Be not afraid

 

I am going through a life-changing experience. Only a few people know about it, but I know that, soon, I have to face it. Facing it means talking about it. 

I have always been very open, so why is it hard to talk about it? I have a feeling that once I talk openly about it, it becomes very real. Perhaps that is what makes me afraid. 

Yesterday's Gospel is a message from God, precisely in this frightening time of my life: BE NOT AFRAID. JESUS IS WITH YOU ON YOUR BOAT. This is a very personal journey, but I am not alone. 

"Be not afraid, I go before you always. Come, follow me, and I will give you rest."

Good things are meant to last

 

I feel disturbed when people say "Good things never last". It seems like a very skeptical way of looking at life. That is what I love about faith. It tells us that there is something beyond us, something that surpasses our way of looking at and understanding things.

If a thing is truly good, it will last. It may not be in the form that we have always known, but it will last. The challenge for us is to know when a thing is truly good. Following our criteria may not be a wise choice, because our criteria could be subjective as they follow our moods, our feelings, and our emotions. 

Look for a north star, a guiding light other than yourself. My faith tells me to look up to God. 

As we look up to that Guiding light, it will tell us what is truly good. And as we go through life, in its ups and downs, we will see that good things may change in forms and shapes, but they always last.r

Shield

 

What shields us from pain might also shield us from growth.

Live in the present moment

 I went to St. Peter's very early last Saturday. What an experience. I basked in the silence and in the possibility of just walking and enjoying the views and buildings I have passed several times, without taking time to appreciate their beauty and timelessness. 

I felt grateful to have this opportunity to live in the present moment, fully immersed in the moment, because that is the only one we have in our hands

. 

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.

Salvation

"Lord, will only a few people be saved?" (Lk 13:23), a question addressed to Jesus. Wrong question. It shows a mindset that is non-inclusive, a competitive tendency.
Salvation is a gift. It is not based on our merits or our worthiness.
Does it mean an upright life is not necessary?
Again, wrong logic.
Salvation is a gift. As with other gifts, it is useless unless we accept it. Accepting salvation is not a matter of words; rather, it is conforming our lives to Jesus: loving people and doing good to others.
We don't pay for our salvation. Someone has already done that for us. We are truly saved when we begin to look at others as brothers and sisters; when we realize that life is not about enjoying it but of finding its purpose.
We have only one life, let us make it worth living.

At all times, give thanks

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness and love.
Thank you for taking care of us in your own unique and unexpected ways.
Thank you for assuring us that whatever happens, we are always in your loving hands.
Convert me in your own ways. May this gratitude lead me to greater trust, and may trust open my heart to always be grateful.

Maria

Mary is the human creature closest to Jesus, flesh of her own flesh.
Mary is the human creature closest to what God designed His human creation to be.
Mary is the human creature closest to us, humanity on a journey, as we go through the ebbs and flows of life.

Consequences

To act without accountability is not an expression of freedom. Indeed, every decision we make has a consequence, sooner or later. The consequences may affect us directly, but the consequences of these consequences will surely affect us in the long term.
It is a paradox but, in order to act free and to stay free, we have to choose to be responsible.

Mary and the song in my heart

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.

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!

Taking risks

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

To share our life, to show us how to live

It's the day after Christmas. Is there anything left aside from discarded wrapping papers, leftover food, and a hangover for some?
December 26th is also the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Isn't it an irony that a day after Christmas we already celebrate martyrdom?
I think today we are reminded of the real meaning of God "coming down" and becoming man in Jesus: to share our life, to show us how to live.