Your mantra for the week: “Praying and praising are one and the same.”
As we start the observance of Holy Week, let me quote Matthew 5:16, “… let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
This is the nicest thought you can keep in mind, not only during Holy Week, but in all weeks of the year to remind you of acts that reflect God or the Good in the Universe.
How many good deeds do you find yourself doing on a daily basis? For if you desire to live a happy life, which most people claim they want, the good deeds determine the level of happiness they will enjoy.
However, to be inspired to do good deeds, one would have to realize that it’s necessary to fill the mind with good thoughts, and the heart with great feelings. Think of the times when you fell in love.
Here is an exercise you may want to try. Start the day by asking: What can I do today to make the world a better place?
You may also want to find ways of having God’s Presence felt in everything you think, feel, say and do. In short, become a messenger of love. After all, God is Love. Everyone was created to be an outlet of lovingness, which has nothing to do with liking—for love is not an intensive of the verb, “to like.”
If God were to touch other lives through you, it would mean you have supported, encouraged and uplifted those around you.
Furthermore, take seriously Ann Herbert’s recommendation to “practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty,” which include a smile, a hug, a touch, a comforting word, a compliment and always paying it forward—thus, glorifying Good if you don’t believe in God.
Auspicious
When party-giver like no other Noel Oñate invited us to join him for Russian vodka and caviar last December, it took three months for us to fix our schedules, including those who were to be invited.
Finally, everyone was ready to accept March 21 as D-day. It turned out to be truly auspicious, because last Wednesday was the Solar New Year, which no one I know celebrates except for the people in my Temple who observe three New Years: the Gregorian one on January 1st, the ever-changing Lunar New Year, and the original New Year of the world—the first day of spring, when everything comes back to life after three months of dead winter.
Jesus and astrology
By the way, the birth, death and resurrection stories of Jesus have their basis on astrology and the changing of the seasons. That is why, I am truly surprised why Churchanity is so against astrology and pronounces it as a lot of New Age brouhaha.
Observe that December 24th at midnight was originally the Feast of Saturnalia, a Roman pagan festival when the sign Virgo (the virgin) was rising on the east horizon, in the stable of the celestial goat or the sign of Capricorn.
This has nothing to do with the actual birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but was made the basis of what we now celebrate as Christmas. No one knows when Jesus was really born.
