Pope John Paul II visits me in my dream after his death

The papal chair used by then Pope John Paul II during Mass he officiated at Davao City airport in 1981

Mercy was stirred within my heart when the late Pope John Paul II was on his deathbed.

Watching in Davao City a live telecast from the Vatican in 2005, I decided to accompany him on his dying moment by uninterrupted recitations of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy -- until he would breathe his last.

Days after his death, the Pope, dressed in his light, creamy-yellow papal vestments, visited me in my poor, lowly house -- in my night sleep!

The two of us were sitting on a simple, wooden bench facing each other in the balcony of the hut; and we were "talking" as a father to a son and a son to a father.

Details of the papal insignia of Pope John Paul II

It was "talking" in the spirit, soul to soul, eye to eye!!!

And I found myself sobbing; I woke up sobbing like a longtime yearning of my soul has been fulfilled.

Oh, the sobbing!

Those tears of the soul!

I cannot help but remember the very moment I saw Pope John Paul the Second in person when he visited Davao City in 1981.

As he appeared on the Altar at the Davao City airport, climbing up the stairs to sit on the papal chair, I was sobbing like a child!

Admittedly, I had a personal wish which had longtime been buried in the deep recesses of my soul. 

And this was: to be graced of a papal visit as happened to a selected few whose privilege I had a holy envy to. 

The particular wish met unexpected fulfillment when I let myself be a vessel of the Lord wherein God could exercise His Mercy to the Pope.

And the Blessed Pope, in return, fulfilled the secret-yet-forgotten desire of my soul.

The joy of unknowing

"Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." -Matthew 6:26

Do they not, really? They, actually, do! But they are unknowing. And God does not want them to know so they would just "live." Because by living, they forget self.

How do they live? They just be. Eating or harvesting from the fruits of the trees; flying everywhere with seeds falling from their beaks (seed-dispersal or planting); and by such lives, keeping the tree species from becoming extinct, maintaining the balance of forest ecosystem. Is it not "gathering into barns"? It is -- but without self involves because, in reality, only the Holy Spirit that governs the Universe can make the seeds grow! -1 Corinthians 3:7.

Even the feathered chatterers are music to the soul. Why? Ah, one morning while pray-walking at the park by the sea, my heart was opened to understanding. Birds that flocked a particular tree conversed to each other incessantly. "Kabalo ka? Kabalo ka? [vernacular for 'You know? You know?']" is the starting point of their every conversation. And the litanies of the greatness, the goodness and the mercies of the Lord ensued and became personal testimonies.

God-consciousness instead of self. "Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit [any good works] by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine [the grapes, the Holy Eucharist]. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit [good works] unless you live in me [unless you live in the Holy Eucharist; for thus is God made alive in our hearts by our living faith in Him in the Holy Eucharist]." -John 15:4.

Daily gospel for today

Confess more often, bishop urges priests

Vessels of Mercy: instruments of Goodness

Good works without faith are also dead.

Good works alone cannot save us, for "even the pagans do the same" -Matthew 5:47.

Even atheists have charitable institutions!

Good works must be borne out of faith in God.

Done without God, good works become works of self-righteousness.

Because the natural consequence of "doing" good works all by ourselves is "taking ownership" of these good works as products of our own deeds.

This is easy trap for self-praise.

Or: self-idolatry!

Thus, good works should be preceded by faith in God so that it is God Who does good works through us as a result of our faith in Him.

All good works, then, are thus given credence to God.

By our "living faith" in the Holy Eucharist, our hearts become vessels of the living God Who is Mercy so that, at the knowledge of a person who is in need of help, we feel the restlessness of Mercy within us until Mercy is expressed through us to who stir that Mercy.

In this way, we "do not let the left hand [represented by 'self'] KNOW what the right hand [represented by good works] is doing" -Matthew 6:3, lest "self" claims those works as its own.

"You see, although there appears to be no trace of life in Me, in reality, it is present in its fullness in each and every Host. But for Me to be able to ACT UPON A SOUL [OR: to be able to bestow gifts, do miracles or good works through a soul], the soul must have faith. O how pleasing to Me is living faith!" [living faith in the Holy Eucharist!] (Our Lord Jesus said to Sister Faustina as recorded in her Diary, #420.)

Perching... preening... praying!!!

I was walking one morning on my way home from attending Holy Mass when I chanced upon this bird on the branch of a guava tree, PERCHING... PREENING... PRAYING!!!

... perching on the branch of a guava tree

... preening its feathers

... and praying with its beak tilted upward, trusting in Divine Providence!!!

Maya falls almost dead, but flies again shortly

One late afternoon, while waiting for the Holy Mass to begin, I noticed two maya birds chasing each other in flight inside the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

One fell hard on the floor.

It was a very bad fall; I thought it was already dead!

But several pews from where I was sitting, I could see the bird writhing in pain with its beak tilted upward, looking dizzy and trying to balance its body on its claws. 

I went to take the bird away from the floor to avoid being stepped on by church-goers. 

The rotating wall fan, maybe, was the culprit because I saw the bird passing by the fan before it fell.

Whatever the cause might be, but the bird was really hurting. 

I picked it up, went outside and prayed.

"All in Heaven, this bird needs graces: let it recover and fly again, Amen!"

As I prayed, its claws were holding on tightly to my finger.

I was a bit alarmed because the Holy Mass was about to start and I had to clasp both of my hands in reverence.

Carefully, I took its claws from holding on to me -- and went back to my seat with it. 

I let it on my palm while caressing its head with my finger. 

I, then, put it down on the floor where it was safe for the bird to stay as the Holy Mass began. 

To my amazement, the dying bird flew away suddenly towards the Altar -- with audible swiftness, power and strength!

Earthquake stops at prayer of repentance

The vertigo-inducing hanging bridge at D'Leonor Inland Resort in Davao City, Philippines

Earthquake 2010 in Davao City is unforgettable.

I was in my room: very close relatives were with me when it started to shake.

It began shaking slowly and steadily.

Quickly, I prayed: "Forgive me, Lord, for all my sins!"

But the tremors continued and even increased its intensity.

Quickly, I prayed again -- this time: "Forgive the sins of my family!!"

But it increased its swift to-and-fro steady shaking -- with a sign to increase for more.

"Forgive the sin of Davao City!!!"

The quake stopped suddenly at the height of its momentum.

As if the ground never shook seconds before I blurted out the third prayer.

Unnatural!

The intensified tremors should have gradually lowered its intensity before it has to stop.

But it stopped -- immediately!

Trumpeters of Mercy

The marang fruits look like a man talking through a microphone

First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother's eye! -Matthew 7:5

The log and the splinter: which is of a bigger chunk?

Since clerical irreverence to the Holy Eucharist is the cause of the sprouting of new evils in our locality, what should a priest speak about in his homilies?

Because when you (note: this is addressed to the clergy) preach against "splinters," but you have a log to take out on first.

Have we returned to the Traditional Latin Mass which is the Ultimate Will of Heaven to set our place aright?

Not yet.

Should you preach against yourselves?

Of course, not.

Be silent, then, on those matters -- but busy your tongues on the Divine Mercy that is the Holy Eucharist.

Sinners are enraptured to hear God's Mercy -- as you, too, need this Great Mercy.

The sounds of the pulpits are not "clashing cymbals" but of Divine Love and Mercy.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. -1 Corinthians 13:1

The miracle of Corpus Christi

To believe is to see. One young diocesan priest whose way of saying the Masses is one that shows his deep faith in the Holy Eucharist, received a miracle in which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself allowed him to "feel" the reality of His Eucharistic Presence. It happened during the Elevation of the Cup of Wine at the Mass he officiated on the Feast of the Corpus Christi in 2009. During the Consecration, the priest raised the Cup with both hands. When it was time to lower the Cup, his left hand let go of the Cup first so that his right hand was to bring It down on the table; but the right hand was still "holding up" the Cup -- for a second or two or more! -- that should the right hand let go of the Cup, the Cup of Wine would have been seen by all present as floating by Itself in mid-air! I had the habit of raising my head to see the chalice being elevated and bring my head down to close my eyes when the chalice is being lowered down on the table; but that instant was different, I could not lower my head as usual. At the time of genuflection, the priest never genuflected as is usually done by priests -- instead, he knelt down on both knees and bowed low to the floor before the table of the Consecrated Bread and Wine. The two of us were the only witness to this particular Eucharistic miracle. My diary entry of December 9, 2008, Tuesday, 3:59 AM, is predictive to this phenomenon, it says, and I quote: "Just this dawn, I dreamed of [a young priest] at the altar table celebrating the mass while I was attending with the people. The chalice containing a single consecrated Host suddenly lifted up in the air by itself before him to his amazement, flew towards me, and poured out the Host into my mouth on its own. I got hold of the chalice, gathered the crumbs inside it, and poured them out into my mouth. While consuming, a young woman approached me and talked to me as if nothing happened. Lord Jesus, I trust in Your Mercy for the meaning of this dream."

[The blogger's note: The said Mass was celebrated on June 14, 2009, Sunday, at 5:00 AM, the first Mass on schedule; and preceded by a whole night Eucharistic vigil at San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City, Philippines.]