Sunset #13,879

Deo gratias....

TECHNORATI TAGS: a brooklyn sunset

Sunset #13,514

Deo gratias....

TECHNORATI TAGS: a manhattan sunset

et audivi vocem Domini dicentis: "My love is over, it's underneath, it's inside, it's in between...."

for all the failures, stumbles, and falls.... the defeats and disappointments.... the sorrows and broken heartedness.... the long dark storms.... the hard lessons learned....

for all the successes and getting up again.... the times of joy and healing..... the angels You send me along the way.... for the restoration of things once lost....

Deo gratias
totus tuus ego sum Domine

TECHNORATI TAGS: times

non est hic surrexit enim sicut dixit

keep your eyes on the Light at the end of that long dark tunnel.... It will lead you home.... hold on to your faith to get you through the rough patches.... there are better resurrections in store for those who don't give up.... just remember that behind every resurrection was a crucifixion and death.... a blessed Easter to all....

totus tuus ego sum Domine

TECHNORATI TAGS: an Easter sunrise

Sunrise #13,386

dies novus ....

Deo gratias!

Still my heart and hold my tongue
I feel my time
My time has come
Let me in
Unlock the door
I never felt this way before

And the wheels just keep on turning
The drummer begins to drum
I don't know which way I'm going
I don't know which way I've come

Hold my head inside Your hands
I need someone who understands
I need someone, someone who hears
For You I've waited all these years
For You I'd wait 'til kingdom come
Until my day, my day is done
And say You'll come and set me free
Just say You'll wait, You'll wait for me

In Your tears and in Your blood
In Your fire and in Your flood
I hear You laugh, I heard You sing
I wouldn't change a single thing
And the wheels just keep on turning
The drummers begin to drum
I don't know which way I'm going
I don't know what I've become

For You I'd wait 'til kingdom come
Until my days, my days are done
And say You'll come and set me free
Just say You'll wait, You'll wait for me
Just say You'll wait, You'll wait for me
Just say You'll wait, You'll wait for me

"Til Kingdom Come"
~ Coldplay

Then Job answered the LORD and said:

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.
Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.

the LORD restored the prosperity of Job, after he had prayed for his friends; the LORD even gave to Job twice as much as he had before.
Then all his brethren and his sisters came to him, and all his former acquaintances, and they dined with him in his house. They condoled with him and comforted him for all the evil which the LORD had brought upon him; and each one gave him a piece of money and a gold ring.
Thus the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones.

Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren.
Then Job died, old and full of years.

from the Book of Job
chapter 42, verses 1-6, 10-12, and 16-17

totus tuus ego sum Domine!

TECHNORATI TAGS: a new york city sunrise
FOLLOW UP TO THIS POST: Sunrise #13,021

I'm Barely Holding on to You

I'm here still waiting, though I still have my doubts....
In the pain there is healing, in Your name I find meaning....

1 de profundis clamavi ad te Domine
2 Domine exaudi vocem meam fiant aures tuae intendentes in vocem deprecationis meae
3 si iniquitates observabis Domine Domine quis sustinebit
4 quia apud te propitiatio est propter legem tuam sustinui te Domine sustinuit anima mea in verbum eius
5 speravit anima mea in Domino
6 a custodia matutina usque ad noctem speret Israhel in Domino
7 quia apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud eum redemptio
8 et ipse redimet Israhel ex omnibus iniquitatibus eius
psalmus CXXX

So I'm hanging on another day, just to see what You will throw my way....
I'm hanging on to the words You say, You said that I will be okay....

totus tuus ego sum Domine

TECHNORATI TAGS: st. patrick's cathedral, new york city, name above all names, psalm 130, stairs to the altar of the Word

Sunset #13,149

Deo gratias

TECHNORATI TAGS: a New York sunset

On the Corner of First and Amistad

Domine, ubi es Tu?

1 Usquequo, Domine, oblivisceris me in finem?
usquequo avertis faciem tuam a me?
2 quamdiu ponam consilia in anima mea;
dolorem in corde meo per diem?
3 usquequo exaltabitur inimicus meus super me?
4 Respice, et exaudi me, Domine Deus meus.
Illumina oculos meos, ne umquam obdormiam in morte;
5 nequando dicat inimicus meus: Prævalui adversus eum.
Qui tribulant me exsultabunt si motus fuero;
6 ego autem in misericordia tua speravi.
Exsultabit cor meum in salutari tuo.
Cantabo Domino qui bona tribuit mihi;
et psallam nomini Domini altissimi.
Psalmus XIII

TECHNORATI TAGS: Psalm 13

sono ad me Domine

I have no wit, no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numbed too much for hopes or fears.
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,
My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall--the sap of spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl,
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perished thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me.

"A Better Resurrection"
~ C Rosetti

R.Domini: .........................

lux lucis te rectum ad domus tui et ignitum ossa vestrum....

A Happy Resurrection Sunday
Joyeuses Pâques
Maligayang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay
Chúc Mừng Phục Sinh
Isuta Omedetou

pax Christi vobiscum

Here's to better resurrections, whatever it is you may be seeking, working towards, working through, hoping for, waiting for, etc....

TECHNORATI TAGS: Easter

Sunrise #13,021

I don't know which way I'm going, I don't know which way I've come, but for You I'll wait 'till Kingdom come....

"the Lord addressed Job out of the storm....
Where were you when I founded the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its size; do you know?
Who stretched out the measuring line for it?
Into what were its pedestals sunk, and who laid the cornerstone,
While the morning stars sang in chorus and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

And who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb;
When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door,
And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!

Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place
For taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface?
The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment;
But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered.....

Then Job answered the Lord and said:
Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more."

from the Book of Job
chapters 38 and 40

totus tuus ego sum Domine

TECHNORATI TAGS: a Mississauga sunrise
WHERE IS THIS?: check the map
FOLLOW UP POST: Sunrise #13,386

I was a Godfather at 13?!.... or was it 14?

I guess I'm the ninong type or something coz I've accumulated quite a number of godkids: Kim, Zachary, Mickey, Janel, Bryan, Xadel, Andrea, Summer, Aiden....darnit, I feel like I'm forgetting someone.... it's hard to get old.... okay, I'm not that old, I got a bunch of godkids because I started early.... I started godfathering when I was 13 or 14!... ya, I know I was a teenage (god)father.... hey when someone asks you to be the godfather to their child, it's an offer you can't refuse....get it, nudge, nudge ("The Godfather" reference).... anyways.... so last week the Church welcomed two new members to the Body of Christ: my newest goddaughter Ava, and since she comes in a 2-pack, my newest godson Jaiden.... it'll just get confusing for everyone to figure out who calls who ninong and who calls who tito... 2 for the price of one, you can't go wrong.... Ava and Jaiden Nadgir

Infant baptism may not make sense to some people, I mean what does a baby know of sin and repentance or especially of original sin.... it's actually for us, the parents, godparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and indeed the entire Body of Christ.... an opportunity for us to renew and live our own baptismal promises by teaching the faith to a new soul.... when they grow up and are old enough to decide for themselves, they can choose to complete their baptismal rite with a baptism of fire by the Holy Spirit... or not.... until then, we choose to speak for them....

If you asked me a while ago, I would have told you that I could never be a ninong again.... how can someone who questions the very existence of a god even begin to teach a child about the love of The Almighty Everlasting God.... by some force of Providence, I became a ninong again when my faith was in the process of full restoration.... so when the deacon asked "parents and godparents, do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?".... my "I do" got stuck in my epiglottis out of a sense of shame for my faithlessness.... what I'm certain of about my faith is that it teaches about a God of forgiveness, redemption, and renewal.... so on this baptism I renewed my faith not only for these two new souls, but also for my own soul....

The godparents: keepers of the light of faith....

so, for your baptism Ava and Jaiden, I've written you a letter.... you obviously do not understand this now, but maybe one day in the distant distant future when you're old enough, you'll google yourselves and maybe you'll find Ninong's letter.... hopefully it'll mean something to you at that time:
Ava Nadgir Jaiden Nadgir
February 22, 2009
Dear Ava and Jaiden,

Today, we claimed you for Jesus Christ. That means nothing to you now, but it means everything to Ninong. It means everything to me because I know Him so well, and would like you to know Him as I do. I hope I'll be able to show you what I mean as you grow up. I hope that when you have voices of your own, you will choose to claim yourselves in His name. Until then I will speak for you.

As you grow up you are going to hear that "God loves you" all the time, this isn't just another cliché. He loves you so much that he has given you your parents, godparents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. who will love you and take care of you. We have waited for you for a long time. You are so blessed, and I know you will be blessed all your lives. You won't really appreciate what "God loves you" truly means though, until life gets difficult.... when you find yourself in a situation where things are not going right for you, or worse yet, when you find that your world is deconstructing right before your eyes, and you can do nothing but pray for help. If anything like that should happen, keep the faith and be patient because prayers are heard and answered. The answer may not come exactly when or exactly how you wanted, but trust me, it will come.... and the answer will be exactly what you need.

I hope that you will not have to carry too heavy a cross in your lives, but life will throw you some doozies, so hang in there and hang on to the hands of the people that love you, especially God's. I look forward to watching you both grow up.

God bless you,
Ninong Pom

TECHNORATI TAGS: ninong

Sunrise #12,911 and Sunrise #12,988

Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place where I find peace again......

You are the strength, that keeps me walking.

You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the life to my soul.
You are my purpose...you're everything.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
You still my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Cause you're all I want, You're all I need
You're everything,everything
You're all I want your all I need
You're everything, everything.
You're all I want you're all I need.
You're everything, everything
You're all I want you're all I need, you're everything, everything.

And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

"Everything"
by Lifehouse

2 Exaudi vocem deprecationis meae dum oro
ad te dum extollo manus meas ad templum sanctum tuum
Psalmus XXVIII

in manus tuas Domine....

TECHNORATI TAGS: an Ash Wednesday meditation, a New York City sunrise, a West Virginia sunrise, St. Patrick's Cathedral

felicem diem natalem tibi Domine

Merry Christmas!

Mahalia invited me to join the 2nd Annual OTWOMD Christmas Tree Blog Parade 2008 , so here is our family's Christmas tree.... a tree of light that heralds the birth of the Christ who grew up to hang and die upon the tree of life....

Hope you and all your loved ones have a great holiday. God bless!

TECHNORATI TAGS: Merry Christmas

Sunset # 12,784

Sunset? No sunset this year, just storm clouds..... Deo Gratias nonetheless.....

Exultet! Haec nox est,quae reddit innocentiam lapsis

Lux lucis te rectum ad domus tui.......

et ignitum ossa vestrum.......

Exultet! Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum intus mihi resurrexit!

A Happy Easter to all......
Joyeuses Pâques
Maligayang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay
Chúc Mừng Phục Sinh
Isuta Omedetou (For Ghee :D)

TECHNORATI TAGS: Easter Vigil, holy fire, Christ our light

Sunset # 12,419

....... Deo Gratias

TECHNORATI TAGS: sunset, photography

Exultet! This is the Night!

I wanted to wish everybody a Happy Easter! I actually came home from Atlanta Thursday night, but haven't blogged because I immediately entered into the observance of the Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and tonight concluding with the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil.... Tonight, as the Black Saturday turns into the greatest Sunday, and the greatest day in all of Christendom, deacons and cantors of the Universal Church all over the globe, will chant the following proclamation under the light of the new Paschal Candle:

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes forever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

The Lord be with you.
(Response:) And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
(Response:) We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
(Response:) It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God,
the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin
to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night when first you saved our fathers:
you free the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin
and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night when Jesus Christ
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave
you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights, chosen by God
to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day;
it will become my light, my joy.”

The power of this holy night
dispels all evil, washes guilt away,
restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and we are reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on us all,
your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.

Listen here

A Happy Easter everyone, God Bless!

TECHNORATI TAGS: exultet, easter, easter proclamation

totus tuus ego sum Domine Part II

Well my exam is finally over, and I'm blogging to you from Atlanta, GA.... I'm not as tired as I was after I took the Canadian equivalent last September, even though I kept waking up every hour last night, and only ended up getting 4 hours of sleep.... so, after my exam, I decided to take a quick trip to downtown Atlanta.... after my exam in Hamilton last September, I stopped off at their Cathedral of Christ the King for some divine inspiration, so I decided to pay a courtesy call to the Atlanta Cathedral.... would you believe it is also called the Cathedral of Christ the King?.... I thought that was pretty poetic.... the Lord certainly does move in mysterious ways....

Last night in the throws of pre-exam anxiety I picked up the hotel bible and opened to the book of psalms.... this was the first psalm I read:

1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the LORD,
which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is thy keeper:
the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil:
he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Psalm 121
Thanks Lord You're Awesome, I hear ya

1 canticum graduum levavi oculos meos in montes

unde veniet auxilium mihi

2 auxilium meum a Domino

qui fecit caelum et terram

3 non det in commotionem pedem tuum neque dormitet

qui custodit te

4 ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet

qui custodit Israhel

5 Dominus custodit te

Dominus protectio tua super manum dexteram tuam
6 per diem sol non uret te

neque luna per noctem

7 Dominus custodit te ab omni malo

custodiat animam tuam Dominus

8 Dominus custodiat introitum tuum et exitum tuum

ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum

Psalmus 121

Deo gratias Dominus awesomus, ego agnosco

TECHNORATI TAGS: trust, atlanta cathedral of Christ the king
THIS STORY IS CONTINUED HERE: Feets Don't Fail Me Now

For Tu Anh on Valentine's Day

Now I will show you the way which surpasses all others. If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and, with full knowledge, comprehend all mysteries, if I have faith great enough to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give everything I have to feed the poor and hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, it is not snobbish. Love is never rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not prone to anger; neither does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong but rejoices with the truth. There is no limit to love's forebearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure. Love never fails. Prophecies will cease, tongues will be silent, knowledge will pass away. Our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect. When the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child I used to talk like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man I put childish ways aside. Now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. My knowledge is imperfect now; then I shall know even as I am known. There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13:1-13

TECHNORATI TAGS: love, valentine

et verbum caro factum est

.... et habitavit in nobis....
John 1:14
(and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us...)
may the Word be made flesh in your hearts and in your lives today, and every day.... Merry Christmas!

the Carnival of Christmas II is up here!

TECHNORATI TAGS: Christmas