Encountering Socrates, the great Philosopher

Mmm... What are you thinking, Socrates? Oh well, you make me think deep too.

While reading on the Philosophy, the first person I found was Socrates, the eminent Philosopher although my main focus was on the saints such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine of Hippo. His interesting concept, "The unexamined life is not worth living" reminded me of Saint Ignatius' Spiritual Exercise. It was amazingly incredible, I must fess up because everything I discovered was linked with each other. Praise God for imparting upon me the foundations of Spiritual Exercise, the remarkable and handy treasure of the Catholic Church. 

Yeah, that is veracious. For me, to know that we are nothing is the authentic insight and perception. Why? To recognize our fragile nothingness is to acknowledge the supreme perfection of God, the Most High. There is a permanent part of my memory: "To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the Lord God" (Proverbs 1:7, Good News) We must have absolute reliance upon our God. This is the reason why the devil loathes us to the core. The devil does not abominate us directly because we are nothing at all! His exact scorn is only for God who loves us and lives within us. He is just mad at us because despite our nonentity, God redeemed us through the death of His Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and enabled us to enter into Paradise. Have you heard that the devil also detests the dog? Because the latter is the man's best friend! The devil would hate anything that is related to God and man. It makes sense to know that I know nothing so that I can recognize the God fully. Praise God! 

Mm.. Perhaps he is dead-on. For it is not easy to fight the ancient demons due to our brittle human flesh. But with God's graces, we can overcome our temptations. We need to wait for God to send over His graces to assist us. However, we should focus on building the Kingdom of God. As Lord Jesus said, no one who looked back while ploughing forward, is fit for the Paradise. Because if one decides to return to old sinful life, how can he possibly think of God and even desire for Heaven? We do not have to worry on how much effort should we put to fight our past demons for God is there with us through His Holy Sacraments, the outer signs of inner graces. While fixing our eyes on Him, we are processing to change and becoming better persons with the help of God's graces. Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid but look forward and move on to Heaven! 

This one cracked me up till my stomach hurt. Well, I am already married in fact. Three years ago, I consented to my marriage with God, and got married to Him and His Catholic Church through the baptism and confirmation. Still can't get it? What is the marriage for you, may I ask? Generally, in the eyes of the Catholic Church and statement of the Bible, the husband and wife become one through the consummation in the holy matrimony, and give life like raising the children through the intimate union. That is the physical marriage. However, it is essential to be spiritual too. The Catholic couples must aim for the Heaven in their holy matrimony for this is the precise purpose of bringing the spouse and children to Heaven. Likewise, the Father and the Son love each other so much that the Holy Spirit came forth from their Union. In same way, I got baptized to join union with God and His Catholic Church to become one mystical Body of Christ. As the Catholic philosopher Peter Kreef stated, Christianity is God's wedding proposal to the soul. I wish Socrates would specific what kind of marriage he intended to say. In my belief, there are three kinds of marriages in the Catholic Church. One is Holy Matrimony between man and woman. Sorry, it would not work for the same sex marriage because it is an obligation of the Mother Church to give and raise life through the mutual union of man and woman as the fruits of the marriage. Our main duty is to receive God's Word, bear fruits and return them to God. We cannot go to Heaven empty handed. Another one is the priesthood and religious life, some special marriage consecrated to God. Finally, it is the singlehood that everyone automatically received through baptism, and where I am currently in. I do not know what kind of marriage I will achieve eventually but what matters is that I am following God closely, obeying His Holy Will and fulfilling His dehydrated desires because after all, He had suffered so much and got killed just for our salvation. Out of my gratitude for Him, I took the leap of faith and undertook the insanely impossible journey in order to satisfy Him through my miniature accomplishments.

As I end this post, let us praise God! Blessed be God forever and ever! Praised be Jesus and Mary now and forever! Alleluia! Ave Maria!