COULD YOU BE MESSIAH

could you be HEALER?

to a heart that's been wounded

in a battle that's never seen?

could you be TEACHER?

to a mind of confusion

tell me what does this all mean?

are you DELIVERER?

of an imprissoned feeling in chains

can you set my spirit free?

And just one more question

allow me this question,

could you be MESIAH to me?

could you be MESIAH to me?

could you be FATHER?

to a soul that's been abandoned

by a world too busy to hear?

could you be FRIEND?

to a helpless survivor?

can you take away my fears?

I heard them all sharing

this newfound conviction in them

Are you all they made you to be?

And just one more question

allow me this question

could you be MESIAH,

please be MESIAH to me..

Now I've been looking for

someone like you

and I'm so tired,I'm tired

I've read every book,

and I've sang every song

my mind may be right

but my heart feels so wrong

Tell me how much further

can my life go along

which way do the road leads

where do I belong?

Are you FORGIVER

of my most unknown secrets?

PROVIDER of all that I need?

can you be BROTHER?

the one who knows better

can you now stand in the lead?

When all this is over,

all the thunder and lightning

in the daylight just what will I see?

The answer to my question,

to all of my questions..

Could you be MESIAH to me?

Could you be MESIAH to me?

Could you be MESIAH,

please be MESIAH to me...

LETTING GO

I used to feel the emptiness inside me

I was not supposed to feel that way

I had everything I needed

But nothing ever made me

What I longed to be

The wealth, the name

The lights, the fame

Were everything to me

And then one night

Out of the blue

I heard His name (Jesus)

And so I took that step of faith

And walked into His domain

I believe that's what He wants

Every heart to do

When hard may seem the task

One step is all He asks of you

Letting go to know the truth

Is not so hard to do

It's the heart that's got the will

To open up for Him to fill

And trusting and believing Him

Is all we've got to do

It's just the heart that's got to move

For Him to show His love that's been there

Even when we never cared

Take hold of His hand

Let go and you'll understand

Why be afraid

For God knows what you're feeling

But even He can't do a thing

If He sees the heart's not willing

And so we ask what's going on

We want what's right and still do wrong

When hard may seem the task

One step is all He asks of you

I guess by now you'd realize

You can't be on your own

And all your cares

And all your burdens

Should be cast upon His throne

Letting go, just let go, letting go

Let go and you'll understand

Just let go and you'll understand

LENTEN REFLECTION

One should wonder. What does it mean? Salvation. It seems the central focus of every living person’s life. Without even meaning to, humans try to answer this for themselves: What do I do with my life? How do I make it “nindot”?

The personal answer each person has for this question certainly defines the quality of his or her life. The religious tenets help to answer this question. But in the end, the demands of faith are always unique to every person. It is always personal. One must have to go beyond the ambiguities of religious canons and ritual in order to get at the core. And if one believes that God guides the person even at this most personal level of experience, then there must be a point to the claim: It is God who chooses to save us.

According to Christian religious texts we are all already saved. Christ died on the cross to erase the stain of Adam and Eve’s sin. We are all technically absolved of that sin. What is left for us is only the personal understanding of it. Therefore it follows, we are left only with the simple problem of saving ourselves. Clearly, this is a simple problem which is not so simple.

One could simply claim that we can do this just by going about our religious duties: Go to church on Sundays, do the sacraments, give to the poor, visit the sick, and so on. But there is nothing new in doing all these. After all, people had been doing it long before Jesus Christ was even born as man. And it seemed to the Maker that the central theme of Jesus’ life was its revolutionary nature. He proposed just two commandments: Love God and love your neighbors as you would yourself.

These commandments are easy to understand. They are simplicity itself. They are certainly not as complex as dogma and ritual. They do no speak of political and ideological implications, do not speak of the liberal and conservative divide. They are not counter argument to any claims by any political or religious institution. You can believe in them without having to do away with anything else you already believe in. In this sense, they offer a singular definition to what it might mean to be Catholic, as in universal. Anyone of any religion can go by these commandments without fear of heresy. They are monuments stronger than a rock for their simplicity and clarity. They are poetry.

Poetry are text which are beautiful. They are beautiful at various levels. The most basic is that they sound beautiful. They taste well to the mouth. But since text carry ideas, it goes to follow, the ideas they carry must taste well also to the person’s mind. They do not jar. They might disturb, even shake the thinker from a sleep of dis-awareness. But they must have a special quality that is hard to explain in words unless one uses the native tongue. For us they must be “nindot”.

The things which are “nindot” to us produce a special feeling of something like awe and wonderment in the mind. But this feeling goes beyond that. They produce a physical manifestation, a smile perhaps, or even a laugh. Or they might moisten the eyes with a recollection of something familiar though forgotten. But how do we know whether something is nindot or not?

We just know. It is a sensibility so basic, we might as well say: If you don’t have it then you don’t get it and vice-versa. It is not something you learn in school or from somebody else. It is a concept learned from collective experience not just of one but of many generations of a people. It is deeply rooted in the depths of the consciousness, also rooted in the depths of culture. It is something everyone taught us since as long as we can remember. It is a capacity inside each one of us, the core faculty which completes our humanity. After all, if one cannot see the “pagkanindot” of babies how can one ever raise one properly to adulthood? If one does not understand the “pagkanindot” of life, how can one ever learn to respect such a complex and difficult commandment as “Thou shall not kill.”

And then, what of love? If one has not ever felt the “pagkanindot” of it, how could one ever come to understand: Love God and love your neighbors as you would yourself? The Maker believes, we all have our own personal understanding of these things. But if he were asked why he likes religion, he would say: “Kay nindot.”

By Raymund Fernandez.Cebu Daily News.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/opinion/view/20110424-332672/Salvation

YOU WERE THERE

You were there
in everything I knew
From the moment I began.
Always there in every way I go.

Saved me falling, held my hand.
You are shelter from the storm.
The shadows fade away,
all cares pass away.

As hour by hour, day by day
Your love lightens up the sky
As it shines across the night.
Ave, regina caelorum decora
Virgo gloriosa, ave!

And when the end of day has come,
Stay with me through the dark
and bring me home.

You are there whichever way I go.
Keep me safely night and day.
Always there, whenever I'm alone,

Hear me calling, show the way.
You are shelter from the storm,
The shadows fade away,
all cares pass away.

As hour by hour, day by day;
Your love lightens up the sky
As it shines across the night.
Ave, regina caelorum decora
Virgo gloriosa, ave!

And when the end of day is come,
Stay with me through the dark
and bring me home.
Stay with me through the dark
and bring me home.

MATER DOLOROSA

GOD'S LOVE

I asked Jesus
how much He loved me
He answered "this much"
Then He stretched out His arms
and died for me.

WE ARE THE REASON

As little children
we'd dream of Christmas morn
And all the gifts and toys
we knew we’d find
But we never realized
a baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

We are the reason
that He gave His life
We were the reason
that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost
He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live

As the years went by
we learned more of our gifts
The giving of ourselves
and what that means
On a dark and cloudy day
a man hung crying in the rain
Because of love
Because of love

I finally found the reason for living
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him
(every part to Him)
And all that I do every word that I say
(you know I’ll be saying)
I will give all my life just for Him,
just for Him (every thing for Him)

We are the reason
that He gave His life
We are the reason
that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost
He gave all He could give
(all that he could give all)
To show us the reason to live

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis; also called the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows, or simply, The Way) refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St. Francis of Assisi and extended throughout the Roman Catholic Church in the medieval period. It is less often observed in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. It may be done at any time, but is most commonly done during the Season of Lent, especially on Good Friday and on Friday evenings during Lent.

EARTH DAY 2011

A BILLION ACTS OF GREEN