Monday, January 25, 2016

Saved By Love

Panahon lang ang kailangan sa pusong nasugatan. Pagdating ng panahon kusang mawawala ang sugat at ang puso, handa ng magmahal muli. (Only time is needed for a wounded heart. When the time comes, wound heals and the heart will be ready to love again.)

The human heart is resilient, when broken countless times and in countless ways, it has the capacity to mend and love again.

It is in the heart that humanity finds its strength. When hope is dashed and fear cripples us, humanity finds a way to believe again.

Time and time again humanity was saved by love and it can only be save in the future so long as the heart finds its way to love.

by aats 

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Surrender To Love

When I was invited for a road trip to Texas last December, I was able to attend a wedding of the niece of the couple who brought me there. It was a beautiful ceremony.

The priest said to the couple, “You don't need a homily, what you are doing now is a homily. Remember this moment when you encounter challenges in the future and it will remind you of your love for God and for each other.” He said further, “So many have fought for independence but today you surrender yourself to each other, for love.”

That’s the power of love, the power to surrender! I think it is more courageous to surrender than to insist on winning all the time. Here, character is tested and true worth revealed. Surrender is meaningful when you surrender to love. We only need to look at the cross to be reminded of this.

He surrendered to regain us all and in the end, Christ is victorious. And we, who follow His path, we are victorious too, because when we surrender to love, victory always follows.

by aats 

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

What Good Is It?


Ano ang halaga sa patatrabaho sa isang lugar kung hindi mo na makikita ang iyong sarili? (What good is it working in a place when in the process you are losing yourself?) Find a work where you can flourish as a human person.

Career is not life; it’s just a part of it. Never buy in to careerism, it will only make you one of the robots in the production line with the end goal of profit.

What makes you happy? If you cannot find yourself anymore, it’s time for change. “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” - Mark 8:36

by aats



Monday, January 11, 2016

Follow The Star

I went on a road trip last December and while in San Antonio, Texas. We were blessed that it was the Archbishop who celebrated the mass on the Epiphany of Our Lord. The good Archbishop was kind enough to greet everyone at the entrance of the church after the mass and we were even blessed to be blessed by him there.

During his homily for the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, he said, "Go take risks, and like the Magi follow the star and then when you arrive, arrive their adoring Jesus… Be humble, learn to unlearn, we still have a lot to learn, and like the magi learn to offer everything you have, unload it to the Lord and be open to learn more."

What a wonderful way to start the year with a challenge to take the risks and follow the star and upon knowing that it is the Lord, we arrive adoring Him. And if we are to maximize our journey, we have to be ready to unload in front of Jesus everything we have learned in order to learn more.

Lord Jesus, grant us the courage to follow the star. Amen.

by aats

Knowledge of Jesus


Knowledge of Jesus is different from having relationship with Jesus. Knowledge of Jesus may enrich you scholarly but it is insufficient in satiating your thirst for meaningful life. Beyond knowing Jesus, more important is having personal relationship with Him. Relationship goes beyond knowledge; it brings meaning when dictionary runs out of it.

*Thoughts and realizations along my USA road trip last December 2015


by aats