Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year, New Me

This new year, I have one new year's resolution - just one. This new year, I resolve to make use of my time wisely. Time flies so quickly and it is something I can't get back. I must make conscious effort to make time work for me - to avoid idleness, be more productive, and put on more meaning to my existence. I resolve to make each moment count and avoid procrastination because time is precious.

I have never felt so hopeful in my life. Tonight, it's going to be very noisy outside and there is the usual media noche at the strike of midnight. Year in and year out it has always been the same - loud firecrackers to ward off the evil spirits, 12 pieces of round fruits for a prosperous year ahead, and other crazy things we do to make our life better for the coming year, and yet the much needed change is seldom seen because deep in our hearts we fail to silence the noise and contemplate. We fail to look inside to see what things needed to be changed.

Make this new year a different one. Make some life-shaking, earth-shattering changes in your life so that when 2009 ends, you have indeed something to celebrate.

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Homosexuality: Pope Puts Stress on Gender Roles

Pope Benedict has called for "an ecology of the human being." Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. He explained that defending God's creation was not limited to saving the environment, but also protecting man from self-destruction.

The pope was delivering his end-of-year address to senior Vatican staff. His words, later released to the media, emphasised his total rejection of gender theory. Pope Benedict XVI warned that gender theory blurs the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.

Gender Theory
Gender theory explores sexual orientation, the roles assigned by society to individuals according to their gender, and how people perceive their biological identity. Gay and transsexual groups, particularly in the United States, promote it as a key to understanding and tolerance, but the pope disagreed. When the Roman Catholic Church defends God's Creation, "it does not only defend the earth, water and the air... but (it) also protects man from his own destruction," the pope said.

"If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind... deserves it no less," the 81-year-old pontiff said, calling for "an ecology of the human being." It is not "outmoded metaphysics" to urge respect for the "nature of the human being as man and woman," he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's sumptuous Clementine Hall. The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage. It teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are.

(Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7796663.stm)

Monday, December 22, 2008


A Prayer for Christmas

God give us eyes this Christmas
to see the Christmas Star.
And give us ears to hear the song
Of angels from afar.

And, with our eyes and ears attuned
for a message from above,
Let "Christmas Angels" speak to us
of hope and faith and love.

Hope to light our pathway
when the way ahead is dark.
Hope to sing through stormy days,
with the sweetness of the lark.

Faith to trust in things unseen
and know beyond all seeing.
That it is in our Father's love
we live and have our being.

And love to break down barriers
of coloar, race and creed.
Love to see and understand
and help all those in need.

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Break It To Me Gently



I love this song even if I'm single. Mark Bautista sings it well...with emotion and all.

Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Spirit of Advent


Because of original sin, man naturally grows in vice rather than in virtue. The first age of man is characterized by thoughtlessness; this grows into love of pleasure and, in old age, develops into love for wealth.

So, John the Baptist came and announced the coming of Christ who would have the unrewarding task of instilling in men "a feeling for their own sins." John did this and paid with his head; Christ followed suit and was crucified.

They were both killed by the Jews, a senseless people, who, though guilty of the worst sins, justified themselves -- this was the cause of their destruction. "They are ignorant of God's righteousness and go about establishing their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." This was the cause of their evils.

But aren't we like this, too? Thoroughly devoid of "feeling for our sins" (i.e. ignorant of our sins and their gravity), we judge ourselves by our norms and not by the norms of God? So, John and Jesus did nothing else except to bring man to a sense of their own sins.

To be forgiven, we must be sorry for our sins. But how can we be sorry if we do not know the gravity of our sins? And how can we discover the gravity of our sins if we do not even know our sins?

We must have a "feeling for our sins" that we may condemn them. Those sins that we condemn, God will not condemn; but those sins we fail to condemn, God will condemn.

"What must we do?" Repent, reform our lives, deny ourselves. Learn to scorn the things of the earth and aim for the things in heaven. It is not possible to be repentant and to live in luxury.

True repentance is this: to know your sins and the gravity of your sins. Then to forsake your evil ways and show forth good deeds greater than the sins. . .this is the fruit worthy of repentance. So if you have stolen, return what you have stolen AND ALSO give up some of your own to the poor. If you have committed fornication, you must stop it AND ALSO abstain even from your wife for certain appointed times. Have you insulted someone?. . .then learn how to take insults hurled at you AND ALSO do good to those who insult you.

Sin is like a dart that has wounded you. You don't only remove the dart (i.e. cease from sinning); you must also heal the wound by good works. So it is not enough for the drunkard to be sober; he must also fast from food and water for a time to cure his spiritual wounds. You who look lustfully at a woman, now be modest in looking, and also deny yourselves even looking at the beauty of nature to heal the wounds of your soul. It was precisely to heal their spiritual wounds that the first Christians went to the desert.

The first step toward holiness is repentance; and the first step of repentance is to have a "feeling for one's sins," i.e. to know your sins and the gravity of your sins. He who shows forth fruits worthy of repentance, he it is who has made his crooked way straight for the Lord.

St. Augustine: "On the Gospels"

(caryana.org)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Our Lady of Guadalupe


A TRIBUTE TO MARY by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a Protestant American poet reminds all America:
"This is indeed the Blessed Mary's Land,
Virgin and Mother of our dear Redeemer!
All Hearts are touched and softened at her name:
The priest, the prince, the scholar, and the peasant.
Alike the bandit with the bloody hand,
Pay homage to her as one ever present!
And even as children who have much offended
A too-indulgent father, in great shame,
Penitent, and yet not daring unattended
To go into his presence, at the gate
Speak to their sister, and confiding wait
Till she goes in before and intercedes.
So men, repenting of their evil deeds
And yet not venturing rashly to draw near,
With their requests, an angry Father's ear
Offer to Mary prayers and their confession
And she in Heaven for them makes intercession.
And if our faith had given us nothing more
Than this example of all womanhood,
So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good
So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving, pure
These were enough to prove it higher and truer
Than all the creeds the world has known before."
“Hear me and understand well...that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed... Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? - Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego.
Today, December 12, is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Morality of Boxing


Note: Attention Manny Paquiao and all his fans. Listen. I think it's high time for all Pinoy boxing fanatics to read this article discussing the morality of boxing (and I guess all other sports similar to boxing). Personally, I don't watch boxing matches. I only catch a glimpse of high-profile fighters during the evening news. Try as I might I really don't have a taste for this sport. I know most straight guys remain glued to their seats whenever they see their boxing hero Manny Paquiao fight it out in the ring, even making this sport sort of a gambling opportunity for them to earn (or lose) extra bucks. Below is an article that might perhaps change your views on boxing.
An early 1950s boxer Laverne Roach died from injuries sustained in a professional match. This was pugilism's first televised homicide—but not its last. Twelve years later, 15 million television fans had a double treat: they watched challenger Emile Griffith scramble the brains of welterweight champion Benny Paret beyond repair, and then saw a rerun of the climactic moments of this state-supervised slaughter in slow motion.

Thus boxing history repeated itself on March 24, just as it will do in the future until informed and out­raged public opinion demands the abolition of civilized man's most atavistic sport—the manly art of mutual mayhem. For mayhem lies at the heart of the prize­fighting game, as opposed to amateur and collegiate boxing where, whatever the incidence of injury, mishap comes about by accident or human malice, and not by the nature of the art.
Ringside requiems involve a predictable reaction ­ritual. The pugilistic massacre prompts an official in­vestigation that finally leads nowhere. Humanitarians clamor for protective devices or rules that will reduce the likelihood of ring tragedies. A few sports columnists call for the abolition of prizefighting. And increasingly, of late years, moralists and preachers seize on every ring slaughter as a chance to compose a homily on the immorality of the professional boxing game.
This last development is a hopeful one. For if all teachers of morality could convince themselves and their public of the immorality of professional boxing, the days of this brutal pastime would definitely be numbered.
A dozen years ago, in this country, Catholic moral­ists seldom directed their attention to the evils of a professional boxing career. Even if they did so, they were loath to condemn it because it seemed to have wide popular approval and to encourage the ideals of clean, disciplined living and hardy virility.
Today things are very different. Perhaps most of our moralists now think that of its essence professional boxing is irreconcilable with the gospel and natural law, and they do not hesitate to make their opinion known. In this they agree with the Vatican City radio and newspaper, both of which forthrightly condemned professional boxing after the Paret tragedy, not just because it is a hazardous career whose rewards are in­commensurate with its risks, but because it is wrong in its nature, aim and methods.
The basic reason why professional boxing is wrong is easy to grasp. It lies in the uniqueness of this activity: of all contemporaneous forms of sport in which man is pitted against man, professional boxing alone has as its primary and direct object the physical injury of the contestants.
This fact alone sets prizefighting apart from other sports, no matter how risky they are in themselves or how open to human malice. In amateur and collegiate boxing, presumably, the emphasis is on skill and dex­terity, and elaborate precautions are taken to make the danger of real harm remote. But injury in a profes­sional match is no accident. The very nature of the sport is that two career men, under contract, attempt to mutilate each other for gain. The opponents system­atically attack each other's physical features and organs in a mounting crescendo of mayhem that ideally termi­nates in a violent assault on man's most delicate organ, the brain. A successful assault ends in a moment of waking helplessness called a technical knockout, or, better still, a clean KO whose symbol is the supine gladiator with a mild concussion. Any less decisive climax gets short shrift from the gallery and contributes little to a fighter's career.
Thus professional boxing stands condemned even before the statistics are compiled on occasional ring deaths and the all-too-common. The gospel law of love does not permit brethren to exchange wanton violence for mere renown or profit. There is no charity in a licensed assault that unleashes the beast in the boxer and the sadist in the spectator. As for natural justice, we who have no right to mutilate ourselves for external gain certainly cannot endow others with the right to attempt mayhem upon us by virtue of a contract.
We will welcome the day when the American people finally reject professional boxing for good, and inter it by the side of cockfighting, bearbaiting and the pub­lic execution 'of criminals.
(Source: America - The National Catholic Weekly)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Bloggers Against Pornography


I think it's high time to fight the plague of pornography in our own way. As someone who is constantly exposed to the internet the whole day, I'm no stranger to the allure and temptation of porn, and working in the comforts of my own home seems to make that a lot easier for me.

It's time to fight back.

I will be devising simple and practical ways to do this and I'm planning to post this on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

I would like to enjoin my fellow bloggers to support me in their own way. This is not just someone's personal battle; this is our fight.

Join me.


"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

You Don't Always Need an Umbrella


No, I'm not going to sing Rihanna's song here. I just want to share this beautiful inspirational thought from Ms. Deanna Beisser, author of What Will Tomorrow Bring?

We will never be able to predict the future.
Whatever happens today belongs to today,
and we all live in the moments that we are given.
What happens tomorrow will be tomorrow's reality,
and we all must wait to see how it becomes today.
The main thing to keep in mind
as you travel through life is that
tomorrow could either be a sunny day
or a wet and rainy day,
but if you carry an umbrella with you
everywhere you go,
chances are that
you will be looking for clouds
(maybe even squinting to see them)
while missing out on blue skies

Take your chances on getting wet every now and then.

Pro-Life Forum on Porn

Note: Please forward this announcement to all people concerned.


An Invitation To The Pro-Life Forum On

“The Pornography Plague”
(La Plaga de la Pornografía)

Designed for parents, guardians, teachers, counselors/life coaches, youth group advisers, catechists, pastors, lay leaders, social workers, students, and all those who deal with issue on pornography

Date :
Friday, December 5, 2008

Time:
8:00 am – 12:00 nn (registration starts at 7:30 a.m.)

Venue:
Bahay Ugnayan, Good Shepherd Convent Compound
1043 Aurora Blvd, Quezon City
(in front of PSBA and beside Katipunan LRT2 North Exit)

Fee :
P150.00 (includes snacks, handouts, and certificate)

Guest Speaker:
Ms. Ma. Perlita “Teacher Phil” E. de Leon
Faculty, Family Life and Child Development Department University of the Philippines

Pornography is tearing apart the very fabric of our society today. Yet, many of us are often ignorant of its impact and apathetic about the need to control this menace.

Listen and be enlightened by “Teacher Phil” as she presents the status of pornography in the Philippines and its psycho-social effects especially on today’s youth, counterpointed by the biblical perspective of pornography and human sexuality. Be there and share your insights during the forum discussion on how to combat pornography.

For reservations or more information, please call Ellen at 422-8877 or 911-2911. Or, you may send us a telefax at 421-7147; a text through mobile# 0919-2337783; or an email at life@prolife.org.ph. Visit our website at www.prolife.org.ph.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

AIDS Report

Dear readers,

You might want to read this alarming artcile on the rise of HIV/AIDS in our country:

Government warns versus HIV danger in MSM sector

Monday, December 1, 2008

AIDS and Condoms


Note: Today is World AIDS day and I'm sharing an article regarding this topic. I got this from a Catholic blog

On a personal note, I firmly believe that abstinence and upholding of moral truth is still our best defense against the dreaded disease. Quick fixes simply aren't good enough to solve the AIDS crisis. Educating oneself about the disease is another powerful means to combat it. We simply cannot afford to be ignorant.


Briefing: Condoms are an easy but false solution to AIDS, since they encourage the behaviour (promiscuity) which spreads the disease while only reducing, not eliminating, the risk of infection. This simple point is apparently incomprehensible to the condom-pushers, but that is because they think promiscuity and contraception are good in themselves.

From LifeSite, via CFNews: Following the report that an official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had told media, in defiance of established Catholic teaching, that the use of condoms by HIV and AIDS-infected spouses is morally permissible, this position was soundly trounced in an article in the Vatican Newspaper L'Osservatore Romano by a member of the Pontifical Council on the Family. Msgr. Jacques Suaudeau slammed the idea of condoms for AIDS prevention, saying it cannot be proposed as a model of humanization and development.' Msgr. Suaudeau also pointed out the danger of relying upon latex condoms to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus: 'We are asked to believe that the HIV virus, 450 times smaller than spermatozoa, can almost always be magically blocked by a condom, without taking into account that spermatozoa themselves can pass through the latex barrier in 15 out of 100 completed sexual acts.'

The condom-for-AIDS theory, while directly contradicting the teaching of the Catholic Church as repeatedly reiterated by Vatican officials, also flies in the face of recent statistics showing a correlation between increasing rates of AIDS infection and the spread of condom use in the Philippines. In 2006, the Philippine Health Secretary reported that the number of HIV/AIDS cases almost doubled in three years from about 6000 in 2002 to 11,168 in 2006. This was the same period in which private companies and UN-funded international NGOs began bringing condoms into the country. In 2004 alone, DKT, a private organization run by a well-known US pornographer, with the support of the Packard Foundation, distributed 27.8 million condoms as well as chemical abortifacients and contraceptives in the Philippines. Indeed, in many countries, statistics have shown that far from reducing the transmission of AIDS, the use of condoms has greatly exacerbated the problem.

The relentless push by foreign 'experts' for condoms is being increasingly condemned by local governments in the developing world who have seen successful AIDS prevention programmes undermined by the western obsession with latex. The first lady of Kenya said in 2006 that the western programmes pushing condoms in her country were the primary culprits in the spread of AIDS. Lucy Kibaki spoke to Kenyan schoolgirls at an awards ceremony, telling them, 'The condom … is causing the spread of AIDS in this country.' Mrs Kibaki said the rapid spread of AIDS in Kenya could be put down to pressure from abroad to use condoms instead of practising self-control. 'I am not telling you to use condoms. I am not in favour of condoms.' Officials in charge of the most successful AIDS prevention programme in Africa have recently condemned the efforts by western advisors to undermine their programmes promoting abstinence and marital fidelity.

A Ugandan official wrote a piece last week for the Washington Post, saying that the western obsession with casual sex was killing the people of his country. The spread of artificial methods of contraception in the Philippines has long been one of the major goals of the international population control movement, funded through agencies like International Planned Parenthood and the United Nations Population Fund. The Philippines was one of the countries specified in a 1974 US government document, the National Security Study Memorandum 200 (NSSM), authored by Henry Kissinger, that re-directed the work of such international organisations as UNICEF into population control in order to protect US economic interests by lowering fertility rates in the developing world.

In 2002, the Catholic bishops conference of the Philippines issued a statement condemning the attempts by various international organisations to implement the NSSM 200 programme by pushing artificial contraceptives. Currently the attempt has been made again and the Church is vehemently opposing two pending pieces of legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives that will allow 'family planning' organisations to begin their contraceptive programmes in the strongly Catholic country. [LifeSiteNews]