St.Augustine Feast today--- In English and in Albanian-Shen Agustini

"There can be no hope for me except in your great mercy. Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do whatever you will. You command us to control our bodily desires. Truly it is by continence that we are made as one, and re

gain that unity of self which we lost by falling apart in the search for a variety of pleasures. For a man loves you so much the less if, besides you, he loves something else which he does not love for your sake. O Love, ever burning, never quenched! O Charity, my God, set me on fire with your love! You command me to be continent. Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do whatever you will." (Augustine, Confessions X, 29)

Sot eshte festa e Shen Agustinit, nje nga personalitetet me te shquara te historise njerezore dhe natyrisht nder me te mirenjohurit ne historine e krishtere…Ai jetoi ne shekullin e 4 dhe ka nje histori speciale e rreqethese ne rrugen drejt Zotit…Konvertimi it ij nga nje don zhuan ne nje filozof dhe teolog te paperseritshem shpjegohet vetem me miresine e hirin e Zotit….Po sjell ne ne shqip nje nga

 lutjet e tij famoze dhe uroj festen e emrit te gjithe Agustineve :-) ne fakt tek t egjtihe ne jeton nje (Shen) Agustin ….. ! 

Ja dhe lutja me fame :
"Nuk mund të ketë shpresë për mua, përveç në mëshirën tënde të madhe o Zot!. Më jep hirin tënd për të bërë atë që Ti urdhëron, dhe më urdhëro të bëj çdo gjë që Ti dëshiron . Ti na urdhëron të kontrollojmë dëshirat tona fizike ( trupore) . Vërtet, falë vetëpërmbajtjes, ne mundim të rimarrim atë unitetin e vetvetes, të cilin e kemi humbur duke u sfilitur e ciopëtuar në kërkim të një shumëllojshmërije kënaqëssh fizike e trupore. Kur njeriu kur nuk e do dicka apo dike për hatrin tënd, o Zot , ai nuk të do ty aspak! O Dashuri, flakëronjëse që nuk shuhesh kurrë! O Dashuri mirëbërëse , O Zoti im, më ndiz në zemrën time zjarrin e dashurisë Tënde! Më bëj që të jem i/e vetëpërmbajtur! Më jep hirin tend për të bërë si më urdhëron Ti dhe më urdhëro cfarë të deshirosh Ti! “
( Rrëfimet e Shën Augustinit, X, 29) Perktheu ne shqip Merita B-McC

28 Gusht 2012

Charity...few thoughts to ponder...

I was thinking last night about the virtue of Charity.....As I lied down in bed I recalled an expression that "putting on make up is  Charity :-)", I believe it is said  by a wonderful woma, a EWTN host ,woman of Grace, her name in Johnette Bencovich.. So as I admired that expression , few thoughts came to my mind and like to share them with my friends and readers here.

 We often  think and act or "measure" Charity by the way how Charity manifests itself in the  good deeds of ours towards others. That is very true. That is charitable. But we also act in certain ways towards others while we do those good deeds and those ways reflects our own inner self and intentions. Many times we do things to please others so we can get credit for those deeds. Other times we do it because the others are our own family and as spouse, parent or sibling and  we do wish to help them. We also feel an obligation by tradition to do certain things. For our friends we also do good deeds with  some multi purposeful intentions. All those (not so good) intentions are rooted in our fallen human nature. Again, there is nothing wrong with being charitable to others and the more acts of charity the better. But is all that looks and sound like Charity a  true Charity ?
For a moment I want to call to our attention the Charity towards ourselves. How charitable are we towards ourself ?  I know, for a fact, that we, women, want to look at our best, especially when we are in the company of others. Many just get up and first thing in the morning, make themselves up, so when we look in the mirror we enjoy what we see, and we are happy and content with the way we look with the make up on or some fitting clothes that make us look ...well...some say nice.... But why do we want to look pretty or slim or in a nice dress, what is the purpose of that desire? Why is that? There could be a gazillion answers....I am not going to explain that here, but I wanted to bring it up so we can think about making ourselves pretty in other ways so we can be charitable towards ourselves and then others for a higher purpose and with a better intention....so as to change the direction of intentions and actions, making it in line with the true nature that we are designed with and should manifest.
I know some atheists or agnostics won't agree with my last sentence, but whether we like it or not, our nature is designed and has a purpose.Everything has "to be something" before it has "to do something"...so since we are humans we are set to do certain human things...In that light I think tending our bodies to make us look good (for what?) should equally be done in order to make it the perfect dwelling place of God(hence serving that higher Purpose). The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, lives in us(if we allow Him to live and thrive). He always does search for us, but we often close the door. He always descends so we can ascend , but  we ignore Him.  But if we do open our minds and hearts we can certainly make our body a temple of the Holy Spirit, a place where God can live and make His graces flow in us. One can not have the graces flow, unless is in the State of Grace, and State of Grace means a person is without sin (hard to find someone might say)...The sins go away when the Absolution is given and received after  true sorrow has captured your heart and the true contrition has occurred. That happens during a sincere confession during the sacrament of Reconciliation...and to take that step requires courage, humility and a lot of prayer...We often lack courage and humility but we can certainly can pray or try to be open to prayer...that requires an act of Will and that Will to be engaged requires Intellect and for that Intellect to be enlightened, it  requires truthful information and that truthful information is the Truth itself. If anyone doesn't know about it, please ask a question and you will receive an answer.... Hence tending to our body must  not  be done just to  look and feel physically good but to be really good, to be a place where God lives and acts through,  so we can love ourselves for allowing the Truth and Light to live and dwell in us.In that manner the act of Charity truly becomes active and then one might truly be charitable towards others and not the other way around...And that is just my opinion :-) if you like it , share it....

9 August 2012