THE EMPOWERMENT THAT emanated from being Editor-in-Chief of a church newsletter was not so elating as the responsibility of delivering the paper every quarter because it blessed my faith with a spiritual make-over. God made sure I did not take Him for granted. He gave me writers who were as serious with the craft as they were servile to the church. The twins Angeli and Aleli Rivera and Pilipino Professor Lilia Antonio were as reliable as a Swiss watch. But as great as the task of writing with the Word as paradigm is, forever is only for the Second Coming. Thankfully, the period covered by the circulation of the paper was fair enough feather up my editorial sleeve. Moving on could not have come at a more opportune time.
Through Ate Malou’s clout with Claretians Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI), her friend Bob Laurio, Production Manager thereof, introduced me to their then head honcho, Fr. Dennis Tamayo, and the rest, if not an occasional narrative, is a wake of daily thoughts, tanka testaments and Gospel germs. The latest column granted me was Mary’s Mission, which featured accolades to the mother of God according to my Marian mood. Who would’ve imagined I’d be a Claretian collaborator for five years. And unless they give me the red light, I’ll keep counting.
If the pandemic made a dent in my active church service, it will never dissuade my literary drive. I used to get inspirations from PREX weekends, where I stumble upon speakers whose first-time testimonies stimulate me to get my ipad out and reduce the speech into post-worthy fodder. Recent protocol measures, however, widened the distance between and among the faithful so much that social interaction dwindled to virtual conferences, limited as it were by the networks that provide the service. God gave me gifts recently when I got a message from Ate Precy to collect the books my late friend John left behind. What a windfall! I couldn’t wait to flip the first page of the first book, Sophy Burnham’s “For Writers Only,” which was the subject of my first essay.
Next I started with Diane Berke’s “The Gentle Smile.” According to fellow author Kenneth Wapnick, the holy instant is a gentle smile. Practicing the holy instant is joining the Holy Spirit and seeing with the vision of Christ. Buddhist teachers call it the practice of mindfulness. This state of mindfulness can be likened to sitting on the bank of a river and simply watching the river flow by, nothing else.
Sufi Zikr said that “Out of the womb of the human heart, God is born”. As we journey through life, however, the heart becomes attached to desire and aversion, because of ignorance of our true nature, from mistakenly identifying ourselves with the illusion of a separate self – the ego. This ego would have disturbed the serene flowing of the river by instructing the self to do anything other than nothing.
Jack Kornfield writes, “Whenever we think of ourselves as separate, fear and attachment arise and we grow constricted, defensive, ambitious and territorial. To protect the separate self (the ego), we push certain things away, while to bolster it we hold onto other things and identify with them. Like minding the stuff that flows with the river.
When we are lost in our identification of the ego, we live in deep fear and suffering. Our choices are to be lost in it or witness it with love. The ability to witness the ego with love, to receive thought in merciful awareness, is developed through the practice of mindfulness. To remain in the center watching, and then forget you are there (Lao Tzu). To be satisfied and keep still while the river flows silently by. To be present in your higher self rather than your ego (Joan Borysenko). To disappoint its desire to meddle with the river.
To be in a holy instant is to have a gentle smile. To just watch the river is to revere the serenity of the self. Making the instant holy and invoking a smile gently. Amen.