Mother Teresa

Here are some things that Mother Teresa said before her death:

• When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread. But a person who is shut out, who feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person who has been thrown out of society – that spiritual poverty is much harder to overcome.

• Those who are materially poor can be very wonderful people. One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition. I told the Sisters: "You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worse." So I did for her all that my love can do. I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand, as she said one word only: "Thank you" – and she died. I could not help but examine my conscience before her. And I asked: "What would I say if I were in her place?" And my answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said: "I am hungry, I am dying, I am cold, I am in pain," or something. But she gave me much more – she gave me her grateful love. And she died with a smile on her face.

• Then there was the man we picked up from the drain, half eaten by worms and, after we had brought him to the home, he only said, "I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die as an angel, loved and cared for." Then, after we had removed all the worms from his body, all he said, with a big smile, was: "Sister, I am going home to God" – and he died. It was so wonderful to see the greatness of that man who could speak like that without blaming anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel – this is the greatness of people who are spiritually rich even when they are materially poor.

I Wish

I wish for you...
Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Gentle hugs when spirits sag,
Friendships to brighten your being,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Confidence when you doubt,
Faith so that you can believe,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
and love to complete your life.
I asked the Lord to bless you
as I prayed for you today
to guide you and protect you
As you go along your way....
His love is always with you,
His promises are true.
You know He will see us through.
So, when the road you’re traveling on
seems difficult at best
God will do the rest.

Jesus Saves

Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who was better at using the computer. They had been going at it for days, and God was tired of hearing all the bickerings.
Finally, God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test which will take two hours and it will judge who does the better job."

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. They moused. They did spreadsheets. They wrote reports. They sent faxes. They sent e-mail. They sent out e-mail with attachments. They downloaded. They did some genealogy reports. They made cards. They did every known job.

But, ten minutes before the time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, the rain poured, and, of course, the electricity went off.

Satan stared at his blank screen screaming every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed. The electricity finally flickered back on, and each of them restarted their computers.

Satan started searching frantically screaming, "It’s gone! It’s all gone! All my work . I lost everything when the power went out!"

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all his files from the past two hours.

Satan observed this and became even more irate. "Wait! He cheated! How did he do it??!!"

God shrugged and said "Jesus Saves."

Thoughts For Today:

The first sunlight to touch your face
is my whisper to God to take care of you
and to make your day a pleasant one.

Proud to be Filipinos

Here are some interesting data that all Filipinos should know and make them proud to be Filipinos:

* In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans.

* The USA bought the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam from Spain in 1898.

* The Filipino-American Independence War from 1898 to 1902 ensued, killing 4,234 Americans and killing how many Filipinos? 16,000 were killed in action and 200,000 died from famine and pestilence. (The Philippines lost and was colonized until 1946.)

* Los Angeles, California was co-founded in 1781 by a Filipino named Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, along with 43 Latinos from Mexico sent by the Spanish government.

* What antibiotic did Filipino doctor Abelardo Aguilar co-discover? Hint: Brand is Ilosone, named after Iloilo. Erythromycin.

* The one-chip video camera was first made by Marc Loinaz, a Filipino inventor from New Jersey.

* This son of two Filipino physicians scored over 700 on the verbal portion of the Standardized Achievement Test (SAT) before age 13 – Kiwi Danao Camara of Punahou School, Hawaii... Edward Sanchez, a MENSA member, bagged the grand prize in the first Philippine Search for Product Excellence in Information Technology.

* Who was the Filipino-American dancer who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT? Joyce Monteverde of California.

* Who invented the fluorescent lamp? Thomas Edison discovered the electric light bulb and the fluorescent lighting was thought up by Nikola Tesla. But the fluorescent lamp we use today was invented by Agapito Flores (a Cebu man named Benigno Flores of Bantayan Island, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer), a Filipino scientist. Americans helped then-Philippine leader Ramon Magsaysay to develop it for worldwide commerce.

* Many foreigners have noted that the Filipino population has Asia’s highest rates of inventors and international beauty queens). Two Filipina beauties, Gloria Diaz and Margie Moran, chosen as Miss Universe in 1969 and 1973.

* Pure- or part-Filipino celebrities in American showbiz include Von Flores, Tia Carrere, Paolo Montalban, Lea Salonga, Ernie Reyes Jr., Nia Neeples, Julio Iglesias Jr., Enrique Iglesias, Lou Diamond Phillips, Phoebe Cates and Rob Schneider.

* The first Filipino act to land a top hit on the US Billboard Hot100 chart in the 1960s was the group Rocky Fellers of Manila.

* Sugar Pie deSanto (father was from the Philippines), the artist formerly known as Prince (according to the October 1984 article "Prince in Exile" by Scott Isler in the magazine Musician), Jaya, Foxy Brown and Enrique Iglesias followed.

* Pure Filipinos who made success in minor charts were Jocelyn Enriquez a.k.a. Oriental Madonna, Buffy, Pinay and (Ella May) Saison.

* Latina-American pop star Christina Aguilera lost to Filipina vocalist Josephine Roberto a.k.a. Banig during the International Star Search years ago. In a mid-1999 MTV chat, she said that competing against someone of Banig’s age was "not fair."

Inspiring message

If one day you feel like crying, call me.
I don’t promise that I will make you laugh,
But I can cry with you.
If one day you want to run away,
don’t be afraid to call me.
I don’t promise to ask you to stop,
but I can run with you.
If one day you don’t want to listen to anyone, call me.
I promise to be there for you.
And I promise to be very quiet.
but if one day you call,
and there is no answer,
come fast to see me.
Maybe I need you.
If I ever ignored you, I’m sorry.
If I ever made you feel bad or put you down, I’m
sorry.
If I ever thought I was bigger or better than you, I
love you.
Don’t ever forget that!
Through bad times and good,
I’ll always be here for you.
I am sorry for everything wrong I’ve ever done.
I’m writing this because what, if tomorrow never
comes?
What if I never get to say good-bye or give you a big
hug?
What if I never get to say I’m sorry or I love you?
Because what if tomorrow never comes?
I LOVE YOU!

Father Forgets

Listen, son, I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the hair stickly wet on your dump forehead, I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me, Guiltily I came to your bedside.

These are the things I was thinking, son; I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dub with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Goodbye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stockings, I humiliated you before your boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Stockings were expensive and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding – this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in to kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed!

It is a feeble atonement: I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow, I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, ad laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: "He is nothing but a boy – a little boy!"

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday, you were in your mother’s arms, head on her shoulder. I have asked too much.

Children of Tomorrow

Your children are not your children,
They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls.
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer seeks the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with his might
that His arrows may go swift and far.