LET’S hope that we give due attention to this basic duty of ours of how to be docile to the abiding promptings of God through the Holy Spirit. Let’s remember that God is our creator and we are his creatures. As such, God and us as creator and creatures can and should never be separated.

Why? That’s because God as our creator is the one who gives us our very own existence. He can never be absent from us because, otherwise, we will lose our own existence. The creator cannot be absent from his creature, since not only does he give existence to his creature but also keeps it. Without the creator, the creature ceases to exist.

So, every creature, from the smallest to the biggest, from the inanimate to the living, from the material to the spiritual, from the natural to the supernatural, etc. has God in him or in it. That is why we can say that God is everywhere.

God as creator of all things governs all of his creation by giving each of them their appropriate law with the view of ultimately giving glory to the creator. By creating the universe, God as creator has no other purpose than to share in varying ways what he has with his creatures. And the bottom line is for the creatures to be united with the creator, giving glory to the creator in their own way.

In our case, since we have been created to be God’s image and likeness, sharers of his supernatural life and divine nature, we have been endowed by him mainly through our spiritual powers of intelligence and will so that we can know and love him.
That is the proper character of our relation with our creator. And since God is infinitely above our nature, God gives us his grace so that we can achieve what we on our own cannot—sharing his very own life and nature.

This giving of grace is something gratuitous to which we have to learn to correspond properly. Said another way, God is actually always intervening in our lives, giving us direction of how we should pursue our lives, not only from time to time but rather all the time.

This is where we are told that God through the Holy Spirit continues to send us promptings so we can act and be as children of God, sharers of his life and nature, even while here in our temporal world.

That is why we need to learn how to discern and to be docile to all these abiding promptings of the Holy Spirit in our life. Christ himself said it very clearly. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (14,26)

We have to understand that the Holy Spirit perpetuates the presence and redemptive action of Christ all throughout time, with all the drama, vagaries, ups and downs that we men make in our history.

We have to do everything to keep this awareness of the Holy Spirit’s abiding interventions in our life alive and operative. This duty and task are not meant for some special people only but rather for all of us. And this we can do if we try to keep ourselves always in the presence of God, constantly asking him and consulting him.

“Oh, Holy Spirit,” we may start asking, for example, “how should I understand this thing that is happening to me now, how should I react and behave, what are you trying to tell me in this particular event and circumstance, etc.?”

Threats to the family are aplenty that we cannot and must not just rely on authorities for protection. Children of school-going age need parental care and protection more than what authorities can provide. We know too well that authorities could only provide limited supervision and protection to school children. School authorities can only oversee school children while in the confines of the school premises.

Beyond class hours and outside the school campus, we cannot expect school authorities to still be responsible for school children. It is the responsibility of parents to do their share in providing care and protection to their children after school. While there are police authorities providing school safety and protection, they too can only do so much of their task within the area of the school.

Reports regarding students being duped into vices and other undesirable activities by peers must be a cause for concern among parents. These problems are prevalent among high school students who are found in groups that engage in off-campus activities. These youthful students call their groups as fraternities and sororities. Observers however consider these groups as gangs for they do not have the characteristics of real fraternities and sororities.

All that these groups do are nefarious activities like forcedly collecting money from hapless students who are threatened with harm by the gang. In other instances, these groups engage in misguided activities. They do not have any clear purpose than enjoy the company of their gang doing what they want to do afar from the sight of their busy parents.

Students of this generation seem lacking in parental guidance and influenced by misguided elements of society. We are aware how peer groups take primacy among the influential factors in the life of students. It poses to parents the great challenge of combating the evil forces that drag students to misguided activities. We cannot rely on others, not even authority figures, the care, protection and guidance of our children.

But we must give attention to the factors that lead to the way students behave today. We may unconsciously be allowing our children to take misguided paths. A lot of media blitz from television programs require parental guidance but parents simply do not care providing children the needed guidance.

In school, values education is part of the curriculum but matters like children’s rights and related topics on freedom and privacy sometimes go offhand, giving the students the wrong notion of independence and less respect for parental guidance. In their eagerness to assert the rights being taught in school, students often go beyond the parameters by totally excluding parental guidance in the vocabulary. The indoctrination of wrong and misguided values by the media and worse, the school, are the unwitting cause why students are falling into unwanted and undesirable activities. All these may still be traced to seeming lack if not the utter failure of parental guidance.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the world. From automated machines in factories to apps that can answer our questions instantly, AI is everywhere. While it’s exciting, it also raises a concern: What will happen to our jobs if AI keeps improving? Instead of fearing it, we, as Filipinos, can see this as a chance to grow and adapt.

AI may be great at doing repetitive tasks, but it can never replace what makes us uniquely Filipino—our creativity, malasakit (care for others), and strong bayanihan (community spirit). These qualities are perfect for roles that need human touch, like caregiving, teaching, or problem-solving. Let’s focus on what machines can’t do: being compassionate, innovative, and resourceful.

In this fast-changing world, we need to keep learning. Just like how jeepney drivers are learning to use modern payment systems, we, too, can learn new skills to keep up. Courses on technology, like coding or digital marketing, are now more accessible, even online. But it’s not just about tech—developing skills like communication and teamwork is just as important.

AI doesn’t only replace jobs—it creates new ones, too. Think about how vloggers, online sellers, and app developers now thrive because of technology. By being open to change and thinking creatively, Filipinos can find new ways to earn and succeed.

AI can be a powerful partner if we know how to use it. For example, doctors in the Philippines now use AI tools to help them diagnose diseases faster, but the final decision always needs a human touch. Instead of seeing AI as competition, we should see it as a tool to make our work easier and more efficient.

We embrace AI, we should also make sure it’s used properly. AI should serve people, not harm them. Let’s push for fairness and inclusivity, so everyone—whether rich or poor—can benefit from these advancements.

AI is not here to take away our jobs; it’s here to challenge us to do better and think smarter. If we embrace our creativity, keep learning, adapt to opportunities, and use AI wisely, we can not only survive but thrive in this new era. Remember, the Filipino spirit is resilient—kung kaya natin harapin ang mga bagyo, kaya rin natin harapin ang hinaharap.