My Cup of Tea

For several decades now, TIME, one of the world's most prestigious magazines, is annually honoring individuals from diverse cultural background, group or even idea and object, that has done the most to enormously influence the world in a year. It has some shares of controversies though. In 1982 the public, and even the whole world, expected STEVE JOBS of Apple to be named Person of the Year due to his revolutionary innovation on personal computing but the magazine named "COMPUTER" as the winner instead, and in 1936 when a commoner woman, Wallis Simpson, whom the British royal family extremely detested, won the accolade. Simpson, who was never fully accepted by the royal family during her lifetime and was never granted an official style of Her Royal Highness (eventhough she legally married the Duke of Windsor), stirred the mystical world of British monarchy and created an almost constitutional crisis when she formed a romantic relationship with King Edwar...

Long Live Pope Francis! His election surprised everyone, including me, I thought the Cardinal Electors would choose someone younger as advanced age was the center of Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, resignation, not knowing that this person as a Cardinal has a remarkable background and inspiring lifestyle. A day after he was elected, the official site of the Vatican published a detailed story about his life and why he chose to reign under the mystical name of Francis. It was only then that I understood why God allowed him to win the Papal election. The Conclave follows a very sacred process of casting votes with a severe punishment given to those who will be caught divulging details of the conclave, it's the best-kept secret process of the centuries old existence of the Catholic Church and Vatican Palace, known with its legendary secrecy, made sure no one will eavesdrop at the sacred deliberation. Each Cardinal elector will be under oath before God and the Holy Bible upon e...

As the Roman Catholic world continue to wonder why the 265th Vicar of Jesus Christ , Pope Benedict XVI, suddenly resigned, I treated it as a signal of a beautiful, promising outcome of the universal church. Though I was stunned with the Pope's decision not to finish his term, I respected it anyway. The pope's strength continue to decline and at 86 this year, his mental and physical health could no longer endure the stress and pressure associated with being the supreme head of the universal church. READ HERE THE REASONS WHY THE POPE RESIGNED I will continue admiring Benedict XVI and his devotion to uphold the traditional, conservative practices of the Roman Catholic Church and I will forever grateful with his effort to fight and defend the church and humanity against tyranny and immorality its laws and apostolic ministry and obeys the mandate instituted by the Roman Pontiff. Since 2013 has been declared by him as Year of Faith, I am strictly observing the true e...

Three days after Vatican Palace officials announced the impending resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, a list of possible contenders for the next Vicar of Christ and Successor to the throne of St.Peter was released by leading newspapers in the world. The Conclave  (gathering of cardinals around the world to elect the next pope)  is believed to occur in the middle of March this year. The only people who can elect the next pope are Cardinals also called the Princes of the Universal Church. The   Papabili  or potential Popes mentioned came from different countries. Although no specific criteria had established by the Vatican to choose the next Pope, the ideal candidate for the next Roman Pontiff should always be someone who has the competence and devotion to spread and promote international understanding, peace, solidarity, Christian values, good news of the gospel and someone who can staunchly defend and uphold the scriptural traditions, practices and laws of t...

Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th successor to the throne of St. Peter, Supreme Head of the Universal Church, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Head of State of Vatican City, Bishop of Rome, Primate of the West and God's Messenger of Peace and Unity. At the age of 78 during his election to Papacy in 2005, he was one of the oldest Cardinals to become a Roman Pontiff and the first to resign in almost 600 years since Gregory XII in 1415 Still reeling in shock on the unexpected resignation of the beloved Pope... I am extremely devoted to the Roman Catholic church and very loyal to its teachings and traditions. Despite the transformation of society to modernity and recklessness and amidst the emergence of fundamentalists who lured weak Catholics to their groups, I remained faithful to my religion, following the conservative approach of Catholicism. I grew up accompanying my father serving our parish as a lay minister and had seen him all my life rendering his unselfish service to the churc...

We had a very fruitful recollection last January 5 at Eden Nature Park, Toril, Davao City. It was facilitated by Rev.Fr. Russell Bantilles. In his lecture, he emphasized the true essence of Catholic faith and how everyone must understand the depth and value of being Catholics, of being faithful to the religion and to God. Well, I grew up in the province, in an environment where Catholic faith is the center of our daily lives. My father had been serving the Catholic parish as a lay minister for more than 50 years now. I was taught basic catechism early on and had followed religiously all those teachings. The words of father Russell rung true, it was genuine, I admired his effort to drill to everyone's head the true value of being Catholics, of being Christians. I agree with what he had said, that a genuine religion cannot be measured with the speaking charisma of a pastor or a speaker, it's on how he speaks for the truth and on how his preaching manifested the true val...

FYI : Christmas season starts on the 25th of December (and not September) on the birth of Jesus and ends on the Feast Sunday of His baptism (after the Epiphany). In the Catholic calendar, Feast Sunday of the Epiphany, better known as the Three Kings, falls on the first Sunday after New Year ( regardless of date). Advent season starts on the first Sunday of December and ends on the 24th day (Advent means preparation on the birth/coming of Jesus Christ). We had our annual recollection last January 5, 2013 at Eden. It's called "Christmas Recollection" because Christmas season has not yet ended. This was the second time that our recollection was held at Eden, the first time was in November 2008. With Juvy I'd come to visit Eden three times already. The first time was in 2001 with some colleagues. I noticed nothing much has changed with the place's structure and amenities. No amusing facilities, the old cable swing (I could not understand why they called it...

I greatly admired the late beloved Pope, John Paul II, he was such an inspiration and considered him as a perfect role model in my life. Since he died last April 2005, not a day goes passed without thinking about him, his influence, compassion, kindness, deep humility, his unique devotion to Catholic faith, and how he had shaped the world with his crusade about solidarity, unity and peace. He was considered as one of the most effective God's messengers of peace ever sat in the throne of St. Peter. He strongly opposed liberal theology, abortion and any form of destruction of human life. He was the first and only Pope who visited Mosque and Synagogue. During World War II, he worked as a laborer in the quarry maintained by Nazi and helped many Jews escaped from death, thus, he was very familiar with sufferings and sacrifices which helped him carried out his mission effectively as Vicar of Christ. Pope John Paul II, according to an interview with his biographer, Georg Wiegel by Ti...