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@somesinkthoughts

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"Everyone wants a revolution, but no one wants to do the dishes" — Dorothy Day
I want both :)
AMDG

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on love, thanksgiving, & communion

went on a trip to Baguio

all throughout the day, these thoughts were popping up

reflections on our failures to care for nature,

the theology of nature (what nature says about God),

the Eucharist: the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, truly present and personal, always reminding us of His agape love

God is love

beauty and swag will save the world

belated Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus (aka Corpus Christi Sunday)! ❤️‍🔥

side note: it's life-changing when i don't force my posts to be coherent :P see my brain as it is (and still, this was after an attempt at coherency) by @somesinkthoughts

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6

4 months ago

Disjointed reflections on the words that have coated my tongue and pulsed through my heart: “God, why?”

"Better that I find You, God, and leave the questions unanswered than to find answers without finding You." St Augustine

“Ask and you shall receive…”
And even if not
“God is good” will still be the capitalization and punctuation of my every breath
—
“When I sing of the happiness of Heaven and the eternal possession of God, I do not feel any joy therein, for I sing only of what I wish to believe. Sometimes, I confess, a little ray of sunshine illumines my dark night, and I enjoy peace for an instant, but later, the remembrance of this ray of light, instead of consoling me, makes the blackness thicker still.”
(Story of a Soul, Chapter IX)

Sometimes all my other faculties fail to believe, but my will will always sing of God’s goodness

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness” (Luke 1:46-48)

“Bless God when my hands are empty
Bless God with a praise that costs me
Bless God when nobody’s watching
Every chance I get I’ll bless Your Name”
(Bless God, Brooke Ligertwood)

Lord, You have captured my heart
Let me never forget You
—
“Among lovers, the wound of one is the wound of both” — St. John of the Cross, quoted in Dilexit Nos

“In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.” — St. Augustine

If these wounds are my clearest view of You, praise You

“This is the ache at its holiest—not the soft ache of poetry but the one that costs you safety and skin. The kind that still whispers ‘I love You’ through a mouth full of blood.” (W. Tyler Allen, An Exegesis of Ache)

Love makes blood wine and wine blood

—
This^ is the aftermath of this:
https://substack.com/@naomimallare/p-196207143 by @somesinkthoughts

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3

5 months ago

With grateful reminiscence, I walked past the four concrete pillars one last time, nibbling on the mental nugget I just heard in our final discussion: we were created so the rest of Creation could fulfill their purpose; we were created so we could receive what the rest of Creation had to give.

For a good chunk of the semester, these pillars formed the classroom for my "Indigenous Biology" course, an elective I took in hopes to learn about the traditional medicinal uses of local plants. To my surprise though, I got spiritual medicine more than material. This class gave my soul meals for thought.

Something we discussed a lot was how the plants, the animals, the waters, all of Creation has a gift and responsibility — to give themselves to us. In reciprocity, our gift and responsibility to them is to be grateful, and in our gratitude, to care for them.

Everything I learned in this class, I saw with a Catholic lens. Thus, I understood it not as Creation giving themselves to us out of their own will and desire, but God giving to us through His creation. And with this final nugget, it dawned on me that God created us to receive what He wanted to give us through His Creation.

Suddenly, I'm back at the first paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life."

God made us so He could love us.

Another thing we explored was how humans and the rest of Creation made agreements with each other to care for each other. Nature gives to us; we care for nature. You could almost call it a covenant.

The bittersweet reality is that Mother Nature never fails to fulfill her responsibility to us, even when we fail to fulfill ours to her. Even when we dam up her rivers, her salmon try to swim up the blocked stream back to us, to fulfill their end of the covenant — even to the point of painting the dams with blood.

Is this not a reflection of Jesus' love?

"Rather, he emptied himself...becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8)
—
Continued in comments :P by @somesinkthoughts

37

2

10 months ago

When my friends and I pulled up late to our Archdiocese's Advent worship night, I thought I'd already see Jesus on the altar and hear the first song being sung. Surprisingly, they hadn't started Eucharistic Adoration yet. The priest was at the pulpit talking — about straw. Weird.

He was talking about how the empty little decorative manger in his hand would soon be in front of the altar, surrounded by straw. He encouraged us to, at any point during Adoration, take a piece of straw and put it in the manger. Giving the straw was to represent giving our best to the Lord.

At first, I brushed it off. Representing giving our best by a piece of straw felt silly.
"It's probably one of those ministry moments where we try to create deep meaning out of something shallow," I thought to myself flippantly. I'm familiar with it; I draw from shallow depths a lot myself.

At the same time, I knew that God speaks to me through dishes, so who am I to doubt that He could speak to me through straw?

I brushed off my brushing off and asked the Lord to give me eyes to see Him.
Soon enough, I saw that it, in fact, *was* silly. It wasn't silly to think that the Lord could speak through straw (He really could), but to think that, to the Lord, my best could be anything more than straw. Well damn!

I didn't bring my journal that night, so by the end of the night, it was my left hand that was tattered with ink and scratches from my right hand which tried to scribe what the Lord told me about the straw.

I first remembered St. Thomas Aquinas. Known as one of the greatest minds in philosophy and Doctors of the Church, he's most famous for his Summa Theologiae — basically a summary of Catholic theology. Most people haven't read it because it's a disgustingly difficult read, but most people know it to be crazy good. What most people don't know is that it's unfinished. After a revelation during Mass (on St. Nicholas' feast day, happy belated feast day!), he told his friend, “I can write no more. I have seen things that make my writings like straw.”

I felt that. Hard. And my writings aren't even close to Aquinas'.
—
Continued in comments, but tbh it's better on WordPress/Substack by @somesinkthoughts

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3

10 months ago

In Grade 3, my friend got me a book, Pokemon, Black and White, Volume 1. One thing stuck after all these years: the protagonist, Black, and his obsession with his dream.

This kid had one goal in life — to win the Pokemon League. He was obsessed with this dream to the point where it was the only thing he thought of.

One of his main Pokemon at the time was Munna, a dream-eating Pokemon. With the typical person, a Munna could wipe out a dream completely. Black, however, used his Munna to tone down his dream to focus on the task at hand as needed.

His dream was so strong that even a dream-eating Pokemon couldn't wipe it out.

It was a bit shocking.

How could you love something so much?

Years later, journeying in the faith more, I learned that this is the love that God wants from us, because it's the love He has for us.

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us."
— St. Augustine

This is the love that the saints had for God, and this was the love that propelled them in their lives of radical love, ending with winning their own Pokemon League, Heaven.

As we see in the Second Reading today, it's the love that let St. Paul, at the end of his life, say,

"I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me..." (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

All the greatest saints had this single-mindedness for God.

In the Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis De Sales reflects,

"Alas, my God, of what was I thinking when I did not think of you? What did I remember when I forgot you? What did I love when I loved you not?"
(Intro to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 10)

I wanna love the Lord like Black loved the Pokemon League, like St. Paul ran the race, like SFDS yearned for every single one of his faculties to be directed towards the Father.

I wanna love the Lord like St. Thomas Aquinas.

When the Lord spoke to St. Thomas Aquinas from the crucifix, "Thou hast written well of me, Thomas; what reward wilt thou have?", STA replied,

"Non nisi Te, Domine. Non nisi te. (Nothing but you, Lord. Nothing but you)."

Lord, be always on my mind. Set love right in me.

Song Association: You're Always On My Mind by @somesinkthoughts

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a year ago

I used to wonder what was so great about St. Monica that merited her canonization.

She prayed for years for the conversion of her family. Okay, patience — and?

And...then I dove deeper into her experience and realized how great that really was.

To be patient is to suffer & endure.

What did she suffer?

A long wait was the most obvious thing.

A more subtle thing was that grief that can't be measured as easily as time.

The grief of being a mom who was so good, so hopeful, so constant in her embodiment of Christ, and seeing how little effect that had on her family.

Maybe today is the day my husband or my children will turn to Christ — she probably wondered this for years.

Yet at best, she was faced with no fruit, and at worst, bad fruit.

She cried. A lot, apparently. Real and valid.

What else is there to do when you give your best, your all, and it isn't enough?

Despite this long suffering, she hoped — probably with the help of St. Ambrose, who reassured her that "It is impossible that the child of so many tears should perish."

Despite all the temper of her husband, despite the waywardness of her son Augustine, how great her love was to be able to will their good — through prayer, fasting, and crying — until, by the grace of God, things turned up, and she could say with confidence that "nothing is far from God."

Today's Psalm (139) speaks to this too:

Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.

The homeless doing drugs on the street,
Your alcoholic mom,
Your apathetic brother,
Your apostatized, fallen-away friend,
Even you, bro
— no one is too far gone.

God's love is inescapable. What a beautiful thing :^)

Happy feast day, St. Monica!

Song association: All Falls Down by Kanye West

When the tears fall down, humility goes up, and the Spirit comes in.

Aug. 27, 2025 by @somesinkthoughts

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a year ago

When I first learned about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, something that struck me was how he'd spend hours in adoration.

I struggled to stay even for one; how could he spend multiple?

Years later, I found myself in his seat.

I didn't plan to go to the chapel yesterday. Initially, I wanted to trudge through a few more tasks before I would meet up with a friend. Go to some cafe, lock in first. You know, the grind.

I literally couldn’t, though.

I just went through two months of sleep debt, a national youth conference, a trip, a young adults conference, then jumped right back into the regular routine of life with work and ministry.

My brain couldn't pump out a single productive thought if I tried. I've been exhausted. And pray as I might, the body doesn't lie. You don't recover from all that by just spending a few days out in nature with friends.

That's why I went to the chapel instead.

Maybe 90 minutes had passed, and I thought,

I get it now.

I need to recharge, massively.

I didn't have many thoughts in adoration yesterday.

It was like Maverick City's Move Your Heart:

"I just wanna move Your heart
Get caught within Your gazе
Right here in Your presence, God
Is where I wanna stay
Oh, just to dwell in Your house
Waste my hours and my days on You"

I just wanted to get caught within His gaze. I needed to.

Some thoughts did cross my mind. Vague clouds of ideas.

One, about how living out a God-sized mission needs a God-sized heart and hands; I can't do it with my own.

Another one, a recollection of my agriculture class — the bigger the plant, the bigger the roots need to be. Take care of the roots if you want the fruits.

They pointed to my situation now.

Last week, I flipped to a random Psalm:

"Why are you downcast, my soul, why do you groan within me?"

It was Psalm 42, which starts with the famous line, "As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God."

I get it now.

No wonder I need hours in prayer just to recharge.

I need a bigger heart, bigger hands, bigger roots by His streams of water.

I need that face to Face, like Moses.

I need God's & God.

To the heights! But first, into the depths — of His heart.

#adoration by @somesinkthoughts

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1

a year ago

Lately, I've been revisiting a situation where I felt very misjudged, and how painful it is.

It dawned on me that Mama Mary was probably very misjudged when she was pregnant with Jesus.

Our situations are a bit incomparable, considering how completely true her intentions were and how completely blameless her actions were, as opposed to mine — incompletely.

How much more painful it was for her to be misjudged — being so true.

And how full of grace she really is to have shouldered that burden without sin.

Ave maria.

Lend us your heart, Mama, and keep us there :^)

Aug. 13, 2025
—
#AveMaria #catholic #christian #swag #ImmaculateHeart #Jesus by @somesinkthoughts

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0

a year ago

Last night, my archdiocese had a worship night — "Latria," what Catholics call the adoration reserved only for the Holy Trinity.

There wasn't a spiritual high, but there was a clear reorientation of my gaze on Jesus and a reexamination of my life.

"Coming back to just me and You...
Before anything got in the way
Any dream or any accolade"
— pure, Abbie Gamboa & UPPERROOM

Am I looking more at my tasklist for God, or God Himself?

When I started serving in ministry, I had a lot of people and questions to keep my intentions in check. The struggle of non-stop serving is that intentionality can grow lax.

The dreams, the accolades, they get to you.

Very recently, I found myself saying yes without asking the same questions anymore — is my yes rooted in God? Do I say yes because it's what I want, or what God wants?

I just assumed God helped me keep my intentions pure and dove headfirst.

(This isn't to say that we should serve only when we have our intentions all in order. St. Paul says, "What difference does it make, as long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed? And in that I rejoice" (Philippians 1:18). In our actions of praise, whether our intentions are mis/aligned, God is glorified. Still, it's good to strive for pure intentions.)

"There's no motive, there's no hidden catch
Here's my all and I don't want it back"
— pure, Abbie Gamboa & UPPERROOM

I've found myself giving God what I want, how I want: frugally, and wanting things back.

What happened to Totus Tuus (totally Yours)? How did I end up here?

Which areas in my life has my fire dwindled? Why? What is hindering me from giving my 100% yes to God? How can my life be more kerygmatic? More proclamative of the Good News?

"Your fire fall down
On us we pray"
— Fire Fall Down, Hillsong United

—
Continued in comments by @somesinkthoughts

95

5

a year ago

To the mothers mourning their sons and daughters lost to the Lapu Lapu Day Festival tragedy:

Mama Mary's heart breaks with yours.

Mama Mary knows how it feels to hold her Child's lifeless body too soon.

Her Child died around a festival too (the Festival of Unleavened Bread, aka Passover).

Her Child had so much more He could've done too.

Her Child died undeservingly too.

Mama Mary knows your sorrow.

We often say that we need our Good Friday's to have our Easter Sunday's yet forget what Good Friday really entailed.

Mama Mary, Easter and the Triduum must have brought so many mixed feelings for you :')

Mama Mary, you must have wept because your Son was no longer with you, yet you must have also rejoiced because He was on His way Home to the Father.

Sorrow mixed with joy, what a confusing thing.

And maybe this is what Easter is about? — Homecoming.

Fr. Mike Schmitz once said that "joy is the abiding and pervasive sense of wellbeing" (Why Joy Is More Christian Than Happiness, Youtube).

The reason Christians can find joy in death is because we know Jesus transformed death such that "'death is no longer the enemy, but death is our mother' because she births us into God’s presence; she brings us from this world to the next" (Death is Our Mother, Wordpress).

I'd like to believe that all those we lost were lost in His Divine Mercy. Alleluia!

"We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!"
— Pope John Paul II, Angelus of November 30, 1986

—

To the mothers mourning, to those who don't know how to say "alleluia" in the same way anymore, none of my words sit right with me, but know that I'm praying so hard for you.

—

Mama Mary, your "fiat" shone brightest during the darkest. Help us to echo in our suffering, "May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

"Madonna della Pietà," Our Lady of Pity, pray for us.

St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, lover of Jesus through Mary, happy feast day! Pray for us.

—

Image: La Pietà by Michelangelo, in St. Peter's Basilica;
Photo credits to Adrian Boquiren

—

#LapuLapuDayFestival #LaPieta #MamaMary #Easter #Alleluia by @somesinkthoughts

140

2

a year ago

I looked for God, and I see Him in the clouds.

I promised a thought dump last week, but with the recent tragedy impacting my community, that's been outweighed by a reflection on today's Gospel, John 20:19-31, Doubting Thomas.

I talked to a religious sister yesterday, and she mentioned that Easter was a time of confusion for the apostles — a time of finding out who Christ really was for them.

Jesus' death tells us just how far God would go for His beloved, how deep His love runs for us.

Logically, the apostles could know: God loves them so much that He died for them.

However, it wasn't enough for God to keep it at logical.

He desired personal — to encounter them tangibly once more.

They too desired the same.

Thomas represents that universal desire:

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25).

Jesus blesses "those who have not seen and have believed" (John 20:29).

Yet in His goodness, He doesn't neglect those who struggle to believe when they don't see:

“Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe" (John 20:27).

We can know the depth of His love by the fact that He died for us, but can not know how personal that Love is — what that Love means for us, if it really is for *us* too.

God meets us in that unbelief.

Here in Metro Van, the Easter Octave broke the streak of what has been weekly rains.

For all eight days, the forecast said sunny. For seven days, the skies delivered. The region was the most vibrant it's been all year.

Today is an exception. The forecast said sunny, but the skies cover us with an expansive gray blanket.

Yesterday's hit & run during a cultural celebration was devastating to my community.

It's our version of Paschal confusion. Lord, where are You?

I looked for God in it, and I see Him in the clouds.

—

Continued in comments by @somesinkthoughts

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a year ago

YEAH I'LL SPEAK MY MIND. Not tryna be an influencer, just a good influence

Had some time on my hands & a msg on my heart

Some shower thoughts, for a change :P

DON'T JUST TELL PPL THEY ARE LOVED.

GO LOVE THEM.

#USCMindChallenge #SpeakYourMind
#YOUARELOVED
@uscmind by @somesinkthoughts

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a year ago