Your Glory Goes Beyond All Fame

 
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise

From the inside out, Lord my soul cries out

-From the Inside Out, Hillsong United

The gospel for today is about Martha and Mary. The latter chose to sit down and listen to Jesus while Martha slaved away in the kitchen. But what did Jesus say? He said Mary had her priorities straight by just listening to the word of God. Meanwhile Martha was worried about being a good hostess. This distracted her from what was really important. Her focus was not on God but on what she felt needed to be done.

For the past several weeks my brain's been consumed with work and service that I've forgotten to focus on what's really important. I figured, I should get a spiritual director so I could get some guidance in this rocky path we call life. So yesterday I asked an SFC brother, how does one find a spiritual director? He gave me a couple of suggestions on how I should look for the right spiritual director for me and my needs, and the one that really stuck was going to adoration. He said it will help so much if I go to daily adoration and ask for God's guidance, to lead me to the right spiritual director. I said cool, I'll Google adoration times in Maryland. While I'm at it, might as well look for adoration times in DC since I work there.

As you make your usual way through the city streets, aren't you happy when you discover another tabernacle? -St. Josemaria Escriva

Lo and behold, I found the Catholic Information Center (CIC), which is just a few blocks from my office. Daily adoration, daily mass, daily confession. They even have lectures and recollections. And a Catholic bookstore! I've been working in this office for over a year and I never knew about this? The CIC was placed there to support and nourish the working professionals in downtown DC. The mass and confession times are actually during the lunch break, and adoration right after. The lectures and recollections are after business hours. And you know what I love most about this? That it's located a few blocks away from an abortion center and a few blocks away from the White House. An SFC sister said it best when she said "There is a quiet strength about Catholics. They put the CIC near the Planned Parenthood and the White House as if to say: 'Okay, you wanna pass pro-choice bills and promote the culture of death? Fine, I'll put the store RIGHT HERE.' I love being Catholic."

Excited with this new find, I walked straight to the CIC, browsed through the bookstore and bought a book, then went inside the chapel for adoration. And there it was, the Holy Eucharist. There He was. Presence ever powerful, yet merciful and loving.

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

-Mighty to Save, Hillsong United

I surrendered my worries, fears, hurts and frustrations. I asked for forgiveness for being too busy to go to confession and for losing focus. And with all these I felt His great love envelope me. I felt like I wanted to hug the Eucharist, but I didn't want to scare off the old lady praying in the chapel.

It is such a blessing to be Catholic and have this chance to witness Christ in the physical form. It's like during the time of Moses when God asked him to build a tabernacle so that He could have a dwelling place with His people. And when God asked Solomon to build a temple. Because God is humble enough to physically be with us. I mean, He even became human through His son Jesus Christ just so we could be saved. How awesome is He?

Back in the Philippines, our parish's adoration chapel was open 24/7. I actually took that for granted and didn't really fully understand what it was about. I just thought there was a nearby chapel that's open all day so you could pray whenever. When I would accompany my mom to the adoration chapel, I would enjoy reading the books on the shelf and smelling the air conditioner (What? It smelled good okay). It was only when I moved here and found out that adoration is not 24/7 that I realized what it was really about and how important it is.

Just a few hours ago I went to our parish's Eucharistic adoration. Again what an amazing, humbling experience. To be in the presence of the King of kings. The holiest of all. Even though I have videos to edit and a TOB discussion group to prepare for, spending an hour in adoration was what I really needed to get things in place.

It is so easy to get caught up in worldly things and forget to spend time with our Father. I myself have a short attention span and can easily get distracted. I worry a lot, yet I forget to spend time with Him during these times. To worship and adore Him, for He is great and His promises solid as a rock. That my life itself is a testament to His glory. I pray that I will never forget that.

A Day of Sisterhood

In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips. 
-Author Unknown

The gift of sisterhood is one of the things that I cherish the most. It's something that's solid and constant that you know will always be there no matter where you are in life. Even the little quirks that come with sisterhood are so special.

Yesterday at work, I had to do all sorts of computations for a big proposal, and whenever my brain needed a break I'd check my Gmail and my Google Talk window to hear from any of my sisters. One was asking about food for a potluck, one was lending her ear and giving feedback for something I've been discerning about, one was making me laugh by sharing some passport photo requirements (if you're not doing a "medium smile" your photo will be rejected), and one was commenting on a picture from Facebook (again).

By about 5:30 PM my brain was done - but I had something to look forward to. I was going to have dinner with four of my sisters at Ten Ren's to de-stress and just hang out. I was craving for Ten Ren's because the last time I was there I had the eel and... ugh! So I felt I had to go back and redeem my belief in Ten Ren's. And of course, my sisters were willing to be with me as I satisfy my craving.

This reminded me of those times in college when I would hang out in Starbucks with three of my YFC-DLSU sisters to de-stress from all of the schoolwork and just hang out and talk about girl stuff. Even after we graduated, and worked at places far from each other, the four of us would still hang out often at a coffee shop, a resto, or a bar, and again talk about girl stuff.

Anyway, back to Ten Ren's. We were lucky enough to get the couches by the window. Dette took some cards from the shelf and we played Uno while waiting for our food, then pusoy dos when we were full. We were so hungry we ordered so many things. But we got addicted to the edamame. I mean it's not the best-tasting thing in the world but you just can't help but take one and eat, then take another, and another, and another...

Oh by the way sisterhood is also about putting coins in your parking meter in the rain or walking with you to your meter if you're a little scared. 

When it was time to leave, or better yet, when the time in our meters was about to expire, Helen and I accompanied Wendy to her old apartment to pick up some things so she wouldn't have to be alone (the area is not the safest in the world). I'm not really much of a protector, especially since I look like I'm 12, but hey, there's safety in numbers.

As I was driving back I got calls from more of my sisters. One was asking about a shower, one just wanted to know what's going on, and one called to say she is willing to help me out with a discussion group next week. It's funny because I'm not much of a phone person but that night I spent some time catching up with some sisters I haven't talked to at length in a while. With the last caller, we also talked about discernment and the things occupying our time for the moment. Around 11:30 PM I called a sister to ask about an email she sent, and we ended up talking for quite a while as we shared about our service and the trials that come with them. I remember we had long conversations before on the phone when she'd call just to ask what's going on with my life and stuff, so it felt like old times. 

I think God gave us sisters to hold our sanity together. To keep us in check. To guard our backs. To make us laugh, cry... even laugh and cry at the same time (but still keeping our sanity of course). It is such a precious gift that I hope each woman has, and will hold dear in her heart for the rest of her life.  

New Background Color

From now until November 4th, this blog's background color will be green. 

Green is the color of life. So remember to choose life when you're in the voting booth.

Vote pro-life.

And to those that are in the Philippines, let your voices be heard. Speak up for those that could not.

Start the revolution for life. 

This is also to commiserate with my fellow Lasallians and beloved Green Archers. Animo!

Yes, I Took That Pic While Driving

Driving along I-695 towards Baltimore, I saw the scary nimbus clouds in front of me. The first thing I thought of was, is there an umbrella in my car? Second was, oh cool it looks like the apocalypse. Of course the song playing on the radio was "Firestarter" by Prodigy. Which kinda creeped me out (if you haven't seen the video, Prodigy looked pretty demonic there... Well they always look demonic actually).

So I thought of hell and what it might be like to spend eternity there (not that I'm planning to of course). Two days ago I went to the National Shrine with my mom, and at the book store I saw a book about hell and out of curiosity read a part of it. At Fatima, Mary showed the children what hell looked like and they got scared out of their wits. A vast sea of fire with a lot of blackened human forms screaming or groaning in pain. And then there were the animal-like demons. If they weren't promised a spot in heaven, they would have died in fear, Sister Lucy said. 

Funny enough the song switched to "Crossroads" by Bone Thugs N Harmony. First thing I thought was, what's up with the apocalyptic clouds and creepy songs? Second was, what would it take to go to heaven? How do I secure a spot over there? Can I RSVP?

If I am faithful to the commandments, which can be summed up to: love God and love my neighbors, then everything should be alright. Love God above all. Love my neighbors, and not just those who love me. Love strangers, love enemies, love everybody. Unconditionally.

See how it all comes back to love? Because God is love. He created us out of love. He created us because He wants to love us. And He created us to love. To love Him back and to love others. And a lot of times it is extremely hard. When trials come and things don't go our way, would we still decide to love God? When people betray or hurt us, would we still decide to love them?

This is where it matters the most, when it gets hard to love. When we realize whether we love unconditionally or conditionally. 

The key to heaven is love.

It's timely for me that CFC's theme this year is to love one another. God has been testing me this year regarding this. He's even testing me to love myself. And at times the tests really kick my butt and I would wish He'd stop. But I figured, it's gonna end some time right? I just gotta keep my head above water. Hang in there. Just practice patience and understanding and love and all that good stuff. God wants me to be a better person and that is why He tests me. So I should welcome all of the trials that He allows to happen. Bring it on! Hah. But not too much, okay? Kidding. Whatever it takes to get me to go to heaven. Maybe a lot of work needs to be done on me, hee.

So actually I shouldn't be confident enough to be taking pictures while driving. In an interstate highway. With the apocalyptic clouds hovering above me. 

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Bibliya Study

I love the Great Adventure bible study series. I didn't expect having a deeper meaning of the written Word would make me realize the significance of the bible in my everyday life. How stories that happened centuries and centuries ago would still apply to my life now and to my future. That God has plans and promises for me, and for all of us.

What's even unexpected is how my SFC friends and I would even bring up bible stories and characters randomly in conversations. And it's actually fun reading all these stories from the Old Testament (we haven't reached the New Testament yet).

And of course when giving talks, it's easier now to apply bible passages or stories on some parts of the outline.

The only challenge is, being the procrastinator that I am, I always have to cram the day of the bible study day. Most of the time at work. I bring the discussion guide questions to the office then read the bible online at USCCB.org. Bad employee, bad!

But the bible study is really great, not just because I get to learn a lot and be inspired but because of the people as well. Today I was having a bad day but when I came to the bible study and ate and discussed and watched the dvd with the people in the group, all my frustrations went away. Camaraderie is awesome :)

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Walkman!

My eyes widened with glee when I saw this contraption on the Perrins' dining table. Brought back memories of my high school days when I would listen to my walkman in the bus (Pearl Jam's VS album would play over and over when I was a sophomore) or while cramming for an exam. I had an Aiwa with 6 channel preset buttons for the radio when I was a senior. But when I was a freshman, I used to salivate over my cousin's yellow Sony sporty walkman that came from the "states."

Thanks to Dette and Tito "Norbs" for this great find!

And since this walkman made me reminisce about the 90's (even 80's), I now bring you Retro Junk.

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9 to 5

Okay that was a lie. I don't work in the office from 9 AM to 5 PM. I usually work from home in the morning to beat DC rush hour traffic, then go to the office around lunch time.

Anyway the pic above is just to show you what I stare at for a couple of hours, 5 times a week. My PC (ugh) with the nice color-coded (albeit full) Outlook calendar, my Maryland Terps cup, and the legal pad with all sorts of formulas I try to concoct every time a proposal needs to be sent out.

I like my job. It exercises my brain, especially when I need to do all those algebra and calculus stuff for proposals. It makes me do techie stuff and even creative stuff when an ad needs some minor designing. Plus I have a really laid-back boss who doesnt care where or when I work as long as I get the job done. He forgets to record the time offs I take unless I remind him. This job allows me to have a stable source of income while at the same time serve God (I've even gone on mission a few times during my employment here. It was no problem with my boss).

Just this afternoon though, I was talking with a good friend of mine on Google Talk/Gmail chat. She was talking about how she wants a job that directly serves God more. That made me contemplate about my job.

I work for a political magazine/website based in DC. Most - if not all - of our writers have been fawning over Obama. Their articles and blogs obviously show that they're Democrats, especially when they keep saying negative things about the Republican candidates. Now I'm not saying I'm a Republican or a supporter of McCain (I'm not even eligible to vote), but I feel all these writers, political pundits, etc have in some way influence over the voters. While I don't have anything against Obama as a person, I do have an issue with him being pro-choice and with his plan to have all supreme court judges to be pro-choice. If Obama wins, I fear for the lives of those unborn children. If he wins, does that mean my company had a small hand in that? And does that mean, as an employee of this company, I indirectly helped the pro-choice cause? I helped kill unborn babies? Yet I call myself pro-life? A witness for life?

I'm confuzzled.



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