"The great thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time."

Abraham Lincoln

Day of Remembrances

Lord God, Almighty Father,

our faith testifies that your Son died for us

and rose to life again.

May our brothers and sisters

who have gone to their rest

believing in Jesus

come through Him to the resurrection.

"Death is not extinguishing the light.

It's blowing out the flame

because the dawn has come!"

Thoughts to Stop RH Bill

October is Respect for Life Month

In a statement to mark Respect for Life Month in 2010, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston addressed direct threats to human life and called Catholics to "constantly witness to the inestimable worth and dignity of each human life through a loving concern for the good of others."

Because we are created in the image of God, who is Love, our identity and vocation is to love for the sake of others. Pope Benedict XVI has called this "the key to [our] entire existence." In a homily during his recent visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict reminded us that "our hearts can easily be hardened by selfishness, envy and pride," and that "pure and generous love is the fruit of a daily decision." Every day, he reminded us, "we have to choose to love." In our homes, schools, workplaces, and in public, if we constantly witness to the inestimable worth and dignity of each human life through a loving concern for the good of others, if we allow the dignity of every human life to guide the decisions we make as voters and public policy advocates, we can surely succeed in creating a more just and humane society.

Kahaputan

Totoo tabi ini Ojee, Joven?

Fathers ... and ... Friends

"The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart." - Elizabeth Foley

Urgent Prayers Needed!

Casting a vote should not be like casting a net - throwing wildly and then just hoping for a good catch.

Casting a vote should be more like casting a sculpture - a careful process of pouring our dreams into a mold and shaping our tomorrow!

Let us pray for our Filipino people on May 10.

Good Friday Reflection

The cross of Christ must be either the darkest of all in the mystery of existence, or a searchlight by the aid of which we may penetrate the surrounding gloom.
B.H. Streeter

Palm Sunday Meditation

Everyone that lined the streets had a different reason for waving those palms. Some were political activists; they heard Jesus had supernatural power, and they wanted him to use it to free Israel from Roman rule. Others had loved ones who were sick and dying. They waved branches, hoping for physical healing. Some were onlookers merely looking for something to do, while others were genuine followers who wished Jesus would establish himself as an earthly king. Jesus was the only one in the parade who knew why he was going to Jerusalem --- to die. He had a mission, while everyone else had an agenda.

Praying Lent This Year

Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need.

"Father in heaven,
the light of your truth bestows sight
to the darkness of sinful eyes.
May this season of repentance
bring us the blessing of your forgiveness
and the gift of your light.
Grant this through Christ our Lord."

"If you can't be a highway, be a trail"

"When you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don't just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.

Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are."

Martin Luther King, Jr. to students in Philadelphia, 1967

Remember When

Piot, Sorsogon rocked that January 2003 night, not because of the band across the pond, but because a motley crowd of rascals yelled, whistled and heckled with displeasure and dismay at a rather pretentious hard rock music in the air? "An chit na? Chit na?," nervously asked Fr. Henry whose name was at stake as a newly ordained priest. Have we really changed?

Behold a Child is Born Among Us!

"To understand faith, ponder at the infant's first smile."

A Blessed Christmas and a Peaceful New Year!

The Purpose of Life

"Here is the meaning, the purpose of your life: to create yourself, to create who you are. To express, to experience, to declare, to fulfill, to be, who you really are.
Every decision you make -- every decision that you make every second -- is not a decision about what to do, it is a decision about who you are. Every act is an act of self-definition.
Once you understand this, things start to change. You start seeing everything with a new perspective, you start placing everything you do in context.
With every decision, every thought you have, every word you say, every deed you do, ask yourself: Is this Who I Am? And things will start to change. And you will know who you are."
--Neal Donald Walsch

Be Content

"Be content with what you have;

rejoice in the way things are.

When you realize there is nothing lacking,

the whole world belongs to you."

Lao Tzu

Live in Joy!

Live in joy,
in love,
even among those who hate.

Live in joy,
in health,
even among the afflicted.

Live in joy,
in peace,
even among the troubled.

Health, contentment, and trust
are your greatest possestions
and freedom your greatest joy.

Look within.
Be still.
Free from attachment and fear,
Know the sweet joy of the way.

Buddha

Batch '87 USA Reunion

CHICAGO, October 16-18, 2009

"Same old shows in a different town on another day

Ooo ooo ooo wishing you were here

Even though you're far away you're in my mind

Ooo ooo ooo wishing you were here ..."

Look Who's Here!

"You don't stop laughing

because you grow old;
you grow old

because you stop laughing."

Michael Pritchard

A Homecoming

"When life is an answer,

death is a homecoming."

Abraham Heschel

Life is not an answer to a question,

but to an invitation.

It is an invitation to accept the gift

and the One who gives it.

Welcome home

dear Father Butch!