Stories of Coming Home

This morning I was blessed to read a testimony of a convert to the Catholic Faith. I respect our protestant brothers and sisters who devoutly keep their faith ,while at the same time, I feel blessed to be born into the Catholic Faith. A phrase that really got into me from the testimony is the assertion that some who are born as Catholics need to understand and love their faith deeper than they do now because converts from Protestantism, in immersing themselves into the richness of Truth in the Church, put to them to shame in their complacency.

There is the question of sola scriptura, sola fide, works, and grace in the article and the question begs, "What can save man?" Is it by scripture alone, or faith alone, or works, or grace? Protestants have long taught that scripture alone holds authority and faith alone brings salvation. Catholic Catechism I have read taught me that it is a triumvirate of faith, work, and God's grace.

Allow me to bring you along my train of thoughts...

Adhering to my Faith, I believe that God's grace prompts us to have faith in Jesus and gives us strength to do good works. Our faith is the root of our works while our works will not be enough without faith. We need to do both otherwise we fall into error. Yet it is not enough still, for it is not by power of man that man saves himself.

And this brings me to a dilemma. Can I then ask God to give give me grace that I may be saved? Would my asking be from my own strength or is it still grace coming from God? I remember St Paul saying that everything is Grace. I would opine that even the act of seeking redemption is grace. But then, philosophizing about it, if it is by grace that I seek redemption, why is it that not all men seek redemption? Does God play favorites with His grace?

Now I feel I am in dangerous waters. I must be missing something... and yes, there is something wrong in how I understand God's grace.

God by nature is all-Benevolent. He lavish with His Grace and He showers it on everyone and everything there is. I would go on to say that the universe is immersed in God's grace. Since it is the will of God that every man be saved, then everything must be working hard to ensure man's salvation. The universe and all that is in it has been sweating it out to guide us to salvation.

Isn't it that the stars have been faithful enough to shine every night that our wonder may be aroused and we may ask who made them? Isn't it that the warmth of the sun, the cool breeze, the verdant lush all speak of beauty and intricate design that brings us back to God? Isn't the phenomenon of life an outstanding breakaway from an infinite statistical improbability in a universe of entropy? Yes, everything has been grace. My life, my history, my person, and my being have all been grace that were given that I might find Him.

Going back to the question of why not all men are seeking redemption, I discover that each man does and years for God. The question of happiness, its search, and man's perennial failure and retry to find it is indicative that he is looking for something, or someone. And here, I see a play between Divine Will and Human will.

While Grace has been at work all along, in the foreground and background, consciously or unconsciously to man, the choice of redemption is all up to man. God patiently waits for man. He inspires him, He bombards him with beauty, goodness, and knowledge, and in His power orchestrates the universe to play music, and He waits for man to join in singing. He does not force, he inspires.

However, the human condition is complex.

Each one of us has a story, has his own interior life, his own person and character. The beautiful thing is, God deals with us individually, as if we are the only one left to be saved in the universe.

And so we get different responses. Some easily open up and say yes to God's invitation. Some take a lot of prodding. And some are still trapped in their human condition still waiting for a spark of light.

Back with the triumvirate of Grace, faith, and work, I see the primacy of God's grace in human redemption. It is not by man's power that man is saved but by God. In the question of sola scriptura, there is a need to ask if God's grace can only be found in and limited to scripture. In the teaching of sola fide, there is a need to ask if man's faith is equal to God's grace. In the idea of working our way to heaven, there is a need to ask if we all have the energy to finish such work.

We need to discover the graces that God has peppered into our existence that we may be saved. It could be the Communion within the Church, the Sacraments, our loved ones, our daily tasks, or even this internet connection we now enjoy. It is the ultimate generosity and love of God that saves.

There is so much to discover. There is so much to treasure.

Such is the love of God - unmerited and lavish.

A Higher Call for Extra-ordinarili-ness

First, what was that word?

We often quote St John Bosco on the popular slogan among Bosconians, "Do your ordinary duties extraordinarily well". The sentence is engraved in every Bosconian's heart and soul but interestingly, the phrase is not original of Don Bosco but is often said by him.

For most of us, it means putting our best foot forward in everything that we do. That is how the sons of Don Bosco became known to be talented and skilled people. Most Salesians would explain it that way and I have grown up understanding it that way. For most, our human effort of turning the ordinary into extra-ordinary is truly sanctifying for such good, or would I say best, works are pleasing to God's eyes.

In an ordinary breakfast, Fr Fidel and I were happily discussing the aspirants' schedule of the day, to do's, chores and work until the conversation ended up here. He gave me a strong argument to challenge the common understanding of the saying.

The phrase could also mean that, in a higher perspective, those who are in God's grace are given the power to do things extra-ordinarily beyond the level of what they normally can. It is no longer us who does the extra-ordinary, putting a notch higher the mundane things we do, but it is God who empowers us to do much more than what we possibly can.

It was the little Johnny Bosco of Becchi who stunned the world. A humble peasant from an obscure village in northern Italy rose to become an influential figure in the Church and state, rightly earning during his time the title "living saint". A boy who received not the best of education became one of the best educators. St John Bosco's story of success is a powerful testament to the grace of God who lifts up the humble from their lowliness to seat them with kings and nobles.

Now back to the saying. Can we then say that the saying is a higher and stronger challenge to stay in the grace of God which empower us to transcend our normality towards the extra-ordinary? This is something more theologically sound since it is not by man's effort that he sanctifies himself but through the generous and unmerited love of God.

Should we accept this paradigm shift, then Don Bosco must have asked for his sons and daughters to stay in the grace of God always, that they may witness to the "normal" world the extra-ordinariness of God. When we have followed his advice of frequent Confession and Communion, a spiritual director and confessor by our side, and a real friendship with Jesus and Mary, then we can stay in God's grace. And the extra boost of extra-ordinarili-ness will come not just from our own effort but also from the empowering love of God.

In But Not Part Of

I was playing football with the aspirants this afternoon when some approached to play with us. Two of the aspirants called me to the side to warn me that these people play rough. Their concerns were not without basis as many indeed would play rough in order to win. They told me however that it would be my call and they would just be obedient (as they always are to me).

I thought it over and decided that the aspirants play with them. I thought to let the ball roll.

I was quite amused at how many of our aspirants tried their best to defend in their positions. At the end of the game one of them admitted he didn't really want to play since those who invited themselves to the game usually wouldn't pass the ball and that they were too hot-headed to keep a friendly game. True enough, during the game some of the aspirants didn't push enough to make a decent goal.

I pointed out to them two things: one, that the world is never fair; and two, they must deal with it.

It is true that the world is never fair. No, not to anyone. No, never. To complain that opponents are too rough is not some reason to stop playing. It is a challenge to keep fighting on despite the un-fairness, keeping yourself fair to others. It brings to mind Jesus' challenge: you are in the world but not of the world. When these formands would become professed Salesians one day, they would realize that not even those you expect to be fair would be honest at all. How many times have our priests been duped by the very persons they trusted?

The danger of staying in a regulated environment is to begin to think that the world works the way it does inside the seminary walls. Outside the comfort of our boundaries, the world is vicious, competitive, and difficult. Our formands must wake up to the fact that that is the nature of the world, and that is the object of our mission - to purify the world that the Kingdom of God may reign.

Keeping calm in spite of the roughness of opponents is a tough thing to do. Yet it is the very witnessing that St Paul challenges us to: conquer evil with good. So I told my too-idealistic charge that it is the very challenge of playing as an aspirant before other people: to be tough in the game but kind and sportsmanly.

We cannot expect the world to work the way we want it to but we will always have the power to change it by our faithful witness.

Faith and Faithfulness: Hitting the Mark

As the Cardinals of the Catholic Church congregate in the Sistine Chapel for the election of the new Pope the world is abuzz with speculations on who the 266^th Pope will be. Media outlets from all over the world have their own lists of papabili who according to their own estimations have the greater chance of election due to their popularity or relevance.

Secular media is alien to the inner workings of the Church who in her work for salvation is fond of quiet reflection in contrast to the spectacle of speculation, intrigue, and sensation of the world. What most outsiders would consider is the name and fame of each cardinal-elector. The reflective mood however of the conclave points to the search of who among the electors has the capacity to keep the Church faithful to the teachings of Christ in our time.

In a world facing issues of life and life-choices, the Church has been branded as medieval. I think it is altogether missing the point. The Church is not medieval; it is consistent with her teachings throughout history. It is not outdated but continues to strive to be faithful to Christ her spouse. The magisterium, regardless of the personal and individual opinions of her members is bound to faithfulness through the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Church, then, needs a leader who would continue to be a vanguard for this faithfulness.

The landscape of the world may change over time, yet the same laws subsist forever, laws that are rooted in truth and reality and not in the fluid opinions of intellects that pass into oblivion and annals of history. The Church, through the Pope, reads the signs of the times and discerns the call of God through the changing world yet the call remains the same – the call to holiness. Be perfect as your heavenly Father in heaven is perfect. It is a call to fidelity.

As what Mother Teresa of Calcutta would put it, God calls us not to be successful but to be faithful. Faithfulness entails a seeming defeat, opposition, and persecution. In faithfulness, there is no promise of success for success is a mere illusion of the world and a not so worthy prize for steadfast faith. In faithfulness, there is only the promise of Presence.  I will be with you until the end of time.

The beauty of the Church and also of the papacy is not that she in herself is faithful, or that human nature by itself is faithful, for in fact all that is human is fallible. Her real dignity is that God promised to be faithful with her that not even the gates of hell would prevail against her. Only God is faithful and it is His faithfulness that brings sustenance to His people.

It is sad to hear of religious who complain and much worse, quit their paths because they feel unfulfilled or sad in their living out of the vows. The radicality of religious life is not exemplified in the success of the ministry. It is actually seen in the faithfulness of the religious in the vows he had made despite the trails, failures, and sadness in his or her following of Christ. Would Christ be pleased to hear a disciple quit because the work is unrewarding and unfulfilling? No, Jesus would rather have His disciples carry their cross and follow Him.

Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI spoke that there is a crisis of faith in the world. The Church needs a Pope who will nourish and enliven once more the Faith in a world that is bereft of it. Not a faith blind to reason nor a faith that is bound to the senses but a Faith that is alive in the Spirit and fuelled by the impulse to love without recompense and steadfastly through times good and bad.

Self-Esteem: The Delicate Balance Between Pride and Humility

I write this piece with the Filipino mentality as a backdrop, because the nuance of being a Filipino involves a pre-occupation with being modest and being proud.

In a world filled with narcissists who glorify themselves on Facebook with a barrage of a million self snapshots, selfies they call it, there is a big question on the over-all psychological health of an ordinary human living in this postmodern world. What is self-esteem and where is the healthy balance?

The question is of particular importance among Filipinos who find themselves living in a culture which glorifies humility and modesty and chastises pride and arrogance. So many times have children been taught by example by our culture to be modest with their accomplishments or ganged up by the crowd for being too full of self-praise.

I believe in the real value of humility and I recognize the treasure of a healthy self-esteem. Postmodernity has the tendency to bloat the self beyond all proportions with its ego-centric wave that too often we find young people who are too focused on themselves with a tad too strong a regard for their image. Yet, in our culture too can we find people who have either lost all respect for themselves or bathing in the light of false humility. Where can we find the balance?

The balance, in my opinion, rests on truth. Pride if taken in healthy doses is helpful in the formation of a positive self-image. Humility, on the other hand, is a virtue all too confused with having no pride at all. For in fact, humility and truth go together, and if truth offers you pride then it is the moment when both seemingly contradictory words go together to form a healthy self-image.

The recognition of one's strength and value and an honest admittance of one's limitations and failures helps in the formation of a sound uptake on the self. A truthful man is an honest man and in turn form for himself a positive and healthy self-esteem. Truth purifies self-glorification by reminding the ego of its incompleteness and insufficiency and it helps lift up the spirit with the hope and promise stored within each individual.

Our children and young people then must learn to see this balance. There can be no healthy self-esteem for any individual until the self prides and humbles itself with its truth.

The Wonder of Choice

Even now I am continually amazed at the complexity of being myself. The self is an almost infinite measure of possibilities bounded by sharp-cut and distinct limitations. I say these because I can experience a very wide range of emotions but will have to only choose one option among many on how to act as myself. Sure, I can act this way or that way, and I may have strong tendencies towards a particular behavior, but even the immense potency or the natural tendencies will have to give way to one simple choice.

Choice is what makes man. All of us are formed from a rich background, either good or bad, along with its multidimensional influence and mark on the self which has undergone the variables in life and lived through it, and in a way was formed through it. All of us are facing a future with its rich promises, either good or bad, which depends not only on one choice but along many others, directly or indirectly, each future dependent upon the many variables today, altogether drawing trying to draw the will. Past or future, rich as they are in possibilities long lost or have yet to come, must pass through one choice which we must make now.

I remember one philosopher, though I cannot remember his name, say that the striking paradox of human reality is that freedom is enslaved to choice. We all are bound to choose and the choices that we make define who we are. And who we are is not final until the final choice has been made and no choice can be made after. We are dynamic beings who continually remake ourselves with every choice whose final state is not defined by the final choice alone. Who we are at the end I believe, is defined by the sum of the choices that we have made all throughout our existence plus the value of all those choices seen together.

So in failure, I cannot just stop for when I have failed I can always bounce back at living again. And in success I cannot be contented for such pleasures are only for that moment and will fade through time. The power of choosing is perfected through an active, conscious, and positive exercise. We are not yet done, but we are beings.

Invisible Wounds

The boys that I work with in Don Bosco Boys Home are not the regular type of boys. Most of them come from dysfunctional families and even some have nothing to call a family. The experiences that I hear from them dwarf the little hassles that I went through growing up. Call it strange, I admire the courage the boys possess in facing life and struggling against the torrent of misfortunes.

You'd see them now smiling with eyes twinkling but behind these lie the still unsaid burdens that no one could hear unless one listens.

I gave one afternoon talk before them and advised them to be careful with their words. Wounds from verbal abuse run deep and all of them know it. The body could recover from a bruise but the heart could not, no, not even through time. All of us have our own share both in the receiving and giving ends of verbal warfare but how much time do we give ourselves in thinking twice before the next flurry of hurting words come out of our mouths?

I had to take aside one boy one afternoon. Apparently he was teased and bullied and he didn't know just how to express the anger building inside him. All he could do is run away from the situation and unload his frustrations unseen. I felt pity for him and I tried cheering him up with a glass of buko juice. But I also felt pity on those bullies who, unbeknownst to them, are just repeating the very things they had received from badmouthing and insult.

It's all a cycle of hurts that must simply stop. To react is to add to the momentum of the wheel of hate and everyone is run down by everyone's hate. It is pathetic, humanity killing itself by passing to the next person the hurts no one wants to receive.

Healing starts only by the truthful acceptance of the hurt. By this we become human.

But healing is completed by the selfless act of forgiveness and love. By this we become divine.

Storm? What storm?

It's 3:42 in the afternoon and the sky is all golden with the clouds basking in the afternoon sunshine. The trees still have their mighty bows and the ground is dry. Seems to me the typhoon Pablo or Bopha has never passed by Cebu.

The weather forecast and hush-hush built up a gloomy and almost apocalyptic preview of what's to come with Pablo. Science people were stating that this is the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines this year. While we were anxiously anticipating the arrival of Pablo, the weather was actually calm, the rain moderate since yesterday. The heavens resembled more the monsoon season than a Filipino Frankenstorm.

The boys were pestering me since yesterday asking questions like, "Has it come yet?". However, except for the cold damp wind and moderate winds yesterday lunch time there was nothing stormy about it. We are thankful that the storm did not lash out its fury on Cebu. Our hearts go out however to the people of Mindanao who took the beating most as they lay directly on the storm's destructive path.

We have been praying for the community of Don Bosco Mati who were the first to "welcome" the storm into Philippine soil.

After all the storms that passed through the Philippines in my lifetime nothing is more memorable to me than Ruping which hit Cebu hard.

The increasing strength of tropical cyclones however is worrying and indicative of climate change. Nothing is more fearsome than UN's chief saying that extreme weather conditions are the new 'normal'.

Drops, not Hammers and Chisels

There are many ways to get to a certain place. You could take the usual path or the short cut or the longest path. You have the choice in how to make your journey for as long as you arrive in your destination. Though we differ in good methodology, we have the same right goal.

When a boy remarked to me this afternoon that I couldn't do what a fellow worker did in order to exact discipline, he had me thinking. The strict and cold commandeering voice ruthlessly putting lines in order for fear of punishment is something different from the approach I have been using these past few months in dealing with the boys. They must have noticed it well to see the difference of how fast the boys answer my call to discipline that what they have just witnessed.

Don't get me wrong. I am not a sassy, pleading, and poor-me type of disciplinarian. I have my own version of firm in the kind-but-firm love. My childhood experience and my admiration of Don Bosco's style of education makes me adhere to the principle of firm loving-kindness.

The tradition of military discipline and of corporal punishment seems to have its deep mark and lasting influence. The educator uses fear to command and the student waits for fear before obeying. It is a stigma to both sides which needs patient correction over time. It is very un-Salesian.

St. John Bosco used fear too, but not the kind of fear that estranges educator from pupil. His was the holy fear of God which builds on the love for the beloved and the desire to please the beloved. It is a fear, quite different, that springs from love. It is a different method that takes more time and invests more energy. But it its fruit is also lasting and truly formative.

Great, huge, and solid rocks are not broken down easily by hammers and chisels. Surprisingly, it only takes drops of water constantly falling on a rock over a long period of time which breaks a boulder. The result are not rugged and ragged edges but smooth and flowing curves. In the same way, hardened hearts are not softened by fear but by gentleness and love.

When I was confronted with the question, "Brother, can you do what so-and-so did? I bet you can't", I was fighting with myself. Of course I can but I won't. I won't use fear to exact discipline but I would coach have the boys think and decide for their own. My method is to coach them into internalizing discipline, not imposing it on them. I don't want boys who'd jump at the chance of doing foolishness when conditions allow but I want boys who and are convince when and how to act properly.

I cannot but admit that the results are not immediate. You cannot easily expect them to behave as you desired because the change is not external but internal. The Salesian education aims at the heart and it takes time and patience. It is a journey with the young that imitates the love of the Good Shepherd.

Yes, it is frustrating to see that the boys still haven't learned. When will they? How much time must it take? But I live by faith and not by sight. In the same way that my educators placed their faith in God, in gentleness and kindness, and in me, I do the same for the boys entrusted to me.

Life-long Learning

Seven months have been ripped off the 2012 calendar in my small room since I stepped into Don Bosco Boys Home - Liloan for my practical training. A lot has happened for sure with all the energy and movement around our boys. If time flies in the post novitiate because of hours and hours of study and reading, here in Boys Home, time flies because of hours and hours of endless activity and keeping up with the unrelenting energy of these supercharged boys.

I took this time to write again while I am assisting the boys for their daily serious study period. Serious, because talking is disallowed, nor is standing, eating, sleeping, and all other things except reading. They are fewer with some in Balamban attending the provincial meet for sports. So I began our study period with an exhortation, feeling like a prophet of old, to maximize the study period for reading and learning for its sake, because we never stop learning until we are six feet under the ground.

A joke runs among Salesians assigned to Boys Home that the unyielding physical activity in this house is not conducive to serious study for us, it takes extra will power to read a book while in Boys Home, and so they say the place dulls intelligence. From my seven-month experience, it has some truth to it. Partly true, because the lack of venue for serious reading certainly curtails the intellectual pace of the post novitiate and its philosophical musings. However, practical training is a different dimension to say the least. It is grasping the ropes of being a Salesian on-site.

Practical training did me its name's worth: practical learning. I have learned much of how to deal with people as a Salesian religious.I learned more on living with a religious community of people older than I am. And so, learning takes on a different phase here.

Taking seriously the advice of a mentor, I should not stop reading (or writing). I may be in a practical phase but as the dictum goes, we never stop learning until we die.

Presence 2.0

Presence in the internet, aside from being virtual, is becoming more and more seamless and unified. 

In the last John Paul II Youth Ministry and Catechetical Conference in Cebu, I was already talking about unified user accounts for web services that persist across platforms. Terms like single sign-on and projects like OpenID sprung up to consolidate user accounting in different web services from different sites and from different companies. In the evolution of the computer market from the desk to the mobile, office to the pocket, major IT companies have rolled out their solution to what could have been a digital version of schizophrenia, a mess of usernames and passwords for each subscription in the internet, a confusing stash of credentials bordering on identity crisis.

To ease out these perceived problems, companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, and the like, have been strategizing to make user experience seamless, in the internet and across different devices. You can now sign-in to your Google Account and use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Earth, and YouTube under one user account without having to sign in for each site. Your web preferences and settings are the same across them. Your bookmarks in Google Chrome or in Apple Safari synchronize between your PC, laptop, tablet, and phone. With OpenID you can now log-in to other services with your Facebook account or use your Google Account to avail of Microsoft Windows Live services. 

It may appear altruistic for these competing capitalist companies but this brings economic benefits for them too. It means less maintenance for user accounting and richer information for them through usage statistics, user preferences, and social trends gleaned from tracking user activities and interactions. For each site you search for, visit, like, rate, recommend, or interact with corresponds to social weather datum these companies are hungry for. 

What do they do with this much data? Companies backed by rich information on user habits has the competitive advantage to address adequately the market, build up image, and earn more profit in the not-so-long run. Facebook has been criticized for keeping to itself the rich social map and data in its servers. Google has long been analyzing contents in its mail servers, site click-throughs and search queries to make advertisement relevant for each individual. 

This is the age of information. Abstract shaping what is concrete. Tangibles crossing the digital gateway to become intangible entities on LCD screens. Multinational companies now have IT teams to make sure their presence in the vast cyber world. Corporations and individuals have their own virtual presence in the net to extend their influence and presence far away from the physical world. Human consciousness has come to the age of abstraction and encapsulation, virtual interaction, and long distance but split-second communication. 

What we don't immediately realize is that these digital habits are also shaping the way we think. It was Marshall McLuhan who said that the tools shape the user. We all have heard of anecdotes about lives either fixed or broken by the web; real relationships melting down because of social networks or rediscovering friendships that had been buried under ages of dust. In the digital revolution, everyone is clamoring to be represented, nay, present in the virtual world. The fact of experience however sinks in. We can never be present in both the real and virtual world. Ultra-realists and technophobes have shunned the virtual to immerse in the real physical world. The newer generations favor virtual life for its impersonal and fluid nature sacrificing the joys of getting cuts playing in the fields or the sticky sweat of sports.

The human intellect, finite as it is, can never be present in one realm without being absent in the other. One cannot be present online without shying away from the real physical world. That's the law of presence, choose one or be master of none. And it is in this crucial point of leveraging that personal values are put to the test. Educators may be too keen on jumping the online bandwagon to be present to their students even in the internet and finding out later that some aspects of education has been left behind. Parents who delve in too much into their children's online activities have tasted the bitter backlash of being filtered out online and offline. The human being, in its unique nature of being both spirit and matter, is always in the question of finding the right balance between the abstract and concrete.

We religious have felt this tension in our communities ever since the cell phone has come into use in our ministries. Now that the internet is becoming ubiquitous, a wave that has permeated the monastery walls, as Fr. Chito Dimaranan has noted, boundaries dissolve and social dynamics are rethought. Even the ongoing digital revolution is shaping the Church. 

Like any other technology that sprang from man's ingenuity, the digital revolution improves upon or drags into oblivion many habits good and bad. The crucial question is what to keep and what to throw away. And so in the area of digital presence and its effect on your real presence in the physical plane, how much and how well did it further our good cause? I would like to hope that we are finding a level of consciousness that allows us to use our virtual presence to strengthen our real presence. 

It is not enough to say hi and hello on social networks like Facebook. We also need to invest real quality time with the persons behind those virtual faces. Good thing our sense of touch reminds us of the tactile need to connect not just in thought but also by flesh. Even the God incarnate took pains to ensure that his presence is not just virtual but also a physical one. We can never substitute online presence for actual presence. 

As the reach of the internet goes farther and farther into the fabric of human society, we may be drawn to the illusion of migrating the entire human consciousness online. It would be a better perspective to see it as complementing our real connections rather than entirely replacing it. The old saying rings true: keep your feet on the ground.

Flee! The Flu Flies!

So much for play of words. It seems the flu I have caught recently led me to blog again. It's been raining for days, most of the time intermittently, with the ongoing battery of storms on the beautiful and pristine islands of the Philippines. Pristine, they could remain, if not for the longstanding downpour and gales that threaten to uproot  every house in the land.

But I'm not complaining about the weather. I love it when it rains and the temperature drops to the sleepy-mode level. It makes me feel home-y. What I am recklessly blabbering about is this unstoppable torrent that seeks to deluge my nostrils. Flu, is a seasonal favorite in the tropics. I always get one every year.

I remember the days of Bird and Swine Flu that got people scampering around looking for masks. It was that time when three of us of the four novices went down with flu that we thought we're going to die, since Swine flue was talk of the town. And like years before, my body aches and heaves, my nose running, and my cough dry, so does having a flu now feel. I don't care if its the bird, swine, or canine flu, but I just want the flu to fly away. My lack of fever makes me less-believable and I don't want to try convincing everyone I am sick. Aside from that, I need to finish checking my papers.

Water therapy, a lot of juice, and rest are my best friends right now.

When Difficult Questions Are Left Unanswered

It was supposed to be the annual celebration of the community. Booths were already put up and the community square is alive with the buzz of festivities. But the joyous noise were drowned by nine shots. People frantically ran for cover when the initial shock wore off. The kaleidoscopic turn of the Tamiao community stopped and faded to grey. Now the nights leading to their feast day only resounds with the background buzzing of crickets. No more are the laughs, only sorrow and fear. Questions abound, left unanswered by those series of shots that silenced joy.

This is the sad story of the Tamiao community in Compostela. The baranggay is not far from Don Bosco Liloan which is located in the adjacent baranggay of Cotcot, Liloan. The frantic screams were even heard by some in Don Bosco. An assassin sneaked past the crowd of onlookers of a variety show, aimed his barrel at the nape of Mr. Marieto Yraola and shot him point blank. The ensuing chaos claimed two lives for collateral damage, four more wounded, and a community shaken by shock and fear.

Fr. Jhun Paradiang asked me to come with him to the wake. The atmosphere was quiet. Most eyes were wide but empty. People were asking questions, "Why God, why?"

To me, the killer and those behind the plan did not just disposed of their target. With no reason to explain, two families are left without a father, another family with children below eight years old were left without a mother. They not only took out lives, they also killed the spirit of the community.

Surely, this is no will of God. Sadly, it is human will that brings about events like this. Human history is marred with selfishness and pride that takes a dig at the core of all that we value in life. I believe that the God who rejoiced with the community in their annual festivities is now among them sharing their tears. Perhaps, He too is asking, "Why man, why?"

When Does Human Life Begin?

I write this blog as I search the internet on the debate on cloning. Stumbling across a whitepaper from the Westchester Institute gave me a strong recall of a discussion with one student in my Catechism class. (Warning: I'm quite philosophical in this essay.)

Everyone knows the heat that wraps the abortion, stem cell, and cloning issues. Arguments and counter-arguments have been presented at table and sadly, the discussion has been so muddled with controversy the truth is buried deep in the spoil and the impressionable is left to take a relativist stand on things. These issues touch on one value: Human Dignity, and a question, although already answered scientifically and proven empirically correct is placed in doubt: when does human life begin?


I was taken aback a few months ago when a student explained to me that the zygote in the womb of its mother is not yet human. My hair stood on end. It's the classic argument of misinformed abortionists.With all the science that have been taught in our classrooms how can one student state such statement. It is true that my student is not alone. Most Filipinos have the wrong notion of when humanity starts. But we defend and we declare that human life starts at the moment of conception.

This question is of such vital importance because people often contradict this fact. Reading through wikipedia's article on the question gave some counter-arguments that challenge this fact. I believe such arguments come from the Western philosophical habit of cutting everything of reality into distinct parts. The truth is every developing organism undergoes a smooth and continuous process and it remains substantially the same throughout. Otherwise, I would be a different individual than I was when in my mother's womb and killing that clump of cells in past would not mean killing me as I am in the future. Give it to the East for accepting a more unified view of reality.

It is sad that despite all the empirical and technological science we have today, skepticism continues to hound human knowledge. Others may question facts out of purely speculative and critical reasons in seeking the truth but there are minds out there who are driven by malformed motives who continue to attack Life. They start with questions and when everything is shaken up, the confusion is enough to obscure the truth. The media is not at all immaculate in advocating falsehood (it is interesting to note how individuals and corporations get whacked for telling lies while media as a whole is self-regulated with regards truth despite its many blunders in the past).

So please, let us give ourselves the respect we deserve. Everything that we are is based on our humanity. Our humanity can be proven by facts from whence our values rise up. Our humanity is the foundation of our human dignity. Let us not undermine the very ground we stand on.

Sinulog

Pit Senyor Santo Nino!

So goes the loud cry from Cebu. This third Sunday of January, the annual Sinulog celebrations takes place in my beloved island. There would be revelry and fun, dancing and festivities. Vibrant colors and sounds saturate the streets in honor of the Holy Child.

This morning, I asked the young people of Majada, "who is more powerful the Poong Nazareno, whose feast we celebrated last Monday, or the Sto. Nino, whose feast we celebrate today?" They paused in silence for a few moments. Their eyes wide with innocent confusion over the riddle. A little hand shoot up in the air followed by a triumphant answer, "the Poong Nazareno!" The little girl was so sure of the answer, her eyes were gleaming with victory. I chuckled at the innocent blunder.

Jesus who is truly God and truly man shared humanity with us in its fullness. He was a child once and lived as a child indeed. I explained to the little girl how much Jesus would understand her childhood as he also had the chance to play with friends, run up and down the road in Nazareth, and explored the hills and holes like any child would do. The Almighty God took upon himself the humble humanity of little boy.

And so we celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Nino in the Philippines. It is a feast we Cebuanos hold very dearly. Thanks to the modern means of communication, events happening in the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino in Cebu is streamed live right through our screens here miles away in Canlubang. I surely miss the activities and festivities the second time around. In this feast, we celebrate more the closeness of Jesus to us as he shares our own nature. We believe he understands us because he experienced what we are experiencing now.

But more than this, we look to him as a model of obedience and simplicity. In the same way that he put upon himself our humanity, we are invited to put on the godly virtues that the Holy Child possesses. Because of this child we have become children of God, and so in Him we also see how it is to be a child of God.

It's wonderful to reflect on how the Catholic Faith has come to the Philippines. Just as God came to be with Israel 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas eve, he came to our islands in the form of the Sto. Nino handed on Queen Juana of Cebu. It is then with gratitude that we celebrate this wonderful feast as a thanksgiving for the gift of Faith and the powerful protection of the Little Child himself. Sinulog is that very oblation of dance that springs forth from our culture seeking to express the wonders that God has done for our people.

Garage War

In a sudden turn of events, I was reassigned from my much loved garden assignment to our garage which is the point and summit of all confusion. I had a heavy heart saying goodbye to the plants that I cared for for the past two months. Good thing the rains are still at it these weeks and they could survive. But, according to St. Thomas of Aquinas, "obedience is the surest way to moral perfection", so I have to follow the new assignments that got posted out at the beginning of the year.

This afternoon was the first battle with the garage room. Spider webs were roundabout and dust particles fight their way through my nostrils. The musky smell tell me that this room has been left untouched for a long time. This fight is not for the faint of heart. This fight is a fight to the finish.

All the things that lay there remind me of how much content our lives has. We think that our own experiences arrange themselves nicely in our subconscious. I believe the subconscious is much like the garage room. It just receives and receives and receives until the time when you would access a memory, all other things pour in and heap on top of you.

What I am saying is that we need to have a habit of processing our experiences: keep the junk out and keep the tools in. Each human life is a long story in the process of writing. Not all chapters are feel good but it doesn't mean they don't have value. Healing memories and facing truths are the most useful ways we can straighten up and clarify that wonderful novel that we are still writing everyday.

As for me, I am still writing the story of Keith versus the garage. Fight to the finish!

Christmas Season Still

The rain caught us off guard this morning. We forgot to bring umbrellas today. It seems the season of cold and chills is still hanging around. It is still Christmas!

Filipinos often mistake the start as the end. Just when Christmas begins on the birth of Christ, most of us end the yuletide season. Our culture has shifted the calendar a few clicks back. Advent for us is Christmas and Christmas week has become ordinary.

In today's feast of the Epiphany, we are reminded that God has just begun. Let us not put off our lights for God has just begun lighting His. He begins with the star of Bethlehem, and now sheds His light on the whole world through his manifestation to the wise men. The dawn of Christ is still breaking out. There is much more promise to unfold.

As I sit here watching our barrio chapel's Christmas decorations, my mind wanders to how we could easily shelve the spirit of Christmas together with our Christmas decors. If Christmas was truly life changing with its loving and sharing, then it would live on throughout the year.

Geek Mode

I was relaxing my brains after a week long preparation for the de Universa in Philosophy when I stumbled upon this short video in Google Plus. Apparently, geeks are not that boring.

The video reminded me of the passion that I had for programming. It all started with Lego when I was a kid. Building things is heaven. In Philosophy we talk of ontological truth from which a thing takes its existence from ideas in the mind. Back then it was pure fun and creativity.

When I got my first desktop PC and entered high school it was then that I met my first true love: Visual Basic, and then C, C++, Java, and all the other languages that were not spoken by the human tongue. It's a wonderful enterprise to feel self-fulfilled after hours of typing code, hard-cracking your brains out to debug, and finally getting that little program to run.

Here's the video from Oracle during their presentation last 2011:

Bollywood Movies

Slumdog Millionaire roused my attention towards Bollywood movies. After decades of Hollywood, my eyes were slowly opened up to new vistas from India, Thailand, Japan, and Korea with their own stream of fresh movies from different cultures.

Lately, I have come across two Bollywood movies that are worth mentioning. One is the box office hit, 3 Idiots. The other one is Like Stars on Earth. What impressed me is that both these movies are not only cinematographic, they are values-oriented as well. It used to be that we use to wait for the blockbuster season from Los Angeles before we can feast our eyes on movies, though not all of them are worth watching and just plain rubbish.

One particular artist from Bollywood is worth mentioning: Aamir Khan. Aside from being an actor, he is also a director and producer. It seems that to be a Bollywood actor, one is required to possess the skills of acting, singing, and dancing. That puts to shame a lot of "stars" out their who are deprived of one, or two, or even three of these.

With several parts of the world catching up to western film industry, we see more and more of the other faces of humanity. For me what matters is not the box office success but the message, the values, and the art that makes up the movie.

Italian Love Songs

I would often describe myself as a hopeless romantic. After listening to this song it has unfailingly haunted me. There is something about Italian Love Songs that evokes so much sweetness and passion. I particularly like this song for its very meaning. The sweet sound of the violin resounds with the longing of the song's words.

How many times have we longed for someone and also, how many times have other people longed for us?