Simplified belief
A person who believes in God is a Theistic person, while one who does not believe in God is an Atheist. A person who believes in one God is a ‘monotheist’ while a person who believes in many gods is a ‘polytheist’. Christians and Muslims both believe in one God. In Greek mythology, there are both male and female gods. The God of the Hindu is Brahman, even a god with ten thousand hands. Greeks have a goddess named Venus. Likewise, there are many other beliefs.
Christianity, Jewish and Islam religion both believe in one God. Others believe in impersonal god or a god who is not a person, while Catholics and some other Christian religions believe in a personal God or a God who is a person. Extreme consciousness is called ‘nirvana’. The Jews called their God, Yahweh, while Muslims call him Allah.
God is personal because he revealed himself and continually communicates to us. He creates all things. Our God did create air. He uses water to create which has a Latin word ‘Agua’ or in chemistry ‘H20’. You have to drink water to experience water. That’s why we need to drink God, and having done so we have tasted God who exist in everything and in everyone, and who is the God of the Catholic Christians. If we believe in one God, we should believe in the blessed Trinity, which is the three (3) assertions, or one God in three persons. You don’t have to criticize other religions, your belief should be as clear as water, and pure.
We should have a belief that is of the child’s likeness, like of the gaiety of the Infant Jesus of Prague or the Sto. Niño. We should have a taste of the Sto Niño to have a great knowledge of God. I have tasted God being a religious or belonging to the religious society called Franciscan Conventuals or the Order Friars Minor Conventual. Being a religious, priests there don’t have a salary; each one’s money is the money of all. We don’t hide any amount, but all goes to the religious society. If you have acquired something, it is given to the society.
Being in the religious society, Fr. Glenn Paul Gomez testifies of going to
Rome and witnessing the canonization of saints and the great miracles in year 2003, and have gone to
Dubai ,
Germany and
Poland , and even meet Pope John Paul II and have audience with him. He learned the word ‘grati’ or ‘thank you’. He stayed a week in
France , where Mama Mary appeared in
Lourdes .
We should derive inspiration from God, like that which we obtain from the healing Eucharist, which is a fruit of love. ABS-CBN has the coverage of the Healing Eucharist where there are 23 persons in-charge, like the audio man, cameramen, and director. The God as the one Catholics serve is the real God. “This is our God, springing from the fruit of our prayers”, says Fr. Glenn.
He asserts that there is enlightenment in prayer with God as you learn from God. With this, everybody understands you, like for example we have Chito Tagle of Imus,
Cavite , a Summa Cum Laude, and an international Theologian. All can understand you if your explanations are clear, which is a product of prayers and meditations, and your resurrection from illness and desert life.
The Holy Spirit in our life created everything. God gave everything for free. He even created man or put man to flesh. This is what we called incarnation or made manifest in flesh. Jesus is the God that was manifested in flesh. So this answers our question in our book title. God was made visible by manifesting in flesh through the Infant Jesus of Prague or the Sto. Niño, and manifesting as God the Holy Spirit through the Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit did communicate as the Third Person of the Trinity. ‘
Para ’ means ‘alone’, while ‘Paraclete’ means ‘Advocate God’. ‘Advocare’ means ‘he created for us’. The original word for Spirit is ‘neuma’. If you have the spirit, it means you are alive. That’s why there is spirit in the community meaning the community is alive. On the Pentecost, the Apostles and disciples spoke different languages and understood one another. The community did have understanding of each other. The real Spirit is in the community like the Sto. Niño Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Revival Community found in Kalibo, Aklan.
All of us serve God. Our edge from others is serving God. Our vision of vocation widens with serving God. You develop the feeling of love through serving God, no matter who you are or what you are. You don’t need to complain, even if you become a bachelor for your entire life. Prayer on the other hand is conversation. You need to communicate with God, and to consciously connect yourself with your God. Like when you switch on the light, the room becomes flooded with light. You’ve got to have a thorough prayer.
If you are connected with God, you don’t feel weary in anything you do. Your prayer should be this: OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART LORD. Then, you will understand the mystery of God in a flood of insights and enlightenment, even pouring out freely from the container. You’ve got to have faith, and faith in God merits all. It can give you all the simple things you can desire in a simplified belief.
-Jyotisman Nearu Upendra
