Make Up Our Room, Please

Whenever my family is out of town on a family holiday or just tagging along for my work-related field trips, it is given that we will be staying in a hotel. Zek’s face always beam in excitement each time he enters our room, checking out the bathroom for bath-tubs and hot shower amenities, flipping the light switches to see the room illumination, trying and picking out his bed spot, peeking through the window view before finally settling down to press-up and down the remote control of the cable TV looking for his favourite cartoons like he never had any access to TV (Oh well, he is right. We don not have cable TV installed in our home as part of our commitment to homeschooling J ).

My wife and I also relaxes a bit inside this tidily kept room, knowing too well that in a matter of minutes, the whole calm and clean sight will be anything but calm and tidy. Soon, our dear Aim will start to jump up and down and across adjacent beds as soon as he realizes how comfy bouncy the surfaces are. Zek will ask for his favourite food and drinks. Aim will try to grab these away and starts the spilling and scattering frenzy. Aim will soon get bored with his jump routine and pushes the furniture in different positions. Shortly, he will browse through any magazine or reading paraphernalia and toss and leave the pages anywhere. Yes, it will soon cease to look like a hotel room and more like our very own house. Alas, it’s home sweet home.

Luckily for some trips, we needed to stay for more than a night. As a result, we can get another fresh morning chance at cleanliness and orderliness with just the flip of the magic door hang-out – Make Up My Room, Please!

Next week, we will celebrate Ash Wednesday, the traditional Catholic day to herald the start of the 40 days of Lent. It is a day of fasting and abstinence. It is a day of remembering the belief that “from ashes we came, to ashes we will return”. It is a day where we are once again invited to flip over that heart hang-out with the words “Do not disturb” into the one that welcomes God – “Please, make up my room.” We do know that God, despite His overwhelming love for us, will never dare impose His mercy and love on us. He can only lovingly wait at our doorstep. We still hold the key to our life transformation with God as our protagonist.

Be open.

Let Him come inside.

Be forgiven.

Let Him take away the bad stuffs that clutter your life.

Be refreshed.

Let Him give you a new start.

God bless.  

Departing from his prepared statement, the Holy Father spoke on the reservations one might have to confessing their sins to a priest. “Someone may say: ‘I confess only to God.’ Yes, you can tell God: ‘Forgive me’, and say your sins,” he said. “But our sins are also against the brothers, against the Church, and for this it is necessary to ask forgiveness to the Church and to the brothers, in the person of the priest.”

Concluding his catechesis, Pope Francis encouraged those who have not confessed, whether it be for two weeks or 40 years, to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation as soon as possible. “Jesus is there, and Jesus is much better than the priests, and Jesus receives you. He receives you with so much love. Be courageous, and go forward to Confession,” he said.

“To celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation means to be wrapped in a warm embrace.”

( excerpts from http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/39536)

To Whom Shall We Go

Long ago, a friend of mine narrated how his then 7 year-old son, while performing on-stage for the first time, seemed to be glancing at his direction. At first, he did not pay much attention to it and just continued watching the play as it unfolded. But his son’s glances persisted and it finally dawned on him that his son was actually seeking for any sign of approval from him. His son, feeling shy and scared at every turn of the play, was seeking for his approval and encouragement. And so my friend started doing what he reluctantly should have done since the play began. He smiled, nodded, winked his eye and make the thumb-up gesture every time his son glanced at him. From thereon, his son became more confident and played his part better.

Seeking approval is normal and is part of our everyday lives.

Driving on any road entails license from LTO. Putting up business necessitates DTI or SEC certification, amongst other inter-connected government agencies. Food and drug manufacturers seeks BFAD endorsement. Incoming shipment requires BOC approval. Electrical appliances needs BPS mark. Overseas flight involves DFA nod to travel. A legal police raid requires a judicial court’s consent. Even a student does request a mam-may-I-go-out permission before leaving the classroom.

Any approval gives us the confidence to proceed with our plans, that what we are doing is right and without fear from any repercussion.   

In our daily spiritual walk, it is quite understandable that we also seek approval for our thoughts and actions. But the important question that should guide us is - to whom do we seek this approval from? In this modern times, when good friends and even close family, relatives and spouses (as in the cases of the OFW diaspora) , have become easily updatable via social media like Facebook, Twitter and the like, the deep and close inter-personal relationship is slowly being replaced by a simple “like” button. For some of us, we do have spiritual counselors and pastors who can walk us through with our life decisions but this is a such rarity nowadays. Peer groups, oftentimes, offer little substance to any discussions about life, love and righteous living. The information highway brought about by the age of internet has actually contributed to more conflicting, contrasting and confusing ideas that either blur or totally obfuscate our core Christian beliefs (e.g. there are findings that life allegedly begins only at the 22^nd week of conception or that there is supposedly a “gay” genome already found).

Sometimes, we do feel like we are alone and we walk alone in life.

We want to be encouraged.

We seek approval.

Take courage though because God has assured us that He will always be with us no matter what.

In Proverbs 15:3, it is said, “The Lord sees what happens everywhere, He is watching us, whether we do good or evil.”

And in Psalm 33:5, as we take refuge with His approval for our perseverance, it says, ” The Lord loves what is righteous and just; His constant love fills the earth.”

And so, our declaration and our attitude should be similar to St. Peter when most of Jesus’ followers started to leave upon presented with the mystery of the transubstantiation – “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”, he replied when asked by Jesus.

Knowing and believing that only God can be the source of true guidance and encouragement, we need not look further for other basis of approval.

In Him alone is our source of strength. 

God bless us.