My Notes for Feast PICC January 11, 2015 1PM Session

I. The Mass

For that day, the mass was led by Father Alex Balatbat. The homily is about the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. The baptism of Jesus is a symbol of His union with us. Jesus is a God and He still went through baptism. For Jesus to demonstrate that ritual tells us how important baptism is. The message also tells us that even if He is already in Heaven, His spirit is still in unity with us.  

II. Bold Series Talk 2: Persistence

It was the second Sunday for the "Bold Series: Dare to Ask God for the Impossible. We still had Mike Vinas as guest preacher. Brother Bo also gave his talk about the topic. Then Brother Alvin sang his own composition "I'm Possible" to end the talk. 

A. Brother Mike Vinas' Talk

He shared that in our lives, we must persist towards God's promises. God promises victory so we should not stop in pursuing it. 

As per Mike Vinas, there are two reasons why some people quit and do not persist. First is because their perspective is obstructed and second is because the progress is not obvious. 

Sometimes our perspective is only limited on the problem that we are dealing with. Our attention tends to be focus on the problem. It is normal for people to have problems. Especially if we have big goals in life, big challenges will also come our way. But we have to be bold and believe that we will win over theses problems. We also have to consider how God views our situation. There must be something good out of our trials. We must ask ourselves, "What do God wants me to learn from this challenge?"

Some people also quit because they cannot see the improvement that challenges do to them. If only people see the improvement in themselves every time they win over a problem, then they will be motivated and will persist. But some people do not see that and so they stop. To quote Mike, "sometimes we are obsessed with the battle but what God wants us to realize is for us to win the battle within us before we win the battle outside of us."  He said that just because our progress is not obvious does not mean that our faith is not counted. 

"The promise still stands" despite of everything. 

B. Brother Bo Sanchez' Talk

Brother Bo said that God is a God who puts the blessings on the table. We just have to take it. That means that we have to move. We have to act and exert effort and time to get the blessings that God has provided for us. But some people stop on pursuing their goals or the blessings waiting for them. Sometimes people just need one last step to get the blessings but they stop and so they don't get it.

Brother Bo made an analogy of this by demonstrating a jar of candy as the blessings or as a symbol of our Bold prayers. He put it on the table. The jar has a cover. He demonstrated a person who needs to do six steps toward the table with the jar of candies. Sometimes there are people who already made six steps and then gave up because they lose hope that they will get it. All that person needs to do is reach for the jar, remove the cover, then get the candies. But since they stopped at the six step, then they were not able to accomplish that dream or goal. 

Brother Bo said that there are three reasons why people do not get what they prayed for. These three reasons are no precision, no perception and no persistence. 

So in making our bold prayers, we have to be precise, perceive, and persist. Make a decision of what we really want and make it as exactly as we desire. We also have to perceive it, visualizing it in our minds as if we already achieve it. It has to be clear in our vision. Lastly, we have to persist because that it the secret of success. 

So we have to persist until we achieve our goals. 

C. Brother Alvin Barcelona's song

Then lastly, Brother Alvin sang a very touching song which fits the subject of persistence. He sang "I'm Possible". Brother Alvin created this song out of his life experiences. He went through many trials that made him a strong person. He was able to conquer all those trials and ended victorious because of his faith in God. Brother Alvin is a cancer survivor. That is a huge battle that he won in his past. So he inspires people that when the situation seems impossible, tell yourself that "I'm possible."

III. My Say

I am reminded to be persistent. Recently, I became lax with myself. I am guilty of quitting whenever I feel exhausted and not seeing good results. But yes, there were some events in my past that I persisted and won my battle, both inside and out. Those were the times when I really know what I want and pushed myself to the limit. So if I was able to do it before, I can also do it now.

Thank you for your time, and may God bless you more.