Life As Practice – OpEd

I grew up in a small place called Baguio, a town, then pretending to be a city — it is somewhat rural — having come from a large family.

Going to church at the Resurrection was a tradition. The church was the center of life, and you went out of habit. I got involved, but there was no bible school, except in those classes while the adults prayed on Sundays. There was no choir, no usher. i became a sacristan. It was a habit. I came from a family whose values came out from surviving on whatever, rather than from the foundation of a church.

Now, years have passed. it’s now more about principles and values and having a spiritual life. I am trying to keep the peace in my own life, rebelling at every sense of injustice deep inside as my faith allows me to keep that peace. It also helps me make sense of some of the things going on in the world and how there is so much a need to educate people. The more i walk this path, the more humble I want to become. It’s not a rigid walk, rather, a need to connect to people for common good.

But not everything is carpet-laden, there are those who grumble at every uphill climb such that sometimes the connection is broken. The inconsistency appears, plain as the different sides of the coin, as you discover individual needs often get the best of outcome you want from group effort.

So I pick and chose my own battles. I can’t afford to spend energy dealing with trivial stuff that is so unreal. this gives me a high threshold of mindfulness … awareness of the natural things that happen. It makes me calm.

it is in this central stillness of the spirit that is so vital, that the tempests raging, are silenced so that I hear the whisper of God