Dakilang Liwanag,
halina't manahan sa aking kalooban.
Hubugin Mo kami upang maging debotong misyonero/a;
ang maging liwanag sa mundo,
ang maging ilaw sa aming kapwa.
- A Prayer from the Candle Chapel
at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Shrine in Baclaran
(That Point of Forgetfulness)
When in our prayers we forget, we proceed to remember.
- selah -
When in our seeking the LORD in prayer
- our efforts suddenly cease -
and for a moment - just for a moment -
all our thunderous longings, all our anxious needs, all our turbulent wants -
they dissipate like so much gray clouds
into the infinite embrace of God
and there is a calm in thyself
that moment is Peace.
God comes to us and just for a moment;
a mere instant in time - in a twinkling of an eye -
you are struck with the realization that God is and He is God
that moment is Peace.
It is as if one is sitting outside of time and of self,
detached from all thy human worries - in the quiet of thy heart -
when at the rising of thy heart and mind in prayer -
as thy freedom ascends to the freedom of God
every need, every care, every fear is vanquished from thought
and you lose sight of everything - everything but God -
that moment is Peace.
You will ask to stay in that one moment
- forever and for always - and forget everything but God -
immersed in a luminous sea of unconsciousness,
but just as soon as you are in it,
just as soon as you glimpse the limitless vistas of the timeless,
just as soon as you feel yourself wanting to stay -
you emerge back out of the unseen waters
into the dimness of consciousness.
These moments are like desert oases
meant to sustain thee in the wilderness of everyday living.
O my beloved Starshine,
so (just) be with Jesus in the quiet of thy prayer - walk with thy God -
especially at the pauses within Holy Mass, during Holy Communion, in the rosary,
in thy daily commune with thy Creator in His garden of waking dreams
and in thy every prayer of the heart open to wonder.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
And be gentle when you do. Be slow but certain in pace.
For practice makes one patient and patience makes one persevering.
And perseverance in prayer makes prayer perfect.
And not because there is a from of power in thy prayer
but because of the God Who hears all our prayers of the heart.
So persevere in thy prayer, my darling Starshine,
through the longing God plants in thy heart, persevere in thy prayer -
like the dream desires to become itself, persevere in thy prayer -
like the sapling hopes to become the oak, persevere in thy prayer -
like the stars strive for every journey's end, persevere in thy prayer -
like the Night seeks for the Day, like the love pines for the Lover -
shut yourself from the rest of the world and pray.
Remember the calm in the storm?
The Stillness is in the stillness - so be calm -
develop a constant awareness of the God in your life
- be gentle and be certain and be thoughtful -
for the Master is asleep in the vessel of thy heart.
If you feel out of place, if you feel undeserving,
so much more should you feel the need to understand -
- one must pray -
one must pray because one has a need
to pray and to pray well.
It is the needy who calls out and not the satisfied.
And ours is a God of infinite mercies!
---<--@
The Love of God in government is the safeguard that preserves the bond that must exist between the Nation and the Responsible State, without it our freedoms become troublesome.
---<--@
This is why Tibetan culture is precious -
Wisdom is timeless
who in the midst of darkness
illumines to the one heart of Man the way back into himself
that he may live complete.
"Practice. Practice. Practice."
- The Dalai Lama
---<--@
Glory to God the Father!
Adoration to Jesus Christ!
Alleluia, peace be unto our nation
and peace be unto all our nations;
good will to all men and women of Peace.
