Breaking the Vicious Cycle

We have been listening and reading Chapter 5 of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. These are all hard teachings. By human effort would seem impossible to follow, yet with God they are not impossible. With the gifts of the Holy Spirit we can grow in love.

Chapter 5:21-26 talks about anguish towards others and the need for reconciliation.
Chapter 5: 27-30 talks about lust and adultery and sanctifying our senses.
Chapter 5: 31-32 talks about marriage as indissoluble.
Chapter 5: 33-37 talks about the value of our words and the vows, oath, and pledges we make.
Chapter 5: 38-42 talks about retaliation and the need to do the opposite.
Chapter 5: 43-48 talks of how we should treat our enemies and persecutors.

All these teachings are about practicing and living out the Gospel of love which every Christian can now do through the merits of Christ' death and resurrection. We see the fruits of the Holy Spirit working in our lives so we may truly learn HOW TO LOVE. Love isn't just a goody, giddy, mushy feeling that comes and goes. Love is a WAY as exemplified by Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

To the arrogant, it may all seem like stupidity. To the humanist, it may all seem like hypocrisy. One must remember though that there are two forces in this world, that of evil and that of goodness. As we are confronted daily with evil, GOD's GRACE is BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE, so we can be in the CYCLE of LOVE. If we deplore the corruption, war, abortion, and violence in this world, we must say "yes" to the circle of love. We may fail time and again, but it is more to be striven for. Love is its own reward. This is the truest victory... only love can conquer evil.

Make Haste, I will Stay in your Home Today

How's our home? How's our house? How do we respond if someone says to us "today, I will stay in your house"?

- "No way, I can not let a stranger in our house."
- "Oh no, I have to find an excuse, I am so ashamed of the mess and dirt. I can't let anyone see it."
- "No, I don't have the time to take care of any visitor. It's difficult to think of what food to serve and I have to fix the bedding."
-"No, I cannot afford another mouth to feed."
-"No, can't do. There's no one at home to attend to you. Gosh, I can't stand just staying at home."
-"Can you tell me a week in advance?"

What have we really done with our home?
Is it still a home or had it become a warehouse to store your collection of things?
Is it a museum to display your awards and all that promotes who you are?
Is it a bedspacing unit, just for sleepover?
Is it a common place where to each his own?
Is it all about you, insensitive to the people you live with and to your neighbors?
What is home?

Jesus offers to stay in our house. He knows us and calls by name in the same way He called Zacchaeus. He knows our iniquities, our shame, our sins, our guilt yet He offers to stay and be a part of our home.

When we allow Jesus to have room in our lives and in our homes, we are transformed because He knows also our possibilities.

Dear Lord Jesus,
You said, "Zacchaeus, come dowm, make haste for I must stay in your house today".
I hear You, Lord. And yes, Jesus, please stay in our house today. We need You. Without You, our home is crumbling. We need Your mercy for our home reflects the bondages that chain us. We need Your love for we desire love and to love.
We desire a familiar and intimate relationship with You and by Your grace, may we have authentic relationship with each other. Helping each other to journey into the depth, widths and length of Truth until we arrive into our eternal home.
You have given us a Church that reflects what home is, and with the intercession of Mother Mary, the communion of saints, may our home be transformed into a domestic church.
Yes, Lord, let it be today that You stay and remain in our home.
Amen.

Lessons from Children's Whys

Children love to ask why.  When you answer why there is another why; But there are "whys" that can stir your hearts and minds.

A Child Screams

My neighbors are not exactly private persons, what happens in their house can be seen and heard by the compound.  One afternoon, their only child (three and a half years old) was screaming, "Mommy, open the door."  He was crying and screaming.  He gave up and went to his yaya (nanny) and asked, "WHY don't they want to open the door for me?"  And the nanny calmly replied, "There's NOTHING we can do if that is what they want." The incident, in itself, is heartbreaking.  A well-off family.  Both parents are practicing professionals in a reputable, high-paying eye clinic but can not heed the cry of an only child.

That moment stirs my heart because in life, there is sometimes a little child inside screaming.  Sometimes, there are things happening around in life that I wish would just stop.  I scream and cry out inside, "Why do they do the things they do?  Do something."  Sometimes, it feels like God's only answer is the same as the nanny, "There's nothing we can do, that is their choice."  And yet there are moments when an action would be asked of me and I am that nanny who surrenders in defeat to the things of life and say, "There's nothing I can do if that is what they want."  

In this tapestry of life, sometimes it is difficult to live with the choices of other people.  Yet, me must respect them and can not force our choices on them.  There are times it is difficult to make the right choice even though we firmly believe it is the right thing to do.

Still, there is that power given within us, that even amidst the choices of others, we remain to have a choice to respond to these choices.  We can stand by what we believe in.  We can guide others to other options.  And even if we make a wrong choice in the process, there is always a CHOICE after a CHOICE.  This "choice after a choice" is the manifestation of our loving God who never abandons us.  He never surrenders in defeat.  He gives us a chance to make the right choice again and again.  In His grace and mercy, He gives us a chance to right a wrong choice.  That is the beauty of God, He truly sets us free.  He wants us to be free to journey in that inexhaustible richness of love.

A Child Hurts

One of the most disturbing why I had encountered was when a young girl of 10 asked me, "Why is my surname different from my father?"  She was a child borne of her mother's relationship with a married man who eventually married the father she had come to grow up with.  I answered it the best way I can, telling her the truth that the father she has is not her real father.  She understood it and in some way, she must have already heard about it.  She just needed to confirm it.  What struck me with that incident is the child's face.  The flood of tears and the visible hurt she must be feeling in her young life.  It is difficult to see a child in physical pain, but it is so much harder to see a child in such emotional pain.  It wasn't a screaming voice, it was but a quiet stream of tears.  The eyes that lost sparkle of joy.

This face of pain was inscribed in my heart, and it saved me from recklessly being involved in such relationships.  It made me take a look at what love is beyond emotion because true love could not have caused that hurt in a child.  It was a lesson to seek what true love really is.

God is love, and the opposite of love, then, must be sin.  Sometimes we are not really in love, just in sin.

Beautiful Still

Sickness, aging, poverty, or even failures can make us wonder if love can see us through and be beautiful still.

"The appearing of beauty, of the beautiful, makes us happy without our having to ask what use it can serve. God’s glory, from which all beauty derives, causes us to break out in astonishment and joy. Anyone who catches a glimpse of God experiences joy, and on this night we see something of his light."  - Pope Benedict XVI

Below is the video of the song "Beautiful Still" by Kara Klein- dedicated to Terri Chiavo. It is a touching song in the perspective of the infirmed.  

In love, you are "beautiful still"... we are beautiful still.

Wounded Soul

Oh wounded soul, your pain is real.
So many have failed to ease the ache.
It burns you up, you want to destroy.
Let the whole of the structure pay for it.

Oh you can not rest, so join the club.
But yes, I say, your pain is real indeed.
You seek to heal but know not how.
You've tried but horrors visit you.

If all who partook the pain be thwarted,
will it really make the wound disappear.
Who can save one's self from himself.
The world be gone, still the pain's around.

A crusade now you have began to wage.
Into the cross who can no longer be a friend.
But now you see why a Wounded Messiah came.
It is for you, so He'd take it all for you.