Metanoia

Today marks another day to remember the love of God... a significant opportunity to live life to the fullest. Life is indeed full of colors and surprises... the more you open yourself towards others, the more it produces unique and beautiful colors. Life may seems to be tough and bumpy but never let it hinder you to find God's love and grace.  May the Spirit of God holds, molds and re-creates us, as we journey to Life's most adventurous and fulfilling experience day by day..

 ...such a wonderful experience last August 30 - 31 ,2015. Instead of taking a bus bound to Cagayan de Oro City, we took the opportunity to hitched a ride from a JESUIT Priest ( Fr, DJ) on his travel going to Bukidnun, Philippines to mapped in all their chapels in Mindanao. So, we've visited the different remote chapels with the warmth hospitality of the native people. Their simple smiles and sincerest joy helped me realize and treasure the impact of religious formation brought in their hearts and minds by the Jesuit Missionaries in their respective areas. +AMDG

The world of today is surrounded by different social issues that drag the sanctity of the human life. Most of the countries are now allowing immoral practices such as contraception, euthanasia, death penalty and anti- birth policies. This ideology seems to be practical and in support for the freedom and desire of the people but completely against the will of God. The danger of it is drawn into the eclipse of the sense of God and the importance of the dignity of man. Man is now focus on the things that the society demands forgetting his/her ultimate purpose as a creation of God...called to live a holy life.. In the Philippine context, most of the ordinary citizens are struggling for their day to day needs. Some of these people are engaging to different unlawful jobs such us prostitution, robbery, or even hired as serial killers. If we try to realize what happened to these people, and trace back the root of their situation, then we can identify that poverty, abuses, and selfishness

May we open our eyes to see the Love of God, our hands to share His love to others, and our hearts to love our brothers and sisters, most specially the poor.

Give me Yourself, O my God, give Yourself to me. Behold I love You, and if my love is too weak a thing, grant me to love You more strongly. I cannot measure my love to know how much it falls short of being sufficient, but let my   soul  hasten to Your embrace and never be turned away until it is hidden in the  secret  shelter of Your presence. This only do I know, that it is not  good  for me when You are not with me, when You are only outside me. I want You in my very self. All the plenty in the world which is not my  God  is utter want. Amen. - St. Augustine of Hippo

“I came into the unknown and stayed there unknowing rising beyond all science. I did not know the door but when I found the way, unknowing where I was, I learned enormous things, but what I felt I cannot say, for I remained unknowing, rising beyond all science. It was the perfect realm of holiness and peace. In deepest solitude I found the narrow way: a secret giving such release that I was stunned and stammering, rising beyond all science. I was so far inside, so dazed and far away my senses were released from feelings of my own. My mind had found a surer way: a knowledge of unknowing, rising beyond all science. And he who does arrive collapses as in sleep, for all he knew before now seems a lowly thing, and so his knowledge grows so deep that he remains unknowing, rising beyond all science. The higher he ascends the darker is the wood; it is the shadowy cloud that clarified the night, and so the one who understood remains always unknowing, rising beyond all science. This knowledge

Blessed are the leaders who have not sought the high places, but who have been drafted into service because of their ability and willingness to serve. Blessed are the leaders who know where they are going, why they are going, and how to get there. Blessed are the leaders who know no discouragement, who present no alibi. Blessed are the leaders who know how to lead without being dictatorial; true leaders are humble. Blessed are the leaders who seek the best for those they serve. Blessed are the leaders who develop new leaders. Blessed are the leaders who march with the group, interpreting correctly the signs on the pathway that leads to success. Blessed are the leaders who have their head in the clouds but their feet on the ground. Blessed are the leaders who consider leadership an opportunity for service. - Anonymous

Lord Jesus Christ, our hope of glory, You are the fulfillment of the Father’s  plan to save all humanity. You are the mystery hidden from the ages and  from generations past now manifested to us. You abide in your Church in  the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist.  As we celebrate the Holy Eucharist and receive your Body and Blood, grant us the awareness that your presence in us urges us to continue your saving mission in the world. Send us your Holy Spirit,  that he may lead us to walk humbly with the poor and the marginalized, in the  company of Mary, your most holy mother and ours.  O Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, to you be all honor and glory and praise in the unity of the Father and the Holy Spirit. One God, forever and ever.  Amen.

In our day to day experience, we sometimes have the difficulty of facing life’s challenges because of the unexpected situations that bring pain and tribulations to us. We tend to surrender in overcoming the hurdles of life and be likely to lose hope. But God, through the people He has placed in our life, has provided for us the kind of help that we need to survive and continue living in accordance with His will. God uses people to reveal Himself and to manifest His intention of saving us from any bondage or form of slavery. We can only experience this unusual event the moment we intimately connect ourselves with Him. The intention of God is to re-create and transform us according to His salvific plans. This is what the scriptural message from the letter of Paul to the Colossians would emphasize, “Christ is the source of all that has life, He served as the fullness of all creation, and the concrete revelation of God’s redeeming grace to humanity”. He is the head and we are all his ac

I got up early one morning, And rushed right into the day; I had so much to accomplish, I didn’t have Time to pray. Troubles just tumbled about me, And heavier came each task. "Why doesn’t God help me?" I wondered. He answered, "You didn’t ask." I tried to come into God’s presence; I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, "Why, child, you didn’t knock." I wanted to see joy and beauty, But the day toiled on gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn’t show me. He said, "You didn’t seek." by Anonymous

When we gather around the table and eat from the same loaf and drink from the same cup, we are most vulnerable to one another. We cannot have a meal together in peace with guns hanging over our shoulders and pistols attached to our belts. When we break bread together we leave our arms - whether they are physical or mental - at the door and enter into a place of mutual vulnerability and trust. The beauty of the Eucharist is precisely that it is the place where a vulnerable God invites vulnerable people to come together in a peaceful meal. When we break bread and give it to each other, fear vanishes and God becomes very close.  ~Henri Nouwen

Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and guide me in your way of life, truth, and goodness. Free me from ignorance of your truth, and from deception and moral blindness caused by sinful pride and rebellion. May I love you with all of my mind, strength, and will and seek to please you in all things..

A young man working in the army was constantly humiliated because he believed in God. One day the captain wanted to humiliate him before the troops. He called the young man and said: – Young man come here, take the key and go and park the Jeep in front. the young man replied: – I cannot drive! The captain said: – Well then ask for assistance of your God! Show us that He exist! The young man takes the key and walked to the vehicle and begins to pray…… …He parks the jeep at the  place PERFECTLY well as the captain wanted. The young man came out of the jeep and saw them all crying. They all said together: – We want to serve your God! The young soldier was astonished, and asked what was going on? The CAPTAIN crying opened the hood of the jeep by showing the young man that the car had no engine. Then the boy said: See? This is the God I serve, THE GOD OF IMPOSSIBLE, the God who gives life to what does not exist. You may think there are things still impossible BUT WITH GOD EVERYTHING IS POS

In the book of Fr. William Malley, SJ, the term Alethialogy is derived from two Greek words: Aletheia (truth) and logia (study of) which means in simpler terms as the study of truth. In man’s journey towards seeking the truth, he must use his giftedness such as the rationality in order to unveil the truth that he is looking for. But using his rationality can never be enough, man must be able to transcend his level of reasoning into the level of genuine truth – the truth of all the truths. Then, how can man reach to the truth of all the truths? At this point, man is no longer challenge in finding the answer into the physical realms but he needs to go beyond the material world by reaching the uncreated world. This is the world in which man can only attain through spiritualization. Man must be able to communicate to his ultimate maker – the Creator of heavens and of earth. This must be God as what St Thomas Aquinas would try to elaborate on his book: Proofs of God’s Existence. In the b

Man is created full of giftedness and surprises. He is endowed of rational capacity that helps him to find his ultimate quest/purpose of existence. Part of this quest is to know his importance and to go deeper in the level of mystery on how he came into being and life. Man’s giftedness draw him to journey of finding the truths from all the things around him which are evident and sensible. Man’s prior truth is that whatever can be seen, touched, felt, heard, and smelled considered as his basis of qualifying it as true and genuine. But to the extent of digging deeper to its origin and creator especially in the side of spiritual.  Man find it hard to reconcile the connection and even the relationship of the visible world to the invisible one. Man need some investigation in order to satisfy his ultimate quest of unlocking the truth. According to Fr. William Malley, SJ. , he presented the most helpful book about the Four Zones of Truth and Vitality. For him the first two zones speaks

One of the joys and challenges of serving as spiritual director at a Jesuit retreat house is guiding others through spiritual discernment, a process that leads to God-centered decision-making using the mind and, especially, the heart. In the almost ten years that I have had the honor of walking this journey with directees, the constant need to seek purification of my own heart has become glaringly clear to me. A few years ago, I spent the entire six weeks of Lent praying daily with these poignant words from Psalm 51, "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me."  St. Ignatius encouraged repetition in prayer and I heeded his advice; I allowed myself to go deeper into this humble and sincere plea. I pondered my own choices, praying that my heart be open and receptive to the movement of God's spirit within me. I prayed that my own discernment, and that of those I was entrusted to guide, would lead us closer to the very heart of Jesus.  One

Recently, I have attended the Peace Forum here in Davao City organized by the BISHOP-ULAMA Conference in Mindanao (Christian-Muslim Ecumenical Dialogue) sponsored by the Ignatian Institute of Religious Education, Foundation. During the talk, it was brought into discussion the conflict in the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao between the Pseudo Muslim (as I described this group) and the government which caused division and war in the Western areas of the Island. As of now, almost thousands of people being displaced in their homes just to bring them out of the problem. The most affected are those innocent civilians who don't deserve in all of these miseries. It led me to realize, that the call to go beyond the peripheries must be executed not only by the Church leaders but also with the whole congregation - the people of God. We must extend ourselves to serve the least of our brothers and sisters who have suffered a lot of today's reality. This situation in Mindanao can be

My encounter with God was quite and serene and full of love... I imagined myself with God at the peak of the mountain. It was only me and God. I saw God staying with me.. His presence was ever dominant.. I felt so secure.. He was there.. I felt our intimate connection with God. I tried to direct my attention to God. I saw His brilliant face.. I saw the illumined light. The moment I tried to look at God, I saw a loving face.. A shimmering eyes.. seeing me with fond and happiness. His eyes was awe-inspiring.. Every time I looked at His eyes, I was attracted to look intently again. I asked God to let me see myself - He did. I asked Him to allow me to see myself with love.. He did it. I was amazed in God's love and favor to me.. It was constant..ever faithful.. it secures me.. There was a moment that I intentionally looked myself differently but God was always looking at me so lovingly...reminding me.. " Son, I LOVE YOU... YOU ARE MINE".. see it clearly.. see yourself

St. Ignatius of Loyola is best known as the person who founded the Jesuits and whose spiritual insights gave birth to  Ignatian spirituality  and the  Spiritual Exercises . A lesser-known fact is that the cannonball wound he received in battle is actually what led to his conversion experience. Without this conversion, there would be no Jesuits, no Ignatian spirituality. Listed below are seven more fun facts about St. Ignatius of Loyola that you're unlikely to hear in general conversation about this 16th-century saint: He once allowed the donkey on which he was riding to determine whether he should follow and murder someone he thought had insulted the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Fortunately, the donkey chose the path that led away from the insulter.) He thought that his leg had been set poorly after the cannonball incident and that, as a result, he wouldn't look good in his courtier's tights. So he had a doctor rebreak his leg and start over! He

BIBLICAL PASSAGE : Luke 15: 1-3,11-32 Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them Jesus addressed this parable. “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have mor

Matthew 21: 33-43, 45-46 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:   “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched d