Do your work, then step back

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

- Lao Tzu

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Do your work, then step back is the only path to serenity:
We are never satisfied with empty bowl, sharpen knife or riches. We really need to know when enough is enough.
Being content to be simply ourselves we will be free (not a prisoner to others) when we stop comparing and contrasting ourselves with others.

Prayer

Prayer is communication with God. He wants to hear from you. He wants to hear from your heart and receive your worship. He also wants to express His heart to you through the Bible. Prayer is this intimate exchange between you and God where you can share your heart as well as your needs.

Spending more time and effort in prayer will deepen your relationship with God.

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When you pray, God listens

When you listen, God talks

When you believe, God works

Spirit and Ego

Two babies are in utero confined to the wall of their mother’s womb, and they are having a conversation. For the sake of clarity we'll call these twins Ego and Spirit.

Spirit says to Ego, "I know you are going to find this difficult to accept, but I truly believe there is life after birth."

Ego responds, "Don't be ridiculous. Look around you. This is all there is. Why must you always be thinking about something beyond this reality? Accept your lot in life. Make yourself comfortable and forget about all of this life-after-birth nonsense."

Spirit quiets down for a while, but her inner voice won't allow her to remain silent any longer. "Ego, now don't get mad, but I have something else to say. I also believe that there is a Mother.

"A Mother!" Ego guffaws. "How can you be so absurd? You've never seen a Mother. Why can't you accept that this is all there is? The idea of a Mother is crazy. You are here alone with me. This is your reality. Now grab hold of that cord. Go into your corner and stop being so silly. Trust me, there is no Mother."

Spirit reluctantly stops her conversation with Ego, but her restlessness soon gets the better of her. "Ego," she implores, "please listen without rejecting my idea. Somehow I think that those constant pressures we both feel, those movements that make us so uncomfortable sometimes, that continual repositioning and all of that closing in that seems to be taking place as we keep growing, is getting us ready for a place of glowing light , and we will experience it very soon.

"Now I know you are absolutely insane," replies Ego. "All you've ever known is darkness. You've never seen light. How can you even contemplate such an idea? Those movements and pressures you feel are your reality. You are a distinct separate being. This is your journey. Darkness and pressures and a closed in feeling are what life is all about. You'll have to fight it as long as you live. Now grab your cord and please stay still."

Spirit relaxes for a while, but finally she can contain herself no longer. "Ego, I have only one more thing to say and then I'll never bother you again."

"Go ahead," Ego responds impatiently.

" I believe all of these pressures and all of this discomfort is not only going to bring us to a new celestial light , but when we experience it, we are going to meet Mother face-to-face and know an ecstasy that is beyond anything we have ever experienced up until now."

"You really are crazy, Spirit. Now I'm truly convinced of it."

By Henri J. W. Nouwen

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Is there life after death?

We experience in our life the same darkness, pressures and discomfort as the babies in the womb. After nine months they experience new life! 

This is a beautiful and simple analogy that explains the possibility of life after death.

Faith and Work

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘God in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?  So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2: 14-17)

“Whatsoever you DO to the least of my brothers, you do to me.” (Matthew 25: 41)

What we believe is important, because what we believe leads to what we choose to do.  But it is the choice and the doing will make life different and build the Kingdom of God.

An Overflowing Cup of Tea

An Overflowing Cup of Tea

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era, received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?


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This inspiring story is about “beginner’s mind” and humility. One cannot learn if one is so puffed up with his preconceptions. Also, a good teacher has all the attributes of a good student because, if the teacher is overly proud, the student will resist. When knowledge is shared with humility it is easily digested even if the student is a little prideful.

Do not react in life, always respond

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.


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Do not react in life. Always respond.

Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.

It is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it is my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree

by Shel Silverstein

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the tree top, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow. He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. 

Time went by. The little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree everyday. One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad. 

"Come and play with me," the tree asked the boy. 

"I am no longer a kid, I don't play around trees anymore." The boy replied, "I want toys. I need money to buy them." 

"Sorry, but I don't have money. But you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money." The boy was so excited. 

He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. 

The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad. 

One day, the boy returned and the tree was so excited. "Come and play with me" the tree said. 

"I don't have time to play. I have to work for family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?" 

"Sorry, but I don't have a house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house." 

So the boy cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad. 

One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was delighted. "Come and play with me!" the tree said. 

The boy said, "I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?" 

"Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy." 

So the boy cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time. 

Finally, the boy returned after he left for so many years. "Sorry, my boy. But I don't have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you." the tree said. 

"I don't have teeth to bite" the boy replied. 

"No more trunk for you to climb on" 

"I am too old for that now" the boy said. 

"I really can't give you anything. The only thing left is my dying roots." the tree said with tears. 

"I don't need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years." the boy replied. 

"Good! Old tree roots is the best place to lean on and rest. Come, come sit down with me and rest." 

The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears. 

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This is a story of everyone. The tree is our parent. When we were young, we loved to play with Mom and Dad. When we grown up, we left them, only came to them when we need something or when we are in trouble. No matter what, parents will always be there and give everything they could to make you happy. You may think the boy is cruel to the tree but that's how all of us are treating our parents. 

What is the Examen?

What is the Examen? 
St. Ignatius of Loyola created the Examen to be a very short prayer that can be prayed at any time. In the Examen, we review our recent past to find God and his blessings in our daily life. Ignatius would say that the Examen should be the most important moment of our day, because this moment affects every other moment.

How Do I Pray the Examen?
There are five simple steps to the Examen:

• Relish the moments that went well and all of the gifts you have today.
• Request that the Spirit lead you through your review of the day.
• Review your day.
• Repent of any mistakes or failures.
• Resolve, in concrete ways, to live tomorrow well.

Benefits
The Examen brings our God’s presence into our day. It helps:

• unite you even closer to God;
• reveal God’s perspective on your everyday life;
• stir you to praise God for the countless gifts that have popped up in your day, and to find God’s presence in those gifts;
• give you an opportunity to recognize and apologize for your faults, and to grieve your failures and hurts and receive healing from them;
• bring insight into what is really going on beneath the surface of your thoughts, words, and actions—into the very source of your motivations;
• you discern how to handle the trickier aspects of your life, to know what gifts you need from God to do the right thing tomorrow, and to ask God for those gifts explicitly.

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The Greek philosopher Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

2018_05_18 SSVP AGM

Click on the picture to see the photos taken during the 2018_05_18 SSVP AGM

The Boy and the Starfish

A man was walking his dog along a quiet sunny beach. As he continued his journey around the corner of a rocky outcrop, he saw thousands of starfish washed up on the sand. The sun was very hot and it was plain that they would dry up and die in the heat. Further along the beach, a small boy was frantically picking them up and returning them into the water.

The man watched for a moment, while placing his dog on its lead. Back and forward went the boy, one or two starfish at a time. His hard work making little effect on the vastness of the problem. The man continued his walk, being careful not to walk on the stranded animals, until he reached the busy child.

"You cannot save them all you know." said the man, "There are thousands of them. What you are doing is not even making the slightest difference."

The little boy looked around, with a frown on his face. "Maybe," he said, placing yet another starfish in the water, "but I did make a difference for this one!" 

I am only one,

But still I am one. 

I cannot do everything, 

But still I can do something; 

And because I cannot do everything, 

I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

- Edward Everett Hale

Butterfly Story

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. So the man decided to help the butterfly, he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste, did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

The Baker and the Farmer

The Baker and the Farmer

A baker in a little country town bought the butter he used from a nearby farmer. One day he suspected that the bricks of butter were not full pounds, and for several days he weighed them.

He was right. They were short weight, and he had the farmer arrested.

At the trial the judge said to the farmer, "I presume you have scales?"

"No, your honor."

"Then how do you manage to weigh the butter you sell?" inquired the judge.

The farmer replied, "That's easily explained, your honor. I have balances and for a weight I use a one-pound loaf I buy from the baker."

Moral of the story
When I am truthful, this will be evident in everything I say and do. When others realise this, they will begin to trust me.