Veritas PH

The WORD. The TRUTH.

 411 total views

At the risk of being called Father G instead of Father Soc, I am going to tell you about the significance of the letter ‘G’ in my life.

Funny, but I hear many of the young children I deal with occasionally speak of the three ‘Gs’ they discuss in their Science class. They proudly tell me about the “go, grow, and glow” foods. I personally did not study the basic food groups in that manner when I was in grade school. Our class discussed the carbohydrates group, the protein foods, the fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, other dairy products, and fats. These food groups were discussed independently of each other. We were told to eat something from all these food groups for good nutrition and growth.

Comparing it to the children’s simplified “G” version, I suppose the older method sounds a little more complicated and, therefore, harder to recall and retain. Now, children just ask me simply over dinner, “Father, is suman a glow or go food?”

Remembering to eat a balanced diet is easier if we remind ourselves about the go, grow and glow foods. It is definitely easier to comprehend why we have to eat chicken or beef- it is a grow food. If we want to grow, we must eat our grow food. We need the fruits and vegetable groups to make us glow. Since all children like glow-in-the-dark toys, imagine the wonder, awe, and power they feel they will possess if they eat all these glow foods.

“G” is indeed a good letter to work on. I may not have said it yet, but it really is one of my favorite letters. Maybe because the first word that comes to my mind when I hear or see the letter “G” is God, then good, Gospel, great, grand, grace – words that in themselves are superlatives that describe the ideals of life.

These past few months, one other favorite thing I have been working on is the preparation for the launching of the Jubilee Year. I am all excited about this event which will happen on Sunday, December 1, 1996. I am happy and excited because of my own three Gs. I want to share these Gs with you, hoping we will remember what they stand for together. Together, we will remember what we so happily celebrate.

First is gratitude. It is a time for thanksgiving. There are so many things to be grateful for. There is the presence of Jesus all these years. We have to be thankful for getting to know Jesus through the Spanish friars and the 400 years of our Christian faith being nurtured. We have to be grateful for the many blessings we have received in our lives. There are many, and I am not just talking about the personal blessings but the blessings we have received as families and as a community of people. We have to be grateful for the many times we have learned to be happy for others, seeing them so blessed. If we have indeed learned to share in other people’s successes by not begrudging them or being jealous, then that in itself gives us great reason for rejoicing. What a great grace to be grateful for.

Second is goodbye. Certainly, the past is past, and what is finished is done and gone. We must say goodbye most especially to the mistakes of the past. Definitely, we must bid goodbye to the selfishness we have shown our neighbors in the years that passed. We must bid “adieu to all the attitudes and gestures we have had that are very far from the standards Christ has set for us. We must even say goodbye to the division we have started, experienced and lived out as Christians between and among the many churches established. After all, we call ourselves Christians. Does that not imply that we have one great reality, one great person we all have in common? This one person, God-Man, can act as a true binding force among all of us. Why be divided, then? Goodbye to all the many sects; let us be united in one God.

Finally, there is the third G word: Go! We must go out and tell the whole world about the beauty and mystery of our faith. We must go and share the good news, the Gospel of love. We must go and make disciples of all nations. This celebration, this Jubilee, is but a momentary vacation. We will stop awhile and celebrate, but we must go on. After being grateful for all the blessings, and saying goodbye to all the mistakes and sins of the past, we must go. There is work to be done. We can no longer be proud of being the only Christian country for 400 years in Asia. It is something to worry about. If we are still the only Christian nation in Asia, it does not speak well of us. It implies that we have not done our homework. We have not spread the knowledge of Christ and all that He stood for.

What are we waiting for? Yes, let us celebrate. Let us glow with gratitude for all the blessings we have received. Let us grow from here on and say “goodbye” to our sins and past mistakes. Armed with the confidence of a richly blessed life, having learned from our past mistakes and our limiting non-Christian attitudes, there is nowhere else to go but forward. Let us glow with gratitude. Say your goodbyes to all the negativity and grow. Then, please, go, go, go!

Spread the word, spread the joy, and spread the love of Jesus in Jubilee.

‘G’ IS FOR JUBILEE
Jesus Our Light

ads
2
3
4
previous arrow
next arrow

Veritas Editorial

Rev. Fr. Anton CT Pascual

Rev. Fr. Anton CT Pascual

President of Radio Veritas

Bagong mapa ng bansa

 14,841 total views

 14,841 total views Mga Kapanalig, may bagong opisyal na mapa ang Pilipinas. Dahil iyan sa pinirmahang batas ni Pangulong BBM na pinamagatang Philippine Maritime Zones Act. Ang mapang pinagtitibay ng batas na ito ay nakabatay sa mga pamantayan o standards na itinakda ng United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (o UNCLOS). Ang UNCLOS

Read More »

Damay tayo sa eleksyon sa Amerika

 29,497 total views

 29,497 total views Mga Kapanalig, makasaysayan ang muling pagkakaluklok ni President-elect Donald Trump bilang pangulo ng Estados Unidos. Makasaysayan ito dahil maliban sa muli siyang inihalal, siya ang unang pangulo ng Amerika na may mahigit tatlumpung kaso; nahatulan siya sa isa sa mga ito. Siya rin ang presidenteng humarap sa dalawang impeachment cases noong una niyang

Read More »

Resilience at matibay na pananampalataya sa Panginoon

 39,612 total views

 39,612 total views Kapanalig, taglay at nanalaytay sa mga ugat nating Pilipino ang katangian ng pagiging resilience at may matatag na pananampalataya sa Panginoon. Ito ang nagbibigay ng pag-asa, bumubuhay sa ating mga Pilipino na tumayo at bumangon kahit dapang-dapa na, kahit lugmok na lugmok na. Nilugmok tayo ng husto ng bagyong Yolanda, 7.2 magnitude na

Read More »

Phishing, Smishing, Vishing

 49,189 total views

 49,189 total views Kapanalig, ikaw ba ay naghahanap ng “love online”? mag-ingat po sa paghahanap ng “wrong love” sa mga cybercriminal. Lumabas sa pag-aaral ng global information and insight company na TRANSUNION na ang Pilipinas po ang top targets ng online love scams. Ang PHISHING ay uri ng scam sa pamamagitan ng pagpapadala ng emails at

Read More »

Veritas Editorial Writer Writes 30

 69,178 total views

 69,178 total views Kapanalig, sumakabilang buhay na ang isa sa “longtime”(matagal) na Radio Veritas editorial writer na si Lourdes “Didith” Mendoza Rivera noong ika-9 ng Nobyembre 2024. Tuluyang iginupo si “Didith” ng sakit na breast sa edad na 48-taong gulang. Naulila ni Mam Didith ang asawang si Florencio Rivera Jr., at dalawang anak na babae. Nagtapos

Read More »
catholink
Shadow
truthshop
Shadow

Related Story

Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

3 Cs OF MARY

 9,802 total views

 9,802 total views Sunday is the Lord’s Day. Today is September 8, Sunday. It is also Mary’s day. When we have a choice between the Lord’s Day and Mary’s day, the Lord’s day takes priority. That is why the Mass is not the Mass for the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the Mass celebrating the 234th

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

Lord Save Us! We Are Perishing! (Matthew 8:25)

 24,852 total views

 24,852 total views Lord Save Us! We Are Perishing! (Matthew 8:25) Pastoral Letter for the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan to be read as homily for all Masses for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 15 and 16, 2024  Beloved people of God in the Church of Lingayen Dagupan:  The threat is no longer imagined.  It is

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

WOUNDED FOR LOVE

 28,865 total views

 28,865 total views I am sure you know at least one person who has left the Church due to a hurtful experience within it. This individual, once identifying as Catholic, has abandoned their religion because of disappointment with a priest or with people in the Church. Perhaps they encountered a priest who was unfaithful to his

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

ASTONISHED

 55,571 total views

 55,571 total views In one short paragraph, Jesus astonished the people around Him for two significant reasons. Firstly, they were astounded by His preaching. Secondly, they were astounded by His healing. Why were they astonished by His preaching? Because He spoke only the truth. Truth possesses its own power. It requires no sugar coating. It needs

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

ASTONISHED

 56,212 total views

 56,212 total views In one short paragraph, Jesus astonished the people around Him for two significant reasons. Firstly, they were astounded by His preaching. Secondly, they were astounded by His healing. Why were they astonished by His preaching? Because He spoke only the truth. Truth possesses its own power. It requires no sugar coating. It needs

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

GOD DOES NOT LIKE MIRACLES

 56,212 total views

 56,212 total views By nature, we like miracles. When we hear about a miracle or read about it, we rush to the miracle site because we want to experience the supernatural through those miracles. Human beings probably like miracles a lot, but God does not like miracles. That is why miracles happen very rarely. God does

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

DISBELIEF

 56,210 total views

 56,210 total views The story of Zechariah is our story as well. Zechariah received a blessing. We all have been blessed at one point or another in the past. After Zechariah received the blessing, his response was doubt. His response was fear. His response was disbelief. Isn’t that what we often do after we are blessed

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

INSPIRATION!

 56,227 total views

 56,227 total views Once in a while, we come across children who have plenty of toys and children’s books, and yet go to their parents and say, “I am bored.” We see college students shifting from one course to another, not knowing what career path to take, and then they say life is boring. This attitude

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

BLINDNESS

 56,257 total views

 56,257 total views The blind man could not see. That is a fact. Yet, he warns to me that even if he could sense or see with his being, he could not see with his eyes, but he could sense with his heart. That is why he immediately felt the disgust of the crowd. That is

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

BE GRACIOUS

 56,537 total views

 56,537 total views In Grade 3, I learned a poem about good manners: Hearts, like doors, will open with ease With very, very little keys. But don’t forget that two of these Are thank you, sir, and if you please. People who are grateful, people who know how to say thanks sincerely, win the hearts of

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

WHY DO YOU GIVE?

 57,191 total views

 57,191 total views Why do people give? Why do people do good things for other people? Unfortunately, our motivations are not always clear and good. Unfortunately also, we are not always aware of the impurity of our motives. Why do people give and why do people do good things for other people? The first motivation, unexpressed

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

CLAY AND POTTER

 58,933 total views

 58,933 total views Most of us are familiar with the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” The prayer has been adapted by many rehabilitation programs for dependents on drugs, alcohol, gambling, and even

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

RESPECTFUL GOD

 59,921 total views

 59,921 total views Children are expected to respect their parents. Younger people are expected to respect their elders. The laity are expected to respect priests. The priests are expected to respect their bishops. And the principle is—the higher, the more experienced, the older, the more deserving of respect. If we follow the same principle, then God

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

PRAYER IS STRENGTH

 60,346 total views

 60,346 total views Prayer is our strength. Prayer is a strong tool. Where does prayer get its strength? The strength of prayer does not come from the one who prays. The strength of prayer comes from the one to whom it is addressed. In other words, prayer does not become a strong tool because we pray.

Read More »

Latest Blogs

Scroll to Top