Have HOPE.

(What an ecstatic feeling to have your prayers answered sooooo quickly! Just few hours after this article has been posted, we woke up to the news about the Boston Marathon Bomber we've prayed for is captured already!!! THANK YOU LORD!!! THANK YOU MAMA MARY! YOU ROCK!) My little buddies and I usually say the rosary on Sundays only and on the 13th of each month, being careful to do it with free will instead of feeling obliged.  But today, Friday, we had 'emergency' prayer to intercede for two things: for  the Boston peeps on a lock down in search of that Boston Marathon suspect who can hurt just anybody anytime now, and for an immediate family member's safe, hassle-free, and peaceful return to our country. As we reached the fifth mystery, I kinda paused.  I realized that its a different feeling when there's a very specific intention you have in mind when saying the rosary. Even with my little buddies, them knowing what specifically we're asking the Lord fo...

“The Church does not respond to an earthly logic and can be difficult to communicate effectively because  the nature of the Church is spiritual, not political. This is the only perspective in which the work of the Church can be presented."  --- Pope Francis Meeting w/ the Journalists 3/16/2013.                

Dear Dixie, I miss you already. Just hours ago you were just hanging around in my room and I was just working on the computer as usual.  I wanted you to stay inside the house today  for as long as you wanted but I thought you might become bored since I was all busy here and the kids were out playing so I thought you might wanna play outside too.  I didn't know it was gonna be your last visit in my room, Dixie.  I learned my lessons well from Trixie.  Just one bark from you  I come running. You know how to bark well when you needed my attention.  You know I can distinguish it from your 'happy bark' to 'just intimidating other dogs' bark" and your "hey am hungry already" bark.  And you know you always get me when you wish it.  Because that's what I learned from Trixie.  'Come running when I bark'. I thought that was all I needed to learn to ensure your safety. Now, you taught me another lesson. I could go on cursing the...

==============================  Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen. ==============================  Pope Francis before:  Kissing the feet of an AIDS' child victim.   Lead us back to the basi cs, Pope Francis!!!

Republic of the Philippines HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Quezon  City FIFTEENTH CONGRESS Third Regular Session HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 3043 Introduced by Reps.  TEDDY  A. CASIÑO and NERI JAVIER COLMENARES RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE SENSE  OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES URGING PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO III TO IMMEDIATELY ELEVATE THE PHILIPPINES’ CLAIM ON THE ISLAND OF SABAH TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT  OF JUSTICE WHEREAS, the eruption of armed conflict in Sabah between Filipinos led by the Sultanate of Sulu and the Malaysian government have brought to the fore the decades­long neglect if not abandonment of the Philippine government on the legitimate claim of the Sultanate and the Philippines over the island; WHEREAS,  the Philippines has solid historical, political and legal grounds to revive its claim and reassert its sovereignty over Sabah which was illegally annexed by Malaysia in 1963; WHEREAS, since pre­colonial times, the Sulu sultan...

(Taken from Inquirer.net, posted March 4th,2013: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/66689/does-sabah-really-belong-to-the-philippines) I am posting this for my own history reference, now that there is so much tension going on with the awakened Sabah claim.  This is very long but very very substantial. On March 25, 1963, Senator Lorenzo Sumulong delivered a privileged speech berating the Philippines claim to North Borneo (Sabah), which had been filed by President Diosdado Macapagal on June 22, 1962. Five days later, Senator Jovito R. Salonga delivered a point-by-point rebuttal to Sumulong’s speech. Below are the full text of Sumulong’s speech and Salonga’s reply. We leave it to our readers to judge the merits of the case as presented by the senators 50 years ago. Excerpts from the speech of Salonga are also reprinted in the Philippine Daily Inquirer in its March 5, 2013 issue in a bid to shed light on the Sabah conflict. Here is the full text of Senator Salonga’s reb...

This video is definitely better than a chain letter if you pass it on. It does not scare you nor threat you of dying if not passed on but still promises you some good happening immediately to someone touched by this! Do not be the one to break the chain. Pass it on! Share on FB or Twitter!

(Picture originally posted on News.va.english (FB) This one has hit me personally.  For some reasons, personal reflection cannot just be avoided when things like this happen. Everything that the Pope had said during his goodbyes to his audience were all good words, all uplifting, all hopeful.  And yet, deep inside of me, I can't help but ask 'Have we failed you, dear Pope?  Have I, in my own personal way, have failed you?' This picture brings tears to me.  The source was right in putting the caption 'No words can describe this moment.'  I know that the Pope is all in peace with this decision.  I know that God permitted it.  But still I just can't help but ask if we have failed him big time. In the past, whenever I consider the thought of leaving a job, there's always several factors that I need to consider.  And that one last factor that makes it most difficult for me to leave it is the people-factor.  When you know that you...

Pope’s Audience remarks in English: Dear Brothers and Sisters, I offer a warm and affectionate greeting to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors who have joined me for this, my last General Audience. Like Saint Paul, whose words we heard earlier, my heart is filled with thanksgiving to God who ever watches over his Church and her growth in faith and love, and I embrace all of you with joy and gratitude. During this Year of Faith, we have been called to renew our joyful trust in the Lord’s presence in our lives and in the life of the Church. I am personally grateful for his unfailing love and guidance in the eight years since I accepted his call to serve as the Successor of Peter. I am also deeply grateful for the understanding, support and prayers of so many of you, not only here in Rome, but also throughout the world. The decision I have made, after much prayer, is the fruit of a serene trust in God’s will and a deep love of Christ’s Church. I wi...