When Lights Go Out

There are times when we feel that our world has turned dark because of too much frustrations in life. What do you do when you’re in those kinds of situations?

I call those days as dark days or days when lights go out.

I learned from Fr. Benedict Groeschel of EWTN that some people who had tried committing suicide yet had survived it confessed to him that they had experienced an engulfing of their whole being by strong winds of darkness that had overtaken our fragile being. He said that the victims were not able to shield those “strong winds" that hit those confused and weak souls on that dark moment.

My friends, all of us could be victims of that “dark moment”. The key in overcoming the darkening of our well being is God Himself. Let us turn to Him during our dark days.

When Lights Go Out

Save your key

Find your way

I always do

In protecting you

Go back to sleep and don’t worry

You know I’m here, a Good Company…

Let’s celebrate You and me

Give me a hand like Mom and Daddy

I’m not going anywhere

Exit… exit…you won’t exist!

I’m planning to stay

And find my way,

Even when lights are out…

Here are some passages from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis

A true imitator of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to suffer, but who never makes others suffer, who receives, as coming from the hand of God, all spiritual and material trials and tribulations; who patiently bears all adversities which come from the justice of God and the injustice of men; who considers it as a misfortune not to suffer anything for God and for eternal salvation.

The Process of Healing

Five days ago, I wrote about the “cure” to the social cancer that has been crippling our country through endless and unrestrained selfishness and corruption in the government.

Twenty two years ago, we’ve had a healing process that took place during a People Power Revolution.

On the 25^th of February, we will be celebrating People Power Revolution (Freedom Day) which has been considered as one of the most peaceful means of making changes and reforms in our government.

Resorting to peaceful means, made me believed that we had received lots of graces for our beloved country.

To heal the wounds of our people, after a peaceful revolution from a corrupt system of government was not an easy task.

Our new leaders saw it coming that whoever will lead the country after going through a corrupt government will have the hardest time of his life. Even if the leader is good enough , what about the people around him?

Some had become impatient and had lost their confidence to the new leaders of the country because of what the old leaders had done. They have not understood that in receiving graces, we need to carry our own cross and humble ourselves in order to see that changes have been slowly building up for our country’s sake.

With that kind of a loser attitude and a scenario of not being able to solve problems on poverty and corruption, as rich becomes richer, the poor becomes poorer, our country’s wounds got bigger and bigger. The country is continuously building billion-dollar loans from multinational companies all over the world. Most of our countrymen are leaving the country for greener pastures. We’ve suffered from brain drain and from some “irregularities” in order for a Filipino worker to send his loved ones to school and give them their basic needs. Until now, we cannot say that our economy is going strong because of these problems we are experiencing.

Now I am beginning to realize that maybe freedom, democracy, and prosperity would take hundreds of years to take effect in a certain country and for its people to enjoy the benefits of it. Although I do believe too, that we as a people are going through a “slowly but surely” kind of a healing process for our ever wounded and beloved country.

The Cure

My friends, my country is now suffering from a social cancer that is becoming too hard to heal.

A certain man who I believe has the cure for that cancer is now being crucified by some of our most influential officials in the government.

I feel sorry for the one they crucified and for those who had condemned him.

The crucified man decided to tell the truth because he is truly a son of God. Yes, he has a good conscience that no one in this world could ever change.

Those who condemn him were caught in the act. They are protecting corrupt officials in the government, so what they share to the public are lies and the dictates of those they are trying to protect.

Poor Filipinos, poor us....

I hope the one who is against the mob will not lose hope and continue to fight the mob.

In one of the crucified man's interviews, he cried after telling this simple story.

"I once asked a poor man who has a guava tree on his backyard to harvest all of his ripe guavas to be sold and have more profit for his family. The poor man answered, No sir, there's no need to harvest all of them. What about the little birds in my backyard? They need to be fed too."

I understand why the crucified man cried. Now he is facing men who make multiple profits for themselves. He learned his lessons from the man who did not only think of himself but also of the little birds in his backyard.

My friends, let us support people who tell the truth so that our country will be healed and the next generation will truly be proud of us.

True Love

Hello my friends..Valentine's day is over..The day when all of us felt so special by the people around us..

Some of us felt the love we longed for but some of us did not..Some of us were heartbroken but some were lucky in love..

My friends, do we really know how to love?..Are the flowers or chocolates enough to please our loved ones? What kind of love do we really need?

What we need is true love..A love that gives more than it receives..Although at times when we love we expect others to love us as well..If you have not understood what true love is, you will always expect others to love you in return and you will have lots of frustrations in life..

My friends..Love is not selfish..it is kind and patient..it gives more than it receives..That's the love that we truly need..

Touch Me Not

An unfortunate incident happened two decades ago in one of our town's forests in Pampanga.

Five men decided to hunt for animals in the forest. It was said that one of the hunters had warned his companions to be careful in hunting for animals in that said forest because there dwelt a "fairy" or "diwata" who was said to be the forest's protector or guardian.

The men went on and did not listen to their co-hunter and decided to slaughter a cow, happily feasted on it as their major meal.

After an hour or so, the men felt too much pain on their stomachs, dizziness, and eventually died in the process.

They should have listened to the wise hunter in the first place.

The people in Pampanga have learned their lessons and are doing lots of measures to keep their forests safe from corrupt hunters, and most of all to corrupt officials and politicians.

A few years back, a tele-communications company decided to build a tower in one of our major forests in Mt. Arayat, Pampanga. The mayor and residents of that town rallied against it because they don't want to experience landslides and floodings as what happened in Ormoc, Leyte in 1994 as more than 8 thousand people drowned because of environmental degradation in that place.

The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in Pampanga in 1991 also contributed much to the pollution of air all over Asia. Although some people believed that there are political reasons (as the stay of the US bases in Angeles City were rejected on a Senate vote) why Mt. Pinatubo erupted after more than 500 years of being inactive, it suddenly erupted and had taken lots of lives and properties.

Nowadays because of too much politicking in our government, they even want to use officials of the environment sector just to satisfy their greed for money and build communication lines disregarding the safety of our people in the future. We've had too much of communication lines, what we need is good governance from our leaders.

Please "touch me not" as Dr. Jose Rizal, our national hero had said....

Follow your Heart

A lot of us today are guilty; guilty of gluttony, vanity, corruption, sexual abuse, murder, in other words of sins and temptations.

If you are, then there's one way to ease the pain you're going through ...Follow your heart....the heart that listens....the heart that Jesus loves and protects.

There are lots of people now who commit suicide...Haven't you noticed?...Why?...and why should you let your self be drown by depression...My friends...listen to your heart...the heart that knows you better than anyone else...I do believe that no one loves you better than Jesus himself...

Even if you think deeply of other things, they're nothing if you don't follow your heart.....the heart that accepts you even if you had not proven anything......even if you failed and suffered from shame ...listen to the merciful heart of Jesus.....Jesus is that Heart within you that you should follow...

Blessed

The poor in spirit know that God is more important than anything else in life.

Eight years ago, I was tasked to conduct a census on population to more than 600 homes on a small barangay in Angeles City, Pampanga, my hometown. For 30 days I had to finish the census all by myself. Thanks to my “Cabalens” I was able to meet the deadline in conducting interviews with them despite some hardships I went through.

On those days I had to make “house to house visits” and walk from 7:00 in the morning till 5:00 in the afternoon. I had to interview at least 20 households a day in a place known to be the haven of “not so nice people around” and I had to be careful in dealing with them. In addition, there were days when the sun was so hot and suddenly it would rain the next day (weather conditions have become unpredictable, isn’t it?). My Mama was kind of worried a lot of times but I told her it was just a matter of showing love and respect to other people and being sincere with them.

I had discovered a lot of things in meeting various people with different lifestyles.

My respondents came from rich, average, and poor families respectively. There was a big difference when it came to treatment to a volunteer like me I may say.

The poor ones had the biggest hearts among them. Even those I had thought who belong to the “not so nice people around” showed their other side to I may say a stranger like me.

When I had visited the homes of the rich, although some gave me the warmest welcome, most of them did not, I had even the hardest time doing interviews with them. But when I visited the homes of the most impoverished families, I had the greatest time on earth.

Now I know why Jesus said ,“It is much harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”

My friends, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."