God, thank you

As we end this year, let us look back at what was accomplished and discover in them God's footprints, His faithful presence. Let us thank God for the gift of persons whom we have met on our journey this year.
May each one of us give thanks to God for the lessons learned, for the strength to persevere during difficult moments, for the joy found in everyday life. With Mary, let us sing the Magnificat for the wondrous deeds God has accomplished in our lives, in our families, in our communities, in each sister, in our Provinces, in the Institute, in the world. A heart that loves always finds a reason to give thanks.
Let us welcome the New Year with trust and with eyes of stupor, believing that God makes things new every day, at every moment.

Be a blessing

Don't just ask for God's blessings. Be God's blessing to others!

At the end of the year

The end of anything is always a call to look back; looking back always provokes sentiments.
Today, as I look back at the year 2015, I feel amazed at how I manage to be serene despite the fact that so much has happened.
I also feel grateful because more and more I see that my life is really in God's hands. I have lost count of the times I have acted in a very positive way, when all the while I was ready with an angry retort. I know all the more that it is Christ living and acting in me.
Lastly, I feel in awe of God's mercy. I have so many limitations. There are many times I don't give to God what He deserves. But God is kind and merciful. God always leads me to a new beginning.

Word-made-flesh

For a Christian to say "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" means that we can no longer use God for our own purposes. We cannot pretend to understand God and make Him fit the categories we have made. God is beyond the categories and groups we have created. We should stop using God to justify the polarizations we have invented: conservative - liberal; pro-choice - pro-life; responsible - free-spirits; religious - pagan.
For a Christian to say "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" means to understand that the true God reveals Himself, flesh and blood, in Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus we see and we hear God, and there is no ambiguity in His message.

With open hands

I open my hands, Lord, for the gift of Your Presence. You are the best gift, the only gift I need.
I know that there is still a lot to improve in me so as to become the person you've dreamed of me. Sometimes I don't know what to ask, when I am unaware of my shadows and limitations. Sometimes I don't want to ask what I know I need to ask, because I fear change.
God-within-me, help me to open my hands to give and to let go, to receive and to be grateful. Amen.

Herod's massacre continues

What has ignited Herod's mad massacre of babies? One word, FEAR.
When Herod learned from the wise men, his chief priests and the scribes that an "infant king" was born, Herod was perturbed, and, interestingly enough as Matthew's Gospel continues, so was the whole Jerusalem.
Paradoxically, Herod was afraid of a baby.
Who is afraid of babies? Babies are one of the most helpless and unthreatening of creatures!
Herod was afraid of what This Baby represented: CHANGE. Jerusalem was perturbed because with a "change of kingship" their whole way of life is in peril.
And so the "massacre" continues to this day in many ways: unborn babies, displaced peoples, child soldiers, the elderly and the handicapped, "excess" labor force, trafficked people especially women, children. In short, all those who are a threat to a stable, easy and comfortable life.
But the massacre also happens when in subtle ways we "kill" people who, we think, are a "threat" to us, who force us to rethink our values and choices, who remind us that we are not the "center" of the world.
It is easy to judge Herod and other people, but before we point fingers at them, let us look at ourselves because we have blood in our hands, too. Because everytime I forget that I am responsible for others, be they near or far; that I am not the center of the world; that, regardless of race or creed, we are brothers and sisters of the same human family, I, too, am complicit in the massacre of innocents.

God bless all families

We didn't come into this world by ourselves. We weren't born alone. Our birth may have had different circumstances but it was always by way of another person. Good or bad, in joy or in sorrow, we cannot deny that we are tied to our families. With a little humility and sincerity, we will say that we owe our life to our family.
No family is perfect, as nothing in this world is perfect.
Let us pray for families: those who courageously face life's challenges; the weak and wounded families; those who are suffering; those who dream a better future; those who only live for the present moment, without a higher horizon; those who struggle to put together the broken pieces of their life; those who wait, because circumstances force them to, and those who wait with trust in their heart because God is faithful to His promises.
Lord Jesus, you who chose to be born in a family, bless all families of the world. Amen.

Christ in Christmas

There is no Christmas without Christ. Let us give Christ back to Christmas!

Blessed

I am blessed with a love that never gives up, a long and lasting love, a love that is just constant and faithful it doesn't even depend on my response.
It is this love that makes me able to love.
Yes, I am blessed to be loved by God.

Zechariah's silence

I always thought that Zechariah's silence was a punishment because he doubted the Angel Gabriel's message. But come to think of it, silence is how we respond when we come face-to-face with mystery. We don't have words, we can only be silent. It is as if when we open our mouth something that is sacred becomes profaned.

Mary's journey of faith

Mary, 2015 years ago, how were you feeling?
You must have, by that time, already heard of the emperor's decree that each man, and of course their family, had to go back to his original town for the census.
What was your reaction? Your date was very close, so you must not have been very happy with the turn of events.
Was it easy for you to say, "okay, let's go!"? Or did you also struggle, or a bit rebellious, or worried, wondering if you could, in that condition, go through that whole journey. Did you think about what you would have done should your due date come and you were still on the road? Have you wondered whether you would find a decent place, or whether Joseph's relatives would treat you well knowing the circumstances of your marriage?
I will never know how you felt then, Mary.
What I know is that you continued on the journey, in faith.

Embracing our story

No person ever had a perfect life. And no one ever will. Our personal story is full of lights and shadows, joys and sorrows, triumphs and failures. It is this alternating of experiences that makeS our life challenging and interesting.
A necessary step to live the present in serenity is to accept that we have a past. And this past is something that we cannot change anymore. But this doesn't mean that we cannot move forward.
So what do we do with our past? We accept the lessons that it teaches us, we forgive it for its imperfections, and we thank it because it has somehow shaped the person that we are today.
Who we are today can be a better one tomorrow. It is both a promise and a responsibility. It is what motivates us to get up everyday. At the end of the day we realize that the day hasn't been what we have envisioned it to be, and it is okay. That is why we need a Savior.

Carving our own destiny

We need leaders who remind us of our noblest ideals and help us to journey towards the realization of these ideals.
To think that leaders are like vending machines that will give us the finished product that we need is to renounce our sacred right and obligation to carve our own destiny. It is a sure road to frustration.
The building of any group: family, community, country, isn't a one-man or one-woman job.
When we choose someone because he/she promises to make life a paradise for us, we are selling ourselves short. It will never happen. It has never happened and it never will.
What we need is to take responsibility. We need to believe that change starts from us. We need to be convinced that peace or progress, if it doesn't benefit everybody isn't peace or progress at all.

Waiting for God's time

To wait for God's time is not to wait until God does what we want.
To wait for God's time is to wait until our hearts are transformed to see God in whatever happens.

John, the precursor

Yesterday's Gospel presents the figure of John the Baptist. He is an important and revered figure in Christianity, after all, he is the precursor of the Messiah.
Then I let my imagination run. If John the Baptist were born today, to what figure could I associate him? The Gospel of Matthew describes him, thus:
    he lived in the wilderness
    he had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins
    his meat was locusts and wild honey.
not so much the type whom we would see seated in the great halls or interviewed all over the place.
Instead, he would be much like a tramp, a rebel, or one of those who spend their days in protest rallies.
So how do I react to these people? Do I listen to them, or don't I, like the majority, think of them as weird?
If John the Baptist were born in this age, I might not even take a second look at him.

May God open my eyes to see Him  and to listen to Him because He speaks and He manifests Himself as He pleases, even through the most unusual instruments.

I believe

Wherever we are, wherever we go, we are always in God's hands. This is a comforting thought. Nothing could harm us. No one can separate us from God.
We may suffer momentary experiences of God's seeming absence, when we feel that things don't go as we expect, or when situations are not good according to our criteria; but that doesn't mean that God is absent. I think it just means that we must go back to the center and re-focus.
The farther we go away from God, the softer His voice becomes; but that doesn't mean God is absent.
And when we can finally say it, even with soft and trembling lips, "Lord, I believe", it is God who put that faith in our hearts.

The broken pieces feed many

In one of the miracles recounted in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 15:29-37), the feeding of the multitide, Jesus takes the seven loaves of bread, blesses and breaks them, then distributes them to satiate the hungry crowd.
We have something to learn from this. Whoever shared the bread could have kept them for himself/herself/themselves, but he/she/they decided to share. And so the multitude was fed. I do not need to consume a whole loaf to satiate my hunger.
We live in a world where a lot of us have gone beyond mere selfishness. We have become greedy, avaricious. We want to amass more for ourselves or for a very restricted circle called friends, family, tribe or country. And the sad thing is, at the end of the day we don't really enjoy anything because we lust for more. It is like stuffing your mouth with food that you feel like vomitting.
It's time to really be happy living with the essentials.

Bring back God

"He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into prunning hooks;
one nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!"
(Is 2:4-5)

Were I to envision the future, this is how it will be: instruments of death transformed into tools that give life; no more training for war, because there will be no more wars, instead, people will be learning to truly live.
I think this is everybody's dream, especially of our brothers and sisters whose only experience of life is to run from one place to another, just trying to save their lives and, if they are lucky enough, to have food, shelter, an education, work.
I think this is every person's dream. But we have to extend this dream beyond the limited circle of our friends and family, beyond ethnic and national boundaries. And, in order to do this, there is one condition: give back to the true God the Lordship and live our lives according to God's original plan.