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It was a day unlike the usual. We received a phone call saying that we passed the professional board exam! A day of good news for my Arl and me, I must say. But why was I feeling a bit edgy? You see, I was having a little problem just how exactly we will celebrate the day.
A couple of hours had passed and I was still wondering what to do when Arl’s best friend unexpectedly met and joined us in the mall. “I came to celebrate the day with you,” he said. Was I surprised? You bet I was! He was the answer to my hours of unproductive planning and imagining.
To make the story short, we dined together in a fine restaurant outside the mall, laughed over a funny movie we decided to watched, and spent the rest of the day talking while enjoying a plate of kikiam and squid balls. It was simple. Yet, it was great.
Oftentimes, we plan and think too much. We want things to be perfect. No hassle. No error. We want things and events in our lives just the way we imagine them.
There is a very big danger to thinking and planning too much. Without us knowing, this could become a habit. We can be trapped. If this happens, we will become persons who never get to action. We will become persons who are so obsessed with planning a celebration that at the end of the day we will realize that we have never celebrated at all.
Think about this: we are already given enough reasons to be happy, yet we still plan how to make happiness happy.
There is another way out of this controlling fear of being out-of-control. We can let God take control. His little schemes are far better than ours. And the only thing which God requires from us is our openness and acceptance. We should realize that it is not how perfect we plan and think. It is how God in that particular moment touches and changes us and how, as a result, we make other people share and enjoy His presence too.
God wants us not merely to be happy but to be happiest. He wants our joy to be complete. God, therefore, surprises us in many ways. He uses events, people, even the ways we so least expect. But are we always ‘in’ for God’s surprises? Are we present to enjoy His little schemes? Or are we too busy, too preoccupied to notice the little miracles that He sends our way?
I believe this is the part where we should think.
God’s Little Schemes
The Power of Seeing
Have you experienced looking for something and not finding it, only to realize later that you have been staring at it? Or have you experienced finding something you thought you will never find? Let me tell you a story.
I was half asleep one late evening when I heard my friend uttered a word of dismay. Awakened, I asked her what happened. A piece of her new sunglasses was lost she said. I saw her turned her bag inside out where she kept her sunglasses but found nothing. She looked on the table, then on the floor, but still did not find anything. I, wanting to help her, got out of bed, checked her sunglasses and found out that it was the screw she lost. With a flashlight in my hand, I started the search.
I rechecked my friend’s bag. I rechecked table. I looked diligently through every corner of the room. Yet there was nothing. My friend began to feel hopeless and told me that it is over. She wanted to terminate the search. But the desire to find the screw grew inside me. I became more eager. So I kept looking until suddenly, I heard a very light click on the floor. I knew it was the screw! I must have kicked it when I moved to the door. Slowly, I sat down to scan the floor. And behold! There was the screw lying on our doorstep – the tiny 4mm screw! Like a precious gem, I carefully picked up the screw and held it before my eyes. I was jubilant!
From the start, I had this strong feeling that I will find that screw as much as I believe that innate to every one of us is the determination and will to find what we have been searching for. I believe that if we want to find and if we believe we can find whatever it is we wanted to get, we will find it. It is the wanting, the desire, the drive, the perseverance that count, not the looking. There are no lazy eyes, only lazy minds.
God gave us two extraordinary gifts: the eyes and the power to see. What we are looking for, more often than not, is right in front of us, waiting to be found. Waiting for our attention. But the question is, “Do you want to see?” “Do you wish to find what you are looking for?” “Are the things you are looking for the things you really, truly want?” “Are you seeing what you are called to see or only the things you wanted to see?” “Do your eyes see beyond what you see?”
Like the two blind men who saw the light of Jesus in the dark (Matthew 9:27-31) and the man born blind who sees (John 9:1-40), we are able to see even the tiniest. This is a free gift, a unique power. Not [to want] to use this gift could be amountable to self-blasphemy.
Forming Choices
Day after day of your life existence, you meet circumstances that demand forming choices. In fact, forming choices is everyone's way of existence but the heart of the matter is not the art of making an excellent choice, it's whether or not you like what you have chosen. It is most meaningful that you are satisfied with what you choose and that you are delighted with your answer. After all you can never do away with forming choices some of which sometimes extremely change your life.
There are experiences that happen so unexpectedly and abruptly and you feel that it is time to make a choice. When such an occurrence happen, never be impulsive or impetuous; rather bring to mind the folk wisdom, "there are two sides to a coin." Whether your decision confines on victory or misfortune, there is always a positive and a negative side of it. What is powerful is to have the right horizon in forming a decision so you will experience it first-hand. Do not be affected by outside forces or by coercion from all sides. Rather, listen to your heart. Weigh the pros and cons of the situation at hand. You will not go wrong. Past ordeals can also lead you in forming the best choices which will ultimately give you satisfaction and tranquility. Remember that life will still go on even after you've made your decision. So, see to it that the choice is one that will give you a real sense of accomplishment. Don't choose simply because you're forced to and you have no restrain of the situation, because you'll gain no sense of accomplishment at all. The choice must give you a tremendous sensation of attaining something you aspire to, not a feeling that you opted for it simply because you had no choice. That is not living life as it should be lived. Live to the fullest. Acknowledge challenges and struggles. Then realize the choices. And decide. But bear in mind too, that you are not in full control of your existence. You must surrender to a higher power. Before making the choice, seek His guidance and you will never be mistaken, especially in matters that consider a lot in your life.
There are times when faced with many a choice, you find yourself in a quandary.
Why?
You allow too many things distort your conviction. For once in your life, make convictions that will benefit unselfish choices. Do not only consider of your own advantage. When faced with choices, consider also of the welfare of others, especially the less fortunate. Ask yourself if the choice you are to form will be helpful to a lot of humans or only to a favored few. If it will help only few, then decide on for the excelling choice. Keep in mind that when selfishness enters a dwelling place or an office, clemency instantly flies out. Always embrace the welfare of others in forming decisions. Do not let your own greedy needs be the norm.
Frequently, this is easier said than executed, but it must be executed if you are to form bright choices. This should be concerned by all who reside in a society, specifically the leaders who must perpetually regard their peoples' welfare due to the difficult times everyone's facing nowadays.
What we want now are men and women who will form choices without compromising the good of the many...
Men and women who won't let their self-seeking intentions dominate their sense of values...
Men and women who won't be apprehensive to utter the reality, no matter the stand of the people around them...
Men and women who won't falter to utter not even when the whole world reasons otherwise...
Men and women who'd be truthful as not to be influenced by riches, command, and prestige.
It may be a tall mandate for everyone, but it must be poked into if you want betterment in things around you. It must be executed, and there is no other being to do it but you.
The Story We Live and Celebrate, Part II
A Personal Review and Reflection on Liturgy and Sacraments
What I see in all of this is the image of life as a ballet or dance and all that is involved in it: the dancers, the music, the emotions, the space, the environment, the interactions, the grace and harmony, the momentary silence, the reason for gathering and all. Everything-- everyone is interconnected and plays an important part in the beauty, joy, and meaning of the dance. This ballet is not exclusive for feast or for the rich alone but for all, rich and poor alike, and all kinds of situations and events in one’s life. Life can be a wonderful ballet not only in abundance but also even in poverty – in the scenario of a dark environment and sad music (caused by death, starvation, illness, oppression, and violence) -- because we continue dancing, sharing, singing, praying to God (adapted from L.J. Gonzales, The Artist of Nazareth 1996) believing that God embraces the whole of our human experience.
Jesus is the best creative artist who lived and lives fully in time and history. He met all kinds of people and addressed their physical, psychological, social, moral, and spiritual needs. He used his faculties – sight, touch, feeling, hearing, and taste – dreams, ideas, and resources in order to transform darkness into light, conquer evil and violence with good and love, bring life out of death, and create a world of harmonious dance and dancers. For example, Jesus, naturally creative out of love, left us his masterpiece of art, the sacraments, in order to introduce us into the cosmic ballet of life and make us dance to the rhythm of God’s love and peaceful joy. More so he was always in intimate and deep communion with God and God’s creative power of loving us to the end with a love that can and will never change (adapted from L.J. Gonzales, The Artist of Nazareth 1996). Jesus never leaving the bosom of the One who He called Abba (Father) sees the beauty of human beings and of the world and loves it to the end, gathering together our scattered stories, offering and uniting them to the one true Story.
We are constantly called and challenged to model upon him especially at this time and age of our history. We are called to ask and confront ourselves as individuals, group, people, and church with questions and realities especially the ones that we are afraid to dare to ask and be confronted with. We must faithfully review, reflect and look if our liturgy (or Christian celebration) moves towards healing and transformation; is a celebration of communion forming an inclusive community despite differences and gaps; radiates and mediates meaning and hope to the world that we witness to; and makes the ‘heart’ of the celebration shines through and penetrates everyone’s life.
The life of Jesus is a ballet ever graceful, beautiful, creative, powerful, hopeful, liberating, loving, human, and cosmic. This is the story that must live in us and we must extend and share to the world. Every time the bread and wine are raised we open our minds, hearts, and soul – our entire being – to remember, to honor, and to respond to the One who says, “Do this in memory of me.”
Disturbed, shaken, challenged, enriched, I realized that there is so much to unlearn, learn and be critically aware of. Despite the moment-to-moment falls, restlessness, and scatteredness of my personal experience of the world; I am very hopeful and eager for I strongly believe that we are Easter people and our life is a never-ending liturgy; that we live and celebrate a Story fixed forever; that our God is a God who conquers evil with good and brings life in death; and our symbol is the ‘cross’. We are all these… and this is the ‘rhythm that makes our life human.’
References:
Gonzales, L.J. The Artist of Nazareth. Mexico: Editorial Font S.A., 1996.
Guzie, T. The Sacramental Basics. NY: Paulist Press, 1981.
McKenna, M. Rites of Justice. NY: Orbis Books, 1997.
The Story We Live and Celebrate, Part I
Awakened by a gloomy morning and feeling of restlessness, I sat at the last row of Liturgy and Sacraments class hoping secretly that the session would be soon over. While Fr. Peter, my professor, seemed to be very busy writing something on the board, I curiously peeped over my seatmate’s heads and read a one-line statement in bold letters that said:
This is one of the topics Tad Guzie wrote and discussed in his book, The Sacramental Basics (1981).
I started to wonder what this could mean. “The rhythm that makes life human,” I repeatedly said to myself until I was totally captured by it—my attention, my intellect, my being. The way it was stated was very simple yet deep and striking. I knew then that I would never forget this line.
As I rethink of the statement now after a few months, it seemed old yet new. Memories of the Liturgy and Sacraments class flooded my mind – the words pregnant with meanings, the laughter, interactions, struggles, resistance and tensions, the creativity and flexibility of each one, the insights and expertise of my mentors. Each succeeded to make me feel the certain concreteness and uniqueness of a day from the other. This led me to an experience of learning, relearning, and unlearning; of review and reflection; of joy and struggles to understand; and of discovering new perspective and insights. These opposing categories made the class a meaningful and colorful journey. Let me now use the concept of the statement The Rhythm That Makes Life Human in the succeeding paragraphs.
It becomes clearer for me that we, more often than not, have the tendency to be trapped in the ordinariness and business of life day after day. We are caught up working for security and stability. Things and events get routinary, structured, and raw. The world for the majority becomes an enemy to wrestle with. The time becomes short. We succumb to fear, insecurity, and anger – unable to make sense of and come to grips with the fact that we are living in a symbolic and resurrection world full of vitality, activity, and meaning. It is in this world where every experience of dark and light, abundance and poverty, pain and comfort, sorrow and joy, as well as life and death count and is significant when lived.
We need to be fully aware or reminded that in our day-to-day experiences we neither hold stories of fairy tale nor fantasy but stories significant to ourselves, to others, to the world and the whole creation, to history, and to God. Stories which create, perpetuate, and touch life in its fullness. Our life is a story [of becoming] within and into that bigger story [which has already become]. We are real, living, walking stories… God’s masterpieces in time. Altogether we hold dearly the whole story and history of Jesus which enable us to go beyond every story to far bigger reality and live fully as humans. Or rather do we?
These stories cannot be mere backgrounds and products of our multiple experiences. They call for endless celebration where they are retold and remembered. A celebration, as my mentor Fr. Brendan Lovett emphasized in one of our classes, which makes us in touch of the newness of life, lifts us up, deepens the meaning of the stories that we bring and believe in as well as our day-to-day life. The celebration also brings us deeper and closer to the Ground of our being. Tad Guzie (1981) mentioned in his book that the retelling and remembering in turn help us to re-enter everyday lived experience with a sense of refreshment and a new sense of purpose. In simpler terms, it rescues us to the rigidity and monotony of life and allows us to walk with the One who shows us how to become by living fully and who says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Moreover our every celebration -- our liturgy, rituals, and sacraments -- (must) take on new meaning, creativity, and depth. Not only does it help us to celebrate but also to be rooted again and again to our tradition and original story in a newer and more meaningful way. As Tad Guzie beautifully puts it, it restores us to our proper relationship to history and history-making… reminds us that we are fully within history but that history is also within something else. Yes, when we live our experience, we should remember and celebrate them as individuals and one people who Jesus gathered and freed once and for all. As we are brought in communion to the Father, we are becoming in history of God, people, and creation open to God’s mercy and graces -- living everything, life as pure gift.
As McKenna in the book Rites of Justice (1997) have emphasized, it is important that in our liturgy everything becomes and is connected and form intimate relationships: the people or assembly, the leaders, their work, the words and actions, the space and environment (art, music, building, furnishings and objects, hospitality, appropriateness, etc..), the unity and harmony, the silence. The liturgy (must) capture the whole of human experience, nothing excluded, blending all our stories into the one Story we all honor and remember every celebration – that story of God, who makes all things new for us. McKenna added that the story sings of only the best for God and only the best for the poor, saying the way we work, spend money, and worship, as well as do justice and charity, is all one piece. Like Joseph in a Jewish story McKenna related, we work hard all week preparing and waiting for the Sunday celebration, and after the celebration off we go refreshed and renewed to the world.
Our celebration does not end here. We are Easter people and therefore must become human mediation of God’s presence and marvel for all. Like the journeyers of Emmaus we are called to bring and share the joy we experience and like what McKenna wrote to seep out into the world like heaven in bread, like balm for all pain and sorrow, like abiding peace with justice, like glory’s radiant reflection.
This is the reason why we are being sent at the end of the celebration. As McKenna says, “it is service, another way of washing feet, of bending before one another, of committing ourselves to the practice of the corporal works of mercy, of suffering with and for one another”. We must become what we celebrate, honor, and worship.
References:
Gonzales, L.J. The Artist of Nazareth. Mexico: Editorial Font S.A., 1996.
Guzie, T. The Sacramental Basics. NY: Paulist Press, 1981.
McKenna, M. Rites of Justice. NY: Orbis Books, 1997.
RECALLING
REMEMBERING:
Everyone of us wants to recall the things that transpired in the past. Most of the time, we recall the good things -- the very first day we stepped into nursery school where we met our first friends, the program in school where we always take part of, the time we had our first crush, the significance we were able to complete our theses-- the things that made us delighted.
But then, we also recall the less pleasant experiences we had. We recall the time the teacher called us to recite and everyone else knew the answer, except ourselves. The time we finished school and we were pained to know that we could not be with our good friends anymore, like the way we used to be.
We have bunch and bunch of experiences that we know we will dote on infinitely. The happy moments, the sad moments, the tragic moments. And sometimes, it even pains us to recall.
When we received an "F" on one of our papers, we felt frustrated. When we were still learning to spell "myriad" we were groping, we were dazed. But -- didn't we overcome them all? For if not, we would have never achieved where we are at the present, would we?
Perhaps, the reason we love to reminisce is not because we want to endure to the past. As we move farther, the mnemonics become treasures for us. Through them, we have become the person we are now. Through them, we learn to keep on living. We know that we have passed the tests, and that we can also pass the tests yet to come.
THE BLISS OF RECALLING:
Recalling, one of the finest words in the English language, also happens to be one of man's finest playthings.
We recall ephemeral, carefree magnitude of our lives, and we heave and hold our breaths for effects that had been. We become fuzz-eyed at bitter memories. No matter how insignificant -- it can be the euphony of a familiar song, waft of a perfume, close similarities of places visited, meeting old friends, photographs and movies -- nearly anything can create remembrances in our minds.
It is almost a marvelous episode when one recollects. He undergoes a complete transformation within himself. He goes back to the day when he was a child, a teenager, a young man, the sort of man he was only a day ago. It is a process where he gets to size up himself in all honesty -- where he was and where he is heading to.
Our remembrances strengthen the claim that the mind does not grow old, although man does. Remembrances serve as an ineradicable videography of one's existence in a spaceship called Humus. And maybe beyond it -- no one knows for sure.
We will forever listen back to our past as long as we live, and as life goes on, we will prolong to add our compilation of remembrances. They will remain precious, infinite, and perfect in total privacy. We wish they stay with us forever.
LIFE'S SWEETISH IMMORTALIZATION:
All over the world people keep diaries to record their personal experiences, reflections, and feelings each day or at frequent intervals. All our experiences would be lost as soon as they ended, and we would lose the pleasure of happy memories as well as the agony of unfortunate moments if not for this " magnetic-lock" personal journal called diary. Often I heard "A short pencil is better than a long memory unless you are blessed with a mind like an electronic computer machine."
You'll never know how much or how little a person wants to recall life's enjoyment and agonies until he/she opens up to you, allows you a "peek" into his diary, or lets you examine his photo albums. These are all silent testifiers that tells a lot. Pictures of him and his bride exchanging "I dos" to mark the beginning of a wonderful life together; of the wedding reception made memorable by the attendance of family and friends. There would also be pictures of their first baby, his first birthday party, his JS prom, his graduation and finally his wedding. "Life is a rut, a treadmill," we always hear our elders say, in that history seems to just repeat itself, and people go through the same motions over and over again.
There would be records and clippings showing receiving well-deserved awards or promotion to the higher rung of the corporate ladder. There would be pictures of daughter's formal introduction to adult society, of doting grandparents lovingly and proudly cuddling their grandchildren. Again, there would be photos and other reminders of glory days or reverses, showing the unspeakable and unpaintable face of defeat-- in one's love or personal pursuits. All these would, of course, be recorded in that "magnetic-lock" little book called diary.
And because photographs soon fade and the embodiment in them would slowly but surely lose their faces and bodies, one can only be content to leaf through the old pages of one's personal journal to recall the good (and bad) old days with a smile, a tear, or a dot of sat.. with God's saving grace.
LIFE'S LESSON:
Not all of us value our past. Some hate it, or the things that provoke the memory, while others simply push it at the back of their mind. What we don't know is, doing so lets us miss the chance of learning lessons from those past occurences. In the end, we'll realize there really is a need for us to recall and deliberate on the things that have happened.
Often we say, "The past is dead and gone" -- what's done is done and there's nothing we can do to change a bit of it. The pain over a lost love may fade or lose power, but the memory can wait even long after it's over.
I remember this movie about Peter Pan who stopped flying; he finds out later that he can fly again by thinking of happy thoughts. We're very much like Peter Pan. What are those happy thoughts? Well, they are the good things that have happened to us, our past. We can recall about the gold old days with our family, our friends, or a loved one. It can't make us fly, but certainly it can make us feel good. If we're sad and feeling so low, a memory of happy moments can make us feel better and move us to go on with our life with reestablished optimism.
But what about sad memories-- a relationship that didn't work, misunderstanding between family members, a loved one who betrayed us, a friendship that was dismantled by jealousy? Things that went beyond our control or those that were simply disregarded? No matter how sad they may be, no matter how tormenting the pain was, one thing I can be sure of is, we all have learned from them. A learning experience that we can use in the future. Through recalling, we get to comprehend what went wrong and where we flunked.
It is said that after the rain, a rainbow follows. The lessons that we learn from each experience should not be wasted. Let's try to overcome our shortcomings and benefit on the things that we lack. It will surely make us a better person.
Memories can help us in many ways if only we know how to deal with them -- properly and promisingly.
BLAST FROM THE PAST:
When two old friends met again, one cannot just visualize the sensation and gladness they are experiencing in that occasion. Sure they're wearing old faces and just like song says, they talk about the places they've been. To get back memories is to recall the past. Recalling makes forsakenness a soothing moment.
Recalling is wealth worth remembering. Recalled memories can lighten up a depressing day, or can, in times of boredom serve as a stimulus, for it can never be tedious when you think of the good old days, right?
There are some episodes in our lives that we would always treasure: our firsts that will endlessly take spirit to us if regained from our memory bank -- like our debut, our first crush in school or in the neighborhood, our first date, the first sport we learned, and how can you forget the death in the family? And what about your first ardor?
Sometimes our hectic schedule and fast-paced life can make us momentarily forget about the enchanting things that have gone past. But we still have the supremacy and the force to recall. It only takes a little strain, and all will come flowing freely again, like water from the beginning.
SORROW: BANE OR BOON?
When I was younger, I remembered the exquisite story of a unique relationship that existed between a master and his horse. The master and his horse grew successively close together until they moved as one spirit and one mind. The hors became a dear and faithful friend to the master. Until one day, the master recieved news of his horse's death. There came a dead and lifeless look on his face that expressed the intensity of his remorse. The death of his friend horse came as an impact that he no longer cared to live on.
The above story is a touching display of human drama that reached its climax at the death of a loved friend and the ultimate death of the master himself.
Death is a subject we do not talk about with so much appreciation as when we speak about love. Death is something that's hard to easily conquer. It can be horrifying experience for someone who has lost a beloved. Death is a negative thing as well as a positive one. Negative thing because it causes deep agony and sorrow. It brings about an excruciating pain, bitterness and heartache. The terrible nick it carries may even scar and handicap the bereaved for life.
On the other hand, death is a positive thing for when a loved one dies, he is made one with Nature. He is tied to a new beginning where there's no end. He becomes a part of the loveliness of God's creation, for the livid pall of death conceals the fairest blessing His love can give.
Sorrows, be it in the form of death, dissapointments and impediments come to all. No one, whether sick or well, rich or poor is excused from experiencing it in life. Sometimes, we think of problems that cloud our reasons as castigation for nog being too close to Him. We may even speculate our sorrows, misfortune and dilemma are too much to contend with but we, do find people in our midst having double or sometimes triple the burdens we carry. It is astounding how they find a praiseworthy solution to them. As we walk along through the tangle of life, we realize that we are walking hand-in-hand with all mankind, laughing and sorrowing, not alone but with all others.
Sorrow in whatever form it may come must be faced with courage and with truthfulness. They must not find us wanting in courage and spiritual strength for didn't our Lord Jesus Himself brave all human consideration to do the will of GOD for our sake? Didn't He carry the cross of the rugged path of Calvary to reveal us that we too have our crosses to carry, alone? Shouldn't we stop accusing our heavenly Father for our prayers unanswered for He knows too well that what He does is the best for us?
Doubtlessly, there are still seemingly unacceptable crosses to be carried, but we must not fail to remember that these things shall pass away. God never meant us to worry in life. He simply challenges us to accept our cross, carry it bravely as Christ did and become better Christians worthy of this adoring care.
Sorrow is boon. It is a suffering without which we can fully understand the meaning of human existence, how it dies only to live again more beautifully than ever before. Without it, we cannot really find true happiness and peace.
LIFE... What is it all about?
Of the many topics that anyone can speak of under the sun, none is more puzzling and thought-provoking as "life". It makes me stare blankly on a starry night sky and question myself what it is after all. Does breathing the air of this world [with its protection, tribulations, and elations], that brings to us a consciousness that we are living in a magnificent blue planet, makes us feel like a speck of sand in the vast space of the cosmos? I think that there is more to expect in life. Life can sometimes seem ugly and bothersome yet it is vibrant and miraculous.
Here on earth is where life is being enacted. Here is its seemy side as well as its loveliness and magnificence. These two seemingly productive characteristics of life can be noticed if we can just be observant of its subtleties. It can be noticed in passionate cries of children at play, in the happy faces of young people in love, and in the first cry of a newborn child. However, it has also its heartbreaks written in the faces of the hungry, in the smothered cries of those who are deprived and in the unconscious waste of a battlefield. Man is totally entangled in the web of life. He, the highest form of creation in the order of things, is not just a mere passing creature in this world. He leaves behind him an ineradicable mark in the universe.
Man is the only being in this world who has consciousness and has the capacity to turn to oneself and "cogitate". For ages he has kept on asking what is life, why does it exist in this world, what is the purpose of his life, and why is there suffering. Actually, each human has his own life story to tell. It is a unique and original story. If only many of us can see the subtle conveyance of a man's face and hands, for they can transmit a lot of ideas that are unspoken about life. They speak to us and we ought to listen.
It would be a reiteration to say that man engulfed in the order of the cosmos is capable of reason, that he stands as the nucleus of creation. However the sanctified image notion now can easily be banished. One may ask himself where is the ideal concept of the human being who are at times and sad to say is diminished to a mere brute. We can get a fitting slice of what life means by this. Seeing a man fitting a single bolt in a machine that he himself has made; seeing children scavenging in stacks of garbage for a living while the elite mindlessly pass with their chaffuer-driven limousine.
Yes, life is after all a riddle and again I find myself staring and flabbergasted by this world. Again, I can find myself staring blankly and with wonder in a starry night sky musing on its radiance and wishing... wishing perhaps I knew what it is all about.
THE WORLD AND MOTHER AND CHILD
Turning the pages of the books containing various paintings, the picture that capture my imagination was that of a mother holding the baby in her arms tenderly. The painter was so resplendent to apprehend the gleam so apparent on the mother's face which unquestionably stemmed from the ardent tenderness she has for her angelic-faced baby while the infant wears that representation of fulfillment and comfort. The picture was not merely a pleasing sight for the eyes but also a disclosure of another magnitude of love-relationship takes place in this world.
Child-bearing is the turning point of a woman's life wherein a pinnacle of her essence is totally vindicated. The Hebrews considered that the greatest dissapointment that a woman could has was to be childless. For being childless was a loss of the possibilty of attaining an exceptional linkage with somebody. Mother and Child relationship is an imperishable emotional conjuction ever flourished between two persons. It commences even before the child left the mother's womb. During the conception, the child leads a sort of dependent occurence in the uterus, totally clinging upon the mother for nutrition, his survival, etc. On the other hand, the mother (while playing the "host" to the fetus, is proving purely her worth and eminence among the human species, and confirming submissively yielding in accordance with God's will) plays the sincere and benevolent host attending to the needs of her most wanted parasite. However, this affiliation between the two does not end when the body is born to face the world but more so, it only abided an imperishable relationship likely to develop between them.
Mother's love is the most authentic love that a woman can give to a human being. It surmount the excitement she felt for herself, because she denies herself totally by the danger she will undergo in giving birth to the child. For indeed, it is true that the other foot of the woman during delivery is embedded at the grave. But this risk is bravely met and withstand by the woman which confirms her love for her scion and to some women it is the fulfillment of her endearment to the husband, and still for some woman, specially the Virgin Mary, is an unambiguous evidence of her genuine love for God.
When an infant tumble from his mother's womb, he faces a world really different from his previous world. He is a total new comer to his mother's world and proximately feared everything. Everything that surrounds him must be a vast sea of mystification. But this terrible sensation within perish by the tender embrace of his mother's fingers and the warmth of her breast. As a child, he flesh out a certain attachment for his mother which ultimately evoked into trust and ending up on loving her.
In a large sense, mother's love for her child is a man's hilarous legacy to humanity. It is because of this love that a perennial of the mortal ways goes on and on. It is realizable that without this love man maybe diminish to the level of the animals which has been extinguished.
[my cry]
I am living in a circle of misfortunes,
my bones are crushed and I am down to my knees
with dirt on my face and wounds all over my feet.
Where are you God?
I cry out to you Lord, wherever you are.
Hear my plead
Hear my sorrows
Hear my cry
My cry for your light
My cry for your warmth
My cry for your love
It is you who have the power
to wash away the darkness
in my life.
And it is only you who can resurrect me from my grave.
Touch me now.
Hear me now.
Renew me now.
I surrender.
Angel Whispers
“To faithfully abide by God’s laws is never an easy task. A person who wants to serve the Lord will be disciplined and molded by the hands of God. He who follows Him will face trials and difficult battles. But remember this, although he will be wounded as much as a wounded soldier in the greatest battle of the earth, he will not perish. Remain steadfast and pure of heart. Trust in the Lord.”
GOD'S INSTRUMENT OF LOVE
We should be people of prayer... Why? Because human beings need to be in constant touch with GOD. There are times and places when formal prayers like the liturgy are most important. Even so, the rest of our prayer life should consist of informal, spontaneous, from-the-heart conversation with GOD. "GOD is the health of the soul." By listening and praying, I can get to the root of the problem in every situation. I found that either the emotional or spiritual health of the person I am counseling improves when I listen and pray.
Genuine encounter with CHRIST is a realistic awareness of self so infinite in contrast with the infinity of GOD. GOD dealt with me not because I am gifted, holy or worthy but because "GOD loves me and wants me to extend His love, His gospel to as many people as possible during my life on earth. There are many ways to the LORD. The possibility of being filled with the Spirit, manifesting His manifold gifts and fruits even though one is not a member of the Christian renewal or any other spiritual movement.
What then is sanctity? I believe that it is "doing the best job we can of living the Christian life with the talent, time, and energy GOD has given us." Let us deepen our faith more as true Christians, as GOD gives us the grace and strength we need. His love for us is endless, so let us not ignore his calling. Let us embrace Him and help Him and make a better world. It is truly unfair that until this time He is still suffering from human frailties despite the love that He is giving us – His divine love is beyond compare.
Looking back to what He had suffered, THE WAY OF THE CROSS, is never a pleasant experience. It is a long and painful walk and it requires a lot of courage, sacrifice and self-giving. It is a way of life. Christ walked up to Calvary to die on the cross and carried all the pains with patience and resignation to save us from our sin. GREAT ACT OF LOVE!
His loving Mother Virgin Mary who suffered from great sorrow filled her heart when she received the lifeless body of Her Divine Son into Her arms... What anguish? What a way to lose one's only son? The sword of death penetrated the heart of the MOTHER of CHRIST. Silently and intensely, she suffered all the agonies of her son. Mary, our beloved MOTHER and HIS only begotten Son suffered an excruciating pain. Their suffering is a tremendous act of compassion and love. It teaches us to comfort those who are grieving, and to give them consolation of FAITH.
GOD gives us the grace to will and to do what pleases Him. He gives us the grace to believe and obey Him day by day as He transforms us from one degree of glory to the next. His grace is powerful and it gives us the power to make a vigorous response. Let us all saturate our being with love, to be "in love" with GOD. Mold a heart to love and obtain a heart open and ever wider to love… a man more able to say no to self and yes to GOD, to shower himself out with prayer, to render service for his brethren and for the whole world.
God is engaging us to share in His own love, to partake in the love that is being poured out between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We should let the love that is outpouring between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit catch us up. We should let it cleanse us, form us, and manifest itself through us. If we grow in sacredness, we will be less likely to take offense and more likely be the one to bridge the gap when there is tension and pressure in relationships. We will be less likely to fall into conflict and rivalry. We will be able to hang in there… loving when things get complicated. Let us all become more capable of acting out compassion when we notice opportunities for doing good even if it is not strictly our responsibility.
A great gift has been given to us - the very life of GOD. We are not to be passive vessels of this gift but be willing subjects to receive it, stimulate it, value it, act on it, move on in the power of GOD. GOD is holy. GOD is love. As we grow in sacredness, we are grow to love for GOD and our fellow human beings.
"Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light, where there is sadness, joy. O divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Love never ends - if you live in love and with love life is wonderful and meaningful. So, why not live and be an instrument of GOD'S love?
Life is Beautiful
Man is really lucky to receive a life that he makes use of in developing his talents, skills, and expertise to lead and help others. He is the master of macrocosm. By his own ingenuity he can do myriad of effects in and for the universe he lives in: beautification, exploration, inventions, etc., which make life absorbing. For those who accomplish something, life is indifatigable; for those who create something,life is excitement and adventure; for those who lead, life is easy and for those who are distressed, life is a mere subsistence.
There are only three kinds of humans in the world: first,the pessimist; second, the mediocre, and third, the optimist. The pessimist sees the negative in things that happen; the mediocre is never affected by either pessimism or optimism; and the optimist sees the positive in things that happen. One of the most notable habitude for us to nurture is to be well-founded in everything that happens.
Most of the time we neglect the beauty of life because we are over - burdened with, worries, work, and predicaments. We let ourselves be carried away by these things. It really takes an immense of valor to be able to over-throw these pressing things. It is how we discern life that makes it beautiful. It is how we take things that come our way that makes life interesting. Our everyday variations of experiences are awe-inspiring things to cogitate and learn lessons from them.
Having a vision for the future is also one way of seeing at things in a productive way. Forget the past when you were thwarted, when u committed mistakes, when you encountered adversities, but cherish in your heart the times when you were happy, when you won success, when you learned lessons from your mistakes, and when you were blessed for such a conjuction make life beautiful.
Self Denial ---
What For?
In this push-button age of easy living, self denial, for many of us has become entirely meaningless. Nowadays, we do not even know what this word really means. Because of the advantages provided by modern technology, we no longer carry the spirit of our forebears who have crossed continent after continent, not in cushion-seated jet planes but by sweating it under the heat of the sun either in wagons, on beasts of burden or even on foot. We are losing the power to do without the extra luxuries and comforts which we assure, as our birthright, that we need not do without.
You may not know it, but those who are dominated by material desires, who live under the obsession of pleasure, will find at the end of the road, only dust and ashes of gratification beyond desire. Millions of people nowadays think of how they can enjoy themselves. People look down on work as something to be done under duress or compulsion while entertainment is looked upon as a means of gratifying man's completion of his work.
The younger generation are especially obsessed by what we call "good time".
Moreover, parental authority has become a joke -- discipline has been forgotten -- and self-restraint does not exist anymore.
But still, there is salvation for this troubled and misled planet, which does not lie in luxury, entertainment and comforts that devitalize the body and enervate the soul. It lies in the heart and will of everyone of us. Man will never know true freedom and happiness until he has tamed himself and unless he has known what it is to deny one's self.
12.28.06
This is one of my favorite verses. It reminds me that I am the daughter of the world and not my mother's alone. I feel I am not owned. I feel free but with an obligation to do good for my fellowmen. With this, I know I have a purpose --
It is tormenting to be bound by the ignorance of the times. How, where and when will I be freed from it... I don't know. But I hope the answers will be easy, here, and now...
Sigh.
The noise in my mind should soon be tamed, I know. I just have to figure out how and I have to figure it out now... or it will soon be deafening.
Despite these troubling times of being unable to blossom overnight, of failing to understand certain things at the right time... the omnipotent never fails to provide me with times of laughter and silence. Day by day, He blesses me with gifted individuals who exhibit the real meaning of sharing and giving. Most importantly, He offers me compassion and forgiveness which I thought I would never find in this vindictive world. He never fails to touch my heart. God surely never sleeps. I know He is making sure I am always safe and secure.
On Times of Refreshing
I am sickened. I couldn't bear the anguish caused by a society so oblivious and left untaught. One day, I arose from my deathbed... my life hasn't fully changed. But it did make a difference.
With all my strength, I raced away from the world that smothered me most of my existence. I ran. Far away. Without a destination in mind. I ran until I felt it was the farthest I could reach.
Before it totally disappeared before my very eyes, it delivered its final discourse.
...That everyday is a new day and a new beginning. Our passions should shine from within us -- let it refresh us from spiritual decay and heal us from torment. We should keep on going... rising with persistence and setting to rest and gather up ourselves for the next day.
I smiled. I was pleased. It was like a dream. And when dreaming, I knew I had to wake. And so I did. I woke up with a friend by my side realizing that I wasn't alone all along.
On Freedom
I'd rather die than live without liberty for it is what makes me -- ME.
On Friendship
"Friends hug, friends kiss
Friends stand by each other
Friends laugh, friends cry
Friends are friends forever."
There must have been gazilions of books about friendships... failing to read any of them is not anybody's loss at all -- for living friendships make books of friendships and not the other way around. Good friends are not bought neither are they found, but if they be found, they are found not because they have been lost but because it is the right time and place for a miracle.
Great friendships are made... molded by the hands of those involved, but without tiring efforts. True friendships are indeed gifts -- gifts that are without a doubt worthy to be kept.
On Cherished Moments
On Loving and Losing
As I gazed into your eyes, I found my home.
Time has stripped off the circumstances
of mastering your scent
and the ways you reflect,
the times you praise your god
and the songs you love,
the stories you make up
and the aspirations you desire,
-- what inspires you.
You were drawn from my side so suddenly,
that I wished to stay a bit longer in the past…
so I could hear you
smell you
touch you
feel you
-- once again.
Long have I waited for your return, but you never came.
The rain and the sunshine…
the smell of the morning dew…
and the feeling of melting in your embrace.
Set me free. Let me face my new home.
A place where I ought to be.