Holy Tuesday Reflection - The Essentials of Miracle

Waking up everyday is a wonderful thing isn’t it.

Being in the school or office, stuck in the traffic, nagged by your professor, or loaded by tons of paper works. Those are few of life’s everyday challenges. We may just take these for granted but these are God’s little miracles to us. Waking up in the morning is a simple miracle. How many mornings I have woke up and see the world passed by. How many days I have spent without thinking what would happen tomorrow. I tend to neglect things and people around me, and focus on myself alone.

Today, you will hear news about a fountain or falls that heals diseases and other sickness. You will see hundreds of crying and moving statues. You will meet hundreds of people claiming to witness or see divine apparitions and lastly, there are hundreds of people today claiming that they are God.

Take this for example; a well in Manoag, Pangasinan is known for its miraculous healing ability. As a believer, I will go to Manoag and drink the water to be healed. What do you think happen? Did the water really healed me or its my faith to God. Yes, It’s my faith to god that heals me. He used the water as his instrument to reach out believers. Nevertheless, we should not claim that the water alone could heal.

When we have problems and burdens, we call to God to help us solve it. We complain that we don’t have things we wanted, skills we wanted, and attention we wanted to have. And I guess, that is why we don’t have the blessings we needed to have because we tend to rely to God all the time. In school, you pray to God the he will let you pass the exam and will be the highest in your class. Instead of reviewing your exam, you played computer games the night before. Always remember: God won’t do for you what you can do for yourself. If He did, you won’t grow. We have to start in little things. And as God sees you faithful in small things, God will give you bigger things.

As Brother Bo said to his article, If God wants you to do something, He’ll make the right people walk into your life. He’ll send the necessary raw materials and arrange everything we needed. And that is the true miracle.

I know right now, you are facing a great struggle like me and like everyone else in the world. Perhaps, you are worried of you debts and other financial stability. Or maybe, you are in sour relationship with your partner or children. Or the pain of rejection, loss, suffering, and despair is hurting you right now. Like me, you have a burden; we all have our burdens but do not let them rein your soul. In our life, there are more blessing than burden. We all have valley of tears. But I don’t believe God wants you to walk through the valley of tears. Don’t build your house in that valley. Don’t stay there forever. Instead, walk through that burden and claim up to your victory. Claim the miracle that God had prepared for you. You only have to pray to him and asked his guidance and forgiveness. I assure you, you will receive the miracle right next to your door steps.

Vague Church

I felt sad when I saw the news involving Catholic leaders lambasted President Aquino and Representative Hontiveros in regards with the RH Bills issue. As catholic leaders, they must have been the epitome of Christian characters and values. The bible said that we should not judge and hurt others, by deed or by words. Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz hits President Aquino for being vocal in his support with RH Bill. Baguio parishioners walked out of the church after the priest criticized Rep. Risa Hontiveros in his homily. I think these religious leaders became too much emotional concerning the said argument. We are living in a democratic country and everyone is free to raise an opinion and stand for what we like to believe. I remember how church leaders were disrespectful and cruel during the Spanish era – this is based on what I have learned about history. If the president stands for a certain idea, that doesn’t mean that the whole country will have the same stand. However, it may affect numbers of people but not the majority.

We are now living in a technological era were majority of people are literate. Many people can read, write and understand. We should not neglect the people’s understanding and decision about the said issue. Remember, RH Bill is not just lawmaker’s decision; Filipino has also the right to approve or disapprove it. And, with the divine intervention it may or may not pushed through. So please, do not strike and hit people or personality during the homily. Instead, offer an alternative except over-population. Let the people decide.

Holy Monday Reflection: Humility

Today, God thought me the essentials of humility. I have material things I needed; shelter, food, clothes, shoes, watches, book etc., but sometimes I complain having less. I don’t have ipod, I don’t have the height, my skin is not fair enough, etc. But when I open my eyes, even kings and queen of other nation doesn’t have a perfect life. I opened my eyes and I saw a homeless child lying on the street floor and begging for alms. I looked at the other side, I saw a man without the left arms and on that point, I knew how lucky I was to have complete body parts.

God taught me today that humility is an act of being empty. Remember the keywords: Humility is being empty. Humility is being desperate that our good God will fill you up. I life, we have so many problems we face everyday. Some are simple problems that we can easily overcome. But sometimes life throws us a problems we don’t know how to solve. Then, that the time we have to pray to the Lord and ask him to solve our problems. When we have problems that we cannot solve, we become empty, and being empty is okay. That leads us to our Lord’s guidance.

Like my favorite author, Bo Sanchez said: “The day a successful person stops being humble is the day he prepares for his downfall.” What does I meant? For me, it means that the more we become successful we are, the more we should be humble to everyone else. Life is everyday learning experience. God arranged people in our life to inspire, challenge, train, teach us in every aspect that we have to learn to prepare us to be worthy of his glory. Jesus said: ‘For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.’ Romans 12:3

Humility is not just being empty but being empty at all. Like Jesus who undress himself and went down to the world and live like an ordinary man. He was crucified and died for us to redeem the world from sin. This Holy Week, let us start to be humble and reflect to our mistakes and ask for God’s forgiveness.

Palm Sunday : HOPE

Hope is when we trust our future into God’s hands, even when things are less ideal in the present.

Have you ever seen the sunrise in the morning?

Seeing the light shining in the horizon is such an amusing scene to watch to. Sunrise is the simplest expression of hope. There could have been darkness in our lives, but rest assured that the sun will comes out tomorrow.

The bible says, ‘be joyful because you have hope, be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times. – Romans 12:12. We are God’s special child. He is preparing us to be the best of who we are. In the bible, Paul met Jesus Christ in a blinding light, and that appearance has changed his life. He used to be a persecutor, an arrogant braggart and self-sufficient man. But when he found Jesus in his life, he turned to be an encourager, a humble preacher and reluctant to God. Instead of keeping his eyes from the past, he looked at the future with an incredible sense of hope (Philippians 3:13-14).

We don’t need to be in the blinding light, Paul taught us some reasons that we can live with hope even in the midst of adversity:

1. God Forgives Us – When we are at peace with our creator, the future is always bright. ‘Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God.’ (Romans 5:1)

2. God Favors Us – We don’t have to crawl and beg to God to help us with our endeavors. He loved you even when you rebelled against him. ‘But shows his great love for us in this way; Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8)

3. God Turns Suffering into Hope – With God at work in our lives the very trials that could crush our spirits actually makes our hope even stronger. ‘We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

4. God Helps Us When We Are Weak – One of the reasons we feel hopeless is that we just don’t believe we have what it takes to overcome challenges. Not to worry says God; Ill do for you what you cant do for yourself. ‘When we were unable to help ourselves, at the moment of our need, Christ died for us although we were living against God. (Romans 5:6)

So whenever we feel unhappy and lonely, have the hope that you can overcome your situation. Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that was given to us to control our fears. Today is Palm Sunday, we are approaching the most important week of the year. Holy week is an annual tradition to us Christian nation. This is the perfect time for us to reflect and reclaim our faith to our God and analyze our self. Mahal na Araw, were not meant literally that the price cost rose, but it means that God saves us at a very costly price. He sent is only son to suffer and be crucified in order to redeem us.

Money Money Money !!!

This afternoon I was singing along with Jessie J’s Price Tag, and chorus has the lyrics that goes: ‘Its not about the money, money, money.. We don't need your money, money, money We just wanna make the world dance, Forget about the Price Tag.’ And it made me think that indeed, the world today is all about MONEY. The humans today are obsessed over money, wants, things etc. When we are obsessed over these things, we encounter problems. Worst is, we became distracted from God; we starts to hate others because of greed and envy and we became unhappy and ungrateful of what we have and instead, we focus on what we do not have.

How many homes were broken because of money?

How many relationships were wrecked because of greed?

How many lives were lost because of envy?

 

God think about what we do with our money. Jesus told us that we should not put money and other things in the highest priority in our lives. He taught us to give a portion of our income to him. A British evangelist and social reformer John Wesley once uttered: “Make all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can”. As we work hard for our future, God wanted us to share a part of our hardships to everyone. Not only to those who need it but to everyone. As we seek to honor the Lord by asking for his counsel and guidance in terms of money and work, He will meet our needs.

Let me tell you story, a friend of mine rushed his father in the hospital due to some attacks of high blood pressure. My friend used to work in a community social welfare and a call center representative at the same time. At the time he rushed his father in t he hospital, he does not have a single cent in his pocket. Upon knowing the incident, his family and friends came in to pay sympathy. His worry is, how will he going to provide the medication of her father? He is very worried of his father’s health, so as the waits for the doctor he asked God to give him all he needs – including courage for himself for him to survive this trial in his life. The next day, the doctor told my friend that they can be discharge soon. His father had some unserious attack, and he may be able to rest at home. He was shocked to found out that his friends and some relatives contribute and gathered money for him and his father.

The lesson we need to remember is God has been so generous to his children. And in return, we should learn to give back to him. Not just to the beggars on the street, to the homeless people but also to those strangers who needs us. Why not offer a single day to work in our community and let us help. Let me leave you by this scripture from the book of Matthew 6:33: “The thing you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you.”

Life’s Greatest Lesson: ‘Have Faith to God’

Whether times are tough or easy, firm belief in a good and loving God is the only road to vibrant living.

There are times that we do not understand the things happen to our life today. Life challenges, peer pressure, workloads, and many more easily break our physical stability. But how about our “spiritual stability”? How much do we trust God? How do we find God in times of crisis and darkness?

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust the Lord with all our heart, and don’t depend on you own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success.” In this scripture, God wanted us to trust him at all times. How? Remember the story of Job in the bible; he is the man who lost everything in his life; fame, fortune, health and even his family turn back to him. But he still managed to stand up to his faith and trust the Lord that he can survive each trials came his way for the God is with him.

The keyword is TRUST: trust the Lord with all our heart. God designs each and every person in the world to be his wonderful child. He allows us to face obstacles to be the best that we can be. A similar scene entered my mind. Take this picture as an example; a 5 days old bird was left in the top of the tree. His father was just around looking for food to eat. His father taught him how to use his wings and fly freely in the air. The little bird was eager to try it on his own but the father advised him to be prepare for the perfect time that he can do it all by himself. One day, the father bird was not around and a group of bad people went to the forest and cut the tallest tree they can see. Sadly, their tree was one of the chosen to rip off. The bird cried and scared. He remembers the advice told by his father. He spread his wings and step out of the nest. He slowly heading off the ground, as he tried harder he flew high above the clouds. Seeing the world so high and reaching the horizons.

 My mother died on the Christmas Day of 2010. She was diagnosed with terminal stage of Breast Cancer and she has a metastasis on her left lung. My life flooded with obstacles and downhill side. But I stay in the light of God.  Three weeks before my mama died, I immediately flew from Manila to Bohol just to be with her. The doctors assured me that my mama will live longer but not for a very long period. I prayed to God that whatever his will will be done. I entrusted him my mama’s health and life, my papa’s life and mine. I painted my future asking God to be my canvass. I took care of my mom, loved her with all my heart. It hurts to see her silently weep and feel the pain. We pray. We always pray together that whatever the physical pain we feel right now will be reimbursed in the kingdom of God. On the day of Christmas, my mama passed away. It hurts me so badly. Knowing I am in a strange place with no one, I trust. I shared my strength to my papa for I know he needed it more than I did. At the moment of grief, I felt that a small spot in my heart are rejoicing. Rejoicing for I know, my mama is celebrating the coming of Jesus Christ in heaven.

I trusted God that he will provide all my needs. I trust him my future and surrender all my grieves and mourns. He never fails to brighten up my mornings and filled my nights with stars. And at the moment of darkness, he lay his hands to mine and guide me to his path. I want you to do the same thing. This is the perfect time for you to trust God. Not tomorrow, NOW!

HAY NAKU ! (Mc Donalds' BFGF Commercial Pulled Out)

I felt sad when I heard the news that the Mc Donald's commercial ad was pulled out upon the request of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The TVC showed a little girl asking a little boy if they are already boyfriend/girlfriend yet the kid hesitated of the reason that girls are so demanding. However, the girl says she only wanted a french fries, on the video playing as an object of focused, the McDo store can visibly seen. 


For the sake of those who wasnt seen the video yet watch it here: http://youtu.be/p-Njqzj8b-o

On my opinion, I havent seen anything wrong with the commercial. The theme of the ad was based on the real life situation of kids talking things in their lives. In reality, worst thing can happen or be happening. Similar themes has been also used by the advertisers before. India also has the similar 'BFGF' TV ad for the same establishment. Most of the commercials here in the Philippines uses children for they has the biggest impact to the viewers. And I am certainly sure that there were no exploitation happens or been happening to these kind of commercials. 


Fr. Melvin Castro, Executive Secretary of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life said his interview in a newspaper that the commercial was 'very swallow' and 'cheapens human relationships'. I respect the opinion of the council of bishops in the Philippines, however, they must have been open minded regarding some things that might be spreading in the country. The video, for my opinion doesnt violated any catholic rules or standards. I do not understand the point of  the reason of the CBCP imposing that the commercial is shallow and cheap. Thinking on the boarder aspects, there are things we wanted to have and wanted to do, but there are things that we wanted most. There are more issues that we should have been talking and waiting the council to intervene. Bullying, Gradual Increase of Tuition Fees, Pollution, High Rate of Teenage Suicide or the numerous Billboards posted in the metro showing off sexy men and women. 

I dont want to think that it has something to do with the Willie-Jan Jan' controversy. I never heard them talk about it. The council must have been fixing issues inside their premises, and have a thorough study on subjects or objects before they will intervene. Lady GaGa's blasphemous videos, underrated violent music videos and movies, high percentage of piracy that gives youth easy access to Pornography, Poverty, ETC. These are some of the issues we need to hear from them. As a catholic leaders, they must have been careful criticizing objects and issues. Let us open our mind and our eyes, be vigilant and be intelligent.