Happy September First!

What's the occasion?

None, really. But since it's the First of September, it's already the start of the "unofficial" Christmas season throughout the islands!

People start saving and buying gifts as early as today. You can't blame the Filipino, because once the BER hits the calendar, it's automatically the start of Christmas in the Philippines. :D

Excited much xD

You have something bad to say?

I have read some past comments on the other tabs of this blog. It contains hate speech, connected to the past events wherein people tried their very best to drag me down. Some of the comments directed towards my profession as a teacher.

Hurting as it is, I have no choice but to delete them and move on with life. This should not interfere with how I work and who I really am as a person, as a teacher, as a servant of God.

Fans would always be there. How would you treat them is another story. :)

The 9PMers

The 9PMers on my birthday.

There's a new trend among the students at ICPS. No, uso na palagi yung mga gwapo at maganda eh, it's more of students gathering together to pray.

Pray? Yes.

We call ourselves the ICPS 9PMers. As the name implies, we stop at 9:00 PM to pray for each other and for our school and community in general. We take upon ourselves two powerful ladies as patronesses, Our Lady, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace and Saint Philomena.

The idea of praying at 9:00 PM started in 2005, during our retreat at Don Bosco Batulao. We have decided, as one batch, to pray every night, at 9:00 in the evening, for each other and for our batch in general. While all of us forgot about this commitment, it re-dawned on me after one of our Chapter meetings at the Dominican Laity just a few months ago.

Maybe, I said, this is Mama Mary's and St. Philomena's sign for me. This came after my battle with death, and I embraced this as a simple sign of gratitude from God and these two Patronesses, though they're new to my system, still their intercession to Our Lord is truly beyond compare.

After this meeting, I called upon my choir members and student-lectors, sharing with them my thoughts of setting up a group dedicated to praying for their needs, as well as the needs of their families and of the Church in general. I don't know what made these modern guys and gals say yes, as I expected with the cold trace in their faces that they would reject my offer.

But then, they said yes. And like a mother giving birth to her child, the 9PMers was born. 

We only started with a group of 15, but as days pass we had grown in number, students who were interested not only in the group, but also in knowing Our Lord more.

We sent this photo to the Universal Living Rosary
Association, who sent us this reply of
appreciation. Thanks, Ma'am Patty! :)

They are placed under the motherly protection of Our Lady, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace, they are given a Scapular and a Rosary, which they will pray every single day as a way of drawing closer to Our Mother. They also get to know this Marian title and how she visited our country in 1948 to bring a message of peace and love from God.

As a gift, they are also placed under the intercession of St. Philomena. Their names are enlisted at the Living Rosary Association, and so they receive the Cord of St. Philomena, which they wear everyday, either as a waist cord or a bracelet. The cord is a sign of purity and martyrdom in which the members promise to protect all their lives.

In a matter of days, miracles came in, like Heaven knocking on the door of our hearts. I will tell it on my later posts. 

As of now, there are more students coming, and I was able to fill-in more than 60 slots on my forms. This is a sure sign of things yet to come.

Please pray for these students. :)

I love shirts!

I so <3 tees!!! :D

That's all. xD

#BenteQuatroBITZ: THE BIRTHDAY ESSAY 2014

When was the last time I wrote a Birthday Essay? Ah, it was in 2011, when I was turning 21. It was a big turn for me, since it was my debut. Back then, I was still a college student, months away from the achievement of my dreams. I was at the threshold of life; I was at the portal of a new chapter in my life as a professional.

The year after that, I was already given the chance to start working; I am already in the professional world. Not a kid anymore, I decided to drop things which could attach me to who I was before. Among them, was my yearly Birthday Essay. This blog, which was noisy during my birthday celebration, turned silent during the most joyful day(s) of my year. Unusual, but I see it necessary. 

That was, until a few days ago when a friend asked me to revive it. Searching for reasons in the middle of grades, papers and headaches, I found one interesting reason: the kid in me. Deep inside, I missed what I was doing, and it sparked in me the flame of celebrating life and its experiences. So, here I am, providing my eighth Birthday Essay, with the hope of scoping all my ups and downs this year, of which I would be forever grateful.

Grace After Grace!

It should have been a usual day at school, when someone informed me that my recent entry on our visit to Sr. Teresita Castillo is made the HEADLINE STORY of http://spiritdaily.com, an American resource portal on articles related to the Catholic Faith.

I thank Mr. Michael Brown of Spirit Daily, for this wonderful opportunity of having SB@B featured on the renowned Web Portal in America. Also, to my friends in the Initiative to promote Mama Mary Mediatrix, for their support as I write this unforgettable encounter. Thanks also to the readers and devotees from the Philippines, America and beyond, who took time to read my little sharing on an experience capped by God's grace and Mama Mary's guidance.

I have been blogging for eight years now. This blog and its posts had encountered different ups and downs. I have also considered taking the page down because of low maintenance. But then, little things such as these make my mission of sharing my world in writing a little more stronger. As long as there are people who visit the site and read its contents, I am certain that this blog will be always here to stay.

At the end of this post, I wish to declare as before, that at the end of the day, I am just but the Lord's writing machine. Everything that I write is a reflection of the Lord's grace upon me and upon us. I don't boast every good acclaim, for I know that all these happens as God wills. To Him, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary and Mediatrix of All Grace, do I return all thanks and honor.

BLESSED BE GOD ALWAYS! MARAMING SALAMAT PO!

Beholding the lady who beheld Our Lady

TERESITA CASTILLO. Former Carmelite postulant. Daughter of the former Governor of Batangas. A lady filled with vigor and joy. 

Some might know her as such. But for everyone, she is no-less than the nun who saw the Blessed Virgin for many times in 1948, during her apparitions in Lipa Carmel in the Philippines. At that time, Mary introduced herself as MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACE. This series of apparitions was accompanied by numerous wonders and miracles, above them all the famous shower of rose petals. Despite the decision of the Church authorities in 1951 to the non-authenticity of the apparitions (the declaration can be found somewhere else in the internet), the Filipino still showed his love and admiration for Our Lady which lasts until the present, with hopes that the Church would reconsider its verdict.

Almost all the first-hand witnesses passed away since then. All, but Sr. Teresing. Despite the criticism of people who had little knowledge to the apparitions, who fabricate hoaxes throughout the past decades, Sr. Teresing remained silent and calm. She did not go public, except on few occasions when she was invited to talk on the mystic encounters with the Virgin Mary. She became a low-profile person, living in the suburbs of Manila with adopted daughter Grace and some relatives. Everyone wanted to see her, ask her prayers for many concerns, but her health condition and advanced age made it impossible. For everyone, it was really suntok sa buwan.

But God, in his great goodness, granted me and my friend Migs a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime chance to see and hear Sr. Teresita, in a circumstance not prepared by our strength, but according to His gracious plan. The story surrounding this encounter, for me, is more than a 'meet-and-greet' situation; it's God's will prevailing in every minute, so precious, so unforgettable.