had built
up inside you due to stress. The act of crying also reduces the body's level of
manganese, a mineral which affects mood.
However, some researchers say that it is not so much crying
that makes you feel better but the effect it has on people around you. They
will typically respond with sympathy and support and it is this that comforts
you.
Whatever the case, it is clear that crying lessens the depth
of grief, whether as a result of lowering stress levels in your body or the
sympathy it gets you. That's the good news.
The bad news: The fact remains that crying does not solve
anything. You cannot cry a problem away. Whatever it was that caused you to be
sad - a broken heart, an illness, betrayal, loss of money - does not disappear
even if you had wept buckets. It's the same as going on a holiday to 'cure' heartache.
What I've learnt is that no matter how many hours you spend
gazing at the ocean, no matter how many times you trace the name of your
beloved on sandy beaches, no matter how many mountains you climb or meditation
sessions you attend or frenzied hours of shopping you embark on, nothing
changes when you come back. A loss is a loss is a loss is a loss.
So
what is one to do when the pain in your heart hurts as bad as a physical gash?
How do you cope when you are so sad you find it hard to breathe, when the future
looks futile and you wake up crying?
Acute sadness debilitates the mind and body, but there are
ways to fight it. Some say the key to a happier life is to lower your
expectations: Aim low (or don't aim at all), and appreciate what you currently
have instead of dreaming about hitting the happiness jackpot in the future.
Others
point out how reconciling with loss and sadness can take several forms.
You
can, for example, choose to devalue what was lost so its absence becomes less
haunting. You can analyze the loss at length to delay having to come to terms
with it, or you can memorialize it and subsist on mementoes and memories. You
can also deny the loss and live in the past, or you can blame everything and
everyone around you to lessen the guilt you might feel for the part you played
in the heartbreak. You can even find a substitute for the loss to help you
forget. But the best advice I've read is this: you can accept the loss and
reconcile yourself to its reality. In other words, take a cue from The Ultimatum.
Like the Fann Wong character, allow yourself a good cry because it is human and
okay to be sad (a shoulder to lean on is optional), then pick yourself up and
get a move on.
There's
no other way, really, if you want to preserve your own sanity, dignity and
well-being.
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