Faith During A Time Of Extreme Tribulations

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Spirit Moments

Even as I am feeling deep compassion for the victims, I am angered by the fact that we were not prepared enough for the catastrophe and the aftermath. Initially, the reports of the casualties were just in the hundreds. In a matter of hours, the estimates now run into the thousands. I am angered by our leaders and public officials who had pocketed public funds instead of spending these on needed infrastructure projects that could have mitigated the damage from the storm. Even as I am gladdened and inspired by the bravery, courage and generosity of the first responders to the calamity, I am saddened by those people who have gone of a rampage of looting. Even as I try to help in whatever way I can, I feel like a cop out when all I can do now is to pray and to give money to the relief efforts.

It is in moments like this that it is difficult for me to keep my faith. Is life really stronger than death? Will light really conquer the darkness? Will goodness really overcome evil? Will tears truly go away to be replaced forever by true joy and real happiness? Is there really a loving God who wishes for us only happiness and the fullness of life? Even now, as we try to pick up the pieces, there is another storm poised to pass through the same path again in the Visayas. It does not any that there are fantastic conspiracy stories that the typhoon Yolanda was man-made. I cry in desperation with the words of the Psalmist:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.” ~ Psalm 22

The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.”
Luke 17:1-6

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Lamentations After The Storm

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Spirit Moments

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My head feels badly bruised and battered. I feel the blood trickling down from my head to my face as I struggle in the dark, buffeted by unceasing winds and a torrential downpour. It is only now that we are seeing the full impact of super-typhoon Yolanda: utter devastation that wiped out a whole city, hundreds of lives lost even in evacuation centers because of the storm surges, years of work lost in but a day of wind and torrents. A father stands devastated before a rubble that used to be the home he painstakingly put up over the years for his family, not knowing where or how to start rebuilding. A mother kneels in grief over the dead body of a child she could not save from the rampaging flood waters, feeling she is on the brink of going crazy for she also had lost another child to the earthquake last week. A child crying in her hunger and aloneness, not yet even aware that she has lost both parents and her siblings in this yet another disaster.

The world watches and there are those who would romanticized our sufferings and pain away by condescendingly extolling our resilience in the face of seemingly unending adversity. There are those who are offering prayers of thanksgiving that the storm was not any worse and the destruction more severe. There are those who would put those who did not suffer on a guilt trip just to get them to help and give more to their organizations for the relief work.

Yet, the pain would not go away. Nor is the suffering any more bearable despite all the good intentions and the prayers. I pray hard and I pray deep to see the meaning of all of this, to see but a glimpse of God in all the pain and destruction. But the devastation looks so utter and total. This is just too big a price to pay for the resurrection and to enter eternal life. And my God just keeps His silence.

“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” 
Luke 20:27-38

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Storms and Typhoons

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Spirit Moments

The worst of the typhoon Yolanda seems to be over by now. The sun is peeking out again. And now the daunting work of damage assessment, clean-up and rebuilding begins. It was awesome watching the raging storm through TV news footage last night. The storm first blew down dead leaves and branches from tress and then washed all the detritus away – cleaning up all the dirt to allow new life and growth to take place. In the city of Tacloban, the winds blew down rotting posts, crumbling concrete walls, rusty roofs, all that plastic and Styrofoam; and then the waters washed away all the debris into the rivers and on to the sea. It is nature’s way of cleaning up all the pollution people have made.

Nature is a self-regulating system. She makes adjustments when the system is in a disequilibrium. She cools things down when things get hot. She heats things up when they get too cold. She cleans up when things get dirty. and when the time and conditions are right, she allows new life to spring forth. Sometimes, she takes her time and tarry; and the adjustments and changes she makes may take ages. At other times, she is swift and furious and the changes take place in a jiffy. Of late, storms and other natural upheavals have been more severe, indications that Nature has more pollution to clean up and get rid of.

Prayers were offered yesterday in the face of Yolanda. Before the typhoon hit land, the prayers were for the storm to veer away and spare the Philippines or for the storm to just simply melt away. During the storm, prayers were for the safety and survival of those in her path. After the storm, prayers were mostly of thanksgiving for having survived the tempest and of having been spared of more severe damages. Would prayers really change the course of a storm or melt it away? I would not totally discount the possibility. But the rational answer is they don’t. Our prayers are more about ourselves. Through our prayers in the storm, we realize that we are not in control. God is. That this is a beautiful and sacred place we live in. We should take good care of it and not thrash it. That we should build things to last. We should not cut corners. That we are truly a community in the face of adversity.

Christ stormed the Temple to make people realize that they have turned a sacred place into a market place.

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’
John 2:13-22

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I Am A Child Of The Light

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Spirit Moments

A lot of conventional wisdom seems to mitigate against being good and doing good. Evil men seem to prosper while the good guys finish last. The meek and the humble are often taken advantage of and exploited. Those who seek to live upright lives often end up getting the short end of the stick. Indeed, the children of this age, of this world, seem to be more shrewd and end up having more of everything. But are they happy?

Never has the world seen so much abundance and prosperity than during our present times. And yet there has never been as much loneliness and anxiety as today. There has never been as much materials things to be had than ever in history. And yet there is so much hunger and thirst that these material things cannot satisfy. Never has the world seen so many ways of connecting and reaching out to people. And yet, there is so much bickering and divisions among nations, among peoples, among groups and even within communities and families.

I count myself among the children of the light. There is a spark within me, a flame burning deep inside, a light that seeks to ignite and cast out the shadows in my life. That light is the consciousness that tells me who I really am, the spirit that seeks to find/encounter my source and my end. Science tells me that matter is indestructible. It merely changes and is transformed into different shapes and forms. Is my consciousness and this light within me merely the result of the complexity and design, the shape and form, that matter has taken in my particular existence? Or is this consciousness, this spirit within me, just temporarily residing in my material body until the time comes for me to be reunited with my source and my end?

I do not pray for material possessions or physical comforts for these have been given to me even before I had asked for them. I am deeply grateful for the joys in my life. These too have been given to me even before I had asked for them. I do not seek pain nor sufferings. But I will welcome them for it is during such dark moments that I see the light within me truly shining through. I seek not tears nor sorrow. But when they come, I am still thankful for the waters of my tears serve to wash away the grime from my daily living. And in the utter weakness I feel when I cry, I regain and renew strength of my spirit.

For such are the mysterious ways of life. For such is the mystery of my God.

“For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
Luke 16:1-8

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More Joy In Heaven

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Spirit Moments
I often worry and get anxious when I think about tomorrow. I am not afraid to die but I am afraid of pain and suffering, specially if these will affect the people I love. At this stage in my life, I have greatly simplified my life. I can do with out so many things but I would hate my loved ones going without good food or decent clothes or comfortable shelter. In fact, I want them to live well. I worry get anxious that I cannot properly provide for them; that I will fall short in caring for them. I want to have more for their sake and also, in a way, for myself. Thus, I had needed to think about my attachments and my priorities. I needed to learn and practice detachment, specially from material things.
Life has never been meant to be certain. And yet, I am certainly here – alive. If I am living in my here and now, with no effort at all on my part to be here and alive, can I trust that the same power than brought me here will also be bring me through. I will fall and I will fail and I will lose my way.  Can I believe that He will come and seek me out and not only keep me alive but bring me to an even fuller life? Can I really accept as fact that He who created the vast universe is personally interested in me and in what happens to me? That He only wants the best possible turn of events for me?
These are overwhelming thoughts. And nothing in a logical and rational world will explain why God will make such great effort to take personal care of me. And yet, nothing that has happened in my life can really be explained in seamless logic or irrefutable reasoning except that but for the grace of God go I. My feeble mind cannot comprehend what God has done or is doing for me. But my heart fully feels the love and goodness that has come my way.
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them . . . . : “. . . . I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.”

Luke 15:1-10
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Attachments

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Spirit Moments
Men today hate to be in the dark and want to always have certainty. They cannot live with mystery nor unanswered questions. You need an answer or to know something? Google it. You need to know the meaning of a word. There used to be the dictionary. Now you google it. You need to go to a place the first time? Google it. You need to check out a new bistro? Google it. You met someone today and want to know more about him or her? Go to Google.
And people want answers and do away with the uncertainty immediately. We have instant coffee, instant this and that, fast food, overnight deliveries, 24/7 services. Insurance companies are among the biggest financial companies (as in ‘Too Big To Fail’)  by providing ‘insurance’ against uncertainty and the unexpected. At the heart of this desire for certainty is the need to be in control. And in a materialistic culture, this need for certainty and to be in control necessarily lead to acquisitiveness and attachments.
When I go hiking I want to have a safe and comfortable hike. So, I get the proper hiking gear: hiking shoes, loose but sturdy clothes, a backpack to carry the stuff I need like water, food and change of clothes, hiking sticks, etc. It may take several hikes to come the the perfect combination of gears for me. In the process, I have acquired several sets of hiking gears. I feel good and develop a certain attachments to all of these gears. There is one set for summer, another for winter and yet another for spring and fall. Imagine the same process happening with other preoccupations like writing, or biking, or any other sports. In the process, we develop attachments to a myriad of things: cars, houses, blings, clothes, etc. In the end, our lives are cluttered with all kinds of attachments.
At the heart of any spirituality is the realization that we are not in control. God is. Life is a mystery riddles with questions and we do not have all the answers. God does. There is no certainty but God. If I fill my life with the things I am attached to, there can be no room for God. If I can rid myself of the things that encumber me, then my spirit gets lighter to soar upward to God. If I can give away my attachments, my possessions, then I can be a disciple of God. Pushing that further, can I also give up the people I love, the people I really cling to in times of uncertainty, so that I can make more room for God?
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. . . . So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” 

Luke 14:25-33
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The Invitation

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Spirit Moments

I know that I have been called.
I know that I have been chosen.
Called and chosen to be good.
Chosen and called to be happy.

Yet, I easily get distracted away from my calling.
I often forget my chosen-ness.
Instead, I get bogged down in my busy-ness
And I while away my time in trivialities.

I get the invitation to the great banquet
Where I can feast on goodness and be happy
But I tarry in whatever it is I am doing
When I should drop all and to the feast, I should be going.

When finally to the great dinner, I come
I am surprised to see who has been invited to His home:
The poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.
Hey, I don’t belong here. This is not my game.

I see but strangers, people I do not know.
And as I turn around and I am set to go
I get a good look at my smug contented self.
It is not them but me who needs some help.

Shall I walk away and refuse the invitation?
Or will I stay and work for my salvation?
For indeed God does work in very mysterious ways.
He alone can turn my dark nights into beautiful days.

“Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 
Luke 14:15-16,18-19,21-23

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Coming Down From My Tree

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Spirit Moments

If I want to meet Jesus, and not only see Him, I have to come down from the tree like Zacchaeus did. Coming down from the tree for me means coming down from my lofty perch of being prideful and self-satisfied, coming down from the heights of my selfishness and greed, coming down from my self-seeking ways. It is only with humility that one can be generous. It is only in being generous that I am truly a disciple of Christ.

The true test of generosity, and of love, is to give to those who can give back or repay me, to give service to those who cannot serve me back, to love those who will not love me in return and in fact may even hate me. In the end, if I truly love, am I willing to give everything I have, including life itself, for those I profess to love?

Jesus said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Luke 14:12-14

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The Zacchaeus Experience

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Spirit Moments

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Yesterday was a delightful day for Anabelle and me. We met up with Gilda and Drake for lunch and we reminisced our days in Xavier Row where our children grew up as close friends, almost like brothers and sisters. Then, we met up with Tintin and Mike, Maribel and Allan, Randa and Noli and renewed the bonds that tied us together as a Faith community in our common apostolate in the Discovery Weekends. From the vantage point of time and space, we reminisced our common past of joys, struggles and accomplishments. We talked about our present busy-ness, some still actively engaged in careers, others winding down affairs to retire, and still others – like Anabelle and I – enjoying our second wind in retirement. We shared our hopes for the future: though not assured, still bright and faced with expectancy, trusting that based on what we have gone through the best is yet to come.

There are times, I need the perspective of distance, be it in time or space, to see the import and meaning of things. Zacchaeus had to go up the sycamore tree to see Jesus passing by. Moses had to go up the mountain to encounter God. Jesus often went up the mountain to pray. And it was up in Mount Tabor that He was lifted up and transfigured before His apostles. These peak moments are times of insight, inspiration and integration of life into one meaningful whole. Things come together when we go up.

But to live life, we must come down. Zacchaeus had to come down from his perch up in the tree to be able to welcome Christ into his home. Moses had to come down from the mountain before the people of Israel were totally lost to idolatry. Christ has to come down from heaven to become man and show us how to live our live in love and service to our fellowmen.

I find solace, strength and inspiration in going up the mountain to pray and encounter God. It gives me the vision of what my life can be and should be. But I also need to come down to earth, feel the ground beneath my feet and get my hands dirty with grime as I execute and accomplish the mission that God has set out for me. I rise with my vision and come down to earth with my mission.

A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today .” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 
Luke 19:1-10

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Life is Changed, Not Taken Away

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Spirit Moments

What is life? Life is all about change and becoming. A single big bang and all the matter and energy there is in the universe come to be. In one massive explosion after another, the particles become evermore complex until the whole universe is strewn with cosmic dust swirling around stars aborning all over the place. In some of the bigger clumps of cosmic dusts, water and air slowly arise. In one of these, now planets, the stardust is churned by waves and tides in a primeval soup of water and air, warmed by the ongoing explosions. And slowly, the inert stellar debris changes into living organisms in this planet called Earth. In a million years, actually but a moment in eternity, the living organisms once more change into living beings, like fish, birds, animals. And in another million years, again but a moment in eternity, a living being changes and acquires a consciousness and becomes man.

A baby in the womb has a consciousness but is totally oblivious of the world outside. And yet, in some mysterious ways for him, he senses a strong connection with that outside world. He knows there is more to life than the womb he is so securely ensconced in. He feels to be forever bathed in waves of pleasurable sensations which he will later know to be joy, happiness, peace and love. Sometimes, there are also waves of bad and sour feelings which he will later learn to be anxiety, fear, apprehension. In the womb, there is no dark and light to separate time into day and night. The womb is a timeless place. It could, in fact, be an eternity for the growing baby in the womb. And if the baby had his way, he would probably have chosen to stay in the safety and comfort of the womb forever. But life is all about change and becoming.

Life as we know it has gone from inert to living to being conscious. And everything points to life continuing on as a consciousness outside of the physical. We do not know what it is exactly. But like the baby in the womb, we know there is more to life that just the here and now. There are times we experience life that is not physically bound. Man paints, writes, sings and creates independent of his physical existence. There are thin places where we get a glimpse of what is eternal and of what is divine.  Pure conscious existence, unmediated by what is physical. Beyond our here and now, there is the eternal moment.

Today is the Feast of All Souls – Dia de los Muertos. It is in memory of our dearly departed. It is also a celebration of life – not being taken away but changing into the next level. For our God is the God of the Living. Nothing and no one ever dies in His sight.

As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Luke 7:11-17

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