Piniga

“Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this small matter, take charge of ten cities.” Luke 19:17

My mother used to say she used up all the gifts God gave her. “Piniga niya.” She squeezed every bit of talent God gave her and used it. I can say the same for Robert, my brother. God gave him an enormous talent and he used it to help others, to inspire others, to build them up, to share love and light. 

Before, he used to have these desires to be a great artist, making paintings that would hang in museums, but then he sort of accepted his gift was different, he made people happy, delighted with his drawings and illustrations. We saw this beautiful world God gave us through his eyes. Like when even I followed him drawing during his pandemic online workshops. I thought to myself, I can follow his drawings, and make cute dogs, cats and owls, by imitating, but putting together those simple lines to draw those whimsical characters! That was genius! He could draw any animal without a reference, without a pencil sketch, I’d seen him do it many times! The murals you see on our papemelroti walls, he did it without any draft or pattern. 

I remember when we went boating in Halong Bay, Vietnam, and one of the things that affected Robert during that ride was the old woman paddling the boat. She was so old already, and she did that backbreaking work every day. He wanted to do something for her and he used what was in his hands. He always had a pen and paper. And he sketched her. At the end of the boat ride, he gave the sketch to her, and we all remember the old woman’s smile. Beatific! Her wrinkled face lighted up with her big toothless smile! And Robert did that many times. He had a wonderful habit of surprising strangers with his delightful drawings. People at a restaurant, sampaguita vendors, kids at a party, people he met in his travels, etc. So many have been recipients of his largesse. 

He was so generous with his talents. Many times without asking for anything in return. He would make logos for friends starting businesses, he painted the murals in the Angat Buhay Museum even when he was so weak already. He had to call on hidden resources to climb scaffoldings to do it. “Piniga niya”, even his strength. 

I asked him to make designs for labels for a poor man trying to make a living out of selling polvoron and sweets. He did not discriminate. He had so many friends among the rich, the famous and among the poor and forgotten. He loved going to the ‘laylayan’, to the cemetery, the squatter areas, and encourage  the kids to draw and make crafts. Any time I asked if he could do a workshop for poor children, he never said no. He loved to mentor, and he was always kind, never stingy. 

His generosity with his talents and resources was just so overwhelming! It would take a long time to enumerate. And even when he sometimes got disheartened by corporate people who were unfair or government entities that did not pay him, he just moved on and continued to do his best at any project, big or small. 

If we can say at the end of our life, “Piniga ko lahat ng binigay ng Panginoon sa akin”, (I used up all God gave me) I think God would say at the end of our life, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14-30

Those Whom I Love

“Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise.” Revelation 3:19

I know that it pains us parents when we discipline our children. I forget what Josh did when he was young, but I remember that I could not bear it when Luigi disciplined him and I had to exit the room. 

I believe God loves us too much to leave us as we are. He disciplines us to train us, to make our paths straight. We should not disdain His discipline, it says in Hebrews 12:5. If we do not feel His chastising rod, perhaps He has given up on us? No, never! He will never give up on us! Faith is very important to God. He is training us to trust in Him at this very moment. 

I like the analogy of God as our trainer. Every athlete has to undergo some backbreaking preparation to get to the top of his or her game. My husband Luigi was a swimmer when he was young. He garnered many medals for his school. But what the audience watching him swim didn't see, were the hours and hours of practicing in the wee hours of the morning when everybody was still asleep, when it was so cold, until he was so tired. But if we want breakthroughs, we need to go through strict training. 

Are we in a faith-stretching opportunity? Sometimes it can be too difficult to bear, like when my brother was sick with cancer and we had to go through every heartbreaking decision with him. But God was with us every step of the way, and He is with us in our pain and suffering. I may have left the room when Josh was being punished, but we can be sure God never leaves us alone in our darkest moments. 

In hard times, we thank You, Father, that You do not abandon us. You said, "Be strong and courageous". We place our hope in You, O Lord, trusting that You are our trainer who puts us through our exercises so we can know You more, and make our faith grow. 

Change Your Hearts

“…you have lost the love you had at first…repent…” Revelation 2:4-5

Jesus wanted the message of repentance spread then, and He wants it proclaimed now, especially that Advent is near. He is saying, “Change your hearts and lives!” The word repent comes from the Greek word metanoeite, or metanoeó, which translates “to change one's mind or purpose,” or change the inner self, particularly when it comes to accepting of the will of God. 

I remember when I was in High School, I had these really ratty pair of jeans. It looked like it was ready to split at the seams but I loved it. My dad did not feel the same about it. He was going to drive me to school and he said I couldn’t go to school if I insisted on wearing the offending pair. I obstinately said I wasn’t going to school then. My dad then countered if I wasn’t going to school that day then I was not going to school ever. I changed and he brought me to school. I was not usually so hard headed but it took my dad’s drastic threat to make me change my mind. It was a good thing I actually wanted to go to school!

I wager we all want to go to heaven. Jesus rules there. He has the final say just as my dad did. So if we want one day to be with Jesus, we have no choice but to obey what Jesus said we must do, and that is to change our hearts and accept what Christ did for us on Calvary’s cross. 

Delightful Inheritance

“Surely you are my delightful inheritance, O Lord!” Psalm 16:6

When Moses was 120 years old and about to die, the Lord told Moses to call Joshua as He would commission Joshua to bring the people of Israel into the land that He promised to give them. "Be brave and steadfast. Be strong and courageous," Moses told Joshua, "You are the one who will deliver the land as their inheritance."

In some way, we are each a Joshua to our children. There is a great inheritance in store for them. Are our children aware of this? Do they know how to get to the Promised Land? As parents, we too need to be strong and steadfast, to have a purpose. I know parents who are intimidated by their children. But if we want the best for our children, we need to lead them in the right direction. I remember when my son Josh was young, and our community had a summer camp. It was the first time Josh would be joining and he did not want to go. He asked, "Don't I have a choice, mom?" It's a question that any self-respecting, thinking kid would ask, right? I answered, "Of course you have a choice. You can either enjoy yourself or not." Joshua went, and joined many camps after that first one. Joshua is now 29 years old. I thank God that when we want the best for our children, and "train them up in the way they should go, when they are old, they will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)

Stormie O'martian has many wonderful prayers for children and one of them is this:

"Lord, I know You can do far more in my child's life than I can ever do, and I invite You to do so. But if there is anything I should do--or should not do--make it clear to me so that I will do the right thing. Holy Spirit of truth, reveal the truth that needs to be seen both to him and to me. Guide me in my response to him always. Amen."

Pray Without Ceasing

“Jesus told His disciples a parable on the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” Luke 18:1

Jesus told His disciples that they should always pray, and never ever give up. They should not lose heart, never turn cowardly. On Monday, it will be the Feast Day of a saint who did just that. Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne was given an affectionate nickname by the American Indians she was serving. She was called Quahkahkanumad, which means Woman Who Prays Always. The children who would find her praying, would put leaves on the hem of her black habit. The next morning, the leaves would still be there. 

Saint Philippine came from a very rich background. Her family lived in Château de Vizille, one of the most prestigious and important castles in the Dauphine region in France and it is now a Museum of the French Revolution. She left her privileged background against her father’s will to enter the Visitation Convent at 18 years old. 

In 1818, at 49 years old, Saint Philippine and other Sisters from the Society of the Sacred Heart set sail for the New World to become missionaries to Native Americans. They set up the first Sacred Heart School outside of Europe in the small remote village of St.Charles, Missouri. It was free and it was the first Catholic School in America. 10 years after, they had grown to six communities operating several schools.

In 1841, when Saint Philippine was seventy-one, (71!) they were asked by the Jesuits to join them in a new mission with the Potawatomi tribe in eastern Kansas, along Sugar Creek. Father Verhaegen insisted that Saint Rose come along. "She may not be able to do much work, but she will assure success to the mission by praying for us."  Sure enough, Saint Rose found it difficult to master their language, and was unable to teach, but she would spend long periods in prayer. 

Sometimes we may be frustrated because we were unable to fulfill our plans, or we were not successful meeting a target. We may be too sick or weak to do much. We need only turn to God in prayer like so many saints before us. Nothing is impossible with God. Like Saint Philippine, we can pray unceasingly over a map, a plan, or a picture of a person, and trust that God in His infinite wisdom and love will answer us in the best way.

Intentionally Grateful

“Where are the other nine?” Luke 17:17

Today I read in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of Luke about 10 lepers. Jesus instructed them to go to the priests. On the way, all 10 lepers were healed. Only one returned to Jesus.

Jesus said, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?"

While watching CNN, I came across the story of a woman who was rescued from human traffickers. She said that she was sold like a slave to three different men, and two of them tattooed their names on her back. After she was rescued, she put up a foundation to help others like her. She knew that it was so difficult for these women to have hope, much less to experience joy. They had to dig deep for the strength to decide to be grateful. 

We too have to decide to be grateful every single day. We do not want to be like the 9 lepers, who did not even turn back and express their gratitude to God for their healing. They took it for granted.

We want to be like the one leper who went back to Jesus, fell at His feet and thanked Him. When I look back at my prayer journal,  I see I have a list of blessings, but I see days when I do not list even one. I have to be more conscious, more awake, more aware of what I have. I have so many blessings!

Scientific studies show that gratitude expressed and shared, restructures our brain, physically remaps the connections in our brain, and unlocks happiness and even, joy! Digging up bad memories, hurts, traumatic experiences, reinforces the negative and holds us back. So let us be INTENTIONALLY grateful, and let that gratefulness overflow into blessing for others.

Use Me!

When you have done all you have been commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do." Luke 17:10

I will never forget this verse because one time I felt I did a good job for God and congratulated myself. So puffed up with pride, I got home, and this is the exact passage that greeted me! 

If we are full of ourselves as I so often am, but open to God's correction, we can depend on God to teach us to be humble. Here in this passage it seems as if God is a hard taskmaster who does not appreciate the work we do for Him. However, I know that when we feel insecure, uncertain of God's love, we can also go to His Word where He will say we are His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10), and He did everything so that we can enjoy fullness of life (John 10:10), and be with Him in a place where we will never doubt our exalted status as His sons and daughters (2 Cor. 6:18)

When He says we are "unprofitable servants", He teaches us to model ourselves after Himself. Jesus humbled Himself, was humiliated, and did not act entitled like many of us do sometimes! He knew what His purpose was! He was a servant of all! He accomplished His task! We too have a purpose and out of gratitude to God's calling us, we say, “Here I am Lord, use me!" 

God’s Garden

“We are God’s garden…” 1 Corinthians 3:9

In 1 Corinthians 3:9, Saint Paul says we are God's field, God's garden. He is the sower, the farmer planting seed. In God's garden of our hearts, He finds different kinds of soil at different times of our life. Sometimes we are very receptive and eager to listen. And His Word finds a place in our heart, but only for a short time. At other times, we are so busy, or so anxious, and God's Word, perhaps given by an office mate as advice, something we read in a book, or heard in a podcast, goes out our other ear. But Jesus says, LISTEN! Hear my words! Don't just pick and choose when you want to hear it! Prepare your soil, prepare your hearts to receive My Word. Be more sensitive, more receptive, be eager to hear ME! 

If we want a good harvest, a bountiful harvest, we need to prepare our hearts the same way a farmer prepares his soil. A farmer digs up the soil and breaks up the lumps in it. He takes out the rocks, the roots, the weeds. That means we need to examine our life. Is there someone we need to forgive? Is there some wrong doing that needs to be corrected? Lord, I want to bear abundant fruit! Let me see what I need to do in order to have a heart ready to receive Your word with joy!

Feed Just One

“When you hold a banquet invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Luke 14:13-14

We are the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, Jesus is inviting to the most inconceivably joyous heavenly banquet that lasts forever. Nothing we can do or give or give up, can ever repay Jesus who gave His life in the most excruciating, humiliating way, just so we can join Him.

No one is more generous than Jesus. And  when we give, we are just responding to His goodness. Here in Luke 14 He is merely asking us to echo His generosity in a small way. When we are generous to those who cannot repay us, we do it to Him as well. (Matthew 25:40) 

Jesus talked a lot about money. He said that we should store up treasures in heaven, not here on earth where it could easily disappear. A building can get burned down, stocks could lose value in a single day, jewelry can get stolen, money even in the bank loses its value from inflation!!! 

Jesus said that where our treasure is, that is where our heart is. (Luke 12:34) If we want to see where our heart is, we only need to look at our checkbook, our bank account.

Perhaps it is time to think purposefully about where our money goes. To put it where it cannot be stolen, where it cannot burn, where it will not devalue, or rust. I'm thinking inmates in prison, young children who need an education, livelihood projects, streetchildren. They can all be beneficiaries of our generosity and kindness. And it's not a matter of how much money we have either. As Mother Teresa used to say, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”

“Preaching to myself”

Love One Another

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.” Mark 12:30

How do we love God? This is expressed above all in prayer, for what person loves without minding the object of his love? We need to waste time with our Father, first of all. Thomas Brooks said this was a “secret key to heaven”. Prayer is absolutely vital to a human being. We need to pray as much as we need to breathe! 

I love what St. Augustine wrote, “Prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours." Indeed God thirsts for us to be close to Him, hungers for our love, waits for our communication. We will never encounter a God like Him in other religions or in the atheistic mindset because He is implausible. How can we hold in our mind a God who is timeless but entered time, all powerful but allowed Himself to be weak and tortured by the very creatures He came to save? Implausible. 

It is this same God who desires to live in communion with us. Just as the Father, Son and Spirit, live in constant love, in community with one another, we are also called to live in communion with each other. To love one another. 

It is ironic that this world is so interconnected now. We can easily talk to a friend halfway around the world through Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. But how many actually do so? Families and friends are usually gathered about a table with their noses buried in their cellphones! 

When I am answering a message on my phone, or reading something on it, my little apo (grandchild) will put his tiny hands, one on each side of my face, so that I will concentrate on what he is saying. His earnest little face so close to my own reminds me there is nothing more important to this little person than connection. 

Sadly, there is a global mental health crisis. More people are lonely, depressed, starved of love. Although Generation Z (aged 18-22) is perhaps the most technologically connected, in the UCLA loneliness scale, they are the loneliest generation in America! Again, we need to waste time not only with God, but with our loved ones, our friends, our brothers and sisters. And leave our phones in our pockets. 

“Preaching to Myself”

Psalm 23

This morning I read from Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” This beautiful set of verses was written in 1000 BC in the Hebrew language most probably by King David. It is also known by the incipit, or the first few words in Latin, “Dominus regit me”. 

One of my favorite lines from this Psalm is, “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life..." (Psalm 23:6)

When I was reflecting about this, I was wondering how I could still claim this even if my brother is sick, and I do not know what the future will bring. How do I know this with certainty even if many of my countrymen were devastated by the recent typhoon, even if many of them need homes, livelihood, even the basic necessities like food and water! In spite of wars raging and babies in the womb being killed, and corruption running rampant? 

I think it is because after years of listening to God, knowing Him through the Book about Him, I know I can trust Him. He knows what He is doing, even if I do not understand why! 

Yes, only goodness and kindness and mercy and peace and love follow me all the days of my life. 

God is a faithful God. 

Longing to See God’s Face

“Lord, this is the people that longs to see Your face.” Psalm 24:6

In the 17th chapter of Luke, Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance changed so that His face shone like the sun, and His clothing became dazzling white. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Why Moses, and why Elijah, was it only because Moses represented the law, and Elijah the prophets? 

In Exodus chapter 33, Moses asks to see God’s glorious presence, but the Lord said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you My name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” God continued, “you CANNOT see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.” Instead Moses saw God from behind. 

In 1 Kings 19, God gives Elijah a revelation of Himself when Elijah was downhearted because he was being hunted down for being zealous for the Lord. God told Elijah to stand before Him on Mount Sinai. Elijah experienced a mighty windstorm that hurled rocks loose, an earthquake and fire, but the Lord was in neither of those forces. God spoke to Elijah in a still, small, gentle whisper, but Elijah did not see His face. 

Moses and Elijah both experienced a theophany of God, but both of them were NOT permitted to see His face. In the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah lived to see God’s face.

These two theophanies of Moses and Elijah, along with other manifestations of God’s presence in the Old Testament, foreshadows the appearance of the Abrahamic God in Christ. Jesus is the final, climactic theophany. Through Jesus, the people who long to see God’s face can LIVE (John 14:9; Rev. 22:4)!

God’s Armor

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil…Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness... In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, ...and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Ephesians 6:10-20

Why do we need God's armor? If we believe the Bible and I do, it's because there are unseen forces doing battle against us. Many people don't believe in the existence of the devil. It's like he is something we outgrow, like a child's plaything. A Gallup poll last  year showed that belief in God and the enemy is falling. But Jesus believed the devil existed, didn't He? He not only believed, HE KNEW THE DEVIL EXISTED. And He battled against the devil with what? God's Word, which is, in this verse, the Sword of the Spirit.

A soldier uses a sword not only to defend himself but also to expand his territory and 

to take over the enemy's position. So it is necessary not only to read and hear God's Word, but we should also know how to use it. The way Jesus wielded the Word of God was He had it with Him. It was in His heart. Imagine if Jesus was in the wilderness with Satan, “If you really are the Son of God, tell the stones to become bread!" (Matthew 4:3), and Jesus had to search the scriptures for His parry!!! That would be the same as a soldier going to battle without his sword, without his armor!

So let's try to put God's Word in our hearts, and again, trust in the promises of God: “Submit yourselves to God. Resist, stand against the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7

The Glory of God

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.” Psalm 19:2

Indeed when we look at the amazing images the Hubble telescope sends home, of galaxies, planets, nebulae, comets and asteroids, we cannot fail but sense there is a Creator God who made all of these with care. Even the simplest thing in our gift shops, a bookmark, has a designer and a maker. Its design will not come out with a random throw of a dice. If we jumble words, and pick it out of a hat, will we get a poem that people will read and marvel at? We need a poet to put words together. A watch, an electric fan, the Sagrada de Familia, all of these required a designer and a maker for them to exist. 

I am not a very intelligent person but I like listening to debates between atheists and Christian apologists even if I do not always understand what they say. The otherwise brilliant Stephen Hawking had to resort to absurdities to support his atheism. “If you like, you can call the laws of science ‘God’, but it wouldn’t be a personal God that you would meet and put questions to.” He also said, "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” 

"I think the universe was spontaneously created out of nothing, according to the laws of science," Hawking, who died in March 2018, wrote. "If you accept, as I do, that the laws of nature are fixed, then it doesn't take long to ask: What role is there for God?"

"The universe itself, in all its mind-boggling vastness and complexity, could simply have popped into existence without violating the known laws of nature," he wrote.

A simple bookmark needs a designer and maker but the fine tuned Universe does not? How could that be possible by any stretch of the imagination?

Love is the Currency of Heaven

"...be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2

To be a powerful, effective Christian, we just need to start with this reminder from Saint Paul to the Ephesians. "Be patient! Be forbearing." Carry one another's burdens. Listen to others with concern and empathy. Exhibit self-control in all situations. 

"You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves." —St. Francis de Sales

Every day we are given opportunities to learn how to love more perfectly. We need to learn because love is the currency in heaven! 

You Are Precious

"That is why I kneel before the Father..." Ephesians 3:14

How immensely blessed the Ephesians were! Saint Paul prayed for them, knelt down before God for them. So that what? So that "the Father would bestow gifts upon them in keeping with the riches of His glory." This was Saint Paul's prayer, which we can also pray for ourselves and others: "May God strengthen you inwardly through the workings of His Spirit. May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may charity be the root and foundation of your life. May you be able to grasp fully, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may attain to the fullness of God Himself."

What an important prayer this is, that we know, really know, deep in our being how God loves us, how He values us, how precious we are to Him. This is the very foundation of our life in Christ. And this is what the enemy seeks to destroy, our self image, the true knowledge of who we are. It is such a pity that sometimes we get bombarded with messages that we are not worthy, that we won't amount to much, that we are not enough. My sister used to tutor street children and she had to teach the parents first not to destroy the children's confidence by repeating again and again that they were “bobo”, not intelligent! The enemy finds all sorts of ways to deceive us about who we are. Let's go back to our Father's Word and reclaim our inheritance as God's precious sons and daughters! 

Unfathomable Riches

“To me, the least of all believers, was given the grace to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ...” Ephesians 3:8

Would we believe a man who did an about face from being a passionate enemy of Jesus and His disciples to being His most ardent follower? In the book of Ephesians we see why. Saint Paul says he was given a revelation into the mystery of Christ, a mystery hidden from ages past and now made available to us, as coheirs in the promised inheritance, the inscrutable, inexplicable, unfathomable, inexhaustible, infinite riches found in Him! St. Paul was willing to suffer, be plotted against, persecuted, imprisoned, and finally decapitated. His understanding and knowledge of Christ was so real, so all-encompassing, and so undeniable. 

Today this understanding and knowledge is available to us. We only have to read the Bible and pray that Jesus will reveal Himself to us. There are many stories of Jesus revealing Himself in dreams to many people. The parents of one young girl who was depressed and would cut herself in desperation approached a Youth for Christ staffer for help. The staffer prayed with the young girl and talked to her. “I will pray that Jesus will reveal Himself to you.” 

“I can’t do that,” the teenager protested, “God will strike me down for what I have been doing!” The YFC staffer convinced her not to be afraid. Two nights later, the teenager had a dream of a man who came to her. As He gently touched her where she had been cutting herself, she instantly was filled with joy and peace, and a sense of hope. He spoke to her and assured her of His love. 

Jesus actively seeks to call us to Himself. Let us approach Him with our whole hearts, eager to lay claim to all God has in store for us!