THAT TELLS ME ALL... ... I need to know!

Know-it-alls, who prefer an oppressing or suppressing crab mentality should be really out of place. They poison us and our dignity and our feelings of our own worth. Unfortunately we can find these people at any corner.

I stayed in many places worldwide - places with people belonging to different kinds of religion. I really don't care which belief people are in. Most importantly, they believe in God or Allah and they live a Christian life. I am always very happy when I find churches or prayer places - always open and filled up with praying and worshipping people.

Yesterday I was invited to a Moslem wedding.

I am always very happy, when I meet hopeful and promising Christians: priests, pastors, lay people, friends, family members, who know how to share and inspire, and also know how to be patient while starting with a -maybe - "new beginning".

I am also very happy, because I still observe infinite and endless good things every day coming into my life. Slowly but surely, I started to pay attention to such things. I observe several people, who don't! I really try to do preliminary exercises for instance, for amazing things or just for a simple gratitude. With these attitudes I'll be winning each battle a thousand times against those people who live believing that God's creation goes to the dogs and kicks the bucket.

I am really happy if I meet people who understand the real meaning of responsibility. Responsibility to a child, to the family, to a company and its employees, to a public service, an association or a registered society, or anything that supports, sponsors and promotes my surroundings without being egoistic, indifferent or listless. "I don't give a damn!"

I am always happy to notice people around me, who mean and act "YES" if they say "YES"!

I am always happy to notice something that is taken for granted: parents have time for their children and patience with the youth (really a difficult task sometimes!); someone who takes time to visit a sick neighbour or friend; someone who asks the address of a possible lonely fellow...

Every time period is in God's hands. Let's fulfill these periods and let's also allow our loved-ones at our side to live the same way. 

A most recommended prayer

Fr. Roy Cimagala *

THE Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin Elizabeth, celebrated on May 31, brings us to that wonderful prayer of the “Magnificat,” the response of our Lady after her cousin praised her to high heavens, describing her as the most blessed among women. (cfr. Lk 1,39-56)

It’s a prayer that we should try our best to also make as our own, for it expresses what our heart and soul should regard us the most important in our life. It’s the most ideal condition for us to be in. It shows what and who should attract us the most.

We should repeat the words of the Magnificat daily, and, in fact, often during the day. We should repeat them from the heart, especially when we encounter difficulties and failures in life, because they remind us that God never fails to bless us. Yes, we should always feel blessed even amidst our problems and mistakes.

Feeling blessed is important and indispensable to us. Without it, we would be putting ourselves in great danger as we would simply stand on an unstable ground, totally dependent on the shifting world of chance, luck and fortune.

When these latter mundane and temporal values are missing, we cannot help but feel doomed, our life losing meaning and purpose, and our activities would simply become means to pass the time. Nothing more and beyond!

To be able to assume the spirit of the Magnificat, we should try our best to adapt the attitude of Mary. She was most humble and most docile. She asked for a clarification when she was told that she was going to become the Mother of the Son of God, but it was not out of doubt and lack of faith. It was simply to make her cooperation with God’s will and ways most complete.

When we are truly humble like Our Lady, we would know who should attract us most. Definitely, it should be God and none other. Better said, if we make God the source and cause of all our attraction, of all our joy and pleasures, of what ultimately gives us perfect satisfaction and ultimate fulfillment, all the other things can attract us and give us joy in the proper way, always respecting our true dignity as persons and as children of God.

Otherwise, there is no other way but for us to merely have a fake kind of joy, pleasure and satisfaction that can only lead us to bigger dangers. We really have to train ourselves to make God and to make following his will and ways the constant source and cause of our attraction and joy.

For this, we first of all should ask for God’s grace which is actually given to us in abundance. And from there, let’s go through some systematic plan of life that will nourish and strengthen our constant and intimate relationship with God, a relationship that should involve our entire self—body and soul, feelings, emotions and passions down to our very instincts, as well as our mind and heart.

It should be a plan that should obviously include prayer in all its forms—vocal, liturgical, ejaculatory, mental, contemplative, etc. Our life of prayer should be such that even when we are immersed in the things of the world due to our work and our temporal duties, we would still be aware of God’s presence, and it is doing God’s will that should always motivate us.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Over 34,000 schools nominated for face-to-face classes — DepEd

(Photo courtesy of DepEd)

by Merlina Hernando-Malipot, Manila Bulletin

More than 34,000 schools have been nominated to implement face-to-face classes, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday, May 30, announced.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones, during the Laging Handa public briefing, said that as of May 26, 34,238 schools have been nominated for face-to-face classes nationwide.

“Out of these 34,238 schools, 33,000 are public schools and 1,174 are private schools,” Briones said.

 

Briones noted that to date, 73.28 percent of the total number of public schools across the country have been nominated to hold face-to-face classes amid the pandemic.

“Basta may clearance galing sa Department of Health, at saka sa tingin namin ay pumapayag naman ang mga local governments at saka may consent ng mga parents ay talagang tinutuloy na natin ang face-to-face classes (As long as there is clearance from the Department of Health, and if we think that the local governments agree and then with the consent of the parents, we will continue the face-to-face classes),” Briones said.

Meanwhile, Briones noted that DepEd is expecting all schools to fully implement the conduct of face-to-face by the next academic year.

However, Briones clarified that the implementation of face-to-face classes would still depend on the overall readiness of the schools.

Briones said that schools may have various formats when it comes to implementing face-to-face classes. Some, she said, are ready in terms of teachers and other resources while others may need “catching up to do.”

Given this, Briones said DepEd officials at the regional level “have to decide what approach to use” when it comes to face-to-face classes since “they know the situation best.”

Briones also emphasized that DepEd’s approach when it comes to the implementation of face-to-face classes would greatly depend on the schools, the LGUs, the state of health in the area, and on assessment of DOH.

“Pero sa ngayon, ine-encourage din ng DOH na talagang tulyan na nating gawin ang face-to-face classes (But for now, the DOH is also encouraging us to really continue doing face-to-face classes),” Briones, said, noting that DepEd is also encouraging private schools to go back to in-person learning.

EU sees deeper ties with PH under Marcos

European Union Ambassador to Manila Luc Véron and President-elect Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. PHOTO BY BBM MEDIA BUREAU

By Bernadette E. Tamayo, Manila 

EUROPEAN Union Ambassador to Manila Luc Véron is confident that the EU-Philippines relations "will deepen" under the Marcos administration.

Véron on Monday paid President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. a visit.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to meet President-elect Marcos ahead of his inauguration. I do not doubt that the EU-Philippines cooperation based on shared values and objectives will deepen under the Marcos administration," Véron said in a statement.

The envoy said he and Marcos "had an excellent conversation about the state of the world and his ambitions for the Philippines in the coming years."

"I am also heartened to hear that the incoming President is willing to work with the EU and its member states," Véron said.

He said that Marcos will be invited to attend the 45th anniversary of EU-Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) relations commemorative summit in Brussels, Belgium on December 14, 2022.

The ambassador conveyed the wish of all EU member states ambassadors to meet Marcos at the earliest opportunity.

He welcomed the importance that Marcos "attached to the enhanced partnership" between the Philippines and the EU and its member states.

Véron said he agreed with Marcos on the need to respect international law in the South China Sea, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its dispute settlement mechanisms.

He presented the scope of the bilateral relationship between the EU and the Philippines ranging from trade and investments to the extensive cooperation on justice system, socio-economic development, sustainable energy, governance, peace in Mindanao and vaccination against Covid-19.

The EU Mission in the Philippines said both sides agreed that addressing climate change and the green economic recovery from the pandemic must be at the forefront of the bilateral agenda.

The EU conveyed its readiness "to stay engaged, at the [Philippine] government's wishes, to further consolidate the peace process in the Bangsamoro region."