Optimism

We can always be optimistic, due to God’s infinite love for us that abounds in mercy and compassion.

Happy Feast Day, Mama Mary!!!

Defeat our Babel with Your Pentecost (Lauds 11/14/13)

After just 2 days in a Muslim country, many questions regarding faith already formed in my mind.

If Christianity were the true religion, why does God allow great religions to fluorish -- Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism?

If only Christians prayed and fasted as often as Muslims did, maybe they would also be as aware and mindful of the abiding presence of God in their lives.

Religion does not appear to be divorced from authority, contrary to what liberal individuals vehemently assert -- the separation of Church and State. Here, there are no billboard with suggestive images, public display of affection is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, Muslim women are generously covered, or at the least, are required to wear head gear. It is comforting that religiosity pervades society.

Still, all these are already contained in the heart of Christianity -- the supremacy of love. It is taught by all the major religions. How could I have known? With the little of what I know about the other religions from high school Asian history class. Also, if it were otherwise, would these major religions have persisted, i.e., if they did not all tend to God? Is it so that God allowed Babel to form not only in humanity's language, but also in their faith as well?

Then I came to ask what was the difference between my faith and that of other religions.  As I have heard it taught many times before, Christianity is the only religion whose God assumed the form of man, not temporarily, as some of the Greek gods did, but permanently, in order to die to redeem a humanity that was lost.

I love You, my Jesus.

How to Be Humble (Some Tips Inspired by St. Josemaria)

- Reality of a Trash Can beautified and adorned

* remember where you came from, and how low you would sink without God

- Rejoice when humbled by others

* for this is what you, a sinner, deserve

- Mary’s Magnificat

* for all the grace poured out on her, Mary’s song is all about her lowliness and God’s goodness

I Turn to Jesus

I turn to JESUS

And ask Him to Fill the

Emptiness you leave

Behind...

Yet when I consider

It,

I am

Amazed

At how much

Good

GOD has given me

Through you.

Thank you.

Sum of life. Work. Blessings.

Lord Jesus Christ, I may not have a cross like yours that I have to carry up to Mt. Calvary, and there to die young. But I do have my daily crosses. Help me to bear each of them every day with the same spirit that You did Yours – with courage, fortitude, patience and perseverance. May my life be fully identified with the Cross. And at the end of my life, may I be able to speak the same words that You did utter – words of love and of forgiveness, of mission and of abandonment to the Father. Amen.

***

In this world, a man has to work for his bread.

Sa mundong ito, kailangang pagtrabahuhan ng tao ang kanyang kakainin.

****

O Lord, bless me financially. Help me to make good, sound investments. Help me to avoid major financial mistakes. And so I will tithe unto thee 20% of my earnings, for you have blessed me out of your generosity, and from your goodness have allowed me to serve You with a greater portion of me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.