Happy Pentecost Sunday

Today is Pentecost Sunday, it’s the birthday of our Church. I actually attended two morning masses. Early this morning I caught Fr. Fernando Suarez on his 6am mass on television. I always love listening to him every chance I get because I love how he shares his reflections in his wonderful homilies.  He emphasized that spiritual healing is more important than a physical one.  When you are spiritually healed, you find peace.  I also attended the 7:30 am mass at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish, a five-minute tricycle ride from our place.

I borrowed our profile picture from our apostolate page, Apostles Filipino Catholic Community where I am one of the admins.  It’s a public  page where we post reflections, Catholic news, daily gospel readings and inspirational quotes every day.  Updating it really makes my stay at FB worthwhile. And here’s my short spiritual reflection for the day:

God is love. God is joy. God is peace. Let love, joy and peace reign in our hearts forever.

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It’s The First Sunday of Advent But Where Has November Gone?

Time sometimes passes like a whirlwind and before you know it, it’s history. I used to blog about month-ends and greet the new month with a bang, this time though, I want to greet you all HAPPY NEW YEAR!  It’s the beginning of the Church’s Liturgical New Year. Advent, the beginning of the Christmas season, another year of hope and faith.

November was a lovely month actually, it was Nissa and Obet’s 1st wedding anniversary, Lovell was ordained into priesthood and I finally became a certified grandma with baby Nate’s coming.  So many blessings Lord, I could cry with gratitude and happiness, tears of joy for a blessed year despite all the setbacks. I could not ask for more except that you keep my family always healthy and well.

The trying times were just mere reminders of how strong one could be amidst the pressures of daily living. They make one realize that he is still lucky and blessed with God’s love. How are you preparing for this season of advent? Are you just as excited too with Jesus’ coming?  Sometimes, in the frenzy of the season, we forget why we are celebrating Christmas. I remember a year ago, I posted this message on my wall: Happy Birthday Jesus! Then one of  my contacts, a mere child of nine asked, “why happy birthday?” So I asked him if he forgot that it’s the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

Mom and I attended the 9am  concelebrated mass at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish near our place and it’s lovely. Here’s a picture of  the first Sunday of Advent wreath at our Catholic  page,  Apostles Filipino Catholic Community.

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I Love This

One of our members from Rome sent this pic to our group. I simply love it.

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New Year’s Eve

I am sure you’ll either laugh or just find the title a bit ridiculous blogging about new year when it is not even December yet.  It’s actually the eve of my birthday and I vividly recall what a friend told me before that having another birthday is also a new year of celebration in one’s life.  I could not begin to describe the happiness I felt the past few days when some friends chose to celebrate my birthday early.

Tuesday was one of those days I’ll never forget. I’ve finally met Odette, an online friend  who is also a member of our Catholic page at Facebook. She came over together with two more members of our group. I haven’t seen them for more than a year and it was such a joy to reminisce and talk about, what else, but  our online apostolate. We touched on  the early days of AFCC when Fr. Louie and I were just busy inviting members to join our page. As they say, the rest is history because after more than two years , we now have almost 11,000 members – people who share the same faith and love for God.

I am now a proud owner of a dozen books most of which are on my wish list, six thick journals for my writing (with matching pens to boot)  and other lovely gifts which they brought with them. It is so overwhelming to be showered with all these blessings. I guess those books deserve another blog. I don’t even know which to read first because I like them all.

The day was not enough for all the “kwentuhans”. Just imagine a group of friends just enjoying  each other’s company with home-cooked food to go. It really was a lovely  early birthday celebration.

The following day, we trooped to Saisaki/Kamayan/Dad’s  at SM Megamall to have lunch with other members invited by Odette. We all enjoyed the buffet lunch of course but the company was even better. It felt like we haven’t seen each other for such a long time. We had games  and sharing initiated by Fr. Louie and it was fun. Even Fr. Louie’s mom was game enough to join us.

Fr. Louie and Odette seeing each other at last. See the joys on their faces.

And this sketch of St. Therese is an original artwork by Paul (in red shirt),  professional artist/painter/photographer  in our group. It’s a gift for Odette who is based in the US.  And if that is not enough, he also gave Charlene another sketch. Charlene is a St. Therese devotee so it was really a welcome gift for her.  When they give, they truly give with their hearts.

Here’s one of our group pictures,we were not complete here since some of them haven’t arrived yet.  The highlight (at least for me) was when the group at Saisaki sang a birthday song and two Beatles songs. We were all smiling  when

they could not even recall the exact lyrics of the songs. It was part of the fun though. I didn’t know that Odette bought a birthday cake for me with matching candles to blow. I was so touched I was teary-eyed. Well wishes for health and happiness, I could not ask for more.

And to think, my birthday was two days away when we had our lunch at Saisaki. This is one of the most fun-filled birthday celebrations ever.

Look at our happy faces. Fr. Louie said, “make a wish, make a wish“. I did of course, why not, wishes do come true right? Much as we want to linger and have more fun, the buffet lunch was only open until about 2:30pm. It was all worth it though, seeing each other again was such a blessing!

This is not goodbye, it’s more of “till next time”.

And what a way to celebrate a birthday

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Life That Is Offered, Faith That Is Proclaimed!

I am sharing this cover photo of our page, Apostles Filipino Catholic Community. Today is the much-awaited canonization of our second Filipino saint, San Pedro Calungsod.

We thank you Lord for the gift of faith. We thank you for giving us San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod.

Nothing is really impossible with God.

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A Simple Prayer

Thank You for the gift of a lovely day!

Thank You for that little girl

who shyly smiled at me during mass today and said,

“Peace be with you”.

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I Love Surprises

Gosh, I was like “oh, oh, where have you been” upon seeing the faces of my three friends two of whom I’ve last seen almost a year ago. And to think this is the first time that they came over here at the house to visit me.

Thank God for surprises! When He tickles you with one, He makes sure that it is really something you will treasure, maybe long after the laughter, the giggles and endless smiles are gone.  Yesterday was another day “worth-remembering”.  That’s really my favorite line, the worth-remembering people, events and surprises in my life. There are moments when you just look up and say a prayer or two that He is giving you another beautiful day to put in the treasure chest of your memories.

Yesterday was such a lovely day spent with friends from my Catholic apostolate group, the Apostles Filipino Catholic Community.  It all started about two years ago when Fr. Louie  Coronel, OP created an online page at Facebook. AFCC has actually been in existence  as a Catholic organization in Rome for the last twenty years. We cater to the global Pinoys and share reflections, news, ideas, and ways of strengthening our Faith and our own journeys as Catholics.  We finally met some of the members  in two successive gatherings  last year at Bahay Dominiko, Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City. Meeting face to face, realizing that they were not just names and pictures on Facebook was awesome.  Truly, God works in wondrous ways.  Forming friendship with people younger than you are, (they could be your sons and daughters) sharing their own spiritual journeys in life, sharing their own pain with you and  sharing their thoughts and aspirations are clear affirmations  that everything is possible when you look together and look forward in  the same direction. Friendship is a lovely thing, don’t you think?

Imagine six hours of sharing and laughter, talking about anything under the sun, touching on such serious subjects like life’s travails and  journeys  and yes, we even touched on subjects  like the stock market and how it works, life in a bank as an employee,  life of a OFW,  photography, faith, and places we want to explore and dream of visiting – they are an eclectic mix of topics alright.

We had a yummy lunch of grilled pork steak, roasted chicken, grilled liempo, sautéed mixed veggies and the ginataang santol which I cooked earlier. Reymon, Joan and Lilet said that this is the first time they have tasted santol cooked as a dish. It went well with the grilled meat. I jokingly asked them, “Did I pass?” and Reymon laughingly  answered,“Wow, ang sarap po Mommy.” Late in the afternoon, we harvested calamansi in the backyard for Lilet to take home.  It was such a joy seeing them enjoying themselves  picking calamansi despite the afternoon shower which turned into a heavy downpour before they left.

Oh, the joys of meeting and hugging each other, and smiling at the thought of shared jokes remembered – what a lovely gift – having friends!  And I’d like to end this blog with these words for they briefly describe what friendship is all about. It was written by Dinah Maria (Mulock) Craik.

Oh, the comfort –
The inexpressible comfort of feeling
safe with a person,
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words — but pouring them
All right out — just as they are –
Chaff and grain together –
Certain that a faithful hand will
Take and sift them –
Keep what is worth keeping –
and with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.

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It’s My 3rd Year At WordPress

Oh my, oh my! Can’t believe  it’s exactly three years now since I started this blog. Time certainly passes like the wind. The last two years, I made a recap of some blogs I did earlier but it is a time-consuming job so I’ll pass, at least for now. Blogging has been a sort of commitment although I was not so inclined to advertise that this blog exists. I also don’t mind that although there are a lot of readers out there,  comments come in trickles . I’d rather share my thoughts with a few who appreciate what I write about and learn a word of wisdom or two by reading my blog. There was a time three years ago when I decided to share to the world what I went through – a survivor’s tale of how life was and the times in between the rigorous surgery, chemotherapy, kidney bypass and endless trips to the diagnostic center and hospitals to be reassured that life after all these is still normal. And I thank God for miracles, small and blessed events and happenings that gave more color to my life.  And I thank God for meeting new friends here who sincerely wished for me to get  well. I thank God for fellow cancer patients/survivors on the same journey with me, making me feel that I am not alone in this journey.  I thank God for the support of my family, they were there at the most trying times, at the most difficult days. Suffice to say, blogging helped me coped splendidly with my illness. When you share your pain and let it out  of your system, it’s becomes easier to bear. Life after all is not without its tears.

This is another memorable day for me because after more than a year of exchanging notes and comments with Dean, one of our junior admins based in Australia, I was finally able to meet him personally.  I found myself revisiting the Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City. That’s where we agreed to meet along with another admin of our Catholic page, Apostles Filipino Catholic Community.  It was a lovely few hours of bonding, talking about our Apostolate and all the friends we’ve met through the page.

And here’s from WordPress:

Goal of 900 Posts Completed. Congratulations!

100%

104,293 views all-time

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Hot, Hot Metro Manila

And I mean it is scorching!

A friend sent me a message and asked why she could not see my blog, and I thought, “you mean  a new blog post?” It’s only been three days since I haven’t blogged here. Come to think of it, I am even too lazy to open my PC and update our Catholic page at Facebook.  And you read the title right,  we are experiencing a very hot summer and they say that this will go on until the month of May. I am afraid to venture again outside without a  head-gear because 7 am is already humid. Yesterday though, it was my son’s day off so I asked him to drive me to the nearby Philhealth office in our place. Surprisingly, their service has improved compared to the times I used to regularly  visit  one of their branches to take care of my father’s needs when he was undergoing dialysis more than four years ago. I have to renew my health coverage (without any dependent) and one of the clerks in charge of processing  the MDR (Member’s Data Record) suggested that I can pay the premium in advance since by July of this year, they would raise the premium payment twice the present rate but he assured me that there will be improvements and additional provisions on what would qualify for Philhealth claims.  Oh, well, if you could save more than a thousand pesos, why not?  So I paid in full until December of 2013, one less worry to think about.  And the good news is, it took us less than an hour to finish the transaction, plenty of time to have lunch at Kenny’s and do a little grocery-shopping.

Though it’s a bit late, I want to share this picture which one of my co-admins did at our page. It was our second anniversary yesterday,  two years of lovely journey with the Lord.

This was taken at our second gathering last August 28, 2011 in front of Bahay Dominiko at Sto. Domingo Church. I initially thought of posting some of the members’ comments here on how AFCC (Apostles Filipino Catholic Community) touched their lives but then some are much too personal to put in a blog. Suffice to say, if they are learning a lot reading what we post at the page, we, the admins are also learning from them.  This online Apostolate is so dear to me, a constant reminder of God’s goodness and love for mankind.  If you ever happen to drop by Facebook, you can visit us, just type the whole name of AFCC and click like.

Tomorrow is mom’s 83rd birthday. Happy birthday mom, wish you were here to celebrate with us. I am really hoping to  see you soon. Speaking of birthdays, sometimes I could not imagine myself reaching the ripe old age of 80 and above. My youngest brother once told me that when you reach 80, everything is a bonus.  I told him that it is an even more blessing when you are given a second chance at life, surviving a life-threatening disease like I did. The more each day passes, the more I realize how precious life is.

Why does  celebrating birthdays makes us so nostalgic at times?  It’s because birthdays are really special. Celebrating another birthday is a new year in one’s life.

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But Life Has To Go On

The other day, I met a friend whom I haven’t seen in years and she asked how I was. I told her, I am sharing my journey now as a cancer survivor. Whereas before my blogs were all about my treatment and chemotherapy, now I get to meet lots of people through an online Apostolate, the Apostles Filipino Catholic Community and it makes life more meaningful!

Despite all the setbacks, life has to go on. And I am now beginning to realize that He put me here for some other purpose and I am doing it the best way I can. Reaching out, touching people and I get a real high when I hear from them and they treat me like I am a long-lost relative – a mommy to most, a tita to some, an ate to everyone . And to all of you there, even if not all of you have the chance to visit my blog, I’m grateful. You add meaning to my life.

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