Day 1
Catechism that we have got was awesome. It's really answering my questions.
Once I was asking like this, if God forbids Adam and Eve to take the forbidden fruit, why should God provide it?
Then it was answered.
Actually, God gave Adam and Eve choices. They got their privilege to get everything in Eden except the forbidden fruit as the forbidden fruit is a symbol of both choice and limit as a human being. They took it and it means that they broke their own limit and fell into sin. Sin is also beyond our limitation as human beings. Sometimes, we don't realize that we do something and it's sinful.
So, we have limit and it's not true that we can go beyond our limit as human beings. In this perspective, if we go beyond our limit, we will fall into sins. God provided the forbidden fruit as the symbol of the limit for Adam and Eve. Yet, it's not the limit for the devil to take them to their sins.
Thus, we can call it as a sin because it's beyond our limit and it's not recommended by God.
In our life, sometimes we really face this condition. We know and understand that God gives us choices. Many choices to be taken in this world, from the good ones to the bad ones (provided by the 'earth' and beyond our limit). Shall we take the bad one and break our own limit so we just easily fall into sin? or we just take for granted of the choices and never think them over...(whether it's good or bad, it's important for our development as human beings and God's children?
Thus, we need the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us choose the good and the bad ones. We get the Holy Spirit as we were baptized as baptism is a fundamental choice to respond God's call to a decision and commitment as Christian. How beautiful it is to be Christian by answering God’s call, saying ‘YES’ to God by the work of Holy Spirit for our transformation.
Jesus is the perfect ‘YES’ to God and we are changed from our original ‘NO’ to God to be ‘YES’ by baptism. It means the reconciliation with God as well.
So, as Christian, we need to be proud as we were baptized and for sure Holy Spirit is working on us, transforming our lives to be better. So, when we are unsure and confused to decide/take some choices in life, ask Holy Spirit to go with us.
Day 2
Asking for the Holy Spirit, Asking for Its Gifts
There are several gifts of Holy Spirit:
1. Wisdom: understand something not from our own perspectives but from the perspectives of God
2. Understanding: forgive and give the second chance. It’s the connection between heart and mind. To gain the understanding is by praying.
3. Knowledge: gifts from God in form of intellectual thought
4. Right Judgment: holding, carrying, and transforming not only by intellectual thought.
5. Courage: to do things in spite of the obstacles. It takes a lot of courage not to walk away from faith.
6. Reverence: respect to see every value from every body.
7. Wonder and Awe: realization how God is (God is WONDERFUL & AWESOME).
Day 3
Holy Spirit as the Actor/Agent in the Reminiscence of the Church
We are not the primary actor of making the church. As we’ve got HOLY SPIRIT in our lives by our baptisms, Holy Spirit is working on it.
It’s recommended for us to be relaxed and cooperate when we are receiving the HOLY SPIRIT in our lives. Furthermore, with the help of Holy Spirit, we have missions to be accomplished:
1. To tell the truth together. The truth is JESUS. We have to surrender ourselves to the truth: JESUS because of His redemption. Telling the truth can be in form of evangelization: to spread the good news about Jesus Christ.
2. To share: telling about Jesus in form of spiritual gifts (sacrament of Eucharist). We should give it to others or it will not live in you. We should share LOVE and bring God as the distinctive of our lives as God loves us, God is merciful and God is LOVE. So, as human beings, we should love someone. As someone is LOVE, someone is to love and someone is to be loved. This reminds us to find a right relationship with God and others.
Reflection: Look at the world, we are divided into many social status, religions, groups, tribes, nationalities, races, etc. Sometimes we fight each other only to defend ‘the status on earth’. Who will tell others to LOVE each other as brothers and sisters?
Church is universal and united, we are actual and we are in! So, take this mission and LOVE others.
3. Charity and Justice: With LOVE, we will establish charity and justice in our world.
In the end of the session, I was asking like this: How can I love those who are killing others (even in the name of God) for the sake of their own? For me, it’s against human right and it’s out of the capacity of human beings.
I shared this question to some friends as I didn’t get any opportunity to ask.
Some of my friends said like this, it’s our vocation to love those people/organizations. It’s our challenge. It’s our duty to spread love to them, even with the greatest risks you’ll get.
I remembered with the pattern of LOVE – HOPE – FAITH:
If we successfully spread LOVE others without looking at their conditions, we will be able to give them HOPE and finally they will have FAITH.
And we, as the witnesses to the world, to spread the good news about Jesus Christ, have already had FAITH in our heart. We should give others HOPE from our FAITH and from it, we can spread LOVE to others.
Catechism that we have got was awesome. It's really answering my questions.
Once I was asking like this, if God forbids Adam and Eve to take the forbidden fruit, why should God provide it?
Then it was answered.
Actually, God gave Adam and Eve choices. They got their privilege to get everything in Eden except the forbidden fruit as the forbidden fruit is a symbol of both choice and limit as a human being. They took it and it means that they broke their own limit and fell into sin. Sin is also beyond our limitation as human beings. Sometimes, we don't realize that we do something and it's sinful.
So, we have limit and it's not true that we can go beyond our limit as human beings. In this perspective, if we go beyond our limit, we will fall into sins. God provided the forbidden fruit as the symbol of the limit for Adam and Eve. Yet, it's not the limit for the devil to take them to their sins.
Thus, we can call it as a sin because it's beyond our limit and it's not recommended by God.
In our life, sometimes we really face this condition. We know and understand that God gives us choices. Many choices to be taken in this world, from the good ones to the bad ones (provided by the 'earth' and beyond our limit). Shall we take the bad one and break our own limit so we just easily fall into sin? or we just take for granted of the choices and never think them over...(whether it's good or bad, it's important for our development as human beings and God's children?
Thus, we need the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us choose the good and the bad ones. We get the Holy Spirit as we were baptized as baptism is a fundamental choice to respond God's call to a decision and commitment as Christian. How beautiful it is to be Christian by answering God’s call, saying ‘YES’ to God by the work of Holy Spirit for our transformation.
Jesus is the perfect ‘YES’ to God and we are changed from our original ‘NO’ to God to be ‘YES’ by baptism. It means the reconciliation with God as well.
So, as Christian, we need to be proud as we were baptized and for sure Holy Spirit is working on us, transforming our lives to be better. So, when we are unsure and confused to decide/take some choices in life, ask Holy Spirit to go with us.
Day 2
Asking for the Holy Spirit, Asking for Its Gifts
There are several gifts of Holy Spirit:
1. Wisdom: understand something not from our own perspectives but from the perspectives of God
2. Understanding: forgive and give the second chance. It’s the connection between heart and mind. To gain the understanding is by praying.
3. Knowledge: gifts from God in form of intellectual thought
4. Right Judgment: holding, carrying, and transforming not only by intellectual thought.
5. Courage: to do things in spite of the obstacles. It takes a lot of courage not to walk away from faith.
6. Reverence: respect to see every value from every body.
7. Wonder and Awe: realization how God is (God is WONDERFUL & AWESOME).
Day 3
Holy Spirit as the Actor/Agent in the Reminiscence of the Church
We are not the primary actor of making the church. As we’ve got HOLY SPIRIT in our lives by our baptisms, Holy Spirit is working on it.
It’s recommended for us to be relaxed and cooperate when we are receiving the HOLY SPIRIT in our lives. Furthermore, with the help of Holy Spirit, we have missions to be accomplished:
1. To tell the truth together. The truth is JESUS. We have to surrender ourselves to the truth: JESUS because of His redemption. Telling the truth can be in form of evangelization: to spread the good news about Jesus Christ.
2. To share: telling about Jesus in form of spiritual gifts (sacrament of Eucharist). We should give it to others or it will not live in you. We should share LOVE and bring God as the distinctive of our lives as God loves us, God is merciful and God is LOVE. So, as human beings, we should love someone. As someone is LOVE, someone is to love and someone is to be loved. This reminds us to find a right relationship with God and others.
Reflection: Look at the world, we are divided into many social status, religions, groups, tribes, nationalities, races, etc. Sometimes we fight each other only to defend ‘the status on earth’. Who will tell others to LOVE each other as brothers and sisters?
Church is universal and united, we are actual and we are in! So, take this mission and LOVE others.
3. Charity and Justice: With LOVE, we will establish charity and justice in our world.
In the end of the session, I was asking like this: How can I love those who are killing others (even in the name of God) for the sake of their own? For me, it’s against human right and it’s out of the capacity of human beings.
I shared this question to some friends as I didn’t get any opportunity to ask.
Some of my friends said like this, it’s our vocation to love those people/organizations. It’s our challenge. It’s our duty to spread love to them, even with the greatest risks you’ll get.
I remembered with the pattern of LOVE – HOPE – FAITH:
If we successfully spread LOVE others without looking at their conditions, we will be able to give them HOPE and finally they will have FAITH.
And we, as the witnesses to the world, to spread the good news about Jesus Christ, have already had FAITH in our heart. We should give others HOPE from our FAITH and from it, we can spread LOVE to others.
Linggayani Soentoro
August 2008
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