Ash's World

Ugaliin ang Sumamba sa Diyos

2011-09-24T11:26:00.001+08:00

I have read something earlier that somehow makes me think about those people saying that they don't have a God or they do not believe in god, agnostics or maybe atheists.
I cannot imagine how those kinds of conclusion came into their mind. Are they living with a family without religion? Or its just that they hate the church so much?

I am very thankful that I have seen a video that somehow enlightens me.

It says:

Sabi ng isang kanta: "Puso kahit hindi turuan, matututunan din ang magmahal"
ang sabi ko naman, "Puso kahit hindi turuan, hinahanap din ang sumamba".

Kahit ang mga taong indeperente sa relihiyon o nagpapanggap na wala silang pinaniniwalaang Diyos ay may nararamdamang udyok sa puso para sumamba.

Nilalang tayong lahat na may pagnanais na makaugnay ang dakilang Diyos.

Balewalain man natin ang pagnanais na ito, hindi maitatangging hinahanap natin ang Diyos, ang nakahihigit sa atin, upang makalaya tayo sa kakitiran at karupukan ng buhay sa lupa.

Subalit sa ating panahon, mayroon tayong bagong kinamimihasnan.
Una, ang pagsamba sa maling diyos tulad ng pera, cellphone, katanyagan, karangyaan, pasarap sa sarili, bisyo at iba pang huwad na diyos. Subalit lalong gumugulo ang kalooban sa pagsamba sa diyos-diyosan.

Ikalawa, para magmukhang moderno at progresibo, umiiwas sumamba sa diyos. 'Corny eh', 'makaluma', 'scientific', 'conservative daw ang pagsamba'. Subalit ang pagsamba sa Diyos ay kaganapan ng ating pagkatao.

Iwaksi na ang yabang, huwag mahiyang sumamba sa tunay na diyos.

manalangin tayo,

O Diyos turuan mo kaming sumamba sa iyo, sambahin nawa ang ngalan mong dakila. Amen

- † Most Rev. Luis Antonio G. Tagle, DD, STD
Bishop of Imus
Kape't Pandasal episode on Sept. 20, 2011

A Search for God

2011-08-30T21:05:00.000+08:00

Where is the best place to find God?

This last weekend, I went to a retreat house for an individual retreat. I went there alone bringing my clothes with me and other things for my personal hygiene. I left my home, I left my common world behind to find a place where I can find peace and silence. To spend time in prayer, to know God more and to discover my purpose and my vocation.

When I came there, I was welcomed by some friendly nuns. I thought it was Jesus welcoming me in his sanctuary. I love the place, its very quiet and peaceful. A perfect place to spend in prayer and to talk to your inner self.

I spent most of my time there inside the prayer room even if I wasn't praying. Only me and the blessed sacrament alone.

I imagine Jesus asking me, Why you are here? You supposed to be praying.

and my answer would be, I am here, simply because you are here.

A time spent with God will never be a wasted time, even if I am only sitting there doing nothing. And then I realize something, I am not the one talking to Jesus, but it is Jesus who was talking to me and there is nothing I could do but to just sit there and listen to Him. I listen not with my ears but with my heart.

It is not I who was looking for Jesus, but is Jesus who was looking for me.

Spend some time with Jesus, He also wants to talk to you. Search for him in the most simplest place that you can ever imagine. In your room, in your office, in the church, anywhere. just seek and you will find him.

We must consider all the time we spent with Jesus as the greatest moments of our lives...

...

And so the time came and I need to go home. During those 2 days and 1 night at the retreat house I felt like home. With the RVM sisters who guided me and with Jesus who invites me to come to his peaceful sanctuary in Tagaytay. I am now ready to face new challenges because Jesus is my teammate and we can do all things together. In the midst of every trial the only thing we need to do is to be calm and listen to the voice of our God saying, "Be still and know that I am God".

I have learned many things on the retreat, especially about my personal purpose why I decided to take a retreat. It is personal and I don't want to share it right now.

What i just shared to you is only one of the many many ways of encountering Jesus.

I found Jesus in that place, but there is one place that you can find him without moving where you are right now. I will ask the question again, Where is the best place to find God?

The answer is on our heart. You can go to many place and search for him, but you will never find Him if you will not look into your heart first. He is with us, He is Emmanuel.

I found Him. no wonder He said "seek and you shall find".

But in the moment that you found him, don't ever think that it was us who found God. It was not us look for him first, but it was He who search for us.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

TAO TAYO!!!!!

2011-08-06T08:36:00.000+08:00

"Nobody is perfect"
"Sorry, TAO lang nagkakamali"
"Sorry, TAO lang natutukso"

Yan ang mga salita na karaniwang nating naririnig kapag my mga kaibigan, kapamilya, kaklase, kasama sa trabaho at kung sinu-sino pang tao na nakakaranas ng pagkakamali. Pag ganyan nga naman ang marinig mo papalag ka pa ba? Syempra maiisip mo TAO ka din at minsan nagkakamali ka rin naman.

Pero, hindi kya ginagamit lang natin yang excuse sa mga bagay na hindi natin maamin na kya natin ginawa ay dahil sa sarili nating kagustuhan? Dapat ba pag humihingi tayo ng patawad sa mga taong nasaktan natin ay lagi nating sabihin ang mga salitang yan? Ibig sabihin ba ay ang pagiging TAO natin ay nagbibigay sa atin ng lisensya para magkamali? Eh kung ganyan lang din naman pala eh magkamali na tayong lahat, tutal pede naman nating sabihin na TAO lang tayo....

Totoo naman na tao tayo,nasasaktan, natutukso, pero wag naman natin gawin itong excuse sa ating pagkakamali. Dahil aminin man natin o hindi, dumadating sa punto ng buhay mo na ginusto mong gawin ang pagkakamaling iyon. Sana lang sa bawat gagawin natin matuto tayong isipin ang mga magiging bunga ng bawat ikikilos o sasabihin natin. At kung hindi man natin maisip ito, sana matuto tayong tumanggap na nagkamali tayo dahil sa dumating sa punto na ginusto nating gawin ang mga bagay na iyon, hindi dahil sa TAO lang tayo.

Ang mga TAO ay binigyan ng kakayahang magdesisyon. Gamitin sana natin ito ng maayos at maging responsable tayo sa bawat gagawit at sasabihin natin. At ang mahalaga ay matuto tayo ng mga leksyon sa bawat pagkakamali natin.

Gamitin natin ang ating pagiging tao para panindigan at panagutan ang anu mang ating nagawa...

Para sakin mas magandang isipin natin ang kahinaan ng pagiging tao sa oras na tayo ay magpapatawad. Kapag may UMAMIN at humingi ng tawad sa atin, pde nating isipin na siya ay tao din na may kahinaan at may karupukan. At dahil dito sana matuto tayong magpatawad.

Gaano kagandang mabuhay sa mundo na ang lahat ay marunong tumanggap ng pagkakamali at ang lahat ay marunong magpatawad..

Kung sasangayon kayo o hindi, nasa inyo yan. Ito ang aking opinyon dahil tao ako.

Ash

No one, Except Jesus

2011-05-22T16:55:00.000+08:00

First of all let us thank the lord for the predicted rupture did not happen.
It is not the first time that someone predicted the day of rupture.

It is good that today we must listen to our lord who says, "I am the way, the truth and the life".

Let me ask you a question, What do you think would be the best thing that will happen to you when you are lost to some place and you are looking for a right direction?

When you are lost it is right to ask for direction not only to one person. Why? Because sometimes the one you asks did not know also the right way. But you are lucky if the first person you ask will say, "I know that place" but is better if someone answers, “I have been there" and the best answer you can get is when someone says, "I live there, I am going there and you can come with me to be there". That is the best answer you can get when you are lost.

My friends, if you are asking for the right direction, Jesus can claim everything that we said to be the best answer. When he said to his disciple that he is going, He does actually mean that he will go away instead he really wants to say that he will be going home. He is returning to his father. And he will not face the father only as a god but the word of the father incarnated, a god who became a man. He will go home with a very beautiful promise, I am going home just ahead of you, I will face my father and your father. I will stand as your intercessor before our father in heaven. He is our greatest intercessor. Why? Because he had experienced all of our pains and sufferings.

When Jesus claims that he is the way, truth and life, it is because he has the right to everything. He does not only show us the right way but the way to where he came from. He cannot only teach us some truth but all truth about the father because He knows the father. He have done all of these for us to be a part of his life.

If we look to every religion in the world like Muslim, Buddhist and many other religions, all of them teach about the way to God, the truth about everything and about life at its fullness. But this is what I want to ask, of all the teachers about this God, Whoever has claim that He and the Father are one? Whoever has claim that he was before Abraham? Whoever as a teacher claims that he is the son of God and literally means it?

No one except Jesus.

We have to rejoice in these, that truly in Jesus can be found the right way to the Father, the right way of living life and the truth about everything.

The beauty about this God is that he leads us. Recently I was shock when a bishop said; all of those who are pushing to pass the RH bill are just Christians only by name. For me it is only this, that all of us now that in the crisis of this issue must know and have a deep understanding about the issue for us to decide correctly. Let us know why the bishop says something like that, know why they are pushing against it and somehow getting angry because they are not being understand. It is an invitation to us. God will not permit his people to be deceived. He will not permit that his bishops will lead us to something that is not right and not in the truth. He will not permit that his church goes to something that will harm its people.

Today, the challenge is to asks ourselves, Do we truly believe in Jesus as the way, as truth and the life?
Then if we do, let’s ask him that through the church he may guide us as the way and the truth of our lives.

In the mass, when a priest raises the chalice and the bread and declares what we called doxology, “Through Him, With Him and in Him...." and all of the people will answer the great Amen. Why? Because it means that when the priest said that all of these are created Through Jesus and we will return to the father through Jesus and with Jesus who will accompany us and in Jesus whom we can find the eternal life. We answers, Amen, that is true, that is what we believe in.

Friends, today let us declare Jesus as truly the way and the truth and the life. The sure way that leads to the father, the only truth we must proclaim and believe in and the life for all of us.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

(reflections from the homily of father mario)

Hear His Voice

2011-05-15T22:51:00.000+08:00

Some of us have our own pets, Pets that we take care of, pets that we love, pets that became a part of our lives.

Our pets, especially cats and dogs are very good in recognizing its master. They know and they feel the love and attention given by their master. They can easily recognize the voice of the master.

When Jesus tells us today that He is the shepherd and the sheep knows his voice, it is like us being the master of our own pets and our pets knows our voice.

Hearing his voice is just a result, because we experience the goodness of Jesus our good shepherd.

When He said, my sheep listens to my voice; he means that because the sheep heard his voice they also want to obey his commands.

My friends, the question that we must asks to ourselves today is, "Do we hear the voice of our shepherd? And do we follow him because we experience his goodness and love in our lives?"

In this world, there are so many voices that call us. And we need to choose from all of these voices, which is from our good shepherd. Most of the time, the voices of others are sweeter and attractive than the voice of Jesus. It is easy to accept the invitation of this world and not to the invitation of Jesus, because the moment you know Him you will witness not only his power and glory but also the crucified Jesus. And we are fearful about the life of sufferings and trials of a person who is willing to serve the lord. But the lord promise that whoever is willing to hear him and to obey him, there is eternal life awaits us, a life that is full, a life in abundance.

In our office, school and even at home, when decisions are needed to be made. Ask Jesus to help us and we must listen to what He will say.

When we have a project or something, we must consult the Lord. He wants to be a part of everything that we do. He wants to a part of every decisions that we make in our life.

Today, He also declares himself as the gate where we can find answers to our problems and where we can find a life that is full. But more than that, he asks us to be a sheep who recognize his voice, who listen to him and who follow him. We can only do that if there is a personal experience between us and our God of love.

It feels so sad when there are Christians only by name. Christians who were baptized, goes to church the personal relationship with God is not growing. That is why in times of trials, they can here so many voices that they don't recognize which voice is coming from Jesus.

Friends, the lord invite us to have a personal relationship with him. Let us know him more intimately and let us experience his love and care. Let us have moments of silence with him. Go to him in our moments of difficulties. It is then we will see that He is the gate that in the end will bring us to everlasting life.

In our country today, the Philippines, One of the most talks about issue is the Reproductive Health Bill.

The bishops of our country will not speak against it if they know that it will bring so much good to us. If our bishops and the church stand against it, it is because after they have read the bill and after the study that they make, the feel that it is not something that will bring goodness to our society.

Hopefully, before we speak, before we make our own commentary, as a member of the church and as a citizen of this country, let us read the bill, study it, and have a deep understanding for it. Then we might realize that the voice of Jesus can be heard from the voices of his shepherds in our country.

My dear friends, many times that most of us do not know the issue. Maybe that is our assignment, to know, study, and have a deep knowledge about the issue for us to hear and recognize the voice of our shepherds and the voice of our chief shepherd, Jesus. Who only desires our good and to bring us to eternal life.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

(inspired by fr.mar)

Hopeless Moments

2011-05-09T12:09:00.000+08:00

Do you have some moments in your life that seems to be very hard to accept and to understand?

I think all of us have that kind of moment.

Moments of disappointment in spite of doing the best that you can.
Moments of hopelessness, moments of despair, moments of seeming total defeat.
There are times that we feel that hope is moving away of you, and your faith gets weaker and weaker everyday. You can feel pain in your heart because of the defeat that you experienced. You can feel disappointment because thing does not go according to your plan.
With these moments we ask, "Where is God?", moments that we could not just understand.

Probably that is feeling of the two disciples going to Emmaus.
For three years they follow Jesus, they took pride of being followers of this one who is great, speaking with authority and with power from above. They knew in their heart that he was the anointed one, he was the one who will save Israel, and then the last thing they saw of him was hanging on the cross, dying a death of a criminal.
becaus of his death they chose to walk away from Jerusalem just to be away from it all.

But it is good to know that even they were the one who walks away, even they were one who escapes from this seeming total defeat of their lord, Jesus did not get angry to them but he follow and accompany them in their road to Emmaus. In their moment of great depression, here is Jesus walking with them. There is Jesus telling to them that all of these are needed to happen but still in the end God will be victorious. That all of these needed to happen so that the love of God for this sinful world may be proclaim.
As he continue to explain to them, their hearts were aflame because they recognize his presence in his words and when Jesus broke the bread, that was then when they realize it is Jesus the eucharistic lord.

Friends, there is a story about pope Benedict.
Benedict XVI was previously known as cardinal Ratzinger. He is very close to John Paul II. And when John Paul II in his moments of so much weakness because of parkinson's disease, he still celebrates a mass even that the words he says can hardly be understood. We can realize at that moment that this man is over spent for God. It was in that moment when he told cardinal Ratzinger, "Stay with me up to the last moment".
And so when cardinal Ratzinger was chosen to be pope it was not easy for him to instantly accept the papacy because at that moment he is already 78 years old but with faith in God he accept. When he became pope, that is the moment when he says, When you are the pope you can see all the depravity of all man, man in his worst. But you would also see the glory of God and in this journey of god almighty and weak man, the mighty and power of God will still be victorious. It will still be the glory of God that in the end will be victorious against the weakness of man.

Today, we ask God to be with us, to be close to us. And he is close to us if only we could recognize that he speaks to us through his words and he is truly present in the holy Eucharist.
We ask God to make us feel that presence in our moments of despair and moments that he seems to be away.

Today as we ask God to make us feel his presence, I would like to say thank you to God for the gift of mothers.
There is someone who says, "Since God cannot be physically everywhere, He created mothers."
Because of their care, sacrifice and love we can feel the care, sacrifice and love of our God.

For all the mothers, Thank you for your love.

May your life be truly Blessed,

Ash

Peace be with you!

2011-05-05T16:24:00.003+08:00

Sino nga ba ako?

This past days, ngiisip ako tungkol sa sarili ko, iniisip ko ang role ko sa mundo, pra saan ba at nandito ako?

Sa mga nakakakilala sakin, na sana nga totoong kilala nila ako. Ako ay isang taong moody, taong mhirap pkisamahan, minsan masayahin minsan sobrang tahimik, laging magisa, mainitin ang ulo. May nagsasabi din na mabait "daw" ako, matalino dn daw, at pde mpgktiwalaan. Yung mga positive n sinasabi nila about sakin, hindi ko agad inaacept, iniisip ko lang na sana mapatunayan ko nga sa sarili ko na totoo ang sinasabi nila.

Sa pagkakakilala ko sa sarili ko, Alam kong bugnutin ako, suplado, madaling mairita sa mga bagay o mga nangyayari na hindi ako komportable, di ako magaling sa pakikipagkaibigian pero marunong akong makipagkaibigan, mahal ko ang aking mga kaibigan. Tahimik ako lalo na kung wala ako sa mood makipagbiruan. Di ako nakikisalamuha sa mga tao dito samin, sa totoo lng wala nga akong kaibigan dito sa lugar namin.

Sa kabila nang lahat ng iyan, Isa lang ang sigurado ako, na kahit totoo marami akong katangian na hindi magugustuhan ng maraming tao, totoo mahirap ako intindihin at pakisamahan, pero alam ko na sa kabila ng lahat ng ito ako ay mahal ng aking Diyos.

Sa kabila ng aking katahimikan, marunong akong magbiro.

Sa kabila ng aking kasungitan, marunong akong tumawa.

Sa kabila ng aking pawang kawalan ng pakialam, marunong akong magalala at makiramay.

Sa kabila ng aking galit, marunong akong magpatawad.

At sa kabila ng aking mga dinaranas, marunong parin akong magtiwala at magmahal.

Marahil iba iba ang pagkakakilala ng mga tao sakin, depende kung gaano ako kalapit sa kanila at kung gaano sila kalapit sa akin. Pero di natin maiiwasan na may mga pagkakataon na kung sino pa yung naging malapit sayo, kung sino pa ung ginagalang at nirerespeto mo,kung sino pa yung pinagkakatiwalaan mo, kung sino pa yung taong minahal at pinapahalagahan mo, sila pa ung taong magiisip nang masama tungkol sayo. Pag uusapan ka na bka may gawin kang ganto o gnyan, pg iisipan ka na prang isa kang kriminal na dapat katakutan.

Hindi na bago sakin na mging iwas ang tao sakin dahil nga sa personalidad na mayroon ako. Halos parepareho ang impresyon ng tao sakin sa tuwing may unang beses na mkikita ako.

Dahil jan. paunti unti ay pinipilit kong baguhin ang aking sarili at alisin ang mga pangit kong ugali. Unti unti ay nagagawa ko naman pero minsan ay ndi maiwasan na bumalik ang ugaling hindi pa tuluyang nawawala.

Minsan naisip ko, ang dinadanas ko ay naranasan ni Hesus, maging ang kyang mga alagad na malapit niyang nging kaibigan at nkasama ay tinalikuran siya pagdating sa krus, yung mga taong sumalubong sa kanya pagpasok sa Jerusalem ay sya ring mga taong sumigaw at humiling na ipako siya sa krus.

Marahil ito ay hamon sa akin, upang tularan si Hesus, na sa kabila ng pagtalikod at pagtatatwa ng knyang alagad, nang oras ng knyang muling pagkabuhay tinawag pa rin niya silang mga kaibigan at kapatid. At ginusto niya na mkipagkita sa kanila sa Galilea. Sa Galilea na kung saan una silang nagkita. Handa si Hesus na mgumpisa silang muli ng knyang mga kaibigan. Ito ang tingin ko ay hamon sa akin ng Diyos na makita ko ang katotohanan, ang katotohanan na kung ano ba talaga ang tingin sa akin ng mga tao. At sa katotohanang ito ay matutunan kong magpatawad at patuloy na magmahal at magsimula muli sa kanya kanyang version namin ng Galilea.

Ipinagdarasal ko, na sana sa mga taong ngiisip ng masama sa akin. Sana biyayaan din sila ng Diyos ng kakayanang magsuri muli, balikan at matuto sa nkaraan at mula doon ay matutong mgsimula muli ng panibagong pakikipag kaibigan. Pinagdarasal ko rin na biyayaan ako ng Diyos ng kakayanang magmahal pra sa mga taong nagiisip ng masama pra sa akin.

Sa mga tao na ngiisip ng masama at nksakit sa akin, hindi ko kayo kilala pero ang masasabi ko lng, bago kyo mgisip ng mga mssmang bgay n pede kong gawin, gusto kong mlaman niyo na iisa ang ating Diyos, kung di nyo man po ako lubusang kilala sana kilala ninyo ang ating Diyos dahil naniniwala at nagsisikap din akong sumunod sa kanya. Para nmn maisip ninyo kung kya ko ba talagang gwin ang mga bagay na iniisip nyo. Marunong po akong mgpatawad at inaanyayahan kita na bumalik at magsimula muli sa ating Galilea kung saan tayo unang ngkakilala.

Sa mundong ito maraming klaseng tao tayong makikilala, May mga taong tunay na magmamahal sa atin, may mga tao din namang nandyan pra tayo ay ibagsak at pgisipan ng masama. Pero ang mahalaga malaman natin na sa bawat taong ating makikilala, sila ay may dalang biyaya galing sa Diyos, maaring hindi ito sa anyo na kaaya-aya pra sa atin pero ang biyaya ay nandyan parin. Matutunan dn sana nating makita gamit ang ating mga mata ng pananampalataya, na katulad mo at katulad ko ang mga taong yan ay nilikha rin sa wangis ng ating Diyos.

Makita sana natin ang Diyos sa bawat isa.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

PAID in FULL

2011-05-01T22:57:00.003+08:00

When we are in debts, the word that we would like to hear or to read is the words that says, "PAID".
It means that your credits were gone and it is fully paid.

One of the last words of Jesus on the cross were "It is finished", consumatum est in latin. These are the words that tells us that His mission on earth was done. But if we look at that words in the context of a tax collector, that might mean, fully paid.

Today when Jesus appears to the apostles and show His wounds in his hands and on his side. It is like Jesus telling to them, "All your sins or all your debts are fully paid".
But Thomas did not believed that Jesus appeared to the other disciple, Thomas wants to see a proof he wants to see a certificate of full payment. In the next few days, Jesus appears again and show to Thomas His wounds, for me it is like Jesus saying, "Yes Thomas it is true, PAID IN FULL, and here are my wounds as a receipt and as certificate of full payment".

Pope John Paul II declared eleven years ago, On the Jubilee year 2000, The holy father in front of the whole church declared that sister Faustina Kowalska as a saint. And by this declaration the church also declares that her diary and all its contents are true.

One of the entry on the diary that Jesus said to sister Faustina goes like this,
"I desire that on the feast of the compassion and mercy of God may be the refuge and shelter of all souls. On that day, the very depths of my mercy are going to be open. Let no soul be afraid to come and ask for my mercy even if their sins are that great. And I desire that on the sunday after easter will be the day of the divine Mercy "

When the pope declared sister Faustina as a saint of God he also declared this day as the feast of God's Mercy, He is the king of Mercy for the whole world, He is the one that declared your debts are Paid in Full.

It is also great that after eleven years, today Pope John Paul II have been beatified.

It is like God saying, truly now I will say to you that the mercy of God is for real, that the mercy of God of for everyone who can accept their sinfulness and can confess the need of His mercy, and also to be merciful to others.

When we look at the image of the divine mercy, We will notice that it is not the crucified Jesus instead it is the Risen Lord, the resurrected image of Jesus. We will also notice that it is like Jesus have entered a door and two rays coming on His heart symbolizes the blood that have been poured out and his mercy for humanity. His hands are in the form as if He shows his wounds. The image of the Divine Mercy is like the image of Jesus in the Gospel, when he appeared to his disciples saying I come because I paid for all your sins and I have conquer even death. But then Jesus added, Now I give you the ministry, Go and forgive the sins of humanity.

Friends, It is a day of thanksgiving in front of the great compassion of the God of Mercy.
Today truly we can say to all the rest of the world, "Jesus We Trust in YOU".
As our responsorial psalm says, Give thanks to the lord for He is good, and His love is everlasting.

As we celebrate the Divine Mercy, let us not forget, "There is no sin greater than the Love and Mercy of God"

We continue our life knowing that in this God can be found the refuge of the sinful humanity.

May your Life be truly blessed,

Ash

(inspired by Fr. Mar)

He is Risen!

2011-04-24T09:04:00.002+08:00

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

After 40 days of preparation, we are now celebrating and at the same time entering the season of easter.
This season, we remember Christ's Resurrection.

This past weeks we are in the mood of sadness because we remembered the passion and death of our lord.
His great sacrifice,
His passion,
His agony,
His death...

This are the things that we focused during lent.
Jesus' immeasurable love for us.
He loves us so much, that He sacrifice even His own life on each and everyone of us, even though we are not deserving of such sacrifices.

..............................................................................

The Victory

The whole world now celebrating the MOST important celebration of the year.
The church have lots of feast celebrated every year, but this occasion is the feast above all the feast.
The center of our faith, It is more important even than Christmas.

Jesus' Triumphant victory over death,..
manifested that He is the Lord..

The fulfillment of the scriptures,..

From the darkness of death here comes our light.. The light that we will see in Jesus.

In all the masses of the church, the easter vigil is the longest and most dramatic.

Why dramatic??

The mass starts not inside the church, but outside.
Outside there will be a bonfire.

The fire will be blessed, and from that fire the "paschal candle" will be lightened.

The paschal candles symbolizes Jesus as our light that defeats that darkness.

From outside the candle will be brought inside the church, the priest holding the candle will stop 3 times and will say, "Christ our Light" or "Light of Christ" and the people will response "thanks be to God".

all of this happening while all the light of the church turned off, the only light you will see is the fire from the paschal candle. from that fire the people will light their own candle.

How beautiful it is to see that slowly the fire of the candle passed to each people to light their own candle.
Its like the light of Jesus will light up the whole church.

At the altar, the priest will sing the 'Exultet' or the easter proclamation.

After this the liturgy of the word begins, the candle of the people needs to be blown while the light still off and the darkness covering the whole church...

7 readings and 7 responsorial psalm....

after all this reading the Gloria is sung for the first time since the beginning of lent, at the same time the light of the whole church will now turned on. Symbolizing that Jesus conquers and reign victorious over darkness and death...

And the celebration will go on, we also renew our baptismal vows during this mass....
........................................................................

That is how dramatic it is..

Some will ask why??

Why we need to do this?

If someone will ask me that question, i might probably answer him. Why not??

We are celebrating our salvation, The victory of our champion, Jesus.
This is the center of our faith, that Jesus is alive, risen from the death.

-

The story of Jesus in this world does not end in passion and death.
Remember He is risen.

There is a famous saying," In every good Friday there is an easter Sunday".

In everything that you've been through, all the problems, trials and things that you might face.
do not forget there is a resurrection.

Jesus is our light,
Jesus is our life,

We must reflect the light coming from Jesus, so that this world will not always see darkness but light,
The light that guides us,
the light that defeats the darkness of evil.

So with all the trials, problems, anxiety, believe that the story does not end there,
Have faith that like Jesus our Lord, we will have our own resurrection in our life,
and like Jesus, our story will also end up VICTORIOUS!!

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

Unconquerable Love

2011-04-23T12:01:00.000+08:00

Lent is the time when the church changes its color into purple.

Its is also the time when flowers are not permitted to be in the altar, the church also does not allow us to use loud instruments and does not allows us to sing the alleluia and the gloria.

In spite of all of these that the church removes all the symbols of happiness, the church still calls this season as the season of Joy. The joyful season of Lent.

When we said Lent, that is a german term which means spring time.

A new hope, a dawn of a great future.The coming of something that is beautiful and wonderful.

Cuaresma is comes from the word cuadragesima and cuarenta which means forty days, and in the bible when we said forty it is a time of purification.

During the time of noah, the rain falls on forty days and forty nights, as if to kill every creature in order for a new beginning to come.

It is a days of purification and reparation.

Days of destroying the old so that something new may be built.

Lent starts during ash Wednesday, but if you notice before, the formula that the church use was "Remember man that you are dust and to dust you shall return".

It emphasized that we are just a dust, it emphasized that we are sinful and unworthy in front of God.

But that has been change, the formula we are using now says, "Turn away from sins, and believe on the good news." which means truly we are dust, truly we are sinful, truly we are nothing but we are so much valued be God that He has given his likeness to all of us, and more than that, because of you His beloved Son offers His life.

Forty days wants to tell us, Hey, you are not just an ordinary, you are not cheap, you are now a child of God. You can now claim the Lord as your father and you are an heir of His kingdom.

What is the good news of lent?

.. The good news is that we still have hope..

During Holy week, the liturgy that was emphasized was the Palm Sunday, when actually the church calls it Passion Sunday, and I will tell you why. Truly we remembered how he was welcomed with palms into the city of Jerusalem but the church also wants to tell us that it is the day that we read the Passion of Jesus. The pain and the suffering that He embraced for us sinners. But I think what we should remember is this, that even as we remember the pains He had to go through, we should remember the love that pushed Him to embrace all of these.

Passion Sunday can be defined as two things:

Passion, suffering and pain of Jesus and

Passion as a tremendous love that pushed Him to claim the punishment that should be ours.

Thats why as we enter into the Holy week, It begins in telling us of what this God can do for us. We should be amazed by all these, that sense of thanksgiving, that sense of saying "Lord, we are nothing without You".

That is why when we said Holy week, it is the days most solemn to the church.

On Maundy Thursday, we celebrate two things the anniversary of the priests and the feast of the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Because on that day during the last supper which we commemorate in the mass, Jesus in a manner that is not bloody, decided to offer Himself. When He took the bread and said It is my Body and when he took the cup and said It is my blood, that is an offering of Himself but not in a bloody manner, that he will be fulfilled the next day during good friday on the cross when his body will be broken and when His blood will be poured. We must see the connection between that Maundy Thursday and the Good Friday.

When Good Friday comes, We dont have a mass but we have what we called the Veneration of the Cross. Why? Because during the early times the cross symbolized defeat and too much punishment but Christ went through that not because of anything else but because He can accept anything for you and for me.

That is why on the day of Good Friday, we kiss the cross and not only we kiss the cross, on that day all catholics kneel and genuflect before the cross to say "Lord this is the symbol of your unconquerable love for us" it is also the symbol of the victory of love. The cross becomes not a symbol of defeat but a symbol of unconquerable Love.

and on the evening of Saturday, we will remember all of what He did that we think is defeat, in the day of black Saturday we will be told, He conquers not only darkness, He conquers not only sin, He conquers even death.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

inspired by fr. Mar

When the Purple turns Red

2011-04-16T12:01:00.000+08:00

After 5 weeks of preparation, now the Holy week comes again..

With the same message every year...

Holy Week begins with the sixth Sunday in Lent. This Sunday observes the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that was marked by the crowds who were in Jerusalem for Passover waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king. The Gospels tell us that Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, enacting the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, and in so doing emphasized the humility that was to characterize the Kingdom he proclaimed. The irony of his acceptance as the new Davidic King (Mark 11:10) by the crowds who would only five days later cry for his execution should be a sobering reminder of the human tendency to want God on our own terms.

Traditionally, worshippers enact the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem by the waving of palm branches and singing songs of celebration. Sometimes this is accompanied by a processional into the church. In many churches, children are an integral part of this service since they enjoy processions and activity as a part of worship. This provides a good opportunity to involve them in the worship life of the community of Faith. In many more liturgical churches, children are encouraged to craft palm leaves that were used for the Sunday processional into crosses to help make the connection between the celebration of Palm Sunday and the impending events of Holy Week.

From the usual color of lent which is purple..

The color of the church will now turn into RED.

Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus.

The blood that shed for us..
The blood that He offers for us..
The blood that saves us..
The blood that symbolize His unending love for us, His sacrifice for our salvation.

Let us make this week meaningful, and be thankful to the Lord, for all things He has done for us.

Tomorrow, as we remember the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
.

Let us pray for each other and let Jesus enters your heart triumphantly.

May Your life be truly Blessed,

Ash

The Choice of LOVE

2011-02-21T11:04:00.000+08:00

Matthew 5:38-48

If you read that part of the gospel, that is the part where most of us do not want to read.
This is the part where we want to skip. Why? because the Lord is telling us a command that is very hard for us to obey.

But on that part of the gospel, there we can measure how far and how deep we are as a Christian?

To love a person that is lovable, that is easy.
To like a person who has a qualities that you like, that is easy.
everybody can do this things.

Jesus is telling us that being a Christian does not depend on this;
That you love those people who loves you.

Jesus wants to say, you are unique from others, you are my follower because you learn as a Christian to love your enemy.

that is a very hard thing to do.

To love a person who hurts you,
To pray for a person who persecutes you
that is what God is asking for us. but that is not an easy thing to do.

What if, suddenly there was person who spreading a rumour about you and tells everybody that you are doing a bad things?
What if that person is one of your friends?
What if that person is the one you never imagine to back stab you?
What will you do?

That is the moment, when we feel good hit a person with full forced punch on his/her face.
That is the moment when we feel good to take revenge. You can do all of these.

But the Lord is telling us,
The one who is being hurt,
A Christian who is truly my follower, at a moment when he/she was hurt, it is not his/her right to take a revenge.

It can be his choice.
But the other choice is the choice of Christ.
In a natural way, human would choose to take revenge.
A choice that one can make is to say, a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye.

Today God tells us, you want to be my follower?
Choose the way I have chosen.
The choice of Love.

It is easy to forgive a person who hurts you, but to forgive and to love him also that is so hard.
But Christ is telling us today, that is My way.
That is the Christian way.
That is a choice a follower of Christ must make.

Pray for that person who hurts you,
talk to him, and ask to the Lord to bless that person.
ask to the Lord that his mind may be enlightened.
ask also that both of you must learn how to be humble and to admit your own weaknesses.
So that you can both move forward.

These are choices that a Christian must make, in a world where violence is the name of the game.

The world says, Take revenge.

But Christ says, What will make you different from the rest of the pagan world if you only love those who loves you?

Today, we ask the Lord for that great gift.
No wonder He said, Be perfected as your heavenly Father is perfect.

When it reach to the point that a person can not only forgive but to love also, you have become like your Father in heaven, who makes the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust.

We ask for that grace, it is a very special one.
It is a grace that makes John Paul II reach out to the one who almost kill him and say, I forgive and I pray for you.

It is what we dream to have one day in our hearts.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

(inspired by Fr. Mar)

Pennies from Heaven

2011-02-09T11:32:00.001+08:00

You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about..

Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the home of her husband's employer.
My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.

The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. Her husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant one evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband..
He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.
Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.
He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure.
How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

"Look at it," he said. "Read what it says."
She read the words, " United States of America .."

"No, not that. Read further."

"One cent?"
"No, keep reading."

"In God we Trust?"
"Yes!"
"And?.. . .."

"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin.. Whenever I find a coin, I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him. Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray. I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!"

When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk.. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. "Yes, God, I get the message!"

It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And,

God is patient.

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

Always Trust in God..
His Love never fails.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

A Child

2011-01-16T21:19:00.000+08:00

From this day and to the coming weeks, our country will celebrate many festivals in many different province around the whole country. All of this festivals is made in honor of the Sto. Niño.

There are many kinds of image of Sto. Niño in our country, all are reflecting what kind of life each one has.

When is the devotion in Sto. Niño begun?

---

When Teresa de Jesus of Avila was asked to reform the carmelite order of nuns, together with st. John of the cross, they decided that the reformation must begun immediately.This is to avoid the nuns from living with so much wealth and prestige and for them to live back to a simple life as a servant of God.
Then Teresa made a group which she called the discalced order of the carmelite. discalced means go in barefoot.She knows that because of this the wealthy people inside the convent may get angry to her. But she pursue doing it because she knew it was the right thing to do.

Then one day, Teresa went back to their old monastery in Avila.
She was surprised when she entered in the monastery and she saw a little boy playing a ball. She asked herself, how this boy come inside this place? because only the sisters are allowed to enter the monastery. Then he asked the child, "What is your name?".
the boy only smiled at her and continue playing.
but she asked again, "What is your name?".
the boy looked at her and also asked her, "you, what is your name?".
Teresa answered with the name she chose when she became a nun, "I am Teresa of Jesus".
and the boy answered, "then, I am Jesus of Teresa".
the boy ran and suddenly disappear.

Teresa decided to make an image of a little boy Jesus, so that all the sisters will continue to be reformed.
In this child we will see His poverty, his lowliness, his sense of doing the will of God, that is why he became a man.

---

That is how the first sto. Niño appeared.

It is an invitation for us to asked ourselves, "Am I belong to Jesus?"

The original image of the child Jesus that was made for Teresa, can now be found in the Czech Republic, in the city of Prague. That is the Sto. Nino de Prague, the original image of Sto. Niño.

Here in our country, we all know when is the first image of sto. Nino came from.
When the Spaniards came and they baptized the first Filipino Christians, one of those to be baptized happened to be the daughter of the Datu, a princess. And as a gift they decided to give her a beautiful gift, the first Sto. Niño ever that was given to the Filipinos. Which remains to be the Sto. Niño de Cebu.

Truly, it is good to see that we have our own image of the child Jesus in our home, even in our business area there is a sto.nino.

Today, let me advice you this,
Go, put clothes on your sto.Nino, decorate it, put coins on it, put candies on it, there is no problem with that.
Its good that you owned this sto. Nino, that you make yourselves close to them.
But please dont forget that the story does not end there.
That we may also say, "I am Ash of Jesus"
and Jesus may say to us, "I am Jesus of Ash".

In this feast of the Sto. Niño,
feel good, feel happy and say "I have a Sto Nino in my home, it is mine. but I pray too that Jesus will say, they are also mine because I belong to them as they belong to me".

That devotion to the child Jesus challenges us to be like Him in obedience to the Father.
The Sto. Nino challenges us to be like Him, pleasing to God.
once you understand that, you understood the true meaning of this devotion.

Please do not forget the meaning of that devotion,

that one day, we may truly be declared as children of the heavenly Father, pleasing to Him.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

(inspired by fr. Mar)

Obedience

2011-01-09T23:23:00.001+08:00

Are you obedient to your parents?
Do you follow their will? or not?
and most of all,

Are you obedient to your God?

Friends, When Jesus approach John the baptist and ask for baptism, John prevent Him and said "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?" but Jesus answered, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

What I want to tell to you is simple, that from the start, even if it don't look alright, even if it is not the best way to do, there is only one thing in the mind of Christ. Fulfill the will of the Father.

If the father declares Jesus as His beloved son with whom He is most pleased, It is because Christ His son knows how to listen and obey Him.
That defines the Son.

Obedience.

It came from a Latin word, obi-dire means listening and obeying.

In the end we as the new children of God, will truly be pleasing to Him if like Jesus, we also know how to listen and to obey.

___

Today, many Filipinos are focused on the Black Nazarene of Quiapo.
According to some source, 6 million people will go to the church just to see the image.
Also on this day, the tradition of pulling the ropes during the procession and throwing their towel in order to touch the image of Jesus is done. They are doing all of this sacrifice because they want to be blessed.
We all wished for good life, more blessings, less problems and less sufferings. But the Black nazarene, image of Jesus we celebrate, is Jesus who is kneeling, full of blood, carrying His cross with all of His wounds and crowned with thorns.

This is the God who did not refuse all pains just to obey his Father.

What I am telling you is this, If we are truly have faith in Him, what we must ask more than the wealth, more than the luck, more than this financial blessings is like Him we may be obedient to the Father that we believed in. That is when true devotion begins to happen. When you go near to the black nazarene of Quiapo, remember a suffering God, because He wanted to obey His Father's will.

More than all of the blessings, ask for the gift of OBEDIENCE, because that is the only way that the Father can say, that is whom I am pleased, that is whom I loved, that is my child because he/she became obedient to my will.

Sometimes, the problem is we are very much attached to our own will. We want our own will to be done. And sometimes we modify what God has already planned in our life.

Today, we end officially the celebration of Christmas and it is true that during Christmas, we rejoice in this one fact that the Son of God humbles himself to be a man. But today because of baptism, we are rejoicing for we, the children of man unites with Christ, exalted and became children of God.

Now, our responsibility is to continue His mission and live up to the dignity of being children of the same heavenly Father.

Let us hope that one day will come, when the Lord will look at us and declare as He has declared for Jesus His son,

"That is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased"

Let us obey His will, even if we do not really understand, even if we do not like, and we will truly be defined as beloved to Him.

Obedience.
Today we ask for that grace.
and may the Father truly one day say,

"They are my children, knows how to obey. I Love them."

May you life truly be blessed,

Ash

(inspired by fr. mar)

Which way will you take?

2011-01-02T17:17:00.004+08:00

There is a story about 3 farmers going to the market to sell their crops, melon and watermelon.
Along halfway they started chatting with each other and talk about some matters until the time that they talk a topic about religion. The two farmers had the moment of debate where they are debating about the question, "What is the true and best religion?"

After some time of debating and talking about it, they ask their other companion, the eldest among them and probably the most wiser, they ask the topic they are debating.

He answered,
You know, it is like what we are doing now. We are going to the market to sell our harvested fruits, we can go this short way to arrive early to the market but the road is too steep that makes it dangerous for our fruits and ourselves. The other way is another short way but the road is too rough. Another way is a very long road that will take some time for us to walk before we can go to the market.

You are asking about what is the true religion.
When we sell our fruits to the market the buyer will not ask which way we take in order to bring our fruits to the market, instead they will ask, How sweet is your melon?, How fresh is your fruits?

-----

Today,we are told about something that is important. That the salvation is not only for the Jews, but for the whole world. That the truth is not exclusive to a particular group of people but for all who seeks the truth.

In Jerusalem, there are people that is known as an expert about the scripture, the people who which herod asked where the messiah will be born.
When Jesus became a man, there are also people who knows about His birth. First is the shepherd who got direct revelation from the angels and another is the wise men. They are from far away land but they went to Bethlehem with only the star as their guide.They are nature worshipers, they dont have religion but they went and search for he king that was born.This wise men, probably astrologers, went and offer their gifts and then go.They are not baptized as Christians, but they worshiped Jesus as the way they worship a great king. But the people who claim to be the expert in scriptures did not come to worship the king.

We do not say that all religions are the same, what we say is that we Christians, we have gotten the truth in its fullness. Because of the truth that we received, we can really know God, love Him and truly serve Him.

There are many ways of reaching God, There are many paths to attain heavenly reality, but if we lose our focus, it can be like we know the truth but we cannot arrive to the place where we must go.

What will gifts will you offer to Jesus when you arrive at Him?
How sweet is your melon?
Is your life pleasing to God?
Is the life you will offer, is a life that is full?

There is a woman who will celebrate her 100th birthday this January. A priest ask the woman, what makes you live a long life? and she answered,"My love for God and for others".

The secret of her life is by living it simple, My life is for the God I believe in and for the people I would like to serve.

When we come face to face with God, It is not how long or short our life was, it is not where or how we came to Him, are you a catholic, INC, born again, protestant or any other religion it doesn't matter. The only thing that He would ask, "The melon that you bring, is that sweet?"

DId you became fruitful?
Did you leave a pleasing life?
Was your life, is a life that was lived well and a life that matters?

The Lord tells us,
He is a God of all nations,
He is a God of all who desire to find the truth,
He is a God who will grant salvation to anyone who walks by the light of the star of faith and walk in the light of the truth of God.

As we enter the new year 2011,Thank the Lord for the all the blessings he gave this past year and Ask for the lord's guidance and ask for His light. So that this whole year, we may live our lives to its full as a way to be with Him.Pray that our life will be fruitful. And also be the Light for your neighbors. Be the one who bears the Light of Christ. Bring others closer to Jesus and in that way you became the same light, the same star that appear on the sky during the first Christmas.

How sweet is your melon?

We have only one life, lets use it, and live your life to its full.

Lets pray for the unity of the whole world, and for the unity of all Christians.
Let us pray for each other that we may find our religion as the way to lead us to our king.
That when the evening of our life has come, we can see each other with Jesus, regardless of what religion we belong while we are here on earth.

Our king was born, and reveals himself to all nations.

Love God by serving His people.

A happy and blessed new year to all of us!

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

A Loving Family

2010-12-27T09:57:00.002+08:00

A father was coming home exhaustedly and 7 years old son come up welcoming and opening the door cheerfully. While taking his suitcase, the son asked his father....

Son : Dad...may i ask you a simple question ?

Father : Hmmm....what's the question ?

Father : Daddy...how much is your one hour salary ?

Father : That's not your business....,why did you ask that stupid question ?

The father getting angry.

Son : I just wondering to know....please tell me how much you got in an hour at your office ?

The son trying to beg to his father hoping desperately for his father's answer

Father : 20 thousand rupiah(=+ 2dollars) for one single hour. Why do you want to know about it ?

His father asking again..

Son mumbling : Oh....20 thousand rupiah....

The son looking down,he was staring at the floor

Son : Daddy..may I borrow 10 thousand rupiah from you ?

The father getting little bit angrier immediately and then said, "Oh, so that's why you did ask me about my income per hour...

What will you do with that money ?Ask me 10 thousand ?To buy more toys ?I am working so hard to get that sum of money, and then you just playing and wasting that money ?It's enough....,

I want you to go to bed now... !!

Then the son stayed in silence and slowly walking towards his bedroom . The father sat in the sofa and wondering why his very little son asking him sum of 10 thousand rupiah.

After 2 hours passed, the father got calmed back, the thought passing his mind that maybe his son really need it for his school purposes because he never ask that sum of money before. He felt very guilty and then walking towards his son's bedroom. He found his son still not sleep yet.

Do you really need that 10 thousand my son... ?So take it.....

The father then took a sheet of red colour 10 thousand rupiah from his wallet and gave it to his son. He was waking cheerfully and smiling happily.

Thank you so much Daddy! "Then he lifted his pillow and took out another sheet of 10 thousand rupiah that now looked dingy because folded by the pillow. Seeing the money, the father got aggrieved and felt bitter.

"Why did you ask more money for you did already have that much of money?And where did you get it ? "

The son turned down his face....discourage to stare at his father face.Crushing the money in his hand and then he talked softly....

This money.....I was spending it day a day from my daily allowance from you that you gave for my purpose at school. I asked you another 10 thousand rupiah for I have no money anymore.....

Do not have anymore money for what.. ?

The father cut his son's word.

Dad....now I already have 20 thousand rupiah in my hand ....Please you take it. I want to buy from you one hour of your time at the office. I would like you to return home earlier tomorrow......

I want to get a dinner with you............

The son said it without noticing his father

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

This story is not just for the father but for all of us who are members of our family.

The message is simple, Invest your time for your family.

Christ himself at the age of twelve, when he went to the temple and preach about the words of God. at that age He already knew what his mission here on earth and he fully knew what he was doing. The question is, in spite of truly at twelve years old, Jesus knew exactly what he wanted to do, and he knew that he can already do his mission, Why he would still for the next 18 years, hide himself within the family of Nazareth and be an ordinary member of a family?

Is the 18 years of Jesus wasted because he did not start his ministry when he was 12 years old?

Why wait for 18 years? and then begin it only at the age of 30.

Because Jesus wants to share with us the importance of the family.

What he wants to say is, Family life is much more important than professional life.

Yes, we need to work, but if your job gradually destroy and separates your family, that is not something that you should choose. The family, Jesus tells us is so important that for 18 years he was an ordinary family man.

There is a moment when a family experience some misunderstanding, even with the family of Jesus, Joseph and Mary. When Jesus was left in the temple not knowing by his parents, that is a moment of tension. But in the end Love for God and Love for each other will overcome all of these.

In our family, which today is called to be the institution that is most under fire. Some said, You want to destroy the society? Destroy the family. But in a family where there is true love, you can almost be sure that you will have real good and loving citizens of the land.

Jesus tells us, Give time to your family, invest quality time for your family to grow in loving.

Family is important,

Presence is important,

Time for each other is important.

Few days from now, will say goodbye to the year 2010, and we will welcome the year 2011.

There will be so much preparation for that event, food, parties, gifts, cultural beliefs to attract good luck and of course fireworks. All of these is for us to have a prosperous new year. I also believe that it is good to do it, but there is nothing greater than this, that on that day, your family gathers together to pray as one, and a loving family may truly be yours.

Again and again,

FAMILY is important,

TIME is how you make that family, loving.

PRESENCE is the greatest gift that you can give to each other.

Jesus decided to be a part of a family, and he teaches us two important things, that the family cannot be together as one without someone who has truly in love with the lord and the lord is not the king of your family. second, family can only be a true place where you can feel that this is the place where you always want to be, if in that family, love is truly experienced.

Love deeply and Love passionately, you might be hurt but it is the only way to live life completely.

May you have a blessed new year,

Ash

(inspired by Fr. Mar)

The Greatest Gift!

2010-12-19T18:12:00.001+08:00

I saw this story in the internet and I want to share it with you.

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Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler.

One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left.

Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, "I am your king!" The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead he said, "You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the coarse food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!"

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This man teaches us a wonderful story of what Christmas is all about.

When Jesus decided to show how much He loved us, He did not decided to sent us too many gifts. This is just extra gifts. Instead He decided to give us the greatest of all gifts, the gift of His own self.

What is the difference between Christ and Santa Claus?

Santa Clause comes, gives us gifts and then he will leave.

Christ comes, not to give us extra gifts but offer us himself. And the most beautiful about that is He did not leave us. He decided to be the "Emmanuel" for all of us.

If you truly know how to love, you can understand that "PRESENCE" is the greatest gift that a person can yet give.

There is another story circulates on Qatar about what something happened on Dubai.

One day, their leader Sheikh Khalifa disguised as an ordinary man. He gets his Ferrari and drive it on a narrow way, but what he did is he drove his car too fast and at the end of the road there is a policeman and commanded him to stop because of over-speeding. While the police walk near to the car, he was shocked when he discover that it was the sheikh. The police did not know what to do, will he let the sheikh go or he will issue a ticket?

But he decide and said. "Your highness, you are over-speeding and your highness, much as I would not like to my duty tells me, I will give you a ticket"

After he gave the ticket, he told to himself, "Surely, tomorrow I will get fired but I don't care I just did what must suppose to do".

The next day, He has been brought to the palace.

And immediately the sheikh said, "I was looking for an honest and efficient policeman I have found one in you. You are promoted to a higher position".

And then the police answered,"Sir, the promotion that I would like and I have already received is that I have served my king".

The joy of this man is not that he gave a ticket to the king but he have serve the king by doing what his duty tells him to do.

Today, as we move forward to Christmas we must repeatedly tell to ourselves that may we desire every gifts that He might give but we must also not forget that as we desire the gifts we would not forget the giver of the gifts. That as we want the graces and the blessings, we would not forget the giver and the source of all of these.

My dear friends, True joy is in knowing that in your life you are obeying the will of the Lord.
Let Joseph be an example, he teaches us where true joy is to be found, in his obedience he permitted himself to be use as an instrument of God, so that God can be Emmanuel, God with us.

The greatest gift of Jesus is not for you to win the lottery, to give you a life that is too comfortable, the greatest gift that we celebrate in Christmas is that this our king, great and savior of all will be living with us.

Christ is Emmanuel, God is with us.
Christ is Jesus, the God who saves.
That is greatest reason of our celebration.

Hopefully on the day of His birth,truly we may say to ourselves,

"Christmas is happening to me, because Christ is with me"

May you have a Merry and Blessed Christmas,

Ash

(inspired by fr. Mar)

Faith

2010-08-25T21:48:00.000+08:00

"Faith"

One of the definition I found on a dictionary for that word is "complete confidence in a person or plan"
It is easily to say that we have faith.

Faith in God, faith to your friends, your loved ones and many more.

Have you asked yourself about that word?

Maybe while you are reading this I am still working for our thesis.
As a graduating(hopefully) Computer Science student this is the time I really felt how hard it is to be a college student. Much more different during high school.

Why I am saying this?

Because faith is very much visible during times of difficulties.
When we are in trouble, when we are in pain, when we find ourselves if a very difficult situation. Faith will became our strength. It gives us Hope during those times.

I am talking about our faith in God.

As a human, we are very busy about school, work, to make money, leisure and things that somehow make us forget what is more important.

Being faithful is not only when we are no choice but to call God.

Let us learn to put our trust and faith in God in every moments of our life.

If we all learn to do that, then that is the time when we can live with no anxiety. Not worrying for tomorrow because you know that God is always there.

When we are faithful to the Lord we cannot help but to obey His commands.

Like Abraham on the bible, when the Lord give him a son and ask him to kill his son as an offer, even though it is very hard as a father to do, with faithfulness to God he obey.
He knew that God has a better plan than him. That God is more important than his son. That God is the one that gives him a child as a blessing.

As he offers his child, an angel hold his hand and prevent him from killing his son.
God is just testing how faithful Abraham is and because he proves that he is faithful, he rewarded so much by God.

Another story is about Mary, when she has been asked by the angel to be the mother of Jesus, with faithfulness she accepted it. She knows that she is single but still she accept because of Faith and as a Lord's servant.

Many times it is very hard to understand God's will.
It is beyond our human intellect that is why sometimes it is hard to obey.

Like Abraham and Mary, even though they did not understand exactly what is the plan of the God they still follow His command because it is God that speak.

In our lives, let us pray to God that make our faith so strong,so that we can obey with everything that He say.

Faith is not about you understand all God wants to say, but you believe and you obey because God is the one speaking.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

My Love Letter

2010-08-11T20:49:00.000+08:00

To my lover,

Hi! how are you?
Its been so long since the last time we talk.
Many times that I didn't think about you, sometimes I forgot to call you
Being so busy in many things makes me move away from you.

Do you still know me?

I miss You!

I know you are still beautiful, kind, understanding and many things that makes you so special.

Thank you for being supportive, for being kind to me.
Most of all thank you for loving me.

I'm writing this because I want to be with you again.

I Love You!

For all the things that Ive done against you, I'm very sorry.
I realize that I am nothing without you.

I remember those times that we are together....

We are so happy day and night.
Living a simple life together with contentment in my heart.
I cannot ask for more during that time.
You are my greatest treasure.

When trials came to my life, we solve it together.
When the world seem so against me, you were there strengthening my heart.
When problems made me fall, you always there to reach out my hands and pull me up.
When I failed on something, you boost my confidence to work for it again.

You are my strength.
You gives me hope.
You are my life.

But I sin against you.
I walked away from you.
I left you behind.
I've been attracted to the beauty of someone.
Someone I thought that is more enjoyable to be with than you.
I thought that someone is better than you.

But all that ive thought is wrong.

All the time you are calling me, but I always refuse your calls.

I know I hurt you with so much pain.
But you are still there loving me.
waiting for me to return.
waiting for me to love you again.
You did not give up on me.

I am very sorry.

Now I am here asking for another chance.
Another chance to be with you again.
I felt your love for me,
and because of that I realize that I am nothing in this world.

How I committed all those sins to the one who loves me unconditionally?

Please forgive me..

Hold my hand again.
Let me spend the rest of my life with you.
I really miss your company.

I miss those times that we are together.
Eating together,
walking together,
laughing together,
sleeping together,
living together.

Thank you for waiting for me to return.
Here I am.. accept me again.

For may moments that I refuse to listen when you says to me the words, "I Love You".

Now is the time for me to ask for your forgiveness and to say to you that "I Love You too.."

Let us walk again and Love each other again...
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I Love You! Jesus!

Love,

Ash

Disciple

2010-07-24T18:15:00.000+08:00

Recently, We celebrated the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.

The church celebrate it as a memorial, but in our town we celebrate it as a solemnity because she is our patron saint.

Mary Magdalene is my favorite saint, thats why I dedicate this entry as a tribute to her.

Christians, Catholics or non- catholic we can learn many things from this women as we recognize ourselves as followers of Jesus.

Who is Mary Magdalene??

Among all the characters in the Bible, I think Mary of Magdala is the one with a most confusing identity.
Some said that she is a prostitute and someone that commits many sins.

The bible did not say any name for the prostitute. I dont know why people said that it is Mary Magdalene.

If Mary Magdalene is with us now, maybe she might said, "ok, if thats what you know about me. The most important is what happens to me when Jesus became a part of my life".

According to the sacred scriptures, Mary is the one that has been healed by Jesus from 7 demons.

From that day of encounter with Jesus, Mary became a follower to Him.
Mary felt the love of Jesus for her, and because of that She also loves Jesus.
She offers herself to follow the Lord, to learn from God.
She follow Jesus until death.

When Jesus is persecuted, all the disciples of Jesus hides because of fear except John.
Together with Mary the mother of God and the beloved disciple of Jesus, Mary Magdalene follows Jesus up to the foot of the cross.

Because of the love she felt from Jesus.
Bravely, she continue the journey with Christ.

At the foot of the cross, she continues to cry as she sees her master hanging in there, bloody.
She became brave to follow Him because of her love for Jesus.

During the time of resurrection, she went to the tomb of Jesus very early.
For me, this manifest the great love of Mary to Jesus and her desire to see and give respect even to the dead body of her Master.

as what we know, Mary saw an empty tomb.
she told this to the other apostles, and when the other apostles also see the empty tomb they go back home, but Mary stays there, crying.... hurting so much because of the death of Jesus and now because of His missing body.
and because of her cry Jesus heard her call, and the risen Lord appears to her calling her name "Mary" and by this she recognize that it is Jesus.

Mary Magdalene becomes the bearer of the Good News, the Best news.
The Lord is Risen.

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples "I Have seen the Lord" and what Jesus told her.

**

As a Christian, like Mary Magdalene we must learn how to follow Jesus because of love and not because of what we can get from Him

All of us are sinners, the most important is, do you recognize your sins and are you willing to ask for the forgiveness of God?

All sins can be forgiven because of God's overflowing love and mercy.

Offer your life to God, let us Love Jesus like Mary, because in the first place we are Loved by Him.

Let Jesus be your number 1 desire.
Like Mary that desires to see the lord and persevere to see Him.
Not like the other apostles who go home when they saw an empty tomb.
Because of Her perseverance, the Lord appears to her and became the first to see the Risen Jesus.

Let us pray that in our life like Mary we may say, "I have seen the Lord".

Lets make the life of Mary Magdalene as an example to listening, following and Loving Jesus.

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

GIFTS!

2010-07-17T19:08:00.000+08:00

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For

many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's

showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told

him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited

signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the

morning of his graduation his father called him into his private

study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine

son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son

a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man

opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily,

he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you

give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy

book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in

business.

He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his

father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He

had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make

arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had

passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He

needed to come home immediately and take care things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and

regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father's important papers and

saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With

tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he

read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope

taped behind the Bible.

It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the

sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation,

and the words...PAID IN FULL.

******************

Blessings are hidden in every person, things, and everything that happens to your life.

All you need to do is to look at it not only with its packaging but with whats inside it and recognize it and by that time you will realize every moment you must thank the Lord.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not

packaged as we expected?

May your life be truly Blessed,

Ash

Dash

2010-07-13T22:22:00.001+08:00

How is your living?
Are you living a great life?

I just wanna share to you this poem......

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I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came her date of birth
and spoke the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the “dash” between those years. (1934 -1998)

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth...
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars...the house...the cash,
what matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our “dash”.

So think about this long and hard...
are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile...
remembering that this special “dash”
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy's being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent your “dash”?

**********************

Spent your life with God.
Walk with Him before its to late..

Love... Love... Love...

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

Even IF

2010-06-28T23:16:00.001+08:00

I just want to share to you this poem.

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Even If
Your heart is breaking
Your mind is unclear
Your tired and restless and full of fear
Come to me-

even if
You say words you shouldn't
You don't do things you should
You doubt and try to change,
but never think you could.
Come to me-

even if
You thought an evil thought
You thought the thought again
You turned the thought to action and now your bound in sin.
Come to me-

even if
You say "But I knew better, I belong to you"
Child, I am not surprised by anything you do.

I made you in my image I fashioned you with care,
When you cried tears into your pillow, remember I was there.
I have always been and always will I be.

For even when you do those things, you still belong to me.

Even if you do these things, Oh child, don't you see?
Even if, even if, you still can come to me.

There is a secret place I have created where you may seek my face,
this place I have for you is called "The Father's Warm Embrace"
And when I have held you in my arms and rocked you, listening closely to your fears,
I will place you on my lap and wipe away your tears.
Then, I will smile.

A smile to let you know I am pleased.
For when you hurt and when you sinned, still- you came to me.

So, do not draw back from me my child,
I am Abba Father to you, remember in my word I said -Behold,
I make all things new.

I will forgive you, heal you, restore you,
I will shower you with grace.

I will never turn my back to you, but you will see my face.
On your journey home, when I see you I will run.....
Even if, Even if, My child, even if just come.

*******************************

May your life be truly Blessed,

Ash

Listen to Him

2010-06-20T21:04:00.000+08:00

Oh....... I LOVE this week.
I really do..

This is the first week of my fourth year college life.

Before this week arrives, I am undecided if I will pursue my study or stop for a while and continue next semester or next year. My mind is full of many things that makes me think of it. Of course before I decide for myself I consult to my best adviser. I pray to God for the enlightenment of my mind to do what is the best for me to do.
I ask also some of my friends to help me with my worries.

Even myself says that I want to stop, all the answers I got from the people I ask says GO ON. They said I have only 1 year to finish college I must grab the opportunity and don't waste time.

I noticed that every time I pray about this matter, the Lord answers me right away. One time after I went to the blessed sacrament and pray, when I am doing what I always want to do to surf the net haha. I've gone to a site that talks about dream, being successful and many things about pursuing something. Even the homily of the priest and gospel readings, I think are targeting only one person, and that is me.

Before I decide I talk to God and said "Lord, I surrender. Let Your will be done not mine".
I also made a covenant with the Lord. I said in prayer, "I will go on, But when the time comes that I am in the moment of falling, Please always be there ready to catch me."
I know that moment, the Lord is with me saying,"Yes my son, I will always be with you in any moment of your life."

**********************************************

June 15 arrives, First day of class and also the day of my nativity.
Early in the morning, I went to church to attend a mass.
I thank the Lord for another year that He entrusted me His life.
another year to be a better person,
another year to spend with my love ones,
another year to be with my friends,
another year to enjoy His blessings here on earth,
and another year to LOVE.

after the mass I went home. The same situation and nothing is different from any other day.
as I spent many time in front of my pc, I decided to spend some moment with my classmates. We eat together and surprisingly I feel very awkward because they are singing happy birthday inside the mall while we are walking... hahahaha. I feel so shy but that is what makes friend different.
In the school, one of them give me a tumbler with their greetings and signature as gift, and I really appreciate it.But the best gift I receive is them already, my friends who is always there for me, making me happy and making fun of me even they know that I am easy to get angry. ^^,
I love also the Faculty members of my school.
When I enter the faculty room, there is our dean asking me some food before she sign my registration form because she knows it is my birthday. There is also our coordinator singing Happy birthday for me and other instructors who greets me that day. I feel so blessed.

I said to myself, "Buti na lang ngenroll ako"(good thing I enrolled).
Our section is handed by the instructor that I said to our coordinator that I wanted to be our professor. I am so impressed with the way he teaches to us during the demo. I enjoyed his class and I learned a lot.

Many things happened this week, It will take a long time to write this blog if I write it all.
What is important is I really learned a lesson.

as JP2 said, "Never doubt, never tired and never be discourage"

God is always with you, every single moment of our life.
Maybe we neglected Him some time but He is there watching us and waiting for us to recognize Him.

Do not be afraid to deal with God, at the end you will always be the winner.

Entrust everything to Him and Let your eyes see how He works to your life.

Carry your cross with Him and It will be lightened.

From now on I am ready to face life's new challenges because I know He is carrying me.

How about you, Are you ready???

May your life be truly blessed,

Ash