SEEKING GOD

(from Rule for a new Brother)

You want to seek God with all your life,
and love Him with all your heart.
But you would be wrong
if you thought you could reach Him.
your arms are too short, your eyes are too dim,
your hearts and understanding too small.

To seek God means first of all
to let yourself be found by Him.
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He is the God of Jesus Christ.
He is your God, not because He is yours
but because you are His.

To choose God is to realize that you are known and loved
in a way surpassing one can imagine,
loved before anyone had thought of you
or spoken your name.

To choose God means giving yourself up to Him in faith.
Let your life be built on this faith as on an invisible foundation.
Let yourself be carried by this faith like a child in its mother's womb.

And so, don't talk too much about God
but live in the certainty that He has written your name
on the palm of His hand.
Live your human task in the liberating certainty
that nothing in the world can separate you from God's love for you.

In Jesus of Nazareth God shows in a special way
how urgently He seeks for you,
and how entirely He has committed Himself to your happiness.

In Jesus of Nazareth one person shows
how completely we can belong to God
how much freedom and humility,
how much courage and self-forgetfulness one can possess
when one has been found by God and has surrendered to Him.
In Jesus there is also a future for you
as you go By His road through sin and death
towards fellowship and love, unfailing glory and life.

In faith you will recognize Him in the works of His hands,
and above all in us, made in His image and likeness,
and most clearly of all in the love which is Jesus.

But even if you receive no sign, no words from Him,
you will still recognize Him.
His very absence is full of the mystery of his greatness.
It can help you not seek and serve some image of Him
you yourself have created.

So never let yourself lose heart but go on seeking Him
In everything, in everybody –
They are all pledges that you will finally meet Him
Work Hard to know Him face to face.

For as sure as the dawn in His coming,
Certain as the latter rains.
If you abide in love, You will abide in God
And not wander anymore in darkness.

Then live in joyfulness and hope,
Un-anxious, without any trace of fear,
At peace with yourself and the world,
In ceaseless reverence and thanks.
Because God’s love for you endures forever.

THE PARABLE OF THE PIG AND THE COW

The pig was unpopular while the cow was beloved...
This puzzled the pig..The pig said to the cow:
“People speak warmly of your gentle and sorrowful eyes...
They think you’re generous because each day you give them milk and cream;
but what about me?... I give them everything I have...
I give bacon, ham, etc...I give my all”..
The cow replied: “My friend, it’s not really what you give when you’re dead;
It’s about what you give while you’re still alive”

ST. LORENZO RUIZ
the first Filipino saint and the first Filipino martyr.

Lorenzo Ruiz was beatified in Manila on February 18, 1981,
by Pope John Paul II during his papal visit to Manila,
the first beatification ceremony held outside the Vatican.
San Lorenzo Ruiz was canonized by Pope John Paul II
in the Vatican City, Rome, on October 18, 1987.

St. Rorenzo Ruiz please pray for us...

THE STORY OF THE AGED MOTHER

A Japanese Folktale
Long, long ago there lived at the foot of the mountain a poor farmer and his aged, widowed mother. They owned a bit of land which supplied them with food, and their humble were peaceful and happy.

Shinano was governed by a despotic leader who though a warrior, had a great and cowardly shrinking from anything suggestive of failing health and strength. This caused him to send out a cruel proclamation. The entire province was given strict orders to immediately put to death all aged people. Those were barbarous days, and the custom of abandoning old people to die was not common. The poor farmer loved his aged mother with tender reverence, and the order filled his heart with sorrow. But no one ever thought a second time about obeying the mandate of the governor, so with many deep hopeless sighs, the youth prepared for what at that time was considered the kindest mode of death.

Just at sundown, when his day’s work was ended, he took a quantity of unwhitened rice which is principal food for poor, cooked and dried it, and tying it in a square cloth, swung and bundle around his neck along with a gourd filled with cool, sweet water. Then he lifted his helpless old mother to his back and stated on his painful journey up the mountain. The road was long and steep; the narrowed road was crossed and recrossed by many paths made by the hunters and woodcutters. In some place, they mingled in a confused puzzled, but he gave no heed. One path or another, it mattered not. On he went, climbing blindly upward – ever upward towards the high bare summit of what is know as Obatsuyama, the mountain of the “abandoning of aged”.

The eyes of the old mother were not so dim but that they noted the reckless hastening from one path to another, and her loving heart grew anxious. Her son did not know the mountainÂ’s many paths and his return might be one of danger, so she stretched forth her hand and snapping the twigs from brushes as they passed, she quietly dropped a handful every few steps of the way so that they climbed, the narrow path behind them was dotted at frequently intervals with tiny piles of twigs. At last the summit was reached. Weary and heart sick, the youth gently released his burden and silently prepared a place of comfort as his last duty to the loved one. Gathering fallen pine needle, he made a soft cushion and tenderly lifting his old mother therein, he wrapped her padded coat more closely about the stooping shoulders and with tearful eyes and an aching heart said farewell.

The trembling mother’s voice was full of unselfish love as she gave her last injunction. “Let not thine eyes be blinded, my son.” She said. “The mountain road is full of dangers. LOOK carefully and follow the path which holds the piles of twigs. They will guide you to the familiar way farther down”. The son’s surprised eyes looked back over the path, then at the poor old, shriveled hands all scratched and soiled by their work of love. His heart smote him and bowing to the grounds, he cried aloud: “oh, Honorable mother, thy kindness thrusts my heart! I will not leave thee. Together we will follow the path of twigs, and together we will die!”

Once more he shouldered his burden (how light it seemed no) and hastened down the path, through the shadows and the moonlight, to the little hut in the valley. Beneath the kitchen floor was a walled closet for food, which was covered and hidden from view. There the son his mother, supplying her with everything needful and continually watching and fearing. Time passed, and he was beginning to feel safe when again the governor sent forth heralds bearing an unreasonable order, seemingly as a boast of his power. His demand was that his subject should present him with a rope of ashes. The entire province trembled with dread. The order must be obeyed yet who in all Shinano could make a rope of ashes?

One night, in great distress, the son whispered the news to his hidden mother. “Wait!” she said. “I will think. I will think” On the second day she told him what to do. “Make rope twisted straw,” she said. “Then stretch it upon a row of flat stones and burn it there on the windless night.” He called the people together and did as she said and when the blaze and died, behold upon the stones with every twist and fiber showing perfectly. Lay a rope of whithead ashes.

The governor was pleaced at the wit of the youth and praised greatly, but he demanded to know where he had obtained his wisdom. “Alas! Alas!” cried the farmer, “the truth must be told!” and with deep bows he related his story. The governor listened and then meditated in silence. Finally he lifted his head. “Shinano needs more than strength of youth,” he said gravely. “Ah, that I should have forgotten the well-know saying, “with the crown of snow, there cometh a wisdom!” That very hour the cruel law was abolished, and custom drifted into a far as past that only legends remains.

---♥♥♥ MY BELOVED TOWN "TARANGNAN SAMAR" ♥♥♥---
WELCOME TO TARANGNAN WESTERN SAMAR!!!


"OUR GRUTO"
BASKETBALL COURT

"BRGY. IMELDA" were I came from...





"THE GYM"
"SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI PARISH"


THE SCHOOL

An Inspirational Message for a Friend

I know there are times in life that you feel
as though you can't do anything right.
You never seem to be able to please anyone
and everyone around you seems to always be going against you.
You may feel stupid, unworthy, and even unloved.
These feelings may lead you to hate yourself or those around you.
Hate leads to nothing but pain.
Pain only causes more pain and nothing good comes of it.
Remember you have a choice in life.
You do not have to choose pain.
There are better things in life to choose from.
First, let me thank you for being here.
I appreciate everything you do
even when it you have made a mistake.
I know you’re learning, and learning is always good.
You do not have to try and please me.
I will always be there for you,
in good times and in bad.
Remember, do not try to please everyone,
this is a losing battle.
You have a big heart and this is why things bother you.
Your heart is what makes you so special;
never lose your heart to another.
Keep a bit of it for yourself.
Know that I will always love you even when you hate me.
I know you are passionate, and that is something I respect.
Just don't hate me for too long.
You are not stupid. If you make a mistake it is ok.
I know you will learn from it.
Stupidity only comes when you refuse to learn.
I have faith in you. I know you will learn.
You are worthy of everything life has to offer.
Take advantage of this,
because life is there for the taking.
Most important of all, remember I love you.
Why you ask? Because my dear you and I are one,
just look in the mirror.

by Rita Collins