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FEBRUARY

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OUR DAYS
Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom Psalm 90:12

This day...The Philippine Star's Editorial reads -

 Fugitives

Malacañang officials gloated yesterday that they talked with Romulo Neri to greet him a happy birthday and reassure him of their full support. The conversation was over the phone, the officials said, as they denied that Neri was hiding somewhere in the Malacañang complex — if not at the main compound housing the President’s official residence and office, then across the Pasig in Malacañang Park, headquarters of the Presidential Security Group. In case the Senate gets any ideas, the PSG chief warned, no search for Neri would be allowed at Malacañang.

The nation’s seat of power should not be reminded that an arrest warrant has been issued by the Senate for Neri, which makes the chairman of the Commission on Higher Education officially a fugitive. But then this administration is no stranger to coddling fugitives, if the reports are true about those behind the flights of former agriculture official Jocelyn Bolante amid the fertilizer scam and former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano at the height of the vote-rigging scandal in the 2004 presidential derby.

Now it’s not just Neri who has been reassured of Malacañang’s full support in his evasion of arrest. Rodolfo Lozada Jr., chief executive officer of the government-run Philippine Forest Corp., was reportedly barred by his superior, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, from testifying at the Senate on the broadband scandal. Lozada, who was escorted to the NAIA by government authorities about two hours before he was set to testify, is cooling his heels in Hong Kong after receiving threatening messages by phone and text.

Administration allies in the Senate have scoffed that Lozada has nothing to say. So why is there such a desperate effort to make him keep his mouth shut and, if possible, get him out of the way for good? Administration officials have often said, in pushing for a national identification system, that those who have nothing to hide should have nothing to fear. They should practice what they preach when it comes to those who simply want to go public with stories of corruption and bad governance.

 From : www.philstar.com 02/02/08

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OUR JOURNEY
Take...no bag for the journey...for the laborer deserves his food. Matthew 10:10

No other guy, these days...seems more confused than cabinet secretary Romy Neri. He was a broken man after the day he tried to spill the beans on the Senate hearing of the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal scandal. It was service to the Filipino people...his revelation led to the cancellation of the NBN deal...but when he sealed his lips when asked further to tell everything he knew about the deal...it became service to "some" people only and as the Filipino people strongly reacted he became sick and this terrible confusion set in.

Another writer offers the advice : "Sing, Romy. Sing the truth. Not for the bishops who refuse to hear the truth, but for your people who deserve it. And then shall you, all of you, conscience and mind and spirit and heart – be set free." (Lito Banayo, Song of Romy, Malaya, www.malaya.com.ph, 02/02/08))

Kyle Dugan and Craig Mitchell, authors of The Way of Pilgrimage have a good explanation regarding a person's state of confusion :

Being a pilgrim shapes experience quite differently. Our model of pilgrimage is Jesus himself--God who lived among us--who lived life humbly and simply, who ate with and befriended the poor and the marginalized in society, who embraced and loved all the world. For pilgrims, a single, brief mission trip is not the end of the road. Stepping outside our comfort zone to follow where Jesus leads becomes our lifelong journey. As we travel the earth following Jesus, we must remember that we are also citizens of heaven. On earth we are strangers in a strange land. In fact, the word pilgrim means "stranger." If we are citizens of heaven, the world will often seem odd to us.  Our pilgrim journey is not to a faraway place or a gleaming resort but to a place outside our comfort zones, where we are truly changed, transformed into the likeness of Christ.

To read The Way of Pilgrimage, CLICK HERE & KEY IN YOUR PASSWORD
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OUR TRIBUTE
Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

With the apostle we "cast our burden upon you, knowing you care for us" (1Peter 5:7) and  confidently commit to you for your comfort and healing our beloved journey companion, Sr. Mayette Demelino, Dean of the College of Cooperatives, Polytechnic University of the Philippines who will go through surgical procedures for cancer. Christ be with her, Christ within her.