JB Lifestyle

Yesterday i was reminded of the reason why some people seem to be blessed more than others! In the homily, the priest in my local church reminded us not to be selfish with God's blessings. "To whom much is given....much will be required!" Some people have millions in their bank accounts but cannot be bothered to help out a homeless person! And not just money, we are selfish with our hearts and time as well! We all keep thinking about creating a better life for ourselves but do we ever stop to think that the first step to making a better life is helping others? When you are blessed by God, dont raise your standard of living, raise your standard of giving! It is true that there is more joy in giving than receiving and the more you give, the more you get! In the words of mother theresa of calcutta, "give untill it hurts". It doesnt matter if some people do not appreciate your charity, do not let that make you selfish! Lord, bless us everyday with your g...

The United States Government and some citizens seem to stand by the above statement. They indeed will not be moved by the many tragedies that have occurred there due to the reckless use of fire arms. (especially guns). Just last week, 17 people (most of them high school students) were killed by a former student of a high school in florida. A priest in my local church once said we are becoming contemptuous of situations and people. Our hearts have indeed grown cold as the bible says and they are in desperate need of thawing. I keep thinking to myself, how many more must die senselessly? How many young innocent lives have already been lost? How many families are heartbroken and torn part? When will it be enough? Sadly, we cannot bring back the lives lost. We can only hopefully learn from this! We cannot make sense of the loss but we can do our best to prevent future situations like this! The government and the citizens need to make a change. The right to protect yourself should no...

Today , ash wednsesday marks the beginning of Lent. As christians, the pillars of lent are charity, forgiveness and fasting / abstinence. We are encouraged especially during this season to focus on those pillars and also to meditate on Christ's passion. Lent is also the perfect time to form us in the art of discipline. Very difficutlt indeed when today the world encourages an excess and abandon of your emotions. Do what you feel and the consequences be damned! A life of reckless abandon will lead you down a dark path that will eventually destroy you! Watch your thoughts. There is a reason an idle mind is the devil's workshop. Do not let your mind wander as it can lead to wicked thoughts that will drive into actions. Watch your words as well. There is a wisdom in silence and thinking before we say things as words cannot be unsaid and can do damage that is difficult to repair. Watch your eyes. The eyes are a mirror to the soul. Let your eyes be filled with light! If you ...

Yesterday, the priest in my local church wanted to remind us of the sanctity of the mass! He started by using the saying "familiarity breeds contempt". This is very true indeed as we tend to take for granted people and situations that are of common occurence to us. We lose the true value of people and certain things which MUST never happen with the mass! He reminded us of how many people spend days without access to a priest to say mass! Yet, we who have Jesus in our midst everyday are constantly DISTRACTED during mass. We are on our phones, sometimes using mass as an event to socialize with our friends or generally come to mass just to pass the time, or out of obligation when our hearts are not really present! And oh, he reminded us about how we disrespect Jesus in the blessed sacrament! How many offenses against his sacred heart! We enter the mass as if we are walking into any other place. Jesus, king of kings is truly present in the tabernacle. We owe him all our re...

The saying goes "misery loves company", which is very true! In our everyday life, we meet suffering in many forms. No matter how much we may want to escape it, human suffering is and always will be part of our lives. We will do well to accept that but the question is, how do we respond to misery when we encounter it? Do we try to ignore it and pretend it doesnt exist? I was recently reading an article about a cancer survivor and her experience with suffering. While she was struggling with chemotherapy, she looked out the window and observed many people going about their lives, seemingly unconcerned that she was in so much pain! Life must go on true, even in the midst of tragedy but how should we respond when we meet tragedy and sorrow? We shouldnt feel guilty for being happy if our lives are going well. However we shouldnt ignore people we meet in everyday life who are suffering. We cannot do everything but we can do SOMETHING! A smile, or a word of encouragement go...