THIS is what we can learn from that gospel episode of Christ driving those who converted the temple into a market place (cfr. Jn 2,13-25), which is the gospel reading for the Mass of the 3rd Sunday of Lent. We need to develop this zeal because otherwise our heart can only be captured by earthly things that in the end would lead us nowhere.

With respect to the things of God, be they churches, liturgical items, sacred books, sacraments, means of formation, etc., we should see to it that there is that constant zeal that would let us consider them as our real treasures. Anything that would undermine these things should stir in us some passionate reaction to defend, protect and uphold them.

We should be wary of that common tendency of ours to be just casual about the things of God. Christ himself warned us about this danger when in that gospel cited above, he said, referring to those who claimed they believed in him, that he did not believe them.

“But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature,” says the gospel. He was referring, of course, to the fickleness of our human condition. Thus, we should be wary of this fact of life and do our best to do something about it.

Indeed, we need to exert effort, we need to educate our feelings and emotions, training them to consider the things of God to be our most precious treasure, for which we should be willing to sacrifice everything else when necessary.

In our relation with God and the things directly related to him, we have to involve not only our spiritual faculties but also the basic element of our humanity which are our feelings, our emotions and passions.

Our Catechism tells us that our emotions and passions are “movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not to act in regard to something felt or imagined to be good or evil.” (1763).

As such, we can say that our emotions and passions play an important and crucial role in our life. And that’s why we have to take pains in forming them well. We just cannot be complacent with this responsibility.

In fact, the Catechism tells us that our emotions and passions are “natural components of the human psyche; they form the passageway and ensure the connection between the life of the senses and the life of mind.” (1764)

Our emotions and passions therefore serve as a link between our body and soul. They are where we materialize what is spiritual in us, and spiritualize what is material in us. As such, they create a rich texture in our lives. They create the consistency proper to us as a person and as a child of God. They also help to give focus on our judgments, modulate our will, and add sensitivity to our reasoning.

In other words, they play a decisive role in achieving a happy and fully human life. They contribute to achieving the full potentials of our humanity. But given the wounded condition of man, our emotions and passions need to be purified and thoroughly educated.

They should not be allowed to just develop at the instance of our hormones and instincts, for example, and the many other blind or short-sighted impulses and trends in our social, cultural, economic, or political environment. They need to be reined in, to be guided and given direction.

It is grossly wrong to be calling the People Power Revolution as EDSA. The latter is merely a highway where the final blow to topple the dictator was staged. Better still to accord the historical event as People Power Revolution because calling it EDSA conveniently delimits the struggle to that event that happened in that famous highway and effectively excludes the supreme sacrifices and struggles of all the unnamed and faceless heroes across this Filipino nation.

The celebrations for the past two decades had been concentrated in that small piece of land named EDSA and never once in the wider planes elsewhere all over this country. The limited celebration has practically placed in the dustbin of the forgotten, those real heroes who really fought the dictatorship to regain our lost freedom and democracy.

We have been captivated by the big event so we lost sight of the essence of the long struggle. It is really inaccurate to celebrate the People Power Revolution as a mere EDSA incident. The portrait of opportunists who sneaked through the thick crowd that converged at EDSA just to grab the limelight at the hour of victory is simply revolting.

Those who managed to be at center stage to be acclaimed heroes were in truth the cowards who holed themselves hiding in fear at the most dangerous moments. These are the people who defected from the dictator but instead of leading the people in confronting the enemy, they hid in fear and called on the people for protection, only to come out when the despot had flown away in defeat and claim credit as heroes of the peaceful revolution.

The true spirit of that People Power Revolution is now being waylaid by the very people who shamelessly grabbed power and the accolade of that historic event. It is indeed a catastrophic landslide of misfortunes to have one doubtful leader who rose to power by the second staging of People Power desecrate the spirit of that peaceful revolution.

A déjà vu of the evils that People Power defeated in 1986 confronted the Filipino people as a doubtful president was catapulted to power by the second staging of People Power because the leaders who are but mere opportunist pretenders had waylaid the true spirit of the first People Power Revolution.

With the namesake of the dictator at the helm of power, the annual commemoration of the first People Power Revolution had been set aside, this year not even a declared official holiday. It will eventually flushed into the sewage of a corrupted public conscience, chiefly because the true People Power Revolution had not been sustained as a nationwide celebration of freedom, justice, peace and liberty but a limited event among a few remnants of the people that converged on that highway called EDSA.
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Oxymorons may be something that has been old fashioned for a long time and lay dormant for a while but it has resurfaced to be an important inspiring stories.

Grammarly blog define it as : An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory words with opposing meanings, like “old news,” “deafening silence,” or “organized chaos.” Oxymorons may seem illogical at first, but in context they usually make sense. An oxymoron is a literary device that juxtaposes contradictory terms. Oxymorons are often used poetically as a way of bringing out a fresh meaning in a word or phrase. Like a paradox, an oxymoron is what’s known as a “contradiction in terms,” although oxymorons and paradoxes are two different things, as explained below.

The word oxymoron is an ancient Greek word, which translates most closely to something like “sharply dull” or “cleverly stupid.” In other words, the oxymoron definition is itself an oxymoron. (https://www.grammarly.com/blog/oxymoron/).

For now having passed the difficult Bar Examinations and the Board: Licensure Examinations for Teacher we have a Blind Lawyer, Blind Teachers.

Michaerl Palisoc Morano, Nerikka Escario are just two of the Blind people who had surmounted the Board Licensure Examinations for Teachers, Mark Anthony Dulawan Emocling though just visually impaired, is the first one to pass the Bar with said condition.

In my youth I have known Carol Catacutan, the Pinay Dubbed as the Philippines Helen Keller. Carol is a graduate of Ramon Magsaysay High School (RMHS), Espana, Manila, Batch ’83. She completed a degree in European languages then pursued a Mass Communications course and graduated Cum Laude from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, QC. Carol is a professional writer, teacher and one of the founders of ATRIEV (Adaptive Technology for Rehabilitation, Integration & Empowerment of the Visually Impaired). She’s writing teleplays including her life story, entitled “Liwanag”, which appeared on ABS-CBN television show, “Maalaala Mo Kaya”, hosted by Charo Santos and portrayed by Claudine Barretto.

Carol is a contributing writer to various national magazines in the Phlippines including the Sunday Inquirer Magazine and wrote romance novels. She was the anchorwoman at Radio Veritas. Her successful accomplishments are beyond compare.

https://mlvla65.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/while-theres-life-theres-hope-feature-article-at-the-age-of-15/).

Overall, these highlight reels of achievements are worthy of the attention that they are getting. For one, these are inspiring REAL stories that creates hope and push the human spirit breaking the barriers of disability and attaining a fighting chance like normal mortals . It showcased grit and stamina and even persistence unheard of with the many whiners out there.

According to a well-known pair of denim jeans’ commercial, these are inspirations that are always in trend. These, in my opinion, are preferable to the depraved oxymorons we encounter frequently, such as police-criminals, teachers-predators, legislators-lawbreakers, etc.
There is promise in these oxymorons.