Metanoia

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...

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 sp...

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 ove...

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...