“Heart expands the mission and mission expands the heart. From small to big, then big to small. It’s like the pulse of a heart, the breathing in and the breathing out of our lungs. These expansions and contractions are the breathing, the pulsing of our Lord’s dreams in our lives”

How do you know what Jesus would do if you don’t know what Jesus did? (Kuya JQ, SFC FTPW)

What must we do to gain the happiness of heaven? To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love, and serve God in this world. (Baltimore Catechism, #4)

I am reminded through these two quotes that I cannot truly serve God unless I love God and I cannot truly love God unless I know God. May we all truly get to know God this Lent 🙂

The law of God is love. The only sin is to not love.

The Christian lifestyle is much harder to live out, but also the most fruitful.

I know someone who lives almost every moment in misery. She complains and gossips and complains and gossips. It makes me wonder what her first thought is to herself whenever she wakes up every morning. I get tired just listening to her complaints. I can only imagine how much more tiring it is to complain and be negative. So I praise God for pursuing my heart, and allowing me to experience Him.

Every day when I go to work, I am reminded that I am also on a corporate mission, and that my service is not limited to the CFC community. It is also at work that I am faced with greatest challenges of living the Christian lifestyle. In fact, it is the place where I am challenged the most to love more. It is in the workplace that it’s easy to fall into sin and where it’s easy to forget about God.

The Lord has never forgotten about us. We need to make more effort to remember Him at all times, especially when the going gets rough.

Psalm 62
My souls rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation.
God alone is my rock and salvation, my secure height; I shall never fall.
As though they were a sagging fence or a battered wall?
Even from my place on high, they plot to dislodge me.
They delight in lies; they bless in mouths, but inwardly they curse.

My soul, be at rest in God alone, from whom comes my hope.
God alone is my rock and my salvation, my secure height; I shall not fall.
My safety and glory are with God, my strong rock and refuge.
Trust God at all times, my people! Pour out your hearts to God our refuge!

It is only through my full trust and reliance on the Lord that I’ll truly be able to “walk the talk” as a devout Christian in the workplace, and fulfill the “corporate mission”.

 

Dear Lord,

I think you are truly testing me. I often pray for you to teach me to be like Mama Mary: her purity of heart, mind, humility, and all that she is. Of course, like always, you put me in circumstances to strive to be just like that. Lord, it is not easy. I still see myself to be too proud and self-righteous.

Lord, for many years, mom and I didn’t have the greatest relationship: sin after sin, but you have overcome just so we would have the taste of heaven into our home. You truly have turned our relationship from water into wine. You have also planted in my heart and my being the importance and the love of a family. I can as well say that with the help and love of CFC- family, I have established values that I am truly proud of and stand up for.

On the other hand Lord, I feel too proud and righteous now that my friend is living with us due to a family conflict that made her leave her home. Similar to where my mom and I once were. I should be more empathetic, but I often see myself imposing my stand on family on her, a know-it-all. I wanted her to see how blessed she can be if she chooses her family. It frustrates me to see her depend on her own and not on you as much I’d like her to (given that of course I don’t know her prayer life). See what I mean Lord? I am self-righteous right?

Then again you continue to reach me many times through Papa Francesco’s homily on March 2. You spoke to me,

“[Anak] It is easy to judge others, but we can only progress on our Christian journey in life if we are capable of judging ourselves first.” – Papa Francesco

–> Anak how can I turn your friend’s life from water into wine, if you won’t let me? Just please be with her and let her know I love her, and that I will never forsake her. She doesn’t need anyone else’s stand but my stand. Just please let me use you Jes. This is the time to be like my Mother Mary.

It’s so easy for me to judge, when really I am doing so much worst. Lord please send your Archangel Michael to fight on my behalf when I tend to lean on my own understanding, pride, and righteousness.

Love,

JKM luli

“store your treasures in heaven”- Matthew 6:20

 

For Lent, instead of just sacrificing something, I rose to the challenge and decided to offer up a run every morning in honor of God for granting me this life with all of its blessings and as an opportunity to replace bad habits with good ones. Going into the second week though was already tough cause I literally went from sleeping in late and having no physical activity straight into 6-7 am runs that lasted 30-40 minutes, so it was a rough lifestyle transition. On this particular day though, I decided to take a different route that I normally would. I decided to run a trail that ran through a forest near my house and had a river running through it with a bridge to cross to the other side. I found myself standing right in the middle of the bridge and took a moment to sense my surrounding;

Light from the morning sun pushing through the barren branches of the trees, the thrashing of waves and water below me yet patches of still and calm waters were scattered, the sound of woodland creatures cooing and crying out, the warmth of the sun balanced with the cool morning air brushing my skin.

I close my eyes after to just take in everything that I just witnessed, and as I open my eyes, I look to the sun and had a very nostalgic feeling of something I’ve experienced many times over; Adoration. For a brief moment, the sun in the sky looked like the Eucharist suspended in the air. In the split second of being aware of my surroundings, God made Himself known to me. In that small moment of my life, He blessed me with an extraordinary view and at the end of it all, gave me gentle a reminder…

Know therefore and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God, in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other -Deuteronomy 4:39 RSV

While God dwells in heaven, I know He is equally present here on earth. In being present amidst His creations, He was there to provide me such a view and remind me of His power. In the rough early mornings when I doubted myself and wanted to give up, He was there to encourage and push me to carry onward. When I decided on my Lenten offering, He was there to affirm me of my choice and to foresaw the greatness of offering it up to Him. Anywhere at any time, He was there with me every step of the way to propel me further into His plan. His present and persistent Love has always led me and brought me to extraordinary places which I thought I’d never reach. Truly during these forty days, I will be walking in this desert with Him as He always has been with me and will impose on me at His perfect timing.

 

I never really knew the importance of fasting until it required fasting something I needed. To me, as ridiculous as it sounds, that “need” was coffee.

The first week went by, and all I could think about was coffee. I would get a ringing headache, then later become blinded in a sense that my sight would become so blurry that it made me incapable to drive properly. And despite of wanting to give in to maybe just one cup of coffee a day instead, I felt a stirring, saying:

“Hang on. Just hang on to me…”

I was shocked because it honestly wasn’t the first thing I thought of doing. Instead, I was so distracted by the pain and craving and the agony of the moment that I was completely hung up on finding remedies to the game.

The first week was challenging. I cried sometimes because of the pain, but I still heard the voice… “HANG ON. HANG ON TO ME…”

The second week came, and it was no longer agonizing, but it hurt.

The third week came, and I hardly was thinking about it. And by the end of the week, I found myself happily relaxing by the couch, completely comfortable, sipping on a glass of… water.

NOURISHED.

CONTENT.

HAPPY.

AT PEACE.

NO PAIN, WHATSOEVER.

That’s probably the moment I realized it is not a game or a competition of how long I will last, but rather of how long He lasts in me. It wasn’t until I realized I was even drinking a glass of water that I realized the most fruitful thing about fasting is that it is life-changing; it renews us in a lasting happiness; it re-instills Christ and His patient love.

Without discipline of the heart, the mind, body and soul starves. With discipline of the heart, the mind, body and soul is always nourished.

Like coffee (as simple as it seems), I feel it is those small simple things that easily pass by in our lives without prayer. There will be and already are worldly things we feel we need. For me, it was coffee. But as worldly as it is, sometimes, it will really only be the false, temporal, and worldly pleasures of this world that will point us towards realizing why the void exists; it is really calling us to what, or rather, Who we really need. When it became too hard – even with something so seemingly simple – I hung on… I hung on to Him in prayer.

My Lord, Jesus Christ, I need You, and I always will. Holy Spirit, come and nourish my life. This, I pray, in His Most Holy Name…

Amen.

TOTUS TUUS.