Tuesday, February 28, 2012

On Priorities


What and who is your priority? Is the chosen priority making you better or bitter person? Does it contribute to the common good? Is your priority allowing you in being and bringing Christ to others? What and who do you value in life? Our priorities speak so much about what we value in life.

by aats

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Are You Serious?


Are you really serious about offering time in the service of the poor? Then don’t just visit, immerse!

Are you really serious about sharing what you have learned by spending some of your time in the third world country? Then don’t just have vacation, do it!

Don’t say a thing if you don’t mean to fulfill it. 

by aats

Saturday, February 25, 2012

We are Ka Pepe’s




The country celebrates the 90th birth anniversary of Jose “Ka Pepe” Diokno. Filipino nationalist, one of the greatest freedom fighter the Philippines ever had, senator, secretary of justice, founding chair of Commission on Human Rights, and founder of Free Legal Assistance Group. Diokno is the only person to top both the Philippine Bar Examination and the board exam for Certified Public Accountants (CPA). 

The likes of Ka Pepe Diokno makes me proud to be Filipino. But it is not enough just to be proud, we need to act on the inspiration of a man who devoted his life to the cause of the country and the rights of every individual’s.

We are Ka Pepe’s today! We must rise above the comforts of our own home and work and do something for our country. We need the spirit of Ka Pepe in a society where power and money prevails over common good of the people and rights of individuals. We must pledge ourselves that we will make our country a much better place for our children. We can never afford another generation who will inherit a land far worst than what we have. Ka Pepe said, “There is one dream that we all Filipinos share: that our children may have a better life than we have had. To make this country, our country, a nation for our children.”

I dare say to those Filipinos who have lost hope for their country, ‘You are one of the reasons compounding the problems of our country!’ People who quitted their rights for their country has no rights whatsoever to criticize it. If you don’t believe in our country then leave in peace and never dare go back.  Sure, we have so many problems, wrong government policies, shortsighted programs and unimaginable corruption, but if we will stand up and not just leave to the government the governance of our people, there can be change. I have seen that in so many local governments who made positive changes in their own municipalities, cities and provinces, because people make their officials accountable.

I believe in every Filipino! I believe in the capacity of every Filipino to rise above selves and make the cause of the nation there personal cause. I believe there is that passion deep within that if ignited will unleash a force far more powerful that we can imagine and finally we can see real change in our society. I believe Ka Pepe’s spirit is alive because every Filipino is bound by spirit of those courageous souls who stood up and did something for the country.

We can never remain hoping, we must do something! “Even if we have to wade through blood and fire, we will be free. We will develop. We will build our own societies. We will sing our own songs.”  Says Ka Pepe.

by aats

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Central to Filipinos


The worst thing for a Filipino is to be away from his family. For Filipino, family is family and as long as circumstances allows we’d rather be together than be separated. Reunions are common as soon as the diaspora started, family members longing to be with each other’s arms again. Never in the thought of a Filipino that he will be away, for to him life has no meaning without his family. But within that strong family tie is a stronger tie with a God whom they put so much faith. It is the bond that joins family together. For them family should be centered on God. Ands so even with pains and cries, longings and agonies they can go abroad with the deeper belief that God has greater plans ahead. This includes of course greater plans for there family left behind.

Behind this seemingly family centric society is a God centric character of every members of a family. Filipinos probably are the most adaptable people on earth. You can find them anywhere thriving joyfully and when you ask them why are they happy, they will always say, God has a purpose why they are put there so despite of being away they are thankful still of the blessings. You never have to go further if you want to find a Filipino, go to any church, mostly catholic churches, you can always find someone serving in the church. They want to serve to a God whom they put so much faith. There life for them belongs to God.

This God centric character allows Filipinos to survive anywhere. This gives way to a missionary spirit that seems to be intrinsic in everyone. You don’t have to be even a strong believer to be a missionary, for it seems like faith is imbedded in every fiber of their body and spirit.  Even in impending separation, family can let go for a deeper purpose of a member’s life. In tears they can send their sons and daughters for missions and offer them to the service of God.

To sum up their core belief, Filipinos can say, “Family yes, but God first”. So this family centered society with a God centric character allows Filipinos to rise above personal inclinations towards being self-giving and loving. Filipinos no doubt will not just survive but thrive because of their faith.

by aats

Sunday, February 19, 2012

For the Sake of the Call




Every time I hear the song, “For the Sake of the Call” by Steven Curtis Chapman, my memory goes back to the first time I attended a CFC YFC* Conference. It was a conference for all YFCs based in campuses held in a former leprosarium community. The theme was “Extreme” based on the verse from Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

My memory is still very vivid, probably because first time is always memorable. It was my first time to lead worship. I could never forget how I stop and smile while exhorting because I forgot what to say. It was my first time also to meet other community members from other places and universities in a bigger scale. I was amazed that there are so many crazy young people like me who can raise there hands and close there eyes while singing and dancing for the Lord. They are very excited in sharing how Christ affected and changed their lives. They cry and laugh and as I observed they have this oozing passion for Christ. It contaminated me!

It was indeed not just memorable for me, but life changing in terms of my perspective in life. We had a series of activities that are in line with the theme. We go all the way by building houses for the poor in the area, sleep over for two nights and listen to talks and sharings all in one weekend.  I was opened to the idea that I can have real fun while at the same time making a difference by serving God through others. Life has to be lived out in Christ, with Christ and for Christ! Others probably thought already how crazy these young people were, for all of us were in our university years then.

Living life to the full is living to the extreme and challenging the limits of what society defines as good.  It is not enough to pray and disregard the needs of our brothers and sisters. A true Christian is not just a praying person but a loving person, loving that compels him to act and affect change for others. The world needs true Christians!

I remember when we were having the closing praisefest for the conference, we were singing, “We will abandon it all for the sake of the call, no other reason at all…” I never thought that in that conference, it was also meant to be literal in my life. When I went back to our sleeping quarter, my bag was no longer there. An outsider stole it. All my school materials were in my bag. I went back to my place with just the ID of the conference with me. It was very true to the theme, “Extreme” and very true to the last song we sung, “…abandon it all…” I took it as a message from the Lord. It was His way of telling me, no matter how I will worship, if I will not do something to the society, there will always be people who will steal other things because they have nothing to eat.

It was a conference that opened wide my eyes to the mission and fueled my passion to serve. Going fulltime then was something extreme for me that even just a thought of it scares me. But from then on, the fire started burning and now, it is burning still.

Thank you Lord for the gift of mission and the privilege of serving You. Amen.

*CFC YFC – CFC Youth For Christ is a youth ministry of Couples For Christ.

by aats

Thursday, February 16, 2012

How Can Something So Wrong Feel So Right All Along?



You might probably be singing along this line of the song, “Catch Me I’m Falling For You”. Indeed, when we are in love, why is something so wrong seems so right all along? This uniquely human experience of loving someone and being love in return is a miracle in itself. It gives us a glimpse of the human capacity to rise above self. Somehow, it brings the person to a different level of seeing things.

The perspective changes so much that even the seemingly unforgivable offenses are now justifiable and understandable.  I think this is the goodness of love.  It allows the person to rise above human prejudices and look at the other as human like himself. This was the story of Isabel, a Taiwanese that has gone viral in the Internet. Her mother sold her when she was still 7 years old to a wealthy family who moved out to the United States. According to CNN, she endured a childhood of cooking, cleaning and beatings while she lived off the family's discarded scraps. She can barely read and was kept in squalid condition. It was only when she was in her 20’s that she was able to escape. She wanted to be reunited with her family. “This is the Mom who sold you, you want to find her?” asked the reporter and she answered, “Yes.” And if found, what would you say? With tears in her eyes, she said, “Mom, I love you so much. I just want to find you.” With the help of Taiwanese media and government she finally found her family and was reunited with her mother. She bore no grudges and she waited no explanation, she just wanted to see her Mom again.

Isn’t beautiful that justice is tempered with love? For justice without love is rude. When we are in love, we are capable of understanding the other beyond technicalities and become open enough to understand the motives lying behind the circumstances. The “something so wrong” now can be look at a second time around so the seemingly right can be proven. In short, in loving we become truly human, and in becoming truly human we become more an image and likeness of God. A God who on the cross we can ask, how can this be? How can something so wrong as crucifixion is so right all along?

Teach us O Lord to love like You. Amen.

by aats

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Gugma sa Pinulungan Pag-ibig sa Wika



Ang tawo nga walay pagtanaw ug paghigugma sa kaugalingon ug namat-ang pinulungan sama ra sa tawo nga walay kalag.

Ang taong walang pagtingin at pagmahal sa sarili at nakagisnang wika ay parang katulad ng taong walang kaluluwa. 

by aats

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

On the Firing Squad



Today is Valentines Day and If you are single, some friends and families maybe asking you already who will be your date or if you will have at all.  If you have none, in the Philippines, they will tease you by saying you are on the “firing squad”. It means you have no date! I don’t know how this terminology came about, but probably because if you are on the firing squad it means you are about to die and having no date or a special someone on a “love day” is somehow death indeed? Or so it seems.

True enough, without love there is no life at all. But certainly not having a date is another matter. Let me tell you a story of a man who was truly madly and deeply in love. His name is Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest at the time of grave religious persecution in Mexico. The churches were closed and priests went into hiding. He clandestinely celebrated the Eucharist and administered the other sacraments until finally the government arrested him.

One of his companions, Fr. Pulido, said that he ‘had never seen such an exquisite wit, never coarse, always sparkling.’ He was noted for his charity and ability to talk about spiritual subjects without being boring. Fr. Pulido remarked that there were two Pros: the playful Pro and the prayerful Pro. He was known for the long periods he spent in the chapel.” (catholic.org)

He was sentenced to death by firing squad without trial. “Declining a blindfold, he faced his executioners with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other and held his arms out in imitation of the crucified Christ and shouted out, "May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!" Before the firing squad were ordered to shoot, Pro raised his arms in imitation of Christ and shouted the defiant cry of the Cristeros, "Viva Cristo Rey!" -"Long live Christ the King!" When the initial shots of the firing squad failed to kill him, a soldier shot him point blank. “(catholic.org)

Fifty-two years after his execution, the Pope visited Mexico and conducted an open air mass to a thousand Mexicans, an illegal act at the time of Miguel Pro’s life. He was beatified and declared blessed by Pope John Paul 2. The Pope said, “Neither suffering nor serious illness, neither the exhausting ministerial activity, frequently carried out in difficult and dangerous circumstances, could stifle the radiating and contagious joy which he brought to his life for Christ and which nothing could take away. Indeed, the deepest root of self-sacrificing surrender for the lowly was his passionate love for Jesus Christ and his ardent desire to be conformed to him, even unto death.”

On Valentines Day… Love, yes. Date, not necessary. Have a date instead with God and like Blessed Miguel Pro, say, “Viva Cristo Rey!”

by aats

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Complicated Blessing


I once read a line that said, “Don’t be a complicated blessing to others.” So true, how many times we become a difficult person to be blessed? We make it challenging for others to bless us. We somehow finds it difficult to understand that there are just people who are so generous in giving and loving. Sometimes it is more challenging to be a generous receiver than a generous giver. Love and be loved, bless and be blessed. Received, lower the pride. Accept that you are blessed.

by aats

Friday, February 10, 2012

By Your Own Words


The book of Jeremiah talks about how the chosen people had gone away from the Lord and in chapter 2, the infidelity of Israel has angered God. He said in Jeremiah 2:33-35, “How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways. On your clothes men find the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this you say, ‘I am innocent he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you go about so much, changing your ways?”

How many instances had we been witness to so many people caught in the act of doing sinful things and yet they still “deny to death”. The Lord is angry with liars! It is rightly so, because the evil one is the father of lies.  So if we lie we actually worship the evil one. Why do we go so much changing our ways, asks the Lord?

We have heard in many court trials, “I have the right to remain silent.” An accused person can invoke this right in order to protect himself from self-incrimination. The more we talk the more we make mistakes. It is in the words that we utter that others can get a glimpse of the purity of the heart. Watch out what we say, be careful because by our own words we might be condemned. The Lord rightly warned us to be careful because, “I will judge you on the word of yours…” Jeremiah 2:35

Let us never justify our wicked and sinful ways. Rather we should acknowledge, confess and repent from it. The Lord hates liars! Liars are arrogant people. They don’t accept correction because in the first place they cannot accept that they made mistakes. So they justify their sins. We have heard this from so many politicians, “I have done nothing wrong, I was thinking only of what is good for my constituents.” The end does not justify the means. A sin will always be a sin. Stealing is stealing no matter how you justify it. (Ang pagnanakaw ay pagnanakaw kahit ano pang pangangatuwiran mo. Ang Pangawat, pangawat jud, bisan unsaon ug bali-bali.)

Lord, grant us the grace to acknowledge, confess and repent our sinful ways. Amen.

by aats

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Animal Rights and the Rights of the Unborn



It so hard to understand how we can be so passionate about animal rights but not the rights of the unborn human being. Life is precious, especially that of a human being.

Some people just want sex and the joys it offers, but not responsibility the moment a baby is conceived. They say it’s a basic right of woman for her own body. Yes, for her own body but not someone else’s body. An unborn baby is a human being distinct from the woman carrying. A human being who is innocent and defenseless! Abortion is murder far worst than any of its kind, because it is killing not just an innocent human being but also a defenseless one.

So if we can cry out for all the rights of the animals in the world, more so should we for the rights of the innocent and defenseless human being inside the womb.

by aats

Monday, February 6, 2012

The Writing on the Wall



Daniel 5:1-19

The story tells about how the King of Babylon brought out the gold and silver of the Holy Temple and used it for merrymaking and drinking. While they were in the middle of the celebration, they saw a hand, writing on the wall, “Mene, Tekel, Peres”. The King was terrified and asks whoever can interpret the writing. But no one could until Daniel came over. Daniel gave the interpretation as a message from the God Most High. If this message will be addressed to us today it may well be like this:

“You knew what happened to the people who worshipped money and material things than me and you knew what happened to the people who glorify themselves instead of me. Yet you choose to continue doing the same things as they did and much more. You use the offerings of the people to enrich yourself. You use my words for money making. You use the abilities and talents that I have given you to make yourself rich and trample upon others. You choose to waste your time on computer games, chats and tweets, and be addicted to internet but you never even given a single second for me. You had made your work your god and even work on my day I declared holy. You worship your cars and homes, clothings and latest gadgets. You glorify and worship your girlfriends and boyfriends. You want to go on vacation and go on a cruise but not even an hour for me. You want to rest but not in me. You think of yourself highly as if you will last forever. ‘But the God in whose hands is your life breath and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.  By him were the wrist and hand sent, and the writing set down.’ Daniel 5:23-24

Mene, Tekel, Peres

Mene – God has numbered your possessions and will take it away from you.

Tekel – You had been weighed on scale and found wanting. You are never satisfied because you are greedy.

Peres – Your possessions and others that you value will be divided and be given to others.”

We know what happened to the King. Let us not wait for the writing on the wall.

Thank you Lord for reminding us that You alone should we worship and adore nothing more and no one else. Amen.

by aats

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Suppressed Loneliness


I had some series of unusual kind of dreams lately. Almost all of them had been about family, home, friends and co-workers in the mission back in the Philippines. They were very vivid and detailed. I was even dreaming of being home and having some exciting conversation updating about each other’s lives. Honestly I had never had that strong feeling of missing home. I love the mission I am having for more than a year now. But I guess, these are all emotions and feelings swelling up from within. I cannot deny the fact that I had been away for the longest time in my life and there is yet no clear indication when I may be back. Maybe these are results of suppressed loneliness, not so much being alone in my present situation, because I am enjoying it and I love the company of brothers and sisters in the community. But I guess this is more so of being alone in the sense that I am disconnected physically with the people I used to grow up with, used to serve with, and disconnected with the places I was used to, that in way became my comfort and security. Yes, I am connected through different kinds ways of communication specially the Internet, but no amount of Internet linkages can compensate personal presence.

Acknowledging that I am in fact homesick, “emo” as it may seem, is a way of God telling me to look deeper still and listen to the longings of my heart and what it truly beats for. Digging deeper into my emotional source will make me a better person, one who will hopefully become more patient, caring and reasonable.

Though I miss home, I now have a deeper understanding of home. Home means not just the physical one but where my heart is. So my heart, wherever the Lord leads it, there it will rest. Mission is home. If I will strive to continue having this posture there will be no more suppressed loneliness, only loneliness as a sign of a deeper longing to be truly home in heaven.

Lord, teach me to see loneliness as a reminder that my heart will only find rest until it rests in You. Amen.


written November 10, 2011 

by aats