LOGOS GONE TERRIBLY WRONG
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doughboys - pizza - salad - panini and something extra?
Atherton Car Centre
Dental clinic
Another dental clinic - This seems to be popular
Any idea what this is supposed to be?
Instituto de Estudos Orientais
Megaflicks - Not the best font for this word
Kids Exchange - As this name didnt sound weird enough, they decided to write it together
A-Style - Realy classy
Computer Doctors
SM Marikina Cyberzone
I miss everything about my childhood. I miss the time everything was so simple and happiness simply meant chocolates, toys and dresses. Why is it that as we grow older, things become more and more complicated?
I am one of the many graduating students who have a lot of uncertainties and anxieties. Where will I work after graduation? Where will I be five or 10 years from now?
During the final screening for the Ayala Young Leaders Congress, an Ayala executive asked me if I had plans of going abroad. I knew that question would arise. As a student leader, my community expects me to serve my country after graduation. After having attended so many training sessions and seminars, people expect me not to leave the Philippines when I finish college. I am expected to put into action the things I have learned in and out of the campus. So when the question was put to me, I was supposed to answer no, lest I miss the opportunity of being part of the congress.
My conscience struggled with my mind and my conscience won. I said yes, and luckily, I was still picked as one of the 73 participants after a nationwide search. It was then that I realized that honesty and truthfulness can have good results.
Probably, some people are disappointed by this admission, particularly my mentors. I am a student in development communication (devcom) and yet I plan to work abroad and serve another country instead of my own.
When the executive asked me why, I told him that I could not effect change in my community if I had nothing to offer. Let us face the fact: it is hard to make things happen without money. While it is true that a devcom practitioner has to be with the people and be for the people, it is also a fact that I need money to do such things. To do community work, particularly educating people in the far-flung areas, I cannot always expect to get a subsidy from the government or anybody else.
I also told my interviewer that my first priority is my family and that I need to work and earn for them. However, I do not plan to spend my whole life in a foreign country. After five years of working and saving abroad, I’ll go back to this place and pursue my dream for my own land.
When I was in high school, I envisioned myself as a journalist and as a community worker. Now that I am in college, I enjoy being an advocate of environmental protection. But aside from this, I also have my responsibilities as a daughter and a sister.
I am torn between my dreams and my convictions. I am torn between what I need and what I love. My mind argues with my heart about which is better and which is best, which is more beneficial and which is essential.
If our country could only provide for the needs of our people, probably no one would find himself in such a dilemma. If our country had a lot to offer to its people, probably I would not be in this state of confusion. But who can you blame? Is it the government or the circumstances I find myself in?
I don’t want to be pessimistic about all the things that are happening to me and to our country. I don’t want to linger on the grim scenarios. But I am no longer a child and I know that now I have to deal with the situation as a mature person. I can no longer react like a child when her candies are taken from her. I don’t know what the future has in store for me, but I hold on to my faith that God will never forsake me.
The sad realities of life need to be cured by a positive outlook and a positive response. “The response to pain and suffering is to forget,” Ann Rice says. “Flesh and blood, bodily needs, these are what inspire memory in man. And when these are wholly absent, it can be sweet to remember nothing at all.”
For me to live is to learn and to go beyond what is real, what is obvious, what is evil, and discover why God placed us in the situation we are in. I know that in due time, my convictions and my dreams will reconcile. And the things I love and the things I need will complement each other.
Florence Joy L. Maluyo, 20, is a Bachelor of Arts in Development Communication senior at the Central Luzon State University.
Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top
COMPANION
1st READING
We
all live in hope of the time of restoration and salvation. For
Christians, this is heaven. We prepare ourselves for this gift by
following God's will here on earth and seeking to grow in holiness each
day. John the Baptist forsook all earthly ambition in order to dedicate
his life to preparing the way for Jesus' ministry.
Isaiah 49:1-6
1 Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name. 2 He
made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his
arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. 3 You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. 4 Though
I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my
strength, yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God. 5 For
now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; and I
am made glorious in the sight
of the LORD, and my God is now my strength! 6 It
is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the
tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a
light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the
earth.
P S A L M
Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15
R: I praise you for I am wonderfully made.
1 O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; 2 you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. 3 My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. (R) 13 Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. 14 I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works. (R) My soul also you knew full well; 15 nor was my frame unknown to you when I was made in secret, when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth. (R)
2nd READING
The
Scriptures are full of stories about the lives of men and women who
gave their all in obedience to God's call. Today, it is up to us to
provide a similar witness to a world that needs it more than ever. Are
you up to it? I hope you are. I am sure that God wants to raise you up
as a living witness to His love for His people.
Acts 13:22-26
22 Then
he removed him and raised up David as their king; of him he testified,
'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will
carry out my every wish.' 23 From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus. 24 John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; 25 and as John was completing his course, he would say, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.' 26 "My
brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those others among you
who are God-fearing, to us this word of salvation has been sent."
G O S P E L
John
the Baptist recognizes he is in the presence of the Messiah even while
he and Jesus are still in their respective mothers' wombs. This
indicates a remarkable sensitivity of Spirit that will be repeated
again and again in the life and ministry of John. An example is when he
says, "I must decrease and He must increase."
Luke 1:57-66, 80
57 When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 When they
came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother said in reply, "No. He will be called John." 61 But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." 62 So
they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. 63 He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. 65 Then fear came upon all their
neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. 80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.
my reflections
think:Does the world see God's love through my life?
_______________________________________________________
God's special verse/thought for me today________________
_________________________________________________________
T O D A Y ' S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for:____________________________________
_______________________________________________________
READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR2 Chronicles 1-3
GETTING TO KNOW THE SAINTS
Saint SaBaS
Saint
Sabas was born during the 4th century A.D. As a young man, Sabas
converted to Christianity, serving as lector to the priest Sansala. He
was noted for his obedience, humility and honesty, and his desire to
sing divine praises and toremain chaste.
During
his period, King Athanaric of the Goths began persecuting Christians.
Sabas, an honest Christian, was exiled several times. On one occasion,
the Christians pretended to eat the meat offered to pagan gods. He
condemned such act because according to him, such pretension was still
an act of renouncing the Catholic faith. In another assembly, the
Christians present swore that nobody among them was a Christian. But
Sabas was brave enough to proclaim his Christianity.
In
his final persecution, the king's men, headed by Atharidus, broke into
the house of Sansala. They took the man and threw him on a cart. They
also dragged the sleeping saint over thorns and briars, forcing him
with whips and staves. His naked body bore no bruises, thus, enraging
his tormentors.
In
his capture, when the mistress of the house untied him, Sabas refused
to escape. Instead, he helped the woman dress the victuals for the
family. The next day, he was hung upon a beam of the house. He was
offered meats that had been sacrificed to idols. The man refused,
leading a slave of Atharidus to stab the saint's breast with the point
of his javelin. Miraculously, Sabas was left unharmed.
Saint Sabas was martyred in 372 along with 50 other Christians. His body was tied to a pole and drowned in the Mussovo River.
www.saintpatrickdc.org
www.catholic-forum.com
Saint anicetuS
Saint
Anicetus of the second century was born in Emesa, Syria. He was elected
pope in about 152 A.D. He defended Christianity during his reign for
eight years. According to Gnostics, the physical life of Jesus was
actually illusory and for Marcionists, the Jewish background to
Christianity was dangerous and must be eradicated completely.
Christians also argued on the correct date of Easter. To settle the
dispute, Saint Polycarp of Smyrna organized a conference, which turned
out to be unsuccessful. Anicetus, on the other hand, decided to follow
the Asiatics' Easter celebration, that is the 14th day after the first
moon
of the vernal equinox. Unfortunately, the issue remained unsettled
until centuries later.
According
to some, Anicetus died with a martyr's death around 160-166. His
martyrdom is primarily due to the sufferings he underwent for the
Christian faith.
www.saintpatrickdc.org
Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top
SABBATH
IT IS GOD WHO CALLS US
The
witness of the Scriptures is unequivocal on this point, namely, that it
is God who calls us to follow Him and gives us the graces and gifts
necessary to carry out the work He has given us to do. As a priest, I
am very aware of this process and can clearly identify moments of my
life — usually when I was asking God about what He wanted me to do with
my life — when God spoke quite clearly to me about His will and purpose
for my life. I thank God for this grace as it makes things quite simple
for me when temptations to depart from the priestly way of life come,
and they can come often. I simply look back to those moments when I
heard His
call for me to follow Him and reject the temptation that can divert me
from the right path.
I
firmly believe that God has a plan for each of our lives – it is just a
matter of discovering it. This can be a tortuous path for many,
probably because we bring our own provisos and conditions with us. God
loves us all unconditionally. He loves us with an everlasting love that
will never seek anything butthe best for us. If we truly believe this,
why would we want to put any conditions in responding to His call?
In
the Gospels, we see that the disciples, the apostles of Jesus, follow
Him immediately upon hearing His call. If it is good enough for them,
then it is good enough forus. Following Jesus does not mean our lives
will be any easier than if we follow a worldly path. In fact, it will
be more difficult but at least we will be sure that there is a reason
for this — that we are directly involved in the work of bringing about
the Kingdom of God here on earth. The difficulties of life as a
disciple of Jesus always have meaning to them, a meaning that comes
through faith. The unanswered questions of the sufferings of those who
wander
aimlessly through life do not surprise me. At the same time, I know
that surrendering one's life to the call of Jesus is the only way to
answer those questions satisfactorily. Fr. Steve Tynan
Reflection Question:
Have I identified what God's call on my life is? Don't I think I should do this if I have not already done so?
Holy Spirit, reveal to me daily the will of God for my life so that I will never depart from His holy and perfect will.
St. John the Baptist, martyr, pray for us.
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