I have been so busy in the last couple of months that I couldn’t even spend an hour or two in posting stories or ideas here in my journal. I guess the least I can say is that there have been so many moments when my faith has been shook by people lately.

Being raised a Catholic, I had those moments of rebellion and even instances when I wanted to leave the faith. Looking back, I thought that the main reason for that is because I was approaching “reality” just like everyone else - I was conceding to it rather than facing it.

How do you concede to reality? I used to believe that reality is defined two ways:
1. Reality is something that you cannot do anything about.
2. You have to be a part of reality.

The things happening in society, no matter how disheartening they are (e.g. violence, sexual promiscuity, breaking relationships, family problems, racism, fighting against institutions and the church, etc.) are being treated as realities that we can’t do anything about and we are made to believe that it’s okay when we experience these things in our lives.

Unless people experience these things themselves, it’s indifference that dominates this whole notion of reality. But I overlooked the good-natured side of human beings. We are kind, loving, respectful, faithful and caring.

And because of our loving nature, rather than conceding to reality, WE FACE REALITY! Yes! The opposite of conceding to reality is facing reality!

How do we face reality? We should have the tools to face it like having the knowledge and resources to solve a math problem or to fix a car or to build a cabinet. And the main tool in facing reality is love! No matter how cheesy that word is, it is what gives us so much motivation and inspiration in life.

How do we love? Realizing the importance of faith in God in my life, love involves a whole list of virtues…

1. Joy. Being cheerful! Giving someone a smile, lifting up their spirits and making their day happy is one way of showing love.

2. Peace. When we find ourselves in conflict with others, we apologize. In my case, even if it’s not my fault, I do say sorry and ask the person I hurt how we can heal our friendship or our relationship. When we do our best to find peace with other people, we learn to love as well.

3. Patience. The pace of life is getting so fast these days that we don’t even stop for a second to breathe or to rest. Sometimes when we are expecting for something or someone, we couldn’t just stand waiting. I grew up being patient and every time I had to wait, I find that the waiting time I spend is my personal time. Usually I would try to be productive and read a book or listen to music but if I don’t have something to read or listen to, it’s a great opportunity for me to just look around or think and reflect by myself.

4. Kindness. This may be defined in so many ways but for me there are two ways to show kindness. One is generosity and the other, tolerance. Being generous of our time and resources to help others or even to be just present in someone else’s life is a form of kindness. Being tolerant to what others do in life yet correcting them and giving them advice when they seem to be falling behind in life. There are times when we have to give advice even if others don’t want it or don’t need it. But it is an art to do such.

5. Faithfulness. It’s not just about having faith in God which is very important for the religious. It’s also trusting others (having faith in what other people can do) and being trustworthy (being someone who others can have faith in). Faith and trust seem to be aligned together here but when we have faith in someone, just like when we trust someone, we give up ourselves, show our vulnerabilities, and become humbled. It’s sad when I find people being so indifferent about this and rather than just not caring, they even accuse and scrutinize other people.

6. Self-control. I think this has to be the most challenging virtue. When we know how to control ourselves, we also understand how to treat things like human dignity, the Church, the environment, the society, etc. We learn to respect and care for others and act in a certain way that would make us trustworthy and respected as well.

In my experience, when I value these virtues, my life is being shaped to deal even with suffering which so many people are complaining about. I understand that we sometimes have to be humbled in order to eventually move up in life. That our challenges and problems is just a test of our abilities and our faith in what we can do.

This is not an exhaustive list of the virtues but they are very important in showing love and care in the midst of the realities that we are facing and not conceding to. Think about how you treat reality and maybe think about the life you’re living. Reality could be an opportunity rather than an excuse or a fallout in life.

“Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43-45

One of the things that can be painful is wasting our precious time for nothing - nothing productive, nothing inspirational, nothing enlightening. This has been my status for the last couple of weeks. I wasn’t able to read a lot of books, it seems like I wanted to focus more on sleeping and thinking of my future too much.

I wanted to find motivation to get back to writing ideas and stories. But it seems like my brain is so exhausted. I hope I can find the reasons and problems for this and solve it through acting immediately. But it’s hiatus for me right now.

There’s light in the tunnel!

Hoping for the best!

Lord, protect our planet, because we live here,
and here we dwell with our daily tragedies.

May our daily reconstruction be the result
of the very best that we carry within us.

Give us the courage
to be able to reconstruct what was destroyed
to be able to recover what was lost
to be able to accept what was gone forever.
May you give us courage to look ahead,
may we never look back
nor allow our soul to be discouraged.

Lord, give us enthusiasm,
because Enthusiasm reaffirms to us
that everything is possible,
as long as we are totally committed
to what we are doing.

Lord, may the Earth continue
to transform seeds into wheat,
may we continue to transmute wheat into bread.
Do not leave us in solitude.

Have compassion on us, Lord.
For we often think we are dressed when we are naked.

Do not forget, in your mercy,
our friends in Japan, who are now teaching us
the meaning of Courage, Reconstruction,
Solidarity and Enthusiasm.

Amen

日本の為に祈ります

主よ、我々の住むこの惑星を守りたまえ
私達は日々、悲劇と直面しながらこの星の上で生きています

私達が行う日々の復興活動が私達にとっての最善/最高の結果であります事を
破壊された生活を立て直す勇気を
私達に与えてください
失った物を回復させる勇気を
私達に与えてください
永遠に失われたものを受け入れられるように
勇気を与えてください
決して後ろを振り返る事なく、
前進する勇気を与えてください
私達の魂がこの苦難を乗り越えられますように

主よ、私達に熱意/情熱を与えてください
熱意/情熱は、
それに真剣に取り組んでいるかぎりは
全ての事は可能だという事を
私達に教えてくれます

主よ、この地球が種を小麦へと
小麦からパンへと変える力を与えてください
そして私達を決して
一人きりにしないでください

主よ、私達に思いやりを

しばしば、私達は裸なのに服を着込んでいると思い込んでしまうのです

主よ
勇気、復興、連帯と情熱の意味を
教えている日本の友人達の事を
忘れないでください

アーメン

I remembered meeting up with an old timer last November. The ice broke pretty much when I told him that I have a crazy wish to God. He then told me right away that there’s no crazy wish that God doesn’t listen to… that if I will desire for anything, he said:

“Ask it from your heart.”

God listens to what we desire in our hearts - not through our minds, and not through our words. I started to become a lot more interested with this old man when he told me those words. I then realized that he has a special gift given to him by the Lord. He has the gift of healing, prophecy and miracles.

“If God tells me to talk to someone, He will let me talk to someone.”

He did receive God’s order to talk to a random person walking by. He asked this frowning young person if she has an exam tomorrow. And the youngster was surprised asking the old guy, “How did you know?”… he replied, “Because God told me to… tell me the good news once you see the results of your exam.” The young student called him back praising God and celebrating her achievement of passing the exams.

This old man suddenly became my friend. He then told me an incident when God told him to heal a man on a wheelchair. He came towards the handicapped person and told him:

“God is telling me to heal you right now.”

The man on the wheelchair was prayed over and eventually was asked to stand up from his wheelchair. After a few moments, the man looked back to his wheelchair and went back again. My friend - from just being an old man - was upset and he complained:

“Why did you look back? When God wants to heal you, why did you doubt?”

He then gave me a statement that I took by heart:

“If God wants you to show His power, receive it wholeheartedly and let Him work his power onto you… Have faith.”

The moments I made with this old man touched my life so much that it made my faith in God stronger and that I was willing to offer every effort I make in life to God and I always lift up to the Lord all my anxieties, worries, desires, hopes and wishes - and it doesn’t matter if they are crazy wishes.

To my surprise, he passed away earlier this month. He didn’t just make a difference in my life, but he also did so to others. God used him to tell people:

“Be bold in your faith in God!… There is only one name that saves… that name is Jesus Christ.”

To my friend: I will never forget that moment we spent together even if it was just for half an hour. I pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ to send you to Him and intercede for us. Thanks so much RD and I am going to tell you my good news once we meet up again in heaven. May God bless you and protect you on your journey.

I remembered having a conversation about how to focus in life with a good friend of mine on Christmas Eve. I’m always glad to have old-timers around to get inspiration and wisdom from and this friend I’m talking about is no different. He’s retired from accounting and he’s been telling me stories of his visits to the Philippines and how he was treated well in the country.

I was told to treat life as if I’m driving on a road. And if you’re driving on the road, you have to focus on the road, deal properly with the obstacles and keep away from the curb. It’s quite obvious what it means in analogy with life: Focus on your goals, go through all the pains and challenges in achieving those goals and never give up. But when I asked him about “failure” he began by saying that these are humps but one should think that failure is unacceptable. He told me to post on the wall this quote and read it everyday and understand the meaning of each word and thought as I keep on reading it. Hope you guys will use this too! It’s a quote by Theodore Roosevelt.

“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbled, or where a doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and who comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself on a worthy cause; who , at best, knows the triumph of high achievement and who, at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew victory or defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt

The theme I decided for this year in my life, a.k.a. 2011, is “belief in oneself”. I guess a lot of people know this already but it’s not too late for those who are the so-called late-bloomers, isn’t it?

I had an intimate conversation with a friend of mine and it seems that he was giving me so many ideas about what is important in life. I was told that people want to have money right away which is why they risk being in debt through joining certain businesses. And then after that, we started talking about how an individual have a limited body and a limited mind. A construction worker will be useless at 45, an athlete would probably be approaching retirement from sports at around their late 30s, all because their bodies cannot handle the work that they’re required of. An accountant, a businessperson, a scientist, or a teacher could gain certain knowledge and may not be able to further absorb it at a certain age. Thus the body and mind are limited…

But there’s one thing about us that is limitless. Ever wonder why after a long week of hard work and problem-solving, people still go to church? The answer is not because of what atheists would call delusions. It’s because people still believe! People are still optimistic that they can find their way out of their problems, pass every challenge and conquer every trial. The key really is one thing… Believing in yourself!

Of course, as a Christian, I believe in God but starting in 2011, I want to start believing in myself as well. I am God’s creation and God created us for the good and not otherwise. I want to believe that I can reach my goals, I want to believe that my life is worth living for, that I live for the good. I know God would want me to live for the good - meaning for His glory and for the good of others.

I also learned that if I want to live for someone, I have to do it from the heart. And this year, I really want to show how much I care my family especially my mom and dad.

But the thing that really struck me the most is the idea that in everything that we do, we must always think that we are living the way we do for a good cause and not a lost cause. When we are working in a sleazy job, we shouldn’t think that we are better than that job. We should be grateful for everything that we gain in life. But if we want to move on, we should focus and bring it up to ourselves that plan.

Believe in God, believe in yourself, live for the good with all your heart, and be grateful for what you have. Happy New Year everyone! May God shower you with all His graces this year 2011.