Something interesting...

Tonight I attended two talks, one on the Theology of the Body and the other on prayer. I'm not going to go into either in detail- just highlight some quotes I heard in the two talks:

1)The price men pay for sex is love, while the price women pay for love is sex.
Male lust is men using women for physical gratification, while female lust is women using men for emotional gratification.

Nowadays it seems that women cannot commit sex crimes, either the legal sort or the moral sort. Maybe it's because men are perceived as the ones getting the most out of sex, while women are at best persuaded and at worst coerced into the act. But people don't have sex all the time, and when it comes to the non-sex part of the non-platonic relationship, women are seen as forcing men to go along with their whims. I guess the first part the can be considered physical gratification (sexual arousal on his part alone) while the second part is emotional gratification (getting men to fulfill their emotional needs alone). But who says these two situations are natural? Not God, that's for sure. God (the Trinitarian one, at least) wants men and women to be equal partners in a sexual relationship. After all, with marriage man and woman are supposed to become one flesh, like they were before God separated Eve from Adam. Therefore lust is something people should avoid. And by lust I mean focussing on one's needs alone to the exclusion of one's partner's needs. Lust is self-love, and thus goes against Jesus' second commandement: Love your neighbour as well as yourselves.

2) Just because your life is shit doesn't mean God can't use it to grow flowers.
Your vocation is you working with God for His purposes.

Prayer is not for God (the Trinitarian one). After all, He not only knows how to do His job, He has done it for eons without your help or worship. Prayer is for you. Through praying for others we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us for the benefit of others, and such a working cannot fail to change us for the better. Prayer also shows us that we are weak and powerless sinners, and therefore we need God. It creates in us a humble attitude, which helps us to humbly ask Him to make our lives better instead of simply presenting Him a list of demands as if He's a divine Santa Claus. Such an asking allows us to hear God's voice gently telling us what He wants us to do and/or be. God wants to be our friend, and us to be friends with one another (I could use the word love here, but love have many shades of meaning while friend have very few shades of meaning). So next time we pray, why don't we talk to Him like we talk to our good friends: tell Him our problems and ask Him to help us? Let's let Him find solutions to our problems and don't do the thinking for Him.

Dumbledore is gay: The Impact of (IMHO)

By now most Harry Potter fans with internet access will know about Albus being gay (don't tell me you don't know who Albus is). There's nothing in the books that clearly shows that he's homosexual, though that doesn't mean JKR cannot perceive him as gay. After all, she wrote the books, so she should have the say, while the rest of us should look on, give opinion on, and nothing more. Interestingly, at least one actor from the Harry Potter movies thought that his character(i.e. not Albus) is gay (and portrayed the character as such).



What do I think of this? That should be obvious from the previous paragraph. But many criticized JKR's decision. Some say it's a kind of gimmick on her part. Others say she tacked it on at the last minute (actually after the last minute if u know what I mean). Even worse, there are some who condemned her action for antigay reasons. I group those people with the ones who consider the Harry Potter books as teaching witchcraft and banning them. I wonder how is Harry Potter different from countless other magic-practising protagonists of fantasy novels? Why is he singled out by those witchhunters?

Today's Readings

Here's today's readings (Thu, 25-10-07) taken from Luke 12: 49-53:

I have come to bring fire on the earth – and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished! Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.