TASTE YOUR LENT....

I’m sure the ash mark of the cross on your forehead last Ash Wednesday is now erased…

As the priest said, even if this is so, what can not be erased is the change and transformation that happens in your heart. 

I pray, may this year’s 40 day Lent be more meaningful to us than last year that when it ends, we become more a child of God than when we started… 

ISAIAH 48:6-7 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives…”

Lent is a perfect time to take the hand of Jesus and journey to your interior self where He can grant you deep healing, then you can resurrect with Jesus on Easter…

Don’t let this chance just pass by…

Namnamin natin ang bawat araw (Let us tastefully live each day)…for God…for our greater love for Him…       

Have a Sweet Lenten Journey!

- luisadelacruz

Site to visit:   www.iamacatholicbyheart.blogspot.com

THE PRESENCE WITHIN....

“The whole outside world…seemed to me to love and thank God: people, trees, plants and animals. I saw them all as my kinsfolk; I found on all of them the magic of the Name of Jesus. When I prayed, everything around me seemed delightful and marvelous. The trees, the grass, the birds, the earth, the air, the light…all things prayed to God and sang His praise.”

– THE RUSSIAN PILGRIM

The earth, the physical cosmos, is part of the body of God, shot through and through with divine Presence and hence worthy of our praise, our wonderment and our care. To honor and love God’s creation is to honor and love God.

When a person clings to the Lord and the Lord has pity and loves him, coming and clinging to Him, and he has the intention thereafter to remain constantly in the grace of the Lord, they become one spirit and one temperament and one mind – the person and the Lord.

- KERRY WALTERS

AN INTIMATE PRAYER:       Dearest Jesus, please always fire up my desire to continuously cling to You and be aware of Your Loving Presence…as if I will die, if it stops…

 - luisadelacruz

WHY DO PEOPLE QUARREL AND FIGHT?

Where do all fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you. You want things, but cannot have them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things, but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight. 

You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it. And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures…

So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you. Come near to God, and He will come near to you…

Purify your hearts…

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up…  

- James 4:1-3, 7-8, 10 GNT          

Truth is never absent in the Word of God…    

Have a Radiant Soul!

- luisadelacruz

THE CHILD IN THE WHEELCHAIR

Yesterday in the church, there was a little girl in a wheelchair, 9-11 year old, seemed paraplegic with cerebral palsy. She was so thin and her body didn’t function well…I was so close to tears as I watched her. When the song “Power of Love” was sang, she quietly sang it. I believe God was so delighted of her…

I thanked God at that moment because in spite of my handicap, I could still do things and go places. Then I thought, “There are people like her or worst. At times, others think they are worthless, unproductive, and a burden. So what is their worth if they cannot do anything and need to be taken care of?” 

An insight came…

They make people holier and be in touch with the heart of God. How? 

By their mere presence, they bring out, not just mercy, but also compassion and gratefulness to in the hearts. Their family and others are moved to love and serve them.

Each of us has a purpose in this world. Why else did God choose to create us? 

The funny side of it is: for us to find our purpose, we have to first forget ourselves…our selfish selves and selfish motives to see our divine role in this world…

Discover your purpose..         

Have a Thankful Heart!

- luisadelacruz

FORGET WHAT?!!!?

Inspiration:   Mark 8:34-9:1

In today’s world of modern technology, fast pace life, and big dreams, who would want to forget oneself and carry crosses? 

Well, following Jesus, that’s still “in” as long as it’s fun; as long as “I” do it and get something out of it that satisfies “me” and make “me” feel good; as long as “I” would change only to the point “I” wanted to, beyond that? No, thanks! “I” can only offer this…

Thank God, in this modern world of technologies there still springs the likes of Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II, who remind us of the virtues Jesus wants to cultivate within us…

If we want to come with Jesus, we have to forget ourselves, forget our sinful ways, our worldly desires, our selfish dreams…we have to carry our cross and endure the transformation process where we will be in the fire of purification…and follow  Jesus, His desires, His virtues, His deeds…and we gain undisguised joy and happiness as we truly find Jesus in our hearts…

Put Jesus above everything…

Jesus first! All others, just second and third and so on….    

Have a Winning Life!

- luisadelacruz

CLOTHES IN THE CLOSET

Last December, I surveyed my closet. I took out clothes that I hadn’t used for years. Some of them were small already. Some of them were given to me but I didn’t usually wear those kind. Some, I just didn’t like to wear anymore…

I folded them and gave away to calamity victims. They would be of more use to them than being in my closet. Clothes are meant to be worn not made to get old inside the closet, otherwise, they become useless…

When we hear God’s Word in homilies, seminars, retreats, gatherings, radio and TV programs, personal Scripture/prayer times, reading books and materials…we can’t just write and listen and listen and listen and listen…We have to put them into practice (James 1:22-25) otherwise they will be worthless, just like the unused clothes in the closet…

God’s Word are meant to be planted in our hearts, grow roots, and be practiced in our daily lives. 

As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” As we listen, let’s also put into practice what God teaches us through His Word…

Then one day, it shall be perfect in us and in our lives through God’s grace.            

Easy Living!

- luisadelacruz