Broken, Never Forsaken

A few days ago, I was trying to set up our Nativity Christmas décor. Zek and I, in the past years, would design the stable ourselves as part of his art lesson and our bonding tradition. But due to an unforeseen situation., this year will just be the figurine characters and me.

Baby Jesus in a manger. Check.

Mother Mary. Check.

St. Joseph. Check.

Farm Animals. Check.

3 Wise Men and their gifts. Check.

Angel. Hmmmm.

That was when I noticed that the angel figurine was broken.

Both hands were severed and missing while its left wing was detached.

The very first thought that came to my mind was to just keep it out of the Nativity scene and to just throw it away.

Its damaged appearance would not make any good impression of an angel at all.

But come to think of it, its damaged outlook, does not really diminish its vital role in the story of the first Christmas. In Luke 2:8-20, the bible narrated in full how this angel announced the birth of Jesus to a group of young shepherds. And as if by his cue, a choir of angels appeared and sang praises and alleluias. Bearing this good news, the young shepherds look for and found the baby Jesus in a manger and recalled the words of the angel among those present. Mother Mary, upon hearing their testimonies, reflected upon its message.

Realizing and disregarding my first misguided thought, I fixed the detached wing and gently put back the angel figurine in its rightful place.

Our nativity scene is (still) complete.

How blessed our we because our God never thinks about discarding us despite our damaged and deformed spirits. Sinfulness, faithlessness, anxieties and attachment to the tangible world of materialism has affected our image deeply that our heavenly brethren could understandably just cringe in disbelief that we are worthy to be one of them in future. But not God. Not by a long shot in eternity. Behind the struggles He sees each soul with incomparable and indescribable beauty. Beneath the hurts and discouragement, He believes at the limitless potential that everyone can contribute in His over-all plan for man’s salvation. His divine mercy knows no boundaries. He embraces us and envelops us in such a way that we can be made new and spotless.

All He asks from us is a humble, contrite, and forgiving heart.

In this season of Advent, may we all approach and prepare ourselves more inwardly through a meaningful confession.

It's not that the baby Jesus dislikes the swaddling clothes in a manger setting.

But He'd rather be born in each of our pure hearts.

It's the best gift we can give our Savior and Lord.   

Maligayang Pasko po sa ating lahat.

God bless.

Psalm 36:5 - "Lord, your constant love reaches the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the skies."

1 John 1:9 - "But if we confess our sins to God, He will keep His promise and do what is right; He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoings."

Matthew 6:15 - "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done."

The Sound of Prayer

A few days ago, I video-chatted with my family. Our youngest son Aim, barely a year and half by now and upon hearing my voice, climbed the chair and started to talk incessantly towards the laptop to which he is quite sure is where my voice was coming from. I must admit, that I have no idea whatsoever he was talking about except for some ba-ba-da-di sound expressions that I have heard before. I tried to sound-imitate him and the more he kept at it. And I was just more than willing to indulge and engage in his lively-repetitive speech. Zek who was over-hearing our conversation is himself giggling at our amusing talk. He would chimed in once in a while.

 

For that 5-minute duration hearing Aim’s voice, I was all smile.

It was a re-invigorating replenishment of my drained energy after a hard-day’s work.

It was like a breeze of fresh air after a long day of fog, a warm peek of sunshine after hours of dark clouds.

 

As Christians, it is a given that we love God and, as we have been heavenly-ordained, we seek to please Him.

The most basic of ways to do that is by prayer. Fr. Jerry Orbos would often quote, the shortest and quickest line to God is between your knees and the floor.

 

On the other hand and as a result of our spiritual dryness or state of sinfulness, a lot of us are worried that our words might sound gibberish to Him.

Not by a long shot, for He knows us and our individual voices (Psalm 116:1-2) despite our spiritual incoherence.

 

God smiles when we pray to Him.

He smiles not because of our struggles to pray but because He knows we seek Him out, just like a baby or young child, seeking out his parent for his needs.

 

Sounds good for you?

Then let us pray.

 

Lord, I want to make you smile today so I pray today to let my voice be heard by you. I am sorry if my sinfulness, worries, busy-ness are hindering me to make my prayer time, our conversation, more focus and frequent.

Please bless my family always. Thank you and I love you.

 

Broken But Loved

Our 14-month son Aim has inherited a lot of toys from his kuya Zek. And just like any normal toddler boy, he prefers to play with the variety of toy cars, from die-cast to plastic ones, friction-pulled to remote-controlled, fancy sports car to Winnie the Pooh colorful ones. He can busy himself playing with these for long periods of time which gives my wife just about enough breather to switch her energy to Zek’s homeschooling or other pressing chores.

Interestingly and still a bit of a mystery for us though is that Aim’s favorite choice among his car toys are two cars with a distinct feature among the rest. One of their rear wheels is gone. Not sure how it got lost but I am certain that he likes to play with them more than the complete and fully-functional ones. I even tried once to deliberately hide the yellow car below the stacks of other cars only to find Aim once again playing with it a few moments later.

Sounds familiar?

I agree.

Most of us, better yet, all of us have felt or is now feeling broken in our lives. And whether our brokenness was a result of other people's wrongdoings or through our own making, the deep scar and mark it left has somehow affected our set of beliefs that we are still lovable (read: forgivable). And so, left within our own ways, we seek to trap ourselves more in the quagmire of our brokenness, of sinfulness, of the cycle and pattern of pride, lust, anger, envy, jealousy, vanity, materialism or immersions to vices (jobs can be like vices too) or other unhealthy and sinful pursuits just so we can feel "complete" again.

Is there hope for such brokenness?

Yes, there is but only one answer - God.

God is never interested in our brokenness. He sees beyond the "missing wheel" in our seeming directionless lives. He appreciates our true worth that only His heart knows eversince. And he will not stop at anything to seek us out and bring us back to His warm embrace. As Christians, we do know and believe in our hearts that God even sent His only son, Jesus to personally extend out His invitation to be healed so that sinners can be well again in the eyes of God and man.

Mark 2:17 Jesus heard this and said to them (that), "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

Do you feel broken (read: unlovable) in this moment?

Then seek out God's forgiveness through the Sacrament of Confession.

Feel God's forgiveness.

Receive God's unconditional love.

To React or To Respond

There was a priest who brought along a 10-kg sack of rice into his Sunday mass. Right before he started the Eucharistic celebration, he looked at all the people in front and saw a medium-built man standing at the left side of church. He approached the man and requested him to carry the sack of rice during the mass and never to put it down.

The mass started and once in a while, the priest would glanced at the man and saw his uneasiness. The man tried to shift the lifting position of the sack a number of times. He was starting to be clearly burdened by it. And as much as he tried to hide his annoyance, his facial expressions betrayed him.

When it was time for the homily, the priest paused and looked at the man who is now clearly sweating and distracted. He called up the man and thanked him for his efforts and obedience. The priest, then, gestured for a mother and child who were sitting on the right side of the church, to come up the altar as well and stand beside the man. The mother, standing at a shoulder level beside the man, is seen to be carrying her sleeping child from the start of the mass. And when the priest asked her about her child’s weight, she said he was around 12kg.

The priest then shared his observations between the man and the mother who both carried “weights” at the same time yet have behaved in totally opposite manner. He pointed out the uneasiness and burdened expressions from the man while the mother, with an actually heavier load, has shown nothing but concern to her child as she carried her in one arm and fanning her with the other. She would pause at times to wipe away any sweat from her child’s head and back. But she never has shown discomfort at anytime. She exuded tranquility and love.

As Christians, we do know that we will always be asked to carry our crosses in our lives. This can be in different forms of personal trial or adversity –a rumor-mongering neighbor, a good-for-nothing lazy office-mate, a routinely boring job, same old household chores day in and day out, a difficult relationship that seems to be going nowhere, a disobedient child, a physical ailment that hinders you to pursue your life-long dreams, an organization or business in total disarray, a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam and other discomforting and life-draining situations. And in these times of distressing or annoying burden, we have only two options. One is to react with uneasiness and agitation towards that burden and , at times, even towards the Lord. The other one is to respond with love and help ourselves manage the situation in a more Christ-like manner.

Without love, our burden becomes a real burden.

With love, our burden becomes an opportunity to love – to love our neighbors and our office-mates, our job and our chores, our loved ones and even ourselves.

Yes, the reflective question of “What would Jesus do in my situation?” is still a powerful and effective guideline for us because the answer still holds true.

Jesus will always respond with love. 

We should do as well.

God bless.

A Father's Hug

My father was not the expressive, sentimental type. He was not the hugging, “I love you” kind of a guy.

After I read these opening lines in Bro. Bro Sanchez' book "You can make your life beautiful", I knew I found the best description for my own father as well.

I recalled that, as a young boy, he once tried to express his presence when he brought me to a movie house to watch “Markang Bungo” starring Lito Lapid (until now I can’t even recall what the story of that movie is). In another instance I remember, he needed to drive his boss to Pangasinan and he let me tag along with him. When we were headed home, we never had a conversation except when he asked me if I was hungry.

He was a distant father, so to speak.

And so I grew up with a somewhat timid feeling about him. In my young mind, I felt that he dislikes me and sometimes I even (unintentionally) sensed that he wanted to disown me. As a growing kid, I needed a father that will guide me through the enormous curiosity that surrounds me. But he just was not there, or maybe physically he was but his presence was missing.

On May 2002, I was 19 years old then and during school break, I visited them in the bukid (riceland) where my father and mother were staying. They were having their habitual get-together drinking session with his friends. They normally do this after finishing their farming activity for the day.

I sat across my father. He looked at me with so much sadness in his eyes and I gazed back at him. Without any clue, I saw his eyes starting to get misty so I went beside him. And then, he did something that he never did in my entire life.

He raised his hands towards me.
Then he gave me a hug.
He hugged me so tightly and both of our eyes were filled with tears.

I never felt as secure and comfortable before that moment with my father and it was the best moment that had happened to me in my 19 years of wondering and pondering with my life.

It was the happiest time I spent with him and my world seemed to stop spinning and I never wanted to that moment to end. I have waited long years to feel his presence. I can’t believe that my father gave me a hug. He finally expressed unconditionally that he loves me. 

My new-found happiness, though, was short-lived because I never thought he was already bidding farewell to me then.

On June 16, 2002, after two weeks, he died in a motorcycle accident. My emotions were running wild inside me. I was both grieving and joyful. Joyful because for the first time, my tough, unsentimental father gave me a hug. Grieving because it was the last hug I’ll ever get from him. And I muttered to myself “Pang, we should have done that long time ago”.

That moment changed my life forever.

Hug someone today while there’s time. If you are a father or mother, hug your children, If you are a husband or wife, hug your spouse. If you have siblings, hug your them. If you have a good friend, hug him/her.

To hug is to express your love and love must be expressed well to be felt.

God bless.

posted with permission from original writer Mr. Exequiel Raguini

"Where have you taken Him?"

Mary Magdalene was in distress and she was weeping.

She, with some other women, wished to visit Jesus grave site only to find that His body is missing and they have no idea who took it. Two angels appeared to her and ask her the reason for crying and she replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not where they have put him.” At that instant Jesus appeared to stand behind her and ask the same question, “Why are you crying?”, as He continued, “Who is it you are looking for?”. She turned around and without recognizing the Lord, mistaking Him to be the gardener, replied, “If you took Him away, sir, tell me where you have put Him and I will go and get Him.” 

The tomb is empty.

The stone cover is removed.

The linen cloths are lying around.

The head cloth was rolled up by itself.

The angels stood guard to announce the good news.

The Lord is risen.

His ultimate victory over sin and death is consummated.

His mission of salvation is complete.

The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all gave beautiful stories and narratives of Jesus’ life after death that any Christian would have wished that the New Testament part ends on that note – the triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension of the Lord. And yet we all know that Christ’s mission and commission to all parts of the world has actually just started for His disciples.

Indeed, this is still true for us living in our present time.

Christ’s mission is very much on-going.

And we might very well ask ourselves these questions:

Where have I taken the Lord in my life up to now? Is He truly resurrected or just a passing Lenten tradition? After this Lent is over, will I go back to the dark graves of my envy, lust, jealousy, hatred and greed? Will I roll back the stone cover of indifference and apathy to my own grave, with the intent of keeping out the light of Jesus to shine on me?

When we pondered on our answers to these questions, will we weep bitterly in realizing that Jesus has not really been resurrected yet into our hearts? That Jesus is like the unrecognized gardener near the tomb or the stranger walking between two believers on the road to Emmaus. Even His apostles who were fishing on the Sea of Galilee barely know it was Him until He made Himself known to them. Do we even act out like Thomas who was never prevailed upon to believe despite his friends’ testimonies that the Lord indeed is risen?

Or are we going to feel joy and peace in our hearts knowing that despite our frailties and weaknesses, Jesus is well and alive in our lives? We may fail at times but we believe that the Lord does not look at our iniquities but on our true value and our heavenly destination. We look forward to each day, full of hope and love to share; gifts which we received first from the Lord.

So let us take the Lord, first and foremost, into our own heart.

Afterwards, we can we effectively take Him to others.

Maligayang Pasko po ng Pagkabuhay.

God bless.

Economics, Reproductive Health and the Integrity of the Family

Headed the Way of Greece  By Arland Nichols and Donald DeMarco

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 28, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The term “economic” is derived from the Greek oikonomia, pertaining to the management of the household. In this sense, the term has considerable breadth inasmuch as it deals not only with finances, but all the human complexities involved in managing and caring for all the members of the family.
Today’s economist is, in general, not particularly concerned with the family. He is not interested in those realities that are beyond the reach of data. At a macro level an economy is said to be “healthy” when GDP, interest rates, and unemployment stabilize at acceptable levels. In our modern use of the term, it is possible to have a healthy economy in a sick society. Thus, a “healthy” economy at the macro level can coexist with the use of contraception or abortion by families seeking to avoid another mouth to feed. 
The modern economist who restricts his professional interest to financial data displays a much narrower view of economics than has been characteristic of the Christian tradition. As Pope Pius IX stated in Quadragesimo Anno, “Economic life must be inspired by Christian principles.” This includes the reproductive realm. In writing Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI was guided by an ever-present concern for a “integral vision of man.” In section 7 of the encyclical, Paul VI writes:
The problem of birth, like every other problem regarding human life, is to be considered…in the light of an integral vision of man and of his vocation, not only his natural and earthly, but also his supernatural and eternal vocation.
From this perspective, Pope Paul accurately predicted what would happen if the use of contraception became widespread. He warned of a general lowering of moral standards throughout society, an increase in marital infidelity, a lessening of respect for women by men, and the coercive use of contraceptive technologies by governments. 
Leaving aside the obvious connection between this fourth prediction and the current “contraceptive mandate” in the United States, Paul VI could not possibly have predicted the radical impact “reproductive health” initiatives would have in changing the demographic and economic landscape through the world. For years the world has wrung its collective hands at the disastrous economic situation in Greece. Few know, however, that Greece is also demographically insolvent. Fertilityrates in this country have dropped from 2.2 children per couple in the 1980s to less than 1 child today. As Mark Steyn recently characterized the problem: “In Greece, 100 grandparents have 42 grandchildren – i.e., an upside-down family tree…if 100 geezers run up a bazillion dollars worth of debt, is it likely that 42 youngsters will ever be able to pay it off?” No amount of aid, restructuring of debt or infusion of financial capital can offer a long-term solution to the situation in Greece. Only human capital can remedy—perhaps “could have remedied” would be more accurate—the impending collapse. A vibrant economy is only possible through an “integral vision” of economy as oikonomia. In other words, Greece must address the family and demographic collapse if its financial crisis is to be ameliorated.   
Another country with looming debt problems seems insistent on pursuing a similar course as Greece: According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) of the United States the economy is projected to shut down in 2027 as the nation will be unable to meet its trillions of dollars in debt obligations. By the middle of the 21st century the CBO notes that interest payments on the debt will exceed federal revenues. The specter of collapse looms large. 
Clearly guided by a truncated anthropology and economic vision, political leaders in the United States have chosen to throw gas on this proverbial fire. Though the United States already gives birth to children at a rate (1.9) below replacement level (2.1), prominent political figures have decided that the solution to economic woes is more “reproductive health” i.e., more abortion and contraception. Nancy Pelosi gave voice to this approach when justifying the “economic stimulus plan” of 2008 that included hundreds of millions of dollars toward provision of contraception to the poor. 
In an interview with George Stephanopolis, Pelosi argued: “Well the family planning services reduce costs, it reduced [sic] costs. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crisis now.” Categorizing “family planning,” provision of children’s health, education, food stamps, and unemployment insurance together, Pelosi noted that these initiatives “are to help the states meet their financial needs…the contraception will reduce costs to the State and to the federal government too. No apologies, no…We have to deal with the consequences of the down turn in our economy…there is more bang for the buck [with such initiatives].” To put it simply, poor children cost the government money, and since we have the goal of saving money, we need the poor to have less children.
Contraception as economic stimulus was eventually removed from the economic stimulus that would pass in the United States Congress, but the prevailing economic and sexual ideology expressed by Pelosi has continued to hold sway in the debates concerning the economically strained health care industry. This ideology was apparent in the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs should be part of free “preventive health care” for all women. 
Their mandate explicitly forbade the use of costs as a justification for a recommendation. “Cost was explicitly excluded as a factor that the committee could use in forming recommendations, the committee process could not evaluate preventive services on the basis of cost.” It is of no little coincidence that the committee went on to argue the following to justify “free” provision of all sterilization and contraception: “contraception is highly cost-effective. The direct medical cost of unintended pregnancy in the United States was estimated to be nearly $5 billion in 2002, with the cost savings due to contraceptive use estimated to be 19.3 billion.” In other words, on a macro-level, children are an economic liability and the government has a vested interest in ensuring that on a micro level women (especially poor women) use contraception.     
Continuing in this vein, the argument that the HHS mandate is justified by economic benefits has been repeated on a number of occasions. President Obama noted it in his announcement of his “accommodation” that was anything but, and Kathleen Sebelius has asserted that “the reduction in the number of pregnancies is [sic] compensates for the cost of contraception.”
As we have seen in countries facing demographic collapse, preventing more births does not, in fact, buoy an economy. Aside from what has already been noted, contraception adds further strains on a country and the health care system in particular. Allow us to note just a few examples: 
Out of wedlock pregnancies and divorce rates in the United States are positively correlated to the increased use of contraception and availability of abortion. Yet we continue to hear the tired refrain that contraception brings about “stronger marriages.”
Further, the negative side effects of combined oral contraceptives creates a host of unnecessary costs. These negative effects include increased risk of breast, cervical and liver cancer, stroke, heart attack, and blood clots. As noted in a recent “LifeWatch” column, it is estimated that in one year 50,000 women experience blood clots because of the use of combined oral contraceptives. That’s one year alone and only one health issue! And aside from the obvious human cost, the economic toll is clearly staggering. 
Consider also numerous studies that indicate that contraceptives are correlated with the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, such as the study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases that indicated that women who use contraception and men whose partners use it were twice as likely to contract HIV/AIDS than non-users. 
The destructive impact that contraception has on marriages, the family and the health of women is well documented—if not well known. 
The ideology of certain members of the media and politicians has prevailed where it pertains to the importance of children for society, the economy, and families. Children are viewed as a liability to a thriving economy or robust family life, and contraception presented as the remedy. This is both misleading and dangerous. To strengthen the integrity of the family and economy we would do well to hold an integral vision of economics as oikonomia. The modern economist may not be expected to share this broad vision, but he is surely under no obligation to oppose it. Contraception is hardly a panacea. On the contrary, a culture of contraception carries a significant array of problems that warrant attention. Most fundamentally, however, we must cease to view children as an economic liability. Unless we relish the prospect of going the way of Greece and other EU nations reaping contraception’s demographic desserts, we must recognize children as the most precious good of the family and greatest treasure of a healthy economy.
* * *
Arland K. Nichols is the National Director of HLI America, an initiative of Human Life International. Donald DeMarco, PhD is a Senior Fellow of HLI America, and Professor Emeritus at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo, Ontario and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, CT. Some of their recent writings may be found at HLI America's Truth and Charity Forum.

Vatican Approves Blessing for Child in the Womb

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 29, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican has approved the publication of the "Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb," which will be printed in English and Spanish, according to a press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
It will be published as a combined booklet and should be available for parishes by Mothers' Day.
The approval came from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome.
"I'm impressed with the beauty of this blessing for human life in the womb," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the USCCB.
"I can think of no better day to announce this news than on the feast of the Annunciation, when we remember Mary's 'yes' to God and the incarnation of that child in her the womb that saved the world."
The blessing was prepared to support parents awaiting the birth of a child, to encourage parish prayers for and recognition of the precious gift of the child in the womb, and to foster respect for human life within society. It can be offered within the context of the Mass as well as outside of Mass.

- from Zenit. org

How to Survive A Storm

Most of us know that penguins are the only bird species that can withstand the coldest of cold condition in the Arctic region. Their body structure enables them to generate heat by shutting down functions of body organs when not in use and retaining it with their high-fat layers of skin. But what I later just learned (courtesy of a National Geographic feature story) is that even with their natural ability to survive the cold, they can still become vulnerable whenever a snow storm comes with howling gustiness of super cold wind enveloping their habitat.

So how do they go through those storms?

This is the most interesting part. They do not take cover under the floor of ice or even dive underwater. They do not hide behind a glacier wall.

They stand outside facing the storm.

But they don’t do this by themselves or in small groups.
They do this altogether, as in one colony, staying very close to each other. According to these researchers, the penguins may very well be shielding each other from the brunt of the cold winds and at the same time, sharing their own heat to each. They know that their very own survival depends on the others.

I can relate to the weak penguins in the middle of the colony.

A few years ago, my family went through a severe storm that put us in such unchartered pain we never know. I can honestly say that without the warmth of the people who stayed with us, wept with us, condole with us, and loved us in their own ways, there was a good chance we would have faltered. We maintained a “safe-distance” from God but God himself made His presence more felt. We survived because of God’s love through these kind-hearted people. Day by day, we still undergo healing even if we already regained most of our emotional strength.

Do you know someone going through a storm in his/her life?
Give warmth.
Say a kind word.
Give a loving advice.
Or just be there to listen or be a shoulder to cry on.

Are you going through a storm yourself?
Don’t put on a mask and pretend you are OK.
Call someone.
Ask someone to stay with you.
Confide to your trusted friend.
Accept the warmth of other people.
You don’t have to go through it alone.

If the penguins with their natural ability needed each other to survive a storm, then we human beings should and, most certainly, must also have one another in times of need. It’s just the way God created us, - that we become extensions and recipients of His love through one another (1 John 4:7-8).

God bless.



Cathechism of the Catholic Church

1878 All men are called to the same end: God himself. There is a certain resemblance between the unity of the divine persons and the fraternity that men are to establish among themselves in truth and love. Love of neighbor is inseparable from love for God.

1879 The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition but a requirement of his nature. Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential; he thus responds to his vocation.

Judge Not

There was a man who started to rent out an apartment in the city. His job site is quite far so he decided to borrow their company car for his daily trip. Unfortunately, there was no parking space available in his apartment location so he is left with no other option but to park along the side-street.

In the gate closest to his building, he noticed in the following days, there was this one particular car that was always parked so near the gate that it almost block the way of the other cars. The driver was a middle-aged lady whom he glanced one time to be in a real hurry while doing her questionable parking. As the weeks went by, his wondering turned to annoyance, then to irritation and finally to total frustration at how such an insensitive lady kept doing that unacceptable parking habit. His started a plan to file a formal complaint with the building management. In the end though, he prevailed upon himself to just talk directly to the car owner. And so one day, he waited near her car.

Then, she came.

The lady was walking towards her car but, this time, with her husband and a young man in between them. As they came near to the man’s position, he observed that the young man was different and unable to walk straight by himself. With patience, the man and lady were trying their best to balance the young man’s stride, slowly and carefully moving his extremities as he went through the narrow gate and as he started to move inside their parked car nearby. By this time it became obvious that the young man is physically-challenged with autism.

The man’s anger turned to sorrow as he finally realized that the only reason why the lady was always parking in that way was for her autistic son to have a manageable access whenever he went out, in all likelihood, for his therapies. He felt sorry that his anger get the better of him in pre-judging his neighbor.

It’s the time of Lent so we may very well ask ourselves and reflect on these questions.
Whom have I judged or continue to judge unfairly based solely on my own perceived facts or truth?
Whom have I prejudged without even hearing the facts?
Whom have I treated unfairly with harsh words, criticisms, gossips and rumor-mongering for a mistake he/she has made?
Whom have I labeled as a "sinner" based on my own set of self-righteous beliefs?
Do I exhibit prejudice, bigotry, discrimination, intolerance or bias in the way I treat people that I meet or comes my way?

Like the man in the story, he was most certain that the way the lady parked her car is wrong. But what he never knew then was that her actions were being done out of sheer necessity, not negligence nor ignorance or even for personal convenience.

How many times have we ourselves made conclusions about other people believing we all have our facts straight only to realize in the end that we have judged wrongly?

Jesus himself reminded us in Matthew 7:1-5 - “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye."

We are truly blessed because we have a God who, despite knowing our deepest thoughts and intentions, does not condemn us right away. Instead, He lovingly finds ways how to bring us back to His fold. He does not give up on us. He will try endlessly until the time comes for His righteous judgment to be fulfilled.

His love for us sinners is exemplified in the scene with the adulterous woman whom He not only protected from the mob prosecution but also lovingly assured that she is not condemned for her past deeds. All she needed to do was to "sin no more". (see John 8:3-11)

So if our own creator, God himself, overlooks our iniquities and move forward to helping us be restored, then we should also skip (mis)judging others. Instead, we should move towards helping our straying brother found his way back to God.

God has done and has been doing this for us since time immemorial.
We ought to extend the same to others as well.

God bless us all.

Selfless Love

Yesterday, March 11, 2012 , marked the first anniversary of the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in the Northeastern part of Japan. More than 16,000 were confirmed dead and close to 3,000 still missing as their nation mourned in commemoration.

Japan has been known to be a country well prepared for disasters and so many experts were left wondering at the huge cost of human life. Experts decided to study data and make interviews of one affected local community and they found out three major reasons. Their findings were detailed in a documentary shown by a Hongkong TV station.

First is what they termed as Normalcy Bias, which refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. (source: Wikipedia). Most people in the community never experienced a tsunami before and were seen to be calmly cleaning up the debris of the finished earthquake while the tsunami was set to arrive after "only 70 minutes".

Next is the so-called Majority Syncing Bias, which refers to the behavior of people to follow the crowd, believing that what most people do should be the right action to take also. It also clouds their judgment to react to other known and visible factors as long as majority is behaving the same way as he does. This is what happened when evacuating residents preferred to stay in their car in traffic while transferring to a community shelter. A lot of them were caught up in the raging waters of debris.

Lastly was the revelation of Altruistic Attitude. Altruism is defined as the unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others. One story revolved with a Japanese man persuading an elderly neighbor with no known family members to evacuate. As the old lady has seemingly accepted her fate to die since she was living alone already for a long time, the kind-hearted man, who confessed that he can not live with the thought of leaving the old lady, decided to call his wife to persuade their neighbor. All in all, they lost around 20 minutes more in convincing the old lady to leave her house. The man continued to check other elderly neighbors as his wife and family of 4 bring along the old lady. In the end though, the man lost all his family and the old lady when the tsunami caught up with them along the road and he nearly drowned himself if he was not able to cling to a floating wooden roof. There were many Japanese who perished while saving the elderly people in their community.

The Japan disaster was indeed a dreadful tragedy but to hear how such brave men and women have taken the self-sacrificing gestures of reaching out and saving other people's lives even if it meant losing their own, was once again a testament to how love for self can be overcome with genuine love for others. To them the word of God in John 15:13 holds true - "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

Let us pray that we, while in a relatively better situation now, do not wait for a similar disaster to bring out the kindness within us, before we express our genuine selfless love for others as well.

God bless.

Growing In Love

After nearly 21 years of togetherness, it is really amazing how much I still discovers a lot about my lovely wife. These things, amongst others, reinforces the widely-accepted and age-old adage that marriage should be a lifetime of discovery and re-discovery between two people committed to love each other.

MissGyver is in the Kitchen
I don’t exactly know how she does it but I hardly find any left-over food being thrown into our garbage bin. She brought the idea of Pinoy idiom “pangat” to a whole new different level. It starts with the main dish in day one and a “modified” dish into another until the main dish becomes a side ingredient of another main viand. Let me give you an example – think about a Hainanese chicken (China steamed-style dish), which can become a fried-chicken the next day and a “mix-sahog” to a palatable minced veggie for its final destiny. She can fix up my sandwich with just about anything (ok, maybe not with a bitter gourd) and I will honestly find it tasteful. I swear, if there is such a thing as "sprinkled with love" ingredients, then my wife definitely has a kitchen-full of those.

Teacher Par Excellence
Our eldest son is a home-schooled kid the past three years and I can say with utmost sincerity and certainty that my wife has done an excellent task of that. Despite her overwhelmed and difficult moments of taking care of the kids and house-hold chores at the same time, I can testify that seeing our son learning to read and understand English, tackling math problems, taking interest in science projects and partaking in lots of artworks and extra-curricular activities, not to mention, his oh-uninterruptible queries and stories. Nobody can take credit for all these achievements but my wife and son altogether.

Coffee-Mates Forever
She never liked coffee until she started working for the bank and she has undoubtedly influenced a few years ago. She’d surprised me with a sweet cake or brownie to go with it and we would spend the next minutes talking about anything under the moon (yes, we have our coffee time as a recap night-time activity). She will tell me how her day went with the kids. She will ask about my work and I will just smile ( because I made a long-time self-promise that all work-related problems stay outside the front door, so she does not need to worry more about me) and just give her an overview of my day. As we sip our last, she will sometimes complain about how her back-aches (imagine three general anesthesia in three CS operation in a span of 7 years) is torturing her. This will eventually lead us to….

Mom Masseuse
She loves it when I give her a gentle massage to relieve her aching back. But never to be outdone, she will reciprocate my actions by massaging my face and head which I must admit relaxes me so much that I could sleep then and there :D. Her gentle hands can also calm down our two kids after a hyper-activity and after they have taken their baths.

So to my ever-loving and caring wife, Menchie, you know that the three men (well, actually it is a man and two smaller men) in your life loves you deeply in our most endearing (and maybe sometimes crazy) ways. And we thank you for your patience, perseverance and all those little big things that you do to look after us and take care of us.

We love you.
We want nothing less than happiness and fulfillment in your life.

Happy Valentines Day!

The Purpose of Salt

My over-a-year old phone (brand withheld) does not belong yet to the new genre of smart-phones proliferating the tech-lode shops of today but I can say that all my personal needs for a handy phone are still met.

Phone Calls
SMS
WAP ready
Games
Phonebook
Music in 2G card memory
Built-In Camera / Video / Sound recording
Calendar
Alarm / Timer
Calculator
Blue-tooth
Call logs
Long-life battery
Personalized settings

One day, I accidentally drop it on a rocky surface and so it suffered an “amnesia”. All call logs and history were gone and the phone book addresses are totally erased so I have to reload them, which happens unfortunately at least three times a day. I dismissed these as just shock glitches due to its fall.

On the third day after its fall, the personalized settings were changed back to default but some call logs were now appearing. The phone book is still forgetful though. But since the most important function of all – making calls and sending SMS were still intact, I told mys elf that it is still usable.

The axe came down on the fifth day – there is no more network connection, no SMS function or no incoming and outgoing calls is possible. My colleague sent me an important SMS and I never received it. Another colleague was calling me and just receive a voice prompt that my mobile is allegedly “off”. Our company boss was also calling me from overseas to no avail.

So now it is as simple as that - because my mobile phone has turned into nothing else but a handy alarm/calculator/camera gadget - it should now go. And to make things worst, even its own original-brand battery pack was not recognized anymore by its charger. It is just a matter of minutes when my mobile phone will totally go “kaputt” on me.

Matthew 5:13 reminded us that“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

The more we deviate from our heavenly design, the more meaningless and purpose-less our lives will become. We can brag about how much wealth we have accumulated, how many cars we are driving, how tranquil and beautiful our place of residency is and how many investments we are earning money from. We can claim all of life's successes in terms of educational excellence, peer accolades and honor and plaques of recognition. Like in today's smart-phones, these are all but features and additional functions of our life-design.

So what is our main purpose then, our ultimate rationale for living?

When one scholar of the Jewish law asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment, he was actually asking about the main foundation of our existence.

And so Jesus answered him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)

Have we gone astray from these two powerful and life-fulfilling tenets of living?
Then we have become like salt that have lost its taste.

Dear Friends, this coming Lenten season is yet another opportune time to make good self-examination of conscience and realignment of our priorities in life. And by the grace of God, we should all come again to this realization and renewed commitment - Loving God is foremost and loving humanity is top-most. Everything else will just follow.

God bless.