Spiritual Sharing October 2004

Wed 10/27/04. Mass readings.

* The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good the Lord is to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.

Tue 10/26/04. Flp 3,7-12

* "Those things I used to consider gain I have now reappraised as loss in the light of Christ. I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesos Christ. ... I have been grasped by Christ.

Mon 10/25/04

* Feeling uneasily the call of doing many things. My usual call. After the retreat, feeling it even more. About the opportunity of being with a new group with the Jesuits, where I would have a somehow leading role. I still think that I should wait. I should give myself some extra time. Let me know what's your will.

* Being with Rxxx and Mxxx. They are two handicapped women. Raquel is intelligent enough to find out where I live (I didn't tell her) and wait until my arrival from the retreat. She knew my apartment number. Still, handicapped enough not to be accepted from society and be so aware of that. I felt upset when they called me five minutes after arriving. Finally I went to have a little drink with them some time later. It was fine after all. I enjoyed being with them.

Fri 10/22/04

* El amor cuando es crecido
no puede estar sin obrar,
ni el fuerte sin pelear,
por amor de su Querido.

* Love, when it overflows
cannot be without working
neither the strong without fighting
for love to its Beloved.

Wed 10/20/04.

* May my Lord make me small, tiny, simple and humble. May my greatness be my Lord and not my own, for the best of me has always been my God.

Tue 10/19/04. Jesus sends his disciples.

* "La mies es abundante, pero los braceros son pocos. Por eso, rogad al dueño que mande más braceros a su mies."

* The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So, please, ask the owner to send more workers to the fields.

* Look, that I send you like sheep among wolves. So, please be cautious and wise as snakes and innocent as pigeons.

* When you get in a house, offer the peace. If the people living there deserve it, let the peace be upon them. If they don't deserve it, may the peace return back to you.

Sun 10/17/04.

* About going out with the people of my work. Thank you very much for these wonderful people. When we ended up in a discotheque, about taking care of the people. I was not there to look for "a couple". I was simply dancing and enjoying the music and the company.

Fri 10/15/04.

* Tim 3,14;4,2. "Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living an the dead, I put this duty to you in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience (but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching)".

* About having lunch with Mxxx Axxx. Of how I could thank him to have not recommended me as a candidate to work in the pool of bxxx Sxxx as a quant. Of how I could share with him how my bad feeling about him turned into thanksgiving. I am now working in a different department in which I fit so much better. Thanks so much because You continue providing.

Thu 10/14/04. Simple little things.

* On Tuesday I invited the whole family to come over my place to celebrate mum's name day. It was beautiful to see Pxxx (my brother's wife) and Cxxx (her father). Let me find good excuses to bring everyone together.

* Of how mum taught me how to cook for everyone.

* About getting out of Jxxx's house leaving my mother there and join my father to avoid him waiting (he was already waiting). Of how I helped them to take the mirror to their place and install it (I could have left without hanging it and it would have been without hanging for ages).

* About the funeral of Axxxs' father. I pray once more for him and his family. May your presence be with them all. May they feel it. May the presence of Axxxs' father be with them always.

Mon 10/11/04

* I enjoyed going to see the new born daughter of Wxxx and Mxxx. We have never been very close to each other. However, I enjoyed being there. I didn't say too much; just stayed there. I think they also enjoyed my presence.

Sun 10/10/04. Mass

* Search and be surprised. In the past I haven't necessarily found what I thought I wanted but you have given me what I needed. Let me ask for what I need rather than what I want. I may not even know what I need but you know better than me what I need. Tell me, my Lord, what I need.

* Let me be that one leper who got back to thank you when he was surprised of being cured. The other nine did not thank you.

Fri 10/8/04.

* "Sing a new song to the Lord
because he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation".

Mon 10/4/04.

* Thanks for the wedding of Lxxx and Lxxx.

* The kingdom of God is similar to a man that finds a treasure in the fields. He buries it again and goes to sell everything he owns to buy the field. It also resembles to a pearl trader. One day he found one of great value and sold everything he owned to buy it.

* Let me not only find the treasure. I think that I have already found it. But still, I haven't decided to sell everything to buy the field. My dear Lord, I need your help. I haven't decided much in the last years that wasn't inspired somehow from you first.

* I bring the presence of Cxxx Dxxx. She could not receive the cancer treatment because she was low of defenses.

Sun 10/3/04. Mass

* The events of life can be interpreted from a human perspective or the perspective of the believer. Thank you for showing me your perspective. It makes me so much happier. Someone who has intimately met you, looks at life in a very different way. Thank you for the gift of faith. Thank you for showing me who you are.

Fri 10/1/04. Death of Axxxs' father

* Dearest Lord, dearest Axxxs: today I want to bring you together even more (though I know you are already together). I pray for the whole family and friends. I pray for Axxxs. He was very affected yesterday when he called me.

* "Vivo sin vivir en mí
y tan alta vida espero
que muero porque no muero".

* I live without living within me
and such a high life I hope
that I die because I die not.

Thu 9/30/04. Mass readings

* About the servant: "we are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty". Let me not expect anything in return but your love and grace when I am your servant. That's all I need.

* Let my reward be the knowledge that I have done your will.

Wed 9/29/04. Coming down the mountain.

* Let me not depend on feeling your presence. For there are times in which I have to walk by faith and not by sight. Without clear sight but with great hope and faith that I'm not on my own; that you are always around.

* Of how the second symphony by Mendelssohn stroke me yesterday. The Lobgesang (songs of praise).

Tue 9/28/04.

* I pray once more for Cxxx Dxxx and the father of Axxxs. Thank you my Lord for the gift of health, for everything you have given to me.

* Contemplating, visualizing, imposing my hands on Cxxx's lungs and the lungs of Axxxs' father. May you provide hope and strength to them.

* "En la cruz está la vida
y el consuelo,
y ella sola es el camino
para el cielo".

* In the cross we have the life
and consolation,
and she, the only way
to our redemption (to heaven).

* "De la cruz dice la Esposa
a su Querido
que es una palma preciosa
donde ha subido,
y su fruto le ha sabido
a Dios del cielo,
y ella sola es el camino
para el cielo.

* Of the cross, says the Lover
to the Beloved
that is a precious palm tree
where she escalated,
and its fruit she tried and tasted,
it tasted to Heavenly God
and this is the only way
to heaven.

Saint Teresa of Ávila.

Sun 9/26/04

* My Lord, inspire me what to do with Tiébissou (the Mission in the Ivory Coast).

Thu 9/23/04.

* "Si queréis que esté holgando,
quiero por amor holgar,
si me mandáis trabajar,
morir quiero trabajando.
Decid, dónde, cómo y cuándo.
Decid, dulce Amor, decid. |

¿Qué mandáis hacer de mí?.

* If you want me to rest,
for love I want to rest,
if you want me to work,
to death I want to work.
Tell me, where, how, when .
Tell me, my sweet Love, tell me.
What do you want to do with me?.

Wed 9/22/04. Mass readings

* "Between us and you, a big gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone to cross over" (Lazarus and the rich man).

* Whose that gulf which separates those who love you, and those unable to recognize Your love?. I don't know the owner but definitely, it is not Yours.

Tue 9/21/04

* Que yo sé que te hayarás
en mi pecho retratada
y tan al vivo sacada,
que si te ves te holgarás
viéndote tan bien pintada.

* I know you'll find yourself
in my chest portrayed
and so alive represented,
that if you see, you'll be impressed
looking so well portrayed.

* Porque tú eres mi aposento
mi casa y morada,
y ansí llamo en cualquier tiempo,
si hallo en tu pensamiento
estar la puerta cerrada.

* Because you are my room
my home and dwelling,
and like this I call any time,
if I find within your thoughts
the door being closed.

Mon 9/20/04.

* Being with the family. How shall I make a return to them for all the good they have done in me?. There is a simple answer: be, stay and spend time with them.

* Thank you, my Lord, because I took the train yesterday to join my mother's birthday celebration. They told me not to come but you preferred that I were there.

* Lxxx Rxxx, my thesis supervisor, knew this very well and he spent a long time with his father before he passed away last week.

* I pray for Axxxs. He lost his position in his current job for politics in the University. I think they made him a great favour. Yet, it is hard. I pray for his father and for Cxxx Dxxx.

Sun 9/19/04. Principle and Foundation

The foundation of my life is a collection of simple little things. Things that happen on an ordinary day. They follow through time and on another ordinary day one asks oneself whether life is worth living. Trying to answer once more about the foundation of my life, the simple little things come up again. How small is the foundation of my life!. Indeed, when one collects a lot of simple little things, a big reason to give thanks keeps growing, a big foundation why life is worth living. There are times in which willing to say great things, the words fill out my mouth; they even choke my throat. But the words abandon my mouth without conveying a little piece of heart. On the other hand, the simple little things don't choke my throat and it is my heart who gets out of my mouth and not my words.

Principio y Fundamento

El fundamento de mi vida es un compendio de cosas sencillas y pequeñas. Cosas que ocurren un día como otro cualquiera. Se van sucediendo en el tiempo y otro día cualquiera, piensa uno si la vida vale la pena. Al intentar responder una vez más sobre el fundamento de mi vida, aparecen de nuevo las cosas sencillas y pequeñas. ¡Qué pequeño es el fundamento de mi vida! y lo cierto es que al juntar muchas cosas sencillas y pequeñas se va formando un gran motivo por el que dar gracias, un gran motivo por el que la vida vale la pena. Hay veces que cuando quiero responder grandes cosas, las palabras llenan mi boca; incluso hasta me atraganto a veces. Pero las palabras abandonan mi boca sin llevarse un pedacito de corazón. Por el contrario, las cosas sencillas y pequeñas no atragantan mi boca y es mi corazón quien sale y no mis palabras.

Fri 9/17/04. Funeral of the father of Lxxx Rxxx

* Today it is the funeral of the father of my former supervisor, thesis director and good friend of mine. About the Email I sent to him to give some comfort and hope. Prayer so that the presence of the Lord be with them, providing comfort and peace.

Thu 9/16/04. The prodigal son

* "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity".

* Love is never jealous. It is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish.

Wed 9/15/04. Mass readings

* Don't allow me to "buy up the poor for money and the needy for a pair of sandals".

* If I have all the eloquence of men and angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.

Tue 9/14/04.

* "Para gustarlo todo,
no quieras tener gustar en nada.
Para venir a saberlo todo,
no quieras saber algo de nada.
Para venir a lo que no eres, has de ir por donde no eres".

* To enjoy everything, do yearn to enjoy nothing. To come to know thoroughly, do yearn to be clueless. To come to be what you aren't, do go through what you aren't.

* It is so much more enjoyable to receive an unexpected gift than to be willing for it and finally get it.

* "How shall I make a return to the Lord, for all the good He has done in me".

last email up to here.

Mon 9/13/04

* Thank you for the wedding of Pxxx and my brother. They are so excited.

* I saw Cxxx in the wedding (she didn't go to the banquet), I pray again for her.

* Tell me what you want from me.

Thu 9/9/04.

* My Soul, look for yourself within me,
search for me within you.

* Alma, buscarte has en mí,
y a mí buscarme has en ti.

Wed 9/8/04. Sunday readings

* O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.
My sacrifice is a contrite spirit;
a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.

* Thank you, my Lord, because a humbled, contrite heart, you never disdain.

Tue 9/7/04.

* I pray for my brother and his future wife, Pxxx. I wish they are very happy and that you, my Lord, be with them always. Make me some active part to bring your presence to their life.

* Love is patient, is friendly. Love is not jealous. It is neither conceited, nor rude. It does not look for its own interest. Love never fails.

Mon 9/6/04. Hermosura de Dios (Beauty of God)

* Oh, Beauty that exceeds all beauties
without pain You hurt us
without hurting you unfold,
the love of your creatures.

Oh, knot that joins
two so different things!
I don't know why you unknot them
for together you give us strength
to have for good the bad things.

* ¡Oh, Hermosura que excedéis
a todas las hermosuras!
Sin herir dolor hacéis,
Y sin dolor deshacéis
el amor de las criaturas.

¡Oh, ñudo que ansí juntáis
dos cosas tan desiguales!
no sé por qué os desatáis,
pues atado fuerza dais
a tener por bien los males.

* Thank you, my Lord, because what seems to me bad, you turn it into good. I don't consider myself too knowledgeable of what is best for me. Tell me, my Lord, You seem to know better.

Fri 9/3/04. Sa 9,13-18

* "What man indeed can know the intentions of God?. Who can divine the will of the Lord?. The reasoning of mortals are unsure and our intensions unstable. (...) As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had You not granted Wisdom and sent your Holly Spirit from above?".

* Dearest Lord, grant your Wisdom and send your Holy Spirit to us".

* Your ways are not my ways. Teach me your ways.

Thu 9/2/04:

* All is yours, my Lord, give me your love and grace, that's all I need.

Tue 8/31/04. Saint Agustin

* Late, I loved you. Beauty as old as new, late I loved you. And you were inside me and I was outside. And so, I searched you outside. And out of shape as I was, I threw myself for those beautiful things you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. You called me and you broke my deafness; you shined and you healed my blindness. Now I yearn for you. I enjoy you and now I am hungry of you; You touched me and I wish eagerly the peace that comes from you.

Mon 8/30/04. Humbleness (Si 3,17-29)

* The foundation of humbleness is about realizing and acknowledging that everything that we are and everything that we have does not belong to us, it has been simply given to us as a gift from above.

* For great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts (and He is so much more pleased of) the homage of the humble.

* Thank you for being with Jxxx Mxxx Mxxx, the missionary working in Ivory Coast. Thank you for his humbleness.

* My prayer for Cxxx Dxxx and Axxxs' father.

Sun 8/29/04. Mass

* The foundation of humbleness is about realizing and really acknowledging that everything is a gift. Nothing belongs to us. We are simple administrators and messengers.

Tue 8/18/04.

* Prayer for Axxxs' father, for Cxxx Dxxx and Cxxx Mxxx.

* "My beloved is for me, and I am for my beloved". "When the sweet Hunter
shot me and left me hurt,
in the arms of love
my soul surrendered".

Sun 8/16/04.

* "Para gustarlo todo,
no quieras tener gustar en nada
Para venir a saberlo todo,
no quieras saber algo de nada.
Para venir a lo que no eres, has de ir por donde no eres".

Sat 8/14/04. "Mi amado para mí".

* "Ya toda me entregué y di / y de tal suerte he trocado / que mi Amado es para mí / y yo soy para mi Amado".

* Thank you, my Lord, for sharing with David and Irene. Reading Patro's letter once more.

* "Hirióme con una flecha
enherbolada de amor
y mi alma quedó hecha una con su Criador;
yo ya no quiero otro amor,
pues a mi Dios me he entregado
y mi Amado es para mí
y yo soy para mi Amado".

Fri 8/13/04.

* Thank you for the warm welcome. For so much work done in Limón by both mum and dad. Thank you very much.

* I talked to Cxxx and she is courageous. Prayer for Axxxs' father.

* While our body is our address, we are far from the Lord, because we are led by faith and not by sight.

Sun 8/8/04. Mass

* Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will put on an apron and have them recline at the table, and proceed to wait on them.

* Thank you, my Lord, because you have come to visit me so many times this year. Thank you, my Lord, because I was vigilant and I have seen so many times how you have put on an apron, seated me at your table and shared with me your own food.

* Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

Sat 8/7/04.

* About the movie "María, full of grace". The great compassion that the girl, friend of María inspired in me. Because she is not pretty, she is not resolute; she's simply poor and little.

* Happy are the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

* When a man has had a great deal given to him, a great deal will be demanded of him. My Lord, you have

given me so much.

Fri 8/6/04. Mt 5,1-12. The Beatitudes.

* Fortunate are those with a pure heart, for they shall see God.

* Vosotros sois la sal de la tierra. Pero si la sal se vuelve sosa. Con qué se salará?.