POEMS FROM MY RETREAT NOVEMBER 2018
*With the theme: LOVING A PASSIONATE GOD
THANKS TO GOD AND JESSICA POWERS
I didn’t come to Carmel Center to compose
Poems, but to find repose
To be near God and hear His voice,
Far from hustles and noise
On that day I started,
My 8-day retreat, directed,
With Fr. Larry, my Director,
Loving a Passionate God, a theme I went for.
What great surprise to know,
The retreat director as introduced so
Jessica Powers, a Carmelite Nun,
Had composed poems close to 400.
I was in disbelief but in awe,
How could it be possible I asked so,
When I have not even composed twenty,
Here she has 400 poems and poetry.
Indeed, what marvel to hear,
Talents God bestows on His people dear.
A holy envy seized me therein,
Will I too compose and poems written?
When eight days was about to end,
What a surprise to apprehend,
Poems I have written too,
One in each day or so.
Thanks to God who inspired me,
Take Jessica Powers and her poetry,
Different attributes of God to see,
And ponder each and every day.
Jessica Powers, thanks to you, Sister dear,
For accompanying me with your poems so rare
Making me taste too with you,
“God’s potent goodness” continuing to flow.
A DROP IN THE INFINITY
What can a drop truly be?
So insignificant and tiny
But if it joins with million others
Make oceans, seas and rivers
What can a small drop actually do?
Perhaps, utmost to cool like a dew
But if it comes with others in unity
Can even become a mighty Tsunami
What are we, but a drop in the Infinity
No better than a piece of thread maybe
But united with the great Commissioner
We can be His Divine Messenger
What can we by ourselves hope to accomplish?
Nothing perhaps better than rubbish
But together with God Almighty
His mission in us be fulfilled and become reality.
BOUNDLESS LOVE
There was a time when I was fifteen
In a Charismatic Renewal session it was explained
How God in Jesus saved you and me
And truly loves me/us unconditionally.
This conviction I thought so
Is just what people need to know
To have meaning in life here below
That Someone great loves them unconditionally too.
Knowing this truth thereon made me
So joyful, open and free
Knowing God, that great Someone
Is always with me and loves everyone.
Little did I know
A greater truth I would stumble though
God’s love is not only unconditional
God’s love is boundless and eternal.
How could we ever have comprehension
God’s boundless love for His creation?
As in Exultet it is proclaimed or sung,
“To ransom a slave, You gave Your only Son.”
Could it be a possibility?
You love us more, it seems we see
Than Jesus Your Son, the Beloved
He was offered while we were spared.
How could it really be?
The Son of God to die instead of you or me?
He who is guiltless, innocent and sinless
Could hang on the Cross lifeless.
Oh, love so lavished!
Who can comprehend it?
Even martyrs die for a cause so worthy
And a fool him/herself spare to safety.
DIVINE HELPER
Our loving God is calling
Each and every human being
Each one’s given a path to follow
A mission and a task to do
God is calling to answer a need
Each one to listen and the call to heed
Each one is given a vocation and a ministry
To help relieve the world’s misery
Here, mysteriously there is no competition
Only love, service and collaboration
Each one’s given gifts for contribution
To God’s great mission of salvation
Some are tasked to teach the ignorant
What is essentially significant
Some to feed the hungry
And do other works of mercy
Some to raise godly offspring
His kingdom to spread and bring
Some to serve, work and pray
To be His very own always and everyday
Each one is given her/his unique capacity
To carry out God’s work faithfully
To be His presence in a world so lost
His mind, His hands and feet, His heart utmost
Is it not a great honor and joy to answer?
With faith, the Ultimate Harvest Master
His call to be His Divine Helper
Here and now, and forever?
Loving a Creating God
DIVINE ORIGIN (17/11/2018 – Saturday)
Didn’t we hear before?
In catechism in church or school,
We are created in God’s image and likeness,
Sparks of His love, mercy and goodness.
Why didn’t it dawn to you and me,
The greatness of each one’s history?
More glorious than human majesty,
Our divine origin and godly destiny.
“How do we love somebody?”
Asked Fr. Isaiah, our speaker in liturgy
The answer you may only guess
In our quest so endless.
“When we acknowledge” said he
“The origin of that somebody
And take part in someone’s future Destiny”
To go back to the Trinity.
God is the Origin and Destiny
Of all of us HUMANITY
Our origin is divine
So is our destiny most sublime.
FRIEND OF MY FRIENDS
Friend of my friends, You are
Light and guiding star
Shine your face to each and all
Your boundless love to befall
Friend of my friends till the end
Sure strength and refuge one can depend
Solace and comfort in times of sorrow
Your boundless forgiveness and mercy bestow
Friend of my friends, I implore
You whom I and many adore
May my friends and dear ones realize
In them too, You take joy and delight
Friend of my friends, grant them
The great fortune like a gem
You have granted me and many
To be Your beloved friends for all eternity
Friend of my friends, on them too bestow
The great joy one can’t fully know
Your loving Presence ever near
And boundless love and blessings forever
GOLDEN DREAM
I have a golden dream
Long before in my heart gleam
Call it whatever name
Though am sure would not lead to fame
You may ask in curiosity
What is the golden dream you say?
Is it a commission, mission or vision?
Or just one foolish ambition?
Is it a wishful fantasy?
Or a mystery from Divinity
When perhaps on your knees you prayed earnestly
Beloved and loving God, relieve the world of misery
If you really are intent to know
I will tell you in words few
My golden dream is very easy to recall
A BLESSED LIFE IN GOD FOR ALL
I AM JO
I am Jo:
Created, sustained, redeemed
God’s Beloved
His gift to the world like the Baptist
His joy to behold like an Artist.
I am Jo:
So simple, caring and joyful
Generous, loving and thoughtful
Flexible, creative and active
Yet as well contemplative.
I am Jo:
Economist and serious joker
Recycologist, artist, crocheter
Nurse, health and life promoter
In the making, poetess and ballet
dancer.
I am Jo:
Many times pleasant as the sun
Yet when annoyed like an angry ocean
Especially when cheated and taken advantage
The warrior beneath comes out in rage.
I am Jo:
Called to be a Divine Helper
In no other than Missionary Carmel
To be Fr. Palau’s true daughter
To care for the Church – Christ and neighbors together.
I am Jo:
God-sent to be a wounded healer
Of self, family and the world like the Redeemer
To be a true friend and sister or even mother
To everyone, everywhere.
I am Jo:
With a mission and vocation to fulfill
God’s unconditional and boundless love to reveal
And a vision too, easy to recall
A BLESSED LIFE IN GOD FOR ALL
IT WAS YOU
I was once in a dark dungeon
So small and so alone
Then You came to me
And carried me out gently.
You took me to the open
To a beautiful bright garden
Full of beauty and freshness
Never imagined such a place exists.
Since we were in that bright place
Clearly, I was able to gaze at the face
Of the person who came to my rescue
Oh, Beloved Jesus, it was You.
JESUS, MY SWEET MELODY
Friend of my friends
King of all Kings
Lord of all Lords
Joy and delight beyond words
Oh, Jesus, You’re my sweet melody
My heart’s song eternally
Let me not from You depart
As joy and love of Your heart
Jesus, Lord of mercy
Son of God and Son of Mary
Sit on the throne
Of my heart from foes won
There stay and reign forever
Another king I will admit never
Let me also be eternally
Your song and sweet melody
LIKE A FISH
Like a fish
We swim in God’s love so lavished
At home in His boundless love
Here below and above.
Like a fish
We want to ever relish
God’s boundless forgiveness and mercy
Taking on the Cross our guilt and infirmity.
Like a fish
We have only one wish
Never allow us to depart
From the ocean of Your heart.
Like a fish
We want our love for You to flourish
Let us remain in love so deep
Living in You till in death we sleep.
MORE THAN A PARENT
Does God really provide and care
Asked those who truly dare,
To face questions of life’s mystery
Of suffering, evil, death and eternity
Would God have the universe created
And walked away leaving it
unprovided?
Can a woman give birth to her child?
And leave her/him to the wild?
It is next to impossible.
Those who do so are exceptions not the rule
Even animals know how to care and sacrifice
That their young be safe and may sustenance suffice.
Parents work day and even night
To care for their family to be alright
They know how to provide what is good,
All the essentials including food
They copy from the Ultimate Provident
GOD, who is more than a parent.
PRAYER FOR FR. LARRY
F – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
R – Receive honor, praise and worship
L – Lead Fr. Larry each and every day
A – As he prays, guides and directs continually
R – Retreatants and souls You send on his way
R – Remind him always of your boundless love and
friendship
Y – Yielding delightful fruits for all tobenefit. AMEN
SIT ON THE THRONE (18/11/2018 – Sunday)
Behold, a throne made of wood
So plain, in the center stood
No such embellishments
Of gold, silver or precious ornaments.
I have labored and fought
With Your grace I besought
To keep vying occupants who sought
The throne to occupy so they thought.
Like an Amazon I struggled
Keeping them off from the threshold
Lest they come like a stronghold
To occupy the throne reserved for my one Lord.
Now, you can see
This simple throne I have kept empty
Waiting for that great Majesty
Who else, but Jesus, Lord of Mercy.
Come, I earnestly beacon
Will You at last sit on the throne
For which I fought continually
For Your lasting occupancy.
Be, Thou truly my King, Lord and Majesty
Let me shun whatever idolatry
Worship and praise to You eternally
In my heart, Your throne of glory.
YOUR OWN UNIQUE VERSION
At the Cross, I intently gaze
Seeing You hanging there, am amaze
Is it the price You have to pay?
For us with You forever stay?
The face once admired, so fair and comely
Now, so marred, disfigured and bloody
Beloved Jesus, is it really You?
Wearing this crown of sorrow?
So, how can we take for granted?
The great sacrifice You have offered
The salvation with great price You won
For us with God forever be in union
Therefore, at Your feet, I dearly pledge
With my full volition and knowledge
To be Your faithful Bride in mission
On this earth, Your own unique version