Echoes and Moments

Well friends, if I haven't told you yet, my personal journey of faith has taken some interesting and dynamic turns over the past year. Though I have grappled with the despair of emotional pain and experienced exhilarating joys, the love of God has provided me an unshakable foundation that has kept me afloat through all of it. It surprised me at first the shore that I saw as I emerged out of the metaphysical obscurity of emerging adulthood, but as I embraced this journey, I have found a richness that I'm only now beginning to put down into words.  On January 26 I was formally initiated into full communion with the Roman Catholic church, when I received my sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist. I join millions ahead of me in a firm tradition where the people of God welcome those into the fold, with echoes of the rituals practiced at the very beginning amidst a fledgling people in the first-century Church. As I begin to recount this journey towards this very visible

With ashes still fresh on my head, I better write this stuff down before I forget, and thus, it becomes fiction. My focuses during this season of penance, with each activity according to the traditional tri-fold focus of action: 1. Fast : One full day cycle weekly. 2. Pray : Fixed hour, lauds, nones, and vespers. 3. Give : A special attention to respond towards each person I encounter with kindness and gentleness. Amen!

Every once and awhile I feel the need to jot down a few notes to myself to remind me of things that I often overlook, things that, though simple, can have profound effects on my relationships, energy, and spirit. I'll include a few below. God's love is what compels us to love him. We find the gift eternally given, eternally first. If your mind is too full to pray, do . A prayer in action is worth more than words. We are often afraid of our own shadows, though God never is. Learn to gaze into the wounds of your soul and you will find the compassion of Christ.  Never let the song within you die. Remember to Praise as soon as you rise, and let your last words before sleep be given in thanks. The only wrong way to pray is to do so self-consciously. Or, by adding a "Father" or "Father God" every other word. Remember to bow in front of the altar to avoid the glare from that elderly Filipina woman during daily mass. You are a handiwork, beautiful in you

Allow the great near-eastern poet, Kahlil Gibran, to woo you with his words from his masterpiece, the Prophet , which provide me comfort as I reflect and remember the power and beauty that words can hold... In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour. Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king? Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling? For what is it to  die but to stand naked in the wind and melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when

I live at the heart of a single, unique Element, the Centre of the universe and present in each part of it: personal love and cosmic Power. To attain to him and become merged into his life I have before me the entire universe with its noble struggles, its impassioned quests, its myriad of souls to be healed and made perfect. I can and I must throw myself into the thick of the human endeavor, and with no stopping for breath. For the more fully I play my part and the more I bring my efforts to bear on the whole surface of reality, the more also will I attain to Christ and cling close to him. -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ.  Christ in the World of Matter.