"Begin and Begin Again"

Yesterday I attended a 3-hour Opus Dei recollection at Our Lady of Pentecost Parish in Loyola Heights with two very good friends, Linda and Myrna. The recollection is held every third Tuesday of the month but I wanted to write about this particular one because the priest, Fr. Ongkiko, gave two excellent meditations rich in wisdom and inspiration on piety. Here are some of the highlights of the meditations:

- our heart is so small it can fit only God or us; we should examine our hearts and see who is in its center; in the heart of a pious person is Jesus.

- if we put ourselves in the center of our hearts, all that we will experience is sadness and frustration, because we can never be content; we should free our hearts of all fears and insecurities and allow God to work in our lives.

- we should be ready to remove all obstacles that prevent us from entering into intimacy with Jesus.

- we should pray thus: "Jesus, is this what you want me to do? Then this is also what I want."

- at the end of every spiritual activity - prayer, mass, rosary, etc. - we should ask ourselves "am I happy?"; if we are, then we have experienced holy joy.

- when we become more pious, we abandon more to God.

- three-fold sentiments that come with piety:
1. filial respect towards God which is holy joy;
2. giving ourselves to God - what is more important than what happens during prayer is what happens after prayer; and
3. affectionate obedience - we obey because we know it is God's will for us and it is good for us.

- piety is the mature manifestation of self-surrender to God which brings about conversion; it is not piety if we are only giving but not giving up to God.

- when we cram our norms, they become burdensome and are performed sloppily; we may have fulfilled the norms but we do not get fulfillment.

- our spiritual life may be dull and drab, but all God wants to see is our desire for self-giving.

- we often hear the phrase "begin and begin again" which usually and correctly refers to our struggle to overcome our faults and weaknesses; but more than this, it should refer to our desire to love God more, for when God offers His love to a soul that He loves, it is always a new love with a new grace. So we should desire to love God more, and do our norms with greater love.

- we should reflect not on our own faults thereby focusing on ourselves and our lack of perfection which may lead to frustration, but focus on God's perfection so that we may strive to be more like Him; God looks not so much on our sins but on our desire for conversion.

- so our struggle should be:
1. serene because it is with God, in God and through God;
2. joyful because it is of God; and
3. fruitful because it leads to our conversion and those around us.

- our model should be our Mother Mary whose every moment was a moment of new love, and her fiat was always serene, joyful and fruitful.