Wow. Just wow!

Last night was one of the rare nights(sana please huwag namang magtampo yung mga iba...pag puede, puede, pag hindi, hindi) I was able to go to a wake, and it turned out I knew three more people "there" besides the person I was "visiting".  Four(4) people.  2 of them are younger than me, including the one I was visiting.  Should I say "were"?  I don't know.

Among the four, I was aware that two of them passed on(my compadre, Jay, and a priest, Fr. Jorge H. Carao), but the other two came as a shock.  The youngest of them all was just two doors away from the one I was there for last night.  I really had no idea that he went ahead.  I hugged his mother tightly.  He was ONLY 38 years old.  He called me Até, and...

His mom was so disheartened.  She couldn't understand it, but there was some sort of acceptance of God's will in her eyes.

It's hard.  We go to Church, receive different kinds of formation "locally", and from elsewhere. We know things in "theory", but still our hearts are broken when someone close to us dies.  Yes, we are well aware that we are just pilgrims in this world, and when our journey here ends, another one begins...the one we, well hopefully, all aspire for...

Sigh.




Yes, we know...we know that, but we still cry...we don't understand why.  Yes. Everything's about the GREATER SCHEME OF THINGS, but still...

I am still grieving for my brothers and my eldest "immediate" nephew, Mico...I know they are in a better place...I could only hope that they went straight to heaven...

I was accused of being O.A. because I kept on liking or loving the "condolences" given to the bereaved family of my compadre, but I was thinking of the kids...they are still too young to lose a dad...I was thinking of his wife...I was thinking of my sister-in-Christ(his big sister), and his mom, my "frenemy"(lambing lang) et al...they can't understand how I truly feel inside, and I don't owe them any explanation.  Naikwento ko nga lang to a few people last night, pero di ako mag-e-explain...bahala sila kung ano ang gusto nilang isipin. Sa utak ko inaway ko sila, pero sa utak at puso ko, pinatawad ko na rin.  Di ko lang talagang mapigilang mainis.  

No matter what we do, and yes, I am talking about all of us, there will be people who would only notice things that are weird...things that are seemingly wrong...things that are seemingly out of this world.  They would hate us for no reason at all, and they would magnify every fault we commit.   We can't have our every waking moment focused on THEM.  We don't live for them, even if we are indeed connected with each other.  We should care for everyone, but we shouldn't care about what their opinion of us are.  

Even so, we should also live a life that would be pleasing to God.  We may sin, we may falter, trip, or fall, but the important thing is that we should reconcile,surrender, and heal.  Let's surrender everything to God, and He will do the rest(one of the reminders of Fr. William Ramos last night...he concelebrated the parish novena mass along with our Parish Priest, Father Steve Villanueva).
Speaking of reconciliation, Fr. William talked about a person with a scrupulous conscience.  That person kept on confessing the same sins EVERYDAY, so what he did was, as advised by his brother priests(well he talked with his brother priests...I don't remember if he decided this on his own after careful thought or they suggested it), to give that person a penance of not going to confession for one year.  One time that person approached him and said, "362 days more, Father."  Wow.  I never met a person who looked forward to the Sacrament of Reconciliation with exhilaration. Gosh.

Speaking of the said sacrament, he also talked about the long lines in Baclaran.  Healing starts while you are still in line and as you patiently(take note, patiently) wait for your turn. 
Well, I think I better cut this short, but I'll leave you with this song: Thanks, everyone, for taking time to read this.