PARADOXICAL

one who sees visions
recently approached sister raquel
and told her this message

"a big calamity will happen as in april"
(in prayer the date of april 14 was given)
when you get this prophecy
do not be afraid that they will not come true
your role is as relayer
when you have done the transmission
your task is done
what happens is no longer your responsibility"

sister raquel announced this message
in interviews with two television stations
who came without warning to her
a day after she got the message

she calls this not a doomsday prophecy
if indeed the message is real
but a 'call to prayer'
that can possibly avert cataclysm

this is her easter message to all

eastwind [x1093]

**
naked i came forth from my mother's womb
naked shall i go back again
the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away
blessed be His name

job 1:21 [x1068]
job's prayer when he lost his entire family
total surrender to the will of God

**
He came into His own
but His own knew Him not
and He gave up His life
to give them life eternal

eastwind [x1092]

**
God made the poor
to test the rich
God made the rich
to rescue to the poor

sister raquel reodica, RVM [x1089]

**

posted by Resty Odon  # 9:45 PM 0 Comments

“By His wounds, we are healed.”

Crying is our first and last language.

We were born into this world crying. We cry in our helplessness.

Then we learned how to talk. Nay, we were taught the language as it was invented. Thus began a form of unlearning. We were limited by the definitions and words we were brought up in.

Even now as we grow up, we use words to tell others that we are in trouble but we still cry when we find ourselves unable to find the right words.

According to a lesser-known psychoanalyst who was a contemporary of Freud, crying is our “first language.”

“When we are locked in a conflict between desire and frustration, we suffer. As our way of expressing the inexpressible, we resort to crying."

There are two kinds of cries. The cry that relieves and lightens and the cry that makes us even more exhausted.

Crying can be a form of prayer. We resort to it when we can no longer express our sorrows. This is the cry that relieves.

This is different from weeping that exhausts, out of self-pity. In this type of crying, there’s something we find hard to accept.

In contrast, cry as a form of prayer paradoxically strengthens. “Unless you accept your weakness, you won’t become strong.” This is the kind of cry we are dealing with here.

Crying is our last language in the sense that we resort to it when no one is able to understand us and what suffering we are going through, when no words are fitting enough. This kind of cry is akin to the 'speaking in tongues' phenomenon.

Crying is not a sign of weakness but a gift from God.

Crying makes us more human. A cry to God makes us become fully human.

As God-become-man, Jesus also had moments of crying. He went through the motions of crying, from birth to the different moments in his life.

The cry was also Jesus’ last prayer at the cross -- when He could no longer find the words to express the sorrows and pains He was going through. Jesus cried the cry of the unredeemed world, the cry of God-turned-man.

But thanks to this cry, our cries need not crush us. Thanks to this cry, our cry can also become a cry of joy.

(This is loosely based on a retreat I have attended given by a nun in Greenbelt last Holy Wednesday.)

posted by Resty Odon  # 4:58 PM 0 Comments

"Let's carry our cross well!"

posted by Resty Odon  # 5:54 PM 0 Comments

All these struggles to follow You -- and all I get from my enemies are accusations that I'm hypocrite?! All those St. John of the Cross-like sorrows of the soul and all I get is this dismissing mockery of the unrelengtingly arrogant? Arrogant in their ignorance? I wish You could reveal everybody's darkest secrets like a two-hour drive-thru movie! I wish You would expose them for who they really are the way You reveal my own sins to me.

posted by Resty Odon  # 4:08 PM 0 Comments

**
in your thirst
He will invisibly give you
safe passage to an oasis
you need no effort no maps
He will veer your tracks
because you are with Him

eastwind [pp139]

**
one who rescues today
will be rescued tomorrow

sirach 3:31

**
idolized by millions who bow in awe
the great healer said

i am nothing
He who is in me is great

eastwind [x1082]

**
in Him you will discover
silence amid noise
serenity amid conflict
love amid hatred

your inner peace is within you
you can defy the turmoil around you
by sheer power of your will
you are calm or agitated only by free will

eastwind [x1083]

**
you will discover
that you have two hands
one is for helping yourself
the other for helping others

audrey hepburn [pp136]

**

posted by Resty Odon  # 11:44 PM 0 Comments

(Adapted from a priest's sermon which he took from the conversation of Teresa Avila with Jesus)

Teresa: Lord, which of these two nuns is closer to you? The one who prays to you in tears out of sheer joy or the one who couldn't concentrate on her prayer that she had to get up always (from kneeling) and walk around just so she could keep herself awake? I'm sure the one who's in tears is closer to you.

Jesus: No, the one who's distracted in prayer is the one who is closer to me.

Teresa: (Surprised) Why, Lord? I don't understand.

Jesus: Because the first one prays to me out of consolation. The other one continues to pray to me even without consolation.

posted by Resty Odon  # 6:57 PM 0 Comments

"The very irony to our pride is that we ultimately have nothing of which to be proud! All the good things we have in our lives are ultimately gifts from God! All our good works are built upon the gift of His grace at work in our lives..."

-Companion (Shepherd's Voice)

posted by Resty Odon  # 7:48 PM 0 Comments

“Since Satan cannot create anything, he seeks instead to distort and pervert what is already around.

For example, we’ve never enjoyed so much freedom yet seen so many strongholds of sin.

We’ve never been so self-reliant yet seen so much fear and anxiety.

Our world has never been so small, yet so many live in isolation and loneliness.”

WAU Lent 2005 p. 42 (rearrangement mine)

posted by Resty Odon  # 6:22 PM 0 Comments

MERCENARISM AND ADVOCACY
EVIL LURKS IN HIGH PLACES
GOOD LURKS IN LOWLY PLACES

mercenarism
you see it daily in the papers
a supreme court judge beholden to a president
accedes to her request to reverse a former decision
of conscience that our wealth is for us primarily
(mining act declared unconstitutional later reversed)
a quid pro quo for his appointment

mercenarism
the world bank-IMF under pressure from their funders
the TNCs and US government
pressure third world rulers to accommodate
the TNCs to mine all their resources
under threat of loss of needed loans
at the expense of dislocated marginal tribes
progress for the rich, regression for the poor

mercenarism
practiced by presidents, judges, bankers, TNC executives
evil reigns in high places
spewing global forces against helpless mountain people
the heavens cry out for vengeance
when the rich steal from the poor

advocacy
a witness risks his life and family
to expose a powerful politician
in the name of justice and truth
the good lurks in nooks and crevices

eastwind [x1079]

posted by Resty Odon  # 6:05 PM 0 Comments

wounds from a friend are gentler
than greetings from a foe

proverbs 27:6 [x1067]

posted by Resty Odon  # 6:04 PM 0 Comments

R.---, I am Your Father. I am yours and you are Mine. You belong to Me more than to anyone else. My parenthood to you extends beyond this life. You are My son.

(as texted in by K. 11-02-2005 10:33:36am)

posted by Resty Odon  # 8:14 PM 0 Comments