AN OPEN LETTER TO MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RITUAL OF REMEMBER-ING

"REMEMBERING is the heart's own way of holding our loved ones close and keeping us in constant touch with those who mean the most."

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love becomes a part of us.

-Hellen Keller-

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year! Friends, thank you all for expressing how you have  been a friend to me!

I am sorry that it took me a long time show up in FB and to have the courage to articulate that I am still alive and that my life has been "different" because my life choices have changed.

I was anticipating that it would not make sense to you that I seemed to have thrashed everything that I have worked for, particularly from what had "symbolized" my total life commitment to God, to all others and to the world. That is to say, my embracing  and leaving my Life Commitment to Religious Life.

In fact, my WHOLE idea of vocation and vocation priorities have changed and I did not know whether you would understand or that you would accept me for this drastic life decision. 

  I now just believed that my Vocation is Our Shared Vocation.

Whether religious or secular life, there is always something greater that happens when we embrace a particular life. I have learned to understand better that OUR VOCATION is more of what of Frederick Buechner's articulation, THAT IS, to be at "the meeting place where we address the greatest world needs and where we most satisfy our greatest need."

I am sorry that, maybe, I did not trust you enough or I just presumed that you would understand that I just have to move on in my life. That means, that I had to temporarily cut off from all my present and past connections . But am sorry that my absence and silence has taken me a long time.

However, going back to Facebook last week made me realize that I may have been totally in isolation.  In your communications and messages, you showed me that you can understand my long silence and my seeming uncaring absence. It's either simply because you might have known me as a genuine friend, who just happened to be different and who have process his life events differently or you just believe that somehow anything is possible on line and that we would connect one way or the other.  

I have chosen to believe that you must have known me well and my pattern of relationships and that you are my true friend.  I usually detach and be out of circulation to see things from a better perspective but I always come back.. however and whenever...  as more more enlightened and profoundly individual. And that I never change, I always carry you in my mind and heart.  

 I know that this trust should have been a two way street.  I have to trust you as well as a friend, just as you have trusted me that I always consider you as a friend, no matter what.

 I want to start right now, by saying sorry for not having enough faith in you. I also want to thank you for trusting me and for showing me that you are a genuine friend! 

Secondly, I should let you know what you need to hear. In leaving religious life, I did not turn my back from what God had granted me, I am turning toward the direction that God has been daring me to venture on my life's journey.

 I just have known that in my absence, I have missed a lot and this is something that I have to bear and to be sorry for.   I know that I  could not make up for those moments that I missed - like being with my cousin Joel who passed away early this year, being with you on special occasions like our class reunions, and other landmarks in life that I could have shared with you.  I really do apologize for not having to have done better.

The Christmas and the New Year Season is appropriate to invite you to start all over again. Just like how I have been pre-occupied with appreciating the beauty of landscapes and looking at them with fresh lens, I invite you to reframe how we see ourselves, other people, God and the world around us. 

I cannot promise that I would be around always since I have always been a recluse all my life. I am also starting a new phase in my life this year and would move on to relocate somewhere where God leads me.  I just want to touch base and to tell you how grateful I have been for you and for your friendship. I will try be more obvious and would visit FB once in while and would join you in spirits in celebrating our friendships!

Happy New Year to you all! 

FYI, for a long time I cannot read my messages from the Brothers' Intranet Access and had to re-configure my lost internet connections and aquaint myself with the nuances of Facebook and Myspace. Would post every once in a while on my webiste as I would be connecting with my other links soon as time permits. But promise to be around and to check on you as well. Love you all!

"The Lord is in your midst."  Zepaniah 3:17

"You do not have to see the wind

to know that it's rustling gently in the trees;

You don't have to see the bird 

to enjoy it's sweet singing;

You don't have to see God's face

to know He hears all the prayers for you

and smiles upon you now 
with Love!"



HOPE YOU KNOW 
HOW OFTEN YOU ARE THOUGHT OF
AND
HOW MUCH YOU'RE CARED ABOUT!

NEW YEAR'S BLESSINGS!

"O Lord, Your Word is a Lamp unto my feet,

and a Light unto my path!"

Psalm 119:105

GOD LOVES AND CARES SO MUCH FOR US!
HE HAS BLESSED US
AND HAS CONTINUED TO SHOWER US WITH HIS GRACE 
IN SO MANY WAYS WE COULD NOT
EVEN IMAGINE.

  LET US JOIN HANDS IN PRAYING
THAT WE MAY CONTINUE TO BE AMAZED 

BY GOD'S MANY BLESSINGS

ON  OUR LIFE'S JOURNEYS
ESPECIALLY DURING

 THIS NEW YEAR. 

God's plan is good,

His Power is GREAT

and His Best is yet to come.

Matt Anderson

For I know I have PLANS FOR YOU, says the Lord,

a PLAN OF FULLNESS, NOT OF HARM

TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND FUTURE...

Jer 29:11

GOD AS THE CENTER OF OUR LIVES

COILED SHOOT OF A GIANT ANCIENT FERN

"What you get by achieving your goal is not as important

as what you become by achieving your goals" 
-Goethe-

ALL EMBRACING GOD, 
THANK YOU FOR THE REMINDER
THAT WHATEVER I HOLD AT THE CENTER OF MY LIFE

CAN HAVE THE POWER TO INFLUENCE 
AS TO WHOM I MAY BECOME.

LORD, I IMPLORE YOU TO DIRECT NOT MY FOCUS
ON MY FALTERING SENSE OF SOLITARY SELF, 
ON MY RELIANCE ON FALSE POWER AND SECURITY
AND ON MY ATTENTION TO FLEETING HAPPINESS.

RATHER, SET MY HEART ON FIRE WITH LOVE FOR YOU
AND FOR YOUR MYSTICAL PRESENCE 
 DEEPLY PLANTED IN MY HEART
AND IN ALL OF LIFE.

YOU HAVE CONSTANTLY STIRRED LIFE IN ME;

NEVER STOP TO SEIZE ME WITH YOUR CARESSES.
CONSTANTLY SURPRISE ME 
AND KEEP ME IN AWE AND WONDER
AS YOU DRAW ME CLOSER TO YOU.

EVER LOVING GOD,

KEEP MY HEART EVER VIGILANT AND GRATEFUL

AND SO THAT I CAN ALWAYS 
RECOGNIZE & CELEBRATE 
IN EACH MOMENT OF MY AWARENESS
YOUR EVER UNFOLDING SELF-REVELATION
DAWNING INSIDE OF ME AND IN ALL OF CREATION.

O, GOD-WHO-IS-WITH-US,
BLESS ME IN MY UNDYING DESIRE 

TO MAKE YOU THE CENTER OF MY LIFE!

POPE FRANCIS ON CHRISTMAS: 

What does Christmas speak to us today?

"CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT GOD VISITING HIS PEOPLE...

ABOUT ENCOUNTERING JESUS"

"IT SPEAKS OF TENDERNESS AND HOPE"

When God meets us he tells us two things. 

The first thing he says is: have hope. 

God always opens doors, he never closes them. He is the father who opens doors for us. 

The second thing he says is: don’t be afraid of tenderness. 

When Christians forget about hope and tenderness they become a cold Church, 

that loses its sense of direction and is held back by ideologies and worldly attitudes, whereas God’s simplicity tells you: go forward, I am a Father who caresses you."

'CHRISTMAS IS JOY, RELIGIOUS JOY, GOD'S JOY, 

AN INNER JOY OF LIGHT AND PEACE"

When you are unable or in a human situation that does not allow you to comprehend this joy, then one experiences this feast with a worldly joyfulness. But there is a difference between profound joy and worldly joyfulness.” 

MAY OUR CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION 

BE FILLED WITH THE PROFOUND JOY AND PEACE

 OF CHRIST'S COMING INTO OUR WORLD

 AND INTO OUR HEARTS!

PRAYER TO THE GOD OF THE SEEKING

SHRINE OF THE SACRED HEART AT FARHNWALD JESUIT RETREAT CENTER
OSHKOSH, WI

Teach me to seek you,

and when I see you , show yourself to me;

for I cannot seek you unless you teach me,

or find you unless you show yourself to me.

Let me seek you by desiring you.

Let me find you by loving you

and love you when I find you.

I do not seek to understand so that I can believe

but believe so that I may understand

For this too, I believe:

Unless I believe, I shall not understand.

St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

 As the Christmas Season approaches,

let us remember those whose lives have been interrupted by sudden, unwanted and uninvited losses.
May our celebration of God's coming into our midst 

bring us deeper consolation and hope.

TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF PRAYER

"To pray is to enter into a relationship with God

and to have that relationship make a difference in my life"

-  KENNETH LEECH -

THE CORE OF CHRISTIAN PRAYER

"Establishing and developing a relationship 

is the nucleus of all Christian Prayer. 

This bond is created with Someone, 

and that Someone is God.  

Our Source of Life continually bids each of us into a loving union. 

The process of prayer unfolds in a way similar to Jesus' inviting his disciples to follow him into a deeper friendship, 

a closeness that did not develop instantly. 

 Prayer is a kind of companionship 

that develops step by step,

 as we are drawn into an ever expanding oneness of love.

"Prayer" is not only about entering into a relationship with God; 

it is also about being changed. 

Healthy prayer strengthens our bond with the Creator 

and it also transforms us. 

Every encounter with God provides the opportunity for us to grow spiritually. 

Prayer makes a difference in our life 

because it nudges and persuades us to develop Christ like qualities 

in our attitudes and actions. 

Through prayer we become more loving, gracious,

 compassionate, and justice-oriented beings. 

When this happen, 

we are altered in a positive way 

and the world we touch is also changed for the better." 

- Joyce Rupp, Prayer -

MAY WE ALWAYS BE DOCILE AND WILLING 

TO BE SEIZED BY OUR LOVING GOD 

WHO CONTINUALLY DRAW US CLOSER 

TO GOD'S EVER EXPANDING ONENESSS OF LOVE!

PRAYER IN TIMES OF TROUBLES

God is our REFUGE and our STRENGTH,

Who from of OLD has HELPED us in our DISTRESS.

Therefore we FEAR NOTHING -

Even if the EARTH should OPEN UP in front of us

and MOUNTAINS PLUNGE into the DEPTHS OF THE SEA;

even if the EARTH'S WATERS RAGE and FOAM

and the MOUNTAINS TUMBLE with its HEAVING...

(Ps 46:1-3)

GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, A LOVING PRESENCE IN TIMES OF TROUBLE

The Beloved is our refuge and strength,

a Loving Presence in times of trouble.

Therefore we shall not fear though

the earth should change,

though the mountains shake 

in the heart of the sea;

Though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

Psalm 46 (Psalm for the Praying, Invitation to Wholeness)

Nan Merril

May Faith, Hope and Courage
be our Guiding Light
today and always!
May God be praised!

REMEMBERING NELSON MANDELA ON RESILIENCY

EVERGREEN TREE ON TOP OF THE STONE MOUNTAIN 
STONE  MOUNTAIN, GA
(elevation is 1686 ft and 825 ft around sourrounding area)-

"Difficulties break some men but make others. 

No axe is sharp enough 

to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, 

one armed with the hope

 that he will rise even in the end."


"Everyone can rise 
above their circumstances and achieve success 
if they are dedicated to and passionate about 
what they do."

 "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,
 but the triumph over it. 
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, 
but he who conquers that fear."

"Do not judge me by my successes,
 judge me by how many times I fell down 
and got back up again."

-NELSON MANDELA-

May our visions and life directions be enriched and our spirits be inspired
by the rich legacies that he lived and shared with us all!

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

THE  PROFOUNDEST LOVE

"LOVE is not a feeling;

it is AN ACT OF THE WILL, A COMMITMENT  
THAT SUSTAINS THE RELATIONSHIP

even when the Beloved 

is no longer even likable."

Instances abound like

"the LOVE OF THE MOTHER of the death-row convict,

the LOVE OF PARENTS when their children say,

"I've found someone I love more than I love you -

at least in a different way,"

the LOVE OF THE ALCOHOLIC FAMILY,

the PRODIGAL LOVE OF THE FATHER

for his runaway son,

GOD'S LOVE FOR US

when we say,"I don't need you,"

and

OUR LOVE OF GOD

when God chooses to be silent."

-William O'Malley, "Redemptive Suffering"-



May our lives continue to be enriched and to be transformed
by the profound love that others have lived and shared
and may their examples ever propel us 
in our efforts to "know God more deeply,
love God more dearly, 
and follow God more closely"
in our lives!