PNOY'S SONA 2011

State of the Nation Address: President Benigno Aquino III

‎(initial reaction to PNoy's SONA)

"Naglalatag po tayo ng pagbabago upang mas mapatibay ang pundasyon ng maaliwalas na bukas para sa lahat."

I think this statement pervades the whole theme of PNoy's SONA. It is not such a bad idea to stick to such a theme under the circumstances. He stuck with the good points, played those up, and evaded confrontational issues. He highlighted results against corruption, cited data to back it up (those ones will need to be validated still). He obviously avoided mentioning controversial legislative agenda - this will not be consistent with his SONA's theme. Any mention of the RH bill would be out of place, though it should not mean he has abandoned support for it. The reference to the bishops is tasteful I must admit. Overall the tone is upbeat. I must say PNoy's speechwriter did quite well (who's the guy?), considering there was really not much to report in terms of strategic direction. The Pro-RH crowd will definitely be disappointed and I doubt they will understand. What's new.

Requiescat in pace: MANNY AMADOR

Information Technology pioneer. Writer. Musician. Motorbike enthusiast. Staunch Prolifer. Catholic blogger. A colleague in Filipinos For Life. A humble servant of God.

MANNY AMADOR.

Requiescat in pace.

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The third ticket

There is this story about a young farmer called Seamus who finds himself in dire trouble.

His farm has gone bust and he's in serious financial trouble. He's so desperate that he decides to ask God for help. He goes into the Church and begins to pray… “God, please help me, I've lost my Farm and if I don't get some money, I'm going to lose my house as well, please let me win the lotto”.
Lotto night comes and somebody else wins it.

Seamus goes back to the Church… “God, please let me win the lotto, I've lost my Farm, my house and I'm going to lose my tractor as well“.
Lotto night comes and Seamus still has no luck!

Back to the Church… “My God, why have you forsaken me? I've lost my Farm, my house, my tractor and my wife and 12 children are starving. I don't often ask you for help and I have always been a good servant to you. Why won't you just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order??“.
Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light as the heavens open and Seamus is confronted by the voice of GOD himself: “Seamus, meet me half way on this one: buy a ticket.“.
/
This Sunday's Parable of the Sower speaks about the Sower, the Seed, and the Soil. By analogy, the Sower is God himself, the Seed is the Word, and the Soil is our state of heart and mind. (Mt 13:1-9).

I have often been stumped as to why there is so much rabid anti-Catholicism in our highly secularized world. It becomes more astonishing when one realizes that mankind is supposed to have advanced to a very high degree of learning and self-consciousness, assisted by the benefits of scientific and social knowledge that is has accumulated over time. Instead, the so-called advances of "reasoning" has steered mankind to self-destructive initiatives that has materialized itself into a perversion of the very nature of its key to upliftment. Same-sex marriages, unbridled artificial birth-control, abortion, marginalization of religion and the traditional family, ...all these have been touted as hallmarks of a "liberated", "progressive" state, whereas the clear signs point to a self-inflicted destruction of mankind . These so-called "advances" have imperiled mankind more than anything else. A seed is supposed to thrive, grow, be fruitful and produce more seeds to replicate exponentially. Somehow, the secularist pseudo-intellectuals spite the Church and its teachings and haughtily calls it "progress" against antiquity, while actually destroying the seeds for the upliftment of humanity. They have eyes but they refuse to see. They have ears but refuse to hear. The seed cannot grow in a hardened heart.

We only have to realize that the secular world is willfully rejecting the boundless generosity and grace of God. It is free will that has lost its moorings. We only have to get that ticket at a pittance. Lest it be misconstrued, God does not want us to gamble, for what He offers us has no chance of losing. We only need to meet Him halfway and He will take our hand and lead us. Forget the lotto, a boundless jackpot awaits.

About Seamus, he never bought a third ticket. He sought an investor to partner with him on a project utilizing a novel farming concept Their venture became so profitable so much that Seamus not only regained his farm, but acquired two others as well. I am now thinking of buying that third ticket :-)