LEFT ALONE

Were you been left alone?

I once was left alone at home. My mother and siblings were in the school. My father had to attend an important matter in which he could not bring me with him. He knew I would insist joining him should I knew he would leave. So after taking our lunch, he asked me to sleep. Being my daily routine as a kid, I did not have any suspicion that such was a ploy. It was a trick so that he can leave without me noticing it. At midafternoon, I woke-up from my afternoon nap. I was surprised that my father had disappeared. I could not see him in the house. I was left alone. I started to cry and shout, calling my father and mother but to no avail. I was perplexed and confused. I could not understand why I was left alone. I stopped shouting, and in little sob accepted that I was alone that moment. I sat by the gate of our house, waiting, until my father arrived. He comforted me and promised that he will never leave me again. Since then, I know, I am not alone anymore.    

In the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, there are two parts of the days involve; day and evening. Day is often associated with light, certainty, clarity, goodness. Evening is frequently connected with darkness, obscurity, evil. During the day, the two disciples had a conversation with the Lord. They were enlighten by the Lord’s explanation of the scriptures, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself (Lk 24:25). When the evening drew near, they asked the Lord to stay with them, to enlighten them further, to be with them in their uncertainties in life. And so he stayed with them. At the breaking of the bread, at the moment when the two disciples recognized the Lord, the Lord disappeared. But did Christ really disappeared? Did Christ left the disciples in that precarious evening? 

It is painful to be left alone. The Lord knows the feeling of being left alone. He was left alone by his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, in the road to Calvary, and in the cross. He experienced the pain of being left alone when friends suddenly disappear especially in trying moments of life. And anyone who had experience such pain would not wish his/her love ones to experience the same pain he experienced. Christ loves us so much. He does not want us to feel the same pain He experienced due to desolation and disappearance of important persons in one’s life.

THERE IS NO DISAPPEARING ACT. In the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Lord never left the disciples in that evening of uncertainties and doubts. He did not disappear. In the breaking of the bread the Lord stayed with them, and remain with them. He simply took another form – the Holy Eucharist; Jesus Christ in the appearance of bread and wine offered, broken and shared by the two disciples in that evening.

THERE IS ONLY THE ‘REMAINING’ ACT. The Lord never left His disciples, who asked Him to stay with them in that evening of doubts and  fears, that he may be able to accompany them in those dark moments. The Lord did not have a disappearing act. He remains with us, until the end of time.

Stay with us, Lord, in the evening of uncertainties and doubts until the dawn of certainty and truth breaks forth. Amen. 

KASAMA NATIN SIYA

Tayong mga Filipino, mahilig magpasama. Madalas tayong magpasama sa ating mga kaibigan, o sa mga taong close sa atin. May bibilhin lang sa kanto, maghahanap na ng kasama. Maglalakad lang, isasama pa ang aso. Pupunta lang sa C.R., magpapasama pa. Naalala ko noong nasa high school ako, sinamahan kong manligaw ang isa kong kaibigan. February 14 noon; Valentine’s Day. Matapos ang klase, binulong niya sa akin ‘Samahan mo naman ako’. Sabi niya bibili lang daw ng bulaklak at ibibigay sa nililigawan niya. Sinamahan ko naman. Nang nakabili na kami ng bulaklak, natsope ang kaibigan ko. Ayaw ng ibigay ang bulaklak; nahiya raw. Sa huli, akong sinamahan lang siya, ang nagbigay pa sa kanyang nililigawan ng binili naming bulaklak. 

Sa ating buhay, marami tayong mga obligasyon at Gawain, mga bagay na gusting gawin; bilang mag-aaral, bilang anak. Kailangan mag-aral ng mabuti. Magsunog ng kilay kung kinakailangan upang paipasa ang bawat asignatura. Gumising ng maaga upang di mahuli sa pagpasok sa paaralan. Nariyan din ang paghahapit sa mga deadlines ng termpapers. Ginagawa natin ito dahil alam natin isa itong paraan upang masuklian natin ang pagod ng ating mga magulang, isang paraan upang tayo ay maging mga mabuting anak. Mapalad tayo dahil sa atin paghahangad na maging mabuting mag-aaral at anak, may kasama tayo. Nariyan ang mga guro bilang mga gabay; ang mga kaibigan na nariyan lagi handang makibahagi sa mga problema; higit sa lahat nariyan ang mga magulang laging nasa tabi upang magbigay suporta; di lang pinansyal bagkus moral. Sa mga puntong susuko ka na sa bigat ng iyong dinadalang problema, dumadating ang mga taong ito sa iyong buhay; hinihiling sa kanila na samahan ka sa mga sandaling tila bibigay ka na. At di ka nila binibigo. Sinasamahan ka nila. 

Ang pribelehiyo at responsibilidad ng isang Kristyano. Sa ating buhay bilang mga Kristyano, tinanggap natin ang pribelehiyong maging mga anak ng Diyos. Bilang mga binyagan, tayo ay nakikibahagi sa pagiging propeta, hari at pari ng ating Panginoong Hesu Kristo. Di biro ang kalakim na tungkulin ng pagsunod kay Hesus. Ngunit kaakibat ng pribilehiyong ito ay ang mga responsibilidad. Malaking mga responsibilidad ang nakaatang sa atin bilang mga Kristyano. 

Bilang kabahagi ng pagiging propeta ni Hesus, dapat nating ipangaral ang turo Niya at ang katotohanan, napapanahon man o hindi, kaibig-ibig man yang marinig o hindi. Gaya ng mga propeta sa Lumang Tipan, haharapin ng sinumang magpahayag ng katotohanan, ang mga taong nagbibingibingihan, matitigas ang puso, at babastikos sa credibilidad ng nagpapahayag; Tignan kung sinong magaling na nagsasalita! 

Bilang kabahagi ng pagiging hari ni Hesus, marapat na makilahok tayo sa pamamahala ng simbahan, ng ating parokyo, ng ating mga munting pamayanang Kristyano (BEC). Hinahamon tayo ng ating pakibahagi sa pagiging hari ni Hesus na isantabi ang paghahari-harian and yakapin ang pagiging tunay na lingkod ng kapwa, na masasalamin sa paglilingkod; hindi ang maging Boss, kung di ang maging kaagapay at katuwang ng kapwa. 

Bilang kabahagi ng pagiging pari ni Hesus, inaatasan tayong mag-alay ng panalangin para sa ating ikakabuti at ng ating kapwa. Maari itong magampanan sa pamamagitan ng pagtangkiling sa mga debosyon at aktibong pagdiriwang ng Banal na Misa. Ang mataimtim na pananalangin para sa kapakanan ng kapwa ay ang mithiin ng ating pakikibahagi sa pagka-pari ni Hesus. 

Di ba’t napakalaki at napakabigat ng responsibilidad nating mga Kristyano?!? Bilang kabahagi ng pagiging propeta, hari at pari ng ating Panginoong Hesu Kristo tayo ay inaatasan tumdin at tumali sa mga turo at utos Niya. Mukha mang malaki at mabigat ang ibinibigay na tungkulin sa pagsunod natin kay Hesus, alalahanin natin tapat ang Diyos, at hindi niya ipapahintulot na tayo'y subukin nang higit sa ating makakaya. Sa halip, pagdating ng pagsubok, bibigyan niya tayo ng lakas upang mapagtagumpayan iyon (1 Cor 10:13). Ngunit kung dumating man ang puntong di na natin kaya ang bigat ng ating pinapasan alalahanin natin na maari nating tawagin ang ating Panginoon at hingin na tayo ay kanyang samahan. Maaari nating ibulong sa Kanya: Hesus, samahan mo naman ako. Ngunit sa totoo lang, di naman tayo iniwan ni Hesus simula’t sapul na tayo ay tinawag niya. Siya ay sumaatin ng tayo ay bininyagan, ng tinanggap natin ang pribilehiyo na maging anak ng Dyos at ang responsibilidad ng pakikibahagi natin sa pagiging propeta, hari, at pari ni Hesus. At Sya ay nanatili sa atin kasama natin hanggang sa wakas ng panahon. Ito ang kanyang pangako ng sinabi Niya sa kanyang mga disipulo: Tandaan ninyo, ako'y laging kasama ninyo hanggang sa katapusan ng panahon (Mt 28:20). 

Di tayo iniwan ng Diyos. Kasama natin si Hesus sa tuwina. Simula ng tayo ay kanyang likhain, at tawagin sa buhay na banal; buhay bilang Kristyano, sinamahan tayo ni n gating Panginoon. Kailan man di Niya tayo iniwan o iiwan man. Ang pagsama sa atin ni Hesus, sa ating ating pagsunod sa kanyan, ay nagngangahulugan ng sumasaatin ang Diyos, ano pa’t Emmanuel ang kanyang ngalan; Kasama natin ang Diyos (Mt 1:23). Di ba’t napakaganda n gating buhay; sa pagtahak natin sa landas ng kabanalan at pagtalima sa kalooban ng Diyos, sinasamahan Niya tayo, ginagabayan ang bawat hakbang na ating gagawin. Ito ang mabathalang gurantiya na ibinibigay ng Diyos sa sinumang tutugon sa Kanyang tawagin. Sinisiguru ng Diyos na kasama natin Siya sa pagsunod natin sa Kanya. 

Mahirap ang buhay ng isang Kristyano. May hirap at sakit na kalakip ang pakikibahagi natin sa pagiging hari, propeta, at pari ni Hesus. Ngunit ang pangako ni Hesus na sasamahan Niya tayo ay isang mabathalang guarantiya o kasiguraduhan na sapat upang tayo ay tustusan, bigyan ng lakas at grasya upang tumuloy sa landas na banal patungo sa Kanya. Sa pagsasakatuparan ng ating papel bilang hari, propeta, at pari sa lupa, datapwat mahirap, di tayo takot. Di nababahag ang buntot ng isang tunay na Kristyano kahit sa harap man ng anong sakit at hirap, dahil sa kasiguraduhan na kasama niya si Hesus sa pagtupad niya sa kalooban ng Diyos. Ang lakas at kapangyarihan ni Hesus na muling nabuhay ay ipinagkakaloob Niya sa mga taong Kanyang inatasan na ipahayag ang Mabuting Balita, tinawag na makibahagi sa Kanyang buhay at misyon. Tandaan ninyo, ako'y laging kasama ninyo hanggang sa katapusan ng panahon (Mt 28:20). Ito ang paalala sa atin ni Hesus. Sa pagtawag at pagbibigay Niya ng responsibilidad sa atin, tayo ay ay Kanyang sinasamahan bilang ating lakas at inspirasyon sa tuwina. 

Sa ating pagsunod at pagtupad sa responsibilidad na iniatang sa atin ni Hesus, darating ang panahong tayo ay manghihina, masisiraan ng loob na magpatuloy at iibiging sumuko na lamang. Kapag dumating ang sandaling ito, paalalahanan natin ang ating mga sarili na kasma natin ni Hesus sa pagpapahayag ng Mabuting Balita, kasama natin si Hesus sa ating pakikibahagi bilang hari, propeta at pari, kasama natin Siya sa ating pagsisikap na isabuhay ang isang buhay na banal. At kung ang Diyos ay panig sa atin, sino ang makakalaban sa atin (Rom 8:31)? Kung kasama natin ang Diyos, wala tayong dapat ipangamba dahil ang lakas ni Hesus na muling nabuhay at siyang magtutustos sa atin upang marating natin ang kaluwalhatiang walang hanggang. 

Di nagkatuluyan ang sinamahan kong kaibigan ko at kanyang nililigawan. At lalong di kami ang nagkatuluyan ng nililigawan niya. Ngunit di man tagumpay ang panliligaw ng sinamahan kong kaibigan, masaya pa rin siya, sapagkat alam niyang may kasama siya. 

Sa ating buhay bilang mga Kristyano dumarating ang pagkabigo dala marahil ng hirap ng buhay bilang Kristyano. Ngunit hindi ito dahilan upang masiraan tayo ng loob at isuko ang responsibilidad na iniatang sa atin. Bakit tayo susuko kung alam nating kasama natin si Hesus sa landas na ito? Bakit tayo panghihinaan ng loob kung alam nating ang lakas ni Hesus na muling nabuhay ay syang lakas din natin sa pagpapahayag ng Mabuting Balita?

SPIRITUALITY OF A PREACHER

One may  be fascinated every time he listens to a great preacher. He may ask: Where do they get what they preach? He may even go further and question How does this preacher sustain his ministry? What powers up to preacher? How long does it take him to prepare his homily? How does he ‘stay alive’ in his ministry? The spirituality of the Preacher can be the force behind these magnanious task carried-out by preachers. What, then, is this Spirituality of the Preacher?

Preaching can be understood as the ministry of the Word. It is an attempt to affect a person’s thinking by appealing to the heart. While teaching, on one hand, is trying to affect a person’s heart by appealing to their thinking, preaching on the other hand, is an appeal to the heart, the emotions and the soul of the person. Preaching attempts to reason with a person’s mind. It appeals to the intellect and provides a person with many angles of understanding. It does not accomplish quick changes in a person’s behaviour but it begins to allow for a solid foundation upon which behaviour is directed.

Spirituality originates from the word spirit; spirit as life in the Semitic sense. The word spirit is taken from “ruah” which originally means breath, wind; the breath that gives life, life-giving breath or life itself. It is not opposed to matter, or body, but to evil, death. It is not life within or apart from the body, but one’s deep or true being/life. It is the spirit that makes one alive. In Genesis 2:7 God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life and then man became a living being.  In the Filipino context we can relate this breath with hinga. From hinga we can draw other significant words such as bunting hininga, naghihingalo, malagutan ng hininga, pahingahan, mahingan, etc. These Filipino words are very much related to life.  It is in this sense that we are to understand the word spirit, as life, the life-force in a person, which fires, defines, shapes, motivates, one’s decisions, actions, aspirations in life. Spirituality as a religious reality is a person’s way of living out one’s religious or at least ethical conviction. The distinctive reality in Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ. “Christian Spirituality is therefore a participation in the mystery of Christ through the interior life of grace, actuated by faith, charity, and the other virtues.”

The Spirituality of the Preacher can be understood through the formula pronounced by an odaining bishop to a newly ordained deacons as the former gives the book of Gospels to the latter: Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are.  Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach. Emphasis have to be given on the acts of receivng, believing, reading, teaching and practicing.

The preacher receives the book of Gospels. He receives the ministry. He receives them from the mother Church. The act of receiving highlights the sense of gift being given by a mother to a son.  In this context the Word of God in the life of the Church is proclaimed, received, believed, written, copied, multiplied, studied, reflected, ritualized, sacramentalized, celebrated, prayed, expounded, practiced, lived, fulfilled, witnessed, retold, handed on, given. It is through this cycle that the Word gains an ecclesial dimension.  This cycle becomes possible only as the one receiving the Word makes a space in the shelf of his heart.  

Reading involves reflection; an insightful readiing. It is a conversation; a dialogue between the lived experience of the preacher and the Christian tradition found in Sacred Scriptures, Liturgy, Rosary, Sacramental Life, Living Tradition, Lives of the Saints, Theological Heritage, Social Teachings, Religious Life, Councils, Encyclicals and Exhortations. Through this dialogue the preacher is able to generate a new truth and meaning for living.

A preacher who believes can be compared with an artist. The artist convinces us of the truth by dealing with us holistically. Artists try to make us feel the truth. Good art gets the truth inside us on a level deeper than the surface of our minds.  On this level, truth is most irresistible.  The mind may not only resist the truth but may even accept it and keep it at a personal distance (Anthony Padovano, In Faith Needs Imagination).

Teaching is trying to affect a person’s heart by appealing to their thinking. Through teaching certain truths are ingrained in a person’s understanding, enabling the person too to perform those truths.

Practicing is walking the talk. It includes remembering, calling to mind, deepening, It aims for a graceful and grace-filled execution of an act. This is achieve through repetitive virtuos acts. And the perfect place to pracctice one’s vocation as a preacher is one’s religious community. Timothy Radcliffe said: Religious communities are like ecological systems, designed to sustain strange forms of life. A rare frog will need its own ecosystem if it is flourish, and make its hazardous way from spawn to tadpole to frog. If the frog is threatened with extinction, then one must build an environment, with its food and ponds and a climate in which it can thrive.

St. Dominic de Guzman is a perfect portrait of a Preacher. Such image is projected onto the Constitutions and Ordination of the Friars preachers:  There is only one identifying sign, a type of genetic code if you will, for the members of the Order and the Dominican family; that is the preaching for the salvation of humanity (Fundamental Constitution V), the ministry of the Word, the mission of evangelization. The Fourth Lateran Council lamented, “no one is giving the bread of the Word to the faithful.” Dominic understood that herein lay the root of the problems of the Church in his time. He then decided that this would be his mission and that of his followers. Dominic conceived his foundation as a preaching project. He presented this propositum vitae to both Popes Innocent III and Honorius III for their approval. This project was presented in such a way that all of the elements of Dominican life would be inspired by the ministry of the Word and oriented in that direction.

The General Chapter, celebrated in Rome wished to remind the entire Dominican family, nuns, friars, apostolic sisters, and Dominican laity, of this identifying sign as we approach the Jubilee Year of 2016. The nuns, specifically dedicated to prayer, participate in the ministry of preaching, listening to the Word, celebrating it and proclaiming the Gospel through the example of their lives. This was the specific mission of the Order in a Church that was also in need of evangelization and in a world filled with opportunities but also with foolishness and much suffering. The importance of our mission demands that we make good use of the Word and of words.

Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium 27 says: I dream of a missionary option, that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. This was a prophetic intuition because the preaching of the Good News is the beginning of the process that leads to faith, to the conversion of a life that is lived centered in the Gospel, the building up of the Christian community, the humanizing of life in the style of Jesus.

Evagrius of Pontus provides a concrete image of what a theologian suppose to be. According to him, a theologian is one who"rests his head on the chest of Christ." It speaks of the indispensable prerequisite for any fruitful study of the Bible, a relationship with the Lord in the intimacy of prayer.

 Thus, we go back to the questions: Where do preachers get what they preach? How do preachers sustain their ministry? What powers up the preacher? How long does it take to prepare their homily? ANSWER: It takes a life-style. It takes a life-time. And the formula; Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are.  Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach, can serve as one’s guide to achieve such desired life-style.

GREAT THINGS START FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS

Great things start from small beginnings! This is a jiggle song being use my a popular chocolate drink. It is so popular that until now, since 1995, it is still in use. One of the probably reasons, perhaps, why this jiggle arrest the attention of the viewers is that speaks of a perennial truth in human life. Great things start from small beginnings.   

In 2004, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales inaugurated the Pondo ng Pinoy. It is a movement that aims to gather small donations like 25 centavos continuously from everyone, rich and poor alike, and from this fund, help the poorest of the poor in the country by poverty alleviating projects such as feeding, livelihood housing, scholarship programs. Pondo ng Pinoy’s motto speaks of the means it employs o realize its goal: Anumang magaling, kahit maliit, basta malimit, ay patungong langit. 25 centavos may seem to be too little and insignificant vis-à-vis the multi million transactions in our economy. What can a 25 centavo do? What can a little thing do?

In the gospel, the kingdom of God is likened to a yeast which a woman took to knead into three measures of flour, until the whole mass of dough began to rise. The kingdom of God is likened to a very little thing; to a microbial organism; very tiny; seemed to be insignificant. How can a tiny thing represent the grandeur of God’s kingdom?

God is fond of using small and insignificant things and persons to represent Him and His kingdom. Moses had a speech defect. He could hardly speak before people so much so that he needed a spokesperson. Jonah is faint hearted so much so that when God sent him to Nineveh to preach repentance to the Ninevites, he tried to escape. He came down to the history as the runaway prophet. Jesus chose to be born in a stable; a lowly place deprive of the opulence fit for His royal’ status as the King of kings. He chose uneducated fishermen, sinful tax collectors to be members of His preaching bureau. Peter who seemed to be boastful, rash tongued, wavering dedication and commitment to the Lord, and who denied Jesus three times, was chosen to be the first among the apostles. From the insignificance of this persons and things, God chose to show his magnificence.

Imagine! Small and insignificant things and persons able to transform other than themselves, more than themselves?!? Quite a paradox, if not contrary, to the world we live in today. In our world where importance lies on the biggest, largest, most powerful etc, the kingdom of God comes in little and small things. Our saints found the kingdom of God in small things in their lives. St. Therese encountered Jesus in the frying pan she washed. She was sometimes found in an ecstasy, her face rapt and beautiful, her rigid hands grasping the frying pan. St. Martin de Porres found solace in Jesus, by sweeping the floors of their convent in Peru. And St. Joseph Cupertino embraced the Blessed Mother in a broken statue, in a stable. From these little things, where the saints encountered God, they are able to inspired millions of Christian through generations. Small things yet powerful. Same is true with the little things in our life. We can find God in these little things. More so, we can bring God in this world in the little things we do; by simple gesture of greeting a person; Hello po. Kumusta?!? A word or a smile is often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul (St. Therese of Child Jesus). Never be ashamed to embrace the small  things given to us, the lowly positions and chores entrusted to us. Accept them and do them with great love. Remembering that it is in these small things that our strength lies (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).

Little things show their real true value by the way they perform. The yeast is a very tiny organism. In fact you can only see it through a microscope. Though little it may be, the yeast proves to be of great use in food processing. It can transform grape juice into wine, and leavened a flour to increase its mass. In ancient time, they though yeast poses a miraculous, almost magical, properties because of its capacity to transform the grape juice and flour, not until in 1860’s when Louis Pasteur saw the yeast through a microscope and explained its properties. The yeast is, indeed, a little thing that can do more than what is expected from it. Truly the yeast is tiny but terrible.  So is the kingdom of God.

But in order for the little things to unleash their potent effects, they have to be acted upon. The yeast of the Kingdom of God has to be chosen and mixed, kneaded with the flour, and proofing (waiting).

To choose and mix. The best quality product is achieved when the flour, water and yeast are used in proportions, each ingredient relative to the others is more important than the overall quantities. We have to choose and accept the kingdom of God in our lives. This entails understanding God’s message of love for us, and the knowledge of God’s commandment of love. Choosing and mixing the Kingdom of God in our lives demands the exclusion other elements in our life that may not be proportion in the way of life we wish to achieve.  

To knead. Kneading distributes the yeast evenly through the dough and develops and strengthens the gluten in the flour to form the framework of the bread. A well developed dough can be identified by pressing your finger (firmly) into the surface of the dough - if it springs back, it has been developed/kneaded sufficiently. Underdeveloped dough will result in a holey, crumbly texture and poorly structured bread. To knead the Kingdom of God in our lives is to spread it all aspect of our lives. To be a Christian does not only mean going in the Church every Sunday. It goes beyond our Sunday obligations. Our being Christian has to permeate in everything that we do. Love must pervade in the very lives we live. And we have to knead the yeast of the kingdom of God in all aspect of our lives, so that when trying times come, we will spring back for the Kingdom of God has been developed/kneaded sufficiently in our lives. 

To proof. When finished mixing and kneading, the dough is gently shape into round and place in a bowl, that is double the size of the dough to allow for expansion/proofing of the dough. Leave the dough to proof until it is double its original size. To totally allow the effect of yeast to take effect, there is the proofing period; a waiting time. We wait for the Kingdom of God to take effect and bear fruit in our lives. The mixing and kneading processes do not immediately bring us to the much-sought happiness. We have to wait until the right time when the yeast of the Kingdom of God allows us to expand; expand our capacity to love, expand our capacity to receive from the Lord, more so our capacity to give to others. Waiting can sometimes be boring. It can be for days, weeks, years, and even a lifetime; waiting for the Kingdom of God bear fruit in our lives. But we have to wait, remembering our work and very lives is not our own doing but of the Lord’s. Only God brings all that we do to perfection, in His time, in God’s time!

The process of choosing, mixing, kneading, and proofing of the yeast of the Kingdom of God in our lives; transforming ourselves in breads for other; may be an uncomfortable feeling. It will jolt us, shock us to our very core. It may demand giving up our caprices and personal choices. It can be a painful and sometimes boring unpleasant experience. But do not be afraid. The Lord is with us. Even before we become bread for others, the Lord had become bread of life for already. He knows the feeling. He will be careful with us. After all, it is the Lord who gently mixes the yeast of the Kingdom in our lives. It is the Lord who kneads the yeast into all aspects of our lives. It is with the Lord with whom we patiently wait for the yeast to take effect; for the kingdom of God to bear fruit in our lives; until the time we become breads that can sustains our brothers and sisters.