Spirit Moments | From minutes to moments . . . .

Built To Last

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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I grew up in a time when it something was broken, we fixed it.
Clothes that were torn would got mended.
Slippers with broken straps are made usable again with string and wire.
We always had a piece of bamboo, a cut of plywood, some string and wire,
nails and glue around which would always come in handy for fixing things.
And things that cannot be fixed or those that would otherwise be thrown away
are re-purposed: parts of broken toys show up in ‘new’ toys;
big cans become containers or measures;
small ones, including bottle caps became toys;
bottles become containers or utensils.

Today, when something gets broke it is usually discarded and replaced.
Many products even have expiration dates, whether perishable or durable goods designed with planned obsolescence, which says it is time to throw them away.
And what is even more unfortunate is that this mentality has been applied also to relationships – disposable and replaceable.

There are things that should be ‘built to last’.

Posted in Life | Tagged Relationships | Comments Off

Conversations

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Spirit Moments

P1540266 It takes at least two persons to have a conversation.
And it takes both the speaking and the listening to carry it on.
Often, the listening part of a conversation is overlooked;
yet it is even more important than the talking for a fruitful dialogue.

So, I wake up in the morning listening to the words of my God,
with the background music provided by the birds just outside my window
or sometimes the lilting cooing and gurgling voice of Maia.
I stop and listen to what Anabelle is trying to tell me as we go about our day.
And I pay attention and listen to what the events and people around me
are trying to tell me. Of late, I have difficulties with my hearing though.
I am becoming hard of hearing and things take a while to register in my mind
as I am becoming increasingly slow on the pick-up.
Sometimes, I have this bad habit of hearing only what I want to hear.

That is why I often need peace and quiet to hear and listen.
My prayer: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
Sometimes, he speaks with lightning and thunder.
In the case of today’s Readings, he sent a message to Jonah through the tempest at sea.
But the Lord often speaks in whispers or even in the silence.

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged Prayer | Comments Off

“Increase Our Faith!”

Posted on October 6, 2019 by Spirit Moments

72413991_2930744083620858_3787391325133864960_o In today’s Gospel reading, the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
And also this weekend, Ela our youngest granddaughter received her gift of Faith. She was baptized into the Community of Believers. The Lord assured his disciples, “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.” What amazes me here is not what happens when you believe (and indeed amazing things happen when one has faith) but how even faith the size of a small seed is sufficient for the Lord to come into our lives.

We lead fractured and often paradoxical lives, given to pain and suffering, condemned to suffer the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’. Many wise men (poets, artists, saints, great leaders, and even some men of science) have taught us that the answer to all the ache and longing in our hearts is love and caring. So we fall in love and give ourselves to caring for others – only to be hurt some more. Man seeks wisdom and knowledge and in his quest for learning becomes even more doubting and at times even cynical. Meanwhile, those of simple and unquestioning minds see the world with eyes of faith and wonder where every new experience is an awesome one. Isn’t it better to believe and be disappointed occasionally than to mistrust and be miserable all the time? Or even better still, just faith the size of a mustard seed is enough for the Lord.

“I am; therefore I choose to believe.” This is a memorable line from the movie we Prometheus. Set in distant future, people will still be asking the eternal questions on the purpose and meaning of man’s existence. In the vastness of the universe, it is unlikely we are the only intelligent life form. And yet, if there are others out there why have we not yet made contact? Life is so mysterious there is enough reason to believe that it is entirely random and fortuitous or that it was designed and created and guided by a superior intelligence. I choose to believe in the latter. I have always felt my life is led by the Supreme Spirit who loves us unconditionally and wanting for us the fullness of life, even as we don’t fully grasp it.

“Lord, increase our faith!”

Posted in Children, Discipleship, Faith, Nature | Tagged Grace | Comments Off

On Being A Teacher

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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Often, at night, when sleep is hard to come by, one of my favorite ways of lulling myself to sleep is to remember students who have been in my classes. I am happy that quite a number of them have kept in touch through the years. I get a warm feeling basking in their reflected glory as I relish their successes and accomplishments. And I snooze off to dreamland with wonderful thoughts of them.

Teaching has been one of the many blessings in my life. I sometimes wish that I had more financial resources to be able to give things to people in need. But sharing ideas, knowledge and skills with my students is just as important and may be even more so. Through teaching, I help prepare them for life. Through the ideas I share, I help mold their minds and shape their character. I share my life story and offer them possibilities and alternatives of how to do things. I share the God I believe in and help them put meaning and direction to their lives.

Being a teacher is being like a sower. I sow the seed and then watch how the seeds grow. I have seen and been blessed with the fruits of my teaching. I thank God for this grace and the blessings my students have brought into my life.

I have been a teacher all my life. I am married to a master teacher. My father was a teacher. And somehow, quite unconsciously, I followed in his footsteps. he came from a family of farmers; but through his determination, he was the first in their family to go to school. And he also inspired several of his nieces and nephews to emulate him.

What our teachers teach us usually stay with us forever.

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Posted in Character, Children, Heroes | Tagged joy, Learning | Comments Off

All The Earth Proclaim The Lord

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Today is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.

There is a tendency today of reinterpreting the words of the Gospel
into more acceptable and palatable manner.
Nothing typifies this mentality more than those who preach and live by
the gospel of prosperity; who make their following of Christ
conditional on the blessings they want to receive.

Here is one person who took the words of the Lord literally.
To his would-be followers and disciples, Christ said:
“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Saint Francis did just that – he sold all his possessions and lived on begging.
He gathered together men and women who would dedicated their own lives
serving the poor, the sick, the outcasts, the rejects of society.

He preached the Gospel not just the poor but but also Brother Sun and Sister Moon.
He totally understood the interconnectedness of all creation
so that even animals and every living thing join in praising and thanking the Creator.
He saw God’s presence everywhere, joining Brother Sun and Sister Moon in singing God’s praise.

Today, our Pope is the first Pope ever to take on the name of Francis.
Pope Francis shares St. Fancis’ great love for and of nature.
His Laudato Si speaks about a spirituality of creation,
a oneness with nature that respects our only home – Earth

We lived for some years in California
which has been blessed with this Franciscan spirituality,
as the missions here have been put up by Franciscan missionaries,
led by the Blessed Junipero Serra.
Nature is very much part of the California lifestyle.

Isn’t our God, the God of all Nature and Creation, an awesome God indeed?

Posted in Nature, Spirituality | Tagged Relationships | Comments Off

Taking Up The Cross, Part 2

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Spirit Moments

In all my human relationships, I have always kept a bit of myself just for myself.
I have never given myself totally, keeping my innermost being just for myself.
But Christ demands total surrender of self from his disciples.
There have been instances in my life when I thought I have left everything to follow him. But even as I struggle, I can still sense him asking me to give up that bit of myself
that I have been holding back from everybody else, including him.
That is the cost of discipleship – giving up everything in total surrender to God’s will, even if it means taking up the cross. Christ said that is exactly
what being his disciple mean – taking up the cross daily.
Life is hard. Being a disciple is harder.
Why can’t I just forget being a disciple and take the easy and well-traveled road?

Posted in Discipleship, Faith, Spirituality | Comments Off

Taking Up The Cross

Posted on October 2, 2019 by Spirit Moments

We humans are a sorry and messy lot.
We fail, we make mistakes – plenty of them –
and we keep on hurting one another.
Sure there are moments of joy and happiness
but these moments are always punctuated
by pain and sorrow, hurts and disappointments.

When one day we are all in heaven,
we will probably look back to these moments of failures, mistakes and errors
with a smile and appreciation.
The pain and the hurt and the sufferings
are an essential part of what it is to be human.
And we might even miss being human
even as we are partaking of a divine existence then.
For even Christ sanctified suffering as part of being his follower:
“If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me.”

I set my eyes to that which I know I am being called to
and of my present hurts and difficulties,
I calmly say that this too will pass away.

Posted in Discipleship, Spirituality | Comments Off

The MiniMax Formula

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Spirit Moments

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Even as men look at and are awed by the grandeur and vastness of the universe, they begin thinking that size matters, that big is better. Better then becomes synonymous with better. And men just simply start wanting more and more. Thus, the world gets organized around ever increasing consumption that is not sustainable. It is a mind-set of consumption and materialism that is not sustainable. It is the mind-set that gave rise to the one-sided bail-out of big financial institutions (“too big to fail”) to the detriment of millions of small homeowners.

Yet, small is beautiful. A writer once wrote, “Man is small, and, therefore, small is beautiful.” For example, human wellness is maintained by small doses of essential micro nutrients. The Big Bang that gave rise to the universe started literally with a tiny spark. The power of the stars is packed within a tiniest atom.

Today is the feast day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. She never left her convent and spent most of her life doing seemingly small and insignificant things. She spent most of her time on her knees in prayer, never venturing too far nor preaching abroad to convert the heathens. Yet, she has been declared a Patroness of the Missions. She spent her time scrubbing tiles and cleaning kitchen floors, never writing theological tracts nor authoring learned tomes. Yet, she has been declared a Doctor of the Church. She simply did small things in a grand fashion – the Minimax Formula (minima maxime facere – To do the smallest things in the best way possible.)

Posted in Discipleship, Nature, Spirituality | Comments Off

There Is Innate Goodness In Us

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Spirit Moments

Maia just recently turned one year old. She does not speak yet except through a few syllables, like ‘mah mah’, ‘dah dah’, ‘tah’. And yet she is very good at communicating. She knows how to tell us how she feels and what she wants. She understands when we tell her something. For the most part, we feel each other for meaning and understanding. An inter-cardiactivity that enables understanding and communication without words.

And Maia is all goodness. She brings us so much joy. What she does may seem typical of what toddlers her age do but she is one of a kind. Indeed, babies are ‘factory-fresh’. They smell of the place they came from. Hate, anger, greed, envy – all come later and are learned. They are not part of the original product. Often. I think and believe that all we have to do is to get in touch with the child in us, to rediscover and regain the innate goodness in all of us.

Goodness and kindness are not the monopoly of Christians or of believers. In fact, a sense of the sacred has been with man since he first stood awe-struck in wonderment at the presence of some ineffable mystery – just like a wondering child. I try to imbibe all this goodness and kindness every day. I start my day in silent prayer to feel and be aware of this sacred presence in my life.

Posted in Character, Children, Identity, Nature | Tagged Goodness | Comments Off

On Being Mediocre

Posted on September 29, 2019 by Spirit Moments

I have always been wary and afraid of being tagged or labeled as mediocre. At work, in my career, as a professional, and in my personal life, I have always avoided being contented with “Puede na yan.” And I kinda looked down on people who could live with and be contented with “Puede na yan.”

From my early years in the seminary, Fr. David drilled into our minds never to settle for mediocrity. He would always quote us this scripture passage: “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” And this has really stuck in my head.

So, I have always striven for excellence, to be the best I can be, to never settle for “Puede na.’ And it has worked out for me. Growing up in a small town in Pampanga, I never imagined how far in life I could go. But after being exposed to this questing for excellence, and the standard of being the best I can be, I discovered many things I could do well. And for that training and formation, I am grateful.

But there are also many things I could have done but did not because I was afraid I couldn’t do it in an excellent manner, that I could only come up with mediocre results. As time went by, this questing for excellence led me to believe that everything I do must be heroic, or life-changing, or pushing the limits, or breaking new grounds. After a while, it got truly exhausting.

Why can’t it just be “Puede na!” instead of always going for “Panalo“? Why does everything I have to do be heroic or great or jaw-dropping, or just simply be delightfully different? Why can’t if just be routine, or ordinary, or even just simply a repetition of what I have been doing in the past?

A friend shared me this thought today: it is not that there is rampant evil in this world; or, that there are a lot of bad people (for man by nature is good, having been created in God’s image). Rather, there are few good people who oppose evil and few who do good deeds.

We often want to do good deeds that are heroic, daring, audacious. But it is the small ordinary acts of kindness, the random simple acts of goodness that will ultimately make the difference. Let the mediocre, ordinary good things we do from day to day be our key to changing our world.

Posted in Change, Character, Principles, Spirituality | 2 Comments