Spiritual Nuggets

I attended a silent closed retreat from May 11 to 13 in Makiling with 4 neighbors, a good friend from Philamlife, and my sister-in-law. A very good preacher, 2 interesting lay speakers, 35 responsive retreatants, excellent facilities, and outstanding meals all made the experience enlightening and uplifting. I'd like to share some of the spiritual nuggets I got from the 11 meditations and 3 talks:

* On having a broad outlook and seeing things in perspective: when looking at a piece of paper with a huge dot, focus not only on the dot but on the rest of the paper.

* On loving God:
- only God can satisfy the deepest cravings of our heart
- it is impossible for a soul to live without love
- God will judge us by the correspondence of our love to His love

* On sin:
- a P1,000 bill does not lose its value even if it is crumpled and dirty, just as we do not cease to be children of God despite our sinfulness
- we should ask God to search our soul for hidden sins and change us for the better
- our thoughts become our words, our words become our actions, our actions become our habits, our habits develop our character, our character determines our destiny
- we have at our disposal all the means for attaining salvation

* On the last things:
- fear above all those who will cast your soul into hell
- once in hell, a soul loses everything forever
- in hell all sufferings cannot be relieved anymore, so let us not be afraid of suffering in this world
- if the inevitability of death saddens us, the promise of immortality consoles us

* On marriage:
- there is no secret to a successful marriage, it requires hard work
- success is a decision: we have to desire it and then work hard at it
- admiration is to a man what romance is to a woman
- marriage is also self-giving to God through another person; couples reach God through each other

* On Christ and the Scripture:
- God's infinite love was made human and tangible through Christ
- reading the Bible is sometimes like fetching water in a basket: though the water will leak through the basket, the basket will still be changed by the water
- our lives are the only Scriptures that some people will see

* On faith:
- we should not say, "God I have a huge problem." We should say, "Problem I have a huge God."
- when God answers our prayers, we have faith in His abilities. When he does not answer our prayers, He has faith in our abilities.

* On humility:
- we cannot have faith, hope and love without humility
- the Holy Spirit will not dwell in a soul that is not humble
- "God resists the proud, but to the humble he gives grace"
- EGO is good if it stands for: "Exalt God Only"; it is bad if it stands for "Edging God Out"
- humility is giving everyone respect befitting a child of God
- we learn humility by studying the life of Mary

* On charity:
- "if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, how can you love God whom you do not see"
- "put love where there is no love and you will find love"
- when we see Christ in others, we become Christ to others