Grateful for the New Year, World!!!

Advocacies, Family and Friends 27 comments

This holiday season gave us that wonderful opportunity to bond together and recall all the love and friendship we enjoyed the past year. It was a good a time to renew relations, and reach out to our neighbors, our relatives and friends. It was an opportune time to show gratitude for all the blessings we now enjoy, after all the trials the world has been through the past year. We are thankful for the gift of life, the gift of simple joys, the gift of family and friends, especially now during these tragic times brought to us by this pandemic.

And so, to all our friends out there, here’s a simple message of glad tidings and brotherhood to one and all. Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s to a better year ahead for all of us!

But even as we count our good fortune, let us not forget to share them, expecially with those who are in dire need today. The world continues to confront so many natural or man-made tragedies today. We have the pandemic which continues to sow fear in us with the new variant, the Omicron. We have man-made conflicts all over the world which have orphaned many of our brothers and sisters, causing untold bloodshed and agony. We have had natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods and most recently, Super Typhoon Odette, which hit Central Philippines and has been such a thorn, leaving many families homeless and destitute.

As we celebrate the coming of the new year, let us all remember our brethren who may not have been as fortunate, those who may not be as similarly situated. Let us offer a prayer for them; let us commit to help them in whatever humble way we can; let us pray that they too be provided the peace and prosperity that each one of us deserve.

Allow me then to open the year 2022 with a fervent prayer. From St Francis of Assisi, a poignant prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled, as to console
To be understood, as to understand.
To be loved, as to love
For it’s in giving, that we receive
And it’s in pardoning, that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying, that we are born…
To eternal life. Amen.

Have a wonderful new year, everyone! Let peace and love reign in our hearts.

Cover photo courtesy of PNA News. Pictures courtesy of ABS-CBN News, Philippine News Agency, Onenews.ph, Remate and Udenna.

27 comments

    1. Thank you, my friend, for the encouragement. Rest assured we will not despair. Our people are a resilient lot, and we shall be on our feet once again. Have a wonderful and progressive year ahead!

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    1. Guess this goes with age, Don. We’re working on sending relief goods to our province of Bohol. Really hit bad by the storm that I had to evacuate the kids to Manila in the meantime. Take care, you guys!

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        1. You can google “Typhoon Odette Relief operations” and choose from the different agencies there. So many islands were hit by the storm, so there are many agencies working on them. Thanks for the concern, Don. How are the Blazers doing? any new players?

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          1. The Blazers are a mess. Besides their new coach and several players being hit by COVID protocols, CJ McCollum has been out the last several weeks with a collapsed lung (should be back soon) and their record is terrible and their play lackluster. They have become a boring team to watch with poor ball movement and mainly isolation play.

            The Blazers need to be blown up with nobody including Dame, CJ and Nerk sacrosanct. Otherwise, we will be seeing them struggle to make the playoffs and if they get in, only make it to the first round.

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