Grateful

 

How do I want to conclude this year? With gratitude.

Saint Paul exhorts us to "give thanks at all times" (1 Thes 5:18). I give thanks not only when things turn out favorable or according to my plans. I give thanks because, come to think of it, in anything that happens something good is always born. It may not be what I expect, but hey, who am I give the final word since I don't know the whole story. If I were to know the total and bigger picture, as only God knows, I will be surprised at the amount of good that a seemingly negative thing has put into motion.

Gratitude is an expression of faith. There is a Higher Force, a Greater Being, a loving God who is in charge. For this, I give thanks.

God's tenderness and mercy

"Because of the faithful love of our God in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us, to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow dark as death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Lk 1:78-79).

I continue to savor the consoling promise of these words as we celebrate Christmas. In this long period of darkness, may we not forget that God continues to visit us and share our experiences of fear and darkness. As the years pass, I understand more and more that God's power is not all about having a magical solution to my problems or the world's ills. His power is in His presence amongst us that enables us to have the strength, the kindness and the perseverance to find solutions and to learn and become better persons. Christmas is a celebration of this good news. Merry Christmas to you and to your dear ones. May the coming year be filled with experiences of God's mercy and tenderness.

Tears

 

What brings peace is not force but tears.

Tears wash our eyes of our prejudices.

Tears water our hearts with compassion and understanding.

Tears clean our hands of indifference, readying it for service.

Tears remind us of our humanity. When all is said and done, we rely on a greater power.

Tears enable us to see that on that bench, in that dark alley is not trash, but a sister or brother.

The measure of a man

 

Inspired by today's First Reading (Phil 2:5-11), a homage to a friend.

The measure of a man...

is not in brute strength, but in the strength of character that makes one ready to stand alone despite the pressure of the mob;

is not in naked power, but in the power to create better conditions for a more caring society;

is not in worldly possessions, but in possessing a good heart that grieves with the grieving, that struggles with those who are struggling;

is not in loud rhetoric, but in the quiet and transforming power of following the Golden rule;

is not in self-centeredness, but in the willingness to journey to create a more inclusive "we".

Keeping hope alive

For this year's World Youth Day, Pope Francis gave the theme "Young man, I say to you, arise". In his message, Pope Francis launches an appeal to young people to have the ability to see pain and death - to look at pain and death in the eye. We live in a society where the reality of death, pain, suffering, poverty is camouflaged in different ways because we want to give an idea, or at least an image, of a perfect life. We are often afraid to express our weaknesses and failures because society gives us a subliminal message that there is no room for weaklings in the world. But the covid-19 situation has brought us face-to-face with the reality of sickness, death, poverty, misery, incompetence, injustice, desperation, and insecurity. We see images every day and there is a danger of getting used to them. So Pope Francis asks us: "All around us, but at times also within us, we can see realities of death: physical, spiritual, emotional, social. Do we really notice them, or simply let them happen to us? Is there anything we can do in order to restore life?
Our Christian faith is founded on Christ's resurrection. This is what inspires us to act proactively, to give our own concrete contributions, no matter how small they may be. We believe that we are part of and are weaving history. We learn from those who have gone ahead of us and we hope that with our good choices we leave a better world for future generations. Our Christian faith is personal, but it is not individualistic. It acknowledges that we are part of history. It acknowledges that we are part of a community.

When good people do nothing

Still missing you

I still miss you. It's almost twenty years since you've passed on, but I still remember your quiet and contagious laughter that came from your simple soul. Your laughter came not from the fact that everything was okay, but because you believed that God takes care of everything in His own time, even if that time didn't come according to our program. You were happy when we were together as a family, including the extended one, again, not because everything was perfect but because that is what a family is about.
From heaven, continue to watch over us. Pray for the world, that we may all rediscover that it is in the simple things in life, lived in authenticity that we truly find joy.
Happy birthday in heaven, nanay.