Father Heal our Land

Ave Maria:-)

From a website called  healmy land : here is an article ... just ponder and see what might be true..what could be applicable in our own nation ... since the rains and floods came , we have been storming heaven, imploring God to put an end to our miseries and all the inconvenience and sufferings the flood causes ... oh at the height of it how test messages flew ... how Facebook and the web were full of a people's desperate call for help , for mercy... some sounding a bit childishly bratty , as tho'  superbly irritated that nature should  cause this inconvenience -- no work, no school. for some not even food, , no clean water...no place to sleep ---Dear God what is this , why allow this to happen? And yes such declarations of faith  in God .... becoz who else is there to turn to?... Mother Nature does not blink an eye at us -- for all our technology and genius --- when Mother Nature is angry , that is it , no bargaining ....and only its Creator can make it ( Mother Nature) stop--- 

 just thinkin'  ....

do you think the Lord wished that when it's all Sunny and Bright, Rosy and Pink in our lives , when our bodies are able and strong , no affliction, no financial stress, no worries... pains at all .... do you think He silently wishes that we also flood him with our text messages and prayers of thanksgiving, praises, faith , love and obedience?

US TO GOD: YOU WISH.

GOD: I WISH.  

Boy we sure are God's work of art.... He gives us His all ..and we respond back by giving Him a cold, disobedient heart.

God is most merciful ..His love has two elements that of mercy and justice...with mercy most of the time taking the edge..otherwise we'd all be mere specks of dust... obliterated by our evil choices - you could say we brought it unto ourselves...our unfaithfulness and unbelievable ungratefulness causing our  sufferings and death...   

here is the article... am not saying it is all true...you decide ..and as i said earlier... see what could be similar in the Philippine setting or wherever you are situated.

Today, it seems as though every form of evil is celebrated in America. The USA is ill, and desperately needs healing. God told us that He would heal our nation if we do our part. Read what He told us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 over 2000 years ago. This promise is still valid.

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2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  (KJV)

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Evil in the USA is increasing on a daily basis. Murder, rape and child abuse are flooding America. Children are destroying schools and killing their fellow students. Terrorism has finally entered The United States of America. One way to find out how to heal The USA is to watch the news. The anchors will gladly interview the Democrats and Republicans to find out the answer. The Liberals and Conservatives, and the racial and gender activists talk as though they know how to fix these problems.According to them, we need more sex education or less sex education, more sex or less sex, bigger government or smaller government, more restrictive laws or more lenient laws, and on and on. They tell us that if we just raise or lower the taxes, and build more prisons or release more prisoners, that America will begin to heal. We need more freedom, or we need to sacrifice some of our liberties.They all think that they know the answer, but they obviously can't all be right. The fact is that none of them are correct. As Children of the true and living God, we know that God has revealed His promises in the Holy Bible. If WE begin by humbling ourselves in front of God, take time to pray to Him, seek his face, and turn from our sins, He will heal our land. Man does not have it in his power to fix these problems without God. We must not turn FROM Him, we must turn TO Him. He promised that He would make our land well if we follow His commands, and He ALWAYS keeps His promises.  

End of article...... we have our own Pinoy version of the above..don't we? and our sins are both Sins of Commission and Sins of Ommission. the former meaning we take active part in committing an evil thought , deed ... and the latter... when we refuse to not do anything to prevent the evil deed... or refuse to do good because we just don't feel like it..or it's too much of an effort... or  ayyy naku ha...just let things be.

Yesterday  a friend was thinking aloud... what if the text messages also included a prayer asking forgiveness for our sins , communal and personal?

Indeed one of the Lord's precious gift to us is Free Will ... but it was given to us to make choices that help us grow more and more like our Creator... not to grow more and more so Unlike Him.

We turn to Jesus, our Mediator... our Lord and Saviour our Last Resort, we kneel humbly and contritely at the foot of His Cross, for He has endured everything so that we could have a New Deal with the Father... He negotiated for our forgiveness and obtained for us again a life in union with GOD . But we can only avail of this New Life if we live in obedience to Christ. that must be made clear. 

And we must not worry that we will be unable to do it.... we surrender to Jesus all our unrighteousness ..all the evil bondages we have  ..and when He senses our earnestness, He will deliver and give us a new mind, new heart fully obedient to Him. Ready to love and serve Him by loving and serving others as He did.

It is not just a life of material prosperity that awaits us if we obey the Lord... that is belittling our God , He can give more than material happiness which doesn't last anyways... He wants us to Go for Gold ....to aim and claim Eternal Life with Him and the angels and saints...a place in His Kingdom  where His truth, love, righteousness peace reign .... and we need not physically die to experience this.. it  starts the moment we live for Christ and let His Holy SPirit reign in our lives. . right then and there We are in His Kingdom, amen ,hallelujah.Oh God heal our land................ God bless keep safe and pray, pray pray ta mye

 Be healed by this beautiful song by Jamie Rivera HEAL OUR LAND

http://youtu.be/Sc3H9OFwyXs

Back to Momma

Ave Maria:-)

What better day to utter this greeting Ave Maria than on the Feast of the Assumption. Many times we give violent reactions, automatically 

render hardcore decisions but sadly and more often it is with lack of knowledge..and lack of faith and love in our Lord. Religion, matters of faith are so sensitive, a personal, communal, cultural at times political decision for human beings like you and me.

Rather than posture as a theologian which I am not, nor as a resource person on this topic which again I am not --- today I speak only as a child as as a daughter who has benefitted from a mother's love... our divine mother's love, Mary Most Holy.

What is all this fuss about the Assumption ? Other denominations would think .. oh here again are the Catholics with all their pronouncements and papal decrees..magisterium stuff that they want to impose on the people. But papal teachings..the magisterium of the church are not given to merely  impose authority or make life harder for the faithful -- on the contrary it affirms, gives light and clear direction to the law of God, to the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Inspite of being a colegiala (St. Theresa's from Grade 1 to high school... kinder at Immaculate Conception... inspite of growing up in a thoroughly Catholic setting with a mother and grandmother (father's side) who made sure we knew Catholic traditions/ prayers/feasts and most of all Christian values -- yet must honestly admit my love story with the Blessed Mother started and became truer after joining the Catholic Renewal movement - sometimes called charismatic movement in the Catholic church and in other denominations - perhaps termed as  revival ?

It is perhaps similar to being born of Filipino parents, in the Philippine islands, brought up , reared with Filipino values but not appreciating all of these not cherishing your homeland, your people , your culture or citizenship - until we finally fully understand , acknowledge  and appreciate Everything that is Filipino -- when we finally make that ultimate connection -- that is when we are willing to take up arms and defend our homeland , our people --- but until you make that Essential Connection - it is sub-zero so to speak. We are not moved at all.

Did I pray the rosary? ( oh yes on bended knees with cousins and lola or mama at exactly 6pm everyday:-) )  Hear mass  ? yes , a must on Sundays and feastdays.. and sometimes on regular days too) Did I know Jesus, and Mary and Joseph , the saints and a bit about our Catholic faith... oh yes... the sisters (Belgian and STC teachers ) family elders were quite good and conscientious about this duty...  it was  a yes to all... seeds planted in my mind, heart..being... but perhaps this precious seed of faith at an appointed time grows and slowly but surely becomes  a tree of spiritual conviction -- as tho' one recognizes one's Creator, Lord and Saviour for the first time. And life changes. There has to be worthwhile changes... a transformation unto Christ.

There is no love story  with Mama Mary unless there is first a love story with Christ.

And once our heart makes a definitive movement to allow Jesus to take hold of our life, our goals, our attitudes, our problems our relationships...our work.. our health , our very heart and will --- when we invite Jesus in.... then it cannot be helped that He introduces us and grants us a loving relationship with His Mother as well. That is the greatest fringe benefit or bonus ever. If we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, why should we not be children of Mary as well  ?

Picture Christ Dying ... suffering unspeakable agony on the cross -- it is not a time for one to waste words.. to make confusing statements... hence when our Lord  clearly gave his mother to us ( thru John the apostle) -- we must ponder and take the Lord at His Own Words. 

 After recalling the presence of Mary and the other women at the Lord's cross, St John relates: "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!'. Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!’" (Jn 19:26-27).

  Pope John Paul II puts it this way: 

 These particularly moving words are a "revelation scene": they reveal the deep sentiments of the dying Christ and contain a great wealth of meaning for Christian faith and spirituality. At the end of his earthly life, as he addressed his Mother and the disciple he loved, the crucified Messiah establishes a new relationship of love between Mary and Christians.

What graces if any... what and how does Mary's Assumption to heaven affect us?

Read and read joyfully .... 

"We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."With these words, Pope Pius XII infallibly declared the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of God (theotokos), to be Catholic dogma in 1950. In this pronouncement, he was simply stating dogmatically what the Church, East and West, had believed for hundreds of years. 

The Catholic Catechism further explains:

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians (966).The Catechism then quotes from the Troparion of the Feast of the Dormition from the Byzantine Liturgy:

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death. (966)

Thus, the Assumption of Mary is not only a participation in her Son's resurrection, but a preview of our future resurrections. As such, the dogma of Mary's Assumption is firmly rooted in the actions and person of Christ, and in the virtue of Christian hope.

Studied college at U.P. ..these were the years I lost connection with both Jesus and Mary... U.P. was a complete readical change form the cloistered madres school.. You had it all at U.P. ... protest movements, students just had too much freedom whether in an intellectual, spiritual or political sense - remember the campus radio  station  playing on air the cooings of Dovie Beams..then mistress of our president -- nothing was forbidden..nothing.

Perhaps for 7 yrs ...I gave up praying the rosary..and sacramental life -- a virtual suicidal move if you ask me

.... sacraments esp. the Holy Eucharist  -- our total food ,

 the Bread of Life, Christ Himself.... Holy Confession -- I actually toyed and accepted for a while the crazy idea that priests were not in a position to forgive sins -- it is a rather long discussion so we cannot go into it now-- suffice to say that the streams of grace and life, healing and deliverance that pass thru the 7 Sacraments are vitally needed by our soul, by our being  and this in turn affects all those whose lives we touch.

Slowly I made my way back to 

my heavenly mother 

... what a liberating healing move this was. 

Except for sin, which our Blessed Mother is exempted from..she is like us ... hence we can relate to her without fear.. without judgment...  we can go to her and confess our troubles , our fears.. our sorrows... and she always listens... she also is Mother Par Excellence which means when we need disciplinary action, our Blessed Mother will give us that spiritual spanking we need to make us wake up before it is too late.

Come let us hear mass today or at least pray the rosary.. reflecting on the mysteries that contain the life and mission of our Lord . the rosary is not about Mary... it is more about the life of our Lord and how Mary and others happened to be a part of it

 - why does this make me smile? - it sounds funny in a way -- the way we prefer to complicate matters. In fact.. our Christian faith is simple. Awesome yet simple.

a bit long today .... but savor this Feast for it affects and brings a blessing to us all.

Don't be afraid to ask... and ask help for grand things - perhaps the deliverance for one addicted to a vice... for one whose life is so steeped in sin ..for reconciliation.. why not.? Mama Mary loves to help her children. She can help obtain healing. She brings us all the way to JESUS , not to herself. 

A most Joyful Feast of Assumption to all!  Mary, dearest Mother, ever help us.

Jesus , Lord and Saviour Redeem us.

............................................................................as we pray for each other.... te mye 

Enjoy this song from Fr. Joseph Skelton... whose birhtday is Aug. 15, happy birthday Padre, click link:-)
 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151710002127850

Ang Buhay ay Weather-weather lang:-)

Ave Maria:)

When things don't work out the way we want it to be..that is not the ideal way for us, we think? hehe, you know it!...it's an incredible temptation to immediately fret, be irritable, sad, grouchy just becoz we hit a roadblock of sorts. 

So this could happen anywhere ...anytime, any area of our life. But the one where it can create immediate changes is when we

 G-E-T  S-I-C-K. 

and for those of us accustomed to being Superman or Catwoman in the flesh , this is just a big No-No.

US:  " Wh-aaa---tt ??!!##**!! who..??!ME, Get sick, fever? doctors? stay home? be confined in a hospital... are you kidding? No way , Jose!"

Honey , but you know better than that because...Mr. Disease/Affliction/Sudden Accident/Disability simply knockS on our invisible doors, when and where they want to..and they usually don't take " No." for an answer.

Of late, have been surrounded, bombarded with news of friends, relatives getting sick..here in Manila weather is just perfect setting for for flu viral attacks... with viruses getting nastier and winking with glee at antibiotics that won't squash them. What was the recent list..let's see.

- an elder with herpes... at the tummy area... ooh that's painful

-SOME HAVE REFLUX..ACIDIC STOMACHS ON A PERENNIAL BASIS

- flu/terrible coughs..fevers...

- a brother in the community submitting to all tests for extent of lung cancer, if indeed the lump be malignant..

-many friends with diabetic problems, on insulin injections ( by themselves, how awesomely brave  can they get?) 

-a dear friend with cancer..and caring for family members severely sick too!  YEP, right in her own home... she herself is gravely ill and she has to attend to caregivers and running mini clinic- like home for her sick family members - plus endure severe stressful situation to make the challenging package complete.

- and then a classmate  stricken with aneurysm and in the ICU... just visiting and seeing the stitches on her head and all the tubes were enough to make me ponder whole day, whole week.

AND THEN IT CAN'T BE HELPED .... WHY, GOD... OR MAYBE AT TIMES...WHERE ARE YOU GOD?

AND THEN..." GOD NAMAN YOU KNOW... , THIS DOESN'T HELP... I CAN'T WORK, PEOPLE DEPEND ON ME... THE DAILY ROUTINES, THE SKEDS TO FOLLOW... OR... THIS IS GONNA BE A MESS...

(finally we say )      DO SOMETHING GOD!!!

GOD: I AM. 

   

US: HU-WAAT? HOW? WE ARE KINDA DYING HERE... THERE ARE PROBLEMS WE NEED TO SOLVE... THIS IS A SITUATION... AND WEAKNESS ESP. PHYSICAL INFIRMITY OF ANY SORT ONLY MAKES MATTERS WORSE.

GOD: YOU WILL BE SURPRISED.

     YOU DON'T HAVE A SITUATION... I AM THE SITUATION... DIDN'T I HEAR YOU PRAY MANY TIMES      "LORD, YOU ARE MY ALL IN ALL.. YOU ARE MY STRENGTH WHEN I AM WEAK, YOU ARE THE 

      TREASURE      THAT I SEEK..YOU ARE MY ALL IN ALL... "

     SO I AM DOING YOU A FAVOR CHILD... BY ALLOWING THESE THINGS TO HAPPEN, YOU GET A

     FINE-TUNING, NOT JUST YOU BUT ALL WHO LOVE YOU AND WHO ARE AFFECTED BY YOU...I will 

     be the Center of your life. 

     I WILL BE IN YOUR MIDST... I WILL BE YOUR GOD AND FATHER//I WILL BE YOUR HEALER

     AND DELIVERER... I WILL BE YOUR GRACIOUS PROVIDER..I AM YOUR WONDER-WORKER.

US:    DUMB-FOUNDED.

Reviewing the list above..and that is just one-fifth ... (others are afflicted not physically but suffer emotionally /mentally/financially draining situations)

I do see and realize how everything God said is true, has happened, is happening.. and will happen.

when our classmate was confined..and this is a classmate from high school- our batch is not the type that is able to meet yearly.. there are a few groups that were able to maintain contact... nurture the friendships thru the yrs... majority in smaller groups of 3 to six... and then able to meet in bigger group only when major things happen, a homecoming, a U.S. or Phil. reunion..a wedding//balikbayan coming home... 

So it was very inspiring to witness the outpouring of love.. prayers, financial help, visitations... becoz of our stricken sister..our relationships have also experienced healing of a different kind... we have experienced a spiritual healing. 

Amongst the friends/relatives afflicted seriously...their families have grown closer...

with members becoming more caring.. more sensitive to each other's needs.

and for the workaholics among us..we get an added bonus of seeing our loved ones Stepping Up... doing what we used to do ..hahahaha.. becoz we can't do it this time baby. People learn, people grow..people mature...and best of all we learn to forgive and love again.God is good.

As workaholics and career -driven folks tend to be perfectionists at their work site... so it can't be helped that sometimes... we neglect family relationships , our own health or our home... or worst of all our personal relationship with God.

Confessing that I am not great with domestic duties hahaha that's putting it tamely...I did have a grand time cleaning bedroom..airconditioners...screens..the floor in between my coughing bouts - and I still claim it really is not asthma..so help me God. Since you can't sleep , you might as well...read...clean or pray...or rest, errr without sleeping?? We just adjust to what grace is given, thank You Lord. 

At the community, it is a joy to see others..step up and do their share of service... 

elders are growing older..better but older and sometimes weaker... but as this happens, there is a changing of the guard.. those currently in servant leadership must allow and give way for others to learn how to lead.. to lead as servant -leaders.

Our fave newscaster Kim Atienza made famous this byline "ANG BUHAY AY WEATHER WEATHER LANG.".... May it be that whatever season God places us..that we constantly seek Him, yield to His abiding love, and give Him the space to nourish and make us grow in ways we never dreamt could be possible.

Let's keep praying for all... may we pray the holy rosary at home with our families.. perhaps hear mass more often , offering the Eucharist for our sick brothers and sisters.

May we help the sick recieve the sacraments of Anointing of the Sick and Holy Confession.. becoz these induce total healing: soul, spirit mind , body,heart.   

Hope I can attach a video for your viewing pleasure.God bless us all... love temye   

Dance ministry: Come Holy Spirit

www.youtube.com

Here is a thanks giving dance for our 32nd anniversary, Living Word Prayer Community! Music by City Harvest Church.