Love, life and religion

      Yesterday when I was at mass, the priest preached about how Catholics should devout more time to prayer. And I agree. I do not pray enough I think, and hopefully with enough prayer, I get to be at peace with myself and with the world, knowing that God will take care of us.

     There is something which intrigued me though about his homily yesterday. He mentioned that there was a Catholic girl who messaged him telling him that she is very in love with this guy who is a non-Catholic and is considering marriage (something along that line). The priest said "Are you crazy?" (well that was the exact phrased he used in his homily, not sure whether he really did say that to the girl). He mentioned that one can be in love with another person, but to consider marriage, that's really dumb. He asked why would we want to make our soul suffer through these difficulty of living with another non Catholic. He did say however that conversion is possible, but the chances are slim. There are many Catholic young people, why do we need to choose someone outside the church.

     That got me thinking. And let me tell you upfront, I do not agree completely with his opinions. Marriage between people of different religion is tough, mostly due to differences in value. But are there differences in value within the Catholic church? Of course there is. Does it mean one is less Catholic than another if opinions differ? I don't think so. Are there evil people in the Catholic chuch? Sure thing. Are there good people with good values outside of the Catholic church? Plenty. That means that a marriage between people of different religion or same religion does not guarantee that it will be an easy or rough marriage. If you manage to find people whom you are compatible with, who has the same values, then great. It doesn't mean that if you find a person within the same religion, it's all going to be smooth going. It also doesn't indicate that if you find someone outside of the same religion, life is going to be terrible. There is no clear cut formula to happy marriage (how convenient it would be if there is right?)

     So now that the point is made, what makes marriage between people of different religion difficult? I think it has to do with the family as a unit, especially when there are children involved. If one is Catholic and another is not, then when children comes along, which religion will they subscribe to? If both parents are pious in their own religion, then each one might say that the children should follow their own religion, which would create trouble because now both partners are fighting.

     If one parent is religious, another is not, the pious parent might want the children to follow his/her religion, and the less pious one might say wait till the child grow to make a decision. This is also difficult because the pious parent would want the kid to grow up based on faith system, whereas the other parent does not understand the importance of it.

     This is where things get tricky for there is no easy solution. For pious parents, the argument might lead to "my God is greater than your God" or "my religion is better than your religion". Maybe one may not say that out loud, but there's meaning behind wanting the child to follow one's religious beliefs. For partners where one is religious and another is not, the non religious parent might argue that "Do you think we are unable to raise our kids good enough?" argument. And as I said, there is no easy way out because both parents have different beliefs about life and death, moral values and importance of living.

     The important thing for couples before they get married, is to iron out all these possible difficulties, even if they are from the same religion. This would be the best way to live harmoniously. If I do get married, I would definitely want my children to grow up as Catholics. That's because a big part of who I am today comes from my Catholic upbringing. I think I am a moderately decent guy, and I am not saying that there are no decent guys out there, but I am, and would want to raise my kids the way I know how, and one part of it is the church. Differences in values should be ironed out, regardless of religion.

I should really pray more.

God Bless~

    

    

Close to a year

     It's been close to a year now that I have been in the Denton -> Texas -> US. The year has not come to an end yet, but I think it's about time I update my blog with what has been happening throughout this 1 year, or almost a year. When I first got here, I was taking 9 credit hours (3 classes) and I do not have any work. I was very very very very very free then. It was fun because I had much free time to roam around, seeing events, and having more time to socialize with people. I was also looking for job frantically because I cannot afford to not have a job. I found a part time job, 10 hours a week, dealing with kids. I love kids, so that job was not bad. I still had time and Spring passed.

     During summer, I did not take any class because I would want to work full time, 40 hours, and immigration requirement, if I want to work full time, I cannot be taking classes. I need the money to support myself for Fall, and so I worked full time. Everyday it was going to office at 8, ends at 5, and I worked in 2 separate part time jobs, 20 hours each/week. So it was 8 till 12 in one place, 1 - 5 in another place. My work place was not awesome, and pretty stressed. What I feel more than stressed, is the helpless feeling I sometimes get from not being able to help students.

     After work, I will go to the gym once in a while. There wasn't anyone who plays volleyball during summer. I suppose many are not on campus, so it's pretty sad. I will come back from work, go to gym if I did go, and then cook. I shifted out from the dorm and into an apartment. Although summer was mundane because it was work everyday, my weekends were pretty ok since I get to go groceries shopping. I also got to go to Kansas City, which was nice. :)

     Fall came and I found a new job, a Graduate Assistant job which pays me well. Hurray! Thank God for all His blessings. 20 hours, and I am taking 4 classes. Contrary to Spring, I am very very very very busy this semester. Work, then class, then volleyball, and in between there's tutoring (because I became a volunteer tutor) and was the President of International Counseling Student Club, so I need to plan for events. During the weekends, I had volleyball tournaments and I got to go to San Antonio, Texas A & M, and University of Arlingon which was pretty nice.

     During this semester, I think I did not go Asian groceries shopping for 10 consecutive weeks. I need to get a trophy for that I think. XD Got to experience Thanksgiving. But on a whole, I think this semester I have been socializing less with people. Others are busy too and there just isn't time for chilling around. It's been months since I have been to Secret Recipe. Previously it's like a monthly event. Hahaha.

     I am happy with how this year is coming to an end. I have definitely learnt a lot in my classes, especially through the experiential learning. Gained some insight about myself and others. Miss my family and friends back home. Discovered that there are a lot of evil doings around the world and I am disturbed by it. Sometimes I think the world does need a superhero. Denton has spoilt me in many ways with it's traffic, weather, people and very affordable standard of living.

     Will go to Disneyworld, Universal Studio, Miami and Keywest next week. That is how my year is gonna end!

God Bless~