I'm always looking for You

 

I'm always looking for You. I haven't seen You.

Never. Do I chase after your impressions? Do I wipe them away?

I long for them, I am filled with anguish, and I do not see them.

I know I don't know how to look for You, and I don't give up.

What compels me to follow You? Why do I insist?

Discovering Your face? My wish

I don't know if it's faith. No, I don't know. I don't know if I believe.

Is there something in this? I don't know. I don't even know if I exist.

But, Lord of my adventures, Christ

From my darkness, hear my sigh.

No, I already suffer through life, I don't even

The night. And if dawn breaks, and I don't see You...

At dawn, I will not be able to tell You: I saw

"Your light, your footsteps on earth, and I believe."

Juan José Domenchina

Salvation

 Jesus is risen

All his love, all his mercy

Has risen with him.

I observe, amazed and in aw

At the empty tomb

That could not contain his glory.

Oh Jesus

Lift me up from my tomb

Cleanse me with your blood

That I may obtain the salvation

You have gained for me on the cross

Oh, Jesus

That I may be saved

And achieve the heaven

And live in your celestial kingdom

Once this life passes from me.

Heaven, (Monday, February 13, 2023)

This Sunday I went to Mass, as is my custom. I listened attentively to every word that came out of the priest's mouth. The homily was about anger and how we shouldn't let anger fester and lead us to harm the object of our anger. But what struck me most was a passage from the Gospel and part of the prayers of the Eucharist. The Gospel said that no one knows what God has prepared for us in heaven, things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, as the song says, "the things God has prepared for those who love Him." During the Eucharist, I heard something like this: "so that one day we may enjoy your inheritance at your side, with the Virgin Mary, the apostles, the martyrs, and all the saints." And I thought that life is worth living, no matter what we are going through; it is worth enduring everything if heaven awaits us in the end, that heaven that has kept me alive and hopeful all these years. It is worth suffering, and above all, it is worth smiling, remaining united in this hope of eternal life where we will finally know God as He truly is, where we will be reunited with Jesus and the entire heavenly court, where we will be reunited with our relatives. But for that, we must live, sow love wherever we go, keep the commandments, and resist temptation. Take heart, our heavenly homeland awaits us at the end. I was reading a Facebook post, something the Virgin Mary said to a saint, I think it was Saint Bernadette: "I did not promise you that you would be happy on earth, but in heaven." Someday, someday we will reach that heaven; let us not lose hope. We only need to look at Jesus on the cross and remember that He already suffered everything for us; now we just have to live.

Dialogue of Jesus with a sinful soul according to the Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska

 Jesus: Do not be afraid, sinful soul, of your Savior; I am the first to approach you, for I know that by yourself you are incapable of ascending to Me. Do not flee, daughter, from your Father; desire to speak alone with your God of Mercy, who wants to speak to you personally the words of forgiveness and fill you with His graces. Oh, how dear your soul is to Me. I have settled you in My arms. And you have been engraved like a deep wound on My heart.

-Soul: Lord, I hear Your voice calling me to abandon the evil path, but I have neither courage nor strength.

-Jesus: Why are you afraid, My daughter, of the God of Mercy? My Holiness does not prevent Me from being merciful to you. Look, soul, for you I have established the throne of mercy on earth, and this throne is the tabernacle, and from this throne of mercy I desire to descend into your heart. Look, I have surrounded Myself with neither retinue nor guards; you have access to Me at any moment, at any hour of the day. I desire to speak with you and I desire to grant you graces.

-Soul: Lord, I fear that you will not forgive me such a large number of sins; my misery fills me with fear.

Jesus: My mercy is greater than your misery and that of the whole world. Who has measured My goodness? For you, I allowed My Sacred Heart to be pierced by a lance, and I opened the Fountain of Mercy for you. Come and draw graces from this fountain with the vessel of trust. I will never reject a repentant heart; your misery has sunk into the abyss of My mercy. Why should you argue with Me about your misery? Do Me this favor: give Me all your sorrows and all your misery, and I will fill you with the treasures of My graces.

-The Soul: With Your goodness You have conquered, Lord, my heart of stone; here I am approaching with confidence and humility the tribunal of Your Mercy. Absolve me Yourself through the hand of Your representative (priest). O Lord, I feel that grace and peace have flowed into my poor soul completely. You have forgiven me more than I dared hope for or could imagine. Your goodness has surpassed all my desires. And now, I invite You into my heart, filled with gratitude for so many graces. I had strayed down the wrong path like the prodigal son, but You never ceased to be my Father. Multiply Your mercy within me, for You see how weak I am.

Jesus: My child, speak no more of your misery, for I no longer remember it. Listen, My child, to what I wish to tell you: draw near to My wounds and draw from the Fountain of Life all that your heart may desire. Drink deeply from the Fountain of Life, and you will not stop during the journey. Behold the radiance of My Mercy and do not fear the enemies of your salvation. Glorify My Mercy.

Return

 Lent has arrived

And you smear our foreheads with ashes

To remind us that our body is finite

And that we will one day return to dust.

But our soul is eternal

And when we take our last breath

We will stand before You and in our judgment

So we shouldn't waste our days.

It is Lent,

You ask us to return to the Father

Let us observe our soul, 

Actions, thoughts, and words.

And if there is something 

that is driving away from  following your steps

If we have taken a path 

where your footprints are not seen

Then it's better

To go look for you and as you say

Cutting off the hand if it's a cause of sin.

Or gouge out our eye if he does the same.

And no, you're not asking us to be mutilated.

You ask us to repent and walk away

Of those occasions that lead to sin.

And yet You love us,

And You hope we return to Your arms,

And you go find us

To bring us back to the flock.

I once wrote in my bedroom:

"I've been found"...

And You returned me to Your flock,

To follow in Your footsteps,

To sleep in your lap. 

Illuminate

 Perhaps I don't yet understand Your word,

Perhaps my mind is limited,

But my heart longs for You

Like the sentinel waiting the dawn.

On this night of my life I want 

You to be the light that reveals the colors

And may your faith be a lamp that shines for me

And your word a bread that nourishes.

Light my path, I ask You,

Let darkness not reign here

So I be able to see Your steps and follow them

Like ships follow the lighthouse.

Help me, Lord, I ask You.

Illuminate my understanding as well

And give me faith to move mountains.

That alone, without You, I can do nothing.

Roadside Tongue Twister

 

I don't know when I wrote it, it's undated, but I would like to remember that while there is life there is hope, that your soul, and mine, can follow the path that leads to Christ, or better yet, walk the path with Him, and that we can always return to the path that God wants us to follow, as Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life.

My tongue twister:

"I travel along roads, I travel along paths, sometimes they have no direction, no destination, no meaning, sometimes I return to the path I've already traveled, sometimes I embark on a new one, sometimes I succeed and rest, I wander off to find a place where there are no more roads, then I think and rethink, there are many missteps, the roads traveled don't always lead to the nest, and walking is life, but where does the road lead, if not to Christ Jesus, it's better not to have lived it, sometimes I can learn, other times I don't know if I can, other times I get tangled up and I no longer know what happened, to live, to walk, to continue, to get up and fight, because as they say, the war is not lost, and in the end, let the soul fly wherever God wants, because in the end He gave us life. And Jesus gave it meaning by dying for us, and by rising again one day, hope does not end."

Jesus I Love You

 

Because You are present

In the Tabernacle,

Willing to listen

And also to forgive

 All my things.

Ah, ah, ah.

Your love is powerful.

For you died on the cross,

You forgave the traitor

And you brought the light.

Because one day on my journey,

You changed my life,

By extending the nets,

You caught me.

Jesus, I love you.

I love you,

I love you,

Oh, oh

Jesus, I love you

I love you

I love you

Oh, oh, oh, oh,

Oh, oh, oh

Because you encourage my existence.

Even if I fall

You are my companion

My friend and advisor

At every moment.

Oh, oh, oh.

Your love is powerful.

For you died on the cross,

You forgave the traitor

And you brought the light.

Because one day on my way

You changed my life,

By extending the nets,

You caught me.

Jesus, I love you.

I love you,

I love you,

Oh, oh,

Uoh, oh, oh, oh.

- Choir song, I don't know who the author is.

God loves you and wants to save you

 

Let uzs give thanks to God who loved us so much and chose us before the creation of the world, before we ourselves were created, before the first dawn, before the first rain. God had chosen us to be his adopted children, to be saved from sin through Jesus Christ.   God the Father, in his infinite love,   sent us his only Son, and through him, grace flowed to humanity through his most holy blood.   It was not by chance that we came to believe in Jesus Christ; God willed it so, and together with the Holy Spirit, he moves us to seek him, so that we may not perish in our sins. God loves us and wants us to enjoy his inheritance with him; that is his will, that we live according to the grace we have received, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, listening to and following Jesus Christ, who has already shown us the way to the Father . Blessed and praised be God, whose mercy endures forever.   

EPHESIANS 1:3-14

3

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, ⁴

4

as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love

5

he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will,

6

for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.

7

In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace

8

that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight,

9

he has made known to us the mystery ⁵ of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him

10

as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

11

In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the one who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will,

12

so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped ⁶ in Christ.

13

In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed ⁷ with the promised holy Spirit,

14

which is the first installment ⁸ of our inheritance toward redemption as God's possession, to the praise of his glory.

I want to be like you... Jesus (January 24, 2012)

 

The day before yesterday I had insomnia, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to look in my room and found a diary in which I have among other things the following poem as a prayer that I wrote a few years ago, it caused me tenderness thinking about everything I went through in my life to get to that poem, how God became an important part of my life, how everything leads to Him, as in every up and down of every day, every smile, makes me truly feel like a beloved child of God. It seems to me that it should be called "I want to be like You, Jesus."

Here is the poem:

Like ca alm sea

I want my soul like this

Like a tender breeze

So my smile

Give life to my life Lord,

Give life to my life Lord,

And my life you already know who it is

It is you...Jesus.

A Tangerine (May 25, 2020)

 There is a tangerine in the yard of my house, which gave its first fruits last year. My father planted it two years ago, and when it gave these fruits my father was already in the presence of the Lord. Naive as I am, I thought it was a miracle to bear fruit. I spent most of the year, inside the house, without going out to the garden, until one day my sister shouted that the tree had "oranges", but they are tangerines. This year I spend more time in the garden. And I began to water the tangerine with the hope of tasting its fruits again, not as often as I should. Until one day I discovered small green spheres, almost imperceptible. And then, as the days go by, the tangerine gives me life lessons. One day I looked at it and noticed that some fruits had fallen from the branches. The tree is at the height of my vision, one meter and a few centimeters. Then I watered a little more than usual. Some days passed. The spheroids grew, some fell, and sprouted new fruits. And then I asked how often you should water. Someone told me that at least three times a week. I do this only on weekends. I will have to work harder. And then I remembered how, while I was suffering my father’s death, my sister told me: I’ll go out and water the plants. Therefore, it was thanks to her dedication that I could taste the tangerines of that tree that my father planted. And I thought that this is like our soul, it will have to be watered and fertilized, so that the flowers become fruits.  And continue watering so that the fruits grow and ripen before they fall for lack of irrigation. And I recalled the parable of the vineyard. It is Jesus who does not tire of taking care of his vineyard, as a song says that He asks us for fruits of love. We must let Him work in our garden, so that the fruits do not fall before time. That our faith may bear fruit, by example, by counsel, by charity. Fruits of faith, hope and love.  I remember now how Eduardo Verastegui called 50,000 people to pray the rosary together through his channel of you tube and his page on Facebook. Goal that has been overcome by the goodness of God. Now he asks and hopes to reach the goal of a million souls praying in unison by his Facebook and you tube the 31st of May, to close the month of the rosary at one o'clock in the afternoon time of Mexico. Now I remember why I started watering the tangerine: one day I found it blooming. May our lives flourish and bear much fruit. And with the grace of God on this 31st of May may we fill the sky with millions of roses for each Ave Marias para la Virgencita. You are invited.

My Crucified Jesus

 A few minutes ago (2/14/2020) I found a question on Facebook that might put us at odds with non-Catholic Christians. The question kept coming up: "Why does the Catholic Church display a cross with Christ crucified?" I read several comments attacking our faith. Actually, I spent several years asking myself the same question. Seeing Jesus crucified made me cry; it reminded me of how much He suffered for me. I felt guilty about His crucifixion, and it forced me to remember my sins. I couldn't get used to seeing Him; it was too much for me. I didn't understand such love, that love that is capable of giving one's life for the beloved. Yes, that beloved by Jesus is you, is me, all human beings. I felt so unworthy of His divine love and His sacrifice on the cross. But little by little, although it still hurts to see Jesus crucified, I understood that this crucifix represents the greatest sacrifice anyone will ever make for me. It is a demonstration of love. Now, seeing it reminds me that someone, precisely the Son of God, wanted to come into the world to suffer on a cross so that I could be saved, so that I could have the opportunity to repent of my sins and begin a new life. A new life, a life in Jesus Christ . It shows me the love of God the Father as well. It's as if, seeing the crucifix, Jesus speaks to me and says, "I love you! Don't you understand? I gave my life for you so that you may be happy. Don't enslave yourself to sin. Don't be discouraged. What wouldn't I do for you, if I was capable of dying crucified for you!" It also gives me the opportunity to be renewed, to "see" Him, to return to His flock. Yes, my Jesus died for me on a cross, and then on the third day He rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. And yet, the crown He chose to wear was a crown of thorns. This is my testimony. I don't have the answer to the Facebook question, but I know that because of that cross, today I can have hope not only in this life but also in the one that comes after death. If Jesus suffered for me, I too can suffer and offer it to God the Father. Yes, I too have a cross to bear, and I hope that, like Jesus rose again, and I too may achieve it through the merits of His glorious resurrection at the end of time. I leave you with a biblical quote where Saint Paul speaks about Jesus crucified.

1 Corinthians 1:23-24 

23  But we preach Christ crucified. This is a stumbling block  to Jews and foolish to Gentiles,  24  but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power and wisdom of God.

The Raising of the Christ Child

 We just "raised" the Baby Jesus. That is, we prayed the rosary while my sister lifted him from his little bed, dressed him in a beautiful little outfit and hat, and sat him in his little chair. We usually raise him on March 19th, Saint Joseph's Day, because that was my dad's custom, but we chose today because it's Three Kings' Day, the Epiphany of the Lord. At the end, we gave the Baby Jesus a kiss and I sang "The Kings Come from the East." Here's my Baby Jesus now raised in his Nativity scene.

The Two Donkeys - Don Bruno Ferrero

 

 They arrived at the cave of Bethlehem with difficulty, even two donkeys.

They were tired and annoyed. 

Their back was torn by the heavy bags that the miller, their master, carried daily and by the blows of the cane that he did not spare. 

They had heard the shepherds speak of the King of Kings who came from Heaven, and they too had gone. They followed that star and, before the cave, they stayed to contemplate the Child. 

They adored him, prayed like everyone else, and placed at his feet as a gift the only thing they had: their lives. And their pain, their sorrows... 

As they left, the ruthless miller was waiting for them, and the two donkeys set off with their heads down, the heavy staff on their backs. "It's no use," said one, "I begged the Messiah to take the burden away from me, and he didn't." 

"I, on the other hand," replied the other, who was trotting with some vigor, "asked him to give me the strength to carry him!"

And if someone tells you, "Life is hard," ask them, "Compared to what?"

- Don Bruno Ferrero - 

Heaven

 

There is a heaven,

Many rooms

And God illuminates everything

I only know that it's beautiful

Where the angels and saints

They praise God,

Where Jesus sits 

at the right hand of the Father,

Next to the Holy Spirit.

Where Mary is,

the Most Holy Virgin.

A heaven

That even though I wanted it

I couldn't imagine

Because

No eye has seen

And no ear has listened

From what awaits us,

Where love reigns,

the tears dry.

What did Jesus do for me?

He left Eternity and lived in Time so that I could leave

Time and live in Eternity.

He left the Eternal Father in all His Glory to become man and reveal

the Father's supremacy over all humanity.

He came as a humble servant to repair the damage done by those who say,

"I will not serve." He was meek of heart and gave all the credit to the Father

for everything He did, offering His voluntary humiliation as

atonement for my pride and independent spirit.

He was the Master of all, yet He never forced anyone to follow Him.

His humility was so great that He understood the hatred of His enemies and

asked His Father to forgive them.

He ruled all creation, yet He submitted to Joseph and Mary

like an obedient son.

He was happy to be considered an  uneducated carpenter , even though He

had created the entire world.

He placed Himself in the hands of two people He had created because He saw

His Father's will in their commands. He was the Splendor of the Father, yet He concealed all that distinguished Him

from the rest of the children of men.

He was  uncreated Wisdom  , yet He did not disdain the study of the

most mundane things of others.

He was happy to advance in wisdom and age before men, so that

I, patiently, might advance in holiness before God.

He accepted hatred, jealousy, and persecution with calm, seeing only in

the Father's will His Plan of Redemption.

He was not ashamed to eat with sinners, even though in doing so, He was

so despised by the gaze of others.

He saw those whom He had come to redeem abandoned Him in His hour of need,

without bitterness or resentment. He cast

a merciful glance upon Peter even when the Apostle was

aware of his sin.

He did not breathe His Spirit until He had endured every

possible torment, to demonstrate His love for me.

He rose from the tomb  and appeared first to Mary Magdalene, a

repentant sinner, then to Peter, who had denied him, and finally to the disciples

on the road to Emmaus, whose faith was weak, to show that he understood their

weaknesses and would not crush the bent reed.

His love for me is so profound that he could not deserve to leave

me alone. Therefore, he humbled himself completely and gave me His

precious body and blood in the Holy Eucharist as food for my

soul. 

Mother Angelica. (In his sandals)

Published by EWTN Español

(Translated from Spanish,

Might not be the same as the original Mother Angelica wrote)

And God Was There

I wrote down what I heard in a video on Instagram. I also translated it:

And God was there,

In my beginnings

And in my finals.

God was there

In every process,

He perfected me

He was there

At the center of every storm,

He hugged me

Because he was the only one

Who is not afraid of my failures.

But that was there

To help me stand up.

He does not wait for me

At the end of the road.

He takes my hand,

He pulls me out of the mud

And we walk together

To a new destination.

God was there

At every stage of my life,

The Creator of the universe,

He who takes care of me. 

Third Sunday of Advent

 Yesterday was the Third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday, which means joy or gladness for the imminent return of Christ. On this day, priests wear pink, which represent this joy in Jesus. The priest tells us that we must distance ourselves from everything that takes away this joy in Jesus, such as worldly pleasures that are only fleeting, money, sex, fame, drugs, and anything else that robs us of this joy. Instead, let us rejoice in Christ!

Be Happy

 

One can be happy in pain.

I know it's possible.

We must leave our hearts open.

And let Divine love

Live there.

We have to open the door 

To hope.

Knowing that God exists

And that in Jesus,

You find everything  That your heart longs for.

Well, there is no pain

That is not comforted

If you approach

Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

And it is in the Eucharist

Where you already enjoy the fullness

Of the heavens.

And so within your pain

You will understand:

That  you are loved 

With sublime love.

The Divine Motherhood of the Virgin Mary

  

In Eastern traditions, the Virgin Mary is known in Greek as "Theotokus," which literally translates to "Mother of God." Yesterday, I read an explanation on EWTN about this. It explains that any mother's motherhood encompasses our entire being; that is, even though we are both body and soul, we don't have one mother for our body and another for our soul. Similarly, Mary, having given birth to the Son of God, who is both true God and true man, Jesus, is the mother of his entire being, and consequently, she is the Mother of God.

Here is a translation of the explanation given by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 to 1921. It was published by EWTN in English in an email message about a novena that I received (this is a version translated back from the translation in Spanish and may differ from the original):

When we call the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God, we affirm our belief in two things: First, that her Son, Jesus Christ, is truly man; otherwise, she would not be a mother. Second, that He is truly God; otherwise, she would not be the Mother of God.



In other words, we affirm that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Word of God, who in His divine nature is eternally begotten of the Father and consubstantial with Him, was begotten again in the fullness of time by being born of the Virgin, thus taking upon Himself, from her womb, a human nature of the same substance as His own.


But it can be said that the Blessed Virgin Mary is not the Mother of the Divinity. She had no part, and could not have had any part, in the generation of the Word of God, because that generation is eternal; her motherhood is temporal. He is her Creator; she is His creature. Make of her, if you will, the Mother of the man Jesus or even of the human nature of the Son of God, but not the Mother of God.


I will answer this objection by posing a question. Did the mother who bore us have any part in the production of our soul? Was this noblest part of our being not the work of God alone? Yet, who would for a moment dream of saying "the mother of my body" and not "my mother"?


The comparison teaches us that the terms father and son, mother and child, refer to persons and not to the parts or elements of which persons are composed. Therefore, no one says, "the mother of my body," "the mother of my soul"; but in every respect, "my mother," the mother of me who lives and breathes, thinks and acts, one in my personality, even though uniting in her a soul created directly by God and a material body derived directly from the maternal womb.

Likewise, insofar as the sublime mystery of the Incarnation can be reflected in the natural order, the Blessed Virgin, under the shadow of the Holy Spirit, communicating to the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the same substance as her own, is therefore truly and genuinely His Mother. It is in this sense that the title of Mother of God, denied by Nestorius, was reclaimed for her by the General Council of Ephesus in 431; in this sense, and in no other, has the Church called her by that title.