An Aid to Memory

Lent is an extraordinary time of strict fasting and spiritual advancement in the Catholic Church and various Christian churches. Many, however, still wonder about what is Lent? Lent comes from the Germanic word that means springtime, reflecting the season when Lent happens in the calendar. It started in the early Church when leaders decided that a preparation time before baptism on Easter was necessary. The forty days fit with the fasting patterns of Elijah, Moses, and particularly Jesus, who fasted forty days in the wilderness. In addition, the number forty also recalls the number of years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness.

The Lenten Season commences on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days. However, in the modern liturgical season, Lent in reality becomes forty-four days, but Sundays don’t really count as fast days. Lent ends during the Easter Vigil. Ideally, a fine Lent permits the person to be spiritually stronger and best able to celebrate Easter in the appropriate way.

Worship services throughout Lent are generally humble and sparse. Penance and lack of celebration are major points. It starts with putting ashes on the forehead throughout Ash Wednesday. The Sunday services omit certain celebratory prayers and carols such as the Gloria. Also, the established ways prohibit saying alleluia. Unique Lenten Prayers are from time to time said. The color in Lent is purple, symbolizing both royalty and penance.

One traditional practice throughout Lent is fasting. Fasting can come in many varieties. In the Catholic Church, adults ages 18-59 are allowed to eat 1 complete meal and two little dinners on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, both fast days. Fridays in Lent are abstinence days, which means not consuming meat, although fish is allowed.

Sometimes people will give something additional up for Lent, such as sweets, coffee, or alcohol. This is a prevalent convention, but is not required by any Christian church. Other individuals will actually attempt to do something positive instead, such as increasing volunteer efforts, going to church more regularly, or attempting to become more altruistic to friends and family. After all, Lent is a season for total spiritual transformation, not only giving up something.

Another primary experience during Lent is prayer. The Church contains a few Lent prayers that it encourages people to pray, such as particular confessions of sin. The Penitential Psalms are popular too. The rosary is prayed a lot during Lent and the person praying chooses the sorrowful mysteries. In most cases, the prayers are more somber, less joyful, and even somewhat negative, focusing on the death and pain of Jesus.

The third traditional custom is almsgiving, which is giving to charity. This can include giving money to the poor directly, volunteering time, or even working for social justice through some capacity. Sometimes churches will organize food drives or go to soup kitchens during Lent to make sure they fulfill the obligation to donate alms to the poor.

Although it’s not a traditional practice, many people find reading the Bible or the articles of the Saints to be beneficial for spiritual growth during the Lenten time. Reading the Gospels or the prophets would certainly fit with the topic of the season. From the essays of the Saints, the great sermons of Leo the Great or the devotional writings of St. Therese would be beneficial.

I hope you enjoyed my article on Lent. May you become truly lucky.

A lot of Christians are familiar with Christmas and Easter, but there are a lot of other significant holidays too. While I cannot consider all of them here, I want to highlight two feasts that fall back to back to one another: Good Friday and Maundy Thursday. Both are major in the church because they commemorate two very major events in the life of Christ and realities that affect our salvation. It is not a good idea to brush off these 2 hallowed and time-honored holidays. I am asking here, are you pondering Good Friday?

First, let’s discuss Maundy Thursday. It is a holy day that falls in the Thursday in Holy Week, which is also the Thursday prior to Easter Sunday. Also known as Holy Thursday, the Catholic Church celebrates the institution of the Eucharist on this day, as well as the establishment of the sacrament of holy orders. It was on this night, almost 2000 years ago, that The Lord celebrated the Last Supper with his followers. On that night, he identified the bread and wine of communion with his holy body and blood, and said “do this in remebrance of me.” He also cleansed his disciples’ feet at that dinner, a custom the Catholic Church still uses during its modern Holy Thursday liturgies. Christ also instituted a new mandate, for us to love each other just as he has loved us. This is the “mandate” from which Maundy Thursday is named. Holy Thursday also inaugurates the period called the Triduum, which stops on Easter Sunday. As you are able to observe, this is an important date in the Catholic Church, because it celebrates the institution of the sacrament of The lord’s body and blood, and the sacrament that preserves the apostolic authority of the apostles of Our lord!

Second, let us remember Good Friday. It falls on the Friday prior to Easter, and celebrates the last happenings in the life of Jesus, his suffering, and death. It was on this Friday that The Lord gave his life for the humanity’s sins. He hung on the cross, surrounded by 2 ordinary criminals, covered in blood, suffering, and left alone by his closest disciples.The process by which he traveled to his place of death, and his final moments of suffering and death are remembered in the devotion of the stations of the cross, often said on Good Friday. This holy day is also a fast day within the Church. That signifies that Catholics are expected to eat only one full meal, as well as abstain from eating animal flesh and meat based items on this day. This is a fast day because we mirror the suffering of Jesus, and not eating is one way to accomplish this. Basically, Good Friday is important because it is the day of the year that our Lord gave his life for our souls. His bloody death for us overcame death and the grave, and demonstrated to us the way to endure suffering. This is the reason that many Catholics frequently use a crucifix as a devotional tool, because we are reminded not only of what Jesus went through, but his death was where the battle for our salvation happened. This is the reason that followers of Christ the world over value the death of Jesus so much.

In conclusion, it is a good thing to celebrate Good Friday and Maundy Thursday. Both commemorate major events in the salvation of humanity, and both days are essential to the prayer life of the Church Catholic. So, this Holy Week, don’t forget to observe these two important holidays.

The essayist suggests celebrating the two festivals referred to previously, . One way is to visit a worship service on these days.

As the brand new year has come and went, people are out there seeking a few pertinent best self help books. Selecting excellent self-help books can be complicated. There are many products on the market, offering solutions to a variety of problems. Obviously most all individuals throughout the world desire to get better in a lot of areas, and will seek out self-help books to address these problems.

One manner to transform yourself is by buying a affirmations books. An affirmation is a saying of intent concerning what you want to be true. There are a few good affirmations books available, and I have read through a book or 2 concerning them. However, most every affirmations book I have read gives advice that is pretty much incorrect, and I will demonstrate why. Below I will describe how to pick out the best self-help books possible. I am also going to address the subject of an affirmations book, since among all of topics these days, affirmations appear to be rather popular.

One. Select a Book That Challenges You
Most individuals go on the internet, or enter that bookstore, and immediately look for a book that already agrees with their manner of thinking. In other words, they pick a book that seems to “fit” them. The mistake is that it is their current way of thinking that has gotten them into their immediate mess. In other words, most all people seek out books that at heart discourage change. I recommend choosing a book that you are sure will challenge you, rather than choosing one that merely reinforces your current beliefs.

2. Choose a fine Affirmations Book
Most all affirmations books provide bad advice. They suggest writing an affirmation like you have already received it, much like “I love my new house”. The big problem is that your mind knows better, and has trouble really accepting them at a subconscious level. So while you might be repeating them such as this, your brain is not re-wiring. Luckily there are a few pertinent books available that get it right, but most all don’t. So choose your affirmations book prudently!

Three. Look Over The Reviews For The Book
The web makes it easy for you to see what others consider concerning a book or a book’s philosophy. A few reviews will be positive and ecstatic, and others will be negative and possibly even disagreeable. I suggest going through both all the reviews to see if a book is for you. Keep in mind that some individuals might review a book negatively, but their negative reason might be why you might actually like the book. A particular reviewer might say a book is too concise, but you might be looking to read a shorter book at the current moment. Definitely have a look at what other individuals are saying!

4. Make Sure You Complete It and Do What It Says
This might sound weird, but most individuals never finish the books they start. A fine example is when I read about the supplement Green Tea a few years ago, when it was trendy. I started using it, and it still works for me. Most people heard about it, read a few pages concerning it, and quit. They never followed through. You absolutely have to give the advice in the book enough time to actually work, and for goodness sake, read the actual book. Granted, some books may not be very good, and you may not want to finish those, but do not abandon a book simply because you are lazy. Also, give a subject an opportunity. Many self help techniques require some time and effort. Don’t think you can just read a book, try something once, and bingo, it works. Give each technique the time period it requires.

If you follow these ideas you will find the appropriate self help books and that appropriate affirmations book. Don’t be like most all people: find a great book and follow through with its ideas. Change your life!

The author suggests using the tools provided here when looking up and buying the right books.

You have picked out that unique person, or that guy or gal you desire to become your love interest, boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe you have some friends or relatives that you care for, and desire to send them brief and entertaining love messages, or in the case of someone you are more than just friends with, romantic messages. Do you even have an idea where to start? Could you compose love messages and romantic sms messages if you had to? Do you even know anything concerning the aforementioned topic, love messages for boyfriend?

Yes, it is a good concept to compose some romantic messages to your loved ones, whether in text form or even on paper (do people still do that??). Why? Because people like getting love messages. They love continually getting a little note from those people they care about. A simple message from a loved one can make a person’s day happier. Also, a nice love message can allow you to develop a relationship with somebody, simply because giving attention to others is an effective manner to get noticed. What follows are a few ideas to think about when composing love messages.

1. Compose Unique Messages

Stealing another person’s content is irritating to me. Don’t ever steal people’s love messages or take them from youtube, your favorite musician, etc, all the time. It is ok to use some stuff that isn’t yours, such as a historic love poem or a buddy’s love note, but you want to add some of your unique material. Using your very own material has 2 effects. Firstly, it shows that you are intelligent. While no one likes a nerd, individuals do treasure intelligence. If you cannot come up with something original, it makes you seem dumb. Secondly, individuals treasure your attention, and they value it more if they know it is truly from you, and not some silly love quote you stole from somebody else.

2. Keep It Brief And Simple

People do not have a lot of time these days. It is a crying shame, but this is the truth. Most individuals are good at squeezing a message into 160 or so letters, so we always expect the love messages or romantic sms we receive to be short, even if they are for our boyfriend or girlfriend. So, whether sending a love message on your mobile phone by text or by sending an electronic letter or letter on paper, you do not want to write too much. For one, if you write too much you can look clingy and desperate. As an example, if a guy sends a message that takes up 9 texts, it makes him seem weird. What kind of guy has time to text a message that lengthy? Well, my opinion is that it is somebody that does not have much of a life. So, keep your romantic messages short, basic, and concise. If you do that, you will also seem kind of enigmatic, which means people will want to attempt to get to know you better.

3. Don’t Be A Creep

You can come across as frightening by doing many different things. One way to obviously be creepy is by saying too much too fast. As an example, you don’t want to declare your love early on in a relationship. If you state “I love you” too much or too soon, you will appear clingy and attached. Play it cool and advance your relationship and your love messages incrementally. You do not want to look bizarre or like you have to have a relationship. Being needy, whether you are a female or guy, is not attractive and isn’t going to permit you to maintain a relationship. I suggest you take it easy.

As you can see, writing your very own love messages is simple, whether to your girlfriend or boyfriend. Even if you want to be romantic or just friends, you can take sms writing into your own hands!

The essayist recommends creating good messages if you want to be cherished and attract a girlfriend or boyfriend.

You have identified that unique person, or that boy or girl you want to become your love interest, boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe you have a few friends or relatives that you love, and want to transmit them concise and happy love messages, or in the case of someone that is more than just friends, romantic messages. Do you even understand where to start? Could you write love messages and romantic sms messages if you had to?

Yes, it is a good idea to pen some messages to your loved ones, whether in text form or even on paper (do people still do that??). Why? Because individuals enjoy receivig love messages. They love regularly receiving a brief note from those people they care for. A simple message from a loved one is able make someone’s day better. Also, a well-written love message can help you to develop a relationship with somebody, simply because paying attention to others is one good way to get noticed. Below are 3 tips to think about when jotting down love messages.

One. Compose Fresh Messages

Swiping someone else’s material is irritating to me. Do not steal people’s love messages or take them from TV shows, your favorite musician, etc, all the time. It is okay to use some stuff that isn’t yours, like a traditional love poem or a friend’s love note, but you want to add some of your own material. Using unique content has two effects. Firstly, it shows that you are bright. While noone likes a know-it-all, people do treasure brainpower. If you cannot come up with something original, it makes you look dumb. Second, people treasure your attention, and they value it more if they know it is truly from you, and not some dopey love quote you stole from somebody else.

2. Keep Them Brief And Easy To Get

People do not have a lot of time nowadays. It is a shame, but this is the reality. Most individuals are good at squeezing a message into 105 or so characters, so we always expect the love messages or romantic sms we get to be brief, even if they are for a boyfriend or girlfriend. So, whether you send a love message on your cell phone by text or by sending an electronic letter or letter on paper, you don’t want to write a lot. For one, if you write too much you can appear clingy and desperate. For example, if a guy sends a message that takes up fifteen texts, it makes him appear odd. What kind of guy has the time to text a message that wordy? Well, I say it is a person that doesn’t have any life. So, keep your romantic messages brief, basic, and to the point. If you do it this way, you will also look kind of mystifying, which means people will want to try to get to know you better.

Three. Do Not Be Creepy

You can appear a creep by doing different things. One way to clearly be a creeper is by saying too much too quickly. As an example, you do not want to proclaim your love early on in a relationship. If you say “I love you” too much or too soon, you will look clingy and desperate. Play it cool and move your relationship and your love messages slowly. You do not want to appear bizarre or like you have to have a relationship. Neediness, whether you are a female or male, isn’t attractive and is not going to permit you to keep a relationship. I suggest you take it easy.

As you can see, creating your own love messages is easy, whether to your girlfriend or boyfriend. Even if you want to be romantic or simply, you can take sms writing into your very own hands!

The essayist recommends composing love messages for girlfriend if you want to be liked, as well as crafting romantic sms to attract a romantic interest.

A lot of Christians are familiar with Christmas and Easter, but there are a lot of other major holy days as well. While I cannot consider all of them here, I want to highlight two feasts that fall back to back to each other: Good Friday and Maundy Thursday. Both are important in the church because they commemorate two exceptionally important events in the life of Christ and truths that affect our salvation. It is a bad idea to discount these 2 hallowed and time-honored holidays. I am asking here, are you pondering Good Friday?

First, let us discuss Maundy Thursday. It is a holy day that falls in the Thursday in Holy Week, which is also the Thursday before Easter Sunday. Also known as Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates the institution of the Eucharist on this day, as well as the establishment of the sacrament of holy orders. It was on this night, almost 2000 years ago, that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his followers. On that night, he identified the the Eucharistic elements with his holy body and blood, and said “do this in remebrance of me.” He also washed his disciples’ feet at this dinner, a custom the Church retains during its current including Holy Thursday liturgies. The Lord also instituted a new mandate, for us to love each other just as he has loved us. This is the “mandate” from which Maundy Thursday is named. Holy Thursday also inaugurates the period called the Triduum, which stops on Easter Sunday. As you can see, this is an important date in the Catholic Church, because it commemorates the institution of the sacrament of The lord’s body and blood, and the sacrament that preserves the apostolic authority of the students of The Lord!

Second, let us recollect Good Friday. It falls on the Friday prior to Easter, and celebrates the final events in the life of Jesus, his suffering, and death. It was on this Friday that Jesus gave his life for the world’s sins. He hung on the cross, surrounded by two ordinary criminals, covered in blood, suffering, and left alone by his closest followers.The process by which he traveled to his place of death, and his final moments of suffering and death are remembered in the devotion of the stations of the cross, often used on Good Friday. This holy day is also a fast day of the Church. That signifies that Catholics are expected to eat only one complete meal, as well as refrain from eating animal flesh and meat based products on this day. This is a fast day because we mirror the suffering of Jesus, and not eating is one way to accomplish this. Basically, Good Friday is important because it is the date that our Lord gave his life for the souls of humanity. His bloody death for us overcame death and the grave, and demonstrated to us the way to endure suffering. This is the reason that many Catholics frequently use a crucifix as a devotional tool, because we are reminded not only of what Jesus went through, but his death was where the battle for our salvation happened. This is the reason that followers of Christ the world over treasure the death of Jesus so highly.

To wrap up, it is a good thing to observe Good Friday and Maundy Thursday. Each commemorates major events in the salvation of humanity, and both days are essential to the worship of the Church Catholic. So, this Holy Week, don’t forget to celebrate these two important holy days.

The essayist recommends observing the 2 feasts referenced previously, . A way is to attend a worship service on these days.

All Saints is a Christian holiday that is very popular throughout the world. Many Christians the world over celebrate this important feast of the Church, and our celebration of All Hallows Eve is partially based on customs that derive in part from The solemnity of All Saints. The day after All Saints, by the way, is All Souls Day

As an aside, I should note that I believe that a comprehension of the liturgical year is an essential aspect of Christian teaching, although a lot of Christians do not utilize this powerful spiritual tool to improve their prayer life.

The holiday falls on November 1st, and is a solemnity, meaning it is one of the most important festivals in the Church. It is an obligatory holy day, which means that Catholics are obligated to be present at Holy Mass on that day, if they are able. It is rooted in the concept that there are saints – sacred men and women, approved by God. Saints are loyal followers of God that have followed the teachings of Christ. The Catholic Church has declared they have led saintly lives worthy of being imitated. Saints are fundamentally individuals that are greatly Christlike, which is to say you can see the love of God in them.

Each day in the liturgical calendar has a saint that is celebrated that day, but The solemnity of All Saints is when the Church honors all saints, well-known and unknown. This is much like the American holiday Veteran’s day, where a lot of individuals are honored on one day. While we have information about a variety of saints, and we honor them on particular days, there are a lot of unknown or anonymous saints, who may have been forgotten, or never been specifically recognized. On The solemnity of All Saints, we celebrate these saints of God, and ask for their intercessions.

The entire concept of All Saints is intertwined with the concept of the Communion of Saints, the doctrine that all of God’s people, in heaven, earth, and in the state of purification, are connected in a fellowship. In other words, Catholic and Orthodox believers believe that the saints of God are very much alive in their souls, and are regularly interceding for us. Our connection with the saints is a tight-knit fellowship. The saints are not godlike, nor present everywhere or all-knowing. However, because of our shared communion with and by way of Jesus Christ, our prayers are connected with the heavenly community of Christians. St. Cyril of Jerusalem explains it like this:

We mention those who have fallen asleep: first the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that by way of their prayers, God would hear our petition.(Catechetical Lectures).

The Catechism concisely explains this communion among believers, through which we are united to Christ, and thus to one another. In other words, by means of our baptism, all believers are spiritually joined in Jesus Christ. On All Saints Day, we connect with all of the saints, with whom we share a deep and lasting communion. It is on All Souls Day that we connect with those in purgatory, by the way.

Many people take the occasion of All Saints Day to think about or pray to their most favorite saints. A standard custom among children is to dress like their cherished saints as their Halloween costumes. Many go as martyrs such as Saint Sebastian, who was killed by being stung with arrows. Other folks go as saints that didn’t expire quite as horribly, such as Saint Joseph. Still others will research a more obscure saint, and go as that saint.

In conclusion, All Saints Day is an important Christian holiday that honors those sacred people near to God, that lived lives fully committed to Jesus.

Are you searching for love letters? Well, I believe that unique love letters are far more compelling than canned sample ones, so I am not going to supply you any letters here, but I will give you a few general tips to compose better love notes!

Allow me to explain a bit more. Have you ever gotten something unique from somebody? You know, something made only for you. When you were a child, you likely made your dad and mom things at your school, like a homemade card for your dad. I am sure they cherished that item more than some plastic, mass-made, thing you got them. The same thing is true of love letters. It is important to write your own, individual letters. Don’t steal them from the internet or browse the web looking for them. You know what? Your special someone may be doing the same thing! They will know if you swiped someone else’s ideas, so man up (or woman up) and write your own fricking love letters! Fortunately, I give you a few general ideas below to make it easy.

Tip one: Don’t be too romantic. You might be thinking I am crazy here, but you want to keep things cool, particularly you dudes. You want to keep some tension and guessing in relationships. The minute you begin writing mushy over-the-top love letters and love notes you are basically saying “I’m yours,” which is a perfect way to both kill the connection and guarantee that you will be taking orders very soon. See here, you can say “I love you” in other ways besides being strange about it!

Idea 2: Use your own material. The most horrible romantic letters I have viewed are form letters. I strongly dislike getting form letters in business, so why would someone like getting letters that are that unoriginal? I recollect a girl in junior high composed me a series of romantic letters and they included poems. I thought they were rather cool, until I found out she took them from a teen magazine. At that point they seemed cheap. Man/Woman up and write your own love letters.

Tip 3: Do not write them all the time. Take a break for crying out loud! Nothing is worse than penning a person love letters every day (or even worse, more than that!). Individuals love what they cannot have. The more scarce you are, the more mysterious and high value you appear. If you have time to compose forty love letters each and every day, then that just screams “low value.” Take a break from writing love letters to show that special someone that you have a life. Do not be the gal or guy that has so much spare time they always bug people. Trust me, that will get tiresome fast! Within a few weeks, your relationship will deteriorate fast.

I like composing love letters, but you need to know the greatest ways to pen them, and bypass the common mistakes that people of all ages make.

I came across this the other day, and think it is right on. Saying the phrase isn’t enough. You have to show it!

There are large numbers of ways to declare I love you. You have probably been told the phrase, or even been texted the variant “I love u” myriad times throughout your history. You want to love, and make friends, go out on a date, and find romance. However, sometimes saying I love you is not enough. The unhappy fact is that many individuals overuse the phrase, and will affirm it, but not really impact another by showing it. It is worth understanding how to better mean and tell people “I love you.” Below are four clear ways to demonstrate and affirm your feelings. Anybody can do them, and I have found that they work pretty well. They were posted at iloveilikeihate.com.

#1. Be a cool, awesome, and adaptable friend
When a friend says the phrase, they mean that they consider you somebody they can trust, relate to, and have fun with. Generally, women tell their friends I love you more than males tell each other that, because women tend to view love as something more than just romance. When a woman says “I love you” to a girl-friend, she ordinarily means nothing sexual by it. When referring to a guy friend, she may mean it only in a non-romantic manner. Unfortunately, a woman may tell it to a guy friend, and the dude will get tingly and happy, but all she truly means is “I love you like a brother or a stuffed plush bear.” Trust me ladies, this is definitely not what guys want to hear from a girl. Some men will occasionally affirm their love to their chums, as long as it is obviously understood to be platonic (i.e. as a friend). Usually guys have to say it as a joke. If a man expresses his affection for a friend, he generally means he gets along with him well and finds him funny and awesome. A guy can demonstrate he cares for another guy simply by being cool, but don’t ever dare express your love, or you might get assaulted.

However, you don’t have to text I love u to show it to your friends. By simply being a cool, relaxed, and flexible person, you will show your love. For instance, if a friend does something that aggravates you, and you know that they didn’t intend to hurt or bother you, give them a break. You would want them to do the same thing for you. See, you can show you care simply by being adaptable. The more you are flexible, the more individuals will want to be near to you, and the more friends, dates, boyfriends, and girlfriends you will attract.

#2. Be Assured

When a romantic interest (such as a boyfriend or girlfriend) says “I love you” it can mean a variety of things. These words convey sexual interest, attraction, commitment, and the desire to hang out. Sometimes teenagers will say “I like you” as a way of expressing deep affection without actually saying the authentic words. It is common for teenagers and pre-teens to declare romantic intentions to each other, in part to act like grown-ups, but most of these relationships won’t last, but are we to deny that their affection isn’t actual? They certainly feel real, even if their infatuation is derived from a super-charged broth of teenage hormonal craziness.

However, as you know, just saying I love you doesn’t mean you are showing anything to anybody. One way to show love (and to get it back), is to be confident. Yep, that is right, it is about confidence. Individuals find confidence attractive and will admire you. Remember that companion you have who is so shy he can’t stand up for himself? Does he ever show you love? Likely not much, because he is too occupied getting bullied to show anybody anything.

If you are confident, you go to bat for others and make other people’s day better. You can show you care by being confident.

#3. Demonstrate it in your body language

Did you know that your body language is powerful? You can show love by doing some important things. Whether in your marriage, to your girlfriend, or with your friends, body language says “I love you” in a way that words are not able to. One simple way to show more affection to somebody is to smile. Don’t give a huge, dopey smile. A nice, kind smile will do. Also, show you care through touch. A gentle touch on the arm or shoulder shows interest. You can show a person you are interested by touching them in an affectionate and non-threatening way. Just keep it suitable because you don’t want to wind up in jail.

Yeah it has been awhile, but I have decided to occasionally visit some of my old blogs. It is hard to believe this blog is this old! Wow!