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.

Seduced by a dance

Today's Gospel narrating the circumstances of John the Baptist's death reminds us of a truth all of us share. Without a strong center, it is easy to be seduced: by power, by beauty, by money, by short-term success, by practicality and convenience.
Herodias' daughter's dance played to the basest instincts of Herod - human respect, the desire to show-off one's power.
Without a firm and more stable center, it is easy to vacillate and to be seduced even by a dance.
Every day we are faced with decisions to make. Whatever our choice may be, they show what we hold dear in our life.
But there are bigger moments when our decision is a matter of life or death. What or who is the center that will eventually decide the life and death of our soul?

The God of life

Today's Gospel reading is on the Magnificat. Mary remembers and gives praise for the presence of God not only in her life but in the life of her people. This Magnificat led to the "Pietà". God is not only the God of good times. God is the God of life, and it includes the failures, the suffering, the apparent defeat of reason and goodness. In your courage, in your steadfastness, in your magnanimity in these times, God is present. And that is the meaning of Christmas. God-became-flesh, and in doing so there is no one and nothing excluded from God's embrace.
A very merry Christmas to all.
Let us bring back Christ to Christmas.

God bless the child

As I continue basking in the Christmas experience, I realize that it takes a simple and attentive heart to recognize God's manifestation of Himself. He couldn't have chosen a more ordinary way than that of a baby.
And so I learn that this is God's favorite way of "encountering" me - in the ordinary.

Compassion

I have a blog. I've had it for a few years now and its title is "Everyday Compassion".
Compassion is an attitude that has always fascinated me. It is one of the most moving traits of Jesus.
Compassion indicates an abundance of goodness in one's heart,and this cannot be but a gift of God. If I only rely on my own natural traits, they get drained and exhausted. I can only give so much, if I rely on my own.
Hence, I am called to be humble; to realize how much my everyday life is filled with God's goodness, with God's compassion. If God forgets me for an instant, I come to nothing. And the thing is, God just does it as pure grace, out of the abundance of His mercy,
Yes, indeed, I am called to show compassion everyday. We have a lot of hurting people; we have a lot of fragile situations.
The beginning and end of my mission is compassion.
The end of my mission is to be moved and to act with compassion in the face of a hurting world.
The beginning is God, my everyday compassion.