Spirit Moments | From minutes to moments . . . .

Some Things To Deeply Ponder About

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Spirit Moments

So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.”
And behold, the Lord was passing by!
And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains
and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord;
but the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire;
and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle
and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.
And behold, a voice came to him and said,
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I am still trying to digest and make sense out of the results of the elections recently held in our country. And one of the nagging questions in my mind is how could have I totally misread the sentiments and desires of our people. Most of the people in my circles felt the same way I do. How could we have totally misread the situation?

A deeper bugging question is how could even the church have misread the signs of the times? Many priests and bishops were very clear in telling people how to vote and giving guidelines in their choice of candidates. People were talking of the Catholic vote which was estimated to be in the millions, enough to elect any candidate for national office if delivered. It totally fizzled out. The flock did not listen to their shepherds. Maybe, there was cheating. Maybe, there was a manipulation of the voting machines or the transmittal of the voting results. But the more bothersome possibility and question is whether the Church leadership had been a total disconnect between the flock and the shepherds.

Maybe the followers were not listening to the the leaders. But the bigger maybe is that maybe the leaders have never been listening to their followers but have instead only been telling them what to do. And that can be the source of the disconnect. Is the Church leadership listening to the flock? I believe it does or at least it tries to. But why the disconnect? Maybe they have been listening to the wrong voices. Or looking in the wrong places. Or reading the wrong signs.

I also need to ponder deeply who am I really listening to? Where do I look for God’s will for me? What signs do I pay attention to? Do I listen to or even notice that little voice being the thunder and over the earthquake? I may be totally missing God’s message for me.

Posted in Environment, Faith, Philippines/Filipino, Spirituality | Tagged Prayer, Search | 2 Comments

The Morning After

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Spirit Moments

The Moon on the night of the elections

The morning after the elections felt like Black Saturday: dejected, bitterly disappointed, feeling defeated. Like the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, I was feeling lost and disbelieving how things has turned out they way they did, hoping that “it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” Instead, not one – not a single one – of those I had look to for some sense of hope for the country did not make it at all. But defeated and dejected, the two disciples soon realized that in the gathering darkness of the evening, there was a light that was showing them the way. It was not the light of the moon that shone that night. But the light was walking with them all along.

Christ was not the Messiah that the disciples expected who would liberate them from the Romans. In fact, Christ did not come preaching the downfall of the Roman Empire. Many people enjoyed the peace, security and prosperity that Pax Romana afforded. And it would be another five centuries before this empire would fall. In the meantime, one Roman emperor after another tried to exterminate the nascent Christian churches in their realm. It was tough being a Christian then. We are probably sissies compared to the early Christians. And yes, many of them came from the Class CDE of the society then.

This is not clutching at straws. It is the purification and strengthening of my faith in the risen Lord during this Easter Season. Just as painful as Black Saturday is, I have been promised the joys and glories of Easter morn.

Thus, because of my Easter Faith, I shall choose to see opportunities to love and to serve rather than the obstacles to life. I shall focus on what I can do and I can control. I shall take this time as an opportunity to be strengthened and purified in what I believe and stand for. In the bleakness of Black Saturday, I shall see that there is a light that is showing me the way. And the light is with me. The light is within me. and because the Lord is with me, I am the light that he was speaking of.

Posted in Discipleship, Encounter, Life, Philippines/Filipino | Tagged Easter, Peace | 2 Comments

For the Motherland

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Yesterday was about our love for our mothers.
Today is about our love for the motherland as Filipinos troop to the polls.
The other day I saw this picture posted on Facebook.
And I realized that it captures how we are today as a nation,
How divided we are as a people for reasons often very shallow and flimsy.

59295606_2268853289835882_3809807820308611072_n

Some people see the pink and white. Others see green and grey. Still others see both. And there were those who see pink and white and then green and grey depending on the time of day or how they are feeling, or even whom they are with. I myself see green and grey. And now while I am typing this, I am seeing pink and white. And yet, we are all looking at the same picture.

We Filipinos have and love the same country the Philippines. And yet, we see and experience her in many different ways. Some see her progressing and happy. Others see her as miserable and in great troubles. Others say we are doing very well. Others say we are going to the dogs. Still others think we are doing okay but could do better. And being the emotional people that we are, we cannot seem to set aside our differences to work for the common good. Instead, our emotions drive us to see our differences and causing the deep divisions among us. This is so sad.

We have but one country. What will it take for us to work together for our country? We have a people that is among the most talented in the world. We have a country so richly blessed in natural resources in spite of the fact that we have been despoiling her all these years. We have a culture of kindness and hospitality that is the envy of other nations. We have a nationals character that is so welcoming and comforting that visitors love to come and stay and we when abroad are broadly welcomed and often invited to stay. And yet, we are forever caught in a catch-up game with our neighboring countries when it comes to economic progress.

I find great consolation in my Christian faith. And today’s Gospel reading somehow lifts up my spirit, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Yet, when I look around, I ask “Is this the abundant life that has been promised us?”

I am looking and waiting for answers.

Posted in Life, Philippines/Filipino | Tagged Prayer, Sadness | Comments Off

God Is Love And Love is Spelled M-O-T-H-E-R

Posted on May 12, 2019 by Spirit Moments

IMG_20180421_180856442-COLLAGE

Today is Mothers Day. If God is Love, then love must be spelled M-O-T-H-E-R.

I have always appreciated the others in my life. I guess that is one of the precious lessons I learned from Ima. As a young student, I loved falling in love with love, the concept. It was with Anabelle that I learned and experienced what true love is.

It always brings a smile to my face remembering falling in love with Anabelle: butterflies in the stomach, lump in my throat, difficulty in breathing, tightness in the chest, wet clammy hands. I loved the feeling. Today, these are the very symptoms that my doctor asks me to look out for to check whether I am having a heart attack! Over the years, I have learned that love, more than the emotion, is a decision; that more than the thrill of romanticism is the realism of daily renewing that vow and commitment to love. Then, love abides; it stays; and there is abiding joy – warm, shimmering, comforting.

Love indeed is a choice. It is a decision. Loving Anabelle has been the best decision ever in my life. One very close friend once remarked accurately: “You cannot count your blessings without starting with her.” My blessings do not stop with her though. If I continue counting my blessings I have to count next the many friends we have – many small circles and communities of kindred spirits and like-minded souls. Friends who have witnessed the flowering of our young love. Friends who have journeyed with us as we grew our respective families. Friends who shared our victories and defeat as we carved our careers. Friends who joined us in our spiritual searching. Friends with whom we served together. Friends who have always been there celebrating the milestones in our lives through the coming of our children, birthdays, graduations, weddings and now -full circle – the coming of the grandchildren. Friends who will forever be in our hearts for they have changed us for the better. Thank God for all our friends

Christ’s Gospel of Love is all-inclusive: everyone is welcome and nothing is ever held back in the giving, even life itself. And yet in many places, believers are often excluded, ridiculed and sometimes persecuted. Christians are the most persecuted group in the world today. The sad thing is that many professed Christians have done their own share of excluding and persecuting others – today and many times in the past. But for our survival as a species, I believe and pray that men learn to live in love. Even Economics, which used to be based on the principle of enlightened self-interest, which is a fancy word for greed and selfishness, is now talking about all-inclusive growth and sustainable development which are the current politically correct words for love and caring – very Christian principles. The world and everyone in it knows that love is the only way we can live as humans.And we knew that the very first moment we felt our mothers’ all embracing and comforting love in the womb. I imagine that the Child Jesus first learned about love in the bosom of Mother Mary.

Posted in Love | Tagged Mothers | Comments Off

Bread and Wine, Body and Blood

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Spirit Moments

IMG_20180218_103105_911

Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life,
and I will raise them up on the last day;
for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”

Then many of his disciples who were listening said,
“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer accompanied him.

Even today, these words are hard to accept. We may have heard them too often to still be shocked by them. But, they are shocking words: eat my flesh, drink my blood. Oh, Christ meant those words symbolically. The bread and wine symbolize his flesh and blood. No, when he took the bread, he said “This is my body.” And when he took the wine, he said, “This is my blood.” Oh, we are just reliving and remembering what he did at his Last supper. No, we are told as an article of faith that the bread is the body of Christ and the wine is his blood.

It is incredible normal people do not eat the flesh nor drink the blood of other persons. It is irrational and does not stand to reason. It is idiocy for our senses say otherwise. And yet, this is what we have chosen to believe.

Incredible, irrational and idiotic it may seem, it is nothing compared to the the ways of the world that would kill and harm others just to stay in power. Or, to a world where people go hungry or even die of hunger because others have amassed more of the world’s resources beyond their needs and simply refuse to share. Or, a world where people are fed lies and untruths to foist upon people a reality of their own making and to their own selfish advantage.

It is incredible but Christ’s followers would respond to hatred with love, to violence with forgiveness, and to judgement with acceptance. It is irrational but believers in Christ would do good to those who hate them, pray for those who persecute them and love their enemies. It is idiotic but Christians would willing give up their lives so that others may live, be there for the oppressed and marginalized when everyone else have walked away.

His words are hard to accept and his commandment of love is even hard to practice. But those who have taken their belief in him seriously have lived heroic and saintly lives. Unworthy though I may be, I still aspire to be in their numbers when they come marching in.

Posted in Discipleship, Faith, Mystery, Spirituality | Tagged Easter | Comments Off

The Bread Of Life

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Spirit Moments

P1400605

The daily Gospel readings of late have all been about the bread of life. It reminds me that there is more to life than just my physical existence. There is more to food and eating than just the bread to keep us alive. There is also the Bread of Life. We have a physical existence that will eventually end. We have a spiritual existence that will go on forever.

We do physical exercises to keep physically healthy. We also need to do spiritual exercises to keep our spirit alive. There is the life of the spirit and there is life in the Spirit. I know and feel that there is more to my being here than just the seven or eight or even nine decades of my stay here on earth. The earth, in its abundance and fruitfulness, gives me an inkling of what eternal life could be: ever old yet ever new, always changing yet always the same, constantly dying yet instantly alive.

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
In fact, He is here, now.

Posted in Faith, Life, Mystery | Tagged Easter | Comments Off

The Mystery of Life and Eternity

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Spirit Moments

IMG_20190126_074014

There is something in me that know I will never die. There is a thirst and a hunger in me that cannot be satisfied. I long for the fullness of life where death has no power.

What am I most afraid of? Getting hurt, not being appreciated, not being of value or help to others specially to those I love, being alone and isolated, not accomplishing anything of significance.

Why am I afraid? Because I might not be able to handle the pain and suffering and I am broken beyond healing? Or, that I will be soon forgotten and not remembered by people dear to me? Or, that I will eventually succumb go death and be gone forever?

But isn’t this fear merely a phantom? Like a child afraid of the dark, aren’t my fears born out of my loneliness or even selfishness? For something in me or Someone out there tell me that once I start to be, I shall go on being forever.

Posted in Death, Life, Mystery | Tagged Peace | Comments Off

From Our Senses And Beyond

Posted on May 7, 2019 by Spirit Moments

We have our senses to connect to the world around us. With our eyes, we can see the beauty and colors around us, the shifting and the changing through the day and the seasons. Our ears let us hear the different melodies of nature and the universe. They also bring us the sweet voices and songs of people we love and care for. We touch, we smell, we feel all our pleasures through our senses. We also experience and succumb to our vices and weaknesses through the senses. Without them, we are but inert dust – unfeeling and dead.

And yet, there is more to life that what our sense perceive. We close our eyes and we see colors and possibilities we would never see without eyes open. We keep silent and shut out the noise and we hear more than what our ears alone can hear. We fast and abstain and we begin to appreciate simple tastes and touches.

For where the sense stop, our spirit takes over and show us the deeper reality of our lives. A reality where reason does not reign supreme but the heart does. A reality that starts with the senses but which brings us to another and higher dimension and level of existence. A dimension and level where all our hunger is satisfied and all out thirst is slaked.

Posted in Encounter, Environment, Nature | 1 Comment

It Is The Lord!

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Spirit Moments

When there is so much deceit, lying and hypocrisy in the world,
and people are fed untruths as a matter of course;
it is difficult to say, “It is the Lord.”
When there is so much greed among men that many go hungry
and yet there is enough to feed everyone;
it is very difficult to say, “It is the Lord.”
Where there is so much hatred, strife and violence among nations,
like we all had a common death wish to end human existence on earth;
it is indeed very difficult to say, “It is the Lord.”

And yet, it is in moments of emptiness that we realize that “It is the Lord.”
In our darkness that we see his light and say, “It is the Lord.”
In our utter depravity and sinfulness that we cry out for redemption
and shout out, “It is the Lord.”

Where reason ends, faith begins.
And when senses fail, the heart will show the way.

Posted in Discipleship, Encounter, Life, Mystery, The Good News | Tagged Easter, Poetry, Search | Comments Off

“It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Posted on May 4, 2019 by Spirit Moments

P1550500

A bunch of disciples: beaten, down in defeat, fearful, in hiding,
their Master having been executed as a common criminal.
They travel at night, afraid to be discovered by day.
While crossing the sea, they see a shadow on the waters
who tells them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

A little child, afraid of the dark, sees shadows he believes are monsters,
closes his eyes and close to tears in fear.
A familiar hand clasps his little hand in loving assurance
And in the darkness he hears his father’s reassuring voice, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Two young lovers, afraid yet excited about their future together,
uncertainty in their guts yet certain of the love in their hearts,
vow to face the world together with their unspoken promise to each other,
“It is I. Do not be afraid.”

A man beaten down by the challenges of bringing home the bacon
feels lost and unsettled, not knowing where or how to move forwards
is wrapped in the loving embrace of his wife
who whispers into his ears, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

A feeble mother, lying in bed with a lingering illness, knows that the end is near.
Yet, she is fearful for she does not know what lies ahead.
She tried to find comfort in her memories but her memory has long been gone.
And then she feels the warmth embrace of her daughter
who reassures her, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Posted in Life, Love | Tagged Easter, Fears, Relationships | 1 Comment