A Quote for the Day

A gift when expected ceases to be a gift. It becomes a demand. Let the gift stays a gift.

Poverty of spirit is not about lack of material things but of complete trust on the will of God. And yet there's no other life circumstance where you have the chance to find it than in poverty of the materials. A rich man will never have an inkling on how it feels to be desperate with no food to feed the long-hungry stomach, with no future seems in store, and only the Lord on his side. I read an account of the life of Saint Francis of Assissi wherein he faced the pressure from outside to control the Franciscan movement when they have grown to 5000 after ten years. People said that his dream of radical poverty was too harsh. During his time of prayer, he told Jesus about this, "Lord, didn't I tell you they wouldn't trust you?"

Had Mary preferred to choose what was good and easy for herself alone and not the Father's will, Jesus would not have been born.

If you follow the crowd, you will not overtake the crowd.  If you follow the crowd, you cannot lead the crowd. Instead, the crowd will lead you.

A way to bounty can best be taken through the road of want. And such a path brings a fullness that can last very long than otherwise.

A trickle of evil left unchecked allows it to burst into a deluge of more overwhelming evil.

The greatest and most powerful prayer there is, is this: "Be it unto me according to your word. Lord, thy will be done. Amen."

Each time before you decide to take action on an idea, make sure that what you think the good thing to do is "really" good. Experience tells us that not all we thought as good were truly good. Acting on things by impulse ensures that what only apparently was good got assumed to be good, and the outcome becomes a point of regret for long stretches into the future.

Like a rush of water let go from its mountain source and overwhelms everything on its path, curiosity can kill the soul.

Breaking up and letting go are easiest when the bond is between a receiver and a valued gift than between an owner and a valued property.

Two days, Cyberline broke; Two days, Darkness spoke . And then, The light came back On the first day Of Misa de Gallo.

If the gull of time flies from you so fast, maybe it is time to hold it for a while and evaluate how much value you have given it so far. The heavier value you place on it, the slower it can fly away.  

Anyone can be  vulnerable to fault-finding simply because no one is perfect. If you look for a fault in a person you usually find one. Good people use these as opportunities to love others. Evil ones, as opportunities to take advantage for personal benefits.

There are those who run faster than we do. Those who run faster provide us an alternative behavior to mirror in our own. Those who take it much slower challenges us to take the road ahead safely and quickly. The slow are not those to be impatient or upset about. They simply move in their own unique capacities. What we can do best is to look for ways to help them if we can; otherwise, we move ahead on our own personal speed. An excerpt from the Lessons on the Roads, my new book that will be out next year.

God expects us not to be perfect. He simply wants us to do our best. And if that best still falls short, which must be expected to happen many times if not all the time, He will provide the rest. (Photo by Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian)

It is never too late to recapture those beautiful moments of childhood again. Just pause for a few minutes and let your mind travel down memory lanes, and join your old playmates running after each other under a drenching rain. A well-adjusted adult can learn to be childlike anytime situation demands so. Kenshin himura is one of my most favorite cartoon characters that appear in these later years.

All the miracles in our lives are as much a miracle of how much we believed.

Age has nothing to do with maturity. Failures do.

It is easier to seek forgiveness from a Jesus you do not see than face the embarassing prospect of seeking the same from a Peter that you can see. 

There are things in life that we have to take on faith. And once we have made that scary leap, we will discover a new sense of freedom that will not be rattled by death. 

All that we have and do not have, and all that we will ever have, are gifts. There is nothing in them to brag about.

To be of peace, a person must renounce the option towards violence. Self-defense becomes a search for means to subdue violence without using force that destroys the attacker. To be in peace, a person must renounce the voices of arrogance and selfishness that destroys the tranquility of the soul. Instead, he lets the peace-giving presence of God consume his soul each moment each day for the rest of his life.

Genuine needs are those that are good to our body and soul. Anything bad to our body and soul that comes to us presenting itself as a need comes from the Enemy who wants to deceive us into misusing the good things that God has given us in this world, and harming us in the process, stealing our health, our lives, and our salvation.

The only reason why we need to love our enemies is this--like us, God loves and cares for them too.

A person who have a hard time facing the truth will have an easy time telling a lie.

We look at people, things, events, and situations in our lives with sets of lenses that color the way we interact with life. The darker these lenses are the more removed we become from the truths that can enhance the depth and breadth of our lives. Until we remove the darkness in these lenses, good things will appear foreboding and deceptive things become very convincing. And all of life becomes a lie.  

Only those who give all they got can understand in full measure the true value of giving.

We care the most when we least remember ourselves. [Photo by Ellen Lindner Adventure Quilter]

Just because a person intends to take moral responsibility in performing a sinful act does not mean that the sinful act ceases to be sinful, or a disorderly behavior ceases to be so. It neither means that doing the sinful act is no longer sinful. While intending not to hurt others is much better than not hurting others, it is not the same as not hurting others at all. This is what Pope Benedict XVI means when he was quoted in the book Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times saying: "There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility." Doing so does not provide an exception to the sinful disorder committed in the use of condom for reproductive control, it simply indicates a development of moral responsibility (not to hurt the customer through the spread of HIV) in the male prostitute.

Common sense is not that common as we presume it to be. Each person has his own sets of common sense that others may not share. Albeit they can provide practical solutions in specific circumstances in life unique to the person.

If you left your home seeking for a better one, and not find it, maybe you will never find that "perfect" home at all. And without having a clue the home that you learned to despise and departed from may be the right home after all.

God loves and takes care even those who do not believe in Him. So what's the difference between a believer and an unbeliever? The privilege of knowing that Unknown God. And the boundless joy of being close to Him as Abba through Jesus, or the Big Brother in Jesus.

You will never hear a son speak well of the mother he had abandoned and despised. Only the son who loves her adores her, honors her, and speaks beautiful words about her.

The best time to relax is when you have no time for it, and when you already forgot the last time you had one.

Humility is knowing very well what we can and cannot do, without closing the possibility that with God's specific graces something more can be achieved. But all these shall be according to His Holy Will.

Discontent is a symptom of underlying self-determinism, a soul that is blind to God's will but troubled with the growing frustrations of not getting what he wants to get or with the exciting prospects of going for the coveted prize. A person who follows the will of God contends himself in whatever lot in life that God makes certain to him to be his to live. His peace and joy stem not from the achievement of personal goals but in knowing that he is following the Will of His God.

The excitements of life comes in its ups and downs, in the faces of people whom we love and love us back in return, in the kindness and joyful faces of strangers, in the graces that makes us understand our very lives deeply and broadly despite the many shadows that we have to pass through in this mortal journey. It is the adventure of a lifetime; an illumination that makes what can be a dreary existence more meaningful and worth dying for.

Opportunity comes only when, after facing drawbacks or failures, you continue to move on and see what happens next. This thought came to me when waiting for the red traffic light to turn to green, and I felt some hunger as well as the kids. A man tried to sell cooked ripe banana to vehicles sixth and so ahead of me. I tried to see if he looks my way so I can catch his attention. But after failing to sell any from these mix of private cars and taxis the light turned to green, and he simply moved towards the sidewalk without even realizing that he could have sold some of his products if he move on fast after failing to sell to the cars ahead.

True forgiveness cleans the slate of the forgiven. If you have not fully restored your trust to the person you believed you "forgave" you have not really forgiven.

No court of law would be of much use if the citizens of the country, having read the law books, interpret the law on their own private interpretation. (Photo by Rutgers University School of Law Business Law Journal )

A statement containing a lie, even if it contains some truths also, is nevertheless a lie. A white lie is, as what its name defines, a lie. There is no such thing as an accidental lie. It is always a deliberate untruth.

Science cannot give exact knowledge of things in this world. It can only give a probability of that knowledge. A 95-99% probability leaves 1-5% improbability. That improbability gives enough space for providencial grace to turn events even exactly the opposite of what science predicts.

God's generosity and glory are most profound in the sight of people who have developed their natural gifts and talents to the utmost. Only a beautiful God can create such beautiful people with beautiful gifts, distinct yet awesome even in that distinctness.

In misfortune opportunity still abounds, at times even more than anyone is prepared to take on. This thought came to me while watching the PSEi dropped today as AGI became the most active stock and giving investors enough return on investments to rival even that of usurious microlenders. Ironically, it went back up before the market closed. Opportunity taken?

Love does not wait to be asked to give. When it sees the need, it simply gives anytime, anywhere. This thought came to me today while driving on South Reclamation Project towards Minglanilla around past 2 pm. The kids were asleep, exhausted from their morning periodical exams. And the sun was punishingly scorching. Then a thin cloud appeared to cover the sun, giving all of us driving that very minute for a long enough stretch throughout the reclamation area. This gave us a sunny sky but with subdued light enriched with strong gusts of wind from the sea. Isn't God such a greatly loving Father to us that moment?

You will know people who truly love you when you see them with you in the worst times of your life. (photo: Christopher Erney Sculpture Studio )

We understand others well only when we understand ourselves better.

A bird is not a bird because it has wings. It has wings because it is a bird. So even if a bird loses its wings, it will still remain a bird though without wings. In the same way... A man is not a man because he got scrotum and penis. He got scrotum and penis because he is a man. So even if man removes his scrotum and penis, he is still a man. In the same way, a woman is a woman not because she got a womb and a vagina. She got a womb and a vagina because she is a woman. So even if she had her womb and vagina removed, she is still a woman.

The best leaders we ever find among us have all these three--intelligence, energy and integrity. But remove integrity, and you find the worst crook there will ever be.

The only difference between the wise man and the fool is that the former knows how ignorant he can be.