Still Me by Jojo Moyes (Excerpts)

Photo Credit: Amazon

"Tell me what's going on with you. Are you okay? 

Are you sad? You didn't sound sad. Maybe I just want you not be sad. 

Talk to me." - Sam

"I’ll stand there for a while, take a long view,

and just be glad that, even if it was only this way, 

we found each other again." -Louisa Clark

Leaving the City of Regret

Excerpted from Perfect Love by Joyce Meyer

I had not really planned on taking a trip this time of the year, and yet I found myself packing hurriedly. This trip was going to be unpleasant and I knew in advance that no good would come of it. I’m talking about my annual "Guilt Trip". I got tickets to fly there on Wish I Had Airlines. It was an extremely short flight. I got my baggage which I couldn’t check, I chose to carry it myself all the way. It was weighted down with a thousand memories of what might have been. No one greeted me as I entered the terminal to the Regret City International Airport. I say international because people from all over the world come to this dismal town.

As I checked into the Last Resort Hotel, I noticed they were hosting the year's most important event, the Annual Pity Party. 

I wasn’t going to miss that great social occasion. Many of the town's leading citizens would be there. 

First, there would be the Done family, Should Have Done, Would have Done, and Could Have Done. Then came the I Had family. You probably know ol' Wish I Had & his clan. Of course the Opportunities would be present, Missed and Lost . The biggest family would be the Yesterdays. There are too many of them to count, but each one would have a sad story to tell. 

Then Shattered Dreams would surely make an appearance and Its Their Fault would regale us with stories (excuses) about how things have failed in his life, and each story will be loudly applauded by Don't Blame Me and I Couldn't Help It.

Well, to make a long story short, I went to this depressing party knowing that there would be no real benefit in doing so. And, as usual, I became very depressed. But as I thought about all the stories of failures brought back from the past, it occurred to me that all of this trip and subsequent "pity party" trips could be cancelled by me! I started to truly realize that I did not have to be there. I didn't have to be depressed. One thing kept going through my mind: 

I CAN'T CHANGE YESTERDAY, BUT I DO HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE TODAY A WONDERFUL DAY.

I can be happy, joyous, fulfilled, encouraged, as well as encouraging. Knowing this, i left the City of Regret immediately and left no forwarding address. Am I sorry for mistakes I've made in the past? YES! But there is no physical way to undo them.

So, if your'e planning a trip to the City of Regret, please cancel all your reservations now. Instead, take a trip to a place called Starting Again. I liked it so much that I have taken up permanent residence there. My neighbors, the I Forgive Myself and the New Starts, are also very helpful. By the way, you don't have to carry around heavy baggage, because the load is lifted form your shoulders on arrival. God bless you in finding this great town. If you have difficulty finding it--it's in your own heart--please look me up. I live on I Can Do It Street.

Excerpts: Adultery by Paulo Coelho

Photo Credit: Goodreads

There is nothing more important we can give than the Love reflected in our own lives.

That is the one universal language that allows us to speak Chinese or dialects of India.

When I was young I traveled a lot—it was part of every student's rite of passage. I visited countries both rich and poor. I did not usually speak the local language, but everywhere the silent eloquence of Love helped me make myself understood.

The message of Love is in the way I live my life, and not in my words or my deeds.

In the letter of the Corinthians, Paul tells us, in three short lines, that Love is made of many elements, like light. We learn at school that if we pick up a prism and allow a ray of light to pass through, that ray will divide into seven colors, those of rainbow.

Paul shows us the rainbow of Love just as prism reveals to us the rainbow of light.

And what are those elements? They are virtues we hear about every day and that we can practice in every moment.

Patience: Love is patient...

Kindness: ...and kind.

Generosity: Love does not envy...

Humility:... or boast; it is not arrogant...

Courtesy:... or rude.

Unselfishness: It does not insist on its own way.

Good temper: It is not irritable...or resentful.

Guilelessness: or resentful.

Sincerity: It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

All these gifts concern us, our daily lives, and today and tomorrow, not with Eternity.

The problem is that people tend to relate these traits to the Love of God, but how does God manifest itself? Through the Love of man.

To find Peace in heaven, we must find love on Earth. Without it, we are worthless.

Let God Use You

"As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  -John 20:21

“Pray ka kay Jesus ha. Pag pray ka ni Ate Robz”; were the only words I could utter while hugging with a kid from He Care Mission.

I was taking photos during prayer time of the program, when I saw her in front crying.
She didn’t notice I was observing her I was pretending to take photos of the other kids.

Tears fell from her eyes and she kept on wiping it with both hands.
Then she transferred at the back as she continues to cover her face.

I transferred at the back too and asked the kid beside her to call her for me
as there's no space I could sit beside her. She just looked at me & refused. I asked her once again.
Then she stood up & sat beside me. We were sitting in an indian sit.

I hugged her so tight & I found myself crying too. I wanted to say something but I couldn’t utter any words anymore. I don’t know what she’s going through. I don’t know the reasons of those tears that made my heart felt so heavy.  I didn’t bother to ask anymore. I only promised that I will pray for her.

I continue to capture photos & saw her once again eating her meal. I smiled at her.
She looked at with me with a beautiful smile that I forgot to capture it with my cam.

I woke up today & remembered that wonderful experience yesterday.
Her beautiful smile made me cry again.

Thank you Lord for using me & for letting us experience Your amazing love everywhere.

Don't Waste your Pain

Excerpted from Deeper by Fr. Bob McConaghy

When you're broadsided by life, when you're in your Good Friday, when

you're feeling any kind of pain—emotional or physical—the message is, "Don't waste your pain."

We are Christians, not masochists. We don't look for pain, and God doesn't give us crosses.
It's  people who give us crosses. Life give us crosses. The LRT gives us crosses.
EDSA gives us crosses.

God does not send crosses to punish us. We punish ourselves. When He gives us mercy 

in the sacrament of penance and we leave still feeling guilty, why do we do this?

Because we feel as though we need to be punished. 

When Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, He said, "No more punishment. 

When I forgive you, you're justified just as if you've never sinned, just as if

you've never done that. Lay the burden down. Stop beating yourself up, but take up

your cross daily and follow Me."

Don't waste your pain. It can be redemptive for others. Look how redemptive

it was through the life of Renee. It was the same for the parishioners who

witnessed George's sacrife. Jesus sends powerful actual graces when we unite

whatever pain we have with His ongoing sacrifice to the Father.

Maybe someone you know is at the moment of death and they're scared of God 

or they don't believe in Him. What you can do is take whatever discomfort you're
experiencing at the moment and pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, the most
powerful  prayer you can pray for someone who is dying. Or maybe you can dedicate
the next twenty minutes of your pain for the nurses, doctors, and healers of the hospital

where that person is. This is a way to become significant in that particular situation.

Nobody else might notice but Jesus does. 

When Jesus walked around Galilee during His three years of ministry, He always 

noticed people whom nobody else noticed. He stopped and He touched them.
He touched the leper even if it was against the law. He turned things upside down.

Then He did the most beautifully significant thing of all time: He gave Himself for us.

What was a failure in the eyes of the world that didn't believe became the

very act that would save all men.

On Good Friday, don't settle for what you think you deserve because of your sins.

Rather experience what grace delivers to you as you pick up your cross each day.