Biyayaan mo kami ng pagtulad sa iyo,
Nang magningning
Bilang 'yong mga Bituin.

Nakakapangliit isipin na ang Diyos ay ipinanganak sa sabsaban. Malayo sa kung paano ang marami ay makataong isinilang di gaya niya. Ang Diyos, nagpapakababa, nagmamahal, nagpaparaya, nagpakatao, para mapalapit sa tao. Nang dahil sa pagmamahal na hindi kailanman kayang pantayan ng kung sino man, natamo ang kaligtasan. Sana maging tulad tayo ni Hesus, ang tunay na tala na nagbibigay ng liwanag sa buhay, bituing sinusundan upang tungo sa katotohanan.

Sinusundo Kita

By Imago

Kay tagal kong sinusuyod
ang buong mundo
Para hanapin,
para hanapin ka
Nilibot ang distrito
ng iyong lumbay
Pupulutin, pupulutin ka

Sinusundo kita,
Sinusundo...

Asahan mong mula ngayon
pag-ibig ko’y sayo
Asahan mong mula ngayon
pag-ibig ko’y sayo

Sa akin mo isabit
ang pangarap mo
Di kukulangin
ang ibibigay
Isuko ang kaba
Tuluyan kang bumitaw
Ika’y manalig
Manalig ka..

Handa na sa liwanag mo
Sinuyod ang buong mundo
Maghihintay sayo’ng sundo

Asahan mo...
Asahan mo...


Ang Diyos, hindi pwedeng...
nagtatago lang sa kung saan, walang pakialam... hahanapin ka n'ya;
nakatanaw lang mula sa kawalan... pupuntahan ka n'ya;
nag-aalinlangan pang puntahan ka... lulusong s'ya para pulutin ka;
nasa kung saan lang at inaantay ka... susunduin ka pa n'ya.

Big Time Lover

“We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions and requires us to eradicate racism and address the extreme poverty and disease plaguing so much of the world. Solidarity also includes the Scriptural call to welcome the stranger among us—including immigrants seeking work, a safe home, education for their children, and a decent life for their families. In light of the Gospel’s invitation to be peacemakers, our commitment to solidarity with our neighbors—at home and abroad—also demands that we promote peace and pursue justice in a world marred by terrible violence and conflict. Decisions on the use of force should be guided by traditional moral criteria and undertaken only as a last resort. As Pope Paul VI taught: “If you want peace, work for justice” (World Day of Peace Message, January 1, 1972).”

Justice is such a “big time” word, but I hope it doesn’t only remain just a “big time” word all because justice is hard to explain, to understand, and to practice. A common definition of justice that I often encounter is that, it is giving someone what is due to him. For me, it is justice that brings about peace for from justice starts healing of any loss.

Peace is also “big time,” perhaps, bigger than whatever could be so big we can imagine. Peace is a big possibility that each one has, and one could only realize his potential of radiating peace when he knows how to love, for love is the foundation of peace. I think that if peace is not about love, peace loses its sense.

Love has become so sensationalized and romanticized that it already loses its meaning. As Catholic Christians, we were thought that genuine love is God, and that any relationship apart from God is not genuine love at all. So many people find it difficult to love today, to love through the perspective of God. A common understanding is that, the love you have for yourself is also the love that you give to your neighbor. However, despite the love I can give, I know that if I use myself as the epitome of that love, it ends up to the fact that it’s limited love, and I can only give as much as I have, then it stops there. So, I believe that genuine love only comes from God. He is the perfect epitome of love. Therefore, we can only give the love we have for ourselves if we acknowledge that it comes from the Father, thus giving out that same love to others. We never produce love; we just make possibilities to dispense it. We have no right nor is in any position to boast that we are such loving persons. Love comes from God alone.

We have nothing to offer our neighbor that doesn’t come from God. I believe, this nothingness makes us loyal people of God. Whatever color, whatever state of life, whatever differences; our dignity is one and the same in the eyes of God. That is love “in spite of,” and God in union with His Church calls us to this – “to love in spite of.”

The Encounter with the Lord

The encounter with the Lord is always a gift, given to those who have the courage and faith to seek Him.

(This was my last message to the vocation candidates of Canlubang when I facilitated their recollection.)

DINggin

(Ikinatha para kay Chino Reyes)

 

Huwag kang magtago sa mga ngiti

Ngiting hindi tanaw sa mata

Mata ma’y napapagod din

 

Buhay ma’y umawit ng lungkot

Lungkot sa kulimlim ng gabi

Gabi ma’y uumaga din

 

Sa kung sino ay hindi alam

Alam sana ang dahilan

Dahilan ma’y nagtatago din

 

Saka na lamang arukin

Arukin ang wala

Wala ma’y magkakaroon din

 

May panahon ang lahat

Lahat na di iisa

Iisa man ay lahat na din

Falling in Love

“Not only that I love you, but I am in love with you, and I am calling you, inspite of you.” This was the message that was revealed to me by the Lord during our retreat in Batulao on October 17 to 20. It just came to me, and I believed He was there, with me.

God is a personal God. He is my God. More often than not do I veer away from Him, for I always feel that God is too good to be true for me; a reality far away from what I live in. That retreat, my “Ora Decima”, a moment so near to my Lord, told me a different story about God’s love. His love is far greater than what we can imagine, perhaps a greater logic than excruciating sacrifice and suffering. God’s love is always more than anything else we could perhaps understand. It is more compassionate, more forgiving, more persevering, and He loves us all the more to the point of going so deep in His relationship to us; to the point of falling in love with us. And so join me to offer this prayer wrapped in a song, I Beg to Fall in Love with Thee. Let this be our prayer, our response to the God of love, to the God who falls in love with us.

I beg to fall in love with Thee, my Lord with every breath of life I take. I beg to fall in love with Thee, my Lord, its every beat, I to Thee forsake.

For even if my thoughts fall short of knowing You, and even if my will runs terrified, Your passion thins the darkness of my soul, shed it light, breaths it life, stills the murmur of the night.

I beg to fall in love with Thee, my Lord with every breath of life I take. I beg to fall in love with Thee, my Lord, its every beat, I to Thee forsake.

For even if my heart falls short of loving You, and even if my spirit hides away, Your love for me surpasses all my fears, all I do, all I am, all that I can ever be.

I beg to fall in love with Thee, my Lord with every breath of life I take. I beg to fall in love with Thee, my Lord, its every beat, I to Thee forsake.

I was just reaffirmed that God could still call me and embrace me despite everything that I had done in the past; my infidelity, my despair, my selfishness. I still ask the same questions since I entered the seminary, “God are you really calling me here, to this life?” or at times of despair, “Lord, are you still calling me? There were many answers, all of them centered towards the revelation of His love to me, but this past retreat was quite different from the past love notes we sent for each other. It was a humble God whom I encountered those days. His answer was, “YES. I am calling, you inspite of you.” I wept and recalled the times when I was so broken and was healed by God. There were many instances that God did the patching and stitching of my wounded heart, but still I was skeptic about the call. In the middle of the retreat did I realize that the greatest proof that God really really loves me was when he gave me the gift and the desire to persevere in my vocation. I thought that it was more than enough, and was something that will keep me go through the difficult road ahead of me.

May God bless us more and more.

World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia

World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest gathering of young people coming from all over the world to celebrate faith in a more youthful encounter. It is celebrated annually in Rome and goes international every 3 years. For this year, it was held in Sydney, Australia on July 15-20 wherein I was privileged to be part of as pilgrim.

Australia has a 26% rate of baptized Catholics. This number indeed speaks about plurality in a 23 million population with  5.1 million people sharing the same faith and practices. Though a big mass of believers are these Catholics, more people there are more focused to others things rather than Catholicism or other faith at that. Am not quite sure, but maybe this could be one good reason why the Church also decided to celebrate WYD there, to renew the faith of the people through the grace of God and the Spirit.

“You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts1:8) This passage occurs after the death and resurrection of Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father. It represents the birth of the Church. This is the central theme WYD08. It says many things about what’s happening today to the society, to the world, to the young. The theme per se invites everyone, starting from young people to be born and reborn again in their Catholic faith, an encouragement that challenges and at the same time empowers us to rebirth our beliefs and aspirations again and again to a God that never stops loving over and over again. It is an invitation to love and to be witness of love that which empowers us and makes us hope, believe, and live our faith centered to Love. This encapsulates the message of WYD08 for me as this entry also brings together all the reflections in my heart for the past three weeks of being there.

Indeed the Pope and WYD is inseparable, and though inseparable WYD doesn’t belong to any pope. WYD belongs to the Church. It belongs to the young. This is what makes the Church young, the young itself. As John Paul II would say it, “The youth is not the future of this world, they are the now.” Young as we are, we hold in our hands the power to create the possibilities that we are. Popes pass just like other leaders do, but for sure there would be more World Youth Days to come after the next which would be in Spain on 2011 because the fact is, WYD is not the Pope’s event but the youth’s.

Reasonable Rigidity in the Seminary

The rigidity of the seminary rules has become more reasonable nowadays. Reason is an important ingredient in doing things. Though the seminary structure dwells on forming the being, the external reasons for doing things should necessarily be reasonable or else, our doing becomes empty acts of compliance - just compliance.

Rigidity might be something too tough a description of what the rules are, nonetheless rigidity here could be tantamount to Don Bosco’s love for work and temperance. It is a rigidity that fosters self-responsibility, particularly temperance - delaying any form of gratification in even short moments of idleness for there is time for everything.

Wanted: Father, Teacher, Friend, Guide… Provincial Superior

June 12, 2008. Fr Eligio Cruz, SDB was appointed and accepted as the New Provincial Superior of the Salesian Philippine North Province (FIN).

The province faces a lot of changes at the moment as a major revamp of new obediences has been taking place since the start of the year. As the Society observes the signs of the times while answering to all the needs of the houses, the passion and vision of its members remain consistent with the teachings of our father Don Bosco.

Lately, the Former Provincial of FIN, Fr Andrew Wong, SDB has been appointed as the New Regional Superior of Asia-Australia, and in his absence followed the consultation for the next provincial of FIN. After some days of consultation to the different provincial districts and a month of waiting, the New Provincial rises from his rectorship in Mandaluyong.

Fr Eli, as he is fondly called is a man of big heart – a heart bigger than the world. He was my Rector in Mandaluyong way back my high school years. He has been a father, a teacher, a guide, and most importantly a friend to me.

Born with a golden tongue, he is a popular resource person and a great homilist of the Society. He manipulates media gracefully in his propagation of the equality of men and women, the value of work and prayer, the attainment towards holiness, the Preventive System of St John Bosco, and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

There is a world greater than your own, he would often say. From him I learned the value of generosity, suffering, and self-denial. We were taught to become men of influence; of substance; of character. From the award-winning  billboards on the city highways to the smallest tarpaulins in the different corners of the campus, he reminds us the core of our Bosconian identity which explicitly empowers us, Ascende Superius!

Homing to His Grace

As You gave me the desire to offer this, bestow on me the grace to fulfill it.

God-be-ye

Goodbyes never meant to hurt but to liberate, so they remain inevitable moments throughout the journey. We've said our so many goodbyes in all criss-crosses of life that have been moments of partings and newness of some things, but have we really learned how to say them the way we wanted to? Have we learned to recognize the embrace of goodbye?
As I face another goodbye, let me embrace its hurts and freedom, its noise and solace, its rage and peace. This is the goodbye I recognize - the embrace of goodbye I knew how.
God-be-ye, God be with you.

Nakita Mo Na Ba?

Titik: Ron Evangelista
Himig: Aries Arevalo at Ron Evangelista
2008-02-27

Nakita mo na ba ang pagsikat ng araw sa umaga,
Ang liwanag na nagpipinta sa langit?
May mga tanawing kay ganda sa buhay,
Na sa pagmulat lamang nakakamit.

Nakita mo na ba ang pagsayaw ng mga puno,
Ang mga dahong naglalaro sa saliw ng hagin?
May mga tanawing kapayapaan ang tungo,
Na sa pagtingin lamang napapansin.

Koro
Hindi man mumulat at di magmasid dahil sa dilim at kaguluhang naririnig,
Naroon parin ako sa hindi na makita at di na madama.

Nakita mo na ba ang dilim ng kalawakan sa gabi,
Ang mga talang nagniningning sa kadiliman?
May mga tanawing nakakamangha,
Na naaaninaw lamang sa pagtingala.

Tulay
Gayunmang hindi mo makita ang buhay na inialay ko,
Sana’y madama mo na pag-ibig ko’y laging naririto.

Koro
Hindi man mumulat at di magmasid dahil sa dilim at kaguluhang naririnig,
Naroon parin ako sa hindi na makita at di na madama.

Koda
Naroon parin ako sa hindi na makita at di na madama.

Isang handog para sa mga humango sa akin sa pagkabulag at tinuruan akong imulat and aking mga mata sa saya at pighati ng buhay. Gagamitin ang awit na ito sa dulang itatampok sa Semana Santa.

Hiwaga

Ni: Ma. Assunta Caoile - Cuyegkeng

Ibigin man nating pigilin ang paglubog ng araw,
Ang marahanang pagkain sa pisngi ng buwan,
May mga bagay na di matanto at hindi mapigilan.

Ibigin man nating yakapin ang lawak ng dagat,
At sadyang hulihin ang pagkurap ng tala,
May mga bagay na di mahuli at hindi masansalan.

Ngunit kahit ako’y lumayo, huwag ka sanang malungkot.
Taglay mo parin ang aking pag-ibig sa iyong puso

Ibigin man nating abutin ang dulo ng langit,
At ating habulin ang talim ng kidlat,
May mga bagay na di mahabol, laging

Laging isang hiwaga.

Habang ninanamnam ang bawat titik ng mga taludtod, isang tao lang ang naaalala ko - si Miguel Angelo, isang kaibigan. Para sa kanya sana ito. Sayang, hindi ako ang naunang gumawa ng mga titik nito. Malapit sa puso ko ang awit; malapit sa mga naramdaman ko; malapit sa mga pangarap ko; malapit sa kwento ko. Mahiwaga ang pakikipagkaibigan namin. Hindi ko na matandaan ang kwento. Natunaw na yata sa puso at nanuot sa pagkatao ko ang lahat. Laging isang hiwaga parin kung aking babalikan.

Seek and You Shall Find

Seek and you shall find. Mt 7:7 The process of seeking for what has been here for so long is something difficult. This may sound skeptical but the search for the call to happiness becomes tiring sometimes. Am at ease for now, and am not satisfied with that. And so, I continue the search.

Fathers Know

Your Father knows what you need even before you ask Him. (Mt 6:8) I have no biological father anymore. For thirteen years, I’ve endured the emptiness of not having one. I don’t know how fathers do things. I don’t know how fathers think, how they react, feel, and show their affection. I can’t recognize a life with a father anymore, so how could he know what I need.
A friend-seminarian tells me his perspective about how he views fatherhood. Fathers are quiet providers, silent doers, responsible, etc. and most of all the exact opposite of mothers (laughs.) In particular, fathers won’t tell you the reason why they do something; they just do it, while mothers do the explanations and lectures when asked.
I don’t know how to have a father, but I guess my experience having a Father Rector helps me get to know fathers more, and gives me confidence that he knows what's best for me.

For a While

It's easy to come and go, but it pays to remain.

Four Days Seems Forty

Four days seems forty. The past days of my stay in Manila were like days of retreat, of silencing my system for a while and listen to the loud silence in the place that saw me grew: my home.
I am sick. I was diagnosed to have Upper Respiratory Bacterial Infection. I don’t know how to translate that in English; though manageable it still doesn’t make my situation comfortable.
Rest is the home-court advantage. There’s no place like home. Nothing beats staying on bed for hours doing nothing but rest.
While at home doing nothing, I thought about home. I missed the house. If only it could tell stories, it would narrate how I grew, it would recount the times I fell and was helped to stand, times that I sinned and was redeemed, it would tell my vocation story.
Conversations interested me once in the four days, one’s about God’s forgiveness. Why would God let people sin in the first place and then forgive them? Why would he not just make the world a better place for everyone? Answers came everywhere. God respects our freewill, a gift that cannot be taken away because God doesn’t retract whatever He creates. He never contradicts his Being. He is Perfection at its perfection.
Just some two days ago, I realized that I have been stuck for a long time to the state of waiting, the most boring part of everything. I wait to see beauty again as I shed myself to the gloomy and sad moment at present. I wait to see hope, the same hope I held on some months ago. I wait for love to cover everything.
I persevere.

Lent Na

This is the theme of my Lent for 2008.

Gabok sa Noo

Minsang palaspas,
Ngayo’y gabok.
Tina sa noo,
Kulay budhi mo.
Natutunaw sa lagkit,
Sa bungo at isip.
Luhaang mata.
Sumasabay sa agos,
Patak ay puso na.
Makasalanan.

Desisyon

Yung magsasaka,
Mga punla’y di man lingunin,
Tuwid parin.

I Beg to Fall In Love With Thee

I beg to fall in love with thee, my Lord
With every breath of life I take
I beg to fall in love with thee, my Lord
Its every beat, I to thee forsake

For even if my thoughts fall short of knowing you
And even if my will runs terrified
Your passion thins the darkness of my soul
Sheds it light, breathes it life, stills the murmur of the night

For even if my heart falls short of loving you
And even if my spirit hides away
Your love for me surpasses all my fear
All I do, all I am, all that I can ever be

Lord, I want to love you. If only I could then, I surely would. My heart is filled with emptiness right now. I see many things not running smoothly. Where is love in those scenes? Learning to love you is a struggle, and if I need to struggle more than what I feel right now, go keep on coming. I don’t want to miss life altogether all because I’ve not loved you. I beg to love you.

In Your Presence

Yesterday, Feast of St. John Bosco, I offered my application to the third year aspirantate before everyone in the EPC (Educative Pastoral Community.) "In Your Presence" was the theme of the grand mass, seemed timely since the whole discernment for the application was like a retreat - to feel the burning enthusiasm of the gift of vocation and look back to that gracious moment when it felt like forever.

Also, I asked Don Bosco for a gift on the occasion of his feast day. And I think, he surprised me during the grand mass when I read the theme. "In Your Presence" that seemed like "In Your Gift." I knew it was the gift of encouragement he gave in order that I may persevere towards becoming his Salesian.

God Simply Loves You

A conversation went like this during the afternoon:

Ron: Pare sa tingin mo, kahit na makasalanan ako, mahal ako ng Diyos?
JM: Oo naman. Mahal ka Nun.
Ron: Ang tao maraming batas, pag nagkasala ka parang wala nang pag-asa, pero andyan mahal parin s'ya ng Diyos. Bakit ganun?
JM: Pare, kung ikaw, yun bang ginawa at minahal mo, sisirain mo?

I didn't reply anymore. I got the simplest reflection regarding God's love. And perhaps, whenever I would see that common message, "God Loves You," I would always be reminded that He love's me cause He made me, that He doesn't contradict Himself letting life that came from Him comes to waste, and so He sustains them; sustains them through Love Himself.

With the Heart of Don Bosco

The present strenna from the Rector Major of the Society says, "Educate the young with the heart of Don Bosco."
Don Bosco died many years ago, but those people who have witnessed his life and holiness knew how far his love could go.

This image is my proposal to the province. It is meant to be a vocation material, yet as I find the need to look back to how he lived his life, it seems that this is more fitting as an answer to the challenge of his successor. And so as I reflect, I realize that am not just aspiring to be his Salesian, but more so aspiring to be his Follower.
Happy Feast Day.

Unang Hirit sa Umaga

Gumising kami ng maaga, mga alas quarto y media. Gumising para salubungin ang ‘Unang Hirit,’ yung TV show ng GMA tuwing umaga. Sa kasawiang palad, ‘call-off’ ang pagpunta nila.

Madaming nalungkot. Madaming nanghinayang. Madaming nagalit. Madaming nagngit-ngit. Madaming nanisi. Madaming nagsakripisyo ng maraming bagay. Iba’t-ibang dahilan. Iba’t-ibang paliwanag.

Ako, dahil sa hindi nga sila dumating, nagsimba ako sa umaga. Simbang inilipat na sa gabi dapat. Ngunit dahil nga walang dumating ay ganoon na.

Sa aking pagdadasal, naisip ko ang mga tao sa labas ng simbahan. Hindi ko alam ang nararamdaman nila. Ang alam ko lang madami nang tao. At ako, nagsisimba pa.

Hindi pa natatapos ang simba, napangiti ako habang umaawit. Naisip ko, “Ang Diyos parin pala… ang Unang Hirit ko sa bawat umaga.” Kahit na anong ‘call-off’ pa yan.

But Still I See You

It is always a graceful experience to look back to that blessed day when I felt that my ‘Yes’ to God’s call seems forever. Today, we have had our monthly recollection, and as we were asked to home back to those moments when our hearts burned with great passion to a life that awaited us, much tears rolled before my cheeks.Those where excretion of happiness.

Once, I found God. All the while I sought and followed Him. Today, I acknowledge that He has been with me towards Him.

The song Something More speaks about one’s life seeking for something that is already there, something that was seen once, and something with him all the while:

Beyond my eyes can see,
There must be something more
Beneath the surface rush of things
There’s something else in store
Beyond this daily strife, there must be more to life
An underlying rhyme in things
I must have known before

Before the seasons changed,
Before i grew too wise
I watched the passing clouds
In search of meaning in the skies

I read between the lines
But the verses lost their rhymes
And though the truth has long been told,
I’m still waiting for a sign

Where are you, you whom i seek to know?
Are you the one I’m looking for?
Show your face
Why don’t you break your silence now?
Take the stormy seas within me
Name these shadows trapped inside me
Claim this lost and frightened child you see
In me

Beyond my eyes can see,
There must be something more
Beneath the surface rush of things
There’s something else in store
Beyond this daily strife, there must be more to life
An underlying rhyme in things
I must have known before

I bear my private pains
I go the extra mile
Will you be there beyond this road,
To meet me with your smile?
Before my very eyes you’ll shed your last disguise
And then I’ll realize i need nothing more
That the face I’ll recognize

I found You once. I called others to be my company on the journey towards You. I lead them as I see You before my sight. They follow half-heartedly for they didn’t have a first glance of You. In desperation they all fell through, but still I see You.

Do You Know Where Your Heart Is?

Ritchie Fernanndo was a Filipino Jesuit who served in Cambodia. Ritchie went to Cambodia in May 1995 as part of his Jesuit training. A teenager named Sarom, a soldier at 16, maimed, and was very naughty has become close to his heart. On a day of October 1995, Sarom came to the school for a meeting, suddenly pulled a grenade from his bag and threatened everyone. Richie grabbed him from behind. Sarom pleaded that Richie be out of the site for he wouldn’t want his mentor to die. He dropped the bomb from behind and in a wink of an eye, Richie was dead.

Ritchie wrote a letter to a Jesuit friend some four days before the incident. And he says, "I know where my heart is," he wrote; "It is with Jesus Christ, who gave his all for the poor, the sick, the orphan ...I am confident that God never forgets his people: our disabled brothers and sisters. And I am glad that God has been using me to make sure that our brothers and sisters know this fact. I am convinced that this is my vocation."

Captivated, I saw this poster in a Tanging Yaman shop promoting the Jesuit Vocation with Ritchie as inspiration. I don’t mean to offend anyone regarding how I felt especially my brother seminarian Salesians, but honestly I was struck by such powerful statements, so enthuse that options in my heart were, reopened, reaffirmed, and revived. Am a seminarian Salesian for two years now, I've considered many things regarding my discernment starting when I was a sophomore in high school, and had a long journey before I reached my state now, yet the query is so relative to me at this point of the journey: is this really where my heart is?

Image from: http://www.companysj.com/v154/onefaith.html

Sumakay ka Lang

Gaya ng isang Dispatcher ng jeep,
Malakas tumawag ang Diyos.
Gagawin ang lahat,
Sumakay ka lang.

On that Tuesday Night

Tuesday evenings are reserved for Rector’s conferences. A while ago, he talked about the annual renewal of our stay as aspirants in the formation house. While we were used to talk about our application as something that transcends us above others, he recommends that we look at it as a progression, a continual process towards answering our call towards Him.
I hope that as I examine myself for the next days, God may grant me serenity to answer his call with all prudence, humility to accept and learn from the past, and the faith to look forward and continue the journey. Pray for me.

28 Years is not a Joke

Rev. Drans arrived this morning. He’s gonna stay here in Canlubang for his retreat in preparation to his very soon ordination to the priesthood on February 2 in SJB Parish and we're gonna be his choir. Rev. Bernard ‘Drans’ Nolasco, SDB has inspired me by his good night talk. His homing back in the seminary is a significant choice for him as he remembers the love story that transpired between him and God in this sacred place. Reverend, 28 years of struggle is not a joke. Yours is my salutary respect and prayers. Congratulations.

Image from http://www.sdb.ph

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Hinahanap parin Kita

Hinahanap kitang nanghihikayat
Ikaw ngang tumatawag
Hinahanap kitang nang-aakit
Ikaw ngang nananaghoy

Hinahanap kitang nagtawag
Ikaw na ipinaririto ko
Hinahanap kita pag-ibig
Ikaw na hangad ng puso

Hinahanap kita ng buong lakas
Ikaw na tumatawag sa mahina
Hinahanap kita sa luha
Ikaw ngang tanging ligaya

Hinahanap kita sa apoy
Ikaw na langit
Hinahanap kita sa kasalanan
Ikaw na kapatawaran

Hinahap kita sa kanila
Ikaw na akay ako
Hinahap kita sa dilim
Ikaw na tanglaw na pala

Hinahanap kita at dinudungaw
Ikaw na hinihintay
Hinahanap kita sa malayo
Ikaw na yakap na ako

Hinahanap parin kita

Sexuality: A Response to a Call

Sexuality transcends much than the usual norm of genital matters. It is a relational power that makes us responsible to enter into other persons’ lives and them to ours.

Sexuality is a response to a call that urges to know one’s self fully so that one could also give freely and serene. Sexuality is a response to be conscious. It is a response to a world that does not foresee effects of what could come about by just letting things happen - a skeptic view of reality, while relationships do not "just happen." Sexuality is a responsibility. It is every person’s responsibility. Hone it. Own it.

Per Severe

Just a thought: skimming through a book to pass the time, there was this weird feeling when I looked and focused to a line that says much about perseverance. I thought about the etymology of perseverance. Perseverance is rooted to the word persevere. I actually don’t know if this idea that I present existed way before I thought about it, but persevere could be divided into two basic words: per and severe. Per could mean through, taken from its Latin origin. Severe is synonymous to having a definite hardness or severity of nature or manner; being stern for that matter. Having thought of this, the word perseverance would surely give a rich and deep meaning to me even at a glance. Persevere means going “through sternness;” through hardships. It's reaching the peak that inspires to go back to the idea of climbing. It's arriving to the destination that gives the sensation to tell the story of the trip. Struggling is being a sure winner.

I feel betrayed.
I was confused between reality and fantasy.
I am angry.

What else is not Changing?

Sometime in the past, the year was new. Today, there is a newer year than that. If there is always something new in everything, that even time longs to have its major changes which affect the whole universe, what else is not changing?

Ianus is a two-headed god. One face looks back and the other looks forward. He is god of beginnings and endings. Sad or happy, bitter or sweet, despairing or faithful, all the extremities of passing motions that could be subjected to fate are all seen by his nature. He sees progressions happen. In all that he sees in the past and glimpses in the future, continuity restores the balance in what is seen – he continues to see even if something in the past or future is hurting, painful, and confusing. What else is not changing?

We’ve seen people changed for better and for worse, time felt passing slowly and rapidly, relationships ended and started anew, promises broken and renewed. What else is not changing?

I say it’s God. If change could be created by someone who is not subject to his creation, it should be someone almighty like Him. He is consistent. His love rises before the sun; his mercy endures and guards creation in the dark; he who grants changes restores everything through love – through Himself.