Pennies from Heaven

You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about..

Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the home of her husband's employer.
My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.

The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. Her husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant one evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband..
He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.
Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.
He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure.
How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?



"Look at it," he said. "Read what it says."
She read the words, " United States of America .."

"No, not that. Read further."

"One cent?"
"No, keep reading."

"In God we Trust?"
"Yes!"
"And?.. . .."

"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin.. Whenever I find a coin, I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him. Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray. I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!"

When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk.. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. "Yes, God, I get the message!"

It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And,

God is patient.

----------------


Always Trust in God..
His Love never fails.



May your life be truly blessed,

Ash

A Child

From this day and to the coming weeks, our country will celebrate many festivals in many different province around the whole country. All of this festivals is made in honor of the Sto. Niño.

There are many kinds of image of Sto. Niño in our country, all are reflecting what kind of life each one has.

When is the devotion in Sto. Niño begun?

---

When Teresa de Jesus of Avila was asked to reform the carmelite order of nuns, together with st. John of the cross, they decided that the reformation must begun immediately.This is to avoid the nuns from living with so much wealth and prestige and for them to live back to a simple life as a servant of God.
Then Teresa made a group which she called the discalced order of the carmelite. discalced means go in barefoot.She knows that because of this the wealthy people inside the convent may get angry to her. But she pursue doing it because she knew it was the right thing to do.

Then one day, Teresa went back to their old monastery in Avila.
She was surprised when she entered in the monastery and she saw a little boy playing a ball. She asked herself, how this boy come inside this place? because only the sisters are allowed to enter the monastery. Then he asked the child, "What is your name?".
the boy only smiled at her and continue playing.
but she asked again, "What is your name?".
the boy looked at her and also asked her, "you, what is your name?".
Teresa answered with the name she chose when she became a nun, "I am Teresa of Jesus".
and the boy answered, "then, I am Jesus of Teresa".
the boy ran and suddenly disappear.

Teresa decided to make an image of a little boy Jesus, so that all the sisters will continue to be reformed.
In this child we will see His poverty, his lowliness, his sense of doing the will of God, that is why he became a man.

---

That is how the first sto. Niño appeared.

It is an invitation for us to asked ourselves, "Am I belong to Jesus?"

The original image of the child Jesus that was made for Teresa, can now be found in the Czech Republic, in the city of Prague. That is the Sto. Nino de Prague, the original image of Sto. Niño.

Here in our country, we all know when is the first image of sto. Nino came from.
When the Spaniards came and they baptized the first Filipino Christians, one of those to be baptized happened to be the daughter of the Datu, a princess. And as a gift they decided to give her a beautiful gift, the first Sto. Niño ever that was given to the Filipinos. Which remains to be the Sto. Niño de Cebu.

Truly, it is good to see that we have our own image of the child Jesus in our home, even in our business area there is a sto.nino.

Today, let me advice you this,
Go, put clothes on your sto.Nino, decorate it, put coins on it, put candies on it, there is no problem with that.
Its good that you owned this sto. Nino, that you make yourselves close to them.
But please dont forget that the story does not end there.
That we may also say, "I am Ash of Jesus"
and Jesus may say to us, "I am Jesus of Ash".

In this feast of the Sto. Niño,
feel good, feel happy and say "I have a Sto Nino in my home, it is mine. but I pray too that Jesus will say, they are also mine because I belong to them as they belong to me".

That devotion to the child Jesus challenges us to be like Him in obedience to the Father.
The Sto. Nino challenges us to be like Him, pleasing to God.
once you understand that, you understood the true meaning of this devotion.



Please do not forget the meaning of that devotion,

that one day, we may truly be declared as children of the heavenly Father, pleasing to Him.




May your life be truly blessed,


Ash





(inspired by fr. Mar)