The Hand of God

How does God communicate to each of us? Several biblical figures have communicated with God in one form or another, through a bush, with messenger angels, and of course in His human form Jesus. Jesus is the closest we have ever gotten to see God in His full glory. We cannot see God and live but we could of course commune with Him.

We should feel lucky when we know that God is communicating with us. This Sunday, I had the chance to attend mass in a chapel that I didn't know existed right outside the Mariner when it is docked in LA. And this whole week just turned out great for me and my work. I don't know how much clearly can God be talking to me than that. That He, is a big part of my life and that He is the captain and I'm the ship. Thank you for maneuvering me to You.

For the Dolphins?!

I was shocked last week when I was late for dinner one time and I chanced on the mess' closing time. I saw that all those food left in the bins, never been touched, some almost filled to the brim, the cakes were all thrown into one big bin to be thrown! All that food to waste... I was deeply saddened. A lot of people in the Philippines don't get to eat three meals a day and here was all this food getting thrown out. I asked. They told me that they used to land the food and gave it to charity but when somebody's tummy got bad they blamed the company and the ship so the company just opted to stop giving away the leftover food. I must emphasize that this food is clean, it's not the leftover from the plate. It's leftover from the buffet. That's so sad. It makes me want to eat a lot but I guess all I can do is not waste the food that I got and consume everything on my plate.

Se7en Years!

I just noticed I've been writing here since May 2004. wow... seven years... I've never committed to anything this long... ^_^

Happy Anniversary Blog. Happy Anniversary Reader (which just might be me ha!)!

Fitting One's Life in a Suitcase

When I saw 'Up in the Air' I wondered how George Clooney's character fit his life in a suitcase. A small one at that. Little did I know I'd have to solve that problem myself.

I haven't talked about it yet before I didn't want to "count the chicks before they hatched" y'know. But well, it's been hatched and now they're chickens I guess. I applied for a job I saw an Ad in Facebook. Ok. I officially love Facebook now. The Ad said: "Work as a Cruise Ship MD." I told myself: "What could I lose?" I was a new doctor, they'd never accept me. It turned out they were looking for people to work in a new program. A big spa company currently with branches in 16 cruise lines will be starting to offer medispa services onboard. Botox and dermal fillers. I submitted my resume and in a total surprise that had me running our upstairs hall waving up my arms, they accepted me. God loves me.

I was asked to undergo an interview with their manager and the medical director. It seems they liked me. They accepted me right? I got to prove they were totally right accepting me. This is a super opportunity for me. The thing I love about this job the most is that I will get to travel and see countries! How is that not divine intervention?! God really knows how to surprise me and tell me (with a personal touch) that He loves me.

The Amazing Race Chris Alipio Edition then began. Lucky me I had just renewed my passport. Passport renewal by then was a burden with a scheduling waiting time of one month. One more evidence of divine intervention. Lucky me again UST is efficient in paperwork. I got my CAV (a document authenticating my diploma and transcript) in the exact 7 days they said it would get done. Feedback from other universities was 1 month processing time! I breezed through the NBI. The big trouble for me... I had no previous employment. And I needed that for the POEA and the US Embassy. And then yet again by divine intervention, I had just worked with Makati Red Cross by then so that clinched it! The only requirement that took a lot of time was undergoing the Basic Safety Training required for all seafarers regardless of their job onboard.

I enrolled and attended the BST (I've posted photos from it from a previous entry) meeting two more of the doctors that will be leaving with me. It was mostly boring. The teachers were incompetent. They wasted hours and hours teaching nothing but bullshit really. The only fun part was the practical exam where we had to jump from a 15 feet height into a 14 feet deep pool (with a lifejacket), swim to a liferaft, climb without assistance, then fallback from the liferaft into the water. We then had to swim one lap of the pool without a lifejacket. I almost drowned when I bumped into one of my classmates and both of us were disoriented. Hahaha. I think I'll just voluntarily drown myself at sea if that happens. Why waste effort fighting. Hahaha.

We put out a big indoor fire and learned how to use fire extinguishers to put out smaller fires. I learned a big lesson. When you see a fire... don't just grab ANY fire extinguisher to put it out. You MUST know how to use one and WHAT KIND to use in each kind of fire. Each class of fire has a specific fire extinguisher that will work for it. You could end up making the fire bigger if you mistakenly used the wrong one. That was a big bummer. Highschools should require firefighting lessons for all its students.

This exercise of processing all my paperwork to work overseas educated me in one important lesson. Adult life isn't for the fainthearted. It certainly ain't for ignorant people. You'll get eaten alive by sharks out there. You have to fight for your rights at every line, every government agency, every office you go. If you are not assertive or if you are too soft, you'll get stepped on, cut through, or ignored. One more important lesson: most of the people left in this country especially those working in the government are either super-inefficient or incompetent. Couldn't we give our heart to our work no matter how small it is? This is exactly why I think Gordon will do good for our country. We could use a little push on our work ethic. And he is a very good example of good work ethic which most people mistake for abrasiveness.

And so now I leave after I vote (I had to vote. It is my responsibility.) and I still can't figure out how to pack my whole life in 1 suitcase, 1 gym bag, and 1 backpack...

Jesus is a Seed

"as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualise; all that God has prepared for those who love him"
-- 1 Corinthians, Chapter 2:9

Easter Sunday in Santo Domingo. The father friar spoke of Jesus resurrection comparing it with two other terms commonly mistaken or associated with it - reanimation and reincarnation.

He explained reanimation by giving examples. Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead he says was NOT resurrection. Lazarus rose to the same life, being the same person as he was before he died. Also he raised two more people, the only son of a widow from Nain (Luke 7:11-14) and the daughter of the religious leader Jairus (Mark 5:22-43. Both in the same light as Lazarus. Same Person. Same Life.

Reincarnation is the belief of Hindi that you are reborn back on the earth based on the deeds and how you lived your life. You can be reborn in a better state or caste or be born something repulsive like a cockroach.

When Jesus was resurrected, His disciples and even Mary Magadelene at first did not recognize Him. He resurrected. He WAS Jesus yet He was also something more. He ate. He mingled. He was still himself yet He was something more. Something that is not subjected to the limitations of human life. And this is the life he promises us in His second coming. Father Friar said St. Paul explained this better in 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 by giving an example. We are like seeds. When we die, we go into the ground only to rise up into something great. A corn plant is the same as from where it came from, a corn seed. Yet still something better. St. Paul continues that through one man, Adam, we all died, and it is only right that through one very special man again we should gain life.

My Future Saint

One thing that excites me the most is to call the now Venerable Pope John Paul 'the great' Saint. I have a special devotion to him and pray that he becomes a saint in my lifetime. I have made an online tribute to him at http://giovannipaolomagno.blogspot.com and I hope you visit it and read the interesting things I am also finding out about him.

Jesus is a Light Bulb

Earlier, I think Jesus was talking again. "You can be like this, maybe even better." I've been imagining being myself as someone who would do exactly such a thing - using props. Explaining today's gospel, the father friar explained Jesus' transfiguration simply yet rather magnificently... Jesus is a lightbulb. When someone who doesn't know what a lightbulb sees it, what will they see? Something round, rather elegant... fragile, but what did it do? Is it something special?

Plug it in and you see a miracle... there is something about it... there's something special about the round thing... only you don't see it all the time. Jesus said I am the light of the world and the darkness will not overcome me... but when His physical self went up to heaven did the light go out? No, said the good priest, no... we are the light of the world now (showing a row of christmas lights) we are the small lights that Jesus left to be the light of the world and for each other (then plugging the christmas light to the big light bulb)... but in order to be something special and glow we must be plugged into the big light... Jesus. SIMPLE. MAGNIFICIENT. AWESOME.

It is really different hearing mass from an O.P.

Thank You

I passed on my first try. I am deeply contented and thankful. It is only through God's hand that I made it. I know so. No question. Not even half of the people who took the Physician Licensure Exam passed. Why? There are serious issues to that exam, really...

1. Questions are sometimes vague, sometimes you seem to have a feeling that an "except" at the end of the sentence is missing.
2. Questions that cannot be understood at all. They should hire typists that have a health background. I think the board of medicine write down their questions on paper and typists encode them because I see all the mistakes non-medical will have when reading material by medical people. You will just shake your head when you see... SIMBASTATIN - I really doubt a doctor will mistype/misspell that LOL
3. The questions do not represent the intended objective of the exam - i.e. to test what a general practitioner should know. A micro exam which solely focuses on STD. A patho exam laser pointed to immunology and nephrology. It's biased.

As an individual acquainted partly to education (I'm almost certified to teach HSBiology in the U.S.) I can say that the greatest contribution/sacrifice the board of medicine can do for medicine is to learn/retrain on how to make correct, meaningful, objective-based, and that can be evaluated.

Sigh... Thank you Mama Mary. You are the greatest. Venerable PJPII, St. Rita, St. Jude, St. Thomas, Father Dominic thank you for your intercessions. Br. Jon, SJ thank you for your special prayers!

The morning of thursday (the PRC announcement came thursday evening), I was in Piat praying to Mama Mary to help me and my friends, the gospel was... "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened..." I immediately knew Mama Mary interceded for us. She was just talking to me as direct as She can. I'm just amazed at the unsubtle signs she has given me. My specific prayer prior to the exam for Jesus to please send His Holy Spirit - I was surprised when our testing site (College of the Holy Spirit) was announced, I didn't even knew our country had such a school LOL... a person's request on youtube for me to record a song I didn't even know but when I read the lyrics I knew it was Jesus talking to me... right after the test... Huwag Kang Mangamba... everything moved by His divine hand. Amazing. I am Yours my Mother and Brother Jesus. I am your soldier. And I will stand on the ramparts proclaiming your amazing blessings on your poor poor servant.

This is for my Mom and Dad who has sacrificed so much to bring me to where I am.

Deboto

No more appropriate time to introduce Tagalog in my posts than now. Yesterday, mom and me went to quiapo church to hear mass on the last day of the novena to the Black Nazarene. We chanced on Bishop Teodoro Bacani officiating the mass and I like what he said.

Sabi niya, may dalawang klase daw ang deboto ng Nazareno. Una, and deboto sa Imahen ng Nazareno na dumarating lamang tuwing piyesta at nakikihila sa lubid at kailangang makalapit at makapunas sa imahen. Ang ikalawa ay ang deboto sa Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno mismo. Mga taong nanalig kay Cristo, dumadalangin at nakikinig sa mga pangaral niya.

Paano nga ba maging tunay na deboto sa Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno? Tanong ni Bishop Bacani: "Ano ba ang ginawa ng Poong Nazareno para sa atin? Hindi ba pinasan niya ang krus ng paghihirap para sa ating lahat?" It goes to say that if we are the real kind of devotees, we try to emulate his example and carry others crosses and not give our brothers and sisters crosses to carry for us. People who get drunk become crosses to the wives they go home to, to their families who have to take care of them. People whose cigarette smoke become a burden to their neighbors. Wiping handkerchiefs and professing faithfulness to the Image of the Black Nazarene doesn't compare to people who live their lives like him.

Nuestro Padre Poong Nazareno, Hari ng Langit, Aming Tagapagligtas, maraming salamat po sa lahat ng mga biyaya. Ipinananalangin ko po Nuestro Padre Poong Nazareno na sa taong ito iligtas niyo po ang inyong mga deboto sa kapahamakan. Samahan niyo po sila sa paglalakbay para gunitain ang inyong kalbaryo. Gabayan niyo po ang mga magiging pinuno namin para maging katulad niyong maging magandang halimbawa sa amin.

The Duggar Family House Guidelines

1. Always use soft words, even when you don’t feel well.
2. Always display kind actions and joyful attitudes, even if you have been mistreated. Have the right response by quickly forgiving others in your heart even before they ask.
3. Always be enthusiastic and look for opportunities to praise others' character.
4. Always deflect praise and be grateful to God and others for the ways they have benefited your life.
5. Always use manners and be respectful of others and their belongings.
6. Always do what is right, even when others may not, or when no one is looking.
7. Thank God for how He made you, for what He has given you and everything He allows you to go through. (Romans 8:28)
8. Don’t mock or put others down. Develop compassion and pray for others.
9. Never argue, complain, or blame. Quickly admit when you have done wrong and ask for forgiveness (even if you were only 10% at fault). Don't wait till you’re caught. Be sure your sins will find you out. He who covers his sin will not prosper, but he that confesses and forsakes it shall find mercy.
10. Have a tough accountability/prayer partner to daily share your heart with and to keep you in line (your parents, spouse). The power of sin is in secrecy.
11. Be attentive and look for ways to serve others with sincere motives and no thought of self-gain.
12. Think pure thoughts (Philippians 4:8, Romans 13:14).
13. Always give a good report of others. Don't gossip! Never tale-bear unless physical harm will come to someone. (Use Matthew 18.)
14. Never raise a hand to hit.
15. Never raise a foot to kick.
16. Never raise an object to throw.
17. Never raise a voice to yell.
18. Never raise an eye to scowl.
19. Use one toy/activity at a time. Share!
20. Do your best to keep your surroundings neat, clean and organized.
21. Never let the sun go down on your wrath. (Don’t go to bed angry or guilty)
22. Amendment J.O.Y. -

Put Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last.

The duggar family (http://www.duggarfamily.com/) is the star of the reality show 19 and counting. They have 19 children and are financially stable and self supporting even before their show started. The children are home-schooled. they are devout christians and is somehow now a model family. They defy their seeming potential for chaos by their sheer number by their good faith and principles in living. I can only hope that my family, present and future, be like them -- hahahaha not their number (well why not) but their success in the way they raise and teach their children.

The Three Wise Men

Fr. Alarcon's sermon yesterday, on the feast of the epiphany, put emphasis on how the Magi are called to be "wise." He asks, "Ano ang pagiging Pantas?" (How is one called wise?). He shares that for one to be called wise, one must have two things: Knowledge and Experience. He continues... "a fresh graduate applying for a job may be knowledgeable, but he is not wise, for he doesn't have the experience of someone who has spent years in the company. A newly wed couple may be knowledgeable on marriage, but they don't have the wisdom of those who celebrate their 25th, 50th or 60th wedding anniversary."

Why do we need to have wisdom? To fully grasp Christ's teachings. We don't only need the knowledge Catechism teaches us. We need the experience to understand them. The wise men were considered wise in their time because they knew how to interpret the stars. It was the science of their times. They knew something important was happening and sought the mysterious light. They didn't only know something was happening. They lived it. They experienced it.

What did Matthew say about the Magi? Matthew didn't mention there were three but mentioned that the Magi from the east bore three gifts . Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Symbolizing the three roles Christ was to undertake. King, priest, and the ultimate sacrifice. Tradition gave us the names. Caspar or Gaspar, Melchor, and Balthazar.

The Magi had the tenacity to seek out Christ. Similar to us, we don't know the exact path or formula to discover Jesus, we only have but a simple guide that lights our way. In our way are a lot of Herods tempting us and tricking us to hand over our salvation. May we like the Magi keep our eyes on our target. Seeing Jesus and someday kneel at the foot of His throne to bear him the gift of us.

In The Time of Your Life

I would like to share this as a thought for the New Year... Reflect...
(Paraphrase as read by BJS)

In the time of your life, live... Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding place and let it be free and unashamed.

Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption.

Be the inferior of no man, or of any men be superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself.

In the time of your life, live—so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.

-- William Saroyan

Reflections on a Year Past

One thing someone has to start practicing is reflecting more often. At the end of each day looking back on how your day has gone, rethinking what things one could have done better, reflecting on words we've said, how we have shown our appreciation of our brothers and sisters. I admit, I have yet to learn to do this more often. For me, it comes and go depending on my mood. What makes me happy is that I realize that I reflect more if I had a great day rather than when I had a sullen one. I think it has helped me cope with frustrations better. It's easy for me to forget and let go of bad experiences simply because of, that. I forget about them. They only become a scar in your psyche if you acknowledge them. Don't get me wrong. We MUST learn the lesson taught but we mustn't wallow in the experience.

At the end of the day, remember how we opened our eyes into new opportunities, given to us by God. A new day to live, to love. A new day to be a servant to our neighbor. A new day for humility.

I read back to the year's start to see what my thoughts were this time last year. I found nothing. Hahaha I'm not surprised. This blog is more of reporting what I've been doing socially but is scarce with what I really think and more often (I admit) it's in the most edited version. This year, I commit to share my thoughts more openly. Acknowledging that I may be able to help others by letting them see how I live my life in happiness. This time last year, I was still an intern. Now, I still am one, waiting to take the licensure exam that will give me the right to treat. I pray God gives me His Holy Spirit to guide me in the exam and as I treat others. May He fill me with the compassion that my teachers has so tried to embed in me. And more importantly may He let me be an example and witness to His goodness and influence other doctors.

I should've. I should've not. The question is moot on my taking the exam last August. I've reflected on this already. Had I passed and was in residency during Ondoy, our house would've burned down. I feel blessed God decided I be home during that time. And I can't exchange the love I've found in all the mess ^_^ This was God's plan for me.

For next year. What do I want? I want this country to work. For the people to get up and start working and not just criticize. Criticism is important but criticism must come from people who are involved. I love something I read in the newspaper: "if you can't lead a thousand, lead one." We don't need to be elected to help building our nation. I keep thinking that maybe Japan did good by closing their country for a hundred years, maybe we should do that. Learn to live with what we have and reexamine ourselves, who we really are.

This early on, I'm going to say. I will vote for Mr. Richard Gordon for president and Mr. Jejomar Binay for VP. Both are successful local executives in the past. I pray they will win and can do for the country what they have done in smaller scale for their communities.

A toast to all for more happiness, love, and freedom from all worries in the new year and the years to come! Happy New Year everybody!