Ang Pusa sa Simbahan

LATE NIGHT VISIT at the redemptorist convent, nakasalamuha ko itong kagampan o buntis na pusa sa paanan mismo ng original na altar ng Our Mother of Perpetual Help sa simbahan ng Baclaran, wari'y nagbabantan. Maaaring alaga ito ng mga taga-kumbento. 

Naala ko tuloy ang alamat ng pusang nakaidlip sa sabsaban kasama ang sanggol na Hesus. Ayon sa kuwento, ang pusa ay tumabi sa banal na sanggol para ito mainitan sa gitna ng lamig. Dahil dito, binasbasan ni inang Maria ang pusa. Bilang pasasalamat, iniwan sa nuo nito ang kanyang initial na "M" bilang tanda. Kaya ang mga sumunod na henerasyon ng mga tabby cat ay dala ang nasabing tanda sa nuo. 

Isang "cute" na kuwento. Bagamat isang legend lamang, pambatang istorya, ika nga, marahil kapirasong paglalarawan ito ng ating inosente o payak na pagtugon sa pananampalataya. Ika nga ni Hesus, "sinasabi ko sa inyo: Malibang kayo ay magbago at tumulad sa maliliit na bata, hindi kayo makakapasok sa paghahari ng langit." (Mateo 18:3). 

Anuman po ang ating pinagdaraanan, malalaming problema, nawa'y maglakas-loob tayong lumapit sa Diyos ng may pananampalataya ng tulad ng isang bata. At gaya ng mga payak na nilalang, tulad ng pusa, matuto rin tayong magpuri sa Lumikha, at laging tumunghay sa sanctuario ng kabanalan. Tulad sa nakasaad sa salmo, "Magpupuring lahat sa iyo, O Yahweh, ang iyong nilalang; lahat mong nilikha ay pupurihin ka't pasasalamatan." (Awit 149:10).

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela

Sa laganap na kadiliman 

sumilay ang Liwanag.

Sa maingay na daigdig

napuspos ng kapayapaan

sa pagsilang ng Sanggol

na Manunubos.

Pagpapala ng kaligtasan 

At kapanatagan ng buhay

Para sa inyong lahat! 

Maligaya at makabuluhang

Pasko ng pagsilang ni Hesus!

#Pasko2024

“It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit. - John 19:30 

Death is always a painful experience. It is the moment when life comes to an ultimate end. It is the hour when a person is cut off from the world of the living. It means that between the dead and the living, comes a distance which goes beyond the farthest point of this earth. When death comes, it’s all over for the person this side of life. 

Let us admit there is something final in death which frightens us. No matter how miserable one’s life may have been, death appears always terrifying. Life is simply too enticing to end in death. But our faith teaches us that death is the necessary passage to eternal life. Jesus himself said, “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (John 12:24).

Fear of death is indeed inherent to man. Yet, such fear may be dispelled even as one’s hope for much more beautiful life increases. And if such hope is founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that by His own death on the cross, He won for us everlasting life. If we will abide by our faith, as Jesus commanded, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23), we will gain the promise of salvation. Only then, death will cease to be frightening. To those who have come to a much matured sense of faith, death even becomes something to welcome for, a moment to leave this hapless world to take our promised place with the Almighty Creator. We come to realise then that death would breakdown the wall that separates us from God, Who is the source of absolute happiness and of eternal life itself. 

We otherwise are aware that having “unpaid debts” in this life should make us tremble at the thought of death. It is hence terrifying because it ushers us to that place where full justice must be rendered. The fear of death is directly proportional to the sins committed in this lifetime. With greater “debt” comes the greater terror for death. When our respective time comes, the soul will be led to the halls of Divine justification where only the truth shall prevail. And each will eventually face God’s justice. In the awareness that in this life, justice is either imperfect or altogether absent, the evil man seems to thrive better than the good, as Jesus warned, “the sons of darkness are more shrewd than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8). This surely cannot last forever, as cited in scripture, “For justice will prevail and the righteous will be vindicated.” (Psalm 94:15). 

Somewhere, sometime, Divine justice will prevail. Good will triumph over evil and death shall be completely engulfed by eternal life through the merits of Jesus Christ, Whose passion and death freed us from eternal damnation. Let it be so! 

Dan Quetulio Brizuela 

Good Friday 2024

Jesus said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed. - Luke 22:40 - 41 

Prayer is the most essential practice of our faith. It is the act foremost to connect with the Almighty God. Anyone professing his belief in God but does not pray betrays the faith. 

Prayer is an act of the will. It is not a matter of finding the time to pray but whether do you want to pray. To find ourselves too busy to pray stems from our limited notion that prayer has to take too much time and effort. We may find ourselves in quandary thinking about the seemingly sophisticated ways of praying taught to us by the church. Yet we miss the whole idea that God hears even the simplest prayer, prayed in earnest. 

Thus, time is not the essence of prayer, it is faith. The true and lasting investments are those invested in times of prayer and contemplation. And the real wealth is in our faith. The times of prayer are treasures of opportunity to experience the unique and rich relationship that anyone shares with God. Prayer brings in enlightenment in times of confusion and wisdom that carries us through the most difficult moments. 

When we do our obligation to pray, we do so out of faith and love for God. It is when we feel uninspired; when we find it too tiring or when we are loosing faith that we should pray even more. These are the perfect time to tell God what’s in our heart. Oftentimes, we don’t even need to voice out our prayers especially when we are lost for words. It is in these time when we let our spirit soar to meet the Divine and express the yearnings of our heart. There is nothing complicated about prayer only if we acknowledge that it is the most natural thing to do; an act necessary to our temporal existence and essential to our passage to eternal life. 

Hence, even in the midst of our busy life, anytime should be prayer time. It has to be integrated in our lifestyle. God gave us time, we should offer it back to Him. 

Dan Quetulio Brizuela 

Maundy Thursday 2024

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” 

– Matthew 7: 1 - 3

Each life is a story,

every person his own role to play.

There's a reason why they're the way they are,

very distinct character yearning to be understood

Think about these…

before judging anyone.

Never judge by your own standards.

Every journey leads to different paths,

yet everyone is making their way home…

in the way they know best.

Pray then for one another…

to find the right way,

possess the truth,

and someday earn the life of everlasting bliss,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Dan Quetulio Brizuela

Holy Week 2024

 "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” 

- Colossians 3:23

The common concept of work is in terms of pay, salary or monetary profit. It is often in terms of temporal gains. Of course, work is the primary means by man earns his keep. Yet, there is much more in it than earning a living. There is something in work which makes man like God. There must be something in it which is more than mere grind or sweat. 

There is nothing as absurd in the meaningless toil, haphazard & random labor. While we are ordained to work in providing subsistence, moreso to sustain our aspiration for individual progress & the quest for the noblest purpose in life.

Work has been taken as too much of a burden since the fall of mankind from Divine grace when God, the Almighty Creator, destined man to work;  “By the sweat of your face,” God said to Adam, “shall you get bread to eat until you return to the ground from which you are made.” (Genesis 3:19)

Indeed, work without the creating & liberating element is unpleasant, drab & perhaps depersonalizing. None of us will remain human if we are either treated no more than an element of production or the extension of the machine we uses. And no human being would appreciate & enjoy work if his attitude towards it is reduced to what he gets from it.

From the beginning, work was supposed to be liberating, creative activity through which man found joy in being God's co-creator, until sin disrupted this order. Man afterall was appointed by God to have authority of all creation, having the capacity to subdue the earth & exercise “dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on earth.” (Genesis 1:26 – 28)

It is our fervent prayer, for the time to come when each of us would no longer be driven by greed and lust for possessions when we do work. Perhaps we would come to realize to see our respective jobs or business, as not just a manner of earning money, to be rich or amass wordly power, but as an affirmation of our dignity as stewards of the earth, to serve one another as Jesus Christ, Who labored the hardest to gain for us eternal salvation.

Dan Quetulio Brizuela 

Holy Week 2024

In our Holy Week observance, we particularly focus on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His Gospel and the redemptive power He offers us. In this verse from the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53, gives credence  to salvation history, that God in His infinite mercy has given His own Son, Jesus Christ as a ransom for our transgressions. 

This is the great message of Holy Week, as the Creator established the universe in 7 days, so does the Christ renewed the world in a week, to restore grace to mankind. 

Let us pray then for one another, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and humbly ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, keep us faithful, to encourage us in hope and for love to constantly abide in our hearts. 

Dan Quetulio Brizuela 

Holy Week 2024

 

"Out of the lips of babies and infants you have built up praise because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the rebel" - Psalm 8:2

As we go through reflective silence in the observance of Holy Week, please kindly meditate on the scriptures as it is the supreme universal force that sustains life. Its transformative power form our souls towards salvation. St. Francis de Sales warned us, "Never forget that souls are poisoned through the ear as much as bodies through the mouth".

Let us then guard our senses and mind by reading, hearing and sharing the Word of God. Moreso, live by it through the grace of the Holy Spirit. In our pursuance of righteousness we will gain eternal life earned for us by the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for whom this holy season we celebrate and proclaim. 

May our Lenten reflection on silence, enriched everyone of you to begin experiencing new heart and spirit in things of God and humanity.

Dan Quetulio Brizuela 

Holy Week 2024

It is imperative to understand the annual Christian celebration of Christmas is more than a commemoration of the birth of the Savior named Jesus over two millenials ago. It is moreso an anticipation to His second coming as a fulfillment of what was promised from His first coming. It is a foreshadow of the greater event, that is the establishment of the Kingdom and reign of the Almighty as prophesied throughout the ages. In this premise hence gives credence to our faith in Christ born on Christmas day. 

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela

#ChristmasReflection2022

 Its the time again when we reflect at the year almost gone by, and to contemplate what's ahead in the next year. The recollection of experiences could take us on a critical discourse as we mark the passing of the seasons. 

The passed two years were truly unprecedented due the covid-19 pandemic. No other time in our generation have made us more aware of our vulnerabilities and to face our own mortality. Among us confronted the harsh realities that treathend life and livelihood. 

Amidst the setbacks and grief by the series of passing in our family, we remain optimistic. Hope afterall is the message of Christmas. We are sustained by the promises fortold in the birth of Christ which we celebrate today. While a chapter ends, a new one begins. Amazing how life continous to unfold! Life consistently renews! 

A meaningful Christmas to all! 

📷With my newborn nephew, Neo Xavier, who arrived just in time as a symbol of hope and renewal for our family. 💗

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela

#christmas2021 #pasko2021 #christmasreflections #mensahengpasko #maligayangpasko2021 #merrychristmas2021 #seasonsgreetings #happyholidays #pandemicchristmas #covidchristmas #paskongpandemya

For Christians, Christmas is not a mere commemoration of Christ's birth. It is the foreshadow of the greater event, that is His second coming to establish the absolute reign of the Kingdom of the Almighty God. Have a blessed Christmas season to all!

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela

#christmasthoughts #christmasreflections #pasko #mensahesapasko 

 Never in this generation has made us aware of our mortality than during this pandemic. We have seen too much death in no other time, and among us have experienced the lost of dear family, friends and colleagues. The observance of “Undas” hence has never been as remarkable and meaningful to most of us during the past two years of the COVID-19. 

Beyond the dictates of popular piety, our observance beckons us to reflect on the essentials of life and death. We contemplate deeply the sense of our own longings and vulnerabilities engulf in a constant stream of joyful, despairing, confusing and triumphal experiences. In every contradiction we search for meanings and in the void we struggle to find the purpose for living. 

We could exhaust all the energy and elements of living, live a full life or squander the moments, the ultimate choice is upon us. Each life then shall never be discounted, whether be it short or long. How one spent the time allotted here shall be the price of the life beyond. - Dan Quetulio Brizuela 

#Undas2021 #AllSoulsDay2021

Eternal life is truly the greatest enigma. Mankind is forever struggling to decipher this abstract. While most religions in fact were founded on this quest for an afterlife, the more humanistic ideologies have repudiated this notion. Here, the esoterics and existentialists were caught in a pointless discourse to prove or belies. Amidst the diversity of thought, daresay, curiosity would be lethal, albeit foolish, to prove it or otherwise. 

Yet, it gives credence to look towards a life beyond here. This is to make sense of our mortality. It must be the ultimate wage at how a life has been lived. It could be strange to be good or evil in this temporal realm if at the end there's only nothingness. I find this void absurd and nonsensical than the aspiration for eternal bliss or fear of lasting damnation. The soul afterall is inclined to limitless capacity and is free to wonder. It hence would be worthless to project a being of free will and substance if none of it would eventually matter.

This belief in eternity fundamentally appeals to the moral fiber that corresponds to the need of humanity for a just and kinder civilization. The will to be just or vile shall be accounted sooner or later in an enmesh destiny. In this mystery, the essence of life is eventually engulf in an everlasting constellation that only faith foresees. 

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela 

   Easter 2021

#Easter2021 #HappyEaster #EasterSunday #Christianity #ResurrectionDay #ResurrectionSunday #ResurrectionOfChrist #ChristIsAlive #ChristIsRisen

Sin is not a mere religious or theological concept. It is the adverse condition of being that confounds the collective order in practical reality. 

While the spiritual consequences of sin may be argued, its actual disruption is undeniable in personal and social exerience. Beyond the mystical remittance, it elicits a confirmed reaction that exhaust the just and ethical component of our existence.

Attonement and forgiveness hence offer relief to sin. Whether it be of divine or human cause, these are imperative to constantly repair the perpetual ravages of sin towards a sustainable life of inner peace and communal harmony.

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela

#lentenreflection #lentenseason #lent #lent2021 #holyweek2021 #semanasanta #semanasanta2021 #goodfriday #goodfriday2021

BEAUTIFUL & FRANGRANT hand-crafted candles are suited to be burned later for the memorial of those who have gone ahead of us. Just like this fanciful items, we were wonderfully formed by the Almighty Creator (Ps 139:13-14) to be "light in the world" (Matthew 15:14-16). So as we burn these candles tonight, more than tributes to the memory of our dearly departed, let it be a reminder to us that our life is to be light to each other. Let the flame of our life be a beacon of truth in a confused and treacherous generation, a torch of kindness in the midst of selfishness and a flicker of hope in a desparing world. As we continually move through these challenging times, we contemplate on our own mortality. We may normally burnout but we come to realize the true value of life, that just like a candle it has to melt to shed light. 

The remnants of those who deeply touched us remains long after they passed us by. Whatever impression they left holds a lasting lesson for the rest of our lives. 

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela #randomthoughts #allsoulsday #reflections #meditation #remembranceday #dearlydeparted #memorialday #danquotes #quotation #allsoulsday2019

LIFE, it's written in the sand. Savor each moment before the waves washes it away.
       - Dan Quetulio Brizuela                 
        #Dan50thBirthday

We are in a spiritual race where no one is competing to outdo the other. Each would only have to pursue the designated course that the Creator had ordained.
      - Dan Quetulio Brizuela #Pentecost2019

We die a little each day
When we feel bitter
When anger overcomes us
When prejudice blinds us
When we are in despair
When grief overwhelmes us
When fear oppresses us
These are the moments when the world
seems closing in on us and
all hell may break loose.

Yet we also experiences moments of resurrection
When we realize our dreams
When true love finds us
When we are understood
When we are forgiven
When we give-in to hope
In these moments we emerge from the grave and heaven opens to offer bliss!

- Dan Quetulio Brizuela
  #AllSoulsDay2018

The miracles that leads to sanctity
are neither about the mystical occurences that happened to saints nor the extraordinary phenomenons they experienced. It is about the great mercy of God and how each were able to live as a response to the Gospel. - Dan Quetulio Brizuela #AllSaintsDay #Halloween2018