Bible Verse Exchange - An interesting email received

Dear All

Just on Wed night, I've received a unique email from a friend, inviting a group of her friends (including me) to take part in an exchange of bible verses that uplift us during our challenging times, with a total stranger to us. The interesting part is, this stranger is actually a friend of my friend.

With all the viruses going on, when I saw my friend's name without a subject line, I was naturally suspicious. Then I thought, if I click quick enough to see if it is safe, and quickly get out, I should not get infected if it proves to be a fake. What made me open it was, the same friend had sent me a normal email at about the same time which I had opened, so, chances of it being a virus was almost zilch.

After opening it and reading it, I first thought it was a chain letter, which I normally won't support. Upon re-reading the contents of the email, what was unusual was the invitation was to really uplift a friend's friend by sharing a favourite bible verse of ours with another. After which, this friend's friend's name was removed entirely and replaced with the name of our mutual friend who linked us up, and then I insert my name in place of this stranger. So, it's not strictly speaking, a chain letter, unless everyone who I forwarded this invitation to, just sends it out.

I thought, it's just like paying forward. Who knows, I may be the instrument through which God needs to speak to this person.

After sending it off to more than the recommended number, I got a little worried I may unintentionally jam this person's email. I also got a little worried about the repercussions of jamming mine too. Then I thought again, hey, but my name is only forwarded once, so there's no chance of my email being flooded. However, when I sent it off, I decided to add in a subject header so that my friends know it's definitely not a virus.

The next day, the very first email with my subject matter which I received, was a decline from a friend, as he does not support chain letters. I was a little disappointed, and felt a little bruised by his rejection. Later, another email came in from the stranger to whom I had sent a verse that popped into my head, as suggested by the email, and prompted by the Holy Spirit, arrived in my Inbox. It was a thank you email, saying how the verse I had sent had directly spoken to her. I felt the other extreme of the emotion barometer. I had not made a mistake. I had been a fool for Christ and His instrument. Earlier, I thought of explaining to the friend that declined that this was not really a chain letter in the usual sense of the word. Then I thought, it's up to him to decide anyway and let it be.

Today, Friday, 2 days after I had sent off my mass mail to "pray" for this stranger (I equate it to how we usually have no qualms about praying for others, because, really, it is the same), I had received 2 emails from total strangers who shared with me verses from the bible. One was a favourite verse of mine (from the new testament); the other was not a common one, which is very powerful in it's message to me (from the old testament). It was the very same message about God never abandoning us, and constant love for us, which our Praying Parents' Session also shared on today. If you are interested, the 2 verses I received are:

1st Verse received
1 Corinthians 13: 4-6

Love is Patient and Kind

Love does not Envy or Boast;

It is not Arrogant or Rude

It does not insist on its own way

It is not Irritable or Resentful

It does not rejoice at wrongdoings, but

rejoices with the truth 

2nd Verse received

Deuteronomy 31:6

 

" Be valiant and strong, do not fear or tremble before them for Yahweh, your God, is with you;  he will not leave you or abandon you. "

 

I had sent out so many emails, yet only 2 came back to me. It's really true that the harvest is plentiful, but labourers few. Why do we send out emails that uplifted us so quickly, without thought, to numerous friends, not caring if it's mass mailing and in actual fact, creating a chain mail? Yet, when it's addressed to one person, a stranger, most likely, a fellow Catholic, we fail to act on it, feeling afraid it is supporting chain mailing, when our sharing can be a balm to that person in some way or another?

It is indeed a very interesting experiment and insight into our human nature and how we think.

Love
Theresa

Brave - The Movie from Pixar

Dear All

We just caught the movie "Brave" from Pixar.



The movie is about 1.5h long. It's a simple story about a teenage girl who loves her mom but can't take the stifling parenting of her mom. She wants to be herself. Sounds familiar right especially to those with teenagers :)

It is will this tug-of-war and conflict with her mom that Merida runs from home in a blind state and made a bargain that she soon regrets. The consequences of her rash action was dire as it affects her entire family.

Personally, I find it's not Pixar's best in terms of story line. However, the digital technology of Merida's hair, (she's the eldest and only daughter of the king & queen of ancient scotland) is truly amazing. I read in the papers that each strand of Merida's red circlet hair is unique and unfurled is very long (I can't remember the length, but it's long).

See her ringlets of hair! Reminds me of Anne of Green Gables! Both red-haired girls! :)

There are some cute scenes like Merida's little triplet brothers, all red-haired, like her. The key characters of the movie is Merida and her mother, Queen Elinor.

Merida's parents - King Fergus and Queen Elinor

We didn't stay till the end of the credits, as it was pretty late (we watched the last show of the day). If you do catch the movie, remember to stay on till the very end of all the credits for the post-credit scene, which we had missed.

It's a lovely way to spend time with the children during the Sep hols. I believe the movie is ending soon, so catch it before the hols are over, otherwise, you could always rent the DVD when it's out, and catch the post-credit scene, which I believe, most people had missed! :)

Love
Theresa

Gardens by the Bay

Dear All

Some time back, when we were at The Singapore Flyer looking at what we know now as the Giant Trees, we wondered what was inside those two gigantic glass domes. It was later reported in the Straits Times that one dome (Flower Dome) holds plants from temperate countries whilst the other called the Cloud Forest Dome has a man-made waterfall. You have to wear non-slip shoes in the Cloud Forest Dome as the floors are wet & can be slippery. I almost slipped twice here, especially on the ground floor near the entrance where the waterfall is...it's very wet. I believe Gardens by the Bay opened officially on 29 June, so we missed it as our anniversary day outing, as it was not ready yet!

Skybridge at top of Marina Bay Sands (below):

The 2 Domes & the Giant Trees (below):

The OCBC bridge linking the Giant Trees (below):

Dragonfly Park (below):

Gardens by the Bay is a huge place. There's a few MRT entrances to the place. I think the nearest MRT is Bayfront. For us, we didn't know then that Bayfront station was the nearest, so we took the MRT to Promenade station and walked to Marina Bay Sands and then walked over the Skybridge (which is where the gondola "river" is), linking Marina Bay Sands Shopping Mall to the Hotel side. From there, we can walk all the way to the gardens.

Bridge from Marina Bay Hotel to Gardens (below):

Where we came from...Marina Bay Hotel (below):

We didn't realise that the place was quite big, so we only covered the paid exhibits of the two domes. The OCBC Bridge that links the Giant Trees is best left to the evening, according to the salesgirl, as it's under open skies and can be quite hot.

Panels in Indian Gardens (below):

Upon entering the gardens, we can see from the bridge, the dragonfly pond with its 2 huge dragonfly structures. According to the map, there are other ponds around to be explored.

Before reaching the domes, we passed through the Malay, Chinese and Indian gardens.

For Singaporeans, we get to see both the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest Dome at a discounted price of $18. Just bring along your i/c for prove. The OCBC bridge is $5 per person...no discount for Singaporeans.

Tickets to the 2 domes entrance to Flower Dome (below):

Inside Flower Dome (below):

Bottle Trees in Flower Dome. The whole place is air-conditioned (below):

Overview shot of Flower Dome..a colourful place (below):

In the dome filled with temperate plants (Flower Dome), there were lots of bottle-trees! However, none of them was shaped like the beautiful bottle-tree found in the Bottle-Tree park I had written about in my earlier post. The Cloud Forest Dome is not for those who are afraid of heights. We had to take a lift to the top-most storey and slowly walked our way down the different levels of the waterfall. Re-entry is allowed for both domes. You just let the staff know when existing if you wish to return within the same day. Then, they'll give you a stamp on your hand.

We took about 3 hours all in for the 2 domes and the Chinese and Indian Gardens, strolling at a leisurely pace, reading the info plates and taking photos. And yes, photography is allowed in both domes. Seems there's a annual pass for those who are interested in entering both domes at any time for an entire year, and there are senior citizen rates as well.

Outside entrance to Cloud Forest Dome (left) were statues of lions and elephants.

The man-made waterfall called "The Fall" houses steel structures reaching to the glass ceiling of dome (below):

The start of the looping bridge at top of waterfall. This is the highest point (below):

Slowly descending (below):

 Looking down from top-most level of the waterfall (below):

Notice how far the huge ferns are from above & then zoomed up close (2 pixs below):

Entering the Crystal Cave (below):

 From below looking up. Can you see the tiny people on the loops? That's where we came from (below):

 Another view of the bridge from where we came from (below):

 Back on solid ground, we saw a pitcher plant! (below):

 Don't know if this is an orchid or a sort of pitcher plant (below):

For us, $18 per person for 2 domes is a little on the high side, however, considering that the domes are fully air-conditioned and under the blazing hot Singapore tropical Sun, the electricity bill to cool the place must be exhorbitant. I suppose the fees would help defray some of this costs.

It's a must see for at least one time.

We intend to come back another time to explore the OCBC bridge under cooler weather, and to visit the free sections of the garden which we didn't realise were there, and what's more, for free!

Love
Theresa

Great Bible Adventure - 24 Sessions with Jeff Cavins

Dear All

On our parish priest request, our neighbourhood cell started the longer version 24 weeks Great Bible Adventure DVD talks by Jeff Cavins. Our 1st session was last month (Aug) and today was our 2nd talk, since we meet only once a month.

I had attended part of this series of DVD talks in May or so this year at our parish, but as it was a weekly commitment, I think I could only attend perhaps 8 or so sessions. So it was great that this talk was initiated by Fr Edward for us. It's a fantastic video.

The 1st session gave us an overview of the Bible and specifically how not to read it. Our bible is the greatest love story ever written. It's a love that spans from the creation of the first man till the coming of Christ and the story doesn't end till the 2nd coming of Christ and the end-times.

And how should we NOT read the bible? Well, (I think I was guilty of this in the past!), we should not randomly open a page of the bible and blindly point or read a passage that our fingers or eyes happen to fall upon, and expect to know this great love story.

The way Jeff explained was really funny and really drove home the point. He took up the book "Gone with the Wind" which was about as thick and similar in size to the bible, and randomly opened a page and read a random paragraph. It was something like "Nuh, nuh, I wanna play with Sarah. She's more fun than you anyway." Then, opening another random page and reading a random paragraph "Expecting to see the scary woman who would be in charge of us every morning, I turned around and saw Rachel. Her hair was darker than midnight, and her skin had a beautiful olive tone." Ok, ok, these random passages were not from "Gone with the Wind", but I believe you've gotten the message. After reading each random passage from "Gone with the Wind", Jeff opened his eyes and mouth dramatically as he role-plays telling his wife how great this book was that his good friend had recommended him to read. But the reality in his expression was, well, he had no idea at all about what "Gone with the Wind" was about, but was just saying how great it was, just because others were saying how great the story was!

By Jeff's enactment, we clearly understood that by reading random snatches of the story a bit everyday and in no particular order, we'll never understand the entire story of "Gone with the Wind". This is similarly so with our Bible.

He explained that lots of people start read the bible diligently from the beginning to the end. Most go well going through the books of Genesis followed by Exodus, but get disheartened when they reach Leviticus. He said there's a right way of reading the bible and leaving Leviticus out at the moment is OK. The reason is very simple. We have to make sure we don't lose the main thread of this great love story by other "peripherals", which are important, but should be put aside for later, so as to understand the main story.

From what I gather, these are the books we should read in this order, leaving out the others, so as not to lose the main story.

- Genesis chapts 1 - 50
- Exodus
- Numbers
- Judges
- I Samuel
- II Samuel
- I Kings 1 - 22
- II Kings
- Ezra
- Nehemiah
- I Maccabees
- Luke
- Acts

By reading a few chapters (about 3) a day, we'll roughly be able to under the entire story that God, the author, has written for us.

Today's session, Jeff touched on Genesis - the Creation Story.

He said most people say (at least the western historians/world) that Adam and Eve are not real people. He explained that the Hebrews and even some other cultures tell history in poems or prose or in other ways. They could use symbols to represent real people or events. This does not make the events or people less real.

According to the teachings of the Catholic Church, there are 9 truths we as catholics are to believe in Genesis. I can't recall all of them, but I remember we are to take as truth that Adam and Eve are real people that existed. Another truth is we are all brothers no matter our faith, our colour, our background. Another one is we are also called to love one another as the Father loves the Son and the Son the Father and this Love is encircled by the Holy Spirit.

The other thing is about the 7 days to create the world. In Hebrew, a day just represents a period. It can be of any length of time. The world started in chaos (makes me think about the chaos theory). The 1st task of God was to bring order out of chaos so on the 1st day, He created Time---He made day and night. Jeff reminded us this creation story is the setting for something very important, and that was to create man in His own image. He also said that how the story ends depends so much on the beginning. And this is so true in Genesis. For when God made the world, it was so that man could live in it, rule over it and be a steward, loving the creatures living on it, just like God the Trinity ---Father, Son and Holy Spirit, love each other as a family, as man was called to be when He created Adam and Eve.

Another note was God created everything out of nothing. Only Eve was created out of a part of Adam. The other thing was Man was created on the same day (Day 6) with the beasts, whereas all the other creatures had their own day to be created. This distinction is critical because God wanted to show that Man is called to be distinct and unique from the beasts. Adam was created with superior intellect, an intellect that rules over his will, so that he knows that he should be obedient to God. Adam and Eve were also made to be a unit, a loving family, an image of the Holy Trinity. The other significance was the number 6 (as on Day 6) when the beasts were created. Beasts act on their own will as they do not have the intellect to know God their creator. That's why the numbers triple 6 is given to evil men in the stories from the bible. E.g. when Solomon sinned, it was because of 666 pieces of money (or something like that, I can't really remember). Also Day 7 was the day of rest meaning the Sabbath day. Sabbath was created FOR man by God and not the other way round. Basically God wants man to rise above the beasts and called to use his intellect to understand the will of God for him, and to know and love God.

Next, Adam and Eve were made to be immortal. Thirdly, they were made to have integrity. Adam was tasked to look after the garden of Eden (this ties in with the new obedient Adam, namely Jesus, and the Garden of Gethesmane) and protect it.

Jeff explained that God gave us free will, and always tests us if we trust Him by obeying His will for us as what's best for us.When evil came into the garden as a serpent (in Hebrew, it's actually a ferocious monster like a sea monster...very intimidating) it intimated Adam and Eve into disobeying God's command. The reason for such disobedience was the fear of suffering. This fear superceded the price of losing their superior intellect, their immortality, their integrity, and facing death.

Man fell at that moment. His will takes over before he can think through his actions.

Eve and all women were given the pangs of childbirth by a loving God that wants to teach her what is sacrificial and suffering love all about. She suffers the pains to give her husband the fruit of their love.

Adam had to learn what suffering love for his wife and children is when God in His wisdom made him toil in his work for the sake of providing for his family. It was because in the beginning, they were afraid of suffering, that they had to be taught that suffering love is true love and well worth the pain.

I came to understand why God test us. He wants us to have faith in Him and obey Him no matter how bad the impossible the circumstances we are in seem to be. He wants us to trust Him, no matter what happens. That's why He allowed the serpent to test Adam to see if he'll be obedient and trust Him. We are all being tested all the time, and we are all suffering at one point of our life or another. It's all part of God's wisdom...that we would appreciate something only after we lose it.

Coming back to the DVD, the setting of the plot of this great love story was a peep into what was in store for the serpent as well. A woman's seed (Mary's Child Jesus) would be put against the serpent's seed, and the serpent's head will be crashed by this woman's seed. The serpent was banished to crawl on it's belly forever. (Just my own observation...during Genesis before the fall, I guess serpents could stand upright like humans).

The rest of the Bible unfolds the plot that was set in Genesis, the first few chapters of this love story.

I know it's a long post, but both Bert and I found Jeff's explanation of the Bible enlightening. I think on our own, we'll be lost as to understand the deeper meaning.

One last point was his reference to the Cathechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) article 117 (under the section on "The Senses of Scripture". Jeff explains that when we 1st read the bible, we can understand it on the literally sense. However, as catholics, we have to understand it on the SPIRITUAL sense. Under Spiritual sense, there are 3 sub-senses, namely: allegorical, moral and anagogical senses.

What do they mean?

Allegorical sense means understanding and linking what we read to Christ. E.g in the literal sense, we understand there really was a Jeruseluem temple build during the old testament time. In the allegorical sense, we understand Jesus meant Himself to be the Temple that will be destroyed and will be build up in 3 days' time.

Moral sense means what we read in the bible should translate to how we should lead and live out our lives. E.g , we understand that we are the Temple of God, that's why we should not visit prostitutes.

Anagogical sense means (Greek means "leading) understanding the bible will lead us to their eternal significance, i.e. our true Temple is our heavenly home.

Hope you find the above sharing as enlightening as I did :)

Love
Theresa