Tag: Life

The Gift of Life: Lessons from the Parable of the Talents

The Parable of the Talents says it all.

I am almost never surprised at how dim-witted I am at times. I hear something over and over again, yet I don’t understand all the nuances and meanings. Maybe I am not slow; perhaps it is the human part of maturing. It takes a significant amount of time to remove the noise of the world from your life to focus on the truth of our reality.

I go to Mass on a nearly daily basis. I hear and read the daily readings. One particular reading that struck me recently, though it has always been meaningful to me, was the parable of the talents. Why is it that at this particular time in my life I find it has deeper meaning?

It is and will always be difficult for us to quiet our minds during prayer or for any other reason. Our minds are always racing to the next thing. So, sitting in the pews, listening to the word of God each day, helps me center my life and soul to try to do His will. Though I often fail, this is always my goal.

It hit me during the reading of this parable: it is not just about the talents, but about us in our entirety. Each individual human being has been given the gift of life. With that gift, we have been given a certain set of skills and abilities to create for the betterment of life, not only for ourselves but for those around us. We do not exist solely for our own purpose; that is what the devil sows, leading to discontent and misery. In saying this, I am trying to clarify that we must always do good for our neighbor and also care for what God has given us, to nurture and grow in and for the world.

In the commandment to love your neighbor lies the most important key to finding happiness and joy in this life. Why is it that the two first and most important commandments also point to the exact same thing?

The first commandment, love the Lord your God above everyone and everything, is so simple, yet most people can’t grasp its meaning. This command helps us order ourselves correctly. We didn’t create ourselves, and we cannot create life. We didn’t create the gifts we have. In fact, we are merely receivers of all these gifts, and because of this, we need to approach all things with humility, always acknowledging that we are merely stewards.

It is much like when we get a new car: we drive it and care for it. We may even love it in the sense marveling at this creation that others were able to produce. But we don’t run around acting like we created the car or that we are better than those who created it because we added a more expensive set of tires or a better sound system. The reality is the vehicle is a gift, and of course, we can improve it if we have been given the gifts and ability to do so. But we are never truly the originators, the foundation; we are merely stewards.

Sadly, rejecting the gifts we’ve been given distorts reality. Our self-centered society, envious of creation, often denies our true nature and purpose. This rejection of what is good and beautiful, favoring destruction over creation, is the essence of horror. It’s why so many people suffer from sadness, depression, and emptiness, trapped in a void where nothing fulfills its purpose, leading to a deep sense of despair. Some even harm their own bodies, turning what may begin as adornment into excessive defacement, such as through extreme tattooing, thus dishonoring the gift of their physical form.

We must accept the gifts we have been given in all their simplicity. These are our unique and truly individual talents. Accepting the responsibility of stewardship means not only caring for our own talents and gifts but also caring for those of our neighbors. It has become clear to me in my maturing that our lives are finite. We have all been given a canvas on which we can create a beautiful painting of our lives. Yes, we will make mistakes, and there will be struggles, but you can paint beautifully with crooked lines when you do it with goodwill and love for others. The vision and goal are to create something beautiful with the talents you have been given.

As I have progressed in my life, I have noticed that the more I do for others, the more I am able to grow and improve as a person. I hold nothing back from anyone. I share all of my knowledge and teach the next generation, not solely in my areas of expertise but, more importantly, through the application of my talents to help others grow. I look at the world as God’s vineyard, and I am but one of many persons tending to creation. The others alongside me will learn and grow with my help. I must decrease as they increase, and so is life.

Hence, the parable of the talents is all about what I have shared here. It is about you and me. It is not about making money or having successes. It is about helping to expand creation through the gifts the good Lord has given us. Loving, caring, and sharing with humility are the seeds of our participation in creation.

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, 14-30

The Parable of the Talents.

c “It will be as when a man who was going on a journey* called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.

To one he gave five talents;* to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately

the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five.

Likewise, the one who received two made another two.

* But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.

After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.

The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five.* He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’

d His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’

[Then] the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’

His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter;

so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’

His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!* So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter?

Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?

Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.

* e For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

* And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’

In Memory of My Mom

My mother, Virginia, was unconventional. She began her journey as a mother and launched her career in translation and interpreting successfully, while already having six children. To top it off, she got her high school and college diplomas during the same time period. She did have a great head start from the excellent education she received at St. George in Havana, Cuba, where she gained her strong prowess in the English language.

But what drove her to excellence was her joy for life. She knew that life is the greatest gift one has. She received from our grandmother, Concha, an understanding of how precious life is, as her mother wanted so much to have a child and took the risk of her life to bring a baby into the world. That baby was my Mami. This was something indelibly impressed upon her mind and soul.

She knew her mother had wanted to have many children but could not. But her extended family was large, and she quickly became close to her two cousins, Albertico and Bebo. To us, her children, they were our uncles. Whenever they came by, you could always see the joy in my mother’s face. She knew the happiness of family, and that is why she was determined to have a large one.

She got what she wanted and both the fun and the headaches that came with it. I remember my mother typing a book report for my brother Javier in high school in the morning before the bus came! Or when she made me and Javier walk to our high school in the snow because we purposely missed the bus. She was also always there for all of us with our illnesses, taking us to the doctor and making sure we got better and the right care. She read up on everything, and this was before the internet; she spent hours at the library doing research. Often, she knew more than the doctors about what ailed us!

She also had her very private side that only family knew: that she was deeply religious. She had a deep devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus and our holy mother, Mary. I know this because, having spent much time living at my mom’s house, as my wife and I jokingly called “Our Weekend Residence,” I was able to actually get to know her so much better.

She would say prayers every morning, thanking God for the gift of another day and the lack of pain she had from her various cancers. In the evening, she would pray to God, often asking help from the saints, for forgiveness for her sins and for one more day to enjoy the gift that is life itself.

She confided in me that it hurt her deeply, the mistakes she had made in handling certain family matters that later caused problems. She felt she tried her best to make things right and had decided this was of considerable concern, so she added it to her daily prayers. She had great hope that the love of Jesus Christ would come down on the hearts of those affected and heal all wounds.

My mom was a wonderful person; she had great loves, great friends, a huge and happy family. She traveled the world and loved her career, living this earthly life to the fullest. “No one is good but God alone,” as Jesus said, and my mom knew it, and we all should accept this truth that few of us are saints.

In her last hours on her deathbed, she frequently raised her hand and made the sign of the cross, blessing herself. Then, I am told by Rebecca and Donna that she said in her last hour of life, as if to someone, “I know, I am sorry.” This to me is a sign of her humility and love. And there is no greater gift that she could have given me than this example of loving repentance as she was dying. I pray that we can all come to the humility of asking forgiveness and granting it, which is the Christian way.

For this reason, I ask everyone to always remember her in your prayers, and when she gets into heaven, she will remember us as well.

A Mother’s Heart

When times are tough

And you are alone

Your mother’s heart

Will be your home

When life is bright

And you wish to share

Your mother’s eyes

Will still be there

When seasons change

And the wind blows high

You’ll hear her laughter

Floating nigh

When the Lord calls you

To leave this land

It’s your mom

Who’ll be there

To take your hand

The True Sickness of our Society

The USA has been seeing a rash of violence. Mostly young men acting out in irrational hatred and killing many men and women, with some attacks directed at children. This past weekend’s fourth of July shooting in Illinois a all too typical example of the kind of cruel, senseless and misdirected anger which becomes a loss of innocent human life.

The sad issue here is that the media and politicians make an issue of the weapons used as if weapons can shoot people by themselves. Interestingly, over the last twenty years there have been tremendous growth of regulations around the ownership of weapons, yet the incidents continue to increase.

It is quite obvious that the problems are not the weapons used. It is our society. What has changed over the past 50 years that these incidents are becoming more frequent and in shorter intervals?

Technology is very much to blame for this, though indirectly. The most sinister things that have increased violence in our society is in my estimation two-fold. The first is the ever more increasing detachment of young people from society due to the seclusion afforded by computers where instead of physical interaction they interact with people through online media. These interactions also being cold and disconnected from reality. The second is the increased relativism brought about by this increased detachment from reality.

Under technology, we would have to point to the internet. Pornography, an industry that survives under the guise of it being freedom of expression, is pure destruction. This demonstrably abusive industry makes its living in objectifying human beings. By making humans, objects to be used for one’s selfish physical pleasure it causes major disconnects in the minds of those being subjected to it. The young mind, if not properly guided by a responsible adult and supported by a society which raises the value of human life above all else, will eventually turn to outside evil influences. In this case, I say pornography whether in sexual nature or in violent nature in all its forms must be discarded. This is a significant cause of detachment from reality and society.

Another influence is the constant negativity and lack of rational discourse in the public forum. The media plays a major part in promoting the destruction of societal norms in favor of anarchy. It is my belief that in the USA, the attacks on Christianity and Law enforcement clearly makes way the path for violence through relativism. These attacks have been steadily growing under the careful indoctrination of our society through communist propaganda since the 1930s. The failure of communism to overthrow order in the USA in the twentieth century was due to the success of the economy and the country’s strong religious faith. Unfortunately, our current society is now being led like lambs to the slaughter with the help of major media which believes the government should run our lives and not the family. Through government handouts, the dilution of the vote of citizens by illegal immigration and the promise of easy street if we adopt the new world order and throw away the relics of the past.

The truth of the matter, it is these false doctrines are promoting violence and inhuman interaction. They are objectifying all human beings as mere objects as an end to a means of false salvation here on earth. These false doctrines continue to minimize the value of the individual and hence we have the backlash of lost persons against a society which has become atheistic and indifferent to the value of human life in any stages.

My thesis therefore is that what our society clearly lacks is Love. Without a real love for all human life and concern of the individual we will continue to see an increase in violence toward strangers. Whether that violence is done using a rifle, bomb, airplane or automobile does not matter. What matters is that we move away from relativism and take hold of truth. That we reject anything that objectifies and demeans human life, male or female, black, white or any other color, in any way must be the principal in changing this society from one that is increasingly more self-destructive to one that its focus is the care and love of one another. If we can accomplish this, then we will see a decrease in disaffected persons acting out a society which tells them currently that they have no value or purpose.

Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32

*A Little Change of Heart

It was about one year ago I made a difficult change in my life. It didn’t affect many people. It was simply that I had decided to befriend and get to know a homeless person. I felt like St. Francis, I had an aversion to the destitute of society and I needed to break that association and come to know them as children of God.

It so happened that there was a colored woman who every morning would sit in front of the St. Patrick’s Cathedral gift shop on 51st street (right over a grate where heat would come up). I remember before the first day I approached her I used to look down at her. I remember there was always crumbled food next to her and I thought it was disgusting. I always averted contact with people like her believing that many are drug addicts, alcoholic etc. and that I should not give them money because I may be supporting their habit. So though I knew in my mind they actually have the same gift of life from God that I have, I treated them like lesser people.

Then I made the effort. It started at first I would just give her a few dollars a day, which made me feel better. However I truly did not change until she asked me my name. Her name was Ann. She had a beautiful smile when you spoke to her. The crumbs she placed on the ground where there to feed the birds. She was an avid reader and enjoyed science fiction. She smoked cigarettes, but only two or three a day. Every day I saw her brought me great joy. She would ask me about my family, my children, my weekend, and my business trips. I would ask her about her health and if she needed anything. She always said she was fine.

Then one week she was not in her spot for a few days. I was concerned and hoped she would come back soon. On Thursday morning she was back. She told me she has a heart condition and had been in the hospital. I told her I would pray for her recovery and I asked her to quit smoking. That was a few months ago.

Recently, I went to mass with a coworker who I had gotten a Mass said for his departed grandmother. I saw my friend enjoy the mass and feel close to his grandmother a year after her death. We came out of the cathedral and went across the street; I was sharing with him my morning routine and so I introduced him to Ann. Ann said to me, “You’re really happy this morning.”  I said I was because my friend Gerry was with me. Gerry said hello and I gave her some money and we said goodbye. It was a special morning.

The week before Ann told me one of her favorite book collections is “The Lord of the Rings”. I was planning on bringing her the full collection in paperback as a gift. Then sadly the day after I spoke to her with Gerry she was not at her normal spot. It has now been almost three weeks since I have seen her. I looked for her at lunch time in different buildings with public parks where she told me she is often found. I did not find her. I have been praying for her everyday hoping that she is well and that I may see her gain.

Sadly I fear that she may not be coming back. I know she would have good and bad days with her heart condition and she often talked it down. Now I am thinking that I may not have done enough to help her. I should have tried harder. I know that I did not give to her as much as she gave to me. She opened my eyes and my heart to the love of God. Her concern for me, a person in a much better state in life, made a significant impression on me. She truly cared for me as a true friend. She had love, the kind of love that we should share and have for all people. She had a truly Christian heart and I will strive to be like her.

I still hold hope that she may come back. But if the good Lord took her I am certain that she is in the bosom of his love. I will continue praying for her everyday not knowing for sure what has happened to her. And if she is in Heaven I know that she prays for me to our Lord.

With love in my heart I say God bless you Ann wherever you may be.

*Written in 2006

I HAD A DREAM…….

I had a dream last night. Probably one of the freakiest I have ever had. My wife calls it a nightmare, but typically a nightmare brings fear and panic to the person having the dream. I did not have either of these feelings. But I did have strong emotions of outrage.

In my sleep I imagined that I was walking across the street to my home. Which in the dream was a second floor apartment in a two family home. As I was walking, I noticed an extremely attractive women getting into an SUV type vehicle, and she was accompanied by an older woman who was also as enticing. They were about to get into the car when I felt like they were up to no good. While feeling a strong temptation to flirt with the woman, instead I girded my strength against her powers. I asked her where she came from and what they were doing. She responded that the man in the downstairs of the house let them into my apartment. I immediately got upset and ran to the house. As in entered the house, I brushed past the man and ran up the stairs. Looking down from the stairs I saw that the women had entered as well. The three of them were standing together, but they were no longer the figure of human beings but of demons doing the work of Satan himself.

I opened the door to my apartment. Instantly I began searching, not knowing for what. Only knowing that it could not be anything good. Suddenly, I was no longer in the apartment but on a small river in a canoe. While rowing slowly, I was still searching and began looking into the water. Suddenly, I saw a baseball mitt and reached for it. As I pulled on it from out of the reeds a body of a young boy in his baseball uniform came out. I jumped in the water to pull him to land. Then I noticed he was not the only one. I began working as fast as I could but there were so many children. I shouted at the top of my lungs for people to come help me. The children had been drugged and were being killed by drowning.

A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more (Jeremiah 31:15 NIV)

I recall I got one boy to start breathing. I began to feel that people were coming to help and that all was not lost. I prayed and hoped that we could save them in time. Then the faces of the demons at the bottom of the stairs returned to me, and I was angry. Yet, all my focus had to stay with saving the children, I felt it was for them that I had to keep struggling.

Then I woke up.

So, why am I blogging about this dream? It is simply that I knew its meaning. This dream was speaking to me about the horrors and murders being promoted by abortionists and those who are for the “Right to Murder”. Those that now, in less than twenty years have convinced congress and the Democratic Party that it is ok to kill children after their birth. Usually, many faces of their promoters are beautiful elegant starlets that have sold their soul to a shameless life of pure selfishness with no regard for any other human life. This is an absolute evil, the refusal to deny that human life is special. This is the declaration that only I matter. Hasn’t that always been the greatest human error and greatest depravity? The same people who declare baby murder is just, are just as quickly to determine the elderly are a waste of money, the sick are a draw on our economy and that any handicapped and minority persons should be eliminated.

We are not far from that type of thinking. With careful trickery and back room politics the ultimate evil is being engineered. To deny all humans their rights and to make us all mere cogs and utilities to be used by those invested in the power and enslavement of the masses.

If the people do not wake up from being focused on materialism and not the greater picture of liberty and life. Our rivers will soon overflow with the blood of our children and likely of those the society will deem useless.

All the Diets Under the Sun – Chapter 6 – Settling Down

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-eb9j4-af58a2

In this podcast I discuss the dramatic changes in my life and how it leads me to my all time highest weight. Which sadly I am not to far from again except things are worse now. I am more that 20 years older, the struggle becomes more difficult.

I hope you enjoy it!

Guillermo

A Soul Apart – In Loving Memory of Karina Acosta

Heaven

This poem was written on the news of the death of the young and beautiful Karina Acosta a few years ago. She gave birth to her son in New York City and unfortunately for this world had contracted an infection while in the hospital and died a few shorts day later. She was a professional in the precious metals industry and was working at Mitsui Precious Metals at the time. She was a member of the IPMI and her name is never forgotten. I wish I had a picture of her to include with this to share with the readers. I hope for the readers that somehow the poem imparts the force of presence that was this young woman’s smile and personality.

I knew her,
Too few years
Yet my heart
Is filled with tears

News of her passing
Shall take its toll
On those she touched
With her beautiful soul

Always smiling
A beautiful face
She brought happiness
To any place

From Metro Mexico
She did come
To New York City
She brought the sun

At Peñoles and Mitsui
She was hired
Her gracious presence
Raised them higher

The precious metals
Were her care
They now lose their luster
Without her there

A family’s love
Is left behind
Also left,
Hundreds of friendships
Which she did mine

Before she went
She left a present
Alonso, a beautiful son
Her loving intent

A word,
That comes to mind
In thinking of her
Is love divine

Her loving grace
She gave to fill our hearts
Where it hurts,
Bring it in to mend
The tearing part

Dear Karina
You left us too fast
But you’ve touched us all
A true blessing

That will never pass

(C) G. Miguel Perez-Santalla

Heaven’s Right

Heaven’s Right

Gazing at the ocean

A rhythm of sounds

Waves crash without caution

Miracles abound

–

San Alfonso Retreat House

Creatures in the water

Birds cruising in the air

Man uses its contraptions

To get near there

–

Like the gift of flight

Given to the gulls

Men are given thought

As wind to lift our souls

–

If we sometimes fail

To use it to take flight

Let’s not blame our maker

He has given us our might

–

Instead look to the heavens

Listening for what is right

Its awe filling presence will fill us

With His merciful love each night

©Miguel Perez-Santalla