Dare To,

"Take courage! Dare to make definitive decisions, because in reality these are the only decisions which do not destroy your freedom, but guide it in the right direction, enabling you to move forward and attain something worthwhile in life." -Pope Benedict XVI (032309)

The Pope's Advice to the Youth On Making Life Decisions

"It is not hard to imagine the dark clouds that still veil the horizon of your fondest hopes and dreams".

"See how Jesus does not leave us without an answer; He tells us one thing very clearly: renewal starts from within; you will receive a power from on high. The power to shape the future is within you.

"It is within you", he added, "but how? Just as life exists within a seed. That is how Jesus explained it at a critical juncture in His ministry. ... Jesus spoke about the sower who sows in the field of the world, and He explained that the seed is His word and His miracles of healing. These are so few in comparison to the immense needs and demands of everyday life. And yet, deep within the seed, the future is already present, since the seed contains tomorrow's bread, tomorrow's life. The seed seems almost nothing. But it is the presence of the future, the promise already present. When it falls on good soil, it produces fruit, thirty, sixty and even a hundredfold".

"In your midst", he told the young people, "you have the new Bread, the Bread of future life, the Blessed Eucharist, which nourishes us and pours out the life of the Trinity into the hearts of all people".

"He gives Himself to us and we respond by giving ourselves to others, for love of Him. This is the way that leads to life; it can be followed only by maintaining a constant dialogue with the Lord and among yourselves". Yet "the dominant societal culture is not helping you to live by Jesus' word or to practise the self-giving to which He calls you in accordance with the Father's plan".

After encouraging his young audience not to be "afraid to make definitive decisions", the Pope added: "You do not lack generosity - that I know! But the idea of risking a lifelong commitment, whether in marriage or in a life of special consecration, can be daunting. You might think: ...'Can I make a life-long commitment now, without knowing what unforeseen events lie in store for me? By making a definitive decision, would I not be risking my freedom and tying my own hands?' These are the doubts you feel, and today's individualistic and hedonist culture aggravates them. Yet when young people avoid decisions, there is a risk of never attaining full maturity".

"Take courage!", he cried. "Dare to make definitive decisions, because in reality these are the only decisions which do not destroy your freedom, but guide it in the right direction, enabling you to move forward and attain something worthwhile in life. There is no doubt about it: life is worthwhile only if you take courage and are ready for adventure, if you trust in the Lord Who will never abandon you. Young people [...], unleash the power of the Holy Spirit within you, the power from on high!

"Trusting in this power, like Jesus, risk taking a leap and making a definitive decision. Give life a chance", the Holy Father concluded. "This is the life worthy of being lived, and I commend it to you from my heart. May God bless the young people [....]"




Excerpts from:

YOUNG PEOPLE: DO NOT BE AFRAID TO MAKE DEFINITIVE DECISIONS
VATICAN CITY, 21 MAR 2009 (VIS)
PV-ANGOLA/YOUTH MEETING/LUANDA - VIS 090323 (780)
V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.
Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City

Libmanan Becomes A New Diocese

25 March 2009 - Today, the Pope "elevated the territorial prelature of Libmanan (area 1,862, population 530,000, Catholics 488,000, priests 35, religious 15), Philippines, to the rank of diocese, with the same territorial configuration as before, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Caceres. He appointed Bishop Jose Rojas Rojas, prelate of Libmanan, as the first bishop of the new diocese."

GOOD NEWS IN THE DIOCESE OF LEGAZPI

Greetings of Peace!

In the problems of your life (marital problems, broken family, sickness, cancer, loneliness, depression, stress, old age, broken-heartedness, despised love, career, sexuality, cruelty, financial, bankruptcy, poverty, vices, lustfulness, injustice, gambling, drug addiction, calamity, and the like), can JESUS CHRIST do something

FOR YOU?

GOOD NEWS!

Yes, He can!

JESUS CHRIST rose from death with power over all your problems (like marital, broken family, sickness, cancer, old age, career, sexuality, cruelty of others, financial, bankruptcy, poverty, vices, lustfulness, injustice, gambling, drug addiction, calamity, etc.). In His Church, you can find the inheritance He has earned for you.

COME, LISTEN!
and be a PART of the

EVANGELIZATION
that can change your life.

CATECHESIS

every Monday and Friday
will start on

February 2, 2009
at 7:00 in the evening
at St. Raphael's Church,

Legazpi City.

JESUS SAYS:

COURAGE! DO NOT BE AFRAID.

I HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD.

Ini po sarong imbitasyon na makipagtuparan kita sa Diyos.

Edad 13 anyos pataas; daraga, soltero, may agom o wara,

mayaman o pobre, maski anupaman na sitwasyon an saimong kinamumugtakan o pinaghalean,

"God is calling you.
Do not be afraid."

Salamat asin Dios an magbalos saindo.

*** This invitation (by the bishop of Legazpi, Msgr. Lucilo B. Quiambao) is being forwarded to you and your loved ones. Please feel free to share to the people in your household, in school, at work or in your community. If you are away from Legazpi, kindly forward to your acquaintances, friends, relatives, immediate family, work collueagues, etc. who are in the area. Thank you! ***

For the love of you.

In the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Cheers,

♥ GOLDIMYRR ♥

..*...*.. The Will of God will never take you...*...*....*...*..

..*...*.. )¤..where the Grace of God cannot protect you*..*...*..

~THE WEDDING~

In the Bible, there is a parable about the Father who prepared a banquet for a carefully chosen people to celebrate his son's wedding.

ATTEND THE CATECHESIS FOR GROWN-UPS
Happening every Tuesday and Thursday
starting August 17, 2010 at 7:00 in the evening
at St. Raphael the Archangel Parish Church, Legazpi City.

All the invited guests either declined or ignored the invitation due to preoccupations in life:

One said he has just bought a field and is on his way to visit it.
Another said he is just married and cannot leave wife, as the law insists.
Others may have indicated positive response at receiving the invitation, but simply did not show up when the moment came.

What happens then? Because all that The Father wants is to share the merits and joy of his son's wedding, he instructed his servants to go tell everyone else that there is a feast in his house and no sooner, the house was filled with other people, commoners, nobodies and beggars alike.

Even the thugs and bums at the slums were welcomed, and they weren't stoned or discriminated.

Even the prostitutes and the harlots came, and they were served like the ladies of noble families, like virgin princesses treated with respect.

THIS PARABLE IS MORE THAN JUST A STORYTELLING.

IT IS ALL ABOUT US.

In eschatological terms, JESUS is the groom and the church is His bride and we are the church.

"For God so loved the world, He gave us His only son...."

Every so often and in different ways, God is continually seeking to seal a covenant with us--no matter how good or bad we think of ourselves or others perceive us. GOD LOVES US.

But how do we respond?

Are we like those "chosen guests" with hardened hearts in the story?

Or the ordinary people who know "Love" works?

=Simple pleasures, great wonders.= (#1)

This morning, I accompanied my aged grandmother and still-partly-handicapped uncle to church for the Holy Eucharist.

It was raining when we left home and my grandmother was on her usual complaints of how discouraging it is to go out when the road is wet and full of mud, so there I was appeasing her thoughts again....

But a little after, as the mass started, the sun started to shine and as we went home, it was very bright and sunny outside, with a cool gentle wind blowing about. then, going home afterward, as the trimobile we were in turned to lakandula drive, i was overwhelmed by the sight of a marvelously thick but short-spanning spread of colors in the sky: it was a rainbow that commenced just about at the right foot of lignon hill and ended somewhere a little nearby. i exclaimed upon the sight of it and asked my grandmother if she can see it and she was amazed at how big and low it is.

Then as we entered the interior street that leads to our place, the trimobile had to move to the side of the road to make way for a carabao who was leading a cart, seemingly having come from a delivery of gravel or sand to a neighbor.

we live in the provincial suburbs but i already barely see a carabao these days. almost all of the agricultural fields in our area have been converted into industrial and residential lots so these animals of the field, for me, are just sights i can take pleasure of when i go to the next barangay more distant than ours from the heart of the city.

and as i go home, i shared what i saw to my sisters and i say, these things are simple but they are most beautiful.... that, it's a wonderful feeling when in the ordinariness of your everyday, you come across something or someone, and it makes you remember that somebody DID CREATE THE WORLD BEAUTIFULLY, only, we sometimes preoccupy ourselves with unnecessary things to do and to worry about that we don't often get to have the time to pause and appreciate what has been given us.

i am grateful i just had that chance^^,

The Classic

"I am Yours, like the sun which sets
and shall return to thee as all else ends
while by the forts of the city
You stand in wait of your beloved."