Religion

Jesus did not die to give us religion, He died to give us love.

Dependence

"We don't get our lives together and then give them to God, but rather, we give our lives to God and then things start coming together." -via Erin Tangco

Luke 23:34

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Sometimes the people we care most about, our family and friends, hurt us in ways they don't know. Usually they're oblivious, or they can't understand that certain things they do actually hurt when it comes to other people or yourself.

Either way, it can be frustrating and a good place for the seeds of hate, anger and discord to grow when it seems that all they do is go on their merry way doing whatever it is that hurts you, from jokes that hit the weak spot, to abandonment, to neglect, to betraying their values, to losing their faith, and so on. And in the end, they're either happy doing what they're doing, or oblivious of what they're doing, and you're there, observing everything, being hurt, and seemingly alone.

When you're hurt and seemingly alone, it's easy to get that pride up. It's that pride that causes you to disconnect from them and to leave them. It's that pride that says, "THEY should apologize for what they've done. THEY should be the first to make a move because THEY were the ones that hurt me, neglected me, betrayed me, and abandoned me." Now with our head walled-up with that pride we cut off that love towards them and before you know it, with that absence of love, all there is left is hate.

And hate sucks. It sucks the life out of us. We take beautiful days for granted. We forget how much we're loved by God, our family and especially those friends who are still there for us. We could be living life so much more fully without the heavy burdens of grudges. And so what do we do? It all comes back to that verse up there: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

As being who we are, children of God, we're called to love each other just as God has loved us. Likewise, we are called to forgive, just as He has forgiven us. Sometimes people do things that hurt us, but they don't know it. Other times, they know they've hurt us, but they just don't know how deeply they've hurt us. But in the end, just as we never truly know all the times we've hurt God or how deeply we've hurt Him, He forgave us and loved us and so we too must forgive them and love them.

And through all the hurt, maybe you'll grow closer to understanding what exactly God meant when He said He loves you unconditionally. And maybe you'll gain more wisdom in truly knowing what true love is and what true forgiveness really looks like.

True Love is Faithful to the End

Acts 3:1-10/ Gal 1:11-20/ Jn 21:15-19

Love, they say, makes the world go round. But what is it? Those warm, mushy feelings that well up inside us? Those tears that flow when we watch our first communicants walk up the aisle in the little white suits and dresses? No, those moments are charming, but they’re not love. They’re sentimentality, which comes and goes faster than we’d care to admit.

Love has a different shape. It’s a determined desiring of the best for the other, and a willingness to do whatever is necessary to make the best happen. In sum, true love, by definition, is faithful and has no limits.

In today’s gospel, Jesus — in the time after His resurrection — asks Peter three times whether he loves Him. The repeated question was an echo of the three times that Peter had denied even knowing Jesus. How those questions must have seared his heart!

But those three questions are for us too! They’re probing the seriousness of our commitment to the Lord. It’s highly unlikely that any of us will be called to witness to our faith by martyrdom. But every one of us is called to witness our love for Jesus daily by being true to the mission He’s given us.

-Errol Tangco

Perfection

"I’m perfect? Imperfect rather. The only way to be perfect is to take away the “im”, or “I’m.” Human beings are imperfect, and it is only once we take away ourselves, and realize it is only by Him, that we can begin to seek perfection. That perfection is not found in “I” but in Him. By taking away the “I am” or “I’m” or rather, by completely giving ourselves, and realizing our frailty as human beings, are we able to truly seek perfection. Let us remember it is not us who are perfect, it is only He. And perfection is found when we empty ourselves of our own wants, our own desires, our ” ‘I’ this, and ‘I’ that.” It is only once we humble ourselves, and accept that we alone cannot attain perfection are we able to discover the perfect image He created us to be. It is through Him that we are to the find perfect happiness, fulfillment and content in our lives. I am a perfect image in His love, we are a perfect image in His love, do not taint this image with our pride by believing perfection is found in ourselves. Our Lord does want us to seek perfection, however the only perfection that is to be shown, is Himself within us. Let us rejoice and be glad, for although we are weak, by simply giving ourselves, He may illustrate us to this world, as the perfection that we are meant to be." -Isaac Guevera

Everything

"You can have everything, just not all at once." -via Erin Tangco

Of Sewer and Excrement

“I was reading an article on BBC about how archeologists are extensively studying the remains at Pompeii, an ancient Roman City buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They are starting to study how the Romans lived 2,000 years ago. The most useful part of the study was found on the largest excrement ever unearthed in the Roman world. The archeologists says the sewer helps them understand the lifestyle at that time, what they eat and even there health and jobs. They even called it unprecedented! Well, indeed it is! Imagine finding the lifestyle of people living thousand years ago in an excrement.

Isn’t it ironic that sometimes the only way to solve the riddle of life is through the lowly excrement! Nothing is wasted indeed, even the considered dirtiest place like a sewer can hold an answer to so many questions. Life is like that, the lowest and indescribably sewer like situation has its use too. Our hurts, pains, feelings of betrayal, losses, our seemingly unending excrement, our sewer life, can actually be useful. When we learn to face our excrement, unearth our sewers and faithfully reflect upon it, we can actually get the most astonishing discovery. The discovery of our very self! The vulnerable yet indomitable self! Nothing is wasted!” -Kuya Gelo

Redemption

"There’s a pattern here: New life is found in Jesus.

Giving our lives to Jesus means we are made new. Our hearts, our minds and our stories are forever changed. The past is no longer the defining factor in who we are - Jesus is. And the past does not decide our future - Jesus does.

That’s why Paul was also able to tell the Philippians, ‘One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.’

Redemption happens the very moment we give our lives to God. But wounds heal slowly, and the enemy’s lies are hard to forget. That’s why it’s a process - Sometimes it takes a while before we start to really feel it and believe it. But that doesn’t make it less true.

And we’re not alone in that process. But the whole reason Jesus died was to free us from those wounds and lies - to free us from the past. He’s in it with us to the very end." -skripture-sketches

God Alone

"God will sometimes break the strongest bone in your life when you think you are very strong. So that from now on you will say that the strongest part of who you are, is not your job, not your education, not your pleasure, not what you attained, not your family, not your friends, but God alone." -Errol Tangco

Worship

"As worship begins in holy expectancy, true worship only ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life." -Richard Foster