Prayer is Indispensable

We had a whole day of brown out at the office. No light, no computers, and no ventilation. We were let go early. I realized how dependent we are on electricity and on technology to get things done.

What are the things we can't live without? What are indispensable to us?

For many of us, prayer is something of an option.  It may seem that we can do without it for the day. But as one famous Christian bumper sticker says "7 days without prayer makes one weak."  A day without prayer is also tantamount to saying, "Lord I don't need you today."

What is a day without prayer?  Most would say, "I am more impatient. I easily get angry." Some say, "I get to fall into the temptation of talking against other people behind their backs." And this is just one day. Without prayer, we become calloused with pride. Prayer makes us humble and realize our mistakes.  With prayer, we become sensitive to God's will, so we are led to the right track. I think life without prayer is a formula for disaster.

Christ Himself, being God, needed to pray. "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God (Luke 6:12)." Let us make prayer indispensable.

The Discovery of Why

Sometimes we get too caught up in the system of things that we forget to learn about the spirit behind them.  We fail to realize or understand the "why" and get right into the "how."

One easily gets tired of an endeavor or a commitment if he or she does not have a grounding on the history, the growth, and the present state.  It is important to imbibe the full intent behind your organization, business, or activity.  That is why vision and mission statements are important.  Philosophies can help further explain the intent of the over-arching statements.   It is easy to give up on something you do not appreciate.

A tool that can help us in discovering an intent is to perpetually ask why.  An example: Question: Why are we having this activity? Answer: To be able to share the love of Christ. Q:: Why do we need to share the love of Christ? A: So that they may realize how Christ can save them from their sins.  And the whys continue to one's satisfaction.

Yet some of us have a rich understanding of the why but do not exactly know how to go about it.
A tool for this is to ask myriads of hows. Example: Q: How are we going to share the love of Christ? A: By choosing a bible verse that will make them understand the essence of Christ's love. Q: How do we choose the right verse? A: By having a discernment session. Q: How will the discernment session run? And so on and so forth.

Let us not be tempted to put the horse before the carriage.  The value of the "Why" is often taken for granted.  We just assume that the people we have are committed and will do as told.  Unless the leader wants to build up followers instead of leaders, then you can get into the "How"of things immediately.  But if we are to train leaders, then we have to take time to explain or discover the whys of what we do.

If we are to propel our organization or business, we have to start asking the difficult whys.  Why are we losing members?  Why is our country poor? Why is our product losing sales?  And when we finally find the answers, be bold enough to do the hows.

A lot of us try to find answers for our lives' crossroads.  The truth is that it is hard to find the right answers if we are asking the wrong questions. Let us be discerning of the questions we ask ourselves.  Then and only that we are sure that we are on our way to finding the answers we seek.

Jesus declared why He came down to earth in Luke 4:18 "


“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free...

His mission was clear.  In our endeavors, let us strive for clarity of purpose.  May we accept the challenge to  plunge deep into the sea of knowing why, so that when we rise to the surface we may come to know how.

Rejected for the Sake of Christ

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the scriptures:  ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’? (Matthew 21: 42)


This is an interesting passage from the Bible. but I always wondered what cornerstone meant. Here's a definition from Wikipedia:

The cornerstone (or foundation stone) concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure (Wikipedia).

How often are we being teased of being a member of a prayer group?  I remember I was fondly called "Father Kirby" by some of my friends because I went to prayer meetings.  But I noticed later that those who made fun of me often confided with me in their most difficult and hurtful life situations.  At the end they asked me to pray for them.

We experience rejection at different degrees.  There's a subtle rejection through teasing or being referred as weird.  Another degree is when you stand up for your Christian values in a corrupt environment, then you are branded as "a person hard to get along with." Another is when one feels the call to be a missionary or to be a priest, but his own family and friends reject the idea.

What should be our philosophy in times of rejection?  Here are some reflections:


1. It is an honor to be rejected for the sake of Christ. 
But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:13).  In life we get rejected for many reasons.  We may get rejected because of our lack of ability or our physical appearance.  But if we are rejected because of Christ, then what an honor to have represented Him and to have been truly loyal to Him.


2. Draw strength of conviction from your rejection

Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ;e for when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).3.

The experience of rejection helps us to be emptied or stripped of our pride.  When pride is gone and humility is practiced, then the full strength of the Holy Spirit will be experienced.  For the Spirit dwells in a humble and contrite heart.


3. God's acceptance is more important than man's rejection
If we are on the side of truth and yet we are rejected, we can only have the peace in our hearts that we did our best to represent the teachings of our Lord.  His righteousness is beyond our life on earth. What is more important than man's rejection is our acceptance in the Lord.  Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me  (Luke 10:16).”


The challenge of evangelization is how not to repel people and lose the chance of bringing them to the Lord. We must therefore have the zeal for righteousness by being an example, a true witness of God's transforming love.  We have to be in the world but not of the world.  If by our witnessing we are rejected, then what a privilege to have taken one for the team.


Why is Christianity alive until today?  I believe a major factor is because of the sacrifices of those who were rejected and martyred for the sake of Christ.

The Value of Starting Small

Those who think big know the value of starting small.  We can launch something massively, but risk failing massively as well. And it's hard to pick up the pieces.  We can never undervalue the practice of prototyping. With prototyping or sampling, comes the challenge of being patient, observant, and diligent.

Do you have a big idea? How long then will it take you to make a prototype or organize a sample group? Do you plan on writing a book? When will you start making the first chapter of that book and let your friends give a feedback?  Do you want to write a song? Then write down the first line and hum the first couple of notes.

Are there big decisions that paralyze us? One who feels the call to priesthood starts off first with a vocation retreat or a search-in.  One who wishes to invest big in business starts off first selling a few samples. Our paralysis can be overcome by doing small steps that will help us feel that it is the right direction to go.  Praying daily can help us discover where God is leading us, rather than just praying one time big time and plunging into the decision right away.

With a small group or sample, we can adjust, correct, and improve. When it's time to replicate, much of the lessons have already been learned and the success rate is higher. 

We notice that Jesus spent much of his time with his 12 apostles. In his 3 years of public life, he never went as far as 100 miles from his home. Yet, look at how globally spread Christianity has become. God even sampled the Israelites, His chosen people, for all of us to learn from.  

Achieve great things by patiently starting small.

Be a Community Helper

Today, my 4 year-old son had an assignment to go to school dressed up as a Community Helper.  We thought of many things; doctor, fireman, police among others. We ended up with...musician. So Sev brought to school all his musical instruments; a flute, a ukulele, a toy xylophone, and a small bongo. Although being a musician is not the typical concept of a community helper, but then i thought that if no one actually wrote songs or played music for the community, then we would be like robots without artistry, expression, and emotion. Without musicians, then we would have not much entertainment (clean entertainment, that is) that can relax us from a hectic day and refresh us for the next. So we figured, a musician is a community helper.

Are you a community helper? How is the product you are selling or your field of study benefiting the society? More so, are you helping build a Christ-centered society?  I believe that whatever profession or business we are in, we can all be community helpers.

But then, let us not also be blind if we know what we are doing destroys community.  There might be things we are involved in that are environmental hazards and yet we are more concerned of profit.  What are the values that our work or product promote?  Are these products helping others become better people?  Are we justly compensating workers?

As community helpers, we are concerned with justice, love, and peace. 

Justice according to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 201 (CSDC) states, "According to its most classical formulation, it consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor ." As a community helper, we give what is due.

When we do things out of love for neighbor, we are building a "civilization of love." Again, from the Church's Social Doctrine (580), "Christians must be deeply convinced witnesses of this, and they are to show by their lives how love is the only force that can lead to personal and social perfection, allowing society to make progress towards the good."  Are we helping the community out of love or out of mere duty?

Peace is the fruit of justice and love (CSDC, 494).  Without justice and love, there will surely be crime, violence, and the failure of peace which is war.  Therefore, as Community Helpers who work towards a Christ-centered society, we carry justice and love as our virtue and our posture.  May our day-to-day work lead us to God's will for our society.