OCTOBER 21, 2010 LEAD ME, LORD

The Gospel last Sunday was on Prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that prayer is raising one's mind and heart to God. In one of my older blogs during Lent, I have made a commentary on prayer. But as I deliberated on this important aspect of a Christian life, I was led to jot some lines of my own simple prayer :

LEAD ME, LORD

Lead me, Lord, to someone in need of Your tender touch
To ease discomfort and stress that illness brings
Whose longing for understanding at this time is much
But strengthened by fervent Faith in Your Divine Healing.

Lead me, Lord, to someone in need of comfort
To lift the veil of sorrow from a grieving heart
Over the loss of a loved one who has gone astray
Despite efforts to save a family torn apart.

Lead me, Lord, to someone who is utterly disappointed
With the life he has led amidst lost expectations
Plans of grandeur plunged deep totally grounded
Due to lifestyle of sloth and narcissistic addictions.

Lead me, Lord, to someone who is resentful and bitter
Full of contempt and hate to a brother or sister
How tragic these feelings have on his body deploy
A mind bereft of goodwill, forgiveness and joy.

Lead me, Lord, to a lonely, friendless stranger
Lost in the seeming jungle of his new adopted home
Froth with anxiety what the future may render
To a helpless, though hopeful heart, willing to work to the bone.

Lead me, Lord, to a disturbed teenager today
Confused by the standards the present world declare
The perversion of being human so flagrantly displayed
Along with worldly pleasures the innocent ones to ensnare.

Lead me, Lord, to someone hopeless ready to give up
After every effort to make family needs be met
Willing to work but no available job to tap
Frustrations mounting to dizzying heights all set.

Oh, God, help me to show the comfort of Your Presence
To be the "angel" you sent with resources on board
My time, my prayers and goods you give me in abundance
Will be heartily shared with them all for Your Glory, Oh, Lord !

OCTOBER 16, 2010 ST. MARGARET MARY

Today is the Feast Day of Margaret Mary Alacoque , the Visitacion nun in Paray- le- Monial, France to whom Our Most Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared. She was instrumental in initiating the First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the celebration of the Holy Hour.

St. Margaret Mary was born on July 22, 1647 in France, died on October 17, 1690 and canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

From early childhood, she preferred silence and prayer over playing games. She received Holy Communion at age 9 and loved to read the lives of saint even thinking of being one someday. When she was still a young adolescent, she contracted paralysis which confined her in bed for four years. She made a vow to our Blessed Mother that she would become a nun if She would heal her. She got well. After a while, the death of her father caused her and her mother the most trying times in their lives. They were reduced to being servants by three very close relatives including a great grand-aunt. Everything was under lock and key so that hunger and deprivation of shelter and comfort were their constant companions. Marriage would have provided an escape from her miserable life but she would not accept it.

It was through some difficulty due to consent and dowry that she was able to enter the convent of the Visitation in Paray-le-Monial in France at age 24 after a vision of Jesus Christ Who reproached her of forgetfulness in claiming His Heart filled with love for her. In the convent, the Sacred heart visited her on December 27, 1673 and several times thereafter within 18 months. During one of the visits, Jesus permitted St. Mary Alacoque to rest her head against His Heart. The visions revealed the form of the First Friday Devotion which requires Holy Communion and the adoration of the Host during the Holy Hour. She was given the Promises of the Sacred Heart to those who practice the First Friday Devotion. Instructions to her specific Holy Hour on midnight of Thursday included mortification which she somehow had been doing by tying a very tight rope around her waist for so long that each time she removed it, bits of skin came off. Such was the case with the small iron chains she tied around her upper arms, too.

OCTOBER 15, 2010 ST. TERESA OF AVILA

Today is the Feast Day of St. Teresa of Avila, also known as St. Teresa of Jesus. She was a brilliant woman, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a reformer of the Carmelite Order and an in-depth writer on Prayer as expounded in her book,
" The Interior Castle. "

I have written quite lengthily in my journal on St. Teresa of Avila along with my experiences in Avila, Spain in 1988, 1996, 2001 and in 2003.

Suffice it to say, that St. Teresa of Jesus was born on March 28, 1515 in Avila, Spain, died on October 15th in Alba de Tormes, Spain and canonized on March 12, 1622. She was declared Doctor of the Church, the first woman saint to hold such honor, in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. The Rule of the Carmelite Order which calls for extreme austerity is attributed to her reforms. She established many Carmelite monasteries in Spain naming the first one she founded after her favorite saint - St. Joseph. In addition, she wrote books of such profound mystical nature Church scholars praise and use.

A prolific writer, she wrote her Autobiography in 1567, the Interior Castle in 1577, the Way of Perfection, essays on the Concepts of Love and 342 letters which have all been acclaimed by many scholars. Her most known and often-quoted lines are:

Let nothing trouble you,
Let nothing make you afraid,
All things pass away,
God never changes
Patience obtains everything,
G O D alone is ENOUGH.


St. Teresa of Avila had a special regard for Holy Water. She knew by many experiences the power of this sacramental against evil spirits and temptations. She said, "There is nothing that puts the Devil to flight than Holy Water."

Knowing the excellent writings that she had produced, the Mother Prioress asked her to write a treatise on spirituality. She kept thinking of a particular topic to work on for a long time. Then, she had a vision of Jesus showing her a beautiful globe of crystal in the shape of a castle with seven rooms, the seventh at the center being occupied by the King of Glory with the most exquisite brilliancy which shone on the other rooms. The nearer the rooms lay to the center, the brighter the light and the farthest room got the least light. But around the castle was an area like a moat where there were many kinds of venomous animals (crocodiles, snakes,etc.). While still admiring its beauty, she was shaken when the crystal became totally dark and emitted a foul odor. Then it disappeared. She was so puzzled and moved by the experience!

From this vision, St. Teresa of Jesus learned four (4) important things:

1. She came to fully understand that God is present in all things by His essence, presence and power. She recalled St. Paul's words, "Sufferings of this time are not worthy compared to the glory to come that shall be revealed to us."

2. She was greatly surprised at the malice of sin and how it prevents the soul of partaking of God's powerful light.

3. She derived such humility and self-knowledge from the vision. From that moment on, she never thought of herself from the good she was doing. She further learned that the beauty and power of the soul and body are enlivened and strengthened by the power established in the center where comes all our good.

4. She derived from it the subject of the book she was ordered to write - on "Prayer."
Thus, was born one of the masterpieces of mystical theology ever written -
" The Interior Castle. "

St. Teresa of Avila wrote , " The Interior Castle, " as a guide for spiritual development through prayer and service. It is a journey of faith through seven mansions or rooms as in the vision ending with the union with God. In a nutshell, the mansions are :

1. Ordinary Prayer starts our relationship with God. It begins with the soul surrounded by sin and starting to seek God's grace through humility.

2. Mansion of the Practice of Prayer - The soul seeks to advance through the castle by daily thoughts of God by being more aware of God's presence.

3. Mansion of Exemplary Life - This is characterized by a love for God which is so great that the soul develops an aversion to mortal and venial sins and a desire to do charitable service to others for the glory of God.

4. Mansion of Contemplative Prayer - There is a "departure" from the soul actively acquiring what it gains as God increases His role in one's life.

5 and 6. Mansions of Incipient Union in which the soul prepares itself for the gifts of God. The soul spends increasing amounts of time torn between favors from God and from outside influences/afflictions. The fifth mansion can be compared to a "betrothal" and the sixth mansion can be compared to as "lovers."

7. Mansion of Spiritual Union - The soul achieves clarity in prayer and a spiritual marriage with God. This brightest mansion can only be gained by being in a state of grace through the sacraments, fervent devotion of the soul's will to Him and humbly seeing God's undefinable, incomprehensible love!

St. Teresa of Avila thought throughout all her writings of the ascent of the soul in four stages :

1. Mental Prayer - Devout concentration in prayer which can be helped by the exercise of penitence and the recall of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

2. Prayer of Quiet - An effort of the human will to be lost in God while other faculties such as memory, reason and imagination are not yet secure from worldly distractions. Partial distraction may be due to memory and imagination continue to wander.

3. Devotion of Union - Here there is an absorption of reason in God. This stage is characterized in blissful peace and conscious rapture in the love of God.

4. Devotion of Ecstasy - This is the passive state in which the consciousness of being in the body disappears. Memory and imagination are also absorbed/intoxicated in God. Sense activity ceases and the body and spirit are in a sweet happy pain between fiery glow and unconsciousness such that the body is literally lifted into space. In a number of times, St. Teresa of Avila was observed to "levitate" in ecstasy during Mass. Some other saints, like St. Francis of Assisi, have been seen to levitate while in prayer, too.

The Monastery of the Incarnation in Avila, Spain has many relics of St. Teresa of Jesus including the piece of log which she used as a pillow, the big wooden chest she brought from home to the convent and her favorite almost a foot and a half tall crucifix made from corn cobs from Mexico. A cordoned section of the stairs can be seen where the Child Jesus appeared to her and asked, "Who are you?" The saint said, "I am Teresa of Jesus," and in turn asked the Child, "Who are you?" to which came the reply, "I am Jesus of Teresa."





















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OCTOBER 13, 2010 - OUR LADY OF FATIMA

Today is the Feast of Our Lady Of Fatima, the 93rd anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun witnessed by around 75,000 people in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. This is a special day in honor of our Mother Mary in her attribute as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.

I thought it a most fitting tribute to Her to write about one of my many interesting experiences in Fatima which I have been privileged to visit for nine times already. In my older posts, I have related the proverbial October 13th rain during my first visit in 1988. I have also shared my participation in leading a decade of the rosary in Tagalog during a celebration with an international theme. My visit to Fatima with my husband, Rey, (may he rest in peace) in 1999 has been chronicled in my journal, too.

"It would be most fitting to dedicate a few lines of poetry to Mother Mary today," I
mused. So armed with a notebook and pen, I sat down to do just that. But my flow of thoughts streamed down to Jesus, her Son. Once, twice, I tried to redirect my attention to my original plan but to no avail. It was a concrete evidence that Our Lady leads us to Jesus!

Guided by Our Lady of Fatima, I managed to compose these lines:

LET ME BE, OH, LORD

Let me be , Oh, Lord, your kind, caring hands
Stretched out to render aid to the needy and forlorn
To extend your soft healing touch and unbind
The tight grip of fear, pain and shameless scorn.

Let me be, Oh, Lord, your strong, steady feet
To walk with those in bondage and addiction
And with courage borne from your protective feat
Strengthen them to rise, break the chain of affliction.

Let me be, Oh, Lord, your loving, searching eyes
That see a friend's pain and sorrow beneath the mask
Which often shows mirth on the surface, but, alas
There lies a wounded heart which cries for help to rush.

Let me be, Oh, Lord, your soothing voice that counsels
The young, the indifferent, " sophisticated " wards
Who are ensnared by worldly pleasures and vices
Unmindful of Eternity's justice and rewards.

Let me be, Oh, Lord, your keen ears that listen
To the pleas of the poor for daily needs so common
Muted by disillusion, shame and false pride unspoken
Beneath stone-faced mien of utter despair and abandon.

Let me be, Oh, Lord, the face that radiates your Love
Through my deep wrinkles, blotches, disfigured state
Shield me from the fear of ridicule and hate which matches
My intense desire to be an "apostle" of my faith.

So, help me, Lord, in my commitment to leave
A Legacy of Faith to family, friends and all
Be aware of God's Presence at all times and to give
Time, Talent and Treasure in response to His call !

October 4, 2010 - ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi who is perhaps the most well-known and best-loved saint in both the Catholic and non-Catholic world. He was born into a wealthy family since his father was a cloth merchant and his mother a member of the nobility. Living the life of the carefree rich, he was among the singing troubadours of the young nobles in Assisi. He delighted in fine clothes and showy display of the excesses which the rich and famous could afford.

A turning point in his life occurred when he entered, out of curiosity, a rundown village church of San Damiano. As he looked around the dilapidated building, he heard a voice coming from a crucifix, "Go, Francis, repair my house which you see is

falling in ruins." Moved to action, he sold some of his father's merchandise and donated the proceeds to the priest who initially hesitated to accept the offering. Then he slowly, brick by brick repaired the church out of the sweat of his brow- by begging. He was totally convinced that the message was for the physical repair of the church. Little did he knew then that it also, in fact really meant, the "repair" of the organizational life of the Catholic Church in which he eventually played a significant role. Poverty, Chastity and Obedience became the Rule of the community he founded which is now known as Franciscan Friars.

Slowly the Gospel message especially of humility and helping the poor found a place in his heart. He nourished his greatest desire to walk in the way of Truth. To him, Love was the truest of all truths. He claimed, "What a man is in the sight of God - so much is he and no more!" Peace became his watchword. His passion was to restore tranquility to those hearts torn asunder by civil strife. He went to Egypt in 1219 and met with Sultan Melek El Kamel and his subjects offering peace. Though he was not able to convert the Sultan, his visit with him had a far-reaching effect since after the fall of the Crusader Kingdom, it would be the Franciscans, of all Catholics, who were allowed to stay in the Holy Land and be recognized as the "Custodians of the Holy Land" on behalf of the Christian world.

At this point, I remember, "The Prayer of St. Francis." Do you remember the lyrics?

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there is hatred, let me bring you love

Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord

Where there is doubt, true faith in you.

Oh, Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace

It is in giving of ourselves that we receive

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned

In dying we are born to eternal life.

Assisi, Italy is a place where the spirit of St. Francis is so mysteriously present that mere words cannot express. One has to be physically present there to feel the ambiance of the place and thereby be enveloped with the embrace of the Franciscan stigmatist. A pilgrim's visit will almost always be followed by a second one. In my case, I had to have a third visit and the desire to be back still lingers at the back of my mind.

The long white-washed row of arches that form the back of the St. Francis Monastery perched on the verdant Umbrian hill first greets the pilgrims to Assisi. The enchanting, tranquil scene against the meandering clouds of the breathtaking blue of the sky evokes the chorus of "Ohs and Ahs" of every visitor- first-timers and second-timers,etc. alike. Pastoral scenery can and are often seen in different places of the globe especially in Europe but somehow this scene in Assisi belongs to a class all its own. Could it be that it is so because of the blessing of Assisi given by St. Francis weeks before his death?