God...Seem Distant...

In life, we experience so many demands and distractions. Many a time, it is difficult to find God; difficult to look for stillness where God is found.

There is always an urgency in everything - too "active", some people say, cramming more and more into our lives. Most of the electronic gadgets today help us to cram even more!

But then, what is the purpose of all these? Is our life more enriched?

The challenge is to remove the distractions. Find the stillness and the calm. Only then can we draw closer to the source of all life; draw closer to God.

The media tells us everyday that our civilization abounds in violence, sex crimes, pornography, corporate scandals, child abuse, abortion, self-interest and self-indulgence. There is a constant and gradual erosion of moral truths and values. Where is the love?

Amidst the hurly-burly of life, God seems infinitely distant and exceedingly remote. The secular main stream media and free internet blogs have, most of the time to gain popularity, pushed God completely out of our lives.

Is there then a christian way of life in the world?

At every moment of the day and night, somewhere in the world, in a monastery somewhere, there are contemplative communities constantly praying for God's mercy and forgiveness of sins of the rest of the world.

These contemplatives live their souls cradled in the hand of God - unceasingly contemplating, worshipping and praying - in silence and solitude.

Prayer is the root of christian life. We must live, above petty squabblings, with, in and for God in prayer, silence and solitude.

Two reflections from the ancient fathers for today:


"Sometimes perhaps on a still night, you will have gazed up at the inexpressible beauty of the stars and thought of the author of the universe. You will have wondered who it is sowed such flowers so prettily in the sky..."

St. Basil (329 - 379)


"God has given the universe a musical arrangement. He has placed the dissonent elements under the discipline of harmony that the whole world may be a symphony in his ears...He has orchestrated this pure concert of the universe."

St. Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215)

Surrender...Get Rest...

"Many difficulties are really created by ourselves, we hurry and worry, and almost think it a virtue to be impatient. The best way to overcome a difficulty is certainly not to worry. The saints did not become perfect in a day, it took them a long time to overcome all their difficulties. But they were amazingly cheerful."

Father Daniel Considine, SJ


Today, choose to surrender all to the Lord...

The Lord said,"Come to me all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: And you shall find rest to your souls.  For my yoke is sweet and my burden light."

Matthew 11:28-30, Douay-Rheims

Be Silent...Feel God...

"We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say but what God says to us and through us."

Father Karl Rahner, SJ


We are continually distracted by the noise of the world...the radio, the news, music, traffic, conversations, discussions, reminders, deadlines, gossips...within us, thoughts, worries, concerns, restlessness, lack of peace, lack of tranquility.

Unless we make a conscious effort to stop, reflect and be present, our life will simply past us by.

We are made in God's image and ought to reflect this image to others.

Let's make time to pause today.

Be silent and feel the gentle breeze...God's presence is within us.

The Church...The Rock...

Just completed this book by Jeff Cavins; a great conversion story. Inspiring and satisfying to the longing and hungry heart.






The opening pages of this book carry an excerpt from Pope John Paul II (Tertio Millennio Adveniente), “God therefore goes in search of man who is His special possession in a way unlike any other creature”.

This very down-to-earth book describes vividly the journey of an angry son who left the Catholic Church out of rebellion; unable to fill the emptiness within – “I wasn’t being fed”. This is the testimony of a baptized Catholic on a spiritual search – raised in a devoted Catholic family, was an altar boy, attended weekly Mass, goes to confession as a family, carries a rosary, held the Bible with great reverence, wore a scapular. This book reveals how he turned away from the Eucharist because he wanted something more.


It tells the engaging story of the encounter with Bible Christians communities; confidently “on fire”, Bibles worn from daily use, born again! The book contains simple honesty, largely disillusioned, about the Catholic mass being “dead”, built on empty traditions, Catholics being viewed as ignorant, even dumb sometimes, not knowing Christ and worst of all, not even knowing the Word of God. The author’s marriage to a Protestant and more than 12 years serving as a Protestant pastor makes this conversion story so much more emotionally intriguing and relevant in the midst of this chaotic world we live in.


The journey then unpeels layer-by-layer of the author’s re-discovery of the truth, the misconception that he would be better fed elsewhere and how this truth redefines the apostolic tradition of our one holy Catholic Church; how the Bible then truly comes to life.


What makes this conversion story appealing to all is the revelation of many Catholic theological insights in simple layman lingo, at times, humorous; all these interwoven between God’s gentle promptings in calling the author and his family back to the Catholic Church. This is a story of reconciliation with the Catholic Church, a prodigal son’s repentance and return to his father, coupled with the faithfulness of a mother who prayed for his return home at every Mass.


This book proclaims the treasures of our Catholic faith and also equips us to evangelize this faith to others. Appropriately, the closing sentence in the Postscript of this testimony reads,”…you can do greater things than you have ever imagined.”


If your heart is hungry, this never-can-put-down book will feed you with good nourishment

Finding Self...

This book gives a great introduction to the wisdom and insights of this great writer.

Concealed within these pages (not in the printed words, not even in the tales, but in its spirit, its mood, its atmosphere) is a wisdom which cannot be conveyed in human speech.

Anthony de Mello, was a Jesuit priest, he became famous for his books on spirituality. He was born in 1931, in Goa, India and died in 1987 in the United States of America. A sample extract of his profound wisdom:

"It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for Truth, in which alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to Truth is one of hostility and fear!"

Some of his stories, or rather, parables.

"Sometimes there would be a rush of noisy visitors and the silence of the monastery would be shattered. This would upset the disciples; not the Master, who seemed just as content with the noise as with the silence. To his protesting disciples he said one day, "Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of self"."

God...In Our Hearts

A little something I read recently...something to reflect about.

A crowd of Catholics showed up at the gates of heaven. "Right this way," said St. Peter and showed them to a room.

Later that day, Buddhists came, Presbyterians came, the Sikhs arrived, and then the Muslims. "OK," Peter said, "Now everybody's checked in, and we can get you all settled. But please tiptoe pass the third room on the right." "But why?" the crowd said.

"Because that's where the Catholics are," St. Peter said, "and we don't want to disappoint them; they think they're the only ones here."


...God is in the heart of humankind. If we listen clearly, we can hear that same voice in another language.

Joan Chittister

Rushing Through Life...We Must Pause...

In our rush through life, how often have we taken time to look up and take notice of the clouds, patterned in the sky? Appreciate the artistic form of the trees as we drive past; each unique and beautiful as they are.

In our pursuit of the so-called worldly success, we seem to have become immune or worst still, forgotten to live life and appreciate creation.

Our understanding of life is merely confined and limited to keeping ourselves busy...having a job, a house, repaying loans, credit cards, the endless pursuit of material wealth, etc. Is there all there is to life?

Beyond this man-made boundary, we fear to venture out...what could life be like if we take some personal quiet time to reflect on who we are, whay are we here and where we stand before the divine. Do we dare to take this radical step into the unknown so that we will come to understand?

Exploring what life is all about, delighting in the discovery. Living with hope, discovering the divine spark inside us all.

The spark that constantly hungers for union with the divine; the ultimate creator of everything around us...

"When I look at thy heavens,
the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars which thou hast established;
what is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou dost care for him?
Yet thou hast made him little less than God,
and dost crown him with glory and honor.
Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands;
thou hast put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!"

Psalm 8:3 - 9 (RSV)