Jandrea...so far

Photo by Summer Parcon      Wishing everyone God's light in this world we have re-created in our fashion. In our quest to make lives better, we have succeeded in creating mind-boggling technology, new-fangled machines, and jaw-dropping know-how to control nature. We have learned to make use of the earth's resources to such extent that it is now gasping for breath, singing a plaintive woe to its impending demise.       Our hearts go out to the victims of the recent Typhoon Sendong. We scamper around trying to save their Present in hope of giving them a Future. Beyond that, the fury of the storm served to warn us of the devastation waiting to happen in other parts of the world if we don't get our acts together. The darkness slowly enveloping our planet and our country may be dispelled only if remember to bring back our lands, air and waters to their pristine state. It is our moral mandate to bring them back to the state when God first gave us Light and Life!

In 2003, I submitted the following piece to the Phil. Daily Inquirer's contest for readers to write about new Christmas family traditions. Proud to say, this won first prize! (P20,000 worth of gift certificates redeemable at all Rustan's establishments.) I like reading it just before Christmas so that I am reminded of the true meaning of the holidays! This the original, unedited version,  prior to publication in the Christmas issue of the broadsheet.     "Rudolp the red nose reindeer,  Had a bery shiny nose  Olop, the oder reindeer  Use to lap and call him names…” The holidays in my childhood used to be signaled by such Christmas carols sung by the neighborhood kids outside our door. Whenever I would hear the first notes, it was as if a light inside me would be switched on. It was a time of anticipation of greater things to come! But as my world became a little less innocent, I began to hear their off-key strains of song. The musical notes would, in my cynica

2011 Commissioning of members of the Ministry of Lectors & Commentators Holy Family Parish      After wearing a white blouse and and a black skirt almost every Sunday for mass the last 25 years or so, I couldn't find anything suitable in my closet this morning when I could wear something else aside from my lector's uniform.  I was on leave from the ministry in order to attend to other concerns. I realized I had no appropriate Sunday wear. In my closet were only "teachery" stuff. Only week-end gear. I wonder what that says about me? That I am no fashion plate? That I am just being practical by not buying stuff that I wouldn't actually get to use often? Or that my Sunday duties have been so ingrained in my life that it was the only thing that I really cared to dress up for?        Hmmmm... all wrong on the fashion angle! But so right on lectoring being a vital part of my life. It all begun in 1985 when I applied to become a lector/commentator, underg