Long lost schoolmate

I chanced upon an old high school batchmate last weekend near the parish. I haven't seen him in a long, long while - 30 years to be exact. In the private Catholic school we attended, he was a classmate in the our graduating class.

I called out his name, shook his hand. He was able to recognize me but he couldn't place my name. Its ok, after all, it was high school days since we last saw each other. It so happened his residence was just a few blocks away.

So we had this small talk. He inquired about me and I told him my wife and I are in active service in the parish as Family and Life Ministry coordinators. I have 4 kids now. He also inquired about my job, I told him I am still working fulltime as MIS manager in a manufacturing company. That's my wife over there, she's also working as IT director in a hospital. We are also active in Couples For Christ as Unit leaders.

My turn to ask him: "Ikaw pare kumusta ka na, saan ka ngayon?" (How about you, how are you, what are you doing these days?). I could sense though, that he appears to be troubled. He said he had 3 kids, but that he was out of work. He used to have one long ago, he continued: "Napaglipasan na ako ng panahon, 48 na ako, nalulon kasi ako sa mga kalokohan e..". Roughly translated: "Time has passed by me, I am already 48 years old, no job, nowhere to go, I guess I spent too much time on worldly things..".

I am surprised and at the same time saddened by his account. I thought he was one of those bright, up-and-coming guys back then in high school. So I simply told him: "E di lumapit ka sa Diyos.." (Then its about time you get closer to God"). I hinted that our Couples For Christ community is about to conduct a "Christian Life Program" seminar soon.

He was nonchalant though, and even commented "Wala akong hilig dyan e.." (I have no interest..). So I just took his address, and promised I will drop by his house one of these days, just to catch up and reminisce on the old school days - "sige, kwentuhan na lang tayo next time". I guess I have to prepare for that visit.

In the meantime, I hope he remembers the parable of the prodigal son from our religion class back then.

The Mustard Tree

I'm not sure what a mustard seed or tree is in Tagalog.

Maybe it is similar to the the 'buto ng malunggay' which I mentioned in another post.
It is said that the leaves of the malunggay tree is very rich in nutrients, and is in fact recommended for pregnant women when cooked in 'tinola' soup. Various laboratory researches have confirmed that malunggay is a natural energy booster, strengthens the immune system, has antibiotic properties, cures headaches, migraines and ulcers, reduces arthritic pains and inflammations, and restricts tumor growths.
Almost every part of the malunggay tree has its own share of usefulness and value.

It is a sturdy tree, and yes, it does provide a haven for the birds of the air as well.

Going back to the parable of the mustard seed (Mk 4:30; Mt 13:32), I believe the tree refers to the church. Not an "invisible" church, or a church whose members enclose themselves in their chapels or little communities spending all their energies working for "their" church. Rather a tree that everyone will recognize that is good and full of life. A church that immerses itself in the realities of life, with organized Christian communities that feeds and shelters the poor, helps the oppressed, protects the children, heals the sick, comforts the bereaved, cares for the elderly, and fights for morality and justice.
A church whose every part is useful and fruitful.

That is a sturdy church, and yes, it does provide a spiritual haven for the faithful as well.

Much like the malunggay tree.

The anonymous almsgiver

People devastated by hurricane Sidr in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Pope encouraged almsgiving in his Lenten message, dated Oct 30 and released yesterday by the Vatican. The Pope clarified in his Lenten message that Gospel charity should be hidden:

"The Gospel highlights a typical feature of Christian almsgiving: it must be hidden: 'Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,' Jesus asserts, 'so that your alms may be done in secret' (Mt 6,3-4)."

Meanwhile, this news item in ABS CBN culled from Agence France-Presse reports today that:

"An anonymous individual has donated $130 million to build hundreds of schools and cyclone shelters along Bangladesh's cyclone-devastated southern coast"...

"The government would spend 110 million dollars from the donation to build about 500 primary schools cum cyclone shelters in the coastal districts, while the rest would be spent on immediate relief agriculture and fisheries projects."

Wow. This is the largest single anonymous donation I have heard of thus far. We do not know if the Pope's message ever reached that anonymous donor who took it to heart. Maybe yes, maybe no.
Maybe a professed Christian, maybe not. Many more people might be moved into helping the poor in the spirit of Lent, but we simply do not know for sure.

What we do know is that:
- There is an anonymous m/billionaire somewhere with a Good Samaritan's heart.
- Millions of poor people in Dhaka will now have food, shelter, livelihood, and most importantly - hope.
- God's Light shines through.

on OFWs

Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) calling Int'l Direct Dial (IDD) from abroad:

HUSBAND: Hon kumusta ang tindahan? (Honey, how's our small store business going?)
WIFE: Department istor na! (It's already a department store!)
HUSBAND: Ang Tricycle?
WIFE: It's now a Taxi business!
HUSBAND: Ayos! e ang dalawa nating anak? (Great! and how's our TWO kids?)
WIFE: eh..LIMA na!... (oh...there's FIVE now!...)

Jokes circulating on the OFWs such as these would be quite funny until the ring of reality hits. Carlo Osi in his column today over at the the Inquirer sees the Filipino diaspora as a form of revolt on the frustrating political-economic conditions. Meanwhile, Hubert D'Aboville in his ABS-CBN opinion piece, laments the brain-drain and hits the button on the social costs, saying:

"An average household has five members. The Philippines has a population of 90 million souls, including 10 million abroad. You do the math on how many Filipinos are living dysfunctional lives. What is the true cost of those broken families?"

But the government does not seem to be interested in counting the social costs with as much alacrity as counting the dollar remittances ($15B in 2007). Whenever one of the parents are physically separated from the family for whatever reason, it becomes dysfunctional outright. A family is meant to be together. Of course there's the long-distance call (like IDD - see above) , email, internet and maybe even PC video-conferencing. But nothing beats live, warm interaction. For how can you hug, kiss, wipe tears, pat backs, and give your shoulder to cry on - if you are thousands of miles apart?

An OFW's contract goes for anywhere from 2 to 6 years. Most of them renew contracts as often as possible. Once an OFW, most likely they remain OFWs all their lives, as the local job market won't take them. Due to the urge to save more money to send home, home country visits are very limited and far in between, saving the plane fare costs. Thus it is fairly expected that a lot of things may change in those many years that they are in a faraway land earning keep for the family (and extended family) back home.

But that's the price you pay. You just can't make up for the lost time that you were away for example, in your children's formative years. Parenting is hard enough even with the husband and wife joining forces, and each does have unique gender roles in parenting. Children grow fast in your absence, you may not recognize them, they may not recognize you when you come back after a long while. You miss them and you miss your spouse a lot too, but hopefully, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Otherwise the joke may be on you.

Lets pray for the OFWs and their families.

Association of the Elderly

As Parish coordinators of our parish Family and Life
Ministry, one of our projects is to organize our elderly parishioners. We thought of organizing them to form their own support group,
providing focused support for their spiritual, physical
and social well-being. They formally organized recently by selecting
their initial set of officers.


We started out by conducting once-a-month informal assemblies every 2nd Saturday of the month, after hearing the 6am Mass. We partake of some morning snacks, then our parish priest provides some inspirational talk (as usual, laced with a lot of jokes) and then some sharing, fellowship and prayers. Most of the attendees are of the over-70 age group, but you can't tell judging by their energy and enthusiasm. Once I brought along a D.I. and we spent a couple of minutes swaying those sprightly limbs and hips (be careful now, take it easy...) to the tune of some funky music.

Now, every assembly, they are going at it with much gusto.



These folks are cool. I just love them.

CFC Leaders Conference

CFC Leaders Conference shots last Jan 12 (Thanks C.D.)

The Theme...

Close to the stage...

and from my vantage point...

...Awesome.

Young Once

Today’s Gospel at Sunday Mass reminds us that the child-like and humble is the greatest in the Kingdom of God. Much as I reflected on the proper metaphor, it also reminded me of my biological age.

Getting on in age just sort of creeps up on you.

Not that I already belong to the league of senior citizens, much very far from it, but I guess it depends on how you describe ‘far’.

In my case there’s the patch of white hair nearest the forehead. It just so happens that the white hair seemed to congregate in that area, giving it some sort of fashionable streak which I have seen among the young people, and so I didn’t consider having it dyed. When someone ribs me on it I just smugly say it’s some sort of ‘Richard Gere’ look, in case they didn’t notice.

The eyesight I can get along with. I bought a bunch of cheap reading glasses which I scattered around the house so that I can manage to read anywhere within. I am considering buying more, since I can’t remember where I placed some of them.

The pain on the underside of the left foot is something else though, although it occurs very rarely. Recently (after the holidays), it suddenly announced itself after waking up early in the morning. There’s my painful lesson. I threw caution to the winds during the holidays by not watching my diet, since it was once-a-year holidays anyway and there was plentiful sumptuous food all over the many Christmas parties I attended. Wincing while walking, the embarrassment doubles the pain because almost everybody who notices automatically kids me on rheumatism, while I am in a state of vigorous denial. I remembered to take a herbal cure one of my older friends advised : ‘buto ng malunggay’. It worked miraculously. The only problem in that it transferred higher upwards to the knee. It’s a blessing my car had automatic transmission, as I went to a real doctor the same day and now it is mercifully gone.

I know I should take some exercise along with watching the diet. A few swings at the golf driving range once in a while will probably do the trick.

All of which reminds me of that story of two senior citizens playing golf. After hitting the ball, the first one said:”Did you see where the ball went?” The second one said : “Yup, but I can’t remember!”.