A Weekend of Miracles

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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I was a witness to a weekend of miracles, involving three ladies.

Friday was the birthday of Vida. We feted her with a birthday breakfast. I call Vida the Great Connector. He is very good at connecting and putting people together. I have gained new friends because of her great gift of relating people. And she does it in very special and unique ways – by staging and coordinating events/activities where people can discover themselves and also gain new friends. I have hiked Pico de Loro with her. We got lost but we built strong friendships. We have gone on a cultural trek to the ateliers of artists in Angono and Anabelle went home with a prized painting. We braved the foothills of Mount Banahaw to experience a culinary adventure like no other. Now, I am looking forward to roughing it out in Anawangin in another adventure for next year. Her miracle is her vibrancy and endless patience in gathering us her friends. It is like herding cats. But I guess we each have a role and she has embraced hers like Mary did at the Annunciation. Huh, where did that come from? Read on.

Saturday was the wedding of Gren and Benny. Gren is a strong and career-oriented lady, one who would easily intimidate would-be suitors. She had been hoping for a man but she has been waiting for so long she ended up being married to her career. Benny is our friend and a widower. Following his children’s advice/request/command, he remained single and devotedly took care of them. Both were resigned to what they thought was their lifetime roles. If ever the thought of marriage crossed their minds, they soon banished it with the question, “How can it be possible?” But with God nothing is ever impossible. so, one afternoon, Benny asked Gren to coffee. And – would you believe it? – it led them to the alter last Saturday and exchanged their vows: “May it be done unto us according to thy word.”

Sunday we dropped by the Discovery Weekend Marriage Preparation Retreat to see Lily and her fiancé, Steve. I have known Lily since she was a little girl, her mom being a colleague and a friend from work. Both of them are warriors schooled in the art of war, she being a captain in the Philippine Navy and he being a US Marine. And yet, here they were brought together by the power of love and peace. Theirs is a story worth telling over long nights and many bottles of wine. But to make the story short, God makes everything beautiful in his time.

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. These event over the weekend are probably mere coincidences. They were planned many months ago by different people. By serendipitous synchronicity, they just happened one after another over a weekend. But seeing them unfold as they did, I couldn’t help but see, with the eyes of Faith, God’s hands in these events. God was showering us with his graces. Yes,  I was a witness to a weekend of miracles.

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Options and Priority

Posted on December 8, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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I hear many people these days talking of their priorities. There should never be a plural for priorities. By its very nature, a priority can only be single entity. What happens when one has several priorities? In case of conflicts among the demands of so many priorities which one had precedence? This can cause confusion and can lead to waverings and vacillations, defeating the very purpose of setting a priority. When there are more than one priority, these become options.

Options by their very nature must always be plural. Options imply the ability to choose. When there is only one option there is no choice; therefore, the option is not valid. My priority is to lead a healthy life. To achieve that, I have the options of various food to choose from.

The priority of Christ was the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Quoting Isaiah, he declared his Mission, hence his priority:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

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Moments of Grace, 3

Posted on December 7, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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Blessings are often identified with good fortune, joy and happiness, dreams come true, and the like. But grace can also be found in our pain and suffering, failures and disappointments, our tears and fears, even emptiness and loneliness.

For what are pains and sufferings if not reminders of our unrelenting need for redemption and perfection. Our failures and disappointments point out our inadequacy that keeps longing for Him who is perfect. Our tears and fears are but our longing for our final home and destination where there will be no more tears and fears. And it is in our emptiness and loneliness that God eventually finds a place for Himself.

It was the years he was incarcerated that Ninoy Aquino became a broken man, feeling alone and isolated; only to emerge a more spiritual person devoid of any personal ambitions and ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for the country. I see the same thing happening today to Leila de Lima. Thirdy Ravena almost got broken by his one-year suspension from playing in the UAAP. But it was the year that he found himself and became stronger. I see the same thing happening to Leni Robredo, who in spite of all the insults and brickbats being thrown at her, keeps coming back stronger and even more committed to her values and principles.

I am always captivated by the sight of a rainbow. It tells me something that red, the brightest color, vibrates at the lowest end of the color spectrum. And violet, the darkest color, vibrate at the highest. Vibrating at the highest level, I can imagine the colors being subsumed into the totality that is the color white. Red is often identified with anger; and violet with enlightenment. it is when we are at our darkest moments that we are about to enter into the light.

 

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Moments of Grace, 2

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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I love mornings and the freshness they bring
Yet I love the sunset as much as the morning
I only need to see them with joy in my heart
And the showers of blessings simply start.

I love being with friends and enjoy their company
Yet being alone is fine; for me it’s no misery
I simply tell myself that life is meant for the sharing
And that the ‘Me’ I share is truly capable of caring.

Children always make my happiness complete
Each moment with them is unique, ne’er a repeat
I love their wide-eyed wonderings and their ‘whys’
They are pure and innocent yet genuinely wise.

Every moment is indeed always a moment of grace
I only need to see God in all of time and space
Sometimes I close my eyes; sometimes they are agape
But God is always before me in this form or that shape.

Every sight and sound, every shade and smell
A lovely grace-filled story, they all tell
When God made the world at the beginning of time
He left His imprint in the universe’s beat and rhyme.

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Moments of Grace, 1

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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There was a time, I was driving Jonathan to school with Martin, I made a left turn signal only to go straight and drive ahead on four-way stop intersection. It was a good thing that the lady in the car coming in the opposite direction was nice and gracious.
She simply smiled and made room for my lapse.

I would often start doing something only to forget what it was I wanted to do.
Anabelle often misplaces her eyeglasses, only to find them sitting right in front of her.
Such incidents are among the ‘heartaches’ of growing old:
doing what I have not intended to do,
forgetting even the most recent thing that just happened,
looking without seeing what I am looking for,
listening but not understanding what is being said.

There are times I also feel old age creeping into my soul.
These are the times when I give in to jadedness and cynicism.
How I envy and continuously marvel at my grandchildren.
They always see the world afresh and with unending wonder.
Their curiosity is boundless and every experience is something they truly relish.
In laughter and glee, they would often say: “Wow, let’s do that again.”
Cynical old me would often say: “Oh no, here we go again.”

During times like these, I have realized that moments of prayer and silent meditation help me keep my cynicism and jadedness in check.
I am awed and sit in wonder as I reflect on the wonderful things
God is making happen to me and in my life.
These are Moments of Grace.
Still in all, I/m happy and deeply grateful.

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Hope For The Flowers

Posted on December 3, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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‘Hope for the Flowers’ is one of the books that truly inspired me in my youth.
It is an allegorical tale of two caterpillars and their hopes and longings,
their search for meaning and their eventual magical transformation
into beautiful butterflies.

Advent is a time of hope and longing.
In man’s search for meaning, he longs for life everlasting.
In today’s secular society, man’s search for meaning, at its best.
is often about making a difference or making a contribution.
The after-life and eternal life are non-issues.

Yellow, one of the caterpillars in the book, would not have imagined
how she could be transformed from an unsightly caterpillar into a colorful butterfly.
But she trusted her instincts.
She ‘died’ in her cocoon to magically emerge as a butterfly.
The same hand that wrought the heavens with the stars and the planets
has written in my heart a similar instinct
– a deep longing and a fervent hope for everlasting life.

Advent is a time for remembrance of this hope and longing,
the time of waiting for the Incarnated One who will show us
how all of this will come to pass.

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Be Watchful. Be Ready.

Posted on December 1, 2019 by Spirit Moments

 

And Lani and Macky chose it

I can close my eyes and still see.
I can shut off my ears and nose and still hear and smell.
I can shut out the sights and the sounds and be alone;
and in the silence and solitude be transported to a ‘whole new world’.

Psychologists call this an altered state of consciousness.
I know that this is the realm of the spirit.
If I do not consciously try to live in this realm of the spirit,
I will never be aware of it and, even much less, grow in it.
Often, I am so inundated, benumbed and even addicted to the pleasures
I experience through my physical senses that I get stuck in the material world.
But I can use the same experiences to lead me
to greater heights or depths in my spiritual life.

Such experiences tell me that there is more to me than my physical body.
There is another level of existence than what I am going through right now.
And my faith affirms that I will come upon it one day.
One day, it will break out in time.
Or, I will break into in time.
It may come with howling winds or thunderous eruptions.
It may come in an apocalyptic upheavals or the darkening of the skies.
It may come like a thief in the night or like mighty thunderous horsemen.
I like to imagine as the gentle dawn breaking into a new,
or like the poignant setting of the sun at the end of the day.

"Wake, awake, the night is dying,
And prophets from old are crying:
Awake, ye children of the light!
Lo, the Dawn shall banish sadness,
The Rising Sun shall bring us gladness
And all the blind shall see aright."
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Saint Andrew, Apostle

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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This is Saint Andrew’s Cross.
Legend has it that Andrew told his executioners that he was not worthy to be crucified on the same cross style as Jesus, and persuaded them to alter the shape.

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Andrew, the first apostle to be called by Jesus.
He is the patron saint of Scotland, Russia and Greece,
places known for rebellions and revolutions.
Andres Bonifacio, the leader of the Philippine Revolution, was named after him.

Followers of Christ have often been seen as rebels and revolutionaries.
A serious reading of the gospels will show that the teachings of Christ are radical, counter-cultural and subversive of the existing order.
He once declared: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
In my youth, full of idealism and fired with romantic enthusiasm,
I was enamored by Christ the rebel, the revolutionary.

When I was active in the corporate world and even in the academe,
most everyone I knew aspired to be a leader including myself.
Today, in my old age, I struggle to keep pace with this same Jesus
as I try to heed his call to follow him.
Today I am more focused on leaving everything and being a good follower.
And it is so difficult to leave everything behind, specially the past.
Today, I wish for my life to be gentler, kinder, more tender and more loving;
but I am also still inspired by the Christ who, in righteous anger,
cleared the temple of those who would desecrate the place,
the same Christ who willingly laid down his life for his friends.

 

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The Incarnation

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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Everything in nature is governed by the laws of nature.
What goes up must come down.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Every living thing is driven by and blindly follows its instincts.
There is beauty in the sunflower always turning its face to the sun.
It is autumn and trees shed leaves in a wild profusion of colors.
Winter comes and birds and butterflies migrate to warmer climes.
There are natural laws and natural instincts to explain phenomena we see.

Yet, there is something in humans that tends to rebel against these laws of nature.
Nature instinctively seeks a balance, an equilibrium, a state of rest and homeostasis.
Yet, there is this unquenchable drive in humans
that is constantly restless, persistent seeking, incessant searching.
Everything breaks down or dies eventually.
Yet, there is this deep yearning in humans to live forever.
It is because of our feelings of emptiness and loneliness
that we are aware there is a fullness of life somewhere.
It is when we bed low that we are lifted on high.

These intimations wouldn’t and couldn’t be quieted down.
These are yearnings endlessly seeking fulfilment.
If we but observe nature or merely rely on our default status,
we are faced with the impossibility of these feelings and yearnings.
Till the Creator revealed Himself to us. He is the Source
of all our endless yearnings, and unquenchable thirst, and insatiable hunger.
Through His grace, we can build and create as He does.
For we are made in His image and likeness.
Through His grace, we can be transformed
from sinners into saints, from heels into heroes.
Through His grace our emptiness becomes whole
and in our loneliness, He brings us in communion with Him.

Then, He became human just like us to show us how.
This is the Mystery of the Incarnation.
“And the Word was made flesh. And dwelt amongst us.”

 

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What Are You Grateful For?

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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Business and politics, science and technology, entertainment and leisure
– these are things that seem to be driving the world today.
Much of the news is about these things;
and events in these areas always hog the headlines.

But life is much richer than these.
We need to celebrate and to preserve the beauty there is in nature.
We need to celebrate families and small communities where love lives and is nurtured. We need to celebrate the arts through which the human spirit is uplifted.
We need to celebrate our faith which gives us a glimpse of what we truly are.
Poverty and wars are a scandal because we have the resources and wherewithal
to banish these twin scourges forever.
Many of us are lonely and afraid and yet there are so many of us willing
and able to lend a hand and give comfort to one another.
There is so much frenzied activity with people in a hurry to get to nowhere.
We need to stop and listen, be touched and be moved and
be changed by the presence of God in our lives.

These are the things worth being truly grateful for.

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