Hypocrisy and the proper motive for all our actions

 

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

IN a number of instances, Christ lamented over the hypocrisy of some of the leading Jews of his time. At one point, he said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.” (Mt 22,13) And more “Woe to you’s” followed after that.

What in the end Christ was trying to tell us in these instances was that if our motive for all our actions is not love for God which will always involve love for everybody else, we cannot avoid falling into self-indulgence and all other forms of selfishness and egoism which we try to hide. In short, we cannot avoid playing the game of hypocrisy.

We need to realize deeply that all honor, praise and recognition should be given to God alone since he is the source of all good things. If we would just pursue our own idea of what is good, we can only go so far before we end up doing crazy things which we would try to hide or rationalize.

We have to familiarize ourselves with this Latin expression, “Deo omnis gloria” (To God be all glory) because that is how we should articulate our motive for all our actions. We actually are nothing without God. Without God the only thing we can do is evil.

Thus, St. Augustine once said that there is a fundamental choice we have to make in all our actions. It’s always a choice between loving God and loving ourselves in a way that excludes God. We have to make sure that we make the right choice of loving God always.

For that, we have to make some conscious effort to really offer everything we do to God as our way of giving glory to him which, in the end, is what should characterize our relation with God. To be blunt about it, we have been created by God to give him glory, that is, to love him, to follow his will, which is what would make us God’s image and likeness as he wants us to be.

But given our wounded condition due to our sins, we really need to ask for God’s grace and to exert our all-out effort. Perhaps, a prayer we can make in this regard would be the following: “Incline my heart according to your will, O God.”

It’s a passage that is drawn from a psalm (119,36) that expresses a plea for God to guide our heart, our will, affections and desires towards God’s will and away from worldly temptations.

It’s a plea that would certainly help us lead to the ideal unity and consistency of life, one that is lived with God always as it should be. That’s because as God’s creature, we are meant to belong to God. But also, as a rational and spiritual creature, we are not meant to belong to God in a merely physical way. We have to belong to God knowingly and willingly, to the point of sharing his life and very nature.

Thus, when we are not doing things with God and for God, we are contradicting the proper relation we have with God who is our Creator, Father and Redeemer. We would just be living and doing things purely on our own that has no other end but to be in the wrong side.

What makes Sauerbraten so unique to Germany, and why do some versions use horse meat instead of beef?

Volker Eichener

Professor at Hochschule Düsseldorf

Sauerbraten is one of the few remaining dishes from medieval cuisine which can be traced back to Roman cuisine. The typical elements are:

• a sweet-and-sour taste, which was very popular in medieval age
• using a lot of exotic spices like pepper, laurel, cloves, cardamon, coriander, mustard seed, allspice, cinnamon, ginger
• thickening the sauce with gingerbread
• adding raisins (or other fruit) for extra sweetness

Sauerbraten is marinated in a mixture of red wine, vinegar, spices and vegetables for 3–7 days, so it is also a way of preserving the meat. Then it is roasted and the sauce is made from the marinade and thickened with gingerbread. At the end, you add the raisins which swell up to grape berries again in the sauce.

The founder of French cuisine, La Varenne, abandoned the medieval cooking style and introduced modern cuisine. So, he finished the sweet-and-sour sauces, the ample use of spices and thickening the sauces with breadcrumbs. However, in Germany, with its many small principalities, the medieval Sauerbraten survived.

Originally, Sauerbraten was a dish for nobility which was made with venison. For poorer folks, beef became a substitute for venison. And horsemeat is another substitute. Sauerbraten is an excellent way to prepare horsemeat because it complements the slightly acidious taste of horsemeat.

Sauerbraten, Rhineland-style with horsemeat and raisins

BTW, another medieval dish that survived in Germany is Pfefferpotthast, a beef stew with exotic spices.

EDIT:

I was asked for a recipe for Sauerbraten. Here it is:

Ingredients:

1 carrot, diced

1 onion, chopped

1 piece of celery, diced

1 heaped teaspoon cloves

1 level tablespoon peppercorns

3 bay leaves

1 heaped tablespoon dried juniper berries

1.5 kg beef (or horse or venison), e.g. brisket

0.75 l red wine (preferably a full-bodied red wine, e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon)

0.2 l vinegar (preferably balsamic)

Ingredients for the sauce:

additional red wine, as needed

100 g raisins

crumbed gingerbread, as needed

pepper, cloves, cardamon to taste

1 piece dark chocolate

Method:

Brown the vegetables in a little fat (preferably lard), add the spices, stir once, and deglaze with a splash of red wine. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Then let it cool and add the remaining wine and vinegar. Marinate the meat for 3 to 8 days, refrigerate, and turn occasionally.

At the end of the marinating time, strain the marinade. Puree the vegetables and spices. Dry the meat, season with salt, and brown it all over in fat (preferably lard) in an ovenproof casserole dish or goose roasting pan. Pour in the marinade and the vegetable and spice purée. The meat should be about half submerged in the marinade; add more red wine if needed. Cover and braise in the oven at 140°C (top and bottom heat is better than fan-assisted) for at least three, preferably five hours. Turn the meat occasionally.

One hour before the end of the cooking time, add the raisins, gingerbread, and chocolate. When the meat begins to fall apart, remove the pan from the oven. Stir the sauce well – it should be very creamy (add more gingerbread if necessary) – and season to taste with the spices. Finally, stir in the cream.

This dish goes well with pasta, spaetzle, dumplings, or potatoes, as well as baked fruit (apple sauce, halved pears, cranberries) and cruciferous vegetables (e.g., red cabbage, pointed cabbage, etc.).

The Blood Moon Is Coming!

 

The Blood Moon Is Coming!

On September 7, 2025, the sky will host a breathtaking event: a Total Lunar Eclipse — also known as the Blood Moon.

On this night, the Moon will slip into Earth’s shadow and glow a mysterious deep red, a sight that has inspired myths, legends, and awe throughout history.

Don’t miss this rare celestial show!

Capture the moment — and share your view with the world.

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Laufey's new album, 'A Matter of Time,' explores anger, love and more

 

Laufey poses for a portrait on Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

By Associated Press

Published Aug 20, 2025 10:44 am

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Long before the Icelandic Chinese artist Laufey became recognized the world over for her neoclassical jazz-meets-pop music, she was a student, answering a familiar yearbook prompt: “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

Her answer: Move to the U.S., sign a record deal and win a Grammy. The 26-year-old has done all three.

“I must have been so confident to write that because I remember that being a very far-sought kind of thing,” the musician born Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir told The Associated Press.

Those aren’t her only accomplishments: She’s collaborated with Barbra Streisand, shared the stage with Hozier, Noah Kahan and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. An unexpected nonconformist to the rules of contemporary pop, Laufey’s third album, “A Matter of Time” out Friday, pulls inspiration from country and Icelandic folk music as well as classical and bossa nova sounds.

“My ultimate goal is to introduce young audiences to jazz music, to classical music, to encourage them to learn instruments and explore their own sound,” Laufey said.

In a recent interview, Laufey discussed her new album, embracing anger on the record, working with her twin sister and more. Responses are edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: What’s the story behind the title “A Matter of Time?”

LAUFEY: I knew I wanted the album to have time as a central theme. I was just so fascinated by how it’s kind of like this one thing that humans have no control over, and sometimes we want to speed up and sometimes we want to slow down, but ultimately it’s out of our control. And there’s something romantic about that to me.

Now its taken on a little bit of a different meaning in that it’s basically me baring my soul to the world and baring my soul to a lover. And it’s kind of like, “a matter of time until you find out everything about me.”

AP: The end of “Sabotage” felt very jarring, which is unexpected. Are you embracing anger on this album?

LAUFEY: For sure. I think I was never allowed to embrace anger. I was a very good kid growing up. I was very polite and very quiet. I used this as a way to show that you can be angry, and rather, to show also that you can be both a soft, spoken person while still harboring anger.

I think the understanding of women and characters has so much been like one or the other. She’s like this, she’s a mad woman, she a soft, sweet woman. Like, we’re all everything.

AP: How do you compare this album to your past projects?

This is just the most free I’ve been. I wasn’t following any type of compass in that I wasn’t trying to create something as education. I was more so just making music from the heart. I just approached with a whole lot more confidence, even though the album’s all about anxiety and learning about oneself and insecurity and delusion. And it’s tapping into emotions that I maybe wouldn’t have dared to tap into before. It is the most confident I’ve been, because I don’t think I’d have the confidence to put out the music in this album before.

AP: Your twin sister Junia is credited on the album. What’s it like working with her?

LAUFEY: It’s so special. We do everything together. Like, she does everything, pretty much, — other than the music, the literal music making — she has her hands in.

All the merch, that’s all her. The album covers, all the creative, like, music videos, everything — she’s such a part of the project. And then she literally plays violin on some of the songs. I know so many artists who talk about how it can be quite lonely, but I’ve never really been alone. Like, I’ve always done it in tandem with my sister.

AP: You’ve spoken about the importance of Asian role models. I think you’ve become one

yourself.

LAUFEY: I grew up in a very, very different, like, homogenous Icelandic community. I didn’t see people who looked like me every single day. I saw my mom, that was it. And I guess I saw my identical twin sister, who looked exactly like me. But it’s so powerful, seeing someone who looks like you, that you can look up to.

I already see more representation, but there’s still such a long way to go. I’m still a half-white Asian woman, you know? And I don’t want young Asian women to look up and see all of the stars in front of them be half-White either, because what kind of message is that sending? So, I don’t know. Anything I can do to lift up voices, create those communities, and empower young Asian artists to do their thing, that’s, like, at the center of my philosophy.

AP: You’ve done all the things you said you wanted to do in your yearbook. What’s next?

LAUFEY: I’d love to score a film or do, like, a theme song to a film, preferably a James Bond theme song, because that’s, like, my dream. But it’s so hard to say because I’ve ticked off all those simple things off — many are big, but the tick-able ones. I hope I’m still making music and I still hope that I love it.

Jesus of Nazareth demanded child abusers to be held accountable

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen, Founder since 1974 The news in the Philippines these days is focused on impeachment, changing the Constitution, and other mundane political matters. The public, Congress and government agencies are far from addressing the needs of children who are sexually and physically abused by relatives, human traffickers and online predators, and the seeming social acceptance that allows the abuse to happen. The country’s justice system needs reform, and while many judges are working hard to deliver justice to child abuse victims, many others are not. Some have overloaded court schedules, causing a number of child-abuse cases to languish up to two to three years in some family courts. Such manufactured delays prolong the suffering of the child victims. In a letter to the Preda Foundation in October 2023, Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva said that out of 183 statutory family courts, only 106 are organized. They are clogged with many important cases. Child sexual abuse cases are about traumatized children, and they need special and immediate attention and speedy justice. As they say, justice delayed is justice denied. Special children’s courts need to be established by law, with highly trained prosecutors and judges to bring justice and healing to the abused children. The convictions of their rapists would be a strong deterrence to would-be child abusers. During a visit some years ago, Mama Fatima Singhateh, the United Nations’ special rapporteur for online child abuse and trafficking, said the Philippines should pass a law setting up a special children’s court. This is needed to hear and quickly resolve child abuse cases. It is hoped that children’s rights advocates in the Senate would work on this proposed legislation. Meanwhile, telecommunications corporations and internet service providers (ISPs) must be held responsible for the uncontrolled transmission of images of sexual abuse of children beamed from the Philippines to pedophiles overseas. A corporate policy to deploy effective artificial intelligence-driven software is absent. Those allowing child abuse to happen are as guilty as those committing it. The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) has said as many as 2 million Filipino children have reported being sexually harassed and abused online. Due to stigma and fear of scoldings, most children do not report such abuse. With cheap mobile phones and low-cost internet access, the number of victims is likely to double or triple the known figure. Every child is vulnerable. The figures for child sexual abuse victims globally are sobering: one in three girls, one in every five boys. Consider how people abuse their own offspring. What is seriously wrong with the human race? Humans are supposedly the world’s most intelligent creatures, with large brains. Most, apparently, have very low moral values. We are a damaged species, indeed, waging brutal, senseless wars against ourselves, driven by greed and ambition, with millions of people killed and wounded. Pedophiles and child abusers are waging war against children by raping and abusing them. Generally unknown, ignored The great values taught by Jesus of Nazareth to respect, protect and care for children are generally unknown, and his call to bring abusers to justice is also generally ignored. This is the great failure of the institutional Church. With exceptions, it mainly counts success on the number of baptized members, and most of its clerics are isolated and removed from the suffering of people, particularly victims of human rights violations. Most of the clergy repeatedly perform rituals and give irrelevant theological speeches. As an institution, the Church has lost its main purpose to transform society by motivating people to actively do good and oppose every evil with the conviction that they will win. This is faith, aimed at creating a society where equality, justice, truth, freedom, and human rights and dignity are experienced daily. Many clerics have abused and are abusing children themselves with impunity and are protected by silence and inaction. This has disgraced the institution with regard to child protection. Only by the courage of some of its true leaders and dedicated members of the People of God does the light of truth and action for justice for children continue to burn brightly. A recent Unicef-Interpol report said 90 percent of the online grooming for sexual abuse of children occurred on Facebook. However, it is still clear that the majority of child sexual abuse acts are done by family members. Child defenders and nongovernmental organizations are campaigning and educating students, parents and teachers to report abuse and help child abuse victims get justice. What people can do is to oppose the seeming social acceptance of and apathy over child sexual abuse by institutions and the wider public. About 40 percent of mothers of the 62 sexually abused children in Preda’s therapy home have chosen to protect their rapist husband or partner rather than standing with their children to demand justice. This is devastating emotionally for the children. When judges postpone hearings, the children’s suffering increases. Church authorities must act against the abusers in their ranks and end impunity. The Church must become a beacon of child rights by cooperating with truly independent children’s rights’ organizations to pursue justice for the victims. They should end the obstruction of legal action and allow offenders to be brought to justice in the civil courts. The Church’s internal safeguarding program should bring those clerics to justice in those same courts. Only when a strong movement of people realizing the extent of child sexual abuse and demanding action by all authorities would there be hope to reduce it. If not, the abuse will continue to grow.

Experte räumt mit gängigem Renten-Irrtum auf – „Zwangsgelder“ vom Finanzamt drohen

Stand:19.08.2025, 18:17 Uhr

Von: Sandra Sporer 

Dass die Rente steuerfrei ist, ist ein Mythos. Selbst Rentner, die bisher keine Steuererklärung abgeben mussten, können schnell in die Steuerpflicht rutschen.

München – Wer vor dem Jahr 2005 in Rente gegangen ist, hat Glück: Er muss keine Steuern auf seine Renteneinkünfte zahlen. Für alle Rentner, die seitdem ihren Ruhestand angetreten haben, sieht die Sache jedoch anders aus. Ihre Renten unterliegen der sogenannten nachgelagerten Besteuerung und müssen zum Teil versteuert werden, wie die Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV) erklärt. Rund 40 Prozent aller Rentenempfänger müssen heute bereits Einkommensteuer zahlen – Tendenz steigend.  

Auch viele Rentner müssen eine Steuererklärung abgegeben. © Zoonar/Imago

Die DRV übermittelt alle relevanten Daten automatisch an das Finanzamt. Sprich: der Fiskus weiß genau, welche Rentner steuerpflichtig sind. Viele Rentner hingegen sind sich nicht bewusst, dass auch sie zur Abgabe einer Steuererklärung verpflichtet sein können. Geschieht dies dann nicht, drohen „Zwangsgelder und Verspätungszuschläge“, warnt Rudolf Gramlich, Steuerexperte vom Lohnsteuerhilfeverein Steuerring, in einem Interview des Sozialverbands VdK. „Außerdem kann das Finanzamt die Besteuerungsgrundlagen schätzen. Dies wirkt sich in den meisten Fällen nachteilig aus.“   

Steuerpflicht für Rentner ist von einem Faktor abhängig

Ob ein Rentner eine Steuererklärung abgeben muss, hängt dabei von der Höhe des Einkommens ab. Liegt dieses unterhalb des Grundfreibetrags, besteht keine Pflicht zur Abgabe einer Steuererklärung. Liegt es darüber, muss sie eingereicht werden. Laut dem Bundesfinanzministerium liegt der Freibetrag 2025 bei 12.096 Euro für Alleinstehende und 24.192 Euro für Ehepaare.

Allerdings ist nicht die gesamte Bruttorente steuerpflichtig. Der steuerpflichtige Anteil richtet sich nach dem Jahr des Rentenbeginns. Wer 2025 in Rente geht, muss 83,5 Prozent seiner Rente versteuern – der Rest bleibt als individueller Rentenfreibetrag steuerfrei. Er ist für die gesamte Rentenlaufzeit festgeschrieben. Wer indes zur Einführung der nachgelagerten Besteuerung seine Rente antrat, muss nur 50 Prozent der Bruttorente versteuern. Der Prozentsatz wird seitdem jährlich angehoben. Ab 2040 werden Renten dann zu 100 Prozent besteuert.  

Zehn Steuer-Tricks: So sparen Sie bares Geld bei der Steuererklärung

Fotostrecke ansehen

Steuererklärung als Rentner: Abgabe kann sich durchaus lohnen

Ein weiterer Fallstrick für viele Senioren sind Rentenerhöhungen. Allein durch die diesjährige Rentenerhöhung wurden zehntausende Rentner erstmals steuerpflichtig. Allerdings kann sich die Abgabe einer Steuererklärung für Senioren durchaus lohnen. So können dort beispielsweise verschiedene Pauschalbeträge geltend gemacht werden. Zusätzlich sind Vorsorgeaufwendungen wie Kranken- und Pflegeversicherungsbeiträge absetzbar.   

Die Rentenbesteuerung wird in den kommenden Jahren immer mehr Senioren betreffen. Rentner sollten ihre Steuerpflicht deshalb regelmäßig prüfen und bei Unsicherheiten professionelle Hilfe in Anspruch nehmen. Geht es nach Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz (CDU), sollen Senioren jedoch schon ab 2026 von der Pflicht zur Abgabe einer Steuererklärung befreit werden. Stattdessen soll es eine pauschale Rentenabzugsteuer geben. (sp)

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A MISTAKEN BELIEF

 

A mistaken belief is a conviction or idea that is false or based on faulty reasoning. It can stem from misunderstandings, lack of information, or cognitive biases. Mistaken beliefs can have a significant impact on behavior and decision-making, potentially leading to errors in judgment and actions. 

 

A mistaken belief accompanies each and every one of us daily. Incorrect decisions and wrong doings are part of our daily life.

It is almost a ridiculous fact that man wants to know certain truths about mundane things. But really he seems least interested in even mundane truths as can be read many times in newspapers for example. There seem to be too many rash judgments, and the readers absorb these and make them their own. A fatal attraction!

This is sometimes referred to as journalistic mentality wherein accusations are generously made without proof. Evolution started this trend, when scientists stated for example that man evolved from the apes, without proof. The only proof they had was the missing link, and if I am not mistaken, it's still a missing proof until now.

To look for proofs is a mental activity, which is no longer a common thing nowadays, because it takes really time, effort and is too serious to think about. Yet, in Christian education, thinking right is very important.That's why Philosophy is important in Christian life. To avoid error in thinking, the rules of right reasoning must be studied and mastered. Is it really totally neglected in today's modern education?

Thinking is actually an enjoyable activity but when one is pressured to get a good job for one's sustenance, then the other more mundane becomes attractive. After all, great thinkers often do not get (good?) jobs... .

Spiritual writers like the British Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) noticed that mankind had stopped thinking even two centuries ago. That was during his age. Man probably stopped thinking even earlier. He has ceased many times to search for the truth. It's easier to listen to gossip and believe in it. What a sign of weak minds!

Too often are we blind to the truth and as a consequence we easily believe in lies we only have to like it. Too bad, if people always like to close their eyes and ears especially while experiencing the delusion of error.

 

PhilHealth members to get up to P20K free medicines yearly

Starting August 21, members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) may avail up to P20,000 worth of outpatient medicines annually under the enhanced Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment (PhilHealth GAMOT), the state-run insurer announced Monday, August 18. Read more