The Holy Tomb is Empty

The Holy Tomb is empty
Christ now lives in you!
Be the living vessel for the Risen Lord
And fill the world with Love so true.

Be the channel of Hope that Easter brings.
Be the Light in a world of darkness.
Let your Joy keep streaming
Into lives devoid of Him.

May you receive in abundance
The blessings of the Risen Christ!
Like the flowing Sea of Galilee
The more you share
The more Grace comes!

Wishing to be Rich yet Poor

In our village Mass today Fr. Jose Arcilla, S.J. said, “The real poor people are those who have many things to share but can not give and the real rich are those who have nothing yet they can still offer something to share.” The poor/generous giver has the best to offer—an open and welcoming heart.

From my e-mail box: "This is the great truth that the bible teaches over and over. When we trust God who is nothing but giving, we can give and give but never run out.
But if we cling to poor substitutes for God (money, power, fame or pleasure), we can hoard and hoard but never have enough."

If only the materially rich are also rich in spirit and start giving and giving, cease hoarding and hoarding, no one will be wanting. It takes poverty of the heart and richness of the spirit to make everyone rich.

I Purchased Heaven & Felt like a Saint

All Saints’ Day caught me with eloquent reminders that we are called to be holy and that we belong to the community of saints—that we are potential saints and born to be saints.

Although awed by this insinuation I was excited with the possibility and made some research on what a saint is, or how it is defined. According to one Claretian priest, a youngster gave this definition: “A saint is a person whom the light shines through,” thinking of the beautiful stained glass windows in the parish church.

The Claretian commentary thus gave the following explanation.

Quote:
The saints whose images are depicted in stained glass and on holy cards are famous for allowing God’s light to shine through their words and actions. The apostles, martyrs, doctors, virgins, religious and other holy men and women whose feasts are celebrated through the Church year offer examples to us of how to live so as to bring God’s light into a world that knows all too much darkness.



That definition pulsated in my head during the All Saint’s Day Mass. Finally during the moments of silence after communion and while praying for all the souls of the departed, a wistful thought flitted like a passionate desire—I wanted to feel exactly like a saint even for that moment.

Then it happened. I thought of all the souls still waiting for final redemption and entry into the full glory of heaven. For the liberation of these souls I offered the pains caused me by the betrayal of the people I love—forgave the latter and told the Lord: Let my offering of forgiveness purchase the souls in need of redemption.

I imagined souls finally liberated and entering the pearly gates. This made me feel jubilant and light. It was a saintly experience. My offering let God’s Light shone on the souls still in darkness.

Betrayal, My Shade of Crucifixion

For long I have been going through battering by all the betrayals I have gone through and am still going through. And this is done to me by people I care— a child, siblings, family—those closest to me.

This kind of experience makes me feel closest to my God, my Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus went through the ultimate betrayal unto the cross by one of His disciples and abetted by Peter who denied Him three times. Through the Cross, I was redeemed.

Through my own slight shade of crucifixion, I can participate in God’s work of redemption. I can be saved, And I can offer it for the salvation of others; first, of those who I love and who have betrayed me, as well as the rest of my brothers and sisters in Christ and those others who need salvation.

As I prayed this morning, below was one sharing which came my way. Like a balm on my soul.


“God chose to reveal the fulfillment of His plans to the childlike because their ignorance made them see with eyes of faith. When you are losing faith because of the troubles that you face, notice the constant signs around you that tell you of God’s presence in your life.

Like little children, let us trust in our Father’s ways”. Nova Arias (Kerygma)

It is no longer “Lent”; God has been “Given.”

And God will rise to live in us and among us!!

The “Lent” became a "GIFT"—a lasting gift of God’s presence in our humanity. The “GIFT” elevates us to the level of the GIVER—giving us the grace to see our Creator and Savior in everyone and in everything around us.

The challenge is how to allow God to be manifested through us and recognize God resurrected in our fellowmen and women.

Many times we do not recognize Him in our neighbor. Most of the times we refuse to see God in Creation. Almost always we deny God’s presence in our very own lives. And so we abuse the environment; we are indifferent to others; we throw away our dignity and squander our worth.

I hope to be a gift in return and give God a chance to be present in all.

Long Live the Risen Lord!

Some little Surprises in Search of the Lord

“The Bread of Life has been broken. The Cup of Life has been poured. Let us partake of the Supper of the Lord.”

It was the most striking line I imbibed in the long celebration of the Holy Eucharist which my family attended at the Church of St. Therese of the Child Jesus at UP, Los Baños, yesterday, April 9, 2009.

The Mass was the culmination of a Visita Iglesia, our short pilgrimage for Holy Thursday. We passed by all the churches along the route and had visited exactly 7 churches as is the tradition among Catholics. These churches are: The Chair of St Peter Church at Balibago, Santa Rosa, the St. Francis of Assisi Church at Cabuyao, St. John the Baptist Church at Calamba, St. Agustin Church at Bae, St. Anthony de Padua Church in Los Baños and Immaculate Conception Church in Los Baños town proper.

The Church of St. Therese played a special role in the life and history of our family for it was there that Rudy and I had our wedding in honor of St. Therese. She has been a favourite saint for her lessons on sanctification through little acts of holiness—like smiling and being nice at everyone even to the unpleasant characters in your life and picking up scattered things and placing them at their proper places even when one is feeling too lazy/heavy for it.

I was pleasantly surprised when upon seeing the face of St. Therese in a banner, for the first time, my daughter acknowledged what I have been saying and which she seemed not to have minded at all.
My only daughter, Maria Theresa, with an aura in her face which I seldom glean said: "Mom, you named me after her!”

Many surprises can happen in a journey in search of the Lord. Such as this pragmatic suggestion for a penance at the end of my meditation: Buy someone a meal or something to drink.

I Wrote a Last Will During EDSA 1

EDSA is the Philippines—survivor, resilient, loved by the Filipinos, etched in the living history of the world, alive in the memory of God.

When the Filipinos heard the voice of the late Cardinal Sin on the radio on February 23, 1986, asking the faithful to go to EDSA; I personally felt that God was drafting us to fight evil.

But it caused me a heart wrenching dilemma. It was not easy for me to bring all of my four children—with ages 5 to 11. EDSA could turn bloody.

And so my husband and I decided to bring with us our youngest child who we felt would be most vulnerable if left behind. The three other children, Joey, Val and Therese were left with their baby-sitter, Evelyn with instructions to always stay close to one another, pray the rosary and leave the radio on--all the time even while praying.

I wrote my last will and testament stating my wishes for my three older children in case my husband, I and Marlon perish in the battlefield of EDSA.

The moment of goodbye was for me a most scary and solemn one. I looked at my children intently to immortalize them in my heart. But when we arrived at EDSA—just about 3 km from our house—all my fears vanished.

There was a mood of celebration despite sporadic screams and panic sweeping through the crowd from time to time. The big throng of people were marching jubilantly from all directions.

Marlon wanted to climb a parked tank and his Dad placed him atop one. As I watched him grinning, I prayed, “Lord save our nation for our children.”

Despite interrmitent surges of fear, I felt safe and calm. I felt united and invulnerable with the multitudes who have responded to the call of God and country.

EDSA will live in perpetuity. Always pulsating with hope. So does our beloved country!

Valentine Love in a Flash

Earlier at around 6:00 in the evening, I was dropping some lines for my third son, Val who is currently in Irving, Texas for his further career training.

I wanted to compose a special Valentine message for a son who was so far away I couldn’t hug him but at the same time was pressured by time to meet my 6: 30 P.M. date with my husband and only daughter, Therese.

Under time pressure, I opened my e-mail thus: “My dearest Valentine,” It just hit me that that could be the most compact and love-filled message I could send my son. All it needed was a hyphen and I reframed it as: “My dearest Val-entine.”

Swiftly and smoothly I was able to send my love to my son in a jiffy and still kept my dates with my daughter and husband on time.

May our jiffy messages on Valentine’s Day last a lifetime!

Callused Soles vs Calloused Hearts

The emancipation of the tenants has been the battle cry of every Philippine administration and agrarian reform has been their centrepiece program.

Agrarian reform is meant to reduce inequalities as social justice demands. The intent of the Philippine Constitution and R.A. 6657 is crystal clear: the promotion of social justice through an equitable distribution of land by making it easier for the disadvantaged to be able to acquire land.

Why are the Filipino farmers marching all over the country for the right to own a piece of land? After losing at every stage of the battle against landowners, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) officials, the lower to the highest courts, they are now pounding every trail into the hot asphalt and concrete jungle of the seat of government—Malacañang—hoping that they can stumble upon a piece of a soft and caring heart.

In my morning prayers I touched the legs and feet of the farmers by massaging those of my husband that God may let them walk on soft soil with sturdy legs and strong soles. Then I laid my hand on my husband’s heart that the Lord of Compassion may soften our officials’ hardened souls.

It's God's Decision, not the Lightning's Call

At about 12:30 this afternoon, a thunderous explosion engulfed our village and simultaneously shut off our electric supply. I heard splintering sound from our roof garden and dropping of some hard objects. Except for the falling debris, it sounded much the same as the past two occasions when on each instance a Meralco transformer in our subdivision was hit by lightning.

It turned out that, our house and only our house had the blackout. The lightning hit the tegula roof of our roof garden. Considering the exploding bomb-like sound, it was a wonder of wonder that only two tiles were blown off, splattered all over and leaving just enough gaping hole on our rooftop for us to see a small space of sky directly on top our head.

And the most divine wonder of it all was that the lightning strike failed to fry me while I was steaming fish in the kitchen and my daughter who was sleeping in her room on the second floor and closer to the blasted spot.

As I write this I still can’t fathom the enormity of the Protective Hand of God who shielded our house and us from the tons of electric volts which came very close to strike.

Praying w/ Val, My Third Child

My third child, Val–he’s now a dashing man of 29– slept over. Before leaving early this morning, we prayed together thus:

“Dear Lord thank you for this rare chance of sleeping together with my son in this home where the children grew up. And thank you for helping us get up with our faculties intact, with us capable of continuing with our dreams, with the strength and resources to pursue them.”

Mom: “Continue to cover my son with your mantle of protection and hugs of love and affection that he may feel your presence wherever he goes, whatever he does and make him feel he is always loved. Touch him with your healing love, every part of his body, especially his eyes and pancreas...and his soul... and bless him with the power to do what is right for himself, for his associates, friends, loved ones and all others..”

Val: “Amen”

All I Have to say to my Lord

I have been singing it all too often. Yet it was only in yesterday’s Holy Mass that I caught the full meaning of the following lines:

“All that I’ve been through, I offer them to you oh Lord
Make my life a worthy offering to you.”

And I realized, that is all I have been trying to tell my Creator in so many words and in so many ways–oftentimes, bumbling ways–sometimes right, sometimes not so; sometimes true, sometimes not a bit too; always human, but by God’s grace can be noble and divine.

Yesterday I had a date with the Lord in a very meaningful way. It doesn’t happen often.

How to Give Back

To be able to love, it is necessary to have experienced love. The love we share is also the love we enjoy. To be able to love in a Christian manner–pure and selfless, self-sacrificing and Christl-like–presupposes an experience of God’s love. We can give only what we have.

I did experience God’s generosity. Now I can give away the same. Even my husband and children could not fully comprehend why I could be passionately lawyering for a client–even the most difficult and demanding character–who can’t pay and who I even treat with meals and free ride with allowances. That is an expression of the love of God which I have richly encountered in my life.

Date with the Lord

Whenever the urge to pray beckons, listen and be still. That’s the Lord asking for a date.

You will then encounter a moment in time which is connected to an eternity.

The Combo is Playing

Yesterday, August 22—a day after he spoke of the “Perfect Combo (see the earlier post)--at 04:47:32pm, I received a stunning SMS from my son, Joey. It says: “A truck nearly hit the car by 2 inches. Must be your prayers working to save me.”

For a few seconds I became too dumbfounded to reply. I hugged my son tight from a distance… then raised my voice to the Lord in thanksgiving.

I praised God for letting our combo play beautiful music!

Perfect Combo

My eldest son Joey was rushing for an early, long-awaited interview in Makati so I prepared a quick, healthy breakfast--breakfast at home is always the heaviest—of baked fish, eggplant omelets & banana, which he gobbled fast and quick.

As I poised to pray over him--a usual send-off--he warned,”Make it quick. I am running late.”

And fast, I prayed: “Oh Lord hug my son and make him feel your presence as you bless him with love, protection and wisdom; and use him to make others experience the same blessings.”

A few seconds after driving out of the garage, Joey sent this SMS: Tenku, tenku… (Thank you, thank you). Breakfast & Prayers. Smooth and crisp. Perfect Combo.”

The Bigger the Better

My husband has more than doubled in size during our marriage.
Lately, I have been telling him, “I love more of you but not too much, stop growing in size.

A few days ago, my son, Val, pleasantly jolted me with a very practical—even divine—use for my husband’s physical expansion.

Since Val is no longer living with us, I pray over his pancreas—which has stopped producing insulin—by laying my hands over my husband’s stomach and imagining that I am praying over my son’s. I am doing it for all other intentions and praying for healing. For instance, I ask the Lord for the healing of painful memories of another son or the wounded heart of a friend by touching that portion on my husband’s body.

Val remarked, “Wow, Dad can provide you all the space you need for all your prayers.”

Defining Your Reality...Creating Your Happiness

“Life is what you make it” is more than an adage. For it is a fact that your destiny is what you make out of life. It lies largely in your hand. You can create you reality with the power of your mind. More so if your mind draws energy from the Power outside of it. That Power is always available; ready to be tapped, generously.

Dr. Fred Alan Wolf, a quantum physicist studied physics in relation to consciousness and said that our consciousness can determine our reality–emotional, physical, etc. Consciousness is the function of the mind. And mind is more than the brain. It is over and above, before and after, the brain. By using the full potentials of the human mind, you can choose to be happy; you can determine your own reality. You can change your life by changing your mind. Your consciousness can reign supreme.

After I was diagnosed with brain tumor (meningioma), I constantly imagine my mind working on my brain and healing it of the alien growth. And I do ask friends, relatives, priests and nuns to join me in doing so. We join our collective consciousness to the source--the All-Powerful Being--the Source of all powers in heaven and on earth to melt the meningioma which grows deep from my dura matter within the hemisphere of my brain. As I wrote earlier, my brain tumor has started shrinking as shown in the second diagnosis done 10 months later.

J. C. Knight, the founder of Ramtha School of Enlightenment–when interviewed by Larry King of CNN–categorically stated that the power of the mind can be harnessed to create your happiness. According to her, you can choose to be happy and remain happy should you choose to; you can be in control of your own emotion by your own consciousness. Fr. Momoy Borromeo, the healing priest who keeps laying his hand on my brain prefers to call it "tanscendence" of our emotion and not control.

Ms. Knight elaborates that the key is to know ourselves well, accept who we are and be happy with it; know our purpose and stick to it. Regardless of what takes place in our surroundings, no matter how difficult people around us turn out to be, nothing and no one can take away our happiness if it is grounded within our own consciousness. No one can cause us miseries, according to her because the outside world will become a reflection of our own state of mind.

Good health, happiness, well-being … are functions of the mind. As the episode in Larry King Live (CNN, 08/10/08) captioned: “Change Your Mind, Change Your Life.”

My Son said: "Jesus is Human too."

In Mt 14:22-36, Jesus walks on the lake towards his disciples. The disciples are scared thinking they are seeing a ghost.

Jesus says,”Come.” Peter makes an attempt. As he steps into the water, he sinks. No matter how Jesus tries to encourage him, he can’t have the faith and the courage to try again.

On the breakfast table I asked my son, Joey what he learned from his Jesuit mentor about this narrative. His Theology teacher explained that there were many elevated portions of land in the lake which were covered by water only as high as half to a about a foot. Jesus had mastered the lake and knew where to step.

My son said: “Jesus can play tricks on his friends. That shows his humanity.”

My son just gave me one more reason to trust the Lord: God is one with me in my humanity.

A Son & A Daughter - A Moon & A Sun Apart

My son and an only daughter, who are still single, stay with me and my husband. Lasty night they were both out.

With his classmates in law school, my son went straight to an overnight outing in a resort in Tanay; my daughter was on her night shift at a call center at Ortigas.

I prepared my greetings to the two of them this morning and texted my son thus:

My dear son… have you awaken early enough to watch the sun rising from behind the mountain? And have you lulled the moon to bed?

Wake up my dear and watch the mountains dressing up in mint suit half hidden behind the fogs.

As I was sending my text to my son, I felt some nostalgia that I could not send a similar morning greeting to my daughter. She is confined chilling inside a room with no fresh air and surrounded by thick curtains to hide the view of the towering buildings in a concrete jungle. So I texted her:

Hi dear daughter… Are you about to wrap up your connectedness with the people behind the voices—upbeat, thankful, pleasant, irate—to take your rest? But wait, did you remain cheerful through it all?

Come to the comfort of home and of your bed.

Then it dawned on me... my two dear children are poles apart. When they are just a few kilometers away from each other!