Palms Receiving Jesus Christ

As an Acolyte, while giving communion this afternoon, I've noticed the different palms receiving Jesus. They were different palms-- with different colors... with different textures... with different past and with different lives.

All palms were empty... i thought, it was a moment of metanoia- a change of heart where each of them leaves the baggage of the past... the pains, the suffering, the hatred... where everybody becomes equal by being brothers and sisters to one another; and sons and daughters of God, the Father, through our 'brother' Jesus Christ.

They were open palms... readily receiving Jesus in every response of their "AMEN." Jesus, who again and again always gives Himself to us... Jesus, who fill us with His Holy presence. Jesus, who unites us with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

All were receiving Jesus... all were leaving themselves behind... all were embracing Jesus... and all were embraced by Jesus.

Our empty palms with different hearts, with different past and with different lives... cradled the always self-giving Jesus who filled our life's emptiness. Jesus, whose palms were nailed on the cross, touched our palms with His life and with His all. denmar

Contentment

life has no formula...
we can fail or succeed far beyond our expectations
but, there's always some rules...
and they are LIMITATION and CONTENTMENT. den mar

Sickness

When I was still serving at Hospicio de San Jose, Manila-- sick and old members of the hospice usually talks to me. From their sick bed, they would hold my hand and at their old age they would make an effort to reach for my ear. They usually whisper to me, "brother, please pray for me...hirap na hirap na po ako..." and tears would fall shortly from their eyes. Br. Phoelix, my fellow seminarian would start to rub their back. He would comfort them with his warm and big hug, and seeing how they suffer, we, most of the time, burst also into tears. That was a moment of sympathy where we felt the presence of God reaching our hearts to love Jesus in everyone who are sick, aging and suffering. They usually cannot comprehend the meaning of their sufferings so I usually tell them that their loneliness and pains are the mere sacrifice that they can offer to God. But it's not easy to suffer. It's not easy to bear the unceasing pains. I always tell them, "Just hold on...offer your sufferings to Jesus Christ."
As I reflected, with their agonies, they, who are sick and suffering, also shares the pains of Jesus Christ which He bears on the cross. With their burdens, they become Jesus Christ present in our midst. Through them, who are weak and dying, I encountered Jesus Christ...the very reason of my servanthood... the very reason of my faith and my hope. denmar

Friendship

FRIENDSHIP
when we were young
you believed in me when i told you that 'i want to learn to fly'
since i can't, no matter how i tried, you still gave me wings and flap them with your hands
we were running the whole day... i've been jumping and you were following
until finally, i became so tired, i cried and i gave-up... you were there, you never leave me alone and you just hugged me until i stop.
now that i'm a grown up man... i know exactly that i did fly... you are my 'wings' that pushed me high. you are my 'wings' who lifted me up. den mar

The Power of Love

i cannot deny the power of LOVE
my mother got pregnant out of love
i was born out of love
i grew up because of my family's love
so, i don't wonder why I always follow Jesus
because JESUS CHRIST is LOVE...

even, maybe, in the hour of my death
i would not be afraid to embrace my end
because I know, Jesus is already there
waiting for me, a BELOVED by His LOVE. den mar

Hurt

when a person was hurt by a Brother, a Sister or a Priest... the effect is tremendous as if the person was offended by the entire Church. the person usually leaves the Church and become homeless...
no matter who was right or who was wrong... the Church peoples need to be humble to reach for those who went astray... even to say 'sorry' when needed. by asking forgiveness, we become credible models of faith to this wounded world. den mar

On The Death of a Young Scout

For God, to answer the boy's ever sincerest prayer, God would tap on His every creation, he would even utilize an entire organization like Scouting, in this case, just to make the boy smile for a day.

To confront this painful reality, as our organization mourns for the death of our very young brother Scout in an accident within one of our Scouting activities, I know that, somehow, we are now shaken by peoples who criticize us... but, knowing how his parents understand the situation, I am so consoled that they understood fully the will of God.

For God, what is more important for Him is to make the last day of this boy to be memorable. He had already his joyful moments with his parents so God allowed him to enjoy his last precious time with his friends in Scouting. 

In our eyes, it was a very, very tragic and painful event. Most of us stopped and some were even thinking of quitting. But God sees the event differently... he sees love and joy even at the last breath of this child.

It is a state of grace that happens only between the child and our God. It could be a homecoming, a grand welcome for the boy to the Kingdom of God.

If we see using the eyes of God, we would not be judgmental. Prudence would always be our measure. We would pause for a while but we will not totally stop. We will be tired, but we will never give-up. Like Jesus Christ, Himself, we would always love children. If we hear again our dear founder, Baden-Powell, we would again and again relive the joys of our childhood. For these reasons, as Scouters and Scouts, we will never cease to share the joys of our childhood to our young generations of Scouts because we know, God is always with us... in times of joys and even in times of our sorrows.

We are brothers to one another, together we will walk hand-in-hand through turmoils like this that challenge our vocation as Scouters and Scouts in our time and in our 'situationess.'

We would later understand that Scouting, as always, is a way of life... it is a life-long process of learning and reinventing ourselves. From our short-comings we would learn great values in life where humility becomes the fruit of all our Scout Oath and Laws. And this humility gives us the patience to understand all the things that we cannot comprehend as of the moment... where we cannot speak to reason out, nor to justify what we need to express of; but only to grieve our pains and longings in great silence as we contemplate the chaos where we are in. 

This time, I encourage you to cry, let us pause and cry for a moment... tears in our eyes would not lessen our boyhood or manhood in any ways, but this would make us more human-- more gentle... more compassionate...more loving and always moved by love. When we let our hearts speak and when we let our souls hear... like the boy who died and his parents who have already accepted the incidence, only through forgiveness, we can start to let go of the painful past and to let God to do His will on us.

Tomorrow will be another day. But on that day, we will bring with us everything that has transpired today... for our past and our tradition are always part of our identity as a person and as a Scout. These make us relevant... our dynamism as we response to the need of our time is always rooted from our humble beginnings.

When we think of Scouting, it's always the joys and happiness. We find joys by appreciating simple things. We become happy because our hearts are contented with these simple things.
Those who have gone before us, like this happy and joyful boy, will not fade but will always be remembered in our songs and in our prayers. The fire of Scouting will be shortly quenched, but again, this will ablaze within our hearts because of our sincere desire to serve and to share our service to the rest of humanity.

A Scout is reverent. GOD IS WITH US. denmar

Gift of Self

the greatest gift that we can offer to others is the gift of ourselves
it is the most painful gift to give because it is what we all have. den mar

Mission

in mission, we need to find meaning to what we are doing
so that we would not be easily discouraged
by the so many challenges that lies ahead of us...
as your brother in mission,
i am always praying, every time you give yourself to the wounded humanity, that you will find God where ever He would lead you. den mar

Servanthood

When we serve the Lord, we become nearer to Him
We become a gift to Him every time we give ourselves. den mar

Mt 13:24-30

The reading for today is a very practical one. Maybe in our time, we cannot easily understand this for the reason that only few among us understand how to do gardening. Based on my experience from my elementary gardening, every time I weed our backyard plants, I observed that the pechay started to wilt, they don't die but they grow thin because every time I pull the grass around it, the roots of the pechay were also damaged. I now understand the importance of preparing a good soil which is free of weeds and of spraying it with anti-weed solution. This is the same with legumes like 'mani' or peanuts, that it is better to let the grass grow together with it so as not to destroy the growing peanut underneath.

The reading is about the selection of who would qualify to the kingdom of God. Here, in our world, God prepared everything good for us but in an instant the devil also spread influences that might harm us. Temptations are always around us, it is always testing our faith. The devil also uses person to tempt us or to deplete our patience.

But God is always a loving God, he does not only love those who are good. But he always give chances also to those who are lost. God is not sacrificing the good people to be devoured by the inhumanity of some of our evil-hearted fellows. But, as I reflect, God is letting the good people to help those who are lost to be converted.

It is true that hatred could not be quenched by hatred. But only love could pacify such pains that are usually inflicted to us by others.

If we do not trust God, we could see 'chaos' within this scenario. We could see pandemonium. We could see inhumanity and injustice and total evilness. But if we trust God, we could see a chance to practice our virtuous life in our midst where our personhood is stretched far beyond our limitations. This is our capacity to transcend and to go beyond ourselves... to give everything for others' cause and to leave everything behind to those who grabbed us our happinness in life. Beyond injustices, we could resort to love... and this love would teach us to forgive and to love even more.

This is a win-win solution for God. The weeds are given a chance to change. The goods are given a chance to help convert others. The process could be painful but it is a process of loving and the end is being loved.

At the end, God is the one who will judge us all. I always trust Him. I see everything that happens in my life as daily graces coming from God. Trials are opportunities for me to grow. Challenges make me stronger as a person. In all my hurts and shortcomings, when I think that I am always with God, they would never be that so much painful because God is sharing my pains as I share to Him also my life joys and happiness. More, with these trials and challenges, with these shortcomings and my my weaknesses, I call on more to God's name... I cling more on to God's hands... and I become open more to the God I have known. As I embrace my brokenness, I also become compassionate and tenderly loving.

As I reflect, I now see that in every chaos there is always order. In every brokenness, there is always hope. Love is the most powerful thing that could not be taken away from me because I know I am beloved by God. And to those who defiles me, I could always say that " Who am I not to love you. Who am I not to forgive you. I am also forgiven, I am also loved... I cannot say that you are not beloved by God because of my experience of God... where despite of my fallen humanity, I feel that I am also beloved by our very loving God." God loves us... God loves us-- these are the only few words that I could think of that matters to me in times of many tribulations. This is my hope. This is how God has revealed Himself to me...LOVE. den mar

Coincidence

some 20 years ago, during the dawn of the age of desktop computers, those who knew me laughed at me because they could not believe me saying that one day soon, people will own a 'TABLET.' they were angered and even called that idea, 'insane.' now they are asking me, how did i knew that. I told them, 'you know, ever since, peoples always wanted to imitate God.' another 20 years from now, i would not be surprised if one day we would be creating something out of our words... but i hope, it would not be of destruction for us all. Pride is something that moves us to create and most of the time... to destroy. denmar

Mt 10:7-15

All of us are called into mission. When Jesus sends us, we are not going alone but we always go with His Spirit. It is a matter of saying that 'we should trust in the Lord.' We would realize that even before we go to the mission area, everything was already prepared for us. He had already touched the hearts of all those who would help us to do our mission. Through these generous peoples, God make possible for us to do our tasks.

God told us to heal the sick and to bring peace to every home we live in. In my vocation, I may not be a physical doctor. But I can say that I am following a life of healing woundedness where i could facilitate forgiveness to bring peace to each and everyone. Peace is the presence of the Jesus Christ in our hearts. When there is Jesus Christ, there is always healing because there is forgiveness and there is always love.

Jesus challenges us to become moderate in our lifestyle. He allowed us, as workers in His vineyard, to accept gifts from the people for the laborer deserves his keep. Moreover, we are encouraged to be generous givers since everything we are giving came from God.

Jesus also warns us. Our journey would not always be a beautiful one. Mostly, there will be persecutions and there will always be trials. We should be prepared but we should not take any revenge for ourselves for God will do the rest of the fight for us.

I can say that today's reading is a good contract between us and God. Between God and myself, I can say that TRUST is all I need to follow His call.

God will provide, I will not be afraid. den mar

Love

i cannot deny the power of LOVE
my mother got pregnant out of love
i was born out of love
i grew up because of my family's love
so, i don't wonder why I always follow Jesus
because JESUS CHRIST is LOVE...

even, maybe, in the hour of my death
i would not be afraid to embrace my end
because I know, Jesus is already there
waiting for me, a BELOVED by His LOVE. den mar

Friendship

when we were young
you believed in me when i told you that 'i want to learn to fly'
since i can't, no matter how i tried, you still gave me wings and flap them with your hands
we were running the whole day... i've been jumping and you were following
until finally, i became so tired, i cried and i gave-up... you were there, you never leave me alone and you just hugged me until i stop.
now that i'm a grown up man... i know exactly that i did fly... you are my 'wings' that pushed me high. you are my wings who lifted me up. den mar