LOVE IN HIS TIMES

"I wanna be loved like that!" - That is what I often say to myself when I gaze upon the big Hollywood screen of all romantic movies! Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl get married, and all live happily ever after.

I know that is what so many of us dream for and long for. But as Catholics, as believers in God for that matter, we need to trust! Trust that God knows what He is doing with our love lives. Trust that His time, not ours, is the best timing. Trust that He is preparing that prince or princess for us every day and we have to continue to prepare ourselves as well. I know that is hard in this 'sex-driven' world that we live in.

We must not give in to the pressures that say, "I must have a boyfriend/girlfriend!" - I have to go all the way or he wont like me anymore." - "I have to buy her these things or she won’t be my girlfriend anymore!"

The temptations of our human body sometimes feel so strong, that we can't help but give in to them. But be strong, faithful soldiers!



Pray, pray and pray some more you faithful lovers! Ask your Guardian Angel to help you keep strong and pure. Ask our Blessed Mother to watch over you and your future spouse to keep you holy and chaste. Pray for God's will, maybe He even wants you to consider a religious vocation as a sister, brother or priest. Be open to His call for you! God will grant you the desires of your heart. God is hearing your prayers and will answer them in His time!

Do what I did-cut it out, hang it on your mirror or some place that you will see it daily and read it EVERY day! I promise it will help to move you along on your journey to your future spouse. Because we need to remember that the Ultimate Lover loves us more than we can ever imagine. God loves you more than any human ever can, so you better learn how to accept and return His love, before you can even think about accepting and returning the love of a spouse.




So, the next time you catch yourself dreaming about your Hollywood Love Story, remember that your Heaven Love Story will win more Academy awards than this world can ever offer!

A HEART TOUCHING STORY - AN EXTRACT

The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the attractive young woman with the white cane made her way carefully up the steps. She paid the driver and, using her hands to feel the location of the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat he'd told her was empty. Then she's settled in, placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg.



It had been a year since Susan became blind. Due to a medical misdiagnosis she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. 'How could this have happened to me?' she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth, her sight was never going to return. A cloud of depression hung over Susan's once optimistic spirit. All she had to cling to was her husband Mark.

Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all his heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into despair and was determined to help his wife gain the strength she needed to become independent again.

Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to drive her to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city. At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark's need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task. Soon, however Mark realized that this arrangement wasn't working - it was hectic, and costly.

Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe. She was still so fragile, so angry. How would she react? Just as Mark predicted, Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. "I'm blind!" she responded bitterly. "How am I supposed to know where I'm going? I feel like you're abandoning me."

Mark's heart broke but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each day he would ride the bus with her until she got the hang of it.

And that is exactly what happened. For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a cab back to his office.

Although this routine was even more costly and exhausting than the previous one, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own. Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday morning arrived and before she left, she threw her arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband, and her best friend. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his patience, his love. She said good-bye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.... Each day on her own went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better.

On Friday morning, Susan took the bus to work as usual. As she was paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said, "Boy, I sure envy you." Susan wasn't sure if the driver was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year? "Why do you envy me?"

The driver responded, "It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are." Susan had no idea what the driver was talking about, "What do you mean?" The driver said, "You know, every morning for the past week, a fine looking gentleman in a military uniform has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady."

Tears of happiness poured down Susan's cheeks. Though she couldn't see him she had always felt Mark's presence. She was blessed, so blessed, for he had given her a gift more powerful than sight, a gift she didn't need to see to believe - the gift of love that can bring light where there had been darkness.

Even as Children of God we might have felt that God doesn't answer to our prayers and he always lets us on our own only to realize that he was with us all the while.

YOUR EYES ON HER

The American male is led to believe that "girl-watching" is just part of being a man. A lot of girls are all too aware that they are being watched, and they're not at all happy about how they're being watched. Like the young woman my wife and I saw recently at a festival. She was wearing a shirt with an arrow on the front that pointed up to her head. The shirt said just three little words by the arrow, "I'm up here!"



That teenage girl was sending a much-needed message, "Keep your eyes where they belong! I'm a person, not a body, thank you!" It's actually a message the Creator of women would more than agree with. A woman is depersonalized, sexualized, and trivialized by the way many men look at them, and she is the creation of God; a Father in heaven. And you know how fierce a Father is about protecting His daughter!


The biblical Old Testament saint, Job, the man whose integrity God acclaimed to Satan, understood that how a man looks at a woman is an important part of his integrity. And it matters to God. In Job 31:1, our word for today from the Word of God, he says, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." That's a covenant every man should make, especially if he belongs to Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God.

Today the Biblical commandment to "flee the evil desires of youth" (2 Timothy 2:22) is as hard to obey as it's ever been. Advertising, fashions, TV, movies, and the Internet almost all program a man to look at a woman sexually - focusing attention on that which is intended by God for only the man she's married to. But the fact that it's hard to have righteous eyes doesn't make it any less God's imperative.

Men in the days of Jesus, even the very religious, apparently thought they were doing okay if they didn't do something immoral with a woman. Then Jesus introduced the radical idea that “you can sin sexually without ever touching a woman just by the way you look at her”. He said, "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." That makes far more of us men adulterers than we believed – men are in need of forgiveness of God who made the vulnerable beings.

Unfortunately, too many women (including Christian women) have bought into a fashion culture that actually entices men to focus on a woman's body. God clearly commands women: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment. Instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit" (1 Peter 3:3-4). Many a woman who's disgusted with being looked at as a sex object is actually dressing in a way that encourages it.



We men who want "pure eyes" need the help of our spiritual sisters. If what you're wearing is too short, too tight, too low, or not enough, you become part of the problem instead of part of the answer. And remember what every fisherman knows: the bait determines the catch! Offer physical bait and you'll end up with men who only care about that, not men who care about you.

Both men and women have fallen for casualness about sex that robs it of its God-given beauty. Like snow, it's beautiful when it's fresh and clean but it's ugly when it's trampled and soiled. Godly men, make that covenant with your eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. Godly women, dress for respect, not attention like the temple of God that you are.

We Cannot Afford to Lose Earth

The major threat for the world today is the Erosion of soil and the increase in the water levels. The areas that are most affected by soil erosion and land dissolve are the coastal areas. The recent times, the soil erosion the coastal areas have increased to a great level and the effects of Tsunami had made the condition ever worse.

According to the survey of the Geographers, the land areas are slowly been covered by the water bodies and soon there will be no land. 20 years from now, the land will only be a dream. The changing weather, the irregular monsoon and the flooded seas are a witness to the catastrophic events that are to occur in the days to come.

Though the awareness for the natural resources has been raised regularly, the impact and the appeal are comparatively less and it had all the troubles that can be invited on human kind. The Geographic malfunctioning and the constant deprivation of the Global structure had put the question of living in the flow. The field of media has also started making green currencies out of the catastrophic events and the denial of the care on the living soil.

The earth itself is a huge treasure chest and has all the valuable resources to give to the human nature. It has never asked anything in return but has always pleaded for care; we can feel the message sometimes through the soft breezing and other times through the roaring of the storms.

The nature and its components have given us so much and all that we can give back is security and a little extra care. There is still time and there is still home, can we manage to postponed the troubles that are on the way? Can we join hands in saving our lands and can we rejuvenate earth from its sickness?