MikeLigalig.com

Yogi, a 5-year-old Corgi, was fascinated by the ducklings his owner Frances Marsh brought home from a garden center in Atlantic Beach, NC. “They were in a little box, and he just leaned his head over and licked them!” But it seems the ducklings were more fascinated with Yogiâ€"who took the place of their momâ€"and they started to follow him everywhere. Frances says Yogi sleeps by the ducklings’ box and herds them by gently pushing them with his nose. Experts describe the ducklings behavior as “imprinting”â€"transferring the natural instinct to follow their mother to another human or animal who steps into the role.

Read more: http://www.cesarsway.com/news/photos/Amazing-Photos-Unlikely-Animal-Friends#ixzz2d1OuUexi

Quote from: TUBAGBOHOL.com on August 25, 2013, 09:46:02 AM
Meaning of NAPOLES Pork Barrel Scam

After rejecting liempo or sisig as the new name of pork, finally it will be the "National Assistance Program of Lawmakers Engaged in Swindling" in short NAPOLES.

Who said brotherhood was only for humans?

Quote from: chicogon on August 09, 2013, 12:20:52 AM
Bran,

I got your text message when I was in Sacramento or San Francisco but I kept running low on battery kay excited kayo sa mga sights... I'm beautiful sight-hungry monster LoL

hi hi hi hi! Awwww kuyawa pod lageh da!

Tawgan ka nako this week, okay?

You're in my thoughts and prayers, Fr. Roel.



Always I Remain,
Bran

he he he ! i missed  you guys, too! Fr. Roel, Isles, i have a song for you. In the times when I am gone just listen to this song and know that i'm thinking of you as well.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9r-jAmC6Dc#ws

Quote from: islander on August 23, 2013, 03:12:22 AM

haha! cute lagi! maka remember pod ta sa 1st grade.

Quote from: balong on August 26, 2013, 01:42:33 AM
taking up pre med at the university of central florida

Wonderful ! Remind her to balance studies and prayer. When the challenging times come, tell her to take a break and pray.

I wish her the best in her studious endeavors. May God bless her studies and her path. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Quote from: balong on August 26, 2013, 01:38:15 AM
p.s.

ajaw lagi ko himo=ang bajot. im the drama king of tbnation. when i am gone, no one can replace me. linaw na mo dinhi. pero mingaw pa sa tirana

Continue posting Nong,

Share more of your stories of your childhood and hard days. Inspiring baja.

PS. What is your daughter taking up in college diay?

Quote from: balong on August 26, 2013, 01:26:30 AM
read you loud and clear doc. just give me a few days more to vent my anger. para ma pa gawas naho tanan. sigi lang doc. apil ni sa kalingawan. para naa poy suspense ba. di man jud mawala ning away. bisan sa mga magsoon. cain killed abel

Cain killed Abel, but Cain was also accursed by Father God.

Brotherhood that is strained can be healed. Remember the Parable of the Prodigal Son? The jealous older brother was envious of his Father's forgiving nature towards the sinful and irresponsible brother? What did the Father say? Did he condone violence towards the sinful son ? Did he accurse him? No. He forgave him and encouraged his elder son to forgive and LOVE the other brother.

That, Nong, is the ideal goal we should have towards our brothers and sisters.

You are an adorer of the Divine Mercy, diba? We are encouraged to repent and also forgive each others, Nong.

Remember, don't let the seed of anger, discontent and grudge take hold in your heart. Because the devil Satan will use that for his own advantage and place himself in your life. So, get rid of anger, grudge, hatred, discontent. Ask the Sacred Heart of Jesus embolden your life and strengthen you in these corporeal challenges.

You will notice, Nong, through preservation, you will see positive changes for yourself inwardly, and also outwardly. Your family life will strengthen, and most of all, your internal peace and relationship with our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.


God Bless You!

Quote from: islander on August 26, 2013, 01:14:26 AM

Ang Iring ingon, "Hmmmm, asa man ang ilaga beh? Jatia pod ka doy! Wa man zamo ilaga !!"

Quote from: islander on August 25, 2013, 01:07:55 PM

Ingon ang tawo: "Ah, my milk provider"

Ingon ang Cow: "Ah, my oats and water provider"

Quote from: islander on August 26, 2013, 01:15:40 AM

he he he, murag ing ani si Maxine nako when I greeted her with the rest of my family this past Thursday. Ning Lukso sa arms ni Daddy Bran Bran. he he he!

Oh No ! Luoy pod intawon si Kaiser.

Ma sakit pod atong dughan og mag think ana, Isles. He is like a brother to me.

Pinangga zamo namo si Kaiser Boy.

Donate lang na sa Salvation Army, Nong! Maka use pa ang mga tawo nga di ka afford ana.

Sayang ra pod ug i-labog.

Quote from: balong on August 26, 2013, 01:19:03 AM
thank you very much doc. pero nag lisod jud ko kay di man ko undangan ni mr. hubak. sigihan lang gihapon ko ug tawag nga IDIOT, FOOL. mo second the motion pa jud si islander. pero ayaw ug kabalaka doc. i take your admonitions to heart. di lagi naho unsaon si mr. hubak. di lang ko mo pasalig unsay reaction sa ahong kaberks, to borrow from mr. hubak. di ko mo pasalig unsay buhaton sa ahong mga war buddies. kay init ug o ang uban. basin di naho ma control.

Balong,

But he is right. You're not the only fool. I am also a fool and an idiot. As everyone else. We are all fools and idiots. Everyone. compared to the Glory of God who Alone is Perfect.

On a side note, these are only words, my dear friend. Don't take it personally. Be the better man and let it go, and forgive.

I don't like to come back home to Tubag Bohol and still read the same argumentative posts here.

Oki Doki?

Quote from: islander on August 23, 2013, 03:24:50 AM

That's a REAL Hero!

Quote from: islander on August 23, 2013, 03:37:59 AM

Intawon pod.

Balong, Islander, Hubag et al,


Please listen to this beautiful Offertory Song.

And Remember, we are all but one bread of the Same Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG9T8UmN6VY#

I was gone for a bit, sobra busy ko sa hospital & school, but good to check up on you all here. I hope you're being good to everyone here, Nong. Sometimes, Nong, we meet people that have different opinions as we. However, I would counsel you to accept different opinions and understand the reasons why Lord Jesus Christ allows us, brothers and sisters, to come in communion with each other. In all things, Nong, take every comment, joking, and conversation with a grain of salt and don't take things too personally.

Above all things, be kind to one another. The act of kindness , when planted on the ground, will blossom (of course with the guidance and supplementation of the Holy Spirit) will bring forth bountiful fruits.

Be kind to each other, love each other, despite differences of opinions, we are all brothers and sisters in the same Lord Jesus Christ. We are One Bread in the Same Body. Remember that.

Life is fleeting, But God's Love is Eternal.

The confession of sins

1455 The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible.

1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly."54

    When Christ's faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, "for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know."55

1457 According to the Church's command, "after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year."56 Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution, unless he has a grave reason for receiving Communion and there is no possibility of going to confession.57 Children must go to the sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time.58

1458 Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father's mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful:

    Whoever confesses his sins . . . is already working with God. God indicts your sins; if you also indict them, you are joined with God. Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you hear "man" - this is what God has made; when you hear "sinner" - this is what man himself has made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made. . . . When you begin to abhor what you have made, it is then that your good works are beginning, since you are accusing yourself of your evil works. The beginning of good works is the confession of evil works. You do the truth and come to the light.

Contrition

1451 Among the penitent's acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."50

1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.51

1453 The contrition called "imperfect" (or "attrition") is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin's ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.

1454 The reception of this sacrament ought to be prepared for by an examination of conscience made in the light of the Word of God. The passages best suited to this can be found in the Ten Commandments, the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic Letters, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the apostolic teachings.

Article VII of the Catechism of the One, Holy, Roman Catholic Church




1450 "Penance requires . . . the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction."

VII. THE ACTS OF THE PENITENT



1450 "Penance requires . . . the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction."49

Contrition

1451 Among the penitent's acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."50

1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.51

1453 The contrition called "imperfect" (or "attrition") is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin's ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.52

1454 The reception of this sacrament ought to be prepared for by an examination of conscience made in the light of the Word of God. The passages best suited to this can be found in the Ten Commandments, the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic Letters, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the apostolic teachings.53

The sacrament of forgiveness

1446 Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace."47

1447 Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries the reconciliation of Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this "order of penitents" (which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime. During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the "private" practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day.

1448 Beneath the changes in discipline and celebration that this sacrament has undergone over the centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God's action through the intervention of the Church. The Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion.

1449 The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:

    God, the Father of mercies,
    through the death and the resurrection of his Son
    has reconciled the world to himself
    and sent the Holy Spirit among us
    for the forgiveness of sins;
    through the ministry of the Church
    may God give you pardon and peace,
    and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

VI. THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION

1440 Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God's forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.38

Only God forgives sin

1441 Only God forgives sins.39 Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven."40 Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.41

1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the "ministry of reconciliation."42 The apostle is sent out "on behalf of Christ" with "God making his appeal" through him and pleading: "Be reconciled to God."43

Reconciliation with the Church

1443 During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners into the community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God's forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the People of God.44

1444 In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."45 "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head."46

1445 The words bind and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome back into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.

Happy and Blessed Sunday to you all !

IV. INTERIOR PENANCE


1430 Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.23

1431 Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of heart).24

1432 The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart.25 Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored!"26 God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in discovering the greatness of God's love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced:27

    Let us fix our eyes on Christ's blood and understand how precious it is to his Father, for, poured out for our salvation it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance.

1433 Since Easter, the Holy Spirit has proved "the world wrong about sin,"29 i.e., proved that the world has not believed in him whom the Father has sent. But this same Spirit who brings sin to light is also the Consoler who gives the human heart grace for repentance and conversion.

I. WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?


1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin.

It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.

It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."

It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the live of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God."7 He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."

Article IV of the Catechism of the One, Holy and Roman Catholic Church






1422 "Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion."4

Around A.D. 388 Jerome writes: "If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly, he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does not do penance, and does not want to confess his wound . . . then his brother and his master, who have the word [of absolution] that will cure him, cannot very well assist him" (Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11).

Around A.D. 395, Augustine instructs his catechumens: "When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see [at the church] doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance" (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16).

So as we can see, the practice of penance has been part of the true religion since before the time of Christ, at the time of Christ, and after the time of Christ, nobody thinking to deny it until the Protestant Reformers came and gutted the historic Christian faith.



http://www.ewtn.com/library/answers/penance.htm

And of course, if we find the penitential discipline in the Old Testament and the New Testament, it goes without saying that it is found right throughout the patristic age.

Thus around A.D. 70 the <Didache> tells us: "Before the baptism, let the one baptizing and the one to be baptized fast, as also any others who are able. Command the one who is to be baptized to fast beforehand for one or two days. . . . [After becoming a Christian] Do not let your fasts be with the hypocrites. They fast on Monday and Thursday, but you shall fast on Wednesday and Friday" (<Didache >7:1, 8:1).

Around A.D. 80 Pope Clement I tells the Corinthian rebels: "You, therefore, who laid the foundation of the rebellion [in your church], submit to the presbyters and be chastened to repentance, bending your knees in a spirit of humility" (<Letter to the Corinthians> 57).

Around A.D. 110, Ignatius of Antioch wrote: "For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ" (<Letter to the Philadelphians >3).

Around A.D. 203, Tertullian records the practice of Christians and says: "Likewise, in regard to days of fast, many do not think they should be present at the sacrificial prayers [at the Eucharist], because their fast would be broken if they were to receive the Body of the Lord. Does the Eucharist, then obviate a work devoted to God, or does it bind it more to God? Will not your fast be more solemn if, in addition, you have stood at God's altar? The Body of the Lord having been received and reserved, each point is secured: both the participation in the sacrifice and the discharge of duty [concerning fasting]" (Prayer 19:1-4).

Around A.D. 253, Cyprian of Carthage writes: "Sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion" (Letters 9:2).

"Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, 'How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?' Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast" (Mark 2:18-20).

"While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off" (Acts 13:2-3).

"Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust" (Acts 14:23).

"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:8-10).

"And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth" (Revelation 11:3).

Protestants often skim over these verses without thinking about them or taking them seriously. This is shown especially in sermons on the passage from James. Protestant pastors will often tell their congregations to humble themselves before the Lord so that they will be lifted up, but they completely rob the self-humbling (more bluntly, self-humiliation) of all its content because they <fail> to tell the congregations to humble themselves in the way James has indicated, i.e., "grieve, mourn, and wail; change your laughter into mourning and your joy into gloom." Instead they will be told (if they are believers) that they don't need to do any of that to humble themselves because they have already been forgiven by Christ or (if they are unbelievers) that they don't need to do any of that to humble themselves before the Lord because all they have to do is say and believe a little prayer and Jesus will take away from them all need of mourning and weeping over their sins. The way this passage is normally preached in Protestant circles, the only people who need to wail and mourn are those who <don't> repent and thus who <don't> humiliate themselves before God. The minute a person repents and humbles himself, in a Protestant church he will be told he <doesn't> need to do any of the weeping and mourning and wailing James tells him to as part of his self-humbling.

Especially informative here are the passages where God himself or where his prophet commands fasting or other penance. These passages show that the practice of penance has God's endorsement. It is also instructive when God explains the purpose of fasting as a means of humbling oneself before the him. Because they have rejected the ancient Christian practice of penance, Evangelicals often have a hard time understanding the reason for fasting. I remember when I was a Presbyterian having one otherwise very sharp PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) teaching elder tell me that the idea behind fasting was to give yourself more time to pray by skipping lunch/dinner/whatever. When one reads what the Bible has to say about fasting, one realizes how laughable this answer is. The purpose of skipping the meal(s) is not to generate more time but to humble (or, to put it more bluntly, to humiliate) oneself before the Lord and thus seek his favor from a state of humility (more bluntly, a state of humiliation).

And of course the idea of fasting, like other penances, is clearly endorsed in the New Testament: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:16-18).

As always, a few pertinent quotes will help to document this fact. Virtually nobody who has read the Old Testament will deny that the ancient Jews did acts of penanceâ€"external deeds of sorrow and reparation for sinsâ€"as part of their spiritual discipline.

Thus before the time of Christ we read:

"Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before Yahweh. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to Yahweh.' (Judges 20:26)

"When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite: 'Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son'" (1 Kings 21:27-29)

"Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of Yahweh, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from Yahweh; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him" (2 Chronicles 20:3-4)

"There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, 'The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.' So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer" (Ezra 8:21-23).

"The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, 'Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.' When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (Nehemiah 1:1-4).

"The Lord, Yahweh Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! 'Let us eat and drink,' you say, 'for tomorrow we die!'" (Isaiah 22:12-13).

"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3).

"Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of Yahweh your God, and cry out to Yahweh" (Joel 1:13-14)

"'Even now,' declares Yahweh, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.' . . . Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly" (Joel 2:12, 15).

God thus often leaves in place a portion of the temporal retribution we deserve that this chastisement, on the model of punishing a child, may have a rehabilitative effect on us. Penance is one way in which we willingly embrace this discipline in order to learn from it, just as a godly child may consciously embrace his parent's discipline (see my piece <A Primer on Indulgences> for further discussion of this issue). Third, humans have an inner need to mourn over tragedies, as indicated by the fact Christ himself wept and mourned over tragedies, such as when he wept at the tomb of Lazarus or wailed over the faith of Jerusalem. This inner need must not be short-circuited; humans must be allowed to feel grief over tragedies (a fact which became very apparent to me when my wife died). And because our sins are tragedies, we have an innate need to mourn over them. We also have an inner need to make a gesture of reparation for our sins, even when real reparation is impossible. These are things penance doesâ€"allow us to feel the grief we innately have and need to express when we have done wrong and repented.

Unfortunately, in Evangelical circles this process is often completely short-circuited. People will immediately be told, "Hey, Jesus has forgiven all your sins! Now stop mourning them!" This is exactly like immediately telling a person whose spouse has died, "Hey, Jesus has taken your wife to heaven! Now stop mourning her!" In other words, it is an insane, idiotic and harmful thing to do. Of course, if a person mourns too much for their sins and fixates on them then he must be discouraged, just as if a man mourns too much for his wife and fixates on her death then he must be discouraged and told to get on with his life. But the point is that this must not be done right after her death, and in the same way a person must not be told to stop mourning for his sins right after he has repented of them. To do so shuts down a psychological process that he innately needs to go throughâ€"the mourning of a tragedyâ€"a process to which even the sinless Jesus himself naturally underwent.

For all of these reasons we can see how, even though Christ's atonement was superabundant to cover both the temporal and the eternal consequences of our sins, we still have a need to mourn our sins, God still often leaves in place a temporal punishment even when he has remitted the eternal one (as, for example, to teach us our lesson), and we still need to have fellowship restored with God even when we are in a state of forgiveness. It is these things that the discipline of penance allows us to pursue.

And this has been recognized by God's people all throughout the ages. The system of penance goes back beyond the middle ages, through the patristic age, through the New Testament, and into the Old Testament. It has been part of the religion of Yahweh since before the time of Christ, it was part of the religion of Christ and his first followers, and it has been part of Christianity ever since. It was not until the rise of Protestantism that anyone in Christendom thought to deny it.

There are three answers for this: First, remember the former section on forgiveness and fellowship, and how we saw that even if a person is in a state of forgiveness they may have impaired fellowship with God and need to correct this? Acts of sorrow over one's sins (penances) are a key way in which this is done. Thus, as we will see below, people in both testaments of the Bible would do penances in order to restore fellowship with God by mourning for their sins.

Second, when God remits the eternal penalty for a sin, he may (and often does) choose to leave a temporal penalty to be dealt with. Thus when he forgave David for his sin concerning Uriah, he still left David the temporal punishment of having his infant son die and having the sword pass through his house (2 Sam. 12:13ff). Similarly, when Moses struck the rock a second time God forgave him (for Moses was obviously one of the saved, as his appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration illustrates), though he still suffered the temporal penalty of not being allowed to go into the promised land (Num. 20:12). And finally, even physical death itself is a temporal penalty that is our due because of original sin, and it is a penalty which remains even when our sins are forgiven by Christ. Forgiven Christians still die.

Why does God leave or implement some temporal penalties in place when he removes the eternal penalties for our sins? Part of this is a mystery, since Christ's sufferings are surely sufficient to cover even the temporal penalties of our sins. However, one reason is to teach us our lesson. Sometimes (in fact, often) one learns one's lesson far better if one has not just a head knowledge that what one did was wrong, but if one has an experiential knowledge of its wrongness through feeling negative consequences. Thus parents often allow their children to burn their fingers a few times or tell them, "Look, I've forgiven you and we all friends again, but you're still going to have to be grounded/get a whipping/etc." Thus the Bible tells us: "And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons?â€"'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.' It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed" (Heb. 12:5-13).

It is in this sense that love and faithfulness atone for iniquity, and this is the concept behind the historic Christian practice of penance. Anti-Catholics often base their attacks on the practice of doing penances to atone, make reparations, or for one's sins. However, they fail to realize that the atonement penances involve is temporal rather than eternal. Catholics are not trying to pay off the eternal debt of their sins by doing penance. Christ paid all that off in one fell swoop almost two thousand years ago. No more payment of the eternal debt of our sins is needed. In fact, no more payment of the eternal debt of our sins is <possible>. And though it would surprise many Protestants to learn it, this precise point was vigorously and vociferously stressed by the Medieval Catholics that Protestants (wrongly) credit with coming up with the whole system of penances.

These Christians recognized the fact that Christ's merits on the cross were superabundant, that is, more than enough to cover the debt of our sins. This fact is often ignored and sometimes even denied in Protestant preaching, as when some Protestants, especially Calvinists, claim that Christ's sufferings were sufficient but not more than sufficient to cover the sins of the elect, but the Medieval Christians understood it.

The great Medieval saint and doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas, for example, writes: "y suffering out of love and obedience, Christ gave more to God than was required to compensate for the offense of the whole human race. First of all, because of the exceeding charity from which He suffered; secondly, on account of the dignity of His life which He laid down in atonement, for it was the life of one who was God and man; thirdly, on account of the extent of the Passion, and the greatness of the grief endured, as stated above. And therefore Christ's Passion was not only a sufficient but a superabundant atonement for the sins of the human race; according to 1 Jn. 2:2: 'He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world'" (Summa Theologiae 3:48:2).

This teaching was by no means unique to Aquinas, but has been the common teaching of Catholics both before and since him, as it is to this day. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the 'New Adam' who, because he 'became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,' makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience, of Adam" (CCC 411).

Yet this teaching is then a puzzlement for Protestants who deny the need for penances. "If Christ's sufferings were more than sufficient," they ask, "why then should we do penances?"

In this regard, it is helpful to note that Protestants, especially those who assert that it is impossible to lose salvation, often stress the difference between forgiveness and fellowship. They will point out, rightly, that even when the eternal consequences of one's sins have been forgiven, one's relationship with God can still be impaired. Thus even though one is in a state of eternal forgivenessâ€"what Catholics call the state of graceâ€"one may still need to repent in order to restore one to fellowship, or at least full fellowship, with God.

In the piece on temporal and eternal salvation we commented on the statement from Proverbs 16:6, "By loyalty and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of Yahweh a man avoids evil." At the time we noted that the kind of atonement this verse was referring to is temporal atonement. Now we are ready to look at the concept of temporal atonement in more depth, for the biblically-mandated practice of temporal atonement is the same as the practice of doing penance over one's sins. Penances can be formal (such as setting a day of fasting) or informal (such as deliberately going out of one's way to be nice to someone), but they amount to the same thing.

by: James Akin
Roman Catholic Apologist and Theologian

Hasten Your Holy Spirit to my assistance,
To booster my faith into a flare.
I trust You will attend to my daily needs,
And keep me as Your child forever.
Praise be Your infinite goodness:
You truly are the Comforter of mankind.

http://www.catholicdoors.com/poetry/poet030.htm

Let not evil forces weaken my faith,
Especially when I need You the most.

Please disregard such oblivious acts,
They being reactions of a corporeal nature;
Not truly a reflection of my loyal soul
And its immense longing for Your Presence.

Suddenly my faith twinkles in despair,
Casting doubts upon my delicate soul.
I then boldly dispute Your infinite love,
Overlooking past blessings received.

Lord Jesus, through Your infinite wisdom,
You permit trials to cross my path.

Quote from: islander on August 26, 2013, 12:27:31 AM
LORENZ, I'M GLAD YOU'RE BACK!  I GAVE MYSELF ONLY UNTIL TODAY AND START ASKING WHEN YOU'RE COMING BACK.  WELCOME BACK!  WELCOME BACK TO PUT MORE SENSE IN THIS FORUM.

hehehe, i was busy this weekend because my family came to visit. na mingaw pod ko ninyo tanan. mag bisita bisita lang ko diri from time to time, Tita. I missed you , too !

Faith is the greatest of Heavenly gifts:
The stepping stone of joyful treasures,
Blessed upon those who believe in God.

http://www.catholicdoors.com/poetry/poet032.htm

It attracts providential infinite graces,
Augmenting the burning longing for Jesus.
The Divine anchor is the guiding rein
That steers the soul in the right direction.

Doubts cannot budge it for it suffice
To consider one's own existence as proof
That there is an Almighty loving God.

When faith firmly coexists with the soul,
Nothing of this world can separate them.

Faith is the Divine anchor to Heaven.
It is the blessed assurance of salvation.
It is the blind faith of a child of God.

In the spirit is the strength to subdue the body!

"Those of the flesh do things of the flesh;
Those of the Spirit do things of the Spirit." [Rom. 8:5]

"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."  [Mt. 26:41]

"For to be carnally minded is death;
But to be spiritually minded is life and peace." [Rom. 8:6]

Seek to unravel the mystery of your spirit:
The spirit holds the secret to your eternal life!

Through your spirit, you can subdue the body,
For no other strength is greater than the spirit's,
Its strength deriving from the spiritual world.

The spirit is the blueprint of the physical:
It heals the body and creates the future.

Faith through the spirit is endless power!

http://www.catholicdoors.com/poetry/poet014.htm

Then He sends them out into the world;
To follow the footsteps of His Son.
Hardened by their sufferings
And softened by the love of God,
Nothing stands in their destiny;
Their only fear being the fear of God.
Chosen, they have been seasoned by God!

http://www.catholicdoors.com/poetry/poet034.htm

God is the true transforming power.
Many sufferers are moulded by Him,
Including captives of war and prisons.
Using their prolonged solitude,
God reaches them in an obscure way,
Teaching them true righteousness
And a great compassion for others.

God works in mysterious ways,
Always fulfilling His Divine Plan.
He inducts the hearts He chooses.
Did He not see St. Paul's potential?
Temporary taking His sight away,
He softened Paul's heart to His affinity,
Transmuting him into a great teacher.

You will see periods of sunny days,
Followed by stretches of cloudy days.
These are phases of livelihood that you must experience.
If you jump overboard and abandon ship,
You will see everything going wrong in your life.
When you return to your boat, which is your security,
You will experience the peace of a smoother path.
You are given a free will to choose your destiny,
And wisdom to find righteousness in the Lord Jesus.

http://www.catholicdoors.com/poetry/poet019.htm

Life can be compared to a long journey on a boat.
Your parents are the vehicle that brought you on this journey.
Once you are on the boat, there is no turning back.
Where the boat will land is a mystery to all,
That being called your mission in life.
The trip makes no promises of being smooth all the way.
As low and high waves rock a boat,
There are difficulties in life to overcome.

Under stress, you may have shallow breath.
You may try to avoid and change the topic,
Or you may sing because you are nervous.
Your comments will clash.
You may play with your hair or bite your nails.
Your hands may shift about.

You perspire, for no obvious reason.
You may feel weak in the knees.
At night you may not sleep in peace,
For your morals will bother you.
You may think your secret is safe,
While you try to hide the signs your body is giving.

But God, knows your secrets.
His love has given you many signs.
Ask Him to forgive you and give you strength.
He will lift your burden of guilt,
And return your inner peace.
So the truth can be known.

http://www.catholicdoors.com/poetry/poet033.htm

Sooner or later, your secret will be known.
You may have one or more secrets,
You hope may never be found out.
If your secrets are lies.
Many signs will show they exist.
It is obvious you are uneasy.

The colour of the skin on your face may pale.
Your eyes may show rapid movement,
Or become watery from the fear of being discovered.
You will try to avoid eye contact.
The pattern of speech changes.
Your voice trembles while your jaw tenses.

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope and pray that everyone is doing good, in good health and body. During this time, I am preparing for my doctoral dissertation research as well as my clinical rotations sa hospital. Due to the demands of work and studies, I will have to take my leave from Tubag Bohol Dot Com. It has been a very fun and interactive 6 some years here getting to know all of you! I've made some very good friends here and really inspiring individuals with life experiences that have enliven us and some that have made us ponder on the trials of life. Take care everyone!

Please include me in your prayers during this time, I will include special prayers for all of you.



Sincerely Yours,
Bran Lorenzo

Quote from: Mike Ortega Ligalig on August 06, 2013, 11:29:57 PM
yes, lorenz, the same mayor who hates trees.

Thank you, Mike.

Bitaw, well, this mayor needs to learn humility and take a note that when you are in public office, you are not immune to the criticisms of the people. In fact as a mayor one is supposed to be the servant of the people.

Is this the same mayor who ordered the cutting of the trees, Mike?

he he he you have 4 kids diay, nong? 3 girls and 1 boy?

I hope that the Philippine Army will be able to silence these terrorists. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Isang Bansa at Isang Diwa...

 So don't be depending
On feelings everyday,
Love is always there,
But feelings fade away.

© By M.S.Lowndes

God in all His splendour
Knows just how we feel,
He knows true love goes deeper
Than our feelings that seem real

In those times of wondering
When love is placed in doubt,
We must only remember,
Our love has not run out

Just like the ocean tide
Coming in and going out,
At times our love's so strong
Other times is seldom felt

We often don't feel
Love each and every day,
Just the same it's there
And will never fade away

Quote from: islander on August 06, 2013, 09:59:24 AM
very, very beautiful thread.  thanks, lorenz.  i'm going to copy this for my notes.  these bits are not only pearls, they are gold nuggets too.

Way sapayan, Tita.   

 So give it over to God's love,
Our lives, and all that we are
Then we will know and walk in His love,
For His love shall dwell in our hearts.

© By M.S.Lowndes

And He will heal our brokenness
And lovingly, He will bind
The wounds that have left us scarred
And bring soundness to our minds

For God's love is the answer
To our broken, empty lives,
As we come with an open heart,
He can dispel all the hurt inside

Love can run and embrace
The prodigal returning home
And the one that has come to the end,
Those hurting, lost and alone

Love can restore new hope
After it's withered and died,
For hope is what will get us through
And love can be its guide

Love can breathe new meaning
When there's nothing left inside,
When there's no feeling or emotion
Just dryness in our lives

Love can surely rescue
A heart in deep despair,
A heart that has given up
And no longer feels God near

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 06, 2013, 10:14:54 AM

Yes !

 You long to heal the inner man
Where we are bruised and scarred
The memories of the hurts we have
Still linger from the past

We need to give the past to you
So you can begin to mend
The brokenness within our souls,
To bring wholeness once again

Lord, you see the deepest part
Where others cannot see
And only you can feel the pain
That's there inside of me

Lord, you saw what I went through,
You held each tear I cried
You wanted then to show yourself,
To pour your love inside

I couldn't see you reaching out;
I didn't know you were there
I felt so very much alone;
I didn't know you cared

But now, as I look back, I see
You cared about my life
When I was in my darkest times,
You were there by my side

So help me now to reach to you,
To know you so much more,
To really know the depth of your love,
To know you as my Lord.

© By M.S.Lowndes

 There was once a bridge which spanned a large river. During most of the day the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass through freely on both sides of the bridge. But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river, allowing a train to cross it.

A switchman sat in a small shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed. One evening as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train lights. He stepped to the control and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance when he was to turn the bridge. He turned the bridge into position, but, to his horror, he found the locking control did not work. If the bridge was not securely in position it would wobble back and forth at the ends when the train came onto it, causing the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river. This would be a passenger train with many people aboard.

He left the bridge turned across the river, and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river where there was a lever switch he could hold to operate the lock manually. He would have to hold the lever back firmly as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble of the train now, and he took hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply his weight to it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man's strength.

Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. "Daddy, where are you?" His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him. His first impulse was to cry out to the child, "Run! Run!" But the train was too close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time. The man almost left his lever to run and snatch up his son and carry him to safety.

But he realized that he could not get back to the lever. Either the people on the train or his little son must die. He took a moment to make his decision. The train sped safely and swiftly on its way, and no one aboard was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the onrushing train. Nor were they aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still clinging tightly to the locking lever long after the train had passed.

They did not see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked: to tell his wife how their son had brutally died.

Now if you comprehend the emotions which went through this man's heart, you can begin to understand the feelings of our Father in Heaven when He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between us and eternal life. Can there be any wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and the skies to darken when His Son died? How does He feel when we speed along through life without giving a thought to what was done for us through Jesus Christ?


http://www.heavensinspirations.com/the-bridge.html

 Sometimes this is really hard to do - especially if we have been through trauma at the hands of another person. We can feel quite justified harbouring unforgiveness, but it only leads to bitterness. Unforgiveness becomes a lifestyle, a learned attitude. We may find it a lot harder to forgive any offence that happens in our lives. We need to take on an attitude of forgiveness. It is the first step in being healed ourselves. If we saw people through God's eyes, we would see a mirror of ourselves, as we all have sinned. We all have hurt someone, somewhere in our lifetime.

Remember, hurting people - hurt people. So if you're hurting right now because of some offence, will you give it up to God and ask God to help you forgive that person?

Bitterness can take a hold
But forgiving others frees our souls.



http://www.heavensinspirations.com/attitude-forgiveness.html

"...For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses..."

- Matthew 6: 13-14

 This scripture here is a promise we can hold on to when going through difficult circumstances that seem out of our control and overwhelming. There are some battles that we simply can't fight - and shouldn't fight in our own strength. Sometimes God tells us to take our positions, stand still and see His deliverance. Sometimes we need to take our hands off, stand back and let God fight for us.

We needn't fear what comes against us, but to stand firm in our faith. God knows the whole situation. Though we feel overwhelmed when we look at our circumstances, the Lord sees the whole picture and sees the way out for us. We need to let God have control and fight the battle we're facing. He has promised that He is with us and that He will bring us through.

If you are facing a battle today that seems overwhelming, give it over to God and let Him fight for you. He will work it all out, and make a way where it seems there is no way.


http://www.heavensinspirations.com/battle-is-the-lords.html

And he said, "Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: 'Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's ... You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you."

~ 2 Chronicles 20: 15 & 17

http://www.heavensinspirations.com/angry-sin-not.html

Prayer:


Lord, please help me not respond
In a hurtful, angry way
But to respond with gentle words
In what I have to say.

Amen

Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).

~ Ephesians 4: 31

 Anger is a natural emotion we all have from time to time. Even the most placid amongst us feel anger at times. It's not exactly wrong to feel anger, after all Jesus displayed anger when he drove out the moneychangers. I believe it's all in how we handle our anger.

If we respond to people and situations in an explosion of angry words and gestures, ranting and raving, then that expression is obviously the wrong way - it's merely 'venting' the anger. When we do this, it's the people around us that get hurt the most.

How, then, do we deal with anger?

I'm still on the journey of discovering how to not react out of anger. One way I believe God has spoken to me concerning this, is in this scripture: Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." It dawned on me one day, that if I respond in a 'gentle tone using gentle words', it will squash the anger inside. You see, when we 'vent' our anger it's never 'gentle', it's often loud, blunt, and hurtful with words that we wouldn't normally use. Responding in this way set's a pattern for how we respond, when angry, in the future - and on it goes! This is why I believe we are not to let the sun go down while we're still angry.