A Book Review: Timeless Christian Lessons From the Classic Romance Novel by Nicholas Sparks
For years, I was content that I have watched the film based on Nicholas Sparks’s novel “A Walk to Remember”. It wasn’t until I found a social media post asking about books that made readers cry that I regained interest in reading it.
What’s different about the book?
Would I really cry? These were just some of the questions I had when I decided to purchase the classic romantic novel.
Set in 1958, the story about Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan takes on a different period but not a contradicting theme. In fact, I think the book and the movie complement each other. …
What’s the legacy you’d leave behind?
- Only God can make you truly happy.
- Even the best of people will fail you. Don’t expect people to be like God.
- Forgive yourself and get up quickly after each fall. Let not your mistake bring you to despair, but towards the path of humility.
- Things will not always happen as planned, learn to be resilient. Do your best and let God’s beautiful plan for you unfold in His time.
- Worry is useless. We can never know what will happen next. Even if your worry comes true, remember that your worry never helped you at all. It just took away…
Mindfulness and the light of Christianity
I spent a day recently doing my research about mindfulness and meditation. I’ve long felt something uncomfortable within me about the said practices that seem to abound these days, though I just couldn’t pinpoint exactly what’s wrong with them.
Wikipedia defines mindfulness as follows:
“Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one’s attention in the present moment without judgment, a skill one develops through meditation or other training.”
The American Psychological Association (APA.org, 2012) defines mindfulness as follows:
“…a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait. …
A lesson on letting go
There will always be a pain in saying “goodbye”
No matter how much we seem to understand everything, it breaks our hearts to ever see anything beautiful die.
It seems we weren’t really made for sad endings, and parting is hardly a word we recall when we enter into a relationship.
How do we know then when to say our goodbyes?
Should a relationship end even if you still love each other?
I used to think love is all we need to keep a relationship. It sounded so simple, so tested, and so romantic. But few of us dare try to answer these questions: What kind of love do we really need? What kind of love can make a…
There are certain methods we can use to investigate the existence of God
Is it really possible to love God like loving another person?
How can we even begin to love Someone we cannot even see? But if we say we can only love those whom we see, do we also say that the blind cannot love? If we say we can only love those whom we can hear, do we also say that the deaf cannot love as well? Yet we all know such things cannot be true. For all we know, those who cannot see or hear can love even far better than we do, for they rely not on such things to know a person well.
Ah, but some may argue…
The Gift of Faith
There are times when we may wonder why Jesus did not simply show Himself and His miracles to all who did not believe.
But then another question quickly comes to mind: Would people believe then?
When Jesus still walked the earth with His disciples, He did many miracles. He even brought a dead person back to life! Aside from this, He healed the blind and many who are sick. He multiplied bread to feed thousands. He stopped a storm. He turned water into wine!
But did everyone believe in Him? No! But these even made those who did not believe…
A brief reflection
There are things God allows us to have not that we may retain possession of them, but that we may have something to offer as a sacrifice of love.
Why do we have to lose the most important things? The most important people? Why do we have to suffer such a terrible heartbreak? Such a terrible terrible loss?
We love, we give it our all. We hope, we put everything we’ve got in it. And in one moment, everything is lost! Everything becomes meaningless.
Was there ever a meaning to everything we’ve gone through? …
How countless are the ways to express your love for each other!
Say “I LOVE YOU” to HER
- Whispering sweet nothings into her ear.
2. Massaging her tired feet.
3. Painting her portrait.
4. Gently caressing her cheek.
5. Playing her a song.
A brief reflection
Forgiveness is not about forgetting. If you say that forgetfulness is all that you need to forgive, it’s like saying your wounds have healed just because you forgot you had them.
Wounds don’t heal by forgetting. On the other hand, we need more awareness and consciousness in order to bring about the healing we desire. Our only fault is that we expect the same one who hurt and wounded us to be the healer of our wounds us well.
I’m not saying it isn’t possible. …
The Importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Its Biblical Basis
When we SIN, we bring evil and suffering not only to ourselves but to those around us. We offend not only God but our neighbor, and the body of Christ, which is the Church. We ask for forgiveness so we can be healed and so we can be restored to the body of believers who make up God’s people.
While Jesus Christ has already died for our sins, we must accept His sacrifice so we can avail of His forgiveness. Jesus has also conferred authority to carry out this mission of forgiving sins to His disciples who in turn passed…
