RESTORATION

We all know the parable of the prodigal son and how many sermons have been preached about repentance, from that parable. We are told that 'he came to himself and said, I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight.' In preaching, we speak of this as the first step in a changed life-as conversion, as repentance, confession, returning to God. But, as this is the first step for the prodigal, we must remember that this is also the step to be taken by His erring children-by all the ninety-nine 'who need non-repentance ,' or think they do not. Those Christians who do not understand how wrong their low religious life is must be taught that this is sin-unbelief; and that it is as necessary that they should be brought to repentance as the prodigal. You have heard a great deal of preaching repentance to the unconverted; but I want to try to preach it to God's children. We have a picture of so many of God's children in that elder brother. What the father told him, to bring about a consideration of the love that He bore him, just as he loved the prodigal brother, thus does God tell to us in our contentedness with such a low life: -'You must repent and believe that I love you, and all that I have is thine .' He says, 'By your unbelief, you have dishonored me, living for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and never believing what it was to live in the blessedness of My love. You must confess the wrong you have done Me in this, and be broken down in contrition of heart just as truly as the prodigal.'

There are many children of God who need to confess, that though they are His children, they have never believed that God's promises are true, that He is willing to fill their hearts all the day long with His blessed presence. Have you believed this? If you have not, all our teaching will be of no profit to you. Will you not say, 'By the help of God, I will begin now a new life of faith, and will not rest until I know what such a life means. I will believe that I am every moment in the Father's presence, and all that He has is mine?'

May the Lord God work this conviction in the hearts of all cold believers. Have you ever heard the expression, 'a conviction for sanctification?' You know, the unconverted man needs a conviction before conversion. So does the dark-minded Christian need conviction before, and in order for sanctification, before he comes to a real insight to spiritual blessedness. He must be convicted a second time because of his sinful life of doubt, and temper, and un-lovingness . He must be broken down under that conviction; then there is hope for him. May the Father of mercy grant all such that deep contrition, so that they may be led into the blessedness of His presence, and enjoy the fullness of His power and love!

IS LOVE AN EMOTION?

Very often people confuse love and emotion. They are not the same, although there is a connection, because love is the highest expression of which we are capable, and it would be strange, therefore, if our emotions were not affected in some way. They may well be, although the effect on them can be felt as either positive or negative, and we have all had both kinds of these experiences.

Yet love essentially transcends the emotions and, in its essence, is fundamentally an act of will. (It should be noted in passing that, while in the world in which we live, "love" is frequently used as a synonym for "sex", love has no necessary connection in with sexual act). That act of will is quite independent of what we feel at the time we express love. Indeed, it could be argued that the expression of love is purer the lower is the involvement of our emotions. On the other hand, one could even more strongly argue that our expression of love is greater the greater the negative emotion we are feeling at the time we make the act of love (in the sense that what we are feeling is nothing like what we might imagine love for the other person to be).

When Jesus died on the cross he was certainly not having warm, gooey feeling. He was in dreadful pain: he had been scourged twice, had the crown of thorns thrust upon his head, made to carry his cross in a very weakened state, nailed through his feet and hands, and was then hanging in a position which constantly threatened to cause his suffocation. (They broke the legs of men crucified to prevent them raising themselves up in order to breath). His death was anact of love, the ultimate act of love, but it was also an act of will. We need only reflect on his inner struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane, in seeking only to comply with his Father’s will, to appreciate that.
At one level he was putting into practice his own teachings:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12).

It sums up the Law and the prophets because it is God’s ultimate law. If we are ever in any doubt as to how we should act in order to love another, we need only ask ourselves how we would desire them to act, were we in the same situation. The answer has nothing to do with how we feel. Indeed, if the situation is one in which we consider we have been, or are being, injured, it is likely that our feelings will be telling us to do exactly the opposite!

As Christians, we have taken up an option. Above anything else, it is an option of Love and it is therefore an option to love. We have no choice in the matter — whatever the matter happens to be. If it happens that our emotions are tending to move us in the same direction as our will, that is merely an accidental benefit. We are certainly glad of it because it makes our actions easier.

But we are never called to be people who are controlled by their emotions: that is to be enslaved by a facility which should be at our service in making decisions, decisions which we are led to and which are determined by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, theologians explain to us the nature of the Holy Spirit as being the love which exists between the Father and the Son.

Hence, when we are led by the Spirit we are led by love, and emotions do not enter into it.

THE LADY OF OCTOBER

First Nun:

Nothing remotely suggests what the moon has tried to conceal:

at the foot of the mountain we found a penitent,

clinging to his nightshirt,

counting his fingers and crying.

Weeping under the shadow of the moon, but the shadows

failed to hide his tears, and the moon

shone like the witch hysterical

over the waters on his cheeks.

Second Nun:

Somewhere in the crowded city we heard

the song of the Lady hugging the walls

of an old cathedral.

A song of sorrow asking to be heard

above the waves of crowded city's

voice: It was asking to be heard

because the city suffers from a famine

there is no wheat coming from the fields

the earth has turned a yellow color --

now dry and ruinous.

First Nun:

But the moonlight could not hide his tears.

Second Nun:

The birds from the city have

fallen with the rains.

The song of the Lady re-echoes

through the grief and the glory:

"We cannot sleep the nights. Our eyes

are parched. The days are hot and long

carrying an emptiness more

than the hallow

in our stomachs,

and I know that death is not far from us."

First Nun:

He wept for his sins and wet the earth

beneath his knees.

But his tears were salt, and the earth

bore no root, no green, not even

a stir opening to the small, small drops.

Second Nun:

Only She lamented the hunger of the city.

The people knew they were starving

but were too busy to care why or where

to ask for food. For the city, it is true,

has much oil for its cars, and

power for its lights.

In that mass of machines where everything

opens and closes, moves and stops --

the growing of the grass, the trees,

the stir of the wind,

the temper of the sea, the thunder

from the mountains -- all these echoes

of heaven

are not heard.

Two Nuns:

Hunger in a penitent’s soul

is all the pain the dry season brings.

Tears by the mountains huddled

what manner of man is this that kneels

by the stone, and strikes his breast

with sounds like prayer?

The voice of prayer that goes beyond

the fire in the breast

beyond the swell of watered eyes.

The voice of prayer that comes

from a sanctuary

of stillness, where a Child could

dwell between the metal and the spirit.

A condition of complete simplicity

where a world is complete before the Altar

and a heart without a world, simple.

First Nun:

Who shall tell the people?

Second Nun:

Before the Black Sea, there were thirty pairs.

Part II

The Lady:

From the Blessed St. John

a message to thee from the Truth,

the source from which God's creation began:

"I know of the doings, and find these

neither cold nor hot.

Being what thou art, lukewarm,

make me vomit thee out of my mouth.

See where I stand at the door

Knocking: If anyone listens to my voice

and opens the door, I will come in

and visit him, and take my supper with him.

Chorus:

Listen you who have ears, to the message...

The Lady:

...The Spirit has for the people."

They have ruined the churches,

and many have died...

Chorus:

...without prayers for their graves

The Lady:

...unheedful of the bitter waters

Chorus:

...of Hell.

The Lady:

Who shall tell us what to do?

When hearts like doors have closed themselves

and the streets have crowded with cheerers

mocking a Man riding a donkey,

the tide of the traffic has thickened

over the square;

Does not a Child come up to the Man

that He may ask

For all to hear: "Unless you become

as little children, you shall not enter

my kingdom."

What, no child?

Chorus:

Was that laughter?

First Nun:

Hail Mary

we turn to Thee.

The Lamb of God, behold!

rebuked by electronic robots

and computing machines.

Second Nun:

Holy Mary,

behold our vineyards: the clusters

look rich and ripe,

but when gathered and pressed before

His judgment...

Chorus:

...Lord, hear our cries.

Have mercy. Have mercy.

Two Nuns:

The vintage from the earth gave no wine.

Not one single drop

for the Figure on the Cross

That shed His last for them.

The Lady:

The crop of this earth is dry.

Go to the nuns. Ask them to pray.

First Nun:

The world is neither the convent

nor the church door, only.

Second Nun:

The Lord did not die for the convent

nor the church door, only.

Chorus:

The sinner by the stone mountain

with his false confessions has been

invited for dinner.

Go, tell him to dress himself

and attend

the banquet of the Lord,

and there,

pour out his grief’s the penance

may be anointed over his forehead

and he may go

to the square in the morrow to proclaim:

"I can see! I am blind no more!"

The Lady:

In the square, the people are too busy

feasting with their gold.

They do not seem to starve for food.

They do not seem to go blind, or deaf,

or mute,

or sick with the palsy.

What then?

Chorus:

Shall the blind man made seeing,

the sinner pardoned,

be heard over the waves of traffic and noise?

When the temper of the tide shall rise

and fall,

when the earth shall be open and made green

when the birds come homing from the South

when the sharp sickle of the Angel gathers

the world’s vintage

shall the people in the square

pause from their hurry and look to the sky

bending their knees in prayer to cry:

"Lord, are we not worthy?"

Part III

Chorus:

Nothing remotely suggests

what the moon has tried to conceal:

At the foot of the mountain

we found a penitent clinging to his

nightshirt, counting his fingers

and crying.

Weeping under the shadows of the moon,

but the shadows failed to hide

his tears and the moon shone

like the witch hysterical over

the waters on his cheeks.

Two Nuns:

Bend the knees before the Sanctuary

and make the voice of prayer

strike the breast to

Open! Open! Open!

The Lady:

"If anyone listens to my voice

and opens the door, I will come in

to visit him, and take my supper

with him.

Listen, you that have ears,

to the message

the Spirit has for the people!"

--------------------------

Father Ting, This was published in the "Varsitarian" official organ of the University of Sto. Tomas and was submitted and won the Palanca the same year it came out. I was finishing my course in philosophy at the time. Even then, I already had attempts at being a St. John of the Cross. A poetic attempt, albeit puerile. The papal book "Memory and Identity" is with the Father Provincial of the Order of the Blessed Sacrament. He was our parish priest at the Carmelite Convent for six years and with his promotion is now back with his central office. The discalced Carmelite friars have not taken over the daily masses at the Gilmore Convent. I will try to retrieve it. "Memory" refers also to our personal recollection of the life of Christ, the history of the Church, the struggles of humankind through wars and natural calamities -- all must be part of our recollection in order that we can "Identify" with Christ in humanity's failings, trials, struggles, victories and triumphs, and with each other together with the communion of saints that have gone before us. Without memory we do not have our identity. Without remembering the past of the Old Testament and the New Testament, we have no identity in the now. Our identity is our collective history. We are one in many memories; and all our memories identify us.

rita

Acts of God??? As I see it...

Typhoon Ondoy or Ketsana as its international name, has already claimed many lives and left thousands homeless.

We all have innumerable reasons for the causes of this calamity but when there is nothing left to blame, we blame GOD! The wrath of God? Why did God do this? Wow! What an excuse!!!

So I sit here and ask, why would a merciful and loving God allow all these things to happen? Having gone around during the height of the typhoon… people were drowning, screams could be heard from the roofs of their homes, hopelessly pleading to be saved… homes crumbling amidst the raging waters. Read the rest of this entry >>>

HEALING-Seed Love Devotion

Amidst these troubled times, in this highly commercialized and materialistic world, in the course of our daily lives, we are faced with so many trials, persecutions, physical, emotional, financial and spiritual problems. When you feel things are becoming very complicated and solutions are becoming humanly possible… Be not afraid, it’s very simple, seek the powerful intercession of Mama Mary. Prayers is the solution to our problems! “I say to you, all the things whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). Our Blessed Virgin Mother, the Mother of God, Our Mother, Our Mama Mary is calling us to respond to Her pleadings through Her message: PRAY PRAY PRAY, it’s getting very, very, very late, the conversion is too slow, bring souls to my Son. In response to Mama Mary’s call, the Mama Mary’s Movement responded through the “Seed-Love Devotion”. A simple, yet powerful, daily devotional prayer habit that may make the difference in your life.


The seed-love devotion is a daily devotional prayer habit of praying ONE HAIL MARY AT ONE O’CLOCK FOR ONE ANOTHER. It is the forerunner in bringing about a highly motivated program with the vision to involve the collective masses into a prayer crusade. This is the power of united prater. This video was broadcasted daily in the philippines through ABC Channel 5.

Mama Mary lead us in prayer...

We, the Filipinos are Mama Marys beloved children. She has shown Her maternal love for our predominantly catholic country by way of various manifestations and miracles throughout the islands. This affection is best reciprocated in the loving name we have given our Blessed Virgin Mother… “Mama Mary”.

In turn, She has called the people of the Philippines “My children”. In recognition of this close personal relationship, the Philippines have been consecrated to the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Filipino people have paid tribute to Her through countless titles and devotions. Remember, irregardless of so many titles, there is only one Mama Mary... THE MOTHER OF GOD!

It is then only befitting for us to join together in prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving to our beloved "Mama Mary" for interceding for our needs and petitions to her Beloved Son, Jesus. And one of the best ways to give back this gift is to pray the rosary as taught by our blessed Mama Mary to St. Dominic. The Rosary is a reminder of important events in the life of Jesus Christ and our devotion to the Incarnation of our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

As we journey through the mysteries of the rosary: joyful, sorrowful, glorious and luminous mysteries we commit to memory our Lord's Incarnation, His passion and death and then his resurrection from the dead and eventually His transfiguration and the institution of the Holy Eucharist. In so doing, the rosary allows us to grow into a deeper understanding and appreciation of the mysteries of the life of our Lord and to help encourage us into a life of faith. Through the power of the rosary, the Blessed Mother leads us to her Beloved Son Jesus.

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Say, Yes! Mama Mary!

OUR YES TO MAMA MARY IS OUR YES TO GOD. INDEED A SOLEMN ONE.

Amen, is of course, a more solemn form of saying “yes”. It literally means, “so be it”. We often find Jesus opening his solemn statements with, “Amen, Amen, I say to you”. In the Old Testament, every covenant, every oath is always accompanied by an “amen” to indicate truthfulness, authenticity and honesty in the pronouncements made. But when we say “yes” to Mama Mary, we just can’t really help having thoughts whether that “yes” has the strength of the biblical “amen”. Or in the first place, could we really make such a solemn covenant of commitment to the devotion, to the cause or even for instance, to the daily recitation of the Rosary? Are we a “Jesus” who would prefix any statement of ours about anything that deals with the Marian devotion with such a solemn word? How far and deep can we say the real “yes” to Mama Mary.

Or is it “yes” to Mama Mary, which of essence here or could it be more of Mary’s “yes” to God’s initial crack at the final phase of the eternal plan of salvation during the Annunciation, rather than our own unconvincing positive remark – oh yes? Let us see what Mary’s “yes” is all about. Mary’s yes was a “fiat”, “fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum”, in Latin and it literally means, “be it done to me according to your Word”. So, “fiat” means, “be it” or “so be it”. Isn’t that the same as “amen” – the solemn word of divine commitment?

Now we can see the character of the fiat and the amen. Both are solemn pronouncements or statements made by God and man in a partnership of commitment to serve and save. God had said ‘Amen’ to mankind by sending Jesus in our midst as Saviour. The Book of Revelation is right when it called Jesus as the “Amen of God” (Rev. 3:14). God made a solemn commitment to mankind. But it was always in partnership with an equally solemn commitment from man himself. And that’s Mary’s role.

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