P.E.A.C.E Be With You

God gave His best to save us ... The least we can do is avoid sin ...

This seems to be a pretty straightforward admonition. It also presents itself so invitingly simple that it seems so easy enough to do. Until, of course, we try to do it, for it is not as simple as it seems. It is not just a battle with our self, and even that is already a great battle in itself. Sin is a warfare waged in the spiritual realm and the battleground does not divide men against men but splits right smack in the middle of every man’s heart and soul.

In a recollection that I attended years ago, our recollection master who was a priest presented the following diagram to us. The diagram and the lessons it presented and represented have remained with me through the years.

Our trials should make us better, not bitter ...

Ever since I started working in Makati again I have taken to ride the EDSA MRT line almost every day. I live in Cubao near Camp Crame and my work since January of 2011 is in Magallanes. When I started riding the MRT to work, I would walk all the way from our house to the MRT Santolan-Annapolis station. I would then wait to squeeze into the MRT train. Sometimes I would have to skip several trains before I could finally push my way into a coach. After 7am, the situation is such that passing trains would normally be packed sardines-tight.

I would then endure the fifteen to twenty minutes or so ride to Magallanes station where I would alight. I would then walk all the way to Lapu-lapu Avenue in Magallanes where a shuttle from our office regularly plies every fifteen minutes.

Riding the MRT can be truly challenging but it beats having to drive a car in the morning. The few times that I bring a car to the office, it would normally take me more than an hour to brave the early morning rush hour traffic on EDSA.