A sharing of Our Lady of Lourdes

Listen in silence because if your heart is full of other things, you cannot hear the voice of God. This is the silent, private joy of personal prayer that St Bernadette experienced before the statue of Our Lady. When I was reading Mother Teresa's book, she taught us the way to pray. Sometimes prayers are burning words from the furnace of hearts filled with love. Sometimes we practise internal and external silence. If your heart is full of other things, you cannot hear the voice of God. Then I wonder, how are we supposed to do that? Do it ever exist? In this world, it is already a challenge to be in a quiet environment. Even though there is external silence, it seems like our hearts can never be settled. We think of school, family, work and other worries. How is it possible to induce silence?

Miraculously, at the beautiful scene of Mother Mary once appeared, there was the precious silence we all have been looking for. Not only I seeked external silence, in front of the immaculate conception, I also seeked the calmness within. Realizing how it is to empty myself in prayers, I see this as my moment with Mother Mary. It's not like I have nothing to say anymore. I could've thanked her 10 million times for a lot of things, could've dragged her about my every single desire. As night time approached, after the Marian Procession, we went to her statue and prayed. We stared at her, started the Rosary again, stared at her, in silence, continued with our moment. She is too pretty to take my eyes off her. The tear of joy dropped, and this phrase echoed: You are precious in my eyes, and I love you. (Isaiah 43:4)

Give Thanks

GIVE THANKS WITH A GRATEFUL HEART
GIVE THANKS TO THE HOLY ONE
GIVE THANKS FOR HE'S GIVEN
JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON(X2)

AND NOW LET THE WEAK SAY I AM STRONG
LET THE POOR SAY I AM RICH
BECAUSE OF WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE FOR US (X2)
GIVE THANKS...

In this thanksgiving season, let's thank God for providing us everything. Although sometimes He do not give whatever you ask for, He always give us more than enough.

And we remember those who are hungry. We remember those who are suffering from sickness and pain. We remember those who doesn't have a shelter.

We thank You for coming to our lives.

Volleyball vs Life

People said university life is full of varieties. Although this is not my first degree, it still surprises me a lot when I walked through the podium on Monday. There were so many communities, clubs and societies available for students to join. Other than studying, getting into those social groups definitely adds different flavours to the plain university life.

In my head, I could only think of volleyball before I came here. Remember I have discussed with a patient about my life? Volleyball on Monday Wednesday Friday night, Spanish class Tuesday night, I have thursday night open for family and study. The patient asked "where are you gonna put in your social life? Like a boyfriend?" I said... sorry... no time for boyfriend here, or this person has to be as busy as I am. In fact, I am not intentionally looking for one. Anyhow, this patient knew that I love reading as well. So she sugguested that I should do the same as I was in Toronto, go to a coffee shop, order and Latte or Espresso, then read your novel quietly.

"Oh yes I am gonna do that for sure."

'WHEN ARE YOU GONNA DO THAT? LOOK AT YOUR SCHEDULE!!!'

She's right, I packed too many activities in my schedule, and most of them are volleyball.

Because I noticed that i couldn't live a normal life without volleyball.
Unfortunately, issues about volleyball came up. Not only it takes up most of my time after school, it also stresses me to another extent. It feels like my first year of tricampus volleyball. I definitely do not want to go through the same thing again, stress from volleyball leads the loss of focus in my academic work. Other than volleyball, there are other important things which dominate my life as well. A support group is what I am looking for, and I totally found that group on Monday, or I should say, He found me while I am in trouble. But then it also requires a certain type of commitment. Don't get me wrong here, I am more than willing to commit to You. But this is like Your first sign for me. Plus You told me about playing volleyball somewhere else without taking up too much of my time.

Don't know if it's the coffee, or the pressure for being a student leader in lab today, there's anxiety in tummy during dinner time with YanYan, after I told her about the idea of discontinuing varsity volleyball. Volleyball and Quitting should never come together in my mentality. Unbelievably, this is happening. So I will leave it up to You to tell me what to do.

Injure me, for I am stupid, need something as obvious as possible.

The answer was pretty obvious, without injury.

Thanks for protecting me.

I know what to do, but

... ... giving up volleyball ... ...

for a person who's that aggressive and competitive like myself

...... this is a first ......

My destiny

The King taught the boy that, the most important is that you have succeeded in discovering your destiny. But the boy didn't know what a person's destiny was. A destiny was something that we always wanted to accomplish. When we were young, everything was possible. We were not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything we would like to see happen to us in our lives. Unfortunately, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince us that it will be impossible for us to realize our destiny. Although it's a force that appears to be negative, actually shows us how to realize our destiny. It prepares our spirits and our will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever we are, or whatever it is that we do, when we really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's our missions on earth. Once we realize our destiny, all the universe conspires in helping us to achieve it. (Coelho, The Alchemist, 22-23)

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. (Coelho, The Alchemist, 149)

So, here we go. Although it took me the longest time to realize my destiny, hopefully this is not too late. Our destiny may change over time because wants never stop in our lives. Therefore, I have set my destiny for the next couple of years.

(1) 23rd World Youth Day, Sydney, July 15-19, 2008
(2) XXIX Summer Olympics, Beijing, August 6-24, 2008

My spirit and my will should be prepared!!! All the universe comspires in helping me to achieve it!!!

The Alchemist is such an amazing book. Not only it helped us to realize our destiny, it also help us to appreciate life, to speak the same language as the world.

Highly recommended.

Ideal World

Chiara's ideal world resembles moomin valley. It consists of

Natural environment:
Blue sky so you can enjoy every split second of sunrise and sunset.
Green grass for us to lie down, trees for us to read under their shades.

No pollution:
Chariot is the only vehicle allowed, no honk but bells.
Nobody knows what cigarettes are.
The sound of silence within traces of breeze

People:
Human and animals live peacefully together.
Praises and polite words are highly recommended, yet no swearing word is allowed.
We sincerely care about each other, not because of something else
Smiles are strongly encouraged.
Well being is much more important than money.
We should just receive what we work for (or gifts from friends :P)
An innocent heart is very very very very very important!!!

Hong Kong is everything but those listed above. Obviously I am not working towards the ideal world, probably the opposite direction. May be I am too easy to get annoyed. God are You testing my patience? Are You trying to increase my tolerance level? FINE. I honestly don't like it BUT I will try. And You know I can't do it without You!!!