LIFE is BEAUTIFUL!

WISDOM

To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom. Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

THOUGHTS TO PONDER

Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus.---RALPH WALDO EMERSON
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Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.---ABRAHAM LINCOLN
There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state to another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.---ALEXANDRE DUMAS
“It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones" --- Alexander Solzhenitsyn quotes (Russian novelist, Nobel Prize for Literature (1970), b.1918)
“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.” ---Kahlil Gibran

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Misa de Gallo / Christmas Novena - Fifth Day


The first reading is from Isaiah 7:10-14 speaks on the Immanuel prophecy pronounced by prophet Isaiah in the Kingdom of Judah. That  the prophecy  talked on the birth of Jesus Christ by the virgin Mary. It was also relayed  quite similar with the reading on the fourth day of Novena Mass.


 The gospel is of  St. Luke,  this time on the Annunciation marks the beginning of the fulfillment of a prophecy by Isaiah.  It was in the sixth month when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. This gospel is very improtant for the Catholics as we got from this our Hail Mary prayer. This is also in our Angelus that we pray at six in the evening. And more importantly, the message  "Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God".

If the situation of Mary happened this time, I think it wouldn't be easy to manage or maybe handle things in some way.  She was a virgin and would bear a son.  But then the angel assured her that she didn't need to be scared and that she was in the will of God. This was also the time when Mary was told about her cousin Elizabeth will conceive a son despite her old age. It was also her sixth month. It was a miracle, too as she was even called barren for having no capability of bearing a child. And what so special about Mary in the Gospel, was her response saying "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. may it be done to me according  to your word. "

I was personally touched on the homily Father Tamayo shared on couples who had had  babies but just surprisingly died. The first couple was even active in a helping community and for once in their lives they couldn't believe that such  trials could happen to them. And so the second couple almost lost hope on the pains they've been through of losing their babies.  Such things that may appear very undesirable for us let us down and sometimes make us question about God's existence; however, if we believe in His blessings, plan and will, we  see the brighter perspective and even be grateful on things that we find catastrophies.

God has his own plan, we just have to surrender and offer our ambitions, dreams and goals to Him and He will lead us to a better way. It's taking away fears in us and just have faith in our dealings. Nothing indeed will be impossible for God.

2 comments:

  1. I love the Abraham Lincoln quote :-)

    I hope you and your family have a Wonderful Christmas :-)

    God Bless You, ~Ron
    ***************************

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  2. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well. God bless you, too Ron! :)

    ReplyDelete