Personal Prayers

                A good Catholic would definitely say that he starts and ends his day with a prayer. Okay, that’s fine. It is expected of him. Next question: What is the quality of that prayer?

                Many people utter their prayers like a machine doing an automatic, detached task. Prayer, as we are told in our Catechism when we were young, is a conversation with God. When we are conversing with our friends, we are there physically and mentally, ready to hear and give a response if there’s any. It is a two-way process. Our conversation with God is also like that. We don’t treat God as the unresponsive receiver at the end of the line. When we pray, we have to put our entire selves into it, and listen using our hearts. We have to put ourselves before His divine presence. God speaks to us in our prayer, and hearing Him takes a matter of being sincere with our prayer life. Our prayer is our intimate moment with our Father who always wants His children to talk to Him. 

                But many of us would also find ourselves struggling in prayer. There are those who let themselves get easily distracted while praying. There are those who pray because they ‘feel’ like doing so and in the moment that they lack the ‘feeling’, they abandon their prayers. And there are still those who do not know how to pray at all. But God is so good that all these seemingly insincerities, He doesn’t take it against us, for He understands us and all our defects. However, His generosity and compassion is not an excuse for us not to strive to improve our prayer lives. He wants us to persevere in praying. It is in praying that we grow and enrich our understanding of God, and it is also in praying that we show Him that we remember and love him. How many of us would claim that we love our parents but don’t talk to and remember them?

                Although prayer has many forms (the popular ones are those being recited and the liturgical prayers that are in fact encouraged by some priests because they contemplate about the life of Christ), we should not forget to allot time for personal prayers - the kind of prayers where we talk about just anything about Him and about ourselves: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses, thanksgiving and petitions, etc.

                A priest friend of mine advised that when I do these personal prayers, I should use a book and a notebook. The book (it could be the Bible or any reviewed Christian book for spiritual reading) serves as the jumping board for my conversation with God and the notebook is where I jot down the wisdom and the answers that come up in the middle of my prayer. The notebook is also where I place the points that I would like to bring up to my prayer. This whole thing might sound complicated but it indeed helps. It makes me monitor my resolutions and review my past insights. The idea is our prayer should become something of a concrete and productive relationship with God. I know people who use the same ‘technique’, and they seem happy about it.  

                Although we have our own ways of praying, it is important that we put value on the quality of our prayer. It may not be as intense as what more pious people do, but at least we commit a regular time for prayer every day, despite the emotional dryness and the lack of feeling for it. It is our will to be with God that matters. But most important is that we know how to pray! 

                “You say you don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and once you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray!’ rest assured that you have begun to do so.” (The Way, # 90)

Amazed by 2-29

This year's February marks the 503^rd leap year since our present calendar became officially operational 2, 012 years ago. And why am I telling you this? Nothing. It just caught my fancy. I just like leap years.

Imagine if you are born on a February 29th. While your friends aged around 20, you're just 4. And when they aged 80, you're a good, old teenager. Plus, you don't spend every year for birthday celebrations and stuffs like that. The downside, though, you don't also get yearly birthday presents with that. Well, you might opt to save for three years to give a grand blow out on the fourth year. That might as well equals to grand gifts that you will receive.

Then, you decide to get married on the same month and day to a spouse (say, you're so lucky!) who's birthday happens to be also on the same date. You celebrate your anniversary only every four years! Wouldn't that be exciting? And because it will be after a long time that you will celebrate again, each anniversary will be a memorable one. Moreover, you will not have the trouble of remembering the date. You see, many couples resort to quarreling on their anniversary days because either one of them forgets the occasion.

Then your first child is born on February 29. The same happens to your second after four years. And third. And fourth. At these gaps, you are likely to become a model for responsible parenting when it comes to birth spacing. Your children receives equal care, time, and attention.

So it's going to be six birthdays and one marriage anniversary in one day- a true grand family occasion! Might as well include the house blessing, thanksgiving, etc., etc. You don't only avoid the hassles in frequent preparations for celebrations, you also save a lot!

All right. So much for my imagination!

Can't wait for February 29! Happy Leap Year!!!

Still Wise This February. Really?

When I was younger, I was fascinated by the thought of how Cupid would hit hearts with his invisible arrows and transform two unwary strangers into two mutually-related victims. I would also wonder how he does the matching and chooses his victims. And whom does he shoots first – the boy or the girl? What if he shoots only one of them and misses the other? What if he accidentally fires two arrows on the same person? How last can an arrow, after hitting the target, cling? If it's a wrong target, will the heart bleed? Can he undo his work? All these have preoccupied me, and once in a while, I'm still entertaining the thought. I have not found answers to these yet. Perhaps, someday,I'll find a person whom I can discuss these with. But one thing is for sure, it's about human love.

Oh well, they say that love is the folly of the wise and the wisdom of the fool. It's hard to be wise when one is in love. False! Or is it?

Apparently, Cupid has not shot me yet. I can still correctly count the coins in my purse. I can still distinguish the on and off buttons in a switch. I can still even plug my phone's charger to its socket with one eye closed. And though I'm having a difficult time,I can still differentiate my left sock with my right. And so I'd like to believe that I'm still wise.

People are easy prey to this hypnotic, mischievous, cunning, troublesome, common-sense-annihilator monster called Cupid. He disguises himself as this cuddly and mushy cherub, oh so cute, that makes one wants to say,”love, love, love...”. He makes boring people do things they don't normally do. He inspires losers to come up with melodies that later turn into the most romantic love songs of all time. He makes people labor by making them write long love letters, so ardent that it can burn the paper. He offends the environment by plucking the roses and other flowers. He causes people to be obese because of the calories during dinner dates, breakfast dates, lunch dates, and even snack dates. He pulls people to mediocrity by increasing their tolerance to corny jokes such as cheesy lines. One example is: Apoy ka ba? Kasi alab you. He embarrasses people in their work when their colleagues tease them of their crushes or of the last night's date. He even causes people to be idle by making them daydream.  He is the cause of pimples, for some reasons. Worst, he puts people into sleeping disorders because they keep on thinking of their loved ones until late at night and very early in the morning. A wise person wouldn't fall for such traps!

That is why I am very thankful that the little monster just keeps on missing his shots on me, which is, of course, not entirely his fault. All this time, I keep on dodging his arrows. It's not that I am afraid of him and of what he can do to me. In fact, I'm very curious about it. But I'd rather go biking, hiking, swimming, or into any activity that would distract me from the monster's viciousness. I have my shields. After all, I'm still wise, am I not?

But lately, there's something wrong with my defense system, and that is an invitation to Eros, who never misses a chance...

...OST ng Torpe

Until now, I have not yet the courage to say the things I ought to say. How to say and when to say it has been my dilemma for quite some time now. Though I might hint what I feel through actions, converting them into words seems like an almost impossible task for me. Maybe I am not that expressive, or I am just too cautious, or I just lack the guts. My friends in high school and in college would call me “torpe” and even 'loser” because I couldn't tell my crush that I got a crush on her. I don't know why I have this sort of introversion when it comes to expressing affection.

Well, the good news is I am not the only one who got the same problem. I find relief to know that some of my friends are in a similar situation. (Life's indeed fair after all!) After learning how they dealt and will deal with this kind of problem,I came into a conclusion that love songs are good help, and are actually comforting and encouraging. (I'd like to research on this to establish it as a fact.)

That is why I am thankful to the love songs. They are like templates for a heart's speech. They are voices for hopeless romantic mutes. They are flowers and chocolates to affectionate introverts. If one can't say it, he better sings it.

One friend would sing Itchyworms' Akin ka na Lang or Parokya's Halaga over his obsession to a girl who already has a boyfriend. He's a pro when it comes to 'torpeness'.  I like the songs, but I don't like the idea of courting a girl with a boyfriend.

Another friend would dedicate Stevie B's When I Dream About You and Eric Santos' version of Parting Time to his ex . He's a pathetic but proud man, quite good in strings, who insists that he no longer loves the girl, but would sing the melodramatic song over and over again whenever he has the chance to get hold of Sam (my phone with the Stevie B. song).

It's funny. But when  I come to think of it, love songs most of the time do the job. It's true that spiders are frightful. But I am more frightened to see a girl's reaction after she'll hear what I've got to say about my feelings for her. I'm a person of optimism, but sometimes, the shadow of my pessimistic personality is too overwhelming. I am afraid I might ruin everything with a tensed, jittery confession, and might not able to get a second chance.

So it's a good thing to have found a song that encapsulates most of my feelings and fear. It's a song by Josemarie Chan. Let me share some of its lines:

I just can't let you pass me by, I just can't let you go

But I know that I am much too shy to let you know

Afraid that I might say the wrong words and displease you

Afraid for love to fade before it can come true.

There are a lot of other songs in my track that speaks for my heart.

It sounds cheesy. Oh well!

CLEAN FUN

I first came across these words posted on an announcement board of a study center for a basketball match on a weekend. I was a college student then, often bored by the monotony of  my school routine. If I wasn't busy with my books and notes or writing essays for my subjects, I was immersed with student org activities that the word 'fun' seemed alien to me. Fortunately, I would sometimes manage to secure a free weekend for myself to have 'fun' and unwind. It was one of those rare weekends that I discerned what clean fun is.

By technical definitions, fun, as an adjective means providing enjoyment or pleasantly entertaining, and as a noun means activities that are enjoyable or amusing. It is a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement. When things are pleasantly amusing, they are fun. When we are enjoying them, we are having fun.

Humans are not machines.  We are oozing with life. We need a dose of fun to relieve us from boredom and negative emotions. Philosophically, our ultimate goal is happiness (without going off the track living our moral lives). Having fun, then, is a necessity.

But today, especially among the youth, having fun already excludes the goodness in it. Most of the time, having fun is associated with anything enjoyable or amusing to oneself regardless of its physical,moral, and social effect. It becomes selfishness. One can expose himself to harm by taking drugs or getting drunk and calls it as 'having fun'. One enters indecent places such as night clubs or engages in impure conversations and calls it as 'having fun'. Or one bullies another person and calls it as 'having fun'.  Surely, the idea of 'fun' has veered off too far from as it should be thought and done. Poor word!

Meanwhile, one needs to allot time for fun. Teenagers, especially, have plenty of time in their hands. It is so plenty that they often take for granted spending it. They always rashly take part in (usually not worthwhile) activities wherein they could have fun spending their time, and thus, consequently, often ending up either wasting it or putting themselves or other people at a disadvantage. The social clichés 'time is gold' and  'spend time wisely' tell us that time is important and it should be used properly. If we have to spend time to have fun, then we make sure we choose the right fun.

Choosing what is a legitimate fun becomes now a problem. It takes a great deal of prudence to identify activities that are clean fun – fun without compromising the good. This is quite tricky since there are activities that are both fun and good in themselves but can also lead otherwise if we are not careful. Drinking, by nature,is not bad, but when overdone and the drinker becomes drunk and starts messing things up, it is not fun anymore.

But how do we know if it is clean fun or it will not get us into trouble while still having fun? I suggest you ask yourself these questions: Is it really worth my precious time? Will it offend other people? Will it displease God?

After all, the choices under the category of clean fun  are endless - Sports, art, music, etc.

Each of us has different taste. It is  just a matter of finding out what suits us best. As for me,I joined the basketball game that Sunday weekend instead of wasting my time in front of the television.

So the next time you plan to have fun, make sure it's clean fun.