This Thing We Call Life

Ave Maria:-)

Ola brothers and sisters. It truly is rainy season this July... rainy season with a certain weirdness becoz..it's not raining the whole day... no perennial grey skies ... it's like sunshine and clear skies for a few hours, then from out of nowhere it rains-- it just pours... as tho' there was a typhoon coming -- and just as you're already worried about flooded streets and difficulty in commuting - the rains stop instantly.Weird.

Life is not life if only one or 2 things happen in a given day ... for many souls..it's like Live Streaming from the internet --- there's the family -- there are tasks to do whether  this be work-related, perhaps domestic chores , church assignments -- on tv  President P-Noy is giving his SONA ... many sick calls.. among them was a young woman who had to fly in to Manila for her kidney transplant - with younger sister in tow-- so that the hospital could check if there was a match  ... so many requests for prayers... even if we cannot visit all - it is already a great blessing when we remember them in our prayers... really asking JESUS to heal them, to grant stronger faith, healing for both body and soul... 

Work demands can sqeeze the very blood from us when we're not careful ... who was it that said - Something like - Be the master of your work ...don't let it enslave you ... Amen, amen.

What good is reaching the top if we get sick in the process, and our relationships suffer -  stress , anxiety--> never wonderful mates in life.

Today will just let pictures speak for themselves... was scanning fotos from old albums.... checking if the scanner was ok.... that was my excuse obviously I really just wanted to scan pictures , keep new files as the fotos were falling apart... Scanning fotos or looking at albums is good exercise for our soul. Makes us realize how much God has blessed us. 

Some live for only a few days..others barely make it to their teen years.. a good number of us are allowed by our Maker to live 20, 30, 40 50 with some blessed souls living to their nineties..these are the guys who will benefit the most from their senior citizen privileges.

As we grow older and hopefully wiser... the same things that used to be THE ULTIMATE , THE MOST ESSENTIAL FOR US...diminish in value and priority -- we just wake up one day and decide Which Goals we will attend to...who are the people whom we love and cherish... what are the things we value...what principles/ideals we will live by.... And there are blessed souls who don't even need to count decades before they finally see the light and have those liberating realizations... some find their peace and fulfillment in the Lord and His purposes early on... so really it's not even in the number of years..Natch

Many of us have experienced what it's like to be enamoured by the world and all it offers... the lure of material riches... material things - plush homes... the latest gadgets... a passion for bodily pleasures whether this be fitness routines, sex, beautification/enhancements to resist aging... now this is funny because we will all age and die anyway.Thank God , He thought of giving us souls so we could live on with Him in eternity.

Others pursue intellectual gains , and developing all skills and talents -- 

Some hold human relationships most important and meaningful of all ... ooops there are also those who have given up on fellow human beings and would rather invest their love on pets.

With the rationalization that pets are kinder than human beings.Ouch.

One blessed day ... oh I should say... many blessed days  for it happens through the years...we unload these former passions and pleasures... false idols of our life... as our heart slowly but surely discerns Who it is that can truly give us lasting happiness.

One time someone cleaned her closet...all branded bags neatly stacked... very expensive ... her treasures. 

I think I owned a few nice bags -- not the real McCoy --- but some nice ones mostly gifts from kind relatives. I noticed how the bags seemed to be stronger and more durable than me.... hahaha.... I mean , it dawned on me that I did not relish the thought that bags and things could last longer than me... 

Bags ...lovely ones make most women happy, c'mon..... ... yet don't we notice how when we're caught in the hurly-burly of life.... there's not even time to change handbags... so really at most we can only use 2 bags if we have such a busy pace.

As for owning a lot... be these luxurious homes, rights in a high-end resort.... still and all we can only sleep in one bed...that is so hilarious for me..how God can be a joker.

Lovers? Hmmm King Solomon had a harem of wives... yet he only had one heart. and if a heart is truly in love , how can you love more than one person.? How could one be unfaithful.? No wonder the Lord instituted the sacrament of marriage, He had it all figured out from the beginning of time. 

Looking good , being impeccably groomed are also typical lifelong goals -- no one wants to look horrible... yet as we grow older... we realize that time is so precious, we can't waste so much of it primping ourself in front of the mirror... besides like it or not, our bodies will suffer the toll of the kind of life we lived... and our faces will show it the most -- many old people often say : "Yep, I earned every wrinkle in my face. 

ahhh life...... how we learn so much, and often the hard way.

Perhaps it in the end it is not so much about what we have achieved ..but about how we have loved..and what we have learned .

All the above ..the whole experience of life.... most of our pursuits are not bad in themselves... it's only when we keep doing those pursuits as tho' they were the end-all and be-all in life that we hit a tragic dead-end.

but when we live, savor, reflect, learn from every episode of our life - and trace it all the way to the One Who Generously shared His Life with us.... so that we might truly have Life then my friend that's when we can say : " that wasn't so bad... it was in fact very good."

God grant us the boldness of  heart to seize the life He meant for us. 

God bless you. ...         te mye    

The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green, To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him

Psalm 92:12-15
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Tell It Like It Is

Ave Maria:-) 

As we have finished celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (9 day novena of masses) ..how timely to ponder on today's gospel... was grateful for the chance to catch 6pm mass at St. Nicolas.. it's one of those churches so conducive to prayer and contemplation - and where one is assured the place will never run out of  priests since the Augustinian convent is just beside the church .

Today's gospel is like a Chinese Lauriat in richness... it says it all.... and this is one time that our Lord minces no words ..not that He ever did I'm taking it piece by piece , help me God--I am so floored by what it could possibly mean -- so I don't want to "swallow" the gospel passage in one chunk -- in Tagalog , we have a quaint way of putting it:"baka mabulunan ako" (might choke on it) ...

Piece by piece also seems more reverential.... come join me..my friend:

Matthew 10:34-11:1

  Jesus said to his Apostles:

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one's enemies will be those of his household.

Oh dearest Jesus..how many times have I wondered about that -- that there will be a zillion times when you can cause quite a havoc in our lives.  To not know you..to not believe in you.. to shun you and everything you stand for..and just maintain a STOIC stance in life .... either that or be the merriest, lightest, nary-a -care-in-the-world bimbo that one could pretend to be --->

 this we could try to pull off...  

and tell the world through our words and actions that "Gee ...Jesus is quite a guy...I do respect and even admire Him ... but I'm not ready to take the plunge..and really ...I'm just a regular guy... Tao lang...tao lang.... so eat, drink..be merry ... here's to life!

the above would be easy to do for as long as one does not fall in love with You. 

But when a soul encounters You Lord... illumined by Your words of life...your teachings that stand the test of time... the crucibles of temptations .... this soul will never be at peace..and would in fact be so tortured to not express its love and allegiance to You Lord Jesus.

   

 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.

I have come to bring not peace but the sword.

the good priest at mass explained how the natural recourse upon getting to know our Lord is to declare His truths and to bring His justice.... this will never sit well with the world and the evil powers that run it --- this will be two kingdoms at war --- Christ's and satan's --- and know that there are no Middle Kingdoms -- where one may take a vacayyyy --- and blissfully not be a part of any war that ensues.  Either we prefer to take life lightly, blandly..with no sense of accountability to our Maker and Creator --- or we choose a definite side to align with.

and when we make a definite stand ..that's when our banners are raised.... and His words come true --I have come to bring not peace but the sword... tis the Sword of Truth..the Sword of Faith and Hope in God...the Sword of Obedience, of Service ...the Sword that draws the line ever so clearly between what is right and what is wrong in the sight of GOD.  Evil hates this Sword..because this Sword cuts cleanly and victoriously... bringing to Christ's light all forms of deceit .   

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 

there is no one... no one... who has chosen to love,obey and follow our Lord who has not at one time or another experienced conflicts..sometimes even with those closest to one's heart. But that is a price we must pay ... 

We know as we walk longer with the Lord that sooner or later..painful choices are made.. unpopular decisions  that make others wonder whether we've lost" it",  gone cuckoo... become a religious fanatic...  any label they can think of...to appease their disgust. 

go through the verse again and count how many times the Lord states..... he/she IS NOT WORTHY OF ME... when we love someone, something more than Jesus.

  It is not so much  that the Lord prohibits us from loving others but that whatever love we give to others First and Foremost be a Fruit --a Consequence  of the love we give to Him -- a love that is simply a response to the love God gives us --for GOD Loved us First.

and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus goes for the homerun..... either we decide to Go All the Way... or we don't go at all.

and there is no glossing over the cross ... or dressing up the cross so that it looks more a fluffy Goldilocks  cake , or it looks like a NASA spaceship that can take us to galaxies where the kind aliens live ---- please --- It is a Cross ... but as we comprehend  it more , the Cross Jesus bore for our sake ..and our own crosses that we must bear in our lifetime  -- these crosses we will later realize  to be the Most Beautiful Gift God has given us.

"Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. 

That one is sweet comfort for us  as we witness for the Lord.... we pray for the grace to do all things for Him because we want others to know his love and recieve salvation.

How tricky the devil is...using many preachers - who build their congregations -- preaching about everything under the sun , everything that is -- except the reality of sin and how it separates us from the love of GOD. It is painless Christianity. It propagates false love.... for the love that Christ  teaches and gives is a sacrificial love. Yes He suffered for us but He did not regret it. And neither should we regret any act of love and sacrifice offered so that others may come to know Him.

the gospel passage ends with this.....  When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples,

he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.

So these words were commands? 

then the more we must reflect on them.

So he pursued teaching and preaching in other towns..... then we too must ask the Holy Spirit to grant us our own unique ways of bringing the gospel... wherever  we move  ... as a warning ... we cannot maintain  2  or 3 identities ... such that  if it be a circle  or a group where our  Christian faith is not welcome we easily shift and wear that mask and "safe" identity?? No my brothers and sisters...we must strive to be true to our Lord - and we can't do this by ourself - we need the power and love of the Holy Spirit - the Mighty Spirit of GOD. In our surrendered weakness then..may Christ be our strength! 

Our Blessed Mother Mary, St. Joseph ..the holy apostles and saints in heaven pray for us unceasingly.. we are not alone ... we have the army of heaven behind us..we have Christ Jesus himself ... Hallelujah!

May the peace of Christ cover us....................................................te mye    

let us pray for our priests..they are the ones who lead us... may our combined rosaries, prayers obtain the graces they will need to shepherd us just like Jesus cared for his disciples.