Back ground:
Lent season will allow us to practice various disciplines needed to lead a Happy life. Humans are subject to gravitation, for them to enjoy walking in this globe. This resulted in earth bound desires generating in our mind from eyes,ears,tongue, nose & touch. How to balance(or control) these desires are to be practiced during lent season.
It started with ash wednesday, by fasting- just to show that we need to control our desires on eating, these has to be extended to all other 5 senses.
These controls are their for our own happiness!. Today you are invited to analyze the value of controls in your life!
B. Pre amble for today's reading;
B. 1 Light: combining 3 basic colors of blue red and yellow will appear as light(white). Resembles shadow trinity. Light is the source of energy to humans!. When we see rainbow, it reminds God's covenant of happy life to humans,as against flood. Your body have the shadow Trinity. Happiness-father: behavior -Son,knowledge- Holy spirit
When you follow God's will, you will Happy even in this world.
B.2 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FASTING AND STARVING!(Enforcing disipline or control in to your life)
Our body always possess adequate body reserves required to maintain the normal functioning of body at the hour of need. If we keep away from food for sometime, the body will still maintain itself. when once the reserve food stored in the body gets exhausted, it is said that the person is starving. Abstaining from taking any food when the body is able to maintain itself utilizing the reserve food in store is called fasting.
But fasting in the absence of reserve food is called starving!.
Fasting helps to enjoy life!
Fasting will not result in decay & death; where as prolonged starvation results in decay & death!. On the other hand fasting will help to clean the system and throw out the toxins(poisons)present in the body, thus helping cure the diseases that take birth from the toxins present in the body. Aversion to food,diarrhea,vomiting & recurrence of fever are some of the devices our body adopts to throw away the toxins that are produced an account of impaired digestion of food consumed. But one can prevent the recurrence of such things by fasting periodically.
Fasting require will power,mental discipline and capacity to withstand the emotional desire to eat!.
over eating is a weakness and you will become fat. Also food consumed in excess accumulates at different levels in the digestive track and ferments. Due to this impaired condition of toxins build up in the body leading to several diseases. Hence shedding weight is necessary to add years to life and life to years!.
Catholicism shows the physical importance of fasting for our own happiness!.
B.3 your body weight!
Increase your weight!
If you want to increase your weight by 1 Kg, you need 9000 K calories of energy. This is very easy to achieve by eating 1 kg of butter or margarine which has been made by oil or fat. Otherwise if you eat just over 1kg of pork.
Reduction of weight
BUT TO REDUCE WEIGHT IS VERY DIFFICULT. Any hard labour worker can burn only 3500 K calories,if he work for a day. Even he need more than 3 days full work to reduce on 1kg of his weight.
If U do exercise for 30minutes/day, you need at least 1 month reduce 1 kg. You become over weight due to the accumulation of additional energy you take by food. Controlling the food intake becomes essential for your happy life,it does not mean not to eat!.
In order to control your weight
(1)Identify the need(develop interest) and determine to achieve that- love your body
(2)Control of your food intake-(mind control)
(3)exercise(physical control)
(4)happy and stress free mind(Christianity)
Daily measuring your weight and adjusting your self is essential to achieve healthy life.
Fasting is one such exercise.
B.4 Effect of mind control
People have worldly passions which lead them into delusion and suffering. There are 5 ways to emancipate themselves from the bond of worldly passions. They should have the correct ideas of things, based on the principles of creation!(Given by Catholicism).
Then they can get rid of these mistaken observations and resulting worldly passions by careful and patient mind control. With efficient mind control they can avoid desires arising from the stimulation of the eyes,ears, tongue,skin and subsequent mental processes and by so doing, cut off the very root of all worldly passions, which is not based on Jesus' teachings.
There are 5 groups of desires in the world.
Desires arising from the forms of the eyes see
From the sounds the ears hear
From the fragrances the nose smells
From the tastes pleasant to tongue
From things that are agreeable to the sense of touch
FROM THESE 5 DOORS TO DESIRE COME THE BODIES OF LOVE OF COMFORT.
Most people, being influenced by the body's love of comfort, do not notice the evils that follow comfort(by craving into it) they are caught in the devil's trap like a deer in the forest caught in hunter's(Satan's) trap.
There is no one way to get free from the trap of worldly passions. Suppose you caught a snake, a crocodile, a bird, a dog, a fox and a monkey, 6 creatures of very different natures, and you tie them together with a strong rope and let them go. Each of these 6 creatures will try to go back to its own lair by its own method.
The snake will seek covering of grass, the crocodile will seek water, the bird will want to fly in the air, the dog will seek a villege, the fox will seek a solitary ledges,while monkey will seek the trees of the forest. IN THE ATTEMPT OF EACH TO GO ITS OWN WAY THERE WILL BE A STRUGGLE,BUT, BEING TIED TOGETHER BY A ROPE, THE STRONGEST AT ANY ONE TIME WILL DRAG THE REST.
Like the creatures in this story, a man is tempted different ways by the desires of his 6 senses,EYES,EARS,NOSE,TONGUE,
If the 6 creatures are all tied to a post, they will try to get free until they are tired out, and then will lie down by the post. Just like this, if people will train and control the mind there will be no further trouble from the other 5 senses. IF THE MIND IS UNDER CONTROL PEOPLE WILL HAVE HAPPINESS BOTH NOW AND FUTURE!.
Identify the rope for each desire in this example then tie that rope to Post of God, to see Happiness in this life too!. Lent period is there for you to do that, and be progressive happiness in your life!
Today's reading:
Book of Genesis(Gen 9:8-15) says: God said" ...here is the sign of the covenant..myself and you...I set my bow in the clouds and. It shall be a sign of covenant between me and the earth...waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all things of flesh"
St peter(1 Pt 3:18-22) says" christ himself, innocent through He was, died once for sins,died for guilty, to lead us to God.
MK 1:12-15 says"... Jesus.. Wilderness..for 40 days..tempted by satan.."
Reminds: rainbow is having 7 colours, representing that you will forget God, even if you follow God's command but attracted to 7 wises in your life(anger,sloth,pride,lust,
Unhappiness occurs only when actively,knowingly, and willingly centering our joy in temporal objects rather than in God. But joy for the sake of Joy,ignoring the source of joy, can be detrimental to real Happiness. John writes: many today, in various ways belong to this category of seeking joy in temporal objects. Out there in the world, their reason darkened through covetousness in spiritual matters, they serve money and not God, and they are motivated by money not God, and they give first consideration to the temporal price and not to the divine value and reward. In countless ways they make money their principle God and Goal; and give it precedence over God,their ultimate end.
D. Conclusions:
If we know, that fasting on Ash wednesday, is for our own health, it becomes,easy to develop the mind control. Otherwise, you eat too much in the morning and fast at lunch, then again cover up at dinner. You will fast as excusetic(excuse for not to do a thing)!. It will not help you to develop mind control, the benefit of fasting in to your life!. Hence during lent period, we should be clear, as how to control our physical body, as well as mental, to be happy in this life. This 40 days one has to analyze, whether my desires(or thoughts) are going against jesus' teachings. LENT INVITED US TO REFLECT TO CHANGE POSTIVILY OF REACHING HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE !
GBU
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