blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

The old Roman Church calendar had January 1 as the Feast of the Circumcision ("tuli" in Filipino) of Christ. Why there is a circumcision is told in Genesis 17 as a reminder of YHWH's covenant with Abraham. Verse 12 has it as " And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed." In the covenant, Abraham was promised that he will have many descendants by his wife Sarah. Abraham's son with Sarah' Isaac was circumcised 8 days after he was born, his eldest son with Sarahs servant Hagar, Ishmael, at 13 years and Abraham himself at 90 years. Christian Tradition holds that the real start of Jesus's shedding of blood for our salvation started on his circumcision. This was also the time when Jesus was named as Jesus. Another name of the feast is "The Naming of Jesus" The new Roman Calendar promulgated by Pa...

Some pundits are glad that we are about to say a big fat goodbye to the first decade of the 21st century which they consider as decadem horribilis or horrible decade tonight. T'was 10 years ago when we craned our necks so see those turn of the millennium fireworks and we hoped that everything will be good, an upbeat economy and technology that would empower everyone. In 1999, SMS messaging was in its infancy but the power of the medium was rearing its head. Someone sent a message that Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila was dead. This was taken seriously that the Vatican had already prepared condolences. Less than a year later in 2001, September 11 to be exact, I was in hospital for a life threatening illness and I was in a dicey situation. The doctors won't tell me so. However what I saw on the TV is worse than facing death. The docs and nurses were transfixed as they saw live New York's WTC tower's collapse after being hit by terrorist piloted jets. It took me about one h...

We waited for the new year countdown using the Internet (Worldtime) by setting the computer clock and iPod to GMT plus 8. At midnight the iPod played Auld Lang Syne. Welcome 2008! We hope 2008 will offer the same hopes and opportunities of 2007. Despite what the seers say as this year being still a year of discord, the Feng Shui masters say that even if the year is of the rat, people who are smart as the rat will make a killing. In the story of evolution of mammals, the rodents are the megastars. Anywhere the rats end up they speciate! Definitely the year bodes well for all. The Santa Claus Movie theme song says "All my life, I learned if I was good, and did everything I should, my dreams would all come true." This New Year let's get to work. I have only one resolution and that is To help one poor child grow up into a good person. That involves a lot of work