I must have been crying for three days in that retreat. They say it must've been that gift of tears... but just the mere mention of God, His goodness and His love or even the awareness of His presence do not usually fail to send tears running down my cheeks and I find it difficult to stop them. They seem to have a mind of their own.

One thing is clear here though that with these tears I can say over and over again how much I love God and I don't seem to mind how redundant and how repetitious it can be...it seems to make me feel better each time.

Emotional Honesty is not as simple as it appears to be. It requires a high degree of self-knowledge as well as a fairly strong dose of self-acceptance. Especially when we are dealing with paralyzing and strongly negative emotions like deep seated anger and generalized fears. Often times transcending one's personal situation is needed for us to see where we stand; although it helps if we listen and put into consideration the reactions of other people particularly those close to us. The damaging treatments that our ego has been put into has at times taken its toll on us so that we live as if everything is alright; just simply reacting to whatever comes before us which has in so many ways taken us into a vicious cycle of "feeding the monster" which is actually a child just needing tender but unconditional acceptance and affirmation.

"Deny your self, carry your cross and follow me,"-- this is what the Lord said. But the point is how can a person deny the self who is the source of one's will, intellect and one's very life. The hidden implication here is that there must first be transformation into a self that can open up to the life of Christ. . . a self that can be surrendered to Christ because unless one carries the Spirit of God within then one can in no way carry that cross; and much less to follow the Christ whom the self does not even recognize. Those words of Christ are for disciples not for those who were just about to know Christ or even for those about to develop a personal relationship with Him.

Why Do People Help Others?

1. They can't stand seeing others suffer
2. It's the right thing to do
3. They don't want to be in that situation
4. They feel guilty
5. They want to feel good
6. Just to prove something to one's self or to others
7. Life's already boring
8. Build up one's image
9. They have been told
10. Thanksgiving for blessings received
11. Public service
12. Philanthropy
13. Altruism
14. Golden Rule
15. Christ's commandment
16. Humanity's basic goodness
17. Settling some unfinished business
18. Love of God
19. Heavenly reward
20. Wash away one's sins
21. Ideology
22. Love for one's country
23. Preferential option for the poor
24. Serving the last, the least and the lost
25. Feeling heroic