The Miracle of Blessed Pedro Calungsod

From his childhood, Pedro Calungsod declared himself unwaveringly 

for Christ and responded generously to his call. 

Young people today can draw encouragement and strength from the example of Pedro, whose love of Jesus inspired him to devote his teenage years 

to teaching the faith as a lay catechist. Pope John Paul II

Remarkable recovery by comatose woman

By Jason A. Baguia, Inquirer Visayas

CEBU CITY — She had no idea who Blessed Pedro Calungsod was until she benefited from a healing miracle attributed to the intercession of the young Visayan martyr.

The miracle, recorded in March 2003, had since led the woman to start a devotion to the 17th century catechist from Cebu, said Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson, a lead advocate for Calungsod’s sainthood.

Officials of the Archdiocese of Cebu have chosen not to disclose the woman’s name for now out of respect for her privacy. But her identity will be made public when she accompanies the Philippine delegation to the Vatican for Calungsod’s canonization, now a certainty thanks to a papal decree issued last week. Leyson described her as a businesswoman in her 50s, not a Cebuana but someone who hails from Eastern Visayas.

The woman knew nothing of Calungsod prior to her astounding recovery within hours after falling into a coma at around 2 p.m. on March 26, 2003, due to insufficient oxygen in the brain, Leyson told the Inquirer on Friday. The coma rated “3” on the Glasgow Coma Scale, meaning she had no verbal or motor response, and could not even open her eyes.

It was actually one of the doctors who prayed to Calungsod for help after the patient suffered complications a day after undergoing heart surgery in a Cebu City hospital, the monsignor recalled. “Those who were looking at her brain data knew from experience that the woman would die the next day,” Leyson said.

It was at this point of near resignation that the doctor uttered a prayer to Calungsod. At around 6 p.m., the woman woke up.

ArchInspire #023: Board Strips

Been helping out lately with the board presentation of a friend's thesis. How I so missed conceptualization! Here I made four different board strips for him to choose from which will be the basis for some of the suggestions and direction he will decide on as to the overall 'look' and 'feel' of his presentation :) All were inspired by water color art (found on graphic blogs) which I took the liberty to employ upon. So which one do you think looks great?

Click image to view original photo resolution.

Book Review: Manga Messiah Series

If your cup of tea is manga and Christianity then here's something interesting for you - new book installments of the Manga Messiah series by NEXTmanga available for only P215 @ Fully Booked. Though nothing beats like reading the original and complete passages of the Word of God from the Bible, I think it is truly genius to use the art and media of Manga (Japanese comics) to reach out to the younger generation whom are saturated nowadays with the flood of interests and modern ideologies. 

'The youth of today are not as superficial as some think. 

They want to know what life is really about.'

Pope Benedict XVI, foreword of the YOUCAT

I bought my first copy of Manga Messiah from a friend's recommendation years ago - back in my pre-teen years where anime and Japanese pop art and culture dominated my interests. It came in perfect timing as I remember it was also about that time when I started to feel the thirst to know and understand life better from all that I believe and the truths that I adhere to as a Christian. The idea of studying the Gospels then from a comic-type of perspective was a bit unconventional but cool in my young mind. The series truly is a plus for young beginners :) 

So here's my review: 

What I have always loved about the series of Manga Messiah is its strict adherence with the Scriptures from where it was based and the consistent format from its first installment. At the bottom of each page where a scene takes place is a footnote of the verse from which one can cross-read the Bible to see the exact seen from where it was lifted. 

• [A] Manga Messiah, which is the first installment of the series was written by Hidenori Kumai and was illustrated by manga artist, Kozumi Shinozawa. It covers the consummated version of Yeshuah's earthly ministry in the Four Gospels of the New Testament, starting with the Anunciation of Yeshuah's birth to Mary and ending in his Ascension in Heaven. 
• [B] Manga Mutiny, which was written and illustrated by manga artist Ryo Azumi, covered the Books of Genesis and Exodus from the Old Testament. The flow of the story in this work was quite fast but it nevertheless successfully painted the important events and stories of God's covenant in the history and nation of Israel. A brief family tree which is of great reference is also illustrated at the end of the book - starting with Adam and Eve, going thru the generations of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.  
• [C] Manga Metamorphosis, which I have yet to read was also written and illustrated by Kozumi Shinozawa. Covering the entire Book of the Acts of the Apostles, it starts from where Manga Messiah ended. Peter the Rock and Paul the Aposlte, together with other followers of Yehsuah's ministry, was the main character in this installment. 

For more information of the Manga Messiah series, visit NEXTmanga.

The Lord is with Us!

EMMANUEL!

Image borrowed here

Roaring Lion

Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ [Jesus] will himself, restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. 1 Peter 5:8-10

The Little Prince - Vice and Virtue

The Baobab Tree (Image borrowed here)

Just finished reading the classic novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince. I've read it twice in high school but it is only now that I've truly understood the meaning of some of the words of the author. What astounded me is the great connection and reference the novella had with our 'inner child' and the importance of having to look at life with a childlike perspective even as a grown adult - something that I would have never realized if it wasn't for the prayers of a particular person I met a couple of months ago :) 

The novella truly is brimmed with parallelisms (well, at least for me) and I'll start off with one of the most remarkable words I found on the first couple of pages. It all came to me as a parallel of the vices and virtues in one's heart as we grow up and of bringing the unconscious to a certain level of consciousness (awareness):

"...there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness, until someone among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin - timidly at first - to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant one recognizes it."

It continued with a warning of consequence for being complacent and lazy:

"A Baobab (vice) is something you will never, never be able to get rid off if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces."

Where the Little Prince added:

"It is a question of discipline... You must see to it that you pull up regularly the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rose-bushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth."

At the prince’s instruction, the narrator illustrates the overgrown planet as a warning to children. He adds that the baobabs pose an everyday threat that most people deal with without even being aware of it. The narrator states that the lesson to be learned from the story of the baobabs is so important that he has drawn them more carefully than any other drawing in the book.*

Original illustration by the author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

On Conscience

A true conscience is not one that never needs to be corrected. On the contrary, the conscience grows in purity as it discovers more impurities. Its accuracy is measured by its demands and rigors. No one can apply himself assiduously to the meditation of the Gospel without noting with sorrow the distance between him and the ideal he is pursuing. We have already said that certain imperfections of conduct are unfortunately combined with a sincere wish to be good. From this contradiction is born the remorse that stimulates our progress.

+ George Chevrot, The Eight Beatitudes; Ch.xxiii. p.174

Makes Sense

Fr. Ferdinand T. Hernando, MB:

Among the finite creatures in the world, only the human being is endowed with body and soul--a body that makes us humble for all its limits and limitations, a soul that makes us hope for transcendence and salvation. Any thought that reduces the human to the level of the physical and biological, without any regard for the transcendence of the human spirit, will logically end up in despair and frustration, as the finite can never satisfy the infinite longings of the soul. Conversely, any reduction to spiritualism without any awareness of human solidarity and interrelatedness is devoid of any social relevance and will end up in hollow spirituality, aloof and uninvolved. 

Bullied

Image borrowed here

It has come to my attention that at my current age of 20 years old, this wasn't the first time I have been the target of some 'pre-school bullying.' I love playing with children a lot but most of the time especially when the child has a rather strong / dominating personality, I find myself often falling easily to their premature teasing, sometimes even physical tantrums and violence. And I'm telling you, these are children aged 3 to 6 years old we're talking about. 

I am just perplexed if they could have seen in me at such a tender young mind the role of an easy victim? Or is it just the 'inner child' in me trying to manifest an emotion or reaction that is ultimately derived from a more complex trauma and a deeply-rooted experience? Hmm.

Kawirduhan ko sa mga bata... Tsk-tsk.