My Blog/jyojyo

After Jesus was baptized, in the wilderness where the
Spirit led him to, he has to face temptations of the Devil. The first
temptation is for Jesus to transform into a non-human, that he may become God.
If one takes away his humanity and changed it to being God, he sins for only
the Lord Almighty is God.

Likewise though the nature of Jesus is discreet, with the
oneness of God maintained in the Old Testament, Jesus sharing the same spirit
Holy Ghost with the Father makes him and the Father one in substance and
spirit, as Adam and Eve shares the same spirit before they ate the fruit from
the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Thus Jesus in oneness with the Father
though in one accord, does not divide them even if they can be distinguished
apart, and the same applies with the Holy Spirit, making them having individual
nature, a threefold-natured God having three assertions but do share in one
Divinity or Deity.

If you are hungry, your tendency is to eat, just like any
other living being. But in the turn of events, if Jesus had turned the stone to
bread to feed his hungry belly, he will thus destroy his being human by
becoming a non-human. This would also make him proud before the Devil in the event
that he uses his (Jesus’) power just to satisfy his hunger. If we may recall,
Adam and Eve sins in this way because had Jesus yielded to the Devil’s wishes,
he in the event would do it for pride which is far from his character
especially on his nature being God. Others can’t comprehend Jesus having two
natures, 100% human and 100% Divine. Likewise Jesus does not only share one
spirit with the Father (Malachi 2:15 - “Did he not make one being with flesh
and spirit: and what does that one require but godly offspring?”), but the
Father is pleased much with him that he allows that in him all fullness of the
Godhead should dwell even bodily for he is the expressed image of the Father
having the Father’s spirit (Isaiah 11:2) possessing him with Jesus being God in
appearance since the beginning.

Conversion also means a going back to your humanity that
is to be holy and perfect human being created in the image and likeness of God.
The sin of rape robs you out of your humanity by being selfish, greedy, violent
and has a mind that destroys another person forgetting that we are created for
one another, thus making one dehumanized, losing respect to others, especially
respect to himself and having without dignity. Because of sin, people are
sometimes losing their stateliness and are dehumanized, maybe because they were
molested in the time of their childhood, and don’t care of themselves anymore,
thus they to be reshaped need to be whole, as someone should give counsel to
mend their souls as to recreate their respect to their selves.

According to St. Ireneaus, “the Glory of God is man fully
human and fully alive.” This is being hindered by the sin of commission and the
sins of omission. We need to be free of spiritual and material bondage. We need
to cleanse our soul and whole being, which had been a haven of devils taking
office in our body with all their evils. By renouncing all evil, we reject all
sorts of devils and their evil. By rejecting their (the devils’) temptation and
praying that the Holy Spirit will empower us, the church in this earth will be
cleanse and not only our own bodies and souls. We should be thankful that we
have intelligent priests sharing us this wisdom, which we impart also to
others, to mention amongst is Fr. Joey.

“We should rejoice over the victor of Christ against the
Devil’s temptation,” said one of my favorite priests, Fr. Jesse Guillergan
Jr. in his talk in the Charismatic
prayer meeting. To him, if we put to reality the life we live, we face so many
temptations like money, power, fame which instead of bringing something good to
man, to others it became the basis that can lead them to sin. With wit and
holiness, he quoted, “What profit should a man will obtain if he gains the
whole world but lose in the process his own soul not thinking of God anymore
with him being self-sufficient.”

The God who suffices us with bread somehow is the one who
leads us away from sin in the event of temptation, that to our understanding
when we are in such an ordeal we remember that perhaps we are invited to fast
and to pray. St. Leo the Great carefully articulates that what is being
emphasized during the Holy Week is not the abstinence from food but the
exercising of our will if we may do so with courage in order for us to fight
temptation. To him, we should work out penance and conquer temptation, where we
are invited to reject sin and reconcile ourselves back to God.

To avoid temptation, it is our duty to do penance just to
cling to God and approach to decorum where we have to study the word of God. In
one of the ideas shared by Fr. Jesse to us after him reading the Bible,
according to him, “Man is created by receiving God’s breath into his (man’s)
nostrils.” Likewise Adam and Eve after enjoying paradise were tempted, that
according to the Devil’s enticement, if they will eat of the fruit from the
tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would be like God knowing what is good
and what is evil. Because they succumbing to the Devil’s temptation, they
spoiled their human nature making it wounded human nature, thus a need arise to
reconcile with God and a need to have a mediator which Christ’s role later
enters.

We should regain our nature as human by admitting our sins
and confessing these to the priests that we may obtain health, after that that
we may have cleanse our souls through the sacrament of penance and heal it of
our wounds by receiving the Holy Communion. If we are stressed because of
problems coming our way we need to refresh our minds through renunciation of
our sins in order to prepare for the infilling or dwelling in of the Holy
Spirit.

- Jyotisman Nearu Upendra 

Sa buhay na espiritual, hindi sa lahat nang oras ay
nakadepende ka sa bawat kapitulo o versiculo ng bibliya. Darating rin ang
panahon na isasabuhay mo yan, na hindi ka na babanggit ng numero ng versiculo
kundi huhugutin mo ang iyong karanasan o isipin hindi sa pagsasalarawan ng
bawat verse number kundi and pagbahagi hango sa tunay na nangyayari
ngayon sa iyo na kahalintulad nang mga praktikal na pangyayari tulad na lang
halimbawa ng kwentong nabubuo sa pag hithit ng isang stick na sigarilyo.

Isipin
mo nga, ni hindi ka nga marunong mag prito ng sarili mong itlog na makakain,
iisipin mo pa ang problema na kasinlaki ng problema ng mundo, tama ba yun? Kaya
mo ba na lumikha ng isang elepante, o punuin ng mga tanim ang mundo? Alam ko
may mga kaya kang gawin, pero paano mo susulusyunan ang problema kung ang
sarili mo nga ay misteryo na hindi mo maintindihan, tapos tutuklasin mo pa ang
misteryo ng pagkaDiyos ng Diyos? Ni sariling brip mo nga di mo matahi, sarili
mo di mo mapatawad o napatawad mo na ba ang Diyos o ang iyong kapwa. May puwang
pa ba sa pagpapatawad dyan sa puso mo?

Ano
ba ang kulay ng iyong kaluluwa o ano ba ang kwento na nabubuo sa isang basong
alak o sa isang lapis o ballpen? Ano ang mga pinagtagpi-tagping pangyayari o
kwento ng barkada nyo? Mayroon ba tayong mapupulot na aral sa grupo nyo? O may
puwang pa kaya ang Diyos sa puso ng bawat isa sa atin? Mga katanungan patungkol
sa pag harap sa ating mga sariling problema na praktikal na nangyayari sa
buhay, mga kaalaman na tunay lang na nangyayari ngayon sa ating mga sarili. Di
bale na muna yung problema na labas sa sarili mo. Puede na siguro kahit
problema na lang muna ng pami-pamilya natin. Kaya mo bang magsimula doon, o sa
banda pa roon, o dito kaya sa puso mo? O baka napalitan na ng puso ng saging
yung tangan-tangan mo at naging tagay tagay mo na lamang?

Sino
ka ba na magbahagi ng isang pilosopiya ni hindi mo nga alam kung anong klaseng
taktika ang tutularan upang mabuo ang sarili mong respeto at prinsipyo,
problema pa kaya ng bayan ang ipupokpok mo sa ulo mo? Wala namang masama sa
pakikilahok, ngunit tingnan nga natin ang mga nagyayari sa araw-araw, patayan,
pakikiapid, pag-aaway sa pamilya, droga, prostitusyon. Ni sarili nga nating
makukutkot na tsitsaron, hindi pa natin mapagdugtong-dugtong ang mga haka-haka
o isipin na nabubuo bago mo maubos ang tsitsaron.

Alam
nyo ba na kung hahayaan lang natin na sugatan tayo ng ating kapwa hindi sa
pisikal kundi sa pamamaraan ng mga salita na huhugutin nila mula sa puso nila basi
sa nakikita nila sa yo noon o ngayon man, ang sugat na yun ang syang hihilum sa
sugatan mong kaluluwa. Bakit, may karapatan ka bang magalit, ni sarili mo nga
hindi mo mapagaling? Maghihilum lang ang mga sugat, sugat sa kapwa sugat kung
hahayaan mong tulungan ka ng iyong kapwa sa pamamaraang pagtatagpi-tagpi ng
kwento o pag yurak sa dangal mo na sya namang nabuo basi sa kanilang nakikita,
na tutulong sa yo na mabuo ang sarili mo. Yun nga, ang pagsugat ang gamot sa
sarili mong mga sugat. Hindi na lalaslasin mo ang sarili mong pulso, kundi
hayaan mong makinig sa mga haka-haka o paghusga ng iba kung ano ang kanilang
sulusyon dyan sa problema mo.

Ang
Diyos mo ang sya ring huhugas sa mga kasalanan mo matapos na hinayaan mong
laitin ka ng kapwa mo tao. Bakit ka pipiyok, eh hindi ka naman manok? Ang sa
akin lang, may karapatan ka bang magalit eh ikaw rin ang gumawa ng sarili mong
problema at hindi itong mga humuhusga sa yo? Kahit si Pilato nga naghugas ng
kamay, sisisihin mo pa ba itong mga tumutulong lang sa yo na buuin ang sarili
mo, nang sa pumuti naman ang kaluluwa mo?

Mga
pagbubulay-bulay bago ang pagpapatawad, mga isipin maging sa tahimik na
pamamaraan. Hindi na kailangan na payuhan ka. Problema mo, lusutan mo.

-Jyotisman Nearu Upendra

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

As Catholics, we do not only
draw ourselves in the active participation in the institution of the Eucharist
but we manage to relate ourselves in the act of sharing our life and religious
experiences in the context of what was written in the Sunday gospel. We should
not only display the Bible without reading it, but we should live a
contemplative life closely associating ourselves to what was written in those
pages of the scriptures.

We should be aware of the danger of what will substitute in our
minds if we allow ourselves to be influenced by the evil things around. We
should find ourselves drawn away from vices and vigilant as we go back to the
basic reality of our lives, that we are created through the word of God. Each
word God says gives life. We should go back to the reality where when we see
our life, we do not only live by the bread we eat but also by the Bible we
read.

We should celebrate the word of God in the community even in the
midst of terrorism, bombings and immorality. We ought to be guided by the word
of God everywhere even in our family life. Husband should love their wives and
wives should do the same to their husbands. The concrete example why many
couples today do not agree with each other is because no one cares of the
concern that their life should be focused on God.

The Bible changes the life of a person. Hosea every time for
example has to run after Gomer, his wife who live the life of a prostitute.
This is because of love and the word God said to Hosea that greatly influenced
his life. He forgives his wife not only once, and not only in praise for the
Lord but for love.

The word of God should be
powerful enough to touch our lives. It must not remain as the word but it should
open to us its flesh, that it be made flesh and should dwell among us. This is
why we celebrate Christmas where the word becomes our companion. We join
singing the praises for the Lord meant for this highest gift of God being with
us. With this gift of God sharing himself, we should endure life with patience
and that we should learn to forgive and forget the mistakes done to us by our
neighbor.

The greatest gift is to forgive others. We should connect
ourselves to the meaning of Christmas that we open ourselves to a new life
where we learn to forgive and manage to forget the stain of evil long ago. We
should reflect on our being a gift and we should be reflecting on the role of
the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ, even on the wound we receive long ago.

It is foolishness to say, I have sinned because I am weak. With
the hardness of lives in our midst, our life should be open to the good, which
is the act to learn the Bible. Why is it that the Bible is inspired? Don’t you
know that many writers in the community write the Bible? It was not written in
one sitting. Stories occurs in the 13th century up the to time of Moses till
the Baptism of Jesus. The history of the bible begins with Abraham on the
context of his family life. It was the history of Holy Theism or a holy belief
in One God. Where before there is a god of Fertility, the god of Fire, the god
of Harvest and Agriculture; Abraham followed the God who endures with him, and
leaves his family where God drew him to

Canaan

.

When Sarah conceives Isaac, she was 80 years old while Abraham
was 100 years old, Isaac married Rebecca and like Sarah, God opened the womb of
Rebecca, where to her were born Esau and Jacob. Abraham became rich through her
wife Sarah with whom the Pharaoh falls in love with. Abraham was asked to take
everything he wants that he may leave

Egypt

to tread a way back to

Canaan

. The Pharaoh was told
that Sarah is precious to God because she would be the mother of the nations.

Jacob begot twelve boys. His brothers sold Joseph the youngest
to the merchants going to

Egypt

. Joseph has the ability
to interpret dreams and from being imprisoned for a long time, he was hailed
from being a slave to a governor who was in-charge of the grains sold. Many
years later, God through Moses delivered the Israelites from being subjects of
the Egyptians. It was destined that people may know that God was their Creator.
The whole community of Israelites wanted their God to save them that’s why they
see hope through Moses. But not all believe Moses that’s why not all first born
of Israelites did live for some refuse to put blood above their doorpost.

The beauty of writing the scripture was the very nature of
experiencing the word of God for the word could save us. God, who saves the
Israelites from

Egypt

, was the same God who
helps the disciples to write the Bible, and it was preserved whole all
throughout life with the word affecting our life in a concrete form making our
spiritual life more active. Let us allow getting hold of this religious
experience where we attribute the miracles and the changes in our lives to the
experience that God help us in the very time of our need like the way he helped
the Israelites away from

Egypt

.

-Jyotisman Nearu Upendra

As I receive from God the
dispensation giving light to my possible total healing, I am disposed to forget
thoroughly everything that had transpired in my past even with my childhood
regarding some incidents that was not known by my parents unaware of what
happened to me while I was yet a child.

The miracle is that things no longer disturbs me and it is enough
that I receive compassion from those involved and there’s no need anymore that
somebody admit it because it was totally resolved. I’m even revitalized and
feel a new person and had been freed totally from my past unmindful of the
details and there’s no need for a dialogue because I have already accepted what
happened and did resolved to forgive and forget totally that those incidents
did happen.

Even Jesus though he was God had forgiven his oppressor. Who am I
to hold in my heart a clear picture of old scenes? I’m already happy of the
present bonding and God is so good to bestow divine intervention taking away
from me those scales of past that had covered my eyes before. I believe that
I’ll not be going back to my past anymore even with the eventual occurrence of
pressure. The Divine Mercy did helped me a lot, even as of all the
organizations, I try to avoid this one before for some very personal reason.

Though at first I have some fear of entering this religious
organization, I’m glad now that I was proven wrong regarding my fear, and have
benefited from the miracles and enlightenment I gained. I did not stop till I
was drawn to the enticement to such sort of religious gathering for the reason
that if I prevent myself from establishing healthy ties with everyone and
everything, I would be preventing my healing too.

Even Jesus extended help to the centurion and the Gentile woman
that each of their children might be healed. Though I’m not Jesus, I want to
put to garbage everything that had to do with the filth of my past resolved or
unresolved, even the tiny single memory of whatever occurred long long ago
because as Jesus became man, it is his desire that man also may become of God.
Who am I to prevent the grace of God that things may happen according to his
desire that I may also live happily in a very healthy way.

As I bring to mind one of the colorful mirages I have had with
him, I’m convinced that he really had been human in all sense of the word
human. The pain he endured with the cross as it tears his shoulder, the twinge
of the thorns in his head, and the paroxysm of the tearing flesh in his palms
and feet was not some kind of fable but a reality one cannot deny or ignore.

And who is He that endures all these things? The scripture states
clearly: Jesus said to her (Mary of Magdala), “Stop holding unto me, for I have
not yet ascended to the Father (John

20:17

).” And what can Jesus say
of the Father? In John 10:29-30, Jesus declared: “My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

Furthermore Jesus plainly explained in clear terms: “All things
have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except
the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son
wishes to reveal himself to (Luke 10:22).” Somehow though the Father and Jesus
here are fused as one, they are subject to each other’s wishes and desire even
though they have the same feeling having one spirit as attested in the
scriptures.

Philip somehow is insistent of one thing: that Jesus would show
them the Father. Likewise Jesus having compassion with him said to Philip:
“Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words
that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is
doing his works (John 14:9-10).

In the above statement, there is plain clarification here of the
one whom are being indwelt with and the one dwelling into with Christ not
saying ‘I am the Father’, but ‘the Father is in him and he is in the Father’.
This instance does not say that the one who is in the person becomes he except
if they share the same Divinity or one spirit Holy Ghost. What is clear here is
that there is a God in a God that we may sometimes say Christ Jesus if we refer
to his humanity and Jesus Christ if we are referring to his Divinity.

Somehow the spirit of the Lord did rest upon Jesus (Isaiah 11:2).
It rested in such a way that it remained in him. On the other hand, the Father
did dwell in Jesus (John 14:10), meaning it did reside in Jesus. For the entire
time that Jesus lived on earth as a human, he continue to function with the
intelligence of the Father not that he may be highly exalted but that though he
was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be
grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in
human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming
obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

In John 3:16, God gave his only begotten Son, that everyone who
believes in him may have eternal life. But this is not the only thing that God
did. Because Jesus was lowly, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the
name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians
2:9-11). God also asserts this to himself in Isaiah. Somehow, in I John 3:16,
there is this God who laid down his life for us, so we ought to lay down our
lives for our brothers.

-Jyotisman Nearu Upendra

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

Knowing God is the most wonderful thing we can have to
ourselves. It is best for us to draw knowledge from his Deity that we may know
how to strengthen the faith that we possess. It is our duty to defend our
doctrine and restore to ourselves the vibrancy that saints possess that we may
know what we live for, and for whom do we exist.

That’s
why it is also our duty to know the nature of our God and his existence, not
only that we may obtain knowledge about Him but also that we may live for that
purpose that we are of God. Like the way God referred Jesus as His Son, we are
also God’s children. But he commends Jesus in a very special way being his own
blood as He says, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased (Mark
1:11).”

God
is proud of his Son, he having compassion and care for him cannot help but
introduce Jesus to others as he has His might with the voice being audible to
Peter, James and John. In a high mountain, in the eyes of the three, Jesus was
transfigured before them as his face shone like the sun and his clothes become
white as light, and also Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with
Jesus (Matthew 17:2-3).

Peter
was amazed and can’t help but say: Lord, it is good that we are here, that if
you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for
Elijah. Yet the Father cannot help but acknowledge the Man by his own blood
which is the blood of the Holy Ghost, for as yet Peter was still speaking, a
bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the clouds came a voice that
said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased: listen to him
(Matthew 17:4-5).” They having heard that strange voice were bewildered and
felt fear in their hearts.

The
voice is audible enough apart from Jesus who was in glaring white while visibly
standing in the mountain. Likewise, though the voice that addresses Jesus is
not far, it clearly flourish that it is the voice of another Deity that is the
Creator they having separate purpose. The Father also, as Jesus feels awesome
of Him thinks, that in his mind and heart He is proud to speak of his Son and
can’t help but introduce Jesus being of himself a Son, and was intimately close
speaking nearly though not fused into one manifestation as it is clearly shown
in the New Testament.

The
Father saying to Jesus “This is!” does not make them one form for the former is
rightly located above even a spirit that is to our understanding was speaking
behind the illumined white cloud and this Father is not the Son himself though
they may have the same name.

In
accordance with this, there, both their presence are regarded individually,
though being omnipresent which one God can be present in all things, the Father
and the Son are separately manifested, but they who existed in separate persons
are undivided making them One God unified being omnipresent still having sole
dominion of all things though reflected as two effects is believed to be one,
and no one can contest that truth as seemingly a woman rattling in tongues, was
proud to witness proclaiming at the prompting of the Holy Spirit before my eyes
in a Charismatic meeting saying, “Blessed, blessed, One God!” That truth can be
affirmed echoed by the Seraphim and Cherubim and all the angels in heaven for
that is the sole truth among the plenty of Christian faith explanations.

My
Father and I are of one accord (John 10:30), was the declaration from Jesus
himself, they having one mind, one heart though unified are undivided for they
possess one Divinity and has the sole name for them all: “Jesus”. From Jesus
was heard the declaration as Jesus said to Mary of Magdala, “Stop holding on to
me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell
them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’

This
clearly states that the Son has his Father as his God, which proves correct the
scripture, ‘The Lord said to my Lord’. This also proves that the Father is not
a Son himself but that Jesus and the Father with the Holy Ghost as their spirit
where they share in one spirit form the undivided unity of the Triune God. The
Trinity shares the same omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, having one
power, one knowledge, and one existence being eternal. They are co-creator,
co-existent, and co-eternal.

The
Spirit is eternal being Holy, Jesus is eternal for he is the true God and
eternal life, and the Father is unquestionably eternal as the Creator where
Jesus is also a creator. The Holy Spirit is not a human being or any other
spirit much more not one of the seven spirits in heaven or is an angel, but is
a God, whom Ananias became a liar against Him. Sonship of Jesus is not eternal,
but Jesus being the Man-God is eternal for he though divine possesses flesh and
bones making him both God and Man.

In
the same way that the prophets think with the mind of God, we can also become
in one accord with God where God in the same way is manifested in flesh, as we
also become one with Him.

-Jyotisman
Nearu Upendra 

To the power of the Lord, there is no limit. He possesses great strength and capability. That’s why he as God is omnipotent, meaning there is no limit to his potency and dominion. He holds everything, even the earth by his hand and control all things, permits things to happen and if he allows, he can limit certain things.

God also knows all, has full cognizance and erudition of everything. He is knowledgeable of everything and you cannot hide anything from him that’s why he is all and in all and has the key to the secrets of truth. He knows you before you were born and call you by your name. You cannot conceal anything from him for he is omniscient being all knowing or has full knowledge of everything.

With full occurrence, God also exist even before all things are created. He opened the gates of heaven and commanded light and gives the vitality to living creatures. He invigorates the weakling and gives strength to the spirit. He renews every recess and makes people vivacious and spirited, lively and restored to health. He exists in all and renews every strength and has full control of life and restores everyone by his will, that’s why he is omnipresent being eternal.

With all these attributes of God, he becomes the lover of people even those who are sinful as he has loved his Son and enjoys the presence of His spirit hovering in the face of the waters in the creation and in the right time was manifested in human form giving birth to Christ. He loves His only begotten Son Jesus who lives by His spirit, which is the Holy Ghost.

As a master planner God lives in the image of his creation. In Genesis 1:26-27 it says, ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image after our own likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.” So God created man in his image; in his divine image he created him; male and female he created them.’

So even man in the very beginning possesses divine existence before they sinned and came short of the glory of God. In man’s struggle for perfection, as God becomes man, man then becomes of God and is possessed with the spirit of God who is the Holy Spirit. In Jeremiah 1:5 the Lord says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.”

Even to our bone marrow God knows us and makes us his own, and desires every good thing that we may own this, and enjoy the fruits of our labor even tolerates us to do what we want of our life praying that we may hearken his guidance and that we may return to him as we are created for such purpose since the beginning, that we may be entwined with God thinking things that are sentient and godly, and things that could make our body holy.

That’s why we need to preserve our being man, that though we know we are tempted, God gives us only the temptation that we can endure, that we may learn how to overcome it knowing to our hearts that we are sinful and by our struggle to live by our spirit, we became of the spirit and not of the flesh, that we may know even with our hearts that we belong to God.

Who do you say I am? God says unto us. And speaking to Moses from the burning bush came audible the answer to that question: “I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac, I am the God of Jacob…I AM WHO AM.” The I AM of John 8:58 is Jesus. Thus he says, “ Amen, amen, I say to you before Abraham came to be, I AM.” He is the God we desire, he is the God we want as part of us. He is our Creator. Likewise it is for his love that he gave to us his only begotten Son.

Then arises the question: How can he give to us his only begotten Son if Jesus himself is the Father? Can His self become His Son? Of course the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit, they being distinct from each other. But the name Jesus is both the name of the Father and the Son, even the Holy Spirit as He is the father of the Son. The name of the Father’s Son has power, as it is the power he himself possesses. The scripture says, and who knows the name of His Son? Likewise in another verse it says, “The Lord said to my Lord.” This is because the Father and Jesus share the same spirit that is the Holy Ghost. And the Father has sent Jesus and His Spirit. God being omnipresent can be present even in more than three deities yet exists as One.

As you are born that you may please God, be knowable that the Spirit can live in you through the Holy Ghost with us possessing power giving us knowledge of things. The Spirit that can live in you can grant you eternal life. If he may, he can give you all things, but it is his desire to make you humble that he may embrace you to his heart.

If you want to come to God, he is always there to accept you; if you want to return to him, long before he desires your presence. By his power you can be healed; by his strength you can possess vitality. He knows all even your deepest secrets, and he desires to make you whole. Why not come to him and enjoy his presence.

-Jyotisman Nearu Upendra

Though still a spirit with the
following incident happening in the Old Testament, what seems to be the Son of
God was manifest in human figure and stayed with Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego while they are being burned on fire. Daniel 3:91 says: King
Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles, “Did we not cast three men
bound into the fire?” The nobles answered, “Assuredly, O king.”

King Nebuchadnezzer persisted likewise to ask even more, “But I
see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks
like a Son of God (Daniel 3:91-2).” Even at that very time in the Old
Testament, Jesus though appearing in a theophany or Christophany did appear
visible as the seemingly presence of the Son of God. This only means that he
was God apart from the Father though in their being, as Jesus and the Father
shares the same spirit, which in the New Testament the Father sent Jesus and
His Spirit, the two Deities were fused into one existence making them the One
God as mentioned in Deuteronomy 6:4.

By sharing in one spirit, as they also share one substance as
onward we move to the New Testament, the Father and Jesus are fused as one
appearing as one with Jesus provided of the body with whom the spirit of the
Father which is the Holy Spirit did indwelt into a clean vessel in the person
of Mary making the Spirit as the father to Jesus and making the godhead Jesus
complete with the three of these Deities manifested as one, with Christ existing
as the body which is possessed of the spirit of the Father (Isaiah 11:2).

With Christ being human with flesh and bones, existing as a body,
he is complete as Godhead because in him dwelling as a God to God was the
Father in spirit form. Though they are of three Divinities, they being a body
that has a spirit, this does not violate their oneness even if they are
diversified into a triune or a Trinity.

Also in Acts 7:55-56, Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked
up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right
hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God.” Though the Father is invisible being a pure
act and a pure spirit unseen by Stephen, it was emphasized in this passage that
Jesus was with the Father making him a God beside God. God can then be one or
are distinguished apart, though this cannot divide them nor make them one
person, as God is an ‘Elohim’ or persons and not ‘El’ or one person except when
Jesus called his Father in singular form ‘El’ in his nearing death on the cross
which is in one of the last words of Jesus, it was visible that the Son was
nailed to the cross and there was this Father whom he is calling of attention
to for whom compassion is being invoked.

Thus God exist as a mystery in Triune, with the Father being the
presence near as a spirit indwelt or far as a Father in heaven being invoked of
compassion and mercy, with Jesus suffering in the cross while he called for his
Father above or in heaven. Likewise when Jesus died, he really died as a human
and placed in the tomb with his human spirit visiting the dead. The Father
meanwhile is still a Creator who is in heaven and did have control of the earth
and the universe.

It is in a matter of our own understanding, that we can see God as
one in the person of Jesus, or are manifested in Triune with each functioning
in their varied responsibilities, the Father in the Creation, the Son in
redemption, and the Spirit in His indwelling to Jesus, to the prophets, and to
us. Though we have no control in the mystery of God, we can receive revelation
every time we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

On my part, I cannot write sentient things unless I am cleanse
with the Holy Ghost. I have to admit that for me speaking in tongues or strange
language is important for me to be able to write religious or spiritual
matters. All through these years, I have relied on the Holy Spirit for
inspiration, wisdom and knowledge. The manifestation in tongues is of great
importance even heightened with the gift of prophecy.

I cannot reduce the revelation of God to my own knowledge for I
need to seek the presence of the Holy Spirit. Though His presence was
temporarily blocked as we grow up and are imputed with evil, the release of the
Holy Spirit gain momentum through confession, receiving of the Eucharist,
healing, and spiritual struggle for release through praise and worship, that we
may once more have our refreshing in the Spirit.

All of us can receive the Holy Ghost and all of us must strive to
receive it and if possible, it should be evidenced by speaking in tongues,
interpretation and/or prophecy. That’s why it is a must that we should attend
mass that we may reconcile ourselves with God, and that we should confess our
sins that we may be an open vessel for Holy Ghost indwelling, and more so we
should also frequently receive communion as a seal against evil possession even
against hardness of our heart. We should have refreshing every time to aflame
the Spirit that we receive.

-Jyotisman Nearu Upendra