November 1 - In the Philippines, especially people living in the cities, usually celebrated All Saints Day in the cemeteries, visiting love ones’ graves.We bring flowers and clean the mausoleums and niches. There would be plenty of food and family reunions among the tombs.

But I think, All Saints Day, or Todos Los Santos,  should be celebrated in honor of all the saints. I don’t remember having to attend a ceremony or festivity of this kind. Maybe at school where we had plays, role-playing, and story telling of the lives of the saints. I don’t even know how many saints there were, and there are now. Who decides that a person is a saint, or not? Maybe I have to Google it to find answers.

Saints were special people. We could learn a lot from their stories and how they lived their lives. They led lives of martyrdom and most of them fought for their faith til their deaths.  They are not just mere believers, but extraordinary people who lived by their exceptional virtues and reconciled their lives to God.

God saw you were getting tired
and a cure was not meant to be.
So he put his arms around you
and whispered, “Come with me.”

 With tearful eyes we watched you
as we saw you pass away.
Although we loved you deeply,
we could not make you stay.

 Your Golden Heart stopped beating,
hard-working hands at rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best.

Mama passed away 20th of September 2008, Makati City.. And we brought her back home., in Davao where she now lies peaceful beside Lolo Willy’s grave..

by Therese Williamson, Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, Golden

I am a Catholic. I am a mother. And an issue was raised.

I am not a pro-abortion. I am a Christian at heart. I do not use Artificial Contraceptives. But I believe that the Catholic Church has been so harsh and shallow in their stand against contraceptives and surgical interventions like tubal ligation and vasectomy. They launched a campaign against reproductive health bills in Congress. And Ozamiz Archbishop Jesus Dosado’s pose denying communion to politicians whom the Church perceived to be pro-abortion is hypocrisy. Do they have blind eyes to the present reality and the rationale of things?

It seems they relate reproductive health rights with abortion. Abortion is murder. It is taking the life away from an already breathing fetus in the womb. Of course, I’m talking in figurative language, babies take their first breath when they are born. And these contraceptives are just to prevent a woman from getting pregnant. Thus, not taking life because there’s no conception yet.

The truth is we are suffering of great consequences.The root of almost every problem our society faces is due to the rapid growth of the population.

Couples bear children they could not afford. These children they could not send to school. Little babies suffering of malnutrition and other illness because their parents don’t have money to buy them food and proper nutrition. Kids wandering the dangerous streets of the city living the life of a vagabond. At a very early stage in their lives, some became criminals and prostituted. Their unchosen fate forced them to embrace this kind of existence.

We all have choices no matter what. We can change the world if we want to. But can we really?

Each of us may have our own great thoughts of how to save the world. It’s just a matter of understanding each one’s thoughts. It may seem absurd for everybody to understand everybody. But we can always start in little steps, in a few heads, in certain boundaries, or in the middle of all logical and humane opinion.

For the love of God and compassion to mankind. Let there be enlightenment. The church should be the candle in the dark for our people and should not be as hostiles as Jesus Christ’s adjucators were.

Bringing paranoia to others is not an act of kindness. Fraud emails and text messages are popular nowadays. Do they bring sincere warnings?

I was undeniably concerned with a forwarded text message we received. The text message was to forewarn us of a great earthquake that would kill many people in the Philippines. The said earthquake would hit the country at a magnitude of 8.1 on July 18, 2008.

A certain JUSELEENO NOBULEGA DaROOSE (or Jucelino Nobrega da Luz) was said to have predicted the earthquake. He is a Brazilian teacher who had many predictions came true. I’m not sure how many did not. Besides, his predictions are written in his language, or maybe poorly in English. I don’t know him personally, so I am not to judge him. But the stories have been circulating and it raises, not only interest, but apprehensions and paranoia. Also I’ve check on his website, that was translated by another person in English, and there is no prediction of earthquake in the Philippines. There were about the Feb and June 2008 Big Floods . These are all but vague forecasts.

It’s his word and his visions against science. Local News say PHILVOCS gave out a statement saying there’s no truth to the messages that were passing around. No Earthquake on July 18th, I think this what matters the most.

Planet Earth is one ambiguous round shape spinning about the Sun. And what goes with it’s ambiguity is human behavior and interaction. We are species of great power, that is to think for ourselves. We are equipped with logic. Thus to make decisions and actions for humankind amelioration, I supposed. But the aberration of mankind does not solely characterized on the physical aspect. Some people think strange. And talk nonsense, enough to give the masses a scare.