PARADOXICAL

Each one-liner (from the retreat given by Fr. Dave) is worth a separate retreat!


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If you lose money, you lose nothing. If you lose your health, you lose something. If you lose your character, you lose everything.

In all our dreams, we must never forget what is essential and reconcilable.

1. Control your destiny or someone else will.

You can never become what your mind can't imagine.
You can't give birth to something your heart can't conceive.

2. Face reality as is now, not how you wish it.

If you keep doing what you have been doing, then you will be getting what you have been getting.

3. Take the lead and not simply manage.

Stay focused.
Know your priorities.
Live a balanced life. Ora et labora.
Do not avoid making painful decisions.

3c. Unsuccessful people think about survival. Average people think about management or maintenance. Successful people think about progress.

3b. With clear priorities, decisions are easy to make.

4. Do not settle for the average.

People do not pay for the average.

See book An Enemy Called Average

Pwede na yan. - Enemy of the present time



Success or achieving your dreams doesn't mean deciding on what is comfortable, popular, or beneficial.

Neither is God's will comfortable, popular, or beneficial.

Life is only 70. If you are healthy, you will reach 80. That means if you are 60, malapit ka na.

If you have a problem or concern, ask three important questions:
-Is there anything wrong in my life that needs to be corrected?
-If none, is there anything wrong in my life that God demands obedience?
-If none, is there anything that God wants me to learn?


Credibility is very hard to earn, and once it is lost, it is very hard to regain.

Credibility is standing like a rock.

Joys are the whispers of God. Pains are the shouts of God.

You don't solve poverty by killing the consumer. You provide food for them.

Freud: "Few are those who think. And for those who think, few think enough."
Somebody's response: "Baka kaya di ka napapagod kasi di ka nagiisip." Hahahaha.

Not all who go to Mass pray. Many are just fulfilling their obligation. It all boils down to attitude.

Guard your character, for it will control your destiny. - Bernard Shaw

St. Paul to Galileans: If you are a Jew and acts like a Gentile, do not expect the Gentiles to act like a Jew.

Learn to do things another way.

It's a way of seeing things. Ex. Have you heard of the tale of the two shoes salemen in Africa. Salesman A frowned: "No one is wearing shoes!" But salesman B got excited: "Great! No one is wearing shoes! I can teach them all to wear shoes."

I am strict because I am weak.

Sometimes we have to ask a different question.

You may be excellent in what you do, but is that God's will? Your excellence won't have credit because eternal life is a deliberate choice.

Do you believe that you are called to be here by God?

God acts in a way we don't understand.

Discernment happens between two rights or two goods. If it's a matter of right and wrong, no discernment is necessary.


Alin ba dito Panginoon?

"Make a choice and I will bless it. It is enough that you asked my will."

Do you have the heart for it?

Every blessing entails a burden.

When you pray you don't have to make that (?) commitment.

The sea separated when the Israelites stepped on the water. Because it demands an act of faith. (Sometimes faith means having the guts.)

God comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.

In a dilemma between two rights, choose the more loving thing to do.

But remember, sometimes love is not sweet. It could be tough.


We are simply loved by God.

There are no mistakes in life, only lessons to learn.

The only way to succeed is to commit a mistake. The only way to fail a subject is to make the same mistake.

Three Important Questions

1. How faithfully have I lived my vocation?
2. How much love have I given?
3. How gracefully I let go of the thing that are not meant for me?


There are three ways to regenerate: bear a child, write a book, plant a tree.


Careers are measured in success. Vocations are measured in fidelity.


Not all who are faithful are lovers. Yung iba takot lang. Pero dun sa nagmahal, nagtiis. Dun sa nagmahal, nagsumikap maging tapat.

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To be old is not a license to be cranky.

Laws of Lifetime Personal Growth

1. Always make your future bigger than your past.
2. Always make your contribution bigger than your reward.
3. Always make your performance greater than your applause.
4. Always make your gratitude greater than your success.

Each of the above is a choice.

Eternal life is a deliberate choice.

If your rewards are greater than your control, then don't expect eternity. You've already received your reward.

God is the true measure of joy.

You think you're doing God a favor? "You are not called because you have something to do for God. God has called you for your own good."

God will never shortchange you.

Quote: "It is not enough that we do the right thing. We must do the right thing for the right reason.

Are we just being safe?

If what you do won't bring us to heaven, drop it like a hot potato.


Di lahat ng nagkamali, nagkasala. Pero lahat ng nagkasala, nagkamali.


Quote on integrity: "Holiness is wholeness."

"My life is my message." - Gandhi, on integrity

Courage is doing the right thing even when it is hard.

To believe in something and not to live it is being dishonest. - Gandhi

"Do not expect applause for doing the right thing, but be grateful that you were able to do what's expected."

"You were called not because you have something to give, but because it is for your own good."

Every morning I spend 15 minutes filling my mind full of God; and so there's no room left for worry thoughts. - Howard Chandler Christy

The root of all difficulties is a lack of sense of the presence of God. - Emmett Fox

Jesus Christ is a God whom we approach without pride, and before whom we humble ourselves without despair. - Blaise Pascal

It is not hard for the Lord to turn night into day. He that sends the clouds can as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good cheer. - Charles Spurgeon

Lord I know not everything I wished and hoped for will come true. Please give me strength to let go and entrust everything to you. I understand you won't allow me to be in pain for the sake of hurting but for the sake of learning. You know me more than I know myself that even when I feel alone and unloved, there is still Someone who knows all my flaws yet loves me unconditionally like no human can.

God is so big that he can cover the whole world with his love, yet small enough to live within your heart. So rich that He can give you anything you desire, yet wise to grant you only what is best. So powerful that he can command the sun to stand still, yet gentle enough to weep with you in your pain.

8 secrets of success are found in a room: The roof said aim high. The fan said be cool. The clock said every minute is precious. The mirror said reflect before you act. The window said see the world. The calendar said be up to date. The door said push hard to achieve your goals. The floor said kneel down, pray and say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

God makes three requests of His children: Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have, now. African-American proverb

Our Lord gives to souls of prayer a deep understanding of Himself. He never deceives them. St Peter Julian Eymard

To love God is something greater than to know Him. - St. Thomas Aquinas

Difficulties to a Christian are only miracles that have not yet happened.

God took the worst thing that man could do to his son, and transformed it into the best thing he could do for man.

God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them but to cleanse them. - John H. Aughey

Because you are precious in my sight, and honored and I love you. Is. 43:1-5, Hos. 11:1-4, Ps. 121, Is. 45:9-12

Our mission in life is to light lamp posts along life's way. As we move on we leave behind us a trail of light to keep others on the right track. - ???

Everyone of you, no matter how insignificant we are judged to be by the values of society, have great and important things to do precisely because we bear within us the kingdom of God. - William Meninger, OCSO

God is the only source of true happiness. Everything else is a poor imitation. - ???

It is more difficult to be loved than to be a lover because in allowing ourselves to be loved, we must be what we are. - ???

Lord, if you insist, let me know You. - Pascal

Discernment is the link between prayer and action. - Fr. Thomas Green, SJ

True knoweldge of God goes hand in hand with a painful self-knowledge. That is why good souls who are making real progress often feel they are regressing and getting further from God. - Thomas Green, SJ