Hug for my sister

One day...
I gave a hug to my sister... yep... you read it right...
I did give a hug to my sister...
and the feeling was good just to hug my true little sister :D

This was our script that time...

Ning: "Yak kuya..."
Me: "O I just want to give you a hug"
Ning: "Yak :P"
Me: "O you like it..."
Ning: "No I don't..."
Me: "O come on you like it :D"
Ning: "No I don't :P"
Me: "O you just like it..."

It's like a rip-off from Happy Feet when one penguin hugs another penguin :D

and I like hugging my mommy... and squeezing her... and maybe next time... i hug my daddy... O I'm in a hugging mode today :D and I want this "on" for the rest of my life :D

I want to hug because I want to love :D
"to survive we need 4 hugs a day... and to really be nourished we need 7 hugs a day..."

Yes you read it right... not 7 hugs a week... but 7 hugs a day!!

It means we people are hungry for love. And we have been searching it at the wrong places like sex, smoke, drugs and beer. And just to suffice and even nourish us everyday we just only need a hug?!!! What is sex, a stick of cigarrete, a kilo of drugs and a case of beer compared to one free hug?

Mushy? Come on... You just need a hug. Saying this is mushy means you like it... and you don't admit that you like it... that you need it... that you are hungry of that love :D

come on... I dare you... hug the persons in your family... and hug the persons that you love :D
and see what you sow... you will reap :D

Filters

I was watching, again, Bo's Preacher in Blue Jeans...
and what brother Hermie told in his sharing before their worship was a good one...

Just a background in his story,
He has this fish that died... but he thinks he had done his part by changing the water always... feeding this special fish with special and expensive food... but still it died...

Do you know why?

It is because he didn't cleaned the filter of the aquarium. It is mandatory... just like the changing of water... the feeding of special food. It died because of the unclean filter.

and he reflected about it. And it sinked in me his reflection.

That we also have filters... we also have to change our water... and we also have to be fed with special food.

The special food is the Word of God and Eucharist.
The changing of water is the grace of confession or reconcillation.
and lastly, our filters is our eyes... our mind... our senses...

We can still die... die from sin.
Even if we go to mass and hear the Word of God or eat the Eucharist...
Even if we constantly go to confession to confess our sins...
We can still die if our filters are not cleaned... if our filters failed to "seperate" the wrong from right... the bad from good... which goes in and which should be filtered.

Brother Hermie's sharing really struck me. He shared about him just browsing to a set of books like Didache, Sabbath... when he saw on the other side a full blown shot of Iwa Motto's pose in the FHM's front cover of its magazine. He was tempted to look... but he turned away...

Why? Because he knows that it is bad... he had quickly filtered the bad. And also he had trained himself that he will just look at his wife... and he need not look at that because his wife is sufficient for his love.

I too can relate... I have been in many stores where you can find vcds or vid games of hentai and/or pornography and I am still tempted to look... to read the captions... to buy the cd. I have been in many places where there are FHM and UNO magazines racked up in the shelves waiting for me to pick them up and read and look at photos inside. I've watched TV episodes or movies in our cable that promotes sex and pre-marital sex for the sake of "love” or pleasure of it. I've been in situations that my mind just starts to think about lustful things and I don't stop myself from imagining it...

My filter is not yet that clean. And even if I go to mass and participate in the Eucharist or confess my sins... I'm still gonna sin and die.

Thus, I have to clean my filter also lest I die of sin. I have to fight my temptations. I have to run away from these temptations... I have to have the graces from God to keep on struggling and cleaning my eyes... my mind... my thoughts...

Lord God I ask for your graces to help me clean my filter. I still struggle not to fall into temptation. Lord God help me. In Jesus might name... Amen

God's Iron Rods

Look at an iron rod... or anything metal.

Apply a magnet to that iron rod and it sticks to the magnet.
Apply a powerful magnet and the iron rod will also stick to that magnet.
But also look at the iron rod when touches another iron rod... it also sticks either to the magnet or to the iron rod.

And if the magnet is really powerful, you could create a "string" of iron rods where all rods are "holding-each-other" or "close-together" and they "hang-on" or "hold-on" to the magnet.

But there is also a downside to this... if iron rod is rusty, it will not stick to the magnet. Well, it can stick but not as powerful when the iron rod is clean ... it is because of the molecular arrangement of the rusty iron rod that diminishes its magnetic response to a magnet. Thus, it cannot be magnetized and it will not also pull other iron rods... even if the other iron rods are clean or rusty...

We are also like that... God is an all powerful God. And He is also a Magnet when I passed St. Therese one night. And the iron rods are the Pastoral Youth Ministry (PYM) where I saw them for the first time worshiping as a whole inside the chapel... What a sight... and I could see my God smiling :D

I was going home when I saw it... I immediately turned my car and drove it inside the chapel and immediately "cling" to those people and started worshiping. I "hanged-on" to other iron rods... and felt the Power and Glory ni God... it feels so good... because I decided to "stick" with them...

If I decided to go home and just put it aside, I'll be a "rusty" iron rod... Low "magnetic response" to the Lord... I will not be responsive to His calling...

I do hope that we stick together like iron rods... be an iron rod and let yourself stick to other clean iron rods... stick together with the power of Christ.

And be careful not to get yourself "rusty"... because I would not feel his power over me if I am under the "rustiness" of SIN.. I would be just another rusty iron that will be thrown away because it is useless... and I could not make myself be a channel of God's power over other "iron rods"...

Well... that's all...
Lord God... Let us feel your "magnetic presence"... Let us always feel your Love. Let us be clean iron rods and make us your instruments to also bless others with your "magnetic presence" and love :D Let us not be rusty ones :D In Jesus' name I pray... amen and amen and amen :D

Time to Serve

I was driving back home from work with my friends when one of them told us her realization after her experience in the recent Youth Encounter event last weekend.

Her realization was this:
That she has to give something back to the Lord... after all the worshiping and the good feeling and happy feeling she got from attending worship services. She thought she is not using all her talents and faculties yet to serve God.

Thus, she joined the dance group for the concert. Because she knows she can dance, she wants to serve God in dancing. She wants to give back and offer herself through her talents in dancing.

All of this boils into one point: That it is time to serve the Lord.

That it is time to start being a disciple... no... but an apostle for Christ and to serve...
not only worship Him and feel goody-goody inside...
not only feeling uplifted and high everytime.

But to spread the Good News with not only your words... but also with your actions... no... WITH YOUR WHOLE LIFE.

Use your God-given talents to serve him. To REALLY SERVE HIM. Better yet... use your CORE GIFTS, things that makes you happy when you do it especially when you do it for the good of others... serving others... loving others.

As for my friend, she is starting to realize it at her young age... she is starting to use her talents for to serve others... to serve God... and to love others... as well as to love God.

A Failure

I failed on my first day of class..

I admit that it was a bit chaotic then :D
Maybe I wasn't that too prepared to teach about that subject...
or I got another headache because I slept late again :D
or I was new in the craft of teaching...

I failed...
And I didn't reached my expectations and the expectations of my students on my first day of teaching...

I thought that day "Was teaching for me?"

The failure was eating me... But I can't let it do it to me again...
I have to do something... and that is to improve myself.

Fortunately, I met with my "Ate" for a "cup of coffee" (Yeah... I do have an "ate" = big sister... although I am the eldest :D) She's also a teacher ranging from kids to "kids" (ermmm.. for those who couldn't get it: "kids" = college).. I asked for tips to get the attention of the kids and she gave me many advices :D

I also remembered watching Bo Sanchez in the Kerygma Feast giving an example on how Swedish teachers teach their students by not giving them grades with errors in their papers but helping them know why they got the wrong answers and helping them to correct these wrong answers.

I learned so much that day :D and it is because I failed.
If I haven't failed or felt my failure... I'll be one of those teachers na boring... No life...

Every failure is a learning stone... and I'm learning to move forward after each failure...

There is one big difference between a winner and a loser... the answer: how to respond to failures.

If I have let myself be eaten by my failure.. By the next day, I will lose my passion for teaching... and I'll be more of a failure by then...
But I chose to be a winner: I chose to learn from this experience.

and I want my students also to learn this: If they want to get the highest grades from my class... they have to fail first... and learn from them...

Now don't get me wrong... I did not want them to get a grade of 5 to get a grade of 1. I want them to allow little failures into their lives... and process them... so when the exam comes... they know how to answer it correctly.

Also I don't want them to fail always... they have to learn also not to commit the same mistake twice :D

We have to know how to handle failures in our lives to be successful...

last words: Failure IS AN OPTION :D

The Eucharist: Reloaded

What joy!

The 1st advent...I finished the whole mass :D
And though we thought we were late again, the mass started at the time we arrived at the church.
It is like the whole church was waiting for us to arrive before it could start the mass (ok, I exagerated that part hehehe)
I can feel the Lord saying: "Oi... you're just in time :D tara let's start (come on, let's start) "

So I participated in the mass fully... sang the song when I know the tune... and listened well...
But this is the best part: when I participated again in taking the Eucharist.
I can feel deep inside, tuwang tuwa ako (I am so happy)... parang ngayon lang ulit ako makakakain (It's like it will be the first time to take the Eucharist)...

It's like I am then a child :D "Yey!! Itetreat ako ni Lord ngayong araw na to (The Lord will treat me today)" :D

After so many months that I am not with Him through the Eucharist...
After so many weeks that I can't focus myself in the mass...
After so many days dwelling on my own self and my sins...

I have come back again into the light of His presence...
and have recieved what my soul really wants...
Jesus...

Do you know the feeling?
Try to come back... You feel the "I miss the Lord... that I want to be with Him again :D"

And you will hear this reply: "Yes my child... I also missed you :D"

Welcome to the New and Improved Spero-Lumina Stories

Before the 1st day of the year 2007 ends... I want to welcome you to a new set of stories.

A cleaner and newer set with simpler but full of wisdom and knowledge.
Join me as we bless each other with much reflections about life, love and God.

Join me in a new adventure where we fail, stumble and fall...
But for every pain, suffering and failure... we stand up... look-up and walk again...

This is life...
May this blog inspire change... as I am always inspired by change through stories of others...
May this blog console hurt feelings... but also learn lessons in storms...
May this blog be a harsh reality... and also something to free us from lies...

May this blog be simple... giving hope and light to all...

Welcome...
Welcome to the new and improved Spero-Lumina stories...