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 ~
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.♥
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~
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
FALLING STARS : Do you remember still the falling stars
that like swift horses through the heavens raced
and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
of our wishes ---- do you recall? And we
did make so many! For there were countless numbers
of stars : each time we looked above we were
astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,
while in our hearts we felt safe and secure
watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,
knowing somehow we had survived their fall.
A billion stars go spinning through the night,
glittering above your head,
But in you is the presence that will be
when all the stars are dead.♥
~ Rephrase, Rainer Maria Rilke ~
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease ---- where there are tongues, they will be stilled ---- where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror ---- then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part ; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain : faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.♥
~ 1 Corinthians 13 ~
Lord, Thank You.
If you never felt pain, then how would you know that He is a healer?
If you never had to pray, how would you know that He is a deliverer?
If you never had a trial, how could He help you overcome it?
If you never felt sadness, how would you know that He is a comforter?
If you never made a mistake, how would you know that He is a forgiver?
If you knew all, how would you know that He will answer all your questions?
If you never were in trouble, how would you know that He will come to your rescue?
If you never were broken, then how would you know that He can make you whole?
If you never had a problem, how would you know that He can solve them?
If you never had any suffering, then how would you know what He went through?
If you never went through the fire, then how would you become pure?
If He gave you all things, how would you appreciate them?
If He never corrected you, how would you know that He loves you?
If you had all power, then how would you learn to depend on Him?
If your life was perfect, then how would you need Jesus for?♥
~ Author Unknown To Me ~
Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
We sometimes wonder why God does not reveal himself more obviously in the world. Why does he hide his face from so many people? He could easily display his presence and power, and, it seems to us, this would move more people to believe in him.
We are all aware o f the names and faces of famous celebrities ---- movie stars, entertainers, and sports heroes. They have been "revealed" to us by the media. We can see and hear them everyday if we want to. But do we love them? We may admire them, or be grateful for what they have done. We may even idolize them. But we do not really have a relationship of love with them. In fact, we do not even really know them in a personal way. Something more than media exposure is necessary ; we need a more personal encounter. The same is true of our relationship with God.
God shows us more than beauty and vastness of creation. He reveals himself to us in his Son, and in his name sends us the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. This God alone is worthy of our worship and adoration. We cannot make an idol of him because he is true and living God. He reveals that he wants a relationship of love with us, for he himself is an infinite communion of love. so Jesus tells us : "Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him ; we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him." God wants to share his very life to us, to dwell within us. Together we form one living communion of love. "The image of the vine and the branches."
Memory is a mysterious part of our being. We see or hear or smell something that takes us right back to our childhood, and we remember something that had lain for many years in our memory. It is important to remember the right thing! And imagine what you would become if you remembered all the things you should forget! Two people can grow together in one home and one of them remembers goodness while the other recalls only misery. In some measure you are what you remember. The Holy Spirit is God's Reminder. This spirit can heal your memories, working deeply in your past, rearranging, freeing, healing everything there. It is the continuation of Christ work in us. "God has come to us in the form of men!" but as a true man, in Jesus Christ : "Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father"♥
Acts 14:5-18 / Jn 14:22 / Jn 14:21-26
Into your hands, O lord, I entrust my spirit.
It is the ordinariness of the bread that is so astonishing! Jesus wants to be ordinary for us. "A very precious relic," wrote Meister Eckhart, "is not willingly allowed to be touched to be touched or seen. Therefore He clothed Himself in the cloak of the likeness of bread, just as my bodily food is transformed by my soul, so that no corner of my nature is not united with it . . . . There is not so much as a needle's point that is not united with it. What I ate a fortnight ago is as much one with my soul as what I received in my mother's womb. So it is that whoever receives this food purely becomes as truly one with it as my flesh and blood are one with my soul."
Jesus' patient responses continue to draw us further into the real meaning of the bread from heaven. The manna, as great as it was, was still only a sign of "the real heavenly bread" which the Father gives for the life of the world. With the request, "Sir, give us this bread always," Jesus reveals even more : "I myself am the bread of life." . . . . He has not come simply to give us loaves, but to give us himself.♥
Acts 7:51, 8:1 / Jn 6:35 / Jn 6:30-35
What return can I make to the Lord for all that He to me?
We have been asking him to open our minds to understand his words, for he says, his words are "spirit and life"! However, Jesus' words of life concerning the Eucharist are also a challenge, a "hard saying," like his teaching on the necessity of the cross. "Does it shake your faith?" The same challenge is placed before us. And because many are shaken by the truth about the Eucharist, a sad division remains among Christians to this day. "Do you want to leave me too?" He will not change his teaching in order to accommodate our limitations. The truth cannot change ; we must change. To remain with him, we must accept the truth in all its fullness.
Through the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, we share in the same divine life and power as Peter and the apostles. This does not mean we need to perform dramatic signs, but we are called to live a deeply Eucharistic life, full of confidence in Jesus Christ, whose life is in us. The more we abandon ourselves to him in faith, the more powerfully he can work through us to give spiritual life and health to others.♥
Acts 9:31-42 / Jn 6:63, 68 / Jn 6: 60-69
He has risen! Whenever we recite the Creed, we profess our faith that "On the third day, he rose again from the dead." We celebrate our faith with particular joy on Sundays, because each Sunday reminds us of the great victory over death that Jesus won Easter Sunday. This is the joyful declaration that makes Easter Sunday the beginning of a whole new era. "This is the day the Lord has made ---- let us rejoice and be glad!" Happy Easter!♥
♥ Happy Easter! ♥
Alleluia! He is Risen! With great joy, we celebrate the Lord's triumph over sin and death! He has made it possible for us to "pass over" from sin and death, into glory and eternal life. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Making a communion with the Risen Lord in our Hearts, becoming one Mind, one Heart, one Spirit with Him.♥
Reflecting on Jesus' descent among the dead can strengthen our faith in the limitless mercy of God. He does not abandon anyone in hell ---- he will go to the farthest and most remote place to rescue even one wandering sheep. Even when we find ourselves in the spiritual death of sin, even if we fall into the most unspeakable mortal sin, we are not beyond the mercy of God. The famous line of Betsie, the sister of Corrie ten Boom who survived the hellish horrors of a Nazi, death camp, reminds us that, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is deeper still." ---- "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."♥
