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<\/p>\nMeditating has become \u201ctrendy\u201d these days, a thing to do. Not for the sake of the soul, of course, rather for Vagely understood overall health, balanced mind, and (possibly) longer life. Fasting is also advised, twice a week preferably. Again, no connection to God, or penance or any kind of religious practice. Fast is prescribed as a weight control, to allow you to keep youthful figure and keep the body at its best. I know several sworn atheists fasting on Tuesdays and Thursdays, too \u2013 in expectation of Friday evening culinary abuses.<\/p>\n
To think that our Catholic Friday fast – from meat alone – was replaced in many western dioceses with \u201cother practices\u201d, mostly to put the Catholics on the same level as the Protestants \u2013 a false ecumenism, so common these days.<\/p>\n
Medical research, that small (and often misleading) god of our troubled times confirms the benefits of both meditation and fasting. The sooner you start the better, then… and so my teenage granddaughter was asked to bring a yoga mat to school…<\/p>\n
Meditating without Holy Scripture and fasting \u201cfor yourself\u201d is like drinking from an empty cup. No life saving water within, no real hydration. Eastern type meditations seem also to make people somehow detached, distant, less caring about those living next to them. Slim figure makes you move better, feel healthier, but if all of it is just about YOU, if you are constantly focused on yourself, how can you serve God and your neighbour? Even if the body lasts longer and functions better, will you become immortal? Cicero used to say that you cannot call \u201clong\u201d something ( he was writing about a concept of \u201clong life\u201d) that eventually ends.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So it is good to fall in love with the Old and New Testament, with our Scriptures and meditate on daily readings.\u00a0Not that it is easy at first.<\/p>\n
You have to tear yourself out of the noisy and demanding world to which you belong. You have to find a quiet spot, a quiet time somewhere. In time you can do it practically anywhere. I have seen people reading the Bible and meditating in airports, parks, university halls, even restaurants and cafes.<\/p>\n
The most important difference between God-less meditation and God-filled meditation is staying connected with the Love of your life. Knowing that Love better and deeper\u2026 becoming one.<\/p>\n
Anyone who has ever been in love with a woman or man knows the desire to know all about the object of love \u2013 his or her childhood adventures, former and current friends \u2013 everything. Here the goal of this loving curiosity is also \u2013 to become one.<\/p>\n
So you take the copy of the Holy Book and seek out the Reading for the day. One \u2013 two sentences or passages seem to beacon you \u2013 stop and let them enter your heart and mind.<\/p>\n
My favorites in the today\u2019s readings are the following words. I fell in love with them years, years ago.
\n\u201cI have waited, waited for the LORD,
\nand he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
\nAnd he put a new song into my mouth,
\na hymn to our God\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stooped toward me\u201d becoming man, spanning the abyss of difference between the created and Creator, by being born in poverty of Bethlehem, dying\u2026 He, the Lamb, stoops to me even now \u2013 forgiving my sins, taking them upon Himself, then embracing me, saving me\u2026 me and mine, me and all who turn to Him. Oh, what a joy\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason why”<\/p>\n
Maria Kozakiewicz<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meditating has become \u201ctrendy\u201d these days, a thing to do. Not for the sake of the soul, of course, rather for Vagely understood overall health, balanced mind, and (possibly) longer life. Fasting is also advised, twice a week preferably. Again, no connection to God, or penance or any kind of religious practice. Fast is prescribed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n