JB Lifestyle

There is a song of faith, i think its called how high the sky! ( " i have forgotten the title, shame on me"). In the chorus at the end it says " because neither height nor depth, nor death nor anything can separate the love of Christ from me." These are beautiful truth's people. They are unimaginable truths which feel the soul with great joy and hope. We all want to be loved unconditionally. We are meant to be born by an act of love and we were created for love and to love. Unfortunately the human capacity to love is stifled by our selfish nature and prejudices. On our own it is honestly difficult to love all people but we only have to remember the love that Jesus Christ has for us and ask him for the grace to Love and he will bring about that fire in your heart that will help you to love his creation. There is nothing in this world that can ever separate you from God's love. Whether you are the worst sinner, the cruelest dictator, the immoral pr...

Someone once said that there are two certainties in life, "death and taxes"! Well, i wont argue with that as they are inescapable realities of our existence especially death. We will surely all die some day and our bodies will crumble into dust and nothingness. I am a christian and a catholic so i believe in life after death and i know that my soul will live on and i will be reborn into eternity by the grace of God! Sometimes we do not treat the dead with respect. In the past people who were deemed by society to be immoral like prostitutes, people who committed suicide and unfortunate victims of miscarriages, the insane were not given a proper burial or just left in pits. We have no right to judge people and yes some people live terrible lives but you do not know whether or not they repented at the hour or moment of their deaths. The human body is dignified in life and should be dignified in death. Please do not disgrace the dead by refusing to give them a proper ...

Last week, we had mass said in our home and the priest gave us a brief insight into his life story. He had to make a living for himself and pay for his education from the age of about 9 years. His father had separated with his mother a few years before and had got himself another woman. One day, his father and his new wife loaded up their property and left together for another town, leaving him and his siblings to fend for themselves. He said he had to dig in the gardens or he would not have food and he had to do some odd jobs to get money to pay for his school fees. I for one was touched by his story. i know there are many people out there in unfortunate circumstances but he told us that God will never abandon you if you truly trust him. Have faith and take courage. Can you not see that it was God who raised him to where he is after his father abandoned him without a second thought? God will never abandon you! He is now completing his university education and has built ...

In the recent past weeks i have truly been shocked and saddened by the situation of xenophobia in south Africa. Some sections of south Africans have been burning and killing other Africans who are not citizens of south Africa saying they are taking jobs meant for citizens. I have even heard that some teachers in schools are asking foreign students why they came to study in south Africa. Given south Africa's turbulent racial past, this truly baffles me. The late Nelson Mandela must be rolling in his grave right now. He fought for the racial freedoms of black Africans. How can we turn on our own people? Granted, racism is abhorrent but i just cant understand violence against your own race! South Africans need to do something about this. Stand up and fight this evil before it destroys you as a country. For those foreign African nationals living in fear, our prayers are with you! I can imagine how difficult it is to live your home and start a life somewhere only to have it des...

It is a beautiful thing to be in love but also a painful thing! So many misunderstandings can hurt you and sometimes it seems like you love someone more than they love you and it hurts grievously. However there is only one who understands and who chose to be a "prisoner of love" and that is Jesus Christ! We, Roman Catholics believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. At the moment of consecration by the priest, the host becomes the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. Jesus loves us so much that he never ever wants to be far from us, so before he died he instituted the Eucharist at the last supper.  I cannot even describe how much this love humbles me and makes me realize my own poor efforts at "love". His love is so beautiful and pure and it is truly everything a person could ever want or hope for! How many insults have we given him? How many times have we not visited him in the blessed sacrament and yet he is always there waiting for us!...

Last week , i was reading about a black man who was shot in the back by a white police office in Charleston on the Reuters website.  I am not one to rush in judgement of people and say it was racist but it looks like it. Why was a police officer shooting at his back? It looks even worse because he was a white police officer shooting a black man in the back, and killing mind you ! Granted i dont have all the facts but i was appalled. I am a big fan of scandal TV series on ABC and they recently aired an episode about a young black man who was killed by a white police officer. The police officer had originally lied and said that he had shot the young man in self defense when he saw the victim reach for a knife in his pocket. As events unfolded, the truth eventually comes out in a heated confrontation with Olivia pope when the police officer says "you people don't have respect" obviously referring to Olivia's African heritage as she is a woman of color. In the...

Last week over a hundred people were killed by the Al shabab terrorist group because they were christian. In the recent past, many Christians have been driven out of their homes and killed in the middle east also because they are christian. In Nigeria, thousands have been abducted , made slaves and hundreds killed because they are christian. This latest wave of violence against Christians by these fundamentalist groups makes me angry and sad at the same time. People keep saying that how long will the western powers look on as thousands are slaughtered because of their christian faith? (sigh) The truth is you cannot win someone over with violence. Violence will beget more violence and the cycle continues. Jesus Christ teaches us to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek when slapped. It is quite a hard lesson to accept as by nature we want to revenge. God says vengeance is his alone and we must place our trust in him. He has heard the cries of all his children suffering op...

Last week i was shocked to find out that the pilot of Germanwings airline that crashed recently in the french alps crashed the plane on purpose! I was reading an interview allegedly given by his girlfriend and she was saying that he told her that he would one day do something to make sure that the world remembered him. He was also struggling with mental health issues and depression. His girlfriend also said that since his eye sight was not excellent, he probably would never make it into Lufthansa as a top pilot. We are all really trying to understand what makes someone take not only his own life, but the lives of over a hundred innocent people. Some people may hate and despise him but i pity him. He was probably a person with extreme narcissistic tendencies. I am not a psychiatrist but  the world we live in today encourages people to be narcissistic. Am sorry to say but we focus too much on our own individual happiness. Everything today is about ME. What about my happiness? ...

Happy Easter to you all! The true meaning of Easter, if you are a christian like me is one of hope. We are all joyful and expectant because after the suffering and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus, he rises again on the third day. It is hard for us to accept the mystery of the resurrection because we are taught to believe when we have proof but not everything can be proven or explained. You only need to have a faith that cannot be shaken in today's world of skepticism. As human beings, God created us with the dignity of a soul that is meant to live even after the body dies. We will live forever in eternal bliss if we will only surrender ourselves to God's mercy and love. All God needs from us is to place our trust in his love and his desire to save us but we also need to make a firm conviction to do our best to fight our disposition to sin. God knows we have our weaknesses but we must do our best to co-operate with the grace God has given us and continues to give us. ...