The day another fuel price hike was announced this April, I noticed something telling: more “FOR SALE” signs on car windows than usual, even in my own neighborhood. That sight says it plainly—this is not just about oil prices, and it is not as simple as people giving up on cars. Something deeper is shifting in how we think about ownership, cost, and convenience.

Oil price hikes are the loudest culprit, of course. In the Philippines, weekly fuel adjustments have become a kind of national ritual—gas stations changing numbers like restless clocks. Every increase quietly rewrites a household budget. A full tank that once felt routine now feels like a small financial decision, almost a debate with oneself at the pump. But blaming fuel alone misses the bigger picture. The cost of owning a car has been creeping up on all sides—maintenance, insurance, parking fees, and even traffic itself, which wastes fuel and time with equal cruelty.

I have come to see that traffic, more than fuel, is the silent persuader. In cities like Cebu, where the roads seem permanently under siege by congestion, a car can feel less like freedom and more like a beautifully engineered cage. You spend for it, you maintain it, you fuel it—only to sit still, inching forward with a patience you never agreed to develop. At some point, people start asking a blunt question: Why am I paying so much to go nowhere slowly?

Then there is the rise of alternatives, which people once dismissed but now quietly embrace. Ride-hailing services, motorcycles, carpooling, and even the occasional return to public transport have become practical choices. They are not perfect—far from it—but they shift the burden. Instead of carrying the full weight of ownership, people now pay only when they need to move. It is a subtle but powerful change in mindset: from owning mobility to accessing it.

So, is it wise to buy a car now? Only if you are very sure why you need one. Not want—need. A car still makes sense for families, for those with unpredictable schedules, or for people living far from reliable transport routes. But buying one today without a clear purpose feels like signing up for a long-term expense in a time when flexibility is becoming more valuable than possession. The romance of owning a car fades quickly when confronted with receipts.

Regarding those selling their vehicles, I don’t view it as a surrender. In many cases, it is a rational decision—a quiet recalibration of priorities. Letting go of a car can mean freeing up cash, reducing monthly stress, and choosing a lifestyle that fits current realities. There is no shame in that. If anything, it shows a kind of clarity that many people resist until it is too late.

For prospective buyers, the question should not be “Can I afford this now?” but “Will this still make sense a year from now?” That difference matters. Fuel prices may rise again. Traffic will not magically disappear. Urban living will likely grow more complex, not less. A wise buyer today thinks beyond the showroom and imagines the daily grind that comes after—the parking hunts, the repair bills, the slow crawl of rush hour.

The best option is not a single answer but a careful balance. For some, it may still be owning a modest, fuel-efficient car. For others, it could mean relying on a mix of transport options and letting go of ownership altogether. What matters is honesty—about one’s needs, one’s habits, and one’s tolerance for cost and inconvenience. The road ahead is not just paved with asphalt anymore; it is paved with choices, and not all of them require a car.

WE have to be more familiar with this Christian doctrine about our divine filiation. Simply said it means that through God’s grace which he gives us, we become adopted children of his, sharers of his life and nature, without erasing the distinction between God who is our Father, the Model and the Keeper of such identity for us, and who is the creature.

We also have to realize that this divine filiation is actually meant for all of us. It is not reserved only to a few people or to some special kind of men and women.

To enable us to receive this grace and to become adopted children of his, God created us with a spiritual nature, endowed with intelligence and will that would enable us to know and love him. The ideal condition for us is to always have an intimate and constant relation with God.

This ideal condition was once expressed graphically when Christ described the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me,” he said. (Jn 10,27) In other words, for us to live out an authentic spirit of divine filiation, there should be some kind of synchronization between God’s will and our will.

We would always follow God’s will, regarding such disposition as the perfection of our freedom. To be sure, to attain such setting, we would need a certain discipline that would involve practices like prayer, recourse to the sacraments, deep knowledge of the doctrines of our faith. There is also need for continuing ascetical struggle and conversion, and the ability to discern the things of God amid our varying earthly conditions.

In short, we can truly say that we have a healthy spirit of divine filiation when we can honestly, accurately and with conviction say that we are doing nothing other than the will of God. Somehow, we can echo the words of St. Paul when he said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2,20)

This may sound like something impossible to achieve, but with a strong faith lived consistently in our life, that impossibility can become not only possible, but also real. We should just train ourselves to feel at home with this incredible truth of our faith.
In this regard, we should try our best to go beyond our natural self without abandoning it, to enter into our supernatural self which God is offering us. For this, we have to live the Life in the Spirit.

That is to say, our life should be animated first of all by the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God that makes us children of his in Christ, making us “alter Christus” (another Christ), since Christ is the pattern of our humanity. It should not be a life animated simply by natural elements and principles.

Somehow, we can say that we are living the life in the Spirit when we can see in ourselves the fruits of the Holy Spirit as mentioned by St. Paul. They are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal 5,22-23)

Yes, in spite of the varying conditions of our earthly life, in spite of the many challenges and trials that we are going to encounter here, we can manage to enjoy these fruits. That’s when we can say that we are doing things in synch with God’s will and ways. That’s when we can say that we are truly living as children of God, that we have the mark of divine filiation!