We Should be Imperfectly Mutual!

5^th Sunday of Easter

Pls Read God’s Silent Message: Jn 15:1-8

“The vinedresser must carefully prune the vine before it can bear good fruit.”

As parents, masarap sigurong marinig sa mga anak natin na sabihin nilang: 

“Dad, Mom, you did a good job in me!”

Minsan kasi, isa sa mga worries nating mga parents ‘yong “feeling natin, parang hindi pa natin nagagawa yong gusto pa sana nating gawin; … yong habang binibigay mo yong best mo, you’re still worried if you have already done what God told you to do.”

But then, sometimes too, we’re asking ourselves, “what should it take for parents to do a job well?” – is it just fair to also expect our children to do their piece of the job as well?

Minsan din kasi, as parents, we’re quite being harsh on ourselves na “akuin ang lahat ng pagkukulang” when brokenness in the family perseveres; while on the other hand, as children, we’re also unfair to point our fingers to our parents when things don’t work well.

Today’s gospel is reminding us a SIMPLE TRUTH:

The Lord promises that we will bear much fruit

if we abide in Him and allow Him to purify us.

This means that, as much as parents are striving to abide by God in performing their duties to their family, the children should also listen and cooperate with their parents in making their family imperfectly beautiful.

Just as what God wants, parents would also want each child to learn what’s more important in life. Sometimes there’s no easy way to understand that we have to sacrifice certain things for our family – but it is always grand when we learn to be humble in LISTENING with our HEART.

For, in the end, our humility to strive to understand and be in unity with our family will bring us the abundance that we hope to enjoy in life — over any material things that we cannot really keep for long.   #sunset

 

*this article is published as Gospel Reflection in The Feast San Lorenzo Bulletin

  Issue #20. 29 April 2018

“True Character is who you are and what you do — even when no one is watching you!”

If Jesus Can, Why Can’t We?

5th Sunday of Lent. Pls Read God’s Silent Message: JN 12:20-33

 

Are there people in your life that have hurt you and you have not yet forgiven?

Yong mga taong kinakasamaan mo ng loob kasi ang sabi mo nasaktan ka nila …

Yong mga taong sabi mo nakasakit sayo kaya nagalit ka sa kanila …

Pero ang tanong Friend … nalaman kaya nila na sumama loob mo sa kanila?

Nalaman kaya nila kung bakit at kung ano ang iyong ikinagalit?

And kung nalaman man nila, napag-usapan nyo po kaya ng tama where to draw the line of reconciliation?

Hanggang kailan ka po kaya magagalit?  Hanggang kailan hindi magagawang magpapatawad?

Just some of the questions we could reflect on. Sometimes it’s not really all about them – but about nobody than US!

Minsan kasi, kailangan din nating masaktan para maisip natin kung kailan din natin hindi sinasadyang makapanakit. Stories always have two sides of the coin. Supposedly, when we commit, we admit; when we omit, we submit! – but in reality, when one commits mistake & omits to ask for forgiveness, we normally judge & condemn – sacrificing the relationship to death.

Pero alam mo friend, what makes us uneasy to forgive is the fact that the real enemy that Jesus came to overcome was Satan who tempts the human race to create their own destiny through sinful pride and disobedience. In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit.”  – John 12.24

Only when the seed is destroyed by burying it in the ground, can it rise to new life and bear fruit. What it means is that, sometimes we have to die to our self-satisfaction of justifying why we’re mad.

If Jesus took our sins upon himself and nailed them to the cross to set us free from destruction, why can we not give up our pride and futility?

Friend, ayaw ni God na laging mabigat ang pakiramdam mo dahil galit ka dahil sa pagkukulang ng iba!

God has been striving to bring us into an inseparable bond of love & unity with Him. Only if we would be one with God would we be able to “free others from our unforgiveness” – then it would eventually free us to extend more love and bear much fruit of encouraging relationships! #sunset

 

published in The Feast San Lorenzo Weekly Bulletin. Issue #15. 18 March 2018. UNLEASHED Series. Talk 3: Freeing Yourself.

 

 

When we almost forfeit what we really “don’t want to lose”!

Cor Dei: My Gospel Reflections

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Pls Read God’s Silent Message: Luke 11:1-13

photo credits to cross map.com

Sabi nila, kapag ang isang bagay daw ay nasira na, ayusin mo man ito, sigurado kesa sa malamang, kapag nasira pa ito ulit, mag-gi-give up na ito ng tuluyan; hindi na muling mabubuo, “goodbye na lang”!

The last thing na pwede mo na lang sabihin ay: “sayang!”

And in your thoughts, madaming “sana”!

“Sana kasi, di mo ito masyadong inabuso, ‘di mo winalang bahala, — sana kasi iningatan mo!

Restoration. Along life’s journey, madalas ito ‘yong hindi natin nagagawa until such time that we almost forfeit what we don’t really want to lose. Yong pagkasira ng isang bagay, it could also happen to us in different areas of our life: in health, in finances and in everything else.

There are times that we don’t understand why things are happening to us — there may be a lot in life that may make us “wanna give up” and just allow “goodbyes” kasi akala natin hindi na talaga maaayos ‘yong nasira na. But you know what, the truth is: “WE CAN NEVER RUN FROM GOD’S LOVE” no matter how much we’ve neglected His “being near” just to make us feel complete.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. – Luke 11:10

Friend, God wants us to FLOURISH in every aspect if only we will PUT GOD FIRST in our life. Despite the many risks and challenges of feeling so down, so low and dead hopeless, He wants us to STRIVE FOR RELEVANCE and enrich everything else in OUR BEING –so that we will have that FULLNESS OF LIFE.

All that it should take is for us to STRIVE TO BE WHOLE: humbly ASK, SEEK, KNOCK and GOD WILL ADD MORE TO OUR LIFE than allow “goodbyes”! 🐬😊 #sunset

Published in The Feast SM Sta Rosa Bulletin. 2016 Series. FSMSRB Issue of 24 July 2016. BELOVED Series. Talk 2: Be Whole

 

 

 

 

Why Jesus had to “write on the sand”

photo credits to https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/

We can do our personal reflection on this God’s Silent Message: John 8:1-11

When was the last time you listened to your loved ones’ stories?

— the last time you deeply appreciated that person for listening to yours & for commending “your being great”?

When was that last time you sat down in full attention to that person who longs to hear “even that simplest boost & affirmation” from you?

OR, WHEN WAS THE FIRST TIME you did not condemn — that first time you did not believe your own assumptions against that person?

Because of forgetfulness, we commit sin! –Velden Lim #Didache3.2.16

When we don’t remember anything good, we care “less”, we hate more!  When we don’t overcome that “hate”, it clutters both our mind and our heart!  It makes us DISTANT and gives us all the reason “not to make someone feel their WORTH”.  We forget occasions, we forget to fill-in our love tanks and we no longer see the opportunities where we can reciprocate those simple reaching outs.

When we capitalize on our “I”, our self becomes numb: Self Is Numb because we no longer feel for others – only for our “self”.

“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her!”

Two times in today’s gospel, JESUS BENT DOWN to write on the ground with His finger while He waited for people to respond “in realization”.

For the many times you’ve written down what you hope people to realize, yet they still don’t, your safest choice is to “just be the one to bend and break and forgive because you love them so much”.

But sometimes, we are caught between tough love and resilience – for even if we love so much, we should not forget that it’s also our responsibility to save our loved ones from dying softly to forgetfulness. At some point, we’ve got to grant them the “benefit of the doubt” which should lead them to be a reflective person – until they realize that “it’s not too late to say I’m sorry”!

Today, may we realize why Jesus had to “write on the sand”!

When we commit sin, yet, like that woman we “strive to have that chance to be ALONE WITH JESUS”, our humility will make us REMEMBER DEEP WITHIN how much Jesus entrusted us to sin no more!” Only if we don’t forget such GRATITUDE, shall our heart remember what the mind usually forgets! #sunset

“When someone hurts us, we should write it down in the sand,                                                                where the winds of forgiveness can erase it!”

/@ProfGail67[twitter]/@gailmontero.47

 

EGO TRIP

Journey Within

Pls Read God’s Silent Message: John 6: 1-15

QUICK SELF-TEST:

[1] Have you ever gotten THAT CHANCE “to look in the eyes of your child” when he/she tells you what he/she feels? – or

[2] have you even TRIED TO LISTEN – not to those spoken words but to such yearning HEART?

[3] What about giving those words of approval when your partner has been striving for something he/she loves doing? OR [4] have you ever had the initiative to say sorry when you’ve been weak to be slow in anger?

If your answer is a TRUTHFUL YES, God could surely be SMILING AT YOU right now because you’re SEEING YOURSELF IN OTHERS!

If on the otherhand, you give some “philosophical” EXCUSES which ACTUALLY give a “NO” answer, you might then be needing some BRAVE SOULS “to HELP YOU REALIZE some perpectives – and I am praying po that today’s gospel could be one FEARLESS avenue which I hope you’ll GRAB REFLECTING ON.

God sometimes throw questions to us to see what’s in our heart just as He did to Philip to TEST his generosity and to Andrew for his faith when he doubted how the 5 loaves & 2 fishes from that little boy could feed many?

True as it is, we do not feel other’s yearnings when they are MOST IN NEED because of such an excuse: “we cannot give that much”. Even more, we’re entertaining that fact that they deserve what they’ve got and we’re making it a justification for us not to show affection no matter how difficult things are becoming for them.  Far BITTER, we don’t even spare them any of our glance so that we totally do not see how much CONCERN or even the LEAST CARE they’d even deserve to get from us since they’ve been serving us all the way.  Without us knowing, we’re already being so UNFAIR since despite our unaware INCONSIDERATIONS, GOD STILL ALWAYS PROVIDES even if we’re to that point of believing that we’re not directly asking after all  – which gives us the concept that everything that we have is because of our own effort.

Such concept is creating A LOUDER VOICE within us. Study reveals that if our voice is louder than the normal tone, that is an indication that we do not hear our self well. Not so big deal to worry about though; but being aware at that, yet we do not do anything to overcome, such state could eventually hinder us from hearing some voice of wisdom because we’ve allowed too much noise deep within us.

If we cannot see our “self” in others, we need to spend some TIME to JOURNEY INTO OUR OWN SELF; strive to discover some hidden issues to be settled, “let go” of our own hurts & guilt, pray & realize that the forgiveness that we should give to those persons na sabi natin ay “di natin mapapalagpas ang ginawa sa atin” should be that same forgiveness that we should give to your OWN SELF because several times in our life, we’ve also wanted to receive that forgiveness from those we’ve hurt.

Take time for this!

Dear Friends, “that chance that we never grabbed looking into a child’s eyes”, let’s GRAB IT FOR OUR SELF –for we should always be God’s CHILD each time we ACCEPT some “lessons to be learned”.

Life is short! Our days need not be numbered before we would realize NA DAPAT IWAS EMOTIONAL STRESS kasi even when we sleep, our heart gets tired kasi ayaw tanggapin ng pride natin ‘yong dapat nating matutunan. This doesn’t exempt me po, I’ve been talking to myself when I’m in silence, I’ve asked for forgiveness & been turned down several times because of misinterpretations; but lifting things up to God in humility makes me hope that the people God asked me to mission-out are A WORK IN PROGRESS. At dahil dyan, SMILE NA! Let’s keep life SIMPLE para MORE JOY! #sunset /@ProfGail67[twitter]/@gailmontero.47/blogs@trendingprof47.wordpress.com

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posted in The Feast SM Sta. Rosa Bulletin, “Ego Trip”. Issue#28. 26 July 2015.

THE REAL ESSENCE OF BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR!

Pls Read God’s Silent Message: MARK 6:7-13

If you make LOVE your motivation,

YOU CAN make this world a better place!

Yet, if you are an Entrepreneur, as I’ve said “YOU ARE” during the earlier part of this Series, YOU SHOULDN’T FALL in LOVE!

Ironic, right?

We wouldn’t really understand unless we STRIVE TO FEEL BEYOND!

Today’s Gospel while we also end this Series, SHOULD BE A GREAT REMINDER of what makes JESUS, ENTREPRENEUR: THE GREATEST BUSINESS MODEL IN THE WORLD.  

Looking into Jesus’ BUSINESS STRATEGY:

1. He REACHED OUT when He sent the 12 Apostles to perform cleaning-up tasks to the 12 tribes of Ancient Israel for whom [towards the future: Rev 21.21, 25-26] He prepared 12 Gates in the Four-Walled Glass City of God which are always open to welcome the glory of all the nations into it.
2. He TRUSTED & WORKED WITH A PARTNER when ⁷ He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
3. He GAVE ASSURANCE of His Presence with His Partners when ⁸ He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick.
4. He WAS CONCERNED about HOW THEY WOULD FEEL along the way that’s why He told His Partners ⁹ to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
5. He PROVIDED MOTIVATION — for He was sure that there will be REJECTION all along. ¹¹ Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet.
6. He OFFERED COMPROMISE & HEALING OF RELATIONSHIPs each time the Disciples anointed with oil those whose unclean spirits were cured.

NO ONE would ever find it easy to JUST GIVE-IN to somebody’s directives specially if along the way, we’re bringing with us the justifications of OUR PAST and the attitudes that we’ve already been used to, all the days of our life.

IN LOVE, we should STRIVE NOT TO FALL!

Falling in love is just an indication that we’re giving-in to that temptation of being impatient, stiff in understanding, EGO-CENTERED whose pride we protect against any insult because we are “in authority”, abusive, insensitive, unpredictable, hot headed, desirous of others’ approval in the midst several unrecognized pretenses which are at times at the expense of hurting another’s compromise.

IN LOVE, we should instead strive to GROW.

— no longer with our OLD SELF, no more of the baggage of the past

— enough of “doing our own thing” because we aren’t LONE-NOMADs!

God is SENDING US “TWO BY TWO” to train us TO THE REAL WORLD OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP – the LIFE that we’re ENTRUSTED WITH!

TWO-BY-TWO STARTS A FAMILY!

If WE CAN make LOVE our motivation,

WE CAN make this world a better place – but it SHOULD all begin @HOME!

— the perfect place to LEARN & EXPERIENCE that

THE REAL ESSENCE OF BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR

is to HUMBLY show that there is GROWTH IN OUR CHARACTER

and that WE are God’s presence to the people within OUR FAMILY!

Afterall, it’s never too late! WE STILL HAVE TODAY! Let’s MAXIMIZE TIME! #sunset

                                                                    If we make love our motivation!

/@ProfGail67[twitter]/@gailmontero.47/blogs@trendingprof47.wordpress.com

*published in The Feast SM Sta. Rosa Bulletin.Issue#26.12Juy2015

My Related Post: https://trendingprof47.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/god-sent-us-two-by-two/

We don’t have to be Perfect.

We don’t have to be perfect to know that we deserve to be loved.
Yet, it’s up to us how to feel that love every single day even if the people whom we expect to make us feel it doesn’t — right at the time we need their assurance.
Be hopeful still and keep on doing the right thing
even if you don’t see affirmations as of yet.
For as long as we humble ourselves to God, we would soon realize how God answers our prayers every step of the way — in manners we least expect. #OhmyGinspired

If a Person is Really Sorry!

You would know if a person is really sincere when saying “sorry”!

She would mean and respect your response in her heart and would not react in defense of her mistake when you tell her that she should realize what she did so that he wont add up more insults to God by not committing the same mistake over & over again.

A real sorry person STRIVES TO COMMAND HERSELF NOT TO ENTERTAIN NEGATIVITY OVER THE CONCERNS OF OTHERS who hope to make her realize the things that she should “work hard on” to let her become a better person.

These acts are the responsibilities of both parties if we mean striving ON THE RIGHT THINGS THAT GOD WANTS US TO DO.