You know how it is Lord! There is so much to be fitted in... people to be seen... work to be done... obligations to fulfill... It is so difficult to distinguish between the urgent & the important. And often, what is urgent elbows its way to the forefront of my day, & the important gets trampled on in the rush.

Slow me down, Lord. Teach me to create islands of stillness in which I can absorb the beauty of everyday things -- clouds, trees, a snatch of music. Prompt me to lift up my heart to You in a moment of thankfulness. Impress upon my mind that there is more to life than packing every moment with activity. And help me to fence in some part of my day with quietness. And please talk to me & help me to listen, so that I take your peace rather than my confusion back with me into the hurly-burly of a hurting world.

To go up into the mountain & come back as an ambassador to the world, has ever been the method of humanity's best friends...

- Evelyn Underhill

This was our quieting prayer when we had our annual institutional recollection last June 6, 2006 -- where else? But at the top of the mountain... no current, no lights to blind us see the virginity of nature at its best... no deafening sound to shun us away from the calmness of the wind swaying just the leaves, the grasses & our thoughts. Indeed, it was just nature & I... GOD & us...

Why? Because we had a communion with nature -- the Divine feminine of GOD, our Creator, & SHE, whose bossom nurtures our being...

Nature is the Sacred Feminine Da Vinci's Code deceived us to believe in otherwise. Her fertility -- the Earth, where all of creation thrive & return to at the end of their days, our days... & GOD said, "from dust to dust you shall be..."

Her breathe, from where we take in life, the Wind, swaying... carrying the music for ages -- our INA's uyayi... ugoy ng ating duyan... ugoy ng pagmamahal... saliw ng Poon...

Her warmth, the Fire that burns in us -- our feelings, emotions, our thoughts & motivations that keep our purpose alive.

And Her blood, the overflowing Water that satiates our tired spirits come back to life...

Indeed, the four elements of nature is pulsating in us & within us. Tayong LAHAT ay kaisa ng kalikasan -- ang ating INA. The LAHAT stands amazingly for these elements:

L - Lupa

A - Apoy

H - Hangin

A ------------- Wondering what this means?

T - Tubig

Yes! It stands for AKO! You. Me. Each of us belong to the LAHAT. And we belong to nature. And it awed me more to realize that AKO is GOD -- alive in us & within us (who more often than not is unnoticed... unappreciated, but still in us...).

How? Look closely at the last letters of the Holy Trinity -- ang tatlong Poon na pinagkaisa sa ating paniniwala:

............................... ang Diyos AMA

............................. ang Diyos ANAK at

.... ang Diyos ESPIRITU SANTO

Call it synchronicity. Balance. There is more than what words can describe. Words are made by man to express themselves, but with FAITH bigger than the universe, words limit its expression...

GOD said in the Bible, "I am who I am."

And ALLAH said in the Koran, "I am not male nor female. I am the one more than the self."

Isn't that comforting? Two opposing religions as seen by many of us believe in a Supreme Power greater than us but in us & within us?

It is so overwhelming... Knowing that there is no space between us & GOD because He dwells in us. And His words tell us that "we are who we are". GOD loves us & we are loved not for anything else but for who we are... despite our brokenness & our sinfulness... And because we are male nor female -- genders that attach limitations to one's own being, we are more than the self. That makes me -- ME; you -- YOU; us -- US; we -- WE.... The Divinity of our being...

These to me are my REALIZATIONS...