Today's Gospel reading is about the good and bad fruit. While reflecting on the Gospel and on my own life, I realized that it is so difficult for me to discern if people are as good as they say. Sometimes, we are distracted by the "trappings" of a person. We are amazed by their charisma, their physical features, their ability to speak well in public, and their educational background. 

Jesus teaches us where to look in these cases. We should look at the fruits of their lives... the results of their actions. Actions speak louder than words. 

This is not about judging others. Rather, it is about knowing who we can bring us closer to God.

Check out: http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/mp3/PAYG_120627.mp3 for your daily reflection today.

REPOSTED from FR. VIC BALTAZAR, SJ

June 27. The story that our first reading for today (2 Kings 22,8-13; 23,1-3) recounts can very well be entitled "An Old Testament Retreat Experience." While putting order in the temple, to seek out metals for smelting, the high priest Hilkiah accidentally found the book of the law. The high priest gave the book to the scribe Shaphan, who brought it and read it out to the King. When the king heard the Word of the Lord read out, he recognized it and immediately tore his garments. He arranged to gather the people so that the Word of the Lord from the book of the Law may be proclaimed and heard again by all and the spirit of the covenant may be renewed in the hearts of all and in the life of the community.

In a sense our ordinary lives show resonances with what our first reading narrates. We live borrowed lives and in some of us, committed lives. Lives which have been dedicated and covenanted to God, as conduits of God's love to others, and servants of Christ's mission. Yet the dust of every day life, the routines we follow, the desires and obsessions we pursue, the career paths and life directions we trek, all of these can make our promises to God buried in the pile of our life's junk, kept in the dark, hidden and lost to forgetfulness.

Yet God sends grace-filled occasions that cause us to remember, and remembering in Scripture is an essential gift that spells life and redemption as forgetfulness can mean damnation and loss. These experiences of "retreat" renew the spirit of covenant in us and recovers for us the presence of God who remains in us whether or not we notice or acknowledge God. In such retreats at least three important things happen: First we see the disorder in our lives, the very situation that has led to or caused our forgetfulness, the ways by which we have allowed ourselves to lose our hearts to ambiguous or outrightly corrupt desires, the ways we have allowed ourselves to become slaves of instincts and passions that pleasure us but ultimately make us lose control of life. Second, The Word of God finds anew in us a heartfelt hearing. There are readings and there are readings of God's Word. But a heartfelt hearing allows the Word to be heard and received, find resonances or dissonances in us, reflected upon and ruminated, and move us to a response where God's Word becomes us--transforms our valuing for people and things, makes an impact in our choices and our very ways of choosing: God's Word takes flesh in our lives and persons. 

A third event in these retreats is fruit-bearing. And Jesus in our Gospel today reminds how quite central this event is if we want to discern the validity and authenticity of our retreat experience. "By their fruit you will know them." For people may have the most dramatic, tearful prayer experience, even with God's Word read (why, even Satan quoted Scriptures to Jesus in the desert temptations!) but real encounters with God are always grace-filled and transforming. The fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah says God's Word does not return to God without having accomplished the fruit it was sent for. So if a retreat experience does not culminate in good fruit, some disconnect must have happened somewhere. We lacked disposition? We were deaf to the Word? We allowed ourselves to hear God's Word but amidst many other noises that block our good hearing of it or distort our understanding of it? We did hear the Word but refused to listen and act on it? Many times a retreat experience is able to plant the seeds of God's Word in our hearts, but the grace sown needs nurturing and constant lived embrace so that it may grow into real virtues and good habits and show robust and abundant fruit in due time.

In the many moments of our forgetfulness in the days of our lives, may God cause us to stumble upon God's Book of the Law and may the Word of God find a new hearing in our lives and renew us from our core. God Bless! 

I had already experienced the LSS last year, given by The Shepherd's Flock. And as the APY ExeCom planned "The Hunger Games" Team building and recollection, I knew that Raymart would incorporate the teachings of the Holy Spirit into the program. But I did not expect the things that happened today.

We started with the Team Building activities. There were 12 stations that Ces and I prepared. Each was connected to the 12 Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The stations tested both the mental and physical aspects of our members. I felt that this was a success. We all had fun and we were able to bond with each other. It gave me an opportunity to see who had leadership potential in the group. And it allowed us to translate the 12 Promises to the members, in a language they could understand

When we moved back into Hall 1 of Layforce, people were tired and sleepy from the morning activities. I had to elbow my seat mates to wake them up during the talks. But the discussions by Pope and Raymart on God's love, On Forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and Faith, were topics which I had heard of before. These may seem so simple, even repetitive (subjects we discussed back in Grade School and even in College Theology) but they took on a new meaning for me today.

 I was amazed about how they wove the story of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus into God's love and onto the discussion of the Holy Spirit. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a God who gives His heart (to the last drop of blood and water) and the God that accepts us all no matter what, just allowed me to deepen my understanding of God's abounding love for me.

 I was also amazed to see how they explained the Holy Spirit's role in the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not separate from God the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is a result of the love of God the Father for God the Son and God the Son's love for the Father. And in relation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is the blood and water which flowed from the side of Jesus when His heart was pierced with a lance. 

I realized that there is no conflict between our devotion and of believing in the Holy Spirit. In the Age of the Holy Spirit, this is the time for renewal. The Paraclete gives strength to our wavering faith and gives life to our ministry. It does not matter if we are a Charismatic group or a Sacramental organization. All that mattered was that we "told the world of His love" and that we allowed our Hearts to become like His.

After suffering from a bout of Monday sickness, I decided to prowl through the halls of TED Talks to look for something that would cheer me up while I worked.

I stumbled on JK Rowling's Commencement Speech for the Harvard Graduates of 2008. You can watch the video here. 


Hearing a speech from a gifted writer was just a treat, it was both humorous (in a Brit kind of way) and poignant. JK spoke about what failure and poverty taught her. And she also shared how imagination fueled the empathy she felt as a fellow human.

It was the perfect Commencement speech for such a privileged group as the Harvard Graduates. Not only did it present food for thought by showing common, human experiences in a new way-- JK was also able to skillfully weave in a call to action. The structure, the humor, the story telling made the bitter medicine of truth go down easier. 

JK's speech led me to reminisce about my own graduation day. We were lucky enough to graduate during the 150th year of the Ateneo de Manila University. The author of the book Heroic Leadership, Chris Lowney, was our speaker. I myself cannot remember the words our Commencement Speaker gave to us back in 2009. But I remember the emotions that I felt during that day, the excitement, the pride, and the anxiety of stepping out into the real world. 

After 4 years of working and study a.k.a. "living in the real world", I realized that it was not the grades, the concepts, or the theories that were of most value to me, after getting my education from Ateneo and from St. Scho ... these schools gave me something more than my degree.