Sunday, September 28, 2014

Dakilang Mangingibig



Paano ko matatalikdan ang isang pagmamahal?
Na sumibol mula sa aking kawalang malay
Kung saan nagkaroon ng kaganapan ang pag-big
Na hinugot mula sa sinapupunan ng pag-iisang dibdib

Ang pagmamahal na ito ay bunga ng pagpapakasakit
Nang isang pinakatatangi na sa akin lamang ay umibig
Sa kabila ng paulit-ulit kong mga pagkakamali
At napakaraming beses na pagsugat sa pag-aalay ng kanyang sarili

Paano ko makakalimutan ang gaya n'yang dakilang mangingibig?
Na kahit hindi niya kaylan man nabanaag ang pag-asa sa akin
Ay pinili pa rin niya akong yakapin at pikit-matang tanggapin
Sa kabila ng mga kataksilan ko ay nagagawa pa rin niya akong patawarin

Ito ang tumunaw sa panlalamig ng aking puso...
Na dumurog ng ganap sa ganid na pagkatao ko
Ang ibigin pala ang pinakamagandang nangyari sa akin
Dahil sa busilak n'yang pag-ibig... naging kapwa rin niya ako na mangingibig

Tanging sa piling niya matitiwasay ang aking pusong nahihilahil
Kapag kayakap ko siya hindi na ako matitigatig ng anumang pagsubok na sisilaw sa akin
Maaaring isang araw... sa isang iglap ay madapa at mapasadlak akong muli
Subalit alam ko na may dakilang mangingibig na muling hahango sa akin

Wagas na pagmamahal ang bumago sa aking puso
Na daluyan ng pag-ibig, pagpapatawad at pagsuko
Tanging pagmamahal lamang ang nagpatahan sa aking pagkabigo
Nang buuing muli ng pagmamahal ang nagugulumihan kong pagkatao. denmar

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Alvin Manaois

Life is not black and white. It is a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors, textures, shades, and distinctions… it is a canvasof details, tones, differences and diversities.

Just like also the call of God— many forms, many ways, mostly unexpected; but always going towards the same direction… towards the greatest artist of all who is God. God who is the light of the world who enables us to see and understand His marvelous canvass of life.

Sometime in April, 2008 a total stranger asked me what time the last train would leave the LRT station somewhere in Manila. Without any hesitation, I assisted and generously gave him the information he needed. Me, I just came from the Church and I asked God to give me a sign for what I am longing for. I believe there was a divine intervention because he introduced himself as a seminarian... a Religious SSS-Brother. It rung a bell! I was praying for a deeper meaning in life, but I didn’t expect more than this. As we part ways we exchanged celfon numbers and he referred me right away to Fr. Randy, who was the vocation director then. From then on until the time I entered the SSS-congregation, the ray of light of God always gives meaning to my life. His wisdom, little by little, was revealed to me as I discover my vocation which is a gift of God to me.

Christ is the light of the world, as whoever comes to see His light will have the light of faith. I have come to see light upon gazing on Him at the Crucifix – as Christ was revealed as the Son of Man and truly the Son of God; He suffered for us because of God the Father’s tremendous desire to redeem us from our sins… a sacrifice born out love.

As a seminarian, my prayer-life sustains me to persevere. My prayer-life connects me to God who constantly inspires me to give myself generously in His heavenly mission here on earth. Doing my ministry in my apostolate area becomes an invitation for me from God to love as He does.

The Holy Eucharist is a witness to the truth and love which Christ himself teaches us from God, the Father. The Holy Eucharist is an inexhaustible expression of God’s love which fills me with His divine presence. His divine presence is a spark of hope where I always cling-on to in times of sorrow… His divine presence is a ray of light that sheds meaning to all chaos and adversities that wounds and breaks me most of the time. The Eucharist, as the source and summit of the Church’s life and my life, there, I always draw my inspiration to do my mission with joy in my heart.

To become a Religious-Priest someday is to become a faithful lover of the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ Himself who is really present in the form of theBread that is broken and shared. Like Him, in doing mission, I will also be broken and be shared to others.





Mission to Africa



Despite of the great distance of Uganda and the danger of Ebola Virus that now plagues the Northern part of Africa, Br. Aldi Bureros, SSS remain courageous in answering God’s call to serve our Ugandan brothers and sisters in Central Africa.

Br. Aldi left for Uganda last June.  As a Scholastic in his Pastoral Year, he will be staying in Uganda for the next ten months. As of now, he is the Uganda community treasurer aside from helping the Parish which the SSS-Philippine Province administers in Uganda.

“Mission is always there in our midst. It is opening our heart to find God where ever we are. Sometimes, we try to avoid this mission because it is always challenging on our part since there are so many things that we need to surrender just to make ourselves totally available for the Lord.

I think, to be open for the invitation of the Lord is the key to follow Him. Discipleship means to trust fully in the providence of the Lord and to serve Him with Christian JOY despite of our personal shortcomings to fulfill this great task from God.

Let us always remember that MISSION is the work of God. With this, I see myself as a humble co-worker in God’s vineyard. It is not only me or the other missionaries who are called; but even you, you are also called by God. Your mission starts at your very own doorsteps.”


FROM AFAR... Inspired by SSS-Mission. Br. Israel Cruz, SSS



I was still in college when I first started to became fascinated by Sta. Cruz Church. My long break in between classes enabled me to explore the nearby environs surrounding Far Eastern University (the University where I graduated) until I reached the busy area of Sta. Cruz. As I look around, my attention was caught by this old Spanish-built church. I was captivated by its exquisite appeal. At that moment, I felt differently as I headed for the main door. Inside, I instantly appreciated the inviting silence and the solemnity of the sanctuary moving me to pray to the Blessed Sacrament exposed.

My visits to Sta. Cruz Church became more frequent. I usually sat silently at the back pews. From afar, I’ve observed how the SSS-religious practice the liturgy at Sta. Cruz Church. From that distance, I was so mystified with the way they pray and chant the psalms. Never did I know that I’ll be a part of their evening prayer until I was assigned there in a mission that God has given me.

It was May 4, 2012 when I become a member of the Sta. Cruz community as a seminarian-on-pastoral-exposure. The fascinating, bewildering, and mystifying experience that I treasured about Sta. Cruz Church way back my college days became clearer and fully apprehended.

For a year, I was given a chance to experience the kind of life that I will embrace in the future as a religious-Sacramentino . My everyday experiences in my pastoral exposure have shaped my spirituality and made me understand not only my limitations, but also, I was given a chance to bring out the best of my potentials through the assignments entrusted to me by the Superior and the Parish Priest. As I fulfill my ministry, there were times when I feel so overjoyed, as I heard words of compliments from the parishioners, inspiring me to serve more with all the innate talents that God has bestowed on me.

I was so blessed to be assigned in this community because the religious members treated me as a mature religious. They gave me a chance to journey and to grow with them; they gave me a voice to express the love of God; they gave me eyes to see the beauty of vocation; and they gave me an ear to listen attentively to the voice of God.
My pastoral exposure gave me a glimpse of the life that I am about to fully-embrace in the future-- a life of sacrifice and devotion… a life of completely offering myself to God and a life of dedicated service for others. With these beautiful reasons, my pastoral exposure in Sta. Cruz community will be treasured forever in my heart.



Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Second Life

As Christians, we believe that there is life beyond death. We believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting which is in our Apostle’s Creed. The scripture tells us that ‘death is the separation of the body and soul’ [1]  where the soul, unlike the body that is corrupted, remains immortal.[2]

A decade ago, before my religious formation, I usually reflected on man’s history (my history) without understanding our divine origin. Somehow, I even live my life without Jesus Christ in the picture. My secularized understanding has tempted me to settle for less even to the point of accepting my vicious cycle in life as my final end, “eto na ako… kasi tao lang…” Like others, I searched for life’s meaning with unending joy but series of broken relationships in terms of love and the idea of death have frustrated me to change… “bakit pa kailangang mag-effort, e masasayang lang din naman.” I became so ‘stoic’… so cold as a person and eventually ‘fatalistic…’ because life for me became meaningless then.

Perhaps, within those years, being a Scouter was the only thin line that connected me with God. I do not usually pray but I enjoyed the company of my fellow Scouts every time we do our yearly mission of distributing medicines from our friends to the aborigines called Dumagat dwelling in the deep forest covered mountainous range of Sierra Madre. Delivering these boxes of goods and medicines was a tedious task—with back breaking heavy loads to carry on our shoulders and a very long journey that would took days just to reach them by hiking. I still remember, there was a time when the heavy rain made our trekking going back even harder. When we needed to cross a forge-- me, being the last one to cut through… I was suddenly engulfed by a sudden rushing of floodwater. The current was so strong that I was dragged and trapped into a whirlpool… it was like a washing machine experience… so cold, so dark and nowhere to climb on. I don’t hear anymore their voice; in no time, I felt that I was out of breath. The whirling water kept on devouring me into its bosom.  Being fatalistic, I told myself “this is it!” I thought I was strong but deep within me was a child who was too afraid, “saan kaya pupulutin ang kaluluwa kong ‘happy go lucky’ at kanino ako, after this, pupunta?” It’s getting darker and colder. I knew, death for me was so near and too inevitable. I just closed my eyes and all of my good memories flashed inside my mind. I needed to gasp for air… I told God, “not now... I’m not yet prepared…" . 'Be Prepared' is our Scouting motto... but up to that time, I was not. When I opened my eyes there was a ray of light… beaming over a rock formation.  I tried to kick over that and escaped that abyss. The last thing I remembered was, they were already dragging me ashore. Exhausted, gasping for air as I was vomiting water… I thanked God… they revived me.

From then on, I started to ask God why did He let me to live. Was there any purpose... even for a wretched person like me? Was there any reason for everything that is happening: to death, to suffering, to the chaos that were all around me? If there is, how should I see them, how should I look now into my future?  

For many days, I was in deep silence. My only question was “WHY?” The silence has led me into a moment of solitude. I just let God to talk to me… and I realized that I was starting to look for my God, for Jesus Christ. I was longing for a true God who would suffice all of my hunger and thirst. I began to look unto myself… I realized that I contented myself with the crumbs through the things that I enjoyed; and have forsaken the greatest person of all who is God... the pearl of great price.

Lumen Fidei captured perfectly what I have experienced:

…[U]ltimately the future remains shadowy and fraught with fear of the unknown. As a result, humanity renounced the search for a great light, Truth itself, in order to be content with smaller lights which illumine the fleeting moment yet prove incapable of showing the way. Yet in the absence of light everything becomes confused; it is impossible to tell good from evil, or the road to our destination from other roads which take us in endless circles, going nowhere.”[3]

My personal and spiritual change started to took shape when I started to go back again in the Church. Christopher West was right, “the path to real happiness is to orient my desire according to its design that I may reach my destiny.”


(...to be continued)



[1] Cf. 1 John 4:2-3.
[2] On the statement that the ‘soul is immortal’- Cf. St. Augustine, “The City of God (Book XIII, Chapter 2),”in Great Books of the Western World: Book 18: Augustine, edited by Robert Maynard Hutchins (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britanica, 1987), p. 360.
[3] Lumen Fidei, no. 3.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

In Times of Danger

Dear fellow Scouts and Scouters,
Once again, our society is in a crucial situation. Flooding is everywhere and the volume of the rain water due to the typhoon Mario is expected to rise further. I am praying that those among us who have a warm and safe place would open their doors to their neighbors in need and even to strangers. i am praying that we would be more generous to all people in need in emergency situation like this. A Scout is HELPFUL! Always be safe. God bless. den mar

Evening Prayer

May our Lord God always bless and protect us
Through this night...
...may He always watch over us while we are asleep
May He grant us peace as we rest in His loving arms
So that tomorrow we will see everything anew
Like a springtime, so full of hope
And like God Himself, so full of love. den mar

Baba Yetu (Our Father in Swahili)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6qi393Z7L8

Donating Blood

Dear fellow-Boy Scouts, Rover Scouts and Scouters,

Panahon na naman po ngayon ng dengue. Maraming nangangailangan na naman ng dugo. As Scouts, we keep ourselves mentally awake and morally straight and of course we really keep ourselves PHYSICALLY STRONG . Dahil ang mga Scouts ay HELPFUL, sana i-extend natin ang ating pagtulong sa ating kapwa sa pamamagitan ng regular na PAGDO-DONATE NG DUGO kada anim na buwan.

Isa ako sa naniniwala na ang dugo natin ang isa sa mga pinaka-HEALTHY dahil tayo ay palaging active at palaging masaya.

Who can donate blood?
You can donate blood if you…
- Are in good health
- Are between 16 to 65 years old (16 and 17 years old need parents consent);
- Weigh at least 110 pounds;
- Have a blood pressure between: Systolic: 90-160 mmHg, Diastolic: 60-100 mmHg; and
- Pass the physical and health history assessments.

Kung regular tayong makakapag-donate ng dugo, marami tayong maisasalbang buhay ngayon at sa hinaharap! den mar

http://www.redcross.org.ph/get-involved/give-blood/how-to-donate

Pagpapatawad

Tunawin Mo, Panginoon, ang galit
Na naghuhumiyaw sa lumuluha kong puso
Sa halip, gawin mo itong pag-ibig
Na bumubukal mula sa Iyo
Na magpapaliyab muli ng pag-ibig ko. denmar

Pagkamulat

dumarating din pala ang panahon
na ang taong hindi ko kayang mahalin
ay natutunan ko na ring mahalin
hindi dahil sa nagiging bulag ako
kundi dahil nakakakita na ang puso ko. den mar

Pagmamahal

kapag tayo ay nagmamahal,
kailangan din na maging kontento tayo sa minamahal natin.

tandaan nating lagi...
magkaiba ang mga statement na:
"i love you because i need you"
sa statement na:
"i need you because i love you."

'nangyayari ang hiwalayan at iwanan
kapag hindi na tayo 'kontento'
sa minamahal natin.' den mar

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Paglaya


Lumulubog na naman ang araw
Muli na namang nilalamon ng dilim ang sanlibutan
Unti-unti ko na namang nararamdaman ang lamig
At kalungkutan ng pangungulila dahil sa iyong pag-alis

Mag-isa na namang hihimlay sa katahimikan
Iisipin ng paulit-ulit ang naglahong ligaya
Mapapaluha kapag nasaling ang pusong nananabik...
...Ipagdadasal na lumayang ganap ang aking sarili.

den mar



Sunday, September 7, 2014

Kasal

walang nagmamahal na hindi nasasaktan.
kung lagi ka lang naka-focus sa 'sakit na nararamdaman mo'
hindi mo magagawang magmahal ng totoo kasi wala namang pagmamahalan na walang isinasakripisyo.

kung ngayon pa lang ay super seloso or super selosa ka
mabuti pang huwag ka munang pumasok sa relasyon
kasi ang sobrang selos ay nakakamamatay
dahil pumapatay ito ng tiwala at nang relasyon

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Ikaw


Ang pinakamagandang nangyari sa akin
Ay noong makita Mo ako sa gitna ng aking kadiliman
At nang mayakap Mo ako sa gitna ng aking pangungulila
Naramdaman kong ka'ylan man ay hindi na ko mag-iisa. denmar

Panalangin para sa Pagtitimpi


Panginoon,
Parang sasabog na ako
Sa pagkakataong ito
Ang biyaya mong pasensya
Ay tila naubos na

Sagad na sagad na ako
Hindi ko na kayang magtimpi
Dahil dinudusta na ang pagkatao ko
Na nag-uugat lamang sa maling hinala
Na wala naman akong ganap na kinalaman

Nawa, Panginoon,
Kung pahihintulutan Mo po sana
Na baguhin mong ganap ang puso namin
Dahil wala naman akong matatakbuhan
Kundi Ikaw lang at wala nang iba

Bigyan Mo po nawa ako ng pag-asa
Na sa sakabila ng kadilimang ito
Habang pinapasan ko ang Krus Mo
Na makita ko sana ang liwanag Mo
Na ikatitiwasay ng napapagod kong puso

Tunawin Mo, Panginoon, ang galit
Na naghuhumiyaw sa lumuluha kong puso
Sa halip, gawin mo itong pag-ibig
Na bumubukal mula sa Iyo
Na magpapaliyab muli ng pag-ibig ko. Amen.

denmar

Monday, September 1, 2014

Metanoia


Panginoon,
Baguhin mo po ako
Upang ng sa gayon
Maibigay ko sa iyo ng buo ang aking buhay at puso

Nabatid ko na ngayon
Na madali akong maakit ng mundo
Dahil ang masamang pagkahumaling ay natural sa akin
Hindi ko po kayang baguhin ito
Kung kaya Kayo na po lubusang bumago

Samahan Ninyo po lagi ako kung saan man ako mapadpad
Punuin po ng Inyong Presensya ang puso kong nangungulila
Kung sakaling abutin po ako ngayon ng dilim ng kamatayan
Nawa'y kalugdan po Ninyo ang lahat ng mga pagpupunyagi ko
Kahit kalimitan ay bigo subalit lahat ng ito ay para sa Iyo. denmar