Follow me in twitter @momblogger.When I was a little girl, I loved reading books about saints. It must have been their courage and faith which struck me the most. There was even a time I imagined the Virgin Mother Mary to appear in front of me. Sitting on a rock at the back of our house, I prayed, clutching on to the rosary beads and waited for the Blessed Mother …and waited. I may never be a saint but I can try to be good to others and do service to my country.

St. Josemaria Escriva, known as “the saint of the ordinary” is a one saint that most of us can relate to. He believed that we need not do ‘great’ things in order to become saints but rather we must find God in the simplest and most ordinary events in our lives.“There be dragons” is a movie inspired by the life of Escriva. It deals with the inner dragons one must face while making tough decisions in life. The movie centers on Josemaria Escriva and Manolo Torres, two childhood friends who took different paths in their lives due to several reasons. One chose the path of peace and becomes a priest while the other chose the life of a soldier driven by jealousy and revenge. Each struggled to find the power of forgiveness over the forces that tore their lives and friendship apart.

The movie tells the story of London-based investigative journalist Roberto Torres (Dougray Scott), who visits Spain to research a book about Josemaría Escrivá (Charlie Cox), the controversial founder of Opus Dei. A New York Times article cited Heriberto Schoeffer, an independent film producer in Los Angeles and a member of Opus Dei when he first conceived of a film dramatizing the life of Escrivá. “All I wanted is for people to see a good side of him, because so many bad things are said about him and Opus Dei.” Schoeffer mentioned.

I will not be a spoilsport so I will end there and leave the review to a certified movie critic and others at the Review section dragons.ph.

However, let me share a few reflections on my life as I watched the movie.

Loving God in times of grief

A death in the family especially that of a child is impossible to describe in words. The young Escriva asked her mother “do you hate God now?” when his sibling died. The mother tearfully replied that she loved God. Not everyone will react the same manner as Escriva’s mother. Some will question “Why God? Why me? why my child?” in anger. Others will accept their loss as God’s will. How should a believer in Jesus, a follower of Christ react when they are in deep grief? It is so easy for others to say not to question God’s will when they have never lost a child. This is a process that bereaved parents have to go through in order to reach the next stage.

The answers were never clear to me for the first five years after my son’s death. The reason “Why?” unfolded when I earnestly prayed and sought God’s will. I have written about this before that it happened when I sat down on Luijoe’s favorite chair and just like that, I felt God’s presence.

Faith is shown by Escriva in many ways.

Faith is a gift, Escriva tells his disheartened companions, “and God has called us to manifest it in love here on earth. Unwavering love for every child of God no matter who it is, no matter what side, no matter what circumstances.”

There is another scene where a woman catches Escriva praying. She goads him “He doesn’t hear you does he? All this pain and he stays silent. I don’t know how he can allow such thing.” The woman even referred to God as a monster.

Yet the woman said that she loved God which Escriva found odd. “Even though he is a monster?”

She replied. “A woman can love a monster. I fight him with love”.

Just like her, my faith was shaken but in the end, I turned to Him for comfort. I can say the same thing as Escriva did when he uttered, “You were there tonight, Lord. I felt you there.”

God’s world is so full of goodness

“God’s world is so full of goodness,” Escriva says to the Archbishop as he opens a window to showcase the beautiful scenery outside.

There is so much to be grateful and be joyful about.

Did I really think the world is full of goodness? It took some time to realize that and in the end it was a matter of choice. The road from mourning to joy was not easy. Pain is my greatest teacher. Regardless of where the pain comes from, there are always lessons to be learned. Pain from losing my loved ones moved me towards finding the joy. Grief is inevitable but misery is optional. Joy over misery is the path I chose. I tried to find the good in this world, finding the joy in myself, from my husband, friends and family.

Finding joy was tantamount to finding myself.

God’s work

‎Escriva referred to his work as God’s work. Opus Dei — the name is Latin for work of God — “teaches that ordinary work can be a path to sanctity if the believer maintains a demanding regimen of religious practices intended to achieve holiness.” I may not belong to the “Opus Dei” but I believe God’s work lies in each one of us.

When my son died, I wondered why God took my precious boy away when he was so young and full of promise. Why didn’t he just take me away? For a couple of years, I just wanted to waste away and die of natural causes. After a couple of health issues, I found myself, still alive…and wondering ” so why am I still alive?”

There must be some work I have to accomplish.

Bobit Avila in his article, Evil dragons still live within our midst , clarifies the message of God’s work. “Indeed, in the past, the clergy taught the idea that we can only find Jesus Christ inside the church. But St. Josemaria Escriva preached the idea that we are all called to a life of holiness even in our most ordinary work.”

I don’t know enough of the “Opus dei” to write an objective look into it . All I know is the Opus Dei is violently opposed to the Reproductive Health Bill. I have no information whether or not Illuminati shares the views of Opus Dei on the subject of reproductive health interpreted by the Catholic Church as an abortion proposal.

As you might all know, I am pro-life and pro-RH which is part of my work as an advocate for children’s rights and women’s health. It is ordinary work that I took upon myself out of deep concern for women’s health and the quality of life of their families. (more on Why I support the Reproductive Health Bill)

Learning to forgive

The dramatic point of the movie reveals Manolo and his son Roberto in a touching scene where one hopes for a last opportunity of forgiveness.

‎”So many wrong turns in my life,” the dying Manolo told his son. The journalist muses: “When you forgive, you set someone free: yourself!”

How many wrong turns have I made in my life?

A few maybe. Some of these wrong turns were beyond my control. It is not the number of wrong turns that matter now. It is about getting up and moving forward to pick up the pieces. Part of this involved learning to forgive. In learning to forgive and keeping a clean slate, the person I am really freeing is myself.

The capacity of every human being for sainthood

Oscar Wilde once said “Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.”

Even good people have a past. They’ve done things before which were bad. Every one who’s led a bad life still has a chance to do right. Maybe my childhood dream to be a saint is all gone but I can always strive to do good and not commit the same mistakes in the past.

My childhood dream to become a saint may not qualify me anymore but a dear friend reminded me that “the only difference between a sinner and a saint is that the saint stands uo and tries again when he/she falls”.

Nothing can change the past, but forgiveness can change the future.

The director of the movie says this is a story for “every human being” — who feels, who thinks, who has a family, who feels angry, feels the need for revenge, who feels love, wants love or needs love.” Who hasn’t grappled with these emotions? The movie is “100% about humanity” that will surely touch your hearts.

Here are the complete details of ‘There Be Dragons’ Cinemas and Showtimes (MTRCB Rating PG-13).

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Follow me in twitter @momblogger.The Kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift a stone, and you will find me. –”Stigmata”

Like all Catholic schools, Religion was taught as early as First grade. I can still remember my book with images of clouds, and a man in long beard and a dove or was it a bird I forgot how God was taught by the Belgian nuns. I recall God to be someone powerful who watches over me, yet there was some sort of fear of being a bad little girl. In my little girl’s mind, I looked around for God. Where is he?

As the second sibling in the family, I looked up to my eldest sister, Lorna for her words of wisdom. I took her every word, well because she was a year older and knew more than me. Naturally.

I tugged her sleeve. “Do you know where God is? ”

Lorna nodded and dragged me to the kitchen. She pointed to the leftover mango seed on the kitchen table.

In a solemn voice, she said, “When you crack open the mango seed, you will find God in there.”

My eyes widened, “really?”

Her revelation elated me. God is real.

One day, I thought of talking to God. I got a mango seed ad sat by the window sill that overlooked the garden and slowly pried opened the mango shell. As I opened the shell, I felt awed. I found God! My body felt like a balloon as if I was floating around the garden. It was a joyful moment.

My little girl’s heart cried out in gratitude, “Okay God. I hope you protect me. I promise to be a good girl.”

I know this “Where is God?” anecdote is really funny. Lorna laughed as I recounted the story to her. She forgot that she taught me this.

I grew up praying to God every day and attending mass at the Catholic Church every Sundays. It seemed too routine until a friend introduced me to the bible and told me to read the book of John. I just knew that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and everything in the bible was true and good and I wanted it in my life.

Pretty soon I had kids of my own but I made sure that God was something that my children felt in their hearts. It had to start with something more tangible at first.

I see the moon and the moon sees me,
God bless the moon, and God bless me.

As a nursery rhyme, I felt the toddlers understood God to be good. Two of my three children suffered from asthma and letting them understand that “Jesus lives in their hearts” so they would calm down and feel more relaxed in prayer. I also felt that it will heal them faster if they are in a relaxed state of mind.

I guess the real test of my faith in God came when my beautiful son died 11 years ago. Questions soon came:

Where were you God?

Why God?

Why me God?

Every parent who lost a child or a loved one ask these questions. I know now that the feelings of “Why me, God?” are real. My pain is real. The questions form part of the grief process. Well-meaning friends often like to point out not to question God’s wisdom. So easy to say especially if that person has not lost a child.

While God may have seemed distant during those bleak moments of my life, it was God who also showed me the light in the quiet still of the room. As I sat on the Luijoe’s favorite couch, feeling despondent over our family situation, I felt a warm tingly feeling that emanated from within me and then feelings of peace and joy. That difficult journey left me literally with a broken heart but not too broken because why did God give me a second wind in life to make a difference in this mortal world? That light…starting and living a new life without my precious son but still living a good life.

It is these good and bad moments that affirmed that God is good, all the time.

While I continue to believe in His words and His teachings, I may not necessarily find God in Churches , disillusioned and disenchanted as I am with the Catholic Church on its stance with the Reproductive Health Bill… but that is another story.

Today, my new dialogue with God is … “God, this is going to be an interesting journey. I’m excited to see how you are going to bring good out of this one. I trust you will!”

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Follow me in twitter @momblogger.“A part of you has grown in me, and so you see, it’s you and me together forever. Never apart, maybe in distance, but never in heart.”

There are friends that come and go and there are friends that make a huge mark in our lives. It must have been 30 something years ago when a friend gave me a bible. Inside the inner cover, he wrote:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I was young and naive about love. All I knew then was being “in love” or loving my parents. I mean, what did those phrases meant? I loved it though. I kept reading the words over and over again.

Like most friendships, there were good and bad times. I don’t recall it now but perhaps my friend went through a rough period in his life. Before I knew it, we drifted apart. I recall feelings of sadness and hurt…and being abandoned. But those words about love stuck.

Love is patient. Love is kind.

How could I stay mad at this person who introduced me to the Holy Bible, to be open to other religions other than the Catholic faith?

How could I get hurt for long knowing that love does not keep a record of wrongs?

How could I feel abandoned when my friend never left me? The friendship remained in my heart.

My friend left a huge mark on me forever as I often went back to the bible passage on love..as I struggled with my marriage for better or for worse.

By chance, we bumped into each other. It was as if thirty years did not change our mutual admiration for each other. I needed to say one thing. Life is precious. We are getting old.

So I told my friend “Thank you for introducing me to the bible. Thank you for the 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 quote that gave me the courage to continue on loving when loving was almost so difficult”.

We laughed at the good old days until tears streaked down my face from too much laughter.

But that night in bed, I found myself tearing, so touched about the love and the friendship that continued to live on in our hearts.

I believe that life is partly what we make of it, and partly what is made by the friends whom we choose.

Thank you for wonderful friends.

Image from Writings on your wall.——————————-
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Hope you can drop by! Thanks for visiting…Noemi Lardizabal-Dado.

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I do not understand why the good Bishop Oscar Cruz calls it the “Sex Bill 4244″ when it is plainly, Reproductive Health Bill HB 4244.

You know what the Bishop said ? End products of Sex Bill 4244: Promiscuity. Insensibility. Amorality.

Risa Hontiveros delivers a brillant rebuttal to the Sex Bill.

End products of House Bill 4244: Women and youth’s welfare. Choice for couples, a chance in life for people.

Risa adds “Even without the bill, there is promiscuity. “Copulative delight without fear or worry.” Is that an evil thing? Isn’t that how God or the universe envisioned lovemaking? Fearful and worried copulation—is that what the good archbishop desires for couples? Hardly a godly or humane vision. The first topic in adolescent RH and sexuality education would be values formation. ABC: Abstain, Be faithful or monogamous, and Contraceptives, including condoms, would be taught.”

Reality is that promiscuity exists even without the RH Bill. Abortion too. I believe the sexual act will even be valued if these are discussed through sex education. At least for me, that worked. I am blessed to get sex education during my high school years in the mid-seventies together with my mother’s guidance. I have since passed this knowledge on to my two daughters. But how many mothers are like me? Just read through my sex education article to see the dilemma most parents face. Most say they are clueless, fearful, or feel awkward.

I have talked to single mothers and parents with daughters pregnant in their teens. The single mothers wished they had known more about sex and the consequences. The mothers wished they were not too uncomfortable talking about sex education to their children. I will talk more on this topic in another blog entry.

There is just too much obsession with sex that the main essence of reproductive health is lost.

A simple rebuttal to the Sex Bill is easily explained in Section 4 of the RH Bill 4244 .

To Bishop Cruz main point that it is against reproduction is false.

To call it “Reproductive Health Bill” is a big distortion. Reason: the Bill is not “reproductive” simply because it is against reproduction.

The RH bill helps couples with infertility problems.

Reproductive Health Care refers to the access to a full range of methods, facilities, services and supplies that contribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health-related problems. It also includes sexual health, the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and personal relations. The elements of reproductive health care include the following:
(j) prevention and treatment of infertility and sexual dysfunction;

The bishop forgets that even when the Bill passes into a law, the Church can still continue their teachings on the sanctity of marriage, morality and other values to uphold.

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Follow me in twitter @momblogger.“The Day of Judgment is an important notion: but that Day is always with us” Alfred North Whitehead

(Updated- May 22, 10:30 AM ) Is it really the end of the world? There are thousands of Twitter conversations that center on Rapture, the “Judgment Day” that some believe is set for today, Saturday .

“Don’t wait for the last judgment – it takes place every day.” Albert Camus

I often asked this question the past few days. The thought of the last day of the world never occurred to me. Perhaps because I have heard this prophecy many times in my life. OR perhaps the end of the word seemed to happen to me the day my son died 11 years ago. I felt the earth swallowed me up. My mind seemed to be nowhere. Since the loss of my son, I live my day as if it is my last day on earth. No big deal here.

The possible beginning of the end of the world is nothing to ignore to a lot of people but it also means I will be reunited with my beloved son. Not that I want it to happen now but if it does, it is also alright. I can go either way.

Any rapture regrets?

Well, I wished I was more adventurous when I was a teen, not afraid to be a “bad girl”. Then again, I also think that I can still be adventurous later in life but not necessarily be a “bad girl”, just one having the time of her life. There are regrets that are negligible such as not going into sports. Still, all these regrets don’t have to be regrets. They can still be realized if “rapture” does not occur today.

Time zones have now crossed on saturday. How has everyone been thinking ? Some are making light of this through tweeting about their “rapture regrets” or imagining “If Saturday is the last day.”

Sunday, May 22

I am still here. The world has not come to an end. The time 6PM came and went at time zones across the world, and nothing unusual emerged. I noticed Inquirer.net kept releasing earthquake reports in various parts of the country like Iloilo and Isabela. Volcanoes also triggered some quakes (taal, bulusan, Mayon). Life continued on as normal for me yesterday as all days are.

“People are making jokes like there’s no tomorrow,” one of the top tweets said.

Life should be treated a day at a time. The Day of Judgment is important notion to most Christians but that Day is always with us.

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You might also want to read Positive Mental Energy and Affirmations and my other blogs like Free Filipino Food Recipes, Shopping Finds, Pinoy Food Photo Blog and Techie Gadgets. Or Follow me in twitter @momblogger.

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Spoiler Alert ….

Most weekends, my husband and I watch the movies. Today, he felt like watching “Priest” and he says it is a movie about a priest who is for the RH Bill.

I knew he was kidding “Aww really?” I quickly searched for a synopsis.

Apparently, the movie is an adaptation of a Tokyopop graphic novel, Bettany’s Priest with a cross emblazoned on his forehead. The priest tries to rescue his kidnapped niece with the help of her boyfriend (Cam Gigandet), a warrior priestess (Maggie Q, “Nikita”) and a sheriff (Stephen Moyer, “True Blood”).

I love thriller movies but I wasn’t sure if I wanted the horror part of the movie- the vampires. Still, we went to watch it in 3D at Eastwood Cinema 6.

As the movie unfolded with my eyes closed at times, I thought my husband was probably right when he kidded me that the movie is about a priest who is pro-RH bill.

Though the Catholic Church does not say this quote , “To go against the church is to go against God” , I feel sometimes it is implied when the RH Bill is being debated.

In the movie, the protagonist is a good and tough priest and a warrior in an alternative universe. The priest is a metaphor for the fight between good and evil. Even good guys can be corrupted or destroyed by the dark side like Black Hat, the head of the vampires (who used to be a priest).

The good versus evil is also seen in the institution such as the Church in the movie.

The Church was initially good. The Church unleashes “the Priests,” humans with super-human-like reflexes, who drive the vampires into exile. They protected them from the vampires but later on, got corrupted by their own power by invoking their infallibility, “To go against the church is to go against God” .

The head of the church (in the movie) insisted there were no more vampires but the priest didn’t think so. The Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on an obsessive quest to find her niece, Lucy before they turn her into one of the vampires. I will leave it at that so there are no more spoilers.

The movie got me thinking that there are probably many Catholics that are conflicted and/or have left their faith because of disagreement with certain teachings such as Humanae Vitae (Latin “Of Human Life”) , an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and lawful and unlawful ways of regulating birth.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines are still in denial when it comes to the need for the RH Bill. It has always been referred to as “evil” during the homily by some priests.

Priest , the movie just struck me as having so many similarities with the way some bishops of the Philippine Catholic Church particularly the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) are exerting authority over its faithful.

Let me give you just one example out of many. Last April 27, San Pablo (Laguna) Vicar General Msgr. Melchor Barcenas said RH bill advocates are using “tactics of Satan.”

“In this fight against RH Bill, our true enemies are not the people (who proposed it) but Satan. It is the evil that is manipulating the minds of all (pro RH Bill Congressmen) or those higher ups in the world. This is the reason why it is difficult to fight this enemy,” he said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site last April.

There goes Satan again.

Just watch the movie.

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Follow me in twitter @momblogger.”Forgiveness means that we are not going to allow the experiences of the past to dominate our future”

Photo Credit

How often have our loved ones hurt us to the point of saying “I will never forgive ____”? Well, I haven’t ever said that but I did hear others say such line. Being unforgiving carries so much burden to the body, creating undue stress to the heart. Of course, I am often faced with “I’m sorry” now and then but I always take apologies with a grain of salt. Being sorry means not doing the same mistakes over and over again.

I think about forgiveness today because my friend Carlos Celdran is facing trial for allegedly violating Act No. 3815 Section 4 Article 133 of the Revised Penal code. The Church did not drop charges on “Offending the religious feelings” and chose to place Carlos on trial. Perhaps to punish him and teach him a lesson. Make him suffer for his alleged crime. For how long?

Carlos said “the Church is not forgiving me…” Most of us in Twitter felt the Church is quite hypocritical coming from a religion preaching about love and forgiveness. The same church that does nothing to children abused by priests. The church decision to pursue the case speaks much of how they all talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk!

So I am now wondering why can’t the Church forgive Carlos? I will never know what the Church thinks. I am not quite happy with certain sectors of the Catholic Church right now.

I would want to remind the church that forgiveness is not avoidance.

Forgiveness is not merely a soft attitude toward a harsh fact; forgiveness is the vital action of love, seeking to restore the harmony that has been shattered.

Forgiveness is not excusing.

Forgiveness is not denying that the one who has caused the hurt is responsible for their actions. There is a place for making allowances for people’s behaviour.

It is hard for me to hold grudges and that is one reason I am a forgiving person. Though I would forgive a person a number of times, I believe in boundaries. I’d never give anyone the opportunity to hurt me over and over again.

I feel the Church should have come up with a resolution that is acceptable to both sides. Then just let it go.

Letting go means that one is not going to allow the experiences of the past to dominate one’s future and to prevent one from becoming all that God has planned one should become. The Church clergy who were offended by Carlos actions may have unpleasant memories that are hard to forget .

There may well be memories we are unable to put out of mind, but we choose not to allow them to control our attitudes and behaviour in the future, even toward those who may be responsible for those memories.

The lessons of forgiveness holds true even in our personal lives. It does not come easy. In the end, we are the ones who suffer most when we choose not to forgive.

It is a choice, a decision we make.

Have you forgiven someone today?

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Here are the reactions on the church decision to pursue case against Carlos Celdran.

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You might also want to read Positive Mental Energy and Affirmations and my other blogs like Free Filipino Food Recipes, Shopping Finds, Pinoy Food Photo Blog and Techie Gadgets. Or Follow me in twitter @momblogger.

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Follow me in twitter @momblogger.No matter what you’ve done for yourself or for humanity, if you can’t look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?
- Lee Iacocca

I felt so blessed during the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Perhaps because he once blessed my daughter at the Raigiubeleo celebration of the Jubilee for Children at the Vatican on January 5, 2001. It is indeed a blessing that a family member was touched by the Blessed Pope. I was deeply comforted upon reflecting on his thoughts on marriage and family. His teachings made me appreciate the trials and tribulations of our marriage as I recalled our 26th wedding anniversary, two days from now.

Marriage was not an easy journey, but my husband and I held on to our love and vows before God. Our union brought us three beautiful children, two with us to love and hold, the other to dream, cherish and love forever. Our bad times made our love even stronger. We made it this far for better or for worse and that calls for a celebration and a time for affirmation in prayers.

Continue reading at Philstar Unblogged.——————————-
You might also want to read Positive Mental Energy and Affirmations and my other blogs like Free Filipino Food Recipes, Shopping Finds, Pinoy Food Photo Blog and Techie Gadgets. Or Follow me in twitter @momblogger.

How about visiting my Beauty over 50 blog?

Hope you can drop by! Thanks for visiting…Noemi Lardizabal-Dado.

Add me in Facebook by introducing yourself. My facebook is at facebook.com/noemidado

Follow me in twitter @momblogger.Pope John Paul II has just been beatified. I feel so blessed. I prayed for my special intentions already. I reminded my daughter to pray too. She is blessed to have been blessed by the Pope in January 5, 2001.

Only one miracle is needed to start the canonization process of Blessed John Paul II and declare him Saint.. I hope someone gets this miracle not because I want the pope to be a saint but to offer new life to that person. I have been reading up on the Pope the past few days and read some of his thoughts on family life, marriage and his thoughts on contraceptive. While I don’t agree with his stand on contraceptives (I have never used though), I do believe in doing the best to nurture the family. Here are some quotes about family I gathered that may serve inspiration .

“Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family – a domestic church.”

“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”

“The fear of making permanent commitments can change the mutual love of husband and wife into two loves of self-two loves existing side by side, until they end in separation.”

“To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others.”

“The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish.”

‘A family policy must be the basis and driving force of all social policies’.

“A nation that kills its own children is a nation without future.”

“You will reciprocally promise love, loyalty and matrimonial honesty. We only want for you this day that these words constitute the principle of your entire life and that with the help of divine grace you will observe these solemn vows that today, before God, you formulate”

“When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society.”

I may not be religious person or even a devout Catholic but I have taken heart the teachings of the Catholic Church. If you have been reading my past entries, I related the struggles I went through to keep my marriage and family together. I attribute our courage to change by having faith in God.

I have since stopped attending Catholic mass in the Philippines because of the heated Reproductive Health Bill which in my conscience is beneficial to many people. It does not mean I have stopped loving God and believing in him.

I am blessed that a family member is blessed by the Pope.

I am blessed that my son is an angel, who can relay my prayers to God. Oh yes,there have been many instances that my angel has helped me.

This is a blessed day. The Blessed Pope John Paul II is with us all.

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Follow me in twitter @momblogger.“To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others.” Pope John Paul II

Pope Benedict XVI set May 1 as the date for Pope John Paul II beatification, a step toward possible sainthood. Whenever I look at Pope John Paul II, I really feel he is a saint. He just has this serene and holy look on his face that makes him one of the most beloved pontiffs in history. John Paul II’s holiness is obvious.

The only family member to have been blessed by the Pope is my second daughter.

She is blessed to have met Pope John Paul II at the the Raigiubeleo celebration of the Jubilee for Children at the Vatican on January 5, 2001. At that time, the pope was already frail and didn’t have the energy to bless all the kids in the Manila Children’s choir so only two were chosen.

The Vatican surfed for children’s choir right after Christmas Day of 2000 and landed on the website I created for the Manila Children’s Choir. There were not that many websites then for children’s choir. I guess I was lucky that the Vatican found us. The event was a gathering of children’s choir around the world to sing for the Pope on closing day.

The Pope loved music. He once said “I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin.”

It is nice to know that a Filipino Choir will have the distinction of being one of only two groups that will be singing during Pope John Paul II’s beatification. Isn’t that an honor?

I am not too familiar with beatification. I read that a miracle already happened. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who works at a Paris maternity clinic, a French nun says she felt new inner strength and vitality as her Parkinson’s disease suddenly disappeared in 2005 — a recovery the Vatican attributes to the miraculous intercession of Pope John Paul II.

My only intention is that the Reproductive Health Bill be passed this year. Fat chance to get a miracle but I could try, right?

Pope John Paul II holds quite a record. He beatified 1,340 people during his papacy – highest number for any previous pope. On May 1, he’ll become a record himself – the fastest ever person to be brought to sainthood.

Some Catholic theologians disagree with the call for beatification of Pope John Paul II. Eleven dissident theologians, including Jesuit professor Jose Maria Castillo and Italian theologian Giovanni Franzoni raised seven points, including his stance against contraception and the ordination of women as well as the Church scandals that presented “facts which according to their consciences and convictions should be an obstacle to beatification”

The miracle I am hoping is that the Reproductive Health Bill pass despite the anti-RH Bill sentiments of the Catholic Church. I don’t think this is the kind of miracle the Pope will grant. After all, he coined the word “contraceptive mentality” and “culture of death” .

Maybe our bishops in the CBCP should heed the Pope’s call that “You are priests, not social or political leaders. Let us not be under the illusion that we are serving the Gospel through an exaggerated interest in the wide field of temporal problems.”

I will take one of his famous quotes to continue working for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill. “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”

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Hope you can drop by! Thanks for visiting…Noemi Lardizabal-Dado.

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