"Quote of the Day"

"Better to remain silent and be thought of as a fool. Rather than to speak up and remove all doubt." - Proverb 17:20

I saw this on my Mom's dresser and I loved it! Was this really in the bible? Did the Bible have humor, too? I didn't know that! ... Love it, love it!

Yagya

I can't explain in plain English what a yagya is. A ritual, an offering, a prayer derived from the Vedas is called a yagya. Derived from the Vedic Sanskrit which constitutes the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, it is religious in practice. A scientific point of view comes from Maharishi Yagya. I like it 'cause I always want an explanation. It just satisfies my curiosities. Somehow I compare the Vedas to the New Testaments. The Vedas is not religious, but from it, formed the basis for Hinduism. Jesus didn't found Christianity, but from his teachings came about the religion.

There are many kinds of yagyas and I believe one of the first I had done was called Surya Yagya, a personal special 2012 New Year gift to myself, a beautiful wonderful experience!

Way to start the New Year!

On Being

Brenda and I were talking about buddhist centers in the bay area over lunch yesterday. She said there were some she didn't like 'cause, apparently, some speakers talked too much instead of just having silence. They're "too busy being somebody instead of just being."

I like that! I really like that - One is a waste of time; the other, timeless.

Talk more about Being, Albert Einstein says -

http://www.tm.org/blog/enlightenment/albert-einstein/

Something to Share

Thousands Buddhist Monks learn TM

http://www.tm.org/blog/author/bob-roth/

http://www.tm.org/meditation-techniques?leadsource=CRM421

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/religion/jbuddhis.html

Holy Thursday

Beautiful service in church tonight - Mass of the Lord's Last Supper, washing of the feet, candlelight procession after mass to Our Lady's Chapel for the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament! And I did the Stations of the Cross! With jet lag and work schedule, and to be able to do all these, I feel good! Amen.

Lenten Season

Lent begins today March 9, Ash Wednesday. Have a blessed season.

Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

(I wrote a song, Lord, You're My Shepherd, with lyrics by Carmen "Pinky" Valdes on her album Sandalwood, which Norman & I produced. It's available on iTunes)

Paramahansa Yogananda

http://www.yogananda-srf.org/

BUDDHA LIVES HERE

Buddha lives in my house. He moves!

Medjugorje

http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/videos/bbc-pilgrims-medjugorje/

Beautiful Prayer for New Year's 2011

My schoolmate, Ilo, from high school wrote this beautiful prayer for New Year 2011 and as she said, "... unto forevermore!!!!" and I want to share it here with you all. It's really moving and inspiring! Thanks, Ilo, you're a beautiful soul!

On Dec 31, 2010, at 9:52 AM, Ilo Wallenstein wrote:

Dear Lord, look upon us your favored ones and keep us in the palm of Your Hand.
You have blessed us, you have guided us, you have loved us through.  We
give thanks and we give You praise.

As we enter into another year which definitely brings us closer to the
end of time (whether we like to think that way or not), we rest in the
finished task you have completed and which we just live out according
to Your riches in glory.

Let us not forget that YOu have done it all, once for all.  In the
times when we stray, rein us in ASAP; in the times when we hesitate
because we doubt, remind us, we only are a prayer away; and in the
times when it feels like we have no one, nothing, and so helpless, rain
down faith, that we might remember: our emotions lie to us, our memory
sends wrong and conflicting signals, but that the PEACE in our hearts
where You are as our Lord and Saviour, will carry us through...We live
on Your Promise:
NO WEAPOIN FORMED AGAINST US SHALL FLOURISH.
YOU WORK ALL THINGS FOR GOOD FOR THOSE WHO LOVE YOU AND ARE CALLED TO YOUR PURPOSE.

With such assurances, we WILL, by grace, carry our challenge through!

In prayer unity, we honor You, Lord and Saviour of our lives, now, in
2011, and by your amazing grace, unto forevermore!!!!

Ilo

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, one of the  most significant Catholic doctrines about the Blessed Virgin Mary. I have a very deep connection with her from a past life especially related to this doctrine. I was so blessed! And always so blessed! I am not a religious fanatic. On the contrary, I stopped going to church for a long time before. Ironically, it was transcendental meditation (TM), which many people thought was another religion, that brought me back to my religion, back to my Catholic faith.

The reason why I am writing about the Blessed Mother right now, aside from her feast day today, is that I've been missing my Mom so much so that I've been praying to Mother Mary to heal her, keep her company in Manila, visit her often and take care of her while I still can't go home to take care of her. After a week or so when I called up my mother, out of the blue, she said over and over, 

"I love Mama Mary." 

"I love Mama Mary." 

"I love Mama Mary."

"I love Mama Mary." 

"I love Mama Mary." 

"I love Mama Mary."

"I love Mama Mary." 

"I love Mama Mary." 

"I love Mama Mary." 

"I love Mama Mary."

Initially, I didn't know why she kept saying it until I felt an overwhelming sense of calmness in me, an assurance that, yes, my prayer was answered. Mother Mary has been visiting my mother, healing her and taking care of her in Manila. That's between her and me.

Thank you, Mother Mary. I love you. I'm so blessed and humbled...

Biblical Paraphrases

Translating the conversation between Jesus and Thomas, the Apostle, after Jesus rose from the dead -

“Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails … I will not believe.”

"SEEING IS BELIEVING." - Thomas 

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

"BELIEVING IS SEEING." - Jesus

http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8173

Thank you, Jesus!

DON BOSCO

October

Month of the Rosary! And some of my favorite saints' feast days! - Happy Feast Days, Everyone! Love yall!

And tomorrow is my late brother, Jesse's, 9th anniversary! - Rest in peace, my dear brother. I love you.

My Archangels

Changing the calendars from September to October, I read on one of them that today, is the Feast day of all my Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. What sweet reminder, what sweet connection!  Thank you, Lord.

A Note from God

Somehow, clicking Bookmarks by mistake instead of History, I came across the story of Josepha Hendrina Stenmanns' Life and Spirituality. She was one of the co-founders of the religious congregation, Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit, headed by St. Arnold Janssen, whose congregation founded among others, College of the Holy Spirit, (formerly Holy Ghost College), all over the world, one of them, my alma mater in Manila.

http://www.worldssps.org/mjosepha_page/documents/english/slide/spm/index.html

This morning, I got a message from David Lynch Foundation whose profound work on teaching TM to high schools to eliminate school violence has been soaring with great success!

http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/

Put the 2 together, I got a note from God!

WOW! Got it, Lord... Thank you.

Gotta go, I've got work to do!  But I hear you, God!  Thanks again. I love you.

SILENCE In Church, In My Universe, In the Infinite

After a bowl of "hearty soup" with Zita again last Sunday, (every time she's in town, we take advantage of seeing each other), I went to church for a visit. The service was over so I was by myself, all alone, and, aah, a beautiful experience -

SILENCE... Silence, so profund, all I heard was the sound of hum, the vibration of the universe, beginning from within me, from every cell of my body, expanding out to every pew, the altar, tables, chairs, the plants, candles, statues, the whole church, to the streets, the trees, every pebble and stone, every person, animal, cars, ships, planes, metals, wood, the ocean, every particle of sand, rocks, to the skies, every space, our entire planet, to the galaxies, the entire universe! No separation at all in every single thing, just penetrating through and through... Total sound of silence... The sound of the universe, of the infinite, and beyond and beyond and beyond beyond and...

This must be how the universe began! Dr. John Hagelin, a world-renowned quantum physicist, a leading international investigator on the nature and origin of consciousness, including the higher states of human consciousness explains, "... The human physiology is therefore just a web of sound that is evolving, unfolding and growing, until the ultimate wholeness... is fully expressed." Vedic Engineering - The Chemistry of Sound

I can't explain the science. I only know the experience. And as an ordinary person, the experience is all I want. It's ALL I need - right now! It happens to me every now and then. I wish it happened everyday, 24/7! It's always there, constantly, accessibly! We just have to tune in.

Experiencing the UNIVERSE must be experiencing GOD at its most basic level, and the INFINITE, experiencing GOD beyond and beyond and... - I'm finding out!

What was there before the beginning?? - GOD.

Yes, but, what was God before the beginning?? - GOD.

I know, but what was God "like" before the beginning?? - GOD.

Before the beginning, before the be... ing, before be... ing?? - GOD.

Before, Befo... Be... ?? - GOD.

In The Beginning...

Last night, as sleepy as I was, I watched "How The Earth Was Made" and "The Universe" back to back on History Channel. As I've said, I'm always into the origin of things. I must be God, (Dare I say???), or at least, like God! But God doesn't have a beginning nor end. So where does that leave me? Where do I go from here?

I keep searching and I keep searching and I will keep searching...

As I kept watching "The Universe", somehow, it convinced me, no, it did more than that! Once and for all, it validated the truth, the fact - everything about GOD! God is not just a HE as our religion had always told us since time immemorial, not just a SHE as later introduced in metaphysical sciences, beliefs, etc., but IT! God is the totality of all three - three in one, one in three! Yes, watching "The Universe" last night on TV was fascinating!! It was as if God, finally, revealed Himself, Herself, Itself to me! It was GOD "starring" in its totality - in oneness, in the universe!

I've been watching the universe, I've been watching God, in real life. But realizations of God would come in fragments, a little here, a little there. Not that there were doubts in between, No! Never! I live God, in fragments and out, in pieces and in whole. But when I see God in fragments, in pieces, that's when I want to see more. That's when I keep searching! But I don't search for that which isn't there! Everything is there. Even in nothing, everything is in it. And in everything, nothing is in it. There is really nothing to search 'cause everything is already there!

We just live it! We live God! I live God in parts and in whole. When I live in parts, that's when I search for more. When I am whole, I desire no more.

Being human, I keep searching... Being divine, I keep revealing.

Holy Week, Rituals, etc.

From Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Black Saturday to Easter Sunday...

Went to church today and I didn't know there was a service going on. Just got back from MNL so I didn't know the schedule of services for the Holy Week here.

But I love rituals, ceremonies - the Holy Mass, Stations of the Cross, Holy Communion, and not just the Catholic ceremonies, but Jewish rituals, Buddhism, Hinduism, Moslem, etc., and not just religious, but anything! A dance is a ritual! Music is a ritual! Writing poetry, an essay, a story, etc., is a ritual. Walking, talking, sleeping, waking up, having a nap, making love, oh, what a beautiful ritual! Bathing, cleaning, cooking, eating, gardening, and on and on and on...an afternoon tea is a ritual, a beautiful ceremony. Everything we do is a ritual. Every breath is a ritual. Life is a ritual. It is sacred, it is beautiful. And living life well is a beautiful ritual. Let's honor it. Let's enjoy it - Enjoy Life!

Confessions of a Cathoholic

Got this on email and it's so funny you'll enjoy it - Re: Catholic Info (DO NOT DIVULGE TO HEATHENS)

This information is for Catholics only. It must not be divulged to non-Catholics. The less they know about our rituals and top secret code words, the better off they are. AMEN: The only part of a prayer that everyone knows. BULLETIN: Your receipt for attending Mass. CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows the rest of the Parish to lip-sync. HOLY WATER: A liquid whose chemical formula is H2OLY. HYMN: A song of praise usually sung in a key three octaves higher than that of the congregation's range. RECESSIONAL HYMN: The last song at Mass often sung a little more quietly, since most of the people have already left. INCENSE: Holy Smoke! JESUITS: An order of priests known for their ability to find colleges with good basketball teams. JONAH: The original 'Jaws' story. JUSTICE: When kids have kids of their own. KYRIE ELEISON: The only Greek words that most Catholics can recognize besides gyros and baklava. (for you non-Catholics it means Lord have mercy) MAGI: The most famous trio to attend a baby shower. MANGER: Where Mary gave birth to Jesus because Joseph wasn't covered by an HMO. (The Bible's way of showing us that holiday travel has always been rough.) PEW: A medieval torture device still found in Catholic churches. PROCESSION: The ceremonial formation at the beginning of Mass consisting of altar servers, the celebrant, and late parishioners looking for seats. RECESSIONAL: The ceremonial procession at the conclusion of Mass led by parishioners trying to beat the crowd to the parking lot. RELICS: People who have been going to Mass for so long, they actually know when to sit, kneel, and stand. TEN COMMANDMENTS: The most important Top Ten list not given by David Letterman. USHERS: The only people in the parish who don't know the seating capacity of a pew. Little known facts about the Catholic Church in Las Vegas : There are more churches in LasVegas than casinos. During Sunday services at the offertory, some worshippers contribute casino chips as opposed to cash. Some are sharing their winnings - some are hoping to win. Since they get chips from so many different casinos, and they are worth money, the Catholic churches are required to send all the chips into the diocese for sorting. Once sorted into the respective casino chips, one junior priest takes the chips and makes the rounds to the casinos turning chips into cash. And he, of course, is known as The Chip Monk.