What controls you?
It is
Your god.
Who controls you?
He is
Your god
controls
you.
What controls,
Who controls,
It is god,
He is god.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Your God. My God.
What controls you?
It is
Your god.
Who controls you?
He is
Your god
controls
you.
What controls,
Who controls,
It is god,
He is god.
Monday, September 22, 2014
TRUE ART
Art for art's sake is garbage.
Art as merely personal expression is selfish.
True art is purposeful.
It is wisdom-seeking.
It gives birth.
It encourages peace-making and harmony.
It inspires and sets hearts on fire.
It leads to higher grounds.
It causes the soul to soar.
It widens minds and opens doors.
It banishes darkness.
It illumines pathways.
Art as merely personal expression is selfish.
True art is purposeful.
It is wisdom-seeking.
It gives birth.
It encourages peace-making and harmony.
It inspires and sets hearts on fire.
It leads to higher grounds.
It causes the soul to soar.
It widens minds and opens doors.
It banishes darkness.
It illumines pathways.
(photo: Vladimir Liverts)
Sunday, September 21, 2014
SO BE IT...
If this due to stubbornness in following Jesus Christ and following the gospel,
then so be it...
(photo not mine. credit to the maker of this meme)
Sunday, September 14, 2014
THAT KNOWING SMILE: A Reflection on the Gospel Antiphon for the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Blessed are you, O Holy Virgin Mary;
without dying you won the martyr's crown
beside the cross of the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia!
It was eerily quiet. The bloody orgy has come to a halt. It was Passover's eve and not a soul dare incur ritual impurity so as to be rendered unfit for the unfolding festival. Most everyone has left
Except for Mary...
She remained.
She's crouching on where she was standing just a short while ago. She remained on that same spot. She's not going anywhere. She's not moving.
She'll remain.
On her lap lays her dead son's body, limp and cold. His face, swollen and encrusted with scum and caked blood, nevertheless still radiates serenity and love. He's all hers now.
Mary's face was puffy. Eyes hardly opening, soaked up in salty tears. Her arms tenderly caressing her lifeless treasure, all purple and blue and grim. She drew her face nearer his and whispered something delicate. And on her lips... that knowing smile.
She knew it's not over yet.
Her heart tells her that indeed, this is just a pass-over.
The best is yet to come.
without dying you won the martyr's crown
beside the cross of the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia!
It was eerily quiet. The bloody orgy has come to a halt. It was Passover's eve and not a soul dare incur ritual impurity so as to be rendered unfit for the unfolding festival. Most everyone has left
Except for Mary...
She remained.
She's crouching on where she was standing just a short while ago. She remained on that same spot. She's not going anywhere. She's not moving.
She'll remain.
On her lap lays her dead son's body, limp and cold. His face, swollen and encrusted with scum and caked blood, nevertheless still radiates serenity and love. He's all hers now.
Mary's face was puffy. Eyes hardly opening, soaked up in salty tears. Her arms tenderly caressing her lifeless treasure, all purple and blue and grim. She drew her face nearer his and whispered something delicate. And on her lips... that knowing smile.
She knew it's not over yet.
Her heart tells her that indeed, this is just a pass-over.
The best is yet to come.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
APOSTLES
Jesus gathered an interesting bunch. Some were opinionated, some timid, some quite brash and impulsive, each one with his own quirkiness. Most were family men, with dreams of making it big, or maybe just to get by their daily needs and concerns. None of them was perfect, nor suited perfectly, for a job that itself has never stopped unraveling long after the recruitment. All of them had his share of flaws and temperament, and a baggage of favorite and recurrent sins. These were the men Our Lord called "apostles."
...Indeed there is hope for each of us!
( cf. Luke 6:12-19 )
...Indeed there is hope for each of us!
( cf. Luke 6:12-19 )
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Discipleship:
is
being MOVED by Jesus,
MOVING ABOUT through Jesus,
MOVING ON with Jesus.
It is not
starring in a MOVIE;
with Jesus as an afterthought...
MOVE ON!
It's a pattern. One is sent. He dwells in the midst of people. Does what he's sent for. Makes a few friends along the way, helps some neighbors, teaches here and counsels there. Laughs, cries, get mad at some injustice and rallies behind the disadvantaged. Then people take notice and lavishly show appreciation and one sometimes get hooked to it. Or sometimes it's the opposite. But always eventually comes the time to pack up and move on. To wrap up and ship out. No three tents allowed for any Moses-Elijah-and-Jesus experience. No matter how enthralling the brief transfiguration episode maybe. Following Jesus is always a MOVING ON experience! ( cf.Luke 4:38-44 )
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Weeds and Wheat: On the necessity of conserving time and energy only for things that truly matter
Save your breath for things that matter. Work for the only thing that prevails in the end. Wasting time paying too much attention to the misdeeds, wrongdoings, obnoxiousness and stubbornness of others saps you of life. Use your limited time doing and being good. Let them waste theirs doing and being otherwise. Sure you may once in a while try to correct, help and guide them if doing so is warranted but just don't push too hard. Harvest time is yet to come. Make sure to be on the right side when it does. (cf. Matthew 13:24-43)
Friday, July 18, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Back to Mama's Breast
They already had their fill of you.
Bread-multiplying and fishes net-bursting and wine flowed past the brim.
They have already done whatever they wanted to make of you:
A friend, a clown, a teacher, and provider;
An enemy, a king, a fool and entertainer.
They have consumed you, and praised you,
maligned and adored you,
and some just stared blankly at you.
They already had their fill of you.
It's time to claim your rest.
You are my son, my babe, my precious little one.
Come now to mama's breast.
Bread-multiplying and fishes net-bursting and wine flowed past the brim.
They have already done whatever they wanted to make of you:
A friend, a clown, a teacher, and provider;
An enemy, a king, a fool and entertainer.
They have consumed you, and praised you,
maligned and adored you,
and some just stared blankly at you.
They already had their fill of you.
It's time to claim your rest.
You are my son, my babe, my precious little one.
Come now to mama's breast.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
The Two Yokes In Matthew 11:25-30
The yoke in the gospel is of two kinds.
One of them burdens, the other uplifts.
One leads to misery and exhaustion. The other leads to happiness and refreshment.
The yoke that burdens is the yoke of SELFISHNESS and PRIDE.
The yoke that uplifts is the yoke of SELFLESSNESS and HUMILITY.
The latter is the yoke of Jesus.
This is what he offers in exchange of the one that drains life out of each of us.
Let us find rest in Jesus!
Let us take up the yoke of Jesus!
One of them burdens, the other uplifts.
One leads to misery and exhaustion. The other leads to happiness and refreshment.
The yoke that burdens is the yoke of SELFISHNESS and PRIDE.
The yoke that uplifts is the yoke of SELFLESSNESS and HUMILITY.
The latter is the yoke of Jesus.
This is what he offers in exchange of the one that drains life out of each of us.
Let us find rest in Jesus!
Let us take up the yoke of Jesus!
Eπιτάφιος
Grateful to my dear Missionaries of Mary friends: Sr. Katarzyna, Sr. Rachel, Sr. Edith and Sr. Sophie, whose mother sent us this most precious gift, a high-quality print-on-cloth of an Eπιτάφιος (Epitaphios: cloth-icon of the burial of the Savior).
We consecrated the Eπιτάφιος after celebrating the First Saturday Eucharist.
"Noble Joseph took down your most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in a clean shroud, covered it with spices and laid it in a new tomb..."
We consecrated the Eπιτάφιος after celebrating the First Saturday Eucharist.
"Noble Joseph took down your most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in a clean shroud, covered it with spices and laid it in a new tomb..."
Sunday, June 15, 2014
THE EXTRA MILE (Matthew 5:38-42)
It is about being the first one to smile, to say sorry, or hi. It's about being the one to first extend a hand. It is stooping down, giving way, genuinely trying to learn from what the other is saying, though sometimes you know that you have something better to offer. It is what's called THE EXTRA MILE.
It is about forgiving seventy times seven times even if the possibility of the offender's conversion is a far-off reality. It is about shutting up so that others can speak out. It is about not minding that one's brighter ideas are bypassed in favor of the other's simpler ones. It is being happy with the role of arranging the plastic chairs a few good meters away from the stage and the limelight. It is what's called THE EXTRA MILE.
It is however way much different from false humility. It is not at all playing dumb or fool. For the latter is plain deceit, and the former, a subtler, more sinister form of pride. THE EXTRA MILE is about consciously, courageously, maturely and even happily downgrading one's self so that others may shine through. It is about dying to self so that others may live. It is about my "decreasing" so that others may "increase."
"Turn the other cheek" says The Boss when someone strikes you on the right side. Offer no resistance to one who is evil. Gladly tell the one who covets your tunic that he might as well have your cloak. Go flex some more muscles and walk that extra mile should someone press you for service, and give to the one who asks of you and do not turn your back to the one who wants to borrow.
It is not cowardice, nor foolishness, nor being a loser. It is neither a false and outdated sense of martyrdom. It is not playing the "underdog" nor the "victim" card. It simply is a challenging way of being like The Boss.
And each time you might happen to enter a church or a sanctuary and fix a momentary gaze on the Cross at the apse or on any of its walls, think of it as a powerful reminder, that there was someone who once walked among us men, who in his pursuit of bringing us home, has lovingly walked THE EXTRA MILE.
It is about forgiving seventy times seven times even if the possibility of the offender's conversion is a far-off reality. It is about shutting up so that others can speak out. It is about not minding that one's brighter ideas are bypassed in favor of the other's simpler ones. It is being happy with the role of arranging the plastic chairs a few good meters away from the stage and the limelight. It is what's called THE EXTRA MILE.
It is however way much different from false humility. It is not at all playing dumb or fool. For the latter is plain deceit, and the former, a subtler, more sinister form of pride. THE EXTRA MILE is about consciously, courageously, maturely and even happily downgrading one's self so that others may shine through. It is about dying to self so that others may live. It is about my "decreasing" so that others may "increase."
"Turn the other cheek" says The Boss when someone strikes you on the right side. Offer no resistance to one who is evil. Gladly tell the one who covets your tunic that he might as well have your cloak. Go flex some more muscles and walk that extra mile should someone press you for service, and give to the one who asks of you and do not turn your back to the one who wants to borrow.
It is not cowardice, nor foolishness, nor being a loser. It is neither a false and outdated sense of martyrdom. It is not playing the "underdog" nor the "victim" card. It simply is a challenging way of being like The Boss.
And each time you might happen to enter a church or a sanctuary and fix a momentary gaze on the Cross at the apse or on any of its walls, think of it as a powerful reminder, that there was someone who once walked among us men, who in his pursuit of bringing us home, has lovingly walked THE EXTRA MILE.
Monday, May 26, 2014
FRANCIS OF ROME AND BARTHOLOMEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PETER AND ANDREW, AT THE EMPTY TOMB OF JESUS CHRIST "We need to believe that, just as the stone before the tomb was cast aside, so too every obstacle to our full communion will also be removed. This will be a grace of resurrection, of which we can have a foretaste even today." - Francis of Rome to Bartholomew of Constantinople
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