Here’s a chronicle of the yin-yangs that happened this month: the good and the not-so; the healthy and the so-so; the spiritual and the physical. Nevertheless, they are reasons to be thankful.
1. The Word.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Mat 13:44
The words of Fr. Moises Ciego of Mary Mother of Hope Chapel (Landmark, Makati) in his homily struck gold in my bones. He spoke about the conversion story of his friend who is a driven corporate lady and couldn’t care less about her spirituality. One day while driving with the radio playing a song, it hit her. She pulled up on the highway and cried herself to salvation. That one song made her find her treasure, leave corporate world and serve God.
One. Song.
Then it hit me, too. Has there been a song that was played for me that I failed to hear or listen to? Or an event or a person or an article or anything that occupies space and has weight that heaven sent me but that I missed?
Will I be given another chance? What If I miss again?
Play it again, Lord. I’ll try harder.
2. Breakfast in Tagaytay.
Why not? Must take the new ride for a long spin anyway. And we were all hungry anyway. Once in a while, going for a long drive to a destination where no client is waiting is what this old skeleton needs for a restoration. Sure we had unhealthy sausage-and-cheese platter and salmon eggs benedict but who’s counting the fats and the calories? Not me. Not my family. Heck, not even Antonio! Good times and some good-hearted laughs can easily cancel out the bad effects.
3. Senior Me.
They say that if you line up something or for something like an event or activity, you arrange for IT to happen. So there I was lining up to get in an LRT train going to Carriedo - it happened:
Senior citizen? asked a female security guard. Me? I thought. Around me were millennials wearing headphones which rules out the hope of having a senior or another senior-looking dude around me. It can only be me. Seriously? I look that already? Am torn between calling my lawyer, or my stylist or staying in line. I stayed in line because I knew where I stand -both in life and in the station. I let that pass knowing that one day, that female security guard will be old and grey herself and that my day will come.
4. Interesting Me.
And then it came. Life is an equilibrium. One day you get an in-your-face slam, the next you get the sweetest of all compliments. Not just by anyone capable of large-scale dishonesty like that female security guard, but by an innocent 8-year old sinless little girl named Naomi incapable of telling lies. “I think you’re interesting,” she told me. Ha! take that lady! I believe you lil’ girl. Thanks for lifting my spirits by speaking the truth.
Life is good.
The best article I’ve read this month about the mass. Reading this strengthens my resolve to go to mass everyday.
Do you ever feel bored at Mass?
Don't worry, I'm not judging. When I first returned to Mass after a time away, I found the Mass boring. But Jesus' presence in the Eucharist drew me in. And eventually, His presence in the Mass instructed me in the ways of heaven, helping me to develop a greater love for the Mass. I realized that the Mass was the most important prayer that I could pray in any day.
Read the rest of the article here.
Do you ever feel bored at Mass?
Don't worry, I'm not judging. When I first returned to Mass after a time away, I found the Mass boring. But Jesus' presence in the Eucharist drew me in. And eventually, His presence in the Mass instructed me in the ways of heaven, helping me to develop a greater love for the Mass. I realized that the Mass was the most important prayer that I could pray in any day.
Read the rest of the article here.
6. Psalms Recitation.
For better clarity, focus and a feeling of being fully equipped, I recite at least 7 Psalms and Canticles including Magnificat and Benedictus several times daily. This is my way of Jericho Marching my concerns, my prayer petitions, my activities, my day. I’m taking inspiration from Joshua and his people (Joshua 6), who by God’s instructions, silently prayed/marched their way to conquer Jericho.
Just like Joshua and company, I do this because…
The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.
It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet,
to where joints and marrow come together.
It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. Heb 4:12
It cuts through difficult situations;
It cuts through traffic;
It cuts through love ones miles away;
It cuts through making decisions;
It cuts through sickness;
It cuts through time and space.
At the end of each day, I recite the same in thanksgiving. I get withdrawal restlessness, if ever there is such, if I don’t do the recitations.
This is what I do. Now, my family, too. Together, we recite a Psalm and/or a Canticle every night before going to bed.
7. Andre Cleans Car.
With a little help from his female friend. Help not in the manner of assisting, but help in the manner of opening the way for Andre to do the job. On their way back from a party where Andre is the designated driver, he took some friends in for the ride home including the female friend. Somewhere between Marikina and the-next-morning hangover, she unloaded her entire tummy’s alcohol-flavored contents into the back seat of the car. Andre’s duties didn’t end with parking. He knew that just about that time -2:00am - the car must get a much-needed shampooing.
8. New Doctor in the Family.
Time flies, so they say. 22 years ago, Bernadette, my niece, and her fraternal twin brother were just babies. Now, both have finished college and Bernadette, the new graduate in my previous post is now a full-fledged doctor having passed the board exams. A child’s milestones bring not only joy but more importantly, hope that his or her life will be better than ours.
9. New Church.
For more than a decade now, there’ve been hardly a day that went by without me attending the mass. A true challenge especially on days when business schedules were tight. Bigger challenges when I travel. But as the Good Book says, when you seek Him first, all these things shall come. The Lord gives me a new venue: 2 minutes from the train station where I drive Nikkei to in the morning is Christ The King church where the morning mass is celebrated at 6:30. This is where I go when neither 6am nor 7:30am mass fits. The Lord be with me.
10. Famovietime.
I average less than a handful of theater movies in a year but this month, it’s been a festival: two movies! The first, Ghostbuster, was a way to spend time waiting for Rissa while she eats lunch with fellow CFA teammates. The movie was like digging a hole in the ground then leaving after finding nothing but soil with insects that live underground that you find no use of. But there was a bit of fun in the digging, though. No expectations failed on this one because there was none at the start. The second is with the family -Ignacio de Loyola. Similar hole in the ground thing but this time, the hoe hit something solid. Might even be a treasure chest. The kind where you should dig deeper to find out or stop and leave with nothing.
