Breaking News: Bombs in Jakarta (about 20 minutes drive from here )

Lord have mercy! Today for Indonesians is another day of shame and sorrow, because just this breakfast time this morning, the bombs were exploded in Southern part of Jakarta (in JW Marriot Hotel and Ritz Hotel), about 20-30 minutes drive from here (where I live in campus). Shame, because this will be another 'black notion' and will be the remembrance of our (my) country's impediment struggle against extremist terrorists. Sorrow, because we are weeping for the victims, not only those 6 killed souls in location and many more afterward, but also for our Indonesian souls, and also our humanity universally. Lord have mercy!

This same road in the front of these hotels is the same road which we used to pass through whenever my friend Andy and I drove home after the trip mission accompanying Father Daniel. And certainly after this calamity, I with heartfelt pray for my beloved brothers and sisters, for those who became victims of this shameful human tragedy in this fallen world. And thus, I pray the Psalm of Protection, Psalm 91

1. If you live in the shelter of Elyon
And make your home in the shadow of Shaddai,

2. You can say to Yahweh, “My refuge, my fortress,
My God in whom I trust

3. He rescues you from the snares
Of fowler hoping to destroy you;

4. He covers you with his feathers,
And you find shelter underneath his wings.

5. You need not fear the terrors of night,
The arrow that flies in the daytime,

6. The plague that stalks in the dark,
The scourge that wreaks havoc in broad daylight.

7. Though a thousand fall at your side,
Ten thousand at your right hand,
You yourself will remain unscathed,
With His faithfulness for shield and buckler.

8. You have only to look around
To see how the wicked are repaid,

9. You who can say, “Yahweh my refuge,”
And make Elyon your fortress.

10. No disaster can overtake you,
No plague come near your tent;

11. He will put you in His angels’ charge
To guard you wherever you go.

12. They will support you on their hands
In case you hurt your foot against a stone;

13. You will tread on lion and adder,
Trample on savage lions and dragons.

14. “I rescue all who cling to Me,
I protect whoever knows my name,

15. I answer everyone who invokes Me,
I am with them when they are in trouble;

16. I bring them safety and honor.
I give them life, long and full,
And show then how I can save.”
(Jerusalem Bible)

For those who want to read the news about this, click here (Yahoo) or here (USA today) or here (LA Times).
Lord have mercy!

Uncorrupted

This is another reflection from my reading of St. Nektarios' Christology. Honestly, I am illiterate about philosophical world (so don't worry, this will not be 'on sky' thought), and thus, I am a little bit amazed when I was reading a beautiful part of this book which encounters the philosophers' (certain group of French thinkers in18th century-which strove to impose the idea of perfectibility of human beings and later developed the idea of deism) claims. Realizing my ignorant and poor knowledge, but I am very glad with the radiance of Christian faith in its simplicity and beauty and its radiance is beyond the merely made-up thoughts (even may be) of the 'great' philosophers of the world.

The bold red line which I can see from the deceitful teachings of those ideas of cosmism, acosmism, pantheism and any other man-made "-isms", is that the attempt to understand God, Who is our Creator Who is also much bigger than ourselves in the perspective of weak and corruptible of their minds.

His ways is not ours, who can understand His Perfect Way and grasp his Great Wisdom? The attempt to analogize God as humanly passionate one in our fallen state of mind and corruptible thought is certainly dangerous and can create deep pitfall (in case of the philosopher, for example). What is more, to view and to comprehend either Him, or about His relation with His creation or any of His attributes: His Justice and or Holiness, etc. with the reference as if He were like us, to react and to act in certain way like we do. No. It is true that we are the ones who are created in His image, but we are corruptible, but He is uncorrupted, yes, He has had made himself in the very state of ours, except in sin. How could we build the image of Him who are Perfect and Benevolent from our poor and corrupted state? (in sense of who is image of who--), and this means we cannot imagine God as such and such by using human being as a mirror, instead we need His Revelation, The Wisdom from above. He himself is the One Who is able to reveal any truth to us, by any means, through His creation, prophets, and everything in His Benevolence toward us and yes, the highest and greatest ever in the human history by His Incarnation, i.e. by Himself.

And by that, I am amazed to remember How our God in His Benevolence entered to our lowest reality in order to redeem, to restore, to heals and to lift us up, so that we can be like Him, because He loves us and has created us to be with Him in eternity (in Javanese philosophical language: Manungaling kawula [lan] Gusthi--Theosis). I am amazed of Thy Love, O Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!

Harmony and a glance of Joy

Whenever and wherever then I entered a Church and stand there with my simple fellow friends, brother and sister to pray and worship Him Whose Beauty is beyond measurement and description. I simply can't hold my joy and my amazement to be in his temple. Tears dropped and I can not but give thanks to Him for his mercy that He allowed my nation to be granted such Ancient, Beautiful and Childlike faith.















And also, realizing how simple, faithful and struggling the church is, this adds to my heartfelt and contrite yet joyful heart. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

(These photos (including photo above) were taken by my friends last month during the pastoral visit of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion. How beautiful it is the harmony of local culture and the beauty of the faith and behold, how we, Indonesians are enthusiastically and joyfully celebrate and expect for the truth). Please pray for us, beloved brothers and sisters. If you want to see Indonesian Mission activity, click here.

bear it all with love, with joy and firmness

(Glory to God! For those who have read this posting more than once, you might find little changes and reconstructions. This is the edited version. A very kind friend of me offered me some corrections and I am gladly accepting them. Thank you!)

However arid the desert,
the harsh light of the sun will not be able to wither you
because there will always be springs provided,
yes, even from the hardest Rock the water will flow.

Far more than that because once He said,
“Whosoever drink from Me will not thirst again.”
Glory to Him! And put your trust in Him!

However stony and silent,
the sandy winds howling here and there,
can it overpower His countenance and the ineffable peace which He grants?
*

However painful and harmful the thorns,
the storms and thunders and darkness that assail,
will they not be ashamed before the Ever-Mighty Victor?

*

However wild the current of the river,
His saving arm will vouchsafe us to the other side.
*

Only, my soul, never forget His goodness.
Trust, follow and abide in Him whatever it will take.
Fear not the sword of man
for however sharp and piercing it is,
it is powerless to diminish you,
it will not last long.

*

For death has no eternity,
it is life that has it.
Wherever, whenever, always ask His mercy to heal and cleanse and purify you!
For the Life-Giving Spirit is at your side, everywhere present,
leading you unto Himself, into His Love and into His Life.
*

Glory to You, O God! Glory to You!

monkey the dancer

Christians must arm themselves against the abominations of this world. They must be armed against every attack and against all temptations, so that every evil rebounds from them. Armor is not made in a day, nor in two days but is diligently and laboriously wielded by long-lasting exercise. Of what value is all our virtue if we succumb to the first abomination? Speaking of this, Saint Gregory of Nyssa cites an example with a monkey in Alexandria. He says: "An animal trainer in Alexandria taught a monkey to skillfully impersonate a female dancer on stage. The spectators at the theatre praised the monkey who was dressed as a female dancer and danced to the beat of the music. But while the viewers were occupied observing such a novel spectacle, a comedian wanted to show everyone that a monkey is nothing more than a monkey. While they all shouted and applauded at the skill of the monkey, the comedian tossed sweets on the stage, sweets that monkeys particularly like. As soon as the monkey saw the sweets, he forgot the dance, the applause, the expensive clothing and jumped with his paws for the sweets but as his dress interfered, he began to tear it apart with his nails attempting to remove it. Instead of praise and amazement, laughter commenced among the viewers." For through the torn mask of the "dancer," a monkey was revealed.

(From The Prologue from Ohrid, by St. Nikolai Velimirovich )

The Source of the acts of mercy

Every person has his/her own unique blessing and personality. Even the struggle and the battle they have to face is very specific one, however he/she is not alone in those battle. How great is our God that He knows all things about us in our very being and nothing is hidden before Him.

For me, that specific struggle might be the giving heart. I realize how my financial struggle had given force to me to be concerned and unfortunately for myself. "Yes, it is OK to talk anything, but please don't talk about that matter", I spoke in my heart.

This time, it has been long enough that God has taught me a merciful heart, what is it and how is it and I come to know very poorly and little by little that I don't have any power from my own to do even a single act of mercy. This has to come from the True Source of mercy, God himself to grant me (us) the merciful heart even in a single or small one. However, since God has granted us the freedom in loving Him, it is very necessary to have our will to be trained and submitted freely unto Him.

And merciful God provides us each time and moment the opportunity for this. I see and taste it these weeks, when He miraculously gave (and in fact, everything that He allows me to be with me until now is miraculously given) me according to His will, answering my needs through his beloved servant very abundantly. And unexpectedly, some friends which I have never found asking help of me, they asked. At first, I am a little bit reluctant to act, because this is not mine but His and I fear to be unwise to use what he trusted me. But who am I, that if God want to help them and I resist Him to do it? However, realizing my unwise and naive thought I pray to Him, that may even this little act not done in my poor and corrupted will but according to His will. This is not of mine-- because what is mine? It is absolutely of Him, the source of everything good. Listen this O my weak soul!

Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Behold your Ksatria

Recently, a great friend of me gave me a wonderful book for me to read. This is the book written by St. Nektarios, entitled CHRISTOLOGY. As I scan-read this book once before I read it, I am very moved by the book overview in the back cover, "..., that sincere reader will find it difficult not to confess with enthusiasm that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the perfect God Who became perfect man." Indeed, it is.

In the first part of this book discussed about How the nations expect the coming of their Savior, and that Jesus Christ is the Perfect Fulfillment for the eternal desires of their Redeemer and of Life. St. Nektarios mentioned some of them, such as Jews, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Persians, Indians, Arabs, etc.

And after reading this great part, I come to reflect this and yes, even Indonesians, Javanese in this case-- also expect the coming of Messiah. From the ancient traditions which is planted in my heart as a Javanese by my community when I was a child and also those which taught by my parents, I can recall some of the 'philosophy' which depict so clearly the expectation of The Redeemer. Here are some of them:

*Guru swadaya*

(The True Mighty Teacher)
God will teach the people about life, way and truth by Himself and leads them to salvation.
***
*Heru cakra*
(The sphere of The world)
He who is coming will be called Ratu Adil (King of Justice), will deliver his folks from the enemy, slavery and establish his ever-tranquil Kingdom, which is a new heaven and earth (heru cakra).
***
*Hyang kalingga surya*
(A King whose body will be radiant like the Sun)
He is the king who bear light in Himself and will enlighten the people without discrimination. The symbol of the Sun also emphasizes the certainty of His coming just like the sun must be coming in the morning. (and this reminds me to the Transfiguration of The Lord).
***
*Satria (Ksatria) pinandhita sisihan wahyu*
(Holy King who owns the Revelation)
A noble and high King (Ratu Adil) who will Reveal himself to the world and conquer power of darkness (Kala Bendhu).
***
*Satria (Ksatria) mukti wibawa kesandung sampar*
(A King with Great Power, preaches the deliverance and victory but will be betrayed by his own).
***
*Satria (Ksatria) piningit hamong tuwuh*
(Prince of sorrow who bears his people's sorrow)
He will give himself as the ransom of his people. He is Righteous man but will have to suffer from mocks, slanders, and sorrow but after that He will hide Himself in gadang-gadang (high place) and will be with his people and deliver them from danger [secretly].
***

Those are some of the teachings which very common among Javanese communities which compose 62% of country's population, for me as well. They're spoken or even written and chanted in Old Javanese, derived from Sanskrit. Javanese desire for truth, wisdom and the way of life. These ancient teachings are delivered to us from mouth to mouth for hundreds of years through symbolic languages and so strong implanted in our hearts, even after the colonialism and the entering of far religions. And amazingly, I found the perfection of these teachings in the Holy Scripture, icon of Him, The Christ!
My beloved brothers and sisters in flesh and blood, O Javanese and Indonesians, behold your Ksatria, True, Wise and Bright King, Lord Jesus Christ!

Please pray for us, my readers :)!

NB: If you would like to here the traditional music of Java (in Old Javanese as I told you above), you can download here and here:). Again, in my joy, I would like to invite for those who can read Romanian, Father Dorin in Romania has translated it in to Romanian, click here.

Glory to You O God, Glory to You!