Dealing with our doubts about Christ

By Fr. Roy Cimagala 

WE cannot deny that all of us can have some doubts about who Christ is and

what he is to us. These days in the world in general, we can see strong evidence of a

culture of skepticism, agnosticism, religious indifferentism, if not, outright atheism.

This should come as no surprise to us because even during the time of Christ,

many of the supposedly religious leaders were skeptical of him and were often

suspicious of him, always trying to find fault in him.

The quick reason for that phenomenon is that the person of Christ is largely

shrouded by mysteries that are difficult if not impossible for us to understand. That he is

both God and man, that he was brought to earth through a virgin birth, are just some of

the mysteries many people do not even bother to consider.

There are, of course, many other reasons. Many people are lazy and do not

bother to know Christ, let alone, study the gospels. And even the Bible is considered by

many people as a mere collection of myths and legends. And we can go on and on with

reasons for the lack of interest in Christ.

But what we can do is first of all really to pray, to humble ourselves, realizing that

the question about Christ is a matter of faith which is a supernatural gift that can only be

appreciated by us if we are humble enough to accept and correspond to that gift. Of

course, Christ can strike a most powerful grace to convert a person instantly into a man

of faith, much like what happened to St. Paul.

But there definitely is also a need to evangelize, to give faithful and consistent

witness to our belief in Christ, making ourselves effectively “another Christ” as we ought

to be, since that is the only human way we can convince people of the reality of Christ.

What is clear that we have to be guided and live by faith always. More, we have

to incarnate that faith. It should not just be a theoretical or intellectual affair.

We need to keep our faith alive and burning. We should never allow it to cool

down. That’s why we should strive to develop a vibrant life of piety that is supported by

a concrete plan for which we should not be sparing in our efforts and sacrifices. It

cannot be denied that a plan to support our life of faith and piety will always involve a lot

of effort and sacrifice.

Things should come to the point when we somehow can see Christ in all the

situations of our life, and discern his will for us at any moment. In other words, that we

practically make ourselves contemplative souls even in the midst of the world.

This is not falling into fantasies. This is, in fact, making ourselves most realistic,

because in spite of our limitations, we cannot deny that Christ is in everything and is

actually intervening in our life always. This is because being God, Christ is the very

foundation of all reality. He is everywhere. 

Let us hope that we can have a vivid awareness of the presence of Christ all

throughout the day, 24/7, and that we can be drawn always to correspond to his loving

and merciful will. We should feel as much as possible God’s continuous love for us, and

we should try to repay that love with our love. Let’s never set him aside.

Are we truly prayerful persons?

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

“Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.”

(Lk 6,12)

What a tremendous fact in the life of Christ for us to consider! We should be

edified by that example. Christ is God and therefore has no need to pray. Yet he is also

man and as such is in need of prayer as a way to be always in touch with God, as any

man should be.

What we can adduce from this fact is that, like Christ who is the pattern of our

humanity, we are supposed to be men and women of prayer. We need to do everything

for us to make this ideal a reality in our lives.

We have to realize that prayer should always have priority over all other activities

we have during the day. Better said, we have to learn how to convert everything into

prayer so that we can say that our whole life is a prayer itself, as it should be.

And that is always possible because all we have to do is to fulfill our duties and

responsibilities out of love for God and neighbor, doing them in the best way we can, for

such is the way of love. And the duties and responsibilities we have are the usual tasks

we do everyday.

It’s when we pray that we manage to relate who we are, what we have, what we

do, etc. to our ultimate end which, to be sure, is not something only natural but is also

supernatural. Nothing therefore can rival the importance of prayer. In other words,

prayer is irreplaceable, unsubstitutable, indispensable. It’s never optional, though it has

to be done freely if we want our prayer to be real prayer.

Of course, we also have to understand that prayer can lend itself to many

different ways. There’s vocal prayer, mental prayer, contemplative prayer, liturgical

prayer, ejaculatory prayer, etc. It can adapt itself to different situations and conditions.

The absolutely important thing that makes prayer real prayer is when we manage

to give all our mind and heart to God in whatever thing we do or in whatever situation

we may find ourselves in.

We have to be reminded that the quality of our prayer determines in the end the

quality of our life. How our prayer is will somehow shape how our life will be. 

And that’s simply because our prayer is the basic way of connecting with God who is the source and keeper of our life, and in fact, in whose image and likeness we have been created, and whose life we are supposed to participate.

In other words, the ideal life we ought to have is when our life enters into the very

life of God. And that ideal is basically pursued in our earthly sojourn through our prayer

which is how we first and last relate ourselves with God.

If we do not have a life of prayer, the best thing that can happen to us is to simply

lead an animal life. It might be a rational life too, but it would only be up to there at its

best state, which is not yet what is ideal for us. And certainly, that rationality would be

erratic.

We should do everything to cultivate a life, if not, a culture of prayer. Let’s take

the challenge. We should not just acknowledge this need. We have to attend to it with

an appropriate action plan.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

THE LAST WORD

 

The last word is the best news of all. A happy ending after all? Really?

We sense it at rare moments. We see the good, the beauty in new crops, in flowers, in sunshine, and even in rain. The last thunderstorm in Davao City scarred me a lot. Lightning, flood … wow.

This world may be full of pollution, war, crime, and hate. But inside us, all of us, linger remnants that remind us of what the world could be like – of what we could be like.

The Old Testament prophets dreamed of “that day”, when creation would be made new. And those sensations, following a dismal monotone of predicted catastrophes, burst out of the last few chapters of Revelation. That perfect world is not merely a dream. Yes, I am pretty sure, it will come true.

I really enjoy reading Revelation again and again. Revelation shows us a new world at last. There will be no more tears then nor pain.

Revelation ends on a note of great triumph. Somehow, out of all the bad news augured here, good news emerges -spectacular Good News. I remember my radio show hosting on a Good News Radio FM- station in Davao City more than 20 years ago. Yes, good news … .

To those who believe, Revelation becomes a book not of fear, but of hope. God will prevail. All will be made new.

The Bible began, remember, back in Genesis, with a tragic defeat, when humanity, made in the image of God, rebelled. It ends with a reunion – a marriage, Revelation calls it. A happy ending after all … .

A perfect world? How could you design it? What would it look like? I am really waiting for your comments and suggestions.

Why do Filipinos want to have a pointed nose?

By: Dayang C Marikit

I would like to inform people that “nothing is set in stone” because we are constantly gathering information and learning about our history, somethings may change in the future, but for now the things that I publish are the things that we currently perceive to “know about.”

This features are generally what Filipinos find attractive.

• Nicely proportioned face
• Light-olive/light tanned skin tone (especially for women).
• Bright eyes
• Narrower noses
• Nice teeth

These features were already considered “attractive” even before the colonial period.

• This guy is actually from a tribal minority up in the mountains of Luzon.

This facial features have already been desired long before Europeans arrived not only in the Philippines but pretty much most of Southeast Asia… As you can see despite having narrower noses this people still have distinctively Filipino/Southeast Asian facial features.

• By the way even Filipinos with ‘flat noses’ can be beautiful.

A warning on presumption

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

CHRIST said it very clearly. We have to enter by the narrow gate if we want to

survive the trials and challenges of our earthly life and arrive at our proper eternal

home. (cfr. Lk 13,22-30) We cannot deny that we are prone to fall into presumption. Of

course, we can also fall into the other extreme of despair which is not good for us.

To be sure, Christ is not trying to be a killjoy here. He always wants us to be

happy and to be at peace, if not always then at least most of the time. But he is just

being realistic, given our wounded condition that is prone to be easily spoiled by any

good thing we can have in this life.

In fact, in another instance he spells out what is needed if we want to follow him.

And that is that we deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) Of course, as the

pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, he knows perfectly

well what works for us and what does not, what is truly good for us and what is not.

We have to see to it that we are always aware of this necessity and requirement

in our life if we want to be truly human and Christian. There is no other way we can

attain the perfection and fullness of our humanity.

We know that the anomaly of presumption leads us to think that since God is

always merciful, compassionate and understanding, then we can do just about anything.

We would immediately rationalize that God will always understand and forgive us of our

sins that we could have avoided. 

In fact, we would think that we have some kind of license to sin, since God is

always merciful. A presumptuous person is usually a reckless, over-confident person.

He is deaf and blind to the possibility of divine retribution. He most likely has a lax

conscience.

Entering by the narrow gate means that we have to wage to lifelong interior or

ascetical struggle, since in this life we have to contend with all sorts of enemies of God

and of our soul.

As long as we struggle interiorly, there is spiritual life, the very wellspring that

produces the living water for our river of life. As long as we struggle interiorly, we can be

assured of our fidelity to whatever commitment we have entered into. Interior struggle is

essential and indispensable in our life.

Our life is very dynamic, with all sorts of challenges to face, problems to solve,

issues to be clarified. We need to see to it that our interior life, our spiritual life, our

thoughts, desires and intentions are firmly rooted on God, their proper foundation.

We need not only to purify our thoughts and intentions from any stain of pride,

vanity, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony, anger, etc. We also need to fill them and rev them up

with true love and wisdom. These are the reasons why we have to engage in a lifelong

interior or spiritual struggle.

The ideal situation should be that we are always in awe at the presence of God in

our life, making him the principle and objective of all our thoughts, words and deeds. We

have to be spiritually fit before we can be fit anywhere else—family-wise, professionally,

socially, politically, etc.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Davao de Oro: Making change happen

Davao de Oro Province--- From farm to market roads, to schools in the hinterlands, sustainable agricultural developments, livelihood for the marginalized sectors, infrastructure projects, digital innovations, tourism circuits, pandemic mitigating initiatives, and the eradication of insurgency are some of the significant achievements of Davao de Oro in the last five years.

Through its strategic 4Ps+ program which stands for Planet (Environmental Management and Disaster Preparedness) People (Social Protection and Human Development), Prosperity (Economic Development), Peace (Peace, Justice and Security) and Plus (Good Governance), PLGU-Davao de Oro proved that change could happen, bringing its name into the limelight.

On October 25, 2021, Davao de Oro Governor Jayvee Tyron L. Uy delivers his 2021 State of the Province Address (SOPA), at Session Hall of the Legislative Building, Provincial Capitol, Nabunturan, Davao de Oro.

Not only did Dabawenyos witness this year’s SOPA of the Governor at the comfort of their homes, but also people from across the globe as the event was live-streamed via official social media platforms of the province reaching thousands of views and engagements.

Following health and safety protocols, the event was attended by the officials of the provincial government of Davao de Oro, municipal mayors of the province, Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and partners from the National Government Agencies.

The highlight of this year’s SOPA are the feats of Davao de Oro as a province that brought substantial changes to the lives of every dabawenyo.

“We had surely come a long way. We used to be the hotbed of insurgency, now our peace and order situation is one of the most stable in the Davao Region. From a place feared by many, we became one of the most visited provinces in the entire country by tourists even in the middle of a pandemic. From a laggard economy four years back, we are now one of the most competitive provinces in the Davao Region. Kaning tanan, atong kadaugan! It is our collective work that made the change happen. We made this change happen and let’s continue to make change happen. Dabawenyo, sa tanang panahon, magpabilin kitang bulawanon!”, said Governor Uy.

Just in time with the Governor’s SOPA is the celebration of the country’s golden festivity, Davao de Oro’s “Bulawan Festival”, from October 25-29, 2021, which will happen via online platforms.

The 5-day virtual celebration will highlight events such as “Pre-SOPA Broadcast Talkshow” giving a glimpse of the governor’s SOPA, “Bulawan Opening”, and “Sayaw de Oro” in the first day. On the second day will be the Bahandi, which will feature the “Peoples of Davao de Oro”, “Bulawanong Kalinaw” which will showcase peace initiatives of the province.

The third day of the virtual festivity will feature the “Shoplokal Launch”, an online portal that will showcase Davao de Oro’s local products, “Agri Oro” showcasing the best practices and stories of the farmers and fisherfolks of the province, and the “Byahe ni Gov” a virtual tour giving pride to the tourism circuit destination of the province.

The fourth day of the celebration will brandish the “Pasasalamat”, a tribute concert for the frontliners of Davao de Oro, featuring the renowned band in the country, “Ben&Ben”, and the last day of the online Bulawan Celebration will be the “Bulawanong Pahalipay”, a raffle activity inviting dabawenyos for the chance of winning special prizes and the “Tiktokan Bakunation Campaign” highlighting the province’s Bakunation Campaign. (Jasteen P. Abella, Information Division, Davao de Oro)

Never belittle the little things

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

IN the gospel, the Kingdom of God is often compared to the little things. Christ

said that the Kingdom is like “a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the

garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush…” Again, he said that the

Kingdom is like “yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat

flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” (cfr. Lk 13,18-21)

These words have no other purpose than to tell us that the magnificence of

heaven can be reached through the little ordinary things of our day as long as we

handle or do them with faith, hope and charity.

We need to reconcile ourselves with this happy truth of our faith that we do not

have to wait for extraordinary circumstances for us to reach heaven and even to have a

taste of it even while still here on earth. With the little, ordinary things in our life, we

have all the means and chances to have heaven within our reach.

Sanctity, our ticket to heaven, certainly requires heroism, even to the point of

martyrdom. But we can be sure that by being consistently loving in doing the little things

of life, especially when they are hidden and unappreciated humanly, we would already

be very heroic indeed, even approaching the level of martyrdom.

What we have to do is to learn to find Christ in the little things which comprise

most of our day, if not of our whole life. Another way of saying it is to learn to refer

everything to Christ, no matter how little or insignificant it is.

We should always be with Christ at every moment of our day, offering things to

him, asking him questions like, “Lord, how should I deal with this particular situation, be

it an exciting work, a boring and tiring moment, etc.?”

We should never dare to do things simply on our own. Especially when we find

ourselves in difficulties, in a quandary, in moments of temptation, etc., we have to go to

Christ as quickly as possible and cling to him as tightly as possible.

And we should never forget to thank him all the time, for such gesture connects

us with him in an abiding way. When we are with Christ especially in the little things of

our day, how can we doubt about having heaven in us while still here on earth?

We therefore have to learn to find Christ in everything, doing so not in some

generic, theoretical way, but in a specific, practical way, one that is abiding and active.

This, of course, is a great challenge to all of us, but if we believe in this truth and we try

to conform ourselves to it and to persevere in it, for sure we can achieve a certain

degree of success.

It should be something normal to all of us to feel Christ’s presence in all things,

especially in our little ordinary events of the day, and to correspond to that presence as

actively as possible. This ideal is not only for some people who we usually regard as

mystics and very special people.

We can always find Christ anytime, for what it takes is only an act of faith that we

try to pursue as far as we can. If we persevere in this effort, for sure, sooner or later we

can find Christ even in the most ordinary and even the ugly things of our life.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

What causes typhoons in the Philippines? Is it because of global warming and climate change?

 

Holly Benedicto

Bisaya. Has travelled all over the Philippines, some Asian countries and the United States. Scientific background. Has worked extensively with Americans.

The Philippines is next to the Pacific Ocean where the typhoons are formed.

Typhoons have always been a problem in the Philippines and other countries like Japan that are near the vast Pacific.

Every year, without fail, during the months of June to December, we are plagued with monsoons, typhoons and rain, while we get super hot temperatures and little rain from January to May.

The flooding you see could be from climate change but many areas ALWAYS get flooded, especially those that are low-lying.

This is to be expected on a yearly basis like clockwork…and yet, many are still caught unawares. I wish I knew of a study that explored disaster preparedness across the Philippines so I can give you stats but all I have is opinion: while government agencies like the Philippine Coast Guarda and the Philippine Red Cross are prepared to help in times of disasters, the average Filipino is NOT.

Definitely something we need to be thinking about.

What are some traditional Filipino family names?

Marianne Carandang

writer, editor, researcher, cook

Names in the Philippines will generally fall into these categories:

Names of Indian/Sanskrit origin - Laxamana, Binay, Bagatsing, Bacani

Spanish-Mexican/Latin American names - De Guzman, Lopez, Hernandez, Rodriguez, many assigned by the Spanish religious orders upon baptizing local villages and towns;

Spanish names that are Basque in origin - Sanchez, Diaz, Echeverria, Aguirre, Elizalde. This is a small subset of #2;

Chinese surnames, either in one syllable (Tan, Lim, Ong, Uy, Chan, Go), two syllables (Tanlu, Anglo, Limpe), or in three-syllables, usually a composite of a family patriarch’s full name (Angangco, Yutivo, Golangco).

Interestingly the composite, some 3-syllable names have adopted a more Hispanized spelling over time (Consunji, Syquia, Cojuangco).

“Native” Filipino (meaning non-colonial) surnames - Andal, Dimaano, Macasaet, Puno, Payumo - and apparently my own: Carandang.

The origin of tribal surnames across the Philippines deserves its own group of questions.

Our laws should lead us to God

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          WHEN Christ cured on a Sabbath a woman who had been crippled

by an evil spirit for eighteen years, he was corrected by the

synagogue leader for violating the law on the Sabbath. (cfr. Lk

13,10-17) That was when Christ made the following clarification:

          “Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his

ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of

Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to

have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”

          I imagine that a simple exercise of common sense could

easily see the point of Christ. But many times, we fall into the same

predicament when we would just blindly follow the letter of the law

without discerning the true spirit behind it.

          Ideally, both the letter and the spirit of our laws should

be in perfect harmony. But that is hardly the case in real life. The

problem, of course, is that the articulation of our laws is

conditioned and limited by our human powers that cannot fully capture

the richness of human life, considering its spiritual and supernatural

character that will always involve the intangibles and mysteries and

the like.

          That is the reason why we can go beyond, but not against, a

particular law, when such law cannot fully express the concrete

conditions of a particular case. This is when we can apply the

principle of “epikeia.”

          But first, we have to understand that our human laws are

meant to lead us to our ultimate goal which is none other than to be

with God, to be holy as God is holy, etc. Irrespective of their

immediate temporal purpose, our laws should lead us little by little

to become God’s image and likeness as we are meant to be. They in the

end should serve the fundamental religious purpose of our life. That

should always be the constant purpose of our laws.

          All the other objectives of our laws, let alone their

technical requirements, serve only as an occasion, a reason or motive

for this ultimate purpose. Setting aside this ultimate purpose would

empty our laws of their real legitimacy, making them rife for all

kinds of manipulations and maneuverings by some shrewd men who may

enjoy some power at a given moment.

          We have to realize that it is Christ who ultimately gives

the real meaning and purpose of our laws. We have to disabuse

ourselves from the thought that our laws can be based only on our

common sense, or on our own estimation of what is good and evil

according to the values of practicality, convenience, etc., or on our

traditions and culture, etc.

          While these things have their legitimate role to play in our

legal and judicial systems, we have to understand that they cannot be

the primary and ultimate bases. It should be God, his laws and ways

that should animate the way we make laws as well as the way we apply

and live them. After all, being the Creator of all things, he is the

one who establishes what is truly good and evil.

          With the way today’s legal and juridical systems worldwide

are drifting toward extreme positivism that simply bases itself on our

perceptual experiences and people’s consensus and systematically

shutting out any input from faith and divine revelation, we need to

remind ourselves that God’s law is in fact the foundation, the

inspiration and the perfection of our human laws.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com