Monday, December 31, 2012

Grateful

 
Last day of the year and I can’t help but look back as well of how 2012 was. It was a year of changes, moving from Vancouver to Toronto, meeting new friends and building new relationships.  Another year will pass and with new relationships built my heart is filled with thanksgiving. I am excited to meet new ones!

This year was also had some of my health scare with number of lab tests for some symptoms felt. Thank God nothing serious was diagnosed, a timely reminder to take care of my self in times when I am too focused on other things. Health is wealth they say, much more our bodies is Gods temple so I have to. 

Gods protection was very evident in all aspects of my life specially on my family. I thank Him for the miracle He had granted to my parents, an affirmation of Gods abiding providence.

I was blessed to be part of the team that opened up a new mission area for our community in Nunavut. It allowed me to be officially beyond the 60th parallel north at 63° 44′ 55″ N, 68° 31′ 11″ W in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. The city is already beyond the tree line, so there are no trees that grow in the area. That experienced allowed me to be in the land of the midnight sun, where on summer the sun is up even at midnight. I also was able to walk on water on the frozen Frobisher Bay. I’ve been to the north, central, west and east of this country, and this is a glimpse of the Lords hand reaching out to the Maritimes for the incoming year.

Friends, family, community, mission, health, protection, new places, these are just few of the innumerable blessings and miracles that the Good Lord had given. I am forever grateful to you O Lord God almighty, creator of heaven and earth. May your blessings and miracles extend to the next year and beyond and may You keep us and be gracious to us as You had been in our lives. Let 2013 be Your year, a year of good surprises and unexplainable blessings. Amen. 

by aats

Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Great Ideal

 
Jose Rizal, Philippine National Hero, once said, “It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice.”

In his lifetime, he has been advocating education to his countrymen. He had rightly believed that without education even if we have independence, we would just end being used by those who have self-interests. Freedom in order to bear fruit requires the ability of each individual to acquire a certain amount of knowledge. Educating the people will free them from the bondage of ignorance. This is real freedom.  Hundred years after his martyrdom this truth still rings true to us today! We who were liberated from ignorance should not just settle for less but aim high for that greater ideal that Rizal drives us to achieve. We are a nation no lesser than others much more we are a people capable of doing great things much us others.

Todays commemoration of his martyrdom should not just end in ceremonies but armed with knowledge and innate wisdom we must contribute to that edifice called Pilipinas. Let us use everything that we know for the greater good of our country.

Read also: When Will We Ever Learn

by aats

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Stand Firm In Faith


The gospel reading today reminds us of the reality that not everyone will be happy when we share the message of Christ. There will be people, who will not believe and will go all the way to make our life miserable, persecuting us and making our mission difficult. When we make our stand for Jesus we are making ourselves a target of ridicule and persecution. However, Jesus affirms us in Matthew 10:17-22, “You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Let us stand firm with our faith knowing that those who do good will reap the harvest in the end. Persecution is nothing if our goal is clear, how much more knowing it is Jesus!  

by aats

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Coldest Christmas

 

At -26, this is my coldest and first white Christmas ever. Streets lined with lights, trees with icicles and rooftops filled with snows, what a wonderful sight to behold on the way to the Mass. Cold yet so warm. Yes, warm because I am with one of the warmest people on earth in Winnipeg. I am blessed to celebrate Christmas in one of the coldest yet friendliest city in the world.

Blessed be God forever!

by aats

We Are The Reason

 

Countless times we’ve heard, Jesus is the reason of the season. For Jesus we are the reason for the season. He came into the world out of His deep love for us. Amazing grace indeed! Christmas then is born out of Gods love for us and in exchange we love Him back. What a holy exchange of love, what a love filled reason to celebrate Christmas!

However, Christmas has been further secularized today. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against other faith celebrating the season with us after all it’s a celebration of joy and love, however it must not be forgotten that in the first place Christmas is being celebrated as a memorial of Christians on the birth of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is the reason of the season. We can never dilute that message. We can never replace Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays. Other faiths or even non-believers for sure can celebrate with us but it should be done out of respect to us Christians, much as we respect other faiths and secular celebrations as well.

Merry Christmas!

by aats

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Human Worth



Pope Benedict XVI said, “Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.”

A human being is not a merchandise but a person with dignity and worth far more than any products designed to please buyers. Beautiful, priceless and cannot be sold, for a human being has a soul. Every person, no matter what status in life, culture and beliefs has a spark of God. Let it be that we value each one, for by valuing others we value ourselves and by valuing ourselves we value the One who created us. 

by aats

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Your Bad Planning




While walking around a store, I saw a framed typographic art that says, “Your bad planning should not be my emergency.” What a good reminder. Most of the time our poor planning habit had led to disruption of someone else schedule. It is totally disrespectful and irresponsibly demanding. If we think that it is because of our priorities, well others have there own priorities too and planning ahead and scheduling properly is actually respecting them. It is not well to demand on someone who has to cancel meetings in order to attend to our needs. We should change; it will not just be good for us but for others as well. Good planning habit is a sign of a mature person. 

by aats

Monday, December 17, 2012

God of My Life


O God of Light
Love of my life
Living water
Flowing, washing, drenching, soaking

O Prince of Peace
Hope of my soul
Wind beneath my wings
Breathing, blowing, touching, whispering

by aats

Friday, December 14, 2012

Sick Society


We have another school shooting again, this time it’s in primary school. Children were shoot dead at Newtown, Connecticut. This is a wake up call to a society whose values are deteriorating. We can observe our enacted laws recently are more of reactive laws instead of pro-active one. Instead of laws that promote positive values, the premise now is on the negative. Allow guns because there are many criminals. What happened with so many loose guns because there’s no regulation? Shooting here and there and the victims are children. Allow contraceptives and abortion because it has to be safe sex. Instead of promoting good values and right conduct, we condoned it by saying its okay as long as it is safe. Responsibility and accountability is not taught in this kind of mentality. Legalize some drugs because anyway we cannot control it. In the end we ended encouraging drug pushers and users. It’s an admission of failure. Legalize prostitution because it’s been an old age profession anyway. And so we ended up having so many human trafficking, pedophiles and the likes.  This is a symptom of a sick society, corrupted values education and shortsighted laws. Government and all who have stakes on this must think hard, reflect and act on something positive out of what had been happening.

A society should not give in to what is wrong instead fight it with good laws that promotes good values and right conduct in the society. We ask why God can allow these things to happen? Well in the first place we took God away already from our schools. Gunless instead of a Godless society! 

by aats

Thursday, December 13, 2012

In Honor of Tatay

 


Today is no ordinary day for me. Today 92 years ago my Tatay (maternal grandfather) was born. He passed away 11 years ago at the age of 81. I can still vividly remember that day. I am happy that he passed away in peace yet sad at the same time for I will no longer see and talk to him. I have said my piece about him (you can read here: Tatay), but today I want to recall the many times he showed his love and care to us.

He was the most thoughtful person you could ever know. Every time he goes for a business trip in other place he will always have something for us when he returns home. He was a hardworking man to the point that when old age was catching up on him and he was not able to do the usual things he loves to do, it frustrates him. He loves to be somewhat in control but after having some strokes and bouts of diabetes he simply could not do the usual thing. It pains me looking at him that way. He did live a life worthy of remembrance.

For growing old so gracefully and living a life worthy to be emulated with, Tatay you are never forgotten. In all the storms of life that you’ve faced, in victories and defeats you were standing tall. You are a living classroom for lifelong lessons.

+ Arsenio Vasquez Tan
December 14, 1920 – April 13, 2001

by aats

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Basic Thing


Life can be hard. We may not know, people we work and interact with are experiencing hardships and struggles. They are already hurting and in pain and the worst thing is; we rub salt over injury. Without us knowing, they had been doing the best they could and been working hard in the given situation and we haven’t even appreciated them. There is such a thing as honor and respect. We honor the other not just because of what he or she did but more so of who he or she is, a son and daughter of God. We respect because despite of the shortcomings, he or she in one way or another did something good in life.

Honor and respect: little big thing for a hurting humanity. Lets build each other up instead of tearing down and raise each other up instead of pulling down.

by aats

Monday, December 10, 2012

Strange Things


The gospel reading from Luke 5:17-26 today tells the story of how a paralytic man was helped by some friends and was healed by Jesus. The Pharisees and doctors of the law, those whom we can call experts heard Jesus saying, “…your sins are forgiven.” They were astounded for it is only God who can forgive. Somehow they correctly commented how someone like him can forgive when according to what they have studied and understood, only God can do that. For them it was blasphemy, rightly so, when we look at in there perspective. However Jesus went further, healed the sick in order to prove that He has “…authority on earth to forgive sins.”

Jesus claimed that He is the Son of God, so either we believe in Him or we will take Him as an impostor or a lunatic. For experts and the so-called intellectuals of our time, it is so hard to believe, much like the Pharisees and Doctors of the law of His time. No amount of miracle can open our eyes to faith if our heart is not open enough to accept that He is God. Acceptance is an act of humility. We might just end up saying like in the reading, “We have seen strange things,” yet could not go further than that.

As for forgiving sins, we do forgive each other’s sins; there is nothing blasphemous about that. Jesus even told us to forgive each other’s shortcomings. So what is improper about it? Maybe because Jesus speaks so much authority, that they could not believe that someone other than them has the integrity to teach others about God. 

Strange as it may seem yet it is miracle unfolding before our eyes. Lord, grant us the grace to see beyond what our eyes can see. Amen.

by aats

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Integrity


We don’t need intelligent leaders anymore; we have much already and look at our world today. We need leaders with integrity! Integrity is walking our talk… So let us not give a talk whose message we cannot live out, that’s hypocrisy not integrity.

In leadership, there must be consistency between what we say and what we do, otherwise no one will follow us. When we stand up for something, let us mean it. Real conviction is not just words. (Ang tunay na paninindigan ay hindi puro salita lamang.)

by aats

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Mission Is Not Easy


If mission were that easy, I would have told you long time ago. But it is not. Its road is not without bumps and hiccups. Turning sorrow into joy is more real than every dictionary can define. How can a sorrow be joy? Only mission can answer. What keeps us, is Christ and the goal set before us.

by aats

Thursday, December 6, 2012

It’s Okay to Say Merry Christmas

 


Yesterday, a brother in the community gave a pin that says, “It’s okay to say Merry Christmas to me.” Looking at it, I cannot help by sigh at how far society had redefined Christmas. “Happy Holidays” is now the politically correct greeting, some said in deference to other faith and unbelievers. However, come to think of it, Christmas is precisely a Christian event, celebrating the birth of the savior Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus there is no Christmas. Christmas without Christ is just a mas, totally incomplete and devoid of meaning. How about, keeping “Merry Christmas” out of respect of those who believe in Jesus?


by aats 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Seemingly Passive and Ineffective

 
Humility, obedience and faithfulness, these are qualities that, in the modern world sound so passive and ineffective. Humility is being equated as allowing others to just trample upon your rights and dignity as a human person. They say we must air out what we think is right no matter what others may feel. Obedience on the other hand is look upon as having a colonial mentality wherein the person just submits without asking questions because he thinks of himself as inferior to the other. They say we cannot just follow; we must question our leader even in an inappropriate place. Faithfulness too is seen as hindrance to success in life. They say you cannot be faithful when your future is at stake, so if someone will become a hindrance you should drop him/her for your futures sake. We have seen this in politics; they say there is no permanent friend or enemy only permanent interest. Faithfulness is only for the weak; opportunity should be first before being faithful.

These qualities are actually important in our personal growth. Humility does not mean being passive it is being secure of oneself because we are sure of what we can do and when to act and stand up for something. Obedience is not blind submission to someone, it is being aware that there are things that others know better than us, so obeying is the most prudent way. We don’t know everything and by obeying we gain wisdom and knowledge. Faithfulness is never a hindrance to success on the contrary is a big factor for success. It shows how we can be consistent and persistent on something we believe in, qualities that are held high by any organization.   

Humility leads to healing, obedience leads to abundance, and faithfulness leads to fullness. 

by aats

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Mercy and Love

 
Advent is a good season to reflect on what is important when everything else fades. We may fight for freedom and justice, argue who is right and wrong, and die for honor and dignity, yet at the end of it all what is important is we learn how to be merciful and loving. People will never run short of what to fight for but hopefully love and mercy can outrun them all. People of integrity can die for honor and dignity but hopefully love and mercy can bring meaning to it. People will never run out of arguments but hopefully love and mercy will make them understand that we are all on the same boat seeking truth that we are just seeing in different angles.

We all fail in one way or another, wrong in one way or another, and coward in one way or another, so while we will fight for freedom and justice, argue on what is right or wrong, and die for honor and dignity, might as well look at all these things with the eyes of mercy and love. So when our time comes, He will look at us the same.

In the end, mercy and love is what we need. May we learn to be merciful to others and to love unconditionally as He does.

by aats