These Little Wonders

All of us face struggles and difficulties in life. Today, as we remember the life and sainthood of Ignatius of Loyola, may his prayer be our personal cry to the God who is ever-present, ever-loving, and ever-comforting. :) O Christ Jesus When all is darkness And we feel our weakness and helplessness, Give us the sense of Your Presence, Your Love and Your Strength. Help us to have perfect trust In Your protecting love And strengthening power, So that nothing may frighten or worry us, For, living close to You, We shall see Your Hand, Your Purpose, Your Will through all things. "Give me only Your love and Your grace. With this I am rich enough, and I have no more to ask." ~St. Ignatius of Loyola Click  here  to know more about St. Ignatius of Loyola. :)

Love is patient. Indeed. I asked Fr. Benedict to pray for Papa. A week after, he asked me about Papa's condition. I answered, "Ayun po, matigas ang ulo. Ang hirap painumin ng gamot." He laughed and said, "Ganyan talaga. Kaya nga sila tinawag na magulang. Pagpasensyahan mo na lang." In a conversation with Papa's cardiologist, he asked, "May asawa ka na ba?" I answered, "Wala pa po." He then said, " Kaya ikaw talaga ang magdadala nito. Magastos pero tiis-tiis muna. Para naman sa Papa mo yan." I just smiled. When I was about to leave the clinic, he shouted, "Mag-asawa ka na!" Those two conversations led me to reflect and I came to realize the following: The Bible says love is patient. And love is best tested when you have to take care of a patient. I really don't like it when Papa is sick because he can get too stubborn, annoying, and "papansin." But that is also the best time for...

Today is Tuesday, July 30 - Feast Day of Saint Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church. Image Source:  www.christtheking.com.sg Fr. Benedict started his homily by introducing St. Peter Chrysologus whose name literally means "golden tongue" (or "golden speech"). He is known as The Doctor of Homilies  because he delivered short (about five minutes only; it was said he was afraid to bore his audience) but inspired talks. 176 of his homilies are extant up to now. But Fr. Benedict made it clear: "You don't become a saint by just being a good preacher. You become a saint if you live what you preach." "People look up to you, you can't help it. As leaders of your organization, and as workers here at your Global Mission Center, people don't just expect you to go the extra mile, but to go the extra smile. " " You are giving the best homily by the way you live your life. " I remember one...

*One of St. Peter Chrysologus' homilies.  SERMON 147: On the Mystery of the Incarnation When God saw the world falling to ruin because of fear, he immediately acted to call it back to himself with love. He invited it by his grace, preserved it by his love, and embraced it with compassion. When the earth had become hardened in evil, God sent the flood both to punish and to release it. He called Noah to be the father of a new era, urged him with kind wards, and showed that he trusted him; he gave him fatherly instruction about the present calamity, and through his grace consoled him with hope for the future. But God did not merely issue commands; rather with Noah sharing the work, he filled the ark with the future seed of the whole world. The sense of loving fellowship thus engendered removed servile fear, and a mutual love could continue to preserve what shared labor had effected. God called Abraham out of the heathen world, symbolically lengthened his name, and m...

Here's something worth sharing: When I was a kid, my Grandma liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day. On that evening so long ago, she had placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my Grandpa. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!  Yet all my Grandpa did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Grandma and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that ugly burned biscuit. He ate every bite of that thing... never made a face nor uttered a word about it!  When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Grandma apologize to my Grandpa for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits every now and then."  Later that night, I went to kiss Grandpa good nig...

This weekend is another affirmation of God's amazing, overwhelming love! We started our Covenant Orientation Weekend Retreat yesterday. God knows what we've gone through just to make it happen. Honestly, I was tempted to cancel it but God said, "Go on, My child. Know that this is not your work but Mine. I will make it happen!" Full of trust and confidence that the Lord will deliver what He promised, we pushed through with the weekend retreat even when there were still a lot of uncertainties. Will there be participants? Will there be enough budget for food and venue rental? And so on.  When almost everything was already settled (music min - check, worship leader - check, participants - check, speaker - on the way), I left to attend to my "daughter duties." As mentioned in my previous post , Papa has been sick and I got really worried when Ate Dimple spoke with me last Friday, telling me that I should convince Papa to see a cardiologist. She ...

*Write-up on the first session of the SFC Metro Manila Conference (MMC) 2013. “We are wearing hospital tags because we are beloved… and love is patient.” This was the opening statement of Ace Lu, former YFC fulltime missionary for Middle East and currently SFC fulltime missionary for South A, as he delivered the first session of the SFC Metro Manila Conference last July 19. Indeed, the first night, just like the rest of the conference, was all about love – God’s love that is.  Referring to the biggest MMC delegation yet, Ace declared, “We are making history. The Lord brought us here simply because He loves us!” He then shared about his personal experiences of the Lord’s greatness, boldly proclaiming that God never ceases to amaze and surprise him. Then he asked the delegates who Jesus Christ is for them. One sister said Jesus is her life, while another answered “God of everything.” Ace recalled that when he joined the Youth Camp many years ago, Jesus was the driver of...