Today is the second day of Chinese New Year. I'm spending time at my cozy home in Indonesia. My dad closed his office for today even though it's not a public holiday. =) My brother is visiting his girlfriend's family and my parents and I are waiting for foot massage time.
At the beginning, it seems challenging to celebrate Chinese New Year (CNY) with a Lenten spirit. However, after awhile, I slowly see that reunion dinner and CNY celebration can provide many opportunities to practice little mortification.
In Singapore, we could replace the fasting and abstinence to another day, as the eve of CNY celebration when big families gathered for reunion dinner fell on Ash Wednesday, especially because the majority of its population is Chinese. Personally, I chose to still abstain from meat at least during lunch. My boyfriend and I did our fasting last week and even though it was quite tough, I decided to give up eating too much snack in his family's house =P
Nevertheless, there's a new discovery that I think may be useful to keep in mind. The most difficult additional mortification sometimes is to keep quiet when I'm tempted to be critical, be it in CNY gathering with his family or my own family. Another challenging thing to do is precisely to talk to the distant relative and ask things that is of his or her interest. I was failed at times, but on Sunday I will visit my dad's side of family as they have left home when I reached Indonesia yesterday, so pray that I can offer up these little sacrifices.
Another thing that is very encouraging is as we celebrate CNY, my Lenten resolution can also be another new year resolution. It doesn't mean that I add more resolutions, but for the past two months, I have seen where I failed most of the times, which areas I need to improve urgently, and thanks to the retreat, God has shown me how I can love Him more too in concrete ways. So this Lent and CNY celebration is a good momentum to put them into practice.
Happy New Year!! Hope we can start this Lunar New Year with a good preparation for Easter too. I guess it's not only about 'giving up' french fries or sweet drinks only, this Lent is also a chance to pick up positive habits as a sign of love for Our Lord. God bless!
At the beginning, it seems challenging to celebrate Chinese New Year (CNY) with a Lenten spirit. However, after awhile, I slowly see that reunion dinner and CNY celebration can provide many opportunities to practice little mortification.
In Singapore, we could replace the fasting and abstinence to another day, as the eve of CNY celebration when big families gathered for reunion dinner fell on Ash Wednesday, especially because the majority of its population is Chinese. Personally, I chose to still abstain from meat at least during lunch. My boyfriend and I did our fasting last week and even though it was quite tough, I decided to give up eating too much snack in his family's house =P
Nevertheless, there's a new discovery that I think may be useful to keep in mind. The most difficult additional mortification sometimes is to keep quiet when I'm tempted to be critical, be it in CNY gathering with his family or my own family. Another challenging thing to do is precisely to talk to the distant relative and ask things that is of his or her interest. I was failed at times, but on Sunday I will visit my dad's side of family as they have left home when I reached Indonesia yesterday, so pray that I can offer up these little sacrifices.
Another thing that is very encouraging is as we celebrate CNY, my Lenten resolution can also be another new year resolution. It doesn't mean that I add more resolutions, but for the past two months, I have seen where I failed most of the times, which areas I need to improve urgently, and thanks to the retreat, God has shown me how I can love Him more too in concrete ways. So this Lent and CNY celebration is a good momentum to put them into practice.
Happy New Year!! Hope we can start this Lunar New Year with a good preparation for Easter too. I guess it's not only about 'giving up' french fries or sweet drinks only, this Lent is also a chance to pick up positive habits as a sign of love for Our Lord. God bless!
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