Man

Man is a depraved sinner, terribly in need.
Our only hope is in Jesus Christ - His death and resurrection.
Receiving Him brings instant forgiveness and eternal grace.
Death is certain but not the end.
Heaven is a real place,
So is hell.
We could not escape standing before Him.
The time to prepare is NOW!

When You Can't Find God

Do you sometimes feel anguish,
Unable to see God's face?
If yes, do not lose heart then,
For that must be the time
God is much occupied
With the business of mine.

The Nakedness Of Man

Genesis 3:9-10

"God called the man saying to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid."

     It is when we see the glory of God do we realize our nakedness. I used to be self-righteous, perhaps still a little until now. I kept on comparing myself with others. Having sized the spiritual capacity of a person as how he appears to be, I would almost always conclude, I am much better than such person.

     God most often allow me to stay in this folly. When it is time for me to wake up, He allows me to bang my head with the painful but true reality. This happens when I come face to face with Him. In front of Him, I naturally and unconsciously melt in His mighty presence. It is then I fully realize how fool I am for thinking highly of myself, when in fact I am nothing in God's presence. In His presence do my sinfulness show, thereby making myself ashamed to face Him.

     I may dislike these moments for the discomfort it brings, but it is the only way that I feel how greatly I am being loved by my Maker; the moments that remind me of who I really am and where did I come from; the moments of pure bliss.

The God Of One More Chance"s"

     The other day, I received a copy of Kerygma Magazine February 2010 issue. I loved the topic: it's all about love. I read almost everything last night. One topic hit me hard: virginity. In it two kinds of virginity were discussed: physical virginity and spiritual virginity. Of course, with the former I am no longer one in the true sense of the word. With the latter I am on my way.

     Bro. Bo's discussion about physical virginity is quite simple and easy. Yes, I know it would take all of one's effort to stay a virgin before the sacrament of matrimony is worked out. I admit I failed in this area due to goals unclearly defined and values weakly fought for. I envy Bro. Bo and his wife for staying virgins up until they became married; not because they are pure but because they are able to spare themselves from pain, guilt, sin,regrets and wasted time of unhappiness. I believe God is the God of second chances. However, no matter how forgiven I am, I could not return back the wasted time I had thrown away, I could not make my body much healthier again after the negative emotions have taken its toll on me. We all know most diseases sprang from negative emotions harbored. I may have moved on but I could not run away from the memories that marred my painful past.

    I am just grateful for God is a God of one more chances. After I fail, He lovingly says, "I am giving you one more chance." Then I failed again. Then another chance. And another. And Another. And another. Until I reach to the point where I seek spiritual virginity. This spiritual virginity is what keeps me whole again and perfect again. It makes me as worthy a person as all the other virgins. It makes me start all over again with God's many chances. Even if God gives me as many a chance as I want; yet staying true to God even for the next chance I first failed is big enough for someone as sinful as I am. And I believe holding onto Him til the end, I would one day perfect that spiritual virginity.               

My Faith: Traditional Or New Age?

In my own words I define traditional faith as a faith based on traditions and customs. Being a catholic we know the traditions followed by our ancestors. But whether we like it or not, some of these traditions have its flaws if we would not be careful enough in following it. As we observe, most super religious older women attend mass on Sundays and even everyday, join church organizations and pray the rosary daily. Yet one of their common flaws is criticizing the young for not doing what they do thereby making them too self-righteous. Most often, they hate the change that the younger generation brings. We know these older people were trying their best to be just as good. However, their traditional beliefs get in the way. Instead of helping the young they do otherwise by criticizing them. Another thing is, if we focus much on traditional expression of our faith we tend to forget the most important thing: our interaction with God is spontaneous. Because God is not a God of traditions only. He is a God of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Another kind of faith sprang from what they call new age spirituality or new age enlightenment. It is a kind of faith more focus on one's spirit and what this unlimited spirit can do. In short, it does not recognize a God who is. If my understanding of this kind of faith is lacking, I am open to corrections and more knowledge. As of the moment, this is how I see it.

With regards to my own faith, I believe in the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I go to mass because I believe the priests are given the mission by God to minister the people. I recognize the Bible as the recordings of the history of my faith and of God's love. Like Moses and Jesus, I pray to hear God's words directly speaking to me. This for me is the most important part of my faith: Prayer. I believe what constitutes most in making me what I am is my faith. Furthermore, I believe I have not yet gone deeper into it. Thus on this journey of spirituality I embark.

The Prodigal One

Ugh! Ouch!!!
How do you treat a prodigal person? Just by ignoring or forgiving? Which type are you: the prodigal one, the loving father, or the unwelcoming brother?
In my case I am the prodigal one. Here is how everything began.
Years ago when I was still too young, too innocent, too weak , too fearful and too hard-headed I entered the nunnery praying I would become the perfect person I wanted myself to be by becoming a full-pledged servant of God. To my dismay I could not run away from my fears. The matter became worse until I decided to quit bringing along with me a depression I learned to live with for so long. Six years after I returned to the congregation believing I still possessed the charisma of serving God's people. To my gratitude I was warmly welcomed. Due to family problems I went home and never to be heard of again. There was no communication between me and the congregation whatsoever. I was busy with my own personal life, sinned ghastly and recovered a bit.
Barely seven years after, I found from a social network one of the congregation sister's account. I sent a message maintaining in my tone the same closeness we used to have. To my dismay and embarrassment, I did not get any response. Was "being ignored" the right term? I don't want to conclude. I just felt the "oucccch, huhuhu...." Oh, life. I knew the sisters were curious about me because many of them viewed my account. Yet, no one said a word of "hi, hello" aside from the two who were not full-pledged.
What is the message of this then? Am I ignored? Am I banned from communicating with them? I could not also blame them whatever their decisions are. I know I also had my shortcomings. I failed their high expectations of me. Perhaps they were so hurt because they were also answerable to the general superior. Perhaps I did something unforgiving or might had crossed over certain regulations of the congregation. Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps.
I only have one thing to advise myself: to go on my chosen way despite the judgment of other people of me. I am a prodigal one because I followed my will, fell, got up, returned to the Loving Father and asked for another chance. This is the good thing with life: I could not just quit. There was once a time that I hoped and willed to quit. But I just could not. I could not help breathing. So I decided to just go on. And now I am happy with my new-found life.
If there is a lesson I love to share with you, it would be: please be open to someone's sincerity with life despite the awful past and the used to be awful attitude. For no strong and loving person would choose to commit mistakes unless that person has not yet grown or learned anything about life.

"I know what's happening in this world-there are liars and cheats,
there's prejudice, violence, greed, sickness-I know what's happening. I'm
not going to let it deter me from living my life, though. Look, I live in this
world, and dammit, I'm going to be cheerful and positive about living in
this world."
Joseph Raymond

Life's Meaning Through My Eyes

Life has meaning. We all know this. What we find difficulty in, is finding this very meaning. Every person strives to look for this meaning. Each tries in his most conceivable way how to find it, but only few are successful in this undertaking.
I have been searching this meaning way back in adolescent stage, but until now I still have not reach the depth of what I have been searching for. My efforts would seem pointless, yet it is in trying that I found the greatest challenge and is keeping me moving on. I do not know where does my search will end. All I know is my search is the very meaning of my life.
A friend once tagged me as lousy, boring and overacting while he browsed my journal, quoted my phrases from there on how to live my life the best way I thought possible. Anything that we're not interested in is boring and lousy. What we forget is the fact that we are different, everyone of us. We are unique in our own way. One thing might be interesting to some while to some it is not.
For awhile I thought that friend of mine was right. But then, would I surrender to his suggestion when what interests him does not interest me? So I went my own way. I continued to be boring rather than doing nothing at all with my life and letting some of the ponderings of my mind pass me by. My life would not be worth living then if I live it according to other's wishes.
Many writers, authors and mentors have unlimited wisdom regarding the meaning of life. Yet, however great their words are, life's meaning still eludes the restless seeker; for life's meaning is not something to look for rather it's something to live for. It is not the achievement. It is the path to achievement. It is not what we do. It is how we do it. The most beautiful thing is, whatever we do if anybody learn from it and is inspired by it, then and only then our life would have its meaning.
It does not also mean that we do not need the wisdom of the gurus. We need them, very, very much need them. For the counsel of the wise is better than following our own fragile understanding. We need guides who had trod the lonely path that we are about to trod; those guides who learned every step of the way. But it does not mean we should lay our life to our chosen guides. We still need to be responsible for ourselves and stand for every decision that we make. And whenever we fail, we fail not for life's plan of failing us, but for life's purpose of teaching us.
We will just have to remember: it is in trying times that we bump into life the biggest, thereby unintentionally finding the worthless from the worthwile. From here slowly our life would reveal its meaning.