Silence

School, work, homework, friends, community service, college applications, appointments, games, sports, practice. You name it.

Our lives have been filled with countless of activities. Our lives have been scheduled. Our lives have been nothing, but timed by the universal thing called a clock.

No wonder why we all seem so busy. Even the times we set for ourselves to have free time. Is not really so free.

“I’m going to be free for, let’s say 2 hours, is that enough time for you?”

“I’m sorry, I’m going to need more time than that. It’s just that I need you. I need your time. Not just now, not just for 2 hours, is that ok?”

In the midst of all our running around, do we stop and think. Just listen for our thoughts, or do we just live the life that we are supposed to live. Growing up in the fast paced society has shown me a great deal of happiness, but also sorrows. Sometimes, the only thing that ever mattered was time. Time to go. Time to sleep. Time to wake up. Time to eat. Time to go. It’s always time to go. I am so sick of having to go. Go here, go there, go everywhere.

I have no clue what had happened to our lives. The lives that we used to have. You know, that life where you just didn’t care. When you were young, carefree, spontaneous. No matter how much I try, it’s a go go go situation. It’s time to sit and be silent. It’s just about time to have time for ourselves.

I learned, by taking a foreign language class and a sociology class in high school, that people value their time differently in different societies. In our society in America, it is always time, as you probably do experience everyday. In other countries, like Spain, Mexico and other Latin countries value their time totally different. In these countries, most people are in no rush. Their clocks don’t run their lives, instead their lives run their clocks.

Fortunately, I have been able to experience both these cultures in my 18 years. Before I moved to America, I didn’t have a schedule, or even know of a schedule. I lived my life in the Philippines with no time ruling my life. Slowly, but surely when I moved to America, more and more scheduling was taking place. I’m not exactly sure if this is my peak of being so busy, I’m sure that in the long run there will be more to do, but at the moment there is more to do than the hours of daylight at this time of my life.

If we don’t take over our clocks they’ll forever take over our lives. It’s not for us to keep ourselves busy to stay sane, but to have time for ourselves to reflect on our lives every step of the way. Let’s not be on pilot mode, like Adam Sandler in the movie Clique, but be active in what we do. Activate your real life by the moments we take sitting. Sitting in silence.

How Great is our God

Reading 1
Acts 4:32-37

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the Apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.

Thus Joseph, also named by the Apostles Barnabas
(which is translated (son of encouragement”),
a Levite, a Cypriot by birth,
sold a piece of property that he owned,
then brought the money and put it at the feet of the Apostles.

Responsorial Psalm
93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5

R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
or:
R. Alleluia.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
or:
R. Alleluia.

<!– Reading II
Rom 13:11-14

–>Gospel
Jn 3:7b-15

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to him,
‘How can this happen?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,
but you people do not accept our testimony.
If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

 http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/040108.shtml

The day of St. Valentine.

Oh goodness! It’s been such a long time since I’ve actually blogged. Almost a year! haha, well it is kind of weird being here again, but it’s a start!

Here’s a Quickee about this annual event celebrated by most.

__________________________________________

St. Valentine

At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni)

St. Valentine’s DayThe popular customs associated with Saint Valentine’s Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules we read:

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers’ tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain allusions to the practice.

(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15254a.htm)

_____________________

To start of the day of St. Valentine.

I heard a lot of negative comments about this day to begin with. People were either “emo” about it, loved it or just started to say some statistics. Random, but oh? haha. I believe that if you would like to celebrate, celebrate the day your own way! Why not? hehe.

I had a special person pick me up for a nice dinner out to FlatTop Grill. Although it was a little early for dinner, it was nice because we were able concentrate on our yummy foods all by our selves. (I hope to post some pictures of this, but if not, then visit www.pwnshark.com & view Flickr photos.)

I had a great time & great food, but the best of all was being blessed with great person to spend the day with. =)

side note: I’m thinking of starting/doing little blogs about new restaurants/foods/places I like or anything of that area. I’ll definitely talk about FlatTopGrill one of these days.

Spring Is Here

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! After being in Spanish for the past four years of my life I still don’t know what this special event means until today. I just thought I would devote my time to actually do this since it’s my last year of taking Spanish (III).

Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence day, nor is it a American Holiday, but according to vivacinodemayo.com, it should be. This event took place in  1862 about 100 miles away from Mexico City when 4,000 Mexican soldiers destroyed the French who were twice as large as they were. The French prior to this day decided to stay in Mexico because of Napoleon who had an interest to Mexico’s neighboring country, the U.S.

Jesus Is My Superstar!

Blogging about yesterday. Yesterday was Holy Thursday. Although my day in school was a bit unusual and irritating, I managed regroup by taking a nap before going to Holy Mass. I usually get quiet and space out after waking up from a nap, which is usually not always the best thing to do, but for this time, before mass, was good because I was able to prepare myself to receive the Eucharist. I was about to eat, not because I was hungry, but it was just one of those weird things that said that I should eat (I’m probably not making sense). I was almost about to pick up banana, but I remembered that fasting before mass was a must. I was happy to do so.

My family and I sat by the choir during mass and I was glad that we did. I really enjoyed the beautiful music that they sang and played. Yesterday’s readings consisted of the remembrance of the Last Supper and the Washing of the feet. It was awesome seeing the Washing of the feet performed by Father Riva and parishioners. It was a heart warming, but also awesome, witnessing Jesus washing His servants’ feet. Get this, Jesus washing His servants’ feet! It’s just truly amazing being able to serve someone with all your heart and in return, the King of all, cleansing you with his Holy Hands! To top it all off, I was able to receive the Eucharist in the middle of this event!

After mass, my family and I started our 7 church adoration visit/quest(according to the significant other) at St. Scholatica. This is a tradition that my family has been doing since we were back in Philippines. We go to seven churches and have adoration, pretty much. I don’t exactly know why seven churches and not just one, considering that some churches are about 15 mins away from each other. I wasn’t able to ask my parents why we do this last night, but that should be my question of the day.

During this little quest of adoration in 7 churches, I was able to really REALLY pray for the first time, in a really really long time. Pray as in, it was only me and God. I truly felt God’s presence because of the continuous conversation we had through the night. I like telling people what’s on my mind and what’s bothering me and at the same time listening to that person. It was almost like that but So so so so much, a million times much more intimate and heart warming with Jesus being that person! I cannot explain what I felt during that time. I want to live my life as a journey of conversations with the Lord, with me listening and talking to Him and the other way around. Just like last night!

+ Last night after church my family and I went to get something to eat at Jimmy John’s, where significant other works and was able to visit him! It was great meeting his coworkers and getting a sandwich 1/2 made by him. haha. I’m guessing we contributed to his early dissmisal off work, so that he was able to join us on our 2nd church visit at Mt. Carmel. Going to adoration together was AMAZING! Serving, worshiping, and praying to God together!

So I’m totally proving myself wrong with what I said last post. hah.

Stopping for now,

me