Like it or Not

My loving family

I love you…like it or not!”

… in the face of unconditional love we are powerless. Yes, perhaps we can choose to accept it or not, perhaps we can run away from it, but we cannot influence it, manipulate it, or control it. In the face of this kind of love, we are powerless. And only when we’ve died to all of our delusions of actually being in control do we realize that such loss of perceived freedom and power is actually life.

Source: http://www.davidlose.net/2015/03/lent-4-b/

Years ago I preached a sermon about the offensive nature of God’s grace, suggesting that we might add four words to the end of our service of baptism, saying, “Child of God, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…like it or not.” A few weeks later, a friend shared a bedtime encounter he’d had with his then six-year-old son. Upset that his father was putting him to bed earlier than he wanted to go, Benjamin said, “Daddy, I hate you.” Benjamin’s father, exercising the kind of parental wisdom I hope for, replied, “Ben, I’m sorry you feel that way, but I love you.” Benjamin’s response to such gracious words surprised his dad: “Don’t say that!” “I’m sorry Benjamin, but it’s true. I love you.” “Don’t,” his son protested, “Don’t say that again!” At which point Ben’s father, remembering the words of the sermon, said, “Benjamin, I love you…like it or not!”

Why was Benjamin protesting his father’s love? Because he realized he could not control his father’s love and twist it to his advantage. Indeed, in the face of such love there is no bargaining and, ultimately, no control whatsoever. If his dad had said that if he ate all his vegetables he could stay up, or agreed that Ben could stay up later this night if he went to bed earlier the next, then Benjamin would have been a player, he would have exercised some measure of control over the situation and, indeed, over his dad. But in the face of unconditional love we are powerless. Yes, perhaps we can choose to accept it or not, perhaps we can run away from it, but we cannot influence it, manipulate it, or control it. In the face of this kind of love, we are powerless. And only when we’ve died to all of our delusions of actually being in control do we realize that such loss of perceived freedom and power is actually life.

Garabandal

  Please note that this is a scary story of my pilgrimage to Garabandal. One has to be social when on a pilgrimage. I saw a woman sitting in the garden from the bedroom window where I was staying for … Continue reading →

I can’t do the math.

I have to ask the QOTD on my Facebook.  “Who’s birthday is it today?” I am having a senior moment. Thank goodness, someone in my family has more memory than I do. My oldest sibling Myrna is turning a year … Continue reading →

Reaping the rewards

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  “Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed” – John 20:29 It is with his scientific mind that he has proven black holes, gravity, and wrote the book a Brief History of Time, Steven Hawkings absolute cannot reason … Continue reading →

Heaven can’t wait for Hawkings

“The Grand Design,” Britain’s most famous scientist says that given the existence of gravity, “the universe can and will create itself from nothing,” Hawkings argued that God did not create the Universe. It does not really matter. In my mind, … Continue reading →

So, Here I am, Lighting a Candle.

Lighting a candle in prayer living it behind to stay alight, kindling in the hearts and minds of others the prayers I have already offered for the people present here, for our loved ones at home, for saints and sinners, … Continue reading →

Hounding is a dog’s business

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Hounding maybe a dogs’ business, so do cats. They will never stop until such time they get what they want. A bark here and a meow there. Incessantly. Finally, we give in because we love them not because we want … Continue reading →

Wandering Wonders

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Somewhere in Canada, I was given four glorious days to spend time at Victoria, BC. It was a gift for being part of belonging in a delegation to make a better British Columbia for the working class. The timing was … Continue reading →

Daily Treat

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I know a place, where no one ever goes, There’s peace and quiet, beauty and repose. It’s hidden in a valley, beside a mountain stream, And lying there beside the stream I find that I can dream. Only a place … Continue reading →

Human Race

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  I am here, Jesse, where it seems there is only the dry sand and the wet blood. I do not fear so much for myself, my friend Jesse, I fear for my woman who is home, and my young … Continue reading →

Paws and a Prayer

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Well, Maurice, do pray that cats go to heaven. A movie was made that dogs go to heaven and I am still waiting for Disney to make a movie that cats go to heaven. This is how I speak to … Continue reading →

Claims

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Buddha never claimed to be God. Moses never claimed to be Jehovah. Mohammed never claimed to be Allah. Yet Jesus Christ claimed to be the true and living God. Buddha simply said, “I am a teacher in search of the … Continue reading →

Living with Cats during Lent

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I don’t want my cats to think they are a god just because Egyptians worshipped them. To make them understand that they are not a god, I read to them the Magnificat Lenten Companion and Living with Christ. There are nights … Continue reading →

The Signs

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What sign would you write for your son or children?

Unimaginable You

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  It’s Thanksgiving Day in Canada. I thank you for your readership.

Mystery of Seeking

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We want to know. All we wanted to know but were afraid to ask. All we really needed to learn we learned in kindergarten… or college… or life. We want to know who loves us. We want to know who … Continue reading →

First Thing First

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Denzel Washington recently gave the Commencement Address at Dillard University in New Orleans. He broke his speech into four takeaways for the new graduates: Put God first: “Everything that I have is by the grace of God, understand that. It’s … Continue reading →

“When God Created Mothers”

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When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of “overtime” when the angel appeared and said. “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.” And God said, “Have you read the specs on … Continue reading →

If Any Little Word of Mine

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A little bit of bread for the pigeons, place them on top of the shoe, be very very still, the bird will come to feed right on the left foot. It doesn’t take too much to make someone happy especially … Continue reading →

Deepest level of communication is wordless

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I stand among you as one who offers a small message of hope, that first, there are always people who dare to seek on the margin of society, who are not dependent on social acceptance, not dependent on social routine, … Continue reading →

Psychiatric Help

And the very best thing in this journey of losing my mind is that God stayed by my side and I am forever grateful for that. Furthermore, my sense of humor returned.

Facebook: Snoopy

 Go ahead and hug a dog, a cat, a tree,
Let me know how that feels for you.

Visions of blindness

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We see every day people who are vision, deaf and speech impaired. We witness the impact on the person, family, friends and society. With their presence, we experience it. Being with them, they provide insights living in the dark and … Continue reading →

Father and Son

“A little boy who had been to Sunday School told his father that he learned that God the Father and Son were equal.

The father said: “That is ridiculous. I am your father; you are my son. I existed a long time before you.”

“No,” said the boy, “you did not begin to be a father until I began to be a son.”

~ Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Happy Father’s Day To One and All.  Blessings.

Rest

Read these words aloud as a prayer for this stage of your life—the fullness and generativity of your being.

Rest: A Poem

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

— Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
(Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)

via Richard Rohr

To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that ,,,,, “

We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.

Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

“In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite.”

Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!” ― Charles Chaplin

Source

This is love and nothing else.

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

 

Robert Frost, from Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays (Library of America).

Thank you David Lose for sharing another inspired poem.
Photo Credit: Karma Tube

Inside my mind: A human hunger

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What’s inside our skull?  Is it our brain or our mind? This is a real brain floating in liquid to keep it intact as a specimen, and undoubtedly it’s not mine.  Our brain is divided into two hemispheres and it … Continue reading →

A short story: “Tell the whole world for me.”

Since I will not be able to entertain myself by entertaining you for the next while, I am leaving you this short story. Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first … Continue reading →

This is how it is

As my prayer become more attentive and inward
I had less and less to say.
I finally became completely silent.
I started to listen
– which is even further removed from speaking.
I first thought that praying entailed speaking.
I then learnt that praying is hearing,
not merely being silent.
This is how it is.
To pray does not mean to listen to oneself speaking,
Prayer involves becoming silent,
And being silent,
And waiting until God is heard.

–Søren Kierkegaard, quoted by Joachim Berendt in “The Third Ear,” translated by Tim Nevill (Shaftsbury, England: Element Books, 1988).

Wisdom from our summer 1990 issue on attention |Parabola Magazine
Photo Credit: Randy P. Martin

I can show you God

Thank you, John, for sharing your words of wisdom.

“The places of peace

Ancient places and secrets hidden.
We allowed ghostly views of life and death.
I search for beauty hidden from the normal eyes.
Rare places to find peace.
I find cliffs to sit with Eagles.
I talk with the Gods of the wind and water.
I touch the soil and feel the energy and life.

The ancient Gods are fair.
They do not disturb or change our journey.
They just whisper. Life is fair.
Take what you need. Don’t abuse the land.
Love and respect your neighbors.

read more…

johncoyote

I can show you God

A Poem by Coyote Poetry

Just thoughts and things to ponder on

                                  I can show you GodThe great search for God is fruitless for some.
I knew a woman from  Santa Cruz.  We sat together often drinking hot and tasty
coffee on the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Her heart was cold and dead.

She  told me God is dead and forgotten.
We are just people struggling with no place to go or reasons to be alive.

I smiled and pointed to the sea.
I told her God is alive.
Look at the dancing sea.
The sun above us. Gifts for us from God.

God isn’t our master or guide.
Life is for us to decide.
She looked frustrated and asked.
Don’t God support to protect and save us?
Look at this world. War, murder, violence and dead-ends.”

I requested her to travel with me.
I…

View original post 678 more words

The Lucky One – Black Mother

Someone told me to read the lives of the saints to help me in times of dark night of the soul.  Not just the saints but as well as people who had the courage to come back.  These are ordinary people who managed to crawl out of their darkness with the help of others and divine intervention.

She was born in Sudan in 1869, kidnapped by Arab slave trades at age seven, sold and resold, suffered much trauma, abuse and brutality during her captivity that caused her to forget her own name. She was named Bakhita, meaning “the lucky one”. Life as a slave terrified her.

Click on the photo to view a brief story in video.

Forgiveness: 
“If I were to meet the slave merchants who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. If what happened to me had never taken place, how could I have become a Christian and a religious?”

Eventually, in 1883 an Italian consul bought her, treated her kindly in his household, took her to Italy and was given as present to a wife of friend.  When the new owner left for Africa to attend to business matters,  she gave the  Canossian Sisters of Venice  custody of Bakhita. Here she found out that she is a free person and remained with the Sisters, became a nun and known as the “Black Mother.”

Bakhita, what a life story she had at a tender age.  How does one get over the abuse she received as a child?  With the help of others that cared about her and discovered that she has a new Master, her God, she recovered.

During the millennium year 2000, Pope Paul II canonized Josephine Bakhita.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Josephine Bakhita
UCatholic: February 8 Saint of the day
Depressed and Catholic: Bakhita, hope for those abused in childhood

On Being Thankful

Being Thankful When Depressed

Sometimes it can be difficult to be thankful when you feel miserable.  That misery usually becomes worse when well meaning people remind you of what you should be thankful for.  So, let me offer a prayer of gratitude for all who struggle with depression, or any other mental or emotional condition.

Dear Lord,

• Thank you for giving me the courage to get up and face another day, and the stamina to work for health.

• Thank you for holding me close when I have wanted to end my life, and for holding others who did die from depression, bipolar, or schizophrenia.

• Thank you also for understanding when I couldn’t get myself out of bed to go to mass or feared confession because the very thought of facing my sins only made me feel more unworthy of love.

• Thank you for providing the ability to hold up my head when people judged me, gossiped about me, or backed away during the times I became ill.  Likewise, for granting me patience and understanding when those who saw me at my worst could not accept my health and so treated me as if I were still “fragile.”

• Thank you for teaching me how to carry my cross for love of you, focusing on you rather than my specific pains.  I know I don’t do that perfectly but you don’t care and for that I am most grateful.

• Thank you for modern medicine, competent therapists and spiritual directors, understanding clergy, and Saints who had mental health difficulties.  These can bolster my hope, lessen my sense of isolation, and even make me healthier.

• Thank you especially for those moments, days, and sometimes months of remission when joy and a clear mind return.  These are a foretaste of what heaven will be like after I have finished fighting the good fight in faith and hope.

• Most of all thank you for accepting the offering of my imperfect, broken, and sick self at mass and responding by feeding and strengthening my soul with the Eucharist.

For all these things I thank you.  Amen.

 

Credits:
Article: Depressed and Catholic
Image: Friar Musings

 

Instagram of Gratitude

A weekend lost was a weekend found

I learned that vulnerability is okay,
to unmask myself,
I am not the only one who faces obstacles in life,
to make the most of time,
to “just be,”
and that I am more than ordinary.

God has numerous wonderful plans in store for me.
His love is the most selfless and everlasting love.

I cannot put into words how thankful I am
to be surrounded with people who love me
and go that extra mile to make me happy.

Sometimes the adults wonder what the children are thinking.  Most importantly, sometimes we wonder whether we have raised the children well.  We can only hope that they are safe and sound when we are not around to protect them.

This is an instagram from “becca”, my youngest brother’s daughter who is more than happy to share it with me.

These are her words, the breaks and italics are mine.

Letter to your future self

Have you ever written a letter to yourself only to be opened in the future?  I did.

In one of the retreats I attended, I wrote a letter to myself, sealed it in an envelope, addressed to me, left it at the retreat office and mailed it to me a year later.  I completely forgot about the letter until I received it.  Excitedly opened it, read it, put it back in the envelope, stored it away and cannot recall the content of the letter.  Currently, I don’t know where I have hidden it.  Maybe one day, I’ll find it before I die or maybe my family will.

What brought me to write this is due to Taylor.

Taylor was a vibrant 12-year old girl.  She died young due to pneumonia-related complications.  When her parents were going through her things, they discovered a sealed envelope addressed to her future self:  “To be opened by Taylor Smith on April 13, 2023, only unless said otherwise,”

The letter reads:

Dear Taylor,

How’s life? Life is pretty simple right now (10 years in your past). I know I’m late for you, but as I’m writing, this is early, so; congratulations on graduating high school! If you didn’t go back and keep trying. Get that degree! Are you (we) in college? If not, I understand. We do have pretty good reasoning, after all. Don’t forget, it’s Allana’s 11th birthday today! Sheesh, 11 already? In my time, she just turned 1! I didn’t get to go to that party though, because I was in Cranks, Kentucky for my first mission trip. I’ve only been back for 6 days!

Speaking of, how’s your relationship with GOD? Have you prayed, worshipped, read the bible, or gone to serve the lord recently? If not, get up and do so NOW! I don’t care what point in our life we’re in right now, do it! He was mocked, beaten, tortured, and crucified for you! A sinless man, who never did you or any other person any wrong!

Read the rest of the letter here.

Related articles: WJHL story ~ Johnson City girl’s life remembered

“I am only a man, just like you.”

Trait D’espirit / Drawn by the Spirit

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures,” said St. André Bessette.

He is just another man, a real person that I would have very much wanted to meet personally.  Unfortunately, he was born way ahead of me and died 20 years before I was born.  If you ask him who he is, the response was “I am only a man, just like you.”

André Bessette is a native of Canada born frail in a poor family in Quebec.  He became an orphan at the age of 12 and had hardly any education at all.  In his early twenties, he entered the Holy Cross congregation in Montreal.  Nobody wanted him.  The main task given to him was menial as a porter, someone who opens the door and greets people who come to visit the Oratory.  Yet he did his duty for 40 years accepting the little he had and turning it into a holy act.

One would not think that he lacks formal education when he is an effective teacher of faith by his action, love, kindness, and example.  He used the simplest means.  It is his complete trust with divine providence is what made him an exceptional person.

His dream was to build a church devoted to St. Joseph.  He trusted that if he is really doing the Lord’s will the Lord would bring it to fruition.  And it did happen.

How I would have wanted to see him open the door for me when I visited the Oratory in Mount Royal.   I felt small as an ant standing at the first rung of the steps looking up at the Oratory.

In a world filled with educated minds and an era of countless celebrity, glitz, and glamour, I am amazed at what a simple man can do.

Brother André is what I call him and has left me a legacy to place my trust in Jesus.

The journey we have taken

Every day, God gives us the sun – and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy.

Every day, we try to pretend that we haven’t perceived the moment, that it doesn’t exist – that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow.

On Frozen Pond

But if people really pay attention in their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment.

It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seems the same to us.

But that moment exists – a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.

Joy is sometimes a blessing, but it is often a conquest.

Our magic moment help us to change and sends us off in search of our dreams. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments – but all of this is transitory it leaves no permanent mark.

And one day we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken.

 

Source: January 7, 2014 by Paulo Coelho on our magic moment

A taste of e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Source:  David Lose

The Seeker: I’ll never find another you.

Singing is a form of prayer.  This is another song that I sing since childhood.  It is not a traditional hymn but it draws me nearer to the Lord.  I know there is a Promised Land. 

There’s a new world somewhere
They call The Promised Land
And I’ll be there some day
If you will hold my hand
I still need you there beside me
No matter what I do
For I know I’ll never find another you 

There is always someone
For each of us they say
And you’ll be my someone
For ever and a day
I could search the whole world over
Until my life is through
But I know I’ll never find another you 

It’s a long, long journey
So stay by my side
When I walk through the storm
You’ll be my guide
Be my guide 

If they gave me a fortune
My pleasure would be small
I could lose it all tomorrow
And never mind at all
But if I should lose your love, dear
I don’t know what I’d do
For I know I’ll never find another you

But if I should lose your love, dear
I don’t know what I’d do
For I know I’ll never find another you
Another you
Another you

 

“I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” ~ 1 Corinthians 14:15

 

Related Links:

• Sunday Snippet
• Youtube:  The Promised Land by the Seeker

 

A Child is Born

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government
shall be upon His shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)

Break the cord and fly like a bird.

When you feel as if you are in a deep darkness because of doubt, fear, illness, or depression, rather than try to desperately climb out perhaps it would be better to “walk in the dark.”  Often when we try too hard we only get more discouraged and if we go with the flow while we try, we slowly feel better.

We can be attached to our pursuit of happiness and health to the point of forgetting we are human.  We can expect ourselves, our doctors, therapists, spiritual directors, and priests to completely heal us, as if they were god.  Pursuing health and happiness are good but need to be kept in balance.  If we pine for them too much, we ignore the fact that only God can fully heal us and bring us lasting happiness.  

When you feel overwhelmed by life’s difficulties St. John of the Cross advises:

“If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.”

“In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.”

“The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it will not arrive at the liberty of divine union.  For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly.”

 

Links:

• Tumblr: Depressed and Catholic
• Ways to beat depression and holidays
• Choose hope despite what you see

 

Start with yes

You Must Start With Yes ~ Richard Rohr’s meditation

By teaching “Do not judge”, the great teachers are saying that you cannot start seeing or understanding anything if you start with “no.” You have to start with a “yes” of basic acceptance, which means not too quickly labeling, analyzing, or categorizing things as in or out, good or bad, up or down. You have to leave the field open, a fie…ld in which God and grace can move. Ego leads with “no” whereas soul leads with “yes.”

The ego seems to strengthen itself by constriction, by being against things; and it feels loss or fear when it opens up. “No” always comes easier than “yes,” and a deep, conscious “yes” is the work of freedom and grace. So the soul lives by expansion instead of constriction. Spiritual teachers want you to live by positive action, an open field, and studied understanding, and not by resistance, knee-jerk reactions, or defensiveness, and so they always say something like “Do not judge,” as judging is merely a control mechanism.

Words and thoughts are invariably dualistic, but pure experience is always non-dualistic. You cannot really experience reality with the judgmental mind, because you are dividing the moment before you give yourself to it. The judgmental mind prevents you from being present to the full moment by trying to “divide and conquer.” Instead, you end up dividing yourself and being conquered.

Source:  Richard Rohr’s meditation adapted from The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics

Each Day is a Blessing ~ Minute Meditations

We are called to love God and one another. That is our primary vocation.

Morning Glory

The reason we rise in the morning and the purpose of our life on earth is to learn how to receive God’s love and then share it. God’s gift of life to you each morning is a sign that He has a mission for you that day.

 

 

— from Tweet Inspiration

Close your eyes and walk in the dark

Where have you hidden,
Beloved, and left me moaning?
you fled like the stag
after wounding me;
I went out calling you, but you were gone.

~~ Spiritual Canticle of St. John the Cross ~ Stanza 1

St. John the Cross was born in 1542 as John (Juan de Yepes Alvarez) in a small community near Avila, Spain.  He joined the Carmelite Order in 1563 and took the name Juan de Sato Matia (John of St. Mathias). In 1577, the unreformed Carmelites imprisoned him in Toledo, Spain.

In a dark, cold and desolate six by 10 feet prison cell, he wrote his famous poem: Spiritual Canticle.

In 1578 after nine months of imprisonment, he escaped taking with him his poetry.  He stayed in a convent to get better, read his poetry and shared his experience of God’s love to the sisters.

He is similar to Rumi, a poet and a mystic.  He also wrote the Dark Night of the Soul and Ascent of Mount Carmel.  He is one of the leading poets in Spanish literature.

Sources:

• Sacred Space
• Catholic Treasury
• Spirituality:UCANews

If

If any little word of mine
May make a life the brighter;
If any little song of mine
May make a heart the lighter,
God help me speak the little word,
And take my bit of singing
And drop it in some lonely vale,
To set the echoes ringing.

If any little love of mine
May make a life the sweeter;
If any little care of mine
May make a friend’s the fleeter;
If any lift of mine may ease
The burden of another,
God give me love, and care, and strength,
To help my toiling brother.

Composers: C.E. Hymnal

A Special Gift

Today, I received a gift.  For me, it’s nothing special.  From the giver, it’s a very special gift.  And the gift is one Mango.

This is a very special mango brought by the three special stooges (my nephews) all the way from Palawan, Philippines.  Men think differently when it comes to buying gifts.  I wonder what they were thinking in choosing a Mango for a gift?  Maybe they though this is a perfect gift?  Maybe they thought I want a mango?  Maybe they thought of surprising me.  Maybe they were not thinking at all?  Maybe I will surprise them by returning the gift!

Not.

I am happy to receive the gift and happier even more that these young men came home safely.  That is the most important part.  As for the gift, it’s the thought that counts.  It’s a gift from God to bring them back to us, mango included.

Now, allow me to ask these questions.  Indulge me, please participate, especially the men.  The questions are:

• What if you bought the perfect gift for someone you love and they wouldn’t open it?
• Would you leave it with them so they could think about it and maybe open it later?
• What do you think God does when His gift is not accepted?

If you do not believe in God, think of your higher power or think up of anything.  Your comment awaits.  Thank you.

 

 

Source:  Patricia

Children’s thoughts

 A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. 

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. 

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. 

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. 

The little girl said, “When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah”. 

The teacher asked, “What if Jonah went to hell?” 

The little girl replied, “Then you ask him “.

——————————————————————————–

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s work. 

As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. 

The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” 

The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” 

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”

——————————————————————————–

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. 

After explaining the commandment to “honor” thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” 

Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, “Thou shall not kill.” 

——————————————————————————–

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. 

She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?”

Her mother replied, “Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.” 

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, “Momma, how come ALL of grandma’s hairs are white?”

——————————————————————————–

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. 

 “Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, ‘There’s Jennifer, she’s a lawyer,’ or ‘That’s Michael, He’s a doctor.’ 

A small voice at the back of the room rang out, “And there’s the teacher, she’s dead.” 

——————————————————————————–

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, “Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face.” 

“Yes,” the class said. 

“Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn’t run into my feet?” 

A little fellow shouted, “Cause your feet ain’t empty.” 

——————————————————————————–

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: 

“Take only ONE. God is watching.” 

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. 

A child had written a note, “Take all you want. God is watching the apples. 

 

Source:  Reconnections.net

 

Final Journey on Earth

She came to Canada by steamship as a young woman in 1958 with a four-day train ride from Halifax to Vancouver as her introduction to Canada.  Vancouver offered the beauty of the ocean, along with the comfort of the mountains that reminder her of her home in Italy.  She married, raised a family, and lived in Kitsilano where she was known for her garden and flowers, which she carefully tended until just weeks before her passing.

Gina Antonioni July 26, 1936 to October 30, 2013

She was a supporter, a volunteer, and active participant at the Italian Cultural Centre and Villa Carital until her illness would no longer allow her to help.  Through her work, at Arbutus Manor for many years, and involvement in various clubs and groups, including Catholic League of Women (CWL) and the Circolo Trentino, she had built a large and varied group of friends.

Catholic League of Women

The Easter candle is lit at baptism and lighted again upon death. “In dying we are born to eternal life.”

Easter Candle

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.  If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. ~ Romans 14

Related Link:  Leave of Absence

Candle in Spain: November Peace Challenge

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Spain is filled with churches and we tried to stopped by in most of them, time permitting.  When I enter a new church, they say make a wish and your wish will be granted.  I have three wishes and I pray it all … Continue reading →

Remember our usefulness

Whenever I start to feel down and out, I think of all these people who became instrumental in shaping the history of Christianity.

Have a blessed Sunday.

Source:  Catholic and Depression

A task for angels

Many years ago lived a man who was able to love and forgive everyone he met.

Because of this, God sent an angel to talk to him.

“God asked me to come and visit you and to tell you that He wants to reward you for your goodness,” said the angel.

“Any favor that you desire will be granted. Would you like to have the gift of curing?”

“By no means,” answered the man. “I prefer that God Himself choose those to be cured.”

“And what about bringing sinners to the path of the Truth?”

“That is a task for angels like you. I don’t want to be venerated by anyone and serve as an example all my life.”

“I can’t go back to heaven without granting you a miracle. If you don’t pick one, you’ll be obliged to accept one.”

The man reflected a little before answering: “Then I want Good to be done through me, but without anyone noticing – not even myself, so that I don’t commit the sin of vanity.”

And the angel gave to that man’s shadow the power to cure, but only when the sun was shining on his face.

In that way, wherever he went, the sick were cured, the earth became fertile again, and sad people regained their joy.

The man traveled many years over the Earth without ever realising the miracles he worked, because when he was facing the sun, his shadow was always at his back.

In that way he could live and die without being aware of his own sanctity.

Source: Paulo Coelho Blog

Read more: Daily Mail ~ Paulo Coelho ~ Seeking Best Yourself

A Revelation

WYA Revolution is a project started by a young man named Jon Jorgenson It is a new project that seeks to remind everyone, young and old, that you are loved. No matter who you are, or what you’ve done – you are loved!

Life is an adventure, and it can be a difficult adventure from time to time. Everyone goes through moments (or long periods) where they feel as though the whole deck is stacked against them. We can feel defeated, unloved, unlovable, renounced, and/or forgotten. But, these are the moments that God loves us the most.

Jon Jorgenson speaks to this in his new videos for the Anima Series. There is one for women, and another for men. They are both really powerful, so I encourage you to watch them both.

 

 

To play the video for men, please click on The Love Revolution,

Ascending the Mountain

This gallery contains 4 photos.

For most walkers or hikers, going up the mountain is far easier than going down .  When it comes to descending, it is really hard on the knees and toes especially when the mountain is too rocky and paved with … Continue reading →

Something fell from the sky

On my way to work, something fell from the sky.  As I walked closer to it, it appeared to be a small piece of paper iridescent green colour.  I bend down to pick it up and it was paper light.

Good Lord.  A hummingbird.  I don’t know what to do.  I was so scared that it might have died from the impact of hitting the pavement.  It was breathing so fast. Stroking it as gently as possible and praying to it “Please do not die” was all I can do,

I turned around and went to the nearest bush.  I laid it gently, left and hope it will come back to its senses.

On my coffee break around 10 am, I went to check the bush.  The hummingbird was gone.  I hope it flew away.

This was the first time I encountered a hummingbird.

Fast forward a year later.  Spring, a beautiful sunny day, however, the dark night of the soul is trying to invade me.

I was gardening on my balcony at the same time talking to God.

God, where are you.  I don’t particularly like how I am feeling, please take this away from me.  Where are you?

Suddenly I heard this whooshing sound.  It was high pitched buzzing more like it.  Am I hearing things now?  Or the tension is affecting my eardrums again?

I look up and right in front of me was this beautiful golden hummingbird.

Oh my God.  I repeated this so many times in my mind. Transfixed to this small creature, I did not breathe nor move for fear of scaring it away.

Time stood still.

Zoom, it was gone.  So was the dark night of the soul.

From here on, the hummingbird is my constant companion especially when I tend to garden.  One hummer brought others  and they stay around all year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year. 

 Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees. 

 And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stand still. 

 For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill. 

A Robert Frost Hummingbird Poem

A Companion

And on the ninth  day,
God looked down on its wide-eyed children
And said they need a companion,
So God, made a dog. 

Peace ~ Moving beyond

The common thread between me and other immigrants, we fled our country to move beyond, sometimes, to move beyond hate. 

Hate is a strong word. 

When I was younger, I wrote a term paper the Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment.  The final analyst of the paper, I was for electric chair, a capital punishment.  This was based on a young mind being exposed to violence.  Not in my home where love thrives but due to poor government system and being under the regime of so many super powers. 

Hearing and reading stories is not good for a young mind for I learned the word hate. 

I hated what the Spaniards did, I hated what the Japanese did, I hated what the Americans did, and I hated the martial law, hate, hate, hate… 

Here in Canada, I learnt the history of the holocaust from watching the movie Schindler’s List.  I hated the Germans. 

Fortunately, there is one immigrant that helps me move beyond hate.  Eva Olsson, a holocaust survivor and she lives here in Canada. 

Her life philosophy in life is:
> Live one day at a time and make it a masterpiece.
> Treat others the way you want to be treated.
> Racism is a learned attitude
>Make a choice.
> Change your attitude.

She is right.  I cannot change the past and I can definitely change my attitude.

Eva Olsson: Canadian Immigrant ~ Holocaust Survivor

Subsequently, I began to find my VOICE.  Stand Up!  Speak Up! 

By being silent I will suffer.  That is why I have to speak out against intolerance, violence, disrespect, mendacity and any forms that will kill the soul of a human being.  If I maintain this silent attitude and accept the inhumanity, then, I have just lost the purpose and meaning of life.  That purpose comes from the heart connected to the mind.  As much as possible, I leave little room for hatred and cultivate love. 

Love brings peace.  A moment of Peace, a day of Peace, and never-ending Peace is what I strive for. If I tell myself who I am, words are not enough.  I have to show you and I start with children. 

If I can only teach one child to become loving, forgiving, compassionate, kind and see the goodness of the world in the God of small things, then I have done my job.  Hopefully, the child in turn will teach other children and this can have a ripple effect. 

I changed and keep the deep abiding Love of God based on my Catholic faith to love one another as He loves us.  And this is Peace. 

Related Articles:

• Eva Olsson
• Jewish Ottawa
• You Tube:  Hate is a four letter word
• You Tube: Eva Olsson Stronger than fire.
• Canadian Immigrant:  Genocide survivor speaks
• Daily Herald Tribune: Hate is a killer from a Holocaust survivor
• Please visit: September 21, 2013 ~ Peace One Day

Better than Bacon

Who doesn’t like Bacon?  Can’t say I don’t.  I happen to like bacon and the smell of bacon wafting through the atmosphere.  Imagine me hovering on mid-air following the scent of the bacon.  It’s so enticing.  Ah ….

Bacon is one of the most common discussions at work.  We could talk about bacon all day long except for other belief system that doesn’t eat meat at all.  However, they are intoxicated by the smell of bacon.  Yet, their faith keeps them from eating this sinful delicacy.  They have such deep abiding faith.

Would you care to join me and eat bacon?

When I invite someone, I try all kinds of tricks to join me or join us.  But I suppose dangling bacon is not as good as dangling a carrot.

I am actually talking about Catholics bloggers.  There are many of us: some are really dedicated, some are lapsed.  And there are non-Catholics that are just faithful to their religion.  It really does not matter to me.  Catholic means Universal.  I embrace you all.

For the sake of this post, I am supposed to link two sites that are catholic bloggers.  Let me introduce:

Claudia.  I like her sense of humour and I can relate to her.
“Whoever suffers from mental illness ‘always’ bears God’s image and likeness in himself, as does every human being.” excerpt from statement by Blessed Pope John Paul II at International Conference for Health Care Workers, on Illnesses of the Human Mind, November 30, 1997.

Not The Sword But The Pen.  She wants to join the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows (Beaverton, Oregon).  I happen to follow the footsteps of St. Francis.

Friar Musings.  The title is exactly what it says.  He is a Franciscan Friar.  Again, he is another St. Francis in the making.   This link speaks about mindfulness and I quote:

The weather and its coming and goings make us vigilant. What else in life causes you to be vigilant, attentive, watchful, observant, alert? Is it the literal thief in the night?  Maybe at best I have been attentive – you know… lock the doors and windows, install an motion-sensing flood lights outside, regular things.  Did I stay up all night on watch?  No.  Didn’t install ADT or other home protection systems, either. Maybe a better word for all this is that I was “mindful.”  I was mindful of the possibility of a thief in the night, but it was all just integrated into my life.

I did ask the first two but not Father.  They are good in what they do already to let their faith shine in the whole blogging world.

As for Better Than Bacon, this is what it’s all about: click on Man Alive.

 

Related Links:

• Claudia.
• Not The Sword But The Pen
• Friar Musings
• Sunday Snippets

 

 

A Baha’i Prayer

A Baha’i Prayer

Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light to the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind,
a dew to the soil of the human heart and
fruit upon the tree of humility.

 

Baha’i Garden in Israel Pilgrimage 2010

  Prayer for peace

May Christ inflame the desires of all people to break through the barriers which divide them, to strengthen the bonds of mutual love, to learn to understand one another and to pardon those who have done them wrong. Through his power and inspiration, may all peoples welcome each other to their hearts as brothers and sisters, and may the peace they long for ever flower and ever reign among them.

Pacem in Terris

At Sacred Space today can I allow the Word of God to stir up the authentic desires and longings of my heart? The men and women of the whole world long for peace.

 

Related Articles:

• Sacred Space: A Hindu Prayer
• Sacred Space: A Sikh Prayer
• Sacred Space: A Jain Prayer
• Sacred Space: Jewish Prayer
• Sacred Space: Buddhist Prayer
• Sacred Space: Muslim Prayer
• Sacred Space: Prayer of an 11 year old Indian boy
• September Peace Challenge: And I Quote: Blessings of Hope

A Hindu Prayer

A Hindu Prayer

 Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti (Peace), Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Oh Lord God almighty,
may there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome,
and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy peace itself bestow peace on all,
and may that peace come to me also. 

Photo: AP/Niranjan Shrestha

 Prayer for peace on Earth

Everyone who has joined the ranks of Christ must be a glowing point of light in the world, a nucleus of love, a leaven of the whole mass. He will be so in proportion to his degree of spiritual union with God.

Pacem in Terris

A Sikh Prayer

A Sikh Prayer

 By the grace of God’s name May humanity find itself lifted higher and higher. In thy dispensation O Lord Let there be good in all humanity. 

 

 

Prayer for peace on Earth  

The International community, which since 1948 has possessed a charter of the inalienable rights of the human person, has generally failed to insist sufficiently on corresponding duties. It is duty that establishes the limits within which rights must be contained in order not to become an exercise in arbitrariness. A greater awareness of universal human duties would greatly benefit the cause of peace. (John Paul 2nd). 

As I pray today at Sacred Space we remember that the Lord never forces me. The voice of God is one of love. As we Christians long for peace we remember our brothers and sisters of other faiths who share our longings.

 

Related Articles:

• Sacred Space: A Jain Prayer
• Sacred Space: Jewish Prayer
• Sacred Space: Buddhist Prayer
• Sacred Space: Muslim Prayer
• September Peace Challenge: And I Quote: Blessings of Hope

“Each One of Us Has An Angel”

From a very young age I always have had a belief in Angels, I have seen them and felt them close by when needed. 

My childhood was difficult with violence in the family then the split of the family. We all think of Angels as beautiful figures dressed in white with huge wings. One of my Angels was a child my age that used to come and sit with me on the edge of my bed. 

As I grew I got use to the Angels, I read up about them, learned about them. Each one of us has an Angel assigned to us on the day we are born.  This Angel is with you standing in the wings (no pun intended), waiting for you to ask help and that’s it. 

Now if you ask for £1million……… well tough. You are not going to get it, but if you ask strength at a particular moment then your Angel will be there with his/her arm around your shoulder. 

Please don’t ask me why children die, or people die in accidents or of cancers if they have Angels. I don’t know, these things happen and there must be a reason new-born babies have their first dream and then taken away from us, only the Almighty knows. I have asked that question many times as I have been in that situation. 

How to contact your Angel: first it’s a matter of trust. Trust your Angel to be there, then get yourself relaxed in a quiet room, no need for candles or incense, but if it will help you relax then do it. Close your eyes and ask your Angel to come forward and to tell you their name, now really listen with your ears, mind and especially your heart. You will hear their name; you will feel warmth, a comfort and joy. 

Then thank them for their name and ask them for help, over the next few days look for signs, feelings of comfort in your home and white feathers. 

It works for me. Have Faith, Love and Hope that’s all you need. 

by: Pete, My Sore Soul 

Pete, thank you for sharing your testimony. This is the comment of Pete from my post Do you believe in Angels.  Please direct your comments to him and feel free to visit his site,  My Sore Soul.  Pete, please feel free to response to them.  Again, thank you.

September Monthly Peace Challenge: And I Quote: Blessings of Hope

Hope provides the freedom to live at peace with ourselves,
others and God,
regardless of what may be going on around us. 

One Minute Meditation by Franciscans

  

May we be blessed with discomfort at easy answers,
half truths, and superficial relationships,
so that our lives have depth and vision. 

May we be blessed with anger at injustice
and exploitation of people,
so that we work for justice and peace. 

May we be blessed with tears to shed for those who suffer,
so that we reach out to comfort them,
 to turn their pain into joy. 

May we be blessed with enough foolishness
to believe that we can make a difference in this world,
and do what others claim cannot be done. 

– Based on a Franciscan prayer 

Eva: The Aspirational Agnostic

  

Soft as the voice of an angel,
Breathing a lesson unheard,
Hope with a gentle persuasion,
Whispers her comforting word. 

Wait till the darkness is over,
Wait till the tempest is done,
Hope for the sunshine tomorrow,
After the shower is gone. 

Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice. 

Seeker: Whispering Hope

 

Related Articles:

• Seeker: Whispering Hope
• Eva: The Aspirational Agnostic
• One Minute Meditation by Franciscans
• Everyday Gurus: Monthly Peace Challenge Quote This
• Claudia: September Peace Post

Labour Day Blessings

Did you know? The first Labor Day was celebrated nationally in 1894 as a “workingmen’s holiday.”

 

This Labor Day,

thank God for your work and its blessings

 and remember in prayer those unable to work.

The ability to work is itself a gift!

 

Parents – To honour and obey

My dear friends, 

Upon reading posts from others, we seem to be in the generation that has aging parents. 

Some with illnesses, some who are dying and some who have rested in peace. I too can receive a phone call at any given time with my mother. I just wanted to reach out and say, our parents’ generation that brought us into this world and taught us all that we know is the last of their kind. 

A generation that has seen and done more for us and America than we can ever imagine. 

I can’t imagine their fear of their children not reaping what they had sown into America as they knew it could give us. Freedom. 

My only thoughts are of our own children today. I struggle to think now too, that they will never have the story book childhood as we had. The simple life. The chores, eating at the dinner table, playing jump rope, earning and learning what we put into, a college degree that puts them in a prospective work place, buying their first home, getting married and doing the cycle all over again with their children.

 

What I do know is what I can do in my world. And that is to honor my parents by teaching my children the same values, dreams, aspirations and determination to will them into a world that may or may not heed to the same values. For we don’t know or never have been in a situation where the kind of survival deals with the survival from our own government and or country. The freedom that are being suppressed or will be taken. Laws that should still apply but are outdated simply because we can’t see eye to eye. But that’s what’s ironic. 

If we were raised on the same moral principles of our great parents’ generation, then where did we go wrong? Is it really because we lack the spiritual need of having God in our hearts? In all that we do and utter from our mouths? 

Some people are sick of hearing about religion or lack thereof, as the cause of our situation. But it’s not religion. It’s what’s in our hearts. That is the beat of our country. What we imitate in our hearts to be can only come from one source. LOVE. And who is love, kindness, generous, honest, humble, truth, respectful, teacher and most of all takes you unconditionally? 

Just like our parents on where they got their inspiration from. GOD. Following our parents teaching is following their values from HIM. 

So where did we go wrong? The answer is right in our faces. I will continue with my ways of my parents. 

Will you honor them too? ~ Maria 

This was written by Maria and we are cousins.

Note:  Maria read all your comments and she wishes to thank all of you for your kind comments. 

Sacred Space

Every time I move to a new residence or work place, I make sure that I create a sacred space.  

A sacred space is an altar that will remind me what is important in my life. 

Since I spend at least 7 hours a day at work, the station that I use is my sacred space and I have an altar on it.  It consisted of an Icon of three Angels and Madonna and child, statue of Virgin Mary, Divine Mercy, dry roses and water from Lourdes.  

 Looking at the Holy objects give me an assurance that all will be well even during the busyness at work.  Knowing that what I do begins and ends with God gives me a sense of clear conscience.  It is important that I do a good job that is reflective of my faith. 

As for a sacred time of prayer, I have this on the wall of my station. 

 

 

 Related Link:   Sunday Snippet

Prayer of the Six Directions

Prayer of the Six Directions

(Indian Prayer) 

Great Spirit of Love, come to me with the power of the North; make me courageous when the cold winds of life fall upon me.  Give us strength and endurance for everything that is harsh, everything that hurts, and everything that makes me squint.  Let me move through life ready to take what comes from the North. 

Spirit who comes out of the East, come to me with the power of the East, the light of the rising sun.  Let there be light on the path I walk.  Let me remember always that you give the gift of a new day and let me never be burdened with sorrow by not starting over. 

Great Spirit of Creation, send me warm and soothing winds from the South to comfort me and caress me when I am tired and cold.  Unfold me as your gentle breezes unfold the leaves on the trees.  And as you give to all the earth your warm moving wind, give to me warmth so that I may grow close to you. 

Great Life Giving Spirit, I face the West, the direction of sundown.  Let me remember every day that the moment will come when my sun will go down.  Never let me forget that I must fade into you.  Give me beautiful color, give me a great sky for setting so that when it is time to meet you, I come with glory.

Giver of All Life, I pray to you from the Earth.  Help me to remember as I touch the Earth that I am little and need your pity.  Help me to be thankful for the gift of the Earth and never to walk hurtfully on the world.  Bless me with the eyes to love what comes from Mother Earth and teach me how to use well your gifts. 

Great Spirit of the Heavens, lift me up to you that my heart may worship you and come to you in glory.  Hold in my memory that you are my Creator, greater than I, eager for my good life.  Let everything that is in the world lift my mind and my heart and my life to you, so that we may come to you always in truth and in heart. 

Amen. 

Today is a day for celebration and recognition of the First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples of Canada.  June 21 often coincides with summer solstice.  

In a retreat, I learnt this prayer and committed it to heart.  Now I offer the same prayer to the people of Canada’s First Nations

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

I am drawn to the moon, the sun, the sky, the star
Mother Earth a home for all sentient beings
Brother Wind blows the clouds from the sky
Sister Water quenches the parched ground
Brother Fire lights the Way 

Call me a New Ager
This is how I started following
Brother Sun, Sister Moon 

Brother Sun
And Sister Moon
I seldom see you
Seldom hear your tune
Preoccupied
With selfish misery 

Brother Wind
And Sister Air
Open my eyes
To visions pure and fair
That I may see
The glory around me 

I am God’s creature
Of him I am part
I feel his love
Awakening my heart 

Brother Sun
And Sister Moon
I now do see you
I can hear your tune
So much in love
With all that I survey 

I am God’s creature
Of him I am part
I feel his love
Awakening my heart 

Brother Sun
And Sister Moon
I now do see you
I can hear your tune
So much in love
With all that I survey 

Music and lyrics by Donovan P. Leitch.

Related Links:

•  Life and Prayer of Francis of Assisi
• Mission Improbable of Francis of Assisi

Give Me A Word

Desert Wisdom

 

The Master insisted that what he taught was nothing, what he did was nothing.  His disciples gradually discovered that Wisdom comes to those who learn nothing, unlearn everything. That transformation is the consequence not of something done but of something dropped.  ~ Anthony de Mello, SJ 

MORSEL:   In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired.  In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.  ~ Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching 

BONUS:   God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by a process of subtraction.   ~ Meister Eckhart

Absence of Light

A while back ago, I posted in Daily Prompt Does Evil Exists?   I wrote this and left it hanging without the whole story attached to it.  

The story is written in a magazine I picked up during one of my wanderings and I kept the article. It was published in a magazine that supports the expansion of the network of light ~ EAGLEyeONE – author unknown. 

The story is one of our “email favorites” and it has a thought provoking message no matter what you believe.  When it comes to what we believe, bear in mind that the word God should be replaced by whatever higher power or interpretation you believe in. 

  The university professor challenged his students and this question.  “Did God create everything that exists?” 

  A student bravely replies. “Yes.  He did!” 

  “God created everything?” the professor asked. 

  “Yes sir.”  The student replied. 

  The professor answered.  “If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then God is evil.” 

  The student became quiet before such an answer. 

  The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth. 

  Another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question, professor?”  “Of course,” replied the professor. 

  The student stood up and asked, “Professor. does cold exist?” 

  “What kind of questions is this?  Of course it exists.  Have you never been cold?” 

  The students snickered at the young man’s questions.  The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist.” 

  “According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality, the absence of heat.  Everybody and every object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.  Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature.  Cold does not exist.  We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have too little heat.” 

  The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exists?  The professor responded, “Of course it does.” 

  The student replied, “Once again you are wrong, Sir, darkness does not exist either.  Darkness is in reality the absence of light.  Light we can study, but not darkness.  In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break the white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each colour.  You cannot measure darkness.  A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it.  How can you know how dark a certain space is?  You measure the amount of light present.  Isn’t this correct?  Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.” 

  Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir does evil exist?” 

  Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course as I have already said.  We see it every day.  It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man.  It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.  These manifestations are nothing else but evil.” 

  To this, the student replied. “Evil does not exist, Sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself.  Evil is simply the absence of God.  It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God.  God did not create evil.  Evil is not like faith, or love, that exist just as does light and heat.  Evil is the result of what happens when man does comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.” 

  The professor sat down. 

                     The young man’s name ~ ~~ ~ Albert Einstein 

Now, I have been contemplating about my experience in Ashram with regards to the Divine Light in relation to this article.  The question to me is “Where is God in that situation?”

 

Related articles

• A for Ashram

Are You?

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Fact or Fiction

The great classic book The Song of Bernadette was written by Franz Werfel.  In his most desperate moment trying to escape from the Germans when he was hiding in Lourdes, he made a vow to write the song of Bernadette … Continue reading →

Plant a Seed in My Heart (28)

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Listen with our heart (29)

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Silent Retreat – Mandala

What:           Create a Mandala
Where:         Convent of the Cenacle Sisters
When:           May 27, 1995
Who:             Age 19 and over
Why:             Reflect on your Mandala 

Prerequisites: Silent and prayerful heart 

Provided:

•        Guided prayer and meditation
•        Round piece of board
•        Old magazines
•        Scissors
•        Glue

 Procedure:

•        Start with prayer
•        Listen with your heart
•        Use active imagination
•        Quiet your mind for 10 minutes
•        Collect magazines
•        Quietly cut up any pictures from the magazine
•        Glue the pictures on the round piece of board
•        Remain quiet when you are finished
•        End with a prayer

Wheel of Life: Mandala (Man and His Symbols: Carl Jung) 

Wheel of Life

“For an idea to take root,
Turn good intention into purposeful action
Only then will the idea grow and take on a life of its own” 

This is in response to Daily Post: Weekly Writing Challenge: Image vs Text

Gotta have heart (34)

The next destinations after Lourdes were Ars and Paray Le Monial.   It was a beautiful drive.  We were back to normal, no feud amongst the pilgrims and singing in the bus as if we were school children.  First stop was … Continue reading →

Friday Meditation (38)

The Master held that no words were bad if they were used in an right context. When he was told that one of his disciples was given to swearing, he remarked, “Profanity has been known to offer spiritual relief denied to prayer.” — Anthony de Mello, SJ 

MORSEL:   If you judge people, you have no time to love them.  —  Mother Teresa 

BONUS MORSEL:  Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.     — Frank Outlaw 

Desert Wisdom Nouwen/Nomura

One Love, One Heart

On the way home last night, I went to Church for Lenten blessing.  It’s just like Christmas on Ash Wednesday.  It was a crowded service.  I can only assume we came to Church to be redeemed and be forgiven for all the “sins” we have committed in our thoughts, words and deeds. 

I went to be reminded that I am a mere mortal being, impermanent on this Earth and to receive the sign on my forehead.  This sign is given by the Priest.  He dipped his thumb in an ash, made a sign of the cross on my forehead and told me “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  This line is derived from the story of how God made Adam, from a pile of dirt. Then I went home with a dirt mark while people stare at me with puzzled look.  And I just smiled. 

Meditating while walking and what came up to mind is the heart.  Is the heart the most important part of the body?  How come I have only one heart?  I have two hands, feet, eyes, lungs, ears; a pair of lungs, left and right hemisphere of the brain, etc.  It must be valentines, I brush off my thoughts. 

It’s a good thing that they came up with Valentine’s Day to distract people from the history of Valentine.  Personally, it’s my father’s death anniversary.  We will have a Celebration of Life but I won’t be able to make it due to work obligations.  I know, it’s only once a year.  Father will understand.  I do keep him in my prayers. 

My offering to you for Valentines is this heart: 

St. Francis of Assisi

Peace be with you.  Seeker

Fasting or Feasting (40)

For Catholics, today is Ash Wednesday, first day of Lent.  It is a period of reflection living Lent.  It is a time of prayer.  It’s about dying to our self, all that negative attitude and thoughts. 

In one of my retreats, Lent was defined as:
L – Lets
E – Eliminate
N – Negative
T – Thoughts 

Having said that, I learned to use soft words, less on exclamation point to make a point, bite my tongue.  For those who are familiar with cognitive behaviour, this is what they teaches in the course.  It all makes sense to me. 

This period is not all about me; it’s all about God whoever you conceive him to be, from Abba to Zen.  They said God lives in us.  Can you see the reflection of God in another person?  Or let’s not even mention God.  Can you see the goodness of a person? 

You see, I believe that we are all inherently good. 

Since you told me in my post Tell me and I will tell you mine, I will tell you the title of this list: Fasting and Feasting.  I choose Feasting.  Instead of giving up, I will give in and listen to the prompting of God. 

I will leave you with something to think about, a poem: 

“I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. “   Etienne de Grellet  (1773-1855); Quaker missionary

 

 Something to read:
We can make a difference right now
A Genie in a bottle or 12 steps program
Kindness of a stranger

 

A Song, A Book, My Name

Funny (not funny ha-ha) asking me that question.  I just finished watching the DVD of Pilgrim’s Progress: Journey to Heaven.  It’s a modern adaptation of John Bunyan’s beloved classic tale. 

Pilgrim’s song is a song that is constantly humming in my head.  I grew up with this song and I love the lyrics.  Pilgrim Progress is a required reading at school, a literally tale written by John Bunyan when he was imprisoned.   Perpetua is my second name. 

I found the lyrics after coming from a pilgrimage at All Roads Lead Home.

 Pilgrim’s song

Man is lonely by birth.
Man is only a pilgrim on earth.
Born to be king, time is but a temporary thing,
only on loan while on earth.

Like the wind in the tree,
man has been rather reckless and free.
Thrown far and wide, we long to settle down beside
the stream flowing through eternity.

Like the grass on the lawn,
we will pass by the way and be gone.
A lesson to learn, we walk but once there’s no return.
Time is always moving on.

Man is longing for One,
for a song and a place in the sun,
a home up above where ev’ry day is lived in love, for
rest when the journey is done.

 

A reminder that I am pushing the Pause Button in Daily Prompt as mentioned in my post Forty Days and Forty Nights.  Until then, care take of your sweet self.

Thank you for asking Daily Prompt All About Me.

 

Pax Tecum.  Perpetua

Forty Days and Forty Nights

I am preparing myself for Fat Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013.  After that, it will be 40 days and 40 nights of Lenten season in the Christian world. 

During this period, I will  focus on Pilgrim’s Progress; series of short stories of  my experience with a spiritual twist.  A period of cogitation, contemplation and vegetation; not necessarily in this order.  And of course, there will be humour.  For my God has a sense of humour.  He created me! 

Daily Prompt has to be sacrificed in order for me to pay attention to my spiritual needs. I am pressing the Pause Button.  Should these stories touch a few nerves or spark your divinity, the responsibility is yours on how to act on it. 

I will miss the daily fun and mostly I will miss the interaction with you as a community.  At any rate, there is a time for everything.  With the help of Patricia of day of grace, I feel peaceful about this decision.  This is a I calling, a prompting mentioned in my About page. 

This time is God’s time.  

With love and prayers, Perpetua aka seeker. 

 

One Minute Meditation:

The Master gave his teaching in parables and stories, which his disciples listened to with pleasure and occasional frustration, for they longed for something deeper. The Master was unmoved.  To all their objections he would say, “You have yet to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between a human being and Truth is a story.”  Another time he said, “Do not despise the story.  A lost gold coin is found by means of a penny candle; the deepest truth is found by means of a simple story.” – Anthony de Mello, SJ 

MORSEL: 

People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering. – St. Augustine of Hippo

 

 

 

Death, A Trip of a Lifetime

75 years old is my cut-off.  Take it or leave it.  I just don’t want God to forget all about me and let me live till the turn of the next century. 

I have discussed this with my sisters what I want to wear in the casket.  It will be my red dress that Mother made for me when I was in my twenties and still fits me.  The dress has been used by my sisters and nieces, and I keep on telling them to take good care of it because I need it for my burial gown.  

On the checklist is the reading at the mass, what songs to play (happy songs, please), no black dress in the funeral, cremation and of course, the Last Will and Testament. 

There, I am ready, any time, take me home. 

As for the Requiem, vengeance is mine.  I want to surprise them with an envelope to be read in the church should the priest allow it.  And at the end, one slide show, a pre-recorded  of my  last statement and a projection of my beautiful smile. 

The reading would be about Beatitudes, the teaching of Jesus Christ that in my opinion replaces the Ten Commandments of Moses.  

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted
Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. 

And in my pre-recorded voice: Lunch on me, let’s party and dance. And a smile.  Let’s move to the church hall. 

 

 This is in response to Daily Prompt: Write your own Eulogy.  Come and join us, it’s fun.

 

Read this:

Enjoy every moment you can

The Very Best of My Thoughts

DP Jan 24, 2013 Ready, Set Go

Set a timer for ten minutes. Open a new post. Start the timer, and start writing. When the timer goes off, publish 

Good Morning, God, thank you for another day.  

I wake up way before the birds start singing, the day is still dark.  This is my precious time being one and one with my God.  It’s about me and my God.  Not much time when there is 24 hours in a day.  From 5 am to 7 am, then I head off to work. 

This is also the time I do the daily prompt, not much time to think but everything is Impromptu.  The more I think, the more my brain gets muddled up. Don’t think too much. 

The minute I step out of this sanctuary, I will be a whole different world.  It will be all about them.  I am out there to be of service especially at work, put in 7 hours, an honest work for an honest pay.  Then I say a prayer, Lord, Let every step I do begins and ends with you. 

Back to waking up; I fill my thoughts with goodness, a moment of Gratitude, this is the time where the very best of my thoughts come from my God: 

The very best of all my thoughts
Are those that think of you
The very best of all my words
Are those that speak of you
My fondest hopes, my cherished dreams,
My prayers to the Lord above
The very best of all these
I offer you my love. 

Faith, Hope and Charity is the basis of my being.
Thoughts, Emotion and Behaviour are the basis of cognitive thinking.
This is a triangle I follow in order to be at-one-ment.
And here’s a song for everyone.  Have a safe day everyone.  God Bless. 

 

A Letter for the Grieving

Hi Uncle Cee:

 

I was pondering on what you wrote about the Holy Mother; how it helped you deal with losing the love of your life. And was reflecting on Mama Mary how she dealt with grief. 

• What was grieving like for her?
• How long did she grieve, when did she recover and what methods did she use?
• Who were the people who supported her during that time?
• How did she continue living life without Jesus Christ, losing the love of her life?
• What was it like for her to see the love of her life, Jesus Christ, suffered, crucified, put to death and buried?

Grief somehow opens up more questions.  Just like you, I questioned God and still do: WHY?  Why can’t you just take away Jan right now, why can’t you give her what she wants right now, Jan wants to die right now.  For years, 5 or longer, I watched Jan deteriorate, withering away, angry at God. Divine Retribution she says.  I say the God I know is loving, kind and merciful. 

Jan asked me to take her to a place to be euthanized.  My response was that she is not a cat; I can’t help her. Morbid sense of humour but Jan likes the blackness of it. Did God answer my questions, maybe He did.  Did I hear what God was whispering to the ears of my heart?  No. I was too busy listening to Jan and my heart ached for Jan. 

When I shared the Celebration of Life for Jan, I know I have arrived to that peaceful place where I can think of her fondly.  No tears, somehow tears won’t come and my heart is glowing with sweet surrender. 

How strange this grief I have for Jan in comparison to the death of my Mother.  And I know the next time someone dies close to my heart; it will be a different experience; for nothing can prepare me how I will feel.  I would have thought that since I welcome death as part of living, since I have taken cared of people with AIDs, since I have been trained to volunteer and counsel in the Hospice of St. Michael, I am well equipped.  Not really, I just have to have to go through it and enjoy the ride. 

I am alright, Uncle Cee.  Thank you for your help, prayers and concerns.  I hope I may be an instrument to your peace. I am here just a click away.  

Pax tecum.  Perpetua 

This is in response to DP Challenge: Writing Challenge Starting Over.   It’s fun.  Come and join us.

A Solution or A Problem

In a crisis, I ask myself, am I a solution or a problem?  If I am a problem, I remove myself.  If I am a solution, I’m in. 

For my sweet niece, Lucy, she has the best answer in her Face Book.  Too smart for a tender age, full of wisdom for a young mind.  I will follow a child.

 

Posted in Lucy’s Face Book

 As for my faith, I will always say this prayer:

Lord, grant me
the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change
the courage to change the things that I can
the wisdom to know the difference

And I will be guided by the Holy Spirit.

 

This is in response to Daily Prompt: In Crisis.  Come and join us.

 

 

Share is a verb

I LOVE SHARING and it’s my favourite word.  Share is a verb.  It’s an action word.  This was my opening word in my post Monday’s Peace News Captured on video. 

Sharing is very self-fulfilling.  It brings out the humanity in me especially LOVE.  In my reflection, this love is a gift from my God that is meant to be shared.  

So, here go I… 

After yesterday’s Daily Prompt: Polite Company, I am still deeply moved by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s history, not so much about the controversial topic about religion and politics. 

Out of deep admiration and respect for him, I want to share this song with you:

We Shall Overcome.

And a beautiful story Morning Story: Do Unto Others.

Have a blessed day.

Pax Tecum, (Peace be With You)  _/\_ Seeker

DP: Clean Slate – Simplicity

“Daily Post: Clean Slate – Explore the room you’re in as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Pretend you know nothing. What do you see? Who is the person who lives there?” 

The place is the tiniest room in a three storey older tenement.  It’s a bachelor suite measuring around 500 square feet or less, big enough for a simple life.

Room 306 is the back part of the third floor of Royal Manor.  She just loves that name and she started feeling regal already.  Seeing the bright living room with balcony, plenty of natural light is very conducive to a healthy living for the new tenant requires natural light in order to survive the long winter ahead.

A balcony, she feels so blessedly rich.  She can picture what plants to grow, eventually.  No animals allowed is the agreement she signed for.  That is just fine by her since she doesn’t want any responsibilities.  All she wants is to take care of herself and live a life of solitude.
The tenant is a minimalist.  All she brought with her is an old bed and three dressers for her clothes.  She loves dressing up.  No sofa, no chairs, no table for she threw in the towel.  A clean slate, a new beginning.

Ah, she can now breathe.  No more stuff that suffocates her life.

Over the years, the room is gradually filling up and it has maintained its simplicity in life.  A sofa, plants, folding dinning table, a cat.  Plenty of light and life. She now loves living the life what God has intended for her. 

Living room

Take Two – All Things Bright and Beautiful

“DP Prompt: Take Two – Run outside. Take a picture of the first thing you see. Run inside. Take a picture of the second thing you see. Write about the connection between these two random objects, people, or scenes.”

Hummingbird on my balcony

First Verse of Poem

Harmless Maurice

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset, and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

Poem by: Cecil Frances Alexander

 Related Articles:

All Things Bright and Beautiful Poem post by cristines

Hummingbird blogspot by mara gamiel

As a matter of cat by Ella on WordPress

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination – “EYE” Dream

Illumination is more than an ordinary light to me.  To be illuminated is has to touch the very core of my soul.

This picture was taken in one of the Churches in Rome.  It reminded me of my dream. Should you be interested in knowing the dream, click on Eye Dreamed post.

 

The EYE of GOD

January 6, 2013 Notes to file: On Peace

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Returning from 2012 Pilgrimage, I applied something I learned.  I changed my signature sign off with Pax Tecum and sometimes added this characters _/\_ .   Pax Tecum is a Latin word for Peace Be With You.  It was quite funny because … Continue reading →

Sunday, January 6, 2013 , Epiphany Day

Happy Three Kings.    It’s the last day of Christmas based on my tradition.  I have mentioned this on my post Gimme – Traditionally Speaking .  If you want to read more about the history see Britannica – Epiphany.

Last night I reminded niece Lucy to bring out her shoes for the Three Kings since she forgot last year and missed out on the treats.  She was thankful for the reminder.

For myself, I hanged these shoes on my door.  On my side of the building, my neighbours are mostly Christians.  I don’t know if they practice, though.  However, they understand what those shoes mean to me.

Shoes for Three Kings

 Needless to say, I received some treats from the Three Kings and then some.  Next celebration is Easter Sunday.  Mark your calendar that will April 7, 2013.

In my faith, today is also called Epiphany.  The meaning from Webster Dictionary is:
: an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being
: an intuitive grasp of reality through as an event usually simple and striking
: an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure
: a revealing scene or moment
: a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something 

Have you ever had an Epiphany?  I think I did.  And let me tell you this story that happened in 2011 Pilgrimage to Holy Land, Egypt and Jordan. 

Pandemonium!  Everybody was excited to go home after 21 days of being on the road as a Pilgrim.  People are coming in and out of their hotel rooms.  Checking each other’s luggage.  Sharing stories, pictures and laughter.  What did you buy to bring home?  What’s your favourite place? What, what, what?  Too many questions and I am starting to become tone-deaf.  I need some solitude.

I would like to stay longer and soak up the three world’s religion: Islāmic, Judaism and Christianity.  I want to be with the Muslims, Jews and Christians: and have an Interfaith Dialogue.  But good things must come to an end.

Last night at Jordan side:  I retreated to the balcony to find some peace and quiet, drinking tea and having a smoke.  The balcony is facing a beautiful garden and overlooking the Dead Sea.  I could see Israel from the balcony.  On a clear day, I could literally see the walls of the old Jerusalem.  On the right, I can imagine the location of Bethlehem, Nazareth and other geographical areas of where ancient time began based on the First and Old Testament.  This will be my last trip.  I have now covered the places of the Testaments.  The Bible will become truly alive in my mind and heart.  The readings during the mass will be more meaningful for my mind can conjure the places where I have visited.  Gratitude, I am filled with gratitude to my God for making it possible for me to experience the trip of a lifetime.

It’s dark.  Only a silhouette of the mountain is visible.  The lights were flickering across the waters.  Inside the hotel room, commotion ruled.

I settled in the dark, trying to calm myself down.  It’s good to be here, Lord.  I started speaking in my mind.  Careful that nobody will hear me for they already think I’m batty.  Don’t care.  Then, whispering softly, I raised my right arm, started waving goodbye to Israel.

Goodbye, Jerusalem
            Goodbye, Bethlehem
                        Goodbye, Nazareth

Oh, what is that?  A star?  A bright shining star that appeared so close and yet so far.  Hmm, is it a plane?  No, it’s not moving.  Ok then, as I made this schizophrenic dialogue within myself.  One asks; the other personality answers.  Oh, let me see.  That’s Jerusalem, that’s, Nazareth; that’s Bethlehem.  Aha!  This must be the STAR that the Magi saw.  Imagine that and it’s not even Christmas yet.

Last Night at Jordan – Nov 2011

 Excitement came rushing out of my body.  I must take a picture.  Made a quick dash inside the room, grabbed my camera and Neli, another pilgrim, to show her what I see.  This rushing must have only taken 15 to 25 seconds.  When I got out, the STAR is gone.  Oh, no.  It’s gone.  I was so disappointed and sad that I have no picture to show off about my last night.  Checked the horizon if there’s anything floating in the sky that is as big as the STAR.  No, it’s pitched dark.  Neli gave me “the look”, walked out of the room.  Later I followed for it’s time to check out.

At Frankfurt airport, I pulled Father Priest on the side and told him about my experience.  He simply said in his infinite wisdom, the STAR is meant only for my eyes to see.  No camera can ever capture it.  I was so moved by his explanation and tears of joy came out.

Picture, yes, I have a picture of the STAR; in the eyes of my heart.  I praise you, O Lord, for your works are wonderful.  Blessed be God forever.

January 5, 2013 Notes to file: On Giving

January 5, 2013 Notes to file:  Not much to do on a rainy Saturday day especially when I am nursing my colds.  I came across with this article from The Globe and Mail about giving: how many Canadians give and other trends … Continue reading →

Daily Prompt: Quote Me – Does Evil Exist?

 

“Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?”

When it comes to what I believe, I bear in mind that the word God might be different to other belief system.  If you are reading this, the word God should be replaced by whatever higher power or inspiration you believe in.

Here is a man who questioned everything.  And he answers it, too.

The question is “Does Evil Exist?”

His answer:
“Evil does not exist or at least it does not exist unto itself.”
“Evil is simply the absence of God.”

Thought provoking.  This poster hangs on the west wall of my sanctuary.  I stare at it every day.

I want to know God’s thoughts … the rest are details.

I think I shall never see…

When I look outside my balcony towards north, facing the horizon, I could see Grouse Mountain of North Vancouver. When it’s covered with snow on a beautiful sunny winter day like today, it’s spectacular.  I feel like making a trip and climb the Grouse grind.  Not. 

I cannot due to just being plain lazy.  Then I look down below.  Sigh.  My beautiful tree is no longer there.  I gave that tree a hug all the time.  I love watching the squirrels going round and round the branches.  The racoon checking out the tree at night for food.   My winged friends make it their home to nest. 

When it starts to flower and seeds, so much pollen floating in the air.  Much too much pinecones and don’t mind if I have to rake them out.  The beetles in summer months come out at night.  Lucy and Maurice the cats exercised their hunting skills. 

One year, Father Winter came with a vengeance, covered the tree with snowy splendor.  And then… sad, the branches cannot carry the load of white powdery stuff.  Needless to say, I bid goodbye to the tree and all I have left is this memory. 

“Royal Oak” Tree

DP: That Stings! – Flight of a Bumble Bee

Franz Kafka said, “we ought to read only books that bite and sting us.” What’s the last thing you read that bit and stung you?

When was the last time I borrowed a book from the library?  It was such a long time ago.  There is a period in my life that I devour all the books at the library and suddenly BOOM, I stop reading. 

Bite me, I dare you.  Vampire books are enjoyable to read because they bite.  What stings them is that they still have their humanity, the love to be amongst the living.  Ah, love, it makes my heart grow fonder.  It’s lovely to feel the love of the Vampires.  I feel so much love.  Just wait a minute, that doesn’t sting.

There are a couple of books beside me that I pick up to read between TV commercials.  I tell you, I can read a chapter by the time the ads are over, too many commercials on TV.  “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum and “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out” by Richard P. Feynman.  These books are filled with humor and they both sting, a little.

The book that I keep on coming back that I never seem to finish reading is titled “Awareness … the perils and … opportunities for reality” written by Anthony de Mello.  This is not an easy read or a romantic novel.  This book cuts through the core, and I bleed just by reading it.

When I picked up the book, it opened on this chapter, and I quote in part:
At a loss for Words:  “God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity.  But we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the ready radiance of wonder renewed daily, the source of which is beyond all reason. We don’t have to quarrel about a word, because “God” is only a word, a concept.  One never quarrels about reality; we only quarrel about opinions, about concepts, about judgments.”

 And this is the part the stings, hurts and takes a lot of reflection.

“Drop your concepts, drop your opinions, drop your prejudices drop your judgments; and you will see that.” 

 I fight and struggle with this regularly as I write my post and read others. 

DP: It’s Alive – Icons Galore

“Write a Q&A-style interview with an inanimate object.”

I can’t.  I am speechless.  I am listening.  

This “inanimate object” is most awe-inspiring. 

There is no Question. 

The answer is in sharing the mystery.

Merry Christmas Everyone.  Blessings to you and your family.

Holy Trinity

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE: SURPRISEd by LIGHT

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Sunrise!  It’s always a delightful surprise to see the sun rises.  No two are alike.  The sunrise was taken successively with just a simple borrowed dilapidated Kodak camera from my sister.  I don’t own a camera but I received a free gift of memory card from Fuji.

The 2011 pilgrimage was memorable in a sense that I went on top of Mt. Sinai.  It was a trip of a lifetime.  In order for us to be on time before the sun rises, we have to start climbing in the dark at 1 a.m.  A local Egyptian boy guided our group.  I took the easy way up, rode a camel part way and climbed at least 1000 steps up to reach the summit.Once reaching the summit, we waited for a while.

It was dark and cold.  I could hear a lot of murmur, whisper, laughter, prayer.  Our eyes were fixated on the black horizon in order not to miss the first glimmer of light.  And then, the sun quietly made its presence known.

 With a song and a prayer in my heart, I hummed this melody to my God:

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word