Spirit Moments | From minutes to moments . . . .

Triumphant Defeat

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Lake Tahoe

Everyone wants to be happy and useful.
But life is often punctuated by crisis and problems
that distract people from being happy and useful.

The great memorial Christ left us is not about being happy and useful
but about how to handle crises and problems.
On the night he was betrayed, he gathered his closest friends,
yes, to seek solace and comfort, consolation and support from them
but also to give himself even more totally to them.
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

To give when there is no more to give.
And at his triumphant defeat, he cries out:
“It is finished.”

“The patient and humble endurance of the cross—whatever nature it may be—is the highest work we have to do.”
— St. Katharine Drexel

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Pentecost

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.

You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.

Amen.

Posted in Faith, The Good News | Tagged Beauty, Poetry | Comments Off

What Compels Me

Posted on June 8, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Painting a lavender field in Sonoma Wine Country

A friend commented to me yesterday, “I am amused by your daily scriptural postings. What do you hope to accomplish?” I could see where she was coming from. Given how things are going these days when lies are peddled as the truth; low morals (or no morals at all) are par for the course; where scoundrels and thieves lord it over the nations; where killing and murder become official state policy; where evil seems to be triumphing over goodness. What can words from thousands of years ago do to make this situation better? What difference would they make?

I am doing it mainly for myself. I am totally lost in this sea of confusion and even degeneracy. I need an anchor to tie me down safely in this tempest. I need a guiding light to see me through the darkness. I have seen the power of these words and of the person who spoke them to help people weather such tempest and darkness. I seek courage and consolation in this person I have decided to follow. This is not a decision based on logic or reason; although it is not an irrational action nor contrary to reason. It is not even a decision based on feelings or emotion; although I have put my heart into it. It is an act of the will to follow a voice and a Presence that has seen me through all the tough times and the good times of my life. If this Presence turns out to be a phantom, then I have to be pitied of all men. But if this Presence is the same power that created everything that is, then I will in the end be justified.

It is this same Power and Presence that compels me to proclaim what I heard and learned from him. Much of this is through the words and deeds he has left us from when he walked this earth. But much more about him, I have learned from the oral tradition and the collective consciousness of all those who have heeded his call and have decided to follow him. I must proclaim his words and deeds.

Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd?
Nothing can be done to stop the shouting.
If every tongue were stilled
The noise would still continue.
The rocks and stone themselves would start to sing:

Posted in Discipleship, Faith, Life, Spirituality, The Good News | Comments Off

The NBA Finals and Mt. Pinatubo

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Mount Pinatubo

It is the MBA finals and I am again rooting for the Warriors. I am emotionally invested in this team and I get kinda down and low whenever they lose. We lived in the Bay area for years and saw how this team had risen from the perennial doormat of the league to the latest historic and legendary dynastic powerhouse in the world of basketball. It is also a family thing. Everyone in the family is a fan-atic. We all just love the Warriors. And the opposite is true: we dislike everything and everyone the Warriors play against.

I loved Leonard when he was with the Spurs, specially when he was having problems with the team. Now, it is Pascal Siakam I dislike. He has been so good so far in the Finals, I absolutely find him repellent. I wish he was not with the Raptors. then, I read somewhere that he is an ex-seminarian. And just like that, my distaste for him suddenly turned into sheer admiration. His father enrolled him in the seminary for he wanted a priest in the family – much against the wishes of Pascal. In the seminary, he did everything to get himself dismissed; but he so excelled academically, the seminary fathers decided to keep him in. Today, he credits his seminary formation for his discipline, character and integrity.

I fancy myself as a rational person, often given to a lot of intellectualism. In the end, when I act or make a decision, I simply listen to my heart. Looking back, none of the major decisions in my life have been irrational. But when making them, I followed my heart, more than what my head was saying.

With that is happening in the world today, specially so in our country, I feel like exclaiming, “O Judgment ! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason!” The national conversation these days seem to be totally devoid of sanity and reason. Instead, raw and irrational emotions are running rampant and seem to be dictating national agenda.

And still, in my heart of hearts, I’d still listen to my heart than to my head. Reason tells me we are headed to perdition. Yet, I have always believed that the heart has its reasons that reason itself does not understand.

Some eight years ago, I trekked up to Mount Pinatubo with some of my family. Reason told me not to risk it. I just had a cardiac procedure and I was no longer a spring chicken. But something in my heart prodded me to go on. I almost did not make it. I was literally being carried along my group to be able to reach the top. But I did it. My heart was singing when we stood before the majestic lake. It almost felt like the Little Prince wha there beside me, softly whispering :”One sees rightly only with the heart, What is essential is invisible to the eyes.”

Posted in Character, Faith, Love, Mystery, Philippines/Filipino | Tagged Photography, Truth | Comments Off

Nature Alive Means People Alive

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Spirit Moments

A swollen Coyote Creek, a tributary of the Guadalupe River in San Jose, CA

Life is so powerful it will not be denied. Life will always find a way to express itself. Living in the Santa Clara/Silicon Valley has made me even more appreciative of this fact. San Jose sits at the confluence of many creeks as it flows out into the San Francisco Bay. There are many riparian areas here where there is a such confluence of sea, mountains, skies, and the rivers creates a hospitable ecology to support many life forms and different species. Such confluences make for a very rich biodiversity. This is paralleled by the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of the people living in the Valley. In this environment, it is very inspiring to see the Church celebrating this diversity, both in nature and in its people. I love it that the Diocese of San Jose has prioritized social justice, empowering the laity and formation of the youth in its pastoral ministry. Life is in its fullness in the Valley and the Spirit is abroad in this land.

Posted in Life, Nature | Tagged Serendipity | Comments Off

Questions

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Boracay

We shall never cease from questioning
and the end of all our questions
is to come up with ever more questions
and never come to any real answers.
Real life questions are never answerable by a simple ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.
And there are questions no one knows the answers to
or the easy answers are usually the wrong answers.
I have come to realize that answers
may make one look smart and knowledgeable
but it is the questions that make one human and wise.

Posted in Life, Mystery, Spirituality | Comments Off

The Fool on the Hill

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Christ the King Parish, Filinvest II, Quezon City

I love the Beatles. They somehow wrote the soundtrack of my growing up years. And even today, their songs still resonate strongly with me.

They were the children of our age: the sexual revolution, the shedding off of long-held traditions, the creeping influence of secularism, a time of great hopes and idealism. They were not particularly religious. And yet they wrote some of the most spiritual songs I know.

They simply dipped into the Universal Consciousness and they were able to imagine what it would be like it men just simply were to be human. They needed no theology nor philosophy to help them realize that to be human mean to do no evil, to do good, not to harm nor hurt others, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

And I simply love their song “The Fool on the Hill”! I believe and have been trying to follow a man whose teachings are not only counter-cultural and counter-intuitive but also contradictory. He probably was the original Beatle.

On the one hand, he promises comfort for those who follow him: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” And then his challenge is the daily cross: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Love and faith are arational.

I once wanted to follow him in a more heroic fashion. But he has led me through another path. I am not complaining. But this morning, I want to remember all my friends and colleagues who started out to heed the call and have persevered. They have left everything to follow him. I say a special prayer for them, for the gift of perseverance and total dedication to their vocation.

Posted in Discipleship, Encounter, Spirituality, Stewardship | Tagged Prayer, Search | Comments Off

Roots

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Ruins in Angkor Wat, Cambodia

For most of my adult life, I have lived in cosmopolitan and urbanized areas in several places in the world. Yet I can still feel my peasant roots. My forebears were tillers, not owners, of the soil. During the off-season, many of them were also carpenters, builders of houses and structures. And when my father was teaching, he taught a subject called Building Construction. So, my father was a teacher and I have been involved in teaching for most of my career. My mother was never a healthcare professional but she spent many years working in a hospital as an orderly and in a school clinic as a medical assistant. So, for most of my career, I have also been involved in healthcare.

Even as I watch my grandchildren grow, I can see glimpses of me in them: my moodiness and quickness of mind in Jonathan, my playfulness and humor in Jane. And lately, I can see glimpses of me in Maia and Ela. I know and I can see there is a bit of me in all of them.

There is a continuing thread that runs through us all. This thread is not unique to our family but is part of the common thread that binds us together with the rest of humanity. And it goes all the way back and all the way forward to the Source.

Posted in Family, Relationships | Tagged Gratitude, joy | Comments Off

Created For Greatness, Born For Eternity

Posted on June 2, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Monasterio de Tarlac

I come from the same spark that has spawned
all the light and goodness there in this world.
I carry in me this spark of the divine and infinite
that suffuses the whole universe.

And yet, I sometimes act as though I am worthless,
like the nothingness I came from.
As much as I am afraid of failure and disappointment,
I am often more afraid of succeeding
and achieving what is difficult or even the impossible.
And yet I came from and am destined for greatness.

I need nobody else’s permission to do good,
to realize the potential and greatness there is me.
He will take us all up with him, from whence we came.

~ Feast of the Ascension, 2019

While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Posted in Life, The Good News | Tagged Eternity, joy, Poetry | Comments Off

What A Fool Believes?

Posted on June 1, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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Conventional wisdom is based on common sense and what is rational,
as in, “What goes up must come down.”
or as in the laws of Physics, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
or as in human relationships, “Love begets love.”
or as in the spiritual life, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Breakthroughs, on the other hand, are based on paradigm shifts
that are often counter-cultural and counter-intuitive.
Conventional wisdom says justice is about revenge and getting even,
as in tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye.
Counter-cultural says: “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.” Conventional wisdom says that kingdoms belong to kings.
Counter-intuitive says “Blessed are the poor, for the kingdom of heaven shall be theirs.” Or, consider the laws of survival against the challenge
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

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