Our fears, failures and sense of abandonment

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

THAT rather amusing gospel story of the apostles frozen with fear when they were in the middle of a raging sea and saw a figure that later turned out to be Christ walking on the water (cfr. Mk 6,45-52) tells us what to do with our unavoidable fears and failures. We need to develop a healthy sense of abandonment in the ever solicitous providence of God over our life.

To be sure, Christ never fails us, though, again, his ways may not be what we expect or even want. What we have to do is to develop the habit of always referring everything to God, especially when we find ourselves in situations of fear and helplessness. He is always there for us.

We need to know how to handle and deal with our fears that are unavoidable in our life. Fear is an emotion that we need to educate also. It just cannot be on its own, guided only by our spontaneous judgments and reactions, and appearing when it’s not supposed to, and not appearing when it’s supposed to. It has to be grounded and oriented properly, expressing the sublimity of our dignity as persons and children of God.

Let’s remember that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord. It’s the good and healthy fear of a child who is afraid to offend his father. It’s a filial fear, not a servile one. It’s one that, instead of being tempted to run away from God, would rather motivate one to get closer to him. It’s the fear of losing God, even if we may have offended him and have to do something to atone and repair.

With all the things that we have to contend with in this life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what we would like to have.

A healthy spirit of abandonment in God’s hands is necessary even as we exhaust all possible human means to achieve our goals or simply to tackle all the challenges, trials and predicaments of our life. We should never forget this truth of our faith.

In this life, we need to acquire a good, healthy sporting spirit, because life is actually like a game. Yes, life is like a game. We set out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given some means, tools and instruments, we are primed to win and we do our best, but losses can come, and yet, we just have to move on.

Woe to us when we get stuck with our defeats and failures, developing a loser’s mentality. That would be the epic fail that puts a period and a finis in a hanging narrative, when a comma, a colon or semi-colon would have sufficed.

We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world.

An indispensable ingredient of this healthy sporting spirit is the sense of acceptance and abandonment that we need to deliberately cultivate. This does not come automatically, as if it’s part of our genes. We have to develop them.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Davao de Oro welcomes 2022!

The Provincial Government of Davao de Oro welcomes the first official working day for the year 2022 thru a flag-raising ceremony and a holy mass at the Provincial Capitol Lobby on January 3, 2022.

Governor Uy in his message highlighted the achievements of the provincial government; a product of the bayanihan governance, which brought recognition in the province despite the challenges of pandemic.

The governor also cited that the provincial government will also extend help for the province of Bohol which was also affected by Typhoon Odette last year. It can be recalled that the province previously sent its ‘Walang Iwanan Team’ in Surigao City last December of 2021 to extend relief aids for the affected families by using its quick response fund amounting to 3 million pesos plus an additional in-kind donation from private donors.

The province will also heighten its vaccination roll-out, fixated on the goal of achieving herd immunity in the next month, getting ready for the threat of the new Covid-19 variant, the Omicron.

Further, an awarding ceremony was also held the same day giving recognition to 53 employees and 17 offices of the provincial government who passed the licensure examinations, graduating from master’s degree and other awards in the past year.

Among the highlighted awards are the End Hunger Program Team (National CSC Honor Awards Program Awardee), Oplan Liwanag Team (Regional CSC Honor Awards Program Awardee), E-Gov Technical Team (Regional CSC Honor Awards Program Awardee), and the Quality Management System Core Team.

A Mass and a convocation were also offered enjoined by Governor Tyron Uy, Senior Board Member Arturo Uy, Vice Governor Maricar Zamora, Congressman Manuel Zamora, Provincial Administrator Virgilia Allones, DILG Provincial Director Noel Duarte, CSC Davao de Oro Nelly Esperanza, and employees of the provincial government.

Thankful for all the achievements in the year 2021, Gov. Uy emboldens governance with humility, empathy, appreciation, respect, and trust for a better Davao de Oro. (JA, PAO-IPRD)

Philippines now at ‘high risk’ for Covid-19

(Photo: file)

 

By: LAUREEN MONDONEDO-YNOT, SunStar Manila

THE Philippines has now been classified as “high risk” for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), with the Department of Health (DOH) noting a positive two-week growth rate, an official said Monday, January 3, 2022.

In a media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that as of January 2, 2022, epidemic curves showed that the average daily cases have declined since September, but the current average daily cases have increased significantly by 570 percent this week (December 20-January 2), which is seven times higher than in previous weeks.

She added that the major island groups in the country are also starting to show signs of increasing cases, while the National Capital Region (NCR), which has been placed under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15, 2022, showed a “sharp uptick” in cases in the recent weeks.

“There was a positive two-week growth rate at 222 percent and moderate risk average daily attack rate of 1.07 cases for every 100,000 individuals in the recent weeks,” she said.

Vergeire added that cases in the recent one-week also showed a positive increase.

She said, though, that the national health systems capacity remained at low risk, with total bed utilization at 18 percent and intensive care unit (ICU) utilization at 22 percent.

In the NCR, she said while the one-week and two-week growth rate are considered “high risk,” the health system capacity remains to be under 50 percent utilization.

Aside from NCR, five other regions -- Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao and Davao Region -- also showed a positive one-week and two-week growth rates.

“These regions are low to moderate risk case classification. The rest of the regions show positive increase in cases only in the recent one week,” said Vergeire.

She added that the healthcare utilization rate in all regions remain to be at low risk.

“As of January 1, the national healthcare utilization remains to be at low risk at 18 percent. This is two percent higher than the reported utilization rate last December 25 or one week prior, which was at 16 percent,” Vergeire said.

As to the number of individuals testing positive for the virus, Vergeire said an increase in cases, as well as in positivity rate was seen across all regions.

The largest increase was for NCR, where numbers jumped from 932 to 13,756 for the recent week, she said.

Calabarzon, meanwhile, had 2,792 individuals testing positive from just 290 in the previous week.

Hospital admissions also increased by nine percent, while allocated beds decreased by two percent or 883 beds.

In NCR, while total bed utilization remains to be at low risk at 24 percent, admissions are seen to be increasing in the recent week

“Over the course of one week, the NCR saw a 49 percent increase in admissions accompanied by a one percent or 86 bed increase in allocated beds,” Vergeire said.

The DOH continued to remind the public to observe the minimum public health standards to prevent the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.

A MISTAKEN BELIEF

A mistaken belief accompanies each and every one of us daily. Incorrect decisions and wrong doings are part of our daily life.

It is almost a ridiculous fact that man wants to know certain truths about mundane things. But really he seems least interested in even mundane truths as can be read many times in newspapers for example. There seem to be too many rash judgments, and the readers absorb these and make these their own. A fatal attraction!

This is sometimes referred to as journalistic mentality wherein accusations are generously made without proof. Evolution started this trend, when scientists stated for example that man evolved from the apes, without proof. The only proof they had was the missing link, and if I am not mistaken, it's still a missing proof until now.

To look for proofs is a mental activity, which is no longer a common thing nowadays, because it takes really time, effort and is too serious to think about. Yet in Christian education, thinking right is very important.That's why Philosophy is important in Christian life. To avoid error in thinking, the rules of right reasoning must be studied and mastered. Is it really totally neglected in today's modern education?

Thinking is actually an enjoyable activity but when one is pressured to get a good job for one's sustenance, then the other more mundane becomes attractive. After all, great thinkers often do not get (good?) jobs... .

Spiritual writers like the British Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) noticed that mankind had stopped thinking even two centuries ago. That was during his age. Man probably stopped thinking even earlier. He has ceased many times to search for the truth. It's easier to listen to gossip and believe in it. What a sign of weak minds!

Too often are we blind to the truth and as a consequence we easily believe in lies we only have to like it. Too bad, if people always like to close their eyes and ears especially while experiencing the delusion of error.

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Ad multos annos? No, just for 2022: Happy New Year to all of you, my dear reader. May the Lord shower you with all his blessings. Sursum corda! Let's lift up our hearts!

Are you proud being a Filipino?

Bisaya

https://barokandtakya.com/

Lived in Iligan City

I'm not just proud of being Filipino... I'm so proud of being Filipino. There's an old parable about how the actual test of pride in one's nation is when it has nothing to be proud of. And that, my friends, would describe this country perfectly. Yes, we're marred by plagues and natural disasters regularly. Yes, our people are waging war against poverty with no end in sight for them or us - people are living entire lifetimes in crushing poverty who know they'll never see the dignity

And yet they still teach their children to be brave

Our heroes are breaking records abroad

Our economy is slowly showing signs of light at the end of what seemed like an eternal tunnel of darkness.

We are still the same people who have overcome every single obstacle in our way, no matter how impossible it seemed. We are still here today because our ancestors were strong enough to survive the hell they lived in. With every generation, we get stronger and more resilient . Every other race on this planet should count themselves lucky to be recognized as citizens of a country that has shown time and time again that it will not die, no matter how many times you threaten its very existence.

I'm not proud of being Filipino because our people can produce marvels which put us at the top of the world map... I'm pleased because, despite all odds stacked against us, we are still standing. I'm proud of the sheer will of our people to fight until victory is ours. No matter how many times you knock us down, no matter how many lives you take from us - we will not stop fighting for what is proper.

And that is why I am proud to call myself Filipino.

The Lord’s Epiphany and us

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

WITH the celebration of the Solemnity of the Epiphany of Christ, we are actually left with an invitation that can very well be a big challenge for us who profess to believe in Christ. This is none other than the duty to show or reveal Christ, as he is, to others.

Epiphany means to manifest or to reveal. It’s Christ revealing himself as he is in all his Christological and soteriological nature to the whole world. Making use of the visit of the three kings to the child Jesus, Epiphany is the feast that reminds us that Christ is not only for the Jews but also for everyone, not only for a few but also for all.

It’s a feast that reminds us that Christ is the Son of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity who became man for our salvation. He is actually everything to us. He is the way, the truth and the very life for us. He is the very pattern of our humanity. How we ought to be is defined for us by him. 

So, this is the big challenge. How can we present Christ to others as he is with our presence, words and deeds? A tall order, indeed!

This Solemnity reminds us that we, Christian believers, should imitate the three magi in undertaking a search for Christ in the world, guided by the star of our faith.

 

Like the magi, we too should also make our search for Jesus amid the many confusing and even hostile elements of the world. Let’s proceed with our daily adventure of looking for Christ in all corners of the world, in all moments of the day and in all circumstances of our life. Let’s not be afraid. God never abandons us and will guide us in his own mysterious ways. Let’s just be game.

Like the magi, we too should bring our precious gifts which in the end are not just a matter of things, no matter how valuable they are, but rather of giving our whole life, our whole mind and heart, our whole selves to him. 

We can be sure that whatever generosity we show Christ will always pale in comparison to the generosity he will shower on us. Let’s not be sparing in making that deal.

Let’s learn to undertake this lifelong adventure of looking for Christ, training ourselves to see him in everything and in everyone, and in all the situations and circumstances of our life, whether they be good or bad according to our human standards.

Let’s keep ourselves from straying from this path that is proper for us. Let nothing or no one lead us astray. We are actually sufficiently guided and protected. Things would just depend on us, whether we correspond to God’s will and ways or not.

Everyday, we can make some kind of plan, something doable and not just theoretical, that would help us concretely and effectively in looking for Christ. In this, let us try to assume the attitude once described by St. Paul:

“Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3,13) Yes, indeed, we have to have the mind of an athlete in looking for Christ. We should not be complacent in this duty.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

What do we value as a nation? Family, education, and faith!

 

What do we value as a nation? Family, education, and faith!

The first weekend of a new year opens a window for some contemplation. How far have we come as a nation? Or how have we progressed as a family? One only needs to look at what a nation values to determine the moral standing of its people.

A cursory search on the term “values” reveals that these are the basic and fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate attitudes or actions. In short, values “help us determine what is important to us.” “Values describe the personal qualities we choose to embody to guide our actions; the sort of person we want to be; the manner in which we treat ourselves and others, and our interaction with the world around us. They provide the general guidelines for conduct.”

(C) 2022 by Manila Bulletin

What are some things that the Philippines does better than the United States of America (USA)?

 

By Thomas Norman

In a word, Family.

Family is everything in the Philippines. Most Filipinos are what in the United States, would be considered poor.

People get by by helping each other. There is no more cooperative people on the planet then Filipinos. And resourceful.

While we make jokes in the United States about redneck engineering, pretty much everything in the Philippines gets redneck engineered out of necessity.

But unlike redneck engineering in America, the quality of cobbling together fixes in the Philippines is simply amazing. It is absolutely nothing here to craft together an equivalent of a manufactured part when that part is not available.

Is a specialized switch broken? No problem! They will fix that thing. A dashboard switch, that Americans would simply throw away, Filipinos will spend an hour fixing. And it will work just as good as new. One A/C shop said that my A/C could not be repaired because parts are not available. He said the A/C on this car will never work again because of this broken, uniquely designed switch. So I went to another shop. They had it restored to perfect in one hour. Having worked with electronics for decades, I inspected the workmanship. It was virtually as good as new. With a guarantee.

Everybody teaches everybody everything they know. And everybody helps everybody through the hardest of times and through the most difficult challenges. This is a country that truly pulls together around family to make everything that couldn’t be possible without them.

What an incredible country!

(C) 2021 Quora

Lowest temperature yet this ‘amihan season’

 

Lowest temperature yet this ‘amihan season’ recorded in Benguet – PAGASA

On the last day of the year 2021, Benguet’s air temperature plunged to 7.7 degrees Celsius (°C), marking the lowest air temperature yet this northeast monsoon or “amihan” season, said the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Friday, Dec. 31.

Metro Manila placed on Alert Level 3 from Jan 3-15

Metro Manila placed on Alert Level 3 from Jan 3-15; stricter measures for unvaccinated ordered

The National Capital Region (NCR) will be under stricter measures starting the year 2022 after the government’s pandemic task force decided to place the region under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15 due to the recent spike of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.

In a special announcement on New Year’s Eve, December 31, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases made the decision to escalate the alert level prevent a surge of cases.

(C) 2022 Manila Bulletin