Atty. Jo Imbong for Senator: Pro-family, pro bono, pro-Ateneo

NAME: Atty. Jo Imbong

POLITICAL PARTY: Ang Kapatiran

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

• Born in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon of Ilocano parents.
• Married to lawyer, Manuel B. Imbong. They have eight children.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

• University Counsel and a Lecturer of the University of Asia andthe Pacific.
• Faculty Member of the Ateneo de Manila University and the Konrad Adenauer Center for Journalism.
• Head ofthe Legal Office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
• Consultant to the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, and the Office on Women
• Trustee of the Alliance Against Pornography
• Executive Director of the Family Media Advocacy Foundation
• Writer for the CBCP Monitor
• Member of the International Bar Association Media Law Committee.

For her pro bono work in the Family Rights advocacy, Atty. Jo as she is fondly called, is a recipient of the Fr. Paul B. Marx Pro-Life Award from Human life International, and the Blessed Pedro Calungsod Pro-Life Award from His Eminence, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

In 2001, she founded Abay Pamilya Foundation, an association of parents and families working for women’s and family rights. In the women’s rights circuit, she is currently Vice- Chair of Professional & Cultural Development for Women Foundation, a private voluntary organization engaged in the training and formation of working women and homemakers.

Today, her passion for pro bono work has inspired her to enter new corridors of advocacy—the Philippine Senate. She believes that the totality and awesome powers of the State are there simply to serve life, family, motherhood, children, progeny, and the common good—“not the other way around.”

Source: Ang Kapatiran Party

The New Jesuit Review: Recovering the authentic Jesuit Spirituality

Statement of Purpose

The New Jesuit Review has as its goals the recovery of Jesuit spirituality from its authentic sources and reflection by contemporary Jesuits on its significance for their lives. The writings of St. Ignatius and the First Companions, the lives of Jesuit saints and martyrs, and classics of Jesuit spirituality are examined in the spirit of Perfectae Caritatis, the Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life of the Second Vatican Council:

It redounds to the good of the Church that institutes have their own particular characteristics and work. Therefore let their founders’ spirit and special aims they set before them as well as their sound traditions — all of which make up the patrimony of each institute — be faithfully held in honor. (Perfectae Caritatis, 2)

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in the New Jesuit Review are solely those of their authors and do not represent the position of the Society of Jesus, its institutions, or its superiors.

Editorial Board

Fr. David Brown, S.J.
Vatican Observatory

Fr. Kevin Flannery, S.J.
Pontifical Gregorian University

Fr. John Gavin, S.J.
Pontifical Biblical Institute

Fr. James Swetnam, S.J.
Pontifical Biblical Institute

About NJR

“The Second Vatican Council urged religious congregations to embark on a process of recovery and re-appropriation of the spirit of their founders and of their best spiritual traditions. This is a complex yet important task, which the Society of Jesus has already begun to undertake. I applaud the inauguration of the New Jesuit Review, hoping that it may play a part in the deepening of Jesuit understanding of the Society’s extraordinary legacy.”

+Terrence Prendergast, S.J.

Archbishop of Ottawa

Monk’s Hobbit’s Notes: The wind is changing.

Caritas in Veritate Forum at the Ateneo de Manila University: Justice and Peace and the Reproductive Health Bill

I attended the forum on Caritas in Veritate last Wednessday at the Leong Hall of Ateneo de Manila University.  I arrived at 2 p.m.  There was already three long lines: individuals, religious, and some other classification (students?).  I saw my friend way back in college manning the registration–a woman named Manay.  She gave me a green piece of paper.  It is a color code where you can sit.  I asked her where I can buy a copy of Caritas in Veritate.  She pointed me to a nearby table by Jess Comm (Jesuit Communications).  I bought my copy for Php 115.

The place was nearly full.  I went to the far right, a few seats near in the front.  These are for individuals.  The middle section is for priests.  The back section is for students.  I counted the seats.  It is about 8 x 15 x 3 which is 360 or roughly 400.  The hall is fully packed.  Some are already sitting on the aisles.  Others are standing at the entrance, hoping to get a seat.

Fr. Tagle’s video presentation began.  It is about solidarity with the Farmers.  After this is the talk by Fr. Jojo Magadia, S.J., the provincial of the Philippine Jesuits.  He described what the encyclical is about and what it is for.  He encouraged the audience to read the encyclical.  It is difficult reading, but it has great impact in our lives.   The talk lasted about an hour.

The four panelist were alloted 15 minutes each.  Dr. Cielito Habito of Ateneo de Manila Economics Department discussed his familiar assessment that the Philippine economy is narrow, shallow, and hollow.  He advocated the Bayanihan economy or solidarity.  Mr. Guillermo “Bill” Luz of the Ayala Foundation pointed out that when he read the encyclical, he noticed that many of its recommendations were already implemented by the Ayala foundation.  Business is not only for profit.  Business has a social contract with society.  What the Ayala Foundation wishes to do is to fund projects that does not only make money but also help alleviate the quality of life of many.  One example is the Globe’s telephony selling load to transfer g-cash creates jobs for 600,000 people.  Mrs. Antonia Yulo Loyzaga of the Manila Observatory pointed out the importance of care for the environment in the encyclical.  The Manila Observatory she said used to look to the sky to study the weather.  Now from the sky we look down to the earth using satellites to analyze climate change and variability.  She mentioned the work of IPCC or the International Panel on Climate Change where Fr. Jett Villarin, S.J. is a member.  Fr. Jett was one of those awarded Nobel peace prize together with Al Gore for IPCC.  The last speaker was Bishop Luis A. Tagle who traced the theological background of the encyclical in Pope Benedict XVI’s thought.  Quoting much from Thomas Rouche of Clarion University, Bishop Tagle said that the encyclical is rooted in Pope Benedict XVI’s vision that man is a relational being because man is in made in the image of the Trinity which is a relationship between three divine Persons: the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The question and aswer portion was opened.  A priest from the Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation questioned whether do we really need an IRR (implementing rules and regulations) based on the encyclical.  And he mentioned about the poor in the Philippines.  The just living wage he said is between 360 to 375 pesos.  Fr. Jojo responded that the encyclical is a challege.  Efforts must be made to subsidiarity.  Prof. Habito said that the encyclical is a credo for behavior.  Credo is a guide and not necessarily an IRR.  Mr. Luz said that it is left for companies to draw up policies guided by the encyclical.

The second question is by Prof. Cristina “Tina” Montiel, an Ateneo de Manila University faculty who confidently mentioned that she is a supporter of the Reproductive Health Bill.  She said asked that if the encyclical calls for the de-divinization of the State and the Cosmos, should this de-divinization should also be applied to the Church?  Bishop Tagle responded that the equally applies to the Church.  The Church is not God nor claims to be God.  The Church is only obedient to the Trinitarian God.  The truths taught by the Church are gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The Church submits to her Lord.  The Church is the Sacrament of Universal Salvation. Concerning the RH bill, Bishop said that it is sad that the atmosphere is so charged that it is difficult for people to enter into dialogue.  There is an atmosphere of rationality that is not nurtured by divine revelation.  The bishop tells Prof. Montiel that he hopes she understands what he is driving at.

There is another Sr. Pia (?) who also mentioned that she is for the Reproductive Health Bill, but she will not raise the issue.  Sr. Pia asked about the Pondo ng Pinoy.  Bishop Tagle said that Pondo ng Pinoy was conceived by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales as a means of little acts of kindness.  Everybody can afford 25 cents, even the poor.  The collections do not go to the parish or city where the collection was taken.  Instead, it goes to another place that needs is more.  For example, 200 million went to feeding programs and community value formation.

After the forum ended it is difficult to get to Fr. Jojo Magadia and Bishop Tagle.  Many people wanted to talk to them.  I also lined up because I want to get copies of their speeches, but they have none.  I told Fr. Jojo that he looks good in long sleeve barong, for his usual attire is t-shirt.  And he said, “Oo, nga eh.  Kailangan.”  (Yes, because it is needed.)  And he laughed.

Fr. Emmanuel “Nono” Alfonso, S.J. was also waiting for Bishop Tagle; he wants the bishop to eat something before leaving.  A person told Fr. Nono that this is a very good forum.  The person suggested that Fr. Nono’s Jess Comm would send (sell?) cd’s of the forum to parishes.  Fr. Nono appears open to the idea.

____

Monk’s Hobbit’s Notes: I think many of the people who went to the forum was expecting a trashing of the encyclical, since Jesuits are perceived to have a critical attitude towards Rome, e.g. the Humanae Vitae and Liberation Theology.  Fr. Roger Haight’s book the “Jesus: the Symbol of God” was given a sympathetic forum at the Loyola House of Studies years before, despite Vatican’s ban on the book.  They think the forum has the same flavor.  This is the reason why I think the persons who asked questions are from the Justice and Peace advocacy group and the supporters of the Reproductive Health Bill.  They think that the forum is of the same flavor as what they expect to hear.  But they were wrong and they left dismayed.  They got a Jesuit provincial who recommends that everyone should read the encyclical and a Bishop who teaches the truth on the Catholic Faith on matters like the Reproductive Health Bill.  The wind is changing.

I am still trying to decipher my notes on the talks, especially by Fr. Jojo Magadia, S.J.  I shall post it when I am done.

Rep. Nikki Prieto Teodoro, wife of Presidential Candidate Gilbert Teodoro, withdraws support for the Reproductive Health Bill

SAYING that it has been “defanged and is now toothless” the legislator-wife of former defense secretary Gilbert  Teodoro, the administration bet in the 2010 presidential elections, has withdrawn her support for the controversial reproductive-health bill.

In pulling out her support for House Bill 5043, Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Nikki Prieto Teodoro of Tarlac said the measure does not directly address the problem of poverty in the country, where about 5,000 Filipinos are born daily, most of them ending up poor.

…

She said that her new stand on the issue is consistent with her husband’s platform of government to fight against the “four faces of poverty: poverty of the mind, poverty of the pocket, poverty of the environment, poverty of relationships.”

“We shall protect the life of each and every citizen. Respect for life shall be from the moment of conception to the moment of death of our constituents. The protection of life is guaranteed by our constitution and on this principle there is no compromise,” former defense secretary Teodoro said in his speech during the Lakas-Kampi-CMD convention recently.

Source:  Business Mirror

Monk’s Hobbit’s Notes: This is what I have been praying for.  I was still reluctant to vote Gibo before.  Though I believe that he is the most competent among the Presidential candidates, his wife’s support  for the Reproductive Health Bill is a millstone around his neck.  Now that his wife withdraws support for the Bill, I can now pray that Gibo wins.  I hope the pro-life movement would now rally behind Teodoro’s banner.

J. C. de los Reyes is fighting a good fight.  He knows he has a very slim chance in winning the presidential race.  But he joins the race not for himself but to give the Kapatiran party a voice in the presidential elections.  The Kapatiran party is a distinctively pro-life party.  I shall vote for the Kapatiran’s senatorial slate.  I watched the ANC Presidential Elections 2010 forum last night and I heard Gibo and JC speak.  Gibo is more eloquent, but JC’s moral integrity shines: he is willing to waive the bank secrecy law and allow the public to know his bank account.  He said that he has a house in Baguio which he built himself, because he has a brick making business.  He also said that he has a lease-to-own house somewhere in Manila worth 5 million pesos; he pays P 50,000 per month.  Concerning the question of the reproductive health bill, we already know what JC will say.  But this is what I heard Gibo say: population control must not be legislated.  I had a feeling that this is a portent of things to come and indeed, Gibo’s wife now withdraws support for the Reproductive Health Bill.  If there is something good that JC had done in joining the presidential race, I think it is in making Gibo consider the moral side of the issues.

Update 12/7/2009: Gibo is still pro-choice. I will not vote for him.

Remembering my history professor, Fr. Richard Leonard, S.J.

Fr. Richard Leonard, S.J. was our teacher in History of the Modern World, which roughly covers the Industrial Revolution to the World War II.

In the first day of class, Fr. Leonard asked us to write our row and column number on the upper right hand corner of our class cards.  We will use this number in all our exam papers.  Those at the back will submit forward and his paper will be placed below the next person.  After all the papers will have reached the first persons in each row, the one in the last row will give his stack of papers to the next row and so on.  The reverse order will be used to distribute back the papers.

“Once you understood the system”, Fr. Leonard said, “you shall praise the man who invented it.”

Fr. Leonard himself, who else?  Very systematic.  Very orderly.  I tried to reproduce his system in my classes, but I always failed.  My mind is still not attuned to such military precision.

“During the lectures, no one will be allowed to ask me questions.  If you are under Fr. Laihiff, he will encourage you to ask questions, because he uses the Socratic method.  But I use the Lecture method.  You came here to learn from me, not I who shall learn from you.  I don’t want to spend the rest of the hour answering one student’s question.”

Call it hubris.  But I call it style.  This man knows what he is saying and you better listen.

“I have a cabinet full of lecture notes. I can lecture for years without stopping. “

Fr. Leonard read history books and when he finds some nice quotes or useful information, he types them up in bond paper sheets.  He uses no computer but a typewriter–the wonder of the bygone age that instantly prints the characters as fast as your fingers press the keys.  The fastest computer then was still 386 and Windows 95 was still two years in the future.

“Half of the exam will be based on the lectures; half will be based on the book.”

This forced us to read the book even if he does not lecture on them.  This also forced us to listen attentively to his lectures because they are not in the book.   In a 100 pt exam, 50 pts are multiple choice based from the book and 50 pts are 10 essay questions worth 5 pts each.  Each essay should not exceed one sentence.

Fr. Leonard is an actor and a storyteller on the classroom stage.

Once he talked about a holocaust of a group of Jews:

“If you are a coward man afraid to die–and I know one and that is me–you would clasp your hands and drag your knees as you try to entreat the SS guards to spare you from the gas chamber.”  And Fr. Leonard would act it out, with sobs of “Please, please, spare me!”  Then Fr. Leonard would straighten up and say, “but these Jews are different.  They sing and dance towards their death.”

At other time, he talked about the war of Russians and Germans:

“You know these bayonetts.  They can be very effective when they got thrust in your guts.  The Russians have an army armed with bayonetts attached to sticks.  They charged against the German flank and the Germans gunned them down.”

Sometimes he will give a quote out from memory:

“There was a writer who said that in the next war (World War II), the weapons of war will be so terrifying that men will no longer march in columns.  Instead, they will dig trenches and live in foxholes.  And true enough.”

Before the last day of classes, he informed us that we can ask anything on the next meeting.  I was not able to come.  I should have come, just for the experience of hearing a great history teacher answer questions out of nowhere.

I will miss Fr. Leonard.  He died about a year after he taught us.  But I learned a lot from him.  I still love history.  I still read history.  I am still a student of history.  Those who never learned history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.

A Symposium on Veritas in Caritate at the Ateneo de Manila University

The Philippine Society of Jesus in cooperation with John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues, Loyola School of Theology and Jesuit Communications Foundation, Inc. invites you to Veritas in Caritate: A Symposium on the Social Encyclical of Benedict XVI, on December 2, 2009, Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Leong Hall Auditorium, Ateneo de Manila University.

Main speaker is Reverend Father Jose Cecilio Magadia, SJ,  Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus.

The panel of reactors include Cielito Habito, Ph. D.  (Academe), Guillermo Luz (Business), Ma. Antonia Loyzaga (Environment), and Bp. Luis Antonio Tagle, D.D. (Church).

Middle of this year, Pope Benedict XVI issued out his third encyclical since coming to office in 2005. In Veritas in Caritate or, roughly, “truth in charity,” the Pope, widely known for his scholarship and erudition, confronts the urgent social issues of our time, including the roots of this year’s global economic meltdown. The current symposium aims to lead discussions on the important insights of the Pope especially as these relate to Philippine socio-economic realities.

Admission is free.

For early registration, please email esablan@admu.edu.ph.  For more information, please call Malou at 4266001 loc 4666 or Dit at 426-5971 loc 112

Monk’s Hobbit’s Notes: I shall attend this talk.  My class is from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. only for MWF.   I still have enough time for a quick lunch and a short review of the Encyclical.  I have only browsed through it so far.  I need to read it again, this time more closely, with a red pen and ruler on hand.  I don’t know, but like Ghan Buri-Ghan, I can sense that the wind is slowly changing.  The fact that Philippine Jesuits opens a forum on a Papal Encyclical is a news by itself.  And timing it in the Ateneo’s Sesquicentennial multiplies its significance a hundred and fifty fold.

____

12/04/09: Monk’s Hobbit’s coverage of the event is in the following post: Caritas in Veritate Forum at the Ateneo de Manila University: Justice and Peace and the Reproductive Health Bill

LADLAD party list and Comelec: Some scriptural reflections on the real meaning of discrimination

I.  Comelec, CHR, and LADLAD

A group of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders (LGBT), led by Danton Remoto, an English professor in Ateneo de Manila University, asked the Commission on Elections to approve as a Party List their group named LADLAD, a Filipino word which means “public display of homosexuality”.  The Comelec, led by the presiding commissioner Nicodemo C. Ferrer, dismissed the petition on moral grounds:

Petitioner should be denied accreditation not only for advocating immoral doctrines but likewise for not being truthful when it is said that “it or any of its party list representatives have not violated or failed to comply with laws rules and regulations relating to the elections.”

Furthermore, should this Commission grant the petition, we will be exposing our youth to an environment that does not conform to the teachings of our faith.  Lehman Strauss, a famous bible preacher and writer in the U.S.A., said in one article that “older practicing homosexuals are a threat to the youth.”  As an agency of the government, ours too is the State’s avowed duty in Sec. 13, Article II of the Constitution to protect our youth from moral and spiritual degradation.

We are not condemning the LGBT, but we cannot compromise the greater number of our people, especially the youth.

(Scrbd article.  Note page 6 is missing.  This page contains I think the Oct. 2, 2008 detailed comment of the Comelec).

The LADLAD complained that this is gender discrimination.  And the Commission on Human Rights supports their claim:

CHR said however that the poll body’s decision “smacks of prejudice and discrimination.”  “There is or can be no basis in law to deny the registration of the party, directly or indirectly, on the grounds of homosexuality, much less on homosexuality equated to immorality. To make assertions based on their homosexuality is patently discriminatory,” she said.  “Homosexuality is not a counterculture. It is part of the diversity of Philippine culture. Homosexuals are part of the Filipino family and unavoidably must be part of our politics,” CHR chair Leila De Lima was quoted in the statement as saying.  “There is no governmental policy which characterizes homosexuality as illegal nor immoral,” De Lima said. (ABS-CBN)

II.  Discrimination in Scriptures: Clean and Unclean, Holy and Profane, Good and Evil

Discrimination has been defined as something bad, so that we have now invented phrases like racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and age discrimination.  These things should not happen, modern society says.  We must not discriminate.

But let us consider the etymology of discriminate and discrimination:

Discriminate.1620s, from L. discriminare “to divide,” from discrimen, derived n. from discernere (see discern). The adverse (usually racial) sense is first recorded 1866, Amer.Eng. Positive sense remains in discriminating (adj.) “possessing discernment” (1792).

Discrimination. 1640s, “the making of distinctions,” from L. discriminationem, noun of action from discriminare (see discriminate). Especially in a prejudicial way, based on race, 1866, Amer.Eng. Meaning “discernment” is from 1814.

To discriminate is to divide, to make distinctions, to discern.  If you read the book of Genesis, you will see that God is discriminating: God placed order in chaos by separating light from darkness, day and night, heaven and sea, sea and land, animals and fishes, plants and birds, male and female.  Creation can never be accomplished without discrimination.  And God said that it is good.

If you read the book of Exodus and Leviticus, you will see that God gave a precise rules for determining whether something is clean or unclean.  Thus Israelites have all these rules regarding water potability (don’t drink a cup of water if an insect falls on it), food (carnivores and and non-fishes cannot be eaten), leprosy (suspected lepers are quarantined), etc.

Why all these rules for clean and unclean?  Moses said to Aaron:

You must be able to distinguish between what is sacred and what is profane, between what is clean and what is unclean; you must teach the Israelites all the laws that the LORD has given them through Moses. (Lv 10:10-11)

Thus, the laws to distinguish clean and clean are laid out as a pedagogical tool to help the Israelites to know what is sacred and profane.  If you are a teacher, you will first teach students the arithmetic rules like 2 apples + 3 apples = 5 apples before you teach them the algebraic rules of 2x + 3x = 5x.  You first start with something concrete, then you go to something abstract.  Since God is a good teacher, he first teaches Israelites clean and unclean things and actions, then He teaches them why Israel is a holy nation and not like the other nations, why the priest is holier than the levites, why the Bread of the Presence and the Ark of the Covenant are holy, etc.  Material to Spiritual.  This is the divine pedagogy.

After teaching the distinction between clean and unclean, holy and profane, Moses commanded Aaron to teach all the laws that God has given them through Moses.  This is the third step: moral.  What is good?  What is evil?  These questions are answered by the Ten Commandments.

The sixth and ninth commandments are “Though shalt not commit adultery” and “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”  On these two laws we can group all the sexual sins and among them are on homosexuality:

You shall not have carnal relations with your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her. You shall not offer any of your offspring to be immolated to Molech, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination. You shall not have carnal relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself in front of an animal to mate with it; such things are abhorrent. (Lv 18:20-23)

Notice that adultery, abortion, homosexuality, and bestiality are enumerated together. Adultery and abortion are the ones that will result if the Reproductive Health Bill pushes through; homosexuality if LADLAD becomes a Party List; and bestiality will not be far behind.

And God said:

Do not defile yourselves by any of these things by which the nations whom I am driving out of your way have defiled themselves. Because their land has become defiled, I am punishing it for its wickedness, by making it vomit out its inhabitants. You, however, whether natives or resident aliens, must keep my statutes and decrees forbidding all such abominations by which the previous inhabitants defiled the land; otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you. Everyone who does any of these abominations shall be cut off from among his people. Heed my charge, then, not to defile yourselves by observing the abominable customs that have been observed before you. I, the LORD, am your God. (Lv 18:24-30)

If Filipinos do not wish to vomited out of the land called the Philippines, God says that we must never do these abominations.  God is faithful to his promises.  Let us reject the Reproductive Health Bill and not allow LADLAD as a Party List.

So is the Comelec discriminating towards lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders (LGBT) in LADLAD?  Yes, Comelec is indeed discriminating, because God Himself is discriminating.  We must purge the evil in our midst.

Conversations with a Chinese delegate for the Asian Youth Day

My brother’s family adopted two delegates for the Asian Youth Day: Jay-R from Tarlac and Chao-Hua from mainland China.  Both are still in their early twenties.  Jay-R finished Psychology while Chao-Hua is still studying for her Business English course (major she calls it).  The chinese girl intrigued me.  It is difficult to converse with her because you have to speak very slowly in simple English matched with hand gestures.  But I learned some things about her from my conversations with her and with others.

Chao-Hua means “young and happy”.  But her English name is Cherry.  Cherry said that they lived in a town in China in the Hepei (Hebei) province.  Her family lives in a forest.  They eat fish seldom, because they are far from the river or sea.  The Catholics there are not as free to express their Faith than here in the Philippines.  They are allowed to go to mass in the government-approved chapels, but they can’t go to procesions in the streets and public squares.  The religious there don’t wear habits; the nuns who went to the Philippines as delegates wear only jeans and t-shirts.  I really wish to talk to her more: the state of the Latin Mass, the missing bishops, the relationship of the underground and above ground churches, etc.  But talking to her is really difficult.

She taught us some Chinese words.  But since I am not a linguist, everything just passed my head.  But one thing I remember though is that Chinese has four ways to pronounce a syllable: straight horizontal, going up, going down, or going down then up.  My friend told me this before, because her mother was Chinese.  I like the sound of spoken Chinese.  I have an ear for its melody.  But maybe I’ll start with calligraphy first: it is pictorial and they just look like math.  I asked Cherry if she knows how to translate the following words: Inibong chuayla a bochikek kirikek.  That’s garbled Chinese from Yoyoy Villame: he went to China before and stringed all the words in the stores that he saw.  Cherry said some of the words means “lucky”.  My nephew asked her what is “Kung Hei Fat Choi”.  She said it is not Happy New Year but something like “May you have a good time” or “May you be merry”.

Jay-R and Cherry stayed in my brother’s house for three days.  They left for Cavite today for the continuation of the Asian Youth Day.

Fr. James Reuter S.J.’s prayer

Lord God,

Look down upon us, this day, this hour.

Regardless of what has gone before,

or what will come after,

give us the grace to consecrate this time entirely to You —

all the actions of our body and soul.

May all the thoughts that come to us

be true.

May all the things to which our hearts go out

be beautiful, with the beauty of God.

May all the things we want be good.

Give us the light to see Your Will,

the grace to love it

and the courage and strength

to do it.

We ask you this through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Source: Defensores Fidei blog

A visit to Fr. Victor Badillo S.J.: RAM, Facebook, and the cyst surgery

Yesterday I visited Fr. Badillo in the Jesuit Residence.  He stays at the infirmary there.  The porter already knows my name and the nurses’ faces are becoming familiar.  I usually visit him every Thursday, between 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.  I don’t know if there is a significance to this.  But Thursday is the day for priests and 2:00-3:00 is the last hour of Jesus’s agony on the cross.  I was not able to visit him for two weeks because of it was the first weeks of the semester: i have to prepare for my classes among other things.  I tried to visit him last Thursday, but the porter said he is asleep.

I dragged a chair from the nurses’ station and walked towards Fr. Badillo’s room.  The comfort room is immediately at the right side of the door.  Straight ahead is Fr. Badillo sitting on a chair.  He wears a white T-shirt and pajamas.

“You’re done with your snacks, Father?” I asked.

“Yes, I idid,” he said.  “I did not left anything for you.”  And he laughed.  His usual snacks are two slices of wheat bread and one glass of milk.

“My condolence, Father, for your sister.”

“Yes, please pray for her.  She passed at the age of 86.”  Fr. Badillo is 79 years old.

. . .

“I don’t know why is my computer slow.  Do I need more RAM?   Can you check my computer?”

I looked at the computer and paused.  I am not a computer geek.  Where do I find the RAM?  The ram caught its horns among the thorns and Abraham sacrificed it in place of his son Isaac.

“Turn the little switch on,”  Fr. Badillo said.

It was a little metal stick shaped like an exclamation mark.  It was hidden at the back part of one the computer table posts.  I turned it on.  The computer is still black.

“Turn the other switch on,” he said.  It was the power supply.  I turned it on and and the computer.

I do not anymore remember what I did.  I think I looked at the properties of his computer.

“The RAM is 240 MB, Father.”  I said.

“That is weird,” Fr. Badillo said.   “The number should be 64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB.  The 512 MB is now the standard.”

When I was still teach back in Bacolod about seven years ago, the RAM in our computer was 16 MB.

…

“Do you have a Facebook account?” Fr. Badillo asked.

“Yes, Father.”

“There is something there that says ‘What’s on your mind?’  What do I do with it?”

“I think you just type whatever you feel like writing and all your friends can read it, Father.”

“I don’t know why I don’t receive anything.  I have all these questions: Please confirm if you and such and such are friends.  What do I do with it?”

“Just click confirm, Father.  And you will receive news about them.”

. . ..

“Genie said that she wants to visit you, Father.”

“Genie who?”

“Genie Lorenzo.  She wants to come with me today but no one responded in her room when I phoned there.”  Genie is a friend of mine at the Observatory.  She works on Air Quality.  She worked at the Observatory longer than I.  She knows Fr. Badillo.

“Ah, Genie,” he said.  “Please tell Genie that I will have a cyst operation next Wednesday.”

“You have a cyst, Father?”

” I have a cyst here,” Fr. Badillo said and pointed to his left abdomen.  “If Genie comes, it must be on the day before that.”

. . .

“I am sorry, Father.  I think I shall cough.”

“You have cold?”

“Yes, Father.”

“You have to stay awy,” he said.

“I’ll go now, Father.”

“Ok.   Thank you for praying for my sister.”