Universal Life Church Monastery of Massachusetts: August 2014

Thursday, August 28, 2014

LIFE: Making mistakes

People commit mistakes, they stray from the right path, sometimes knowingly and other times unknowingly. However, if one spends some time thinking in what is the right or the wrong thing to do; one will be able to figure it out for oneself. As it says “For the Truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever.”

Everyone just needs to look within themselves and seriously ponder which path to take, and surely, the right path will be apparent to them. Right and wrong may be subject to people’s perception about the small and petty things in life, but the things that matter, it stays the same for everyone. The truth is within all of us, and the more clearly we are able to see it, the better it will be for us.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

LIFE: Respect

People in this world are judged by their actions. People who do good deeds are known to be good people and vice versa. Therefore, to be respected in the eyes of your peers, family, and friends you need to have honorable actions. As it is quoted in Proverbs 20:11 “Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.” As clearly stated, everybody is known his actions, even children who are naive, which leaves no room for adults.

Doing good deeds can only make a person be respected in this world and Hereafter. Society will have no reason to point fingers or to question the person’s characters if everything is done with a good intention. Therefore, to have a peace of mind, and not be at conflict with the norms of Society and their beliefs, one needs to have honorable actions.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

LIFE: Critics

The hardest critic of man is man himself. Having committed a wrong, we condemn ourselves to a life of depravity thereafter, not thinking ourselves worthy of redemption. Because we are unable to forgive ourselves, we immerse ourselves even further in vice so as to escape from the realization of our guilt.

However, just because we lived in folly in the past does not mean there is no hope for our future. None of us is entirely bad, and by acknowledging where we went wrong, and taking past experiences as guidelines for what not to do in the future, we can rekindle hope in ourselves from these words of the Bible “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We are all given second chances: to learn from our mistakes; grow out of them as a person, and gather the strength to start anew.