Unawareness and Sin (FOR YOU)

Prayer: If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God. 15 Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave, for evil finds lodging among them. Maayong hapon sa tanan! Kumusta na? We have listened to many talks already and maybe we have not minded other people around us, except to listen to what God has to say to us in the talks, in the silence. Kinsay walay kaila dire pagsulod sa encounter except katong nag invite sa iyaha? I remember my first time to attend an encounter like this. I was invited by a couple friend Mandy and Mae Dilan and they had to go to Musuan because they also had a simultaneous activity there and ingon ko sa akong self, hala ako ra man isa dire... unsay buhaton sa silence? Unsay buhaton sa 3 days without you tube and facebook? But really, to realize that we are starting to enjoy the reflections; we are beginning to enjoy the silence; and we are beginning to become aware of the joy that our seatmates transcend to us. Kung mangatawa atong abay, makakatawa pud ta no? This is what Bembem has been saying to us earlier. Listening to her, she said that we are the members of the body of Christ and Christ is the Head. If we have a headache, all the other parts of our body are affected. We influence one another and also the head. In many ways, we are interconnected. And in the last talk, we were invited, we were called to become lifegiving members of the body of Christ. Because nowadays, we see life being wasted and thrown away. We see violence, physical and sexual abuse, depression, rivalry. And now that classes has resumed, a new school year has opened, we also see the realities of the youth. In their innocence and naive thinking, they are usually the ones caught in the middle of these sad circumstances. Nag away si papa og si mama kagabii kay hubog si papa. Gikulata niya si mama. Wala na lang ko nangayo og baon kay basin makulatahan pud ko. Wala na lang ko gisulod sa klase kay wala koy baon Dili na lang ko mag engineering kay buros na

pud si mama, mahal ang tuition. Ayha ra ko mag college kung ma angkon na namo ang yuta na gibilin ni lolo og lola para namo. Kana kung buhi pa si nanay kay nagtinigbasa pa man silang auntie og uncle kinsay makatag-iya sa yuta." Murder. People kill each other in order to grab something for themselves. Child trauma. Usually ang mga bata and gaka trauma sa atong mga wrong decisions. And its really sad. I came across a video on Teen Statistics. It says there that suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens, three out of ten girls will become pregnant before the age of twenty, in two hours at least forty teens will run away from home, one out of five teenagers feel like their parents dont care, four out of ten teenagers use illegal drugs. And in the middle of all these realities, Jesus is saying I am thirsty. Gi uhaw ko He is thirsty of our love, he is thirsty for our unity, he is thirsty for our collaboration to peace. Di ba in a family, we should be taking care of one another and not fight over the inheritance that our forefathers have left us. Jesus is thirsty of this. He is thirsty for our unity. He is thirsty for our life-giving collaboration in His body. We dont want to be cancerous cells. Di ba we want to be healthy cells in His body. So tinood no, this is the innermost desire of our hearts. Lord from the bottom of my heart, gusto kong bumait pero? Di ko magawa. We want to be a life-giving member in the body of Christ but we are powerless. I remember when I was accompanying my father in Manila to have different opinions or consultations with doctors about his back ache many years ago or many pounds ago (because I was healthier back in my early 30s), we went to this hospital. We were waiting for this one particular doctor unya dugay sya gitunga. So I had to buy something for my papa to eat while waiting. While riding the elevator down to the lobby, we stopped at a floor wherein someone at a critical condition had to be transported somewhere. The person helping the sick person had too many to bring. And I said to myself, maybe I can bring some of the things for him para dili sya maglisud. So gikuha nako ang uban iyang gipangdala. Then the elevator alarm went off. I saw the sign: the maximum weight that this elevator can carry is only 3,400 pounds. And we were like 34 people inside. And I was one of the people who boarded who was a little healthy. So they were

all looking at me with a questioning look. So I had to give some of the things I wanted to help carry back to the person and stepped out of the elevator. Yes its true, we wanted to be life-giving members of Jesus body but we cannot. We wanted to help but we do not have the power to. We are too weak, too powerless, too lacking. Lord I want to help, I want to give, I want to be a healthy cell in your body. But many times, we are weak, we are sick, we are restricted and limited. We wanted to be obedient and humble. One way to become a life-giving member in Christs body is to practice obedience and humility in front of our elders and the people whom God gives authority over us. Unsaon man to become an obedient life-giving member in the body of Christ? I dont know if you have experience this. If ma touch atong pride, kung mu ulbo atong kaspa. We want to obey pero.. Hmmp.. bahala ka diha! Hayahay ba nimo! Kaila ba ka kinsa imong gisugo? No, I will not obey, I will not bow down at your command. We wanted to be obedient and humble but we dont have the strength. In the same manner, we lack the strength to be sincere and true to ourselves that many of us, we live a double standard life. We say one thing and yet, we do another thing. Or we do one thing yet, we say another thing. Kumusta bai? Ok bat a? Ayo ayo ha. Dungan sa pagtapik sa abaga. Pagtalikod, manghiwi.. dah tu-a! Merisi! Maayo ra pud nahitabo to sa iyaha!Like, we wanted to say the right thing but what comes out of our mouth is completely the opposite. Have you experienced that? Like we have no power over what is true and sincere that we have to wear a mask instead of becoming transparent. Like when we wanted to end a vice. We wanted to end internet pornography, we wanted to put an end to an illicit affair or extramarital affair but we cannot. We just dont have the strength to do it. Do you know the song Please release me? Please release me, let me go. For I dont? Love you anymore. To waste our lives would be a? Sin. Release me and let me love again. As I was preparing this talk, I was crying. I remembered someone I know who left her husband and was thinking that time of filing an annulment. And then I pity the husband because he told me, Gubot na gyud akong utok. Bisan unsaon nako pangulitawo sa iya og usab, fix na daw gyud iyang mind na bulagan ko. Kani akong kaila, she was really hardworking and a

nice person. Maski ako nalibog ko asa nasayop iyang bana. One day, because she brings her child to school and waits for the child the whole day, she met this yaya who told her she wanted to meet a foreigner online but that she doesnt know how to chat in the internet. At first, she just wanted to help the yaya. She taught the yaya how to meet someone online. So gidala niya ang yaya friend sa internet cafe and did the chatting on behalf of her kay gamay ra daw iyang kabaw-an na iningglis. She was able to chat with a 47-year old American for the yaya. And then she found herself slowly enjoying chatting with this man that she had to escape from the yaya to really chat with this man alone. And then one night, gi ingnan lang niya iyang bana og kalit. She wanted to end the relationship. She said she was just lonely and found the attention of this other man more enjoyable. The husband did not agree but she still packed her things and moved out from their house. This situation not only brought depression to the husband but this also brought confusion to their child. The separation of his dad and mom traumatized him, asking why nganong ipasa-pasa sya every week from one parent to another. And this leads us to ask, why infront of temptations we are too weak and powerless? Too weak that we cannot resist? Too powerless to say no to the call of enticement. In Isaiah 5:1-4 (The Song of the Vineyard) 1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Why are we easy to give in to our tendencies when we have been given much talent, capabilities, logical thinking, gifts, moral wisdom to weigh things? Ngano aslom gihapon tan a mga grapes? Gi unsa nato og abot ani na sitwasyon? How did we end up in this mess? Katong husband sa akong kaila, he asked me, Asa man ko nasayop? Ngano nahitabo man ni sa amo? And I remember the time I went to Enchanted Kingdom with my cousins and titas. Do you know where that theme park is?

How many of you have gone there? Di ba there are a lot of ride and attractions? I got so carried away with all its attractions (kay wala gyud to tanan sa among bukid), I was so anxious to check one ride after another that I realized I went too far from my companions and then I got lost! What is the lesson of this story in our ordinary lives? The lesson for us is that everyday we are being offered rides and attractions! The ride and attraction of bakak. Lami gyud kaayo ning mamakak ba. Its fun to lie that we go from one ride of lie to another and then we realize we are lost. First it starts with white lies. Adto sa among retreat ha? Oo, i-try lang gyud nako ha. We find ourselves saying this too often but this is only half-truth kay we are afraid people might get hurt if we tell them the truth. But the reality is, we want to give ourselves the option.. either we will do it or will not do it. Or kung naa tay bisita, mu ingon ta Feel at home lang mo. Unya kung pagsigop sa sabaw pina slurp gyud og kinamot gyud, maka ingon man lagi, unsa man to imong bisita oy. So, do not say it unless you mean it. Ingon pa nila, be careful little mouth what you say. I remember a story. Story ni Juan dela Cruz. Grabe kayod ni Juan namaligya sa merkado. Lipay sya ni uli sya na daghan iyang halin. As he was walking home nag ihap sya sa iyang kwarta. Unya kay kusog man ang hangin, nilupad ang isa ka paper bill unya nahulog sa lawom kaayo na atabay. Di gyud sya kabalo unsaon og kuha. So nag pray sya sa Ginoo. Lord, tabangi k okay nahulog akong kwarta sa atabay. Pagkahuman niya og ampo, naay nigawas kamot sa atabay gitunulan sya og 1 thousand bill. Ingon si Juan, dili man na mao akong kwarta. So ning disappear ang kamot unya ningbalik gitunulan sya og 5 hundred. Unya ingon si Juan, oo 500 tong nahulog nako na kwarta. Unya kay nalipay ang Gino okay honest kaayo si Juan gi doble ang iyahang 500 kay reward daw to niya kay honest siya. So pag-abot niya sa ilahang balay, gi storyahan niya iyang asawa sa nahitabo. Pag sure oy. Di ko mu tuo nimo Juan. Dali ra gud ubani ra gud ko aning atabay. Pag abot nila didto sa atabay, gi check up sa asawa ni Juan kung tinood ba gyud, gilili niya ang atabay unya og sa dihang paglili niya, nahulog ang asawa sa atabay. Nakuyawan si Juan. So nag pray na pud si Juan sa Ginoo. Lord tabangi k okay nahulog akong asawa sa atabay. Ning gawas na pud tong kamot sa atabay gitunulan si Juan og gwapa kaayo na babae na naay

Ms. Philippines title. Ingon si Juan, dili mana mao akong asawa. Ikaduha gitunulan sya sa kamot og mas gwapa pa gyud na babae, si Ms. Universe. Ingon si Juan, O mao ni. Mao ni akong asawa! So ingon si Lord kang Juan, namakak ka Juan. Kabalo ko na dili ni mao imong asawa. Tubag si Juan, Sorry kaayo Lord ha. Kabalo man gyud ko na dili maayo mamakak pero kaganina katong gi doble nimo akong kwarta kay honest ko, nahadlok ko doblehon pud nimo akong asawa. Di naman gani ko kaagwanta kung magyawyaw akong asawa na isa lang, doblehon pa nimo! So be careful little mouth what you say! White lies can lead to big lies. The so called little things can ruin our lives because our character is shaped by the small, daily decisions that we make when it comes to what we think, speak, or do. But everybody lies, Lord. Its normal. Mine is only a white lie. Theirs is worse. We justify ourselves. Maayo kaayo tan a mga abogado ani. Until we become great liars. And we go back to the little girl who got lost in the theme park. That little girl is us. The many ride and attractions of Hitachi. Himantayon, tabian og chismoso/chismosa. Backbiting, gossiping, chismiz. Lami pud kaayo manglibak. At first, tapok tapok lang ang barkada- to catch up on things, to chill, to unwind. Mingaw man ang payag. Mingaw man gyud. Taod taod sugod na ang krimen. oy kabalo ka si kuan na kuan ni kuan. Hala! Mao ba? Then bibo na kaayo, nag lami na ang libak. Then musakay ta from one ride of libak to another until we get lost. Be careful little ears what we hear. Tungod kay mahilig ta sige panlibak, normal na pud sa ato to judge others, to smell the stinky odour of our neighbours wrongdoings. Oy I smell something fishy! Kabalo baka na nagpa tint og sakyanan si kuan? Si kuan ba katong ingon nimo na naay kabit. We are quick to smell the stink in others without realizing our mouth is nearer to our nose. How about us? Cant we smell the stench of our own mouth? Do we put tint in our own lives in order to hide the darkness of our soul, to conceal the stiffness of our hearts? The many ride and attractions of stealing. Kupit og kwarta sa bag ni mama. Ma mangayo ko plete. Ingon si mama, kuha lang sa akong bag kay naligo pako. Kuha dayon ta og nanampiling na Ninoy. That amount of kupit we will no longer be contented next time if we get off the hook. Next time muingon si mama kuha lang

sa akong pitaka kay naglaba pako, 1 thousand na gyud ang kuhaon dili nata makuntento og 500. Unya kusog kaayo ta manaway sa atong gobyerno na corrupt gapamulsa og kwarta dili ila. How about us? How is our action infront of the money? The many ride and attractions of pornography. We just type the word love in Google and everything comes out. Mugawas dayon tong mga maanindot na ingon pa sa mga lalake vitamins sa mata. It targets our pleasure. And then we are not satisfied with these sexy photos only and so we go to porn movies. Be careful little eyes what you see. It targets the pleasure that it can stimulate us until we become addicted, until we deliberately become willful to do it, until we lose our true identity. And so we see ourselves and others as objects of pleasure and not as people of God, as temples of the Holy Spirit. The enticing ride and attractions of bad vicesgames. Napilit na gyud ang sampot ni dodong og ni inday sa computer chair. Nag sige na lang og toplok sa keypads kay nag games tibook adlaw. Tawgon di maminaw. Dili na halos mukaon kay nabusog na sa Dotta, Ragnarok, Candy crushers og uban pa. Dili masugo, dili mastorya, dili matangtang ang panan-aw sa screen pero ang assignments of homework nag tapok pa gipadaplin kay top priority ang games. Be careful little fingers what you touch. How do we invest our time? Do we put more value on the virtual games more than the main game called LIFE, the real game called LOVE? And so we need to be careful with all our senses, those little eyes, those little ears, those little hands what it can do. The destruction that it can do. The small cracks in the integrity of our life built overtime may lead to destruction. It is very much similar to a bridge. The structural damage accumulates over years of use. Sa premero, maybe wala pa syay sign of damage pero sa sige agi-an og mga truck og mga awto, it will start to ruin. Just like atong akong kaila, when she decided to keep on chatting, sa sige agi agi sa sala sa iyahang bridge, ni decide sya to end her marriage, everything was ruined, her relationship with her husband, her son, the business. Similarly, our conscience is like our bridge to God. In our conscience, God speaks to us but it can be ruined over time if we continue to let our sins pass us by. We

hear His voice in our conscience when we are allured with the many ride and attractions we see or hear. Dont ride that! Its bad! Ayaw na buhata, dili na maayo! It will hurt you, it will destroy you. God speaks to us everyday from within us, in our conscience, dont ride, just ignore those attractions. But just like when our parents yawyaw, we just shut the doors of our ears or literally close the door at their faces. So yawyaw si God and we shut Him off and then until it hardens our conscience that we dont hear Him anymore. Anyway Lord, everybody is doing it. Its normal. And then we cant hear the voice of God anymore. Nakublan na atong conscience. Our conscience is already numb, dili na madutlan atong conscience. Because of sinning more and more, we become used to it. Nakasulay namo anang nakublan mo? Sa una katong kinder pako, daghan kaayo ipa trace among teachers og ipasulat. Unya sakitan gyud ko kung prolonged writing na kadumdom ko mureklamo ko sa akong mama, ma sakit na kaayo akong kamot tungod sa friction sa lapis sa akong middle finger. But after awhile, I didnt feel the pain anymore. Kay nakublan na akong tudlo. And now I love writing so much, hangtod karon naa pa gihapon ang kubal na ebidensya sa akong tudlo. And thats what happens to our conscience also. It becomes callouse conscience. Daily practice of sin makes our conscience callouse that we dont feel sins wrongness and abnormality anymore. What is wrong, we make it right. What is abnormal, we think of it as normal. Exploitation of workers? Normal! Naburos before naminyo? Ay daghan sa among silingan og paryente. Normal na na karon oy! Hoy namakak baya ko gahapon! Survival lang na dire sa kalibutan oy, normal ran a. Is it okay? Is it normal? I remember in my childhood, all of us cousins we gather in our ancestral home. My lolas house was near the sea. The older cousins, they would jump to the sea, unya mu salom sila paingon sa lawom. But then, we the younger ones would stay in the shallow water and cling to the floaters para mu lutaw lang mi. And then one time, it was high tide and I felt bored always being left in the shore. And I see my older cousins doing freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke that I was enticed to go to the deep waters. And then I did not notice a smaller cousin also tagging along. And then I dont remember what happened, wala na sya nakakapot sa board that she grabbed me also. Sa akong ka panic, I also lost

grip of my own board. So kaming duha nalumos. She was pulling me down to gasp for air. I drank a lot of water. Unya ako pud I was also struggling for my life. The next thing I remembered, nakamata na lang ko sa balay sa akong lola. I lost consciousness. Nabaw-an na lang nako, naninggit na diay sila pagkalunod namo. Si Angel og si Honey gakalumos! And then it was my brother who grabbed us, but we already passed out. Akong magulang nag save sa among duha. I think it was not yet our time to die. Daghan na gyud ko misfortunes pero Im still here- akong kinabuhi murag s iring, sobra pa sa 9 lives. As they say, bad grass lives longer. Masamang damo, matagal mamatay. So, I lost my conscience. And sometimes doing bad, committing sins, in the beginning it entice us, it seduce us. It promises us happiness, enjoyment but then little by little our sins drown us. Little by little gakalumos nata sa atong mga sala. And then unconsciously, we pull others down with us. Mandalahig pa gyud ta sa uban paingon sa ilalom. We drown others with our own sins. And its true that in all these realities, we know that God speaks to us but we cant hear him anymore. When I was drowning my cousins were shouting but their voices were fading in the background because I lost my consciousness. And sometimes in our lives, committing one sin after another and we are little by little losing our consciousness. We are living in a comatose condition. We are alive but we have tubes in our bodies. Is that normal? To live a comatose life? Everythings normal. When someone asks us, kumusta? Im okay, my familys okay, my friends are okay, my work is okay. Are we really okay? Maybe we are still breathing but the tubes in our bodies restrict us from walking freely. We are slaves to our vices, perhaps we are slaves to our work. I remember someone I know. She seemed to live a normal life. She worked hard for her family. She was hardworking that her world revolved in her work. Kay puro man work, work, work, katong nawala iyang work, she also wanted to end her life. So naghikog sya, she tried to overdose herself. This is not normal. God is crying out to us, wake up! Wake up from your unconsciousness! Wake up from being drowned! At that moment when I was drowning with my cousin, akong

magulang ang nag save nako. And today God is the one saving us... saving us from that sea, that sea of sin. He was our floater but we lost our grip, we allowed ourselves to let go. So he is coming to us again and he is swimming towards us to save us, he gave up his life for our sake. But again and again he wanted to get us out from this sea of sin. Sin is disconnecting ourselves from God. What is sin? Tulo ka letter lang. Sin S-I-N. Sala. What is sin? Is sin merely breaking the commandments of God? Partly yes. I know some of you wants to go to confession. When we confess our sins, unahon nato atong mga pinaka bug-at na mga sala ayha ang mga hagkap. But everytime we confess, we find ourselves confessing the same sins over and over again. These are what we call favourite sins. Balik balik kay paborito man. But we find ourselves committing the same sins again and again because sin is not only breaking the law but it is disconnecting from God. Do you remember the story of the Prodigal Son? The younger son- he moved out from his fathers house but the bible did not just say he went away. Katong ingon ang younger son, pa, gusto nako kwaon akong mana, akong inheritance More specifically, the bible used the adjective distant country. When we sin, we are like the younger son also. We want to be distant from God, when we sin, were saying I dont need you anymore God. I dont want to do anything with you from now on. And somehow kung mapalayo ta, when we sin, we are hurt. Kinsa man dinhi na nakasala na wala nasakitan sa iyang nahimo no? It hurts us, it hurts the people we love and more importantly, it hurts God. You see, sin is real. Tinood ang sala. We may not see it but it is real and we also see that the effects of these are real. Although we romanticize the cross, Ay si Jesus naa sa cross gipakamatyan ta Although we romanticize the cross, it is our sins that nailed him on the cross. It is our sins which brought Jesus there. Sin is always a threat. Hagit ni sya pirmi ang sala. Its like a quick sand. You know whats a quick sand? Di ba makita na nato sa movies og tv no. A quicksand is like a living creature, pwede ta suyupon up to sa iyang bottomless pit unya malumos ta ani the more that we struggle to move out. Pwede ta mamatay. Sin is like a quicksand na kung ma trap ta ani, it can be the end of us.

We also must not forget that we are not the end of ourselves. Yes, sin is real. Sin is what nailed Jesus on the cross but it is not the whole reality. Jesus did not remain on the cross. This is also the disposition that we are invited to choose today. Do not remain in your fall. Learn to get up. In getting up, we are saying that Gods mercy is greater than our sins. And when I was presenting to God katong situation sa akong kaila ba. If you remember katong akong kaila who wanted to break up her marriage with her husband because of another man. Unya in the middle of that one mistake, her husband is ready to give up his life also because he found his life empty not knowing where he had done wrong. Gusto na sya mu commit og suicide. I remember my prayer, So Lord, what do you say about this? And he said to me, I remember what he said to me because it really struck me. Angel, I had already lost the other half. I had made them one, I had united them as man and wife but now it is about to be wasted. I cannot afford to lose the other half as well. You see, God cannot afford to lose any of us. He cannot afford that we end up broken and wasted. This retreat is FOR YOU because He cannot allow that you throw away your life in sin! Ambot kung natugkad nab a niyo ning FOR YOU. But FOR YOU, God is willing to extend his mercy over and over again. He never gets tired of forgiving us. It is us who gets tired of asking for forgiveness. Katong akong kaila ba, she already went to the sacrament of reconciliation and she really wanted to be forgiven. She really wanted to be given the grace to start all over again. And she was given that. She claimed that grace to be given a new life and now she is free. Perhaps she is still living an imperfect life now. She sometimes fall into sin from time to time but she knows already. She knows that if she can only be humble enough to ask for forgiveness, she will be forgiven. She is standing here in front of you. Me and my husband were happily married for 14 years now. We still have problems every day but we know the power of defeating sin. Let me end my talk with this analogy. Naa toy kas-a nahulog na piso sa among bowl sa among CR. Wala gyud mo pudyot sa among duha ni Alvin kay naay ihi and all the grossness in life. Luod kaayo naa sa bowl. In our lives also, sometimes we can be

stinky, we can feel so gross, so dirty and unworthy because of sin and its effects. But in the eyes of God, we are still the same. Our value never changes.

SCHOOL OF TALK: Cookie Jesus thirst - Rides, go against the current - Is 5: 1-4 sour grapes - Example what is abnormal becomes normal - Sin disobedience - Foundation disobedience passage Gams foundation passage - Ways of giving not to enjoy the sin - Link taas - Content ok max 45 mins. Regner fruit- he saw his sins - Link ok (we are invited to be part of the body.. did you help? Are you part of the body? Or are you the reason naka guba sa body) - Invite the people to be more serious - The story of the vineyard (to summarize the ideal) - We are blind and we did not recognize Gods love - It is because of our sins - Sins of youth, couple - Sin process + ginagmay paingon sa dinagko - Consequences of sins

- How about you? Do you want to be free? Bong talk before - Summary of Ideal - All positive - Contrast life & love w/ mystical body (shorten) - Sin symptoms - of talk 2nd point - Sin part (old talk was better) - Arrange wherein sin is longer than unawareness (sin 20 mins. ; unawareness 10 mins)