The Gift of Distance

“Father, they are your gift to me.” – John 17:24

They were blessings I thoroughly enjoyed – a gym and a yoga studio right outside our village. I could leave my house 10 minutes before the classes start. I could even walk there and back again if I wasn’t in a rush.

When the gym closed for renovation and my yoga teacher opened his own studio in the next town (yes, the next town, not the next village or the next barangay but the next TOWN!), I now had to make an hour-long trip just to practice yoga.

I wondered why the Lord would do such a thing – take away the convenience of workout places just a skip and a hop away from my house. Did he want my love handles to balloon from lack of exercise so I can just roll like a ball instead of walk? I don’t think so. I know God’s plan is always for our good, so a trim and healthy “me” would be His grand design.

I wondered why He would let me take the long trip just to exercise when He very well knew my driver’s license has a restriction: I can only drive within a 10 kilometer radius. My license beeps like an ankle monitor when I go past my set boundaries. (Kidding – I just hate driving to far places!)

Then I realized that needing a ride to get to the yoga studio is a blessing. I have gotten to know my yoga classmates better. God gave me the gift of new friends.

Before, I would just say hi and hello and then I’m off. I knew their names and not much more. The long ride to and from the yoga studio gave me the chance to connect, to take a peek into their lives and to form bonds of friendship.

There is a purpose in everything God allows to happen. There is a gift hidden beneath every trial. 

Burn Notice

“Had the Lord not been with us…” – Psalm 124:1

Blam! The contents of the pressure cooker exploded on my hands. I screamed from shock and pain. Bits of matter scattered all over the floor.

I wasn’t anywhere near the Boston Marathon. I was in my kitchen preparing what was supposed to be a delightful Crispy Adobo Flakes dish for my sons’ lunch.

My hands and my chest were scalded by the sauce. The stove area looked like it was part of a crime scene except that there was brown sauce instead of blood and garlic cloves instead of shrapnel.

It was one of the stupidest mistakes I’ve ever made. It ranks way up there in the Top 5 together with turning on my laptop that was just drenched in a storm. 

Of course I knew I wasn’t supposed to force open a hot pressure cooker. But the guy in the department store said its new safety feature is that it won’t open if the button wasn’t down. It looked kind of down already…sort of midway. I was hurrying because my son was leaving for work soon. This was his packed lunch. And I still had to fry it to get that crispy goodness. 

My hands were so red, they looked like steamed crabs. I thought I needed to go to the emergency room for treatment. But after I soaked my hands in ice water and applied ointment, they didn’t look like they just suffered a horrifying experience. And the sting even lasted for a shorter time than when I de-seeded jalapeño peppers with my bare hands the first time I made Grilled Bacon Jalapeño Wraps (also in my top 5 stupid mistakes).

Although they looked like a leper’s hands when the peeling began, now, 3 weeks after the incident, they look like I just had them exfoliated at the spa. The skin is soft and smooth where the burn was.

I thank the Lord that despite my stupidity, my hands are scar-free and that He is always watching over me to keep me safe from permanent harm.

Pampered by God (Part 2)

Blessing #2: Queen Margarette’s Asha Spa


Like I said in my last blog, our trip to Quezon was filled with blessings. Blessing #2 was our stay in Queen Margarette Hotel. What a luxury to be able to stay in Lucena’s finest. 


After lunch in Silangang Nayon, we went back to the hotel to relax. Belle and I discovered that the hotel serves a humongous halo-halo in their restaurants (Kimsuy and Emerald Garden Café) which was perfect merienda for a hot afternoon. Actually we also had it for dinner and lunch the next day. It was that good – even our kids enjoyed it.

Half  of the humongous halo-halo

My cousin, Edna Dy who owns Queen Margarette, had been inviting us to try out their new spa. So we (Belle, her daughter, my two boys & I) booked an appointment at 5:00 for some spa-mpering.


The lobby of Asha Spa was dripping with elegance – from the décor to the subdued lighting. After registering, the boys went on their way to the men’s section while we proceeded to the ladies’ changing room. It was another elegant room, so we couldn’t resist taking pictures even if we were already clad in the white robe and floral slippers they provided.

Elegant changing room

Actually we ran true to our Pinoy nature (you know that saying: whenever two or more Pinoys are gathered there’s picture-taking?) by having shots taken all over this stylish place to record our rejuvenating experience. 


We wanted to hang out awhile in the tempting waters of the jacuzzi but sadly we weren’t prepared and too modest to bare it all even if there were just the 3 of us. So off we went for our Royal Asha massage. 


After the 1hour massage that removed all the stress kinks from our muscles, we were ushered to the lounge for tea. We waited for quite a while – it’s a good thing the seats were so comfortable and the ambiance relaxing – because the boys took time to enjoy all the facilities (jacuzzi, steam bath and sauna) before their massage. 

Drinking tea in the comfortable lounge

Belle told me that she kept thanking God for this treat with every soothing stroke of the therapist’s hand. And I second the motion. It was God’s pampering for his tired servants. 

My blessing: Asha Gift Certificate No. 001

Pampered by God (Part 1)

May 6, 2012 


Blessing #1: Lunch in Silangang Nayon


The cool sea breeze and blue waters welcomed me like a  hug from God. It was an answer to my prayer for a vacation with my sons. We haven’t gone on a family outing for quite a long time and I prayed for this time together. 


It wasn’t even an official vacation.  We were going to apply for new passports in Lucena and thought we’d turn the trip into an outing. 


Orchestrating this wasn’t a snap. There were schedules that didn’t match (my community service, their work) and health concerns (my elder son had fever 2 days before). My cousin Belle and her family, who were coming with us, had the same scheduling and health problems. But with prayers, it all worked out and here we were in Quezon. 

When I first came to Silangang Nayon about 2 years ago, I wished I could bring my children to this seaside park and restaurant. It’s a treat we city folks don’t often get: enjoying delicious native cuisine like sizzling scallops as we lazed in a “bamboo” cottage perched above the sea on the side of a cliff. 

While waiting for our order, we went down to the bridge connecting to the huts in the middle of the sea. I showed my niece, Angeli, the small plane on cable that brought food to the guests who preferred to dine over the water. After lunch we relaxed and enjoyed a bit more of the scenery. 


What a blessing it was for us to unwind from the rigors of work and community service in this place. More blessings were in store for us later in the afternoon and the next day including a hassle-free time (no appointment, shorter lines) applying for our passports. 


I can’t thank the Lord enough for this treat.

Let Me Love You Today

I have a confession and I hope none of my community elders will read this. I’m being disobedient about something we were instructed to do. But before I get booted out of the community for being pigheaded, let me explain (or justify) my insubordination.

THE MISSION

The Light of Jesus Family’s mission is to “Make Disciples”. Our leader, Bo Sanchez, wrote the book Love Someone Today, a One-to-One Discipleship for Catholics. This is the tool given to the servants of the Feast to use in our evangelization. It’s a small but powerful book that can and is already touching lives.

We were given marching orders to seek one person to love and eventually disciple. This meant approaching a Feast attendee, starting a relationship and going through 7 lessons with her (or him for the brothers).

THE PROBLEM

Easy enough? Not quite. Last night in our meeting, we were grouped and asked to discuss our experiences in doing one-to-one discipleship.

True, there were inspiring stories from some members. Without a doubt, there are disciples in the making.

But there were stories not shared in the assembly but only discussed in the groups.

A brother shared that he was totally ignored by an attendee he tried to connect with. The man pointedly kept his earphones on.

A sister sensed that the person she tried to disciple got freaked out. Initially, the woman tried to hide from her during the Feast. Eventually, she stopped attending altogether.

And my personal problem? I just haven’t had the time to scout around for a prospect much less squeeze in a face-to-face encounter over a cup of coffee or tea (for me, since I rarely like coffee). Considering the myriad of duties I have, I may never have time to sit and talk.

MY SOLUTION

During our Love Someone Today (LST) workshop, I already knew I wouldn’t be able to do this. I lightheartedly said that I will just blog about it.

But seriously thinking about our mission, I felt that we each have our own way of making disciples. Since I’m a writer, my blog is a tool I can use to accomplish the task I was given. (I sometimes kid that if I get mad I will duel with my blog as my weapon of choice. Since this time it's all for love, it will be used to reach out and hopefully touch lives.)

Considering the advancements in technology, it is no longer strange to form relationships in cyberspace. My niece, for instance, met a guy from China online. Their romance blossomed via the internet. Now she’s married to him and awaiting the birth of their first child. So who’s to say disciples can’t be made online?

FINDING FRIENDS ONLINE

As a Didache and Gabay* writer, I often get messages from people who were touched by my reflection. Some have become cyber-buddies that I exchange emails with.

So here’s what I commit to do. I will write about each chapter of the LST booklet and do online discipleship. (I’m not encouraging others to do this. This is just me because writing is my gift. I say, “Go find your own thing” :) lest I be taken to task for being a bad influence.)

It may not exactly be what we were tasked to do but I feel I have God’s blessings on this one. I got His confirmation just this morning as I was praying about my plan:

“Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life.” – Acts 5:20

The passage said “take your place” and my place is to write…here in my blog. I take it that “this life” refers to the life in community, a life following Jesus.

By writing about the lessons in this book I hope to deepen friendships with 3 ladies I met online:

I got to know Jennet because she would comment on my articles in our now-defunct website, Proudly Filipina. We reconnected through Didache and became online friends. I regularly send her my blogs.

May sent an email to all Didache writers about her job problem in Australia and I responded. After an exchange of emails, she visited us in Feast Alabang when she came home. She got a wonderful miracle a few weeks after – she and her husband got jobs in the U.S. We kept in touch for a while after she left. I hope through this online LST, we can continue the friendship.

I “met” Erma also because of my Didache reflection. She is planning a trip to Manila soon and I’ve invited her to visit me at the Feast Alabang. In the meantime, I have connected her to Feast Cagayan de Oro.

But I’m not limiting the interaction to these three ladies. If you can relate, become touched or would just like to reflect on what I will write about the LST, be my cyber-friend and drop me a line.

See you all soon for my take on the Intro to Love Someone Today.

*Didache and Gabay are daily bible reflections for Catholics.

My Sweet Valentine

I just have to write this about my Valentine B.A.G of Miracles. And I have 2 hours and 14 minutes left before the Love Month ends so sorry if this is rushed.

Anyway, let me start with my B (blessing). My son bought 16 white roses the day before Valentine’s which he said he will give to the ladies in the school where he works. So thoughtful of him.

The best thing was he had one for me and my Mama too. Now, isn’t that the sweetest thing. I thought we weren’t included in his list.

My A (achievement) and G (good done for others) are in one package – I cooked a special dinner for my family. Achievement because I successfully cooked 3 new dishes. Well, let me put it this way - according to the Board of Judges, the Sausage Pasta was approved for “Party Menu”. The Chicken Chardon needs a tad more flavor but it was okay in the look and feel department.

The Bacon Wrapped Dynamite got mixed reviews. Papa and younger son liked it. Elder son’s comment was, “When did we ever like hot & spicy food?” Mama and I ate it with extreme caution considering the “accident” I had preparing it.

Word of advice: NEVER EVER AS IN EVER handle the seeds of the jalapeño pepper with bare hands. Nobody told me I needed to wear industrial gloves to take the seeds out (or to simply use a spoon and knife). Well, now I know, after getting my hands burnt while preparing that dynamite dish. I felt like my hands were on fire for about 2 hours.

But it was all worth it as my family enjoyed the dinner. It was a romantic-less way to spend Valentine’s Day but it was love-filled nevertheless.

Overwhelmed? Train Duplicates

Guideline # 8: Raise leaders after you

My world has just been shaken and stirred. Things are moving at such a fast pace. ZOOM, the event name of the Light of Jesus Family Leadership Assembly on Jan. 28, 2012, is such an apt description for the way things are moving in my ministry life.

Activities in Feast Alabang are on overdrive. There’s A.S.K. (our Lenten Recollection which will be held in Bellevue on April 5 to 7); there’s Loveoke (our post Valentine activity this coming Saturday); there’s a million and one formation activities and meetings and tasks.

And here’s the clincher: I’ve just been asked to handle the Events for our latest session, the Saturday Feast Alabang (SFA), that will be launched on March 10. Overwhelmed? You bet I am. Conflicted? That I am too, because I just love my FAMMily (Feast Alabang Media Ministry) and I would hate to leave them.

But as servants, one of the important virtues we were taught is obedience. If this is where God calls, I must follow. Besides, this will be in support of my Pillar heads who have also been very supportive of us.

After committing to obey the Lord’s leading, He proved once again that He cannot be out-given. I got 3 blessings in return. First, I get to stay with my FAMMily. Having efficient and capable team heads granted me the facility to just oversee the ministry. They can competently manage their own teams.

With my FAMMily Team Heads

The next blessing I got was a fresh dose of passion to serve. I must confess that this new assignment came in the throes of a burn-out. Lately, conflicts and fatigue have been taxing me. I felt it was time to balance my life and focus on the other areas that have been neglected.

When I was first asked to head Events, I said this prayer: “Lord, if this is where you want me to go, I will obey but please renew my passion for service.” The morning after our meeting to discuss the SFA among other things, the Lord answered my prayer. Like a dam that broke, ideas overflowed bringing with it excitement that refreshed my dry soul.

My third blessing is the inspiration to write a new guideline for my Manual for Servant Leaders Who Insanely Love to Serve God Despite Harassments and Frustrations. Guideline #8: Raise leaders after you.

These two principles that I applied with my Media Ministry team heads gave me the confidence to step back:

1. Trust the leaders you are tasked to train.

2. Take a risk – you will never know how good they can handle things unless you give them the chance.

These are principles I plan to take with me in my new assignment with a new set of leaders to work with. There are no perfect leaders so things will not always be smooth. But we have a perfect God who makes everything work for the good of those who serve Him.

Bo Sanchez telling LOJ leaders to be like the smallest Matryoshka doll and raise up

bigger and better next generation leaders.

The Saturday Feast Alabang will be held at the Feast Alabang Center, 2nd Level, X-site Entrance, Festival Mall (right above National Bookstore). Session starts at 6:00 pm. Plans for anticipated mass at 7:30 pm are being finalized.

Photos courtesy of Emy Cañete and IC de Guzman.

Plan, Prepare, Pray

This is supposed to be Guideline #6 for my Manual for Servant Leaders Who Insanely Love to Serve God Despite Harassments and Frustrations. But for the moment it will be a theory or a tentative guideline at best. I need to observe where it goes before I declare this to be a solid principle.

Let me explain.

When I took up my Masters in Entrepreneurship we were taught that for a business strategy to be successful one has to make plans, set objectives, assess the resources (human and financial) needed and set targets. That’s in a nutshell of course (I have to clarify or my professors might take back my diploma if they think that’s all I learned).

In “Gatherings on Fire”, a seminar I attended given by Bro Arun Gogna, it was also stressed that planning and preparation are important. The first step he gave when preparing for a big event is to brainstorm. He advised that we “gather leaders or representatives from each ministry that will implement the Big Idea” twelve months before the date. A timetable is used to map specific tasks that have to be done before the big day.

Both of these sources of knowledge stress that we have to PLAN and PREPARE for any project to be effective. I included PRAY because as a people of faith who belong to a community, servant leaders must pray for even the tiniest task they have to undertake.

Something as innocuous as a Christmas party proves this guideline to be sound. I’m sure all the 4 teams in our community prayed for success. We all planned and prepared for the presentation and games. But the Blue Team won because they planned more and prepared more. They were ready with glittery name tags and labels; they had more props and costumes; they met more often; and they probably practiced more too.

These form the foundation of my theory. What throws me off is that there are events or activities that fall short on the planning and preparation side but can be rated as successful: the Holy Spirit visibly moves the attendees, things come together in the nick of time, servants are suddenly available on that date and many more happenings that obviously took place because of prayers.

So my dilemma for Guideline #6 is: do I state that “Servant leaders must plan, prepare and pray before undertaking big activities” or do I say “Servant leaders must pray before undertaking big activities and just throw proper planning and preparation to the wind hoping they will land on God’s lap (Bahala na si Lord)”?

I will hazard a guess that planning and preparation are still very important because when we are ready, more blessings will come. To use a story Bro Arun mentioned in his article in the Feast Alabang bulletin last Sunday in a different light, the man who brought a truck was able to get more food than the man who brought a sack. Both were blessed, but one got immensely more because he was better prepared.

Let me get back to you on this guideline after I find out without a doubt which statement God and time favored.

* Thanks to IC de Guzman for the Blue Team photos.

Prayer for a Balanced Life

To my family and friends and to all those who are blessed by this blog even in a small way: A Grace-filled and Prosperous New Year! Thank you for sparing time to read my thoughts and reflections about the crazy, wonderful, sometimes frustrating, oftentimes enlightening events in my life.

Here I am at the start of the year feeling like I have two pairs of eyes. One pair at the back of my head looking back to the year that was. With gratefulness I see the Lord’s abundant blessings to me, my family and my Feast family.

He has given us good health and provisions. He even gifted us last year with special treats. My elder son landed in the top ten in his licensure exam. My younger son got a new job just as the year was about to close. And I began writing for a magazine that recently won a Catholic Mass Media Award. (Yey for Kerygma! I have a reflection about that just bursting to be written.)

And the other pair is where they normally are gazing ahead to the coming year with hope that more dreams will come true. They are also looking at ways to apply the lessons learned in the past year.

One challenge that I grappled with last year was how to cram everything into a 24 hour day. I wish there was a 48 hour version of those days. It seemed like many things on my to-do list were all needed yesterday.

Often, time for my family and my health regimen were sacrificed. Even work schedules were sometimes shredded to itsy-bitsy pieces. So this year I’m praying for a balanced life so that each area will get equal or equitable attention.

If you feel that your timetable is as chaotic as mine, pray this with me:

When my schedule gets roiled in a turbulent sea,

I must stay afloat to get where I want to be.

Help me Lord to keep my life on an even keel.

All areas steered by your steady hand on the wheel.

My family I put at the top of my list.

When more pressing things beckon help me to resist.

My body is your temple, a gift you have knit.

Grant me a firmer resolve to keep myself fit.

My work is your way to shower me with treasures.

Keep me diligent and far from useless pleasures.

My service is how I bring others to know you.

Give me a loving heart for this task to pursue.

Throw in friends and some hobbies to this scale I must balance.

Now you see why I need you Lord to give me your guidance.

I pray that you’ll help me end this year with joy and success

‘Cause I breezed through my myriad of roles with minimal stress.

From Glory to Glory to Glory (Day 2)

The tenor’s fluid rendition of the song gave me goose bumps. “Hosanna, in the highest. Let our King be lifted up. Hosanna.” A hush fell over the audience as Arun Gogna, the last speaker for the Kerygma Conference 2011 Faith Stream, announced the arrival of our special guest.

He was ushered in by 4 young men bearing banners that proclaimed His greatness – “King of Kings”, “Messiah”, “Alpha & Omega”, “Lamb of God.” Our special guest was Jesus, truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

As Fr. Steve Tynan bore the monstrance down the aisle, the crowd instinctively fell on their knees in adoration. It was a stirring sight enhanced by dancers solemnly marching in with raised flags.

Many faces were bathed in tears, mine included. Unlike the audience, I knew what was going to happen but I was still awed by His presence in the unfolding event.

It was a fitting finale to a day spent deepening our knowledge about the Catholic faith. It also capped months of preparation by the Faith Stream team; the last few days steeped in stress. With Jesus before me, I could now serenely look back to what was…

The job description for Production Manager only said: 1) assemble production team and coordinate communication; 2) coordinate with secretariat; 3) provide scripts/schedules; 4) provide t-shirt sizes of the team; and 5) coordinate with PAs of speakers.

Sounds manageable. I can do that. I agreed to serve especially since the whole team is from Feast Alabang. But my duties morphed into something resembling the mythical Hydra. When I ticked a task off my list, more popped up.

So there I was at the Faith Stream dealing with a string of unrelated tasks and bloopers. “Where are the table cloths for the book tables?” Huh? “Where will we put the signage for the parking lot?” Duh. “There are attendees who bought food stubs for the other venue and they’re mad the concessionaire is not here.” Uh-oh.

“Sis, even the front row seats were numbered, where will the speakers sit?” I cringed as I imagined asking our first speaker, the Archbishop-elect of Manila no less, to vacate his place when the ticket-holder for that seat comes.

And there’s my personal blooper. I turned my cellphone to silent mode in obedience to the house rules. I therefore missed several calls to alert me that Bro Bo Sanchez had arrived. I flubbed my primary role of being the key coordinator.

But I was not alone in the welcome bloopers. When Myrna, our hardworking Program Director, asked Bo to sit beside the Archbishop who had arrived earlier, he mentioned that her beloved hubby was still at the entrance waiting for our esteemed guest.

By God’s grace, the problems were addressed and the bloopers became memories we could laugh about over dinner.

God rewarded the teams’ efforts by helping each one survive many challenges. The stage with its stained glass cathedral windows design came out majestic. The singers and the band heightened worship with world class music. The dancers were gracefully in sync. The technical team managed a glitch-free event.

We were also blessed with high powered speakers(Archbishop Chito Tagle, Bro Marwil Llasos, Fr. Domie Guzman and Arun Gogna), host (J Yogawin), worship leaders (Rissa Singson-Kawpeng and our track head, Carl Fontanilla) and capable Central Support teams.

As I knelt before the Holy Eucharist during the recessional, I thanked God for revealing His glory at the KCon.

Special thanks to IC de Guzman for this precious photo with Archbishop Chito Tagle who is touted to be the next Pope. (I hope, I hope, I hope.)

Third Row Season

‘Tis the season for Kerygma Conference again. For the third time I’m joining the KCon choir for the Grand Feast. And for the third time I am relegated to the nether world of choirdom. You know that spot on the third row where without risers, you cannot be seen just heard?

During rehearsals we were told to “find your height” for blocking purposes. This must be the most difficult directive to follow. There’s that first part where smaller people are supposed to be in front of us. And then there’s that part where taller people are supposed to be behind us.

So difficult and confusing in fact that I found myself on the third row peeping through the shoulders of taller members. But the marvelous thing about this experience is that it teaches you serenity and humility.

This time around I wasn’t bothered about it. Why? Because for the past two years I have seen God’s hand in this arrangement.

My experience in 2009 when only a fourth of my face was seen in the official photos gave birth to a Didache reflection used in this year’s edition. Not only that, an amazing coincidence related to that reflection happened just last month. This, I believe, was used by God to also bless Feast Alabang attendees.

In KCon 2010, it wasn’t just about this blocking confusion but about the venue assignment. Since all the attendees could not be accommodated in one venue for the Grand Feast, the choir had to be divided into two. Group A was to go to PICC Plenary Hall and Group B to the hot and noisy Forum tent outside.

Whoops of delight greeted Group A assignments. Several of us from the Feast Alabang choir somberly listened as our names were called for Group B.

Friends in Group A egged us to appeal for transfer. But I felt we needed to be obedient to God’s will. The others in Group B felt the same way. And so we stayed.

You know how God rewarded our obedience? Right before the event, we were told that the Forum tent venue was scrapped. Group B will instead sing at the Reception Hall. So there we were in the same air-conditioned, chandeliered grandeur as Group A.

But as we waited for our cues to sing, Group A sat on the stairs of the Plenary Hall while we lounged on comfortable chairs in the spacious Reception Hall. We even had access to the luxurious dressing room nearby. Group A, on the other hand, had to make do with the public rest rooms (as I love to tease my friends in that group).

So this year, instead of fretting about my third row perch I am actually quite excited. I’m excited to see how God will surprise and delight and bless me in that spot He has picked out especially for me.

Thank you to my son, Buddy, for the cartoon :)