Thursday, December 23, 2004

A good man's response...


In cleaning up a mess in a vast surrounding like EARTH, a single broom is not enough and as we all know overnight is not enough...it is always an emergency to be taken and a contingency plan needs a follow-up.

Hey fellows! Using my imaginary binoculars while on board in my imaginary airplane, I could observe a response from a good man's heart...

It was my regular office day, my cellphone excitedly broke the silence, a friend of mine, Fr. Rex Hidalgo, who is a priest (I call him Kuya Rex) had a message which read like this: "dai po nindo paglingawan si meeting ta sa Pizza Hut at 2 pm..." echoing a fast heart beating because it is a call of duty...

I left my files to rush to the venue. They are sitting comfortably in the long table of the restaurant and welcomed me..After 5 minutes of hi and hello's my friend started his wisdom. "I called you today for I need your help for my project in my parish. You know, as I did yearly from my previous parishes, it makes my heart melt seeing little children without anything to eat or play, and this season is a good time to spend with them. In my effort to make this dream come true, I asked the help from some of my friends who are blessed with riches. They openheartedly shared there blessing to buy some foods and toys for the little children in my parish. I did not organize a program yet and I know all of you have the skills to help me organize the event on the 28th day of December, 'ninos inocentes'. We will be distributing foods and toys to approximately 3000 kids in my parish including three parishes that I had invited to participate..." (While he was talking, I felt the sincerity deep within his soul and the feeling of love engulfs my heart having been invited by him to impart some of my time in making his dream come true, having in mind that our province had just been visited by several typhoons early this month that left many families homeless and agricultural land destroyed.)...Yes, his vocation is one of a kind and his mission is the living reflection of this. Committees were made and assignments were distributed among us. I left my friends with a glow in my heart. I told them I have to return to the office for my abandoned files.

I know together we could make some souls happy this season of peace, joy, and love...and this was a response from a good man's heart, my friend.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Friday, December 10, 2004

The Signs of Time


The guy in a red suit with a print on its back- "EARTHQUAKE!" and a ROD like Moses warns me that the end of time is coming! The thought of it really makes me think of what ifs? It alarms me with the possibility of everything-- the questions of where we are now in the journey from the past. Do you get me? Can you imagine a man like that whom I am seeing almost three times a week passing by the road going to my work? He is a warning per se. Where does he gets his guts to do that, different from the ways of the missionaries who preaches and helps the people? It's just his message, that the end might be coming, that counts...frequently... What does he mean? Any hidden message? outburst?

I just knew,God is merciful...the final message of Our Lady of Fatima...God's messages to Sr. Faustina...and many more.

Natural calamities like typhoons (the Philippines was just hit by several typhoons and cyclones, which killed many, left people homeless, struck by illnesses and destroyed their source of living.) are coming almost frequently..How does people like them see the color of life after those experiences? In the other part of the world, what can you feel about them? What can you see in the scenario where the survivors of the typhoons had survived from drinking there own urine after several days of being trapped inside the ruins? Aren't you affected by these?


I have a story to tell you, which really made my heart broken...like in Africa, malnourished children had managed to drink cow's urine or its manure, leaking directly from the cow's ass while the shit! is coming out in order for there tiny stomach to receive something to digest. In Metro Manila, a grandma is waiting every night for the "basurero" to arrive to buy the leftovers of fried chicken from Jolibee and McDonalds that they packed. She washes and boils them at night and then in the morning, adding a vinegar to remove the smell she fries them, and then distributes them to her six waiting grandchildren...

Can you spoil food now from your table having known that our brothers, especially little children in many parts of the world are now living like this? Some people are lucky even if they have a low fat diet, low salt, low sugars, vegetarian, after 6, or a South Beach diet..How could we manage to complain when in fact there are many of us who are living as if they are the lowest form of animals-- Well, some animals really are receiving foods better than these children... I know someone who feed his dog with a corned beef or especially prepared food for them.

This is just an issue on poverty..How about on war and peace, prostitution, etc. Can we think of something to just ease the pain of our brothers, the little children or at least to contribute cleaning the world. Well, we can't do it overnight though, but it's better to start now, if these pinched your heart. Can you figure out where problems like these came from? Or can you consider that these are the results of the cruelty of our society...hardheadedness of man...MAN MADE...and the natural calamities are punishment? Aren't these signs of time?

We ask, what is God's promise to us?