The Legend of the Seeker

I've been watching the first season of "Legend of the Seeker" and think it's a really well-written tale.

No wonder a very good friend of mine recommended me the book by Terry Goodkind.

Of the things I have noticed so far is the moral question of the "common good vs. the individual good" that is frequently interwoven in the plot.

Indeed the Seeker deals with difficult choices in the series and to arrive at them, specifically as regards the question above - he seems to choose to neither choose between the two goods nor weigh the two against each other.

Rather, he seems to place them carefully - if not at times, to the chagrin of his companions, recklessly - in their proper context.

For the individual good must exist within the context of the common good and Justice serves which ever one is in imminent danger of an impending evil.

This is more often than not, except in times of war, calamity and wherever and whenever the government of the people is either misguided or corrupt, the individual good and so it is a good thing to see this Seeker inherently gifted to see this choice clearly even in times of great duress.

Cool series - a must see!

Our Father

Starshine,
our true Father
is the One we choose to obey;
the One Whose will we seek to follow;
the One Whose counsels and commandments
we freely and wholly submit
our body and soul unto.

Ours

The Best Time

The best gifts of recovery often come last.



The best time
of my every working day
is right at the end...

At the end of the day,
when I know I've done my best
to do a good job!

At the end of every day,
where all the choices I've made
during my working hours
- come together -
to become the realities
I'll live by at last.

At the end of every moment,
where I feel profoundly thankful
to the LORD, my only God,
and to the universe -
all living creatures who love me
and who I love back forever.

Yes, right at the end -
where everything that counts
really begins...

Wanna cheat?

For the lessons of life
are only those that add to life.



What's
the secret to success
at the University of Life,
commonly known as
the School of Hard Knocks?

Cheating. 

Yes, cheating.

All exams taken here
are better taken - together -
with other students of the universe
and with open notes.

Because by listening
to some of each of our own life's lessons,
we can learn - together - to grow and surpass
those phases in our lives that keep our spirits
stagnant and non-responsive to the drive
that inexorably drive all living beings
toward peace and ultimate happiness.

Wanna cheat?
---<--@

Far Shores

When love is near to us,
everything in our love draws close
to our hearts: Far shores become near.



Life lived in their moments
are more precious than life lived
in their seconds.

For all moments in life
are but natural to our living,
they have no count...
being by God
blessed.

But seconds can be counted,
even by its fractions, even by its sums,
being a thing of man-made measure
and are therefore,
fleeting.

For all things without count
are all the things that truly matter
to the heart of Man.

Starshine,
which one contains the other?
---<--@

Recovery Cat

Recovery cat enjoying the gifts of recovery...
ordinary cat life is so freakin' awesome!

'Tis bettre than drugges, savvy?

---<--@

Love that thou might live

Starshine, may we always be in love.



Life is all too beautiful,
all too precious, and all too short
to be wasted on hatred and all those species of un-love
that leads one's soul unto ignorance of what matters
the most... here in our time, Now in this life.

Those who live for anger
know that the alienation of hatred
is permanent.

For theirs are those whose spirits move
from wilderness to wilderness
finding neither company
nor safe abode.

But those who live for love
know that, through one may become angry
and restless for a day,
one may always return to love
and find peace.

- selah -

Fugitive to thy own heart!
Exile to thy own longing to return,
live no more for hatred and find safety -
love Now that thou might live.
---<--@

Tricky Angel

Addiction is cunning, baffling and powerful.



"Make peace with your addiction, 
find a place for it in your life, you can do it!
Everybody does it, it's harmless, no one will mind...",
the strange impulse said to my innermost self.

I struggle for answers like Peter sinking in the water.
Many a times I gave in to the temptation and drowned.

But if I held firm, if I stay put, if I trust and not panic...
something else comes to me... in many different guises,
in persons - mine and others, events, places, creatures, things,
above all - through Eucharistic bread and wine - my Savior,
my blessed Savior, my Jesus comes and finds me!

"No, my Jesus will! He will mind. For I am of His flock.
How will I explain this (in confession and in the communion of prayer)
to my most loving God and Giver of all good things in my little life
if I place upon His Throne in my heart a pretender to my love
such as you - Tricky Angel?", I thought to myself.

- selah -

Tricky Angel,
I know you and I know your tricks.

I know you from your mouth - laden with lies,
your tricks from the rottenness of its fruits.

I understand you not and desire of you
no understanding whatsoever.

In the Name of my most blessed Lord Jesus Christ,
highly to be adored and praised, my Savior, my God,
exalted above all the heavens and across all the earth,
by His Blood, by His Wounds, by His Passion, and Cross -
I command you to leave, begone from me!

I choose Jesus.

Thou art thy own shield

Starshine -

Always
lead with your mind
but think with your heart

For
thy mind is
as a sharp sword
to stay away the darkness

But
thy heart is
a welcome embrace

So
be thou
courageous of mind
to master thy thoughts

But
to know truth
be thou vigilant of heart

For
all depends
on the smallest of thoughts

Think,
thinking rightly,
and it will be perfectly right

Think,
thinking wrongly,
and it will be terribly wrong

Thou art thy own shield
---<--@

Afraid of Father

I am afraid of Father.
For I fall short of Father's expectations.
I am so wanting in the strength of His sons.

But whenever I am afraid of Father.
My Jesus comes to remind me not to fear
for He has won for me all
that I will ever need
to come Home with honor
to our Father.

A thousand times, I fail
and a thousand times my Savior comes to me
to save me from the ruin of my sins
until I am brave enough to walk
until I am no longer afraid of Father
and I understand He and the Father are one.
---<--@

Prayer for the Drowning

LORD save me from a reckless spirit! 

Shield my heart from the ruin of sin,
and deliver me, O God, teach me 
to persevere in the way of thy commands, 
deliver me from false pride,
counsel me in the ways of humility.

Preserve me in Thy Spirit,
O Savior of my body and soul,
search the innermost depths of my heart,
turn my love away from every falsity,
every vanity, every sin,
that I may only love Thee.

Liberate my body and my soul
from the depravity of lustful corruptions,
my spirit from an inordinate love of the flesh,
endow me, lead me, bless me -
crown my broken and weeping humanity
with the healing wholeness of a glorious chastity
and a healthy and wholesome sexuality.

AMEN.
---<--@

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, pray for us.

Have I ever failed you?

Commitment. Commitment. Commitment.



Whenever the Lord Christ asks me, 

"have I ever failed you"?

The answer always is,

"no, my Lord Jesus, You never have".

Repeatedly,
this question bears for me the same answer
- over and over - by and by -
until I understand the truth that God is seeking 
to restore in my little soul - 
God never fails!

O my heart,
God never fails!

Fear the LORD then
- O my soul -
for thy God is able to save
and He knows the time and the manner
by which thou art to gain
His Salvation.

---<--@

Father Dennis, our beloved parish priest, 

points to the Relic of the True Cross of Christ 

enshrined in our Shrine of the Five Wounds of Jesus Christ.

The safe pasture of the Good Shepherd
is in every Holy Mass - so tara na, Misa na! 

Seal of the Stigmatines

A Morning Prayer

Commitment. Commitment. Commitment.



O LORD,
bless me today
with a positive faith
and place in my heart
a spirit that dares
to race Jesus to the hurting
that I may look forward with joy
to moving the mountains of my hope
through You this day
and everyday.

Another day to live in Christ,
another day to embrace with Christ,
another day to conquer for Christ,
and another day to give Thee thanks,
O dearest Father, through Jesus Christ, 
my only Savior, Thy only begotten Son.

AMEN.
---<--@

A Prayer to the Good Shepherd

Lord Jesus, this world is such a loud and confusing place! 

It is a world so full of spiritual pain and of mortal dangers from evil spirits and devouring beasts, my God and my Redeemer.

In this world, it is easy for a soul like me to to get lost without Your guidance and Your care.

For I am but a sinner, wounded and weak!

Never tire of me I beg thee, my Lord Jesus, but rather instruct me in the way of Thy commandments and teach me the comfort of Thy voice, the safety of Thy rod, and the counsel of Thy staff.

And lead me ever onward, my Good Shepherd, and the One to Whom I truly forever belong.

Lead me onward, from safe pasture to safe pasture, from day to day, and from moment to moment, away from the desolation of this world and far into the tranquil joys of the vision of that bright and everlasting Day.

AMEN.

Breaking the Cycle of Pain and Loss

This month
is my crossroad moment,
it has finally come.

It's time for me
to take the path that leads
to my own tomorrow.

I'm nervous-excited. 

I'm always this way
when there's a challenge
that needs overcoming...

No other walker of worlds
can walk the way
God had prepared for me
but me.

But no walker
can walk the way
God had prepared for him or her
without the love and the strength
of other walkers on the way.

So to my family and friends,
I thank you now and for always
for your love and support.

You can rest assured
you will also always have mine.

I will, as usual -
make a record of the journey,
and mark a path on the way.

God bless us all.
---<--@


No serenity without suffering, no freedom without choice.

Miyang's Meow

No one
has invested so heavily
(and still is)
in my recovery
than my Annelies Marie.

This is not to say
I do not appreciate everybody
who gave me (and is still giving me)
so much of their support
and desired of me - for me -
(and still does)
my own recovery so very well,
not only through prayers
but through word and deed
this is only so - that -
one might better understand
who desire understanding
why I am so
with my Anne Frank.

No one
has invested so heavily
in my recovery
(and still is)
than my Annelies Marie.

- selah -

I love her
(because I just do)
and if this love
seems strange to any,
were it better for one to hear professed
my love for Saint Maximilian Kolbe
or for Blessed Jacinta Marto
or for our Lady?

   (The only difference is
   I am informal with my Anne
   because I can.)

For all these loves
are quite similar though distinct
being born of the one, same
self-giving Love;
a gift to each other.

And is always, always
more than I ever expected;
a wonder and a joy.
---<--@

Recovery Attitudes #1

( What is Recovery?)

Recovery is - simply -

the process of re-discovering

a love that is greater

than your love

of the demon drink

or the demon drug.

Because -

addiction is all about happiness

and happiness is all about freedom

and freedom is all about the truth

- drug or alcohol addiction -

is fundamentally a problem

of loving the wrong things.

It is a misled sense of affectation

for a false happiness - that leads -

to a false freedom - that leads -

to nowhere - again and again.

The potency of this addiction

may be determined by how determinedly

- consciously as well as unconsciously -

the soul of the addict

has become willing to accept

the lie that keeps his or her spirit

locked deep within the suffocating confines

of substance abuse.

- selah -

Therefore,

the staying power

(i.e. the power it has over one's right choices)

of demon drugs or demon drink

is not in the drugs or the drink

it is in the deception.

And the longer the lie is held,

the more lethal it shall become.

---<--@

Clear Thinking

This is what the PROVEN outcome of every individual choice to hang on to recovery - no matter the gathering storm - looks like...

This is what I want, so help me God.

Do Not Complain

Do not complain - It is a principle of my life.

Do not complain - No matter the reality, accept.

Should I fail, do not complain.

Should I succeed, do not complain.

Should others around me fail, do not complain.

Should others around me succeed, do not complain.

When it is my fault, do not complain.

When it is not my fault, do not complain.

When it is easy, do not complain.

When it is difficult, do not complain.

When in weakness, do not complain.

When in strength, do not complain.

In the throes of temptation, do not complain.

In the grip of sin, do not complain.

In tears, do not complain. In laughter, do not complain.

In pain, do not complain. In elation, do not complain.

In fear, do not complain. In fervor, do not complain.

In neglect, do not complain. In abundance, do not complain.

Alone, do not complain. With others, do not complain.

Set a course for victory and trust to the LORD,

do not complain.

---<---@

My Personal Peace Process

The journey of a thousand years begins with just one day - and that day is today.

My recovery is part of my personal peace process.

This is important to me because without this personal peace process, I wouldn't be able to fully complement the national peace process.

My Jesus once manifested to me in my little life that He would give me a million reasons to serve and that He would also show me only one reason not to serve.

It is only now, years later, that I am better able to understand what I need to accept and what I need to leave behind; what needs to die so that I could live in His Love and keep all my friends by remaining with my LORD and my most beneficent God - forever.

2012 is going to be a journey for me and this personal journey of mine shall run parallel to the journeys we are all - as one Country - committing ourselves to take together - alone.

This is my straight path.

And it shall stand on four pillars:

1. Loyalty to Christ and His Church

2. Loyalty to the Peace of my Republic

3. Loyalty to my own true self

4. Loyalty to my family and friends

Kaya para sa lahat ng mga kapatid ko sa pagbabago - tara na, sabay sabay na - wala nang ibang panahon kung hindi Ngayon.

May we all be blessed by the LORD with a braver, better 2012, mabuhay!