At this time, Sheer Reflection dot com is forwarded to my blogger account in preparation for our oncoming vacation. Please bear with some changes henceforth. Thank You.

< ?php bloginfo('version'); ?>

Delight yourself in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
PSALM 37:4

This and other selected joyful promises in the Bible from the book entitled “Joy for the Journey”, compiled and edited by Terry Gibbs can be found on my other page-- Expressions. The scriptures talk about Life’s little moments, friendship, positive living, contentment, finding joy, comfort and courage from the Word of God. I'll update it from time to time. And also, my collection of poetry can be found at the same site.

I added two other sites from the main page aside from the one mentioned above, its called E-Forward and E-Padala, a collection of articles and messages (english and tagalog respectively) circulating around the globe forwarded by friends and family. Oftentimes, I find no time forwarding it to other friends, so I just had to compile them and keep them at one place. Moreoften, you'll find several articles had been read before, or have come across with, but then again, I feel I also had to share these links so you would know where to find any in case you've already deleted some of your fave. Thanks and Have a wonderful week ahead.

You're the root of my existence, you gave me license to live.
You put your life at risk when Im about to come out, you guided my life throughout.
Until you get old, you stood by me whenever I fall.
It comes with the name, whatever befalls.

You sat there in the rocking chair, soothe me while crying until I fall to sleep.
You sat up all night in your arms you comfort me when I am sick.
You nourish me with love only You and I could understand.
You're the best mom ever, its God's planned.

You're touch so tender, keeps me warm when Im cold
You whisper like a thunder it echoes thru my soul
Your words a doze of strength, arose my spirit whole
The feeling is mutual, nobody could control.

Tears of Joy, Tears of sorrow, shed all the way to save me.
You are the woman I respect for wisdom and age
You are the fountain of love, a lesson to live
You make me the frontpage you humbly give.

Not everyone of us were blessed to have parents that are responsible enough to take courage in raising a child with enormous love and values. They say that it takes a village to raise a child. This ancient African proverb teaches eternal truth but it doesn't apply to what we experience today. Instead of feeling good, we are bound to look for a safety place to live without crime and corruption around, a place where we could raise a better life for kids. But there are also kids raised in a beautiful home, surrounded by glamorous things and yet depressed and broken inside. I believe that as a parent, the title comes with a big duty to perform according to what is right and setting the values of what we truly believe in and focus in the needs and wants of the family. Listening is still important, Communication is a must.

I am very happy to say that I am equally blessed to have a wonderful Mother with exceptional maternal love and tenderness and to have a kid to raise on our own little ways. I have learned so much from them, and now its my turn to inculcate these values that I have learned thru hands-on experience to my daughter. She is uniquely precious, very smart and put tremendous smile unto our faces. I just hope I could surpass the things my mom had taught me in life and just be at least equally good mom to Denyse. Thank You Nay for everything. I love you so much!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! You're blessed!

Note: This poem and the rest of my poetry can be found at Expressions. To visit the site, click here.
~ o ~

From Howard Johnson (c. 1915)
"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,

Put them all together, they spell
"MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.

On April 19, 2005, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected as the new pope after four rounds of voting in 24 hours-- one of the fastest conclaves in 100 years. Elected as the eighth german pope at 78, he was the oldest pope since Clement XII at the start of his papacy. The last pope Benedict XV was an Italian who served as pope from 1914 to 1922 and reigned during World War I. The present pope chose the same name as Benedict XV-- known to help refugees and reunite a world divided by what was then known as the Great War. If he is somehow an immitation of Benedict XV, will he also become an emissary of peace?

Just as the pontificate of Benedict XV began prior to World War I, it is predicted that the Pontificate of Benedict XVI will occur prior to World War III-- a failure to achieve world peace just like Benedict XV, will occur during his papacy. Its been predicted that during this war, Arab nations will will threaten and attack the United States; they will threaten, attack, invade and conquer Europe; they will threaten, attack, invade and conquer the northern part of Africa. It is also predicted that Pope Benedict XVI will die prior to, or at the very beginning of, World War III. Therefore, he will die in either 2009 or 2010. A very brief reign to accomplish the tasks of peace-making.

Prediction remains as strong as ever and is an important part of almost every aspect of human life. Its how people foretell things on the basis of observation, experience and several other reasons. Exaggerated as it seems, many Roman Catholics became more interested when a list came up regarding the most famous and best known prophecies about the popes. It is based on the predictions made by Saint Malachy O'Morgair, Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland who listed 112 future popes around 1139 AD, each described by a phrase in Latin except for the last Pope which was given a long apocalyptic description instead of brief expression.

On the list, Pope #109 and #110 fits perfectly with Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II respectively. "From half of the Moon", this is the phrase given pertaining to Pope John Paul I. Its been said that the four phases of the moon--new moon, first quarter, full moon and last moon are often last about a week each. From his election on August 26, 1978, he served only 33 days until his death on September 28, 1978--a little more than the length of one lunar cycle. Half moon appears during the first and last quarter. "From the Labor of the Sun", this is the phrase he gave for Pope #110. During Pope John Paul II papacy, he was considered the most traveled pope in history. Just like Sun, it travels around the earth, and so does John Paul II to the world. Remarkably, this pope fits on St. Malachy's phrase.

But what about the successor of Pope John Paul II-- Pope Benedict XVI, the 111th pope on the list? According to St. Malachy, the pope will be “From the Glory of the Olive”, a prophetic phrase that has several meanings. The olive branch is a well-known symbol of peace, will he really become an emissary of peace? This pope will reign during the beginning of tribulation of Jesus. On one of his post, Ron Conte of Catholics Only groups added that Pope Benedict XVI is mentioned in Sacred Scripture, in a hidden way. "The passage in the Gospels about the transfiguration of Christ describes an exchange between Peter and Christ, talking to Elijah and Moses--signifying the transfiguration of the Church in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI will suggest the building of three places in Jerusalem for three religions-- Judaism, Christianity and Islam so that these religions can worship in peace in the city of peace. However, Jews will decide to build the Third temple of Jerusalem in 2009 but the pope's suggestion to have all three religions worship in Jerusalem in peace will not take place for many years not until the 2040's." Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known as Olivetans will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil.

The last of these prophecies concerns the second pope after John Paul II who is the Pope #112. It talks about the end of the world. He gave this description instead of phrase: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there shall reign Peter the Roman who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the terrible judge will judge the people.” Then who is Peter the Roman? Will he reaffirm Rome as the proper seat of authority in the Church and require the faithful to acknowledge “the holy, Catholic, and apostolic Roman Church as the mother and teacher of all churches.”? Is the seven-hilled city mentioned the city of Rome which not only has seven hills, but also is divided into seven Roman Catholic dioceses? Did St. Malachy predicts that the city of Rome will be destroyed during the Pontificate of the Pope called Peter the Roman?And will there be more subsequent popes? Will it be true that in order to begin a long period of peace and holiness on earth, Christ will return at the end of the Antichrist's reign?Will the Church be without a Pope for seven years prior to the Return of Christ?

These are the questions left unanswered for the phrases and descriptions left unfulfilled. Prophecy is hard especially predicting that of the future. Followers oftentimes forgot one's prophecy remembering mainly those that happened to come true just like what St. Malachy had listed on Pope#109 and #110. There are those who make predictions and there are those who call themselves prophets but there is no other book on Earth that can compare with the bible when it comes to fulfilled prophecy. More often, some predictions made are so clouded by confusing language that can be twisted to mean just about anything. We don't know exactly what is going to happen. We can only speculate and keep our eyes open as we move through this bizarre period of time. Being raised and taught in the Roman Catholic way of life, it is always my belief that Christ is the true head of the one holy Catholic Church. The Pope is merely His servant and ours. I also truly believe that when the Pope turns to speak officially on the matters of faith and morals, he speaks infallibly because he is protected by God from making mistake. We must acknowledge that whatever he'll deliver for the good of the people is in high regard with God's Will. And besides, God will always be there to protect us.

The complete article about the Future and the Pope, read here.

Several days after Google increased their webmail storage from one to two gigabytes, I wondered whatelse could I make use of my free invites and huge amount of email space. One year ago, Google released this search-based webmail service called Gmail. It has distinctive features that include a labeling system, a spam reporter and a system for filtering your mail as it comes into your inbox. They're currently offering Gmail as part of a preview release and limited test, that's why not everyone could get it unless you have invites from friends and family. Today, those accounts that I had previously setup have now at least 50 invites coupled by multiple accounts so roughly, I've got at least hundreds of invites left. Not so long ago, I remember they even offer gmail account on ebay for 50 to 100 dollars or some even trade it for cookies or something just to get one.

Just recently, I got inspired with this post on how to maintain Notes using gmail. The concept is to email yourself with some notes and Gmail will handle these emails and organize them for you using their filtering system. Of course, not everyone would like to email themselves but the point is, we could make use of this free email and use it as a private tool to keep important notes. So if you're feeling down or high, grumpy or happy, some ideas pop up into your mind and you need to write down a list, email it to yourself!

What I did basically is to setup an account and use it as a journal. Yes, a journal using Gmail. But before setting up an account, list down the categories you'll include in that journal. For my journal, I signed up an account using XXX.journal[at]gmail[dot]com. The next thing that I did is set up nine additional accounts for my categories. It could be named as links, life, ideas, goals, notes or whatever you'd like it to be called as long as its gonna be part of XXX.journal[at]gmail[dot]com. To make things easier in setting up additional accounts, add the category name at the end of your main journal username, that would be XXX.journal.links[at]gmail[dot]com, XXX.journal.life[at]gmail[dot]com, XXX.journal.ideas[at]gmail[dot]com and so forth.

The next step is to create labels and filters inside XXX.journal[at]gmail[dot]com. Go to settings, Labels, create a new label-- links, life, ideas, goals, notes, etc. These will serve as the category listing for my journal. Then create filters for the categories. From settings, go to Filter, click on create a filter, choose search criteria-- To, write XXX.journal.ideas[at]gmail[dot]com, press Next Step, check Skip the Inbox(archive it), check the box before Apply the Label(drop down menu) Choose label Ideas . You need to do this filter for all the other eight categories I mentioned. The filters will be applied to all incoming mail from this set of category. So basically, anything that you email to any of these categories will be automatically forwarded and archived to these labels as long as its part of the filtering system. You now have a journal using Gmail containing all the posts you want to keep archived in each label(like categories) and they are completely private and searchable.

Be sure to add the 9 other emails to your contacts at xxx.journal[at]gmail. To import the addresses, I used OpenOffice by creating a spreadsheet for the list of contacts for my journal categories. I used three headings: First Name, Last Name and Email. Follow Google's instructions for more information. After importing the csv file, typing a new message from your main journal in the "to" line is easier because it will list all my journal categories, all I have to do is pick amongst the list and type the subject and my journal entry then it will be archived automatically to the labels created.