The present moment is a gift, that is why it is called "present"

The best defense against change is to accept that it happens.
Acceptance leads to letting go.
Letting go leads to wisdom.
Wisdom leads to seeing the gift that is present in each moment.

What is mercy?

Mercy is to be given a recognition that is totally undeserved.
It is not being "looked down", rather, it is being "lifted up".

Be good news

When the Good News that we have received becomes truly welcomed in our life, it becomes part of who we are; nay, we become part of it, because we become good news to others.

God remembers

It is almost Christmas; just three more days.
Today, Mary accompanies us on our journey to the stable in Bethlehem by Mary, the woman of the Magnificat. In the midst of all the bad news that we hear, we are tempted to ask, "where are you, Lord?".
Mary reminds us that God hasn't left us alone. Just as winter doesn't cancel out life, rather, keeps it pulsating within until it bursts out in full force at springtime, God "remembers His promise of mercy".

"Your prayer has been heard"

More than a passive waiting for God to do something, prayer has an active dimension; that of transforming our hearts, so that the object of prayer becomes the passion of our hearts. It is what is in our hearts that move us to action.

Not by force, never by force

I like what our Constitutions say about our style of education-evangelization: by persuasion.
By tapping on a person's interior resources, we create conditions that would allow the person to make a free choice.
Jesus never forces Himself on anyone, even when rejecting Him ultimately makes us sad. He just tries and tries again, knocking on our heart and hoping that we would open the door to Him.
We should do the same.

Holy and Blameless

Yesterday's feast of the Immaculate Conception gives us a picture of what we are all called to be: holy and blameless.
Holy, because God, our Father is holy. It's about having a life that is holistic, that is integrated in all its different aspects.
Blameless, because we are saved by the love of God poured out on us in Jesus Christ.

An invitation to joy

How can we have joy in a world filled with violence, injustice, and poverty? We must have a bigger perspective: History is not only today; life is not only the here and now.
When we recognize that we are just a small part of a bigger reality called life, then we bow our head, not out of resignation, but in adoration of the One who was, who is, and who is to come. God holds everything in His loving hands, and His plan for us is joy and fullness of life!

Feel it, savor it

We run from one experience to another; we look for different adventures because we never stop to just savor what we have, the present moment.
Time is not only chronos, that is, a sequence; time is also kairos, a deep immersion in order to discover the various layers of the same experience.
This is what Advent offers us - a deeper immersion into whatever it is we are experiencing at the moment, and discover the Faithful Presence that gently leads us.

Give to those who cannot repay

My giving should not be a weight or a burden to the other person. The act of giving, itself, is its own reward, a source of true happiness.

Doing a good turn

To be good, it must be the right thing done at the right time and place and with the right motivation.

Give to God

When God asks something from us, it may cost, but we find a lasting peace that no one can ever take away from us.

Quiet and unassuming

The Kingdom of God is God's presence, a quiet, unassuming presence that first of all transforms the heart. Only hearts filled with God can transform structures. Any transformation that starts from the outside is bound to fail.

Adopted

I am a natural-born child, so I don't know how an adopted child feels about his/her situation.
I remember a film I once saw where the mother told her adopted daughter: "You may not have come from my womb, but you were born in my heart."
To be adopted is to be chosen to be a part of something; to be chosen to have a connection with someone. It is not by chance. It is a choice by someone.
I am God's adopted child. God made a choice to call me His daughter. Will I really ever truly understand what this means? Will I ever fully act accordingly?

Jesus lights a fire

Fire transforms. From raw to cooked. Gold is purified. Material things turn to ashes.
Contact with fire is never indifferent.
So it is with our relationship with Jesus. If it is true and authentic, we cannot be the same person anymore.

Taking risks

Inspired by today's Gospel:
To refuse to take risks is to lose by default.

We all have something to give ... and to receive

I was recently in Mozambique and in one of my visits to our communities one girl told me these unforgettable words: "we are poor, but what we have we would like to share with you, the fruit of our labor".
In my many experiences, this is something that I can confirm: we all have something to give. Happy is the person who knows how to share.
But in a world where we try to show off an air of independence and autonomy, "happy is the person who knows how to receive, without a sense of shame or entitlement, but only of recognizing that we are all on a journey, and together we reach far".

Remember

This year is special. I celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of my religious profession.
Wow, time flies, and flies fast.
Last year i celebrated my fiftieth birthday, another milestone.
Come to think of it, I could say that half of my life has passed.
How do I proceed with the rest?
To remember is to take a look at my life, see the footprints and the heart prints. And as I remember, I have nothing but gratitude.
Sure, my life isn't perfect. No life ever is.
Sure, I could have done better. But it is useless to berate myself for what-could-have-beens and what-ifs.
But as I remember, I can only be grateful, to Him who has always been present.
I am grateful to God because in the inconstancies of life, His love is the constant.
Oh my heart, never forget to recount God's marvels time and time again.
To remember is to have life.
To remember is to believe that life makes sense, that life has a meaning, that life will never end.
Gratitude is the memory of the heart.

Do you love me?

In today's Gospel, Jesus asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?"
This is more than a rhetorical question. For me, the repetition indicates seriousness and a call to go deeper, and at the same time, an effort to make oneself understood by taking the other's perspective. Jesus wanted Peter to respond in a way that goes beyond a mere yes or no; certainly, it will be a response that would impact Peter's life.
Since this took place after Jesus' resurrection, I think it emphasizes that this love should be seen as more than just an intimate you-and-I relationship with Jesus.
To love Jesus is to assume His cause, to feed His sheep.
To love Jesus is to assume His mind and His heart, that is, to be in total availability to the Father's will.

Spread joy

Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth, which we remember in today's feast of the Visitation, shows a great heart that is able to see the needs of others even if one also has its own needs and concerns.
Both women are "graced" by God: Mary, a virgin with a child in her womb; Elizabeth, a woman past the prime of her life now awaiting her first child.
Both women suddenly finding themselves at unexpected and uncharted situations.
I like this picture of the Visitation because it shows the unique gift that each one shares with the other: JOY. The cause of this joy is Jesus, the one who unites these two different women into an experience of communion.
When we welcome Mary into our life, she doesn't come alone. She always brings with her Jesus, the cause of our joy.

First witnesses to the resurrection

Why women? Why were women the first witnesses to the empty tomb? Why were women the first to receive the news that Jesus has risen?
Why women? Why was Mary Magdalene the first to talk to the Risen Christ?

Women have been much maligned in history as the "cause of the fall", of men, of families, of governments, of civilizations, even of the entire human race.
Today is a special day for us women. We are vindicated.
But this post is not about women's vindication.
This post is about recovering a very special gift that we, women, have, which we often take for granted. And of course, it is not a gift that is reserved to women alone, though we have a special openness to it.
And what is that? We are not afraid to look at pain, at suffering, at death in the face, and to feel its intensity to our very bones. Because of this, we are more attentive to the signs of life and of hope, no matter how faint or small they may be.
Easter is the feast of new life. It is not a life that comes from zero; nay, it is "life that has overcome death".
Easter is a promise, a sign, and a certainty, that "if we die with Christ, we shall also rise with him". If we go deep into the mystery of brokenness, suffering, and death, then we will be ready to rise again when we hear Jesus' voice calling us by name as He did more than two thousand years ago, "Mary".

Look to Jesus

The death of Jesus shows us His complete solidarity with the human race. He didn't only take on our humanity; nay, he took it to the extreme, sharing the lot reserved only to the worst criminals - death on a cross.
Contemplating Jesus on the cross makes me realize how no one, absolutely no one, is excluded from God's mercy.
By Jesus' wounds we are healed, healed of shame, of despair, of meaninglessness.
Look up to Jesus, and in that disfigured man on the cross, see your Savior.

Who do I invite to my table?

Who do I invite to my table?
When I invite the poor, those who are different from me, those farthest in my heart, it means that I exclude no one.
This is the essence of the Eucharist: to partake in the love that knows no bounds.
At the Last Supper, Jesus showed the extent of His love. He came to serve, not to be served. He gives us an example that we, His followers, ought to learn from.
When we choose to give without expecting anything in return, or choose to serve those who cannot pay us back, we can truly call ourselves Christians.

Don't be judgmental

"Don't be judgmental" is more difficult than "don't judge".
More than the act of judging, it's the attitude of being judgmental that causes a breach between us and God, between us and others.
More than just refraining from judgment, it means to cultivate a heart that recognizes the truth that all of us are pilgrims on a journey. There are ups and downs. The important thing is to continue the journey.
More than the negative "don't", it is an invitation to believe that we're all in this together. When one is left behind, all of us suffer.

True love of self

Unhealthy love of self is fatal. A person who only focuses on himself is on a road to self-destruction. It is in the human person's very identity to long for communion with others, and this desire for communion helps us to rein in our never-ending desire for self-fulfillment, addressing it in a healthier direction.

Born to be free

"It was for liberty that Christ freed us."
To live by the Spirit is to live in freedom, and this freedom is always projected to something higher, to something noble: the true, the good, the beautiful.
The journey to freedom is never easy because it requires us to strip ourselves of each and every security we have. True freedom is not some haughty or arrogant independence. It is rather based on the awareness that I come from God and I am going back to God; everything in between is passing.

Keeping and passing on the faith

We can only keep the faith when we share it and pass it on.
I guess this is one reason why faith is a paradox. If we really want to keep it and make it flourish, then we must share it.
Faith kept to ourselves doesn't make sense.
Faith is having a relationship with God. And if this relationship with God is authentic, it always leads us back to others, and we desire that they, too, may have the joy that we have.

Laura's lesson

January 22 is the commemoration day of Blessed Laura Vicuña, but since this year January 22 is a Sunday, we celebrate it today. Laura was a pupil at one of our schools in Argentina in the early 1900s.
By all standards, Laura didn't have an easy life. Some might even say that, as a young girl, she had a lot on her plate. The factors for a "successful" life weren't "in her cards". So why is she remembered and held as a model for adolescents and youth?
As I remember this amazing adolescent who, at such a tender age, had understood that to love is to offer one's life so that the beloved may have true life, I cannot help but ask myself, what does Laura's life teach me as a Salesian educator?
What lessons do I learn from Laura Vicuña's life?
Lesson number 1: I do not educate alone. Education is more efficacious when done in synergy and when the environment itself offers a space where education is possible. Our educational settings must be places where young people feel that they matter, that they are accepted with their limits and possibilities, but with trust in the presence of good in each one.
Lesson number 2: I should have the guts to show them to strive for something more. Young people have great hearts capable of aiming high. We don't do them justice when what we offer is mediocre.
Lesson number 3: Simple and ordinary are exciting, too. We have practices and traditions that some might think outdated, but in reality, they help to form convictions and habits. Our Salesian spirituality offers a view of life that is positive and full of hope. We do not need big events to have an exciting life. What makes us happy is not when we are focused on ourselves but when we share and when we serve others. Looking at Jesus, listening to His Word and being nourished by the Eucharist will help me become a "person for other", and this is the secret of joy. We need idols, people whose lives show us that yes, aiming high is possible, being good is cool, because, in the end, it lasts. Mother Mary is for us not only a mother, but an all-time-model.
Laura Vicuña reminds me to believe in the young. They have good hearts. They desire to have meaningful lives.
With young people, we are called to be missionaries of hope and of joy.

Immersed in mystery

The God who knows me, knows me more than I know myself.
This God loves me, more than I can ever love myself.
To truly love myself is to allow God to love me.
Since God is God, I cannot totally fathom his ways.
To enter into this mystery, is to be willing to grope in the dark, or to float in an endless ocean. I cannot totally identify or explain everything, yet there is peace, an intuition that assures.
And this is why living in faith is life's greatest adventure.

Pray!

Pray. Pray much. We can never pray enough.

God's children

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children - which is what we are!" (1 John 3:1)
What an unbelievable affirmation! In a world where we need to prove ourselves in order to matter, this is indeed too good to be true. But it is.
We are not orphans. We have a mother and a father in God.
Let this unprecedented gift sink in. Open your heart to God. It won't make your life easier, but it sure will make your life worth living.

Behold the Lamb

"Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"
Thus was how John the Baptist introduced Jesus to his followers.
Jesus is the meek, the nonviolent one who saves us from the root of all evil: our rebellion against God. When God is out of the picture, we self-destruct.

May God smile on you and grant you peace

On this new year and for the rest of your life, may God smile on you and grant you peace.
As I grow older, I realize that I don't need a lot of things. What I really need is to have a simple and generous heart: to be happy with what I have and to desire that others find happiness, too.
Joy is always shared. It is never enjoyed in isolation.