i write to believe.

This week, I had experienced some sort of a crucifixion that made me realize how wounded work-places can get.  People in the work place need ministering too.  But I am young and inexperienced compared to most of them who are all in their mid-40s or early 50s.  What can they learn from someone like me?  Sometimes I find myself wondering if I have lost my place and purpose but there are times when I see it very clearly.  Three years ago, my Mom had told me when I just started here, "Be the miracle."  I wonder if I have already been one. January is about to end and the second month of this year is about to begin.  There are quite a lot of new things brewing and growth is being anticipated.  There are areas at work that have started to change for the better.  Areas of youth ministry that have responded more authentically to what needs to be paid attention to.  There is this sifting and this morning I just sit still and ponder abou...

I have been reading "Forgotten Among Lilies" for the past 3 weeks now.  I'm 72% done says my Kindle eReader.  I've decided that for me to really get into what I read, I'll keep sharing some excerpts here since writing helps me believe. Today I read Fr. Ronald's Rolheiser's reflection on how the Church has been divided.  He writes with a voice of true seeking.  I can understand how he must have felt he went on a far limb.  But doesn't one who loves really go that far just to stretch the capacity of how their hearts can hold on to an embrace?  And isn't being Catholic a huge embrace of diversity?  The tension is clear.  The discomfort is present.  But to me, his message is love.  To continue to love.  As wide.  As high.  To the ends of the earth.   {all photos from adi mari's page } His words are close to home because these are the words that ring true in my very own ministry. We live in a time of pain ...

The week has been filled with ups and downs.  But if there is one thing I've come to realize it is this.  Distress allows a person to sharpen something in their thoughts and unearth a solution or magnify a problem.  Anxiety allows a person to push forward or to back down.  My reaction to what distresses me is something borne from my experience, my values, my character and my skills.  One thing I have learned from my Mom this morning is that when you are in a situation that doesn't make sense, you need to find it in you to elevate your attention to a higher purpose and focus on what makes sense there.   Terminal death is a death that ends life, ends possibilities.  It brings dreams, health, honeymoons and happiness to final closure.  Paschal death is real death.  Something precious dies.  However in this kind of death there is an opening to a new life and a new spirit.  In paschal death there is always a birth as well, just...

The mass this morning was beautiful.  I'm glad we went to Pink Sisters today.  It's always uplifting to hear mass at their chapel.  One of the things I love about the priest's homily that encouraged me today was how he pointed out that we often celebrate the new year with so much noise and definitely want to welcome it with a big bang, yet he challenges us to be like Mary, who welcomed her new life in a posture of reflectiveness and silence.   I've found myself wanting to be surrounded by more silence as of late.  Not so much to withdraw from noise but to gain a silence of heart so that I can engage more meaningfully with those around me.  This Christmas vacation in Cebu has given me that.  I still struggle with keeping the peace and often find myself anxious about certain thoughts that cause me discomfort (mostly about work) but I've realized today that when I simply keep thinking about God, His presence permeates the darkness and lifts the heav...

Most Christian Leaders are used to thinking in terms of large-scale organization: getting people together in congregations, schools, and hospitals and running the show as a circus director.  They have become unfamiliar with, and even somewhat afraid of, the deep and significant movements of the Spirit within.  I am afraid that in a few decades the Church will be accused of having failed at its most basic task: to offer people creative ways to communicate with the divine source of human life.   But how can we avoid this danger?  I think by no other way than to enter the heart, the center of our existence, and become familiar with the complexities of our inner lives.  As soon as we feel at home in our own house--discover the dark corners as well as the light spots, the closed doors as well as the drafty rooms--our confusion will evaporate, our anxiety will diminish, and we will become capable of creative work and a spiritually informed life. The key work here is...