5 posts tagged “charity”
Today we had the La Naval feast in Angeles City in honor of our Blessed Virgin Mary....Angeles City has survived many crises including the Pinatubo eruption in 1991...and managed to stand again after 1991 with the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary our Queen and God Himself....The people in Angeles City never forget to give back whatever they have to the Father....
Angelenos continue to show their faithfulness to God....Most of the well to do Angelenos are involved in charity work....They knew how necessary it is to really be responsible to those who needed their support....not only in Angeles that we can see generous Filipinos....but also all over the Philippines....so I'm proud to be a Filipino....
I was so happy to have seen how Filipinos help each other in times of need....Many Filipinos have suffered from the back to back typhoons we've had just recently, there were flooding, landslides, mudflows in some of our provinces and cities....but as Filipinos we decided to join hands to help those who have suffered from such calamities....
There were however some of our kababayans who were victims of typhoons and other calamities who said some of them were never rescued when they needed the help of their fellow Filipinos....For me the worst thing we can do to others who needed our help is when we we don't do anything to help them....and to those who never cared if their kababayans will suffer or not....
The crises we are experiencing right now like the flooding, landslides etc.are due to our being inconsiderate of the welfare of others....although some were really concerned of others ,some would not mind even if they had to sacrifice nature just to satisfy their personal interests.....God said we are all responsible of each other....So if you did some actions against the welfare of our kababayans.....you should change for the better....On the other hand doing nothing when you know you should have save someone's life....then you should change for the better too....
Joey Velasco is a Filipino artist who gave so much hope to the lives of those street children he painted in his famous Hapag ng Pag-asa....
Why Hapag ng Pag-asa?....Joey Velasco was moved by his work that he made great efforts to help those street children he used as models in his painting....At first he just used them as his models , but God knocked on his heart and he searched for them, fed, and clothed them ...Now they have been sheltered by Gawad Kalinga....an organization helping people suffering from poverty....Here is an excerpt from the book...."They Have Jesus" written by Joey Velasco....
They Have Jesus
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Foreword (by Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila)
A dinner table reveals a lot about hunger, manners and relations. Who sits near the host, who serves the guest or who cares for the youngest, all these are made known at the family dinner. More than taste, meanings are associated with what one eats or even on how one sits at the table. Friendship, old ties or the loss of it are suddenly recalled when diners meet, and the passing of food is enriched with stories and sharing of familiar knowledge and feelings. Surprisingly some meals are taken hurriedly, thus crumbs fly and the meaning of the coming together is lost. In the Israelites’ flight to safety at the night of the great escape (Exodus) the surprise of running away left the people with many experiences unexplained; symbols were lost, as people fled in fright. Thus many more meals will be celebrated in order to get to the meaning of their paschal meal. And “one of your children will ask you, what does this ritual mean?” Tell us that some meals have become so private and solitary that no one asks a question? What do we eat? Where’s the patis? Who’s coming to dinner? The art of conversation and telling stories has already been lost at many dining tables. More than enjoying a repast, a diner has need to reveal other wants. Every child diner at the hapag reveals a story of more hunger than a plate of rice could satisfy. Onse, a nine year old lad, for example sits at the hapag ng pag-asa, his plate cleaned to the last crumb, but he listens still to feed his other hungers as a cart-pushing scavenger whose father is a drug addict and the mama is a club strip dancer. At the table of the Master, Itok, the eleven-year old bread winner, another cart pushing scavenger, whispers that he has gone number of times to jail after having been caught in a number of thieveries. What hunger and desires did this talented scavenger bring to the feet of Jesus and those who believe in Jesus? A Christian community is fittingly disturbed as it watches the masqueraded struggle between good and evil, between wealth and poverty, between greed and compassion, power and weakness as played in the lives of these children robbed of innocence and security of an ordinary growing youth. Around the table were young people, including one whose hurt dug deep into her heart and completely erased whatever dignity a young girl had. Much misery is hidden behind the faces of the hapag children whose lives are further shrouded in the destitution of cemetery shack-dwellers and pushcart lodgers. Is the hapag still waiting for food, or are the poor young diners announcing a different hunger that makes young and old, rich and poor, the educated and the ignorant equally famished for nourishment that only love could satisfy? The artist Joey Velasco’s portrait of the young asks us more questions about ourselves rather than probe the hapag children. Rather than ask “why” these young people live in such an unkind and violent world, the challenge to the beholder of the portrait should be “how” in a Christian community the poor children could be helped out of such misery. Pope Benedict XVI in his first encyclical letter, DEUS CARITAS EST, reminded us that the essential core of communion, at the heart of love, remains the same: “within the community of believers there can never be room for a poverty that denies anyone what is needed for a dignified life”. (DCE, 20). The hapag is not an accusatory portrait. But the reality of the shacks under the bridges and the tunnels of homes along esteros, or the slums among the tombs from which many more young ones come, challenges every believer in the Christ who loves the poor. “How” can we be Christians to them? Can a good Christian, a true lover of Jesus, be without compassion for the poor? Welcome this portrait into your own and make the dining table serving life not just a table of hope, but isang HAPAG-IBIG or hapag ng pag-ibig.
In addition the book was entitled "They Have Jesus" because Joey Velasco was inspired by one who viewed the painting and said to him that "No they weren't actually unfortunate or miserable....They have Jesus.", this viewer had said to the artist....
Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God..... |
There was an old man who begs on the street yet I find some people so kind to him maybe because there's an effort on his part to sing to those who pass by the street ...At least we can consider him as an entertainer as well isn't it?....Though I had wished that he could be singing somewhere in a more convenient place rather than on a sidewalk....and that he has a family who takes care of him....
While we were passing by, the old man was trying to check his microphone because I think it has no battery anymore....He said "hello...hello" many times but it has no sound anymore.... And without losing hope he still sang probably his fave song in a much louder voice^^.....
Though he may have entertained people with his singing and maybe he felt that's the only way for him to survive, still the sight of that man singing on the sidewalk haunts me in a way coz he reminds me of a father or a helpless grandfather who should be taken care of......That's why I always say that every family should unite and take good care of each other.....
Whenever I see some helpless people that's when I felt how blessed we have been.....Let's not forget the people who exert effort despite the hardships they face in life.....Let's follow Christ.....We've got to make our own sacrifices....exert more effort to unite our families and love our brothers and sisters.....Let's wipe the blood and tears from Christ' face so that there will be less helpless people on the streets who beg for our love and compassion.....and we will not be haunted by those suffering faces every now and then.....
It's gonna be 40 days to go before Christmas^^.....In the Philippines people get so excited and they make early preparations for it.....whether in schools, offices, shopping malls, markets, restaurants, hospitals, you will see Christmas decorations already to some as early as September....
There are also those who are into charitable acts when this season comes....Recently in our school....we had just been adopted by some foreign missionaries from the US and Canada....and even with our own kababayans....
It's really different when this season comes....Although some of us may have some personal hurts or problems .... those things will be offset as we feel love and charity ruling the season....
Though there are some news that really saddens us like there are some kababayans and even other nationalities who lost their jobs in foreign countries because of global economic problems....and we know how badly they needed jobs in order to sustain their families....and the fact that Christmas is getting nearer... but ofcourse we must not lose hope and trust God always....
I was also touched by what happened to my fellow teacher's Mom who had a stroke and suffered from loss of her memory and speech...It was really heartbreaking.....though I can see how strong her Mom is and how my co teacher dealt with this problem with so much faith.....I know they will be fine.....
There was also this news of a brave British teenager who refused to undergo heart transplant.....She reminded me of my late father who did the same thing....There are so many miracles that could happen or had happened in this world...We just have to understand what is going on to appreciate them....
I want to thank God for giving me loving parents a daughter or a son could have, and for giving me someone who I consider very special for she gave me unconditional love.
It happened one day, considering then that she isn't a relative or a close family friend but just a concerned neighbor of ours, when she asked my parents permission to help me financially in my studies and let no one know about it except my family. They told her she was most welcome and made them the happiest parents on earth.
We were then financially unstable because of my late father's disease and my parents too much generosity.They could have been financially stable back then coz my father had a really good and worthy job but he chose not to be coz like I've said he was too generous and loving that he never in his entire life saved for himself but gave all that he had to his relatives, to the needy, and his own family.
He was very hospitable that even when he was already sick, whenever someone visited him he made sure that the person would leave with a pot of roses or flowers with them (he was a lover of plants)as a gesture for visiting him coz we couldn't give food or money anymore as we used to do to those who usually visit us back when were still stable.
My beloved benefactor probably had known my family's generosity that she chose me as one of her beneficiaries in her long list of philantrophic acts.
During my four years in college almost all my needs were provided by her. She didn't ask us to repay her rather told me to do to others what she did for me, and I did in my own humble way.
She was awesome, wonderful, one in a million.
Two days ago I had a long conversation with her. She's still the same person I had known years ago but much older now. No matter how old she is I still love talking to her. She remains selfless and generous as ever. I just hope I had made her proud of me coz I feel l have a long way to go to do what she had done for me.
To you Ima I am forever grateful and I love you...
