A Glimpse and a Glance

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Spirit Moments

I know that I am weak. I am often wrong and I stumble. I know I am always in need of mercy and forgiveness. I am not a big time sinner like a crook or a murderer or an adulterer. Maybe because even there I am too much of a coward to do my sins big time. So, I entertain the evil thoughts in the secrecy and privacy of my mind or do my evil deeds on the sly. That makes me a sneaky scoundrel and even more deplorable. Yet, God is always there ready to give me his pardon and forgiveness. All I have to do is ask.

Even as He is always ready to love and forgive, God does not tolerate my wickedness and the evil in me. Instead, He constantly challenges me to overcome my weakness and corruption, my iniquity. He knows my evil thoughts and he tells me these are just as reprehensible as actual deeds. He knows my evil tendencies. He tells me to cut these off rather than my whole person being corrupted because of them. In fact, He asks me to grow from merely avoiding sin to actually doing good.

In my heart of hearts, I know I can do and be better than what I am now. I see good things. And with God, I can make them better. I seek the truth. And with God, I will know all the truths in my life. I love what is beautiful. And with God, he makes all things beautiful. Even in my weakness and sinfulness, God gives me a glimpse, a glance of the fullness, the goodness and the utter beauty of the life that is yet to come.

Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call; of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,  everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.”
Matthew 5:27-30

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To Love and Forgive, Be Brave

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Life is full of disappointment, conflict, bickering, and struggle. Some of these are of our own making. Others are inflicted on us by others, either unwittingly or out of spite and hatred. Most, if not all, come from the fact that we have to live and work with other people. If people were to live giving in to these negative feelings and tendencies, life would be hell – as it is indeed in places where people are unable to move beyond these negative emotions.

Love and forgiveness are not easy. It means swallowing one’s pride. Others can interpret love and forgiveness as weakness and take advantage even more. But love is able to give without giving in. And forgiveness is willing to forget but remembering the lesson. In the history of man, anger and conflict has only led to a cycle of unending recriminations and violence. Only love and forgiveness can break that vicious cycle.

These days, one of Jane’s favorite songs is “Be Brave”. She sings it so often, it has become an ear-worm playing incessantly in my brain. But it reminds me that one has to be brave in order to love and forgive.

Innocence of silence
Won’t do you any good
Did you think it would?
Let your words be anything but empty
Why don’t you tell them the truth?

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

It is right to praise you in Zion, O God.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 5:21-26

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The Grace of Serendipity

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Spirit Moments

I do not remember what my dreams were last night but I knew I was crying during most of my sleep. My eyes were still smarting and wet when I woke up this morning. Sleep is an amazing phenomenon. I notice that lack of sleep more than diet or lack of exercise can drive up my blood pressure up really quick. During sleep, my body rids itself of toxins I have accumulated during the day. My psyche puts my spirit together again after being broken into pieces by the heartaches and traumas of the day. I truly get healed and become whole again during sleep. I wake up in the morning refreshed, renewed and rejuvenated. I am literally a new person each morning.

Thus, there is a certain order in things that make a lot of sense but never easy to understand. If there is a time for rest, there is a time for activities. Yes, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. Often, things seem to happen randomly in my life. Chance encounters abound. And I simply love experiencing serendipity. And yet, after a while a certain pattern emerges of me being led and guided every step of the way. I realize that nothing is random. Everything that happens in my life tells me that I am loved and cared for by some unseen Presence who loves me more than I or anyone else can ever do.

I sometimes doubt the reality of this Presence in my life, that I am truly loved and cared for, that I have indeed been born for greater things. Yet, it is only in surrendering in trust and confidence in Him that my life really starts to make sense. I hold on to His promise that my stay here on earth is not over until everything he has ordained for me has come to pass.

Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.”
Matthew 5:17-19

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The Beatitudes of True Love

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Right now, I am despondent. Someone dear and close to my heart is hurting because of unrequited love. No human experience can surpass the thrill and joy of falling in love. But the danger in falling in love is that one can get up one morning and find that love is gone. For love to be true, it has to be a decision that is renewed everyday, with every act, at every opportunity. Otherwise, it is just as easy to fall out of love.

In times like these, words would seem hollow and anything I could do would seem inadequate. I can only offer unspoken words and in that silence be present and stay with this beloved person. I go back to yesterday’s Gospel – the Beatitudes – and I reflect on them again this morning, with this beloved person in mind.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they create a space of detachment to allow the God of Love to establish His kingdom in that emptiness. Then, the Kingdom of heaven will be theirs.

Blessed are they who mourn, for in their sadness they come to realize their inadequacies and shortcomings allowing the God of life to bring all their incompleteness to completion and their nothingness into the fullness of life. Then, they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for it is only in an environment of kindness and gentleness where true love can grow and prosper, not in a milieu of grasping and wanting. Then, they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they soon learn that love for righteousness will allow for the faults of loved ones and in the end they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they know that hatred, anger and revenge will never be able to accomplish what love can do. As they have shown mercy and forgiveness, so will they be shown mercy and forgiveness.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they bear witness to the reality that love is stronger that hatred, that light is stronger than darkness, that life is stronger than sadness. And in the cleanness of their hearts, they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they teach us that only love can break the cycles of selfishness and pride and greed that pervades so much of our world today. Indeed, they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for in their sadness the God of Love will work out His wonders too wonderful for words to describe. It can only be that theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

This beloved of mine has been light and salt in the lives of many people. He has moved from the “Thou shalt not . . . .” of the Commandments to the “Thou shalt do . . . .” of the Beatitudes. God is faithful to His promises and He will put gladness into this person’s heart, more that when grain and wine abound.

O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us!
You put gladness into my heart, more than when grain and wine abound.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 5:13-16

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Pope Francis Peacemaker

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Pope Francis has made history again by inviting the Presidents of Israel and Palestine to a Prayer Summit at the Vatican. During the service, Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers were recited in English, Italian, Arabic and Hebrew. There was an Imam, a Rabbi and the Patriarch of Constantinople in attendance. “Peacemaking calls for courage, much more so than warfare. It calls for the courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict; yes to dialogue and no to violence; yes to negotiations and no to hostilities,” Pope Francis declared. Pope Francis is living out what it means to be a peacemaker, as he has also consistently shown us how to live as a Christian in this day and age.

How fitting that today’s Gospel reading are the Beatitudes.

To be poor in spirit is not about utter deprivation nor about living in grinding poverty or dehumanizing misery. Being poor in spirit is being detached from material goods and possessions so that we do not succumb to envy, greed and selfishness. It is about always being willing to give and share whatever we have with others.

We mourn not because we are sad or deprived or have been denied what we need or have been wronged. We mourn because we are sinners in need of mercy and forgiveness. We mourn that we are not the persons God has made us to be – in His image and likeness. In our mourning, we seek the Lord’s comforting Presence.

Meekness is not being a doormat, allowing ourselves to be pushovers. Meekness is being able to wait for our turn and our fill. For God in His bounty has something for everyone. Meekness is not pushing others aside just to look after number one – myself. Meekness is allowing others to have their fill even when I am half afraid there might be nothing left for me in the end, trusting that God will look after my needs.

Hunger comes in many forms. Hunger for food is instinctual. But we must also hunger for food for the soul, food that will keep us alive into eternity. We must hunger for things that will feed our spirits like righteousness, truth, goodness and beauty. We must hunger for mercy for we are so much in need of it. And that being recipient of God’s mercy and forgiveness, we might also be willing and open to giving our mercy and forgiveness to others.

In the end, the beatitudes teach us our dependence on God’s love, mercy and providence. He created us and everything around us out of nothing. He can change our poverty into riches untold, our misery into happiness unending and our longings into everlasting fulfillment.

My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Matthew 5:1-12

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Shalom!

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Spirit Moments

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Shalom!
Peace.
Thus did the Risen Lord greet his disciples.
Huddled in fear and overwhelmed by bitter disappointment.
The man who they thought was the messiah
has been crucified and lay dead in the tomb.
And then just out of nowhere, there He was in their midst – alive,
Saying to them: Peace! Shalom!
breathing into them and giving them the Holy Spirit.

Peace, that is not just the absence of war and conflict.
But peace that restores wholeness and completeness.
Peace that drives away fear and insecurities,
Peace that heals all wounds born out of conflicts.
Peace is the unity of all creation under God,
the unfolding of the universe
according to His will and in His time.

Shalom. Salaam. Salamat.
Salamat. Thank you!
Thank you Lord for sending your Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit blows over all creation as it regenerates itself every springtime,
as it renews itself with the dawn of each new day.
The Holy Spirit breathes life into couples
as they build a home and raise children for the future.
The Holy Spirit is alive in all people of good will
seeking to build a more just society
and making this world a better place.
The Holy Spirit is active in people reaching out
in love and service to others,
specially those in the margins and peripheries.
The Holy Spirit is here, now nudging me towards what is good, true and beautiful.

Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”
John 20:19-23

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Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Posted on June 7, 2014 by Spirit Moments

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It is a beautiful Saturday morning!

It is going to be another ordinary day but I am excited. I do not know what the day holds for me but I am open to any and all surprises. I have had my share of life’s ups and downs. My heart has been broken into pieces many times, through all sorts of disappointments and downright disasters. But everyday holds a new surprise for me from the Lord, leaving me craving for more. It has been an abundant and productive life.

One of the deepest lessons I have learned is that everything has the potential to draw forth from me a fuller love and life. Time and again, I have seen my dreams crumble to pieces and then watched those same pieces become the blocks to build something better, bigger and more beautiful. There are even times I was grateful something I wanted was not given me. It would otherwise been a disaster in my life.

I only need to turn my gaze to the Lord to truly see the blessings in my life. After all, if He can turn water into wine, or multiply the loaves to feed thousands, or to make the sick whole, He can turn any disaster in my life into a blessing. And at the end of my life, I am holding to His ultimate promise that it is in dying that I will be born to eternal life.

With the Lord, anything I can conceive, together we can achieve. It will take me an eternity to truly relish and appreciate all that the Lord has done for me.

The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.

It is this disciple who testifies to these things
and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.
There are also many other things that Jesus did,
but if these were to be described individually,
I do not think the whole world would contain the books
that would be written.
John 21:24-25

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Ordinary and Exciting

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Christ’s words and teachings are often counter-cultural and counter-intuitive. He often goes against the grain and defies what is accepted as conventional wisdom. He tells His disciples to be last if they want to be first, to be forgive those who hate them, to lose their lives if they want to keep it.

Christ also used a lot of ordinary things and conventional wisdom in proclaiming His message of love and forgiveness. His parables are about ordinary things in life: a sower going out to plant seeds, the Good Samaritan chancing upon a victim of robbery, a Father doting on his son. He uses examples from everyday life: the lilies of the field, the birds in the air, tress and branches, wines and wine skins, salt and light.

In today’s Gospel reading, He speaks of something becoming more and more real in my life these days: growing old. How growing old will mean someone dressing me up and leading me to where I want to go or even where I don’t want to go. I used to be involved in grandiose projects and today, my greatest project is tending my small garden. I used to lead and manage hundreds of people. Today, it is a good day if I can convince Jonathan and Jane to join me for a walk. I used to work long hours. Today, I get really tired after our morning walk. I dread the day when someone will have to hold my hand when I go for a walk.

Still in all I am happy. And I still greet every morning with excitement, even though I know it will be another ordinary day. I have memories and moments stored to make me smile even through the most boring or the most difficult days ahead. I just pray that the Lord accompanies me through the rest of my journey as He always had. He knows what life is all about and has a simple advice to anyone who would want to come to the fullness of life: “Follow me.”

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go.”
He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.
And when he had said this, he said to him (Peter), “Follow me.”
John 21, 18-19

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Happiness and Joy

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Happiness is liking and enjoying what I have. I am happy that I have a congenial and comfortable place to stay, a place I call home. I am happy I have a car with which Anabelle and I can go and enjoy sights or visit friends and family. I am happy I have books to nourish and inspire my minds and go on flights of fancy in the world of ideas. I am happy that I have sufficiency of material resources that I don’t have to worry about going hungry.

Joy is loving and taking delight in who I am, where I am, and what I have become. I am joyful when I can share what I have with others whom I love. I am joyful when I am amazed by the sights and the marvels there are in nature and in creation. I am joyful when I am with family and friends in love and in service. I am joyful when I can share what I have so that others do not have to go hungry or thirsty or naked or lonely or sad.

Happiness is fleeting while joy abides. Happiness is about liking and having while joy is about loving and giving. Happiness is mostly physical. Joy is mostly about the spirit. Happiness comes from being with people. Joy comes from abiding in the Lord’s presence and being one with Him.

Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
“I pray not only for these,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one,
as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
that they also may be in us,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me,
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent me,
and that you loved them even as you loved me.”
John 17: 20-26

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Yesterday in one of my readings, I came upon this story from the book Francis, Pope of a New World by Andrea Tornielli:

“On Wednesday, February 27 (2013), at eight in the morning, by the baggage carousels at International Arrivals of Leonardo De Vinci Airport (Roma-Fiumicino), three cardinal electors meet. They have just arrived at the same hour on flights coming from Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo (Brazil), and Manila. They are Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Odilo Pedro Scherer, and Luis Antonio Tagle. The first two are wearing clerical attire. The third is in civilian garb and still looks like a youngster. They knew one another. They respect one another. They greet one another. The next day, in the Sala Clementina, when Padre Bergoglio meets Cardinal Tagle dressed in regulation black cassock with red trimmings, red cape and zucchetto, he tell him jokingly, “You know, yesterday at the airport there was a boy who looked a lot like you . . . “

This humorous and heart-warming anecdote reveals the mirthful and joyful spirit of Pope Francis. He has captured the world’s imagination and inspired many Catholics with his constant proclamations on the joy of being a Christian. On at least two occasions, he tweeted: “A Christian is never bored or sad. Rather, the one who loves Christ is full of joy and radiates joy.”  and “If we live the faith in our daily life, then our work too becomes a chance to spread the joy of being a Christian.”

And yet he does not lose sight of the fact that the cross is an essential part of being a disciples. He warned us, specially the clergy and religious, against practicing a Christianity that would seek to get rid of the cross: “When we journey without the cross, when we build without the cross, when we profess Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord.”

Pope Francis explains: “Suffering is not a virtue by itself, but the way in which it is experienced can be virtuous. We are called to the fullness of happiness, and in this search, suffering is a limit. Therefore, you truly understand the meaning of suffering through the suffering of the God-made-man Jesus Christ.”

Suffering and pain reveal our sinfulness, our weakness, our inadequacies, our incompleteness. Suffering makes us seek forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings, strength and courage for our weaknesses, abundance for our inadequacies and fulness for our incompleteness and even emptiness. We find these in the loving mercy of God. Pope Francis tells us that the mercy of Jesus “is a love that is specially felt in the contact with suffering, injustice, poverty, and all human frailty, both physical and moral.”

In the end, we must realize, through these words of Pope Francis, that “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a Person, which gives life an new horizon and a decisive direction.”

Because I have encountered the Lord, I share in His joy.

Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
John 17:11-19

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Spirit Moments | 2 Comments