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On Focus
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 THE HEART
- By Sansu Garin
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- NEVER AGAIN! Time
and again, I hear myself saying ‘Never Again!” to a certain food I am
allergic to. You see, I have this adverse reaction to this food that
leads to an indescribably painful ear infection. I vow over and over to
never ever let this food (albeit a favorite!) touch my palate because
of the pain it causes me. For some time I’m able to restrain myself.
But after a while, I just can’t resist eating it again even though
I know what will happen to me. At the back of my mind, I always think
that I’ll get over the earache anyhow. I have the cure anyway… just a
medicine cabinet away. Yes, I have my antibiotics - topical, drops and
capsules - name it, I have it… ever ready…
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- This kind of
mentality, we all have as well when it comes to SIN. We know that sin
is bad. It damages us. It hurts other people. And most off all,
it displeases our God. Yet, we still sin. More often than not, we allow
ourselves to be seduced by the evil one into thinking that it’s “okay”
to commit sin, especially the “not grievous ones,” because it has “mild
effects only.” Besides, we have a ready cure anyway. Penance is just a
confession box or a prayer away. We resolve never to sin again after
each Confession only to fall back to our old sinful ways. Because of
this skewed attitude towards sin.
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- True, our
ever-merciful God is always ready to accept us back when we confess and
repent for our sins and promise not to sin again. But whom are we
fooling but ourselves (and most of all God!) when we resolve to do
something but knowingly persist on doing otherwise? Isn’t this also pure
and simple taking God for granted?
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- True, human as we
are, made imperfect by our weaknesses, we cannot always resist sin. But
hasn’t God made available for us His unlimited grace, to arm us with His
strength to help make our ways perfect? Do we even seriously ask for
this strength?
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- True, some sins we
habitually commit are not really grave. But do we not realize that it
is not so much about the gravity of the sin but the negative addictive
pattern that actually develops when we continue committing the same sins
over and over? We might not realize soon enough that the tiny
ant-bite-like discomforting effects we often disregard have already
turned into that big monster that we’ve grown comfortable with. Such is
sin. What then?
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- Jesus tells us in
Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder,
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” And
in Luke 6:45, Jesus further says, “The good man brings good things
out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil
things out of the evil stored up in his heart.” Sin comes from a
heart ensnared by the evil one. With great earnestness, we should then
guard our hearts. Let us try to keep ourselves away from occasions of
sin. Allow not our hearts to be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
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- This Season of
Lent, as we truly make amends for our sins and prepare ourselves to
share in the Glory of Christ’s Resurrection, let us pray especially for
strength to resist temptation. Let us also ask for sincerity in our
resolve not to sin again. And most of all, let us pray for our hearts
to become like the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of
Mary.
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- All Glory to God!
- TELL US LIKE IT IS!
- Has something
wonderful and unique happened in your life lately? Did God answer your
prayer in a very unexpected way? Did you, like Isaiah, meet God’s
whisper?
- Have you felt His
powerful hand working in your life recently?
- Everyday, people are
experiencing God’s mighty Word in their lives and it is a pity that very
few know about it. Do you have a story to tell? Some Good News to
share?
- E-mail us (genesis@catholic.org) or fax us
(021-6627384), and tell us about it. That’s right! You don’t have to be
a great writer to do this. We can help you write it – just tell us like
it is!
- Don’t forget to write
the subject: “Let Me Tell You A
Story”
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