Woman full of God's grace!

The angel Gabriel greeted the young Mary in the annunciation , thus :Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you!"

Indeed, Mary is full of God's grace from the very beginning, since she is the only human without the stain of original sin we inherited from our first parents. Because from the very beginning of creation Mary was chosen by God to be the Mother of his only begotten Son. Thus, from her human womb God the Son became one like us in all things but sins.

Today, September 8 is traditionally celebrated by the Catholic Church as the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although it is no longer a day of obligation, Catholics are encouraged to go to Mass to greet Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Mother too, a Very Happy Birthday!
                               

Happy Birthday, Mama Mary!

"The prayers and readings" in the Mass for this special day "point to the birth of Jesus, which is the 'dawn of our Salvation'". Because the "liturgy wants us to view the birth of Mary in relation to the birth of her Son." For it was Mary's "fiat" (translated, "let it be") that made possible our salvation from our sins.

Our Dear Mama Mary, on your birthday, we greet you with the prayer of Hail Holy Queen, in Latin version:
Salve Regina,
Mater  misericordiae,
Vita, dulcedo,
et spes nostra, salve

Ad te clamamus,
exsules filii Evae,
Ad te suspiramus,
gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos
ad nos converte; et lesum,
benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O Clemens; O Pia,
O Dulcis Virgo Maria!
Mama Mary, please pray for us,
our country, and the whole Church!

Deo Optimo Maximo!

Celebrating life... toward the sunset!

The sunset is always a beauty to behold, especially for lovers and romantics. But celebrating life as you near the end? That seems to be strange!

Well, not really, when you believe that life after all is a continuing journey. So it doesn't really end at the sunset, because sunset is just a re-birth to the next one. That sounds philosophical about life, yet I won't waste time to debate with anyone on that. Because as the wise saying goes: it is better to believe in after life and then find out there is none, than not to believe and find out there is.

And so as I graduated from the demands and competition of the corporate world, I hope to take life more leisurely as I bade goodbye to the demands and stress of working for a living.

Today, September 5, I mark another anniversary of my freedom from the corporate world. I hope to have more fun reflecting on life's many valuable lessons, celebrating still the gift of life that those who die young no longer get to enjoy:

I realize that in our working years we make a living by what we get. But the sweeter part is that we make our life by what we give and share;

I realize we cannot stop living just because we think we are getting old. Because the truth is that we actually become old when we stop living;

I realize that growing old is really easy and doesn't take any special talent or ability. But the challenge is to continue growing up and moving on by always finding opportunity in every change we encounter in living;

I realize that the elderly don't have so much regrets for what they did, but rather for the things they didn't do at all. And so the remaining years are really golden opportunity to start anew for the things we always wanted to do. Because the only people who fear death are those with so many regrets in life;

I realize that to stay young, we must always be happy. So we have to laugh often and find humor in life's unfolding every day;

I realize that we must never stop to dream. Because when we lose our dreams, that's the time we begin to die.

And so on this special day I celebrate life again with happy memories of the past, the joy of enjoying the present, and the dreams of the future.

Thank you all for sharing in my life's journey in the world: my family and friends who stand by me and believe in me, in spite of myself;

Thank you to my dear parents for the gift of life, and thank you too to my siblings for growing up with a family, even as now you are all gone to eternity ahead of me;

Thank you to the rest of you who generously share time to spare precious moments to read my thoughts and feel my heart on this important milestone of my life's footprint in time;

And thank You, Lord, for the generous love through the gift of life. I pray for your patience and mercy as I continue to walk the path toward the sunset. And when my time is up, please lead me home to enjoy the ultimate joy of your heavenly presence.

Because in all things, Your will be done always.

Deo Optimo Maximo!