ONE of the essential characteristics of a person is his life of interiority. That is where the world of a person is hidden from the gaze of ‘strangers.’ It’s his world of intimacy, his sanctuary, which he only knows and dwells. It is where he can know himself and enter the depths of his own soul.

We just have to realize that that life of interiority has to be properly rooted and directed. It should not just be left on its own, relying only on one’s feelings at the moment. Neither should it just depend on our natural and sensible world. It has to be rooted and anchored on God and directed toward him, able to enter into the spiritual and supernatural world of God to which we are destined.

We are reminded of this truth about ourselves in that gospel episode where some people told Christ, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” To which he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking around, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mk 3,32-35)

We have to understand then that if we truly want to take good care of our life of interiority, we have to see to it that it is focused on God. It should always be with God. We have to be wary of our strong tendency to simply be on our own, pursuing our own likes and unavoidably falling into self-indulgence, the very antithesis of love, which involves self-giving.

That is why Christ asked us to deny ourselves and carry the cross to counter this strong tendency of ours toward self-indulgence. We should not take this duty for granted. We have to understand that this duty is necessary, and not just optional. It has to be carried out all the time.

Our will and our thoughts should not just be floating around on their own, thinking that it is how they enjoy their freedom. We need to acknowledge that our will is a creation of God and is meant to be united to God’s will since we have been created in his image and likeness. We need to acknowledge the truth that our real freedom is when our will is united to the will of God.

This, definitely, is not an easy task to do, given the fact that it is precisely in our will where we choose whether we would like to be with God, to be part of his family, or to be simply on our own. And given how we handle this issue, starting with our first parents all the way to the present, we always have the strong tendency to think that our will is simply our own.
We have to learn to live always by God’s will. This is a basic truth that we need to spread around more widely and abidingly, since it is steadily and even systematically forgotten and, nowadays, even contradicted in many instances. We need to inculcate this truth to children as early as when they can understand and appreciate it. Then let’s give them the example of how it is lived.

We have to realize that God’s will is the source of everything in the universe. The whole of creation in all its existence, unity, truth, goodness and beauty starts from God’s will and is maintained by it. The entire range and scope of reality—be it material or spiritual, natural or supernatural, temporal or eternal—is “contained” there, not only theoretically but also ‘in vivo.’

How times changed and how things and even concepts had evolved in this time and age.
The perils of an evolving life geared towards the elimination of problems and friction or the erasing of difficulty had been the Hallmark of this generation.
The old school and the old times cannot be brought back and it seems everything is on short-cut and miniaturized.
Take the case of this facebook post ;

Well this is just a hodge podged of rhymes but it t is on point.
One thing that stands and pops out from the back and forth is the label for leaders.
It says Leaders are shameless.
This writer couldn’t agree more.
Clear as day, we knew that our phones had its transformation from the wired landline to the powerful and multi tasked Smart Phone.
We have Microwaves too, fast and easy cooling.
And the food evolved to indecency.
But our children too, obviously became ill- mannered.
And that, our world become the sad reality that we fave everyday.
That we have everday..
Thus, its a good time to reflect, how the miniaturization and the large numbers of sachet mentality in our people affected our overriding mindset.
Did we fail to give discipline and perseverance as vital values , because we have grown focused on what is easy and comfortable?
Read the post again.
And read up to the end.
For now let us accept that there is Irony and the Irony is unrecognize. But there is hope, there is a chance.

By tradition, Filipinos believe in Resolutions pronounced at the advent of a New Year – 2023 definitely marks a NEW BEGINNING to mankind, life style, beliefs, focus, and challenges.
Truly, pandemia has played (continues to date), a big role that helped shape and reshape human lives from year 2021 and succeeding years. Resolutions after resolutions were crafted by men and women in Planet Earth.

As mentioned earlier, Covid-19 that instigated living in the pandemia shrouded world – never mind if you were young or old, rich or poor, male or female, white-skinned or colored – viruses are undiscerning.

The imprint left with humanity and society could be summed up into health and economy problems – millions of lives lost and many countries economy impoverished. Lives lost are beyond replacement, banished from the face of the earth; while economy could be revived, could recuperate, but time dictates the pace to recovery to both problems.

In the Philippine setting, government efforts to hasten and effectively implement solutions to health problems are met by sectors of society defying, resisting from undergoing simple free vaccination (vaccines wasted due to the absence of ‘takers’, poor to no sufficient storage facilities , and expiring of Vaccines shelf life, etc.); while financial recovery is hampered by individuals who would rather tinker with peoples’ money, instead of helping judiciously spend it for a designated and worthy purpose.

MY COMMENT:
Briefly and most specifically for the Philippines, I believe that the common denominator among the Filipinos expectations for 2023 are sustained solution to food security problem, curbing inflation and toning down prices of basic consumer items, e.g. fuel and fertilizer costs, providing jobs with corresponding just compensation, and continued peace and order with good governance, corrupt-free and highly motivated workers in public and private entities.
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Have you ever heard of teachers whose ATM cards are nowhere in their handbags, but are possessed by loan sharks? Well, it’s not a joke. It’s truer than the truth. A lot of teachers in the field who are just dependent on their salaries for subsistence are drowning in various loans.

The implication of this is simple—teachers’ salaries do not suffice in meeting the high cost of living nowadays. It is true that, based on the record, the teachers’ wages have been raised several times over the past years and decades, but still, they are not enough in defraying household expenses. Why?

First, the increases are not that much. They are merely minimal amounts being added to the originally low salaries. They are hardly felt. Yes, there are increases, but what are they if they do not significantly augment the meager pay? It turns out that, these increases are just in name, just for a show, to justify the promises of politicians who perhaps vowed in their campaign sorties that they would raise the teachers’ wages to win the latter’s votes.

Furthermore, lifestyles nowadays demand so many things to spend money for. The bills just accumulate, with due dates to observe. And if they’re not paid on or before the due date, penalties are given. If a teacher, for reasons of catching up with the demands of her job such as the need to have laptops and cellphones with high mega-pixel cameras, will attempt to secure all these, then these would be added bills to pay for. These numerous expenditures multiply especially if one lives in an urban area.

The high inflation is another reason why teachers’ salaries do not suffice. The cost of commodities is frequently increasing. This partly explains why salary increases don’t make much difference, because they just cover up the new increases in basic needs. I never forget that time, way back in 1997 when we relocated to Tacloban when the price of an LPG tank was merely 150 pesos apiece. Now it’s more than a thousand already. And it’s not just the prices of commodities that are soaring high—passenger fares and other services are following suit.

If only the prices of goods won’t go up, perhaps there is no need for pay hikes. But since, now and then, prices are endlessly increasing, there needs to be a constant salary increase that should be effected. If not, if such frequent salary increases are quite bothersome, just affect it in a one-time, big-time scheme so it won’t preoccupy the policy-makers. The point is, salary should increase preferably every time the prices of goods and services go up. That’s to be fair to lowly teachers and workers in general.

Unfortunately, increases in wages hardly come. And when they come, they’re just too minimal, and mostly given on a staggered basis. As a result, the underpaid teachers could hardly cope with the soaring cost of living, hence their resort to loan sharks just to meet their financial obligations, particularly those that cannot wait, like electric or water due dates. They no longer hold their ATMs; it’s in the possession of loan sharks, who are preying on them and holding their cards captive. Poor teachers, indeed.