Learn from the past and move on!
Each and every one of us has its own crosses to bear, but it's comforting to look forward that the light ahead is bright enough to make us see through. Every day you either see a scar or courage. Where you dwell will define your struggle. And the brighter you become, the more you have to learn in facing the music. Have you ever heard a "song" from so long ago with so many memories tied to it that it made you cry? And didn't you with that you could go back into time when everything seemed so much simpler and carefree? Those are songs that are the soundtrack of our lives . . . . the ones that bring back childhood memories, best friends, first love, first heartbreak and all the memories. The beautiful thing about memories is that they are yours whether they are good, bad, or indifferent. They belong to you, and no matter where life takes you, your memories tie you to where you've been, and to where you are now. What happened and what will happen is our choice. Acceptance allows us to bend without breaking in the face of tests. To consider circumstances, especially those that cannot be changed, satisfactorily. Simply, embracing life on its own terms. Life is not perfect, but it is not bad either. It will always have days or moments of feeling blue, but life goes on, and so do we with Beautiful old memories to cherish. And the promise of a young hope.♥
Scenarios Just Curious
Curiosity is not bad in itself, but it must be used properly. It is something like hunger. If we eat properly, our hunger serves us well and we grow strong and healthy. If we eat more than we need, or we eat foods that are not good for us, we weaken. Even worse, if we satisfy our hunger with deadly poison, we die. To deliberately eat what is poisonous is gravely wrong. In similar way, we can satisfy our curiosity in healthy ways when we are interested in knowing what is good and true. There are some things we should know ---- about ourselves, our loved ones, our work, about creation, and especially about the ways of God and his law of love. In these matters, the goal is not merely the satisfaction of our curiosity, but the fruit of knowing the truth and acting upon it. Often we grow curious about things that are simply a waste of time. That is the habitual condition of very many people today. They live in the idle curiosity, which they thoughtlessly satisfy with"junk food" for the mind. They keep us with latest trends, constantly checking their social networks and media, listening for anything that will catch their interest. Babies, who are not yet trained to distinguish what is helpful and harmful, will put anything into their mouths. We do not allow them to continue this way ---- for their own good we teach them. We need to use the same sort of practical wisdom on ourselves. If we keep indulging without thought or discipline, we remain immature. There are some things which we are better off not knowing, so to indulge our curiosity about them is worse than the waste of time, it is sinful. A very common is gossip, in which we reveal the hidden faults of others, or stir up others' interest in matters that do not concern them. Curiosity in such cases is more accurately named temptation. This is equivalent of a hunger for poisonous food. There is no healthy way to respond to such hunger. There is nothing beneficial about filling our hearts with sinful distractions.We have to deny them, and turn our attention to more worthwhile concerns.♥
His True Identity and His True Mission
It is sad that many people, even those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, remain so skeptical about him. About less important matters, people readily believe much of what they are told. This is what gives the media such powerful influence over society. Rumors spread like wildfire and are often accepted. People believe many theories and unfounded speculations, and they freely share them through their social networks. The Lord looks at spiritual ruins differently than we do. Where we see shameful failure and lost opportunities, he sees a future more glorious than ever. He looks at our hearts and says, "Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former." He reminds us that we are not working by ourselves. On our own strength, we could never build the temple worthy of the glory of the Lord. No, he encourages us strongly 'to take courage' and get 'to work' because he is with us, as he promised. "My Spirit continues in your midst ---- do not fear!"♥
"When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus. We must not fail to hep our neighbor, because in them we serve Jesus." - St. Rose de Lima
It's common thing to hear-read this, "I earned this. I deserve it! If anyone else wants to live like me, let him work harder. I haven't done anything wrong. Why should I give my hard-earned money to some lazy beggar? He would probably just waste it .... " When we are absorbed in our own comforts, we become blind to the needs of others, even to the most obvious basic needs of the poor. If we can fulfill our call to love, we must be aware of this weakness in our nature and overcome it by putting into practice what we believe. To change our hearts takes strong effort, in cooperation with God's grace. In the next life, the Lazaruses whom we failed to love will not condemn us, but our lack of love will be the cause of our torment. We do not have to search for the Lazaruses in our life, for they are near us, but we must open our hearts in order to be able to recognize them and love them.♥
As the Lord was always faithful in the past, he is faithful to us today, and we can be sure he will always be faithful, "for his mercy endures forever." This process of recalling all that the Lord has done for us is a very fruitful spiritual practice. Our memory that God has always been faithful to us with unwavering love is holy and precious treasure. This is part of the art of pondering in the heart, which we learn especially from Mary. When we recall with gratitude how God has blessed us in the past, the eyes of our hearts are open to what he is doing in the present as well. Without this "sacred memory," we are likely to misunderstand what God is doing, and may even suspect that he has abandoned us, like an unfaithful spouse. We never allow the hardships of the present to cancel out our confidence in the goodness and merciful love of the Lord. As we give thanks for the faithful love of God, we grow more aware of our responsibility to love him in return, and to be faithful in our love for one another. Since we are created in the image and likeness of God, and faithfulness is a hallmark of all God's relationships, we are called to be faithful to love, according to our situation and state of life. The more our love resembles God's love, the more his love will shine in our world ---- which is hungering so desperately for authenticity and fidelity in love.♥
Today is all we got, isn't? Who knows, what tomorrow brings. Be honest, be fair, listen. Anyone can get through one day at a time. It's light, and then it's dark again, isn't it? Persistence, that's all what gets there in the end. Believe in yourself and persistence! And don't you ever forget it, Persistence and Character!♥
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."
~ Harriet Tubman ~
My dear enchanted fly at liberty to the sun height
joyfully brush your wing with the sun light
lovingly come sit on my shoulder upon your sight
and heavenly share the blessing for our delight.♥
~ ramp 150713 ~
Life is beautiful. It's just how about how you pigment it ---- dark, tone, light, flush ; hone it ---- sharp, dull, fine, edge ; paint it ---- dye, flat, gloss, stain. However ---- coordinated, arranged, designed, patterned a course in life has, It's a beautiful life. Make the most of every opportunity ---- regrets ---- no regrets. Life is always beautiful.♥
"The classical doctrine on the missio Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit was expanded to included yet another "movement" : Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world . . . . Our mission has no life of it's own : only in the hands of the sending God can truly be called mission, not least since the missionary initiative comes from God alone."
~ David Bosch ~
The Lord knows what we are capable of. As he sends us forth, he knows what challenges we will face and when we will be ready to face them. He stretches us, so that our love will expand to include not only our relatives and friends but also those who betrayed us, those whom we would naturally want to exclude from the circle. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he plants his own love in our hearts, an instrument of his blessings for the whole world. ♥
We have time enough to spare, my dear friend.
To pause and lift some other's burden,
And will lighten ours upon the bend,
That can help us in the end,
For stopping sometimes on the course
And seeking someones who have been off course,
Will lighten ours upon the darkest night,
Restoring them into day and light.♥
As human beings, everything we are and have, we have received as gift from God, often through the instrumentality of others. And because we have received, we give to others the gift of what we are and have. However, it is often tempting to keep our gifts for ourselves, and not share them with others. Sometimes we are tempted to give, but only to get something in return ---- praise, a good name, status and power in society. Sometimes we give to God in order to get favors ---- a good job, success, and healing. Whereas it is admirable that we expect favors from God and not from human beings, how much more wonderful would it be if we can give, freely and joyfully, for the sheer joy of giving, without expecting anything in return, neither from human beings nor from God. Freely. Totally. Joyfully.♥
"Where your treasure is, there your heart is also." Our hearts can easily become fixed on "earthly treasure." Our tendency to look for happiness in material things is what makes us so susceptible to the clever deceptions of the world of advertising. Everyone knows, of course, that buying a certain product ---- a soft drink or shampoo will not give us the earthly paradise that the commercials portray, but as long as we long for earthly treasure, the advertisements are still effective. We are told not to waste our time storing up material wealth, such as money, clothes, possessions. These things are good when they are used for the right purposes, but they simply do not last, so they cannot give us lasting security or happiness. Since we live in an age when so many products are deliberately manufactured 'not to last', this message should be even more obvious to us. All we have to do is look at a ten-year-old car or cell phone and we can see that material things can give us only passing happiness. The odd thing about living in a materialistic age is that this very lesson is so often missed. The rapid breakdown of one gadget only leaves us hungering for the new, improved version. How can we be so easily fooled into thinking that this one will succeed in making us happy, when the previous ones all failed so miserably? We can be quite irrational about our early possessions, like the compulsive gambler who thinks that he will be satisfied forever if he can just win the jackpot one time. Even if we are to buy a product that will potentially last for generations (if it is not lost or stolen), a piece of golden jewelry, for example, or a diamond, we will not enjoy it forever ---- we will leave it behind when we die. The ancient Egyptians used to bury their kings surrounded by things that they thought they would need in the next life. When archeologists dig up their tombs thousand of years later, most of the items are corroded. But even those that remain intact are of absolute no use to the dead man buried with them. Completely Change the focus of our hearts to "store up heavenly treasure," treasures that really lasts. At the very end, nothing else will matters but, love.♥
MANILA
."She had never seen poverty on this scale. 'How can one person possibly make a difference.' For every one person Sienna fed, there were hundreds more who gazed at her with desolate eyes. Manila had six-hour traffic jams, suffocating pollution, and a horrifying sex trade, whose workers consisted primarily of young children, many of whom had been sold to pimps by parents who took solace in knowing that at least their children would be fed. Amid this chaos of child prostitution, panhandlers, pickpockets, and worse, Sienna found herself suddenly paralyzed. All around her, she could see humanity overrun by it's primal instinct for survival. 'when they face desperation . . . human beings become animals.' For Sienna all the dark depression came flooding back. She had suddenly understood mankind for what it was ---- a species on the brink. 'I was wrong,' she thought. 'I can't save the world.' Overwhelmed by traffic mania, Sienna broke into a sprint through the city streets, thrusting her way through the masses of people, knocking them over, pressing on, searching for open space. 'I'm being suffocated by human flesh!' As she ran, she could feel the eyes upon her again. She no longer blended in. She was tall and fair-skinned with a blond pony tail waving behind her. Men stared at her as if she were naked. When her legs finally gave out, she had no idea how far she had run or where she had gone. She cleared the tears and grime from her eyes and saw that she was standing in a kind of shantytown ---- a city made of pieces corrugated metal and cardboard propped up and held together. All around her the wails of crying babies and the stench of human excrement hung the air. 'I've run through the gates of hell.'
~Excerpt, Inferno, Dan Brown ~
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
~ Voltaire ~
Francois-Marie Arouet, November 21, 1694-May 30, 1778
Hello Dan Brown, 'presumed you visited Manila. As they say there is always two side to a coin. It's heart rending to depict poverty as hell. If a person realizes that some worldly element is distracting him/her from this goal, there shall be no hesitation to distance oneself from such element. As per the Mosaic Law, every sacrifice was to be salted in order to consecrate the offering and remind the people of one's covenantal relationship with God. Therefore, losing saltiness would mean losing one's purity of intent. As Soren Kierkegaard has noted, "purity of heart is to will one thing," and this one thing is God and God alone, . . . . (Sirach 5:1-8 / Mk 9:41-50). One way to identify wisdom is to recognize its opposite. If we are wise, we will not allow foolish "inner conversations" to take place in our minds. We will not give in to overconfidence, the sin which the Catechism calls 'presumption.' There are two kinds of presumption, one kind moves us to rely too much on our own wealth or personal strength, as if we were more powerful than God, the other kind moves us to suppose God will forgive us even if we are not repentant. All who are wise in the ways of the Lord know that we must often choose a path that seems more difficult now, in the future, we will be richly rewarded. One leading to reward, the other to punishment. To the foolish the choices may seem rather insignificant. On the positive side, there is the simple act of giving someone a drink of water. It is not a grand act or an impressive sacrifice ---- it will not be reported in media or change the world. We may be tempted to think that small acts of charity are not even worth doing, but the Lord says the man who does this "will not go without his reward." On the negative side, misleading a "simple believer." Causing another person to sin ---- especially one of the Lord's "little ones" ---- is a very serious matter. The world may treat sins as no more than light entertainment, but anyone who commits them merits a punishment harsher than being "plunged into the sea with a great millstone fastened around his neck." To emphasize the seriousness of any actions or decisions that will determine our eternal destiny. Which direction are we going in, toward eternal life in heaven or toward eternal punishment in hell? We are better off entering the Kingdom of God crippled than entering hell with our bodies fully intact. The roots of sin are not in the hand, the foot, or the eye. What must be "cut off" is every attachment to sin in the heart. We are better off gouging out our presumption and making a good confession than gouging an eye.
Many people consider the use of such grim images ---- like drowning under the weight of a millstone or burning in a fire that never goes out ---- to be unpleasant and improper in our days. We are not supposed to make people feel uncomfortable. Only positive messages are considered acceptable. Jesus is not so concerned about how we feel, but how we are living and where we are going. His message of love and mercy includes the disturbing truth about hell. God loves us all, therefore, "Everyone will be salted with fire" ---- the fire of divine love.
Storm come and go, as often as before, sometimes it took almost everything, sometimes it leaves nothing, sometimes it leaves us nothing. But through all these, with the beautiful sunny disposition of a rainbow, life goes on. Life always goes on. Standing tall, Manileños has but one word for you MABUHAY!♥
"Accept God's message for what it really is : God's message, and not some human thinking."
~ 1 Thessaloninas 2:13 ~
Waves . . . .
feel the music
let the beat help you feel good
feel the music of a meaningful life
by listening to your own lyrics
now
dance
dance to the music
of your own composition.♥
~ramp297,280212~
Inside my cocoon
suffocated . . . .
choking, ---- a Rainbow!
coming, wrapping, tattooing
in frenzy shades of
black, blue, green, pink, orange, . . . . yellow
My cocoon
caged . . . .
enclosing, an Escape!
exciting, letting, freeing
into open-wide-space
slowly waving new wings
free
flapping out to the summer wind, . . . . rain.♥
~ramp297, 090312 ~
You can't be always what you are
It's about time you spread your wings
You should fly . . . . need to fly
Start with little flaps
Spread your wings for more bigger flaps
Keep going
Understand this
You can't stay what you are
Always.♥
~ramp 297, 050312~
"Speechless . . . . contained . . . . words don't come easy."♥
I contained myself in words
In the dreams and visions they call
The taste of them on my tongue
I creep as they brush across my lips
Flutter as they form in my chest
A roll larger than myself
While they wind a path through my mind
Illuminating this sensation, and that emotion
Recording all the world so that no moment must die
But these are only words
Contained
And for all they do for me
I would rather hold your gaze
Drawn you in
Feel your breath as you speak to me
In a beaus nonsense no words can bring
Contained in you, I am eternally bounded.♥
~ramp 297, 290212~
Why did you say them ----
Those profound words I wanted to say?
You strung them together
One bead, one word, one feather
They were mine, you know
I held them close,
Afraid to look,
In case you saw them too
And stole them away
To write my book.
In the dark of the night,
I would look at them
Dream them,
Touch and even think them
Bold, unabashed
They would tumble
Beautiful and raw
They would flow
At day break, though,
They were gone ----
Again.
You saw through me,
You saw my soul.
You stole them all
And wrote them down
You made them real . . . .
They belong to you now
Lofty ---- tangible
They are ---- My words.♥
~ Words, Ameeta Agnihotri ~
Always remember that happiness comes from deep within.The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be. It is also when you're exposed to unhappy situation -person that you'll be unhappy at that moment. Sure thing it won't touch your deepest core of happiness but certainly shakes it.♥
There's too much endeavor for fleeting material happiness.♥
My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love you. I beg pardon of you for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.♥
~ ramp297, 080312 ~
Go out to all the world, and tell the good news.
"Flesh and blood" means the full presence and reality of a person. "Eat my flesh and drink my blood," he said. "But, but . . . . " is what we have heard people say through the ages as at the beginning. To eat is to assimilate completely : your food is in your stomach, but on its way to become you. We are invited to assimilate deeply the full presence and reality of Christ. When you become knotted up in technical ifs and buts about how Christ is present in the Eucharist, just cut the knot and go back to the basic meaning. Jesus himself gave no explanation when asked.
Let's get it on, as we continue our own "journey to Damascus," part of what we experience is an ever-greater appreciation of the mystery of the Eucharist. Indeed, Jesus' flesh is real food and his blood is real drink!
Those without faith see this claim as an impossibility and a scandal. Those with weak faith do not take the Lord's words seriously, and treat the Eucharist as a mere symbol. But we who believe know that Jesus is giving us life, eternal life, the very life he shares with the Father. Before this inexpressible gift, we collapse in gratitude and humble adoration.♥
Acts 9:1-20 / Jn 6:56 / Jn 6:52-59
Two monologues do not make a dialogue.
~ Jeff Daly ~
We feel troubled not only when bad things happen, but when unexpected good things happen as well. In other words, we feel troubled when something ---- good or bad ---- upsets our set ways of living and leaves us confused. Many of the intellectual difficulties we have with Faith come from the fact that we bring the wrong kind of mind to it. The modern world has largely lost the power of symbolic thinking and replaced it with analysis. Analysis in itself is a powerful mode of thought, but it is not the whole of thought. Even people whose conscious minds are fixed in an analytical mode are still moved unconsciously by symbolism. Our world is filled with symbols of contentment, pleasure, fulfillment, happiness ---- and these work on us all, no matter how analytical we may be. We are all manipulated by symbolism when we do not recognize its reality. Our Faith can withstand analysis, but you cannot live on analysis. "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." ♥
