My Blog/jyojyo

Whatever happens to you even it can be considered as the most painful experience, you should not isolate yourself away from God for He is ahead waiting to hail you up in the time desired by Him. Joseph the dreamer, for example, was 18 years in prison before he was freed and later designated as governor in

Egypt

. In accordance with the turn of events, it is the plan of God that Joseph should go ahead of his brothers to

Egypt

to save them from the coming famine.

Even Jesus takes refuge in

Egypt

. Eminent in the scriptures was the flight of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Joseph and Jesus to

Egypt

. When I was with the Franciscan, in the time that I have to go out from the convent to visit my Aunt before the proceedings pursue, I pass by a famous bookstore, and there was one book there that I found which narrates about the lost years of Jesus where he takes refuge to the Himalayas mountains to learn oriental practice particularly that of the Hindus. I don’t know how true is this as narrated in the book.

Jesus was tempted by the Devil to use his powers, that to the book I mentioned these powers was allegedly validated into effect with the practice of meditation with this scene different and is apart from the very instance of enticement, that Jesus on that moment that he was allured by the devil had withheld succumbing to the temptation to transform into a non-human or God that he may turn the stone to bread and may eat of it to suffice his hunger for 40 days of fasting. Meanwhile, Moses on the other hand had been used by God to make wonders in the midst of Israelites and the residents of

Egypt

; one amongst is the turning of the sea into blood in

Nile

. Likewise acknowledging God before hand, Jesus also made many miracles but it was by the Father’s wishes and not of the Devil as this temptation is cited in that particular occurrence where Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted after having fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.

As we follow Moses with his story in the desert, the Lord communicated with him to go back to

Egypt

and save His people who for 400 years was made to live as slaves of

Egypt

. By that time the story of Joseph was already effaced in the memory of the new leaders of

Egypt

. Moses who found favor with the woman closely related to the Pharaoh finds Moses while yet a babe by the grass in the river and took him as her child but Moses had been also later bound to discover his roots, which had open the risk in his life as he was made to travel in the desert that there he may die. But regaining his health as he had reached a fertile soil, not only that he was given a wife and a son, he found God by the burning bush in the mountain.

The paschal sacrifice of killing a lamb in the Passover is celebrated that the Jews may remember the placing of the blood into the doorpost, that seeing this the angel of death will spare the house that if blood is not found he may kill the first born of each house in Egypt, this practice symbolizes the freedom from the slavery of Egypt which the Israelites on a hand was taken away from the slavery of sin. The context of the last supper is the Passover meal of which in that meal, no animal was killed because Jesus is to be sacrificed. The wine in the meal represented his blood, and the bread his flesh.

Likewise we should be thankful not only for the freedom of the children of God from the slavery of the Egypt of our lives, but that being Gentiles circumcised in the heart, we are sanctified because we have the choice to reject sin. Passover meal culminated on the cross, which opens to us our new life that we having repented, has the choice to die to our sins by surrendering these to God by confession, and sealing our freedom gained that we may enjoy it to the full in the sacrament of communion in which the Eucharist is transubstantiated as the real body and blood of Christ making ourselves not enemies to the cross of Christ, but are with Jesus as a brother and companion, that though having denied him not once, not twice are ready to admit our frailty and with the ash in our foreheads in the Ash Wednesday we are reminded that from dust we came and to dust we shall return.

As Catholics, we do not only rely on the Bible as the source of truth but we are gifted with something which is an oral tradition that was passed from generation to generation giving light to correct some doctrines that are apart from our beliefs and doctrine. For example, through generation we are made to believe that the Father as attested also in the scriptures is the one who created the world through the Son. Also some of us to our understanding can say that the Holy Spirit Himself is the ‘breath’ giving life to Adam and others. Meanwhile we being human had this attribute of human limitation, which by our ignorance we offer to God this restriction admitting that our understanding is limited, which is an attribute of our person.

Having God as our recourse, our mind is purified that we may understand that the Father and Jesus are one in essence, one in substance, has one Divinity for actually they are equal but they can be distinguished apart with each being different from the other, of which the same theory applies to the Holy Spirit, this to our knowledge is the sanctifier setting us apart holy and are freed from sin not only by choice but that this was destined by God. Our substance is that one which we do. If you are a priest, your substance is that thing that you do. We cannot well concretize our thoughts on the nature of God since God could hardly be described except that we understand him through revelation.

We only know that God is love. He is forgiving. As we are taught of his function, we know that he creates, he forgives, and he loves us. The simple doctrine of the Trinity is this: God is one, but this God has three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These persons of God are equal. They are equal in dignity, power, authority, and they share the same substance. They are different because the Father is not the Son; the Son is neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit.

In theophany, God is availed visibly. Though discreet as the oneness of God is maintained in the Old Testament, Jesus in the New Testament revealed God with this God having three divine persons. The Holy Spirit did not actually take human form; it was the Word or ‘LOGOS’ that was manifested in flesh. The Word is Jesus; the Word was with God even from the beginning; and the Word made flesh is Jesus, while it maintains that the Almighty is God. And who is God? Our sensitiveness can provide answer to this question.

-Jyotisman Nearu Upendra    

Even in ancient times people believe on something, which
is chosen by the Lord. The Pharaoh, though powerful, knows through what was
revealed in his dreams that Abraham is anointed by God and can intercede for
God and man. Thus great fear came unto him because he has lusted to the beauty
of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, who was introduced to him by Abraham as the latter’s
sister so that they could seek refuge in Egypt.

 

Even
at this early, the concept of being anointed was already there, which means
that one is blessed by the Lord. These two couples were chosen by God that He
likewise changed their names from Abram to Abraham, from Sarai to Sarah.
‘Abraham’s deceit may not be fully defensible for his statement was at least
half-truth for Sarah was indeed his relative, called “a sister” in Hebrew’
(footnote to Genesis 12:13 which goes this way: v. 13 - ‘Please say, therefore,
that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me on your account and my life
may be spared for your sake.’-NAB)

 

Also
in the ARAMAIC word, brothers and sisters are identified to as our relatives.
The crowd seated around Jesus referring to his relatives, whom they call his
BROTHERS and SISTERS, are diverting Jesus attention. Thus, they said in this
way: “Master, your mother and your brothers [and your sisters] are
outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and
[my] brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here
are my mother and my brothers. [For] whoever does the will of God are my
brother and sister and mother (Mark 3:32-35).

 

Our
fellow believers from other religious sects or the non-Catholics, which I am
asking apology from for this truth cannot be avoided, questions on Jesus not
having maternal brothers and sisters and been indifferent over as against the
certainty of this truth unlike Catholics who believe that Mary had only one
sibling and that is Jesus. You would make Mary a whore to say that this clean
vessel chosen by God was imputed with some kind of dirt that after God has used
her for Holy Ghost indwelling that she may conceived the Son of God, he was
used by a man to bear other children, as if she was any other woman who had not
been used by God that His Son may be conceived through the power of the Holy
Spirit. But truth should surface that Joseph had protected the virginity of
Mary all throughout as we may reiterate that Joses, Salome and some others,
which are mentioned in other scripture texts and was carefully noted by our
fellow Christian brothers from the Protestants, are but mere relatives of
Jesus.

 

I
don’t know how true is this tale from an inferior non-Roman Catholic who claims
to be Catholics also about Mary’s conception. According to this tale which I
believe should be discussed, Joachim, who allegedly was the also foster father
of Mary with the former being husband to Anna was praying in the temple when a
big flower that is white fall before him, and this flower has a very enchanting
strong smell, that, just as the story goes as relayed to me, gives a
captivating smell to the natives around and even at far distance from the
temple, and all who smelled its fragrance was cured by their illness, that they
crave to possess the flower, thus Joachim run away from the natives and hide
the flower in the trunk (chest), but even this being in the trunk had continue
to give the fascinating smell to the natives who followed Joachim that they
decided to bang the door of the couple’s residence so that they could break in.

 

It
is by intuition that Joachim decided to hand over the flower to his wife Anna,
a barren woman in her old age. It is somehow by fear that Anna, who was about
to be grabbed of the flower by a native, swallowed the flower, and it is by
mystery that from then on, she started to conceive in her womb Mary without
being touched by Joachim. My source asserts that this was only passed from
mouth to mouth as part of the doctrine of Mariology for the fear that had this
been written, some others will worship Mary. But we know from the start that
Mary though special to God was human and not a god, as different from Jesus who
was God from the beginning, and that worship only belongs to God.

 

Going
back to the story of Abraham, Sarah too was not fertile, thus she asked Hagar,
her slave woman from Egypt and being her subject to sleep with Abraham. Thus
Ishmael was born. Likewise Sarah found favor with God that she bore Isaac.
Accordingly, the habitat was given to Isaac whom the Lord prepares for
establishing his covenant to Isaac. But God heard the cry of Ishmael from the
desert thus Ishmael’s descendants was entrusted with the oil of the desert with
Ishmael becoming the father of our Moslem brothers.

 

They
too are our brothers in faith by circumcision of the flesh, while we to the
Jews were brothers by circumcision of the heart, being regarded as not Jews but
Gentiles, of which the Holy Spirit indwelling even denied by others did not end
in Judea, even in Samaria but continues with us who are in the uttermost part
of the earth with the Spirit speaking revelations in His church, of which aside
from Catholics, experience of speaking in tongues was also experienced by the
Oneness and some others as opposed also by as I may say, the Baptist who
somehow believes that the gift of tongues was any other ordinary language with
this to their knowledge ceased after that the time of the apostles had come to
pass.

 

Somehow,
the Holy Spirit continues to extend revelations to His church for revelation
remains as the manifestation of God himself and his plan of salvation for us.

 

 

-Jyotisman
Nearu Upendra