breviary, a revolution from the heart?

I have to return the book today for others to also learn from. So let me share one of my favorite parts from the book REVOLUTION from the HEART:

I used to slip away each day from the babble of our cell to say my breviary in the prison yard. The other prisoners gradually learned to leave me alone for those minutes. As I read the Psalms, they took on a meaning they never had before. I had always seen them as hyperbole, poetic exaggeration, a little unsuited to our age, maybe any age. All this about being falsely accused, pursued by enemies, ensnared, hungry, sick, abandoned and forgotten. But now as I read them and looked around me I could see that they were literally true, word for word, and syllable for syllable:

Reach down from heaven and save me
Draw me out from the mighty waters
From the hands of foes
Whose mouths are filled with lies
Whose hands are raised in perjury.

So many of the prisoners waiting for me to finish could have written these very words. It was as if I were praying them now for the first time since I had come to the Philippines, twenty years before.

~ Fr Niall O'Brien, Revolution from the Heart, pp. 3-4 ~ 

I can almost imagine the looks in his eyes, begging, pitiful and hungry for justice; as is the situation of Negros at that time...I love praying the breviary though I couldn't pray so everyday. And I am truly struck by Fr Niall's testimony, for many times I found myself speaking in the lines of the psalms and readings. When one is disposed to it, the grace will work on. Even the unsaid prayers of the heart will find its way to the very heart of God...

I have not loved you enough...

I have not loved you enough... Will you make me do so? Will you teach me how, please? I must learn from your overflowing and unconditional love, my God; 

 You are the great author of love...

Prayer for Priests

Just would like to share this prayer with you, as our priests are really in need of prayers. Thanks and blessings to you all.

Prayer for Priests

O Jesus,

I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;

for your unfaithful and tepid priests;

for your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields.

For your tempted priests;

For your lonely and desolate priests;

For your young priests;

For your dying priests;

For the souls of your priests in Purgatory.

But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:

The priest who baptized me;

The priests who absolved me from my sins;

The priests at whose Masses I assisted 

And who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;

The priests who taught and instructed me;

All the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way

(especially …)

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,

And bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.

Amen.

Also, you may access this site for more prayers for priests. 

Rosary in the street

I was surfing the net for quotations on the Holy Rosary when I found this one from St Escriva.

"You always leave the Rosary for later, and you end up not saying it at all because you are sleepy. 

If there is no other time, say it in the street without letting anybody notice it. 

It will, moreover, help you to have presence of God." 

~ St. Josemaria Escriva ~

I felt happy to have stumbled on this one. I am affirmed by this line... Indeed I am growing in consciousness of the presence of God.  ^_^

St Josemaria Escriva, pray for us.

God bless and have a beautifully blooming day, everyone!
(",)

On the Feast of St Anthony de Padua

Checking my phone calendar for June 13, I was reminded of the feast of St Anthony de Padua. To his feast I requested for his special intercession. I lost a part of me for quite sometime and I need to find it to bring me back into writing. So to the patron Saint of lost things, I made an appeal...

I found a stampita of him of similar image above along with a feather (guess) in 2009 few days before his feast. Since nobody claimed it, I took it with me. I wasn't sure then if it was really lost by somebody but I was sure that I found him.

In the eve of his feast, I stared at the image and in my prayer... just like St Anthony de Padua, that I may carry the infant Jesus in my own arms with fondness as I wear in me the living Word blooming in love and holiness like flowers beautifully do, with Jesus constantly touching my face in blessings and graces, with my gaze focused directly to His very own eyes that I may never lose my way and never to depart from Him; that I may stay forever in love with Him and only unto Him.

St Anthony de Padua, pray for us.
(",)

Yes! It's a good news!

This is what is amazing! Just minutes after or maybe an hour after I posted my blog, MARY's fiat. Will it also be Mary's fiat? good news are starting to come in, from friends who are happy with their good news of the day. See, reasons to smile and be happy are making its way to me! With my previous statement, 'I believe that my hour for rejoicing will come,' the law of attraction, a mind disposition, the faith, it all matters. :D

Hmmm... happiness doesn't have to be 'me.' It can always come in the gentlest news to the most freaking great news of friends and other people. ;)

And ooopppzzzz, before I end this blog, another affirmation came in, just few minutes ago. A very simple, short but concise comment from a dear friend, 'Luke 2:19.' Checking the Bible it says, 'As for Mary, she treasured all these words and continually pondered them.' And so be it... <3 

Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for us.

(",) 

MARY's fiat. Will it also be Mary's fiat?

Why does it have to be like this? Why do I have to be like this? Why do I have to act like this? Why do I have to feel this way? Well, I can only ask and question..!

I've been looking forward for this day with thrill and excitement. This is supposed to be a happy day. For today we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, Mama Mary's fiat, her YES that many of us wish to follow and to own. I was hoping for a better day when I can also renew my yes and even give my another yes.

But waking up this morning I feel more of Magdalene rather than Mary. I prayed to God, 'Lord, please let me be Magdalene. Let me kiss your feet, wash it with oil and dry it with my hair' as I make my way to kissing the floor of the chapel. There He is in the tabernacle. I spoke to Him, I ask Him questions, I ponder on things... no, I was actually begging for Him to give me light. 'Lord, please be my Light. Please give me light so I may see the good in all these things. Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for me.'

Today is Friday, 25 March 2011. The feast of the Annunciation, a joyful celebration. But Friday is meant for Sorrowful Mystery in the Rosary. And I feel more in deep sorrow at the start of this day. But I also know that this day will not end with me being joyful. I believe that my hour for rejoicing will come. Only that I have to feel this way, I need to be in this as of the moment. So do I dwell on this feeling to savor it, though not for long.

I am just at the first hour of my day. This day is going to be long for me.

18 February 2011

Today, 18 Feb 2011: birthday of my brother, operation of Bebeth, thanksgiving for Matthew & his family, a day of prayer for me as I come to remember those whom I promised to pray... I offer them all in an early morning Mass and to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus...

As I was walking on my way back home, I began to wonder, what other stories could there be for today? And as I enter the house,

'please pray for a sister in Bahrain and for the people of Bahrain, Jordan and other places in the world who are struggling for freedom...'

Indeed it is another day of prayer...

Still, all praises and thanksgiving be to God! ♥

Wake me up, Lord

Wake me up, Lord
from the long sleep I've been.
For life is nowhere
in the nights within.

Bring me into light
for my spirit to awake.
Let me grasp your hand for help
in the uncertainty of living.

Guide me as I open my eyes.
Calm this trembling heart.
Teach me to recognize
the strength to survive.

+ jocrossy +
07:25 AM
3 Nov 2010

A thought for Mama

28 July 2010 - Greetings on the Feast of St Pedro Poveda (my anniversary).

Today, I offer a special thought for my mom. She hopes to have her check up this afternoon with her doctor. She's into this kind of illness that is kinda incurable.

Do I ask for a miracle for God to simply take it from her? Or for strength of spirit that my mom will be open and pro-active for dealing with her illness? Or for me to face her in courage for whatever is her reaction whenever she learns about it and for her to draw strength that she may not grow weaker?

Do I continue to think of this thing? Or do I just stop my anxious wondering?

Let me rather submit to the one that is greater, to His divine holy will.

Please help me offer my mom to God for Him to take care, through the loving intercession of Mama Mary (Mother of Perpetual Help) and St Pedro Poveda.

Thank you and God bless us all,
+ jocrossy +

Dear Father God

Dear Father God,

Let me in Thy loving arms embrace the whole world
That in Your divine protection it will be comforted.
Let Your motherly heart protect it from any harm.
And in Thy mantle of love it will be lulled in tenderness.
Let it be at rest... peaceful... still... calm... quiet...
I love you Lord and I love the world in Your dear loving heart.

Your loving daughter,
+ jocrossy +