The Necessary Instruments

Grace builds on nature, indeed; God uses what we hold - what He has put - in our hands. Moses' staff. David's slingshot. Levi a.k.a. Matthew's pen.

He also uses what He has put in our being, how He has built us - our talents, our temperaments, our passions - and, once we submit our will, turns them to our good. Peter's unabashed bravado. Paul's eloquence. And, yet again, Matthew's love of a good party.

One of the books I read over my life-changing period of discernment in BC, quite a few months ago, brought me to the realization of the two types of callings we must respond to: the universal and the individual. Again, although I wrote about it a while back, it would be apt to reiterate that the universal calling is one we share with all humans - the promotion of life: to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, protect the earth. But that apparently is not enough, because God made us so very uniquely and so differently gifted from each other that that cannot be our sole calling. And thus the individual calling: the pursuit of one's distinct path using our individual internal compass and other instruments God has equipped us with. The celebration and realization of the fullness of our individual potential; for indeed we were not given these gifts to hoard or store up or use in the undetermined future. We are to offer these gifts, back to the Giver, by using them to the fullest extent; by glorifying Him with them, to the fullest extent.

In my heart, I know now what my individual callings are - a happy awareness that I'm glad to have received just before I celebrate another year of life. I know that I am called to them because they are the things I am most passionate about, the things I am always excited to do, the things that I can keep doing without minding at all how much they exhaust me physically. Just like how I feel about my universal calling - which I've found to be serving God's poor at He Cares and wherever else they may be found.

To cook, to travel, and to write. Three of the individual callings I feel most strongly drawn to, and which I, together with similarly inclined partners who also happen to be great friends of mine, will celebrate God's goodness with. By God's grace, the "vehicles" to pursue these two directions will be officially launched, full-blast, on St. Ignatius' Feast Day (hah, no wonder that three of my partners are Ateneans!), which also happens to be "my" day as well. And how, you may ask, do we intend to do this?

By pursuing a fourth calling that I - we - feel drawn to heed and throwing (yet another!) big party that people won't very soon forget. The kind that Levi, a.k.a. Saint Matthew, our unofficial patron and assistant "overseer," would have loved. :-)

Grace Builds On Nature

"Although the supernatural means comes first in all apostolate, Our Lord still wants us to use all the human possibilities we can. Grace does not replace nature and we cannot ask Our Lord for extraordinary assistance or help when, through the ordinary channels, God has placed the necessary instruments in our hands. A person who would not try to do everything in his power, and who expected divine help for everything, would be tempting God, and the grace of God would cease to act." - St. Thomas Aquinas

Amen. Now, more than ever, I realize that it's just a matter of doing everything in one's power, but always surrendering plans to the Lord and submitting to His will. We cannot go through life drifting, or merely observing, waiting in the wings for things to just happen to us - but to actually meet our dreams head-on, or seek them out, and certainly only after seeking Divine guidance first. I don't believe in passive Christianity, and the parable of the talents warns against just that - our gifts are given to be used to the fullest extent, for His greater glory! For grace builds on nature indeed - as someone once so aptly put it: without God, we cannot; without us, God will not!

My Soul Finds Respite

I'm sick.

I get sick very rarely, so this must be that STOP signal I shouldn't ignore. Kinda hard not to anyway, with a scratchy throat and burning eyes. Binx once told me to listen to my body, and yeah, the message is coming in loud and clear thank you very much. Superwoman I'm not (Darna maybe, or even Zsa Zsa Zaturna...)

I dislike being "broken" like this, not fully functional. But I've learned that it's during these respites of weakness that we are more open to His strength; as last Sunday's second reading declared, His grace is sufficient for me, in my weakness His strength is made perfect. And right now I'm a sniffling, cotton-headed little weakling who needs some heavenly (and earthly) TLC.

Not quite surprising, since I've been pushing myself to the physical borderline and stretching my limits the last several weeks. Taking on a regimented office job (albeit managerial and creative) for a short period of time; reading, dissecting, digesting and lecturing legal cases for my Law in Mass Media classes; driving more than 500 kilometers every weekend, most of the time within a 24-hour period; doing whatever service I can for He Cares; setting up two enterprises and sitting in meetings; and fulfilling the necessary obligations for family and friends (birthdays, funerals, catch-ups, etc.) and more...

Not much time for myself; not much time for Him! I recognize all these blessed opportunities as coming from God, but at the same time see the challenge of remaining focused on Him alone. He gives us so many gifts, but may our arms never be so full that we can no longer embrace the Giver.

Next week things will be thankfully easing up - I'll have (most of) my time back to do the many things I need and want to do. Go to Quiapo (or 168, hhmmm paging Miles he he) on a weekday, lead the Montalban Wednesday sessions, finish the TWT papers and work on C+C's upcoming bookings, and go back up to BC for a longer period than 24 hours!! My schedule is finally letting me come up for air (BC mountain air?), and once again I am thankful and blessed. Onto the fulfillment of the "real" deal!

But first...aaaachoo!!! Need to find my rest in Him!

Turkeys

Confucius says, "If you want to soar with the eagles, don't run with the turkeys."

Actually, a Christian author wrote that (Whit Criswell, What Makes A Winner: Principles from the Bible for Business and Life) - an affirmation of what Bo Sanchez spoke about last Sunday. Indeed, if you surround yourselves with losers, there's a very real danger of becoming a loser yourself. We have to choose our company - our team - well, just like Jesus carefully selected His own Dream Team, those he called His disciples. True, he associated with and loved the “drunkards and prostitutes,” his “customers” or the people He came to serve; but He spent most of His time alone with the Father or with His Dream Team, which is perhaps why He didn’t become like His “customers.” On the contrary, many of them turned away from pursuing the road to disaster, and began to follow His path, desiring to be more like Him.

Choosing who we shall model ourselves after – our mentors, our idols, the people we look up to - is a crucial decision that determines how we choose to live our lives. But the responsibility of being a model ourselves – wittingly or otherwise – is far more overwhelming.

Case in point. There is a lovely little girl in He Cares who has, apparently, decided to be Honey, Jr. Tonight at the parents’ prayer meeting, I saw her again after quite sometime – I’ve been traveling so much out of and around the country and working more than a few jobs in Manila and BC, that even my Saturdays at the Center have been compromised. This evening though, I got to spend a little quality time with some of the children while their Moms were being led in worship, even if it was just listening to their talk and updates on school and life and whatever else. And, out of the corner of my eye, Donya – who once insisted on posing for a photo with my bag and heels – began to slick back her hair into a tight ponytail, which emphasized even further the length and size of her dangling earrings. Er. I realized who she wanted to look like; it was very cute. Even cuter was when I found that the erstwhile “babies” of He Cares were now ambulatory toddlers who could engage Ate Ganda in conversation and play with her earrings and bracelets and imitate her every move.

Just like it’s cute when little Rommel from the household raises his hands in worship at the Feast, because that’s what he sees his Ates and Kuya doing. Or when the little kids kneel and kiss the floor before the Blessed Sacrament, because that’s what they’ve seen their elders doing. Or when they show the same kindness they’ve received to others who are even less privileged than themselves.

What’s NOT cute is when these little impressionable ones learn things that are not as laudable from their role models, or the people tasked to show them how to live a decent life. It’s not cute when they learn from their parents that violence is a way to vent life’s unfairness upon other people. Or when they hear their role models use offensive language or display undesirable habits. Or when they observe these people whom they look up to act in a manner, conduct their affairs, or treat their responsibilities that leaves very much to be desired. They begin to think, “that’s all right for me then, because Kuya ___/Ate ____ does it/is like that.” In that case, we become turkeys. We become the people that Bo advised us to run far, far away from. And if we are going to contribute to their growing character in a negative manner that is not upbuilding, then it is our obligation to run far, far away from these innocents. But may we never have to!

Just a friendly reminder that we spend more time with the eagles, not turkeys. Let’s not turn into our “customers”; but help them turn into “us” – and only if we’re worth “turning into”! And be eagles ourselves. You’ll be surprised (and, if you’re like me, a little scared) to realize how many people actually want to be like you.

Truly indeed, that gives even more meaning to that old song: “Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang; tayong lahat ay may pananagutan, sa isa’t isa…” Tayong lahat ay tinipon ng Diyos, na kapiling Niya. Praise God.

HB Korics!

More birthday fun...happy 40th birthday to another man blessed with character, our friend Rico Mac - Uldarico Noel Marquez Macatangay - devoted hubby to Grace and loving father to Eric, Louie, Pia, Ella and Miguel *whew* (praise God we don't live in one-child China!).

We surprised him with a birthday bash tonight (just as we did Kuya Ben yesterday!), and from the looks of it, he was tickled pink by the celebration. Near the end of the festivities, he told me sagely, "Honey, I once thought (in his UP activist-philosospher days) that happiness was justice and equality. Now I can tell you that happiness is...a GREAT MATCH." And he, of course, with Grace (not to mention the rest of his growing family) is truly happy.

God bless Korics, may your tribe increase and prosper!

Happy Birthday Kuya Ben!

Happy 46th birthday to Kuya Ben Salvedia, one of my mentors in Christian service! Worship minister, evangelist, pastor, teacher, and friend. His wife, Ate Mayette, is likewise one of my Christian models, and someone I designated today (she once told me, "the best, Honey, only the best...") to help me find my ONE TRUE LOVE - because I trust that her recommendations will be to my best interests! If you're single and haven't read Bo Sanchez's newest eye-opening book yet, well, you better.

Take responsibility for your life, create your destiny, and don't expect God to do all the work! Indeed. Indeed!!

Dream Team

Some of you may know that I’ve been hurtling through the last several weeks on some kind of Space Mountain ride: everything’s moving at breakneck speed and I’m being thrown around non-stop in all sorts of directions - but experiencing so much joy and fulfillment while I’m at it. It’s like I’ve finally broken free from the pull of gravity and am soaring towards so many things I’ve only always dreamed of doing, all at the same time. Then again, while I’ve been feeling thrills of joy in pursuing all of these, the ecstatic rush and all the numerous things that are starting to occupy my time have begun to worry me a little.

Am I doing way too many things for my own good?

That was the question – a secret question in my heart I brought to today’s Mass at the Feast, although to some extent I’d unloaded a bit of that anxiety in a text conversation with Father Steve earlier this morning. The opportunities to do what I love and what I’m good at have all of a sudden been piling up on my doorstep – without my having to actually go and seek them out – that I’ve taken in all these blessings with open arms. But are my arms now too full?

You can imagine my surprise when Bo Sanchez, at the beginning of his talk, began to list down all the stuff HE does. Everyone knows what a hectic schedule he has as a lay preacher, multimedia personality, community leader, father – but he actually listed down 20 things of consequence that he does, from various business ventures and investments to personally answering thousands of e-mails to leading pilgrimages abroad and running Shepherd’s Voice. As he did, my little list of all the things I do on a regular basis found company, and even paled in comparison to his:

- Help Miles run Pixel Media on a daily basis.
- Write freelance advertising copy for independent projects and lifestyle magazine articles.
- Develop, secure, and service new and potential advertising accounts.
- Set up and begin the launch of Third-World Traveler Publishing, Inc.
- Do mission work/writing tasks for the He Cares Foundation as much as I can – although lately because of my Pixel and UP Baguio commitments, I’ve not been able to go to Montalban or attend the Saturday general assemblies.
- Act as consulting partner for HBO Law Offices.
- Teach six units of Saturday classes at UP Baguio.
- Cater and cook for friends and family and He Cares, set up a personal catering business (C+C Personal Caterers).
- Do editing and creative consultancy work for CYA.
- Run errands for my Mom (a monumental task indeed), do household chores in QC and renovate BC.
- Travel as much as I can – as if the weekend drives to Baguio weren’t enough – thus far, two international destinations and several local places this year, one more international trip lined up.

And that’s just work. I get to play hard too, but that discussion doesn’t count.

At the end of Bo’s own litany, he told us that many people ask the question, “How do you do the things you do?” How, indeed, without going crazy or dropping dead from sheer exhaustion?

His answer: he doesn’t. He has other people help him out, help him do everything he needs to do. He has a dream team. *Cue fireworks and alarm bells*

He spoke about building your dream team: “your real wealth are the people in your life” (sounds grammatically awkward but I’ll let it slide he he). Think about David, the little shepherd boy who slew the giant Goliath; he won the battle, but not the war against the Philistines – that took the help of his dream team, particularly his three mighty men.

We already have a team – the people in our lives, our family and friends, those we surround ourselves with – but is it a dream team, Bo asked. Do these people build us up instead of dragging us down? Do they shoot down the dreams and directions God has planted in our hearts or allow us to soar towards them? Do they provide the support we need or are they a trap door under our feet, plunging us into disaster? Boy, at that point I knew that I was directly being spoken to, singled out for that message among the hundreds in attendance, bulls-eye, sapul. I think I did a good amount of bodily damage to poor Oman through my elbow action, sorry bro!

Not only do we have to critically examine our team, but the respective team leaders, namely, our own selves. Are we the dream team leaders we should be, or do we need to fire ourselves from the position? And eventually rehire a refurbished, new-and-improved, us? Once we do, we should drop those team members who are impeding our progress, who drag us two steps backward when we should be going one step ahead, who make us miss out on – and sometimes even obstruct the way towards - the fulfillment of our God-given goals. If they lead us away from God and His plans for us, then it may be time to stay clear – to continue to love them anyway, but refuse to be weighed down by them. Amen – and I hear a few of you out there echoing agreement. The “drunkards and prostitutes” with whom Jesus ate, and who He has taught us to love, are the people we serve and need to love, but while they’re in that state they’re not part of the Dream Team that is to support and assist us. In Jesus’ case His team was His Father and His disciples, a carefully-chosen group of people to help Him carry out His Divinely-ordained mission. And that’s the same choice we’re called to make – we need to choose our team carefully, to choose to detach ourselves from the detrimental and cleave to the beneficial, to follow and embrace and seek support from life-giving members and avoid those who dangerously draw on our own lives and lifeblood and keep us from living the way we were meant to.

And what kind of people make up that Dream Team? Bo actually suggested that we think about and write down the names of those we want on it. Here’s a little checklist of qualities he ran through:

1. Persons of character
2. Members care for one another
3. Know their mission
4. Communicate with each other
5. Grow together
6. Work well together
7. Each having a special role
8. Constantly deepen their “bench”

On the dream team should be mentors, those people we look up to and trust for advice and guidance in different aspects of our lives – spiritual, personal, financial, etc.; peers, or people we share relatively equal footing with; and assistants. All of whom should help us serve those needing our service, our “customers.”

Immediately, even as Bo was speaking, a list began to take shape in my mind. All the individuals God has blessed me with in this life, to guide, support, assist, and walk with. My spiritual mentors – ha, I share at least one with the great Bo Sanchez – Father Steve, my confessor Father Jboy, Kuya Joe Dean, Kuya Ben, Sister Patricia. My media mentors in spirit – Bo, Arun Gogna, Father Steve Korapi, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. My mentors in my personal life – Ate Ardis, LP Susan, Ate Brenda, Ate Mayette. I know I need to continue to develop my relationship with each of these wonderful people whom I look up to and trust. My peers – three of whom (including the one whose ribcage is black and blue) were with me during Bo’s talk, and who I know are part of my “dream team” that will win this war as my prayer partners, fellow believers, and beloved friends; my fellow servants at He Cares; my other prayer partners; my long-standing friends who may or may not yet believe but whose love has always enabled me to rise to new heights; my carefully-chosen new friends who share some these dreams with me and are willing to fly in the same purposeful direction instead mindlessly gallivanting away their lives. My “assistants,” or those who, surprisingly, consider me a mentor to them, and who help pull the “loads” of my mission and callings.

One of my greatest epiphanies was two years ago in Teatro Aguinaldo, at the third session of the Feast, with Bro Oman in tow. Today, in Teatro Aguinaldo, at the third session of the Feast, also with Bro Oman (after the longest time!), the Lord, through Brother Bo, once again spoke to me loud and clear. One of the very few times He has, as He knows that my dense little sensibilities need absolute and unequivocal certainty that it’s actually Him. Indeed, His answers come directly, it seems, when my heart is most honest in seeking them. And yet again I got the answer I was looking for, the reassurance that all is well and He is in control of the Space Mountain ride, and that He, the source of all these passions and skills and dreams, will provide the strength – and the dream team – to bring them to fulfillment.

For His greater glory, and His glory alone. Amen!

P.S. On this last trip up to BC, I acquired a new favorite song. It’s a punked up version of an old hymn, a rock tribute to our God, from Whom our deepest dreams and desires come, and to Whom they should be returned. Dare something worthy for God today!

All That I Am
(The Insyderz, Skalleluia Too!)

All that I am, all I can be; all that I have, all that is me
Accept and use, Lord, as you would choose, Lord
Right now today!

Take every passion, every skill
Take all my dreams, and bend them to Your will
My all I give, Lord, for You I'll live, Lord
Come what may!

Verse 1:
Often I come with my problems and cares
Running to You when distressed
But I must bring You the whole of my life
Lord I must give You my best!

Verse 2:
Life has no purpose unless it's Yours
Life without You has no goal
All that fulfills me is doing your will
Knowing that You're in control