Remembering Padre Pio Today

I am always touched watching the flickering candles at the Padre Pio Chapel in Libis. The symbolism of having pure light, penetrating darkness and illuminating one’s path is so uplifting.

St. Padre Pio is one of my favorite saints. I believe he was instrumental in healing me when I was sick eleven years ago. I have always experienced kneeling down with that blank paper in my hands and didn’t know what to write in my petitions but once my pen glides on the paper, it is a spontaneous flow of thanksgiving and asking for special intentions. I am always in awe every time I read those testimonials of people he has touched through their prayers.

HAPPY FEAST DAY PADRE PIO. I am sad I could not visit you today.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Peace

Read Full Post »

Happy Birthday Mama Mary

Ad Jesum per Mariam! To Jesus through Mary.

Of all the images that I saw of Mama Mary, I love this the most. NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA LECHE. An image of a mother breastfeeding her child.

I took this in one of the exhibits I attended with a friend  back in 2012. Oh, and my stats at WordPress is again doing a crazy dance since last night. There was a time when I garnered more than 4,300 hits in one day because of my blog on Mama Mary’s birthday. And every time her birthday comes, there is always a spike in my stats.

Let it be known that we don’t worship Mary, we venerate her.

MALIGAYANG KAARAWAN MAHAL  NAMING INA!

Read Full Post »

They’re Just Stories

Be a wheat among the weeds. Seeds grown in good grounds produce a good harvest.

One time, I attended an early morning mass in our Parish. It was a Sunday and the church was full. Besides me was a child  maybe about five years old.  When it came to the part of the mass  that we had to greet each other “Peace be with you”, she shyly turned to me, smiled, bowed her head and  said  “peace be with you”.  I was so touched with her gestures. Not all children who attend Sunday masses are attentive enough to follow the sequence of the mass.  Hallelujah!

When Nissa had her thyroid operation last September, I was  with her for four days at the hospital and before we went to sleep, we shared these stories about life and the daily happenings in our lives. I remember her telling me about Nate. Every after the end of the mass, the priest usually gives blessings to the parishioners especially little children. When Nate approached the priest he asked him to bless and to please say a prayer for his mom for her successful operation the following week. That started their friendship. Nate made it a point to see Fr. Regie since then.  The latter is the present Rector of the Manila Cathedral.  I attend his masses online almost everyday with Fr. Kali. They have inspiring  and lovely homilies. So many lessons learned in the process.

Last February,  the last time Nate came with  Obet and Nissa to spend the day with us, we invited our good friend Fr. Aly to have lunch with us here at home. He has been our friend since we had our house blessing twenty five years ago.  He even officiated Nissa and Obet’s wedding back in 2011. Nate was not shy in front of religious people. Seemed as if he had also known Fr. Aly for a long time but it was only the first time they met each other.

Nate is not shy among strangers because he talks a lot. This is one of his photos taken at the Manila Cathedral last December.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone.  May the coming week be a happy one for us. Amidst this pandemic, let us not lose  our faith and let us always hope for the best.

Read Full Post »

Lazada Et Al

Would you believe, I tried ordering  at Lazada four days  ago  so I’ll learn to navigate it on my own. Nissa reminded me to read the reviews, how satisfied the customers are. Bearing that in mind, here we go. I searched for something that I won’t have to shell out a lot with a minimal delivery fee. Take note, I told myself, this is just a trial.

As I previously told you, this is just the second time I used the app and my first time to explore it. Success! The items were delivered yesterday.  Shorts for daily wear, haha!  They have a mid-year sale tomorrow but I am not yet bold enough to put anything in my cart since I am budgeting my cash here. It is just nice browsing over items on sale which are way, way cheaper than those sold in the supermarkets.

My first online purchase aside of course from the bathroom caddy that Nissa ordered for me a week ago 🙂

Josef left me some food budget for the weekend. They are spending four days with Jovy’s grandmother until tonight when Jovy’s work shift ends.  Those who supply food items here in our subdivision already know where to deliver them. You just have to message them early and just wait for the food to be delivered. I ordered six large pieces of boneless daing na bangus (milkfish marinated in peppercorns, vinegar  and garlic), a tray of eggs, a kilo of  tinapa freshly made from Bataan and a kilo of fresh tomatoes. Mom and I are more into eating fish and vegetables when the two are not around.  Simple snacks of palitao, veggie lumpia, maruya and turon won’t be left behind. My, my, but I am getting lazy to prepare meals just for Mom and me.  We still have mini-siopao inside the freezer which I reheat every morning for breakfast. Since it only lasts a week, sometimes it’s mom’s morning snack too 🙂

When you’re confined at home and choose not to go out because of this pandemic, sometimes  all you ever think is what book to read next or what food to eat.

Food for Thought:

Celebrating life. Today is the actual date I had my sigmoid surgery eleven years ago. I am lucky and I am blessed. Thank You Lord.

 

Read Full Post »

Something To Think About

Read Full Post »

Now I Know Its Name

I just finished  trimming the carabao grass early this morning. I’m happy my plants are well. Just updated my garden blog.

I posted some pics at my FB site and one of my friends who loves gardening too identified a plant  that I could not remember its name.

So this is called Scarlet Bush or Don Manuel. It is an easy to maintain plant. Just planted a sapling over a year ago. And it blooms non-stop.

I love this photo. Touched by the sun. That little orange Bougainvillea flower in front of our grotto was lighted by the rising sun.  I am propagating this, cut two stems a week ago and they are thriving well in two pots.

My Adenium bore seeds again and I planted them in small pots until they are old enough to be transferred.

Gardening is such a joy, don’t you think?

Read Full Post »

Those Days

Fr. Louie, the chief administrator of our page, Filipino Catholic is so fond of having those games online which he posts every day for his friends to answer. Sometimes, he just posts photos of sellers whose products are named and misspelled incorrectly and we just laugh. A few minutes ago, he posted some photos of our native fruits which are now seldom seen in the market nowadays. It reminds me of those days some years ago, when most members of our page enjoyed our group called Tambayan. We had those hot seats where most members are allowed to question one particular member – anything goes. It was fun.

Our page, the Filipino Catholic has been in existence for ten years now and I was appointed by Fr. Louie as one of the admins a few months after he created it. Back then, he was still studying for his doctorate degree in Rome. We are still at it until now and we have added another admin a few months ago. We are four in all taking care and running the site at Facebook. It’s one reason why I could not give up Facebook because I have to update daily Bible readings for our members. One good thing about it is that we have loyal followers.

Some of them have become my friends over the years and those who are residing abroad who are OFWs sometimes contact me and I invite them to visit me here. We always have those nice and lovely chats about their works and our families, serious discussions about our Catholic faith, food and many more. We had two previous gatherings at Santo Domingo Church – the joy of seeing each other personally and sharing our meager talents in making the events successful. What bliss!

I met a friend who used to work in the US but she has come back home and retired here. Odette is the one who regularly supplies me with those lovely favorite books over the years. She is a member of our page.

I miss seeing them personally, not just through messages on FB. I miss those days of laughter and sharing our lives with each other. Come to think of it, I haven’t ventured out of our gate for almost three months now. The number of those found positive of COVID-19 is still rising every day. May we be all spared from this pandemic.

Read Full Post »

Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima

Today, 103 years ago, Our Lady appeared before three shepherd children at Fatima in Portugal. Here’s a picture I took of the image of Our Lady of Fatima nine years ago in Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite. Proud of this shot, just reduced its size to save on space.

Here’s another photo that one of our volunteers took  early this morning during the Marian procession at  our village, an image of our Blessed Lady.

Another image of Our Lady of Fatima

Read Full Post »

Blessed Sunday To All

Watched the live streaming of the Sunday mass at the Manila Cathedral at 8am today. Another inspiring homily delivered by Fr. Regie.  I get by trying to get in touch with my brothers, some relatives and friends through the internet. This is the time when having a wi-fi at home is a blessed bonus.

I  want to share this prayer for all of you out there.

Lord, you are the greatest Healer of all

Please protect our land from the disastrous effect of this pandemic.

Cover us with Your Holy Mantle and embrace us in Your loving arms.

Also praying for the repose of the souls of Nissa’s father-in-law who died three days ago and is still at the morgue of the funeral parlor ( waiting for scheduled cremation on the 29th) and for my friend’s father who died the other day when he hit his head at the pavement near our gate  and probably had blood clot in his brain.  May  You receive them in Your Kingdom to live with you forever. Amen.

Read Full Post »