JB Lifestyle

The wait of advent is almost over, Christ will soon be with us but the question is, will He find faith and open hearts? I love this time of the year, i have always been a sucker for the holidays. Its easy to get caught up in shopping, decorations and food but we must never lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas, that God came to live among us as one of us! O Come Emmanuel indeed! The world is filled with selfishness and many people seem to have lost the true meaning of Christmas. In my country, robberies are on the rise at this time of the year as people are pressured to keep up with the materialistic world. Many people are actually so stressed over this period that they cannot even enjoy it. Christ was born in a cave in Jerusalem, over two thousand year ago but do we stop to ponder with what joy the Blessed Virgin Mary bore him? What joy the shepherds had when they received the good news from the Angel? What joy the magi received the King of Kings? Take a moment to pon...

There is only one true church founded by Jesus himself and that is the Holy Roman Catholic Church! The Church is literally built on the bones of St. Peter himself. (St. Peter's basilica in Rome). In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus says to Peter, "you are Peter (kefa) and on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail over it!" There have been many criticisms of our current Pope, Francis. Some conservative and traditional Catholics think him to be too "soft" and have accused him of causing confusion by some of his statements and by the recent synods especially the one on the Amazon. (where priestly celibacy was up for discussion and the pachamama was displayed in the Vatican). Some even viewed this as a display of idolatry and were outraged! I will not judge the Pope's words and actions anymore than i would judge other peoples! The motives behind one's actions and words are hidden from mortals and only God can rightly judg...

People have started to think about Halloween which occurs on the last day of October each year as a "harmless" holiday. In fact its become such a big holiday in certain countries like the United States that it may one day even surpass Christmas! Cities and homes are often decorated with all kind of scary decorations and games are created for children. It seems all in good fun as we try to spook each other out but have we ever stopped to ponder about our current obsession with darkness? If you take a close look at our current media, both print and television even the internet, you will discover a disturbing curiosity in the occult! People do not even seem to realize how wrong that is! We think its just a joke or entertainment for us. Wicca and other new age ideologies are on the rise and we think that even witches can be good, so called light magic! Do not be fooled, there is no such thing as good witches or good magic! Human beings were not meant to be clairvoyant or hav...

The Amazon fires have been recently in the media spotlight as well as the Notre Dame fire where millions were contributed to have it restored. The Amazon was even hailed as the lungs of the world because of its immense forests which help to purify the air in the world. The air which we are continuously polluting with our focus on industry at the expense of the environment. While i laud these valiant efforts as they have some good merit, i cant help but wonder, where are our priorities as human beings? We have forgotten the most important things and seem to be pursuing "trivial" matters with more vigor than our true issues! I will take the example of abortion. Did you know that over 1.5 billion babies have been aborted since 1980? Did you know that on average more than 1000 abortions are carried out daily in the United States? All i ever hear about is a woman has the right to choose and some circumstances such as rape and incest or danger to a mother's life...

I recently got an inspirational post that puts our life here in perspective. It is good food for thought. To summarize, in that post was a story about how a lady on a journey is inconvenienced by the passenger next to her who is rude and inconsiderate. The passenger next to her is annoyed on her behalf and asks why she didn't speak up and she replies it is not worth it to fight as "our journey together is so short" In life, you have to pick and choose your battles carefully. I live near the land of an apparently "wealthy" man who according to the care takers of the land, does not even want people to walk on the road adjacent to his plot. His workers went so far as to dig up the drainage trench and in the rainy season, the water flows down to the houses in the valley, flooding them and the road has become somewhat impassable! To be honest, when i first learned of this i was very angry and i thought to myself, how can people be so arrogant and so concei...

In our times, it is no longer taboo to talk about sex especially since we are growing up in a hyper sexualized world today but do we stop to ponder about the destruction of the innocence of our children? Some schools are even including a sex education class but what are they really teaching our children? They have no care and expose them to all kinds of information (like bondage) that ends up corrupting them instead of helping! Last week, i was reading an article online about how some schools in the United states are including a sex education class to their students. I am not against sex education but there has to be some boundaries about it and children need to be instilled with a sense of morality by those entrusted to their care. Sexual violence seems to be on the rise today and according to a study, sex and violence trigger the same part of our brains. Is it any wonder that many young people have no respect for their partners or that they view them as nothing more than pleasur...

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven!" Oh how i wish we would all be poor in spirit and empty ourselves of all worldliness so we could receive the graces God longs to give us  to overflowing! The Assumption of Mary is one of the greatest Marian feasts and on this day (celebrated annually on the 15th of August), i reflect on the words of the Magnificat! Mary is the greatest of all God's creation, she is truly God's masterpiece and all because she humbled herself before God and men! Mary was blessed from the moment of her conception (immaculate) and filled with supernatural grace. Mary is also created with bodily perfection (i believe) and is the most beautiful of creation. However Mary remains humble throughout her life, at the words of archangel Gabriel, she replies "I am the handmaid of the lord"....and thus she remains throughout her earthly life even though she was the daughter of the Father, Mother of the word and chas...

Last Sunday, the Gospel reading centered on a parable by Jesus of an avaricious man who feels falsely secure because of his great wealth! In the world we live in today, we think that great wealth equals security. People fawn over you and you can buy anything and everything you want. Anything you desire, you can attain and the world seems to be at your finger tips! The rich man in the parable is very relatable to many of the wealthy people we have today. Just yesterday, i was watching a video about the difference between wealthy people and everyone else! Apparently "poor" people believe that money is the root of all evil and rich people believe that poverty is the root of all evil. He had some good points but i disagree with him on that point! How many wealthy people have acquired their wealth by breaking the backs of others? How many have taken what belonged to others by exploiting their weaknesses? Wealth at any cost is not worth it and recently i read an article that ...

Did you ever notice that if you rush through some thing, you miss certain things about it? Lets take the example of a meal, when your rush through it, you miss the flavors and even end up with indigestion? Ask yourself what you are rushing for or to? There is a famous quote that says Dance like no one is watching, Sing like no one is listening, Love as though you have never been hurt, Live each day like its your last! Everyday we put off doing things until a later time. I will take that trip when am retired, i will visit that friend sometime soon or call them up soon and we end up never doing it! Someone once put off meeting a friend and was too late because the friend died before they could meet up. There is nothing worse than living a life of regret! In life, we need to take the time to enjoy each day! Do not rush even though we live in a world that seems to push us to an unrealistic pace! The virtue of patience is getting more and more scarce. Lets all take a moment to...

I like the story about Joseph in the Bible and how the Israelites came to settle in Egypt. Joseph was dumped in a pit by his brothers and left to die due to their jealousy. He is rescued and becomes a servant in Egypt. Falsely accused by the wife of his employer, he is imprisoned until his God given gift of interpreting dreams brings about his rise in society to the rank of Governor of Egypt! Storms in our life are sometimes there to awaken in us our full potential! We often get too comfortable and settle for less than what we can achieve. We are all capable of doing great things depending on our approach to adversity. Life throws your curve balls often but that doesn't mean you bury your head in the sand and give up. The truth is you never know how to strong you are until your back is against the wall! When you face challenges and go through them, you may not know how you will survive but you do! You survive and you only become a stronger person for it. We sometimes lo...

Today is the Catholic feast of the Sacred heart of Jesus. It was revealed to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a french nun in the 1600's. Our lord himself called us to practice this devotion to the sacred heart which has loved men so much and yet has received so much scorn from mankind in return! It is a sad world we live in today indeed! Jesus became man and accepted all the humiliations that come with being human. He shed his blood till the very last drop, all so that we could have salvation. His heart was and is on fire for us, consumed by love! He could not bare to be away from us and even made himself a prisoner for love in the blessed sacrament! Oh What love! I cannot even begin to comprehend when i think of his sacrifice. And for what? We are nothing without him and yet he who is everything love us? Who am i indeed? (i love this song by casting crowns) Lord Jesus, i can never be worthy of that love that you have shown me and still continue to show me! I pray that i...

There is a saying that goes, "man makes plans and God Laughs". While i do not believe that God laughs at our plans for our lives, i do believe that we need to learn to let go and let God! When i think about the dreams and plans i had as a child, i realize that some of them have been fulfilled but in a different and much better way than i expected. Sometimes what you want is not always what you need! I don't believe in coincidences, i believe that things happen to us for a reason and some people are in our lives for a purpose. Life is always surprising and challenging us but the choices we make and continue to make will shape our lives either for the better or break us! Last week i had a very inspiring conversation with a work acquaintance about how she has raised two premature babies. Her struggles sometimes left her spending multiple sleepless nights and endless anxieties but now her children are growing and she looks back and realizes it was worth it! We were so am...

In past times in Italy, it was not uncommon for families or clans to repay a hurt or insult against them done by another person or family in a vendetta! It is an unfortunate way to live and even the husband of a famous catholic saint (Rita of Cascia) died because of this and her sons almost did! It is truly heartbreaking that the world today is filled with a spirit of vengeance. Sometime back, one of the ministers in my country lost his twin toddlers in a swimming pool accident. He was not a popular man due to alleged land grabbing which also caused the death of some people who were occupying the land at the time. He was accused of using unscrupulous means to obtain the land and there is even a video of children crying desperately because they lost their parents in the scuffle! Granted it was not a good thing he did but the reaction from many people to his tragedy was appalling! They seemed to revel in his loss and say he deserved what he got! It was such as shame and so sa...

I received a story about a good deed done long ago that yielded very wonderful results. The summary is that an ailing child was saved by the kindness of  a doctor and grew up to be a prime Minister. His mother begged the doctor on that stormy  night to help her and he did not even take the payment she offered as he could see her circumstances! Its such a far cry from the doctors we have today! It makes me sad and angry indeed that sometimes someone can be dying but many doctors will look the other way if they cannot be paid for their services. (especially here in Africa and my own country Uganda) Whenever you do good, it is never a waste! The good you do will always come back to you in one way or another. God never forgets charity and he will reward you beyond your imagining! I also struggle with selfishness as it is human nature but God gives me the strength to overcome it. We all need to make an effort to do something good everyday, even just a smile or a kind word...

Boeing was and currently is the top commercial airplane manufacturer in the world. To be honest, i loved their airplanes especially the 747's. Airbus may have built a bigger model in the A380's but there was something about a 747 that captured me! Its truly sad indeed that competition with Airbus drove them to, how shall i say? ignore safety precautions for the sake of making a couple of millions? I keep asking myself, was it worth it? How much money is worth the life of even a single human being? Preliminary investigations into the crashes of lion Air in October 2018 and Ethiopian in March 2019 have revealed that the MCAS system of the Boeing 737 max 8 model were a factor in the causes of both crashes. It has also recently come to light that one of the pilot unions in the United states even had a meeting with a Boeing executive after the Lion Air crash and tried to reason with Boeing but the official stand from them remained, their model was not faulty and it was not c...

What do you expect out of life? We often get the things we expect! I was reminded of that in a homily of one of the priests in my local church. The saying goes "life is what you make it" and though some people are born with certain privileges that others do not have, it is very true! If you have low expectations, you will not succeed in life. Many of the people we idolize in society, the so called wealthy people started from very humble beginnings. Some of them never even finished school and were written off as rejects. Do not pay too much attention to people who try to bring you down. Everyone has their own strengths in life as much as they have their weaknesses. Focus on your strengths and persevere no matter what and you will succeed! Someone once sent me a message that was asking us to ponder on the word breakthrough! Before you achieve something, you have to break through the barrier! No one has it easy, don't waste your time trying to live your life as ...