We Are Still Blessed No Matter What Life is all about encounter no matter what life would belike a small

dot can stop a big sentence but few more dots can give continuityamazing but true! But that every ending can be a new beginning If we are people who always complain about the injustices that we have in our world we will miss one thing in our life that there is more to life than its imperfections and the truth is this is it. Oh yes! We really can complain to this world which we live that there is lot of problems to be solved, that there is lot of puzzles to be encountered, that there is much to be appreciated, that there much to search for but one thing we cannot deny that is we are not here on earth just for nothing! and thats for sure the thing is! The Bible sharing every eight-thirty in the morning was the most important part I will miss and of course the people who shared their life stories their works, their day to day living, their joys and hopes, their grief and anguish are also our joys and hopes, our grief and anguish which makes my life colored like a rainbow in the clear sky of bluish white. First day of work is that knowing what we need to do. It is all about familiarization. They give us direction of the know-how so that we can manage and be familiarized with the workplace. All day long we end up in the bodega. The following were reflections that I had which is the Gospel life we shared during our one and half month stayed in ZEMED, the workplace where I am in. Tuesday, 20th of September 2012. From Luke 7:36-50 is entitled Before Honor is Humility:
...Life is full of paradoxes (Life remains full of mysteries)The more humble you are, the more holy you are. The way to go up is the way to go downand that humility is the secret of life (Phil. 2:5-11)The gesture of lowering of womans head, our pride, is really our honor because it is already written in Proverbs: before Honor is Humility (Proverbs 15:33; 18:12)...

Monday, 24th of September 2012. From Luke 8:16-18 is entitled Purpose: Why Am I Here rather Than Nothing:
I do not really believe that we are just here, right now as a mere accident or it just happ en that we came here (na buhay lang tayo o putok sa butos)Light as it was understood is an expression of the inner beauty, truth, and goodness of God. The psalmist sung psalms In his light we see light (Psalm 36:9). His word is a lamp that guides our steps (Psalm 119:105). Jesus used the image of a lamp to describe our discipleship that our mission is to be lightbearers of Christ so that others may see the truth of the gospel and be freed from the blindness of sin and deception

Wednesday, 26th of September 2012. From Luke 9:1-6 is entitled Paghimay-himay/ Emphasize:
To be Disciples of Christto discipline oneself to be someone someone that you are not! Growing-up is the same with dying maturity is more on letting go of what we have and what and why we are. Like Mother Mary, the queen of the Apostles/Disciples the key point is let it be and that what is beyond the point of discipleship is secondary only! ...

Friday, 28th of September. From Luke 9:18-22 and special day for the Filipino Catholic because on this day is the Feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz:
It is all about searching oneself and searching God from the question: Who Do People Say That I Am? And Who Do You Say That I Am? Or simply Who I Am Or Who Am I?...

Tuesday, 2nd of October 2012.From Luke 9: 51-56 is entitled Not Everyone Will Love Us, But There Are Only Few: If there is DIVISION among us, God is far from us for He said: when there are two or three gathered in my Name,
I am there in their midst. This is God wants us, Unity and not Division. I know that we are not here to hate those who are different from us let there be tolerancefor tolerance is a space where understanding can dwell among us. To understand means to stand under the person we want to understand putting oneself in the shoes of someone.

Monday, 8th of October 2012. From Luke 9:25-37 is entitled We Do Not Understand Everything, But At least We Are Trying To Understand:

It is when we admit that we do not know at all what we are doing. The same thing said when Jesus on the cross once prayed: Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. The same with us today, we say: Father forgive us for until now we do not know how-to-love, though, we have loved since creationand so let us shake one anothers hands and say sincerely, forgive me brother/ sister for until now I do not know how to love you. This is our prayer for today.

Wednesday, 10th of October, 2012. From Luke 11:1-4 is entitled Kung Saan Ako, Tatay Bat Nandoon Ka!: My Family Is Not Perfect!:
Do I love my family even though how imperfect my family is. This is another way of saying that my family is not perfect but I love them because

Friday, 12th of October, 2012. From Luke 11:5-13 is entitled God as Father and As Friend which is Jesus is using another image, an image that is near to our heart because we are the image and likeness of God which means whoever dears in our heart God is always thereJesus is trying to give us an answer that God is a loving God like father and like one of our friends. God is not our own enemywe are the one who said that God did not love us because we are sinnernevertheless God is showing His mercy just to be with Him as much as we can with open heartily manner. October 22, 2012. Luke 12: 13-22:
We must rise from our limitation because our lives will never end-up with our limitations because our TRUE LIFE is much more than physical prosperity. It means that man does not live on bread alone (Deut. 8:3/Mt. 4:4/ Luke 4:4)We can say that we are because we have something with us. It means that I am what I have. The word simply says that I AM BECAUSE I HAVE THIS AND THAT from the book of Erich Fromm entitled To Have Or To Be which articulate the ultimate question: if I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I?

The finale sharing 29th of October which taken from Luke 13: 10-17, entitled Babae, Lumaya Ka: Reiterating the Fall of the First Parents:
Let me tell you mens story and history. You know what (pointing out to the women), we men, failed to establish one world full of love, compassion and understanding kindness. This is a humble confession that men can do. But I urge you (women of the world) do not condemned us, you are our motherswomen are our motherswe are your children and every time a child commits mistake, a mother will hug himsame with us despite our failings and failures like a mother you will embrace us like your own beloved childit means we really need you, your sweet, tender allembracing love beyond boundaries As we have known that love is kind, love is patient; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered of selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail love is eternal. Though it Gods love I know and I believe that it was written in your being, in your heart as being a women. Babae, malaya ka na!

This is all about my life-encountered in my work exposure from people whom I do not know from the start but later on became an encounter that lead us to discover that there are more to life that is from simple encounter like a small dot. No matter what our life would be, we know that we are still blessed after allbut we should not remain there and that we in turn should be a blessing to other people. We should share this blessing as much as possible. Life, after all, is all about sharing how little we have. This is what I have learned from one simple man of faith and also a father of a family who work in the Zenith (ZEMED) when he said: ano mang meroon tayo, kahit maliit man ito, kapag ibinahagi natin sa kapwa ay napakrarami; pero ano mang malaki meroon tayo kung hindi ito ibinahagi ay kakarampot lang ito/ whatever little things do we have, no matter how little it was, if we share it with others, it will be much enough; but even if you have plenty and if you are not willing to share it with others, even though you have enough, it is still so little. From that workplace I come to testify that the Word of God is still aliveno matter how many people would deny its existence, but still it is alive. This is the theology of an encounter in sharing of oneself your heart, your mind, your soul and with your strength to God in the midst of His people. Wilmar L. Rosales

I.O.U. My God: The Alphabet of Silencing Oneself

Just trying to meditate to discern the profound significance of the phrase drove me to take a pause and find a quiet place for regurgitation into the very corridors of silence.
Unless we create silence within ourselves, we will not able to be at peace with God and will always be at war with our inmost being.

In Sadhana: A Way to God, Anthony de Mello observed that as silence grows it will reveal more and more to us about ourselves. Or, more accurately, silence will reveal ourselves to us. As I entered the labyrinth of silence, I was able to relate with St. Pauls experience and there were two men inside me (Gal. 5:17). I practically became a stranger to myself in the void of silence. It was also a moment when I began to ask the question who am I as if I have not really known myself. Is this really the foretaste of what silence means? Like Saint Paul who honestly wrote that he was once in the state of at war with himself, why do I do things that I do not want to do? (Rom. 7:17-23) or should I say there is a legion within. No wonder many of us are still so afraid to approach the door of silence - it means the beginning of stripping off what we thought of ourselves to be, this false sense of self-value; at the end, we begin to realize and humbly admit to ourselves that we have not known yet the man inside us. For all the humanity thats still left in me, I also happened to notice that I have always been in a state of forgetfulness of Gods ruling presence everywhere especially in my life. I was then moved to engage myself in humble abandonment praying on bended knee before God and pleading for mercy and forgiveness. With praise and adoration, I began to seek Gods wisdom, so that the humbling phrase in the Lords Prayer, Thy will be done, becomes more meaningful. In the continued stillness of attentive silence, I opened my heart, ready this time to receive the gift of grace that would fortify my soul. This could only be Gods loving touch taking the initiative to lead us back towards a sinless life.
If I climb the heaven, you are there. If I lie on the grave, you are there. For it was you, O Lord, who created my being, knit together in my mothers womb (Ps.139:1-18,23-24).

Being aware of Gods reigning-presence rouse me from deep spiritual lethargy and slumber only to question and revisit my own spirituality, to retrace my steps and retrieve that authentic Christian Identity so I could steer back on the right course in this prayer journey. An inward journey, this genuine process of spiritual growth always starts with humility before our God if it is to be a life-changing experience that should draw us ever closer to God. Indeed, it has been said that peace surpasses all understanding. This peace is just at the bend for anyone who seeks first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is so near to us like the Word of God which is already in our mouth and in our heart, so that we can put it into practice (Dt. 30:14). This is also the same with our journey to the center of our being that will eventually lead us to awareness of the depths, the widths and the heights of the richness of Gods design, in the same way that the inspired Psalmist wondered in awe:

How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth! When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him

The Psalmist continues:

yet you have made him little less than a god; with glory and honor you crowned him, gave him power over the works of your hand, put all things under his feet (Ps. 8:2-6).

God gave us the wisdom to understand this mystery that the Father gave Christ lordship of creation and made him head of the Church (Eph. 1:22). Surely, God made all things out of love for man, and man in turn might love God out of gratitude for so many gifts. See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God! Yet that is what we are. Dearly beloved, we are Gods children now (1 John 3: 1) Jesus Christ our Lord revealed the Father first to his Twelve Disciples; He let this dignity be shared to us, his followers, when He said that when you pray say Our Father when asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray as He prayed. Sacred revelations were given to us to let us know that we are more than what we know and part of more than what we admit. But despite that revelation of who we really are, we have gone too far beyond what we supposed to be as Meister Eckhart once said: God is at home. It is we who have gone out for a walk. To consider the task God gave to human, God made everything fitting in its time and that he also set eternity in their hearts, although man is not able to embrace the work of God from the beginning to the end (Ecc. 3:10-11). It simply says that everything has a purpose even we do not understand it fully (Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life). I do really believe that there will always be a door waiting for us to open so to welcome us back home for we long for it when set it in the depths of our hearts. What do we really need to do is to discover that door as Saint John Chrysostom testified to this: when you discover the door of your heart you discover the gateway to heaven. This way, we can start practicing a Love-Driven Life instead. I learned also certain lesson when once I read St. Bonaventures Itenerarium Mentis in Deum (The Journey of Mind to God) that he who does not enter the door but climb the back door are thieves and robbers. The door is Jesus Christ in our spiritual journey back to God, back to Home. The reminder of mother Teresa of Calcutta echoes in this inward journey: first to create silence within ourselves, for God is a lover of silence so that in the silence of our hearts, God speaks of His love; with our silence, we allow Jesus to love us. He is always waiting for us in silence -to speak to us and to listen to us. We do not really need to travel far to search for Jesus Christ. He is not there; He is close to us - He is in us. Let me share with you the experience I had during our Five Days Mary-Martha Retreat (Franciscan Moratorium) as Gods answer, one way or another, to my confused disposition. This kind of retreat is very unique in the Spirituality of Franciscan Traditions if one really wants to trace back the active and contemplative form of service and prayer within the Franciscan Fraternity in which those who will be the Martha(s) of the week or days of the retreat activities will carry out the role of the Mother(s) who will serve the Brothers who are Mary(s) be treated as their Son(s). What actually happens here is that the sons will be begging and the mothers will attend the sons need. This is a very great help that which awakens the inner man within. This retreat enables to me

realize that most of my prayers were pretentious one and idle act of prayer. Prayer does not need words after all. It does not mean without word in a strict sense of the word but what is needed here is that the retreatants should able to practice mindfulness of Gods Presence in everything he does. Mindfulness of Gods Presence wherever he/she may be, one way or another, is truly an act of prayer. No words are needed but just a constant awareness of this constant presence! Perhaps, we should also consider the radical unfolding of the story in The Pious Man and the Shopkeeper. This is not easy; there is no shortcut in life! Yes, this is also what I really believe. But Gods revelation through Jesus Christ will change everything that we used to believe in. Jesus came to simplify the truth about our life, but the sophisticated man only tried to complicate everything and ended lost in the myriad of secular prescriptions. Indeed, the truth about the great mysteries of life will humble us and literally drive us to our knees to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Savior. They will. The Il Poverello of Assisi, Francis di Bernardone, brought to light these mysteries by his simplest expression of faith:
Deus Meus et Omnia! My God and My All!

In silence, I began to personally understand life from an entirely new perspective enabling me to reflect and respond from Gods point of view. We really need not be worried and afraid. What is only needed is simply to be there present with The Presence!