Past. Present. Future: The Lamb

"You are the best. You are the worst. You are average. Your love is a part of you. You try to give it away because you cannot bear its radiance, but you cannot separate it from yourself. To understand your fellow humans, you must understand why you give them your love. You must realize that hate is but a crime-ridden subdivision of love. You must reclaim what you never lost. You must take leave of your sanity, and yet be fully responsible for your actions."

-Gnarls Barkley, in a letter to the legendary rock critic Lester Bangs

Last Sunday’s mass reached into my inner being n touched my soul. for the first time in my life, i truly felt a divine presence in n out of me during the mass. it was a beautiful experience. it was a feeling of peace, serenity, contentment and happiness. it convinced me dat the mass wasn’t simply a ceremony conducted by humans for humans. it wasn’t a parade, a show, a spectacle, a formality. it was a celebration of life and death.

somehow, u leave totally refreshed with new angles of life. n there’s death. dying to ur old weaknesses and failures. thru the power of god we are changed and made anew. it took me this long, so many years to understand this.

the theme for the mass was on ‘the lamb of god’. the biblical figurative for jesus. haf u ever seen a lamb being slaughtered? in the old days, the temple in jerusalem was a messy n bloody place. every day, lambs were to be offered up to god as sacrifice to make peace between man n god, heaven n earth. n when the throats of lambs r slit, trust me. there’s alot of blood spilled.

when the lamb of god was sacrificed to atone for the sins for the world, i imagine the entire world soaked in its deep red blood. this one sacrifice, unlike those in the past, wd once and for all redeem all of mankind, now, today n forever. personally, its a very powerful image. its a very powerful concept.

the way i see it for us is this. we too, thru this sacrifice r called to be lambs of god. to selflessness n forgiveness. n emulate the meekness n gentleness of a lamb. dis does not mean hum zi. rather, it means to always be steady, cool n calm in the face of adversity. i take it as my challenge for this year 2008. to always be ready n steady under stress. n to always maintain my focus n my zest for life. amen.

dis week has been a trial run. n its satisfying to see results, though not very tangible. n i am utterly grateful to God for this gift. may this b a beginning. may this never end.

meanwhile, my 1st year commanders r ORDing soon. i’m going to miss them all. these drawings r a tribute to the memories we shared. forget about the painful n embarrassing ones. lets remember the good times we had instead.